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
Author: The abolitionist
I come from a working-class background. My lost paid job was a teacher, substituting for a number of years before obtaining a permanent position. I obtained my doctorate in 2009. I am an unapologetic critic of capitalism and the way in which various institutions and ideologies reinforce it.
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
A Problem of the Transition to Socialism: The Relation between Less Developed and More Developed Capitalist Countries
John Clarke, former major organizer for the Ontario Coalition Against Poverty, recently posted the following: John Clarke There are general considerations that come into play when we consider how a socialist society would develop. Obviously, no detailed blueprint can be drawn up ahead of time but there are obvious questions that would have to be … Continue reading A Problem of the Transition to Socialism: The Relation between Less Developed and More Developed Capitalist Countries
Electoral Politics as Secondary Tactics, Not the Primary Focus of Social Change
John Clarke, former major organizer fot the Ontario Coalition Against Poverty (OCAP), posted this yesterday on Facebook: Several people have asked me in the last while whether the points I've been making about electoral politics mean that I'm against participating in elections altogether. I'm not suggesting my views on the subject should be held up … Continue reading Electoral Politics as Secondary Tactics, Not the Primary Focus of Social Change
Guilty Until Proven Innocent? Or Innocent Until Proven Guilty–With Strings (and Money) Attached?
John Clarke, former major organizer of the Ontario Coalition Against Poverty, twittered the following: Class based and racist to its core, the #bail system warehouses those supposedly innocent until proven guilty. Even when conditions of release are granted, they're often petty and needless restrictions. The effort to make this worse is quite appalling. https://www.readthemaple.com/tightened-bail-restrictions-unlikely-to-curb-violent-crime-experts-warn/?ref=maple-digest-news-newsletter
Critical Education Articles Placed in the Teacher Staff Lounge While I Was a Teacher, Part Twenty: The School as the Embodiment of Character Formation Versus the School as the Embodiment of the Three R’s
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: The School as the Embodiment of Character Formation Versus the School as the Embodiment of the Three R’s
The Ideology of Meritocracy, the Poor and Prison
John Clarke, former major organizer of the Ontario Coalition Against Poverty, had this to say rcently about meritocarcy, poverty and prison: I've noted before that during the times I spent in jail it always struck me very strongly that the great bulk of the prisoners wouldn't have been in there and certainly wouldn't have had … Continue reading The Ideology of Meritocracy, the Poor and Prison
The Abolitionary 