Note:
CAWAR is defunct as a group, but its associated listservs
continue to be active.
City antiwar activity continues as ECAWAR,
the Edmonton Coalition Against War and Racism.
Background: The U of A Coalition Against War and Racism
was formed in Dec. 2002 to propose diplomatic, humanitarian
and democratic responses to the terror attacks in the US on
Sept 11, 2001 and the subsequent bombing of Afghanistan. We
are not necessarily pacifists and are not absolutists against
all conflict (such as struggles for liberation), but we actively
oppose war and militarization (in the familiar form of revving
up the state financial engines to fund and unleash a basically
unaccountable, technologically overpowered, quasi-independent
dealer of military force.) We are opposed to war’s deleterious
effects on civil society, such as the inevitable clawback
of civil liberties, and the erosion of racial equality, accountability
of government, freedom of the press, and of course, space
to discuss alternatives. We oppose government campaigns of
aggressive "defense spending" that divert resources
from other critically needed public spending areas such as
environment, housing, and education. Finally, we argue for
strict limits on the international trade in arms.
Ultimately, we seek complete democratic control over military
forces, a democracy which would even be extended to the potential
victims.
Fundamentally, U of A CAWAR intends to be a presence that
creates public space to debate and disseminate information
and theory about democratic, humanitarian and egalitarian
alternatives to war, militarization, and racism. Rather than
accept these blights as something inevitable or rooted in
"human nature", we seek to propagate discussion
about the underlying, systemic causes of war and racism, as
they in fact have their origin in economic imperialism and
social injustice. We study the relationship of war and racism
to media and the economy and even popular entertainment, and
hold teach-ins and other events to keep the antiwar voice
heard on campus and beyond. This means we take a holistic
approach to peace and conflict studies; for instance, we are
interested in drawing links between the parallel structures
of military imperialism, and, say, kicking people out of aborted
public housing in Vancouver.
In 2002/03 we managed to organize 3 major anti-war/anti-racism
marches, and helped with the organization of 2 of Alberta's
biggest protests ever. We helped create a new citywide anti-war
coalition, ECAWAR
(the Edmonton Coalition Against War and Racism). We had
two teach-ins, and a
dramatic die-in. We also had several rounds of tabling, and
helped
distribute and produce activist literature. We recently began
a campaign
to lobby the Universities of Alberta Pension Plan (UAPP) to
divest itself of GE
stock.
In March 2004, APIRG assisted the travel of several UCAWAR
members to attend the World Social Forum in Mumbai, India
in March 2004.
Excerpt from report:
There is an estimated 100 000 people attending
the WSF, 30 000 of which
are Dalits (the "untouchables") and we think this
is something to applaud.
There is an incredible presence here of working class people
and people from
rural areas in India who are organizing on plantations and
farms. There are numerous marches, street theatre performances,
and lots of dancing and drumming going on at the WSF site.
The site itself is impressive: seminar rooms are made with
burlap, and the main stage seating area is covered with cloth.
We have had a chance to attend quite a few workshops...
access to essential medicines, bandung conference, alot of
sessions on iraq
and afghanistan, some dalit sessions, culture in kashmir,
japanese anti-war
movements.
A website has been created and updated regularly including
photos, information, links, and reports about the experience
at the WSF.
http://www.ualberta.ca/~kokamoto
Audio Tapes: Karen taped many of the workshops and presentations
at the WSF and has made available a recording of the session
titled “Women Against Wars, Wars Against Women”,
which features Nawal el Saadawi (Egypt), Arundhati Roy (India),
Saher Saba (Afghanistan), and Irene Khan (Bangladesh).
Video: The Sociology department’s video and culture
research lab lent us a digital video camera to take to India.
From the 5 hours of footage that we recorded, we made a short
video that shows some of the highlights of the WSF.
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