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 …

Reflections on Toronto May Day 2019

Posted on3 Comments

May Day in Toronto this year was marked by a couple of rallies, plenty of rain, and one bloody guillotine. It was my first May Day in Toronto, and I wasn’t really sure what to expect, but was excited for the opportunity to be explicitly and confrontationally anti-capitalist in the streets. May Day to me is about celebrating labour victories of years past and fighting for a world free from all forms of oppression. I’d heard that the main feature of Toronto May Day is the evening march, organized by a coalition of organizations, and that most people came with their union or political group. Read More …

Toronto: Anti-PEGIDA after-action report

Posted on7 Comments

From the Toronto IWW General Defence Committee Local 28 On Saturday May 4th, 2019, PEGIDA Canada (Patriotic Europeans Against the Islamization of the West) – the anti-Muslim, anti-immigration, white nationalists, along with their collaborators – assembled for a rally and a march outside Staples’s University and Armoury location just steps away from City Hall with alarming numbers yet again. The fact they did this on Star Wars day out of Read More …

Hamilton May Day: Causing some shit and wearing our politics proudly

Posted on8 Comments

Anti-Authoritarian & Anti-Capitalist Mayday 2019 Reportback

Anyone who lives in Hamilton knows that JSquare is truly a temple of precarious jobs. Maybe you’ve put in your hours sweeping yellow skittles off the theatre floor or selling cigar boxes at one of the telemarketing firms; maybe you have a friend who pushed data plans at one of the cell booths or slung Mooseheads at the Honest Lawyer. Whatever your experience of Jackson Square, you can perhaps imagine how satisfying it might be to march with a crew of 40 radicals through the mall, spreading May Day cheer and working class solidarity to all those stuck working on this International Worker’s Day.

This year’s May Day began two months prior with an attempt at coalition organizing. It was a real possibility, but for the presence of a small yet committed group of authoritarian communists (working under different banners of the Revolutionary Communist Party) whose behavior during the meetings rendered the word “solidarity” meaningless. Thus proving once again that there can be no solidarity with those who seek power over us, those who worship the murderous dictators of history, those who follow party lines instead of their own ethics. And so anarchists went our own way, calling for an anti-authoritarian & anti-capitalist march on our own terms. Read More …

Toronto: Fuck Ford: Solidarity with the vandalism at Queen’s Park

Posted on

On the night of April 30th, the night before May Day, International Workers Day, some brave person heavily tagged Queen’s Park with spraypaint. “Fuck Ford” was written at multiple points and “Murderer” was painted across the statue of John A MacDonald. These acts didn’t get a lot of coverage, so I thought I’d post them here to express full solidarity with them and also with the person who was arrested and charged with carrying them out.Actions like these remind us that opposition to Ford’s cuts can’t be merely rhetorical – to everyone who took part in one of the “general strike” actions on May Day, let’s keep finding ways to push things further and go beyond the limitations democracy and its police place on our opposition. Because regardless of whose in power, this system will always protect the walls of power over the needs of human beings, and values obedience more than health, education, and dignity. Read More …

From Embers: New Content in April 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 …

Answering Back: The World Just Needed A Man

Posted on

While Justin Trudeau was in Hamilton yesterday (April 20) handing out free lunches at St-Patrick’s church, notorious for its anti-abortion activity, our beloved local paper The Hamilton Spectator decided to republish a long article from the New York Times entitled “What’s a Feminist Government? Canada, and Trudeau Grapple With the Question”. I was reading the morning paper with six or seven friends, and over waffles we read the article out loud and had a go at the questions it raised with a fair bit less bullshit than its author. Read More …

Roundup of May Day events!

Posted on

There are a number of May Day events happening across the region on Wednesday May 1 2019, marking International Workers’ Day by taking the streets, celebrating in parks, and remembering the ways that capitalism underpins so many of the problems people face every day. From east to west, here are the events we’ve received details about from their organizers and a short excerpt from each callout. Got a May Day Read More …