April 2012 - Occupy Toronto

OccupyUSA, the 99% Spring, and the New Age of Direct Action

Collaboration or cooptation? Expansion or dilution? Mark Engler on what to make of the 99% Spring. by Mark Engler Over the past several weeks, a broad coalition of progressive organizations—including National People’s Action (NPA), ColorOfChange, the National Domestic Workers Alliance (NDWA), MoveOn.org, the New Bottom Line, environmental groups like Greenpeace and 350.org, and major unions such as SEIU and the United Auto Workers—has undertaken a far-reaching effort to train tens of thousands of people in nonviolent direct action. They have called the campaign the 99% Spring. Starting this week, many of these same groups will be rallying their members and supporters to use newly honed skills to confront the shareholder meetings of corporations across the United States—charging executives with abusing workers, the environment, and communities in pursuit of profits for the 1 percent. They are calling the drive 99% Power. With prominent actions gearing up this week—starting with major protests at Wells Fargo meetings in San Francisco—the campaign may soon be coming to a city near you. The Genesis of the 99% Spring Although this month’s 99% Spring trainings have taken place in the shadow of the Occupy movement, the coalition building behind them actually predated the emergence of Occupy Wall Street. Last summer, a handful of organizers from groups such as Jobs with Justice, NPA, and NDWA had discussions in which they lamented the lack of direct action in recent years. As NPA Executive Director George Goehl explains, “We felt what was missing in terms of organizing and in terms of the broader fight was that there wasn’t enough energy pointed towards challenging corporate power: That’s not going to government and saying, ‘Reign these guys in,’ but actually going toe-to-toe with big corporations.” complete article: http://www.yesmagazine.org/people-power/occupy-the-99-percent-spring-and-the-new-age-of-direct-action...

Occupy: Take Two (on TVO)

After a fall and winter of some discontent, the Occupy movement promises to take to the streets of North America in a show of force on May 1. Steve Paikin talks to activists from Occupy Wall Street (Amin Husain) and Occupy Toronto (Sakura Saunders) to find out what they’ve been doing since the encampments were cleared, and what their aims are for tomorrow and beyond. Watch video 1/2: http://ww3.tvo.org/video/176923/occupy-take-two Part 2/2 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xWBwg4mYJxQ...

INTERSECTIONS 2012 Occupations

Friday evening I got to the Ryerson U Student Centre early. This time there was a cost for the cocktails but the food was veggie and free! A few Occupiers were in attendance, it was mostly academics. By 7-something the first keynote speaker Sarah of University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill spoke on “Because the Night Belongs to Lovers:Occupying the Time of Precarity.” Living in a park at night had a lot of interpersonal problems especially on the gender divide. The precarity was the situation of uncertainty or safety. The funny example was the men feeling uncomfortable among the transgender women who identify as women. Precarity could also alude to an underemployment given people had time to live in a public space. Getting the Q & A rolling. I mentioned that living in a park was in itself an act of civil disobedience to assemble with others. The numbers of new and apolitical people who knew something was wrong. Being “loving” was being patience with those who had something to say and listening to them. Of course there was challenges with those who did not look at the long term objectives of the movement....

#may1to Revolution 2012

May 1, 2012, 4pm – International Workers’ Day March starts at Nathan Phillips Square, Toronto City Hall * No Work * No School * No Shopping * No Banking * No Housework * Recorded April 25, 2012 – downtown Toronto:...

Free Skule Schedule

The Free Skule is back with incredible classes for May Day! Check out the new schedule at: http://torontofreeskule.blogspot.ca/search/label/Events What is Free Skule (from the Free Skule Website): Free Skule is a space for critical education that facilitates the holistic development of the self, and the transformation of our communities. We are dedicated to an education based not in the organization from the top, but rather the participation of ALL! We use education as a tool for self-liberation, and collective resistance. We present an education founded in respect for everyone’s knowledge. We are students, teachers, workers, community members, friends, and family; we are the oppressed and the privileged. We are the people, and we no longer consent to an education system that teaches us to compete with each other; a system that commodifies knowledge, denying the existence of multiple truths, and multiple ways of knowing. For more information visit: http://torontofreeskule.blogspot.ca...

History of May Day, and “The Corporate Tax Dodgers” #OWS musical protest theatre

Occupy Toronto 27 April 2012 by Michael Holloway “The Tax Dodgers” are a musical and political street theatre group made up of Occupy Wall Street members – the non-violent, civil disobedience protest movement. They produced and preform this unique version of “Take Me Out To The Ball Game” – titled “Take Me Out to the Tax Game”. Lyrics Take me out to the tax game. Bail me out with the banks. Buy me a bonus and tax rebates. Never pay nuthin’ not fed’ral or state. So it’s shoot, shoot, shoot for the loopholes. It’s law, so you can’t complain. For its one, two, three-trillion you’re out, Since we rigged the game! Take me out to the tax game. Flip the bird to the crowd. Losers pay taxes, we take rebates. ‘cuz we make the rules for the corporate state. And it’s wham, bam, slam through the loopholes. We always win, what a game! We’re the one, yes, the one percent, And we have no shame! The video above was edited from a report posted at The Real News Network, April 19 2012, “Spring Revival: Occupy Wall Street Seeks to Rejuvenate Movement“. The edit is the last minute and a half of the original news item –http://therealnews.com/t2/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=3… The Real News Network’s “Occupy” label –http://therealnews.com/t2/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=846 “Spring Awakening at Central Park” – an ‘Activist Training Weekend’ held on April 14th 2012 in Central Park in Manhattan. The New York, NY area General Assemblies came together for an extrodinary General Assembly to plan towards a day of political theatre, civil disobedience and protest against an economic system rigged in favour of International Business Elites, and for a fair economic deal for the 99%. May Day 2012, or “#M1″ is a call for everyone to take the day off work, all work, even unpaid work (like house work) and come out with your family and make your voice heard – now at any one of over 150 cities across the Canada, Mexico and the United States that are planning #M1 events. The Rallying call is: #OWS – May 1, 2012 – A Global General Strike – No Work — No School — No Housework — No Shopping – #M1 OccupyToronto (#may1to) – http://occupyto.org/2012/04/may-1st-day-of-action-join-us/ Occupy Wall Street (#M1) A City-by-City Link List –http://occupywallst.org/article/may-day/ AdBusters Occupy Blog – http://www.adbusters.org/blogs/adbusters-blog/may-2012-insurrection.html The History of “May Day” – the original Labour Day May 1, “May Day” is the original ‘Labour Day’. Back in the 1880′s the movement for the 8 hour work day and other worker’s rights, was high lighted by a strike in Chicago during 1886/87 – a long strike of the McCormick Harvesting Machine Company. The strike was broken when the State used Agent Provocateures to set off a bomb in amongst a crowd of demonstators and police during an out door meeting of strikers – a day after company poice – or “Pinkerton’s” – opened fire on the workers picket line at the plant with live rounds. The events at the out door meeting became known as “The Haymarket Massacre” (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haymarket_affair). The device killed seven police officers and at least four demonstrators. Four union organizers, that some believe were just ‘patsies’, were hung by the neck until dead for the crime, on November 11, 1887. The events set back the movement for workers rights for about 10 years, but eventually the ‘Haymarket Affair’ became the catalist that united a nation wide general strike that ensconced bargaining rights through federal legislation that guaranteed the right to collective bargaining for all who chose to join a union – and by osmosis changed working conditions for the better for all people, as working conditions began to parallel those bargained for in the unionized sector. This workers rights movement was one of the key the foundation stones of the economic agreement between labour and owners that later (after the Second World War) lead to what became known as The Affluent Society – also known as the Middle Class – or in our times, the Consumer Driven Economy [more accurately, the Savings driven economy] (see: “The Affluent Society” 1958 – by J.K. Galbraith –http://books.google.ca/books/about/The_affluent_society.html?id=iLtdAAAAIAAJ) Related Video: “OWS Spring Awakening with the Tax Dodgers!” –http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tPslGojm7Q4 mh...

Medic Materials Required

With the May Day Events quickly approaching the street medics require materials and are asking for donations of the items listed below. If you are able to donate materials on the list please contact: [email protected] Saline (for eyewash and wound care) Sterile guaze (2×2′s or 4×4′s) Nitrile gloves in size medium and large Thank you!...

Banner Drop. #May1TO

Breaking News. Banner Drop. #May1TO: A good day to call-in sick Toronto — As the Austerity budget in Ontario goes to vote, activists from No One Is Illegal – Toronto and Occupy Toronto issued a call for a mass protest and day of action on May Day (May 1), 2012. A 30 feet x 7 feet banner was dropped off a highway crossing early Tuesday morning, cheekily telling early morning motorists to call-in sick on May Day, when immigrant and worker rights groups and Occupy movements across North America will be marching together against the attacks of the 1%. More photos coming. Though capitalism and corporate greed have infected much of Toronto since the late 19th century, its most virulent form, “Austerity” has only recently turned in to a a pan-damn-emic. “Most Torontonians are sick and could use a day off” explained Lana Goldberg of Occupy Toronto. “People are suffering with Harperitis and have serious headaches from Fordotrophy, which makes it really hard to work and make a living. They should call in sick on May 1st and come to the rally and march. A nice day in the sun will help.” full article: http://toronto.mediacoop.ca/newsrelease/10624...

Our call for a Toronto wide “sick day” picked up by the press!

Call in sick this May Day (May 1st) and join Occupy Toronto’s May 1st Day of Action! * http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/story/2012/04/24/may-day-countrywide-sick-day-urged.html http://www.globaltoronto.com/occupy+toronto+calls+for+protests+on+may+1st/6442627629/story.html...

Schedules for May Day – Day of Action!

This year On May 1st, Occupy Toronto is partnering with our allies No One is Illegal Toronto and the May First Movement to organize a massive Day of Action for May Day. Inspired by 126 years of workers’ struggles, the Arab Spring, the Indignados of Spain, the global fights against austerity, and the international Occupy movement, we take to the streets again! On International Workers Day, join us and our allies for a day of action to respect Indigenous sovereignty, insist that no one is illegal, for international workers solidarity, to defend and expand public services, to stop prison expansion and corporate handouts, to end imperialist wars and aggression, to build peoples’ power, and to move beyond capitalism. We are the 99% and we are under attack! They are few, we are many. Join us and fight back! This May Day, we are asking all workers to call in sick as an act of solidarity. The media has picked up our call: http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/story/2012/04/24/may-day-countrywide-sick-day-urged.html Then, we are planning a series of actions throughout the day. including a large rally and march starting at Nathan Phillips Square at 4:00pm and finally a 24 hour reoccupation starting at 9:00pm at Alexandra Park, and moving to the secret reoccupation site. We ask that you join us for as many of these actions as you can participate in! Schedule for the Day: All Morning: Sick Day, Autonomous, non violent, Direct Actions across the city (or just go to the park and enjoy the day.) 2:00pm – Occupy Gardens Guerrilla Gardening and Potluck, Queen’s Park (south side.) 4:00pm – Rally at Nathan Phillips Square, then March to Alexandra Park. 6:00pm – Cultural Festival at Alexandra Park. Music, Food, etc… 9:00pm – Gather at Alexandra Park and march to secret reoccupation site! Rally and March: Occupy Toronto, the May 1st Movement and No One is Illegal Toronto, as well as dozens of community organizations are combining for a single large Toronto-wide May Day March. We ask all allied groups and organizations to mobilize your membership and to attend this march! We gather at Nathan Phillips Square for 4:00pm for a rally and then march to Alexandra Park for a Cultural Festival at the park. Festival includes musical performances by various groups, and is primarily organized by OPIRG. Reoccupation: The Occupy Toronto Cloud Gardens General Assembly has organized a 24 hour reoccupation following the cultural festival at Alexandra park. Our goal is to keep the occupation short, strategic, and highly political rather then just camping through the season. This is only the first of a series of occupations planned to take place this spring and summer. Please gather at Alexandra Park at 9:00pm and be ready to march to the secret occupation site. Once again, we ask all allied groups and organizations to support this action. Encourage your membership to come occupy with us, donate food, blankets, tents, and other supplies to our logistics team (e-mail [email protected]) and please be ready to mobilize everyone you know to come to the site and support us if you hear that we are being attacked. We cannot do this without your support. We are all the 99%. Reoccupation Schedule: MAY 1st: 11pm – Sunrise: Film Screenings (with separate area for sleeping) MAY 2nd: 6:30am – 7:00pm Meditation 7:00am – 7:00pm Yoga 8:00am – 10:00am: Breakfast, Art build, Free School Workshops 10:00am – 1:00pm: Protest the Barrick Gold Annual General Meeting @ Metro Toronto Convention Centre (255 Front street) 1:00pm – 5:00pm: Free School Workshops 5:00pm – 7:00pm: General Assembly 7:00pm – 9:00pm: Clean up...

Occupy Wall Street: what is to be done next?

What to do in the aftermath of the Occupy Wall Street movement, when the protests that started far away – in the Middle East, Greece, Spain, UK – reached the centre, and are now reinforced and rolling out all around the world? In a San Francisco echo of the OWS movement on 16 October 2011, a guy addressed the crowd with an invitation to participate in it as if it were a happening in the hippy style of the 1960s: “They are asking us what is our program. We have no program. We are here to have a good time.” Such statements display one of the great dangers the protesters are facing: the danger that they will fall in love with themselves, with the nice time they are having in the “occupied” places. Carnivals come cheap – the true test of their worth is what remains the day after, how our normal daily life will be changed. The protesters should fall in love with hard and patient work – they are the beginning, not the end. Their basic message is: the taboo is broken, we do not live in the best possible world; we are allowed, obliged even, to think about alternatives. In a kind of Hegelian triad, the western left has come full circle: after abandoning the so-called “class struggle essentialism” for the plurality of anti-racist, feminist etc struggles, “capitalism” is now clearly re-emerging as the name of the problem. The first two things one should prohibit are therefore the critique of corruption and the critique of financial capitalism. First, let us not blame people and their attitudes: the problem is not corruption or greed, the problem is the system that pushes you to be corrupt. The solution is neither Main Street nor Wall Street, but to change the system where Main Street cannot function without Wall Street. Public figures from the pope downward bombard us with injunctions to fight the culture of excessive greed and consummation – this disgusting spectacle of cheap moralization is an ideological operation, if there ever was one: the compulsion (to expand) inscribed into the system itself is translated into personal sin, into a private psychological propensity, or, as one of the theologians close to the pope put it: full article by Slavoj Zizek: http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2012/apr/24/occupy-wall-street-what-is-to-be-done-next...

Mic Check for May Day

Getting ready for May Day, Occupy Toronto took to transit to spread the word! On April 17th 2012 Occupy Toronto held a Mic Check in the TTC to talk about May Day 2012! It was a wonderful experience and I highly suggest more of these actions are done as we move closer to May Day.They are fun, quick and informative and they get the message out to new audiences! Mic Check! This is Occupy Toronto: Documented or undocumented : Paid or unpaid : We are Workers We are Students : We are Families : We are the 99% : The 1% carry out war : Throw us in prisons. Make us poor : Destroy public services: Attack unions And poison the environment They deny us freedom and dignity : So We Fight And We Resist : On May 1st: International Workers Day : Join us at 4pm at Nathan Phillips Square : For a rally and march To respect Indigenous sovereignty : Insist that no one is illegal : To fight austerity To end imperialist wars and aggression : To build people’s power : and to move beyond a system that is unjust, exploitative and destructive. On May 1st : Say no to : Work School, and Shopping : Banking and housework : and Join us In a day of action : On May 1st : We will reclaim the streets of Toronto And we will ReOccupy. Thank you for listening!...

Upcoming conferences that Occupiers should attend:

First, on the weekend right before May Day, the Joint Graduate Program in Communication & Culture at York and Ryerson Universities is hosting their annual conference, which is going to be almost exclusively about the Occupy Movement this year. Check it out: http://thecomcult.wordpress.com/intersections-2012/ April 27–29, 2012 at the Ryerson university. Just to give you a sens of how cool this confrence sounds, here’s the descripton of the first keynote speaker (check the rest out at the website above!) “Because the Night Belongs to Lovers: Occupying the Time of Precarity Sarah Sharma, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill While much of Occupy’s political power is rooted in its spatial tactic, the movement’s temporal realities are also key to understanding its complexities. This talk considers those realities, specifically turning to the night: a time when the spatial practice of occupying and the temporality of precarity find each other in a strange embrace. In the dark, new and unheard of demands emerge for the first time. At night, the faultiness of the movement ruptures to the surface in new ways. It is also at night, that those outside the camps, from the police, journalists and the public, fix their gaze upon Occupy. Night also reflects the lived experience of precarity that Occupy and other activists and theorists have long mobilized against. To be precarious means to be unsure, uncertain and exposed to forces beyond one’s control. It means to live and work without a sense of a guaranteed future. As Judith Butler offers, precarity is not just an economic reality, it is a characteristic of the lives of those who “do not qualify as recognizable, readable or grievable. And in this way, precarity is a rubric that brings together women, queers, transgender people, the poor, and the stateless (2009).” To be precarious means to live in something akin to a permanent state of night with no guarantee of dawn. In these darknesses, what is revealed about the conceptual vitality and political possibility of ‘generalized precarity’?” Yes, it’s very academic, but speaking for myself, I can’t wait to go check it out! Next is the yearly conference organized by the International Socialists, also at the Ryerson University. “Marxism 2012 is a three-day political conference of more than 30 talks and panels from May 25-27 at Ryerson University in Toronto. 2011 was a historic year of revolt. There have been revolutions across the Arab world, general strikes in Europe, a massive campaign to stop the Keystone XL pipeline, student strikes in Chile and huge working class fightbacks in Wisconsin and Ohio. The #Occupy movement shook the world, spreading to over 1,700 cities worldwide. In 2012, the ruling class shows no sign of straying from its austerity agenda, but people are continuing to fight back. From the deepening revolution in Egypt to the Quebec student strike, resistance is challenging the logic of the status quo and posing alternatives to the crisis and cruelty of the capitalist system. Join the discussion about how to build a better world. Topics include the Arab Spring, the #Occupy movement, rank-and-file rebellion, anti-imperialism, environmental justice, disability rights, anti-oppression and much more.” For more information, check out : www.marxism2012.com...

The North Star

A collaborative blog by and for occupiers… Most of what is published by the left regarding Occupy is written from the standpoint of people who are not in the trenches and focuses on “what Occupy means” or “what Occupy must do.” The overwhelming majority of locally based Occupy sites are focused on actions, but there is little follow-up — how many people attended an action? What are the lessons we can learn from what happened? Can we do better? There is no national hub or one-stop shop for Occupy news, commentary, analysis, and conversation written by and for the people in the trenches. The North Star aims to fill these gaps through collaborative effort and collective input. Action and analysis have to go together if either are to have any impact. Check it out :: www.thenorthstar.info...

Corporate Citizenship in the age of Occupy

at Ryerson U was an adventure. Being 1 of 3 Occupiers plus 1 Occupy Vancouver guy in the audience was daunting. The academics did their research primarily on secondary sources see corporate media. Having been a person living in St. James Park Oct.- Nov. was able to clarify & ask challenging questions. The students have a career OR few ahead of them & made attempts to professionally communicate their positions. I was fair in my analysis & found my self getting the Q & A rolling on several occations. Aparently they, like the Media did not know we were trying to oppose Corporate Greed or growing inequality. I gave the keynote speaker a piece of my mind on the notion of “corporate social responsibility” being “green washing” Some amusing answers were; capitalism was the lesser evil & if you compare the poor in Canada to the rest of the World we are not so bad (but in my opinion still the poor in a Canadian context.) Here’s the poster & weblinks. I’ll give them points for discussing contemporary issues. Plus I enjoyed the food & cocktails…(smile) http://www.ryerson.ca/artsandcontemporarystudies/index.html http://www.ryerson.ca/content/dam/arts/downloads/corpcitizenship.pdf...

Page 1 of 212