An Enemy of the People

Waterloo Greens’ Richard Walsh is mounting a local production of a play about whistle blowing in a Water-Safety Crisis.

richard-walsh
Richard Walsh
2015 Green Party Candidate in Waterloo

Although this is not a Green Party event, even if our esteemed colleague Richard was not involved in this production, the issues of whistleblowing, water, public accountability and the environmental certainly fall within the bounds of green interest.

Many of us remember incidents of severe water contamination in  Grassy Narrows,  Walkerton,  Elmira, Ontario, and  Flint, Michigan.

Do you also remember how some municipal and provincial or state authorities and local businesspersons tried to cover up the dangers to residents’ health?

That’s what the next theatre production by Christ Church Waterloo is all about: environmental and moral responsibility.

On November 10th-12th at 8 pm Christ Players presents in the sanctuary Richard Walsh’s adaptation of Henrik Ibsen’s original 1882 drama, An Enemy of the People.

Richard has set the play in Canada 2016, abbreviated it, modernized the language, and incorporated audience participation. As well, after each performance audience members can participate in group discussion about the issues the play raises.

In the play the main character, “Dr. Thomas Stockmann,” who is his town’s Medical Officer of Health, discovers that the source of water for the town and its new healing baths is dangerous to use. He sets out to overcome cowardice and deception by the powers-that-be in the face of this crisis in public health. Despite his political naiveté, Thomas bravely challenges the town’s status quo for what he believes is the greater good. However, like all the characters in the play, he has personal flaws that make his attempts to resolve the dangers to his community difficult to achieve.

An Enemy of The People
November 10 – 12, 2016
8:00 pm

Christ Lutheran Church
445 Anndale Road, Waterloo

Tickets ($15 for adults, $10 for students) may be ordered in advance from the church office @ 519-885-4050.
Seating, which is general admission, is limited to 100 per performance.

(As this production contains some coarse language, it’s suitable for students from Grade 7 onwards.)All proceeds will be directed to the church’s community-outreach programmes.

"Enemy of the People" poster

Dimitri Lascaris Town Hall @UofW

uniTonight at 6:00 pm!
Monday, October 17th, 2016
University of Waterloo
PAS room 2083

200 University Avenue West,  Waterloo, ON 
(~MAP~)

img_6172Dimitri Lascaris graduated from the University of Toronto Faculty of Law in 1991, and is a practicing lawyer called to the bars of Ontario, the State of New York, and the Federal District Court for the Southern District of New York.  In 2012, Canadian Lawyer Magazine identified Mr. Lascaris as one of the 25 most influential lawyers in Canada, and in 2013, Canadian Business Magazine identified him as one of the 50 most influential people in Canadian business.

Lascaris is Vice-Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Unity Project for the Relief of Homelessness, and is also a member of the Board of Directors of the Real News Network, an independent, not-for-profit media organization based in Baltimore, Maryland. He previously served as a Board member of Toronto 350.org.  In the 2015 federal election, Dimitri ran as the Green Party candidate in the riding of London West.

In March 2016, Dimitri was named Justice Critic in the Green Party of Canada Shadow Cabinet.  He was also the author and submitter of the Green Party resolution on “Palestinian Self-Determination and the Movement for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions” that the GPC adopted as Party Policy at this year’s Policy Convention in Ottawa.  This was the first (and only) party with representation in the House of Commons to publicly support elements of the Palestinian-led call for boycott, divestment, and sanctions (BDS) as a means to pressure Israel to respect international law, and oppose efforts to “prohibit, punish or otherwise deter expressions of support for BDS.”

The Green Party quickly came under intense pressure from pro-Israeli organizations for its democratic adoption of the resolution. Green Party Leader Elizabeth May reacted by expressing her disagreement with the resolution, firing three members of her shadow cabinet who publicly supported the resolution, and calling a “special general meeting” on December 3-4 in Calgary to revisit, and potentially reverse, the resolution.

Tonight!

Join Dimitri Lascaris for a Town Hall discussion about freedom, dissent and BDS ~ with special guests Rehab Nazzal and Wendy Goldsmith.

Rehab Nazzal is a Palestinian-born multidisciplinary artist and educator whose video, photography and sound works deal with the violence of war and settler colonialism. Recently, Rehab was shot in the leg by an Israeli sniper while documenting the noxious activities of Israeli skunk trucks in occupied Bethlehem. 

Social worker and mother Wendy Goldsmith is a member of the steering committee of Canada Boat to Gaza, a representative at Freedom Flotilla Coalition and on the Media team for the Women’s Boat to Gaza. Wendy recently returned from Barcelona, Spain, Ajaccio, Corsica and Messina, Sicily where she participated in the sailing of the Zaytouna.

For more information tweet @laurelrusswurm or @bobjonkman or email bjonkman@sobac.com

Cross Cultures Town Hall Poster

Cross Cultures Town Hall with Dimitri Lascaris

Cross Cultures Interactive Town Hall with Dimitri Lascaris poster

Join Cross Cultures for a lively interactive town hall with Dimitri Lascaris who will address

* OUR FREEDOMS
* DISSENT
* B D S

Cross Cultures encourages everyone— especially those who disagree — to come and give their perspective…

… that is how we dialogue and that is how we promote mutual respect and understanding 

… not by suppressing, censoring or avoiding sensitive issues …

All attempts to invite a speaker whose views are anti BDS to provide the counter point of view have been declined.

Dimitri Lascaris
dimitrylascarisis a lawyer called to practice in Ontario and New York State. After working in the New York and Paris offices of a major Wall Street law firm, Dimitri became a class action lawyer in Canada. His class actions practice focused on shareholder rights, environmental wrongs and human rights violations.

In 2012, Canadian Lawyer Magazine named him one of the 25 most influential lawyers in Canada, and in 2013, Canadian Business Magazine named him one of the 50 most influential persons in Canadian business.

Until recently, Dimitri was the Justice Critic in the Green Party of Canada shadow cabinet. He is the author and submitter of the Green Party of Canada’s BDS resolution

“I am very happy to announce that, for our BDS town hall at the University of Waterloo on October 17, I will be joined by two extraordinary women, Rehab Nazzal and Wendy Goldsmith.

“Rehab is a Palestinian-born multidisciplinary artist and educator based in Toronto and Bethlehem. Her video, photography and sound works deal with the violence of war and settler colonialism, and have been shown in Canada and internationally. Recently, Rehab was shot in the leg by an Israeli sniper while documenting the noxious activities of Israeli skunk trucks in occupied Bethlehem. 

“Wendy is social worker and mother of three from London Ontario. As a social worker she has worked with many marginalized and traumatized individuals, families and communities and began her work in Palestine after Operation ‘Cast Lead’ and saw through photos and direct accounts of the horror and devastation inflicted by Israel on Gaza. Wendy is a member of the steering committee of Canada Boat to Gaza, a representative at Freedom Flotilla Coalition and on the Media team for the Women’s Boat to Gaza. Wendy recently returned from Barcelona, Spain, Ajaccio, Corsica and Messina, Sicily where she participated in the sailing of the Zaytouna.

“It is an honour for me
to speak about the
GPC’s BDS resolution
with Rehab and Wendy.”

— Dimitry Lascaris

This event is open to the public.

WHEN: 6:00pm
Monday, October 17th, 2016

uniWHERE:
Psychology Anthropology Sociology Building
PAS room 2083
200 University Ave West,
Waterloo, ON N2L 3G1
(~MAP~)