Media Reclamation Project

Note the Feb15 entry!

Also, if you would like to get on the OCP email list to receive movie reminders and special notices, contact dgr@uottawa.ca

And if you already receive these OCP send-outs, sorry for the duplication…

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All/any responses to Denis G. Rancourt at dgr@uottawa.ca please!

Ottawa Cinema Politica (OCP) doc films and discussion…………..

OCP – OCP – OCP – OCP – OCP – OCP – OCP – OCP – OCP – OCP – OCP – OCP
OCP – OCP – OCP – OCP – OCP – OCP – OCP – OCP – OCP – OCP – OCP – OCP
OCP – OCP – OCP – OCP – OCP – OCP – OCP – OCP – OCP – OCP – OCP – OCP

http://www.cinemapolitica.org/ottawa

OCP, every Friday that there are classes!
Doors open at 7pm / Film starts at 7:30pm
MacDonald Hall Auditorium (MCD 146),
150 Louis Pasteur Street
University of Ottawa main campus.
Admission: FREE
Join the weekly announcement email list: dgr@uottawa.ca

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(((1)))
OCP WINTER 2008 SCHEDULE [amazing selection – Google it…!]

See: www.cinemapolitica.org (click “Ottawa”)

Wednesday January 9: Undermined: Communities, Consultation and
Corporate Accountability in Guyana
(Canada / 2007 / 35 minutes / English)
NOT AT MACDONALD HALL AUDITORIUM; NOT AT 7:30PM
(SEE SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT BELOW)

January 11: Garuda’s Deadly Upgrade
(UK / 2005 / 42 minutes / English)

http://www.journeyman.tv/?lid=18551

January 18: Poletown Lives!
(USA / 1983 / 52 minutes / English)

http://www.informationfactory.info/

January 25: Behind the Mask
(USA / 2006 / 72 minutes / English)

http://www.uncagedfilms.com/behindthemask.php

http://www.arme.tv/

[Discussion hosted by Animal Rights-OPIRG-Ottawa]

February 1: The Iron Wall
(Palestine / 2006 / 52 minutes / English and Arabic w/EST)

http://www.theironwall.ps/

[Discussion hosted by NION-Ottawa; Not In Our Name]

February 5: GSEAD conference speaker: Norman Finkelstein

http://gsaed.ca/conference2008/guest_en.htm

February 7: GSAED conference speaker: Ignatio Chapela

http://gsaed.ca/conference2008/guest_en.htm

February 8: NION speaker(s) or film (Bil’in My Love)
(http://www.claudiusfilms.com/bilin.html)

February 15: Un Poquito de Tanta Verdad (= A Little Bit of So Much Truth)
(Mexico / 2006 / 93 minutes / Spanish w/EST)

http://www.corrugate.org/un_poquito_de_tanta_verdad/un_poquito_de_tanta_verdad

[Discussion hosted by Media Matters-OPIRG-Ottawa]

February 22: Endgame – Blueprint for Global Enslavement
(USA / 2007 / 140 minutes / English)

http://infowars-shop.stores.yahoo.net/endgamedvd.html

February 29: Salud – What puts Cuba on the map in the quest for global
health…
(USA / 2006 / 93 minutes / English and Spanish w/EST)

http://www.saludthefilm.net/

March 7: Bhopal – The Search for Justice
(Canada / 2004 / 52 minutes / English)

http://www.nfb.ca/collection/films/fiche/?id=52129

March 14: The Panama Deception
(USA / 1992 / 91 minutes / English)

http://www.empowermentproject.org/pages/panama.html

March 21: The World Stopped Watching
(Canada / 2003 / 81 minutes / English)

http://www.nfb.ca/collection/films/fiche/?id=51436

March 28: TBA

April 4: TBA

April 11: TBA
(Last film of fall OCP series. Series starts again in September 2008.)

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(((2)))
JOIN US FOR DINNER !

new social event for campus activists and OCP goers…

I propose that there be an open and free invitation to all to join for
dinner at the Govinda’s vegetarian buffet restaurant (near campus on the
South side of Sommerset Street East just East of the intersection with
King Edward) before each and every OCP Friday event at 6pm. Dinner
goers can then just walk over to the OCP event at 7pm.

This will give a social occasion to compare notes and make ties and plan
revolution or just be uncomfortable with new people in a strange place….

There were eight of us at this dinner on November 23rd. All are welcome
always!

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(((3)))
January 9th, 2008, 7-9 pm @ National Archives in Ottawa
Invitation to attend a film screening and public discussion

Film Screening and Public Debate:

“Undermined: Communities, Consultation and Corporate Accountability in
Guyana”
…a film by Emily Wilson and Brent Parker

Ottawa Premiere:
National Library & Archives Amphitheatre
Wednesday, January 9th, 2008; 7-9 pm

This 35-minute documentary profiles the perspectives of eight
Amerindians from Guyana, South America, about issues surrounding
mining—in particular, community consultation and the activities of
companies operating in the country’s interior, where many land claims
remain unresolved.

The evening will feature the screening of the film, followed by a panel
discussion by invited speakers and a public debate on topics related to
the film. There is no cost for the event, but donations will be welcomed.

Invited speakers include:
*Paul Dewar, Foreign Affairs Critic, New Democratic Party (NDP)
*Tony James, Chief of Chiefs, Region 9, Guyana (TBC)
*Karyn Keenan, Member, Canadian Network on Corporate Accountability
*Stephani Roy McCallum, President, International Association of Public
Participation
*Viviane Weitzner, Senior Researcher, The North-South Institute
*Emily Wilson & Brent Parker, Independent Filmmakers, Undermined

Co-sponsored by, and in partnership with:
Canadian Network on Corporate Accountability * Dialogue Partners *
Indigenous Cooperative on the Environment * Steelworkers Humanity Fund *
The North-South Institute * World Inter-Action Mondiale * Zoom Airlines*

For more information, please check the website at www.undermined.ca.

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(((4)))
A CALL TO SPEAK OUT – PLEASE CONSIDER THESE SIMPLE ACTIONS…
(In case you missed it! OCP report…)

Dear Ottawa Cinema Politica goers:

Thank you for your interest in and support of Ottawa Cinema Politica
(OCP).

The series starts its sixth season on January 11th, in MacDonald Hall
auditorium, with an outstanding schedule that I will be sending you
shortly.

At this time, I want to inform you about three elements of campus
politics underlying OCP and related unfortunate recent developments at
the University of Ottawa. Please take the time to become aware of these
issues and consider the “What you can do” suggestions below.

(1) OTTAWA POLICE ARREST COMMUNITY MEMBERS ON CAMPUS

The most dramatic development is that the Executive of the university
(as recently confirmed by the President) has issued trespass notices to
three community members for participating in public Science Faculty
Council meetings. These notices were recently followed by arrests using
Ottawa Police, including at community-participation events that were
unrelated to the Science Faculty Council meetings.

In my opinion, it is unacceptable for university executives to manage
the university in this way, as though it were private property rather
than a public resource integrated into a community, and to suppress
political expression and participation, contrary to its own Vision 2010
mission statement.

Please read about these arrests on our campus and the underlying
political struggle to make the university more democratic:

http://www.rabble.ca/in_his_own_words.shtml?x=65482

http://uofowatch.blogspot.com/2007/12/u-of-o-limits-access-and-arrests.html

(and links therein)

What you can do:
Write an email (in French or English) to President Gilles Patry
(patry@uottawa.ca), with me in cc (dgr@uottawa.ca), expressing your
concern/position/requests regarding this situation. Consider putting
the student newspapers in cc also: actualites@larotonde.ca,
news@thefulcrum.ca.

(2) UNIVERSITY OF OTTAWA OPPOSES CINEMA POLITICA AND BLOCKS DEAF
COMMUNITY ACCESS

Another development directly impacts Ottawa Cinema Politica (OCP). This
last fall 2007 season the university administration has decided to adopt
the new position that OCP is not part of my workload as a university
professor, despite the fact that it has always been in my yearly
reports, has always occurred in auditoriums provided by the university,
and despite several official past records that it was part of my workload.

This implies that an auditorium is now far more difficult to obtain and
that the university can try to escape its Human Rights Code of Ontario
responsibility to provide access to the deaf community for the OCP
events (see below).

The university’s argument is tenuous because: (1) there is a continuous
record of OCP being part of my workload, (2) university professors are
expected to provide community service as part of their professional
responsibilities, and (3) the university has always provided the
auditorium and projection equipment from its own budget.

In addition, as part of a professor’s academic freedom, the university
cannot dictate which community service is acceptable or not. In the
case of OCP, the service is eminently in line with the university’s
Vision 2010 mission statement:

http://web5.uottawa.ca/vision2010/pdf/strategic_plan.pdf

Using this tenuous argument that OCP is not part of my duties, the
president has confirmed the administration’s refusal to provide sign
language access to deaf community members wishing to participate in OCP
events. A community support group has formed to reverse this decision
and a human rights complaint has been filed.

The university’s small-mindedness should be put in the context of both
human rights in open societies and the university’s 67 million dollar
surplus in its last fiscal year.

What you can do:
Write an email (in French or English) to President Gilles Patry
(patry@uottawa.ca), with me in cc (dgr@uottawa.ca), expressing your
concern/position/requests regarding this situation. Also put deaf
community organizer Genevieve Deguire in cc: gendeguire1709@yahoo.ca.
Consider putting the student newspapers in cc also:
actualites@larotonde.ca, news@thefulcrum.ca.

(3) WHY DOES THE UNIVERSITY DO ALL OF THIS?

It’s hard to tell when viewed from the outside. It appears to be a
classic case of a hierarchical institution suppressing criticism, free
expression, and democratic participation. Institutions do this either
instinctively or when they feel threatened. Elements of background are
given here:

http://www.petitionspot.com/petitions/fecdgruo

http://freedomofexpress.tripod.com/

http://uofowatch.blogspot.com/

http://activistteacher.blogspot.com/

The university executive claims that its many actions are intended to
“protect the students”; however, none of the students have asked to be
protected in this way.

An example of a bogus claim by the University of acting to protect the
students is at:

http://uofowatch.blogspot.com/2007/11/students-need-to-be-protected-from.html.

In my opinion, the University feels threatened by my criticisms of its
governance and by my exposing its internal functioning, including
malfeasance by executives:

http://uofowatch.blogspot.com/

It appears the university is acting to protect its executive rather than
students.

My position is a simple one. The university should be democratic rather
than being run top-down and it should be totally transparent rather than
forcing the public to use legal freedom-of-information mechanisms that
the University resists at every step.

What you can do:
Consider signing the petition at:

http://www.petitionspot.com/petitions/fecdgruo

(Use your full name and position, such as “student”, etc., and make a
comment.)

In solidarity,
Denis Rancourt (dgr)

http://www.science.uottawa.ca/~dgr/