CALLS TO ACTION
Mercury Justice for Grassy Narrows
The devastating mercury crisis in Grassy Narrows First Nation has persisted for decades. Join us as we take action for mercury justice and demand:
* Compensate everyone in Grassy Narrows!
* Build the Mercury Home now!
This June, we will be travelling to Toronto for events to raise public awareness about our struggle for justice and water protection. But we need your support to make this happen!
Donate now to help our community members travel 1,700km from Grassy Narrows to Toronto!
EVENTS
Apr 18, 2019 - Doug Ford's War on The Poor
When: Thursday, April 18th, 6pm
Where: CRC, 40 Oak St.
The Ford government's first budget came out Thursday, April 11. It is bad news for the people. But the populist Premier knows that bad news must be delivered with a smile and confusing rhetoric.
So join us to make sense of how the budget will impact our lives, from education to healthcare to social assistance, and more. Then let's figure out how to build a resistance movement that can become Dougie's worst nightmare.
Speakers:
* Natalie Mehra, Ontario Health Coalition
* Amina Vance, Students Say No
* Jackie Esmonde, Income Security Advocacy Centre
* Shelagh Pizey-Allen, TTC Riders
* Kelly White, Street Health Overdose Prevention Site
* John Clarke, Ontario Coalition Against Poverty
Facebook event
Apr 20, 2019 - If Beale Street Could Talk
When: Saturday April 20th, 6pm
Where: 524 Oakwood Ave.
This long weekend we have the pleasure of screening
If Beale Street Could Talk, featuring academy award winner Regina King and Toronto native Stephan James. Refreshments will be provided. See you there!
www.eventbrite.ca
Apr 23, 2019 - Fight for $15 Toronto Wide Organizing Meeting
When: April 23rd, doors open 5:30pm, meeting starts at 6pm
Where: 720 Spadina Ave, Room 223
Despite the setback with Doug Ford’s Bill 47, we protected modest but important gains for workers. However, Ford tabled new and dangerous legislation – Bill 66 – that cuts important regulations and threatens to make it harder for workers to unionize and to get proper overtime pay for duly-worked hours.
Let’s build on our impressive work to date, join us on Tuesday, April 23 – and bring a friend or co-worker!
www.15andfairness.org
Apr 23, 2019 - Booklaunch: A Grander Vision: My Life in the Labour Movement
When: Tuesday, April 23rd, doors open at 6pm, event starts at 7pm
Where: Lula Lounge, 1585 Dundas Street W.
Sid Ryan, one of Canada’s most courageous and progressive union leaders, draws on the experience of his varied and colourful life to show what is right with the labour movement, what is wrong, and what has to change if it is to avoid becoming irrelevant.
He calls for the adoption of Social Movement Unionism, in which labour forges an alliance with other progressive elements in civil society, taking up the cause of young people, precarious workers, and immigrants. He demands a renewed commitment to the NDP, the party that was built by unions, and he argues that the LEAP Manifesto should become the pillars of the movement in Canada.
A Grander Vision is a stirring, heartfelt manifesto written by a man who fervently believes in what workers with their civil society allies, can achieve for the good of all.
Facebook event
Apr 25, 2019 - Nuclear Weapons: The Untold Story
When: Thursday, April 25th, 5:30pm
Where: Chelsea Hotel, 33 Gerrard Street W.
With Linda McQuaig and Doug Roche
An alarming new nuclear arms race has started. This special event to prod new Canadian action will feature a keynote speech by best-selling author Linda McQuaig:
Nuclear Weapons: The Untold Story. Also, the International Peace Bureau will present its prestigious Seán MacBride Peace Prize to former Senator Douglas Roche, former Canadian Ambassador for Disarmament, for his “indefatigable work” building strong public support for a common security agenda.
www.eventbrite.com
Apr 25, 2019 - Revolutionary Struggle in Sudan
When: Thursday, April 25th, 7pm
Where: Greek Canadian Democratic Organization, 290 Danforth Ave,
Presentation and discussion with Elfadil Elhashmi, Sudanese Communist Party.
Bashir is gone but replaced by a military/palace coup. (For now) The position of the Sudanese CP "is rejection of the military coup & attempt to steal the revolution or to abort it or keep any of the codes of the regime on the transitional rule, whether it is a military council or succession, which will help to reproduce the hateful system." Events are moving quickly in Sudan - come to this PV Forum to find out more!
Facebook event
Apr 25, 2019 - Booklaunch: A New Kind of Union
When: Thursday, April 25th, 7pm
Where: Another Story Bookshop, 315 Roncesvalles Ave,
"In this inspiring and well-told account, long-time progressive activist Fred Wilson tells the inside story of the hopes and dreams and battles that led to Unifor's creation." - Linda McQuaig, Toronto Star
Join Fred Wilson for the launch of his new book,
A New Kind of Union: Unifor and the birth of the modern Canadian union.
Copies of the book will be available for purchase.
Facebook event
Apr 25, 2019 - [Oshawa] Nationalize General Motors: Oshawa's Green New Deal
When: Thursday, April 25th, 7pm
Where: IBEW Hall, 1001 Ritson Rd S. Oshawa
Join in a discussion on unexplored alternatives: how we could nationalize GM under Democratic workers' and community control while implementing a Green New Deal for Oshawa. The Green New Deal is a plan to create millions of jobs, while taking on climate change, building stronger communities, and tackling inequalities. What could this kind of transformation look like in Oshawa?
Facebook event
ARTICLES
Divided Province
Ontario Politics in the Age of Neoliberalism
Edited by Greg Albo and Bryan M. Evans
No government jurisdiction in Canada has so radically transformed its public policies over the past decades as Ontario, and yet the province has also maintained a striking degree of political stability in its party system. Since the 1990s, neoliberalism has been the point of reference in constructing policy agendas for all of Ontario's political parties. It has guided the strategy for governance of the dominant Liberal Party since 2003, even as it divides the province between workers and employers, north and south, rural and urban, and racialized minorities and the majority population.
The first book to offer a comprehensive critical account of neoliberalism in Ontario,
Divided Province overturns conventional readings of the province's politics and suggests that building a more democratic and egalitarian alternative to the current orthodoxy requires nothing less than a radical rupture from existing policies and political alliances. Without such a decisive break, political space may well open up again for the populist right.
www.mqup.ca/divided-province
The impacts of austerity in Greece
Oats for Breakfast talks with Ilias Gerakos, a teacher and activist from the northern Greek city of Thessaloniki, about the impact that years of austerity have had on the country.
Source:
Oats for Breakfast
Zimbabwe: Cyclone Idai, Sanctions and Capitalism
By Mafa Kwanisai Mafa
About a month ago Zimbabwe, Malawi and Mozambique were devastated by a tropical cyclone that was described by the United Nations as one of the worst disasters ever to strike the Southern Hemisphere. Approximately 2.6 million people were affected in the three countries. Cyclone Idai hit the Mozambican port city of Beira with winds up to 170km/h. It then proceeded inland into Zimbabwe and Malawi, flattening buildings and taking more than 1,000 people, with many others unaccounted for across the three countries. Torrential rainfall washed away road networks in Zimbabwe.
Source:
The Bullet No. 1802
Québec Solidaire to Fight Quebec Government’s Bill 21 on Religion and the State
By Richard Fidler
As it had threatened during last fall’s election campaign, the newly-elected Coalition Avenir Québec (CAQ) government has introduced legislation to prohibit a wide range of persons "in authority," including teachers, from wearing symbols of their religious beliefs while exercising their functions. Those affected include judges, prosecutors, police, and jail guards, but also teachers, childcare providers, public transit operators, health and social service workers, municipal and administrative tribunal and board officials, etc.
Source:
The Bullet No. 1803
Defiant Resistance: The Venezuelan Crises and the Possibility of Another World
By Jeremiah Gaster
Bob Dylan once said, "Let us not talk falsely now, the hour is getting late." February 23rd, 2019, was the day that Juan Guaidó, the self-proclaimed President of Venezuela, had "authorized" "humanitarian aid" to enter Venezuela, an attempt to force the Maduro government, and thus the Venezuelan people, to their knees. There is great urgency as an ever-increasing escalation of violence is being perpetuated by those who would destroy Venezuela, including several attacks on Venezuela’s electrical grid over the last few weeks. But let me be clear: the Venezuelan poor are resilient, and any change will be on their terms. Most importantly, Venezuelan politics is collective, and there is a deep form of solidarity across communities along with an abiding interest in building a different form of politics.
Source:
The Bullet No. 1804