Boots Riley on His Anti-Capitalist Film “Sorry to Bother You,” the Power of Strikes & Class Struggle | Democracy Now!

'And, you know—and it's only since the '60s that, you know, radicals have been thinking about like elections as the way. And it's very connected, you know, with the New Left stopping organizing labor and focusing on students. All the sudden in the '60s, you heard the students are the revolution. It was not historically accurate. It's not based on any other revolutions, except for maybe there was, at the same time, the Cultural Revolution in China. But other than that, wasn't historically accurate. And it was a focus on students and spectacle that has led—and has led to like people not knowing what to do and basically saying, “Well, all I'm going to do is electoral politics.”'

Ford's 'free speech' directive to Ontario's universities and colleges limits freedoms | Citizens' Press

Defending Student Rights

Ontario universities have academic freedom enshrined in their very fabric, negotiated in collective agreements and outlined in the principles of their governing bodies. Protecting the rights of these organizations to continue their work is essential to maintaining the academic culture of free exchange on campuses. Instead of expanding and fostering the healthy freedom of expression enjoyed on Ontario's university and college campuses, the Ford government's new 'free speech' directive will put a chill on academic freedom and debate.

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L'esclave vieil homme et le molosse de Patrick Chamoiseau

L'esclave vieil homme et le molosse de Patrick Chamoiseau

Par hasard, je suis tombée sur la référence d'un livre de Patrick Chamoiseau récemment traduit vers l'anglais. L'auteur natif de la Martinique a passé le plus clair de sa vie à ce jour à écrire, à raconter des histoires, et à défendre la création créole. Dans ce court roman intitulé L'esclave vieil homme et le molosse, le lecteur part à la poursuite de cet homme en quête de liberté. Celui-ci s'échappe de la plantation où il a passé des années interminables au service d'un maître infatigable et il court. C'est court, mais combien puissant comme petit roman !

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Book review: The Marrow Thieves by Cherie Dimaline

Book review: The Marrow Thieves by Cherie Dimaline

Cherie Dimaline first published a novel in 2011, and should be on everyone's list of authors to follow. Her most recent book is The Marrow Thieves, which received multiple awards and competed in the 2018 edition of Canada Reads. The novel is set in a world ravaged by climate change, where it rains almost every day and humans have been through numerous environmental catastrophes. Everyone has lost the ability to dream in their sleep, except for Indigenous people who have, in their bone marrow, a special composition that allows them to continue dreaming. As a result, they are persecuted. In this book, we get to know eight people through the eyes of a young boy, Francis also known as Frenchie, who is part of this group on the run from the marrow thieves.

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Mexico's Leftist President-elect AMLO Promises Sweeping Changes on Corruption, Poverty, Drug War

'This is a real historic moment, because throughout Latin America we've been having all this experimentation with left-wing and progressive governments throughout the region, from Brazil to El Salvador to Argentina, Bolivia, Venezuela, as to Uruguay, and Mexico had been left out of this pink tide. We have been stuck with this single ideology of neoliberal authoritarianism since the 1980s. But now, finally, it looks like we're going to be able to try something new.'