Toronto Rally Demands “Drop the Charges”

On Sept. 16, 2021, for the umpteenth time, protestors gathered outside Mayor John Tory's luxury condominium at 1 Bedford Road.  This episode of the "The Mayor Tory Gong Show" was brought to you by the Toronto Police Service.  On July 21, cops stormed an encampment at Lamport Stadium.  With considerable violence, Toronto police and private security staff evicted the people living there.  Police dished out the same violence to those who defended their house-less neighbours from eviction.  Twenty-six encampment defenders were charged, including Socialist Action member Corey David.  The charges are standard cop nonsense: "resist arrest", "obstruct a peace officer", "assault officer", "trespassing", etc..  

Action socialiste sur les élections fédérales du 20 septembre 2021: Votez NPD, mais luttez pour un gouvernement ouvrier

Le 20 septembre, les électeurs se rendront aux urnes dans lecadre de l'une des campagnes électorales fédérales les pluscourtes de l'histoire du Canada. Alors que l'écart se resserreentre les libéraux et les conservateurs, les médias grand publicspéculent que Justin Trudeau…

CE À QUOI RESSEMBLERAIT UNE PLATEFORMEÉLECTORALE SOCIALISTE DU NPD

L'élection fédérale ne devrait pas porter sur la popularité personnelle de Trudeau,O'Toole, Singh et Paul ; elle devrait se concentrer sur la calamité à laquelle font faceles travailleurs, et sur la cause première de cette calamité : le système capitaliste. Lecapitalisme…

Greater Toronto for Boycott Divestment and Sanctions picketed a public appearance by Liberal Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland at a Toronto mid-town hotel on September 9 to protest her government’s complicity with Israeli Apartheid

Members of Greater Toronto for Boycott Divestment and Sanctions picketed a public appearance by Liberal Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland at a Toronto mid-town hotel on September 9 to protest her government's complicity with Israeli Apartheid.  Inside the plush Yorkville establishment, Freeland spoke to a $1,600 a plate Liberal Party fundraising dinner.  Outside, protesters chanted "From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free" and distributed GT4BDS flyers to passersby urging an end to trade and investment in businesses that profit from the illegal occupation of the West Bank and the brutal siege of Gaza.  Many thanks to Nety M. for the photos posted below.  Please post and share this message.

SA Labour Day Rally on September 6, 2021

On September 6, over one hundred people rallied to mark Labour Day in Toronto at Christie Pits Park.  Chair of the event, Elizabeth Byce, welcomed them with these words:  "The real Workers’ Day, International Workers’ Day is on May First, but we intend to seize this occasion to advance a Workers’ Agenda. Labour makes the country run. Labour should run the country.  In the midst of the current federal election campaign, we urge a critical vote for the only mass labour party in North America, the New Democratic Party. At the same time we strive for a Workers’ Government to expropriate Capital and establish a cooperative commonwealth, in harmony with nature."

On Monuments

Statues are not history. They are communications devices for ideologies. True for this animal-who is one of the most common in the states of the old Confederacy-not despite the fact he started the KKK, but because of it.  

Trudeau’s Version… of Reconciliation

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s appointment of Inuk leader Mary Simon as Canada’s 30th Governor General, the first Indigenous person to hold the office, says much about Trudeau and present times.

The PM has always been more about style than substance.  From his claim to being a ‘feminist’, while ditching national childcare and proportional representation, to his distant goal of carbon gas emissions reduction as he invests billions in oil and gas pipelines in the here and now, Trudeau tries to camouflage his commitment to the profit system with ‘positive’ symbolism. 

China and the Uyghur question

   At the centre of the diplomatic, trade and public relations offensive by the western powers against China is the alleged maltreatment of the Uyghur minority in the western-most Chinese province of Xinjiang. Xinjiang covers 18% of China’s land mass but has a population of only 27 million out of the 1.5 billion in China as a whole.  48% of Xinjiang’s population are Uyghurs down from 80% in 1949. Han Chinese constitutes another 40% after several decades of steady migration.   The remainder are other Muslim minorities, Mongols, Kazakhs, Kyrgyz and Tajiks.  

Socialist Action and Indigenous activists demanded “De-fund the Police” at Toronto cop HQ on June 3

Socialist Action stands in solidarity with Indigenous Peoples who are grieving and re-traumatized due to the discovery of an undocumented grave at the site of the Kamloops Indian Residential School (IRS) on the territory of the Tk'emlúps te Secwépemc First Nation.  Buried there are the bodies of 215 children and youth killed at this IRS during its operation.  And it is only the tip of the iceberg.  We demand immediate implementation of all recommendations of the 2015 report of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, in particular the six specific Calls to Action (71-76) under the heading “Missing Children and Burial Information.”

Protest against Trudeau/Freeland government foreign policy on May 25

Over 20 people responded to the call of the Greater Toronto for BDS Coalition on May 25 to protest the complicity of the Canadian government with the Israeli Apartheid state and its oppression of the Palestinian people. The information picket occurred in front of the building that houses the constituency office of University-Rosedale MP Chrystia Freeland, the Liberal Deputy Prime Minister and government Finance Minister.

Socialist Action at mass rally and march in solidarity with the people of Palestine, Saturday, May 22, starting at Dundas Square in Toronto

Following a brief rain shower, thousands gathered at Toronto's Dundas Square to demonstrate solidarity with the Palestinian people.  This was just hours after the Zionist war machine announced a cease-fire in the bombardment of Gaza, reflecting the global political isolation of the Israeli Apartheid state.  Palestinians are united in their resolve to fight for freedom, for an end to the Occupation and other miseries inflicted on them daily, for generations, since the Nakba 73 years ago.

Ending the Afghanistan War? Almost Everything Biden Said Was a Lie

President Joe Biden, in announcing an ostensible end to the US war in Afghanistan, is continuing his streak of paying eloquent lip service to progressive causes while maintaining the implied status quo. In a televised address from the White House on April 14, Biden said, “it’s time to end America’s longest war. It’s time for American troops to come home.” But just a day later, the New York Times reported without a hint of irony that “the Pentagon, American spy agencies and Western allies are refining plans to deploy a less visible but still potent force in the region.” This means we are ending the war, but not really.

WEBCAST: The Struggle for Indigenous Liberation from Colonialism and Capitalism

Thursday, April 1  4 p.m. PT, 7 p.m. EST, “The Struggle for Indigenous Liberation from Colonialism and Capitalism” with Eric Johnston at the Native Canadian Center of Toronto.  Host: Elizabeth Byce.   Discussants:  Agnieszka Marszalek, a teacher at Grassy Narrows, Ontario and Barry Weisleder, Federal Secretary, Socialist Action and co-editor, SA newspaper.

WEBCAST: Why the Police should be De-funded, Disarmed and Disbanded

Thursday, March 25  4 p.m. PT, 7 p.m. EST, “Why the Police should be De-funded, Disarmed and Disbanded” with Rajean Hoilett, prison abolitionist and community organizer.  Host: Elizabeth Byce.   Discussants:  Loretta Fisher of Spring magazine, and leading SA members Kurt Young…