New subject: ROUNDTABLE SPEAKER PITCH AND EMAIL CONTACT CONFIRMATIONS

8 Apr 2018


      Hi, all!
So, this is very URGENT, as discussed at yesterday's WGSCC Committee
meeting re: SSHRC application.
I am attaching a word doc pitch, which I will send (and properly configure)
to all suggested ROUNDTABLE speakers. Note, too, that I will attach a
proper letterhead, poster and general "ABOUT US" piece as a PDF alongside
the request. *PLEASE SUGGEST CHANGES, RHONDA AND JIM M., ESPECIALLY! :-)*
What's more, below (in the body of this email), please take note of the
following email addresses, which, if need correcting, please do let me
know! To that end, note that I haven't a current address for Jerry Woods
(his old MB Human Rights Commission email is no longer receivable on his
end), but I will be able to acquire said later today for close
acquaintances. *Further, I still require a contact name re: IRON & EARTH
(ALBERTA). Can you help, Jeff T.?*
ALSO, please do indicate from the list below if you are able to do personal
phone call or email follow-up with friends/colleagues that you know well —
this after my initial email request of roundtable speakers this afternoon.
(I would recommend that you begin contacting your personal connections
either this late afternoon or tomorrow, certainly.)
FYI, the following has been agreed upon (so far) re: follow-ups:
*KRISHNA: Pam Palmater, Jerry Woods, Bilan Arte, Alia Karim*
*PAUL MOIST: Victor Elkins, Fred Hahn*
All my best for now! Hope to send all invites by noon, with follow-ups
thereafter — and surely at least till Wednesday, as agreed, re: Rhonda and
Jim M's request.
KL
204.899.8687
++++++++++
*1. POVERTY AND THE FIGHT FOR A MATERIAL EXISTENCE (THE FIGHT FOR A BETTER
LIFE)*
Deena Ladd: Workers’ Action Centre
ONTARIO
deena@workersactioncentre.org
John Clarke: Ontario Coalition Against Poverty
ONTARIO
johnclarke@riseup.net
Victor Elkins: Hospital Employees’ Union
BC
velkins@shaw.ca
Sean Smith: Toronto Airport Workers’ Council
ONTARIO
Sean@unifor2002.org
*2. BUILDING AN INCLUSIVE LABOUR MOVEMENT (SOLIDARITY ACROSS BOUNDARIES)*
Fred Hahn: CUPE Ontario
ONTARIO
fhahn@cupe.on.ca
Chris Ramsaroop: Justice for Migrant Workers
ONTARIO
ramsaroopchris@gmail.com
Pam Palmater: Indigenous Rights Advocate/Author/Academic (Ryerson
University)
ONTARIO
myraraworld@hotmail.com
ppalmater@politics.ryerson.ca
Bilan Arte: Canadian Labour Congress
ONTARIO
arte.bilan@gmail.com
Jerry Woods: Past chair, MB Human Rights Commission; Indigenous labour
rights activist
MANITOBA
email: TBA
*MAKING LABOUR A SOCIAL FORCE & POLITICAL LEADER (BUILDING A WORKING-CLASS
ALTERNATIVE)*
Suzanne MacNeil: Halifax Labour Council
NOVA SCOTIA
president@halifaxlabour.ca
Basia Sokal: Winnipeg Labour Council
MANITOBA
bjsokal@icloud.com
wlcpresident@winnipeglabour.ca
Alia Karim: FF15
ONTARIO
aliak@yorku.ca
“Name”: Iron & Earth
ALBERTA
"email"
++++++++++
*ROUNDTABLE SPEAKER REQUEST:*
Greetings, <INSERT NAME>!
I write to you on behalf of the 1919 Winnipeg General Strike Centenary
Conference Committee, which proudly hosts *THE 1919 WINNIPEG GENERAL STRIKE
CENTENARY CONFERENCE (WGSCC): BUILDING A BETTER WORLD from May 9-11, 2019
in Winnipeg, Manitoba.*
As you know, the Winnipeg General Strike of 1919 was a landmark moment in
North American working-class history. In May and June that year, over
30,000 workers ceased work for six weeks. Provoked by the inequities of
industrial capitalism, the authoritarianism of their workplaces, the brutal
experiences of the First World War, rising prices and stagnating wages, an
insecure economic outlook, intransigent employers, and a federal state that
responded to their demands with growing repression, the city’s workers
stood together in an astounding display of unity. This was also an era
filled with hope; the horrors of industrialization and militarism
encouraged many to think of ways of constructing a better world. The
combination of anger and hope was infectious. In 1919, Winnipeg workers
displayed an inspiring unity, facing hunger, threats of permanent dismissal
and blacklisting, and violence at the hands of authorities, most notably in
the vicious assault they unleashed on “Bloody Saturday,” killing two
workers and injuring many more.
A century later, the WGSCC Committee seeks to commemorate, honour and
better understand these events by way of this historical conference
gathering of approximately 200 activists, organizers, scholars, trade
unionists and social justice and labour rights advocates from across Canada
and beyond.
Over the course of three themed days (May 9-11, 2019), WGSCC delegates will
participate in concurrent sessions led by several invited conference paper
presenters — *with each day concluding with a PLENARY/ROUNDTABLE DISCUSSION
led by three-to-five solicited speakers, whose experiences, expertise and
prolific work in the area of labour rights and related social justice
movements and scholarship remains significant.*
*To that end, the WCSCC Committee invites you to participate as a WGSCC
ROUNDTABLE SPEAKER in one of three plenary sessions planned within our
conference’s program schedule, which is arranged under the following
themes:*
1. Poverty and the Fight for a Material Existence: The Fight for a Better
Life — May 9, 2019
2. Building an Inclusive Labour Movement: Solidarity Across Boundaries
— May 10, 2019
3. Labour as a Social Force & Political Leader: A Working-Class Alternative
— May 11, 2019
*Specifically, we invite you to participate as a WGSCC ROUNDTABLE SPEAKER
on:*
<INSERT THEME>
While the WGSCC Committee recognizes that our event takes place more than a
year from this initial writing,* your quick and positive response to this
invitation will certainly help in our overall logistical conference
planning and the arrangement of your needs as a WGSCC ROUNDTABLE SPEAKER.*
*What’s more, please note that our fundraising efforts and other supports
and partnerships will more-than-likely allow for your full travel and
accommodation expenses, although we do ask that you request funding from
your representative organizations where applicable and possible. *
Together with the assistance from organizations and public institutions
like the Canadian Committee on Labour History (CCLH); the Canadian
Association for Work and Labour Studies (CAWLS); Faculties of Arts at
Brandon University, the University of Manitoba and the University of
Winnipeg; the Manitoba Federation of Labour (MFL); and the Winnipeg Labour
Council (WLC) we hope to receive you as a WGSCC ROUNDTABLE SPEAKER in
respect of this unique and critical event in the history of Canadian labour
rights activism and human rights and anti-poverty advocacy.
Note, too, that the WGSCC Committee is actively securing the participation
of one or more renowned and prominent keynote speakers, which, together
with a host of other conference activities, promises to make our 1919
commemorative efforts a fantastic draw for the whole of Winnipeg and
Canada, altogether!
Again, the WGSCC Committee looks forward to your positive and quick
response to this request and is available to answer any questions you may
have! To this end, please connect with:
Jim Naylor
WGSCC Committee Chair
204.727.9644 (office)
204.720.2117 (cell)
Naylor@BrandonU.ca
Please do survey our current WGSCC website for further information:
1919-2019.com
Follow us on Facebook, too:
facebook.com/1919WinnipegGeneralStrikeConference/
In Solidarity!
Krishna Lalbiharie
WGSCC Committee Member
204.899.8687
krishna.lalbiharie@gmail.com
*WGSCC ROUNDTABLE THEMES*
*1. Poverty and the Fight for a Material Existence: The Fight for a Better
Life — May 9, 2019*
Just as workers in 1919 sought to lift themselves and their communities out
of poverty and win a fairer share of the fruits of economic growth,
21st-century workers are facing worsening material conditions: stagnating
wages and increasing precarious employment, along with cuts to social
services that increase demands upon working-class families. The “Fight for
15,” struggles for family supports such as child care, and the rise of
antipoverty movements are at the forefront of today’s organizing,
reflecting the ways in which neoliberalism has forced the fight for a
living wage and a working-class economic security onto centre stage.
*2. Building an Inclusive Labour Movement: Solidarity Across Boundaries
— May 10, 2019*
A century ago, Winnipeg was a divided city – not only along the lines of
class, but workers were, themselves, divided along lines of race and
ethnicity. A capitalist labour market pitted “British Canadian” and
“immigrant” workers against each other; the First World War heightened
fears of the “foreigners,” and the economic insecurity that faced returning
soldiers at the end of the war led, on occasion, to confrontations on the
streets of Winnipeg. Amazingly, attempts by employers to use bigotry to
divide the city’s strikers failed. Today, governments and businesses use
international borders, an exclusionary “citizenship” which often denies
workers from abroad a range of social and labour rights, and post 9/11
xenophobia, to ensure their control over labour. The lessons of overcoming
these divisions and fighting for common, expanded rights, are as central
today as they were then, and include a growing understanding of the rights
of Indigenous people as First Peoples and as workers.
*3. Labour as a Social Force & Political Leader: A Working-Class
Alternative — May 11, 2019*
The Winnipeg General Strike was part of a continent-wide, even an
international, labour revolt that saw unions, mass strikes and
working-class parties act in their own name. In Winnipeg, despite the
defeat of the strike, socialist and labour parties continued the fight by
other means. This was an era in which labour was the voice of the
dispossessed; if there was a solution to the problems that capitalism
brought, it was represented by labour. In the 21st century, a wide range of
social movements address issues that were often unimagined a century ago.
Building an effective response to a wide range of assaults on the
environment, and in defence of Indigenous rights, gender rights, on the
rights of the disabled, and so much more, requires education, organizing,
and mobilization. To what extent are these class issues that labour needs
to centrally address? Can labour lead in building a better world in which
all forms of oppression and exploitation are fought?