-Press release sent in response to artical below-

CSIS and the Olympic Police State:

The Anti-Poverty Committee, and others, have been publicly targeted by Canadian Security and Intelligence Services (CSIS), again.

Over the weekend, news outlets released a document from CSIS that outlined their intention to surveil and neutralize anti-Olympic protest groups.

This news comes as no surprise to most groups. Following last February’s disruption of the countdown clock VANOC made a joint statement vowing to utilize all forces and affiliated security agencies, which include the RCMP, the VPD, the Canadian Armed Forces and CISIS, to “target specific protesters and protest groups”.

Mary Claremont of the APC said, “This is what we have been protesting. Not just the Olympic lies and the millions of wasted dollars, but the coming Olympic police state. People thought we were nuts, but look, from 40 kilometers of electric fence, surveillance cameras, civil city, CSIS, add this and every thing else up – and it’s here.”

Mary pointed out that the APC has already been targeted with mass arrests, mis-information campaigns and the incident that had an organizer arrested by police posing as a journalist. As well organizations associated with the APC, like the Downtown Eastside Residents Association, have been targeted.

“We echo the concerns of the BC Civil Liberties Association. We also fear police intervention, surveillance and undercover operations. In fact we are certain that we have been and continue to be subject to all these things.”

“But this is all part of the Olympic package. It states very clearly in the rules of the IOC that there shall be no protests or strikes allowed. We want to know how far they are prepared to go. CSIS does not just look into things. The history of covert intelligence agencies and their relationship with protest organizations, especially direct action groups like ours, has been one of state sponsored disruption and violence.”

Mainstream media article:
‘CSIS on lookout for violent protests at 2010 games’

Call out for support:

OPIRG ALLIES ASSEMBLE!
Imminent Threat to OPIRG Carleton!
OPIRG Friends and Lovers Needed to Fight Off Attack!

+–+–+–+–+–+–+–+–+–+–+

3:45pm-6:30pm
Monday, January 14th
Graduate Students Association Board Room
6th Floor Unicentre
Carleton University

+–+–+–+–+–+–+–+–+–+–+–+–+–+–+–+–+–+–+–+–+

1) What’s Going On?
2) What You Can Do
3) Background Info
4) Contact Info

======================
1) WHAT’S GOING ON?
======================

OPIRG Carleton has every reason to believe that a referendum question
calling for the complete elimination of OPIRG’s levy will be announced
at a public meeting on Monday, January 14th. If successful, this
referendum question would mean the complete destruction of OPIRG
Carleton. As our only source of funding is from a student levy,
without it we would no longer be able to continue our work on social
and environmental justice issues on the Carleton campus and the wider
community. Furthermore the student body has continually showed its support
to OPIRG and a question to eliminate all OPIRG student funding is
one that would unnecessarily burden the referendum process.

Our earliest opportunity to defeat any potential any unnecessary referendum
questions will happen on Monday evening at the Constitution and Policy
Committee (CPC) meeting. This Committee decides on Monday which
referendum questions will be accepted to be put to be put before CUSA
council and ultimately the student body.

With enough support, we may be able to prevent unnecessary referendum
question from being accepted by the CPC. During the CPC’s public meeting on
Monday, concerned individuals will be allowed to make submissions
either against or in favour of each possible referendum question. A
strong showing in support of OPIRG will help demonstrate that a question
such of this one would be a waste of time and resources.

We’re asking for OPIRG’s Friends and Lovers, everyone who has ever
attended an OPIRG workshop or event, been a volunteer or Working Group
member, received a Research Bursary or used our Resource Centre, to
come out and let the CPC know that you don’t support any question
calling for the erasure of OPIRG Carleton.

If you are planning on coming, please contact us at
opirgadmin@gmail.com and let us know.

In Solidarity and Struggle,
OPIRG Carleton

======================
2) WHAT YOU CAN DO?
======================

Come out on Monday to support OPIRG Carleton!

It’s vital that we show OPIRG has support from students and community
members, and the most immediate and concrete way to do that is to come
to the Constitution and Policy Committee Meeting on Monday, January,
14th. We’ll be meeting before hand to discuss our strategy, so please
meet us in the GSA Boardroom, on the 6th Floor of the UniCentre,
Carleton University, at 3:45pm. If you can’t make it to the 3:45pm
meeting, the actual Committee meeting begins at 4:30pm and you could
go directly there. We don’t know the specific room number, but if you
let us know you’d like to come, we can give you the details when
they’re announced.

=============================
3) BACKGROUND INFORMATION
=============================

In general there are usually a few individuals that come to the OPIRG
office each September to ask
for their levy fees to be returned to them. This past September was no
different. The Board of Directors
created a policy, available online, explaining the opt-out procedure
for students who maintain strong
objections to OPIRG and the work done by the OPIRG on social,
environmental and economic
justice issues. This policy is also meant to explain why OPIRG
continues to offer refunds despite
having had the student body vote to make OPIRG’s levy fee
non-refundable. This policy was created over several meetings and
considered seriously by the board of directors. It should be noted
that OPIRG did not receive its fall levy fees until November and at
this time arrangements were made immediately to announce an opt out
period for students. Individuals who had asked in the months
proceeding this date to receive their levy fee refund were given the
option to be contacted directly with news of the policy and opt out
period. Those who chose to be contacted were.

Beginning in November of 2007, a small group on campus, under the name
the Reagan-Goldwater Society (RGS), launched a series of attacks on
OPIRG Carleton. Mostly
confined to a few over-heated facebook debates, they also published an
article in the Charlatan and a few editorials on their website calling
for the canceling of OPIRG’s levy.

During the Refund period, during which OPIRG Carleton offers a full
levy refund to any student with strong political objections to the
work of the organization, the Reagan-Goldwater Society handed out
flyers on campus telling people to go to OPIRG to “get their beer
money back” as part an official RGS campaign.

Of the more than 45 people who came to OPIRG as a result of the RGS
flyering, less than half got refunds. The remainder, by and large,
felt misled by the RGS, signed up to get more involved with OPIRG, and
were quite happy to have their levy funds go to supporting the
excellent work we’re doing.

We have every reason to believe that next Monday, members of the RGS
will bring forward a question that will directly attack OPIRG’s levy.
As our levy is currently refundable, we believe the question will call
for the complete cancellation of the levy altogether.

=================
4) CONTACT INFO
=================

Contact OPIRG at:
613 520 2757
opirgadmin@gmail.com
www.opirg-carleton.org

–
angela mooney

Co-Coordinator
OPIRG Carleton
326 Unicentre
phone: 613 520 2757
email: vcopirg@gmail.com
fax: 613 520 3989
www.opirg-carleton.org

Sign up for OPIRG-Carleton’s wednesday weekly e-letter announcing
upcoming events, meeting times, actions, working group info and more!
Email me with the subject WW subscribe!

Capital Punishment 2010: Punishing Capitalism and Punishing the Capital

When: February 12, 6-7pm
Where: Meet at corner of Rideau and William and go from there
Bring: Your noisemakers! A fiery heart! Things to light up the night!

Canada is getting ready to play host to the 2010 winter Olympic games and the 2010 G8 summit, and is also preparing to ratify the SPP agreement.

But resistance to these events has already started!
From coast to coast anti-imperialists, anti-capitalists, anti-poverty activists and folks opposed to the military and economic occupations at home and abroad are mobilizing and organizing to confront these institutions!

On February 12th PGA Ottawa is launching its “Capital Punishment 2010″ campaign, aimed at disrupting business as usual for the corporations that will be profiting from the Olympics, the SPP and the G8 summit.

Join us on Feb 12th (two year countdown to the games). We will be marching through the market area to expose and oppose the NACC, CCCE and Olympics sponsors operating in our city.

NO OLYMPICS ON STOLEN LAND!

Background:

Join PGA Ottawa on Feb 12th as we kick-off the two year countdown to the 2010 Olympic Winter Games with a festive march through the market area to expose and oppose the local corporate profiteers behind the G8, the SPP and the Olympics. —- Canada is getting ready to play host to the 2010 Winter Olympic Games and the 2010 G8 summit, and is also preparing to ratify the Security and Prosperity Partnership.

These three events are intrinsically linked through the oppression and repression they will engender.

The G8 is a yearly coming together of the world’s eight most powerful nations, gathering to further develop their neoliberal, capitalist and imperialist agendas and implement disastrous policies, often with the help of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

The Security and Prosperity Partnership (SPP) builds on the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). Often referred to as “NAFTA with guns” the SPP is adding increasingly repressive border control to an already exploitative trade model.

The 2010 Winter Olympic Games, to be held in British Columbia, present threats to First Nations people as well as homeless people, sex workers, harm reduction advocates, the working poor of the province and many others. Through land theft, street sweeps, gentrification and ecologically destructive projects the 2010 Games have already begun their unavoidable process of ruining lives and destroying communities.

Resistance 2010!

From coast to coast anti-imperialists, anti-capitalists, anti-poverty activists and folks opposed to the military and economic occupations at home and abroad are mobilizing and organizing to confront these institutions!

For years people have been resisting the G8 and the Olympics, and last year saw a major convergence against the SPP.

On February 12th PGA Ottawa is launching its “Capital Punishment 2010″ campaign, aimed at disrupting business as usual for the corporations profiting from the Olympics, the SPP and the G8 summit.

Join us on Feb 12th (two year countdown to the games). We will be marching through the market area to expose and oppose the NACC, CCCE and Olympics sponsors operating in our city.

You are encouraged to bring noisemakers, a fiery heart and any other instruments to light up the night.

NO OLYMPICS ON STOLEN LAND!
SHUT DOWN THE G8!
ABOLISH THE SPP!

+—-+—-+—-+—-+—-+—-+—-+—-+
FOR MORE INFORMATION:
+—-+—-+—-+—-+—-+—-+—-+—-+

Locally, check out:

http://pga.roadnetwork.org

In British Columbia, check out:
harrietspirit.blogspot.com

http://no2010.com/

http://2010watch.com/

+—-+—-+—-+—-+—-+—-+—-+—-++—-+—-+—-+—-+—-+
ARTICLES ON RESISTANCE TO THE OLYMPIC GAMES
+—-+—-+—-+—-+—-+—-+—-+—-++—-+—-+—-+—-+—-+

Massacres and Profits: A brief history of the Olympics:

http://users.resist.ca/~eps2005/olympics.html

Olympics blamed for forcible removal of 2 million over 20 years:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/china/story/0,,2096323,00.html

CCPA Report: Managing the Cost of Olympic Gold:

http://www.policyalternatives.ca/index.cfm?act=news&do=Article&call=624&pA=BB736455

Real estate, sport tourism and Native sovereignty in B.C.:

http://www.sevenoaksmag.com/features/29_billie.html

Migrant workers coerced by RAV line employer:

http://noii-van.resist.ca/?p=573

The Olympics Land Grab by Naomi Klein:

http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?ItemID=3941

More Homeless than Athletes in 2010:

http://thetyee.ca/News/2007/05/28/Homeless1/

Stolen Games:

http://www.dominionpaper.ca/articles/1099

Everywhere they go, the Olympic Games become an excuse for eviction
and displacement:

http://www.zcommunications.org/znet/viewArticle/15054

Report Slams Run-up to Olympics:

http://thetyee.ca/News/2007/05/07/Olympics/

OPIRG-Carleton Presents:
DERRICK JENSEN on ‘Civilization as Pathology: Collapse, Resilience and Resistance’

January 30th, 2008 @ 7:00pm
Carleton University – 301 Azrieli Theatre
Map: http://www2.carleton.ca/campus/

Tickets: $5 – $20 (sliding scale, with no one denied a ticket for
financial reasons)

Tickets Available at:
OPIRG-Carleton (326 Unicentre, Carleton University) and Exile Infoshop
(256 Bank St., Suite 203)
TICKETS ON SALE *NOW*

Activist, small farmer, teacher, and philosopher Derrick Jensen seamlessly
weaves together the threads that connect different forms of oppression and
domination, from racial and class domination, to technology and
surveillance, to domestic violence and abuse, to ecological devastation
and global climate change, to form a cohesive narrative about the inherent
destructiveness of the cultural forms we know as “civilization.” Therein,
Jensen sees the roots of the current global ecological crisis, and the
possibilities for determined and effective resistance to it.

In Jensen’s book Endgame he asks: “Do you believe that this culture will
undergo a voluntary transformation to a sane and sustainable way of
living?” Nearly everyone he talks to says no. His next question is: “How
would this understanding — that this culture will not voluntarily stop
destroying the natural world, eliminating indigenous cultures, exploiting
the poor, and killing those who resist — shift our strategy and tactics?
The answer? Nobody knows, because we never talk about it: we’re too busy
pretending the culture will undergo a magical transformation.” Endgame, he
says, is “about that shift in strategy, and in tactics. And this talk will
also focus on that, and the possibilities for the birth and rebirth of
different ways of perceiving and being in the world.

Date: Friday, February 1
Time: 6:30pm
Location: Carleton University, Unicentre Room 282

With the 2010 Winter Olympics scheduled to occur on unceded Coast Salish, St’at’imc and Squamish territory in two years, the spectacle surrounding them continues to wreak havoc on Indigenous people, poor people, and the Earth. In the spirit of resistance to colonialism, with the 2010 Olympics as a main target, Kanahus Pellkey of the Native Youth Movement and Native youth Dustin Johnson are touring throughout the Great Lakes and East Coast in January and February 2008.

“By them choosing to have the Olympics here, it’s opening up our land, our sacred sites, our medicine grounds,” says Kanahus Pellkey. “We want investors to know our land is not for sale.” Pre-Olympic fever occupies the province of BC, and the economic excitement has massively accelerated gentrification and the building of highways, resorts, and condos. The construction of infrastructure for the 2010 Olympics itself is adding to extensive destruction of traditional homelands of the local Indigenous peoples.

In October 2007, more than 1500 Indigenous people representing communities across this hemisphere held the Gathering of the Indigenous Peoples of America, on Yaqui territory in Vicam, Sonora, Mexico. They stated in their final declaration, “We reject the 2010 Winter Olympics on sacred and stolen territory of Turtle Island–Vancouver, Canada.” This speaking tour is strengthened by this momentum, and by the knowledge that hundreds, if not thousands of Indigenous people now plan to attend the Olympic Games, not in celebration, but in resistance to the danger the Olympics poses to Indigenous lands, identity, culture, health, livelihoods, and to future generations.

The Native Youth Movement is a Movement of Native youth that works to revive traditional knowledge and inspire Native youth to defend their Peoples and Territories.

Kanahus Pellkey is a Secwepemc and Ktnuxa Warrior and a spokesperson for the Secwepemc chapter of the NYM. She has been jailed before for fighting against the illegal occupation and theft of Secwepemc Lands for the Sun Peaks ski-resort, and is active in opposing the 2010 Olympics.

Dustin Johnson is a member of the Ts’mkiyen nation and is active in organizing anti-colonial resistance to the 2010 Olympics.

The Indigenous Peoples Solidarity Movement-Guelph did much of the core organizing of the tour. IPSM-Guelph works in solidarity with Indigenous struggles for self-determination and control of their traditional territories.

To get involved, help out, or ask questions, contact healingtheearth(at)resist.ca.

Tour Dates (a few are still in the works):

Windsor * Saturday January 19
Guelph * Sunday January 20
Six Nations * Monday January 21
Toronto * Tuesday January 22
Hamilton * Wednesday January 23
Six Nations * Thursday January 24
Peterborough * Friday January 25
Tyendinaga * Saturday January 26
Sharbot Lake * Sunday January 27
Kingston * Monday January 28
Akwesasne * Tuesday January 29
Kahnawake * Wednesday January 30
Kahnasatake * Thursday January 31
Ottawa * Friday February 1
Montreal * Saturday February 2
Penobscot * Sunday February 3
Portland * Monday February 4
Boston * Tuesday February 5
Binghamton * Wednesday February 6
Ithaca * Thursday February 7

More information:

The Olympic organizers operate with a budget of almost $2 billion, and other costs to government surpass $6 billion. Despite all the Olympic-related mega development, Vancouver is now home to North America’s fastest growing homelessness crisis. Indigenous people account for 30% of this homeless population, despite making up only 2% of the total population in the province.

Dozens of low-income hotels and apartment buildings are being converted to unaffordable condominiums. As thousands of people are forced from their homes, they are then criminalized for being homeless. Private security firms are hired by the city to further police the streets, long-running squats are shut down, and social services are more stressed and threatened than ever. The solution of the municipal and provincial governments and the police is to ignore the root cause, and instead pay people to leave Vancouver and repress those who stay.

The darker side of the 2010 Olympics is further apparent by examining how their sponsors and supporters are some of the most destructive companies on Turtle Island. These include:

• Petro-Canada, one of Canada’s largest producers of oil and gas,
• TransCanada, one of the continent’s largest transporters of oil and gas,
• Canadian Pacific Railway, long an integral tool of colonization,
• Hudson’s Bay Company, another company responsible for the colonization and theft of Indigenous land,
• General Electric, one of the world’s top three producers of military aircraft engines and major producer of nuclear power plants,
• General Motors, long a top contractor for the Canadian military and now the world’s largest automobile manufacturer,
• Dow Chemical, the world’s second largest chemical manufacturer and cause of the Bhopal, India disaster,
• Bell Canada, who’s CEO is one of the top corporate architects of the Security and Prosperity Partnership.

There is of course so much more that could be said. For further reading, see:

www.no2010.com
www.2010watch.com
www.harrietspirit.blogspot.com

January 9, 2008

- FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE –

Ottawa U`s answer to campus inclusivity: No access if you`re Deaf

(OTTAWA) Genevieve Deguire, a member of Ottawa’s Deaf community, a social worker, and a student of current affairs, has filed a complaint with the Human Rights Commission of Ontario against the University of Ottawa because President Gilles Patry has refused to provide sign language interpretation for the university’s public film and discussion Cinema Politica series.

The Press Conference will be held Monday January 14th from 3pm to 4pm in the main entrance of the MacDonald Hall, 150 Louis Pasteur, University of Ottawa. We ask that the university provide access to the Ottawa Cinema Politica events. The following associations will be present in support: The Canadian Association of the Deaf, L’Association de l’Ouie de l’Outaouais and the Ottawa Deaf Centre.

Many members of the Deaf community want to participate in the popular Cinema Politica post-film discussions. The university is required to provide access under the Ontario Human Rights Code unless it can demonstrate undue financial hardship. The university had a budget surplus of $67 million in its last fiscal year and has received private donations of over $40 million in recent months.

“It seems they just don’t want to see us” said Deguire. “The one session that they did provide an interpreter, by mistake and they did not want to pay for it, was great and allowed my deaf friends and I to fully be part of the auditorium-wide discussion.”

The Ottawa Cinema Politica (OCP) series at the University of Ottawa just finished its fifth season and has grown to be a major alternative and documentary film venue, combined with in-depth discussions and analyses facilitated by university physics professor Denis Rancourt.

“I have asked the university to provide access because there is a significant demand from members of Ottawa’s vibrant Deaf community who wish to benefit from the same free community service as others” said Rancourt. “I was told, to my surprise, that the activity which has always been in my yearly reports is now not ‘considered’ part of my required community service work, although my salary has not been reduced.”

“Using such petty in-fighting to deny access is not worthy of a place of higher learning”, said Deaf hopeful participant Chantal Deguire. “It especially brings to light the irony that the most educated class is ignorant about diversity and inclusivity issues that arises on a campus and fail to use their education to resolve these matters.”

“Several regular Cinema Politica participants have formed a support group and have vowed to lobby against the university’s resistance to provide access as required by law,” said supporter Joe Hickey.

-30-