Emma Lui 雷若茵 (she/her)

Activist, mom, member @Biblioterre, Holistic Health Director @_cwcln, human rights officer @cupenat, holistic health @thisisemmalui

[Jason Hickel @jasonhickel]

All the takes are correct and yet they also miss the point.

Yes, it was insane for the Democrats to think they could win by running a soulless candidate, without a shred of progressive policy vision, pursuing endorsements from neocon war-hawks everybody hates, while arming and funding a genocide, and belittling and crushing those who have enough morality to protest it.  It is enraging that the Democrats are so smug and blind to this.

But these are all just symptoms.  The deeper reality is that liberalism has failed, liberalism is dead, and people urgently need to wake up to this fact and respond accordingly. It is a defunct ideology that cannot offer any meaningful solutions to our social and ecological crises and it must be abandoned.

Democrats have proven over and over again that they cannot accept even *basic* steps like public healthcare, affordable housing, and a public job guarantee - things that would dramatically improve the material, social and political conditions of the working classes. And they cannot accept a public finance strategy that would steer production away from fossil fuels and toward green transition to give us a shot at a liveable future.

Why? Because these things run against the objectives of capital accumulation. And for liberals capital is sacrosanct. They will do whatever it takes to ensure elite accumulation, it is their only consistent commitment.  At home, they suppress and demonize progressive and socialist tendencies. Abroad, they engage in endless wars and violence to suppress input prices in the global South and prevent any possibility of sovereign economic development.

The Democrats have done all this purposefully and knowingly, for my whole life, not as some kind of "mistake" but in full consciousness that it is in the interests of capital.

And because liberalism cannot address our crises, and because it crushes socialist alternatives, it inevitably paves the way for right-wing populism.  They know this pattern, and yet they risk it every time - this election being only the most recent example. They did it in 2016, when they actively crushed the Sanders campaign and sent Trump to the White House. They do it because ultimately they (and I mean the liberal ruling class here) don't really mind if fascists take power, so long as the latter too ensure the conditions for capital accumulation. They 100% prefer this to the possibility of a socialist alternative.

So, progressives have to face reality. The dream of "converting" the Democratic party is dead. This is now a fact and it must be accepted. The only option is to build a mass-based movement that can reclaim the working classes and mobilize a political vehicle that can integrate disparate progressive struggles into a unified and formidable political force and achieve substantive transformation. This will take real work, actual organizing, but it must be done and that process must begin now.

[Harsha Walia (she/her) @HarshaWalia]

US elxn isn't in isolation - Trump, Bibi, Modi, Orbán, Meloni are tip of iceberg of growing fascism. Anti-migrant racism, wars of domination, transmisogyny, rising inflation are their glue. Defeating fascism requires defeating flaccid liberalism that keeps ceding ground to right.

[Independent Jewish Voices @IndJewishVoices]

30 Jewish organizations issue statement in support of UN Human Rights Rapporteur Albanese, who has been under relentless attack from politically motivated organizations waging toxic campaigns to silence her and undermine her human rights mandate. 🧵1/10
@FranceskAlbs @mehdirhasan

[Emma Lui 雷若茵 (she/her) @EmmLui]

"International students in Canada are facing a nationalist backlash that is both contemporary and has its roots in the capitalist, colonial racism that founded the country."

#migrantjustice #internationalstudents

https://t.co/uGHxEEeFDm

[Canadian Centre for Caregiving Excellence @CdnCaregiving]

Join @AsEcommunity on Sep 23 for a virtual discussion on dementia in the Black community. Discuss research findings, share personal stories & explore available resources alongside experts, community leaders, and those with lived experiences. https://t.co/rFPCzdY5LK #CdnCaregiving

[Centre for Future Work @CntrFutureWork]

Racialized workers need stronger union protection. And unions need to build their membership among racialized workers (who will make up over 40% of labour force by 2040). The report makes several recommendations for how to do this. /4

[Centre for Future Work @CntrFutureWork]

See our new research today on the link between union coverage & wages for Black & racialized workers in 🇨🇦. Key finding: racialized workers earn 10% less per hour, and are less likely to be unionized (25% vs 33% for non-racialized wrkrs). Full report: https://t.co/DZ9THE2hNJ /2

[The Narwhal @thenarwhalca]

NEW: Six northern First Nations are taking the Ontario government to court for failing to consult them about mining claims in their territories: “The Mining Act in Ontario is racist, colonialist in very many ways, and it has to fall.” #onpoli via @EmmaMci https://t.co/cTDjhR5iwy

[Indigenous Climate Action @Indigenous_ca]

"The conversation we need to be tabling is how to reconcile with the end of capitalism for the world to survive instead of getting bogged down in how capitalism can survive the end of the world." ― Eriel Tchekwie Deranger

#ClimateChange #IndigenousClimateAction #Capitalism

[Mark Ruffalo @MarkRuffalo]

Canada’s Royal Canadian Mounted Police are using the same tactics on First Nations people that the USA and Canada use on their foes in war. It’s a war on First Nation water and land defenders. https://t.co/9HxJU9uklT

[Indigenous Climate Action @Indigenous_ca]

Indigenous rights are the solution to climate change! ✊🏽
#IndigenousRights #ClimateChange #ClimateJustice #AmplifyIndigenousVoices

[Ahmed Ali @DrAhmednurAli]

Friendly reminder, that we are all closer to being climate refugees than billionaires.

[Emma Jackson @EmmaJackson57]

I come back to this piece often, but especially during weeks like this one.

“Wherever human beings are, we at least have a chance,” James Baldwin reminds us, “because we’re not only disasters; we’re also miracles.”
https://t.co/fn7c8HMAhM

[Maude Barlow @MaudeBarlow]

The rights of nature: an idea whose time has come.

AFNQL confers legal personhood to St. Lawrence River | CTV News https://t.co/14wE3Ch9LD

[Emma Lui 雷若茵 (she/her) @EmmLui]

"The harm of colonialism lies not so much that other people came and settled, or that the other people took some land and resources, but that they purported to take over, to bestow upon themselves some supreme right to rule it all..."

Pretty amazing case! https://t.co/uTt3H2mnzy

[Keith Boykin @keithboykin]

An estimated 1500 students from Staley High School in Kansas City, Missouri took part in a march today for their schoolmate, Ralph Yarl, the 16-year-old who was shot after ringing the doorbell at the home of 84-year-old Andrew Lester.

🎥 @KSHB41

[Emma Lui 雷若茵 (she/her) @EmmLui]

"Chiefs or elders and knowledge keepers, they say that there is no reconciliation without land back. So here we are having land back." #LandBack

[Ri / ᕒᐊᔦᓬᐄ @Rileyyesnomaybe]

Landdddd Backkkkkk!

Imperfectly, piece-by-piece, but happening.

https://t.co/gPuIt2DDXj

[Emma Lui 雷若茵 (she/her) @EmmLui]

@jobrienchem wow! happy birthday Pumpkin! 🥳❤️

[CUPE National @cupenat]

CUPE members don’t cross picket lines, we join them. Let’s show our #solidarity with @psac_afpc members in one of the best ways we can: if you encounter a PSAC picket line at your workplace, don't cross it!
https://t.co/TZVxm5RLyz

[CUPE National @cupenat]

#WaterIsLife is an urgent call for solidarity with Indigenous peoples fighting for safe drinking water and working to protect and heal water in their territories.

Take the pledge! Listen, learn and act.

https://t.co/JpnHYTbqOz