Action Speaks Louder Fall 2013

ACTION SPEAKS LOUDER

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ACTION SPEAKS LOUDER OPIRG TORONTO’S FIELD MANUAL FOR THOSE WHO’VE HAD ENOUGH FALL 2013

“Solidarity does not assume that our struggles are the same struggles, or that our pain is the same pain, or that our hope is for the same future.

Solidarity involves commitment, and work, as well as the recognition that even if we do not have the same feelings, or the same lives, or the same bodies, we do live on common ground.”

--Sarah Ahmed IN THIS ISSUE: • Fighting against Fossil Fuels • Solidarity with Queer and Trans Prisoners • Building Collective Care Models • Technologies to fight Sexual Violence And More....

ADD IT UP 2

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Number of prisoners in federal Canadian prisons as of July 2012: 15,097

Percent of Canadian federally incarcerated prisoners that are Aboriginal: 21%

Percent of Canadian federally incarcerated prisoners that are Black: 9% Percent of overall population that is Aboriginal: 4.3% Percent of overall population that is Black: 2.88% Percent of federally incarcerated women who have a history of self injury: 50% Percent of federally incarcerated women who battle addiction: more than 50% Percent of federally incarcerated women with a history of physical abuse: 85% Percent of federally incarcerated women with a history of sexual abuse: 68% Increase in population of federal women prisoners over the last five years: 40% Increase in population of federal Aboriginal women prisoners over the last ten years: 80% Average daily cost to incarcerate a woman in Canada: $578 Percent increase in federal corrections expenditures from 2005 to 2011: 43.9% Maximum mass of GHG* emissions in the atmosphere that is safe: 595 gigatonnes Maximum mass of reserves of fossil fuel remaining on Earth: 2,975 gigatonnes Amount of money the IEA** expects to be spent on energy infrastructure until 2035: $37 trillion Number of universities with fossil fuel divestment campaigns in North America: 300 Amount of money U of T has invested directly in Royal Dutch Shell: $9.8 million Amount of money U of T has invested directly in BP: $7.8 million Approximate U of T endowment (excluding colleges): $1.5 billion Approximate annual operating costs of TYP***: $1.4 million *Greenhouse Gas **International Energy Agency *** Transitional Year Programme Sources: 2006 census, 2011 Census, Toronto Star, Toronto350.org, University of Toronto Asset Management Corporation, Transitional Year Programme Preservation Alliance

THEN BREAK IT DOWN

ACTION SPEAKS LOUDER

TABLE OF MALCONTENTS

ACTION SPEAKS LOUDER

FALL 2013 actionspeaksloudertoronto@gmail.com

OPIRG-Toronto Board

OPIRG-Toronto 101-563 Spadina Cres.

Toronto, Ontario M5S 2J7

TYPPA/RSM Coalition

PRODUCTION ASL Collective

Jenna M. Evans

EDITORIAL COLLECTIVE Anupama Aery Lindsay Hart Muna Mire Adam Woerlein

Swathi Sekhar Toronto 350.org Mary Jean Hande & Muna Mire Anupama Aery

CONTRIBUTORS Anupama Aery Jenna M. Evans Mary Jean Hande Muna Mire OPIRG Board Revolutionary Student Movement Swathi Sekhar Toronto 350.org Transitional Year Programme Preservation Alliance DESIGN ASL Collective

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Muna Mire

The Personal is Political

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Boundless for Who? TYP and the Fight for Access

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The Most Under-Reported Crime: Lessons From Abroad

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Writing Letters for Liberation

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Fossil Fuel Divestment as a Climate Change Solution

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“The Pace we need to go”: Creating Care Culture

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Trying their Luck: Lawrence Heights and Gentrification

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Art and Movement Building: An Interview with Kim Crosby

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Action Group Updates

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Resources

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COVER ART A.J Withers

Action Speaks Louder is the biannual newsletter of the Ontario Public Interest Research Group at the University of Toronto. We publish articles about social and environmental justice advocacy and activism, with specific focus on issues that affect members of the campus community.

LAYOUT ASL Collective Printed at Thistle Printing, Toronto, ON by Union Labour Produced by OPIRG Staff, proud members of CUPE 1281

If you want to work on a radical publication, write to us: opirg.toronto@gmail.com. The newsletter committee will begin meeting in late October to start work on our Winter 2014 edition. If you would rather just write for us, submit a pitch! The submission deadline for the winter 2014 issue is Friday, October 11, 2013 Write about campaigns you’re involved in, or your thoughts on any political or social justice issue. To send us a short pitch, please e-mail actionspeaksloudertoronto@gmail.com.

Look for our winter 2014 issue on campus in January! If you just want to meet and talk with some like-minded people, write to opirg.toronto@gmail.com, or drop by the office: Room 101, 563 Spadina Cres (just north of College).

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THE PERSONAL IS POLITICAL Greetings from the 2013-2014 OPIRG-Toronto Board of Directors

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hen we look deep into our own roots, our own histories, and our own points of politicization, we find various feelings that have pushed us to fight for social justice. Love, Anger, Hate, Fear, Desolation, Misery, Happiness, Belonging, Distrust, Insecurity, Depression, and all the “inbetweens.” They have been personal points of growth, emotional struggles that flush in rage at the contradictions and injustices that we observe in our daily lives. Politics is a very personal thing, and what we experience becomes political quite quickly.

The fight for social justice is exactly that: a fight that pushes boundaries and tear down barriers and borders. One that stretches our minds and imaginations across the limits that are expected from us. It is a personal struggle of learning and unlearning, of remembering, recreating, and destroying.

The struggles against capitalism, patriarchy, colonialism, white supremacy, ableism, homophobia, and heteronormativity are personal struggles of liberation and creation. What we leave behind, what we take as our tools for the struggle, and what we imagine, are deep understandings of politics that speak to our histories of resentment and love.

This year, at U of T and across Turtle Island, the fight for justice is very personal. The University continues to expand the Munk School of Global Studies and the Rotman School of Business Management, accepting corporate funding from various sources, including Peter Munk, the CEO of Barrick Gold Inc., a mining company known for its environmental and human rights violations the world over. Many students come from the places these companies have ravaged, whether it is Latin America, Africa, or Asia; people are forced to move to this land because of war or economic adjustments that make living in our homelands nearly impossible. This is nothing other than the perpetuation of violence on our communities, which now extends to the classroom, where the expansion of the Munk School is just another attempt to establish a think tank for neoliberal ideology on campus and force students to learn and internalize the same measures that have forced them out of their homelands in the first place. We must also remember that our university is built on stolen Native land, and as such we should recognize the history of the ongoing colonial encroachment on to traditional territories that these models of learning perpetuate. We are sick of seeing this dynamic on our campus, where education is nothing other than a prison, or a commodity to be profited from, in order to mold students into future neoliberal ideologists, which makes our struggle deeply personal.

This past year, the U of T administration attempted to cut the Transitional Year Programme, an access to education initiative that has provided a path for people without full formal qualifications to enter the University of Toronto for many years. Since its creation in 1970, the TYP has helped poor and working class people, many already coming from marginalized communities where they face numerous barriers to higher education and employment, gain access to U of T. Working class communities of colour are historically and continuously being pushed out of schools by racist, Eurocentric, and criminalizing education institutions. These institutions are not designed for working class people to succeed, so they will

inevitably end up replenishing the proletarian work force. For many, cops patrolling the schools and teachers unwilling to understand students’ lived experiences ultimately result in their criminalization and incarceration. The TYP has attempted to unsettle these oppressive dynamics by providing adults who were forced to leave school with a positive, peer-supported learning environment.

U of T wants to merge the TYP with the less successful Woodsworth bridging program, a move will lead to a loss of autonomy for the TYP in running the program, as well as the loss of the tight knit community of supporters for students, which includes the faculty and staff at the TYP. Only faculty and staff will have final approval of curriculum matters, which threatens the program’s social justice based pedagogy. The TYP has already faced a series of cuts to its programming, with four faculty cut and replaced with underpaid, part time workers. These cuts to the TYP program are an attack on working class students, and continues the legacy of the university’s elitist, neoliberal learning environment, one that privileges and monopolizes access to education for rich and upper middle class elites. Society’s institutions of ‘knowledge creation’ will remain bourgeois institutions of privilege production instead.

In this past year, we have also witnessed the rise of reactionary discourses that have harshly criticized women and LGBTQQ2S individuals. Men’s rights initiatives, such as the “Men’s Issues Awareness campaign” on campus, spearheaded by the Canadian Association For Equality (CAFE), use a language of equality and make claims centred on the discrimination against and suffering of male students. They seek legitimacy through focusing on male drop out rates, male suicide, sexual assault against men, and a discourse of “equality between men and women”. The reality is CAFE uses an anti-feminist discourse and blames feminism and the rise of women in the work force and higher education for all of the issues men face.

In addition to completely ignoring the epidemic of sexual assault against women, the objectification of women, their substandard treatment in the workforce and colonial attacks on women of colour across Turtle Island and throughout the globe, the men’s rights activists have also harassed and threatened feminist organizers who have protested their events and spoken out against their campaigns. After protests outside of men’s rights events by feminist activists, various women have had their photos put up on the website A Voice for Men, and have faced targeted campaigns of slander and harassment on the internet. This bullying speaks to the patriarchical tendencies of silencing and attacking women when they speak out against patriarchy, sexism and oppression. This movement is a reactionary lash from a petite bourgeoisie over what they see as “lost privileges”.

An organized response is necessary. Unless we actively destroy this system and create a new one in it’s place, we need to create space on campus and more broadly to talk about injustice.

This year, just as every year, there is a need for students to rise up on campus, in voice and in action. Not only for the TYP and against men’s rights organizing, but also around issues of worker bargaining, rising tuition fees, corporatization of campus, and access to education. All are issues that need to be talked about and organize around.

This year, shit will get personal, and we will not be silent.

In Solidarity, Adam, Estefania, Jaroslava, Juan Carlos and Roxy.

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BOUNDLESS FOR WHO?

TYP AND THE FIGHT FOR ACCESS Transitional Year Programme Preservation Alliance & Revolutionary Student Movement

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n the wake of the University of Toronto’s “Boundless” campaign, UofT’s Governing Council once again decided to attack the 43 year-old Transitional Year Programme (TYP) last year. This is hardly surprising, given that the University of Toronto, alongside many other prestigious Canadian academic institutions in Canada including Queen’s, McGill, and the University of British Columbia, is planning a massive expansion of its key programs in the lead up to the 2030 academic year. This plan would put more money into Engineering, finance, and other privately funded initiatives, such as the Munk Institute, by simultaneously raising tuition fees and cutting programs that do not increase the profit margins of private investors, CEOs, and other corporate stakeholders at the university.

Low income and poor students consistently experience structural barriers, including economic and cultural barriers to accessing post-secondary education. Founded in September 1970 at Innis College, with a lead cohort of 25 students, the Transitional Year Program emerged from within Toronto’s Black community as a way to address these structural inequities. The programme was created with the intention of recruiting adults who do not possess the formal qualifications for university admission, which includes those that did not complete a high-school diploma on account of financial hardship, family problems, or from experiencing structural and societal oppression and discrimination. The TYP actively seeks applications from members of the Native Canadian, African-Canadian, and LGBTQ communities, as well as sole-support parents, people with disabilities, and working class individuals. TYP has always maintained autonomy over its curriculum, programs, and student support services. The TYP has its own building at 49 St. George street, where it has built a vibrant community in which students, alumni, faculty, and staff feel at home.

Unfortunately, Vice President and Provost Cheryl Misak wants to gut this program. Austerity has no doubt hit the ivory tower. She has time and again claimed that the University of Toronto can no longer financially sustain the TYP, which operates on a budget of approximately 1.4 million dollars annually. According to Misak, it would be more beneficial, financially and scholastically, if the TYP were amalgamated into the Woodsworth College Academic Bridging Program. Those in the TYP do not agree, given the lackluster success rate of the Academic Bridging program, which has a dropout rate of nearly 50 percent. This desire from the university to cut

the program is why retiring faculty at the TYP are not being replaced with dedicated full-time tenured professors, but parttime, contract faculty instead.

Meanwhile, in a clear indication of the university’s priorities, funding has been allocated toward expanding the engineering faculty, which is eyeing 49 St. George street as its future home, as well as funds dedicated to the expansion of the Rotman School of Commerce. And then there is the business of spending 10 million dollars to put in Astroturf on the back-campus in preparation for the Pan Am games. 10 million dollars for fake grass, while the TYP is cut?! This amount of money alone would keep the TYP operating at its current levels for the next decade!

The TYP has been operating since before Hart House even allowed women into its facilities and since it began has been one of the only access points into the university for marginalized, proletarian, and oppressed youth and adults. Faculty in this program have gone above and beyond their roles by providing childcare, spending extra time tutoring students, mentoring and emotional support work, even making house calls to students when they are sick at home. The TYP is so much more than just an academic program: it serves as a supportive and welcoming community for many students who would otherwise feel alienated and isolated among their well to do classmates, who come from the upper and middle-classes (University of Toronto is one of the most elite institutions in Canada) and who will become functionaries and managers of the prevailing system, which preserves and expands itself on the backs of the toiling masses and perpetuates racism, colonialism, poverty, and environmental degradation for the benefit of the privileged few.

TYP students and alumni, along with members of the Revolutionary Student Movement, are waging a campaign to “Save the TYP.” While the University of Toronto administration has agreed to continue running the programme in its current form for one additional year, we must recognize that this “concession” on the part of U of T was the result of a hard fought struggle waged by the Transitional Year Program Preservation Alliance. So for the next 12 months, the struggle must be amplified to preserve this program for longer than just another academic year.

And it will be a struggle, one that we hope will get support from a broad coalition of students, alumni, faculty, staff, and community members. To find out how to plug in to the fight, check out the TYPPA and RSM coalition website: http:// typrsmcoalitio1.wix.com/typrsmcoalition.

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THE MOST UNDER-REPORTED CRIME: LESSONS FROM ABROAD

Jenna M. Evans

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n the span of just 4 weeks in late June and early July 2013, several reports of sexual attacks on women in the GTA made news headlines: two women walking in North York; a 32-year old woman in an elevator near Bloor and Rusholme Road; a girl and her mother at knife-point at their home in the upper Beaches; and a woman sleeping in her apartment in Etobicoke. Every year there are more than two thousand reported sexual attacks in Toronto alone, and the reality is that only an estimated 10% of all sexual offences are reported to the police.

Following a sexual assault, women and girls are often told to “protect themselves” by using personal safety tips related to the clothes they wear and the places they go. The problem with this response is that it places blame and the onus to stop attacks on victims, rather than addressing the violent behaviour of the perpetrators. Victim blaming marginalizes the survivor, makes it harder for others to come forward and report sexual attacks, and allows the perpetrator to avoid accountability for their actions.

Both sexual violence and victim-blaming are products of patriarchal conditioning in which masculinity is synonymous with dominance and femininity with subordination.

These ingrained perceptions contribute to a “rape culture” where sexual violence against women is trivialized, excused and ultimately normalized, and in which men feel entitled to womens’ bodies, whether they consent to it or not.

Incidents of sexual violence are not isolated problems; they have underlying systemic causes deeply rooted in how we, as a society, internalize and perpetuate unequal opportunities, expectations, rewards, and punishments based on gender. To reduce the prevalence of sexual attacks, we therefore need systemic solutions, particularly involving the cooperation and collaboration of all community members.

Successful and innovative community-focused strategies that address sexual violence have emerged all over the world.

For example, Egypt’s HarassMap uses an anonymous SMS reporting system to empower victims and witnesses to report sexual harassment in an effort to change its social acceptability, spread awareness, collect data, and revive public involvement. “Looking at the map gives you an overview of where harassment happens, and the opportunity to learn more about individual stories,” according to their website. “We also use the map to break stereotypes about where, when, and to whom harassment happens. We do not want to wait for the government to act.” It’s worth pointing out that 50% of HarassMap volunteers are men.

Bell Bajao (Ring the Bell) is a cultural and media campaign in India that calls on local residents, particularly men and boys, to step up and ring the doorbell (or create a distraction) if they overhear or see domestic violence. “An aware and sensitive neighborhood is the best watchdog,” says Sheila Dixit, Chief Minister of Delhi. Over 130 million people have seen Bell Bajao’s award-winning public service announcements and the campaign went global earlier this year.

The Red Card project, which originated in southern Africa, also focuses on increasing the ability and willingness of people to intervene to prevent or report sexual offences.

The campaign uses soccer lingo to encourage witnesses of sexual violence and harassment to take action by showing the perpetrators one of the “red cards” developed for the project or by saying “I’m giving you a red card.” Red Card uses television, radio, and print media to reach millions of people, but it also promotes Ambush or Invisible Theatre, which involves the performance of a thoughtCONTINUED ON PAGE 7 >> IMAGE SOURCE: WINNIPEG FREE PRESS

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ILLUSTRATION: JENNY CHAN & NATALIA SAAVEDRA

WRITING LETTERS FOR LIBERATION

Swathi Sekhar

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he Prisoner Correspondence Project (PrisCoPro) is a collective initiative that started in Montreal, with a Toronto chapter beginning in October 2012. PrisCoPro coordinates a correspondence program for incarcerated people who are connected to or have trans and queer identities (including gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, transsexual, gendervariant, two-spirit, intersex, queer, and questioning). To address the specific issues faced by prisoners who identify as gay, trans or queer, we pair folks inside prisons with folks outside of prison who have similar identities. Our collective is also comprised entirely of people who share these identities.

PrisCoPro coordinates a resource library with information on a range of topics, and aims to make prisoner justice and prisoner solidarity a priority within queer movements through hosting events like film screenings and workshops which touch on the broader issues relating to criminalization and incarceration of queer and trans folks.

People who identify as queer and trans face particular forms of violence and targeting through state structures.

For example, the prison industrial complex (PIC) is a term relaying the concept that it is the prison industry and the generation of profit and capital from prisons that fuels increased rates of incarceration, rather than increased rates of actual crime. At its core as an organization, PrisCoPro is trying to fight against all aspects of the PIC. Laws, policies and procedures discriminate against and disenfranchise queer and trans people. Specific identification requirements, gender segregation policies, and other administrative barriers prevent trans and visibly gender non-conforming people from accessing adequate housing and safe shelters, income benefits, healthcare and higher education.These obstacles are compounded by discrimination and harassment, as well as a complete lack of trans specific resources and training for service providers. These

factors in turn lead to a higher risk of poverty and homelessness for trans and visibly gender non conforming people.

Once faced with these circumstances, queer and trans people may be forced to turn to “crimes� that are committed for survival or to cope, including sex work, theft, drug use, loitering, and sleeping outside.Trans people may be arrested for not having proper identification. Trans women specifically are frequently profiled and falsely arrested for the crime of solicitation, simply because they are visibly trans. Profiling and harassment by the police is intensified by an ongoing and excessive police presence in poor communities.

Within prisons, state violence is magnified. Queer and trans people represent a disproportionate number of people incarcerated. While in custody, gender segregation procedures actively exclude the needs of trans people and strip them of their dignity. Once in prison, trans people are often denied access to hormones and trans specific health care, and are forced to conform to state sanctioned gender norms. They are actively targeted by correctional staff and prisoners for sexual and other forms of violence, and are isolated and marginalized. This violence is further compounded by intersecting categories of marginalization such as being racialized, Indigenous, poor, disabled, young, non-English speaking or facing mental health issues.

PrisCoPro works from an abolitionist perspective.

We do not advocate for prison reform, but rather work to address the root causes of incarceration by building support systems to prevent re-incarceration. There are many root causes of the PIC and the criminalization of queer communities, including legacies of racism, colonialism, and slavery. One core problem is isolation and lack of support for these communities both in and out of prison. We seek to prevent this through creating pen pal connections, and providing much needed resources that educate and express our support for prisoners. We believe that creating strength, CONTINUED ON PAGE 11 >>

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FOSSIL FUEL DIVESTMENT AS A CLIMATE CHANGE SOLUTION Toronto 350.org C

limate change is the world’s most severe environmental problem, yet our actions to date have not been at the scale necessary to meaningfully address it. In 2009, Canada and over 140 other countries signed the Copenhagen Accord, agreeing to “urgently combat climate change” by reaffirming their commitment to the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, and to keeping the global temperature increase below 2˚C. Staying below this limit requires keeping total global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions below 595 billion tonnes (gigatonnes) of carbon dioxide. The world’s proven reserves of fossil fuels are sufficient to take us far beyond this limit. At over 2,975 gigatonnes, the carbon in these reserves is enough to heat the planet far beyond 2˚C, creating a climate never experienced by human beings.

Fossil fuel companies own large quantities of these reserves, and their business models and stock market values are based on the assumption that the fuel can be burned. If we want to maintain a climate similar to that which has existed for all of human history, we cannot allow that to occur. The University of Toronto has nearly $6 billion dollars of investments, with tens of millions invested directly in fossil fuel companies including Shell, Suncor, BP, and Chevron. Divesting from those stocks is a powerful way for U of T to help drive a global transition away from fossil fuels and toward safe, sustainable energy sources.

THE HISTORY OF DIVESTMENT U of T does not typically take positions on political or social issues; however, the university has divested for ethical reasons before. Prompted by a student network of activists, the Governing Council voted to divest from all companies operating in South Africa in 1988 as a part of a global divestment movement that contributed to the end of apartheid.

By the end of 1989, 155 colleges and universities in the U.S. had partially or fully divested along with the governments of 26 states, 22 counties, and over 90 cities. Similarly, in 2007

U of T was the first Canadian university to divest from tobacco.

That decision added to tobacco’s soiled public image and made it easier for governments to impose effective laws restricting the use and advertising of tobacco.

Today, the broad scientific consensus reflected in the reports of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change recognizes that climate change threatens to do damage on a much larger-scale than apartheid or tobacco, with hundreds of millions of people likely to be harmed through impacts on agriculture, sea level rise, and other forms of climatic destabilization. The University of Toronto is one of Canada’s largest educational institutions, and as such it is an important space in which to fight for divestment. Divestment at U of T would play a significant role in a multinational effort, with other large educational institutions sure to take note of U of T’s precedent.

As of August 2013, six universities and colleges, seventeen cities, two counties, twelve religious institutions, three foundations, and three other institutions in the United States have committed to divesting from fossil fuels. Thirteen universities and colleges in Canada have ongoing divestment campaigns, including U of T. THE DIVESTMENT PROCESS U of T’s investments are administered by the University of Toronto Asset Management Corporation (UTAM) – a subsidiary of the university that manages its pension funds (investments that provide retirement income to employees)endowment (investments that provide a portion of the operating and capital requirements of the university), and other short and long-term investments. Some information on the university’s investment holdings is available on the UTAM website; however, not all investment quantities are publicly listed by UTAM. The two largest single-company holdings listed in 2012 were Royal Dutch Shell ($9.8 million) and BP ($7.8 million) – two of the world’s largest fossil fuel companies.

A petition to the university president seeking divestment must include a convincing brief establishing that: i) the issue in question is not the subject of ongoing academic debate; ii) divestment will not impact the university’s ability to maximize return on its investments; iii) the activities of the companies from which divestment is sought have an injurious impact on consumers, employees, or other persons, and that this injury cannot be adequately mitigated by shareholder voice; and iv) the Canadian government or other national or international bodies have taken substantive actions with regard to the issue of concern. This brief must be endorsed by at least 300 members of the U of T community, which must include teaching staff, students, administrative staff and alumni. Each signatory must attest that they have read and agree with the entire contents of the brief.

At the end of this process, Toronto350.org will present its brief and the required signatures to the president of the university in the fall of 2013. The president will then establish a committee to review the claims in the brief, informing the presidential decision that will be reported to the Governing Council.

THE CASE FOR FOSSIL FUEL DIVESTMENT When U of T divested from tobacco, President Naylor stated: “there is no serious academic or social debate about tobacco’s health effects.” Just as the harmful effects of tobacco are beyond dispute, so too is the connection between burning fossil fuels and climate change. Anthropogenic global warming is settled science, and U of T has an opportunity to take a leading role in shifting the world away from these dangerous energy investments.

There is a strong moral case against universities financing climate change. Climate change threatens the world’s agricultural productivity, human health, and even geopolitical stability.

U of T’s Statement of Institutional Purpose includes “a resolute commitment to the principles of equal opportunity, equity and justice.” If future generations are to have equal opportunities, they cannot inherit a planet that has been impoverished by uncontrolled climate change. Similarly, the principles of equity and justice forbid us from ignoring what we know about the harms of GHG pollution by continuing to impose risk and suffering on innocent people around the world both now and in future generations.

The financial case for selling fossil fuel stocks is also strong.

As the impacts have become more severe, major governments have grown more willing to strengthen their climate policies and restrict pollution. This trend can be expected to continue.

As it becomes clear to financial markets that fossil fuel companies will not be permitted to burn all of their reserves, stock market values dependent upon that assumption are likely to fall. By choosing to divest now, the university can protect itself against this risk. Furthermore, given the many ways in which climate change threatens human prosperity, investing in fossil fuel companies threatens the rest of the university’s portfolio.

The International Energy Agency expects $37 trillion to be spent on energy supply infrastructure between 2012 and 2035. Humanity must decide whether to spend this money digging ourselves deeper into a pit of fossil fuel dependence, or to redirect it towards moving beyond fossil fuels. By continuing to invest massively in fossil fuel infrastructure, we are setting ourselves up to pay three times: once for oil, gas, and coal infrastructure that will need to be scrapped before the end of its economic life; again for the more rapid and costly deployment of low- and zero-carbon energy options later; and finally in the form of more damage from climate change.

We are calling on the University of Toronto community to act immediately, to build on its rich history of social action, and to become a global leader by divesting from fossil fuels.

Toronto350.org is working alongside groups at over 300 universities around the world calling for fossil fuel divestment.

To support or initiate a local divestment campaign, please visit http://gofossilfree.org/ for contacts and resources.

Toronto350.org is a group of dedicated volunteers working to help reduce the seriousness of climate change. We are a local chapter of 350.org – an international environmental group, founded by Bill McKibben, which is building a global movement to solve the climate crisis.

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“LESSONS FROM ABROAD” CONTINUED FROM PAGE 4 >>

provoking scene in a public space without passers-by being aware that it is theatre. “The audience is drawn into the action and invited to participate in a discussion of the issues,” say the organizers. “We get attention and spark discussion and debate around the ‘fouls’ that deserve the red card.”

Intense media scrutiny of sexual assaults happening worldwide has enabled a trend where sexual violence becomes a “foreign” problem, or more explicitly a racialized problem.

In reality, sexual violence is a global problem, affecting women of all racial and ethnic backgrounds. Patriarchy rears its ugly head in different ways across different contexts and cultures, making it easy to identify in other communities, but often blinding us to problems in our own backyards.

Given that reports of sexual violence in Toronto have increased by about 15% since 2008, what can we learn from efforts abroad? HarassMap, Bell Bajao and Red Card are unique and transformational because of their multi-pronged approach to instigating change, which involves: (1) educating communities and raising awareness of the problem of sexual violence; (2) influencing social norms and beliefs that make violence acceptable; (3) reducing bystander apathy; (4) empowering victims and witnesses of sexual violence; (5) building networks of leaders and advocates within communities; and (6) engaging men and boys in what traditionally has been framed as a “women’s problem.”

The three initiatives tailored their campaigns using culturally-specific words, themes, and images that resonated with their respective communities. They also use different communication technologies to advance their cause and foster a social movement.

By gradually changing the social fabric that perpetuates the notion that sexual violence is “natural” or “inevitable”, perpetrators can be held accountable at the community level – by family and friends, neighbours, bystanders and other residents. Sexual violence will stop only when communities no longer tolerate it. An engaged community can contribute by conducting an initial needs assessment, considering existing programs and services and the specific issues that local communities face, which can include poverty, unemployment, and a lack of resources and safe public space. Campaigns can then be developed from the ground up, incorporating the features of successful international strategies. Communities and residents must recognize their collective power and commit to building a future without sexual violence.

Jenna M. Evans is a PhD Candidate in Health Services Research at the University of Toronto. She was inspired to write this article by her participation in the Women Deliver 2013 conference in Malaysia where she represented the Girl Guides of Canada.

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“THE PACE WE NEED TO GO”: CREATING CARE CULTURE Mary Jean Hande & Muna Mire Activists experience burnout, communities are fractured, and people disappear, yet capitalism, colonialism, violence, and oppression do not give us reprieve. These are real challenges that we face as organizers. Increasingly, disability justice activism sees burnout as related to ableism and inaccessibility in our movements. We sat down with Loree Erickson, Eddie Ndopu, A.J. Withers, and Jordan Zaitzow to talk about disability justice, radical accessibility, and how care factors into social action and political resistance.

Collective care: relationship building as political work When Loree Erickson, a self described queer femmegimp activist, began her care collective1 15 years ago in Virginia, she saw it as a survival strategy rather than a political action. The state refused to allocate enough funding for attendant care, and when they had, the attendants had been homophobic.

Erickson’s friends were a close knit network of queer activists and decided to provide her care themselves. But when Loree moved to Toronto and began networking with new activists, everything changed. Over the last five years, issues around care and accessibility have become a hot topic for many activists in Toronto.

“It was more like mobilizing a community. I was meeting new people, I was connecting with folks, and I started to see the ways that collective care functions as anti-ableism training for folks,” she explained. She also said she noticed how people were becoming radicalized around care and disability through participating in the collective.

“It’s not like I’m giving workshops or lectures from the bathroom, but you know, we’re talking about both of our lives and so that’s part of the way that the education happens [...] for me, collective care is also about relationship building. It’s not 1. Care collective: a community model for providing care to individuals through (in)formal organizing. This can look like physical assistance, or support with other care needs, without the exchanging of money.

for everyone, but for me it really is about relationship-building.

It’s like me and the people in my care collective are coming together and we’re sharing our lives and we’re learning from each other and we’re negotiating our needs together and we’re talking about things.”

Jordan Zaitzow, a close friend and a part of Loree’s care collective, is someone who was radicalized though care work.

He says that relationship building through care work has taught him to politicize access. “I think that’s how change happens, really investing in relationships for the long haul [...] collective care is an acknowledgement that we need each other to survive. It’s radically anti-capitalist and it defies a lot of the dominant narratives around radical organizing that say you have to be so busy all the time.” Often, this looks like complicating the distinction between personal and political. “Ableism hits me somewhere dark and deep in terms of my resistance to like, fighting it within myself,” he said. He believes participating in the collective has ultimately changed the way he sees himself, opening him up to being more comfortable with his needs and with identifying as disabled.

Transforming access in Toronto’s organizing community For Jordan and Loree, care and relationship building work provide a foundation for creating transformative, inclusive politics around access. “There are some really exciting, transformative possibilities in talking about access,” Jordan said.

“I’ll never forget when the city was like, ‘We’re going to make everything accessible by 2025.’ And DAMN 20252 was like, ‘What the fuck do you mean by accessible? You’re going to put a ramp in a subway station? Is that the end of accessibility?’ It really broke my mind open to how protesting around migrant rights and dismantling borders was part of what access means.

If you’re really going to talk about access, let’s talk about access. It was the most useful lens that I had to talk about transformative change.”

According to A.J. Withers, disability scholar and antipoverty organizer, accessibility and care go together because if movements are not accessible and care isn’t prioritized, activists burn-out, disappear, or aren’t even able to join the conversation. A.J. explained that as organizers, we need to step back and look at how to engage access as a long term concern. Having conversations around how to effectively negotiate burnout is important because we’re no good when we hit the wall.

“I don’t know anyone who’s been organizing for more than five years that hasn’t ever had a really serious burnout.

Burnout means that you lose people, oftentimes for good. And it’s important to ask for help. A lot of folks have guilt issues, particularly people with privilege, which is, as most of us know, totally useless. So a lot of folks who are struggling don’t want to ask for support,” they said. Why do activists hold themselves to unreasonable, unhealthy standards? A.J. explained that they think that “we really value people who do activism and organizing based on how productive they are [...] that's a capitalist value that we impose on people. If we want to undo capitalism, we have to also really examine those values.” Of 2. DAMN 2025 is a direct action group that brings together disabled people, those affected by ableism, and their allies.

course, these values aren’t specific to Toronto, but endemic to activism and social justice movements everywhere.

A.J. feels strongly that our movements are suffering as a result. “Disabled people need to be an integral part of all social justice movements. Disabled folks are women and need to be a part of the feminist movement, and disabled people are people of colour and need to be a part of anti-racist movement, and so on. Without care, folks can’t participate in meaningful ways or as meaningful ways as they could’ve otherwise. That’s really important and I think it’s really shameful that we as let that happen over and over,” they said.

For Eddie Ndopu, an emerging disability scholar and self described queercrip Afropolitan, incorporating an ethic of care into making movements accessible is about redefining how people are valued within the context of radical political organizing. “I think that a politicization of care calls for a reimagining of resistance. So much of organizing is predicated on pushing the body to extremes. It’s about putting your body on the line, almost quite literally to effect positive change. It’s not about sleeping in or taking time out to make sure you feel healthy. All of that is implicated in these larger ableist relational formations. So, I think any attempt to politicize care in relation to organizing calls for something different. It calls for new ways of negotiating liberation. It calls for a new praxis and a new kind of activism,” he explained.

Towards a radical disability justice politic As activists in Toronto begin to prioritize relationship building work (with care collectives as the primary vehicle), and movements begin to identify the ways in which they are inaccessible, a new model of political organizing is materializing that values disabled bodies and thinks about productivity in exciting new ways. This emergent disability justice framework is changing how activists think about access. The organizing that is happening in Toronto offers a more holistic picture: a transformative, “justice based” approach where radical care work intersects with many different modes and practices of social justice. Radical disability justice differentiates itself from the mainstream “rights based” framework of disability by focusing on more than physical access. Radical disability justice calls for a reimagining of what political organizing can look like, as well as what disability justice organizing can look like, with the goal of creating a culture of care and interdependency that resists the multiplicity of oppression.

Eddie Ndopu sees disability justice as deeply bound up in the multiplicity of our struggles and lived experiences. “I feel that for me, disability justice is a lens through which to view the world and conceptualize strategies for resistance and celebration. It takes into account not just the embodied experience, but a multiplicity of embodied experiences,” he explained.

For Eddie and other disability justice activists, it is critical that we reflect the diversity of our embodied experiences when we organize. Disability justice “centralizes the experiences of Black people, people of colour, and Indigenous folk—it centralizes the experiences of queer and trans folk, of working class people, of sex workers. So it really is, for me, an emancipatory politics that focuses on dismantling ableism as a system

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of power, but also recognizes the ways in which ableism operates in concert with other systems of power and structures of violence,” he said.

But how does care fit in? Organizing around collective care in Toronto has laid the foundation for creating what Ndopu and others call a culture of care, or interdependency that lies at the heart of radical disability justice. "I think care is at the heart of disability justice organizing. I think it’s so central to our theorizing and our praxis. Mia Mingus speaks about interdependence all the time. Disability justice is a shift from the idea that we’re all independent, as espoused by the disability rights movement, particularly in the early years of their organizing. [...] You know, it’s all very well and good to critique the built environment and speak about the social model of disability, but really, interdependence and care foreground the idea that not all bodies are capable of being independent and independence itself is perhaps a myth. Independence is a social construction because if you are [able-bodied], society is constructed to validate your body and your bodily experiences, albeit within the constraints of race, gender, sexuality, nation, all of these other relational formations. A movement that really validates care recognizes that care is not this monolithic, homogeneous thing, but something that is really quite paradigmatic and really quite powerful. So care really figures quite strongly and prominently within disability justice organizing,” he explained.

A.J. echoed the idea of being intentional about interdependence and care work. “Creating a culture of care is really essential for us to actually begin supporting each other, which means that everyone has to start building it and accessing it instead of just a few specific people,” they said. A.J. also highlighted a specific role that allies can play in working towards nurturing a culture of radical care and interdependency—they explained that it’s important that everyone ask for help when they need it. That way, a culture is created around care that becomes normalized to access needs. “Rather than trying to decide who has more legitimate care needs, we want to create a climate of interdependency so that we recognize that we all need each other. So, starting to ask for that help in ways that acknowledges the privilege that you have, but also create space to normalize building support is really important,” they said.

At the moment, Toronto is being politicized in really beautiful, important ways around disability. Ultimately, as activists we are learning that incorporating care into our organizing changes everything. We are reminded that everyone is a part of building the movement, and that the process of revolution is profoundly interdependent.

As Jordan explained to us, “this is what it looks like to take care of each other. It’s a reminder that we might need to slow down, that this is the pace we need to go at if we’re going to go together […] it’s not where we’re going, but how we get there.”

Mary Jean Hande is a community organizer from Saskatchewan who is passionate about disability justice. She is currently researching alternative care models and radical disability organizing at OISE. Muna Mire is a writer, organizer, and a Black girl from the future. You can find her writing at Youngist.org.

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TRYING THEIR LUCK: LAWRENCE HEIGHTS AND GENTRIFICATION

Anupama Aery

I

f you live, work or study in Toronto, you will notice how this city is changing. Condos are springing up everywhere, transforming the many lower income neighbourhoods into something more appealing for middle-income households shopping for a place to live. This process is dubbed by the city as revitalization, but that term only outlines the aesthetic the city claims to create, while failing to acknowledge the problems that arise along with redevelopment efforts. Revitalization is code for gentrification, which means creating space for wealthier, middle-class populations in working-class neighbourhoods, gradually displacing the existing residents, and driving up the costs of living there.

The city has historically disinvested in these poorer neighbourhoods, and this process of neglect has created the kind of isolated communities which people are quick to disparage.

The isolation is a result of the way in which the community was built. For instance, Lawrence Heights is well known as the “jungle” since it becomes difficult to find one’s way around the awkward maze-like construction of the community. Often, neighbourhoods like Lawrence Heights are poorly integrated into the rest of the city. As a result, many residents support the revitalization project because they feel the community will be built in more inclusive, accessible ways as long as they are involved in the redevelopment process.

Gentrification can create a potential residential and commercial haven for middle-class populations, but at the expense of snatching property away from vulnerable populations.

Working-class residents, often immigrant, Indigenous and Black communities have developed social solidarity and a web of social networks within their residential area. Gentrification produces an alienating, exclusionary and often unaffordable space for these residents. In Toronto, evidence has shown that the negative consequences heavily outweigh the positive.

From neighbourhoods like South Parkdale in West Central Toronto where gentrification started in the mid 1980s, to Regent Park which began a fifteen year revitalization process in 2005, the rhetoric and results tend to be the same: less affordable housing, displacement of original residents, and loss of community identity. Displaced residents often face a lack of access to public transit, social services, and job opportunities as well. The revitalization projects undertaken in the Garden District and more recently in Lawrence Heights generate the same prospects, and resident committees have been working to advance their rights amidst all of the municipal revitalization policy.

Although the stated objectives of “revitalizing” neighbourhoods centre the rhetoric of mixed-income1 and mixeduse2 housing, promoting sustainability, and lifting residents out of poverty, the more realistic prospect of conflict between residents and developers is unacceptable. The city advocates that the surge of condos creates added value in areas that are “decaying.” However, the repercussions for the community are immense and underplayed. Measuring displacement is difficult and this makes it easier for “gentrifiers” to argue in favour for “revitilization”, which the city can market as a solution to a “decaying” neighbourhood.

1 A mixed income neighbourhood is a “deliberate effort to construct and/or own multifamily development that has the mixing of income groups as a fundamental part of its financial and operating plans” Brophy and Smith (1997). Mixed- income housing: Factors for Success. Cityscape: A Journal of Policy Development and Research. 3 (2): 5.

2 Mixed-use housing is “any development or single building that blends residential, commercial, cultural, institutional or industrial uses where those functions are physically and functionally integrated, and that provides pedestrian connections.”

Thrall (2002). Business Geography and the New Real Estate Market Analysis.Oxford University Press.

A project marketed as a better living environment for current residents is a highly strategic initiative that employs talk of improving the environmental sustainability of neighbourhoods, while failing to actualize the vision of mixed income neighbourhoods. For example, in the first phase of the Lawrence Heights project the city has proposed to construct 665 market condominiums and 163 market townhouses while constructing only 233 Toronto Community Housing rental units. In total, the process of gentrification will see 1208 rent geared to income units demolished and replaced by energy efficient housing and 4100 new market housing units. This would drastically change the landscape of this neighbourhood and create conditions suitable for wealthy residents to displace the lower income households, which make up almost all of the existing community.

When the revitalization proposal for Lawrence Heights was made in 2007, many residents were opposed to it for the same reason. They felt that rather than demolishing the current neighbourhood and starting from scratch, they could make improvements based on current community needs.

However, in the end the voices of the opposition were drowned out by the city and by developers, and the majority of residents chose to support the initiative in the hopes that it would potentially create a better living environment.

While we can weigh the pros and cons of gentrification, the key question remains: do the residents want this change?

And is the city listening to the residents? Even if gentrification could potentially be beneficial to the community, if redevelopment efforts are not made with the support and agreement of community members, the city has no business interfering in the community environment. Community members formed the crux of the limited funded programs and services that have kept these neighbourhoods cohesive.

Residents should have the first say in how their community will change and what changes to the environment are necessary alongside the inevitable addition of condos.

The current revitalization project in Lawrence Heights sees the government attempting to address the negative patterns of gentrification. The chosen developers Context and Metropia Inc. have agreed after much consultation with residents and community members to a community economic development program that will set aside $3.5 million dollars for job opportunities for residents over the course of the 15-20 year revitalization. These types of moves sound promising but in a neighbourhood like Lawrence Heights, which has been so isolated from the rest of the city, throwing money at the problem won’t solve it. Research has shown that lower income residents are slowly being driven out of the center of their neighbourhoods and that a decrease in affordable housing always follows from revitalization projects. Although money has been promised for creating job opportunities for residents, how this money will actually be used is yet to be seen and it will take consistent resident involvement to ensure that job opportunities are created within the community and not outside if it.

Anu Aery graduated from the University of Toronto and is passionate about social justice and environmentalism, with a particular interest in urban issues.

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“LETTERS“ CONTINUED FROM PAGE 5 >>

support and solidarity through communication and non-judgment is a powerful tool of resistance and movement building.

PrisCoPro is explicitly non-hierarchical and decisions are made through consensus, with critical discussion and respectful debate encouraged. In the last several months, the Toronto chapter of the project has faced various challenges. The work that we do takes a lot of time and emotional energy, and self care and mutual support are things that we try to prioritize.

An ongoing discussion within the collective is happening around representation. In particular, we recognize that the collective at present is not composed of people that are represented within prison. This presents complicated issues in terms of replicating problematic power dynamics, a lack of shared understanding of experiences, and the silencing of marginalized voices. This has certainly caused us to question why certain communities are so absent from the work we are doing, and to think about how we can change this through outreach, internal structure and community presence. One component of this is prioritizing collective membership for people who identify as part of communities that are represented in prison, which includes people of colour, people who were formerly incarcerated, disabled people, trans people, gay men, and other folks who are actively criminalized and over-incarcerated. We will continue our internal work to make PrisCoPro more accessible to and led by the people who are most affected by these issues.

At present, the vast majority of prisoners with whom we correspond are from the United States. The PIC is particularly acute in the US, with upwards of three million people incarcerated at any given time. As the project in Montreal grew, word of mouth spread very quickly and U.S. demand for queer and trans specific resources and pen pals grew exponentially. A major priority for PrisCoPro Toronto is doing in-reach in Ontario prisons and building local networks of solidarity with currently and previously incarcerated queer and trans communities, with the aim of fostering longer term relationships, providing support upon release, and possibly preventing re-incarceration.

Speaking as someone who has been involved with this project both as a collective member and a pen pal, PrisCoPro is one of the most exciting, rewarding, and meaningful projects I have ever been involved with. I am constantly learning, and I am challenged to confront my own privileges and prejudices on a daily basis. It is our hope that PrisCoPro can continue to be a space on the outside and inside for queer and trans people to come together, support each other, and ultimately build stronger communities.

Swathi Sekhar is a collective member of the Prisoner Correspondence Project in Toronto and has been doing prison justice work in Canada and abroad for several years.

For more information on the Prisoner Correspondence Project, check out www.prisonercorrespondenceproject.com

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ART AND MOVEMENT BUILDING: Muna Mire

AN INTERVIEW WITH KIM CROSBY

Kim Crosby is a daughter of the diaspora: Arawak, West African, Indian, and Dutch, hailing from Trinidad and living currently in Toronto. Kim is the cofounder of The People Project, a movement of queer and trans folks of color and allies committed to individual and community empowerment through alternative education, activism and collaboration. She is an award-winning multidisciplinary artist, activist, consultant, facilitator and educator.

“All of that art-for-art’s-sake stuff is [bullshit]. What are these people talking about? Are you really telling me that Shakespeare and Aeschylus weren’t writing about kings? All good art is political! There is none that isn’t. And the ones that try hard not to be political are political by saying, ‘We love the status quo.’”

-Toni Morrison What does art mean to you?

In a world where there is a lot of violence and oppression, and a lot of resistance and resilience as well, art is a process by which the communities I’m a part of share their stories. Art is a way in which I cocoon myself in order to feel affirmed, and feel challenged, and feel beautiful. Art is definitely for me about beauty and I’m not ashamed to say that I like that we create beautiful art. I also like art that is ugly and profane; I think that’s equally as important and valuable. I’m sitting in my apartment right now and I’m looking around at all the art on the walls and you know, I’m really surrounded by a lot of art depicting women of colour, I’m surrounded by a lot art that is Indigenous [...] I’m surrounded by art that for me, reminds me of who I am and reminds me of where I came from. It gives me context and it gives me sight and vision -- both forward and backward.

GREY photography

What is the purpose of art, broadly speaking?

I think art is a really powerful way that we are able to interrupt constructed corporate narratives. I think that art can be used, obviously, in really dangerous ways. I think that people can argue propaganda is art and I think that sometimes we don’t want to give the name art to things that are ugly or violent or disturbing. But I think that, you know, when we think about corporate media and the way that functions, there are a lot of artistic elements that arguably are a part of that.

So I don’t know that we can ignore that this also can be art. The purpose of art for me is really around art being both political and subjective. I really like and value art that recognizes that the artist is affected and created by the environment they are a part of and acknowledges its subjectivity. And I think that we are really powerful when we are recognizing our subjectivity. I think that most broadly, art should nourish. I personally believe that. I believe that it should nourish us and I think it should nurture us.

Why use art as a vehicle for your activism?

I think that if we don’t make the revolution more humane, then I don’t want to be a part of it. I love art. I love creation. I love painting, photography and curating images.

I love bringing people together and watching them have emotional experiences around art. I love people talking about it and thinking about it. I love watching that moment when people change their minds. It is the most powerful thing in the entire world to see [...] for me, I couldn’t imagine doing anything else except for art and activism

together. I don’t know how to do anything in my life without bringing activism into it, without trying to be conscious and reflective of how I do it, and why I do it, and what it means. Down to my nail polish, down to the tattoos that are on my body, my decision to pierce myself [...] I do it all the time. I feel it all the time and I desire for it all the time: to practice art and activism. So there was never really a separation of those things for me. It was always just how can I do more and how can I sustain myself ? How can I try to participate in this world in doing those things that I love the most?

What role should an artist play in community?

Artists in our community should be accountable. We should be making art in relationship and in dialogue with the members of our community, knowing that not one person creates ideas. We might act as lenses, as individuals for information to filter through us and then be reflected out of us. Kind of like a kaleidoscope; light comes in and there’s a shifting and a changing and then there’s an image that gets created. I feel like we are those shifting lenses, because no one person is the originator of any idea or of any language. We are all feeding from each other and nourished by each other, and artists have a responsibility to recognize that. Acknowledge where it came from. We need to make sure that we’re not taking things out of context and that we’re honouring where stories have emanated from, making sure that we’re making art that is in responsible to the people we love, the people we know, the people who nurture us and take care of us. Making art that ignores or deliberately erases really significant realities- both significant political realities and significant lived realities- is dangerous.

Does art play a role in movement building? Does art have radical potential?

Even for the people who are watching it, that experience of watching art and sharing of cultural experience with someone else, is adding to a collective perspective. You’re literally creating cultural responses and creating culture by engaging in art, and engaging in memes, and engaging in the ways that we create things. I think you build communities around art all the time, you know? People who follow a particular artist, they all feel connected because they all love Kendrick Lamar. People build community around art all the time, if not primarily, around art and expression. [...] That is also why I think art needs to be accountable. A lot of people’s first experience with different movements, different levels of organizing and activism, is through art. And if you are making art and you’re using something that is disingenuous, or something that is a lie, or something that erases a lot of people and their experiences, and that is how people get introduced into a movement, that can be really dangerous.

It’s one of the reasons why I really like my art to be - and I think that our art needs to be - accountable. I think art is radical. I think radical means grasping things at the root and I think that when you get at the root of so much of what we

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do, we seek relationships with each other and with ourselves.

Anything else you want to say about art and activism and movement building that you feel is important?

I like it best when we are able to recognize the deep connectivity of everything. That we are all connected to each other and all impact each other [...] our desire to look at certain images and how it relates to the ways that we are indoctrinated in racism, sexism and ableism. The things we learn to appreciate are fundamentally shaped by the systems of power that exist right now in the world. The standards of beauty that we desire are shaped by ableism and racism and all of these things. I think that we have to really ground ourselves in that recognition that we are connected and that we are impacting each other. And that art is impacting activism, art is imitating life, life is imitating art, and media is imitating life imitating art. You know? These things are always happening, and we can’t separate them from each other. So, I think we do have to find ways that they can coexist and notice ways that they do coexist that are full of consent and accountability, and in nurturing relationship with other life around it.

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WHEREACTIONTHE ACTION IS GROUP UPDATES

Action Groups are at the heart of OPIRG’s work. They are volunteer collectives that organize autonomously for social and environmenal justice. Here are a listing of all 9 action groups for the 2013-2014 academic year. If you are interested in forming your own OPIRG-Toronto action group, we accept new applications in the summer. Please get in touch with us at opirg.toronto@gmail.com

FILIPINO CANADIAN YOUTH ALLIANCE UKPC/FCYA-ON (Filipino Canadian Youth Alliance/ Ugnayan ng Kabataang Pilipino sa Canada—Ontario) is a progressive Filipino Canadian youth and students organization that is committed to educating, organizing and mobilizing Filipino Canadian youth as a transformative and dynamic force that will build a movement towards the Filipino Canadian community’s just and genuine settlement and integration in Canadian society.

We move to address our issues towards our community’s empowerment and genuine development through community mobilizations, research projects, public policy engagement, art and cultural productions and more.

Contact us at ukpc-on@makaisacentre.org.

MINING INJUSTICE SOLIDARITY NETWORK Mining Injustice Solidarity Network (MISN) is a grassroots, volunteer-run group that works to bring the voices and experiences of communities impacted by extractive industries to Toronto, Canada, a country where over 75% of global mining businesses are based. As Canada is a leader within the international mining industry, we recognize the necessity for a movement within Canada to demand accountability in this sector. As such, MISN organizes to highlight and confront negligent mining practices. We do this by (1) educating the Canadian public on mining injustices in Canada and around the world; (2) advocating for stronger community control and supporting self-determination in mining affected areas; (3) denouncing corporate impunity and seeking substantive regulatory change. Our work is in solidarity with affected communities in an effort to be responsive to their calls for support.

For more information on the group, please visit www.solidarityresponse.net.

To get involved, e-mail us at mininginjustice@gmail.com PRISONER CORRESPONDENCE PROJECT The Prisoner Correspondence Project is a collectively-run initiative with chapters in Montreal and Toronto. It coordinates

a direct correspondence program for people in prison who are connected to, or have, trans and queer identities (including gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, transsexual, gendervariant, twospirit, intersex, queer and questioning). To address the specific issues faced by trans and queer prisoners, we pair inmates with folks outside of prison who share similar identities. In addition, the project coordinates a resource library with information regarding harm reduction practices (safer sex, safer druguse, clean needle care), HIV and HEPC prevention, homophobia, transphobia, coming out, legal resources, smut, activism and art.

The Prisoner Correspondence Project also aims to make prisoner justice and prisoner solidarity a priority within queer movements on the outside through events which touch on broader issues relating to the criminalization and incarceration of queer and trans folks. One core problem is the isolation and lack of support faced by these communities. We seek to break this through creating penpal connections, and providing resources that educate and explicitly express our support for prisoners. Our work is based in an abolitionist perspective, and we believe that creating strength, support and solidarity through communication and non-judgment is a powerful tool of resistance and movement building.

Contact us by e-mail at prisocoprotoronto@gmail.com. prisonercorrespondenceproject.com

REVOLUTIONARY STUDENT MOVEMENTThe Revolutionary Student Movement (RSM) aims to promote a revolutionary communist politics among students and youth in Toronto’s high schools and post-secondary institutions. We try to understand racism, sexism, colonialism, ableism and all other form of oppression through their foundations in the material conditions of capitalist society. To strike these oppressions at the root and demand liberation, we believe revolution is necessary.

We are dedicated to social investigation, which means figuring out what the concrete circumstances affecting a population are.

This could mean the issues affecting students, such as having

little or no political power. We plan to use our research to launch student campaigns. The goal is to connect the struggles youth face in Canada with struggles faced by youth around the world.

We are also dedicated to education. Education is key in order to develop a communist culture and practice in Toronto youth.

We regularly host communist schools, where we study and discuss issues of relevance, or interest, to youth and students.

We strive to offer a real alternative to the liberalism, revisionism and reformism that currently plagues youth and student movements in Toronto and beyond.

RISING TIDE TORONTO Rising Tide Toronto (RTT) is a grassroots collective that challenges environmental injustice and the root causes of climate change on Turtle Island through direct action, in solidarity with people’s struggles locally and globally.

Over the past year RTT has been working especially on resisting tar sands production and pipeline projects. For instance, RTT has been working with other groups throughout Ontario and Quebec to stop the Enbridge Line 9 reversal. RTT is committed to stopping the destruction of Turtle Island and creating a just transition to sustainable livelihoods that foster local autonomy and self-sufficiency.

Please get in touch if you would like to join RTT, or collaborate with us on a project! You can reach us at risingtidetoronto@gmail.com, and follow us on facebook at https://www. facebook.com/RisingTideToronto.

STUDENTS AGAINST ISRAELI APARTHEIDStudents Against Israeli Apartheid (SAIA) is a network of university students and faculty committed to combating all forms of oppression and discrimination, and especially working to raise awareness about Israeli Apartheid. As we are situated on Turtle Island, we also acknowledge global apartheid and colonialism and stand in solidarity with the indigenous people of Turtle Island.

Coming from Palestinian civil society’s call for boycotts, divestment, and sanctions (BDS) against the Israeli regime, the principle goals of SAIA are to sever economic ties between our campus and the policies of the Israeli state, demanding the Israeli state to (1) End the occupation of Arab lands and dismantle the Wall, (2) Recognize the rights of Arab Palestinian citizens of Israel, and (3) Protect the Palestinian refugees right to return as stipulated in UN Resolution 194.

In pursuit of these goals, SAIA organizes actions and educational events throughout the year, including Week against the Wall and Israeli Apartheid Week. IAW began at the University of Toronto in 2005, and has since grown into a global event held in a hundred cities around the world. The aim in SAIA’s work is to build an anti-apartheid movement to challenge the injustice and structural separation that Palestinians face.

Contact email: saia@riseup.net TORONTO QUEER ZINE FAIR COLLECTIVE Toronto Queer Zine Fair Collective is a group of self identified queer and trans* folks striving to make space for

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traditionally marginalized voices in the zine community. While accepting applications from all self-identified queer/trans* folks, TQZF chooses to prioritize the voices of trans women, trans women of colour, queer people of colour, indigenous/ two-spirited folks, and non-binary folks. Toronto Queer Zine Fair is an alternative zine fair focusing on the radical and political history/philosophy of zines and giving a platform to those often under-represented in zine culture.

Toronto Queer Zine Fair is a direct response to the lack of accessibility, queer & trans* visibility, and focus on zines represented in the “zinefests” organized annually in Toronto and the GTA (Greater Toronto Area).

The primary items tabled should be zines. Distribution of books, crafts, art, etc. should be kept to a minimum.

The TQZF will be taking place Saturday October 19th at Scadding Court Community Center. For accessibility information, tabling applications or if you’re interested in volunteering, check out our website http://torontoqueerzinefair.tumblr.com!

TQZF is Sticks & Stones Distro and Telegram Zine. https://www.facebook.com/SticksAndStonesZineDistro https://www.facebook.com/MarandaTelegram

UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO GENERAL ASSEMBLY The University of Toronto General Assembly facilitates the self-governance and collective action of all members of the University of Toronto community who oppose the University’s undemocratic governance. This includes, but is not limited to: students, workers, faculty, alumni and neighbours.

The goal of the Assembly is to enact the will of its members in order to uphold the University of Toronto’s societal responsibility to be a public institution that resists corporatization and promotes equity, accessibility and social and environmental justice.

The General Assembly rejects the legitimacy of top-down and exclusionary decision-making structures at the University of Toronto. The Assembly seeks to create a University where the power to govern is collectivized. Check out our facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/groups/utgeneralassembly/ WOMEN’S COORDINATING COMMITTEE FOR A FREE WALLMAPU The Women’s Coordinating Committee For a Free Wallmapu [Toronto] (formally known as Women’s Coordinating Committee Chile-Canada) is an indigenous Mapuche grassroots organization based in Toronto, Turtle Island.

Our goal is to link the struggles of indigenous sovereignty (specifically the Mapuche Peoples of so-called southern Chile) with that of other indigenous, anti-colonial, community based struggles across Turtle Island, by creating awareness through events, protests, publications, etc….

We work to build our communities and solidarity across different struggles in the hope of seeing our Mapuche Territory in liberation. To get in touch with us, please e-mail wccc_98@ hotmail.com

U RESOURCES 18

ACTION SPEAKS LOUDER

FALL 2013

SPACES ON AND AROUND CAMPUS

ACTIVIST NETWORKS AND ORGANIZATIONS

519 Community Centre A Different Booklist Centre for Social Justice Centre for Women and Trans People at U of T Grassroots Youth Collaborative Native Canadian Centre of Toronto Toronto Rape Crisis Centre/ Multicultural Women Against Rape

LOCAL

www.the519.org www.adifferentbooklist.com www.socialjustice.org womenscentre.sa.utoronto.ca www.grassrootsyouth.ca www.ncct.on.ca www.trccmwar.ca

NEWS AND ANALYSIS

Queers Against Israeli Apartheid

LOCAL BASICS Newsletter Toronto basicsnews.ca New Socialist www.newsocialist.org Ryerson Free Press www.ryersonfreepress.ca subMedia.tv submedia.tv The Africana www.the-africana.com Toronto Media Co-op www.mediacoop.ca Upping the Anti: A Journal www.uppingtheanti.org of Theory and Action York University Free Press www.yufreepress.org

NATIONAL AND GLOBAL Al Jazeera Democracy Now! Independent Media Centre National Film Board of Canada Quebec Rabble Socialist Project Tuition Truth Campaign Z Communications

AIDS Action Now www.aidsactionnow.org Coalition Against Israeli Apartheid www.caiaweb.org Fightback www.marxist.ca Jane & Finch Action Against Poverty www.jfaap.wordpress.com Lost Lyrics www.lostlyrics.ca Low Income Families www.lift.to Together (LIFT) No One is Illegal-Toronto toronto.nooneisillegal.org Ontario Coalition Against Poverty www.ocap.ca Prisoners with HIV/AIDS Support Action Network www.pasan.org

www.aljazeera.com www.democracynow.org www.indymedia.org www.rouge.onf.ca www.rouge.onf.ca www.rabble.ca www.socialistproject.ca www.tuitiontruth.ca www.zcommunications.org

www.queersagainstapartheid.org

Sikh Activist Network sikhactivist.net Toronto Drug User’s Union www.tduu.blogspot.ca Toronto Stop the Cuts Network www.torontostopthecuts.com Toronto Worker’s Assembly www.workersassembly.ca OPIRG-York www.opirgyork.ca

NATIONAL AND GLOBAL Assaulted Women’s Helpline www.awhl.org AW@L peaceculture.org Canadian Tamil Congress www.canadiantamilcongress.ca Defenders of the Land www.defendersoftheland.org Earthroots www.earthroots.org Greenpeace www.greenpeace.org/canada INCITE Women of www.incite-national.org Color Against Violence Indigenous Environmental Network www.ienearth.org Justice for www.justicia4migrantworkers.org Migrant Workers Native Youth Sexual Health Network www.nativeyouthsexualhealth.com Palestinian Campaign for the www.pacbi.org Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel

ACTION SPEAKS LOUDER

F ALL 2013 19

Are you interested in community based research?

OPIRG’S COMMUNITY RESEARCH EXCHANGE PROGRAM PROPOSING A COMMUNITY RESEARCH EXCHANGE PROGRAM OPIRG Toronto is researching and (hopefully) developing an exciting new project called the “Community Research Exchange Program” (CREP), which would match University of Toronto students with Toronto-based social and environmental justice groups to complete community-directed projects for credit. It is based on similar programs at other Canadian PIRGs, namely SFPIRG’s Action Research Exchange (ARX), OPIRG Ottawa’s Community Research Program (CRP), and QPIRG’s Community-University Research Exchange (CURE).

CREP GOAL In keeping with OPIRG-Toronto’s mandate to direct resources and research towards anti-oppressive, social and evnivonmental justice projects, we hope CREP will provide opportunities for students to engage in com

munity-directed research, and support for community organizations with limited resources to create social change. Our goal is to help transform the privilege and resources of the academy into socially relevant, community-based research and political action.

WE WANT TO HEAR FROM YOU! To help us develop a program that suits the interests, priorities, and capacities of Toronto-based communty groups and student researchers, we’ve developed three short surveys for students, faculty, and community organizations.

If you’re interested, please take a few minutes to share your insight/comments/suggestions/concerns with us.

This program is for you and we want to do our best to tailor it to your needs.

The surveys are available on our website at www.opirgtoronto.org/node/194. Questions about this program should be directed to opirg.crep@gmail.com.

Come by the office! Please contact OPIRG for more information about our events and projects.

Ontario Public Interest Research Group- Toronto

563 Spadina Cres. Suite 101 • 416-978-7770 • www.opirgtoronto.org • opirg.toronto@gmail.com

20

GENDER REVOLT!

ACTION SPEAKS LOUDER

FALL 2013

Dis/Orientation 2013 September 23 to September 27 Gender may be considered a social construction, but that doesn’t make the experience of it any less real. Our actions and interactions are structured on ideas of what it means to be male and female, masculine and feminine, and there are consequences when we don’t fit into prescribed gender boxes. Gender plays out in particular ways that structure the material conditions of our lives. Patriarchy and sexism often connect with experiences of racism, homophobia, transphobia and ableism to affect our lived experience, our communities and our organizing spaces. We want to critically analyze societal, institutional and interpersonal forces that reproduce sexism, and we want to break down gender as a construct, but still recognize what it means to experience the world through the lens of a strictly enforced gender binary.

What are the experiences of women, trans people and gender non-conforming folks in organizing spaces? How can resisting sexism in our lives and in our activism build better long-term resistance movements? How do we tie confronting and resisting white supremacy, capitalism and colonialism to fighting patriarchal systems of exploitation?

Join a coalition of campus groups for over a week of discussion and debate on questioning the enforcement of gender roles and building towards more inclusive feminist movements!

MONDAY SEPTEMBER 23

WEDNESDAY SEPTEMBER 25

FRIDAY SEPTEMBER 27

2:30-4:30 PM: WORKSHOP Consent 101 Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, room 2281

12:00-2:00: DISCUSSION University of Toronto World Cafe Strategic talks for the World Ahead Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, Room 2198, 252 Bloor Street West

2:30-4:30 PM: WORKSHOP Time to Bash Back: Radical Queer & Trans Organizing Ontario Institute for Studies in Education room 8201, 252 Bloor Street West

6:00-8:00 PM: PANEL When Women Rebel: Gender and Militancy Ontario Institute for Studies in Education room 2211, 252 Bloor Street West

POST- DISORIENTATION EVENTS

4:30-6:30 PM: PANEL Free Education: Is it Possible?

Ontario Institute for Studies in Education room TBA 7:00- 9:00 PM: PANEL What’s Wrong with the MRA? The Problem of Men’s Rights Organizing Ontario Institute for Studies in Education room 2211, 252 Bloor Street West

TUESDAY SEPTEMBER 24

THURSDAY SEPTEMBER 26 12:00- 2:00 PM: WORKSHOP Boundless for Who? The Struggle of working class students in the academic industiral complex Hart House Music Room 7 Hart House Circle

12:00- 2:00 PM: WORKSHOP Alternatives to the ‘Medical Model’ of Mental Illness: Mad Pride, Mad Culture, Mad Community 2:00- 4:00 PM: WORKSHOP Ontario Institute for Studies in Education- Exploring Contradictions in Organizing room 2199, 252 Bloor Street West with Sarah Schulman Room 430 Student Centre 2:30- 4:30 PM: WORKSHOP 4700 Keele Street,York University Comic Books for Justice Hart House Music Room 7:00 PM- 9:00 PM: KEYNOTE 7 Hart House Circle How Change is Made: A Keynote with Sarah Schulman 6:30- 8:30 PM: PANEL Health Sciences Buliding, Room 610 On the Outside: Prison Abolition as 155 College Street Collective Liberation *ASL Interpretation Provided* Ontario Institute for Studies in Education Closest Accessible Subway: Queen’s room 4422, 252 Bloor Street West Park

MONDAY SEPTEMBER 30 Trans Film Series:The Alt-Education Edition Doors at 6 PM. Event at 6:30 PM William Doo Auditorium 45 Willcocks Street

SUNDAY OCTOBER 6 12:00- 5:00 PM: Making Movements Accessible Workshop *ASL Interpretation Provided* Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, Room TBA 252 Bloor Street West Closest Accessible Subway: St. George Please register in advance for this workshop by e-mailing opirg.toronto@gmail. com or by calling 416-978-7770.

Spots are limited.

For more information, please visit our website. For inquiries about accessibility and childcare, please e-mail disotoronto@ gmail.com

WWW. DISORIENTATION2013.COM