A Celebration of Non-Violent Action commemorates global struggles
The Cultural Studies program at UBC’s Okanagan campus presents Social Justice Week: A Celebration of Nonviolent Action from Oct. 3 to 7. The commemoration marks Oct. 2, the International Day of Non-Violence, and the anniversary of the birth of Mohandas Gandhi.
David Jefferess, associate professor of cultural studies and English, and Naoko Hoshi, a cultural studies student, are organizing the week’s activities, which include a film series and workshops, winding up with a potluck dinner. The public is invited to attend the free activities.
Jefferess says there are many current examples of nonviolent actions that have been successful as agents of social change around the globe.
“Over the past year, we have seen activists bring down a government in Egypt, an anti-corruption activist challenge the Indian state through a hunger strike, and thousands arrested in Washington D.C. non-violently protesting the pipeline from Alberta,” says Jefferess. “Nonviolent direct action provides and important tool of social change.”
Social justice activity schedule
Here is the full slate of activities planned for UBC’s Okanagan campus:
Film Series
- Monday, Oct. 3 – Excerpts from A Force More Powerful – UNC Theatre; Three short documentaries that examine the use of nonviolent civil disobedience in India, during the campaign for Indian swaraj, in the United States during the Civil Rights Movement, and in South Africa, during the Anti-Apartheid struggle.
- Tuesday, OCT. 4 – Amandla! A Revolution in Four Part Harmony – UNC Theatre; A documentary examining the role of music and song in South African’s anti-Apartheid struggle.
- Wednesday, Oct. 5 – Pray the Devil back to Hell – UNC Theatre; A chronicle of the activism of Liberian woman who struggled for an end to civil war.
- Thursday, Oct. 6 – The Witness – UNC Theatre; The story of a Brooklyn contractor who became an animal rights activist.
Friday Oct. 7 – All Day, Nonviolent Activism Workshops FINA Gallery, Fine Arts Building
- 9:15 a.m. – 10:15 a.m. – Nonviolent Direct Action: Ethics, Politics, Practice; facilitator: David Jefferess, associate professor, Cultural Studies and English
- 10:30 a.m. – 11:30 a.m. – Animal Liberation: Vegetarianism, Veganism, and Strategic Non-Violence; facilitator: Lindsay Diehl, IGS MA student.
- 11:45 a.m. – 12:45 p.m. – Diverse Strains: A Workshop on Non-Violent Feminist Activism; facilitator: Ashley Gardner, Sociology and Gender and Women’s Studies student
- 1:00 p.m. – 2:15 p.m. Anti-Racist Feminism: Unsettling Anti-Violence Activism; facilitator: Allison Hargreaves, assistant professor, English
- 2:30 p.m. – 4 p.m. – Applied Theatre: Rainbow of Desire; facilitator: Rhian Jack, interdisciplinary performance student
Social Justice Pot Luck and Social
Friday Oct. 7 – 4:30 -7 p.m.
Arts Atrium, Arts Building
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