G20 to C-10: Repression, Austerity, and the Prison Boom

http://www.facebook.com/events/312644912086662/  

Community meal and panel discussion benefit for 4strugglemag

Join us on December 11th, 2011 for an evening of food, conversation and support as we celebrate the release of the 20th issue of 4strugglemag and the launch of the 2012 Certain Days calendar.

6:00pm: Food will be served, opening ceremony by Wanda Whitebird
6:30pm: Panel Discussion
Door: $5-35 sliding scale… (no one turned away for lack of funds)
@The Raging Spoon (761 Queen St. W., Toronto)

Speakers will include:

WANDA WHITEBIRD
(Wanda Whitebird does support work with incarcerated Aboriginal women and is currently at the Women’s Outreach/Support Services of Ontario Aboriginal HIV/AIDS Strategy.)

SK HUSSAN
(Hussan is a researcher, writer and migrant justice, anti-war, indigenous solidarity organizer in Toronto and is a G20 conspiracy defendant who recently had his charges withdrawn.)

MANDY HISCOCKS
(Mandy is an organizer from Guelph who has had quite a few run-ins with the law and is about to start her first jail sentence. Strangely enough, she’s more nervous about public speaking than about serving time.)

JOAN RUZSA
(Joan Ruzsa has been the coordinator of Rittenhouse: A New Vision since 2000. Rittenhouse is an agency that promotes abolition and transformative justice through public education and direct service. Joan also works at PASAN (Prisoners with HIV/AIDS Support Action Network) in the Youth Outreach and Education Program.)

Attempts have been made to shatter our movements. Since the 2010 G20 meeting in Toronto, the legal system has kept many silent, unable to speak about their experiences of repression. Join us on December 11 to hear from those charged with conspiracy at the G20 and those about to go to prison.

As the federal government prepares a massive expansion of the prison-industrial complex through its Crime Omnibus Bill (C-10), it is important that we understand the impact of imprisonment on our communities and movements, and build bridges between the many parts of the anti-austerity struggle in order to organize more effective resistance and solidarity.

At the same time that militant labour unions have seen their ability to strike taken away, public sector workers are being laid off and services are being cut by Ford, McGuinty and Harper, there is a massive influx of money in to building prisons and immigration detention centres, passing crime bills, further policing and criminalization of sex workers, drug user, queer people, poor people and indigenous and racialized people. All of this while Canada builds war ships, buys fighter jets, opens up foreign military bases and gives massive subsidies to oil and gas companies.

We must ensure that we keep the voices of prisoners among us when we organize. Two publications that maintain this priority are 4strugglemag and the Certain Days: Freedom for Political Prisoners Calendar. The goal of 4strugglemag is to have political prisoners contribute to contemporary political discussions. 4strugglemag is edited by Jaan Laaman, a U.S. anti-imperialist political prisoner. This magazine is sent to over 500 prisoners free of charge, supported by outside subscribers. The Certain Days calendar is a joint fundraising and educational project between organizers in Montreal and Toronto as well as three political prisoners being held in maximum-security prisons in New York State: David Gilbert, Robert Seth Hayes and Herman Bell. This event will be a fundraising and subscription drive for future issues of 4strugglemag.

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The space is wheelchair accessible. We acknowledge that no space is fully accessible so please get in touch about any accessibility issues jolitical@gmail.com.

Children are welcome but venue limitations do not allow for a separate childcare space.

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