Winnipeg Independent Media Centre

Winnipeg is Not for Sale – Speak Against the City Budget

Posted by vanessa on Monday, March 24th at 11:07 PM

The City of Winnipeg's budget will be going to the city council Wednesday March 26th. As outlined by the EOC report (details below) it is expected that to ensure Katz's promise to cut the municiple business tax the budget will cut many social programs and leave the door open for a mass privatization of the citys' services. In response the group Winnipeg is Not For Sale, a consortium of unions and concerned citizens, has set a rally for that day. People are asked to meet at 8:30 a.m. on March 26th at City Hall - just in time to meet city councillors as they enter the building to vote.

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Come one, Come all, DIY Fest 2008 is underway!!

Posted by vanessa on Sunday, January 27th at 6:39 PM

posted by A.M.

Yes, it's back for the second year running! Being held in conjunction with the Universtiy of Winnipeg, this years DIY Fest will be held from March 10th-March 16th; an entire week of non-corporate, non-monetary, learning and sharing within our community!! Running Monday to Friday, two workshops will be held daily at the University of Winnipeg and on the weekend the entire festival moves to the Red Road Lodge (Main and Logan) with tables, a free store, workshops, and tons of fun from 12-6 both Saturday and Sunday.

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In humbleness we came and prayed with the Land

Posted by vanessa on Saturday, January 26th at 3:19 PM

written by the womyn of Grassy, sent to IMC by the Friends of Grassy Narrows

In humbleness we came and prayed with the Land

We were at approximately 20 to 30 kms east of Pakwash road (English River Road) on the conifer road north of the English river – Asupbeeschoseewagong Territory. We finished setting up our wigwam and lay some spruce down as part of our bedding by approximately 12 midnight. We started our fire prior to this. We later made tea and some soup. Common sense told us to select a site where we can safely park our vehicles so the site we selected was a long straight stretch of road. Our vehicles can be seen from a long way. The date was Jan 6, 2008 and we were in the deep north of our traditional lands of Asupbeeschoseewagong.

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Winnipeg Activists to Protest School of the Americas

Posted by sabo on Thursday, November 8th at 10:25 PM

November 16th is marked by SOA Watch as the international day to remember the victims of the students of the School of the Americas (SOA). The date was chosen in remembrance of the November 16, 1989 massacre of eight people at the University of Central America (UCA). Every year on this date roughly 20,000 people gather both to remember and to draw attention to the fact that despite the US government changing the name of the school in the face of the publics demand for its closure, the School of the Americas still exists and the people are not fooled.

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Doer Presents Inter-Canadian Trade Deal to Premiers

Posted by vanessa on Wednesday, August 1st at 5:22 PM

This week from August 8-10th the Council of the Federation, a group composed of all thirteen Canadian premiers and federal government representatives, will meet in Moncton, NB. Created in 2003, the aim of the council is to foster better relations between provinces/territories and the federal government. In the past meetings have generally centered on bickering about the fiscal imbalance -i.e. how the federal government transfers money to the provinces (and how much). They also created a committee, whose Council representative was Manitoba Premier Gary Doer, to look into the viability of a Canada-wide internal trade agreement. Doer approved the progress report hashed out by said committee in 2006 and he will be presenting their “action plan” to the Council on August 8th. The plans for a national trade agreement are widely regarded as being modeled after TILMA, the controversial trade agreement between Alberta and British Columbia.

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A Call Out! Action Against the Three Bandidos!

Posted by vanessa on Wednesday, August 1st at 1:39 PM

Three Amigos Poster: Bush, Harper and Calderon

A call out has been issued: activists from across North America are being asked to converge at Montebello, Québec in order to show opposition to new corporate fair trade deals. Harper, Bush and Calderon will be meeting at Montebello’s luxurious golf course to discuss a new Security and Prosperity Partnership (SPP) agreement between the three North American states.

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Cuba Si!

Posted by trainspot_of_thought on Wednesday, June 6th at 8:03 AM

Nearing the end of the Mayworks Festival, the Manitoba-Cuban Solidarity Committee held a fundraiser social chockfull of presentations, tasty morsels and passionate music. Cuban Si! was held at the Chilean Association Hall last Saturday May 26th, to raise money for both the Che Guevara Volunteer Work Brigade and Pastors for Peace.

The Che Guevara Work Brigade is having their 15th annual trip to Cuba this summer. For three weeks (July 27 – August 17), the “Brigadistas” learn and participate in Cuban culture. The schedule includes going to museums, learning about alternative medicine and alternative energy, learning the art of Cuban dance and working in agriculture. About eight Winnipeggers are attending this upcoming summer brigade. Many people attend repeatedly year after year. The group ranges in age, but they all have the same interest in travelling, volunteering, and learning about Cuban culture. The main objectives of the brigade are to condemn the U.S. blockade against Cuba, to promote cultural exchange between Canada and Cuba, and to inform Canadians of the achievements of the Cuban Revolution.

The evening was an informative celebration of Cuba and Che Guevara. After an awesome Cuban meal, Hugo Torres played politically charged acoustic songs that included a song called “Who Are The Terrorists?” (Tell me who has the weapons of mass destruction). In another song, he captivated everyone and got them singing along to his passionate chorus “We shall overcome”.

For more info on:

The Che Guevara Volunteer Work Brigade
http://www.canadiannetworkoncuba.ca/brigade/

The Cuban Five:
http://www.freethefive.org/

http://www.antiterroristas.cu/

El Paso coverage of the protest against Posada Carriles:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a3bkRpCOxZE

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May Day – Not Just for Maypoles and Martyrs

Posted by vanessa on Thursday, May 10th at 8:30 PM

Here’s a question for ya: what’s the greatest day of the year? What’s that, Christ-mas? Nah, too commercial. Thanksgiving? Not if you’re a turkey. July first/fourth? Ha, don’t make me laugh. Or cry. Halloween? Well, not scary enough, it simply cannot compare to the wondrous greatness that is (drum roll please)…May Day! We here in Winnipeg certainly know how to celebrate this day – by making it last all month. So let us explore this day and remember why it is so important.

Although the roots of May Day grow far back in our history and are celebrated for many different reasons, most notably by pagans as a celebration of re-birth in the new spring season, the day is familiar most-widely as International Workers Day. It was established as a memento mori for workers who have given their lives in the struggle for fairer working conditions and as a message to today’s workers: many have struggled in the past in order that you can have a better life, and through solidarity and organizing their dreams of fair workplaces can be realized. Now.

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Breakin' Down the Walls

Posted by mediablitz on Wednesday, May 9th at 10:30 PM

Beyond Walls, the first annual art showcase of current and former Manitoba prison inmates took place this past Sunday at the Canadian Mennonite University. The informal event drew a crowd of people split by appearance (crazy tough biker tattoo guys and fuzzy headed Grampas and Grandmas) and exhibited a variety of contributions in visual art that ranged from awesome handmade blankets to embossed leather belts. Hung up on the walls were vibrant paintings and sketches along with captions explaining background information about the artist and their work. A number of stained glass works by two artists were positioned in front of the windows to let the sun shine in if there had been any, unfortunately clouds stubbornly occupied the skies for most of the afternoon. One stained glass work in-the-making picturing a wolf sat near a huge, intricate dream catcher made by the Ni-Miikana Healing Unit - a program at Stony Mountain Institute focused on aboriginal spirituality. Scattered across a handful of tables was an assortment of handiwork: sculptures of a mother bear and cub created from soap (!!!!) with nail clippers, a wooden memory box and three painted hand drums by residents of the Manitoba Youth Centre, among other things. There was a singular work of collage in the exhibit, stuck in the frame of a computer screen (Very cool. One of my favorites)

In addition to the display of visual arts there was a performing arts portion to the afternoon that consisted of some musical performances (guitar jammin’ and sing-a-long style) and poetry readings, all material written by the inmates.

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The Apostle of Anarchy - Winnipeg Marks Centennial Visit from Emma Goldman

Posted by vanessa on Tuesday, May 8th at 5:04 PM

This year marks the hundredth year anniversary of Emma Goldman’s first visit to Winnipeg. The woman J. Edgar Hoover notoriously described as “the most dangerous woman in America” spoke to a “large and enthusiastic audience” (according to the Telegram, 1907) at the Trades Hall from April 10-15th, 1907, and was presented by the Radical Club and the Society of Anarchists (also referred to as the “Anarchy Club”). Goldman gave two lectures in German titled “Crimes of Parents and Educators,” and “Direct Action vs. Legislation” and a Yiddish speech entitled “The Position of the Jews in Russia.” She lectured twice in English; “Misconceptions of Anarchism” and “The Revolutionary Spirit in the Modern Drama.”
Emma Goldman also spoke in Winnipeg in 1908 on “Why Emancipation Doesn’t Free Women” and other lectures, in 1927 she spoke more than 20 times and in 1939 she returned to Winnipeg for the last time

One Hundred Years Later
In celebration of her historic visit to Winnipeg, CKUW 95.9FM and the 2007 May Works Labour Festival are presenting “The Apostle of Anarchy,” a night to recognize this remarkable woman, to stand in solidarity with her beliefs and to mark another hundred years of radicalism in Winnipeg. The night will feature an actress portraying Miss Goldman and she will be re-enacting her time here in the ‘Peg, presentations by Paul Burrows and Patrick McGuire and musical accompaniment provided by The 1919 Insurrectionary Orchestra and The Magnificent Sevens. Event takes place 7 p.m. Wednesday, May 16 at the Mondragon Bookstore & Café (91 Albert St.). Tickets are $5.

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