“Last week, on August 27th, 2010, youth and workers, particularly from the Iranian, South Asian, and Black communities of Toronto filled the party room of Windmill Line Co-op, located in the Esplanade community, in an event to raise relief funds for our brothers and sisters facing the fierce floods in Pakistan. The event, organized by the Toronto Young New Democrats (a city-wide NDP youth club), the Esplanade Community Group, the Iranian Association at University of Toronto, and various Iranian and Pakistani community groups, demonstrated a genuine international solidarity that crossed national lines.

Attendance was impressive as more than 70 people attended from very different backgrounds and vocations: including well-known Iranian writers and journalists, youth leaders from the Pakistani community, local youth from the Esplanade neighbourhood who hosted the event and, students from the University of Toronto. The fact that we had been able to secure such a strong and diverse attendance came because of our partnering with different campus and community groups, without whom this event would never had happen.”

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