Why We Shouldn’t Have a Referendum on Electoral Reform in Canada

The Conservative Party is doing its best to inflame the public into calling for a referendum on the issue of electoral reform. It may seem obvious that if the goal is to ensure better representation for Canada’s diverse public, why not just ask that public what it wants? Here are three reasons why this is problematic.

Welcome to Apartheid America

It’s one of the most abundant replenishable resources on planet Earth, and it is essential to the survival of every living thing. You would think that basic truth would be enough to ensure a right to clean drinking water at least in our modern, wealthy, progressive democracies that fly around the world with paternalistic visions of human rights.

Let’s Teach Sociology in Public School

Our public schools are the primary site of social reconstruction. Children enter school and are socialized according to the rules of society, and the privileged ones go on to be ‘good’ adults who have children and begin reconstructing the society at another primary site: the home.

Rise Like Lions! Resisting Activist Apathy

A few years ago I attended a free screening  of a film which exposed the horrors of the food industry. The event was organized by volunteers through a program called Cinema Politica which makes a library of educational documentaries available for small community organizations to screen. 

Can Men Be ‘Feminists’?

I used to call myself a feminist. I believed that my experience on the margins as a gay person was a source of unity between me and other people similarly marginalized. What I didn’t realize was that not even the margins of our society are equal.

Drum

It’s true
the steady rhythm
of the beating drum
counting heartbeats
and voices in the night.
That song of Utopia
slips away in the fog
a vision fleeted
obscured
by individualism.

Top 10 Posts of 2015

Our readers’ favourite posts from 2015. An eclectic mix of posts that ranges from the serious to the absurd. Enjoy a trip back through the months of the Richtig Haus experience.

An honourable mention in the 11th spot goes to the Fictitious News post “Nick Jonas, Unintentional Serial Killer“.

Pacified

Pacified with a bit of honey
The eminent compatability of youth
Invisible advantages bestowed
In swarms of privilege like bees
The sweet tooth of a new prophecy
Promising more of the same.

Devils and Angels

I’m taken to the absense of honour
Taking with me the shrouded truth
The sweltering of tongues spoken
In forums of devils and angels
Waging war with number 2 pencils
A poetics of diversity silenced
Decicively. Pompously. Violently.

Canadian Political Dogs and Cats

It has been reported that dogs and cats have put their differences aside in the coming election.