Elvis Costello on Margaret Thatcher
by Andrew Loewen on April 8, 2013
Her life’s work long since accomplished, and her ideological legacy our present, it seems the octogenarian biological life form of Margaret Thatcher (unable to attend the Royal Wedding) may not be long for this world. While her death is unlikely to be met by orgiastic throngs of gleeful, flag-waving patriots, many will not be sad to see her go even if her legacy endures. So then, …
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Viewing Alberta’s Tar Sands: A Canadian Catastrophe
by Andrew Loewen on March 4, 2013
Business Insider commissioned photo journalist Robert Johnson to fly over the largest industrial mega-project on earth, Alberta’s Tar Sands, and document the process: from untrammeled boreal forest to strip mines, refineries, and tailing ponds. The results are spectacular and richly informative. A bird’s eye view of a made-in-Canada project. The scale of destruction and irrationality is staggering. Here’s part of a statement from Chief Adam (Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation) in …
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Louis CK on Marc Maron’s WTF
by Andrew Loewen on March 1, 2013
If like me you missed the 2-part Louis CK episodes of WTF when they were originally aired posted in 2010, they’re up on YouTube. CK is widely regarded (justly in my opinion) as the greatest comedian of this troubled present. He and Marc Maron were friends from their earliest days as 19-year-old standups in Boston, and the candor and intimacy of this interview has sent journalists trailing after Maron as …
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Kurdish Wedding Band Stomps and Shreds
by Andrew Loewen on February 5, 2013
Everything you want in loud music – no stage, two drum kits in action, fearless repetition, stringed shredding, distorted vocals – from this Kurdish wedding band (with line dancing!). The human animal is a musical genius.
Via the astonishing and life-affirming Dream Beach music blog. (H/t johnnyshape) …
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Unemployment and the Liberal Mind
by Andrew Loewen on February 1, 2013
Dr. Payne is the go-to guy on unemployment (see his latest post), but here’s a passing note with news that the US economy contracted last quarter, HMV is folding up in Britain, and Best Buy and Future Shop are shuttering 15 stores in Canada, shedding workers.
The US contraction is in good part thanks to military draw down. Military Keynesianism: awesome paradigm. Meanwhile, the stock market is riding high …
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Who You Calling a Settler?
by Andrew Loewen on January 11, 2013
Posting on the fly at lunch here, on an important day (#J11) for the ongoing anti-colonial uprising now rattling Canada. Without time to offer more links or commentary, here’s a thoughtful fellow on the question of identifying as settlers on these lands. His tone is a little patronizing at times (and how about a different camera angle dude), but this is an engaging address on profound questions.
An Open Letter …
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Is Canada a Colonial State?
by Andrew Loewen on January 2, 2013
Yes. It is. A simple fact, an ugly reality, elided by Canada’s public school curriculum. But one recognized even by former Liberal Prime Minister and millionaire shipping magnate Paul Martin.
We have never admitted to ourselves that we were, and still are, a colonial power.
Never in my adult years have I professed Canadian patriotism; to do so is to endorse a system of colonial domination. Nationalists are a defensive …
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Poll: Canadians are Progressive and Acquiescent
by Andrew Loewen on December 23, 2012
Northern Ontario (Attawapiskat) Cree leader Theresa Spence is on the 13th day of her hunger strike near the Canadian parliament today.
Majority of Canadians support grassroots protest movements: poll
A recent Trudeau Foundation poll shows the majority of Canadians are “progressive” (social democratic) in theory and acquiescent in practice: docile subjects of representational democracy.
The poll speaks to the staggering complacency of Canadians regarding their own values but their strong …
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West Edmonton Mall Interrupted
by Andrew Loewen on December 19, 2012
With temporary highway blockades across Canada and (finally) national news coverage of Idle No More, here’s hoping Canadians are entering their next “constitutional crisis.” See my last post for further background.
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Idle No More & Settler-Colonial Canada
by Andrew Loewen on December 11, 2012
Artwork by Dwayne Bird.
Idle No More is a grassroots indigenous movement initiated by four women in Saskatchewan in response to Federal legislation (Bill C-45) that violently contravenes the Treaty Rights of First Nations (and the more fundamental indigenous rights of many who don’t recognize the authority of said treaties or, as in most of BC, never signed land treaties). Responding to this grassroots pressure in their communities …
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Norwegian Spandex Dude on Thin Ice
by Andrew Loewen on December 9, 2012
I’m a third-generation Albertan of rural Mennonite stock. I grew up lacing up at the local community league rink in Edmonton and taking to the ice with a mixture of anxiety and confusion. My relation to hockey and ice skating has taken different valences over time, but like it or not I have a family connection to skating on both prairie sloughs and, later, picturesque surfaces in the Canadian Rockies …
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