CONTENTS

1. CALLS TO ACTION
2. EVENTS
3. ARTICLES
4. EMPLOYMENT

Stand Together Against Apartheid

Petition to the Minister of Justice

Whereas:

– The Foreign Enlistment Act states that “[a]ny person who, within Canada, recruits or otherwise induces any person or body of persons to enlist or to accept any commission or engagement in the armed forces of any foreign state or other armed forces operating in that state is guilty of an offence.”;

– The Israeli consulate in Toronto has advertised on several occasions an Israel Defense Forces (IDF) representative available for personal appointments for those wishing to join the IDF, not just those who are required to do mandatory service;

– The IDF has intentionally targeted, shot and injured at least two Canadian citizens since 2015;

– The IDF has repeatedly contravened the Fourth Geneva Convention, and illegally attacked Syria and Lebanon by missile or by drone;

– The Ambassador of Canada conducted an event on January 16, 2020, honouring Canadians serving in the IDF; and

– A formal complaint has been filed with the Minister of Justice regarding recruiting taking place within Canada to enlist persons into the IDF.

petitions.ourcommons.ca

GTA LifeLabs Strike Rally

When: March 24th, 10am
Where: 100 International Blvd, Etobicoke
TTC: Take the 112C West Mall bus from Kipling Station to International and Galaxy Blvd. stop.

Join striking OPSEU/SEFPO Local 5119 couriers and mailroom clerks from LifeLabs in solidarity! ALL LifeLabs employees deserve a living wage! Billion dollar pandemic profiteer LifeLabs can afford to pay it!

Facebook event

Join a May 1 Organizing Meeting

When: Thursday March 24th, 6pm

Over 600 people participated in the OFL Activist Assembly on March 6, and now we’re starting to mobilize for the May 1 day of action.

Nine local organizing meetings will take place over the next two weeks.

ofl.ca

Radical Housewives: Price Wars and Food Politics

When: March 24th, 7pm

Julie Guard, the author of Radical Housewives: Price Wars and Food Politics in Mid-Twentieth-Century Canada and an Associate Professor of Labour Studies at the University of Manitoba will be joining us and leading the discussion, as will Craig Heron, president of the TWHP and also a well-known labour historian, who will tell us how this important piece of women’s history is to be celebrated in a play premiering at this year’s Toronto Mayworks Festival.

zoom.us

Empowering Women: A Care Income for People and Planet

When: March 25th, 10am

Empowering caregivers is advanced as a strategy against poverty and for climate justice. This webinar showcases international efforts from the 1995 UN Beijing conference decision to measure and value unremunerated work in the home, on the land and in the community, to the Wages for Housework Campaign which spearheaded the movement for financial recognition and, like CSW, celebrates its 50th anniversary in March 2022.

zoom.us

Global Climate Strike

When: Friday March 25th, 2pm
Where: David Pecaut Square, by Metro Hall (251 King St West), Toronto

The current climate catastrophe being witnessed across the globe is the direct result of continuous centuries-long exploitation and oppression, carried out through colonial, extractivist and capitalist activities. We are living under a majorly flawed socio-economic model which is in desperate need of a replacement.

Sponsored by Fridays for Future | Facebook event

Rethinking Labour Politics in Difficult Times

When: Friday March 25th, 3pm

In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, and against the backdrop of forty years of neoliberal globalization, the need to re-establish the labour movement’s political capacity has taken on a greater sense of urgency. Stephanie Ross and Larry Savage reflect on the strategic political possibilities and challenges facing the Canadian labour movement at this important moment of heightened economic inequality, political polarization, racism and exclusion, and threats to human health and wellbeing.

– Dr. Stephanie Ross, Director and Associate Professor, School of Labour Studies, McMaster University

– Dr. Larry Savage, Chair of the Department of Labour Studies, Brock University

eventbrite.ca

111th Anniversary of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire

When: Friday March 25th, 5:30pm

Frontline workers, organizers, teachers, students, and many friends will gather to honor the 146 young workers killed in the 1911 Triangle factory fire as we stand with workers fighting for social and economic justice today.

theworkerscircle.salsalabs.org

Walter Rodney Symposium

When: March 26th, 9:45am

The theme of the 19th Annual Walter Rodney Symposium is Walter Rodney: 50 Years of How Europe Underdeveloped Africa.

Since 2004, an annual symposium has been held in Atlanta, Georgia, or virtually during the week of Walter Rodney’s birthday (23 March). The goal is to bring together scholars, researchers, activists, students, and the community to discuss contemporary issues from a Rodney perspective.

zoom.us

Online Rally with Adam Beach

When: Saturday March 26th, 2pm

Grassy Narrows leaders, and grassroots people will join Anishinaabe movie star Adam Beach to call for mercury justice.

freegrassy.net

#CanadaStopArmingSaudi

When: March 27th, 2pm
Where: Matt Cohen Park, at Bloor & Spadina (725 Spadina Ave)

All out on the seven-year anniversary of the brutal war in Yemen to demand #CanadaStopArmingSaudi and denounce Canada’s deadly hypocrisy in fueling the war with billions of dollars in arms sales.

Join us outside Chrystia Freeland’s office on Sunday to denounce Canada’s deadly hypocrisy in valuing some lives over others and demand that #CanadaStopArmingSaudi immediately, massively increase humanitarian assistance for Yemen, and ensure a just transition for arms industry workers.

peaceandjusticenetwork.ca | Facebook event

TTCriders Book Club

When: March 28th, 7pm

Join TTCriders as we read “Station to Station: Why Subway-building Costs Have Soared in the Toronto Region,” by Stephen Wickens, transit researcher and journalist with a four-decade career at four Toronto-based daily newspapers.

ttcriders.ca

Stop the War in Ukraine, Oppose Canadian Military Action

By Durham Region Labour Council

Workers and their unions have been watching the dangerous situation in Ukraine with grave concern. Since the invasion began, civilian casualties have escalated, and two million Ukrainian residents have fled to nearby countries. There is a real risk that this crisis may escalate very quickly into a global confrontation with direct involvement of NATO, EU, US, and nuclear weapons – whether by accident or design.

Source: The Bullet No. 2581

Remembering Pierre Beaudet: Teacher, Internationalist, Comrade

Pierre Beaudet, a Quebec leader in international solidarity and progressive scholarship, died in Montréal on the night of March 7-8. Pierre was for decades a central organizer, author and editor in a range of grassroots movements and left publications. His presence and inspiration will be sorely missed by many, both young and old, as Judy Rebick indicates in this tribute she published in rabble.ca, an online magazine she co-founded two decades ago.

Source: The Bullet No. 2582

The Erasure of Palestine and the JNF

By Judith Deutsch

Ariel Gold’s article on the Jewish National Fund (JNF) in Counterpunch is an important and critical introduction to this NGO but she mistakenly dates the compilation of the Zionist Village Files to the 1940s. She cites the historian Ilan Pappé but he wrote that the files were almost complete in the 1930s. The Village Files were compiled in association with the JNF and contained detailed information about every Palestinian village and every inhabitant in preparation for the expulsion and execution of all Palestinians then living within the borders of the British mandate.

Source: The Bullet No. 2583

NATO, Imperialism and the War

By Phil Hearse

Russia’s brutal invasion of Ukraine seems to have caused some disorientation on the Left. For example, a left-wing website supported by some key leaders of the Stop the War Coalition complains about socialists who concentrate all their fire on Russia. But it is not really difficult to see why anti-war activists might do so at the present time. Russia brazenly breaches the so-called ‘Fourth Convention’ of the Geneva Convention, which forbids the targeting or collective punishment of civilians. And the outrageous and utterly sad consequences of Russia importing into Ukraine the tactics it used in Syria against civilians (little reported in Britain) are becoming clear.

Source: The Bullet No. 2584

‘Crush Inflation’?: Workers, Living Standards, and the Politics of Inflation

Politicians, the media, central bankers and the average worker have all been talking up the recent acceleration in the cost of living. Just a short time ago price rises of just 2% might have been considered ‘inflationary’. In the current phase of the Covid pandemic, inflation in core capitalist states, including Canada, is now running at the 5-7%, far ahead of wage settlements and bumps in income supports for welfare. From a socialist perspective how should unions and social movements of the poor respond to the current crisis? Moderated by Herman Rosenfeld. Presentations by Sam Gindin, and John Clarke.

Source: LeftStreamed

Decent Work and Health Organizer

The Decent Work and Health Network (DWHN) is a group of health workers organizing for improved working conditions as a means to improve individual and community health. Currently, we are advancing a campaign to win legislated paid sick days for all workers, as well as expose precarious work as a health hazard in the context of a global pandemic.

Start date: As soon as possible, as determined with the successful candidate
Salary range: $51,312 to $63,306 based on prior experience (plus 10% in lieu of benefits)
Contract length: 12 months

decentworkandhealth.org