Showing posts with label Whistler. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Whistler. Show all posts

Sunday, January 10, 2010


CANADIAN POLITICS:
MORE OPPOSITION AS THE OLYMPICS DRAWS CLOSER:
Only about a month to go until the 2010 Vancouver/Whistler Winter Olympics, and people continue to protest as the Olympic flame sputters its way across Canada. Here's the latest on anti-Olympic events from the Olympic Resistance Network.
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Speaking Tour and Upcoming Actions and Events:‏
1) Anti Olympic Speaking Tour in BC and US West Coast!
2) Jan 9 and 16: Flyering and Skate-in Against Corporate Sponsors
3) Jan 20 - 21: Dave Zirin in Vancouver
4) Jan 22: Solidarity in the Face of Police Repression
5) Feb 2010: Anti Olympic Convergence
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- please forward to contacts in BC and US West Coast -
Why Oppose the 2010 Olympic Games
As part of a provincial and west coast speaking tour, join us in a series of events to learn more about the Olympic industry and its impacts, why opposition to the Games is growing, and how you can participate in and support the resistance. We will also hear about plans for a global Feb 10-15 anti-colonial and anti-capitalist convergence against the Games. No Olympics on Stolen Native Land!
Watch:
Eight Reasons to Oppose the 2010 Winter Olympics:
DATES!
Check back frequently for updates on Facebook at:
Or subscribe to our low traffic list to receive updates:
1) US:
* Sat Jan 9th - Seattle. 3 PM-5 PM, @ the Cascade Peoples Center ( 309 Pontius Avenue North, Seattle, WA 98109-5421.
* Mon Jan 11th – Olympia.
* Tues Jan 19 – Oakland @ 7 pm, Eastside Arts Alliance, 2277 International Blvd, Oakland. Suggested donation: $5-10 sliding scale (no one will be turned away for lack of funds)
Co hosted by: Chiapas Support Committee, East Side Arts Alliance, and others.
* Wed Jan 20: San Francisco at 7:00 p.m. Station 40, 3030B 16th Street (at Mission Street BART), San Francisco Hosted by the Institute for Anarchist Studies Suggested donation: $5-10 sliding scale, to support tour (no one will be turned away for lack of funds)
* Thurs Jan 21: Davis
* Fri Jan 22: Orange County at 6 pm. Women's Civic Club, 9501 Chapman Ave. Garden Grove, CA 92841. Contact: jhaghor@yahoo.com or 714-478-3155
2) BC:
* Fri Jan 15th – Penticton.
* Sat Jan 16th – Nelson @ 2 pm. Senior's Branch 51, 717 Vernon Street, Nelson (across from Extra Foods) . Contact Sandra at 250-352-5274 or sgnelken@shaw.ca . Organized by Council of Canadians-Nelson Chapter.
* Sun Jan 17th – Castlegar. Castlegar Public Library 1005 3rd street from 3-5 pm. Contact info: ieatskiers@hotmail.com
* Mon Jan 18th – Golden at 7pm. Jita's Cafe. B-1007 11th Ave S.
* Tues Jan 19th- Kelowna at 7 pm
* Fri Jan 22nd – Nanaimo
* Sat Jan 23rd – Comox Valley @ 7pm. BCGEU meeting room, 2nd Floor, 910 Fitzgerald Ave, Courtenay. Contact Ernie at 250 338 3504 or ernieyacub@gmail.com .
* Sun Jan 24th – Powell River
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2 upcoming actions against 2010 Olympic sponsors:
General Electric and the Hudson’s Bay Company
1) Flyering outside the Hudson's Bay Company Olympic Store
* *Saturday, January 9
*1:00 pm-4:00 pm
Meet outside the Bay on Georgia Street The 2010 corporate campaign will be flyering for 3 hours outside the Hudson's Bay Company to inform people about HBC, the Olympics and their links to colonialism.
*Blood on your hands: Are you wearing HBC's history of colonialism?
* The Hudson's Bay Company is the oldest commercial corporation in North America. HBC forcefully controlled the fur trade throughout much of British-controlled North America for several centuries. The corporation took control over several areas of Canada, forcing their rules of trade, immigration, settlement and governance onto indigenous people.
*2) Skate-in and flyering at GE Plaza at Robson Square
* *Saturday, January 16
*1:00 pm- 4:00 pm
GE Plaza at Robson Square
Meet on Robson side of the Vancouver Art Gallery
Join us for an ice-skate while we hand out information on General Electric, another Olympic sponsor with a shameful track record. Non-skaters are welcome as well to distribute information to people outside of the rink. Please bring skates if you have them, otherwise skate rentals are $3.00 each.
*General Electric: Imagining War Profiteering and Privatizing Rivers
* General Electric is a worldwide partner of the Games but is also one of the world's top 3 producers of jet engines, supplying Boeing, Lockheed Martin and other military aircraft makers for the powering of airplanes and helicopters. The "war on terrorism" has seen GE's military contracts rise substantially. GE is also involved in the privatization of BC rivers. "Run of river" private power projects are destructive to river ecologies, cause roads and power lines to intrude on wilderness areas, and undermine public control over power supply. General Electric is involved with Plutonic Power in the 1,027 megawatt project in Bute Inlet. For more info: 2010corporatecampaign@gmail.com
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"POLITICS IN THE RING: DAVE ZIRIN IN VANCOUVER!"
Award-winning sports writer Dave Zirin will be speaking in Vancouver on the politics of sport and mega sporting events on January 20 and January 21, 2010. You will not want to miss him!
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Wed Jan 20 @ 2:30-4:30
MBC 2290, SFU Burnaby campus
Organized by Teaching Support Staff Union (TSSU), email organizer@tssu.ca
Wed Jan 20 @ 6:30 pm.
Maritime Labour Centre, 1880 Triumph Street (corner Victoria Drive).
Suggested donation $10, no one turned away.
* Dave will be available for a book signing, People’s Co-op Books will have his books for purchase.Organized by Olympic Resistance Network, olympicresistance@riseup.net
Endorsed by: Vancouver Action, Submedia, No One Is Illegal, Anti Poverty Committee, Council of Canadians, Warrior Publications, Stopwar.ca, Impact on Communities Coalition, Streams of Justice, Student Christian Movement -UBC, 2010 Watch, 2010 Corporate Campaign.
Thursday, Jan. 21, 4pm
UBC - Student Union Building, room 205
Organized by UBC Social Justice Centre.
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Named one of the UTNE Reader's "50 Visionaries Who Are Changing Our World", Dave Zirin writes about the politics of sports and resistance in sports. His writings appear in the Nation Magazine, SLAM Magazine, the Progressive, Washington Post, San Francisco Chronicle, New York Daily News, and Los Angeles Times. Zirin is also the host of XM satellite's popular weekly show, Edge of Sports Radio. He has brought his blend of sports and politics to other television and radio programs including ESPN,CNN, MSNBC, Al-Jazeera, C-SPAN, Democracy Now, National Public Radio, Air America, and Pacifica. Author of several books, his new book is "A People's History of Sports in the United States," part of Howard Zinn's People's History series for the New Press.
* Some recent articles:
Amy Goodman and Canada's Olympic Paranoia
Message to Obama: You Can't Have Muhammad Ali
Tiger Woods Falls from Grace
Obama's Olympic error:
Gaza anger overwhelms hoops contest
* More about Dave and his writings:
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Solidarity in the Face of Police Repression
Mass Demonstration
Friday, January 22nd,
1:00 pm
Anyone posing even a potential threat to Olympic Security is being subjected to police "friendly visits" and blatant harassment,from active organizers and their families to people who attend events or write critical letters. These visits have escalated and are likely to continue escalating as we near the February games. Some have faced the sharper swords of prosecution, imprisonment, deportation, and even death in the case of Harriet Nahanee. We see the clear connection between Olympic repression and ongoing police intimidation & brutality, the mounting deaths in police custody, the gross negligence in missing women cases, the social cleansing in the Downtown Eastside, and all the other symptoms of this unjust system.
We call for a mass public outcry and for increased resistance amidst this climate of increasing social control. To show we do not fear their tactics when we rise together. Tell your friends and family, co-workers and classmates. Let's show that our solidarity can be stronger than their repression.
Intentions:
We are planning on this march being a family friendly demonstration of our solidarity against police repression. We intend to create a festive atmosphere that is safe and inviting for a wide range of people. Our goal is to spread information and to strengthen our will to band together and support each other in the face of ongoing police repression. We ask that people not attempt to provoke the cops. This said, we are not responsible nor can we control attempts by authorities to suppress our solidarity, and therefore, we stress the importance of supporting those who choose to defend themselves and others against police abuse.
We invite everyone to bring their friends and family, as well as banners, chants, noise makers, flags, torches and, most importantly, lots of energy! Let's bring the celebration of our resistance into the streets! If you have any questions, please leave us a comment and we will respond ASAP. If you do not wish to make your comment public, please let us know and we will act accordingly.
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CONVERGENCE FEB 2010
ALL OUT AGAINST THE 2010 WINTER OLYMPIC GAMES!
The 2010 Winter Olympics will take place in Vancouver & Whistler, on unceded Indigenous land, from February 12-28 2010. We call on all anti-capitalist, Indigenous, housing rights, labour, migrant justice, environmental, anti-war, community-loving, anti-poverty, civil libertarian, and anti colonial activists to come together to confront this two-week circus and the oppression it represents. We are organizing towards a global anti-capitalist and anti-colonial convergence against the 2010 Olympic Games.
* BASIC SCHEDULE:
The basic plan thus far is:
- Conference and People's Summit on Wed Feb 10- Thurs Feb 11 - Fri Feb 12: Take Back Our City! "Welcome" the 2010 Olympic Torch with Free Games, Free Speech, and Free Food! Beginning with a festival at the Vancouver Art Gallery at 3 pm, followed by a parade and protest to BC Place Stadium. Details, including childcare arrangements, at:
- Autonomous days of action on Sat Feb 13 and Mon Feb 15 including anti-corporate actions, rallies to oppose militarization, and more.
- On Sun Feb 14th, we will be standing with the 19th Annual Women's Memorial March to honour all the missing and murdered and women in the DTES (this is not an anti-Olympic protest). Details at:
We will also be updating our website with additional anti-Olympic events occurring during the month of February:
* LOGISTICAL INFORMATION:
We are working to coordinate the logistics to host this convergence. For information on billeting (whether you are in need of billeting or can provide billeting), travel and border information, legal updates, food and childcare arrangements, community spaces, welcome package, and more, please check http://olympicresistance.net frequently for updates.
* SUPPORT THE CONVERGENCE AND GET INVOLVED!
1) Sign-up for our low-traffic list (1-2 emails per week) to stay updated on upcoming events, meetings, and actions. Please email olympicresistance@riseup.net and ask to be added to our announcement list.
2) If you are part of another group (artist, activist, community, union, campus etc) and are planning any kind of activity or event to oppose the Games during Jan-Feb 2010, please do let us know so we can stay in touch.
3) Host an anti-Olympic educational on your campus or at your next conference. Or invite a speaker to your next meeting to discuss what your group can do. We are able to provide educational materials including films, tshirts, comics, buttons, stickers and more!
4) Get involved in the Olympic Resistance Network or other anti-Olympic groups in your neighbourhood or campus. The ORN has regular General Meetings on Sundays as well as many committees.
5) Spread the word about the convergence! Forward this notice to your contacts, join our facebook group (http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=22399134613&ref=ts), download posters and flyers about the convergence from our website and pass them on!
6) Please donate! Hosting this convergence requires significant funds, including legal defence funds. You can donate securely through PayPal on our website: http://olympicresistance.net/content/send-us-money or cheques can be made out to Olympic Resistance Network and mailed to
ORN,
6 - 1857 Kitchener St,
Vancouver, BC,
V5L 2W5.
Email ornfundraise@riseup.net to arrange direct deposits or other queries.
* WHY OPPOSE THE GAMES:
The 2010 Winter Olympics will take place on unceded Indigenous land. Far from being simply about sport, the history of the Olympics is one rooted in displacement, corporate greed, and repression. As Olympic promoters and sponsors seek to present their sanitized corporate brand image to the world, the real impacts of the Games are apparent to everyone:
* Expansion of sport tourism on Indigenous lands
* Increasing homelessness across the province and especially in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside
* Misdirected public spending and debt totaling $6 billion while funding for the arts, educations, and health care are suffering cutbacks
* Corporate bailouts and corporate profits for companies with some of the worst social and environmental records.
* Threats to basic civil liberties and free speech
* Union-busting and vulnerable working conditions for migrant labour
* Unprecedented destruction of the environment
* Unparalleled $1 billion police and security spending that is turning our city into a militarized zone.
Watch:
Eight Reasons to Oppose the 2010 Winter Olympics:
* ABOUT US:
The Olympics Resistance Network is primarily based in Vancouver, Coast Salish Territories and exists as a space to coordinate anti-2010 Olympics efforts. The ORN supports the international resolution passed by over 1500 Indigenous delegates at the Intercontinental Indigenous Peoples Gathering in Sonora, Mexico to "boycott the 2010 Olympic Games" based on Resolution #2 of the Gathering which states "We reject the 2010 Winter Olympics on sacred and stolen territory of Turtle Island "Vancouver, Canada"". Based on this call, our organizing as natives and non-natives alike is largely being done under the slogan of "No Olympics on Stolen Native Land". 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. We look forward to working together across our experiences and movements,while sharing a common understanding including an anti-colonial and anti-capitalist analysis; respect for diversity of tactics and strategies; an anti-oppression understanding and solidarity with those most directly affected; and organizational philosophy based on decentralization within a coordinated and accountable structure.
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WEBSITE:
EMAIL:
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Saturday, September 05, 2009


CANADIAN POLITICS:
INSIDE THE OLYMPICS INDUSTRY:
The following announcement of a public lecture on the corporate clique behind the upcoming Vancouver/Whistler Winter Olympics comes originally from the Whistler Watch website. It came Molly's way via the Olympic Resistance Network (see also the No2010 website. ).
CPCPCPCPCPCPCP
Inside the Olympics Industry" with Dr. Helen Lenskyj:
Sat. Sept 12 @ 6:30 pm Whistler Public Library]‏
You're Invited,
Whistler Watch and the Council of Canadians present:
"INSIDE THE OLYMPICS INDUSTRY"
What the Olympics are really all about, and what Whistler can expect post2010
Dr. Helen Lenskyj, Professor of Sociology (Sports Studies) University of Toronto
Saturday, Sept 12, 2009
6:30 pm
@ Whistler Public Library
Admission by Donation
This event is for Olympic Supporters and Critics, Volunteers and Staff of VANOC, Athletes, and those of you who are just curious....please forward this event widely. Thanks.
Dr. Lenskyj is a Professor of Sociology, at the University of Toronto and has focused much of her career on the study of gender, sport and sexuality. She will be discussing her latest book, Olympic Industry Resistance: Challenging Olympic Power and Propaganda (2008).
She has written books on women and sport, along with two other critical books, Inside the Olympic Industry: Power, Politics, and Activism, and, The Best Olympics Ever? Social Impacts of Sydney 2000. Lenskyj has written over 70 articles to journals and periodicals, including the Journal of Sport and Social Issues, Sociology of Sport Journal, Sporting Traditions, World Leisure and Recreation Association Journal, Journal of Australian Studies, and the International Review for the Sociology of Sport.
For more info, please contact (604) 932-2664
Hope to see many of you there!
Sara Jennings
Whistler Watch
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Friday, July 24, 2009


CANADIAN POLITICS-VANCOUVER:
SECURITY GAMES:
Molly has expressed her opinion on the upcoming Vancouver/Whistler Winter Olympics many times before on this blog. It is first and foremost nothing but an open invitation to corruption, as huge wads of government money are thrown at construction, organization and security, with the inevitable consequence that certain private interests benefit while the taxpayer is left holding the bill. It is very rare, perhaps nonexistent, that a city that hosts an Olympic event actually benefits from it in the long term. The greatest Canadian example is Montréal where the debt was finally paid off decades after the event- just in time for pieces to start falling off the Olympic venue. Love those "honest contractors". A little more sand in that concrete please. It's cheaper than lime after all. Vancouver, of course, hardly needs recognition on the world scene, and the fillip to the city's tourist industry will be brief and ephemeral. It's not like Vancouver is Moose Jaw, Sudbury, Prince George. Hosting an Olympics will make little difference to Vancouver's long term tourist draw. It will give a temporary fillip to hotels and restaurants, but the major beneficiaries of the Games will be the construction industry with its "meeting in the can of the local club" way of doing business with politicians. Such is life.
I have also commented previously on exactly how much the "security" precautions" of these games have been concentrated on suppressing public dissent rather than on trying to intercept the truly horrendous possibility of the 'Abdul Al Hazred Brigade'( H.P. Lovecraft fans know what I mean) pulling a dramatic stunt at the Games. Perhaps this is a longshot, but if it does happen there will be the egg of 10 million chickens on the faces of those who thought that public protesters were the actual "threat". Here is more about how the runup to the Games has provoked suppression of civil liberties out there on the "Rainshine Coast". The following came to Molly's attention via the No2010 website. It was originally published in the BC online newsjournal The Tyee.
CPCPCPCPCPCPCP
2010 Security Overkill: Why so Afraid of Protest?:
 The 2010 Plan to Crush Our Freedoms
Olympics security overkill: Why so afraid of protest?
By Rafe Mair, July 20, 2009, TheTyee.ca
http://thetyee.ca/Opinion/2009/07/20/2010Freedoms/
Less than two weeks ago, Bud Mercer, head of the Vancouver 2010 Integrated Security Unit looking after security for the 2010 Olympics, raised with Vancouver City Council the specter of the violent clashes that rocked World Trade Organization meetings in Seattle and Quebec City.

To combat these forecasted dangers, the taxpayer is spending one billion dollars, at last count, and using 16,000 police and armed forces personnel!

To support this gross overkill, Mercer said, "I can assure council as I stand before you here today, that locally, provincially, nationally and internationally, there are groups that are considering or planning to engage in criminal protests during the 2010 Games. North America and Canada are not strangers to criminal protests during major events -- the 1999 Seattle WTO, 2001 in Quebec City or the Stanley Cup riot. There are things that will happen during a major event that we have a responsibility to plan and prepare for..."

Mercer added that such precautions include more than 900 cameras to guard the perimeters of Olympic venues, the creation of "free speech" zones where protesters can legally demonstrate, and a 2010 security force of 7,000 police, 5,000 private security officers and 4,500 members of the Canadian Armed Forces.

Mercer didn't define just what a "criminal protest" was but one suspects it is much different than my definition and that of many readers.
Urge to protest isn't intent to kill
 Mercer and authorities ought to know, but evidently don't know, that protesters waving banners and shouting insults don't assassinate people. They annoy the hell out of the establishment, which some might say is an excellent reason for encouraging them, but they don't assassinate. (I'm not talking here of the huge riots we've seen, alas, in other lands. But Mr. Mercer clearly isn't thinking of them either.)

The Americans have had four presidential assassinations: Lincoln, Garfield, McKinley and Kennedy. All these men were killed by a single fanatic. Indeed, Lincoln, in the midst of a civil war, moved easily in large crowds, as did Kennedy in his day at the height of the Cold War.

Medgar Evers, Malcolm X and Martin Luther King were killed by individual assassins and not by picketers. Robert Kennedy was assassinated by a single mad man, and Archduke Ferdinand, whose assassination in July 1914 triggered the First World War, was killed by an anarchist(FULL STOP HERE-The assassin of the Archduke was a Serbian nationalist- the furthest thing imaginable from an anarchist. This sounds like "commie history"-there is nothing so remote from truth as communist statements-, as I have never seen this claim made in any objective history book of any persuasion that I have ever read-Molly) .





Mohandas Gandhi, and the unrelated sharers on his surname, Indira and Raj,were killed not by protesters but by individual terrorists; in the case of Mohandas and Raj Gandhi, by Hindu fanatics; and in Mrs. Gandhi's case, it was two of her bodyguards.

Lord Louis Mountbatten died when IRA members planted a bomb on his yacht. There have been at least three unsuccessful attempts on the lives of U.S. presidents: Franklin Roosevelt, Harry Truman and Ronald Reagan. None were by protesters.
Democracy needs dissent
 Mr. Mercer and others of his persuasion would do well to read the law which both here and in the United States is in clear, unadorned English.

The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms states in section two,

"Everyone has the following fundamental freedoms: (b) freedom of thought, belief, opinion and expression, including freedom of the press and other media of communication; (c) freedom of peaceful assembly; and (d) freedom of association."

Article three of the U.S. Bill of Rights states

"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof ; or abridging the freedom of speech,or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances."

Thomas Jefferson said, "Those who would sacrifice liberty for security are deserving of neither."
Pepper spray or Tasers?
Yes, these are perilous times but the truth remains. Large crowds waving banners and shouting slogans unto the obscene do not kill people. What they do is make it embarrassing because, in the words of the Anglican Book of Common Prayer, they offend "those set in authority over us."

It's interesting to note that policeman Mercer talks about special places for protesters just as they have third amendment sites for free speech in America. What the hell point is there in making people protest in places where the objects of their attention are out of ear shot and thus invisible to the media?

Does it take 16,500 cops and soldiers to ferret out potential assassins and locate them? That, plus denying honest citizens their right to associate and protest?

Of course not.

This is 1997 APEC revisited, where one radical youth was put in jail several days before the parade and only released if he promised not to go to the scene; where a young law school student was jailed for carrying a cloth banner saying "Democracy" and "Free Speech" and where protesters were hit with pepper spray for no greater sin than saying nasty things about the nasty heads of state and heads of government that our authorities didn't want embarrassed.

It was pepper spray then. Will it be Taser guns this time?
Modern day Potemkin villages
 This billion dollar extravagance has, I suspect, a lot less to do with perceived terror than giving off to the international media the image of sweetness and light in a place where never is heard a discouraging word. This is akin to the Potemkin villages, which were shacks with beautiful façades created so that the visiting Tsarina, Catherine II, would believe that this village she was visiting was a prosperous with loyal and happy subjects.(This invention of my mother's countrymen was taken to astronomical heights under the Communist dictatorships that used to occupy a third of the world and now are restricted to Cuba and North Korea. Not villages but whole countries had their reality disguised, as it is today in Cuba and North Korea-Molly)

VANOC, under considerable pressure from governments, doesn't want the image of Canada, Vancouver or Whistler tarnished with evidence that not everyone wanted the Olympics and that a great many people see them as bad for society for one reason or another.

The classic reason to protest is to ask others, especially those in charge, to see and hear the messages portrayed. Whether these protests are against a war in Vietnam, against separate facilities for blacks, or against heads of countries whose stated commitment to freedom is not matched by reality, they are perfectly legal and, in fact, the quintessential expression of the freedom which connotes a free society.

If, God forbid, there is an attack on anyone, you can be sure that it would have happened with or without demonstrations.

VANOC's position is untenable in a free society, expensive out of all proportion to the risk of serious harm and a huge waste of our money to boot.
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Sunday, July 19, 2009


CANADIAN ANARCHIST MOVEMENT-VANCOUVER:
WHAT'S HAPPENING WITH THE OLYMPICS RESISTANCE NETWORK ?:
The games draw nearer and nearer, and the resistance to the 2010 Vancouver/Whistler continues with what is presently more vigour than the games promoters. They've pretty well be reduced to television ads. Here's what's happening out Vancouver way in terms of the resistance to the games- via the Olympics Resistance Network .

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ORN annoucements‏:
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Upcoming ORN general meetings: (Every 2nd Sunday) Sunday, July 19, 6pm @ Spartacus Books, 684 E. Hastings (The first meeting of each month includes time for new member orientation and Olympic issues background.)


Sunday, Aug. 2, 6pm and Sunday, Aug. 16, 6pm @ 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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Upcoming events of interest in Vancouver:
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Sunday, July 19


ORN at CAR-FREE SUNDAYS on the Drive


Sun., July 19, 12-4pm (Car-Free Sunday runs 12-7pm)


@ Charles and Commercial intersection (next to Granview Park)


Ongoing Car-Free Sundays are happening on Commercial Drive through August 23rd. ORN will be tabling at as many as possible. We’ll definitely be there on Sunday, July 19, and Sunday, August 23 (other dates to be determined).
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Monday, July 27"BC DAY" - Before Columbus, before Canada, before Confederation


RALLY


Mon. July 27, 5-7pm@ Grandview Park (on Commercial between Charles and William St.)








Drumming, Singing, Smudging. Feeding the people. (Photo by eyeye onflickr.) You can help out by bringing sandwiches, frybread, flats of juice, box of apples, oranges, etc. Many homeless and people in need live in this area, open to all.






So far in the past few years we've organized educational rallies at Kitsilano Beach, reminding people whose territory they are on. Drummers come out to show their support and it's actually a fun event. showing indigenous pride in our culture and the knowledge that this land is our land.





Another year we did Stanley Park, the entrance, and last year in Steveston we held an educational rally re: the big hoopla over the replica Christopher Columbus ship being docked there for tourists. This year,we're doing a combined event, one part is to educate people about who, for example, Trutch Street is named after (google - Joseph Trutch).





Hosted by the Indigenous Action Movement
604-682-3269 ex. 7718
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Friday, July 31

POLICE BRUTALITY IS NOT A GAME


Friday, July 31, 7pm@ Victory Square (between Cambie and Hamilton St., and between Hastingsand Pender St.)


(then march to GM place)


On July 31st 2009 Vancouver will be hosting the World Police and Fire Games. The games is an international sporting event where police officers, firefighters, customs and correction officers compete against each other in over 65 sporting events. More than 12,000 police officers, corrections officers and firefighters will be in Vancouver for the 10 day event.






The Anti-Poverty Committee is calling for a mobilization against police brutality both locally and internationally, and the violence that the state perpetrates around the world everyday through police and correctional' facilities. The APC calls on all those individuals and groups who are against police brutality and the everyday terror and violence caused by the various police forces to participate in actions and events during the police and fire games.





The APC will stand to honor those in our community who have been killed, brutalized, and daily harassed by the police and to condemn not only the individual police forces, but the structure that allows them to get away with oppression, intimidation and violence everyday in our communities.





We believe that the police cannot be made accountable, and they will never truly protect those that they purport to, and that police will never make our communities safer, as they continue to harass, target and brutalize poor people, indigenous people, youth, sex trade workers and many others.





The APC is calling for a demonstration during the opening ceremonies of the games on July 31st at 7pm (location TBA). To get involved in the organizing of the demonstration please contact APC (apc@resist.ca ).





If your organization would like to endorse the event please email the APC. We also encourage other groups to organize around these events and denounce the police and fire games. info/contact/organize: apc@resist.ca
(APC event endorsed by ORN)
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Sunday, August 9


ORN at UNDER THE VOLCANO:


19th Annual Festival of Art and Change


Sun., Aug. 9, 12pm to 9:30pm


@ Cates Park, North Vancouver, Tsleil-Waututh territory


Under the Volcano is a progressive musical and community festival at Cates Park. 30+ artists, 4 stages, workshops, artisans market, community infofair, and more - rain or shine! (No alcohol, no pets – except guidance/assistance dogs. Wheelchair accessible.)





ORN will have a table in the info fair, as well as members participating in some of the workshops. Please come out and visit our table while enjoying the day!
WORKSHOPS:

**2:15-3:45 (90 mins): Resisting 2010 - Chris Shaw, ORN, Dustin Rivers +Micheal Vonn (BCCLA)4:00-5:15 (75 mins):


**Gaza 2 Gustafsen - Hanna Kawas, Gord Hill + Invincible


5:30-7:00 (90 mins):


**People's History of Kanada - Mona Oikawa, Kat Norris, Hari Sharma, Chin Banerjee Gates open at 12pm. General admission by donation: $10-20.


Low-income admissions by donation: $5 at Main gate


ONLY Transportation:

Free Shuttle bus from Broadway/Commercial Skytrain Station starting at 11am (roughly every 30 minutes).


Valet Bike Parking – at the top gate (west gate) from 12pm onwards.


Directions:


(** Extremely limited parking! Please do not drive. **)


Take the 2nd Narrows Bridge towards North Vancouver; take the first EXIT, Dollarton Hwy; follow Dollarton East until you see signs for Cates Park (right side of the highway).



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Ongoing:
The Vancouver Renters At Risk group want to collect stories and interviews about some of the housing impacts of the Games; anyone with contacts, personal stories, ideas, etc., please send to: "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 15-45sec segment? If you're interested in hearing more, please write: rentersfightback@gmail.com "
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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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Friday, July 17, 2009


CANADIAN ANARCHIST MOVEMENT-VANCOUVER:
ANTI-OLYMPICS RESOURCES:
As the grand money pit of the 2010 Vancouver/Winter Olympics draws closer and closer the organizers of the Olympics Resistance Network continue their efforts against the games. Here's a potpourri of articles and resources provided by the ORL that set out the case against the Games.
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Updates, News and Articles:‏
ANTI OLYMPICS NEWS AND ANALYSIS:
* Voices of Resistance:
* Resist 2010 video:
* Coventry Declaration approved by Play the Game delegates
* Video and comments from ORN re: illegal police actions
* Olympic security force of 16,500 prepares
* Profile of VISU Chief Operating Officer Bud Mercer
* Olympic effect will fade quickly after the 2010 Games
* Anti-Olympics mood deepens in Whistler
* Laws enable Olympic evictions
* Olympic Athletes Village Could Win Mould Gold
* Air Canada workers target Vancouver Olympics for strike
* Olympic fears will lead to 2,000 surgery cancellations
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Saturday, April 11, 2009


CANADIAN ANARCHIST MOVEMENT-WATERLOO:
OLYMPICS PROMO PROTESTED:
The 2010 Vancouver/Whistler Winter Olympics draws nearer, and as it does both the promotional activities and the protests against the games intensify. There's still about a year left to go of seeing the drumbeat for the games almost everywhere, from stamps and coins on down. Various corporations that are still making a profit in hard times are getting into the act as well. This includes the Coca Cola company who have a travelling van roaming about Ontario promoting the event. One wonders about the connection between Coca Cola and physical health, let alone athletic performance. Be that as it may this modern version of the travelling snake oil salesman was met in Waterloo Ontario by protesters against the Olympics. here's the story from the No 2010 website. AW@L ,by the way, stands for 'AntiWar at Laurier'(see our Canadian Links section)
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Olympic Torch Promo Tour Protested in Waterloo, Ont:

WATERLOO—Friday April 3, AW@L activists and members of the Climate Change Containment Unit (CCCU) descended on Coca-Cola’s promotional event for the 2010 Olympic Torch Relay.

The torch relay is currently scheduled to come through Ontario in December 2009. The 2010 Olympics are occurring on stolen native land and causing dramatic environmental destruction and unconscionable gentrification and criminalization of the poor in the city of Vancouver.

The Coke van, which is travelling across the province, was in Kitchener yesterday and Waterloo today, attempting to spread hype for the Games.

However, today AW@L crashed their party—not once, but twice—sending action teams to both of the van’s scheduled stops.

For the first stop, at a local Sobey’s, AW@L dispatched the CCCU who,dressed in ‘haz-mat’ suits and armed with large fire-extinguishers, warned the Coca-cola Olympic Torch Relay team that if they were to attempt to light the flame while inside Waterloo or Kitchener, it would be promptly extinguished. “The Olympic torch must be seen as a symbol for the massive scale of the ecological destruction being caused in the building and preparation for the 2010 Games. It is all of our responsibility to refuse to participate in the brazen display of celebration for the environmentally and socially destructive behaviour that the Olympics represent,” said a member of the CCCU.

AW@L activists were also on hand with a large banner that displayed the no2010 Thunderbird and the message: “No Olympics on Stolen Native Land.”

One of the activists emphasized that the Olympics are an “embodiment of neoliberal colonialism, and that the absurd overspending on the Olympic security operation is a sign of creeping fascism and militarism in our police forces and the government’s response to land protection and the struggles of marginalized and oppressed populations.”

At the second stop, at a local Galaxy cinema, members of AW@L handed out flyers and argued with management and police before vacating the premises. AW@L activists have said that the Torch Relay, if it is to pass through Kitchener-Waterloo, will be met with resistance, as it will across the province and the country.

AW@L is a direct action group based out of Kitchener-Waterloo that works on anti-war, ecological defence, and indigenous solidarity campaigns.

AW@L’s Climate Change Containment Unit has taken up the task of shutting down some of those corporations that are most guilty of propagating climate change and environmental destruction. AW@L has endorsed the Olympic Resistance Network’s Statement on Solidarity and Unity. AW@L can be found online at http://peaceculture.org and reached by email at antiwar@peaceculture.org.
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