Briarpatch articles from July 2001

Briarpatch archives from July 2001

Dear Briarpatch.(Letter to the Editor)
July 1, 2001... Dear Briarpatch As always, I loved reading your May 2001 edition and I was particularly struck by the article entitled Chipping Away at Privacy. I fully agree with the caution expressed about the use of "smart cards." This idea was popular...

The Bet is On.(global warming-awareness campaign and how to reduce carbon emissions)
July 1, 2001... It's on its way across Canada as a challenge to the Canadian government. Human activity is threatening the life support system of our planet. Climate change is a question of survival. In November of 2000, governments from around the world...

I Fought the Lawn and...(effects of pesticide on public health and efforts to restrict usage)
July 1, 2001... In the battle against dandelions the weapons of choice can back-fire. Jean-Dominic Levesque-Rene doesn't have any photos of himself from the days just before the doctors removed his tumour. "I was so ugly," he says. Jean-Dominic was...

Law Students Offer Free Legal Services.(Pro Bono Students Canada programme)(Brief Article)
July 1, 2001... Under-represented and disadvantaged communities are being helped by Pro Bono Students Canada (PBSC). It is a program in law schools across the country which provides not-for-profit organizations with the free legal services of a law student...

Responding to the Police State.(citizen participation in prevention and prosecution of police misconduct)
July 1, 2001... Bad Boys, Bad Boys... Watcha gonna do when they come for you? Reeling from Police State actions at Quebec and elsewhere, Canadians are looking for ways to respond to criminal acts by police, ordered or condoned by the state. We realize the...

Nightmare Awaits Under Globalization.(effects on public school system in Canada)(Brief Article)
July 1, 2001... If we want to preserve our social programs, like education, we have to stop pulling the blankets over our heads hoping the threat will go away. The other night I had a nightmare. As I was driving by the South Hill Shoppers Mall I noticed a...

Building a Movement from the Grassroots.(organized resistance within a global-scale framework)
July 1, 2001... The success of our struggles depends on the connections we build between large scale mobilization, solidarity actions and our everyday lives. "What is difficult to convey in media reports is that there weren't two protests that took place...

Wilderness Sanctuary Targeted.(oil exploration in Arctic National Wildlife Refuge)(Brief Article)
July 1, 2001... Rather than look at energy conservation, American legislation proposes to plunder a pristine eco-system in the hunt for oil. The United States administration's push for increased energy production has been criticized for not emphasizing...

BOHEMIAN RAP-CITY.(Bohemian Club's summer retreat at Bohemian Grove)(Brief Article)
July 1, 2001... The San Francisco Bohemian Club is the Centre of Power, Prestige and Globalism For much of the world, July 14th is celebrated as the end of a flagrantly out of touch French monarchy; the date in 1789 when the people of Paris rose up and...

Excerpt from "Watching China Change".(Excerpt)
July 1, 2001... In China the 1980s were a decade of steadily rising standards of living, which I watched with wonder. Much of what we take for granted in the West was missing from people's lives in 1979. It was like going back in time about 100 years - but...

Watching China Change.(Review)
July 1, 2001... Watching China Change by Robert C. Cosbey Between the Lines, Toronto, 2001, $24.95. www.btlbooks.com phone 1-800-718-7201 Robert Cosbey first went to China in 1976 when he was 62 years old. He later taught at Nankai...

Hungry for Profit: The Agribusiness Threat to Farmers, Food, and the Environment.(Review)
July 1, 2001... Hungry for Profit: The Agribusiness Threat to Farmers, Food, and the Environment edited by Fred Magdoff, John Bellamy Foster and Frederick H. Buttel Monthly Review Press, 122 West 27th Street, N.Y., New York 10001, 2000. (In...

Women and the Politics of Class.(Review)
July 1, 2001... Women and the Politics of Class by Johanna Brenner Monthly Review Press, NY, 2000. ISBN 1-58367-101-6 $19.95 U.S.A. What has the women's movement achieved and what direction should it take now? These are the questions explored in...

When Poetry Ruled The Streets: The French May Events of 1968.(Review)
July 1, 2001... When Poetry Ruled The Streets: The French May Events of 1968 by Andrew Feenberg and Jim Freedman State University of New York Press, 2001. For a brief historical moment in May 1968 millions of people in France were able to...

Life and Debt: Freedom Not Yet.(Review)
July 1, 2001... Life and Debt: Freedom Not Yet documentary by Stephanie Black airs on PBS, August 21st For years now, leftists in the United States have referred to our Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) as the Petroleum Broadcasting Service. When Congress...

Revelling/Reckoning Ani DiFranco Righteous Babe Records, 2001.(Review)
July 1, 2001... Revelling/Reckoning Ani DiFranco Righteous Babe Records, 2001 Box 95, Ellicott Station Buffalo, N.Y. 14205 Ani's percussive guitar playing and trademark style of delivering lyrics that jumped out and grabbed listeners a decade ago...

Hands.(Review)
July 1, 2001... Hands Pat Humphries Appleseed Recordings, 2001. P.O. Box 2593, West Chester P.A. 19380 FOLKRADICL@aol.Com Pat Humphries has created a beautiful CD celebrating the struggle for justice and equality. I see it as a...

Earth First!(Review)
July 1, 2001... Earth First! P.O.Box 3023, Tuscon, AZ 85702 www.earthfirstjournal.org This environmental journal is a must read for anyone interested in environmental issues and the initiatives citizens are taking to defend our Mother Earth....

We Can Change Things!(participation in environmental protection)(Brief Article)
July 1, 2001... We are the future! We can change things! We might find a way to make everyone feel equal and important. We'll probably have better technology. Hey, maybe aliens will actually come to earth, or we might go to them. But aside from all the...