Responding to co-host Amanda Lang's summary of a new report by Oxfam which notes that the 85 richest people on the planet have as much wealth as the poorest 3.5 billion people, O'Leary said:
It’s fantastic. And this is a great thing because it inspires everybody, gets them motivation to look up to the one per cent and say, ‘I want to become one of those people, I want to fight to the get up to the top.’ This is fantastic news and of course I applaude it. What could be wrong with this?
Oxfam is an international anti-poverty NGO. Its new report ''Working for the few,'' confirmed that almost half of the world’s wealth is now owned by just one percent of the population. (You can read our 60 second summary here, with links to the full download).
Inmates in several federal prisons across Canada have gone on strike
to protest against a 30 per cent cut in their pay that took effect this
week.
The government began deducting
the money from
prisoners’ paycheques as part of a move to recover costs under the
federal government’s Deficit Reduction Action Plan. The move was first
announced in May 2012 by Public Safety Minister Vic Toews.
Until now, the top pay an inmate could earn was $6.90 a day, but only
a small percentage of inmates received that. The average is $3 a day.
That rate was set up by the government in 1981. It was based on a
review by a parliamentary committee and it factored in a deduction from
inmates for the cost of room, board and clothing at the time.
A young Jian Ghomeshi sings the 'Gulf War Song' in 1994 at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival with his band Moxy Fruvous
Dear Jian Ghomeshi
By David Heap
It's been a long time, but I remember marching with you (and many others) in Toronto, against the Gulf War -- the first one, in the early 1990s. Back then we all went to Moxy Früvous gigs around campus, and listened your recordings. When I recently found a way to go back and play old songs we only have on cassette (remember cassettes?) I had an opportunity to explain to my kids that there was a Gulf War before the Gulf War that they knew about marching against.
Last time we heard you perform, it was again your haunting "Gulf War Song" which you sang at the Pete Seeger tribute concert at Massy Hall in Toronto (later in the 1990s). You seemed pretty excited to be on stage with Pete, and we were vicariously proud to see you there too. In 2011 Pete joined the growing number of artists who publicly support the Palestinian call for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions, which includes the cultural boycott of events that support the Israeli occupation. Like many of your former fans (we listen to your radio show too when we can, but in part because of the music from past decades), I am calling on you to do the same now.
We'd be very proud and happy again if you would join Pete and the others in standing up for justice for Palestinians.
This would of course mean turning down the invitation from Canadian Friends of the Hebrew University to appear at their event this week, an event which legitimates many aspects of that occupation. Awkward to turn down an invitation on such short notice, perhaps -- but nowhere near as "awkward" as the situation of Palestinian students at the Hebrew University. Those students and their federations (remember student federations Jian? unlike cassettes, they are still around) have already written to you in great detail about their conditions, so I will just point out that they (like so many other Palestinians, young and old) do not enjoy the freedoms you and I did as students. Freedoms to march, to perform their music and engage other cultural activities, freedom to their own cultural and political identities, even the freedom to study as they wish.
Those Palestinian students will not win their rights this week or even this year, but as Pete sings in the "Maple Syrup Song" you covered for his 2001 tribute album, anything worthwhile takes a little time. The question is, will you stand with them now?
You have a chance today to side publicly with justice and against oppression, cultural and political. A lot of your fans are hoping you will turn down this invitation, and I am among them.
You can write to Jian at q@cbc.ca or jian.ghomeshi@cbc.ca
Rebel Youth magazine's campaign called Fire Kevin O'Leary got a boost today from an surprising source. As the campaign approached 800 signatures on Friday night, the right-wing TV channel Sun News picked up the story as segment on its programme Byline. You can watch the show in the You Tube above.
With the major snowstorm hitting Toronto, I wound-up being the spokesperson for the campaign. Still, facing blizzard conditions a half-hour bus ride to Sun TV Montreal took closer to an hour. Things weren't made easier by the fact that, as far as I could tell, Sun News Montreal studio doesn't really exist -- apart from a TV camera and a fancy backdrop in an unmarked and tiny closet-sized like studio, all on the tenth floor of a major private broadcaster's building, TVA.
The trip to the media outlet may have been full of delays, but the interview went by fast.
Byline is a show that, in traditional Sun TV style, mixes far-right commentary with a few distorted facts that could be called stories -- or so its online detractors basically say. My conclusions and judgement were just based on what came first on the show.
I saw an 'exposure' of the Ontario SPCA for being 'infiltrated' by groups like PETA and not respecting animal-owners rights to privacy. I hear an amazing discussion about the CETA or the Canada-European Union Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (called by some 'NAFTA on crack') and why it doesn't go far enough (Canada should just 'unilaterally' move to Free Trade, regardless of cultural content or jobs).
And then there was a discussion of the New York Times (NYT) vs. the New York Post where the host and guest talked about 'Media snobs', how the NYT 'hates Jewish people', the NYT is pretentious because it prints on large paper, women like the NYT -- and then the interview lifted-off with a sexist and homophobic rant that ended with a defense of the Sun Newspapers 'Page Three Girls' (now no longer on page three).
Here is a quote from the guest:
"I read the times because my wife is a women and they love that newspaper... They [presumably NYT readers, Media snobs in general or perhaps all women] live in a hoity-toity, elbow-patch, blazer-wearing world where women are not attractive. Why not have a man there? I don't know, have you ever seen males nude? Their not attractive, okay? Women are called the fairest sex for a reason, but they live in denial of that. They are just so determined to go against 40 thousand years of evolution that they make fools of themselves and all they care about is diversity mongering, and multiculturalism involving people they don't know, they don't live with, and they don't send their kids to school with!"
We will post that clip another time with some commentary -- your thoughts are welcome.
Seriously, however, if O'Leary's friends continue in charge of the CBC maybe this is what the public broadcaster will become?
Of course, the interview segment rushed by and it is too bad I wasn't able to hammer more of the basic points of the campaign -- especially better development on why "fighting unions with evil" is a type of hate-speak and provocation, inciting violence against working people for just organizing and demanding their rights.
Is "evil" a good way to describe the Postal workers being legislated back-to-work, the Caterpillar lock-out where the boss demanded a 55% wage cut, or Ontario's Bill 115 against teachers and students?
And consider the fact that, in Columbia for example, about 200 trade unionists are killed every single year. The exact time O'Leary was making his "unions are pure evil and must be fought with evil remarks," Canada was signing a free trade agreement with Columbia.
The full video is above, courtesy of YCLtube, or link directly to full screen here. As the campaign grows we will keep posting updates! To everyone who has signed, thank you for your support and excellent comments!
The cold hard truth, Mr. O'Leary, is that is people's needs come before corporate greed!
Rebel Youth magazine is very happy to announce that in five days our petition to the CBC "Fire Kevin O'Leary" has achieved over 500 signatures from like-minded people across the country.
Although a modest success by some measures in the world of social media, for a small and basically volunteer-driven publication like ours, it is a big achievement. It suggests there is probably a strong current of public opinion critical of Mr. O'Leary and what he represents.
Together with the signatures, people have been sharing their perspective on why Kevin should be shown the door. For us, these comments are more rewarding than the volume of signatures.
"I love CBC and listen to and watch many programs, both on the radio and on TV. However, I am very disappointed that CBC keeps Mr OLeary on their airwaves. He is arrogant, rude and belligerent. I refuse to watch any show that includes him," says one commentator.
Another person added: "This guy is so offensive and so ignorant, it disturbs me greatly that CBC is featuring him in not one but two programs. I have stopped watching CBC television because of him. He is a national embarrassment and I expect better from my public broadcaster."
These sentiments are not uncommon.
You can read more at the petition site, but we've gone through the hundreds of comments and positive feedback we have received so far and chosen one or two quotes from each part of the country.
I am proud union member who is the voice for the people who cant stand up for themselves. I wouldnt be able to stand up for people without my union because if I go against the employer as an advocate I would be fired. Unions bring working people both union and non union workers up to a decent wage. Mr OLeary need to be fired for his attack on working people and unions Terry Archibald VANDERHOOF, BC
Great campaign to WAKE US UP. O'Leary is not "cute" or irrelevant. Douglas Meggison EDMONTON, ALBERTA
Kevin O'Leary does not speak for the Canadian majority. He speaks for the 1% and continues to endorse the slash and burn mentality that profit over anything including human rights. He should have no place on my television.
Diane Taylor SASKATOON, SASKATCHEWAN
Chief spokesperson for the vicious agenda of "money‑over‑everything" and "greed is good. THE KEYWORD is GREED. Kerry Williams WINNIPEG, MANITOBA
Working people have had their standard of living attacked and lowered over the last thirty years and Unions have been a part of that anti-worker mentality. The purpose of this? Reduce labour costs and increase profits for a few obscenely wealthy individuals and corporations. I especially resent even one cent of my tax money contributing towards paying Kevin O'Leary at CBC--a publicly funded media outlet. Get rid of him NOW! It's time to take out the trash.
Wanda Brown TORONTO, ONTARIO
Because we need less ignorance about socialism. Ed Belk KINGSTON, ONTARIO
I had a draft to send to CBC. Your petition comes at the right time. I also hate the way he treats women on the panel and guests. Louise Jarret MONTRÉAL, QUÉBEC
"Flambe the rich" was a button I use to wear when younger but Mr O'Leary with his rude comments etc. want me to look for it and wear it once again in his presence. This rude and ignorant union-hating bastard MUST be silenced NOW. Thank you. Al Arsenault SAINT JOHN, NEW BRUNSWICK
Hi is an idiot and disrespectful to everyone!!! Doug Gaetz LAKE LOOK, NOVA SCOTIA
His anti-union spiel shows a complete lack of information. he is a hate monger of groups who have strived to make the working class more comfortable and safe. John O'Rourke ST. JOHN'S, NEWFOUNDLAND
