CONTENTS
CALLS TO ACTION
#PaidSickDaysNow
On April 28th, take 10 minutes of action for 10 paid sick days now! #10for10.More information/action at: linktr.ee/PaidSickDaysNow.
EVENTS
Militarism and Climate Change
When: April 29th, 7pmBoth anti-war and climate movements are fighting for justice and life for all people on a livable planet. It’s increasingly clear that we can’t have one without the other. No climate justice, no peace, no planet.
Join us on April 29 for a webinar on the intersections between climate justice and anti-war movements. With Clayton Thomas-Müller, El Jones, Jaggi Singh, Kasha Sequoia Slavner.
This event is being hosted by World BEYOND War and Science for Peace.
Facebook event | actionnetwork.org
PHONE ZAP for safe buses
When: Friday April 30th, 12pmWe need safe buses now! Call Premier Ford FordNation at 416-325-1941 and demand:
– provision of more service on crowded routes
– prioritization of transit workers for vaccine access
– distribution of masks on buses
zoom.us
Film Screening and Talkback with Ange Loft
When: Friday April 30th, 6:30pm“By These Presents: “Purchasing” Toronto” is an absurdist examination of the Toronto “Purchase,” a controversial treaty between the British and Mississaugas covering much of modern-day Toronto. Organized in three acts, “By These Presents” uses dance, large-scale puppetry, and humour to chronicle the opening chapter of the city’s colonial history…
“By These Presents” is the history lesson you wish you’d have gotten in school. The film leaves us with more questions than answers for Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples who want to honour treaties. How do we “honour” a dishonourable agreement?”
For more information or if you have any trouble with registration, email us at info@winchevskycentre.org.
Mayworks 21
When: May 1 – 8Mayworks actively engages in a social dialogue that reimagines and represents economic and environmental justice. From the organizing efforts of factory workers at Amazon to the hidden connections between the extractive industries and our cultural institutions, artists and organizers share their insights and reaffirm the possibilities of collective action. The works of this year’s festival emerge in the middle of a global pandemic that has further exposed the violence of racialized capitalism.
We invite you to check out our website or download the program to start planning ahead for any of our events that catch your eye or your interest. Please keep in mind that some of our online encounters require registration.
– Saturday May 1st, 6pm: Essential Work, but Disposable Workers?”
mayworks.ca
May Day Action
When: Saturday May 1st, 11amTogether, we will sound the alarm for paid sick days as well as decent wages, safe working conditions and good stable jobs for all of us.
It has never been more clear that low-wage, precarious work is a threat to our collective health and well-being. Join us for this urgent action and bring your friends and co-workers.
Whether it is workers in part-time employment trying to string together multiple jobs in order to make ends meet and accidentally contracting or spreading COVID-19; or workers without paid sick days who can’t stay home from work at the first sign of symptoms because they can’t afford to lose pay; or temp agency workers being sent from one job site to another; or parents sending sick kids to school because they cannot afford to lose a day’s pay to stay home with them — a bold agenda for decent work must be central in curbing COVID now and recovering from it.
15andfairness.org
Free All Jailed Trade Unionists
When: Sunday May 2nd, 11amWith representatives of the trade union movements in Hong Kong, Myanmar, Iran, Turkey and Belarus, we’ll join in a call to free all jailed trade unionists in those countries — and around the world.
labourstart.org
Community Restaurants / Postcapitalism: Alternatives or Detour?
When: Sunday May 2nd, 2pm“Community Restaurants: Decommodifying Food as Socialist Strategy,” with Benjamin Selwyn and “Post-Capitalism: Alternatives or Detours?” with Greg Albo.
eventbrite.com
REXPLAS Strike Solidarity
When: Monday May 3rd, 7amWhere: Rexplas, 500 Barmac Drive, Toronto (Weston Road north of Finch).
Steelworkers Local 8300 is on strike at Rexplas. The workers turned down the company’s final offer by 90% and walked out on Monday, April 26th.
The workers are primarily racialized women who make barely above minimum wage. They have been treated with contempt by the company after working through the pandemic. They are standing solidly together and gave a resounding no to the company’s latest offer.
A solidarity picket will be taking place at 7 am Monday, May 3rd at Rexplas, 500 Barmac Drive, Toronto (Weston Road north of Finch).
Transit Townhall
When: Wednesday May 5th, 6pmThe TTC is creating a “5-Year Fare Plan.” Join the community townhall to share your experiences with fares, payment options, and accessibility. A presentation will be followed by breakout discussion rooms on Zoom. Anonymous feedback will be shared with the TTC after the event.
ttcriders.ca | eventbrite.ca
In the Muse’s Voice
When: Thursday May 6th, 7pmTwo award-winning poets, Lisa Richter and Ruth Panofsky, will read from their recent books and engage in conversation about feminist poetics, the writer’s craft, Jewish identity, the rewards and challenges of writing “in persona” and resilience. The event will consist of two readings, followed by a conversation between the two authors and audience Q&A.
Hosted by the United Jewish People’s Order, a secular, Jewish social justice organization that welcomes people across culture, language, gender identity, sexual orientation and beliefs. Rachel Epstein, UJPO’s Executive Director, will moderate.
ARTICLES
Class Politics at Work: Ernie Tate at CUPE Local One
Following Ernie Tate’s death on February 5, 2021, numerous tributes have been published highlighting his lifelong commitment to socialism and remarkable contribution to the anti-war movement. Working at Toronto Hydro from 1977 to 1995, he served as an Executive Board member and eventually as Vice-President of CUPE Local One. This article includes recollections of several local leaders retracing some of Ernie’s activity in Local One.Source: Class Politics at Work
Socialists on Social Media Platforms and Imagining Platform Socialism
Bertolt Brecht, in the 1932 essay “The Radio as an Apparatus of Communication,” made a “positive suggestion” to transform radio into a dialogical medium for many-to-many communications. “Radio is one-sided when it should be two” said Brecht. Brecht saw the state as the only entity capable of remaking radio in this way, but because radio’s “proper application” might make it a “revolutionary” medium, Brecht concluded the bourgeois state would have “no interest in sponsoring such exercises.” Introduction by Michael Lardner. Presentations by Tanner Mirrlees, and Derek Hrynyshyn.Source: LeftStreamed
Worst Case Ontario
In this episode we discuss Doug Ford’s disastrous mismanagement of the Covid crisis in Ontario, and dissect the results of the recent 2021 NDP Federal Party Convention.Source: The Scarlet Standard Episode No. 14
The Care Economy Statement
By Pat Armstrong, Marjorie Griffin Cohen, Laurell Ritchie, Leah Vosko and Armine YalnizyanIf COVID-19 has taught us nothing else, it is that we need a new approach to caring for each other in this country. And there is no better time to raise these issues than in the months leading up to an election. We need to insist on an alternative path, one based on a new vision of the role of care in Canada. We are reaching out to people who recognise that there is a severe care crisis in Canada and who agree that the federal government should take leadership in ensuring that the multiple deficiencies exposed by the pandemic are addressed. The crisis has had terrible consequences for so many, including those in long-term care. Many of the deficiencies have weighed heaviest on women, racialized and Indigenous populations and those with disabilities.
Source: The Bullet No. 2359
The Imperialist Origins of Saudi Arabia
By Yanis IqbalWhy is Saudi Arabia, a Sunni absolute monarchy, enthusiastically supported by the West, considered a global promoter of ‘democracy’? This question is rarely asked. The apparent mismatch between liberal democracy and religious fundamentalism is hastily airbrushed when the matter is about oil trade and arms deals. This attitude is not an expression of mere hypocrisy on the part of the West; it is deeply rooted in a historical process whereby Saudi Arabia was propped up by major powers as an outpost of imperialist interests and a bulwark against revolutionary ideologies.
Source: The Bullet No. 2360