The World Might Need Less Canada: Canada in Africa: 300 Years of Aid and Exploitation (Book Review)

By Asad Ismi YVES ENGLER Red Publishing/Fernwood Publishing 2015, 326 Pages, $24.95 Mainstream academics and journalists like to portray Canada as a positive force on the international stage, but Yves Engler’s new book, Canada in Africa, shows how frequently Canadian governments and corporations play a destructive role abroad. In Africa, Canada’s government and mining companies […]

Canadian Neocolonialism in Colombia

By Asad Ismi In May, the board of Pacific Rubiales, a Canadian firm and the biggest private oil producer in Colombia, announced its support for a takeover bid by the Mexican conglomerate Alfa and U.S.-based Harbour Energy. Pacific Rubiales operates Colombia’s biggest oil field, in the province of Meta, and during the past seven years […]

Bangladeshis Victims of Corporate Exploitation: Western companies responsible for deaths of garment workers

By Asad Ismi In April 2013, the Rana Plaza building collapsed in Dhaka, Bangladesh, killing 1,129 garment workers and injuring more than 2,500. The building contained four garment factories. This was the worst industrial disaster in Bangladesh’s history, and the worst in the garment sector’s history. As of late January, workers and their families were […]

The Latin American Revolution (Part 18): Hugo Chavez Leaves a Prodigious Legacy That Will Never Die: His Reforms Uplifted All of Latin America

By Asad Ismi Great revolutionary leaders never die. They are immortalized in the hearts of the people they have served. As Aleida Guevara, daughter of Che Guevara, put it: “My father lives in a mountain of people.” So it is with Hugo Chavez, the phenomenal socialist president of Venezuela who died from cancer on March […]