The IFP 2010 committee is eager to let you know of plans to hold the 28th annual Peace Festival at the International Peace Garden from Friday evening June 25 to Sunday noon June 27, 2010. We’ll be exploring the theme  Self-Reliance Together with interactive workshops, music, great food and fun. This is a wonderful family and singles friendly, intergenerational event through which USA (mostly North Dakotan) and Canadian (mostly Manitoban) citizens get to know, enjoy, inform and encourage each other.

The Peace Garden is on the border about an hour south of Brandon, Manitoba and an hour northeast of Minot, North Dakota. The Turtle Mountains with their fine lakes, trails and wildlife provide a beautiful host environment for the festival. We’ll be sending out a program and car pooling contact info and posting it online later this spring. But we want you to know early so you can make a note in your calendar and notify your friends. It’s a goood time. Heres the contact info:

Co-ordinator: Kholiswa Neufeld
Phone: 204.534.2303
Email: internationalpeacefestival@gmail.com or turtleinspiration@gmail.com
Website: http://internationalpeacefest.org
Address: Box 478, Boissevain, Manitoba, R0K 0E0 Canada

If you send us an email expressing your interest well send you the detailed Peace Fest program – hopefully by the end of May.

Sunday, March 28 @ 3:00 pm
Temple Shalom, 1077 Grant,

Sunday, April 25 @ 3:00 pm
Augustine United Church, 444 River

Everyone is welcome to attend the following interfaith prayer gatherings for peace in our homes. Each gathering will be conducted in the faith tradition of its host. The gathering at Augustine United Church will be a combination of Christian and Traditional Aboriginal prayers.

We are inviting organizations working against domestic violence to set up information tables. These gatherings are sponsored by the Interfaith Council of Women. A basket for donations to support the work of the Interfaith Council of Women will be available.

On Wednesday April 21st , at 6:30, Project Peacemakers will be hosting an all vegetarian meal at Meadowood United Church (1111 Dakota St.) The speaker for the evening is Laura Rance, editor of the Manitoba Cooperator and Agriculture Columnist for the Winnipeg Free Press. Entertainment will also be provided.

Reserve your tickets by calling the Project Peacemakers office 775-8178 or emailing info@projectpeacemakers.org. (Tickets are $10 for adults 12 and under $5)

Please come out to the International Day Against Police Brutality events in solidarity with all those who have faced violence by police and in celebration of community power!

This years theme is – Alternatives to the Police: A Celebration of Community Power

All events are free and take place on Saturday, March 13^th, 2010.

12:00pm – March/ Rally: Meet at the park next to Ndinawe (472 Selkirk Ave.) Bring drums! noisemakers! musical instruments!  We will be marching to the Magnus Eliason Recreation Center (430 Langside) for Hot beverages to warm us up and delicious food to fill our bellies. Return bus tickets will be available.

2:30pm – Free Movie! Either march with us or meet us at the Magnus Eliason Recreation Center (430 Langside)       Help yourself to popcorn as we watch “Cowboys and Indians: The J.J Harper Story.”  Free Childcare available.

These events are supported by: Winnipeg Copwatch, Elizabeth Fry, New Socialist, International Workers of the World, Femrev, The Anarchist Black Cross and The UN Platform for Action Committee Manitoba

Lecture on the history of racism and anti-Semitism in Winnipeg by Professor Helmut – Harry Loewen of the Department of Sociology, University of Winnipeg in conjunction with B’nai Brith.

Date: Thursday, March 11, 2010
Time: 7:00 PM to 10:00 PM
Location: Berney Theatre, 123 Doncaster Street, Winnipeg, MB, R3B 2N2
Contact: Stan Carbone, Phone: 204-477-7467, scarbone@jhcwc.org

Join local, national and international practitioners and students of peace, justice and development at the second annual Canadian School of Peacebuilding to be held at Canadian Mennonite University (CMU) in Winnipeg, MB, June 14 to July 2, 2010.

Three 5-day sessions, each with two or three courses running concurrently, will be offered for academic credit or for training for practitioners.

SESSION I – JUNE 14-18

Poets, Prophets and Music of Social Justice
Instructors: John Bell, with Irma Fast Dueck

Our Contested Food System: Cultivating a Just Peace
In collaboration with Canadian Foodgrains Bank
Instructors: Cathy Campbell, Martin Entz, Kenton Lobe and Ray Vander Zaag

A Cree Perspective on Non-Violence
Instructor: Ovide Mercredi

SESSION II – JUNE 21-25

Agents of Change in Intractable Conflicts: Lessons from Middle East Peacebuilding
Instructor: Marc Gopin

Peace Skills Practice
Instructor: Karen Ridd

Mennonite Approaches to Peace and Justice
In collaboration with Mennonite Central Committee Canada
Instructor: Harry Huebner

SESSION III – JUNE 28-JULY 2

International Perspectives on Restorative Justice
Instructor: Howard Zehr

Thriving in a Firestorm: Congregational Peacebuilding
In collaboration with Congregational Peacebuilding Partners
Instructor: Lois Edmund

For more information or to apply, go to www.cmu.ca/csop or e-mail csop@cmu.ca.

The first Israeli Apartheid Week in Winnipeg will have nearly a full week of panel discussions and cultural events, from Monday, March 8th to Friday, March 12th.

MONDAY, MARCH 8th
Women & Apartheid
2:00 PM – Panel Discussion
224 University Centre, University of Manitoba

TUESDAY, MARCH 9th
Israel as an Apartheid State
2:00 PM – Panel Discussion
217 University Centre, University of Manitoba

“Is There A New Antisemitism?”
7:00 PM
Carol Shields Auditorium, Millennium Library

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 10th
Is the topic of Israel, as an Apartheid State, a Legitimate Subject of Discussion on University Campuses?
12:30 PM – Presentation by Mordecai Briemburg
Concourse Lounge, University College, University of Manitoba

Evening of Entertainment and Solidarity
7:00 PM – Spoken Word/Hip-hop event
Degree’s Diner, 3rd Floor, University Centre, University of Manitoba

FRIDAY, MARCH 12th
Canadian Apartheid and Indigenous Solidarity – 2:00 PM
224 University Centre, University of Manitoba

Contact Info
For more information, visit IAW 2020-Winnipeg or contact Brian, Media Spokesperson, at iaw.winnipeg@gmail.com.

20th Anniversary of Nelson Mandela’s Release from Prison

Join us for this important anniversary. We will discuss the anti-apartheid movement and what Mr. Mandela’s release meant to us. We will drink a toast to Mr. Mandela and send him a video greeting.

Date: Friday, February 12, 2010
Time: 7 p.m. — 9 p.m.
Place: Mondragon, 91 Albert St., Winnipeg
Music: Roger Cloutier and friends

Sponsors: Peace Alliance Winnipeg, CUPE Locals 2153, 2348, and the CUPE Manitoba Global Justice and Human Rights Committees

More:

• Text of Nelson Mandela’s speech on Release from Prison, Feb. 11, 1990
• BBC News: Nelson Mandela released from prison

Event poster: Please download and distribute this poster.

War Resisters Speak Out

Date: Monday, Feb. 15, 2010
Time: 7:30 p.m.
Place: Rudolf Rocker Cultural Centre, 3rd Floor, 91 Albert Street, Winnipeg
Admission: by donation

In this one hour film, Andy Barrie, a CBC radio host and Vietnam era war resister, directs questions to a panel of this new generation of resisters and deserters and gives them a chance to tell their stories. Following the film, will be a brief presentation by celebrated deserter Joshua Key, author of The Deserter’s Tale: The Story of an Ordinary Soldier Who Walked Away from the War in Iraq. A group discussion will commence.

The screening takes place on the seventh anniversary of the massive worldwide protests against the US-led invasion of Iraq.

Date: Thursday, March 18, 2010
Time: Doors open at 7:15 p.m., show starts at 8:00 p.m.
Place: West End Cultural Centre, 586 Ellice Avenue (at Sherbrook)
Tickets: $15 regular, $10 student, available at the door. Advance tickets available West End Cultural Centre or by calling Hilaire at 391-7672 or Janine at 799-0980.
More information: Hilaire at 391-7672

The Winnipeg Afro-Aboriginal Cross-cultural Association (WAACA) is celebrating its one year anniversary with an energetically charged and unique cross-cultural concert featuring Summer Bear Dance Troupe, and the African drum and circus performance of Yamoussa and Kalabanté. The stage will come to life with Ojibway, Cree, Assiniboine and Sioux tribes represented in the Summer Bear Dance Troupe from Winnipeg, and Yamoussa Bangoura, Productions Kalabante from Montreal, a multi-talented collaboration of Guinean and Francophone musicians and acrobats.