[opirgyork] thursday may 20th happenings!

[aruna at opirgyork.ca]

1) Toronto Community Mobilization Network Press Conference & T-Shirt Making
2) TELL YOUR LOCAL LIBERAL MPP TO LEAVE THE SPECIAL DIET ALONE AND RAISE
THE RATES INSTEAD (DAY OF ACTION!!)
3) Upping the Anti (#10) launch party!

Toronto Community Mobilization Network Press Conference & T-Shirt Making!
Find Out WHY people are mobilizing against the G8/G20

When: Thursday, May 20, 2010
Time: 10am – 11am
Where: Steelworkers Hall, 25 Cecil Street, Toronto

Why:
Come to the first Toronto Community Mobilization Network press
conference and hear about the issues - reasons why people are
mobilizing against the G8/G20. Hear from community organizers,
activists and groups organizing events during the days of action.
Make a Toronto Community Mobilization Network t-shirt for yourself!
Help us make t-shirts for the network to help in fundraising
efforts!!!

Join us to hear speakers on:
Indigenous Sovereignty - Defenders of the Land
Income Equity - Ontario Coalition Against Poverty
Disability Rights – Damn 2025
Gender Justice
Labour Rights
Environmental and Climate Justice
Queer Rights
Migrant Justice – No One Is Illegal
Anti-war - Canadian Arab Federation

Spread the word!!

See you there!

Media & Communications Committee
Toronto Community Mobilization Network

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Day of Action at Local Members of Provincial Parliament Offices:
Thursday, May 20th

Toronto Downtown Action: Newly elected Liberal MPP Glen Murray
GLEN MURRAY HAS TAKEN THE FOOD OFF YOUR TABLE!

Meet Thursday, May 20, 11.00 AM at the
corner of Gerrard and Parliament Streets

Glen Murray is the new Liberal MPP for this area.  His government has
just cut the Special Diet for people on welfare and disability.  It is
brutal move that will make people hungry, make them homeless and make
them sick.

It is only the third time in the history of Ontario that a government
has cut income to poor people and we have Dalton McGuinty and his
local representative, Glen Murray to thank for it.

On the 20th, OCAP will be going to offer the new MPP the housewarming
present he deserves - the anger and disgust of poor people he and his
government have just attacked.  How dare politicians like Murray knock
on doors, asking for our votes then take away the money we need to eat
and feed our families?  It is a disgrace that this man can force
families to turn to food banks and send kids to bed hungry yet
maintain a public office (at 514 Parliament) in the very community he
is inflicting misery on.

Come out on May 20 and show Murray and the McGuinty Government what we
think of their attack on the poor.  On the same day, in other parts of
the City and in a range of other towns in Ontario, people will be
taking the fight to their local MPPs. Don't stay at home and let them
do this to you and your family!  Stand up and demand they keep their
hands off the Special Diet and raise the rates to a level people can
live on with health and dignity.

Save the Special Diet!  Raise the Rates!
Other locations below....

-----------------------------------------------------------------
TELL YOUR LOCAL LIBERAL MPP TO LEAVE THE SPECIAL DIET ALONE AND RAISE
THE RATES INSTEAD

Day of Action at Local Members of Provincial Parliament Offices:
Thursday, May 20th
/////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
*See below for a list of confirmed locations
*See below for sample letter to MPP’s
*Email ocap at tao.ca for a copy of the May 20th Flyer (or soon to be
uploaded to the website)

The Ontario Coalition Against Poverty (OCAP) is challenging the
decision to eliminate the Special Diet for people on welfare and
disability.  We are demanding this vital benefit be left alone and
that the Government Raise the Rates now.

Coming out of the momentum of April 15th, we are organizing a series
of actions to build up resistance to the attack on the Special Diet.
To ensure that the fight is taken into as many communities as
possible, we are calling for a day of action at local Liberal MPPs'
offices on Thursday, May 20.

Want to participate on May 20th but don’t know how? Get involved in
one of these locations OR organize your own in your area. Locations
that are confirmed so far:

*Toronto Centre: 11am on Thursday, May 20th, Meeting @ Gerrard and
Parliament (Pigeon Park), Liberal MPP Glen Murray

*Etobicoke North: 11am on Thursday, May 20th, Meeting @ Food Basics at
Albion and Thistledown (near Islington), Liberal MPP Shafiq Qaadri’s

*Etobicoke South: 1pm on Thursday, May 20th, Meeting @ 701 Evans Ave
(Just south of Sherway Gardens, Queensway and The West Mall)
Liberal Minister of Children and Youth Services and Women’s Issues,
Laurel Broten

*Davenport: 4pm on Wednesday, May 19th @ Davenport and Dufferin
Delivering messages from the community to Liberal MPP Tony Ruprecht’s Office

*Jane and Finch (York West): 1pm on Thursday, May 20th @ Mario
Sergio’s Constituency Office: 2300 Finch Avenue West
Contact Jane-Finch Action Against Poverty:
janefinchactionagainstpoverty at gmail.com

*St. Pauls: Join Health Providers Against Poverty with a delegation of
Health Providers to meet with Liberal MPP Dr. Eric Hoskins: 2:30pm on
Thursday, May 20th @ 803 St. Clair Ave. W

*Peel/Brampton:
Who: Peel Poverty Action Group
What: Provincial Day of Action to Raise the Rates
Where: Meet at the north side of Gage Park, Brampton (Hurontario and Queen)
When: 2pm, Thursday May 20th

*Brant: Thursday, May 20th

*St.Catherines: 11am on Thursday, May 20th @ 2 Secord Dr.
Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing, James Bradley

*Ottawa: 1pm on Thursday, May 20th, Meeting @ Park at the corner of
Montreal Rd and Begin St (Vanier)
Liberal Minister of Community Social Services: Madeleine Meilleur

*London: 11am on Thursday, May 20th
Rally @ Victoria Park (509 Clarence Street)

*Hamilton: Demonstration on Thursday, June 17th (TBA)

We leave it up to people to decide the kind of event that is right for
them.  Some may choose to occupy an office.  Some may think it better
to rally outside.  Others may want to bring a delegation and call for
a meeting.  Please let us know what ideas you have for ways to drive
this issue home at Liberal offices so we can share them with people in
other communities.

Whatever tactic you think is possible and works best for you, we are
calling on people across this Province to make May 20 a day when the
cut to Special Diet is put before the Liberals in a way they can't
ignore.

The loss of the Special Diet means people will not have a healthy
diet.  Some will be made homeless, many will suffer ill health and
lives will be shortened.  We don't just want to protest this attack
but intend to defeat it.

If you want to be part of this fight back and the May 20th Day of
Action, e mail us at ocap at tao.ca or call us at (416) 925-6939
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
*SAMPLE LETTER TO MPP’s

May 20th, 2010

Dear Ontario Liberal Member of Provincial Parliament,

We, the members of your community, are disgusted by the decision of
your Government on March 25th in the 2010 Provincial Budget to scrap
the Special Diet Allowance. The Special Diet is money that people on
Welfare (OW) and Disability (ODSP) rely on in order to buy healthy
food and make ends meet. For years people have been forced to choose
between two essential needs: housing and food, as a direct result of
inadequate OW and ODSP rates. On March 25th, 2010, this Government put
forth the most anti-poor budget since Harris in 1995. In cutting the
Special Diet you have chosen to be only the 3rd Government in
Ontario’s history to CUT Social Assistance.  This is a brutal move
that will make hundreds of thousands of people hungry, sick, at risk
of being evicted, or homeless.

In 1995 the Tory Government cut Welfare by 22% and froze Disability
rates. Today, that cut in income is equivalent to approximately 55%
with inflation and cost of living increase for the last 15 years. The
Liberal Government campaigned against the Tories on a platform of
‘Poverty Reduction’ and reversing the Harris cuts. But since 2003,
little has been done to account for inflation let alone reverse the
Harris cuts, and in fact people on Social Assistance today are worse
off than they were in 1995. This is shameful.

Today we have visited your office to say loud and clear:  how dare
politicians like you knock on doors in this neighborhood, asking for
our votes and then take away the money we need to eat and feed our
families.  It is a disgrace that you can force families to turn to
food banks and send kids to bed hungry yet maintain a public office in
the very community you are inflicting misery on.

We are here to demand that you give back the Special Diet Allowance
immediately, and that you finally reverse the 1995 Harris cut by
raising OW and ODSP rates to where people can live with health and
dignity.

Sincerely,

Your constituents.

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[[ UPPING THE ANTI LAUNCH PARTY ]]

On May 20th, join UPPING THE ANTI

as we celebrate the launch of
UPPING THE ANTI NUMBER TEN

Thursday May 20, 8pm
Cinecycle, 129 Spadina Ave. (down the alleyway)

-- DJ DJ Tanner and DJ Zehra--

-- Raffle, Dancing, Politics, Fun --

Admission: $10 (includes new issue).
No one turned away for lack of funds.
Subscribers get in free.

UPPING THE ANTI NUMBER TEN includes:

- Interview with Andrea Smith on building unlikely alliances

- Interview with Patrick Bond on climate justice and anti-capitalism

- Interview with Nandita Sharma and Jessica Yee on sex work, migration and
anti-trafficking

- AK Thompson on Avatar and the co-option of capitalism

- Tom Keefer on Marxism and Indigenous struggles

- Dimitris Dalakoglou and Antonis Vradis on the spatial legacies of the
Athens uprising

- Roundtables on radical media, ex-cops resisting police, and student
occupations in the US

- And More...

For more information, email
uppingtheanti at gmail.com

or visit
www.uppingtheanti.org