Today, we spoke with Anna Willats, a long-time community activist and organizer about the gender justice resistance to the G8 and G20 summits coming to Toronto in June (June 25-27). Anna discussed the need for organizing that reflects the concerns of women, queer and trans peoples and takes an intersecting view of gender, race, class etc. The organizers are focusing on a number of issues, including but not limited to:
· Recent decisions by the Harper Government to refuse to fund maternal health which has to do with abortions for women in the developing world, thus inflicting hardship on thousands of women and effectively polarizing the discourse on maternal health at the G8 and G20.
· The personal and structural violence faced by indigenous women (500 missing and murdered indigenous women, the violations of the Calona Accord etc).
· The impacts on poor and working class women through cuts to welfare including the special diet.
· The violence emdemic in the immigration system along with its gendered impacts wherein women who already face life-threatening situations in their countries of origin are further disempowered within our immigration and refugee system either through sexual and financial exploitation or by deportation to countries where their lives are put at risk.
· The negative consequences of the encroachment of the mining industry on native communities and lands.
· The impacts of global and national policies on communities of women around the world and in Canada...
This grassroots group of feminists is working under the umbrella of the Toronto Community Organizing Network. They seek to empower women on the ground to undertake creative actions that will challenge the foundations of capitalism and globalization with a focus on the impacts on women, queer and trans people.
The group is still in the planning phases and would encourage everyone’s involvement. Please come out to the next organizing meeting.
When: May 20, 2010 at 6 PM
Where: 17 Pheobe street (closest intersection is Queen and Spadina)
Note: the space is accessible and child friendly.
The group, although a loose and informal network, brings together womyn and trans people from a number of different struggles including pro-choice, migrant justice, mining justice, worker rights, and other movements.
For information, drop Anna a line at awillats@sympatico.ca or visit the following website:
We next spoke with Daniella who is in Toronto as part of the Mining (in)justice conference held in the city last weekend (May 7-9). The conference was comprised of a number of workshops and caucuses and was a way for the impacted communities to band together and form global alliances as well as to draw attention to the devastating impacts of mining industries at home and abroad and raise the consciousness of Canadians. She is a representative of the Diaguita Huascoaltinos peoples. She talked at length about the impacts (environmental degradation and human rights violations as well as police repression) that are constant features of mining projects. She pointed out the role of Barrick Gold, New Gold and Gold Corp all of which are headquartered in Canada and all of whom are responsible for the exploitation of indigenous peoples and their lands. She also described the various ways in which Barrick Gold strives to present an image of being a philanthropist and paints the company as a agent of economic development and progress. She talked about programs offered to the local people, especially the women, who are then coopted and used by the company as spokespersons for the benefits of mining enterprises. She referred to this as the creation of a parallel culture which alienates the local people while coopting the few. For the people of the Diaguita Huascoaltinus, this has meant the division of this farming community and the start of the process of environmental degradation. More information can be found here. Visit protestbarrick.net for updates and to follow the activities of mining corporations and those who resist their encroachment.
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