CONTENTS

1. CALLS TO ACTION
2. EVENTS
3. ARTICLES

OHIP for All Legal Challenge

Healthcare4All Coalition and Neighbourhood Legal Services are fundraising to support a legal challenge to the Government of Ontario’s recent cancellation of health care coverage for people who are uninsured, including people with precarious or no immigration status.

On March 31, 2023, the Ontario government abruptly cancelled the Physician and Hospital Services for Uninsured Persons program (the Program), which has provided medically necessary health care for people without full immigration status since March 2020. This program was a realization of the demands that migrant justice advocates have made for decades – to provide access to health care, without fear, to any person living in Ontario regardless of their immigration status.

canadahelps.org

MayWorks 2023

When: All of May, 2023

Throughout May, we offer 24 free events with 29 participating artists across the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area and online. Whether through zine, installation, film, performance or dialogue – the festival presents the realities of contemporary labour.

This year’s artists critically investigate various forms of work from arms manufacturing to flower arranging. Their artworks, informed by personal histories of social activism and research, recognize workers as agents of social transformation.

mayworks.ca | Opening Reception (May 4)

New Gas Plants Are Coming to Ontario!

When: Thursday May 4th, 6pm

Ontario could soon see new polluting gas plants being built. We have cleaner and cheaper alternatives available, but we’re moving in the wrong direction!

The building of new gas plants and the increased use of existing gas plants will cause our emissions to soar, making it harder for Ontario to meet its own weak emission reduction targets. Increased gas generation will also threaten municipal climate goals while worsening air pollution.

Presenters:
– Lana Goldberg, Ontario Climate Program Manager, Environmental Defence
– Yafet Tewelde, Community Leader, York South Weston
– Jack Gibbons, Chair, Ontario Clean Air Alliance (OCAA)

environmentaldefence.ca

Time4Action with Seth Klein

When: May 4th, 6:30pm

“What we’ve been doing isn’t working,” writes Seth Klein. We are facing a climate emergency, but few of us, including most politicians, journalists, even environmental organizations, are acting that way. It’s time we learned the lessons of WW II and COVID-19 and mobilized to bring about “radical systemic change.”. All the machinery of government, the news media, educational institutions, and the public must be focussed on the crucial “national task” confronting us.

zoom.us

Housing For People, Not For Profit

When: May 4th, 7pm
Where: GCDO, 290 Danforth Ave

A presentation and discussion on the roots of the housing crisis and how to fight back and win housing for all.

Speakers:
– Geordie Dent – long-time housing rights advocate
– Doug Yearwood – researcher whose PhD focused on the historical rise of unaffordable housing in the private rental sector
– Ivan Brochu – organizer with the Mabelle Neighbourhood Organization

Facebook event

Jane’s Walk

When: May 5 to May 7
Where: All over Toronto

Jane’s Walk is an annual festival of free, community-led walking conversations inspired by Jane Jacobs – a journalist, author, theorist, activist, and proud Torontonian.

On the first weekend of May every year, Jane’s Walk festivals take place in hundreds of cities around the world. Jane’s Walks encourage people to share stories about their neighbourhoods, discover unseen aspects of their communities, and use walking as a way to connect with their neighbours.

janeswalkfestivalto.com

Days of Action, Then and Now

When: May 5th, 7pm
Where: USW Hall, 25 Cecil Street

To reflect on their experiences as part of the Days of Action and ongoing mobilizations, join JP Hornick (OPSEU), Carolyn Egan (Steelworkers’ Toronto Area Council), and Chris Wilson (Public Service Alliance of Canada) for a conversation on what has changed, what has stayed the same, and how to organize broad involvement across workplaces and communities. Moderated by Kevin Taghabon.

eventbrite.ca

Spadina on Strike

When: May 9th, 7pm

In September 1986, one thousand Toronto garment workers launched strike action against 18 clothing factories up and down Spadina Avenue. Most of the strikers were immigrant women — many racialized. It was the first industry-wide strike on Spadina since the 1930s. After four days of vigorous, often festive, picketing — the strike was won!

zoom.us

Climate Emergency and Resource Extraction Series

When: May 10th, 7pm

SCAN! (Seniors for Climate Action Now!), together with co-sponsors Climate Action Muskoka (CAM) and Environment Haliburton (EH!), have put together a four-part “Climate Emergency and Extraction Series” that kicks off on Wednesday, May 10th.

The first session will feature a virtual presentation by Jamie Kneen, with MiningWatch Canada, on the impact of mineral extraction on humans and the larger natural world as we make the urgent transition from fossil fuels to renewables.

zoom.us

Book launch: Portuguese Women’s Fight for Labour Rights

When: May 11th, 6:30pm
Where: Casa Dos Acores, 1136 College St

This fascinating book uncovers the little-known, surprisingly radical history of the Portuguese immigrant women who worked as night-time office cleaners and daytime “cleaning ladies” in postwar Toronto.

eventbrite.ca

Community Referendum to Stop Privatization of Ontario Public Hospitals

By Ontario Health Coalition

Health Coalitions across Ontario launched a major fightback to stop the privatization of our public hospitals. The Coalition is mounting a community-run referendum. Health Coalitions are organizing voting stations outside grocery stores, local corner stores, coffee shops, at Legions and community centres and in every busy part of our communities that we can.

Source: The Bullet No. 2817

Challenging Authoritarian Rule: Turkish Elections 2023

By Sebnem Oguz and Panagiotis Sotiris

The Turkish general election is to be held on May 14th, this includes elections to the Parliament as well as election of the President of Turkey in a two round system. The AKP (Adalet ve Kalkınma Partisi, Justice and Development Party) has governed in Turkey for some 21 years drifting from the conservative to an authoritarian party of the far right taking on an increasingly militaristic and fascistic characteristics under the leadership of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan from 2017 on. The AKP now governs in a so-called People’s Alliance with the far-right Nationalist Action Party (MHP), and now joined by smaller Islamist parties.

Source: The Bullet No. 2818

May Day: Workers’ Struggles, International Solidarity, Political Aspirations

For more than 100 years, May Day has symbolized the common struggles of workers around the globe. Why is it largely ignored in North America? The answer lies in part in American labour’s long repression of its own radical past, out of which international May Day was actually born a century ago. It is more important than ever, in the face of relentless capitalist austerity and emerging authoritarian forces on the right, that the North American labour movement reconnect with this history and forge linkages with the international labour movement in the remaking of a socialism for our times.

Source: Socialist Interventions Pamphlet No. 15

After the Storm

An eco-political music-video in memory of William Morris, song composed in February 2023, audio and visuals produced in March 2023, by William K. Carroll.

Source: LeftStreamed