Milica.Njegovan's blog

International Womens Day Art Contest

2009 marked the 20th anniversary of the Montreal Massacre when a gunman shot and killed 14 women, and injured a further 13 people at L'École Polytechnique de Montréal. In recognition of this event OPIRG is joining with the Center for Women’s Studies to sponsor an Art Contest which highlights women’s and men’s resistance to gender based violence.

About the Contest

Your work could be selected to be part of an art event that will engage the community in dialogue on violence against women. Entries will be displayed on March 8 on International Women’s Day, and during the Social Justice and Equity Studies Forum on March 20th 2010.
Submissions should have a visual component and a text accompaniment. All art forms are encouraged including photography, fine art, sculpture and multimedia.

Contest Guidelines

Themes

One in three women worldwide experiences violence in their lifetime, making violence against women one of the gravest human rights violations of our time.

Submission Topics:

This contest aims to showcase and educate people on the multiple forms of violence against women. We hope to raise thought-provoking questions about the roots and means of perpetuation of violence, as well as possible solutions. We seek to show stories of struggle and also stories of empowerment and victory. Forms of violence that artworks might reflect upon include:

•Violence on university campus
•Domestic abuse
•Sexual assault
•Internalized violence such as body image and beauty standards
•Violence against girl children
•Violence against Indigenous women
•Violence against lesbians, gender queer and trans people
•Violence against women in prison
•Racialized gender-based violence
•Reproductive abuse and violence
•Sexual harassment
•Honor killings
•War/occupation and gender-based violence in the context of militarization and military conflict
•Trafficking in women for forced labour or slavery

Additional themes might include:
•Interlocking systems of violence
•Masculinities and men’s role and responsibility in combating violence
•Public tolerance, apathy or sense of inevitability in the face of violence
•Links between cultures of violence against women and other issues such as environmental degradation, animal abuse, economic globalization, neocolonialism

Stories of victories might include:
o Rehabilitation art
o Creative grassroots campaigns
o Legislative victories
o Personal stories of empowerment
You are limited to one entry per person.

Fee

There is no fee to enter.

Entry

1.One entry per person
2.To enter please send an email to opirgbu@brocku.ca with “Attention Milica” as your subject and include the following information in the email with your entry: Name, email address, a high resolution photographic duplication of the image (preferably a .jpg file) or a video file if applicable, and title of artwork. If the text component of the artwork is not easily legible in the image duplication, it should be forwarded in an accompanying text file (.doc or .rtf) as well.

Timeline

1.Entries must be received by February 22nd 2010.
2.Winners will be notified by email and announced on the Ontario Public Interest and Research Groups website by February 26th 2010.

Judging

Judges will select two winners. One winner will be selected from each category: (a) Inspiration, (b) Incisive Social Commentary. Judging will be made based on subject, creativity, and composition. The decision of the judges is final.Judges will be made up of members of OPIRG, the Centre for Women Studies, and the Department of Visual Arts.

Prize

The selected winners will each receive a $ 100 honorarium generously donated from the Center for Women’s Studies and the Ontario Public Interest Research Group.

For more information about this contest email opirgbu@brocku.ca

Ontario Health Coalition Reveals Paramedics Report

On the evening of June 17th, concerned citizens of Port Colborne come out to hear the findings of a report carried out by the Ontario Health Coalition. As most citizens of Ontario know, a major round of hospital restructuring and cuts are underway across the province, and in light of this the Ontario Health Coalition interviewed 50 paramedics across the providence to hear their views on the consequences of closing local hospital emergency departments.

"Absurb".. "Idiotic".. are just some of the words used to describe the provincial plan. Every paramedic interviewed stated that ambulances cannot replace the functions provided in local hospitals emergency departments, they expressed that this plan will only put patience at risk, worsen wait times, deprive communities of access to care or cause poor outcomes and even death.

You can hear the interview with Natalie Mehra about her new Paramedics Report, unveiled last night at the public forum in Port Colborne. Just go to the Ontario Today archives (url below), and scroll down to item five for June 18.

URL: http://www.cbc.ca/ontariotoday/story_archive.html

VOLUNTEER with the Niagara Health Coalition:
Call Sue Hotte at 905-932-1646 or
Susan Howard-Azzeh at 905-984-6515

OPIRG CELEBRATES 20th ANNIVERSARY MARCH 28th!

This year marks OPIRG Brock's 20th anniversary, and in order to properly celebrate this momentous achievement, we have organized a fabulous night of good company and good music for the evening of Saturday March 28th. I would like to take this opportunity to invite you to come celebrate 20 years of social justice work with us!

Date: Saturday March 28th

Location: Mikado's Cafe, 117 St Paul St, downtown St Catharines

Time: Celebration starts 7pm



We have some terrific music scheduled for the evening including Lee Reed, former front man of jazzy conscious hip hop group Warsaw Pack, as well as soul singer Sara Green, who will join Lee on stage. The show will open with Testament a London Ontario MC.

Independent media group, GlobalAware will celebrate with us, providing a silk screening workshop, as well as their usual displays of beautiful postcards and posters for purchase.

For any other inquiries please contact OPIRG Programming Coordinator, Milica Njegovan at phone number 905 668-5550 ex 3499.

Conservative Party strategy to take over student unions exposed

A series of documents posted on Wikileaks show that the Ontario Progressive Conservative Campus Association, a Tory-connected student group, held workshops at which participants were taught how to take over various student organizations on Ontario campuses.

"Presenters and participants are caught on tape advocating for the creation of front groups for the Conservative Party to masquerade as non-partisan grassroots organizations, influencing the political discourse on campus, stacking student elections with Party members, and conspiring to defeat non-profit organizations because of political differences, all with the intention of hiding their affiliations to the Party in the process," reads a release put out by the anonymous source who posted the documents."

This apparent attempt by the Conservative to interfere with student governance and undermine non-profit organizations is ethically troubling. We urge students, journalists, and citizens alike to take action on this issue and keep our campuses free from influence- peddling by political parties so as to uphold a strong and healthy
forum for democracy.

More information check out - http://ryersonfreepress.ca/site/archives/745?amp;preview=true

I AM PALESTINIAN-PART OF GLOBAL END ISREALI APARTHIED WEEK

Award Winning Film Occupation 101

Monday-March 23rd
7pm to 10pm
Thistle 242

Speakers Panel and Discussion

Smadar Carmon-Independent Jewish Voices
Koli Kilibarda-Coalition Against Israeli Apartheid
Jim Joyce-Amnesty International Canada
Moutazz Abu Ramadan-Security Officer Gaza NGO's

Wednesday-March 25th
6pm to 9pm
Academic South 204

Brock University
For more information contact Milica at
905-688-5550 x3499

*** FOOD-INFORMATION-MUSIC***
Palestinian Artist Dr. Ibrahim Shalaby. Zatoun Olive Oil.-www.zatoun.com
Local Palestinian Canadians and Activists available to answer questions.
http://apartheidweek.org

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