Saima Desai

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!

Some of the fundraising language we use at Truthout is easy to gloss over but it's actually pretty remarkable -- we're nonprofit, union, have no ads, no paywall and we're primarily funded by small donations. It's a hell of a business model but we need an urgent boost to take it further in 2025.

Truthout is running our most important fundraiser of the year, which will decide the scale of work we’ll be able to do in 2025.

We're preparing to cover Trump's blizzard of executive orders, while defending Truthout against his coming assault on progressive media. You can be part of our work. ⤵️

In this issue: Responding to il prison closures Announcing the 2024 stateville speaks awards! pg. 10 Voices from the inside • Main article: Our Future Generations Deserve Abundance, Not “State of the Art” Prisons BY I.B. PEACEFUL This essay is a winner of Truthout’s 2024 Keeley Schenwar Memorial Essay Prize. I felt it birth in my core and sneak its way up my windpipe. It slithered over my vocal cords and caught in my throat just for a second. It escaped my clenched teeth and forced its way through my tightly pursed lips before finding its place in my unwelcoming ears – “numb.” This was my body’s reaction to Acting Illinois Department of Corrections Director Latoya Hughes’s March 15, 2024 memo to all individuals in custody in Illinois. During the past 33 years of my incarceration, I have received hundreds of Department memos. I ignore or throw out most of them, but this one was different. Earlier in the day, Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker had made an announcement that the state would be closing two of its aging and deteriorating correctional spent any amount of time in these facilities, the words “aging” and “deteriorating” are gross understatements. Pritzker later stated, “Unfortunately over many years, the state has neglected to do anything about the conditions in these prisons… We’re stepping up and actually making a proposal and putting money forward to do the right thing.” My initial reaction was: thank you. We’ll all be able to have our blood tested for lead levels. The vermin, roaches and birds that infest the kitchen, dining halls and living units will be exterminated. Then the other shoe dropped. The governor shared his plan to not only demolish these facilities, but to then spend close to $1 billion dollars in taxpayer money to rebuild both facilities. My body and brain reacted. They were rejecting this news on a visceral level and I couldn’t intelligently or verbally articulate my feelings. Numb.

The new issue of Stateville Speaks, the newspaper by & for incarcerated people in Illinois, is online! This issue focuses on IL's project of closing prisons--and building "state of the art" prisons to replace them, expanding & entrenching structural injustice.
static1.squarespace.com/static/670d6...

Bluesky vs. Facebook vs. X

I’ve seen some good posts recently about the engagement on Bluesky vs other platforms and wanted to add some data from Truthout’s pages to the conversation.

Please take a moment to repost and help us spread the word about how truly nightmarish Facebook and X are.

Hi! Fancy seeing you here :)

Truthout | Fearless Independent News & Analysis Explore progressive perspectives and stay informed on social justice, activism, and politics at Truthout.org. Uncover truth, spark change.

Hi friends! I've joined the exodus (X-odus?) and will be here on Bluesky posting about indie media, media literacy, left-wing politics, and the like. And, of course, about our work at @truthout.org – which is growing more complex, high-stakes, and essential by the day.