Hey, I am a member of the Progressive Librarians Guild, London Ontario Student Chapter. We are developing a special library with the UWO teaching assistants union (PSAC Local 610). It is designed to be a collection of books on the history of the labour movement in Canada, the academic workplace, the student movement, and more. As a joint project, the library is intended to provide an information resource for union activists.

We are currently in the collections development and acquisition stage. Our question is two-fold: would you happen to know of any independent and labour-friendly publishers based in Canada? Would you have any suggestions for materials to strengthen this collection?

Dear Radical Reference,

I'm trying to figure out what the Legal Rights are of a media person when documenting activism, protest and direct actions. Can the police arrest/detain you for trying to record? What legal defense can be used in the field when engaged in this activity if someone tries to prevent it or threaten someone recording? What are the legal dangers of recording violence against citizens and/or police brutality? Is it illegal to record faces in the crowd, etc?

Particularly in the following cities/states/reservations:
Chicago, IL
Phoenix, Arizona
South Dakota (Pine Ridge and other Reservations)
Washington, DC

Thanks!

Hi there,

I'm part of a study group that studies about strategies for revolution (i.e. economic, socio-cultural, etc.) and our study group is trying to come up with articles that discuss both the theoretical and the practical aspects of combining socialistic and feministic revolution. I would appreciate any guidance on this subject.

Thank you,
Pietro

Hi,

I am trying to locate a copy of a short film called "Canciones de Madrid." The film is from 1938 and features Paul Robeson. Here is the imdb link http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0029966/
I am interested in screening the film publicly in a presentation about "Art and Social Change."

Thank you,

Jonathan

Can you direct me to any fairly recent articles or other material on the Global Square project (a social media platform for coordinating relations between local Occupy, M15, Syntagma, etc. organizations)? There was a lot of stuff on its forthcoming release early next year, and then it largely went quiet. I assume it went defunct or was moved to the back burner, but I'd appreciate any accounts of exactly what happened. Thanks.

What is the origin of the Idle No More movement.

Does anyone know of any articles written about Debtor's Unionism? What I mean by a Debtor's Union are people getting together to collectively resist paying similar or different types of debt. I'm interested because there seems to be some validity in this structure and Google is not much help on this topic. Thanks:)

Good afternoon. Does anyone know if this organization has a library or a librarian on staff ?

http://hrw.org/

If it does, is there an e-mail address for the library ( or librarian ) ?

Thanks !

Simone Castañeda
Regional Librarian / Bibliothécaire régionale
Documentation Centre / Centre de documentation
Translation Bureau / Bureau de la traduction
416-973-1154 | facsimile / télécopieur 416-973-3325
simone.castaneda@pwgsc-tpsgc.gc.ca
4900 Yonge Street, PH Level, Toronto, Ontario M2N 6A6
4900, rue Yonge, Terrasse, Toronto (Ontario) M2N 6A6
Public Works and Government Services Canada /
Travaux publics et Services gouvernementaux Canada
Government of Canada / Gouvernement du Canada

Hello, and thank you in advance for your help!

I am writing a history of the prostitutes' rights movement of the 1970s. (Today, some prefer to call it the sex workers' rights movement.) The national movement launched in San Francisco, 1973, by Margo St. James and COYOTE, and then took off in cities across the country. I am focusing, in particular, on PUMA, the Prostitutes Union of Massachusetts, in Boston, which was active under that name roughly from 1975 to 1984.

I have interviewed dozens of women from the movement in the course of my research, and many believe that they were under FBI surveillance. However, I have filed two FOIA requests and have been repeatedly informed that there are no records related to my search terms (prostitutes' rights, prostitutes, Margo St. James, PUMA, etc). I have sent my requests to the local FBI office in Boston and in DC.

Can you please help me figure out what I'm doing wrong, and how to craft a better request letter? I saw the awesome DIY FOIA letter on your website, but perhaps there are other federal organizations I should be requesting from? Or different search requests? I want to cast as wide a net as possible, but I truly have no idea how the bureaucracy works.

Thank you again, I wish you a peaceful new year.