[van-announce] Community Events Digest -Part 1 of 2

[SFPIRG]

COMMUNITY EVENTS DIGEST 

==Social justice events happening on and off campus== 

PART 1 of 2 

*** SFU Events*** 
1) Talk - Building Low-Carbon Cities: A Response to Climate Change (April 18) 
2) Talk - In Harm's Way at the Urban Margins (April 21) 
3) Book Launch - Captivity: 118 Days in Iraq and the struggle for a world without war (April 26) 

***Community Events*** 
4) Youth Earth Day Parade Preparation Party (April 16) 
5) Event - Launch of Dominion's special issue on Climate Justice (April 16) 
6) Workshop - Starting and Maintaining an Organic Garden at Home! (April 16) 
7) Discussion on Gentrification With NY Prof. Neil Smith & CCAP's Jean Swanson (April 17) 
) Fundraiser - Casa Canadiense Fundraiser (April 17) 
9) SUNversion RUN (April 17) 
10) Event - u.p.r.i.s.i.n.g.s (April 18) 
11) Forum - Big Dreams of Peace: An evening with special guest Tom Hayden (April 20) 
12) Book Launch - Other Tongues: Mixed-Race Women Speak Out (April 21) 
13) Panel - Language, Culture and Politics: Identities in Transition (April 21) 
14) Film and Discussion - Orgasm Inc. -a documentary by Liz Canner (April 21) 

...(continued in Part 2)... 


**To have your event included in the next digest, send a text-based email announcement to sfpirg(at) sfu.ca .


*** SFU Events*** 


1) 
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TALK - BUILDING LOW-CARBON CITIES: A RESPONSE TO CLIMATE CHANGE 
Monday, April 18, 7:00 to 9:00 p.m 
Room 1400, SFU Harbour Centre, 515 W. Hastings St., Vancouver 

Dr. Noel Brown , president of Friends of the United Nations, will discuss the opportunities and challenges for cities working towards low carbon status and exchange successful experiences. 

Climate change presents an unprecedented challenge for the planet and must be addressed by humankind as a whole. Over half of the world’s population is now living in cities and this proportion is steadily increasing. The building of model low-carbon cities is a critical step in responding to this challenge. 

This presentation will summarize the outcomes of the Sixth Global Forum on Human Settlements (April 11, 2011) which will focus on the theme, Building Low-Carbon Cities. The Forum will be held in New York where participants will discuss the opportunities and challenges for cities working towards low carbon status and exchange successful experiences. 

For more information, click here . To RSVP, click here . 



2) 
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TALK - IN HARM'S WAY AT THE URBAN MARGINS 
Thursday, April 21, 7:00 p.m 
Room 7000, SFU Harbour Centre, 515 W. Hastings St., Vancouver. 

Javier Auyero, professor of Latin American sociology at the University of Texas, will give a talk as part of the SFU Latin American studies speaker series, The Faces of Human Security in Latin America. 

For more information, click here 



3) 
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BOOK LAUNCH - JAMES LONEY'S CAPTIVITY: 118 DAYS IN IRAQ AND THE STRUGGLE FOR A WORLD WITHOUT WAR 
Tuesday April 26, 7:30 pm 
SFU Harbour Centre / Segal Room 1420/ 1430 (On The main floor past the escalators) 

The powerful account of the remarkable peace activist kidnapped while leading a peace delegation and held for ransom by Iraqi insurgents until his paradoxical release by a crack unit of special forces commandos. At its heart, the book is a hope-filled plea for peace, human solidarity and forgiveness. 

James Loney is a Canadian peace activist, writer and member of Christian Peacemaker Teams. Based in Toronto, he has served on violence-reduction teams in Iraq, Palestine and First Nations communities in Canada. 

For more information contact: Chrisitne Boyle, coordinator, Interfaith institute for peace, justice and social movements at mailto:interf at sfu.ca 





***Community Events*** 



4) 
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YOUTH EARTH DAY PARADE PREPARATION PARTY 
Saturday, April 16, 1pm - 4pm 
The Wilderness Committee office in Gastown, at 341 Water st. on the top floor. 

Who: High school and college students from across the region, along with Wilderness Committee campaigners, supporters and their children. All are welcome. 
What: Making costumes, banners, placards, buttons, and other materials in preperation for next weeks youth-led Earth Day Parade (Friday April 22 on Commercial Drive) . 
Why: "Our goal is to hold Vancouver's first Earth Day Celebration organized by youth, for all youth and the families of Metro Vancouver," said Cassandra Ly, a grade 12 student from the organizing group Youth For Climate Justice Now ( Y4CJN ). "We hope to recapture the original spirit of Earth Day as a day for environmental action and as a celebration of the Earth as it should be," said Ly. 

Participants will also watch "Earth Days" a documentary about the history of the first Earth Day in 1970. 
Computer stations will be set up to facilitate a social networking "Face-mob" helping young people spread the word far and wide about the Earth Day Parade over Facebook and Twitter. 

"These students are showing great leadership on issues that many politicians are not paying enough attention to," said Ben West, Healthy Communities Campaigner for the Wilderness Committee. "The fact that a federal election is happening a week after Earth Day provides a great opportunity for this event to increase youth participation in democracy," said West. 
"This is going to be an Earth Day to remember in Vancouver," said West. "These young people are so inspiring, they give me hope that a better world truly is possible." 

For More Information Contact 
Cassandra Ly , Youth for Climate Justice Now - 778 896 3788 
Ben West, Wilderness Committee - 604 710 5340 www.WildernessCommittee.org 



5) 
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EVENT - LAUNCH OF DOMINION'S SPECIAL ISSUE ON CLIMATE JUSTICE 
Saturday, April 16 2011, 7pm 
Rhizome Café, 317 E Broadway St., Vancouver 

On April 16th, join members of the Vancouver Media Cooperative for the launch of the Dominion's special issue on climate justice.The evening's events will include a presentation from special guests from Wet'suwet'en territory and updates from various organizations working towards climate justice , capped off with some music so that we can enjoy a Saturday night out at Rhizome! 

Voices from grassroots resistance and traditional governance speak out against extractive industries trespassing in unceded Wet'suwet'en territories: 
Freda Huson is a spokesperson for the Unist'ot'en (People of the Headwaters) people in the C'ilhts'ekhyu Clan. 
Toghestiy , a hereditary chief of the Likhts'amisyu Clan, is actively involved in grassroots Wet'suwet'en resistance. 
Mel Bazil is an organizer with the Lhe Lin Liyin of the Grassroots Wet'suwet'en. 

The Dominion's in-depth report on climate justice takes the pulse of climate organizing locally, nationally and internationally, offering timely frontline accounts, graphics that demystify climate science, and hard hitting journalism on one of today's most pressing issues. 

On the evening April 16th, Rhizome Café will be transformed into a hub of discussion on climate justice... We hope you can join us. 



6) 
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WORKSHOP - STARTING AND MAINTAINING YOUR OWN ORGANIC GARDEN AT HOME! 
Saturday, April 16, 2011 10am-1pm 
UBC Farm (meet at the Farm Centre),6182 South Campus Road, Vancouver 

Cost: $25 (+ 1.61 registration fee) 

Here’s a little secret if you don’t already know it: growing food is easy. (And, it’s kind of fun, too). But sometimes it’s hard to know where to start; and once you’re started, how do you keep going? Urban farmer Chris Thoreau will walk you through some of the main steps and activities in establishing and maintaining your front or back yard garden. Some of the topics Chris will cover include: 

Assessing your Yard 
Converting your lawn into a garden 
Taking care of your soil 
Composting 
How to plan and choose your crops 
Inviting wildlife and diversity to your yard 
Local resources 

Chris will also leave you with some handouts, short articles, and web resources to take home with you. 
You can read about some of Chris’s urban farming projects here: http://cmthoreau.wordpress.com 

Registration: Limited to 20 people. **Please note that all UBC Farm Growing Season Workshops require advance payment . Click here for details and registration ! 



7) 
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DISCUSSION ON GENTRIFICATION WITH NY PROFESSOR NEIL SMITH & CCAP'S JEAN SWANSON 
Sunday, April 17, 2 pm 
Japanese Language Hall, 487 Alexander Street 

Join us to have a discussion with Professor Neil Smith and Jean Swanson to talk about the DTES Neighbourhood Council’s work for community control over planning and development and to protect the assets of the low-income community as part of a global fight against gentrification. 

Over the last three months the Downtown Eastside Neighbourhood Council (DNC) has taken on a huge struggle against zoning changes in Chinatown and the Downtown Eastside. Through door-to-door petition drives, building and other community meetings, and five public hearings where more than 120 community members spoke out against the city’s plan the community came to understand how the threat of a building heights regulation change and a shift in policy at the city government level will have a terrible impact on the lives of thousands of DTES residents. The low-income community in the DTES understands that gentrification means displacement from homes, increased policing in the streets, and the loss of community assets that city government can’t understand and doesn’t value, like feeling at home in a community. 


Neil Smith is a professor in geography in New York. He’s written a major book about gentrification that is one of the most cited books about gentrification ever written, “Urban Frontiers: Gentrification and the Revanchist City.” His recent work continues to look at gentrification as a global policy and process. You can see one of his recent articles, “Gentrification as Global Urban Strategy” here: 
http://neil-smith.net/articles/new-globalism-new-urbanism-gentrification-as-global-urban-strategy 

Jean Swanson has been organizing against gentrification in the Downtown Eastside for decades. A founder of the Downtown Eastside Residents’ Association, Jean is currently the coordinator of the Carnegie Community Action Project (CCAP) and a natural community member of the Downtown Eastside Neighbourhood Council. She wrote a recent report on the gentrification threat posed to Chinatown by Vancouver City Council’s proposal to raise heights to profit developers; you can read the report in sections on the DNC’s “Fight the Heights” website here: 

For more info: 
Downtown Eastside Neighbourhood Council 
http://dnchome.wordpress.com 

Urban Subjects 
http://www.lot.at/Urban_Subjects_US/index.html 




8) 
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FUNDRAISER - CASA CANADIENSE FUNDRAISER 
Sunday, April 17, 5:30pm 
Rhizome Café, 317 E Broadway St., Vancouver 

Casa Canadiense presents this evening of music, art and good food with friends old and new, in support of their programs. Casa Canadiense is a Canadian/Nicaraguan solidarity organization that partners with Nicaraguan communities to educate Canadians on global issues. The event will feature a silent auction of Nicaraguan posters and paintings and photographs by Canadian photographers, as well as live music by La Colombina. 

By donation, no one turned away 



9) 
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SUNVERSION RUN 
Sunday, April 17, 8:30am 
Burrard Station 

sunversion (suhn ' v ???? n): the act of subverting or overthrowing the corporate Sun Run. 

8:30am - Meet at Burrard Station (at the entrance on Burrard). Look for the OCSEJ Banner and people wearing red stars on white shirts! 
8:50am - Walk over to our entrance point. Probably at Georgia and Jervis, three blocks west of Burrard. 
9am - Run and walk 10km. 

The SUNversion Run is an annual fundraiser for the Organizing Centre for Social and Economic Justice. SUNversion Runners are gathering pledges (money) from friends, family and supporters for our 10km run on April 17th. We will run amongst the 50,000 Sun Runners, but we are running AGAINST corporate profits and FOR social and economic justice! 

* It’s not too late to register! Email beth.grayer at gmail.com and come to the SUNversion brunch on April 10th. 

** If you can’t make it to the run, support a SUNversion runner with a generous pledge! You can also buy a stylish SUNversion t-shirt for $15. 

SUNversion Run Brunch and Orientation 
When: Sunday April 10th, 12pm 
Where: Organizing Centre for Social and Economic Justice, 672 East Broadway (at Fraser) 

Join us for (free) brunch to pick up your t-shirt, drop off your money and get a Sunversion route map. Extra t-shirts will be for sale for $15. 



10) 
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EVENT - U.P.R.I.S.I.N.G.S. 
Monday April 18, at 6:30 pm - 9:30 pm 
GCBC (Grandview Calvary Baptist Church), 1803 East 1st Ave (just east of Commercial Drive), Vancouver, Coast Salish Territories 
By donation $0-10 sliding scale 

* Mostafah Henaway is a Scarborough-born Egyptian based in Montreal where he is a community organizer with the Immigrant Workers Centre and active with the Tadamon! Collective which works in solidarity with struggles for self-determination, equality and justice in the Middle East especially Palestine, Lebanon, and Egypt. 

* Warner Naziel and Mel Bazil are part of the grassroots Lhe Lin Liyin Wet'suwet'en resistance against the Enbridge Pipeline and Tar Sands gigaproject, including but not limited to strip mining, pipelines, refineries, tankers and carbon markets. They organize and promote solidarity against all forms of colonization, environmental racism, violence against women, and social breakdown of communities. 

* Amal Rana is a member of the South Asian Network for Secularism and Democracy and Pakistan Action Network. She was born in Saudi Arabia where her parents moved as migrant workers from Pakistan. She will be speaking about the recent uprisings in Pakistan, from workers' rights to movements demanding an end to the war and occupation of Afghanistan and Pakistan. 

* Ivan Drury is an elected member of the Downtown Eastside Neighbourhood Council board of directors and a researcher-organizer with the Carnegie Community Action Project. His community organizing is local in practice but is part of an international struggle against gentrification and all other economic, political, cultural, and violent processes that displace and oppress people where they live. 

For more information email hwalia8 at gmail.com or call 778 885 0040 . 
Facebook event: https://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=137436339660562 
Free parking at the corner of 1st and Victoria 


Endorsed by: Streams of Justice, No One Is Illegal-Vancouver, South Asian Network for Secularism and Democracy, Boycott Israeli Apartheid Campaign, Pakistan Action Network 

accessibility info: Grandview Calvary Baptist Church's kitchen's entrance is at street level, which gives accessibility to washrooms, kitchen and lower hall.There are 12 stairs up to the sanctuary (through the building), where the event will likely be held, and 11 external stairs to the sanctuary entrance. Unfortunately, there is no elevator and the internal stair lift, for access to the sanctuary, is not working at present. The women's washroom has a stall that can accommodate a wheelchair. The washroom door opening is 86 cm, and the stall door is 61 cm 



11) 
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FORUM - BIG DREAMS OF PEACE: AN EVENING WITH SPECIAL GUEST TOM HYDEN 
Wednesday, April 20, 7:30pm 
First United Church, 320 East Hastings (at Gore), Vancouver 

Hosted and organized by Rodney Watson Jr., Iraq War veteran now war resister living in sanctuary at The First United Church 

You are invited to hear Tom Hayden speak on peace building today and how he began his quest in the 60's. Hayden was a leader of Students of the Democratic Society (SDS) in the 1960s, and remains a peace and justice activist and writer today. 

Tickets $20 or $30 (includes V.I.P meet and greet with Tom Hayden) , Tickets available for sale at People's Coop Bookstore, 1391 Commercial Dr, Ph: 604.253.6442 

More Information: 
-Check out this recent feature article in Vancouver Magazine on Rodney Watson Jr: http://www.vanmag.com/News_and_Features/The_Deserter?page=0%2C4 
-Tom Hayden's Peace and Justice Resource Centre: http://tomhayden.com/ 

Help spread the word on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=172964736086650 



12) 
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BOOK LAUNCH - OTHER TONGUES: MIXED-RACE WOMEN SPEAK OUT 
Thursday, April 21, 6:00pm 
Rhizome Café, 317 E Broadway St., Vancouver 

Inanna Publications and the Ninth Indigenous Women’s Symposium present the Vancouver launch of Other Tongues: Mixed Race Women Speak Out . Other Tongues is an anthology of poetry, fiction, creative non-fiction, spoken word texts, as well as black and white artwork and photography, which explores the question of how mixed-race women in North America identify in the twenty-first century. Contributions engage, document, and/or explore the experiences of being mixed-race, by placing interraciality as the center, rather than periphery, of analysis. 
Free 



13) 
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PANEL - LANGUAGE, CULTURE AND POLITICS: IDENTITIES IN TRANSITION 
Thursday, April 21, 4:30 p.m 
Multi-purpose Room, Liu Institute for Global Issues, UBC, 6476 NW Marine Dr., Vancouver 

A panel discussion bringing together scholars from a range of personal backgrounds - from the Balkans, to New Zealand, to the world of Global Indigenous politics - this forum will explore connections between language, culture and politics as frames for identities in transformation. 

For more information, click here . To RSVP, click here . 



14) 
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FILM AND DISCUSSION - ORGASM INC. - A DOOCUMENTARY BY LIZ CANNER 
Thursday, April 21, 7-9pm 
SFU Vancouver,515 West Hastings St. Room 1415 

Brought to you by SFU's CounterCulture Series 

Film Description: ORGASM INC. is a powerful look inside the medical industry and the marketing campaigns that are literally and figuratively reshaping our everyday lives around health, illness, desire — and that ultimate moment: orgasm. 

"Extraordinary behind-the-scenes access reveals a drug company's fevered race to develop the first FDA-approved Viagra for women – and offers a humorous but sobering look inside the cash-fueled pharmaceutical industry."– Hot Docs Film Festival 

Dr. Patton is Canada Research Chair in Community, Culture, and Health at SFU. She has worked in health research for two decades and published widely in the social study of medicine, social movement theory, gender studies and media studies. 

CounterCulture is a monthly discussion and screening series aimed at animating critical public debate on contemporary issues relating to art, media and politics. CounterCulture aims to promote the democratic ideals of dissent, debate and discussion, constituting a point of contact between the university and local communities with free, public events. 

Sponsored by SFU School of Communication, Institute for the Humanities, School for the Contemporary Arts, Faculty of Communication, Art and Technology. 
More info on the film: http://orgasminc.org/ 



...(continued in Part 2 email)...