CONTENTS
CALLS TO ACTION
Stop mass deportations of Somali refugee youth
We are Qalid, Kaif, Hamza and Jamal. We are four of at least 100 young Somali refugees who are in crisis. We are speaking up today to get our #StatusBack and to call for #StatusForAll.We have been ruthlessly stripped of our Canadian identities and documents as a result of unfair legal proceedings. We are suffering in an agonizing limbo as we await our deportations. For years, we have spent hundreds of thousands of dollars in legal fees, scraped together by working minimum wage jobs but have not received justice.
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EVENTS
Book launch: Selling the American People
When: Sept 14th, 6pmWhere: 140 Saint George St
Join the Toronto launch of Dr. Lee McGuigan’s Selling the American People: Advertising, Optimization, and the Origins of Adtech (MIT Press, 2023). Presentation by the author, followed by an interactive Q&A session with the audience.
Algorithms, data extraction, digital marketers monetizing “eyeballs”: these all seem like such recent features of our lives. And yet, Lee McGuigan tells us in this eye-opening book, digital advertising was well underway before the widespread use of the Internet.
eventbrite.ca
March to End Fossil Fuels
When: September 16th, 11amWhere: Queen’s Park
The fossil-fuel driven climate crisis is accelerating but so is the movement for climate justice. This rally is part of a globally coordinated action to demand that governments end fossil fuels – fast, fair, and forever.
This event is being organized by a coalition of climate justice organizations in Toronto. We stand in solidarity with all those on the frontline of the climate crisis, particularly Black, Indigenous and radicalized communities who have been leading the fight against the fossil fuel industry.
endfossilfuels.ca
Regularize Everyone: It’s time.
When: Sunday, September 17th, 2pmWhere: Bloor and Yonge intersection
Bills are skyrocketing, rent is beyond reach, forests are ablaze, and healthcare is being privatized. We are in the midst of an inequality crisis, with migrants who grow the food, care for the sick, build the homes, and keep us going bearing some of the heaviest burden. Lack of permanent resident status leaves them without basic rights and protections; yet without them, society would grind to a halt. Combating climate change and ending the affordability crisis also requires regularizing all undocumented people. Achieving justice and equality for all requires permanent resident status for all.
On September 17, 2023, the day before Parliament returns, let’s unite in massive cross-country actions. Prime Minister Trudeau keeps stalling and we cannot keep waiting. The time for change is now.
migrantrights.ca
Canadian Foreign Policy Hour with Yves Engler
When: Mondays at 6pmJoin 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
Stop Corporate Lawsuits
When: September 19th, 11amSupport calls for participatory review of investment treaties that allow transnationals to sue Colombia.
In recent years, Colombia has faced attacks from transnational mining corporations targeting the important achievements of struggles in defense of life and territories. Join this conversation with Colombian and international organizations that participated in the Mission to Colombia to #StopISDS about how these claims threaten peoples and fragile ecosystems in La Guajira and Santander. Learn what you can do to take action to support their call for a Citizens Auditing Commission to facilitate Colombia’s withdrawal from the unjust system that allows transnational corporations to bring such suits in secretive supranational arbitration tribunals.
zoom.us
Workers Graphic Histories
When: September 19th, 7pmJoin this exciting and informative Zoom presentation exploring Graphic Histories. Topics include:
– The history of labour comics/graphic histories,
– The challenges and opportunities of producing graphic labour histories,
– Experiences from artists involved in their creation,
– And publisher insights into what’s involved with republishing old labour comics.
Speakers:
– Julia Smith, Ph.D. (she/her/hers): Assistant Professor, Labour Studies Program, University of Manitoba
– Sean Carleton: Historian and Indigenous Studies Scholar, University of Manitoba
– Devin Clancy: Design and Production Manager, Between the Lines
– Orion Keresztesi: Artist and Activist
twhp.ca
Summer of Fire
When: September 20th, 7:30pmThis month, Off the Hill returns to our monthly live panel series to discuss the social and environmental impact the wildfires had on Canada this summer, how everyday Canadians can get involved in climate justice and how we can hold the federal government accountable for climate solutions.
Join MP Leah Gazan, Clayton Thomas-Müller, Chuka Ejeckam, Diana Yoon and Karl Nerenberg with co-hosts Robin Browne and Libby Davies.
zoom.us
Stop Healthcare Privatization
When: September 25th, 12noonWhere: Queen’s Park
Make a major show of strength to set the tone for the reopening of the Ontario Legislature. We are not going away. We are unalterably opposed to the privatization of our public hospitals. We paid for them. We built them. They do not belong to the Ford government to run them into crisis, gut their core services and privatize them.
We demand that the Ford government:
– Stop the privatization of our public hospitals
– Stop creating a crisis in our public hospitals by underfunding them, cutting and closing services, and trying to roll back wages of nurses, health professionals & support staff,
– Expand the use of existing ORs in our public hospitals, and
– Expand capacity in our public hospitals & restore closed services.
ontariohealthcoalition.ca
ARTICLES
The UPS Agreement in its ‘Concrete Context and Outcomes’
By Sam GindinIn an earlier discussion of the recent Teamster-UPS Agreement, I decried the generally uncritical cheerleading of the agreement and cited Barry Eidlin as someone who at least thoughtfully ‘raised important qualifications’. Eidlin, however, seems determined to prove me wrong in my praise. In a counter to my assessment, Eidlin states that my critique “provides a good roadmap for socialists organizing in the workplace as to what to fight for going forward.” But he quickly adds that “as a concrete analysis of the context and outcomes surrounding the contract, it falls short.”
Source: The Bullet No. 2869
Climate Change and Fossil Fuel Capitalism
By John ClarkeNicolas Graham certainly didn’t intend this book, first published in 2020, to be a ‘popular’ depiction of the climate crisis or a strident call to action for potential climate-justice activists. As he puts it in his Acknowledgements, his detailed and scholarly contribution to the ecosocialist perspective “grew out of my dissertation and is therefore the final step in a research and writing project that has spanned several years.” As the outcome of this process, Forces of Production, Climate Change and Canadian Fossil Capitalism contributes to an understanding of capitalism’s assault on the natural world.
Source: The Bullet No. 2870
Freedom for Boris Kagarlitsky: Solidarity with Antiwar Activists
By Socialist ProjectOn July 25, renowned Russian intellectual and socialist activist Boris Kagarlitsky was detained by the Federal Security Service (FSB) of the Russian state, accused of “justifying terrorism.” He was then immediately transported to the city of Syktyvkar, 1300 kilometers from Moscow. There, in a closed hearing and without his lawyer present, a court ordered he be detained until his trial in late September, when he faces the possibility of up to seven years in prison. Kagarlitsky is a professor at the Moscow Higher School for Social and Economic Sciences, and a founder of the Institute for Globalization Studies and Social Movements.
Source: The Bullet No. 2871
Hospital Capacity Crisis: Ontario Government of Ford Fails to Respond
By Doug AllanCOVID infections continue to drive up hospital costs and inpatient hospitalizations in Ontario. For the most recent fiscal year (April 1, 2022- March 31, 2023) hospital stays related to COVID cost $1.221-billion, according to new Canadian Institute for Health Information (CIHI) data. This is about 4% of total hospital spending, creating a very significant new cost pressure beyond the usual pressures of population growth, aging, inflation, and rising utilization.
Source: The Bullet No. 2872
EMPLOYMENT
Labour Community Advocate (LCA) Training Program
Core to Labour Community Services’ work is the delivery of a 10-week program designed to train union members to become referral agents in their workplaces. Participants receive training on social issues faced by working people and the resources available in their community. The program also includes training in communication, interviewing, and referral techniques so they can assist fellow union members. The program allows participants to explore the ways in which unions and other labour bodies can help build resilient and respectful communities.labourcommunityservices.ca
Research and Communications Internship
Canadians for Tax Fairness (C4TF) is hiring a paid research and communications student intern. Our annual internship is open to post-secondary students and recent post-secondary students in honour of the late Murray Dobbin, progressive economic activist and founding president of Canadians for Tax Fairness.The student will assist with various research, public policy, and communications tasks under the supervision of C4TF’s Executive Director and Communications Coordinator. The student will also work with the organization’s Fundraising Coordinator.
The internship runs for a period of 3 months with flexible start and end dates, ideally beginning in Fall 2023 and ending in 2024. This is a paid, part-time internship (20 hours a week) for $20 an hour. Deadline for application: September 29, 2023.
taxfairness.ca