[opirgyork] DIGEST of Upcoming Events!

[OPIRG York]

Hello Everyone!

Check out the awesome line-up of upcoming events this and next week and
next!
If you want to get involved at OPIRG York, please get in touch:
opirgyork at gmail.com.

Look forward to seeing you all soon!

-OPIRG York

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*Upcoming Events:*

*1. TONIGHT: *MY REAL LIFE (MA VIE RÉELLE) - CINEMA POLITICA Toronto
premiere with special guests
*2. November 13:* NOII General Membership Meeting: Organize With No One Is
Illegal Toronto
*3. November 14: *Two Row Times: Indigenous Resurgence and Grassroots Media
*4. November 15: *Meet & Greet for Queer & Trans Womyn Without Borders
*5. November 15:* Vigil in Support of the Walji family: In Sadness,
Remembrance and Rage
*6. November 18: *Toronto Book Launch: Undoing Border Imperialism by Harsha
Walia
*7. November 19: *Ben White at York University-- ISRAEL: APARTHEID NOT
DEMOCRACY
*8. November 20: *TOWN HALL MEETING: Stop the Government Attacks on
Disability Benefits!
*9. TOMORROW:* NATIONWIDE PHONE, FAX & EMAIL JAM for JUSTICE!
*10. **ONGOING: *Federal Court passed the buck condemning Mahjoub to years
of uncertainty - we're still waiting to find out why!
*11. November 14:* The World Revolution: Turkey, Egypt, Greece, Brazil
[Fightback-YorkU]

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*1. TONIGHT: MY REAL LIFE (MA VIE RÉELLE) - CINEMA POLITICA Toronto
premiere with special guests *

*Date*: Tuesday, November 12
*Time*: 6:45-8:30pm
*Location*: 506 Bloor Street W, Bloor Cinema

**Join us for the Toronto premiere of the last film by committed political
documentary veteran Magnus Isacsson, who peels apart the layers of
oppression and marginalization to reveal the story of Montreal-Nord
teenagers whose "real life" is framed by the structural forces of poverty.
MA VIE RÉELLE is a raw, sincere and personal portrait that manages to be
full of life, music and the undeniable spirit of youth. Filmmakers, special
guests and friends of Magnus will be in attendance. This screening is
co-presented with Point of View Magazine.

MY REAL LIFE (MA VIE RÉELLE)
Magnus Isacsson / CA / 2012 / 90 ' / French / S.T. English

Drugs, delinquency, dysfunctional families, abandonment, poverty: “real
life” is tough for young people in Montréal-Nord. Magnus Isacsson followed
four teens from the impoverished area for 18 months, capturing not only
their problems but their immense energy and will to escape. At the heart of
their struggle is rap: raw, sincere, potent music that speaks for the
disenfranchised. With his rare ability to get close to his subjects and
remarkable sensitivity, without a trace of pathos, Isacsson put his
subjects’ self-expression front and centre, resulting in one of his finest
films. Four unforgettable portraits of four people who share the
filmmaker’s generosity of spirit.

cinemapolitica.org/bloor

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*2. NOII General Membership Meeting: Organize With No One Is Illegal
Toronto*
*Date*: Wednesday, November 13
*Time*: 6:00pm
*Location*: 252 Bloor St W, OISE Building, on the 12th Floor

We at No One Is Illegal - Toronto are glad to announce that we are
re-opening our membership. This means that anyone can attend our General
Membership Meetings (GMM's) and work in our committees to build the migrant
justice movement in Toronto. We are particularly welcoming women of colour
and people with migrant experiences. Please join us at our first of many
GMM's on Wednesday, November 13 at 6:00pm,  at OISE (252 Bloor St W) on the
12th Floor, where we will introduce NOII's past work and struggles, outline
a proposed organizational structure, affirm our hallmarks, and plan our
work over the next while. NOII meets every other Wednesday evening at 6pm.

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*3. Two Row Times: Indigenous Resurgence and Grassroots Media*
*Date*: Thursday, November 14
*Time*: 7:00pm
*Location*: 612 Markham St, Beit Zatoun

Jon Garlow (publisher and owner of the Two Row Times) and Nahnda Garlow
(renowned "Scone Dogs and Seed Beads" columnist of the Two Row Times), will
speak on Indigenous resurgence and grassroots media, and their vision for
the Two Row Times newspaper.

This event is an opportunity to learn about and discuss the new, weekly
mass circulation newspaper coming out of Six Nations and covering content
far beyond. It is working to bring respect for and renew relationships with
the Two Row Wampum throughout the Dish with One Spoon Treaty Territory.

Whether you are curious or uninformed about the paper, interested in
supporting or contributing to it, or just generally understand the
importance of grassroots media - don't miss this evening of exciting
discussion. Let's build media that speaks the voice of the people,
together.

For a short video clip describing the paper, and to support it:
www.indiegogo.com/projects/two-row-times

The Two Row Times
www.tworowtimes.com

In the words of its publisher and owner, Jonathan Garlow, “the goal of the
Two Row Times is to provide timely and relevant news and information to
Native communities as well as to serve as a bridge between all nations by
promoting and demonstrating the values of the Two Row Wampum."

The Two Row Wampum – the original agreement between Onkwehon:we people and
the new arrivals on this continent – is the guiding light for the paper.
The Two Row Times pledges that our actions will be consistent with the
principles of the Two Row Wampum and the Kaianerekowa – “the great peace” –
a philosophical and constitutional framework that is the basis of the
Onkwehon:we worldview and the Haudenosaunee Confederacy.

The Two Row Times provides a unique Onkwehon:we news source that can unify
and uplift all people. We believe that a coming together of native and
non-native people to express our common interests in healing the earth,
honouring diversity and creating respectful and dignified conditions of
life for all is the only way to ensure our continued survival as human
beings.

The paper is circulated throughout the Dish with One Spoon, which covers a
huge territory surrounding the Great Lakes region and encompasses much of
Ontario, New York State, Ohio, Michigan and Wisconsin. The paper currently
has a distribution of 20,000, with a vision to grow in number and locations
throughout the territory.

The Two Row Times exists because of the need to develop media institutions
that can express the interests and experiences of Onkwehon:we people and
promote unity with all who want to stop harming each other and to start
healing our mother the earth. Communication is an indispensable part of
this process. Unlike mainstream media, Onkwehon:we communication is based
upon a practice of decolonization. It upholds the Onkwehon:we way of life,
it educates the un-informed, and it contributes to the defence of our
territories by drawing attention to the actions of Onkwehon:we peoples.

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*4. Meet & Greet for Queer & Trans Womyn Without Borders*
*Date*: Friday, November 15th
*Time*: 4-6pm
*Location*: RM 322 Student Centre, York University

Come on down to our launch event where you can enjoy some great company and
food and get to know more about our working group! Come meet the
facilitators and stay for the chat and free food. Maybe even sign up for
our group?

Queer & Trans Womyn Without Borders is a working group being run through
Cwtp At York, we are a left leaning, intersectional feminist group who aims
to support the New Comer, Queer (LGBTQQIA) and Trans Womyn's community on
and off campus. We are dedicated to anti-oppression and aspire to
acknowledge all aspects of oppression.

For this first meeting, we aren't restricting who can or cannot come but we
do ask that you respect that it is a space for those who identify as womyn
or along the feminine spectrum (example: gender queer femme). We kindly ask
that those who attend identify along the feminine spectrum, but we are not
going to be enforcing this for our first meeting. Also for this first
meeting, you don't have to be an immigrant identified womyn to attend but
we are a pro-immigration reform group and as such ask that you respect
that. Same goes for LGBT, you don't have to be LGBTQ but you do have to be
LGBTQ positive. This meeting is more or less to get our group out there and
known, so please do come by and say hello!


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*5. Vigil in Support of the Walji family: In Sadness, Remembrance and Rage*
*Date*: Friday, November 15th
*Time*: 4:00pm
*Location*: Immigration Enforcement & Refugee Board Offices, 74 Victoria
Street, Toronto

Mohamed and Shyroz Walji and their daughter Qyzra had been trying to get
permanent residency status in Canada for 15 years. Qyzra had cerebral palsy
and the family was supported by a patchwork of help and donations. Rather
than waiting for their forced deportation to Tanzania, the family was found
dead in their London apartment earlier this month in an apparent murder -
suicide.

Please join us for a vigil at sunset in support of the Walji's family and
friends and to hold Immigration Canada and immigration enforcement
accountable for what they and Canada's immigration system have done and
continue to do to people.

We are full of tears and rage about an immigration system that would have
families die rather than give them status. Join us as we remind the people
that denied the Walji family status that they are literally forcing people
to their deaths.

A statement from the Walji family in Tanzania will be read at the vigil.

Please come out and show your support.

A statement from the Walji family in Tanzania will be read at the vigil.

Please come out and show your support.

BACKGROUND

Family in murder-suicide fought removal from Canada (Toronto Sun):
http://www.torontosun.com/2013/11/08/family-in-murder-suicide-fought-removal-from-canada


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*6. Toronto Book Launch: Undoing Border Imperialism by Harsha Walia*
*Date*: Mon. Nov. 18th
*Time*: 7 pm
*Location*: Friend's House, 60 Lowther Street (north of St.George Station).

Speakers: Lee Maracle, Harsha Walia, and messages from the Migrant Hunger
Strikers in Lindsay. Mississauga New Credit and Haudenesaunee territory.
Wheelchair accessible. ASL Interpretation. Livestreaming at
http://bambuser.com/channel/cuzdcrow

"Undoing Border Imperialism is an exciting new book that situates immigrant
rights movements within a transnational analysis of capitalism, labor
exploitation, settler colonialism, state building, and racialized empire.
By providing the alternative conceptual frameworks of border imperialism
and decolonization, this work offers relevant insights for all grassroots
and social movement organizers on effective strategies to overcome the
barriers and borders within our movements in order to cultivate fierce,
loving, and sustainable communities of resistance striving toward
liberation." (AK Press/IAS 2013)

*** ABOUT THE BOOK ***

Undoing Border Imperialism combines academic discourse, lived experiences
of displacement, and movement-based practices into an exciting new book. By
reframing immigrant rights movements within a transnational systemic
analysis of capitalism, labor exploitation, settler colonialism, state
building, and racialized empire, it provides the alternative conceptual
frameworks of border imperialism and decolonization to understand the
freedom to stay, move, and return as essential for self-determination.
Drawing on the author’s experiences in No One Is Illegal and the
recognition that social movements themselves produce critical theory, this
work also offers relevant insights for all organizers on effective
strategies to overcome the barriers and borders within movements in order
to cultivate fierce, loving, and sustainable communities of resistance
striving toward liberation. Several of the chapters delve into the
challenges of building broad-based alliances while maintaining radical
political principles, fostering antioppressive leadership while opposing
hierarchies, and affecting tangible change while prefiguring transformation.

The author grounds this book in collective vision, from a roundtable on
movement building with No One Is Illegal organizers to interspersed
narratives from dozens of bold activists and writers of color from across
North America. Contributors include Yogi Acharya, Carmen Aguirre, Tara
Atluri, Annie Banks, Mel Bazil, Nazila Bettache, Adil Charkaoui, Yen Chu,
Karen Cocq, Jessica Danforth, Ruby Smith Díaz, Nassim Elbardouh, Craig
Fortier, Harjap Grewal, Mostafa Henaway, Freda Huson, Syed Khalid Hussan,
Jane Kirby, Aylwin Lo, Karla Lottini, Alex Mah, Robyn Maynard, Graciela
Flores Mendez, Cecily Nicholson, Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha,
Toghestiy, Sozan Savehilaghi, Mac Scott, Lily Shinde, and Rafeef Ziadah.
Design by Melanie Cervantes and Josh Macphee


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*7. **Ben White at York University-- **ISRAEL: APARTHEID NOT DEMOCRACY*
*When*: Tuesday, November 19 at 6:30pm to 9:30pm
*Where*: Chancellors Room at The Undergound, York University

*Facebook Event:*
https://www.facebook.com/events/354260318051399/?ref_dashboard_filter=upcoming

Students Against Israeli Apartheid at York University will be hosting
author and activist Ben White for a lecture and Q&A session.

British author Ben White will unpack the facts about Israeli policies of
segregation and colonization against Palestinians. he will explain why
Israel cannot be both a 'Jewish state' and a democracy, and how equality
for Palestinians is the key to a lasting peace.

Ben White is a writer, researcher and freelance journalist. He is the
author of "Israeli Apartheid: A Beginner's Guide" and "Palestinians in
Israel: Segregation, Discrimination and Democracy." His work has been
praised by Desmond Tutu, John Pilger, Ali Abunimah and Ilan Pappe, among
others. Al Jazeera, The Guardian, New Statesman, Christian Science
Monitor, and many more have published his articles.

http://benwhite.org.uk/
https://twitter.com/benabyad

This event is Free to all York students, community and the general public
Refreshments will be served

For more information:
www.facebook.com/saia.york
www.twitter.com/saiayork
www.saiayork.org


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*8. TOWN HALL MEETING: Stop the Government Attacks on Disability Benefits!*
Wednesday November 20th, 2013
Meal 6pm
Town Hall 6:30 pm
Where: St Luke's Church, corner of Sherbourne and Carlton, in the Gymnasium

* Wheelchair Accessible
* ASL Interpretation
* TTC Tokens Available

On Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/227390870760808/

The Ontario Liberal Government is sitting on a proposal to merge Ontario
Works (OW) and Ontario Disability Support Program (ODSP) into one program.
The government reports claim the merger of ODSP and OW will make the
system ‘easier’ to access and carry out. The reality is that it’s about
cutting benefits.

Join OCAP at St. Lukes Church for dinner and to talk about this proposed
merger of ODSP and Ontario Works and how we can fight back to stop this
from happening. Listen to other people’s stories and talk about your
worries on how the joining of the programs will affect you.

Download Flyer Here: http://ocap.ca/node/1112

Contact OCAP for more info!
www.ocap.ca
416-925-6939
ocap at tao.ca
@OCAPtoronto


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*9. Tomorrow: NATIONWIDE PHONE, FAX & EMAIL JAM for JUSTICE!*
CALLING ALL ALLIES AND FRIENDS OF DEEPAN...

On WEDNESDAY, November 13th, 2013, join us in a nationwide phone, fax &
email jam! Call on the Minister of Immigration Chris Alexander and MP
Pierre Poilievre (Deepan’s Parliamentary representative) to ACT now!

On Friday, Nov. 1st, 2013, an IRB Judge ruled in favor of removing many of
the strict conditions that had been imposed on Deepan over the past seven
months. Despite this victory, Deepan’s movements are still limited, and is
still struggling with the reality of having been made “stateless” in his
own homeland.

Tell this minister and MP not to let another day go by where this young man
is trapped in stateless limbo! Both the minister and MP are well aware of
Deepan’s plight yet refuse to act to truly address his struggle. Let’s make
them hear us loud and clear!

Get all the details here: http://www.justicefordeepan.org/?p=754
Facebook event: https://www.facebook.com/events/385367174930130/


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*10. Federal Court passed the buck condemning Mahjoub to years of
uncertainty **- we're still waiting to find out why!*
Dear friends and supporters of Mohammad Mahjoub,

On Friday, October 25th, the Federal Court of Canada ruled that the
security certificate against Mohammad Mahjoub was "reasonable" even while
finding that Mr. Mahjoub's right to a fair trial had been violated. On that
same day we rallied against this injustice insisting that the security
certificate regime is unjust and that Mr. Mahjoub must be free.

Though the court announced its decision, the Federal Court's reasons that
led to it have still not been released, as government lawyers decide which
parts will remain secret.

Last week, the Federal Court released its reasons for upholding the
constitutionality of the security certificate process and for finding that
Mr. Mahjoub's charter rights had been violated. In the latter, it accepted
that Mr. Mahjoub's "right to a fair trial pursuant to Section 7 of the
Charter and right to be free of unreasonable search and seizure have been
violated" but chose politically to not throw out the security certificate
proceedings, instead opening the door for an appeal. This is the very
essence of passing the buck, forcing Mr. Mahjoub to live in uncertainty and
anguish for years to come.

There have been some media articles that we detail below but right now we
need your help. This is the time to support Mr. Mahjoub and insist on your
opposition to Canada's unjust systems of detentions and deportations.

* Organizations: Please write statements of support expressing your disgust
at the decision, reiterating your opposition to immigration security
certificates and calling for the immediate release of Mr. Mahjoub.
(Examples are now available here:
www.supportmahjoub.org/archives/category/support.)

* Community Media: Please get in touch if you would like suggestions for
interviews from the many voices who oppose security certificates.

* Everyone: if you would like to be part of the years of struggle that Mr.
Mahjoub now faces, please get in touch at justiceformahjoub at gmail.com. We
are organizing a supporters' strategy meeting in early December and we want
your presence and input.

:: Mainstream Media reports ::

Canadian Press - Mohamed Mahjoub's right to fair trial violated, but
security certificate upheld (Oct 25):
www.ctvnews.ca/canada/mohamed-mahjoub-s-right-to-fair-trial-violated-but-security-certificate-upheld-1.1513849

Al Jazeera - 'Security certificates' ruling ignites debate (Nov 3):
www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/2013/11/certificates-ruling-ignites-debate-201311441447175337.html

Canadian Press/Toronto Star - Mohamed Mahjoub’s case can go on, judge says
(Nov 9):
www.thestar.com/news/canada/2013/11/06/mohamed_mahjoubs_case_can_go_on_judge_says.html

Mr. Mahjoub's continued detention and the ongoing threat of deportation are
part of a racist, islamophobic immigration system that works to separate
families, repress communities, and isolate individuals. As supporters of
Mr. Mahjoub and as people that oppose the security certificate regime and
the broader injustices of the immigration system we call for freedom for
Mahjoub and the other security certificate detainees, an end to immigration
detention and status for all.

In solidarity,
Justice for Mahjoub Commitee
www.supportmahjoub.org
www.fb.com/SupportMahjoub


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*11. **The World Revolution: Turkey, Egypt, Greece, Brazil
[Fightback-YorkU]*

We are living in an era of class struggle, crisis, revolution and
counter-revolution. In the past few years we have seen tens of millions
take to the streets in every country around the globe.

Last summer the first waves of revolutionary struggle erupted in Turkey
against the AKP regime of Erdogan. This provided the inspirational spark to
an inspiring mass movement across the globe in Brazil, which began as a
movement against transit fare hikes. In Egypt, the second wave of
revolution erupted in that same

summer with the Tamarod protests and the bringing down of the Muslim
Brotherhood regime. Meanwhile, Europe continues to be mired in recession,
with waves of general strikes that have created political instability in
Greece, Portugal and Spain, and with the contagion of crisis spreading to
Italy, France and even Northern Europe.

What can we learn from these movements across the world? What is the
significance of this new period in history that we have entered? What are
the obstacles to the successful overthrow of capitalism?

We have entered an exciting era in human history - the era of World
Revolution.

*Location*: Accolade West (ACW) room #209 (York U)
*Date*: Thursday, November 14th
*Time*: 6-8pm
Organized by the Socialist Fightback Club

*Facebook*: https://www.facebook.com/events/436419606462804/


-- 

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



*There are many ways to get involved at OPIRG. Apply to be a working
group: **http://opirgyork.ca/working-groups
<http://opirgyork.ca/working-groups>*
Contact victoria at opirgyork.ca for further information.

*We also have two collectives: *PrOPIRGanda Radio and the Radical Reading
Room. You can contact us about ways to get involved in these collectives:
opirgyork at gmail.com.

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