Letters to the Editors
-
Letter
Is Reconciliation the New Colonialism?
A Critical Role for the Racialized Medical Practitioner in Land Justice for Indigenous Peoples
Dear uta,
In “Care as Colonialism: Immigrant Health Workers at Canada’s Frontiers,” Baijayanta Mukhopadhyay brings us back to the reality stated clearly by Lowman and Barker in Settler, “It’s always all about the land.” The ongoing processes of colonization instituted by the settler state continue to deny land justice and undermine the self-determination of Indigenous peoples, withholding access to the very resource necessary for health and wellbeing. Settler health professionals require examination into the role they play in the ongoing oppression of Indigenous peoples through the “helping” profession. In an era of reconciliation, as some Canadians now feel compelled to “help” Indigenous people, this is a much needed and welcome critique. -
Letter20 The Revolutionary Potential of Healthcare Workers
I write in response to the article, “Care as Colonialism: Immigrant Health Workers at Canada’s Frontiers” by Baijayanta Mukhopadhyay.
-
-
Letter
A Response to the “Who Cares?” Editorial
Dear UTA, The recent Upping the Anti editorial, “Who Cares? The Politics of Care in Radical Organizing,” deconstructs and critiques the concept of self-care. The Editorial Collective discusses how the concept of “self” and “care” are individualized to serve capitalism. The authors sugges…
-
Letter
Recovering the History of Canadian Autonomist Marxism
Dear UTA, I was very pleased to see John Huot’s “Autonomist Marxism and Workplace Organizing in Canada in the 1970s” in the last issue of Upping the Anti. It provides an excellent overview of the Autonomist Marxist (AM) inspired organizing in Canada/Turtle Island in the 1970s with a focus o…
-
Letter
10 Years of Upping the Anti
Dear UTA, Thank you for inviting me, as founder and publisher of Canadian Dimension (CD), to comment on Sharmeen Khan’s reflections on 10 years of publishing UTA. Not at all an easy assignment. Our first decade was 1963 to 1973, “the sixties,” as it’s properly referred to, a very different t…
-
Letter
Rojava and the Question of International Solidarity
Dear UTA, Thank you very much for the invitation to respond to the editorial in Upping the Anti Issue 17 on internationalism and the politics of solidarity among our communities of resistance. The editorial starts by remembering Ali Mustafa on the first anniversary of his passing. I would also like…
-
Letter
Can Urban Indigenous Peoples Defend the Land?
Dear UTA, Freda Huson, Toghestiy, and the rest of the Unist’ot’en Camp invoke some foundational tensions in Indigenous decolonial thought as to what “the city” means for a decolonized future on Turtle Island. It is now a truism that more Indigenous peoples in Canada are living in urban areas…
-
Letter
A Critical Note on Ruiz and Ross’ “Energizing the Climate Movement”
Dear UTA, In “Energizing the Climate Movement,” Sedge Ruiz and Alexander Reid Ross offer a critique of the idea that the mass adoption of green technologies will be sufficient to avert the climate crisis. They note that green technologies on their own cannot sustain existing levels of energy use…
-
Letter
Remembering Syria
Dear UTA, Ali Mustafa, the photographer, journalist, and activist, gave an interesting interview in Upping the Anti in July 2013 – a few months before he was killed in the Syrian government’s shelling of Aleppo. In the interview, Ali discussed at length the complexities of the conflict in Syria,...
