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Dear All, Apologies if you receive duplicate emails.

I am writing to invite you to submit abstracts to our forthcoming conference. Please see below, check our website for updates, post the attachments and forward to anyone who might be interested.
Many thanks and best wishes
Tarnjit

Our Journeys Conference 2011

On October 1st, 2011, SAFAR – This Institute of Sikh Feminist Research will host a one-day conference entitled Our Journeys Conference 2011 at The Centre for Women’s Studies in Education (CWSE), Ontario Institute for Studies in Education of the University of Toronto (OISE), University of Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

Scope of the Conference
The Our Journeys Conference 2011 will explore and challenge past and current constructions concerning Sikhi and gender. With an interdisciplinary approach, this conference intends to examine gendered relations within Sikhi as well as Sikh philosophy regarding social life, gender relations, sexualities, racialized and gendered practices, institutions, cultural productions, theoretical concepts and frameworks, and understanding the application of Sikh philosophy rooted in the past, present and possible insights regarding the future of Sikh thought.

Although academic in scope and orientation, Our Journeys Conference 2011 is deliberately organized to be accessible to a diverse audience and range of interests. The conference will explore the topic of Sikh journeys from a variety of perspectives and disciplines. It is intended to provide a space for the articulation of Sikh feminist visions; intellectual and cultural inquiries; critical reflections on Sikhi and gender; and various modes of Sikh feminist thought, in Punjab, India and in the Diaspora.

Keynote speaker: The renowned Sikh scholar and feminist theologian Prof. Nikky-Guninder Kaur Singh author of The Feminine Principle in the Sikh Vision of theTranscendent, The Birth of the Khalsa: A Feminist Re-memory of Sikh Identity and Sikhism: an Introduction, is the keynote speaker.

Call for Abstracts

Submissions from academics, educators, students, activists, community and independent researchers, those who work in or research this area are welcome. Topics can include (but are not limited to): race, nationhood, class, culture, ability, ecology, politics, theologies, social relations, psychology, sexuality, feminist scholarship, genealogy, transnational and geopolitical topics relating to Sikhism and gender, Sikh the[a]logy, the feminine perspective in the Sikh canon, gender in Sikh institutions, historical Sikh women, gender in social and political history, patriarchy in Sikh communities, Sikh women role models, Sikh liberation theology, Sikhism and social justice, Sikh feminist research methodology, and connecting Sikh theology to activism.

Submission guidelines: Deadline for submission of a 300 word abstract (including citations) is July 1st, 2011. Submissions are to be made on-line, please check the website for updates (www.sikhfeministresearch.org). Successful candidates will be informed by July 31st, 2011. Authors are requested to follow, either APA, MLA or Chicago style guidelines. Abstract submissions should include title, author(s), affiliation(s) and key words. Ethical responsibility: authors are required to follow the ethical guidelines of the Tri-Council Policy Statement and their research institutions when conducting any research. Authors of abstracts accepted for oral presentations are expected to submit manuscripts of their completed papers by October 1st, 2011 for publication in a special issue of the peer-reviewed, academic on-line journal: Sikh Feminist Review. These manuscripts shall undergo a double blind peer review process (details can be found at www.sikhfeministresearch.org). If you have a!
ny questions please contact the editorial board of SAFAR at editorial@sikhfeministresearch.org.

Thank you for considering participation in the Our Journeys Conference, we look forward to seeing you in the fall!

SAFAR – The Sikh Feminist Research Institute – is a not-for-profit dedicated to Sikh feminist scholarship and research. Please visit our website www.sikhfeministresearch.org

Dear friends,

I send below news of a wildcat strike now being staged in Simcoe Ontario by migrant farm workers. As would be expected, rather than looking into the matter of unpaid wages and substandard living quarters – key reasons for the strike – the Canadian state is responding by facilitating the employer’s moves to deport the workers as of tomorrow, November 25.

Please circulate this news as widely as possible to spread the word on 1) the unfair treatment of workers by Ghesquiere Plants Ltd., and 2) a strike that is a major risk most Canadians would not believe migrant workers would be willing to take.

In solidarity,
SV

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Migrant farm workers stage wildcat strike to demand thousands of dollars in unpaid wages: Employer responds with deportation

November 23, 2010

(Simcoe, Ontario) Over a 100 migrant farm workers employed at Ghesquiere Plants Ltd. are facing imminent repatriation (deportation) after staging a wildcat strike to demanding thousands of dollars in unpaid wages.

The migrant workers from Mexico, Jamaica, Trinidad and Barbados came together across racial, linguistic and ethnic lines to organize this wild cat strike and strengthen their collective power. The workers employed by this farm described numerous rights violations and complaints about their living conditions including the following:

• Workers are each owed from $1000 to $6000 in unpaid wages
• Workers are to be evicted and will be homeless as of Thursday, November 25th, 2010
• Most of the Mexican and Trinidadian workers will be repatriated by this Thursday. All Jamaican
workers have been repatriated.
• Electricity and heat has been cut off in one bunk
• Deplorable and very crowed living conditions

Justicia for Migrant Workers (J4MW), a grassroots advocacy migrant rights organization, calls for the immediate payment of all wages owing to workers. Migrant workers employed at Ghesquiere Plant Ltd. are being forced to return home and cannot provide for their families. Repatriation denies them access to pursue legal avenues under federal and provincial laws, basic protections accorded to permanent residents in Canada thus J4MW calls on both levels of government to intervene to protect migrants and prosecute employers who denied these workers basic rights. J4MW stresses that Temporary Foreign Worker Programs such as the Seasonal Agricultural Workers Program denies migrant workers the ability to exert their rights and are in need of an urgent and complete overhaul.

J4MW Contacts

Chris Ramsaroop 1-647-834-4932 or ramsaroopchris@gmail.com
Carolina Alvarado Zuniga 1-647-296-6753

Justicia for Migrant Workers
c/o Workers’ Action Centre
720 Spadina Avenue, Suite 223
Toronto ON M5S 2T9

http://www.facebook.com/l/ef9beV32-HKbbLYpBmAxDdNshJw;www.justicia4migrantworkers.org

http://www.facebook.com/l/ef9beZR58Z0nbAizkEVwFOtz2oQ;www.twitter.com/j4mw

-30-

Kenneth Whyte, publisher and editor-in-chief, Maclean’s,
Cathrin Bradbury, editor-in-chief and general manager, Maclean’s Intelligence Unit,
Mary Dwyer, senior editor, University Rankings,
Philippe Gohier, acting managing editor, Macleans.ca,
Carson Jerema, editor, OnCampus,
Nicholas Kohler, senior writer,
Stephanie Findlay, intern,

and

John A. Honderich, chair, Torstar Corp.,
John D. Cruickshank, publisher, Toronto Star,
Michael Cooke, editor,
Kathy English, public editor,
Louise Brown, education reporter

AN OPEN LETTER

A Call to Eliminate Anti-Asian Racism
November 22, 2010

We, the undersigned, believe that the “Too Asian”? article in the Maclean’s magazine and the “Asian students suffering for success” article in the Toronto Star newspaper, published on November 10, 2010, worked to racially profile and stereotype Asian Canadians as perpetual foreigners in Canada. These articles served to reinforce anti-Asian resentment and antagonism by raising anxieties over Canada’s changing demographics and the emergence of China and India as global powers. Both media outlets generated binary “us” versus “them” distinctions between white and Asian Canadians, consequently inciting racial antipathy and division, instead of fostering a constructive dialogue on diversity and integration.

The articles symbolize the failure of Maclean’s and the Toronto Star to uphold their journalistic and corporate social responsibility. The damaging impact of racial stereotyping and antagonism is far-reaching, not just in the realms of media, business, education, workplace, and the society at large, but also to the targeted ethno-cultural individuals and communities.

Maclean’s and the Toronto Star recycled historical and ongoing depictions of Asians as “yellow and brown perils” that threaten the Canadian social order. These media depictions remind us of past anti-Asian government legislation, programs, and public thinking. The Head Tax and Immigration Exclusion laws, the Continuous Journey regulations, and the World War II Internment targeted the Chinese, South Asian, and Japanese Canadian communities, respectively. In 1979 the CTV television news series W5 portrayed Canadian citizens and permanent residents of Asian descent as “foreigners,” allegedly taking over Canadian educational institutions. We see Maclean’s and the Toronto Star as reinforcing a long and deeply ingrained history of anti-Asian racial anxiety that has led to bigoted profiling and discrimination of Asian Canadians.

The media’s racial distinction of “us” versus “them” works within a troubling understanding of Canada in which white people or those of European descent are considered the sole rightful citizens and beneficiaries of the nation. Such an understanding makes it difficult to conceive of Canadian universities as educational institutions where Asians as well as Aboriginal peoples and other communities of colour, such as African, Caribbean, Latin American, and Middle Eastern peoples, can also belong. Racialized individuals and communities face challenges to their claims of belonging when certain institutions and entitlements are already deemed as not for them.

The media often portray Asian Canadians in homogeneous ways and fail to account for diversity within the group. They do not distinguish among Asians who are Canadian-born, naturalized citizens, newcomer immigrants, or international students. They neglect to consider the varying educational circumstances of Asian Canadians based on income, class, gender, religion, and language. They lump all Asian Canadians together regardless of their ancestral background, whether they are from China, India, Japan, South Korea, the Philippines, Vietnam, or Sri Lanka. Since Maclean’s and the Toronto Star depicted Asian Canadians as a homogeneous model minority, they failed to acknowledge the various structural roots of the academic and social struggles that many Asian Canadian students experience. They also missed seeing how community groups are addressing barriers that hinder their goals and pathways for genuine settlement, integration, and well-being in this country.

Although Asian Canadians have been and continue to be discriminated against by racist media portrayals, government policies, and some public opinion, they also have been actively recruited for their labour and capital. Their labour has been crucial to the development of this nation, ranging from the construction of the Canadian Pacific Railway 125 years ago to the recruitment of temporary workers and live-in caregivers of children and the elderly over the last 25 years. Their financial resources have been keenly sought after, as they are considered economic migrants who could bring investment and entrepreneurial capital, and as international students whose high tuition fees augment the inadequate funding of public education. Many Canadian universities aggressively reach out to and recruit students from Asia.

As such, Asian Canadians are trapped in a perpetual racist contradiction: they are both wanted and unwanted in this country. So long as they provide labour, capital, and expertise to the Canadian economy, they are wanted. However, when they assert their entitlement to human rights, genuine integration, and even education in Canada, their sense of belonging is challenged.

Since the media – as well as educational institutions – have perpetrated racial stereotyping, oppression, and antagonism, they need to change their policies and practices in order to help realize the promise of a truly multicultural Canada.

Therefore, we demand that Macleans’ and the Toronto Star:
• must issue a comprehensive and unqualified public apology to Asian Canadians;
• must engage in public consultations to address racial profiling and stereotyping via their media outlets;
• must implement measurable corporate and editorial anti-racism policies in consultation with relevant community constituents, and must publish the results of their policies annually;
• and, must implement employment equity programs to diversify their corporate and editorial boards and frontline personnel.

We also demand that Canadian institutions of higher education:
• must develop academic programs and courses that explicitly address racism in Canada and the historical and contemporary experiences, representations, and contributions of Asian Canadians;
• must undertake and publish campus climate surveys of racialized students, staff, and faculty;
• and, must establish advocacy and support offices for racialized students, staff, and faculty.

We sign this open letter in solidarity with principles and struggles to eliminate anti-Asian racism.

Sincerely,

The Canadian coalition of concerned community partners to eliminate anti-Asian racism

University of Toronto Students’ Union
Danielle Sandhu, danielle@utsu.ca, and Maria Galvez, maria@utsu.ca

Ryerson Students’ Union

Komagata Maru Heritage Foundation
Harbhajan Gill, komagatamaru@hotmail.com

National Association of Japanese Canadians – Human Rights Committee
Ken Noma, ikuei@sympatico.ca

National Association of Japanese Canadians – Toronto Chapter
Charlotte Chiba, charlotte.chiba@ontario.ca

Philippine Women Centre of Ontario
Joy Sioson, pwc-on@magkaisacentre.org

SIKLAB Ontario

Filipino Canadian Youth Alliance / Ugnayan ng Kabataang Pilipino sa Canada
Kim Abis, kim.abis@gmail.com

Youth Coalition Against Maclean’s
Florence Li, florenceccncto@gmail.com

Asian Canadian Labour Alliance – Ontario Chapter
Anna Liu, aliu@aclaontario.ca, and Chris Ramsaroop, ramsaroopchris@gmail.com

Asian Canadian Labour Alliance – British Columbia Chapter
Lorene Oikawa, lorene.oikawa@bcgeu.ca

Coalition of Black Trade Unionists – Ontario Chapter
Janice Gairey, jgairey@ofl.ca

Latin American Trade Union Coalition
Edgar Godoy, g.edgarsaul@gmail.com

Ontario Council of Agencies Serving Immigrants
Debbie Douglas, ddouglas@ocasi.org

Community Alliance for Social Justice
Rick Esguerra, rick.esguerra@gmail.com

The Left Institute
Frank Saptel info@theleftinstitute.ca

International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers
Dave Ritchie info@iamaw.ca

Canadian Auto Workers

Context and perspective are what we should always keep in mind. This is a wonderful article in that it reminds us of both – frank

John Moore, Special to the National Post · Wednesday, Aug. 18, 2010

You’re shivering in the sharp cold of a winter’s night outside of the hottest club in town. You try your hardest to attract the attention of the doorman. You smile and say clever things to your friends in a raised voice to look more deserving than everyone else in line. Eventually — if you’re lucky — he unclips the velvet rope, the door swings open and you’re swept into the party. He refastens the rope. Now everyone behind you is a sucker.

Every immigrant to Canada thinks he’s the last good newcomer. It’s been like that since the arrival of the first settlers. The natives thought little of the French. After the conquest, the English were reviled as inferior, maladroit rubes. As the countries of origin of our newcomers became more diverse, each new wave was regarded as lazy, grasping, unwashed and unwanted. Trace your family’s roots and not only are you guaranteed to find an immigrant but also likely an ethnic or cultural community that was denigrated in its time.

And how soon we forget it. Every year we throw glorious parades to celebrate the Irish. In the 1850s the Irish were so hated, the city of Toronto struck a committee to figure out how to stop them from destroying the fabric of its culture. George Brown described the travail of being waylaid by Irish beggars in the pages of The Globe and Mail: “They are as ignorant and vicious as they are poor. They are lazy, improvident and unthankful.”

With the arrival of a boat load of Tamil refugees, those of us already inside the velvet rope have a new minority to fear and demonize. The charges are always the same. “They’re terrorists!” one listener to my radio show wrote to me. “And they will import their civil war to Canada.” The listener can be forgiven for forgetting that the Irish spent years fighting out their sectarian conflict in the new world and shaking down ex patriots for money to fund the war at home. One of only two political assassinations in our country’s history — that of Thomas D’Arcy McGee — was carried out by Irish terrorists.

True these might be valid arguments against letting in anyone from a country torn by civil strife, but I wonder how many of those descended from the Irish think it was a terrible mistake to let their forefathers in?

When I described to my listeners how the Italians were tarred following the Second World War and yet today we celebrate the enclaves where they continue to live in large concentrations, a man named Mario texted me: “Yeah but Italians look after their neighbourhoods. These filth have no respect for where they live.” He might want to ask his parents or grandparents how many times they were referred to as “filth” back in the day.

A caller named Marion upbraided me for being out of touch with the spirit of the people. “You pay for these immigrants if you want them. Everybody here is losing everything; their health care [and] the roads are in poor condition.”

One of my colleagues has griped indignantly that by raising our history of intolerance toward newcomers I am necessarily calling anyone with concerns about the arrival of the MV Sun Sea a racist. Not at all. But if Public Security Minister Vic Toews and others who like to stir up panic over this latest arrival of refugees find themselves sharing political terrain with unabashed racists, that’s their burden to shoulder.

This doesn’t mean we don’t need to have an adult conversation about whom we welcome and how we integrate them into our national culture. But as long as people don’t even know what the difference between an immigrant and a refugee is, one has to question just how adult a conversation it’s going to be.

But it is good to be inside the velvet rope isn’t it?

-John Moore is the host of Moore in the Morning on Toronto’s News-Talk1010 AM. His people came from England, Ireland and the United States.

Read more: http://www.nationalpost.com/todays-paper/soon+forget/3411881/story.html#ixzz0wy4APxkK

from Jojo via Arul

FROM THE ASHEN STREETS
The violent events of July 1983 are poignant for the entire Tamil population around the world. Tamils were systematically targeted with violence in Colombo and many other parts of Sri Lanka between July 24th and 29th, 1983. Tamil homes and businesses were burned, looted and destroyed. Tamil people were beaten, killed and burned alive. It was in no doubt an unforgettable and utterly dark period for Tamil people characterized by torturous beatings, extreme violence and indiscriminate killings. Fearing persecution, thousands of Tamils fled the island of Sri Lanka. Read more…

Extrajudicial killings of two lay leaders of Iglesia Filipina Independiente (Philippine Independent Church), Benjamin Bayles and Joselito Agustin, journalists Desiderio Camangyan and Nestor Bedolido, labour union leader Edward Panganiban and farmers Julio Etang and Borromeo Cabilis a month before Noynoy Aquino’s inauguration as president; the murder of Aklan Bayan Muna coordinator Fernando Baldomero, 78-year old farmer Pascual Guevarra, public school teachers Mark Francisco, Edgar Fernandez, and Josephine Estacio in the 10 days following this Philippine president’s inauguration.

Meanwhile the number of jobless and unemployed Filipinos grew to 11.4 million in January 2010, the number of poor families reached 4.7 million and the number of poor Filipinos reached 27.6 million in 2006, national debt has ballooned to P4.36 trillion in February 2010, or more than double the P2.17 trillion debt inherited from the Estrada government.
And President Benigno Aquino III is delivering his first State of the Nation Address on July 26, 2010. What will he say? More importantly, what action will he take?
Join us as we address and push forward people’s rights, social justice,  economic development, national sovereignty

STATE OF THE NATION: THE FILIPINO PEOPLE’S AGENDA
5 PM. Saturday, July 24, 2010
Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, 5th Floor, Rm 5-250
252 Bloor St. West (just above the St. George subway)

Our guest: Dr. Constancio ‘Chandu’ Claver Chairperson, National Organizing Committee, Bayan-Canada
With cultural presentations, solidarity messages, a tribute to people’s heroes, survivors of the state’s human rights violations and a call to action.
Sponsored by: Bayan Canada in Toronto, Migrante Ontario and the Philippine Solidarity Network-Canada
For information:  migrante.ontario@gmail.com or justpeacenet@yahoo.ca

By Carrie Stetler

June 26, 2009, 4:31PM

http://www.nj.com/homegarden/design/index.ssf/2009/06/julia_cooper_commemorative_sta.html

Ms Rebick argues intelligently and passionately in defense of Klein’s position. It is also a position she holds – and I.

I was recently at an event in support of the aforementioned letter (see my post: http://buzzardpress.com/blog/2009/09/15/more-than-a-tiff/) that was interrupted by the Jewish Defense League. They were very politely escorted out. I also know the film maker who rescinded his film from the Toronto International Film Festival. I believe he took a very principled position which will, undoubtedly, cost him a great deal of funding for future movies.

What’s fair is fair and what’s right is right. If anything wrong pops up, we must smack it out of the way. Keep speaking out!

Read more…

forwarded by brother Ali MAllah

http://bdsmovement.net/?q=node/555

Britain’s unions commit to a mass boycott movement of Israeli goods

Posted by RORCoalition on Thu, 09/17/2009 – 13:40
17 September 2009 [Palestine Solidarity Campaign] In a landmark decision, Britain’s trade unions have voted overwhelmingly to commit to build a mass boycott movement, disinvestment and sanctions on Israel for a negotiated settlement based on justice for Palestinians.

The motion was passed at the 2009 TUC Annual Congress in Liverpool today (17 September), by unions representing 6.5 million workers across the UK. Read more…