CONTENTS

1. CALLS TO ACTION
2. EVENTS
3. ARTICLES

Oppose Assault on Democracy

Make Your Voice Heard – Demand Your Councillor Take a Stand for Local Democracy 

Doug Ford’s Bill 39, Better Municipal Governance Act, 2022 threatens democracy in our city by allowing the Mayor to propose and pass by-laws with the support of only one-third of Council. If passed, this Act would make Toronto, and Ottawa, the only legislative bodies in the country that don’t require a 50% + 1 vote to make a decision.

The Prime Minister, and the Premier himself, require a majority of Members to pass any bill, including Bill 39. In other words, in a democracy, the majority rules and the minority is heard – the proposed changes undermine the basic tenets of democracy itself.

act.newmode.net

Let’s Show Them What Democracy Looks Like

When: Thursday November 24th, 12noon
Where: City Hall Council Chambers, 100 Queen St. W. (near Osgoode Subway Station)

After the historic election of new and diverse progressive voices to City Hall, Mayor John Tory is working closely with Doug Ford to pass a disturbingly undemocratic power grab that allows the Mayor to win votes with the support of only a third of city councillors, meaning that a large majority of city councillors could oppose the Mayor and his motions would still pass.

progresstoronto.ca

Canticles III

When: November 24th, 7pm
Where: Another Story, 315 Roncesvalles Ave

Toronto Lit and Guernica Editions present George Elliott Clarke book launch.

anotherstory.ca

Posing as Canadian: A webinar with Gordon Laxer

When: November 24th, 7pm

In this webinar, Gordon will review his findings on the power and influence of foreign oil giants in blocking meaningful climate action in Canada and will highlight the current political climate in Alberta. Just as importantly, the webinar will walk us through what we can do to curb that power.

zoom.us

Climate Justice Toronto’s Fall Convergence

When: November 27th, 10am to 5:30pm
Where: 58 Cecil St

Climate Justice Toronto (CJTO) is a grassroots youth group which seeks to build a powerful movement to stop the climate crisis by confronting its root causes: capitalism, colonialism, and white supremacy.

Fall Convergence is a full-day event bringing together social, economic, and climate justice groups in the city, November 27th, at Cecil Community Centre! There will also be an optional social. We hope to see you there!

eventbrite.com

Militarization and Climate Change

When: November 29th, 5pm

Emily Gilbert is a Professor at the University of Toronto, cross-appointed between the Canadian Studies program and the Department of Geography and Planning. Her research focuses on securitization and militarization, with respect to borders, the economy, and climate change. She is an editor at Security Dialogue and the Vice-Principal of University College.

Emily poses a key question: what are the social implications when a military organization (the Pentagon) becomes one of the prime innovators in green technologies?

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Childcare Workers Are Worth More

When: November 30th, 10am
Where: Queen’s Park (south lawn)

Ontario must create a workforce strategy to recruit and retain educators and other staff in licensed child care, provide good jobs with fair wages and decent working conditions, and ensure that families have the care and early learning services they need.

eventbrite.com

Colour of Violence: Race, Gender & Anti-Violence Services

When: November 30th, 2pm

Battered Women’s Support Services (BWSS) is thrilled to announce the launch of our community-based research report “Colour of Violence: Race, Gender & Anti-Violence Services.”

With: Paulette Senior, Leslie Spillett, Summer Rain, Angela Marie MacDougall, and Harsha Walia.

zoom.us

Truth be told: Michael Manley in Conversation

When: November 30th, 7:30pm

Michael Manley was Jamaica’s Prime Minister between 1972 and 1980 when his government attempted a series of decolonizing reforms. He was defeated in a violent election in 1980 and the Washington consensus was ushered in. He returned to power in 1989 when he took a more moderate stance, resigning as Prime Minister in 1992. Manley’s leadership style and legacy is heatedly contested, but does it have any relevance for the present moment?

Truth be Told comprises three years of candid taped interviews with Michael Manley conducted by his wife Glynne leading up to his death in 1997. Here, in the context a major shift in the balance of power in the hemisphere, leading scholars of the Caribbean in Canada, the US and Jamaica discuss the book and take up Manley’s legacy. They do so through the lens of contemporary global issues related to political leadership, the informal economy, gender, mining and extraction, global racism and inequality, and land and labour rights.

zoom.us

After COP27: Where next?

When: December 1st, 12noon (EST)

The Global Alliance on a Green New Deal is thrilled to welcome Professor Huq, Director of the International Centre for Climate Change and Development (ICCCAD) in Bangladesh. Professor Hug has attended every COP and will share his thoughts on the outcomes of COP27 from the landmark deal to create a “loss and damage” fund to missed opportunities over emissions, the dangerous influence of fossil fuel companies and whether 1.5 really is still alive.

Together, we will explore where civil society actors and lawmakers should focus their efforts now: making sure COP28 delivers a loss and damage fund that’s fit for purpose, how and why we might support the Bridgetown initiative, pushing for further and faster action on decarbonisation in the global north and action to make sure fossil fuels stay firmly in the ground.

zoom.us

Black Women Under Surveillance

When: December 1st, 7pm
Where: 1 Roof Garden Lane (northeast corner of Bloor and Dovercourt)

Another Story Bookshop and Arbeiter Ring Publisher present the in-person launch for Black Women Under State by Idil Abdillahi.

anotherstory.ca

Health Coalition Kicks off Campaign to Save Public Hospitals

By Ontario Health Coalition

The Ontario Health Coalition released a brief on October 26 charging that the Doug Ford government lied to the public about its privatization of Ontario’s public hospital services. The Coalition reported that the Ford government significantly increased funding to private clinics while at the same time denying that they were expanding the private clinics. The denials were made in written and verbal statements to media across Ontario in the months leading into the election.

Source: The Bullet No. 2727

Women, Life, Liberty

By Kamran Nayeri

The song Baraye (For) composed by the singer Shervin Hajipour has been described as “the anthem” of the “Women, Life, Liberty” protests in Iran. Hajipour wrote the lyrics using a collection of tweets by the protesters. Shortly after the release of Baraye, he was arrested. However, he has been released on bail. As such, the lyrics offer a random sample of what motivates some of the protesters. To keep the authenticity of these, the following is my literal English translation of the lyric, which sacrifices it musical and poetic forms.

Source: The Bullet No. 2728

We 8 Billions, Their $215 Trillion

By Mara Fridell

As expropriative, exploitative agriculture, industry, and militarization have reduced science to dependent positivist-mechanism, human biological reproduction has expanded enormously. Narrow growth priorities have left the complex forms of reproduction required for developmental life on Earth in crisis – discounted, disrupted, and disorganized. Addressing the burgeoning crises of our times will require overthrowing the entrenched maldistribution of credit/shame and cooperation/discipline.

Source: The Bullet No. 2729

Organizing Under and Against Apartheid

By Manal Shqair

The Palestine New Federation of Trade Unions (the New Unions) started as a small union organizing workers in the agricultural sector, known as the Union of Workers Associations in the Food Industries and Agriculture (UWAFIA). In October 2007, eighty Palestinian workers who used to work in Seoul Orr, one of the seven factories located in the illegal industrial settlement zone of Nitzani Shalom (on land confiscated by an Israeli military order from Palestinians in Tulkarm, occupied West Bank) went on an open strike.

Source: The Bullet No. 2730

History, Theory and Politics: On Uno Kozo’s Theory of Crisis

In this talk, Ken C. Kawashima will discuss how Uno’s Theory of Crisis can inform and guide the analysis of capitalism’s historical crises, and how it gives us a theoretical grasp of Marx’s Capital that emphasizes the concepts of labour-power, excess capital, and surplus populations. In this regard, Uno’s Theory of Crisis is very different from orthodox Marxist approaches to Capital. Kawashima will discuss the political implications of Uno’s Theory of Crisis for today.

Source: LeftStreamed