[IAW 2012 materials coming soon. For 2011, see below.]
Welcome to Toronto IAW 2011!
Our tentative schedule is below. Media might be interested in our Press Kit and the international media section
York University: Monday, March 7th: Anti-Apartheid Frequencies
12:00-9:00 PM EST
CHRY 105.5 FM Community Radio in Toronto presents 9 hours of focused programming to commemorate this year's Israeli Apartheid Week. This special broadcast will feature a variety of sounds, voices and music which explore the history and reality of apartheid. Anti-Apartheid Frequencies will cover numerous themes: the history of Palestine, voices of the struggle, the South African experience and apartheid's roots in Canadian policy indigenous solidarity, cultural resistance, the BDS movement and more. Join voices from around the world on Monday, March 7th.
Tune in LIVE at 105.5 FM or WORLDWIDE on www.chry.fm
York University: Monday, March 7th: Jenin Cinema School at the AGYU 12:30-2:30 PM
Location: East Accolade Building, York University, Keele Campus
http://theagyuisoutthere.org/everywhere/
The AGYU in co-presentation with Beit Zatoun and endorsed by SAIA-York
Taking you into the heart of Palestine, Jenin Cinema School at the AGYU presents an interactive afternoon with the next generation of young Palestinian filmmakers. Screening some of their latest work, students of the JeninFreedom Theatre’s Filmmaking Studio, will join Public Studio for a live discussion about politics, culture, and daily life in the Jenin refugee camp. Rather than imagining Palestine, these students and their current teacher in residence, acclaimed filmmaker Udi Aloni, will put you in the centre of it.
Public Studio member Elle Flanders together with celebrated video artist John Greyson, visited the Jenin Freedom Theatre’s Filmmaking Studio last summer. Flanders and Greyson will moderate a conversation with director Udi Aloni and his students via Skype. Artist Mohammed Mohsen and Robert Masud of Toronto-based Palestinian Cultural Centre Beit Zatoun will dialogue with Palestinian artists about what is happening here on the scene in relation to what is happening in Palestine. Audiences are encouraged to participate in the Q&A with the filmmakers and artists.
York University: Screening at the AGYU Monday 28th-March 13th
Road Movie by Elle Flanders and Tamira Sawatzky
Road movies have their roots in spoken and written tales of epic journeys. Flanders & Sawatzky's Road Movie is the modern day story of Israel's master plan for Palestine—a segregated road system partitioning the West Bank into three distinct enclaves with controlled passage between them. Continuing their work on landscape and its relationship to shifting political geographies, each film takes us on a small journey on the segregated roads that have become known as the Apartheid Roads in contemporary Palestine. Shot in stop-motion animation, Flanders & Sawatzky track the roads like surveyors, mimicking the systemic implementation of Occupation grafted onto the landscape.
Monday March 7th: University of Toronto: Fitzgerald Building (150 College Street), Room 103, 7pm
Interrogating Apartheid: Campus as a Site of Resistance
Speakers: Judy Rebick, Abbie Bakan, and SAIA (Students Against Israeli Apartheid)
Abigail Bakan is Professor of Political Studies and Chair of Undergraduate Studies at Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario. Her publications include Negotiating Citizenship: Migrant Women in Canada and the Global System (with Daiva Stasiulis), winner of the 2007 Canadian Women’s Studies Association annual book award; Employment Equity Policy in Canada: An Interprovincial Comparison (with Audrey Kobayashi); and Critical Political Studies: Debates and Dialogues from the Left (co-editor with Eleanor MacDonald). Her current research, with Yasmeen Abu-Laban, addresses Israel/Palestine from the perspective of racial contract theory. Abigail Bakan is member of Faculty4Palestine, a committee of the Coalition Against Israeli Apartheid.
Judy Rebick is a well-known social justice activist, writer, journalist, educator and speaker. She just stepped down as the CAW Sam Gindin Chair in Social Justice and Democracy at Ryerson University. She is currently on the media panel for Q on CBC radio, and a former host for CBC Newsworld. She is the founding publisher of rabble.ca, Canada’s progressive independent online multimedia news and discussion site. Judy has been an activist for Palestinian rights over several decades and at Ryerson chaired many discussions on Israel and Palestine. She was also one of eight Jewish women who occupied the Israeli consulate in protest of the attack on Gaza in 2009.
This event is put on by Students Against Israeli Apartheid-Toronto (SAIA-Toronto), a working group of the Ontario Public Interest Research Group-Toronto (OPIRG-Toronto)
Tuesday, March 8, 2-4pm, York University, Student Centre Room 430 (GSA)
Film Screening, "Occupation 101", Featuring Jon Elmer
A thought-provoking and powerful documentary film on the current and historical root causes of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Unlike any other film ever produced on the conflict -- 'Occupation 101' presents a comprehensive analysis of the facts and hidden truths surrounding the never ending controversy and dispels many of its long-perceived myths and misconceptions.
The film also details life under Israeli military rule, the role of the United States in the conflict, and the major obstacles that stand in the way of a lasting and viable peace. The roots of the conflict are explained through first-hand on-the-ground experiences from leading Middle East scholars, peace activists, journalists, religious leaders and humanitarian workers whose voices have too often been suppressed in American media outlets.
The film covers a wide range of topics -- which include -- the first wave of Jewish immigration from Europe in the 1880's, the 1920 tensions, the 1948 war, the 1967 war, the first Intifada of 1987, the Oslo Peace Process, Settlement expansion, the role of the United States Government, the second Intifada of 2000, the separation barrier and the Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, as well as many heart wrenching testimonials from victims of this tragedy.
Jon Elmer is a Canadian journalist that has lived in and reported from the West Bank and Gaza since 2003, currently based in Bethlehem. He is a regular contributor to Al Jazeera English and IPS news agency; his work has appeared in Le Monde diplomatique, The Journal of Palestine Studies and The Progressive, among other publications. His work focuses on liberation movements as well as military and foreign policy, with a particular focus on Canada. He lectures regularly throughout Canada and the United States. For more, http://jonelmer.ca
Tuesday March 8th, 7pm: Ryerson University, George Vari Engineering and Computing Centre (245 Church Street), ENG 103
Film Screening
Jaffa the Oranges Clockwork, By Eyal Sivan
Jaffa, The Orange’s Clockwork is a political essay unfolding the story of the invention and the visual history of the world’s wide famous citrus fruit originated in Palestine and known around the world as "Jaffa oranges". While the orange become the symbol of the Zionist enterprise and of the state of Israel, for Palestinians it symbolizes the lost of their homeland and its destruction.
This event is co-sponsored by the Ryerson Students' Union (RSU).
Wednesday March 9th: Ryerson University Student Centre (55 Gould St)- Thomas Lounge
Lunch and Learn 12pm-2pm
Free Lunch Provided- ASL interpretation will be provided
As articulated by the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, the right to education is a fundamental human right. From Canada, to Sri Lanka, to Palestine, racism, war and occupation continue to obstruct the development of racialized and indigenous communities. In Canada, students continue to be taught Eurocentric curriculums that ignore the colonial history of the Canadian state and its role in oppressing marginalized communities, government underfunding continues to undermine the possibility of equitable and culturally based First Nations Education, and globally, occupation and systematic obstruction of Palestinian education in the West Bank and Gaza Strip hinders any progress towards peace and justice.
This is a panel discussion about the Right to Education at home and abroad and the importance of building links between struggles to ensure that education is not only accessible but equitable for all.
This event is part of Ryerson Students Union’s Global Awareness Week. For more information about this event contact Rodney Diverlus at vp.equity@rsuonline.ca or check out http://rsuonline.ca/equity
Wednesday March 9th: University of Toronto, Bahen Auditorium, Bahen Centre Information Tech (40 St. George Street), Room 1160, 7:30pm
The Cultural and Academic Boycott
Speaker: Judith Butler
Judith Butler is Maxine Elliot Professor in the Departments of Rhetoric and Comparative Literature and the Co-Director of the Program of Critical Theory at the University of California, Berkeley. She received her Ph.D. in Philosophy from Yale University in 1984 on the French Reception of Hegel. Judith Butler is the author of Gender Trouble: Feminism and the Subversion of Identity (Routledge, 1990), Bodies That Matter: On the Discursive Limits of "Sex" (Routledge, 1993), Undoing Gender (2004), Who Sings the Nation-State?: Language, Politics, Belonging (with Gayatri Spivak in 2008), Frames of War: When Is Life Grievable? (2009). She is also active in gender and sexual politics and human rights, anti-war politics, and Jewish Voice for Peace. A founding member of the Russell Tribunal for Palestinian Rights and a board member of the Jenin Theatre. Butler is presently the recipient of the Andrew Mellon Award for Distinguished Academic Achievement in the Humanities.
This event is put on by Students Against Israeli Apartheid-Toronto (SAIA-Toronto), a working group of the Ontario Public Interest Research Group-Toronto (OPIRG-Toronto). Sponsored by the Women and Gender Studies Institute of the University of Toronto.
Space is limited. Please come early to ensure you get a seat. Tickets are not being sold.
Thursday March 10th, 7pm: York University, Stedman Lecture Hall A*
York's Complicity in Apartheid: Art, Culture and Resistance
Speakers: Paul Kellogg, John Greyson and SAIA
Paul Kellogg is an Assistant Professor in the Master of Arts Integrated Studies program at Athabasca University in Alberta. He received his Ph.D. (in Political Studies) from Queen's University, and his M.A. (in Political Science) from York University. While an undergraduate at York, he spent one year as Editor of Excalibur. He has published articles in various journals including the Canadian Journal of Political Science, Contemporary Politics (U.K.), The International Journal of Zizek Studies, New Political Science (U.S.), and Political Studies (U.K.).
John Greyson is a Toronto video artist/filmmaker whose features, shorts and installations include Fig Trees (Best Documentary Teddy, Berlin Film Festival, 2009), Proteus (Diversity Award, Barcelona Gay Lesbian Film Festival, 2004), and Lilies (Best Film 'Genie', 1996). An Associate Professor in Film at York University, he was awarded the 2007 Bell Canada Award in Video Art.
* To be confirmed
Friday March 11th: University of Toronto, OISE Auditorium, OISE (252 Bloor Street W.), G162 (First Floor), 7pm
State of the Siege, State of the Struggle: The case for Boycott Divestment, Sanctions
Speakers: Riham Barghouti and Ali Abunimah
Riham Barghouti is a founding member of the Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel, which is part of the BDS National Committee in Palestine. Riham is also a founding member of Adalah-NY: The New York Campaign for the Boycott of Israel. Adalah-NY has been carrying out a successful boycott campaign against Israel settlement builder Lev Leviev since 2007. Riham lived in Palestine from 1995- 2005, during which time she worked at Birzeit University and earned her Masters in Gender, Law and Development. She also holds a Masters in Education and is currently a teacher in New York City.
Ali Abunimah, a writer and commentator on Middle East and Arab-American affairs, lives in Chicago. His articles have appeared in The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, The Chicago Tribune, The Financial Times, The Philadelphia Inquirer, The Jordan Times, Lebanon's Daily Star and Ha'aretz, among others. He is a frequent guest on local, national and international radio and television programs. Abunimah lectures at colleges in the United States. He was born in the United States and grew up in Europe. Both of his parents are originally from Palestine. Abunimah travels often to the Middle East and is a full-time researcher in social policy at the University of Chicago. Recent book contributions include "No Justice, No Peace," in "The Anti-Capitalism Reader," edited by Joel Schalit. New York: Akashic Books, 2002; "The US Media and the New Intifada" (with Hussein Ibish) in "The New Intifada," edited by Roane Carey. New York: Verso Books, 2001; "The Palestinian Right of Return" (with Hussein Ibish), Washington, DC: ADC, 2001; "The Media's Deadly Spin on Iraq" (with Rania Masri) in "Iraq Under Siege" edited by Anthony Arnove. Cambridge, MA: South End Press, 2002 (Updated Edition).
This event is put on by Students Against Israeli Apartheid-Toronto (SAIA-Toronto), a working group of the Ontario Public Interest Research Group-Toronto (OPIRG-Toronto)
Sunday, March 13th: Israeli Apartheid Week features the Great NDN Bus Tour
In collaboration with the Native Canadian Center of Toronto
12:00 p.m – 3:00 p.m
Location: Departing the the Native Canadian Center (16 Spadina Rd)
The Great Indian Bus Tour is a series of interactive tours being run by the Native Canadian Centre as part of a larger effort to embrace the city's pre-conquest history. The Bus Tours offers the chance to increase awareness and produce a more thorough history about the city`s rich indigenous history, lifestyles, medicines, and forms of government. The duration of the tour is three hours.
Tickets are sliding scale: Requested $10 minimum. Confirmation of your seat is only available upon receipt of cash payment. Limited tickets available so buy your tickets soon!
Tickets can be purchased in person at Israeli Apartheid Week Events from March 7-13th (6:30-9:00pm) and at The Native Canadian Centre of Toronto during that week as well (9am-5pm).
Endorsements:
Toronto IAW 2011 Endorsed by:
Barrio Nuevo
BASICS Free Community Newsletter
Canadian Arab Federation
Caribbean Studies Students’ Union (UofT)
Centre for Women and Trans People at UofT
Centre for Women and Trans People (York)
Coalition Against Israeli Apartheid
Educators for Peace and Justice
Environmental Justice Toronto
Equity Studies Students’ Union (UofT)
Faculty for Palestine
Graduate Geography and Planning Student Society (UofT)
Graduate Students' Association (Ontario Institute of Studies in Education)
Graduate Students’ Association (York University)
Graduate Students’ Union - Social Justice Committee (UofT)
Greater Toronto Workers’ Assembly
Health Studies Students’ Union (UofT)
Holy Land Awareness and Action task group of SW Presbytery in Toronto
Conference of the United Church of Canada
Independent Jewish Voices-Toronto
International Socialists - Toronto
District Labour for Palestine
Latin American and Caribbean Solidarity Network
Moyo Wa Africa
New Socialist Group
No One Is Illegal
Not In Our Name: Jewish Voices Opposing Zionism
Ontario Coalition Against Poverty
Ontario Public Interest Research Group - Toronto
Ontario Public Interest Research Group - York
Palestine House
Public Health Social Justice Collective
Queers Against Israeli Apartheid
Ryerson Free Press
Salaam: Queer Muslim Community
Science for Peace
Socialist Project
SESE Student Caucus
Sikh Activist Network (York)
Toronto Bolivia Solidarity
Toronto Coalition to Stop the War
Teachers for Palestine
Toronto Free School
Toronto Haiti Action Committee
Toronto New Socialists
Ugnayan ng Kabataang Pilipino sa Canada/Filipino Canadian Youth Alliance
United South Asian Students Association at York
University of Toronto Students’ Union
Upping The Anti
Venezuela We Are With You Coalition
Women and Gender Studies Students’ Union (UofT)
York United Black Students' Allicance
York University Free Press
York University Tamil Students Association
Our media sponsor is rabble.ca
