Canada

A Review of Douglas Bland. 2009. Uprising: A Novel. Blue Butterfly Books.

Writing political books about, for example, Haiti, means knowing that every reader who gets the book is a victory. Consequently, having one less reader get the book is a serious matter.

I tried to send my book to Alex Hundert, a G20 defendant who is currently locked up in Penatanguishene. I was told that books have to go direct from the publisher, so I asked my Canadian publisher, BTL, to do it for me. They were quick and efficient and sent the book off.

The other day I got this back from my publisher:

Matthew Adams from rabble.ca just did a podcast with me about Haiti's New Dictatorship. Check it out.

[This article, by Shadi Chaleshtoori and myself, was first published in The Bullet - version with links is there].

The regressive politics of the Iranian-Canadian Khevari petition

Shadi Chaleshtoori and Justin Podur

November 11, 2011

On October 12, members of the Iranian-Canadian community sent a petition to Citizenship and Immigration Minister Jason Kenney expressing concern about the arrival in Canada of Mahmoud Reza Khavari, the former chairman of the largest Iranian state-owned banking institution (Bank Melli).

Activist and comedian Jesse Owens interviewed me for the #occupyto.org website, way back in ancient occupy toronto history (ie., October 26). For posterity, I am also reproducing it here. Thanks Jesse...

---

The Occupy Wall St. Movement and the Occupy Together movements that are inspired by it actually have a simple premise: society shouldn't be run for the unrestricted benefit of the wealthiest. The immediate grievance is the 2008 banking crisis, in which the US banks engaged in fraudulent and criminal activity and were subsequently rewarded for doing so with trillions in government funds, while their victims reaped evictions and foreclosures.

I read Metro Today on the subway today. There was a story blaming City of Toronto staff for squandering - wait for it - up to $1 MILLION dollars in sole-sourced contracts.

So, Rob Ford is right, and there is waste to be cut, eh?

Except that $1 million is, for example, 1/3 of what the KPMG report that suggested closing libraries and taking fluoride out of the water cost.

Or 1/64 of the vehicle registration tax whose disappearance is now contributing to the supposed $700 million deficit.

And oh yes, it's 1/700 of the deficit.

This is a video that should be watched widely. These are Harper voters.

Francis Fox Piven (who has had her own experiences recently with Harper's US mentors) and Richard Cloward wrote a very interesting book called "Why Americans Don't Vote", which showed how a key electoral strategy in the US has always been demobilizing opposing voters, a strategy just as important as mobilizing supporters. If you look at the way Harper has worked over the past few years, you can see that demobilizing strategies are a part of the package here too.

Today's election thoughts, and a couple of photos.

Jon Elmer sent me this amusing Vintage Voter site.

Vincent Pang sent me this photo album of protests against Harper's second proroguing back in 2010.