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Palestinian
Journal: Marie Campbell's Journey of Discovery. Tuesday,
February 4 at 7:30 pm @UVic, David Strong Building Room C103.
Marie Campbell reports back from the West Bank. A presentation
illustrated with photos followed by a questions, discussion
and action. Donations to help pay for the digital camera we
have purchased for witness/observer work. Media may contact
Marie at mariecam@uvic.ca
or 595-7364.
Middle
East Peace Activists Come To Victoria
Founders of the International Solidarity Movement, Israeli Neta Golan and Palestinian George Rishmawi will speak twice in Victoria, Thursday and Friday November 28th and 29th, both at 7:30, at the University of Victoria David Strong Building, in Room C-103. They have spoken to large, enthusiastic audiences in Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto, and Vancouver and will spend a few days here before continuing on to Boston.
Neta was one of the internationalist trapped with Yassir Arafat in his Ramallah compound in March and then lead 10 internationalists into the besieged Church of the Nativity last April.
"While Palestinian suicide bombers and Israeli army tanks dominate North American news media, there is a strong minority of Israeli and Palestinian peace activists building a non-violent resistance to the Israeli occupation that we often don't read about. Neta and George, of the International Solidarity Movement, have a message that we need to hear," claims local tour coordinator, Deborah Yaffe.
"Israelis will never have security until Palestinians have security, so I feel I'm fighting for my people as well as Palestinians," declares Neta Golan, and Yaffe concurs. "For Jews, it is important to know that criticism of the current Israeli government is not the same as being against Israel. It isn't a question of being for or against Israel or Palestine, it's a question of settling the political disputes on a foundation of justice for all people in the region."
George Rishmawi, founder of the International Solidarity Movement, represents something that many Jews don't realize exists: a Palestinian dedicated to building a non-violent movement among Palestinians. "As a Palestinian I was born under the occupation. My cousin was assassinated in 1981. While in jail, isolated completely out in the desert, the psychological effect was almost unbearable. But despite what is going on, we have to tell people that non-violent resolution is needed."
For more information about Neta Golan and George Rishmawi's talk, phone 721-6261.
Neta and George will be available for media interviews on Wednesday November 27th. To arrange interviews, please phone Deborah Yaffe, in the UVic Department of Women's Studies, at 721-6261, or at home, 598-9634.
Victoria
Peace Coalition presents the video "After Jenin",
Tuesday, November 19, 7 pm @UVic, Clearihue Bldg, Rm A206.
(door nearest library, upstairs)
After Jenin (52 minutes). Filmed in Nablus, Ramallah, Jerusalem, Haifa, and Tel Aviv, as well as Jenin, Jenny Morgan's film astutely analyses what difference the events of last March and April have made to the quest for security by Israel and for statehood by Palestine.
"After Jenin" explores Palestinian history presented by Jews and to Jewish history presented by Palestinians. Also, by focusing on the everyday concerns of people on both sides of the conflict, the film asks whether, in spite of the huge burden of tragedy faced by both sides, the desire of ordinary people to live in peace can triumph over the actions of extremists.
Kevin Neish, our intrepid human shield in Bethlehem, will be on present to lead the discussion.
Monday,
October 21 @ 7 pm, Fernwood Community Association, 1923 Fernwood.
Palestine/Israel: What next? What's the chatter in Washington
and Beirut? Will a mass transfer (also known as ethnic cleansing)
of all Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza, render yet another
2 million Palestinians refugees? Laurie King-Irani will present
her insights into the current situation and show us a 40-minute
documentary, "Children of Shatila". For more information
phone Victoria Peace Coalition 478-6906.
On
August 6, the anniversary of U.S. bombing of civilians in Hiroshima
(1945) and U.S. sanctions on civilians in Iraq (1990),
civilian groups across Canada will raise their voices in opposition
to the U.S. planned war on Iraq.
What's happening in Victoria?
1. Mobilization for Global Justice, the Victoria Peace Coalition and many groups and individuals will participate in a peaceful walk from Centennial Square at 4:30 pm to the Armed Forces Recruitment Centre on Fort Street. We will stage a die-in to represent the civilian victims of Hiroshima and Iraq. Terry Wolfwood will speak about Iraq.
What do we want? We are asking Canadians to demand that our government:
2. Meet Terry Wolfwood at the COHO ferry terminal at 6:45 pm to distribute leaflets to tourists at the ferry terminal on Belleville St. and on the causeway. The leaflets commemorating the 57th anniversary of the dropping of atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki and the 12th anniversary of the imposing of sanctions on Iraq are written in English, Arabic and Japanese.
With
US or Against US: War, Poverty and the G8Friday April 19
"G8 and Corporate Globalization"
8 pm Keynote speaker: Murray Dobbin Council of Canadians, Journalist,
Broadcaster, Author and Social Activist
Note: All speakers bios are further down.
Saturday April 20
"The Axis of Oil: Bush's War on Terrorism"
10:00-11:30 am Panel
Panelists will elaborate on the special circumstances of the war on terrorism and the control of oil.
Afghanistan - Fred Knelman, Author and Peace/Environmental Activist
Palestine/Israel - Laurie King-Irani, Author and Lecturer
Iraq-Farah Nosh, Victoria Iraq Solidarity Organization
11:30-12:30 Discussion
Three break-out groups with a speaker with each group.
12:30-1:30 Lunch Provided. Please bring your own mug.
1:30-3:00 Panel
"The Globalization of Poverty"
The agenda of globalization paves the way for corporations to buy
the commons, leaving people paying over and over for resources,
which once were theirs. The spotlight at the G8 meeting in Kananaskis
will be on Africa.
Argentina - Carlos Flores, Central American Support Committee
BC First Nations - Gord Hill, Native Youth Alliance
3:00-4:00 Discussion
Break-out groups.
4:00 -5:00
Mobilization for G8 meeting in Kananaskis. Julie Devaney,
Vancouver Mobilization for Global Justice.
FREE Admission
Co-sponsored by The Council of Canadians, UVic Student Society (UVSS) and Vancouver Island Public Interest Research Group (VIPIRG)
Friday night keynote speaker Murray Dobbin has been a journalist, broadcaster, author and social activist for over thirty years, and has been active within the First Nations movement, the anti-nuclear movement, anti-Apartheid and the international solidarity movement. A past executive board member of the Council of Canadians and a board member and research associate with the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, Murray is an articulate opponent of corporate globalization and so-called free trade. He is a frequent speaker at union and social movement events.
His most recent of four books in print is entitled "The Myth of the Good Corporate Citizen -Democracy under the rule of Big Business".
Panel "Axis of Oil: Bush's War on Terrorism". Dr. Fred Knelman has written over 500 articles, papers and studies on the subjects of common security, environment, energy and the social relations of science and technology, and has taught at numerous universities and colleges throughout the continent. He co-authored a Nobel Prize winning declaration submitted to the 1992 U.N. Conference on Environment and Development in Rio. In 1964, he founded Scientists for Social Responsibility, and is currently Vice-President and founding Director of the Whister Foundation for a Sustainable Environment. Recently, he has written a chapter entitled "The Threat of Globalism and the Globalization of Threat" in a book to be published this year.
Dr. Laurie King-Irani is currently lecturing on women in the Middle East in UVic's Department of Anthropology, and did her doctoral dissertation on emergent identity, subjectivity, and political institutions among Palestinian citizens in Israel. She has experience as a journalist in the Middle East, and has also taught in the United States. Currently, she is the North American Coordinator for the International Campaign for Justice for the Victims of Sabra and Shatila.
Panel: "Globalization of Poverty"
Rhonda Gossen is the Policy Advisor on conflict prevention and development with the Lui Centre for the Study of Global Issues. An international development professional, with diverse experience in Asia and Africa, she has worked for the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) and the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade, both abroad and in Canada. Recently arrived from Accra West Africa where she headed the CIDA program, she is seconded from CIDA to the Lui Centre, to coordinate the Program on Conflict and Development.
Panel: Mobilization for G8
Julie Devaney is part of the Vancouver Mobilization for Global Justice, which is already planning teach-ins and buses to Calgary. She attended the national spokescouncil in Red Deer, and has some very interesting observations. She is also a member of the I.S. in Vancouver and is a graduate student at UBC.
Susan Clarke
Victoria Peace Coalition
Education/Media Committee
478-6906, dolcla@islandnet.com
From:
Susan Clarke
Title: Democracy Under Seige: A conversation among neighbours.
Date: Sunday, February 24. 7-8:30 pm
Place: Garry Oak room. Fairfield Community Place, 1335 Thurlow St.
(behind Sir James Douglas School)
Come and discuss with your neighbours how the cuts in BC are connected to the erosion of democracy and social justice around the world. Facilitated by Saul Arbess, Council of Canadians. To help publicize this event, email this to neighbours, phone your neighbours or contact Susan (478-6906,dolcla@islandnet.com) for posters or small hand outs.
"Hanukah
For Human Rights" News Conference and Candlelight Procession, Dec.
10th
In the interest of genuine peace with justice, the Victoria Peace Coalition is holding a new conference outside the Victoria Public Library at 5 pm, on Monday, December 10th, International Human Rights' Day. The news conference will be followed by a candlelight procession. Speakers include local activists from Jews for Just Peace, the Victoria Iraq Solidarity Organization, Amnesty International and Dr. Liz Philipose. (Political Science, U of Victoria)
"If all rights as enshrined in the International Declaration of Human Rights were respected, there would be no terrorism, because terrorism is fostered by inequality, oppression and desperation," said Bobby Arbess, a speaker with Jews for Just Peace.
The Victoria Peace Coalition issued the following statement concerning the situation in the Middle East:
"The Victoria Peace Coalition condemns the recent escalation of violence in Israel. Both individual and state terrorism are unsupportable and we join the voices of many others in calling for an end to the illegal Israeli occupation. We urge the UN, US, Canada, the European Union and other concerned nations to apply pressure on the Israeli government to withdraw its troops from the West Bank, Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem.
"The end of occupation encompasses several other crucial issues: the return to Israel's 1967 borders; a freeze and dismantling of all Israeli settlements and supporting infrastructure in the occupied territories; the end of human rights' violations, such as the use of excessive force on unarmed civilians, restricting their freedom to travel, and obstructing access to water, medical care and to religious centers, through military road blocks.
"We call for the recognition of Palestinian sovereignty in any future peace negotiations: this includes their own control of water resources, air space and borders. Lastly, the right of 3.5 million refugees to return to the former Palestine must be respected.
"As acknowledged by experts, terrorism of the individual kind is the tool of the desperate and powerless, historically perpetrated by those whose lands were colonized and occupied, whose resources were depleted by colonial forces: Algeria by the French in the 1960s, the Irish Republican Army at the turn of the 20th Century. Today, a mesh of oppressive Israeli state policies makes the daily lives of Palestinians humiliating and impossible. The continuing construction of Jewish settlements on Palestinian lands in fact violates article 49 of the Geneva Convention which states that, 'the Occupying Power shall not deport or transfer parts of its own civilian population into the territory it occupies.'
"History as it has played out in Sri Lanka and Algeria, has shown that violent retaliations by governments have only succeeded in making martyrs of terrorists and to increase hostility and fear on both sides. Violence begets violence."
- 30 -
Information:
Prof. Liz Philipose, 598-3324 or 721-7496
Bobby Arbess, 959-1477 (evenings)
Walk
for Peace and Justice. Saturday, November 17 @ 12 pm. Meet at Centennial
Square and walk to legislature while conducting a mass leafleting (each
marcher will be asked to give away at least ten leaflets). We are trying
to arrange for a very high energy event (with drummers, etc.) and link
it to anti-globalization. We also plan to give each marcher at least one
anti-war window poster for their home and/or workplace or classroom.
Remebering
War, Believing in Peace. Remembrance Day Vigil. Sunday, November 11
@ 10:30 am at the Spanish Civil War Memorial, Menzie Street at Belleville
in James Bay.
Know your rights. For everyone participating or planning to participate
in upcoming protests and civil disobedience actions: Here's a chance to
clarify exactly what RIGHTS we have as protesters, and what rights the
POLICE have in their efforts to curtail us. Victoria area lawyer and Clayoquot
prosecutor (!!) Dyan Davison will be sharing her (obviously relative)
legal knowledge with us on THURSDAY NOVEMBER 1, 7pm at the FERNWOOD COMMUNITY
ASSOCIATION.This is an amazing opportunity to get the goods from somebody
who knows the legal wranglings inside-out from the other side! There will
be an opportunity for questions from the attendants, so bring your real
or fabricated scenarios and try them out!!
WHERE: FCA (1923 Fernwood Rd.)
WHEN: Thursday November 1 7-9pm
COST: FREE!!!
The
War on Terrorism: attack on civil liberties and Canada's refugee and
immigration laws. A lawyer, professor and immigration specialist will
all make presentations. Tuesday, October 23, at 7 pm, at the Fernwood
Community Association, 1923 Fernwood Road. Information: 721-6430. Speakers
are Peter Golden (lawyer), Tomoko Okada (Coordinator of Immigrant Refugee
Settlement Services at the Inter-Cultural Association), and Larry Hannant
(History Professor at Camosun and UVic) to talk about the threat on civil
liberties. An online poster (163K Acrobat pdf)
is available for this event. Please post where you work and live, and
elsewhere, if you are able.
Walk
for Peace & Justice, Saturday, October 13. Sign-making
at 12 pm, Rally at 1 pm. Victoria City Hall. Information: Shane or Kim,
380-7311, protest@justicewalk.ca.
Leafletting
at new VI - TV station launch, 5 pm Thursday, October 4, Pandora @ Broad,
Information: Shane or Kim, 380-7311, protest@justicewalk.ca.
Rally
Against War and Racism
with Jaggi Singh, Sunday, September 30 @ 1 pm, Victoria City
Hall. For information call Brian at 884-7291.
Another
Walk for Peace & Justice will be held Sunday, September 23, starting
at Victoria City Hall at 1 pm.
A
Walk for Peace & Justice will start at Victoria City Hall's Centennial
Square this Wednesday, September 19, starting at 5 pm. After a rally at
Centennial Square, the Walk will slowly proceed down Government Street to
the BC Legislature.
The
Walk will join a Peace Vigil, which begins at 7 pm this Wednesday
evening at Victoria's Cenotaph, on the front lawn of the BC Legislature.
There will be wreaths, speakers, songs and peaceful silent remembrance.
Thursday,
September 27 @ 12-2 pm, Centennial Square, Victoria City Hall.
"Terrorism and the USA: A Community Dialogue" with Greg
Blue, Dr. Mary Wynne Ashford, Joe Moore and other resource people.