Author: northshore

Call to Action & CGL Contractors List

Posted on2 Comments

A warm greeting to our companions, It seems our meetings get warmer every year. We write to you as our planet reaches record breaking degradation and heads of industry make further plans still.

We write to you as the canadian government engages in low-intensity warfare on Wet’suwet’en communities from the raid on Gidumt’en, the invasion of Unist’ot’en, surveillance, police checkpoints, armed patrols, to the perpetuation of murdered and missing indigenous women. Slow genocide without a name. Read More …

Signal Fails

Posted on3 Comments

Signal is an encrypted messaging service that has been around in different forms for about 10 years. Since then, I have seen the software widely adopted by anarchist networks across Canada and the United States. More and more, for better and for worse, our interpersonal and group conversations have moved onto the Signal platform, to the extent that it has become the dominant way anarchists communicate with each other on this continent, with very little public debate about the implications. Read More …

From Embers: New Content in May 2019

Posted on

From Embers is a regular anarchist podcast produced in Kingston, Ontario. We produce a few episodes each month about actions and projects going on in so-called Canada that inspire us, or about topics that we think will be relevant to anarchists living north of the border. We are a proud member of the Channel Zero Anarchist Podcast Network. Read More …

Announcing the 2019 Toronto Anarchist Bookfair!

Posted on

We are excited to announce the return of the Toronto Anarchist Bookfair! The 2019 Bookfair will take place September 28 at the Centre for Social Innovation – Annex, on the traditional territories of the Anishnaabe, Haudenosaunee and Huron-Wendat peoples. The Bookfair will be a space for everyone from experienced organizers to those simply curious about anarchism to share ideas and information, develop skills, and build the community capacity to create a world that aligns with our anarchist aspirations. There will be space to explore anarchist history and ideas, as well as their application to grassroots organizing and ongoing struggles. The Bookfair will include workshops, info tables, book sellers and social events. This is an accessible space that aims to centre BIPOC and other marginalized voices. Read More …

On Subculture

Posted on1 Comment

A defense of anarchist subcultures and a proposal for one we could build

I’ve been thinking a lot about subculture the past two years, and had intended that this month (May, 2019) be a deadline for getting out a piece of writing about it. I didn’t do that, because writing gets harder and harder as years go by, because online projects felt more immediate, more urgent, more like a living conversation, because I just didn’t get to it. But since part of what I had wanted to propose was that we have more intentional conversations as an anarchist milieu/community/movement/culture, and that we return somewhat to writing and printing as a means of doing that, it felt wrong to not put something on paper. I would rather this were a finished document with punchy, certain proposals. I suspect I’d get more response if it was. But it’s not. Consider it more of a published draft. Read More …

London: On closing Empowerment Infoshop

Posted on1 Comment

We are sad and relieved to announce that we have closed Empowerment Infoshop.

To stay at the Baker’s Dozen would be to compromise our morality as anarchists. We left Baker’s Dozen on April 1st, 2019. We are still waiting to receive back a $600 rent deposit. We will not be hosting the book fair in June. It felt defeating to close our doors, but for a variety of reasons we have made that choice. There is no planned future for Empowerment Infoshop. Read More …

New Podcast: “What Happened to Prisoner Justice Day?”

Posted on1 Comment

EPIC recommends this excellent new mini-series produced in Montreal called “What Happened to Prisoner Justice Day?” for anyone wanting to learn more about the history and context of the prison movement across so-called Canada since the 1970s. From the description:

This is a mini series about the history of prisons in canada focusing on differences in the prison system in the 1960s-1980s versus today. The podcast features interviews with former and current prisoners, as well as supporters on the outside. Read More …

Hamilton Police PR Stunt met with Counter-Demo

Posted on2 Comments

Police are doing “Coffee With a Cop” events across the region, including in Chatham-Kent on May 22 or Windsor on May 30. They’ve been happening in Toronto and Niagara too. Holding a “Coffee Without Cops” event outside is an easy way to spoil their party and make space to critique the role police play in society as well as specific abuses.

Perhaps the easiest question ever asked: “Would you like your coffee with or without cops?” “Coffee with a Cop,” a public relations event by Hamilton Police, found itself competing for attention with “Coffee without Cops.” Read More …

Answering Back: Teaching Kids the “Art of the Deal”

Posted on

Do you ever read your local paper and wonder why there aren’t more articles favourably comparing school children to Donald Trump? Well, the Waterloo Region Record’s got you covered. Yesterday, May 13, they ran an article called “Waterloo Region Youth Learn the Art of the Deal”; so lying, bravado, and sexual harassment, right? It described children as young as 4 gathering to highlight their businesses and sell each other stuff at the Children’s Business Fair: “They hope it will help children learn about the entrepreneurial spirit from a young age — something they don’t get in most classrooms.”

Are we actually expected to believe that a lack of “entrepreneurial spirit” is a problem with schools? And that we should be grateful that Catalyst 137, a space for venture capitalists and developers of the creepy “Internet of Things”, has stepped in to fill the gap? There are a lot of things that kids don’t get in most classrooms that would actually be beneficial, like time in nature, accurate sex education, or conflict resolution. Or (why not?) anti-capitalism. “[These kids] aren’t even 12 years old yet, but they know how to close” — I’m sure that’s exactly what we all need. Read More …

RCMP Vehicles Destroyed in Hamilton

Posted on3 Comments

Since 1873, the Canadian government has been using the RCMP and all police services at their disposal to forcefully invade indigenous territory, helping to steal their land for resources and aid in their assimilation.

Out west on Wet’suwet’en territory in Northern BC the RCMP continue to harass individuals travelling to and from their homes, seizing cars and leaving youth and mothers stranded in the wilderness. In addition, police continue to keep the Wet’suwet’en from freely accessing hunting and fishing grounds and – as the spring thaw continues – areas where they would gather berries and medicines for sickness and ceremony. All this on behalf and in favour of TransCanada/TC Energy. Read More …