BC election thoughts

I have to say that I am disappointed but not surprised that the Campbell Liberals won. I'm not hopeful about much, but there's a lot of change we need in this province: increasing the minimum wage, stopping the Gateway Project, addressing affordable housing issues including homelessness, in addition to a host of others. Despite Campbell's platitudes, I don't anticipate him being overly receptive to these needs. We'll need to keep the push on.

I'm also not surprised, and indeed pleased, that STV was defeated. I strongly support electoral reform, but STV fails us in too many ways to be a viable alternative. Indeed, many supporters of electoral reform has said that. What has to happen ultimately I think is that there has to be a referendum on different types of electoral reform. We were never really given the choice between different types of alternative systems. MMP is a better option than STV.

I understand that supporters are disappointed, but when 60% vote against the option, best not to dwell on it, but rather accept the result and carry on with activism on the social, economic, and environmental issues that matter. Progressives in BC must unite to hold the Campbell government to account.

Haaretz: If you (or I) were a Palestinian

I thought this article showed some insight for an Israeli media source:

I hate all the terrorists in the world, whatever the purpose of their struggle. However, I support every active civil revolt against any occupation, and Israel too is among the despicable occupiers. Such revolt is both more just and more effective, and it does not extinguish one's spark of humanity. And perhaps I'm just too much of an old codger to be a terrorist.

But, and pay attention to this but, if a normative young person has a spontaneous answer that is different from mine, and that answer also escaped the mouth of an Israeli lieutenant general, then every individual must see himself as though his son is running with the wrong crowd. If things were the other way around, our son-whom-we-loved would be a damned terrorist, almost certainly, because he is of the third and fourth generation of refugeehood and oppression, and whence cometh salvation? He has nothing to lose but his chains.

Read the entire article here.