Red JennyRed JennyCanadian feminist anti-capitalist activist offers commentary on news, humour, art and politics from a progressive viewpoint. Articles
U.S. War resisters in Canada need our help
2007-09-16 15:22:00 We Canadians love nothing better than watching and criticizing American politics and foreign policy. It's practically our national pastime.Nearly all of us oppose the Iraq invasion and occupation, but we feel helpless to do anything. As non-consistuents, we have no representative or senator to call. Inhabiting a different geography, we cannot easily participate in anti-war demonstrations. There is, however, something we can do, and that is to support the war resisters looking for asylum in Canada . A couple hundred AWOL GI's are currently living in Canada. They are from the U.S. Army, Marines, Navy and Air Force. Many of them served one tour in Iraq and then refused to go back again. Instead, they and their families have moved to Canada. With the support of many Canadians, they are struggling to create a home for themselves and a sanctuary for war resisters. Nearly fifty of the resisters have asked Canadian authorities to allow them to remain in Canada as political refugees. They s...
Back to School in Iraq
2007-09-14 20:56:00 This article Back to School , Back to Horror offers a good opportunity to compare some lifestyle differences between the invaders vs. the invadees, occupiers vs. occupied. While American kids are getting settled in their new classes, probably after going on a shopping spree, Iraq i kids are also going back to school. With the security situation grimmer than ever all over the country, just stepping out of one?s house means a serious threat to life. "God knows how we could send our kids to school this year," Um Mohammed, a mother of five in Baghdad told IPS. "Our financial situation is the worst ever and the prices are way too expensive for the majority of Iraqis to afford. I might have to keep some of them at home and send only two." The 40-year-old woman shed tears when she started to talk about the family?s financial now compared to what it was before the U.S. occupation of Iraq. "My God, don?t those Americans have any conscience? We were not rich before, but life was easy and we use... More About: Back to School
Who's Got Our Oil?
2007-09-14 05:10:00 We may never solve the riddle of why God put our oil under their sand, but at least we know how to get it back. After all, if God didn't want us invading, slaughtering, and destroying resource-rich countries, he wouldn't have given us such a powerful military-industrial complex.It may not be that accurate (Canada is so small - I assume tar sands aren't included) but this world map is a very special world map. It tells us who has our oil.That means this Very Special Map can tell the future. In a simple visual display of colour and shape, it shows us which countries we needs under our control. The bigger the chunk of map, the sooner we'll invade (unless other arrangements are made).Red Jenny
Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples
2007-09-14 04:11:00 Canada (along with three other good old-fashioned white colonial settler nations: USA, Australia & New Zealand) voted no. 143 other countries voted yes, so it passed anyways.Wait... we voted no? To a non-binding declaration? Yup, that's right: "No rights for you!"Um. What gives the Canadian state the right to dictate who get rights anyways? JJ is right, it is embarrassing, but unsurprising.Red Jenny More About: Declaration , Rights , Indigenous , Peoples , Lara
The Petreus Antidote: Amazing Mini Documentary The Ghost of Anbar
2007-09-12 01:49:00 After the Petreus report, I definitely recommend watching these rather intense clips from Big Noise Films. The Ghost of Anbar From an expose on the new American strategy in Iraq, this video examines whether the controversial US policy of joining forces with Sunni tribes in Iraq's volatile al-Anbar province has worked, and who is paying the price. Each clip is just over 10 minutes, and well worth the time.Particularly distressing was the part where they go to a Shiite informal refugee camp (read: slum) on the outskirts of Baghdad. Many of these refugees are from Anbar, and were forced out of their homes by the same Sunni tribes allied with the Americans. Because it is considered too dangerous for international media, theirs was the first camera to film in this neighbourhood. Part 1:Part 2: You can also watch some of this over at Democracy Now (click here to launch segment in Real Player, as well as an interview with Rick Rowley, one of the reporters, to put it all in context.Red Jenny More About: Documentary , Mini , Amazing
On Torture
2007-09-10 23:53:00 Today, while reading this article, published in the 70s, I started thinking about torture as it is practiced by the US in places like Guantanamo or Abu Ghraib. We usually think of it as a method of extracting information, since that is what they lead us to believe. The debate about this interrogational torture revolves around questions like: are the acts of torture morally justified, when considering the importance of the information sought? Some of us say no, some say yes. Torture 's real purpose, however, instead of or in addition to the purpose of extracting information, can better be described as terroristic. That is, it primarily functions to intimidate "people other than the victim". In other words, there's a message being broadcast to actual or potential enemies: Don't Fuck with Us.There are few, if any, clear cases of a regime's voluntarily renouncing terror after having created, through terror, a situation in which terror was no longer needed. And there is considerable e...
World's Smallest Cars
2007-09-10 20:25:00 Of course, I prefer no cars at all, but failing that, and all other things being equal, smaller is better. Here are many teeny weeny itsy bitsy street legal cars.Red Jenny More About: Cars
Uganda: Women Start Own Bank, Building on their Savings Group
2007-09-10 01:17:00 I first read about these savings groups in a very cool book: Shadow Cities: A Billion Squatters, A New Urban World. Sometimes known as a merry-go-rounds or savings circles, these grassroots groups build on both the self-help and cooperative models. Here's an example of how they can work: a group of neighbourhood women get together and they each contribute a small amount on a regular basis (say, a dollar a week) to the pot. Then at a predetermined period of time, say, each week, one woman gets the entire pot. She can use this money to pay for her kids' school, to improve her (usually self-built) home, pay off debts, to purchase materials for a small business, or whatever else she may need. The next week, the next woman in line gets the pot. And it keeps going around and around, meaning each woman can rely on a tidy sum of money a couple of times a year.Recently, in Uganda , one of these groups, grown too large to handle the savings circle model, expanded to something resembling a co... More About: Women , Building , Start , Bank
ID/ Creationist Bingo
2007-09-09 01:11:00 First, print this card:Then:...check off a square every time the relevant dopey argument is presented. You win when you have a straight line of five - horizontally, vertically or diagonally. The "JOKER" square can either be a free square, or you can reserve it for any new ludicrous argument presented (as long as it is presented with total sincerity), or any argument [you've] missed. From Skeptico via Friendly AthiestWhat do you think? Can we play it with John Tory? Ooh, or turn it into a drinking game?Red Jenny More About: Creationist , Bingo , Bing
Madeleine L?Engle, Writer of Children?s Classics, Is Dead at 88
2007-09-09 00:22:00 As a confirmed bookworm and serious child-nerd, who frequently found herself in the quandary of no-new-books-to-read, I re-read my favourite books over and over... and over and over. Several of Madeleine L'Engle's books fell into this group of well-loved stories, including of course the famous Wrinkle in Time. Filled with science, magic, space and time, and children coming of age, her books spoke both to my natural curiosity and to my growing emotional complexity. Madeleine L'Engle, who in writing more than 60 books, including childhood fables, religious meditations and science fiction, weaved emotional tapestries transcending genre and generation, died Thursday in Connecticut. She was 88....Her works - poetry, plays, autobiography and books on prayer - were deeply, quixotically personal. But it was in her vivid children's characters that readers most clearly glimpsed her passionate search for the questions that mattered most. She sometimes spoke of her writing as if she were ... More About: Children , Classics , Dead , Writer
The American Ruling Class
2007-09-07 15:26:00 If you haven't read Barbara Ehrenreich's Nickel and Dimed, get thee to the library or bookstore, posthaste! Or, you can watch the soon to be released film The American Ruling Class , a "dramatic-documentary-musical" (starring Harper's Magazine's Lewis Lapham).The film's best moment comes with a Barbara Ehreneich interview. In the late 90s Ehrenreich went undercover to take on various low-wage jobs (waitress, hotel chambermaid among them) and then report on how difficult it was to live on those earnings. She discusses her findings here, which culminate in a full-blown musical number, in which employees sing about being nickel-and-dimed. The scene is divine madness. Mathew Hays, Montreal Mirror> Check out the clip:And it includes a modified version of this passage from the book (as previously quoted here): The ?working poor? as they are approvingly termed, are in fact the major philanthropists of our society. They neglect their own children so that the children of others will be c...
Silly Monkeys!
2007-09-07 02:12:00 Oops, our face is sure red! An Air Force B-52 bomber flew over the heartland last week with six nuclear-armed cruise missiles attached to its wings. The pilots and crew evidently had no clue what they were carrying. Nor did the munitions crew that accidentally loaded the missiles. No one noticed that six nuclear warheads were missing for more than 12 hours. And of course the American public didn't know what was happening until now.You know, they'd have a lot better chance of convincing us that Iran is the danger if they were more careful with their toys. ... just sayin'.Red Jenny More About: Silly , Monkeys
Mud Pies: Haitian Staple Food
2007-09-05 17:03:00 This is dinner in Cité Soleil, in Port-au-Prince, Haiti.Do you remember playing in the mud as a child, making scrumptious mud pies? All that playing would make you hungry, so you'd go inside for lunch. Well, in Haiti, the mud pies are lunch.People eat the mud pies, known as teh, to help quiet their excrutiating hunger pangs. You can watch a one-minute video of the mud pies being made here, although there seems to be some misinterpretation - the commentator opines it is a craving for something in the mud, not hunger, that drives people to eat it. But John Carrol, a doctor working in Haiti, says starvation is the main cause, although Pica, which occurs sometimes with iron deficiency anemia, may also be present. You can read more about the mud pies on John Carrol's blog, Dying in Haiti or listen to this podcast (around 12 minutes), where Darren Ell interviews him about health in Haiti.Something else that is very disturbing is the high rate of maternal mortality - 523 women die for e... More About: Food , Pies
Reloaded: Older Posts Worth Reading
2007-09-04 02:57:00 Spent the last true day of summer over on Toronto Island. Now I'm sitting here, slightly sunburned, drinking a glass of raspberry wine (yum) and catching up on my reading. Definitely to check out... Reloaded: a carnival of older posts collected over at One Tenacious Baby Mama. I always like to find new bloggers to read, so this was a real treat. ReloadedSunday 2, 2007 In addition to my post "The Good Life and The Economy" check out: Mommy On The Floor's "The City On The Hill"Second Waver's "The Male Gaze, postscript"Universal Plume's "It's Blog For Loving Yourself Day"Seminalson's "I'm A Fragile Being: Touch In My Men's Group"Risa's "You Want Cream In That?"All About My Vagina's "Please call it 'Sex Safety'"Darkdaughta's "Race, Class and Everyday Shite", "Western Civilization...A History of Emotional Dysfunction", "My Daughter Wants A Barbie", "Mission Not Accomplished...Sort of"and "Does He Wipe His Track Makin' Ass With Moist Towelettes?"Reloaded will be happening ev... More About: Reading , Worth , Posts , Loaded , Wort
Iraq: The Legacy of Oppression and the Legitimacy of Resistance
2007-08-31 21:58:00 We sit here 8000 miles away with our luxuries of electricity and water, while Iraq is suffer in the desert heat with no relief, and we tell them they are disorganized. This is fiddling while Iraq burns. People are dying; the question is moot.We are not fighting Al Qaeda in Iraq; we are slaughtering people's children. We went in to liberate Iraqis from a ruthless dictator we imposed upon them who allegedly killed 300,000 during his 30 year reign of terror. We?ve accomplished more than triple that in a fraction of the time.If ever there were legitimate resistance to illegal occupation, it is in Iraq....And do you know what Iraqis are saying? I don't speak Arabic, but I can translate for you. They're saying, "Get out!" They're saying, "NO way you're staying for 60 years." They're saying, "Get your oil the old-fashioned way - pay for it!" And why are they saying this? Because they have a dignity and self-respect rooted in 7000 years of civilization.Iraq is the center of Arab nati... More About: Resistance , Legacy , Oppression
Save our TTC
2007-08-30 20:21:00 Today I will narrow my global scope to my city of residence: Toronto. As those of you who live here know, our beloved public transportation has been dying a slow death in the past several years. Service has gotten worse, buses and subways more crowded, fares far more costly. I am a die-hard anti-car person, and yet... and yet... lately I've been getting fed up with the TTC ("The Bitter Way"), which as they say, should stand or Take The Car. And now, faced with an ever-worsening budget disaster, the city proposes insane service cuts. Yes, insane. Don't believe me, read about it here, or just look at this map of the proposed cuts.Oh how far we've come since our naive and hopeful discussions of thisI won't go into the details of the terrible things that will befall our city if the proposed cuts happen, but consider the congestion now, and then consider it if even 25% more cars were on the road. Those who choose the TTC for their daily commute will simply go back to their cars, beca... More About: Save
Pro-Iraq-War Ads Featuring Wounded Soldiers
2007-08-29 16:57:00 Lies, and manipulation.Note: "We're dealing with the safety of our country, of our sacred United States of America."She says she lost her husband to al-Quaeda. He died in Iraq . Most soldiers were killed by insurgents, Iraqis, certainly not al-Quaeda, who haven't been there for very long. Note: "They attacked us, and they will again." This is simply false. Iraq did not attack America. Iraq was attacked by America. Her son "sacrificed for their freedom". Yes, I'm sure the Iraqis are thankful for his sacrifice. I suppose it depends what one means by "freedom".Via IraqSlogger, which is reporting that MSNBC and CNBC are refusing to air the ads. Of course, CNN and FOX are running them.Red Jenny More About: Iraq War , Soldiers , Feat , Turin
Blue is for Boyz, Pink is for Gurlz - It's Scientifikal
2007-08-29 03:48:00 From Bad Science:This week every single newspaper in the world lapped up the story that scientists have cracked the pink problem. "At last, science discovers why blue is for boys but girls really do prefer pink" said the Times. And so on.The study took 208 people in their twenties and asked them to choose their favourite colours between two options, repeatedly, and then graphed their overall preferences. It found overlapping curves, with a significant tendency for men to prefer blue, and female subjects showing a preference for redder, pinker tones. This, the authors speculated (to international excitement and approval) may be because men go out hunting, but women need to be good at interpreting flushed emotional faces, and identifying berries whilst out gathering.There are so many things wrong with this study, most of it covered over at Bad Science. And yes, this is Very Bad Science. Anyone wanna bet if they found out men had a preference for pink, they would say it's because men... More About: Pink , Blue
Three Things to Read - Especially for Women
2007-08-28 04:01:00 I'm back in town and trying to catch up on my reading and these three articles crossed my path within a few minutes of each other, and they are tossing around in my head, in a magical cosmic salad of sorts. I'm too tired to write anything coherent about them at the moment, so without further ado (plenty of ado tomorrow, I promise) I direct your attention to these three posts:Firstly, check out Wrong, Wrong, Wrong, Misogynist, Wrong, from Fundie Watch (who somehow always manages to turn these fundie rants from freaky to funny). After reading that (yes, I think the order is important), visit a cat and twenty, for in defense of male-bashing... because, well, she's got a point.And the multifaceted Poor Bashing...the sexualization of poor wimmin is actually the erotic oppression of ALL wimmin from Dark Daughta. This is of particular interest to me, as I'm currently trying to navigate all the political implications of sexuality in my own life. men... women... relationships... power...... More About: Women , For Women , Read , Things , Ally
Visiting the East Coast
2007-08-17 17:51:00 lighthouse in maritimes Originally uploaded by liyen (Incognito till August 24th)Trippin to Halifax and area, leavin' today. Likely this will be a 10 day blog break, barring visits to internet cafes. Everyone play nice while I'm gone and if you have suggestions about where I should go, leave 'em in the comments. :)Red Jenny More About: East , Coast
Papua New Guineans Apologize for their Ancestors' Killing of Four Missionar
2007-08-16 21:50:00 Is it just me or does this make you angry too? The descendants of cannibals in Papua New Guin ea , who killed and ate four Fijian missionaries in 1878, have said sorry for their forefathers' actions. They held a ceremony of reconciliation, attended by thousands, in the East New Britain province where the four died. The missionaries were part of a group of Methodist ministers and teachers who arrived in 1875 to spread Christianity. Their murder three years later, by the Tolai tribespeople on the Gazelle Peninsula, sparked angry reprisals. The head of the mission, English pastor George Brown, avenged the killings by taking part in an expedition that resulted in the deaths of a number of tribespeople and the torching of several villages. Ten commandments Candles were lit in remembrance of the four killed missionaries as thousands attended the ceremony in East New Britain. Fiji's High Commissioner in PNG, Ratu Isoa Tikoca, accepted the apologies on behalf of the descendants. "We at this... More About: Apologize , New Guinea
India: After 60 Years of Independence, Indians Still Resisting Colonialism
2007-08-15 22:40:00 Today, India marks 60 years of independence with the usual: song, celebration and speech.But despite 60 years of formal independence, India remains burdened by global empire as British capital continues to exploit poor communities in its former colony. Centuries after Britain's East India Company -- the world's first multinational -- faced protests in London, a group of villagers continue the tradition of resistance.Read more at Lessons of Empire: India, 60 Year s After Independence , a Corpwatch special.Red Jenny More About: Indians
All The News That's Fit to Draw: A Comic Interlude
2007-08-15 03:11:00 A Tribute to our favourite Master of Ceremonies by Tom Toles : That darn liberal media by Mikhaela B. Reid :Condom ads to slip by the censors, from Slowpoke Comic s:All this good news makes me feel giddy and gay by Greg Fox:A meditation on comeuppance by John CoxRed Jenny More About: News , The News , Draw
Canadian Progressives: Do These Three Things Today
2007-08-14 04:07:00 Sorry I've been MIA lately. I had a final exam in Capitalist Propaganda... er... economics. Apparently, the world didn't stop just because I dropped out of it, so I have lots of reading to catch up on.Meanwhile, here's a couple of links for you:Donate 10.10 for MMP. Get behind this important democratic reform - especially if you live in Ontario. Lots more info here.Sick of CNN and FOX and even CBC? Check out The Real News, "a global, alternative online news network that takes no advertising, government subsidies or corporate sponsorship. No strings. Just solid, fact-based news." If you like it, join me at the Real News Junkies.If you haven't already done this, sign onto the Canadian s for Democratic Media campaign. Read this for more info on media consolidation.Red Jenny More About: Today , Things , Progressives , These
Goodish News from Iraq
2007-08-09 18:10:00 Not this (Mosul Dam in trouble - catastrophic flood could put 70% of Mosul under water), or this (Residents of Sadr City are enraged, and grieving over US airstrike and "arbitrary" arrests), and certainly not the missing weapons (Even more than originally thought) or the water and electricity crisis. Good thing someone thinks there's "significant progress". (Comic from Big Fat Whale)Red Jenny More About: News , Iraq
Let Me Just Slip into Something More Comfortable...
2007-08-08 04:59:00 Hooray for condom fashions!Red Jenny More About: Slip , Comfort , Some
Some of the Latest Goings-on in Israel & the Occupied Territories
2007-08-08 04:04:00 Israeli forces practice capturing Palestinian villages by... um... capturing real Palestinian villages. Well, they might have to stop, since soldiers complained that these military exercises were unnecessary and frightened the villagers, even though no live fire was used. ScorecardIsraeli Army: 1Palestinian kids: 0. That'll learn 'em to fly kites!(h/t to Improvisations: Arab Woman Progressive Voice)Settlers harrass and terrorize UN officers. Israel pressures farmers and herders to move by removing their water source. In other words, settlers "do the same thing as the 'legitimate' occupation authorities do: They drive the Palestinians off their land to make room for Jews." Despite several soldiers refusing to take part in the action (and going to jail for it), Israeli forces removed dozens of Illegal Jewish settlers from two houses in Hebron today. This occurred next door to a much larger "legal" Jewish settlement, which is guarded by Israeli security.The routine practice of humi... More About: Israel , Isra , Terri , The O , Going
Jesus Camp: Review
2007-08-06 17:19:00 I finally saw Jesu s Camp last night. (Yes, I know I'm late to the party.) While some of it was absolutely unsurprising, some of it did indeed send chills down my spine. There were certainly shades of my own summer indoctrination camp[PDF - thanks R.D.] but it went much farther. I recognize some of the brainwashing tactics, as they were used on us at bible camp, in particular the shame and the peer pressure to convert and repent (extra points for squeezing out some tears). While we didn't speak in tongues and writhe on the ground, the main difference was the political element featured at Jesus Camp. One of the families did a sort of pledge of allegiance to Jesus, the USA, and oddly enough, the Israeli flag.One of the weirdest scenes was when a giant cardboard dummy (heh) of President George Bush was brought to the front of the chapel and all the kids had to pray over him. One of the scariest was the whole abortion thing. They gave the little kids tiny fetuses to hold in their soft ... More About: Review
Interview with a Young Afghan Girl: "If I go to school who is going to take
More articles from this author:2007-08-05 21:43:00 Every day her mother makes her some Bolani (Afghan fast food) and sells each one for 5 afg, almost ten cents.She is 9 years old and wishes to go to school one day. She wishes that one day they'll have food at home and a schoolbag for her brother. She wishes for the day when he will have shoes on his feet. She is tired.I asked her if she likes to go to school."If I go to school who is going to take care of my little brother and sister? Who is going to feed my mother? We don?t have a home, we don't have food, and we don't have money. That is why I am coming to the street to sell Bolani and earn a little money, to buy food for my family", she answered.I looked down at her feet in the old torn shoes. Her toes came out and were terribly harmed. She suffers from her long walks to reach this place to sell her bread."Look I have no shoes to go to school; I walk 30 minutes to get here. And here I am not comfortable also, because the traffic comes towards me, forcing me to leave this place... More About: School , Interview , Girl , Young , Ghan 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 |
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