[Stopwar-l] Events notices: TODAY - Malalai Joya Nov 14

Wed Oct 21 13:05:07 PDT 2009

1.
Demonstration in Defense of Teztan Biny (Fish Lake)
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
6pm, Fairmont Waterfront
900 Canada Place Way, Vancouver

2.
2010 Welcoming Committee Meeting
Wednesday, Oct. 21, 7 - 9pm
SFU - Harbour Centre

3.
Is Criticizing Israel Antisemitic?
Friday, October 23, 7:30pm
Vancouver Public Library

4.
World Peace Forum
November 7,8,11
Maratime Labour Centre, Vancouver

5.
Malalai Joya
November 14
ST Andrew's Weasley Church, Vancouver

6.
War Resisters Support Campaign Update and Appeal

***For more information on any of these events please contact Stopwar (at)
resist.ca
________________________________________________________________________________________________

1.
Demonstration in Defense of Teztan Biny (Fish Lake)
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
6pm, Fairmont Waterfront
900 Canada Place Way, Vancouver

Tsilhqot'in Nation Demonstrates Against Destruction of Fish Lake

VANCOUVER - Members of the Tsilhqot'in Nation and their supporters
will demonstrate their opposition to the destruction of Teztan Biny
(Fish Lake) during a reception held by the Mining Association of
British Columbia at 6pm tonight. “The destruction of Teztan Biny (Fish
Lake) and the surrounding area goes against every traditional law and
value that has been instilled in us since time immemorial,” says
Loretta Williams, Mining Coordinator with the Tsilhqot’in National
Government.

“It is our responsibility to protect the fish, the wildlife, the water
and the air for future generations. It is time to stand up and speak
out against this project that has the potential to destroy all of what
we depend on,” says Williams.

Taseko Mines Ltd. is proposing the use of Teztan Biny as a tailings
impoundment area, a practice that since 2002 has been supported by
controversial changes to the Fisheries Act under Schedule 2.
In 2006, two lakes in Newfoundland were approved for destruction and
many other lakes in BC, and across the country, are threatened by this
loophole provided by the federal government for the mining industry.

“We demand that our Title and Rights be recognized within our
Traditional Territory. Destroying Fish Lake is not an option for the
Tsilhqot’in,” says Williams. The Tsilhqot’in Nation have filed a writ
in B.C. Supreme Court claiming their Aboriginal right to fish. The
claim, if successful, will prevent Taseko Mines Ltd. from developing
its proposed Prosperity Project, 125 km southwest of Williams Lake.

“Unfortunately the proponent has raised high expectations of jobs and
money for local non-native communities that have been hit by the crash
in the timber trade,” says Ramsey Hart, Canada Program Coordinator
with MiningWatch Canada. “We must not, however, pursue short term
economic development at such high environmental costs and in complete
disregard to the Tsilhqot'in communities,” says Hart.

Media Contact:
Loretta Williams, Mining Coordinator, Tsilhqot’in National Government
(250) 392-3918 or (250) 302-1514
_______________________________________________________________________________________________

2.
WELCOME THE OLYMPIC TORCH AND OPENING CEREMONIES WITH A MASS
DEMONSTRATION!  Help build the 2010 Welcoming Committee!  (Post Widely.)

Meeting to plan a public mobilization for the opening ceremonies of the
2010 Winter Olympics (on February 12, 2010):

**  Wednesday, Oct. 21, 7 - 9pm
SFU - Harbour Centre, 515 West Hastings St.; 1315 Scotiabank Lecture Room
Vancouver BC - Coast Salish Territory

The Olympic Resistance Network, StopWar.ca, Vancouver Status of Women,
Anti-Poverty Committee, No One Is Illegal - Vancouver, Work Less Party,
Social Justice Centre - UBC, Pink Resistance, Student Christian Movement -
UBC, and Streams of Justice have endorsed the 2010 Welcoming Committee and
a mass demonstration to coincide with the opening ceremonies of the 2010
Winter Olympic Games and the arrival of the Olympic torch from its RBC
sponsored cross-country relay.

The 2010 Welcoming Committee invites you/your group to join in organizing
this event. Other than the date and general location (Feb. 12 and close to
the opening ceremonies at BC Place Stadium), the messaging, event plan,
and specifics are up to those who choose to participate in the planning.
The goal is to include a wide range of activist, Indigenous, social
justice, environmental, anti-poverty, labour, civil libertarian,
anti-globalization, community, anti-war, women's and other groups and
individuals to build a broad and accessible protest presence.  This group
is united by a social justice critique of the 2010 Olympics.

As the Winter Olympics begin, we need to show the world that there is
opposition and to articulate the negative impact it has on our communities
and environment.  The very act of demonstrating and marching in the
downtown core has become a defiant act as many of the streets and sites
have been specially purposed for the Games with bylaws that restrict
speech, protest, mobility, and assembly.

The agenda is open to public input and determined by who participates, but
includes further outreach, brainstorming ways of creative resistance and
protest, and gathering feedback and input about how the 2010 Welcoming
Committee could help develop an inclusive, accessible and vocal public
mobilization.

Contact:  2010welcoming(at)resist.ca
If you are unable to attend but are interested in being involved, please
email us your contact information so we can add you to the organizing list.

________________________________________________________________________________________________

3.
Friday, October 23, 2009 @ 7:30pm
Is Criticizing Israel Antisemitic?
A Talk by Alan Sears
Professor of Sociology, Ryerson University
Member, Faculty 4 Palestine

Followed by a Round-table Audience Discussion

Free

Vancouver Public Library Central Branch
“Alma and Peter” Rooms, Lower Level, 350 Georgia St.

Organized by the Seriously Free Speech Committee (SFSC) and Sponsored by
Canada Palestine Network (CanPalNet), Independent Jewish Voices (IJV) and
NECEF

______________________________________________________________________________________________
4.
The World Peace Forum Society presents
 1929-1939- FROM CRASH TO CATASTROPHE
 A TEACH IN ON WHAT HAPPENED AND ITS LESSONS TODAY
 NOV. 7, 8 & 11
 MARITIME LABOUR CENTRE
 1880 Triumph Street

 http://www.peaceforumteachin.org/ or  www.worldpeaceforumbc.ca

 The 'Great' Depression, the rise of fascism, the debates that shook the
 workers' movement, the Spanish Civil War, the transformation from coal
 to oil, the rise of the American Empire, the origins of mass media, the
 birth of mass industrial unions, youth, anti-war and solidarity
 movements and much more- the 'thirties' were a decade that had a huge
 impact on the world we live in today and the tasks that face activists.
 Following the success of the first World Peace Forum Teach In in 2008
 which looked at the impact of World War I this gathering of academics,
 artists and activists will discuss and debate the decade between the
 great 'crash' of October 1929 and the official beginning of the Second
 World War in September of 1939.
 With the goal of supporting peace, economic and social justice and
 ecological sustainability, the World Peace Forum is creating a program
 featuring speakers from across North America who will shed light on the
 roots of the present in the past. In plenary sessions and smaller
 workshops the lessons of history and the tasks of today will be
 discussed and debated. On Remembrance Day- November 11- there will be a
 special series of panels for young people- the generation who will
 decide what the future of humanity will look like and whether there will
 be one.

 Program information available at http://www.peaceforumteachin.org/
 To get involved- info at worldpeaceforumbc.ca

________________________________________________________________________________________________
5.

*Please forward widely*

Malalai Joya in Vancouver

Saturday, November 14
7p.m., St. Andrew's - Wesley Church (1022 Nelson St, at the corner of
Burrard)

Suggested Donation: $5-10

Please join us for this special event: the Canadian launch of Malalai
Joya's book, A Woman Among Warlords: The Extraordinary Story of an Afghan
Who Dared to Speak Out, which Kirkus Reviews calls, "A chilling, vital
memoir that reveals hidden truths about Afghanistan and directly addresses
the misguided policies of the United States."

Co-written with StopWar activist and writer Derrick O'Keefe, A Woman Among
Warlords is an important and timely book. Malalai Joya's personal story is
inspiring, and her political message is an uncompromising appeal for an
end to NATO's occupation of Afghanistan and the impunity of the warlords
in the Karzai regime. Don't miss this rare chance to hear Malalai Joya in
person.

Suggested donation: $5-10. All proceeds will go towards Malalai Joya's
humanitarian projects in Afghanistan.

Organized by StopWar.ca.

Sponsors: Simon & Schuster Canada, the Canadian Peace Alliance, Voice of
Women - Canada, rabble.ca, Iranian Centre for Peace, Freedom and Social
Justice.

Malalai Joya, the young woman who the BBC has hailed as the ‘bravest in
Afghanistan,’ has published her memoirs, A Woman Among Warlords: The
Extraordinary Story of an Afghan Woman Who Dared to Speak Out. You can
purchase the book at your local independent bookstore, or online now at:

http://www.amazon.com/Woman-Among-Warlords-Extraordinary-Afghan/dp/143910946X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1255692565&sr=1-1

or

http://books.simonandschuster.com/Woman-Among-Warlords/Malalai-Joya/9781439109465

Joya, now 31, was the youngest ever woman elected to the Afghan Parliament
in 2005 and is an outspoken critic of the Karzai government and NATO
occupation. She will be touring North America between Oct. 23 and Nov. 27
to speak about her new memoir, co-written with Canadian activist and
writer Derrick O’Keefe.

With U.S. President Obama considering escalating the war in Afghanistan
with over 40,000 more troops -- and the Canadian government signaling that
this country’s forces will in fact not be coming home at the end of 2011
-- Joya’s speaking tour and book release is timely.

“Afghan women like me, voting and running for office, have been held up as
proof that the United States has brought democracy and women’s rights to
Afghanistan,” Joya writes. “But it is all a lie.”

Her book tells the story of her life in the context of three decades of
war. Joya details her reasons for opposing NATO's war and suggests
concrete steps for building an independent and genuinely democratic
Afghanistan.

Malalai Joya, often compared to Burma’s Aung San Suu Kyi, has emerged as a
symbol of Afghans’ desire for freedom from corruption, warlordism and
foreign occupation. Her father, who lost a leg fighting the Soviet
occupation of Afghanistan, named her after a 19th century hero in the
fight against the British Empire, Malalai of Maiwand.

Today, Joya brings to a North American audience the lessons of
Afghanistan’s long history of occupation and resistance. And she hopes her
book will “correct the tremendous amount of misinformation being spread
about Afghanistan.”

“Afghans are sometimes represented in the media as a backward people,
nothing more than terrorists, criminals and henchmen. This false image is
extremely dangerous for the future of both my country and the West. The
truth is that Afghans are brave and freedom loving people with a rich
culture and a proud history. We are capable of defending our independence,
governing ourselves and determining our own future.”

For book tour details in the United States (Oct. 23 - Nov. 12), see:
http://afghanwomensmission.org/awmnews/index.php?articleID=85
For a complete listing of events with Malalai Joya across Canada (Nov. 13
- 27), see: http://rabble.ca/malalai_joya_tour.

_______________________________________________________________________________________________
6.

War Resisters Support Campaign - Vancouver

Good morning everyone. Here is a quick letter writing guide for you to
help keep Rodney's sanctuary case front and centre in the media through
letter writing.
For local Vancouver area people, there has been coverage in the Province
and the Sun.

Contacts for writing to them are:
provletters at theprovince.com
sunletters at png.canwest.com

Writing letters to the Editor.

It is important that we flood the letters pages with supportive letters,
otherwise only Tory supporters' letters will get published and it will
look like that they are the majority.

Be sure to include a phone number and address in your letter so they can
confirm it for publishing. Keep letters short - under 200 words.

Here are some possible concerns you could raise in your letter.

Despite his growing concern about the war, Rodney completed his one year
of duty in Iraq.

After returning to the US he learned that he would be 'stop-lossed' and
returned to Iraq for another year, which would extend beyond the end of
his contract.

Rodney has a Canadian fiancée and young son.

Parliament voted twice to let Iraq War resisters stay.

Opinion polls show that the majority of Canadians want Iraq War Resisters
to be allowed to stay in Canada.

Immigration Minister Jason Kenney has prejudiced the immigration process
by referring to Iraq War Resisters as “bogus refugees”

Even Prime Minister Harper has said that the war in Iraq was “absolutely
an error.”

Rodney and the other Iraq War resisters  made the same decision Canada
did, not to go to war in Iraq.

Canada has a long tradition of respecting the right of Churches to offer
sanctuary to refugee claimants who are to be deported to persecution.

Here's the letter that Bradley wrote and the story in the Province:

RE: Iraq War resister discloses his refuge at Vancouver church

Dear Editor,

The situation of the courageous Iraq war resisters, like Rodney Watson,
shows how mean spirited and vindictive Harper and Immigration Minister
Kenney are. They're still angry that they couldn't convince Canadians to
support the war in Iraq, and now they want to punish war resisters who
made the same decision that Canadians did, not to join the invasion and
occupation of Iraq.

Two previous Iraq war resisters, Cliff Cornell and Robin Long, were
deported by the Tories, and they were given 12 and 15 month sentences
and will have to live with a criminal record.

I hope the Tories will soon implement the motion that was passed twice in
Parliament and let the war resisters stay. I hope that Rodney Watson will
soon be allowed to leave the church and live with his Canadian family.

Bradley Hughes

Iraq War resister discloses his refuge at Vancouver church

By John Bermingham
The Province
October 19, 2009 1:23 PM
http://www.theprovince.com/resister+discloses+refuge+Vancouver+church/2120540/story.html

U.S. war resister Rodney Watson has become the first Iraq War deserter in
the country to enter church sanctuary.

This morning, the 31-year-old told reporters he has been living in refuge
at the First United Church on East Hastings since Sept. 18.

“I don’t believe it will be just for me to be deported,” said Watson,
flanked by church ministers and supporters. Watson lost his refugee claim
on Sept. 11, and was expecting to be deported back to the U.S., where he
faces jail for refusing to do a second tour of duty in Iraq.

The main reason Watson wants to stay is to be with his 10-month-old son
and fiancee, who live in Vancouver. Watson said his son is currently in
foster-care, but wouldn’t say why, and he plans to marry and settle in
B.C.

Ric Matthews, minister with the First United Church, said Watson has an
apartment at the church, and is fed on-site. Watson cannot leave the
grounds of the church. Matthews said the church agreed to let Watson take
refuge because it doesn’t support the Iraq War, or the way the U.S.
military treated Watson, who signed up to be a military cook, but was
ordered to find explosives.

“We expect the authorities will continue to respect this place as a place
of sanctuary,” he said.

Sarah Bjorknas of the War Resisters Support Campaign Vancouver, said three
out of the five war resisters who have been deported from Canada since
2008 have been jailed.

A statement by NDP MP Libby Davies said she’ll continue to ask the Tory
government to honour two non-binding votes in Parliament to allow war
resisters to seek asylum in Canada.

“The government has chosen to ignore the will of the majority view of
Canadians,” said Bjorknas.

jbermingham at png.canwest.com
© Copyright (c) The Province

War Resisters Support Campaign Vancouver
http://vancouverwarresisters.org
Tel: 778-837-1475
c/o 1143 E Pender St
Vancouver BC V6A 1W6