The Progressive Blog Alliance HQ

Fleeing the House of Horrors is a work of feminist sociology... It is based on detailed interviews with 39 women in Ontario who had successfully left a relationship with an abusive male partner.

The book spends the first few chapters setting the stage in terms of past research and academic writing in the general field of male violence against women, including...

(See the full review at A Canadian Lefty in Occupied Land.)

Thinking Through is a short volume of essays, most or all published originally in other venues over a number of years. Himani Bannerji is a Canadian academic whose politics are, as the subtitle would indicate, feminist, anti-racist, and Marxist. It is, however, a particular kind of Marxism, as much of her work develops themes from the work (and the particular reading of Marx) of Dorothy Smith...There are a number of important issues that Bannerji tackles in the book. The first major essay looks at the relationship between identity politics and class politics, and presents...

(See the full review here at A Canadian Lefty in Occupied Land.)

One fairly common response to documents such as this book is the quite sensible observation that it is not reports, books, studies, and research, research, research that is going to change the world -- only organizing will do that. At the same time, this cynicism about the role of documents can easily be taken too far. Carefully crafted written words can have a tremendous impact. Saying this is not buying into...

(See the full review here at A Canadian Lefty in Occupied Land.)

I had read about racial profiling before, but the first time I was really made aware of it in a personal way was while on a whitewater rafting trip at a fairly cushy, decidedly not-wild portion of the Ottawa River. We were a large group of mostly young people who were either part of the same workplace or had friends in that workplace, so some people knew each other well and others not at all. One evening, in amongst various sorts of partying-related activities, about ten from this larger group were sitting around a camp fire, talking -- eight young white women and men, and two young Black men. The conversation turned to past interactions with the police...

See the full review at A Canadian Lefty in Occupied Land.

I'm not really used to reviewing books that are not straight-up nonfiction. These days it's mostly history and/or theory. And it's not because I don't like anything else, just because of circumstance. Brand, one of Canada's foremost authors, writes novels (I've read and very much enjoyed At the Full and Change of the Moon), political essays (I would recommend Bread Out of Stone, especially the essay on cultural appropriation), history (an important work of oral history of Black women who worked in Ontario between 1920 and 1950), and poetry (haven't read any myself but it is also widely acclaimed), and she has a long history of grassroots involvement in...

(Continued here at A Canadian Lefty in Occupied Land.)

Often the most important question that we can ask ourselves about texts that we encounter is, why should I care? Sometimes this reveals more about the book; other times, it tells us more about our own paths and politics.

Reading Capital Politically is a short, simple book with a deceptively narrow focus. The main body of the text is concerned with providing a close reading of the first three chapters of Volume 1 of Karl Marx's Capital that is politically useful in struggles. I have never read any Marx directly, except for...

(Continued here at A Canadian Lefty in Occupied Land.)

A central question in all politics, albeit one that is seldom even recognized let alone effectively addressed in more privileged progressive (broadly defined) spaces, is who exactly are "we"? Who composes the collective subject pushing for change in a given instance, and how in practical terms is that collectivity constituted? What are the political implications of our answers to those questions? What might we wish to try and do differently?

Often in our semi-conscious dealings with the questions of "we", we forcibly...

(Continued here at A Canadian Lefty in Occupied Land.)

Holloway begins his book not with the word but with the scream.

He writes:

In the beginning is the scream. We scream. When we write or when we read, it is easy to forget that the beginning is not the word, but the scream. Faced with the mutilation of human lives by capitalism, a scream of sadness, a scream of horror, a scream of anger, a scream of refusal: NO.

This is an important beginning. I like many...

(Continued here at A Canadian Lefty in Occupied Land.)

Dorothy Smith is perhaps Canada's foremost feminist sociologist. Her greatest contribution to the discipline is the elaboration of a sociology -- not a methodology, but an actual alternative sociology -- called institutional ethnography (IE). This book is her most recent, most complete theoretical discussion (albeit with plenty of concrete examples from actual IE studies over the years) of the bases and major features of IE.

I first became aware of Smith's work about four years ago when I...

(Continued here on A Canadian Lefty in Occupied Land.)

[Crossposted from A Canadian Lefty in Occupied Land]

Support the workers occupying and running the Bauen Hotel in Argentina. They are under assault. Their efforts are singularly important. Please check out the petition and consider signing.

Here is the English text of the petition:

The struggle of Argentinian workers to recover factories and companies abandoned by their owners has become an inspiring model worldwide, and an important symbol that another world is possible. The Bauen Hotel is a concrete example. Its future and significance were recently recognized by the government of Venezuela, with an agreement signed with the Ministry of Tourism and the National Ministry of Popular Economy to work together in the development of a cooperative tourism venture. At the Bauen Hotel there are 120 men and women who every day demonstrate how to build self-managed alternatives that create jobs, dignity and justice where neoliberalism has resulted in devastating failure.

(Cross posted from A Canadian Lefty in Occupied Land.)

Well tie me to an ant hill and smear my ears with jam -- Radio Free School has a blog! RFS is a radio show put together by a family of un-schoolers in Hamilton, Ontario. It is broadcast every week on 93.3 FM CFMU as well as on a number of other stations around the world and at Radio4All. Now the five merry adventurers in radically liberatory learning are using the blogosphere to build "tantrum space for un-schoolers at radio free school, the weekly radio show by for and about people who eschew factory learning. Open season on all things we might bump up against." Check out the blog and check out their show!

Cross posted from A Canadian Lefty in the Land of King George .

In an effort to stall the passage of legislation that would end discrimination against same-sex couples in the state regulation of relationships in Canada, the federal Conservative Party has offered to ease up on opposition to the budget -- called by a number of knowledgeable commentators the most progressive budget in 30 years, because the Liberals have had to ally themselves with the left in order to pass it -- if the government agrees to put the equal marriage legislation off to the autumn session of Parliament, according to this story on 365Gay.com. The Conservatives believe this would increase the chances of the minority Liberal government being brought down before the legislation could be passed.

(Crossposted from A Canadian Lefty in the Land of King George.)

This interview with renowned Yale scholar and outspoken anarchist David Graeber discusses his recent and unexplained (probably politically motivated) firing, which occurred despite a highly prolific publication record and other professional accomplishments. Read the article, and if you are so inclined please sign this petition in support of Graeber.

"Stopracialprofiling.CA is a Canadian website dedicated to a campaign to stop racial profiling in Canada. It brings together community groups, law makers, lawyers, activists, targets of racial profiling and all affected communities. We urge you to visit the various pages of this site and get involved."

(Via A Canadian Lefty in the Land of King George)

The Canadian Peace Alliance has a list of anti-war events taking place in cities across Canada during the anniversary of the invasion of Iraq, on or about March 19.

(Via A Canadian Lefty in the Land of King George)

Crossposted from A Canadian Lefty in the Land of King George.

A new piece of research on environmental activism and environmental legislation between 1960 and 1994 in the United States has shown that taking to the streets makes a difference. Its findings include:

• pro-environment bills have a much better chance of being passed in a Congress controlled by Democrats
• pro-environment bills have a slightly poorer chance of being passed under a Democratic president
• but most importantly of all, the researcher

  examined the impacts of working inside and outside the institutions of government. Working inside the system, which is how business is generally conducted in Washington, D.C., includes lobbying, petitions, voter-registration campaigns and court cases. Working outside the system includes protests and marches, sit-ins and boycotts.

A listing of fifty fantasy & science fiction works that socialists should read, compiled by noted author in the field China Mieville. (Via A Canadian Lefty in the Land of King George, via Scribblingwoman)

Please sign this petition prepared by the Colorado chapter of the American Indian Movement to support Professor Ward Churchill. (Via A Canadian Lefty in the Land of King George).

I have been wondering: Do we spend so much time thinking, reading, writing, and responding to their politics that we neglect our politics? I ask this after thinking about what we talk about when we are at actions, what political activities we actually engage in, and particularly what our print and broadcast media produce, as well as what the progressive section of the blogosphere blogs about. I'll talk about it mostly in terms of media but it applies, as I've said, to thought, talk, and action as well.That paragraph above needs a lot of unpacking, of course... MORE

A suggestion on the most progressive way to contribute to tsunami relief, via Toronto Action for Social Change...it mentions the Canadian case, but U.S. "aid" works in much the same way:

As with much Canadian foreign "aid," it is likely that many of the funds committed by the Canadian government will likely be tied to hiring Canadian companies or subsidiaries in the tsunami-affected areas, so that the monies never reach those most directly affected. Once again, the poor get shafted by the rich who control the purse strings. (After years of starving these areas of the world with their "structural adjustment" poverty-creation policies, why would we believe that the IMF, World Bank, and major capitalist nations would actually be generous enough to provide funds directly to people on the ground and let them decide how to rebuild their lives?)Via Campesina--an organization closely related to Peoples' Global Action--is collecting funds so that communities affected by the Tsunami can rebuild according to their own needs and visions (which are quite different than those of the G8 and their "aid" agencies)

Via Campesina is a global grassroots movement of peasants, and has been an active paricipant in the World Social Forum process. Please see Via Campesina's appeal for more info on how to donate to tsunami relief through that organization.