CSJ Newsletter
January 15, 2026
CALLS TO ACTION
End the injustice against Dr. Hassan Diab!In April 2023, despite clear exculpatory evidence, the French Court of Assize conducted an in absentia trial that unjustly declared Dr. Hassan Diab guilty and sentenced him to life in prison. The proceedings amounted to a sham trial and a mockery of justice. The court's verdict was based on hearsay testimony, unsourced “intelligence,” and unfounded speculation rather than credible evidence.
Since that ruling, Dr. Diab and his family have lived in constant uncertainty, facing the ongoing threat that a second extradition request could be made at any time.
We urge you to please send the letter below demanding that Justice Minister Sean Fraser categorically refuse any future extradition request and put an end—once and for all—to this ongoing miscarriage of justice.
iclmg.ca
EVENTS
Venezuela in Washington's Crosshairs
When: January 6, 8, and 13th, at 4pm
This three-part webinar series brings together scholars, lawyers, and organizers to explore the many dimensions-- in Venezuela, in the USA, and in international law-- of the Trump administration's belligerent actions against Venezuela. Sponsored by Just World Educational and the Task Force on the Americas, and with a growing list of organizational co-sponsors, this series offers public discussion grounded in international law, history, and global solidarity. Find details of the schedule, the speakers, the co-sponsors at bit.ly/VZ-proj-deets.
justworldeducational.org |
zoom.us
Performance: The Battle for a Shorter Working Day
When: January 14, 15, and 16th, 7:30pm
Where: Steelworkers' Hall, 25 Cecil St
There was a time when workers sweated through ten or twelve-hour working days. How did we end up with more time off the job? By unions demanding it, again and again.
It all began in 1872. That year a movement for a nine-hour day burst onto the public stage in cities and towns across central Canada. Toronto was the site of one of the most famous incidents in that campaign when the printers went on strike against almost all the city's newspapers.
eventbrite.ca
[Oakville] Support Striking Workers
When: January 15th; lunch at 12:30; Rally at 1:30
Where: 53 Bond St, Oakville
Workers at OPSEU/SEFPO Local 249 – Central West Specialized Developmental Services have been on strike for 7 weeks. They want a fair deal and to get the people they support back home.
They are returning to mediation with their employer this Friday. You can take action and show your support and solidarity!
Facebook poster
Roadmap to accelerate decarbonization
When: January 15th, 3pm
In
Five Times Faster (2023), Simon Sharpe argues that climate action must move beyond global carbon pricing and net-zero targets. By using sector-specific regulations, targeted public investments, and multilateral agreements, he shows how tipping points can create rapid, structural change—offering a bold roadmap to accelerate decarbonization five times faster than current efforts.
zoom.us
Freedom for Milagro Sala
When: January 16th, 6:30pm
Where: Friends House, 60 Lowther
January 16th will mark ten years since the arbitrary detention of Milagro Sala, who was arrested and imprisoned for being a woman, poor, racialized, Indigenous, and a social justice activist.
Her unjust imprisonment exemplifies one of the most emblematic cases of political persecution and judicial violence in contemporary Argentina and reflects the repressive and disciplinary model imposed by the Government of the Province of Jujuy since December 2015 with the complicity of the then-National Government, constituting an affront to democracy and the rule of law.
Facebook poster
On Labour Zionism
When: January 18th, 1pm
Labour for Palestine Canada presents...
A 3-part online speaker series: On Labour Zionism and the struggle for Palestine in the labour movement, past and present.
Part 1 with Jeff Schuhrke, author of
No Neutrals There - US Labor, Zionism, and the Struggle for Palestine (Haymarket Books).
zoom.us
Booklaunch: Cancelling Billionaires Before They Cancel Us
When: January 21st, 6:30pm
Where: Tranzac Club, 292 Brunswick Ave
Join authors Linda McQuaig and Neil Brooks to celebrate the launch of their book
Cancelling Billionaires Before They Cancel Us: The Urgent Case for a Wealth Tax.
Music by Three Chord Johnny. Everyone is welcome.
dundurn.com
Toronto Association for Peace and Solidarity AGM
When: January 22nd, 7pm.
Where: OPSEU, 31 Wellesley St. E
The Toronto Association for Peace and Solidarity strives to agitate, educate and organize in the GTA for a world without war and oppression. Join the AGM to learn about the plan for 2026, becoming a member, and joining the struggle for peace.
instagram.com
Earth's Greatest Enemy
When: January 23rd, 6:30pm
Where: Paradise Theatre, 1006c Bloor St W
Join Abby Martin for the Toronto premiere of her feature documentary film on the environmental impact of the US military!
"Earth's Greatest Enemy" is the second documentary from journalist Abby Martin that uncovers a shocking blind spot in the climate conversation: the US military.
eventbrite.com
Cybernetic Circulation Complex
When: Friday January 23rd, 7pm
Where: College Street United Church, 502 Bathurst St
Big Tech firms dominate the global economy. But what value do they actually produce? In
Cybernetic Circulation Complex: Big Tech and Planetary Crisis (Verso, 2024), Nick Dyer-Witheford and Alessandra Mularoni argue that the role of firms like Amazon and Google, Palantir and Uber, is in the speeding up and automation of the circulation of commodities. Big Tech aims to subject everything, from advertising and shopping, to logistics and financial services to the level of control and predictability that capital has secured in industrial production.
tickettailor.com
Higher Education Organizing Meeting
When: January 29th, 6:30pm
Where: College Street United Church, 502 Bathurst St
Building on our first successful meeting in November, we're forging ahead with our sectoral-wide organizing strategy in the higher education sector. Our second organizing meeting, which will be held on January 15th, is focused on creating a Solidarity Pact for higher education workers. Sean Smith – a former activist and organizer with the Toronto Airport Workers Council – will be joining us to discuss what a solidarity pact is, how Toronto Airport Workers used it as an organizing tool, and how we can develop something similar to build our collective power across the education sector.
The purpose of January's meeting is threefold: (1) understanding what a Solidarity Pact is and how it can help us develop unity across the sector; (2) begin constructing our own Solidarity Pact; and (3) strategize ways we can use our Solidarity Pact as an organizing tool across the higher education sector.
tally.so
The Revolution of 1936-1939 in Palestine
When: February 1st and 7th, 6pm
Join the Toronto Chapter of the Palestinian Youth Movement for a special 2-part book club on Ghassan Kanafani's
The Revolution of 1936-1939 in Palestine. This interactive book club will take place in-person over two evening on Sunday February 1 and Saturday Feb 7.
The first session aims to provide relevant context and background for understanding Palestinian revolutionary history and the second session builds upon these learnings as it applies to the Revolt period itself. Both sessions are interactive with breakout group discussions and planned activities.
instagram.com
ARTICLES
Higher Education in the Time of Fascist Plague
By Henry A. Giroux
The horrors of fascism have returned, not as ghosts, but as a plague, fueled by racial hatred and historical amnesia, infiltrating schools, universities, and the public sphere through state violence, fear, censorship, and manufactured ignorance. Across the globe, fascist forces – emboldened by resurgent colonial logics, neoliberal cruelty, and virulent white nationalism – have transformed universities into battlegrounds for democracy's future.
Source:
The Bullet No. 3245
Free Speech and Its Enemies
By Patrick Lawrence
“We are just so shocked,” a German friend residing in Switzerland wrote the other day. “These cases affect us very much, as they will have consequences for us all.” What cases would these be, you may wonder. What cases and what consequences? You may especially wonder about cases and consequences if you are an American reliant on corporate media: Europe is convulsing as the “centrist” authoritarians who purport to lead it impose what looks to me like an historically unprecedented regime of censorship and the suppression of speech, but none of the mainstream dailies or broadcasters in America have had a word to say about it – a point to which I will shortly return.
Source:
The Bullet No. 3246
Another World Is Not Only Possible — It Is Necessary and Urgent
By Zabalaza for Socialism
We enter a new year in a time of deep crisis and danger. In South Africa, the state under the Government Of National Unity dominated by the African National Congress (ANC) continues to fail and collapse. Basic services are crumbling, corruption and patronage flourish, unemployment and hunger get worse, and the everyday violence of poverty is normalised. The governing elite has shown, again and again, that it is neither willing nor able to meet the needs of the people and especially the poor and working class majority.
Source:
The Bullet No. 3247
The Attack on Venezuela: The Return of Spheres of Interest?
By Heikki Patomaki
The oil tanker hijackings, the US invasion of Venezuela, and the kidnapping of President Nicolás Maduro and his wife Cilia Adela Flores, violate many laws. These include the UN Charter, the law of the sea (especially UNCLOS), and the 1988 Convention on Drug Trafficking. The attack is also problematic for the US's own political and legal system. The Trump administration acted without congressional authorisation and ignored other legal considerations. In this article, I consider to what extent the attack only deepens the ongoing retrogression toward traditional imperialism, and to what extent it is more a matter of the old dying at the time when the new cannot yet be born. Many pathological symptoms are evident in such an in-between state.
Source:
The Bullet No. 3248