Poets Against the War Protest

ARMS UNFAIR - Ottawa, June 2, 2010, noon till 7 pm

Poets from Montreal and Ottawa will read outside the main gates of Lansdowne Park in Ottawa at noon on Wednesday June 2 to protest the Canadian manufacture and sale of weapons, ammunition and military components. CANSEC is returning to Ottawa City property this spring because last year a majority on Ottawa City Council shamefully overturned this municipality's 20-year ban on hosting arms trade shows.

Readers include:
Hugh Hazelton
Susan McMaster
Jorge Etcheverry
Erika White
John Akpata
Gary Townsend
Czandra
Raymond Filip
Claudia Morrison
Jim Joyce
Paul Tulloch
and others

At 1:30 pm the reading will move indoors to Irene's Pub, 885 Bank St. at Clary and from 5-7 pm back to the main Rally for Peace at the gates of the Park.

CANSEC is a significant symbol of Canada's government-subsidized, military-industrial complex, a significant drain on our economy, as it artificially props unsustainable economic sectors. It facilitates rather than discourages wars, invasions, occupations, orchestrated regime changes and human rights abuses.

By opposing the influx of arms promoters, tanks and other war technologies into our local community, we can press for government policies that respect peace, human rights, democracy, and the environment.

FOR MORE INFORMATION: Poets Against War and Coalition to Oppose the Arms Trade (COAT) rally

Gerry Shikatani in The A B Series

Internationally recognized text-sound performance artist, Gerry Shikatani enacts a multi-media performance on June 3rd at The Mercury Lounge. Shikatani has published several volumes of poetry, a book of fiction as well as writings on gastronomy and travel. He has been publishing and exhibiting visual poetry for decades.

abseries.org

Bywords Spring Reading-Sunday May 16, 5pm

at the Dusty Owl Reading Series, Swizzles, 246-B Queen St. featuring poetry by contributors to the spring Bywords Quarterly Journal: Emily Falvey, Winter Fedyk, Neal Freeland, Seymour Mayne, rob mclennan, Zoran Todorovic and Asoka Weerasinghe with the music of the Companionship Registry.

Followed by the Dusty Owl Open Mic & Object of Desire competition.

cover photo by Gatineau photographer Alain Lacharite.