The transit committee is in the process of organizing a demonstration and party on October 2, from 1-4 at Christie Pitts. It will include a series of short speeches, and a social/educational event in the park. We will have pamphlets developed for the day, hopefully food, music and we will be prepared to discuss the campaign with all who attend.
We are very excited about this event. We see this as a public kick-off of the campaign that was endorsed by the entire assembly in April. We are hoping that if we do this right, it can also be used as a vehicle for a public launch for the Assembly as a whole. We are preparing press releases and contacts with the media, and are looking to invite a number of community-based groups. We really believe that even if we can't mobilize a huge amount of people on short notice, we can build capacity for a broad-based, socialist-minded campaign that attacks the commodification of transit (thus public goods) and in turn, contribute to uniting more "community" and more "labour" based forces within the broad left.
We need help in organizing this campaign. While we haven’t had a problem thus far mobilizing people to come out leafleting, we need more people from the Assembly to participate in organizing this event and the campaign as a whole. Right now, we have a dedicated group of people - quite a few of whom will be back at school/work in a few weeks and will have less time. We also need resources – money – to help pay for leaflets, materials and possibly T-shirts and buttons. (We have submitted a budget request to the Finance and Membership Committee).
We urge the members of the Assembly to participate in this campaign, help build and attend this event. It is something that can help us reach out beyond our current base, to a larger, potentially mass constituency. Like the Labour Caucus, we are working on building a forward-looking strategy about rights-to-the-city with which we can make our mark as an organization.
- Free and Accessible Transit Committee of the Workers Assembly
To Join our Committee, or help organize our next event, please e-mail:
nofareisfair@gmail.com
Poster for October 2nd event (please copy and distribute):
http://www.workersassembly.ca/events/FreeTransit.pdf