CONTENTS

1. CALLS TO ACTION
2. EVENTS
3. ARTICLES

Take Action for OPSEU Local 546

In Ontario, people are supposed to be able to join a union and work with respect and a fair contract. But Premier Ford is making that impossible for the safety inspectors and support staff who work for the Technical Standards and Safety Authority (TSSA). These workers need your help to end their strike and get a first contract.

If you think people deserve respect at work, union standards, and fair treatment – send a message to the Premier now!

Ask your co-workers to help too – text SAFETY to 55255.

labourcouncil.ca

Fair Pay and Job Security for OCAD U Sessionals

Sessional Faculty at OCAD University are calling on the OCAD U leadership to work with us to improve our working conditions.

Sessionals at OCAD U are amongst the lowest paid university faculty in Ontario. The majority of our sessionals (70%) have been teaching at OCAD U for more than five years – many for over a decade – and yet remain precarious and underpaid.

In the Spring of 2022 Sessional OCAD U faculty formed a Task Force. We have two demands: Fair Pay and Job Security.

change.org

Parkdale Tower Rental Housing Study

When: Thursday September 15th, 6pm

Almost three years of community organising has finally resulted in a report exploring the effects of financialisation of rental housing in Parkdale. Parkdale Neighbourhood Land Trust organised local tenants in helping design a detailed comprehensive 85-question survey and then paid tenants to administer that survey to hundreds of their neighbours, all during a serious pandemic!

After months of data crunching and report drafting, we went back to tenants to receive feedback on our recommendations, and after all this collaborative community effort, we are now ready to make the results public!

eventbrite.com

Citizen Oil

When: September 15th, 7pm

Hosted by Stand.Eearth’s Tzeporah Berman, the conversation will focus on how Big Oil flexes it political muscles to block meaningful climate action in Canada and what we can do about it.

As panellists Gordon Laxer and Tim Wood have extensively documented, the oil and gas industry does much more than just dispatch lobbyists to Parliament Hill. In recent years, major oil companies have invested heavily in building up pro-oil citizens’ front groups while allying with sympathetic politicians and journalists to attack environmentalists as illegitimate, “foreign-funded,” and “un-Canadian.”

tcan.ca

Film and Discussion: “My Tree”

When: September 15th, 7pm

“My Tree” is a Canadian documentary film, directed by Jason Sherman and released in 2021. The film centres on his trip to Israel to locate a tree that was planted in his name decades earlier. As the story unfolds, Jason’s encounters with Jewish Israelis and Palestinians takes on the character of a voyage of discovery and revelation. The film looks at the discovery of a destroyed Palestinian village and how this gives rise to questions of responsibility.

ijvcanada.org

Rally at Doug Ford’s Constituency Office

When: September 16th, 11am
Where: 823 Albion Rd, Etobicoke

Ontario’s safety inspectors are still on strike, and have been for almost 8 weeks. We know how important this fight is. If a body set up by the provincial government can union bust, how safe are other workers? Do we risk getting “right to work” legislation if they think we’re weak?

Tell Doug Ford that his government needs to stand up for public safety and for workers at the TSSA.

Facebook event

Understanding the Ukraine War

When: September 18th, 1pm

A Conversation involving Professor Richard A. Falk, Dr. Arnd Jurgensen and others

The conversation revolves around Falk’s contention that the Ukraine war is particularly dangerous and difficult to resolve because it involves conflict at three inter-related levels: Russia versus Ukraine, NATO (US ) versus Russia (the geopolitical struggle), and Western Ukraine versus Donbass.

Facebook event

Rights, Regularization, Status for All!

When: September 18th, 2pm
Where: Christie Pits Park, 750 Bloor St W

On September 18 – one day before the Canadian Parliament returns – we will gather in the thousands to demand equal rights and permanent resident status for all undocumented people, migrant workers, students, families and refugees. A historic regularization program is on the horizon, but we need to take to the streets to ensure that no one is left behind. This is the one! ALL OUT!

actionnetwork.org | Facebook event

TPFF 2022

When: September 21-25

The Toronto Palestine Film Festival (TPFF) is now live! We’re proud to present the 15th edition of our film festival, which will take place from September 21-25.

First things first, we’re excited to reveal our film selection and our most diverse, innovative, and thought-provoking program yet. This year’s festival will feature an exciting array of Palestinian films, music, art, discussions, and cuisine. You can enjoy our program in-theatre at the TIFF Bell Lightbox, and online via the TPFF website.

Book Launch with Saeed Teebi

When: Sept. 21st, 6:30pm
Where: TIFF Bell Lightbox, 350 King Street W, 3rd Floor

TPFF is proud to host the book launch for Her First Palestinian by Saaed Teebi. The book is a collection of elegant, surprising short stories about Palestinian immigrants in Canada navigating their identities in circumstances that push them to the emotional brink.

eventbrite.ca

People, Power, and the Park

When: September 22-25
Where: Allan Gardens

From September 22 to 25, join us for People, Power, and the Park, a free four-day festival celebrating Allan Gardens’ history as a vital and valued gathering place in Toronto!

Allan Gardens has been home to Indigenous peoples for millennia and for over 125 years has welcomed communities from a broad spectrum, from suffragists and poets to environmental and anti-poverty activists. Through art and celebratory activities, People, Power, and the Park will pay tribute to Allan Gardens’ history as a site of rallies, festivals, protests, and dialogues!

People, Power, and the Park is a part of Imagine the Park, external link, an ongoing programme of events presented in and around Allan Gardens by the Office of Social Innovation, and Toronto Metropolitan University, in partnership with community stakeholders.

torontomu.ca

Defending Palestinian Civil Society: Understanding Canada’s Role

Legal and policy experts from prominent Palestinian human rights organizations discuss the threat by Israel to terminate their work and silence others. They talk about how Canada has enabled the Israeli war on Palestinian Civil Society and how Canadian civil society can respond.

Source: LeftStreamed

Temporary Migration or Landed Status Now?

By S.K. Hussan

These calls – Landed Status Now, Status Now, or Status for All – have unified migrants for decades. Our demand is radical in its simplicity: Permanent resident status for every person in the country immediately, and permanent resident status on arrival for every migrant in the future. Temporary immigration has really only ballooned to where it is today over the last 20 years. Where there used to be thousands, there are now at least 1.2 million people on temporary work, study and refugee claimants permits. Most of them cannot stay permanently, and eventually are forced to stay here without papers or leave. As a result, there are now half a million undocumented people in the country.

Source: The Bullet No. 2681

James Connolly on a Visit of King George V (1911)

By James Connolly

Fellow-Workers, as you are aware from reading the daily and weekly newspapers, we are about to be blessed with a visit from King George V. Knowing from previous experience of Royal Visits, as well as from the Coronation orgies of the past few weeks, that the occasion will be utilised to make propaganda on behalf of royalty and aristocracy against the oncoming forces of democracy and National freedom, we desire to place before you some few reasons why you should unanimously refuse to countenance this visit, or to recognise it by your presence at its attendant processions or demonstrations.

Source: The Bullet No. 2682

Sweden: Right-Wing Coalition Wins Election by the Narrowest of Margins

By Petter Nilsson and Rikard Warlenius

With almost all votes counted from Sunday’s election, it looks like Sweden’s right-wing parties are set to take power with a razor-thin majority, ending eight years of social democratic government. For the first time, this conservative coalition also includes the far-right Sweden Democrats, who have emerged as the country’s second largest party, despite their roots in Sweden’s neo-Nazi movement. The result is an evident decline for the progressive spectrum of Swedish politics as a whole and the Left party in particular.

Source: The Bullet No. 2683

The Bewildering Vote in Chile That Rejected a New Constitution

By Taroa Zuñiga Silva and Vijay Prashad

On September 4, 2022, more than 13 million Chileans – out of a voting-eligible population of approximately 15 million – voted on a proposal to introduce a new constitution in the country. As early as March, polls began to suggest that the constitution would not be able to pass. However, polls had hinted for months at a narrowing of the lead for the rejection camp, and so proponents of the new constitution remained hopeful that their campaign would in the end successfully convince the public to set aside the 1980 constitution placed upon the country by the military dictatorship led by General Augusto Pinochet.

Source: The Bullet No. 2684