Tag: University of Waterloo

Two new actions and events

Two actions, two events: Petition against tax evaders, Citizens’ Climate Lobby, Israeli settlements, Dorothy Day documentary

Here’s the latest newsletter from Eleanor Grant:

Hello KW peace and justice supporters.

Two Events and two Actions:

ACTION 1 on Tax Evaders:

The G8 meeting this week in Northern Ireland will discuss a public registry to prevent individuals or corporations hiding their income or profits behind shell companies. But to implement this much-needed plan, the G8 needs unanimity. CANADA can either be the reason it fails, dooming us all to billions in extra taxes, or it can be the champion that ensures the deal passes.

Tell PM Harper you want Canada to be a backer not a blocker:
Avaaz – Harper: End the great tax scam

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ACTION 2 on Climate:

In early May we passed the milestone of 400 parts per million of carbon in Earth’s atmosphere. This trend must be reversed if there’s to be a sustainable future on this planet.

A local chapter of the Citizens’ Climate Lobby is being formed. Read more at We Generate Political Will for a Livable World

There will be an initial meeting, at the organizer’s home, on Sat June 1, with lots more to follow. If you’d like to get involved in this, please let me know and I’ll put you in touch.

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EVENT 1 on Israeli Settlements:

Thurs May 30, 7 to 9 pm,
UW Student Life Centre, Multi-Purpose Room:

A CHALLENGE TO JUSTICE: a PowerPoint presentation by Omar Ramahi, on Israel’s policy of settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. Omar was a 1948 refugee. Read more at Israeli Settlements: A Challenge to Justice | Waterloo Public Interest Research Group

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EVENT 2 on Dorothy Day, founder of the Catholic Worker movement:

Tues June 4 at 7 pm,
Queen St Commons (43 Queen S Kit):

Documentary Screening: DON’T CALL ME A SAINT

Local sponsor Isaiah Boronka writes:
Dorothy Day’s life and the movement she founded exemplify an approach to issues surrounding peace and justice that place an equal emphasis on personal commitment & change as on social change – her remarkable life and the movement she helped start has had a profound influence on many, including KW’s own Working Centre.

Read more at: Dorothy Day: Don’t Call Me a Saint

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Hope to see you at these events.

And please sign the Avaaz petition at the top of this msg.

Eleanor Grant

Eleanor Grant writes a semi-regular e-mail newsletter on social justice issues. You can contact Eleanor at eleanor7000@gmail.com

Report back from the (En)gendering Resistance conference

From Toronto Media Co-op via @alexhundert:

Report back from the (En)gendering Resistance conference

by Alison Thomson

Community accountability was the buzzword of this year’s School of Public Interest, titled ‘(En)gendering Resistance: Exploring the possibilities of gender, resistance and militancy.’ The weekend long conference, organized by the Waterloo Public Interest Research Group at the University of Waterloo, was an engaging, though sometimes disjointed, community affair which played host to a diversity of feminists from across southern Ontario and beyond, converging around the question of gender liberation.

Read the rest at Report back from the (En)gendering Resistance conference | Toronto Media Co-op.

(En)Gendering Resistance: Exploring the Possibilities of Gender, Resistance and Militancy

Re-blogged from WPIRG

(En)Gendering Resistance: Exploring the Possibilities of Gender, Resistance and Militancy

WPIRG’s 2013 School of Public Interest Conference

April 19th-21st

engenderingresistance.noblogs.org

Examining the social, political and economic realities of gender, as well as the liberatory possibilities of militant resistance to gender based oppression, WPIRG’s 2013 School of Public Interest will focus on the theme of (en)gendering resistance. A purposeful play on words, the conference theme is intended to encompass reflections on the lived experience of gender, the gendering of activism, and strategies for fostering vibrant resistance movements.

Taking place April 19th-21st at the University of Waterloo, the weekend long conference will bring together community organizers, activists and students, to critically discuss issues related to gender and resistance/resisting gender. Shaping, while simultaneously being shaped by the ways in which we live, love, fuck and resist, the intricacies and potentialities of gender will be explored.

Our vision is to provide an inclusive space to engage in dialogue that challenges the narratives of the mainstream feminist movement, expanding its critique and radicalizing its practice. We dream of a feminism that does not seek the inclusion of marginalized identities within the dominant order, but rather, strives to unapologetically challenge the dominant order itself. How can we develop a movement for gender justice that is necessarily anti-capitalist, anti-colonial and critical of state institutions? How can we foster resistance practices that are firmly rooted in anti-racism and an intersectional analysis of gender?

Patriarchy and gendered oppressions are everyday perpetuated within our communities and movements. Sexism, queer and transphobia permeate social justice groups and organizations. Gender violence and sexual assault occur with tragic frequently within our ‘safe’ spaces. How can we challenge the reproduction of gender oppression within broader social and environmental justice movements? How can we develop non-state responses to issues of sexual violence? What potential exists for the construction of holistic and nurturing communities of resistance? How can we strengthen our ongoing work, and build our collective capacity to resist?

In the spirit of engendering resistance, WPIRG invites community-based activists, those struggling everyday against gender oppression, supporters, and anyone who sees value in gathering to resist and share strategies, to participate!