RedBedHead

[VIDEO] Egyptian Journalist & Blogger Hossam El-Hamalawy On Workers & Egypt's Revolution

2012-02-13T10:52:00.000-08:00

This is an excellent talk on the role of workers in the ongoing Egyptian revolution and the state of the revolutionary struggle in Egypt today. Fascinating, inspiring - and sobering - stuff.

Arab Dictatorships Want To Kill Syrian Revolution

2012-02-13T08:31:00.000-08:00

The first thing that has to be said is that the Syrian people are bravely resisting and suffering under - first and foremost - the brutal Syrian regime. But the second thing that must be added is that they are suffering a second misery, which is to be the pawns of a cynical maneuvering by rival empires and Arab dictatorships. On the looming anniversary of the Bahraini democratic uprising,

Greece: You Say You Want A Revolution?

2012-02-12T07:00:00.000-08:00

It's hard to make sense of the hubris and cruelty of European Union leaders towards Greece, unless their goal is to goad the Greek population into overthrowing their government. Why else would they demand from the Greeks ever greater levels of austerity, poverty and unemployment and then, when the government turtles and capitulates to their demands, tell them it isn't enough? Just look at the

February 11: The Day Egypt's Revolution Kicks Out The Jams

2012-02-10T05:45:00.000-08:00

The last year the revolution in Egypt has been a source of inspiration to people around the world. It has spawned movement across the region and, indeed across the world. In the minds of the ruling class it has inspired fear from China where mention of the Egyptian revolution was (and probably still is) banned on the heavily censored internet - to here in the west where our rulers have tried to

Like You Needed To Be Told The Ford Bros Were Full Of S**T

2012-02-10T04:30:00.000-08:00

Here was Mayor Rob Ford's equally odious brother, Doug Ford at the transit debate on Wednesday: "The St. Clair streetcar is a total disaster." Ahem..oh, really? Much maligned St. Clair line not so bad after all - The Globe and Mail: "Since the June, 2010, completion of the right-of-way from Yonge Street to Gunns Loop, overall traffic and peak-period volumes have fallen sharply; transit

Thank The Occupy Movement For Mayor Ford's Transit Defeat

2012-02-09T13:31:00.000-08:00

I'm mad! Muley, mean mad. Of course I know that it was a revolt by city councillors against the hare-brained, disastrous transit "policy" of Toronto Mayor Rob "I love gridlock" Ford. And it was the sweetest of sweet defeats against the Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum who like to think that they run the show like little Mubaraks. Here was Ford's handpicked chair of the TTC sticking the mandate he

Psst...Torture's OK. Pass It On.

2012-02-07T13:57:00.000-08:00

Vic Toews, Minister of Torture and Morality We've always known that the Tories mission is to makeover Canada into a far-right Republican spa resort by stealth, since most Canadians hold values to the left of their lunacy. So, they change tax rules for film financing here and chip into same sex marriage by removing it as a right for foreigners there. Bit by bit until next thing you know we're a

Caterpillar Won Because Nobody Fought Hard Enough

2012-02-07T04:30:00.000-08:00

It doesn't have to be this way. We built this country, this economy and this world. We don't have to mourn the loss of more jobs, this time sent to a union-busting "right to work" state, Indiana, for half the wages. It isn't inevitable that our wages, pensions, benefits - or social programs for that matter - are cut. Caterpillar didn't have to happen. It was a choice. First and foremost it was a

Canada's Foreign Affairs Minister Drops The "H-Bomb"

2012-02-06T08:42:00.001-08:00

I'm not talking about that other H-bomb, the one that the US government dropped on innocent civilians in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. No, I'm talking about Adolph Hitler, yes, that H-Bomb. Every time our leaders want to justify a war against another people they whip out the Hitler's name. He is our Great Satan, the face of incomprehensible evil. There is nothing to be understood about Hitler, he was

Is America Worried Israel Is Gonna Go Ape Shit On Iran?

2012-02-04T06:00:00.000-08:00

Apparently the US Defence Secretary Leo Panetta is very worried that Israel will attack Iran come March. Those Israelis just can't control themselves in the face of Iran's intransigence over their - admittedly non-military - nuclear program. I mean, what if, you know, Iran decided down the road to make nukes. Then Israel wouldn't be the only country in the Middle East or, as Israel likes to put

Every Revolution Has Its Road

2012-02-03T07:57:00.000-08:00

I was reading about the terrible, terrible tragedy in Egypt last night and today - 74 dead at a soccer match - and the ensuing mass protests and national explosion of anger. And I was struck by how the battle is unfolding in Egypt, the way that the military dictatorship maneuvers and shifts as it tries to undermine the revolution. Even more, I was impressed at how spectacularly and immediately

Syrian Revolution: Caught Between Repression & Imperialism

2012-01-31T07:00:00.000-08:00

The first and foremost thing that must be said is that the people of Syria, who have resisted an utterly vicious military repression of their aspirations for nearly a year, are some of the bravest people on the planet. Day after day the government of the Assad dynasty find new levels of depravity in their attempt to brutalize and torture the democratic aspirations of their population into

Shafia Becomes An Excuse For Anti-Muslim Racism

2012-01-30T12:33:00.000-08:00

Of course the horror of the multiple murders of three young girls and their mother by the father, son and second wife ought to be condemned. It ought to be the focus for a public discussion about the plight of women who are too often the focus for familial violence. But that is not what is happening with this trial. Instead the trial is being used to blame immigrants in general and Muslims in

Did NATO's Libyan "Liberation" Blow-Up In Their Faces

2012-01-30T09:46:00.000-08:00

During NATO's bombing campaign to dominate and destroy the Libyan revolution liberate Libya last year, I wrote that their real interests lie with intervening into the Arab Spring in such a way as to bend it towards European and American ends. The other driving motivation behind the intervention was to counter China's growing hegemony on the African continent. For a number of years China has

Gingrich: Vote For the Kook, I Mean Crook, I Mean Astronaut

2012-01-25T17:28:00.000-08:00

This is awesomely awesome stuff and further proof that the American political system can only be defined as being from outer space. Newt Gingrich made a campaign speech in Florida in which he promised to establish a permanent moon base - for science tourism and advanced manufacturing - within 8 years. Actually, it wouldn't surprise me if it could be done theoretically speaking. I mean, they

Year One Of The Egyptian Revolution

2012-01-25T12:37:00.000-08:00

There will be gobs and gobs of text filling the pages, websites and on air coverage today about the 1 year anniversary of the start of the Egyptian revolution. A lot of it, particularly in North America, will be stupid, low level stuff - fears of the Islamists taking power, etc etc. Very little of it will have a deeper sense of the continuing dynamic heart of the revolutionary process that is

Republican Contest: Battle Of The Scumbags

2012-01-24T09:20:00.000-08:00

Where do they dig up these cretins? I mean, is it really possible that in the 21st century these guys can be the front runners of one of America's two mainstream parties to be the next president? Seriously? On the bright side, I can't see how the Republicans can possibly win the White House with these evil, fanatical weasels running up against Obama. Don't get me wrong, Obama is no shirk when it

Why Peter MacKay Is So "Highly Regarded"

2011-12-02T10:44:00.000-08:00

I didn't hear Harper's weasel words defense of our frequent flying Defence Minister, the Honourable Peter MacKay, so I can't for certain. But I can only assume that Harper took a pause for breath between his description of MacKay's reason for using all those VIP flights, including on search and rescue helicopters, and his statement "that's why [MacKay] is so highly regarded." I only say that

Is Siri Anti-Choice?

2011-12-01T06:16:00.000-08:00

My wife, who is a pro-choice photographer and activist, sent me a tumblr post the other day about the inability of people using the Siri, personal assistant on the iPhone 4S, to get it to access abortion or birth control services. As the screen grab above demonstrates, while you can't get Siri to look up a reproductive health centre, you can find lots of donuts. I feel in a bit of a bind

Arab Democracy Makes Netanyahu Nervous

2011-11-25T16:54:00.000-08:00

I'll give the Israeli PM this: he's at least honest. Israel's interests lie with the continued existence of Arab dictatorships that are bought and paid for by the USA. Why? Because Israel is a vile colonialist and racist regime whose existence is only made possible by the fact that tens of millions of Arabs have been suppressed and prevented from expressing their democratic desires. Israel's "

Egypt: Even Obama Knows The Military Are Toast

2011-11-25T07:19:00.000-08:00

It's possible that the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces, the military junta that has ruled Egypt since Hosni Mubarak was overthrown last February, will regain the initiative but it will be very difficult. After months of whittling away at the momentum and morale of the revolutionary movement with arrests, torture and the suppression of protests and strikes - including committing a massacre

Occupy Toronto: The Beginning Of A Much Needed Revolt

2011-10-15T19:55:00.000-07:00

When the New York City cops went in hammer and tongs - or rather, truncheons and pepper spray - to try and drive out the Occupy Wall Street protesters a few weeks back, they probably weren't thinking that they were about to help spark a global movement against capitalism. Oops. Of course, the main reason why something like 1,000 cities around the world had demonstrations in

Harper's Unearned Economic "Credibility"

2011-10-13T06:49:00.000-07:00

It's one of those "truths" in politics that is beyond questioning, like the "necessity" of an independent (i.e. free from democratic controls) central bank, but which, like everything else has evolved from a time when it wasn't actually the truth. I'm, of course, speaking of the popular idea that the Tories are "good economic managers". Underlying this prejudice is a more foundational idea that

Saint Jobs In Perspective

2011-10-11T07:54:00.000-07:00

Been a bit swamped with work - and building a mud hut for my daughter - for the last week but even up to my elbows in mud and straw I knew about the iPhone 4S release and the death of Steve Jobs. As for the iPhone 4S, well, I think that the weird obsession with changing the shape of the damn phone by many tech commentators was totally ridiculous, embarrassing even. I mean, who cares? Clearly

Dirty Oil Has More Freedom To Move Than People

2011-09-29T13:00:00.000-07:00

Free ride for dirty oil, border checks for people. But which is more dangerous? It's one of those typical injustices of capitalism that money, capital and dirty, earth-destroying, toxic oil products, have more right to cross borders and move around the world than do people - often including people who are trying to flee the impact of toxic oil products or governments who repress their