“So you think you’re a liberal?” or why the concealment of state-worship is destroying the planet

A standard point that liberally minded people bring against any religious perspective is the assertion that they don’t believe anyone should be required or forced to convert from any religion to another. And this is unsurprising – the principle of freedom of religion goes way back in the history of liberal and libertarian thought. But […]

An interesting youtube channel

Someone who looks a bit like me has started posting music on a new youtube channel, thekeffiyehsings. I’m not sure who this is, but the songs seem to resonate with me. I probably won’t look at it again, but if you want to I would guess that there will be more songs uploaded in the […]

Ethics and the presumption of human contact (and the history of monotheism, and plight of humanity today)

There are really two ways you can begin to think about human relations, and based on which you pick there are real implications for the way you’ll conceive ethics in general as well as your own ethical situation in the world. On the one hand, you could presume that you are an individual first, and everything you […]

A great leader is no longer with us

Jack Layton was a great Canadian leader in a dark time. He was going on for years about how the NDP was a “real” alternative to the Liberals for centrist and left leaning voters in Canada. I voted for them, but I can’t say I ever believed the dream. But in this last election, well, […]

When a “civilian” bus, isn’t

In no way do I condone the attack on Egged bus 392. Neither do I think it sane that it be considered a justification for bombing Gaza. The argument always runs “Israel has the right to defend itself”, but it does not follow from this principle that Israel has the right to use force against […]

Lyrics, come to life (again).

I wrote these lines about an incident where settlers from Kiryat Arba came down and injured many CPT activists who were living in solidarity with a family which I couchsurfed with while in Al-khalil (Hebron): the settlers live on mountaintops, sometimes they come down with their rocks and put the folks from CPT and ISM in […]

When the war comes back… or “Why I respect the Palestinian resistance”

There is a song lyric I can’t get out of my head. It’s from “West Bank”, a song I wrote, posted, and promptly removed from the internet (I will likely be performing it, along with another song about the situation in Palestine at an event at El Mocambo on September 1st, if you’re interested). The […]

Why Milan (and possibly I) is going to Washington

My friend Milan is on his way to Washington, D.C. to take part in a protest against the building of a pipeline that will facilitate the burning of the Alberta tar sands. I might be going down to join him for a bit, but I’m as yet unsure about whether that is possible given my […]

What is “Collective Punishment”, and why do states use it?

States engaged in asymmetric warfare with rebel groups know that it is very difficult to fight dispersed paramilitary forces with traditional means of combat. Except for the IRA of the Border Campaign, I know of no rebel paramilitary group which has made attempts to obey the Geneva convention – so state armies are in a position of […]

Raids from the Sinai, and the fear of retaliation

Today I woke up to news of militants having crossed the border into Southern Israel and killed seven. Israel has almost reflexively blamed Hamas, in Gaza, and there is fear that Israel will react with force against the occupied territories. Israel’s situation contains an inherent hypocricy. On the one hand, they blame Egypt for not […]

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