criminalization of social movements & the anti-terrorism crusade

Thursday, November 5th 2009
6:30 pm Pavillon J-A-DeSève (DS)
UQAM, Rm DS-1580
320 Sainte-Catherine Street E.
graphic obey

As state-sponsored crimes are being increasingly normalized on a global scale, and national security is taking precedence over individual and collective rights, the media often plays a critical role in constructing public opinion by not distinguishing between popular resistance and terrorism. Organizing for social, environmental and human rights is portrayed as engaging in criminal acts, and terrorism.

As part of a Canadian tour, a member of the Political Prisoners Solidarity Committee of Colombia, will join Montreal groups – PASC, Tadamon!, Indigenous Solidarity Committee, Certain Days, and the People’s Commission Network – in a public discussion about the consequences that the “War on Terror” security policies and practices have on social movements.

* What impact does the anti-terrorism discourse have on our organizations and the communities in which we work?

* How can social and political organizations resist the injustices perpetuated by repressive regimes in Palestine and Colombia?

* Why do Canadian intelligence agencies identify indigenous organizations as potential terrorist threats when they defend their inherent right to self-determination?

* How does the “War on Terror” discourse serve to justify the implementation of laws which threaten fundamental rights and sanction racial and political profiling?

* How does the ‘Witch Hunt’, carried out by the West in the name of combating terrorism, justify and normalize practices of state-sponsored terrorism such as torture?

This discourse, which aims to associate resistance and social movements with terrorism in order to delegitimize – and even criminalize – political action, poses new challenges to social movements. We invite you to join the discussion and reflection. We hope to stimulate ideas and strategies in order to reaffirm the legitimacy of our actions and identity when faced with the potential criminalization of our organizations and the struggles we are involved in and support.

event organized by

Projet Accompagnement Solidarité Colombie (Project Accompaniment and Solidarity Colombia) – PASC – is a Montreal-based collective that is working to build a network of direct solidarity with social organizations and peasant communities defending their rights to land, life, self-determination, justice and dignity. www.pasc.ca

Tadamon! (Arabic for “solidarity”), is a Montreal-based collective which works in solidarity with struggles for self-determination, equality and justice in the ‘Middle East’ and in diaspora communities in Montreal and beyond. www.tadamon.ca

Indigenous Solidarity Committee We work in direct solidarity with indigenous organizers and communities fighting for land, freedom and self-determination, from an anti-colonial and anti-capitalist perspective. indigenoussolidaritymontreal(at)gmail.com

People’s Commission Network (PCN) is a Montreal network monitoring and opposing the “national security agenda”. The network is a space for individuals and groups who face oppression in the name of “national security” – such as indigenous people, immigrants, racialized communities, radical political organizations, labour unions – and their allies, to form alliances, share information, and coordinate strategies to defend their full rights and dignity. The PCN is a working group of QPIRG-Concordia. www.peoplescommission.org

Certain Days Freedom for Political Prisoners Calendar. The calendar is a joint fundraising and educational project between outside organizers in Montreal and Toronto, and three political prisoners being held in maximum-security prisons in New York State and California: David Gilbert, Robert Seth Hayes and Herman Bell. We work from an anti-imperialist,anti-racist, anti-capitalist, feminist, queer and trans positive position. www.certaindays.org