Saturday, October 03, 2009


CANADIAN ANARCHIST MOVEMENT:
OLYMPIC RESISTANCE NETWORK NEWS:
Here's more news from the Olympic Resistance Network about opposition to the upcoming Vancouver/Whistler 2010 Winter Olympics.
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Important ORN Annoucements and Events!:‏
*** Upcoming ORN meetings

Sunday Oct 11, ORN General Meeting 6pm @ Spartacus Books, 684 E. Hastings

*** Upcoming Events:

1) Anti Olympic Torch Relay kickoff - Victoria Oct 30th

2) Call for Cross Canada Mobilizing: Extinguish the Torch!

3) UBC free speaker series on the Olympics from Sep - Dec

4) ORN at Edmonton anarchist bookfair: Oct 2-4

5) ORN at Seattle anarchist bookfair: Oct 17-18

6) VIDEO: Right to the City - Civil Liberties and 2010

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ANTI OLYMPIC TORCH RELAY KICKOFF

*** For travel details includes times of departure and arrival from Vancouver to Victoria, check out the transportation information below.





The Canada-wide Olympic Torch Relay officially begins in Victoria, Lekwungen and WSANEC Territories, on October 30th and the Anti-Olympic Festival will be there to greet it.





Join us in the spirit of creative resistance to ongoing colonization, cut-backs in social services, environmental destruction, the privatization of public space, the quashing of free speech, and the corporate spectacle.

==> PROGRAM INFORMATION FOR FRI OCT 30TH <==

1. Early: The exact location, route and time of the torch kickoff is still a mystery, but officals have said that the torch will be lit in downtown Victoria and paraded around Victoria until later in the day. Exact details will be released closer to the date.

2. 2:00pm, Anti-Olympics festival of resistance in "Spirit Square" (formerly known as Centennial Square) downtown Victoria on Pandora between Government and Blanshard.

3. 4:30pm: "Zombie March" In memoriam of Olympics past, hosted by the Anti-Olympics festival. Depature from Spirit/Centennial Square. People are encouraged to bring scary costumes, or just costumes!

4. 5:30pm: The Torch will be blessed during an officially planned ceremony at the Legislature buildings. Does your group want to get a message to the world on October 30th? Over a thousand media people can't be wrong. Get in on the fun! Organize a friendly competition, step up to the soapbox, take over a ring of the Five Ring Circus! Music, art and theatre especially welcome. Join us, don't sit thisone out! For updates as the become available keep your eyes on:http://no2010victoria.net/ and http://olympicresistance.net/

==> TRANSPORTATION INFORMATION FOR FRI OCT 30TH <==

People are encouraged to arrive in Victoria as early as they can on Oct 30. If you can go the night before and have somewhere to stay you are encouraged to do this.

* For those leaving on Fri Oct 30, there is a planned meeting point at the Granville Canada Line Station, outside - at the South West corner of Granville and Georgia at 5:10am leaving by 5:20am. This is to encourage group travel on public transit (please note ORN is not providing financial assistance for transit).

* Transit from Vancouver to Victoria: http://tripplanning.translink.ca/ Take the Canada Line southbound to Bridgeport Station (25 min) Transfer to the bus "620 Tsawwassen ferry terminal" (to make 1st ferry board at5:55 am) Buy a walk on ticket for the ferry going to Swartz Bay. Go to http://www.bcferries.com/ for schedules and fares. The 1st ferry is 7:00am. After arriving in Swartz Bay, there is a bus stop right in front of the ferry terminal, where you’ll catch the "No. 70 Downtown/Airport" bus. The cost is $2.75. If you catch the first ferry you will arrive at 9:30am. Check the Victoria Transit website for schedules:http://www.bctransit.com/regions/vic/schedules/schedule.cfm?p=dir.text&route=70:1&day=1&

==> CAN YOU HELP? <==

1) No2010 Victoria is working on providing billeting and people are encouraged to go over the night before (Thurs Oct 29th) but room is limited.

* If you know folks that can provide sleeping spaces in Victoria please contact no2010victoria@gmail.com

2) Olympic Resistance Network - Vancouver, Coast Salish Territories is working to coordinate some transportation pooling (for those with special equipment needs) on the night of Thurs October 29th and the morning of October 30th.

* Anyone who can give a ride on the night of the 29th or very early in the morning of the 30th please contact Marla at: marlarenn@gmail.com

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Hosted by: No2010 Victoria

This invitation brought to you by the Olympic Resistance Network

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CALL FOR CROSS-CANADA MOBILIZING:EXTINGUISH THE OLYMPIC TORCH!

* Route details below *

From October 31 2009 - February 12 2010, the Olympic Torch Relay “A Path of Northern Lights” will be traveling across Canada. The Olympic Resistance Network, based in Vancouver Unceded Coast Salish Territories,is calling on and encouraging our allies to coordinate efforts in over 2000 communities to oppose and resist the Torch Relay.





The origins of the Torch Relay lie in the dark history of the 1936 Games in Berlin, where it was devised as a means to spread Nazi fascism and to promote the Third Reich. The Royal Bank of Canada and Coca Cola are the main sponsors of the 2010 Torch relay. RBC is the top financier of the environmentally devastating Alberta Tar Sands, while Coca Cola has been responsible for health degradation as part of the junk food industry, massive depletion of groundwater and toxic waste pollution in India, and involved in hiring paramilitary groups to violently repress union organizers in Colombia. It is becoming increasingly evident that far from being simply about sport, the 2010 Olympics is rooted in displacement, corporate greed, militarization, and repression. While Olympic corporate sponsors are getting bailed out, Indigenous lands are being stolen, more people are becoming homeless, thousands are losing their jobs and access to public services, the environment is being destroyed, and civil liberties arebeing eroded as over a billion dollars are being sunk into security and surveillance measures.





This Torch Relay will be the longest in-country relay in Olympic history, giving us the chance to make some anti-Olympic history! No Olympics on Stolen Native Land!

==> If you are organizing an event or action in your city, town, or community please email us the details at olympicresistance@riseup.net so we can compile the information and build strength and unity in our efforts by having this information available on our website. Basic route details (see links below for full information) are as follows:

Oct 30 - Nov 5, 2009: through BC, Yukon, and Northwest Territories:Victoria, Duncan, Nanaimo, Port Alberni, Snuneymuxw, Esquimalt FirstNations, Tla-o-qui-aht, Qualicum, Courtney, Campbell River, Whitehorse,Taku River Tlingit, Dawson City, Kugluktuk, Yellowknife, and others.

Nov 6 - Nov 15, 2009: through Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Nunavut,Quebec, and Newfoundland: Fort McMurray, Cold Lake, La Ronge, Thompson, Qausuittuq, Iqaluit, Kuujjuaq, Gaspé, Labrador, Happy Valley-Goose Bay, Sheshatshiu, St. John’s, St. Anthony, Grand Falls-Windsor, and others.

Nov 16 - Nov 28, 2009: through Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Islands, and New Brunswick: Sydney, Whycocomagh, Port Hawkesbury, Truro, Paqtnkek, Antigonish, Halifax, Bear River FN, Lunenburg, Charlottetown, Moncton, Sussex, Saint John, Fredericton, Esgenoôpetitj, Grand Falls, and others.

Nov 29 - Dec 11, 2009: through Quebec: Rimouski, Baie-Comeau, Les Escoumins, Saguenay, Lévis, Saint-Georges, Black Lake, Victoriaville, Sherbrooke, Drummondville, Trois-Rivières, Longueuil, Kahnawá:ke, Beaconsfield, Mont-Tremblant, Montréal, Laval, Gatineau, and others. Dec 12, 2009 - Jan 4, 2010: through Ontario: Ottawa, Pikwàkanagàn, Akwesasne, Kingston, Tyendinaga, Peterborough, Toronto, Hamilton, St. Catharines, Six Nations, Brantford, Oneida, Leamington, Windsor, Sarnia, London, Stratford, Kitchener, Waterloo, Guelph, Barrie, Huntsville, Temiskaming, Sudbury, Sault Ste. Marie, Red Rock FN, Kenora, and others.

Jan 5 - Jan 20, 2010: through Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and Alberta: Winnipeg, Sioux Valley Dakota, Regina, Moose Jaw, Swift Current, Saskatoon, Prince Albert, Moosomin FN, Edmonton, Wetaskiwin, Red Deer, Medicine Hat, Lethbridge, Calgary, Canada Olympic Park, Stoney Nation, and more.

Jan 21 - Feb 11, 2010: through BC: Golden, Cranbrook, Nelson, Trail, Osoyoos FN, Penticton, Kelowna, Vernon, Revelstoke, Salmon Arm, Kamloops, 100 Mile House, Williams Lake, Prince George, Smithers, Gitanmaax, Fort St. John, Terrace, Bella Bella, Powell River, Sechelt, Squamish, Whistler, Lil’wat, Merritt, Fraser Valley, Lower Mainland and others.

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* About the Olympic Resistance Network:http://web.resist.ca/~orn/blog/?page_id=2

Why we Oppose the 2010 Games:http://web.resist.ca/~orn/blog/?page_id=6



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"THE OLYMPIC GAMES IN MYTH AND REALITY"

FREE speakers series of Olympic critics and organisers ongoing most Mondays, 5pm, from Sept. 14 - Dec. 7. Hosted by UBC's Green College.
The speakers begin at 5pm with time for questions (FREE, open to all, no reservations). Optional dinner with speaker at Green College starts at6:30pm ($12 for students and $16 for non-students; reserve a spot by noon Sundays at 604-822-0912).
Located in the Green College Coach House at 6201 Cecil Green Park Road (north of NW Marine Drive). MAP at www.maps.ubc.ca/?412.
For more info email alissawt@shaw.ca
- Monday, Oct. 5: "The hidden 4th pillar of the Olympic Games: privatized profit, socialized debt.” Prof. Chris Shaw (UBC). Prof. Shaw is the author of ‘Five Ring Circus: Myths and Realities of the Olympic Games’ and is along time Games critic.
- Monday, Oct. 19: “Olympics on unceded Indigenous land.” Gord Hill. Hillis an Indigenous activist, webmaster of no2010.com and a member of the Olympic Resistance Network
- Monday, Oct.26: "How the Olympics impact the poor and homeless." Laura Track. Track is a lawyer with Pivot Legal Society specializing in housing issues.
- Monday, Nov. 2: "Olympic security and civil liberties: A lasting legacy." David Eby. Eby is the Acting Executive Director of the BC Civil Liberties Association.
- Monday, Nov. 16: "The myth of the Green Games." Harjap Grewal and Dustin Johnson. Grewal, Council of Canadians, is a member of No One is Illegal, and the Olympic Resistance Network. Johnson is an Indigenous activist.
- Monday, Nov. 30: "Understanding the Olympics as part of corporate culture.” Garth Mullins. Mullins is a Vancouver-based social justice activist and member of the Olympic Resistance Network.
- Dec. 7: “IOC Corruption: Would you take these people home to meet your loved ones?" Andrew Jennings. Mr. Jennings is the author of three books on the IOC.
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ORN @ Edmonton Anarchist Bookfair
This year's Anarchist Bookfair will be taking place Fri October 2- Sun Oct 4, 2009 at the Edmonton Ukranian Center (11018-97st). ORN will be tabling on Sat Oct 3rd and Sun Oct 4th and presenting a workshop. Since 2002 the Edmonton Anarchist Bookfair has provided the public with the opportunity to share ideas and connect with others over a free three-day event. Each year upwards of 1000 people are able to access radical books, see independent documentaries and participate in skill-share workshops. The event attracts vendors, speakers and participants from all over Western Canada and USA. We received very positive full-page articles in both of Edmonton's mainstream newspapers, reviews of our feature film presentation in both arts weekly magazines,and multiple interviews on independent radio stations. http://edmontonanarchistbookfair.ca/
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ORN @ Seattle Anarchist Bookfair
Seattle Anarchist Book Fair
October 17-18 2009 Underground Events Center
2407 1st Ave (between Battery St & Wall St)
Seattle, WA 98121
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Help keep Olympic security honest - become a legal observer!
Upcoming Legal Training Dates are October 11, November 22 and December 6,all at 2:30 p.m. All workshops should be held at the Britannia Community Centre on Commercial Drive (Canucks Family Education Centre). You can register by emailing info@bccla.org . For more information check out http://www.pivotlegal.org/ Taking the training does not require you to become a formal BCCLA/Pivot observer. Legal Training Manual available at:http://www.bccla.org/othercontent/09Olympics_legal_observer_trainiing_manual.pdf
Pivot Legal Society and the BC Civil Liberties Association have teamed up to train legal observers for the 2010 Olympic Games, and we hope you will get involved! Like many of you, Pivot and the BCCLA are concerned that when the more than 7,000 police officers, 5,000 private security guards and 4,500 members of the Canadian armed forces arrive in Vancouver this February, their presence may get in the way of citizens’ constitutional rights to freedom of speech, freedom of assembly, and the right to be free from unreasonable searches and seizures. Bylaws recently passed by the City of Vancouver suggest that we have good reason to be worried. We plan to be ready, with dozens of people prepared to act as eyes and ears on the streets. Legal observers will be trained to watch for violations and to document and report them. As a legal observer, you will help ensure accountability of law enforcement during the Olympic Games. You don’t need to have any legal background to get involved. We encourage you to sign up for a training session and find out more about what’s involved in being a legal observer. Thank-you, as always, for your ongoing support! The Pivot team
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VIDEO - The Right to the City: Civil Liberties and the 2010 Olympics http://www.workingtv.com/olympic-civilliberties.html
As the 2010 Olympics approach, the possibility of civil liberties violations have been cited by a number of community organizations in Vancouver as a major concern. This is despite assurances from VANOC, government partners and the Integrated Security Unit that rights would be protected. This panel with David Eby, Matt Hern, Stefanie Ratjen, Harsha Walia, Alissa Westergard-Thorpe, Jeff Derksen, David Dennis and moderated by Am Johal examines these issues.
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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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