All posts by favabean

Book Launch: The Blood of Extraction: Canadian Imperialism in Latin America

Mining Justice Action Committee (MJAC) & UVIC Social Justice Studies (SJS) and the Central America Support Committee (CASC) present the Victoria launch of this important new book:
The Blood of Extraction: Canadian Imperialism in Latin America – by Todd Gordon and Jeffrey Webber.
Wednesday January 25th 7 pm—-9 pm.
University of Victoria: David Turpin Building, Room A-120
Author Jeffrey Webber will be the keynote speaker with a Q & A after his talk.

Books will be for sale at the event and we will provide a book signing opportunity.Canadian mining investment abroad

https://fernwoodpublishing.ca/book/blood-of-extraction

Noam Chomsky writes– “This careful and comprehensive analysis of Canada’s economic policies and political interference in Latin America demonstrates in brutal detail the predatory and destructive role of a secondary imperialist power operating within the overarching system of subordination of the Global South to the demands of northern wealth and power. It also reveals clearly the responsibility of citizens of Canada and other dominant societies to join in the resistance of the victims to the shameful and sordid practices exposed graphically here.”

Rooted in thousands of pages of Access to Information documents and dozens of interviews carried out throughout Latin America, Blood of Extraction examines the increasing presence of Canadian mining companies in Latin America and the environmental and human rights abuses that have occurred as a result. By following the money, Gordon and Webber illustrate the myriad ways Canadian-based multinational corporations, backed by the Canadian state, have developed extensive economic interests in Latin America over the last two decades at the expense of Latin American people and the environment.

Latin American communities affected by Canadian resource extraction are now organized into hundreds of opposition movements, from Mexico to Argentina, and the authors illustrate the strategies used by the Canadian state to silence this resistance and advance corporate interests.

Please join our event on Facebook.

Call for Action: “A Stake in the Peace”

After November, 2016, Café Simpatico’s excellent presentation on the Site-C dam with film speakers, CASC agreed to buy “a stake in the Peace” for $100.

This dam is not necessary; in fact it appears both unneeded for BC as well as socially and environmentally destructive. Its construction is an act of violence against the social and physical environment, economically devastating to BC taxpayers and violates Treaty 8 with First Nations of the Peace River area.

If we need more electricity, experts say that more power can be produced by adding turbines to existing dams as well as through renewable forms such as solar and wind power. Taxpayers would not have to pay more than $10 billion (and inevitable overruns) for the largest infrastructure project in BC history.

Building the dam will flood a unique and precious valley and create a reservoir more than 100 km long (the distance from Vancouver to Chilliwack) and would cover many farms and homes.

This land, if saved could, according to agriculturists, sustainably produce enough food for one million people. What is left of the Peace Valley would be lost if this dam is built; this is the last major fertile valley in the province. Already some farmers have received threatening letters of eviction and farmers and First Nations, united in their opposition to this dam, have been served SLAPP suits by BC Hydro.

Many more jobs could be created permanently in this region by developing farm land and creating sources of truly renewable energy, rather than the boom of short term construction work.

Please contact your local MLA to call for an end to this violent project; write to P.M. Trudeau and call for cancellation of federal government permits.

If you are interested in supporting this act of solidarity see: http://www.stakeinthepeace.com/

Yours for the CASC planning committee, Terry Wolfwood

 

Cafe Simpatico Nov. 25: Fractured Land and the Fight to Stop the Site C Dam

Come and view this excellent new film on the impact that resource extraction is having in B.C.’s northeast. After the film we will have an update on the movement to stop the site C Dam with members of the Kairos Rolling Justice Bus trip that visited the area last summer.

 

Friday, November 25th 8pm *

1923 Fernwood Rd.

*Music by Art Farquarson 7:30pm*

Admission by donation * refreshments available * 250-598- 7690

Cafe Simpatico Highlights: October 2016

Thanks to Jane Brett for this review of October’s Cafe Simpatico with Dr Bill Carroll.

I am thrilled to be able to share some highlights from last night’s Cafe Simpatico organized by the amazing Central American Support Committee:

Diana Lindley’s Love-a-lution” song is up on the UN site.

Dr. Bill Carroll’s short videos about a world in crisis and the political possibilities for a better future are up on his YouTube channel. We saw the following four which made for an excellent discussion afterwards:

Details of the
“Corporate Mapping Project”
which Bill is involved with are also available online.

Cafe Simpatico: Friday, October 28

Music Videos, Research, & Climate Justice

with UVic Professor, Dr. Bill Carroll

Dr. Bill Carroll combines 2 very different approaches for strengthening people’s power. The first is political music videos like his hard hitting “400 Parts Per Million”. The second is researching corporate power and fossil fuel extraction. Come and find out how Art and Science can both be important forces for Global Justice.

1923 Fernwood Rd.
Music by John Shaw 7:30pm
Admission by donation

Refreshments available
More info: 250-598-7690

Cafe Simpatico: Feb. 26

Western Canadian Premiere
“Life is Waiting: Referendum and Resistance in Western Sahara”

The Saharawi people under occupation and the lessons of Saharawi nonviolent resistance.

FEB.26 AT CAFÉ SIMPATICO

1923 Fernwood Road

Doors 7pm 
Music 7:30pm
Film at 8pm 

Refreshments: fair trade coffee by the cup and by the pound.

Admission by donation.

Café Simpatico is presented by the Central America Support Committee and this event is cosponsored by: the Mining Justice Action Committee, Friends of Western Sahara & the Barnard-Boecker Centre Foundation.

See the trailer: https://vimeo.com/123847322

Info:bbcf@bbcf.ca

WS film  poster

Café Simpatico presents

COP 21:
A Fossil Fuel Vision or a Global Vision?

Victoria Activist and former Green Party Leader, Joan Russow was in Paris for the recent U.N. Conference on climate change.

Joan will present her observations and give her analysis of the final agreement.

Friday, January 29th – 8pm
1923 Fernwood Rd.
Admission by donation * refreshments available * 250-598-7690
*Music by Art Farquarson 7:30 – 8pm
www.victoriacasc.org  www.facebook.com/vcasc

Cafe Simpatico: Friday, November 27th

The Rolling Justice Bus Tour

1923 Fernwood Rd.
7:30 – Music by Grace Timney
8:00 – Presentation
Truth and reconciliation, environmental and Indigenous land rights, and basic justice were all parts of the Kairos lead bus tour through the B.C. interior this past August. Participants connected with numerous First Nations leaders and activists, frontline workers, agricultural landowners, and environmentalists. Several of the tour members will be on hand to describe their momentous trip.

Admission by donation * refreshments available * 250-598-7690
www.facebook.com/vcasc