Sudbury Social Justice News - January 24, 2015

EVENTS & ACTION:

1) Sunday, January 25: Inaugural Meeting of S-CAP 3 Defense Committee
2) Monday, January 26: Meeting of Sudbury Coalition Against Poverty
3) Tuesday, January 27: A Discussion of Carbon Pricing
4) Wednesday, February 4: Support the S-CAP 3 in Court!
5) Thursday, February 19: Meeting of Sudbury working-group of The Media Co-op
6) Thursday, February 19: Classroom Closet Conference 2015
7) Sunday, March 1: Strategy and Campaign Planning Workshop with Chris Dixon
8) Monday, March 2: Another Politics: Talking Across Today's Transformative Movements

NEWS, ANALYSIS & CALLS TO ACTION:
1) "Against Policing: A First Critical Conversation in Sudbury" by Scott Neigh

(1)(1)(1)(1)(1)(1)(1)(1)(1)(1)(1)(1)(1)(1)(1)

Sunday, January 25: Inaugural Meeting of S-CAP 3 Defense Committee

Time: 2:30pm
Location: Offices of the Sudbury and District Labour Council (Suite 209 upstairs in 109 Elm Street, which is across the street from the Native Friendship Centre)

HOW YOU CAN SUPPORT THE S-CAP 3:

S-CAP is initiating the S-CAP 3 Defence Committee, open to anybody who supports the S-CAP 3 in getting the charges dropped and the draconian non-association condition lifted immediately. Our first meeting will be Sunday January 25th at 2:30pm at the Sudbury and District Labour Council office - 109 Elm St. suite 209 (across from the Friendship Center).

The S-CAP 3 will have their first court appearance at the Court House at 155 Elm St. on Wednesday February 4th at 9:30am, in courtroom B. We are asking that everybody attend in support!

WHAT HAPPENED?

On the night of Monday January 12th, with temperatures dipping below -30 degrees Celsius, three members of the Sudbury Coalition Against Poverty (S-CAP) were unjustly arrested at the Emergency Out-of-the-Cold Shelter on 200 Larch St. while supporting an individual banned from using the shelter for arbitrary reasons. These arbitrary exclusions are not supposed to happen at this shelter, which was set up by the City only after campaigns by S-CAP and other anti-poverty activists. Unfortunately, this shelter has increasingly become another Salvation Army Shelter. Six members of S-CAP went to the shelter at 8pm that night with the intention of having a conversation with Salvation Army shelter staff to see if the banned individual could return to the shelter or if other arrangements could be made since this person had no other warm place to sleep.

Members of S-CAP were at the shelter doing our day-to-day direct action support work helping people in their struggles to get their needs met. They were not there to protest and did not escalate the situation. Unfortunately, Salvation Army staff was not willing to listen to our concerns and they immediately called the police. Within a couple minutes of police arriving, they announced that those of us still in the building would be under arrest. When S-CAP members stated that they were going to wait until a solution was found for the individual we were supporting, the police grabbed one woman and proceeded to make the first of three arrests. The police used unnecessary and excessive force in arresting the three S-CAP members and especially the first woman they grabbed, and did not give the group a chance to leave the building after they had threatened arrest. One person was even arrested on the sidewalk outside the building after they had left the building, and another after she had left the building but looked back to see what was happening.

The S-CAP 3 have been charged with trespassing and causing a disturbance with a draconian non-association condition imposed on them, preventing the three from speaking to one another, even indirectly.

The Salvation Army staff and the police were responsible for escalating the situation. The staff showed their lack of openness to hearing problems with the service they are offering, and the police showed their readiness to repress even small scale collective political action. It was the major response of the police that caused the disruption at the shelter that night. In making these arrests and imposing the non-association condition, the police are effectively criminalizing supporting people living in poverty. This is unacceptable! The police clearly took the side of those who would have people living in poverty forced out into the cold by siding with the restrictive Salvation Army. S-CAP and supporters are fighting against these restrictions and calling for the immediate dropping of all charges against the S-CAP 3!

For more information contact S-CAP at 249-878-7227 or SudburyCAP@gmail.com

This event on Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/events/913928431974420/

(2)(2)(2)(2)(2)(2)(2)(2)(2)(2)(2)(2)(2)(2)(2)

Monday, January 26: Meeting of Sudbury Coalition Against Poverty

Time: 6:30pm
Location: Offices of the Sudbury and District Labour Council (Suite 209 upstairs in 109 Elm Street, which is across the street from the Native Friendship Centre)

The venue is wheelchair accessible. Children are welcome to attend, or childcare support is available upon request.

Matters to be discussed include: Defence of the S-CAP 3, the Sudbury by-election and protests against Wynne and Thibeault; the Out of the Cold shelter; CHPI exceptional circumstances

funding; the SAMS computer crisis; access to Handi-Transit; the City Council meeting on Jan. 27th, the Raise the Rates campaign, discussion on policing with other activists, Another Politics book tour, and our direct action support work.

S-CAP is a direct-action anti-poverty organization based in Sudbury, Ontario, Canada. We provide direct-action support work assisting individuals in their struggles with welfare and ODSP, housing, employers, and others who deny people what they are entitled to in order to meet their needs. In addition, we mount campaigns against and support educational work about regressive government policies as they effect working people and people living in poverty. We believe in the power of people to organize themselves. We believe in the power of resistance!

La coalition contre la pauvreté de Sudbury (S-CAP) est un organisme d’action directe luttant contre la pauvreté. Elle se trouve à Sudbury en Ontario.

Le travail de la coalition se base dans l’action directe et consiste à apporter de l’aide aux individus dans leurs luttes pour l’assistance sociale, l’invalidité, le logement, l’emploi et à les aider à faire face aux gens qui leur refusent ce à quoi ils ont droit pour rencontrer leurs besoins. De plus, la coalition fait des compagnes de sensibilisation et de dénonciation par rapport aux politiques gouvernementales régressives quant à leurs effets sur les travailleurs et travailleuses et les personnes vivant dans la pauvreté.

La coalition croit au pouvoir des personnes de s’organiser elles-mêmes; elle croit au pouvoir de la résistance!

Please call us 249-878-7227

Email us at sudburyCAP@gmail.com

Website http://sudburycap.com/

S-CAP on Facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/groups/257339454351403/
 

(3)(3)(3)(3)(3)(3)(3)(3)(3)(3)(3)(3)(3)(3)(3)

Tuesday, January 27: A Discussion of Carbon Pricing

Time: 6:30pm to 9pm
Location: Cambrian College Open Studio (Unit 303, 93 Cedar Street, Sudbury)

Citizens' Climate Lobby in Sudbury are delighted to invite you to share an evening with us about carbon pricing.

6:30 to 7:30 - Candidates in the bi-election discuss carbon pricing with our moderator, Gerry Labelle. Discussion will be broadcasted and recorded via Google Hangout and You Tube. Media will be invited.

7:30 to 9:00 - Sudburians will then watch a Carbon Pricing Forum moderated by Stephen Lewis live from Toronto.

 
(4)(4)(4)(4)(4)(4)(4)(4)(4)(4)(4)(4)(4)(4)(4)

Wednesday, February 4: Support the S-CAP 3 in Court!

Time: 9:30am
Location: Court Room B, Sudbury Court House (155 Elm Street, Sudbury)

This will be the first court appearance for the S-CAP 3. Please come at 9:30am sharp and show your support!

(5)(5)(5)(5)(5)(5)(5)(5)(5)(5)(5)(5)(5)(5)(5)

Thursday, February 19: Meeting of Sudbury working-group of The Media Co-op

Time: 10am to noon
Location: Main branch of the Greater Sudbury Public Library (74 Mackenzie Street, Sudbury)
 
At this meeting, we'll continue working on our collaboration with the Sudbury Coalition Against POverty for events in March with visiting author and organizer Chris Dixon; our collaboration with the Sudbury and District Labour Council for a media-related training for local labour activists; and our ongoing work to find a wide-range of interesting and original local content to publish on our site.
 
We encourage anyone and everyone who might be interested in making media themselves, or who recognize that a robust grassroots media infrastructure is essential for social change work being done across a broad range of issues, to come out to the meeting and share your ideas!
 
If you can't make it to the meeting but still think you might want to be involved somehow -- through organizing things, through participating in some of the editorial stuff, through writing or producing other content -- then be in touch with me at the email address above or send a note to grassrootssudburymedia@gmail.com.
 
Find our site at:
http://sudbury.mediacoop.ca/
 
Our callout for content, some of which we might even be able to pay for:
http://sudbury.mediacoop.ca/blog/grassrootssudburymedia/19108
 
Find us on Facebook at:
http://www.facebook.com/GrassrootsMediaCollective

(6)(6)(6)(6)(6)(6)(6)(6)(6)(6)(6)(6)(6)(6)(6)

Thursday, February 19: Classroom Closet Conference 2015

Time: 8:30am to 3pm
Location: Holiday Inn (1696 Regent Street, Sudbury)

Promoting safer spaces for two-spirit, queer, transgender, lesbian,
gay, bisexual, and questioning individuals.

This FREE, annual, one day workshop gathers students, teachers,
educational institution staff, community members, and allies to
discuss their roles in creating a safer, positive, and inclusive
environment for students and co-workers.

Keynote addresses will be in English, but breakout sessions will be
organised into four streams:

-English Educators/Educational Staff/Community Members
-French Educators/Educational Staff/Community Members
-English High School Students
-French High School Students

At lunch time we will be showing a documentary.

A film by Rémy Huberdeau, Transgender Parents is about love, life and
kids after a gender transition. It shares the struggles and strengths
of several trans women and trans men navigating different stages of
parenting: from pregnancy, through raising infants, toddlers and
teenagers.  Some, who transitioned prior to founding their families,
experience fertility clinics and hospital births; others, who
transitioned in the presence of their kids work to renegotiate their
identity and relationships within their families. All are openly out
in the world as trans and as parents in ways that weren’t possible
20 years ago.

This will be played in English and closed captioned in English. We
ask that when you register, please specify whether or not you will
be attending the screening at lunch.

Space is limited, so please register early.

A complimentary lunch will be provided.

A Classroom Closet Conference programme will be issued at the
registration desk.

For more information please call: 705-688-0500 ext. 211
or email: christopherg@reseauaccessnetwork.com
or carlaj@reseauaccessnetwork.com

_____________________________________________________________________________

Promouvoir des milieux plus sécuritaires pour les bispirituels, les
allosexuels, les transgenres, les lesbiennes, les gais, les bisexuels
et les personnes en questionnement.

Cet atelier annuel GRATUIT d'une journée rassemble des élèves, des
enseignants, des employés d'établissements scolaires, des partenaires
communautaires et des alliés dans le but de discuter de leurs rôles
dans la création de milieux plus sécuritaires, positifs et inclusifs
pour les élèves et les collègues de travail.

Les allocutions seront données en anglais, mais des séances en
petits groupes seront organisées:

-Éducateurs/enseignants/membres de la communauté anglophones
-Éducateurs/enseignants/membres de la communauté francophones
-Élèves d’écoles secondaires anglophones
-Élèves d’écoles secondaires francophones

À l’heure du dîner, nous présenterons un documentaire en anglais,
accompagné de sous-titres anglais.

Le film de Rémy Huberdeau, Transgender Parents, est un documentaire
sur l’amour, la vie et les enfants après une transition de genre.
Il présente les luttes et les forces de plusieurs femmes et hommes
transgenres explorant différentes étapes parentales, de la grossesse
à l’éducation des nourrissons, des enfants et des adolescents.  
Certaines personnes, qui ont subi la transition avant de fonder
leur famille, vivent l’expérience des cliniques de fertilité et des
naissances à l’hôpital; d’autres, qui ont subi la transition en
présence de leurs enfants, s’efforcent de redéfinir leur identité et
leurs relations au sein de leurs familles.  Toutes les personnes
s’affirment ouvertement en tant que transgenres et parents de
manières qui, il y a 20 ans, n’auraient pas été possibles.

Au moment de vous inscrire, nous vous demandons de bien vouloir
préciser si vous assisterez ou non à la présentation à l’heure
du dîner.

Les places sont limitées, veuillez vous inscrire tôt.

Un goûter sera servi.

Un programme pour la conférence Placard de la classe sera disponible
au bureau d’inscription.

Pour obtenir plus de renseignements, veuillez appeler le 705 688-0500,
poste 211, ou envoyer un courriel à christopherg@reseauaccessnetwork.com
ou à carlaj@reseauaccessnetwork.com.

 
(7)(7)(7)(7)(7)(7)(7)(7)(7)(7)(7)(7)(7)(7)(7)

Sunday, March 1: Strategy and Campaign Planning Workshop with Chris Dixon

Time: noon to 3pm
Location: meeting room 1, main branch, Greater Sudbury Public Library
(74 Mackenzie Street, Sudbury)
 
Developing strategy – building effective plans of action to win what we
want – is one of the biggest challenges we face in organizing for social
change. This workshop will offer tools to address this challenge, laying
out a strategic organizing framework based in a campaign-planning model.
This model focuses on bringing more and more people together on our side
while undermining adversaries. It involves collective investigation of
strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats in our context of
struggle; a deliberate process of setting goals; an orientation toward
tactical escalation; and regular practices of appreciation and
evaluation. In this workshop, we will go through this model together,
applying it to our current organizing work.
 
Chris Dixon, originally from Alaska and a former resident of Sudbury, is
a longtime anarchist organizer, writer, and educator with a PhD from the
University of California at Santa Cruz. His writing has appeared in
numerous book collections as well as periodicals such as Anarchist
Studies, Clamor, Left Turn, and Social Movement Studies. He serves on
the board of the Institute for Anarchist Studies and the advisory board
for the activist journal Upping the Anti. Dixon lives in Ottawa, Canada,
on unceded Algonquin Territory, where he is involved in anti-poverty
organizing. His new book is Another Politics: Talking Across Today's
Transformative Movements, published by University of California Press.
Find him at writingwithmovements.com.
 
Chris will likely also be doing a talk about his book at Laurentian
University during the day on Monday, March 2 -- check back for more details.
 
This workshop is organized by the Sudbury working-group of The Media
Co-op and the Sudbury Coalition Against Poverty.

This event on Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/events/1553204658268585/

 
(8)(8)(8)(8)(8)(8)(8)(8)(8)(8)(8)(8)(8)(8)(8)

Monday, March 2: Another Politics: Talking Across Today's Transformative Movements

Time: 10am to noon
Location: room 132, West Res, Laurentian University

A talk by former Sudburian Chris Dixon about his new book.

Recent decades have seen the exciting convergence of anti-authoritarian radicalism and broader-based movements in the U.S. and Canada. From this convergence, a growing set of activists – from anti-poverty organizers in Toronto to prison abolitionists in Oakland, from occupy activists in New York to migrant justice organizers in Vancouver – are developing shared politics and practices. They are building “another politics,” to use a Zapatista expression. These efforts combine anti-authoritarian, anti-capitalist, anti-oppression politics with grassroots organizing among ordinary, non-activist people. Drawing on interviews with organizers across North America, this presentation will explore another politics and distill lessons for building effective, visionary movements.

Dixon, originally from Alaska, is a longtime anarchist organizer, writer, and educator with a PhD from the University of California at Santa Cruz. His writing has appeared in numerous book collections as well as periodicals such as Anarchist Studies, Clamor, Left Turn, and Social Movement Studies. He serves on the board of the Institute for Anarchist Studies and the advisory board for the activist journal Upping the Anti. Dixon lives in Ottawa, Canada, on unceded Algonquin Territory, where he is involved in anti-poverty organizing. His new book is Another Politics: Talking Across Today's Transformative Movements, published by University of California Press. Find him at writingwithmovements.com.

This event is sponsored by the Sudbury working-group of The Media Co-op, the Sudbury Coalition Against Poverty, and the Centre for Research in Social Justice and Policy at Laurentian University.

This event on Facebook:
s://www.facebook.com/events/906286682728859/

NEWS, ANALYSIS & CALLS TO ACTION:

(1)(1)(1)(1)(1)(1)(1)(1)(1)(1)(1)(1)(1)(1)(1)

Against Policing: A First Critical Conversation in Sudbury
by Scott Neigh
(From The Media Co-op: http://sudbury.mediacoop.ca/story/against-policing-first-critical-conver...)