Between tradition and change between loyalty and dissent. The film, Between Two Worlds, begins at the 2009 San Francisco Jewish Film Festival, and the fallout over the screening of a documentary about activist Rachel Corrie, which is also critical of Israel. The event released a flood of emotions, with charges of anti-Semitism and self-hatred, McCarthyism and witch-hunts. Filmed in the United States and Israel, Between Two Worlds is a personal documentary that explores the divisions that are redefining Jewish identity and politics in America and beyond. The filmmakers' own families are battlegrounds over loyalty to Israel, interpretations of the Holocaust, intermarriage and a conversion to Islam, and a secret Communist past.

The many Canadians who support our country's role as a peacemaker in the global community are likely to remain frustrated for the next four years. For the past two decades there has been an unheralded shift in emphasis towards war fighting and preparing for irregular war on an ongoing basis.

Given the ascendancy of militarism, it may now seem pointless to try to make the case for peace, the prevention of armed conflict and the protection of civilians. On the contrary, it is vital during these dark years that we keep these goals alive, and not succumb to the notion that it is a naïve and impossible dream.

Jon Elmer's talk, "Ghetto Palestine," is based on 10 years of reporting from the West Bank and Gaza. Jon has covered the ghettoization of the West Bank as growing settlements and the construction of the separation wall continually isolate and segregate Palestinian communities.

Michael Parenti is coming to Toronto as part of a three-city tour of southern Ontario in early November.

An afternoon with Brigette DePape and friends

Saturday, October 22, 3pm (Doors at 2:30pm)

The Rio Theatre (1160 E. Broadway at Commercial Dr)

Also featuring Gail Davidson of Lawyers Against War, various performers, and speakers from the co-sponsoring groups: StopWar, Peace and Global Educators (PAGE) and Check Your Head.

Media Sponsor: rabble.ca

Suggested Donation: $5 – $10 at the door (no one turned away for lack of funds)

#StopHarper

***

Background

2011 has been a real year of uprisings for social change — from the Arab Spring to the recent ‘Occupy Wall Street’ movement and the mass civil disobedience to the tar sands KeystoneXL pipeline.