We are in trouble: that’s for sure. Wherever you look there is harm to the planet and its people. And then there is Stephen Harper.

But May Day is also a time for celebration, whether you choose a dance around the Maypole, a demonstration to celebrate workers’ rights and people’s power or just the delight in flowers that still manage to pop up from the ground.

We at rabble.ca are writing to you on May Day for both reasons. We need your help and we want to celebrate.

With the help of people like you, rabble.ca has become the leading alternative online news service in Canada — with hundreds of thousands of visitors a month. We just celebrated our fifth birthday. We have become the progressive online news source that people can rely on. They come for the journalism, they stay for the community.

Over the last six months, we have expanded into a multi-media platform through the rabble podcast network with 35 podcasts on everything from movie reviews, to children’s stories, to the incisive political commentary you’ve come to expect from rabble. We’re challenging corporate control of book distribution by providing a book lounge, book reviews and an online bookstore featuring progressive books you won’t find in the mainstream.

We’ve initiated new revenue generating programs to make sure that we are here for five more years and into the future. And thanks to contributions from readers and supporters, we’ve been able to do all this and maintain open access to the site and discussion forums, keeping to the principle that access to news and ideas and participation in dialogue should be free and accessible to all.

We dream big at rabble. We imagine a time, soon, when we can bring you original investigative stories, on-demand news feeds, timely video and audio, more fresh content and a diversity of voices from coast to coast to coast. We want to push our boundaries and provide keen-edged tools for social change. We are also planning a major site redesign maintaining rabble’s clean good looks but making site navigation much easier.

Here is what we need:

  • Investigative reporting and diversity: $25,000 for a writers’ fund
  • On-Demand News Feeds: $5,000
  • Timely video and audio: $10,000
  • Site redesign: $20,000
  • Campaign tool kit: $5,000
  • On-going monthly expenses: $22,000

To move into the next generation of rabble.ca we need $65,000 so that is the goal of this fundraising campaign. We also need money to help us cover our monthly expenses as we build our revenue generation initiatives.

If everyone reading rabble could donate even $10 each we could make rabble a significant challenger to the corporate media but we know that won’t happen. So we are asking you to think about how much an independent media source means to you. How much having a publication that tells it like it is without fear or favour means to you. How much having a community where you can discuss ideas with others who share your values means to you. How much having a consistent place on the web where everyone working for social change can meet each other, get the information they need and organize for change. And then donate online or send a cheque to:

rabble.ca
PO Box 73560
509 St. Clair Ave. W.
Toronto, ON M6C 1C0
Canada

We want to be a voice of reason, fairness and justice and make a difference our children will feel. We don’t act from fear, we dream from hope.

And, we need your help.

Judy Rebick

Judy Rebick

Judy Rebick is one of Canada’s best-known feminists. She was the founding publisher of rabble.ca , wrote our advice column auntie.com and was co-host of one of our first podcasts called Reel Women....