[opirgyork] Weekly Digest - Monday April 18th 2011

[Aruna]

Are you interested in alternative media? Want to be apart of an awesome 
collective
where you can learn how to do audio interviews? Reports? broadcasts?

The OPIRG York radio collective is looking for summer 
programmers/volunteers!

PrOPIRGanda has been playing a special role by specifically reporting 
social justice and activist news in
Toronto. We used the airwaves to provide updates on G20 activities and
now, G20 legal defense. We also provided programming for Israeli Apartheid
week. If you want to hear a sample of one our shows, here is a link to an
interview that Sharmeen (one of our coordinators) did with Vijay Prashad
on the G20 and Third World Project here
(http://www.g20breakdown.com/2010/06/interview-g8-undermined-3rd-world/)

CHRY 105.5FM is the only community radio station offering community 
programming for
York students and the communities in the North York region.

Email opirg at yorku.ca for more details and to join! :)

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1) OPIRG and CWTP York Funtastic End of Year PARTAAAAAAAAAAY!
2) Radical Journalism at this week's Freedom School
3) April 20, 2011: Day of Action to End Extraction
4) CoffeeHouse- Publications, Movement Building and Radical Transformation
5) HERSTORY- We Will Not Let Not Let It Repeat Itself...
6) Fundraiser for Earthquake Relief in Japan
7) The Pleasure Palace - Toronto women and trans bathhouse
8) Black Voices 8th Annual Conference
9) UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO GENERAL ASSEMBLY
10) Make It!
11) No One Is Illegal! May Day of Action for Status for All!
12) May Day Poetry Marathon: A Fundraiser for the Mayworks Festival
13) Mining Injustice: Confronting Corporate Impunity Conference
14) Sanctuary Schools Forum

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1) OPIRG and CWTP York Funtastic End of Year PARTAAAAAAAAAAY!
Wednesday April 20th
1pm to 4pm
Student Centre RM. 322
York University

Join OPIRG York and CWTP York for our JOINT Fun and Yummy end of Year Party!

Come celebrate our year and help bring in the summer!
Take a break from studying/examing/paper writing!
Eat some YUMMY Caribbean food!
Play some de-stressing games and meet great new peoples!
We will provide the food, games, music and FUN!

OH - and cupcakes for EVERYONE! :D
Just bring yourself and friends! Free and Open to ALL!

The student centre is wheelchair accessible, with wheelchair accessible 
bathrooms on the same floor.
This will be a child friendly event - so children are more than welcome!

For any and all access requests, please email aruna at opirgyork.ca for any 
questions/needs!

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2) Radical Journalism at this week's Freedom School
Wednesday April 20th
6pm to 830pm
Kapisanan Phillipine Centre
167 Augusta Ave in Kensington Market

The upcoming elections are a reminder for us to connect with the 
politics, views and issues that matter most to us.
Radical journalism can be a great way to express what we most desire to 
see in the world, and it can also be a
way for us to mess up and challenge the things we don’t agree with or 
that don’t work for us. Come to this workshop and find:

-how to write effectively for different journalistic styles
-tips on how to submit pitches/ideas to existing publications
-examples of radical journalism today and in Asian history
-space to explore your own voice and views that matter to you
-snacks and ttc tokens all for you!

Photo for this event is taken from Yellow Seeds newspaper, a radical 
publication around in Philadelphia in the 70s.

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3) April 20, 2011: Day of Action to End Extraction

WHAT:Day of Action to End Extraction
WHERE: Your Place Or Mine? (Or Gas Station, or Office, or Bank...)
WHEN: April 20, 2011
CONTACT: extraction at risingtidenorthamerica.org
WEB: http://www.extractionaction.net/

Communities around the world are under attack from extractive industries 
that poison our families, kill our loved ones
on the job, and destroy the ecosystems we cherish. The BP oil spill was 
unfortunately just one of an endless string of
disasters born of an economic system that must endlessly consume the 
Earth’s resources.

Extraction is the act of taking without giving anything back. Extraction 
takes workers lives so corporations can make a
few more bucks. Extraction takes clean water and air and gives us 
blackened oceans and a climate in chaos. Extraction
takes the natural wealth of communities and ecosystems and leaves behind 
poverty and ecological wastelands.

For a stable climate, clean air and water, we must stop the extraction 
of fossil fuels and other “resources.” From the
tar sands of Alberta to the Gulf Coast, people are fighting back against 
the extractive industries that have declared
war on our planet. Rising Tide is calling for a day of direct action 
against extraction on the 1 year anniversary of the BP oil spill.

On April 20th take it to the point of production. Shut down a well site, 
occupy a mine, take over an office, blockade a
bank. Nobody’s community should be a sacrifice zone.

For climate justice and a livable planet,

Rising Tide North America

WWW.RISINGTIDENORTHAMERICA.ORG/EXTRACTION

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4) CoffeeHouse- Publications, Movement Building and Radical Transformation
Thursday APril 21st
730pm to 1030pm
Regal Beagle Pub
335 Bloor St. West

Workers' Assembly Coffeehouse: Publications, Movement
Building, and Radical Transformation

Location: Reagle Beagle 335 Bloor St W, back room
Time: Thursday April 21 7:30 pm

This forum brings together a multi-generational panel of activists who 
have been involved in publishing movement
publications on the political left, from the older and more 
well-established to more recent projects. By sharing
their experiences and reflecting on both the significance and challenges 
of this work – from political to financial
– it is our hope that we can develop and expand on our analysis of the 
important role such publications play for
advancing our struggles, as places for dialogue and debate, educating, 
agitating
and organizing, as well as for strategizing and visioning otherwise.

Speakers:
Clare O’Connor, Upping the Anti and UofT OPIRG
Chanteal-Lee Winchester, UofT OPIRG - Action Speaks Louder
Noaman Ali, Basics
Paul Kellog, Former Editor of Socialist Worker
Leo Panitch, Socialist Register
Mick Sweetman, Linchpin

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THIS IS A YOUTH FOCUSED EVENT- OPEN TO ALL
5) HERSTORY- We Will Not Let Not Let It Repeat Itself...

With Honour of Hosting Dr. Harshinder Kaur,

The Sikh Activist Network will be holding an event centred around the 
women around the world who are killed before
they are born, sold before they turn 4, married off to the highest 
bidder, abused, raped, burnt for money and in the name of "honour".

SCHEDULE

Saturday, APRIL 23rd, 12:30-3:30pm
Sheridan College Davis Campus (Room H131- H wing Dr. Turner Building)
FOR MORE INFO, EMAIL: info at sikhactivist.net

- Intimate discussion with Dr. Harshinder Kaur
- Viewing of a Documentary Film on the atrocities committed on Women
- Interactive discussion to come up with solutions on what we can do

and more...

LET'S COME TOGETHER AND REMEMBER OUR SISTERS WHO DID NOT SURVIVE. LET'S 
TOGETHER CREATE A SAFE ENVIRONMENT AND ENSURE WE HAVE A FUTURE GENERATION.

Dr. Harshinder Kaur is the first female doctor to deliver a speech in 
Punjabi at the International Conference held
at the United Nations. She is invited again, to speak in Geneva about 
HOW to prevent these causes in June, 2011.

She has founded and runs the Dr. Harsh Charitable Trust based in 
Patialia, Punjab. At present, the trust is providing
monetary help to 322 poor girls for a higher education.

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6) Fundraiser for Earthquake Relief in Japan
Sunday April 24th
12pm to 5pm
Six Degrees COmmunity Acupuncture
192 Spadina Avenue Suite 512 (5th Floor - please buzz 512)

In March 2011, the east coast of Japan suffered from a massive 9.0 
earthquake which triggered a tsunami and after shocks.

Six Degrees Community Acupuncture is offering acupuncture treatments 
from 12 noon - 5 p.m. to raise money for earthquake relief.

Suggested donation: $20 or pay what you can!

Please call or email ahead of time to reserve a spot.
Email: info at pokeme.ca
Call: 416.866.8484.

Check us out on line at: pokeme.ca

Six Degrees will be seeking a community group to receive the donations 
we raise. If anyone knows of a group please let us know.

Please share this event with your networks.

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7) The Pleasure Palace - Toronto women and trans bathhouse
Sunday April 24th
7pm to 3am
Oasis Aqualounge - 231 Mutual Street

Tickets $20 in advance, $25 door (limited sliding scale tickets available)
Advance tickets available at
Good For Her, 175 Harbord Street

A Queer Women and Trans Bathhouse
PS No cis* men please
*Cis refers to those whose gender identity matches their biological sex

19 +, ID required
DJs Zahra and Cozmic Cat
This event is licensed
ASL interpretation available 11 pm - 1:30 am
Unfortunately this event is not wheelchair accessible

pleasurepalacetoronto at gmail.com
www.pleasurepalacetoronto.com

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8) Black Voices 8th Annual Conference
Thursday April 28th to May 1st

The theme of this year’s conference is ‘Embracing the Year of African 
Descent.’ The Year 2011 has been earmarked
by the United Nation as the “International Year for People of African 
Descent” which aims at strengthening national
actions and regional and international cooperation for the benefit of 
people of African descent in relation to their
full enjoyment of economic, cultural, social, civil and political rights,
their participation and integration in all political, economic, social 
and cultural aspects of society, and the
promotion of a greater knowledge of and respect for their diverse 
heritage and culture.

The conference aims to re-engage people of African Descent in the 
struggle for economic, political, and social
freedom. This process will include the examination of past strategies 
that have both succeeded and fallen short
of fostering or maintaining an effective sense of community, with 
reference specifically being made to the
issues to be analyzed in the workshops, plenary, and panel discussion. 
The Black Voices Conference is also a
means of creating and fostering a continuous sense of unity and promotes 
the sharing of information.

EVENTS:(see event Page for all different events)
Roots Lounge--> April 28th 9pm-1am (FREE)
All-Africian Jam--> April 29th 9pm-1am ($5)
Formal Gala--> April 30th 7pm-1am ($15)

Workshops/Panels/Groups:
1) Revisiting our roots to access our future
2)Chronicles of the Diaspora: Who we are and what we appear to be.
3)Where are we now: “Black Contributions in our Diaspora”?
4)Past, Present, Future: Embracing a better tomorrow

SPEAKERS:
Sankofa Cipher
Michelle Johnson
more to be announced

KEYNOTE SPEAKER:
Rev. Al Sharpton ($5 york students, $10 non York)

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9) UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO GENERAL ASSEMBLY
ALL OUT TO TRANSFORM THE UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO

Third General Assembly
Thursday, April 28th, 5:30-8:30pm
Main Activity Hall, Multi-Faith Centre, University of Toronto
569 Spadina Avenue

The University of Toronto General Assembly embodies a commitment to 
transform this University into one that is
organized and operated by those who make it what it is.
After all, UofT is our university. It comprises our education, our 
workplace, our living space, our community –
and frequently all of the above. It is a public institution whose aim is 
to promote the wellbeing of all of its
members and of society at large. We, and no one else, are its 
stakeholders and its governors. As members of the
General Assembly, we are reclaiming our role as agents – a role we are 
denied by current structures of governance.
The General Assembly will hold its third meeting on Thursday, April 28th 
at 5:30pm.All members of the UofT
community, including students, workers, staff, faculty, alumni, and 
neighbors, are invited and welcome to
participate in the General Assembly.

Join us.

||| FREE FOOD |||

WEBSITE: http://utgeneralassembly.wordpress.com/
E-MAIL: utgeneralassembly at gmail.com
FACEBOOK: http://www.facebook.com/#!/event.php?eid=176504622402378

UTGA in the News!
UofT Students Protest Munk Donation
http://www.parentcentral.ca/parent/education/article/971166--u-of-t-students-protest-munk-donation

UofT Workers and Students Talk Solidarity in Struggle
http://www.rabble.ca/blogs/bloggers/campus-notes/2011/04/u-t-workers-and-students-talk-solidarity-struggle

Chomsky versus Munk
http://www.nowtoronto.com/daily/news/story.cfm?content=180078

Anti-Corporate Rally Storms Simcoe Hall

http://thenewspaper.ca/the-news/item/486-anti-corporate-rally-storms-simcoe-hall

Accessibility
The University of Toronto Multi-Faith Centre has a powered accessible 
main entrance on its east side.
All floors are accessible via elevator. Accessible washrooms are located 
on the first and second floors.
If you require childcare or ASL interpretation for this meeting, please 
e-mail utgeneralassembly at gmail.com
by April 21st. For any other accessibility-related requests or concerns, 
please e-mail utgeneralassembly at gmail.com

Proposed Agenda
5:30 - 6:00 | Food! and Informal Working Group Discussions
6:00 - 6:05 | Introduction
6:05 - 6:30 | Open discussion: Anti-Corporatization
6:30 - 6:40 | Open discussion: Governance and Accountability
6:40 - 7:05 | Open discussion: Student-Worker Solidarity
7:05 - 7:30 | Open discussion: Fees, Funding, and Access
7:30 - 7:45 | Other Business
7:45 - 8:30 | Approval of the Basis of Unity and Structure

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10) Make It!
Saturday April 30th
10pm to 2am
Tranzac
292 Brunswick Avenue

Make It! Basically, it's like this, got a song? Sing it with us.
Want to draw? Draw with us!
A kind of sort of open mic, but more like a collaborative night of 
making, some things, with beats,
and paper and crayons.
Dancing and magic has been known to happen.
Featuring members of/and Bruno Capinan, CCENTURIESS, LAL, L.I.P.P., 
Abigail Lapell, Matthew Masskant,
Jerus Nazdaq, No Luck Club, Stop Die Resuscitate, good times, and... you?

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11) No One Is Illegal! May Day of Action for Status for All!
Join the Education Not Deportation Contingent!
May 1, 2011
1 pm in Parkdale, at the corner of Queen and Jameson

As post-secondary students and university workers we see daily how our 
colleges and universities invest
in mining and in corporations that push for wars and occupation. We see 
freedom of speech being systematically
attacked, labour rights purposefully eroded and the drive for profit 
overriding all other concerns. As tuition
fees rise and barriers to accessible education increase our universities 
and colleges become sites of exclusion
which disproportionally keep out racialized and indigenous youth.

This we oppose!
As our universities and colleges become complicit in pushing people out 
of their homes from lands
in the Global South and Indigenous communities on Turtle Island they 
slam their doors shut on
migrants and on undocumented people.

This we oppose!

For there to be just and accessible education people must have access 
to; food, healthcare, shelter,
childcare, livelihood and dignity. For there be just and accessible 
education people must be free
from fear of police violence, detention and deportation. For there to be 
just and accessible education there must be status for all.

On May 1, we take to the streets. We march for Status. We march for 
Education. Join Us!

Signed by:
Canadian Federation of Students (CFS)-Ontario
Ontario Public Interest Research Group (OPIRG)-Toronto
Ontario Public Interest Research Group (OPIRG)-York
Ryerson Students Union (RSU)
Students Against Israeli Aparthied (SAIA)
University of Toronto Students Union (UTSU)
York Federation of Students (YFS)

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12) May Day Poetry Marathon: A Fundraiser for the Mayworks Festival
Sunday May 1st
3pm to 8pm
The Garrison
1197 Dundas St. West

Celebrate May Day poetically!
Join local, published, first-time and established poets,
reading 5 minutes each, non-stop for five hours.
Featuring Amai Kuda, Zoe Whittal, Alec Butler, BellaDonna, Vivek Shraya, 
Karine Silverwoman, Don Weitz, Mama D, Dainty Smith, and many, many more!

(doors open 2:30)
$10 to $25 Nobody turned away for lack of funds.

Vegetarian-friendly refreshments available for purchase.
Wheelchair accessible (washrooms have limited accessibility)

All are welcome to attend.
www.mayworks.ca

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13) Mining Injustice: Confronting Corporate Impunity Conference
Friday May 6th to May 8th
Sidney Smith Hall Rm. 2117
UofT - 100 St. George Street

Mining Injustice Solidarity Network is pleased to invite you to the 
third conference on the impact of Canadian
mining on local communities throughout the world, which will take place 
the 6th - 8th of May of 2011, in Toronto.
This conference reflects the collective effort of several organizations 
and grass roots groups in Toronto,
in collaboration with peoples, communities and organizations facing and 
resisting the entrance of corporate
mining mega-projects into their territories.

Friday May 6th, 7 pm: Conference 'soft-launch' - meet and greet with 
affected community members and activists at Beit Zatoun (612 Markham Street)
Saturday May 7th, 10 am: keynote speaker and concurrent sessions as well 
as workshops and caucuses! (Sidney Smith Hall)

Official conference launch, 8 pm - 2 am: dance party (193 Dowling Street 
@ Queen Street West)
Sunday May 8th, 10 am: keynote speaker and concurrent sessions as well 
as workshops and caucuses (cont.!) (Sidney Smith Hall)

Particular themes that will be discussed this year include:
• Gendered violence, inequity and feminist perspectives
• Militarization and forced displacement
• Indigenous knowledge and spirituality as forms of resistance
• Labour rights and the rhetoric of development
• Criminalization of dissent and protest
• Environmental contamination effects and health
• Food security and water rights
• The cycle of supply and demand of uranium in the North
• Tar sands and the petroleum industry in the North and South

Stay tuned for a list of speakers or visit our website at 
solidarityresponse.net for more info!

Endorsed by: Barrio Nuevo, CUPE, Environmental Justice Toronto, 
Guatemala Community Network - Toronto,
Kitchener-Waterloo Mayan Project, Tzijolaj-Ottawa, Health for All, 
ProtestBarrick, Munk OUT of UofT,
Indigenous Environmental Network, Latin American and Carribean 
Solidarity Network, Latin American Trade
Union Coalition, NooneisIllegal, OPIRG Toronto, Philippines Solidarity 
Network of Canada, Rights Action, Students for a Free Tibet

If you would like to endorse this event please email Mining Injustice 
Solidarity Network at miconference2011 at gmail.com

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14) Sanctuary Schools Forum

Saturday May 7th (10am – 1pm)
OISE, Room 2-211
252 Bloor St. West

Organized by Educators for Peace & Justice and No One Is Illegal

Our schools, and especially our students and their parents, are 
increasingly under attack.

Teachers have a unique and special responsibility to ensure that our 
schools can be places of sanctuary
where we can all create the socially just and equitable communities we 
expect and deserve.

In order for teachers to be effective agents for social change and 
justice, we must work in direct coalition
with our students, their parents, and all other groups who are working 
to address the issues which affect the daily lives of our communities.

Often teachers find ourselves working in isolation from our colleagues, 
from the communities we work in,
and from the lives of our students and their families.

The Sanctuary Schools Forum will be an opportunity to break this 
isolation, and connect teachers to each other as
well as to the social movements being led by our students and their 
communities.

Forum Topics:
• Gender Based Violence & Supporting LGBTQ2 Youth and their Families
• Don't Ask Don't Tell: Keeping Students Safe from Deportation
• Protecting Students from Police in Schools
• Movement Building: Mobilizing Teachers to Resist Neo-Liberalism

Confirmed Speakers and Working Group Leaders:

Tim McCaskell, Educator, Activist, and Author of “Race to Equality”
Nigel Barriffe, Elementary Teacher of Toronto
Sabrina Gopaul, Jane & Finch Action Against Poverty
Javier Davila, Teacher, Gender Based Violence Prevention Office, TDSB
Kyro DaSilva, TDSB Student Activist
Sheila Hewlett, No One Is Illegal

Child Care Provided Upon Request

Please register at:
http://bit.ly/SanctuarySchoolForum

Get more information at: www.epjweb.org (ready by mid-April) and 
http://toronto.nooneisillegal.org/

Sponsors / Endorsers:
• OSSTF District 12 Human Rights Committee
• TDSB Gender Based Violence Prevention Office
• Student Teachers Union, OISE

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CALLOUTS!!!

1) Ripple Remix 2011 workshop series participants wanted!
2) Queeriot 2011 Kingston!

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1) CCNCTO is now recruiting youth participants for our Ripple Remix 2011 
Workshop Series! Please forward widely.
For updates and more info, please check out our blog!
--> rippleremix.wordpress.com

RIPPLE REMIX Workshop Series

 From May 7 - June 25, CCNCTO is hosting a 6 week workshop series that 
will give you the opportunity to work with
other youth to build your own community outreach project (depending on 
your project, the timeline may be extended
to mid-July). We’ll be exploring questions like:
How do you see yourself represented in mainstream media?

What are some strategies to challenge discrimination in your personal 
and professional life?
How can you express yourself effectively in front of an audience? 
(Visual Arts? Vlog? Spoken word?)

We’ll also learn about…
Community engagement and advocacy
Challenging discrimination in everyday life
Effective communication and public speaking skills
Alternative media and creative expression
Event planning and group facilitation

What we are looking for!
- Youth between the ages of 18 - 30
- Commitment to attending all workshops
- A strong interest in learning about equity, anti-oppression, community 
development and engagement
- An open attitude to working with others on a project that will reflect 
your voices and the community you are a part of!

Our ultimate goal: We want you to design and execute a project that is 
achievable and effective in reaching out to
communities on an issue of your choice. If you want to start creating 
change, this is the place for you!
To register for the workshop series or for more information, send us an 
e-mail at rippleremix at ccnctoronto.ca

The deadline for registration is May 4th, 2011.

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2) Queeriot 2011 Callout

Queeriot 2011 is a radical convergence in Kingston from July 8-10 to 
bring queers together across lines of difference.

As a centre of the prison industrial complex and the birthplace of the 
colonial nation called Canada, Kingston embodies
the white supremacist capitalist heteropatriarchy. We’re calling on 
queers to cum together to disrupt this shit. Our
skills, knowledge and bodies are weapons in this fight.

Following a successful Queeriot in Guelph in 2010, we are reconvening, 
and we want to think about and resist not only
the way that mainstream gay organizations have fucked up queer 
organizing, but also the way that mainstream (often
settler, often white) radical queer organizing can reproduce oppressive 
hierarchies.

Queeriot aims to create communities of resistance and solidarity that 
are anti-capitalist, anti-colonial, anti-racist,
anti-ableist, trans-positive, feminist, empowering, strong, critical, 
loving, supportive, inclusive, sex-positive,
accountable and accessible. People, no matter how queer, who seek to 
reproduce the kinds of violence we are resisting
or create divisions within our communities based on gender or sexual 
identity are not welcome.

Join the Queeriot!
Want to help us shake up Kingston during Queeriot? We’re looking for 
like-minded folks to contribute in a variety of roles.

Send your workshop or event ideas, offers of skills or support, 
feedback, questions or resources to queeriot2011 at fire-storm.net by April 
30th.

email: queeriot2011 at fire-storm.net
web: www.queeriot2011.tumblr.com

Looking for inspiration?

Consider sharing knowledge related to direct action skill
sharing, DIY skill sharing, queer strategies for critiquing settler/
colonialism, anti-homonationalism and anti-homonormativity,
queer Indigeneity and Indigenous solidarity, qpoc positive
movements and queer antiracist activism, critiquing the
military industrial complex and the prison industrial complex,
community accountability/alternative forms of justice, radical
queer (dis)ability politics, solidarity with Palestine and other
occupied territories, anti-capitalism and anti-consumerism,
trans, genderqueer and gender-variant access, resistance
and representation, HIV/AIDS activism, forming radical queer
communities and families, safer sex and creating cultures of
consent, body positivity, sexual liberation, sex work and sex
worker activism, anti-poverty and food security, queer migrant
and refugee rights, and any other radical ideas you might have!