Protest against the Canada-Australia military conference on Afghanistan at U of T
On April 10, University of Toronto students and community members will protest a high-level military conference being held on campus, sponsored by the Munk School of Global Affairs. The protest will target the increasing militarization of global studies at the University, which is being promoted alongside the ceding of academic planning control to the corporate sector.
WHAT: Protest Against the Canada-Australia Military Conference on Afghanistan at U of T
WHEN: Tuesday, April 10, 1 to 3 pm
WHERE: Hart House, 7 Hart House Circle, Toronto
The two-day conference entitled “Afghanistan: The Australian and the Canadian Experience Compared” is being co-sponsored by U of T’s Munk School and Trinity College’s Centre for the Study of Contemporary International History (CCSCIH). The protest is planned to coincide with a panel discussion featuring Major-General Jonathan Vance, Director of Staff, Strategic Joint Staff, Canadian Forces, and one of the architects of the occupation of Afghanistan.
The Munk School is becoming a testing ground for the militarization of Canadian campuses. As University administrators consent to the withdrawal of public funding, academic decision-making authority is being given over to powerful companies like Barrick Gold. While career prospects in socially-conscious research are being squeezed to the unfunded margins, the global security-industrial complex is positioning itself to recruit newly precarious young scholars.
In response, we will gather to oppose the militarization of our university and the occupation of Afghanistan, and to demand that our resources be invested in building spaces for research that favor social justice instead of imperialist war.
We oppose Canadian imperialism in its multiple forms: from outright invasion and bombing, to the training and supervision roles that are the new focus of Western occupying forces in Afghanistan; to the mining companies like Munk’s Barrick Gold who profit from militarization around the world.
A conference concerned with regional peace and security might want to talk about the insecurity and destabilization caused by Barrick Gold’s incursions into the Balochistan region around the Afghan/Pakistan border. Instead, this conference excludes the voices of the local Afghan community and different anti-war perspectives, and aims to recruit researchers into the military-industrial complex.
We say NO to the military/corporate agenda at U of T!
Please share this email message and the event on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/292498174158674/
For more information, go to http://militaryfreecampus.wordpress.com or email [email protected]
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