Category Archives: Capitalism & Class
Okanagan Fruit Leaves Sour Taste: Temporary Foreign Workers in Agriculture Fighting Back
Originally published at Rebel Youth This article exposes the myths surrounding Temporary Foreign Workers, the hyper-exploitation and deplorable conditions migrants face, particularly in the agriculture sector. It includes a focus on RAMA – Radical Action with Migrants in Agriculture, an anti-racist and decolonial organization that advocates for, supports and works to build community for migrant […]
Naked Power
Content warning: graphic descriptions of violence The presidency of the United States of America has more exclusive access to military force and more unilateral deployment power than ever before. The United States of America is often spoken of as the ‘richest and most powerful nation the world has ever seen.’ This power is generally attributed […]
Reflections on Raising and Burning Flags…
As a queer man, the recent burning of the gay rainbow flag at the University of British Columbia has not caused me any lost sleep. I can assure you, however, that I’m not impervious to homophobic threats or attacks, nor am I apathetic to the struggles of the several marginalized communities that I navigate and […]
Busting the myth of Northern exceptionalism – CIRDI and Lundin’s colonial corporate (ad)ventures
The story I am going to tell is not one of a “few bad apples”, but rather a problem that resides at the core of what we call “development”. In any case, let me begin with the analogy of apples: a particularly bad apple called Lundin. Lundin is a conglomerate of extractive companies based in both Sweden and Canada headed by the Lundin family. Lundin Mining is based in Vancouver, whereas Lundin Petroleum trades on the Swedish stock exchange. The founding myths of the Lundin Foundation, ostensibly a philanthropic organization, are also based on the myth of northern exceptionalism. The foundation states that it helps create sustainable livelihoods. It was established by the Lundin brothers who dreamed up the idea on a motorcycle trip through Africa.
UBC’s secrecy is nothing new
In an editorial on January 22, the Ubyssey staff rightly criticized UBC’s shameful contravention of Freedom of Information (FOI) laws, by going over the legal time limit in providing access to documents about the Gupta resignation, apparently as a way to avoid public scrutiny. This has in fact been a common practice, and has been […]
Public Statement on Campus (Un)safety
University of British Columbia xʷməθkʷəy̓əm Musqueam Territory socialjustgradstatements@gmail.com / socialjustgradstatements.wordpress.com Note: The views in this statement are solely of the authors. They do not reflect the views of all faculty, staff, and students at the Institute for Gender, Race, Sexuality, and Social Justice Research. Recently gaining public attention, student activism at UBC has illuminated the […]
Community Speaks Out Against Displacement in the DTES
It has been more than two weeks since the City of Vancouver’s decision to crack down on survival street vending on 0-400 blocks of East Hastings St. According to the City, the once-common act of selling wares on the sidewalk will no longer be tolerated, as police presence is set to increase in order to […]
We are Here, We are Needed: UBC Students of Colour Ready to Speak Out against Racist Violence Worldwide
Next Friday, November 27th, an event at UBC is taking place where students of colour and allies will gather to show solidarity for the racist violence occurring throughout university campuses worldwide. Please join us at 2PM in the Performance Theatre of the AMS Nest, to show your support for #Mizzou, #Yale, #UWC, #FeesMustFall, #StudentBlackOut, #BlackLivesMatter […]
Excellence or Exclusion?
Excellence has been the Board of Governors’ word of choice since announcing the implementation of international tuitions increases averaging at 49% over the next three years. But what does the BOG’s vision of excellence really look like and does it foster exclusion? To date, UBC has published very few statistics on the economic and racial […]
TAs Do Real Work: A Response to Physics Professor Jenny Hoffman
This article originally appeared on the CUPE 2278 blog. Minor edits were made. Admittedly distracted by the second longest federal election cycle in Canadian history, I only today ran across a Ubyssey article, now three weeks old, containing a truly disappointing piece of bizarre commentary that decries the very existence of CUPE 2278, the UBC teaching […]
