Your generous support of the Centre for Social Justice in the past is deeply appreciated. Your contribution is of vital importance to the struggle for a peaceful world, and social and ecological justice in Ontario and Canada. Unfortunately, the world today is far from at peace, with a war in Ukraine still raging after three years, horrific strife across the Middle East and genocide in Gaza, and a new Cold War with a massive armaments buildup unfolding in East Asia between the US and China. All this in addition to a new deployment of nuclear warheads and hypersonic missile systems of incomprehensible lethal power. The arms agreements the CSJ has struggled to uphold since the 1990s are now abandoned (with all but silence on these issues from Canada).

Military conflict is paralleled by a rise in civic conflict in the form of burgeoning far-right governments worldwide Their growing political strength stretches across Europe, from France, Germany, and Italy to Eastern Europe but also in states across the global South, most recently Argentina, and now the US with the return of Donald Trump to the White House. Canada has not been insulated from these trends, with Danielle Smith, Scott Moe, and Doug Ford occupying provincial offices in Canada, and a Conservative Party led by Pierre Poilievre, with his mimicry of Trumpism, on the edge of power in Canada. It is alarming to see the rise of gross social inequalities and the acceptance of reactionary political movements. We have supported educational efforts and organizing on both of these issues for a long time, and this is a crucial time to redouble our efforts.

Over the last years, we have been helping build the Leo Panitch School for Socialist Education, in honour of long-time patron of the CSJ and a leading intellectual in Canada. We've supported public forums, reading groups, and workshops on Union Organizing at Amazon, Climate Change as Class War, Reinventing Work, Beyond Digital Capitalism, The Right, Social Movements, and the Ontario Election. We also supported book launches of the Socialist Register, The Fall and Rise of American Finance, Colonialism and Capitalism: Canada's Origins; and helped with Film Social in screening socially-significant films and discussions. The CSJ will continue to collaborate with community groups and university labour centres to sponsor public discussions about Toronto, Canadian politics, and current developments in world capitalism.

We could not keep the Centre's programs going without your financial support. The neoliberal austerity agenda is on the verge of taking another hard right turn with the rise of Trump and Poilievre, and with the Business Council of Canada demanding a massive ramping up of military spending well past even NATO targets. We need to join the growing protest movements against climate change and inequality and the New Cold War with its proliferation of spending on weapons. It is imperative to find new routes to peace, meeting human needs, and alternative political agendas. 2026 is going to be a crucial year for social justice.

We want to thank all of you who have helped us fund our programming at the Centre for Social Justice. Without your support we could not continue to be such a key part of building a new politics in Ontario and Canada. Donations can be made online at www.socialjustice.org/donate, and please consider joining our monthly plan, and subscribe to our weekly social justice newsletter.

P.S. Don't forget the tax receipt deadline is December 31st! Make your year-end contributions today to receive a 2025 tax receipt.