[Bloquez l'empire!] Tomorrow! forum on RACISM, ISLAMOPHOBIA AND 'NATIONAL SECURITY'

[Commission populaire]

RACISM, ISLAMOPHOBIA AND 'NATIONAL SECURITY'
Teach-in and strategy forum

Saturday, 26 May, 1pm to 9pm
Pavillon J.-A.-Sève, Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM)
320 Ste-Catherine East, Montreal (Berri-UQAM metro)

WORKSHOPS and a PANEL DISCUSSION with Sherene Razack, Adil Charkaoui, Faisal
Kutty, Salam El Manyawi, Najlaa Bennis, Ross Perigoe .... and many more!

WITH:
* Screening of footage from the People's Commission
* Exhibit of Photos and Banners
* Action materials

:::: Games room for kids (with supervision) (room DSR-340) :::
::: Free and delicious food ::::
:::: Whisper translation in English, French, Arabic and Farsi::::

Spies, media, corporations and politically-constructed public debates ... In
the name of "national security", many forces in our society are helping to
mobilize underlying racism and Islamophobia against Muslims, Arabs and
others. The result is often devastating on people's lives.

Targetted communities are marginalized and unable to participate fully in
political, economic or social life. When extreme measures such as security
certificates are used against individuals, communities are often too
intimidated, alienated or constrained to respond effectively.

Join us on Saturday, 26 May to take an in-depth look at some of the concrete
ways in which the national security agenda is being advanced in Canada. The
teach-in will bring together community members, academics, NGOs, legal
experts and activists in order to develop effective strategies to resist
racial profiling and defend the liberty and dignity of all.

PROGRAMME

1:30 to 3:30 Workshops

"National security" and targetting of Arab and Muslim communities (EN)
Room: DSR-520
facilitated: Helen Hudson
- Salam El Menyawi, Muslim Council of Montreal
- Faisal Kutty, Canadian Muslim Civil Liberties Association
- Sameer Zuberi, CAIR-CAN

The "Security Industrial Complex": the new Homeland Security industry (FR)
Room DSR-525
facilitated: Raymond Legault, Échec à la guerre
- Roch Tassé, International Civil Liberties Monitoring Group (ICLMG)
- Sophie Schoen, Block the Empire

3:45 to 5:45 Workshops

Media and CSIS: partners in profiling (EN/FR)
Room: DSR-525
facilitated: Tamara Vukov
- Ross Perigoe, Associate Professor, Concordia University Journalism
Department
- Alex Popovic, Political researcher

Racism and the debate on "reasonable accommodation" (FR/EN)
Room DSR-520
facilitated: Khadija Benabdallah
- Nazila Bettache, No one is illegal
- May Haydar, Centre communautaire musulman de Montréal
- Layla Sawaf, Principal, JMC Secondary and Primary School

5:45 Light meal, followed by a testimony by Najlaa Bennis, Justice for Anas

6:45 Panel Discussion: Countering the instrumentalization of 'national
security' (EN/FR)
Room DSR-510
- video: extracts from testimonies at the People's Commission hearings
- Sherene Razack, Professor, Sociology and Equity Studies in Education,
University of Toronto: Understanding "security" and racism
- Adil Charkaoui: Lessons from the campaign against security certificates

BIOGRAPHIES

Najlaa Bennis is the sister of Mohamed Anas Bennis, who was killed by police
officer Bernier of Station 25 on 1 December 2005 in Côte des Neiges. The
Bennis family and the Coalition Justice for Anas are demanding access to all
information concerning the death of Anas, a public and independent inquiry
and an end to police brutality and police impunity.

Nazila Bettache is a Montreal-based organizer and member of No One is
Illegal-Montreal.

Salam El Menyawi is President of the Muslim Council of Montreal (MCM). He
has been an outspoken defender of human rights and against racial profiling
for many years.

May Haydar is a member of the public relations committee of the Centre
communautaire musulman de Montréal.

Helen Hudson is a Montreal activist working in solidarity with Political
Prisoners, primarily in the United States, as well as on other social
justice issues including immigration and feminist questions. She is also a
programmer at CKUT community radio.

Faisal Kutty currently serves as general counsel for the Canadian Muslim
Civil Liberties Association (CMCLA) and as vice-chair and legal counsel to
the Canadian Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR-CAN).  He is
currently a Ph.D. candidate at Osgoode Hall Law School.  His dissertation
explores the impact of anti-terror laws and policies on the rule of law. In
the course of his legal practice, he has also advised and acted on behalf of
dozens of individuals and charities that have been directly impacted and
targeted by anti-terrorism laws and policies. He is currently acting as
counsel to CAIR-CAN and the CMCLA at the Iacobucci and the Air India
Inquiries.

Raymond Legault has been an active member and a spokesperson for Échec à la
guerre over the past four and a half years.

Dr. Ross Perigoe has taught at Concordia's Department of Journalism since
1985.  Prior to joining the faculty, he was a full time journalist for 12
years, later working in CBC management. His early research focussed on the
portrayal of visible minorities on television, particularly surrounding the
Oka Crisis of 1990. Dr. Perigoe has done a study of the Montreal Gazette's
portrayal of Muslims immediately after September 11, 2001.  Dr. Perigoe is
now examing the representation of Muslims in the french press during the
same period.

Alex Popovic is a political researcher with a keen interest in national
security, law enforcement and governmental ethical
issues.

Sherene H. Razack is a Professor at the Sociology and Equity Studies in
Education, University of Toronto. She is the author of - among other works -
"Dark Threats and White Knights: Peacekeeping and the New Imperialism"
(2004) and "Casting Out: The Eviction of Muslims from Western Law and
Politics" (forthcoming December, 2007).

Sophie Schoen is an organizer in the student movement and with Block the
Empire Montreal.

Roch Tassé is National Coordinator of the International Civil Liberties
Monitoring Group / Coalition pour la surveillance internationale des
libertés civiles, a pan-Canadian coalition of NGOs which formed in response
to the introduction of Bill C-36. Tassé co-authored "Control Freaks:
"Homeland Security" and "Interoperability"", published in differenTAKES,
January 2007.

Tamara Vukov has been active in a range of autonomous social movements,
independent media and media arts in Montréal over the past 15 years
(recently including SAB/SSF, the People's Commission on Immigration Security
Measures, Global Balkans, and the Volatile Works collective). She is
currently completing her PhD in Communication at Concordia, where her
research looks at the racialized impacts of Canadian news media events
focused on migration, including the post-9/11'security' agenda.

Sameer Zuberi is Communications and Human Rights Director at CAIR-CAN. Born
and raised in Montreal, Quebec, Sameer has worked in Kuwait as an elementary
and high school teacher. While studying Mathematics at Concordia University,
he served two terms as Vice President of the Concordia Student Union.
Subsequently, through the United Muslim Students Association, he focused his
activism on educating and linking the Muslim community to grassroots social
justice movements.

--------------------------------------
Coalition Justice pour Adil Charkaoui
www.adilinfo.org
tel. 514 859 9023
justiceforadil at riseup.net