Wednesday, August 1, 2018

Doug Ford, Hammer and Sickle Vodka, the NDP and BDS & more -- June and July on The Left Chapter in review

June and July saw 55 posts of various kinds on The Left Chapter.

Included among these was an interview with playwright Brandy Baker. There was also a first time article from Nathaniel Laxer whose piece Toronto mayoral contest off to dispiriting start came very close to making our top six list (in terms of hits).  So did the posts Greyhound Canada shows the imperative to build intercity public transit networksVote Communist in twelve ridings and other thoughts for election day in Ontario and End Game -- The Ontario Election and Doug Ford. A first article on The Left Chapter from Gabriel Haythornthwaite did make the list.

The period also saw our ever popular annual mid-year round-up of the 10 Best Songs of 2018...So far.

Meanwhile our three part series on Revolutionary Cuba 1975: Sixteen Years of Socialist Construction Part I -- Photographs and Chronology (you can view Part II and Part III) was our most successful vintage photography series to date. There were posts to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the birth of Nelson Mandela and the 90th anniversary of the birth of Che. We also posted a speech from Nelson Mandela on the anniversary of the revolutionary attack on the Moncada Barracks, Cuba.

Thanks very much to all our readers and contributors.

If you have an article, editorial, analysis, recipe or story you would like to contribute there are details on how to do so on our Submissions page as well as at the end of this post.

Without any further ado, here are the top six posts, in terms of hits, from June and July.

1) Chaos Theory: For Doug Ford disruption will be the plan

What exactly will be targeted and when remains to be seen, but now that it is about to be unleashed the Ford proverbial bull in the china shop will attempt to leave a path of total devastation in its wake over the next four years and -- for all of the times it will appear aimless or mindless -- this will have been its overarching ideological objective.

Read more! 

2) News of the absurd: NDP MLAs get "Hammer and Sickle" vodka pulled from Alberta stores

In the latest -- and one of the most absurd -- example of "social democrats" and others pandering to cartoonish anti-communism, two Alberta NDP government MLAs have successfully pressured the Alberta Gaming and Liquor Commission to have a Russian vodka brand pulled from Alberta stores.

Read more!

3) Socialist International backs BDS. When will Canada's NDP?

In a surprisingly strongly worded statement from them, the Socialist International (SI) -- which "brings together 140 global political parties, including 35 parties in government" -- has denounced recent actions by Israel and called on "all governments and civil society organizations to activate Boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) against the Israeli occupation, all the occupation institutions, and the illegal Israeli settlement including the total embargo on all forms of military trade and cooperation with Israel as long as it continues its policies of occupation and Apartheid against the Palestinian people."

Read more!

4) In the wake of another mass killing in Toronto we have to keep talking about male violence

An horrific act of mass violence in Toronto last night. It is hard to find the words. The victims include an 18 year old woman who was celebrating her birthday and heading to university in the fall and a ten year old girl. The cruelty of it is unimaginable.

Read more! 

5) A call for the NDP to withdraw from the Canada-Israel Interparliamentary Group

The undersigned are appalled by the recent deaths in Gaza. At least 110 Palestinians have been killed and thousands injured by sniper fire and noxious gas used by the Israeli military. The recent violence takes place alongside ongoing land theft, destruction of olive groves, construction of Jewish-only roads, imprisonment without due process and a blockade of Gaza. During its 70-year history Israel has been as unjust towards Palestinians as the white-ruled apartheid state was to Black South Africans.

Read more!


6) Ontario’s 2018 Election: Pessimism Today, Strategic Organizing Tomorrow

By Gabriel Haythornthwaite


The merry-go-round of Ontario's corporate politics is reaching its dizzying conclusion today and I imagine I am not the only one who wants off this shitty ride.

Read more!

Our top food related post was: Clay Baked Peameal Bacon Roast.

Do you have a left point-of-view or opinion, event or petition, a recipe or a story you want to share?

Send them to The Left Chapter via theleftchapter@outlook.com!

See also: Toronto Misogynist Terror Attack, Gaza, Doug Ford & more -- April and May on The Left Chapter in review

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