Wednesday, November 04, 2009


CANADIAN ANARCHIST MOVEMENT-TORONTO:
MARCHING ON THE MONEY:
The following notice is from the Ontario Coalition Against Poverty (OCAP). Tomorrow, down Toronto way, there will be a march on the Financial District ie on those who get bailed out while the rest of us suffer during the economic crisis. Here's the details. Attend if you can.
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OCAP March on Financial District: No More Band-Aids or Bail-Outs for the Rich:‏
No More Band-Aids or Bail-Outs for the Rich
OCAP Meal and March on Financial District
As part of the Campaign for a Poverty Free Ontario
Province-Wide Day of Action
___________
Thursday, November 5th, 2009
1:30 pm
St. James Park (King St. East and Jarvis St.)
_____________
For years, they have been telling us no money exists for decent wages, proper housing, childcare, education or health care and, certainly, no money to ensure that poor people on assistance can pay the rent and eat properly. Yet when the banks and corporations ask for help, public money suddenly becomes available to them. Money that lines the pockets of CEO's while thousands are laid off, forced into precarious work, or living in total poverty.
For poor people in Ontario, this economic crisis has rubbed salt in our wounds. We've been living with too little for far too long.
This downturn is unfolding in a context where social supports have already been cut back and devastated. All three levels of government have made clear they will not put resources into social programs crucial to our survival. In fact, as the downturn cuts into revenues, governments will likely try to cut vital programs in order to balance their books.
As this system moves into crisis, those in power move to profit once again at our expense. This is capitalism's crisis - they broke it, and we’re not paying to fix it!
For the needs of poor and working class people, nothing will be provided unless we fight together.
We should not wait for a corrupt and brutal system to fix itself, we should organize and fight to win real and just demands.
Join us on Thursday, November 5th!
We demand:
-Affordable and Accessible Housing: immediate increase to social housing and access to proper shelter supports
-Decent Income: immediate increase to Social Assistance by 40%, immediate increase to (Un)Employment Insurance and Minimum Wage
-Status for all immigrants and refugees: access to services without fear
-Justice For First Nations: stop economic warfare and recognize sovereignty
-Affordable and Accessible Education
Meeting spots for coming to the Demonstration!
1) 11:30am: Etobicoke-meeting at Country Style at Dixon and Kipling-Tokens available
2)12:00pm: Weston and Lawrence: Weston-King Neighborhood Centre2 071 Weston Rd, just north of Lawrence-Tokens available
3)12:00pm: Malvern Family Resource Centre: 1321 Neilson Road, Scarborough-Tokens available
4) Jane and Finch Community Centre-call 416-663-2733 for more details
5) 12:30: Parkdale Activity and Recreation Centre 1499 Queen St. W-tokens available
6) 1:00pm: The STOP Community Food Centre 1884 Davenport Rd-Bus Available
7) 1:00pm: Sistering 962 Bloor st. w-Bus Available
**
Ontario Coalition Against Poverty
10 Britain St. Toronto, ON
M5A 1R6
416-925-6939
**

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

When were the Canadian Banks bailed out exactly?

mollymew said...

You know I actually find it a rare treat when a corporate employee has a comment that is neither a fluff job, an abusive tirade or totally nonsensical and irrelevant. The above was posted from a Royal Bank source (the RBC actually drops by regularily here at Molly's Blog, mostly to check out the items related to the anti-olympic movement. Personally, if I was this man or woman's superior I would be inclined to think of him or her as due for a promotion.
The problem, however, is that he is wrong. To begin with Toronto's financial district is obvuious far bigger than the offices of the six major Canadian banks. Lots of other stuff happening there. Secondly, the tradition of "corporate welfare" is a lomng standing and HUGE one here in Canada, and it has been criticized from all sorts of different viewpoints. If you exclude the American military industrial complex it has been far bigger than that of the USA on a per capita basis for decades.

If the reader wants more information on this long standing graft and criticism of it they can, depending on their politic tastes browse reports from such as the following:
1)The Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (left wing)
http://policyalternatives.ca
2)The Frontier Centre for Public Policy (centrist to right wing) http://www.fcpp.org
3)The Fraser Institute (extreme right wing) http://www.fraserinstitute.org

Ah, but you say, "the banks, the banks". Here are a few exact dates for bank bailouts in Canada, from an article at the Global Research website. http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=12007


None of the six major Canadian banks has been in danger of bankruptcy. This is NOT just due to the greater restrictions on their business in this country, NOR especially because management of the banks is more astute here. Basically it is because the bailouts were launched far earlier in the crisis, and therefore had a greater protective effect. Anyways, the dates:
Oct. 10, 2008
Nov. 12, 2008

I will be republishing the article from the Global Research site in full in the near future. It's a real eye opener