political-scientists-from-canada

"I’m convinced that, powered by hope and fueled by courage and anger, we have the power to transform our collective future."

"Not only does the United States claim that their democratic model is best for them, but [also] that it is best for the rest of the world. Some Americans assume that alternative systems are fundamentally illegitimate. Naturally this attitude upsets many Chinese who are committed to good government. They think, who are you to lecture us about political systems, with only a few hundred years of history?"

"At first glance, Muslims seem more resistant to family planning than others. Research on Muslim fertility in India, for instance, concludes that Indian Muslims have been more reluctant to adopt contraception and family planning than Hindus or Christians, despite equal access. Muslims tend to have an especially large fertility advantage when they are in the minority. In Europe, India, Thailand, Russia, China and the Philippines, the Muslim fertility advantage is greatest. This is particularly true of zones of conflict like Israel–Palestine. One could argue that minorities in general, not merely Muslim ones, tend to have higher fertility rates than majorities. Yet in Muslim-majority Indonesia and Malaysia, Muslims outbirth most Hindu, Christian and Chinese minorities, while in the Arab world, Muslim fertility is higher than that of the minority Christians and Druze."

"In Asia, a prominent example of immigration-driven ethnic change is taking place in the north-eastern Indian state of Assam. A Hindu-majority tongue of Indian territory lying north of Muslim Bangladesh, Assam has long been host to large-scale illegal, but peaceful, Bengali immigration. Bengali Muslims grew 30 to 50 percent over the period 1971 to 1991. They now constitute more than 30 percent of Assam’s population and are believed to control the electoral verdict in 60 of Assam’s 126 Assembly constituencies. Numerous battles have taken place over whether large numbers of Muslims have the legal status necessary to add their name to the electoral rolls. Muslim growth has been the catalyst for ugly Assamese attacks against unarmed Bengali workers since the 1980s, and an Assamese political movement demands the deportation of illegal immigrants. This conflict is regional, but on the wider Indian level, the growth of the Muslim population through higher fertility and an often exaggerated degree of illegal immigration has been a red flag for Hindu nationalism. The Muslim population’s fertility advantage over Hindus was 10 percent at partition in 1947, but is now 25–35 percent. Only a fraction of this gap can be explained by relative Muslim poverty. Muslims grew from roughly 8 percent of the Indian total in 1947 to 14 percent today, and are projected to rise to 17 percent by 2050. These are not staggering numbers, yet have proven useful tinder for Hindu nationalists and sparked sporadic violent reprisals against Indian Muslims."

"So, here's a prediction. If we get our cities right, we just might survive the 21st century. We get them wrong, and we're done for."

"Cities are where the future happens first."

"Much to the consternation of Republican elites, it also stands well outside of conservative ."

"The celebrity character of Trumpism appeals to citizens that would otherwise be disengaged from politics, with Trump serving as a placeholder for their unsatisfied wants and dreams. The ability to translate the of celebrity into seems also to mean that one-time spectators can be similarly transformed into motivated voters."

"Contrary to liberal myth, Smith was not an apologist for capitalists. He argued in fact, that capitalists always seek "to deceive and oppress the public" by conspiring to inflate their prices and profits."

"At its heart, this book is about where this new left has come from, and where it might be going."

"When history moves — really moves — it does so in great convulsive jolts."

"To make history — to change the actual course of world events — is intoxicating, inspiring, and life-transforming."

"Corporate globalization and the economic agreements designed to entrench it have little to do with trade — and all but the most ignorant neo-liberal pundits surely know this too."

""Free trade" is a slogan used to attack practices designed by competitor economies to protect their own interests."

""Free trade" is a policy imposed on the weakest and evaded by the most powerful."

"Under , in other words, the right of corporations to bring thousands of tons of hazardous waste into local communities overrides the right of residents to protect their health."

"Put baldly, globalization has been nothing less than a mechanism for a massive transfer of wealth from poor to rich — in other words, exactly what it is was designed to be."

"Behind their fluffy rhetoric about free trade and free markets lurks a hostility toward freedom for ordinary people — and a love affair with police and prisons."

"The neoliberal utopia of unrestrained capitalism is being created by a war against the poor and the commons. In fact, the "new enclosures" are a sign that the struggles that marked the birth of capitalism are still very much alive."

"Common wealth is in the process of being transferred from the public domain to the private sector."

"Globalization is thus also about global commodification of labour; it is about — global proletarianization — the creation of a world working class for capital to exploit."

"In short, the rules of behaviour in capitalist society systematically produce irrational consequences."

"What was it, then, about the development of capitalism that gave rise to modern racial ideology?"

"The fundamental truth about globalization — that it represents freedom for capital and unfreedom for labour — is especially clear where global migrants are concerned."

"The Greek philosopher Plato may have rejected the idea that "might makes right" some 2,500 years ago, but America and its allies today make it the cornerstone of foreign policy."

"In many respects, the Second World War was a continuation of the First, a conflict triggered by the mismatch between industrial power and imperial reach."

"Once capitalist classes learn to live with unions — which they generally do reluctantly, only after efforts to crush them have failed — they then attempt to co-opt organized labour. They do so by courting a "special relationship" with union leaders who, as their organizations become larger and more complex, typically assume the role of full time union functionaries."

"Genuine growth is always dialogical — it requires engagement in a dynamic, developing, and open-ended dialogue."

"A society that has moved beyond commodification is one that has embraced the most thoroughgoing radical democracy in all spheres of social life."

"Social movements will not develop if they refuse to name and define alternative possibilities."

"The suffering inflicted by this present order invariably produces a struggle to overcome it."

"This gorgeous Chinese girl gets up and I fell in love instantly."

"We want to challenge the established ideas with new ideas."

"We have not made these choices lightly, Our decision was made in the full seriousness and clear knowledge of what is at stake."

"This debate is coming down essentially to two visions — Mr. Harper's vision for Canada and my vision for Canada, and to a decision to be made by people disappointed by Mr. (Stephane) Dion"

"Layton: After all these years of inaction, will the Prime Minister finally get something done and do something the former government would not do and that is to cancel the subsidies to big oil and big ass--I mean big gas and start putting-- Stephen Harper: Mr. Speaker, I promise to get to the bottom of it."

"He's put a lock on the door of the House of Commons and he refuses to face the people of Canada through their elected representatives"

"This is a budget that does not protect the vulnerable, it doesn't protect the jobs of today and it doesn't create the jobs that we need for tomorrow."

"I remember a Stephen Harper once upon a time... You've become what you used to oppose... Mr. Harper, what happened to you? What changed?"

"Most Canadians, if they don't show up for work, they don't get a promotion. … You missed 70 per cent of the votes."

"“That’s been a hashtag fail." And on the temptations stemming from a life of crime: "With the bling and everything that comes with it.""

"Spring is here my friends and a new chapter begins."

"I've always favoured proposition over opposition. But we will oppose the government when it's off track.We'll support positive suggestions that we'll bring forward and support the government when it's making progress."

"It's a privilege and it's an honour and Olivia and I are certainly looking forward to visiting this beautiful, historic building and being able to stay there during the session when we're here in Ottawa."

"(The lockout) makes no sense unless you put it in the context of a wider strategy, which is to somehow weaken Canadians' commitment to Canada Post so that ultimately, when the government gets out there to privatize it, they think they can get the public on their side"

"I think we've come to where we are because of those positive ties and working together for working families. That's our priority and continues to be. It's been there since our founding and we've now achieved the best success we've ever had electorally. So I think you want to continue with what's working"

"Why has he closed the door on Canada Post? Here's a guy who says he was a terrific manager of the economy and all things economic yet he's shut down our postal service. It's certainly the wrong thing to do and it sends a very bad signal out to the working people that tromp up and down our sidewalks and deliver our mail … that he doesn't really respect the bargaining process."

"If I've tried to bring anything to federal politics, it's the idea that hope and optimism should be at their heart; we can look after each other better than we do today."

"Canada is a great country, one of the hopes of the world. We can be a better one – a country of greater equality, justice, and opportunity. We can build a prosperous economy and a society that shares its benefits more fairly. We can look after our seniors. We can offer better futures for our children. We can do our part to save the world’s environment. We can restore our good name in the world. We can do all of these things because we finally have a party system at the national level where there are real choices; where your vote matters; where working for change can actually bring about change. In the months and years to come, New Democrats will put a compelling new alternative to you. My colleagues in our party are an impressive, committed team. Give them a careful hearing; consider the alternatives; and consider that we can be a better, fairer, more equal country by working together. Don’t let them tell you it can’t be done."

"My friends, love is better than anger. Hope is better than fear. Optimism is better than despair. So let us be loving, hopeful and optimistic. And we’ll change the world."