[van-announce] Registration and other information for Envisioning Peoples Struggles Conf

[harsha at resist.ca]

* pls post *

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IMPORTANT REGISTRATION INFORMATION

Pre-registration has exceeded what we expected, and due to limited space,
we might not be able to accommodate everyone who wishes to attend some of
the Saturday panels in particular. To ensure you are able to attend the
panels you would like, we strongly encourage registering. Registration
information is on the website. Those who have registered will be given
priority if we reach capacity, although we will take into account various
accessibility issues around the registration process for some
participants.

The conference is by donation (suggested donation 10-20$ for the entire
conference including food and all the film festival). No one turned away
for lack of $.



              .:ENVISIONING PEOPLE'S STRUGGLES:.
             Friday June 24 to Sunday June 26
            SFU Harbour Center (515 West Hastings)
             and Lore Krill Co-op (65 West Cordova)
               Vancouver, Coast Salish Territories


Our final speakers schedule is available at
http://users.resist.ca/~eps2005/schedule.html

One of our speakers just confirmed on the closing panel is Colombian Trade
Union leader Alfredo Porras. Alfredo Porras was a Coca Cola worker in
Colombia for 20 years, serving as a union leader and key negotiator of
collective agreements. He has been targeted, arrested, prosecuted in one
of the most highly publicized and politicized trials in the country, and
had an assassination attempt on his life; and finally, he fled as a
political refugee to Canada in 2004. Alfredo will speak about the struggle
of unions in Colombia, particularly the Coca Cola Union, and the violation
against its members and workers. He will also speak about the price
workers pay for corporate globalization.

One of our keynote speakers on the opening panel on the evening of Friday
June 24th is Waleed Rabia. Waleed is a founder of Al Muajaha (‘The
Witness” or alternatively,  “Confrontation”); Iraq’s first independent
media project that was initiated one week after the war began, and
associated with the IndyMedia Center. He was an embedded journalist with
the Iraqi resistance forces from Northern to Southern Iraq, subproducer
for the BBC, and liaison with internationals in Iraq such as Voices of
Conscience, Iraq Solidarity Project, Big Noise Films, Naomi Klein, and
others.

In addition to the various panels and workshops, our program for the
weekend includes A Canadian Refugee Camp and A Historical Resistance Walk
of the Downtown Eastside. On Saturday, community activists and residents
of the neighbourhood will guide the Historical Resistance Walk of the
Downtown Eastside with a history of the many poor, working class, and
racialized communities that have shaped the neighbourhood’s culture and
resisted gentrification and displacement. The Canadian Refugee Camp will
go up on Sunday and involves the collective organization and participation
of over a dozen immigrant and refugee community organizations in Vancouver
who have been engaged in historic and present struggle against
exclusionary immigration policies.

On Sunday after the Canadian Refugee Camp, a network of immigrant groups
will be marching for Status for All! This march will honour all the
deportees struggling against Citizenship and Immigration Canada and is
being organized to coincide with the historic 200 km walk from Montreal to
Ottawa being organized by Solidarity Across Borders from June 18-25, 2005.
For every agonizing moment, for every day spent in anxiety, for every
detention, for every deportation, for the stolen time and the stolen
lives, this march will pay tribute to those fighting in this silent
battle.

Envisioning People's Struggles is a conference being organized on the
weekend of June 24 - 26 to bring together issues and analysis from the
many struggles against war, capitalism, colonialism, and imperialism.  The
conference will also explore and discuss the history of resistance
movements locally and around the world to broaden and contextualize our
understanding of current struggles, while emphasizing the need for
long-term strategy and vision through open dialogue that builds solidarity
between diverse organizing communities. Envisioning Peoples Struggles will
bring together those at the forefront of self-determination struggles, and
organizers and activists participating in active movements for indigenous
sovereignty, against occupations in Iraq, Afghanistan, Palestine, Haiti
and elsewhere; for justice for immigrants and refugees; for workers
rights; for women’s liberation; against the prison industrial complex;
against capitalist/imperialist globalization; anti-poverty organizing, and
more.

It will be a weekend of workshops, panels, films, and strategy sessions.
Childcare available. Lunch provided on Saturday and Sunday.

For more information check the website at http://users.resist.ca/~eps2005/


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SUPPORTING THE CONFERENCE

*  We are in the process of organizing volunteer childcare, preparing food
and securing food donations, organizing vehicles, organizing housing for
out-of-town participants, and many other tasks. If you can help with any
of this, please get in touch.

* We are in need of funding to meet the various costs associated with this
conference, including transportation for out-of-town guests, and making
sure the conference is accessible to participants. If you can donate,
please get in touch.
Cheques can be made out to: Life Without Capitalism and mailed to Maryann
Abbs, 2021 Kitchener, Vancouver V5L 2W6, B.C

* Help publicize this conference through your networks. Posters and
leaflets are available for download on our website.

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INFORMATION TABLES

During the conference at SFU Harbor Center, there will be a gallery of
information tables. Due to a limited number of tables and a limited amount
of space, however, we unfortunately no longer have any information tables
available. However, we will have tables set aside for upcoming events on
Friday night as well as Saturday from 9:30 am to 5:45 pm. The Conference
organizers also retain the right to refuse dissemination of any racist,
sexist, homophobic or other disrespectful and damaging material.