The Movement for Justice in El Barrio was founded by immigrants and low-income people of color of East Harlem to fight for dignity and against neoliberal displacement.

Movement operates on a commitment to self-determination, autonomy, and participatory democracy.

Driven by multi-national corporations and profit-seeking landlords,and facilitated by city officials, gentrification has swept New York City, causing the wholesale displacement of low-income people of color and immigrants from their communities. East Harlem is experiencing a wave of harassment, abuse, and intimidation as greedy landlords attempt to evict the community from their homes in order to raise rents and increase profits. With over 750 members, Movement has gone door-to-door, building-to-building, and block-to-block to organize with their fellow neighbors to build a neighborhood-wide movement for dignity and justice.

By: Shannon Balla & Ian Stumpf of the We Remember Ashley Smith Campaign

October 19th marked the 5th anniversary of the death of Ashley Smith. She died at age 19 in a segregation cell at the Grand Valley Institution for Women in Kitchener. In the days leading up to her death, despite being on ‘suicide watch’, Ashley’s request for transfer to a psychiatric facility was denied, as was access to her family, lawyer or advocates.  On the day she died, Ashley tied a ligature around her neck and, while staff watched from outside her cell, asphyxiated to death.

By: Ann Beatty

Introduction

On September 15, hundreds of women, trans people, kids and men supporters gathered in the Parkdale neighbourhood of Toronto for the 30th annual Take Back the Night (TBTN) community fair, rally and march. The march was loud and spirited, marching on both major streets and quieter residential ones. The chants and music brought some residents out on to the sidewalks and waves from balconies of the many apartment buildings in the neighbourhood.

I
We are writing this as residents of George Street, in Toronto’s Downtown East End, specifically the houses located at 311 and 303 George. 311 is next door to O'Neill House, which is itself next to Seaton House. 311 George is also located at the beginning of a stretch of abandoned buildings, which run down the east side of the street leading up to an alleyway adjacent to the Toronto Community Housing Corporation (TCHC) apartment building at 291 George; 303 George is more-or-less in the middle of this span of unused buildings. 311 George has been a collective house for three years and several of its current tenants have lived there for over 18 months, whereas 303 has been a collective for 14 months. We consider George Street our home, and our neighbours, whether housed or homeless, our fellow community members.

By Kat Parlor

The Canadian Centre for Bio-Ethical Reform stopped by Vincent de Paul church on June 28 for the Toronto stop of its cross-country New Abortion Caravan speaking tour. A new spin on the original Abortion Caravan-which promoted reproductive freedom in the 1970's—the tour began in Vancouver on May 29 and will wrap up on July 1 on Parliament Hill, in Ottawa. Utilizing graphic images of aborted fetuses in an attempt to shock Canadians into opposing abortion, the CCBR's stated goal is “to end abortion in their lifetime.”

By Zach Ruiter

Justice for Levi is a collation dedicated to the memory of Levi Schaeffer. The coalition had successfully challenged the Ontario Police at the Ontario Superior Court. The court ruled the conduct of police who shot and killed Schaeffer violated the Police Services Act. The Ontario Police have successfully appealed the decision to the Supreme Court of Canada, which is expected to hear the case sometime in December 2012.

The officers in question, Kris Wood and Mark Pullbrook collaborated with police lawyer Andrew McKay to write/fabricate their notes. This allowed the officers to get their stories straight before submitting them to the Special Investigations Unit.

By Brandon Gray

For forty days this past autumn, approximately 500 people, mostly youth, maintained a protest camp in St. James Park, a couple blocks from the third largest stock exchange in North America. As part of the global 'Occupy' movement against economic inequality, the park was a base in which a political dialogue could happen using direct action and non-hierarchical decision-making.

By Owen Sheppard [Republished from the Dominion]

Interviews with Occupy Toronto participants have revealed a wide range of opinion on the effectiveness of the movement’s process for making group decisions.

According to Brandon Gray of Occupy Toronto, decisions are made through a consensus system where possible, with a 90% “supermajority” vote if consensus proves impossible.

By Samson
[Republished from the Toronto Media Co-op]

Postal workers, sometimes known as 'posties' have been at the forefront of labour struggles this year. In addition to the well-publicized lockout this summer, rank-and-file Edmonton postal workers organized and won a victory in the fight against ‘forceback’ overtime. Rachel Stafford, a postal worker letter carrier organized with CUPW (Canadian Union of Postal Workers), is on a speaking tour to share her experience in direct action and this struggle to end compulsory overtime. She spoke at the Steelworkers hall, 25 Cecil St. on Sunday. Approximately 30 people attended the talk hosted by Common Cause, some were postal workers looking for strategies n their own workplace, others were Occupiers who realise this was a fight that could provide examples for their own struggle.

By Connor Crawford

Recent weeks have seen ‘Occupy Hamilton’ rallies take over Gore Park. The group, made up of local activists from various backgrounds, gathers every Saturday at noon to make noise and show solidarity with the global ‘Occupation’ movement.
This past week’s rally (Oct 22) drew a crowd of about 40 people. A range of groups and individuals were present, from the Mohawk Social Justice Society, to the Hamilton Young Communist League, to Zeitgeist activists. Copwatch Hamilton was also present, and were effective in blocking police interference with the protest.