THEMCGILL TRIBUNE Tuesday, November
11,
1986
Published by the Students' Society of McGill University
Volume 6, Issue 10 >
Council Opens Up
Longtime activist Abbie Hoffman spoke at McGill on the apparent paralysis of student activism. See Remembrance Day Feature, page 4 & 5.
Refusenik Describes Religious Oppression by Tanya Van Valkenburg "The third largest Jewish community in the world is dying." As the week of the Vienna Conference On Human Rights drew to a close, M cGill was allowed a brief view, through a discus sion headed by Soviet Refusenik Yakov
Gorodetsky, of one of the worst viola tions of the 1975 Helsinki accord. A Refusenik, as indicated by the name, is a Soviet citizen — usually a Jew or a Ger man, as these are the only nationalities who can claim a homeland outside the Soviet Union — who applies repeatedly
Hunger Strike Ends by Marc Wills The hunger strike of three Native inmates at the maximum-security Edmon ton Institution came to an end last Wednesday as prison officials approved their release into the general prison population. W illiam Blake, Dennis Okeynan and Wesley Crowe were observing a "spiritual fast" to protest their segregation from the main body of the prison population. Sepp Tschierschwitz, Warden at the Edmonton Institution, told the Tribune that he had set the date of the inmates' release previous to their hunger strike and they "they would have been released last week anyway," regardless of the strike. Blake, Okeynan and Crowe were placed in segregation along with six other Native inmates last August 24 after the slaying of inmate Richard Roche in the prison yard. Two inmates Robert Pelletier and Phil Bearshirt were charged with the murder. Their trial date will be set in December. The concern of Native and prisoners' rights groups across the continent was the continued "administrative dissociation” of Blake, Okeynan and Crowe and others who were not actually charged with the murder. The inmates in volved are all members of the Native Brotherhood, an organization of Natives who practice traditional spiritual beliefs within the prison system. It was thought that their segregation was an attempt by prison officials to crush the Native Brotherhood in the Edmonton Institution. But Warden Tschierschwitz denied this charge and maintained that all tradi tional Native inmates had access to their elders and to their pipe ceremonies. The Tribune was told that Blake, Okeynan and Crowe and others had been placed in segregation after the slaying of Roche for "the good order of the prison." Blake and Okeynan started their fast on October 22nd. Crowe joined them on October 28th. All three ceased, taking in water a few days after starting their fasts. Reports from Edmonton last week said Okeynan and Blake had lost up to 50 pounds each. But Warden Tschierschwitz stated that Blake had only lost 22 pounds and could not disclose the weight losses of Crowe and Okeynan. Okeynan was placed in the Institution hospital on October 30th because of "a psychological condition." Tschierschwitz said Okeynan would soon be transferred to a facility in Saskatoon for further examinations. Support for the inmates in their hunger strike came from Edmonton, Toron to, Sudbury and even Kansas City in the form of letters, phone calls, sweatlodge ceremonies and solidarity fasts. In Montreal six individuals fasted for three days to raise public awareness of the inmates' plight.
for an exit visa, and whose application is refused again and again. Gorodetsky, who first applied for an exit visa in 1980, became a leader of the Soviet Jewish resistance until he was ask ed to leave the Soviet Union in February of this year. After settling in Israel with his family, he has spent the last two and a half months touring through North A m erica, trying to make Jewish organizations and people in general more aware of the unique nature of discrimination against Jews in the Soviet Union. Without negating the degree of persecution of other religious groups, Gorodetsky illustrated the shocking ex tent to which the government is prepared to go to decrease the influence of religion over the people, an influence which the government feels leads to non-conformity, and is consequently subversive. Gorodetsky described the situation of the Soviet Jewry in his lecture and in an interview with the Tribune. According to Gorodetsky there are 1 700 000 Jews in the Soviet Union, 300,000 of whom live in Moscow. In Moscow there is.one synagogue which, naturally, is controlled by the KGB. If a professional or a student tries to attend this place of worship regularly, he will lose his job or status as a student after the second or third visit. The paradox is that "even if (a Jew) does not want to be Jewish, he cannot get rid of the sign in his passport" which indicates that he is a Jew. Many other examples of Soviet anti semitism abound. For instance antisemitic posters and books, spread through schools and the work-place, depict Jews as being worse than Nazis, and declare that "the United States is in sp ire d by the W o rld Je w ish C o m m u n ity." These are coupled, however, with a suspicion of religions in general: propaganda equates Rabbis and priests alike with the CIA, espionage and anti-sovietism. Both Jewish and Christian activists are dealt with very harshly. Activism in this continued on page 3
by Jennifer Mori and Tribune News Staff "It's the best way to be conscious of student opinion," stated Chris Lawson, Daily News Editor, proposing a motion that Council hold regular General Assemblies. Should the motion be ratified by Council tomorrow, M cGill's first General Assembly in almost twenty years w ill be held in three weeks. The difference between a Students' General Assembly and last Thursday's Open Council meeting is that motions passed at Open Council are not policy motions. The resolutions passed at Open Council will be ratified at tomorrow's regular Council meeting, while motions passed by a General Assembly would be immediately binding. Lawson also proposed that the agenda be pu b licized w ell in advance. "Students don't know what is going on," said Mike Cordon. "Council should publicize proposals to be ratified at the General Assembly so students know what is going on." The General Assembly question arose out of the province-wide controversy over tuition fee increases and loans and bursaries. Both issues were discussed at Open Council. "The petition opposing tuition fee in creases collected 1,592 votes in three days," Gordon commented. "I think that is a very conservative estimate of what people think." He proposed that Studsoc take a position against tuition fee in creases to guarantee the accessibility of education. A member of the Gallery found it "disgraceful and dangerous" that Coun cil did not reconsider the petition before presenting the brief to the Parliamentary Commission. Melissa Gopnik, speaking from the floor, stated that Council had in fact "reconsidered it many, many times." Gordon then moved that further con sideration on tuition increases be on the
ballot ip next spring's elections. Both motions passed. Lawson then proposed that Council accept the twenty-one point Association nationale d'Étudiant-es-s du Québec (ANEQ) loans and bursaries platform as its policy. Luc Joli-Coeur, last year's VP External, added that the proposals, though laudable, "would be difficult to implement." He amended the motion to state that Studsoc consider, not adopt, the ANEQ proposals. "I am against forc ing Council to accept the proposals,” said Gopnik. "M any of us have not read or really thought about the proposals. We should refer the motion to Council and attend the next meeting to see how it is discussed." The amended motion passed 22 to 14. The prospect of joining ANEQ was discussed. "No one ever explained to students why they should join a federa tion," said David Schulze from the Gallery. "If we are going to put the issue to referendum we must make sure there is intelligent debate." Ian Brodie, SSMU VP External, acknowledged everything Schulze said; "I take responsibility that students weren't educated about these issues," in the last referendum which considered joining the other student federation RAEU. Another Gallery member proposed that students re-affirm their position in regard to the athletics complex at the spring referendum. The decision to build the complex was taken by the Board of Governors in 1984 and fees of $15 per student per semester have been col lected since 1984. "W e are still paying and we don't have a complex," said the same Gallery member; "W e may have nothing before 1991." Brodie stated that nothing could be done until the results of the municipal election are determin ed. At press time, these were still unknown. continued on page 3
No D a ily Hierarchy? by Michèle Dupuis On Monday November third the M cCill Daily finally filled the recently vacated position of editor-in-chief with former News Editor Joe Heath — or did they? "I've been elected editor-in-chief but (the Daily) has not gone through the technicalities to change the name," said Heath. Heath was referring to the consensus within the Daily staff to change the title of Editor-In-Chief to Coor dinating Editor. Heath replaces Adam Quastel who resigned from the position in early Oc tober for personal reasons. "The idea (to create the position of coordinating editor) is to get someone to do the work of coordinating the different departments and someone to take responsibility for the overall organization" of the Daily, said Heath. When told of Heath's election to the position, Daily Publications Society member of the Board of Directors Marc Simmons, stated that it was "good to have an Editor-in-Chief." He felt that having someone hold the position per se was "more logical, more business-like” than operating the paper as a collec tive. Heath cited the "stigma" attached to the title of editor-in-chief and how non-staffers tended to assume that an organizational hierarchy was in place at the D aily "even though there isn't one,” as one of the reasons behind this decision. Heath told the Tribune that the new post w ill be a purely organizational one without the "father and mother figure" represented by the position. Heath stated that students who in the past would have sought out the editor-in-chief will now be referred to the coordinating editor only if their issue has organiza tional implications. In all other cases, people w ill be referred to the editors of specific sections. Heath noted that the changes necessary to the By-laws of the Daily Publica tions Society to accommodate the new position have yet to be ratified by the Board of Directors and the Daily Staff. Heath will be interim coordinating editor until January, when he expects to be co-coordinating editor with Brendan Weston. Weston was Senior News Editor of the Daily last year but had to forfeit his position on staff this semester as he is not a student. According to Heath, Weston will be a student next semester.
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Halton Cheadle Speaks at McGilL.page 3.
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See how McGill's Women's Soccer Team is doing...page 7.
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