Wednesday, August 11, 2010
Kitiganik, Rapid Lake, Algonquin Territory / – On August 12, the Algonquins of Barriere Lake will protest and boycott a nomination poll for Indian Act band elections that the Department of Indian Affairs is unilaterally forcing on their community.
The Quebec Police, the Sûreté du Québec, will be guarding the polling stations in the community’s territory and have threatened to arrest anyone who tries to interfere or set up blockades. Read more…
Media Advisory, Montreal, Quebec, Friday, August 6, 2010
The first Montreal International Women’s Conference hosted by the Committee of Women of Diverse Origins is set to get underway August 13-16, 2010 in Montreal, Quebec.
For close to a decade a group of Montreal-based women have been working tirelessly to improve women’s lives here and abroad. They are the Committee of Women of Diverse Origins, and as the name suggests, their members have roots in several countries and they take on a number of social issues from migrants’ rights to violence against women. What makes their approach unique are their strong links to and participation in women’s struggles in their countries of origin including the Philippines, Sri Lanka, Iran, Palestine, Pakistan, Mexico, Ecuador, and Mali, bringing militancy and a truly global perspective to their work here in Quebec and Canada.
The account differs drastically from those made by residents in the area shortly after the children were killed. Read more…
by Ajamu Nangwaya
While the April 2010 news of the $438 million economic impact of Caribana is worthy of celebration and all the media attention that it has generated, I hope that as Canadians we will open our eyes to the monumental failure of government funding of this phenomenal cultural festival. An Ipsos Reid Economic Impact Study clearly established that Caribana is the most lucrative festival in all of Canada. Yet the Calgary Stampede which attracts millions of dollars in annual government funding is touted as the largest “Canadian” festival with its $173 economic impact over ten days.
It is estimated that Ontario’s cultural institutions bring in a yearly income of $4.5 billion, while attracting 3 million patrons. About 1.2 million people participated in the 2009 edition of Caribana and over 300,000 of these revelers came from abroad. It ought to be clear that dollar-for-dollar, Caribana’s economic performance leaves its more favoured cultural competitors in the dust. Read more…
By Charlie Hinton and Kiilu Nyasha
Wyclef: The Ronald Reagan of Haiti
BASICS Online – August 2010
Reprinted with permission from the authors – To appear in the August edition of the San Francisco Bay View Newspaper To cut to the chase, no election in Haiti, and no candidate in those elections, will be considered legitimate by the majority of Haiti’s population, unless it includes the full and fair participation of the Fanmi Lavalas Party of President Jean-Bertrand Aristide. Fanmi Lavalas is unquestionably the most popular party in the country, yet the “international community,” led by the United States, France, and Canada, has done everything possible to undermine Aristide and Lavalas, overthrowing him twice by military coups in 1991 and 2004, and banishing Aristide, who now lives in South Africa with his family, from the Americas. A United Nations army, led by Brazil, still occupies Haiti, 5 years after the coup. Their unstated mission, under the name of “peacekeeping,” is to suppress the popular movement and prevent the return to power of Aristide’s Lavalas Party. One must understand a Wyclef Jean candidacy, first of all, in this context. Read more…
Editorial Note: In the spirit of promoting a culture of debate issues significant to the Canadian working-class, such as the unprecedented repression unleashed by Canadian policing forces during the June 2010 G20 Summit in Toronto, basicsnews.ca is republishing a piece put out by the Revolutionary Communist Party (Canada). The piece criticizes the ways in which many organizations and tendencies have summed up the lessons and experiences of the G20 weekend, including the editorial perspective of our own BASICS publications. While this reproduction does not amount to an endorsement of their critiques, our media organization is considering the points of criticism and our own response to this ongoing debate is forthcoming. Read more…
Letter to the Editor – Toronto Star
by Ajamu Nagwaya
Published on Sun Jul 25 2010 here
It is very unsettling, yet not unexpected, that Caribana is being treated like a cultural outsider and a barbarian at the gate by the different levels of government. Why is it that the largest festival in this country with the greatest economic impact is being treated as the cultural Cinderella within the family of Canadian festivals? Read more…
