Nova Scotians Rise! is a topical poem by El Jones , written on the occasion of today’s Nova Scotians Rise Up! rally. Read El’s take on doctors’ shortages, nurses’ walkouts, the Glaze report, Abdoul Abdi, Alton Gas, poverty, union busting, and much more.
With all the talk about the impact of the Glaze Report on teachers it’s easy to forget about the elimination of school boards. “Damn right the teachers should strike — what else will wake up this neo-liberal and nasty government,” writes Judy Haiven.
Delilah Saunders writes about the pain and emotional labour involved in speaking in public about her murdered sister Loretta and other missing and murdered indigenous women and girls. “My problem lies with the for-profit multi-billion-dollar industries/universities that penny pinch when a speaker provides expertise when their pricey textbooks fail to do so.”
Cindy Littlefair, Halifax Regional School Board member for district 4, reflects on the Glaze Report and how board members should respond. “I suppose if I was a good board member, a dutiful board member, I would “go quietly into that good night,” the night described by the newly adopted Glaze recommendations. For that matter, I would also do as required of me by my duly assigned board member role and responsibilities. I would not resist.”
Judy Haiven looks at the similarities between the Gerald Stanley and Raymond Cormier trials. “In each case, a white middle-aged man thinks nothing of ‘getting rid’ of his “problem” by committing a crime. Both victims were poor and Indigenous, from First Nations’ reserves. If an Indigenous person is murdered, it seems the benefit of the doubt goes to the white guy.”
Quite a few Guysborough residents have been unhappy ever since the Municipality of Guysborough asked the Province to lift the fracking moratorium, writing letters, some of which made it into the Nova Scotia Advocate. Now a Town Hall meeting with a local councillor drove the message home. New contributor Alexander Bridge reports.
This Friday at 7 PM the Maritime Museum will be hosting a live art show in honour of an enslaved black woman named Anarcha whose body was experimented upon in the 1800’s in order to find a treatment for obstetric fistula. We speak with Habiba Cooper Diallo, the driving force behind the event that features poet and historian Afua Cooper, Dartmouth painter Kim Cain, and spoken word artist Kilah Rolle.
Thursday is Shades of Green day, but Shades of Green has a case of laryngitis and needs to rest her voice this week. There will be no new podcast episode until next week. Fortunately, CBC’s The Current has just released a special edition from a town hall exploring anti-black racism in Nova Scotia, including environmental racism, gentrification, and violence against women.
I went home mad after listening to Black Lucasville and Upper Hammonds Plains residents talk about racist police behaviour in my neck of the woods. Shame on the politicians who feign surprise and can’t come up with anything better than an analysis that will go on forever.
Meet Sophia (not her real name), who lives with a painful illness, raises a son who lives with developmental disabilities, and does all that on a $156 monthly personal allowance, after rent and power bills are paid, and an arrears to Community Services is dealt with. Please let that sink in. $156 per month. At the bottom of the story we tell you what you can do to help change this.