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The Centre for Social Concern Calendar of
Events & Speakers
The Centre for Social Concern is proud to
present its 2007/2008 speaker series. The Centre welcomes
and encourages questions, suggestions and concerns. If you have a
connection to a certain speaker, know of a social justice issue of
particular concern, or want to make a general inquiry then please contact
us.
All events are offered with no admission fee and hosted
on King's University College campus unless stated otherwise. Click here
for maps and
directions.
The Centre for Social Concern now
administrates the London Activist
Network (LAN). The LAN is an e-list comprised of concerned students,
workers, parents, teachers and residents of London, Ontario. By coming
together we can strengthen the community through education and support.
The environment, human rights, peace, politics, education, whatever the
cause may be we need to keep well informed of the issues at hand. The LAN
is a great way to stay informed of issues of justice, to find out about
local events and what local groups are doing to create positive social
change. To sign up Email
us!!
The Centre for Social Concern's Annual Speaker
Series event list for the 2007/2008 academic year:
| Thursday,
September 20, 2007 |
Economic Alternatives in Guatemala |
| Monday,
September 24, 2007 |
Electoral Reform in Ontario |
| Friday,
September 28, 2007 |
Torture Survivor: Neris Ganzalez
|
| Monday, October
1, 2007 |
War Resisters
|
| Monday, October
29, 2007 |
Benamar Benatta |
| Wednesday,
October 31, 2007 |
Kevin Annett: Genocide in Canada |
| Friday, November
9, 2007 |
Mark
Bérubé and the Fugitives |
| Monday, November
12, 2007 |
Len Desroches |
| November 15-19,
2007 |
School of the Americas Protest |
| Tuesday,
November 27, 2007 |
Fair Trade and the Solidarity
Economy |
| Monday, January
21, 2008 |
Solidarity for Ethiopian Political Prisoners |
| Monday, February 4,
2008 |
Wealth,
Poverty and Inequality |
| Monday, February 4,
2008 |
Clean Energy Initiatives |
| Tuesday, March 4,
2008 |
Ted Schmidt |
| Monday, March 10,
2008 |
Marina Nemat: Prisoner of
Tehran |
| Tuesday, March 18,
2008 |
Investing in
Conflict |
| Wednesday, March
19, 2008 |
Monseñor Romero Vive! Monsignor
Romero Lives! |
| Postponed |
Indigenous Perspectives: Mining in Guyana |
Rosa Nelly Garcia Corado:
Economic Alternatives in Guatemala
Thursday, September 20, 2007 @ 1:00pm Location:
Wemple Student Lounge Extension
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Rosa Nelly García Corado
is
Acting Manager and delegate of Asociación para el Desarrollo Integral
de las Comunidades Populares en Resistencia de Petén (ADI CPR-P). She
is touring Quebec and
Ontario
to exchange information with unions, co-operatives, educational and
other organizations concerning local market economies, fair trade
commerce, and other aspects of her organization’s activities in
Guatemala.
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Electoral
Reform in Ontario
Speakers Include:
Darcie Beckley, Ontario Citizens' Assembly for
Elgin-Middlesex-London
Dr. Hugh Mellon, Professor of Political Science, King's University
College
Monday, September 24, 2007 @ 7:00pm
Location: Wemple Student Lounge
Do Canadians actually have representative democracy?In the
2006 federal election, more than 650,000 Green Party voters across
the country elected no one. Meanwhile, fewer than a half-million
Liberal voters in Atlantic Canada alone elected 20 MPs. In the
prairie provinces, Conservatives won three times as many votes as
the Liberals, but were given nearly ten times as many seats. But
more than 400,000 Conservative voters in Toronto, Montreal and
Vancouver couldn't elect a single MP. The NDP attracted a million
more votes than the Bloc, but the voting system gave the Bloc 51
seats and the NDP 29.
Using the existing electoral system, called
"first-past-the-post", a party can win just 40% of the votes, get
60% of the seats, and 100% of the power. In fact, Ontario has not
had a government elected by a majority of voters since 1937.
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On October 10, 2007, Ontarians will vote in a
referendum to give future generations what we have never had: a
truly democratic voting system. An Ontario where all voters are
equal, all votes count, election outcomes are fair and governments
represent the majority.
This evening r epresentatives from
Vote For Mixed Member
Proportional will lead a discussion and answer questions on the
current electoral system in Ontario and Canada, the Mixed Member
Proportional System, and the coming referendum. |
School of the Americas
Watch London:
Torture Survivor Neris Gonzalez
Friday, September 28, 2007 @ 7:00pm
Location: Labatt Hall, LH100
King's University College
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Neris Gonzalez was a young Salvadoran
church worker who was eight months’ pregnant when the National Guard
abducted her in 1979. Tortured for several days, raped and stomped
on, Gonzales was forced to watch another prisoner’s torture and
execution. She was finally dumped in the back of a truck full of
corpses and left for dead. She managed to crawl to freedom, but her
son died two months after being born.
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Breaking Ranks:
War Resisters Support Group, London
Monday, October 1, 2007 @ 7:00pm
Location: Wemple Student Lounge Extension
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Breaking Ranks is a documentary
about the plight of four U.S. soldiers seeking sanctuary in Canada
as part of their resistance to the war in Iraq. The film documents
their experiences as they try to exercise their consciences amidst
profound emotional, ethical and international consequences. Filmed
over the course of the refugee process, this provocative film
explores the meaning of duty through the powerful testimonies of
these young soldiers.
War
Resisters Suppoort Group member Beth Guthrie, as well as
a war resister, will be present to answer questions and lead a
discussion following the film. |
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Benamar Benatta:
Victim of Post-9/11 Racial Profiling
Monday, October 29, 2007 @ 7:00pm Location: Wemple
Student Lounge
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Benamar Benatta is a 33
year old Algerian citizen who trained as an aeronautical engineer. He
came to North America to flee political persecution and threats to his
life while serving in the Algerian Armed Forces. On September 5, 2001
Mr. Benatta crossed the border into Canada and claimed political
asylum. His biggest fear was being returned to Algeria where he was
certain to be tortured or killed for deserting the military. Canadian
authorities put Mr. Benatta into immigration detention while they
tried to ascertain his identity.
While in Canadian custody and unbeknown to Mr. Benatta, terrorists
attacked the World Trade Centre in New York City and other targets on
September 11, 2001. Canadian officials alerted U.S. officials to the
presence of Mr. Benatta, presumably because he is a Muslim man who
knows something about airplanes. Without a hearing, without counsel
and without conducting proceedings in his first language (French), Mr.
Benatta was unceremoniously driven over the border in the back of a
car by Canadian officials and handed over to U.S. officials on
September 12, 2001. This was an illegal transfer. This action by
Canadian officials was the beginning of a long nightmare for Mr.
Benatta.
Mr. Benatta was held in the Metropolitan Detention Centre in
Brooklyn, New York, where he was treated as a suspect in the September
11, 2001 terrorist attacks. He was beaten. He was abused. He was held
in conditions that the United Nations described as torture. He was
forgotten.
Mr. Benatta was actually cleared of any terrorist activity by the
FBI in November 2001; however, he was never told that he was cleared
because he was being held incommunicado and did not have access to a
lawyer.
In all, Mr. Benatta, an innocent man, spent nearly FIVE years of
his life in American prisons in conditions that could be described as
torture as found by the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention in an
Opinion adopted in 2004. Mr. Benatta also suffered serious abuse at
the hands of his prison guards, which is documented by the U.S.
Department of Justice. The Canadian Government, various agencies and
government officials all bear some measure of responsibility for Mr.
Benatta’s ordeal. Mr. Benatta has been allowed to return to Canada to
resume his claim for refugee status. His application is pending. He is
trying to get his life back. He is trying to find out the truth about
why this happened to him. |
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Genocide in Canada:
Kevin Annett
Wednesday, October 31, 2007 @12.00pm
Location: Wemple Student Lounge
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Read and Hear the
truth of Genocide in Canada, past and present, at:
www.hiddenfromhistory.org
...
... and on this radio program: "Hidden from History", every Monday
from 1-2 pm (PST) on CFRO 102.7 FM (www.coopradio.org)
(Vancouver)
"When the desire for Truth and Virtue becomes the only bias in our
mind, only then can we know in ourselves what is right."
- Peter Annett, Humanist and dissident, 1769 (jailed
and persecuted by the Church of England for his questioning of the
Bible and the church) |
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Mark Bérubé
and the Fugitives
performing their captivating and provocative songs, music and poetry
Friday, November 9, 2007 @ 9:30pm Location: Wemple
Student Lounge
Cover: $10 at the door*
Cash Bar
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If you are a
thoughtful, intellectually engaged, critically conscious student,
you won’t want to miss the opportunity to hear, meet and mingle with
this amazing group of artists. If you are of an older vintage, you
won’t want to miss the opportunity to hear echoes of some of your
formative musical influences in the music that currently claims the
passion of thoughtful, intellectually engaged, critically conscious
youth! The music, lyrics, and “spoken word” of the Fugitives touch
the souls of all who are socially reflective, whatever their
generation. One astute reviewer described the Fugitives as “a
powerhouse of artistic and musical expression...that’s right:
powerhouse.”
This event
marks a new departure from the typical lecture format of The Centre
for Social Concern, underlining the fact the social reflection can
be elicited not only didactically but can be invited through art and
performance in music, song and poetry.
Please come
out for an unforgettable evening of fun and entertainment.
*Part of the
proceeds of this event will help support overseas placements for
students in the Social Justice and Peace Studies program.
For more
information, please see attachments
http://www.myspace.com/markberubemusic
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Len
Desroches
Author of: Allow the Water and Love of Enemy: The Cross & Sword
TrialTitle:
"Nonviolence as a Powerful Force" 7:00PM - Monday, November 12, 2007 Location: Wemple Student Lounge (Copies of Love of Enemy: The
Cross & Sword Trail will be available for purchase for
$20)
School of the Americas
Protest
November 15-19, 2007 Location: Fort
Benning, Georgia, USA
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School of the Americas
Protest
SOA Watch is an independent organization
that seeks to close the US Army School of the Americas, under
whatever name it is called, through vigils and fasts, demonstrations
and nonviolent protest, as well as media and legislative
work.
On November 16, 1989, six Jesuit priests, their
co-worker and her teenage daughter were massacred in El Salvador. A
U.S. Congressional Task Force reported that those responsible were
trained at the U.S. Army School of the Americas (SOA) at Ft.
Benning, Georgia.
Over its 59 years, the SOA has trained over
60,000 Latin American soldiers in counterinsurgency techniques,
sniper training, commando and psychological warfare, military
intelligence and interrogation tactics. These graduates have
consistently used their skills to wage a war against their own
people. Among those targeted by SOA graduates are educators, union
organizers, religious workers, student leaders, and others who work
for the rights of the poor. Hundreds of thousands of Latin Americans
have been tortured, raped, assassinated, “disappeared,” massacred,
and forced into refuge by those trained at the School of
Assassins.
King's University College students and other UWO
students, professors and London Community members have participated
in the annual protest. This year will be the fifth time London will
have representation at the protest. | For more
information: SOA and the protest: http://www.soaw.org/Official WHINSEC
website: https://www.infantry.army.mil/whinsec/index.aspFor
London community involvement or to join the London group heading to the
protest please send a message to Bernie Hammond at:
bhammond@uwo.ca.
Fair Trade and the Solidarity
Economy
Tuesday, November 27, 2007 @ 7:00pm
Location: Dante Lenardon Hall, Room 112
Speaker: Leocadio Juracan
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Interested in Fair Trade?
Looking for alternatives to the
current global corporate system?
Come and hear LEOCADIO JURACAN a peasant indigenous leader
from the Highlands of Guatemala. He is Fair Trade coordinator and
national representative, Campesino Committee of the Highlands -
CCDA (a movement that defends the lands and culture of the Mayan
peoples in Guatemala). He will speak about the impact of free
trade and the Mayan alternative: community development based on
Fair Trade.
CAFÉ JUSTICIA (Justice Coffee), the amazing Fair
Trade Plus organic coffee produced by Leocadio’s Mayan cooperative
will be available for purchase. |
Solidarity for Ethiopian
Political Prisoners
Monday, January
21, 2008 @ 7:00pm Location: Wemple Student Lounge
Speaker: Aklilu Wendaferew
SOCEPP-
Canada is a community based non-profit organization which
advocates for the respect and protection of human rights in
Ethiopia and elsewhere. Over the years, SOCEPP Canada has
compiled records of numerous violations with extensive evidence
and duly exposed such violations to policymakers in Canada and
elsewhere. The organization has participated in Human Rights
Consultations sponsored by Department of Foreign Affairs, worked
very closely with Canadian parliamentarians, and campaigned for
the protection of Human and Democratic Rights in Ethiopia.
They have organized a number of discussion forums on Human Rights
issues including taking an active role in the recent roundtable on
human and political rights in Ethiopia held on May 04, 2007 in
Ottawa. The roundtable was organized in partnership with AI
Canada, Canadian Peace Coordinating Committee, Sub-Sahara Group
and Partnership Africa Canada.
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Wealth, Poverty and Inequality
Location: Wemple Student Lounge
Monday, February 4, 2008 @ 12:30pm
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A Participatory Workshop which considers the
dynamics between these three realities and invites participants to
consider practical ways of affecting change.
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Please contact Amy for more
information:
ahogervorst@safp.org • (519) 672-1115 (8:30-4:30, M-F)
This Initiative was undertaken with the financial
support of the Government of Canada provided through the Canadian
International Development Agency (CIDA) and also supported by Save A
Family Plan Canada, The Ontario Council for International
Cooperation and The Centre for Social Concern, King’s University
College.
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Speakers: Mike Farlow,
Connie Cook, Craig Rathburn and Craig Cook
Location: Wemple Student Lounge
Extension
Monday, February 4, 2008 @ 7:00pm
Climate change,
caused by the burning of oil, coal and gas, threatens to devastate
everything from food and water supplies to the pattern of human
settlement. It is often the most marginalized people who are the
most adversely affected by the consequences of environmental
destruction.
Taking the responsibility for conservation into their own hands,
several residents of southwestern Ontario have started projects
aimed at reducing their energy consumption, generating power for
private consumption and reducing their reliance on Ontario Power.
Connie Cook will discuss the basic conservation measures her
family (and everyone else) can implement to reduce their consumption
of electricity (and other resources) to the point where they can
implement a renewable energy system and go off the grid.
Mike Farlow will discuss the building a home made wind
turbine (based on the Hugh Piggott design) at a fraction of the cost
of buying one (please visit
www.scoraigwind.co.uk and
www.windchasers.ca).
Craig Rathburn will discuss the building of the EV2 Electric
Jeep, and outline some of the factors that led to its remarkable
performance (click on this YouTube
link
and search for the "EV2 electric jeep" to see several film clips of
this vehicle).
Craig Cook will complete the session by discussing his
project to build a zero emissions home, and how all of the
previously discussed topics can be coordinated to make this
possible.Wind Chasers,
a local grassroots group that meets on Saturdays in Tillsonburg to
share ideas and skills, is now helping others to construct their own
turbines, thereby spreading the potential for more houses to
generate their own clean energy and reduce their consumption of
dirty Ontario Power.
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Indigenous Perspectives:
Mining in
Guyana
Speaker: Emily Wilson
Location: Wemple Student Lounge
Event postponed
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| Since the early
1990s, the government of Guyana has promoted mining as a central
economic development strategy. Most mining takes place in the
country's interior, on or near the ancestral lands of Guyana's
Indigenous Peoples. While the mining industry employs many
indigenous people, the social and environmental impacts on members
of indigenous communities - in particular women - are numerous.
Impacts are exacerbated by the limited legal protection of
indigenous people under Guyanese law, and the lacking human,
technical and financial capacities to enforce existing laws and
monitor mining in the interior. |
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Emily Wilson, an
artistic activist with a grant from the Ontario Council for
International Co-operation, traveled to Guyana to produce a film
which documents the perspectives of Guyanese Amerindians on the
issue of consultation within the mining sector, thus giving voice to
a set of people who have so far been silenced. The film also
offers a case study by focusing on a group of indigenous communities
affected by Canadian mining companies
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Following a screening of
her film Emily will lead a discussion on the role of Canadian mining
companies abroad, and the situation in Guyana.
Screening of this film has been delayed due to editing issues.
Please visit www.undermined.ca
for further information and updates on the status of this
production. |
Journeys to the Heart of
Catholicism
Speaker: Ted Schmidt
Location: Wemple Student Lounge
Tuesday, March 4, 2008 @ 7:00pm
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In the twenty chapters on the
institutional church the author weaves together two kinds of
stories, critiques of the Church he so obviously loves and accounts
of his heroes who have stood out in their call to society and the
Church’s leadership to live by Christ’s call to aid the poor, those
who mourn and demand peace. This is no pious rant against those who
would turn our Church back to a “Church of the little flock”, rather
it is as hard hitting, blunt and honest account of where and how the
Church has lacked the courage to read and respond to the “signs of
the times” and to listen to its prophets.
John Borst, Tomorrow’s Trust: A
Review of Catholic Education, November 17, 2007
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Ted Schmidt,
award-winning columnist and former editor of the Catholic New Times,
pioneered Holocaust education in
Canada. He
also runs his own blog at
http://theologyinthevineyard.wordpress.com/
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Prisoner of
Tehran
Speaker: Marina Nemat
Location: Wemple Student Lounge
Monday, March 10, 2008 @ 7:00pm
In 1982, sixteen-year-old Marina Nemat was arrested on
false charges by Iranian Revolutionary Guards and tortured in
Tehran’s notorious Evin prison. At a time when most teenaged
girls are choosing their prom dresses, Nemat was having her feet
beaten by men with cables and listening to gunshots as her
friends were being executed. She was condemned to die, but
survived because one of the guards, whose family was
well-connected to the Khomeini regime, pleaded for her life. But
the price Ali exacted was high: Nemat, a fervent Christian,
would have to convert to Islam and marry him.
Soon Nemat found herself being welcomed lovingly into the
family of her husband and captor. She learned that Ali was not
the monster his actions suggested; that although he was an
interrogator in an evil regime, he was also a beloved son and
brother who truly believed his unwilling wife would come to love
him.
Marina Nemat’s nightmare ended when members of a rival
political faction assassinated Ali. She was returned to prison
but, ironically, it was Ali’s family who eventually secured her
release. She rejoined her own family but was further traumatized
by their reluctance to acknowledge her ordeal. She found solace
with the young man who had waited for her; they married and
emigrated to Canada.
An extraordinary tale of faith and survival, Prisoner of
Tehran is a testament to the power of love in the face of
evil and injustice.
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Investing in
Conflict:
North American Mining Companies, Trickle Down
"Development,"
and Environmental Destruction
Speaker: Dawn Paley
Location: Wemple Student Lounge
Tuesday, March 18, 2008 @ 7:30pm
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Conflicts around Canadian-U.S. mining projects in Central America
have accelerated since the first recent open pit mines were
initiated in Honduras in 2000. What are the causes of these
conflicts? Who benefits from these mining operations, and who pays?
What is the role of North Americans – governments, private sector
and citizens - in allowing these conflicts to continue, and how can
we help bring them to and end? |
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Dawn Paley
is an independent journalist and organizer from Vancouver, currently
based in San Marcos, Guatemala. She has been researching and
writing about the effects of Canadian and U.S. mining projects on
the development, enviro- and human
rights of people in Southern Mexico, Central and South America for
the last five years. Dawn writes for the Dominion Paper, and
recently contributed to "Extraction!"; a graphic novel about
Canadian extractive companies around the world.
This event is brought to you by
Rights Action, and
co-sponsored by the Latin American Canadian Solidarity Association. |
Monseñor Romero Vive!
– Monsignor Romero
Lives!
El Salvador: 28 years after a martyr’s
death
Speaker:
Rev. Roberto Pineda
Location:
Wemple Student Lounge
Wednesday, March 19, 2008 @ 7:00pm
| Sixteen years
after the end of its civil war, El Salvador continues its struggle
in search of peace. Currently, Salvadorans live under the
oppressive effects of the neo-liberal agenda that has further
polarized its social classes through free trade agreements and
repressive laws that impede genuine progress from grassroots
movements. Rev. Roberto Pineda is a Lutheran Church Pastor
and a member of the popular church movement that has rescued
Monsignor Romero’s legacy to look after the disadvantaged. Rev.
Pineda will be heading a speaking tour across Ontario, in which he
will expose a vision of the current situation of El Salvador .
This event is brought to you in cooperation with LACASA (Latin
American – Canadian Solidarity Association) & COSPES (Committee of
Solidarity with the People of El Salvador ). |
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Some of the previous year's speaker presentations and forums have been
recorded and are available in the G. Emmett Cardinal Carter Library on the
King's University College Campus. Not all previous events have been
recorded but a list is of available recordings is on file in the library
for borrowing purposes.
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