A bunch of stuff to give you hope and frustration

The story of six Tongan boys who were stranded on a desert island and thrived for more than a year. No, it wasn’t a real life version of Lord of the Flies. The complete opposite, in fact. This is hopeful.

Here in Canada, populist provincial governments are using the notwithstanding clause in our Constitution on a regular basis to suspend the rights of their citizens. Recently it has been used to de y the rights of children and youth freedom of expression and to deny workers their right to practice their freedom of association. These are the same governments that champion individual rights when it suits them. As a result, for the better part of the next five years some citizens in these provinces will have fewer rights than others. Don’t take your eyes off of it and be sure to understand what the use of this clause means. Yes it’s a (shitty) legal mechanism. And yes it suspends Charter protected rights.

Don Schafer provides some context for the vote in BC Legislature denying the introduction of a bill to repeal the BC Human Rights Code Act.

And if shit like this makes you angry, Peter Rukavina is willing to provide you with a creative container – The Books of Anger – in which you can explore the emotions of resentment, irritation, exasperation, frustration, and fury.

Good labour policy supports a vibrant business sector. Today rabble.ca reports on a bunch of good ideas that could easily be implemented to support the massive sector of the economy that are self-employed entrepreneurs. Government tends to define “entrepreneur” as a person who creates employment, but 80 percent of women in business are self-employed. It’s time we recognized this sector of the labour market and provided equitable supports and security for these workers.

I don’t quite know what it will take to unhook politics from polling and money. In this week’s New Yorker, the editorialist dissects the Democratic Party’s election strategy and it all sounds like how to do things that will shift numbers. The cynics will tell me that’s how you win elections and there is nothing more important than winning. But my brain and heart tells me that current electoral politics is more about who has the saviest consulting firm than whether the electeds can a) actually understand what needs to happen in our societies and b) have the capability to govern with the courage and smarts to do it. We’re failing. Badly. This is not hopeful.

Also from the current New Yorker issue from a profile of composer Stephen Spencer:

You’re in the sandbox playing,” he said. “Let’s postpone the judgment or appraisal and feel free to make music joyfully and in an unfiltered way. My students make fun of me, because they’ll say something like ‘How do I practice this?’ And I’ll be, like, ‘You have to love yourself.’

The man is not wrong.