war
Q&A with Noah Richler: What we talk about when we talk about war
Noah Richler is the author of What We Talk About When We Talk About War (Goose Lane, 2012), a Governor-General’s Award non-fiction finalist. On November 5, 2012, Richler will join Jack Granatstein in Vancouver for a debate about whether or not Canada is a “warrior nation.” This magazine news columns editor andrea bennett interviewed Richler… More »
State or not, Palestinians simply don't have a partner at the negotiating table
The opposition of both Barack Obama and Stephen Harper to the Palestinian Authority’s bid for statehood at the United Nations on the grounds that the Israeli-Palestinian conflict needs to be solved by bilateral negotiations is based on a false premise: that Israel’s leaders are or have been serious about such negotiations. The point here is… More »
How to save arts and culture in Canada: a Massey Commission 2.0
Their jobs sound like an oxymoron in Canada’s present political climate; arts professionals earn about half the average national income per year, a large chunk of which comes from grants. That public funding is in danger since Stephen Harper made it perfectly clear he doesn’t consider the arts a priority. Given that the main agenda… More »
What I think about when I think about Remembrance Day
Today is Remembrance Day. I have to be honest: I’ve had mixed feelings about the occasion for as long as I can remember, even as a kid. Does it, in some ways, glorify and sentimentalize war? I think so. Do we need to do it anyway? I think that too. But I think the contemporary… More »
5 important things to know about the Afghan endgame
Irving Howe (the New York socialist) once wrote “Blessed New York Times! What would radical journalism in America do without it?” The newspaper was, to be sure, a tool of the bourgeois but a tool that reported the news with unequalled comprehensiveness. Read it and, ideology aside, you became the possessor of a full range… More »
U.S., U.K. move to stem "conflict minerals" in Congo, while Canada undermines reform
As I type this, I am complicit in the funding of rape and war. You probably are too–sitting on your laptop, listening to your mp3 player, texting on your smartphone–even if you don’t know it. But that could all change with the passing of Barack Obama’s sweeping financial reform legislation by Congress in July. While… More »
Why Omar Khadr's case is a constitutional crisis for us all
It’s time for a little refresher course in Canadian civil society: Canada’s formal political dependence on Britain came to an end in 1982 with Pierre Trudeau’s Canada Act. The Act led to the patriation of the Canadian Constitution–you know, that old document that outlines the vibrant democratic system of government we so proudly employ in… More »
LISTEN: Cover story author John Duncan on the radio today
Professor John Duncan, who wrote the current cover story in the March-April 2010 issue of this magazine about the Canadian military’s plans for the mission in Afghanistan, was interviewed on CIUT 89.5 FM in Toronto this morning. Take 5 co-hosts Crystal Luxmore and Dave Peterson interviewed John about the story, the toll that aerial bombing… More »
Review: Robert Muggah's No Refuge: The Crisis of Refugee Militarization in Africa
Among Africa’s considerable problems is the pressing issue of refugees and internally displaced persons (IDPs). Armed conflicts and violence on the continent has effectively made it the foremost home of forced migrants, with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) estimating that 3.5 million of the world’s 9.2 million refugees, and 13 of the… More »
EcoChamber #19: World War Three is already here. It's called climate change
It’s as if we’re in a car that is blazing along. We are on cruise control as we hit a crossroads. We desperately need to make a turn. But instead of slowing down or making shifts in the wheel, we’re full-speed ahead. It’s a diverse group of us in the car but all we’re doing… More »
