Dream Big: a call to action for the Wet’suwet’en

Posted on

Where have you gone?

Last January there were so many of you. Of us!

In the streets. Shutting down bridges, ports, highways, railways, centres of capital, fuel terminals, and even storming TC Energy facilities. We were rushing office buildings, hanging banners, harassing politicians, police, courts and more. Informing, engaging, inciting. Undoubtedly meeting late into the nights, kept awake by our dreams. Strategizing. We were angry, passionate, strong, and determined. It was beautiful! Inspiring – hopeful!

What happened?

We’re not done – this is still happening! Force is not consent. The RCMP – the same commanders who argued for lethal oversight – are still in Wet’suwet’en territories harassing people. They’ve had the audacity to set up a temporary detachment in a place they don’t belong, aren’t welcome, and have no jurisdiction over. Read More …

Nothing (much) Changes: an analysis of changes in ownership of the Coastal Gas Link pipeline

Posted on1 Comment

TC Energy recently sold 65% of their 100% stake in their Coastal Gas Link Project.

But does it mean anything?

Is the project struggling? Is TC Energy? Is there a chance this project will just fall by the wayside? After reading too many industry news sites and pompous press releases, interviews and share reports I have bad news.

It’s unlikely this indicates anything significant – and it doesn’t seem to be a sign of a flailing project or company.

In short; corporations buy and sell investments in projects all the time – and TC Energy has been doing a lot of this. TCE also announced back in 2018 that they intended to reduce its shares in the project, and hired RBC to help do it in January 2019, so it’s not a new or recent development. Project messaging has stayed consistent, and since the project is still in early stages new buyers must have a lot of faith it will proceed as planned. Read More …

Hamilton LRT cancellation: A Christmas Fucking Miracle!

Posted on3 Comments

Working class Hamilton families breathed a collective sigh of relief Monday afternoon, when the Province announced they were killing the Light Rail Transit (LRT) project.  After 10+ years of living in the shadow of the Hamilton renaissance monster, with the housing walls closing in, this is the best holiday news many have heard in over a decade.

Hamilton has been wracking up some seriously shitty stats the last while.  In 2016, the CMHC named Hamilton one of 4 ‘red-flag’ cities with “dangerously overvalued” property, as ECDEV forced our way aboard Toronto’s SS Titanic housing bubble. This year we landed on the list of Top 10 most unaffordable cities for minimum wage workers (folks now working 55-60+ hours/week to afford a basic apartment).  And for the shit cherry on top of this hot shit sundae: we took the top prize this year for the highest one-year rent increase in all of Canada, at 24%. 

So when the announcement came that Metrolinx’s LRT project – the engine that’s been driving this community-wrecking shitmobile – was being shelved?  The joy was impossible to contain.  The joy overfloweth.  It was a Christmas fucking miracle.  Read More …

International Call For New Year’s Eve Noise Demonstrations

Posted on

This is a call for a raucous night of strong solidarity with those imprisoned by the state on one of the noisiest nights of the year. On New Year’s Eve gather your crew, collective, community, organization, or just yourself and come together to raise a racket and remind those on the inside that they are not alone.

Internationally, noise demonstrations outside of prisons are a way to remember those who are held captive by the state and a way to show solidarity with imprisoned comrades and loved ones. We come together to break the loneliness and isolation. Read More …

From Embers: Climate Mobilizations in Vancouver

Posted on

Submitted by From Embers From Embers is a regular show about anarchist and anti-authoritarian politics in so-called Canada based in Kingston, Ontario. We are part of the Channel Zero Anarchist Podcast Network. This episode features an interview with two anarchists from Vancouver about their efforts to intervene in the climate strike and extinction rebellion actions in that city. We talk about the context in Vancouver, their critique of Extinction Rebellion, Read More …

Attack on Sidewalk Toronto

Posted on1 Comment

Last night some anarchists visited the Sidewalk Toronto office on Parliament Street. Their cheerful paint job needed some touching up to remind everyone that for all their land acknowledgements and “consultations”, sidewalk is a sinister force in our city. [Tag reads “Fuck Off Sidewalk”]

There are plenty of reasons to oppose sidewalk. Indigenous elders have criticized their tokenistic consultation of First Nations (hey, why not just remediate the stolen land and give it back, anyways?) Their aggressive proposals for data collection, private police forces and cashless stores are all pretty dystopic. and we can bet that their “affordable” housing stock will be nowhere near attainable for those who need it.

Respect to the efforts of groups like Block Sidewalk for their pushback against this plan. It isn’t a done deal so let’s keep fighting! we chose this tactic to reflect our hostility toward google and all forms of exclusivity and surveillance, and hope it inspires future action! Read More …

Toronto: November 29 Nobody Pays fare evasion report

Posted on

In response to the worldwide “Nobody Pays” call to action on November 29 for fare evasions, a small but spirited crew did just that after the climate march in downtown so-called Toronto. We joined the march as a Free Transit Now bloc, and passed out leaflets [offsite link, full text below] with some ideas about why transit is a climate, race, and class issue, why it should be free, and why fare enforcement is bad and fare evasion is cool, especially in the context of international solidarity.

At the end of the march, we circulated through the crowd chanting “Public transit should be free! Liberate the TTC!” and “Fuck the cops, fuck the haters, power to the fare evaders!”, then headed over to a nearby subway station. Read More …

Toronto: Free Transit Now Means Nobody Pays

Posted on

Transit is a part of daily life for so many of us, and is entangled in issues of class, accessibility, race, the environment, among others.

In so-called Toronto we’ve been disgusted by the recent ad campaign on the TTC discouraging fare evasion, and the expansion of fare enforcement. At the end of November, the TTC is ending the sale of tokens, pushing people towards the less-accessible, more easily surveilled Presto card.

We’ve been inspired by and want to express solidarity with the mass fare evasions led by youth and racialized communities from Chile to New York. We share in their struggles against poverty, criminalization and police brutality.

We’d like to call attention to the call for mass fare evasion on November 29  (the same day as a climate mobilization led by Fridays for Future here in Toronto, which we see as related – fair transit is climate justice!) and to a website with posters, stickers and resources for our local context: https://FireToThePrestoMachines.noblogs.org

Power to the fare evaders! Read More …

Toronto: skale: a symphony of brick and glass

Posted on2 Comments

condo developer skale was attacked last night.
their ‘project’ at queen and gladstone
“a provocative and innovative symphony
of metals, glass and brick”
is another attack on the community of parkdale.
these streets
this neighbourhood
is not a “world-famous centre of cool and creativity”
it is (was) our home
our community
that we are being (were already) pushed out of by developers
yuppie businesses
and scumbag landlords.
this violence
this trauma
is tearing apart communities
and lives. Read More …