Currently, the United States is headed in directions I couldn't have foretold in my worst nightmares. Perhaps I lacked imagination. Perhaps I should have read George Orwell's 1984 more closely. I have been working to organize within the political system in the U.S. and Canada for decades and, now, all I can do is resist. As I am drawn into new networks of organizers who are building locally and globally to oppose the attacks on everything we believe in, I am inspired by the tools I am finding.

Saturday's Women's March on Washington was livestreamed on Facebook by citizen journalists and major media alike.

If you logged into your social media platform of choice over the weekend you were likely to find photos, video and reflective posts -- ranging from reinvigorated enthusiasm to cautious critique -- all over your newsfeed.

Here are five types of broad perspectives on marching that we noticed on social media over the weekend. Each had something valuable to add to the ongoing public discourse on the nature of solidarity, Trump, inequality and organizing resistance.

1. PEOPLE WHO DIDN'T MARCH, BECAUSE.

CJFE and a coalition of civil society, media and labour partners are coordinating a citizens' lobbying week from January 23 to 27, leading up to a national day of action on February 4, and we need you to take part.

We are calling on the government to:

Last week, Toronto’s City Council finally agreed that Toronto’s landlords should be licensed. 

ACORN (Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now) Canada has been one of the groups organizing around this issue. What does this win mean for tenants and for us? Activist Toolkit interviewed Kemba Richardson, Chairperson for the Jane Finch, York West Chapter of ACORN

A few weeks ago I was interviewing Cathy Elliott for an upcoming Activist Toolkit blog about the DAREarts' First Roots Aboriginal Program. At the end of the interview, she offered us the gift of the following words:

"What can I offer activists? For a long time now I have been saying that the time for 'pretty words' is over, it is time for collective action and I mean everybody in Canada has to work together to make this work. It is going to take generations. It took generations to get us here and it is going to take generations to get us out of this mess that we are in.

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Last summer, Black Lives Matter Toronto hosted the first Toronto Freedom School, a three-week community self-determined education program. Forty-five families applied and 20 students enrolled. The participants were between four and 10 years old.

The Freedom School also had an associated toddler program for participants who between two and four. The program was launched as a three-week pilot program with limited capacity. In coming years, the organizers hope to expand the number of students and the program.

The Activist Toolkit interviewed LeRoi Newbold as part of its Constructing Change series. 

A first draft:

1. Send love to everyone who is feeling personally scared for themselves or their families and loved ones because of The Result. Open to immediate requests for care, support and solidarity.

2. Set aside fight-or-flight response in order to align deeply with the most effective use of our time on this planet, from an intention of compassionate action.

3. Vigorously and resolutely engage people who seek to blind themselves and others to the central contribution of neoliberalism to where we find ourselves. (And, when needed, consciously tap a bit of that fight-or-flight to boost the aforementioned vigour.)

As of October 23, 33,239 Syrian refugees have been resettled in Canada.

rabble.ca's Activist Toolkit is interviewing people who are on the frontlines of refugee settlement to find out about what they are seeing on the ground and what additional supports they need to address the needs of this surge of refugees. 

Constructing Change speaks to people working in communities to be the change, to build projects, to make a difference.  The interviews and profiles are meant to share information about how to get involved to support and amplify the changemakers' work and/or to share how you can organize a similar project in your community.  The Constructing Change series is a collaboration between the Lynn Williams Activist Toolkit and Rabble Podcast Network.

Constructing Change speaks to people working in communities to be the change, to build projects, to make a difference.  The interviews and profiles are meant to share information about how to get involved to support and amplify the changemakers' work and/or to share how you can organize a similar project in your community.  The Constructing Change series is a collaboration between the Lynn Williams Activist Toolkit and Rabble Podcast Network.