Third announcement
November 1, 2012
Vancouver, BC—In the face of the recent cutbacks and the numerous policies that form only part of the neoliberal agenda which is being implemented in Canada as well as across continents, Vancouver’s Kalayaan Centre, its member organizations, and the Congress of Progressive Filipino Canadians (CPFC) invite all to a day of open discussion and panel presentations on Saturday, November 10th. Sponsored by the Gender, Sexuality, and Women’s Studies Department at Simon Fraser University, the conference is set to be held at the Harbour Centre of Simon Fraser University (SFU) in downtown Vancouver.
Conference participants will be invited to speak concretely of the need for genuine alternatives and for a concerted response by Canada’s workers—marginalized and racialized transnational communities, in particular—to the relentless rolling out of neoliberal policies that harshly affect their lives and conditions. This important gathering is set to sharpen the collective understanding of contemporary local and global challenges under neoliberal globalization, advance the need to assert our rights as workers, women, and youth across the globe, and strengthen the resolve needed to build genuine solidarity and to act in resistance of the continuing attacks of capitalism worldwide.
As a beginning to the day’s panels, “Transnational Workers under Neoliberal Globalization” will feature speakers Emmanuel Sayo (CPFC), Dr. Gerry Pratt (University of British Columbia), and Dr. Habiba Zaman (SFU). It will provide a picture of our global political economy and, furthermore, the present crisis and transnational resistance movements, to be followed by “The Struggle of Transnational Communities: The Case of Filipinos in Canada” which will present a critical lens for the transnational working class on the current neoliberal policies which are leading to a division among workers, pitting them against one another; Cora Cadiz, chairperson of SIKLAB National (Advance and Uphold the Struggle of Filipino Canadian Workers), Reuben Sarumugam of Ugnayan ng Kabataang Pilipino sa Canada/Filipino Canadian Youth Alliance of Ontario (UKPC/FCYA-ON), Qara Clemente of the Philippine Women Centre of Ontario (PWC-ON) and Joy Sioson of the National Alliance of Philippine Women in Canada will be among the line of speakers.
Afterwards, “International Solidarity and the Working Class”, the third panel’s presenters—Irwin Oostindie of W2 Community Media Arts, Harjap Grewal of SANSAD (Secular and Democratic South Asian Diaspora), and PhD candidate at York University Chris Vance—will magnify, as a foundation for building genuine solidarity, the common struggles and challenges of the Global North and the Global South, especially in The Philippines and Canada, where resistance against the relentless profit-seeking attacks on workers’ daily lives and conditions continues.
Finally, as a conclusion to the day’s panels, participants and presenters alike will explore workers’ roles in the great challenge of building genuine democracy, liberation and genuine peace, as well as environmental stability and sustainability. Artist and writer Charlene Sayo, and Arlene Oropel (PWC-BC) will be joining Bryan Taguba (SIKLAB-ON) and Kenneth Santos (UKPC/FCYA-ON) as presenters for this final panel, titled “Moving Forward Towards the Revolutionary Road”. It will seek also in the process to transform crisis into opportunities for collective resistance and alliance-building as the working class, who as makers of history are active agents of change.
Through the many decades’ work in educating, organizing, and mobilizing Canada’s workers, the call from the Kalayaan Centre and its allies stands to join in discussing, presenting, and sharing concrete plans for genuine social change; and moving forward together on the revolutionary road.
Registration for “Workers’ Struggles Amidst Neoliberal Globalization” is now open.
“Workers’ Struggles Amidst Neoliberal Globalization”
Vancouver-wide conference
November 10th, 2012, 8am – 6pm
Simon Fraser University Harbour Centre, 7th Floor
515 West Hastings Street
Vancouver, BC, Canada
Co-sponsored by the Gender, Sexuality and Women’s Studies Department of Simon Fraser University
Registration is free
REGISTER NOW: http://bit.ly/vancouverworkersconference
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For more information, contact the Conference Secretariat:
Arlene Oropel: 778-317-5265
Andrew Sayo: 604-215-9355
pwc-on@magkaisacentre.org
www.magkaisacentre.org