It is amusing — in some circumstances one might call it slightly alarming — to observe how effortlessly the leaders of the Cree Nation, as the eight Cree villages in Quebec now style themselves, have switched their policy towards the nationalist claims of the province of Quebec.
In the 1990s, the Crees [...]

I have just spent two weeks visiting a friend who has lived in Croatia for nearly 40 years. It was my first time in the country — having been denied a visa to visit Yugoslavia in 1954 when my passport carried the deadly word “journalist” —- and I confess the impact [...]

Quite possibly Redd Volkert is the greatest guitarist Canada has ever produced. I suggested that to him on Saturday, when I again had the privilege of hearing his astonishing virtuosity on his instrument during a quick visit to Austin, Texas, the self-styled music capital of America. “Oh, no,” he said in his self-deprecating way. But [...]

Here is a statement about relations between the Canadian governments and the indigenous people, with which I wholeheartedly agree. It comes from a group called Defenders of the Land, who encourage and organize First Nations to base their policies on Aboriginal rights (which are recognized in the Constitution) and title.
Here it is:
Canada's Indian policy in [...]

It is kind of odd that the day after I made a link to the informative interview about the economic meltdown granted by urban geographer David Harvey to International Socialist Review, validation of his Marxist interpretation should come from an article
in the New York Times—which I suppose could be called an [...]

There’s probably never been a more convincing demonstration of the debilitating effect of poverty on people, and on society, than the contrast between the effects of the Haitian and New Zealand earthquakes.
The earthquakes were of roughly the same intensity — in fact, I believe the New Zealand quake was slightly more [...]

Ever since 1970, and probably before, a huge movement has emerged around the globe whose determination has been to save the environment of the Earth from being utterly destroyed by industrial development, to save our water, air and soils from being irrevocably poisoned, our forests destroyed, our oceans denuded of fish.
Some [...]