[Org4j-announce] Starting Tues: Tools For Change workshops & OPIRG Week

[Organizing 4Justice]

OPIRG/GRIPO-Ottawa has organized OPIRG-Week & Tools For Change coming up
this week and continuing into the first week of February

Details at www.opirg-gripo.ca (click links mid-way down on lefthand sidebar)
or direct links:
* Tools For Change workshop descriptions (also included in message below):
http://sites.google.com/site/opirggripo/tools-for-change-outils-pour-mieux-revendiquer
* other events as part of OPIRG-Week (not listed in this message):
http://sites.google.com/site/opirggripo/Home/opirg-week-la-semaine-de-gripo


Workshops (locations and descriptions in message below):

1) Jail Solidarity, Prisoner and Court Support, Jan 25, 7pm
2) Becoming an Ally: Breaking the Cycle of Oppression, Jan 26, 7pm
3) Self-Defense for the Disabled, Jan 26 at 4:00pm
4) Activist Campaigns: NOII-Toronto and the Sanctuary City, Jan 27, 7pm
5) Burn, Baby, Burn: Live music and party, Jan 28, 8:30pm
6) Come Hell or High Water: Facilitation and Consensus Decision- Making, Jan
29 at 2pm
7) Caring For Ourselves: Self-Care and Support for Everyone*, Jan 30, 1pm
* Note: this workshop requires advance registration: wssauottawa at gmail.com
8) Organizing Demonstrations: Strategy and Tactics, Feb 1, 7pm
9) Direct Actions and Security Culture, Feb 3, 7pm
10) Undergrad Blues: How to Apply to Post-Graduate Programs, Jan 30, 7pm



====================================================================================================

La semaine du GRIPO - Outils pour mieux revendiquer // OPIRG Week - Tools
for Change

We would like to thank our partners, especially the Women's Resource Centre,
the Women's Studies Students Association and the Centre for Students with
Disabilities and the Pride Centre

Jan. 24 -Feb. 6
Ottawa University
OPIRG Ottawa

Workshops: Tuesday, Jan. 25 - Friday, Feb 4

All the workshops are free!
All the workshops will be accessible.
Contact us if you require child care.
Contact us if you require transcription/ASL/LSQ.
http://www.opirg-gripo.ca/
gripocampus at gmail.com

During OPIRG Week – Tools for Change, OPIRG will celebrate and draw
attention to all the important work we do and the services we offer.

----------------------------------------------------
-------------------------------------

La semaine du GRIPO - Outils pour mieux revendiquer

Nous voulons remercier nos partenaires, spécifiquement le Centre de
ressource des femmes, L'Association étudiante en études des femmes de
l'Université d'Ottawa, le Centre des étudiants handicapés et le Centre de la
fierté.

Jan. 24 - Fev. 6
Univérsité d'ottawa
GRIPO Ottawa

Ateliers: Jan. 25 - Fev. 4

Tous les ateliers sont gratuits.
Tous les ateliers seront accessibles.
Contactez-nous si vous avez besoin de soin des enfants.
Contactez-nous si vous avez besoin de transcription/ASL/LSQ.
http://www.opirg-gripo.ca/
gripocampus at gmail.com

Durant La Semaine GRIPO – Outils pour mieux revendiquer, nous allons jeter
la lumière sur nos activités et nos services et encourager les étudiant(e)s
à participer avec nous!



============================================

This event is part of OPIRG Week - Tools for Change // Cet événement fait
partie de la semaine de GRIPO – Outils pour mieux revendiquer

Burn, Baby, Burn

Live music and Party
Fund Raiser for Ottawa Movement Defense

Thursday, Jan. 28 at 8:30pm
Bar 1848
University Centre, 2nd floor
Ottawa University

Featuring: Three Little Birds and Testament

THREE LITTLE BIRDS are a rabble rousing musical troupe who, in their
insightful lyrics reflect the honest humanity of their audiences. Hailing
from Ottawa, this trio shares captivating vocal harmonies over adept
acoustic instrumentation and their natural knack for sticking it to The Man.

They are: Erin Saoirse Adair, kazoo enthusiast and charming shit disturber;
Amelia Leclair, world-wandering ragamuffin and student of Brazilian rhythms;
and Angela Schleihauf, extroverted introvert and bringer of oboe fiyah.
Bringing together three songwriters/vocalists/multi-instrumentalists, Three
Little Birds is an innovative project and a nascent idea.

TESTAMENT: I am not a rapper, I am just a revolutionary that raps GOOD. My
lyrics are bricks I use to shatter apathy and the status quo. Wether I'm
spittin to a live DJ scratchin, acapella spoken word style, a beat-boxer on
the street, or a punk-rock drum beat, I never pull punches or shy away from
spreading confrontational dissent through powerful, thought-provoking
rhymes. I'm here to change hip-hop and steal its soul back from the
glorified violence, materialism, sexism, and racism that the music industry
creates promotes and markets for their own capitalist purposes. The
revolution will not be signed to a record deal... DIY or die. Raised Fist
Collective coming soon..

This is the party for OPIRG Week - Tools for Change.
============================================

1) Jail Solidarity, Prisoner and Court Support

Jan. 25 at 7pm
University Centre,
Pride Centre 215E, second floor
85 University Private
Ottawa, ON

- Tara Lyons - Books 2 Prisoners
- Elke Dring - Exile Infoshop
- Ottawa Movement Defense

http://www.criticalresistance.org/
http://www.abcf.net/

"THE WALLS, THE BARS, THE GUNS AND THE GUARDS CAN NEVER ENCIRCLE OR HOLD
DOWN THE IDEA OF THE PEOPLE. AND THE PEOPLE MUST ALWAYS CARRY FORWARD THE
IDEA WHICH IS THEIR DIGNITY AND THEIR BEAUTY."

Huey P. Newton

----------------------------------------------------
-------------------------------------

Prison Abolition aims to end the prison industrial complex (PIC). The PIC is
a system that uses policing, courts, and imprisonment to “solve” problems.
We don’t agree that we need the PIC to keep us safe. Instead, we work to
build safe and healthy communities that do not depend on prisons and
punishment.

This workshop focuses on doing jail solidarity - ensuring that friends and
family that have been arrested are as safe as we can make them, supporting
prisoners, and providing court support for defendants who are currently
going through through the criminal injustice system.

============================================

2) Self-Defense for the Disabled

Wednesday, Jan. 26 at 4:00pm
Martial Arts Room in Montpetit
125 University Private

- Charles Johnstone, Non-Violence Now

This is a workshop that is done by and for disabled people. Charles
Johnstone is an experienced mixed martial artist who also has a disability
and has years of experience teaching self-defense to disabled people.

============================================

3) Becoming an Ally: Breaking the Cycle of Oppression

Wednesday, Jan 26 at 7pm
University Centre, 85 University Private
Pride Centre 215E, second floor

- Andrew Nellis from the Ottawa Panhandler's Union.
- A speaker from the Centre for Students with Disabilities
- Frederique Chabot, POWER (Prostitutes of Ottawa-Gatineau Work, Educate and
Resist)
- Speakers from Students Against Israeli Apartheid (TBC)
- Speaker from the Indigenous Environmental Network

It is essential that, as we build movements for radical social change, we
also create cross-movement solidarity, that we build relationships based on
mutual respect and understanding between diverse social movements.

This will be a discussion about what being an ally means and how to do it,
especially as it effects different groups of people. What roles do allies
have t play in movements for social, economic and environmental justice? How
do these roles vary from movement to movement?

It will aslo be asking the question of how can different movemnts and people
within them support other movements in a good way? So, for example, how can
the Palestinian liberation movement support the Indigenous Soverignty
movement here in Canada and elsewhere?

How do we create practices and strategies that speak to the intersection of
all forms of oppression? How can groups prioritizing different struggles -
against ableism, capitalism, or sexism, for example- find ways to work
together to end ALL forms of oppression?

============================================


4) Activist Campaigns: No One Is Illegal -Toronto and the Sanctuary City

Thursday, Jan. 27 at 7pm
University Centre,
Pride Centre 215E, second floor
85 University Private
Ottawa, ON

- Hussan and Mohan from No One Is Illegal Toronto will talk about their
experiences with grassroots campaigns for migrant justice, in particular the
campaign to make Toronto a, "Sanctuary City".

A "Sanctuary City" is a city where all people, regardless of immigration
status, can live without fear of detention or deportation. A city where
individuals can exert autonomous control over the places they gather at,
their schools, their... health centers, their food banks, their social
services and their neighbourhoods."

http://toronto.nooneisillegal.org/

No One Is Illegal (Toronto) is a group of immigrants, refugees and allies
who fight for the rights of all migrants to live with dignity and respect.
We believe that granting citizenship to a privileged few is part of a racist
immigration and border policies designed to exploit and marginalize
migrants. We work to oppose these policies, as well as the international
economic policies that create the conditions of poverty and war that force
migration. At the same time, it is part of our ongoing work to support and
build alliances with Indigenous peoples in their fight against colonialism,
displacement and the ongoing occupation of their land.

No One Is Illegal Toronto Demands:

• An end to all deportations and detentions
• The implementation of a full and inclusive regularization program for all
non-status people
• Access without fear to essential services for all undocumented people
• The recognition of indigenous sovereignty
• An end to the exploitation of temporary workers
• An end to all imperialist wars and occupations
• An end to the use of Security Certificates and secret trials

============================================

6) Come Hell or High Water: Facilitation Training and Consensus
Decision-Making

University Centre,
Pride Centre 215E, second floor
85 University Private
Ottawa, ON


Come Hell or High Water: Facilitation and Consensus Decision-Maiking

- Dan Cayley-Daoust

Saturday, Jan 29 at 2pm
University Centre, Pride Centre, 215 E, 2nd Floor.

This workshop will teach people how to facilitate meetings, workshops, etc.
in an egalitarian and anti-oppressive fashion. Similarly it will explore the
ins and out and ups and downs of consensus decision making.

From, "Come Hell or High Water"

Being part of an egalitarian collective can be a powerful and liberating
experience. Most of us, throughout our lives, have been in groups in the
broader society—whether in the workplace, school, or other organizations—in
which hierarchies of authority, power, and knowledge are paramount. Each of
us is expected either to submit—most of the time—or to lead, if one has made
one’s arduous way to the top. Joining a collective, on the other hand,
allows an individual to pursue her goals within a common framework, and to
help shape that framework with her own contributions. Members are in charge
of themselves and one another, without coercion or enforced obedience, and
they work cooperatively.

A collective is simply a group of people who come together to work toward a
common goal, like creating art or music, organizing around political causes,
providing services to a community, or pursuing any objective that the
group’s members choose as their focus. But the main thing that distinguishes
a collective from other organizations is that everyone in the group is
considered an equal. There are no authority figures and there’s no
hierarchy. Decisions are made collectively by the entire group, whether by
consensus (which means that everyone in the group has to, ideally, consent
to all decisions) or by voting (whether it’s a majority vote, a two-thirds
vote, etc.).

The notion that there must be leaders and followers is so ingrained in our
culture that some might think that egalitarianism just can’t work. But there
are lots of examples of egalitarian collectives, some that have been around
for decades.

But equality and fair dealing don’t just flow automatically out of good
intentions. Egalitarianism requires commitment and mindfulness from everyone
involved. It demands clarity and the willingness to work at it, which
sometimes includes hashing out conflicts and working out solutions to tough
problems. When the ideal of egalitarianism is allowed to flounder,
unattended to, it can devolve right back into the patterns that most of us
knew in our lives outside of collectives: hierarchy, mistrust, looking out
only for oneself, and sometimes even underhanded scheming.

============================================

6) Caring for Ourselves: Self-Care and Support for Everyone

Sunday, Jan. 30 at 1pm
University Centre,
Pride Centre 215E, second floor
85 University Private
Ottawa, ON

This event is part of OPIRG Week - Tools for Change and in partnership with
the Women's Studies Student Association // Cet evenements fait partie de la
semaine de GRIPO - Outils pour mieux revendiquer en partenariat avec
l'association étudiante en études des femmes de l'Université d'Ottawa.

Contact the WSSA in order to register for this workshop. There may be
limited availability so in order for them to co-ordinate the workshop,...
make sure that it goes well and that as many people can attend as possible,
MAKE SURE TO CONTACT THEM: wssauottawa at gmail.com.

Caring for Ourselves: Self-Care and Support for Everyone

- Shushan Araya Kidane
- Mélanie Jubinville-Stafford
- Michelle Blackburn

- One thing many of us are seldom taught, yet are expected to know, is how
to care for ourselves and others. This workshop will provide participants
with skills and tools to help people care for themselves in order to stay
healthy, happy and well and to avoid destructive and self-destructive
habits.

Snacks and Coffee/Tea will be provided.

============================================

7) Undergrad Blues: How to Apply to Post-Graduate Programs

Sunday, Jan 30 at 7pm
Saron Ghebressellassie
University Centre,
Pride Centre 215E, second floor
85 University Private
Ottawa, ON


Whether you are looking into law school, masters programs or doctoral
programs, this workshop is a great place to start. Workshop covers discusses
reference letters, standardized testing, funding, pre-selection research,
setting timelines and writing personal statements to compile a winning
application package.

Why Is This An Equity Issue?
• Because this information is not readily accessible to students from
underrepresented groups who are more likely to be the first in the family to
attend university.
• Because equal access to higher education is fundamental to equalizing
power relations in society.
• Because low-income students cannot afford exclusive $300 sessions on the
topic such as those offered by Kaplan, Princeton Review, Oxford Seminars and
other institutions which make up the “Get Into Law/Grad School” industry.

Saron Ghebressellassie, activist and scholar, has completed multiple
successful law school applications, doctoral applications, masters
applications and over thirty successful scholarship applications. She is
presently a Juris Doctor (law school) candidate at the University of Ottawa.
============================================

7) Organizing Demonstrations: Strategy and Tactics

Wednesday, Feb. 2 at 7pm
University Centre,
Pride Centre 215E, second floor
85 University Private
Ottawa, ON


Pierre Beaulieu-Blais is an organizer with No One Is Illegal (Ottawa) and
Under Pressure.

Location TBC

This is a workshop about the limits and possibilities of public
demonstrations. We will take a look at some past and recent examples of
protests, tactics and other types of mass actions and discuss their roles in
movements of social and environmental justice.

We will discuss the anti-poverty movement in Ontario since the Common Sense
Revolution, the lessons learned from the anti-globalization movement in the
lead up to this summer's anti G-20 mobilization and the role of protests in
the growing migrant justice movement in Canada.

This workshop will also go over some of the basics insofar as the practical
and logistical side of organizing demonstrations: march routes, speakers,
plackards, banners, chants, etc.

============================================

8) Direct Actions and Security Culture

Thursday, Feb. 3 at 7pm
University Centre,
Pride Centre 215E, second floor
85 University Private
Ottawa, ON

Dan Sawyer is a long-term organizer who has been involved in many campaigns,
groups and actions over his 10 year involvement with anti-capitalist,
anti-imperialist and anti-oppressive movements.

Direct Action

Direct action is a method and a theory of stopping objectionable practices
or creating more favorable conditions using immediately available means,
such as strikes, boycotts, workplace occupations, sit-ins, or sabotage,
property destrucion and graffiti, and less oppositional methods such as
establishing radical social centres, guerrilla gardening, squatting, etc.

Direct action participants aim to either:

- obstruct another political agent or political organization from performing
some practice to which the activists object; or,
- solve perceived problems which traditional societal institutions
(corporations, governments, powerful churches or establishment trade unions)
are not addressing to the satisfaction of the direct action participants.

Security Culture

As direct action movements become more effective, government surveillance
and harassment will increase. To minimize the destructiveness of this
political repression, it is imperative that we create a security culture
within our movements.

Security Culture is a culture where the people know their rights and, more
importantly, assert them. Those who belong to a security culture also know
what behaviour compromises security and they are quick to educate those
people who, out of ignorance, forgetfulness, or personal weakness, partake
in insecure behaviour. This security consciousness becomes a culture when
the group as a whole makes security violations socially unacceptable in the
group.

============================================

-- 
Matt Brown
Campus Relations Coordinator/ Coordonnatrice des relations avec le campus
Work: <tel:+16132303076>613.230.3076 <tel:+16132303076>

gripocampus at gmail.com

http://www.opirg-gripo.ca/  <http://www.opirg-gripo.ca/>
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