The York Left Consortium: Reflections on Capitalism’s Half-Life is a blog that began its life as a space for written interventions relating to the coronavirus and its aftermath by leftist faculty and grad students at York (as well as some non-York experts invited by York faculty and students). It features short blog posts as well as longer thought pieces, and speculations. Authors provide not just original writing for the blog but link and re-post pieces from other websites (personal or organizational). In Spring 2021, we are seeking pieces on contemporary capitalist society. We would especially welcome speculations that critically address capitalism in relation to such issues as: work, race, the environment, activism, housing, cities, indigeneity, migrants, religion, imperialism, violence, democracy, fascism and authoritarianism.
York Left Consortium: Reflections on Capitalism’s Half-Life
Conversion as Strategy: From GM to Workplace Plans
Sam Gindin | York Faculty
By Sam Gindin On April 24, GM And the Federal government announced that “To help Canada meet the urgent need for face masks for healthcare professionals and for other Canadians, GM Canada is preparing portions of the Oshawa plant to… manufacture approx …
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COVID-19, Mass Consciousness, and Left Organizing
Robert Latham | York Faculty
By Robert Latham A great many established voices on the left have pointed to how the crisis associated with the coronavirus reveals, illuminates, or even intensifies the underlying conditions of exploitation and oppression of workers and the marginali …
Read moreThe Violence of Non-Violence: Canadian Sanctions Policy in Times of COVID-19
Claudia Chaufan | York Faculty
By Claudia Chaufan Both at its birth, and later in the paradigmatic Alma Ata declaration, the WHO established a human right to health which required not only access to health care but the satisfaction of a broad range of human needs, such as appropriat …
Read moreCanada’s coronavirus aid package guards against drug shortages with compulsory licensing
Joel Lexchin | York Faculty
By Joel Lexchin Canada’s COVID-19 Emergency Response Act, which provides emergency assistance to cope with the expected dramatic economic downturn due to the COVID-19 pandemic, contains an important clause that may get overlooked. The act effectively b …
Read moreOutbreaks Like Coronavirus Start in and Spread From the Edges of Cities
Harris Ali and Roger Keil | York Faculty
By Harris Ali and Roger Keil Emerging infectious disease has much to do with how and where we live. The ongoing coronavirus is an example of the close relationships between urban development and new or re-emerging infectious diseases. Like the SARS pan …
Read more“Between the rock of the occupation, and the hammer of coronavirus”: The Coronavirus and the Conditions of Palestinian Workers
Nithya Nagarajan | York Graduate Researcher
By Nithya Nagarajan Palestinian civil society organizations are calling for an immediate international intervention. Though the COVID crisis may be an “exceptional” moment in recent world history, the conditions to which Palestinians are subjected remi …
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Roundtable Discussion | Resisting Precarity: Reversing the Changing Face of Work in 2019 Ontario
| Uncategorized
Roundtable Discussion | Resisting Precarity: Reversing the Changing Face of Work in 2019 Ontario Saturday, 25 May 2019 | 2 to 4pm | The 519 Church Street Community Centre This roundtable discussion brings together workers, activists, and academics to u …
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