The film Foxtrot is riveting– here is the trailer. It needs to be, it’s longer than average.  A feature film from Israel which gives a very different slant on the “most moral army in the world” the Israeli Defence Forces.  As most of you know, I’m for Palestinian human rights, and for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions against Israel for its brutal colonial control over Palestinians and their land. Some people say this film is about the neurosis of a people (the Israeli Jews) who have been making war with Palestinians since 1948 and before. Others (like me) think it’s more like a “woe is me” tale — but it moves along and shocked me along the way! Worth seeing.

Drum Roll please… 

For the best book of 2018 — you must read  Marcello di Cintio’s brilliant book Pay No Heed to the Rockets. Di Cintio is from Calgary.  An established and talented writer, Di Cintio made a number of trips to Palestine where interviewed scores of Palestinian authors, playwrights and poets– male, female and queer, of a variety of ages and backgrounds. This is quite simply the best book I’ve ever read on the Occupation and Palestine. The best.  He meets with writers in East Jerusalem, in the West Bank, in Gaza and Israeli Arabs in the Galilee.   They discuss politics, literature, freedom, and culture. For any of us who know nothing of Palestinian culture, heritage, and literature, this book is an amazing resource.  I read this as an e-book from the Halifax Public Library but I had to renew it because I wanted to read it slowly –so it would not end.  The title comes from a prose poem by Palestine’s national poet Mahmoud Darwish.  The poem is called Memory for Forgetfulness and it’s about how to make coffee — but in the middle of the poem he writes: “Turn off the heat, and pay no heed to the rockets.” I cannot speak highly enough about Di Cintio’s book.   Independent Jewish Voices- Canada in Halifax are planning to bring Di Cintio to speak and promote his book in Halifax in mid-Feb. so stay tuned!!

Joan Williams’ White Working Class is a very good read.  A law professor in California, Williams does not take herself too seriously, but she is very serious when she discusses the lives of white working class Americans, who are now often made fun of, are ridiculed and demonized as pro-trump toadies.  This book looks at how the class has fallen from grace — from the post World War II years to today.  Front a left wing perspective she analyses why so many did vote for Trump, and so many refuse to act in their own political and economic interests.  Fascinating read, and you can listen to a fascinating interview with her on NPR’s podcast Hidden Brain –– where I first heard about her and her book.  The book is in the Halifax library.

At the Halifax library you can borrow the DVD Therese  Desqueyroux (with English subtitles).   The back of the case says something about the early 20th century heroine (the exquisite Audrey Tatou) who lives in a stultifying marriage of convenience, in the lovely French countryside near Bordeaux.  But the film in itself is rather slow and a bit too meticulous — as befits the lead’s role.  Somehow Therese morphs from an exciting and somewhat adventurous teenager to a drawn nearly catatonic wife. There are some rather scary twists and turns and her relationships deteriorate quickly.  Watch the trailer here.  I guess it is a French psychological thriller…

Over the holidays, like many of you, I  watched “Roma” on Netflix. A brilliantly made film, it has excellent acting and the men virtually disappear behind strong female roles.  The review by Heather Mallick at the Toronto Star is good, and thoughtful — and I think her perceptions are right on.  (left) Healther Mallick.  

Some of you who have seen it, say the Mexico City of the early 1970s which is portrayed in the film seems like a kinder, gentler city than the drug-ridden, violent city we hear about today.  That is us white folk speaking nostalgically. And I’m not sure the city was the delightful, playground shown in parts of the film except for the upper middle class.  I have heard of a similar ‘quest for comfort’ in the 28 year old American film Fried Green Tomatoes. — The idea in Fried Green Tomatoes is that the southern US  between World War I and WWII was kinder and gentler and somehow more wholesome than we have been led to believe.  Relations with Blacks, the racism which led to many. many lynchings are air-brushed out of the film.  The story focuses on good white people who gave to their communities.  There were ups and downs — a few deaths and even a murder but all’s well that ends well…  The message is one of comfort.

Of course Roma does bite back in a way few American films ever dream of.  Another Mexican director’s film did bite back.  The 2006 film Babel directed by Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu is really 4 stories, loosely interconnected– not exactly in the same time frame.  One story takes place in Morocco, one in Japan and one in a US border city near Mexico.  This too is a film well worth seeing.  In ’06, it was nominated for the Palm D’Or prize at Cannes, where the director won Best Director.  

As for what to read — Shrewed, Essays by Elizabeth Renzetti is excellent.  Renzetti is a columnist for the Globe and Mail. Her essays are funny, witty and a close-up view of girls and women from a staunchly feminist perspective.  Her experiences as a freelancer in Toronto, Los Angeles and London show a lot about women and what women have to do to be taken as serious journalists.  She interviewed Germaine Greer, PD James and others and what she takes from the meetings will surprise you.  Her description of her Italian-Canadian heritage, and her childhood in Toronto is at time hard to read.  An excellent and delightful book. 

As for fiction, do read Night Gaunts and Other Tales of Suspense by Joyce Carol Oates, who I think is one of the best fiction writers in the US today.  Among the 6  short pieces of fiction in the book my favourite is “The Experimental Subject” — any feminist will recognize herself somewhere in this story.  A story that is fantastical yet all too believable.  “The Long-Legged Girl” is a delight. In both stories ageing white male academics get their comeuppance and maybe that is the why I liked the two stories so much.

The CBC reports that yesterday, Jan. 2, the first “ice day” there were over 250 visits to Emergency rooms in HRM hospitals.  In the ER vernacular, most of the people were “slip and falls.”

We did not have enough surgeons or operating rooms to service all the people who needed surgery due to serious orthopedic injuries. Many were sent home, and will wait to be called back for surgery.

Every year we have ice, and “ice days” in Halifax and throughout the province. Yet every year we have the young, middle aged and old slipping and falling, breaking wrists, arms, hips and legs.

These are serious injuries.  Probably the person who fell is in a lot a pain; likely the person has to take time off work.  If the person works in retail, in grocery, in food service they are not likely to be unionized, and not likely to get paid sick time.  That means the person suffers twice – once with a serious and painful injury and secondly they are deprived of pay.

Metro councilors play a game.  They warn if we want improved snow and ice clearing we all must pay more taxes. Fair enough.  But out of a different pocket, we are now collectively paying through our taxes for the strains on Emergency rooms and the health care system.  So we all pay one way or another.

Let’s say when any one person presents at Emergency, it costs the system at least  $200. Here is how I break it down:

• the paramedic or nurse takes the person’s blood pressure and temperature;
• the clerk enters the person’s name and data on the computer and puts a wristband on the person;
• the person waits perhaps hours in Emergency to be seen.Security personnel are required to ensure the Emergency Dept is kept safe—that no one is attacked or hurt while they wait. 
• Then a paramedic or nurse interviews the person privately and gets them ready for the examination by an emergency doctor.
• The emergency doctor examines the person and then might order blood tests, or xrays.
• A phlebotomist comes by to take the person’s blood.
• And a technologist takes the x-rays.

If each person seen costs the system $200, on Jan. 2 emergency room visits cost the health care system at least $50,000.  And that doesn’t count injured due to motor vehicle accidents, or transportation by  ambulance or paramedics or other emergencies related to the ice. Let’s push the number to $75,000. 

While every “ice day” will have people who have accidents, we might be looking at spending $50,000 each day for every “ice day” this winter.  Maybe there are 10 “ice days” which cost the system a total of $500,000. 

How much snow and ice clearing and salting can we do for half a million dollars?
Even at $20 an hour that is about 25,000 hours above and  beyond what we already contract to pay for snow removal. 25,000 hours works out to 2500 hours of work on each of the 10 bad ice days. 

If we actually hired people to work the extra 2500 hours we’d have a good shot at ice free sidewalks, bus stops, and curbs.  Injuries and suffering would be cut.  And somehow winter wouldn’t be so scary.

Canadian charity used donations to fund projects linked to Israeli military

JNF says it has since stopped the practice, which contravenes Canadian tax rules

This article first appeared in the NS Advocate on 31 Dec. 2018 https://nsadvocate.org/2018/12/31/did-you-know-that-in-nova-scotia-you-can-be-forced-to-work-on-a-holiday-for-straight-time-yes-you-read-that-right/ 

In most Canadian provinces, if you work on a statutory holiday, you’re entitled to be paid time-and-a-half for the time you worked. But in Nova Scotia, employers can get away with paying you straight time. That makes us among the stingiest places in the country. We already have fewer statutory holidays than other provinces, but this makes it even worse.

There are two issues here: one is statutory holiday pay. That’s what you get paid whether you work or not. The second is what I call premium pay for working on the holiday which I shorten to “premium pay”. That’s what you get paid if you are called in to work on a statutory holiday.

In an earlier article I wrote about how many of you – if you are notin a union — will get paid for the Christmas Day statutory holiday, but not for Boxing Day.  Though most businesses and retail store were closed on Boxing Day, it is not a statutory holiday so you do not get paid for the forced day off work.

Want to get paid for Christmas Day and New Year’s Day?

First, let’s consider holiday pay.  Christmas Day and New Year’s Day are statutory holidays, meaning most people do not work but get a day’s pay anyway. But there’s a catch. In NS, toqualify for statutory holiday pay, you need to have worked for 15 of the last 30 calendar days.  Andyou need to have worked your last scheduled shift before the holiday and your next scheduled shift after the holiday. If you qualify,you earn a regular day’s pay for the statutory holiday. If you don’t qualify, you’re out of luck.

Next, let’s consider premium pay:

If your boss assigns you to work either Christmas Day or New Year’s Day (let’s say you work in a bar or restaurant or at a gas station) then you are entitled to the statutory holiday pay plus  premium pay, but only if you qualify.  Premium pay is your normal pay, plus time and a half for all hours you work that day.

Example:  If you normally work 8 hours and earn $12 an hour, and on Christmas Day or New Year’s Day you work 6 hours, you should earn 8 x $12= $96, plus 6 x $12 x 1.5 = $108 – in total $204.00.  But that’s not guaranteed. First, you need to qualify for premium pay.

Again to qualify—you have to have worked 15 out of the last 30 days, and worked the last shift before the holiday and the first shift after.

But what if you do not qualify, but you have to work on Christmas Day or New Year’s Day? Well you earn only your regular hourly rate.  No holiday pay and no premium pay. If you have to work 6 hours on New Year’s Day, and your hourly rate is $12, you receive only 6 x $12 = $72.00!

All provinces in Canada (excluding PEI and Quebec) pay at least 1.5 times your hourly rate for statutory holidays. Even in New Brunswick you are entitled to 1.5 times your hourly rate for working Christmas Day and New Year’s Day—with no qualifiers.  In Newfoundland, workers do not need any qualifiers to earn twicetheir hourly wage for working on a holiday.

Nova Scotia is clearly one of the stingiest and most punitive provinces when it comes to labour standards. As Tim Bousquet wrote the other day, many people are paid far less here than they would be in other provinces. Low labour standards and nickel and dime-ing workers who work on statutory holidays is a symptom of our low wage economy.

Meg Wolitzer’s novel The Uncoupling is a lot of fun.  It centres on a suburban high school production of the play Lysistrata. It features  a motley bunch of teachers, including the education psychologist, to two happily married English teachers, to an over-eating guidance counsellor and an uncommunicative school principal.  The book is charming, and clever — not quite to her standard in “The Feminine Persuasion” or “The Wife” but worth reading in this silly season. For another take on modern day Lysistrata take a look at this overly serious yet totally unaware article in the Guardian 

This is an excellent film — made in the mid-70s, it takes aim at the media and it’s creepy “tell all” side.  Of course the mainstream media today is even more wizened and useless than it was then. And arguably more dangerous to ‘democracy’. The 70s was a time of revolution in Germany, of the Baader Meinhoff Gang and others trying to break from their parents’ going along with the Third Reich… I recommend watch this– I got it from the Library on DVD If I have a cultural hero, it’s filmmaker Margarethe von Trotta and you’ll see why.  There is a very nice interview (in English) with Schlondorff and von Trotta 40 yrs after they made the film. And that add-on is worth watching.