The Mining Justice Action Committee and the Victoria Central America Support Committee
invite you to an evening with Guatemalan activists on:
Undermining Indigenous Rights: Pan American Silver in Guatemala
Nov. 18th, at 7 PM Cadboro Bay United Church 2625 Arbutus Rd.
Speakers:
Luis Fernando García Monroy was shot outside the mine when he was participating in a peaceful protest in 2013 and was a plaintiff in the lawsuit against Tahoe Resources that just finished; he works as a paralegal/community organizer with the Xinka Parliament now)
Ellen Moore’s path to extractive industry work began in Guatemala with the Network in Solidarity with the People of Guatemala. 2015, Ellen joined the Progressive Leadership Alliance of Nevada.
Cafe Simpatico hosted the premiere of this play at a reading
on Feb. 22. 2019/ It was well received and was followed by an engaged
discussion. The audience was given these
background notes to help understand the context of the play. We hope you will
find them of interest before you view the video and after you will find the
resources helpful for action.
Background notes: Stories from the Walled-off Hotel
The play is set in a hotel recently conceived by the British
artist, Banksy in order to encourage tourism in Bethlehem. It is in a dangerous
area of Bethlehem, close to the Israeli-constructed wall, near the gate and
check point of entry to an Israeli military presence. It is near several refugee
camps that have been there since 1948 as a result of the ‘Nakba’. Israeli
soldiers often come through the gate and enter these camps, spraying tear gas
and harassing and detaining residents.
All the characters portrayed in the play are fictitious. The
events and background stories are based on reality; people were buried alive in
Nablus; homes and whole villages are continually being bulldozed and destroyed;
residents are driven out by force. More than 1.5 million trees have been
destroyed by the Israeli occupiers; replanting olive trees and harvesting from
orchards are dangerous activities; people including children are killed during
these times; others are detained, jailed or injured.
People are killed by the Israeli military during peaceful
demonstrations. Israel often takes the bodies of their victims if they can.
Roads and checkpoints are closed at the whim of the occupier.
Yes, some Israelis call Palestinians ‘cockroaches’.
This play conveys the strong resistance that Palestinians
integrate into their daily life, as they have for more than seventy years.
Palestinians believe that living a full, normal and culturally rich life is an
essential part of their resistance.
The One Democratic State movement is gaining support among
Israelis and Palestinians. They call for a one secular, democratic state with
an equal vote for all and with the right of return for the seven million
Palestinians living in exile around the world. At this time almost two million
Palestinians live as 2nd class citizens within Israel and more than 700,000
Israelis live in illegal settlements with special services and access within
the West Bank of Palestine.
The pay is dedicated to all those thousands of Palestinians who have died in the struggle for freedom and independence of their country. The four people named are; Nizin Jamjoum, a fourteen year old girl, shot while standing on the balcony of her family home in Hebron; Ziad Abu Ain a[i][i]senior, minister in in the Palestine Authority government; Aisha al-Rawbi, a woman who was stoned to death by settlers while a passenger in a car driven by her husband; Hassan Iyad Shalaby, a teen-aged boy killed by an Israeli sniper in Gaza.
The play presents Palestinians as human beings with
personalities, stories, lives and loves. Palestinians are sumud, steadfast, in
their struggle for their rights.
We can support them by telling our government to respect the
right Palestinians and to stop profiting from the Israeli occupation/ war on
Palestinians. We can raise awareness
among friends and take part in public events as well as respecting the call for
boycott, divestment and sanctions of Israel.
To view the video of the play see: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZkaZNUePMyA&t=105s
Resources for
PALESTINE
Websites:
Arab Group for the Protection of Nature http://www.apnature.org/en
Palestine Museum of Natural History https://www.palestinenature.org/
Addameer
www.addameer.org/ ADDAMEER
(Arabic for conscience) Prisoner Support & H.R. Association works for child
prisoners. Also:
http://nwttac.dci-palestine.org/
The Promise -a 4 part compelling drama made by UK Channel 4
available on YouTube
Canadian BDS Coalition:
https://bdscoalition.ca/
BDS Movement https://bdsmovement.net/
BDS In Jordan https://bdsmovement.net/countries/jordan
https://electronicintifada.net/ E magazine current issues in Palestine
BOYCOTT Hewlett-Packard electronics and Hyundai vehicles:
both used by Israeli government to enforce occupation, detention, demolition.
See: https://bdscoalition.ca/
Popular Resistance in
Palestinehttp://bookreviews.bbcf.ca/2012/10/qumsiyeh-mazin-b-popular-resistance-in-palestine-a-history-of-hope-and-empowerment-2010-pluto-press-uk-usa/
Married to another man
http://bookreviews.bbcf.ca/2013/11/karmi-ghada-married-to-another-man-israels-dilemma-
in-palestine-pluto-press-london-uk-isbn-978-0-7453-2065-6/
Canada and Israel: Building apartheid
http://bookreviews.bbcf.ca/2012/09/engler-yves-canada-and-israel-building-apartheid-2010-red-publishing-b-c-and-fernwood-publishing-n-s-canada/
The Battle for Justice in Palestine
http://bookreviews.bbcf.ca/2014/05/abunimah-ali-the-battle-
or-justice-in-palestine-2014-haymarket-book-chicago-usa-isbn-978-1-60846-324-4/
The Last Earth (and other books) by Ramzy Baroud. Pluto
Books
POETRY
Here We Shall Stay by Tawfiq Zayyad
https://www.poemhunter.com/tawfiq-zayyad/
It’s also Fine by Mourid Barghouti from:
Midnight and other poems
www.bookreviews.bbcf.ca/?s=mourid
Hearts: by Theresa
Wolfwood from: Love and Resistance.
www.bookreviews.bbcf.ca/?s=love+and+Resistance
When Oscar Romero was chosen to be Archbishop of El Salvador at the time of a brutal military dictatorship, backed by the USA, in 1977; it was expected that this quiet scholarly man would not create any problems for the military and the oligarchy which the military supported.
After Romero took office his best friend was assassinated for speaking out for justice, Romero started to look carefully at what was happening in his country; he started to speak and act on behalf of the oppressed and particularly those who resisted the cruel dictators.
Before he was gunned down in a church while giving mass, Romero had received more than 400 death threats. That made him even stronger in his convictions and actions. He said:
I do not believe in death without resurrection. If they kill me, I will rise again in the people of El Salvador.
Those were prophetic words. Now thirty-eight years after his death, he is still remembered and honoured in El Salvador and the world. He will soon become a saint of the Roman Catholic faith.
Recently the Victoria Central America Committee honoured Romero in an evening of words and music. The special guest speaker was Remi De Roo, the retired bishop of Victoria who knew Romero well. He recalled that the legacy of Romero to people of all faiths and beliefs was the call to resist injustice and to support the poor and oppressed.
The author of an important book about Romero was also present at the gathering: Matt Eisenbrandt,: Assassination of a Saint, University of California Press, 2017.
Mining Justice Action Committee (MJAC), Central American Support Committee (CASC), and First+Metropolitan United Church present:
Karuara: People of the River (Peru)
Tuesday October 24th at 7 pm-9 pm
First Metropolitan United Church: 932 Balmoral Rd (at Quadra) Room 200 upstairs
Panelists:
Mari Luz Canaquiri, indigenous Kukama leader from Peru’s Amazon, and president of the Kukama Women’s Federation. Miguel Araoz, a Peruvian artist and film maker from the Andes mountains. Stephanie Boyd, Canadian film maker who resides in Peru. See her article in current issue of New Internationalist: https://newint.org/features/2017/09/01/private-police
Miguel and Stephanie are supporting Mari Luz and the women’s federation in their struggle to defend the Amazon’s rivers from big oil and other mega development projects.
The speakers will present a book of stories about the origins of the rivers and the “karuara” — river spirits who live underneath the waters and protect the indigenous peoples and their environment.
In solidarity with Indigenous communities around the world they believe that the water source sare sacred. Indigenous communities are guardians of their rivers, lakes and streams in the spirit of conservation and protection.
Updates and discussion with Claudia Barrueta Martinez and Tim Boultbee
Vegan & non-gluten Chili, rice, tortillas, salad, dessert, coffee, juice, tea. BYOB.
Live music and door prizes
Proceeds to families of 43 disappeared Mexican students.
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.
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.
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
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:
MEXICO: HUMAN RIGHTS IN A NARCO STATE SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 19
1:00 pm wreath laying at the International Brigades Monument (Beleville & Menzies) to remember the 43 students and other victims of state and narco terror in Mexico
7:00 pm JAMES BAY NEW HORIZONS 234 Menzies St.
Film, panel presentation, questions/discussion regarding the decomposition of Mexican society, state sponsored human rights violations, the so-called War on Drugs and NAFTA’s role in the ongoing turmoil.
Cafe Simpatico January 30, 2015 featured the arts s of resistance. The evening began with Nedjo ^ his friends making music & encouraging everyone to sing along.Theresa Wolfwood also read from her new poetry book, “Love and Resistance”, followed by book sales and author signing. The book is also for sale at Ivy’s bookshop in Victorian, Arbutus Arts on Hornby island. and Volume One Bookstore in Duncan,
Guest musicians Sharon Hazelwood and Alan O’Deane were a perfect complement to the banners on display, made by Theresa.
