|
SHIFT Centre for Social Transformation
Newsletter: February 2025
|
- SHIFT Journal: Social Transformation as an Act of Love
- Upcoming Events
- Research and Advocacy Program Profile
|
"Protected by stars,
Guided by the moon,
Past, present, and future in your grasp.
My child, in your arms, you hold the world
The world will hold you back."
- from For the Next Generation, Con Amor by Barbara Saldana
|
|
Social Transformation as an Act of Love,
our special edition of the SHIFT Journal
is now online!
|
The SHIFT Journal provides an avenue for our partners to publish through an institution regardless of their involvement in academia, and outside of the challenges of rigid publication rules.
Shared power is SHIFT’s core operating principle. With the Journal, we hope to share not just the lessons we've learned over the last five years of SHIFT, but also the many exciting and alternative paths that our wider community is taking towards a more just future.
Featuring 13 pieces from our wider community, addressing everything from grandmothers and children to our political movements, these pieces represent the many experiences of love, loss, rage, and desire that make up the fight for systems change.
You'll find excerpts from these love letters scattered throughout the newsletter.
|
"I re-member that time is not linear, but a vast, interconnected web we share. You are always here. Thank you for receiving me, as I let my body sink into the soil. Flesh descending in the somber depths, dissolving into the ground, metabolized into nourishment for living ecosystems of earthly kin inseparable from me. I feel your presence, your guidance."
- from Harira by Mona Calvet
|
|
Sovereignty & Solidarity : Learning from Black & Indigenous agricultural traditions
March 4, 2025 @ 12-2 p.m., LB.145 (SHIFT Centre)
|
While it will be a few more weeks before new life comes to the fields, the winter season is a fertile time for moments of exchange and collaboration between and across farming communities. We’re delighted to welcome two of our partners for a conversation about working towards food sovereignty and the importance of solidarity networks across communities.
Speakers:
|
"Oh, how hard it is some days, most days, to imagine any possibility outside of the unimaginable horrors wreaked by empire. But in the words of June Jordan, we are the ones we’ve been waiting for. We, the people, we, the earth, we, the ancestors guiding us and we, the future generations that will continue till victory."
- from In their words by Duha Elmardi
|
Events at our space
Monthly Filipinx.a.o Artist Tambayan
Thursday, February 20 @ 6 p.m.
Whether you call yourself an artist or flirting with the title, come and hang out with other Filipinx/a/o creatives: shoot the shit, talk process or just have some merienda while you meet other people.
Roots & Recipes Cookbook Launch
Monday, March 3 @ 12 - 2 p.m.
Join us for the official Roots & Recipes Cookbook Launch- a celebration of food, culture, and sustainability! This is your chance to see your recipes, along with those of your peers, featured in a physical copy of the cookbook we’ve all worked so hard to create together.
Resilience Amidst War - Scholasticide and Food Crisis in Gaza
Monday, March 7 @ 12 - 1:30 p.m.
In this talk, Dr. Ahmed Schaban will explore the profound resilience of Gaza’s population in the face of two interconnected crises: scholasticide—the deliberate destruction of educational infrastructure—and a weaponized food system.
Abolish Rent Book Launch
Monday, March 7 @ 6 - 9 p.m.
Join us for the book launch of Abolish Rent: How Tenants Can End the Housing Crisis by Tracy Rosenthal and Leonardo Vilchis, founders of the Los Angeles Tenants' Union. The launch invites participants to explore radical solutions to the housing crisis. This groundbreaking book delves into the structural injustices of the housing market, the history and impact of rent abolition movements, and bold visions for a future where housing is a universal right, not a commodity.
|
"Hope is alive in your kinship structures. You do not deny the realities of living. You recognize that everyone you love you lose, in body but not in spirit. For you, relationships are not a place in which to hide. You have taken your agency back. You recognize that love is a renewable resource, and your relationships are stronger for it."
- from Dear future kinship builders by Gabriela Kassel Gomez
|
SHIFT’s Research and Advocacy Program connects Concordia researchers with community partners to drive social change. We help researchers address community priorities, build collaborations, and turn research into actions that make a difference.
By working together, researchers and community leaders can share expertise, uncover critical information, and inspire public support for grassroots initiatives.
|
|
Clark Street Reimagined: the JIA Foundation
|
This research collaboration supports JIA Foundation's Clark Street Reimagined initiative by conducting a comprehensive overview of community-based real estate solutions including land trusts, community bonds, and real estate management co-ops.
Clark Street Reimagined is a community-led vision for housing and real estate in Montreal's Chinatown. The campaign focuses on three plots of land on Clark Street, which have been acquired by the City of Montreal with the intention of reselling to a community partner for developing non-market housing. In response to this opportunity, JIA Foundation launched Clark Street Reimagined to create a concept plan for a mixed-use housing project in collaboration with Chinatown residents, business owners, and non-profit organizations.
The research team will turn findings into community workshops on potential models for the Clark Street development. These sessions will provide space for neighbourhood stakeholders to offer input on JIA Foundation's proposal to the City.
|
Research team:
- Isabel Teramura, Research Assistant, Concordia MSc Candidate ‘25, Geography, Planning, and Environment
- Jessica Chen, Executive Director, JIA Foundation
|
"The hopelessness weighs heavy. We're watching our own imminent disappearance, and I feel stuck because shouting across a bridge-less river isn't enough and honestly I'm kind of scared to do more. Or, as I said, I don't know how. Tell me, at what point does it become unbearable and unignorable? At what point do we come back together?"
- from Bridges by Anonymous Contributor
|
|
|
Submit your content to the SHIFT Newsletter
|
We send out a newsletter every 4-6 weeks, and are happy to promote our wider community's activities & opportunities that are aligned with SHIFT's values, and benefit students, Concordians, and/or SHIFT's wider community members.
Send your requests through this form.
|
|
|
