Culture

From smallpox to COVID-19 – epidemics and Indigenous peoples

Clearing the Plains: Disease, Politics of Starvation and the Loss of Aboriginal Life (2013) Author: James Daschuk Publisher: University of Regina Press Review by Kimball Cariou What economic system extends its reach across entire [...]

The political and cultural legacy of the ‘Grand Orange Lodge of British America’

Many progressive folks living in Canada consider the historical legacy of Protestant-based community organizations to be a positive one. As examples of this progressive legacy, they often point to Tommy Douglas, the first social-democratic premier [...]

Song: a weapon of the revolution

Normand Raymond A social explosion is shaking Chile – an unceasing wave of massive demonstrations which began October 18, demanding better living conditions and aiming to replace General Pinochet’s fascist 1980 constitution through a people’s [...]

Breaking down anti-Communist caricatures, book reveals a man who grasped the nature of world-wide class struggle

Norman Bethune in Spain: Commitment, Crisis and Conspiracy (2013) Author: David Lethbridge Publisher: Sussex Academic Press Few figures in Canadian history remain as popular as Norman Bethune. This despite a plethora of books, films and [...]

A passionate and entertaining account of GDR socialism

A Socialist Defector: from Harvard to Karl-Marx-Allee Author: Victor Grossman Publisher: Monthly Review Press, 2019 Thirty one years ago the Berlin Wall came down and the working class in the German Democratic Republic (GDR), or East [...]

OITNB: Reflecting and resisting the dominant ideology

Orange is the New Black Season 7 (2019), 13 Episodes Created by Jenji Kohan Orange is the New Black (OITNB) has become a fan favorite on Netflix, being the most popular series on that platform. The final season of this franchise is also its [...]

Fantasized on one hand, stigmatized on the other

Film review: After Porn Ends (2012) After Porn Ends is an important documentary that explores what happens to sex workers once they retire from the “adult entertainment” industry. The film raises points that can be informative to an analysis of [...]

Music Notes: Timeless songs with urgent topicality

David Rovics, the topical songwriter from Portland, Oregon, has just released Strangers and Friends, a new album that may well be his best ever. Rovics has been mentioned a lot in this column over the years. Many of this paper's readers have seen [...]

‘Watchmen’: An unblinking look at racism through the eyes of lead Black characters

Michael Berkowitz HBO’s Watchmen is a stunning achievement for television. It is an unblinking look at American right-wing populism and racism, through the eyes of lead Black characters in a science fiction comic book superstructure, a genre in [...]

Music Notes: Chilean anthem calls out femicide

A flash mob performance piece written by a feminist collective in the Chilean city of Valparaíso has been taken up by women worldwide as a battle cry for justice. “Un violador en tu camino” (“A rapist in your path”) is an important part of the [...]

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