Briarpatch articles from April 2001

Briarpatch archives from April 2001

Water War!: how the people of Bolivia won back control of their water from those trying to own it.
April 1, 2001... The World Bank has recently adopted a controversial policy of water privatization and full cost water pricing that it is ruthlessly promoting on behalf of the water transnationals around the world. This policy is causing great distress in many...

Meek shall inherit diddley-squat: it's time the victims of Capital stop playing by the rules imposed by Capital.
April 1, 2001... The Ontario Coalition Against Poverty (OCAP) has been around for over ten years. We began our work challenging the Liberals under David Peterson and then, for several years, confronted an NDP Government that had gone over to the other side....

Duct-tape and cardboard: governments down-grade social housing commitments while improving the tax shelters for the rich.
April 1, 2001... Before living in a housing co-op I was renting a one-bedroom unit in an apartment complex. As a single parent in a wheelchair living on a fixed income, my housing choices were very limited. Rental housing that I could afford and that could...

Holistic medicine: if corporate globalization is the disease, democratization is the cure.
April 1, 2001... The growing rebellion against corporate power is pushing global elites to admit some of the excesses of the last 20 years. But as the elite of the elite make speeches crying crocodile tears for the poor of the world, they are behind concrete...

Federal rejection 2000: were there any real winners in the last federal election?
April 1, 2001... The Liberals won the election. All the other parties lost. The Liberals won, not because of Chretien, but in spite of him. They won in spite of the mess in the Department of Human Resources and in spite of the stench of patronage and all the...

Bored with ballots: youth need more off-the-wall excitement to draw them into electoral politics.
April 1, 2001... With the recent passing of Pierre Elliot Trudeau the whole country paused and pondered the life of a man who, in his time, turned our little corner of the world upside down. He made Canadian citizens sit up and take notice of what was going on...

Summit of the assassins: why the opposition to the "free" trade deals continues.
April 1, 2001... The indigenous people of Chiapas, Mexico launched the first major offensive against the expansion of free trade. That was on January 1, 1994 under the banner of the Zapatista National Liberation Army. The indigenous people in Southern Mexico...

Consulted to death: how Canada's workplace health and safety system fails workers.
April 1, 2001... Consulted to Death: How Canada's Workplace Health and Safety system Fails Workers by Doug Smith Arbeiter Ring Publishing 2-91 Albert St. Winnipeg, Manitoba, 2000. arbeiter@tao.ca At last! A book that tells the history of Occupational Health...

Our word is our weapon: selected writings of subcomandante Insurgente Marcos.
April 1, 2001... Our Word is our Weapon: Selected Writings of Subcomandante Insurgente Marcos edited by Juana Ponce de Leon Hushion House, 36 Northline Road, Toronto, ON. 2001. (a portion of the royalties goes to Enlace Civil, Chiapas, Mexico) In January...

War against oblivion: Zapatista chronicles.
April 1, 2001... The War Against Oblivion: Zapatista Chronicles by John Ross Common Courage Press, Monroe, ME, U.S.A. 2000. info@commoncouragepress.com "So it began, that freezing New Year's morning in 1994. The Zapatista National Liberation Army declaimed...