Briarpatch articles from February 2006

Briarpatch archives from February 2006

Upgrade uptake.(The business end)(magazine gets cash for a computer upgrade)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2006... Because of the uptake on last issue's appeal for cash for a computer upgrade, we were able to soup-up the ol' PC with added memory and a larger hard drive, which has dramatically improved both the processing speed of the box and the mood of the...

Election post-mortem.(The business end)
February 1, 2006... For radical, non-partisan analysis of the federal election fall-out from around the 'patch and across the web, visit www.briarpatchmagazine.com, click on "news," and follow the "Canadian politics" subject heading.

Coming soon: the good news.(The business end)
February 1, 2006... The articles in the present issue go a long way towards highlighting the challenges we face as the era of cheap energy begins to wind down, but are admittedly a little sparse on proactive strategies to deal with it. In June we'll return to the...

Now recruiting volunteers.(The business end)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2006... Briarpatch is always on the look-out for gifted, dedicated volunteers willing to contribute their skills to the production of thorny news and views. Illustrators, writers, reviewers, copy editors, event planners, and web designers are in...

Coalition for social justice reborn.(The business end)(Saskatchewan Coalition for Social Justice)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2006... After lying dormant for more than a decade, the Saskatchewan Coalition for Social Justice was reborn on November 26, 2005 in the town of Davidson. Over 50 people from around the province representing a wide array of progressive organizations...

In praise of the new in the old.(Letters)(Letter to the Editor)
February 1, 2006... It is heartening for those of us on the left in Canada to see a staple of radical journalism and analysis such as Briarpatch not only alive and well, but, judging from the past several issues, really thriving! I found the straight-shooting...

Good bad news.(Letters)(Letter to the Editor)
February 1, 2006... The magazine is well-written and it covers topical events in the world. However, the approach is that there is always something wrong. Isn't there anything right? Yours truly, G.S. Newham Montreal, QC

Challenging racism starts at home.(Letters)(Letter to the Editor)
February 1, 2006... Ward Churchill's comments on racism ("Racism is a cowering thing" November 2005) are well-founded--not only in the US but unfortunately in Canada as well. In my own area there is a 500-mile stretch of highway between Prince George and Prince...

Banking on hunger: the problem with food banks.(Reprint)
February 1, 2006... "... even in so hospitable and undemanding an atmosphere, where an assertion of need is the only requirement, the whole weight of our culture's attitude toward those who need help came crashing down upon me. I was being offered charity. Not an...

Dumping and donating: how food banks contribute to an unsustainable food system.
February 1, 2006... While they do address an immediate need, food banks are not a solution to hunger and poverty. Food is a basic human right. When people do not have access to safe, nutritious, adequate and affordable food, their human rights are being...

Why 'diss' integration? Canada's incontinent energy policy.
February 1, 2006... Oil is a natural resource in a category all its own. Ever since the invention of the internal combustion engine, oil has been--quite literally-the fuel that fires economic growth. Transportation, agriculture, manufacturing, large cities--none...

Dirty, costly, and dangerous: nuclear power's second half-life: the nuclear option, believed dead only a few short years ago, has a whole new lease on life, thanks largely to a cosmetic make-over as a "green," alternative to fossil fuels. But as Jim Trautman shows, nuclear is no panacea for our energy woes.
February 1, 2006... WAS IT A coincidence, or part of a careful strategy, that saw the televisions of Ontario filled with pro-nuclear ads last summer? As gasoline prices headed for the stratosphere, television ads from nuclear power industry repeatedly reminded...

Fat man's legacy, little boy's ghost: Geiger counters, screaming fans, and a question-mark-shaped cloud on the horizon; Stewart Steinhauer reflects on his own brush with uranium mining and the resurgence of nuclear power at the crest of Hubbert's Peak.
February 1, 2006... In 1976, as a young man trying to make a living by market gardening on reserve in the north Okanagan, I went north for the winter months to work underground at Echo Bay (formerly Eldorado) Mines at Port Radium. All of the uranium had been mined...

Step one: stop cooking the planet: Rosa Kouri reports on the UN Climate Negotiations in Montreal.
February 1, 2006... From November 28 until December 9, 2005, over ten thousand government negotiators, heads of state, mayors, scientists, and environmentalists from around the globe converged in Montreal for the UN Climate Change Conference. This was the eleventh...

The WTO's "development" round would only "develop" the rich; as the dust settles and the tear gas dissipates after the latest WTO Ministerial in Hong Kong, Paul Beingessner sifts through the rubble to see what it all means for farmers.
February 1, 2006... Another World Trade Organization Ministerial has come and gone, and while no agreement on agriculture was reached, more talks are planned and the competing proposals are clear enough that we can make some projections about what their various...

The Politics of Bones: Dr. Owens Wiwa and the Struggle for Nigeria's Oil.(Book Review)
February 1, 2006... The Politics of Bones: Dr. Owens Wiwa and the Struggle for Nigeria's Oil J. Timothy Hunt McClelland & Stewart, 2005 "The paradox of multinational petroleum production is that it generates great wealth while generating even greater...

My Life is My Sun Dance: Prison Writings of Leonard Peltier.
February 1, 2006... My Life is My Sun Dance: Prison Writings of Leonard Peltier Read by Harvey Arden, music by Reverend Goat and New Orleans Light Mi Abuelo Records Leonard Peltier is one OF the United States longest-serving political prisoners, and his...

Why I'm sticking with the union.(The Last Word)
February 1, 2006... I grew up in a very "big C" conservative Albertan home. Like many kids, I soaked up the politics of my parents without question--in my case I was too busy fighting off their religion to object. I believed them when they said that people who...

Power and hunger.(QUOTES FROM THE UNDERGROUND)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2006... "This much is certain: these politicians will end up being defeated by their very will to win at all costs. The desire to be the establishment will ruin them just as it ruined their predecessors. Giorgio Agamben, Means without end "A...

Red valentines.(QUOTES FROM THE UNDERGROUND)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2006... "The way--the only way--to have an intense and fulfilling personal (sexual) relationship is not for the couple to look into each other's eyes, forgetting the world around them, but, while holding hands, to look together outside, at a third...

Revolutionary arithmetic.(QUOTES FROM THE UNDERGROUND)(community power and political power)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2006... "Here is the node, you who hate change and fear revolution. Keep these two squatting men [sic] apart; make them hate, fear, suspect each other. This is the zygote.... The danger is here, for two men are not as lonely or perplexed as one. And...

The bright side.(QUOTES FROM THE UNDERGROUND)(social action)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2006... "The good thing about everything being so f--ed up is that no matter where you look, there is great work to be done. Do what you love. Do what you can.... We need it all." Derrick Jensen "The years go fast.... There is much in joy and...