Tuesday, December 6, 2011

An Evening With Francis Moore Lappé


An Evening With Francis Moore Lappé
Wedensday, February 1, 2012  •  7:30pm
St. Brigid's Centre for the Arts, 310 St. Patrick Street, Ottawa
USC Canada presents an inspiring evening with the visionary author of the ground-breaking Diet for a Small Planet (1971), Frances Moore Lappé.
Based on her new book, EcoMind, Lappé confronts our current myths about markets, food, and environmental issues, challenging us to change the way we think so we can create the world we want.
For further information about these events or if you have any questions about tickets or event details, please contact Julia by email (jlaforge@usc-canada.org) or by phone (            613-234-6827       ext.225)

Sunday, November 27, 2011

The song of creation

The dark purple light rises in the north, A yellow light rises in the east. Then we of the flowers of the earth come forth To receive a long life full of joy. We call ourselves the Butterfly maidens. Both male and female make their prayers to the east, Make the respectful sign to the Sun, our Creator. The sounds of bells ring through the air, Making a joyful sound throughout the land, Their joyful echo resounding everywhere. Humbly I ask my Father, The perfect one, Taiowa, our Father, The perfect one, creating the beautiful life Shown to us by the yellow light, To give us perfect light at the time of the red light. The perfect one laid out the perfect plan And gave to us a long span of life, Creating song to implant joy in life. On this path of happiness, we the Butterfly maidens Carry out his wishes by greeting our Father Sun. The song resounds back from our Creator with joy, And we of the earth repeat it to our Creator. At the appearing of the yellow light, Repeats and repeats again in the joyful echo, Sounds and resounds for times to come.

The Song of Creation

From the four corners of the universe: From the East, for red is its color; From the North, for white is its color; From the West, for yellow is its color; And from the South, for blue is its color; In the counterclockwise motion of Tawa Taka, the Sun Father, Come the four colors of the races of humankind, each with its leaders, each with its destiny. Soon they will fight, as it is prophesied, but someday they shall unite. Then they will remember that Taiowa is their Spirit Father; that Sotuknang is their adoptive one; and that Spider Woman is the web which unites them all.

TOKPELA, The First World

Amidst the bellowing of the Volcanoes, the roaring of the earth masses, carousing in a huge tidal wave, was the laughter of the unchained winds, disheveled but released. It was nature, at its best, and at its worst. Flashes of the lightning, roaring of the thunder - earth was being born, like a new babe, crying, demanding, flowing in a giant faucet of lava. Like all births like all mutinies - it was an explosion! Among the noises of creation, but abreast of it; disciplining the winds, modulating their tonalities, shaping the sounds: Taiowa, god of creation, spoke at last in a loud voice: "I have funneled the noises of the wind, in a powerful music of sounds," he said. "I brought forth the dynamics of the forces of creation, like a work horse to its labors. The currents of the dark lava are staring to congeal. I need a helper, a supervisor, a foreman, To bring things to order." So Taiowa, the creator, created Sotuknang, And he called him his nephew. Sotuknang said: "To make Tokpela, the first world, to shape these currents, to enchain the forces unleashed by Taiowa, I need a companion, a mother to this world to come." From the sheer power given him by the creator, Sotuknang willed a being, a force an energy, to give succor; Woman Spirit, Kokyang-Whuti, "Spider Woman." Together they will shape the bubbling hot and fuming mass called the Earth. "Now," said Taiowa, "We have the Earth, we have the waters to cool it, from the heat of creation. I made the air, to coordinate the two. So now we have the first world. But …no one is to be in it, And witness its marvels." So, Spider Woman said: "Sotuknang and I thought about that." This is how Pokan-Hoya and his brother, Palongo-Hoya came to The first world; the twin brothers who were to look after it, and protect it, inhabit it. "Evava!" aid the first twin to his brother. "Ansai!" he answered. "Lolamai! Everything is beautiful." - Which are the Hopi formal greetings. Sotuknang, Spider Woman, and the twins, were created out of the will of Taiowa to participate in the creation of mankind. But they have to have a song to do it; the Song of Creation. A song mankind shall not forget in order to survive; a song they must keep inside of themselves, lest they lose the way. It was decided the younger of the twins, Tuvko, "younger brother", as they called him, should make the song.

Friday, November 18, 2011

FILM & TALK --- SPECIAL GUEST FROM NORTHERN PERUVIAN AMAZON!

The Achuar people are taking a stand against Talisman's oil drilling project in their territory! Talisman is a Canadian oil & gas company based in Calgary, who is also leading on shale gas projects in Quebec. Friday November 25, 7:00 p.m. University of Ottawa, Lamoureux Hall, Room 122, Unceded Algonquin Territory Facebook event: https://www.facebook.com/events/118762868236743/ Dear Friends, It is our honour to have an Indigenous Achuar leader from the northern Peruvian Amazon come to visit us. His name is Peas Peas and he will be accompanied by Gregor MacLennan of Amazon Watch. They come here, far away from their home, with a mission! Peas Peas will be sharing the stories of his people - the stewards of the Amazon rainforest - and their struggle and determination to stop Talisman Energy, an oil and gas corporation based in Calgary, from destroying their ancestral territory and their way of life. The Achuar people need us, you and I, to stand with them for their fight to protect the rainforest! Please come and join us on Friday evening to meet with Peas Peas and Gregor. 7:00 p.m. Friday November 25 University of Ottawa, Lamoureux Hall (LMX), Room 122, Unceded Algonquin Territory Campus map: http://www.uottawa.ca/maps/ The event will include a screening of "Chumpi and the Waterfall", a documentary about the Achuar people. You can watch a trailer of the documentary here - http://vimeo.com/6183607 It is in Spanish but the documentary will have English subtitles. "We demand that the Peruvian government immediately annuls the contracts for blocks 64 and 101 and that Talisman immediately withdraws from our territory." Achuar public statement, March 28th 2010 For more information about the Achuar and Talisman Energy: http://amazonwatch.org/work/talisman To show your support: please send a message to Talisman's CEO, John Manzoni: http://amazonwatch.org/take-action/pledge-to-support-the-achuar-people and tell your friends about it! Amazon Watch is a non-profit organization founded in 1996 to protect the rainforest and advance the rights of indigenous peoples in the Amazon Basin. For more about the organization: http://amazonwatch.org/about, This event is a special event in collaboration with the Cinema Academica weekly series of film screenings at University of Ottawa. For more info on Cinema Academica: Wayne Sawtell, 613-421-1373. To subscribe to the Cinema Acadmica newsletter, send an email to: news-subscribe@cinemaacademica.ca Co-presented by IPSMO - Indigenous Peoples Solidarity Movement Ottawa - www.ipsmo.org See you there!