A towering figure of music, Beethoven was born on December 16, 1770. He grew to be a genius of the European tradition of classical music. His life was a time of turmoil and revolution and at a crossroads of an artist’s relation with society. Beethoven’s musical beauty and genius is best understood in the context […]
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On December 14, the first COVID vaccinations were given in Canada. This gave hope that there may be an end in sight, in this dark winter. Politicians were keen to highlight the vaccine, less enthusiastic in addressing the current reality. COVID is largely out of control across much of Canada. November and the first half […]
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The ruling class of society keeps control through a mix of repression, ideology and material provisioning of the population it rules. Repression alone is expensive and, in the long run, ineffective to keep power. Rulers usually have to provide some material protection and provisioning of society, whether that is keeping the people of a city […]
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Update, November 25: Twelve days ago Kenney finally recognized the threat of COVID, and took some limited steps. However, it was too little and today he was forced to take more thorough actions. Even still his actions are too little and too late. Dr. Joe Vipond, a Calgary emergency room physician, stated “Now that our […]
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Updated with full results after postal votes counted. The New Democratic Party (NDP) strolled to a solid victory in the October 24 provincial election. After a delay of three weeks to count the 660,000 postal ballots, the NDP has won 57 seats up, taking two additional seats from the Liberals in each of the Okanagan […]
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Capitalism turned the coronavirus into a huge disaster. COVID-19 was not an inevitable and unavoidable pandemic; capitalism made it more likely that a virus would cross to humans and did not prepare for that. Once the virus was known to be infecting humans the response was inadequate. Almost everything capitalism did and is doing made […]
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To no one’s surprise the BC New Democrats (NDP) have called a provincial election, which they are highly likely to win. The opposition parties are having little or no impact and, not surprisingly, are criticizing the decision. COVID-19 COVID has dominated people’s thoughts for most of 2020. Up to recently, the NDP was considered to […]
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Canada has now been under COVID-19 restrictions for three months and many provinces are starting to open up again, although the virus is not under control. Canada is not yet out of the first wave and is certainly not ready to deal with the inevitable second wave. The Liberal government has acted too little and […]
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Around the world countries are lifting the restrictions that were introduced to contain the COVID-19 pandemic. People are allowed to leave their homes, and workplaces, cafes and stores are re-opening. The sharp closures of society and economy were needed to reduce the level of infection and death from the virus, only because of the inadequate […]
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Canada is opening up after varying degrees of restrictions due to COVID-19. Retail stores, cafes, bars and restaurants, hairdressers and many workplaces are restarting operations. Of course, many businesses and workplaces deemed essential (some rather dubiously, like building luxury condos or pipelines) never closed. Schools in most provinces are closed, apart from provision for some […]
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