Silent Movement On Toronto Street

Posters on lampposts condemning discrimination
Rahman Mohamed

The war in Syria has brought many actions to Toronto including funds being raised by the Assyrian Chaldean Syriac Student Union (ACSSU), raising awareness of Syrian culture and current survival conditions, and displaying the life of a Syrian refugee by imitating it.   Recently a silent movement has appeared; a series of posters has appeared on lampposts at Spadina, south of Bloor.  The Miles Nadal Jewish Community Centre is at the corner of Spadina and Bloor, across from the TTC Spadina Station.  Further down the street is the University of Toronto Multi-Faith Centre.  Along the way there are a series of posters promoting acceptance of Muslims and encouraging an end to fascism
Featuring silhouettes and short text a set of three simple paper posters are seen along Spadina on lampposts covering regular sale and help wanted signs.

Continue reading

The Syrup Secret

Marking Winter’s end
Rahman Mohamed
Updated April 8, 2017

SunThe start of Spring is often marked on March 20; it’s usually the time of the Spring Equinox; day and night are of equal length.  Because the Earth is tilted the length of all days and night aren’t the same year-round.  After the Spring Equinox the days get longer until the start of Summer on June 20, the Summer Solstice; the Summer Solstice is the day of the year the Earth sees the most sunlight.  After that the Earth sees less daylight.  On the Fall Equinox, September 22, day and night are again of equal length; Fall begins.  Nights then start to get longer until the Winter Solstice, the day of the year with the least daylight, December 21 when Winter begins.  The dates of the solstices and equinoxes aren’t always the same but the season starts are.

Maple Syrup bottleSome mark the start of spring on March 20.  Others mark it on Nowruz, March 21.  In Canada Nowruz is celebrated but the start of Spring is more often marked by the maple harvest.

Many believe Canada only has two seasons but it does see all solstices and equinoxes.  To mark the start of spring and fall (the end of winter and the approaching winter) there are harvests.  The Fall Harvest includes wheat, potash, corn, and other common agriculture.  The Spring Harvest is start of the creation of maple syrup.  In Canada if you’ve never tasted maple syrup on pancakes you’re not Canadian.
Continue reading

Discrimination: Alive in 21st Century North America

More than ever before
Rahman Mohamed
Updated 5 March 2017

Prejudice: judgement based on a single aspect; considering someone to act and behave in a certain way because of a certain quality. Discrimination: dividing a group of people into multiple groups using prejudice.  Ableism: creating an us and them using disability, a prejudgement of persons with disability second-class to “normal” people or people without a visible disability is a relatively new form of discrimination.  North America has battled discrimination since the landing of the Europeans.  Aboriginals, Indigenous persons, Inuit, and others were classified as second-class.  Although it as made strong gains in attempts to silence discrimination it is still alive in North America, both within society and among social leaders in Canada and United States. Continue reading