Rabble.ca - History

History

The launch of rabble.ca coincided with the beginning of the Summit of the Americas and the People's Summit of the Americas in Quebec City in 2001. rabble.ca covered the event extensively, and established itself as a pro-activist medium. In 2011, celebrating the 10 year anniversary of the beginning of rabble, Noreen Mae Ritsema, a former rabble.ca intern and current regular contributor to rabble’s book lounge, recalled rabble’s involvement in the protests, namely its advocacy for the release of the longest held demonstrator Jaggi Singh. Singh, a well-known anti-globalization and social justice activist, was jailed for a number of charges, the most serious of which was a weapons charge for a catapult that launched teddy bears. Singh’s imprisonment led rabble.ca to writing an open letter to the Minister of Justice in Quebec, which stated that “the imprisonment of Jaggi Singh is a serious breach of civil liberties that threatens freedom of political expression.” The letter also included a petition signed by people such as activist David Suzuki, former mayor of Toronto John Sewell and former Canadian ambassador to the United Nations Stephen Lewis. Later rabble contributors look back at the events as defining the role of rabble.ca as a medium for advocacy of human rights, freedom of expression, and peaceful protest. As Ritsema explains, “this set the standard of the sort of journalism we could do which contrasted us so much against the mainstream media."

On October 28, 2008, media democracy day 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.