CONTENTS

1. CALLS TO ACTION
2. EVENTS
3. ARTICLES

Fix Employment Insurance NOW!

On September 24, all temporary measures that improved our access to EI will expire. It’s urgent we extend the Recovery Measures as a bridge to permanent EI improvements. Workers will otherwise face a huge jump in the current minimum of 420 qualifying hours for both Regular and Special Benefits (parental, sickness, etc), and the allocation/clawback of separation payments. Women, workers of colour, and others in precarious jobs are at particular risk.

Please add your name to the petition to fix employment insurance.

Women Of Courage: All Of Our Stories

When: Sept. 20 to Nov. 10

A storytelling workshop series for racialized immigrant Women from CultureLink’s Anti-Racism Action Program.

Racialized immigrant women age 40 and over engage in personal narrative, storytelling and/or drama. We welcome women from Afghanistan, African countries, Caribbean countries, China, Philippines, South Asian countries, Syria, and Tibet. The participants may have conventional refugee, permanent resident, landed immigrant or Canadian Citizen status.

The 8-week online workshop series will be delivered every Tue and Thu, between 6-8 pm. For more information, contact Minerva at mhui@culturelink.ca or 647-539-4273.

culturelink.ca

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.

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, 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

Strike for Safety rally

When: Thursday September 22nd, 12noon
Where: 400 University Ave

Ontario’s safety inspectors have been on strike for two months already. OPSEU Local 546 has been in negotiations for a first contract with their employer, the Technical Safety and Standards Authority (TSSA), since Nov 2021.

Tell the Minister of Labour that we all care about public safety. Stop supporting union busters and scabs. Together with the Society of United Professionals, please join our rally this Thursday.

Policing ecologies: Lessons from the plantations

When: September 22nd, 6pm

A monthly speaker series on Blackness, gender, and new surveillance technologies in Canada.

Speakers: Camisha Sibblis, Dr. Beverly Bain, and Dr. El Jones.

eventbrite.ca

Global Climate Strike

When: Friday September 23rd, 2pm
Where: Queen’s Park, South Lawn

Feeder March:
Meet: 12:30 pm, Steelworkers Hall, 25 Cecil St.
March: 1:15 pm – to Queen’s Park (8-10 blocks)
Bring: Your flags, banners, signs and noisemakers

Join us for the Global Climate Strike as we demand policymakers and world leaders to prioritize #PeopleNotProfit! We demand that our Governments listen to MAPA voices and immediately work to provide Loss & Damage Finance to the communities most affected by the climate crisis.

fridaysforfutureto.org | globalcitizen.org | Facebook event

The Big Toronto Bike Ride

When: September 24th, 10am
Where 1: Fountainhead Park, Toronto (Finch West station)
Where 2: Greenvale Park, Scarborough (Guildwood Station)

September 24 will see two rides in Northwest Toronto and Scarborough. Both start at 10 AM, both are loops, both are there to empower cycling in parts of the city that need investment in safer infrastructure.

bigride.cycleto.ca

Poetry reading and open mic

When: September 24th, 7pm
Where: 1280 Finch Ave W, #204

Saliah Valiani – winner of international book award.

Facebook poster

What can Canada learn from Costa Rica’s path to demilitarization?

When: September 25th, 1pm

In 1948, Costa Rica dismantled their military establishment and intentionally cultivated security relationships with other nations through treaties, international laws, and international organizations. Join us for a screening of the award-winning documentary A Bold Peace: Costa Rica’s Path to Demilitarization followed by a panel discussion with the film-maker and other special guests to address the necessity of demilitarization as a crucial step towards achieving decarbonization and decolonization. Film screening to mark the United Nations International Day of Peace.

Panelists:
– Filmmaker Matthew Eddy, PhD,
– Retired Colonel and former US diplomat Ann Wright
– Tamara Lorincz, WILPF Canada.

zoom.us

Anti-Palestinian Racism in the Arts

When: Sunday September 25th, 3:30pm
Where: TIFF Bell Lightbox, 350 King Street W

Art is a powerful form of storytelling, changemaking, visioning and resistance. It has always been an integral part of Palestinian society and movements to express our narratives. Yet, despite Palestinian art increasingly being programmed on screens and in galleries, attacks on Palestinian or allied artists for their public support for Palestinian human rights persist across North America and Europe. Palestinians and their allies are naming these incidents as anti-Palestinian racism and are more often using an anti-racism lens to challenge attempts to silence, erase, exclude, dehumanize Palestinians in the public sphere.

Speakers:
– Amany Khalifa, feminist activist, member of The Question of Funding collective
– Rehab Nazzal, artist and filmmaker
– Dania Majid, lawyer and festival programmer

eventbrite.ca

Social Justice Week 2022

When: September 26-30
Where: Toronto Metropolitan University

2022 marks the 12th and final edition of Social Justice Week. This year under the theme of “Reclaim, Repair” SJW features gatherings that focus on topics such as Indigenous land reclamation, revitalizing student activism, solidarity journalism, addressing the TRC calls to action, reclaiming Black history, doing social work differently, exploring socially impactful ventures, and more. All in-person gatherings will encourage participants to adhere to public health safety measures.

torontomu.ca

Truth and Reconciliation Week

Truth and Reconciliation Week is coming back this fall. This year, we’ve expanded the program to include age-appropriate material for grades 1 through 12 centered around the theme ‘Remembering the Children.’ Over four days, we’ll be bringing Indigenous knowledge keeper voices to students across the country.

Days 1-3 — September 26-28 — will feature a newly revised educational program with an hour of pre-recorded video content per day followed by live Q & A sessions.

Day 4 — September 29 — of Truth and Reconciliation Week will feature Gidinawendimin – We Are All Related, an in-person event in Mississauga. The event will be broadcast live for classrooms to tune in from coast to coast to coast. Keep an eye out for more information.

events.hubilo

bell hooks teach-in

When: September 26th, 4pm

In celebration of bell hooks’ birthday, Dr OmiSoore Dryden, the James R. Johnston Endowed Chair in Black Canadian Studies (Faculty of Medicine), is hosting a teach-in featuring speakers from across Canada, including El Jones, Damini, Rachel Zellars, and Beverly Bain.

eventbrite.ca

Demanding Climate Action Leadership

When: September 27th, 6:30pm

Join this interactive online webinar to learn more about the steps the City of Toronto must take to meet its climate action goal. Toronto needs elected representatives who will champion a green economy based on equity and inclusion for all of our communities!

How can we demand climate action leadership in the upcoming municipal elections?

Guest Speaker: current Toronto City Councillor (University-Rosedale) and climate champion Mike Layton.

Co-hosted by: Good Jobs for All, Toronto Community Benefits Network, Toronto & York Region Labour Council Environment Committee and Toronto Environmental Alliance | communitybenefits.ca

How Barbara Ehrenreich Exposed the ‘Positive Thinking’ Industry

By Sonali Kolhatkar

Although the late Barbara Ehrenreich was best known for her 2001 bestselling book Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America, which chronicled the real-life impacts of the 1996 Welfare Reform Act, she made an equally great contribution to economic justice with her subsequent book exposing the cult of positive thinking.

Source: The Bullet No. 2685

International Food Crisis and Proposals to Overcome It

By Éric Toussaint and Omar Aziki

Contrary to a notion that spread in 2022, the global food crisis started before the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the rise in the cereal prices due to speculation. On a global scale, from 2014 to 2021, the number of people affected by serious food insecurity increased by over 350 million, from 565 to 924 million. The rate of increase was particularly sharp from 2019 to 2021, and affected more than 200 million people. In 2021, some 2.3 billion people (29.3% of the world population) experienced moderate or serious food insecurity. In 2022, all indicators point to warning.

Source: The Bullet No. 2686

Harvest Ontario Walk to Stop HWY 413

By Doreen Nicoll

What does a group of grandmothers and ‘others,’ a leading Canadian environmental advocacy organization, and a community climate group have in common? Turns out, quite a lot. Grand(m)others Act to Save the Planet (GASP), Environmental Defence (ED) and Mississauga Climate Action (MCA) are joining another dozen environmental groups to walk, or bike, the proposed Hwy 413 route that spans 59 kilometers. Harvest Ontario Walk (HOW) is the brainchild of Susan Berry. The chair of HOW told Rabble.ca she was inspired to organize the October 1 walk because she grew up near Hwy 407 and saw the way development really only served developers.

Source: The Bullet No. 2687

Inflation, the Fed and Workers

By Robert Chernomas and Ian Hudson

The US Federal Reserve (the Fed) is supposed to have a dual mandate of “maximum employment and price stability.” However, a close look at its policies since 1980 have shown it very willing to sacrifice the former for the latter. The Bank of Canada (BoC) doesn’t even pretend to care about employment. Despite pressure from progressive economists for a dual mandate that includes high levels of employment, the BoC’s only monetary objective, renewed in 2021, is to “keep inflation low, stable and predictable.”

Source: The Bullet No. 2688

Inflation: What Workers Need to Know

Inflation and the fight against it is on the public agenda today in a way not seen since the 1970s. Adolph Reed Jr. leads a discussion with Sam Gindin and Samir Sonti, on what inflation means for the working class, and why anti-inflation policies have often come at the expense of workers. We also look at how this round of inflation is different, how we should fight it and what inflation means for bargaining union contracts.

Source: LeftStreamed