[van-announce] Community Events Digest
SFPIRG
sfpirg at sfu.ca
Fri Oct 16 15:44:27 PDT 2009
Community Events Digest
==Social justice events around town==
1) Benefit Concert For Typhoon Victims in the Philippines (Oct 16, SFU Burnaby)
2) Building International Solidarity: Working for Strategic Change (Oct 17)
3) Stone Soup Film Festival: Exploring the Politics of Food (Oct 17 & 18)
4) Anti-mining campaign: Pacific Rim vs. the people of El Salvador (Oct 16-19)
5) AMAZAY: A film about water (Oct 20)
6) Book Launch: "Raise Shit! Social Action Saving Lives" (OCt 22)
7) Colombia and the Struggle for Human Rights (Oct 23)
8) Anti-Olympics Extravaganza! (Ovt 23)
9) International Day for Climate Action: Bridge to a Cool Planet (Oct 24)
10) IN OUR OWN VOICES: Evening of storytelling, reflection, & resistance (Oct 24)
11) Reflections on Torture at Abu Ghraib with Dr. Sherene Razack (Oct 24)
12) Olympics & National Security Forum (Oct 26, SFU Burnaby)
13) Film Screening - Think Peace (Oct 27)
14) JOB POSTING: Planned Lifetime Advocacy Network
15) TAKE ACTION: Sign a petition to stop the cuts to BC libraries
**compiled by SFPIRG, SFU's student-based social justice resource centre.
http://www.sfpirg.ca. To have your event included in the next digest, send a
text-based email announcement to sfpirg (at) sfu.ca. **
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Benefit Concert For Typhoon Victims in the Philippines
Friday Oct 16th
Doors Open at 6 PM
Melissa Mansfield @ 7 PM
Stepping Bridge @ 8 PM
DJ @ 10 PM
SFU HIGHLANDS PUB,
MBC, SFU Burnaby
$8 at the door
MUST BE 19 yrs plus
Since Sept 26th, the Philippines has been struck severely by three typhoons. The first of which was far more powerful than Hurricane Katrina. Please help us raise money for those ravaged by the series of typhoons in the Philippines.
For more information please contact Pepita at 604-773-9626 or at pepitas at sfu.ca.
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Building International Solidarity: Working for Strategic Change
Saturday October 17, 2009
9:30 am –3:30pm
Maritime Labour Centre, 1880 Triumph Street, East Vancouver
CoDevelopment Canada and the Vancouver and District Labour Council are pleased to invite you and your members to an innovative workshop: Building International Solidarity: Working for Strategic Change. We believe that international solidarity should be an essential part of any union’s strategic plan to make the world a better place for workers. Join union members and representatives from local, provincial and national union international solidarity committees to share experiences and discuss new strategies for international solidarity work. This workshop-style forum will include presentations and small-group discussions around important themes such as how to make international solidarity meaningful to your members and central to your union’s vision, engaging youth, planning action-oriented campaigns, and identifying areas where solidarity committees from different unions can cooperate. The workshop is designed as a way for more-experienced solidarity activists to share experiences with each other, as well as for less-experienced members to learn about what has worked in other contexts. We will keep it as practical as possible, so that participants will come away with concrete ideas for building international solidarity in their unions.
CoDevelopment Canada
PHONE: 604-708-1495
EMAIL: codev at codev.org
http://www.codev.org
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Stone Soup Film Festival: Exploring the Politics of Food
Sat Oct 17 & Sun Oct 18 -
Britannia High School Auditorium, Commercial Drive and Napier St, East Vancouver
The local food movement is apparent everywhere you go these days. From neighbourhood gardens to thriving farmers' markets and even backyard chicken coops, Vancouverites are embracing it with gusto.
The festival will screen a wide range of films that emphasize the positive efforts
being made to change our current food system and empower this generation to take action.
Selections include: The Garden, the Academy-nominated feature about the fight to save a beloved urban farm in South Central L.A; Mad City Chickens, a doc about chickens and the urbanites who love them; All Jacked Up, a poignant portrait of four teens struggling with sugar addiction; Food Inc, an expose on the shocking truth about our food system, and many more!
Festival passes are $15, and admission to individual films is by donation (suggested donation $5). All proceeds go to local community gardens.
Check out our film blog for films and schedules -
http://stonesoupfilmfestival.blogspot.com/
Stone Soup Film Festival is presented as part of "Sustenance: Feasting on Art and Culture", a city-wide food festival to be held from Oct 3rd - 18th at various locations. For program info visit http://www.roundhouse.ca/sustenance
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Anti-mining campaign: Pacific Rim vs. the people of El Salvador
PICKET ACTIONS, BENEFIT DINNER/CONCERT, FREE PUBLIC FORUM
These events are being organized or co-sponsored by Vancouver-based Community Organizations: CODESES: Committee to Support Social Development in El Salvador; Solidarity Coalition for a United Latin America; Vancouver Support Group for Radio Cadena Mi Gente, RAICES Latin American Cultural Society* and other Vancouver Latin American groups and students.
For more info about any of these events, please call 778-883-6161 or 604-715-2979.
**PICKET ACTIONS AT PACIFIC RIM HEAD OFFICES
Fri. Oct 16 and Mon Oct. 19
2-4pm
Pacific Rim Head Offices
625 Howe Street (at Dunsmuir)
**CUTUMAY CAMONES: LIVE BENEFIT CONCERT/DINNER
Sat. Oct. 17
6PM-10PM
St. Mary's Anglican Hall
2490 West 37th Ave (at Larch)
Tix $15 (includes dinner and drink - veggie options available)
All proceeds will go directly to community organizing group "La Mesa" in El Salvador.
Through this concert, we are hoping to share the beauty of traditional Salvadoran music with the iconic group Cutumay Camones to highlight the theme of resistance through culture, an important aspect of Latin American culture, while educating Canadians about the anti-mining social justice movement in El Salvador. A short video clip will also be played.
If you are interested in knowing more about this issue, click here: http://therealnews.com/t/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=31&Itemid=74&jumival=4118
To hear some samples of Cutumay Camones music , click here: http://www.folkways.si.edu/albumdetails.aspx?itemid=2265
**FREE PUBLIC FORUM:
PACIFIC RIM AGAINST THE PEOPLE OF EL SALVADOR
Part of the 'Si a la Vida' speaking tour against Canadian mining in El Salvador
http://www.sialavidatour.com
Monday October 19, 2009
7-9PM
SFU Harbour Centre, Room 1900
515 West Hastings Street (at Richards)
Forum will include:
-a showing of "Gold, Impunity, and Violence in El Salvador"
-special guests Bernardo Belloso and William Castillo - representatives from "La Mesa" to speak about their first-hand experiences in the anti-mining movement in El Salvador
-a live video-internet confernce from El Salvador with Miguel Rivera, brother of murdered activist Marcelo Rivera
-representatives from Northern BC First Nations communities facing similar struggles with mining on their indigenous lands
This public forum is being organized to raise awareness about how mineral consumption and support for Canadian mining companies such as Pacific Rim, negatively affects the social and cultural fabric of the local populations in El Salvador as well as the negative environmental impacts, particularly because much of the capital behind the proposed mining projects in El Salvador is based right here in Canada. We seek to strengthen linkages and solidarity support between Canadian and Salvadoran environmental, social, and cultural activists and to demand that:
-Pacific Rim withdraw its arbitration proceedings against the government of El Salvador under the Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA-DR) particularly because Canada is not part of that accord but Pacific Rim is able to do so through its' U.S. subsidiaries. We believe this is unjust and sets a dangerous precedent for the sovereignty of other Latin American nation-states.
-To ask Canadians to pressure the Canadian government to pass legislation that regulates the behaviour of Canadian mining corporation at home and abroad - Bill C-300
-To demand that all Canadian mining corporations withdraw their operations from El Salvador so that sustainable development can occur without the threat of environmental degradation.
Please visit these links for more info on this issue:
http://www.miningwatch.ca/en/urgent-action-threats-and-violence-against-community-leaders-caba-el-salvador
http://www.miningwatch.ca/en/bill-c-300-corporate-accountability-activities-mining-oil-or-gas-corporations-developing-countries
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AMAZAY: A film about water
Tuesday October 20th @ 6:30 pm
SFU Harbour Center
515 West Hastings Street - Room 7000
$5 By Donation (no one turned away).
AMAZAY: A film about water
(Vancouver Premiere)
In 1968, the creation of the WAC Bennett Dam amassed the world’s largest artificial lake, the Williston Reservoir. The rising waters flooded the Sekani from their homelands and resulted in the destruction of the lower half of their watershed.
In 2003 Northgate Minerals proposed to dump 750 million tones of acid tailings into a pristine lake. The Tse Keh Nay said no. The battle for Amazay Lake began…
The Tse Keh Nay - the Takla Lake, Tsay Keh Dene and Kwadacha First Nations – fought through a flawed environmental assessment process for 5 years. This is their story.
LORETTA WILLIAMS
Film will be followed a presentation by Loretta Williams, from the Tsilhqot’in National Government, about their own campaign to protect Teztan Biny (Fish Lake) from the proposed Prosperity Mine. Similar to the Northgate Minerals proposal for Amazay Lake, Taseko Mines Ltd. is also proposing the use of Teztan Biny as a tailings lake, 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 loop hole provided by the federal government for the mining industry.
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. The Governments of BC and Canada will most likely appeal a title case decision right to the Supreme Court of Canada and the Tsilhqot’in will need your support!
This event is organized and sponsored by the Council of Canadians and the Wilderness Committee. For more information please email hgrewal at canadians.org or call 604 340 2455.
Information and resources:
Tsilhqot’in Nation Background Document on Teztan Biny (Fish Lake):
http://www.protectfishlake.ca/media/TNG_Teztan_Biny_Backgrounder_April_2009.pdf
Website of the Tse Keh Nay with movie trailer:
http://www.tsekehnay.net
Mining Companies Turning Lakes into Toxic Dumps (Spring 2009):
http://www.canadians.org/publications/CP/2009/spring/CP_spring_09_tia.pdf
Fight looms over Fish Lake (Georgia Straight, Aug 27th, 2009):
http://www.straight.com/article-249305/fight-looms-over-fish-lake
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Book Launch
Raise Shit! Social Action Saving Lives
Thursday 22 October 2009, 7pm
Interurban Gallery
9 East Hastings Street, Vancouver BC
All welcome.
Raise Shit! Social Action Saving Lives
by Susan C. Boyd, Donald MacPherson & Bud Osborn
This book tells a story about community activism in Vancouver’s Downtown East Side (DTES) that culmi-nated in a social justice movement to open the first official safe injection site. This story is unique: it is told from the point of view of drug users — those most affected by drug policy, political decisions and policing. It provides a montage of poetry, photos, early Vancouver Area Network of Drug Users (VANDU) meetings, journal entries from the Back Alley, the “unofficial” safe injection site, and excerpts from significant health and media reports. The harms of prohibition, and resistance, hope, kindness, awakening and collective action are chronicled in these pages.
http://www.fernwoodpublishing.ca/book/409
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Colombia and the Struggle for Human Rights
CoDevelopment Canada invites you to hear one of our Columbian Partners, Mariano Guerra, share his experiences in the struggle for social justice. Mariano Jose Guerra is the President of the National Federation of Public Sector Workers, FENALTRASE (Antioquia section) and a human rights lawyer in Columbia. From his work in the labour movement and as a prosecutor or paramilitary and military cases Mariano has received numerous death threats and lives with security measures to protect his life.
When: Friday Oct 23rd Speaker and Questions 6-7pm
Where: El Barrio Restaurant 2270 E Hastings Street, Vancouver
How much: Free Admission
Sponsored by CoDevelopment Canada (http://www.codev.org)
Hosted by El Barrio (www.elbarrio.ca)
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Anti-Olympics Extravaganza!
The Vancouver-Whistler 2010 Winter Olympics are just around the corner,
It’s time to take some action!
Where: Rhizome Café, 317 East Broadway
When: Friday October 23, 2009 6:30 pm
What:
1) Get informed: Sudbury-based sociologist and author GARY KINSMAN speaks
on national security and queer resistance to the Olympics, LINDSAY
BOMBERRY (Onondaga Nation, Eel clan of the Haudenosaune Confederacy League
of Peace) will talk about Indigenous opposition to the Olympics.
2) Get inspired: Local multi-talented Nuxalk and Cayuga emcee JB THE FIRST
LADY and others share their skills and get you pumped for resistance.
3) Get expressive: Share your thoughts about the Olympics and its effects
at the Anti-Olympics Speaker�s Corner. The Olympic Resistance Network
Media Committee and the Vancouver Media Co-op will be recording your
opinions, rants, and ideas.
4) Get to action: Take part in the Anti-Olympics treasure hunt. Grab a bag
full of materials and head to the streets to document and express your
opposition to the games.
5) Share your actions: Come to Rhizome in November (details to come soon!)
to collect prizes from the treasure hunt, make a collage of your actions
and watch the video from the anti-olympics speaker's corner.
The Olympics are not going away. The devastating effects are here. But we
can still very loudly say: *No Olympics on Stolen Native Land!*
Organized by No One Is Illegal Vancouver.
For more information, email noii-van at resist.ca or call 778-833-4484. Our
website is http://www.nooneisillegal.org
Facebook RSVP: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=140937948340
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International Day for Climate Action!! Bridge to a Cool Planet!
Saturday, October 24th
11am-12 noon: gather on the Cambie Street Bridge
12:30: parade to Science World
2-6: workshops, music, performances and more at Science World
Join millions of people around the world in over 1500 events to demand real climate action!!
For more info: http://www.climateactionbc.org
Contact: Kevin Washbrook 778-848-8278 or Sean Devlin 778-321-7306 or email GetInvolved at bridgecoolplanet.ca
Download posters and cards: http://www.bridgecoolplanet.ca/en/download.php.
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IN OUR OWN VOICES
Join the Downtown Eastside Power of Women Group in an uplifting evening of
storytelling, poetry, reflection, and resistance
Saturday October 24th at 7 pm
Rhizome Cafe
317 East Broadway (corner Kingsway)
All welcome! By donation $0-20
On facebook: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=135705868281
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. 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.
Our aim is to empower ourselves through our experiences and to raise
awareness from our own perspectives about the issues affecting the
neighbourhood. We believe it is crucial for us- as women who daily bear
the brunt of poverty and violence- to share directly with you. We are
victims, but we are survivors; we are oppressed, but we are powerful. We
are frequently researched and advocated on behalf of, but it is rare that
our own voices, our own aspirations, our own struggles, our own
h(er)stories are heard. We hope you will join us and we hope you will hear
us about our struggles with poverty, homelessness, child apprehension,
violence, police, the Olympics, social assistance systems and more.
For information email project at dewc.ca or call 604-681-8480 x 234.
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Reflections on Torture at Abu Ghraib
With Dr. Sherene Razack
Saturday, October 24th, 2009, 7–9 pm
Vancouver Central Public Library, Coast Salish Territories
350 W. Georgia St., Alice MacKay Room
It’s now four years since the Abu Ghraib pictures hit the airwaves and discussions of torture are still everywhere. Dr. Razack explores how many contemporary discussions of torture that take place as critique, rely upon, even as they install, the idea that the enemy is culturally different from us. She traces the work done by the idea that Arab/Muslim means a different kind of human that can only be kept in line through violence.
Dr. Sherene Razack is Professor of Sociology and Equity Studies in Education at OISE of the University of Toronto. Her area of research focuses on race and gender in the law. Her most recent book is, Casting Out: The Eviction of Muslims From Western Law and Politics (2008).
Admission is free. Seating is limited. Childcare available on-site, please RSVP.
For more information contact the RAGA Centre at 604-822-0232 or ragacentre at gmail.com.
Presented by RAGA, Centre for Race, Autobiography, Gender, and Aging; and the Lawyers Rights Watch Canada
Co-sponsored by UBC Women’s and Gender Studies & Vancouver Status of Women.
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Olympics & National Security
Monday Oct 26th, 12:30-2:30,
MBC 2290, SFU Burnaby
Free!
The 2010 Winter Olympics will take place on unceded Indigenous land this February, bringing with it a $1 billion security budget including military, local security, and CCTV cameras. What impact does this securitization have on our city and how can we resist it?
Speakers include: Gary Kinsman {Laurentian University}, Nassim Elbardouh {No One is Illegal}, Tami T. {Community Olympic Watch}
Organized by TSSU, SFPIRG and Out On Campus. More info: programs (at) sfpirg.ca
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Film Screening - Think Peace
Tuesday, October 27 at 7:00 p.m.
Norm Theatre in the Students' Union Building (SUB), UBC
Campus Room 130
6138 Student Union Blvd.
$5/$10 sliding scale.
Think Peace: Portrait of a 21st Century Movement was filmed at the World
Peace Forum in Vancouver in 2006 by a group of citizen journalists, film
makers and concerned people. Is peace an achievable goal?
Director Corey Ogilvie, UBC Alumni will be in attendance.
This is a benefit for the Vancouver Community Television Association, a non-profit society responsible for 5 hours of weekly broadcasting on Shaw Cable 4.
http://thinkpeacemovie.com/
(**Film available in the SFPIRG library. http://www.sfpirg.ca)
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JOB POSTING: Planned Lifetime Advocacy Network
Looking for a fun, unusual, potentially life-changing part-time job?
Planned Lifetime Advocacy Network is a non-profit created by and for families who have a relative with a disability. One of the things we do at PLAN is help people to build their network of friends. As we all know from our own networks of friends, life is safer and happier with them in it. As obvious as this sounds, many people don't have this in their lives - not because they don’t have the capacity to make friends, but because they just haven’t had the opportunity to get involved in their communities.
In a nutshell, we do the work of social coordinators – we get people out so that they meet other people, make connections and build friendships. We don't say 'hey, this is Jeff, will you volunteer to hang out with him?' We introduce Jeff to enough different people with similar interests (watching hockey, having a beer, talking about politics, riding horses) that he’ll make some authentic connections along the way. If there isn't a real connection, it’s okay with us. We just introduce him to other people and let friendships develop naturally.
Right now we are looking for someone to work as a community connector with “Dave” who lives near Metrotown. When Dave describes his home it's easy to see what his passions are - his place is full of shelves brimming with books and movies. Science fiction is his favourite. Dave's got a fantastic, dry sense of humour, and when he cracks a smile, you can't help joining him. Dave has quite a well-established network, but he would still like to expand his social life, plus have a little help to stay in touch with his network friends. What is his network like? Picture a group of people who will spend a 1/2 hour laughing and teasing each other about ordering pizza, and then quickly turn to discussing Dave's life goals, offering suggestions and helping out if needed. Dave is looking for a new connector that lives within a 15 minute drive of him, is fun and organized, and who is comfortable working "behind the scenes" so he can meet new people. He enjoys people who are a little different than "the rest of the crowd" so a little quirkiness is welcome.
What’s involved in being a Community Connector? It’s essentially working as someone’s social coordinator. It’s a paid contract position that requires up to 6 hours per month of keeping the person in contact with their current friends. We also support them to get more involved in their community and make new friends. We are not seeking applicants who have worked with people with disabilities in the past - the people that do best in this role are hospitable, warm, open, great at planning fun events, proactive, and have personalities that naturally see the gifts in people around them. The role of community connector is challenging and enjoyable, and can be extremely fulfilling. PLAN pays $22 per hour and the hours are generally quite flexible.
Interested? Know someone else who might be? It would be great if you could forward this note on to 2-4 people you know in the Metrotown area who have similar interests to Dave (or people who have connections in that area) – I’d love to introduce him to a good connector! If you don’t have time to be a connector, but you’d be interested in hanging out with him some time let me know. We’d invite you to meet him and if a close friendship develops over time, you might choose to join his network – it’s clear to all involved that there’s no commitment, same as with anyone you meet. We are also currently looking for Community Connectors for the following areas: Kerrisdale, Main street, Marpole, downtown Vancouver, New Westminster, Abbotsford, North Vancouver, Horseshoe Bay, Port Coquitlam, and Coquitlam.
If you would like to learn more about PLAN and the Community Connector role, or you'd like to apply to work with us, please call Erin at 604-439-9566 (ext 134) or email at eholland at plan.ca
PLAN - Planned Lifetime Advocacy Network
Suite 260 – 3665 Kingsway
Vancouver, BC V5R 5W2
www.plan.ca
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TAKE ACTION: No Cuts to BC Libraries: Sign the Petition!
Premier Gordon Campbell's government slashed grants to public libraries by 22 per cent, as part of Sept's revised provincial budget.
These grants help pay for the provincial library network that allows all libraries in BC to share resources and provide services that community libraries could not otherwise afford. By cutting library grants by more than 1/5th there will be reduced hours, cuts in service, fewer acquisitions, fewer on-line resources and subscriptions, and reduced investment in current technology.
Sign the petition here:
http://www.stoplibrarycutsnow.ca.
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