Back to Main CERLAC Events Page Previous Events (2003-2004 and before)
CERLAC (York University) and the Transformative Learning Centre (OISE/UT) presentThe Chilean Justice System and the Legacy of Pinochet
with
Claudio González and Verónica Reyna
FASIC, Chilean Human Rights OrganizationClaudio González (Executive Director) and Verónica Reyna (Coordinator of the Legal Department) of FASIC will speak about the advances and setbacks in the last three years for human rights and justice in Chile as well as the status of pending human rights cases.
FASIC (Fundación de Ayuda Social de las Iglesias Cristianas), founded in 1975, is one of the oldest Chilean human rights organizations. FASIC handles the largest number of currently pending cases of human rights violations from the Pinochet era.
Monday, June 6
7pm
OISE, University of Toronto
252 Bloor St. West (Subway: St. George)
Room 2-211All are welcome!
More information: cerlac@yorku.ca, 416.736.5237
CERLAC is proud to announce the
CERLAC Film Series!
Tuesdays,
2:30-5:30 pm
240E
York Lanes, CERLAC
Free
Admission - all are welcome!
February 22 -- Our Lady of the Assassins (Colombia/France, 2000)March 1 -- Two Documentaries:
Profit and Nothing But, or, Impolite Thoughts on the Class Struggle (Haiti, 2001)
Life and Debt (Jamaica/USA, 2001)March 8 -- The Silence of Neto (Guatemala, 1994)
March 15 -- Black God, White Devil (Brazil, 1964)
March 22 -- The Harder They Come (Jamaica, 1973)
March 29 -- Strawberry and Chocolate (Cuba, 1994)
March 1st films:In recognition of the first anniversary of the US coup in Haiti, two documentary films on Haiti, the Caribbean, and global capitalism:
Profit and Nothing But, or, Impolite Thoughts on the Class Struggle
Raoul Peck - Haiti, 2001
52 min.
French with English SubtitlesContrasts this heavily documented illumination of the capitalist system with the devastating reality in Haiti -- "a country that doesn't exist, where intellectual discussion has become a luxury." Its GNP for the next thirty years is roughly equivalent to Bill Gates (current) fortune. The film's stark images of the lives of the damned on earth provide a striking backdrop for talk of 'triumphant capitalism.' [from haitiforever.com]
AND
Life and Debt
Stephanie Black / Tuff Gong Pictures - Jamaica / USA, 2001
Narration written by Jamaica Kincaid
86 min.
English languageWinner of 8 international film prizes, including the 2004 Paris Human Rights Film Festival Special Jury Prize
Set to a beguiling reggae beat, Life and Debt takes as its subject Jamaica's economic decline in the 20th century. The story has reverberations in the plight of other third-world nations blindsided by globalization, like Ghana and Haiti. After England granted Jamaica independence in 1962, the World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF) stepped in with a series of loans. These loans came with strings attached--the kind that would eventually plunge the country $7 billion into debt, stranded without the resources to dig themselves out. Although IMF officials get the chance to have their say, it's clear where filmmaker Stephanie Black's sympathies lie--with the country's underemployed farmers and sweatshop workers. Jamaica Kinkaid (A Small Place) penned the narration, while the soundtrack features some of the "imports" with which this island nation remains mostly closely associated: Bob Marley, Peter Tosh, and Mutabaruka, who performs the title track. [Kathleen C. Fennessy, amazon.com]
More information: cerlac@yorku.ca
(416) 736-2100 ext. 88705
CERLAC (York University), The Transformative Learning Centre (OISE/UT), and the Socialist project presentBrazil:
Neoliberalism and the Paradoxes of the Lula Governmentwith
Professor Alfredo Saad-Filho
SOAS, University of London (UK)Dr. Alfredo Saad Filho is a Senior Lecturer in Political Economy of Development in the Department of Development Studies, University of London, UK. He has degrees in Economics from the Universities of Brasilia (Brazil) and London (Ph.D.), and has taught and researched in universities in Brazil and Mozambique as well as the UK.
His research interests include the political economy of development, inflation and stabilisation, international trade, and the labour theory of value and its applications. His most recent books are The Value of Marx: Political Economy for Contemporary Capitalism, Routledge 2002, and Marx's Capital, Pluto 2003.
Tuesday , April 12, 7.30 pm
Room 2212
Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, University of Toronto
252 Bloor St. West, TorontoAll Welcome
CERLAC presents a brown bag seminar
How to present a conference paper
with Judy Hellman
Back
by popular demand, Judy Hellman will animate a workshop for
graduate
students on how to present a conference paper
Monday,
April 4th
1:30-3:30
390
York Lanes
Light
refreshments will be served - all are welcome!
More information: cerlac@yorku.ca
(416) 736-2100 ext. 88705
CERLAC and the York Institute for Health Research present
Venezuela
Providing
Health Services to the Poor: Misión Barrio Adentro
with visiting speaker
María
Páez Victor, MA, Ph.D
 
Venezuelan success story on bringing health care to the marginalized |
For decades the Venezuelan people suffered compounded neglect of their health needs, both in terms of medical care as well as in terms of the social and economic determinants of health. The democratic government of Hugo Chávez, recognizing the immediate health needs of the Venezuelan people, bypassed ineffective governmental ministries and, with the help of Cuba and the active participation of the very people who needed services, created one of the most spectacularly successful health care initiatives today. In this presentation we will examine the dynamics, achievements and challenges of this innovative health care delivery initiative.
Dr. María Páez Victor is a Venezuelan-born sociologist and consultant who teaches Sociology of Health and Medicine at the University of Toronto.
|
2:30 p.m. 390 York Lanes |
The Centre for Research on Latin America and the Caribbean (CERLAC), Socialist Project, the Transformative Learning Centre (OISE-UT), and the Centre for Social Justice present
SOCIALISM WITH RELIGION
VIEWS FROM CUBAwith
Juana Berges, Assistant Researcher with the Department of Socioreligious Studies at the Centre for Psychological and Sociological Research (CIPS); specialist in the study of Protestantism in Cuba; member of the Board of Directors of the Christian Centre for Reflection and Dialogue.
Jorge Ramírez Calzadilla, Researcher, Head of the Department of Socioreligious Studies, CIPS; Assistant Professor of the University of Havana; Professor of the Cuban Academy of Sciences.
Aurelio Alonso Tejada, Researcher with the Department of Socioreligious Studies, CIPS; member of the Editorial Board of the review Southern Alternatives (Alternatives Sud); coordinator of the CLACSO Working Group on Religion and Society; Assistant Professor of the University of Havana.
Thursday, March 31st
7:00 - 9:30 pm
Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (OISE)
7th floor South (Peace) Lounge
252 Bloor St. West, Toronto
CERLAC and Rights Action present
(Under)Mining Development in
Honduras and Guatemala
Global Actors, Community-based
Resistance
with visiting speaker
Sandra Cuffe
Sandra Cuffe is an activist working with Rights Action in Honduras, accompanying community-based organizations and working on a number of human rights and global justice issues.Background reading:She will be speaking about the current invasion of North American mining companies into Honduras and Guatemala, the legislation and framework facilitating this wave of activity, and the global actors (World
Bank, Canadian and US governments) involved. A focus on the activities of Glamis Gold Ltd and community responses will underline these issues with concrete examples.
Monday, March 28
11:30am - 1:00pm
305 York Lanes
Report by Sandra Cuffe -
"A Backwards, Upside-Down Kind of Development: Global Actors, Mining and Community-based Resistance in Honduras and Guatemala," available at: www.rightsaction.org. Included in the final section are a number of websites – company, industry, activist, etc – that are useful resources for information, research, business news, campaigns, urgent actions, etc.
CERLAC presents
social
movements in Argentina
occupying
factories, streets & plazas
~a brown bag seminar with~
|
(Ph.D. candidate, Political Science) |
(4th year undergrad, International Development Studies) |
|
(MES Candidate, Environmental Studies) |
(Professor, Education; CERLAC Fellow) |
 |
In the 1990s, Argentina followed all of the structural adjustment policies
advocated by international financial institutions, making it a model of
neoliberal reform. But the economic and social repercussions of orthodox
economic readjustment would soon become evident as skyrocketing debt, unemployment
and poverty plunged the country into a financial and economic crisis that
exploded in the popular uprising of December 2001. Since then, Argentina
has witnessed the growth of numerous social movements and forms of popular
resistance as various sectors of the population occupy factories, streets
and plazas to both demand and create social change.
This presentation will explore a number of social movements in Argentina, including a discussion of the occupied factory movement and the recent threats faced by the Zanon workers as they struggle for legal recognition. |
Wednesday,
March 16
305
York Lanes
2:30
pm
all are welcome!!
***please
support the Zanon workers***
sign
the international petition
More information: cerlac@yorku.ca (416) 736-2100 ext. 88705
CERLAC presents a brown bag seminar
Strengthening Indigenous Women's
Leadership:
The Kichwa experience of the
Dolores Cacuango School
with
Dolores Figueroa Romero
Ph.D candidate, Sociology
 |
Indigenous organizations in Ecuador have been engaged in a long struggle
to contest the Central State on matters of recognition of cultural diversity
and rejection of neo-liberal policies.
The Dolores Cacuango School of Women's Leadership, linked to ECUARUNARI (Confederation of Kichwa Peoples of Ecuador) aims to strengthen the leadership capacity of young indigenous women to win political spaces and improve their endeavours in local affairs. In various ways, the Dolores Cacuango School of Women’s Leadership is a microcosm that reflects the multiple dimensions of gender inequality in the Andean indigenous world and the complexity of implementing policies and initiatives to build the pre-conditions for social change. |
Monday, March 14
390 York Lanes
2:30 pm
---All are welcome!---
More information: cerlac@yorku.ca
(416) 736-2100 ext. 88705
The Grassroots Anti-Imperialist
Network, York University Black Student Association,
the Centre for Research
on Latin America and the Caribbean and
the June 30th Organizing
Committee present:
Unspinning the Coup in Haiti
Western hegemony extends its
hand into the Caribbean
A panel discussion with: Jean St. Vil, Ottawa based Haitian activist and radio host
Yasmine Shamsie, Political Science professor at Wilfrid Laurier University
Nikki Lee, York student and member of the York University Black Student Association
|
Saturday, March 12
305 York Lanes
5:30 pm
More information: cerlac@yorku.ca, (416) 736-2100 ext. 88705
UCGS and CERLAC present
Security and Militarism in the Americas
Panelists:
Elena Cirkovic (Ph.D candidate, Political Science),
Simon Helweg-Larsen (MA candidate, Social and Political Thought), and
Justin Podur (journalist, ZNET)Chair and organizer: Shana Shubs (CERLAC)
While Latin America has emerged from the military dictatorships and armed conflicts of past decades, the military remains a powerful institution in many Latin American societies. A failure to bring those responsible for crimes against humanity to justice has only strengthened the impunity with which militarized groups operate. Today’s discourses of ‘security’ and the ‘war on terror’ are called upon to further U.S. interests in the region and, increasingly, to legitimize the militarization of social unrest and popular dissent. Taking us to Venezuela, Guatemala and Peru, this panel will explore the current social, political and economic contexts of militarism and consider the consequences for local populations as well as the implications for the region as a whole.
More information: cerlac@yorku.ca (416) 736-2100 ext. 88705
Support the longest running Anishinabe social justice campaign in modern history
| The
Grassy Narrows Speaking Tour |
 |
Members of the longest running Anishnabe social justice campaign in modern history have planned a tour of southern Ontario to encourage our communities to be part of ending cultural genocide and systemic racism.Since starting a campaign against clear cut logging in their territory companies have had to go to great lengths to steal wood. This tour will be an opportunity to network with other activists and raise the pressure on these companies to respect Grassy Narrows' right to self determination.
Co-sponsored by:
Grassroots Anti-Imperialist Network (GRAIN)
Osgoode Law Activists Assoication (OLAA)
Centre for Research on Latin America and the Caribbean (CERLAC)
And more to come...
The tour will be visiting several first nations communities and will also stop in Toronto, London, Waterloo, Guelph, Hamilton, Toronto, Windsor, Peterborough, Belleville, Kingston, Ottawa, and Montreal. At each stop on the tour organizers are being asked to hold solidarity protests to support their campaign.At the end of the tour activists from across the region will be bused to Montreal for a mass protest at the Montreal headquarters of corporate criminal
Abitibi Consolidated (the main logging company in question).For more information contact grain_york@hotmail.com
CERLAC presents
two brown bag presentations on
The Discourse
of Human Rights
& the
Case of Indigenous Peoples of Peru
|
Elena Cirkovic
The most pressing issue for indigenous peoples at the end of the UN International Decade of the World’s Indigenous People (1995-2004), has been the adoption of the UN Draft Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. The Decade ended with the failure of efforts to see the Draft Declaration adopted by the Human Rights Commission, questioning whether any gains have been made in pursuit of Indigenous self-determination at an international forum. With the emergence of the human rights discourse in the post 1945 environment, the United Nations have become yet another combat zone between indigenous peoples and successive invading waves of European forms of life and thought. This investigation observes to what extent the institutionalized human rights discourse serves as an emancipatory tool for indigenous peoples worldwide, or if it delegetimizes other forms of alternative indigenous discourses and worldviews. The open question is whether the colonial borders of international law are in fact being weakened; whether the human rights discourse is capable of shifting those borders and accommodating other speeches; for in its original mandate, human rights discourse belongs to the very Leviathan indigenous peoples are trying to oppose. |
Gerardo Munarriz Ulloa
This study discusses the effectiveness of the supervisory mechanisms of the United Nations (UN) and the Organization of American States (OAS) human rights systems in dealing with Peru’s widespread and systemic violations of human rights that took place during the 1980s and 1990s. Despite the abundant evidence implicating Peruvian State agents in patterned violations, the international community failed to respond to the gravity of the situation. Particularly, the UN human rights treaty-based system and the Inter-American human rights system failed to monitor effectively the implementation and compliance by the Peruvian government of its international and regional human rights obligations. Two main factors contributed to the failure of the international community to respond to the human rights tragedy in Peru: first, the socio-economic status and ethnic identity of the majority of the victims, who were mainly poor and powerless Andean Quechua-speaking indigenous people, considered as second or third-class citizens within Peruvian society; and second, the image (veneer) of a Peruvian democracy engaged in a struggle against “terrorism”, which to an important extent, shielded itself in a cloak of “democratic” legitimacy. |
|
390 York Lanes 2:30 pm - 4:30 pm |
All are welcome!
| Background reading:
By Alfred Taiaiake, Director of Aboriginal Governance Program at UVIC:
By Martti Koskenniemi, International Law Professor, Helsinki University:
On Peru:
OAS
|
More information: cerlac@yorku.ca
(416) 736-2100 ext. 88705
The Transformative Learning Centre (OISE/UT), the Socialist Project and the Centre for Research on Latin America & the Caribbean (CERLAC) present
The Mexican
Left and the Crisis
Views
From Chiapas and Mexico City
with
Alejandro Alvarez
Bejar
Leandro Vergara-Camus
and
Paula
Hevia Pacheco
| Alejandro
Alvarez is a political activist and Economics Professor
at UNAM (Universidad Nacional Autónoma de Mexico). He is the author
of many articles on the Mexican and global economies, Mexican politics
and unions and NAFTA. He is the author of La crisis global del capitalismo
and is completing a book on Mexico en la jaula de hierro del neoliberalismo:
economia mundial, bloques regionales y resistencia social (Mexico
in the Iron Cage of Neoliberalism: World Economy, Regional Blocs, and Social
Resistance). He is presently conducting a major research project on Plan
Puebla Panama. He has been on the editorial board and a regular contributor
to Punto Critico and Corre la Voz.
Leandro Vergara-Camus and Paula Hevia Pacheco are both in the process of completing dissertations in Political Science at York University on Chiapas. Leandro is doing a comparison of the Zapatistas and the MST of Brazil and Paula is studying women in Chiapas. Both have recently done extensive fieldwork in Chiapas. |
Wednesday, February 9, 2005,
7:30 PM
OISE/UT, Room 2214 (2nd floor)
252 Bloor St. West, Subway St.
George
More information: Transformative Learning Centre,
OISE/UT
Website: tlc.oise.utoronto.ca
E-mail:tlcentre@oise.utoronto.ca
CERLAC and LACS present
|
in Power |
|
|
Against Social Exclusion in Uruguay |
|
with visiting speaker
Diana
Marcos Pose
| Uruguayans recently elected a new left-leaning government
for the first time in the country’s history. The left’s landslide victory
in the national elections gives it a clear mandate to carry out a program
of progressive social and economic change after decades of market-friendly
government policies. The first initiative of the new government will be
to implement a National Emergency Plan to address the unprecedented levels
of social exclusion in the country.
Diana Marcos will talk about the significance of the left’s electoral victory in Uruguay, outline the main objectives of the National Emergency Plan, and discuss other social policy initiatives of the new government. She was recently appointed General Director of a newly created Ministry of Social Development charged with overseeing the design and implementation of the Emergency Plan. Diana Marcos has a degree in Economics and Administration from the Universidad de la Republica (Uruguay) and has extensive experience working as public administration advisor. She has held several public administration posts, including Accountant General for Montevideo’s Municipal Legislature and Director of Planning and Budgeting Division of the Municipality of Montevideo. |
Wednesday,
February 9th
2:30
- 4:30 pm
Founders
College Senior Common Room
305
Founders College
York
University
More information: cerlac@yorku.ca (416) 736-2100 ext. 88705
CERLAC, Women's Studies, the Faculty of Environmental Studies, Business and Society and the Division of Social Science present
-an international development week event-
Chiapas Indigenous Women’s Fair Trade Weaving Cooperatives
~the struggle for women’s empowerment and Indigenous autonomy~
with Pascuala Patishtan and Merit Ichin
| Indigenous women from Chiapas, Mexico educate
and empower themselves through their participation in women’s cooperative
Jolom Mayaetik and NGO K’inal Antzetik. Their work raises women’s political
awareness, and creates alternatives to gender and economic subordination.
Women’s work in Fair Trade cooperatives has been instrumental also in maintaining the autonomy of Indigenous communities in Chiapas, providing an alternative source of income for communities whose livelihoods continue to be threatened by macro-economic development plans such as the Plan Puebla Panama (PPP), trade agreements such as NAFTA, and persistent low-intensity warfare. |
Please join Pascuala Patishtan
and Merit Ichin from Jolom Mayaetik and K’inal
Antzetik,
sharing their struggle for dignity,
autonomy, and survival.
Discussion to follow.
Fair Trade textiles will be also available for purchase.
|
Founders Sr. Common Room 305 Founders College 2:30pm to 4:30pm |
| Visit:
K'inal Antzetik Canadian Fair Trade Network |
More information: cerlac@yorku.ca (416) 736-2100 ext. 88705
|
The Canada Institute at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars with the Centre for Research on Latin America and the Caribbean (CERLAC), York University and Leo Panitch, Canada Research Chair in Comparative Political Economy, York University present |
with Leading Experts from Mexico, the United States, and Canada
|
9:30am to 4:00pm Croft Chapter
House
|
This program is
free
All are welcome
Lunch will be
available for a small charge (see program)
Please register to ucnafta@yahoo.ca or 416-815-6272
| Program
9:30: Coffee
MEXICO: Alejandro Alvarez, Economics, Universidad
Nacional Autónoma de México
CANADA: Stephen Clarkson, Professor of
Political Economy, University of Toronto
UNITED STATES: Joseph A. McKinney, Professor
of Economics and the Ben H. Williams Professor of International Economics,
Baylor University
DISCUSSANT: Mel Watkins, Economics and Canadian Studies, University of Toronto
UNITED STATES: Kimberly Elliott, Institute
for International Economics
CANADA: Greg Albo, Political Science, York
University (with Dan Crow)
MEXICO: Dick Roman, University College,
Univ. of Toronto and CERLAC, York University (with Edur Velasco, Universidad
Autónoma Metropolitana, Mexico)
DISCUSSANT: Ian MacDonald, Political Science,
York University
|
  |
CERLAC presents
| Why Indigenous-Based Parties?
New Party Formation and Electoral Success in Latin America |
with CERLAC Research Associate
Roberta Rice
PhD Candidate, Dept. of Political Science,
University of New Mexico, U.S.A.
| Indigenous movements are assuming increasing political importance in
Latin American democracies. They have organized nation-wide strikes, blocked
unpopular economic reforms, toppled corrupt leaders, and in some instances
formed their own political parties with an eye to obtaining national-level
power. While a number of scholars have sought to explain the recent emergence
of indigenous rights movements in Latin America, few have examined the
efforts of indigenous movements in some nations to assert their voice more
directly into formal democratic institutions by creating their own political
parties.
The central questions addressed by this study are, why are indigenous-based political parties forming in some Latin American countries and not in others? And second, what factors account for the varying degree of success of these newly emerged parties? |
Monday, January 24, 2005
2:30 - 4:30 p.m.
305 York Lanes
All are welcome!
More information: cerlac@yorku.ca (416) 736-2100 ext. 88705
CERLAC PRESENTS
A FALL
SERIES ON COLOMBIA
|
This seminar series offers a space to learn more about these issues and struggles, to reflect on and discuss their implications and to explore ways to bring about change. |
PLEASE JOIN US – ALL ARE WELCOME!
Oct.
12:
Colombia's
"Internal Enemies" and their Cry for Liberty
with
Jasmin Hristov
MA
Candidate Sociology, CERLAC Graduate Associate
Oct.
21:
Violence
against Unions in Colombia & the Campaign to Stop Killer Coke
with
Ray Rogers
Director,
Campaign against Killer Coke
Nov.
9:
America’s
Other War: Terrorizing Colombia
with
Doug Stokes
University
of Wales, CERLAC Visiting Scholar
Rights Action and CERLAC present...
 |
NEW HOPE TWENTY YEARS AFTER THE GENOCIDE with GUILLERMO CHEN MORALES |
| Guillermo
Chen Morales is Director of the New Hope for Rio Negro Rabinal Scholarship
Foundation in Guatemala, an organization that creates educational opportunities
for descendants of victims and survivors of the Guatemalan massacres.
He is from Rabinal Baja Verapaz, Guatemala, a municipality that the UN
Truth Commission stated lost approximately 20 per cent of their population
to state and paramilitary violence during the early 80's.
Two decades after the genocide, the people are still trying to rebuild. |
Thursday, November 25, 2004
1:30 – 3:30 p.m.
Founders Sr. Common Room
305 Founders College, York University
| BACKGROUND INFORMATION:
Rio Negro was the home village of several prominent human rights activists, who currently reside in Pacux (a former 'model village' that was controlled by the military) on the outskirts of Rabinal. The village of Rio Negro now lies under the water - in the flood plain created by the World Bank and Inter-American Development Bank funded Chixoy hydro-electric dam. Over several months in the early 80's, over four hundred community members of Rio Negro were killed to make room for this dam project. Survivors of this and other massacres were left in horrendous poverty and are still struggling twenty years later. Since the massacres, without government assistance and within a context of on-going death threats and structural barriers, a handful of Indigenous massacre survivors in Rabinal created the infrastructure needed to help impoverished and traumatized Indigenous communities rebuild after the genocide. This infrastructure includes: a community Museum that celebrates local Mayan artisanry within the context of genocide; a legal aid clinic that provides free legal services to local Indigenous people; and a widow's organization that plays a fundamental role in the organization of political activity on both a local and national level. Another piece of the infrastructure that is being created in Rabinal for dignity and justice is the Foundation New Hope - an organization that creates educational opportunities for descendants of victims and survivors of the Guatemalan massacres. The Foundation and its students are now protagonists in re-building their lives and communities. Guillermo, a university educated Indigenous man from Rabinal, uses his education and experience to help the Indigenous people of Rabinal overcome some of the barriers that they were born into. A significant part of his work is public education and fund-raising. This tour has both of these goals in mind. This presentation is a fantastic opportunity to hear a very personable, committed, and articulate person talk about the state of his community and their struggle for dignity and justice. It is also an opportunity to assist an organization that is providing education to Indigenous youth who otherwise could never afford it. |
More information: cerlac@yorku.ca
(416) 736-2100 ext. 88705
CERLAC presents
|
Terrorizing Colombia |
with
Doug Stokes
University
of Wales
(Department
of International Politics)
 |
DOUG STOKES is a CERLAC visiting scholar. |
| Tracing US foreign policy in Colombia from the pre-Cold War era to the present day, America’s Other War is a thorough exposé of US support for state violence in Colombia. |
|
– Adam Isacson,
Center for International Policy, Washington.
|
For more information and to order the book, click here.
| From “War on
Drugs” to “War on Terrorism”, the pretexts may change…
but the underlying agenda continues to be the advancement of US interests in Colombia. |
More information: cerlac@yorku.ca
(416) 736-2100 ext. 88705
YORK GRADUATE STUDENTS!
Are you interested in Latin American and Caribbean studies?
Did you miss the first CERLAC graduate student orientation?
Are you interested in getting more actively involved with CERLAC?
Come join us for our 2nd
Graduate Student Orientation
Monday, November 8 @ 3:30 p.m.
240 York Lanes
All graduate students are welcome to attend!
|
We also want to hear your views on how we can best support you and the events you would like to see! |
More information: cerlac@yorku.ca, (416) 736-2100 ext. 88705
CERLAC presents
|
|
with visiting speakers Dina Mazariegos and Victoria Cumes Jochola
|
|
| Thursday,
November 4th
2:00pm The Gallery
|
| It is a pleasure and an opportunity to
be receiving these women here in Canada. They bring with them a unique
perspective and experience in their struggle for recognition of human rights,
women's rights and indigenous rights that is different from the prevailing
point of view.
In a country with a population comparable to Ontario's, there were 431 reported cases of rape between Jan-June of 2003. During the first 8 months of 2004, 331 women were murdered, many of them tortured. The number of cases of violence against women and the apparently deliberate killings of women--termed femicidio or femicide--has increased drastically in recent times. In some rural areas the illiteracy rate reaches 90 percent. Indigenous women are the majority and face triple discrimination; for their poverty, for their race, and for their gender. Yet they exemplify hope for positive change. |
| About the speakers:
Dina Mazariegos
Mesoamerican Centre for Sustainable Human Rights Action (CEMAS) - www.cemas.org The Granddaughters of Ixmucane: Guatemalan Women Speak as told to Emilie Smith-Ayala, Women's Press, Toronto, 1991. I, Rigoberta Menchu by Rigoberta Menchu, Verso Press, London and New York, 1984. Stolen Continents by Ronald Wright, Penguin Books Canada, Toronto, 1992. Time Amongst the Maya
by Ronald Wright, Penguin Books Canada, 1989.
|
More information: cerlac@yorku.ca, (416) 736-2100 ext. 88705
| CERLAC (York U.), LACS (York U.), the Transformative Learning Centre (OISE/UT), the Centre for Social Justice, Founders College (York U.), OPIRG (U of T), the Sam Gindin Chair in Social Justice & Democracy (Ryerson U.), Politics (Ryerson U.) and Sociology (York U.) present |
|
|
|
|
**Note the change in time and location for this event**
Join us for an evening of art, film and discussion - featuring: |
a
presentation by
the Argentina Autonomista Project
|
|
Graciela Monteagudo (Argentine human rights activist and community artist) with interactive "cantastorias" on the history of Argentina Soledad Bordegaray (MTD La Matanza) and Claudia Acuña (Human Rights organizer, journalist and co-founder of La Vaca) with a presentation on autonomous struggles in Argentina. |
 |
Tuesday, November 2 8:00pm – 10:00pm OISE, University of Toronto 252 Bloor St. West (subway: St. George) OISE Auditorium **Note the change in time and location** |
all are welcome!! attendance is free!!
|
|
December 1, 2004 Dear Friends, |
| Argentina Autonomista Project
-
www.autonomista.org
Organizations
collaborating with the Argentina Autonomista Project:
|
More information: cerlac@yorku.ca, 416-736-2100 ext. 88705
CERLAC, The Faculties of Environmental
Studies and Fine Arts, and the Aboriginal Education Council present
PAINTING BY LISTENING
|
in Mexico |
with
Checo Valdez
Visual artist from Universidad
Autonoma Metropolitana, Mexico City
|
Deborah Barndt, Associate Dean, Faculty of Environmental Studies, will host. |
|
5:00- 7:00 pm Health Nursing and Environmental Studies Building Room 140 |
|
|
reception following seminar - free admission
This is the second event in the 2004-05
FES Seminar Series "Art/Nature/Culture/Communities."
For more information: Dianne Zecchino, diannez@yorku.ca, 416-736-5285
CERLAC presents
The Politics of Recognition in
BRAZIL
The PT and their new social
policy?
with visiting speaker
Paulo Krischke
| Please join us for this exciting seminar with renowned Brazilian scholar, Paulo Krischke. Krischke was a co-founder of two important pre-cursors to CERLAC: the Brazilian Studies Group and the Latin American Research Unit. He has written extensively on culture and politics in Brazil and is currently a Professor in the Centre of Philosophy and Human Sciences at the Federal University of Santa Catarina, in Florianópolis, Brazil. |
All are welcome!
|
1:30pm 390 York Lanes |
More information: cerlac@yorku.ca,
416-736-2100 ext. 88705
CERLAC and CRWS present
Violence
against Unions in Colombia
&
the Campaign to Stop Killer Coke
"It's about confronting power with power"
with visiting speaker
RAY
ROGERS
Director, Campaign to Stop
Killer Coke
|
Founders Senior Common Room 305 Founders College, York University |
| **Please note the change in location to 305 Founders College. |
In 2001, a lawsuit was filed against Coca-Cola by the International Labor Rights Fund (www.laborrights.org) and the United Steelworkers of America on behalf of SINALTRAINAL (the Colombian union representing Coke workers), several of its members and the estate of Isidro Gil, one of its murdered officers. The lawsuit charges that Coca-Cola’s bottlers in Colombia “contracted with or otherwise directed paramilitary security forces that utilized extreme violence and murdered, tortured, unlawfully detained or otherwise silenced trade union leaders.”
It was later decided that a highly visible public campaign would be needed to supplement the legal strategy. That is where Corporate Campaign, Inc. (CCI) came in and launched the worldwide Campaign to Stop Killer Coke (www.killercoke.org). After conducting months of research, CCI (www.corporatecampaign.org) came up with a strategic plan: to undermine Coca-Cola’s image, to cut off their markets and to pressure the company’s top policymakers, institutional investors and creditors. This strategy seeks to divide the power brokers against each other. As Rogers says, “It’s about confronting power with power. We must raise the stakes high enough so that Coke and its financial allies realize that it’s going to cost them a lot more than they have to gain if they don’t clean up their act in Colombia.”
"If we lose the fight against Coca-Cola, we will first lose our union, next our jobs and then our lives."— SINALTRAINAL Vice President Juan Carlos Galvis
| Please see here
for background reading and links.
You can download a flyer with information about how to stop Killer Coke by pressuring the Royal Bank of Canada. Complete the letter on the back and send it the Royal Bank! To receive electronic newsletters about the Campaign to Stop Killer Coke, send a request to stopkillercoke@aol.com with a request to join. |
More information: cerlac@yorku.ca,
416-736-2100 ext. 88705
CERLAC presents
COLOMBIA’S
“INTERNAL ENEMIES” AND THEIR CRY FOR LIBERTY
In
search of a model that places human life before capital…
a brown bag seminar with
Jasmin
Hristov
MA Candidate, Sociology, CERLAC Graduate
Associate
| State-sanctioned violence, repression, and increased militarization have facilitated the process of neoliberal restructuring in Colombia. The detrimental impacts of neoliberal policies are clearly evident in the deterioration of the already precarious existence of millions, widening inequalities, assault on labour rights, destruction of sustainable livelihoods, increase in the number of landless rural residents, and decline in social development. The indignation of those impoverished by the current economic system has found expression in diverse popular struggles exhibiting an unprecedented organizational capacity. Meanwhile, the “War against the Internal Enemy” has served as the ideological mechanism that legitimates the state’s non-democratic, repressive, and in some cases terror-based practices that dehumanize, silence, frighten, and confuse those who ask questions. |  |
Jasmin has recently returned from a trip to Bogota, Cali, and a number of places in the Department of Cauca. During this seminar she will report back on her meetings with representatives from the indigenous movement of Cauca, Leftist politicians and intellectuals, unionists, the Presidential Council for Human Rights, the Ombudsman’s Office, the Attorney General’s Office, the Colombian Armed Forces, and the US embassy, covering a wide variety of topics and perspectives related to the current conflict in Colombia.Background reading:
www.nasaacin.netTuesday, October 12, 2004
3:00 p.m. - 5:00 p.m.
305 York Lanes
More information: cerlac@yorku.ca,
416-736-2100 ext. 88705
CERLAC presents
HIV/AIDS, Women and Violence in Chiapas
with visiting
speaker
Dr.
Margarita Aguilar Ruiz
| Monday, October 4, 1:00 pm
305 York Lanes |
Dr. Margarita Aguilar Ruiz is the author of “With Faith Eroded.” She is accompanied by her translator, Susan Angelakis from Chiapas. Margarita will discuss her HIV/AIDS education work with women in Chiapas. She is a medical doctor, social activist, journalist, and author.
“With Faith Eroded”,written as a novella for educational purposes, charts the struggle for survival amid the transmission of HIV/AIDS in the Highlands of Chiapas. The book has recently been translated into English by Susan Angelakis and published through CCJW by The Other Eye Press in Toronto. It will be available for sale in both Spanish and English.
Speaking tour organized by
Canadian Chiapanecas Justice for Women
Canadian
Chiapanecas Justice for Women (CCJW) is a network of individuals and member
organizations in Canada and Chiapas. It is a North/South working
group committed to building links among women's anti-violence, education,
health, human rights and indigenous organizations in the PPP region and
in Canada in order to learn from each other and to support each other’s
work.
More information: cerlac@yorku.ca,
416-736-2100 ext. 88705
CERLAC, the Division of Social Science, LACS, Founders College, IDS and UCGS present
Latin American Development Theories and Neoliberalism
with visiting speaker
Cristobal Kay
Institute for Social Research, Netherlands
Monday, October 4th, 3 - 5 pm
Founders College Senior Common
Room
305 Founders College, York University
More information, contact: Kimberley White,
Assistant Professor, Division of Social Science
(416) 736-2100 x 20546 or kjwhite@yorku.ca
An invitation
to all graduate students at York
interested
in research on Latin American and the Caribbean
The Centre for Research
on Latin America and the Caribbean (CERLAC)
invites you to
An Orientation Session for Graduate Students
October
5, 2004
2:30 -
3:30 pm
CERLAC
(240 York Lanes)
We encourage all students interested in CERLAC to join us for this informal gathering. A general introduction to our activities, resources and major programs (including especially the Graduate Diploma Program in Latin American and Caribbean Studies) will be presented. Emphasis will be given to opportunities for graduate student involvement at CERLAC, and questions and suggestions will be very welcome. This event will be followed directly by a CERLAC social gathering, which represents an opportunity to meet with other members of the CERLAC community - as well as to eat, drink and be merry!
CERLAC invites all to attend a
CERLAC Social Gathering
Please join
us at our annual welcome event to start off the school year
and
meet with new and old friends and colleagues. All are welcome!
Food,
drink, and good company are guaranteed.
Tuesday,
October 5
3:30
pm - 5:30 pm
240
York Lanes, York University
More information: cerlac@yorku.ca,
416-736-2100 ext. 88705
The Colloquium on the Global South presents
two seminars with
Pat Mooney
(ETC Group, formerly RAFI)
Wednesday, September 29, 10:30 AM-12:30 PM:
Breaking Waves: How to control technological tsunamis
in an era of globalization 1400 to 2100
Wednesday, September 29, 2:30-4:30 PM:
Biodiversity, Biotech and the Marginalized
Room 305, York Lanes
York University, Toronto
The 10:30-12:30 seminar will be oriented to a 'science and society' crowd and the 2:30-4:30 seminar to a 'global south' crowd. Both seminars will draw on Pat Mooney’s path breaking book The "ETC" Century: Erosion, Technological Transformation, and Corporate Concentration in the 21st Century (ETC Group, 2001) and the work that has followed.
Pat Roy Mooney is the Executive Director of ETC Group. For more than thirty years, Pat Mooney has worked with civil society organisations (CSOs) on international trade and development issues related to agriculture and biodiversity. For further information, check the UCGS website.
CERLAC presents
Venezuela
Chooses its Future
A panel
discussion on the context and consequences of the recent referendum in
Venezuela
“We are an overflown river” says the banner at a Pro-Chavez rally outside the Presidencial Palace in Caracas. Credit: Jonah Gindin - www.Venezuelanalysis.com |
- Heinz Dieterich |
On August 15, Venezuelans voted in the first referendum of its kind in the hemisphere. The majority (59.25%) voted to retain Hugo Chávez as their president, effectively endorsing his Bolivarian Revolution, and once again thwarting opposition plans to oust him from office. The challenge now is to deepen the revolution in a society with high levels of economic inequality, sharp polarizations, and hostile media coverage of Chávez and his policies.
About the panelists:
| Greg Albo
teaches
political economy at York University, focusing on Canada and the political
economy of hte Americas. He writes for, and edits, numerous intellectual
journals. He was recently in Venezuela as an official International
Observer for the Presidential Referendum.
Sam Gindin is the Packer Chair in Social Justice at York University and former Research Director of the Canadian Auto Workers. He was in Venezuela as an official international Observer for the recent Presidential Referendum. |
Nicolas Lopez
is a political science student at York with a particular interest in Latin
American social and political movements. As a member of the Latin
american Bolivarian Circle in Toronto, he visited Venezuela in August 2004
and witnessed the historic Presidential Referendum.
Maria Paez Victoris a sociologist and policy analyst. She is a consultant and teaches at the University of Toronto. During the Presidential Referendum in Venezuela, she was in charge of the Toronto voting station. She is a member of the Louis Riel Bolivarian Circle of Toronto. |
Thursday, September 23, 2004
2:30 - 4:30 p.m.
Founders Senior Common Room
305 Founders College, York University
BACKGROUND READING AND LINKS:
www.venezuelanalysis.com
Guidelines
to Regulate the Procedures of Referenda Recalling the Mandates of Elected
Officials
http://www.zmag.org/venezuela_watch.cfm
See the South America
and Referendum in Venezuela sections
in the following LACYORK archives:
LACYORK
News 08/05/04
LACYORK
News and Maps 08/12/04
LACYORK
Announcements & Venezuela News 08/17/04
LACYORK
News 08/19/04
LACYORK
News and Announcements 08/26/04
More information: cerlac@yorku.ca, 416-736-2100 ext. 88705
CERLAC presents
Nicaragua
25 years after the Sandinista Revolution
A
Canadian Solidarity Perspective
Amanda Procter, Coordinator of the Casa Canadiense in Managua, will present current perspectives on Sandinismo, 25 years after the Nicaraguan Revolution, and speak on the role of Canadian solidarity therein.
Casa Canadiense is a solidarity house in Managua, founded and organised by Toronto-ites active in Nicaraguan solidarity circles since the 1980s.
All are welcome!
Tuesday,
September 14, 2004
2:30
p.m.
York
Lanes, Room 305
More information: (416) 736-2100 ext. 88705, cerlac@yorku.ca
