To celebrate Hawa Y. Mire’s nomination as the federal NDP candidate representative of York South—Weston, we’re unlocking her previously paywalled episode! Not only that, but we have a small companion piece to go with it—a brief bonus episode where Hawa returns to the show to talk about the YSW region and the various factors which have motivated her to run for the position. Be sure to check it out here after this episode!
In this newly unlocked episode, Nashwa and Ryan are joined by Hawa Y. Mire to extensively discuss Me to We in Canada and its history in Canadian highschools. Hawa’s work regarding the subject can be found here. Hawa also graciously explains her evergreen The Anti-Somali Feedback Loop with Briarpatch Magazine, a piece everyone should read, providing a foundation for understanding the Somalis in the “Canadian” cultural landscape.
Mutual Aid & Community Support:
For those who live in Toronto: if you would like to stand in solidarity with the thousands of unhoused Torontonians, you can participate in a protest outside of John Tory’s condominium this Sunday, February 28th from 10am-5pm at 248 Bloor Street West ~ Bloor Bedford Parkette. For more information, please visit this post detailing the event being held by the Encampment Support Network.
As mentioned before, the City of Toronto has filed legal action against Khaleel Seivwright, the Toronto tiny shelter builder. It is vital people push back by writing to their city councillors and showing solidarity with Khaleel as the City attempts to charge him for implementing a temporary measure to keep people alive this winter. You can see a statement from Khaleel here. If you live in Toronto please call, email, or tweet your elected officials to drop the charges against Khaleel for his tiny shelters, stop gap measures to keep unhoused people alive this winter. Every year, unhoused people die in the city and nothing changes, things seem to get worse. Khaleel not only helped give people tiny homes, he demonstrated the ways the community steps up and cares for each other in times of rising austerity and organized abandonment by elected officials. We hope more Toronto citizens call for charges to be dropped and are in solidarity with those who are fighting for housing in the city.
Additionally, here are further resources for communities within Toronto facing the results of increased austerity:
Encampment Support Network (ESN) is an ad-hoc, volunteer-run network supporting people living in encampments in 6 locations throughout Toronto. This includes ESN Parkdale, ESN Trinity Bellwoods, ESN Scadding Court, ESN Moss Park, ESN LNP and ESN Cherry Beach.
RenovictionsTO is a volunteer-run organization that gives tenants the tools they need to organize and fight back against their landlords who are partaking in a renoviction.
Keep Your Rent is another vital organization that offers Toronto residents a litany of resources to combat rent evictions.
Evictions Ontario is yet another great resource for evictions—it also specifically offers a tracker to see where evictions are taking place across the province.
Disability Justice Network of Ontario is a collective that aims to build a just and accessible Ontario through the dissemination of knowledge regarding issues that people with disabilities face—they promote change through legislative action; also, they support community members through a community caremongering program.
Guest Information:
Guest of the week: Hawa Y. Mire
Hawa recently won the nomination to become the Federal NDP Candidate for York South-Weston. She is an amazing multi-talented individual who is presently the newest Executive Director of The Canadian Feminist Alliance for International Action (FAFIA). Hawa is a critical writer and commentator who has been featured in Macleans, Briarpatch Magazine, Metro Morning, CBC, CTV, and Rabble among others. She is the co-editor of MAANDEEQ, a collective of young Somali-demics from diverse fields who write and podcast about the Somali territories and the Somali diaspora.
In April 2015, she co-edited a special issue journal for the Canadian Council for Policy Alternatives’ Our Schools, Our Selves titled Constellations of Black Radical Imagining: Black Arts and Popular Education. As mentioned within the episode, she has published The Anti-Somali Feedback Loop with Briarpatch Magazine (2017) which provides extensive documentation of Somali experience in Canada over the past 25 years.
You can visit her website at https://www.hymire.ca, you can find her on twitter @HYMire and follow the campaign online through #HawaForYSW
Production Credits:
Hosted by Nashwa Lina Khan and Ryan Deshpande
Show Music by Johnny Zapras and postXamerica
Art for Habibti Please by postXamerica
Production by Nashwa Lina Khan and Johnny Zapras
Production Assistance by Raymond Khanano and Ali McKnight
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🔓 UNLOCKED EPISODE - Episode 4 with Hawa Y. Mire 🔓