Briarpatch Magazine

12/09/2023

This September/October issue is online today! 🎉

Here's what you'll find inside:

✊️ Workers out-organize union-busters
👩‍⚕️A call for nurses to organize against health-care privatization
🔎An investigation into funding for Indigenous police forces
👩‍🦼 Prisoners discuss disability and incarceration
💥 A conversation on s*x worker feminism
📚 A reading list on Palestinian refusal
☁️ A poem on medical assistance in dying

and more!

Click the link in our bio to read the issue.

And remember to subscribe! Google and Meta have announced plans to block news on their platforms, which means Briarpatch may soon no longer be able to post on Instagram and Facebook. Now is a great time to support indie media and ensure that we can keep producing incisive, timely analysis to help grow social movements.

Cover art by .kyle

02/08/2023

BIG NEWS!

We’re partnering with the African, Caribbean, Black Network of Waterloo to publish a special Black Radicalism issue in January 2024!

We're looking for pitches about Black radical organizing, Black feminist futures, Black food sovereignty as independence from the state, the history of Black radicalism in so-called Canada, the role of Black people in Land Back and of Indigenous people in Black liberation, and more.

Pitches are due August 15, 2023. Read the announcement for details.

https://briarpatchmagazine.com/announcements/view/call-for-pitches-black-radicalism-special-issue

28/07/2023

Are you passionate about Saskatchewan politics, the labour movement, & progressive social change?

We are contracting a one-term, part-time assistant editor to help us produce both the Sask Dispatch (our Saskatchewan-focused sister publication) and the RWDSU Defender (the newsletter of Saskatchewan’s Retail, Wholesale, Department Store Union).

This is a four-month contract with an assumed workload of 44 hours/month.

We're looking for someone with a nose for a good story, a firm grasp of Saskatchewan politics, and a passion for workers' rights and social and environmental justice. You must be based in Saskatchewan.

If that's you, click the link in our bio to view the posting, and apply by August 11!

10/05/2023

Spring is here and our May/June issue is online!

Inside, you'll find stories on climate justice activists pushed out of the NDP, industry and governments' plans to push pipeline ownership onto First Nations, unions members fight for COVID-19 safety at work, the winner of our 2022 Northern Writing Prize, and more.

Climate justice activists shut out of the NDP. Plus: union members fight for COVID-19 safety, industry and government push pipeline ownership onto First Nations, the winner of the 2022 Northern Writing Prize, a review of Black Disability Politics, and an argument for abolitionist s*x education.

06/02/2023

Want to share an exciting story, a burning question, or a keen-eyed observation with an audience of activists and leftist readers across Canada?

You're in the right place. We're looking for story ideas for our unthemed July/August issue. Pitches are due March 1st, 2023.

We’re looking for writing rooted in rooted in anti-colonial, anti-capitalist, feminist struggle for an unthemed issue. Pitches are due March 1, 2023.

31/01/2023

Our third annual Skate-a-thon happening! Throughout February, skaters will be signing up, lacing up, and collecting pledges in Regina and beyond to support Briarpatch. The Regina skate will be held on (UPDATED) March 4, and we're coordinating skates in a few other cities, so if you want to get outside, have some winter fun, and support 50 years of fiercely independent publishing, sign up at https://forms.gle/o4GRFCvuS4RDCGKW7 today!

03/01/2023

Our special 50th Anniversary Issue is online today! 🎁

2023 marks 50 years of Briarpatch (!!) so we're celebrating with a special issue that looks at Briarpatch's history, and how to build better media in Canada.

Inside you'll find stories about:
💸 Briarpatch vs. the Harper government
🎂 Lessons from 50 years of editing Briarpatch
🗞️ New Brunswick's media co-op
✊🏽 Saskatchewan's radical Métis magazine
👁️‍🗨️ Big Tech funding journalism
🧑‍💻 Bad labour practices in indie media
📚 A reading list on grassroots media..and more!

Click the link in our bio to read the full issue.

For half a century Briarpatch has helped chronicle and build grassroots movements. When you subscribe or donate, you help us keep making fiercely independent journalism. Get a year of beautiful print copies of the magazine delivered to your mailbox for less than $30!
Go to briarpatchmagazine.com/subscribe. 💗

01/12/2022

Want to share an exciting story, a burning question, or a keen-eyed observation with an audience of activists and leftist readers across Canada?

You're in the right place. We're looking for story ideas for our unthemed May/June issue.

Pitches are due January 2, 2023. Click the link in our bio to learn how to send us a pitch.

14/10/2022

Since the late 2000s, Canada's oil industry has been building itself a social movement, using "petro-populism" to win supporters.

NEW: Simon Enoch of the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives writes about the Freedom Convoy and the right-wing movement the oil industry is now struggling to control.

How Canada’s oil industry birthed the Freedom Convoy and a far-right movement

05/10/2022

We're hiring an interim Editor for a one-year position!

If you believe in the power of grassroots social movements and journalism that isn’t compromised by corporate interests, send us your CV and cover letter by October 15.

Do you want to not only report on social movements, but help them grow? Briarpatch is seeking a new Editor for a one-year term!

20/09/2022

Briarpatch's Annual General Meeting is coming up on September 29, and we're looking for new members of our Board of Directors.

Board members are people who work behind-the-scenes to help keep our beloved and scrappy magazine afloat. They help with fundraising, planning events, writing policies, hiring, and more. Board members must be based in Saskatchewan.

If you're interested in being a Briarpatch board member, apply at the link below:

Interested in being on the Briarpatch board of directors, or peeking behind the scenes of our beloved magazine? Come to Briarpatch’s Annual General Meeting!

07/09/2022

Our special Disability Justice Issue, which we made with the Disability Justice Network of Ontario, is online today!

We've worked for months to bring you 56 pages of writing and art from disability justice activists across the country.

Here's what's inside:
- Four case studies of care outside institutions
- An article on war and debility
- An essay about urban planning and dementia
- A call for safe supply of illegal drugs
- Reviews of food in nursing homes and prisons
- A discussion on s*x inside institutions
- A roundtable on long COVID in Canada
- A short story about a mysterious ailment
- Kids review a children's book about disability..and more!

Our special 56-page Disability Justice issue features writing and art from disability justice activists across Canada. Inside, you'll find an article about drug use and the criminalization of disabled life, an interview about war and debility, a roundtable on long COVID, food reviews from inside ...

11/08/2022

Next year, Briarpatch is turning 50! 🎂

In our Jan/Feb 2023 issue, we’re publishing a special 50th anniversary issue. Part of that issue will celebrate half a century of Briarpatch – so we want stories about Briarpatch's history and present. We’re also looking for stories about the present and future of independent, left-wing media in Canada.

Pitches are due Sept 5.

In this special issue, we’re celebrating half a century of Briarpatch, and we’re also looking for stories about the present and future of independent, left-wing media in Canada. Pitches are due September 5.

05/08/2022

We're having a summer subscription sale! Go to briarpatchmagazine.com/subscribe and use offer code BP2022 to get a one-year subscription starting with our upcoming Disability Justice Issue for only $22. It's a great time to jump into the 'patch!

Briarpatch delivers! Subscribe now to start receiving bi-monthly doses of feisty, critical analysis delivered right to your door. Use our secure form to pay online with your credit card, or we can bill you later. Already a subscriber? Renew your subscription below, or send Briarpatch as a gift to fr...

30/06/2022

Our July/August issue is online today!

Inside, you'll find stories about Métis activism, fighting Doug Ford's plan for suburban sprawl, rural trans health care, saving the bees from capitalist agriculture, a leftist response to gas prices, and more.
https://briarpatchmagazine.com/issues/view/july-august-2022

A grassroots collective called Red River Echoes is putting forward a different vision of a Métis future – one built on reciprocity, good governance, and police abolition. Plus: saving the bees means ending capitalist agriculture – no matter what corporate

13/06/2022

NEW: In “Ineligible: Single Mothers Under Welfare Surveillance,” Krys Maki interviews single mothers on welfare to show how technology and algorithms have created a new frontier in monitoring and criminalizing the poor.

Read Clare Heggie's review:
https://briarpatchmagazine.com/articles/view/ontarios-punitive-welfare-system

In “Ineligible: Single Mothers Under Welfare Surveillance,” Krys Maki shows how technological advancements have created a new frontier in monitoring and criminalizing the poor.

01/06/2022

Every year, for our November/December issue, Briarpatch publishes an issue devoted to reporting stories about the labour movement.

This year, we’re looking for articles, investigative reporting, historical analysis, photo essays, timelines, personal essays, reviews, profiles, recommendations, lists, humour, comics, and art for the issue.

Pitches for the labour issue are due July 3, 2022.

We’re looking for features, investigations, and reviews for our annual labour issue! Pitches are due July 3, 2022.