streetfestival

This letter was written by a group of nurses across Ontario who are remaining anonymous for fear of professional backlash.

As rank and file nurses, we are disgraced by the ongoing complicity of our health care leaders and institutions seven months into Israel’s most recent assault on Gaza. We must take matters into our own hands in the pursuit of justice. As one of the slogans of the Ontario Nurses’ Association (ONA) goes, “The nurses are coming. Injustice makes us angry. Anger makes us act.”

While ONA’s most recent statement on Apr. 12 urges the Canadian government “to do everything in its power to achieve a ceasefire and restore access to humanitarian aid and health care,” and also “uphold international law,” it steers clear of mentioning an arms embargo, which is a concrete and necessary precondition to all of the above. It is also worth noting that the statement was not published as a media release nor on ONA’s social media accounts, so it is unclear how it is intended to put any political pressure on the Canadian government, or even empower rank and file nurses to do so.

Locally, ONA has a responsibility to support us in the face of grave moral distress and from the threat of harassment and reprisal in our workplaces related to our solidarity with Palestine. It also has a responsibility to explicitly address and combat anti-Palestinian racism. To date, ONA’s tepid statements have been hard to distinguish from that of our hospital CEOs. Those of us who are Palestinian-Canadian feel particularly betrayed, as we continue to show up to work and care for our patients while experiencing repression here and the heartache of losing loved ones in Palestine. As our union, we demand more of you.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ca/post/20474460

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) on Wednesday night spoke on the floor of the U.S. Senate:

And let me also mention something that I found rather extraordinary and outrageous. And that is just a few days ago Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the leader of the right-wing extremist government in Israel, a government which contains out-and-out anti-Palestinian racists.

Netanyahu issued a statement in which he equated criticism of his government’s illegal and immoral war against the Palestinian people with antisemitism. In other words, if you are protesting, or disagree, with what Netanyahu and his extremist government are doing in Gaza, you are an antisemite.

That is an outrageous statement from a leader who is clearly trying – and I have to tell you, he seems to be succeeding with the American media — trying to deflect attention away from the horrific policies that he is pursuing that created an unprecedented humanitarian disaster.

So, let me be as clear as I can be: It is not antisemitic or pro-Hamas to point out that in almost seven months Netanyahu’s extremist government has killed 34,000 Palestinians and wounded more than 77,000 – seventy percent of whom are women and children.

It is not antisemitic to point out that Netanyahu’s government’s bombing has completely destroyed more than 221,000 housing units in Gaza, leaving more than one million people homeless – almost half the population. No, Mr. Netanyahu it is not antisemitic to point out what you have done in terms of the destruction of housing in Gaza.

It is not antisemitic to realize that his government has annihilated Gaza’s health care system, knocking 26 hospitals out of service and killing more than 400 health care workers. At a time when 77,000 people have been wounded and desperately need medical care, Netanyahu has systematically destroyed the health care system in Gaza.

It is not antisemitic to condemn his government’s destruction of all of Gaza’s 12 universities and 56 of its schools, with hundreds more damaged, leaving 625,000 children in Gaza have no opportunity for an education. It is not antisemitic to make that point.

It is not antisemitic to note that Netanyahu’s government has obliterated Gaza’s civilian infrastructure – there is virtually no electricity in Gaza right now, virtually no clean water in Gaza right now, and sewage is seeping out onto the streets.

It is not antisemitic to make that point.

President, it is not antisemitic to agree with virtually every humanitarian organization that functions in the Gaza area in saying that his government, in violation of American law, has unreasonably blocked humanitarian aid coming into Gaza.

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) on Wednesday night spoke on the floor of the U.S. Senate:

And let me also mention something that I found rather extraordinary and outrageous. And that is just a few days ago Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the leader of the right-wing extremist government in Israel, a government which contains out-and-out anti-Palestinian racists.

Netanyahu issued a statement in which he equated criticism of his government’s illegal and immoral war against the Palestinian people with antisemitism. In other words, if you are protesting, or disagree, with what Netanyahu and his extremist government are doing in Gaza, you are an antisemite.

That is an outrageous statement from a leader who is clearly trying – and I have to tell you, he seems to be succeeding with the American media — trying to deflect attention away from the horrific policies that he is pursuing that created an unprecedented humanitarian disaster.

So, let me be as clear as I can be: It is not antisemitic or pro-Hamas to point out that in almost seven months Netanyahu’s extremist government has killed 34,000 Palestinians and wounded more than 77,000 – seventy percent of whom are women and children.

It is not antisemitic to point out that Netanyahu’s government’s bombing has completely destroyed more than 221,000 housing units in Gaza, leaving more than one million people homeless – almost half the population. No, Mr. Netanyahu it is not antisemitic to point out what you have done in terms of the destruction of housing in Gaza.

It is not antisemitic to realize that his government has annihilated Gaza’s health care system, knocking 26 hospitals out of service and killing more than 400 health care workers. At a time when 77,000 people have been wounded and desperately need medical care, Netanyahu has systematically destroyed the health care system in Gaza.

It is not antisemitic to condemn his government’s destruction of all of Gaza’s 12 universities and 56 of its schools, with hundreds more damaged, leaving 625,000 children in Gaza have no opportunity for an education. It is not antisemitic to make that point.

It is not antisemitic to note that Netanyahu’s government has obliterated Gaza’s civilian infrastructure – there is virtually no electricity in Gaza right now, virtually no clean water in Gaza right now, and sewage is seeping out onto the streets.

It is not antisemitic to make that point.

President, it is not antisemitic to agree with virtually every humanitarian organization that functions in the Gaza area in saying that his government, in violation of American law, has unreasonably blocked humanitarian aid coming into Gaza.

Inspired by the pervasiveness of ads in society in general

Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre appears to have a new speech writer: the pharmaceutical lobby.

As the corporate lobby mounts an attack on the NDP and Liberal government’s new pharmacare program, Poilievre has been cribbing from their deceitful talking points.

The pharmacare program will provide free birth control and diabetes medicine to Canadians—and potentially pave the way for broader drug coverage under a universal, public, single-payer system.

That’s got the pharmaceutical and insurance industry panicked, since it would eat into their multi-billion dollar profits by lowering the exorbitant price of drugs.

They’ve turned to stoking fear and spreading outright lies about pharmcare, including by funding think tanks and institutes to amplify their attacks.

Despite once describing them as “crooked Big Pharma,” Poilievre has allied himself to their campaign.

Parsing his recent commentary in Parliament and interviews amounts to a quiz of “Who said it? Pierre or Pharma?”

The "who said it" section with side-by-side quotes from PP and lobbyists in the article is very demonstrative.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/14534792

"Most Americans do not want our government to write a blank check to further Prime Minister Netanyahu's war in Gaza," a group of nearly 20 of the 37 no-voting lawmakers said.”

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/14534792

"Most Americans do not want our government to write a blank check to further Prime Minister Netanyahu's war in Gaza," a group of nearly 20 of the 37 no-voting lawmakers said.”

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/12553230

Decision by premier Danielle Smith further pits Canadian province against environmental groups pushing green energy

Alberta will block renewable energy projects on “prime” agricultural land and limit the placement of wind turbines to preserve “pristine viewscapes”, a decision that increasingly pits the western Canadian province against environmental groups pushing green energy – and the companies investing in it.

The decision, announced by the premier, Danielle Smith, and utilities minister, Nathan Neudorf, on Wednesday, follows a controversial six-month ban on new renewable energy projects that is due to expire on 29 February.

Alberta’s moratorium, announced in August, left energy companies uncertain about billions in future investment, even as the region, with its clear skies and an abundance of wind, led the country in new renewable projects.

Nearly a third of Alberta’s grid is now powered by renewables and the province has shifted away from coal at a far faster rate than expected.

In Toronto’s Jewish community, there are long-standing and deep divisions regarding Israel. Those divisions have become more pronounced than ever after Hamas’ Oct. 7 attacks and Israel’s months-long slaughter of Palestinians. Louise Smith shares her experience of it all.

All my life I was warned what can happen when people develop a hate so deep for others that they forget their humanity. We asked how the world let it happen. Why did no one intervene? We swore “never again.” And yet, here we are.

The response from Israel has been this brutal, cruel and seemingly endless war on Palestinians. People can see online exactly what Israel is doing in Gaza and the West Bank. Israel’s campaign is also in line with the resettlement vision long held by some key government representatives. And yet, most in the Jewish community cannot bring themselves to criticize any of it. That has been truly heartbreaking for me.

I believe it is especially important to have Jewish representation in this movement calling out Israel’s actions since a key feature of the Israel lobby is to claim all criticism of Israel is antisemitic.

But I wish that people were more careful about separating out legitimate criticism of Israel and hatred for Jewish people.

It’s cruel for Jewish organizations to make Jews more afraid just to push the narrative that protestors and Palestinians hate Jews. And then they fundraise off that fear.

We are supposed to have 40 minutes to offload a patient into a bed, sometimes change their clothes, attach them to equipment, or help them to the washroom; provide a report to the triage nurse; clean and disinfect our stretcher and ambulance; restock our supplies; complete our paperwork; and debrief with our partner. Now, dispatch updates us to say we only have 33 minutes.

I’ve been a paramedic in Toronto for three years, and for two years before this in Guelph. My name is Parker Palmer, though that’s not my real name — to write this article, I have to use a pseudonym. Our contract prevents us from speaking openly about our employer, and writing the article under my own name could jeopardize my career.

Since then, these issues have skyrocketed, made worse by the pandemic. They culminate in “code reds,” times where there are zero available ambulances in the city. According to freedom of information (FOI) documents, Toronto Paramedic Services reported an average of 5 hours and 31 minutes in code red per day in 2022, or 23 per cent of each day. The city says 2023 was better, reporting 2 hours and 24 minutes per day with less than 10 per cent ambulance availability. (They haven’t yet released data for the amount of time spent in code red).

The crisis in our ERs is decades in the making. In Ontario, a series of governments — first the Liberals and now Doug Ford’s Conservatives — have cut funding to our healthcare system. Canada is an outlier among OECD countries, with one of the lowest numbers of hospital beds per capita. And Ontario ranks worse than all other provinces.

Many of the paramedics I interviewed for this article tell me the same thing: funding preventative health care to help patients avoid serious medical issues is the number-one way governments should begin to address this crisis. That money is being spent anyway, on repeat ER visits by chronically ill patients and, increasingly, on paying private companies to fill in the gaps.