Burma Calling

October 11th, 2007 Andrew Cash

Burma calling
Should we boycott China for propping up brutal regime? Activists can’t decide.
By Andrew Cash

While peaceful buddhist monks are getting bludgeoned to death in the streets of Burma and an international cry for help has brought a thousand people out on the streets tonight, October 6, I’m sorry to confess I’m thinking more about whether I’ll be able to catch any of this evening’s Leafs game.

But in spite of my irrational preoccupation, I do notice on arriving in front of the Chinese Consulate on St. George that the red-T-shirted crowd is giving off a very different vibe than your average Toronto demo.

There is anger here, but it feels reluctant, like it doesn’t come easily. It’s the slogans, too: “Free The Monks,” “We Love Peace” and in particular “Use Your Liberty To Promote Ours,” coined by Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi, that draw me out of my privileged mega-sport stupor and land me back on the concrete.

Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in All Blog Posts, Human Rights, Now Magazine | No Comments »

To Topple A Leader

October 4th, 2007 Andrew Cash

To topple a leader
Tory’s faith flub makes Don Valley Wynne’s to lose
By Andrew Cash

Click on the icon to begin playback of the audio clip. The icon will then change. To pause the audio, click on the changed icon. Click again to resume play.

Kathleen Wynne is supposed to do a quick blitz for votes in this Thorncliffe Park high-rise, but instead, on the 15th floor, she stops at the door of a young construction worker.

“If your age group doesn’t vote, that means someone old will vote in your place,” she says as her handlers pry her away.

Wynne’s daughter rolls her eyes, amused. “Oh no, Mom, were you lecturing that guy?” Mother and daughter banter humorously back and forth as they sprint down the stairs.

Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in All Blog Posts, Education, Now Magazine, Ontario, Politics | No Comments »