Who’s Afraid of Labour Justice?

“Who’s Afraid of Labour Justice?” is an invitation to come together in the creation of a collective poem.

Beginning with a facilitated discussion led by Furqan Mohamed, we will question what haunts our impressions of labour justice. For many racialized workers who have been coded as monstrous and non-human, what would it mean to interrogate or even embrace that label? Could we celebrate being scary? Or are we afraid that if we speak up, others will run? What lurks in the backs of our minds when we consider the inequalities workers face? What terrifying realities of inequality must we reveal to do the work of labour justice in the first place? How have we been alienated from nature, one another, our bodies, and ourselves? And if (when) labour justice is attained, what is next, around the corner, waiting to jump out at us? How does fear affect the ways we organize? What would it mean to admit we are scared? Sharing and learning, the collective poem will be a reflection of our exchanges.

All ages welcome. No previous experience with poetry required.

Furqan Mohamed (she/her) is a writer and educator based in Toronto. She is interested in all things popular culture, diaspora, kinship, and abolition, with her work appearing in publications such as mimp magazine, Canthius, Vainqueuer, Maisonneuve, and The Local, where she was an inaugural Journalism Fellow. Her latest artistic works include creating and building the reading series, Who’s Afraid? an episode of Dreams in Vantablack, streaming now on CBC Gem, and an artist residency at the inPrint Collective in collaboration with the Mackenzie House museum. Furqan previously split her time between facilitating creative writing workshops for students across the Toronto District School Board through the non-profit, Story Planet, helping to design the Lost & Found curriculum for the Canadian Children’s Literacy Foundation, and anti-oppression organizing while on the board of OPIRG Toronto. Her debut chapbook collection of poetry and prose, a small homecoming, was published by Party Trick Press in 2021. Furqan earned an Honours Bachelor of Arts (HBA) from the University of Toronto and is presently a Master of Arts in Child Study & Education (MA CSE) candidate at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education.