Tuesday, March 31, 2009
INTERNATIONAL ANARCHIST MOVEMENT-EUROPE:
A SUMMER OF RESISTANCE:
After protest against the upcoming NATO summit, what then ?
Here's a call for a "summer of resistance". The following comes from the English language section of the Polish anarchist news site Centrum Informacji Anarchistycznej. the following has been slightly edited for English grammar and spelling.
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Collapse the security architectures!
Against NATO, G20, G8, Frontex and the “Stockholm Programme”!
Since the end of the last millennium a modification of the “security architecture” within the EU has taken place, which has been accelerated by the attacks of 11 September 2001 in the United States. Visible phenomena are, for example, the entanglement of internal and external security, a “pooling” of prosecution authorities and intelligence services and a simplified data exchange. At the technical level we are confronted with new digital surveillance cameras, satellite surveillance, biometrics, drones, software for intelligent search in databases and new broadband networks to manage this huge flood of digital data.New institutions and authorities have been created, including the “European Police Office Europol, the police academy CEPOL, the border agency Frontex and the” Committee for the Management of Operational Cooperation " of all police agencies of the EU within its intelligence operation assessment center.
Since the end of the last millennium a modification of the “security architecture” within the EU has taken place, which has been accelerated by the attacks of 11 September 2001 in the United States. Visible phenomena are, for example, the entanglement of internal and external security, a “pooling” of prosecution authorities and intelligence services and a simplified data exchange. At the technical level we are confronted with new digital surveillance cameras, satellite surveillance, biometrics, drones, software for intelligent search in databases and new broadband networks to manage this huge flood of digital data.New institutions and authorities have been created, including the “European Police Office Europol, the police academy CEPOL, the border agency Frontex and the” Committee for the Management of Operational Cooperation " of all police agencies of the EU within its intelligence operation assessment center.
At the initiative of former French Defense Minister (and current Interior Minister) Michèle Alliot-Marie the "European Gendarmerie Force (EGF) was founded and has been established in 2004. The EGF shall ensure the “public order”, combat insurgency, obtain intelligence information and protect property in conflict areas.
The security industry is likely one of the few branches that profits massive from the current crisis of capitalism and the resulting battles.
Europe’s police forces are preparing themselves for protest and resistance against the impact of the crisis. Even the chairman of the International Monetary Fund IMF admits that in future more riots are expected.
The institutions of the “leading economic nations” are forced to re-organize themselves. The “summits” of NATO, G8 and G20 are of central importance for this reorganization. Topics such as climate, migration and agriculture are considered as threats to the security of a “western lifestyle”. Within the European Union, domestic political changes are taking place, whose effects are currently difficult to predict.
Every five years, the interior and justice ministers of the new EU adopt new directives for a common domestic policy. The “Tampere Program”, terminated in 1999 under the Finnish Presidency, was primarily a “management of migration flows”: In addition to the appreciation of the police authority Europol was established a “Task Force of EU Police Chiefs’” which deals with “international terrorism” and “violent political activism”.
With the “Hague Program” in 2004, it has been agreed upon for the creation of an “area of freedom, security and justice”. Again it was decided on intensification of migration policy, including the construction of the Border Agency “Frontex” and the interception of refugees already in their home countries. “The Hague Program” puts the “defense of terrorism” in the center. At the level of information exchange and cooperation we can now count on the “principle of availability”.
The guidelines of 2004 are already implemented by many EU member states:
Standardization of the “terrorism” legislation, data retention, expansion of existing databases and shared access, cross-border police cooperation , for example at sporting events or political mass protests, “Border Management”, fingerprints when applying for an EU visa,; from 2009 new biometric identifiers in identity documents, the development of security research, cooperation in criminal matters, police abroad etc.
"The Hague Program" is running out and a new program should be decided on in the autumn of 2009, in Stockholm under the Swedish EU Presidency. During the 2007 German EU Presidency , the German Interior Minister Wolfgang Schäuble created with the, then. European Commissioner for Internal Affairs ( “Justice and Home Affairs”), Franco Frattini, the “Future Group”. This “Future Group” describes itself as “informal body” of European interior ministers, which drafted guidelines for European home affairs.
To adopt the new “Stockholm program”, the “Future Group” submitted a wish-list for "police cooperation, the fight against terrorism, management of missions in third countries, migration, asylum and border management, civil protection, new technologies and information networks ". Priorities are the maintenance of the “European model”, “coping with the growing interdependence between internal and external security” and ensuring of an Europe-wide best possible data network”.
The measures which shall be decided in Stockholm will be noticeable by the member states within its ratification in a few years. There are profound changes in the game:
Development and standardization of police databases, a central population register, "cross-border online search", more control of the Internet, better satellite tracking, risk analysis “software, ”e-borders" and “e-justice”, common deportation planes and flights, new refugee camps in “third countries”, the use of the military defense of migration, more police interventions outside the EU, the expansion of a paramilitary “European Gendarmerie Force”, more cooperation between domestic and foreign secret services, etc.
The aim is a kind of domestic NATO, with the creation of an “Euro-Atlantic cooperation in the area of freedom, security and justice” by 2014.
Also NATO attaches value to the central role of European domestic politics.
On one hand, more and more police missions in “third countries” were launched, which perform there military tasks , strike down local uprisings and train local police units.
On the other hand, NATO-strategists play the ball back to the European interior ministers and refer to the importance of European “Homeland Security” without which a “strong defense” against the outside wouldn’t be possible. NATO sees itself within member countries as the guarantor of security of “critical infrastructure” (like energy, transportation, communication).
The strategy document “Towards a Grand Strategy for an Uncertain World” authored by five ex-generals, who are anchored in the defense industry, calls for the expansion of “civil-military cooperation”. Considered as a “civilian elements” are for example police, intelligence, research, academies, civil protection but also the private security industry. NATO wants to intensify the fall back on the “European Gendarmerie Force”.
With the “civil-military cooperation” the militarization of social conflicts is increasing, underpinned by domestic political rearmament and new" anti-terror "laws.
The former EU Commissioner for Justice and Home Affairs, Franco Frattini, has changed in Berlusconi’s Cabinet after the elections in Italy 2008. As the new foreign minister, he is now responsible for the G8 on the Sardinian island of La Maddalena. Frattini sees “security” as the central profile of the new G8 structures: “Europe can, rather than be just a consumer, be a producer of safety. But EU and NATO need to integrate, rather to interfere with each others. We back up these thoughts in the context of the G8”.
Italy adopted a “security package” in May 2008 with far-reaching tightenings for migrants. After the EU already equipped Libya with financial help for refugee defense, Italy also signed a new cooperation agreement.
The Italian arms corporate group “Finmeccanica” delivers speedboats and the Interior Ministry is pleased that migration would now be diminished to "zero".
Frattini traveled early 2009 to Angola, Sierra Leone, Senegal and Nigeria to negotiate over “readmission agreements” for migrants, to equip the countries with refugee camps, and to introduce tamper-proof passports. It’s again all about the securing of raw material and police enforcement: In return Frattini acknowledges an audience with the G8 summit for the countries, to “promote the dialogue between oil producing and - consuming countries”.
In the delegation travelling with Frattini, was the Italian police chief who immediately implemented new contracts for police training and cooperation procedure.
As the consequence of the collapse of global capitalism around the world, more uprisings are expected. With the recent riots in Greece, Iceland, Sweden, Lithuania, Latvia, Bulgaria, France, Guadeloupe and Lampedusa, the EU became the venue of intense contradictions and militant struggles with, in the numerous directives, bilateral agreements and treaties, of the past few years concerted measures for “Europe as an area of freedom, security and justice”, are
being brought into position against resistance and radical projects, and movements are covered with investigations and prosecutions for "terrorism". “Joint investigation teams” research - supported by Europol - international networks. Manuals and databases on “Troublemakers” will aim at bringing protests at major international events under control.
Resistance against the increase in surveillance and control, against repression and anti-riot is still stuck too much often on a national level. Therefore we call to push for the development of a transnational struggle against the “security architecture”, in 2009 at several cross-border mobilizations, whether they are promoted by NATO, the G8 or the EU.
We see the action day at the NATO summit as the kick off of the campaign for a “Summer of Resistance 2009” against the global “security regime”:
¡No Pasarán! France Gipfelsoli Dissent! France NoLager Bremen Resistance des deux rives / Widerstand der zwei Ufer transact six hills Berlin kein mensch ist illegal Hanau
Collapse the security architectures!
Labels: anarchism, anti-militarism, Centrum Informacji Anarchistycznej, Europe., immigrants, international anarchist movement, militarism, police state, repression, Summer of Resistance
INTERNATIONAL LABOUR-CHINA:
CHINESE LABOUR ACTIVIST RELEASED:
The following news item comes from the International Trade Union Confederation via the online labour solidarity site Labour Start.
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China: Yao Fuxin Released:
Brussels, 18 March 2009:
China: Yao Fuxin Released:
Brussels, 18 March 2009:
The ITUC, together with the Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, a joint programme of the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) and the World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT), welcomes the release of Mr. Yao Fuxin, a labour activist from Liaoning province, after serving his seven years’ prison term on conviction of “subversion of State power”.
On March 16, 2009, Mr. Yao Fuxin was released from Lingyuan n°2 Prison, Liaoning province, considered as one of the harshest prisons in China and where most detainees are political prisoners.
Before his detention, Mr. Yao was one of China’s most outspoken labour activists. In 1998, he joined others to petition the central government against corruption at the Liaoyang Ferro-Alloy Factory. In May 2001, the factory’s workers alleged that the robbery of 2,000 tons of iron ore at the factory had been led by local court officials and that the subsequent bankruptcy of the factory had been orchestrated by the factory’s leaders in collusion with the local government. Mr. Yao and other workers had demanded a full investigation that was never conducted.
In March 2002, Mr. Yao, then spokesperson of the newly founded All-Liaoyang Bankrupt and Unemployed Workers’ Provisional Union, was arrested along with Mr. Xiao Yunliang (who was released in February 2006, three weeks before completing his four-year prison sentence) for having led a peaceful demonstration against corruption and the non-payment of overdue wages and pensions – a demonstration that gathered at least 5,000 workers from six factories in Liaoyang (Liaoning province). According to Human Rights in China (HRIC), Mr. Yao was initially charged with “gathering a crowd to disrupt social order” and then sentenced in May 2003 to seven years in prison for “subversion of State power” for alleged involvement in the banned China Democracy Party.
“We welcome the release of Mr. Yao, but we regret that such release occurred following the completion of his seven years’ prison term, and came along with a period of three years of deprivation of political rights, including freedoms of speech, assembly, and association. We further urge the Chinese authorities to release immediately - and without conditions - all human rights defenders in the PRC currently deprived of liberty because of their human rights activities. Such detentions are arbitrary, and contrary to the 1998 United Nations Declaration on Human Rights Defenders,” said Souhayr Belhassen, FIDH President.
“It is also important to point out that throughout Mr. Yao’s detention, the latter was held in precarious conditions, sustained serious acts of ill-treatment and witnessed a deterioration of his health status. We recall that torture and ill-treatment constitute a violation of the UN Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, to which China is a State party and which triggers individual criminal responsibility. Accordingly, we urge the Chinese authorities to take meaningful action to prevent and punish the use of torture so as to conform with China’s international human rights obligations,” added Eric Sottas, OMCT Secretary General.
Throughout his detention, Mr. Yao sustained two heart attacks and a stroke, and suffered from malnutrition and from cold in winter. Mr. Yao was also obliged to sleep with 19 other inmates on one bed, and was watched by a guard who ordered two death-row prisoners to step on him every time he was about to sleep.
“We welcome the release of Yao Fuxin,” said Guy Ryder, ITUC General Secretary, “but at the same time we have to bear in mind that many other labour rights activists remain in detention in China, often in appalling conditions. The fundamental rights of Chinese workers to freedom of association and collective bargaining are still being denied by the authorities, and we call upon them to respect these rights, enshrined in ILO Conventions, in full."
The ITUC and the Observatory urge the Chinese authorities to release all human rights defenders arbitrarily detained in the People’s Republic of China, to put an immediate end to any kind of harassment against them, and to investigate all cases of torture or ill-treatment so that those responsible can be brought to justice and sanctioned according to law.
For further information, please contact: FIDH: Gael Grilhot / Karine Appy, + 33 1 43 55 25 18 OMCT: Delphine Reculeau, + 41 22 809 49 39 ITUC: Mathieu Debroux, +32 2 224 02 04
Photo: Erutan
The ITUC represents 170 million workers in 312 affiliated national organisations from 157 countries.
http://www.youtube.com/ITUCCSI
For more information, please contact the ITUC Press Department on: +32 2 224 0204 or +32 476 621 018
For more information, please contact the ITUC Press Department on: +32 2 224 0204 or +32 476 621 018
Labels: China, international labour, International Trade Union Confederation, labour, Labour Start, repression, Yao Fuxin
Monday, March 30, 2009
MOUVEMENT ANARCHISTE DU CANADA/CANADIAN ANARCHIST MOVEMENT:
DATE LIMITE POUR LE SALON DU LIVRE ANARCHISTE DE MONTRÉAL/DEADLINE FOR THE MONTRÉAL ANARCHIST BOOKFAIR:
Le Salon du livre de Montréal est à venir, et la date limite pour les demandes et les propositions à venir encore plus tôt (le 1er Avril). Voici l'avis des personnes du salon./The Montréal Anarchist Bookfair is coming soon, and the deadline for requests and proposals is coming even sooner (April 1). Here`s the notice from the bookfair people.
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1ER AVRIL:DATE LIMITE POUR FAIRE UNE DEMANDE/ APRIL 1ST :DEADLINE TO MAKE PROPOSALS:
[English information below; be sure to send your table requests, film suggestions and Festival of Anarchy events to info@salonanarchiste.ca BEFORE APRIL 1, 2009]
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Voici un rappel que la date limite pour faire une demande de kiosque, réserver des dates dans le cadre du Festival de l’Anarchie en mai ou pour faire une proposition de projection de film ou d’exposition d’art dans le cadre du Salon du livre anarchiste, est le 1er AVRIL 2009.
Veuillez envoyer vos demandes et propositions le plus tôt possible. Plus de renseignements ci-dessous ou au http://www.salonanarchiste.ca/. Ci-dessous:
a) Table d’expositions;
b) Films;
c) Festival de l’anarchie.
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a) TABLE D’EXPOSITIONS
Le coeur du Salon du livre anarchiste est la salle d'exposition de livres et de matériel anarchiste. La salle d'exposition inclue des libraires, des distributeurs, des presses indépendantes, des maisons d'éditions et des groupes anarchistes en provenance de partout à travers le Québec, l'Amérique du Nord et l'étranger. SVP, prenez connaissance de nos principes: http://www.salonanarchiste.ca/fr/node/43
Pour réserver une table d'exposition au Salon du livre, contactez-nous par courriel à: info@salonanarchiste.ca AVANT le 1er AVRIL 2009.
Si vous avez déjà demandé un espace de kiosque, vous devriez avoir reçu un courriel de confirmation. Si ce n’est pas le cas, veuillez communiquer avec nous le plus tôt possible.Si vous n'avez jamais participé au Salon par le passé, incluez une description de votre groupe et du matériel que vous comptez diffuser.
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b) FILMS
Le Salon du livre anarchiste réserve également un espace pour la projection de films durant la tenue du Salon. Les films présentés doivent être en lien avec l'anarchisme, avec des luttes soutenues par les anarchistes ou doivent concorder avec les principes de base du Salon du livre.
-> La date limite pour la réception des propositions de films est le 1er AVRIL 2009.
courriel: info@salonanarchiste.ca
poste: Salon du livre Anarchiste de Montréal
1500 de Maisonneuve Ouest, Suite 204
Montréal, Québec
H3G 1N1
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c) FESTIVAL DE L’ANARCHIE
Le Festival de l'Anarchie prendra place au mois de mai avec des événements reliés à l'anarchisme, dans plusieurs lieux publics de Montréal. Veuillez nous faire parvenir vos propositions détaillées AVANT le 1er avril. Nous commencerons à promouvoir le Festival en avril.
Les événements suivants du Festival de l’Anarchie ont été confirmés;
-> 1er mai: Manifestation anti-capitaliste à Montréal (détails à venir)
->11 mai: Lancement du livre: “Lunch for Insurgents” (17-19h) à Casa del Popolo (4873 boulevard St-Laurent)
-> 13-14 mai: Quatrième Festival International de Théâtre Anarchiste de Montréal, Théâtre D.B. Clarke (1455 de Maisonneuve Ouest), 19h30.
-> 15 mai: Cabaret Anarchiste à l’Alizée (900 Ontario est), dès 20h.
-> 16 mai: Le Salon du livre Anarchiste au CEDA (2515 rue Delisle), 10h-18h.
-> 16 mai: Grande fête et barbeque après le Salon au DIRA/Centre des medias independents (CMI) dans la cours en arrière de 2033 St-Laurent, après 19h.
-> 17 mai: Journée des ateliers et presentations anarchiste au CEDA (2515 rue Delisle). 10h-17h
-> 17 mai: Q-Team Party à Il Motore (179 rue Jean-Talon Ouest), 22h.
-> 23 mai: Atelier multimédia sur le travail du collectif au nord comme au sud (avec le PASC et le Beehive Collective) au Bar Populaire à 6584 St-Laurent (dès 19h)
-> 27 mai: “Political documentaries under the Stars” à 2033 St-Laurent, 20h.
-> 29 mai: Occupation et manifestation par (et pour) le Centre social auto-géré à Pointe-St-Charles (métro Charlevoix, le soir)
-> 30 mai: Un party organisé par le Centre Social Auto-géré à 20h. Le lieu est à determiner.
Le collectif du Salon du livre compile les événements à être placés et produira un calendrier public. La seule fonction du collectif, en plus de diffuser le calendrier, concernant le Festival, est de veiller à ce que deux évènements ne se produise pas le même jour. Nous comptons donc sur vous pour organiser les événements du Festival de l'anarchie. Réservez rapidement une date pour votre événements dans le calendrier du mois de mai. PremierÈREs arrivéEs, premierÈREs serviEs!
--> La date limite pour soumettre un événement au calendrier du Festival de l'anarchie est le 1er AVRIL 2009.
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Hello – We are sending a reminder that the final deadline for requesting tables, reserving Festival of Anarchy dates in May, as well as to make film and art exhibit requests for the Montreal Anarchist Bookfair is APRIL 1, 2009.
Please send in your requests and proposals! Info below:
a) Tables;
b) Films:
c) Festival of Anarchy.
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a) TABLES
The Bookfair features booksellers, distributors, independent presses, zines and political groups from all over Montreal, Quebec and North America, and abroad. Please make sure to read our principles: www.anarchistbookfair.ca/en/node/4.
Contact us at info@anarchistbookfair.ca to request table space (note: Bookfair tabling happens on one day: Saturday, May 16 between 10am to 6pm).
--> The deadline to request a table is APRIL 1, 2009.
If you already requested a table, you should have received an e-mail confirming we’ve received your request. If not please get in touch.
If you haven't tabled at the Bookfair before, please include a short description of your group and the material you intend to distribute at the Bookfair.
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b) FILMS
The Montreal Anarchist Bookfair will also have a film room running all day, showing films related to anarchism or anarchist-supported struggles, that fall within the principles of the Anarchist Bookfair.
--> The deadline for film proposals is APRIL 1, 2009.
e-mail: info@salonanarchiste.ca
by post: Salon du livre Anarchiste de Montréal
1500 de Maisonneuve Ouest, Suite 204
Montréal, Québec
H3G 1N1
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c) FESTIVAL OF ANARCHY
The entire month of May is part of a Festival of Anarchy, with diverse anarchist-themed events occurring at different venues in Montreal.
--> The deadline to submit Festival of Anarchy events, to be included in our public calendar, is APRIL 1, 2009.
The following Festival of Anarchy events have been proposed; please send in your further proposals before April 1, with as much detail as possible. We will start promoting the festival later in April.
-> May 1: Anti-Capitalist Demontration (details tba)
-> May 11: Book Launch: “Lunch for Insurgents” (5-7pm) at Casa del Popolo (4873 boulevard St-Laurent)
-> May 13-14: The Fourth Montreal International Anarchist Theatre Festival, D.B. Clarke Theatre, (1455 de Maisonneuve Ouest), à 19h30
-> MAY 15: ANARCHIST CABARET, at L’Alizée (900 Ontario est), 8pm.
-> MAY 16: MONTREAL ANARCHIST BOOKFAIR, at the CEDA (2515 rue Delisle), 10am-6pm.
-> May 16: Party and BBQ after the Bookfair in the courtyard of the DIRA/Independent Media Center, behind 2033 St-Laurent, after 7pm.
-> MAY 17: DAY OF ANARCHIST WORKSHOPS, at the CEDA (2515 rue Delisle), 10am-5pm.
-> May 17: Q-Team Part at Il Motore (179 rue Jean-Talon Ouest), 10pm.
-> May 23: Multimedia workshop on collective struggles in the North and South (with PASC and the Beehive Collective) at the Bar Populaire (dès 19h), 6584 St-Laurent.
-> May 27: Political documentaries under the Stars at 2033 St-Laurent, 20h.
-> May 29: Occupation and demonstration by (and for) the Autonomous Social Center in Point-St-Charles (Charlevoix métro, evening).
-> May 30: Party organized by the Autonomous Social Center at 8pm. Location to be announced.
The Bookfair collective compiles a Festival of Anarchy calendar, but we count on you to organize the actual Festival of Anarchy events. Get in touch to reserve a date for your event in May (calendar dates are "first come first served").
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Salon du livre anarchiste de MontréalMontreal Anarchist Bookfair
http:///www.salonanarchiste.ca/514-679-5800http://www.salonanarchiste.ca/514-679-5800info@salonanarchiste.ca
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Et aussi/And also.
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@: rappel: Envoyez vos propositions pour ART & ANARCHIE reminder: Callout for ART & ANARCHY at the Montreal Bookfair
[English below]
ART ET ANARCHIE
au Salon du livre anarchiste de Montréal 2009
Appel aux artistes et anarchistes:
Envoyez-nous votre proposition d’exposition d’art pour le 10e Salon du livre anarchiste de Montréal.
--> Le Salon du livre aura lieu la fin de semaine du 16-17 mai, 2009.
--> La date limite pour soumettre votre proposition est le 1e AVRIL 2009. Veuillez envoyer votre proposition à info@salonanarchiste.ca
Des oeuvres d’art touchant le sujet de l’anarchisme ou de luttes autogérées / libertaires seront exposées lors du Salon du livre de Montréal. On vous invite donc de nous faire parvenir vos propositions d’expositions de photos, d’affiches, d’oeuvres d’art, de sculptures ou toutes autres formes d’art – bref, tout ce qui peut être accroché sur un mur ou autrement exposé au Salon du livre.
Les propositions doivent respecter les principes du Salon du livre anarchiste de Montréal: http://www.salonanarchiste.ca/fr/node/43
--> Nous invitons ceux et celles qui s’identifient comme “artistes” ainsi que toutes ceux et celles qui créent de l’art dans le contexte de leur travail d’organisation populaire ou lors de leur exercices créatifs.
--> Cette année nous encourageons l’exposition d’oeuvres à l’extérieur. SVP prenez le temps de penser à cette option lors de la préparation de votre proposition.
--> Nous mettons la priorité sur les artistes qui n’ont jamais exposéEs leurs oeuvres au Salon du livre de Montréal.
--> La date limite pour soumettre votre proposition est le 1e avril, 2009.
Veuillez envoyer votre proposition à info@salonanarchiste.ca
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ART & ANARCHY
at the 2009 Montreal Anarchist Bookfair
Callout to Artists & Anarchists:
SUBMIT a proposal for display at the 10th Montreal Anarchist Bookfair
-> The Bookfair will take place on the weekend of May 16-17, 2009.
-> The deadline to make proposals for artwork to be displayed is APRIL 1, 2009. Please send your proposal to info@salonanarchiste.ca
The Montreal Anarchist Bookfair will be displaying artwork relating to anarchism as well as autonomous or anarchist-supported struggles. Please consider proposing an exhibit of photos, posters, original art, sculpture or other forms of art – anything that can be mounted on a wall or displayed in a public space at the Bookfair.
Submissions to Art & Anarchy must fit within the Montreal Anarchist Bookfair principles: http://www.anarchistbookfair.ca/en/node/4
-> We encourage submissions from both those who self-define as "artists" and those who find themselves making art – broadly defined – as part of their ongoing organizing and creative pursuits.
-> This year, we are also encouraging artwork that can be displayed outdoors (weather-permitting). Please consider this as a possibility when submitting a proposal.
-> We are prioritizing artwork from individuals who have not previously displayed at the Montreal Anarchist Bookfair.
-> The deadline to make proposals for artwork to be displayed is APRIL 1, 2009. Please send your proposal to info@salonanarchiste.ca
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Salon du livre anarchiste de Montréal
Montreal Anarchist Bookfair
tel: 514-679-5800
e-mail: info@salonanarchiste.ca
web: http://www.salonanarchiste.ca/
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Et finalement/And finally.
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@: Festival de Theatre Anarchiste Anarchist Theatre Festival (MONTREAL)
POUR DIFFUSION IMMÉDIATE
(English version below)
Quatrième Festival International de Théâtre Anarchiste de Montréal
13 et 14 mai 2009,
Théâtre D.B. Clarke
avec la participation spéciale de la légendaire troupe THE LIVING THEATRE
Pour sa quatrième édition, le Festival International de Théâtre Anarchiste de Montréal (FITAM) se déroulera mardi et mercredi 13 et 14 mai 2009 au théâtre D.B. Clarke de l'Université Concordia, 1455 boulevard de Maisonneuve Ouest, METRO GUY CONCORDIA 19h30.
Cette année, le festival accueille pour ses deux soirées, la troupe anarchiste de New York, internationalement connue, THE LIVING THEATRE ainsi que Geneviève LETARTE, La Chorale de « La Maison LA VIREVOLTE », et la Troupe Innu MAIKAN.
Les billets sont disponibles à partir du 15 avril, au coût de 15 $ à la librairie anarchiste « L'Insoumise » 2033, boulevard Saint-Laurent, Montréal (514-313-3489)
Ce festival bilingue présente cette année plusieurs pièces mettant en scène plus d'une vingtaine d'acteurs en provenance du Québec et des États-Unis.13 et 14 mai
- Le Living Theatre est l'une des plus anciennes compagnies théâtrales indépendantes et parmi les plus célèbres aux États-Unis. Fondée par deux anarchistes non-violents, Judith Malina (formée par Erwin Piscator) et Julian Beck (de la New York School), le Living Theatre présentera un spectacle inédit pendant les deux soirées du festival :
The beautiful Non-Violent Anarchist Révolution : A combination of Living Theatre Plays (L’extraordinaire révolution anarchiste non-violente : un mélange des pièces du Living Theatre).
Cette troupe de renommée mondiale est célèbre pour son esthétique basée sur l’improvisation et les finalités révolutionnaires de leurs thèmes théâtraux. Leur travail a influencé plusieurs générations de dramaturges, d’acteurs et d’artistes. Ils ont gagné 4 prestigieux Obie awards. Ils continuent de se produire et de tourner avec des pièces anti-guerre à partir de New York.
Judith Malina sera présente en tant que membre de la troupe.
13 mai - La première partie du Living Theatre sera assurée par MAIKAN et leurs marionnettes géantes, troupe innue de Mali-Utenam, réserve amérindienne proche de Sept-Îles. Pour leur début à Montréal, ils présenteront « Tshakapesh», une pièce de théâtre magique basée sur des légendes innues mises en lien avec la situation actuelle de leur communauté.
14 mai – Le festival présentera une des meilleures actrices et auteures québécoises, l’artiste et écrivaine française underground Geneviève Letarte, dans un spectacle solo bilingue « Toujours là ». Son show illustre les histoires d’une femme qui, se souvenant de l’époque où elle fut attirée par toutes les révolutions, jette un regard critique sur le monde d’aujourd’hui. Le tarte est réputée pour son intensité et son énergie. La chorale de la « La maison La Virevolte » lui succèdera. Il s’agit d’une chorale constituée d’une vingtaine de femmes et de quelques hommes, tous issus du quartier de Lemoyne à Longueuil. La chorale est composée de mères monoparentales et d’amis. Son répertoire est constitué de chants révolutionnaires et de chants basés sur leurs propres expériences de vie. Leur représentation est puissante et chargée d’émotion.
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En 2008, le FITAM avait comme invité le BREAD & PUPPET THEATRE du Vermont et la compagnie française LA BALANCELLE. Ils ont joué deux soirs de suite devant plus de 400 personnes chaque soir au Théâtre D.B. Clark.
Cet événement se tient dans le cadre du Festival de l'anarchie de Montréal durant lequel sera présenté le 16 mai 2008 le dixième Salon du livre anarchiste, le plus gros événement anarchiste organisé sur le continent.
Info: http://www.salonanarchiste.ca/
Pour plus d’information:Tél: 514-981-5330
anarchistefestival@yahoo.cawww.myspace.com/anarchisttheatre_montreal
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Programme 2009 Festival International de Théâtre Anarchiste de Montréal
Mercredi 13 Mai – 2009 / 19h30
• MAIKAN - TROUPE INNU DE MARIONNETTES GÉANTES (Uashat– Maliutenam) QC)Tshakapesh
• THE LIVING THEATRE (USA)L’extraordinaire révolution anarchiste non-violente :pièces mélangées du Living Theatre Jeudi 14 Mai – 2009 / 19h30
• GENEVIÈVE LETARTE (QC)Toujours là
• La Chorale de LA MAISON LA VIREVOLTE et ses musiciens et musiciennes (QC)
• THE LIVING THEATRE (USA)L’extraordinaire révolution anarchiste non-violente : pièces mélangées du Living Theatre
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BIOGRAPHIES DES ARTISTES
Le Living Theatre (New York)
http://www.livingtheatre.org/index.html
Le Living Theatre est une troupe de théâtre américaine fondée en 1947 et basée à New York. Elle est mondialement connue. Dès l’origine, sa création par Julian Beck et Judith Malina se voulait la synthèse des idées anarcho-pacifistes qu’ils partageaient tous les deux et sous forme d’actions politico-artistiques.Il s'agit de la plus vieille troupe de théâtre expérimental existant encore aux États-Unis.
La troupe représentait alors la contestation la plus radicale du théâtre commercial et institutionnel. Pendant la majeure partie de son histoire, elle fut dirigée par ses fondateurs, l'actrice Judith Malina et le peintre/poète Julian Beck; après la mort de Julian en 1985, Hanon Reznikov, membre du Living Theatre, devint co-directrice avec Judith.
Dans les années 50, le groupe était parmi les premiers aux États-Unis, à produire les œuvres de créateurs influents comme Gertrude Stein, William Carlos Williams, Paul Goodman, Kenneth Rexroth et John Ashbery mais aussi des écrivains européens rarement joués aux USA : Cocteau, Lorca, Brecht and Pirandello. Jouant dans de nombreux lieux modestes de New York qui fermèrent souvent pour cause de problèmes financiers ou de conflits avec les autorités de la ville, le Living Theatre aida le théâtre « off-Broadway » à devenir une force incontournable du théâtre américain.
Durant cette période, leurs productions eurent de nombreux points communs, tant au niveau du style que du contenu, avec les écrivains et les poètes de la Beat generation (Ginsberg, Corso, Ferlinghetti, Snyder, etc.). Durant les années 50, le compositeur américain Alan Hovhaness travailla avec le Living Theatre et composa de la musique pour ses productions. En 1959, leur pièce The Connection attira l’attention aux USA avec un rude portrait de la toxicomanie et un langage provocateur.The Brig (1963), une vision antiautoritaire des conditions d'une prison du Corps des Marines des États-Unis, fut leur dernière production majeure à New York avant que le U.S. Internal Revenue Service ferme leur espace de théâtre et que Beck et Malina soient brièvement emprisonnés.
Pendant le reste des années 60, le groupe effectua une tournée en Europe pendant lequel leurs œuvres devinrent encore plus radicales et révolutionnaires en délivrant un message pacifiste et anarchiste sans concessions. Les membres de la troupe créaient les pièces collectivement et vivaient ensemble. Les œuvres majeures de cette période incluent des adaptations de Antigone, de Frankenstein, et Paradise Now qui devint leur pièce la plus connue.
Paradise Now est une pièce semi-improvisée qui demande la participation du public. Elle fut particulièrement célèbre pour une scène dans laquelle les acteurs récitaient une liste de tabous de la société qui incluait la nudité alors qu'ils se déshabillaient eux-mêmes; ce qui ne fut pas sans susciter la répression avec de nombreuses arrestations à la clé.
Rentrés aux États-Unis en 1968 pour jouer Paradise Now, le groupe se sépara l'année suivante. Malina et Beck partirent faire une tournée avec les membres restant-e-s du groupe au Brésil, où ils furent emprisonnés en 1971. La troupe revint ensuite à New York. Le groupe se renouvela. Joseph Chaikin, un des membres d'origine, le quitta pour former l'Open Theater.Le Living Theatre a fait des tournées partout autour du monde, parfois dans des endroits non-traditionnels comme les rues (Théâtre de rue) et les prisons. L'expérience a grandement influencé les autres troupes de théâtre expérimental des États-Unis et ailleurs dans le monde, particulièrement l'Open Theater et, le Bread and Puppet Theater dont deux pièces étaient présentées en 2008 au Festival de Théâtre anarchiste de Montréal.
Judith Malina
Judith Malina a fondé The living Theatre en 1945 avec Julian Beck et continua de diriger la compagnie avec Hanon Reznikov après le décès de Beck en 1985. Maintenant, un an après avoir perdu Reznikov, elle demeure directeur artistique du Living Theatre. Malina est la fille d’un rabbin juif allemand orthodoxe qui immigra au États-Unis en 1928 pour fuir l’oppression politique allemande. Elle entreprit des études à temps partiel à la New School en 1945 et suivit les cours d’Erwin Piscator en conception théâtrale. C’est à ce moment qu’elle décida de créer sa propre compagnie de théâtre. Le Living Theatre de Malina et Beck était une des compagnies les plus reconnues pendant le mouvement du théâtre d’avant garde des années 40. Leurs courtes mises en scène étaient souvent improvisées et écrites par des dramaturges tels que Gertrude Stein, Bertold Brecht, ou Paul Goodman. Le sujet de leurs pièces devint de plus en plus politique durant les années 50. En 1959, ils gagnèrent un OBIE Award pour leur mise en scène du 16 Juillet 1959 de la pièce de Jack Gelber The connection. Le succès de cette pièce leur permit de se faire reconnaitre mondialement et finalement de se faire inviter à jouer au Théâtre des Nations à Paris ou ils gagnèrent un prix important. Pendant le début des années 60, en pleine production de la pièce The Brig écrite par Kenneth Brown, le Living Theatre fut accusé à tort de fraude fiscale et, à cause de la durée et du coût des démarches judiciaires qui leurs permirent de rétablir leurs innocences, ils perdirent leur théâtre. À la suite de cet incident Le Living se rendit en Europe ou les membres de la troupe menèrent une vie nomade et changèrent le style de leurs pièces. Ils retournèrent aux États-Unis pour faire une tournée pendant cette période. En 1969, la troupe principale se dissout et Malina et Beck allèrent au Brésil dans le début des années 70. En parallèle avec son travail lié à l’art dramatique, Malina a conservé une carrière cinématographique pour subvenir aux besoins du théâtre, incluant Un après-midi de chien, l’Éveil, Household Saints, La famille Adams et son plus récent rôle dans le film de Disney intitulé When in Rome dont la sortie est prévue pour 2009. Le Living Theatre est actuellement situé au 21 Clinton Street dans la partie basse de lest de l’île de Manhattan, où Malina continue ses efforts dans le The Beautiful Non-violent Anarchist Revolution.
La Chorale de « la Maison La Virevolte » (Longueuil - Québec)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sg8gQoOT154&feature=relatedhttp://maisonlavirevolte.org/
La Maison La Virevolte est un organisme communautaire/famille situé dans le quartier du Vieux-Longueuil. Œuvrant principalement au sein des HLM, l’organisme a pour mission de venir en aide et en support aux familles dans le besoin par l’intermédiaire d’activités ponctuelles, d’ateliers pour les parents et les enfants, d’une halte-garderie, de l’aide aux devoirs, de groupes de soutien et de défense de droits. La Virevolte s’identifie à un mode de gestion participative et s’affirme comme un milieu de vie pour ses membres, ses salariées et ses bénévoles.Les personnes qui constituent la chorale, surtout des femmes et quelques hommes sont, pour la grande majorité, des participantes aux activités de la Virevolte. Ce sont des femmes qui vivent dans des HLM, des mères monoparentales, des personnes seules et quelques salariées de l’organisme. Ensemble depuis plus d’un an, elles chantent des chants militants, des chants féministes et des chansons populaires. Elles expriment, par le chant et la musique, une vision du monde autre, une critique d’une société patriarcale obsédée par le capital.La chorale de La Virevolte leur permet de vivre une expérience musicale constructive qui met à jour les multiples talents artistiques qui sommeillent en eux.
Geneviève Letarte - Toujours là (Québec)
Une performance solo à mi-chemin entre le story-telling, la chanson et le théâtre. Les histoires d’une femme qui, se souvenant de l’époque où elle fut attirée par toutes les révolutions, jette un regard intrigué sur le monde d’aujourd’hui. Dans ce monologue où l’humour et la poésie font bon ménage, l’intime se mêle au social, le politique au personnel, et le féminin se déploie.Geneviève Letarte pratique l’écriture sous de multiples formes. Auteur de quatre romans, parmi lesquels Souvent la nuit tu te réveilles (l’Hexagone, 2002) et Les Vertiges Molino (Leméac, 1996), elle a aussi publié un recueil de poésie intitulé Tout bas très fort (Écrits des Forges, 2004). Elle collabore à diverses revues littéraires au Québec, en France et aux États-Unis, et elle est membre du comité éditorial de la revue montréalaise l’Inconvénient, où elle publie régulièrement des articles et des traductions de l’anglais au français. À titre d’auteur-compositeur-interprète, elle a réalisé trois disques de chansons sous étiquette Ambiances magnétiques: Âmes soûles (2007), Chansons d’un jour (2000) et Vous seriez un ange (1990), qui ont donné lieu à des tournées de spectacles. Elle est aussi connue pour ses performances combinant texte, chant et musique, tels Dans la voix de quelqu’un (Studio de la place des arts, 2004) et Le Mystère du bois Blanc (Théâtre La Chapelle, Montréal, 2000). Elle a participé à de nombreux événements culturels au Québec et à l’étranger, notamment le Festival Voix d’Amériques (Montréal), le Festival parole ambulante (Lyon, France), le Festival international de poésie Wallonie-Bruxelles (Namur, Belgique), l’événement Voilà Québec en Mexico! (Guadalajara, Mexique, 2003), le Festival interculturel La Romeria De Mayo (Holguin, Cuba, 1999), les Rencontres internationales de poésie contemporaine (Cogolin, France, 1986).
MAIKAN - INNU TROUPE DE MARIONNETTES GÉANTES (Uashat– Maliutenam)
« Tshakapesh descend de la lune pour la promotion de la vie »
PIÈCE DE THÉÂTRE AVEC MARIONNETTES GÉANTES
D'après une idée originale de Jean St-Onge, artiste innu, créateur des marionnettes géantes et concepteur de l'ensemble de la pièce. La pièce est élaborée à partir des voix et des textes recueillis par Madeleine Lefèvre des conteurs Innus du siècle dernier et d’apports d’autres membres de la communauté.Jean St-Onge travaille dans sa communauté comme intervenant au projet Promotion de la vie, un projet de prévention qui a pour but de lutter contre l’alcoolisme, l'abus de substances et le suicide. Il a participé à l’exposition de peintures au Jardin des Premières Nations du Jardin botanique de Montréal.Anne-Marie St-Onge André collabore sur ce projet comme recherchiste. Elle travaille sur la culture Innu.Le mythe de Tshakapesh est ressuscité mais on fait aussi appel à Mishtapeu, autre personnage mythique qui prend la forme d'un grand-père qui secoure les jeunes Innus abandonnés et qui leur indique la voie à suivre. Les auteurs partent du principe que le code de survie de leur nation est en quelque sorte inscrit dans leurs mythes et légendes. Un grand travail de décryptage et de décodage reste encore à faire et peu de jeunes connaissent aujourd'hui les légendes qui pourraient leur servir d'ancrage devant l'adversité. Cette pièce participe de ce travail mémoriel.
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
MONTREAL’S 4th ANNUAL INTERNATIONAL ANARCHIST THEATRE FESTIVAL
MAY 13 + 14, 2009,
D.B. Clarke Theatre
with NEW YORK’s LEGENDARY ‘THE LIVING THEATRE’
The fourth annual Montreal International Anarchist Theatre Festival (MIATF) proudly presents two nights with New York’s legendary ‘The Living Theatre,’
Wednesday, May 13 + Thursday, May 14, 2009 at Concordia University’s D.B. Clarke Theatre, 1455 de Maisonneuve West (Metro Guy-Concordia), 7:30pm.
Tickets are $15 at the door or in advance from AT the Montreal anarchist bookstore L’Insoumise, 2033 boul St-Laurent (tel: 514- 313-3489), starting april 15, 2009.
The Living Theatre -
North America’s premiere avant-garde theatre project founded in 1947 by two non-violent anarchists, Judith Malina (student of Erwin Piscator) and the late Julian Beck (from the New York School) - will perform a new piece for their two night run called ‘The Beautiful Non-Violent Anarchist Revolution: A combination of Living Theatre Plays.’
The world famous troupe is renowned for their aesthetics emphasizing improvisation and their plays about revolutionary issues. Their work has influenced generations of radical playwrights, actors and artists, and they have won four prestigious Obie awards. They continue to produce and tour anti-war plays from New York. Judith Malina will perform as part of the troupe.
Opening for The Living Theatre May 13th, is Maikan, an Innu giant puppet theatre troupe from the Mali-Utenam reserve near Sept-Iles. For their Montreal debut, they will stage ‘Tshakapesh’ – an enchanting, mythical piece based on an Innu legend addressing contemporary social issues.
May 14th features one of Montreal’s better known underground French literary figures, the talented Quebecois actress/author, Geneviève Letarte in a bilingual solo performance called ‘Still There.’ It recounts the stories of a woman who looks back to a time when she was attracted by all kinds of revolutions and who takes a critical look at the world as it is today.
Letarte will be followed by the high energy La Chorale de la Maison la Virevolte - a radical 20 person choir and band from a family drop-in centre in one of the poorest areas of Longueuil, Lemoyne. The choir consists of single moms and friends, and has a repertoire of both revolutionary songs and songs based on the lives of the women themselves. Their performances are captivating and emotionally charged.
Last year, the MIATF hosted the Bread & Puppet Theatre from Vermont and a theatre company from France, "La Balancelle", playing to full houses each night at the almost 400 seat D.B.Clarke. The MIATF is part of Montreal’s annual Festival of Anarchy leading up to the city’s tenth annual Anarchist Bookfair, May 16, 2009.
Info: http://www.anarchistbookfair.ca/
INFO: 514 981 5330, or anarchistefestival@yahoo.cawww.myspace.com/anarchisttheatre_montreal
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MONTREAL INTERNATIONAL ANARCHIST THEATRE FESTIVAL 2009
D.B. Clarke Theatre, 1455 de Maisonneuve West (Metro Guy-Concordia)
PROGRAM
Wed, May 13, 2009, 7:30pm
• MAIKAN - Innu giant puppet theatre troupe (Mali-Utenam, QC)Tshakapesh
• THE LIVING THEATRE (USA)The Beautiful Non-Violent Anarchist Revolution: A combination of Living Theatre Plays
Thurs, May 14, 2009, 7:30pm
• GENEVIÈVE LETARTE (QC)Still There
• La Chorale de la Maison La Virevolte et ses musiciens et musiciennes (QC)
• THE LIVING THEATRE (USA)The Beautiful Non-Violent Anarchist Revolution: A combination of Living Theatre Plays
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ARTIST BIOGRAPHIES + SHOW DESCRIPTIONS
• THE LIVING THEATRE
http://www.livingtheatre.org/index.html
Founded in 1947 as an imaginative alternative to the commercial theater by Judith Malina (German-born student of Erwin Piscator) and Julian Beck (abstract expressionist painter of the New York School), The Living Theatre has staged nearly a hundred productions performed in eight languages in 28 countries on five continents - a unique body of work that has influenced theater the world over.
During the 1950's and early 1960's in New York, The Living Theatre pioneered the unconventional staging of poetic drama - the plays of American writers like Gertrude Stein, William Carlos Williams, Paul Goodman, Kenneth Rexroth and John Ashbery, as well as European writers rarely produced in United States, including Cocteau, Lorca, Brecht and Pirandello. Best remembered among these productions, which marked the start of the Off-Broadway movement, were Doctor Faustus Lights the Lights, Tonight We Improvise, Many Loves, The Connection and The Brig.The difficulty of operating a unique, experimental enterprise within a cultural establishment ill-equipped to accept it led to the closing by the authorities of all The Living Theatre's New York venues: the Cherry Lane Theater (closed by the Fire Department in 1953), The Living Theatre Studio on Broadway at 100th Street (closed by the Buildings Department in 1956), The Living Theatre on 14th Street (closed by the I.R.S. in 1963) and The Living Theatre on Third Street (closed by the Buildings Department in 1993).
In the mid-1960's, the company began a new life as a nomadic touring ensemble. In Europe, they evolved into a collective, living and working together toward the creation of a new form of non-fictional acting based on the actor's political and physical commitment to using the theater as a medium for furthering social change. The landmark achievements of this period include Mysteries and Smaller Pieces, Antigone, Frankenstein and Paradise Now.
In the 1970's, The Living Theatre began to create The Legacy of Cain, a cycle of plays for non-traditional venues. From the prisons of Brazil to the gates of the Pittsburgh steel mills, and from the slums of Palermo to the schools of New York City, the company offered these plays, which include Six Public Acts, The Money Tower, Seven Meditations on Political Sado-Masochism, Turning the Earth and the Strike Support Oratorium free of charge to the broadest of all possible audiences.
The 1980's saw the group return to the theater, where they developed new participatory techniques that enable the audience to first rehearse with the company and then join them on stage as fellow performers. These plays include Prometheus at the Winter Palace, The Yellow Methuselah and The Archaeology of Sleep.Following the death of Julian Beck in 1985, cofounder Judith Malina and the company’s new director, veteran Hanon Reznikov, who first encountered The Living Theatre while a student at Yale in 1968, opened a new performing space in Manhattan’s Lower East Side, producing a steady stream of innovative works including The Tablets, I and I, The Body of God, Humanity, Rules of Civility, Waste, Echoes of Justice, and The Zero Method. After the closing of the Third Street space in 1993, the company went on to create Anarchia, Utopia and Capital Changes in other New York City venues.
In 1999, with funds from the European Union, they renovated a 1650 Palazzo Spinola in Rocchetta Ligure, Italy and reopened it as the Centro Living Europa, a residence and working space for the company’s European programs. There they created Resistenza, a dramatization of the local inhabitants’ historical resistance to the German occupation of 1943-45. In recent years, the company has also been performing Resist Now!, a play for anti-globalization demonstrations both in Europe and the U.S. A month-long collaboration with local theater artists in Lebanon in 2001 resulted in the creation of a site-specific play about the abuse of political detainees in the notorious former prison at Khiam.
The Living has opened a new theatre at 21 Clinton Street, presenting The Brig. They continue also to present NO SIR!, a play for the street against military recruitment.The Clinton Street theater is the company's first permanent home since the closing of The Living Theatre on Third Street at Avenue C in 1993. The decision to return to the Lower East Side (at 19-21 Clinton Street, between Houston and Stanton Streets) reflects the company's continuing faith in the neighborhood as a vibrant center where the needs of some of the city's poorer people confront the ideas of the experimenters in art and politics who have settled in the area.
Judith Malina
Judith Malina founded The Living Theatre in 1945 with Julian Beck and continued the company's work with Hanon Reznikov after Beck's passing in 1985. Now, one year after losing Reznikov, she remains Artistic Director of The Living.
Malina is the daughter of an orthodox Jewish-German rabbi who moved to the U.S. in 1928 to escape political oppression. She attended Erwin Piscator's Dramatic Workshop at the New School on a partial scholarship in 1945 and from there looked to create her own theatre company. Malina and Beck's Living Theater was a leader of the avant-garde theater movement of the early '40s.
Their one-act productions were often improvisational and penned by playwrights such as Gertrude Stein, Bertold Brecht, or Paul Goodman. The subject matter of the plays became increasingly political during the '50s.
In 1959, they won an Obie Award for their July 16, 1959, production of Jack Gelber's The Connection. The play's success landed them national acclaim and eventually an invite to perform at the Theatre des Nations in Paris where they won a grand prize. By the early '60s, during production of Kenneth Brown's The Brig, The Living Theatre was brought up on false tax evasion charges and because of the length and expense of the trials that ultimately proved their innocence, they lost their theatre. The Living then moved to Europe where troupe members led a nomadic existence and changed the types of plays they put on. They returned to the U.S. to tour throughout their nomadic existence. In 1969, the main troupe split up and Malina and Beck went to Brazil in the early '70s. In addition to her theatrical work, Malina has maintained a film career to support the theatre's work, including Dog Day Afternoon, Awakenings, Household Saints, The Addams Family with her most recent work coming in Disney's 2009 When in Rome. The Living Theatre is currently located at 21 Clinton Street in the Lower East Side of Manhattan, where Malina continues her efforts in The Beautiful Non-Violent Anarchist Revolution
.• GENEVIÈVE LETARTE - STILL THERE
Geneviève Letarte presents a solo performance, which moves between story telling, song and theatre. She recounts the stories of a woman who looks back to a time when she was attracted by all kinds of revolutions and who takes a critical look at the world as it is today. In this monologue, humour and poetry go hand in hand. It is where intimate and social, political and personal concerns intertwine around a feminine essence.Geneviève Letarte is a Montreal writer, singer and performance artist. The author of four novels, amongst them Souvent la nuit tu te réveilles (L’Hexagone, 2002) and Les Vertiges Molino (Leméac, 1996), she also published a book of poetry entitled Tout bas très fort (Écrits des Forges, 2004). She has collaborated with various literary magazines in Québec, France and the United-States and is a member of the editorial board of Montreal magazine l'Inconvénient, where she regularly publishes her own work as well as translations from English to French. As a songwriter, she has produced three recordings of her work on the Ambiances Magnétiques label: Âmes soûles (2007), Chansons d’un jour (2000) and Vous seriez un ange (1990), which were all performed on stage. She is also known for her performance work combining poetry, music and song, such as Dans la voix de quelqu’un (Studio de la Place des arts, Montreal, 2004) and Le Mystère du bois Blanc (Théâtre La Chapelle, Montreal, 2000). She has participated in many cultural events in Quebec and abroad including Festival Voix d’Amériques (Montreal), Festival parole ambulante (Lyon, France), Festival international de poésie Wallonie-Bruxelles (Namur, Belgique), Voilà Québec en Mexico! (Guadalajara, Mexique, 2003), Festival interculturel La Romeria De Mayo (Holguin, Cuba, 1999), Rencontres internationales de poésie contemporaine (Cogolin, France, 1986).• LA CHORALE DE LA MAISON LE VIREVOLTE
http://maisonlavirevolte.org/http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sg8gQoOT154&feature=related
The Maison La Virevolte (The house of the about-turn) is a community organization for families based in Old Longueuil. It works essentially with residents of HLM, public housing projects, to support families in need through a variety of service activities – workshops for parents andchildren, a day-care, help with homework, support groups, helping people know and defend their rights. La Virevolte is organized on principles of participation, run by staff and volunteers. Always a centre for new cultural expression, La Virevolte works towards affirming, challenging, marching, participating in multiple initiatives to establish a better world.The members of the choir, mostly women and a few men, are for the most part, active members in the daily activities of the Virevolte. These are women who live in public housing projects, single moms, people who live alone, and a few staff members. Together in the choir for one year now, they sing radical, feminist, and popular songs. They express through song and music, another vision of the world, a critique of society obsessed by money and patriarchal. The choir gives them a chance to live a constructive musical experience, awakening and putting to use their multiple artistic talents that lie inside each one of them.
• INNU GIANT PUPPET TROUPE
The six-person giant puppet troupe come from the Innu reserve of Mali-Utenam, 15 km east of Sept-Iles in Quebec. The play, Tshakapesh, written by Jean St-Onge, begins with the Innu creation story of Tshakapesh, descending from the moon. The second act shows an Innu man begging for money for glue and beer, and the consequences for himself and his family. At the end, as he's dying, Tshakapesh comes to him in a sort of daydream. There's also a short text about the government's plan of ethnocide (assimilation) using the residential schools.
Jean St-Onge works in his community with the project Promotion de la vie (Promoting life). A project whose goal his preventing alcoholism, substance abuse and suicide. He participated in art exhibit in The First Nation Garden at Montreal’s Botanical Garden.Anne-Marie St-Onge André studies Innu culture and history.
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Festival International de Théâtre Anarchiste de Montréal
Montreal International Theatre Festival
INFO:
514 981 5330
anarchistefestival@yahoo.cawww.myspace.com/anarchisttheatre_montreal
Salon du livre anarchiste de Montréal
Montreal Anarchist Bookfair
INFO:
web: http://www.salonanarchiste.ca/
tel: 514-679-5800
e-mail: info@salonanarchiste.ca
Labels: anarchism, anarchist bookfairs, bookfairs, canadian anarchist movement, Festival of Anarchy, Montreal Anarchist Bookfair
Sunday, March 29, 2009
CANADIAN POLITICS:
RESCIND THE BAN ON GEORGE GALLOWAY:
The horribly "dangerous" goof pictured to the left is British MP George Galloway. He was been expelled from the British Labour Party after more than one occasion of making kissy face with any number of dictators. At present he masterminds (if that word is applicable) a very minor English political party called 'Respect'. Respect is devoted to squaring the circle by trying to create the illusion of a coalition between jihadists and leftists.
That's all fine and good. Goofier things have been tried by many others besides "rubber man" pictured above. What makes this situation unique is that GG has been banned from entering Canada by our Conservative government. On the grounds of "being a threat to Canada's national security". Well, I doubt that the leftist court jester pictured above is a threat to anyone's security. I also have no doubt that he is just as much a thug as he has been portrayed as. Being disgusting, however, is a far cry from being a national security threat.
The following is a story from the International Civil Liberties Monitoring Group, come to Molly's attention via the Statewatch website. Molly agrees with this, without any illusions about Mr. Galloway's character. To my mind this is a direct attack on freedom of speech and little else. It shows the desires that lurk within the federal Conservative caucus.
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Press Release: British MP banned from Canada: Ottawa must reverse shameful decision:
OTTAWA – March 20, 2009 – The International Civil Liberties Monitoring Group is calling on Ottawa to reverse its decision and allow well-known British MP and peace activist, George Galloway, to enter to Canada.
“The Canadian minister for Citizenship and Immigration Jason Kenney has the discretionary power to issue a permit allowing Mr. Galloway to enter Canada,” said Roch Tassé, national coordinator for the International Civil Liberties Monitoring Group. “Barring a British member of Parliament who doesn't share our government's views is embarrassing and shameful: this is clearly censorship and an attempt to stifle freedom of opinion and freedom of speech.”
A minister's spokesman told reporters in the U.K that the Respect MP is inadmissible on national security grounds because of his views on Afghanistan and the presence of Canadian troops there. He warned that he would be turned away if he attempted to enter the country.
Galloway is due to speak at a public forum Resisting War from Gaza to Kandahar, hosted by the Toronto Coalition to Stop the War, at a downtown church on March 30, 2009.
Responding to the news, the MP said he would fight the ban: “This decision, gazetted in Rupert Murdoch’s Sun, is a very sad day for the Canada we have known and loved – a bastion of the freedoms that supporters of the occupation of Afghanistan claim to be defending.” Please see full story at:http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2009/mar/20/george-galloway-banned-canada
The ICLMG is a pan-Canadian coalition of civil society organizations that was established in the aftermath of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks in the United States. The coalition brings together 38 NGOs, unions, professional associations, faith groups, environmental organizations, human rights and civil liberties advocates, as well as groups representing immigrant and refugee communities in Canada.
Information : Roch Tassé – 613-241-5298
Labels: Canadian politics, conservatives, freedom of speech, George Galloway, Jason Kenney
INTERNATIONAL LABOUR-EGYPT:
LABOUR UNREST IN EGYPT:
The following report is from a correspondent of the Anarchist Black Cat discussion board. Please see the Africa section of that board for more details and commentary.
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by Ahmed
Not a day goes by in Egypt without demonstrations, strikes, sit-ins and clashes between workers and the police.
Textile workers have been at the forefront of the struggles, as factory bosses are seeking to cut wages and pressure workers to leave. The most serious was the strike last month in Mahalla over low pay and rising prices. Three people were killed during the protests, 80 were injured and about 400 arrested.
Workers at Nile Cotton went on strike against delays in paying salaries, while at Daytex in Alexandria and Andrama Textiles in Menoufia, there were sit-ins over the non-payment of bonuses and allowances for 228 working days.
In Port Said, 300 workers at Eurotex Clothing staged a sit-in over their ill-treatment by management. At Mansoura-Spain Garments in Dakahlia, 150 female workers went on strike over the suspension of their union leader and the delay in paying their social allowances. At Cotton Ginning in Menya, 950 workers went on strike over the failure to pay their salaries at the rate agreed after a previous strike, or to pay the statutory 30 percent allowances. These strikes followed earlier sit-ins and strikes when workers in four provinces found that they had not received their full wages for December.
Industrial unrest extends far beyond the traditionally militant textile workers.
Tens of thousands of truck drivers and owners went on strike in many parts of the country to demand the government abandon its decision to ban articulated trucks and trailers in 2011. Violence broke out in Gharbiya in the northern Nile Delta province when strikers hurled heavy rocks at scabs. Police arrested more than 25 strikers. The strike led to long delays on roads in many parts of the country and an increase in building materials and food prices.
More than 1,000 employees from around the country have mounted a vigil outside the National Research Centre over the government's failure to pay incentives and allowances agreed last year.
Last month pharmacists went on strike against attempts by the government to enforce a new law that would include all merchandise sold in drugstores, not just medicines, in their tax returns. Since medicines were unprofitable and were cross-subsidised by other products, any increase in taxation would make their businesses unviable.
At Hebei Medical Supplies in Qena, 250 workers went on strike over the failure to pay their wages. Some have gone on hunger strike.
At the Technology Institute in Qalyubia, 3,000 students went on strike. Workers at the Egyptian Fertilisers Company in Suez went on strike over the company's agreement to export phosphates to Israel.
These strikes follow 609 industrial actions last year, slightly less than in 2007 but still far more than in previous years, according to statistics from the Land Center for Human Rights published in El-Badeel. The strikes, sit-ins and demonstrations involved all social groups: workers, farmers, Bedouin, nurses, pensioners, professional workers, the self-employed and the homeless.
But the real number is far higher, since strikes by professional workers were not included and many others go unreported in the media. If they were, according to Amr El-Choubaki of the Al-Ahram Centre for Political and Strategic Studies, the number in the first quarter of 2008 alone would equal the whole of 2007. He said, "This escalation was last seen in the [demonstrations that led to the 1919 Revolution and subsequently the] 1923 constitution".
The global financial and economic crisis has had a major impact on Egypt. Foreign direct investment, its largest currency earner, fell by 30 percent during the first quarter of 2008/09, from $3 billion in the first quarter of 2007/08 to $2.1 billion.A report from the parliamentary budgetary committee said foreign investors’ contributions to newly-established companies or already existing ones collapsed from $1.7 billion to $0.4 billion because of the crisis.
The decline in world trade has affected the level of traffic through the Suez Canal, another major foreign currency earner. The report noted a steep drop in revenues of $200 million or 13.7 percent in the second quarter of financial year 2008/09, caused by an 8.8 percent fall in cargo.
Egypt's second major currency earner, tourism, is also down. According to the report, not only are visitor numbers down, particularly from Russia, Britain, Germany and Italy, but those that do come are spending less. Tourism is expected to decline by at least 18 percent in 2009. It provides direct and indirect employment to 12.6 percent of the workforce and accounts for 6.5 percent of GDP. Hotels have already started laying off temporary workers who constitute 30 percent of the industry's workforce.
The downturn in the construction industry in the Gulf, where eight million Egyptians work, means that many have lost their jobs, and remittances from expatriates have plummeted. Remittances from Kuwait and Saudi Arabia have fallen by 15-20 percent. By far the biggest casualty of the economic downturn is Dubai, where nearly half the construction sites have closed.
Last month, Prime Minister Ahmed Nazif told the People's Assembly that unemployment in the second quarter of fiscal year 2008-09 rose to 8.8 percent. But such figures are always a pale reflection of actual unemployment or under employment.
While the Egyptian economy grew by about 7 percent a year for the last three years, this benefited only the privileged financial and military elite around Hosni Mubarak's military backed regime. One percent of the population controls almost all the wealth of the country.
The vast majority of Egypt's 80 million people have experienced only rising prices—inflation is now running at 15 percent—and ever increasing poverty. A World Bank report concluded that the number of Egyptians living under the official poverty line is 20 percent of the population.
With the global recession, economic growth fell 4.1 percent in the second quarter of 2008-09, down from 7.2 percent the previous year. The deficit on foreign trade grew by 50 percent from $16.3 billion in 2006-07 to $23.4 billion to 2007-08 and has grown by a further 75 percent in the second quarter of 2008-09. The government's plans to reduce its budget deficit to three percent of GDP over the next three years will entail severe austerity measures.
The Egyptian regime's support for the US occupation of Iraq and Israeli suppression of the Palestinians has galvanised anti-American feeling and loathing for Mubarak's regime. Egypt has received $1.3 billion a year in military aid from the United States, with a similar amount pledged every year for the next 10 years. This aid comes with cash flow financing, which means that Egypt can spread out its payments over many years and buy much more than its aid allocation.
In return, Egypt protects Israel's western flank and keeps the Palestinians trapped in Gaza while safeguarding US access to key transport routes. From 2001 to 2005 Egypt granted expedited transit through the Suez Canal to 861 war ships as well as permission for 36,553 US combat aircraft to use its airspace.
There were nationwide demonstrations opposing the government's support for Israel's murderous assault on Gaza. Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni's visit to Cairo just two days before the war made it clear to everyone that Mubarak had had advance warning of the assault. He refused to bow to popular pressure and open the Gaza-Egypt border to allow the Palestinians to escape the aerial bombardment, suppressed anti-Israel demonstrations and refused to stop selling natural gas to Israel or expel Israel's ambassador. The state owned press even blamed Hamas for the war, not Israel.
Mubarak views Hamas as a threat to his government and is anxious to see it removed from power in Gaza. Hamas is an off shoot of Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood, the main political opposition in Egypt. Many members of the Brotherhood have been arrested and thrown into jail without trial.
There is deep seated anger at the corruption and ever growing wealth of the ruling elite, press censorship and political suppression. At the end of last month, the courts imposed fines of $1,800 each on five journalists from Al-Masry Al-Youm and Al-Wafd for violating a ban on media coverage of the trial of a prominent billionaire business man who is a member of Mubarak's party. Hisham Talaat Mustafa has been charged with killing his mistress, Lebanese pop singer Suzanne Tamim. Egypt's 1.4 million strong security forces are widely hated.
Tensions are rising, and the regime is beginning to disintegrate. This month a group of army cadets stormed a police station in Helwan, south of Cairo, leaving at least five policemen and three cadets injured. This followed the arrest of an army cadet for loitering and refusing to show ID. The cadet was taken to a police station, beaten and held overnight. When the army cadets surrounded the police station, chanted insults and threw firecrackers, the police opened fire on them.
So great are the tensions that the Egyptian court of appeal was forced to overturn the acquittal of Maduh Ismail over the sinking of a ferry in the Red Sea in 2006 that killed more than 1,000 people. The acquittal had outraged many who believed the corrupt businessman, a former MP, was being protected. The court sentenced Ismail, who is believed to be in London, in absentia to seven years in prison for involuntary manslaughter.
Labels: Anarchist Black Cat, economic crisis, Egypt, international labour, labour, strike
