Public Dialogue
Situations: The Left’s Responses to the Crisis in Europe & North America

Leo Panitch, Stephanie Ross, Albert Scharenberg, Bill Fletcher

December 1, 7 PM
Wilson Hall, Room 1016

New College, University of Toronto
40 Willcocks Street, at the corner of Spadina.
Free admission

For info: northatlanticld@gmail.com
Left Dialogue Blog

Sponored by the Rosa Luxemburg Foundation, the Centre for Social Justice, and the Socialist Project.

–Join the Canadian Federation of Students’ in the streets of Nova Scotia for their Day of Action to reduce fees and drop debt on February 2nd!

Tell the Dexter government that the people of Nova Scotia deserve affordable post-secondary education — for the future of the province and its people.

“The day-long shutdown on the docks is supported by ILWU Local 10 (longshore), Local 34 (Clerks), and the port workers in SEIU Local 1021, who will also walk off the job on October 23rd. The rally for Oscar Grant has been supported unanimously by both San Francisco and Alameda County Labor Councils. Support has also come in from the Oakland Education Association (OEA – Oakland teachers), AFT Local 2121, UAW 2865, AFSCME 3299, and other unions. The ANSWER Coalition, Campaign To End the Death Penalty (CEDP), Code Pink, Barrio Unido, and numerous others also support this action.”

This extraordinary act of trying to conceal an unpleasant reality instead of dealing with it and attempting to improve it may indeed seem incredible to the foreigners visiting the city during the Games. | Jayati Ghosh | MR Zine

Adolph Reed is speaking in Toronto this Friday.

“The economic crisis that started in US housing markets in 2007 quickly swept across the world market. A long period of stagnation and austerity now seems to be the order of the day. While all working class people have felt the impact of the crisis on their lives and work, the crisis has also been a ‘black depression’ for African-Americans. Adolph Reed has been at the centre of political debates on the economic impact of the crisis and the limits and failings of the Obama Administration. He has long lamented the paralysis of the US left, arguing that the crisis of the US left is not one of ideas, but of organizing. The challenges have been to move away from the doctrine of support ‘for the lesser evil’, the left’s shift
to the right under Obama, and begin to explore new possibilities for the US left.”

Friday, September 24
7:30-9:30
Room a/b, Second Floor, Oakham House
63 Gould Street
(Church and Gould, one block north of Dundas)
Ryerson University, Toronto

The National Assembly elections in Venezuela, which will take place on September 26, will mark a turning point for the Bolivarian revolution. What is at stake is not only who will have a majority in the National Assembly, but the future of the revolutionary process itself. Hands Off Venezuela is organizing an International Day of Action in support of the revolution for 17th-18th September. In Canada, there will be solidarity events in four cities–Fredericton, Montreal, Toronto, and Vancouver. As well, please sign the petition of support at www.handsoffvenezuela.org .

The weekend of June 26 and 27, 2010 will be remembered by Canadians as the day the federal Canadian government and Ontario provincial government, along with the police of Canada’s largest city, having failed to stop anarchist mayhem, instead acted in unison to thwart freedom of speech and assembly of its citizens as Toronto hosted the G20 meeting. | Maria Páez Victor | CounterPunch

Nearly 600 people were arrested as global leaders and elites met behind a fortified perimeter during the G8 and G20 Summits in Huntsville and Toronto this weekend. | By Anthony Fenton | Znet

Democracy Now!: As thousands protested in the streets of Toronto, inside the G20 summit, world leaders agreed to a controversial goal of cutting government deficits in half by 2013.

Wednesday, June 30, 2010
6:30pm – 8:30pm
Windmill Line Co-op (125 Scadding Avenue)

After a week of protests and action by the labour movement and working class communities to the policies of the G20, one of the final battles raged in front of Novotel, a hotel in our community where workers were on strike. Police had already shown their willingness to brutalize peaceful protesters and ignore our civil liberties over the past days.
Read the rest of this entry »

A friend drew my attention to this op-ed. Opinions, responses? Click on “comment” and get the discussion going.

It was a day like Toronto has never seen and hoped it never would — a day of smashed windows, burning police cars, police cavalry charges and, for the first time in our history, the whiff of tear gas in the air. | Marcus Gee
[Anyone up for answering Gee's question? Post comments here, copy and paste onto the Globe website.]

It’s not just the $1bn policing; the failure to tackle the financial crisis or climate change exposes a forum without credibility | John Hilary | guardian.co.uk

Are corporate and government interests clamping down on democracy in our universities? | By Angela Regnier | rabble.ca

Fightback is fully mobilizing for the G20 and is sponsoring a series of events:

Latin America Challenges the G8: Danger of new conflicts
Sat June 20th: 10am – 12noon
Victoria Building, Room 209, Ryerson University, 285 Victoria Street

Iran: From Military Threat to Revolution
Sat June 20th: 4pm – 5pm
Victoria Building, Room 202, Ryerson University, 285 Victoria Street

Fight Back Against the G20
Sat June 26th: 7pm – 9pm
Imperial Pub, back room, 54 Dundas Street East
Read the rest of this entry »

By People’s Commission Network | In the run-up to the G8/G20 Summits, reports have multiplied of Canadian Security Intelligence Service visits to the homes and even workplaces of people working for social justice.

A Letter Which Grew Into an Article | By Diana Johnstone | CounterPunch.org
See Also: The Real Threat Aboard the Freedom Flotilla | By Noam Chomsky | Israel’s violent attack on the Freedom Flotilla carrying humanitarian aid to Gaza shocked the world.

Extra: 1) How Israel planned the Flotilla attack | The Real News
2) Naomi Klein speaks out against attack on Gaza Flotilla in Toronto, Canada – May 31, 2010

Event listings for Ottawa, Calgary, London Ontario, Montreal, Toronto, Vancouver:

- For global events listings please see the Gaza Freedom March website.

“More people around the world are questioning the logic of a system that puts corporate profits ahead of everything else — including the very survival of the planet.

Achieving meaningful reforms under capitalism is increasingly difficult. And sometimes the sheer magnitude of the problems facing the world can make us feel small, isolated and beyond the capacity to make a difference.

But nothing could be further from the truth, and that’s why this year’s annual Marxism conference in Toronto — with the theme “A planet to save, a world to win” — is so important. Organized by the International Socialists, we hope the conference can be a place where we link struggles and share ideas. With over 40 talks in three days this coming Friday, Saturday and Sunday, the Marxism 2010 covers a wide range of issues.”

-Marxism 2010. May 28, 29, 30.

The leaders of the world’s 20 richest nations are visiting Toronto in June, and they want your money. They want your job, your home, your education, your health care, your public transport, your social services, your pension, and your paycheque. They want to take anything that makes life even halfway bearable. They want all of these things to pay for the mess that they, and their capitalist buddies, created. But, we are not just going to sit and let them.

Citizens from across Fredericton will come together on March 20 in the SUB Ballroom to support women across the ocean.