With 20 years having passed since the start of the Iraq War, it is fascinating to look back at who spoke out against the war and who didn’t, including most surprisingly, left-wing journalist Christopher Hitchens. This year marks 20 years since the start of the Iraq War. Reading some … [Read more...]
Ayn Rand and the United States Court of Elitism: A strange symbiosis (Part 2)
Part two of this two-part series looks at 'Randian approaches to law and justice' by the United States Supreme Court, including when it comes to voting rights and environmental protection laws and policies. Part Two: Contemporary Erosion of “The Public Good” Looking at the current … [Read more...]
Ayn Rand and the United States Court of Elitism: A strange symbiosis (Part 1)
Part one of this two-part series reviews Ayn Rand's views and novels, to help us understand her influence on the United States Supreme Court. Part One: Who are Howard Roark and Judge Narragansett? At the end of August 2022, Senator Bernie Sanders gave a rousing speech to British workers who are … [Read more...]
Sorrowful Soliloquies: I Am Ariel Sharon (Part 1)
I Am Ariel Sharon by Yara El-Ghadban is a timely novel that sheds light on the ongoing tragedy of the Palestinian people. Part 1 of this article describes how Canadian politics, institutions and media have responded to the Israel-Palestine conflict, providing context for my review of I Am Ariel … [Read more...]
Sorrowful Soliloquies: I Am Ariel Sharon (Part 2)
I Am Ariel Sharon by Yara El-Ghadban, is a timely novel that sheds light on the ongoing tragedy of the Palestinian people. Part 1 of this article described how Canadian politics, institutions and media have responded to the Israel-Palestine conflict, providing context for my review below of I Am … [Read more...]
Roger Casement: Hedgehog ahead of his time
Roger Casement, the subject of Jordan Goodman's The Devil and Mr. Casement, was a leader in the modern human rights movement. Roger Casement was a giant in the modern human rights movement that emerged in the twentieth century. Indeed, Casement courageously, and with great determination and skill, … [Read more...]
WINning Through Courage, Vision & Conviction
WINning is the story of people – mostly women – whose courage, vision, and commitment provoked societal recognition of women’s realities and needs. In 1968, a small group of women put a plan in motion that would change the lives of countless women facing desperate choices. In WINning: The Trials, … [Read more...]
A Troubled Prosecutor on a Quest in Fujimori’s Peru
Santiago Roncagliolo's Red April offers a gripping and insightful look into the terrors in Peru in 2000, especially towards Indigenous peoples. Like Canada, Peru has a long and troubled colonial relationship with its Indigenous peoples. Today, Canada is making strides in the vital process of … [Read more...]
Just Who Are the Real Criminals of New York: Reflections on Bellow’s Mr. Sammler’s Planet
Mr. Sammler's Planet follows its one-eyed protagonist's travels around New York City and comments on American society circa 1969. Alice Munro is not the only Canadian-born writer who has won the Nobel Prize for Literature. So too did Saul Bellow, born in 1915 in Lachine (then a town outside … [Read more...]
Stateless but Not Powerless
A novel of Kurdish resistance and the quandary of human rights in our time The most compelling new novel I read in 2020 is Daughters of Smoke and Fire from debut Kurdish-Canadian novelist Ava Homa. This dynamic advocacy piece for Kurds and women’s rights in the Middle East was also the inaugural … [Read more...]
