Category Archives: Events

Canada, Events, International

Speech to the rally convened by the Greater Toronto Kurdish House, October 13

[Metnin Türkçe çevirisi aşağıdadır.]

Demonstrations took place around the world on Saturday, October 12, and in Toronto on October 13, to protest the invasion of northern Syria by Turkey, its bombing and its brutal ground assault on the Kurdish people.

Speech to the rally convened by the Greater Toronto Kurdish House, October 13, across from the U.S. Consulate on University Avenue in Toronto

Sisters and brothers, comrades and friends, Biji Rojava! Biji Rojava! (Long live Rojava!)

My name is Barry Weisleder, federal secretary of Socialist Action. Thank you for the opportunity to join you in demanding: Turkey Out of Syria! Hands Off Rojava! Self-Determination for the Kurdish People!

When Donald Trump gave Recep Erdogan the green light to bomb and invade Rojava it was another in a long series of betrayals of the Kurdish people by imperialism. The super-rich Masters of the Universe believe that they have the right to manipulate, even to destroy anyone who stands in their path to profit from the plunder of the world’s resources.

To this, workers around the world say NO! No to ethnic cleansing. No to demographic engineering. No to murder and mayhem in norther Syria, where close to one million Kurds live.

The Sykes-Picot Agreement was a secret treaty in 1916 between Britain and France. It was exposed by the Bolsheviks in 1917. It was entrenched by the so-called Paris Peace Conference in 1919, with the support of the United States, Italy and Japan. It dismembered the Ottoman Empire. It drew lines in the sand for the benefit of Big Oil. A century later, the world is choking on pollution, climate change and war.

Trump’s decision to withdraw troops from northern Syria, like the U.S. retreat from Afghanistan, like its impotent response to attacks on tank vessels, Saudi oil rigs, and the shooting down of a U.S. military drone, shows the decay of U.S. imperialism as the hegemonic imperialist power. But a wounded beast can be very dangerous.

Recent events also show the failure of any policy that relies on an alliance with imperialism or with the neo-colonial dictators of the region. They all hate Rojava. Why? Not just because it is a Kurdish majority autonomous zone, but because it is pro-working class, pro-woman, and a popular democracy. The imperialists prefer Al-Qaeda, Daesh/ISIS, the Zionist state, and the Saudi Kingdom to a socialist and feminist Rojava. But we defend Rojava.

What is the role of Ottawa in this horrendous situation? Justin Trudeau sheds crocodile tears for the Kurds and for Yemen. At the same time, he allows the sale of arms to Saudi Arabia. The Liberal government increased its military budget by 70 per cent. It maintains troops in Latvia and Ukraine, police in Haiti, and it leads the Lima Group which seeks to overthrow the democratically-elected government of Venezuela. A Canadian general in NATO led the bombing that destroyed Libya. We want no more of Trudeau’s fake tears and dirty lies, whatever colour he paints his face.

We stand with the Kurdish people, and we say loudly:

  • Combine the struggle for democracy and national liberation.
  • For Socialist Revolution in the Middle East! Build a revolutionary workers’ party there, here and everywhere.
  • Turkey Out of Syria!
  • Next time, let’s protest at the Turkish Consulate in Toronto.
  • No Reliance on the American rulers.
  • U.S. and allied imperialists Out of the Middle East!
  • Canada Out of NATO!
  • Self-Determination for the Kurdish nation!

Metnin Türkçe çevirisi

Aşağıdaki metin, Toronto Kürt Evi Derneği’nin 13 Ekim 2019’da Toronto Amerikan Konsolosluğu önünde düzenlediği protesto gösterisinde okunmuştur.

Kardeşler, yoldaşlar, dostlar… Biji Rojova! Yaşasın Rojova!

Ben Barry Weisleder. Sosyalist Eylem örgütünün federal sekreteriyim. Davetiniz için teşekkür ediyorum. Ve sizlerle birlikte haykırıyorum: Türkiye Suriye’den defol! Rojova’dan elinizi çekin! Kürt halkına kendi kaderini tayin hakkı!D

Donald Trump’ın, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’a Rojova’yı bombalayıp işgal etmesi için yeşil ışık yakması, emperyalizmin Kürt halkına ihanetler zincirinin son halkasıdır. Kainatın Efendisi süper-zenginler, dünya kaynaklarını talan edip kar ederlerken önlerine çıkan herkesi imha etmeye hakları olduğunu zannediyorlar.

Bu kıyıma dünyanın dört bir yanında işçiler dur diyor. Etnik temizliğe hayır! Nüfus mühendisliğine hayır! Milyonlarca Kürdün yaşadığı Kuzey Irak’ta karmaşa ve cinayete hayır!

1916’ta Britanya ve Fransa arasında Sykes-Picot gizli antlaşması imzalanmıştı. Bolşevikler bu anlaşmayı bir sene sonra gün yüzüne çıkarmışlardı. Bu antlaşma ABD, İtalya ve Japonya’nın desteklediği sözde 1919 tarihli sözde Paris Barış Antlaşmasıyla perçinlenmişti. Bu anlaşmalarla Osmanlı Devleti paramparça ediliyordu. Sınırlar, petrol devlerinin çıkarına göre belirleniyordu. İşte bundan tam bir asır sonra bugün dünya, kirlilik, iklim değişimi ve savaş kıskacında can çekişiyor.

Trump’ın Kuzey Suriye’den çekilme kararı, tıpkı ABD’nin Afganistan’dan çekilmesiyle petrol tankerlerine, Suudi petrol kuyularına ve Amerikan insansız hava aracına saldırıya verdiği cılız tepkiyle aynı anlama geliyor: ABD emperyalizmi hegemonik emperyalist güç olma konumunu yitirmekte. Aman ha, bunu yabana atmayın. yaralı bir vahşi hayvan çok tehlikelidir.

Tüm bu olanlar, emperyalizmle veyahut bölgedeki yeni-sömürgeci diktatörlerle ittifaka dayanan tüm politikaların iflasını gösteriyor. Rojova’dan nefret ediyorlar. Neden? Sadece Kürt çoğunluğuna dayanan otonom bir bölge olduğu için mi? Hayır. Aynı zamanda işçilerden, kadınlardan ve halk demokrasisinden yana olduğu için. Emperyalistler Al-Kaide’yi, DAEŞ’i, Siyonist devleti ve Suudi Kralığını, sosyalist ve feminist Rojova’ya yeğliyorlar. Ama Rojova’nım yanında biz varız.

Bu korkunç tabloda Ottava’nın rolü ne? Justin Trudeau Kürtler ve Yemen için timsah gözyaşları döküyor. Bir yandan da Suudi Arabistan’a silah satmaya onay veriyor. Liberal hükümet savunma bütçesini yüzde 70 arttırdı. Letonya ve Ukrayna’da asker tutuyor, Haiti’de polisi var ve Venezüela’nın seçilmiş hükümetine darbe yapmaya çalışan Lima grubunu destekliyor. Libya’yı yerleşir eden bombardımanın başındaki NATO komutanı Kanadalı bir generaldi. Trudeau’nım sahte gözyaşlarına ve yalanlarına karnımız tok. Yüzünü ister siyaha boyasın, ister beyaza…

Bizler Kürt halkının yanındayız. Ve tüm yüreğimizle haykırıyoruz:

    • Demokrasi mücadelesiyle ulusal kurtuluş mücadelesini birleştirelim
    • Ortadoğu’da sosyalist devrim!
    • Dünyanın dört bir yanında devrimci partileri inşa edelim
    • Türkiye Suriye’den defol!
    • Bir sonraki protesto gösterimiz Toronto’daki Türkiye konsolosluğu önünde olsun
    • Amerikan efendilere güvenmek yok
    • Amerikan emperyalistleri ve işbirlikçileri, Ortadoğu’dan defolun!
    • Kanada NATO’dan çık!
    • Kürt halkına kendi kaderini tayin hakkı

Detaylı bilgi için:
http://www.socialistaction.ca ya da 647–986–1917

Canada, Environment, Events

Socialist Action at Climate Strikes across the Canadian state

It was an historic day around the world. Years from now, you are likely to remember where you were on Friday, September 27, 2019.

Over 7 million people took to the streets for the global climate strikes, “including 12,000 here in my home city of Winnipeg”, said Indigenous political activist David Clayton Muller. “It was the largest climate mobilization ever.  We made history today folks.”

In Canada, 800,000+ people joined the climate strikes in at least 85 cities. In Montreal, Indigenous youth led the way as 500,000 people marched to demand bold climate action. It was the largest single climate march in the world.

Continue reading Socialist Action at Climate Strikes across the Canadian state →

Canada, Events

REBEL FILMS, a new season in Toronto

Are you coming?

Friday, September 27 7 p.m. OISE 5-240 Climate Change – The Facts 2019 • BBC Documentary • 57m Sir David Attenborough explores the science of climate change and potential solutions to this global threat. Interviews with leading climate scientists explore recent extreme weather conditions such as unprecedented storms and catastrophic wildfires. Guest speaker James Sandham of Extinction Rebellion will open the discussion.

Friday, October 4 7 p.m. OISE 5-240 Empire Files: Gaza Fights for Freedom 2019 • Documentary • 1h 24m A riveting documentary on Gaza’s Great March of Return by Abby Martin and a heroic team of Palestinian videographers. The guest speaker is Lina Assi, a Palestinian student and organizer with the Palestinian Youth Movement based in Toronto.

Friday, October 11 7 p.m. OISE 5-240 Nae Pasaran 2018 * Documentary * 1h 36min Forty years after their peaceful act of solidarity, Scottish factory workers discover the impact of their action. The boycott of Chilean engines at the Rolls-Royce factory was a minor cause celebre. The workers kept the boycott going for four years. Anna Ainsworth, Executive Board member of OPSEU, will open the discussion.

Friday, October 18 7 p.m. OISE 5-240 The Fruit Machine 2018 • Documentary • 1h 21m Some softened by age and sadness, others loud and angry, the voices of the survivors of Canada’s public service homosexual purge are now united, and determined. They are torqued by decades of silence, years of being ignored. They demand justice, and they want to be heard. Gary Kinsman, co-author of The Canadian War on Queers: National Security as Sexual Regulation, and author of The Regulation of Desire, and John Wilson, pioneer of the gay liberation movement in Ontario and leading member of Socialist Action will speak.

Friday, October 25 7 p.m. OISE 5-240 Guatemala: 10 Years of Revolution • Documentary • 45m On July 4, 1944, dictator Jorge Ubico Castaneda was forced to resign in response to a wave of protests and a general strike. In 1954, a made-in-USA coup overthrew elected President Jacobo Arbenz Guzman, leading to civil war and a failed state. Socialist Action’s Nety Marroquin, just returned from a tour of Guatemala, and Jacobo Vargas-Foronda, Guatemalan professor, jurist, journalist and refugee rights activist, will lead off the discussion.

Friday, November 1 7 p.m. OISE 5-240 HAK_MTL 2019 * Documentary * 68min Hackers fight against the rapid rise of surveillance. Does privacy still exist in 2019? In less than one generation, the internet has become a mass surveillance machine based on one simple mindset: If it’s free, you’re the product. Google, Facebook, Twitter, Skype and many other services have become masters of monetising our personal data. But it doesn’t stop there. The traces we leave of ourselves on the internet are captured, stored and made accessible to government agencies around the world. John Wunderlich, a privacy consultant and NDP socialist, will open the discussion.

Friday, November 8 7 p.m. OISE 5-240 The Superfood Chain 2018 • Documentary • 1h 10m Every year, the western world is introduced to new ‘superfoods’ that boast extraordinary nutritional benefits. The Superfood Chain explores the story behind the rise of superfoods like quinoa, teff, coconuts, and wild salmon, revealing the ripple effect the superfood industry has on the lives of farm families in Bolivia, Ethiopia, the Philippines, and Haida Gwaii.

Each of the films in this series will be preceded by a brief introduction,

and will be followed by a commentary, and an open floor discussion period.

OISE, 252 Bloor Street West at the St. George Subway Station.

Everyone welcome. $4 donation requested.

Please visit: www.socialistaction.ca or call (647)728-9143 or (647)986-1917.

________________________________________________________________________

Global Climate Strike, rally in front of the Ontario Legislature at Queen’s Park, (and at similar gatherings across Canada),

Friday, September 27, 11 a.m.

meet at the Socialist canopy, on the front lawn, at 10:30 a.m.

_________________________________________________________________________

Stop the Cuts to Education in Peel !

Cuts Hurt Kids. Restore courses and jobs. Save Public Education from slasher Doug Ford.

Come to the Protest Rally at the office of

Kaleed Rasheed, Progressive Conservative MPP for Mississauga East-Cooksville,

at 1420 Burnhamthorpe Road, Unit 315, one block east of Dixie Road,

Saturday, October 5, 1 p.m.

This action is initiated by the Socialist Caucus and SA in Mississauga/Peel, and is endorsed by the Peel District of the Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario, the Peel Region Labour Council, the Canadian Union of Public Employees Local 2544, OPSEU Local 244 (Sheridan College faculty) and the Ontario Coalition Against Poverty.

For more information call: 647-986-1917  

socialistactioncanada@gmail.com

Canada, Events

WAM Conference, September 14

The Workers’ Action Movement conference held on September 14 at the OPSEU Toronto Region Membership Centre was a success. It was very upbeat and forward looking. WAM united allies in the fight for a more democratic and militant labour movement, starting with efforts to field a WAM team for top Ontario Federation of Labour positions to be elected at the OFL Convention in November.

The 25+ people who participated in one or more sessions at the Conference represented and voiced workers’ priorities in OPSEU, CUPE, UNIFOR, Sheet Metal Workers’ Union, CUPW, OSSTF and AMAPCEO, as well as social justice groups like ACORN and OCAP.
Canada, Events

Cross-Canada Day of Action for Palestine set for May 18

  • Across the Canadian state there is a new majority…
  • against Israeli war crimes,
  • against the Occupation,
  • for the Right of Return for Palestinian Refugees,
  • for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions,
  • to End Canadian Complicity with Israeli Apartheid,
  • for Self-determination for the Palestinian people.

The Canadian BDS Coalition, with the clear aim of celebrating this new majority by making it visible on the streets of this country, appeals to everyone seeing this message, to every working class and progressive organization, to demonstrate on Saturday, May 18 in solidarity with the above demands.

Please plan street actions to occur in your city, in your community on May 18. You may wish to initiate activities prior to that date, in the week that marks Nakba 71. That’s great. But please undertake to organize powerful, visible manifestations of our solidarity with the Palestinian people on the common target date, May 18.

Please let us know that you endorse this Call to Action. Tell us what your group, coalition or campaign plans to do, so that it can be posted on our website, and shared widely across social media. See the poster on the website: http://www.bdscoalition.ca Local activity information can easily be added by you in the space provided at the bottom.

Please contact us at: Bdscoalition@gmail.com 647-986-1917