CONTENTS
CALLS TO ACTION
Gender Equity Consultations
Social Planning Toronto is working with the City of Toronto to seek input from residents to shape the City’s first-ever Gender Equity Strategy.Gender equity can be defined as the process of allocating resources, programs, and decision-making fairly to all, without any discrimination on the basis of gender, and addressing any imbalances in the benefits available to people of different genders.
The information shared through this survey will help us to understand who has participated and the priorities, needs, and experiences of Toronto residents for advancing gender equity.
surveymonkey.com
EVENTS
ICL Organizer Lunch
When: February 17th, 12pmWill you join the ICS for a virtual lunch with the Institute for Change Leaders Alumni Association? A group of organizers and activists will be getting together to socialize and strategize.
Whether you need some tips on how to better organize, or just want to share some of your recent successes with a group of like-minded organizers, we’re looking forward to chatting! Set aside a small part of your day to reconnect with old friends – and make some new ones.
changeleaders.ca
Public Banking
When: Thursday February 17th, 1pmPublic banks are pervasive – with more than 900 worldwide – and powerful – having combined assets nearing $49 trillion. They are also resurgent, with new institutions being created worldwide and grassroots movements championing public banks as a means to right historic structural inequalities. But how can they catalyze green and just transitions?
Join this free online seminar by Dr. Thomas Marois based on his recent book, Public Banks: Decarbonisation, Definancialisation and Democratisation (CUP 2021).
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
Better Medicare: Transforming Long-term Care
When: February 17th, 7pmWith more than 15,000 COVID-19 deaths in Canada’s long-term care homes and new outbreaks being reported nearly every day, going back to “normal” is simply not an option. Transformative change is needed to fix the crisis in LTC and improve elder care as a whole.
Dr. Amit Arya is a Palliative Care Physician who works in Long-Term Care Facilities. He is currently the Palliative Care Lead at Kensington Health and serves as Lecturer for the Department of Family and Community Medicine at the University of Toronto and Assistant Clinical Professor for the Department of Family Medicine at McMaster University.
zoom.us
Building Youth Power – Tactics to Win
When: Thursday Feb. 17th, 10pmThis workshop digs into the strategies and tactics that young people have used to build power, from relational organizing and direct action to political pressure.
zoom.us
TRCC/MWAR – Black History Month Speakers Series
When: Friday February 18th, 7pmJoin us for an intimate evening with Shanese Steele to talk about Blackness from an Afro-Indigenous perspective, Survivorship and more.
eventbrite.ca
Lillian Allen and Charles C. Smith, in conversation
When: February 18th, 7pmLillian Allen – Make the World New brings together some of the highlights of Lillian Allen’s work in a single volume. It revisits her well-known verse from the celebrated collections Rhythm an’ Hardtimes, Women Do This Everyday, and Psychic Unrest, while also assembling new and uncollected poems. Allen’s poetry is incisive in its narration of Black life and its call to create new and different futures. Her work highlights the need for radical intersectional change as a process of social transformation.
Charles C. Smith – ‘searching for eastman’ is a choreopoem whose roots trace through the African griot tradition, the harlem renaissance (e.g., the work of Langston Hughes with jazz and Kurt Weil), the black arts movement (e.g., Amiri Baraka’s work with sun ra). It is a form of dramatic expression that combines poetry, dance, music, and song…
eventbrite.ca
The Crisis in Accessible Housing
When: Saturday February 19th, 2pmThere is no law in Canada requiring that any housing be accessible, even though more than 22% of Canadians have a disability. In addition, millions of aging Canadians are left out of this statistic because they don’t define themselves as having a disability, despite the struggles of their aging bodies (eyesight, hearing, mobility issues, strokes, heart attacks, etc.). How can we motivate all levels of government to work together to end discrimination in housing against seniors and people with disabilities? Hosted by Canadian Unitarians for Social Justice and the Accessible Housing Network.
cusj.org
Solidarity Rally this weekend
When: Sunday February 20th, 1pmWhere: Toronto City Hall, 100 Queen St W
Labour and community allies are organizing a rally and march this weekend in downtown Toronto to show solidarity with our city and communities, and other beleaguered cities. The event will be marshalled by experienced organizations and individuals.
We will march under the banner “Community Solidarity Toronto” to spread our message of building a better tomorrow that is socially, economically, racially and environmentally just. communitysolidarityto.ca | labourcouncil.ca.
Socialist Register 2022: The Crisis of Centrism
When: Sunday February 20th, 2:01pmThe stage is set well for Socialist Register No. 58 in the Preface by Greg Albo and Colin Leys: [In the midst of the] “current multi-dimensional crisis, the center-right consensus that was struck around the neoliberal policy regime has been steadily splintering, with a phalanx of far right and neo-fascist groups inserting themselves into electoral politics and gaining prominence ‘in the streets’ (not least in motley demonstrations against pandemic measures of any kind, from lockdowns to masking).
Featuring:
– Greg Albo An Introduction to The Crisis of Centrism, Socialist Register 58
– Walden Bello At the Summit of Global Capitalism: the US and China
– Simon Mohun Portrait of Neoliberalism: Rise of the One Percent
– Samir Sonti The Crisis of US Labor, Past and Present
marxedproject.org
Building a stronger democracy
When: Tuesday February 22nd, 7pmThe webinar will feature several speakers, as well as a question and answer period, that address the following themes:
– How do we make sure the government’s pandemic response puts people and communities first, not corporate interests?
– What are the current threats to our public services, including health care, and their workers?
– How have residents of downtown Ottawa been impacted? What have they done to organize and assert their own dignity and safety, and what can we do to support them?
– What concrete steps need to be taken to ensure our democracy is stronger in the face of division, polarization, and hate?
canadians.org
Implementing a Just Transition
When: February 23rd, 9amThis virtual conference will provide an opportunity to learn how other countries are implementing their just transition strategies and hear from community leaders, researchers, and advocates from Alberta and across Canada about the challenges and opportunities for various sectors on the vanguard of this transition. We welcome all concerned Canadians who want to become engaged in the implementation of a just transition.
parklandconference.ca
Working Toward an Abolitionist Future
When: February 24th, 6:30pmJoin Showing Up for Racial Justice Toronto (SURJ Toronto) and community advocates on February 24th from 6:30-8:30PM to learn more about the movement to defund the police. Hear from El Jones, Desmond Cole, Butterfly Sabrina GoPaul, Salem Aaron and Sam Tecle from Jane and Finch Action Against Poverty (JFAAP) about working towards an abolitionist future.
zoom.us
ARTICLES
Corporations Can’t Deliver on Climate
COP26 convenes at a time when vastly different visions of climate transition compete for supremacy. Large corporations around the World Economic Forum (WEF) are promoting a “Great Reset” where “stakeholder” capitalism replaces “shareholder” capitalism and are calling for a “resilient energy transition” that “delivers inclusive growth and long-term prosperity.” Larry Fink of BlackRock backs the idea and says he has a public-private climate finance strategy to fund the transition, which on closer inspection asks taxpayers to assume the risks while bankers and speculators take the profits.Source: LeftStreamed
The Blockade Against Cuba Turns 60
By Rosa Miriam ElizaldeIt’s easy to say, but it’s been six very hard decades that began with disconcerting lightness and the belief that the United States government’s blockade of Cuba would not last long – a couple of years, maybe. On February 2, 1962, US President John F. Kennedy called his press secretary, Pierre Salinger, and gave him an urgent task: “I need a lot of [Cuban] cigars.” “How many, Mr. President?” “About a thousand,” Kennedy replied. Salinger visited the best-stocked stores in Washington and got 1,200 H. Upmann Petit Corona cigars rolled by hand in the fertile plains of Pinar del Río, at the western end of the island.
Source: The Bullet No. 2558
The Workings of Commodified Education
By Yanis IqbalUnder the neoliberal accumulation regime, a shift takes place in the internal dynamics of the educational system. Insofar as public education is either privatized or forced to operate along competitive lines through budgetary cuts, not only does the labour power of those who are the products of the education system remain a commodity, but also the knowledge itself that goes into the production of this commodity becomes a commodity. Education becomes, in other words, a process for the production of a commodity (the labour-power of those who receive education) by means of a commodity (the knowledge they receive).
Source: The Bullet No. 2559
Resisting Fossil Fuel Extractavism in South Africa
By Janet Solomon and Vishwas SatgarHosken Consolidated Investment (HCI) CEO, Johnny Copelyn, declared the criticism of seismic surveys to be ‘poppycock’ in an interview with Cape Talk and subsequently carried by Business Day under the headline: HCI board blasts criticism of seismic surveys as “poppycock.” Fortunately this assertion has got nothing to do with male genitalia and its size. In this case Johnny’s being bigger than everyone else’s and thus the Alpha white-male-knows-what’s-best-of-all-us kind of posing. Thank you Johnny for steering clear of the cock fight!
Source: The Bullet No. 2560
‘Sounding the Alarm’: Ontario Workers and the Ford Government
By Labour Committee SP“Ontario workers are sounding the alarm,” begins a statement by the Ontario Federation of Labour on January 20th demanding the Ontario Doug Ford government change course in its public health and employment policies. Endorsed by over 30 labour leaders, including the president of the OFL and various union organizations, the statement cites the dire and deteriorating conditions of healthcare workers and working conditions in Ontario. The pandemic and the Omicron variant had put enormous pressure on the hospitals and the workers who deal with it every day. Those who need to access healthcare for COVID treatment and many other serious illnesses are paying for it with their health and lives.
Source: The Bullet No. 2561
EMPLOYMENT
Full-time Experienced Community Organiser
Parkdale Community Legal Services (PCLS) seeks an experienced organiser to work in our Social Assistance, Violence and Health Division. The organiser will work on poverty issues (e.g., social assistance and income security), anti-racism and anti-discrimination, and state and gender-based violence. The position also involves supervision of students in their involvement in community organising. This is a permanent position.Compensation and Benefits: Salary Range $70,207 to $82,533
Please apply by Tuesday March 8, 2022 at 5 pm.
parkdalelegal.org