Sudbury Social Justice News - April 27, 2014

EVENTS & MEETINGS:

1) Monday, April 28: International Day of Mourning for Workers Killed & Injured on the Job - Sudbury
2) Wednesday, April 30: Open Stage for Radicals and Progressives – May Day Theme
3) Thursday, May 1: May Day & Budget Day 2014
4) Thursday, May 1: May Day Movie Night
5) Tuesday, May 6: Town Hall With UK Disability/Anti-Poverty Activist Ellen Clifford
6) Tuesday, May 6: Meeting of Sudbury Cyclists Union

NEWS, ANALYSIS & CALLS TO ACTION:

1) "Fear of migrant workers is xenophobia" by Syed Hussan

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Monday, April 28: International Day of Mourning for Workers Killed & Injured on the Job - Sudbury

Time: 10am to 11:30am
Location: Fraser Auditorium, Laurentian University
 
The International Day of Mourning is observed yearly on April 28th. It commemorates workers who have been killed, injured or suffered illness due to workplace related hazards and incidents.
 
The International Day of Mourning began in Sudbury in 1984. The Canadian Labour Congress officially declared it an annual day of remembrance the following year (1985). With the passing of the Workers Mourning Day Act, in 1990, the day became a national Canadian observance: April 28, 1991, was the first official “National Day of Mourning for persons killed or injured in the workplace”.
 
Since its inception in Sudbury, the observance has spread to over 80 countries around the world. April 28th was chosen because, on that day in 1914, the Workers Compensation Act received its third reading.
 
The purpose of Day of Mourning is twofold- to remember and honour those lives lost or injured and to renew the commitment to improving health and safety in the workplace – to prevent further deaths, injuries and diseases from work. Typically flags are flown at half-mast, and workers and employees observe this day in various ways including: observing moments of silence; lighting candles; and donning ribbons and/or black armbands.

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Wednesday, April 30: Open Stage for Radicals and Progressives – May Day Theme

Time: 8pm – 10pm
Location: Townehouse Tavern, 206 Elgin Street

One Struggle Sudbury presents our fourth monthly Open Stage for Radicals and Progressives on May Day Eve! We’re particularly keen to see May Day-themed contributions this month, but regardless, we want to share politically progressive/radical/revolutionary culture with you. Bring your songs, poems, raps, skits and excerpts. You are welcome to share your own original art, another artist’s work, or pieces that are open to radical interpretation, or you can just come out and enjoy the show. Contributors are needed to make the show all that it can be!

This is a monthly event, so remember the last Wednesday of every month!

An easy way to help with this event is to share it: https://www.facebook.com/events/526832447426797/.

If you would like more information, please contact Rachael Charbonneau at rachaelcharbonneau@vianet.ca or 705-670-1982.

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Thursday, May 1: May Day & Budget Day 2014

Time: 4pm to 1am -- see below for details
Location: The Townehouse Tavern (206 Elgin Street) and The Parkside Centre (140 Durham Street)

Around the world this is International Workers Day... today, in Ontario... it's Budget day. How will we fare? Will this document push us into an election period? Join in and discuss.

4:00pm Budget Reading - Watch with us at the Townehouse, all ages welcome... Join OPSEU Developmental Workers to hopefully celebrate funding for their sector.

6:00pm Movie at The Parkside Centre - The Conditions of The Working Class - Durham St. YMCA...

8:00pm Townehouse to Sing Out... join local musicians and poets to sing music of the people, music of the workers...

ALL AGES ARE WELCOME until 9:00pm... a $5.00 donation is appreciated for the music portion of the evening to help cover the costs of sound tech and pay artists.

Come for an hour... come for the night... bring your crew, unit, brothers, sisters...

This event on Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/events/310935855721633/

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Thursday, May 1: May Day Movie Night

Time: 6pm – 8pm
Location: The Parkside Centre, 140 Durham Street, Kinsmen Room B

The Condition of the Working Class presented by One Struggle Sudbury

“This film is inspired by Engels’ book written in 1844, The Condition of the Working Class in England. How much has really changed since then?

In 2012 a group of working class people from Manchester and Salford come together to create a theatrical show from scratch based on their own experiences and Engels’ book. They have eight weeks before their first performance. The Condition of the Working Class follows them from the first rehearsal to the first night performance and situates their struggle to get the show on stage in the context of the daily struggles of ordinary people facing economic crisis and austerity politics. The people who came together to do the show turned from a group of strangers, many of whom had never acted before, into The Ragged Collective, in little more than two months.

This film, full of political passion and anger, is a wonderful testament to the creativity, determination and camaraderie of working people that blows the media stereotypes of the working class out of the water."

“This is not a film, it’s a rehearsal for revolution.” Film International

Watch the trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=evuKUkU9zGo
Watch and read reviews: http://www.conditionoftheworkingclass.info/media
More substantial of these reviews: http://leftunity.org/film-the-condition-of-the-working-class/

http://www.lenspolitica.net/en/blog/35-working-class-in-a-classless-society

An easy way to help with this event is to share it on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/235067470029078/?ref_dashboard_filter=up...

For more information contact Rachael Charbonneau at rachaelcharbonneau@vianet.ca or 705-670-1982.

 
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Tuesday, May 6: Town Hall With UK Disability/Anti-Poverty Activist Ellen Clifford

Time: 7 pm
Location: Kinsmen Room A of the Parkside Older Adult Centre (140 Durham Street, Sudbury)

The Sudbury Coalition Against Poverty (S-CAP) will be hosting Ellen Clifford from Disabled People Against the Cuts (DPAC) of the UK at a Town Hall meeting on Tuesday, May 6, 2014.  This is part of an Ontario-wide speaking tour organised by the Raise the Rates Campaign that will be visiting Toronto, Kitchener, Sudbury, North Bay, Kingston and Ottawa.  

Who is DPAC:  The Cameron Government in the UK has implemented brutal cuts to programs for unemployed and disabled people.  This includes a system called the Work Capability Assessment that has been used to deny benefits to thousands of people. Disabled People Against Cuts (DPAC) is an organization in the UK that has been at the forefront of challenging this situation.  It has mobilized disabled people to fight back and formed alliances with community organizations and unions in resisting the austerity measures of the Cameron Government.  The hated private company, Atos, that was carrying out the assessments of sick and disabled people has been forced to quit as a result of the powerful resistance DPAC and others have taken up.

Here in Ontario, we also face major attacks. Ontario Works (Welfare) and ODSP (Disability) rates are too low to enable people to pay their rent and eat properly. The Special Diet and Community Start Up have been slashed by the Ontario Liberal government. And now, based on recent reports, there is a very real threat that the Government here will now move to merge OW and ODSP and bring in a UK style assessment system.  We need to understand what is happening elsewhere and how people are fighting back and winning against the attacks. Austerity is global – but so is our resistance.

Ellen Clifford has been campaigning with the disabled people’s movement for 15 years and, since 2011, has sat on the National Steering Committee of DPAC.  She is also a member of Unite the Union and works to build solidarity between workers in unions and those forced to live on social benefits.

Everyone is welcome to join us. A light snack will be served.

For more information, please visit the SCAP website at sudburycap.com or reach us by phone at 249.878.7227 or by e-mail at sudburycap@gmail.com.

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Le 6 mai prochain La coalition anti-pauvreté de Sudbury reçoit l’activiste Ellen Clifford du mouvement britannique contre les coupures aux prestations d’invalidité, Disabled People Against the Cuts (DPAC). Il y aura une réunion publique à la salle Kinsmen A du centre Parkside Older Adult Centre, rue Durham à 19 h. Tout le monde est le bienvenu.  Une légère collation sera servie.

Le mouvement DPAC.   Le gouvernement Cameron au Royaume-Uni a fait des coupures draconiennes aux programmes pour les sans-emplois et les personnes handicapées. Cela comprend un système de réévaluation axée sur l’aptitude au travail qui a servi à refuser des prestations d’invalidité à des milliers et des milliers de gens.  Le mouvement Disabled People Against the Cuts est l’un des groupes menant la lutte contre cette situation. Il a organisé la résistance des personnes handicapées et bâti des liens avec des organismes communautaires et syndicaux pour combattre les mesures d’austerité du gouvernement Cameron. La compagnie privée ATOS détestée en raison de ses réévaluations des gens malades et handicapées a été obligée de démissionner à cause de la forte opposition menée par DPAC et ses alliés.

En Ontario nous aussi faisons face à des attaques importantes.  Les taux de l’aide sociale (Ontario au travail, OT) et de l’invalidité (Programme ontarien du soutien aux personnes handicapées) sont trop bas pour permettre aux récipiendaires de payer leur loyer ou manger comme il faut.  Le gouvernement libéral a sabré dans les prestations pour régime alimentaire spécial et éliminé le soutien au loyer (Prestation pour l’établissement d’un nouveau domicile et le maintien dans la collectivité). Et selon des rapports récents il y a la menace bien réelle de l’adoption d’un système de réévaluation à la britannique par le gouvernement. C’est pour cela qu’il est nécessaire de comprendre ce qui arrive ailleurs au monde et comment on mobilise l’opposition à ces attaques pour bâtir une résistance efficace.

Ellen Clifford milite au sein du mouvement des personnes handicapées au Royaume-Uni depuis 15 ans.  Elle siège au comité de direction nationale de DPAC depuis 2011.  Elle est aussi membre du regroupement Unite the Union et travaille à bâtir des liens de solidarité entre les travailleurs syndiqués et ceux qui sont obligés à vivre sur l’aide sociale. Sa visite a lieu dans le cadre d’une tournée ontarienne organisée par la campagne pour une augmentation du salaire minimum et une hausse des taux de l’aide sociale.  La tournée se rendra à Toronto, Kitchener, Sudbury, North Bay, Ottawa et Kingston entre autres.

Pour de plus amples renseignements, veuillez contacter S-CAP au 249-878-7227.

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Tuesday, May 6: Meeting of Sudbury Cyclists Union

Time: 7pm to 9pm
Location: reThink Green (Suite 305, 176 Larch Street, Sudbury)
 
Agenda TBA.
 
This event on Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/events/600471723355643/

NEWS, ANALYSIS & CALLS TO ACTION:

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"Fear of migrant workers is xenophobia"
by Syed Hussan
(From Huff Post Politics. For lots of links and background, see: http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/syed-hussan/foreign-workers-canada_b_520018...)