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September 12th, 2003

September 12, 2003 Features

The Gathering Storm in Mexico

Under NAFTA, Mexican farmers move from ejido to foreign finca*

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On the same day that the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) came into force, January 1, 1994, a group of Mexican peasants marched out of the mountains and the jungles and directly into the media spotlight. At the time, President Carlos Salinas was celebrating Mexico's new status as a "first world" nation and basking in the glory of his own sudden prominence as a major world leader alongside United States President Reagan and Canadian Prime Minister Mulroney. It was only the peasants who recognized NAFTA for the disaster that it was destined to be, and said !Basta!, - enough is enough.

- by Paul Harris -

Under NAFTA, Mexican farmers move from ejido to foreign finca*

August 31st

August 31, 2003 Accounts

The "Virtual Senate"

On the "international senate" of investors and lenders, the IMF and Brazil's Lula, and Negri, Hardt, and Foucault.

August 23rd

August 23, 2003 Canadian News

Blackout Raises Questions

August 23, 2003 Features

How the Liberal Party Works

We hold elections, but do our political parties practice democracy?

ballot_fp.jpgIn November 2003, Paul Martin will--barring unimaginable circumstances--be chosen as Canada's next Prime Minister. Legally and politically, this choice is not made by the Canadian public at large, but rather by a private club known as the Liberal Party of Canada. Even given that the Liberal Party has over 500,000 members (according to recent reports, a larger membership than any political party in Canadian history), most Canadians will not have a say in this decision. Indeed, it is already too late for anyone who wanted to vote in the party's leadership election -- to vote, members had to join by last June. And if you had the foresight to join the party four months before the election, you also have to pay a membership fee, and be prepared for a potentially long journey on voting day in order to cast a ballot.
- by Dru Oja Jay -

We hold elections, but do our political parties practice democracy?

August 23, 2003 Comics

Crime in our Midst

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Crime in our Midst, by Heather Meek

August 23, 2003 Arts

Photons and Formaldehyde: The New Art-Viewing

art_view_fp.jpgIn a world where crushed metal, urinals, and stripped paintings all parade under the banner of "fine art", many have cried out against the alienation of the viewer by contemporary art and art-systems. In reaction to this, a new type of art and art-viewing has arrived, based on the all-too-familiar behaviours of consumerism.- by Max Liboiron -

August 23, 2003 Environment

Is Climate Change Burning up British Columbia?

fire_fp.jpgAre the forest fires in Western Canada part of climate change? Scientists say that it is likely, and environmental groups are urging Canadians to begin making the connection between the burning forests and the country's rising greenhouse gas emissions. - by Yuill Herbert -

August 23, 2003 Accounts

US Terrorism Against Cuba

"CIA-sponsored operations included bombing of hotels and industrial installations, sinking of fishing boats, poisoning of crops and livestock, contamination of sugar exports..."

August 8th

August 8, 2003 Comics

Summer Camp

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Summer Camp, by Heather Meek

August 8, 2003 Arts

Janet Cardiff & George Bures Miller: Recent Works

Canada's current Big Shots in the international art world, Janet Cardiff and George Bures Miller, have brought credit, fame and funding to the previously "suspect" genre of sound art. Why? Because they're so dang good. An exhibit of "Recent Works" is running at the illustrious Whitechapel Gallery in London, June 7 to August 24, 2003.
- by Max Liboiron -

Whitechapel Art Gallery, London, U.K.

August 8, 2003 Arts

Sound Art on the Rise in Sackville, N. B.

Canadian radio is like loveless sex. It's predictable, unimaginative and over in five minutes. With the exception of campus and community stations, we don't expect Canadian contemporary radio to broadcast sound art. It just doesn't fit into the rigidly formatted program schedule of the CBC, and it certainly isn't safe enough for commercial radio.
- by Janna Graham -

August 8, 2003 Environment

Anti-Globalization's Disappearing Act

Hundreds of "Green Zone" protesters arrested during WTO ministerial in Montreal
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From July 28th to 30th, finance ministers from 25 countries and the European Union, gathered in Montreal for a 'mini-ministerial' of the World Trade Organization (WTO). Despite the declaration of Canada's Trade Minister, Pierre Pettigrew, that "the anti-globalization" movement had "completely disappeared," thousands gathered in Montreal to express their opposition to the WTO. A day later, it seemed that Pierre Pettigrew had been right; hundreds of activists had indeed 'disappeared' from the city's streets. Over the course of two days, police arrested 342 people, many through what NDP leader Jack Layton called "indiscriminate" mass arrests.
- by Hillary Lindsay -

Hundreds of "Green Zone" protesters arrested during WTO ministerial in Montreal

August 8, 2003 Features

One Citizen, One Vote: Towards Proportional Representation

An interview with Larry Gordon, Executive Director of Fair Vote CanadaLarryGordon_fp.jpg

Fair Vote Canada (FVC) was formed in August of 2000 as a multi-partisan citizen's campaign to reform Canada's voting system. FVC promotes the adoption of a system that is proportional, uses positive, effective votes, and results in a stable and accountable government. The organization does not recommend a specific type of proportional representation, but calls for a public process which will allow Canadians to learn about voting system alternatives and choose a new one.
- by Susan Thompson -

An interview with Larry Gordon, Executive Director of Fair Vote Canada

July 26th

July 27, 2003 Canadian News

National News Briefs

July 27, 2003 Accounts

The Explicit Policy of World Domination

"The National Security Strategy states fairly explicitly that the US intends to dominate the world by force, which is the dimension in which it rules supreme, and to ensure that there is never any potential challenge to this domination."

July 26, 2003 Comics

Urquhart Family Reunion

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Urquhart Family Reunion, by Heather Meek

July 26, 2003 Features

The Conceited Empire

A historian credited with predicting the downfall of the Soviet Union in the 1970s now says that the US has been on its way out for the last decade

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The power and influence of the United States is being overestimated, claims French historian and demographer Emmanuel Todd. "There will be no American Empire." "The world is too large and dynamic to be controlled by one power." According to Todd, whose 1976 book predicted the fall of the Soviet Union, there is no question: the decline of America the Superpower has already begun.

NZZ: Mr. Todd, you write that America is economically, militarily, and ideologically too weak to actually control the world. This would gladden many anti-Americans. But how is this anything but the wishful thinking of an intellectual who is the product of the French US critical tradition?

ET: This is neither wishful thinking nor anti-Americanism. Why would I have been so prominently criticised by the left? The French career anti-American paper "Le Monde diplomatique", was the only major paper that remained conspicuously silent on my book. The over-estimation of America is fundamental to these people. It is on this topic that they agree with the American ultra-conservatives: the former to demonize, the latter to aggrandize. - by Martin A. Senn and Felix Lautenschlager -

A historian credited with predicting the downfall of the Soviet Union in the 1970s now says that the US has been on its way out for the last decade

July 26, 2003 Arts

Caution: Extreme Shakespeare in Halifax

Generally I am not a person who plans elaborate activities of merriment on calendar holidays. But, once and a while, an opportunity to celebrate gives me that tingling feeling and I am compelled to go out and join the party. It was that kind of crazed motivation that got me out of bed at 3:15 a.m. on July 1 to watch A Midsummer Night's Dream on the wharf of Casino Nova Scotia in Halifax. - by Sylvia Nickerson -

July 26, 2003 Arts

What Makes Magic in the Park?

Every year, Toronto's High Park hosts the Canadian Stage's Dream in High Park. This year, they presented Twelfth Night or What You Will. This is one of my favourite plays (Shakespeare or other), so it was with extra enthusiasm that I joined all of the glowing friends, lovers and families this Canada Day before dusk. - by Erin Brubacher -

July 26, 2003 Environment

Dammed if you do...

HydroQuebec plans diversion of multiple rivers near James Bay
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As part of continuing hydroelectric development on James Bay, HydroQuebec has begun the paper work, table talk, and preparatory construction to dam and divert the Rupert River. During a consultation meeting in the Cree community of Chisibi on June 11th, community members spoke out against a plan and process that they feel fails to respect the environment and traditional knowledge of the community. - by Carole Ferrari -

HydroQuebec plans diversion of multiple rivers near James Bay

July 10th

July 11, 2003 Features

Social Torment: Globalization in Atlantic Canada

Excerpts from Thom Workman’s book on neoliberal policy and its effect on workers

/img/features/quebec_fp.jpgAt its core, Thom Workman's thesis is simple: labour is a major cost for businesses of all kinds, and thus an impediment to profits. As such, "transnational capital" seeks constantly to lower the cost of labour; when they do this by breaking down "trade barriers" to gain access to cheap labour or invoke international competitiveness to roll back wages, the process is called globalization. In Social Torment, Thom Workman starts by outlining the history of this shift from the "class compromise" of the twentieth century to the newly invigorated attacks on unions and the working class. And then he does something interesting; rather than spinning together a series of anecdotes to support his case, Workman looks at the numbers.

Excerpts from Thom Workman’s book on neoliberal policy and its effect on workers

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The Dominion is a monthly paper published by an incipient network of independent journalists in Canada. It aims to provide accurate, critical coverage that is accountable to its readers and the subjects it tackles. Taking its name from Canada's official status as both a colony and a colonial force, the Dominion examines politics, culture and daily life with a view to understanding the exercise of power.

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