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Dear reader, 

As we near the end of 2020, I find myself reflecting on how dramatically our lives have changed in a matter of months. The many challenges we have shared have highlighted what we value, and what needs to change for the good of our collective well-being.  

2021 will be rabble.ca’s 20th anniversary as an online only news publication. It will also be a year of rebuilding, reconnecting, and restructuring systems that have undeniably failed us. Governments around the world are promising to ‘Build Back Better,’ but whether they will listen to the activists on the ground, to the workers in the streets, or to the many community coalitions across the country remains to be seen. 

What we do know is that — without hyperbole — we need independent media now more than ever. 

What you may not realize is that independent media needs you more than ever, too. 

We at rabble have not been immune to the economic crisis the COVID-19 pandemic has imposed. 

We want to continue providing you with independent, progressive media and analysis in this time of crisis. To do so, we need you to support our annual winter fundraiser with a one-time or monthly donation. 

Mainstream media simply doesn’t cut it — we need coverage that widens its scope to include voices and perspectives that lack representation. Our writers and journalists have done just that over this past year. 

Zaid Noorsumar’s coverage of how the privatization of long-term care puts residents and staff at risk predated the preventable tragedies that COVID-19 wreaked upon our elders and those who care for them.  

Even as essential workers were celebrated nightly by Canadians, labour reporter Chelsea Nash exposed the rollback of pandemic pay for grocery workers, and was one of the first to report on a food crisis experienced by migrant workers. 

Our award-winning parliamentary reporter Karl Nerenberg has continued to keep a close eye on our federal politicians’ responses to the pandemic and our economic recovery.  

This year, Black Lives Matter protests swept North America, challenging the deeply entrenched systemic racism in our societies. The calls to action speak to the need to radically re-evaluate and transform the Canadian justice system, as rabble contributors — including Lidia Abraha, the 2020 Jack Layton Journalism for Change fellow — documented.  

And we kept our focus at the same time on climate change, in our special series on Climate Hope in the time of pandemic.

We need to ensure that the new awareness, discussions and debates that have developed over these unprecedented months do not roll back in the way pandemic pay was rolled back by Loblaws. 

This is the time to keep momentum going. 

rabble.ca exists to share stories and analysis of injustice and resistance. Your donation and support is how we’re able to do what we do.  

Donations of $25 and up and all new monthly supporters will be automatically entered into a special draw at the end of the campaign, to win a one-of-a-kind opportunity for a training session with former NDP MP Olivia Chow of the Institute for Change Leaders. You can take this training session to step up your own leadership skills, or donate it to an up-and-coming changemaker. 

Donations of $15 per month or more will be gratefully received and we will send you a digital copy of Pam Palmater’s latest book Warrior Life, published this autumn by Fernwood Publishing, as a sign of our appreciation.

Sustained MONTHLY donations from our loyal readers are our lifeline for ongoing work. As always, no amount is too little. Every dollar goes towards supporting independent media and change for the better. 

Thank you for your ongoing support — we could not do it without you. 

In solidarity, 

Kim Elliott, publisher

kim

Kim Elliott

Publisher Kim spent her first 16 years on a working family farm in Quebec. Her first memories of rabble rousing are of strike lines, promptly followed by Litton’s closure of the small town...