CSJ Newsletter
July 10, 2025
CALLS TO ACTION
Suspend the Canada-Israel Free Trade AgreementWhereas:
- The Israeli government's blockade of food and medicines to Gaza has continued for more than 90 days since its commencement on 2 March 2025;
- According to the food security analysis released on 12 May 2025 by the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification partnership, three quarters of Gaza's population are currently at “Emergency” or “Catastrophic” food deprivation;
- Canada has ratified the four Geneva Conventions of 1949, giving these the force of law through the Geneva Conventions Act of 1964, which prohibits the use of starvation of civilians as a method of warfare;
- The starvation of civilians and other forms of collective punishment are also criminalized by the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, which Canada ratified on July 7, 2000; and
- The Government of Canada is the custodian of Canada's reputation as a country which upholds international human rights laws, and has a duty towards Canadians to ensure this reputation is not diminished by Canada's inaction in the face of grave breaches of the Geneva Convention and the Rome Statute by other states.
We, the undersigned, People of Canada, call upon the Government of Canada to 1. Suspend the Canada-Israel Free Trade Agreement until the Government of Canada has certitude that the Israeli government is no longer acting in violation of international laws with its deliberate blockade.
ourcommons.ca
EVENTS
Booklaunch: Cross-Border Cosmopolitans
When: July 10th, 6pm
Where: A Different Booklist, 779 Bathurst St.
Join A Different Booklist for a talk with author Wendell Nii Laryea Adjetey and their book
Cross-Border Cosmopolitans: The Making of a Pan-African North America. This book will address how the Black, Red, and Quebecous Power Movements inspired U.S. and Canadian Intelligence services to infiltrate the Black Liberation Movement across North America and Southern Africa.
instagram.com
Booklaunch: When Genocide Wasn't News
When: July 10th, 7pm
Where: CSI-Annex, 720 Bathurst St
Join journalists Martin Lukacs and Desmond Cole and lawyer Dania Majid for a conversation about the newly published book
When Genocide Wasn't News: How Canadian media covered-up the destruction of Gaza.
The sharp and searing anthology lays bare the Canadian establishment media's complicity in the destruction of Gaza.
Published by
The Breach, an award-winning independent media outlet, the collection brings together urgent investigations and analysis by leading independent journalists and advocates who set the record straight.
Facebbook
Palestine Day
When: July 13th, 1pm
Where: Carl Zehr Square, Downtown Kitchener
For the upcoming 4th annual Palestine Day: The Land Remains event on July 13th at Carl Zehr Square, we have worked hard to bring you a full day of programming filled with Palestinian culture and tradition as well as educational exhibits. These all aim to demonstrate the beauty of Palestine and affirm Palestinian steadfastness.
instagram.com
BDS Leafletting
When: Every Saturday, 1-2pm
Where: Dufferin Mall, 900 Dufferin St (south entrance by Marshalls)
End the Occupation! Build the Boycott! This is your friendly reminder of D4P's weekly BDS leafleting taking place every Saturday from 1 to 2 pm at Dufferin Mall. Meet outside south entrance to mall, 900 Dufferin Street by Marshalls. No prior experience necessary! We can buddy you up if it's your first time.
instagram.com
Weekly Phone-zap for Palestine
When: Mondays at 12:30pm
Week after week, we're keeping the momentum going with our Monday lunchtime zaps.
Our collective action is making waves, but we need to ensure our elected officials continue to feel the pressure until real change happens.
Instagram poster | Register at
zoom
Canadian Foreign Policy Hour with Yves Engler
When: Mondays at 6pm
Join author Yves Engler on Mondays for a weekly news roundup and interactive discussion about Canada's role abroad. This weekly session will delve into the latest developments on subjects ranging from military affairs and Canada's role in Ukraine to its contribution to Palestinian dispossession, and the exploitation of African resources. Join Yves for a critical take on Canada's foreign policy. Questions, comments, and criticisms are all welcome.
zoom.us
Witnessing and Resisting
When: July 14th, 7pm
Amidst the ongoing genocide in Gaza and continued Israeli attacks across the region, much of the world's attention has been diverted away from the worsening situation in the West Bank. Palestinians across the West Bank have experienced increased violence, demolitions, and displacement from settlers and Israeli Occupation Forces.
Toronto-based activist Anna Lippman has recently returned from spending three months on the front lines of settler and State violence in Masafer Yatta, or the South Hebron Hills, in the occupied West Bank. Made famous by the Academy Award winning film,
No Other Land, Anna witnessed the steadfastness of these communities firsthand. Hear about the experience of living with a small farming community, engaging in daily life, and coming face to face with soldiers, police, border security, and extremist settlers. In her three months, Anna was arrested once, detained over ten times, witness to three arsons, and was a victim of six violent attacks by settler youth.
tickettailor.com
Will Carney stop the privatization of healthcare in Canada?
When: July 15th, 12pm
Join Canadian Health Coalition's Anne Lagacé Dowson for an online conversation about the privatization of healthcare with Ontario Health Coalition's Natalie Mehra, Andrew Longhurst and Canadian Doctors for Medicare's Dr. Melanie Bechard.
zoom.us
Letter to My Tribe
When: Tuesday Jul 15th, 7pm
Where: Trinity-St. Paul's United Church, 427 Bloor Street W
Tickets are $10 or pay what you can (PWYC)
Over many years my mother and I have had numerous arguments, some recorded, some not. These form the backbone of this video essay in which Israelis and Jews, journalists, activists and a rabbi are interviewed, and in which documentation of actions on the ground are woven with more personal family histories and journeys to Iraq and to Poland."
eventbrite.com
Grandmothers Against Genocide
When: Every Wednesday, 8am - 10am
Where: Bay and Bloor St
Peaceful vigil for Gaza. You don't have to be a grandmother to show your support.
Facebook
Women In Black
Wednesdays Wkly 8am: Grandmothers Against Genocide Vigil.
Bay/Bloor
Thursdays Wkly 8am: Grandmothers Against Genocide Vigil.
Kingston Rd./Victoria Park
Saturdays Wkly 8am: Grandmothers Against Genocide. Kennedy and Sheppard.
Peaceful vigil for Gaza. You don't have to be a grandmother to show your support.
Facebook
Land Back (screening, teach-in)
When: Wednesday, July 16th at 6:30pm
Where: Downtown Toronto (exact location with RSVP)
Suggested donation: $10
Join Eglinton-Lawrence & Don Valley for Palestine a screening of
A Red Road to the West Bank where they will unpack the intersectionalities between two different genocides and people's resistance between Palestine and Turtle Island. It is not enough to only be in solidarity with Palestinians when the First Nations, Métis, and Inuit of the land we are on, in so-called Canada, are experiencing their own ongoing genocide and ethnic cleansing.
instagram.com
ARTICLES
Public Schools, Climate Disasters, Workers' Control
By Don Fitz
One of the most unaddressed problems in coping with climate catastrophes is who will make decisions concerning what to do. There is a widespread assumption that the shots should be called by experts who advise politicians who are beholden to heads of mega-corporations who hold the purse strings to re-election campaigns. This does not seem to be working too well. Perhaps it is time to explore another path to responding to crises such as floods, droughts, hurricanes, and tornadoes that plague billions of people.
Source:
The Bullet No. 3159
The State of Africa in the New World Order
By Will Shoki
Africa today stands at a crossroads, caught between internal crises, shifting global power dynamics, and the slow unraveling of the post-liberation political order. Across the continent, ruling parties that once commanded legitimacy as national liberators are losing their grip; yet the opposition remains fragmented, offering little in the way of alternative governance.
Source:
The Bullet No. 3160
City of Vaughan Attacks Free Speech
CUPE Ontario is calling out City of Vaughan politicians for overreach in the firing of a long-serving York Region paramedic and for subjecting a dedicated employee to trial by social media. Katherine Grzejszczak, a member of CUPE 4900, was fired last week for a comment she made on Facebook in support of an anti-war rally. CUPE Ontario was one of more than a dozen sponsors of the rally and Grzejszczak is an elected member of CUPE Ontario's executive board.
Source:
The Bullet No. 3161
Put the Social Back in Socialism
Raquel Varela is a social and labour historian, researcher and Professor at New University of Lisbon.
Source:
LeftStreamed - short