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Organizing Words: Writing History in a Union Context
April 29 & May 6 (Saturdays), 9 AM-4 PM, free
Maritime Labour Centre, 1880 Triumph Street @ Victoria (Vancouver)
Writer Kate Braid and guest lecturer Gary Steeves, lead this hands-on writing course
for those interested in recording the stories of union members and/or their own union
history. Braid is a journey carpenter and prize-winning poet. Her most recent book is Red
Bait! Struggles of a Mine Mill Local. Steeves is director of organizing and field services
for the BC Gov't. and Services Employees Union. Capilano College Labour Studies: 984-4954.
Roundtable Discussion on BC Politics
April 29 (Saturday), 2-4 PM, free
Room 2245, SFU Harbour Center, 515 West Hastings Street (Vancouver)
May Day 2000 is taking place at a time the world is defining itself all over again.
Either disequilibrium and crisis will be settled in favour of imperialism and reaction or
it will be settled in favour of the working peoples of the entire world. Which is it to
be? A forum for workers and activists to address their conditions of life and work and
share how they are defending their rights, wages and working conditions. Join in and
contribute to building a political movement in BC.
Presented by: BC Regional Committee of the Communist Party of Canada (Marxist-Leninist).
Prostitution: Legitimate Work or Violence Against Women?
April 30 (Sunday), 1-4 PM, free
Britannia Community Centre Library, downstairs, Commercial @ Napier (Vancouver)
This workshop will critically discuss prostitution from a radical
feminist perspective as it relates to violence against women. We will
analyze current debates surrounding the sex trade industry as well as
options for the future of prositution and the women involved.
Presented by: Vancouver Rape Relief and Women's Shelter, info: 872-8212.
Working Class Struggle in Latin America
May 5 (Friday), 7:30 PM, free
La Quena Collective Coffeehouse, 1111 Commercial Drive (Vancouver)
A public forum focusing on the effects of the neo-liberal economic model being imposed
today on the peoples of Latin America and the world's developing nations. A night of
political speakers, video presentation and discussion.
Presented by: Coalition in Solidarity With Peoples in the Struggle.
History of the Labour Movement in Canada
May 6, 7, 13 & 14 (Saturday + Sunday), 9 AM - 4 PM
Maritime Labour Centre, 1880 Triumph Street @ Victoria (Vancouver)
Using a variety of techniques including film, literature, songs and role-play, historian
Mark Leier (of SFU) will offer a dynamic introduction to Canadian labour history from the
19th century to the present. Capilano College, ph: 984-4954.
Youth Driven Youth Action
May 6 (Saturday), 9:30 AM - 5 PM
Aboriginal Friendship Centre (Vancouver)
May 7 (Sunday), 9:30 AM onwards
Vancouver East Cultural Centre, Venables @ Victoria (Vancouver)
$25/2 days
A two-day conference bringing together organizations and interested young people to build
on the skills they have as workers, organizers and activists. Participate in exploring
issues that effect youth in Vancouver through workshops, lectures, hands-on arts,
demonstrations and spontaneous action. Issues such as globalization, racism, homophobia,
poverty, urban environmentalism, and cultural activism. Practical skills training for
youth organizers. Sunday night celebration will follow.
Register: youthdriven@hotmail.com
or phone 801-5752, $25/2 days.
Presented by: Environmental Youth Alliance
Welfare and Workers
May 13 (Saturday), 1 - 4 PM, free
Carnegie Community Centre Theatre, Main & Hastings (Vancouver)
What does welfare mean to you? If you love it or hate it, this forum is for you. Find out
how the welfare system both benefits workers and how it hurts workers, and how it benefits
employers and landlords. We'll explore how the welfare system in Canada is being degraded,
and look at the discrimination of people needing welfare related to sexism, racism, and
other oppressions.
Presented by: End Legislated Poverty
The Feminization of Poverty
May 14 (Sunday), 6 - 8 PM, free
La Quena Collective Coffeehouse, 1111 Commercial Drive (Vancouver)
A discussion on the impact of globalization on women, especially women of colour, who
experience the full brunt of liberalization, deregulation, and privatization. Preceded by
"Modern Heroes Modern Slaves," which tells the story of the 2000 people, mostly women,
who daily leave the Philippines to seek work abroad as nannies, domestics, 'entertainers,'
clerks and labourers for meagre wages and few rights. Each day four to six of them return
home in coffins. The Philippine government calls them modern heroes.That is only half
the story.
Class and Technology
May 17 (Wednesday), 7:30 PM, free
SFU Harbour Centre, 515 West Hastings Street (Vancouver)
Are technological advances a help or hindrance to the class struggle?
Presented by Tao Communications Vancouver.
The Labor/Community Strategy Center in Los Angeles
May 26 (Friday), 9 AM - 12:30 PM
Maritime Labour Center, Room # 6,7,8, downstairs, 1880 Triumph Street @ Victoria (Vancouver)
Join Strategy Center organizers to learn more about the Center's campaigns and innovative
organizing in multiracial working class communities in Los Angeles. Participants will have
an opportunity to discuss the Center's National School for Strategic Organizing and the
Center's strategies to build a stronger labour movement, to fight for environmental
justice, truly mass transit, and immigrant rights and to actively oppose the growing
criminalization, racialization, and feminization of poverty. "Voices from the Front Lines,"
a video about the Strategy Center will also be shown. Publications will be available for
purchase. For more information: call Mae Burrows 255-8819 or Roger Crowther 522-7911.
Presented by: CAW, VDLC Environment Committee, Labour Environmental Alliance, and Mayworks
Mass Transit for the Masses
May 27 (Saturday), 12 PM - 3:30 PM, by donation
Maritime Labour Center, Room # 6,7,8, downstairs, 1880 Triumph Street @ Victoria (Vancouver)
Just in time for the June 1st fare increase for public transit in the Lower Mainland!
A unique opportunity to learn from Bus Rider Union organizers and their fight for the
future of mass transit in LA, the most auto-dependent, air polluted city in the US.
An organization of people who ride the bus (predominantly low income, women, and people
of colour) the Bus Riders Union has won billion-dollar victories forcing LA's Metro Transit
Authority to buy hundreds more clean air buses and to change their transit policy.
Discuss parallels to mass transit in the lower mainland and the development of Bus Rider
Union strategies and organizing methods. Explore the dilemmas and opportunities of
building a labour/community alliance between transit unions and bus riders. A must
for bus passengers, public transit workers, anti-poverty and anti-racist organizers,
critical massers, environmentalists, and anyone concerned with local democracy and the
direction of public transit in the lower mainland.
Presented by: Mayworks
Roundtable Discussion on BC Politics
May 27 (Saturday), 2-4 PM, free
SFU Harbour Centre, Room 2245, 515 West Hastings Street (Vancouver)
The Year 2000 marks the 30th Anniversary of the Communist Party of Canada (Marxist-Leninist).
In its March 31st statement marking the event, the CPC(ML) set itself the task of creating
"a new kind of communist in the course of carrying out the projects which are necessary to open
society's path to progress." Taking the most advanced things in human relationships, this creative
project is a force whose social project puts human beings and their well-being at the centre.
"OUR PARTY'S WORD IS ITS DEED. It is such a party the working class requires today." Join the
discussion: What Kind of Party? An invitation to all political activists seeking a way to break
through the old two party domination of the political agenda set by the rich.
Presented by the Communist Party of Canada (Marxist Leninist).
Class struggle in Vancouver: Operation Solidarity to MayDay 2000
May 28 (Sunday), 6-8 PM, free
La Quena Collective Coffee House, 1111 Commercial Drive (Vancouver)
Panel and discussion of the meaning of May Day and the state of local working class struggle,
assessing the impact of 1983 Operation Solidarity on present and future attempts to build
left alliances in the city.
PCAJ Alternative Media Conference
May 28 (Sunday), 9 AM-6:30 PM, $0-$30 (lunch included)
Roundhouse Community Center, Pacific @ Davie (Vancouver)
Presented by the Pacific Centre for Alternative Journalism, this conference offers a range
of skills building workshops as well as an opportunity
for alternative media producers, grassroots activists, workers and artists to network
and create strategies to develop our own media.
Workshops will include:
- News Writing: Learn the fundamentals of writing clear,
credible and concise news for the alternative media including: story structure,
identifying sources, interviewing techniques, press scrums and story crafting.
- Access to Information for Activists: How to find the stuff you want to know
through use of Access to Information and Freedom of Information and Freedom of
Information legislation. A how to for activists wanting to learn more about getting
what you want to know out of government and corporate agencies.
- Developing Radical On-Line Media: Get started on developing on-line media skills.
Learn about the conceptual framework of new media, local and on-line rescues, the
function of new media within alternative culture, and the need to develop new forms of
cooperation among grassroots media producers.
- Tactical Media: Explore non-traditional methods of getting your message out. What
are the goals of communication forms such as billboard liberation and political graffiti?
Learn image-creating techniques from local artists.
- Creating a Media Campaign: Knowing what you want to say, who you want to say it to
and how you are going to transmit it are the keys to a successful media campaign.
Organizations and groups working on the grassroots level need media access, knowledge
and skills. We will discuss the blocks that we come up against and the strategies we need
to overcome them.
Other workshops in the works:
- Alternative Publications
- Art and Revolution
- Video Activism
- Editing for Radio
CONFERENCE REGISTRATION
Conference fee: sliding scale $0-$30 (lunch included)
An evening social event will follow. To register, for more information or to submit workshop
proposals contact Athene at 251-1178 or email pcaj@vcn.bc.ca.
Class struggle in Vancouver: Operation Solidarity to MayDay 2000
May 28 (Sunday), 6-8 PM, free
La Quena Collective Coffee House, 1111 Commercial Drive (Vancouver)
Panel and discussion of the meaning of May Day and the state of local working class struggle,
assessing the impact of 1983 Operation Solidarity on present and future attempts to build
left alliances in the city.
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