Saima Desai

A Prairie alliance of trans advocates and unions should be a national model Right-wing premiers are using the notwithstanding clause to target trans kids, workers, Muslims, and drug users. Saskatchewan shows how a united front could stop them.

"[J]ust as right-wing governments team up to demonize trans kids, public sector unions, religious minorities, and people who use drugs, the left must come together."

"Saskatchewan shows a model for how this might be done."
#Saskatchewan #Ontario #Alberta #Canada #Protest #Drugs #Education #Labour

A Prairie alliance of trans advocates and unions should be a national model ⋆ The Breach Right-wing premiers are using the notwithstanding clause to target trans kids, workers, Muslims, and drug users. Saskatchewan shows how a united front could stop them

Trans rights activists have joined forces with labour unions in Saskatchewan to fight anti-trans legislation

It's a model that should be employed nationwide to combat laws against vulnerable groups, writes @desaima.bsky.social
in our latest for @breachmedia.ca

breachmedia.ca/trans-albert...

My latest for @breachmedia.ca: When Saskatchewan's government brought in anti-trans laws, unions pushed back.

Right-wing premiers are using the notwithstanding clause to attack their culture-war punching bags. Solidarity between unions and trans advocates in SK shows how to put up a fight.

Canadian Artists Brace for Austerity: ‘Cuts Will Hurt Everyone’ With ministers instructed to reduce spending, Canada’s arts sector fears a major rollback of promised cultural investments. Advocates say austerity could shutter venues, erase jobs — and silence…

Canadian artists are bracing for cuts as PM Mark Carney signals austerity ahead of Tuesday's federal budget.

Arts groups warn that slashing 15% could devastate a sector still recovering from the pandemic, @tombeedham.bsky.social reports.

www.thegrindmag.ca/canadian-art...

New from me in @breachmedia.ca: It's easy to see Ford's war on bike lanes as a personal vendetta and an attempt to stir up a culture war. But more than that, it's part of a bigger pattern of Ford serving corporate interests – from real estate firms to Uber.

Queers at work: Xtra seeks mentees to contribute to a new editorial package | Xtra Magazine Applications for Xtra’s mentorship program for early-career BIPOC journalists are open through Oct. 27

I'm running a paid mentorship program at @xtramagazine.com! I'll be mentoring five early-career BIPOC LGBTQ2S+ journalists to publish a package of writing about work. Mentees will be paid $1,000. Apply by Oct 27 & help me spread the word! #CdnMediaJobs
xtramagazine.com/inside-xtra/...

On Saturday, Sept. 20, an unusual coalition of climate, migrant, and Indigenous groups are getting together to draw a line.

They're pushing back against @mark-carney.bsky.social's hard right turn against Indigenous Peoples and migrants.

I spoke to organizers about what the road ahead looks like:

I want to live in a Toronto that can support a paper like The Grind.

Because a city that can sustain local indie media is a city that can be shaped by local indie media.

Help The Grind reach our summer fundraising goal!

Over two thirds of Canadians live in suburbs. And when the left neglects organizing in those suburbs, we give up on reversing the right-wing tide across Canada.

Aniket Kali and I talked to the organizers in the GTA who are working to turn the tide:

PARTISANS: A Graphic History of Anti-Fascist Resistance Eleven new graphic histories by legendary & emerging creators flipping the script on anti-Nazi and anti-fascist resistance.

@btlbooks.com is halfway to their goal of funding a new graphic novel on the history of anti-fascism.

I don't need to tell you how important it is to bring the lessons of anti-fascist resistance into the present right now.

Pitch in to help BTL publish! www.kickstarter.com/projects/139...

The Grind is doing a food issue! Pitch us stories about the GTA's best roti, the food truck turf wars, the working conditions at your favourite restaurant, etc.

Pitches due April 25 – but sooner is better.

I had the great honour (and great fun) of judging features for @canadamediaawards.bsky.social this year. Keep an eye out for nominations soon. 👀

Thanks for reading and sharing, Bianca!

"The device, which reads the concentration of carbon dioxide (CO2) in the air, showed CO2 levels as high as 3,500 parts per million (ppm) in his classroom."

That's insane.

The air quality monitor Heather Pun’s son takes to his school.

Crowded classrooms mean kids are breathing in viruses and pollution. Parents are trying to make the air safer, but hitting roadblocks. www.thegrindmag.ca/airborne-dan... @desaima.bsky.social @theingredientslist.bsky.social @mjnabuurs.bsky.social

𝗚𝗲𝘁 𝘄𝗲𝗲𝗸𝗹𝘆 𝘂𝗽𝗱𝗮𝘁𝗲𝘀: CanadaHealthwatch.ca/newsletter 🍁

When kids are living with pandemics, wildfires, and pollution, filtering the air in their schools is a simple fix.

So why is it such an uphill battle in Toronto?

In the newest issue of @thegrindto.bsky.social I wrote about the parents fighting for clean air in Toronto classrooms:

Photo of Doug Ford sitting down, signing a piece of paper in a binder. The colours are altered so everything is blue and black except Doug who is might brighter and whiter.

SPECIAL ISSUE ANNOUNCEMENT

Doug Ford called a snap election, so we're publishing an issue about his seven-year reign, out free in print in two weeks.

We need $5,000 to make it happen. Chip in by:
- E-transfer info[at]thegrindmag[dot]ca
- Credit card: buy.stripe.com/6oE02D00TgZ4...

A Call to Media Organizations: Don’t Back Down in the Face of Trump’s Threats Trump’s attacks on press freedom aren’t separate from his attacks on oppressed communities. We must resist them all.

"Mainstream news [...] began to capitulate before he even took office."

My brilliant @truthout.org colleagues @mayaschenwar.bsky.social, @neginowl.bsky.social, & @ziggywest.bsky.social on the urgent need for combative, principled movement media under a Trump presidency: truthout.org/articles/a-c...

Inside the Conservative Party’s growing alliance with right-wing Hindu groups ⋆ The Breach Hindu organizations are springing up in Canada, often parroting Conservative talking points about crime, cost of living, and anti-LGBTQ politics

The Hindutva-Conservative alliance in Canada:

"you help us dictate the terms of Hindu nationalist education, and we’ll help you dictate the terms of gender and sexual identity education."

@desaima.bsky.social and Aniket Kali for @thebreach.bsky.social

#canpoli

https://buff.ly/4hbidWq

NEW: Aniket Kali and I dig into the growing alliance between Hindu nationalists and the Conservative Party of Canada.

The CPC has won over a majority of Hindu voters, with help from right-wing Hindu groups. If the CPC is elected, these groups want Hindu nationalist policy in return. #canpoli

Has the Fire Ceased? We will not stop until Palestine is free.

Written by my sister @emanabdelhadi.bsky.social

Has the fire ceased?

Have the leaders of institutions that sanctioned our slaughter repented? Have the weapons manufacturers been seized? Have the halls of power been turned over to the masses?

inthesetimes.com/article/isra...

In Gaza, Ceasefire Will Be a Chance to Finally Breathe No longer fearing constant bombing, I can begin to mourn all I have lost in Gaza.

Please, please read Shahad Ali writing from Gaza in @truthout.org today on "plans - tiny hopeful plans" she made for her life post-ceasefire.

"There was a quiet understanding that this ceasefire, though temporary, had given us something priceless — a moment to reconnect with what had been lost."

All eyes on Gaza. The ceasefire agreement doesn’t begin for 72 hours and Israel is on a killing spree.

Breaking Down Sudan’s Struggle: What the World Is Missing “This war is not a civil war, it’s a counterrevolutionary war against civilians,” says Sudanese organizer Nisrin Elamin.

As the U.S. declares that Sudan’s RSF have committed genocide during the country’s ongoing civil war, this episode of Movement Memos unpacks what the world is missing about Sudan’s struggle. “This war is not a civil war, it’s a war of military elites against the entire civilian population.”

Seattle Planned to Close Up to 21 Public Schools — Here’s How We Stopped Them A grassroots push from parents, students and teachers blocked the closures. Here is our blueprint for resistance.

Despite the fact that Seattle is home to 11 billionaires and 54,200 millionaires, the city had planned to close up to 21 schools due to massive budget shortfall.

Without Transformative Local Media, Our Communities Are Vulnerable We need to break the billionaires’ grip on our democracy — and that starts with loosening their hold over local media.

Love this argument by @freepress.bsky.social's Alex Frandsen in @truthout.org for building up local media as part of our movements' plans to confront authoritarianism – "both to protect people in the short term and to rebuild our democracy over the long haul," he writes. truthout.org/articles/wit...

A little biased, but I think the work Truthout is doing in this moment is so crucial, and we have lots planned for Trump's day one - and all of the days after that.

I'm so proud of what our small and mighty independent newsroom offers each day but we definitely can't do it alone!