Tom MacMillan

PhD candidate studying feminist independent unions on the West Coast | Concordia U | Mainer | #Celtics 🍀 | he/him

[Tom MacMillan @trmacmillan]

I am proud to have co-authored a chapter in "Where are the workers?" It's about the Maine Labor Mural crisis and the impact of public art censorship. If you're in a position to purchase it, you can do so using the info below. DM if you'd like it but cannot buy it.

[Laura Robinson @LauraRbnsn]

So, I know this is getting dunked on all to hell, but I beg you to talk to someone who teaches.
In my state, we're rolling out smartphone bans this year. You better believe my teacher friends are saying that parents are desperately calling and trying to find workarounds so that

[Tom MacMillan @trmacmillan]

This elected official is calling for a "final solution." The masks have been off for a long time.

[Mayor Jeremy Levi @jerlevi]

If the rumours are true, then good — it’s about time. Israel should move forward with full occupation and annexation of Gaza. It’s been nearly two years, and if the Palestinians truly wanted peace, they would’ve handed over the hostages long ago. But they haven’t — because they choose war. Israel has every right to act decisively. No more half-measures. No more waiting. The world needs to understand: no more arguing, no more explanations. Full throttle. No apologies.

[Tom MacMillan @trmacmillan]

@BafienMorin @ToulasTake You act like the conflict began on October 7. Palestinians have sought recognition since long before Israel helped create and empower Hamas.

[Tom MacMillan @trmacmillan]

@TonyMarinaro @thesickpodcasts @CanadiensMTL @RocketLaval @anthonymarcotte Any updates regarding the potential CPL team in Laval?

[Tom MacMillan @trmacmillan]

@CelticsBeam @TheaterNation @John_Karalis You're nothing but an online coward.

[Tom MacMillan @trmacmillan]

@TomNicholas529 @John_Karalis Yeah, they lied to you. Sorry. Do you also believe that they walked up hill, both ways, in the snow to school every day?

[Tom MacMillan @trmacmillan]

@TomNicholas529 @John_Karalis No, you didn't have to prove you had a skill or need a sponsor. In fact, the vast majority of immigrants were not "skilled workers" as people thought of it then. Read up for yourself. https://t.co/9I21igvEsz

[Tom MacMillan @trmacmillan]

@alltriPo2310 @John_Karalis Thanks anonymous internet troll.

[Tom MacMillan @trmacmillan]

@TomNicholas529 @John_Karalis No, there was no vetting process in the 1890s other than what I explained. If you're talking about after the 1921 and 1924 immigration laws, then yes it changed. Most descendants of European immigrants overstate how difficult it was for their ancestors to emigrate.

[Tom MacMillan @trmacmillan]

@alltriPo2310 @John_Karalis "stick to sports" as if sports isn't part of life.

[Tom MacMillan @trmacmillan]

@TomNicholas529 @John_Karalis There was no "legal immigration" at the time. If you showed up, weren't visibly ill, a known anarchist, or of Chinese descent, you were in. The white supremacists of the time really, really wanted to keep out your ancestors though and they used the same language as you are now.

[Canadian Dimension @CDN_Dimension]

Mark Carney just committed Canada to spend 5% of GDP on defence—more than double NATO’s target.

No serious debate. No scrutiny. Just consensus from a political class sleepwalking into permanent militarization while public services decline. https://t.co/Hxv3WCvZfe

[Tom MacMillan @trmacmillan]

@stminfo pay the maintenance workers and end the strike!

[Alex Tyrrell @AlexTyrrellPVQ]

- Yves is Free: My Initial Thoughts -

I have had time to decompress after a long day in court and an intense five-day ordeal involving Canada’s most recent political prisoner.

Here are my thoughts:

Yves Engler should never have been arrested. Responding to hateful and racist Zionist material on Twitter is not a crime in Canada. Challenging hate-based narratives is a noble cause. Yves Engler is a hero and deserves everyone’s support.

Today in court, I watched as the prosecution struggled to find arguments to justify limiting his freedom to speak publicly about the case. The prosecution reviewed the evidence for about twenty minutes—essentially, they had 72 tweets that Yves had written in response to hate-based, anti-Palestinian content from Zionist influencer Dalila Kurtz. They also claimed that the case had been closed by police without any action taken (not even a warning) until Conservative Party of Canada candidate Neil Oberman took up the case and pressured the police into laying friviolous charges.

As the prosecution presented their case—reading through the conditions they were seeking, the chronological order of events, and the nature of the tweets—the judge intervened and asked if they had considered a less restrictive set of conditions. She described the prosecution’s proposal—that he should not be allowed to refer indirectly to the influencer anywhere—as overly broad. She suggested that a solution coud be to allow Yves to name the influencer and continue criticizing the influencer’s hate speech, while protecting the influencer from alleged harassment, by requiring Yves not to tag her in his posts or respond directly to hers. Yves nodded in agreement from the prisoners’ box, and the judge suspended the hearing to allow time for an agreement to be reached. When proceedings reconvened, everyone agreed that simply not tagging the influencer—along with some other basic, routine conditions—would be sufficient. Consequently, the judge ordered the guards to free Yves, which they did about 2.5 hours later. A group of us were waiting for him outside, and he lead a few cheers for the crowd including Free Palestine! before driving off with his dad to see his young children and wife.

It was a surreal debate in the courtroom today about online disagreements, but this time involving a renowned author and political figure sitting in the prisoners’ box of a criminal court, wearing handcuffs and leg restraints after five days in jail and facing four serious criminal charges. Conservative Party candidate Neil Oberman, who initiated this whole ordeal, was watching the proceedings by video link and appeared on the screen. He is the same wacko lawyer who attempted to obtain an injunction to force the police to dismantle the McGill encampment—but he failed miserably. A real loser. He lost that case because he did not have the evidence to support his claims, and he will certainly lose this frivolous, ridiculous, and completely unsubstantiated case against Yves Engler. He will probably lose the federal election as well.

The police should never have given in to the pressure and agreed to pursue Neil Oberman’s politically motivated hate campaign—a campaign aimed at appearing more Zionist than his local Liberal opponent, the ultra-genocidal nutcase Anthony Housefauther. These two idiots are trying to outcompete each other as the “most Zionist candidate” in the Mount Royal district. They will stop at nothing.

The Conservative Party of Canada, under the leadership of Pierre Poilievre, has adopted a radically oppressive narrative as to how people who support Palestine should be treated in this country. Conservatives are ready to destroy freedom of speech, throw people in jail for frivolous and unsubstantiated false allegations. Poilievre has even called for the deportation of pro-Palestine protesters. All of these individuals are racists, anti-Palestinian, and should never be elected to the federal government.

#FreeYvesEngler #cdnpoli

[Mac Labour Studies @MacLabour]

Join us Feb. 5 @ 2:30pm ET for the latest in our webinar series feat. @maxbaru What independent union movements tell us about today's marketplace of trade union organization

To register: https://t.co/SbB6Y8aKlH

#canlab #unionorganizing #labourstudies

[Tom MacMillan @trmacmillan]

@Eve_Barlow

[Geoff Wilt @geoffwilt]

direct correlation between not seeing value in studying the humanities and not seeing value in human life in general.

[Working Class History @wrkclasshistory]

#OtD 15 Jan 1919 revolutionary socialists Rosa Luxemburg and Karl Liebknecht were murdered by the far right paramilitary Freikorps who were acting on behalf of the Social Democratic government during the events following the 1918 revolution. Learn more: https://t.co/E9sMe2AWqJ

[William Hogeland @WilliamHogeland]

Historian: The US learned expansionism from 21st C. Russia.