Friday, March 13, 2009


CANADIAN ANARCHIST MOVEMENT-VANCOUVER/VICTORIA:
UPCOMING ANTI-OLYMPIC EVENTS:
The 2010 vancouver/Whistler Winter Olympics are drawing closer and closer, and the massive financial loss to the taxpayer is becoming more and more apparent. Meanwhile resistance to this modern day circuses without bread is growing. Here's a selection of upcoming events out on the rainshine coast courtesy of the Olympic Resistance Network.
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UPCOMING ORN MEETINGS, VANCOUVER EVENTS, AND VICTORIA EVENT:
Please note the ORN rally against VANOC’s corporate green wash (the ‘Sport and the Environment’ Conference) on Monday, March 30, 6pm. Info is by date under the Vancouver events section. Hope to see you all there (in green and camo)!
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Upcoming ORN general meetings: (Every 2nd Sunday)
Sunday, March 15, 6pm
@ Spartacus Books, 684 E. Hastings
Sunday, March 29, 6pm and April 12, 6pm
(The first meeting of each month includes time for new member orientation and Olympic issues background.)
@ Spartacus Books, 684 E. Hastings
** If you are interested in ORN, but unable to attend Sunday meetings,consider getting involved in one of the subcommittees planning popular education/outreach, legal defense, fundraising, communications, etc. and contact olympicresistance@riseup.net for more information.
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Ongoing:
Figured people might have contacts, personal stories, ideas, etc. to send to the Renters At Risk group who want to collect some of the housingimpacts of the Games:
Renters At Risk Campaign - Subject: renters on video
"I'm looking for BC renters who have been affected/experienced evictions, renovictions, and/or huge rent increases in the lead up to the Olympics. If that's you, are you willing to allow me to film you in a short 15-45 sec segment? If you're interested in hearing more, please write: rentersfightback@gmail.com "
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Upcoming events in Vancouver (Victoria event is listed belowVancouver ones)
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Friday, March 13 - 18
Art & Anarchy: Fuck the Cultural Olympiad!
Opening night: Friday, March 13th
On-Going 14th-18th, 3-8pm
16 E. Hastings (Tellier Tower)
Revolutionary art made by anti-authoritarian artists. Paint, theatre, sculpture, performance, carvings and song, all situated to confront the Olympics and destroy capitalism! http://artandanarchy.wordpress.com/
The Olympics that has scorched the earth and razed our communities, now seeks to destroy our culture. By co-opting hundreds of artists, the Cultural Olympiad seeks to whitewash the crimes of the Olympics and manufacture an appearance of acceptability. The Cultural Olympiad is using art to disguise capitalist plunder.
Art & Anarchy is positioned in direct conflict with the Cultural Olympiad. Anarchy and Art will bring together a fistful of anti-authoritarian artists who refuse to collaborate with the state. Artists who use art, not just asa tool for social change, but as a weapon to destroy this genocidal system.
Art & Anarchy, is not an art show, but the opening of a cultural front,that will join with the current of resistance against the 2010 Olympics.
Art & Anarchy, seeks to give any and all autonomous artists the space to show their work, without having to participate in the Institution of Art. The institution which commodifies 'community art' and transforms it into the aesthetic of social control.
Art & Anarchy is revolution and solidarity.
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Sunday, March 15
SUPPORT THE POWER TO WOMEN BLACK MARKET - STAND FOR THE DTES!
Sunday March 15th
from 1-3 pm
Vancouver Police Station
Main Street (between Hastings and Cordova)
All (including men) welcome!
Significant street sweeps have been occurring in the DTES from increased and aggressive ticketing for things like jaywalking to "illegal" vending. As verified by the VPD itself, a year-end performance report shows that officers issued 467 tickets for violations of the Safe Streets Act in 2008, compared to 202 tickets in 2007. Police officers also handed out 133 tickets for violations of the Trespass Act, up from 95 in 2007. Tickets for city-bylaw infractions, including tickets for vending, panhandling, and loitering, shot up to 439 tickets in 2008 compared to 247 tickets in 2007.
Leading up to the 2010 Olympics, such measures are meant to 'cleanse' the neighbourhood and to intimidate DTES residents through the use of no-goorders for "chronic offenders" (i.e vendors/binners) and street checks by VPD Beat Enforcement Team officers.
In response to this, the Power to Women group is organizing an afternoon of "illegal vending" in front of the Vancouver Police Station on Sunday March 15th, International Day Against Police Brutality.
We strongly encourage supporters and allies of the group and of DTES residents who are facing this increased onslaught to please come out and make your presence visible. We are standing together and we ask you to come out and support the Power to Women "black market" which will also help fund the group's ongoing activities! If you have any items (clothing, appliances, books,art, crafts etc) to donate to our "illegal vending" efforts, please bring them with you on Sunday!
Organized by the DTES Women Centre Power of Women Group:
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 and are dedicated to raising our voices and raising awareness about social issues in our communities. Many us of 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.
For more information, contact project@dewc.ca or call 604 681 8480 x 234.
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Saturday, March 21
Ignite resistance ~ Canadian multiculturalism is not enough!
SATURDAY MARCH 21
6:30 pm:
local artists of colour showcase
7:30 pm:
wicked performances and inspiring words
Rhizome cafe,
317 E. Broadway near Kingsway, unceded coast salish territories
March 21 marks the anniversary of the 1960 Sharpeville Massacre in South Africa when police opened fire on hundreds of South Africans protesting against Apartheid's passbook laws, killing 67 and wounding 186. For centuries, communities have led countless courageous struggles agains tracism and the ways it manifests itself in our daily lives. Although many would like to believe that it no longer exists, the ugly truth is that racism is present locally, globally and in various ways including:
- Individual and institutional racism and racial profiling based on falsely equating the "West" as an evolved and egalitarian culture versus racialized peoples as backward, inherently patriarchal, and savage.
-Ongoing theft and dispossession of Indigenous lands and peoples, in BC made worse with the upcoming 2010 Olympics.
- Racist and imperialist wars and occupations from Palestine and Afghanistan to the Phillipines and Haiti.
- Increasing number of detentions and deportations, exploitation of (im)migrant workers, and heightened border security.
- Growing poverty and poor wages as well as lack of access to adequate healthcare, education, housing due to corporate globalization.
Join us this March 21, International Day for the Elimination of Racism, for a powerful and uplifting evening with artists and performers to show our communities' collective strength in challenging racism and white supremacy.the invisible are dreaming. the fallen have risen. by raising the groundup ~ ignite resistance.
Contact us at noii-van@resist.ca or 604-339-3234 or 778-862-8895.
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March 23 – 27
SDS-UBC conference “Resisting the University 2.0: Resistance in Action”
@ UBC Student Union Building.
Various speakers on issues of direct action, social justice, universities/education, and the Olympics planned. Olympics speakers are scheduled for Friday, March 27
Details TBA.
Contact: sds.ubc@gmail.com .
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Monday, March 30 (ORN rally)
*** Protest VANOC’s “Sport and the Environment” Farce – Resist the Corporate Green wash!
March 30, 6pm
at Canada Place 780 – 999 Canada Place (north end of Burrard)
(Canadian Exhibition and Convention Centre)
** There is vehicular and pedestrian access along the foot of Howe and Burrard streets. Easy access from the Waterfront Sky Train Station, SeaBus Terminal, and West Coast Express.
On March 30-31, the International Olympic Committee, along with VANOC and corporate sponsors, are hosting the 8th World Sport and the Environment Conference in Vancouver, Canada. Their goal is to promote the 2010 Winter Games as making positive contributions for "social, economic and environmental benefit." In reality, the Olympic Industry causes large-scale environmental destruction and negative social impacts, as do many of its corporate sponsors.
Many politicians, VANOC/IOC officials, and executives of major corporations (such as Coca-Cola and BC Hydro) will be attending. Please post this date widely, especially to environmental networks as itis a chance to highlight the ecological destruction and corporate hypocrisy behind the ‘Green Games.’
Email alissawt@shaw.ca as posters/leaflets will be available soon.
Join ORN on March 30 as we protest during their 'gala' dinner reception!
FREE FOOD and FACE PAINTING!
WEAR GREEN and CAMO!
Promo material (some below) and conference schedules available at
“This March 29-31, the 8th World Conference on Sport and the Environment will be held in Vancouver, Canada with a theme of 'Innovation and Inspiration' and a subtheme, 'Harnessing the Power of Sport for Change'. Join Olympic athletes, corporate and environmental thought leaders, and producers of major sporting events as they share their expertise on how sport is embracing the challenge of reducing its environmental footprint for social, economic, and environmental benefit.”
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Wednesday, April 1 [This event is promoted by UBC, which is holding Olympic events, cooperating with VANOC restrictions on signage and assembly on campus, and providing VANOC with friendly ‘impact reports’ on the Games (written bythe Kinetics and Athletics crew, not by sociologists, political scientists, social workers, environmentalists, urban studies experts, or Indigenous academics). A critical presence from Olympic opponents would be a welcome break from corporate promotions …]
UBC dialogues:
Richmond How will the 2010 Games affect the environmental, social and economic vitality of our communities?
Wednesday, April 1, 2009,
6:30 – 9pm
Richmond Olympic Oval (Legacy Room)
6111 River Road, Richmond, BC
Light refreshments will be served. Admission is free, but advance registration is required.
***RSVP by Wednesday, March 25, 2009.
For information contact: samantha.diamond@ubc.ca or by phone at 604.822.9977.
Hear Margot Young, BA’83, UBC Associate Professor in the Faculty of Law; and Robert Vanwynsberghe, Lecturer in the School of Human Kinetics, Faculty of Education and Principal Investigator of the Olympic Games Impact Study; discuss their views on this relevant topic, all moderated by Wendy Frisby, UBC Chair of Women's and Gender Studies in the Faculty of Arts and Professor in the School of Human Kinetics, Faculty of Education.
Interested in engaging with UBC in your community?
Want to find out how UBC's research and teaching are addressing complex social issues?
Join us in your community for UBC dialogues - a new series of events designed to ask tough questions and spark a provocative dialogue about the issues that matter to you and your community.
Are the 2010 Games just an opportunity for the rich to get richer? Will the average taxpayer be burdened with Olympic-sized cost overruns? What can be done to ensure that all Vancouverites benefit from the legacy of the games? Explore this timely topic as you join fellow UBC alumni and friends at the new Richmond Olympic Oval for an evening of conversation and enlightenment.
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Saturday, April 4
Grand March For Housing on Saturday April 4th.
Join us at noon at one of the following locations:
-Peace Flame Park (south side Burrard Bridge)
-Main & Hastings
-Thornton Park (Main SkyTrain Station)
Or meet us at 1:30 pm at the Vancouver Art Gallery (Georgia Side) for speakers and entertainment. The event is Citywide Housing Coalition's kick-off to the provincial election campaign to demand an end to homelessness, new social housing construction, increased protection for renters and Living Wage increases to minimum wage and welfare. If you have any further questions, would like to volunteer or receive a poster for the event please do not hesitate to contact us atgrandmarch@gmail.com .
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Saturday, April 4
Counter VANOC’s Olympic promotions at Britannia Community Centre!
Saturday, April 4,
2 – 4pm
FREE
Britannia Community Centre’s Olympic promotional event at Britannia Community Centre on the Drive at Williams. Urging Olympic opponents and critics to attend and offer an alternative to VANOC’s corporate ‘celebrations’ of the Games. No Olympics at Britannia group and ORN planto be there, I hope you will too! from the Britannia Community Centre site
- OLYMPICRAZE -
Pulse to the Podium
Get into the Olympic spirit with your family, friends and neighbours! Try out a winter sport on the Nintendo Wii, play some Olympic-themed carnival games, make a medal, pose on the podium, chick out some cool displays and more - something for everyone. Free to participate. Made possible by Hosta City Happening Grants, sponsored by Britannia Centre and the Vancouver Park Board.
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Saturday, March 21
Networks of Dissent: An Anti-Olympics Teach-In!!!
MARCH 21, 2009,
11am to 5pm
755 Pandora Street,
Victoria, Coast Salish Territories
THE OLYMPIC TORCH RELAY WILL BEGIN IN VICTORIA!!
HELP BUILD OUR MOVEMENTS FOR JUSTICE AND DIGNITY!!
COME TO A DAY OF WORKSHOPS AND DISCUSSION ON ISSUES, STRATEGIES AND ACTION!!
As the 2010 Olympic Winter Games approach, opposition and resistance are rising. On the mainland, the Olympics have already resulted in infrastructure development on unceded Native land, environmental destruction, gentrification in downtown Vancouver, increased funding for"security" forces and unethical labour practices. These issues are intensifying against a backdrop of escalating public debt. But the issues at stake on the mainland also touch communities on Vancouver Island -before, during and after the Olympic Games.
With the torch relay beginningin Victoria on October 30, it's time for our movements to come together, organize our opposition, and make our voices heard! You are invited to a day of workshops focused on building coordinated campaigns and actions in Victoria.
A FREE LUNCH WITH LOCAL ORGANIC FOODS WILL BE SERVED. NETWORKS OF DISSENT: AN ANTI-OLYMPIC TEACH-IN
Featuring Workshop Participants:
The Committee to End Homelessness
Decolonization,
Land & Restitution Discussions
Harm Reduction Victoria
Members of the Hospital Employees Union No 2010 Victoria
P.E.E.R.S. (Prostitutes Empowerment Education and Resource Society)
Serena Kataoka: Local Legacies of Our Colonial Inheritances
S.O.L.I.D. (Society of Living Intravenous Drug Users)
Temporary Autonomous Shelter Collective
Zoe Blunt: The Ecocide Next Door
Please check back to see the final line-up of workshops.
Topics under discussion will include:
Homelessness and housing
Health, poverty, homelessness and "harm reduction"
Sex workers' rights
Ecosystem destruction, sacred site protection and environmental justice
Corporatization and privatization
State surveillance, security, militarization and police brutality
Radical labour activism and the public sector
The workshops will be followed by a panel discussion on coordinating actions and strategies surrounding the 2010 Olympics, the Olympic Torch relay in Victoria, and ongoing local issues.
WHAT DO THE VANCOUVER OLYMPICS HAVE TO DO WITH VICTORIA?
==> Yes, it's true! The Olympics will impact Victoria
* Embedded within ongoing colonial processes and further invasions into Indigenous peoples' territories is the assumption that wealth can be siphoned off the impending spectacle of Olympic proportions. What expense does some speculation of "profit" have on average individuals, and the land we live on? People across Victoria and all of British Columbia have ALREADY been affected by the Olympic money-pit, where ever increasing costs and impending bail-outs has already taken money away from healthcare,education, and other social programs. The results have been a dramatic increase in homelessness, unnecessary investments in security measures, a steady growth in privatization and corporatization and blatant ecocide.While many concerned citizen groups in Victoria are working on these issues, we have yet to come together and draw out the connections between our struggles and the 2010 Olympics.
==> We're facing the same issues
* Many of the issues that Olympics critics have raised in Vancouver are equally applicable in Victoria. The most immediate implication the 2010 Olympics will have in Victoria is obvious: we can expect an influx of displaced people from downtown Vancouver. Impact studies warning about the 'street cleansing 'initiatives used to displace the urban poor and the homeless have already raised concerns. How many will seek refuge in Victoria? Who will help them? What have businesses concerned with the"tourist dollar" ever given to the disposed?
==> Don't forget that the Olympic torch relay will begin in Victoria!
* The Olympic torch relay will begin in Victoria next October before traveling across the province. Communities across BC will be organizing to voice their opposition to the games and to draw attention to local issues. The time to begin mobilizing in Victoria is now! If you can help, come to a meeting (see calendar),or get in touch with us at: no2010victoria@gmail.com .Visit the new website at: http://no2010victoria.net
Olympic Resistance Network:
ABOUT THE OLYMPIC RESISTANCE NETWORK
The Olympic Resistance Network is primarily based in Vancouver, Coast Salish Territories and exists as a space to coordinate anti-2010 Olympics efforts. In doing so, we act in solidarity with other communities across 'BC' - particularly indigenous communities who have been defending their land against the onslaught of the Olympics since the bid itself. Our organizing is largely being done under the slogan of "No Olympics on Stolen Native Land," while creating an opportunity for all anti-capitalist, indigenous, anti-poverty, labour, migrant justice, environmental justice, anti-war, and anti-colonial activists to come together to confront this two-week circus and the oppression it represents.
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