Protesting the G8/20-- art by Michael Ricks

As you all know the Resist G8/20 week-end was a crazy circus of police repression. Everyone is now engaged in heated debate and there will be more fallout from the events to organize around. The police repression mirrors the economic repression of the G8/20 organization which does not represent the interests of people but sees us as mute fodder for their agenda. We see the nature of this system operating through discipline and threat of both economic penalty for an inability to conform to the capitalist regime of life behind which lies the threat of pure force for active dissent and desire to discuss and participate in the democratic process.

Junction resident Michael Ricks took this opportunity to make a symbolic gesture with this wonderful sculpture that we alternately carried at the Saturday rally. The response by our fellow protesters was overwhelming to this work, they were really able to work the symbolism into their understanding of what was going on.


This photo was taken by Nick Van der Graaf

New Blog items

I have added a link to China Labor Watch. As well there are two new pages: one is the talk I didn't quite get through at the People's Summit, and the other is a list and some descriptions of all the video's in the MoneyProject, which will eventually be complete.

People's Summit Update

MONEYPROJECT UPDATE:

Hi Everyone,

It has been an intense weekend I think for everyone, those who were downtown and those who watched, and now we are immersed in various debates around the issues raised during the resistance to the g20/8 and the police tactics employed and the money spent....I hope these are productive even though they are often painful...

The MoneyProject screened during the People's Summit which was a great context for the project. Michael Ricks and I attended a great workshop on the war in Afghanistan and I attended three others: one on the Alberta Tar Sands, I also went to the Peoples Assembly on Climate Change, and the other with Rebecca Garrett on the De Beers gold mine in the First Nations Northern Ontario community of Attiwapiskat.

It was unfortunate for the MoneyProject that the workshop before us went over their time, so we started late, and thinking that there was no one using the room after us, I didn't object. However, some volunteers told us we had to leave the room, so after the screening and a short talk about the project, we had no time left for a discussion with the audience.

This set of circumstances was beyond frustrating for me as the rest of the workshops that I attended were very discursive and interactive and I found this very exciting, there was a real attempt made to democratize the discussion and involved the audience, and I really wanted this for the MoneyProject as well. It has really given me food for thought as to how to really reinforce the interactive aspect of the project since sitting and watching video is a very passive activity. Kelli Keily commented to me that it seems to be the making of video that is interactive and where a lot of discussion happens, as well as the meetings. However, I am thinking that this is something to consider at our next meeting.

Nevertheless, I am happy that those who stayed to watch the whole program could maybe fit some of what they saw at the MoneyProject into their other experiences at the People's Summit and the weekend of protest, and am very content to have been a part of such very well organized events.

FUTURE SCREENINGS:
We have one home screening organized for Montreal on Monday July 12th at Michael Ryans house for his and Riaz Mehmoods friends. They both have pieces in the MoneyProject. We expect about 10 people there.

more details on other possible screenings this summer to be confirmed.

That is all for now, lots of stuff to think about post summit....

all the best,
Kim Jackson

This is the poster MRicks made for the screening. We're excited to be a part of the People's Summit and have finalized the new program. We are also looking forward to two more screenings this summer, hopefully one in Montreal and the other a home screening here in the Junction, Toronto.

A statistical analysis proves that more equal societies work better for everyone.

http://www.equalitytrust.org.uk/

The 2010 People's Summit looks amazing, check out their schedule here: http://peoplessummit2010.ca/section/2

The MoneyProject will be screening on Saturday, June 19th from 3-4:30pm. Information about the screening is listed in the Program page under the section Economic Justice.