May 2012 - Occupy Toronto

#mai22 Solidarity with Quebec Students

All Canadian eyes should be on Quebec now, as the Quebec student movement marks its 100th day of contiuous striking. Initially the movement was prepared to oppose incremental university tuition rates, but as the four months progressed, it took hold as a civil liberties and human rights movement; and through their endurance, and popular support, the world now recognizes Quebec as a leading example of what civil resistance and direct democracy is capable of, as did the Occupy Wall Street and Tahrir Square movements, only a few months prior. Media statement by Occupy Toronto As hundreds of thousands gathered in the streets of Montreal for a general strike in support of Montreal’s student movement, Occupy Toronto led a march of hundreds to show their support for the students and against the repressive Charest government’s moves to criminalize protest. Occupy Toronto is answering the call from Quebec to bring the spirit of the student strike to the rest of Canada, and stands with the rallying cry for free education. “Education, the youth: these are investments, not expenses. And if we aren’t investing in our children, then what is the point of money?” said Roxy Cohen, an organizer with the Occupy Toronto Free Skule. The Toronto march, which started at the University of Toronto’s Hart House today at 2pm, held a general assembly to discuss the march’s route, deciding on a route that ended at Ryerson University. Montreal student activist Laura Dolan addressed the assembly. This isn’t just a solidarity action, Dolan explained. Tuition is already too high across Canada considering places like Mexico can afford free education at the university level without sentencing students into a lifetime of debt. full article: http://wearechangetoronto.org/2012/05/23/4660...

So 6 months ago the St. James encampment was dismantled

So 6 months ago the St. James encampment was dismantled by circles of police & some outside workers but the movement continues… I heard in the corporate media that we did not have solutions! I emailed the original media team to post solutions but it never made it onto the site until now occupier economies: discussing solutions to growing inequality Nov. 5 to 22… Objective:How to close the gap between the wealthy and the poor? by Question Mark & 50plus voices Stop Crony Capitalism; example an unelected economist now runs Greece and an unelected Goldman Sachs alumni leads Italy $1 Billion will be raised from Wall St. & Industry to ReElect Obama In Canada, the Conservatives got 39.6% of votes successfully cast, 54% of the seats and ALL the power. Solution to First Past the Post is Electoral Reform ie. Proportional Representation Solutions for people who are suffering, sick & working poor/class STOP Fords Cuts Raise minimum wage Raise the taxable income federally to above poverty line levels A serious look at native, people of colour & immigrants Inclusionary Housing Strategy build affordable housing, seniors residences, supportive housing for addiction Tuition Reform/Debt Invest in ECE:Early Childhood Education, nutrition programs, Education, Free post secondary for all who qualify Youth Hiring Incentives Jobs Plan, environmental jobs Worker Cooperatives Civil Society Non Governmental Organizations(NGOs) Not for Profit Management ECONOMIC Progressive Income Taxation to reallocate resources Financial Transaction Tax Inheritance Tax(see U$) Improve Unemployment Benefits Bank of Canada lending at no interest for Infrastructure projects...

An Open Letter to Our Comrades On May 20, 2012

An Open Letter to Our Comrades from 3 anonymous OWS Occupiers in Chicago: COMMUNIQUÉ #246 On the eve of the feast of the cabal of hypocrites, otherwise referred to as the 2012 NATO Summit, the people of Chicago have undergone a grave injustice at the hands of the violent police state. The Chicago Police’s actions today, May 19th, were a brutally violent attack on our bodies and on our rights. An absurdly large police force was deployed in order to intimidate and provoke a peaceable assembly, and resulted in unbridled, militaristic attacks on activists demonstrating against NATO, inflicting several serious injuries – including broken noses, bloodied eyes, and a particularly sickening incident in which a dedicated comrade was belligerently run down by a police van. We vociferously condemn these unacceptable and cowardly attacks, and know that the people are beginning to awaken from the falsified dream of liberty in a nation thats find itself in a newly authoritarian police state which crushes any dissent and defends the war machines of internatonal violence and global capitalism, instead of the human beings it feigns to represent. Yet we will not be so easily fooled by these tactics. The actions by the Chicago Police Department were carried out tonight with the calculated intent of provoking and generating fear within our collective into a reactionary state. This is a police tactic that is used to distract our focus and to spiral us into downwardness and negativity. We must resist these feelings, for we lose our autonomy in reacting to the script they have written for us, and without steadfast descipline in the face of the arm of state repression. We have to be serious and disciplined in order to not fall into this trap. It is EXACTLY what they want from us. We know that this is a panicked attempt to postemptively justify to the people the astronomical amount of our public resources that have been wasted on the exorbitant number of police on the streets, the unlawful and intrusive surveillance & unjustifiable home raids, and the Orwellian fear being propagated by the puppet corporate media. Our organization will not be provoked into a state of disorganized rage, for we are well aware that is exactly as they wish to manipulate us. It is no better, nay, it is worse to fall into their cheap and predictable trap than it is to subserviently subjugate ourselves to obeying the orders of authority. This national convergence represents an incredible and unique opportunity to bring together a diverse spectrum of activists in a unified front of resistance unlike any other seen in over a decade. Tomorrow, we enter the stage with a righteous fire in our hearts at the injustice done to us and our comrades on these streets just a day before. Yet we will not be overriden with heightened emotions that cloud our judgement. We recognize this attempt at coercion as yet another manifestation of systemic oppression, and remain autonomous individuals who will not be ordered around, explictly or implicitly. Instead, we channel our anger, our pain, our compassion, our despair, and our passion for a better world without this oppression into our messaging and our actions. Comrades. Let us take a deep, deep breath together. Let’s heal together, and then work together to make tactical decisions that are arrived at out of truly free and autonomous choice, not dictated by authority. Be safe, look out for one another, organize in small, accountable groups of affinity and trust, Stay calm, and remember why we traveled to Chicago – to stand in the face of a war machine that acts recklessly beyond transparency and accountability to the people it affects and claims to represent – and to say we want a world free of war and oppression. Solidarity forever. -Anonymous #OCCUPYWALLSTREET #NONATO #NATOSOLIDARITY #NATO3 source: http://occupywallst.org/article/open-letter-our-comrades/...

Toronto G20 summit police have commited criminal acts

Toronto G20 summit police have commited criminal acts like beating up protesters. Kettling people at Queen & Spadina; a day after the police left their cars behind that were later set on fire?! Bliar lied about the law. The police are bad at math because aside from a few people who got within 5 metres of the Summit fence. There were over 1,100 arrests and about 20 something people convicted; sometimes guilty in a plea bargin while the approach for the police will encounter the thin blue line. Bliar should at least apologize if not resign for what happened under his watch even though it was Harper who chose Toronto in the first place likely to showcase Toronto’s financial district when Harper could have added a dozen chairs at the G8 in Huntsville! http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/story/2012/05/18/toronto-g20-blair.html...

Marxism 2012 GLOBAL CRISIS. GLOBAL RESISTANCE.

Marxism is the annual political conference organized by the International Socialists. This year’s theme is “global crisis, global resistance.” Held over three days at Ryerson University in downtown Toronto, Marxism 2012 features more than 30 talks and panels with speakers from across Canada and Quebec and around the world. Marxism 2012 is endorsed by the Ryerson Students’ Union. DATES Friday, May 25 to Sunday, May 27, 2012 For exact times, please see the full schedule. LOCATION Ryerson Students’ Centre * 55 Gould Street Toronto, Ontario TTC: Dundas | Directions & map * The Ryerson Students’ Centre is a fully accessible space. MORE INFO Email: marxism [at] socialist [dot] ca Phone: 416-972-6391 Facebook: Marxism 2012 Schedule This is a preliminary schedule and is subject to change. Speakers’ biographies are availablehere. FRIDAY MAY 25 7:00 pm – 9:00 pm The global fight against austerity: from the ballot box to the street (Room 1) – Nikos Loudos, Judith Orr, Andria Babbington, Monique Moisan, Carolyn Egan 9:00 pm – late Social SATURDAY MAY 26 10:00 am – 11:15 am Egypt and the Arab World: the year of revolution (Room 1) – Member of Egypt’s Revolutionary Socialists (TBA), Yusur Al-Bahrani, Sid Lacombe 11:30 am – 12:45 pm The 2012 Quebec student strike (Room 1) – Xavier Lafrance, Monique Moisan, Sibel Epi Ataoğul Thomas Mulcair & the NDP: what next? (Room 2) – Ritch Whyman The red in the rainbow: socialists & queer liberation (Room 3) – Darren Edgar Why is the 1% imposing austerity? (Room 4) – Pam Frache, Paul Kellogg 1:00 pm – 2:30 pm Building rank & file resistance in labour / lunch break (Room 1) – Carolyn Egan, Sung-Lim Kang, Jonathon Hodge, Jeff Ince, Pam Johnson 2:45 pm – 4:00 pm Tar Sands, pipelines & Indigenous sovereignty (Room 1) – Ben Powless, John Bell ‘Occupy everything!’ The history of the Russian Revolution (Room 2) – Octavian Cadabeschi Can capitalism be reformed? (Room 3) – Kevin Brice 1965: Canada’s rank & file rebellion (Room 4) – Pam Johnson 4:15 pm – 5:30 pm ‘From each according to their ability’: socialists & the disability movement (Room 1) – Melissa Graham, Michele MacAulay, Patricia Reilly Quebec, First Nations & the Canadian state (Room 2) – Chantal Sundaram Too many people? Population, immigration & climate change (Room 3) – Ian Angus The radical roots of hip hop (Room 4) – Mohammad Ali Aumeer 7:00 pm – 9:00 pm Can we stop the Harper Agenda? (Room 1) – Brigette DePape, Tasha Peters, Ben Powless, Hadayt Nazami, Michelle Robidoux 9:00 pm – late Social SUNDAY MAY 27 10:00 am – 11:15 am Eyewitness to the Greek rebellion (Room 1) – Nikos Loudos ‘Never going back!’ How women won abortion rights (Room 2) – Michelle Robidoux, Judith Orr The new class struggle in Africa (Room 3) – Ali Awali From Libya to Syria: revolution vs ‘humanitarian intervention’ (Room 4) – Jesse McLaren 11:30 am – 12:45 pm Palestine: imagining the one-state solution (Room 1) – Palestinian guest speaker, Abbie Bakan Racism, Islamophobia & economic crisis (Room 2) – Nikos Loudos, Chantal Sundaram 1972: when Quebec workers occupied (Room 3) – Jessica Squires Chile: students & workers rise up (Room 4) – Peter Hogarth 12:45 pm – 2:00 pm Are you a revolutionary? Introduction to the International Socialists / lunch break (Room 1) – Yusur Al-Bahrani, Kevin Brice 2:00 pm – 3:15 pm The role of socialists in Egypt’s revolution (Room 1) – Member of Egypt’s Revolutionary Socialists (TBA), Judith Orr What’s green about Marxism? (Room 2) – Bradley Hughes Women, workers & resistance in Iran (Room 3) – Niaz Salimi, Faline Bobier Hacktivism, social media & revolution (Room 4) – Chris Bruno, James Clark 3:30 pm – 4:00 pm Closing rally: global crisis, global resistance (Room 1) – Nikos Loudos, Judith Orr, Monique Moisan...

G8 summit-Camp David, Maryland, U$ – May 18-19

Where the leaders of some of the top economies will talk but not necessarily take action! The NATO summit is to follow in Chicago. Originally the G6; Canada was added to make it G7 & Russia to make it G8. This year Vladimir Putin chose not to attend. While Mario Monti remains an unelected leader from Italy as Francois Hollande of France makes his debut! When Harper first came to power in 2006, Canada had the 8th largest real economy. Under minority Conservative governments & Finance Minister Flaherty; Canada has fallen to 11th place having been surpassed by Brazil, Russia & India while the People’s Republic of China recently became the 2nd largest economy in the World though is not part of the G8. (see BRICs)...

99% Spring: New radical alliances for a new era

By Joshua Kahn Russell, Harmony Goldberg | May 10, 2012 Last month, a broad alliance of organizations from across the progressive spectrum came together to train 100,000 people in non-violent direct action in the hopes of supporting a wave of action targeting corporations and the politicians that own them. It was called 99% Spring. Some also called it “co-optation.” We call it “alliance building.” The conversation within the movement has been fascinating, and reveals some key pitfalls that the resurgent U.S. Left might fall into if we’re not careful. Grassroots groups that organize primarily in working class and communities of color such as National Peoples Action and the National Domestic Workers Alliance helped lead the 99% Spring process. Despite this, the terms of the debate have almost exclusively centered on the participation and limits of MoveOn.org (as a symbol and stand-in for more moderate liberals, the institutional left, and the nonprofit industrial complex). “Are the liberals co-opting Occupy?” or “Is Occupy co-opting the liberals?” There is indeed a historical precedent of radical peoples’ movements becoming de-fanged by the status quo. And yet, too often, the historic limits of the Left in the United States have been connected to its internal tendency towards sectarianism and the politics of purity. At this moment, our own circular firing squads may be a deeper threat to the viability of our movements than “outside” groups. It is precisely because of our long-term work with radical grassroots movements that both of us dove into helping organize 99% Spring. We were each involved in writing the curriculum and designing the trainings. We were challenged by, and learned a lot from, the process. Our organizations (the National Domestic Workers Alliance and the Ruckus Society) are both movement groups that support frontline communities speaking and acting for themselves, and we were both part of the left wing of the 99% Spring alliance. We are living in an incredible time. Occupy has helped us all re-imagine political vision and strategy. 99% Spring was a bold effort with a lot of success, real limitations, and some mistakes. We want to share our experiences from the heart of 99% Spring project to help our movements think more clearly about alliances, and some of the challenges that our political moment presents us. full article: http://rabble.ca/blogs/bloggers/joshua-kahn-russell/2012/05/99-spring-new-radical-alliances-new-era...

Socialist leader defeats Conservative

Socialist leader defeats Conservative in France while Greece votes for anti austerity candidates as the EU looks at a double dip recession?! http://www.thestar.com/news/world/article/1173954–france-election-francois-hollande-defeats-nicolas-sarkozy-to-become-president...

Thieves of Bay Street

I was thinking about watching all the American content of the Frontline documentaries that have aired on PBS about the financial industry. In Canada, we have problems as well. This book was released in April. http://thievesofbaystreet.ca/about/...

#May1TO OCCUPY MAY DAY 2012 – Toronto

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 * Copyright © 2012 Toronto Video Activist Collective...

May Day takes Toronto

May Day takes Toronto by Justin Saunders Annual workers’ rights celebration spills into streets throughout day, night One of the most successful May Day demonstrations in years took place earlier today, as large numbers filled the streets of Toronto in the annual festival of workers rights that is celebrated worldwide. Early in the day, a small Occupy contingent began guerilla gardening in a small patch at Queens Park, behind the provincial parliament building. The two dozen or so police attending the event stood well back, although a video unit showed a strange interest in the goings on. The camera on top of the black SUV with heavily tinted windows swivelled back and forth over a small group busily engaged in planting peas, garlic, onions, kale, lettuce and radishes. None of the other journalists present seemed to notice, so our crew approached and motioned that we wanted to ask them a question. After a few hand signals indicating that we should wait while they finished talking about something, the van pulled away, only to return five minutes later to the same spot. This ‘Garden Party Picnic Potluck’ was held to ‘challenge the lack of food security for many in this city’, said Jacob Kearey-Moreland, who organized the event. Kearey-Moreland said the symbolic garden at Queens Park was one of ’99′ other gardens planned across the city on May Day, intended to connect food security to broader economic issues – namely that, in spite of abundance, 1 billion people globally lack access to food. Occupiers plan to return regularly until the garden is harvested. The day’s main rally and march gathered at City Hall later in the afternoon, and quickly swelled to well over 1500 people. The event, a joint action between the May 1st Movement, No One Is Illegal and Occupy Toronto, denounced austerity policies at all levels of government, and highlighted the struggles of immigants, refugees and indigenous peoples in Canada, drawing links between them and the historical struggles of the labour movement, whose victory in securing the 8-hour workday is routinely celebrated on May Day. Nadia Saad of No One Is Illegal said: “We will connect our struggles.” In a press release, NOII called for the “freedom to move, stay and return” for non-status and migrant workers who have virtually no rights under the Canadian immigration system. Full article: http://toronto.mediacoop.ca/story/mayday-takes-toronto/10726...