Nouns, adjectives and politics
By Aaron Wherry - Tuesday, June 21, 2011 - 9 Comments
Kathryn Blaze Carlson considers socialism and the future of the NDP.
The distinction between “democratic socialism” and “social democracy” grew up in the post-war period, and by the late-1960s, many European parties of this ideological bent started calling themselves social democratic. While a lay person might think the ordering of terms is six of one, half a dozen of the other, sequence actually matters. “It’s a question of which is the noun and which is the adjective,” Mr. Sears said. “If you believe in social democracy, you can say you are a democrat who believes in a system of social justice. If you’re a democratic socialist, you can you are a socialist — whatever that means — who believes in the achievement of socialist ends through democracy.” When asked whether he would describe Mr. Layton as a socialist, Mr. Capstick said, “No. He’s a social democrat.”
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Socialist in name, for now
By Aaron Wherry - Monday, June 20, 2011 at 9:54 AM - 21 Comments
New Democrats voted this weekend to defer a change to their constitutional preamble.
The lineups at the microphones when the constitutional resolution came up for debate was long and NDP MP Pat Martin (Winnipeg Centre) led the charge in favour of the new wording, saying the socialist language in the constitution was an anchor holding the party back — and scaring voters away — at a time when it is closer to forming government than every before.
“Socialism is not an anchor, it’s a rocket,” Barry Weisleder, who chairs the unofficial socialist caucus that meets in its own room at NDP conventions, shot back. “You can take socialism out of the preamble, but you can’t take socialism out of the NDP.”
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Socialist or merely social
By Aaron Wherry - Friday, June 17, 2011 at 2:22 PM - 10 Comments
Joanna Smith previews this weekend’s existential crisis.
New Democrats are preparing to cast off the shackles of the socialist label by eliminating the word from the federal party constitution at a policy convention this weekend. “The New Democratic Party is dedicated to the application of social democratic principles to government,” reads part of a proposed new preamble to the party constitution, which will be voted on at the 50th anniversary convention in downtown Vancouver. “These principles include an unwavering commitment to economic and social equality, individual freedom and responsibility, and democratic rights of citizens to shape the future of their communities.”
That language is much different from what exists in the current version of the constitution, where the principles of “democratic socialism” are described as being against making profits and for social ownership.
In full, the new preamble would read as follows. Continue…
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Awful food, commie cars and the bad old days
By Andrew Potter - Thursday, November 26, 2009 at 1:40 PM - 5 Comments
German consumers are hearkening back to a simpler time, a time before capitalism. Sound familiar to anyone?
Travelling through Eastern Europe a few years ago, my companion and I took a tour of Nova Huta, the Krakow suburb that had been designed by Stalin as the ideal proletarian city. Our guide was Mike, an excitable 30-year-old in camo pants and a flat-top who had ditched his law career when he realized the old ladies selling potatoes in the market made more than he would.
Mike drove us around Nova Huta in a rickety old Trabant, pointing out various totalitarian sites, then took us to his rented apartment, which he had tricked out with all manner of Soviet-era furnishings, artwork and appliances. It was all very authentic. It was all very crappy.
This was my first experience with Ostalgie, a neologism that is a mash-up of the German words for east and nostalgia, meaning nostalgia for life in the GDR and the other countries of the former Soviet bloc. Ostalgie is a phenomenon driven by the conviction that while socialism was often difficult, life was in many ways better. Fear and suspicion may have been the background radiation of daily life, this view goes, but the old Communist societies were more egalitarian and had a greater sense of solidarity and common purpose.
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Somalia Is A "Libertarian Paradise"
By Jaime Weinman - Monday, May 25, 2009 at 2:04 PM - 12 Comments
Via alicublog, this video explains that if you’re looking for a vacation getaway that hasn’t been spoiled by socialistic concepts like “public” beaches and “health” inspectors, there’s only one place to be this summer.
