The morning after: where are we and where do we go from here?

Submitted by Judy Rebick on Tue, 05/03/2011 - 3:56pm
It was an extraordinary election. Both Stephen Harper and Jack Layton got the results they were aiming for. Stephen Harper got his majority and Jack Layton replaced the Liberal Party not only as the Official Opposition but quite possibly as the only federal alternatives to the Harperites.   Canada now looks like so many other countries with one party on the Right and one on the Left. So why do I feel so bad?
 
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Vote for the Canada You Want

Submitted by Judy Rebick on Fri, 04/29/2011 - 11:02am
“We’re going to win, Judy,” Stephen Lewis told me over the phone a few days before the 1990 Ontario election. 
“C’mon Stephen, you guys always get a little delusional as the election approaches,” I replied 
“No, really, we are going to win.” 
 
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"Transforming Power" Talk at Fanshawe College

Submitted by Steve on Thu, 03/31/2011 - 10:15am

Judy recently did a talk as part of the Social Science Speaker's Series at Fanshawe College. Her focus was the relevance of the struggles in Egypt and Wisconsin for social change in Canada . See the presentation in four parts below:

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IWD: 100 years of struggle for women's liberation

Submitted by Judy Rebick on Mon, 03/07/2011 - 10:19am

The history of IWD is a history of the struggle of ordinary women to throw off the burden of the oppression and discrimination they faced.    In 1908, 15,000 women marched through New York City demanding shorter hours, better pay and voting rights.  The first National Women’s Day was celebrated in 1909 to demand right to vote, be trained, hold office and an end to discrimination on March 19. 

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Change, change, change: Pride is reborn in Egypt and Hope is rekindled around the world

Submitted by Judy Rebick on Sun, 01/30/2011 - 6:38pm

As some of you know, I am currently in New Zealand working on a memoir of my life in the 1960s and 70s.  I had just finished the chapter on 1965 the year McGill erupted with the youth rebellion that had been spreading across the continent from Berkeley California when the people of Egypt rose up against a brutal dictatorship.  That year taught me that things can change very quickly. 

Bolivia's Road to Revolution: Transcript of a speech by Hugo Salvatierra

Submitted by Judy Rebick on Sun, 01/16/2011 - 10:17am

Last fall, I invited Hugo Salvatierra, a founder of the MAS,  to speak in Toronto at a relatively small meeting of committed left-wing activists. I in particular felt that it was really important to introduce Hugo Salvatierra to the left here in Toronto.

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First Mourn Then Organize: 21 years since the Montreal Massacre

Submitted by Judy Rebick on Mon, 12/06/2010 - 10:45am

Last year I spent December 6 in Montreal to attend a conference on the 20th Anniversary of what in Quebec they call Polytechique.  Below are my reflections following the conference and picking up on some of the extraordinary discussion that took place there.  We fought hard for December 6 to be marked every year as a day of action against violence against women and it continues to be even by women and men who were not yet born on that terrible day.   This year, like every year for the last 21st I wil

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Love in the Time of Climate Crisis: Become part of the Evolve Love team

Submitted by Judy Rebick on Tue, 11/23/2010 - 11:30am

Imagination has always been important to change but today more than ever.  I just finished teaching an intensive course on social movements that changed the world and realized that nothing I did opened the minds of my students more than documentaries.  Now in a struggle for survival of the planet a new film is in development that I think can open our minds and hearts to the kind of change we need and you can be part of helping it along

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Voice of Women: Working for feminism and peace for 50 years

Submitted by Judy Rebick on Fri, 11/12/2010 - 9:50am

Today the Voice of Women For Peace celebrates its 50th Anniversary with a free conference at Hart House and a gala dinner.

My last book Ten Thousand Roses: The Making of a Feminist Revolution  starts in the early 1960's with the emergence of an extraordinary group called Voice of Women for Peace that challenged the anti-communist monoculture of the Cold War with a warm embrace directed towards the women who were supposedly our enemies. The Voice of Women, as pioneer feminist Ursula Franklin points out below was the seedbed for the feminist revolution in Canada and we were lucky it came before preparing the ground in many ways. 

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Bringing Cochabamba to Cancun:

Submitted by Judy Rebick on Tue, 10/19/2010 - 11:00am

 The global battle on climate change is heating up in the build up to Cancun including here in Canada.  The statement below was written by a group of activists who met with Bolivian President Evo Morales at the end of September in New York City.  There are a number of activities planned in Toronto to build support for a new approach to climate justice including:

Building a World Movement for Climate Justice, Teach In Sat Nov 13, 100 St. George St.

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