July 2, 2010
Yet another Pride scandal: The marginalization of ‘Blackness Yes!’
"Pride: You Belong Over There". Image from Blackness Yes! You may have already heard something of Pride Toronto’s new sign-vetting policy, its banning of Queers Against Israeli Apartheid (QuAIA) from the parade, and its outlawing of the term “Israeli apartheid” from all Pride-related events. Or about how, after weeks of public outrage, including the humiliation of having several... [More >>]
June 28, 2010
Toronto’s G20 weekend in 7 Tweets
Thousands of people who experienced the G20 summit weekend in Toronto have their own individual stories—some of them terrifying, we’ll have some from our own correspondents soon—and Twitter was one of the main ways that the narrative was shaped. Lots of people took their smartphones into the streets to document the protests and the police responses, and anyone following along on Twitter got... [More >>]
June 28, 2010
The 5 most important photos from the G20 Summit in Toronto
Jonas Naimark took one of the most striking photos from Sunday, showing the demonstrators and bystanders hemmed in by riot police at the corner of Queen and Spadina. This is just a small portion of the image; click to see the remarkable full-size photo on Naimark’s website. One of the most notorious images from Saturday was a Twitpic of a burning police cruiser, snapped by Alex Posadzki, which... [More >>]
June 28, 2010
The 5 most important videos from the G20 Summit in Toronto
By far the most significant video of the weekend was this one, shot by Meghann Millard from her third floor office on Queen St. West, in which the protesters sing the national anthem, and are then charged by a line of police in riot gear. This video received an extra boost when no less than Roger Ebert—who knows a little something about the power of imagery—tweeted the video, saying “Sometimes... [More >>]
June 25, 2010
G20 Roundup: What’s happened in the first five days of protest
Have you been stuck inside working all week? Don’t worry, you haven’t missed much—just the largest and most disruptive set of mobilizations Toronto has seen in quite some time. The Toronto Community Mobilization Network spent six months coordinating with various groups to create Themed Days of Action, which took place between June 21 and June 24. Here’s a rundown for those of you... [More >>]
June 25, 2010
Interview with Michael Shapcott: “Growing housing crisis” is a “perfect storm”
Michael Shapcott is the Director of Affordable Housing and Social Innovation for the Wellesley Institute, an independent research institute working to advance population health and equity through policy development. He is recognized as one of Canada’s leading housing policy experts and is a long-time housing and homelessness advocate. He took some time to talk with us about the upcoming G20 Summit... [More >>]
June 24, 2010
Interview: Kay Roesslein of the AIDS Candlelight Vigil
AIDS memorial at 519 Church Street Community Centre, Toronto. Photo courtesy of Kenn Chaplin at Flickr. Although Pride Toronto decided to reschedule its week-long festivities in light of the G20 circus coming to town, the committee for the AIDS Candlelight Vigil, an event associated with Pride Week, decided it would take advantage of the politically charged atmosphere. We took the opportunity to speak... [More >>]
June 18, 2010
6 alternative summits you can attend (since you’re not invited to the G20)
Participants at the 2009 World Social Forum in Brazil help keep the world safe. Copyright Vanderlei Almeida/Getty Images. While the prime minister has been trying to do damage control for his G20 agenda, activists and organizers of all stripes have been busy building social justice movements. Sometimes movement-building involves bickering over listservs about who gets to the carry the banner, but... [More >>]
June 18, 2010
Why You Should Give a Damn: 5 Reasons to Care About the G8/G20
Protesters gather outside Union Station dressed as an oil spill in demonstration against Harper's environmental policy, June 17, 2010. Photo credit: Jesse Mintz Unless you have been living under a fake rock beside a fake lake, chances are you’ve heard about this G8/G20 business in some way, shape, or form. The reasons why many people are protesting, however, may not be as clear. That’s... [More >>]
June 15, 2010
5 independent news sources to follow the G20 with
The G20 is less than two weeks away, and there’s a lot going on. You could just turn to the usual media suspects to get your news about the G20, but when it comes to the street-level collision of neoconservative colonialist plutocrats and anti-globalization activists (among many other blocs of interests), it pays to look off the beaten path for your news consumption. If previous G20 meetings... [More >>]
