I have a new job! I'm a full-time youth counselor (starting in two weeks). I'll be working here. I'll keep my old job, but just part-time/on-call. I'm really stoked about moving in a new direction (more suited to my skills and temperament)... especially since i've been so frustrated lately by constant communication problems and conflicts at work. Nevertheless (and maybe it's just because i know i'm not 'trapped' there anymore, but) i actually do feel like things are starting to change, slowly, for the better - so i'm willing to stay involved with DEYAS for now. Maybe it'll actually start to honour the exemplary commitment of its founder.
Anyway, i wanted to announce to the world that HICKSVILLE by Dylan Horrocks is the single greatest comic book of all time. Period. I'm going to be standing on streetcorners downtown once a week from now on, handing out copies of it like The Watchtower.
Friday, June 30, 2006
Saturday, June 24, 2006
Strawberries and teachers against the war
God it's hot today.
Cheers to anyone who made it to the Peace Forum march... or the West End Seniors' Network's "Strawberry Festival" (where i could be seen volunteering despite acute sleep deprivation).
In unrelated news, i recently reconnected with two of the amazing teachers whose hard work (and patience and creativity and determination, etc...) made it possible for me to graduate from high school.
If you're looking for a really easy way to tell Gord Campbell to start treating teachers with the respect they deserve, click this: http://www.bctf.ca/Fax/
Time for me to take my frothy Irish vitamins,
ry
Cheers to anyone who made it to the Peace Forum march... or the West End Seniors' Network's "Strawberry Festival" (where i could be seen volunteering despite acute sleep deprivation).
In unrelated news, i recently reconnected with two of the amazing teachers whose hard work (and patience and creativity and determination, etc...) made it possible for me to graduate from high school.
If you're looking for a really easy way to tell Gord Campbell to start treating teachers with the respect they deserve, click this: http://www.bctf.ca/Fax/
Time for me to take my frothy Irish vitamins,
ry
Thursday, June 22, 2006
Forum On Oaxaca, Atenco, and "the Other"
I just heard about this event (below).
Also, for anyone interested, a 47-minute documentary about Atenco ("ROMPER EL CERCO") produced very recently by canalseisdejulio and Promedios/CMP and other independent media collectives in Mexico, is now available.
I haven't seen it yet, but i've ordered a copy from http://www.mexicosolidarity.org
and as soon as it gets here, i'll be able to lend it or make copies...
Incidentally, i found it interesting that the event is sponsored by a church group; i've just started reading the autobiography of Daniel Berrigan, a pacifist catholic priest who was imprisoned for his activism. It was a graduation present from my dad's friend Garry.
------------------------------------------------
"Repression in Atenco, Mexico
and
Why the Other Campaign?"
A PUBLIC FORUM
Saturday June 24th
6:00 p.m. Unitarian Church
949 49th. West Ave. (near the corner of 49th & Oak)
Free! Everyone is welcome!
We hope you can join us for this event, where we will have at least 4 very special guests from Mexico, including:
Gabriel Sainos (Totonaca healer who participates in the Other Campaign), Heriberto Salas (of the People's Front in Defense of the Land of Atenco), and a teacher from Oaxaca who will discuss recent and ongoing police repression in that state.
We will also have guests who are participating in the Six Nations and Sun Peaks struggles, as well as a traditional Coast Salish welcome.
The Forum will discuss:
- The Other Campaign in the context of the national social movement and the Mexican federal elections
- People's Front in Defense of the Land and the repression in Atenco
- The role of the independent media in the case of Atenco
- The defense of the land and connections with the Indigenous movement in Canada.
Sponsored by:
The Social Justice Committee of the Unitarian Church
Organized by:
The Other Campaign Vancouver and Organizations in Solidarity with Atenco
Email: atenco_vancouver@yahoo.ca
Also, for anyone interested, a 47-minute documentary about Atenco ("ROMPER EL CERCO") produced very recently by canalseisdejulio and Promedios/CMP and other independent media collectives in Mexico, is now available.
I haven't seen it yet, but i've ordered a copy from http://www.mexicosolidarity.org
and as soon as it gets here, i'll be able to lend it or make copies...
Incidentally, i found it interesting that the event is sponsored by a church group; i've just started reading the autobiography of Daniel Berrigan, a pacifist catholic priest who was imprisoned for his activism. It was a graduation present from my dad's friend Garry.
------------------------------------------------
"Repression in Atenco, Mexico
and
Why the Other Campaign?"
A PUBLIC FORUM
Saturday June 24th
6:00 p.m. Unitarian Church
949 49th. West Ave. (near the corner of 49th & Oak)
Free! Everyone is welcome!
We hope you can join us for this event, where we will have at least 4 very special guests from Mexico, including:
Gabriel Sainos (Totonaca healer who participates in the Other Campaign), Heriberto Salas (of the People's Front in Defense of the Land of Atenco), and a teacher from Oaxaca who will discuss recent and ongoing police repression in that state.
We will also have guests who are participating in the Six Nations and Sun Peaks struggles, as well as a traditional Coast Salish welcome.
The Forum will discuss:
- The Other Campaign in the context of the national social movement and the Mexican federal elections
- People's Front in Defense of the Land and the repression in Atenco
- The role of the independent media in the case of Atenco
- The defense of the land and connections with the Indigenous movement in Canada.
Sponsored by:
The Social Justice Committee of the Unitarian Church
Organized by:
The Other Campaign Vancouver and Organizations in Solidarity with Atenco
Email: atenco_vancouver@yahoo.ca
Wednesday, June 21, 2006
the good, the bad, and us
Hello friends and neighbours,
Thanks to those of you who sent me graduation well-wishes.
To show you all how much i appreciate your support and encouragement... i invite you to read the story below (from the CBC) about how our Conservative government is representing the interests of "Canadians" at the UN. But if that's too depressing, just remember:
MEANWHILE...
On June 16th, 8000 people came out to "RedStock" (AKA: the Concert for Kanenhstaton) in Brantford, Ontario. Well over $18000 was raised for the Six Nations protesters during the 12-hour, 40-band outdoor concert. The protesters continue to hold their ground at the barricade, despite on-going threats and harrassment...
AND... (if that's too much like "chicken soup for the anarchist soul" here's a reality check)
In Mexico, as the Presidential election-circus continues, the "Other Campaign" (which developed from a proposal of the Zapatistas' 6th declaration: "It is like a campaign... but very otherly, because it is not electoral" - Marcos) is building momentum. Some of the biggest demonstrations in Mexican history have been organized in the past two weeks, many fueled by massive outrage in the wake of state terrorism in Atenco.
The brutal repression of the "Other" perpetrated there by the Mexican police included hundreds of beatings and arbitrary arrests, more than 40 vicious rapes, including that of Italia Mendez - the first individual to report her assault publicly, and two confirmed killings: 20 year-old Alexis Benhumea, who died (after 34 days in hospital) from injuries inflicted by the police, and Javier Cortés, the 14-year-old boy whose autopsy confirmed what the witnesses already knew: that he was killed by an officer's bullet during the police riot on May 4th.
All this horror is unfolding during the first weeks of Mexico's tenure as the president of the new UN Human Rights Council - which brings us back to the article below...
The first session of the UN Human Rights Council is happening right now (June 19 - 30) at UN headquarters in Geneva. If you're in the neighbourhood, say hi to them and congratulate them on their timing.
The long and short of it is: there's a lot of ugly, evil shit going on. But if you're pissed off and wanna do something about it - you're in good company. So let's get it on.
love,
ryan andrew murphy
=====================================
Canada opposes UN aboriginal treaty
CBC News
http://www.cbc.ca/story/world/national/2006/06/20/aboriginal-declaration.html
--------------------------------------------------------------
"If you have come here to help me, you are wasting your time...
But if you have come because your liberation is bound up with mine,
then let us work together."
- Lilla Watson
Thanks to those of you who sent me graduation well-wishes.
To show you all how much i appreciate your support and encouragement... i invite you to read the story below (from the CBC) about how our Conservative government is representing the interests of "Canadians" at the UN. But if that's too depressing, just remember:
MEANWHILE...
On June 16th, 8000 people came out to "RedStock" (AKA: the Concert for Kanenhstaton) in Brantford, Ontario. Well over $18000 was raised for the Six Nations protesters during the 12-hour, 40-band outdoor concert. The protesters continue to hold their ground at the barricade, despite on-going threats and harrassment...
AND... (if that's too much like "chicken soup for the anarchist soul" here's a reality check)
In Mexico, as the Presidential election-circus continues, the "Other Campaign" (which developed from a proposal of the Zapatistas' 6th declaration: "It is like a campaign... but very otherly, because it is not electoral" - Marcos) is building momentum. Some of the biggest demonstrations in Mexican history have been organized in the past two weeks, many fueled by massive outrage in the wake of state terrorism in Atenco.
The brutal repression of the "Other" perpetrated there by the Mexican police included hundreds of beatings and arbitrary arrests, more than 40 vicious rapes, including that of Italia Mendez - the first individual to report her assault publicly, and two confirmed killings: 20 year-old Alexis Benhumea, who died (after 34 days in hospital) from injuries inflicted by the police, and Javier Cortés, the 14-year-old boy whose autopsy confirmed what the witnesses already knew: that he was killed by an officer's bullet during the police riot on May 4th.
All this horror is unfolding during the first weeks of Mexico's tenure as the president of the new UN Human Rights Council - which brings us back to the article below...
The first session of the UN Human Rights Council is happening right now (June 19 - 30) at UN headquarters in Geneva. If you're in the neighbourhood, say hi to them and congratulate them on their timing.
The long and short of it is: there's a lot of ugly, evil shit going on. But if you're pissed off and wanna do something about it - you're in good company. So let's get it on.
love,
ryan andrew murphy
=====================================
Canada opposes UN aboriginal treaty
CBC News
http://www.cbc.ca/story/world/national/2006/06/20/aboriginal-declaration.html
--------------------------------------------------------------
"If you have come here to help me, you are wasting your time...
But if you have come because your liberation is bound up with mine,
then let us work together."
- Lilla Watson
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