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 ISRAELI APARTHEID WEEK MONTREAL
March 1st to 9th, 2009
List of Evening Events. For list of all afternoon events visit
www.iawmontreal.org
Contact:
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(speakers bios at the bottom)
Opening Panel of Israeli Apartheid Week (Montreal)
SUNDAY, MARCH 1st, 7pm
APARTHEID IN CANADA: Frontline voices of Indigenous resistance on Turtle Island
A lecture featuring: Elizabeth Penashue, Judy Da Silva and Laith Marouf
Concordia University, Hall Building, Room H-110
1455 de Maisonneuve West, (Métro Guy-Concordia)
Monday March 2nd, 7pm
Struggle against apartheid from behind bars : Palestinians inside
Israeli Prisons
A lecture featuring: Soha Bechara
Cégep de St-Laurent, salle Émile-Legault
625 Avenue Sainte-Croix (Métro Du collège)
Wednesday March 4th, 6:30pm
Boycott Israel: The Apartheid State
A lecture featuring: Ronnie Kasrills
McGill University, Shatner University Centre , Ballroom
3480 McTavish, North of Sherbrooke (Métro Mcgill)
Thursday March 5th, 6:30pm
Apartheid Israel: Democracy as an Existential Threat
A lecture featuring: Omar Barghouti
McGill University, STEWART Biology, Room S 1/4
1205 Avenue Docteur Penfield, corner Drummond (Métro Peel)
Friday March 6th, 6:30pm
A mother from Gaza: Surviving Under Seige
A lecture featuring: Laila El-haddad
Concordia University, Hall Building, Room H-937.
1455 Maisonneuve oust (Métro Guy-Concordia)
Saturday March 7th, 1pm
No Pride In Apartheid: Screening of 2 films
"Black Laundry" and "Zero Degrees of Separation"
Cinema du Parc (3575 Parc Ave.)
Sunday March 8th, 12pm
Demonstration: International Womens Day and Palestinian Block
WOMEN DEMAND A NEW WORLD ORDER:
End Imperialism, Occupation, War, Exploitation and Repression!
Cabot Square (Métro Atwater)
Monday March 9th, 7PM
SLING SHOT HIP-HOP : Hip Hop against Apartheid
Film Screening with: Director Jackie Salloum
Concordia University, Hall Building, Room H-110
1455 de Maisonneuve West, (Métro Guy-Concordia)
SPEAKER BIOS and FILM REVIEWS
Elizabeth (Tshankuesh) Penashue: Innu elder from Nitassinan (Labrador)
Elizabeth was born and raised into a traditional hunting and trapping
family whose way of life was devastated by the flooding of their lands
and the destruction of hunting equipment. Elizabeth has raised
awareness and resisted the militarization and appropriation of Innu
territory by NATO low-level military flying exercises out of Goose Bay
over land that the Innu use for hunting and fishing. She has also
opposed the further development of the Churchill River to power mainly
settler communities in the south.
Judy Da Silva: Anishinabekwe from Grassy Narrows, northwestern Ontario
Judy is the mother of 5 children, fighting to protect the way of life
of the Anishnabe people. She is active in resisting the environmental
devastation and destruction of the land, animals and people, by
logging and mining companies and the provincial and federal
governments. She is currently involved in an environmental
contaminants study of three northwestern Ontario Indigenous
communities.
Laith Marouf: Palestinian member of Solidarity for Palestinian Human
Rights (SPHR). Laith has visited and worked in solidarity with various
First Nations across Turtle Island and has lectured on the similarity
of the struggles for self-determination here and in Palestine. For the
past decade he has
organized with SPHR and currently is the Branches Coordinator at the
National Office of the organization.
Soha Bechara: née à Beyrouth en 1967, originaire du Sud-Liban. Suite à
l'invasion israélienne du Liban en 1982, en tant que communiste, elle
a adhéré au Front de la Résistance Nationale Libanaise contre
l'occupation israélienne: Elle a été détenue dix ans au camp de Khiam:
Actuellement, elle continue à militer en Europe au sein de Urgence
Palestine afin de revendiquer les droits inliénables du peuple
palestinien.
Ronnie Kasrils: born Johannesburg, South Africa, 1938. Grandparents
Jewish immigrants from Czarist Russia (Lithuania). Joined ANC 1960
after Sharpeville massacre. This led to a lifetime of political
activism. Was a member of ANC's military wing at its inception in
1961. Became chief of military intelligence, operated from exile in
neighbouring African states and clandestinely in South Africa. For
many years member of both ANC and Communist Party national executive
committees. Appointed deputy minister of defence in South Africa's
first democratic government (1994-99); Minister of Water Affairs and
Forestry (1999-2004); Minister Intelligence Services (2004-2008). Has
retired from government and devotes himself to writing, lecturing and
Palestine solidarity. Autobiography "Armed & Dangerous" (publisher
Jonathan Ball, Johannesburg). Married to a fellow struggle veteran and
has two adult sons. (www.psc.za.org)
Omar Barghouti: is an independent Palestinian researcher, commentator
and human rights activist. He is a founding member of the Palestinian
campaign of boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) against Israel to
uphold international law and universal human rights. He holds a
bachelor's and master's degrees in electrical engineering from
Columbia University, NY. He contributed to the philosophical volume,
"Controversies and Subjectivity" (John Benjamins, 2005) and to "The
New Intifada: Resisting Israel's Apartheid" (Verso Books, 2001). He
advocates an ethical vision for a unitary, secular democratic state in
historic Palestine. (www.pacbi.org)
Laila El-Haddad: is a freelance Palestinian journalist, media
activist, and mother from Gaza. She writes mainly for the Guardian and
Aljazeera. She has also appeared on CNN, the BBC, NPR, CBC, and
Democracy Now among others. Laila has been published in Le Monde
Diplmatique, the New Statesmen, the International Herald Tribune and
the Washington Post among others. From 2003-2006, Laila was the Gaza
correspondent for the the English Aljazeera website. In 2007, she
directed two Gaza-based documentaries for Al-Jazeera International
(Tunnel Trade and A Rafah Playground) with Tourist With A Typewriter
production company. Her award-winning blog "Raising Yousuf and Noor:
diary of a Palestinian mother explores the complex relationships
between the personal and political as she raises kids and negotiates
displacement and occupation. She is currently based in the United
States. (www.a-mother-from-gaza.blogspot.com)
Black Laundry: is an Israeli group of lesbians, gays, bisexuals,
transgenders and others who utilize direct action to oppose the
occupation and to support other social justice causes. This short film
chronicles the emergence of the group and their activities.
Zero Degrees of Separation: is a feature-length documentary examining
a unique and complex relationship between two lovers, two nations that
are less than 3 kilometres apart. Selim and Ezra, a gay
Palestinian-Israeli couple, are fighting for the right to live
together in Jerusalem. Edit and Samira, a lesbian Palestinian-Israeli
couple, are trying to figure out how to bridge the divide between
their cultures - often so close and yet so far. Through the lives of
these two couples we gain a unique perspective on the Middle East
conflict. Interwoven with archival footage belonging to director Elle
Flanders' grandparents, Zero Degrees of Separation takes on the larger
questions of humanity, conflict and nationalist aspiration.
Slingshot Hip Hop: braids together the stories of young Palestinians
living in Israel, Gaza, and the West Bank as they discover Hip Hop and
employ it as a tool to surmount divisions imposed by occupation and
poverty. From internal checkpoints and Separation Walls to gender
norms and generational differences, this is the story of young people
crossing the borders that separate them. (www.slingshothiphop.org)
Israeli Apartheid Week (IAW) is an annual international series of
events held in cities and campuses across the globe. The aim of IAW is
to educate people about the nature of Israel as an apartheid system
and to build Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) campaigns as
part of a growing global BDS movement. In Montreal, local solidarity
groups and individuals are planning nine full days of
awareness-raising events ranging from lectures and workshops to film
screenings.
This year, marking its 5th anniversary, IAW is taking place in the
wake of Israel's barbaric assault against the people of Gaza.
Recently, across Montreal, and around the globe, thousands of people
took to the streets to denounce the ongoing atrocities committed by
Israel. The past few years have seen a sharp increase of literature
and analysis that has sought to document and challenge Israeli
apartheid, including reports issued by major international bodies and
human rights organizations, and findings published by political
leaders, thinkers, academics, and activists. Since the assaults on
Gaza, these voices have grown stronger, louder, and have captured the
world`s attention. The aim of IAW is to contribute to this chorus of
international opposition to Israeli apartheid.
Join us in making 2009 a year of struggle against apartheid and for
justice, equality, and peace.
Israeli Apartheid Week in Montreal is endorsed by the following groups
(updated February 9, 2009):
Association pour une solidarité syndicale étudiant (ASSÉ) *
Association étudiante de la culture arabe de l'UQÀM * Association
facultaire des Sciences humaines de l'UQÀM (AFESH) * Association des
Étudiants Musulmans de L'Université de Montréal * Association Générale
des Étudiant-e-s du Cégep de St-Jérôme * Bloquez l'empire-Montréal *
Canadian Arab Federation * Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW) *
Centre des femmes d'ici et d'ailleurs * Centre for Philippine Concerns
* Centre Social Autogéré/Autonomous Social Center * Coalition pour la
justice en Palestine (UQÀM)* Collectif féministe les Sorcières *
Collectif opposé à la brutalité policière (COBP) * Collectif de
recherche sur l'autonomie collective * College and University Workers
United (CUWU) * Comité d'action pour la lutte étudiante boulonnaise
(CALEB) * Comité des sans-emploi Montréal Centre * 8 March
Coordination and Action Committee of Women of Diverse Origins * Frigo
Vert Concordia * Immigrant Workers Center * Independent Jewish Voices
* Iranian Women's Association * McGill Arab Law Students Association *
Midnight Kitchen McGill * Muslim Students Association (MSA) Concordia
* No One Is Illegal-Montréal * Opération Objection * La Otra Campaña
de Montréal * People's Potato Concordia * PINAY - The Filipino Women's
Organization in Quebec * Projet Accompagnement Solidarité Colombie
(PASC) * La Pointe Libertaire * Quebec Public Interest Research Group
(QPIRG)-Concordia * Quebec Public Interest Research
Group(QPIRG)-McGill * Q-Team * Radlaw - McGill University Radical Law
Community * Solidarity Across Borders * Solidarity for Palestinian
Human Rights (SPHR)-Concordia * Solidarity for Palestinian Human
Rights (SPHR)-McGill * Solidarity for Palestinian Human Rights
(SPHR)-National * Student Association for Muslim Awareness (SAMA) at
Concordia * Tadamon * Tamil Action Committee-Montreal * 2110 Centre
for Gender Advocacy |
