Rides Announcement

There will be multiple times that shuttles taking people from the Brantford and Hamilton Bus Stations to the Gathering on Friday, Saturday and Sunday of the Gathering.

More information to follow on pick up times.

call 519-500-1878 for more information

Peace and Friendship Gathering Call Out

PEACE & FRIENDSHIP GATHERING

The Haudenosaunee Men’s Fire at Six Nations will be welcoming people from all four directions to come and participate, support or volunteer at a historic gathering at Six Nations of The Grand River.  The vision for this event was inspired from the work that has been accomplished by the people of Six Nations in the spirit of the Great Law of Peace and the Good Minds that have been tireless in moving this vision forward. The event is being organized by a grass roots committee of Six Nations residents and supporters.
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The Gathering will feature:
* Entertainment each evening, with hip hop from Toronto and popular bands from Six Nations, including “The Breeze.”
* Teachings on history, language, and traditional activities from Six Nations historians and teachers, including Yvonne Thomas from the Jake Thomas Learning Center.
* Sharing around what is happening in other territories including presentations from Bob Lovelace; Co-chief of Ardoch Algonquin, Chris Reid; legal representation for Ardoch and KI First Nations, and Peter Rosenthal; attorney for political prisoner and Mohawk native rights defender Shawn Brant, and others.
* Updates from members of the Six Nations negotiation team on the ongoing negotiations with the Provincial and Federal governments, as well as on ongoing struggles to protect land in Brantford and throughout the Haldimand Tract.
* Working together, in solidarity, with labour, environmental, anti-racist groups including No One Is Illegal, ARA, RAN, BADC, the Beehive Collective, and others.
* Workshops on protest tactics and techniques, and on 2010-resistance to the Olympics, SPP and G8.
* Film screening of the award winning new documentary “A Winter Tale,” and other films.
* Full youth-focused program, including lacrosse demo and workshop
* Ceremonies
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The Gathering will kick off on Friday, August 22, with orientation, introductions, potluck supper, social and entertainment (including The Breeze).  Friday is hosted by the Oneida and Cayuga nations (The “younger brothers”) and will feature a Welcoming Ceremony with the theme of “unity”.  Saturday is hosted by the Onondaga nation (the “firekeepers”) and is a packed day of workshops, lectures, panels and fun stuff that winds up with a “best of all worlds” stage of evening entertainment.  Sunday will focus on next steps – looking ahead at what is being planned and how to work together.  This day is hosted by the Mohawk and Seneca nations (the “older brothers”).
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There is camping available on site.  It will help in our planning to know that you are coming, so we ask people to please consider registering by sending an email to mailto:peaceandfriendshipgathering@gmail.com.  There will be basic meals provided, but please try and bring your own dishes, utensils and cups/mugs and your own snack and ‘comfort’ food. Also, please bring picnic/bbq-able food for the pot-luck meals. Thanks!
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For those who need rides to (and from) the Gathering, there are a few options. First, there will be a bus leaving from and returning to Toronto on Saturday and Sunday from Downsview Station at 11am, and the return trip leaves from Chiefswood at 10pm.  Second, there will be rides shuttling between Chiefswood Park and both Hamilton and Brantford from the main bus stations on Hunter St in Hamilton and the VIA station in Brantford on Wadsworth St (times tba). There will also be rides shuttling from Six Nations to Chiefswood during the day (time and location (tba):. Finally, there is the possibility for individuals and groups to use the Peace and Friendship Gathering Event page on Facebook to organize carpooling.  Please send us an email if you plan on using the shuttle rides or bus, so we can make sure that we have enough seats. For updates check the website, facebook, or call Alex Hundert @ 519 500 1878.
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For more information:
Email: peaceandfriendshipgathering@gmail.com
Or call Ken Hill: (519) 445-2403
Or check us out at: https://solidarityfestival.wordpress.com
Or on facebook: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=28132984466&ref=nf
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Note that there will be no charge for attending the Gathering, but we are asking that people consider donating to help us cover our expenses.  We need cash donations, gifts in kind (including food), and items for a fundraising auction on Saturday night.  Please do not hesitate to contact Paul Tucker at (416) 892-3834 if you have any questions regarding the use of your donation. If you wish to make a monetary donation, please make cheques payable to CUPE 3903 who is assisting with the financial management of the event. Please mail cheques to: Paul Tucker, 237 Melita Ave, Toronto, ON, M6G 2A1.

Downloadable PDF Flyer for the Gathering

Hey folks, please feel free to download this PDF flyer and print out copies of it for distribution at activist events in the coming weeks.

https://solidarityfestival.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/06/peace_friendship1.pdf

Programming for the Festival

The primary focus of the festival will be a series of workshops, talks and presentations that will be taking place throughout the weekend. We encourage individuals and organizations to propose sessions related to their experiences and knowledge in four interwoven and intimately connected themes: indigenous resistance, environmental politics, anti-racism and social justice, and practical hands-on knowledge and skill sharing. Below we have proposed a series of potential workshops that we are interested in having over the course of the festival. If you or your organization would like to take responsibility for organizing one of these sessions, of if you have an idea for another session you would like to organize, please let us know.

In addition to a wide range of talks and workshops, we also hope to hold a series of cultural events including live music performances, dances, and film showings. Spaces will also be provided throughout the festival for people to spontaneously organize events and meetings as they see fit.

In order to have your event included in our publicity for the festival, we require that all proposals for the festival be sent to us by no later than June 10th, 2008.

The festival will begin and close with a plenary session where everyone will be present.

As a way to facilitate self-organization and to achieve unity through diversity, distinct sections of the camp site will be made available to groups of 20 or more people who want to camp together and organize collectively during the time they are at the festival. We currently envision that there will be such spaces available for trade union activists, members of the Black Action Defense Committee, and a women and trans only part of the campground. Each of these camps will have meeting facilities made available to them and may send delegates to the core organizing team over the course of the weekend to make sure that their needs are met. We welcome other self identified groupings to contact us – we will make spaces and infrastructure available to you as well.

4. POTENTIAL IDEAS FOR TALKS AND PRESENTATIONS:
(please note that titles are in a very rough form)

Indigenous Resistance Stream

– An Introduction to the Great Law of Peace
– A history of the Iroquois people from origin to contact with Europeans
– A history of the Iroquois people from contact with Europeans to the war of 1812
– A history of the Iroquois people from 1812 to the present
– Lessons from the Oka crisis – a presentation by some of the participants
– A history of struggles at Six Nations from 1924 to the Kanonstaton
– Building resistance against the 2010 Olympics
– A backgrounder on unresolved Six Nations land claims around the Brantford area
– A history of the struggles at KI
– Learning from the Zapatista Experience
– Indigenous Struggles in Latin America
– Indigenous People and their History of Oppression and Resistance to the Canadian Courts
– Palestine and Turtle Island
– A History of Canadian Colonialism
– The Indian Act as an Apartheid Law
– The struggle against uranium mining at Ardoch / Sharbot Lake
– A presentation from people at Grassy Narrows on their struggle
– A panel discussion on Indigenous Political Prisoners in Canada

Environmental Stream

– What Are the Connections between Indigenous Land Rights and Ecological Sustainability?
– Environmental Devastation in the Haldimand Tract
– Ontario’s 20 Year Energy Plan As It Affects the Haldimand Tract
– Peak Oil and Canada’s Energy Future
– the Global Endangerment of Indigenous Knowledge, Languages and Medicines
– Land Use Planning and the Haldimand Tract
– Archaeological Discoveries in the Haldimand Tract
– The Politics of Water
– Canadian Mining Corporations in the Local and Global Context
– Ontario’s Nuclear Power Plans
– Presentation from RAN on Its Work in Supporting Indigenous People and Fighting to Save the Boreal Forest
– Climate Change in Canada’s North
– Endangered Species Crisis and Its Impact on First Nations Peoples
– a Critical Analysis of Government Policy Relating to Be “Greenbelt”
– the Local, Regional and Global Impact of the Alberta Tar Sands

Anti-racist and social justice politics stream

– What are the connections between the struggles of Black people in the city and indigenous people in first nations territory?  (BADC Presentation)
– Why and how should trade unions support indigenous sovereignty?
– The connection between indigenous struggles and displacement, migration and state repression
– Learning from the Community Friends experience in Caledonia — how can we build alliances between non-natives and natives around indigenous land rights.
– Anti-poverty organizing in Toronto
– lessons from Anti-Racist Action in building a youth culture to fight racism and fascism.

Practical Skills Training

– Nonviolent direct action training workshop
– Know your rights legal workshop
– How to Facilitate a Meeting
– How to Organize Large Events
– building capacity for resistance in spiritual, mental, and physical ways
– Ati-oppression 101
– Permaculture and closed system living
– waste diversion for your home
– how to make biofuel and straw bale buildings
– workshop on health, addictions, and diabetes

Music and Entertainment: (not confirmed)

– Rappers from BADC – Quanche, Wasun,
– Bruce Cockburn
–  Leo Cardeau

Art
– Jody Orr will coordinate a visual arts space
– Punchclock
– Story Telling

Sports

– All day soccer games
– Lacrosse
– Basketball
– Volleyball
– Ultimate Frisbee

Solidarity Festival 2008

*Please forward widely*

Peace and Friendship Gathering

Friday, August 22 to Sunday, August 24, 2008
Chiefswood Park, Ohsweken, Six Nations Territory

The third weekend in August will witness a historic gathering of the people of Six Nations and their allies from across Ontario and Turtle Island. From Friday, August 22 to Sunday, August 24, hundreds of people will gather at Chiefswood Park in the town of Ohsweken, Six Nations territory for a three day festival of friendship and solidarity.
The vision for this event was inspired from the work that has been accomplished by the people of Six Nations in the spirit of the Great Law of Peace and the good minds that have been tireless in moving this vision forward. Many have lent their voice, strength and support to building greater awareness, understanding, friendship and solidarity between our peoples. The Peace and Friendship Gathering will facilitate the opportunity for and  all of us to learn, be inspired, and gather a greater understanding and respect of the relationships that indigenous and non-indigenous people have.

The primary focus of the festival will be a series of workshops, talks and presentations related to indigenous sovereignty, environmental politics and issues of anti-racism and social justice. In addition to talks and workshops, we will also be holding a series of cultural events including live music performances, dances and film showings.  Park facilities will be open for people to play sports, swim, watch open-air films, camp overnight and otherwise enjoy a child friendly, drug and alcohol free weekend of fun and learning.

We welcome everybody who comes in peace and friendship to this event. If you are interested in organizing a workshop for the event please send your proposal to peaceandfriendshipgathering@gmail.com by July 20th.

The event is being organized by a grassroots committee of Six Nations residents and non-native supporters. It is being hosted by the Haudenosaunee Men’s Council of the Grand River.

For more information, please call Ken Hill at 519-445-2403
or email peaceandfriendshipgathering@gmail.com.

https://solidarityfestival.wordpress.com