[van-announce] [ISM-Vancouver] June 14 conference on anti-war movements past, present and future

[ism-van-announce-admin at ender.indymedia.org]

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Calling all people who hate war, racism and occupation! 

A conference on Student Anti-War Movements past, present and future.

When: Saturday, June 14, 2003 11am-5:30pm 
Where: SFU Harbour Centre (in the Fletcher Challenge Theatre)

There will be three sessions:
(Speaker bios appended at the bottom of this email)

First, "learning our history"- a revisiting with some of the major players
from the major student battles against the Vietnam war and more at SFU of
the late 60's and early 70's. This will involve Mordecai Briemberg (former
SFU-PSA dep't head), Marcy Toms (former student leader, SFU) & Bob Enoch
(former student union rep SFU).

Second, "our living history"-a talk with two of the Concordia Student 
Union
activists, Tom Keefer (former Vice President-communications CSU) and Leila
Khaled Mouammar (member of Solidarity for Palestinian Human Rights) about
their struggles to raise consciousness around such issues as Palestine and
anti-Arab racism on campus.

Finally (and most important!), "organizing to act"- a spokes-council to 
end
the day, with feedback from other students on plans and recent actions to
oppose the current drive towards more war and continuing occupations. No
panel leaders, everyone asked to participate and plan more (not just)
student resistance to war, racism and occupation. Some people are being
asked to participate, and all are encouraged to show up and are more than
welcome.

There will be no admission charged, but donations to recuperate costs
appreciated; anything raised above and beyond costs of the event will go 
to
the International Solidarity Movement in honor of the recently shot 
students
Brian Avery and Tom Hurndall and the murdered student Rachel Corrie, all
victims of the on-going Israeli Occupation of Palestine.

Speaker bios (alphabetically):

Mordecai Briemberg: Mordecai Briemberg currently teaches English as a 
Second
Language at Douglas College. Previously he taught sociology and was chair 
of
the Political Science, Sociology and Anthropology Department at SFU in the
late 1960's. He was educated at the universities of Alberta, Oxford, and
California (Berkeley). He is a member of the editorial board of Canadian
Dimension magazine, and a member of the Board of Directors of the Near 
East
Cultural and Educational Foundation of Canada. He writes on contemporary
Middle East issues and edited the book It Was, It Was Not: Essays and Art 
on
the War Against Iraq. He is a founding member of the Canada Palestine
Support Network (www.canpalnet.ca). Mordecai is a member of the collective
that produces the weekly public and cultural affairs radio program 
"Redeye",
broadcast Saturday mornings 9 a.m. to noon on Vancouver Cooperative Radio,
CFRO 102.7 FM. He has long been active in social justice struggles,
particularly for the creation of democratic structures in education and in
opposition to war and racism.

Bob Enoch: Bob Enoch was a student activist at SFU in the late 60's.
Radicalized by the Vietnam war, he was involved with the SDU there, and
later joined with other former university comrades in what would now be
called the "new Communist" movement of the early 70's. After 20 plus years
as an NGO executive, he has now been re-proletarianized, and eagerly 
awaits
the opportunity to dance on the grave of Imperialism.

Tom Keefer: Tom Keefer was Vice President-Communications of the Concordia
Student Union in Montreal from 1999-2001 and a member of the CSUs board of
directors from 2001-2003.  Tom has been a long time anti-capitalist 
activist
who was summarily expelled from Concordia in August of 2001 for his
opposition to the university administration and his pro-Palestinian
activism. Tom is a member of the New Socialist Group 
(www.newsocialist.org)
and currently lives in Toronto, Ontario.

Leila Khaled Mouammar: Leila Khaled Mouammar serendipitously participated 
in
the shutdown of the Sep. 9 Netanyahu rally at Concordia. She works with
Solidarity for Palestinian Human Rights (SPHR - Montreal: www.sphr.org) on
the Karameh campaign to embody and support the dignity and rights of 
people
assaulted and criminalized for resisting the Anglo-American-Israeli
imperialist war machine, at home and abroad.

Marcy Toms: Marcy Toms was born and educated in Vancouver and has a degree
in Anthropology and Sociology and an MA in Women's Studies. She was a
founder of both the Vancouver Women's Caucus (1968) and the Spartacus Book
Collective (1973) and has been on the executives of End the Arms Race, 
COPE
and the NDP Women's Rights Committee. Her flirtation with social democracy
was brief and exceptionally unsatisfactory. Since 1976, she has been a
secondary school teacher in Vancouver and involved in her union local and
the BC Teachers Federation (BCTF) At present, she is an English and 
History
teacher as well as the Department Head for Literacy, Study Skills and
Cognitive Improvement at Templeton Secondary School. Academically, she
studies the history of 'social movement feminism,' and educating for 
'social
responsibility' and has presented papers on these at various conferences 
in
Canada and the United States.

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