Critical Perspectives and Reflections

BILL LEE March 30, 2020 Trump the Free Marketer                Donald J. Trump is, as we know, a true believing, committed-free market zealot. We must also know that this has implications for how the United States has attempted, and will attempt, to manage the crisis of the Covid-19 pandemic in the USA. For example, David Leonhardt (2010: 14) reports in the New York Times that, people close to him have indicated that, "He does not want to direct companies to produce medical supplies because doing so would violate the administration's free-market economic Views". The venial stupidity of that kind of response would perhaps be startling if he were a different kind of man. But, we know that he isn't and it appears that Trump and at least some of his GOP minions, like Texas Republican Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, are having a go at softening up the public of the USA for the idea of a little triage of those who might become infected with the virus. The e...

BILL LEE March 16, 2020 BLOCKADES During and after (and continuing) the Wet'suet'en blockades in defence of their traditional lands in the face of the Coastal GasLink pipeline project, there was a good deal of talk and some wringing of hands among the punditry that the various blockades in support of the Wet’suet’en campaign for recognition of their traditional land rights (See Foot Not. 3). The concern was that these were causing not just inconvenience, but serious disruptions for Canadian society and for our economy. It should be pointed out that the Parliamentary Budget Officer for the Canadian, Yves Giroux, reportedly said their reaction was exaggerated.1 The protests did negatively affected the economy “but not as much as some pundits were pretending. " Nevertheless, we can, and should, have genuine sympathy for the workers and businesses that truly were temporarily injured. On the other hand, Indigenous people have been enduring "serious problems...

Bill Lee February 18, 2020 The recent attacks by the RCMP on the members of the land protectors of the Wet'suwet'en Nation in British Columbia in aid of the building of the Coastal Gaslink Pipeline have revived the discussion of the long history of colonial misappropriation of Indigenous resources and ill treatment of Indigenous people in Canada by the Canadian state. Of course the use of military and police force against Indigenous people was fundamental to the "clearing the plains"1 policy in the western expansion of Canada. It was a sordid story. We must be clear then that colonial outrages and thefts in Canada have a long and sordid history and that their effects have still not been adequately addressed (nor has there been serious recompense) by our society, except at the margins. But it is just as important to be clear that Indigenous people continue to live under a social, economic and political regimen that is profoundly oppressive and profound...

 Bill Lee September, 2, 2019  There is a recent article in the Guardian1 about the many deleterious effects on a community in West Papua, Indonesia of a copper mine operated by a company owned by a multinational conglomerate. It is more than unfortunate that this story is not at all unusual in its outline of the destructive effects the particular mine has had on the culture, environment and the local community. Resource extraction companies are, in my experience, the most avaricious and ruthless examples of raw capitalism in action in the world today. Profit is the god of these companies and any person or community that stands in their way will by assailed using the most virulently brutal and deadly tactics that they these companies are allowed (by bought and paid for governments) to get away with. Resource extraction companies, particularly as they have been operating in the vulnerable countries of the Global South have been allowed to destroy, people, communities, env...

Bill Lee August 24, 2019 Trump in his Florida speech asked how “these people” could be “stopped”. Someone among the crowd shouted, “Shoot them!” At first laughing, Trump responded, "That's only in the [Florida] panhandle, can you get away with that statement. [1] Given the obscene number of deaths from mass shootings in the USA recently it is probably not surprising that some of the old "rationales" have been taken off the shelf and dusted off. One GOP “legislator” has opined that there is a link to the spread and consumption of violent video games. Leaving aside that this is an exceedingly tired trope that has never been proven, there are a couple of others that clearly have much greater power as explanations. It is not, for example a fanciful notion that high capacity automatic weapons are a more likely link. [2] But there is another issue that really deserves much more full attention. When, oh when will the denizens political class, the media, a...

John Clarke August 13, 2019  The key left argument against supporting the movement in Hong Kong is that it is a reactionary expression of nostalgia for colonialism that is funded and manipulated by the National Endowment for Democracy (NED) and the CIA.  Obviously, the view you take of the situation in Hong Kong will be significantly shaped by your view of China. I have to say that I can't really take seriously the position that a march towards socialism is being led by the Chinese Communist Party (with an adroit detour to foreign investment, stock exchanges and billionaires to create the economic basis for a classless society). However, even among those who think the Chinese working class must act independently and challenge the governing regime, there are still disagreements over the Hong Kong movement.  The best commentary I've seen, some of it from local left sources and people from Hong Kong living abroad, doesn't try to pretend the mov...

Rhyming (mostly) Reflections on the State of Our Planet  BOB (ROPE) BREULS  July 14 2019  Photo: The Marsh in Summer at Dead Bear Farm. Cecelia Lee Much of this is not new  As recorded by Canada's own The Guess Who  As the Maple Leaf is unfurled  Sing Don't Give me no Hand-me-down Word.  The sentiment needs much more emphasis  Continue the metamorphosis  To dodge the imminent crisis  For such a beautiful planet ours IS.  Carbon, mercury, lead & cadmium  All out of place, Vomitorium  Neonic pesticide Nuclear waste  Microplastics  Consume, make haste  The frictionless commerce we know translates  Plastic on shelves to marine vertebrates  Demonstration only of friction displaced.  Now frequent are statements of “going green”  While keeping that high carbon regime  Will Earths record as archaeology scene  Well before the Anthropocene  ...

BILL LEE July 10, 2019 Over the last months there have been a series of eruptions of citizen frustration and anger related to the various confusions, miseries, injustices and questions of propriety related to the mean spirited attacks on, and draconian cuts to, a really startling wide array of social, legal, education, political and health programs by the one year plus Conservative Ontario government of Doug Ford. Starting with radically change of the structure of government in the middle of the Toronto municipal election and then moving on to the cancelling of the experiment with a guaranteed minimum wage program and most recently an alteration of services (and reduction of funding) for parents with children who have autism, Ford and his gang of rippers and tearers have disrupted, confused and dismayed a huge swath of the Ontario citizenry. As well many people have been taken aback by the early and often emergence of evidence of Ford’s and his minions attempts at various acts...

Bill Lee May 20, 2019 On May 1, 1919, the Winnipeg's building and metal workers went on strike for higher wages. Two weeks later, the Winnipeg Trades and Labour Council appealed for a general strike in support of the metal workers. They were demanding an improvement in their poor, filthy and unsafe, working conditions, inadequate wages and the refusal by many employers to recognize and negotiate with unions. Reflecting the tenor of the times1 , the response was overwhelming, a strike committee was formed and on May the 15th a general work stoppage took place. For six weeks (38 days) the workers’ committee virtually ran Winnipeg.                          May 15 of this year marked the 100th anniversary of the beginning of remarkable and brave action by men and women (it was women, specifically the 500 operators, the “Hello Girls”, of the Telephone system that started it off by walking out at 7:00 am) who sto...

                                                                                                                                         William Okemow1                                                                        August 15, 2018  I think the serious teaching of Indigenous history should be implemented in the school curriculums all across Canada. The true story, not what the colonial white man decides to write. It is an essential part of the hi...