This month at Briarpatch!

Living among us: Activists speak out on police infiltration
Investigative journalist Tim Groves has obtained documents that support suspicions among activists that police infiltration of protest groups in the lead up to the G20 was in much more extensive than what has been officially acknowledged. In this article, activists speak out on the impacts of police infiltration and strategies for contending with state surveillance.

Tamil, tiger, terrorist?
In August 2010, Canada Border Services Agency detained 492 Tamil refugees who arrived in Vancouver aboard the MV Sun Sea. Nineteen remain in jail. Fathima Cader discusses Canada's history of anti-migrant hysteria and the Conservative government's renewed push to criminalize asylum seekers with Bill C-49. 

In defence of a Muslim takeover
With ever-increasing conflation of the Muslim, the immigrant/outsider, and the terrorist to justify imperial interventions in the Middle East, alarms are being raised over Muslim population growth and a looming demographic apocalypse. In this essay, Sumayya Kassamali makes the case for a Muslim takeover.

Open for business
Imperial intervention has pried Afghanistan open for foreign investment. As the home page of the Afghanistan Investment Support Agency today proclaims: “Afghanistan today is the land of countless business opportunities.” As Michael Skinner makes clear in this incisive and informative piece, NATO troops have succeeded in liberating capital, if not women, in Afghanistan.

Plus:

While taking great pains not to credit its souce, the CBC recently picked up a story from Briarpatch! Hats off to Briarpatch contributor Tim Groves!

Magazines Canada recently applauded Labour Minister Lisa Raitt's decision to force Canada Post workers back on the job through back-to-work legislation. Here is why Briarpatch, together with a handful of progressive magazines, disagrees.