Aalya Ahmad

Their bodies, themselves: Provocative new doc showcases real beauty of yesteryear's burlesque legends

Aalya — Thu, 28 Apr 2016 22:20:30 +0000

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Today, university adjuncts will feel their power

Aalya — Wed, 25 Feb 2015 16:42:57 +0000

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A student has come to ask me for a reference letter for a graduate school program. She's taken two of my courses and is bright, hard working and conscientious. She deserves all the support I can give her.

From Occupy Ottawa to Occupied Ottawa: An update from OO

Aalya — Wed, 09 May 2012 16:01:22 +0000

Occupied Ottawa will be baaaaaaaack on May 12th. But we didn't really go away. In this blog, allow me to present guest bloggers Matt Morgan and John Bainbridge w/ an interview of Squid Murgatroyd, writing here to give you all an update.

N.B. The opinions expressed are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of Occupied Ottawa.

Dancing with Identities: Inner Activist 5

Aalya — Tue, 17 Apr 2012 20:23:51 +0000

I've noticed my blogs about the Inner Activist training module "Building Conscious Use of Power" are getting longer and longer. For those of you who would rather explore the program for yourselves than watch my talking head, check out Inner Essentials, which is an online program offered by the same folks who are putting on this training. And honestly, they are not paying me to shill this program. I think it's a really good idea for those of us who are engaged in change work.

Dealing with Disturbance: Inner Activist video blog 4

Aalya — Sun, 15 Apr 2012 20:55:26 +0000

As my adventures in "Building Conscious Use of Power" continue, check out the body work I had to do yesterday and today. As resistant as I have been to some of this "inner work," I have to admit I have been given some startling and interesting insights into some of the things that make me tick (and tock) as an activist and sources of power that I was not aware of.

Video after the jump... stay tuned for more!

Tackling bias: Inner Activist part three

Aalya — Sun, 15 Apr 2012 03:47:31 +0000

Whew! it's been a tough and draining day here at the Haven on Gabriola Island. I learned tons today, not all of which is going to fit into one video blog, so I'm going to try to post two tomorrow because there was one particularly intriguing exercise I wanted to share. Scroll down after the jump for the video blog.

Today we talked about power, marginalization, unconscious and systemic biases and how to try to overcome them. Some of the concepts I found most interesting:

Inviting intentions: Inner Activist video blog two

Aalya — Sat, 14 Apr 2012 05:41:52 +0000

Second installment -- more to come tomorrow!

Taking the Inner Activist

Aalya — Fri, 13 Apr 2012 18:02:07 +0000

Hey, Rabble Rousers!

I'll be on Gabriola Island in beautiful B.C. over the next few days, taking a course called The Inner Activist. The module I'm doing is called 'Building Conscious Use of Power' and i'm really looking forward to it.

But what use is training and education if you don't share? Like Maya Angelou said:

"When you learn, teach, when you get, give."

International Women's Day 2012: Labour peace is dead, long live the class war

Aalya — Thu, 08 Mar 2012 14:45:05 +0000

Bourgeois society is not fundamentally opposed to the bourgeois women's movement... - Clara Zetkin

On International Women's Day 2012, most of the women of this country are in deep shit.

Harper at Davos: Of swaggering and sweater vests

Aalya — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 18:47:15 +0000

So, here we languish in Harperstan, watching our fearless leader off in Switzerland alternately boasting and smacking those Europeans around for their silly attachment to "entitlements" such as workers' rights. Don't worry, he's coming home soon to spank us too. Gone are the sweater vest, the fireplace chat, and the kitten; here's Economic Rambo.

Big Charity: Who gets turned away at United Way?

Aalya — Sat, 26 Nov 2011 16:09:45 +0000

When I was much younger and used to canvass for union-buster extraordinaire Greenpeace, we all quickly learned that the holiday season was the time to rock those door-to-door donations. The United Way has long known this and 'tis the season for those United Way workplace fundraising drives. Chances are your workplace has one getting started right about now.

Two dispatches from Occupy Ottawa

Aalya — Mon, 14 Nov 2011 06:21:56 +0000

One month ago, on a beautiful October day at noon, surrounded by red-gold autumn trees, I stood with my family and 500 people around the huge fountain in Confederation Park, feeling the thrill of history being made. As our first facilitators -- "rogue page" Brigette dePape and Indigenous environmental activist Ben Powless -- jumped onto the fountain and hailed us, I felt as though the sun had come out at last in this cold, grey capital, where people usually hurry by, stern-faced, avoiding your gaze. At last we were going to take the time to talk to each other face-to-face.

Occupy Wall Street: Noooo, Canada!

Aalya — Tue, 04 Oct 2011 07:54:06 +0000

Nooooo, Canada!

Don't you DARE turn these bright rainbows of limitless possibility into another dreary downpour of boring grey raindrops on Bay Street on October 15th! Keep your cheerless sniffs and sneers, your cringe-inducing and silencing accusations to yourselves. Wipe those dour smirks of smugness off your faces. Save the sanctimonious nitpicking for later. Take your pet issue and shove it. Talk to someone other than your circle of like-minded cronies and allies. Let's carpe fucking diem on this one, eh? The way this world is going, many of us may not get another chance.

Sharing stories on Mother's Day to keep the Conservative agenda away

Aalya — Sun, 08 May 2011 15:13:03 +0000

Years ago, I became pregnant and did not want to be. First I called my doctor, who I trusted and who had known me since I was a kid. I knew that she would refer me to the hospital for an abortion. The voice on the phone, a nurse receptionist, told me that unfortunately my doctor was too booked up and didn’t have an appointment for me for another few months, which would put me into a far more complicated trimester for ending the pregnancy.

A Grumpy Feminist in Ottawa ... why a Harper majority might not be the worst thing ever to hit us

Aalya — Fri, 08 Apr 2011 00:29:51 +0000

Elections as a rule do not bring out the best in people and I am no exception. I am far too easily distracted by electoral campaign trivialities. I find myself wondering, for example, how much spittle Michael Ignatieff produces in the endless efforts to come off as a for-gosh-sakes regular Joe, just who is in charge of replacing Stephen Harper's batteries every morning, and whether it is really necessary for Jack Layton to be featured on every election sign in the two ridings closest to me with his female candidates crouched behind him, baring their teeth. "Vote for me and I'll represent you from behind Jack Layton's shoulder!"

What I learned at the BDS conference

Aalya — Tue, 26 Oct 2010 00:30:57 +0000

Because of my Arabic name, I am reluctant to write about Palestine. I get afraid that my words will be too easily dismissed because of my name, because of the racist idea that everybody with an Arabic name can only be partisan by nature. Like everybody with a Jewish identity is presumed to be in support of Israel, regardless of Independent Jewish Voicesand other groups we don't hear about in the media because their protests go uncovered, their letters ignored. It's another form of anti-Semitism, this monolithic certainty, this lumping of people into political blocks for sociopaths to play with.

Oh baby! Reproductive excess versus the realities

Aalya — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 06:01:25 +0000

Whenever I travel and stay in a hotel, I find myself sitting slack-jawed in front of late-night television. This is because I usually never watch TV. Let's get the accusations of sanctimony and the indignant spluttering about my haughty, cultural elitist perch out of the way. I prefer to think of myself as an innocent, wandering, dewy-eyed, in the wilderness of cable TV, which is wondrously full of Here There Be Peculiar Things. Everything on television is a revelation to me.

So can somebody please explain what the holy hell is up with the baby freakshow?

Black and white and rage all over

Aalya — Sat, 03 Jul 2010 17:29:15 +0000

It's been daunting to try to take in all that has been already testified, discussed, debated, ranted about, witnessed and reported of the G20 protests. Thoughts collected so far:

1) We are, as many have remarked, living in a police state.

In praise of pro-feminist fathers

Aalya — Sun, 20 Jun 2010 12:22:20 +0000

As one who embraces feminism, it's tough to reflect on fatherhood. There's the traitorous sense of being preoccupied with a politics of gender identity at the expense of real women (no, not Harper's harpies, actual women). There are the dismal facts: irrefutable statistics about women, poverty and the material sacrifices associated with motherhood and childrearing, in which the term "disproportionately affected" features, well, disproportionately. There is the patriarchy, seemingly very much in control, thank you ma'am, as it cuts funding to yet another women's advocacy group and hounds yet another woman out of politics.

The G8/G20 big cop party

Aalya — Fri, 18 Jun 2010 13:10:59 +0000

My daughter, lucky toddler that she is, has a lot of Dr. Seuss books. One old classic she loves is "Go Dog Go," featuring a lot of brightly-hued canines running around performing basic vocabulary tasks. At the end of the book, these busy doggies all jump out of their little cars, ascend a tree with a tall ladder and there, improbably, at the top of the tree, is (pause for my daughter) "A dog party! A BIG dog party!" Then we recite the litany of "big dogs, little dogs, black, white, red and yellow dogs," all quite obviously having a blast at this dog party.