Rabble
Encyclopedia
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
website
Website
A website, also written as Web site, web site, or simply site, is a collection of related web pages containing images, videos or other digital assets. A website is hosted on at least one web server, accessible via a network such as the Internet or a private local area network through an Internet...
. Among other services, it publishes journalism on a daily basis, primarily relating to social justice
Social justice
Social justice generally refers to the idea of creating a society or institution that is based on the principles of equality and solidarity, that understands and values human rights, and that recognizes the dignity of every human being. The term and modern concept of "social justice" was coined by...
and progressive
Progressivism
Progressivism is an umbrella term for a political ideology advocating or favoring social, political, and economic reform or changes. Progressivism is often viewed by some conservatives, constitutionalists, and libertarians to be in opposition to conservative or reactionary ideologies.The...
politics. The site hosts babble, a politically-oriented Internet forum
Internet forum
An Internet forum, or message board, is an online discussion site where people can hold conversations in the form of posted messages. They differ from chat rooms in that messages are at least temporarily archived...
, the rabble podcast
Podcast
A podcast is a series of digital media files that are released episodically and often downloaded through web syndication...
network (RPN) and the rabble reads book lounge.
rabble.ca was launched in April 2001 by a group of media activists including Mark Surman, Judy MacDonald and journalist Judy Rebick
Judy Rebick
Judy Rebick , arrived in Toronto at age 9, and is a Canadian journalist, political activist, and feminist.-Career:...
, in cooperation with the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives
Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives
The Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives is an independent, non-partisan, policy research institute in Canada that leans to the political left. It concentrates on economic policy, international trade, environmental justice and social policy. It is especially known for publishing an alternative...
. Its debut coincided with the anti-globalization
Anti-globalization
Criticism of globalization is skepticism of the claimed benefits of the globalization of capitalism. Many of these views are held by the anti-globalization movement however other groups also are critical of the policies of globalization....
protests of that year at the Summit of the Americas in Quebec City
Quebec City Summit of the Americas
The 3rd Summit of the Americas was a summit held in Quebec City, Quebec, Canada, on April 20--22, 2001.This international meeting was a round of negotiations regarding a proposed Free Trade Area of the Americas...
. In 2005, rabble.ca was incorporated as its own non-profit. Since its founding, rabble.ca has published works by left wing
Left-wing politics
In politics, Left, left-wing and leftist generally refer to support for social change to create a more egalitarian society...
journalists, including Rick Salutin
Rick Salutin
Rick Salutin is a Canadian novelist, playwright, journalist, and critic and has been writing for more than forty years....
, Naomi Klein
Naomi Klein
Naomi Klein is a Canadian author and social activist known for her political analyses and criticism of corporate globalization.-Family:...
, Thomas Walkom and Linda McQuaig
Linda McQuaig
Linda Joy McQuaig is a Canadian journalist, columnist and non-fiction author.-History:Long a business reporter at the Globe and Mail, she subsequently wrote a column for the National Post before moving to her current job at the Toronto Star...
.
Rebick retired from rabble.ca in 2006 and was replaced by publisher Kim Elliott http://www.rabble.ca/taxonomy/term/1741. Sharon Fraser http://www.rabble.ca/taxonomy/term/303, rabble.ca's longest-serving editor (2003–2007) resigned the position and was replaced as editor by Derrick O'Keefe
Derrick O'Keefe
Derrick O'Keefe is a Canadian Vancouver-based writer and social justice activist. He is the former editor of rabble.ca, Canada's most widely-read progressive website, and his writings on foreign policy, Canadian politics, ecology and other topics have been published in a number of both alternative...
. In 2007, rabble.ca launched a home on Second Life
Second Life
Second Life is an online virtual world developed by Linden Lab. It was launched on June 23, 2003. A number of free client programs, or Viewers, enable Second Life users, called Residents, to interact with each other through avatars...
on "Better World Island".When Derrick left, Cathryn Atkinson took over as Features Editor, and Alex Samur, formerly Assistant Editor, became the Managing Editor and the Book Review Editor.
On Sunday, September 7, 2008 rabble.ca launched a multi-author election blog http://www.rabble.ca/election. The blog included progressive Canadian thinkers and organizations such as Maude Barlow
Maude Barlow
Maude Victoria Barlow is a Canadian author and activist. She is the National Chairperson of The Council of Canadians, a citizens’ advocacy organization with members and chapters across Canada. She is also the co-founder of the , which works internationally for the human right to water...
and the Council of Canadians, The Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives
Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives
The Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives is an independent, non-partisan, policy research institute in Canada that leans to the political left. It concentrates on economic policy, international trade, environmental justice and social policy. It is especially known for publishing an alternative...
, Campaign for Democratic Media, the Rideau Institute, the Parkland Institute, and contributors including Jim Stanford
Jim Stanford
Jim Stanford, a Canadian economist, is economist for the Canadian Auto Workers and founder of the Progressive Economics Forum. He holds a Master’s degree in Economics from Cambridge University, and a Ph.D. from the New School for Social Research...
, Murray Dobbin, James Laxer
James Laxer
James Laxer is a Canadian political economist, professor and author.In 1969, Laxer, along with his father Robert Laxer and Mel Watkins, founded the Waffle, a radical left wing group influenced by the New Left, the anti-Vietnam War movement and Canadian economic nationalism, that tried to win...
, and musician Matthew Good
Matthew Good
Matthew Frederick Robert Good is a Canadian rock musician. He was the lead singer for the Matthew Good Band, one of Canada's most successful alternative rock bands in the 1990s, before dissolving the band in 2002...
.
On October 28, 2008, media democracy day http://www.mediademocracyday.org/ rabble re-launched with a new design and new features.
The not-for-profit organization is governed by a board of directors chaired by Duncan Cameron.