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DTSTART;TZID=America/Vancouver:20260617T190000
DTEND;TZID=America/Vancouver:20260617T203000
DTSTAMP:20260623T235151
CREATED:20260616T160644Z
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UID:10011128-1781722800-1781728200@creativelyunited.org
SUMMARY:China's Ecological Civilization initiative: a report from the field
DESCRIPTION:VSHA Speaker Series\n\nFree* And Open To All!\n \n Wednesday\, Jun 17\, 2026 – 7:00-8:30 pm\nCook Street Activity Center\n380 Cook St. (Cook St. Village)\, Victoria \n Street Parking\nPlease Enter By The Side Entrance\nCoffee/Tea nearby at The Mocha House – BYO! \nSpeaker:  Bill Carroll and Ethan Fortin\n\nBill Carroll is a professor of sociology at the University of Victoria with research interests in the climate crisis — its causes and remediations\, corporate power\, social justice\, and social change. His books include Refusing Ecocide\, Regime of Obstruction and Organizing the 1%: How Corporate Power Works.\n\nEthan Fortin is a master’s student in sociology at the University of Victoria\, with a background in biological science. His research investigates the social dimensions of ecological crises and the potential of alternative social movements for mending the human/nature divide and promoting ecosystem health.
URL:https://creativelyunited.org/event/chinas-ecological-civilization-initiative-a-report-from-the-field/
LOCATION:Cook Street Village Activity Centre\, 380 Cook Street\, Victoria\, V8V 3X7
ORGANIZER;CN="VSHA":MAILTO:glynneevans.1945@icloud.com
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Vancouver:20260506T190000
DTEND;TZID=America/Vancouver:20260506T203000
DTSTAMP:20260623T235151
CREATED:20260505T052556Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260505T052556Z
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SUMMARY:The Future of Honest Questioning
DESCRIPTION:The Humanist Cafe\nDiscussion Forum \n Free* And Open To All! \n \nWednesday May 6\, 2026 – 7:00-8:30 pm\n Cook Street Activity Center\n 380 Cook St. (Cook St. Village)\, Victoria\n \nLimited free parking and free street parking\n\nPlease Use The Side Entrance (beside the construction site)\n Purchase Coffee/Tea nearby at The Moka House – BYO mug! \n \n  \n* * * *\n  \nTopic – The Future of Honest Questioning\nPresenter:  Barrie Webster\nThe ability to question and the very act of questioning is fundamental to the humanistic life stance. But there are pitfalls for those daring to ask questions in today’s world. Ric Esther Bienstock’s recent essay in the Opinion section of the Saturday Globe and Mail ago expressed her concern: “Self-censorship has become the safest form of expression.” [see attachment below – the Globe and Mail is behind a paywall] \nAs Bienstock states\, “a generation [is] being taught that disagreement is harm.” Further\, university students and professors she spoke to told her that “they had abandoned certain lines of inquiry altogether fearing professional or social consequences.” As she says\, “when honest questions get reframed as instruments of oppression\, something essential is lost: the ability to disagree.” \n“Universities exist to teach people how to think\, not what to think. When we tell a generation that ‘disagreement is violence’\, that ‘discomfort is harm’\, that ‘the correct response to an idea you find threatening is to make sure nobody else hears it’\, we don’t protect them. We weaken them.” “…once we decide that some ideas are too dangerous to hear\, we have already conceded the argument to the people who would silence us.” \nOne of the key aspects of this problem is the lazy way of thinking known as binary reasoning. This either-or approach often leads to flawed\, oversimplified\, and judgmental conclusions and decision making. In binary thinking\, there is no room for nuance or accommodation of detail. Things are either black or white. \nMost decision making includes consideration of more than one variable (or should). Critical thinking helps us deal with and evaluate the importance of these variables. \nhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Critical_thinking \nIt is perhaps useful to consider the analysis of this situation in the university context. \nIn 2014\, President Robert J Zimmer and Provost Eric D Isaacs at the University of Chicago appointed The Committee on Freedom of Expression to draft a statement “articulating the University’s overarching commitment to free\, robust\, and uninhibited debate and deliberation among all members of the University’s community.” \nhttps://provost.uchicago.edu/sites/default/files/documents/reports/FOECommitteeReport.pdf \nThey stated that “…education should not be intended to make people comfortable; it is meant to make them think. Universities should be expected to provide the conditions within which hard thought\, and therefore strong disagreement\, independent judgment\, and the questioning of stubborn assumptions\, can flourish in an environment of the greatest freedom.” \n“But it is not the proper role of the University to attempt to shield individuals from ideas and opinions they find unwelcome\, disagreeable\, or even deeply offensive. Although the University greatly values civility\, and although all members of the University community share in the responsibility for maintaining a climate of mutual respect\, concerns about civility and mutual respect can never be used as a justification for closing off discussion of ideas\, however offensive or disagreeable those ideas may be to some members of our community.” \nSo back to the concerns expressed by Bienstock in her essay. \nQuestions: \n1. What are the implications for modern society? \n2. What role if any do colonialism and racism play in determining what questioning is respectable\, particularly in an educational setting? \n3. How do today’s humanists need to proceed to defend the right to challenge the assumptions and conventions of Canadians? Of anyone? \n\nSee you there!  Bring a questioning friend.\n* Donations gratefully accepted\nwww.vsha.ca
URL:https://creativelyunited.org/event/the-future-of-honest-questioning/
LOCATION:Cook Street Village Activity Centre\, 380 Cook Street\, Victoria\, V8V 3X7
ORGANIZER;CN="VSHA":MAILTO:glynneevans.1945@icloud.com
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DTSTART;TZID=America/Vancouver:20260415T190000
DTEND;TZID=America/Vancouver:20260415T203000
DTSTAMP:20260623T235151
CREATED:20260410T183537Z
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UID:10010510-1776279600-1776285000@creativelyunited.org
SUMMARY:The Climate Politics of Tomorrow: New Settings for Environmental Change-Making
DESCRIPTION:VSHA Speaker Series\nFree* And Open To All! \nWednesday\, April 15\, 2025 – 7:00-8:30 pm\nCook Street Activity Center\n380 Cook St. (Cook St. Village)\, Victoria \n Street Parking \nPlease Enter By The Side Entrance\nCoffee/Tea nearby at The Mocha House – BYO! \nSpeaker:  James Lawson** \nThe last forty years\, often described as “neoliberal”\, re-shaped the political\, social\, and environmental landscape and its rhythms with distinctive infrastructure. The new settings made for new strategies\, including strategies for non-violent direct action – pipeline politics is just one example. Now that both neoliberalism and liberal democracy are in trouble\, the necessary strategic thinking must shift again\, for the space-time settings for politics are changing as well. \n**Bio: James (or Jamie) Lawson is Associate Professor in Canadian Politics at the Department of Political Science at the University of Victoria. His specialization is in the political economy of land and resources\, with a special interest in the role of non-violent direct action in forest and petroleum politics. He has taught courses and written on climate politics\, including the oil policies of populism in Alberta. He also teaches regularly in the institutions of government\, and did his master’s degree on federalism.
URL:https://creativelyunited.org/event/the-climate-politics-of-tomorrow-new-settings-for-environmental-change-making/
LOCATION:Cook Street Village Activity Centre\, 380 Cook Street\, Victoria\, V8V 3X7
ORGANIZER;CN="VSHA":MAILTO:glynneevans.1945@icloud.com
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DTSTART;TZID=America/Vancouver:20260401T190000
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SUMMARY:Iran\, Israel\, and the US 2026
DESCRIPTION:The Humanist Cafe\nDiscussion Forum \n Free* And Open To All! \n \nWednesday April 1\, 2026 – 7:00-8:30 pm\n Cook Street Activity Center\n 380 Cook St. (Cook St. Village)\, Victoria\n \nLimited free parking and free street parking \n(There are 12 free parking spaces behind the building directly across from The Center which can be accessed from Oscar St.  It is almost always empty in the evenings.)\n\nPlease Use The Side Entrance (beside the construction site)\n Purchase Coffee/Tea nearby at The Moka House – BYO mug! \n \n  \n* * * *\n  \nTopic –  Iran\, Israel\, and the US 2026 \nPresenter and moderator:  Barrie Webster\n\n\nAt the end of February\, the US and Israel joined forces in the attack on Iran. The focus ostensibly was on the perceived likelihood that Iran was developing a nuclear weapon. \nNew York Times – https://www.nytimes.com/2026/03/02/us/politics/trump-war-iran-israel.html \nTo put Iran into perspective\, here is some history of post-World War II Iran; how US Imperialism shaped the Iran we see today. The term imperialism is used advisedly. \nhttps://zeteo.com/p/how-us-imperialism-shaped-the-iran \nAs to the thinking behind going to war\, Donald Trump has been quoted as saying “I may have a plan or I may not”. Thus it is clear that Trump has not thought through what comes after the war. In actual fact\, the likely course of conflict between the US and Iran has been war-gamed. Here are five key points according to Ilan Goldenberg. \n\n\nWhen the regime feels existentially threatened\, Iran will escalate\n\n\nIt is easy to close the Strait of Hormuz. It is hard to reopen it\n\n\nRussia always wins\n\n\nThe aftermath is incredibly costly\n\n\nBuying time was always the best option\n\n\nhttps://zeteo.com/p/i-wargamed-iran-for-obama-this-is \nGoldenberg says\, further\, “A major US-Iran war is not some unknowable black box. People have spent decades studying it\, gaming it\, and thinking through its consequences. The conclusion has been consistent: it would be enormously costly for Iran\, for the United States\, for the Middle East\, and for the global economy.” \nKevork Almassian in Internationalist 360 elaborates on the US position and why it appears that Iran does not want to stop now. \nhttps://libya360.wordpress.com/2026/03/15/irans-samson-option \nQuestions: \n1. Was the attack of Iran justified? \n2. Do we understand the motivations of a) the US\, b) of Israel\, and c) of Iran in regard to the attack? \n3. What will be the future course of the war? \n4. What effects will the war have on us in Canada? \n\nSee you there!  Bring a buddy!\n*Donations gratefully accepted\nwww.vsha.ca
URL:https://creativelyunited.org/event/iran-israel-and-the-us-2026/
LOCATION:Cook Street Village Activity Centre\, 380 Cook Street\, Victoria\, V8V 3X7
ORGANIZER;CN="VSHA":MAILTO:glynneevans.1945@icloud.com
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