David Lau

Executive Director, Victoria Immigrant & Refugee Centre Society

Phone. 250-361-9433 Ext.215

Charitable #: 892568783RR0001 - (please donate to VIRCS!)

Report-back from Rojava
Wednesday Jan 20th, 7pm
Room A104 of David Turpin Building at the University of Victoria

https://www.facebook.com/events/1673716349576706/

Sponsored by UVic SJS and CSPT

After the fall of the Syrian Government and in the midst of the current crisis unfolding there, the Kurdish “peoples protection units” of the YPG and YPJ have emerged as the most powerful ground force in the fight against ISIS. Not merely another fighting force to be used as pawns by the west, they have been setting up regions free from domination by capitalism and state authority; attempting to put to rest feuds and bad blood between different religious and ethnic groups, challenging patriarchal domination over women, relating communally to the land, and attempting to find better ways to relate to the eco-systems of the earth.

An anarchist author from California will share their experiences and observations from a recent trip to the region known as Rojava, and what kind of inspiration this can bring to anarchists and all others who desire a free life.

The following Dispatches were written by an anarchist journalist traveling through Rojava during the last few weeks of October, 2015. They detail his impressions and experiences of the Social Revolution currently happening there.

Rojava Dispatch One: Greetings from the Revolution
http://modernslavery.calpress.org/?p=875

Rojava Dispatch Two: The Road to Kobane/The Skeletal City
http://modernslavery.calpress.org/?p=889

Rojava Dispatch Three: Members of Commune Sehid Kawa C Decide On NewBoundaries
http://modernslavery.calpress.org/?p=915

Rojava Dispatch Four: The Return; 18 Heroes Go Home for the Last Time
http://modernslavery.calpress.org/?p=927

Rojava Dispatch Five: The YPG/YPJ Militias That Grow Hope
http://modernslavery.calpress.org/?p=935

Rojava Dispatch Six: Innovations, Formation of Hêza Parastina Cewherî (HPC)
http://modernslavery.calpress.org/?p=949

Rojava Dispatch Final: Journey Home
http://modernslavery.calpress.org/?p=962

Radio interviews with Paul Simons:

http://freeradicalradio.net/2015/11/09/paul-z-simons-stories-from-rojava-on-revolution-daily-life-and-hope/

http://thefinalstrawradio.noblogs.org/post/2015/11/23/paul-z-simons-on-the-dispaches-from-rojava-part-1-of-3/

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Please use this map to find location of the event:
www.uvic.ca/home/about/campus-info/maps/maps/ssm.php

For wheelchair access . You enter the DTB A Wing at the entrance closest to the Business and Economics Building, there is an elevator that will take you down to the first floor and room A104.

We would like to thank UVic Social Justice Studies and the Cultural Social and Political Thought (CSPT) Program for providing a free space and funding for this event.

This event is taking place on occupied and unceded territories of the Lekwungen and WSANEC people.

Jon Bartlett & Rika Ruebsaat

Presenting their book Soviet Princeton: Slim Evans and the 1932-3 Miners’ Strike

Monday January 25, 12:30pm-2:00pm

The extraordinary story of a coal miners’ strike in a small BC town in the midst of the Great Depression. Strikers and communists confront the Ku Klux Klan in a deeply polarized community. Princeton musicians and historians Jon Bartlett and Rika Reubsaat will share the story, using archival photos supplemented by renditions of the songs that sprang from the remarkable confrontation.

Sponsored by the Camosun College Humanities Department

Wilna Thomas 226

Camosun College - Lansdowne Campus

Monday January 25, 12:30pm-2:00pm

Further contact: Larry Hannant 250 380 0462