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Frederick Douglass inspires resistance in the face of Trump oppression

Photo: Jonathan Ah Kit/flickr

The good news is that President Donald Trump opened Black History Month by mentioning the renowned abolitionist Frederick Douglass. The bad news is, he doesn't seem to realize he's dead. "Frederick Douglass is an example of somebody who's done an amazing job and is being recognized more and more, I notice," Trump said at his "African-American History Month Listening Session," which he hosted at the White House. Whether it was a misstatement or genuine ignorance of who Frederick Douglass was, or, perhaps, one of Trump's notorious "alternative facts," is not clear. What is clear is that the spirit of resistance for which Frederick Douglass is best remembered is alive and well, and is directed squarely against the Trump administration.

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black history anti-oppression anti-slavery Frederick Douglass trump administration Muslim ban racist policies

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rabble interview

#BlackLivesMatter: Beyond Tent City part 1

Photo: flickr/Lenee Son

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anti-racism anti-oppression Toronto politics Black liberation Black Lives Matter Black Lives Matter TOronto

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Aw@l
Aw@l

Sing Hey! Love, struggle and community with Janice Jo Lee

January 28, 2016
| Kitchener-based folk artist Janice Jo Lee speaks about her new album "Sing Hey" and her pending tour, and discusses healthy artistic scenes and social justice in life and music.
Length: 51:42 minutes (71.01 MB)
Queer McGill defends safe space after online backlash
By
Subhanya Sivajothy
| January 28, 2015

From January 26 to February 5, Queer McGill (QM) will be hosting its seventh annual Rad Sex Week, an event series seeking to explore and destigmatize anti-oppressive, feminist, trans- and queer-positive expressions of sexuality. The two-week-long event will be largely comprised of workshops to provide the McGill community with educational materials on more alternative or stigmatized sexual activities.

"[We are] making an inclusive space for any people or persons who [vary] from what we would normally characterize as ‘vanilla’ sex," said QM Events Coordinator Erin Strawbridge in an interview with The Daily.

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Immigration

The new Canada: A paradox of citizenship and belonging

Belonging: The Paradox of Citizenship

by Adrienne Clarkson
(House of Anansi,
2014;
$19.95)

I suspect many of us share Adrienne Clarkson's vision of what Canada is and should be: a place where everyone can belong.

Her latest book Belonging: The Paradox of Citizenship, based on the 2014 Massey Lectures she delivered on CBC Radio, offers plenty of philosophical and evidentiary reasons for promoting the admirable concept of shared citizenship.

Yet, somehow, I also suspect that many of us couldn't help wonder whether this grand vision she describes so convincingly is fading away into a past we are already beginning to lament.

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Canadian politics citizenship anti-oppression Canadian immigration canadian authors book review Permanent residents Adrienne Clarkson

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The world's first harm-reduction workers' union comes to Toronto

Photo: flickr/Todd Huffman
This new union, THRWU, takes an inclusive approach to organizing some of health care's most precarious workers.

Related rabble.ca story:

Toronto is now home to world's first harm-reduction workers' union
Tags:
labour harm reduction union anti-oppression
rabble news

Toronto is now home to world's first harm-reduction workers' union

Image: THRWU

Toronto is home to the world's first ever harm-reduction workers' union: THRWU.

On November 11, workers at South Riverdale and Central Toronto Community health centres told their employers that they had joined the Toronto Harm Reduction Workers Union (THRWU) and demanded recognition.

With 50 members and counting, the union represents a wide range of professions including HIV/AIDS workers, workers involved in the distribution of safe usage tools, overdose prevention workers, peer workers, Hepatitis C workers, and nurses -- to name only a few.

While some THRWU members work in paid positions, others work as volunteers or are unemployed. 

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labour harm reduction union anti-oppression

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Watch: Alternative Media Movement Assembly at #PSF2014

Watch the discussion during the Alternative Media Movement Assembly at the Peoples' Social Forum!

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alternative media anti-oppression Peoples' Social Forum 2014 grassroots media

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Photo: flickr/David B. Gleason
How unions can support pro-animal members, animals and interspecies solidarity
By
Kendra Coulter
| June 11, 2014

Please support our coverage of democratic movements by clicking here to become a monthly supporter of rabble.ca. 

Union leaders and activists are keen to engage more members, involve new people and diversify, strengthen and expand the labour movement. Yet, even though many unionized workers care about the well-being of animals, most workers' organizations have not reflected on how to support their members who are passionate about animal issues, or on how the web of solidarity can be expanded to include animals.

Read more
Five Rad Voices you need to hear
By
Steffanie Pinch
| April 30, 2014

Rad Voices was a monthly series aired on Constructing Change the podcast of the Activist Toolkit. The show was made possible thanks to a CKLN-FM legacy grant and featured one-on-one interviews with grassroots radicals from across the country. Though the activists came from many different backgrounds and movements, they all shared a drive and passion for their work.

Here are five radical voices you should listen to:

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