transformingpower

Welcome to transforming power

Welcome to the transforming power web site. Below is Judy Rebick's blog, which also appears on rabble.ca. In order to participate in a real-time discussion with Judy and others who comment on her posts, please create a login for this website so that your comments will be immediately posted. Otherwise, non-registered posts will be sent to a queue and need to be reviewed by the site moderator prior to being posted.

P2P Foundation Names "Transforming Power" Book of the Week

The P2P Foundation, which highlights books that recognize how technology reflects a change of consciousness towards participation and in turn strengthens it, has just announced that "Transfroming Power" is its current Book of the Week.

To read the Foundation's review of the book, click here.

Judy Rebick on TVO's "The Allan Gregg Show"

See below for the entire video from Judy's talk on the Allan Gregg Show. Judy discusses "Transforming Power", and how globalization and communications technology are changing democracy.
 

Stand with Van Jones

"Martin Luther King didn't become famous saying I have a complaint," said Van Jones speaking to the Network of Spiritual Activists.  As you have probably heard one of the most eloquent environmental justice activists in the U.S. has resigned from Obama's White House under a relentless right-wing assault of what he calls "lies and distortions."  You will get some idea of what a visionary he is by watching this short video from Fierce Light

Bravo to John Greyson who has pulled his film from TIFF to protest their tribute to Tel Aviv

Every once in a while the act of an individual can make a big difference to a struggle.  Yesterday, Toronto film maker and long-time gay activist John Greyson wrote an open letter to the directors of the Toronto International Film Festival pulling his short film Covered out of TIFF in protest of their spotlight on Tel Aviv.  His courageous action and eloquent letter, reproduced below, is a significant contribution to the Palestinian solidarity movement and the Boycott Divestment and Sanction strategy that it has adopted to shine a light on the inexcusable aggression of Israel against the Palestinian people.  Please read the letter below, watch the film and write to TIFF in protest of their decision tiffg@tiff.net

KI protesting Platinex incursion on their land again

On the left are Sam McKay and Chief Donny Morris at last Spring's rally for KI and Ardoch at Queen's Park
 The courageous people of  Kitchenuhmaykoosib Inninuwugis (KI)  are out on the land in peaceful protest once again against mining on their lands  without their permission.  Despite promises from the province last Spring when the KI Chief and Council went to jail for just such a protest, mobilizing support from around the province and across the country, letters to Premier McGuinty sent unanswered.  Today they issued a press statement, excerpts appear below
 
 

An Evening in Burqin by Pierre Beaudet

The sun is slowly coming down in this northern West Bank village. We are really a few kilometers from Galilee just outside the green line. Around the city of Jenin and the nearby villages, a cluster of Israeli settlements remind us of the occupation, as well as numerous checkpoints controlled by Israeli soldiers.

The revolution will be tweeted or whatever. People's power and technology.

Today in Tehran from #iranelection on twitter

Sunday evening I spent almost an entire train ride from Ottawa to Toronto glued to Twitter following the posts from #iranelections, which is a way to get all the posts about the elections in Iran and following a twitterer with the handle Change for Iran who was posting from his roof top every few minutes and then going down to join the protests and coming back.  It was an amazing experience to directly follow what was happening on the streets of Tehran as it was happening.  More important, though, Twitter became a major source of information for those opposed to Ahmadinejad's government and protesting what they consider to be fraudelant election results. 

Building a new labour movement

Last night I spoke at a fundraising event for the legendary Highlander Center that was part of a three day gathering of labour and community activists organized by the Labour Education Centre.  It was an amazing event.  Incredible diversity, majority people of colour, lots of poor people, many young people.  It was politically diverse from people who have just gotten active to veteran activists, from service workers to anti-capitalist activists, from union, community, and even academia.  And on top of that it was a US/Canada collaboration beginning an 8 month project to build connections between labour and community in Toronto.

Threat to doctors who perform abortions remain. Honour Dr. Tiller

On Sunday June 7 at the corner of Bloor and Spadina in Toronto , there will be a vigil to honour  Dr. George Tiller, who was known as the doctor of last resort in the pro-choice community.  Dr. Tiller was murdered by a homegrown right-wing terrorist in the U.S.  But don't think that anti-choice violence is only a problem in the U.S.  Terror is a way that part of the the anti-choice movement has tried to prevent abortion provision for a long time.  Below is a column I wrote more ten years ago about the threat facing abortion providers here in Canada.  Numerous female columnists have written about the issue in Canada and the US.  My column originally appeared on the CBC web site