Hands Off Venezuela

MEDIA DEMOCRACY: a conference on corporate control of the media, alternative media, and the right of working people to media access.

SATURDAY, SEPT. 20th
10:00am to 5:00pm
Ryerson Students' Centre
(Rooms TBA)
Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Admission: $5-$10 (sliding scale, no one turned away)
Light refreshments will be provided

Back in March in Caracas, participants at a conference on "Media Terrorism" resolved to form a network across the Americas to counter corporate media control (www.venezuelanalysis.com/news/3315). This conference released the "Caracas Declaration", which denounced the role of the corporate media in the toppling of democratic governments across the region. In Venezuela, the private media was intimately involved in a 2002 coup that briefly toppled the left-wing government of President Hugo Chavez. The declaration also stated that "Information should be conceived as a right to be collectively provided, rather than as a commodity to be sold."

There will be a series of workshops presented by writers in this field, alternative media journalists, young activists and representatives from media workers' unions which will seek to spread this network to North America.

Featuring keynote speaker:
LINDA MCQUAIG: noted journalist and author

Selected workshops:

• "Venezuela and the Latin American Revolution", Camilo Cahis (Hands Off Venezuela), Prof. Maria Paez Victor (York University)
• "What is Socialism of the 21st Century", Alex Grant (Fightback)
• "Alternative popular forms of media", Kristin Schwartz (ex-programme director for CKLN) and Luis Granados (Toronto Latin American radio host)
• "Struggles from Africa", Prof. Arnold Itwaru (University of Toronto), Charles Waana, Asad Ismi (Cdn. Centre for Policy Alternatives)

And performances by
STOLEN FROM AFRICA
MC MOHAMMAD ALI

Organized by:
CESAR, Hands Off Venezuela, Toronto Bolivarian Circle "Louis Riel", Canadian Media Guild, Ryerson Social Work Course Union.

All sponsoring groups and organizations will have access to literature tables inside the main meeting room.

For more information, or to reserve a sponsors' table at this event, please contact This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .