Reconciliation is not just about rhetoric, it is material. It is about how economic costs and benefits are shared. If we are to be serious about it, we have to be ready to take on costs that are both political and economic. The sunk and termination costs of Site C are substantial and so are the foregone benefits of reliable baseload power. If we want our governments to take on these costs in our name without fear, we have to make it a common sense proposition that they are worth taking on to forge a new relationship with First Nations.
Renowned critic of capitalism David Harvey explores a growing awareness that the free market can’t give people want they really want and need
One third of children in the United States, still the richest country in the world according to David Harvey, live in poverty. They often, he writes, inhabit “toxic environments, suffer from hunger and lead poisoning even as they are denied access to elementary social services and educational opportunities”. This is the “madness of economic reason”.
Socialism — yes, socialism — is having a moment in America. And it’s hotter than ever among Philly millennials.
It’s one of those final, bittersweet fridays of the summer, and a dozen people are crowded around a picnic table at the el bar in fishtown. with their horn-rimmed glasses, hand-rolled cigarettes and lukewarm pbrs, they look like your standard-issue young hipsters. but here’s the difference between them and the men with manicured beards across the patio: these are card-carrying members of the democratic socialists of america, the largest socialist group in the nation.
If we don’t change the conversation, if we don’t deal with the systemic problems of capitalism and come up with a viable alternative, our goose is cooked.
In principle, free transit advocacy can also be an element in a broader vision to reorganize urban life and restructure the social order along red (working class-based, working toward socialism) and green (environmental) lines. This requires working through a host of open questions that go far beyond lowering the cost of fares. These include:
