Introduction The documentary (https://gem.cbc.ca/media/cbc-docs-pov/s04e05?cmp=sch-company%20town) presents the situation in Oshawa, Ontario, where General Motors (GM) decided to close its plant. GM had operated in Oshawa for around a century. On November 16, 2018, GM announced that it was closing the plant, throwing around 2,500 direct workers out of work and affecting thousands more indirectly (through the … Continue reading Company Town: A Critical Review of a Documentary on the Closing of the Oshawa Plant by General Motors (GM), Part Two: Jerry Dias, President of Unifor National
Month: June 2023
The Police: Reform (Transform) or Abolish?
John Clarke, former major organizer for the Ontario Coalition Against Poverty (OCAP), recently posted this on Facebook: John Clarke If you injured your arm and went to the hospital, you'd be quite surprised if the doctor noted the swelling and pain but refused to consider the possibility of a broken bone. Yet, when it comes … Continue reading The Police: Reform (Transform) or Abolish?
Drawing a Logical Conclusion: The Need for Ideological Struggle
John Clarke, former major organizer of the Ontario Coalition Against Poverty, recently posted this on Facebook: John Clarke · We live in a society that is based on exploitation. The small minority of exploiters are raised under conditions that school them in the exercise of power and instill in them a fierce determination to preserve … Continue reading Drawing a Logical Conclusion: The Need for Ideological Struggle
Climate Change Should Not Be the Focus–But Rather the Class Power of Employers
John Clarke, former major organizer for the Ontario Coalition of Poverty (OCAP), posted this on Facebook yesterday. John Clarke ontespSdor80h4904f6716896tc4cah5i5g6u65f8l61571h8iaa054hm1g0 · Capitalism's assault on the natural world is now producing impacts that must lead us to rethink our view of the class struggle and the strategies that flow from it. We must restrain the hand of … Continue reading Climate Change Should Not Be the Focus–But Rather the Class Power of Employers
Guilty Until Proven Innocent: The Real Assumption of Some Bureaucratic Tribunals, Part Seven
It is supposed to be a fundamental principle of criminal law that a person is presumed innocent until proven otherwise by the State (government). This is the ideology or the rhetoric (which much of the left have swallowed). The reality is otherwise. In reality, the administrative apparatus of various organizations of the government and semi-governmental … Continue reading Guilty Until Proven Innocent: The Real Assumption of Some Bureaucratic Tribunals, Part Seven
Amazon’s Exploitation and Super-exploitation of Workers: Both are Exploitation
John Clarke, former major organizer for the Ontario Coalition of Poverty, posted the following on Facebook yesterday: John Clarke "Amazon’s use of ‘seasonal’ work is a strategy to save on labour costs and deny workers their rightful benefits and security. The white badge system is a cleverly disguised mechanism of worker exploitation, masquerading under the … Continue reading Amazon’s Exploitation and Super-exploitation of Workers: Both are Exploitation
An Example of Oppression by the Social-Democratic Left
John Clarke, former major organizer of the Ontario Coalition Against Poverty, posted this on Facebook: This is mind bogglingly dreadful. Become informers or face eviction from your housing. This, moreover, is no aberration but is entirely in line with Labour's law and order focus. https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2023/jun/05/darren-rodwell-labour-barking-dagenham-london-knife-crime-evictions?fbclid=IwAR13LCRTcNq2gTaGYFKM-SGsHlLohpZQw4IZbv8dL0r_JWnlte5MmJPSO3o
How the Left Can Easily Become the Right, Or: How the Left Can Turn into its Opposite
John Clarke, former major organizer for the Ontario Coalitaiton Against Poverty (OCAP, posted this on Facebook: The failure to distinguish between reactionary rage and the stirring of working class resistance has emerged as a source of political disorientation. The fascist led 'trucker convoy' in Canada produced a veritable crop of such nonsense. https://libcom.org/article/how-christian-parenti-got-class-wrong-learned-talk-trump-and-lost-his-mind-autopsy?fbclid=IwAR0fKMoCqlulolsChJdLNzAh8GJjDwgRhPRcQcVln4MZjgAx9Yom9T46ECo
Review of Thier’s Book “A People’s Guide to Capitalism,” Part Three
I recently participated in a group called No One Is Illegal here in Toronto. The group decided to provide a zoom reading meeting every week to discuss the book A People's Guide to Capitalism, by Hadas Thier, with many participants not belonging to the group but interested in understanding more about capitalism. We read the … Continue reading Review of Thier’s Book “A People’s Guide to Capitalism,” Part Three
Solidarity Among Political Activists and So-Called Criminals
John Clarke posted this yesterday on Facebook: When a wave of arrests took place following the major confrontation at the Ontario Legislature, in June of 2000, that became known as the Queen's Park Riot, those of us who were sent to the provincial jails experienced no end of solidarity and support from the other prisoners. … Continue reading Solidarity Among Political Activists and So-Called Criminals
The Abolitionary 