Book Launch & Panel: “Decolonizing Anarchism”

An Anti-colonial Victoria Day!
Monday, May 21, 4pm-6pm
Café l’Artère, 7000 Parc ave. (métro Parc)
Free! Welcome to all!
The venue is wheelchair accessible, but the bathrooms are not.
Childcare available on request (phone 514-848-7585 to reserve)
Présentation en anglais avec traduction chuchotée en français.
Book launch: “Decolonizing Anarchism: An antiauthoritarian history of India’s liberation struggle”
Panel discussion “Anarchism and anti-colonial struggles from South Asia to Turtle Island”
Participants:
– Clifton Nicholas – Mohawk anarchist activist from Kanehsatake
– Ponni Arasau – Queer feminist organizer from New Dehli, India
– Maia Ramnath – Author of “Decolonizing Anarchism”
Moderated by Indu Vashist
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About “Decolonizing Anarchism”:
Decolonizing Anarchism examines the history of South Asian struggles against colonialism and neocolonialism, highlighting lesser-known dissidents as well as iconic figures. What emerges is an alternate narrative of decolonization, in which liberation is not defined by the achievement of a nation-state. Author Maia Ramnath suggests that the anarchist vision of an alternate society closely echoes the concept of total decolonization on the political, economic, social, cultural, and psychological planes. Decolonizing Anarchism facilitates more than a reinterpretation of the history of anticolonialism; it also supplies insight into the meaning of anarchism itself.
About the panelists:
Clifton Nicholas – Clifton Arihwakehte Nicholas is a Kanienkehaka (Mohawk) from Kanehsatake. Clifton is active in his community as both an activist and as a defender of his people. Clifton was one of the people who defended the community of Kanehsatake in 1990, he has been a staunch advocate of Indigenous resistance throughout Canada and the Americas.
Ponni Arasau – Ponni Arasu is a queer feminist activist from Chennai, India. She has worked with the Alternative Law Forum in Bangalore, India, as well as with the Law and Society Trust in Colombo, Sri Lanka. Her work involves a range of human rights issues including gender, sexuality, labour and conflict. Since 2003, Ponni has worked with Voices Against 377, a coalition of women’s groups, child rights groups, human rights groups and sexuality groups formed to initiate discussions on sexuality and the law. Voices Against 377 filed an affidavit to strike down Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code, the section that criminalizes gay sex.
Maia Ramnath – Maia Ramnath is a teacher, writer, activist, and dancer/aerialist living in New York City. She is the author of The Haj to Utopia: How the Ghadar Movement Charted Global Radicalism and Attempted to Overthrow the British Empire—in many ways a companion volume to this one. She is currently a member of the Institute for Anarchist Studies board, and is active with South Asia Solidarity Initiative, Adalah-NY, and the (OWS-affiliated) Global Justice Working Group.”
Indu Vashist – Indu Vashist is a queer feminist, community activist, and an independent scholar. She currently works as a freelance journalist in both India and North America. Her work has featured in 2B Magazine, New Indian Express, and Kafila. She is on the editorial collective of SAMAR magazine (South Asian Magazine for Action and Reflection) and hosts a weekly radio show on CKUT 90.3 FM called Desi Dhamaka.
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Presented by QPIRG Concordia (www.qpirgconcordia.org) & No One Is Illegal-Montreal (nooneisillegal.org)
Part of the Montreal Festival of Anarchy (www.anarchistbookfair.ca)
Endorsed by CKUT 90.3fm and the Institute for Anarchist Studies (IAS)
INFO: 514-848-7585 – info@qpirgconcordia.org