Blueprints of Disruption

The battle for public housing at 214-230 Sherbourne in Toronto escalated last week, with local housing activists defiantly ripping down an 8ft, barbed wire fence. Or as one of our guests puts it - helping by-law enforcement with their job. Pat and Ian from 230 Fightback , talk about their organization's focus on reclaiming properties they say "have been a historic part of Toronto’s poor and workin...

“We don’t just want peace. We want to defeat the causes of war.” Talia de Ryck, Operational Officer with the Alliance of Students and Workers (AWAS) In the middle of organizing Seeds Beneath the Snow , an anti-Imperialist symposium running from November 6-8th, Talia and Mahyar sit down to talk about the need to broaden peoples’ understanding of Imperialism, and how it connects not just to the stru...

When Waterloo Region Labour Council (WRLC) President Ramzi Abdi took a stand against war profiteering, his members made sure he didn't stand alone. In an attempt to get local businesses a piece of the war spending pie promised in the Federal Liberals last budget, Mayor Berry Vrbanovic and Senator Sandra Pupatello brought Defence Shift to Kitchener's Town Hall. It was billed as an informative sessi...

The work hasn't just continued from the encampments of 2024; it has intensified. Student activists at the University of Toronto are putting the focus back on academic boycotts - a critical component of the BDS Movement. In this episode, we get an update on efforts to get one of Canada's oldest institutions to end its partnerships with Israeli Universities, and hear why these relationships matter s...

Activists within the Manitoba Métis Federation (MMF) are pushing to get their leaders to cut ties with Israel, take a stand for Palestine, and end their partnership with Ben-Gurion University. Their efforts haven't exactly been appreciated by everyone. Returning guest and Métis activist, Ben Nolan, explains the politics involved with the partnership and the reluctancy to end it. He recently withdr...

Doctors Kavita Algu and Ben Thomson , both very active in the Palestinian solidarity movement, talk about the backlash they received at their separate workplaces - clear cases of anti-Palestinian racism (APR) in our public hospitals. Similar cases, met with very different means of resistance. “There’s multiple paths of resistance...they’ll all serve different goals, and push in different ways. We...

On September 14, 2026, Canadian PM Mark Carney is hosting the Canada Investment Summit in Toronto. He's invited the world's wealthiest CEOs to ask for one trillion dollars in investments. What could be wrong with that? Turns out - a LOT! Jasmine Peardon , Executive Director of Capitalism Can't Be Fixed , gives us plenty of reasons why activists from a wide range of organizations and even ideologic...

Arrested and charged three times for public displays of solidarity with Palestine, David Shultz talks about the continuous persecution by Toronto Police and the Crown, as well as the the repercussions that came with it. He takes us through his multiple arrests, each more egregious than the last - culminating with an eventual trial, and full acquittal, for wearing a prop sword. David's case really...

Keith McHenry , author, activist and co-founder of Food Not Bombs , shares great stories of how he and a few friends started the grassroots mutual aid network that eventually spread to over 1,000 cities in 65 countries worldwide. With very few resources, a small group of activists were able to feed the people around them while also building a movement against war profiteering. As he takes us throu...

Journalists Euan Thomson and David Slater tell us how they uncovered secret chats between Canadian universities, and national networks of school administrators and police - all seemingly tasked with infringing on the Charter Rights of students, and dismantling Palestinian Solidarity encampments, before they even started. It took Euan and David almost two years to compile all of the documents they...

Despite getting initial assurances from the City that they wouldn’t be priced out of their home - the tenants at 240 Markland in Toronto have been left to fend for themselves against a real monstrosity of an enemy. Carterra Management Inc. have seemingly made it their mission to force out the legacy tenants by an means necessary, including FIVE (5) above-guideline rent increases (AGIs), harassment...

AI is here - but it won't last. Cyber security expert, author, and activist, Kim Crawley makes the case that generative AI is unsustainable, and will eventually meet its demise. But not before our power grids, our water supplies and our minds take a hit. An GenAI abolitionist, Kim is researching for a new book; one that will examine the impacts of this relatively new and unchecked technology the o...

Deana Sherif has been called a lot of things. A perpetual protestor, an Antifa ringleader, a criminal…but she’s also been described as a fierce advocate for her community, a tireless activist, and a protective presence to those around her. All of these things made her a target of the Police, the Crown and the right-wing propagandists who serve them. The legal saga that is Deana’s story starts off...

Part 4 of Setting Precedent: The Right to Protest on Campus - a podcast miniseries that tells the whole story behind the lawsuit activists have launched against the University of Calgary and the Calgary Police in response to an encampment eviction on the campus back in May 2024. Dr. Roberta Lexier , an expert of student movements in Canada, explains why institutions like the University of Calgary...

The United Jewish Peoples' Order is in the midst of celebrating their 100th year as a secular, leftist Jewish organization in Canada. Three of UJPO's staff join Blueprints to share some of what they've learned working for the century-old organization, and reflect on how they might build for the next 100 years. What UJPO does is largely a reflection of their origin story as outsiders: "We began in...

This is Part 3 of our series that tells the whole story behind the lawsuit activists have launched against the University of Calgary and the Calgary Police in response to an encampment eviction on the campus back in May 2024. Legal Counsel for the nine Plaintiffs, Chris Weibe joins us to talk about the merits of the case, and just how people's Charter Rights were violated. We ask him what a victor...

This is Part 2 of our series that tells the whole story behind the lawsuit activists have launched against the University of Calgary and the Calgary Police in response to an encampment eviction on the campus back in May 2024. Activist and Plaintiff, Wesam Cooley, joins us to talk about the night in question, specifically his role as the encampment's police liaison, and the interactions that led up...

This is Part 1 of a multi-part series that tells the whole story behind the lawsuit activists have launched against the University of Calgary and the Calgary Police in response to a violent encampment eviction back in May 2024. We start with Dr. Raheleh Tarani's compelling story; a mother from Iran who was on campus to support her son, and to speak up against what is happening in Gaza. Holding han...

On April 18th, hundreds of tenants gathered inside a school cafeteria to help shape Toronto’s first city-wide tenant’s union – the TTU . There were elections, robust policy discussions and plenty of stories from tenants. Blueprints of Disruption was there to capture it all, and provide analysis afterwards. On-scene interviews from inside the Toronto Tenant Union’s founding Convention start off wit...

How is Carney's War Bank and the Ontario Teachers Pension Plan (OTPP) connected? Through investments in weapons and genocide, as well as the activists and organizations fighting for a Free Palestine. Teacher and organizer with OTPP Divest , James Campbell gives an overview of the movement to get the OTPP to divest from weapons manufacturers. With a collection of success stories, it is clear the ca...

The Atlantic Regional Communists return to Blueprints to talk about their growth as political organization, and share some of the methodology that unpins their work. They obviously take some of their cues from Marx, but also from the Black Panthers. "We're here to learn from people. We're here to serve people. And we're here to help people organize towards a revolution." - Comrade M One of the thi...

Israeli Occupation Forces are attempting to annex Southern Lebanon. They are erasing towns from the map, blowing up bridges and roads, and telling the world they're about to redraw their borders...again. Previous guest, Mohamad, returns to the studio to talks about the current situation in Lebanon, what it was like being back home during the latest escalation of violence, and how it felt to leave...

CUPE Ontario, is at a crossroads. Their next convention is just months away, and for the first time in 12 years, Fred Hahn won’t be on the ballot for President. In February, after two and a half years of intensified attacks, he announced this would be his last term leading the union. What does this mean for the Province’s largest public sector union? Is this a blow for leftists in CUPE Ontario, or...

Ontario's Premier, Doug Ford has had post-secondary students, and their unions, in his sights since he took office, but a new round of cuts to OSAP has taken them over the edge. On March 14th, 2026, students mobilized at Queen's Park to demonstrate, only to be met by violence at the hands of the Toronto Police Services. This did not deter them. Organizers with the Canadian Federation of Students t...

Although using a new URL, activists behind the boycott of Canada's largest bookstore still say that ' Indigo Kills Kids '. A representative for the campaign talks about their choice of language, tactics and targets - most notably the CEO of Indigo Books, Heather Reisman. You'll hear how this Canadian oligarch has proudly poured millions into the HESEG foundation, which actively recruits soldiers f...