Avi Lewis

Last updated

Avi Lewis
Avilewis2015.png
Lewis in 2015
BornMay 1967 (age 56–57)
Canada
OccupationAuthor, activist, broadcaster
Alma mater University of Toronto
Period1996–present
Spouse Naomi Klein
Children1 [1]
Parents Stephen Lewis,
Michele Landsberg
Relatives David Lewis (grandfather)
Moishe Lewis (great-grandfather)

Avram David "Avi" Lewis (born May 1967) [2] is a Canadian documentary filmmaker, former host of the Al Jazeera English show Fault Lines [3] and former host of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) current-affairs programs CounterSpin and On the Map.

Contents

Biography

Family

Avi Lewis is the great-grandson of Moshe Losz (Lewis), an outspoken member of the Jewish Bund who left Svislach, Poland (absorbed by the Soviet Union during World War II, and today in Belarus), after being interrogated by the Russians and threatened with death or the Gulag for his political activity, he left for Montreal in 1921, with his wife Rose (née Lazarovitch) and three children. Avi Lewis is the grandson of former federal New Democratic Party leader David Lewis and the son of former Ontario NDP leader and diplomat Stephen Lewis and journalist Michele Landsberg. Avi Lewis is married to journalist and author Naomi Klein; his sister Ilana Landsberg-Lewis was the executive director of the Stephen Lewis Foundation. [4]

Lewis grew up in Toronto, Ontario, and attended Jarvis Collegiate and Upper Canada College. He graduated from the University of Toronto in 1988. [5]

Lewis was featured on the November 20, 2001, "Life & Times" episode of The Lewis Family. [6]

Avi Lewis's genealogical search was featured on the January 31, 2008, episode of the CBC's Who Do You Think You Are? [7]

Career

Between 1996 and 1998, Avi Lewis was host of The NewMusic , a music magazine show on MuchMusic and Citytv. He also served as MuchMusic's political specialist — by doing extensive special events coverage for the channel designed to engage youth in the political process. Among other events, he covered the 1993 Canadian federal election and the 1995 Quebec referendum. Avi Lewis won a Gemini for Best Event Coverage.

In 1998–2001, Lewis hosted CBC Newsworld's current affairs discussion show counterSpin , where he presided over 500 debates. Avi Lewis was later the host of Counterspin Sunday.

In 2004, Lewis and his wife Naomi Klein collaborated on The Take — a documentary that detailed the "recovered factory" movement in Argentina. The Take, winner of the International Jury Prize, was nominated for four Gemini Awards.

Lewis began hosting CBC Newsworld's The Big Picture with Avi Lewis in the autumn of 2006 and On the Map in 2007. He became host of Frontline USA for Al Jazeera television in 2008. Lewis was a participant in the CBC's Canada Reads 2009 (see below).

Lewis directed the 2015 feature-length documentary This Changes Everything , [8] which finished second in the audience voting, for the documentary category, at the 2015 Toronto International Film Festival. [9]

On the Map

In June 2007, CBC Newsworld debuted On the Map with Avi Lewis, a daily (Monday-Thursday) half-hour of international news commentary. Lewis discussed such issues as the "Oil Law" that the United States wished Iraq to adopt, women in Afghanistan, [10] and what exactly is meant by the phrase "ungoverned spaces". The show was officially renewed for November 2007 and then disappeared without ever airing again. [11] On the Map's half-hour time slot was replaced with a half-hour summary of the daily hour-long show Politics by Don Newman. [12]

During the same time period, The Hour , which had a mix of news commentary and pop culture and provided a lighter fare than On the Map, became decidedly more oriented to pop culture - even though there has been some creep towards greater news commentary as the season progressed. George Stroumboulopoulos stated during the opening show, that the modification of format was because The Hour would now be shown right after The National (rather than before in previous seasons) when shown on the CBC main channel. [13] [14] [15]

Lewis conducted a June 11, 2007, interview with political writer Ayaan Hirsi Ali. After repeatedly and openly sniggering at Hirsi Ali's complimentary remarks about the United States, Lewis sharply questioned some of her views - including her denial of the existence of Islamophobia, her belief that Islam was inherently misogynistic, and her positive opinions concerning American democracy. Lewis compared Islamophobia to Anti-Semitism, seeing both as equally real, to which Ali replied: "Racism is a universal trait, so is antisemitism, by the way. But I want us not to confuse a set of beliefs such as Islam, with ethnicity such as the hatred against Jews just because they are Jews, or against blacks just because they are black, or against gays just because of- it's something you can't do anything about. Whereas Islam is simply a set of beliefs, and it's not Islamophobic to say ... this is being done in the name of your religion." [16] The interview provoked a strongly critical response from right-wing commentators in the US and Canada.[ citation needed ]

Lewis has stated [17] that Hugo Chávez's actions do not match his rhetoric and has criticized Chávez for not doing more to close down the "laboratory" of policies which he had inherited from previous administrations. Naomi Klein, who credited Avi Lewis for his input into her book The Shock Doctrine , links both stifling of dissent and concentration of power with the implementation of these earlier economic policies.[ citation needed ] [17]

Why Democracy?

From October 8–18, 2007, Avi Lewis hosted the ten-part international documentary series Why Democracy? in Canada. [18]

Frontline USA / Inside USA

Inside USA was first telecast on Al Jazeera on February 8, 2008, with the episode "Politics of Race". Al Jazeera describes Inside USA as "an in-depth look at the real issues at stake in the US presidential election." [19]

Politics Of Race (February 22, 2008) focused on the situation in New Orleans and the disenfranchising of Black voters. [20] [21]

Native Americans (March 1, 2008) focused on Lakota Sioux separatism, social and economic issues surrounding the Lakota Sioux, Navajo and the Shoshone peoples. [22] [23] The last few minutes were devoted to the role online videos play in the American election - including a clip from "Yes We Can".

Canada Reads

Lewis was a panelist in the CBC's Canada Reads , which aired on March 2–6, 2009. Canada Reads is a seasonal show in which celebrities choose a book and advocate on its behalf. He presented, and successfully defended, the winning book, Lawrence Hill's The Book of Negroes . [24]

Leap Manifesto

In September 2015, Lewis, Naomi Klein, and others launched the Leap Manifesto - which proposed broad changes to Canadian society and economics in order to respond to climate change through a policy framework that also addresses issues of wealth and income inequality, racism, and colonialism and in hopes of influencing the policy debate during the 2015 Canadian federal election campaign. [25] [26] In 2016, Lewis spearheaded a motion at the New Democratic Party of Canada's federal election which would have had the party endorse the manifesto - in the end, the motion was amended to refer the manifesto to constituency associations for debate. Lewis and other manifesto signatories launched an organization to promote the manifesto's vision in 2017, called The Leap, which operated until 2021 and was a key convenor of Canada's Pact for a Green New Deal in 2019. [27]

Electoral politics

In May 2021, Lewis was nominated as the NDP's candidate for West Vancouver—Sunshine Coast—Sea to Sky Country, British Columbia for the 2021 Canadian federal election, [28] [29] which was subsequently called for September 20, 2021. [30] Lewis' run for federal parliament was endorsed by environmentalist David Suzuki, [31] [32] actress Jane Fonda, [32] [33] playwright Eve Ensler, [34] folk singer and activist Billy Bragg, [35] and biologist Alexandra Morton. [36] He came in third behind incumbent Liberal Patrick Weiler who has represented the riding since 2019 and Conservative John Weston, who had previously represented the district from 2008 until 2015.

Electoral record

2021 Canadian federal election : West Vancouver—Sunshine Coast—Sea to Sky Country
PartyCandidateVotes%±%Expenditures
Liberal Patrick Weiler 21,50033.9$107,414.31
Conservative John Weston 19,06230.0$123,189.13
New Democratic Avi Lewis 16,26525.6$117,546.51
Green Mike Simpson4,1086.5$35,992.60
People's Doug Bebb2,2993.6$26,851.53
Rhinoceros Gordon Jeffrey980.2$0.00
Independent Chris MacGregor770.1$0.00
Independent Terry Grimwood500.1$0.00
Total valid votes/Expense limit63,459––$131,270.20
Total rejected ballots279
Turnout64.6%
Eligible voters98,256
Source: Elections Canada [37]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Naomi Klein</span> Canadian author and activist (born 1970)

Naomi Klein is a Canadian author, social activist, and filmmaker known for her political analyses; support of ecofeminism, organized labour, criticism of corporate globalization, fascism. and capitalism. As of 2021, she is an associate professor, and professor of climate justice at the University of British Columbia, co-directing a Centre for Climate Justice.

CBC News Network is a Canadian English-language specialty news channel owned by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC). It broadcasts into over 10 million homes in Canada. As Canada's first all-news channel, it is the world's third-oldest television service of this nature, after CNN in the United States and Sky News in the United Kingdom.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">David Lewis (Canadian politician)</span> Canadian labour lawyer and social democratic politician (1909–1981)

David Lewis was a Canadian labour lawyer and social democratic politician. He was national secretary of the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation (CCF) from 1936 to 1950 and one of the key architects of the New Democratic Party (NDP) in 1961. In 1962, he was elected as the Member of Parliament (MP), in the House of Commons of Canada, for the York South electoral district. While an MP, he was elected the NDP's national leader and served from 1971 until 1975. After his defeat in the 1974 federal election, he stepped down as leader and retired from politics. He spent his last years as a university professor at Carleton University, and as a travel correspondent for the Toronto Star. In retirement, he was named to the Order of Canada for his political service. After suffering from cancer for a long time, he died in Ottawa in 1981.

The Waffle was a radical wing of Canada's New Democratic Party (NDP) in the late 1960s and early 1970s. It later transformed into an independent political party, with little electoral success before it permanently disbanded in the mid-1970s. It was generally a New Left youth movement that espoused both Canadian nationalism and solidarity with the Quebec sovereignty movement.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stephen Lewis</span> Canadian politician (born 1937)

Stephen Henry Lewis is a Canadian politician, public speaker, broadcaster, and diplomat. He was the leader of the social democratic Ontario New Democratic Party for most of the 1970s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Newsworld International</span> American news television network

Newsworld International (NWI) was an American news-oriented cable and satellite television network that operated from June 1994 to July 2005. The network carried a mix of newscasts from the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation and other international networks. After several ownership changes, the channel was purchased by former U.S. Vice President Al Gore and other parties in 2005 and became Current TV.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Don Newman (broadcaster)</span>

Donald Kenneth Newman, OC is a retired senior parliamentary editor for CBC Television who also hosted CBC Newsworld's daily politics program CBC News: Politics. Newman is known for his signature introductory phrase to the viewer "Welcome to the Broadcast", in which he enunciates the first syllable of the last word more slowly than the rest of the greeting. The phrase became the title of his memoir, published in 2013.

Benjamin Byung Kyu Chin, known for short as Ben Chin, is a Canadian political advisor and former public and private sector executive. He had an earlier career as a television journalist.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tom Mulcair</span> Canadian politician and former leader of the Opposition

Thomas Joseph Mulcair is a retired Canadian politician who served as the leader of the New Democratic Party (NDP) from 2012 to 2017 and leader of the Official Opposition from 2012 to 2015. He was elected to the House of Commons in 2007 and sat as the member of Parliament (MP) for Outremont until 2018.

Brad Lavigne is a Canadian political and corporate communications strategist.

Canadian leaders' debates are leaders' debates televised during federal elections in Canada, made up of two debates, one in French and one in English, usually held on back-to-back nights. The first time these debates were held was during the 1968 election. They were until recently produced by a consortium of the main Canadian television networks, namely the CBC/SRC, CTV, Global and TVA, although other channels such as CPAC carry the broadcasts as well.

The New Democratic Party is a federal political party in Canada. Widely described as social democratic, the party occupies the centre-left of the political spectrum, with the party generally sitting to the left of the Liberal Party. The party was founded in 1961 by the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation (CCF) and the Canadian Labour Congress (CLC).

This article covers the history of the New Democratic Party of Canada.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dominic Cardy</span> Canadian politician

Dominic William Cardy is a Canadian politician and Member of the Legislative Assembly of New Brunswick. From the 2018 New Brunswick general election until his expulsion from the caucus in October 2022, Cardy represented the electoral district of Fredericton West-Hanwell for the Progressive Conservative Party of New Brunswick. He now sits as an independent. During his time in government he was the Minister of Education and Early Childhood Development under Blaine Higgs.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2015 Canadian federal election</span>

The 2015 Canadian federal election held on October 19, 2015, saw the Liberal Party, led by Justin Trudeau, win 184 seats, allowing it to form a majority government with Trudeau becoming the next prime minister.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2017 New Democratic Party leadership election</span> Canadian federal party leader election

The 2017 New Democratic Party leadership election was won by Jagmeet Singh. The election was triggered by Tom Mulcair having lost a vote on leadership review at the party's federal convention held in Edmonton, Alberta, on April 10, 2016, which resulted in a majority of delegates voting in favor of holding a new leadership election. Mulcair declined to partake in the subsequent leadership election and stated that he would remain leader until the party chose a replacement.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jagmeet Singh</span> Canadian politician (born 1979)

Jagmeet Singh Jimmy Dhaliwal is a Canadian politician who has served as the leader of the New Democratic Party (NDP) since 2017. Singh has sat as the member of Parliament (MP) for Burnaby South since 2019. He was elected to the Legislative Assembly of Ontario in 2011, representing Bramalea—Gore—Malton until his entry into federal politics. A practicing Sikh of Punjabi descent, Singh is an Indo-Canadian, making him the first Sikh and the first member of a visible minority group to be elected to lead a major federal political party in Canada.

<i>This Changes Everything</i> (2015 film) 2015 Canadian film

This Changes Everything is a 2015 documentary film directed by Avi Lewis. It is based on the book This Changes Everything: Capitalism vs. the Climate by his wife, Naomi Klein.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Leap Manifesto</span> 2015 Canadian political manifesto

The Leap Manifesto is a Canadian political manifesto that was issued by a coalition of environmentalists, Indigenous, labour, and faith leaders, authors, and artists in September 2015 in the context of that year's Canadian federal election campaign. The document proposes broad changes to Canadian society and economics to respond to climate change through a policy framework that also addresses issues of wealth and income inequality, racism, and colonialism.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">45th Canadian federal election</span> Next general election in Canada

The 45th Canadian federal election will take place on or before October 20, 2025, to elect members of the House of Commons to the 45th Canadian Parliament. The date of the vote is determined by the fixed-date provisions of the Canada Elections Act, which requires federal elections to be held on the third Monday in October in the fourth calendar year after the polling day of the previous election, though a current government bill proposes to postpone the date to October 27, 2025 to avoid conflicting with Diwali. In addition to the statutory fixed election date provisions, Canada has a constitutional requirement specified in both section 50 of the Constitution Act, 1867 and section 4 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms that elections for the House of Commons must be held no more than five years after the preceding election.

References

  1. ↑ Congratulations to Naomi Klein and Avi Lewis on the birth of their son - Democracy Now!
  2. ↑ "The political siren finally blares for Avi Lewis". TVO. May 21, 2021. Retrieved May 23, 2021.
  3. ↑ Biography: Avi Lewis,
  4. ↑ "Michele Landsberg celebrates 70 years". Now , July 15, 2009.
  5. ↑ Alumni in the arts Archived September 21, 2008, at the Wayback Machine
  6. ↑ CBC: Life And Times Archived May 29, 2009, at the Wayback Machine
  7. ↑ Who Do You Think You Are? | Stories | Avi Lewis Archived January 29, 2012, at the Wayback Machine
  8. ↑ Steve Gravestock. "This Changes Everything (programme note)". TIFF. Archived from the original on September 6, 2015. Retrieved September 9, 2015.
  9. ↑ "Toronto International Film Festival Announces 2015 Award Winners" (PDF) (Press release). TIFF. September 20, 2015. Retrieved September 21, 2015.
  10. ↑ "On The Map with Avi Lewis: Ann Jones & Women in Afghanistan". YouTube. July 5, 2007. Retrieved July 6, 2012.
  11. ↑ "On The Map with Avi Lewis: Wrap Up". YouTube. July 5, 2007. Retrieved July 6, 2012.
  12. ↑ CBC.ca Politics
  13. ↑ On The Map with Avi Lewis CBC.ca Archived July 9, 2007, at the Wayback Machine
  14. ↑ The Big Picture with Avi Lewis CBC.ca Archived September 25, 2006, at the Wayback Machine
  15. ↑ "The Take official website". Archived from the original on February 26, 2011. Retrieved June 28, 2015.
  16. ↑ On The Map with Avi Lewis: Ayaan Hirsi Ali & Islamophobia on YouTube
  17. 1 2 On The Map with Avi Lewis: The Chavez Mystique on YouTube
  18. ↑ "Why Democracy?: Host, Avi Lewis". CBC Newsworld . Archived from the original on May 11, 2009. Retrieved May 28, 2014.
  19. ↑ Frontline USA: Politics of Race Archived February 28, 2008, at the Wayback Machine
  20. ↑ Inside USA - Politics of Race - 22 Feb 08 - Pt 1, YouTube
  21. ↑ Inside USA - Politics of Race - 22 Feb 08 - Pt 2, YouTube
  22. ↑ AlJazeeraEnglish. "Inside USA - Native Americans - 01 Mar 08 - Part 1". YouTube . Retrieved July 6, 2012.
  23. ↑ AlJazeeraEnglish. "Inside USA - Native Americans - 01 Mar 08 - Part 2". YouTube. Retrieved July 6, 2012.
  24. ↑ Canadian Broadcasting Corporation We have a winner for Canada Reads 2009! - The Book of Negroes By Lawrence Hill. cbc.ca Canada Reads. Archived December 25, 2008, at the Wayback Machine
  25. ↑ Chen, Michael (September 15, 2015). "'Leap manifesto' backed by prominent NDPers, actors, activists calls for upending of capitalist system". The Globe and Mail. Retrieved December 2, 2020.
  26. ↑ The Leap (October 5, 2016). "The Leap Manifesto: One Year Later". theleap.org. Retrieved December 2, 2020.
  27. ↑ "Hitting the road for a Green New Deal". The Leap. May 10, 2019. Retrieved April 7, 2021.
  28. ↑ "Film producer Avi Lewis named as NDP candidate in B.C. riding". National Post. May 22, 2021. Retrieved August 22, 2021.
  29. ↑ "Filmmaker, activist Avi Lewis to run for federal NDP seat in B.C. riding". CTVNews. May 17, 2021. Retrieved May 17, 2021.
  30. ↑ "Canada is headed for a federal election on Sept. 20". CBC News. August 15, 2021. Retrieved August 18, 2021.
  31. ↑ Seyd, Jane. "David Suzuki offers heavyweight help to NDP's climate candidate in West Vancouver Sunshine Coast Sea-to-Sky". North Shore News. Retrieved September 3, 2021.
  32. 1 2 Stefanovich, Olivia. "Climate activist Avi Lewis aims to leave mark on NDP despite running in long-odds riding". cbc.ca. Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. CBC News. Retrieved September 20, 2021.
  33. ↑ Raycraft, Richard (September 12, 2021). "Leaders find ways to make voters laugh and smile in a gloomy campaign". CBC News. Retrieved September 15, 2021. "I'm excited that Canada will have Avi Lewis representing you — and a little jealous too," she said, perhaps prematurely, in an endorsement video.
  34. ↑ Lewis, Avi. "V (formerly Eve Ensler) is a dear friend, mentor, and artist-comrade. Her words make me want to fight harder. #GlobalGreenNewDeal". Twitter. Retrieved September 17, 2021.
  35. ↑ "Billy Bragg - "Waiting for the Leap Manifesto"". YouTube .
  36. ↑ Morton, Alexandra. "Why I support @NDP candidate @avilewis for West Vancouver-Sunshine Coast-Sea to Sky MP. #cdnpoli #Elxn44 #WestVancouver #SunshineCoast". Twitter. Retrieved September 17, 2021.
  37. ↑ "List of confirmed candidates – September 20, 2021 Federal Election". Elections Canada . Retrieved September 2, 2021.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.