All blog posts in Activist Report - Shameless Magazine - your daily dose of fresh feminism for girls and trans youth

All posts in Activist Report

Page 3 of 24

Visual Essay: Take Back the Night 2012 – Un-Occupying Our Minds, Healing Ourselves

October 2, 2012 • deb singh

Take Back the Night! A community fair, rally and protest to raise awareness of the issues of violence against women and trans people and our fear of walking the streets at night. But TBTN is so much more than that; it is a meeting place for us survivors, it is a place of safety and support for survivors of all kinds of violence, it is a place of empowerment for us, even if only for one night.

As the woman in leadership of Take Back the Night Toronto, I have the honour and privilege to work with countless volunteers and community organizations to coordinate the event. This year, we had a planning committee of many individuals and community organizations who included the Parkdale Community Health Centre, North York Women’s Shelter, Streethealth, Women Abuse Prevention Council, Springtide Resources, the Anne Johnston Health Station, current and past crisis line counselors of the Toronto Rape Crisis Centre/Multicultural Women Against Rape, Centre for Independent Living, and many, many more women!

The following is a visual essay of photos of the community fair and rally at the event. All photos were taken by Gelay Amdo.

Celebrating 32 years of protesting at the community fair. (Gelay Amdo)

Women highlight many issues at the community fair. (Gelay Amdo)

(more inside…)
Interview: 2qtpoc-montreal show

September 4, 2012 • deb singh

Hey Shameless Blog Readers,

Having sadly been unable to attend the awesome 2qtpoc-montreal Show for the city’s Pervers/cite, I did get the opportunity to connect with one of the amazing artists from the show, Textaqueen. Their website reads:

“Texta” is Australian for felt-tip marker and TextaQueen is Australia’s felt-tip super-hero. Renowned for use of the humble felt-tip marker to boldly re-interpret the tradition of the salon nude, TextaQueen explores politics of sex, gender and identity in tangent with ideas of self-image and inter-personal relationships. Texta’s practice articulates delicate interplays between vulnerability and empowerment, intimacy and exhibitionism, and subjective and collective expressions of feminist, queer, and cultural identities.

I asked Textaqueen some questions about their work and involvement with the show. Check out what they had to say!

What interested you in being part of the 2-qtpocmontreal show?
Elisha Lim and I had been excitedly in contact via the internets, having had friends show us each other’s work. I am usually showing work in such a different context; not particularly 2 spirit / queer / trans or people of colour focused, so to be amongst rad 2qtpocs in this context is “refreshing.” While my “bigger” art shows bring my work into “broader” contexts, it is important to me to show my work in contexts where people seeing it may relate to it from their own experience. Showing my work alongside other people talking about queer and racialised identities is a rare dream come true. In other contexts the queerness of the work has literally been called quirky or kooky, and in my more recent work that talks about race, they may be sold on their edgy exoticness. It’s great to be part of a show where those themes are centered when being queer and racialized are central themes to my life. I’m not quirky and exotic to myself, and it’s great not to have me or my work treated that way here.

What would you like to see from people, in terms of sharing your work at the show? In 2-qtpoc communitites? In white queer communities? How do you want your work to help shape peoples’ thinking?(more inside…)
Guest Post: Stand up for Pussy Riot, stand up for yourself

August 20, 2012 • Guest Blogger

By Kasia Mychajlowycz

Last Friday, more than 100 people got together in Toronto to protest the guilty verdict and two-year sentence handed down to Russian punk rock performance artists Pussy Riot. There was punk music, chalk drawings, drumming, chanting, costumes—everything that makes a good, peaceful protest. And, of course, the media.

In a way, I am “the media.” I’ve recently finished my master’s degree in journalism, and I’m wrapping up an internship at a great magazine. But I was raised in activism, mostly of the “save the trees/support the arts” kind. Many journalists have said that you can’t be a journalist and an activist at the same time; it used to be convention that journalists didn’t even vote, so they could say they were “neutral.” Nowadays, journalism still clings to that idea even as we realize how impossible it is to be both human and neutral, especially if the job of journalism is to “comfort the afflicted and afflict the uncomfortable,” i.e. challenge the status quo, the way things are, and ask “but why?”

(Kasia Mychajlowycz)

But when I found out three members of Pussy Riot were jailed for months for SINGING A SONG in a Moscow church that spoke out against Russian President Vladimir Putin, I couldn’t stay silent. (more inside…)
- Activist Report
- On The Job
Feminism is for everybody: Join the global boycott against Hyatt Hotels

August 2, 2012 • Meg Pirie

A little over a week ago, a worldwide boycott of Hyatt hotel chains was announced in the US, organized by UNITE HERE, the union that represents Hyatt hotel workers.

Hyatt is guilty of labour abuses that are becoming more common in this age of austerity, including ever-increasing, oppressive workloads (cleaning thirty rooms in a shift, to start); limited time off; and of course, hiring contract workers to cut costs, to name a few. Additionally, there are experiences of on-the-job sexual harassment, racism, and union busting. For the largely female workforce that make up housekeeping staff—many of whom have immigrated to the United States—systemic racism and the threat of immigration keeps workers from coming forward against their employer.

To put it bluntly, Hyatt’s “escalating patterns of worker abuse” is illegal. Moreover, this is immoral. We all have the right to safe, equitable working conditions. And we all have the right to unionize.

(more inside…)
- Activist Report
- Event Listings
Event/Opportunity: Elle Project 2012 - Projet ELLE 2012

July 26, 2012 • Julia Horel

From the Girls Action Foundation:

It’s time to register!

Do you get fired up about issues and want to make a difference? Do you want to change things up in your life or community? Then why not join inspiring young women from across the country at the ELLE Leadership Training! (Or, if you know a young woman who could be interested, please pass this on!) The event is FREE. All costs for attending the training will be covered by Girls Action Foundation. In 2012, ELLE will be a bilingual training!! There will be workshops led in English and French. This means that whether you communicate mainly in English or French, you’ll be able to fully participate!

What are you waiting for? APPLY now!

When will ELLE take place?
November 14th – 18th, 2012
Visit our website for more information.

Who can attend?
Young women and trans youth between 16 and 25 years old.

How to apply?
Fill out the registration form on-line and apply to attend the 2012 ELLE training.

Deadline for registration is September 3rd, 2012.

Who to contact?
For more information, contact Janine: janine@girlsactionfoundation.ca or call 514.948.1112; Toll Free: 1.888.948.1112

Space is limited so apply now on kickaction.ca – Girls Action Foundation’s online community for Young Women!
Hold Ya Head: What will grab our attention after Jun Lin’s head is recovered?

July 10, 2012 • Raisa Bhuiyan

I remembered Yoshihiro Hattori when I first read about the murder of Trayvon Martin this past March. Yoshihiro was a 16-year old Japanese exchange student who was fatally shot by a man in 1992 when he had knocked on his door in search of directions to a Halloween party. Upon his arrest, the killer Rodney Peairs claimed that he was only ‘defending’ his home from the ‘intruder’ who was ‘was acting in a menacing, aggressive fashion…like a stranger invading someone’s home turf”.

While there was indeed a brief moral panic over Yoshihiro’s death in American and Japanese news broadcasts during the months following his murder, news cycle frenzy began to die down and soon enough everyone just forgot.

Yoshihiro’s murder isn’t a special case.

Rather he joins the numbers of other murdered international students of colour like 23-year-old York University student Qian Liu, 21-year old Coquitlam College student Amanda Zhao Wei and 33-year old Concordia student Jun Lin.

The murders of these three international students of colour is no coincidence, but rather their murders are symptomatic of a culture and society that just does not value things like social investment, protection, and accountability, especially when it comes to the murders of people of colour.

At the moment, the murders of international students of colour is receiving massive signal boosts within our news feed cycles. While often narrated by horror, fascination, disgust and sensationalism, these fast fix news stories often leave out how factors like race play a part in the murders of international students of colour.

In earlier eras, imagery of racist brutality and war atrocities moved nations to act and to change domestic and foreign policy in the interests of global justice. These contemporary images of the murders of people like Yoshihiro, Qian, Jun and Amanda moved all of us with collective outrage, but only, it seems, for a short time.

Where is this collective outrage today?

(more inside…)
UPDATED WITH GOOD NEWS: Sales team for independent Canadian book publishers defunded

June 14, 2012 • Julia Horel

GREAT NEWS!

Today, the Literary Press Group was given word that the Heritage Minister has overturned the decision and the sales force will be funded for this year! I’ll leave this post as an informational post about what indie publishers in Canada do and how precarious their survival is!

The LPG’s statement is here.

xo Julia

Dear Shameless readers,

Some of you may be aware that my day job is in book publishing. I work for the distribution arms of the Literary Press Group of Canada (LPG), an organization of independent Canadian literary publishers that provides advocacy and professional development, as well as operates a national sales team that sells the books published by 47 LPG publishers into the trade: bookstores like Chapters/Indigo, Amazon.ca, independent bookstores, school and libraries.

Last week, the LPG got word that the sales force has been defunded by the Department of Canadian Heritage with no warning and no reason. Six of my eight colleagues are being laid off. (My job is safe for now - my company is a subsidiary of the LPG and I have my own funding.)

Why is this bad news for people who don’t consider themselves part of the literary community? Well, indie Canadian publishers are often the first to publish new and up-and-coming authors, some of whom stick with these presses, and some of whom go on to sign with larger houses. Ever read anything by Margaret Atwood? Michael Ondaatje? Jane Urquhart? They all started with independent presses who gave their work a chance to be read.

And indie presses are more likely to publish books that showcase a diversity of voices and perspectives. These are some of the types of publishers who are members of the LPG: (more inside…)
- Activist Report
- Food Fight
A Fight for Healthy Food

June 1, 2012 • Naz Afsahi

Growing up I was lucky in being able to bring a packed lunch to school (even if I was sometimes jealous that I couldn’t always participate in pizza and chocolate milk Fridays). If you happen to go to school where the norm is to purchase your lunches on the premises and you worry about healthy choices, you might find an friendly advocate in Martha Payne, a 9-year-old from Scotland who was fed up with her skimpy and sometimes gruesome school lunches (she once found a hair under a cucumber!). “They’re a wee bit small and sometimes they’re not very nice either,” she told the BBC about her school lunches. Martha’s family pays £2 per day for the meals.

An image of a lunch taken by Martha on May 8th, 2012 (http://neverseconds.blogspot.ca/2012/05/tuesday-8th-may.html)

In a case emphasizing how even one voice can start a change, Martha has helped to highlight how her school lunches weren’t sufficient for a growing body and its ability to focus on school work. With the help of her father, David, Martha set up a blog called Never Seconds detailing her lunches at Lochgilphead Primary School. Martha rates each meal on health and taste (what she calls the Food-o-meter). She also keeps a tally of mouthfuls, courses, price and unexpected additions (such as the hair under the cucumber noted above).

Her blog has a following of nearly 1.5 million people with photos of school lunches being submitted from around the world. Celebrity chef Jamie Oliver, an advocate for healthy school lunches, has praised Martha. He sent her an autographed book with the praise “Great work, cleaver girl … keep it up.” And, after garnering international media attention, David met with the school council.

Council spokeswoman Carys Wynn-Mellor maintains that changes were already underway with pre-ordering systems being implemented, and noted that salads, vegetables and fruit are always available – something Martha has blogged as having never known.

If you are similarly finding your school lunches unhealthy or unpalatable, speak up! You probably aren’t the only one feeling that way.
- Activist Report
Statement of solidarity with the Québec student strike

June 1, 2012 • Guest Blogger

This statement of solidarity with the Quebec student strike was written by the folks at the Public studio, a Toronto-based activist design studio specializing in changing the world. Principal and creative director, Sheila Sampath, is also the editorial and art director at Shameless.

Members of the Shameless team wishing to show our solidarity with this statement will be signing on in the comments below.

We encourage readers wishing to show solidarity to sign on in comments, as well.

Statement of solidarity with the Québec student strike

As organizers, activists and members of marginalized communities we are well aware of our governments’ austerity agenda, directly attacking the working class and poor, women and children, disabled folk, racialized and Indigenous peoples and students. We know our governments are becoming less interested in the welfare of our society, as we continue to experience the effects of cuts to social services, community programs and, most recently, accessible education.

On May 22nd, 2012 more than 400,000 students took to the streets of Montréal to commemorate the 100-day mark of the movement for change spearheaded by students in Québec. As a vanguard in the struggle for accessible education, Québec has demonstrated to the rest of Canada that people power can and will change policies at the state-level. Students have been on strike and out on the streets for more than 100 days and continue to form larger and stronger contingents to demand accessible education for all.

The Public is proud to support the ongoing struggle of the Québec student movement. The call for accessible education also requires a direct critique of current government spending, on all its levels. The money is there; cuts to education are indicative of the state’s skewed priorities. Our communities have been put on the back-burner for long enough.

What started as a student strike to address student debt has now grown to a nation-wide movement against the criminalization of dissent. We believe in the power of direct action, and the right for students and supporters to protest and demonstrate in public.

We support the efforts of organizers and activists as they present clear demands around accessible education, environmental sustainability, financial transparency, an end to police brutality and the right to free speech. We will demonstrate in solidarity and wear our red squares with pride as we continue to connect our struggles and fuel this movement as it spreads nation-wide.

Here in Toronto, student unions, organizers and outraged communities have called for actions across the city. We invite you to join us at any of the following events, connect with us to learn more about the issues and ways to get involved or drop by the studio at any time to pick up your own red square.

Events of interest in Toronto:

Pots and pans rally/noise demo
Wednesday May 30, 8pm at Dufferin Grove Park

Support rally
Tuesday June 5th, 8:30pm at Queen’s Park

Student Solidarity Network meeting
Thursday June 7th, 6:00pm (Location TBD)
*Add yourself to the Student Solidarity Network by emailing campaigns@cfsontario.ca

Nous irons jusqu’au bout,
The Public

(Sheila Sampath)

(En français)

Comme organisateurs, activistes et membres de communautées marginalisées, nous sommes bien conscients de l’ordre du jour d’austérité établi par nos gouvernements, attaquant directement la classe ouvrière et des pauvres, des femmes et des enfants, les personnes handicapé(e)s, gens de couleur; les peuples autochtones et les étudiantes. Nous savons que nos gouvernements sont de moins en moins intéresés par le bien-être de notre société, alors que nous continuons à ressentir les effets des réductions des services sociaux, les programmes communautaires et, plus récemment, de l’éducation accessible.

Plus de 400.000 étudiants sont descendues dans les rues de Montréal le 22 mai 2012 pour célébrer les 100 jours de la grève étudiante québécoise.

Ces étudiants et étudiantes ont démontré au reste du Canada que le pouvoir du peuple peut changer les politiques au niveau de l’État. Les étudiants on été grève et dans les rues pendant de plus de 100 jours et ils continuent à former des manifestations de plus en plus fortes pour exiger une éducation accessible à tous.

The Public Studio est fier de soutenir la lutte du mouvement étudiant québécois. L’appel à l’éducation accessible exige une critique directe des dépenses du gouvernement actuel à tous ses niveaux. L’argent est là; les coupures à l’éducation démontrent de priorités obliques de l’État.

La grève étudiante au Québec a devenu aujourd’hui un mouvement à l’échelle nationale contre la criminalisation de la dissidence. Nous croyons en la puissance de l’action directe, et le droit des étudiants et sympathisants à protester et de démonstrer en public.

Nous soutenons les efforts des organisateurs et des activistes, car ils présentent des demandes claires sur l’éducation accessible, la protection de l’environnement, la transparence financière, la fin de la brutalité policière et le droit à la liberté d’expression. Nous allons démontrer dans la solidarité et porter nos carrés rouges avec fierté et nous allons continuer à relier nos luttes et alimenter ce mouvement car il se propage à l’échelle nationale.

Ici, à Toronto, les syndicats d’étudiants, les organisateurs et les communautés outragés ont appelé à des actions à travers la ville. Nous vous invitons à nous rejoindre aux événements a travers la ville, a apprendre plus sur les problèmes et comment nous joindre en solidarité , et de nous visiter pour prendre votre propre carre rouge.
- (dis)Ability
- Activist Report
Empowering psychiatric survivors

May 31, 2012 • deb singh

As the activist at the Toronto Rape Crisis Centre/Multicultural Women Against Rape (TRCC/MWAR) who gets the awesome privilege of being in leadership of the annual event, Take Back the Night, my brain is already on themes for the event (TBTN is a global event which happens in many cities to protest our right to walk the streets free of violence).

I reflected on the idea of counseling in this city. As a counselor, I keep seeing women, trans people, youth and children accessing support from psychiatrists and institutions, and taking more prescribed drugs for what folks are being diagnosed with. So I thought a Take Back the Night event about the pathologizing/medicalizing of our experiences of violence would make sense. More and more, I see that survivors of sexual violence, lesbian, gay, bi, trans and queer people, poor people, young people, and so many more are being diagnosed with things like depression, schizophrenia, bipolar, divided disorder, ADHD (Attention Deficit Disorder), borderline personality, etc. Further, there are already many movements in Toronto that are making central the issue of psychiatric survivorship and the links between our bodies, our identities, psychiatric pharmaceuticals, electroshock, mental health institutions and the medicalization of our minds.

On May 6th, I went to an event/protest called Occupy Psychiatry, planned by Voices Against Psychiatric Assault and Occupy Toronto. The following is the speech I read at the event:

Hello, my name is deb singh and I am an activist and counselor at the Toronto Rape Crisis Centre/Multicultural Women Against Rape. I want to begin by saying thank you to the Coaltion Against Psychiatric Assault and Occupy Toronto for having the TRCC/MWAR speak at this event. I also want to say thank you to all those who identify with the issues presented at today’s protest, those who are living with or loving someone who has been affected by the medicalization of our minds and thanks to you for making
your experiences an activist issue through planning this event. i would also like to acknowledge that we are on Indigenous land of the Mississauga New Credit territories of the Anishnaabe peoples.(more inside…)