While working at A Different Booklist bookstore in the Annex in January 2024, Deijaumar Clarke wanted to connect the information housed in the bookstore — legacies of pan-African thought — with social movements in the city.
“I would go to different Palestinian protests and rallies and hand out flyers for our study group and our book club,” says Clarke.
Named after a vodoun priest who catalyzed the Haitian Revolution, Clarke’s A Dutty Boukman Book Club offers political education through literature, oral history and the collected archives of participants.
“Elders love to talk about their history,” says Clarke. “It’s always great when young people listen to their perspectives and the work they’ve done, [continuing] the African oral tradition.”
A Dutty Boukman Book Club has held sessions at A Different Booklist, Wildseed Centre and Studio M in Little Jamaica. They also hope to go to York South-Weston and Lawrence Heights.
In this way, they are playing their own small role creating aligned political nodes throughout the city.
Jane Finch Action Against Poverty (JFAAP) has directly engaged its community through political education since its founding in 2008. Monthly general meetings attract upwards of 50 members of the intergenerational organization. The sharing of information between youth and elders helps preserve the legacy of JFAAP’s work, which has its roots in protecting young people in schools.
Suzanne Narain grew up in the Jane-Finch community in a Guyanese family where education was always a core value. Her entry into JFAAP was during the proposed closure of Jane and Finch schools in 2009. She notes the group has gone to bus stops and meeting spots where temporary workers get picked up to speak to them and hand out pamphlets.
“That has been the crux of what makes JFAAP so successful,” she says. “We’re going to meet you where you are and [support] how you want to get involved.”
In August, JFAAP helped put on events for local families, educators and advocates to learn more about Bill 33 and the possible reintroduction of police officers in schools.
Butterfly GoPaul, a JFAAP organizer, says: “We start unpacking how dollars are literally removed from breakfast programs, from after school programs, parks and recreation programs, and going into policing — and then they come into schools to do these rec programs. We create spaces to have conversations.”
After Israel’s genocide in Gaza began in October 2023, a network of neighbourhood groups emerged to pressure their members of parliament (MP) to act. Over time, some of these groups, like Davenport for Palestine (D4P) have begun to offer skill-building sessions for members, like how to organize a door knocking campaign, marshal events, de-escalate situations and MC at an action.
D4P members also regularly go out and talk to their neighbours. One group does boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) leafleting every Saturday at Dufferin Mall and on Sundays in Kensington Market. Another group door-knocks every Wednesday to raise awareness and collect signatures for a petition with key demands directed to MP Julie Dzerowicz.
Justine Abigail, a member of D4P, says these skills support the group’s longevity, taking the work beyond advocacy toward a larger base of organized support — and away from burnout.
“How do you do all of these little bits that make you know the bigger whole of this movement?” says Abigail. “How do you respond and de-escalate a situation? How do you do a phone zap? How do you reach out to your MP? What do you say to them?”
This article appeared in the 2025 Oct/Nov issue.