activism – mackaycartoons

Friday June 26, 2020

June 26, 2020 by Graeme MacKay

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay – Friday June 26, 2020

‘Defund the police’ movement hits semantics roadblock

Activists calling to “defund the police” are encountering early opposition to their slogan, with some supporters saying it’s confusing and others worrying the overall goal could be misinterpreted.

June 10, 2020

The phrase, which has become a rallying cry among some advocates during the George Floyd protests, broadly refers to cutting funds for law enforcement and redirecting them toward social programs, particularly those focused on crime prevention and alternative forms of public safety.

The slogan became an easy target for President Trump and other Republicans who have seized on the wording in an attempt to paint Democrats as supporting lawless communities. However, top Democrats, including presumptive presidential nominee Joe Biden and Speaker Nancy Pelosi (Calif.), quickly distanced themselves from the phrase.

“The slogan may be misleading without interpretation,” Rev. Al Sharpton said on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” this past week, adding that he understood the phrase to be more about deep-rooted reform efforts.

“I don’t think anyone other than the far extremes are saying we don’t want any kind of policing at all,” he said.

But the need to explain the meaning behind the wording comes with its own set of critics.

June 18, 2015

“If you’re explaining, you’re losing, and there’s a lot of explaining going on,” Meghan McCain, a right-leaning commentator said on ABC’s “The View.”

“If you mean reform, say reform. If you mean defund, say defund. People are confused,” she added.

Evan Nierman, the CEO and founder of crisis communications PR firm Red Banyan, said the message has its pros and cons.

“The plus for them is that it’s a phrase that’s a call to action, it’s something tangible that they can demand. Rather than just saying ‘equal rights for all’ or ‘justice for all,’ we want this concrete thing,” he said.

But long-term, Nierman said he didn’t think it was a good slogan.

“It may be good at prompting a conversation, but the language is so extreme that it alienates. If they came up with something that more accurately portrays the policy, it might get more public support,” he said.

Some prominent activists and political leaders have pushed back on the idea that a grassroots slogan should be changed so that it has broader appeal.

“Lots of DC insiders are criticizing frontline activists over political feasibility and saying they need a new slogan. But poll-tested slogans and electoral feasibility is not the activists’ job. Their job is to organize support and transform public opinion, which they are doing,” Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) tweeted.

“And by the way, the fact that ppl are scrambling to repackage this whole conversation to make it palatable for largely affluent, white suburban ‘swing’ voters again points to how much more electoral & structural power these communities have relative to others,” she added. (The Hill)

Saturday November 21, 2015

November 20, 2015 by Graeme MacKay

By Graeme MacKay, Editorial Cartoonist, The Hamilton Spectator – Saturday November 21, 2015

Confusion surrounds push to preserve Desjardins Canal bridge

The fate of one of the city’s busiest old bridges is up in the air.

And it’s entirely possible that not one of the 5,180 drivers-per-hour who use it at peak times could name or even locate the bridge on a map.

Beaten to death by the stadium

Don’t feel bad — neither could Hamilton councillors Wednesday, despite their decision to talk to the province about preserving parts of the 84-year-old span.

The Ministry of Transportation calls the structure one-half of the Desjardins Canal bridges — basically, the east and west traffic lanes of Highway 403 that cross the old watercourse connecting the harbour to Cootes Paradise.

But in a previous life, the eastbound span was called the Longwood low-level bridge, carrying that road across the canal from 1931 until the 1960s, when it was incorporated into the highway. (The westbound span was built in the ’60s.)

The dreams which never die

The city has to act fast if it wants to influence a looming provincial plan to replace the historical bridge, said Coun. Aidan Johnson, who moved a motion Wednesday directing staff to talk to the province.

“All heritage architecture and infrastructure in the city should be protected to the best of our ability precisely because it is our heritage,” he said. “Especially if the province is going to pay for it.”

Johnson said city cultural staff alerted him to the impending bridge replacement — and an opportunity, through the environmental assessment, to lobby to retain “heritage aspects” of the concrete bridge, such as distinctive abutments.

The bridge doesn’t meet the criteria to be a provincial heritage bridge, according to the project website. But MTO spokesperson Astrid Poei said via email it’s possible the existing bridge piers could be “cut off” and preserved to “reflect the width and materials of the old bridge” with the cost of the work covered by the province.

A replacement bridge would still be built, she noted, but the remnant piers would remain as city property. Construction is slated to start next year and won’t finish until 2018.

Neverending Lister

The project website says the preferred fix for the aging canal span is to completely replace and widen the old Longwood bridge while rehabilitating the younger westbound highway structure.

Johnson argued the city has nothing to lose for arguing to preserve part of the “beautiful” bridge — even as he acknowledged being initially confused about exactly what bridge is under threat.

Councillors bemusedly searched the Internet and unsuccessfully tossed out guesses about exactly which bridge was under discussion during the meeting.

The confusion was understandable — the canal is criss-crossed by several historic spans, including the McQuesten high-level bridge and rail bridges used by CP and CN.

But unless you paddle the canal or walk the adjacent trail, you’d never realize the stretch of Highway 403 is a bridge at all.

Coun. Lloyd Ferguson, a former construction industry boss, expressed doubt about the idea of a partial preservation.

“In my experience, it’s not easy to save parts of a bridge,” he said. (Source: Hamilton Spectator)

Tuesday August 18, 2015

August 17, 2015 by Graeme MacKay

By Graeme MacKay, Editorial Cartoonist, The Hamilton Spectator – Tuesday August 18, 2015

Ingredients of a populist rebellion simmer in Canada

Politicians take heed: Populist rebellions are under way in both the United States and Britain. Canada is not immune. If a backlash against political elites who disrespect voters ever reaches our shores, it will not be pretty.

This grey decade has left all developed nations grappling with low growth, high unemployment and way too much debt, personal and governmental.

Populist movements have swept through Canada in the past, usually in times of discontent. The Great Depression spawned both the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation on the left and Social Credit on the right. Western anger at Central Canada’s indifference spawned the Reform Party in the 1980s.

So why has Canada been spared its own Donald Trump or Jeremy Corbyn? Luck, mostly. The recession in Canada wasn’t as severe as in the U.S. or Britain. The Conservative government was able to bring the budget back into balance without having to impose much in the way of austerity.

More important, while politics in Canada is polarizing between left and right, it does so within a deep consensus on the importance of both horizontal (between regions) and vertical (between classes) redistribution.

But Canada is not immune to populist pressure from either the left or right. The Occupy movement, a populist protest from the left, flared in Canadian cities as well as in the United States and overseas. Doug Ford took 34 per cent of the vote in the 2014 Toronto mayoral election, despite his brother’s outrages.

When any governing political elite ignores or belittles a group of voters, it risks a populist backlash. If the Conservatives win the next election, social activists may take direct action against them.

If the NDP or Liberals win, and the economy suffers because there is no political will to build an oil pipeline anywhere, expect a populist reaction from the right, especially in the West.

With luck, things will never get as extreme as Donald Trump or Jeremy Corbyn. But don’t be too certain. Remember Rob Ford. (Source: Globe & Mail)

Friday May 30, 2003

May 30, 2003 by Graeme MacKay

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Friday May 30, 2003

Mid-pen concerns deserve a response

There’s little doubt that the province has been ham-handed and insensitive in its plans for a mid-peninsula highway. While we believe the so-called “mid-pen” is needed and important to relieving serious highway congestion in the Niagara Peninsula, we have sympathy for Burlington, which prides itself on careful planning and smart growth, only to see a highway rammed through its protected rural area.

Burlington was brought into the process after Niagara region and Hamilton had been consulted, and had virtually signed off on the proposal.

Burlington has one of the most carefully managed planning and growth strategies of any municipality in Ontario. But it is likely where the mid-pen would dump its traffic load onto the QEW and highways 403 and 407. To make those connections, it would have to cross the Niagara Escarpment.

The province has identified several options to bring the eastern terminus of the mid-pen down to existing highways, including Highway 403 between Mohawk and Aberdeen/Main Street East, and Highway 6 south of Clappison’s Cut. But few people see those as anything but decoys; the smart money is on what the province calls “Option C” — crossing the escarpment in rural north Burlington.

That was made even more unpalatable to Burlington by the province setting short timelines for response to its 179-page draft terms of reference, which includes its route options. (Source: COPE)