Hero Squad

Attention! Smell your Dildoes! Kim and Amy Sedgwick are campaigning against bisphenol A's insertion in sex toys in Canada. If you won't drink out of the ol' Nalgene bottle because of the toxins and health risks associated with Bisphenol A, do you really want to stick one up your beautiful, soft and absorptive cunt for a nice long vaginal massage? OPI and other nail polish companies have removed phthalates from their darling polishes because we hollered! If our bone nails are enough to absorb nasty chemicals, we MUST avoid getting boned by sex toy manufacturers that continue penetrating their products with toxins - because, simply enough, they can get away with it - because sex toys are a "novelty item." There are alternatives to cheap plastic toys and it's worth spending a little extra coin to have safe sex! In Calgary, you can find them at the lovely boutique, "A Little More Interesting" off the busy intersection of 17th Avenue & 14th Street SW.

Bank of Glass Ceiling er America

Attorney at Law reports:

Bank of America, which acquired the former Merrill Lynch and Co. last year, discriminated against female brokers by offering them lower retention benefits than their male colleagues and steering wealthier investors to brokers who were men, according to a newly filed lawsuit.

The suit was filed today on behalf of Jaime Goodman, a Merrill broker since 1992 who joined Bank of America when the bank acquired Merrill on January 1, 2009. Goodman claims her new bosses demonstrated gender bias against her and other female employees.

She is seeking class-action status for her suit, which if granted would allow other women who claim they were similarly harmed by Bank of America’s allegedly discriminatory practices to join in the litigation.

Info Source: Calgary Herald

"Bush is a Worm!" Calgary Protest Photos

Yesterday's protest against Bush speaking in Calgary as brought to us by our very own Calgary Chamber of Commerce was a creative success. To raise our voices in collective activism is empowering and initates necessary dialogue. The papers were reporting 200-300 people in attendance but I would estimate much closer to 500 or more. Suited attendees were heckled and shivered in the cold while lined up along the block listening to our sneering and chanting. The media's reporting of the protest as violent (here and here) is not representative of my experience. There were drums and noisemakers, performance artists, children, peaceful shouting and a lot of typical Calgarian politeness. I was pleased to take my lunch hour attending and proud to raise my voice with Calgary's community against Bush's visit. See more photos from the media here and here.

Honk to End Violence

This morning approximately 120 Calgary Girl Guides lined Memorial Drive to mark Canada's National Day of Action and Remembrance on Violence Against Women. It was wonderfully inspiring to see children holding a "Honk to End Vioence" banner and whooping with excitement when vehicles responded with their horns. It is so important to have young girls learn about protesting and experience the power of raising our voices against somethig we feel strongly about. It is necessary to build confidence in our thoughts and convictions through dialogue and positive reaction. Kudos to the organizers of this event and to the little sparks, brownies and guides who gave a positive message to the community this morning.

Link Against Violence - Event Notice!

Saturday, December 6 marks Canada's National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence Against Women. Girl Guide groups across Canada are forming a link to show strength and solidarity. In Calgary, come out and join the human link of Girl Guides on Memorial Drive.
See Press Release

When:
Saturday, December 6
Time: 9:00 AM
Where:
2188 Brownsea Drive NW (Girl Guide Club House; the link will be over the Pedestrian Bridge!)

Dream for Women

Antigone Magazine's Dreams for Women postcard art project is launching it's 2009 Dreams for Women calendar featuring postcards submitted by men and women around the world! The calendar seeks to help raise money for The Antigone Foundation and for other women's organizations around the world. As part of this launch, we have created a video in which men and women share their dreams for women equality.

The Project:

Featured in Ms. Magazine, in the International Women’s Museum, and on Feministing.com, the postcard art project has attracted worldwide attention and interest, garnering media attention and submissions from as far away as Japan, Germany, Brazil, France, Portugal, Romania and Los Angeles. The Dreams for Women art project asks women and men of all ages to depict their hopes and dreams for women (examples include “I dream of a world with more female leaders” and “I dream of a world where no woman is seen and not heard”) by painting, drawing, writing, sketching or decoupaging them onto a postcard.

Inspired by the popular mail-art project PostSecret.com, a postcard art project that encourages people to send in their secrets, Dreams for Women strives to be a feminist PostSecret. Instead of asking what your secrets are, the project wants to know what your dreams for women are. The Antigone Foundation began receiving submissions in January 2008 and has received hundreds of submissions so far. Their YouTube videos, which showcase the project, have also received thousands of hits.

The project, which is coordinated by a small group of dedicated young women ranging in ages from 20-24, is committed to envisioning progress for women around the world. According to founder Amanda Reaume, dreaming is essential to change: “the postcards we have received and continue to receive keep expanding our vision of the future, and keep adding more voices to the conversation of what that future will look like for women.”

The project was started out of a desire to encourage women and men to envision a better future for women and to help fund work towards that future. Dreams for Women has thus launched a fundraising calendar. The calendar, featuring 12 postcard submissions from around the world, will be sold for $20 and is available via Antigone Magazine’s blog www.antigonemagazine.wordpress.com.
Indeed, the project hopes to raise money to officially launch the Antigone Foundation, a non-profit, non-partisan organization that will encourage young women to get involved in leadership, politics and activism. The organization will continue the work started by Antigone Magazine, a publication about women, politics, leadership and activism that started at UBC and has since expanded to a national subscription base, as well as, to the University of Toronto.

But the organization also hopes to help raise money for other women's organizations around the world. They will be selling the calendars in bulk at a discounted price so that other women's groups can use it for fundraising. Groups who buy any amount over 10 copies for fundraising purposes will pay only $10 per calendar. They will then be able to resell the calendar for $20 and raise money for their organizations. For more information please e-mail antigonemagazine@hotmail.com or check out their website here:

http://antigonemagazine.wordpress.com/2008/09/27/its-here-the-dreams-for-women-2009-calendar-is-here/

Goodbye Marion Dewar

Dewar: A true city activist

"Today we have lost one of our heroes," said former federal NDP leader Ed Broadbent. "Marion Dewar was a champion of what was just and right."

Often reformers become negative and embittered in their fight for social justice, Mr. Broadbent said, but that was not the case for Marion Dewar.

"She was a happy warrior. She had an ongoing desire to do good, to do the public good," said Mr. Broadbent. "She was a joyful soul."

"This is a very sad day for our city. She was one of the strongest mayors this city has had," said Councillor Diane Deans.

"I'm really in shock. This is a real loss," said Councillor Peggy Feltmate. "Our community has really lost a great asset, a woman who was a conscience for the community."

Battle Cry - URGENT ACTION NEEDED

Baby Steps to attempt the Re-Criminilization of Abortion in Canada Taking Place on February 29, 2008From the BreadnRoses Forum:

Now, hard on the heels of that [the 20th Anniversary of the Morgentaler decision], we've got to roll up our sleeves again. But this time is no celebration. This is dead serious.

Birth Pangs covered the 'Unborn Victims of Violence' bill here and here.

This is a private member's bill that has already had some debate and is scheduled for more on February 29, Sadie Hawkins Day, the day women are allowed to ask men to marry them, dance with them, and/or respect their human rights. A vote on it is expected on March 5.

While pretending to 'protect' pregnant women, what this bill really is is a backdoor attempt to create 'personhood' rights for fetuses -- a necessary first step in re-criminalizing abortion.

Private member's bill, you say? Pish. They never go anywhere.

Think again. The Bloc and the NDP intend to whip their members to vote against it. The Cons, well, they're hopeless. But the Libs do NOT intend to whip their members. And we know how very squishy some Libs are when it comes to women's rights.

In other words, fans of freedom, this stinking piece of fetus-fetishist crap may well pass.

PLEASE SEND A MESSAGE TO DION.

Greasy Grapes of Wrath

Sadly I was unable to attend this rally yesterday at City Hall, Rally for Homeless Women: Were You Safe Last Night?, but am encouraged to know that there is a mobilization of women's voices raised at City Hall. Calgary is a not a great place to live. Calgary is expensive, cruel, and saturated with white men making a lot of money. I recently looked up the sale price of a house I am familiar with on the outskirts of the city; a small, 1,300 sf bungalow without any landscaping: the price tag is sitting at $483K. As a renter, myself, always with a concern of lease termination in the back of my mind, I a) don't get paid enough to own property in Calgary and b) am not foolish enough to buy a place that is worth maybe half the asking value. With the apocalypse pouring down on places like Cleavland's low-income/sub prime mortgage target communities, I am willing to sit tight with a lease worry rather than a mortgage terror.

Women who live on the streets, however, can't even find an affordable lease to fret over. Greed greed greed for the rich and we see our poor getting poorer and landlords raising rents and making excuses for it. Affordable housing is torn down for condos and replacement residents are not constructed. The homeless shelters fill up quickly and are a risky place for a woman without a home:

The rally was organized by Christine Walsh, a professor of social work who interviewed homeless women across the city. She found the women did not feel safe in co-ed shelters where they had a higher chance of being harassed or assaulted.
. . .
"Women are at risk for violence when they occupy the streets, particularly if they're in the streets in the daylight, and particularly in the evening hours, and for homeless women, that's their life," Walsh said.

Homeless women must unite and rage against the city and its policies and corporation-favouring budgets.

Last night my partner and I attended a forum on the legality of free speech. It seems that everyone wants to be able to say whatever hateful things they want against groups of minorities, especially, and be protected by free speech laws. One of the panelists, though, pointed out a crucial problem: Middle and Upper Class people want to be able to say what we want when we want about who we want. But we don't want lower class, namely, homeless street people, to be able to hold out a hand and say, "please help." Bylaws and city regulations are putting tape over the mouths of the poor, demanding they not speak. These people have nothing left, not even the basic human right to ask for help. It's sickening, degrading, and wrong.

What can we do? We can use our right to free speech for the purpose it was intended: to enact social change and raise human consciousness about injustices. We can also slow down our busy lives to soften up, take some time, spend a moment on the sidewalk to pay attention; listen to individual stories and experiences and advocate. As always, in the words of Isabel Allende, "How can we not speak about war, poverty, and inequality when people who suffer from these afflictions don't have a voice to speak?"

Tales of Passion

"How can one not speak about war, poverty, and inequality when people who suffer from these afflictions don't have a voice to speak?" -Isabel Allende
Allende's words have been my inspiration for years. I signature my emails with this quote, I've got it in my office where I can see these words everyday. I am thrilled to hear, via Objectify This, that Ms. Allende is speaking out and we can listen in.

On the Front Lines

Calgary's Radical Cheerleaders made another appearance last weekend at the YEAHNow! Youth Forum on HIV/AIDS!

You can also watch their debut at the Take Back the Night March in September!

On Antichoice "Puck Bunnies" and Tax Dollars

A few weeks ago the Ottawa Senators' wives and girlfriends (The Better Halves hosted a massive Christmas Tree Raffle. Problem is, investigates Heather Mallick, "The Better Halves are giving a third of the proceeds of this year's $50,000 Christmas Tree raffle to First Place Pregnancy Centre, an Ottawa anti-abortion group run by Pentecostal Christians."

Read this Rabble Article by Heather Mallick to find out more about these anti-choicers.

One in Three.

A woman is dead after her boyfriend shot her in the head at her workplace at a Houston Mall.

An apprpriate time, I think, to mention that yesterday the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM) has launched an internet campaign aimed at pressuring governments around the world to make violence against women a top priority.

EVENT: Art Show & Sale in Support of Pie Activists

When: Friday November 16 from 10:00am - 9:00 pm

Where: Calgary Opera Centre; 1315 7 st S.W.

Who: Calgary Anarchist Black Cross & Community Artists

$3.00 Cover Charge, all proceeds going to the cause.

What is the cause?

Lily Phan is being charged with public mischief for the attempted "pie-ing" of priemier Ed Stelmach in July 2007 where she smeared cream instead on a body guard.

Donna McPhee has been charged with "Assault with a weapon" for successfully chocolate cream pie-ing Calgary Mayor Dave Bonconier in the same month.

These women's actions were in protest of Alberta's inaction on homelessness and poverty. The proceeds of the cover charge and selected portions of the art sales are contributing to these women's legal fees.