Tag: Social Movements

Transit is a critical issue for many people in Toronto, as in all major urban areas. More is at stake than reducing traffic congestion and gridlock. Transit and general mobility are intimately related to larger issues in capitalist society: how goods and services are produced and delivered; the location of

Photo by Xvex7 Much is and will be written comparing the student uprisings in the late 1960s in the United States and the current turmoil in some French universities. Like the nostalgia for the Cold War, the media is going back to what took place in the United States at

Political theorist and activist Clara Zetkin (1857-1933) In 1923 the radical socialist and feminist Clara Zetkin gave a report at the Communist International about the emergence of a political movement called fascism. Fascism, then in its infancy, was written off by many liberals, socialists and communists as little more than

Photo by Cancillería del Ecuador Noam Chomsky has criticised the anti-fascist movement and argued its actions are wrong in principle and it is a “major gift to the right”. The eminent intellectual, who is described as the father of modern linguistics, argued the movement was self-destructive and constituted a tiny

Käthe Kollwitz – “Solidarity” (1932) Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW) hosted a panel discussion during the Convention of the Canadian Labour Congress. The panelists discussed their experiences working with various solidarity coalitions and the need for a national solidarity network that can bridge the divide between labour and social

Photo by Fibonacci Blue NATIONAL DAY OF ACTION AGAINST ISLAMOPHOBIA AND WHITE SUPREMACY We are tired. The war waged against Muslims and refugees worldwide has reached its boiling point with Trump’s Presidency. These xenophobic, anti-Black, Islamophobic, anti-refugee racist, sexist, homophobic and transphobic policies have come to fruition. Walls and bans

Photo by Raphaël Canet It all began right here in Porto Alegre in 2001 when this city in the south of Brazil became a major site of popular mobilization. Influenced by the Workers’ Party (PT), unions were, along with popular movements, at the forefront of a proactive political effort that

Photo by Kheel Center The profound defeat of the U.S. labour movement over the past three to four decades is usually measured by the loss of things that workers once took for granted like decent wages and benefits. A less quantifiable but ultimately more decisive indicator is the retreat from

Photo by McGill Daily Winnipeg, October 18, 2016: The decision taken by Green Party of Canada convention delegates to approve a resolution supporting the international Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions campaign against Israel in August 2016 was controversial, so much so that the leadership decided to convene a special general meeting

Photo by Derek Hatfield

April 9, 2017 will mark the 100th anniversary of the battle of Vimy Ridge. From April 3-9, the Canadian government, with other organizations, will attempt to stir our souls with a sanitized version of the battle of Vimy Ridge. Using the occasion to further militarize our society and promote a system that profits from continuous war, they will regale us with tales of past glories and the birth of a nation.

In reality, Vimy Ridge is a dark story of military slaughter that saw over 10,500 Canadian soldiers wounded, 3,600 dead and thousands more missing in action. If truth be told, the battle of Vimy Ridge was just one of the contemptible and insane acts of violence committed against humanity during WW1.

It’s time to tell the real story of lives lost and the resistance of soldiers on the front lines. While soldiers broke ranks, resistance at home was led by the left and the women’s movement igniting a fight against conscription, particularly in Quebec.

On April 9, we invite you to join us in a very important commemoration to both lives lost at Vimy Ridge and resistance to war. With your participation, we hope to build a cross-Canada chorus of anti-war readings of Motherhouse and Bolsheviki by David Fennario, two plays that deliver blistering condemnations of war while celebrating resistance from the bottom up.

Motherhouse is a one-woman drama that gives voice to disillusioned working-class women employed at the British Munitions Factory in Verdun, Quebec, during WWI, as told by factory worker, Josephine Lillabit Bradley, based on eye witness accounts. Their discontent leads to a strike.

Bolsheviki is a one-man story about rebellion in the trenches of WWI that also results in resistance, as told by Harry “Rosie” Rollins, based on eye witness accounts.

David Fennario is a Montreal playwright and winner of two Chalmers’ awards and the Pauline Julien award.

Help build a massive, noisy protest to challenge the spectacle of war we are sure to be subjected to on the 100th anniversary of the battle of Vimy Ridge. By becoming part of this anti-war event, you will be inspiring community action and communication. It’s a great way to be part of the larger anti-war movement.

To remember is to end all war.

Montreal Contact: Jane Gilchrist, pjglarocan@videotron.ca – 514-842-3208

Website: http://vimyridging.weebly.com/

Photo by Guillaume Paumier

Thousands of people from over 95 countries are expected to gather in Montreal on August 9-14 for a social movement summit called the World Social Forum (WSF). Participants will spend a…

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Dr. Cornel West has said, “The future of the United States depends in part on how it responds to the legacy of Frances Fox Piven.” Frances Fox Piven is Distinguished Professor of …

We invite social movements from around the world to make the next World Social Forum (WSF) a meeting essential for sharing our mobilizations and our resistance and for strengthening our struggles. We want the WS…

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A hundred years ago this week, the first group of women in Canada won the right to vote after a decades-long battle. It happened in Manitoba on January 28th, 1916; other provinces even…

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Chris Hedges is one of America’s – and American capitalism’s – most articulate and virulent critics. A Pulitzer-Prize winning journalist during almost 20 years as a foreign correspon…