In The Message, Coates writes of a constellation of shared experiences—between Black Americans, Africans, Palestinians—which led him to feel “the warmth of solidarity, of conquered peoples… finding each other across the chasm of oceans and experience.” It is the recognition that if the imperial powers operate conjointly to oppress us, we ought to join in solidarity ourselves.

Are established unions working hard enough to organize more precarious, low-wage workers? Many are criticized for wilting at the—admittedly great—challenge. But now, considering just how bad things are getting for these workers, the responsibility of the labour movement towards the most precarious and exploited is greater than ever.

In Windsor, Ontario, when the Downtown Windsor Business Improvement Association paid to install iron-spiked railings where panhandlers sit, the organization which called attention to it was the Street Labourers of Windsor (SLOW). They also took a stand when the city intended to install “care meters,” in which people can drop change, instead of giving directly to panhandlers.