Certain Days: Freedom for Political Prisoners Calendar NOW AVAILABLE!

Since 2001 political prisoners Herman Bell, David Gilbert and Robert "Seth" Hayes have worked with activists in Montreal (and in 2005 and 2006 New York City) to produce these beautiful calendars. This year there has been a changeover, with a new Montreal collective taking over the outside work. The result has always been a wonderful collection of artwork and political texts addressing some of the most pressing political issues of our day.

This year's calendar is no exception. The theme for 2007, suggested by David, is the broad topic of "immigration" - inspired by the mass demonstrations in May 2006 and embracing many struggles, from Chicano liberation in the southern united states to Indigenous resistance in canada to the targeting of immigrants and refugees for draconian "security" measures.

Contributors to this year's calendar include Janet, Debbie and Janine Africa, Gord Hill, Jeff "Free" Luers, Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz, Alvaro Luna Hernandez, Josh MacPhee, Tom Manning, Hazel Hill, John Bowman, Christy C. Road, Irene Monroe, Mumia Abu-Jamal and many more.

Beyond its own value, the calendar is also a worthwhile fundraising tool - funds raised from this year's sales will go to support the work of the New York State Task Force on Political Prisoners, No One Is Illegal - Kingston and Addameer, a Palestinian Prisoners Support and Human Rights Association.

As always, i am happy to be stocking this calendar and making it available to all of you who want a copy. Stores and activist groups who want to bulk order should also get in touch, as i can offer a wholesale discount.

To order a copy and pay by check or money order, please email me first at info@kersplebedeb.com – or else you can use the shopping cart feature on my site to order.


You can see more about the Calendar, including some scanned in artwork, on my Kersplebedeb site or else on the Certain Days site.

Political Horror

Heads up: if you like horror, the Onion’s AV Club has a list of “Horror Films of Left-Wingers” and “Horror Films for Right-wingers” which takes about three minutes to read.

Before i had this blog i tried (and pretty much failed!) to write something about the politics of zombie movies on the Kersplebedeb film page, so i appreciate the attempt at political analysis of the genre.

Like i said, if you’re interested....

(thanks to All Out For The Fight for this)

OK

OK, I guess Blogger for Word is reinstalled properly!

Status Report and Test of Sort

New hard drive, was out of space, indulging in that joyous enterprise of installing Windows XP yet again – so far only the printer doesn’t work – and slowly gearing up to getting back to work…

Home Again, Home Again...

Ah shit!

Been back home for two days now, and in the early afternoon i’m feeling as if i were awake at 4am – which of course i was last night. The joys of jetlag!

For what it’s worth, i’m home now. Slowly getting back to work. Looking forward to working on the blog. Sadly, resigning myself to not being quite up to running around town as i had hoped…

So, although i may not make it, i should (belatedly) send out this heads up, that the 35th annual Festival du Nouveau Cinema has been on since October 18th – and is still showing movies til the 28th. PDF schedule here! I haven’t had the energy to check out any of the movies, so i doubt i’ll get to any of them… but seeing as i was only mildly happy with any of the ones i saw last year, i’m not all cut up about it… (in fact what i am looking forward to is the Rencontres internationales du documentaire de Montreal in November… no schedule up yet but i’ll try and stay on top of it…)


Of course, my real joy in October is the annual McGill Book Sale. Yesterday i was just so pissed off when i did the calculations and realized i had been away for the third Wednesday & Thursday of October – the dates normally reserved for the event – but then as luck would have it, i was either wrong about the date or a truly happy exception has been made, because it seems that this year’s sale is happening October 25th and 26th!

For those who don’t know: this is the best place to buy used books in Montreal. Our city has a very sorry English-language used book trade – the average small New England town has a much better selection of old radical books, and at cheaper prices too – but this is at least partially compensated for by this annual two year event. I normally walk away with a couple of boxes of books, all for well under $100, and often titles i could not have found elsewhere. It is really worth devoting an afternoon to, if you can!

*****

[Toronto] October 14th First Nations Solidarity Event

================================
FIRST NATIONS SOVEREIGNTY:
AN OCAP COMMUNITY EVENT
================================

SPEAKERS: Andrea Curly, Youngblood, Nahnda Hill
Six Nations of the Grand River Territory

Shawn Brant
Tyendinaga Mohawk Territory

FILMS: ‘Day Zero’ (footage from the April 20 O.P.P. raid)
By John Jeeks and Nahnda Hill

'Mohawk Smokes' by Folkard Fritz and Audrey Huntley
'Letters from Caledonia/Six Nations'
By Audrey Huntley, Sarah Kapoor

and Musical Guests

================================
WHEN: Saturday, October 14, 2006
5pm Movies and Meal
7pm Speakers

WHERE: PARC (Parkdale Activity Recreation Centre)
1499 Queen Street West
(1 Block west of Lansdowne)
================================

COST: Pay What You Can (donations will be accepted)

Accessible space. Childcare will be available.

================================

Now in the eighth month, the people of the Six Nations Haudenosaunee
(Iroquois) Confederacy continue to remain steadfast in their reclamation of
the ‘Douglas Creek Estates’, land that is part of the Haldimand Tract, sold
to developers even though it was contested. The site, renamed ‘Kahnestaton’
or ‘The Sacred Place’, stands as a symbol of resistance by First Nations
people, an assertion of sovereignty and self-government. The Six Nations
peoples’ reclamation of Kahnestaton is an act of strength, one which
reveals the failure of the Canadian government’s land claims process,
and demands that respect for First Nations’ land and treaty rights is not a
debate - it is essential.

Negotiations between the government of Canada and the people of Six Nations
also continue, a process that actually recognizes the traditional,
hereditary system of government created by the people of the Haudenosaunee
Confederacy. This system has been upheld by a community that is home to one
of the longest-standing democratic governance structures in all of Turtle
Island/North America.

Early on in the reclamation, the Mohawks of Tyendinaga, took action to
support the reclamation when it was under attack by the Ontario Provincial
Police. Blocking rail lines that run through their Territory, the
Tyendinaga Mohawks jammed up more than $100 million worth of cargo and
forced more than 6,000 passengers to be diverted. This rail blockade was
held until the Canadian government gave assurance that the place of the
Haudenosaunee Confederacy at the negotiation table would be recognized.

The community of Tyendinaga, located near Belleville, has itself been
targeted for ‘illegal’ cigarette sales, and for the peoples’ determination
to keep foreign police forces off their land and out of their lives. A new
longhouse has nearly been completed, where no such governance building has
stood for over 50 years.


The long history of colonization on which this country has been
built--theft of natural resources and land, genocidal assimilation
policies, marginalization and impoverishment of First Nations peoples--has
been resisted at every step by the refusal of indigenous communities to
accept such criminal treatment. The stand being taken by the people of Six
Nations and of Tyendinaga, whether through land reclamation, building
alternative economic prosperity, assertion of indigenous governance
structures, resistance to colonial policing, is evidence of the struggle
and victories in the battle for First Nations’ sovereignty.


Join us on October 14th, to hear directly from representatives of both Six
Nations and Tyendinaga, speaking about their communities and their strength.

FIRST NATIONS SOVEREIGNTY:
AN OCAP COMMUNITY EVENT

SPEAKERS: Andrea Curly, Youngblood, Nahnda Hill
Six Nations of the Grand River Territory

Shawn Brant
Tyendinaga Mohawk Territory

FILMS: ‘Day Zero’ (footage from the April 20 O.P.P. raid)
By John Jeeks and Nahnda Hill

'Mohawk Smokes' by Folkard Fritz and Audrey Huntley
'Letters from Caledonia/Six Nations'
By Audrey Huntley, Sarah Kapoor

and Musical Guests

WHEN: Saturday, October 14, 2006
5pm Movies and Meal
7pm Speakers

WHERE: PARC (Parkdale Activity Recreation Centre)
1499 Queen Street West
(1 Block west of Lansdowne)

COST: Pay What You Can (donations will be accepted)

Accessible space. Childcare will be provided.

For more information, contact OCAP at ocap@tao.ca or 416.925.6939