Keffiyehs, banners, cheers, and suppression: Four days of Western University’s graduation convocations

From June 10th to June 13th, Western University convocations were held at Canada Life Place. They were invigorated by protests for Palestine.  Numerous graduating students across disciplines and faculties faced the celebratory stage with Palestine flags, banners calling for justice, and regalia draped with keffiyehs. Outside, more protesters held banners and chanted human rights declarations to the downtown rush. They stationed themselves in areas where students arrived to pick up regalia and families waited before convocations began.   University administration, London police, and Canada Life Place staff attempted to quell the protests.  *** On the morning of June 10th —  the…

Read MoreKeffiyehs, banners, cheers, and suppression: Four days of Western University’s graduation convocations

‘End the Plantation System’: Justice for Migrant Workers at London’s Caribbean Cultural Festival

The following is the speech delivered by Chris Ramsaroop from Justice for Migrant Workers to attendees of Island Fest, a celebration of Caribbean culture in London, on July 26. He has been organizing with Justice for Migrant Workers for the past 25 years.  Thank you for giving me the opportunity to speak regarding issues pertaining to the people who are the foundation of our food system, migrant farm workers. To begin, I would be remiss not to begin with a quote from the seminal work of Justice Irving Andre, who over 35 years ago wrote one of the first critical…

Read More‘End the Plantation System’: Justice for Migrant Workers at London’s Caribbean Cultural Festival

“Channelling Our Inner Sex Workers”: How SafeSpace provides for their community amid funding challenges

 SafeSpace is a local not-for-profit organization in London which serves “women and gender non-conforming Londoners experiencing crisis, including sex workers and their allies”. In March 2024, SafeSpace released a community request for donations to facilitate their re-opening of a physical space. While there are various supports existing in London for women experiencing violence and home loss, the importance of services that address the specific needs of sex workers is often overlooked. Sex workers experience unique issues and require specialized support. They face greater safety risks in terms of health and violence, yet often struggle with stigmatization such as judgement, discrimination,…

Read More“Channelling Our Inner Sex Workers”: How SafeSpace provides for their community amid funding challenges

“We won’t forget, and we won’t stay silent”: London’s Bosnian community marks 30th anniversary of Srebrenica genocide

On Saturday, July 12, the Bosnian Canadian Islamic Centre (BCIC) held a memorial in the Rayner Gardens area of Springbank Park to mark 30 years since the devastating events of the Srebrenica genocide. As the hot midday sun bore down on the attendees, members of the BCIC, local MPs, City officials, and Muslim community leaders spoke on the importance of remembrance and recognition in preserving the memory of the victims and ensuring the atrocities of that day are never repeated again. In April of 1993, a year into the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina, the UN declared the town of…

Read More“We won’t forget, and we won’t stay silent”: London’s Bosnian community marks 30th anniversary of Srebrenica genocide

London Film Screening Marks the 35th Anniversary of Mohawk Kanehsatà:ke Resistance

On July 11, 1990, a 78-day standoff began when the Mohawk of Kanehsatà:ke resisted the violent expansion of a golf course onto their sacred forest and ancestral burial grounds. Commonly called the “Oka crisis” in settler communities, the siege by Sûreté du Québec (SQ) Quebec provincial police, the Canadian Army and RCMP, marks a “watershed moment” for Indigenous land defense and struggle on Turtle Island. To mark the 35th anniversary, there was a free public screening of Kanehsatake: 270 Years of Resistance (1993, directed by Alanis Obomsawin) on July 10 at DoughEV (621 Dundas Street), co-hosted by London International Socialists,…

Read MoreLondon Film Screening Marks the 35th Anniversary of Mohawk Kanehsatà:ke Resistance

“Letters in a Shell” and “The Alarm”

A lyric in free verse, I wrote Letters in a Shell in June 2025 as an emotional response to the ongoing and escalating suppression of Palestine activism observed on Western University’s campus, in London, and on social media. Letters in a Shell The body is a shell It speaks, sometimes it moves, Across imaginary lines. It arrives and it departs.  The body is a shell Sometimes it’s recognized, Sometimes handled.  There are times this is unwanted. At such times this is unjust.  The body is a shell, but a hand can write a letter,  on paper or on glass. The…

Read More“Letters in a Shell” and “The Alarm”