As per usual, Saudi Arabia is using threats to quiet any concerns raised about pending executions of human rights activists. While the New York Times continue to praise the Saudi oligarchs for allowing women to drive in 2018 (?????????), Shia Muslims like Ali Nimr, convicted as a child at 17 years old, spends his 6th year in prison, awaiting beheading and crucifixion. And now, Samar Badawi, sister of imprisoned Raif Badawi, has been arrested.
Saudi Arabia has a long history of using blackmail and political pressure to remove condemnations directed their way about their blatant violence against muslim minority sects and other religious minorities. when Saudi Arabia was named the largest killer of childrenin 2017 by the U.N. due to the assault on Yemen, Riyadh proceeded to cut crucial funding and aid for UNHCR programs.
So Toronto, there is going to be a rally for the WCAI (Worldwide Coalition Against Islam), an islamophobic and generally white supremacist group. That rally is scheduled for August 11th, 2018.
Mid-August marks the anniversary of what we’ve come to call Charlottesville, a horrifying weekend of violence at the hands of the far-right.
August 11th bore a warning we’d never forget – hundreds of white supremacists with lit torches marched through the University of Virginia campus, chanting anti-semitic and racist slogans while moving to encircle a small group of counterprotesters. The bigots didn’t just use their “free speech”, but also pepper spray to hurt their captive audience of anti-racists.
It wasn’t over. The next day, these same white supremacists unleashed horrors many had not seen in their lifetime. Charges aside, the video evidence is unrelenting; white men attacking Deandre Harris with a lead pipe, police supervising gratuitous violence against counterprotesters, the brutal domestic terrorism that killed Heather Heyer.
But all wasn’t lost. August 12th saw the masses coming out to defend against what they had witnessed. Seemingly non-political community members turned anti-fascist overnight – no more, never again, not on our streets. Enough is enough. These overt white supremacists unleashed a kind of solidarity against fascism that unshackled communities across the globe.
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One year later and it has only intensified. Mass violence is being committed more often than ever, if not to attack the marginalized then as the product of long-term austerity imposed on the working class. This ongoing conflict between the far-right and everyone else is taking lives from our communities, even when they’re not openly rallying – Jordan Peterson’s lackeys spreading transphobia like gospel, Doug Ford’s attacks on healthcare disguising his misogyny and ableism, Justin Trudeau’s deference and collaboration in ignoring the needs of Indigenous communities reeling from repression on all sides.
And these victims – many like us – are exploited by right-wing media as fodder for anti-human ideologies like Islamophobia. Following the wrong religion, having the wrong skin, being born in the wrong country can all paint a target on your back for The Toronto Sun’s next hit. And in the case of the Danforth shooter, a history of mental illness is disregarded to fuel their pre-existing narrative of outsiders coming to get them.
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The anti-Islam hate group WCAI has called for a regional gathering of racists and white supremacists to come together against our city to espouse their hatred of Islam. Their members are flying in from their base in Calgary and far-right reinforcements are to join them in Toronto. When given the chance, these bigots will commit acts of violence against both marginalized people and anyone who stands in their way – we cannot let them have that chance!
If Charlottesville taught us anything, it’s that the power of working-class solidarity through struggle serves as an unending beacon of justice. It’s that if we all come together, we can empower entire generations of resistance to organize and mobilize against white supremacy. So we ask you, friends and comrades, to come out and fight with us on August 11th 2018 to show WCAI that their racism and Islamophobia will not be tolerated!
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Our counter-demonstration officially begins at 1pm in Nathan Phillips Square. Please come in pairs for safety!
Street medics, legal liaisons and support crew (armed with food, water and love) will be on site and marked for visibility.
While at the event, it is important that we stay close together. The safest place at the rally is in the middle of a tight crowd of antifascists. More people coming out = everyone is safer. Wandering off or hanging out loose around the outside is not advised to do alone.
We advise all participants to cover anything personally identifying while on site, and to take care about when and where you are removing your masks. Please consider that the far-right loves to take photos and videos of counterprotesters, even when we are not near them. If you participate or even just get close to their protest, you run the risk of having your photo taken.
Indigenous women experience exponentially higher rates of violence, which often goes unaccounted for. The MMIW Database seeks to fill these gaps in data by logging cases of missing and murdered indigenous women, girls, and two spirit people. Help us do this work by supporting our records request campaign–you can make a difference with as little as $3! All donations will be used to cover the costs of records requests to law enforcement and government agencies for MMIW case data–we pay MuckRock $3 per request for their services in helping us to file these requests (it’s a mess, and their help really streamlines the process!), and in addition to that, sometimes agencies will ask us to pay for the time and labor it takes for them to pull and scan these records. Your donation will go straight to MuckRock, to help cover these costs. If we reach our goal of $1500, that will pay for over 400 new records requests! We are submitting requests to tribal, city, county, state, and federal law enforcement, as well as correctional facilities (for deaths in custody), so we have a long way to go, but we can get there with your help.
For more information on the MMIW Database, please see mmiwdatabase.com, or contact us at mmiwdatabase@gmail.com.
“The poll — which was conducted between July 25-30 based on interviews with 1,500 members of the Angus Reid Forum, an online panel — suggests that the border issue is resonating with Canadians. Fully 70 per cent of respondents to the poll said they were either “following it in the news and discussing it with friends and family” or “seeing some media coverage and having the odd conversation.”
But despite the high level of interest, only 22 per cent of respondents were able to correctly identify the number of irregular border crossers in 2017. About half of the respondents thought the number was over 50,000, when it’s actually closer to 30,000.”
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Also YIKES:
“Though 27 per cent of respondents said that most or all of the border crossers were “genuine refugees” fleeing danger, 40 per cent said they believe that most or all of them are “looking for economic opportunities.” The remainder believe the border crossers are driven by a mix of both motivations.
But only 27 per cent of Liberal and NDP voters say that the border crossers are mostly economic migrants — compared to nearly two-thirds of Conservatives who say they believe that’s the case.”
[…]Canada received about 50,000 refugee claimants last year. Though that is about double 2016 levels, by way of context, “this is literally one day in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh, during the peak of the Rohingya crisis,” said the UNHCR’s Canada representative Jean-Nicolas Beuze.
“When we’re speaking about a crisis, a crisis of refugees does exist – but it’s not in Canada, it’s not in the U.S., and it’s not in Europe. The big numbers remain in the developing world, whether it’s Bangladesh, Uganda, Lebanon – those are the countries that are facing a refugee crisis.”
[…]
A political debate has raged over language and whether asylum seekers crossing between official points are entering Canada illegally. The term “irregular” is viewed by some as vague jargon and a euphemism. The use of “illegal” (Ontario Premier Doug Ford calls them “illegal border crossers”) is seen by others as inflammatory and dehumanizing.
Legal experts say Canada’s immigration laws are clear: “They’re not illegal border crossers,” said James Hathaway, founding director of the University of Michigan’s program in refugee and asylum law, who is Canadian, and a leading global authority on refugee law.
There’s an upcoming Webinar by NDP MP Niki Ashton on August 4th, 2018 about getting Women into Politics.
The Webinar is free to join.
Info:
About This Webinar
2018/08/13 – Issue Based Advocacy
Women leading matters. Women running campaigns matter. Women getting elected matters. We can’t just talk about it, we need to build it.
That’s why I’m launching Our Movement, a campaign school for women, femmes and non-binary candidates and organizers. I want to take our networks, our experiences and share them to build up the next generation of all star progressive female candidates and organizers”. -Niki Ashton
Over the course of the summer, we will be providing free trainings on campaign related topics such as how to be a candidate, campaign manager, media, fundraising, youth issues, issue-based advocacy and organizing. The trainings will be accessible through online and will last approximately 2 hours, with two facilitators each facilitating workshops on their given topic for approximately one hour each.
//
Il est important que des femmes occupant des postes de leadership. Il est important que des femmes dirigent des campagnes. Il est important que des femmes se fassent élire. On ne peut pas se contenter d’en parler, il faut agir pour que ça se concrétise.
C’est pour ça que je lance Notre mouvement, une école de campagne pour des femmes candidates et organisatrices. À partir de nos réseaux et notre expérience, je veux qu’on pave la voie à la prochaine génération de candidates vedettes et d’organisatrices hors pair.
Au cours de l’été, nous offrirons des séances de formation de campagne sur une série de sujets, tels que sur ce que c’est que d’être une candidate, une gérante de campagne, la gestion des communications, le financement, les enjeux liés à la jeunesse, l’organisation autour de la défense des droits et sur l’organisation politique. Embarquez dans le projet avec nous et laissez-nous savoir quelle formation vous intéresse!
When: Saturday, August 4, 2018 · 04:00:00 PM · Pacific Time (US & Canada)
[…]Canada received about 50,000 refugee claimants last year. Though that is about double 2016 levels, by way of context, “this is literally one day in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh, during the peak of the Rohingya crisis,” said the UNHCR’s Canada representative Jean-Nicolas Beuze.
“When we’re speaking about a crisis, a crisis of refugees does exist – but it’s not in Canada, it’s not in the U.S., and it’s not in Europe. The big numbers remain in the developing world, whether it’s Bangladesh, Uganda, Lebanon – those are the countries that are facing a refugee crisis.”
[…]
A political debate has raged over language and whether asylum seekers crossing between official points are entering Canada illegally. The term “irregular” is viewed by some as vague jargon and a euphemism. The use of “illegal” (Ontario Premier Doug Ford calls them “illegal border crossers”) is seen by others as inflammatory and dehumanizing.
Legal experts say Canada’s immigration laws are clear: “They’re not illegal border crossers,” said James Hathaway, founding director of the University of Michigan’s program in refugee and asylum law, who is Canadian, and a leading global authority on refugee law.
The unexpected decision by Ontario Social Services Minister Lisa MacLeod to cancel a year-old pilot project that gives low-income people a guaranteed basic income can be described in many terms.
Deceitful, because the Progressive Conservatives promised during the election campaign that their party, under Leader Doug Ford, would continue the project.
Callous, because the 4,000 participants were told it would run for two more years and built their lives around that expectation. These vulnerable people have been played for suckers by Ms. MacLeod and her boss.
Anti-scientific, because this was a valuable research project. It included 2,000 low-income Ontarians who agreed to not receive the basic income supplement but still report on their lives, thereby serving as a control group.
Wasteful, because the project was to cost about $50-million a year, which means Ms. MacLeod has thrown the first year’s instalment, along with any research it might have produced, into the garbage.
Vindictive, because that seems to be the operating principle of this government to date. Ms. MacLeod has given no justification for her decision, other than to say she is undertaking a 100-day review of Ontario’s social-assistance system.
Official Opposition leader Andrea Horwath released the following statement in response to Doug Ford’s plan to cut social assistance rates and cancel the basic income pilot program:
“Doug Ford’s decision to slash the meagre increases to social assistance is appalling, it drags Ontario backwards, and it pushes those already at a disadvantage even deeper into poverty.
For Mr. Ford’s attack on low-income people is disgusting. And cancelling the unfinished and promising basic income pilot project is a waste and a shame.
Instead of dragging Ontario backwards, I want to move us forward. Let’s address Ontario’s homelessness and poverty problems – not let Mr. Ford make them worse. Let’s tackle homelessness in our cities, not allow Mr. Ford to force people onto the streets and into emergency rooms through his callous cuts.
People struggling to get by have been waiting for the social assistance system to be fixed for 20 years, and we now have the Income Security Roadmap for Change. The NDP will keep fighting for Ford to follow that roadmap.”
I am Canadian to say we treat P.O.C. bad. Go screw yourselves. Americans running across the boarder are accommodated with hotels. This wasn’t even news here. It’s was overshadowed by a Muslim shooting whites on Danforth Ave. Minorities and P.O.C. are treated like rock stars here.
Stressed, Depressed, and Story Obsessed 