NDP hypocrisy fueled by seeming short-term memory loss

The good folks in the NDP would have you believe that only two parties have ever governed in Canada and that they are the evil Liberals and Conservatives. If only voters would finally throw off the shackles of this duopoly the Canadian people would be liberated for the dawn of new political era.

The trouble in Mouseland is that this is not quite true. The NDP certainly has been in government in Canada on a provincial level and in the last couple of decades to say that its record in office has not exactly broken the mould of neo-liberal governance would be rather generous.

From Darrell Dexter to Rachel Notley to John Horgan to the disaster of a generation in "power" in Manitoba, New Democrats have a proven record of being nothing very fundamentally different that is pretty hard to dispute unless you are willfully blind or buy into the party's culture of groupthink and gaslighting.

We could -- and often have on The Left Chapter -- go on and on about this but two recent examples really show how they are trying to sell you shit as Shinola.

First there is this rather disingenuous post from Niki Ashton who is often seen as a "left" New Democrat.

The Communist Party correctly calls her out on what seems an obvious attempt to peddle what are at least as clearly the political crimes and failings of the Manitoba NDP as if they are all on the Trudeau Liberals and Harper.

It is always worth remembering the Manitoba NDP left office with a higher child poverty rate than when they came in and a minimum wage that was lower than that of neighbouring Liberal Ontario!

Then there is the attempt this week by the federal party to call out Trudeau for the -- admittedly totally shameful -- decision to buy the Trans Mountain pipeline. They are so proud of their "You. Bought. A. Pipeline." line that they sent out an email about it.

While giving full marks for chutzpah, it is pretty rich for the federal NDP to be putting this out at all.The pipeline was purchased to placate a provincial NDP government whose leader, Rachel Notley, did her very best to push a hard right line on tar sands exploitation and make it mainstream due to her allegedly coming from a "left" party in ways that overt reactionaries could only dream of.

Notley signaled that her government was going to take a quisling approach to collaboration with business and the oil companies on her very first day in office.

The line is even more absurd given Singh's refusal to take a stand on the BC NDP riding roughshod over the rights of Indigenous people and environmental concerns with regards to the LNG project. It is also worth remembering that it was B.C. NDP Premier John Horgan whose profoundly cynical comments after green-lighting the Site C project included him actually saying "When it comes to reconciliation and working with Indigenous leadership there has been over 150 years of disappointment in British Columbia. I’m not the first person to stand before you and disappoint Indigenous people."

It amazes me that any New Democrat could possibly pull off this faux outrage with a straight face. The NDP pretty clearly depends on people either having a short memory or engaging in double think.

As we have noted before, there is more than enough hypocrisy to go around. And there is also more than enough of a history of the NDP in power in Canada to tell us exactly what we can expect to change if they get elected federally which is nothing much at all.

Where Does the NDP Stand on Venezuela?

UPDATE, February 6:Hélène Laverdière has now publicly stated that her position is the party's official position: 

"Foreign affairs critic Helene Laverdiere told the National Post that she speaks for her party when she says she’s “comfortable” with Canada recognizing a new, interim president in Juan Guaido."

Where does the NDP stand on Venezuela?


After New Democrat MP Niki Ashton tweeted her opposition to the Liberal government's collaboration with the American led coup agenda in Venezuela and statements by other New Democrats like Svend Robinson, Jagmeet Singh and the federal party appeared to take a stance opposing the recognition of the American handpicked presidential pretender Juan Guaido:

The question of who is to lead Venezuela should be in the hands of Venezuelans. All countries should be free to make their own democratic decisions through free and fair elections, independent of authoritative pressure or foreign interference.

Today, however, according to the National Post and NDP  foreign affairs critic Hélène Laverdière's own twitter feed that may no longer be the case.

The National Post states:

 Asked on Monday to respond to fears on the left that Canada is facilitating imperialism, Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland said she finds the idea difficult to justify and hers is a pro-democracy position. The NDP, which had been hitherto agnostic, clarified its own position when foreign affairs critic Hélène Laverdière said Monday she now accepts the Liberal government’s recognition of Guaido — just not how they went about it.

Meanwhile on twitter Laverdière retweeted a tweet by French President Emmanuel Macron recognizing Guaido as the legitimate president of Venezuela:

Les Vénézuéliens ont le droit de s’exprimer librement et démocratiquement. La France reconnaît @jguaido comme « président en charge » pour mettre en œuvre un processus électoral. Nous soutenons le Groupe de contact, créé avec l’UE, dans cette période de transition.

So, which one is it?

Entirely predictably it would appear the NDP is going over to the imperialist camp.

UPDATE:

Laverdière makes clear the NDP position is now in support of recognizing Guaido starting at around 1:40 in this video. She says that the EU countries that recognized him "did the right thing" and much more as well:

Imperialist Attack on Venezuela -- The Week in News, Opinion and Videos January 20 - 27

This week's list of articles, news items, opinion pieces and videos that I see as a must if you are looking for a roundup that should be of interest to The Left Chapter readers.

This list covers the week of January 20 - 27.

In addition to a general overview of news and opinion, this week's installment begins with a large section devoted to the ongoing attempts of the United States with its lackeys in Canada and Europe to overthrow the legitimate government of Venezuela and install a regime beholden to imperialism and global capital.

1) Fears of US-Backed 'Coup' in Motion as Trump Recognizes Venezuela Opposition Lawmaker as 'Interim President'

Jon Queally, Common Dreams 

"Before the people and nations of the world, and as constitutional president," declared Maduro to a crowd of red-shirted supporters gathered outside the presidential residence in Caracas, "I've decided to break diplomatic and political relations with the imperialist U.S. government."

2) Venezuela's VP to Mike Pence: 'Yankee, Go Home'

Telesur

Venezuelan Vice President Delcy Rodriguez Tuesday said U.S. Vice President Mike Pence was "openly calling for a coup d'état in Venezuela " after Pence issued a video message of support to the Venezuelan opposition to encourage those who are protesting against President Nicolas Maduro and underline U.S. backing for opposition lawmaker Juan Guaido, the self-appointed head of the suspended National Assembly.

Read: In Venezuela as in Chile, what is past is prologue

In the strongest words possible I denounce US aggression against Venezuela, as an international observer in the 2018 elections for President I stand in support of the democratically elected President Nicolás Maduro - Don Foreman

Read: Which of these countries is not like the other? -- A Justin Trudeau and Chrystia Freeland Imperialism Quiz!

3) New Coup Attempt In Venezuela Led by Juan Guaido

Telesur 

The Venezuelan right-wing, backed by the United States and other right-wing governments in the region, continue with their coup agenda against the Bolivarian government.

4) Mexico backs Maduro as Venezuela president amid crisis

France 24

Mexico still backs Nicolas Maduro as Venezuelan president, the government's top spokesman said Wednesday after the head of Venezuela's opposition-controlled legislature declared himself interim president.

5) Venezuelan Armed Forces Recognize Maduro as President

Telesur

Venezuela’s Defense Minister, Vladimir Padrino Lopez, declared Wednesday that the National Bolivarian Armed Forces (FANB) refuses to accept the opposition leader Juan Guaido as the interim president of the Latin American country.

6) Venezuela to receive 2,000 Cuban doctors pulled from Brazil: Maduro

Reuters

Venezuela will receive 2,000 Cuban doctors who left Brazil following a dispute between the Communist-run island and the government of far-right Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, who ordered an end to their stay after taking office this year.

7) Cuba expresses ‘support’ for Venezuela’s Maduro after ‘coup attempt’

Politiko

Cuba sprang to the defense of its socialist ally Nicolas Maduro on Wednesday, expressing its “support” for the Venezuela president and hitting out at “imperialist” foes after opposition leader Juan Guaido declared himself president.

8) Canada will host meeting of the Lima Group on Venezuela: source

Reuters

Canada will host a meeting of the Lima Group regional bloc to discuss next steps in Venezuela, where opposition leader Juan Guaido has sworn himself in as interim president, a source familiar with the matter said on Thursday.

9) Jagmeet Singh questions Canada’s recognition of Venezuelan opposition leader

Alex Ballingall, The Toronto Star

NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh is questioning Canada’s decision to recognize a Venezuelan opposition leader as the country’s interim president, after prominent members of his party lashed out at the Liberal government’s foreign policy move Thursday.

10) Hands off Venezuela! No support for made in the USA coup d’etat

Communist Party of Canada

The Communist Party of Canada condemns the Canadian government’s recognition of Juan Guaido, leader of Venezuela’s opposition and self-proclaimed President of Venezuela, as the ‘legitimate’ President of Venezuela; and we condemn the Canadian government’s endorsement of the US call for the Venezuelan military to overthrow the popularly elected and legitimate government of Nicolas Maduro.

11) Freeland spoke to Venezuelan opposition leader two weeks before he declared himself interim president, source says

Michelle Zilio, The Globe and Mail

Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland spoke with Juan Guaido to congratulate him on unifying opposition forces in Venezuela, two weeks before he declared himself interim president.

12) Canadian labour group blasts Ottawa’s ‘provocative’ stance on Venezuela

Levon Sevunts, The Globe and Mail

An umbrella group of Canadian labour and civil society organizations says Canada’s recognition of Venezuela’s opposition leader Juan Guaido as the country’s interim president will only lead to more internal conflict and polarization, and sets in motion a diplomatic showdown between Caracas and Ottawa.

13) Declaration of the Revolutionary Government: The aggression against Venezuela must stop

MINREX

The Revolutionary Government of the Republic of Cuba strongly condemns and rejects the attempt to impose through a coup a puppet government in the service of the United States in the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela and expresses its unwavering solidarity with the Government of the constitutional president Nicolás Maduro Moros.

14) ‘Resistance’ Media Side With Trump to Promote Coup in Venezuela

Alan MacLeod, FAIR

We like to think we have an adversarial media—one that will stand up, in particular, to Donald Trump. The media assured us that they would perform their crucial democratic role in holding this dangerous new president and commander-in-chief accountable at every turn. This struck a chord with the public; in the wake of Trump’s victory in 2016, the New York Times added over a quarter-million digital subscribers in a matter of weeks. “Democracy,” after all, “Dies in Darkness,” as the Washington Post tells us on every webpage.


Yet on Trump’s support for regime change in Venezuela, the “resistance” media are lining up shoulder to shoulder with the president.

15) CUPE Statement on the situation in Venezuela

CUPE

The Canadian government was one of the first governments in the world to declare support for Juan Guaidó. In doing so, they have chosen to side with a self-declared leader over President Nicolás Maduro, who was duly elected by the people of Venezuela. They have also chosen to side with Donald Trump and US foreign policy.

16) Venezuela, Many Nations, Reject US-Led Interventionism at UNSC Session

Telesur 

On Saturday the United Nations (U.N.) Security Council was summoned by the United States to meet Saturday to discuss the internal situation of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela. Venezuelan Foreign Affairs Minister Jorge Arreaza delivered a speech defending Venezuela against the U.S. interventionism and was backed by several countries from across the world.

17) The Radicalization of U.S. Policy on Venezuela

Steve Ellner, Venezuela Analysis

Washington’s recognition of the shadow government headed by Venezuelan National Assembly president Juan Guaidó is one more demonstration of how the Trump administration has radicalized foreign policy positions and in doing so violates international law, including the OAS charter.

18) Hands off Venezuela!

Communist Party USA

The already dangerous situation involving Venezuela has suddenly escalated over the last few days, as the legally elected president, Nicolas Maduro, has prepared to start a new term.

19) Role of America and local capitalist cronies clear in Venezuelan coup

 Heiko Khoo, China.org

A coup d'état is underway in Venezuela seeking to oust President Nicolás Maduro and install a U.S. puppet in his place – 35-year-old opposition leader Juan Guaidó.

20) Venezuelan President Maduro Leads Military Exercises 'To Guarantee Peace'

Telesur

At this event, the military reiterated their support for the Bolivarian Revolution, the constitution and the defense of the homeland.

21) Trump’s fascist aggression on Venezuela will flop, says Musumali

Chambwa Moonga, The Mast

“Trump and his Vice-President, Mike Pence, all their lackeys in the Americas, will be made to swallow their endorsements of those spineless puppets in Venezuela. We will make sure that the voice of the African leftists is heard loud and clear. We are unequivocal in our support of the leadership of Comrade Maduro and we pledge our undying solidarity to the multitudes of that county’s working class masses who have continued to rally behind our comrades in Venezuela,” Dr Musumali said. “The Socialist Party (Zambia) also pledge undying solidarity with the federal government employees in the US who, due to Trump’s failed leadership, have gone for over a month without getting their pay cheque following an unprecedented Government Shutdown driven by Trump’s fascist tendencies.”

22) Maduro rejects ultimatum on fresh elections in Venezuela

The Guardian

Venezuela’s embattled president, Nicolás Maduro, has rejected an international ultimatum to call elections within eight days, and said the opposition leader, Juan Guaidó, had violated the country’s constitution by declaring himself leader.

23) Bolivia's Right-Wing Follows Latest Trend, Plans to Boycott Primary Elections

Telesur

The right-wing script continues in Latin America, opposition parties will boycott primary elections in Bolivia scheduled for Sunday to elect the parties candidates for president and vice president for the presidential elections in October.

24) Trying to sue socialism: Trump ratchets up the pressure on Cuba

Rob Miller, The Morning Star

Using a previously unenforced law against trade with Cuba, the Trump administration is heading towards a major showdown with the international community.

25) U.S govt shutdown exposes capitalism’s unending crises – Socialist Party

Chambwa Moonga, The Mast

DR Cosmas Musumali says the month-long Donald Trump-orchestrated U.S federal government shutdown where over 800,000 public service workers have gone for weeks without pay is an indictment on those neoliberal bureaucrats still living in denial that the end of capitalism is in sight.

26) Time to Break the Silence on Palestine

Michelle Alexander, The New York Times

Martin Luther King Jr. courageously spoke out about the Vietnam War. We must do the same when it comes to this grave injustice of our time.

27) Martin Luther King was no prophet of unity. He was a radical

Bhaskar Sunkara, The Guardian 

King was a champion of the poor and oppressed. If we want to truly honor his legacy, we’ll struggle to finish his work.

28) World's 26 richest people own as much as poorest 50%, says Oxfam

Larry Elliott, The Guardian

The growing concentration of the world’s wealth has been highlighted by a report showing that the 26 richest billionaires own as many assets as the 3.8 billion people who make up the poorest half of the planet’s population.

29) 'MAGA hat boys' reportedly filmed harassing girls before stand-off with Native American man

Loweena Roberts, INDY 100

A video has emerged on social media reportedly showing the Covington Catholic High School boys 'harrassing' young women, said to have taken place before the viral moment with the Native American protestor happened.

30) The US is still not ready to look at the ugly racism against Native Americans

Julian Brave NoiseCat, The Guardian 

The standoff between students and a Native American man reveals who gets compassion, and who doesn’t.

31) How conservative media transformed the Covington Catholic students from pariahs to heroes

Jason Wilson, The Guardian 

In just four days, teenager Nick Sandmann and his fellow students at Covington Catholic high school have gone from social media pariahs to conservative heroes.

32) The MAGA Teens Knew They Would Get the Benefit of the Doubt 

Jay Willis, GQ

From the moment Nick Sandmann planted himself in front of Nathan Phillips, surrounded by dancing, whooping Covington Catholic students who found the elderly drummer's very existence to be at once amusing and worthy of their scorn, the only thing more inevitable than the initial outrage was the tsunami of counter-outrage directed at anyone who had the audacity to be mad that MAGA-hat-wearing teenagers would mock a Vietnam-era veteran. The campaign, which laundered Sandmann's statement through the usual sequence of right-wing media outlets, ended as all defenses of bigotry cloaked as even-handed appeals to civility do: with a pronouncement of judgment from the man who made his hat famous.

33) Portraying the MAGA Teens as Victims Is an Extension of Native American Erasure

Nick Estes, The Intercept

BY NOW, MILLIONS around the world have seen the viral video of dozens of Catholic schoolboys sporting “Make America Great Again,” or MAGA, hats tomahawk-chopping and mocking a Native elder, who was drumming and singing at the feet of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C. Nathan Phillips, the military veteran and water protector from the Omaha Nation, waded into the crowd of high school students, as he tried to defuse a tense situation between the students and a group of black Israelites who were taunting Natives and passers-by with racist and homophobic comments. It was an iconic moment loaded with history. And what should have been a time of soul-searching for a nation founded on Indigenous genocide has instead morphed into an attack on Indigenous people.

34) NO FIXED ADDRESS

Nicholas Hune-Brown, Toronto Life

Shelters are overwhelmed, social housing is a mess, rents are exorbitant. The cost: 100 deaths a year. How a city obsessed with growth and prosperity forgot about its most vulnerable.

35) Toronto abandons its homeless people

Paul Salvatori, NOW Magazine

Maybe Mayor John Tory needs to pay a visit to the encampments of homeless people living under the Gardiner to understand the unnecessary human suffering being caused by the housing crisis in our city.

36) Doug Ford scrapping rate protection for more than 325,000 Ontario hydro customers

Brian Hill and Jamie Mauracher, Global News

Premier Doug Ford’s government is scrapping legislation that aims to regulate the price of electricity for more than 325,000 hydro customers in Ontario.

37) Rebranding solitary confinement doesn’t change what it is

Noa Mendelsohn Aviv, The Globe and Mail

There was a time when an unconstitutional government policy was not something lamented then simply rebranded. Once a court found it unconstitutional, the practice just ... ended, especially when politicians had campaigned against it. Not so solitary confinement – an old practice that today’s Parliament loves to hate, hates to love, but just keeps on doing.

38) Pride Toronto members vote no to allowing police to march in annual parade

CBC News

Members of Pride Toronto voted Tuesday night against allowing police to participate in the city's annual parade amid frustrations among many over the organization's recent invitation to police to rejoin the march.

39) Striking LA Teachers Reach Agreement With School District

Telesur

The Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) and United Teachers Los Angeles (UTLA) announced a resolution Tuesday, which ended the first teachers' strike in more than 30 years.

40) Mexico: 40,000 Factory Workers Strike for Better Wages

Telesur 

Demanding an increase in wage and compensation bonus, almost 40,000 factory workers stopped working in around 50 factories in Matamoros, Mexico.

41) Fact-Checking the Jewish National Fund of Canada

 Michelle Weinroth, Socialist Project Bullet 

My parents first met in 1945 on the subway cars of New York city. They were 16 years of age. Like many Zionist youth of the post-war era, they were dedicated to world peace. Emissaries of the Zionist youth movement (Hashomer Hatzair), they gave fiery speeches in support of Jews seeking safe haven in Palestine. The little blue and white tin they passed around the subway riders served to garner countless donations for the Jewish National Fund (JNF), a charitable organization devoted to purchasing and ‘reclaiming’ land in Palestine for Jews – for Jews only, that is.

42) Kshama Sawant Is Running for City Council Again

Rich Smith, The Stranger

On Thursday morning at Saba Ethiopian Cuisine, a restaurant in the Central District she's trying to save from displacement, two-term incumbent Seattle City Council Member Kshama Sawant announced her re-election campaign. Little hints of a run have been popping up the last few weeks, but now it's really official.

43) Half of Saskatchewan families on verge of bankruptcy


Ronald Quaroni, Laronge Now 

Saskatchewan families are just barely staying financially afloat.

44) Brazil's sole openly gay congressman leaves country after death threats

The Guardian

Brazil’s first and only openly gay congressman has announced that he is leaving his job – and the country – after receiving death threats.

45) Hundreds of nonviolent immigration detainees sent to max-security jails as part of ‘abhorrent’ government program

Brendan Kennedy, The Toronto Star

Canada’s immigration authorities locked up nearly 1,500 nonviolent immigration detainees in maximum-security jails last year, the Star has found.

46) Birmingham Civil Rights Institute Reaffirms Award for Angela Davis

Democracy Now

The Birmingham Civil Rights Institute board has voted to reaffirm leading activist and scholar Angela Davis as the recipient of its Fred L. Shuttlesworth Human Rights Award, after previously rescinding the award over her activism for Palestinian rights.

47) Sun Boss Goes To Work For Doug Ford

Johnathan Goldsbie, Canadaland 

In one of the more direct lines from media into politics that this country has seen, James Wallace, vice president of editorial for the Sun papers, announced this morning that he will be leaving Postmedia to take a job in the office of Ontario Premier Doug Ford. Reports indicate that he will become one of Ford’s deputy chiefs of staff.

48) Alberta Is Playing a Dangerous Game with Pipeline Ad Campaign

Mitchell Anderson, The Tyee

Not merely cynical and inaccurate, the campaign to portray Albertans as victims also risks emboldening a growing number of extremist elements hijacking “yellow vest” protests.

49) She Wanted to Drive, So Saudi Arabia’s Ruler Imprisoned and Tortured Her

Nicholas Kristof, The New York Times

Remember this name: Loujain (pronounced Loo-JAYNE) al-Hathloul. She is 29 years old and a courageous advocate for gender equality — so she is in a Saudi Arabian prison, and reportedly our Saudi allies have tortured her, even waterboarded her.

50) Far-right Poles protest government at Auschwitz on Holocaust Remembrance Day

The Times of Israel 

A far-right Polish activist gathered with other nationalists outside the former Auschwitz death camp to protest Poland’s government.

51) Why incels are a 'real and present threat' for Canadians

The Fifth Estate · CBC News

A Colorado man named Christopher Cleary took to social media and laid out the plan for an attack that was coming together in his mind.

See also: L.A. Teacher's Strike, Gillette, Doug Ford, Neo-Nazis in Ukraine & more -- The Week in News, Opinion and Videos January 13 - 20

Etobicoke Park Stairs, Niki Ashton, Jagmeet Singh & more -- 2017 on The Left Chapter in review

2017 saw over 300 posts of various kinds on The Left Chapter. We also saw record numbers of hits and readers including the top piece in The Left Chapter's history.

It also saw the launch of new pages and features such as the Vintage Leftist Leaflet Project.

Consistently popular as well were our vintage postcard and photography posts such as Leningrad During the Days of the War and in Peacetime -- A Photographic Exposition of Resistance, Victory and Reconstruction, Vintage Vegas 1958 - A Colour Postcard Folder of the Classic Hotels and Toronto Working Class and Immigrant Life 1910 - A Photographic Exposition. 

I want to thank all of our readers and contributors very much for their feedback, support, criticisms and engagement.

The year had many posts that came very, very close to making this list including posts like John Horgan lets the facade drop with cynical, ugly comments after green-lighting Site C, In the shadow of October -- Reflecting on the USSR and Soviet power, If there is no left, there is no left -- A short note on the politics of appeasement and socialist ideology and Omar Khadr is 'innocent' even if he is 'guilty'. 

We also had contributions from other writers that were widely read and shared and included Scotty Hertz's trenchant and brilliantly titled The Constant Image Gardeners, Marko Velimir Kobak's The Meaning of October on its Centenary looking at the Russian Revolution's legacy, and Ammario Reza's Polling Success or Electoral Flop? Religious Neutrality Laws that asks if bills like Quebec's C-61 are really as popular as people think they are.

Thank you so much to everyone who contributed this year and I look forward to seeing what interesting viewpoints and arguments we see next year!

(Remember that if you have a left point-of-view or opinion, a recipe or a story you want to share or if you want to share a petition/appeal or upcoming event you can send them to The Left Chapter via theleftchapter@outlook.com!)

Here, without further ado, are the top ten posts (in terms of hits) on The Left Chapter in 2017:

1) Etobicoke "park stairs" story is a perfect example of the crass, reactionary, anti-regulatory nonsense that led to the Grenfell disaster

By now almost everyone in  Toronto would have heard the story of newly minted Etobicoke folk hero  Adi Astl and how he built stairs quickly in a park for only $500 when city officials said building the stairs would cost $65,000 or more.

Read more!

See also: John Tory's austerity regime triumphs in latest Toronto budget

2) James Di Fiore's hatchet job on Niki Ashton deserves nothing but contempt

No doubt many have seen the inane hatchet job James Di Fiore wrote on the Huffington Post attacking Niki Ashton in deeply sexist, reactionary and over-the-top terms that lead to his absurd assertion from the title on that her "Obsession With Identity Politics Could Destroy The NDP".

Read more!

See also: The backlash against Niki Ashton from anti-Black Lives Matter commentators is what is really off base

See also: The sexist insults about Catherine McKenna are not acceptable because sexism is not acceptable

3) Don't be fooled -- The campaign against so-called small business tax reform is class warfare by the wealthy

Census data released today from 2016, according to Andrew Jackson of the Broadbent Institute, confirms "rising income inequality" in Canada.

Read more!

See also: Niki Ashton releases strongest Canadian federal social democratic tax platform in a generation

4) Singh's victory was a direct repudiation of the left by the NDP -- It is pointless to pretend otherwise

In the two weeks since Jagmeet Singh was elected leader of the federal NDP in a first ballot landslide where nearly half of party members did not even bother to vote at all, the dust has settled to reveal a party that neither wanted nor embraced any serious change of course or path of introspection after the catastrophe of 2015.

Read the full article.

See also: The Constant Image Gardeners

5) We don't need a populist left, post-identity politics left or 'alt left' to fight the rise of the far right, we just need a left

Have you heard the news?

The "left" is "out of touch" with the pulse of what is going on in the United States and North America more broadly because insert left academic or commentator/insert left publication says this must be true due to Trump's victory in the US Presidential race.

Read more!

See also: If there is no left, there is no left -- A short note on the politics of appeasement and socialist ideology

6) Niki Ashton is the leader the NDP and Canada needs

Guest Editorial by Robert McCarthy

My name is Robert McCarthy from Sudbury, Ontario and I am supporting Niki Ashton to become the next leader of the New Democratic Party of Canada. Like myself, Niki is a proud Democratic Socialist. She is the candidate that I most identify with. Her vision includes free tuition and student debt forgiveness, opposing pipelines where they infringe on Indigenous rights and endanger the environment, and the expansion of public healthcare to include dental care, pharmacare and access to mental health services for all Canadians. These policies are perfectly in line with what I believe.

Read more!

See also: How Guy Caron Made His Way To 1st Choice On My #NDPldr Ballot

7) Liberal Minister Chrystia Freeland should resign for celebrating her grandfather's Nazi past

The sins of the mother or father, grandmother or grandfather, should never be held against the child...unless they then appear to lie about and celebrate those sins.

Read more!

See also: Secrets and Lies -- Chrystia Freeland's grandfather and collaborating with the Nazis

8) Justin Trudeau's dangerous Syrian Trump gambit

What a difference a night and an imperial missile strike makes. Especially to those who jockey for position within the shadow of an empire.

Read more!

See also: Trudeau's Refusal to Stand Up to Trump A Disgrace

9) Call it men's rights extremism because that is what it is -- What The Walrus got wrong in their article about CAFE

To ring in the New Year The Walrus magazine decided to run a rather long, and very odd piece about the Canadian Association for Equality (CAFE) and the attempts by its leader, Justin Trottier, to allegedly mainstream men's rights activism (MRA) in Canada.

Read more!

See also: University of Calgary Conservatives plan to mark International Women's Day with a men's rights movie

#10) Conundrum: Niki Ashton and the NDP leadership campaign

Given the truly inspiring turn of events within the Labour Party in the UK under Corbyn over the last couple of years it is not at all surprising that leftists in Canada are hoping that perhaps these conditions can be recreated here and within the country's mainstream social democratic party the NDP.

Read more!

See also: Rehabilitating Andrea Horwath's leadership and the danger of a short political memory

Have a happy and safe New Year! See you all in 2018. 

Singh's victory was a direct repudiation of the left by the NDP -- It is pointless to pretend otherwise

In the two weeks since Jagmeet Singh was elected leader of the federal NDP in a first ballot landslide where nearly half of party members did not even bother to vote at all, the dust has settled to reveal a party that neither wanted nor embraced any serious change of course or path of introspection after the catastrophe of 2015.

It is often worth waiting to see the narratives that emerge in the days following a vote such as this one and these have varied from the predictable to the farcical.

Predictably the party pundits and establishment -- as well as, significantly, a variety of right wing or liberal media commentators outside of the party -- have embraced Singh's victory as the dawn of a new era of leadership that will be aimed at electorally besting Trudeau and that rejects any silly notions of radicalism or leftism.

Of course, the very same people also embraced Mulcair's victory in exactly the same way in the 2012 leadership contest.

Singh is regularly framed as a serious contender against Trudeau not due to his polices but due to his perceived charisma, good looks and even his hair. This is par for the course in a neoliberal politics that infantilizes voters and that intentionally seeks to dumb down the discourse and minimize differences between the parties.

As I have noted before, it is no mystery why the mainstream media to a degree celebrates folks within the NDP like Singh and Mulcair as they represent a non-threatening, centrist oriented version of "social democracy". If there is no real left, there is no real left and there is nothing that makes the notion that truly anti-capitalist or socialist ideas are absurd or not to be taken seriously more creditable then when what used to be a socialist party itself repudiates these ideas.

New Democrats and "progressives" should stop feigning surprise when the mainstream media casts a spotlight on politicians in the NDP like Singh. It makes perfect sense that they would.

The NDP's marginalized left supporters were reduced to trying to claim a "moral" victory that is not at all readily apparent to anyone who is not looking to desperately seek out any reason at all why socialist or anti-capitalist activists should continue to support or work within a party that would have been best abandoned a generation ago.

The line that emerged from this quarter was not that the leadership results showed yet again the futility of trying to shift the party left -- a tactic that has failed for over 40 years with ever decreasing results -- but rather that somehow the "left" and the candidacy of Niki Ashton had pushed all the candidates to take more socialistic positions in the wake of the ouster of Mulcair.

But this position is silly and simply ignores the fact that events both outside the NDP and outside of Canada played a far greater role in what little ramping up of the left rhetoric that there was. Justin Trudeau's outmaneuvering of Tom Mulcair on the "left" in the federal election, as well as the campaigns of Sanders in the United States and Corbyn in the UK framed a context where any candidate was going to strike a more mildly "left" tone.

This is indicative of a new and broader shift to the left in the progressive wing of the public both domestically and internationally that, sadly, the NDP had basically nothing at all to do with.

It is more than a bit a humourous -- as well as a sign of its total irrelevance within the party -- to see what is left of the NDP's left framing the leadership contest as showing its "influence" when the sole candidate running on anything remotely like a serious leftist platform only got 17.4% of the votes of the 52.8% of New Democrats who got around to casting a ballot.

If this signals that the "left" is a serious force in the NDP, I fail to see how. Especially as there is no evidence at all that Ashton or most of those who backed her will try to set themselves up as an opposition within the party.

There was not much of a left socialist case for continuing with the NDP going into the leadership race (and whatever one there was rested rather tenuously on Ashton)  and any serious analysis of the results would indicate that there is even less of one now, especially in light of the party's total repudiation of a shift akin to that occurring in the British Labour Party.

The notion that Ashton or any other campaign pushed the party to the "left" is fanciful at best, diversionary at worst, and is more wishful thinking than so-called analysis. I think this will be borne out rather quickly.

Now, with the former deputy leader of the odious ONDP in charge, and with the focus being on the most shallow of charismatic electoral considerations,  you can look forward to an exceptionally light and entirely rhetorical version of "social democracy".

The left in Canada seems trapped in a feedback loop of either insisting that the NDP is or can be a vehicle that it is not and never will be, or of suicidally eschewing left electoral vehicles or coalitions outside of the NDP altogether. Singh's easy victory and the total absence of a cohesive and significant left alternative to it either within the NDP or in federal Canadian politics more broadly shows that while the conditions are clearly there to directly challenge neoliberal austerity capitalism ideologically and politically on the larger stage of party politics, leftists and socialists continue to be either unwilling or unable to take the steps necessary to do so.

See also: Conundrum: Niki Ashton and the NDP leadership campaign

Niki Ashton, Tax Reform, Guy Caron & more -- August and September on The Left Chapter in review

August and September saw 57 posts published on The Left Chapter. The top two posts hits wise this month were among the most read pieces in The Left Chapter history.

One post that was from over a year ago also took off again and would have been on this list had it been from the period. This was Stop sharing the refugees vs. seniors internet myths!

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 August and September.

1) James Di Fiore's hatchet job on Niki Ashton deserves nothing but contempt


No doubt many have seen the inane hatchet job James Di Fiore wrote on the Huffington Post attacking Niki Ashton in deeply sexist, reactionary and over-the-top terms that lead to his absurd assertion from the title on that her "Obsession With Identity Politics Could Destroy The NDP".

Read More!

2) Don't be fooled -- The campaign against so-called small business tax reform is class warfare by the wealthy

Census data released today from 2016, according to Andrew Jackson of the Broadbent Institute, confirms "rising income inequality" in Canada.

Read More!

3) How Guy Caron Made His Way To 1st Choice On My #NDPldr Ballot

by Ammario Reza

There have been so many opinions and arguments rendered on the subject of the federal NDP leadership race that it truly became a conundrum to figure out what angle to take for this column. There was also the fact that I had decided to do something out of character and openly endorse a particular candidate, which presented its own challenges in terms of how to approach writing this.  Finally, I decided to take the slightly unusual path of writing it from a “personal experience” perspective, using the first-person narrative to chronicle how I ultimately now find myself more certain than I have ever been before about the future of the New Democratic Party of Canada. I also decided to answer the one question I get asked most frequently regarding this race, which is: “what made you decide to go for Guy Caron so passionately as your first choice?” So, here goes:

Read More! 

4) Snapshot of the Manitoba Provincial NDP Leadership Race: Toxicity or Healing?

by Ammario Reza

As most New Democrat eyes are fixated on the federal NDP leadership race taking place, Manitoba's provincial NDP is also currently in the process of choosing their next leader.

Read More!

5) #BlackOut protest movement seeks boycott of NFL over blacklisting of Kaepernick (with video)

With the obvious and shameful blacklisting of Colin Kaepernick by the NFL's owners continuing, a protest movement is growing that aims to expose and push back at this.

Read More! 

6) Quebec Bill 62 is not about secularism and must be opposed by the left

Especially now in the era of Trump the reality of where anti-Islamic rhetoric and actions can lead has come into clear focus. Islamophobic laws that would accept the violation of fundamental and basic freedoms under the guise of promoting women's rights, secularism or social order are particularly dangerous at this junction in history.

Read More!

The top food related post was: Woody's Burgers Bar and Grill - Hardwood Grilled Burgers Among Toronto's Best

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: Etobicoke Park Stairs, Niki Ashton, Omar Khadr & more -- June and July on The Left Chapter in review

See also: Trudeau and Syria, Toronto 1910, 'Secularism' & more -- April and May on The Left Chapter in review

James Di Fiore's hatchet job on Niki Ashton deserves nothing but contempt

No doubt many have seen the inane hatchet job James Di Fiore wrote on the Huffington Post attacking Niki Ashton in deeply sexist, reactionary and over-the-top terms that lead to his absurd assertion from the title on that her "Obsession With Identity Politics Could Destroy The NDP".

Sadly it has been widely shared not just by the usual right wingers who love to rant about alleged "identity politics" while dismissing and attacking groups like Black Lives Matter and attempts to redress historic injustices more broadly, but also by some New Democrat partisans of other leadership contenders.

It should be noted that this is the same white male author who felt it was his place to pen a piece  Black Lives Matter Toronto Co-Founder Needs To Resign and then pathetically and defensively followed this up with Denouncing BLM Leader Made Me A Public Enemy. I'm OK With That (of course you are) when it turned out that unsurprisingly many black people and activists thought he was totally full of it.

He also wrote an article Charlie Angus Could Be The Bernie Sanders Of Canada that would seem to indicate that he is a fan of a different leadership candidate. One might point out that it is a pretty obvious fact that Ashton's politics and policies in this leadership race are far closer to Sanders' than Angus' are.

What is the basis, in this piece now, for Di Fiore's rather exceptional claim about Ashton?

As he sees it, "Ashton subscribes to the pathological wing of identity politics" and this is apparent due to the way she approached the "Elbowgate" incident which Di Fiore describes as "hysterical" (no invocation of historic sexism in that charge though, right James?). He then claims "Of course, most women rolled their eyes at Ashton, likely feeling infantilized by an elected official who is supposed to embody the intelligence and strength of female politicians" while providing absolutely no evidence for that assertion at all.

Many people, such as Simon Dougherty here on The Left Chapter, saw "Elbowgate" as rather more serious than Di Fiore seems to think. And Niki Ashton was hardly alone in the NDP caucus in calling Trudeau out for his actions.

Charlie Angus certainly seemed to be very upset about it, saying at the time:

He came over like a freight train. I sort of jumped back. He was really intent on getting there. He’s a very strong guy. I never sort of saw that in him until he came pushing past me. He went from zero to 100. He said to two of my colleagues, ‘get the f–k out of my way!’ You just can’t do that. You can’t do that in a normal workplace. You certainly can’t do that in the House of Commons.

So was Tom Mulcair, who got into a rather heated exchange with Trudeau in the House of Commons about it. I suppose since they are men their views are neither pathological or hysterical enough to be commented on though.

In addition, he brings up the time when Ashton took down a tweet when asked to by some activists in Black Lives Matter Vancouver. As I wrote about in the piece The backlash against Niki Ashton from anti-Black Lives Matter commentators is what is really off base, her actions actually made perfect sense, though obviously they would not to some white guy who has already shown that he thinks he knows what is best for one of the most effective activist movements in recent Canadian history.

On the basis of this incident, which is not even recent, he concludes "Obviously, Ashton is not a strong leader."

Seriously.

Let us review this again. A white critic of Black Lives Matter who thought Charlie Angus could be the next Bernie Sanders uses terms like "identity politics", "pathological" and "hysterical" to dismiss the entire campaign of a woman running for the leadership of the NDP on a socialist and feminist platform based on two stands she took months ago, one of which a number of her male caucus colleagues seemed to agree with.

It is a depressing testament to the depth of the misogyny that still exists in Canadian politics and political commentary.that this utter rubbish was taken at face value by anyone at all. But it also reminds how anything written by a man talking dismissively about a woman's leadership abilities will still be shared around as meaningful commentary even when it is predicated on basically nothing and even when his "evidence" is, to say the least, totally lacking.

See also: The backlash against Niki Ashton from anti-Black Lives Matter commentators is what is really off base

See also: Black Lives Matter is right -- The police are the oppressor

Quebec Bill 62 is not about secularism and must be opposed by the left

Especially now in the era of Trump the reality of where anti-Islamic rhetoric and actions can lead has come into clear focus. Islamophobic laws that would accept the violation of fundamental and basic freedoms under the guise of promoting women's rights, secularism or social order are particularly dangerous at this junction in history.

Yet at the recent NDP Leadership debate in Montreal this past weekend three of the four contenders failed to stand up fully against the Quebec government's shameful proposed Bill 62 which claims to be about "religious neutrality" while in its very wording it clearly targets women of the Islamic faith who wear the niqab.

This wording of Bill 62 is such that it has led to concerns -- from no less than the Mayor of Montreal -- that it might even be used to prevent women wearing the niqab from accessing public transit.

Jagmeet Singh was the only one of the candidates at the debate who was willing to state specifically that he opposed it regardless of the alleged rational behind it.

The rest of the candidates, while saying they opposed any legislation that would regulate what women (or people generally) should wear, did so while saying it was necessary to respect Quebec and its culture of "secularism" as if that is what Bill 62 is at all about.

(To watch a stream of the debate click here)

They have also not all been willing to say they would challenge the law in court if it is passed and they are in government.

These are MPs from a party that justly attacked the Harper Conservatives for their dog-whistle Islamophobia in the 2015 federal campaign.

This notion that Bill 62 is about "secularism" is an affront to the very principles of secularism which have been cynically hijacked by politicians again trying to pass this type of bill under a giant crucifix in their provincial National Assembly.

In the end it is not "secularism" you are trumpeting if you are threatening to pass actual laws to deny government jobs and public services to women -- and it is all about women...and only women wearing Niqabs...thereby seeking to "liberate" women by ghettoizing and ostracizing them from the very means to function in a society at all -- from a specific and racialized group for what they wear that is "too religious",  yet you are going to keep up with pretensions that a crucifix in your parliament itself is somehow not a violation of the principle of "religious neutrality".

Seriously. How much more obvious could the hypocrisy and real motives be?

Never mind the vital fact that this law would target the supposed 'victims' of the niqab themselves. Bill 62 in Quebec does this rather obviously as it has provisions that are directed specifically at people wearing religious facial coverings.

Such laws are almost always unconstitutional. And so they must be. If the government can regulate one form of religious dress or belief to allow access to jobs and public services, then why not others?

As for the absurd and racist notion that if those of the Islamic faith wanted to come here they should be like "us" or that they should adopt "our" values -- whatever that means in a nation of immigrants built on stolen indigenous lands -- that argument has been used in our history against Italians, Jews, Sikhs, Catholics, Asians and just about every identifiable group you can name. It was wrong in each of these cases and is now.

Whether it is Sikhs in the RCMP, Jews in the legion, various forms of religious daggers or dress, there are always calls from those afraid of the other for people to set aside deeply held beliefs and conform.

As for the rights of women, in the name of that crucifix in the National Assembly countless crimes have been committed against women and continue to be every single day.

Acknowledging Quebec's nationhood, society and history does not mean we no longer have a responsibility to speak up about proposed laws that could lead to such ugly and dangerous outcomes as Bill 62 could.

Guy Caron stated prior to the Montreal debate“I am making it clear that, above all, an NDP leader must respect Quebec’s national character.” If we take that position then, as Chantal Hebert put it:

...would the same reasoning apply if the National Assembly — in a bid to protect Quebec’s demographic weight in the federation — moved to restrict abortion rights to pursue a natalist policy?
And if Quebec’s collective take on the place of religion is a valid rationale to limit religious rights, are not countries whose governments identify closely with a given religion also within their rights to limit other freedoms in the name of the beliefs of the majority?
Finally, at what point, if any, does Caron think the right to exercise fundamental freedoms should constrain the National Assembly’s latitude to consolidate the province’s secular character?
Here is what is clear: the government of Quebec has put forward a bill that may seek to deny government services to women by law should they refuse to compromise on what is a part of their religious belief system.

Here is what is clear: the government of Quebec has put forward a bill that may seek to deny government services to women by law should they refuse to compromise on what is a part of their religious belief system.

A bill that could do this has no place in a constitutional democracy that claims to respect religious freedom and to support equality of access for all before the law and government, which is a key aspect of secular governance.

Bill 62 must be opposed publicly and explicitly when it is brought up and politicians on the left must make it clear they will use all options, including the courts, to stop it should it become law. This is essential to our broader fight against Islamophobia and bigotry.

This piece uses some wording and passages from a piece that appeared on "Michael Laxer's Blog" in December, 2011.

See also: Fake 'secularism' is not an excuse for Islamophobic bigotry