How to write a letter to a politician!

Do you have a local issue you’d like to bring to your local government? Or maybe something that affects all Canadians that you want the Prime Minister to know about? Use this standard form to get an idea of how to tell your politicians exactly what you’re thinking – you can change the wording, or rewrite the entire thing in your own words! Remember that politicians are there to work for you, even if you didn’t directly vote for them. You are the one with all the power to be heard! You can use the form below, or just write whatever you’re thinking, and email it directly to the MP / mayor / politician in question! Find their email address by going to their website and clicking on their CONTACT US page.

Dear [Mr/Ms Politician’s last name – for example: Dear Ms Chow]

[this is where you introduce yourself]

[this is where you write about your project / concern / issue – 1 or 2 short paragraphs]

[this is where you explain what you WANT TO SEE CHANGE! What do you want your politician to do?]

I look forward to hearing from you soon.

Yours sincerely

[Your name]

How to write a letter to the editor

Did you read something in a magazine that made you mad? Or come across a blog that pissed you off? You can write a letter to the person in charge – whoever wrote the article, or punishes the blog or newspaper – to tell them off. Use the standard form, or write it in your own words to tell the media what you think, and email it to the editor of the blog / magazine / newspaper in question (you can find all their info on their CONTACT US page).

Dear [Mr/Ms Editor’s last name – for example: Dear Ms Huffington]

[this is where you explain what you read / saw, and why it concerned you]

[this is where you explain what you WANT TO SEE CHANGE in order to make the magazine / website / etc a better space for people like you - for example: I hope you will no longer publish writing that is homophobic in your magazine!]

I look forward to hearing from you soon.

Yours sincerely

[Your name]

How to start a blog / tumblr!!

If you have something you want to say that's bigger than just a letter to your MP or the editor of a local magazine, you might want to start an entire blog to get your voice out there & heard!

Use a site like blogspot.com or tumblr.com - sign up for a blog/tumblr & start posting info, pictures, your owns words, and more!

Some tips:
- send your blog/tumblr link to friends / family who might be interested in the issues you’re covering, comment on people’s posts, and heart / reblog posts on tumblr, and post your blog / tumblr on facebook (under websites) to get people looking at your blog/tumblr!!

Zine-Making!!

A zine is a self-published magazine usually made by cutting & pasting words and images onto paper in magazine-form & photocopying it for cheap.

A zine is kind of like a blog, but it can be physically given out to people & distributed to organizations that you want to be aware of the issues you’re concerned about!

FInd information here on how to make a zine: http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Zine_Making
and look at some zines here: http://zinelibrary.info/

Interrupting Media!

Interrupting media is all about reclaiming space for yourself and your ideas in your own communities! Ads that insult women aren’t something you want to see everyday – why not cover them up with a sticker or your own manifesta (see next post).

Here are some ways of interrupting shitty and / or sexist ads that we really liked:

This Insults Women! Street Sticker Activism (http://www.stickersisters.com/activism.html)

Writing a manifesto!!!!

A Manifesto is a “public declaration of principles and intentions, often political in nature”. It’s a way of getting your group / individual intentions in writing & displaying them for everyone to see. It’s especially helpful when you’re planning to do public activism, so that people know what your group is all about, and the kind of work you want to do.

Here are some examples of Manifesto/as you can look up:

Pan-Canadian Young Feminist Manifesto (http://www.rebelles.org/en/manifesto)
Riot Grrrl Manifesta (http://onewarart.org/riot_grrrl_manifesto.htm)
Combahee River Collective Manifesto (http://circuitous.org/scraps/combahee.html)
Fat!So? Manifesta (http://www.fatso.com/man1.html)

Working with other Organizations / Groups!

Now that you know how to create a collective, you can work alongside other groups in coalition! this means that you can join up with like-minded groups to work together on the issues you want to address. A great way to start this is to google search your group’s main focus - for example, if you’re a Muslim feminist zine-making group in Toronto, you might search: Muslim, feminist, zine, Toronto, youth - and you might find something like AQSAzine (an amazing Muslim writing zine!) and now you can look at some of the work their doing, and send them an email to talk to them about the work you’re doing individually or in your collective!

Some tips:
- have a plan in mind when you contact other orgs / people
- make sure the plan will be interesting to them / fall within the work they are currently doing