Maclean’s

An open letter from Artists Against C-51

Some prominent Canadian artists fear bill C-51 “directly attacks the creative arts and free expression in this country.”

Laura Payton

September 29, 2015

More than 200 Canadian artists say they fear the government’s new national security law, C-51, attacks free expression. The artists signed the letter below, which was provided to Maclean’s by Open Media, an organization that advocates on issues of privacy, open internet and digital rights.

September 29, 2015

Dear Party Leaders,

We are Canadian artists. We have been blessed to be part of a country that does not send poets to gulags, that does not behead people for saying things a government considers critical of it, and that does not murder dissidents and journalists wholesale.

But we know that totalitarian and repressive regimes always try to shut down artists, along with any other independent voices. We are alert to the possibilities: we, and all who wish a free and open society, must strongly oppose such tendencies when they arise.

Bill C-51 directly attacks the creative arts and free expression in this country.

This bill was rammed through Parliament by the Harper Conservative government, despite a huge public outcry and without due consultation. As many experts have pointed out, this bill allows the government to silence dissenting voices without oversight or accountability. It criminalizes “advocating or promoting the commission of terrorism offences in general,” which, because of this vague wording, could be interpreted in some very stupid ways. In effect, it gives the government carte blanche to suppress any voice they don’t like.

Is it promoting terrorism if we:

•write a spy novel about an assassination plot?

•record a song questioning our government’s agenda?

•paint a mural about the conflict in Syria?

•produce a documentary on security threats in Canada?

•put on an art show critical of the oil sands?

•make a film with an environmental theme?

Creativity, expression, opinion, and art are not the same as terrorist propaganda. Through its “chill” effect, C-51 undermines one of the chief freedoms of a democratic society: the right of every Canadian to free speech and free expression, including free artistic expression.

In addition, Bill C-51, because of the lack of oversight and accountability, is an invitation to intellectual property theft. All creative classes, including entrepreneurs and digital creators, are threatened by it. And every citizen is subject to blackmail, due to unlimited, unaccountable access to personal information.

We agree with the almost 300,000 Canadians who have called on the government to scrap this reckless, dangerous and ineffective legislation through the petition at http://KillC51.ca.

This election we will be voting to protect our artistry, our rights, and our freedoms: we will be voting for the repeal of C-51. We hope you will join us in ensuring that all Canadians are no longer subject to the chilling effects of C-51 and targeted by government censorship.

We can defend against terrorists in much better ways than this.

Signed,

Margaret Atwood, Author

Mark Achbar, Filmmaker

Hayden Desser, Musician

Cory Doctorow, Writer

John Dunsworth, Actor

Brett Gaylor, Filmmaker

Zach Gray, Musician, Zolas

John Greyson, Filmmaker

Paul Haggis, Filmmaker

Thomas King, Writer, Photographer

Dan Mangan, Musician

Don McKellar, Filmmaker

Raffi, Musician, Author

Judy Rebick, Writer

Kathleen Winter, Author

Antonia Zerbisias, Writer

 

 

Aaron Carley, Musician

Aaron McHattie, Musician

Adam Vee, Music Producer, The Ludvico Treatment

Adrienne Barrett, Writer

Ah Ram Lee, CG Artist

Alex Kennedy, Writer

Alex Leslie, Author

Alex Tribe, Musician

Alexander Hauka, Cellist, Good For Grapes

Alexander Kennard, Writer, Musician, Communications Professional

Alexandre Millaire & Kaitlin Milroy, Musicians, Moonfruits

Alexis Mitchell, Artist

Alexis Young, Musician

Alfred Peter Gough, Artist, Vice President, Society of Canadian Artists

Alice Burdick, Writer, Bookseller

Alisa Gayle-Deutsch, Musician

Alison Smith, Writer

Brad Fraser, Writer

Brian Bowman, Writer

Brianne Nord-Stewart, Filmmaker

Brittney Rand, Producer, Musician

Cameron Dixon, Painter

Camille Sullivan, Actor

Carole Henshall, Potter

Carolyn Deby, Artist

Carolyn Marie Souaid, Poet

Cass Reimer, Artist-Educator

Catherine Craig, Artist

Cathy Gulkin, Film Editor

Chara Kingston, Museum Collections Manager

Charles Bowie, Author

Charles Demers, Comedian, Author

Chris Down, Artist

Christopher Reiche, Musician, Composer

Cindy Asoden, Videographer, YOLO Video Productions Inc/JCVDude

CJ Unsworth, Lighting Designer

Claire Cameron, Writer

Claire Coupland, Musician

Clayton Drake Musician, The Almighty Rhombus

Clô Laurencelle, Art Teacher

Corbin VanderZalm, Musician

Corey Redekop, Author

Cory Lavender, Editor

Dafydd Palfrey, Filmmaker, Musician, Artist, Ten Pence Films/Dave Palmtree and the Palmtree Trio

Damien Gillis, Filmmaker

Damien, Actor

Dave Meisner, Tour Manager

David Bobier, Artist, Director, Curator, VibraFusionLab

David Grenier, Artist

David Ward, Musician

Deborah Dumka, Fibre Artist

Devin Gourley, Musician, Booking Agent

Devon Urwin, Recording Artist, Film Worker

Diane Scaman, Photographer

Dionne Brand, Writer

Donn Zver, Craftsman

Douglas Phillips, Musician

Drew Arnott, Songwriter

Edmund Brownless, Musician

Edo Van Breemn, Film Composer

Elaine Carol, Artistic Director, MISCELLANEOUS Productions

Elise Moser, Writer, Editor

Elizabeth Philips, Writer

Elizabeth Saunders, Artist

Elle Flanders, Filmmaker

Emily Millard, Musician, Miss Emily Brown

Endre Farkas, Poet, Playwright, Novelist

Erin Donovan, Musician, Director

Farzana Doctor, Author

Faten Toubasi , Visual Artist, Instructor

Fiona McLean, Artist

Francoise Thibault, Artist

Franke James, Artist, Author

Fraser Parkes, Musician, The Fuzzy Undertones

Fulvio Cecere, Actor

Gail Chin, Photographer

Gale Zoe Garnett, Writer, Actor, Arts Activist

Gilbert Gilbert, Musician

H.L. Goyer, Artist

Haley Hunt-Brondwin, Visual Artist and Designer

Hannah Claire Epperson, Musician, Composer

Heather Birrell, Writer

Heather Grant, Bassist, Singer, Crossed Wires

Heather Rankin, Designer (retired)

Helen Hoy, Painter

Ila Crawford, Visual Artist

Isaac Vallentin, Designer, Musician

Jan Wade, Artist

Jane Eaton Hamilton, Author

Jane Simpson, Writer

Janice Brunson, Independent Music Professional

Jennifer Claveau, Singer, Songwriter, Watercolourist

Jessica Stuart, Musician, The Jessica Stuart Few

Jim Riley, Video Artist

Joana Joachim, Museologist, Curator

Joe Sarahan, Carpenter, Artist

Jonathan Sweeting, Artist, Poet

Julia Mosher, Furniture Finisher

Julie Joosten, Writer

Julie Picken-Cooper, Arts Educator, Council of Canadians

Julie René de Cotret, Curator

Justine Warrington, Performer, Writer, Filmmaker

Karen Trask, Artist

Kate Hurman, Actor, Director, Writer, Teacher

Kate Inglis, Writer

Kate Lucyk, Artist

Katherine Dodds, Filmmaker, Writer, Creative Director, Hello Cool World

Kathryn Mockler, Poet, Professor, Screenwriter

Keith Higgins, Artist, Publisher

Kennedy Douglas Telford, Artist, Designer

Kirby Rivest, Glass Artisan

Krisdy Shindler, Artist

Kristian Joseph Warburton, Film Student

Kyle Weber, Artist, Entrepreneur

Lana Pesch, Author, Producer

Lance Buan, Visual Artist

Lani Ashenhurst, Actor

Laura Smith, Musician

Lauren B. Davis, Author

Lesley Ewen, Director, Dramaturg, Playwright, Performer, Teacher

Lindsay Brown, Writer, Designer

Lindsay Clayton Day, Writer, Teacher

Lisa Ireland, Artisan

Lynn Beavis, Art Gallery Worker

Madeline Bassnett, Writer

Maggie Tchir, Visual Artist

Marcia McInnis, Mixed Media Artist

Maria Meindl, Writer

Marie Smith, Museum Assistant

Mark Bentley Cohen, Writer/Performer

Marney Morgan, Metalsmith

Marsha Kennedy, Professor, Visual Arts

Martin Kennedy, Artist

Matias Munoz, Music Writer, Ottawa Showbox

Maureen Lyons, Photographer

Michael Harris, Author, Journalist

Michèle Houle, Photo, Video

Mikela Jay, Singer, Actor, Narrator

Miles Evans-Branagh, Musician

Milton Lim, Theatre Director, Multidisciplinary Performer, Hong Kong Exile/Theatre Conspiracy

Naomi Binder Wall, Writer

Neeraj Padmanabh, Film Editor

Nick Roddam, Artist

Nicola Morry, Teacher

Nicole Yates, Musician

Noah Spivak, Visual Artist

Patricia McDonough, Custom Picture Framer

Patrick Farrugia, Musician

Patti Randazzo Beckett, Artist

Paul Walde, Artist, Professor

Peter Kufluk, Actor

Peter Ricq, Filmmaker, Musician, Illustrator

Rachael Cardiello, Musician

Rachel Jacobson, Director

Raymonde Savoie, Writer

Rebecca Salazar, Poet, Editor

Risa Horowitz, Artist

Robert Cameron, Musician, BESTiE

Robert Dayton, Artist

Robin Pacific, Visual Artist

Rodney Hanson, Architect

Rosemary Carter, Graphic Designer

Samantha Reid, Writer

Samantha Soo, Filmmaker

Sandra Diaz, Visual Artist

Sandra Mannila, Artist, Writer, Arts Administrator

Sandra Nieuwenhuijsen, Art Director

Sarah Comfort, Artist

Sarah Sawler, Writer

Sean Devlin, Comedian

Sean McQuillan, Actor

Seth Stuve, Audio Engineer, Musician

Sharon King-Campbell, Theatre Artist

Shawn Jordan, Artist

Sheleah, Makeup Artist, SJB Makeup

Shelly Cassivi, Musician

Shlomit Segal, Graphic Designer

Sojin Kim, Independent Curator

Stephanie Yates, Artist

Stephany Aiken, Artist, Philosopher

Steve Bays, Musician, Producer

Steven Foster, Musician

Steven Laurie, Visual Artist

Su J. Sokol, Writer

Su-Feh Lee, Choreographer, Battery Opera Performance

Sue Goldstein, Artist, Activist

Susan Applewhaite, Actor

Susan Kendal, Choreographer,Textile Artist

Susan Swan, Author

Suzanne Dallaire, Visual Artist

Tara Mahoney, Producer, Creative Director, Gen Why Media

Thad Rosenau, Visual Artist

Tony Marryatt, Musician

Trevor Thomas, Musician, Producer

Troy Nixey, Movie Director, Comic Book Creator

Tuula Helin, Writer

Veronique Mallet, Musician

Victoria Ginsley, Poet

Wendy Davis, Photographer

Zachary Gough, Artist

Zack Embree, Filmmaker, Photographer

Zainab Amadahy, Writer

 

 

 

An Open Letter

From Grassroots Organizations in Vancouver, BC 

to Philippine President Benigno S. Aquino III

 

21 September 2015

 

Dear President BS Aquino III,

 

We, the undersigned organizations are writing you to express our urgent concern over the recent extra-judicial killings in Mindanao, the militarization of peasant and Lumad communities including occupation of schools by the Armed Forces of the Philippines and paramilitary groups, and the escalating displacement of Lumad people in violation of their human rights.

 

Our organizations encompass a variety of sectors and concerns, but we are united in our outrage at the murderous counter-insurgency being carried out under your regime and in our call for you to immediately stop the militarization of Lumad and peasant communities, to put an end to extrajudicial killings and human rights abuses, and to return to negotiations towards a just and lasting peace.

 

We recognize that the Lumad and peasant organizations have been active in defending their communities and ancestral territories against development aggression, including against Canadian mining companies.  As organizations in Canada we support the rights of Indigenous people to struggle for social justice and self-determination within their ancestral territories and we call on you to end the violent and punitive repression of this struggle and to side with the people and not with foreign corporations who only want to plunder the resources of the Philippines.

 

Mr. Aquino, as you near the end of your term as President of the Republic of the Philippines your legacy is tainted by corruption and the blood of innocents.  We urge you to turn away from this path and side with the interests of the Filipino masses by ending the counter-insurgency, seeking real justice for the victims of extrajudicial killings and other human rights abuses and returning to peace negotiations towards a just and lasting peace.

 

Sincerely,

 

Alliance for Peoples Health

Canada-Philippines Solidarity for Human Rights

Grassroots Women

South Asian Network for Secularism and Democracy

Migrante BC

Canada Palestine Association

Cafe Rebelde Collective

Kathara Cultural Collective

Samidoun Palestinian Prisoners Solidarity Network

East Indian Defense Committee

Vancouver Solidarity with Ayotzinapa

Red Sparks Union

 

 

http://www.canadaphilippinessolidarity.org

The Open Letter to Pres. BS Aquino III was received by Mr. Anthony Mandap, Deputy Consul of the Philippine Consulate- Vancouver, BC. Each member-representative from grassroots organization had expressed their concern on the spate of extrajudicial killings and human rights violations particularly on the case of the Lumad people in Mindanao.

THEY’RE KILLING TEACHERS AND CHILDREN, MR. PRESIDENT

By Inday Espina-Varona

September 4, 2015
http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/blogs/opinions/09/04/15/theyre-killing-teachers-and-children-mr-president

Dear President Aquino,

Malacanang is a long way off from Mindanao’s verdant, rugged mountains. So maybe the news hasn’t reached you yet. I’m presuming it hasn’t. It’s hard to believe a man who still regularly shares the pain of his father’s murder can be silent in the face of our lumad children’s nightmare.

You felt horror and rage on the assassination of your father, Ninoy. I am sure you can empathize with a15-year old Manobo boy from Sitio Mando, Barangay Mendis, Pangantucan, Bukidnon.

He didn’t just hear of the murders of his kin, Mr. President. He actually begged soldiers to spare their lives, appealing that his father, brothers and cousins be jailed if, indeed, they had done anything wrong.

His father was 70 and blind; his brothers 20 and 19 years old. One of his cousins was 13 years old; the other was 17.

He begged the soldiers, Mr. President. And they shot father, brothers and cousins, one by one.

Maybe you were told soldiers had slain New People’s Army rebels in an encounter.

Well, here are the identities of the slain “rebels.” Herminio Samia, 70; sons Joebert, 20, and Emir, 19, and relatives Norman, 13, and Elmer, 17: a blind senior citizen; two children; two very young adults.

Your father was a mature opposition politician when jailed. He was tempered by decades of struggle when he was murdered.

What were you doing when you were 13, Mr. President? Can you imagine what Norman felt as soldiers pointed their guns at him, as he saw the others fall? Can you imagine what a 13-year old boy feels watching the horror and knowing it is coming for him?

The NPA is engaged in guerrilla warfare. How can a blind 70-year old man be a guerrilla?

They were all kin, Mr. President. Please scour intelligence reports. It’s rare – possibly unheard of — to have an entire family in one guerrilla unit. You see, villagers say the actual encounter with rebels happened kilometers away.

As the years of dictatorship under your father’s tormentor show, soldiers like punishing civilians to deter others from supporting rebels. Yet I am sure your father told you – since he spoke publicly so many times on this – that this strategy only fueled the rebellion in the countryside.

The five were killed August 17.

On September 1, in Diatagon, Lianga, Surigao Sur, the head teacher of a lumad alternative school was found murdered.

Emerito Samarca’s students at the Alternative Learning Center for Agricultural and Livelihood Development (ALCADEV) discovered his body inside the school. They had rushed to inform him of soldiers and lumad paramilitary herding people out of their homes.

Their nightmare started the day before, when armed men torched a cooperative beside Alcadev. They had also gone around homes looking for several men, including a datu. As they went house to house, they accused residents of being NPA supporters and the school, a training ground for guerrillas.

You went one of the country’s best schools, Mr. President. The folk at Diatagon had no access to education until private efforts established Alcadev for Manobo, Banwaon, Higanon, Talaandig and Mamanwa youth.

The military calls it a school for rebels. You probably want to ask your researchers, Mr. President, to scour the global Web for any rebel school that has received an award.

Alcadev was conferred the National Literacy Award twice, in 2001 and 2005. The award goes to “non-government organizations or academic institutions involved in delivering the Department of Education’s alternative learning system program and which have developed and implemented literacy programs that have made a positive impact on learners and the community.”

The award is given to credit those that step in and fill the vacuum in governance.

Alcadev was also a finalist last year – regional winner, fifth place nationwide. I don’t know how many guerrilla training centers are visited by national education officials. Please check this Facebook page, complete with photos, showing officials from the DepEd’s Literacy coordinating council and regional and provincial offices, the Lianga mayor’s executive secretary, the barangay council and even the municipal police.

You tout government’s anti-poverty program, Mr. President. Here is what an Alcadev student has to say:
Amalyn: We can see how our community has changed since Alcadev started. If before most of the households could only eat rice once a day, now almost all of the households can eat three times a day. Where can you see a school whose curriculum is designed not just for the improvement of individual students but the community at large?

The school won despite its teachers and students having to periodically evacuate as soldiers took over their school or went around looking for key lumad leaders.

You should have met with some of Alcadev’s students when they were in town late last year to protest the militarization of their schools. These children of the Manobo stood tall. They spoke in fluent Tagalog and were equally fluent in English.

These same children saw Dionel Campos and his cousin Belio Sinzo shot dead by the armed men on September 1. Campos was chair of the Malahutayong Pakigbisog alang sa Sumusunod (MaPaSu). The organization, Mr. President, was instrumental in in putting up Alcadev.

The military says the Bagani does not exist. The communities even have names for this phantom group, depending on the location. In Lianga it is called Magahat/Bagani.

The military says it knows nothing about the Bagani. It vows to go after the criminals who murdered the three men in Lianga. But, Mr. President, Imelda Belandres, who was disturbed at her father’s wake, says the soldiers were there on the eve of the massacre. She says they were with the Magahat/Bagani when the pre-dawn roundup occurred.

What is happening, Mr. President? In Davao, Bukidnon and Surigao soldiers have been documented ordering folk not to patronize the alternative schools.

Do your soldiers think education is a dangerous thing? It probably is to those who thrive on exploiting the country’s socio-economic margins.

You see, Mr. President, the Surigao, Bukidnon communities, and the ones now huddled at the Haran Mission in Davao City, share one common trait. All their communities have been engaged – some for decades – in a fierce struggle to protect their ancestral lands from big-ticket “development” projects. And education is a valuable lesson against those seeking to grab their lands.

It’s a resistance also to be found in the areas around the Tampakan Mine project, Mr. President, where ten lumad, including a mother and her child, have been killed.

You do remember, Tampakan, Mr. President? It’s the mining concern gifted with national approval despite the South Cotabato provincial council’s ban on open-pit mining.

Please revisit your father’s speeches and writings, Mr. President. Read what he says about scorched earth tactics, about how oppression only strengthens rebellion. And then think about the children of Diatagon and Sitio Mando and Talaingod.

Revisit your rage as a young man, Mr. President. Revisit your past. Perhaps you might find the will to stop the murders of children and their teachers and their parents.

http://www.canadaphilippinessolidarity.org

 

 

Federation of Ambedkarite and Buddhist Organisations UK

12 Featherstone Road, Southall, Middlesex, UB2 5AA
Tel: 0044 (0) 7959 918053 Fax: 07909 828750 Mob: 07902 806342
Email: fabo@ambedkar.org.uk, www.ambedkar.org.uk

PRESS RELEASE – A dream finally coming true – An International Memorial to Dr Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar in London

After tense months of delays, on 26 August 2015 the Government of Maharashtra exchanged contracts on 10 King Henry’s Road, NW3. This house, located near Primrose Hill in north London, was where Dr Ambedkar lodged in 1921-22. In 1991 as part of his birth centenary celebrations organised under the auspices of the Federation of Ambedkarite and Buddhist Organisations UK (FABO UK), English Heritage recognised the property’s historic significance and unveiled a ‘blue plaque’ outside. It says, “DR BHIMRAO RAMJI AMBEDKAR 1891-1956 Indian Crusader for Social Justice lived here 1921-22”. The Government of Maharashtra (GOM) expect to complete on the purchase before the end of August.

Ms Santosh Dass, MBE, President of the Federation of Ambedkarite and Buddhist Organisations UK, comments,

“I am delighted that Mr Raj Kumar Badole, Minister for Social Justice and Special Assistance at Government of Maharashtra, via the High Commission of India in London, has exchanged contracts on 10 King Henry’s Road, NW3.

This follows my proposal to GOM in September 2014 that the house be bought by GOM and turned into an educational and cultural centre. Generations of Indians in the UK and visitors studying, interested or inspired by Dr Ambedkar’s key roles in furthering social justice, human rights and equal treatment issues will be able to visit. He is a figure on par with William Wilberforce and Dr Martin Luther King. Additionally, its five bedrooms could be used as accommodation for Indian students from Dalit backgrounds while doing post-graduate studies in the UK.

FABO UK has a long history with this site. As part of the celebration of the centenary of Dr Ambedkar’s birth, organised under the auspices of FABO UK, English Heritage in 1991 recognised its historic significance and installed a ‘blue plaque’ on the exterior of the property with the words “DR BHIMRAO RAMJI AMBEDKAR 1891-1956 Indian Crusader for Social Justice lived here 1921-22”.

 

Whilst in this house Dr Ambedkar enriched his academic studies and strengthened his resolve to challenge the impact of the Caste System and British Rule in India. It was also during this time that India’s Government was struggling with the falling value of the Indian Rupee – the backdrop to his thesis The Problem of the Rupee: Its origin and its solution. 

There is a lot of work to do on the house before it can be opened to visitors.

We look forward to working with GOM and the High Commission in London in the months and years to come to ensure that this cultural and political heritage site is put to uses of which Dr Ambedkar would approve.

FABO UK would like to take this opportunity to thank the following key people in India and the GOM for their tireless and unflinching enthusiasm and support in making our vision a reality: Mr Raj Kumar Badole, GOM’s Minster for Social Justice and Special Assistance, His Excellency, Mr Ranjan Mathai, High Commissioner of India in London, and his team, Mr Vinod Tawade, GOM’s Minister of, Higher & Technical Education and Cultural Affairs,  Mr R K Giakwad IAS (Indian Administrative Services), Ex-Secretary & Commissioner Social Justice Department, Mr Ramdas Athwale, MP, and Mr Ramesh Katke, Deputy Registrar GOM.