| | | Good morning, Passengers.
Today, we have more labour and economic analysis from Jacobin, a look into some shadiness from the B.C. NDP and a new, major report into Canada’s Islamophobia industry.
Enjoy! | | | Mitchell Thompson | Jacobin | October 9 | Here’s some more analysis of how those in power are finding excuses to attack workers all while placing blame on the market or workers themselves. This one focuses on the “wage-price spiral,” and those in charge refusing to increase wages for workers to match skyrocketing inflation.
Mitchell Thompson writes, “Back in 2013, as Canada emerged from its last significant recession, then Bank of Canada governor, Mark Carney, insisted that ‘an effective currency union’ required, among other things, ‘downward flexibility’ in wages — especially ‘during uncertain and volatile times.’ ‘It is impossible to escape the frustration and stress that inflation brings — especially for those living on lower or fixed incomes,’ Rogers said recently — shortly before insisting another shock is in order. ‘Workers are looking at the rate of inflation and what it’s doing to their purchasing power, their budgets, and they’re looking at the same tight labor markets and they’re thinking, you know, I need a raise. This is also completely understandable,’ she said. Nevertheless, she insisted, rates must rise and, presumably, so must unemployment. It is hard to tell how high interest rates will go and how deep the next recession will be, but it is clear that business will be bailed out at the end. And, as usual, workers will be pushed to bear the brunt of the cost.” (6 minute read) | | | Alex Cosh | The Maple | October 12 | I’m not feeling very great about Canada’s ostensibly more progressive political parties right now (OK, I almost never am), given that a few of them have proven incapable of even holding leadership races without major scandals. That has been the case for the federal Greens, who have basically devolved into a joke at this point, as well as the NDP in B.C., who have been accused of using “McCarthy-esque” vetting tactics on new members. This article from The Maple focuses on the latter case, providing a good summary of what’s going on in the latest example of dysfunction in the NDP.
Alex Cosh writes, “More new B.C. NDP members — including a former paid NDP campaigner — are expressing concerns about the party’s ‘McCarthy-esque’ vetting tactics in the leadership race. The ongoing screening of new members coincided with the B.C. NDP’s written request Friday that the B.C. Green Party agree to a third-party review of each organization’s membership list. In a letter, the B.C. NDP’s provincial director Heather Stoutenburg wrote: ‘Our usual audit of our membership list before a leadership vote has revealed a significant number of current and former BC Greens applying for membership in the BC NDP.’ She added that the party believes some Green Party members temporarily paused their memberships solely in order to vote in the B.C. NDP leadership race, calling such a practice ‘fraudulent.’ Both parties prohibit simultaneous membership in multiple parties. The Greens promptly rejected the NDP’s request [...] Critics on Twitter described the NDP’s letter as ‘unhinged’ and ‘bizarre.’ The B.C. Greens, meanwhile, have dismissed suggestions it is coordinating a ‘hostile takeover’ of the B.C. NDP in order to elect former federal NDP candidate and leadership hopeful Anjali Appadurai as ‘ridiculous.’” (7 minute read) | | | Jasmin Zine | Islamophobia Studies Center | October 6 | A few years ago, I was inspired by a couple major reports into the Islamophobia industry in the United States, and wanted to do something similar for Canada. I spent a lot of time and effort researching and putting something together (which probably wasn’t the best use of my days, given I was underemployed) and got to the point where I had something ready to go. But I could just never get it released. There were too many potential legal issues for an independent journalist to release on their own, and I wasn’t able to get any publication I trusted to be able to withstand these threats on board. So, I eventually moved on from the project. Luckily, professor Jasmin Zine took up the project with the Islamophobia Studies Center at Berkeley, California, and they’ve produced something far more in-depth and wide reaching than I ever could have on my own. I haven’t been able to read the entire thing yet, but it’s an incredibly detailed piece of work.
Here’s a summary of the report in full, so you can decide if you’d like to look into it further: “Since the 9/11 attacks, Muslims have been more openly vilified and targeted. Statistics Canada data on police-reported hate crimes between 2009 and 2019 revealed a steady increase of anti-Muslim incidents across the country.
White nationalist terror in Canada has specifically targeted Canadian Muslims. There have been unprecedented attacks against Muslims first at a mosque in Québec City on January 29, 2017, killing six men after evening prayers and then four years later, on June 6, 2021, in London, Ontario, where four members of a Muslim family were intentionally mowed down by a truck and killed.
Within this context, understanding how Islamophobia manifests and is purveyed is more important than ever. In addition to the impact that state policies and systemic anti-Muslim racism have on perpetuating a climate of Islamophobic animus, Islamophobic networks operate in orchestrated ways to support and sustain an industry of hate.
The ‘Islamophobia industry’ is comprised of media outlets; political figures; far-right, White nationalist groups; Islamophobia influencers and ideologues, pro-Israel, fringe-right groups; Muslim dissidents, think tanks, security experts, and the donors who fund their campaigns. These individuals, groups, and institutions comprise a network that supports and engages in activities that demonize and marginalize Islam and Muslims in Canada.
The objectives of this study were to (a) map the political, ideological, institutional, and economic networks that foment Islamophobic fear and moral panic in Canada; (b) examine strategies employed by Islamophobia agents and highlight the ties among players within the Islamophobia industry; (c) create profiles of key public figures, media outlets, and organizations who produce and distribute Islamophobic ideologies and propaganda, and (d) identify the dominant Islamophobic discourses that circulate through these networks.
A social network analysis was performed to examine relevant media articles, websites, public commentary, and videos from Islamophobia influencers and ideologues, organizations, media outlets, and other anti-Muslim special-interest groups that promote Islamophobic campaigns.” (200+ page report) | | | | Previous Digest Editions - October 11 | Danielle Smith, engineering recessions, lessons from revolutionary women - Read here
- October 7 | Doug Ford and the debt, recruiting for the Israeli army, His House - Read here
- October 6 | Ignoring murder, Mahsa Amini and Muslim women, the Quebec election - Read here
- October 5 | MPs and the housing crisis, Legault’s unearned majority, cancelled for criticizing Israel - Read here
- October 4 | Losing money to the ultra rich, nuclear war, the CAQ - Read here
- October 3 | Interspecies solidarity, undermining daycare, social solidarity for exclusion, a coup in Brazil? - Read here
- September 29 | Deleting Palestine, taking Canada to court, xenophobia and horror - Read here
- September 28 | The curse of renters, city councils and police budgets, the Labour files - Read here
- September 27 | Vacancy control, hurricanes, the far right in Italy - Read here
- September 26 | Dental care, fossil fuel execs, gentrification, teachers under attack - Read here
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