*********CULTURE SHOCK 2010*************
October 3rd – 15th
On McGill Campus and in the Community
http://qpirgmcgill.org/events/culture-shock/
Culture Shock is an annual event series dedicated to exploring the myths surrounding immigrants, refugees, indigenous people and communities of colour, and is co-organized by the Quebec Public Interest Research Group (QPIRG) at McGill and the Students’ Society of McGill University (SSMU). Culture Shock seeks to bring together members of these communities to engage in dialogue about issues relevant to their lives, as well as to educate non-members around some of the issues faced by communities of colour in Canada.
All events are free and open to the public. The two fundraisers (the booklaunch and show during the first week, and the dance party taking place during the second week) involve suggested donations.
Culture Shock is an annual collaborative project between the Students’ Society of McGill University (SSMU) and the Quebec Public Interest Research Group (QPIRG) at McGill. For childcare, please notify us 48 hours in advance. All venues are wheelchair accessible EXCEPT the Cultural Studies Screening Room. For full schedule, visit http://qpirgmcgill.org/events/culture-shock/, send us an e-mail at qpirg@ssmu.mcgill.ca or call 514-398-7432.
SCHEDULE OF EVENTS:
————————————— Sunday, October 3rd at 4pm
Informal Discussion on Labor and Migration with Robyn Rodriguez
Hosted by the Immigrant Workers Center
4755 Van Horne, Bureau 110 (Metro Plamondon)
Please join us for an informal discussion on labor and migration with Robyn Rodriguez.
Robyn Magalit Rodriguez is an assistant professor in sociology at Rutgers University. She has been actively involved as an immigrant-rights activist and advocate in the US-Filipino community. In her first book, “Migrants for Export: How the Philippine state brokers labor to the world” Rodriguez examines the Philippines’ emergence as one of the top labor-exporting countries in the world. She will be presenting at the first four events of Culture Shock 2010. (See more complete bio below.)
The discussion on October 3rd at 4pm will address the reality of the Philippines as a “labor brokerage state” that mobilizes, exports and regulates gendered and racialized Philippine workers for labor markets world-wide. And will also be an opportunity to discuss broader issues of migration and labor, and mobilizing for justice for migrant workers.
For more information call the Immigrant Workers Center 514 342-2111, or visit http://iwc-cti.ca/
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Monday, October 4th 12pm
On the question of expertise: A critical reflection on “civil society” processes
A Guest Seminar on Globalization, Education and Change with Dr Robyn Magalit Rodriguez, Assistant Professor, Department of Sociology, Rutgers University
Rm 233, Faculty of Education, 3700 McTavish
In October 2008, the Philippine government hosted the Global Forum on Migration and Development (GFMD). While not formally part of the UN process, the GFMD is aimed at providing a space for labor receiving and labor sending countries to trade strategies around instituting temporary labor migration programs. In addition to meetings of government officials, the GFMD instituted a series of civil-society meetings aimed putatively to represent the concerns of migrants themselves. Grassroots migrant activists, however, claimed that the GFMD was in fact, the “global forum on modern-day slavery” and countered both the government meetings, and the ‘civil-society’ meetings with their own International Assembly for Migrants and Refugees where they declared that they would “speak for themselves.”
Drawing on her contribution to Learning from the ground up: Global perspectives on social movements and knowledge production (Eds. Aziz Choudry and Dip Kapoor, New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2010), Dr Rodriguez examines the knowledge mobilized and deployed by migrants themselves alongside that mobilized and deployed by their so-called “advocates” in official civil society meetings. She asks how notions of “expertise” and “authority” are defined by different actors and to what political ends are particular forms of expertise, authority and knowledge used.
All are welcome to attend. Organized by Dr Aziz Choudry, Assistant Professor, International Education, Department of Integrated Studies in Education. Phone: 514 398 2253 / Email: aziz.choudry@mcgill.ca
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Monday, October 4th at 3pm
“Migrants for Export: How the Philippine State Brokers Labor to the World.”
Sociology Speaker Series
Leacock Building, McGill Campus, 655 Sherbrooke St. W., Rm. 738
Robyn Magalit Rodriguez
Assistant Professor of Sociology
Rutgers Univesrity
Robyn Magalit Rodriguez earned her Ph.D. in Sociology from the University of California, Berkeley. She works on globalization and development; political sociology; international migration; race, ethnicity and nationalism; gender; and ethnographic methods. She is also faculty affiliate of the Department of Women and Gender Studies and has been part of faculty-student initiatives to increase the visibility Asian American scholarship at
Rutgers.
Her recent book, Migrants for Export (University of Minnesota Press, 2010) examines how the Philippine state has emerged as one of the largest labor exporting countries in the world. Her publications on Philippine migration and Filipino migrant transnationalism have appeared in the journals Citizenship Studies, Signs, and the Peace Review as well as several edited anthologies. She is currently working on a second book project tentatively titled, “In Lady Liberty’s Shadow: Race, Immigration and Belonging in New Jersey after 9/11.”
———————————– Monday, October 4th 6pm From Arizona to Montreal: Migrants fight back!A Panel Discussion with Professor and activist Robyn Rodriguez, Ramani Balendra of the Canadian Tamil Congress, and Farha Najah Hussain from No One Is Illegal. Moderated by Dr. Aziz Choudry. Leacock Building, McGill Campus, 655 Sherbrooke St. W. Rm. 232
A roundtable discussion presenting the ways that migrant and racialized communities in Canada and the United States experience state repression and alienation. From the effects of Arizona’s new immigration law (SB 1070) to the detention of Tamils in Vancouver to the criminalization of communities of colour in Ottawa and Montreal, this panel will attempt to shed light into the ways that the state fails these communities and the how these communities struggle and fight back.
Bios:
Robyn Magalit Rodriguez (see bios above)
Farha Najah Hussain is a social-justice organiser based in Montreal. She has been actively involved with the No One Is Illegal Campaign since 2007.
Ramani Balendra has been a community worker at the South Asian Women’s Community Centre for the past fifteen years. She is also a founding member of the Canadian Tamil Congress in Quebec and was previously president of the Canadian Tamil congress from 2001-2006. This panel is a co-presentation with the School of Community and Public Affairs (SCPA Concordia), Sociology Department of McGill University, East Asian Studies (McGill University), QPIRG McGill and the SSMU. ————————————-
Tuesday Oct 5th – 1pm
Film Screening: Food Inc.
Shatner Building (3480 McTavish), Room 302, McGill University
Hosted by: The Midnight Kitchen – Food provided!
Food, Inc. lifts the veil on our the US food industry, exposing the highly mechanized underbelly that has been hidden from the American consumer with the consent of our government’s regulatory agencies, USDA and FDA. American food supply is now controlled by a handful of corporations that often put profit ahead of consumer health, the livelihood of the American farmer, the safety of workers and our own environment.
Bio: The Midnight Kitchen is a non-profit, volunteer and worker run food collective dedicated to providing affordable, healthy food to as many people as possible. Based out of McGill University in Montreal, QC we provide free/by donation vegan lunches 5 days a week, Monday through Friday, at 12:30 in the Shatner building on McGill campus.
————————————-Tuesday, October 5th 6pm Community and Resistance: Katrina, Jena Six and Prisoner Justice A panel discussion with journalists and community organizers Jordan Flaherty, Jesse Muhammad, and Victoria LawChancellor Day Hall, 3644 Peel Street, Moot Court This panel is one stop on a book and speaking tour, COMMUNITY AND RESISTANCE, of which all three panelists are a part, and which has been organized in part to launch Jordan Flaherty’s recently published Floodlines: Community and Resistance from Katrina to the Jena Six (Haymarket books, on sale in Montreal at the panel and booklaunch). The COMMUNITY AND RESISTANCE tour seeks to communicate about current struggles for justice and liberation, from nooses hung in the northern Louisiana town of Jena to women organizing inside prisons, from resistance to school privatization to post-Katrina community organizing and cultural resistance. The tour also seeks to connect communities of liberation, and to build relationships between grassroots activists and independent media. This discussion will include contributions from local activist Scott Weinstein (who volunteered with Common Ground Health Clinic after Katrina hit New Orleans) and will be facilitated by Professor Gada Mahrouse (Simone de Beauvoir Institute). The event will be an opportunity for community organizers to come together and have discussions around issues raised during the panel. Co-sponsored by CKUT, Media@McGill, 2110 Centre for Gender Advocacy, QPIRG McGill and the SSMU. Bios:
Jesse Muhammad: Energetic, inspiring and effective are just some of the words audiences have used to describe the writings and messages delivered by writer, news reporter, artist, publicist and photojournalist Jesse Muhammad. Jesse, a native of Houston, has been an official staff writer for the Final Call Newspaper (FCN) the only national Black-owned newspaper. Since that time, he has gained worldwide recognition for his consistent coverage of Hurricane Katrina and the continuing struggle of its survivors. In 2007, he was credited with bringing national and international attention to the case of the “Jena Six”, and helped to mobilize the 50,000 plus attendees to the historic “Jena Six” rally in September of that year.
Jordan Flaherty is a journalist and community organizer based in New Orleans. His new book, FLOODLINES: Community and Resistance from Katrina to the Jena Six was released this summer from Haymarket Press. For more information on the book, see floodlines.org. Jordan has been a regular correspondent on both Democracy Now and News and Notes. As a white southerner who speaks honestly about race, Jordan Flaherty has been regularly published in Black progressive forums such as BlackCommentator.org and Black Agenda Report, and is a regular guest on Black radio stations and programs such as Keep Hope Alive With Reverend Jesse Jackson. Jordan is also an editor of Left Turn Magazine, a national publication dedicated to covering social movements.
Victoria Law is a writer, photographer and mother. In 1996, she helped start Books Through Bars-New York City, a group that sends free books to prisoners nationwide. Since 2002, she has worked with women incarcerated nationwide to produce Tenacious: Art and Writings from Women in Prison and has facilitated having incarcerated women’s writings published in larger publications. Her book Resistance Behind Bars: The Struggles of Incarcerated Women (PM Press 2009) is the culmination of over seven years of listening to, writing about and supporting incarcerated women nationwide and resulted in Victoria winning the 2009 PASS (Prevention for a Safer Society) Award. —————————————- Wednesday Oct 6th – 1:30pm
Workshop: A Radical Look at Jewish History and Identity
Lev Bukhman, 2nd floor Shatner Building (3480 McTavish), McGill University
Come for some radical perspectives on Jewish history, and analyses on the diversity of ideas and thought within Jewish communities historically. Stay for discussions on identity formation and how changing systems of race and racialization have effected and influenced the Jewish community, now and in the past!
Elise Eisenkraft Klein, creator and facilitator of this workshop, is one of the founders of Young Jews for Social Justice.
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Wednesday, October 6th – 3:30pm.
Question and Answer Session with journalist Jordan Flaherty, author of Floodlines: Community and Resistance from Katrina to the Jena Six (Haymarket Books 2010)
Arts W-220 (McGill University, 853 Sherbrooke Street West)
This session is for campus and community journalists, who are seeking knowledge and experience around covering community issues.
“As the floodwaters rose in New Orleans, Jordan Flaherty began to write, rescuing precious truths about the reality of racism and solidarity in his city that risked being washed away in the tide of formulaic corporate journalism. I can think of no journalist that writes with deeper knowledge or more love about this highly contested part of the United States.”
– Naomi Klein, author “The Shock Doctrine”
Bio: Jordan Flaherty is a journalist and community organizer based in New Orleans. His new book, FLOODLINES: Community and Resistance from Katrina to the Jena Six was released this summer from Haymarket Press. For more information on the book, see floodlines.org. Jordan has been a regular correspondent on both Democracy Now and News and Notes. As a white southerner who speaks honestly about race, Jordan Flaherty has been regularly published in Black progressive forums such as BlackCommentator.org and Black Agenda Report, and is a regular guest on Black radio stations and programs such as Keep Hope Alive With Reverend Jesse Jackson. Jordan is also an editor of Left Turn Magazine, a national publication dedicated to covering social movements.
Hosted by QPIRG McGill, The McGill Daily, and CKUT Radio.
———————————————————– Wednesday, October 5th, Doors at 7:30pm Fundraising concert, featuring the Fat Tuesday Jazz Band and members of Kalmunity Vibe Collective, and the Booklaunch of Floodlines: Community and Resistance from Katrina to the Jena Six by Jordan Flaherty. Il Motore, 179 Jean Talon West, Metro Parc$5-10, pay what you can Bringing a little piece of New Orleans to Montreal, this multi-media book launch will feature musical performances by the Fat Tuesday Jazz Band and members of Kalmunity Vibe Collective. Jordan will show videos and his book will be on sale at the venue. All proceeds will go to a Pakistani grassroots organization called Hirrak (www.hirrak.org), who have set up a camp to house and feed 3-4,000 people since the floods and underwhelming international response to the crisis in Pakistan. This event is co-sponsored by CKUT, Media@McGill, QPIRG McGill and the SSMU. ————————————————— Thursday October 7th at 1pm
Film Screening and discussion: Film TBA, hosted by G-CARE Lev Bukhman, 2nd floor Shatner Building (3480 McTavish), McGill University (Metro McGill)
Bio: The Graduate Collective Against Racism and for Equity (G-CARE) is a diverse group of graduate students working in collaboration with their undergraduate and community allies to identify and take action against institutional racism and intersecting forms of systemic oppression at McGill and in the wider Montreal community. We engage in activist support for racialized students, and work to strengthen relationships with activist groups on and off campus, in order to challenge dominant Eurocentric, neo-liberal and racist ideologies/culture through research and action. Presently, we are developing critical consciousness-building workshops, policy research, and a media justice campaign. Please contact us at gcare.info@gmail.com to get involved!
—————————————— Tuesday October 12th at 3pm
Workshop: Landed Resistance: How Land Rights Struggles Fight Climate Change Lev Bukhman, 2nd floor Shatner Building (3480 McTavish), McGill University (Metro McGill)
This workshop will examine this question by attempting to connect us to some of the histories of land based struggles and forced displacement that have been erased in the creation of “North America”. Building on these histories we will examine how land rights, indigenous solidarity and migrant justice tie into the notion that supporting communities in protecting their land and their livelihoods is one of the most strategic ways to fight the drivers of climate change
Bio: Climate Justice Montreal works in Montreal and surrounding communities to confront the root causes of climate change. We are committed to environmental justice, recognizing that only with broad social transformation will we be able to effectively confront the climate crisis.
——————————————- Tuesday, October 12th 6:30pm Film Screening of Injustice, a documentary about police violence in the U.K. Cultural Studies Screening Room, 3475 Peel (NOT wheelchair accessible) This documentary depicts the relentless struggles of families who have lost loved ones at the hands of police in the U.K. Each family is met with a wall of official secrecy and the film documents how they unite and challenge this together. The documentary uses powerful exclusive footage filmed over a five-year period and witnesses the families’ pain and anger at the killings. It documents the fight to retrieve the bodies for burial, the mockery of police self-investigation and the collusion of the legal system in the deaths. Injustice is being screened during Culture Shock 2010 in honour of the October 22nd International Day to Stop Police Brutality, Repression and the Criminalization of a Generation. This screening is a co-presentation with the October 22nd Coalition to Commemorate Victims of Police Killings, a Working Group of QPIRG McGill. —————————————– Wednesday, October 13th 1pm Voices Against 377: Decriminalizing same-sex activity in IndiaA Presentation by Delhi-based legal rights activist Ponni Arasu Chancellor Day Hall, 3644 Peel Street, Rm. 200
Ponni will speak to her experiences as one of the core activists who worked on having gay sex decriminalized in India. Ponni will focus her talk on the legal aspects of queer rights struggles in India, and will reflect on how effective this approach is, both in India and internationally.
Bio:
Ponni Arasu is a queer feminist activist from New Delhi, India. She has worked with the Alternative Law Forum in Bangalore, India, as well as with the Law and Society Trust in Colombo, Sri Lanka. Her work involves a range of human rights issues including gender, sexuality, labour and conflict. Since 2003, Ponni has worked with Voices Against 377, a coalition of women’s groups, child rights groups, human rights groups and sexuality groups formed to initiate discussions on sexuality and the law. Voices Against 377 filed an affidavit to strike down Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code, the section that criminalizes gay sex.
This panel is a co-presentation with Rad Law and Outlaw (two radical law groups at McGill), QPIRG McGill, the Law Faculty of McGill University, Queer McGill, Human Rights Working Group at McGill, the Social Equity and Diversity Education (SEDE) Office of McGill, 2110 Centre for Gender Advocacy and the SSMU.
———————————————— Wednesday, October 13th 6:00pm Resisting the Neoliberal Gay Agenda: Queer Organizing in an International ContextKEYNOTE PANEL with Ponni Arasu, Joshua Pavan, and Natalie Kouri-Towe, moderated by Indu Vashist Chancellor Day Hall, 3644 Peel Street, Moot Court This panel will look at the different ways queers organize around a variety of issues and across borders. The panelists will seek to look critically at the ways in which queers engage with or resist the corporate, mainstream gay agenda. Ponni Arasu will talk about her experience with the India specific context, having worked within various queer collectives, including the Nigah media collective that is based in Delhi. The collective has organised the annual Nigah Queer Fest in Delhi for the past three years. Joshua Pavan, a Montreal-based community organizer who has worked for the past few years with the Prisoner Correspondence Project and is part of the Pervers/cite collective, will address some of the ways that queer organizing in Montreal has evolved over the past few years, namely through looking at Pervers/cite as an alternative to pride. Natalie Kouri-Towe will focus on her experiences with queer solidarity work, both in Montreal and Toronto.
This panel is a co-presentation with the 2110 Centre for Gender Advocacy, the Simone de Beauvoir Institute, QPIRG Concordia, QPIRG McGill and the SSMU. ———————————————– Thursday October 14th at 1.30pm
Workshop: Racism in Canada: From Colonialism to Border Control Lev Bukhman, 2nd floor Shatner Building (3480 McTavish), McGill University (Metro McGill)
Racism has been part of the history of the `making of Canada` since its inception on indigenous land when the first settlers arrived. It continues today in many new forms. This workshop goes beyond common understandings of racism as `hating` people of colour, it is an on the ground phenomenon that affects a large portion of the world`s ability to live their lives with dignity. Starting with timelines of the colonization of Canada and the white supremacist nature built into immigration law for most of Canadian history, this workshop continues into the ways that Canada promotes more implicitely racist policies into the present. This includes an examination of racial profiling, the incarceration of indigenous communities, the on-going theft of native land, the use of restrictive border policies, exploitative temporary workers programs, Islamophobia and `national security` legislation, and much more. It is meant as an introduction of the topic of the hsitory and the current reality of `Racism in Canada`.
Bio: Robyn Maynard organizes, writes and does popular education around racial profiling, police violence, and migrant justice. She believes in standing up and fighting back against the indignities caused by racism and colonialism. She is part of No One Is Illegal Montreal and co-hosts No One Is Illegal radio.
————————————— Friday October 15th at 3pm
Workshop: Say Your Piece: creating culture that speaks to you Lev Bukhman, 2nd floor Shatner Building (3480 McTavish), McGill University (Metro McGill)
This workshop aims to talk about cultural appropriation, discuss it in contemporary terms that make the discussion engrossing and hopefully not guilt laden. From there, we will ask participants to examine their own histories and cultures to find those stories that the world needs so badly. All of our lives are full of intersecting oppressions, and, where that shit piles up highest, that is where we can meet the rest of the world on even footing.
Participants will leave with a piece of art they’ve made, either out of collage or spray paint.
Bio: The Ste-Emilie SkillShare is a group of artists and activists, primarily people of colour and queer people, committed to promoting artistic expression and self-representation in our communities. The Skillshare collective runs an art studio for people to learn new skills, share their skills, and create art in the spirit of revolution and anti-oppression (anti-racism/ sexism/ classism/ homophobia/ transphobia/ ableism/ sizeism/ etc). Our space is open to all. Long live skill-sharing!
—————————————-Friday, October 15th 10:30pm Q-Team Queer Dance PartyIl Motore, 179 Jean Talon West Get your dance on at our final Culture Shock closing party. This event is co-sponsored by qteam, Queer McGill, QPIRG McGill and the SSMU.
All proceeds will go to a Pakistani grassroots organization called Hirrak (www.hirrak.org), who have set up a camp to house and feed 3-4,000 people since the floods and underwhelming international response to the crisis in Pakistan.
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Le GRIP-McGill et l’AÉUM présentent… *********CULTURE SHOCK 2010**************
Du 3 au 15 octobre Sur le campus de McGill et dans la communauté http://qpirgmcgill.org/events/culture-shock/ Culture Shock est une série annuelle d’événements dédiée à l’exploration des mythes qui entourent les communautés immigrantes et réfugiées, les peuples autochtones et les communautés de couleur. Elle est organisée par le Groupe de recherche en intérêt public (GRIP) de McGill et l’Association étudiante de l’Université McGill (AÉUM). Culture Shock vise à rassembler les membres de ces communautés pour les encourager à discuter des enjeux qui influencent leur quotidien ainsi que d’éduquer les non-membres des enjeux que font face les communautés de couleur au Canada. Tous les événements sont gratuits et ouverts au grand public. Les deux levées de fonds (le lancement de livre et le spectacle durant la première semaine et le party durant la deuxième semaine) seront à contribution suggérée. Pour la halte-garderie, veuillez nous notifier 48 heures d’avance. Toutes les salles sont accessibles aux fauteuils roulants SAUF le Cultural Studies Screening Room. Pour l’horaire complet, incluant les ateliers et les événements durant la journée, visitez http://qpirgmcgill.org/events/culture-shock/. Vous pouvez également nous envoyer un courriel à qpirg@ssmu.mcgill.ca ou composez le 514-398-7432. Pour la traduction chuchotée vers le français, contactez-nous 48 heures en avance.
(Pour le moment, les ateliers sont exclusivement en anglais. Contactez-nous si vous aimeriez participer dans un des ateliers décrits en anglais en haut de cette page.) Culture Shock est un projet collaboratif annuel entre l’Association étudiante de l’Université McGill (AÉUM) et le Groupe de recherche en intérêt public (GRIP) de McGill.
HORAIRE DES ÉVÉNEMENTS : ———————————- Le lundi 4 octobre 18 h De l’Arizona à Montréal : les migrant-e-s ripostent!Un panel avec la professeure et militante Robyn Rodriguez, Ramani Balendra du Congrès Tamoul Canadien, et Farha Najah de Personne n’est illegal Pavillon Leacock, campus de McGill, 655 rue Sherbrooke O., salle 232 Une discussion à table ronde qui présentera les façons que les communautés migrantes et racialisées au Canada et aux États-Unis subissent la répression de l’état et l’exclusion. Des effets de la nouvelle loi de l’Arizona sur l’immigration (SB 1070) à la détention des Tamoul-e-s à Vancouver à la criminalisation des communautés racialisées à Ottawa et à Montréal, ce panel tentera d’illuminer les façons que l’état néglige ces communautés et comment ces communautés luttent et ripostent. ROBYN MAGALIT RODRIGUEZ est professeure de sociologie à l’Université Rutgers. Son livre intitulé Migrants for Export : How the Philippine State Brokers Labour to the World fut publié par la presse de l’Université du Minnesota en 2010. Elle s’implique comme militante et partisane de la communauté philippine-américaine, incluant le Forum philippin basé à New York. Ce panel est une présentation de l’École des affaires publiques et communautaires de Concordia (ÉAPC Concordia), le département de sociologie de l’Université McGill, le départment d’East Asian Studies [Études du sud-est Asiatique] (Université McGill), le GRIP-McGill et l’AÉUM. ———————————- Mardi 5 octobre, 18h00 Katrina, le Jena 6, et justice prisonnierUn panel avec journalistes et activistes communautaires Jordan Flaherty, Jesse Muhammad, et Victoria Law. Chancellor Day Hall, 3644 Peel Street, Moot Court La tournée communauté et résistance arrive à Montréal! Cette tournée vise à partager les luttes actuelles de justice et de libération qui se déroulent à Jena, ville du nord de la Louisiane: del’organisation des femmes dans les prisons, au mouvement de résistance à la privatisation de l’éducation, à la résistance culturelle et l’organisation post-Katrina des communautés. La tournée vise également à faire mettre enréseau des processus collectif de libération, en établissant des relations entre les communautés locales, les militantEs et les médias indépendants. Le panel animé par Gada Mahrouse, professeure à l’institue Simone deBeauvoir inclura une intervention de l’activiste local Scott Weinstein qui a entre autres été volontaire auprès de la clinique Common Ground Health après les ravages de l’ouragan Katrina à la Nouvelle Orléans. Cet événement sera une chance pour les militant-e-s de se rejoindre et de discuter les enjeux soulevés durant ce panel. Commandité par CKUT, Média@McGill, 2110 Centre for Gender Advocacy, le GRIP-McGill et l’AÉUM. Bios : Jesse Muhammad : Énergétique, inspirant et efficace sont quelques-uns des adjectifs que le public a utilisé pour décrire les écrits et les messages livrés par l’écrivain, reporter, artiste, publiciste et photojournaliste Jesse Muhammad. Jesse, un originaire d’Houston, est un journaliste au Final Call Newspaper (FCN), le seul journal national avec des propriétaires afro-américains. Depuis ce temps, il a été reconnu pour sa couverture médiatique régulière de l’ouragan Katrina et des luttes actuelles de ses survivant-e-s. En 2007, il fut reconnu pour attirer l’attention nationale et internationale au cas des « six de Jena » et il assista à la mobilisation de plus de 50 000 participant-e-s à la manifestation historique en appui aux « six de Jena » en septembre 2007. Jordan Flaherty est un journaliste et militant basé en Nouvelle-Orléans. Son nouveau livre, FLOODLINES : Community and Resistance from Katrina to the Jena Six est sorti cet été chez Haymarket Press. Pour plus d’information sur ce livre, consultez http://www.floodlines.org. Jordan est un correspondant régulier aux émissions Democracy Now et News and Notes. Un blanc originaire du sud des États-Unis qui parle franchement de la race, Jordan Flaherty est publié fréquemment dans des forums progressistes afro-américains comme Blackcommentator.org et Black Agenda Report, et il est un invité habituel des stations de radio et programmes afro-américains comme Keep Hope Alive With Reverend Jesse Jackson. Jordan est aussi un rédacteur de Left Turn Magazine, une publication nationale qui se dédie à la couverture de mouvements sociaux. Victoria Law est une écrivaine, photographe et mère. En 1996, elle contribua à l’établissement de Books Through Bars – New York City, un groupe qui envoie des livres gratuitement aux prisonnières et prisonniers à travers les États-Unis. Depuis 2002, elle a travaillé avec des femmes incarcérées à travers le pays pour produire Tenacious : Art and Writings from Women in Prison et a facilité la publication des œuvres de femmes incarcérées dans des publications plus importantes. Son livre Resistance Behind Bars : The Struggles of Incarcerated Women (PM Press 2009) fut le produit de plus de sept ans d’écoute, d’écriture et de soutien des femmes incarcérées à travers les États-Unis et mena à son obtention du prix PASS (Prevention for a Safer Society Award [prix de la prévention pour une société plus sécuritaire]) en 2009. ———————————————————– Mercredi 6 octobre, Portes ouvertes 19h30 Concert de levée de fonds, avec The Fat Tuesday Jazz Band et membres du Collectif Kalmunity Vibe, et Lancement du livre: “Floodlines: Community and Resistance from Katrina to the Jena Six” de Jordan Flaherty. Il Motore, 179 Jean Talon West, Metro Parc Pour apporter un petit peu de la Nouvelle-Orléans à Montréal, ce lancement de livre va inclure des performances musicales du Fat Tuesday Brass Band et de quelques membres du Kalmunity Vibe Collective. Jordan va présenter des courts-métrages et son livre sera en vente à la salle. Toutes les recettes vont être contribuées à l’organisme pakistanais Hirrak (http://www.hirrak.org) qui a aménagé des camps pour loger et nourrir 3 000 à 4 000 personnes depuis les inondations au Pakistan pour compenser le manque d’assistance internationale durant cette crise. Cet événement est commandité par CKUT, Média@McGill, le GRIP-McGill et l’AÉUM. ————————–————- Le mardi 12 octobre 18 h 30 Présentation du film Injustice, un documentaire à propos de la violence policière au Royaume-Uni Cultural Studies Screening Room, 3475 rue Peel (PAS accessible aux fauteuils roulants) Ce documentaire présente les luttes implacables des familles qui ont perdu des proches aux mains de la police au Royaume-Uni. Chaque famille fait face à un mur de silence officiel et le film documente comment elles s’unissent et le contestent ensemble. Le documentaire utilise des séquences exclusives tournées au cours d’une période de cinq ans et témoigne la douleur et la colère envers les meurtres. Le film documente la lutte pour récupérer les corps pour les enterrer, la moquerie des enquêtes internes du corps policier et la collusion du système judiciaire dans ces morts. Injustice sera présenté durant Culture Shock 2010 pour honorer la Journée internationale pour arrêter la brutalité policière, la répression et la criminalisation d’une génération du 22 octobre. Ce visionnement est une co-présentation avec le October 22nd Coalition to Commemorate Victims of Police Killings, un groupe de travail du GRIP-McGill. —————————————- Le mercredi 13 octobre 13 hVoices Against 377: décriminaliser les activités de même-sexe en Inde Une présentation de Ponni Arasu, militante pour les droits légaux basée à Delhi Chancellor Day Hall, 3644 rue Peel, salle 200 Ponni discutera de ses expériences comme l’une des militantes les plus importantes dans la lutte pour la décriminalisation des relations sexuelles gaies en Inde. Ponni va se concentrer sur les aspects juridiques des luttes queer en Inde et va revenir sur l’efficacité de cette approche en Inde et à l’échelle internationale. Ce panel est une co-présentation de Rad Law et Outlaw (deux groupes radicaux d’étudiant-e-s en droit à McGill), le GRIP-McGill, la faculté de droit de l’Université McGill, Queer McGill, Human Rights Working Group de McGill, Social Equity and Diversity Education (SEDE) Office de McGill, 2110 Centre for Gender Advocacy et l’AÉUM. Bio : Ponni Arasu est une militante queer et féministe de New Delhi. Elle a travaillé avec l’Alternative Law Forum en Bangalore ainsi qu’avec le Law and Society Trust de Colombo, Sri Lanka. Son travail inclut une variété d’enjeux en droits humains qui incluent le genre, la sexualité, le travail et le conflit. Depuis 2003, Ponni collabore avec Voices Against 377, une coalition composée de groupes de femmes, groupes pour les droits d’enfants, groupes pour les droits humains et groupes de sexualité créée pour initier des discussions sur la sexualité et la loi. Voices Against 377 a fait une déclaration par écrit et sous serment pour abolir la section 377 du code pénal indien qui criminalise les relations sexuelles gaies. ————————————— Le mercredi 13 octobre 18 hRésister le néolibéralisme gai : le militantisme queer dans un contexte international PANEL PRINCIPAL avec Ponni Arasu, Joshua Pavan et Natalie Kouri-Towe; animé par Indu Vashist Chancellor Day Hall, 3644 rue Peel, Moot Court Ce panel discutera des différentes démarches que les queer emploient pour s’organiser autour d’une variété d’enjeux et à travers des frontières. Les invité-e-s vont observer de façon critique les manières dont les queer s’engagent avec ou résistent le plan politique du courant principal, capitaliste du mouvement gai. Ponni Arasu racontera ses expériences en Inde, qui incluent militer avec quelques collectifs queer, comme le collectif médiatique Nigah basé en Delhi. Le collectif a organisé les festivals annuels queer de Nigah pendant les trois dernières années. Joshua Pavan est un militant basé à Montréal qui travaille avec le Prisoner Correspondance Project depuis quelques années et fait partie du collectif Pervers/cité. Il va adresser quelques-unes des façons dont la militance queer a évolué depuis quelques années, notamment en présentant Pervers/cité comme une alternative à la fierté gaie. Natalie Kouri-Towe va discuter de ses expériences de solidarité queer à Montréal et à Toronto.
Commandité par 2110 Centre for Gender Advocacy, Simone de Beauvoir Institute, QPIRG Concordia, QPIRG McGill et l’AÉUM.
——————————————-Le vendredi 15 octobre 22 h 30 Q-Team présente…Party queer et levée de fonds Il Motore, 179 rue Jean-Talon Ouest, 22h30 Venez danser à la fête de fermeture de Culture Shock. Cet événement est commandité par le Q-Team, Queer McGill, le GRIP-McGill et l’AÉUM.
Toutes les recettes vont être contribuées à l’organisme pakistanais Hirrak (http://www.hirrak.org) qui a aménagé des camps pour loger et nourrir 3 000 à 4 000 personnes depuis les inondations au Pakistan pour compenser le manque d’assistance internationale durant cette crise.
Quebec Public Interest Research Group at McGill University3647 University, 3rd Floor Montreal, Quebec, H3A 2B3Tel. 514-398-7432Fax. 514-398-8976 www.qpirgmcgill.org
