Teach-in and Conference
March 9, 10, 11th
At the University of Quebec in Montreal (UQAM),
Pavillon Hubert Aquin, metro Berri-UQAM

Teach-in and conference on the FTAA, the Summit of the Americas, Struggles against Globalization and Radical Alternatives.

Bringing together various grassroots organizers from Quebec, Ontario, and Latin America to talk about strengthening grassroots resistance and building movements. Special Guests from the autonomous movements of afro-Colombian communities on tour in Canada to denounce Plan Colombia. FREE and Open to all. Childcare. French, English and Spanish translation.

IT DIDN’T START IN SEATTLE…AND IT WON’T STOP IN QUEBEC CITY !

Preliminary Program

Friday March 9th, 7pm, room DS-R510
(320 rue Sainte-Catherine East)

Panel : RESISTANCE TO THE FTAA AND CAPITALIST GLOBALIZATION, RADICAL ALTERNATIVES

-Why radical and anti-hierarchical organizing against the FTAA, by members of the Anti-Capitalist Convergence (CLAC) from Montreal and the Summit of the Americas Welcoming Committee (CASA) from Quebec.
-The People’s Global Action network, with Sarita Ahooja, member of CLAC.
-The FTAA: the conquest of the Americas continues, with a Native activist (TBA)
-Plan Colombia: Popular resistance and alternatives, with a member from the afro-Colombian communities on tour in Canada.

Saturday March 10th, 10am - 12pm, Pavillon Hubert Aquin (400 rue Sainte-Catherine East), 2nd floor.

No one is ilegal : immigration, refugees, racism

-Racist media at the service of the global economy; with Gitanjali Lena, anti-racist activist and media-relations co-ordinator with the Canadian Council for Refugees.
-Resistance to globalization & the participation of activists of colour; with Marie-Celie Agnant, activist and writer.
-Nadine Mondestin, member of SHAKTI women of colour collective and community organizer with Colours of Resistance.
-Creating links: domestic workers, youth, the marginalized and the movement for fundamental change in the Philippines; with Katrina Mesina, community organizer.
-Magaly San Martin, from the Latin American Coalition against Racism in Toronto.

Latin America: tierra de sangre y de resistencia

-Social resistance and opposition: the Water war, with Ana Maria Seifert, committee Solidarity with Bolivians.
-Chili, laboratory of neoliberalism, with Ricardo Peñafiel, sympathizer of SurDa (urban chilean organization which initiated diverse land occupations).
-The organization of popular forces in Brazil, beyond the World Social Forum in Porto Alegre, with Maurilio Galdino, University of Montreal.

Worker's Struggles

-The hidden reality of immigrant workers and organizing for social change; with Tess Tesalona, coordinator of the Immigrant Worker’s Center in Montreal.
-Strike to win: militancy and solidarity; with Jeff Shantz, CUPE 3909, Industrial Workers of the World (IWW), Toronto.
-other participants to be confirmed.

12 - 1pm Lunch

1-3:30pm

The invisible struggles of resistance in Colombia: resisting neoliberal aggression, uncovering the truth in proposals for social transformation; with activists from the union movements, afro-Colombians, and the women’s movement in Columbia on tour in Canada.

Barricades against poverty

-The impacts on poor women & our priorities in struggles; with Julie Leblanc, activist from Comité sans emploi in Montreal.
-Democracy and the role of the community in the era of social economy; with Stéphane Robitaille, worker with the Comité populaire Saint-Jean Baptiste in Quebec.
-The Quebec model of workfare; with Mario Tardif and Khadija Benabdallah, delegates of the Popular Organization of Social Rights (OPDS), from the Montreal region.
-The criminalization of poverty; with Gaétan Héroux, community organizer with the Ontario Coalition Against Poverty (OCAP).

3:45-5:45pm

Social Marginalization

-History behind l’X, center of expression, creation, punk and underground diffusion in Montreal, with members of l’X.
-Police repression; with Patrick and Patricia, from the Legal Rights Committee of Drummondville.
-Daily struggles and collective organization, with Dee LeComte, from Citizens Opposed to Police Brutality
-Stop Targeted Policing project; with Magaly San Martin, from Committee to Stop Targeted Policing, Toronto.

Native struggles of Today for Tomorrow

-State repression, traditional way of life and sustainable future; with a member of the Micmac community of Burnt Church, New Brunswick.
-Resisting colonization: Mother earth's Free thinkers; with Stuart Myio and his family, representatives of the Long House, Kanawake, Mohawk Nation.
-First Nation women facing power; with Jeanne-Mance Charlish, traditional Innu activist.

Public education, popular education and globalization (participants TBA)

Sunday, March 11, 12-4pm, Pavillon Hubert Aquin, 2nd floor

Alternatives: collective discussion on the following themes...

alternative media, environment and transportation, police/prisons, culture/the arts, employment and alternatives to employment, democratic organization, the economy, food and consumption.

4-5:30pm room AM050 (Pavillon Hubert Aquin)
Closing plenary: common goals .