Canada, Imperialism and the Global Order

Multi-purpose Room at Cape Breton University

Friday, October 19 @ 7pm-9pm

Keynote Event

• Walden Bello – The Imperialist Structures of the International Financial System
• Tony Evans – Disciplining the Global Order: The Role of the Universal Human Rights Regime

Saturday, October 20 @ 9am-6pm

9:30am-11:30am

Session One: The International Dimensions of Neo-Colonialism

• Walden Bello – Capitalism and the Global Food Crisis
• Tony Evans – The Politics of Islam in a Globalized World Order
• Janet Eaton – Fortress America: The U.S. Threat to Canadian Sovereignty

Noon-1:30pm

Lunch

1:30pm-3:30pm

Session Two: Imperialist Canada?

• Tuma Young – First Nations in the 21st Century: Self-Determination or Neo-Colonialism?
• Jean Saint-Vil – Canada in Haiti: Development Aid or Imperialism?
• Henry Veltmeyer – The Role of Canadian Mining Companies in Latin America

4pm-6pm

Wine and Cheese and Unwind

Speaker Bios:

Walden Bello:

Walden Bello is a Filipino author, academic and political analyst. He is a professor of sociology at the University of the Philippines, as well as executive director of Focus on the Global South. Bello currently sits as a member of Congress in the Philippines’ House of Representatives. He was formerly executive director of the Institute for Food and Development Policy (Food First). He is author of the books The Food Wars (2009) and Deglobalization: Ideas for a New World Economy (2003). Bello is also a fellow of the Transnational Institute and a columnist for Foreign Policy In Focus. He also on the board of directors of the International Forum on Globalization. In March 2008 Bello was named Outstanding Public Scholar for 2008 by the International Studies Association. In 2003, he was awarded the Right Livelihood Award, and described as “one of the leading critics of the current model of economic globalization, combining the roles of intellectual and activist.”

Tony Evans:

Tony Evans is a professor of global politics at Winchester University. He is the author of the books Human Rights in a Global Economy: Critical Processes (2011) and The Politics of Human Rights: A Critical Perspective (2005). His most recent research looks at the politics of Islam, in particular, the social and political norms and values associated with Islam in a globalized world order.

Janet Eaton:

Janet Eaton is an independent researcher, anti-globalization activist, public educator and part-time academic who has taught in several Nova Scotia’s universities. She is a Trade and Environment representative for Sierra Club Canada and is the Sierra Club’s representative in the Common Frontiers coalition, which provides a forum for national groups that work throughout the Americas against free trade and economic imperialism.

Tuma Young:

Tuma Young is a professor of political science and indigenous studies at Cape Breton University. He was formerly CEO of Eskasoni (2005-2010), the largest First Nations community in Nova Scotia and the largest Mi’kmaq community in the world.

Jean Saint-Vil:

Jean Saint-Vil is a Haitian author and activist. He has written extensively about the imperialist role of Canada and the international community in Haiti with a particular focus on their involvement in the overthrow of democratically-elected President Jean-Bertrand Aristide in 2004 and their ongoing agenda in the reconstruction following the 2010 earthquake.

Henry Veltmeyer:

Henry Veltmeyer is a professor of sociology and international development studies at Saint Mary’s University in Halifax and at the Autonomous University of Zacatecas in Mexico. His most recent books are Poverty and Development in Latin America: Ideas, Policies and Pathways (2012) and Social Movements in Latin America: Neoliberalism and Popular Resistance (2011).

The post CIS Social Justice Forum appeared first on CBU Centre for International Studies.

Location: Centre for Sustainability in Energy and the Environment, Cape Breton University, Nova Scotia, Canada.

This participatory forum will bring together people from around the world to explore ideas for a more democratic, egalitarian and sustainable alternative to capitalism. It is evident that capitalism is in crisis, so rather than simply re-stating the critiques of the existing paradigm, we will both theorize alternatives and examine some existing examples on the community and national levels that are seeking to challenge capitalist structures.

Friday, November 4, 2011 @ 7pm

Keynote

George MacKenzie will perform Howard Zinn’s one-act play “Marx in Soho,” in which Karl Marx returns more than a century after his death to defend his ideas. The play will be followed by a keynote presentation by Joel Kovel about the relevance of Karl Marx in the 21st Century.

Saturday, November 5, 2011 @ 8:30am-6pm

Opening Remarks (8:30am) 

Garry Leech, Director, Centre for International Studies

Session One: Imagining Life After Capitalism (9am-10:30am)

Edgardo Lander — Socialism and Democracy
Joel Kovel — Ecosocialism in the 21st Century
Hester Eisenstein — Gender in a Post-Capitalist Society

Session Two: Emerging Challenges to Capitalism (11am-1pm)

Maria Páez — Participatory Democracy in Venezuela
Marie Trigona — Worker Takeovers of Factories in Argentina
Marta Nuñez — Women and Revolution in Cuba
DeeDee Halleck — Community Media in the 21st Century

Lunch (1pm-2:30pm)

Session Three: Food Sovereignty in an Alternative World (2:30pm-4pm)

Roberto Pérez —Cuba’s Green Revolution
David Tracey — Urban Agriculture in Vancouver
Eric Leviten-Reid — Food Sovereignty in Cape Breton

Session Four: Wine and Protest Music (4pm-6pm)

Relax and debrief with live performances of Cape Breton protest songs from the 1920s.

Speaker Bios:

Hester Eisenstein:

Dr. Hester Eisenstein is a professor of sociology at Queens College in New York. Her research focus is gender and globalization in relation to the international women’s movement from a feminist perspective rooted in class analysis. Her most recent book is titled Feminism Seduced: How Global Elites Use Women’s Labor and Ideas to Exploit the World (Paradigm Publishers, 2010).

DeeDee Halleck:

Dr. DeeDee Halleck is a professor emerita in the Department of Communications, University of California-San Diego. For the past four years she has been the producer of “Waves of Change,” a project that analyzes community media projects around the world. She is also a founder and developer of the Democracy Now! television program, Deep Dish television and Paper Tiger television. She is the author of Hand-Held Vision: The Impossible Possibilities of Community Media (Fordham University Press, 2002).

Joel Kovel:

Dr. Joel Kovel is an ecosocialist and author of numerous books including The Enemy of Nature: The End of Capitalism or the End of the World? (Zed Books, 2007) and History and Spirit: An Inquiry into the Philosophy of Liberation (Enfield, 1999). He is also the author of An Ecosocialist Manifesto (2001) and is a professor emeritus of social studies at Bard College in New York.

Edgardo Lander:

Dr. Edgardo Lander is a professor of sociology at the Central University of Venezuela and a fellow at the Transnational Institute. He is one of the leading thinkers and writers on the left in Venezuela and has been both supportive and constructively critical of the Venezuelan revolution. He was actively engaged in the social movements that defeated the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA).

Eric Leviten-Reid:

Eric Leviten-Reid is an independent community development consultant. For the past ten years, Eric has been a member of the national staff team of Vibrant Communities, a pan-Canadian initiative exploring comprehensive, collaborative and community-driven approaches to poverty reduction. He is currently pursuing strategies for sustainable community development (economic, social and environmental) in Cape Breton.

Marta Nuñez:

Dr. Marta Nuñez is a professor in the Department of Sociology at the University of Havana. Her research has concentrated on gender studies and transition projects for Cuba. She has served as a consultant for several agencies of the UN (1988-2003), for the Association of Caribbean States (1999) and for numerous NGOs.

Maria Páez:

Dr. Maria Páez is a sociologist from Venezuela who has taught sociology and environmental policy at the University of Toronto. She is also the director of political affairs at the National Council of Latin American and Caribbean Women in Canada and is a member of the Louis Riel Bolivarian Circle.

Roberto Pérez:

Roberto Pérez is a permaculturalist who has played an instrumental role in Cuba’s green revolution, which has resulted in more than 85 percent of that country’s agricultural production becoming organic. This led the World Wildlife Fund to label Cuba as the only country in the world to have achieved sustainable development. Roberto featured in the documentary “The Power of Community: How Cuba Survived Peak Oil.”

David Tracey:

David Tracey is a journalist, environmental designer and author of the books Guerrilla Gardening: A Manualfesto (New Society Publishers, 2007) and Urban Agriculture: Ideas and Designs for the New Food Revolution (New Society Publishers, 2011). He is also a coordinator in the Vancouver Community Agricultural Network, which seeks to create more community gardens in order to increase urban organic food production.

Marie Trigona:

Marie Trigona is an independent journalist based in Argentina whose work focuses on labour, human rights, community media and social movements in Latin America. She has reported extensively on the worker takeover of factories in Argentina and is a correspondent for Free Speech Radio News, a daily syndicated radio news program broadcast in the United States.

This forum is co-sponsored by the School of Arts and Community Studies and the Department of Political Science at Cape Breton University.

The post CIS Human Security Forum 2011 appeared first on CBU Centre for International Studies.

Session One: Legal Crimes? Examining the Ethics of Capitalism

Session Two: The Law as Weapon

Session Three: Alternative Justice: Rethinking Crime and Punishment

The post Participatory Forum appeared first on CBU Centre for International Studies.

“Prisoners of Conscience in the 21st Century” with Maran Turner, Executive Director of Freedom Now, which represents political prisoners throughout the world.

The post Keynote address and discussion appeared first on CBU Centre for International Studies.

The French Club Upstairs (Ferry and Dolbin Streets)
Admission: $5

Musical Performers:

Leon Dubinsky and Beth McCormick
The Misfit Boys
Ken Chisholm
John Gill
Steve Fifield

Poetry:

Jesse Ferguson
Thelma Ball
Morningstar Pinto

Artwork:

Marybeth Gillis
Patricia MacNeil
Berni Thorneycroft

The post Art, Poetry & Music appeared first on CBU Centre for International Studies.

Presentation of a paper by Political Science instructor Jan Hancock (followed by discussion).

CBU, Room B-201

Toxic pollutants harm people at a cellular level. Toxic pollutants are subsequently implicated in violating human rights to life, to the security of the person, to non-intervention and to health. So this paper asks how and why the legal concept of harm, which should in theory prohibit actions that injure others, permits the routine toxic pollution of our environment in actual practice. The work of influential jurisprudential thinker Joel Feinberg is focused upon the selective construction and application of the harm principle in ways that facilitate, rather than question, capitalism and wider consumer society.

The post Toxic Capitalism appeared first on CBU Centre for International Studies.

Controversy, Consensus & Community Responses to Climate Change

• Geoff Lee-Dadswell, Assistant Professor, Dept. of Math, Physics & Geology, CBU
• Andrew Reynolds, Associate Professor, Dept. of Philosophy & Religious Studies, CBU
• and moderated by Mike Targett, community media developer

The post One Hot Topic appeared first on CBU Centre for International Studies.

Cape Breton University, Multi-Purpose Room

A participatory forum exploring how various forms of communication from journalism, visual arts, theatre, music and conflict resolution are being used to promote social justice and cultural integrity in communities around the world.

Registration closed.

Schedule

Friday, March 12

6:00 – 7:00 pm
CBU Art Gallery & Great Hall

P. Sainath, exhibit opening: Visible Work, Invisible Women: Women and Work in Rural India

7:15 – 9:30 pm
Multi-Purpose Room

Opening Panel Discussion: Communication for Social Transformation

P. Sainath, Journalist and Rural Affairs Editor of India’s The Hindu
Daniel Rocha, Director of Theatre, National Commission of Reparation and Reconciliation, Colombia

Saturday, March 13^th

Click here for full Saturday schedule.

After Party

Join us at the after conference “Jamming for Justice” party featuring live music by Tom Fun Orchestra, Buck and Kinch, The Misfit Toys, V. Tomiczek and others at 6pm in CBU’s Pit Lounge.

An Alternative Gathering

Traditionally, speakers are invited to give a presentation on subject matter in which one could be called an “expert”. The presentations are taken in by participant-observers who may ask questions afterward.

We are circumventing this tradition, and instead promoting an alternative model, one that attempts to promote the equality of ideas through the open exchange of opinions and experiences.

Invited speakers have a formidable knowledge of the issues to be discussed, but the format will differ from the panel-audience layout generally used in conferences. The seating arrangements will be circular, for two reasons:

• It gives everyone the chance to see each other, and see who is speaking whether it is a guest or a conference attendee. The guests that we invite to speak will be sitting wherever they want to in the circle, among the attendees. This creates a dynamic that promotes a more open sharing of knowledge and opinion.
• It reduces barriers that could prevent someone from sharing their views or experiences if they see a speaker as the ultimate expert on the subject.

By promoting the inclusion of all types of knowledge, it is important to note that this does not include the diminishment of the role of the speakers who come to participate in the conference. It means that we want to empower everyone involved to engender feelings of participation, which we hope will translate into feelings of hope and feelings of responsibility for future efforts to ensure human security on the local, national and global levels.

Saturday, March 12 – Full Forum Schedule

(Registration and Sessions 1-3 will take place in the Multi-Purpose Room)

8:30 – 9:00 am
Registration and Coffee

9:00 – 10:30 am
Session One: For Justice and Cultural Integrity
Popular Theatre and Music in the Struggle for Social Change

This session will explore how the arts of music and theatre can play a creative role in social transformation, from protest against the establishment in Punk music, to rebuilding community identity in post conflict communities in Colombia to celebrating the power of working class history in Cape Breton.

Featuring:
Daniel Rocha, Director of Theatre, National Commission of Reparation and Reconciliation, Community Project in La Libertad, Colombia
Jan Hancock, Lecturer, Department of Political Science, CBU
John C. (“Jack”) O’Donnell, Musical Director and Conductor, Men of the Deeps

10:30 – 11:00 am
Coffee Break

11:00 am – 12:30 pm
Session Two: Behind the Lines
Media as a Site of Struggle for Justice

This session will examine the role of independent media and activist journalism in covering the untold stories of poverty, human rights, and environmental justice. Speakers will provide critical reflection on the media status quo and an exploration of the media as a space for promoting sustainable communities, economically, culturally and environmentally.

Featuring:
P.Sainath, Journalist, India
Tracy Glynn, Julie Michaud, New Brunswick Media Co-op
Erna Macleod, Professor, Department of Communications, CBU
Rachel Brighton, Editor, Coastlands: The Maritimes Policy Review

12:30 – 2:00 pm
Lunch (Faculty Lounge)

2:00 – 4:00 pm
Session Three: Communicating for Change
Building Community through Popular Education, Dialogue and Conflict Resolution

Through storytelling and dialogue, this session will explore the conflict resolution strategies, community development principles and legal mechanisms behind efforts to build bridges and promote justice between communities and groups with divergent and sometimes opposing perspectives.

Featuring:
Steve Law, Social Transformation Program Coordinator, Tatamagouche Centre
Evelyn Jones, Refugee Sponsorship Coordinator, Immigrant Settlement and Integration Services
Ishbel Munro, Executive Director, Coastal Communities Network
Felix Odartey, Professor, Department of Communication, CBU

4:00 – 6:00 pm
Session Four: Visualizing Justice and Promoting Cultural Integrity (Art Gallery II)
Activist Art and Photography Display and Discussion followed by Music to Promote Cultural Integrity

Caitrian MacNeil Oil Paintings (Guatemala)
Shayna George, Photography (Guatemala)
Music by Men of the Deeps (Maritimes Male Choir)

Cash bar and free snacks!

Resource People

P. Sainath, Indian journalist and Rural Affairs Editor of The Hindu.
More about P. Sainath »
Hindu Times website »

Daniel Rocha, Director of Theatre, National Commission of Reparation and Reconciliation (CNRR), Colombia.
CNRR website »

Jan Hancock, Lecturer, Department of Political Science, CBU.

John C. (“Jack”) O’Donnell, Musical Director and Conductor, Men of the Deeps. Jack is also Professor Emeritus, Department of Music at St. Francis Xavier University, Nova Scotia.
More about Jack O’Donnell »
Men of the Deeps website »

Julie Michaud, founding member of the New Brunswick Media Co-op and active member of the Fredericton Peace Coalition.
More about Julie Michaud »
Fredericton Peace Coalition website »

Tracy Glynn, Acadian Forest Campaigner with the Conservation Council of New Brunswick, and member of the New Brunswick Media Co-op and the Fredericton Peace Coalition.
More about Tracy Glynn »
NB Media Coop website »

Steve Law, Social Transformation Program Coordinator, Tatamagouche Centre.
More about Stephen Law »
Tatamagouche Centre website »

Evelyn Jones, Refugee Sponsorship Coordinator, Immigrant Settlement and Integration Services (ISISNS).
ISISNS website »

Ishbel Munro, Executive Director, Coastal Communities Network.
More about Ishbel Munro »
CCN website »

Felix Odartey, Assistant Professor, Department of Communication, CBU.

Erna Macleod, Assistant Professor, Department of Communication, CBU.
More about Erna Macleod »

Rachel Brighton, Editor, Coastlands: The Maritimes Policy Review
Coastlands website »

The post Communication for Social Transformation appeared first on CBU Centre for International Studies.

7:15 – 9:30 pm
Multi-Purpose Room
Opening Panel Discussion: Communication for Social Transformation
P. Sainath (India): Title TK
Daniel Rocha (Colombia): Social Theatre as Site for Social Transformation

The post Keynote Address appeared first on CBU Centre for International Studies.