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For the first time, the New Democratic Party (NDP) is holding a leadership race that involves picking the leader of the Official Opposition and someone that can, with some credibility, claim a decent shot at becoming the next Prime Minister of Canada. The federal NDP should be in the public spotlight like never before, but they aren't. Whether this is more a result of the dynamic of the leadership race or due to the mainstream media's disinterest in the NDP is unclear, but both factors are obviously at play.Part of the problem is that there are too many contestants and maybe four or five real contenders, rather than two clear front-running rivals. Not only have the debates been crowded with too many challengers speaking with too little time, but clear policy differences have not been highlighted.
A central reason for this is that the NDP's political trajectory was solidified by Jack Layton and his electoral breakthrough of 2011. Layton's legacy is a modernized and professionalized electoral machine. Ideologically, as I wrote previously, “the NDP under Layton...accelerated its retreat from social democracy.
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In 1991, the Soviet Union, arguably the greatest experiment in Communism, collapsed. After Mao Zedong died in 1976, his successors moved to shift its Communist economy to one that embraced Capitalism while retaining centralized government control.Following World War Two, the recovering nations of Europe were rescued from Communism by the Marshall Plan, but adopted Communism-Light in the form of Socialism. The U.S. was already headed in that direction, creating programs that we now call “entitlements.” For most of the nation’s history, such “entitlements” did not exist.
What binds together the financial problems of the West is the common thread of infantile behavior and thought. One might call it wishful thinking. Instead of encouraging people to provide for old age and possible illness, politicians decided to turn government into Big Daddy, the eternal source of money for everything.
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Generally overlooked in the midst of the many debates and the usual competition between Republican candidates for the Party’s nomination is the fact that a rather impressive number have thrown their hats in the ring. It is testimony to the health, depth, and diversity of the Party. Compare that with the Democratic Party’s lone candidate, a President already ceded the title of worst ever.As campaigns proceed toward the on-rushing primaries, Republicans are increasingly focused beyond the usual circus atmosphere, including the latest problems encountered by Herman Cain and Rick Perry’s gaffs. Selecting the GOP candidate has now reached the critical stage.
That is why a lengthy editorial in a recent Wall Street Journal is noteworthy. “Romney’s Fiscal Awakening” was a thorough analysis of a November 4th Romney speech on the subject of reversing the nation’s economic problems. The Journal said “his remarks deserve more attention than they’ve received as a guide to how he might govern.”
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The occupy movement is currently being forcefully dismantled by police across North America and Europe. The pretext for these police interventions are health and safety concerns, but the reality is that public space is being re-occupied by the status quo. This is a status quo that would rather see public spaces pacified and vacant. This is a status quo prepared to use police violence to expropriate those most in need of the community that the occupy movement provides.These expropriations also reaffirm the fact that challenges to the prevailing order are generally met with brute force. There is a pressing need to assist and participate with those still entrenched in the occupations, and there is an equally pressing need to discuss where to go from here.
Municipal officials have served eviction notices to occupants across North America and Europe over the past three weeks. A more honest account would call these evictions what they really are: expropriations. The 99 per cent are being expropriated of their right to freedom of speech and assembly. The liberated commons are gradually being re-occupied by those in power.
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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).The evidence available from Iran suggests that Khavari probably used his position to accumulate private wealth at the expense of ordinary Iranians. It is very possible that some of this wealth was illegally acquired. It is also very possible that ill-gotten wealth helped facilitate Khavari's acquisition of Canadian citizenship, given the way the Canadian immigration system operates.
Unfortunately, the Khavari petition endorses the use of tools by the Canadian government (specifically the revocation of citizenship) that are politically regressive and harmful to the interests of the same people who Khavari allegedly harmed: namely, ordinary Iranians, poor and working people.
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In Urdu, 'Tarek' literally means 'quitter'. - Interestingly, we saw this definition play in reality on Saturday, January 29, 2011, when Tarek Fatah backed out from a debate with me at the last minute without informing anyone at the venue.
Shamefully, he has still not spoken a word to the organizers about his uninformed absence. All they have to go by is a 'press release' by some organization he knows friends in, but one he does not officially represent in any way.
Assuming the press release letter voices Mr. Fatah’s views (the truth of which we may never know) it makes for an engaging read (see PDF attachment).
The clown on the letter by the name of Sohail Raza accuses NAMF of “turn(ing) a debate into a public inquisition”. This is a serious charge. How was this to be a public inquisition, I wonder? And why would it be public? Doesn’t the general public identify with Mr Fatah against the Big, Bad Islamists? Or perhaps, it is the public, not NAMF, which is full of anger toward you, Mr. Fatah, for the propaganda damage you cause them.
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