Protecting Local Democracy

The decision of the Ford government of Ontario to cut the number of city councillors in Toronto is not in and of itself a threat to democracy. The decision to do so in the middle of an election campaign is. As mentioned in previous blog posts the final day to register for local elections in Ontario was July 27th. This means that the democratic players of Ontario made their choices to run based on long-standing decisions about how the election would be structured. Doug Ford's decision throws all of this into chaos.

The 27th should have set the standards for the election for the candidates and the citizens. I do not love how early the registration closed, but the predictability of it is important to the democratic process. The candidates who registered and planned to run in Toronto now have their candidacies thrown into question. This is in addition to the regional chair elections that have also been cancelled. How are candidates supposed to campaign as a result of this fallout?

I do not like the idea of Toronto's City Council being cut down to twenty-five members. That does seem undersized to serve the city. Plenty of people elsewhere have made the argument that it is improper given the representative needs of the people of Toronto. That said, I could far more accept Ford's decision if it would impact the elections held in 2022. Impacting elections to be held in a few months time just seems vindictive to a level of government that left him bruised.

In short, Doug Ford and the new provincial government is acting in bad faith. It would be reasonable, though ill-advised, to make these cuts for a future election. To do so now is unnecessarily disruptive. The public and candidates were not even given the courtesy of having this idea floated during the campaign so they could prepare.

If this is a portent of how Doug Ford intends to govern, I am concerned. While Toronto bears the brunt there is no reason to assume he and his government will not be inclined to meddle in our local democracies in the future. Municipalities are utterly at the mercy of the provincial legislature. As a result, every Ontarian has a reason to be concerned.

Worth Reading - July 27, 2018

Apologies for the delay, here we go.

Premier Ford moves to slash the number of seats in Toronto City Council during the election period. 

What difference can $1000 make to a neighbourhood? 

What problems confront small landlords in Ontario? 

Members of Parliament spend too much time on constituency issues. 

New Zealand cannot agree to change their flag, so they want Australia to change theirs. 

Faisal Hussain, the Danforth shooter, struggled for many years and was afraid he would hurt others. 

Are mass shootings and public acts of violence a new development we must be aware of? 

Mayor Tory hasn't made the case for a strong mayor system, according to Edward Keenan. 

Should we introduce municipal political parties in Ontario? 

The Mayor of Chatham-Kent has suggested accepting refugees and moving them to rural areas. 

Not Running This Time

I have decided not to throw my hat into the local elections this autumn. If you missed my prior post I had serious thoughts about running for a position on the Peel District School Board. There are a number of big issues confronting public education that I know will require thoughtful people to lead discussion on. Especially now with Premier Ford's government in place school boards will have to be passionate advocates for education.

Ultimately though, standing for election is not something you can do lightly. I considered this at points to be an effort to merely get some ideas out there an into the public debate. However, I would remain the avatar of those ideas. I would rightly be held accountable for my ideas and positions, and for various other aspects that I am not entirely comfortable with.

I think a lot of people will talk about why they are running, so I thought it might be worthwhile for someone to share the considerations about why they are not running.

One of the big reasons I am not running this time around is my nervousness about public scrutiny. By scrutiny I don't mean things like criticism of my ideas and platform, I mean personal ones. At thirty years old I've spend about half of my life on the internet. This blog is eight years old and reflects hundreds of thoughts and opinions and I have a Twitter account that had definitely embarrassing things if I was ever confronted with them. I don't mean anything serious, just things that would make me cringe. The idea of people picking through photos or other things that are more private, though still public on the internet, is unsettling.

A big consideration is my employment. I work in the education sector. It could be seen as a conflict, or at least problematic for me to run for school board. My employers have been very kind to me so I do not wish to dismiss their considerations so easily.

Finally, it's all personal. As much as I want to try and put my name forward and fight for ideas I care about I fear I'm not ready yet. My personal and professional situation is not at the place I want it to be. I don't believe I would have the support necessary or desired to make this sort of effort. I sincerely hope that I don't feel this way always and the next time around I feel differently, but at the moment when I look at the prospect of standing for election, it just feels like the wrong time for me.

Dozens of factors weigh in for a person considering this. I have to imagine for every person who runs there are a dozen who seriously considered it but their circumstance or the moment just wasn't right. I hope to personally be in a better one, or if I'm not, I hope to be braver then.

July 27th is the last day to register as a candidate, so get out there!

Worth Reading - July 19, 2018

San Francisco is developing into a caste society. 

Andre Domise calls out some politicians for deploying anti-immigrant rhetoric. 

As the municipal election approaches, some of the races in Brampton are looking interesting. 

The Guardian writes about the state of democracy as described in two recent books. 

Paul Wells reviews Justin Trudeau's cabinet shuffle. 

Andrew Coyne critiques the Conservatives' language on the border issue. 

Kingston, Ontario has managed to turn around its transit system and is a model for other cities now. 

Again from Paul Well, Trump and Putin preside over the funeral for Reagan's legacy. 

TV Review: The Handmaid's Tale - Season 2

Attention. Anything below this sentence could be construed as a spoiler and if you have not finished the second season, or you do not wish to learn about plot details, do not read on.

The Handmaid's Tale is one of the most traumatizing shows on television. The writers, producers, and directors take advantage of the grittier, more graphic nature of modern television to produce deep, personal horror and terror. The Handmaid's Tale creates an unsettling world that feels plausible and mirrors the darkest parts seen elsewhere and in other times and present in the culture today.

Season two picks up immediately from where season one ended. The defiance of the handmaids and their refusal to punish Janine cannot go unaddressed. This is not a world where meaningful defiance can be overlooked. The handmaids are mutilated, except for June who is pregnant. Soon thereafter June (or Offred) is on the run from the Eyes and the Guardians as she struggles to get to Canada with the help of her lover-accomplice Nick. June's family - Moira and Luke - wait, helpless, in Toronto. The Waterfords are thrown into chaos in the efforts to recover her, and other handmaids and citizens of Gilead struggle to live in the oppressive regime.

Astute watchers of the show would likely deduce that June's escape could only be temporary. The dynamic between Serena, Fred and June was too tempting to abandon and she acted as strong catalyst to keep that conflict rolling. It also demonstrated the futility of escape. The escapes of Moira and Luke might suggest that freedom is easily attainable and not fraught with difficulties and peril.

One of the greatest moves of the season was to expand the world of The Handmaid's Tale. Through new locations, characters and backstory as an audience the world of show feels far more concrete and disturbing. I think these one-off, or brief scenes from the man tale at the Waterford home does significant work to make the consequences and situation seem more dire. It also took pressure off the principals to let the Waterford dynamic carry the entire season. Now that the rules are in place we can expand beyond them.

I'd like to call out a few of the exceptional scenes in the second season. Emily, formerly Ofglen, has been banished to live (and die) in the colonies. The imagery of the women slaving away in the toxic environment brought to mind Soviet gulags for me. Janine is later also sent to the camp where she injects a bizarre level of hopefulness with her naiveté. The brutality of the colonies, a boogey man from the first season, is made real. Emily's backstory as a gay academic is brought into sharp focus and is quite touching.

While June is on the run she spends some time hiding at the Boston Globe offices, now shuttered. The set is rich in subtle messages and cues about what happened to the journalists who used to work there. Later she is forced to shelter with a 'normal' family, a man, woman and their child. Like in many similar regimes they want to keep their heads down and out of trouble, but also hate the regime for personal, likely spiritual, reasons. Sometimes I love these tangential scenes so much I wish the show would simply evolve into an anthology show to provide more of them.

In brief I will add that Serena's backstory, the various scenes showing the politics of the Commanders, the diplomatic mission to Canada, and the wives visiting the Council all stand out as strong scenes that made the show richer and bigger.

Despite its literal horrors and gut-wrenching content, The Handmaid's Tale remains a stunningly beautiful show. The colours and cinematography are often perfect at capturing the feeling and mood of the scene. As mentioned, the world feels to be growing in a measured, reasonable way and not into a sprawling mess. The more we as an audience learn about Gilead the more there seems to be to be discovered. The performances of returning cast and new players does a great deal to provide a human side to the suffering and villainy of the series.

Thematically I would say that the second season of The Handmaid's Tale looks more deeply at the place of children and protection of children, while the first was mostly concerned with various issues impacting women and their roles (primarily). With June's pregnancy, the return of Hannah, the introduction of Eden, Moira's story about her child, the health of Janine's baby, and various other scenes there is a strong undercurrent regarding the love and protection of children, or the failure there of. Gilead not only brutalizes, oppresses and enslaves women, it twists, injures and abuses children. The final episode and the final scene of the final episode hammers this point home concretely. In a moral society we sacrifice for the next generation.

I'd highly recommend The Handmaid's Tale with the caveat that the series is incredibly difficult viewing. I hope the show continues to grow and impress in the third season, which I eagerly anticipate.  

Worth Reading - July 12, 2018

One of the first acts of the new provincial government of Ontario has been to roll back the sex-ed curriculum by twenty years. 

While this got less attention, the Ministry of Education has stopped work on indigenous curriculum development. 

Andray Domise takes aim at Doug Ford's leadership in this piece for Maclean's. 

Eric Grenier takes a look at where the federal parties are raising their funds. 

Housing prices slowed their growth so far this year, except in London, Ontario. 

The Toronto Star examines Doug Ford's first acts as premier. 

Chuck Marohn writes that we may need to be more willing to move to and live in the cities and towns we want. 

John Michael McGrath looks at how the Ford government is dealing with some loose strings left by the Wynne government. 

This is appropriate given my recent interest in cyberpunk. Here is an article about bionic limbs and simulating or transmitting pain. 

Andrea Horwath gave an interview to Toronto Life.

Book Review: The Anatomy of Fascism by Robert O. Paxton

When I purchased The Anatomy of Fascism was purely out of intellectual curiosity. I studied history in university and have long been fascinated by politics and totalitarian governments. Fascism has often been an ambiguous ideology, especially when contrasted with communism/Stalinism. Fascist Italy and Nazi Germany were very different animals despite being the models for the ideology. I wanted to read to understand this steam of thought.

Then the world changed, or at least it seems it has come unmoored.

Paxton in eight chapters does tremendous work untying the Gordian knot of defining and understanding fascism. He begins by reviewing the current thinking, discussing the origins of fascist thinking and the movements that achieved power and how they did so. Paxton examines how fascists governed (poorly) and how they changed in power, which often shifted far from initial roots and platforms and radicalized in extreme ways. Finally, before his summary, the author looks at the state of fascism in the post-1945 world. The book was published in 2004 and reflects the rise of the skinheads, the decomposition of Yugoslavia and the new right across Europe.

For curious readers, at least for myself, the most valuable part of the book is the discussion of the causes or breeding grounds for fascism. According to Paxton the entire world saw some fascist activity in the wake of the First World War. The trauma and violence of the war, the discrediting of liberal governments and parties, and the unleashing of mass politics worked together with fears of social/economic change and crisis to foster fascist parties. Major parties did not know how to connect with the electorate, or, how to be more popular than radical left alternatives. As the workers and peasants of Europe flocked to the red banners panic set in and a reaction gained momentum. However, as Paxton makes clear, it should be remembered that fascist parties came to power only when conservative, establishment leaders invited them into the halls of power, or when imposed by outsiders through military force/invasion. Neither Hitler nor Mussolini were swept into power by a majority their electorates. In the case of some other countries, fascism only came to power, such as in Norway, Belgium and Hungary, with intervention of the Germans. 

In political science and history there is a great debate over fascism. Paxton says that fascist parties will adapt to the local soils. German fascism would not look like Russian fascism, nor would 2018 fascism be identical to 1930s/40s precursors. That said, Paxton argues some regimes are better understood as authoritarian than fascist. Franco's regime in Spain or Peron's in Argentina don't quite fit for Paxton. He counters though that some exclude movements that rely on religion because the first examples of fascism developed secularly. He says future movements may embrace and cling to religion.

Paxton defines fascism (abbreviated by me) as follows: a sense of overwhelming crisis without traditional solutions; primacy of one group; victimization of the primary group justifying responses; fear of decline, individualism, liberalism, class conflict, and foreign influence; single, destined leader and other male leader figures; faith in the leader overrides reason; glorification of violence; the right of the primary group to dominate others.

Despite the subject matter, Robert Paxton writes in an easy, accessible language. The book is very short and comprehensive. For those more interested in learning about this topic form a more theoretical side this book is very useful. I'd recommend it to those with interest in history and politics in general.

Worth Reading - July 5, 2018

Jagmeet Singh is foregoing a party salary until the party's fundraising improves. 

Doug Ford is using Harper-style control mechanisms over his party as he begins his term in office. 

Patrick Brown, god help us, is running for the regional chairmanship in Peel. 

Video modifying software is going to make it all the harder for citizens to decipher the truth. 

Google is redesigning part of the Toronto waterfront, but the question is, does anyone want to live there? 

How do we reform the conspiracy theory-minded? 

Doug Ford announced his cabinet. 

A Time for Cyberpunk

Cyberpunk has long been a genre that has fascinated me but that I don't know a lot about. I've tried to educate myself on the genre, but with many things there are some things I love and some things I did not. However, as I reflect on the core tenets of the cyberpunk genre I more and more believe that it is primed for a renaissance.

So, what is cyberpunk? As with many genres nailing it down to a specific definition is not simple. I would say that cyberpunk is a subgenre of science fiction that emerged in the 1980s and 1990s with a focus on cybernetic, modifications, virtual reality, computers/artificial intelligence, and telecommunications technologies with themes related to the gulf between rich and poor, crime, and oppressive/dystopian urban environments. It often adapts a cynical or pessimistic tone. A few famous entries in this genre are Neuromancer by William Gibson, Blade Runner, The Matrix.  On that definition alone I'm sure it's clear in part why I think we're ready for this genre to dominate culturally. Aesthetically the genre tends to build a lot from its roots in the eighties with heavy Asian influences, neon lights and call backs to Noir.

Given the deep anxieties about the tech sector, the concerns about the concentration of power and influence in the hands of a few corporations and the political, economic and social issues rolling through the world cyberpunk feels quite apt as a tool for critique. Some may argue that this is already happening. Television programs like Westworld are arguably cyberpunk. The Blade Runner revival was critically acclaimed, as were films like Ex Machina. As we routinely have to wrestle with questions of morality and ethics regarding technology creative people will find utility in this genre. Also, as we consider the possibility of birthing true artificial intelligence we will have to deal with that particular fallout.

There is a slight irony that cyberpunk may simply become life. As more of the technology of the cyberpunk future enters reality and grows into the mainstream eventually that aspect may fade in relevance. Still, I think we're sitting at a critical moment in time when the genre could and should undergo a revival to help us culturally deal with these tensions.

Some of my favourite cyberpunk works have been The Wind-Up Girl by Paolo Bacigalupi, The Diamond Age by Neal Stephenson, Altered Carbon, and Dredd. That's just a short list. Below is a video game trailer for something that definitely shot my interest in the genre in the arm. If these themes, concepts and topics intrigue you I encourage you to explore the genre.