NDP Post-Election Wrap Up: Parkdale/High Park

By Brandy Baker

Arif Virani, Liberal MP, was re-elected last night by a great margin as part of the wave that gave the Liberal Party a minority government on the federal level. In the Parkdale-High Park riding, NGO head Paul Taylor was the NDP nominee. His nomination was tainted by a nomination meeting where many working class New Canadian immigrants were turned away at the polls. While there was upset and outrage over this from various NDP members across Canada, long-time Toronto members did and still remain indifferent to this.

Voters gave Virani the win because Taylor never set himself apart from the Liberals. A campaign of early big-named endorsements and slick photo-ops was all the fuel that Taylor had in his engine. Taylor continued to avoid most substance by ducking candidate debates in the nomination run. The Parkdale-High Park executive committee even shut down one proposed primary debate by an independent community activist by way of PHP executive bureaucrat, Charlotte Gick; Gick endorsed Taylor on May 8, over a month before the June 23 nomination meeting. The brass proactively worked to keep Taylor from being substantive on the campaign trail. This hurt him.

If Taylor would have been brave and shifted left and stolen a lot of Saron Gebresellassi’s talking points, the voters would have had reason to break from the Liberals. Taylor could have also done what Saron did and engage New Canadians in the process instead of just relying on Liberal voters to switch to him. The fear of the Conservatives is a very real thing in this age of Doug Ford, who is tear-assing through Ontario and privatizing everything that is not nailed down as well as defunding any program that he can find that benefits the most vulnerable people in the province. Taylor gave no reason for the PHP electorate to break from Virani because he was not really different from him. A Liberal and an orange Liberal? They weren’t going to go with an empty orange candidate and risk giving the riding to the Conservatives.

The PHP race as well as the riding’s nomination debacle is a microcosm of what is wrong with the NDP nationally. Both in the riding and nationally, the NDP wanted a Bernie Sanders or Jeremy Corbin surge without having to embrace the left-wing politics that make such success possible. There is no future in the anti-leftism of the Lewises, the PHP executive, Melissa Bruno, Jagmeet Singh, or any of the party brass that do not believe in anything except their own advancement and status. And Sid Ryan and others who present themselves as dissidents in reality have their hands on the deck of a rotting ship that is hemorrhaging members and voters. Canada needs a viable nationwide party for the working class, which in the 21st Century is majority female and non-white. They need common sense politics condemning capitalism and leading the country to a new and just way. Let go of post-modernism and slick, empty no substance campaigns that just further distance themselves from people who are trying to survive. We have a climate crisis and there is not a lot of time.

Hopefully this needed new party will form now.

Brandy Baker was a volunteer on Saron Gebresellassi’s campaign. She can be reached at: brandy@brandybaker.net

See also: The NDP's election disaster shows again the need for something new on the left

WE ARE ALL EQUAL: PARKDALE HAULS NDP BEFORE HUMAN RIGHTS TRIBUNAL -- Press Release

Below is the text of a press release related to the legal action being taken by Saron Gebresellassi and Parkdale community members against the NDP.

The Left Chapter has been following this story from the start in posts like The optics of the Parkdale NDP's federal nomination meeting are not good, Two months later, let's have a look at the shameful Parkdale NDP nomination fiasco again and the recent Canada’s NDP Looks Like the US’s GOP: Voter Disenfranchisement in the Parkdale-High Park Riding.

WE ARE ALL EQUAL: PARKDALE HAULS NDP BEFORE HUMAN RIGHTS TRIBUNAL 

For Immediate Release

October 21, 2019

Human Rights Lawyer, 2019 NDP nomination candidate and 2018 Mayoral Candidate Saron Gebresellassi has filed a lawsuit against the NDP on behalf of new Canadians in the Toronto electoral district of Parkdale-High Park whose voting rights were violated at the federal NDP nomination election on June 23. The data reveals 365 new Canadians were excluded from the  Voting List. Virtually all identified as "visible minorities" and an astounding 100% of the Canadians excluded from the Voting List are working class people.

On election day, new Canadians who came to the Voting Building were not permitted to enter the voting room with the rest of the electorate. A separate verification room was set up in the kitchen by party officials. Nearly all were either denied ballots outright or sent to the kitchen for verification. These images travelled the world through social media and echoed widely-condemned U.S. voter segregation practices. The election sits in violation of Canadian human rights laws and international human rights norms.

"What happened on June 23 must not be not be forgotten," Gebresellassi said. "Canada is home to a robust human rights legislative regime. A full hearing before an independent and impartial tribunal is the only way to ensure that history does not repeat itself."

For more information please contact: Matt Fodor 647-774-6211

Sid Ryan's nomination run in Oshawa yet another federal NDP debacle

Just over two months ago the Parkdale NDP engaged in an epic debacle of a nomination meeting whose optics were appalling by the standards of any observer outside of the party who is not a bigot. The photos from it, frankly, are shocking and we have looked at them before on The Left Chapter in several posts.

This was followed by the shameful ousting of Nova Scotia candidate Rana Zaman for comments she made about Israel. The NDP has a long tradition of censoring and blocking candidates who are outspoken about Israeli Apartheid. One of them, Paul Manly, has since been elected as a Green MP.

And now it would appear that Sid Ryan -- the well known militant labour leader and former head of the Ontario Federation of Labour who has actually run for the NDP both federally and provincially before -- has been de facto blocked from running after the federal party dragged its feet in approving his attempt to get the nomination in Oshawa.

Ryan posted of this publicly on Facebook August 28:

This all has echoes of Fred Checkers, the creepy avatar the federal NDP HQ invented in 2015 to spy on potential candidates.

As I noted then this type of behaviour is:

...indicative of so much of what is wrong with mainstream bourgeois politics.  Tightly scripted, poll-driven, messaging aimed at ever smaller groups of "wedge" voters, run entirely by the leader and their staff and inner circle, largely fatuous and specious rhetoric and with ever smaller differences of any meaning between the lot of them.

It would appear that Sid Ryan is the latest casualty of a long standing, right wing NDP trend. 

Two months later, let's have a look at the shameful Parkdale NDP nomination fiasco again

Two months have passed since the utter, shameful debacle that was the Parkdale NDP's federal nomination meeting and there have still been no serious answers or explanations as to what happened from the federal NDP power brokers. 

As we have pointed out already on The Left Chapter, to say the optics of this meeting were not good would be a stunning understatement. 

We have looked at this before on The Left Chapter in posts like What happened at the Parkdale NDP's nomination meeting? and Saron Gebresellassi and her organizers on the Parkdale - High Park nomination disgrace. 

There is little doubt that the NDP establishment is hoping that this appalling shitshow is simply forgotten about but some of Saron Gebresellassi's supporters and organizers like Matt Fodor don't want to let people sweep it all under the rug. 

As Fodor says "According to @NDP and  @phpndp the room was "diverse" and there was no discrimination.  Let's have a look, shall we?

Yes. Let's. 

Ontario Line, "Kicking Ford", Parkdale NDP Fiasco & more -- June and July on The Left Chapter in review

June and July saw 67 posts of various kinds on The Left Chapter.

These included new installments in our always popular vintage photography posts like Visiting the Soviet Far East Port City of Nakhodka, 1976 and Soviet Saratov 1972 -- 16 Vintage Photographs. There were, in addition to the ones on the top six list, political posts like Janice MacKinnon's new role in Alberta says a lot about the NDP's legacy of "fiscal responsibility". None of it good. and Gone. A very short reflection on death and realism. There were also historical posts like What's Left? -- A CBC look at the NDP and the Waffle in 1969,  Riding the rails of the Soviet Union in 1984 - A look at the railway system of the USSR and Second World War Hero Cities of the USSR w. photos and text Part I and Part II. 

Our meme Seriously was shared hundreds of times:

Our number one post on this list had more hits than any other so far this year and was, unfortunately -- as an update at the end of it notes -- seemingly proven correct in its prediction that Ford's TTC Ontario Line would turn into another always changing disaster that may never get built.

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) Of course Ford has not revealed plans for the TTC "Ontario Line". It will never be built.

News came today that the Doug Ford government in Ontario "is refusing to say whether it has finalized initial plans for its most important transit project, three weeks after a self-imposed deadline for completing the work has passed."

Read More! 

2) We need to keep "kicking" the Ford government now that it is down despite what OPSEU President says

In an almost unbelievable press release today Ontario Public Service Employees Union President Warren Thomas said the union would "stand down" from picketing Ford Fest this weekend.

Read more!

3) What happened at the Parkdale NDP's nomination meeting? and The total fiasco of the Parkdale NDP nomination meeting deepens -- Update

by Myles Hoenig

Alabama of the 50s and 60s has migrated to Toronto.  The ghost of South Africa has a consulate here. Israel’s apartheid government must be jealous over how well Toronto’s NDP runs its elections. So what the hell happened?

Read more!

4) The optics of the Parkdale NDP's federal nomination meeting are not good

Something clearly went very wrong at the Parkdale NDP's federal nomination meeting on Sunday the optics of which are not good at all. While it seems that an overwhelmingly white room of NDP members easily breezed through the registration process to get to vote, members and supporters of one candidate, Saron Gebresellassi -- many of whom were from racialized communities -- appeared to encounter serious obstacles from those in charge of the meeting.

Read more!

5) Saron Gebresellassi and her organizers on the Parkdale - High Park nomination disgrace


Saron Gebresellassi and her organizers went public on video at City Hall in Toronto today to discuss the obvious issues around the Parkdale-High Park federal nomination meeting last week.

Read more and watch the video!

6) PYM Responds to Cancellation of Ghassan Kanafani Resistance Arts Scholarship Celebration in Toronto Due to Zionist Pressure

Statement of the Palestinian Youth Movement


The Palestinian Youth Movement was dismayed to receive word that Trinity St.-Paul’s United Church in Toronto caved to a smear and harassment campaign initiated by a Zionist organization and opted to cancel the upcoming celebration of the PYM’s annual Ghassan Kanafani Resistance Arts Scholarship on July 13th, 2019. The purpose of the scholarship is twofold: on the one hand, we seek to provide a much-needed space for our youth to receive support for their creative artistry affirming, through various means, the collective power and resilience of the Palestinian people. We also aim to uphold the legacy of Ghassan Kanafani, one of Palestine’s greatest writers who tirelessly demonstrated how the power of the written word can be the most potent weapon of all in securing the liberation of a colonized people.

Read more!

Our top food related post was: BBQed Pork Chops with Dijon and Dill Sauce

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: Mock Guillotines, NDP Hypocrisy, Scheer Insanity & more -- April and May on The Left Chapter in review

Meeting About the Parkdale-High Park NDP Voter Disenfranchisement, Saturday July 20

To follow updates about the meeting see their Facebook event page:
https://www.facebook.com/events/2284103978363078/?notif_t=plan_user_invited&notif_id=1563420047589887

For background information see:

Saron Gebresellassi and her organizers on the Parkdale - High Park nomination disgrace

The optics of the Parkdale NDP's federal nomination meeting are not good

Saron Gebresellassi and her organizers on the Parkdale - High Park nomination disgrace

Saron Gebresellassi and her organizers went public on video at City Hall in Toronto today to discuss the obvious issues around the Parkdale-High Park federal nomination meeting last week.

This nomination meeting has been described as a "shit show" and the optics around it are obviously not good.

Saron and her organizers discuss the situation and what needs to be done moving forward.

Notably York-Simcoe NDP candidate Jessa McLean has also weighed in and we include her comments here as well.

The optics of the Parkdale NDP's federal nomination meeting are not good

Something clearly went very wrong at the Parkdale NDP's federal nomination meeting on Sunday the optics of which are not good at all. While it seems that an overwhelmingly white room of NDP members easily breezed through the registration process to get to vote, members and supporters of one candidate, Saron Gebresellassi -- many of whom were from racialized communities -- appeared to encounter serious obstacles from those in charge of the meeting. 

Toronto activist Myles Hoenig has already looked at this on The Left Chapter in the posts What happened at the Parkdale NDP's nomination meeting? and The total fiasco of the Parkdale NDP nomination meeting deepens -- Update.

Sometimes pictures are worth a thousand words though and here are tweets and photos about the night and how it unfolded that certainly seem to speak for themselves.

 

The total fiasco of the Parkdale NDP nomination meeting deepens -- Update

Photo via Brandy Baker / Facebook

by Myles Hoenig

In the aftermath of the disgraceful fiasco that was the Parkdale NDP's nomination meeting that I related previously in my post: What happened at the Parkdale NDP's nomination meeting?  new information is coming to light.

One of the ways that was used to try to deny the vote to the racialized and marginalized supporters that Saron Gebresellassi had signed up was to claim that they could not be allowed to vote if someone had paid the membership fee of $5, even as a loan or family matter. One of the things we were told was that this would violate the rules of Elections Canada.

I spoke to Elections Canada and they say it's up to the party to decide membership fees. So an adjudication judge lied to us when they said they were 'quoting' them without showing federal election law about borrowing money to pay for membership.

I then called NDP headquarters in Ontario (Toronto)  and pretended I wanted to be a new member. I did say I was in the Parkdale-High Park riding and that I knew I missed a nomination meeting but am considering applying for membership for the general election in October.

I told him I was on a very fixed income and asked if my wife or a friend could give me the money to pay the minimum. He said he was uncomfortable answering this question, but did say that if I am paying it back all would be good. I asked if I would be challenged, asked where the money came from and he went back to the line of we would expect the money would be coming from you, (implying if you pay it back than no problem).

I thanked him and then asked, "What is your name, please?"   Silence, sound of a click perhaps, he came back and  he said, "hello? hello? hello?".

I said, What is your name please? and he repeated "hello?"

I then said, "I know you can hear me. Don't play any games with me. What is your name please?"

And he hung up.

Myles Hoenig is a veteran high school teacher of Prince George’s County, Maryland. He has been an activist for political and social change since the very early 70’s. Myles lives in Toronto.

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!

What happened at the Parkdale NDP's nomination meeting?

Photo via Brandy Baker / Facebook

by Myles Hoenig

Alabama of the 50s and 60s has migrated to Toronto.  The ghost of South Africa has a consulate here. Israel’s apartheid government must be jealous over how well Toronto’s NDP runs its elections. So what the hell happened?

On June 23, 2019 the NDP's Toronto Parkdale riding association held its nomination meeting to decide who would represent the party in the upcoming federal election. Saron Gebresellassi, an Eritrean lawyer, and speaker of 7 languages, was one of 3 candidates for the position. Unlike the other two candidates, her base is the disenfranchised, the new immigrants to Canada, people of color, the disabled, the people on government assistance, and, of course, all others who support her humanity.

Saron and her team personally registered nearly 400 new voters to the NDP for this election. She personally delivered it to the NDP brass before the deadline. But because her registration forms were on paper, not on-line, and paid with cash, not credit card, the executive committee of the NDP in Ottawa did not register them, as they said they would. Jagmeet Singh, leader of the NDP, was notified and was asked to intercede, but to no avail.  So Saron’s voters come out to vote. So many for the first time in any national election, had to stand in line with screaming babies, old people not able to, people in wheelchairs, just to go through all 400 sheets of registration forms to match their names, while the near lily-white audience sat comfortably not having their registration challenged.

People left in frustration. The election was a sham, straight out of the US Republican Party playbook. The NDP clearly does not want to change the tenor, and especially the color, of its membership.

Their newly elected nominee, Paul Taylor, had insulted this particular community within the riding by refusing to attend a debate, at which the other two candidates were present, and then had the nerve to ask the organizer of the debate to hold a celebratory meet and greet party for him “when” he wins the nomination. Taylor’s team left flyers about Naomi Klein’s endorsement in public housing and predominantly immigrant buildings where Saron had dozens of supporters. Funny, though, that he posted her endorsement where Saron had been organizing for six months. Like who the hell there would know who Naomi Klein is? So out of touch.

NDP leadership played a major role in allowing this to happen. Singh was made aware of the problem of this non-traditional approach to registering voters and how the executive board in Ottawa refused to do their job of putting these new voters on the voters’ list. Janet Solberg, sister of Stephen Lewis, leader of the Ontario NDP for most of the 70s who kicked out the leftist contingent known as The Waffle, played a leadership role in officiating this election. In a 3 way call to the candidates, she openly expressed her hostility to Saron by stating how she won’t support her.

This party stood for something once. The greatest Canadian of all time, according to popular vote on the CBC, was Tommy Douglas, former premier of Saskatchewan who gave us our single payer health care system and represented the NDP. So yes, now it supports their version of a Green New Deal. It opposes the neo-liberal Justin Trudeau. It hates Doug Ford, the Donald Trump of Ontario, but it also seemingly supports the disenfranchisement of people of color, new immigrants, and frankly, people who just don’t look like them. It is no wonder the NDP polls at 12%. And learning on social media that this is not an isolated incident within the NDP throughout the provinces, that 12% will be, and should be, a high mark.

This article originally appeared on Dissident Voice.

Myles Hoenig is a veteran high school teacher of Prince George’s County, Maryland. He has been an activist for political and social change since the very early 70’s. Myles lives in Toronto.

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!

Tory wins, Mammoliti out, little changes -- Toronto's election brings neo-liberal continuity

After the drama of Doug Ford's undemocratic downsizing of Toronto City Council mid-election, the new, smaller results represent neo-liberal continuity. Very little of any fundamental significance has changed.

John Tory won a landslide victory over his main opponent, Jennifer Keesmaat, which is unsurprising given that there was almost nothing that separated them. Disappointingly, neo-fascist candidate Faith Goldy garnered more votes than leftist candidate Saron Gebresellassi, though neither broke 3.5% of the vote.

Meanwhile, council races were a mixed bag.

Michael Ford's result in Ward 1 has to have been uncomfortably close for his uncle given all the political resources he invested in it. A loss would have been politically catastrophic for him though it did not happen. Ford beat another reactionary Vincent Crisanti by almost eight percent of the vote.

In a silver lining Giorgio Mammoliti, who ran a disgraceful, dog-whistle campaign and who has been a disruptive far right presence on council for all too long, went down to a richly deserved defeat. He lost to Anthony Perruzza by nearly 12 points. This was, at least, a minor setback for Ford style bombastic stupidity at City Hall.

Many of council's "progressive" establishment "heavyweights" have been returned for what that is worth.  Family heritage crew Mike Layton and Joe Cressy are still there, as are centrists like Kristyn Wong-Tam. Gord Perks won easily in Ward 4 which is a positive given that he is likely the sole Councillor that can honestly be described as a leftist. Labour Council endorsed (surprise, surprise) Paula Fletcher defeated fellow progressive Mary Fragedakis whose personal connections were perhaps not quite as close.

In a fascinating example of the paucity of politics now, Josh Matlow -- a liberal notable largely for his fierce and correct resistance to Tory's inane Scarborough subway plans -- handily defeated the supposed New Democrat Joe Mihevc in Ward 12 by over 10 points. Mihevc might be remembered by The Left Chapter readers for his relentless nonsense about alleged TTC fare evasion and his musings on making sure kids get on the Presto train. He also, in what was a truly cynical and telling move, asked for John Tory's endorsement and received it. It likely, and deservedly, did more harm than good.

Deeply ironically Labour Council endorsed Jennifer Keesmaat ganged up with John Tory to back Brad Bradford over Labour Council endorsed former NDP MP Matthew Kellway in Ward 19. Bradford won. Sadly, I doubt this will cause the Labour Council to reflect on its pattern of often terrible, short-sighted decisions.

Overall, despite the hyperbole and the Ford machinations, the results indicate continuity. They do not appear to show any shift significantly to the right or ideologically otherwise at all. In fact, only 12 of 25 candidates endorsed by Doug Ford's de facto official organ the Toronto Sun won. The composition and balance of power between what passes as a left, the centrists and the right remains largely the same.

The lack of an organized socialist civic movement, though, is as glaring as its consequences are telling.

The council also continues to lack anything remotely like the diversity of the city it supposedly represents.

With this council we can anticipate little serious or significant resistance to the Ford provincial agenda municipally. When understood within the broader politics of disillusion in Ontario, it is clear that any fightback will have to be organized outside of and in spite of existing mainstream electoral channels.

See also: Ontario’s 2018 Election: Pessimism Today, Strategic Organizing Tomorrow

Peter D'Gama for Ward 1, Toronto -- A socialist campaign to get behind

From the D'Gama election website

Recently I took a look at the Toronto municipal campaigns of Saron Gebresellassi for Mayor and Walied Khogali Ali for Ward 13. These are two exciting campaigns that leftists should be getting behind both with their time and their donations.

They buck the deadening trend of the "say little do even less" approach of most of the milquetoast "progressives" endorsed by the Labour Council or backed by the NDP or Liberal establishments.

In Ward 1 -- one of the incumbents for which is Michael Ford, the nephew of Conservative Premier Doug Ford -- Peter D' Gama is running on an overtly and avowedly leftist platform that takes many of the positions that others should be across the city.

A member of Socialist Action and a community activist D'Gama rather stirringly asks us to "Imagine what we could accomplish by taxing the rich and giant corporations to fund programs such as free and accessible public transit, building and home retrofits, and a green economy creating jobs with a living wage."

His municipal platform includes calls for a mansion tax, making property taxes more progressive, fighting for a rent freeze and the creation of affordable housing, inclusionary zoning, decreasing the bloated police budget, $10 a day child care, working towards free transit, and much more.

You can read it in full on his website: Peter D'Gama for Ward 1

There are very few candidates that have campaigned on as comprehensive a socialist agenda for the city in the last few elections. The addition of a voice like D'Gama's to City Council would do a great deal to shift the debate in Toronto and to help to start the hard work of changing the city's direction politically as has happened in places like Seattle with the election of Kshama Sawant.

See also: Saron Gebresellassi and Walied Khogali Ali: Two Toronto Candidates to Get Excited About

Kavanaugh Confirmation, Ontario Austerity, Gaza & more -- The Week in News, Opinion and Videos September 23 - 30

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 September 23 - 30.

It begins with a selection of articles related to the Kavanaugh confirmation. 

1) KAVANAUGH FLOATS NEW DEFENSE AGAINST SEXUAL ASSAULT CLAIMS: I WAS A VIRGIN

David Gilbert, Vice News

Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh offered a novel explanation Monday for why he could not have sexually assaulted Christine Blasey Ford in high school — because he was a virgin.

2) How to humiliate a woman: the ugly lesson of Brett Kavanaugh's yearbook

Sian Cain, The Guardian

He and his teenage friend shared boasts of being a ‘Renate alumnus’, a claim that, 35 years later, has embarrassed a woman who had offered her wholehearted support to the US supreme court nominee.

3) Brett Kavanaugh accused of drugging women who were then gang-raped

Ruth Brown, The New York Post

A third woman accusing Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh of sexual misconduct has come forward — alleging he helped “drug” girls at parties in the 1980s where they were gang-raped.

4) Read the sworn declaration by Kavanaugh accuser Julie Swetnick

NBC News

On Wednesday, Michael Avenatti released a declaration from his client, Julie Swetnick. This is an allegation against Brett Kavanaugh, not a proven fact and NBC News has not vetted Swetnick's allegation.

Via Occupy Nashville on Facebook

5) What Brett Kavanaugh teaches us about teenage boys and male power

Suzanne Moore, The Guardian

More than 25 years ago, Anita Hill was dismissed as ‘nutty and slutty’ for alleging sexual harassment. Now another supreme court nominee stands accused. Has nothing changed?

6) Woman Who Confronted Jeff Flake in the Elevator: 'I Wanted Him to Feel My Rage'

Drew Schwartz, Vice News

The protesters who cornered Flake just before he voted on Kavanaugh's confirmation spoke out about why they did it.

7) The rape culture of the 1980s, explained by Sixteen Candles

Constance Grady, Vox

The beloved romantic comedy’s date rape scene provides important context for the Brett Kavanaugh accusations.

8) Boys Will Be Boys: Brett Kavanaugh, Rape, & 1980s High School Culture: Soriano’s Comment, №24

Scott Soriano, Medium

White people spent much of the past decade living under the lie that we lived in a “post-racial” world. We had a Black president, so everything was “ebony and ivory.” We were fools. Men and some women fuming that “This wasn’t my high school” and “NotAllMen” are, again, playing the fool. They are more concerned with self-appearance and parsing words than dealing with real world problem of rape and misogyny. We cannot be sucked into petty arguments over language, otherwise we are playing whack-a-mole with symptoms. We squash “boys will be boys” and now have to deal with “horseplay” or “rough sex” or whatever lame ass thing comes out in defense of Kavanaugh and others. Forget that, let’s get to the disease and root it out.

9) The Whole Country Just Watched What Happens When Angry, Powerful Men Don't Get Their Way

Gabrielle Moss, Bustle

I came in to work thinking that I was just going to watch a Senate hearing — a Senate hearing that I was, frankly, very depressed about. I was prepared to see Christine Blasey Ford, who has alleged that Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh sexually assaulted her in high school, have her memory and character attacked. I was prepared to see senators try to minimize the allegations, saying that Ford's memory was fuzzy or that the alleged assault wasn't really that bad. And I also expected Kavanaugh to deliver the fairly placid opening remarks that he made available publicly the night before the hearing, prepared to see him again deny the allegations and quietly try to get this whole thing over with.

10) White House limits scope of the FBI's Kavanaugh investigation

Ken Dilanian, Geoff Bennett, Kristen Welker, Frank Thorp V, Hallie Jackson and Leigh Ann Caldwell, NBC News

The White House is limiting the scope of the FBI's investigation into the sexual misconduct allegations against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh, multiple people briefed on the matter told NBC News.

11) Bernie Sanders calls for FBI to investigate whether Kavanaugh told truth in hearing

Tal Axelrod, The Hill

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) on Saturday sent a letter to Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) demanding that the FBI, in addition to investigating sexual assault allegations against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh, also examine the truthfulness of Kavanaugh's statements made under oath Thursday before the Senate panel.

12) HOW WE KNOW KAVANAUGH IS LYING

Nathan J. Robinson, Current Affairs 

This man should not serve another day as any kind of judge…

13) Under the Fog of Kavanaugh, House Passes $3.8 Trillion More in Tax Cuts

Glenn Fleishman, Fortune

With attention fixed on the Brett Kavanaugh confirmation hearings, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a new $3.1 trillion tax cut on Friday. The vote was 220 to 191, including three Democrats.

14) Israel gives Palestinians eight days to leave Khan al-Ahmar

Al Jazeera

Israel's planned demolition of the occupied West Bank village has been criticised by the international community.

15) Italian government adopts hardline anti-migrant decree

Ylenia Gostoli, Al Jazeera

Security bill dubbed the 'Salvini decree' makes it easier to expel migrants and strip their citizenship.

16) Ontario midwives welcome ‘historic’ victory in pay equity case

Sara Mojtehedzadeh, The Toronto Star

Ontario midwives won a “historic” victory in a groundbreaking pay equity case Monday, after a tribunal ruled the government’s failure to proactively monitor midwives’ compensation and regularly negotiate with them over it constitutes discrimination.

Palestinian activist Ahed Tamimi said her countrymen "will not give up Jerusalem, the eternal capital of Palestine," while attending an annual festival organised by the Greek Communist Youth in Athens.




17) 'Shocking' sexual abuse of children by German clergy detailed in report

Kate Connolly, The Guardian

Minister warns abuse of 3,677 children by about 1,670 clerics may be ‘tip of the iceberg’ for Catholic church.

18) Why Québec Solidaire is having the campaign of its life

Jonathan Montpetit · CBC News

No one seems to be having a good campaign these days in Quebec; no one, that is, except a small left-wing party that doesn't believe in leaders and has a campaign bus bereft of journalists.

19) Does Canada support an invasion of Venezuela?

Yves Engler

In their obsession for regime change, Ottawa is backing talk of an invasion of Venezuela. And the NDP is enabling Canada’s interventionist policy.

20) Doug Ford’s History Of Flirting With the Alt-Right and White Nationalists

North 99

Photographs and video of Doug Ford posing with white nationalist Faith Goldy, a woman who expressed support for neo-Nazis, have emerged in recent days.

21) Doug Ford Stands Behind This Photo He Took With a Group of Extremely Racist White Nationalists

Press Progress

Ontario Premier Doug Ford will not disavow a group of white nationalists who took a photo with him over the weekend at “Ford Fest,” even as the white nationalists use the photo for propaganda purposes to legitimize their views.

22) Why do Marxist feminists oppose liberal feminists’ claims that porn and prostitution are liberating for women?

Morgan Horn, Morning Star

We must be clear that the sexualisation of women places men in a position of superiority and impedes class struggle.

23) Thousands protest in Buenos Aires against austerity policies

Al Jazeera

Thousands of people have poured out on to the streets of the Argentinian capital, Buenos Aires, to protest President Mauricio Macri's economic policies, a day before a nationwide 24-hour strike called for by unions takes place.

24) Judge Restores Grizzly Bears' Protections As Endangered Species

Nate Hegyi, NPR

A federal judge has restored Endangered Species Act protections for grizzly bears living around Yellowstone National Park.

25) Revealed: less than a third of young men prosecuted for rape are convicted

Alexandra Topping and Caelainn Barr, The Guardian

The crisis engulfing the criminal justice system over its approach to rape cases is revealed by startling figures that show less than a third of prosecutions brought against young men result in a conviction.

26) Díaz-Canel addresses the Nelson Mandela Peace Summit

Granma

Addressing the UN as part of the Nelson Mandela Peace Summit in New York this Monday, September 24, President Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez began by noting Cuba’s pride on having supported the struggle against apartheid in South Africa, and recalled the iconic embrace between the Comandante en Jefe Fidel Castro and the anti-apartheid leader, Nelson Mandela, who visited Cuba in 1991, shortly after his release from prison.

27) Ontario Government’s attack on local democracy shows need for democratic constitutional reform

Communist Party of Canada Statement

The legal and political battle around the Ontario government’s Bill 5, the Better Local Government Act, once again proves the need for democratic constitutional reform in Canada.

28) UK's Labour Party Passes Motion to Ban Arms Sales to Israel

Telesur

“Ordinary members of the party want Labour to stand up for Palestinian rights. And today for the first time in many years a Palestine motion is on the agenda of the conference."


29) Jeremy Corbyn Promises to ‘Recognize Palestinian State as Soon as We Take Office’

Telesur

"In order to help make the two-state settlement a reality, we will recognize a Palestinian state as soon as we take office," Corbyn said.

30) B.C.’s climate targets will be impossible to reach if LNG Canada project goes ahead, critics say

Brent Jang, The Globe and Mail

Environmentalists are warning that it will be impossible for British Columbia to reach its climate targets if a Shell-led liquefied natural gas project forges ahead along the northern coast.

31) Right-wing populism on rise in New Brunswick

Thomas Walkom, The Toronto Star

Score one more victory for right-wing populism. The People’s Alliance of New Brunswick made a breakthrough in that province’s election Monday and could end up holding the balance of power in a hung legislature.

Toronto mayoral candidate Saron Gebrasallasi said Tuesday the city needs a mayor who can appeal to working class and “racialized” communities.





32) Ford government scraps minimum wage hike set for 2019

Paola Loriggio, The Canadian Press 

Ontario's Progressive Conservative government said it will halt a planned increase to minimum wage that was scheduled to kick in next year, following up on a promise made during the spring election campaign.

33) Business groups lobby Ford government to repeal workplace reforms

Mike Crawley · CBC News 

Business groups are urging Premier Doug Ford's government to take away the new sick day and pay equity protections granted to Ontario workers this year.

34) Jacobin Accused of Reneging on Wage Deal in British Takeover of Tribune Magazine

Mike Elk, Payday Report

In his bid to take over the historic British left-wing magazine, The Tribune, Jacobin publisher Bhaskar Sunkara is being accused of reneging on wage deal by employees of the paper, who kept the publication alive during struggling times. Tribune was once the home of such greats as George Orwell and has since become the leading publication associated with the influential Momentum faction within the Labor Party.

35) The British Labour Party and Community Ownership Plans

 John McDonnell, Socialist Project Bullet

Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell MP has unveiled Labour’s plans for a new, publicly-owned water system, run by local councils, workers and customers and for “unprecedented openness and transparency” in how the industry will be managed. Building on Labour’s manifesto commitment to bring key utilities back into public ownership, for the first time McDonnell has outlined in detail how they would do it.

"The U.S. doesn't care about democracy. If it did, it wouldn't threaten democratic countries with military intervention," Morales said.




36) Trump Backs Military Coup in Venezuela Against Maduro

Telesur

Speaking on the sidelines of the UNGA meeting, an organization meant to promote peace, the U.S. president confirmed his backing for violent military takeovers and interventions.

37) Reactions to anti-Muslim video highlight political double standard

Linda McQuaig, The Toronto Star

Maybe there’s a good reason not to sanction Israel — despite its violation of international law — but then let’s hear our political leaders articulate that reason, rather than simply smacking down anyone who dares to question their silence on the issue.

38) Workers groups cry foul as WSIB celebrates financial milestone

Sara Mojtehedzadeh, The Toronto Star

The workers’ compensation board will slash employers’ premiums by 30 per cent after eliminating its unfunded liability a decade ahead of schedule — a move the province says will boost the economy but labour advocates say could harm workers.

39) World 'nowhere near on track' to avoid warming beyond 1.5C target

Oliver Milman, The Guardian

Author of key UN climate report says limiting temperature rise would require enormous, immediate transformation in human activity.

40) Nigerian unions launch general strike over minimum wage

Chijioke Ohuocha, Reuters  

Nigeria’s main unions launched an indefinite nationwide strike on Thursday in a dispute over the minimum wage after talks with the government broke down a day earlier.


41) Correcting the record on China and Africa

Ian Goodrum, People's World

Media figures in the West will squawk about “colonialism” while denying their own countries’ roles in Africa’s subjugation. Better not to pay them any mind; the results speak for themselves. China is helping the continent toward a better future, while each new statement from the White House shows the U.S. is little more than a fair-weather friend. After all, would a true ally say the kinds of unprintable things President Donald Trump has about the African continent?

42) Ontario becomes a testing ground for hyper austerity

John Clarke, Counterfire

Just three months into its mandate, it is becoming clear that the Tory Government of Ontario, under the leadership of right-wing populist multimillionaire, Doug Ford, is going to unleash an agenda of austerity and privatisation that will be unprecedented in its scale and severity.  Fifteen years of stealthy and incremental Liberal attacks on workers and communities have now given over to a regime of crude and reckless brutality. Under the federal system of government in Canada, the provincial level is where most decisions are made on social policy and, while Ontario is but one of ten provinces, the size of its economy and population will make the results of the unfolding struggle here particularly important, across the Country and internationally.  A successful and massive intensification of the neoliberal agenda here would be a defeat that would threaten to spread while a successful model of resistance would be a precious resource for others to build upon.

43) Canada’s housing affordability has reached the worst level in 28 years, and Toronto is off the charts, report says

Tess Kalinowski, The Toronto Star

Canadian housing affordability has reached its worst level in 28 years with the most severe challenges in Toronto, Vancouver and Victoria, says a report from RBC.

44) The Zaghari-Ratcliffe case and Theresa May's outrageous hypocrisy

Alia Al Ghussain, Al Jazeera

The British government is concerned about Iran's political prisoners, but ignores those unjustly detained in the UK.

45) Seven Palestinians, Including 12-year Old, Said Killed by IDF Fire in Gaza Border Clashes

Jack Khoury, Yaniv Kubovich and Almog Ben Zikri, Haaretz

Seven Palestinians, including two boys age 12 and 14, were killed by Israeli military fire during clashes along the Gaza Strip's central and eastern sections of the border fence, the Gaza Health Ministry said on Friday.

12 year old Nasser Musabeh - one of a few kids killed today by Israeli snipers.

RIP little man.

Via Walid Mahmoud on Facebook

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  See also: Kavanaugh Nomination, Corbyn Smears, Amazon & more -- The Week in News, Opinion and Videos September 16 - 23

Saron Gebresellassi and Walied Khogali Ali: Two Toronto Candidates to Get Excited About

In an election that has been dominated by Doug Ford's crass efforts to gerrymander the Toronto municipal outcome while the Toronto political establishment on both the right and the left lined up to defend the status quo and incumbency, there are a couple of bright spots.

These are Saron Gebresellassi for Mayor and Walied Khogali Ali for Ward 13.

Here, finally, we see municipal candidates running on issues of tremendous importance to the workers, racialized and marginalized in Toronto and doing so in spite of the lack of support from the milquetoast faux "progressive" elite that tries to control the "left" politics of City Hall.

Walied Khogali Ali has put forth a program that is all about the struggle to build community and create spaces of social justice in the neo-liberal city that is Toronto. An activist who has fought for years around many issues his platform includes direct and serious approaches to tackle the fundamentals of housing, transit and inclusion that face the city.

His website can be found here: https://www.votewalied.ca/

Saron Gebresellassi is running what is easily the most left wing campaign for mayor in a generation and it is finally starting to get some notice.

Everything about her platform is solid:

Right to Housing: Recognize that housing is a fundamental human right and that incremental targets alone are not enough. This means we must set in place aggressive plans to provide adequate and sufficient housing for everyone. My first priority will be addressing our housing crisis.
Right to Transit — Towards Free Public Transit: Yes, it’s possible! And the benefits are immense. I will focus on developing a strategy that will set Toronto on a path towards free transit. Free transit will help address climate change, urban gridlock and sprawl, and cut down on spending for road maintenance. 
Right to fair allocation of city resources: Re-prioritize our spending towards more targeted youth employment as well as arts and cultural programming so that no one is left behind, especially from low-income areas and the inner-suburbs
Right to employment outside of the downtown core:  We have to develop proper and sound incentives for businesses to invest outside of downtown Toronto, among other strategies.
Right to Mental Health and Accessibility: Develop an overall mental health and accessibility framework that underpins all aspects of city planning and budgeting. This means that our city’s budgeting should also be filtered through an overall mental health framework that assesses how our policies contribute towards developing positive mental health outcomes.
Right to Diversity in City Politics and City Hiring:  Increasing Diversity in Our Politics and City Hiring. I will call for electoral reform that will create space for fresh faces and voices that reflect diverse backgrounds. I will move towards creating a city-wide employment equity regime that will ensure our city’s workforce and senior leadership reflects the city itself.

Her website can be found here:  https://saronformayor.ca/

These are left candidates that at last strike out past the deadening nothing politics of the NDP downtown establishment, that are not running because of some family last name, and that are running on serious platforms regardless of the empty do-nothing faux endorsements of the "labour council".

There is a lot of work to be done to build a serious left alternative in Toronto.

A solid start would be getting behind these two candidates.

Toronto mayoral contest off to dispiriting start

By Nathaniel Laxer

The final day for mayoral nominations has passed, and, for all intents and purposes, we can say that the election has begun. So who are the candidates?

Well for starters, there is the incumbent: failed mayoral candidate, turned failed candidate for Premier, turned Mayor of Toronto, John Tory, whose fairly uninteresting rise to power in the 2014 election has resulted in a fairly uninteresting and stagnant tenure. This has been characterized by failures -- such as the joke of a transit plan that was SmartTrack -- and really not much else.

With Tory being pretty mediocre, who are the other choices? There is former Toronto chief planner Jennifer Keesmaat, who’s big “bold” ”policy” pledge so far to solve Toronto’s ill’s is to tweet that Toronto should somehow separate into its own province. What area would this province encompass? Is it just Toronto or the entire GTA? How would this be possible constitutionally? And how will this actually accomplish anything and genuinely help Torontonians with the issues of transit, housing prices and poverty?

Who knows? If Jennifer Keesmaat does we have yet to see it with her leading point for the idea being “why shouldn’t a city of 2.8 million have self governance?”. Using this same logic, there would be 20 new American states, ranging from New York to Orlando.

Needless to say, a "province of Toronto" would not actually solve systemic issues in this city. Who is to even say this new province would have progressive politics, given that this is the same city that elected Rob Ford only 8 years ago and has John Tory as Mayor with plenty of right wing councillors.

Who else is there? The only other candidate getting any real media attention at the moment is reactionary, islamophobic Rebel News contributor, turned “Euro-Canadian Catholic Nationalist” (weird way to spell fascist) Faith Goldy. Her main campaign plank is (surprise, surprise) to bring back TAVIS and carding. She also wants to end bike lanes and supports the usual racist anti-immigrant malarkey typical of her type. She has gone full steam ahead trying to capitalize on the tragic Danforth shooting to promote her brand of dangerous nonsense. She even tweeted in defense of the man recently arrested for his racist harassment and assault of a Muslim family at the Jack Layton ferry terminal.

This kind of disgusting candidate should not get any support, but unfortunately she just might in a climate of increasingly open racism in Canada and the west generally.

There are a couple of interesting and progressive candidates in the race such as community activists Sarah Climenhaga and Saron Gebresellassi (who has some solidly left platform planks). Unfortunately, as is to be expected, neither has received any major coverage from the media or pundits, and they are unlikely to going forward.

This may end up also being true for issues like poverty, income inequality and so many other important discussions we need to be having. This mayoral race is shaping up to be something of a dispiriting one, with a boring right wing "centrist", a faux progressive and a reactionary white nationalist getting all the attention and derailing serious debate.