[opirgyork] OPIRG Events Digest - November 9-15

Mon Nov 9 09:05:42 PST 2015

Hey

This week's events digest includes the full program for SEXWEEK 2015.
OPIRG York is co-hosting the Navigating Consent workshop happening today at
3pm in the Student Centre rm. 322.  The rest of the week is also full of
lots of great events.  If there is any event related to a social or
environmental justice issue that you would like to see included in future
digests you can email me at naila.opirgyork at gmail.com.  We try to
prioritize events happening at York and in the Jane-Finch community as much
as possible.

We are also currently in the process of revamping our volunteer program by
instituting a committee structure to implement outreach and programming
initiatives at OPIRG-York.  If you're interested in volunteering at OPIRG
York, or have any questions, please get in touch with Naila at
naila.opirgyork at gmail.com. We always need volunteers! And stop by the OPIRG
York office anytime -- Room 449C Student Centre!

-- OPIRG York

*************************

*TODAY'S DIGEST:*

*///////////YORK\\\\\\\\\\\\*

*1) OPIRG York Space committee *

*2) CWTP York co hosting SEXWEEK – November 9 – 12, 2015*

*3) **Feminist Action and Incendies Zine Mixer – November 12, 2015*

*//////////COMMUNITY\\\\\\\\\\\*

*4) **OPIRG Toronto Call for Student Researchers – deadline November 16,
2015*

*5) **They Want us to Forget:  Criminalization and Canada’s Resource Wars –
November 11, 2015*

*6) Decolonize NOW!  Take the Streets – November 11, 2015*

************************************************************************************

*1) OPIRG York Space Committee*

The OPIRG York space committee is in the process of cleaning out the
office.  If you have any personal items in the office please come by and
pick them as soon as possible.  We are also creating policies around the
use of space at OPIRG.  If you have any input to provide you can email
Naila at naila.opirgyork at gmail.com.

************************************************************************************

*2) **CWTP York co hosting SEXWEEK – November 9 – 12, 2015*

The Centre for Women and Trans People (CWTPYork) will be co-hosting SEXWEEK
2015, with Ontario Public Interest Research Group (OPIRGYork), York United
Black Student’s Association (YUBSA), YFS Access Centre and Trans Bi Lesbian
Gay Asexuals at York (TBLGAY)!

Dates & Times: Nov 9th - Nov 12th
Location: Rm 322 Student Centre

SexWeek Listings:

*******************************************
Mon, Nov 9th - 3pm - 6pm

Workshop: Navigating Consent
In this workshop we will explore what consent is, how it shows up in our
relationships, and how we practice it. Through writing, talk and movement
we will embody consent and move towards being present with ourselves and
others. We will work from the premise that building our collective capacity
for grounded, beautiful intimacy is essential to our liberation.

Facilitator: Eshan Rafi
Eshan Rafi was born in Lahore and currently lives in Toronto. They work
with their body, analog cameras, moving images, text, and other people,
using a queerly divergent worldview to explore relationships among
communities, families, and to our own selves. Eshan has participated in
intensive workshops with James Luna and Guillermo Gómez Peña (Factory
Theatre, Toronto), Hu Fang and Tarek Atoui (Ashkal Alwan, Beirut), and most
recently, with Yvonne Rainer and Andrea Kleine (Fondazione Antonio Ratti,
Como). From 2013-2015, Eshan was a fellow in the Home Workspace Program at
Ashkal Alwan, Beirut. They have a Bachelor of Fine Arts and a Bachelor of
Education in Visual Arts from York University. www.eshanrafi.com
<http://l.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.eshanrafi.com%2F&h=BAQHoqycW&enc=AZPrsIufml1Gqop4bTRzM5mQ_1ZpVxMnm60_8fSkSLD6PEgJlhnoXhml8LeYGAlLHCA&s=1>

*******************************************
Tues, Nov 10th - 3pm - 6pm

“For Your Eyes Only” is a fun and consensual workshop that uses writing
exercises and other creative
activities to explore how to be vulnerable on the page. Writers and
non-writers welcome.

Facilitator: Dianah Smith
Dianah Smith is a writer, teacher and arts educator based in Toronto. She
is the founder of ‘A’ is for Orange (2005-2010), a reading series featuring
queer and trans emerging writers of
Caribbean descent. Her writing has been published in anthologies, high
school textbooks, online and print magazines and made into podcasts. She’s
has recently completed her first novel based on her experience of
immigrating to Canada as a child, for which she received an Ontario Arts
Council’s works-in-progress grant. She says, ‘Writing is a way to
grieve/retrieve the
past, makes sense of the present and leave a legacy for the future.’

*******************************************
Wed, Nov 11th - 12:00 - 2:30pm

Workshop: Deepening Our Relationships with Our Bodies
with Crafts & Textiles

Facilitators: Tumaini Lyaruu and Mel G Campbell

"This workshop is an invitation to consider and cultivate a broader
relationship to our genitalia through textile art."

Facilitator: Melannie G Campbell
melannie g campbell is a black, queer, chronically ill and disabled poet. A
VONA alum and the 2015 Tangled Art+Disability Artist in Residence, mgc’s
work as a writer, performer, and educator regularly features themes of
trauma, resilience, and intersectionality. mgc is passionate about
interdependence and believes in combining art and activism to create change
in our present and future realities. Among their goals are: learn to swim,
write a book(s), and dismantle all systems of oppression.
mel is, as always, a work in progress.

Facilitator: Tumaini Lyaruu

Tumaini Lyaruu is a diaspora babe, Toronto based HIV/sexual health educator
and craftivist. Tumainis' preferred gender pronoun is 'T' and T is a
sparkly confetti mosaic of badass queer afro-blackness. T uses the power of
crafting, compassion & our truths to foster meaningful growth across
communities, and believes that they are tools to participate in each
other’s liberation.

*******************************************
Wed, Nov 11th 3pm - 6pm

Workshop: KINK 101

"In this discussion-based workshop, people of all genders and orientations
are invited to explore the broad and exciting topic of kink. What can
"kinky" mean, and how can folks bring parts of kink into their lives life?
We'll unpack some of the terms we've heard used to describe play and desire
within kinky communities, share useful tips for negotiating consent, and
creative places to find inspiration for fantasies and play! Curious about
how to explore different sensations? Have questions about safer kink play,
sex play and aftercare? We'll talk about these and many other topics in the
realms of power and sensation play during the workshop, elaborating more on
topics as guided by the group's interest - participants may ask questions
and share knowledge aloud or anonymously. This workshop does not involve
scene or sensation play demonstrations, but some sample toys will be
present as examples."

Facilitator: Annanda DeSilva
"Annanda DeSilva is a mixed-race, Queer, survivor femme writer, workshop
facilitator and performer. As a former co-owner of a progressive Toronto
sex shop, she has had the joy of talking with hundreds and hundreds of
different folks about sex and sexuality in its many forms for the past six
years. Valuing sex positivity, body positivity, creativity, honesty and
anti-opression, Annanda's approach to workshop facilitation comes from a
place of great care, gentleness and chillness, all with a Nerdy sense of
humour and friendly badass realness."

*******************************************
Thurs, Nov 12th, 11am - 2:00pm

Workshop: How to make and re/make porn that’s political, hot and accessible.

I want to create a space to interrogate and re-imagine the ways we make
porn. Once we go over a few of the basics for making porn, we will spend
some time discussing what porn we like and why in order to start thinking
about what's missing from porn. Much queer, trans, crip, and/or feminist
porn seeks to open up understandings and practices of desires, bodies, sex
and sexiness. Despite the many ways this work is happening, and there are
many, as it is in these spaces of exclusion and disappointment where much
feminist porn gets it inspiration. There are still many ways that we are
replicating larger patterns of systemic power and privilege. While much
queer, trans, crip, and/or feminist porn goes a long way in addressing the
invisibility of many different desires and bodies as well as challenging
the formulaic sex conventions in mainstream porn, there many ways we
haven’t pushed ourselves and our work far enough. We will discuss different
strategies to make this happen. There are also many structural barriers and
conventions in how we make porn that often allows for the repetition of
white supremacy, ableism. cissexism, classism, femmephobia/ misogyny, fat
phobia and so much more. Breaking out of these repetitions is difficult,
and that’s why I want to host a discussion that utilizes the imaginative
potential of porn, porn makers and potential porn makers to not only
provide some tips and tricks for getting started, but also for re-imagining
how we make porn in order to make the porn we make and watch hotter and
transgressive.

Facilitator: Loree Erickson
Dr. Loree Erickson is a poly queer femmegimp porn star academic currently
teaching at Ryerson University. She is the proud creator of want, an
internationally awarded porn and an community organizer in Toronto, ON. She
loves traveling to lecture, make queercrip porn and facilitate workshops on
a variety of topics including collective care, disability justice/radical
disability politics and all things related to sex and disability. She is
also a fan of sun, sparkly things, and social justice. www.femmegimp.org
<http://l.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.femmegimp.org%2F&h=LAQFDsQwk&enc=AZNo7qvThRHaN_jn7g3r5Ueok98BB-9THrfWJtIj4hEX2SF-4ymN0Ke_Rn81K2lAnJg&s=1>

*******************************************

Thurs, Nov 12th, 2pm - 4pm

Workshop: Sex, Sacred and Spirituality

Facilitator: nisha ahuja

nisha ahuja shares Attmic Energy Medicine, Reiki, Holistic Yogic Practices,
and Ayurveda, and is also an actor, physical theatre creator, writer,
singer/songwriter, and art, wellness, and justice educator/facilitator
having performed and created classical, contemporary, and original work in
Canada, the Netherlands, and India. She is dedicated to dissolving the
boundaries between art, traditional/ancient medicines, spirituality, and
politic, and believes healing practices are revolutionary and fundamental
to our collective liberation.

nisha is currently studying at CAISH (Centre for Ayurveda and Indian
Systems of Healing) to become an Ayurvedic Practitioner and Therapist. She
shares her Self-Healing Through Yoga Series several times a year,
co-manifested the Ayu-Yog Meditation Retreat For Women and Trans Indigenous
Peoples and Peoples of Colour (with Sairupa Krishnamurti) and is one of the
facilitator/members of Brown Girls Yoga Collective. She is also known for
her summer series of Yoga in Dufferin Grove Park. nisha’s broad range of
workshops on wellness, spirituality, theatrical practices, justice, racial
justice, and addressing cultural appropriation, including within North
America’s growing yoga “culture”/ industry and dharma spaces, brings her to
collaborate with other Yoga and justice facilitators with Yoga Teacher
Trainings programs across North America.

http://www.nishaahuja.com/
<http://l.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.nishaahuja.com%2F&h=5AQGSczas&enc=AZMqSTIhhKZKM47GuScYBltzo8E99ZipYGv3wsEGwQM2Gc9vdTSEOaSvDfBHjUAbrRM&s=1>
https://yogaappropriation.wordpress.com/
<https://www.facebook.com/l.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fyogaappropriation.wordpress.com%2F&h=OAQHtxRdI&enc=AZMGbQVUnVlriT_PZHOX_tbRQ2iBMAsyaECEh0Pi9nCxPve6iqwU_1S3PtPq_2yVCEU&s=1>
*******************************************
Accessibility Info
*Please refrain from wearing scents due to chemical sensitivities
*Wheelchair Accessible
*Gender Neutral, Accessible Washrooms with changetables on 4th floor of
Student Centre
*Gluten-Free snacks, email for more food restrictions
*For Childcare and Access Info email cwtpyork at gmail.com

*3) Feminist Action and Incendies Zine Mixer – November 12, 2015*

York University Student Centre

Chancellor’s room

Underground Restaurant

5-8pm

Join the Feminist Action Club and Incendies Arts & Culture Zine for our
first mixer of the 2015-2016 year.

We invite you all to come mingle, enjoy refreshments and brainstorm ideas
for inclusive anti-oppressive spaces and initiatives on campus and in the
community.

This event is open to all students and community members who want to bring
the activist spirit back to York University.

https://www.facebook.com/events/515847291906893/

*4) **OPIRG Toronto Call for Student Researchers – deadline November 16,
2015*

*CALL FOR STUDENT RESEARCHERS!*

Ontario Public Research Interest Group’s (OPIRG) Toronto Research and
Action Community Exchange (TRACX) is looking for university students to
work on a community based action research project focusing on police
violence and anti-Black racism in collaboration with the Network for the
Elimination of Police Violence (NEPV).

This research will be completed for credit through an independent study
course with Dr. Deborah Cowen (Department of Geography, University of
Toronto) in the winter 2016 (section code S) term. The research will also
be featured at the 2015-2016 TRACX symposium, which will take place in
spring 2016.

*NETWORK FOR THE ELIMINATION OF POLICE VIOLENCE*

The Network for the Elimination of Police Violence (NEPV) is dedicated to
the creation, development and coordination of powerful, autonomous
community organizations that can effectively resist and ultimately
eliminate police violence, while educating fellow members of the working
class on the vital role that this violence plays in reproducing the
colonial, white supremacist and hetero-patriarchal power structures of
capitalist society. See www.nepv.org for more information.

*PROJECT DESCRIPTION*

NEPV is committed to building community power to confront and resist state
and police violence. This violence includes but is not limited to: i) fatal
police shootings, ii) deaths in police custody, iii) police brutality and
street harassment, iv) the expansion of the prison industrial complex, and
v) border enforcement and the immigration system.

Student researchers for the 2015-2016 TRACX project will be conducting
research, gathering resources, and producing educational materials for NEPV
to use and mobilize for their organizing and to contribute to the
development of their Free2Go campaign (for more information on Free2Go, see
here  <http://toronto.mediacoop.ca/blog/ajamu-nangwaya/33634>). Key
research areas may include: alternatives to policing, history of
anti-police organizing in Toronto, TPSB relationship to CBSA, state
surveillance, policing in Toronto public schools, and/or carding and racial
profiling.

*RESEARCH RESPONSIBILITIES*

· Research the history of anti-police organizing in key landmark areas and
in Toronto

· Conduct literature and media reviews of carding and racial profiling in
Toronto

· Make preparations to file Freedom of Information (FOI) requests if and
where necessary (i.e. Toronto Police Services, etc.)

· Identify instances of collusion between Toronto Police Services, Canada
Border Services Agency, or Toronto District School Board, etc.

· Conduct literature review of proposed alternatives to policing and their
successes and shortcomings where implemented and organized in Toronto and
elsewhere

· Ensure research complements and adds to NEPV’s existing body of work on
policing and community resistance to policing

· Use research to produce material content for educational/distributional
resources (i.e. posters, flyers, pamphlets, zines, etc.)

· Present research at the TRACX symposium on March 5, 2016

*REQUIRED SKILLS & QUALIFICATIONS*

· Registered as a student at the University of Toronto

· Strong understanding and analysis of anti-Black racism and capitalism

· Strong critical analysis of police violence (i.e. not reformist)

· Ability to work collaboratively and familiarity with consensus
decision-making structures

· Background in community organizing and/or activism is an asset

· Experience with community based research preferred

· Self-motivated and able to deliver information in limited timeframes

· Able to analyze data and identify relevant information for campaign
development

· Ability to write in an accessible, as well as theoretical manner

· Strong preference for graphic design and social media skills, or
willingness to learn

· Preference given to those with lived experience

· This position can be split into 2-3 student researcher positions based on
the capacity of the students involved and the research interests of
selected students

*NOTE: As the partnering community organization on this project NEPV, will
be a part of the selection process. Accordingly, candidates will meet with
NEPV’s program liaison before they are formally invited to begin working on
this project.*

*HOW TO APPLY?*

Please contact opirg.tracx at gmail.com indicating your interest. In your
application, please include a resumé with relevant research and organizing
experience and a statement on what kind of analysis you intend to employ
and what interests you about participating in this research project.

*DEADLINE: *

*Monday November 16th at 12:00pm. *

*More information on TRACX: *

The Toronto Research and Action Community Exchange (TRACX) is a new program
intended to match University of Toronto students with Toronto-based
community organizations to engage in participatory action research for
academic credit.

In keeping with OPIRG-Toronto’s mandate to direct resources and research
towards anti-oppressive, social and environmental justice projects, we hope
TRACX will create critical links between the university and Toronto
community to make research accountable, non-voyeuristic, and multipurpose
in its distribution and use as a shared resource.

*5) They Want us to Forget:  Criminalization and Canada’s Resource Wars –
November 11, 2015*

Wednesday November 11

6:30-9pm

Friend’s House

60 Lowther Avenue (near St.George subway station)

On this Remembrance Day, join the Mining Injustice Solidarity Network in
asking: Why are some wars institutionally remembered while others are
swiftly erased from Canadians’ collective memory? Can the complex forces of
criminalization, militarization, surveillance, physical violence, and
administrative violence that are enacted against Indigenous, campesino, and
Afro-descendant communities in the name of Canadian economic interests
be understood
as a war? And if so, how can we fight the mechanisms that make us forget
the causes and impacts of these wars?

At this panel, exhibit, and memorial event we will have the honour of
hearing four important stories (including from two international guests)
from the frontlines of Canada’s many resource wars:

>> Luis Solano is a Guatemalan economist and investigative journalist who
has written extensively on the role of the Canadian mining industry in
Guatemala.  Tonight, Solano will present the results of his recent
investigation into this militarization of communities in southeastern
Guatemala, before bringing these results to Geneva the following week.
Joining Luis on his Ontario/Quebec tour, Jen Moore from Mining Watch Canada
will briefly speak to the role of the Canadian government and its
complicity and active support of these violent processes.

>> Monica Gutierrez is a documentary filmmaker and member of the Mining
Injustice Solidarity Network. Her collection of films, “Crude Gold: Stories
of Justice Denied in Colombia”, showcases five pivotal cases of
foreign-funded mining exploitation connected to Canadian investors. Tonight
she will show one of these short films, “Gran Colombia Gold”, which
explores the situation in Segovia, Colombia, where Canadian mining company
Gran Colombia Gold has been accused of involvement in the murder of the
Regional Union Mining and Energy Workers’ president, Rafael Tobon Zea.

>> Francisco Ramirez Cuellar is a Colombian human rights lawyer, trade
unionist, and long-standing voice opposing the proliferation of
multinational and Canadian corporate control of Colombia’s mining-energy
extractive industries.

Friends House is a wheelchair accessible venue, including the washroom.
Speakers in Monica Gutierrez' film are subtitled in English, making this
film accessible for English speakers who need videos to be captioned.
Childcare will be provided on-site and light refreshments will be made
available. Please let us know if there is anything else we can do do make
this event accessible for you by emailing mininginjustice at gmail.com!

https://www.facebook.com/events/1005815862772030/

*6) Decolonize NOW!  Take the Streets – November 11, 2015*

Wednesday November 11

5-6:30 pm

Bay and Bloor

Decolonize NOW! will be hosting three street actions for the purpose of
building unity between our movements as Black and Indigenous peoples,
People of Colour and white allies. As we take to the streets we will be
launching our Divest to Decolonize: Invest in Justice Campaign as a first
joint initiative to raise awareness about past and present colonialism, to
negatively impact the finances of the most oppressive industries, and place
pressure on the government to address our List of Demands.

Decolonizing Remembrance Day: A Vigil-Ceremony-Action Pre-Action for “They
Want us to Forget” MISN event Wednesday November 11th.

Gather at 5pm. Action 5:30-6:30

We will gather at the South-East corner of Bay and Bloor at 5:15pm . With
the beat of the drum as a guide, we will form a circle, light candles and
call on the names of Indigenous, Black and POC warriors and community
members who have been killed by the colonial system. Amai Kuda, Y, and Amy
Desjarlais will share music, and all participants are invited to
participate in the calling of names. At the end our ceremony we will walk
together to the 60 Lowther St. for the "They want us to Forget Event"
hosted by Mining Injustice Solidarity Network with Support from Decolonize
NOW!

DECOLONIZING THE SQUARE: ARTISTIC ACTION AND DUNDAS SQUARE
Saturday November 21st @2pm
Details TBA

FINAL DIVEST TO DECOLONIZE STREET ACTION
November the 30th at 2pm
Mark your calendars

https://www.facebook.com/events/531072347069681/
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