2002

"In any ordinary crime, even domestic crime, the first thing the cops do is look for the motive," said Fisk, Middle East correspondent for the London Independent. "But this we cannot or are not allowed to do for September the 11th."

When Canadian Tire tells us to give like Santa and save like Scrooge - it can only mean one thing... the holidays and the Christmas shopping extravaganza. While it may be difficult to avoid, there are ways to give like Santa, and not feel like a heartless Scrooge as you wonder if that perfect present was made in a sweatshop. This year, why not consider an ethical gift by buying a fair trade, or environmentally friendly product?

Imagine if you could pay for goods and services with time; an hour of babysitting could get you an hour of legal advice, five hours of community work could get you a used stove. Money would be almost redundent, leaving the IMF very little power indeed.

Last April, over 1,000 non-status Algerians living in Canada woke up to the news they would soon be deported back to their home country by the Canadian government. After demonstrations and protests, the Canadian government has agreed to modify its procedures. But the new legislation will not necessarily be helpful to all non-status Algerians.

Is Concordia’s ban on free speech simply a temporary measure to calm down a tense conflict between pro-Israeli and pro-Palestinian factions, or is it an attempt to silence points of view unpopular with the university’s corporate donors? If it is only about the Middle East conflict, then why the October 16th arrest of Concordia Student Union Vice President Yves Engler?

The recent election of the left-leaning Union Activist Lula in Brazil seems to be the exception that proves the rule. Everywhere else in Europe and the Americas, the right is sweeping elections. From Bush to Berlusconi, via Mario Dumont, why are voters shifting so far toward the right?

While Alberta and the fossil fuel sector trade jabs with clean energy advocates over the Kyoto climate treaty, the science of climate change marches on. The political world may have been slow to tackle the challenge of global warming, but the scientific community early on recognized the enormity of the problem and set about to better understand the earth’s climate system.

In September, the political landscape of Cote-d’Ivoire (the Ivory Coast) was thrown into disarray. An attempted coup against President Laurent Gbagbo, and the occupation of several northern cities by renegade units of the army, exposed the social and political instability that has plagued the country since a previous coup in December 1999. But the real face of the rebellion remains obscure.

Since the fall of the Soviet Union, Russians have experienced more than 10 years of economic collapse, and a series of authoritarian governments. A small number of businessmen, civil servants and politicians have become massively rich, but most people’s living standards have plumitted.

After a decade of war and instability, the people of South-East Europe are struggling to rebuild their devastated economies and reinforce their fragile democracies, in the shadow of a European Union that imposes "free trade" and political subservience as preconditions of development aid.

In over 20 years of involvement in Canadian politics, Svend Robinson, New Democratic Party Member of Parliament has not been afraid of controversy.

On September 11th, 2001, close to 3 000 Americans died in the terrible attack on the World Trade Center in New York. In Iraq, according to Unicef, 5 000 children die every month due to the economic embargo in effect since 1991.

By proposing to hold a pan-american strike against the Free Trade Area for Americas (FTAA) on October 31 and November 1, students in Quebec and across Canada are asserting the right to say "No" to the FTAA.

Alternatives recently helped launch the Canadian edition of OneWorld, the largest civil-society portal on the web. With over 1,250 partners, and 11 centres located throughout the world, OneWorld helps amplify and internationalise the voices of civil society.

There have always been common issues between the left in Quebec and the left in English Canada, but that commonality ended when we arrived at electoral politics. Most of the left in Quebec supported the Parti Quebecois, and in English Canada the left was divided between those who supported the New Democratic Party and those who turned their back on electoral politics.

"Imagine a higher education system where institutions are ranked not by the quality of teaching, but by the intensity of electronic wiring and the degree of Internet connectivity. Imagine a country whose main export earnings come from the sale of higher education services. Imagine a socialist country that charges tuition fees to obtain full cost recovery in public higher education. These images are not science fiction, but actual stories of a revolution in higher education."

One year after the events of September 11, we are noticing a shift in US foreign policy," explained Phyllis Bennis, a fellow at The Institute for Policy Studies in Washington DC. "We are now facing a new type of empire that has more military, economic, political and cultural power than ever before," said Bennis, during a recent Alternatives-organised meeting. "The new doctrine is unilateralist. The world is divided, and those who dare to criticise the American government are being accused of supporting the terrorists. The world is afraid to challenge US power."

Brazil is heading to the ballot boxes in October. It will be a mega-election affecting the presidency, the Parliament and state governments. In other words, the entire political scene in this key South American country could very well change.

Throughout the 1990s, Colombia endured escalating guerrilla warfare and a worsening economic crisis. Today, with no end in sight to these problems, the Colombian government has lost all of legitimacy in the eyes of its people. Shortly after his being sworn into office on August 7, 2002, President Alvaro Uribe Velez proclaimed the "Conmocion Interior" which restricted basic civil rights, and Colombians are once again protagonists in a war that doesn’t concern them.

The government is thinking of lifting a moratorium on gas and oil exploration in the Hecate Strait, the second most dangerous strait of in the world.

As the summer of 2002 draws to a close, it has been another hot record-breaking season that only reinforces current realities about climate change and global warming. Extended periods of hot temperatures have produced weeks on end of smog and air pollution in central and eastern Canada while Alberta experiences drought conditions not seen in that province since the 1930s.

The surprising mid-June by-election results in Quebec indicate that Quebecers, not happy with the provincial political scene, are looking for change. Mario Dumont and the ADQ have used this sentiment as a springboard, presenting themselves as the party of new ideas and solutions. But are the ideas really new, and what exactly are the solutions?

In the aftermath of September 11, the standoff between Pakistan and India over Kashmir has taken on a new dimension. Today, more than one million Indian and Pakistani soldiers are massed along 120 kilometers of borderline, putting the strategic and political tolerance of both countries to the test. With this new escalation, many fear the potential consequences of a fourth Indo-Pakistani war.

Eight years ago Jean-Francois Boivin and Elise Roy, both medical doctors and public health specialists, took on a rather challenging and unconventional research project. In 1994, they joined forces to explore the possibility of studying the health concerns of Montreal street youth.

Yasser Akawi is what they call an Arab Israeli - a Palestinian with Israeli citizenship. He works for Physicians for Human Rights, an organisation composed of both Jewish and Palestinian doctors. But his passion is with Ta’ayush. It too is an organisation composed of Palestinians and Israelis. (Ta’ayush means "living together.")

Canada recently published a discussion paper on climate change that is calling for consultation with all Canadians. It’s a step towards fulfilling our climate change commitments, made in 1997 at the signing of the Kyoto Protocol. Critics are wondering whether it will be a step in the right direction.