Last Monday, on a beautiful summer evening my partner Penny and I had the great honour of hosting Cuban Embassy officials David Aldama Pando, Third Secretary, and Areadna Quitana Castañeda, Press Attaché, as guests in our home. It was two hours of informative, intellectually stimulating discussion about a wide range of topics. The main topic…
The uncertain future of False Creek South
In the early 1970s, Vancouver’s Non-Partisan Association (NPA) lost its control of City Council. A new party led by Mayor Art Phillips, The Electors Action Movement (TEAM) came to power. My mentor Harry Rankin, who was on City Council at that time, described TEAM as simply a fresher, slicker, younger version of the NPA. While…
The real reason Cubans are taking to the streets
For the seventh day in a row, thousands of Cubans have taken to their streets to demonstrate. The Western media was very quick to frame their actions as demonstrations against socialism. These media portrayals could not be further from the truth. For example, on July 14 the New York Times published an opinion piece by…
Subconscious socialism
As many of you may know, I have long been committed to the ideals of socialism and consider myself a socialist. It has been said that the essence of socialism is the same as that of many great religions – a commitment to putting others ahead of one’s own self interest. At one point in…
Unprecedented heat wave demands unprecedented action
Wow, has it ever been hot! Past temperature records throughout the province are being surpassed. The town of ‘Q’əmcín (also known as Lytton, BC) has broken temperature records three days in a row, reaching an all-time high of 49.6°C on June 30, which was the highest ever recorded anywhere in Canada since record keeping began. In…
On ethnic cleansing and East Jerusalem
The world breathed a collective sigh of relief on May 21, 2021, when the Middle East’s only nation with nuclear weapons capability, the apartheid state of Israel, reached a ceasefire with Gaza’s Hamas government. This 11-day conflict left unacceptable civilian casualties on both sides: 13 Israelis, 2 of them children, and 256 Palestinians mostly in…
The fight for human rights and the Green party’s soul
What do the recent developments in the federal Green party tell us? It would appear as though their leader, Annamie Paul, is holding on to her position, at least for the time being. On the evening of June 15, the party’s federal council met for almost four hours. It did so in the wake of…