January 17th to 23rd, 2021
Sunday January 17th
Queer Youth Defense Network shows solidarity with Mission teen
Queer Youth Defense Network members wrote a letter of solidarity and attended a vehicle parade in support of a teenage victim of a transphobic attack in Mission.
Surrey Street Council
Weekly campaign meeting of street community leaders in Surrey
We continued work on our “stop the sweeps” campaign against bylaw and police officers. We also debriefed the last Whalley Centre shift and planned for the next one.
Red Braid Coordinating Committee
Bi-weekly meeting of our Coordinating Committee, tasked with planning organizational work over the coming week.
Monday January 18th
Praxis Committee
Weekly committee meeting to plan Red Braid’s internal and public education work.
This week we planned the week’s class on “autonomist feminism” and prepared for the next week’s class on Black feminism. We also discussed doing our next series on fascism and inviting the participation of non-members in communities where we are buiding branches of Red Braid, in Nanaimo and Olympia.
Marxist Center Delegate’s Council
Bi-weekly meeting of the network of revolutionary groups based in the US, which Red Braid has joined.
Tuesday January 19th
Cityviews tenant’s press conference
The Eviction Defence Network supported a group of tenants under attack by a bully landlord to speak out in a news conference against “intimi-victions” in Maple Ridge. See news coverage here, and read a report in The Volcano.
Maple Ridge Resistance meeting
Weekly meeting of a street community group in Maple Ridge.
This week we discussed corruption in the supportive housing system and decided to do research to find out how many shelter beds have been closed due to the pandemic restrictions.
COS Education Class
Political education for Red Braid members, which we call Conditions of Struggle (COS).
This was week 7 in our series on gender and socialist revolution, “Autonomist feminism.”
Wednesday January 20th
Eviction Defense Network meeting
Weekly campaign meeting of members of the Eviction Defense Network.
We debriefed Tuesday’s Cityviews news conference, continued discussion about gentrification in the suburbs and secondary cities, and discussed different eviction defence struggles we are involved in.
Thursday January 21st
Bread, Roses & Hormones
Weekly meeting of Bread, Roses & Hormones, a campaign led by trans and non-binary people.
BRH reflected on the work done in 2020 and prepared visioning work for the year ahead.
Friday January 22nd
Whalley People’s Resource Centre
The Whalley Centre is a street-run space in Surrey, open every Friday from 11pm to 7am.
A street community leader from Coquitlam made a guest appearance as a coordinator for the night at the Whalley Center. The night’s temperature dipped to 5 degrees below zero so the space was busy. About 30 people came in, ate hot stew, and warmed up.
Publishing done in this period
Besides the various leaflets and local newsletters, we also published the following Volcano articles:
The Volcano, Contradictory messages from “anti-bullying” car rally in Mission, BC
The Volcano, Tenants resist profiteering investor-landlord’s “intimi-victions”
Isabel Krupp, JJ Bean is waging war on the poor. Which side are you on?