[opirgyork] DisOrientation 2011 starts TODAY!

[aruna at opirgyork.ca]

It's HERE!

DisOrientation 2011 At York University starts TODAY!
Have you checked out the amazing line up of FREE workshops, panel
discussions, film screenings that promise to be eye opening and exciting?

If you haven't - check the full schedule below or go to
www.opirgyork.ca/node/151 or find us on Facebook at OPIRG York or
DisOrientation 2011

See you at DisOrientation!

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////////////////DISORIENTATION 2011\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\

September 22 to September 30th 2011

WORKSHOPS/ DIRECT ACTION/ FILM SCREENINGS/ PANELS
ALL WELCOME/ ALL EVENTS FREE/PWYC & WHEELCHAIR ACCESSIBLE

DisOrientation is a radically different, politically progressive week of
events that will offer all students and community members access,
critical thought and insight into the exciting and political social
justice spheres that exist within and beyond York U.

*Thursday September 22*

“Radical Walking Tour”
12pm – 1:30pm
Meet in front of commons fountain
Tour Guide: Imran Kaderdina
This political history tour attempts to get you on your way to uncovering
and developing a historical knowledge of York. York has, is and always
will be a contestable space, and is a space that will always need to be
fought over. As members of York’s community we are responsible for the
actions of the University and holding the University accountable for its
actions. Building resistance to inequities produced by and through the
university cannot spring from nowhere. The history of successful
resistance at York goes back before the first buildings were built or the
York University Act was introduced in 1959. Contemporary campaigns,
actions, coalitions, and solidarities can be built on this tradition– or
historical memory – of resistance and political organization. The tour
guides will provide you with a brief history of political actions on
campus to help you better understand the politics of education at York
University and better strengthen historical memory. The tour will take
about 1.5 hours.

“It get’s worse” Teach In - POSTPONED UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE
2pm – 3pm
Meet at Vari Hall for location
Facilitated by CWTP at York

This teach-in is intended to provide students with an opportunity to
discuss violence on campus and to learn skills to fight back against the
misogyny pervading our campus. Using the notion that violence gets worse
when it goes unaddressed, the “It Gets Worse” campaign seeks to interrupt
the apathy surrounding the alarmingly high number of gendered-based
violent incidents occurring on campus and in particular to highlight the
administration’s failure to properly address it. In addition to giving
folks an opportunity to speak out against violence and the
administration’s complacency, the teach-in is intended to teach folks
basic self-defense skills, inspire resistance and remind us all of our
ability to fight back as a community. We also plan on using the event to
launch a year long, multifaceted campaign to take back our campus and
confront the culture of gendered violence that currently characterizes
this institution.

“Freedom Tour Movie Screening”
3:30pm - 4:30pm
Student Centre RM 307
Film Screening and discussion facilitated by: DAMN

Freedom Tour was created by People First of Canada and the NFB. The
documentary was created when the government of Manitoba announced $40
Million to remake the Manitoba Development Centre – The largest
institution in Manitoba for people who have been labeled as disabled. The
film documents their journey across the Prairie Provinces to contact
survivors of the institution and to allow them to tell their stories of
life in the institution through their stories, pictures and video. After
the screening there will be a facilitated discussion to talk about the
history of disabled institutionalization in Canada.

“Tar Sands Kill, Pipelines Spill”
5:00pm - 6:30pm
Student Centre RM. 307

In April 2011, the Lubicon Cree First Nation community of Little Buffalo
in Alberta was devastated by an oil spill - the largest spill in the
province since 1975 - and over 100 forest fires in the Slave Lake region.
Oil and gas development has caused irreversible ecological damage on their
territory, grave health hazards, and the ongoing violation of their human
and indigenous rights. This workshop will share the history of oil and gas
development on Lubicon territory over the past 3 decades, the impacts of
the recent oil spill, other examples of community resistance to tar sands,
and the unprecedented social and ecological implications of tar sands
developments. Finally, we will discuss as a group how we can show
solidarity and support to tar sands-impacted communities, including Little
Buffalo, from Toronto.

*Friday September 23rd*

“Vegetarianism as an avenue for social justice”
12pm – 1pm
Student Centre RM 307
Facilitated by the Toronto Vegetarian Association

As a two-part workshop, we begin by motivating a vegetarian diet through a
discussion of food security. The second part will be centered on leading a
vegetarian diet at York, with recipes and tips and tricks.

“Queering Pop Culture”
1:30pm – 3pm
Student Centre RM 307

Pop culture surrounds *us* in ways that we can’t control. From billboards, to
pop-ups on the websites we surf, or in the public bathrooms we use. With
some magazines, a button maker and lots of DIY attitude the presenters
would like to
examine the possibilities of not just consuming these pop culture
products, but really transgressing the buyer-seller (consumer-producer)
relationship and reconstructing these images and texts into queer, queer
positive, trans, gender dichotomy transgressive, and sex positive texts
that intersect with and deconstruct race, religious or class differences.
Buttons are an amazing way to create visibility and altering public space;
while creating and reinforcing identity categories. Come out and enjoy an
interactive workshop where we can all learn to produce creative and unique
buttons. We will be discussing the process of making the buttons, the
merits of such buttons and the assumptions we make about these buttons,
and culture in general.

“Art for Justice 101 (workshop)”
3pm – 6pm
Student Centre RM. 430

Art For Justice is a new working group of OPIRG-York that aims to bring a
radical and progressive approach to art-making within student and
community organizing. We utilize different sorts of art not only to
provide materials for movement, but also as a movement itself. Art For
Justice 101 workshop is the first workshop of the group that will provide
participants with basic knowledge of banner-making, silk-screening, and
stenciling among many other do-it-yourself of art techniques. This will
also be an opportunity to discuss and envision the ways art can bring
change at York.

All materials and supplies will provided, but feel free to bring your own.
Bring any shirts and fabrics that you would like to use for
silk-screening.

*Monday September 26th*

“Bathroom Politics”
12:30-2:30pm
Student Centre RM 307
Facilitated workshop/discussion/direct action by DAMN

Public Washrooms are spaces where many assumptions of “normalcy” are
played out. Typically, public washrooms are designed with cis-gendered,
gender-conforming, non-disabled persons in mind. In this event we will
discuss who is included and excluded from using public washrooms and then
lead an art-activism exercise to challenge the assumptions that are made
about washroom space. Finally, our art creations will be placed in and
around washrooms on campus in order to provoke thought and dialogue to the
broader campus community.

“Media Advancing Movements”
2:30pm -5:30pm
Student Centre RM 307
Facilitated by: CHRY FM

Understanding how media creates and promotes systems of oppression is key
to also understanding how it can also be used to embody and promote the
values of liberation. This workshop encourages participants to consider
various impacts that media has had on them personally as well as on social
movements in the 20th century. This workshop is interactive and hands-on!

“Movement, poetry, soundscape workshop”
6pm – 8pm
Student Centre RM. 307
Facilitated by: R3 Artists collective

R3 artists collective with collaborator Murr from the band lal, will
present a 2.5 hour workshop that centres around the theme of
decolonization and ancestry. This will be a soundscape, spoken-word and
poetry workshop where the participants will create and record a collective
piece of poetry / spoken word , layered over an instrumental song that
will be created and recorded collectively. There will be an introduction
to movement through various warmup exercises that will also add to the
energy of the piece created. The hope is to conduct several workshops
throughout the year around sound, poetry, movement and mural making at
York University so that each workshop will create pieces that will work
together to create one multi-arts piece, that then can be presented at the
end of the workshops and / or documented.

*Tuesday September 27th*

“Fabric of Violence: Fabricating Change”
12pm – 2:30pm
Student Centre RM 322
Facilitated by THRIVE: Multicultural women against violence and oppression

**THIS WORKSHOP IS FOR WOMEN AND TRANS IDENTIFIED PEOPLE ONLY**

Fabric of Violence: Fabricating Change, uses fabric to create and engage
in discussions around issues of violence, freedom through women and trans
people’s lived experiences. The workshop will include both a section for
discussion and art making. In addition, participants will be able to
choose if they would like their artwork that they created to be displayed
at a gallery in Toronto on the first day of the days of activism on
November 25th 2011. Wheelchair accessible, TTC tokens and Snacks provided.

“The Struggle for Genuine Women’s Liberation in Canada”
2:30pm – 4:30pm
Student Centre RM 313
Facilitated by: Ugnayan ng Kabaatang Pilipino sa Canada/Filipino Canadian
Youth Alliance-Ontario

This event will expose the anti-woman, anti-worker and racist Live-in
Caregiver Program (LCP), a federal government program being used as the
de-facto national childcare program of Canada. It will feature two
documentary films, ‘The Nanny Business’ and ‘The Call to Scrap the LCP’.
The first film will show the plight of women who toil under this
modern-day slavery program. The second film will present the analysis of
progressive Filipino Canadian women on the need to scrap the LCP towards
genuine women’s liberation.

A public forum will follow after the film screening.

“Students in the labour movement, a pivotal moment”
4:30pm – 5:30pm
Student Centre RM 313

With overbearing costs of education downloaded onto students, alongside
austerity measures that continue to attack quality jobs, it is imperative
for students and workers to connect their struggles. Many students also
experience forms of mistreatment as workers themselves, while workers on
campus are fragmented and face substandard conditions. This workshop will
explore coalition strategies between students and workers and ways of
mobilizing around issues that affect both groups.

“Take it over: The ballot box, the streets and beyond”
5:30pm - 6:30pm
Student Centre RM 307
Facilitated by: York Federation of Students

Whether its slash-and-burn politics at city hall or the skyrocketing costs
of attending college and university, it is becoming more and more evident
that communities must take action to ignite change. Whether it’s
government and public institutions who are willfully ignorant to the
social, economic and political ills that face us all, our collective
mobilization by and for our communities. This workshop starts from the
assumption that communities must organize to take back what is rightfully
theirs: from the October 6 provincial elections, to deep cuts at city
hall, to the February 1 National Day of Action to Drop Fees, participants
will discuss why communities must begin to “Take It Over” and how we can
do it!

*Wednesday September 28th*

“Sex work decrim: get the facts”
12:30pm-2:30pm
Student Centre RM 313

In this workshop we will explore the difference between the legalization
and decriminalization of sex work. Looking at current by laws and
licensing structures that exist in other sectors of the sex trade we will
develop an understanding of what decriminalization could look like in
Toronto, it’s impact on diverse groups of sex workers, and ways we can
support groups lead by sex workers who wish to take the lead on policy
development. We will also provide an understanding of decrim models that
currently exist in other countries and give an update on the outcome of
the Bedford appeal hearing that happened throughout the week of June 13th.

“CHRY Community Radio tour”
2:30 – 3pm
Student Centre RM 449C
Facilitated by: CHRY 105.5FM

Did you know CHRY 105.5FM Community Radio is based at York U’s Student
Centre?
Did you know you can be a part of it? CHRY offers the sounds, voices,
music and stories left out of commercial or public radio, and offers
hands-on-training to all volunteers. Come to see the CHRY studios for
yourself and meet the programmers and staff that make up north Toronto’s
only campus-based community radio station.

“No one is illegal: The truth and lies about Canadian immigration”
3pm – 5pm
Student Centre RM 313
Facilitated by: No One Is Illegal (NOII)

Some believe that the Canadian immigration system is fair and generous. It
isn’t. And Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Immigration Minister Jason
Kenney are swiftly making it even worse. Come find the truth about
undocumented people living in Canada, and how Canada is responsible for
displacing people around the world. Learn how a grassroots group of
migrant justice organizers are fighting against deportations, and for
justice, freedom and dignity for all. With special guests and videos.
http://on.fb.me/NOIIToronto

“Indigenous Resistances and anti-colonial solidarity: Examining race of
the Left in Occupied Canada”
6pm-8pm
Student Centre RM 313
Facilitated by: First Nations Solidarity Working Group

This panel will host Indigenous activists from Toronto and the Grand River
Territory, along with Indigenous solidarity activists of color. Addressing
issues of ongoing colonial/racial violence(s), the panel will work to
underline the need for all movements of the Left to begin with an
understanding of Canada as an occupied land. Speakers will discus Canada's
practices of colonial and racial violence against Indigenous peoples, and
will highlight Indigenous struggles against colonialism and for self
determination/sovereignty. We will also hear from settler allies who will
describe their involvement in Indigenous solidarity work and anti-colonial
struggles. Reflecting on the current state of Indigenous solidarity
organizing, issues of colonialism, (hetero)patriarchy and racism within
the movement will be explored. Presentations by speakers will be followed
by a moderated discussion, and members of CUPE 3903 FNSWG will discuss
their own organizing work.

*Thursday September 29th*

“Wen-do Women’s Self Defense”
1pm – 2pm
Student Centre RM 313
Facilitated by: Wen-Do Women’s Self Defense and CWTP at York

We recognize that women and girls already have a wealth of experience in
protecting their own safety. We believe that women and trans people can
use their bodies effectively, as they are -- older or younger, athletic or
not, disabled or non-disabled -- to resist or defuse violent situations.
We aim to build on participants' prior knowledge and increase their
self-confidence by teaching a variety of awareness, avoidance and verbal
self- defense strategies, and simple, practical physical techniques that
are designed to be effective even against a larger and stronger attacker.
The space is wheelchair accessible and TTC tokens will be provided.

"People's Journalism, building an alternative to capitalist media"
2:30pm to 4:30pm
Student Centre RM 313
Facilitated by: BASICS Free Community Newsletter

We know what capitalist media isn't focusing on internationally. But we
sometimes forget what's happening right here in Toronto, in working class
and racialized communities: Police brutality, the struggles of immigrants
-- and the struggles they leave back at home, class war against working
people through cuts, women's struggles, racialized workers being
super-exploited in low paying jobs, the ongoing colonization of indigenous
peoples, and so on. But how do we cover all that? How do we try to build
an alternative to capitalist media in the absence of funds? Get a brief
introduction to people's journalism and learn about the different ways you
can get involved with BASICS.

“York Divest from Israeli Apartheid NOW!”
5pm-7pm
Student Centre RM 313
Facilitated: Students Against Israeli Apartheid at York

Students Against Israeli Apartheid (SAIA) presents a workshop introducing
SAIA and the global Boycotts, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement in
solidarity with Palestine. Attendees will be provided with context of the
Palestinian struggle for self-determination and the history that led
Palestinians to call for BDS. We will focus on the divestment campaign
that was launched this past March. This interactive workshop will
introduce the divestment campaign and how York is violating international
law with their investments in the targeted companies. Learn the truth
about Palestine, BDS and find out how to join the growing movement.

*Friday September 30th*

“A Tribe Called Two Toes/Electric Pow Wow feat LAL and Sho Sho Esquiro
Fashion Show”
8pm – 3am
The Orange Room - 132 Queens Quay East
19+ Event
Pay What You Can!

A Tribe Called Two Toes: is a collaborative touring effort featuring one
of the most exciting music crews in Indian Country – A Tribe Called Red &
the fastest rising Native Comedian working in North America today – Ryan
McMahon (Clarence Two Toes). Together, they’ve formed a new collective
called, “A Tribe Called Two Toes”.
Bursting forth from Canada’s capital, native DJ crew A Tribe Called Red is
making an impact on the global electronic scene with a truly unique sound.
Made up of three members – two-time Canadian DMC Champion DJ Shub, DJ NDN
and Bear Witness – the group has created a signature style called Pow Wow
Step, a mix of traditional Pow Wow vocals and drumming with cutting-edge
electronic music. They’re known for creating and running the Electric Pow
Wow events in Ottawa which showcased native DJ talent and urban aboriginal
culture, alongside a wild party. These events, in a sense, are a direct
continuation of the ideas surrounding Pow Wow culture, bringing people
together to celebrate good music, dance, and most of all to have a good
time.

LAL: Vocalist and poet Rosina Kazi and producer Murr, began collaborating
on music as LAL in 1998, mucking about with tones of gear and wild
poetics. In the early 00’s, they created two politically charged
critically-acclaimed albums, Corners (2002) and Warm Belly, High Power
(2004). the latter earning them the distinction of ‘2004’s Best Soul
Album’ by Canadian music bible Exclaiim! Magazine. They have had extensive
radio play on CBC, campus radio and many of their songs appear in Indie
media, films and documentaries, including radio show and online site,
Democracy Now.
Their newest recording self-titled LAL (to be released Fall 2011), is
inspired by the projections of their hopes and their fears into the
future. Their fears being that if we as a society keep going along the
road we are currently on, we will end up in a very scary place. But their
hopes keep their fears in check, and their faith is rock solid in the
ability of the human spirit to keep creating midst of struggle. Their
dynamic live show is a testament to the glorious exploration of the depths
of humanism - building community while ripping apart words, notes, and
rhythms, eyes open to the injustice that burrows deep into the fabric of
society, and hearts burning with the fire of justice for all.

sho sho esquire: is an Aboriginal fashion designer, artist, and youth
worker whose passion is for self-expression through art and fashion. Her
clothing has innovative style that blends Native American culture with
urban life. Her use of vibrant colors and strong passion for hip hop make
her work one of a kind. sho sho incorporates recycled fabrics, leathers,
furs and every piece is original. Her custom clothing has been worn by
various hip hop artist's from Immortal Technique to Indian rights activist
and singer song writer Buffy Sainte Marie. sho shos been featured in
fashion shows and fashion exhibits across north america.

////////////////DISORIENTATION 2011\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\

Is brought to you by: OPIRG at York, The Aboriginal Student Association at
York University., The Centre for Women and Trans People at York University
and The York Federation of Students

All Welcome! All events are free/pwyc and wheelchair accessible.

For childcare and Accessibility inquiries please email aruna at opirgyork.ca
For more information about OPIRG and DisOrientation: www.opirgyork.ca