[opirgyork] OPIRG York New Board + Amazing Upcoming Events!

[OPIRG York]

Hi Everyone,

First of all, a BIG CONGRATULATIONS to our *New Board for the 2013-14 Year*.
The New Board members are:


Aysha Syed

Mariful Alam

Aaliya Khan

Roxanna Monfaredi

Arshia Lakhani

Mahmoud Rakha

Jared Anderson

Alannah Glintz

Now please check out the AMAZING line-up of upcoming events- both at York
and in the area, and in the wider Toronto community!!
Also good luck to everyone writing exams and last minute papers.

-OPIRG York
--
www.opirgyork.ca
416-736-5724
opirg at yorku.ca



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*In this email:*
*
*
*YORK NEWS*

*(1) April 12-13: **Ghadar Movement: A Living History*
*(2) April 16: ❛IN THE MOOD…❜*
*(3) ONGOING: CHRY 105.5 Summer 2013 Internships*
*(4) ONGOING: **VOLUNTEERS NEEDED: MayDay Special Programming CHRY*
*(5) ONGOING: SOCIAL JUSTICE FILMMAKING THIS MAY...*
 *
*
*COMMUNITY NEWS*

*(1) April 12: Rally at Finance Minister Charles Sousa's Office in
Mississauga South (with a bus from Toronto)*
*(2) April 12: Crisis of the Afrikan Canadian Intellectual: Taking Up Space
or Agent of Revolution?*
*(3) April 13: The Contested City: Radical Perspectives on Gentrification*
*(4) April 16: A Threat to Toronto: The Ontario Government's Plan for the
Pickering Nuclear Station*
*(5) April 17: CRIMINALIZATION OF DISSENT Land Defenders, Human Rights and
Political Activists are imprisoned!*
*(6) April 19-21: WPIRG’s 2013 School of Public Interest Conference:
Engendering Resistance*
*(7) April 21: Labour Imperialism: The Challenges in Building International
Labour Solidarity*
*(8) April 21-22: Mangos with Chili: the floating cabaret of two spirit,
trans and queer people of color*
*(9) April 21: Building a Solidarity City: Steps Forward*
*(10) April 25: **Whose Borders? Panel and Coffee Table Discussion*
*(11) May 1: #May1TO, May Day: Solidarity City! Status for All! Decolonize
Now! *
*(12) May 1: Resistance in Jane & Finch - MayWorks Festival*

*YORK NEWS*

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*Ghadar Movement: A Living History*

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*Facebook:* https://www.facebook.com/events/164008907090706/?ref=2

*Date & **Time:* Friday, April 12 at 10:00am until Saturday April 13 at
5:30pm

*Location:* Atkinson 109 (Harry Crowe Room), York University


On the centenary of the Ghadar Movement, a conference is being called at
York University, Toronto, Canada, to honour and remember its history, and
its contemporary relevance to the revolutionary struggle of people of the
Indian subcontinent.


Key Highlights:


Keynote Speakers:

Maia Ramnath, Visiting Scholar, New York University and is author of Haj to
Utopia (2011) and Decolonizing Anarchism (2012)

Friday, 12 April 2013 | 6pm to 8pm | Founders Assembly Hall | Founders
College | York University


Harsha Walia, Grassroots Activist, No One Is Illegal, South Asian Network
for Secularism and Democracy, Downtown Eastside Women’s Centre, Vancouver
Unceded Coast Salish Territories and author of Undoing Border Imperialism
(2013)

Saturday, 13 April 2013 | 4 to 5pm | Harry Crowe Room (Room 109, Atkinson
Building) | York University


Film Screening:

Rex vs. Singh, a film by Ali Kazimi, John Greyson, Richard Fung

Friday, 12 April 2013 | 4pm to 5pm | Harry Crowe Room (Room 109, Atkinson
Building) | York University


Theatrical Performance:

Santaap by HATS UP Theatre Group

(Written by: Gursharn Singh and Directed by: Hira Randhawa)

Friday, 12 April 2013 | 6pm to 8pm | Founders Assembly Hall | Founders
College | York University


Art Display

Komagata Maru

Haris Sheikh (2012)

60x48 inches, Oil on Wood.


Full programme of the conference is available here:
http://www.yorku.ca/ycar/ghadar_programme.pdf


The conference is being organized in collaboration with the Ghadar
Centenary Committee Toronto. It is sponsored by Faculty of Graduate
Studies, South Asian Studies, Department of Political Science, York Centre
for Asian Research, Department of Social Science, United South Asians at
York, and CUPE 3903, all at York University.


Please more information please visit http://www.yorku.ca/ycar/ghadar or
email at yorkughadarconference at gmail.com


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❛IN THE MOOD…❜

*DATE & TIME: Tuesday April 16, 2013 | 3PM-5PM
LOCATION: Student Centre, Rm 430, York University, Keele Campus, 4700 Keele
St
*

==>Stressed out from end-of-term exams, essays and deadlines?
==>Take a quick break and join us for a self-love making session!

==> The workshop is FREE and open to 30 registrants. Please email:
foco.cwtp at gmail.com to confirm attendance.

Organized by the Centre for Women and Trans People, Access Centre and
Feminists of Colour Organize
Facilitated by Carlyle Jansen

DESCRIPTION
Self-pleasure is a topic loaded with myths, shame, fear and sometimes even
pain, yet we desire it to bring learning, joy and pleasure. Learn how to
overcome the challenges and embrace more ecstasy. Discover erogenous zones
and pleasure strokes to add to your repertoire, whether a novice or veteran
of the self-pleasure experience. Find out what toys work best for different
purposes, a variety of desires and diverse bodies. You deserve it!

▶Don't forget to get your raffle ticket at the beginning of the workshop to
enter a draw at the end for Good For Her pleasurable prizes!

ABOUT THE FACILITATOR
Since discovering orgasms in her late 20s, Carlyle Jansen has been
passionate about education for everyone. She founded Good For Her in 1997,
a sexuality shop and workshop centre where everyone could feel welcome and
included, especially those who traditionally did not feel represented in
sexual spaces. In 1996, the Good For Her team created and produced the
Feminist Porn Awards. An eco-feminist, she believes in empowering people
with knowledge to make the best choices for themselves. She is excited to
presenting at York!

▶The workshop is open to folks of all genders with the focus on womyn and
trans people.
▶Snacks will be provided.

*
▶The location is wheelchair accessible via east elevator through the staff
door entrance beside the Pagoda restaurant in Student Centre. Email:
foco.cwtp at gmail.com for access needs.*
*
*

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*CHRY 105.5 Summer 2013 Internships *

CHRY is a community-based, non-profit, volunteer run radio station that has
been serving the North Toronto community
for 25 years. We believe in professional and guided programming that
reflects the diverse issues and cultures in the
surrounding areas. Our mandate is to provide alternative programming such
as music, especially Canadian music, not
generally heard on commercial stations. Although students play an important
role in programming, we also provide
access to members of the community at large.

To view Sumer 2013 May-August Internships, please click here:

http://opirgyork.ca/sites/opirgyork.ca/files/print/INTERNSHIPS%20summer%202013.pdf

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*VOLUNTEERS NEEDED: MayDay Special Programming CHRY*

MayDay: Honouring Workers’ Struggles and Resistance!

On Wednesday May 1st CHRY will celebrate MayDay: The International Day of
Workers' Struggles. May 1st is a day set-aside by labour organizations,
activists, and unions to draw attention to the fact that workers, who make
up the majority of any population, are essential part of the economic
system. Despite their importance, however, workers are often paid
marginally (sometimes not even minimum wage), while executives take home
huge salaries and bonuses. Other forms of labour, e.g. child-rearing, are
not given any financial recognition! Around the world labourers are
fighting for better pay, (better) benefits, and more control over their
labour. Throughout MayDay, CHRY will air specialized content to draw
attention to the struggles and advancements of workers around the world!

As we have previously done with Afrikan Liberation Month and International
Womyn's Day, we are looking for volunteers to help us out with writing
PSA's for MayDay. In addition if you would like to board Op. or host the
day of please let us know.

Here are instructions on how to write the PSA's and topics you can choose
from: http://opirgyork.ca/sites/opirgyork.ca/files/print/PSA%20table.doc

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*SOCIAL JUSTICE FILMMAKING THIS MAY...*

2030 Film Production for non-majors: The New Neo-Realism (6.0) is an
intensive three-week for non-majors this May that will give you hands-on
training in digital fiction film production … making films that make a
difference. Short neo-realist films will be collectively created by
students, working in small groups and rotating through various creative
roles. Lectures and screenings every morning will be followed by afternoon
workshops focused on specific skills: camera, acting, directing, production
management, scriptwriting, editing. Designed equally for first-timers and
those with more experience, 2030 is a course for anyone who's ever wanted
to make a fiction film that makes a difference.

What's the New Neo-Realism? In the forties, Italian neo-realism was a
cinema of social urgency, shooting on the streets because the studios had
all been bombed. Today, neo-realism around the globe reinvents this legacy,
using accessible digital cameras, available light and naturalistic acting
to explore diverse stories, silenced voices, and local struggles that
Hollywood and the CBC prefer to ignore. A passionate cinema of the margins,
a subtle cinema of the dispossessed, it can be comedic or shocking, minimal
or experimental… an artistic practice of great diversity that refuses
slogans and conventions and easy answers. A trans man applies for a job in
Sault Ste-Marie; a girl lies to her mother in Tahrir Square; two teen
rivals join an Idle No More blockade; a bartender misses his bus at
Jane/Finch. The New Neo-Realism has emerged as a subversive, global idiom
of digital urgency, seeking to observe and surprise and haunt… and get
people talking.

*Instructor: *John Greyson (Associate Professor, Film) is a
Genie/Gemini/Teddy award-winning writer/director of such features as
Lilies, Zero Patience, Proteus, Fig Trees and most recently, the TTC
trans-murder mystery Murder in Passing. In 2012, TIFF Lightbox and the AGO
presented a complete retrospective of his films and videos.

Open to all York undergrads, no pre-req. Class meets Mon-Thurs, 10am-5pm,
from May 6 to May 24, 2013

FA/FILM 2030 Film Production for non-majors: The New Neo-Realism (6.0)
For more info: johngreyzone at gmail.com

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*COMMUNITY NEWS*

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*Rally at Finance Minister Charles Sousa's Office in Mississauga South
(with a bus from Toronto)*

*Raise the Rates! In the lead-up to the Wynne Government's Provincial*
*Budget - We Demand Living Wages and Decent Income!*

*Friday, April 12, 2.00 PM*
*
*
*Toronto Buses:*
1) East-end: leaves Carlton and Sherbourne, 12.30 PM
2) West-end: leaves from out front Parkdale Legal (1266 Queen St W) at
1:15pm
*Call and register to confirm a seat on the bus: 416-925-6939

Facebook event page: https://www.facebook.com/events/160162690815461/

The first Provincial Budget with Kathleen Wynne as Premier is about to come
down with new Finance Minister Charles Sousa laying out what cuts and
funding will be part of 2013 in Ontario. The Raise the Rates Campaign is
calling on supporters in Ontario communities to hold actions at local MPP's
and Minister's offices the week of April 8 to demand real action to address
poverty.

*Raise social assistance rates by 55% to put them back to real levels
before the 1995 cuts and 18 years of declining incomes
*End the three year freeze on the minimum wage, raise it to $14 an hour and
index it to inflation
*Restore the Community Start Up and Maintenance Benefit
*Stop the cut to the Special Diet, restore the full benefit
*Scrap plans to download ODSP onto local governments and merge it with
Ontario Works

Kathleen Wynne, after serving in the McGuinty Government and being part of
its attack on social assistance and the poor is asking us to believe that
she is now the 'Social Justice Premier'. She wants our communities to stop
mobilizing and challenging her and to go back to the failed strategy of
consultations with the Government instead. The Raise the Rates Campaign
sees no reason to trust Wynne or to stop confronting the Liberal
government's austerity agenda. We are demanding real measures to increase
sub poverty social assistance rates and low wages and we are ready to
fight back against cutbacks and attacks on the poor her Government might
be considering in its upcoming Budget.

Join us at Sousa's office on the 12th! Call and register today for a seat
on the bus if you are coming from Toronto.

If you are able to take a local action or are interested in being part of
our week of action, call or email the Ontario Coalition Against Poverty
(OCAP) at (416) 925-6939 OR ocap at tao.ca.

The Movement is growing: Join the Raise the Rates Campaign!
To get involved and to endorse the Raise the Rates Campaign, please visit:
www.ocap.ca/rtr
CUPE Ontario Raise the Rates Campaign:www.cupe.on.ca/raisetherates

On Facebook, join the Raise the Rates page:
https://www.facebook.com/RaiseTheRates
Twitter: @OCAPtoronto #RaisetheRates
Or contact us at: Ontario Coalition Against Poverty
157 Carlton St, Unit 206, Toronto, ON M5A 2K3
Phone: 416-925-6939
Email: ocap at tao.ca

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*Crisis of the Afrikan Canadian Intellectual: Taking Up Space or Agent of
Revolution?*

*WHEN*: Friday, April 12, 2013
*TIME*: 5:00pm
*WHERE*: 252 Bloor Street West, Toronto, Ontario Institute for Studies in
Education, University of Toronto; Room 5-210/220
FREE PUBLIC EVENT (donations will be kindly be accepted)

As part of the "7th Annual Decolonizing the Spirit Conference:
Subalterneity and the Politics of Subversion":
Join the Network for Pan-Afrikan Solidarity for a panel discussion about
the Afrikan Intellectual

This panel interrogates and explores the relevance of the Afrikan
intelligentsia in Canada with respect to the struggle for emancipation and
the realization or advancing of the material interests of the Afrikan
working-class, women, youth, queers and other socially-marginalized groups
within the community. The presence of the university-based Afrikan
intelligentsia in Canada is conspicuous by its relative absence as a
radical voice and participant in the material struggles of the people. It
is the case that many of these academic actors are infatuated with the
notion of praxis, which is fundamentally committed to social action or
changing the world for the benefit of Fanon’s “wretched of the earth” or
“the damned”, actions that they do not, in contrast to their infatuation,
engage in. What accounts for the invisibility of the Afrikan intellectual
in progressive or radical activist or social movement organizations in the
community? How could the Afrikan intelligentsia become relevant as agents
of change? What must be done to get the radical intellectuals, as members
of the petty bourgeoisie, to commit “class suicide” and become one with the
people as advised by Amilcar Cabral? To what extent are white supremacy and
patriarchy factors in the Afrikan Canadian intellectual’s seeming
reluctance in being an open agent of change in progressive social movement
organizations?

Featuring panelists:

Dr. George J. Sefa Dei, professor, University of Toronto
Luam Kidane, organizer, Network for Pan-Afrikan Solidarity
Nene Kwasi Kafele, doctoral candidate, York University and organizer,
Tabono Institute
Dr. Ajamu Nangwaya, organizer, Network for Pan-Afrikan Solidarity
Moderated by: Kemba King, organizer, Network for Pan-Afrikan Solidarity

For info, please contact Network for Pan-Afrikan Solidarity:
network4panafrikansolidarity at gmail.com

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*The Contested City: Radical Perspectives on Gentrification*

*Date*: Saturday, April 13th
*Time*: 10-5:30pm
*Location*: At the Ryerson Student Centre, 1st floor, 55 Gould St.

https://www.facebook.com/WorldInExile

Ryerson's Counter-Culture Campus Group: A World in Exile presents...
The Contested City: Radical Perspectives on Gentrification

The city has always been a primary site of struggle. Today, the lingering
effects of the 2007-2008 US sub-prime mortgage crisis have left an
international legacy of misery and hardship in its wake, identifiable by a
drastic rise in unemployment, poverty and growing levels of homelessness.
These problems have only been exacerbated by the prescribed 'solution' to
the crisis; what economists, governments and media pundits have termed
'austerity' is in fact nothing more than a vicious attack on the social
safety net and the life sustaining services that working-class people have
spent generations fighting to secure. These neo-liberal policies also have
a flip-side: many of our cities have witnessed an explosion of
gentrification, often coming in the form of frenzied condo development and
the growth of trendy commercial districts. This reconfiguring of the city
represents an attempt by capital to change the character and composition of
urban spaces to reflect its ongoing need to expand, regardless of human
consequences. But the city has not been entirely ceded to the logic of
capitalism: the world over, neighbourhoods and communities have organized
themselves to defend housing and social/community centres, and are
demanding freedom from harassment by police, predatory developers and their
crony politicians in city hall. Employing tactics ranging from advocacy to
direct action, this work represents a vital counter-narrative to the myth
of gentrification as an inevitable manifestation of progress.

Drawing inspiration from these struggles, this conference aims to provide a
space for participants to come together to discuss and strategize around
urban issues from an anti-capitalist perspective.

Workshop list:
http://thecontestedcity.noblogs.org/post/2013/04/08/list-of-workshop

+ breakfast, lunch and childcare available.


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*A Threat to Toronto: The Ontario Government's Plan for the Pickering
Nuclear Station*
*Date*: Tuesday, April 16th
*Time*: 7-9pm
*Location: *Metro Hall, Toronto - Rm 314
*Facebook:* https://www.facebook.com/events/542602225790476/?ref=2

The Ontario government wants to run the aging Pickering reactors well
beyond their design life. The Pickering reactors are just 30 km from
downtown Toronto. This is an unnecessary and dangerous threat to people
living in the Greater Toronto Area.

The Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission will hold public hearings on Ontario
Power Generation's (OPG) request to keep running the aging Pickering
reactors on May 28th and 29th in Pickering. OPG, however, has been refusing
to release its safety studies to the public. It must be asked: what is OPG
hiding?

Come learn about the Ontario's government's plan for Pickering on Tuesday
April 16th from 7 - 9 pm at Metro Hall.

Jack Gibbons from the Ontario Clean Air Alliance will discuss how Pickering
is an unnecessary risk and stands in the way of developing safer energy
sources.

Theresa McClenaghan from the Canadian Environmental Law Association (CELA)
will discuss whether Toronto's nuclear emergency plans can protect
Torontonians in the event of an accident at Pickering.

Shawn-Patrick Stensil of Greenpeace will discuss the risks of ageing
reactors and the need for a clean up plan for the Pickering reators.

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*CRIMINALIZATION OF DISSENT Land Defenders, Human Rights and Political
Activists are imprisoned!** *

*Date*: Wednesday, April 17th
*Time*: 6:30 pm
*Location*: OISE 5-250
*Facebook*: https://www.facebook.com/events/432688793483765/?ref=2

The judicial system and the rule of law are being used as instruments of
state violence

Peoples around the world who organize and resist the onslaught of colonial
land theft, extractive industries, and state repression are arrested and
indefinitely being kept in prison as a strategy to silence their voices and
crush their struggles to assert their right to self-determination and
sovereignty.

On the occasion of Palestine Political Prisoners’ Day

A PANEL DISCUSSION

IN SOLIDARITY WITH POLITICAL PRISONERS AROUND THE GLOBE

Please join us to hear these stories, identify common strategies and
discuss effective community responses.


Featuring:
* Issam Alyamani (Executive Director – Palestine House)
* Francine “Flower” Doxtator (Six Nations Land Defender)
* Jaroslava Avila (Women's Coordinating Committee For a Free Wallmapu
[Toronto])
* Perry Sorio (former Political Prisoner; current Vice-Chairperson –
Migrante – Canada)

***Also be a special guest speaker on the issue of Security Certificates in
Canada ***

Co-organizers: Coalition Against Israeli Apartheid (CAIA), Coalition for
Tamil Rights (CTR), Latin American and Caribbean Solidarity Network (LACSN)
and the Philippine Solidarity Network – Toronto (PSNT)

Endorsed By: CUPE Ontario International Solidarity Committee; Greater
Toronto Workers Assembly; Bayan – Toronto; Canadian Arab Federation; Centre
for Social Justice; Migrante – Canada; National Council of Canadian Tamils
(NCCT); No One Is Illegal; Palestine House; Socialist Project; Students
Against Israeli Apartheid (SAIA -UofT); Students Against Israeli Apartheid
(SAIA – York U); Toronto Bolivia Solidarity; Tow Row Society.

For further information: Logan Sellathurai: justice5 at sympatico.ca


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*WPIRG’s 2013 School of Public Interest Conference: Engendering Resistance*

*Full Schedule: *engenderingresistance.noblogs.org
*Date*: April 19-21
*Location*: University of Waterloo, EV1, EV2, EV3
*Facebook*: https://www.facebook.com/events/445353595540118/?ref=2
Examining the social, political and economic realities of gender, as well
as the liberatory possibilities of militant resistance to gender based
oppression, WPIRG’s 2013 School of Public Interest will focus on the theme
of (en)gendering resistance. A purposeful play on words, the conference
theme is intended to encompass reflections on the lived experience of
gender, the gendering of activism, and strategies for fostering vibrant
resistance movements.
Taking place April 19th-21st in Environment 1, 2 and 3 at the University of
Waterloo, the weekend long conference will bring together community
organizers, activists and students, to critically discuss issues related to
gender and resistance/resisting gender. Shaping, while simultaneously being
shaped by the ways in which we live, love, fuck and resist, the intricacies
and potentialities of gender will be explored.
Our vision is to provide an inclusive space to engage in dialogue that
challenges the narratives of the mainstream feminist movement, expanding
its critique and radicalizing its practice. We dream of a feminism that
does not seek the inclusion of marginalized identities within the dominant
order, but rather, strives to unapologetically challenge the dominant order
itself. How can we develop a movement for gender justice that is
necessarily anti-capitalist, anti-colonial and critical of state
institutions? How can we foster resistance practices that are firmly rooted
in anti-racism and an intersectional analysis of gender?
Patriarchy and gendered oppressions are everyday perpetuated within our
communities and movements. Sexism, queer and transphobia permeate social
justice groups and organizations. Gender violence and sexual assault occur
with tragic frequently within our ‘safe’ spaces. How can we challenge the
reproduction of gender oppression within broader social and environmental
justice movements? How can we develop non-state responses to issues of
sexual violence? What potential exists for the construction of holistic and
nurturing communities of resistance? How can we strengthen our ongoing
work, and build our collective capacity to resist?
In the spirit of engendering resistance, WPIRG invites community-based
activists, those struggling everyday against gender oppression, supporters,
and anyone who sees value in gathering to resist and share strategies, to
participate!

*Email*: spi at wpirg.org!
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*Labour Imperialism: The Challenges in Building International Labour
Solidarity*

*Public Forum*

Sunday, April 21st, 2013
1:00 -3:00 pm
Centre for Social Innovation
720 Bathurst St., Toronto
Meeting Room 1
(Just South of Bathurst Station, West Side of the street)

Facebook Event: https://www.facebook.com/events/101549673372848

Join us for an afternoon with Kim Scipes, Associate Professor of Sociology
at Purdue University North Central, long time labor activist, Chair of the
Chicago Chapter of the National Writers Union, UAW #1981 and author of
“AFL-CIO's Secret War against Developing Country Workers: Solidarity or
Sabotage?” Kim’s recent book explores the role of the AFL-CIO in
undermining workers struggles in the Philippines, Chile, Venezuela and
elsewhere. He explores the implications of these actions and the way rank
and file workers have tried to challenge this agenda. Kim’s talk will be
followed by Marion Pollack, long-time union activist and retired member of
the Canadian Union of Postal Workers. Marion will turn the discussion to
the Canadian context and the relevance of this analysis for Canadian labour
movement and particularly for building genuine international labour
solidarity today.
Sponsored by: Labour for Palestine –Toronto, International Alliance in
Support of Workers in Iran-Canada Branch, Toronto Haiti Action Committee,
Worker to Worker - Canada Cuba Labour Solidarity Network, Educators for
Peace and Justice, The Centre for Social Justice and others.

Contact us at labour4palestine at gmail.com

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*Mangos with Chili: the floating cabaret of two spirit, trans and queer
people of **color*

Mangos With Chili:
the floating cabaret of two spirit, trans and queer people of color bliss,
dreams, sweat, sweets & nightmares

Come to a breathtaking evening of healing and transformative performance by
and for two spirit, trans and queer people of color!

After six years, Mangos With Chili returns to Toronto, for two nights of
performance, presenting amazing work in theater, performance art, dance,
hip hop, burlesque, and spoken word. Don’t miss this life changing night of
healing, transformation, testimony, and booty.

**2 Nights, 2 Performances, 2 different locations**

$20-$10 dollars, sliding scale, no one turned away for lack of funds (WE
REALLY MEAN IT!!!)

Sunday, April 21 - 8PM - The Tranzac Club 292 Brunswick Avenue (19+,
accessible, open bar, and the fabulous Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha's
Birthday!)

Monday, April 22 - 8PM - The Palmerston Library 560 Palmerston Ave (All
ages welcome, childcare available, accessible)
Facebook event here: https://www.facebook.com/events/165935390228236/

We acknowledge that this event takes place on stolen, unceded and occupied
Mississauga of New Credit/ Three Fires Conspiracy Indigenous land and
acknowledge that settlers benefit from occupying Indigneous land.

*Featuring performances by:*
Micha Cardenas
Juba Kalamka
Natro
Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha
The Lady Ms. Vagina Jenkins
Manish Vaidya
Ms. Cherry Galette

Access info about venues:
In order that beloved community members and performers living with chemical
injury can attend, please come fragrance free. Good information about how
to do this is here:

http://www.brownstargirl.org/1/post/2012/03/fragrance-free-femme-of-colour-realness-draft-15.html
.

Leaving off cologne, perfume and essential oils for the evening is a great
place to start.

ASL is still being finalized, but we have the intention of providing ASL at
both shows.

About Mangos With Chili

Mangos With Chili is a nationally touring, Bay Area based arts incubator
committed to showcasing high quality performance of life saving importance
by queer and trans artists of color to audiences in the Bay Area and
beyond. Our goal is to produce multi-genre performances reflecting the
lives and stories of two spirit, queer and trans people of color (TSQTPOC)
and speaking out in resistance to the daily struggles around silence,
isolation, homophobia and violence that TSQTPOC face. Mangos With Chili’s
multi-genre productions present work in the disciplines of dance, theater,
vaudeville, hip-hop, circus arts, music, spoken word and film.

More than a performance incubator, we are also a ritual space for two
spirit, queer and trans communities of color to come together in love,
conversation and transformation. Our goal is to present high quality
performance art by TSQTPOC, but so much of our work is also about creating
healing and transformative space through performances that are gathering
places for community.

Mangos With Chili was founded in 2006 by Cherry Galette and Leah Lakshmi
Piepzna-Samarasinha, two trailblazing artists with significant performance
experience and honors to their names. Mangos With Chili began as an annual
touring cabaret of queer and trans people of color performance artists,
with the goal of creating a cultural institution that would build the
careers and visibility of TSQTPOC artists. Since inception, Mangos With
Chili has developed the work of over 125 queer artists of color, produced
four national tours and created an annual season of Bay Area programming
consisting of 3-4 productions that run for several consecutive nights for
Bay Area audiences. In 2013 we remain North America’s only traveling
TSQTPOC cabaret, and have a strong legacy of work on which we continue to
build.

Mangos With Chili has featured at world class theaters, underground
performance spaces, universities such as Brown, Oberlin, Swathmore,
Amherst, Smith, Reed, American University, Georgetown, Berkeley, Mt.
Holyoke, Humboldt State University, UT Austin, and many, many more. We have
received positive media coverage from the SF Bay Guardian, the SF
Chronicle, The SF Appeal, Bitch, Feminist Review, Hip Mama, Aorta, and
Make/Shift magazines, and weeklies and alternative press across North
America.

*==============================*
*(9)
*
*=============================*
*
*
*Building a Solidarity City: Steps Forward*
*
*
Strategy and action planning meeting to make Access Without Fear a reality.

*April 21, 2013, 12pm - 3:30pm (potluck)*

For more details and location,* please register:* http://bit.ly/Apr21Toronto.
Want to be part of the work, but can't come to the 21st? Fill out this form
anyway, and we'll get in touch.

On February 22, 2013, Toronto City Council overwhelmingly voted to
re-affirm its commitment to providing services to undocumented residents
and advocating at the provincial and federal level for more services and a
comprehensive regularization program. See the full motion here. City
Council voted because you called, wrote and met with your councilors. You
showed up at City Hall that day to make sure they knew they were being
watched and it worked.

Now, we have to make sure that Toronto's undocumented residents are
actually able to access these services; and that City Hall implements a
public education, internal training, audit and complaints strategy. This is
where you come in. Join us on April 21, 2013 to be part of the strategizing
and action planning. Meeting agenda to include:

* What did we gain at City Hall, what worked, what didn't, what happens next
* Getting the word out to undocumented people in Toronto - what can we do?
* Collecting the facts: How can we figure out what services are still
inaccessible (a little bit of theater)

Let's make this happen
*
**==============================*
*(10)*
*==============================*

*Whose Borders? Panel and Coffee Table Discussion*

April 25, 2013, 6:30pm, Toronto Free Gallery (1277 Bloor Street West)
Lansdowne Subway Station
The space including bathrooms is wheelchair accessible.

Presentations from Sebastian Rodriguez (Arizona, USA); Indigenous land
defenders from Akwesasne Mohawk Territory; David Moffette (on the Ceuta
(Morrocco/Spain) border crossing); members of No One Is Illegal - Toronto
and more.

With Canada clamping down on permanent immigration, borders becoming more
lethal globally, over 50 million people displaced around the world,
indigenous communities demanding and asserting control over their
territories while trade agreements take away community self-determination,
join us in lead up to the 8th annual May Day of Action for a discussion on
Borders. What are they? What are they not? What is a no-border struggle in
the current context? Is it the same everywhere? What does decolonization
work mean when thinking about borders?

Sebastian Rodriguez is an anarchist who has been doing humanitarian aid and
no borders work on the US/Mexican border and around the world for the past
few years.

The Border is Everywhere: Death, Criminality and Resistance on the
US/Mexican Border: US border policy always gets framed in terms of
“stopping the flow of northern migration.” That is not its purpose. The
main purpose of US border policy is to manage mixed-status communities both
in the border regions and in the interior. Many people view the Sonoran
desert as a humanitarian crisis. It is-over 6,000 people have died since
the mid-90's trying to cross, but calling it simply a “crisis” ignores the
fact that the mounting death toll is intentional on the part of the
government. The US/Mexican border is a war zone and, increasingly, a
testing ground for the domestic application of counter-insurgency theory
developed by the military abroad. Read more here and here.

Akwesasne Mohawk Territory is sub-divided into three jurisdictions:
Ontario, Quebec and New York, USA. As a community divided by border
crossings, Akwesasne has repeatedly organized against the daily oppression
these borders create. In 2009, the community resisted Canada Border
Services Agency from arming itself on their territory, which resulted in
the Canadian border post being removed from Cornwall Island. Unfortunately,
this has created further problems: with the CBSA border post now in
mainland Cornwall, residents of the Island must pass either an American or
Canadian border post just to get to the mainland. Many community members
have reported their cars being seized and being hassled on a daily basis by
border guards while entering and exiting their own territory. Issues in the
community are escalating. You can watch a short video on the community here.

David Moffette is a PhD student who does research on immigration policies
and border control in Spain since 2007. He has been involved in migrant
justice struggles since 2004 and co-organizes the Critical Border Studies
Speaker Series at York University. For this panel, David will discuss the
history of the Spanish-Moroccan border wall in Ceuta from the colonization
of North-Africa to the current war on migrants. Looking at this border as a
frontier of colonial expansion, as a wall of Fortress Europe, and as a
filter that selects who can circulate, how, and why, this presentation will
try to explain the role of borders in nation-building and neoliberal
capitalism.

No One Is Illegal is a migrant justice movement rooted in anti-colonial,
anti-capitalist, ecological justice, Indigenous self-determination,
anti-occupation & anti-oppressive communities. We are part of a worldwide
movement of resistance that strives and struggles for the right to remain,
the freedom to move, and the right to return. We undertake public awareness
about the exploitation inherent in the immigration system and border
controls, as well as inter-related systems of exploitation and oppression.
We mobilize tangible support for refugees, undocumented migrants, and
(im)migrant workers and prioritize solidarity with Indigenous land
defenders. We struggle alongside anti-capitalist, anti-authoritarian, and
anti-imperialist movements, and fight back through rallies and direct
actions to affirm dignity and respect for our communities.

www.nooneisillegal.org
www.facebook.com/NoOneIsIllegalNetwork

*==============================*
*(11)*
*==============================*
*
**#May1TO, May Day: Solidarity City! Status for All! Decolonize Now! *
*
*
Join us in the streets for Toronto's 8th Annual May Day of Action!

*Videos from previous year:*
http://bit.ly/MayDayTOVids<http://www.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fbit.ly%2FMayDayTOVids&h=vAQEA74r4&s=1>
*More info with links:*
www.toronto.nooneisillegal.org/MayDay<http://www.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.toronto.nooneisillegal.org%2FMayDay&h=NAQGc9WRv&s=1>
*Poster series imagining a Solidarity City:*
http://on.fb.me/12HV9DO<http://www.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fon.fb.me%2F12HV9DO&h=sAQGPynx-&s=1>

1PM – 4PM: Occupy Gardens @ Queens Park
5:30 PM: Rally and March starting at City Hall and ending at Little Norway
Park in solidarity with striking workers at Porter (Queens Quay and
Bathurst)
*Facebook: *https://www.facebook.com/events/306795326114626/?fref=ts

For seven years, you have marched on May Day to celebrate and invigorate
migrant justice struggles in Toronto. On May 1st, 2013, let's take to the
streets once again to build a Solidarity City. Solidarity City is a unified
struggle for: Respect for Indigenous Sovereignty; Status for All; an End to
Imperialism and Environmental Destruction; an End to Austerity and Attacks
on the Poor and Continued Resistance against Patriarchy, Racism, Ableism &
Homo/Transphobia.

Pipelines, tankers, mines, and so-called development projects are being
forced onto the lands of Indigenous nations. Harper, like every Prime
Minister who came before him, refuses to respect the sovereignty of
Indigenous peoples and continues to neglect his treaty obligations, as seen
in Omnibus Bill C-45. In the face of this and more, land defenders across
Turtle Island continue to resist in powerful and inspiring ways. As we look
towards an exciting summer of action and resistance fueled by the Idle No
More movement, this May Day let us honor all ongoing decolonization
struggles and commit to continuing our support for Indigenous sovereignty.

The past year has seen the implementation of C-31, dubbed the Refugee
Exclusion Act, further criminalizing migrants and expanding the detention
and deportation machine. Jason Kenney announced the creation of a
designated countries of origin, a racist, two tiered system under which
refugees get fewer rights based on their place of birth. This past
November, many of us honored our communities and confronted Minister Kenney
when he showed up in Toronto. On May 1st, let us take to the streets to
build community alliances and resistance once again.

Exploitative temporary worker programs continue to expand and many migrant
workers continue to meet deportation, injuries and in some cases death.
Workers are being forced to pay thousands of dollars to get jobs in Canada
for which entire families go in to debt, yet no provisions exist for status
on landing. Since Harper came into power, over 72,000 people have been
locked up in immigration detention. In December we rallied in solidarity
with security certificate detainees Mohammad Mahjoub, Mohamed Harkat and
Mahmoud Jaballah and all those locked up in immigration detention. This May
Day let us take to the streets to end detentions and deportations and to
call for freedom to move, freedom to stay and freedom to return!

On February 21st, Toronto City Hall reaffirmed its promise to providing
services to residents without full immigration status. We will continue to
build a Solidarity City where communities work together to ensure justice
and dignity for all residents. The history of Access Without Fear in
Toronto is a long one and on May Day let us march to celebrate our
victories and commit to continued struggle.

In the face of austerity, climate destruction, colonial and capitalist wars
and interventions here and across the world that push people out of their
homes, let us fight for status for all. Status for All is the struggle for
self-determination, just livelihood, housing, food, education, healthcare,
childcare, shelter, justice and dignity for all people, with or without
immigration status.

Coordinated by a coalition of community groups including No One Is Illegal
- Toronto, May 1st Movement and Ontario Coalition Against Poverty.
Endorsers include AIDS ACTION NOW!, Association of Part-Time Undergraduate
Students (APUS), Camp Sis, Casa Salvador Allende, Common Cause Toronto,
CUPE local 1281, Educators for Peace and Justice, Grassroots Ontario Animal
Liberation (GOAL) Network, Faculty for Palestine (F4P), Health for All,
Jane and Finch Action Against Poverty [JFAAP], Latin American and Caribbean
solidarity Network LACSN, Law Union of Ontario, Maggie's: Toronto Sex
Workers Action Project, OPIRG York. Refugees Without Borders, Rising Tide
Toronto, Rhythms of Resistance - Toronto, Socialist Project, Toronto Haiti
Action Committee, Toronto New Socialists, Toronto Rape Crisis
Centre/Multicultural Women Against Rape, United Food and Commercial
Workers, Women's Coordinating Committe for a Free Wallmapu [Toronto] and
more. To endorse the event, fill out this
formhttp://bit.ly/ZDRwKU<http://www.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fbit.ly%2FZDRwKU&h=aAQEszxQ4&s=1>

*JOIN MAY DAY!*

- Organize a contingent: bring a group of people from your class,
organization, neighbourhood, or union local to this demonstration, bring
your demands, banners, flags and signs.

- Help fund a bus, food, transit tokens, ASL, and materials for the day. If
you or your organization or union local can make donations of money or
in-kind, please help us make this day as participatory and accessible as
possible. Cheques can be made to No One Is Illegal and mailed to 260 Queen
Street West, PO Box 60006, Toronto, ON M5V 1Z8. Please put May Day in the
memo line and email nooneisillegal at riseup.net to let us know.

- Build the movement: add your organization to the list of endorsers for
this day of action. Fill out this form
http://bit.ly/ZDRwKU<http://www.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fbit.ly%2FZDRwKU&h=bAQHpCwIk&s=1>

- Get the word out. Call, text, and email your friends. Share the facebook
events, or better yet, start your own! Make sure to tag everything,
including pictures and videos after, with the hashtag #May1TO.


*==============================*
*(12)*
*==============================*

*Resistance in Jane & Finch
*
*Date*: Wednesday, May 1st
*Time*: 7pm
*Location*: York Woods Library (Main Floor, Periodical Area), 1785 Finch
Avenue West
*Facebook*: https://www.facebook.com/events/181616421988084

Through sound, poetry and performance, residents and friends of the Jane &
Finch community will share works that speak to the ways government
austerity measures (including cuts to social services, affordable housing,
employment training and education) has impacted those living in this ‘high
priority’ neighbourhood.

Artists presenting their work include emcee, spoken word artist, actress
and community leader, Lola Bunz; Quentin Vercetty Lindsay, Visual Arts
coordinator and Artistic Facilitator with the Lost Lyrics, connoisseur of
creativity and a charismatic virtuoso; Nomanzland a collective that comes
together to create theatre, poetry, music, and art that represents the
struggle of marginalized and oppressed people all over the world. Real
Life. Real Drama. Real Theatre -all members of the West Side Arts Hub- a
grassroots, community lead initiative with a mandate to nurture and support
the development and impact of community arts, by empowering local artists,
arts groups, youth and residents, and promoting social justice through the
arts in the West End of North York, Toronto; long standing and well
respected member from the Jane &Finch community, poet Andrea Tabnor; emcee,
poet and writer Motion, described by the Toronto Star as ‘a true testament
to the power of words’.

This evening will be MC’ed by Guatemalan born arts educator, keeper of the
Sacred Mayan Cholqij calendar, Hip Hop artist and poet SPIN El Poeta.

Performances will be followed by a moderated Q&A, co-facilitated by a
member of the Jane& Finch community and Regional Executive, Vice-President
(REVP) for Ontario of the Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC), Sharon
DeSousa.

***
This event is part of Mayworks Festival 2013 (see below for more
information). It is being co-presented by Public Service Alliance of
Canada.

TICKET INFORMATION:
This event is free.

MORE INFORMATION:
Mayworks Festival of Working People and the Arts is a multi-disciplinary
arts festival that celebrates working class culture. For more information
on other events at the 2013 Festival, please visit www.mayworks.ca.


-- 

-OPIRG York
--
www.opirgyork.ca
416-736-5724
opirg at yorku.ca


*There are many ways to get involved at OPIRG. We currently have 8 OPIRG
York working groups:*
Art For Justice, Justice is Not Colour Blind, Students for a Free Tibet, YU
Free Press, Environmental Justice York, Progressive Filipino Canadians for
Community Empowerment and Development (PFCCED), Students Against Israeli
Apartheid, and the Vanier Prison Support Line working group. You can contact
Victoria Barnett, our volunteer coordinator, about ways to get involved in
these working groups: victoria at opirgyork.ca.

*We also have three different collectives: *PrOPIRGanda Radio, Radical
Reading Room and PrOPIRGanda Zine- see the callouts below. You can contact
us about ways to get involved in these collectives: opirg at yorku.ca.
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