Resources:

Hello everyone,

I am a member of a research team that studies the trajectories of people who are critical of at least one vaccine, or who are hesitant about getting vaccinated (or about getting their children vaccinated). The goal of this research is to analyze the experiences of these people in recent years (for example, during COVID-19), their impressions of the social representations of vaccination and vaccine hesitancy, and their impressions of health communications.

I hope that this research can shed light on issues such as the exclusion of vaccine critics, and to critically reflect on current communications.

We are looking for Canadians over the age of 18 to participate in an individual interview of approximately an hour to an hour and a half, via Zoom.

Participants must…

…take a critical stance towards vaccination or certain vaccines…

OR

…have already deviated from the recommended vaccination schedule (delay or postponement of a vaccine)…

OR

…have already refused a vaccine for themselves or their child.

People interested in participating can write to me via Reddit messaging or contact me by email, or contact Roxanne Martin, the research assistant (martin.roxanne.2@courrier.uqam.ca). People wishing to obtain more information on the research can contact Mélissa Roy, principal investigator (roy.melissa.3@uqam.ca) You can also share this invitation in your networks!

Research team

Mélissa Roy (Professor, Social Work, UQAM)

Samuel Tanner (Professor, Criminology, Université de Montréal)

Ève Dubé (Professor, Anthropology, Université Laval)

Ari Gandsman (Professor, Anthropology, University of Ottawa)

Roxanne Martin (PhD student / research assistant, Social Work, UQAM

Many on this subreddit know that when people talk about Oligarchs and misinformation/propaganda in relationship to the foreign world that we have it all right here at home.

We have a "democracy" in name only. It is a Corporatocracy - Oligarchy/Plutocracy with growing dimensions of Kleptocracy.

We on this subreddit point out how both the federal Liberal Party of Canada and the federal Conservative Party of Canada and the various provincial conservative parties all find a way to make bipartisanship a reality when it comes to exploiting workers.

We've seen these administrations all work together and in their time of power only expand and expand on exploiting foreign workers and allowing that exploitative framework to be further weaponized against the fair and honest bargaining power of domestic citizen workers.

In particular the low income workers, gig workers, and other vulnerable working segments that are dealing with the worst of the housing crisis, infrastructure strain, and wage suppression.

All while giving them platitude fluff and political theatrics around "Change/Reform" talk.

They are the Human Resources of the system and deeply dedicated to the status quo and the wealth interests that control them.

We on this subreddit all know that this comes down to the business lobby and how in relationship to immigration policy, energy policy, military policy, and practically every other area of policy they dominate the discussions and the narratives within the discussions.

They influence and corrupt disconnected and apathetic politicians.

Now all this we know.

We also need to point out that the USA is the Makkah of the Corporatocracy - Oligarchy/Plutocracy.

It is the Makkah of the misinformation and propaganda machines.

It is the Makkah of the business lobby and in general predatory wealth interests that will profit from problems not just around the world but here in our back yards.

We all know this.

It is finally becoming clear to everyone else.

A hazy awareness is starting to arise in the populace. This is the time to really really point out certain things to get more and more people thinking and talking.

The USA is the Makkah of all of this and that world empire is in their own neoliberalist capitalistic imperialistic death spiral.

With so many Canadians united around hating America right now we need to keep building class consciousness awareness and point out what the USA really is to those that don't know.

We need to keep pushing from every angle to get Canada as far detached from that rabid Military–industrial complex nation as possible.

Okay so Trudeau has capitulated to some Trump demands on the border for 30 tariff free days.

A few key historical observations that are important to consider:

• Appeasement, as a strategy when dealing with fascists, especially new regimes, does not play out well. It gives the fascists early wins and allows them time to build up more political will to do further escalations. If we consider Trumps final goal is the hostile takeover of Canada, this is not a good long term strategy Further reading
• Heightened border security, too the tune of billions, is infrastructure that can be used against the population, as much as it can be used against migrants. Anyone else seen Handmaids tale? Building up the border is a strategy to hold people IN, not necessarily keep them out. Further, in the event of a fascist takeover, they almost always use local enforcement to keep order. Further Reading
• The total invention of a problem and having our leadership take it at all seriously lowers us to playing without factual basis. This means that Trump drags us into the shit. The shit though is detention camps that will historically be viewed in same as any concentration camps of old. Does Canada want these sorts of camps popping up? Then we should completely and utterly reject this sort of "solution".

It is also alarming how much Liberals have leaned into nationalism. A friendly reminder that rampart nationalism is a key component of fascism. It may seem like something that is controlled and usable now, Canadian anger at the targeting, however can absolutely be turned against vulnerable people later.

Anyway, just some quick thoughts. Hope that thing settle however the cooked nature of the American project seems like we are going to get more in-stability and is important we think long term. We must ask, if you make deals with fascists, what is the result?

Hello everybody! Doug Ford is of course taking advantage of his tiny bump in popularity from putting on his plastic 'Fuck Trump' mask to call for a snap election. Because of this everything is coming together so fast that proper information on the election and local candidates is hard to find yet and it seems we'll only have our full list of candidates roughly two weeks before the election.

I've been searching to try and find info on any possible socialist/leftist/communist candidates in my local riding of Chatham-Kent/Leamington so that I can offer to volunteer for their campaign but as of yet I've been coming up empty.

I would greatly appreciate if any comrades in here have any info about parties like this that might run a candidate in my riding. Being a smaller more rural riding we don't often get much attention or focus from parties like this but I can't in good conscience stand by and do nothing while another conservative gets the chance to 'represent' me again.

Democracy is dead and I don't know what to do to try and help make things better but the coal in my gut hurts too much to not try and do something. Help a comrade out if you have any info, thanks everyone!

We are in the process of far right accelerationism.

We talk about Oligarchs and misinformation/propaganda machines. We forget we have them all here at home.

The Corporatocracy - Oligarchy/Plutocracy utilizes progressive language/appearances or conservative language/appearances to push their interests.

We are about to see a new level of Kleptocracy also enter the picture.

Solidarity and unity is what will defeat this like it has in the past.

We are going to have to fight to keep everything the Labour Movement, Civil Rights Movement, Environmental Movement and other positive grassroots organizations fought for and won us.

We always talk about those big points in history. Guess what we are in one of those big transition points now.

I live in Canada, but I’m originally from South America and what the US is doing today is pretty much what they have done to Canada now the entire world, but much worse. Essentially any country that attempted left-leaning politics in South America had foreign interference from the US. But not the kind we had from China where they donated money to the campaign of a few candidates. No no no, much worse. They straight up organized and funded several coups d’état all over the continent. This resulted in the death of millions of people, they backed military dictatorships that made so many countries so much poorer, and they drove inequality through the rough.

And then we have to talk about Asia, Oceania, Africa. The US did so much harm to the world (and I’ll be honest with you guys, Canada is guilty of this too, but, just like several European countries. But US is the worst of the bunch by FAR. This is all driven by money, it’s all about big corporations wanting control in foreign countries to get access to labour and commodities for cheap. In Canada’s case, the biggest criminals are mining companies. Canadian mining companies have control over several small counties in Africa. The unfortunate truth is that all countries have major corporations interfering with other countries. And often time they will lobby their own government to do their dirty work. The more powerful and influential a country is, the more it can hurt other countries. And when they do that is not like they are hiring an entity that is the country, but they are hurting the people that live there. But anyways back to the US).

What we’re seeing from the US now is pretty much their playbook. We as Canadians know that the fentanyl problem is BS, as only 1% of fentanyl comes from the Canadian border. But for them is about manufacturing consent. This is just the beginning, but they will do more and more to look like they are justified in their actions, to make it look like Canada is out of control.

They will find ways of dividing us, turning our domestic politics into utter chaos. A quick reminder that Danielle Smith was receiving visits from Tucker Carson. She’s most likely just an American tool. Backed by the Americans to serve their interests in Canada and now divide the country.

Some of our billionaires are already supporting Trump and ready to sell us out, like the people who own Shopify.

This will get worse. You can expect Trump to spread more lies about Canada and try his way to destabilize the country. His idea might not be to necessarily make the whole country of Canada to support him, but what he did in many other cases is create a case where he will have support at home to apply sanctions or straight up invade Canada. To make it look like for Americans and the rest of the world that Canada has lost its grip, it’s down on a spiral and that we need American intervention. This is what they did with every other country they invaded or sanctioned.

I imagine they have an interest in Canada. Could be our Oil, Minerals or fresh water. But labour in Canada is expensive so it’s expensive to buy from us. If they find a way to break our economy they can get everything for cheap.

Think about a poor country in Africa that has foreign mining companies. If this country is rich and stable they can enforce labour laws and it would be very expensive to extract or buy their minerals. If they own the mine now you have to buy from them and they can dictate the price and the buyer. If you destabilize them you can put your candidate or military puppet in power and have them sell the mining site/land for cheap for you in exchange for weapons and bribery. Now you can have them deregulate labour laws and you can have locals working in terrible working conditions (but cheap) for cents per hour.

Now in all honesty this is much easier to do in countries that were already previously poor and far away from US and Europe. It’s also much easier to use racism as a tool to justify your actions if the country has majorly people of colour or their main religion is not Christianity.

So Trump attacking Canada this way is very weird because it will be so much harder considering we’re a white developed western nation. They can’t even use communism as an excuse. But maybe Trump is playing the long game.

Anyways the play is divide and conquer. Canadians must stick together. Keep buying Canadian, defend our economy and remember the enemy is not here, the enemy is beyond our borders. They will try to make Canadians turn against each other. Right vs left, they will attack immigrants. They will spread fake news. Stay away from American-controlled social media. You can expect the worst type of garbage coming from Meta and Twitter.

Fortunately, we're not in this alone. Trump got too greedy and is also attacking Mexico, China, and it's promising to attack the EU and Brics. This could lead them into an inflationary crisis and make them break. Which would essentially free the world from its biggest bully and perhaps finally give the world a chance to heal. What we need to do is not just buy Canadian, but find new allies to trade with. Diversify our imports and exports, this is the wake-up call to who the US truly is.

United States is not your friend, they never were. They don’t have friends, they only have interests. They can’t ever be trusted. And I urge you to read and learn about everything they have done to other countries. It can be really eye-opening to why the world is the way it is.

Also, Trump mentioned Manifest Destiny in his speech, (I don't believe Trump was indeed talking about Mars. This is about expansionism on Earth) I recommend to at least make a quick read of what it is. For those that didn't know, the nazi took inspiration on this to their project of expansionism and genocide.

Lebensraui - The concept of German Expansionism, the backbone of Nazism

The ideologies found at the root of Hitler's implementation of Lebensraum modeled that of German colonialism of the New Imperialism period as well as the American ideology of manifest destiny. Hitler had great admiration for the United States' territorial expansion and saw the destruction of Native American peoples and their cultures that took place during the United States' westward expansion as a template for German expansion. He believed that in order to transform the German nation into a world superpower, Germany had to expand their geopolitical presence and act only in the interest of the German people. Hitler had also viewed with dismay the German reliance on food imports by sea during the First World War, believing it to be a contributing factor to Germany's defeat in the war. He believed that only through Lebensraum could Germany shift "its dependence for food... to its own imperial hinterland".^([48])

Does this remind you of something? Like what Trump is doing right now with bringing manufacturing back to US, talking about expansionism and getting rid of "savages" (the immigrants)

Instead of buying more from billion dollar Canadian companies, now's a great time to replace some U.S tech companies' apps on your phone, or at least use them less. Here's some open-source alternatives. I imagine there's a lot of FOSS fans here, so please add any suggestions in the comments.

Google Chrome

• Firefox
  • enable ad-block: 3 dots > Extensions > Extension Manager > uBlock Origin > enable

Google Play/App Store

• F-Droid*
  • great repository of open-source apps to install with 1-tap. It also keeps your installed apps updated
  • *I highly recommend, as many other apps in this list will have links to F-Droid for download
• Aurora Store
  • install apps from the Google Play store without signing in or connecting to Google services

Facebook Messenger

• Signal Android iOS
  • fully featured, E2E encrypted messaging and video call app
• Telegram Android iOS

Twitter/X

• Mastodon Android iOS
  • Tusky Android
  • Mastodon is a federated FOSS (free and open-source software) twitter-like social media

Reddit

• Lemmy
  • Federated, FOSS, reddit-like social media

YouTube

• NewPipe Android
  • FOSS youtube client app with no ads
• ReVanced Android
  • use ReVanced to patch Android apps (like YouTube) to remove ads, apply sponsorblock, etc

ChatGPT

• PocketPal Android iOS
  • run LLM models directly on your phone. Prompts and output stay on your device and you can use the app offline

Torrent Client

• LibreTorrent Android

GitHub

• GitNex Android

Gmail/Outlook

• Thunderbird Android

Video Player

• VLC

Netflix, Apple TV+, Prime Video, Crunchyroll, etc

• Firefox + LibreTorrent + VLC
  1. Search for a torrent with Firefox, click the magnet link and open with LibreTorrent
  2. Now in LibreTorrent, enable sequential download and start download
  3. You can now open the file with VLC before it finishes downloading (sequential download means the video will download starting from the beginning)

I've used almost all of these, so I'm happy to answer any questions.

I'm trying to get involved and start actually doing stuff as opposed to just doomscrolling all day, and I've been looking at the CPC, the CPC-ML the RCP/Fightback, the DSC and a few others. I'm currently a member of the Industrial Workers of the World but I find my chapter is pretty inactive. I'm a journalist by trade and am mostly interested in environmental issues, food scarcity, fighting homelessness/poverty, Indigenous issues, LGBTQ/trans issues and the co-operative movement. I currently volunteer for a local foodbank but it is a bit too lib-y for me, and I'd like to get involved in more explicitly anti-capitalist organizing

If any of you have suggestions or want to share your opinions on the orgs mentioned above then please do so, I appreciate any guidance y'all can offer