CONTENTS
CALLS TO ACTION
Pledge for Safe and Supported Communities
Toronto Police Service (TPS) requested — and received — a $46.2 million budget increase for 2025, and spent a total of $1.286 billion. The Toronto Police are the second largest expense in the city’s budget.Despite this massive investment, police cannot guarantee safety. They are the only service provider with the right to bully, brutalize, arrest, and even kill Torontonians in the name of safety. Further, police are not well-positioned to address root causes of harm in our communities. It is crucial that the city redirects funds to housing, to mental health supports, to harm reduction services, to youth outreach, and other services that will support people in crisis, not criminalize them. It has been shown time and again this is how we create safety.
actionnetwork.org
EVENTS
ETFO Support Staff are on Strike
When: January 22nd, 10am – 2pmWhere: 136 Isabella St
Support staff for the Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario (ETFO) are on strike as of Monday January 12! Join the rally to demand respect for their vital role in supporting ETFO.
seiulocal2.ca
Court Solidarity
When: January 20 – 22; 10amWhere: Osgoode Hall, 130 Queen St W
Migrant farm workers have been the backbone of our agricultural industry, putting food on Canadians’ tables and constituting the lynchpin of Canada’s agricultural industry, specifically its export sector.
It is appalling and unconscionable that given these realities, migrant workers continue to be denied access to EI and that there are no mechanisms in place to support workers during these difficult times.
Facebook poster | Petition
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.
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Rally to Keep Work Hybrid
When: January 23rd, 8:30amWhere: 505 University Ave
Since the Ford government’s sudden and arbitrary decision to impose the Return to Office mandate in the Ontario Public Service, we’ve heard from thousands of OPS Unified members about the negative impacts this will have.
That’s why, on Friday, January 23rd, we’re taking our fight against the Return to Office mandate to the next level and we need the help of OPS Unified Members like you to pull it off!
We are organizing mass turnout at a rally on Friday, January 23rd 2026 as our CERC team challenges the Return-to-Office (RTO) mandate head on in mediation at the Ontario Labour Relations Board, arguing that Ford’s heavy-handed decision making during our bargaining process is a violation of the Ontario Labour Relations Act.
mailchi.mp | docs.google.com
Earth’s Greatest Enemy
When: January 23rd, 6:30pm (Matinee at 4pm)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, 7pmWhere: 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
OHC Assembly
When: January 24 and 25Where: Central YMCA, 20 Grosvenor St
Come and hear where the fightback is seeing some success, what the Ford and Carney governments have planned, and how we compare with other provinces. We will bring briefings on key healthcare issues, funding and the enforcement of the Canada Health Act. We will discuss what the impact of our campaigns to date has been and discuss/debate an action plan going forward.
ontariohealthcoalition.ca
No War on Venezuela!
When: Saturday, January 24th, 1pmWhere: In front of US Embassy, 360 University Ave
Pull up to say “NO!” to U.S. aggression on Venezuela and imperialism in the region! #HandsOffVenezuela
Facebook poster | docs.google.com
Rally for Cuba
When: Last Sunday of month – January 25th, 1pmWhere: 361 University Ave
Join our monthly protests to end the immoral US blockade and take Cuba off the US State Sponsors of Terrorism list.
Venezuela: A Caribbean Perspective
When: January 26th, 6pmWhere: 45 Willcocks St
In the wake of the US imperialist attacks against Venezuela, the Caribbean is once again realizing how our “leaders” are quick to collaborate and sacrifice any notion of peace, justice or rights for its own people when regime change and resource theft is on the agenda.
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Disability Without Poverty
When: January 28th, 1pmIn our continued effort to build a national advocacy community and deepen personal advocacy skills, we would love to hear from you about our direction.
We must continue to pressure the Liberal government and its opposition to increase the amount of CDB and streamline the application process.
hubspotpagebuilder.com
Community Care on Campus
When: January 29th, 11:30amWhere: 288 Church St, Room 707/709, Toronto Metropolitan University
Featuring disability justice scholar and care collective organizer, Dr. Loree Erickson, and collective care artist–researcher and TMU ComCult alum, L. Morris, this conversation and workshop will take up how we care for one another in university.
This session will animate Loree’s long-standing and revolutionary work with care collectives and L’s practices of collective care, mutual aid, and harm reduction. We will open with a conversation between Loree and L on collective care, mutual aid, and abolition. We will then have small group discussions and maker circles where participants will reflect on their own care practices and networks, consider tensions between state-supported care and community-led care, and imagine concrete ways to build and sustain care on campus. We will engage these topics through conversation and collage.
eventbrite.ca
Higher Education Organizing Meeting
When: January 29th, 6:30pmWhere: 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
Lea Ypi: Indignity, A Life Reimagined
When: January 29th, 7pmWhere: Toronto Public Library, Bram and Bluma Appel Salon
Political theorist and author Lea Ypi discusses her new book Indignity and discusses how political systems shape individual lives.
TPL and Toronto Metropolitan University present acclaimed political theorist and author Lea Ypi in conversation with Sanjay Ruparelia at the Toronto Reference Library’s Appel Salon.
As Professor of Political Theory at the London School of Economics and author of the international bestseller Free, Lea Ypi brings a unique perspective to understanding democracy’s fragility – one forged through her childhood in communist Albania – and her scholarly work on freedom, citizenship, and political transformation.
eventbrite.ca
FilmSocial: The Day Iceland Stood Still
When: January 31st, 7pmThe Leo Panitch School for Socialist Education is very pleased to present a special screening of “The Day Iceland Stood Still.”
What if every woman simply took the day off? The Day Iceland Stood Still is a film that answers that question. In Iceland, on October 24, 1975, women walked out and stopped working. 90% of the women of Iceland refused to work, cook, or take care of the children. They brought their country to a standstill and catapulted Iceland to the “best place in the world to be a woman” today.
tickettailor.com
Planning in the Face of Fascism
When: May 8 to 10Where University of Toronto, 170 St George St
Planners Network, a network of progressive planners, academics, students and activists based in North America, also known as Turtle Island, and beyond, is seeking proposals for the conference celebrating its 50th anniversary: Planning in the Face of Fascism.
The theme of this conference engages the pressing political challenge confronting progressive people around the world, namely, the global resurgence of the phenomenon popularly known as fascism. While there are of course still academic debates on the proper name to grasp the nature of the current conjuncture, it is clear that the various situations in which planners work—in relation to forces of state, economy and people – are being decisively shaped by comparatively varied combinations of authoritarianism and the far right.
ARTICLES
Enforcement Regime: Immigration hardliners in the US state
By Michael MacherOn September 30, hundreds of federal law enforcement officers raided a 130-unit apartment complex in Chicago’s South Shore neighborhood. After rappelling from a Black Hawk helicopter, rifle-wielding agents hurled stun grenades, kicked down doors and dragged residents out of their apartments, zip-tying and detaining some of them for hours. The operation, ostensibly targeting an alleged stronghold of Venezuela’s Tren de Aragua gang, resulted in thirty-seven arrests of mostly Venezuelan immigrants. Dramatic footage was posted by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) on social media.
Source: The Bullet No. 3249
Supporting the Iranian People’s Struggle for Their Rights
By Syndicate of Workers of Tehran and Suburbs Bus CompanyPopular protests and strikes in cities across the country have now entered their eleventh day. Despite an increasingly securitized atmosphere, the heavy deployment of police and security forces, and violent repression, the protests have continued to expand in both scope and form. According to reports, during this period, at least 174 locations in 60 cities across 25 provinces have witnessed protests, and hundreds of protesters have been arrested. Tragically, during this time at least 35 protesters – including children – have been killed.
Source: The Bullet No. 3250