Follow The Propagandist on Twitter

Subscribe to us! The Propagandist On Facebook Follow The Propagandist On Twitter Subscribe the The Propagandist by Email Get The Propagandist Newsletter

Donate to The Propagandist

students

On April 2, 2012, I delivered the keynote address at the launch of the journal of the Political Science Students' Association of the University of British Columbia. It was a well organized, brief event with a good Q&A session, and I'm grateful to the Association for the opportunity to respond to one of the articles featured in this year's journal, "Feminist Ethics and the Rhetoric Surrounding Women and the War in Afghanistan," by Allison Rounding. A detailed response to the content of that article can be found here, and you can read Rounding's article here. Meanwhile, here is the transcript of the keynote address.

Good afternoon and congratulations to the students who have worked so hard to produce UBC’s Journal of Political Studies.

I’m speaking to you today in my role as an aid worker in Afghanistan, but I’m also a student, at least for another couple of months, here at UBC, and a dozen or so years ago now when I started my university studies, I minored in Political Science at McGill University.

It’s been fascinating since then to go out in the field, and see how the theories of the classroom resonate, or don’t, in...More >>

Canadian taxpayers can be proud that modest contributions from the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) over the past few years have supported an exceptional school in the heart of southern Afghanistan, the Afghan Canadian Community Centre.

Tucked away behind unassuming but protective gates down a quiet street in Kandahar city, hundreds of young people bustle in and out of the small building every day. Women swell the ACCC's classrooms in the day, while young men come for their classes in the evenings. Operating much like a community college, Kandaharis can take computer, business, marketing and English classes here that allow them to land good jobs and earn good incomes. They take online classes with Canadian profs at places like the South Alberta Institute of Technology, making use of the benefits offered by free software like Skype and Canadian 'virtual volunteers' keen to pitch in where they can.

In this deeply conservative setting, access to education opportunities like those offered at the ACCC are hard to come by. Many international and Afghan NGOs have no interest in going anywhere near Kandahar given its precarious security situation, while it is the southern region that most needs more social...More >>

Loading...

BUY @ the eSTORE

propagandist tshirt political merchandise buy magazine

Sponsor The Propagandist

Buy The Detective vs. the Slime Monster from Outer Space

political documentaries

Join The Propagandist

Buy A History of The Middle Eastside