What motivates us to fight for positive change? What role does our interconnectedness with other people and our environment play in the struggle for social and environmental justice? Where do religion and action meet? Briarpatch’s January/February 2011 issue, “The Soul of Activism,” explores the intersection between spirituality and activism, connecting the dots between our goals for positive change in the world and our inner personal (emotional and spiritual) revolutions.

To subscribe or order a copy of this issue, call 1-866-431-5777 or e-mail publisher AT briarpatchmagazine DOT com.

features

faithful ally
The United Church and one father’s journey from homophobia to LGBT advocacy
By Marc Colbourne

solidarity in Islamophobic times
Holding the state and the Left accountable
By Sumayya Kassamali

no priests, no temples
An interview with Michael Stone
By Dave Oswald Mitchell

love in a time of climate crisis
How can humanity’s greatest challenge be transformed into the greatest love story on earth?
By Velcrow Ripper

blood, sweat and prayers
Buddhism and (non)violence in the Tibetan independence movement
By Henry Martin

pedagogy of the omitted
The Escola Fé e Política in northeastern Brazil breathes new life into Liberation Theology
By D. Henry Claflin

departments

letters & announcements

letter from the editor
“Creative engagement” by Shayna Stock

comic: code green
“Oxygen shortage” by Stephanie McMillan

reviews
This is an Honour Song: 20 Years Since the Blockades
Reviewed by Tyler McCreary

quotes from the underground
John Bellamy Foster, Jon Kabat-Zinn, Martin Luther King, Jr., John Berger, Wole Soyinka, George Orwell, Todd Gordon, Mowugo Okoye

parting shots
Interconnectedness in action
a politically radical and spiritually evolved vision for the future of human communities
By Zainab Amadahy

Neoliberalism has reshaped the nature of work. The standard of full-time, life-long employment has been replaced by work that is increasingly temporary, part-time and precarious. Though workers are divided and isolated as never before, sites of grassroots collective action offer ample inspiration to working class people worldwide. In Briarpatch’s annual labour issue, we explore the unique challenges the neoliberal workforce faces and the diverse and creative ways that workers are reorganizing themselves to fight back.

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features

reorganizing the workplace
Economic emancipation in three (not-so-simple) steps
By Amanda DiVito Wilson

agriculture under apartheid
How Palestinian farmers are feeding resistance
By Jillian Kestler-D’Amours

discipline and punish
Welfare, workfare, and the punishment of the poor
By Aleksandra McHugh

room and board
Reflections from the front lines of free farm labour
By Nikko Snyder

reinventing resistance
How the mobile workforce is mobilizing
By Sarah Mann

dignity and solidarity
Community support work and movement building
By Robyn Maynard

departments

letter from the editor
Crisis and Collective Action

contributors’ bios

comic: code green
“Lifestyle Purity” by Stephanie McMillan

reviews

Elroy Deimert’s Pubs Pulpits and Prairie Fires
Reviewed by Michael Dupuis

Prole’s Abolish Restaurants
Reviewed by Brittany Shoot

The Past, Present and Future of Work: An Omnibus Review
Reviewed by Nathalie Foy

parting shots
Reluctant Renegade
By Deryn Collier

Health, and the way we manage our collective well-being, is inherently political. As perhaps the most universally relevant topic, health care cuts across lines of class, race, nationality, age, gender and political bent, and has the potential to either unite or polarize, to inspire or enrage. As well as being highly political, health care is also deeply personal, affecting each of us at the most fundamental level of our existence.

Seeking a more holistic understanding of health in our current socio-political context, Briarpatch explores the interconnectedness of the health of our environment, our bodies and our social systems in our “politics of health” issue.

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features

in sickness and in wealth
Unmasking the social determinants of health
By Ryan Meili

freedom of (hate) speech
Confronting the rise of anti-choice activism on Canadian campuses
By Jane Kirby

commodification
A photo essay
By Ian Willms

healing denied
Native-run healing centres forced to close
By Maya Rolbin-Ghanie

breeding disease
Antibiotic resistance in factory farms
By Ian Lordon

cultivating community
A community garden in Toronto bridges isolation
By Rebecca Ellis

de-linking from dependency
Indigenous food sovereignty brings together land, food and health
By Joanne Wadden

community acupuncture
A new movement brings an age-old Eastern tradition to the Canadian working class
By Susana Adame

departments

letter from the editor

contributors’ bios

announcements

letters to the editor

comic: luz
“Reconcilable Differences” by Claudia Dávila

quotes from the underground
Paul Pitchford, Ralph Waldo Emerson, John Robbins, Jane Roberts, Mumia Abu Jamal, Martin Luther King, Jr., Alixa & Naima, Carl Jung, Wendell Berry

parting shots
In defense of universal health care (and why the U.S. health care reform bill misses the mark)
By Ken Collier

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People move across borders from necessity or desperation, providing the citizens of the territory they enter with an unfree workforce that is often used to undermine the rights of more established workers. More than race, more than class, more than gender – but interacting powerfully with all three – the colour of one’s passport, or the misfortune of having been displaced from one’s country of origin, can do more to limit a person’s opportunities than almost any other single factor. Declaring war on walls of all kinds, Briarpatch explores the politics of migration in our “freedom of movement” issue.

To subscribe or order a copy of this issue, call 1-866-431-5777 or visit our secure online shop.

features

a border runs through it
Mohawk sovereignty & the Canadian state
By Henry Martin

letters across borders
Two brothers separated by the U.S./Canada border reflect on what unites and divides them
By Authman and Zidan Mushtaak

exiled for love
Arsham Parsi’s long journey
By Marc Colbourne

immigration double jeopardy
One strike, you’re out?
By Angela Day

creative class struggle
Gentrification & sex work in Hamilton’s downtown core
By Sarah Mann

sex work, migration & anti-trafficking
Interviews with Nandita Sharma & Jessica Yee
By Robyn Maynard

the aeolian recreational boundary institute
Artists pushing the boundaries of boundaries
By arbi

finding our own voices
A profile of Migrante Ontario
By MaryCarl Guiao

departments

letter from the editor

letters to the editor

contributors’ bios

comic: luz
“Fur, food ‘n’ fertilizer” by Claudia Dávila

quotes from the underground
Arnaldo Jabor & Chris Hedges

parting shots
Cashing in on the border: The ugly economic calculations driving Canada’s immigration policy
By Annette Przygoda

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What is Canada’s role in the global village? In the capitalist system? Is Canada imperialist? And what are the responsibilities of Canadian progressives and internationalists? These are the questions that drive our “foreign policy” issue. The search for answers takes us from Copenhagen to Kandahar, from the Toronto Stock Exchange to the streets of Tegucigalpa, and beyond.

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features

taking stock of canada’s mining industry
Landmark lawsuit against the TSX could strip mining companies of impunity
By Jennifer Moore

the battle for the atmosphere
Is Canada’s climate change obstruction tantamount to neo-colonialism?
By Mark Brooks

canada’s imperialist project
Capital & power in Canadian foreign policy
By Todd Gordon

walking backward into battle
How Canada’s civilian & military deep integrationists took us to war
By Chris Shaw

unfinished business
Sweatshops, oligarchs & the fear of a new constitution in Honduras
By Dawn Paley

‘an attack on israel would be considered an attack on canada’
Scrutinizing Canada’s new Middle East policy
By Jillian Kestler-D’Amours

departments

letter from the editor
Nationalism as Pathology

contributors’ bios

reviews

Yves Engler’s The Black Book of Canadian Foreign Policy
Reviewed by Greg Shupak

Chris Hedges’ Empire of Illusion
Reviewed by Don Sawyer

comic: luz
“Robert’s Rabbits” by Claudia Dávila

quotes from the underground
Chris Hedges, Immanuel Wallerstein, Emma Goldman, Walter Benjamin, John Berger, Audrey Thompson

parting shots
Six pillars of a progressive Canadian foreign policy
By Yves Engler

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In an age of intensifying global inequalities and social upheaval, how are women’s movements responding, particularly in the Global South and in marginalized communities? How are anti-imperialist and anti-capitalist feminists adapting their demands, tactics and strategies to changing circumstances? To what extent is liberal/Western/white/middle-class feminism aiding or inhibiting the struggles of women when these struggles intersect with issues of race, class, nationality and ethnicity? What are the emerging paradigms that will shape struggles for women’s autonomy in the decades to come? These are the sorts of questions we explore in our “global feminism” issue.

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features

the gender of enlightenment
Female Buddhists face a glass ceiling in Thailand
By Gita Tewari

’words are powerful weapons’
The story of the speech that drove Malalai Joya underground
By Malalai Joya with Derrick O’Keefe

blanket condemnations
Contested feminisms and the politics of the burqa
By Erum Hasan

‘memsahib’ & ‘bourgeoisification of the brown nation’
Poems by Farah Shroff

no one answer
An interview with Marilyn Waring
By Brittany Shoot

cupcakes, gender, nostalgia
The commodification & consumption of girlhoods past
By Ondine Park & Tonya Davidson

profiles of feminism

The blind leading: Gender & eye care in the Global South
By Heather Wardle

The Honduran Committee for Peace Action: Women’s community organizing under pressure
By Angela Day

Forging ahead: The Ñaña knitters collective
By Teresa Krug

departments

letter from the editor
The next wave will come from the South

contributors’ bios

letters to the editor

review

J. R. Miller’s Compact, Contract, Covenant: Aboriginal Treaty-Making in Canada
Reviewed by Tyler McCreary

comic: luz
“Riot Girl” by Claudia Dávila

quotes from the underground
Sojourner Truth, Eve Ensler, John Berger, Vandana Shiva, Minke-An Ligeon, Anasuya Sengupta, Robin Morgan

parting shots
Naming the violence that has taken our sisters
By Joyce Green

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In the wake of the global convergence in Copenhagen and looking ahead to the anti-Olympic demonstrations in February, Briarpatch sets out in this issue to assess the state of social movements today. Where are the emerging opportunities for collective action and popular empowerment? What have we learned in the ten years since Seattle? How do we translate the convergences in Copenhagen, Vancouver or elsewhere into ongoing political pressure and social transformation? Our “responsibility to protest” issue looks at these and other questions

To subscribe or order a copy of this issue, call 1-866-431-5777 or visit our secure online shop.

features

from invisibility to stability
Transgender organizing for the masses
By Mandy Van Deven

food politics & the tyranny of rights
A profile of Brewster Kneen
By Devlin Kuyek

water fight
First Nations’ water rights in the Thompson Okanagan
By Hannah Askew

selling the Olympics in the schools
Goverment & anti-Olympics groups take their messages to the classroom
By Jenn Hardy

boosters’ millions
Better ways to spend $6.1 billion than on the Olympics
By Dawn Paley & Isaac Oommen

mass protests & the future of convergence activism
Is summit-hopping a dying tactic or the next Olympic sport?
By Jane Kirby

collective power
A retrospective photo essay, illustrating Jane Kirby’s article
By Elaine Brière

when we were feminists
The 20-year reunion of the Radical Obnoxious Fucking Feminists
By Penelope Hutchison

departments

letter from the editor
Collective power and the responsibility to protest

letters to the editor

contributors’ bios

review

Brian D. Palmer’s Canada’s 1960s: The ironies of identity in a rebellious era
Reviewed by Lorne Brown

luz: girl of the knowing

quotes from the underground
Naomi Klein, George Orwell, John Berger, Lester B. Pearson, John Michael Greer, Michael Stone, Cho Se-Hui & Norm MacDonald

parting shots
What the right does right
By Armine Yalnizyan

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The economic crisis has taken a grim toll on working people and on the labour movement. In its wake, can labour activists and environmentalists join forces to build a green economy that works for everyone? This is just one of the many questions we set out to answer in our annual labour issue, which also brings you a report on the sorry state of freelance journalism, a first-hand account of fighting fire in Canada’s Big Wild, an assessment of the prospects for union organizing in tough times, a look at the intersection of neoliberalism and volunteerism in New Orleans, and more.

To subscribe or order a copy of this issue, call 1-866-431-5777 or visit our secure online shop.

features

global perspectives on the great recession:

Saints or scabs? The impact of volunteer labour in New Orleans
By Sara Falconer

Two-tier workforce: South Korea’s migrant underclass bears the brunt
By Steven Borowiec

Hong Kong’s women workers & the fight for a minimum wage
By Jillian Kestler-D’Amours

organizing in tough times
Should labour unions hunker down or go on the offensive?
By Sarah Ryan

will write for food
The dismal state of freelance journalism
By Andrea Crummer

cutting the global economy down to size
The nature of work & the green-collar workforce
By Robin Tennant-Wood

Supplement: Resources to fuel the shift to a green economy

work less, live more
Renegotiating our relationship with work
By Anna Kirkpatrick

days of smoke & roses
Fighting fire in the Big Wild
By Angela Street

are governments doing enough to address the global jobs crisis?
Global Jobs Pact a blueprint for change
By Stephanie Dearing

departments

letter from the editor
Turtles and teamsters, ten years on

review

Aziz Choudry et al’s Fight Back: Workplace justice for immigrants
Reviewed by David Koch

quotes from the underground
Thus spake Stephen Harper

parting shots
The coming austerity
By Simon Enoch

luz: girl of the knowing
(Luz returns next issue)

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The education system, broadly conceived, represents both our best hope of emancipatory change and the primary mechanism for replicating the status quo. In our “Education for a Change” issue, Briarpatch surveys this contested space, exploring the challenges as well as the opportunities the current moment presents to allow us to rethink the ways we share knowledge (and consequently power) with one another, with our children, and with the children of others.

To subscribe or order a copy of this issue, call 1-866-431-5777 or visit our secure online shop.

features

the myth of the multicultural patchwork
Anti-racist education & the problem with multiculturalism
By Tyler McCreary

retooling schooling
4 projects that are revolutionizing the way we teach & learn
By Colin Payne, Anna Kirkpatrick, Michelle Miller & Chris Benjamin

corporate crisis, community opportunity
Rebuilding local media for the 21^st century
By Jacqueline Cusack McDonald & Steve Anderson

single-gender education
Fad or future?
By Jacquie McTaggart

freedom, absurdity & The Stranger in the classroom
Facing the Sunday blues with Albert Camus
By Joelle Renstrom

B.A., M.A., McJob
The student debt bubble, the shrinking middle class and the future of post-secondary education
By Leslie Jermyn

generation debt
What’s the real cost of knowledge?
By Alethea Spiridon

the road to flobbertown
How standardized testing is changing the way we teach our kids
By Sue Stock & Shayna Stock

departments

letter from the editor
Education for a change

letters to the editor

contributors’ bios

review

Adrienne Clarkson’s Norman Bethune: Extraordinary Canadians series
Reviewed by Ruth Latta

quotes from the underground
Derrick Jensen, John Berger, George Carlin, Gerry Hurton, Javier Pérez de Cuéllar, Hubert Humphrey, Eugene Debs & Malcolm X

parting shots
Who taught you to teach, professor?
By Don Sawyer

luz: girl of the knowing
“A Class Act” by Claudia Dávila

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What if the ongoing economic recession is not just a regrettable temporary setback in the never-ending march of growth-fuelled prosperity, but the beginning of a painful but ecologically necessary process of scaling back our footprint to a more sustainable level?

How would we manage the decline so as to ensure the burdens are shared out equitably? How would we go about reorganizing our society and economy around conservation and community well-being rather than economic growth and short-term profit?

The revolution envisioned above would require a fundamental transformation in every aspect of our lives — our jobs, our homes, our food system, our arts and entertainment, etc. At the risk of biting off more than we can chew, these are the questions we set out to answer in our July/August 2009 issue: “Briarpatch Unplugged, Or How I Learned to Stop Destroying the Planet and Love the Global Recession.”

To subscribe or order a copy of this issue, call 1-866-431-5777 or visit our secure online shop.

features

kick-starting the environmental movement
An interview with Noam Chomsky
By Dan Mossip-Balkwill

the myth of the wealthy environmentalist
Connecting Finnish innovation & Mongolian degradation
By Chris Benjamin

envisioning ecological revolution
Why ecological transformation requires a social revolution
By John Bellamy Foster

salt & earth ( a photo essay)
A year and a half in the life of an ecovillage
A photo essay by Jonathan Taggart

old growth, new approach
Learning from the Haida Land Use Agreement
By Erik Haensel & Justine Townsend

why less is more
A conversation with six visionary thinkers about a scaled-down future
By Mark Brooks

six big ways to work for a smaller world
Small actions that add up
By Stephanie Dearing, Brittany Shoot, Anuradha Rao, Candace Hodder, Tim Rourke & Dalia Levy

online exclusive:
Resources & tools for powering down

departments

letter from the editor
How I learned to stop destroying the planet and love the global recession

reviews

Peter Victor’s Managing Without Growth: Smaller by Design, Not Disaster
Reviewed by Brett Dolter

E. F. Schumacher’s Small is Beautiful: Economics as if People Mattered
Reviewed by Yarika Rose

luz: girl of the knowing
“Luz makes a refrigeration basket” by Claudia Dávila

quotes from the underground
Susan Sontag, Edward Abbey, Kurt Vonnegut, Robert Motherwell, CrimethInc., Maximilien Robespierre, Peter Ustinov, Michael Stone & John Berger

parting shots
Generation LESS comes of age
By Jessica C. Y. Wong

To subscribe or order a copy of this issue, call 1-866-431-5777 or visit our secure online shop.