CANADIAN ANARCHIST MOVEMENT:

TWO TORONTO EVENTS:
The following announcements are from the Ontario Coalition Against Poverty (OCAP), but the main sponsor seems to be the Toronto No One is Illegal.
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2 upcoming events - February 19-21 & March 1-8‏:
Two important events coming up over the next few weeks-
THE CITY IS A SWEATSHOP 19-22 February 2009 and below,
5th INTERNATIONAL ISRAELI APARTHEID WEEK Toronto - March 2nd to 8th, 2009 ***please forward far and wide***
THE CITY IS A SWEATSHOP:
19-22 February 2009
As the economy plunges, people without full immigration status are pushed further into unsafe and unfair work conditions. Falling wages, mass firings and workplace raids have seen temporary workers pushed to the margins while border guards and greedy employers continue to ruthlessly attack community members. Temporary workers grow food, build homes and take care of children and the elderly yet are considered disposable.




Workers, waged and unwaged, are kept without full immigration status, working in brutal conditions without access to basic services such as schooling, health and housing. Undocumented people are the unpaid, unrecognized, invisible fuel that make this city, Toronto, a sweatshop.




Unwilling to remain silent, migrants are raising their voices. This week, join in building a movement to dismantle this city that is a sweatshop,and re-build it as a community that is safe for all.
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Check out the website for more info at:
http://toronto.nooneisillegal.org/thecityisasweatshop
(Full details below)
Thursday February 19, 2009
-SERVICESSANCTUARYSTATUS: ACCESS WITHOUT FEAR
Rights and responsibilities of social service providers; non-status and precarious status people's struggle to access basic services; stories of victories from within the services sector; possibilities of winning a sanctuary city.
-WITHOUT BORDERS: QUEERING our CITY
LGBTT2IQQ* migrants fight against poverty and racism, violence and discrimination; multi-media performances and speakers; challenging homophobia and strengthening queer and migrant struggles.
Friday February 20, 2009
-THE CITY IS A SWEATSHOP
Poverty and displacement; labor and power; creative/artistic resistance; personal struggles and collective victories; police brutality and border security repression
Saturday February 21, 2009
-STOLEN LABOUR ON STOLEN LAND
Anti-Olympics Resistance; Land Reclamation and Self-Determination; Global Displacement; Indigenous-Migrant Solidarity; Enforcement Raids and Detention
-BUILDING A SANCTUARY CITY
Town-Hall and Speak out; Strategizing against the economic crisis; building alliances;
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**Thursday February 19**
SERVICES SANCTUARY STATUS:ACCESS WITHOUT FEAR
1pm
Lib 72, 350 Victoria Street (Ryerson University),
Toronto
- Moni Alam -
South Asian Women's Rights Organization
- Fariah Chowdhury -
No One is Illegal, Toronto
- Jackie Esmonde -
Lawyer and Advocate
- Dr. Susan Michelle Hoffmann -
Access Alliance Multicultural Community Health Centre
- Navjeet Sidhu -
Community Social Planning Council of Toronto
- Leonardo Zuñiga -
Refugee Claimant
WITHOUT BORDERS: QUEERING OUR CITY
7pm
Innis Town Hall, 2 Sussex Avenue
co-organized with Mujeres Al-Frente
Speakers and Performers:
- Gareth Henry -
Jamaican Queer Activist, 2008 Pride Grand Marshall
- Milo de Milo -
Drag King
- Janet Romero -
Spoken Word Artist
- Shyam Selvadurai -
Author of Funny Boy
- Leila Shah -
Audre Lorde Project, New York City
- Leonardo Zuñiga -
Refugee Claimant
- Sammy Tomato -
Drag King
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**Friday February 20, 2009**
THE CITY IS A SWEATSHOP
7pm
Steelworkers Hall
-25 Cecil Street,
Toronto
Speakers and performers:
- Veronica Bravo -
Mujeres Al Frente
- John Clarke -
Ontario Coalition Against Poverty
- Beatriz Hererra -
People Organized to Win Employment Rights, San Francisco
- Sonia Singh -
Workers Action Centre
- Faith Nolan and the Women of CUPE 4308
- Eloisa -
Live-In Caregiver Fighting for Status
- Education Not Deportation documentary-
Mata Danze Dance Group
- SPIN -
Spoken Word Artist
- Ruben "Benny" Esguerra -
Musician and Percussionist
- Alejandra Higuera -
Video Animation Artist
- Solidarity Across Borders Photo Exhibit,
Montreal- Rose
- LAL- Nomanzland -
Tobermory Theatre Troupe
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**Saturday February 21, 2009**
STOLEN LABOUR ON STOLEN LAND
1:00pm
Lib 72, 350 Victoria Street (Ryerson University), Toronto
Speakers:
- Erline Brown -
Domestic Workers United, NYC
- Farrah Miranda -
No One Is Illegal, Toronto
- Chris Ramsaroop -
Justicia for Migrant Workers
- Dan Doreen, Tyindenaga Mohawk Territory
- Harsha Walia -
Vancouver based Organizer and Writer
- Alaina Tom -
Native Youth Movement
BUILDING A SANCTUARY CITY
4:00pm
Lib 72, 350 Victoria Street, Toronto
Town Hall of non-status people, migrants, and migrant justice organizers from across North America and their allies. Speak to the many performers and organizers you have seen throughout the three days of events. Share your stories. Participate. Make Toronto a Sanctuary City!
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FIFTH INTERNATIONAL ISRAELI APARTHEID WEEK:
Toronto - March 2nd to 8th, 2009
_____________________
BACKGROUND
Israeli Apartheid Week (IAW) is taking place in more than 40 cities across the globe (the number of cities is growing daily). This year, IAW happens in the wake of Israel's barbaric assault on the people of Gaza. In Toronto, the birthplace of IAW, a full week of lectures, films, and actions will make the point that these latest massacres further confirm the true nature of Israeli Apartheid.




The theme for IAW 2009 in Toronto is “Standing United with the People of Gaza”, events will take place at the University of Toronto, Ryerson University and York University. IAW 2009 will continue to build and strengthen the growing Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement at a global level.
MEDIA
See bottom of email
EVENTS
Monday, March 2: Resisting Apartheid: Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions
Library Building
Ryerson Univesity
LIB 072
350 Victoria St.
Omar Barghouti is an independent Palestinian researcher, commentator and human rights activist. He is a founding member of the Palestinian campaign of boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) against Israel to uphold international law and universal human rights. He holds a bachelor's and master's degrees in electrical engineering from Columbia University, NY. He contributed to the philosophical volume, "Controversies and Subjectivity" (John Benjamins, 2005) and to "The New Intifada: Resisting Israel's Apartheid" (Verso Books, 2001). He advocates an ethical vision for a unitary, secular democratic state in historic Palestine. Moderators:
Golta Shahidi,
Saron Ghebressellassie
Tuesday, March 3:
Education Under Occupation
Walberg Building, Room 116
University of Toronto
184-200 College Street
Toronto M56 3E5
Thaer Aliwaiwi was born in Palestine, and is a 2nd year Student at the University of Toronto (Economics and Political Science). Thaer is member of Students Against Israeli Apartheid and the Palestine House Arab Youth Program.
Yafa Jarrar: is a member of the Peterborough Coalition for Palestinian Solidarity. She was born in Jerusalem, Palestine, moved to Canada in 2003 to attend Lester B. Pearson College of the Pacific. She has represented Palestine in the Arab League of Nations in Cairo in 2001 to speak on the effects of the Israeli occupation on the Palestinian educational process and then was elected to represent Palestine to speak at the United Nations, in the same year. She is currently finishing her degree in Politics and International Development Studies at Trent University. Moderators:
Rachel Gurofsky,
Alan Sears
Wednesday, March 4:
Gaza: Breaking the Siege
Walberg Building,
Room 116
University of Toronto
184-200 College Street
Toronto M56 3E5
Leila El-Haddad is a freelance Palestinian journalist, media activist, and mother from Gaza who writes mainly for the Guardian Unlimited and Aljazeera English. She maintains the award-winning blog "Raising Yousuf and Noor: diary of a Palestinian mother"(www.a-mother-from-gaza.blogspot.com ), which explores the complex relationships between the personal and political as she raises her children and negotiates displacement and occupation. She is currently based in the United States with her husband, a Palestinian refugee from the ethnically cleansed village of Waarit al-Siris. Laila has also been published in Le Monde Diplmatique, the New Statesmen, the International Herald Tribune and the Washington Post among others. She has made appearances on CNN, NPR, CBC, Democracy Now, Aljazeera International and the BBC.
Jon Elmer is an independent journalist and researcher who has reported extensively from Gaza and the West Bank. He writes for Inter Press Service news agency and has contributed to a variety of publications including The Journal of Palestine Studies, The Progressive and Z Magazine.
http://jonelmer.ca/
Moderators:
Mary-Jo Nadeau,
Ilaria Giglioli
Thursday, March 5:
Globalization, Labour and Poverty in Palestine
Koffler Institute Room 108
569 Spadina Avenue
Toronto M5S 2J7
Leila Farsakh is assistant professor in political science at University of Massachusetts Boston. She holds a PhD from the University of London (2003), an M Phil from the University of Cambridge, UK (1990), and a BA from the University of Exeter in the UK (1989). She has worked with a number of international organizations, including the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) in Paris (1993-1996) and the Palestine Economic Policy Research Institute in Ramallah (1998-1999). Dr.Farsakh has published on questions related to Palestinian labor flows, the Oslo Process, international migration and regional integration in a wide range of journals, including the Middle East Journal, the European Journal of Development Research, Journal of Palestine Studies and Le Monde Diplomatique. Her book, Palestinian Labor Migration to Israel: Labour, Land and Occupation, has been published by Routledge Press in the fall of 2005.She also edited Commemorating the Naksa, Evoking the Nakba (EMJES, Spring 2008). In 2001 she won the Peace and Justice Award from the Cambridge Peace Commission, in Cambridge-Massachusetts.
Robert Lovelace settled on land near Ardoch in 1979. He was born into a line of Tslagi Indians through his great grandparents Mungle, grandfather,and mother, a heritage he honours. Bob attended cultural school as a child, joined AIM for several years while at University, and in the Fall of 1979 joined Honourary Chief Harold Perry to research, negotiate, and then launch an uncompromising legal defence of the wild rice stands near Ardoch. For nearly 25 years Bob has remained a steadfast and determined representative for the Algonquin communities of Ardoch, Sharbot Lake and many others, seeking to invigorate a sense of dignity and freedom in all Algonquin Peoples.
David McNally is Professor of Political Science at York University and author of four books, including Another World is Possible: Globalization and Anti-Capitalism. He is active with the New Socialists and the Popular Education and Action Project in Toronto.
Moderator:
Ali Mustafa
Friday, March 6:
From South Africa to Palestine: The Struggle Continues
Location TBA
Ronnie Kasrils was born in Johannesburg, South Africa, 1938. His grandparents were Jewish immigrants from Czarist Russia (Lithuania). He joined the ANC 1960 after the Sharpeville massacre. This led to a lifetime of political activism. He was a member of the ANC's military wing at its inception in 1961. He became chief of military intelligence, operated from exile in neighbouring African states and clandestinely in South Africa. For many years, he was a member of both the ANC and the Communist Party national executive committees. He was appointed deputy minister of defense in South Africa's first democratic government (1994-99); Minister of Water Affairs and Forestry (1999-2004); Minister of Intelligence Services (2004-2008). Retired from government, he now devotes himself to writing, lecturing and Palestine solidarity. His autobiography is "Armed & Dangerous" (publisher Jonathan Ball, Johannesburg). He is married to a fellow struggle veteran and has two adult sons
Moderators:
Rafeef Ziadah and Abbie Bakan
Israeli Apartheid Week Toronto is endorsed by the following organizations:
* Canadian Arab Federation
* Palestine House
* Coalition Against Israeli Apartheid
* Caribbean Studies Student Union (U of T)
* Equity Studies Student Union (U of T)
* Health Studies Student Union (Uof T)
* CUPE Ontario International Solidarity Committee
* CUPE Local 3907
* CUPE Local 3903
*CAW Sam Gindin Chair in Social Justice and Democracy
* Not In Our Name: Jewish Voices Opposing Zionism
* Critical Area Studies Collective (Uof T)
*Centre for Middle Eastern Studies
* No One Is Illegal
* Ontario Coalition Against Poverty
* Always Question (Uof T)
* Canadian Forum for Justice and Peace in Sri Lanka
* Barrio Nuevo
* NOCOPS (Newly Organized Coalition Opposing Police in Schools)
* Women in Solidarity with Palestine
* Common Cause
* Faculty for Palestine
* Palestine House Youth Program
* Filipino Canadian Youth Alliance-Ontario
* Toronto Women's Bookstore
To ENDORSE Israeli Apartheid Week in Toronto, to make a DONATION or GET INVOLVED with the organizing please email saia@riseup.net . _______________
*Media info:
5th INTERNATIONAL ISRAELI APARTHEID WEEK TORONTO
MEDIA ADVISORY
MEDIA ADVISORY
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
FEBRUARY 4, 2008
CONTACT: 416 890 3703 /
media@apartheidweek.org
WEB: www.apartheidweek.org
5th INTERNATIONAL ISRAELI APARTHEID WEEK
Standing United with the People of Gaza
What: Israeli Apartheid Week 2009 – Standing united with the people of Gaza
When: March 2nd – March 8th 2009
Where: Toronto – multiple venues
The 5th annual Israeli Apartheid Week (IAW) will take place in Toronto from March 2nd to March 8th 2009. IAW will feature lectures, film screenings, cultural activities, and demonstrations aimed at raising awareness about Israel’s apartheid policies toward Palestinians and to gather support for the international boycott, divestment, and sanctions campaign. Concurrent events will be held in over 30 cities throughout Canada and internationally, including South Africa and Palestine.
For further information visit www.apartheidweek.org or contact media@apartheidweek.org or 416 890 3703