Occupy Toronto
January 27, 2013
by Michael Holloway
 
Edmonton Alberta conservative activist Patrick Ross has lately written that #Occupy is “colonizing”[1] #IdleNOMore.
 
So, ahead of reactionary Sun Media picks up on this correct wing conspiracy theory (if they haven’t currently) – I thought this would be a good opportunity for a little left wing transparency.
#Occupy isn’t colonizing #IdleNOMore. Idle No More is as considerably a portion of Occupy as Occupy is a element of Idle No Far more. They are the very same point – social justice movements.
I use the ‘#’ hastag on the words above for a quite critical explanation these are two grass roots, horizontally organized, world wide web primarily based movements. They are a type of direct democracy exactly where every person agrees on a set of goals and everybody just goes out and does a part. No one particular assigns tasks – it just occurs – from every single according to their capacity (to quote a person renowned). Leadership evolves and in the cae of he Quebec Students Stike – is tested for well-known help Very routinely. In the case of Occcupy Totnto every time the was a Basic Assembly, new individuals lead based on what they have been operating on and how it was developing.
The two movements – are World wide web, New Form Best Practice, Social Justice network organizing in action. An evolving form of on-line direct democracy. (Probably a vision of what our constitution will reflect in civil society in a couple of years time.)
Right here’s the details, some hyperlinks.
The Social Justice Movement is on-line and transparent – you just have to uncover the essential words and adhere to the hyperlinks – here are some:
The Planet Social Forum (Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Globe_Social_Forum) is the connection amongst #IdleNOMore and #Occupy. This connectivity goes all the way back to the Seattle IMF meeting in 1999 (N30 -Wikipedia – � Seattle WTO protests” – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1999_Seattle_WTO_protests) — years prior to either of the two groups existed!
 
Time Travel? Alien Invasion? George Soros’s – ‘Tides Foundation’?
No — a international, progressive’s response to corporate globalization, and the emerging International American Empire.
In Canada – in November 2012 – Social Kind- aka ‘People’s Assembly’ – was proposed coming out of the effective ‘Casseroles’ worldwide solidarity movement which sprang up in support of the hugely profitable Quebec Students Strike against the privatization of public education.
This Individuals’s Assembly would be ‘occupy style’, a horizontally organized discussion towards locating typical ground and in order to hopefully unite progressive social justice activists from English, French Canada and Indigenous Nations from across Turtle Island.
That discussion resulted in a Basic Assembly this weekend (Jan26-27) in Ottawa: “Towards a Peoples’ Social Forum in Canada” – http://peoplessocialforum.webs.com/
 
Under is a video from the Ottawa Assembly published nowadays on Youtube by skyearthstories. Below the video is a lot more about the organization of the J26 Ottawa Social Forum.
“Jessica Gordon & Sheelah McLean @ Men and women’s Social Forum Ottawa Jan 26, 2013″
 
To describe the organization of the ‘J26 Ottawa Social Forum’, I reprint some relevant paragraphs from the “Towards a Peoples’ Social Forum in Canada” website.
The 3 reprints are: The history of the The Globe Social Forum movement The get in touch with for attendance (the meeting’s raison d’etre) and lastly, the proposed architecture, objectives of the Forum.
J26 Ottawa Peoples’ Social Forum
January 26-27, 2013
University of Ottawa
 
Towards a Peoples’ Social Forum
What is a Social Forum?
(http://peoplessocialforum.webs.com/what-is-a-social-forum)
The initial social forum was the Globe Social Forum held in January 2001 in Porto Alegre, Brazil. Basically put, it was a response to the increasing onslaught of the neoliberal agenda of the ruling parties in numerous components of the globe. It challenged the TINA syndrome as properly as the correct-wing theses of “the end of history” and “clash of civilizations.” It also proposed the slogan “Another Planet is Attainable.”
The World Social Forum was intended as a regular meeting of activists to move experiences from the individual to the collective.
This forum set the trend for organizing such events on an annual basis. Until 2007 there have been seven WSF in diverse cities of the globe with an typical participation of 100 000 men and women. From then onwards a WSF is held each and every two years. The subsequent WSF-2013 will be held in Tunis.
In addition to this international event, there emerged national and regional social forums. For instance “Quebec Social Forum,” “European Social Forum,” “Africa Social Forum”,”India Social Forum.” At the identical time social forums were organized on thematic basis. For example, “Democracy Social Forum,” “Education Social Forum,” etc..
 
Creating Social Movements as Instruments of Transformation
(http://peoplessocialforum.webs.com/why-a-social-forum-now)
Anger and discontent against the ruling Conservative government is on the rise all across Canada. Human rights groups, women’s organizations, cultural associations, environment groups, labour, indigenous peoples, students, in reality civil society organizations in basic feel threatened and angered by the government’s policies and actions.
Protests for social and environmental justice are erupting all more than the nation. Casseroles have been organized on the streets of many cities in assistance of the student movement in Quebec. The youth across Canada are joining hands with those from Quebec in difficult neo-liberal austerity policies.
Indigenous communities are fighting to preserve their culture, and defend their lands from predatory mining and oil corporations. There are a lot of campaigns, gatherings and protests planned for the months to come.
But our movements continue to be fragmented and ghettoized. We have to function collectively and develop a space for all these voices of dissent and strategize together our progressive agenda to help create hyperlinks and solidarity across movements and problems.
 
A grassroots approach to a Canada-Québec-Indigenous Peoples’ Social Forum
(http://peoplessocialforum.webs.com/why-a-social-forum-now)
We are proposing a grassroots horizontal strategy to organizing a People’s Social Forum across Canada as a means of stimulating debate, discussion and further our sense of community and collective action. The process of the social forum seeks to reach out to a plurality of social movements, groups and progressive institutions across Canada, Québec and Indigenous communities. The brief term aim becoming to construct on existing struggles by developing a united and cohesive front against the Conservative agenda of austerity and privatization but long-term to assist transform the current political, economic and social paradigm, by employing creative resistance even though proposing options options
So far many organizations and folks have come collectively to type Expansion Commissions in Montreal, Ottawa and Toronto. Discussions are going on to form related commissions in Vancouver, Calgary, St. John’s, and so on. The Expansion Commissions will focus on involving as numerous other organizations and individuals in the process.
There is a proposal that these Commissions call for a Common Assembly later this fall or in early winter to launch the Peoples’ Social Forum. This general assembly will take the choices on the name, final dates and locations as nicely as the process top to the forum, and its final format.
 
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[1] Patrick Ross @OutlawTory – “Idle No Much more/Occupy Toronto’s Rhetorical Intimidation Fail” uploaded by PatrickRoss45 – http://youtu.be/-X4p57-jxeE
 
 
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