Briarpatch contributor Jillian Kestler-D’Amours arrested in the West Bank

Arrested while helping farmers in Saffa Valley
Jillian Kestler-D’Amours
29 November 2010

Electronic Intifada

Saffa Valley, occupied West Bank – It was a bright, warm morning in the occupied West Bank’s Saffa Valley Thursday, 18 November when, without warning, the Israeli occupation forces were upon us. Within moments, five Israeli soldiers were shouting in Hebrew. “You have one minute to leave the area!” they said, before shooting stun grenades at our feet. Moments later, we were told to sit quietly and hand over our passports. A six-hour detention was to follow. (more…)

G20 protests through a different lens

Toronto-based photographer Ian Willms captured some very compelling images from the G20 protests — full of raw emotion, ugly contradiction and creative beauty. These photos offer a much richer and more textured perspective of the protests than you’ll get from any mainstream news source.

Check them out here:

http://www.ianwillms.com/g20.html

“Stand firm. Repeat your message. You’ve argued for peace your whole life.”

By Joyce Green and Darlene Jushka
Rabble.ca

On March 23, 16 University of Regina professors, including us, signed a letter to our president, Dr. Vianne Timmons, asking that she review her decision to join the U of R to “Project Hero.”

We wrote: “In our view, support for ‘Project Hero’ represents a dangerous cultural turn. It associates ‘heroism’ with the act of military intervention. It erases the space for critical discussion of military policy and practices.”

What followed was a media feeding frenzy that mostly misrepresented our position, and a week of the worst sort of national attention for us and for the university. Despite several of us doing numerous interviews, most media focussed on the erroneous notion that our opposition is to soldiers being considered heroes and to parentless children being given education assistance.

Those of us who signed the letter have been subjected to virulent hate mail and argument by decibels and epithet. The language of many of our critics would make a stevedore blush and a grammarian wince. Always helpful, local Conservative MP Tom Lukiwski poured gas on the fire at every media opportunity, repeating his claim that we oppose help for the bereaved and honour for the dead and demanding our public apology (boiling oil not being available) for something we didn’t say and didn’t intend.

(more…)

Engendering Emancipation: Call for Submissions/Involvement

An effective movement against patriarchy and heterosexism requires unparalleled collaboration between everyone, at all levels of power, who sees the collective value in engendering a more just and equitable society. How do we practice feminist solidarity across lines of gender, sexuality, race, ability, class, nationality and citizenship? How do we acknowledge and respect difference, while transcending borders in a common struggle for liberation? With patterns of domination so deeply entrenched in our social, sexual and political relationships, how do we confront oppression on both a personal and political level?

Unsettling Canada: Call for Submissions/Involvement

As government and industry continue to annex and desecrate indigenous lands for resource extraction, housing developments, toxic waste disposal and tourist destinations, how can we organize a more effective anti-colonial resistance? What are the current sites of contestation in Canada, and what is the role of non-native allies in supporting these struggles and accounting for [...]