Briarpatch articles from September 2005

Briarpatch archives from September 2005

Taking democracy to work.(Editor's Note)(Editorial)
September 1, 2005... "Participation and involvement of people in the exercise of their sovereignty in social and economic affairs [can be manifested by] self-management, co-management, cooperatives in all forms, including those of a financial nature, savings...

The business end of the 'patch.
September 1, 2005... Farewell, Debra For Debra Brin's first issue as managing editor of Briarpatch in February 2001, she chose green for the colour of the front cover. Now Debra has opted for more green in her life, and departed for adventures in Ireland....

Corrections.(Correction Notice)
September 1, 2005... In Tyler McCreary's article in the August issue, Elder Peter Waskahat of Frog Lake First Nation was incorrectly identified. The US national debt is $7.7 trillion dollars--in Asad Ismi's article this figure was mistakenly given as US household...

Weapons manufacturer stonewalled: testing range rejected by Cree and Quebec governments.
September 1, 2005... TWO YEARS AFTER SNC Tec announced its intention to build a military ballistics testing range near the Cree community of Waswanipi in northern Quebec, the provincial government officially rejected the proposal on July 27. SNC-Lavalin is...

The unrealized power of the working class: lessons from the 2005 CLC convention.(Canadian Labour Congress Convention)
September 1, 2005... SOLIDARITY FOREVER--the anthem of the labour movement--begins with the following words: "When the union's inspiration through the workers' blood shall run, there can be no power greater anywhere beneath the sun." Today, there is very little...

Confessions of a boardroom revolutionary: (or how I stopped writing for the man and formed a worker co-op).(CO-OP CASE STUDIES)
September 1, 2005... April Bourgeois is the publisher of Regina's prairie dog and Saskatoon's Planet S magazines, Saskatchewan's only two alternative biweeklies. These magazines, which now reach an estimated 120,000 urban readers every two weeks, are run by d one...

Towards life after capitalism: an introduction to participatory economics.(INDUSTRIAL DEMOCRACY)(Transcript)
September 1, 2005... In October 2004 at the Conference of the Pio Manzu Institute, Michael Albert was awarded the Medal of the President of the Italian Republic for developing and popularizing what the citation described as "a radical economic model known as...

The first of January Boot factory.(CO-OP CASE STUDIES)
September 1, 2005... IT'S BEEN ALMOST TWELVE years since the Zapatistas of southern Mexico said ya basta ("enough") to neo-liberalism and initiated a struggle for "a world where many worlds fit." Today, the Zapatistas are creating a variety of participatory...

A (by-no-means-complete) collection of co-op resources.(Bibliography)
September 1, 2005... What is a co-operative? According to the International Co-operative Alliance, a co-operative is "an autonomous association of persons united voluntarily to meet their common economic, social, and cultural needs and aspirations through a...

Flatland Artists Studios: the art of managing a cultural worker co-op.(CO-OP CASE STUDIES)(Company Profile)
September 1, 2005... IN A SHORT, MUSTY CORRIDOR at the entrance to an old warehouse, Marnie Badham and I sat to discuss the formation of the Flatland Artist Co-op over a chicken sandwich lunch. While at least three different genres of music blared in the...

The Cristal Avellaneda worker co-op: manufacturing a new Argentina.(CO-OP CASE STUDIES)
September 1, 2005... THE FACTORY THAT HOUSES Cristal Avellaneda is a perfect metaphor for Argentina as a whole. When you step into the massive warehouse--about three square blocks--you can see an incredible amount of unused productive capacity, which has been...

The rise and fall of the Sask Wheat Pool.(CO-OP CASE STUDIES)(Company Profile)
September 1, 2005... WHEN SETTLERS FIRST arrived in western Canada, they brought with them their experience in other co-operative movements. The soil was rich and there was much opportunity to farm the land, but they knew from the start they would have to work...

The case for a living wage: calls for a $10/hour federal minimum wage are gaining momentum. Nancy Langdon presents the case.
September 1, 2005... THERE WAS, A TIME WHEN having a job meant you wouldn't have to live in poverty--but not anymore, Minimum wages across the country have sunk, in real terms, to their lowest level in 30 years. "The purchasing power of the minimum wage is less...

Co-operation without borders: NGOs of the world unite to fight poverty.
September 1, 2005... The statistics are grim: 1.2 billion people presently live in poverty, most of them women. More than 800 million people go to bed hungry, and 50,000 people die every day from poverty-related causes. But according to Nathan Forester, poverty...

My Union, My Life: Jean-Claude Parrot and the Canadian Union of Postal Workers.
September 1, 2005... My Union, My Life: Jean-Claude Parrot and the Canadian Union of Postal Workers Jean-Claude Parrot Fernwood, 2005 www.fernwoodbooks.ca THIS YEAR MARKS THE fortieth anniversary of the Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW)--a fitting...

Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room.
September 1, 2005... ENRON: The Smartest Guys in the Room Directed by Alex Gibney, 2005 www.enronmovie.com GUERRILLA FILMMAKER Michael Moore's greatest contribution to progressive politics, we may soon look back and realize, probably won't have been...

Third world debt.(QUOTES FROM THE UNDERGROUND)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2005... "I do not believe that America and Americans are the cause of all the world's miseries and injustices. I do believe they are the prime beneficiaries." Immanuel Wallerstein "The Third World debt crises, as seen from within the West,...

Student debt.(QUOTES FROM THE UNDERGROUND)
September 1, 2005... "Once upon a time, only the rich and powerful sent their children to school. In today's credit-based economy, in which everyone is expected to be middle class and most must live beyond their means to maintain this illusion, the education...

Forget security.(QUOTES FROM THE UNDERGROUND)
September 1, 2005... "Security is mostly a superstition. It does not exist in nature, nor do the children of men as a whole experience it. Avoiding danger is no safer in the long run than outright exposure. Life is either a daring adventure, or nothing." ...

Terror in London or terror of London?(My Opinion)
September 1, 2005... Since its inception, the War on Terrorism has developed its own self-justifying logic, and many of us have lost track of all the reasons given as to why this war is being fought. Yet we do know that the London bombings are a direct...