So, for a seminar presentation the professor suggested a debate-style, two-sided kind of thing which discusses how Canadian identity [sic] has gotten to where it is and where it's going or what are issues for concern in the future. My group is the future group, and, as theoretically po-mo (post-modern) as we are, we came the title to “Evolution? Of Identit(ies) in Canada.” I won't get into how worn thin I feel past/future arguments are, and it doesn't really need to be re-iterated that these type of arguments simply further normalize the already dominant eurocentric Hegelian understanding of history. Our group is working under the understanding that there is not and cannot be one coherent Canadian identity and that dividing identity struggles between present and future implies that certain struggles have been addressed. Yes! gains have been made, yes! Battles have been won. However, the more we look at it this way, the more likely movements are to fade and we are to lose ground. Whatever happened to solidarity? Okay, so maybe you've won a battle, turn your efforts in solidarity with others. Imagine how much levelling power there would be if every struggle banded together. Mind you, this is problematic because oppression, just as identity, is intersectional and sometimes the oppressed can be the oppressor.
However, it is this type of thinking that got me interested in my portion of the presentation. We've angled our presentation to essentially discuss how for the future, while there are new points of concern, movements that have petered out need to be reinvigorated and ones that have been silenced need to come to the forefront. I don't want to go on a rant here. Okay, I reaaaaaally do, but I don't have the time right this minute to come up with a completely well-thought-out argument, so maybe I can post it in the future. But, my topic is the labour movement. I say this because while the old unions are still going strong, they have also become heavily bureaucratic- forgetting the essence of what they represent. Moreover, it seems to me that young workers have become far more complacent. There's no sense of radical solidarity. I'm not saying we all have to occupy our coffee shop establishments or send threats of violent action to the pizza restaurants. But, whatever happened to demanding a living wage, and banding together? There's power in numbers. It makes me so sad to see that young workers (especially with manual labour jobs like treeplanting and bike couriering, that are particularly dependent on the economy) have little to no bargaining power. I am not blaming this on the workers. I am blaming this on the system. It's hard to stand up and fight for better circumstances when employers can full-well just fire you and hire some other chump eager to take your job. We as workers need to be less willing to put up with bullshit to give us bargaining power as a whole. But, sometimes a job is a job and a paycheque is a paycheque. But, oh how them union-busting assholes make me want to go on a path of guerilla worker warfare. It's hard to organize when you feel threatened of losing your job. But, something has to be done. They can't have all the power. We will fight and we will win, and we will support each other.
Okay, that was a little more of a political rant than I wanted to post here, especially since it is not at all engaging or intelligent. I apologize. Tomorrow, I promise to post a recipe. I will leave you with five fun kitchen thoughts though:
1. Filling the ice cube tray is the forever forgotten task.
2. The unlabelled jar is always the source of the smell.
3. The last coffee filter was always used in vain.
4. The pot you need is always the one that needs to be washed.
5. Spoons and Tupperware love are talented escape artists.
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