[mobglob-discuss] Sun Nov 11: Racism and Anti-Racist Organizing Followup Meeting

[Harsha Walia]

- pls forward -

FOLLOWUP MEETING ON RACISM AND ANTI-RACIST ORGANIZING

---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sunday November 11 from 6-8 pm
Organizing Centre for Social and Economic Justice
672 E. Broadway (corner Fraser)
Take the #8, #9, or #99 and get off at Broadway and Fraser
Wheelchair accessible. Snacks and childcare provided.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

On October 16, NOII hosted an emergency community forum on racism,
immigrants, and immigration in response to increasing racial violence
against racialized immigrants (see original callout  below).

Over 50-60 people participated in the community meeting and discussion.
Several community groups gave presentations and updates on current
struggles against racism, others offered historical perspectives on
anti-racist organizing, while others shared personal experiences of
racism.

A majority of those in attendance were interested in continuing to work
together on building and organizing a more effective and visible
anti-racist movement, particularly one connected to understanding and
fighting racial violence, giving voice to experiences of racism, as well
as resisting structural racism as it manifests itself through colonization
of indigenous lands, anti-immigrant measures, militarization and
occupation globally, and capitalist neoliberal economic policies.

In addition, we hope to have more critical conversations on what
anti-racist movements and ally work looks like, facilitating organizing of
and active solidarity between individuals/communities of colour, as well
as dialogue between individuals and communities on our diverse and nuanced
experiences of racism.

Several concrete ideas were also proposed in this meeting: including a
radical anti-racist day of action in March 2008, documenting incidents of
racism and racial violence in order to break isolation and silence
including personal testimonies through video/web/blog etc, ideas for
popular education, and more.

We hope you will join us. For more information contact noii-van at resist.ca
or call 778 885 0040.


[callout of first meeting]

EMERGENCY COMMUNITY FORUM ON RACISM, IMMIGRANTS, AND IMMIGRATION

Organized by No One is Illegal-Vancouver. For more information contact
noii-van at resist.ca or call 778 885-0040. www.nooneisillegal.org


In light of increasing racial violence against immigrants, the normalizing
of public racist discourse against immigrants, and escalating border and
security measures that are disproportionately impacting racialized
communities, we are organizing an emergency community forum and
discussion.  We strongly encourage all communities and individuals that
are being impacted as well as all allies to attend in order to build a
more broad-based and effective anti-racist movement.

Although nothing new, in the past few months we are witnessing an
escalation of overt racial attacks and discourse, for example recent acts
violence against South Asian elders and farmworkers, the phenomenon of
“nippertipping” against Asian-Canadian fisherfolk; and countless highly
publicized incidents suggesting that immigrants are not ‘integrating
properly’ as evident through Bruce Allen’s comments, the reasonable
accommodation’ hearings in Quebec, the issue about identifying women in
hijab, and much more.

We understand how these incidents are not exceptions; rather they are more
obvious examples of an underlying racism that continuously places
racialized immigrants (although not white immigrants) as ‘Outsiders’ to
the Canadian nation and so-called Canadian culture. It is evident how this
racism has created a general climate of hysteria, distrust, and skepticism
of immigrant communities. The very fact that entire communities are
considered ‘immigrant’ although many of have resided on the indigenous
territories of Turtle Island for centuries, reveals their second-class
positioning.

Therefore we feel that such comments are not harmless or simply an issue
of free speech; they are used to normalize overt and covert systems of
racism and exclusion- especially to demonize societies of the global South
who are impacted by Western militarization and occupation and through
repressive immigration, border, and security policies: the deportation of
‘unwanted’ migrants such as Laibar Singh who are considered ‘drains to the
system’; the denial of rights to migrant workers who are only valuable for
their labour but not their human dignity;  continued associated of
immigrants to terrorism through use of Security Certificates and racial
profiling; summary deportation of Latin American and Caribbean
asylum-seekers at the Eastern border who are being portrayed as ‘illegal
immigrants flooding’ the Canadian border, and much more.

We hope you will join us in this crucial community forum and discussion
and to together build on historical struggles and resistance movements
against racism.