CONTENTS
CALLS TO ACTION
Respect Us. Protect Us. Pay Us.
Dear Premier Ford,I am a hard-working hospital worker in Ontario. I want you to know how deeply disappointed I am that you have decided I’m only worth a 1% wage increase.
Allow me to tell you how your government’s decision impacts hospital workers:
– Our wages continue to fall far behind inflation.
– We can’t bargain increases to much-needed mental health supports.
– We have absolutely no support for improved workplace health and safety.
– As a result, we’re working dangerously short staffed because so many are leaving healthcare.
ochu.on.ca
EVENTS
Socialist Register 2022 Launch in South Africa
When: Thursday February 10th, 9am EST (4pm Johannesburg)Speakers include Greg Albo, Colin Leys, Vishwas Satgar, James Schneider and Bill Fletcher and discussants are Samantha Hargreaves and Awande Buthelezi.
Register at this Zoom link to secure your space.
Speak at the TTC Board Meeting
When: February 10th, 10:00am – 3:00pm ESTThe Scarborough RT (Line 3) will close in 2023 and the TTC is creating a 5-Year Plan for fares. City Councillors will be making decisions about these two important issues at a TTC Board meeting on February 10, 2022. That’s where you come in!
When you RSVP here to speak at the TTC Board meeting, TTCriders will send you background information and keep you informed about how and when to register via the TTC website.
www.ttcriders.ca
Injunctions: The imbalances, Indigenous injustices, and insights into reform
When: February 10th, 10:30amThis webinar will provide context and background info on injunctions. Injunctions are often favourably granted by the courts against First Nations to corporations to continue to proceed with work unimpeded, and then enforced by RCMP without respect for Free, Prior and Informed Consent or Indigenous laws. In British Columbia, we have witnessed the violent arrests of Wet’suwet’en members, Gitxsan members and other land defenders as part of an injunction to ensure the construction of the Coastal Gas Link pipeline; and at Fairy Creek and surrounding areas to remove Indigenous and other land defenders blocking Teal Jones from pursuing Old Growth logging operations.
zoom.us
Fighting for the Future: Youth Organizing for Climate Justice
When: February 10, 17, and 24th at 7pmFor more than two decades, Dogwood has organized people-powered campaigns to transform our democracy, uphold Indigenous rights, and defend the climate, land and water that sustain life in B.C. Since 2016, Dogwood has devoted special attention to supporting youth-led campaigns for climate justice and voting rights.
This February, join youth leaders in conversation with Dogwood staff about their organizing successes, along with hard-hitting political analysis on what it takes to win a better world for and as young people. These sessions are geared toward Canadian youth who want to organize for climate justice in their communities and non-profit organizations that are looking to deepen their work with youth organizers. Each session will include critical analysis, real-world examples of success and failure, and time for Q&A.
Feb 10: Power Analysis: The Truth about Youth
Feb 17: Building Youth Power: Tactics to Win
Feb 24: In It for the Long Haul: Climate Grief and Sustainable Organizing
zoom.us
Off the Hill presents: Whose budget is it, anyway?
When: February 10th, 7:30pmA new federal budget is about to be announced that will affect us all in big and small ways. Our panelists will focus on deconstructing and understanding what a federal budget is all about: why is it important and what power does the government really have in designing a federal budget? We will also zero in on what a federal budget could look like for ordinary people to benefit.
Off the Hill is a fast-paced live panel on current issues of national significance. It features guests and a discussion you won’t find anywhere else, centred on the impact politics and policy have on people, and on ways to mobilize to bring about progressive change in national politics — on and off the hill.
zoom.us
Consumerism and Consumption
When: Friday February 11th, 12noonA panel of experts discuss the impacts of consumer culture on our society and ecology and share some alternatives to lifestyles that are becoming increasingly unsustainable.
torontopubliclibrary.ca
Getting organized for a workers first agenda
When: February 12th, 10amThe Ontario provincial election is just 16 weeks away. Working people and their families simply can’t afford another four years of Doug Ford’s disastrous government. The time to organize is now, and labour must play a leading role in the fight.
That’s why we’re asking you to join us at our first training event for labour activists where we will launch the OFL’s provincial election campaign.
ofl.ca
17th Annual Strawberry Ceremony for MMIWGT2S
When: February 14th, 12:30pmDear Community Members, Friends and Ally Accomplices,
Guided by Elder Wanda Whitebird, we have reflected on and held ceremony to plan for this year’s annual February 14th Strawberry Ceremony.
While we will miss the comfort of our bodies being together once again, in light of the new extremely transmissable omicron variant and the rapid increase in COVID-19 cases, our ceremony will be live streamed again. We will not be gathering in person, and instead invite you all to join us virtually on our Facebook event page where Wanda will be offering prayers via live stream from 12:30pm – 1:30pm. We share in the grief of not being able to sing, drum, dance, and pray for our missing and murdered kin together with you in person, as we have for 15 years prior to these pandemic times. Please join us virtually again this year, so we can stay safe, and be back in person in greater numbers next year!
Facebook event
Migration and the City
When: Feb 15th – Feb 17thThe CERC 2022 virtual conference reflects on cities as hubs of creativity but also as places of tension where different types of minorities and migrants meet and mingle. We look at top-down urban policies that aim to build on diversity or provide shelter, and to grassroots mobilizations advocating for solidarity and inclusion; we consider how cities negotiate the different levels of governance (local, national and transnational) in managing transit migrant or refugee populations; and we examine the role of diasporas in urbanization. While our focus is transnational, we will also address issues that are unique to Canada. We seek to bring together insights from different world regions to better understand the relationship between migration and the city in the 21st century.
eventbrite.ca
Decent work organizing meeting
When: February 15th, 7pmThere is growing momentum for a $20 minimum wage; 10 paid sick days plus an additional 2 weeks during pandemics; the reinstatement of the Canada Emergency Response Benefit; equal pay; and real protections for frontline workers, including gig workers, temp agency workers, part-time workers and casual workers.
justice4workers.org
Stop Health Care Privatization
When: February 15th, 7pmLast week Doug Ford’s Health Minister announced that she is bringing in private hospitals. They are midstream in privatizing 18,000 LTC beds for the next 30-yrs.
They passed legislation to privatize the last remaining public parts of home care. They are privatizing vaccines and COVID-testing, and more.
ontariohealthcoalition.ca
Talking Climate in Ontario
When: February 16th, 7pmAn Ontario provincial election approaches! As it does, it is clear we need actions that protect our health, build strong communities and create a climate just future. What can we do to help ensure that happens?
Raising awareness of climate impacts and the actions and solutions that can move us closer to a healthy future is one of the big things we can do! Together, we can hold those elected to office accountable for the just, green province we want to see.
eventbrite.ca
The Universal Negro Improvement Association
When: Wednesday February 16th, 7pmThe Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA) was the first global Black nationalist organization with a chapter in Canada, and played a crucial role in fostering unity and pride among Canadians of African descent. The UNIA established an organizational framework within which Black Canadians could develop their talents and assume positions of leadership at a time when they were denied these opportunities elsewhere. Liberty Halls, whether owned or rented by the UNIA, were centres for Black political, social, and cultural activity when Black Canadians had little access to spaces that made community gatherings possible. The organization fostered a strong West Indian-Canadian leadership, further binding the members of this motivated ethnic group to each other and to a national and international network of proud Black activists.
Speakers:
– Wendell Nii Laryea Adjetey, McGill University
– Clem Marshall, Educator and Community Builder
– and Special Guests
mailchi.mp
Being A Hope Amid Crises
When: February 16th, 8pmThe CCPA-BC Office and the BC Black History Awareness Society are pleased to co-present an online event with Dr. Cornel West.
zoom.us
Confronting Anti-Black Racism – Not an Occasional Act
When: Thursday February 17th, 6:30pmIn celebration of Black History Month, join us for an engaging discussion on confronting anti-Black racism beyond occasional acts and trends. Hearing from Black leaders within the labour movement and our communities, you will have an opportunity to participate in the discussion and learn about how we can all continue to be effective activists.
eventbrite.ca
ARTICLES
The Petro-War of Chrystia Freeland: Canada’s Military Support for Ukraine
By Pierre DubucAccording to the Globe and Mail, the Minister of Finance, Chrystia Freeland, is in charge of the campaign of military support for the Ukraine. As Canada’s Vice-Prime Minister, she presides over the committee made up of Canadian military Chief of Staff General Wayne Eyre, Minister of Foreign Affairs Mélanie Joly. Minister of Defence Anita Anad, and Clerk of the Privy Council Janice Charrette, Once again, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has been sidelined, the same as he was in the Meng Wanzhou affair, when Freeland rejected all proposed solutions, even one from Jean Chrétien, and displayed a lot of determination to poison Canada’s relations with China.
Source: The Bullet No. 2551
Rosa Luxemburg and Debt as an Imperialist Instrument
By Éric ToussaintIn her book titled The Accumulation of Capital, published in 1913, Rosa Luxemburg devoted an entire chapter to international loans in order to show how the great capitalist powers of the time used the credits granted by their bankers to the countries of the periphery to exercise economic, military and political domination on the latter. She sought to analyse the indebtedness of the newly independent states of Latin America, particularly, following the wars of independence in the 1820s, as well as the indebtedness of Egypt and Turkey during the 19th century, without forgetting China.
Source: The Bullet No. 2552
World March of Women: Grassroots Feminist Vision into Action
The World March of Women (WMW) is a feminist, internationalist, anticapitalist, and anticolonial movement organized from local coordinations in 51 countries and territories. The movement’s coordination has previously been located in Quebec, Brazil, and Mozambique, and is currently in Turkey. Yildiz Temürtürkan has been elected for the international coordination of the World March of Women in the 12th International Meeting, in October 2021.Source: The Bullet No. 2554
Cruel System of Domination: Amnesty on Israeli Apartheid
By Israeli Committee Against House DemolitionsThe Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions (ICAHD) welcomes Amnesty International’s valuable and comprehensive report, Israel’s Apartheid Against Palestinians: Cruel System of Domination and Crime Against Humanity. Placing Israel’s apartheid regime squarely within the framework of human rights, it sets out in great detail just how Israel’s “institutionalized regime of systematic oppression and domination over Palestinians” stands in gross violation of international humanitarian law.
Source: The Bullet No. 2555
Know Your Enemy: How to Defeat Capitalism
By Michael A. LebowitzWe must put an end to capitalism. To do that, we must know the enemy – capital. We will never defeat that enemy if we do not understand it – its effects, its strengths and weaknesses. If, for example, we don’t know capital as our enemy, then crises within capitalism due to overaccumulation of capital or the destruction of the environment will be viewed as crises of the “economy” or of industrialization – calling for us all to sacrifice.
Source: Socialist Interventions Pamphlet No. 22
EMPLOYMENT
RPFF is hiring
Regent Park Film Festival (RPFF) is Toronto’s longest running free film festival and is the sole community film festival in Canada’s largest and oldest public housing neighbourhood. RPFF is dedicated to showcasing local and international films relevant to the key communities we serve: Black, Indigenous and People of Colour (BIPOC) communities, people with low-income, people who live in public housing, and Regent Park residents. RPFF’s mandate is to organize free year-round screenings, panel discussions, professional training and an annual film festival. Its signature programs are Under the Stars, the Annual Film Festival and Live It To Learn It. In 2022, RPFF celebrates its 20th anniversary.Please email your cover letter and resume by February 18 11:59 PM ET.
rpff.ca