Documentary screening of LAST CHANCE to feature the Director & Guest speakers
WHERE: Bloor Hot Docs Cinema, 506 Bloor Street West
WHEN: Tuesday, June 4, 6:45 pm
COST: Suggested donation $2-5
cinemapolitica.org/bloor
This event features guest speakers Paul Émile d’Entremont (director), Trudi Stewart (film subject) and Michael Battista (The Rainbow Railroad) and is co-presented with the NFB and The Rainbow Railroad.
SYNOPSIS: Their names are Trudi, Carlos, Jennifer, Zaki and Alvaro. They come from Jamaica, Colombia, Lebanon, Egypt and Nicaragua, and are seeking asylum in Canada because of their sexual orientation. The documentary Last Chance by Paul Émile d’Entremont retraces the turbulent journeys of five people who flee their native countries to escape homophobic violence. They face hurdles integrating into Canada, fear deportation and nervously await a decision that will change their lives forever. All five remain hopeful their adopted country will show them the compassion they deserve.
In 1886, 127 years ago, European immigrant workers marched in Chicago to demand an eight hour work day. The massacre and execution of trade unionists that followed has been commemorated every year since, in almost every corner of the world on May 1st – International Workers Day.
Since then, working people have waged a continuous struggle, from social reforms to revolutionary alternatives. In this country, these struggles have produced important reforms including the minimum wage, pensions, a retirement age, and many social programs and rights including access to health care and primary education. International Workers Day is also a day to celebrate these victories, especially at this time when we are compelled to organize to protect these vital gains from capitalism’s latest offensive, so-called “austerity”. This agenda is being orchestrated from the highest levels of international finance right down to municipal governments, a program to advance the redirecting social wealth from state-sponsored social programs to the richest.
May Day should also be a venue to raise many of the issues that still remain unaddressed in Canada, including within the same labour movement and social organizations that fought for these reforms.
The colonial foundations of this country, including the systematic theft of land and attempts to destroy the culture and social fabric of indigenous nations, remains the most pressing internal issue in this country today.
The ‘Idle No More’ movement has brought the issue of internal colonialism to the world, and especially to the public in Canada that has largely ignored this reality. Indigenous communities continue to wage campaigns over land claims, the inexcusable number of missing indigenous women, as well reparations for crimes committed by the residential school system, just to name a few.
The Canadian state has also been increasingly playing a role as an imperialist political, economic, and military actor. While Canada has been active in foreign military campaigns since before WWI (participating in military actions in South Africa) over the last decade Canada has gone from being a major component of the military offensive and occupation in Afghanistan to also participating in the NATO-led bombing of Libya, with the prospect of military involvement in Mali, Syria with North Korea currently under discussion. Moreover, the Canadian state has backed and assisted in the proliferation of Canadian mining companies and their operations all over the planet. In many cases, not only do these companies engage in labour exploitation and environmentally destructive practices, which have catastrophic impacts to local communities and ecosystems, but they have also been connected to targeted acts of violence against workers as well as environmental activists, from Colombia to Tanzania.
There are many more – too many – examples of the injustices and crimes that occur here and around the world, crimes that are committed to maintain the capitalist order. All over the world, the wealthy and powerful are using the governments they control to push the same relentless, criminal agenda of pursuing profit at the cost of the rights and lives of people. Whether it be by robbing people’s money as they are doing in Cyprus, or by robbing a nation’s resources through military means as in Libya, or by unrelentingly attacking social programs and workers’ rights as is happening here, their agenda and their system must be stopped.
There should be no mistake. We are not simply talking about going back in time, rewinding the clock to the supposed heyday of the so-called “welfare state” in Canada. This welfare state was at the same time pursuing its genocide of indigenous peoples through residential schools and pursuing its criminal war of aggression against the people of Korea. We cannot continue to pretend that, as Stephen Harper said, “Canada has no history of colonialism”. We can no longer pretend that Canada acts as a ‘peacekeeper’ on the world stage and that transnationals are altruistically ‘providing jobs’ as they outsource jobs here while exploiting workers and resources abroad.
On International Workers Day, we march to build a Solidarity City. Solidarity City is a unified struggle for: Respect for Indigenous Sovereignty, Status for All, an End to Imperialism and Environmental Destruction, an End to Austerity and Attacks on the Poor and Working class, continued resistance against Patriarchy, Racism, Ableism and Homophobia and Transphobia’.
On this International Workers Day, the organizations of the May 1st Movement call for:
Support for the struggle for Indigenous peoples’ liberation including:
The defense of ancestral lands and support to frontline land defenders; and
The recognition of the right of Indigenous genuine self-determination, including their right to determine all their economic and political affairs.
Pushing back on attacks upon working class and poor communities including:
Rejecting all forms of the capitalist ‘austerity’ agenda, reject the cutting of services and trampling on worker and civil rights;
Curtailing police abuses and impunity by reducing of police budgets, dismantling of the bogus Special Investigations Unit, and its replacement with a genuine community-based civilian oversight groups;
Rejecting the continued neoliberal drive towards privatizations, eliminating public incentives and tax breaks for large corporations, and resisting outsourcing by placing regulations and restrictions on these practices.
Supporting concrete campaigns that address immediate needs of workers, including:
Extending access to services without fear of deportation, while fighting for regularization of undocumented people, and extension of permanent residency to any worker in Canada while re-regulating migrant labour to eliminate laws that exempt these workers from the rights and benefits that other workers enjoy; and
Increasing the minimum wage to $14.50/ hr, re-adjustment of social assistance rates to lift people out of poverty whiling indexing both of these to inflation.
Exposing Canadian Imperialism and reasserting our support for liberation struggles abroad including:
The withdrawal of Canada’s military from all foreign outposts and immediately halting any preparations for foreign military campaigns;
The subjection of Canadian mining companies to strict regulations to protect the rights of workers, the protection of the environment and communities where mining may take place, and the rights of people to benefit from any extraction that may take place;
The immediate halt to the practice of labour import which utilized temporary immigration status to regulate and discipline labour; and
The extension of different forms of support to liberation movements abroad from peoples organizations and social movements in Canada.
Of course, there are many other issues that impact different sectors of the working class in different ways and this is but a short list of changes we demand and deserve. Perhaps more importantly, we cannot expect the Canadian state to simply ‘give’ us these things and more. We stress the need for building people’s power in communities, in workplaces, on the streets and in the reserves, if we are going to actually achieve these.
This system is not and will not work for us, the majorities, the working people both here and abroad. We are the ones who build and make things, who perform the tasks and services that make societies progress, and it is our ancestral lands that are being plundered to feed this system.
This May Day, while the same class of politicians who live well off the public dime tell us that we need to tighten our belt and that we need to blame unions and immigrants for this mess, we need to understand that this system, and those that protect it, are the problem. We must stand with each other, in solidarity, so that when any government or corporation looks to trample on one community, one union or one group, we all stand together.
LIBERATION FOR FIRST NATIONS AND ALL OPPRESSED NATIONS!
HANDS OFF OUR SOCIAL PROGRAMS AND RIGHTS!
BUILD A SOLIDARITY CITY!
ALL POWER TO THE PEOPLE!
by Binnadang Migrante Canada
The Cordillera Day event is a uniting activity held in our home country of the Philippines and here overseas. In these yearly celebrations, it would serve us well to look back in time to where we came from, the difficult paths that we had to go through in order to be where we are today.
Participants at Cordillera Day 2012
Cordillera Day is on its 29th year of celebration in our native land (the Cordillera region of the Philippines) and its 5th year here in Toronto. On May 4, we will be guided by the theme “Strengthen unity in the indigenous people’s struggle for self determination. Uphold the rights and welfare of migrants and families. Support the politics of change.”
Binnadang – Migrante is spearheading the celebration. We are an organization of indigenous migrants to Canada that is advocating for our rights as migrants and actively engaging in the struggle of the indigenous peoples in the Cordillera for self-determination and for the Filipino peoples’ struggles for genuine freedom and democracy.
Cordillera day was born out of the struggle of the Cordillerans. It provides us a venue to give tribute to our martyrs who courageously defended and protected our indigenous people’s rights for our land, life, honor, rich culture, and vast resources of the Cordillera region in the Philippines. Ama Macling Dulag, a respected tribal chieftain, helped unify tribes in the Northern Cordilleras from the late 70’s to early 80’s to resist the construction of the World Bank–funded Chico River Basin Hydroelectric Dams. On April 24, 1980, Dulag was brutally killed by the Philippine military. Up to now, no justice has been served for his murder.
Today, we reflect, learn, derive inspiration and gain further guidance from our Cordilleran martyrs’ perseverance in various struggles throughout the past decades. As migrant workers, we have been forced to leave our families and live under exploitative and oppressive conditions abroad by the very same reasons why Ama Macling struggled before and why many of our people are still struggling now.
The land, life and livelihood of the Cordillerans are under attack! Across the region, the adverse effects of large scale mining have resulted in irreparable damage to the natural environment and local agriculture, the economic and even physical displacement of indigenous communities, and the aggravation of climate change impacts. Human rights are trampled through militarization, employment of union busters, private armies and pseudo-unionists who do not really serve the interest of the people.
The problem of development aggression and security continue to intensify the worsening phenomenon of forced migration. Most of the Cordillerans live on the graces of our fertile lands. But the richest of our lands are claimed by foreign capitalists and local elites. Thus many of us were left with no choice but to migrate overseas, a condition that makes us vulnerable to different forms of exploitation.
The indigenous people together with the other toiling masses of the society are left with no recourse but to resist. We want to finally go home to a country where there is an opportunity for a decent life, where Cordillerans are the ones who benefit from the riches of Cordillera, where our culture is respected and where the Filipino people are free and our society is truly just.
Saturday March 30th 5-7:30pm
Beit Zatoun 612 Markham St., Toronto (google map)
Hosted by ILPS Commission in support of Indigenous People’s Struggles
Join us for a discussion with delegates from the ILPS Commission on Indigenous People’s Struggles and a report back on the Commission’s recent trip to Savant Lake, Ojibwe Nation of Saugeen and Mishkeegogamang, Ojibwe First Nation. This trip and event are critical in the Indigenous-led Commission’s work of building unity and coordination among grassroots struggles against Canadian colonialism.
Speakers:
Darlene Necan, an Indigenous delegate to the Commission from Savant Lake, Ojibwe Nation of Saugeen, is on the frontline of anti-colonial struggle in her community. Mining, clearcutting and herbicide spraying is destroying the ability for her people to live off the land. She is working tirelessly to build grassroots power and resist the poisoning of traditional food sources and lack of adequate housing.
Gary Wassakeeysic, an Indigenous delegate to the Commission from Mishkeegogamang, Ojibwe First Nation. Highway 599 runs right through Mishkeegogamang and is a key artery for allowing the million dollar ventures of mining companies in Northern Ontario. Yet, his community faces severe overcrowding, police brutality and poverty. Gary is a a grassroots activist on the frontlines of resisting this oppressive contradiction.
Indigenous and non-Indigenous Commission delegates recently returned from a trip to both communities. They will speak to the ways in which ILPS-Canada can work to these efforts, in order to build a strong united front against Canadian colonialism and its destruction of Mother Earth.
*** Call for support ***
These organizers struggle for resources to have basic necessities for life, let alone to further their organizing.
The event is FREE but generous donations are greatly needed and appreciated.
Darlene,Gary and the organizers they work with, also need the following materials as soon as possible. If you can spare any of these items, please do so to directly help indigenous delegates of the ILPS Commission build grassroots power in their community:
Join us in supporting this inspiring struggle for the Land, and all Life.
Want to help promote the event? Print off a PDF of this notice: ILPS Indigenous Commission Event.pdf
Join and share the Facebook event page.
The Network for Pan-Afrikan Solidarity (NPAS), Justice Is Not Colour-Blind, International League of Peoples’ Struggle/Canada, Group for Research and Initiatives for the Liberation of Africa (GRILA) and the Pan-Afrikan Solidarity Network (U of T)
present
an Afrikan Liberation Month forum on the the relevance of the Guinea-Bissau and Cape Verdean revolutionary theoretician, military strategist and practitioner Amilcar Cabral to the struggle for the self-organizing and mobilization of the masses, economic and social justice and resistance against neocolonialism, patriarchy and imperialism.
PROGRAMME FOR FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 15TH
FILM SCREENING: “Afrikan Leaders: Amilcar Cabral”
Using rare archival footage, director Ana Lucia Ramos Lisboa accurately chronicles both the personal and public sides of an African icon in Amilcar Cabral. The founder of the African Party for Independence of Guinea Bissau and Cape Verde (PAIGC), Amilcar Cabral led the Liberation Movement against Portugal for those countries.
Excerpt from the film AFRICAN LEADERS: AMILCAR CABRAL: http://www.youtube.com/
PANEL DISCUSSION:
Ameth Lo, Cabral, Pan-Afrikanism and Today’s Challenges, Organizer with Group for Research and Initiatives for the Liberation of Africa (GRILA)
Wangui Kimari, The (Ir)responsibility of the Intelligentsia and Other Middle-class Elements in the Afrikan Revolution, Organizer with the Network for Pan-Afrikan Solidarity, student leader and doctoral student, York University
Crisostomo Tavares, Guinea-Bissau Now & The Post-independence Political Situation
WHEN: Friday, February 15, 2013
WHERE: 252 Bloor Street West, Room 5-170 at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education/ University of Toronto (next to the St. George subway station)
TIME: 6:00 – 9:00pm
Free Public Event – suggested donation of $5 or Pay What You Can (PWYC)
January 20, 2013 was the 40th anniversary of the assassination of Amilcar Cabral by Afrikan opportunists and collaborators as well as Portuguese colonialism.
TRIBUTES TO AMILCAR CABRAL
“Cabral was widely known as one of the most important figures in the Third World comparable in stature to a Ho Chi Minh or a Fidel Castro. His assassination thus sent shock waves throughout Africa and around the world.” – Gerard Chaliand, a major writer on revolutionary struggles and socialist developments in the Third World
According to Fidel Castro, “one of the most lucid and brilliant leaders in Africa, Comrade Amílcar Cabral, who instilled in us tremendous confidence in the future and the success of his struggle for liberation.” – comment on Cabral’s contribution at the 1966 Tricontinental Conference in Havana, Cuba, which was gathering of revolutionaries from Asia, Afrika, Latin America and the Caribbean
CABRAL WORKSHOPS:
SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 16TH
SEE POSTER ABOVE
For further information, please contact NPAS:
network4panafrikansolidari
Join us for a discussion on our relationships as Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples in common struggle to protect the Land and water, as guided by the Two Row Wampum.
In the context of both an inspiring Idle No More movement and the 400th year anniversary of the Two Row Wampum agreement between Haudenosaunee people and settler authorities, it is an important time to discuss building a united front.
In Southern Ontario, Indigenous and non-Indigenous people are on treaty land, making us all treaty people. As we see that the capitalist Canadian government will not uphold the treaties it is bound by on this land, we believe that it is up to the people to educate ourselves and struggle to honour them.
This discussion will be guided by reflections on the work of Haudenosaunee Land Defenders, organizers from the CUPE 3903 First Nation’s Solidarity Working Group, and the Two Row Society.
Light refreshments will be provided
ASL and child care will be available. Please email smack@tao.ca 48 hours before the event if you require these services.
PLEASE NOTE: there are two series of steps into the building. A ramp system is available. Washrooms are in the basement down a flight of stairs
Hosted by the Law Union of Ontario’s Prison Justice Committe
http://www.facebook.com/#!/
Help promote the event: Omnibus Crime Bill Event Poster in PDF
Video from Mass Art-illery concert on Saturday, November 10. Featuring: Acalanto, Rise Up, James Blood (from Tru Rez Crew), Dbi Young and LAL.
[Versión en español sigue] [La version Française suit]
an initiative of the International Conference on Progressive Culture – People’s Art Network
February 20, 2013
Registration Form - The deadline for registration is January 13
All over the world, artists, writers, journalists, and cultural workers of all disciplines who lend their craft as a tool for progressive social change, challenge the status quo, or simply expose the truth, face various forms of persecution and attack from state apparatuses.We call on those artists, cultural workers and journalists to join us and to build a global event to celebrate and defend people’s culture from February 20.
Events will take place in numerous cities throughout the world showing the power of our crafts to advance peoples’ struggles for fundamental social change.
We hope to build bridges across borders with fellow artists, writers, journalists and cultural workers and to contribute to the building of a united global movement to foster progressive grassroots culture and to protect freedom of expression.
If you would like participate or organize an event, please fill out the following form online. If you have any questions, you can reach us at peoplesartnet@gmail.com. The deadline for registration is January 13.
Under the brutality of the state that seeks to silence them, some of these cultural workers have paid the ultimate price for their artistic creations and visions that advance the cause of people’s liberation, such as Chilean artist Victor Jara, who was brutally tortured and murdered by the Chilean state in 1973.
And still today, cultural workers continue to face state brutality. Argentine songwriter and singer, Facundo Cabral, an icon of Latin American folk and protest music, was shot to death in the early morning of July 9, 2011 by unknown gunmen who intercepted his car in Guatemala City.
Others have been unlawfully arrested and imprisoned in order to keep them from creating works that give hope to the people such as Ericson Acosta, a poet, thespian, singer and journalist, who was arrested without warrant by the Philippine military on February 13, 2011 while serving as a volunteer researcher in a highly-militarized, poor, rural village in the Philippines.
Ferhat Tunç, Kurdish singer and composer, has faced severe repression from the Turkish state for his songs that protest the oppression of Kurdish people, language, and culture. He was recently sentenced to two years in prison on terrorism related charges due to his invocation during a speech where he mentioned names of three deceased Turkish leftists.
In Russia, three members of the punk rock collective, Pussy Riot, were recently sentenced to two years in prison after performing a song in Moscow’s main cathedral criticizing Vladimir Putin.
In the US, journalist and former Black Panther Party member Mumia Abu-Jamal, has spent nearly 30 years on death row and remains held in strict isolation and solitary confinement for a crime many believe he did not commit.
Still other artists face continuous state harassment and threats to their lives such as Arundhati Roy, an award-winning novelist and essayist, who faces continuous hostility from the Indian government for her outspoken criticisms against media censorship and state brutality in Kashmir, and the state’s counter-insurgency operations against the Adivasi peoples. She also faces harassment from the state for writing and speaking sympathetically towards the Adivasi peoples and the Naxalites who have taken up arms to defend themselves against large foreign dominated mining and dam projects backed by the Indian state..
Wikileaks founder and editor-in-chief Julian Assange became the target of the US State Department when Wikileaks released classified documents on the US military occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan that exposed the disturbing extent of US involvement in said occupations.
Despite these obstacles, genuine peoples artists and cultural workers defy state repression and continue to create works that serve the interest of the oppressed, risking their lives everyday.
For more information visit: http://peoplesart.info/
*The Global Concert to Defend People’s Culture is an initiative of the People’s Art Network and the International Conference on Progressive Culture. The conference, held in July of 2011, in the Philippines, consisted of over 80 visual artists, musicians, filmmakers, writers, media practitioners and cultural workers from around the world.
Artists Break the Chains - February 20, 2013
Registration Form - The deadline for registration is January 13
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20 febrero 2013
Formulario de Inscripción - La fecha límite de inscripción es el 13 de enero
Por todo el mundo, artistas, escritores, periodistas y trabajadores culturales de todas las disciplinas que prestan su arte como una herramienta para el cambio social progresista, desafiar el statu quo, o simplemente exponer la verdad. Se enfrentan a diversas formas de persecución y ataque de los aparatos estatales.
Hacemos un llamado a los artistas, trabajadores culturales y los periodistas a unirse con nosotros por crear un evento mundial para celebrar y defender la cultura de los pueblos el 20 de febrero.
Los eventos se llevarán a cabo en numerosas ciudades de todo el mundo mostrando el poder de nuestras obras para avanzar en las luchas populares para el cambio social fundamental.
Esperamos de vincular a través de las fronteras con otros artistas, escritores, periodistas y trabajadores de la cultura y contribuir a la construcción de un movimiento mundial unido para fomentar la cultura popular progresista y proteger la libertad de expresión.
Si desea participar u organizar un evento, favor de llenar el formulario en línea siguiente. Si usted tiene alguna pregunta, puede comunicarse con nosotros por peoplesartnet@gmail.com. La fecha límite de inscripción es el 13 de enero.
Bajo la brutalidad de los estados, que busca silenciarlos, algunos de estos trabajadores de la cultura han pagado el precio más alto por sus creaciones artísticas y las visiones que promueven la causa de la liberación popular, como el artista chileno Víctor Jara, quien fue brutalmente torturado y asesinado por el estado de Chile en 1973.
Y todavía hoy, los trabajadores culturales siguen haciendo frente a la brutalidad del estado. Compositor y cantante argentino Facundo Cabral, un icono folclórico latinoamericano y la música de protesta, fue muerto a tiros en la madrugada del 9 de julio de 2011 por hombres armados desconocidos que interceptaron su automóvil en la ciudad de Guatemala.
Otros han sido ilegalmente detenidos y encarcelados a fin de evitar que la creación de obras que dan esperanza a las personas, como Ericson Acosta, el poeta, cantante, actor y periodista, que fue detenido sin orden judicial por el ejército filipino el 13 de febrero de 2011, mientras sirviendo como voluntario como un investigador en una villa pobre, rural, y altamente militarizada en las Filipinas.
Ferhat Tunç, el cantautor kurdo, se ha enfrentado a una dura represión por parte del gobierno turco por sus canciones de protesta que la opresión del pueblo kurdo, y su lengua y cultura. Fue condenado recientemente a dos años de prisión por cargos relacionados con el terrorismo debido a su invocación durante un discurso en el que mencionó los nombres de tres izquierdistas turcos fallecidos.
En Rusia, los tres miembros del colectivo punk rock, Pussy Riot, fueron condenados recientemente a dos años de prisión después de realizar en la principal catedral de Moscú una canción critíca a Vladimir Putin.
En los Estados Unidos., Mumia Abu-Jamal , el periodista y ex miembro del Partido Pantera Negra, ha pasado casi 30 años careciendo la pena de la muerte y permanece detenido en aislamiento estricto y el confinamiento solitario por un crimen que muchos creen que no cometió.
Aún otros artistas carecen al hostigamiento estatal y las amenazas a su vida, como Arundhati Roy, una novelista premiado y ensayista, que se enfrenta a la hostilidad continua del gobierno indio por sus abiertas críticas contra la censura en los medios de comunicación y la brutalidad del estado de Cachemira, y las del estado del contador operaciones de contrainsurgencia contra los pueblos del adivasi. Ella también se enfrenta acoso del estado para escribir y hablar con simpatía hacia los pueblos adivasi y los naxalitas que han tomado las armas para defenderse contra las grandes mineras extranjeras dominado por proyectos de represas y apoyado por el estado indio.
Julian Assange, el fundador y editor en jefe de Wikileaks , se convirtió en el objetivo del Departamento de Estado de EE.UU. cuando Wikileaks publicó documentos clasificados sobre las ocupaciones militares estadounidenses de Irak y Afganistán, que expusieron el punto inquietante de la participación de EE.UU. en dichas ocupaciones.
A pesar de estos obstáculos, los pueblos sinceros de artistas y trabajadores culturales desafían la represión estatal y siguen de crear obras que sirven a los intereses de los oprimidos, arriesgando sus vidas todos los días.
Para más información: http://
* El Concierto Mundial para Defender la Cultura Popular es una iniciativa de la Red de Arte Popular y la Conferencia Internacional sobre la Cultura Progresista. La conferencia, que se celebró en julio de 2011, en las Filipinas, formado por más de 80 artistas visuales, músicos, cineastas, escritores, profesionales de los medios de comunicación y trabajadores de la cultura de todo el mundo.
Artistas Rompen las Cadenas el 20 de febrero 2013
Formulario de Inscripción - La fecha límite de inscripción es el 13 de enero
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une initiative de la conférence internationale sur la culture progressiste – réseau de l’art du peuple
le 20 février 2013
Formulaire d’inscription - La date limite d’inscription est le 13 Janvier
Partout dans le monde, des artistes, des écrivains, des journalistes et des travailleurs culturels de toutes disciplines prêtent leur art comme un outil pour le changement social progressif, défient le statu quo, ou tout simplement exposent la vérité, face à diverses formes de persécution et d’attaques des appareils de l’État.
Nous invitons ces artistes, travailleurs culturels et journalistes à se joindre à nous et de construire un événement mondial visant à célébrer et défendre la culture des peuple le 20 février.
Des événements auront lieu dans de nombreuses villes à travers le monde démontrant la puissance de nos métiers pour faire avancer les luttes des peuples pour le changement social fondamental.
Nous espérons construire des liens à travers les frontières avec d’autres artistes, écrivains, journalistes et travailleurs culturels et de contribuer à construire un mouvement mondial visant à promouvoir la culture progressive et de protéger la liberté d’expression.
Si vous souhaitez participer ou organiser un événement, s’il vous plaît remplir le formulaire en ligne. Si vous avez des questions, vous pouvez nous joindre au peoplesartnet@gmail.com. La date limite d’inscription est le 13 janvier.
Certains de ces travailleurs culturels ont payé le prix ultime pour leurs créations artistiques et leurs visions qui font progresser la cause de la libération des peuples, tel que l’artiste chilien Victor Jara, qui a été brutalement torturée et assassinée par l’État chilien en 1973.
Même aujourd’hui, les travailleurs culturels font face à la brutalité de l’État. Auteur-compositeur et chanteur argentin Facundo Cabral, une icône du folk et de la musique latino-américaine de protestation, a été abattu tôt le matin du 9 juillet 2011 par des inconnus armés qui ont intercepté sa voiture dans la ville de Guatemala.
D’autres ont été illégalement arrêtés et emprisonnés afin de les empêcher de créer des œuvres qui donnent de l’espoir aux peuples. Ericson Acosta, un poète, thespian, chanteur et journaliste, qui a été arrêtée sans mandat par l’armée philippine le 13 février 2011, tandis qu’il servait comme chercheur bénévole dans un village rural aux Philippines très militarisée et pauvre.
Ferhat Tunc, chanteur kurde et compositeur, a fait face à une sévère répression de l’Etat turc pour ses chansons qui contestent l’oppression du peuple, langue et culture kurde. Il a récemment été condamné à deux ans de prison sur des accusations liées au terrorisme en raison de son invocation des noms de trois décédés gauchistes turcs lors d’un discours.
En Russie, trois membres du collectif punk rock, Pussy Riot, ont été récemment condamné à deux ans de prison après avoir effectué une chanson dans la cathédrale principale de Moscou qui critiqué Vladimir Putin.
Aux États-Unis, journaliste et ancien membre du Black Panther Party, Mumia Abu-Jamal, a passé près de 30 ans dans le couloir de la mort et est encore détenu en isolement strict pour un crime que beaucoup de personnes pensent qu’il n’a pas commis.
Encore d’autres artistes font face au harcèlement de l’État et des menaces à leur vie. Arundhati Roy, un romancier primé et essayiste, qui fait face à l’hostilité du gouvernement indien pour ses critiques franches contre la censure des médias et de la brutalité d’État au Cachemire ainsi que les opérations anti-insurrectionnelles de l’État menées contre les peuples Adivasi. Elle est également confrontée au harcèlement de l’Etat pour écrire et parler avec sympathie envers les peuples Adivasi et les Naxalites qui ont pris les armes pour se défendre contre l’exploitation minière et des projets de barrage à grande dominé par l’étranger et soutenu par l’État indien.
Fondateur de Wikileaks et rédacteur en chef Julian Assange est devenu la cible du Département d’Etat américain après avoir publié des documents classées sur les occupations militaires américaines en Irak et en Afghanistan qui ont exposé l’ampleur de l’implication américaine dans ces occupations.
En dépit de ces obstacles et au péril de leur vie quotidienne, véritables artistes et travailleurs culturels des peuples défient la répression d’Etat et continuent à créer des œuvres qui servent l’intérêt des opprimés.
Pour plus d’information, visitez: http://peoplesart.
* Le concert mondial de défendre la culture populaire est une initiative du réseau de l’art du peuple et de la conférence internationale sur la culture progressiste. La conférence, qui s’est tenue en juillet de 2011, aux Philippines, se composait de plus de 80 artistes plasticiens, musiciens, cinéastes, écrivains, professionnels des médias et des travailleurs culturels du monde entier.
Formulaire d’inscription - La date limite d’inscription est le 13 janvier
What: A discussion on independent media in Mathare, Nairobi Kenya (East Africa’s second-largest slum)
Where: UofT, OISE Rm. 5250 (252 Bloor W.)
When: 22 November, 7-9pm
Why: To share our knowledge of Nairobi and Toronto independent media and build solidarity
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Independent media in the heart of East Africa’s second-largest slum? Talk of an under-reported story! Yet for the approximately 300,000 residents of the Mathare estate in Nairobi Kenya, where most are young and live on less than $1 a day, community-controlled media is a key platform for articulating social struggles and building collective solutions to pressing problems.
Together, the people of Mathare have established their own independent media groups to share issues and generate conversations relevant to their lives. Workers from two Mathare-based collectives, Liberation Cooperative Organization (LCO) and Mathare Radio, are pleased to welcome you to a presentation and group discussion on the role of independent media in our Nairobi and Toronto communities.
Whether you want to learn more about independent media in East Africa or to get involved, we hope to see you on Thursday, 22 November at 7pm, Rm 5250, OISE (252 Bloor W.), University of Toronto.
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