The Rate of Exploitation of Workers at Empire Company (or Sobeys or Thrifty Foods or FreshCo or Safeway Canada or IGA or Foodland Workers), One of the Largest Private Employers in Victoria, British Columbia, Or: How Unionized Jobs Are Not Decent or Good Jobs

I was, in part, inspired to start this blog because of the incredible lack of criticla thinking on the part of the pro-union left here in Toronto. In particular, when I tried to bring up the issue of whether striking brewery workers could ever except to obtain "a fair deal, good jobs, pension security and … Continue reading The Rate of Exploitation of Workers at Empire Company (or Sobeys or Thrifty Foods or FreshCo or Safeway Canada or IGA or Foodland Workers), One of the Largest Private Employers in Victoria, British Columbia, Or: How Unionized Jobs Are Not Decent or Good Jobs

Critical Education Articles Placed in the Teacher Staff Lounge While I Was a Teacher, Part Twenty-Three : Collective Rights Versus Human Rights

This is a continuation of a series of posts on summaries of articles, mainly on education. When I was a French teacher at Ashern Central School, in Ashern, Manitoba, Canada, I started to place critiques, mainly (although not entirely) of the current school system. At first, I merely printed off the articles, but then I … Continue reading Critical Education Articles Placed in the Teacher Staff Lounge While I Was a Teacher, Part Twenty-Three : Collective Rights Versus Human Rights

Social Reformists Making Any Assertions They Want: Should Marxists Tolerate This?

On a Marxist listserve, I recently started questioning the sincerity of a writer. He made many unsubstantiated assertions--like Trump. I find such an irresponsible attitude to be insulting, given the nature of human suffering in this world dominated by the class of employers. First Insult to the Working Class: Providing No Evidence that Unions Openly … Continue reading Social Reformists Making Any Assertions They Want: Should Marxists Tolerate This?

The Radical Left Have a Responsbility to Challenge Questionable Assertions from Their Own Ranks

John Clarke, former major organizer for the Ontario Coalition Against Poverty (OCAP), recently posted the following on Facebook: John Clarke With even greater intensity than the pandemic [my emphasis], the impacts of climate change are running along the fault lines of social, racial and global inequality. Our resistance must be taken up along just those … Continue reading The Radical Left Have a Responsbility to Challenge Questionable Assertions from Their Own Ranks

School Rhetoric: Ideological Use of the Concept of Social Justice, Part Three

In the first post on this topic, I pointed out how even the most radical article on social justice in the winter 2015-2016 edition of Leaders & Learners (the official magazine of the Canadian Association of School Administrators, or CASS) expresses the limited definition (and views) of middle-class ideology. This post will continue to critically … Continue reading School Rhetoric: Ideological Use of the Concept of Social Justice, Part Three

Critique of a Book Used by Many Psychologists and Psychiatrists to Oppress Patients, Part Four

Introduction  This is the fourth of a five-part series of posts that criticize a book that serves to oppress individuals, whether they have mental health problems or not. As I indicated in another post (see Critique of a Book Used by Many Psychologists and Psychiatrists to Oppress Patients, Part One), I engaged in a partial critique … Continue reading Critique of a Book Used by Many Psychologists and Psychiatrists to Oppress Patients, Part Four

The Real World of the Rule of Law: Courts as Oppressive Organizations, Part Five: The Rhetoric of the Need for a Warrant Versus the Reality

Introduction This is a continuation of a series that exposes the reality of courts as part of the exposure of the reality of the rule of law. The series involves quotes from the book by Doreen McBarnet (1983) Conviction: Law, the State and the Construction of Justice as well as short commentaries related to the … Continue reading The Real World of the Rule of Law: Courts as Oppressive Organizations, Part Five: The Rhetoric of the Need for a Warrant Versus the Reality