The Leveller Vol. 3 Issue 2

campus • community • CULTURE November 2010

vol. 3, no. 2

Eschewing hard bodies for hard news since 2009.

Will Strike if Provoked CUPE workers on verge of historic labour disruption

Strike trailers flanking Carleton University went up on Nov. 12, as teaching assistants, contract instructors, and administrative and technical staff prepare for a strike PHOTO BY CHRIS BISSON

by Samantha Ponting Carleton University hangs on the precipice of an unprecedented confrontation with its employees, as teaching assistants (TAs), contract instructors, and administrative and technical workers approach a strike

deadline.

At both the Colonel By and Bronson university entrances, Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) 2424 and CUPE 4600 have set up trailers to act as temporary picket headquarters. The unions have sent a clear message

to the administration: Will strike if provoked.

James Meades, co-president of CUPE 4600, is saddened that the administration has not bargained productively. “We’re moving forward to address several issues, such as the public sector wage freeze,

the rising cost of tuition, increased conference funding, and excessive tutorial class sizes.”

In late October, in the second largest turnout in CUPE 4600’s history, TAs voted 74 per cent and contract instructors voted 89 per cent to authorize the

local’s Executive Council to support the bargaining team up to and including strike action.

After the strike votes, the overall sentiment at TA and contract instructor membership meetings

Admin pressures campus unions to relinquish control over finances The Carleton University administration is threatening to withhold levy fees allotted to the student unions and specific third-party levy groups for the rest of the year if the student unions do not agree to relinquish financial control to the administration, according to the Carleton University Students’ Association (CUSA) and the Graduate Students’ Association (GSA).

In an open letter to students, GSA President Kima-

lee Phillip and CUSA President Alex Sirois called the administration’s withholding of fees “unprecedented in Canada.” The two student organizations have filed an application to have a judge force the university to turn over the fees.

Student levies are voted on as part of CUSA and GSA elections. The student unions have traditionally transferred the levy fees passed by student referenda to third-party groups including the Garden Spot, CKCU radio, and the Ontario Public Interest Research Group (OPIRG).

A proposed agreement would require the unions to disclose their finances, ostensibly to ensure that the money earmarked for levy groups ends up in the right hands.

But the wording of the agreement is more ambitious than the rhetoric surrounding it, giving the administration effective veto power over student levies.

“The agreements would give far-reaching powers to senior administration such as the power to refuse to collect new levies that were decided by student referendum, terminate leases for offices, ser-

vice centres and businesses like Oliver’s and Mike’s Place with three months notice, and take over management of the campus pubs,” state Phillip and Sirois in the open letter.

The agreement would give the administration the power to withhold fees if it does not like the way the student unions have spent their money. Phillip said the administration is “pushing the student unions to accept language that would enable the administration to overrule decisions on the internal spending of the student

PAGE 3 crime down, prisons up

continuted on page 5

Carleton denies funding to student groups

by Erin Seatter and Mat Nelson

PAGE 8 digging into canadian mining

unions.”

According to CUSA and GSA representatives, the administration first presented the agreement in Oct. 2009, saying the university’s auditors had recommended that the university receive assurance that third-party groups slated to receive levy fees through the student unions had indeed received the money they were supposed to.

The administration told the student unions they would have to sign the agreecontinuted on page 5

Page 7 and it all keeps falling apart Page 7 wayward Haiti aid Page 10 levy m.i.a.

Page 13 the new anti-semitism Page 14 makers making Page 15 storytellers telling stories www.leveller.ca

Lev • el• ler noun 1 Historical: During the English Civil War (c. 1649), one who favoured the abolition of all rank and privilege.

Originally an insult, but later embraced by radical anti-Royalists.

2 One who tells the truth, as in “I’m going to level with you.”

3 An instrument that knocks down things that are standing up or digs up things that are buried or hidden.

I’m a Leveller!

The Leveller is a publication covering campus and off-campus news, current events, and culture in Ottawa and elsewhere. It is intended to provide readers with a lively portrait of their university and community and of the events that give it meaning. It is also intended to be a forum for provocative editorializing and lively debate on issues of concern to students, staff, and faculty as well as Ottawa residents.

The Leveller leans left, meaning that it challenges power and privilege and sides with people over private property. It is also democratic, meaning that it favours open discussion over silencing and secrecy. Within these very general boundaries, The Leveller is primarily interested in being interesting, in saying something worth saying and worth reading about. It doesn’t mind getting a few things wrong if it gets that part right.

The Leveller has a very small staff, and is mainly the work of a small group of volunteers. To become a more permanent enterprise and a more truly democratic and representative paper, it will require more volunteers to write, edit, and produce it, to take pictures, and to dig up stories.

Save the cookies, give us the dough.

The Leveller needs you. It needs you to read it, talk about it, discuss it with your friends, agree with it, disagree with it, write a letter, write a story (or send in a story idea), join in the producing of it, or just denounce it. Ultimately it needs you—or someone like you—to edit it, to guide it towards maturity, to give it financial security and someplace warm and safe to live.

The Leveller is an ambitious little rag. It wants to be simultaneously irreverent and important, to demand responsibility from others while it shakes it off itself, to be a fun-house mirror we can laugh at ourselves in and a map we can use to find ourselves and our city. It wants to be your coolest, most in-the-know friend and your social conscience at the same time. It has its work cut out for it.

The Leveller is published every month or so. It is free.

The Leveller and its editors have no phone or office, but can be contacted with letters of love or hate at

editors.the.leveller@gmail.com

The Levellers Editorial Board

Mat Nelson Samantha Ponting Erin Seatter David Tough

Copy Editors

Victoria Abraham Lequanne Collins-Bacchus

Photography

Chris Bisson

A Listings Editor

Computer Support

Max Weinstein

A Photo Manager

Production

Brendon Mroz

A Few Distributors

needs

Contributors Viren Gandhi, Terry Greenberg, Joseph Hutt, Lital Khaikin, David Koch, Ajay Parasram, Doug Nesbitt, Aaron Saad, Tim Winzler

Governing Board

Andrea Balon Patrizia Gentile Vincent St. Martin Erin Seatter David Tough

Operations Manager

Andy Crosby

2 The Leveller vol 3, no 2, November 2010

All positions are volunteer. Interested parties should email the editors with their preferred position as the subject of their message

operations.the.leveller@gmail.com

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news

No vacancy: Conditions worsen in overcrowded federal prisons Prisons to expand despite drop in crime rate; federal “punishment agenda” the real culprit: activists

by David Koch Overcrowded federal prisons are becoming “warehouses for bodies” that make criminals more likely to re-offend when they are released, according to advocates for the rights of prisoners.

Their concerns were echoed in Ottawa yesterday, with the release of a new report by Howard Sapers, the correctional investigator of Canada and federal ombudsman for prisons.

According to Sapers, conditions inside overcrowded prisons are preventing rehabilitation.

These conditions are leading to more incidents of violence and preventable deaths in custody, and the people hit hardest by overcrowding will be the most vulnerable segments of the population, including those struggling with mental illness, wrote Sapers.

“As a society, we are criminalizing, incarcerating and warehousing the mentally disordered in large and alarming numbers,” Sapers wrote in the report.

The government recently announced millions of dollars in new money to

expand federal prisons.

But critics say the answer to prison overcrowding will not be found in bigger jails.

“The knee-jerk reaction is to build more prisons,” said Peggy Chrisovergis, a doctoral student in criminology at the University of Ottawa.

She said that severe policies towards offenders, including tougher parole conditions, are the real culprit.

Parole officers can put convicts back in jail based on a condition known as a “lack of transparency,” she said.

In at least one case the transparency condition has involved a convict failing to disclose breaking up with his girlfriend, according to research cited by Chrisovergis.

“Parole officers will call your girlfriend and ask questions like ‘how’s your sex life?’“ she said.

“Lack of transparency is used much more now.”

As prisons fill beyond their capacity, convicts are forced to share cells designed for only one inmate, a condition known as “double-bunking.”

Marie Beemans, a longtime advocate for the rights of prisoners, said

that double-bunking is leading to more violence behind bars.

And as rates of violence increase inside prisons, it becomes harder for offenders to integrate back into society when they are finally released, she said.

“When they do come out, you’re getting people on the street who don’t trust, who are on the defensive all the time,” she said. “This is not protecting the public.”

Social programs serving people who suffer from mental illness are being cut, she said.

These people are swelling the ranks of Canada’s incarcerated population, and without access to rehabilitative programs inside prisons, they are likely to find themselves in jail again.

Beemans said the federal government is leveraging the fear of crime to support its agenda, even as crime rates have declined.

Data from Statistics Canada indicate that rates of police-reported crime and the severity of crime have declined over the past decade.

The crime rate was 17 per cent lower in 2009 than it was in 1999, according to Statistics Canada.

And the Crime Severity Index, which measures the seriousness of police-reported crime, dropped by 22 per cent over the course of the decade.

But despite the drop in crime rates, the Department of Public Safety recently announced millions of dollars in new money to accommodate spiking prison populations.

Justin Piché, a PhD student in sociology at Carleton University, expects the government to continue massive investment in the Canadian prison system.

According to data compiled by Piché, the budget for the federal penitentiary system is expected to top $3 billion in the 20122013 fiscal year.

That’s almost double what the federal Liberal government spent in 20052006.

He described the government’s approach to crime as a “punishment agenda.”

“The punishment agenda is about not actually meeting the needs of victims, but ... creating additional victims,” he said.

“This agenda is justice for none.”

While the government invests in the future by building prison walls,

there are some alternatives.

Giselle Dias, a Torontobased activist who has been working with prisoners for 17 years, said she favours the abolition of prisons as a long-term goal.

To Dias, this means a radical rearrangement of priorities in government spending.

“It’s about putting money on the front end instead of the back end,” Dias said. “Putting money into social programming, affordable housing, putting money into better health care, better education.”

Dias also called for a reassessment in the way people think about punishment and healing.

She said that an over-reliance on authority figures to settle disputes starts at childhood.

At a young age, children could be learning how to mediate conflict among their peers instead of resorting to the use of force by police, she said.

“Some kids who have those skills are going to be capable of actually solving problems within our community versus calling in authority figures,” she said.

This article originally appeared on the Media Co-op website.

The crime rate was 17 per cent lower in 2009 than it was in 1999, according to Statistics Canada.

Activists demand end to homophobic violence Hate crimes based on sexual orientation increased in 2008: StatsCan

by David Koch Activists committed to eliminating homophobic violence huddled over candles at the Human Rights Monument in downtown Ottawa before marching to Parliament on Oct. 21.

The candlelit vigil commemorated several US teenagers who took their lives after being bullied by homophobic peers in recent weeks, in a disturbing trend that has attracted the attention of international media.

Members of Queer Faction, an Ottawa-based activist group that organized the vigil, suggested a

www.leveller.ca

radical rethinking of these deaths.

“There are no queer teen suicides,” Nicole Matte told the crowd of about 50 people who had gathered in the cold wind. “Only queer teen murders.”

“The young people are only doing to their bodies what other people have done to their souls,” she said, quoting an artist whose name is unknown.

Kathryn Trevenen, who teaches at the University of Ottawa’s Institute for Women’s Studies, said that homophobic bullying dehumanizes people, making life unlivable for those who do not identify

as straight.

“If you aren’t represented as being among the living, and among humanity, that takes a huge toll on you,” she said, as the crowd marched from the Human Rights Monument to Parliament.

When the vigil reached the steps in front of the Peace Tower, Carleton University student and activist Michelle Blackburn told the crowd about the homophobic violence that she endured since coming out of the closet at the age of 13.

“Since then, I’ve been assaulted. I was ganged up upon by a group of seven

men when I was 17,” she said.

“I’ve survived a lot of harsh things.”

Homophobic bullying is an increasing concern for people in the queer community.

A recent report by Statistics Canada indicated that police-reported hate crimes motivated by sexual orientation increased by more than 100 per cent between 2007 and 2008.

Hate crimes motivated by sexual orientation were the most violent in nature, the report said.

And these numbers likely undercount the true number of hate crimes that

occurred, because victims often choose not to report hate crimes to police, for reasons including fear of retribution and feelings of humiliation, the report noted.

Following a series of suicides by queer youth, community organizers have responded by holding vigils across North America.

The suicides also prompted sex columnist and author Dan Savage to create a YouTube Channel aimed at queer youth called It Gets Better.

On the channel, Savage and his husband posted a video in which they shared

personal stories about their struggles growing up as gay youth and the improvements they saw throughout their lives.

Since then, more than 2,000 videos have been added to It Gets Better, including one featuring US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

But Georgeanne Blue, a member of Queer Faction, said that doesn’t go far enough.

“We can also make it better, as so many communities and groups are working at,” she said.

This article originally appeared on the Media Co-op website.

vol 3, no 2, November 2010 The Leveller 3

campus

TAs, contract instructors, and staff set to begin work stoppage continuted from page 1

was in favour of increasing pressure on management to bargain fairly. The local’s Executive Council voted unanimously on Nov. 2 to request a NoBoard report (see box for more information) for each unit from the Ministry of Labour.

CUPE 4600’s No-Board request was made on Nov. 3, but a technical delay on the part of the conciliation officer means that CUPE 4600 is in a legal strike position on Nov. 22.

TAs and contract instructors then voted overwhelmingly on Nov. 4 to set a strike deadline at the highest attended general membership meeting in the history of CUPE Local 4600.

The local has since indicated that union members are in a position to set up picket lines at 6:00 am on Nov. 22.

At meetings on Nov. 9 and 12 with CUPE 4600, Carleton’s bargaining committee tabled monetary offers for Units 1 and 2.

Both units are scheduled to meet with the employer again on Nov. 16 and 19.

On Sep. 27, more than 400 of CUPE 2424’s 800 members voted overwhelmingly to support their bargaining committee with an 83 per cent strike vote.

CUPE 2424, the union for nearly 800 library, administrative, and technical staff, requested its No-Board report on Nov. 1 and has set Nov. 18 as a possible strike date.

The local’s main issues involve maintaining the pension plan and job security, including the prevention of job losses if Carleton decides to contract out international student services and courses to the for-profit, private Australian company Navitas.

CUPE 2424 is set to continue talks on Nov. 15.

Both CUPE 2424 and 4600 have prepared for possible labour disruptions. On Nov. 10, representatives of the unions, along with the Graduate Students’ Association (GSA) and the Carleton University Students’ Association (CUSA), sent an open letter to the Ontario minister for training, colleges and universities, John Milloy.

In the letter, the unions asserted that the Carleton administration is pursuing a “scorched earth” policy that is “alienating every

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Leveller among groups denied funding continuted from page 1

WHAT’S A NO-BOARD? A No-Board report can be requested by a union or an employer.

It is filed by the conciliation officer assigned to the case by the Ministry of Labour, who informs the minister that the parties cannot reach an agreement.

It puts the union in a position to legally call a strike, or allows the employer to legally lock out workers, 17 days after it is issued. After this period, employees are no longer protected by the terms within the collective agreement.

A No-Board report can be used as a bargaining tool to put pressure on either party to resolve negotiations at the bargaining table. It puts no restrictions on the union and the employer continuing negotiations. major group on campus.”

They argued that “negotiations with the four largest labour groups have been acrimonious” and expressed concern over the continued withholding of the GSA’s and CUSA’s fees “in an attempt to control these associations’ activities.”

The administration responded the same day on the university’s website. Director of communications Jason MacDonald argued that “Carleton has bargained in good faith with all of its bargaining units” and accused the unions of bargaining in the media, without mentioning the administration’s frequent mass emails to the campus community. None of the unions involved in bargaining have equivalent access to staff, students, and faculty.

The Carleton University Academic Staff Association’s (CUASA) strike date was initially set for Nov. 16, but on Nov. 7, the university withdrew all non-monetary proposals related to tenure and promotion. CUASA is no longer in a legal strike position under the terms of its collective agreement, which prohibits striking over monetary issues.

CUASA and the Carleton administration have now entered into mediation. If this process is unsuccessful, the monetary issues will be referred to binding arbitration.

In October, University of Toronto professors and librarians were awarded 4.5 per cent pay increases over two years by prominent arbitrator Martin Teplitsky. In the provincial

budget released in March, non-unionized public-sector workers were subject to a legislative wage freeze, while the McGuinty government recommended a voluntary two-year freeze for all unionized employees.

Teplitsky stated in his 15-page ruling that he “would appear a minion of government” if he complied with the recommendations. He also denied the administration’s request to increase employee contributions to the pension plan.

On Nov. 15, CUPE 2424 and CUPE 4600 organized an information picket as part of their ongoing outreach to the campus community on current labour issues. In an email sent on Nov. 12, the administration warned that “this is not a strike picket. Staff and faculty are expected to be at work and all classes will continue as scheduled.”

The email reminded students that union members are not permitted to stop or slow down traffic but encouraged “members of the Carleton community [to] respect the right of union members to set up information pickets.”

The administration has a long history of refusing to take negotiations seriously until campus unions are in a legal position to strike. Strike votes, no-board requests, and picket posturing are part of the union’s ongoing escalation tactics, which are necessary in dealing with an administration that has developed a reputation as “eleventh hour” bargainers.

The unions asserted that the Carleton administration is pursuing a “scorched earth” policy that is “alienating every major group on campus.”

ment in order to receive their levy fees. The student unions responded that it was illegal to withhold their fees, and the administration transferred the levies for the 20092010 academic year.

Negotiations over the agreement resumed in Jan. 2010, and since then, “the student unions have never refused to bargain, even as the administration has dragged its heels and issued a series of deadlines,” said Phillip.

In the spring, a motion was presented at the Board of Governors to withhold the fees and was subsequently deferred. The administration then said an agreement had to be made in October or else it would not transfer the levy fees.

In August, CUSA and the GSA proposed to provide letters from their auditors verifying that money allotted for third parties had been transferred appropriately to the third parties. The administration rejected this proposal.

Last month the Board of Governors passed a motion to withhold the student unions’ levy fees if there was no agreement by Nov. 1. It said that the student unions could submit documentation showing how much money they needed for operations to apply for an allowance for November and December. It also threatened that if there were no agreement in place by Dec. 31, it would withhold the student unions’ levy fees for the remainder of the year.

“CUSA is an incorporated body accountable to its members, which are undergraduate students. If undergraduate students want to see financial statements, they can. CUSA also holds a yearly audit meeting with its councillors and the CUSA budget is available online,” said Meera Chander, vice president finance of CUSA. “It’s reasonable for the university to have assurance that fees are going to their intended destinations,” Chander said. “However, I do believe the administration has taken the recommendation from its auditors and used it as a launching point to try and open up a series of agreements to place some serious restrictions on the autonomy of the student unions.”

The denial of funding directly affects students, Chander pointed out, both in the services it undermines and the jobs it puts at risk.

“The administration’s actions may put in jeopardy

the 150 jobs, the health and dental plan, clubs and societies, the student union-run businesses, orientation programming, the service centres, and financial assistance provided through the student unions.”

Phillip said, “We understand transparency and accountability. We are willing to provide documentation showing that the money for third parties is being transferred appropriately. This agreement is part of the administration’s attempt to control every aspect of life on our campus, including the autonomously run student unions.”

According to Sarah Jayne King, vice-president finance of the Student Federation of the University of Ottawa (SFUO), “Like any other non-profit organization, the SFUO conducts annual financial audits. However we are not required to provide them to the university administration.

We are an autonomous organization.”

Third-party levy groups have also been affected by the administration’s withholding of the levy fees.

An email from University Communications to the campus community on Nov. 11 claimed “no student groups or campus clubs have been denied the fees required to operate their services.”

Discussions with student groups indicate that might not be accurate.

Steph Kittmer, the finance coordinator for the Garden Spot, said, “The G-Spot was supposed to receive a levy, but so far the administration hasn’t given us any money or contacted us to explain why.

The levy that students pay covers our operating costs, including the rent for the offcampus kitchen and gas and hydro bills.”

The Leveller has found a list of third-party groups drafted by the Board of Governors to which it says it will transfer the appropriate levy money. On the list are CKCU radio, OPIRG, Legal Fund, the Garden Spot, and student health, among others. Conspicuously absent is the Canadian Federation of Students (CFS), the Millenium Villages project, and the Leveller, which was granted a levy of $1.50 per graduate student in a referendum last spring.

Carleton University Vice President Finance Duncan Watt did not to respond to questions about why the CFS and the Leveller were omitted from the list.

vol 3, no 2, November 2010 The Leveller 5

STRIKE!?!

What??????? What’s going on?!!!!!!!???????

The administrative staff, teaching assistants, and contract instructors at Carleton are all in contract negotiations with the university’s administration through their unions, CUPE 2424 and CUPE 4600. CUPE 2424 has taken strike votes with 83% of their members voting in favour. CUPE 2424 has a strike deadline of November 18th and CUPE 4600 has a strike deadline of November 22, that means that if the unions and the administration don’t come to an agreement before those deadlines, the union would be in a position to go on strike. CUASA, the union that represents full-time faculty, had set a strike date of November 15, but has since settled on most issues with the University and have agreed not to go on strike.

The issue for both groups comes down to respect. The administration refuses to recognize workload issues for contract instructors taking on new responsibilities, job security issues for staff, and tuition fee increases which claw back wages for the TAs. Fed up with employer inaction and unresponsiveness, CUPE 2424 and 4600 have started the clock ticking to a legal strike. It is hard to say what the exact dates will be for a strike should it happen.

What will happen?

Despite having strike mandates, the unions continue to bargain with their employer to get a fair deal for their members, so that they can continue to offer a high quality education to students. The unions have negotiated in good faith, and have exhibited a willingness to bargain by moving from their initial positions significantly. Unless the administration comes to the bargaining tables with substantially more than they are currently offering and agrees to meet with the unions more often, there will be a strike by one or both of the unions.

How does this situation affect my courses?

That depends whether one or both unions strike.

If TAs and contract instructors strike, the full-time faculty (represented by CUASA) will offer courses, but all courses taught by contract instructors will be cancelled and TAs will be unavailable for labs and tutorials, essay marking and assistance, and exams. The faculty union will ask its members not to do the work of TAs. If the support staff strike and the contract instructors and TAs don’t, classes will be held. But the staff people that supervise science labs, health and counseling services, process student fees, and provide mail, library and computer services will not be available.

However, you should not think of a strike as a vacation as your assignments may become due soon after a strike ends. It should also be noted that CUSA and the GSA are attempting to secure “Academic Amnesty” for students through Senate, so that there will be no penalty to students if they either can’t or refuse to cross the picket line.

Won't a strike hurt the students?

Contract instructors, TA’s and staff are as concerned about a disruption to classes as students are.

Although the union regrets the very real disruption in your academic year that a strike may entail, it feels that the long-term goal of improving the quality of education at Carleton is worth the disruption.

Students should keep in mind that in doing this, the strikers are also making sacrifices in foregoing their salaries and disrupting their research for the time of their strike. All of this is done in the longterm interest of a better education at Carleton. But while striking instructors and librarians are making these sacrifices during a strike, management actually saves millions of dollars that otherwise would have been paid in salaries

What can I do to make the strike (if there is one) as short as possible?

Students are encouraged to stand with their contract instructors, TA’s and staff to defend quality education at Carleton. Refuse to cross the picket lines if you can. If you live on campus, try to set aside an hour each day to walk the picket lines in solidarity. Communicate with the administration to let them know you support the work done by CUPE. Wear a button to show your support.

A strong show of solidarity can make for a shorter strike.

NEWS

More funding promises

Canadian aid historically prioritizes brutal policing of poor over housing

by Aaron Saad and Erin Seatter The Canadian government has pledged that it will provide up to $1 million to address a cholera outbreak that hit Haiti nine months after the devastating Jan. 12 earthquake and has now reached the capital Port-au-Prince.

The proposed funding comes on the heels of announcements of millions of dollars in federal spending on land and police.

The Department of Foreign Affairs announced it would spend $5.6 million to acquire land on which to build new homes for embassy staff. The projected costs of constructing the new housing were not disclosed.

Foreign Affairs Minister Lawrence Cannon also announced that the Canadian government plans to build a new police headquarters in Haiti for $9.5 million, bringing total announced spending on police equipment and training in 2010 to $58 million.

According to the Can-

ada Haiti Action Network (CHAN), Canada’s largest amount of spending for Haiti has gone towards the police. This comes at a time when an estimated 1.3 million Haitians displaced by the earthquake are still living in 1,354 squalid refugee camps and less than 20,000 of the 128,000 planned transitional shelters have been built.

The Haitian National Police (HNP) has a brutal history of targeting the poorest of the poor. A study by the Lancet medical journal found that from 2004 to 2006, the HNP was responsible for the largest share of 4,000 political killings that took place in the poorest neighbourhoods of Port-auPrince. During this period, Canada was overseeing the training and vetting of HNP officers, and it continues to do so.

Canada’s skewed prioritization of aid fits well with the general failure of the international community to assist Haiti.

Reports have said that

only 2 per cent of aid pledged to Haiti after the Jan. 12 earthquake has materialized. In May, a CBS news investigation found that major non-profit humanitarian organizations had yet to spend much of the funds that had been donated to them. The Red Cross, CARE, and Catholic Relief Services had spent 25 per cent, 16 per cent, and 8 per cent respectively of the funds that they had raised.

Mark Weisbrot of the Centre for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR) commented at the time, “The organizations that already have money should be spending this right now.

This is emergency relief.”

CEPR reported that between mid-July and September, as hurricane season was ramping up, the American Red Cross actually slowed its spending to about $14 million per month, compared to an average of $24 million spent in each of the first six months. At the halfyear mark, World Vision had spent about 30 per

cent of the $200 million it had raised in relief donations.

This trend continues at the state level. At the March 31 international donors’ conference in New York, donors pledged to deliver US$6.036 billion in aid over the next 18 months. By September, $1.94 billion (32 per cent) of this total was pledged to be spent in 2010, but only $1.317 billion (22 per cent) has been disbursed or committed.

Figures from the UN Office of the Special Envoy for Haiti show that Canada has disbursed $44 million (26.6 per cent) of the US$166 million it promised for 2010, in addition to $33 million for “debt relief” to international financial institutions.

Cannon said people need to be patient.

“Nobody has ever indicated that ... the international commitment would be a short and sweet, in and out commitment,” he said.

“Obviously people would expect that roads

would be completed, that the housing starts would be all legal now, but they’re in the midst of an election.

I think the top priority is to be able to get this election over with.”

Haitians appear to have different priorities than the ones Cannon and others are setting for them.

Chants of “We are not going to the election in tents.

We want housing before elections” were heard at a demonstration in front of the remains of the National Palace in September.

Indeed, as the slated Nov. 28 elections approach, critics contend that conditions have hardly improved since the elections were postponed from February due to the earthquake.

The election may serve to further undermine stability in Haiti. Since president Jean-Bertrand Aristide was ousted in the 2004 coup orchestrated by the United States, France, and Canada, Aristide’s party Fanmi Lavalas has been blocked from running in elections for dubious reasons.

By many accounts Lavalas remains the most popular party in Haiti, yet has again been blocked from participating in the upcoming election. Despite the election’s lack of credibility, Canada is putting $5.8 million towards it.

Canada’s skewed prioritization of aid fits well with the general failure of the international community to assist Haiti.

Diab faces “French terrorism” Extradition hearing unleashes evaporating evidence

by Lital Khaikin and Mat Nelson The extradition hearing of Hassan Diab, who is sought by the French government in connection with the 1980 bombing of a synagogue in Paris that killed four people, began on Nov. 8, 2010.

French police suspect the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) and insist that Diab is involved.

The hearing has raised questions about the admissibility of the evidence supplied by the French authorities, which the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) has proven to be fraudulent and not connected to Diab.

Key pieces of questionable or disproven evidence have not been dismissed, including a palm print from the getaway vehicle, witness descriptions, and a letter alleging Diab may have used a fake passport.

A palm print was retrieved from the getaway vehicle involved in the bombing, but the RCMP has established that it does not belong to Diab.

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A witness had described a blonde man who purchased the motorcycle used in the attack. The description did not match Diab, who has dark hair.

The Crown later said the witness had obviously intended to describe a darkhaired man.

A letter from French prosecutor magistrate Marc Trévidic is another piece of disputed evidence. It suggests that Diab “may have” used a fake passport to enter France. Diab’s passport did not register any use in France at the time of the bombing.

Diab’s attorney Donald Bayne, equating the French prosecution of Diab to “French terrorism,” called for a rigorous analysis of the evidence in deciding the extradition hearing. He has filed an abuse-of-process application in the Ontario Superior Court, arguing that the French case is irredeemably flawed.

“It is abusive what France has done and is doing here,” Bayne said. He added that the Crown has shown a “complete failure of due diligence.”

The extradition hearing

may continue until Dec. 3, 2010.

Diab was teaching sociology at Carleton University and the University of Ottawa at the time of his arrest in 2008.

In 2009, the Carleton administration fired Diab from his summer placement at the university under pressure from B’nai Brith and the Canadian Jewish Congress (CJC).

Diab must pay $1,500 a month for an electronic monitoring device that tracks his movement.

The extradition proceedings against Diab in the face of evidence acknowledged as weak is a product of political pressure from the French government.

Canadian extradition law dictates that any evidence presented in a case, including that from the foreign state requesting extradition, must meet Canadian evidentiary standards.

Bayne called the Crown’s game playing with judiciary procedure “frivolous application.”

Due to a lack of transparency in extradition tri-

als in the Canadian legal system, evidentiary disclosure is being denied to defendants.

According to Bayne, evidence has been manipulated to wrongly implicate Diab, at the same time that favourable evidence has been withheld. It is a “small miracle” said Bayne that Diab’s defence counsel has been able to find proof that decisively undermines the French investigation.

This serves to show that Diab’s case is unique in Canadian extradition trials, where a common citizen has been able to expose the corruption of evidence that has consistently appeared as secret and fraudulent.

Diab’s attorney asked Justice Robert Maranger to stay the trial, stating that

it was the only acceptable resolution.

Under Canadian legal standards, unverifiable and manipulated evidence cannot be accepted. The Crown’s case could prove to strengthen resistance against institutionalized corruption. Justice Maranger’s decision will be critical in establishing a precedent for further extradition cases.

The evaporation of the evidence against Diab case, and the failure of the prosecution to follow recognized legal procedures, is a vivid illustration of the ongoing damage to the Canadian judicial system caused by institutionalized Islamophobia and the presumed criminality of Muslims.

The extradition proceedings against Diab in the face of evidence acknowledged as weak is a product of political pressure from the French government.

vol 3, no 2, November 2010 The Leveller 7

THE sUPPrEssEd rEPorT The Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada (PDAC), which represents Canadian mining and exploration companies and is the largest lobbying group for the industry, commissioned a 2009 report that it subsequently withheld from the public. The report, corporate Social responsibility: movements and footprints of canadian mining and exploration firms in the developing World, revealed that Canadian mining companies are involved in four times as many violations of corporate social responsibility (CSR) as mining companies from other countries. Most of these companies have CSR policies, demonstrating the need for government regulation.

“canadian companies have been the most significant group involved in unfortunate incidents in the developing world. canadian companies have played a much more major role than their peers from australia, the united Kingdom and the united States. canadian companies are more likely to be engaged in community conflict, environmental and unethical behaviour.”

defeated bill would have regulated federally funded mining companies

DiGGinG For aCCoUnTaBiLiTY Coming to terms with Canada’s global mining impact

by Viren Gandhi with Samantha Ponting, Erin Seatter, and David Tough

Canada is a world leader in the mining industry, representing at least 60 per cent of the global industry. At any given time, Canadian mining exploration is active in about 10,000 projects in over 100 countries. Canadian companies have been criticized by environmentalists and humanitarian watchdogs across the Third World for the poisoning of ground waters, forced displacements, bribery of governments, and complicity in violence and intimidation. The House of Commons recently voted against a bill that would have been a first step towards reigning in the brutal excesses of the mining industry. The Leveller spoke to John McKay, the Liberal Member of Parliament who championed the bill.

The recent defeat in the House of Commons of Bill C-300, an act respecting Corporate accountability for the activities of mining, oil or gas Corporations in developing Countries, has illustrated the resistance of Canada’s extractive industries to encourage corporate social responsibility (CSR) practices.

The private member’s bill proposed by Liberal MP John McKay, which received its first reading in 2009, would have applied stricter standards to human rights and environmental practices of Canadian mining companies that receive federal government support for their international projects.

The Oct. 27 vote followed a period of intensive lobbying by the mining sector in opposition to the bill, and was marked by the absence of many putative or potential supporters, including Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff. The bill was defeated by a narrow margin of 140 to 134.

The bill Bill C-300 incorporated several key recommendations from a 2007 report on CSR by a multi-stakeholder advisory group.

The uniqueness of Bill C-300, championed by McKay and Amnesty International, is perhaps its socially responsible investing (SRI) clause, which would have prevented the Canadian Pension Plan (CPP), a taxpayers’ treasure box worth about $138 billion, from being invested in Canadian corporations that fail to meet minimum international CSR standards.

Under this bill, these corporations could also have been sanctioned by having their support from Export

Development Canada (EDC) restricted.

The bill would also have allowed complaints concerning these mining companies to be filed with the Ministers of Foreign Affairs and International Trade. Accepted complaints would have been followed by an official investigation and a public report of the findings.

The lobbying Before the vote, Parliament Hill was swarmed by lobbyist firms hired by the mining sector.

According to the globe and mail, 9 of 24 MPs who did not vote were lobbied by the industry.

Don Boudria, former Liberal cabinet minister and current lobbyist for the firm Hill and Knowlton, engaged in 22 recorded communications with prominent Liberal bureaucrats from Oct. 12 to 26.

McKay was quoted as saying, “You couldn’t turn around without bumping into one of them in the lobby. They were all over the place.” This highlights not only the willingness of parliamentarians to meet with corporate lobbyists routinely and exorbitantly, but also the sheer mass of resources Canadian mining companies invested in efforts to halt the passing of the legislation.

According to the globe and mail, MPs were lobbied by the Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada (PDAC), Goldcorp Inc., Vale Canada Inc., Iamgold Corp., the Mining Association of Canada, Stillwater Mining Company, and Xstrata Nickel, as recorded in Canada’s lobby registry.

Lobby groups strategically targeted MPs representing ridings with local mining inter-

CAnAdiAn mining And monEy ACross bordErs

ests. Charlie Angus, NDP MP for Timmins-James Bay and a known progressive voice within the party, was lobbied by the mining industry and was absent during the vote.

Other absent lobbied MPs include Liberals Scott Andrews, Scott Brison, Martha Hall Findlay, Keith Martin, John McCallum, Geoff Regan, and Anthony Rota, as well as NDP Bruce Hyer.

In an interview with the leveller, McKay noted, “Many visible and non-visible corporate interests influenced key individuals, [including] the Mining Association of Canada; John Manley, who is president of the Canadian Council of Chief Executives; the PDAC; and David Dodge [former head of the Bank of Canada and chancellor of Queen’s University].”

The vote Prime Minister Stephen Harper led the Conservatives in unified opposition to Bill C-300.

Thirteen Liberal MPs, including leader Michael Ignatieff, did not vote. Green Party leader Elizabeth May, who does not have seat, praised the bill and expressed concern that Ignatieff had failed to show up for the vote. “This was a good bill and the fact that even the Liberal leader failed to support his MP is shameful,” she said.

McKay told the leveller that he “didn’t expect the loss of NDP votes and Bloc [Québecois] votes, which certainly would have made the difference, even without the key Liberal members absent for the vote.”

“The [absent] NDP were from northern Ontario mining companies and all got the

riot act read to them. Some of them were probably told, ‘If you vote for this bill, you may never get elected again,” McKay said.

“For the [absent] Bloc [Québecois], apparently the mayors in rural communities were getting phone calls from the lobbyists and urged not to vote for the bill.”

“I don’t know if these people got diplomatic flu or what,” McKay stated.

Notable MPs who did support the bill included Paul Dewar (NDP), Joanne Deschamps (Bloc Québecois), and Justin Trudeau (Liberals).

Greg Rickford, Conservative MP for Kenora, was one of the most vocal parliamentarians against the bill.

“I couldn’t be happier with the result,” said Rickford following the vote.

According to his office, Bill C-300 would have allowed for anyone to submit a complaint against a Canadian mining company “with little or no reason.”

However, under Bill C-300, unverified complaints would not lead to economic penalties.

Rickford and other proponents of the bill have yet to propose viable solutions to the well-documented human rights violations and environmental problems caused by the Canadian mining industry.

They seem to be more concerned about the reputations of Canadian mining companies than the implementation of human rights and environmental protections.

McKay maintains that CSR self-policing is not sufficient.

To rise Again Even though Bill C-300 was defeated in Parliament, McKay believes this visionary law, at the vanguard of public policy, will eventually be implemented.

“The era of voluntary codes is over,” McKay said. “These guys putting their hands over their hearts and saying we comply and we adhere to North-South principles, the equator principles, and the international financial standards have been shown to be grossly deficient by their documentation.”

Bill C-300 would have provided urgently needed oversight over Canadian mining, oil and gas companies operating overseas.

NGOs, religious organizations, and ordinary Canadians have actively supported Bill C-300. Over half a million Canadians sent postcards in support of it, according to Michael Casey, the executive director of the Canadian Catholic Organization for Development and Peace.

Bill C-300 could become the catalyst for denying public investment dollars to corporations that violate particular standards of human health, labour conditions, ecology, and animal and human rights.

For example, Monsanto, Lockheed Martin, and Exxon Mobile have all received millions of dollars from the Canadian government through CPP investments in the past, but would likely not have qualified for future investments if the bill had passed.

McKay said he does not think that there will be “another attempt at a bill looking at corporate social responsibility for the mining sector until after another election.”

DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF THE CONGO A class action suit was filed this November against Anvil Mining Ltd., a copper company based out of Montreal. The class suit alleges that the company assisted the Congolese military in a massacre that took more than 70 lives in 2004 when a rebel group attempted to take over the town of Kilwa, a key site of the company’s operations. The suit claims that the company provided trucks, drivers, and other logistical support to the Congolese military, resulting in widespread human rights abuses.

HONDURAS The San Andres mine in Honduras, located in the La Union municipality, has several negative impacts on surrounding communities. Mining Watch reports that the mine has led to cyanide spills and forced displacements. Since the mid-1990s, three companies have exchanged ownership of the mine: Greenstone Resources, Yamana Gold, and Aura Minerals Inc. Yamana Gold and Aura Minerals Inc. receive investment funds from the Canadian Pension Plan.

TANZANIA Local residents have reported that more than 50 small-scale miners were killed by Tanzanian troops in 1996. The soldiers removed the miners as part of an effort to install commercial mining operations on the land, now referred to as the Bulyanhulu mining project. Economic Development Canada supported the project owned by Barrick Gold Corp. Earlier this year, a rockfall in the mine trapped workers 900 metres underground and led to the deaths of three miners.

PERU According to the Peruvian national ombudsman, the greatest forms of social unrest in the country are caused by extractive investments. Earlier last year, a campaign was mounted by indigenous peoples in reaction to the adoption of legislation that provisioned further extractive operations in their territories. On June 5, 2009, national police attacked protesters. Over 30 people died as a result of the confrontation.

There have been direct confrontations between Canadian company Manhattan Minerals and local people over the development of mining operations. The Tambogrande farming community has resisted the attempt by Manhattan Minerals to establish a mining project in the Piura region, which contains highly cultivable land.

Export Development Canada recently opened an office in Peru.

editorial

... But the levy was dry History is being made here at the Leveller, as we become morally indignant about something the people ostensibly in charge of running Carleton University are doing to bully and harass students. What’s new about this round of outrage is that the gambit in question affects us directly.

The Board of Governors is refusing to hand over the money it owes the Graduate Students’ Association (GSA) unless the association signs an agreement to give the board access to, and ultimately control of, the association’s finances.

Normally this would offend us, because we are generally offended when students are bullied by the university, when the university tries to undermine student power, and when it resorts to shady, underhanded tactics to get its obnoxious and objectionable way.

In this case, it not only offends us but annoys us, because part of the money the administration owes the GSA is our money.

Last spring, graduate students voted narrowly but decisively to support a levy to support the production of the Leveller.

With this money, we have, as promised, established more transparent and accountable business practices, increased opportunities for student involvement in the paper, and taken steps to make our use of volunteer and paid labour more efficient.

Indeed the greatest innovation we have introduced at the Leveller is the concept of paid labour.

We still primarily rely on the enthusiasm of volunteers, but we now provide honoraria to the member of the Editorial Board most involved in the time-consuming process of coordinating volunteers for each issue, and to the production manager, who designs and lays out each issue of the paper.

We also introduced a part-time staff member position, operations manager, who organizes the day-to-

All the best newspapers are enemies of oppressive power.

day business of the paper.

Almost all the levy is allotted to pay for this position.

But we are now well into November and we haven’t seen a dime.

And it has now emerged that the Leveller, along with the Canadian Federation of Students (CFS) is not on the Board of Governors’ list of third-party groups that will receive their levy.

The Ontario Public Interest Research Group (OPIRG) and the Garden Spot, the student-run food collective, did make the list.

The distinction isn’t strictly political in the literal sense. OPIRG is, as any campus Conservative will tell you, a left-wing organization that supports social justice, environmentalism, and indigenous rights and opposes white privilege and corporate power. The Garden Spot is a direct challenge to the Aramark monopoly.

What makes the Leveller and the CFS, not to mention the GSA itself, different? They are groups whose meaning and purpose, or at least whose general tendency, is to criticize and oppose the administration.

The CFS is a lobby group, whose primary function is to push for lower tuition fees.

The GSA’s political role is to advocate on behalf of graduate students in opposition to the administration and the Board of Governors.

There’s a perverse satisfaction in having so quickly earned a place on the university administration’s roster of enemies. As Billy Bragg once said, “If you’ve got a blacklist, I want to be on it.”

That’s kind of how we feel.

All the best newspapers are enemies of oppressive power. Richard Nixon had an list of enemies too, and the Washington Post, the paper that obsessively and unapologetically asserted the criminality of his presidency, was at the top of it.

The job of a newspaper, to cite the old cliché, is to “comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable.” If we are getting up the nose of power, and that nose is sneezing, we are probably on the right track.

The fact that the administration would take money from students shows that they are exactly the kind of power we want to be annoying. We are clearly doing our job if the kind of people who would do this are doing it to us.

In a certain sense, then, we wear our empty bank account as a badge of honour.

We have been poor before, but we’ve never been so proud of being poor.

10 The Leveller vol 3, no 2, November 2010

At the same time, there are other considerations besides our pride in having so effectively and efficiently rubbed the administration the wrong way.

First and foremost, we have a responsibility to our workers, to pay them for their work fairly and consistently, according to terms that we agreed to when they were hired. This is a principle that we speak out for in other workplaces, and we insist on in our workplace.

In our case, given the administration’s refusal to provide the GSA with the money allotted to us, paying our staff means paying them ourselves. Operating on the reasonable assumption that the funding would come in, members of the Editorial Board have paid staff out of their own pockets.

In the past, members of the Editorial Board have paid for printing costs with their own money or on their own credit cards. But this year we have had to pay our employees with our own money, which, given the fact that students voted to fund the Leveller and we hired staff on the basis of that funding, is absurd.

Beyond the practical and ethical problems involved in our internal staffing situation, there is a political problem with the administration’s actions that runs deeper.

Students voted to give the Leveller the money. The administration is refusing to hand it over, at least in part, it seems, because it disagrees politically with the content of the paper. Effectively, the administration is refusing to recognize the legitimacy of the election.

We have a financial and operational interest in getting the funding we planned on getting, but we also have a responsibility to the student body, which voted to provide us with a levy to produce the paper, to make sure that we get that money.

Given that the administration is claiming their sole motivation is to ensure the money is used for its intended purpose, it is bizarre that the administration itself is using the levy money to bully the groups the levy is intended to fund.

Given the administration’s established patterns of behaviour, this is not a surprise. The administration’s go-to move is to sit on things until they stop moving. To see the latest rogue attempt at subverting students’ political will articulated as a defence of student interests is hilarious. But it is also deeply troubling.

Playing the Blame game When workers strike as a result of stalled contract negotiations between a union and employer, there’s a tendency to blame the striking workers and ignore the role of the employer in bringing the situation to a head.

Take the case of the 2009 bus driver strike. The citywide strike, involving 2,300 drivers, mechanics, and dispatchers, lasted 51 days.

Negotiations reached a stalemate over wage increases, sick leave, and the contracting out of services, but the most contentious issue was work scheduling.

The strike had an undeniable impact on the thousands of transit riders who relied on the service to get to work. The dispute affected seniors, students, and the poor the most.

Some classes were cancelled and business owners were furious. There were weeks of traffic jams and long waits for taxis and downtown parking.

It was common to hear people complaining about the bus drivers, about their greed, about how they shouldn’t even be allowed to strike. A Facebook group was established called Fight The Ottawa Bus Strike! and it argued that “hundreds of thousands of residents of the Ottawa area have been victimized by the bus strike over the last month by ignorant, and uncaring members of the Amalgamated Transit Union, Local 279.”

But having the right to strike is important. A strike is one way that employees can collectively respond to the power of their employer. And if public transit is going to be declared an essential service by the government, it should be funded as such. This was the inherent contradiction in the decision to legislate York teaching assistants (TAs) back to work the same year.

Striking is never anyone’s first option. When negotiations stall, when they sour to the extent that no progress is being made in bridging the divide, that’s when a union calls a strike. It’s true that the loss of services is an inconvenience or even an impediment, but that’s the point - if a strike weren’t inconvenient, it wouldn’t be effective.

Carleton is on the verge of several possible strikes. It appears that the administration has recently dropped its offensive demands of full-time faculty in order to avoid striking professors, but TAs, contract instructors, and administrative and technical staff could still strike if the administration refuses to move on basic issues such as job security, wage freezes, and the increased privatization of education.

Some students have said

they’re being used as pawns in the bargaining game between the administration and the unions, that they’re stuck between two forces that are equally ruthless in their manipulation of students to get what they want.

But labour unions on campus have wholeheartedly supported students in their demand for accessible and quality education, while the administration is increasing tuition by 4.5 per cent annually.

CUPE 4600 listed smaller class sizes among its demands.

At the bargaining table, CUPE 2424 has opposed the introduction of privatized education on campus in the form of Navitas. Labour and students are on the same side.

Students need to see the big picture. Some think students are only victims of strikes.

But this isn’t so. Students and unions are on the same side.

Strikes are about protecting students’ rights too.

And the “students are the strike victims” rhetoric neglects the fact that TAs and some contract instructors are students, who are just as concerned about how much energy and money they’re putting into school.

Performing picketing duties in addition to academic work increases the already heavy load weighing down these students. Weekly picketing responsibilities far exceed the hours TAs are responsible for. The logistical demands of a strike are monumental in and of themselves - and let’s not forget that it’s essay season.

Strikers aren’t paid. This can create anxiety for students paying some of the highest graduate tuition fees in the country, particularly when a TAship is their only form of funding.

Many TAs and contract instructors continue to cope with massive debt accumulated in their undergraduate degrees. Others are caregivers or may have additional financial burdens. Some strikers are nearly finished their degrees and will not be significantly be impacted by the new collective agreement.

But they have voted to strike, if necessary, to fight for fair and just contracts for future workers. Many of these jobs will be filled by current Carleton students hoping to pursue further education at Carleton. Moreover, the achievements obtained here will impact industry standards across the country.

The fight underway on our campus is a fight for adequate standards of living, quality education, and respect in the workplace. A strike can be laborious, tiring, and costly for

all involved, but this is the nature of all important struggles. These sacrifices should be recognized for what they are: honourable.

But the anti-worker rhetoric spewed by much of the public neglects these realities. At Carleton, many have disregarded how the unions on campus have taken a proactive role in advocating for academic amnesty for students in the event of a strike so that they are not penalized for failing to attend classes.

CUPE 4600 has come out officially in support of academic amnesty for students.

A joint political action committee with CUPE 4600 and the Graduate Students’ Association (GSA) has begun circulating a petition advocating for a senate motion that would grant amnesty to students.

The motion is set to be presented at a special Nov. 18 senate meeting on academic amnesty.

Members of Campus United, which includes CUPE 4600, CUPE 2424, the Carleton University Academic Staff Association (CUASA), the Carleton University Students’ Association (CUSA), and the GSA met in the atrium on Nov. 10 for a picket-palooza event, where they made picket signs and collected signatures for the petition.

The GSA and CUSA have voted in favour of providing students with amnesty. In fact, it was the CUSA vice-president of student services who moved an emergency academic amnesty motion at a senate meeting on Oct. 29.

But it was the senate chair, President Roseann Runte, who ruled the motion out of order because of a missed submission deadline, despite the urgency of addressing the issue.

It’s not the unions who are standing in the way of academic amnesty; it’s your university administration.

It’s not the unions who are trying to manipulate students by scaring them with thinly veiled threats.

It was President Runte who sent an email to the Carleton community on Nov. 2 and said, “At the Senate meeting on Friday, there was a request for amnesty for students in the event of labor disruption. While the Senate has a committee charged with emergency responses and procedures, we all sincerely hope that we will not have to test them.”

The administration is trying to scare students, to use their fear to fuel resentment at the unions, and weaken support for the unions’ demands.

But the unions aren’t against students. They’re actually standing up for them.

www.leveller.ca

CommEnT

the Case for aCademiC amnesty or how the administration benefits from having students worry about the costs of a strike by doug nesbitt

wants your letters. please send all letters to

editors.the.leveller@gmail.com

www.leveller.ca

If students are always getting caught in the middle during labour negotiations at Carleton University, then it’s about time a permanent academic amnesty policy be put in place.

Carleton could establish a contingency plan in the rare case of a strike necessitating an extension of the school year or shortening of semesters. This would allow students to plan alternate arrangements, while knowing that their grades would not be affected by a labour dispute.

Protocols allow for planning, and planning is a good antidote to stress.

If this makes sense, the real world doesn’t.

Near the end of October, Carleton University Students’ Association vicepresident student services Sam Heaton introduced an emergency motion for academic amnesty to ensure that in the event of a strike Carleton students wouldn’t be academically penalized for the negative effects of a labour stoppage, whether by faculty, teaching assistants (TAs), librarians, or support staff.

However, President Runte led a successful effort to delay the motion until the Nov. 26 senate meeting – a meeting that will occur after CUPE 2424’s and CUPE 4600’s respective strike deadlines of Nov. 18 and Nov. 22.

Shortly thereafter, Runte sent an email to all Carleton students assuring them that the “administration is bargaining in good faith and I [Runte] remain hopeful that settlements will be reached.”

As for academic amnesty, she wrote, “At the Senate meeting on Friday, there was a request for amnesty for students in the event of labour disruption. While the Senate has a committee charged with emergency responses and procedures, we all sincerely hope that we will not have to test them.”

Only on Nov. 11 did she concede to holding a special Senate meeting on Nov. 18 to consider academic amnesty.

What gives? Doesn’t Runte understand that she’s inducing heart palpitations among 25,000 students for an additional month as they fret about how to cope academically with a strike?

Does she think a vague email, sent during tense

labour negotiations and controversy over student union fees, really instils trust or confidence among students?

It’s enough to ask whether she gives a damn about students at all. Frankly, I don’t think she does. But let’s not make this about her. The problem here is that the administration sits at the bargaining table with the unions, and also on the Senate (and in case you forgot, they’re also raising your tuition fees).

Given the solid strike mandates from the unions, the only chance the administration has in winning this round of bargaining – even if it means provoking a strike – is by turning the public against the unions.

This is where students become essential to the administration’s bargaining strategy.

The strategy is fairly straightforward. The inconveniences and annoyances that will be faced by students – and the unjust penalizations if academic amnesty is not delivered – will be played up in the media, deflecting the public’s attention away from the issues at the bargaining table, the very same issues that have prompted high strike votes.

Carleton’s administration will count on a handful of right-wing student ideologues to organize a publicity campaign in the mainstream media to play up the “plight” of students.

This isn’t some grad student conspiracy cooked up over beers at Mike’s Place.

It has already happened at Carleton and York.

When CUPE 2424 was on strike in September 2007, Carleton’s student unions made a difficult decision to back the labour union. This prompted a handful of students, led by a member of the Campus Conservatives, to work through his local party’s connections to the mainstream media, including Ottawa’s right-wing talk radio, CFRA. They waged a publicity campaign portraying students as the victims of the union – completely ignoring the fact that the strike happened because the administration was demanding concessions from the union despite recordhigh tuition fees.

A refined version of this strategy was implemented at York during the 20082009 TA strike, where Con-

servative students linked up with Tory MPP Peter Shurman to instigate a media campaign vilifying the unions.

Amid the anti-union hysteria whipped up at York and around the OC Transpo strike, Carleton TAs were unable to secure a positive strike mandate from their members during bargaining.

This climate allowed the Carleton administration to demand crippling concessions on tuition increase protection, meaning that half of Carleton’s TAs took pay cuts the following year.

These critical details about how the administration has tried to exact concessions from Carleton employees are not simply avoided by those claiming to look out for student interests, but deliberately ignored in order to fuel an anti-union, proadministration climate.

It’s incumbent upon Carleton students to think critically about why Carleton’s unions are being consistently pushed to the wire in bargaining. Students might also ask why tuition fees, class sizes, and student-teacher ratios are all moving in the wrong direction when it comes to student interests.

For too long the administration has been able to keep students “in play” as a strategy to drag out negotiations, escalate tensions on campus, and manipulate public concerns to undermine Carleton employees.

Many of these problems would be alleviated with a permanent policy of academic amnesty.

The administration could have bargained earlier in the summer when the unions actually gave notice to do so, instead of delaying until the fall when they could use students as a bargaining tool.

Students would be at ease knowing that labour disputes would never hurt their grades. They would consult contingency plans in the event of a strike rather than worrying about the future of their school year.

Whether or not a strike happens this November, Carleton students, as well as all faculty and academic workers, would be wise to work towards a policy of academic amnesty in the event of a strike – if for no other reason than to evoke a response from the administration that would clarify how they finally feel about students.

vol 3, no 2, November 2010 the Leveller 11

THE CANADIAN UNION OF PUBLIC EMPLOYEES LOCAL 4600 !

REPRESENTING TEACHING ASSISTANTS AND CONTRACT INSTRUCTORS AT CARLETON We!re CUPE 4600, representing approximately 2000 Teaching Assistants and Contract Instructors at Carleton University.

We!re here to advocate for our members. But we work for all of you … because our working conditions are your learning conditions.

Together with you, we share a commitment to the highest ideals of postsecondary education — academic freedom, quality and equality.

Together with you, we can work to create a Carleton that lives up these ideals, ensuring you receive the best possible University experience.

We are dedicated to providing you with the knowledge and skills you need to flourish.

To learn more about us, and our vision for post-secondary education, check out our website, Twitter page, Facebook group or just stop by our office in the university centre. Remember, we!re here for you! ! !

For more information, drop by 511A Unicentre, Carleton University Phone 613 520 7482 Email presCUPE4600@gmail.com Visit 4600.CUPE.ca

spoken s n U r tories ou A book launch and Fundraising Event for the sexual Assault support Centre of ottawa Join Us for Spoken Word Poetry, Storytelling and a Celebration of Women’s Resilience!

friday, november 19 6:00 pm 233 Gilmore street (PsAc Building)

Tickets $15 Tickets with an advance copy of the book $35 Tickets available at Mother Tongue Books (613-730-2346), Venus Envy (613-789-4646), Collected Works Bookstore (613-722-1265), U of Ottawa Women’s Resource Centre (613-562-5755), Carleton University GSA (613-520-6616) or from SASC (613-725-2160 ext. 221) If you are not able to attend, please consider buying a ticket for a woman in the community

magazine

The Ottawa Protocol

A Direct Threat to Campus Freedom of Speech, Research, and Action on Israel

by Ajay Parasram and Terry Greenberg The equation of criticism of Israel with anti-Semitism has been underscored by the release of a disturbing new standard for evaluating what constitutes hate speech.

Dubbed the Ottawa Protocol, the document explicitly focuses on universities and in particular the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanction (BDS) movement, in its denunciation of what it calls “The New Anti-Semitism.”

The protocol is the product of the Inter-parliamentary Coalition to Combat AntiSemitism (ICCA), which met in Ottawa on Nov. 8-9. The protocol builds on its founding document, the London Declaration of February 2009.

The ICCA, an ad-hoc organization of parliamentarians around the world, has significant Canadian leadership, including Irwin Cotler, a Liberal MP. At the Ottawa meeting, Prime Minister Stephen Harper, Michael Ignatieff, and over a dozen MPs endorsed the work of the ICCA.

“We should seek to end the parade of one-sided anti-Israel attacks at the UN,” Ignatieff told the ICCA. A few hours before, Harper clarified that “moral ambivalence” is unacceptable. He dismissed a UN Human Rights Council report criticizing Israel last month and told the ICCA in Ottawa that so long as Israel is “singled out for condemnation, I believe we are morally obligated to take a stand.”

Although the Ottawa Protocol stipulates that criticism of Israel is not anti-Semitic, it adds that “singling Israel out for selective condemnation and opprobrium ... is discriminatory and hateful.”

According to Cotler, who is also a law professor, it is antiSemitic to conflate Zionism with racism. He points to the UN Human Rights Council as evidence of institutionalized anti-Semitism, claiming this body has “singled out” Israel for human rights abuses.

Cotler describes this process of using sophisticated legal channels to single out Israel for criticism as “lawfare.”

The logic of the Ottawa Protocol frames those who

criticize Israeli state policy as racist. It includes a clause that states criticism of Israel is acceptable, but then follows that by saying that singling out Israel for criticism is hateful.

This contradictory messaging sets a precedent for the erosion of free speech in the media and especially on university campuses.

The Ottawa Protocol and the London Declaration directly target university and college campuses.

Article 25 of the London Declaration resolves that “education authorities should … protect students and staff from illegal anti-Semitic discourse … including calls for boycotts.”

The Ottawa Protocol has arisen particularly in response to the growing BDS campaign and global criticism of the disproportionate use of violence by the militarily powerful Israeli state.

It defines anti-Semitism in such a way that criticisms of Israel can be defined as hate speech. Under this definition, the Gandhian-infused, nonviolent, and Palestinian-led BDS campaign against Israel

New guidelines for hate speech specifically target the boycott, divestment, and sanctions movement photo by Mike Gifford

is considered “hateful” and “anti-Semitic discourse.”

Kevin Neish, a survivor of the Gaza Flotilla raid, explained, “When I oppose Zionism and I speak against Israeli government policy, I am not being anti-Semitic. I am being anti-racist. I am being anti-oppression. I’m being anti-bully.”

The onus of responsibility should be on Israel to establish its own legitimacy, rather

than relying on its allies to silence the students, activists, journalists, and academics who speak about its human rights abuses.

Israel is not being singled out by the international community; it has singled itself out with its assault on Gaza and, in particular, the crushing of the Gaza Freedom Flotilla leading to the death of nine unarmed activists.

We must turn a critical eye to the work of the ICCA and Canadian parliamentarians who unite to put the defence agenda of a foreign state above academic freedoms and rights to freedom of speech in Canada. The Canadian parliamentarians who are participating in this direct threat to freedom of speech must be exposed, repudiated, and, most importantly, stopped.

The Non-Alternative to No Alternative Levelling with the reality of European university protests

by Tim Winzler European universities were set ablaze in autumn 2009 with demonstrations, occupations of auditoriums, and other forms of protest.

Beginning in Austria and then Germany, the protesters tried to organize against the market-based economic reforms being undertaken by their respective governments. Ultimately, however, the protesters reproduced and mirrored the reforms, illustrating the limitations of the critical reflexes of the European student left.

There is no alternative to autonomy The proposed reforms centred around the imposition of three so-called autonomies – organizational, financial, and labour – shifting the German university from a state-based to market-based framework.

Organizational autonomy means shifting the hitherto self-managed university to a business model.

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It is a power shift from the self-governed professor and university bodies to an externally occupied board of governors, the introduction of general evaluation of staff, and a more hierarchical structure of the institution.

Financial autonomy means more institutional autonomy from state control of how universities allocate funds.

Labour autonomy means casualization of faculty and staff: the proposals call for a dissolution of government regulation in favour of evaluation-based, short-term, project-based payment.

In opposition to the reforms, student protesters demanded their old, selfmanaged university back.

Students want a different autonomy for the education system, one in which the state pays for their education and the endowment of a self-governing university.

The strongest resistance has been to the labour

changes. Students have responded to the proposed reforms with a demand for a huge expansion of tenured professor, research assistant, and teaching assistant positions, and the end of precarious employment at the German university.

In sum, students called for a more democratized university education free from the constraints of neoliberal market logic – a university that would inspire critical citizens who are able to understand and to change the structures around them.

The Limits of Protest The protests have taken some creative and spectacular forms over the past year, including a “credit hunt” (with students fighting each other for balloons symbolizing credits) and “bank robberies” (students blocking bank franchises for a couple of hours), and general civil disobedience.

Despite all the creative and critical energy that the protest arguably had, there

was no real plan to shift from the nasty reality of neoliberalization to the free universal critical education that the protesters wanted.

The movement, in short, was focused and based too much on that utopian moment.

What’s more, its proponents didn’t do the difficult political and theoretical work of coherently articulating their standpoint both politically and historically.

This begins with the name of the protest: the education strike. This falsely equates students with workers protesting for better working conditions in their factory and reinforces what protesters were fundamentally fighting against: that education is a commodity, in this case a wage for the labour that students do as scholars.

Furthermore, the rhetoric of the fight against the economization of education reveals some peculiar similarities with the supposed enemies of the strike,

the politicians and business people. That is, it suggests that education up to now has not been economized at all.

By neglecting to acknowledge former liberalization measures, they present the university as some kind of untouched ivory tower to be protected.

However, the truth is that this never was the case. The foremost goal of universities, in Germany and the rest of Europe, has always been to produce efficient human capital or leaders for the elite. However, in today’s world, the university is becoming increasingly embedded in the fabric of capitalism.

For the student movement there are too many implicit simplistic truths.

Everything “good” is everything that is “critical”: critical reading circles, critical science, critical students.

Anything not labelled critical is automatically considered not critical, or reactionary.

The term “critical” is applied in too many cases dogmatically, to describe what people should think, as opposed to how they should think, disguising rather than revealing the complexity of the situation.

The result is a peculiar reproduction of globalization as an objective necessity by both sides: the brutal neoliberal logic of TINA (there is no alternative) is answered by an equally unreflective logic of ANTI: a simple opposition to change with no idea how to get (back) to an imagined utopia.

Canadian students shouldn’t gaze in too much awe across the Atlantic at their European counterparts. In order to transform the realities of the university institution, you first have to understand how they work and develop your strategies out of that knowledge. Or, as Bertholt Brecht said, only the lessons of reality can teach us how to transform reality.

vol 3, no 2, November 2010 The Leveller 13

culture

Makers of the Corporation as world unite Psychopath Self-reliance on display at the Canadian debut of the Mini-Makers Faire

by Joseph Hutt I Love the Smell of Solder in the Morning… …Smells Like Ingenuity The Mini-Makers Faire is a coming together of modern inventors, men and women willing to prove that the world isn’t as handsoff and prepackaged as it’s made out to be.

It aims to introduce and educate the public about their own abilities, and how to use the resources that are, even now, floating in the ether, waiting to be utilized.

Showing people the final product is all well and good, but teaching them how to get to that point themselves is invaluable.

As the saying goes, “Teach a man to fish....”

Already a growing trend in the United States, the Mini-Makers Faire has finally made its Canadian debut at Ottawa Arts Court, Nov. 6-7.

For a first run, the turnout was impressive. With over 15 talented makers and stunningly handcrafted exhibits, the two rooms annexed by the event offer a feast for the eyes and the mind.

This is thanks, in large part, to Emily Daniels. Formerly of Boston, Massachusetts, Emily has successfully transplanted this aspect of the DIY/maker revolution into the heart of Canada, thanks to support from friends, fellow makers, and hackers back in Boston and the O’Reilly Media, a US company that gives the public access to new ideas and innovations from all walks of technology through online services, video tutorials, and technical manuals. “[Ottawa] is very beautiful,” says Emily, “but can be very hands off. It’s good to have an event like this to show how many people are willing to take something and make it their own.”

Already, there are rumours of cities like Vancouver and Toronto hopping on the homemade bandwagon to host their own makers’ fair.

One way of looking at events like this is to see them as an exhibition of the art of skill, as opposed to a skill at art. While all the exhibits had their artistic allure, they still retained a sense of functionality, of purpose.

Andrew Argyle (glowingtech.com) showed the digital clocks he had made out of old Soviet Nixie

typewriter programmed to print out twitter updates Photo by Emily Daniels

vacuum tubes. With their finely crafted wooden frames and retro attitudes, they were wonderful dichotomies of form and function. There were also several exhibitors showing off robots of plastic and wire, and enterprising cyclists who brought their personal rides, alien devices welded from familiar shapes, Frankenstein contraptions of the modern age.

Nigel, of z12projects. blogspot.com, even brought maps of Ottawa’s bike trails, which he had digitally mapped according to ruggedness. He also had with him his handmade charcoal barbecue and mechanical bat wings.

There were also exhibits of a more fun nature. Mari Tsylke, all the way from Ontario College of Art and Design, had with her a small wardrobe of LED jackets and electrically modded costumes, while in the next room, Eric Boyd (sensebridge.net) promoted his Heartspark Pendant, a heart-shaped microchip that flashes to the beat of your heart.

By far the most interesting inventions were the Twitter-type-writers, put together by Dr. Dub and Maxster (foulab.org). Through their own ingenuity, they actually programmed these devices to continuously print Twitter updates. By the end of the weekend, to the rhythm of self-typing keys, the rafters were decked with long stretches of Twittered teletype paper.

But perhaps most impressive of all is the fact that, as all of the makers exhibited in their own way, these things can all be made by the average person. As

14 The Leveller vol 3, no 2, November 2010

boggling as it seems, with all the advances that have been made in the open source movement, we all have the resources and technology to make just about anything we cared to.

Society could very well be in a position to start weaning itself from the corporate teat, moving away from this reliance, and learning to do these things itself.

It seems so simple, but it has yet to become a reality. As Gordie Bilkey, one of the 3-D printer operators present at the fair, said, “It’s not because people are lazy.

They just don’t know how to [make things] anymore.”

To a large degree, the world of creation has been turned into something intimidating and complex, but these movements towards an open source society, movements like Maker Faires that strive to teach people and destroy preconceptions of inability, are illustrating the current transition to a simpler, universally accessible world.

Gordie goes on to say that he believes that they really are connecting with the public during events like this; this is “the human component of open source.”

When people are confronted by ideas like these, ones that highlight their own personal potential, “a light goes on that you just don’t see when they go buy a laptop.”

Even though this year’s Makers Faire is over and done, the hope is to make this an annual event, and on top of the myriad devices that I didn’t mention, there’s an entire year’s worth of inspiration before the next one.

by Lequanne Collins-Bacchus

Half a century ago, we knew the names of the milkman, the baker, and the local farmers who provided our groceries, but nowadays standing in line at the supermarket or at a fast food restaurant have become comatose activities.

In their 2003 film The Corporation, Mark Achbar and Jennifer Abbott liken the power of corporations to the past power of institutions such as the Church.

They explore how the nature of corporations has changed, as corporations have moved from historically operating under a government charter to being endowed with the legal rights of a person.

The movie was based on law professor Joel Bakan’s book The Corporation: The Pathological Pursuit of Profit and Power.

It cheekily asks, what kind of person is the corporation? Is it the friend who brings you chicken soup when you are sick, the one you can get drunk with on a Saturday night, or a study buddy? Hardly.

The corporation is more likely to be the misanthropic, shifty recluse – or more specifically, as the book proposes, a psychopath.

The Corporation plays the role of a psychiatrist as it evaluates the symptoms of its patient. It moves through the psychopathic behaviours cited in the psychiatric bible Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders,

checking each one off as it is confirmed by evidence.

For example, reckless disregard for the safety of others is evidenced by the inhumane conditions in sweatshops.

The corporate personality is analyzed using archival footage, interviews, and a compelling narrative.

Interviews with scholars, CEOs, whistleblowers, activists, and brokers provide a balance between the viewpoints of critics and corporatists. Among the critics are Noam Chomsky, Naomi Klein, and Michael Moore.

Capitalist viewpoints are shared by figures, such as, Milton Friedman, Peter Drucker, and Chris Barrett, the first corporate-sponsored student in America.

The documentary focuses on the bigger issues that will arise in the future if this system continues unabated.

The strength of this film lies in reporting specific cases of psychopathy, such as attempts to privatize water, IBM’s provision of computers for Nazi accounting, and the cutting of important stories by Fox News to the detriment of the public good.

While it may not be a wake up call to some, these reports definitely calls our attention back to the issue.

Avoiding a caricatured image of CEOs, The Corporation understands that it is not corporatists that have an ethical and moral malaise; it is the system itself.

Most notably, the CEOs of major corporations seem to be genuinely concerned about environmental and

human rights issues.

The psychopathic corporation does not suffer a mens rea for its crimes.

Such is the nature of corporate bureaucracy, where organizational structures hold power over individuals.

Hence, the hope lies in the goodness of individuals challenging the structures of corporatism.

Avoiding a caricatured image of CEOs, The Corporation understands that it is not corporatists that have an ethical and moral malaise; it is the system itself.

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culture

The Best Place by the Fire was Saved for the Storyteller

by Joseph Hutt When simply plopping a disk into a console can have you bathing in the finely rendered blood of your enemies or emulating lives infinitely stranger than your own, who wants to take the time to sit back and look on as someone paints an entire world with the colours of your imagination?

Beyond bedtime stories and tall tales told to friends, little is seen of the storyteller in this age of electronics.

The use of audio books is on the rise, but it simply isn’t the same. Audio books are convenient because they can be listened to while the mind is unfocused, rooted in things far more mundane.

There is no intimacy and no human connection when standing around with a pair of headphones jammed in your ears. Still, the act of being read to is rare, as is the irreplaceable connection between the listener and the greatest of storytellers.

The Ottawa Storytellers (OST) aim to change that.

With the Ottawa International Writers Festival and the Canadian Festival of Spoken Word now mere memories in black and white, the Ottawa International Storytelling Festival held on Nov. 18-21 is next in line to carry away our imaginations to worlds iconic and familiar, bizarre, and new, returning again after 20 years of stories and success.

This year, the OST has broken the mould of its for-

The World is Quiet Here....

by Joseph Hutt

NEWFOUNDLAND AUTHOR ANITA BEST

mative years. Caitlyn Paxson, the managing artistic director, says, “[We’ve taken] a new direction for the festival. After... following a small and successful… model, we decided to make a splash and bring in international and Canadian stars of the storytelling scene.

Our goal is to show what a dynamic and exciting art form storytelling can be.”

While the storytelling festival isn’t the largest literary festival that Ottawa plays host to, it has attracted quite a line-up for all those ready to listen.

Perhaps most notable is Ben Haggarty, a figurehead in the revival of professional storytelling. He will be there to present “The Blacksmith at the Bridge of Bones,” an

intriguing and dark fairy tale and re-envisioning of Frankenstein, in concert with live music to draw the mind even deeper into Frankenstein’s world.”

Anita Best, who celebrates the history and culture of Newfoundland, Ivan Coyote, a storyteller from the Yukon, and Tim Tingle, a Choctaw Nation storyteller, will also be featured.

Furthermore, for those entranced by the words and worlds of these modern bards, they will be hosting workshops to help you find your own voice and your own story to pass on the tradition of this ancient art.

One of the most intriguing events is the Story Slam.

On Nov. 21, contestants will

take what they’ve learned over the weekend and recite from memory a five-minute story of their own, be it personal or fairy tale, fictive or non. There will even be a free workshop, hosted by Ruthanne Edward, to help you get ready.

Whether performing or listening, it’s a night not to be missed, and who knows, perhaps you will be the one to leave with the bragging rights.

The literary culture of Ottawa is a diverse and growing organism, and the only way to truly experience it is to immerse yourself in it. As Paxson says, there is a “narrative that connects us all.”

So, come out, be a part of Ottawa’s culture, and enjoy being read to once again.

What’s the first thing you think of when you hear the words “Ottawa literary scene”?

Like as not, the closest most students will get to the Ottawa literary community will be the scribblings on washroom stalls.

As far as campus publicity goes, there is a somewhat dire lack of literary representation. While the Ottawa literary scene thrives, it thrives unseen, and it seems like there is no easy, viable way for the student populations of Carleton University and the University of Ottawa to reach out and learn about it.

Although there have been articles describing the literary scene’s underground nature, what use is describing a locked door without offering a key? Of speaking of a socalled “literary culture” and yet doing nothing to secure access to it?

It’s pointless, and unless you read the right blog or make the right Facebook friend, it can be difficult to immerse yourself in the words woven behind closed doors. So, here is the first attempt to crack the ribs of the Ottawa literary scene and let you touch the throbbing heart of it, to prove that it isn’t something reserved for secret societies or the intellectual elite.

There’s a growing literary history out there, just waiting for you to experience it and leave your mark.

Bywords.ca, Your OneStop Shop for All Things Literary There is no debate that the best place to begin your literary vision quest is bywords.ca. It is a treasure trove of ample resources, particularly the events calendar that the co-founders, Amanda and Charles Earl, have kept updated since January 2003.

With some of the best literary events being spread by word of mouth amidst obscure literary circles, bywords. ca gives you the chance to find these events and shed some of that obscurity from those circles that call Ottawa home, or some poetic derivation thereof.

This is only a fraction of the services that bywords.ca provides. A literary hub, the

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site receives all kinds of information from publishers, literary journals, and writers.

Information on upcoming literary exhibitions, book releases, calls for submissions, contests, and workshops is then made available to you, if only you look. The Earls place it all at your fingertips.

They also tout local poetry on their site. So on top of getting a taste of what Ottawa’s poets are doing, you can wet your quill and submit your own poetry for the chance to be featured on the front page of bywords.ca, or even published in the Bywords Quarterly Journal.

Well worth the seconds it takes to write “bywords.ca” in your address bar.

blUe mOndays For those with an urge to listen and perform, blUe mOnday is well worth checking out. It takes place on the third Monday of the month at Café Nostalgica. This reading series is hosted and organized by Sean Moreland, a University of Ottawa professor and poet, and Aaron Kozak, the president of the Undergraduate English Students’ Association (UESA).

Moreland said their goal is to try and bring the university and literary cultures closer together, giving students the opportunity to experience and talk to local poets, authors, and musicians who have made an impression.

The November edition will feature “the f-ing poets,” a poetry collective from the University of Ottawa , the UESA 48-Hour Novella Contest winner, The Companionship Registry, a local musician, and all writers or musicians that sign up for the open mic segment. blUe mOnday is a relatively new, but well-planned reading series, and unlike some of the others in Ottawa, it actually attracts a student audience. This has a lot to do with the effective publicity around campus and via Facebook, and the fact that Café Nostalgica, known for its good food and atmosphere, is at the centre of the University of Ottawa.

So if you’re on the hunt for something different to do on a Monday night, check out blUe mOnday at Café Nostalgica.

vol 3, no 2, November 2010 The Leveller 15

Listings TUES Nov 16 TALK: Alex Neve - “Observing the Trial of Omar Khadr at Guantanamo.” University of Ottawa Desmarais Bldg Rm 3120. 2-4pm.

MEETING: CUPE 4600 general membership, followed by CUPE 4600 and 2424 social.

360 Tory, Carleton U, 5pm.

MEETING: CLASS is organizing a meeting for everyone willing to fight for respect and power for students and workers. Carleton University Centre, Becamps Rm 314 (by Travelcuts). 7pm.

LANGUAGE: HOLAS Sharing Languages (Portuguese). Free and for all levels. Carleton Atrium (couches). 5-7pm.

MUSIC: The Trews, Tim Chaisson. Capital Music Hall, 8pm.

WED nov 17 TALK: Social Justice Speakers Series Lecture. University of Ottawa Fauteux Bldg Rm 351.

11:30am-1pm.

TALK: Séverine Autesserre “The Trouble with the Congo: Local Violence and the Failure of International Peacebuilding.” Desmarais Bldg Rm 3120.

12-2pm.

FILM: “Afghan Star.” 1st Annual Afghan Film Festival.

University of Ottawa Sports Complex (801 King Edward Rd) Rm E217. 6pm.

DEBATE: Debate and 2010 AGM Friends of the Greenspace Alliance. 140 Mann Ave (lobby). 6:30-9:30pm.

TALK: Brother William Chamagua - “Community Radio and Freedom of Speech in El Salvador.“ UOttawa, 121 MacDonald Hall, 7-10 pm.

TALK: “The Dynamic Brain.”

Annual Gerhard Herzberg Lecture. Carleton U, 2000 Minto, 7:30-8:30 pm.

CONCERT: 21st Ottawa Storytelling Festival. ‘Rolling Way the Rock’ – Tim Tingle. $20.

Saint Brigid’s Center, 7-9pm.

CONCERT: 21st Ottawa Storytelling Festival. ‘Vernacular Spectacular!’ $10. Saint Brigid’s Center. 10pm-12am.

MOVIE: “In Sickness and In Health.” Divergence Movie Night. Free. Raw Sugar Café, 692 Somerset St. W, 8pm.

DANCE: 90s rave and club retrospective with DJs Rayaz and Peter Swail. $7. Mercury Lounge, 56 Byward Square, 10pm.

TALK: “Climate Change: Moral Wrongdoing by the Developed World.” Peter Singer. $20. Dominion Chalmers United Church, 355 Cooper St. 8pm.

SAT nov 20

CONCERT: 21st Ottawa Storytelling Festival. ‘You Are Here’ --Ivan Coyote. $20, $15 for members of OST/Mayfair.

Mayfair Theatre. 7-9pm.

FILM: “Osama.” 1st Annual Afghan Film Festival. U Ottawa, 1120 Desmarais. 11:30am.

FILM: “Animal Kingdom.”

21st Ottawa Storytelling Festival. Mayfair Theatre, 9:30pm.

MUSIC: Evening Hymns, Giant Hand, and Jon Amor. $7.

Umi Cafe, 610 Somerset St. W., 8pm.

ART: Lori Richards New Works 2010. Runs Nov. 20-Dec. 8.

Wall Space Gallery, 358 Richmond Road.

RALLY: Transgender Day of Remebrance. Ottawa Police Headquarters, 474 Elgin, then march to Parliament Hill, then vigil at Human Rights monument, 1-9pm.

WORKSHOP: OAG Family Worshop. Clothing reconstruction workshop with artist Karina Bergmans. Ottawa Art Gallery. 1-4pm.

WORKSHOP: Winterize your bike with the SFUO Bike Coop, UOttawa, 200 Lees Ave., room A105, 6:30pm-9:30pm.

MUSIC: The Grapes of Wrath, the Heartbroken. Ritual, 137 Besserer, 8pm.

FILM: “Waterlife” (Cinema Politica). The Great Lakes are changing and something’s not quite right with the water. Location TBA. 7pm.

FRI nov 19 RADIO: Algonquin College radio-thon to raise money for CHEO, 1-9pm.

FILM: “Playing the Taar.” 1st Annual Afghan Film Festival.

UOttawa , 1120 Desmarais.

4pm.

LAUNCH: Carleton Equal Voice Chapter Official Launch and Reception. $5. Fresco’s Bistro, 354 Elgin St., 7-9pm.

TALK: “Interpreting Frankenstein.“ Free. Saint Brigid’s Centre, 310 Saint Patrick, 1pm.

FILM: “Earth and Ashes.” 1st Annual Afghan Film Festival.

UOttawa, 1120 Desmarais.

6pm.

FILM: German Film Series Geboren in Absurdistan, Regie: Houchang Allhyari, Farbe, 1999. University of Ottawa Fauteux Bldg Rm 359. 8-9:30pm.

TALK: “Résurgence des nationalismes dans l’ex-Union soviétique.” Stéphane Courtois. UOttawa, 83 Pavillon Tabaret. 2pm.

MUSIC: Chasse-Galerie concert with Andrea Lindsay. Free. Bistro 1848. 8-11pm.

TALK: “Do peer effects mitigate social dilemmas? Evidence from a field experiment.” Mathieu Chemin.

UOttawa, 10161 Desmarais.

2:30-4:30pm.

FUNDRAISER: It’s fun to be Ukrainian Zabava 2010. Live music by Zirka, traditional dinner and performances by Svitanok. Ukrainian Orthodox Hall.

6pm.

THEATRE: “Martin Yesterday.”

Matt, a 30-something comic book artist begins a relationship with a well-known gay politician. Runs Nov. 17-20.

Art’s Court Theatre, 2 Daly Ave., 8pm.

THURS nov 18 CONFERENCE: Advancing Democracy and Social Justice in Canada -- The Next 30 Years.

Conference at University of Ottawa and Gala Dinner at the Chateau Laurier to celebrate CCPA’s 30th anniverary. Special student/low income price available.

MEETING: The Carleton University Senate will discuss academic amnesty for students.

Senate Room, Robertson Hall, 2pm.

TALK: John Soares - “Hockey is One of the Milder Forms of the Cold War - Except When the Canadians are Playing: Canada in (and out of) international hockey, 1948-1976.” Carleton Loeb Bldg Rm A602. 2:30-4pm.

SALSA: HOLAS (The Humanitarian Organization of Latin American Students). Free. Carleton Atrium. Beginners - 5pm; Intermediate - 5:45pm.

TALK: Institute of African Studies ‘Africa Dialogue Series’. Dr. Pius Adesanmi. “Fifty Hearty Cheers for the Habit of Underdevelopment: On the 50th Anniversary Celebrations in Africa.” Carleton Paterson Hall Rm 303. 5:30-7:30 pm.

LANGUAGE: HOLAS Sharing Languages (Spanish). Free and for all levels. Carleton U, 202 Tory. 4-5:30pm.

FUNDRAISER: A book launch and fundraiser for the Sexual Assault Support Centre of Ottawa. Spoken word and storytelling. $15. PSAC Bldg, 233 Gilmour St. 6pm.

FILM: “Return to Kandahar.”

1st Annual Afghan Film Festival. UOttawa Sports Complex, Rm E217. 6pm.

CONCERT: 3rd Annual HOT ROCKS’ oncert. Hosted by Carleton`s Geographic Association. $7 in advance, $10 at door, $8 w/canned food. Carleton U, Oliver’s. 8:30pm.

BOOK LAUNCH AND SPOKEN WORD: Fundraiser for the Sexual Assault Support Centre (SASC). Readings from “Our Unspoken Stories: The Stories of Butterflies.” Spoken word by Danielle K.L. Grégoire, Nadine Thornhill, Jessica Ruano, Faye Estrella, and Michelle Blackburn. Silent auction. Tickets $15 from Mother Tongue, Venus Envy, Collected Works Bookstore, UOttawa Women’s Resource Centre, Carleton University GSA, and SASC. 233 Gilmore St. (PSAC building), 6-9:30pm.

WORKSHOP: 21st Ottawa Storytelling Festival. ‘Talking the Talk’: Ivan Coyote. $30, $20 for members. Saint Brigid’s Center. 9am-12pm.

FILM: “Three Dots.” 1st Annual Afghan Film Festival. UOttawa, 1120 Desmarais. 2:30pm.

DANCE: Salsaria. Workshop 8-9pm. Social dancing 9pm-1am. $8 for social and complimentary workshop. Preston Hall, Plant Recreation Centre, 930 Somerset St. W, 8pm-1am.

WORKSHOP: 21st Ottawa Storytelling Festival. ‘Iconoclastic Telling’ -- Tim Tingle. $30, $20 for members. Saint Brigid’s Center. 9am-12 pm.

WORKSHOP: 21st Ottawa Storytelling Festival. ‘5 Minute Story Slam Workshop’ – Ruthanne Edward. FREE. Saint Brigid’s Center. 1-5pm.

CONCERT: 21st Ottawa Storytelling Festival. ‘Frankenstein’ – Ben Haggarty and Sianed Jones. $20.

Saint Brigid’s Center. 7-9pm.

CONCERT: 21st Ottawa Storytelling Festival. ‘Traditional Tales’ – Tim Tingle. $10. Saint Brigid’s Center. 10-11pm.

SUN nov 21 WORKSHOP: 21st Ottawa Storytelling Festival. ‘The Storyteller’ – Ben Haggarty. $30, $20 for members. Saint Brigid’s Center.

9am-12pm.

MON nov 22 TALK: Forum Lecture Series featuring Mirko Zardini of Canadian Centre for Architecture. Free.

National Art Gallery. 6-7pm.

WORKSHOP: SLOWest learning series: Ecological Home Renovations. 1065 Wellington St. West (upstairs classroom).

6:30-8pm.

TUES nov 23 LANGUAGE: HOLAS Sharing Languages (Portuguese). Free and for all levels. Carleton Atrium (couches). 5-7pm.

TALK: “Peak Oil and the Fate of Humanity.” Peak Oil Discussion Group. Montgomery Legion (downstairs), 330 Kent St. 7-9pm.

TALK: “The Dark Secret of the Universe.” An experimental physicist will describe how we discovered that the universe is predominantly made of dark matter and the ways in which we are trying to understand what dark matter is. Carleton U, 360 Tory. 7-8:30pm.

WED nov 24 TALK: “Tweet & Shout: How New Media is Shakin’ Up Journalism. “Carleton U, 100 St. Patrick’s. 6-9pm.

TALK: “Painting tumors with proton beams: A novel and precise way to treat cancer.” Science Cafe. Dr. Gabriel Sawakuchi.

Wild Oat Cafe, 817 Bank St., 6:30-7:30pm.

TALK: “Food, Environment & Governance.” Just Food in connection with The People’s Food Policy Project presents the Cross-Country Kitchen Table Talks.

Dominion Chalmers United Church, 355 Cooper St. 7-9pm.

FILM: “Earthlings” (Cinema Politica). The film chronicles the day-to-day practices of the largest industries in the world, which rely entirely on animals for profit. Location TBA. 7pm.

COMEDY: Ottawa Comix Jam. Shanghai Restaurant, 651 Somerset St. W. 7-10pm.

MEETING: Ottawa Assembly. Decisions to be made on the basis of unity, a general organizational framework, and a proposal being put forward by the Planning Committee for next steps. 233 Gilmour St. (PSAC), 6-9pm.

TALK: “The State and StateSociety Relations in Pre-Genocide Rwanda’.” African Studies Brownbag Seminar Series talk with Marie-Eve Desrosiers. Carleton U, History Lounge, 433 Paterson, 1-2:20pm.

TALK: “Smart Grid, Renewables, Electric Mobility: When to use your dishwasher or recharge electric vehicles?” Dr. Harmut Schmeck. Carleton Germany Climate Day. Carleton U, 303 Paterson. 5-6pm.

SALSA: HOLAS. Free. Carleton Atrium, beginners 5pm, intermediate 5:45pm.

POETRY: Readings from William Hawkins, Leigh Nash, and Peter Gibbon. Raw Sugar Cafe.

8pm.

TALK: Environmental Law Speakers Series. UOttawa, 351 Fauteux. 11:30am-1pm.

FILM: “A Jihad for Love” (Cinema Politica). Muslim gay filmmaker Parvez Sharma risks personal safety to tell the stories of queer muslims all over the world. Location TBA. 7pm.

MUSIC: Arkells, the Reason.

Capital Music Hall, 8pm.

ART: “Snow is listening,” by Jimmie Sepulis. Imagery of girls, love, and snow. Runs Dec. 1-30. Venus Envy, 320 Lisgar, 7:30pm.

FRI nov 26

THURS dec 2

LANGUAGE: HOLAS Sharing Languages (Spanish). Free and for all levels. Carleton U, 202 Tory. 4-5:30pm.

SHOW: Magic night at UOttawa. $10. Alumni Auditorium.

8pm.

TALK: “La fabrique des identités religieuses dans.” Danièle Hervieu-Léger. UOttawa, 125 Simard. 4-7pm.

FRI dec 3

MUSIC: Trio Bruxo-samba soul jazz bossa funk. $10. Mercury Lounge, 56 Byward Square, 7pm.

ART: SKETCH, a holiday fundraiser for SAW Gallery. Affordable art, DJs, doorprizes. $5.

SAW Gallery, 67 Nicholas, 8pm.

DANCE: Queer women’s slowdance. $8. Shanghai Restaurant, 651 Somerset St. W, 10pm.

SAT nov 27 TALK: “Free Palestine, Free Afghanistan, Free Speech.” George Galloway. $10. Bronson Centre.

2pm.

ART: Crush, a series of intimate photographs by Drasko Bogdanovic. Experience the unspoken homoerotic. La Petite Mort Gallery, 306 Cumberland St., 7pm.

SUN NOV 28 Rent the movie “Matewan.”

MON nov 29 RALLY: Free Our Fees. The Board of Governors is withholding student union fees. There will be sign making in the Atrium, then students with go to Robertson Hall to call upon the Board to immediately release the fees.

Atrium, 4th Floor Unicentre, Carleton U, 3-6pm.

TUES nov 30

RALLY: Support unjustly convicted John Moore in his struggle against the racist justice system.

Parliamentary gallery, 2pm.

FILM: “Third World Canada.”

Ottawa premiere. With discussion to follow. Engage with National Chief Shawn A-in-chut Atleo, participants in the film from remote Kitchenuhmaykoosib Inninuwug), and Gemini-nominee local filmmaker, Andrée Cazabon. Tickets $15.

To reserve seat and pay ata door, email andree@andreecazabon. ca. National Arts Center, 53 Elgin Street, 7:30pm.

TALK: “Escaping Psychology: a Sociology of Anxiety and Emotion.” Alan Hunt. Carleton U, A720 Loeb. 3:30pm.

editors.the. leveller@gmail.com

THURS nov 25

WED dec 1

MUSIC: University of Ottawa Orchestra. Pay what you can. Saint Brigid’s Centre.

8-10pm.

WORKSHOP: Sex Work 201, with the Pro-Choice Coalition of Ottawa. Goal of creating an informed sex-positive position statement. AIDS Committee of Ottawa, 251 Bank St., 5-8pm.

ART: “The Infidels,” curated

by Guy Berube. The word “infidel” is reborn with a new vibrancy to embrace aesthetic practices puncturing the sanctuary of the body. Runs Dec. 3-28. La Petite Mort Gallery, 306 Cumberland St., 7pm.

SAT DEC 4 Read “Memory of Fire” by Eduardo Galeano.

SUN dec 5 MUSIC: “Music for Two Pianos “featuring John Dapaah & Matt Edwards. $10 ($5 students) Carleton U, Loeb Studio A. 7-8pm.

MON dec 6 Take a moment to remember the Montreal Massacre of 1989, where 14 female engineering students were murdered by an unstable misogynist.

Tues dec 7 TALK: Jennifer Kolari, author of “Connected Parenting.” $10. Octopus Books, 7:30pm.

wed dec 8 TALK: Dr. Rowan Thomson discusses radiation treatments for cancer. Science Cafe. Wild Oat Cafe, 817 Bank St., 6:307:30pm.

THURS dec 9 LIGHTNING BOLT!

CONCERT: 21st Ottawa Storytelling Festival: PARTICIPATORY CONCERT. ‘Story Slam!’ Free.

Saint Brigid’s Center. 2-5pm.

CONCERT: 21st Ottawa Storytelling Festival. ’Stories and Songs of Newfoundland’ – Anita Best. $20. Saint Brigid’s Center. 7-9pm.

CONCERT: 21st Ottawa Storytelling Festival. ‘The Blacksmith at the Bridge of Bones’ – Ben Haggarty. $10. Saint Brigid’s Center. 10-11pm.

Be one. Get stuff done.