Mass organizing dents Ford's agenda -- now it's time to defend jobs

With a majority of 23-21, an amended budget passed at City Hall last night revoked millions in planned cuts to Toronto public services -- from pools to daycare spaces to shelter. This is the result of a year of mass organizing, which now needs to protect the jobs on which further public services depend.

Timeline of resistance

The change in council was the result of a year of mass campaigns uniting labour and community groups. As I wrote before:

"On his inauguration on a cold December day, 150 people protested. On his first council meeting, a temper tantrum about 'left-wing pinkos' by his invited guest Don Cherry sparked protest by councillors, while thousands of people across the city got 'left-wing pinko' buttons that they continue to wear with pride. In March organizers of International Women's Day confronted Rob Ford about his cuts to public services, and that weekend thousands marched for public services and jobs. On April 9 unions joined with student and community groups to bring 10,000 people into the streets of Toronto, transforming Ford's motto 'respect for taxpayers' into 'respect for communities, public services and good jobs.'

Many people saw the election of Ford as a sign of a right-wing surge across the city that could not be stopped. But by bringing thousands of people into the streets just a few months into his mandate, the April 9 showed there was mass opposition to austerity and division, and this mood has continued to grow.

Instead of dividing the city, Ford's boycott of Pride in June backfired and isolated him. In July a petition by Toronto Public Library Workers Union became a lightning rod when Margaret Atwood called on her supporters to sign. On July 28 the first marathon deputations spoke overwhelmingly against cuts revealing that the so-called 'Ford Nation' of citizens demanding austerity was non-existent. Instead August revealed a 'Jack Nation' as thousands of Torontonians covered City Hall in a rainbow of progressive messages to honour the life of Jack Layton and pledge to continue the fight for a better world. In September hundreds gathered at local organizing meetings -- the Stop the Cuts meeting in the west, and a town hall meeting in the east -- to discuss the cuts and organize against them."

In September a poll found a majority of Torontonians in all wards were against the cuts and that Ford's popularity was plummeting. Ford announced a delay of some cuts, hoping the opposition would dissipate, but on September 26 a second labour/community rally organized by Respect Toronto brought thousands more to protest outside City Hall.

In October and November, Occupy Toronto organized a series of marches to City Hall -- hearing from library workers, social housing advocates and others against the Ford agenda -- and on December 3 hundreds of labour and community activists held a mass meeting in Scarborough to protect jobs and services. This year of organizing by labour and community groups won a majority on council to revoke millions of cuts, as a third mass protest occurred outside City Hall.

Protect services to protect jobs

While Ford has been attacking city services directly through budget cuts, he is attacking them indirectly through job cuts. It was the attack on striking city workers that Ford rode to office, and his early actions included contracting out garbage workers and taking away transit workers' right to strike. As Ford has faced increased opposition to cuts to services, he has began scapegoating workers -- claiming that, "the gravy is the number of employees we have at City Hall." While some services were saved through the budget, there is an escalating campaign against the jobs on which services depend -- from York transit workers, to library workers, to city workers. To save the Toronto services on which we all depend, we need to protect the jobs that provide them.

Beck, Ford and the limits of right-wing populism

10,000 protest Ford's austerity agenda

This has been a bad week for right-wing populists: falling ratings forced Glenn Beck to leave his Fox News program, while 10,000 marched against the neoliberal policies of Toronto's mayor Rob Ford. Both are major shifts from just a few months ago, when Beck dominated American television while Rob Ford won a landslide election. Many people saw these as evidence that the political views of the majority had lunged to the right. But Beck and Ford illustrate the contradiction of right-wing populism, and the possibilities for change. 

"LEFT" POLITICIANS AND THE ECONOMIC CRISIS

     The economic crisis of 2008 hit almost 10 years after the anti-globalization/anti-capitalist movement of 1999, and 5 years after the massive anti-war protests of 2003. For years majority opinion has been against war and growing numbers critical of neoliberal policies. But the response of politicians across the political spectrum has been to continue the same policies--escalating war, bailing out banks and corporations, cutting public services and attacking wages and pensions. 

     While the anti-war and progressive movements in the US helped elect Barack Obama to the presidency, he escalated war (continuing the occupation of Iraq, sending more troops to Afghanistan and launching drone attacks on Pakistan), continued the Patriot Act and Guantanamo Bay, and gave $700 billion of public funds to corporations while ordinary Americans continued to face home forclosure and unemployment. Meanwhile Toronto's left-wing mayor David Miller--who the labour and other progressive movements had helped elect in 2003--decided in 2009 to balance the books on city workers, blaming them for the recession and demanding concessions.

RIGHT-WING POPULISM FILLS THE VOID

     Glenn Beck, the Tea Party and Rob Ford are right-wing populists, whose appeal grows from people’s frustration with the economic crisis combined with the inability of the left in office to articulate a progressive response or support fightbacks when they emerge. As a result people's legitimate frustrations get deflected onto immigrants or unions instead of the corporations who created the crisis. Obama’s continuation of Bush policies undermined progressive movements that had elected him and opened up space for Glenn Beck and the Tea Party movement--which provide reactionary outlets for people's economic hardships, but fail to improve people's lives. As Gary Younge explained:

"When Tea Party supporters talk about 'taking our country back', they are – in part – expressing nostalgia. They literally want to take it backwards to a past when people had job security, and a couple on a middle-class wage could reasonably expect their children to have a better life than their own. The party they have been voting for and the candidates they are supporting now have actively and openly worked to undermine those aspirations. Their frustration at the Democrats' inability to deliver on their promises should be eclipsed only by their fear that the Republicans do manage to deliver on theirs. No wonder they are so angry. They keep treading on their own toes."

     Meanwhile the people of Toronto organized two massive movements against austerity--24,000 city workers on strike in June 2009, and 40,000 people marching against the G20 in June 2010--but the left in office turned their back on this mood, so right-wing populism filled the void. Despite having a “left” mayor in office during the 2009 strike, Toronto city workers ironically had less support from council than when they struck against right-winger Mel Lastman (when progressive councilor supported the strike), while council voted themselves a pay raise. Without a progressive response to this hypocrisy, Ford captured people’s anger with a right-wing response--attacking both workers and city council salaries. The silence of the left city councillors opened the floodgates for Ford’s right-wing backlash, which spilled over from city workers to transit workers, and now garbage collection and social housing.    

     Mass resistance against the G20 austerity measures and the $1 billion “security” enforcing it provided an opportunity for the left council to recover and reunite with progressives. But after the largest mass arrest in Canadian history, city council passed a unanimous motion to “commend the outstanding work” of the police. Facing no progressive response, Ford could carve out an even more reactionary position, arguing the police were too restrained in their brutality and that there should be no inquiry. 

BUILDING ALTERNATIVES

     But movements that challenge austerity are providing an alternative to right-wing populism. While Beck and the resources of Fox news marshalled less than 100,000 people to Washington in August 2010, left-wing comedians Stephen Colbert and John Stewart got double that number a few months later--showing the scale of people's frustration with right-wing divisive politics. Much more significant in terms of the grassroots groups and the issues they raised, was the "One Nation Working Together for Jobs and Justice" on October 2, 2010. Though ignored by the mainstream media, Democracy Now reported that

"More than 400 groups, including labor unions, as well as civil rights, gay rights, and environmental groups, endorsed the 'One Nation Working Together' rally. Organizers said the gathering drew a crowd of 175,000 people. The focus of the day was jobs, justice and education for all. The rally’s sponsors said they also hoped to demonstrate that they, not the tea party, represented the nation’s majority."

     The rally was a prelude for developments this year. If people took Glenn Beck and Fox News to represent American opinion they might think that Wisconsin governor Scott Walker could easily get away with union busting as part of a resurgent right-wing. But the explosive resistance in Wisconsin has provided a left-wing response to the crisis and inspired the nation. The April 4 Days of Action featured 1,200 events across the US in solidarity with Wisconsin workers for "the freedom to bargain, to vote, to afford a college education and justice for all workers, immigrant and native-born."

    Meanwhile Rob Ford is encountering growing resistance within months of taking office. On his inauguration on a cold December day, 150 people protested. On his first council meeting, a temper tantrum about "left-wing pinkos" by his invited guest Don Cherry sparked protest by councillors, while thousands of people across the city got "left-wing pinko" buttons that they continue to wear with pride. In March organizers of International Women's Day confronted Rob Ford about his cuts to public services, and that weekend thousands marched for public services and jobs. Shortly after it was revealed that Ford has given a cheat-sheet to his supportive councillors, instructing them how to vote. This is a sign of weakness. According to councillor Joe Mihevc,

"The Fords talk about running the place like a business but it’s been more like a military. My kids would call them control freaks. The risk is that people get tired of being told what to do. And I can tell you, there are a few who admit they’re having trouble sleeping at night. This isn’t what they were elected to do."

     While the mayor wants to build "Ford Nation" as a replica of the Tea Party, the labour movement can tip the balance in favour of progressive activism.  On April 9 unions joined with student and community groups to bring 10,000 people into the streets of Toronto, transforming Ford's motto "respect for taxpayers" into "respect for communities, public services and good jobs". Like the labour fightbacks in the 1930s--a few years after the 1929 Wallstreet crash--resistance to the Great Recession is a process, not an event. On January 29, 10,000 striking workers and their allies across the province marched against concessions by US Steel. While some on the left dismissed the mobilization, it built unity and confidence for workers to stand up against austerity, and along with the inspiration from Egypt and Wisconsin helped motivate people to protest April 9. This mobilization in turn has raised people's horizons to the mood for a fightback, providing confidence for local campaigns and giving momentum for the May 1 rally on Parliament hill, on the eve of the federal election, which will help challenge austerity from whichever government tries to impose it.

Good news of the day: Quebec students protest, Indonesian workers win

As we've seen from the unfolding revolutions in the Middle East and North Africa, or the struggle in Wisconsin that has gripped America, good news is infectious. It's medicine for the heart and soul. It's for this reason that it's often kept out of the media, lest other people feel inspired and confident to stand up for justice. While many of my blog posts concern what's wrong with the world, I've decided to balance it out by looking at what's right. So I'm starting a new series on my blog called "Good news of the day", where I'll post inspiring stories I've come across that day. Feel free to share others on my blog, or send me tweets.

Today I'm happy to write about two inspiring and underreported stories.

Quebec stands up against austerity
Firstly, a mass student protest in Quebec. Though you wouldn't know if from the complete media blackout in English Canada, tens of thousands of students in French Canada are taking to the streets right now against government plans to increase tuition. A strong student movement, which this demonstration is building upon and continuing, has made Quebec the province with the lowest tuition and (as a result) highest accessibility, as spokesperson for the Quebec student group ASSE explained:

"We're the province where tuition fees are the lowest, but also the province where the attendance of post-secondary institutions is the highest. We're talking about 9%  higher than the Canadian average. We should be proud because the results for accessibility are clear."

The student movement is part of a broader fightback against the austerity agenda of the ruling Liberals. The protest today follows on an equally ignored mobilization two weeks ago that saw 55,000 people march through Montreal demanding tuition fee freeze, accessible public healthcare, and a moratoium on shale gas drilling. As a spokesperson for one of the major trade unions declared at the time, "We're in solidarity with the people of Wisconsin." While the Parti Quebecois governments have had the same record in office, the people of Quebec have an alternative party that is campaigning against austerity: Quebec solidaire. As their Member of the National Assembly, Amir Khadir said, "there is a need to unite people, there is a growing capacity in our society to say no to government policies and government decisions."

Indonesia workers smell the sweet aroma of a freshly-brewed cup o' victory
Meanwhile, on the other side of the world, Indonesian workers have claimed victory in a long year battle against Nestle--the multibillion dollar food and nutrition company whose motto is "Good Food, Good Life".  (Thanks to Labour Start for the alert). For more than a decade, the Union of Nestlé Indonesia Workers in the Nescafé factory in Panjang (SBNIP, an affiliate of the International Union of Foodworkers) has represented workers at the country's only factory that produces the Nescafe coffee. For 3 years the union has demanded basic democratic rights of collective bargaining and freedom of association, but Nestle has refused and even created a fake union that it pressured workers to join. But after a 3 year battle--which received internationally solidarity under the banner of Nespressure, including last year's solidarity picket outside Nespresso shops in New York City--the workers today claimed victory. According to the Indonesian trade union SBNIP, affiliate of the representing the workers:

"This victory is not for IUF and affiliated SBNIP only, this is a real victory for all Indonesian workers. This is a very historic victory that from now on the Indonesian workers will have rights to determine their own wages through CBA negotiation."

 It's nice to wake up and smell the sweet aroma of victory!