Busy week ahead, event for every evening!

Hello,

We just got several emails about important events taking place next week: 

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Monday: National Town Hall: Citizens' Engagement and State Accountability

7:00 p.m., Monday September 28
La Nouvelle Scene Theatre, 333 King Edward Avenue (between Rideau and York)
For more information:
http://www.righttoknow.ca/en/Calendar/events-e.asp?date=9/28/2009
www.kerrypither.ca

Join Kerry Pither & Co for an important discussion organized by Canada's Information Commissioner. The National Town Hall on Citizens' Engagement and State Accountability kicks off Right to Know week in Ottawa.

CBC Radio's Lucy van Oldenbarneveld will facilitate a discussion about the role of media as catalysts, the right of citizens to hold Parliament accountable, security concerns or international relations considerations vs. fundamental democratic rights in times of conflicts; and access to information in the digital age.

Panel
Kerry Pither, Author, Dark Days: The Story of Four Canadians Tortured in the Name of Fighting Terror;
David Akin, National Affairs correspondent for Canwest News Service, blogger On The Hill, new media expert;
Ben Leapman, Sunday Telegraph (UK) journalist who contributed to exposing the UK Parliamentary expenses scandal;
David McKie, CBC investigative journalist, author and instructor of computer-assisted reporting techniques at Carleton University; and
Jeff Sallot, Carleton University journalism instructor and former Globe and Mail journalist.

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Tuesday: Cinema Politika: The Sky Below

FILM: 'The Sky Below'
WHEN: Tuesday, September 29 at 7:00 PM
WHERE: Tory Building (TB) 360, Carleton U
FOR MORE INFO: http://www.cinemapolitica.org/node/1028

Filmmaker Sarah Singh will be present to answer questions and facilitate a discussion.

To create the documentary THE SKY BELOW, Sarah Singh traveled solo--without a crew--across one of the world’s most volatile regions tracing culture, history, society and the politics of divide and rule.

THE SKY BELOW is a contemporary exploration of the creation of Pakistan and the 1947 Partition of the Indian Subcontinent, weaving together 5000 years of culture, while investigating the lingering after-effects of this six-decade old political divide, most tragically witnessed by Kashmir. With her life in the hands of strangers and sometimes gunmen, Singh traveled from the desert of Kutch to the snowy mountains of Kashmir; and from the seaside city of Karachi to the spare but volatile terrain of the Khyber Pass.

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Wednesday: John Ralston Saul and Post-Secondary Education as a Public Good

As part of the Canadian Federation of Students' (CFS) 'Drop Fees for a Poverty-Free Ontario' Campaign, the Graduate Students' Association (GSA) at Carleton University will be hosting a keynote address by renowned novelist and essayist, John Ralston Saul. The title of his presentation will be "Post-Secondary Education as a Public Good".

The event will be taking place on Wednesday September 30th, 2009 from 6:00-7:00pm followed by a book signing from 7:30-8:00pm. The location of the event is Kailash Mital Theatre, Southam Hall, Carleton University.

Tickets will be on sale for $2 at the GSA Office, 6th floor Unicentre.  All proceeds go to the Marion Dewar Scholarship which supplements tuition and supplies required by post-secondary education for refugee and immigrant high school students.

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Thursday: Canadian Aid, NGOs, and Imperialism: Africa and Beyond A Talk with Yves Engler

When: Thursday October 1st, 7 pm
Where: Carleton University, Azrieli Theatre 301
Free!  Wheelchair accessible
For more info: OPIRG-Carleton, vcopirg@gmail.com

Geopolitical concerns have always been the primary motivators for disbursing Canadian aid.  The government may call it foreign aid, but a central aim of the Canadian International Development Agency is to help Canadian companies expand abroad both directly and indirectly.

How do government funded NGOs deal with the intervention-equals-aid principle?  Are some major Western non-governmental organizations really just an arm of imperialism?  Are development NGOs compatible with real democracy?  Come out to hear Yves Engler debunk the mythology of Canadian aid as sheer benevolence.

Copies of Yves' new book, The Black Book of Canadian Foreign Policy, will be available for purchase. For more information on The Black Book of Canadian Foreign Policy, visit http://blackbook.foreignpolicy.ca

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Friday: To break the silence and end the fear - Abdelrazik Speaks For Justice

Ottawa Friday, 2 October at 2:30pm 360 Tory Building, Carleton University More information: bill_skidmore[at]carleton.ca or (613) 520-2600, ext. 2359

Ottawa Friday, 2 October at 7pm Tom Brown Arena Hall, 141 Bayview Rd. (at Wellington) Hosted by: NOWAR PAIX More information: nowar.paix[at]gmail.com

Abousfian Abdelrazik, recently returned from 6 years of forced exile in Sudan, will be on tour across Quebec and eastern Canada, from the 24th of September to the 17th of October, accompanied by members of Project Fly Home. The tour is sponsored nationally by the Canadian Labour Congress (CLC), Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW), Council of Canadians, Council on American-Islamic Relations - Canada (CAIRCAN), International Civil Liberties Monitoring Group (ICLMG), and the National Campus and Community Radio Association (NCRA).

http://peoplescommission.org/en/abdelrazik/events.php

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Have a great weekend,

Octo-team