Broadsides: A Few Good Men

From ActionAid: It just gets worse and worse for the women in Haiti. But, fortunately, some men are stepping up. Incidentally, Michael Petrou of Maclean’s reports that Canadian donations to Haiti relief are not freely flowing. In fact, they’re not even dribbling to that disaster zone. Boldface is mine. “CIDA officials are in close contact with the Government of Haiti and our humanitarian and development partners to determine the optimal use of these resources as…

Broadsides: Chick flick flack

Yeah, I watched the Oscars last night, along with a million Tweeps who were firing off the cutting comments. Even I joined in on dissing the dresses. (Was Charlize Theron wearing grape-flavoured Cinnabons on her chest?) It’s a sexist thing to do, I admit. Was I thrilled that a woman, Kathryn Bigelow, was the first in 82 years to pick up Best Director and then, bonus, also Best Picture? Meh. Not really. That’s because, as…

Broadsides: Not-so-Happy International Women’s Day!

There’s been plenty of emailing, tweeting, Facebook posting, blogging and more about International Women’s Day, now marking its 100th anniversary. No question women in the west have considerably advanced from being nothing more than chattel to citizens ostensibly enjoying equal rights. (Although, the fight really never ends.) But the human race and the planet would be far better off if women everywhere had access to reproductive choices and maternal healthcare, education and land and property…

Broadsides: Bread and Roses

Happy International Women’s Day. So much more work to be done. Get involved. UPPITY WOMAN DATE: What Judy said. While no doubt thousands of women and men will still join together to celebrate IWD and in some cities still go into the streets, there is little question that the women’s movement is a shadow of its former self. The strategy of second wave feminism was firmly rooted in the welfare state. Women’s equality depended on…

Broadsides: Humbling

Puts things in perspective. The White Mountain from charles on Vimeo. Do yourself a favour and ”full-screen” it by clicking on the button with the arrows on the bottom right.

Broadsides: In all the Cons’ command

I’ve been having some fun messing with the national anthem, thanks to the Harper government’s commitment, announced during yesterday’s throne speech, to castrate gender neuter O Canada. With a little help from some Facebook and Twitter friends, here’s what I have so far: Oh Canada! Our home on native land. True hetero love, in all the Cons command. We stand on gays for thee. Green Assassin has a real good version here. Understand that I…

Broadsides: Out of the closet

Canadian Immigration Minister Jason Kenney’s new study guide for would-be citizens has already been the subject of controversy for its implicit assumption that certain cultures are ”barbaric.” As he said at the time, Multiculturalism doesn’t mean that anything goes. Multiculturalism means that we celebrate what’s best about our backgrounds, but we do so on the basis of common Canadian values and respect for our laws. It’s no secret that we’ve seen instances of culturally rooted…

Broadsides: Going Guergis on you

Ah what is there to add to the airport rage incident involving our friend Helena Guergis, Minister of State for the Status of Women? That, had it been you or me throwing our footwear around we probably would have been tased? And so, I’ll leave it to my sister and brother bloggers. Here’s a brief round-up: Best with the dirty details: Kady Best headline kudos go to Dammit Janet! Best musical score: Green Assassin Brigade….

Broadsides: Speaks for itself

I don’t like to give politicians free reign rein but I have to say that I endorse every word of this Liberal party of Canada news release, posted here without any edits. I did add some links.Today, Liberal MPs Carolyn Bennett, Maria Minna and Anita Neville released the following open letter to International Cooperation Minister Bev Oda: Dear Minister Oda: We are writing today to urge you to reconsider your ill-advised decision to not include…

Broadsides: Yahoo, Another reproductive Rights Round-Up

Onward Christian Soldiers, marching as to war … Let’s begin in the Sunshine state of Florida where Southern Baptist theologian, father of eight and Republican rep Charles E. Van Zant proposes all citizens, especially of the wombanly persuasion, share his upright way of thinking. Here’s his way of thinking though: Rather than punish the maternal units, go after the doctors who perform the evil abortions, even in cases of rape and incest. An expansive measure…

Broadsides: Double talk

Not that I expect to make much sense out of the Conservative government’s attitudes towards women — more on this tomorrow — but could somebody please explain how to reconcile its new-found fascination with maternal health around the world and its defunding of KAIROS, the ecumenical social justice agency? Here’s why I raise this: According to the U.N. Population Fund (UNFPA), more than 8,000 women were raped by warring factions in the Democratic Republic of…

Broadsides: Lowering the Bar

From today’s Star, via reporter Peter Small: He was a former Toronto councillor turned immigration judge and she was a Korean refugee claimant. They met at a coffee shop to discuss her case and, in a conversation she secretly recorded, he said he wanted to be her “good friend,” court was told Monday. “You’ve got a boyfriend. I’ve got a wife,” Steve Ellis told the 25-year-old woman, a federal prosecutor alleged Monday at the first…

Broadsides: The Dark Ages

Ohhhhhhh, now I get it. The Harper Theocracy doesn’t care for contraception or women’s reproductive rights because these are pagan, pre-Christian concepts. (Anybody else notice how miserable everybody was back when the Church was in charge?) Which brings us to this nifty new website, 4000 Years for Choice. 4000 Years for Choice visualizes the ancestral traditions passed down for millennia by lineages of mothers, grandmothers, and great-grandmothers. The rediscovery of these practices is deeply transformative…

Broadsides: Playing like a girl …

… is perfectly alright because girls (and women) play just as hard as men do. We see that when they get a chance to shine: encouragement and not discouragement from getting sweaty, places to train, funding and scholarships equal to what boys get, etc. Which brings us to the Olympics and the latest effort from the Vancouver-based Antigone Foundation. Every year they put out a “Dreams for Women” calendar. But this year, it’s a special…

Broadsides: Shot full of holes

So … late last year, when the Cons, the Minister of State for the Status of Women and their gun lobbyist pals were claiming that the long-gun registry was a useless Liberal boondoggle that did nothing to prevent crime or violence against women, there were rumblings that some relevant — and contradictory — RCMP stats were being covered up. Well, guess what? reports my Star colleague Tonda MacCharles. OTTAWA–The release of an annual firearms report…

Broadsides: Call the cops

Just make sure they’re not BC cops.COQUITLAM — A provincial court judge called it a tragedy but said she had no choice but to end serious sex charges against a man because the Crown failed to have police statements translated from Russian and another language. The Crown sought to have the case adjourned repeatedly over a two-year period until the police statements of two complainants could be translated from Russian and Dari. The defence applied…

Broadsides: Family Day

So it was Family Day yesterday in Ontario. I spent it in Montreal, with family. And I’ll be here for a while. Jericho doesn’t mind. Here he is today,on McGill campus, with James McGill himself.

Broadsides: Women on the edge

Back in Montreal. Dunno for how long. Until I can return to regular blogging, please follow the fantastic posts put up by my sister Fringers on our Proud to be a Member of that Left Wing Fringe Group called Women Facebook page. Don’t let the Harper government get away with this latest outrage. OTTAWA — Missing and murdered women in Canada will be remembered Sunday in memorial marches across the country. But the occasion may…

Broadsides: Why we need Women’s Studies

Awesome video — despite its historical shortcoming at the end — done on ordinary notepads and with ballpoint pens by an art student, I’m guessing somewhere in the UK. But something’s missing. Can you guess what it is?

Broadsides: Man’s got his woman to take his seed

I’m a little late on this one but I didn’t want to miss noting it. It ties up so many things I say about women’s reproductive rights, woman abuse and the extreme elements of the men’s rights movement. Read it and weep: Young women and teenage girls often face efforts by male partners to sabotage birth control or coerce pregnancy — including damaging condoms and destroying contraceptives — and these efforts, defined as “reproductive coercion,”…

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