Tag Archive - Community organizing

Londoners Vow to Keep Door-to-Door Mail Delivery

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Published on Wednesday, 13 May 2015 20:21

Canada Post Corporation management is moving forward with its project of eliminating door-to-door postal service across Canada and Quebec. If it's completed, it will deprive millions of people of a valued service and thousands of postal workers of their jobs. While this move is very unpopular, in most places not a lot has been done to turn widespread pro-door-to-door sentiment into active opposition. London, Ontario is one city where efforts to build an active campaign around defence of door-to-door have been more successful. We are republishing this article on the campaign in London to give readers a sense of some of the community mobilization tactics being used there. Such campaigns are important not only because they have more potential when it comes to defending public services but also because they can show in practice that there's an alternative to just waiting for the next election. To quote from an article we published earlier this year, "It is through engaging with social movements that people develop new political skills and confidence and are exposed to new political perspectives about how other struggles and how society works." With the federal election coming up later this year, it's important to bear that in mind.

- NSW

Another Politics

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Published on Wednesday, 18 March 2015 01:48

By Steve D’Arcy

Review of Chris Dixon, Another Politics: Talking Across Today’s Transformative Movements (University of California Press, 2014)

If there’s one thing that activists often lack, it is opportunities to reflect about what they’re trying to do, and how it might be done differently and better. Often overworked and pressured to focus on pragmatic and tactical questions under urgent timelines, it can be difficult to give political and strategic reflection the attention it deserves.

Just in the past couple of years, however, a number of widely discussed and important books have been published, inviting serious thinking and sometimes rethinking about what left activists are up to when they organize for social change.

Rebuilding the Labour Movement One Worker at a Time

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Published on Friday, 21 November 2014 19:33

By Mostafa Henaway

The recent article by David Camfield and Salmaan Khan highlights the increasing urgency to rethink the state of the labour movement. Six years after the financial crisis, organized labour is still on the defensive. Yet as the authors point out "the weakness or absence of workers' organization reveals a movement in need of reinvention." But we also need to think about how we rebuild a militant labour movement at the point of organizing, among the rank-and-file, and not simply look at theory and strategies. Activists and organizers need to think about reinventing the labour movement almost one worker at a time.

Playbook for Progressives

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Published on Monday, 23 January 2012 02:01

By Maryann Abbs

Review of Eric Mann, Playbook for Progressives: 16 Qualities of the Successful Organizer (Boston: Beacon Press, 2011).

Reinventing the Workers' Movement

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Published on Saturday, 27 September 2014 17:11

By David Camfield and Salmaan Khan

The workers' movement in Canada and Quebec is in a state of disarray, unable to deal with ongoing attacks on the diverse working class. Whether unionized, non-unionized, temporary, racialized, women or indigenous workers, the weakness or absence of workers' organization reveals a movement in need of reinvention. What follows is an introductory piece meant to open discussion on the state of the workers' movement today. We plan to publish responses and other articles that add to the discussion. We invite readers to respond directly to this opening article with reference to some of the key questions and concerns it raises (or others that you think it ignores). Responses do not have to be long (between 1000 and 2000 words) and can be sent to website[at]newsocialist.org Shorter comments posted below the article on the site are also welcome, as always.

Toronto Municipal Elections: Beyond Politricks

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Published on Tuesday, 02 September 2014 03:10

By Salmaan Khan

As election day draws nearer, the race for Toronto's Mayoral seat has narrowed down to three out of the initial 65 registered candidates. Benefiting from selective corporate media exposure, John Tory, Olivia Chow and Rob Ford have managed to build themselves campaigns that regurgitate many of the same vague promises: less traffic; greater accountability; transit relief; tackling youth unemployment; supporting businesses; and of course, talking taxes. The obsession with tax rates has become so normalized that even the "progressive" alternative has found it a useful mantra as all three candidates clamor for votes.

NGOization: Depoliticizing Activism in Canada

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Published on Sunday, 25 May 2014 23:18

By Dru Oja Jay

Across Canada, movement organizations are preparing for the People's Social Forum, coming up in August. There's a buzz of excitement and anticipation in the air as committees elect delegates, and strategies are debated. When hundreds of activists gather in Ottawa in a few months, we will be drawing from a rich, long-simmering cauldron of theoretical discussion and insight issuing from astute on-the-ground observations.

What Mission Accomplished? 10 Years Later, Canada’s Role in Afghanistan and Global War (Part III)

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Published on Monday, 11 July 2011 17:33

The last of a three part series exploring Canada's role in the war in Afghanistan and wider Global War on Terror after ten years. Part one can be read here, and part two here.

As always, we welcome any feedback you may have on this important and timely discussion.

By Michael Skinner

What happened to the antiwar movement? Where do we go from here?

On 20 September 2001, George Bush announced his intention to launch a Global War on Terror. In the weeks before the invasion of Afghanistan, antiwar activists throughout the world poured into the streets to protest the impending global war. Again, when the Bush administration began to beat the war drums before invading Iraq, even greater numbers hit the streets.

Community Victory for Alvaro: Celebrate but Prepare for More Fights

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Published on Monday, 20 June 2011 22:20