[van-announce] Activist Calendar

Tue May 26 15:34:17 PDT 2009

Activist Calendar

WWW.VancouverSocialit.COM

Events below are listed in no particular order. If your
event is not on the list and you would like it added please email
Vancouver_socialist_forum at yahoo.com

The below events are not organized by Vancouver Socialist
Forum. 

1.StopWar Coalition's Annual General Meeting Saturday, May
30, 10am to 3pm

2.BOOK LAUNCH: "The Black Book of Canadian Foreign
Policy " JUNE 2, 7 pm

3.A fundraiser in solidarity with Afghan women Friday, June
19, 7pm 

4.The Bil'in Pan-Canada Tour: Israeli Apartheid on Trial
June 7th and 8th

5.Picket the Jewish National Fund Dinner Sunday, May 31, 5
pm

6.3RD ANNUAL WOMEN'S HOUSING MARCH
Sat June 13 @ 1:30 pm

7.Café for Chiapas to Celebrate the
Zapatista Women and New Births" June 13

8.SATURDAY MAY 30: STORYTELLING OUR LIVES RETURNS

9.Concert - David Rovics with Shawnee Kilgore " on
Tuesday, June 23 at 7:30pm

10.BUILDING PEOPLE TO PEOPLE SOLIDARITY MAY 30th

11.LEFT FILM NIGHT May 31, 7:00 pm

12. Renter's Rights
& the Fight for Affordable Housing may 28th

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You are invited to...

1) StopWar Coalition's Annual General Meeting

Saturday, May 30, 10am to 3pm

at the Maritime Labour Centre (111 Victoria Dr, 2 blocks
north of E. Hastings)

Join us to discuss the challenges facing the anti-war
movement and to plan the upcoming year of organizing and elect a new
coordinating committee. Featured speakers include: Gord Hill of No2010.com on
the security climate and the Olympics, Dave Markland on the situation in
Afghanistan and Sid Shniad on the Israel lobby and its impact on our movements.

Lunch by donation.

*For regular updates on the war in Afghanistan, be sure to
follow http://stopwarblog.blogspot.com

***

*Please forward widely*

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2) BOOK LAUNCH:

"The Black Book of Canadian Foreign Policy "

With author Yves Engler

TUESDAY, JUNE 2, 7 pm

Harbour Center, 515 W. Hastings St., Vancouver

Where does Canada fit in on the world stage? As peacemaker
or accomplice to war and empire? Just published, The Black Book of Canadian
Foreign Policy sheds light on many dark corners of Canadian foreign
policy--from troops that joined the British colonial war in Sudan in 1885 to
neo-colonial war and occupations in Haiti, Iraq and Afghanistan today.

"We bear responsibility for what governments do in the
world, primarily our own, but secondarily those we can influence, our allies in
particular.Yves Engler's penetrating inquiry yields a rich trove of valuable
evidence about Canada's role in the world and poses a challenge for citizens
who are willing to take their fundamental responsibilities
seriously."--Noam Chomsky

Organized by STOPWAR.ca

Endorsers: Dominion paper; Haiti Solidarity BC; People's
Co-Op Bookstore; Vancouver Socialist Forum; (others to follow).

To read more on the book: http://blackbook.foreignpolicy.ca/

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

*** Please forward widely***

3) Aid not occupation!

A fundraiser in solidarity with Afghan women

Friday, June 19, 7pm

Vancouver Unitarian Sanctuary, 949 W. 49th Ave (at Oak St.)

An evening of speeches, music and poetry dedicated to
raising funds for the Afghan Women's Mission, which works closely with RAWA
(Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan) to support health,
educational, and other programs for Afghan women. The main program will be
followed by reception at 9:00pm, with refreshments and desserts.

Featuring: Sonali Kolhatkar, co-director, Afghan Women's
Mission, author of Bleeding Afghanistan: Washington, Warlords and the
Propaganda of Silence and host of Uprising Radio, an hour-long daily program on
Pacifica Radio.

Suggested $10 donation, no one will be turned away.

Childcare will be available.

Organized by Vancouver StopWar Coalition

Co-sponsored by: Vancouver Unitarians Social Justice
Committee (http://vancouver.unitarians.ca/cms/site/)

For more information on the Afghan Women's Mission:
http://afghanwomensmission.org/index.php

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4) The Bil'in Pan-Canada Tour: Israeli Apartheid on Trial

Two Events in Vancouver, Unceded Coast Salish Territory

June 7th and 8th

Featuring: Mohammed Khatib of the Popular Committee Against
the Wall, Bil'in, Occupied Palestine, Emily Schaeffer an Israeli lawyer
representing the village of Bil'in and local speakers!

1) Sunday June 7th

6pm-8pm

Location TBA

Suggested donation $10.00 - $25.00   

No one will be turned away for lack of funds

2) Monday June 8th

7pm – 9pm Talk

9pm – 10pm - Reception

Vancouver Unitarian Church 949 West 49th Avenue

Suggested donation $10.00 - $25.00

No one will be turned away for lack of funds

***All monies fundraised will go directly towards covering tour
costs and Bil'in's legal fees***

About Bil’in and this Tour

Bil’in, a Palestinian village located in the West Bank, has
become an internationally celebrated symbol of Palestinian popular resistance
to the ongoing construction of the Israeli apartheid wall and settlements.
Since 2005, villagers have led weekly nonviolent protests, with active
participation from both Israeli and international solidarity activists, in
opposition to illegal Israeli colonization and annexation of Palestinian land.
Almost 60% of Bil'in's land has been annexed by Israel to date.

Bil’in has filed a lawsuit in the Quebec Superior Court
against two Quebec registered companies: Green Park International and Green
Mount International. The companies are accused of illegally constructing
residential and non-residential buildings for the Israeli settlement of
Mattityahu East on the Bil’in's lands. 
According to the lawsuit, the lands of Bil'in are subject to the rules
and obligations of international law because the West Bank is currently under
Israeli military occupation. Bil'in's case against the construction of
settlements on their land is based on the provisions of the Geneva Convention,
which prohibit an occupying power from transferring its civilian population
into territory that it has occupied as a result of war.  The case against Green Park and Green Mount
seeks an immediate order from the Canadian court that it end its illegal
activities.

In June 2009, Mohamed Khatib of Bil'in's Popular Committee
Against the Wall and Emily Schaeffer, an Israeli lawyer representing the
village of Bil'in, will be embarking on a tour of 11 Canadian cities to speak
on Bil'in and a historic court case scheduled to be heard in Montreal in late
June 2009. They will be in Vancouver to talk about this case and Bil'in's
resilient struggle.

For more background information about the lawsuit, please
see http://www.montrealmirror.com/2008/073108/news2.html

For more information on Bil'in see
http://www.bilin-village.org/

For more information on local events please contact
bilinevents(at)gmail.com or 604.780.8463.

In Vancouver, events are being organized by the Boycott
Israeli Apartheid Campaign http://www.boycottisraeliapartheid.org/

Endorsers and Sponsors

Locally these events have been endorsed and sponsored by:
Adalah, Canadian Arab Federation, Canada-Palestine Association, CanPalNet,
Co-op Radio, Jews for a Just Peace, Lawyers Against the War, Masjid Al-Salaam,
Outlook Magazine, Vancouver Quaker Meeting, Social Justice Committee of the
Unitarian Church of Vancouver, Solidarity for Palestinian Human Rights-UBC,
StopWar, Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom-BC, UBC Colour
Connected, Vancouver District Labour Council, World Peace Forum.

Nationally the Bil'in Tour is organized by: Solidarity for
Palestinian Human Rights (SPHR), Tadamon, and Young Jews for Social Justice
with endorsement from: the Canadian Arab Federation, the Canadian Union of
Postal Workers, KAIROS, the Near East Cultural and Educational Foundation,
Sabeel, Science for Peace, VOW.

Articles on Bil'in

National Post: Palestinian village sues Canadian contractors

http://bilin-village.org/english/articles/press-and-independent-media/Palestinian-village-sues-Canadian-contractors

CBC report about legal proceedings in Quebec - Canada
(October 7, 2008)

http://bilin-village.org/english/videos/6351-CBC-report-about-legal-proceedings-in-Quebec-Canada-10-07-2008

Photo Gallery of Bil'in village non-violent resistance:

http://www.bilin-village.org/english/photos/

A letter from Mohammad Khatib honouring slain Palestinian
Bassam Ibrahim Abou Rahme

http://www.bilin-village.org/english/articles/different-look/His-name-was-Basem

Photos: Solidarity with Bil'in in Montreal

http://www.tadamon.ca/post/3545

Palestine: Bil'in international conference closing statement

http://www.tadamon.ca/post/3432

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Please post and forward widely

5) Picket the Jewish National Fund Dinner

Sunday, May 31, 5 pm

Four Seasons Hotel, W. Georgia & Howe, Vancouver

Canada Palestine Association-Vancouver (www.cpavancouver.org
) is

calling for a picket against the Jewish National Fund (JNF)
Negev

Dinner on May 31/09 at the Four Seasons Hotel in Vancouver,
Canada.

The Picket will protest against the continued theft of
Palestinian

land by the JNF and discrimination by the JNF against
Palestinians,

even those who are citizens of the state of Israel. With the
theme of

the Jewish National Fund equals 61 years of Palestinian
dispossession,

the picket will also commemorate the 61st anniversary of the

Palestinian Nakba. 
The JNF and its tax-deductible status are of

particular concern to all people in Canada concerned with
genuine

justice because of the infamy called "Canada
Park", built by the JNF

on three destroyed Palestinian villages.

Endorsed by: Solidarity for Palestinian Human Rights-UBC,
Jews for a

Just Peace, CanPalnet, Boycott Israeli Apartheid Campaign.

Check out our Facebook page:

http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/event.php?eid=82239107995&ref=ts

\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\

The following solidarity message was sent from Dr. Uri
Davis, a

Palestinian Jew and one of the foremost scholars in Israel
on the

racist and exclusionist nature of the JNF to a previous
picket in

Vancouver against the JNF in April 2006.

The core of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is a conflict
between the

State of Israel as a settler colonial state in Palestine and
the

indigenous people of the country of Palestine, the
Arab-Palestinian

people. The core of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, like
the core of

the conflict in any confrontation between a colonial settler
state and

an indigenous people lies in the claim of the colonial
settler state

to legally set aside the land and the subsoil for the use of
the

settler society and to dispossess the native population of
their

individual and collective property rights to the land and to
whatever

underlies the land.

The land laws of the State of Israel are apartheid laws,
because they

enforce preference on the basis of tribal affiliation
(religious,

and/or ethnic and/or national), allocating in law privileged
access to

the land (including housing) and the subsoil (notably water)
to

persons defined in law as a “Jews”, correlatively
discriminate against

those defined in law as “non-Jews”, in the first instance,
against the

Arab-Palestinian people. In other words, these are racist
laws in the

sense defined in the international conventions that Israel
has signed

and ratified, such as the Convention on the Elimination of
All Forms

of Racial Discrimination of 1965.

With the apartheid divide in Israel being legally defined as
“Jews”

versus “non-Jews”, 93% of the entire territory of the State
of Israel

within the borders of 4 June 1967 are defined as “national
lands” and

are legally designated for “Jews only”. The legal system by
the

apartheid powers of which this blatant discrimination is
maintained in

the territories under Israeli sovereignty has resulted in a
land

tenure system worse than that of the Republic of South
Africa, where

the apartheid divide was legally defined as “White” versus
“non-White”

(At the height of the apartheid regime in South Africa 87%
of the

territory of the Republic were legally designated in law for
the use

of “Whites” only).

Central to the Israeli legal apartheid system is the Jewish
National

Fund (JNF) Law of 1953, the Covenant between the Government
of Israel

and the JNF of 1961, and JNF afforestation activities
regulated

thereby, notably Canada Park.

It is the duty of the international community and the
responsibility

of every concerned individual of conscious to single out the
State of

Israel for the same specific attention that was paid to the
apartheid

regime of the Republic of South Africa, inter alia in the

International Convention on the Suppression and Punishment
of the

Crime of Apartheid of 1973, not because racism in Israel as
defined in

international law is that different from Racism in North
America – but

because apartheid in Israel (the regulation of racism
through Acts of

Parliament0 is akin to apartheid in the former (pre-1994)
South

Africa.

It is the duty of the international community and the
responsibility

of every concerned individual of conscious to mobilize for
the

divestment in and boycott of Israeli industrial and other
products; of

academic, cultural and sport institutions (including
research grants

and international conferences); and for the enforcement of

international sanctions by the UN against the Government of
the State

of Israel in order to assist the apartheid State of Israel
in the same

way as the apartheid Republic of South Africa was assisted
in the

process of replacing the apartheid regime with a democratic

constitution.

NULLIFY ISRAELI JNF LAW!

ANNUL THE COVENANT BETWEEN THE GOVERNMENT OF ISRAEL AND THE
JNF!

REVOKE THE CHARITABLE REGISTRATION OF THE JNF AND CANCEL ITS
TAX

EXEMPT STATUS IN CANADA!

Uri Davis (Dr)

P O Box 99

Sakhnin 20173

Israel

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* Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FyNC7fjLhT8

6) ===> 3RD ANNUAL WOMEN'S HOUSING MARCH <===

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

++++++++++++

Sat June 13 @ 1:30 pm

Starts outside Downtown Eastside Women Centre

(302 Columbia- corner Cordova, just west of Main)

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

On Saturday June 13 at 1:30 pm, join women in the Downtown
Eastside Women

Centre Power of Women Group in the 3rd Annual March for
Women's Housing

and March Against Poverty! Everyone welcome!

We are marching for:

- Social Housing, Childcare, and Healthcare for all!

- No more Evictions and No more Condos in the DTES!

- People Before Olympic Profits!

- Stop Criminalizing the Poor!

Although we are still suffering in shelters and on the
streets, we are not

yet defeated! We are making our voices heard, we are
bringing empowerment

into our lives, we are fighting for positive change, and we
are expressing

the humanity of our neighbourhood. We hope all of you will
join us.

For more information contact project at dewc.ca or call
604-681-8480 x

234. We are also seeking endorsements, please contact us if
you would are

interested in being added to a list of supporters.

On facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=80841139629

* Power & Perspectives: An Interview with Power to Women
group

http://knollpaper.wordpress.com/current-issue/gender/power-perspectives/

* Election won’t change lives of Downtown Eastside women:

http://straight.com/article-216138/harsha-walia-and-andrea-pinochet-

election-promises-won%3F%3Ft-change-lives-downtown-eastside-women

* Downtown Eastside Women Ask Politicians for Housing Swap

http://www.dominionpaper.ca/articles/1286

The Power of Women Group is a group at the Downtown Eastside
(DTES)

Women's Centre, located in the DTES of Vancouver (the
poorest off-reserve

postal code in Canada). We are a group of women from all
walks of life who

are either on social assistance, working poor, or homeless;
but we are all

living in extreme poverty. Our aim is to empower ourselves
through our

experiences and to raise awareness from our own perspectives
about the

social issues affecting the neighbourhood.

Many of us are single mothers or have had our children
apprehended due to

poverty; most of us have chronic physical or mental health
issues for

example HIV and Hepatitis C; many have drug or alcohol
addictions; and a

majority have experienced and survived sexual violence and
mental,

physical, spiritual, and emotional abuse. For indigenous
women, we are

affected by a legacy of the effects of residential schools
and a history

of colonization and racism.

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

7) Café for Chiapas to Celebrate the Zapatista Women and New
Births" on Saturday, June 13 at 3:00pm.

Event: Café for Chiapas to Celebrate the Zapatista Women and
New Births

       "Support
awesome communities by getting beyond fairly traded items and enjoying some
great coffee"

What: Fundraiser

Host: Defendamos Nuestra Tierra (Defend Our Land) Artesanias

Start Time: Saturday, June 13 at 3:00pm

End Time: Saturday, June 13 at 6:00pm

Where: (site of Organizing Centre for Social & Economic
Justice/Bus Riders Union)

To see more details and RSVP, follow the link below:

http://www.facebook.com/n/?event.php&eid=120079538760&mid=85cc63G2a5714eeG4f8db20G7

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

8) * SATURDAY MAY 30: STORYTELLING OUR LIVES RETURNS! *

If you missed this exciting production last year, don`t make
the mistake

again!

‘Storytelling Our Lives: Stories of Displacement and
Migration’

In September 2008, as part of a 1 year workshop
collaboration between No

One Is Illegal and neworldtheatre, ‘Storytelling Our Lives`
was produced

and involved young people of colour sharing their personal
stories of

immigration and displacement.

It is coming back this week in a (slightly smaller)
production hosted by

Salaam Vancouver, Rainbow Refugee Committee, and Gallery
Gachet. The

production includes Salaam Vancouver and Rainbow Refugee
Committee members

sharing their personal stories.

Saturday May 30th, 7:30 pm. FREE!

at Gallery Gachet 88 East Cordova St (just West of Main)

Background on the project: Through this project No One is
Illegal and

neworldtheatre hope to jointly contribute to bridging the
gap between art

and activism by bringing into focus the individual faces and
unique

stories of those who have gone through the migration
process. This project

draws upon the deeply rooted and central role of culture,
creative

expression, and storytelling as key components of resistance
movements by

providing a connection between personal narratives and
global

understandings. Visit: http://noii-van.resist.ca/?p=888

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

9) "Concert - David Rovics with Shawnee Kilgore "
on Tuesday, June 23 at 7:30pm.

Event: Concert - David Rovics with Shawnee Kilgore 

       "War
Resisters Support Campaign fundraiser"

What: Concert

Host: West Coast War Resisters

Start Time: Tuesday, June 23 at 7:30pm

End Time: Tuesday, June 23 at 10:00pm

Where: Grandview Calvary Baptist Church

To see more details and RSVP, follow the link below:

http://www.facebook.com/n/?event.php&eid=100974157577&mid=816ce1G2a5714eeG4ee1389G7

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

10) BUILDING PEOPLE TO PEOPLE SOLIDARITY

CREATING REAL "HOPE" AND "CHANGE" FOR
PAKISTAN

PUBLIC FORUM AND DISCUSSION

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

SATURDAY, MAY 30th, 2009

2 pm - 5 pm

Newton Library

13795 - 70th Ave, Surrey

Light refreshments provided

Free Event

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

Join us for a public forum and interactive discussion on
what the future holds for Pakistan.

ORGANIZED BY:

Fraser Valley Peace Council, Siraat Collective and

Pakistan Action Network (www.pakaction.org)

SPEAKERS:

Haider Nizamani, Sunera Thobani, Huma Dar

"If they snatch my ink and pen, I should not complain,

For I have dipped my fingers in the blood of my heart.

I should not complain, Even if they seal my tongue,

For every ring of my chain is a tongue ready to speak"

(Faiz Ahmed Faiz)

Media headlines and pundits have been inundating us with
images of Pakistan as a nation on the brink of disaster. Pakistan is facing
many critical issues: the expansion of the U.S. led War on Terror into Pakistan
with continued drone attacks, Obama's AF-PAK strategy, the government's deal in
Swat, the rise of religious extremism and a majority of the population living
in poverty without access to basic human rights.

Yet there is also another Pakistan, one in which one of the
most vibrant struggles for democracy and rule of law has recently resulted in
victory, where poets, lawyers, activists, journalists and other Pakistanis are
forging movements of resistance against U.S imperialism, religious extremism
and injustice.

In this context, what does the future hold for Pakistan?
Speakers will discuss the various issues facing Pakistan and provide an
analysis and framework for what we can do as concerned members of the public to
contribute to building a movement for justice and peace in Pakistan.

SPEAKERS:

Haider Nizamani is a Lecturer in Political Science at UBC.
His specialization is in the fields of International Politics, Security Studies
and South Asian Politics. Dr Nizamani authored a book "The Roots of
Rhetoric: Politics of Nuclear Weapons in India and Pakistan". His other
publication is "Limits of Dissent A Comparative Study of Dissident Voices
in the nuclear Discourse of India and Pakistan" Contemporary South Asia,
7.3 Autumn 1998. He also contributes to Pakistan's leading English newspapers
on national security and political issues.

Sunera Thobani is a professor with the Centre for Research
in Women's Studies and Gender Relations at UBC. She is past president of the
National Action Committee on the Status of Women (NAC), Canada's largest
feminist organization. Dr. Thobani's tenure at the NAC was characterized by a
commitment to making the politics of anti-racism central to the women's
movement. Her research focuses on globalization, citizenship, migration, race,
and gender relations. Her current projects include "Gender, Globalization,
and International Conflict: Representation of Women in the Print Media"
and "Television Representations of Women and the War on Terrorism."

Huma Dar is a Post-Doctoral Fellow in the Theatre and Film
Studies Department at the University of British Columbia. Her work is focused
on the intersections and co-formations of gender, religion, class, caste,
sexuality, regional, national, and transnational politics of South Asia,
specifically analyzing the cinematic, literary, and other cultural texts of the
region. Dar has been a President of the Executive Board of Directors of Narika
- a South Asian women's organization that runs an anti-domestic violence
helpline in Berkeley, CA.

For more information:

email: pakact at gmail.com

phone: 604-613-0735

http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=75989338957

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11) /_*LEFT FILM NIGHT PRESENTS:*_/

*

STRIKE!*

/(Directed by Sergei Eisenstein, USSR, 1925, 92 minutes)/

In Sergei Eisenstein's first feature film, set in 1912, the
suicide of a 

fired factory worker sets off an initially peaceful strike,
which 

Cossacks eventually "settle" by slaughtering the
workers. A brilliant 

cinematic essay on breaking all the rules of moviemaking,
STRIKE is a 

powerful example of Russian Constructivism, an avant-garde
movement 

driven by revolution, the language of the masses, modernity,
and utopian 

visions. Eisenstein's editorial/poetic shock tactics are
viscerally in 

evidence, as when he cuts swiftly from a descending butcher's
knife to 

shots of the Cossack massacre to the throat of a bull being
slit. STRIKE 

is filmmaking being invented before your very eyes!

*Sunday, May 31, 7:00 pm*

Centre for Socialist Education, 706 Clark Drive, Vancouver

(corner of Clark & E. Georgia)

No admission charge, but donations towards our costs are
welcome. Coffee 

and refreshments available. Left Film Nights are presented
by the Centre 

for Socialist Education, Young Communist League, and the
Latino 

(Montivero) and Vancouver East Clubs of the Communist Party
of Canada. 

Call 604-255-2041 or email <pvoice at telus.net> for
further information.

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

12) Renter's Rights & the Fight for Affordable Housing 

A People’s Health Series Workshop

Thursday
May 28th 

6:30-8:30 pm 

Organizing Centre for Social and Economic Justice

672 East Broadway (at Fraser)

Have you ever been evicted or ripped off by your landlord? 

Join others to share your experiences and learn what your rights as a renter
are.  

Learn about the ongoing fight for affordable housing.  

Presentation by Laura Stannard from the Citywide Housing Coalition 

This workshop is free.

Dinner is served promptly at 6:30.

For free childcare registration is suggested but not required. 

Seating might be limited, so registration is a good idea!

Bus tickets available after the workshop.

-- 

Alliance for People's Health 

allianceforpeopleshealth at gmail.com

604-215-2775

or cell phone 778-988-9570

672 E Broadway 

Vancouver, BC 

V5T 1X6

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