[opirgyork] Weekly Digest March 4 2011
opirg at yorku.ca
opirg at yorku.ca
Fri Mar 4 19:01:36 PST 2011
So many great events - so little time.
Check out Anti-Apartheid Frequencies, Live interviews, music, debates, talks!
Tune in LIVE on CHRY 105.5 FM - live on the web at www.chry.fm - Rogers
cable box Channel 945
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1) Film: 12 Palestines - Lebanon's Forgotten Palestinians
2) Women Like Me: An evening of Poetry by Arab women
3) ANTI-APARTHEID FREQUENCIES 2011
4) Jenin Cinema School at the Art Gallery at York U
5) Voices Rising - Spoken Word at York
6) In conversation with Jessica Yee and Feminism FOR REAL
7) International Women's Day at York University
8) Tuesday, March 8: Film Screening, "Occupation 101"
9) Temp Agencies and Immigration Status Workshop
10) A group of Parkdale Street Writers will take over the regular Art Bar
Reading Series!
11) Field Trip to Judith Butler's: The Cultural and Academic Boycott
12) Tombs of the Vanishing Indian by Marie Clements
13) 52nd Tibetan Uprising Day in Toronto
14) Rally and March against the planned prison expansion and Bill S-10
15) Thursday March 10th - Two Toronto Events with Kolya Abramsky, editor
of Sparking A Worldwide Energy Revolution: Social Struggles in the
Transition to a Post-Petrol World
16) York's Complicity in Apartheid: Art, Culture, and Resistance
17) Human rights violations and the pursuit of profit
18) The Great NDN Bus Tour - BOOK SOON!
19) Film Screening: Cultures of Resistance
20) DEADLINE EXTENDED: Call for submissions: zine dealing with
body/hair/size/fat phobia for and by Indigenous peoples and POCs
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1) Film: 12 Palestines - Lebanon's Forgotten Palestinians
Saturday March 5th
7pm to 9pm
Beit Zatoun
612 Markham Street
This is world premiere of 35-minute independently produced documentary
film by local filmmaker - Anastasia Trofimova.
The greatest number of Palestinian refugee camps in the Middle East exists
in Lebanon, a small country battling its own internal demons. Since 1948,
this exiled community swelled to 400,000 or roughly 10% of Lebanons
population. As the fourth generation of Palestinian refugees is raised on
Lebanese soil with dreams of returning to Palestine, they still struggle
to survive in the complex web of official Lebanese restrictions;
restrictions depriving them of their basic social, economic and human
rights, like right to work, to own property, to travel without restrain.
Featuring rare historical footage, interviews with Palestinian factions
leaders, UN workers and ordinary citizens, ìTwelve Palestinesî brings you
inside the lives of the inhabitants the 12 permanent Palestinian refugee
camps in Lebanon and examines the political deadlock in which these
Palestinian refugees have remained for more than 60 years.
Present at the screening will be a Palestinian couple who resided in one
of the camps and now live in GTA. Also present is Canadian-Palestinian
Educational Exchange (CEPAL) to speak about youth and youth education in
the camps.
The film will be introduced and followed by a conversation with Anastasia
Trofimova, the Russian-born documentary filmmaker, currently based in
Toronto. She has completed her education at the University of Toronto,
specializing in Communication, Culture and Information Technology and
majoring in Political Science. Anastasia has been freelancing as a
cameraperson, sound person, video editor, researcher and translator for
more than 7 years; working on projects which included the TVO documentary
series,
Get Involved (seasons 1 through 3), ìOrang-utan: the Fight for Survivalî
documentary by renowned
Canadian photographer James Helmer and ìThe Weight of Chainsî documentary
investigating the
fall of Yugoslavia, to name a few.
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2) Women Like Me: An evening of Poetry by Arab women
Sunday March 6th
5pm to 7pm
Beit Zatoun
612 Markham Street
We write because we want to choose the words that tell our stories. "Women
Like Me" is a poetry and open mic night held to celebrate the work of Arab
women who share a passion for arts, poetry, writing and music.
It is a gathering where we will read to each other the words we have
written or recite the work of our favourite poets.
When poetry in the Arab world is discussed, female Arab poets are often
underrepresented.
Through a short presentation we will highlight famous women poets from the
Arab world. The
presentation will be followed by a series of poetry readings by local
poets and the night will end with an open mic and music.
We are honouring Arab women poets on the occasion of International Women's
Day, which
comes at a significant moment in the Arab world following the successful
intifadas in
Egypt and Tunisia. It is a time of celebration all around! So bring a poem
by an Arab woman,
or your own to share, and join us for an intimate night of celebrating
"women like us."
The event will be both in English and Arabic.
Dima Ayoub will give a brief overview of women's contributions to the
tradition of Arabic
poetry in modern and pre-modern context.
Dima Ayoub is a PhD Candidate in the Institute of Islamic Studies at
McGill University.
She specializes in Modern Arabic literature and its intersections with
issues of translation,
postcoloniality, feminism and political and linguistic conflict.
Readers/performers
Nayrouz
Diana Younes
Sabwah
Salma
Nehal
Ghaida/Oliver
Mary-Lou
Vicky
Others to be announced.
Sponsored by the Ryerson Student Union
Need to know:
- Door open at 4:45
- Donation / PWYC
- Sorry, not wheelchair accessible
Tasty refreshments (non-alcoholic) and Zatoun oliveoil+za'atar dipping.
Contact
Email: info at beitzatoun.org
Phone: 647-726-9500
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3) ANTI-APARTHEID FREQUENCIES 2011
Monday, March 7th
12noon - 9pm EST
Tune in LIVE on CHRY 105.5 FM - live on the web at www.chry.fm - Rogers
cable box Channel 945
Once again, CHRY will be featuring a special 9-hour-long broadcast at the
beginning of
the International Israeli Apartheid Week to critically explore the history
and reality of
apartheid. This year's broadcast will be Monday, March 7th @ 12-9pm.
The broadcast will include different features and guests that will cover
numerous themes:
the history of Palestine, the voices of the struggle, the politics of
apartheid,
indigenous solidarity, cultural resistance, the BDS movement and more.
The broadcast
will also include music and performances, and voices from around the world.
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4) Jenin Cinema School at the Art Gallery at York U
Monday March 7th
12:30pm to 2:30pm
Art Gallery of York U
Accolade East building
Taking you into the heart of Palestine, Jenin Cinema School at the AGYU
presents an
interactive afternoon with the next generation of young Palestinian
filmmakers.
Screening some of their latest work, students of the Jenin Freedom
Theatreís Filmmaking
Studio, will the join Public Studio for a live discussion about politics,
culture,
and daily life in the Jenin refugee camp. Rather than imagining Palestine,
these
students and their current teacher in residence, acclaimed filmmaker Udi
Aloni,
will put you in the centre of it.
Public Studio member Elle Flanders together with celebrated video artist
John Greyson,
visited the Jenin Freedom Theatreís Filmmaking Studio last summer.
Flanders and Greyson
will moderate a conversation with director Udi Aloni and his students via
Skype.
Artist Mohammed Mohsen and Robert Massoud of Beit Zatoun, a Palestinian
culture
centre in Toronto will dialogue with Palestinian artists about what is
happening
here on the scene in relation to what is happening in Palestine. Audiences
are
encouraged to participate in the Q&A with the filmmakers and artists.
This is a co-presentation with IAW, SAIA and Beit Zatoun
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5) Voices Rising
Monday March 7th
5pm to 8pm
The Underground - Keele campus York U
International Women's Day events honour and celebrate the achievements of
women all around the world. 'Voices Rising' is focused on how through our
voices we will RISE from the barriers which can hold us back. It is
celebrating women and empowerment!
The Diversity Peer Education Team (DPET) is collaborating with SASSL, the
Feminist Action @ YU, and the Graduate Students' Association at York to
make this event a success!
It will be an evening of spoken word and live music!
Performers include:
** Brenda MacIntyre:
Medicine Song Woman Brenda MacIntyre is a healer, mentor, motivational
speaker and award-winning singer-songwriter currently nominated for a 2011
K.M. Hunter Artist Award.
She has shared the stage with best-selling authors Dr. Masaru Emoto,
Shakti Gawain and Gregg Braden, and her latest CD, which was nominated for
a 2010 Canadian Folk Music Award, can be heard on the radio across Canada
and the United States. Brendaís 26 year career includes a Juno Award, 3
Top Ten Radio debuts, international radio play, and appearances on
MuchMusic, CityTV, APTN, OMNI, Vision and TVO. Currently, she is the
creator of the womenís empowerment movement ìSing Your Self Alive!î
bringing a renewed sense of inspiration and enthusiasm to the lives of
women around the world.
http://healingsinger.com/
** Sara Marlowe:
Sara Marlowe has been playing at social justice rallies and protests for
the last decade and
has recently formed a new electronic band, Davaar. Her latest CD, True
Stories, has been
described as a Poetic Appeal for Peace and is currently getting airplay on
CBC as well as College Radio.
http://www.saramarlowe.com/
** Lara Bozabalian:
Spoken Word Artist; was a member of the 2009Toronto Slam Poetry Team. She
is the author
of four chapbooks, Exhale to December, The Morning Glories, New Dream and
Free, and her
first full length collection, The Cartographerís Skin, was published by
Piquant Press in May 2010.
www.larabozabalian.com
**Amani (Anne-Marie Woods):
(Contemporary Blues Poet) has a unique style of delivering her Spoken
Word/Poetry.
Some of her pieces are acapella, others use musical accompaniment, but no
matter
what style she delivers, whether prose, or a speech, rapso, or a poetic song;
she always leaves you captivated by her performance and wanting to hear more.
Her performance credits span from being the opening act for jazz legend Roy
Ayers in the Jazz by Genre Concert Series to performing internationally at
the Drum in Birmingham England and the Word Power Black International
Literary
Expo in London, England. She has been the international feature at the Rapso
Festival in Trinidad and has headlined at the world famous Nuyorican cafÈ in
New York City. Performing Spoken Word since 1995, but also using her talents
to work with and educate young people for various school boards in Canada and
internationally. Amaniís style is unique and she has the ability to create
poetry
for any cause but still make it soothing and pleasing to the ear. This
Tour de
Force is pleased to be a part of the Voices Rising Event.
http://www.imanicreativeconsulting.com/
**Lishai Peel:
Lishai has lived in three different continents, but has found a home in
Torontoís dynamic
arts community. She believes in art as a tool for community development
and uses her words
to create dialogue and retell her-story. She is one of the founding
members of the Kemba
Collective. A dynamic group of artists working to create safe spaces for
womynís voices,
stories and talents to be shared and celebrated in Toronto and she
facilitates spoken
word workshops with UNITY Charity and the Toronto Poetry Project.
http://www.lishai.ca/lishai.ca/HOME.html
The event is an all ages event. The venue is accessible and ASL/English
interpretation will be provided.
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6) In conversation with Jessica Yee and Feminism FOR REAL
Monday March 7th
7pm to 830pm
Toronto Women's Bookstore
73 Harbord Street
Join host Annemarie Shrouder for Facing Out - a conversation with Jessica
Yee about her
new book "Feminism FOR REAL: Deconstructing the Academic Industrial Complex".
Join us at the bookstore as we go more in depth about the book and take
your questions -
either in person or via live stream at
http://www.ashrouder.com/inconversation.html
Facing Out is a project in collaboration with the Toronto Women's
Bookstore. Facing Out's
vision is to inspire connection, discussion, and community around arts and
politics - here and around the world.
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7) International Women's Day at York University
Tuesday March 8th
10am to 8pm
International Womenís Day is a day with socialist roots designed to
celebrate women.
It is so important to take (at least) a day to celebrate the impact women
have had in
our communities and movements and to use March 8th as a springboard to
integrate this
into our everyday. This year, the Centre wants to celebrate International
Womenís Day
by thinking about the plethora of care roles women take in activist
communities and
our lives, and by politicize this work as well as the work of self-care.
Our movements,
our struggles and our fights are only as vibrant as we keep ourselvesóand
we must all
understand and integrate this practice into our movements, our work and
how we care for each other.
On Tuesday March 8th we will be holding a workshop on the political nature
of self-care
with MÈlanie Jubinville-Stafford, in from Ottawa, serving a healthy and
delicious lunch,
and holding a series of fun self-care workshops like a knitting, making
DIY care product
and group acupuncture! Our goal is to reflect on how to politicize
self-care and to give
folks ideas on how to do so care for themselves and others!
10-12 Self-Care workshop by MÈlanie Jubinville-Stafford
- exploring the political nature of self-care & providing participants
with skills and
tools to care for themselves in order to stay healthy, happy and well and
to avoid
destructive and self-destructive habits.
12 - 1:30 Delicious lunch provided by Afghan Women's Catering Group
(http://www.awcg.org/)
1:30 - 3:30 Community Acupuncture workshop by Susanda Yee (www.pokeme.ca)
- providing participants with acupuncture in a community setting
3:30-3:45 Coffee and cookies break
3:45-5:45 Love Yourself workshop by Tracey TieF from Anarres Natural
Health (http://www.anarreshealth.ca/)
- exploring natural sexual health and making your own cocoa butter
6 - 8 Protest Michael Coren at York University
(http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=107755259303669)
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The 7th Annual Israeli Apartheid Week: Institutional Complicity and Campus
Resistance
March 7 - 13, 2011
Toronto, ON
www.apartheidweek.org
8) Tuesday, March 8: Film Screening, "Occupation 101"
2:00 - 4:00 pm
Location: Room 430 (GSA), Student Centre
A thought-provoking and powerful documentary film on the current and
historical root
causes of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Unlike any other film ever
produced on the
conflict -- 'Occupation 101' presents a comprehensive analysis of the
facts and hidden
truths surrounding the never ending controversy and dispels many of its
long-perceived
myths and misconceptions.
The film also details life under Israeli military rule, the role of the
United States
in the conflict, and the major obstacles that stand in the way of a
lasting and viable
peace. The roots of the conflict are explained through first-hand
on-the-ground
experiences from leading Middle East scholars, peace activists,
journalists, religious
leaders and humanitarian workers whose voices have too often been
suppressed in American media outlets.
The film covers a wide range of topics -- which include -- the first wave
of Jewish
immigration from Europe in the 1880's, the 1920 tensions, the 1948 war,
the 1967 war,
the first Intifada of 1987, the Oslo Peace Process, Settlement expansion,
the role of
the United States Government, the second Intifada of 2000, the separation
barrier and
the Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, as well as many heart wrenching
testimonials from
victims of this tragedy.
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Jane Finch Action Against Poverty invites
community residents to a workshop on:
9) Temp Agencies and Immigration Status Workshop
Questions about your rights at work?
Frustrated with temp agency jobs?
Want to know your rights as a migrant or undocumented/non-status worker?
Come to a free discussion and workshop on worker's rights
Presentations by Workers Action Centre and No One Is Illegal
When: Tuesday, March 8, 2011
Time: 6:00 pm
Location: Black Creek Community Health Centre
2nd Floor, Yorkgate Mall
Childcare and TTC tickets available
Dinner will be served
Organized by Jane Finch Action Against Poverty (JFAAP)
In partnership with Workers Action Centre (WAC) and No One Is
Illegal-Toronto (NOII)
For more information, please contact
janefinchactionagainstpoverty at gmail.com
416-760-2677
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10) A group of Parkdale Street Writers will take over the regular Art Bar
Reading Series!
Tuesday, March 8
8:00pm - 10:00pm
at Clintons Bar
693 Bloor St. W., Toronto
FREE!
Come out and hear brief, lovely, heart-breaking, hilarious and bizarre new
poetry by Toronto's young writers!
Hosted by the inimitable Ziadh "Z-Rex" Rabbani!
Line-up includes: Sarah Cram, Fairamay, Dizia Raposo-Ferreira, Irfan Ali,
Dani Mas,
Krystle Mckenzie, Juste Fanou, Lucy Cooper, Michael Healy, Candace Mooers,
Sammy Den,
King, Chanelle Hanlan-Hudson, Jeff Vargas, Sari Star Coggins, Caleb
They will be joined by equally brief, lovely, heart-breaking, hilarious
and bizarre
(older) local writers: Emily Pohl-Weary and Dianah Smith
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11) Field Trip to Judith Butler's: The Cultural and Academic Boycott
Wednesday March 9th
6pm to 9pm
UofT Bahen Centre for Info Tech (Rm1160)
40 St. George Street
CWTP will be organizing a "field trip" to Judith Butler's talk at the 7th
annual Israeli
Apartheid at U of T for those who are going from the York campus. We will
meet up at 6 pm
at the 196 bus stop and the centre will subsidize your transportation
costs. If you are
interested in joining us, rsvp @ cwtpyork at gmail.com or kimcuong at yorku.ca
by next Monday the 7th of March.
All are welcome.
WEDNESDAY, March 9th: The Cultural and Academic Boycott
Speaker: Judith Butler
7:30 - 9:30 PM
Location: University of Toronto, Bahen Centre for Information Technology,
Room 1160, 40 St. George Street.
Hosted by Students Against Israeli Apartheid ñ a working group of
OPIRG-Toronto, Queers Against Israeli Apartheid and Faculty for Palestine
Judith Butler is Maxine Elliot Professor in the Departments of Rhetoric
and Comparative
Literature and the Co-director of the Program of Critical Theory at the
University of
California, Berkeley. She received her Ph.D. in Philosophy from Yale
University in 1984
on the French Reception of Hegel. Judith Butler is the author of Gender
Trouble:
Feminism and the Subversion of Identity (Routledge, 1990), Bodies That
Matter: On the
Discursive Limits of "Sex" (Routledge, 1993), Undoing Gender (2004), Who
Sings the Nation-State?:
Language, Politics, Belonging (with Gayatri Spivak in 2008), Frames of
War: When Is
Life Grievable? (2009). She is also active in gender and sexual politics
and human rights,
anti-war politics, and Jewish Voice for Peace. As well she is founding
member of the
Russell Tribunal for Palestinian Rights and a board member of the Jenin
Theatre.
She is presently the recipient of the Andrew Mellon Award for
Distinguished Academic Achievement in the Humanities.
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12) Tombs of the Vanishing Indian by Marie Clements
Wed March 9th to March 27th
Buddies In bad Times Theatre
142 Alexander St.
Clements fluently tells the immense story of contact through a deeply
personal account
of the lives of three sisters. While each sister essentially raises
herself despite
the effects of separation, adoption, and dislocation, Clements exposes a
history of
relocation, removal and vanishing, while artfully weaving in the hopes of
new beginnings.
Native Earth Performing Arts and red diva projects present
Directed by Yvette Nolan
With Keith Barker, Falen Johnson, Nicole Joy-Fraser, Martin Julien, PJ
Prudat, Michelle St. John and David Storch
Set Design: Jackie Chau
Costume Design: Melanie McNeill
Lighting Design: Michelle Ramsay
Composer/Sound Designer: Jennifer Kreisberg
Sound Design Consultant: Richard Lee
Stage Manager: Sarah O'Brien
Production Manager: Doug Morum
Tickets: $25, PWYC Fridays & Sundays
To purchase: 416.975.8555 or www.totix.ca
www.nativeearth.ca
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13) 52nd Tibetan Uprising Day in Toronto
Thursday March 10th
10am to 2pm
Queen's Park
March 10th 2011: JOIN THE GLOBAL UPRISING FOR TIBET
Join the 52nd Commemoration of the 1959 Tibetan National Uprising
On March 10th, Tibetans and Tibet supporters around the world will take to
the
streets to commemorate the 52nd anniversary of the 1959 Tibetan National
Uprising, that fateful day when thousands of Tibetans in Lhasa, Tibet's
capital,
rose up against China's illegal invasion and occupation of their homeland.
On this
day, Tibetans and Tibet supporters worldwide will take to the streets to
commemorate
Tibetans' courageous resistance to Chinese rule and to demand freedom and
justice
for the Tibetan people. Join us in demonstrating the global strength of the
Tibet movement and to show solidarity with Tibetans inside Tibet.
10:00am: Converge at Queen's Park (TTC Subway Stop: Queen's Park)
11:00am: Begin march (Route: South on University, east on College St,
north on Yonge, west on Bloor, north on St. George)
11:50pm: Rally and speeches at Chinese Consulate (240 St. George)
2:00pm: Tea and refreshments at ëFriends Houseí, 60 Lowther St.
*Please wear traditional Tibetan clothing as a symbol solidarity and
resistance
with Tibetans inside Tibet, and bring any Tibetan flags and placards/signs
Organized by: Canadian Tibetan Association of Ontario, Tibetan Women's
Association,
Tibetan Youth Congress, Chushi Gangdruk, Canada Tibet Committee, &
Students for a Free Tibet Canada
For more information, please contact: lobsang at studentsforafreetibet.org
To learn more about the 1959 Uprising, visit:
http://www.studentsforafreetibet.org/article.php?id=2159
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14) Rally and March against the planned prison expansion and Bill S-10
Thursday March 10th
12pm to 2pm
Old City Hall Courthouse
60 Queen Street West
No More Prisons! No to Mandatory Minimum Sentencing! No to the Targeting
of Our Communities!
We DEMAND the Government Invest in Eliminating Poverty and its' Root
Causes! Invest in Our Communities NOW!
Please Join us on March 10th to confront the Government's planned prison
expansion and their
'anti-crime' legislation! We will be marching from the Old City Hall
Courthouse to other
locations in Toronto central to the prison expans...ion plans to voice our
anger about the
further criminalization of communities in Canada!
As the Conservative government continues to push their ëtough on crimeí
agenda and while the
debate continues over Bill S-10 and other "anti-crime" bill legislation in
Parliament, the
communities of Toronto, in conjunction with other cities, will not remain
silent. We are
here to voice our outrage and disgust at the Conservative agenda! We will
not accept an agenda
that will spend billions of dollars over the next few years on the
expansion of prisons,
diverting these funds from services like health care, education and social
assistance, which
are facing drastic and devastating cuts in the wake of a recession and
brutal austerity measures.
This tougher approach to crime adopted by the Conservatives is akin to
that taken up by America
in recent years, which led to overcrowding in prisons and a recent
repealing of this approach,
due to its obvious failure. Their planned prison expansion will be met by
our anger and protest
over an obvious misuse of public funds and a continuation of the
historical and institutional
oppression of marginalized communities through police violence,
criminalization and over-incarceration.
In Canada, people from Indigenous and racialized communities are the most
targeted and over-
incarcerated groups in the prison industrial complex. The growth of
prisons will only see an
increase in the discrimination, policing and imprisonment of members of
these communities.
Additionally, queer and trans communities, the poor and homeless,
drug-users, non-status people,
sex workers, people living with HIV/AIDS and those with disabilities and
perceived mental
health issues are targets for police violence, mistreatment and
repression. They face a
heightened risk of incarceration as well. The planned prison expansion
will have serious
consequences for many communities and people in our city.
Though the numbers continue to fluctuate, this expansion has an estimated
5 billion
dollar price tag per year, and will total a 9 billion dollar expenditure
before itís
finished. The Conservative government refuses to listen to reason and look
at the facts
laid out before them. Experts in the field, including researchers and
academics,
have spoken out against the development of these ësuper prisonsí.
Community organizers
like us, who witness the over-incarceration and criminalization of many
communities in
this city, are vehemently opposed to increasing prisons and the
continuation of the
prison industrial complex. Instead of developing programs that work through a
restorative justice model, that consider alternatives in incarceration
(which are also
less costly), the Conservative government wants to put more and more
people in prisons,
at a cost of anywhere from $88,000- $250,000 per prisoner every year.We
demand that all
members of Parliament defeat all the new ëanti-crimeí bills proposed by
the Conservatives,
conscious of the fact that this tactic of fighting crime has proven
unsuccessful in America.
We are speaking out at this particular moment to oppose the Conservative
governmentís push
to enact legislation that will put their prison expansion to use. Bill
S-10 is currently
being debated in the House of Commons and, if passed, would implement
mandatory minimum
sentences for minor drug offences. Mandatory Minimums were also put in
place in the U.S,
where they proved to be unsuccessful in combating the War on Drugs. The
construction of
new prisons, while crime, and specifically violent crime, has been
steadily decreasing
over the past ten years, is a ludicrous idea. The severity of the majority
of crimes has
lessened. Both the property crime rate and the youth crime rate have also
dropped.
We know that this is a waste of taxpayerís money and a waste of financial
resources
that could be allocated to more important needs. Opposing MPS are also
beginning to
realize, and a serious debate over Bill S-10, and the Conservative
approach to Crime
and Punishment, has begun.
The Prison Moratorium Action Coalition
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15) Thursday March 10th - Two Toronto Events with Kolya Abramsky, editor of
Sparking A Worldwide Energy Revolution: Social Struggles in the
Transition to a Post-Petrol World
As the world's energy system faces a period of unprecedented change, a
global struggle is intensifying over who controls this sector, and for
what purposes. The question of "green capitalism" is unavoidable for
capitalist planners and anti-capitalist struggles alike. From all sides
we hear that it's time to save the planet in order to save the economy,
but what lies before us is the next round of global class struggle with
energy at the center, as the key means of production and subsistence.
Please join us for Kolya Abramsky, editor of the new
anthology, ìSparking A Worldwide Energy Revolution: Social Struggles in
the Transition to a Post-Petrol Worldî for a FREE
Workshop on ìRenewable Energies, Capitalist Crisis and Class
Struggles: the View from the Global Southî
12:30pm-3:00pm, York University Student Centre, Room 313. (Sponsored by
OPIRG York)
Kolya Abramsky is a former visiting fellow at the Institute of Advanced
Studies in Science, Technology and Society, in Graz, Austria, where he
received the Manfred-Heindler Award for Energy and Climate Change
Research, and in 2006 was coordinator of the Danish-based World Wind
Energy Institute, an international effort in non-commercial renewable
energy education, involving different renewable energy centers from
around the world. Abramsky has worked for over a decade with a range of
grassroots social and environmental organizations around the world doing
educational work, international mobilizations, publications and
translations. He is currently coordinating Towards a Worldwide Energy
Revolution, a global project that aims to bring together people from a
wide range of organizations and struggles to build long term alliances
in order to prepare for an anti-capitalist transition to a new energy
system.
More information about the book ìSparking A Worldwide Energy Revolutionî
There are no easy answers in this battle for control of the world's
energy system. ìSparking A Worldwide Energy Revolutionî is not a book of
sound bites. It unpacks the seemingly innocent terms "energy sector" and
"energy system" by situating the current energy crisis, peak oil, and
the transition to a post-petrol future within a historical understanding
of the global, social, economic, political, financial, military, and
ecological relations of which energy and technology are parts.
With over fifty chapters written by contributors from approximately
twenty countries, /Sparking A Worldwide Energy Revolution/ forms a
collective map of the most dynamic struggles within the energy sector.
Visit:
www.akpress.org/2009/items/sparkingaworldwideenergyrevolution
<http://www.akpress.org/2009/items/sparkingaworldwideenergyrevolution>
This event is sponsored by OPIRG York (www.opirgyork.ca
<http://www.opirgyork.ca>
<http://www.opirgyork.ca>) OPIRG Toronto (www.opirgtoronto.org
<http://www.opirgtoronto.org>
<http://www.opirgtoronto.org/>
and Upping the Anti: A journal of theory and action
(www.uppingtheanti.org)
For more information please email uppingtheanti at gmail.com
<mailto:uppingtheanti at gmail.com>
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16) York's Complicity in Apartheid: Art, Culture, and Resistance
Thursday, March 10
Speakers: John Greyson, Paul Kellogg, and SAIA
Location: Student Centre: Room 307
7:00 - 9:00 pm
Paul Kellogg is an assistant professor in the Master of Arts Integrated
Studies
program at Athabasca University in Alberta. He received his Ph.D. (in
Political
Studies) from Queen's University, and his M.A. (in Political Science) from
York
University. While an undergraduate at York, he spent one year as editor of
Excalibur. He has published articles in various journals including the
Canadian Journal of Political Science, Contemporary Politics (U.K.),
The International Journal of Zizek Studies, New Political Science (U.S.),
and Political Studies (U.K.).
John Greyson is a Toronto video artist/filmmaker whose features, shorts and
installations include Fig Trees (Best Documentary Teddy, Berlin Film
Festival, 2009),
Proteus (Diversity Award, Barcelona Gay Lesbian Film Festival, 2004), and
Lilies
(Best Film 'Genie', 1996). An associate professor in Film at York University,
he was awarded the 2007 Bell Canada Award in Video Art.
-------------------------------------------------------------
17) Human rights violations and the pursuit of profit
Friday March 11th
7pm to 9pm
Beit Zatoun
612 Markham Street
Human Right Violations and the pursuit of Profit
CANADA/HONDURAS - Free Trade Agreement
Public forum on the role of the Canadian Government in undermining human
and civil rights through its free trade agenda.
Featuring special guest speakers:
BERTHA OLIVA
An award winning Honduran human rights defender whose life was forever
changed with the
kidnapping and forced disappearance of her husband Tomas NativÌ in June
1981. Ms. Oliva
was a founding member, and is currently General Coordinator, of the
Honduran Committee of
the Families of the Detained and Disappeared, COFADEH based in
Tegucigalpa. She is the
recipient of several international awards including the IPS
Letelier-Moffitt Human Rights
Award, and the Human Rights Tulip in the Netherlands.
PEDRO LANDA
Coordinator of the Honduran Centre for the Promotion of Community
Development (CEHPRODEC)
and a member of the Honduran Agrarian Platform. An historian, philosopher
and social analyst,
Mr. Landa served as Deputy Director of Caritas Tegucigalpa between 1991
and June 2010, where
he developed programs aimed at combating poverty and corruption, and
promoting and
defending the rights of vulnerable sectors of the population. His work
also includes
documenting the environmental impacts of the San Martin Mine a project
operated by
Canadian mining giant Goldcorp in Honduras' Siria Valley.
Opening Remarks by Todd Gordon: Professor of Political Science - York
University, author of "Imperialist Canada"
ORGANIZED BY: Latin American and Caribbean Solidarity Network-Honduras
Working Group,
Pubic Service Alliance of Canada-PSAC.
SPONSORS: Americas Policy Group, Common Frontiers, CUPE
Ontario-International Solidarity
Committee, Development and Peace-Toronto Archdiocesan Council, Latin
American Trade
Unionist Coalition-LATUC, Ontario Secondary School Teachers'
Federation-OSSTF, Ontario
Public Service Employees Union-OPSEU, Toronto and York Region Labour
Council, Workers
Assembly-International Solidarity Committee.
---
Need to know:
- Doors open at 6:45
- Free
- Sorry, not wheelchair accessible
-------------------------------------------------------------
18) The Great NDN Bus Tour
Sunday March 13th
10am to 1pm
The Native Canadian Centre of Toronto
16 Spadina Road
what is the difference between this toronto tour
and "other" toronto tours?
Answer = over 11 000 YEARS!
Particular ideologies are born from the ecosystems of particular places.
Do you know the cultural geography / Indigenous history, of here?
Join us and discover the narratives of this land
Tickets are $20
BUS DEPARTS @ 12-3 PM (for some reason i cant change the time of event-above)
STAY TUNED TO THIS PAGE FOR UPDATES
***Confirmation of your seat is only available upon receipt of cash
payment.***
Payments can be made in person
at The Native Canadian Centre of Toronto (front desk / reception)
starting March 4th
call 416 964 9087 x 326
for more information ask for Tannis Nielsen
SPONSORED BY
The One Nation in Unity Youth Program @ the Native Canadian Centre of
Toronto (see link)
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=100658280106&ref=ts and
Israeli-Aparthied Week.(I.A.W)
--------------------------------------------------------
19) Film Screening: Cultures of Resistance
Wednesday March 23rd
2:30pm to 5:30pm
Location TBA
CONGO RESEARCH GROUP presents a film screening of CULTURES OF RESISTANCE*
Also, speaker Kambale Musavuli via Skype from Friends of the Congo.
Film Synopsis
Does each gesture really make a difference? Can music and dance be weapons
of peace?
In 2003, on the eve of the Iraq war, director Iara Lee embarked on a
journey to better
understand a world increasingly embroiled in conflict and, as she saw it,
heading for
self-destruction. After several years, travelling over five continents,
Iara encountered
growing numbers of people who committed their lives to promoting change.
This is their story. From IRAN, where graffiti and rap became tools in
fighting
government repression, to BURMA, where monks acting in the tradition of
Gandhi take
on a dictatorship, moving on to BRAZIL, where musicians reach out to slum
kids and
transform guns into guitars, and ending in PALESTINIAN refugee camps in
LEBANON,
where photography, music, and film have given a voice to those rarely
heard, CULTURES OF
RESISTANCE explores how art and creativity can be ammunition in the battle
for peace and justice.
Featuring: MedellÌn poets for peace, Capoeira masters from Brazil, Niger
Delta militants,
Iranian graffiti artists, womenís movement leaders in Rwanda, Lebanonís
refugee filmmakers,
U.S. political pranksters, indigenous KayapÛ activists from the Xingu
River, Israeli dissidents,
hip-hop artists from Palestine, and many more...
Cultures of Resistance Trailer:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nptGxlSFxY4
More on Cultures of Resistance: http://films.culturesofresistance.org/about
Congo Research Group @ York U:
http://www.facebook.com/home.php?sk=group_172203516137298
Kambale Musavuli from Friends of the Congo:
http://www.facebook.com/kambalemusavuli
Imperialist Canada book:
http://arbeiterring.com/books/detail/imperialist-canada/See More
----------------------------------------------------------------
20)
Call for submissions: Online and printed zine about dealing with
body/hair/size/fat phobia for and by Indigenous peoples, Black peoples and
people of colour.
THIS IS OUR ZINE!!!!!!!!!
Deadline: February 28th 2011
For far too long, Ive have been made to always question my body. Always
made to feel like if I waxed my sideburns/shaved my legs/signed up for
weightwatchers/stopped eating so much roti/bannock/doughgots, that I would
live up to the potential of how beautiful I could be. I have learnt that
these issues not only represent a complex fear of hair or fat, but is also
emblematic of what my body represents as a queer brown body, constantly
threatening whiteness, conformity and concepts of beauty that idealize
skinny, hairless, colonized white bodies; among many other things. The
internalized hate and racism that our communities and peoples have is
destroying us, forcing us to dislike and alter our bodies, putting it
through further violence and trauma.
As I have been attempting to work through this, I have had the honour of
meeting so many beautiful Indigenous people and people of colour who
constantly work hard at breaking down these ideas, who survive, love
themselves and each other everyday for who they are. We need to share our
struggles and triumphs; we need to know we arent alone in this. There are
many people who have stories, facts, advice and successes on these issues
to share with others.
For these reasons and more, with consultation from many over the past two
years, I (and a collective of my friends) want to put together this zine
for Indigenous people, Black peoples and people of colour to share, read,
write, listen, learn, realize, question and start a path to working
towards realizing how sexy and beautiful we already are.
Who? Self-identified Indigenous peoples, Black peoples and people of
colour*, mixed race people* who have something to say about
fat/size/hair/body image shit. (Im talking about size, hair (both body
and on your head) and anything else that affects your body/self
love/ability to love others.
What? Submit art, writing, prose, poetry, essays, collages, lyrics,
photos, stuff youve created that can be put in a zine (online) and
photocopied to give out in printed copies.
Why? We need to address size/fat/hair phobia and our bodies, colonization,
histories and provide resources and support for each other.
How? Please send all submissions to thisisourzine at gmail.com with
SUBMISSION as the subject. If it cant be emailed, email us and we will
figure out a way to get your work submitted.
*= its important to remember how complex categories of race, sexuality,
gender and identity are, and when I say self-identified Indigenous people,
Black peoples and people of colour and mixed race people, I mean that if
you identify as a person of colour or Indigenous person, but may not
necessarily present phenotypically as a person of colour, we want you to
submit to the zine.
Obviously we all have different experiences/understandings of how race,
body image, sexuality, gender, ability, class, eating disorders,
geography, status, etc. etc. come together and shape how we understand
these issues, which will be an important string throughout this zine.
About me:
You are probably wondering: who is this random person wanting me to share
my work with them? Good question. My name is Aruna, I am a 23 year old
fat brown woman identified first generation settler that is living on the
occupied lands of the Mississaugas of New Credit. I went to Queens
University in Kingston, but am now back living with my parents in
Scarborough; and this is my first zine ever, and think that this topic is
incredibly important and something that people need to start talking about
with each other. Im not claiming ownership over this and want this to be
a collective/loving/healing process with everyone involved. I have a lot
of issues around my weight and in the process of trying to look for
something to comfort and help me work through my shit, I never found
anything useful. I think a project like this, if done properly will be
useful to lots of people in a similar situation. Ive also asked a bunch
of awesome people to be part of a collective to make this zine happen!
About us:
We are a collective of Indigenous people, Black people and people of
colour but our identities and humanness are of course much more complex.
We came together to eat and share our stories through this zine for many
reasons: to celebrate the good stuff as a testimony to our beauty and
intelligence. To be heard, reclaim and take up space, to discuss how white
supremacy and colonialism play out on our bodies, to continue this work
for the next 7 generations, to break isolation, to talk to each other
not just to whiteness to show our mothers and to deal with our shit and
show real fucking solidarity.
Remember! Deadline is February 28th 2011, all submissions and inquiries
about submissions should be relayed to thisisourzine at gmail.com
In your submission, please include:
- Your name (or name you want to be published)
- RELIABLE Contact information (in case we need to talk to you about your
work)
- A brief (50-100 word) bio or description of who you are/what you do,
etc. (if you want to include it)
- Please make sure all attachments are either in PDF, JPEG, Word, RTF, BMP
or any other compatible program.
- Your piece/submission should be in an attachment, not copy/pasted into
the email. (If you have trouble with attachments, email us for help!)
Want to submit? Get involved in the planning/making of the zine?
Wanna start a larger group out of this?
Got concerns, questions, etc?
Email us at thisisourzine at gmail.com to talk and if youd like to get
involved.
-----------------------------------------------
Here are some points to get you thinking about the issues I feel could be
repped in this zine. A couple of points have been borrowed from another
callout for Occupied bodies by Tasha Fierce that I felt was relevant to
our zine.
These are merely some starting questions, submissions should in no way
feel limited to this:
- How do you embrace/love your body?
- What tips do you have to lessen the blows from people who hate on your
fat/hair/self
- How is loving your body an act of sovereignty or decolonization (if at
all)?
- Has your self-esteem/dislike of your body hurt your sex life? How does
it stop you from exploring yourself or new partners because of fear of
rejection?
- How does being mixed race affect your body image and how you see
yourself? How are you excluded from these discussions because of being
mixed race?
- Does the hair and fat phobic ways of the porn industry make you angry?
- What images of yourself were instilled in you by your
parents/guardians/other family members when you were a young child?
- If youre queer or two-spirit, how has being two-spirit or queer of
color affected your self-image and how you desire your partner to look?
- How has your gender (whatever that may be) affected how you understand
your body, or how you have been forced to see your body?
- If youve had partners who were also Indigenous or of colour, did/do you
gaze upon them with the same critical eye you reserve for yourself? Why or
why not?
- Have you ever worried that your choice of partners reflected negative
understandings of your own bodies/self?
- If youre a Trans people of colour or Indigenous person, how was your
perception of your gender identity shaped? How has your self/body image
changed over the years and have there been any other shifts in your
thinking about your self/body image?
- How has ability and access affected your image? Affected how you love
yourself?
- What positive or negative encounters with adults as a child helped shape
that image?
- How has your body image/size phobia issues been treated in the medical
field? How has mental health played a part in it?
- What connections do you see between colonialism and your body?
- If you werent born on or feel connection to Turtle Island/occupied
lands that we call North America, how has the place you came
from/identify with determined your ideas around your body?
- How did the media you consumed as a child/teen shape your body/self
image today? How does it complicate it? How does the media you consume NOW
affect your body/self image?
- How did pressure from family and friends affect the way you perceived
yourself after you were old enough to take care of yourself?
- How did you feel about societal beauty and body standards as a teen? Did
you rebel, or conform by any means necessary to avoid confrontation?
- How has the globalization and dissemination of the Western beauty ideal
affected you and Indigenous peoples/people of colour worldwide?
- Debunk this: in some cultures they ______, deconstructing a commonly
held belief about an ethnic groups relation to body (such as the black
community supposedly being OK with fat).
The list goes on and on and is by no means complete
email us for more help
if needed
More information about the Opirgyork
mailing list