[Originally published on The Media Co-op.] Saleh Waziruddin is a South Asian anti-racism activist who has participated in grassroots struggles throughout his adult life. In his 20s, he organized in the Muslim community in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Now in his 40s, he lives in Niagara, Ontario, and is active in the Niagara Region Anti-Racism Association (NRARA). …
[Originally published on The Media Co-op.] Nina Newington is an organizer based in rural Nova Scotia. In recent years, her grassroots work has focused on protecting forests in the province. Newington says that her political consciousness “really emerged from being a queer kid in England in the 1970s” and not knowing that there was anyone …
The new mayor could push for a cut in the police budget to make up for a big budget gap, but it’s unlikely that she will. In the spirit of Toronto’s long history of communities resisting the harms of policing, however, grassroots groups are campaigning for her to make that choice. In December, the Toronto …
We live in a culture that tells us to face the world’s problems on our own—but any chance we have of making transformative change can only come from organizing collectively. This past year, governments around the world responded to sustained popular pressure—Portugal announced a radical plan to tackle the housing crisis; Chile signalled that it …
Stefan Christoff is an organizer, musician, and broadcaster based in Tiohtià:ke, also known as Montreal. Across his decades of activism and organizing, he has been part of supporting lots of different struggles resisting systemic violence and oppression, including colonial systems here on Turtle Island (North America) and around the world. That has involved solidarity work …
Talking Radical: Resources is a new collaboration from The Media Co-op and the Talking Radical project. In these short, monthly interviews, activists and organizers from across so-called Canada will connect you with ideas and with tools for learning related to struggles for justice and collective liberation. They will talk about how they themselves have learned, …
It’s pretty clear that a lot of people don’t understand the way that more extreme elements on the right try to build support for their agenda of harm and violence and a base to pursue it by organizing things like the anti-queer/anti-trans actions across the country last week and the convoy occupation last year. Not …
Talking Radical Radio was a weekly radio show and podcast featuring interviews with people involved in a wide range of grassroots political work across so-called Canada. It ran from February 2013 to February 2023, and over that time there were 510 original episodes (plus one or two re-runs each year). The show was, more or …
Saima Desai, Dave Gray-Donald, and Sharmeen Khan have all been active in grassroots media for a long time – mostly in projects towards the more activist and movement-grounded end of the sector. Scott Neigh interviews them about their work, about the current state of grassroots media in so-called Canada, and about their vision for what …
Eugene Lefrancois, Steve Mantis, and Janet Paterson are injured workers living in Thunder Bay, Ontario, on the north shore of Lake Superior. Lefrancois is the president of the Thunder Bay and District Injured Workers Support Group, while Mantis is that group’s treasurer. And Paterson is the president of the Ontario Network of Injured Workers Groups. …