Final statement from Solidarity Winnipeg:

"We don’t have the person-power needed for the work of laying the basis for a political organization, the mission of 'Solidarity Winnipeg 3.0' since 2018, so we’ve decided to fold. The remaining members are still committed to ecosocialism from below and want to promote these politics so we’ve formed Thicket: A Winnipeg Ecosocialist Collective. We’ll be sponsoring a discussion group with the goal of building political relationships through the shared process of education."

To participate in Thicket's first (in-person) reading group session in January, send an email to [email protected]. We will be reading PALESTINE: A SOCIALIST INTRODUCTION edited by Sumaya Awad and Brian Bean. Get the free e-book from Haymarket Books: https://www.haymarketbooks.org/blogs/307-free-ebook-palestine-a-socialist-introduction.

Join us for a discussion "Voting is not enough"

Tuesday, Sept 19, 2023

6:30PM (CDT)

@ The Hive, University of Winnipeg

Please wear a mask!

Childcare will be available on site. Please email us so we can prepare ([email protected])

The 2023 PSAC strike saw more workers out for a single strike than in any prior labour action in so-called Canada. In this episode, Solidarity Winnipeg members David and Teddy interview three organizers from PSAC about their experiences of the strike and what we can learn for future actions.

We highly recommend reading Brian McDougall’s excellent analysis of the strike recently published in Midnight Sun magazine. https://www.midnightsunmag.ca/skipping-the-strike-vote-but-going-to-the-picket-lines/

Solidarity Winnipeg has a monthly online reading group. Our next meeting on June 28th at 7:00pm CST will be on "The Two Souls of Socialism" by Hal Draper. Please send an email to [email protected] to get the Zoom link. We hope to see you there!

For International Whores’ Day (June 2nd) we are releasing an interview with members of Sex Workers of Winnipeg Action Committee (SWWAC). If you are in Winnipeg and listening to this on the day of release, please join us for a protest led by SWWAC on June 2nd at the Manitoba Law Courts, 408 York @ York & Kennedy. For more info please see the event: https://fb.me/e/1b4asje5i

For further learning, you can explore recordings of SWWAC’s 2021conference on sex work here: https://vimeo.com/showcase/swwacsummit

Naomi Sayers and Sarah Hunt on why calls to abolish sex work only cause further harm: https://www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/abolition-of-sex-work-wont-end-violence-against-native-women/article22572753/

Amy Lebovitch and Shawna Ferris’ book Sex Work Activism in Canada: https://arpbooks.org/product/sex-work-activism-in-canada/#:~:text=Sex%20Work%20Activism%20in%20Canada%20also%20looks%20deeply%20at%20commonalities,The%20book%20also%20includes%20a

Solidarity Winnipeg has a monthly online reading group. Our next meeting on May 31st at 7:00pm CST will be on "Communism for Kids" by Bini Adamczak. Please send an email to [email protected] to get the Zoom link. We hope to see you there!

Universities and other post secondary institutions present themselves as being in the service of teaching, learning, and developing ideas. At the same time, we live in a moment where an increasing number of people first encounter radical left ideas, not in workplace struggle, but in the classroom. So, let's explore, this!

What are some of the strengths, potentials, and limitations of post secondary institutions as a locus of organizing, for workers, students, and the left more broadly? Where do these institutions fit within capitalism?

On the syllabus of this episode, we're talking degrees, direct action, and dissent. Join Misha and David for a discussion about all these questions and more, with a few chapters of personal reflections and a few annotated summaries of historical reference to tie it all together. There won't be a final exam on this, but it is required listening. And...don't worry about being late for class. We're happy for you to join in the class struggle. Check it out!

Some links to check out:

Podcast:

Anti-Girlboss Socialist Club

"The Campus Sexual Assault Industrial Complex: A Story of Professionalization & Bureaucratization "

https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/the-anti-girlboss-socialist-club/id1589070128?i=1000543751558

Book:

"Complaint!" By Sara Ahmed

https://www.dukeupress.edu/complaint

Abolition an urgent task. The Winnipeg Police take up over a quarter of the city's entire budget, draining resources away from social services. The cops regularly terrorize unhoused people and perpetuate anti-Black and settler colonial violence.

Many people in Winnipeg are sympathetic to abolitionist politics. The petition created by Justice 4 Black Lives Winnipeg calling for the abolition of the Winnipeg police received over a hundred thousand signatures and massive numbers of people joined protests in 2020 to oppose the cops.

This wave of activity has subsided but abolitionist organizing continues.

Solidarity Winnipeg invites you to our next public discussion over zoom on April 19th at 7pm. Titled What kind of world comes after the police? A discussion on socialism and abolitionist politics.

We will raise questions like:

What kind of future are we talking about when we call for abolition, and what kind of coalitions do we need to build to make this vision into a reality?

How do we ensure calls for abolition are not co-opted by reformists?

What systems must be dismantled in order to be rid of police, and what systems could working class people begin to build in their absence?

If you'd like to join the discussion, please email us at [email protected] and we will send you the zoom link.

We also have an upcoming reading group on April 26th at 7pm over zoom. We will be reading the second chapter of the book Unspeakable Things by Laurie Penny to discuss socialist and feminist perspectives on masculinity and gender oppression. You can order the book online or you can email us and we will send you a PDF of the chapter.

Please email us at [email protected] and we will send you the zoom link to join the reading group.

Solidarity Winnipeg has a monthly online reading group. Our next meeting on March 29th at 7pm central time will be on Feminism for the 99% by Cinzia Arruzza, Nancy Fraser, and Tithi Bhattacharya. You can buy the book directly from the publisher Verso Books, or you can get it from the Winnipeg public library. Please send an email to [email protected] to get a zoom link. We hope to see you there!

On International Day Against Police Brutality we are releasing an interview with Haley from Tempest Collective about socialism and abolition. If you are in Winnipeg and listening to the on the day of release (March 15th), please join us at the rally against police brutality at 5pm outside of the Millenium Library!

Bronwyn Dobchuk-Land on the bloated police budget in Winnipeg https://www.winnipegfreepress.com/opinion/analysis/2023/03/14/brutality-baked-into-budget

Haley Pessin on abolition and left politics https://www.tempestmag.org/2021/02/defund-the-police/

Tapji Garba on policing and abolition in Midnight Sun https://www.midnightsunmag.ca/what-are-the-police-what-is-abolition/