Violence against women explored
Memorial services for the women who were killed in the 1989 “Montreal Massacre” are being preceded by a week of women’s centre sponsored workshops on violence against women.
Monday is “a look at violence and abuse within a Queer relationship,” Tuesday will be a panel discussion on women of colour and abuse/ violence, Wednesday is a “workshop on emotional and mental abuse,” Thursday is a night of fun and festivities with spoken word and music, and Friday is a seminar entitled “Countering Anti-Semitism.”
For more information go to [email protected].
Linda McQuaig urges students to fight globalization
Linda McQuaig, writer and columnist for the National Post, encouraged people to become active and protest against trade deals last week, during a reading of her new book, All You Can Eat: Greed and Lust for a New Capitalism.
McQuaig’s new book focuses on what she calls new capitalism, which is a throwback to capitalism seen in the nineteenth century. “The government has a role in protecting the public good, but in the last two decades, we’ve seen a decrease in the role of government and an extended role for corporations.”
She also spoke out against the materialistic focus of our society. “At the middle-class level, people are caught up in materialism. Once you get people to a certain material standard, it doesn’t improve their overall sense of objective wellbeing. Instead, it creates an ever higher sense of pressure.”
McQuaig argued that new capitalism which aims to cut social programs, adopt deregulation and the U.S. dollar, among other things, undermines our society’s desire to create community in nature with our social tendencies.
She reminded the audience that it is possible to fight new capitalism and the global economy by citing Canadians’ successful fight against bank mergers.
“We have the power to change things, but we have to exercise that power,” said McQuaig. —Sharon Ho
Victims of landmines tell their stories
The Canadian Landmine Foundation is celebrating the fourth anniversary of the Ottawa Treaty banning landmines today.
Landmine survivor Porfirio Gomez and mine awareness trainer Domingos de Sousa will talk about their experiences. Gomez was injured in a landmine accident in Nicaragua and raises awareness about landmines.
In 2001, Gomez participated in the Landmine Survivor Network’s “Raising the Voices of Landmine Survivors” initiative. He actively represented survivors from his region at the Third Meeting of States Parties to the Ottawa Convention, which took place in Managua in September 2001.
The event takes place tonight at 8 p.m. in the Medical Sciences Building, Room 4279, 1 Kings College Circle
High school teachers ‘challenge the war agenda’
A group of high school teachers in the Toronto area are taking it upon themselves to give students a critical perspective on the war in Afghanistan, and the role of American foreign policy around the events of Sept. 11.
“I was surprised, really…so many of my students were against Canada’s involvement in the war,” said Brian Easton, an OAC politics teacher at Cedarbrae Collegiate.
One of his students brought him a list from the internet of about fifteen countries that America has bombed since the second world war.
Incidents like this encouraged Easton and others to host “Resistance is Fertile: Challenging the War Agenda.” Speakers include Janet Conway from Ryerson University, a representative from Doctors Without Borders, CIUT radio host Tara Atluri and Quebec activist Jaggi Singh.
They will be addressing Bill C-31, Bill C-36, the racist backlash after September 11, the role of the media and the peace movement.
Easton is a member of “Educators for peace and justice,” concerned high school teachers across Toronto who hope to share with their community and students a “full view of the events of September 11,” according to Easton. They’ve put together a curriculum package for teachers to use in educating their students.
The event is being held on Wednesday, December 5 at Central Tech High School, from 4: 30- 7:30.
—Kelly Holloway
