Scholar Strike Canada : Live Stream Teach-Ins

Originally sent Tuesday, September 9, 2020

Dear KPU Faculty;

Hope your fall 2020 (e-)semester is off to a good start thus far!

As your KFA and FPSE Human Rights and International Solidarity Rep, I wanted to bring your attention to the two-day online Scholar Strike Canada ‘Teach-In’ events that are being live broadcast and video archived, starting tomorrow. The Scholar Strike Canada has already been identified (and supported) by KPU President Davis in an email earlier today. For more information please visit this link:  https://scholarstrikecanada.ca/about/

These Teach-Ins are starting tomorrow and the following day (Weds Sept 9th & Thurs Sept 10th) and may be of interest to KPU faculty colleagues and students. Indeed, some of these events may be helpful instructional or assignment materials/resources.

About
Scholar Strike originated in the U.S from a tweet by Dr. Anthea Butler who, inspired by the striking WNBA and NBA players, put out a call for a similar labour action from academics.   The Canadian action is aligned with the one in the U.S., in its call for racial justice, an end to anti-Black police violence and it adds a specific focus on anti-Indigenous, colonial violence. Organized by Beverly Bain and Min Sook Lee.  Scholar Strike is a labour action/teach-in/social justice advocacy happening on September 9-10, 2020. September 9 & 10 were chosen as the dates of the Scholar Strike in Canada because, for many of us, the academic year begins on these dates. These days were also chosen because of their proximity to Labour Day.   The program of public digital teach-ins through Sept 9 & 10 and other resources are available on this site.

[The Programme of Digital Teach-Ins followed in the original communication]
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Scholar Strike is a labour action/teach-in/social justice advocacy happening on September 9-10, 2020. September 9 & 10 were chosen as the dates of the Scholar Strike in Canada because, for many of us, the academic year begins on these dates. These days were also chosen because of their proximity to Labour Day.

The program of public digital teach-ins through Sept 9 & 10 and other relevant resources will be released soon. We have confirmed a key note address by journalist and activist Desmond Cole and cross-campus digital teach-ins that will bring together activists, artists and scholars from York University, University of Toronto, Ryerson University and OCAD University.

As Canadian scholars we cannot ignore the anti-Black and anti-Indigenous police brutality and violence that continue to destroy the lives of Black, Indigenous and racialized peoples.  Many of the Black, Indigenous and racialized academics who work in Canadian universities are precariously employed; hired on only part-time or short-term contracts.  The few that have been hired into full-time faculty and staff positions have found it difficult to remain in those jobs, they have either been fired or laid off because of institutional racism and other forms of violence in the university. 

We affirm protestors, workers for social justice, and activists who are crucial to making our communities safer and better.  State-sanctioned violence is part of the systemic violence that materially disenfranchises Black, Indigenous and racialized people, and is a contemporary function of slavery, carcerality and colonialism in the world today. In the current context of the COVID-19 pandemic, many of the conditions that allow systemic and material violence to disproportionately affect Black persons and communities have been exacerbated. 

Our shared work to resist anti-Black violence follows from the intellectual, emotional, & creative labours of Black intellectuals, activists, scientists, artists, designers, writers, poets, curators, illustrators, filmmakers, and cultural producers.  They form a critical part of our collective learning environment as students, faculty, and professional staff. 

We are asking University Administrators to support scholars, librarians, and other staff, and not penalize those who choose to participate.

Statements of solidarity, while important, are not enough. We must commit ourselves as scholars, artists, writers, poets, designers and researchers to actively ending all forms of racist, carceral, institutional and systemic forms of violence.

Source Link: https://scholarstrikecanada.ca/schedule/

Best Regards,

David Sadoway  PhD  MRM  BES(Hons)
Faculty & Instructor. Geography & The Environment.

Kwantlen Polytechnic University.

https://www.kpu.ca/arts/geography/faculty/david-sadoway

https://www.researchgate.net/profile/David_Sadoway 

KPU is located on the unceded lands & waters of the Kwantlen, Katzie, Musqueum, Tsawwassen, Semihamoo, Qayqayt, Sto:Lo and Kwikwetlen Peoples.