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News

The McGill Daily, Thursday, October 8, 2009

3

Dalai Lama speaks to McGill & Montreal Emily Clare The McGill Daily

T

his Saturday, His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama made two presentations in Montreal, one to a 500-person invite-only event hosted by McGill’s Faculty of Education, and a second to a crowd of 14,000 people at the Bell Centre.

The 74-year-old Nobel Peace Prize winner felt compelled to request a private audience with education students after he learned of the provincial government’s introduction of a controversial ethics and religious culture class to primary and secondary students throughout Quebec.

During both addresses, the Dalai Lama emphasized the need for a balance between intellectualized faith and secular ethics.

“His Holiness was interested in speaking with students involved to support the notion that human values, ethical issues, and respect for religious and secular traditions is a positive initiative,” said education professor Spencer Boudreau, McGill’s ombudsperson and the

main organizer of the event. “[Religion] is part of our culture and history; it’s a powerful force in the world [that] we’ve neglected,” Boudreau said.

Due to the limited tickets available for the McGill talk, the McGill organizing committee decided to stream the two-hour event on learnquebec.org, where it is still available to site users.

During the McGill address, the Dalai Lama stressed to education students that instilling a positive religious tolerance in youth was critical for a compassionate society.

“Please carry your profession with sincere motivation and a sense of global responsibility,” the Dalai Lama said. “At least, with some aim or goal [that] out of this century, a more compassionate world [will come].”

Mitchell Miller, the president of the Education Undergraduate Society, had the opportunity to sit with the Dalai Lama. Miller was selected to thank His Holiness on behalf of the anglophone universities in Quebec.

“Sometimes it feels like there is a lot of unnecessary self-deprecation

among students in this faculty. [The Dalai Lama’s visit] was a reaffirmation for us as educators of the power that we can have,” Miller said.

Heather Monroe-Blum served as the master of ceremonies.

Later that day, during his presentation at the Bell Centre, His Holiness asserted that he had no political or spiritual agenda. Instead, he hoped to articulate the need of shared links between humanity, to be compassionate, and work to make the world a better place.

“I am talking as a human being to another human being. Not as a monk, Buddhist, or Tibetan,” he said.

Nonetheless, the event took on a political tone as Chinese and Uyghur protesters assembled outside. Tibet has been administered and controlled by the People’s Republic of China since it occupied the territory in 1950. The Dalai Lama, recognized as the exiled political leader of Tibet, fled the territory in 1959 and is seen as a threat to the national identity and integrity of China.

“It’s our country. We love it,”one Chinese protester said, stand-

Matthew Milne / The McGill Daily

Nobel Peace Prize winner emphasizes the importance of compassion

ing calmly with several others in objection to the Dalai Lama’s visit to Montreal. A couple of Tibetans yelled at them to leave Canada and go back to China.

Uyghurs, a Muslim ethnic minor-

ity from Western China, also demonstrated in solidarity with the Tibetans. They called on China to recognize their human rights, stating that they were “the other Tibetans.”

Canada quiet after Honduran coup Activists, academics, and diplomats weigh in on Canada’s response Eduardo Doryan News Writer

O

n September 22, the Front contre le coup d’État au Honduras sent an open letter to Prime Minister Stephen Harper and the leaders of the opposition stating that the government’s continued silence on the June military coup that overthrew Honduras’s democratic government demonstrated “tacit support for the force and violence that [Roberto] Micheletti’s coup regime and the armed forces have deployed against the Honduran people.”

Antonio Artuso, a spokesman for the Front, said in Spanish, “The [Canadian] government has taken a very ambiguous position. It said it was against the coup, but told [ousted president] Zelaya not to return because the situation was ‘difficult.’

It also continues to support the regime financially and militarily,” referring to the Canadian government’s decision not to impose any sanctions, or curb the roughly $16 million in military aid that flows to Honduras every year.

“The Harper administration has not responded to our letters,” Artuso said.

The Canadian government has stressed in numerous press releases that it is actively engaged.

Dana Cryderman, spokesperson for Foreign Affairs Canada, said in an email to The Daily that “[Foreign] Minister [Peter] Kent participated

in the Organization of American States (OAS) special mission to Tegucigalpa, [and] held bilateral meetings with foreign ministers...to achieve a peaceful political resolution.”

Honduras’s constitutional crisis began on the early hours of June 28, when 100 soldiers stormed President Zelaya’s estate and proceeded to deport him to neighbouring Costa Rica while Zelaya was still in his pyjamas.

The alleged coup was the result of a deep-rooted debate in Honduran society over a controversial “poll” Zelaya intended to conduct in order to initiate possible constitutional change, an action deemed illegal by the Supreme Court. Speaker of Congress Roberto Micheletti, of Zelaya’s own Liberal Party, was sworn in as president later in the day.

The Front is a broad organization constituted by various community groups in Montreal, such as Acción y Solidaridad por Colombia (ASOCOLOM), S.O.S. Salvador, and Sociedad Bolivariana de Quebec, among others.

“Our group was founded on the day of the coup itself by Salvadorans, Hondurans, Chileans, Canadians, and democrats of all stripes. We knew we had to intervene because Hondurans have already known war and dictatorship,” Artuso said.

Speaking on behalf of S.O.S Salvador, Judith Chafoya characterized the events as a backward step for Honduran democracy. “We

believed we had seen the last coup [in Latin America] years ago.”

The Front has organized close to 15 conferences, forums, and other demonstrations since the June coup. They are now concentrating further efforts on fundraising for the National Resistance Front in Honduras, with which they maintain some contact.

Events took a peculiar turn on September 21, when the deposed president returned to Honduras and sought refuge in the Brazilian embassy, where he remains as tensions mount. Following the return, the de facto government imposed a state of emergency and suspended some constitutional rights.

“We now know that [the regime] has attacked Radio Globo and Cholusat Sur, which distributed information on the resistance’s activities. People come out to the streets and they are beaten,” Chafoya said.

The current Charge d’Affairs of the Honduran Embassy in Ottawa, the only diplomatic post recognized by the Micheletti administration in Canada, argued that the government was taking proper steps.

“What appears in the press is not the reality,” he said, highlighting that protesters are causing damage by “breaking windows, burning tires, and even breaking into homes.” He also added that he felt the press “has not reported on the good things that have happened.”

The Charge d’Affairs also added

that “there is a legal basis for what has happened in Honduras,” making reference to a report released on September 24 by a senior foreign law specialist at the Law Library of the U.S. Congress.

Even so, Cana Foreign Affairs spokesperson Dana Cryderman said “Canada is very concerned by the general escalation of tensions in Honduras, including the decision by the de facto government on Sunday to suspend constitutionallyguaranteed liberties,” but also said that the Canadian government “has no plans to impose economic sanctions at this time.”

Both the consulate and the Embassy showed optimism at the upcoming talks to be held in Tegucigalpa, the capital city of Honduras. The Front also has some official links to the pro-Zelaya Honduran Consulate in Montreal, whose Consul General Alfredo Crespo was also disappointed with Canada’s response, though he anticipates a resolution will be reached in the coming weeks.

“From the beginning the Canadian government has maintained that it was a coup,” said Crespo, “though we would like to see more clarity in their position.”

Canada has thus far avoided calling it a “military coup.”

Since the seizure of power, Micheletti’s government and the coup d’état that installed it have received widespread criticism from the international community.

The United Nations, the European Union, and the OAS have all condemned the regime, and home governments throughout the continent have withdrawn their ambassadors.

Philip Oxhorn, McGill professor and executive editor of the Latin American Research Review, said in an email that Canada’s reticence may stem from a lack of domestic interest.

Meanwhile, activists from the Front and its constituent organizations speculate there may be other forces at work.

“The Canadian government won’t protest because they have economic interests. Zelaya took away their mines...and that worries them,” ASCOLOM member Marta Ligia Niño said, referring to a 2006 decision by Zelaya not to renew mining concessions to international companies in Honduras, many of which are Canadian. Breakwater Resources, Goldcorp, and Aura Minerales all have operations in the country.

Oxhorn outlined the wider implications. “If the acting government prevails, it will send a dangerous signal to the rest of the region where coups had been taboo since the return of democracy. If one of the poorest countries in the hemisphere can ignore universal international condemnation, what will prevent countries with more resources?”

News

The McGill Daily, Thursday, October 8, 2009

5

Miranda Whist for The McGill Daily

Choose Life protest ends in arrests “Echoes of the Holocaust” called off following disruptions Erin Hale The McGill Daily

M

cGill students Fred Burrill and Elise Eisenkraft-Klein were arrested by Montreal police and charged with mischief Tuesday night while protesting the Choose Life sponsored event, “Echoes of the Holocaust.”

The students were part of a larger group of about 15 protesters who attempted to disrupt the event. Despite police intervention, protesters persisted in interrupting the speaker, Jose Ruba of the Canadian Centre for Bio-Ethical Reform, until Choose Life’s reservation on Leacock Room 232 expired at 9 p.m. and club president Natalie Fohl called off the event.

Ruba attempted to link the process of dehumanization used to justify historical genocides to what he viewed as the dehumanization of unborn children used to justify abortion.

Last Thursday, SSMU Council voted in favour of a resolution to censure “Echoes of the Holocaust.”

The resolution also called on the University to prevent the event from taking place, and rescinded Choose Life’s ability to gain SSMU funding in the future, in case the event ended up taking place.

At Council, Clubs and Services Representative Corey Omer noted that he had received petitions from several SSMU clubs, including Hillel McGill, who feared that Ruba’s reference to the Holocaust was an inappropriate comparison.

Ruba had hardly finished the first sentence of his lecture when a protester near the front of the room stood up and announced that she believed he had no right to deliver his speech at McGill. The protesters proceeded by singing various songs, at one point completing an entire rendition of “99 Bottles of Beer on the Wall.”

Protesters held their arms, jackets, and signs in front of Ruba’s video projections, which included photographs from biology textbooks, videos of the early stages of an abortion, and images of the Holocaust.

McGill Security personnel were on site from the event’s beginning, but when they were unable to stop the protest, the protesters were

warned that the police would be called.

Sometime around 7:30 p.m., three officers arrived. Speaking on behalf of the officers, Sergeant Baccardi informed the students that if they continued to be disruptive, they would be arrested and charged with mischief and possibly obstruction of justice.

“You’re going to have a criminal record, and I’m serious about this.

I know your cause [is] a valid one, but I don’t think doing this is where you want to go with this,” Baccardi said. “I will call backup and they will come here and physically remove you. If it comes to that you will be identified, either by force…and fines, tickets, jail time will come with that,” Baccardi added.

Arts Senator Sarah Woolf, who is a vocal opponent of Choose Life, stepped in and demanded that Principal Heather Monroe-Blum or Deputy Provost (Student Life and Learning) Morton Mendelson be contacted by phone before the police forcibly removed anyone from the room.

“Many students here at McGill do not believe that this [presentation] is in accordance with the law,” she told Baccardi.

Fohl said she was disappointed by the demonstration and felt the protesters’ behaviour limited dialogue. “I think it’s really unfortunate it had to come to [calling the police],” she said. “In a perfect world we’d be allowed to have an event [which] people are free to come to or not, free to disagree with or not, and there would be respectful dialogue on both sides, and people would allow that to happen. But that’s not the case at the moment.”

The protesters accused Choose Life of trying to hold their event in secret, claiming Fohl had misled The Daily on Friday when she said the event would be cancelled “We were told the event was cancelled on Friday. Why? Because Natalie Fohl called The Daily and told them. She didn’t say that to SSMU! She just told them she wasn’t sure. That sounds like a lie.” said protester Darrah Teitel.

Audience member Sarah Rohoman, U2 Arts, said that while she felt the contents of Ruba’s discussion were offensive, she also did not approve of the methods used by the protesters.

“I don’t feel like what they’re doing is correct. I believe everyone should have their say. I appreciate what they have to say, but the way they’re doing it is not correct,” Rohoman said.

Ruba told the protesters he was open to discussion, and that Choose Life had asked for a pro-choice speaker to engage in debate.

Protesters, however, said that the presentation did not lend itself to dialogue. “The problem is you trick people into debating you, and then you show graphic images to scare them instead of using actual facts,” one said. “You pride yourself on scaring people out of having abortions.”

“This event goes against the McGill Charter, SSMU’s Equity Policy, [and] Canada’s Charter of Rights, which protect my body and me from the harassment that you are trying to show in this video.

We have no desire to see you speak because we don’t want the women in this room to suffer your harassment,” said Teitel.

In the midst of the confusion, Ruba explained to The Daily why he felt it was important for protesters to hear his message.

“A vagina is not public space.

A uterus is not public space,” said Teitel as Ruba tried to resume his speech.

Some of the audience members then began heckling protesters.

“Why don’t you just shut your mouth!” a woman said in response to protesters’ complaints.

Eventually, at least ten officers, two squad cars, two minivans, and two motorcycles arrived on McTavish. Officers waited outside the room as comments flew back and forth between protesters and the audience.

Ruba attempted to deliver his lecture, while displaying photos of the Serbian, Armenian, Cambodian, and Jewish genocides.

Baccardi and other officers, as well as Ruba, stayed to take questions from bystanders following the event’s abrupt ending.

Outside, two students attempted to approach the squad cars containing Burrill and Eisenkraft-Klein.

One of the students was pushed by one of the officers, while the other’s arm was bent back by another officer who warned him to keep his distance from the vehicles.

“I will call backup and they will come here and physically remove you” Sergeant Baccardi, Montreal Police

“[The protesters] have accused us of all these things, and frankly they haven’t heard this presentation yet. When people pre-judge someone based on heresy and rumours, that’s called prejudice,” Ruba said.

“We don’t mind protests; that’s what free universities and free societies do. But they don’t censure people simply because they disagree or prevent people from sharing their ideas. That’s no longer what protests should be about. That’s censorship.”

As Ruba attempted to begin his presentation for a second time, police escorted Burrill and Eisenkraft-Klein to waiting squad cars. Within a short time, disruptions resumed as protesters began to sing, shout, and ring their cell phones.

In response to yesterday’s events, the SSMU executive issued an open letter Wednesday condemning the University’s refusal to cancel the event, which they felt violated the SSMU Constitution and Equity Policy. The executive, representing council, the highest governing body of SSMU, also asked the University to respect the decisions made by Council concerning its clubs.

“Vulnerable students tried to communicate their concerns to the University through the available channels: the SSMU executive, SSMU Council, AUS Council, the McGill Tribune, and The McGill Daily. There were no other avenues through which to stop this event, which they deemed as victimizing, offensive, and stifling of educated

debate, from happening,” the letter read.

“Furthermore it is unfair to expect these student protesters to calmly watch a presentation and engage with a speaker when such a presentation would make them feel violated, demonized, and silenced,” the letter continued. “This event created a hostile environment and should not have been permitted. It is possibly most disappointing that when students peacefully engaged in a public response to this hostile environment, they were removed through a police intervention.”

But Mendelson defended the administration’s actions. Following the event, he said that McGill chose not to intervene because the University did not see the SSMU censure as a reason to limit debate.

“We want to foster debate, we do not want to restrict the expression of ideas.... As I said to SSMU when I was asked to intervene and cancel the event, I said ‘Look, debate free of constraint is important as long as the discourse remains civil, does not violate a law, or McGill’s code of conduct and disciplinary procedures’,” Mendelson said. “[The event] was scheduled in a room that was not a public space [and] not in an open public area.

The publicity of the event advised individuals of the nature of the graphic imagery, and the graphic imagery was confined to the room.

So in that sense, I felt the event was an appropriate event.”

According to SSMU Equity Commissioner Jonathan Hann, only one equity complaint has been submitted this year against Choose Life, but he noted that he has received many informal criticisms of the club.

“I’ve had a lot of students express concerns to me, not necessarily in terms of a complaint, [but] when it comes to [Choose Life] holding events, they feel that maybe it’s a violation of their rights as a student to walk through campus and be confronted with these signs and images they don’t necessarily find appealing while walking about doing their everyday business,” Hann said.

Hann also noted that he had received complaints from the protesters, “They feel their right to assemble has been violated, and they were treated unjustly and unfairly because of it,” Hann said.

6 News

Food (security) for thought

Last year the total number of malnourished increased by 40 million, while the number of people with insufficient food reached almost one billion.

For three days this week, academics, students, heads of state, development experts, and NGO’s met at the McGill Conference on Global Food Security to discuss how to tackle these problems and the future of food security.

Topics under discussion included the impact of the financial crisis, markets and trade liberalization, the future of energy and biofuel, and climate change. The Daily gives you the highlights of four panel discussions at the conference.

The financial crisis and food security

T

he University kicked off the conference on Monday by inviting several speakers from various countries to describe the impact of the financial crisis on their nation’s experience with food production.

The dean of McGill’s Faculty of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, Chandra Madramootoo, introduced the event, which featured speakers from Ghana, Haiti, Central Asia, India, Nigeria, and Canada.

Mukuteswara Gopalakrishnan, Secretary General of the International Commission on Irrigation and Drainage, mentioned that the financial crisis has presented a significant challenge.

“India could withstand the impacts of 2008’s economic downturn, particularly with respect to food security…. However, this year, things are going to be much more difficult,” Gopalakrishnan said.

He also said that while India has made progress in areas such as food production and caloric intake, hunger remains a serious problem.

Gopalakrishnan explained that the majority of farms rely on rainfall, and that deficient rain in recent months may cause Indian food production to suffer.

“India has made impressive strides,” Gopalakrishnan said. “But we must also simultaneously admit that the total riddance of food insecurity is still at a distance.”

Victor Dukhovny, director of the Interstate Coordination Water Commission of Central Asia, asserted that Central Asia’s governments must make progress in protecting their farm-

ers financially.

“If you want to have food security, we need to protect the farmer by a proper system of financial support,” Dukhovny said.

Dukhovny argued that the amount of irrigated land in the region decreased following the collapse of the Soviet Union because of a failure to subsidize agriculture appropriately, and went on to cite the European Union and United States as examples of countries with successful agriculture subsidy programs.

Dukhovny also focused on water’s role in agriculture, and suggested the creation of a global campaign to strengthen water rights with regards to irrigation.

Daniel Uza, vice-chancellor of the University of Agriculture in Nigeria, offered a description of his nation’s efforts to ensure food security.

Nigeria, Uza noted, has experienced an increase in food prices as a result of government efforts to subsidize tractors, irrigate more land, and manage livestock.

Uza stressed the nation’s need for improved farming technology and emphasized the Nigerian government’s focus on private-public partnerships to achieve its goals.

“Because of the stable, democratic government which we have had in Nigeria for the past 10 years, we are very hopeful that the food security situation in Nigeria will continue to improve. And it is our desire that in the year 2020, Nigeria will be one of the most developed 20 countries.”

—Jeff Bishku-Aykul

International agencies and their technocrats

D

ay two of the conference featured a lecture series and panel discussion focused on the roles and responses of international agencies to the ongoing food crisis. Among the high profile speakers were representatives of the United Nations World Food Program (WFP) and the World Bank, speaking to an audience of primarily self-described technocrats.

Henk-Jan Brinkman, a senior adviser for economic policy at the WFP, opened his segment by solemnly declaring, “the food crisis is not over, and the global economic and financial crisis has even worsened it over the last year or so…. Hunger has broadened, and it has deepened.

There are some green economic shoots, but there are very few social ones.”

Brinkman went on to describe the manner in which a global food “shock,” or a massive sudden increase in prices, as seen in 2008, negatively affects malnutrition and education rates in developing countries as families move to cheaper and less nutritious food, diversify incomes, pull children out of schools, and sell “productive assets.”

The WFP issued an emergency appeal in March 2008 for additional aid from developed countries to meet a $755-million budget shortfall in light of soaring food and fuel prices.

Jim Cornelius, executive director of the Canadian Foodgrains Bank, a partnership of 15 church-based agencies, spoke of the necessity for a mobilized, engaged citizen population in policy-making. “[Food] will fall out of the news again, it won’t remain, it will slide down. Unless we

build a base of support of citizens, I think the possibility of support declining is very real. Technical and technocratic answers wont always get us there,” Cornelius said.

Christopher Delgado, coordinator of the Global Food Response Program of the World Bank (WB), in line with the prevailing attitude of the WB, criticized the protectionist export taxes and bans during a food shortage while praising the effectiveness of lowering food taxes.

Robert Patterson, senior liaison officer for North America in the Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO), surprised the audience with his disgust for technocratic obfuscation.

Patterson explained that his comments were those of a 30-year FAO employee, and not those of the FAO. “I’m unqualified [to speak here] because I tend to be institutionally illiterate, and I aggressively pursue and maintain that ignorance,” Patterson said.

“We have been using, over and over again, the words ‘global financial crisis.’

But in the places I work, nobody uses these words. These people have always been poor. You can’t sink into a crisis if you have no money in the first place….

Food security and insecurity – the people that I work with never use these euphemisms. The words I hear are hungry, sick, or ‘my child’s belly is empty.’ I think we can get away from some of these euphemisms and talk clearly about what’s going on and encourage people to get active in practical solutions.”

—Michael Lee-Murphy

The McGill Daily, Thursday, October 8, 2009

7

Can market access ensure food security?

I mproving access to markets for small land holders and local farmers is the most important factor in achieving global food security, according to experts speaking at Wednesday’s panel “Markets and Trade: How They Affect Food Security.”

Despite the fact that market failure was the primary cause for the price spikes in foods that occurred in late 2008, panel speakers argued that markets and trade must not be abandoned if global food insecurities are to be resolved.

“Market and trade are the tools that we have, [in order] to be able to deal with the realities of the world we face,” said Neil Conklin, president of Farm Foundation.

Conklin emphasized that national protec-

tion mechanisms, such as local subsidies and export restrictions, are strategies that will only deepen the unequal distribution of food around the world.

“We will only be food secure if we are secure globally,” Conklin said.

But security for the world’s hungry and poor is complicated by the fact that they spend 60-70 per cent of their income on food, making them particularly sensitive to market fluctuations. Maximo Torero from the International Food Policy Research Institute explained that an increase in international food prices is very quickly passed to consumers.

“What this means is that the international price of wheat [for example] was significantly affecting the price of commodities in [Latin

American] countries. So that the consumers in rural areas were paying more for these goods,” Torero said.

Henk-Jan Brinkman, a senior advisor for economic policy at the United Nations World Food Programme, added that information asymmetries between the rich and the poor, the lack of access to markets, and risk aversion among the poor are all drivers of market failure. Brinkman said that correcting these factors requires increased attention to the poor.

“It is very critical for households that are poor and hungry to have a good safety net so that they are able to take on the risks that markets generate. Whether that is through food, cash, vouchers, or through insurance mechanisms is dependent on [a country’s

particular situation],” Brinkman said.

“Employment security programs, preventive school feeding, and early-child nutrition programs are essential, because we [need solutions] for the people who are in the worst conditions,” Torero said. “But we also need to link farmers to markets. And for that, we need to capture their unique produces; one solution doesn’t fit all.”

Conklin affirmed that the key component to achieving global food security is reforming the international trading system.

“We have no shortage of creative thinking of ideas that it will take to achieve the kind of reform that we need,” Conklin said.

—Stephanie Law

Photos by Mike Canover for The McGill Daily

Agriculture and climate change

O

n Wednesday, experts weighed in on the effects climate change could have on agriculture in the coming years.

At the panel discussion, “Climate Change: the Challenges for Food Security,” four presenters pointed to several general anticipated climate changes that could affect agriculture: rising carbon dioxide levels, rising air temperature, and more extreme environmental events.

Bano Mehdi, a McGill PhD student working at the Brace Centre for Water Resource Management, said that the gradual increase in air temperature and subsequent droughts could have a major effect on crops that are already struggling in hotter climates.

“Crops are already at the threshold of their temperature limits,” said Mehdi.

Sam Gameda, a McGill alumnus who works for Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, talked about the effect climate change could have on Canadian and East African agriculture.

“The [Canadian] prairies suffer from rela-

tively frequent droughts,” said Gameda, citing a drought in 2001-2002 that resulted in economic losses upwards of $5 billion for the Canadian crop industry.

Issues are considerably worse in East Africa.

“Areas of East Africa are under stress of food security because of drought. [East African countries] are experiencing droughts, groundwater depletion, and disruption of rainfall,” Gameda said.

“Rainfall is a critical factor,” said Gameda, who pointed to an increase in variability of amounts of rainfall as a major concern. He cited a 23 per cent reduction in rainfall in the past Indian monsoon season as an important indicator, adding that these factors have put 24 million East Africans at risk of hunger and destitution.

Bert Drake, a plant physiologist for the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center in Edgewater, Maryland, added that greater

environmental stress could reduce crop production.

“More intense hurricanes and rising sea levels could affect low-lying areas, particularly rice production areas,” said Drake.

The projections weren’t overwhelmingly negative, however. “Possible climate changes create favourable conditions for plant growth,” said Galina Stulina, of the Central Asian Scientific Research Institute for Irrigation in Uzbekistan.

A rise in carbon dioxide levels and an increase in season length due to rising air temperature may be positives for plant and crop growth.

“There will be an increase in productivity in developed countries that have strong agricultural markets,” said Mehdi. “There will be opportunities for farmers to plant higher value crops.”

Despite the immediately beneficial climate change effects for Canada, Mehdi warned that

the global effects will be far worse.

Mehdi described an anticipated northward extension in crop land, as the northern regions get warmer and southern regions get too hot. North America and Russia may be some of the only regions to benefit from this change, leaving already impoverished nations worse-off.

Mehdi said that the global population will have risen to nine billion by 2050, and as the crop yields of southern nations decrease due to the various climate changes, it will be the responsibility of countries with growing yields to provide for the growing population.

Those in attendance were left with the loaded question of how to distribute limited agricultural goods around the globe.

“There will be higher demands on agricultural commodities,” Mehdi said, “But it has to be done in a sustainable way.”

—Henry Gass

8 News

The McGill Daily, Thursday, October 8, 2009

SSMU settles with CASA for $35,000 Three-year legal dispute over membership dues resolved this year

Humera Jabir The McGill Daily

T

he Students’ Society of McGill University has settled a three-year legal battle with the Canadian Alliance of Student Associations (CASA), agreeing to pay $35,000 to the federal student lobby. SSMU confirmed the settlement earlier this week, although the agreement was finalized last May. McGill undergraduates voted to leave CASA in October 2005.

Following SSMU’s withdrawal, CASA claimed that SSMU had failed in membership dues for the year, and

NEWS BRIEFS QPIRG responds to optout campaign The McGill chapter of the Quebec Public Interest Research Group (QPIRG) publicly responded on September 28 to a campaign encouraging students to opt out of fees paid to the group. QPIRG Opt-Out – which is composed of members of the Anatomy and Cell Biology Student Association, the Liberal Party of Quebec McGill, Conservative McGill, Free the Children McGill Chapter, and the Student Network for Economic Development – began its campaign during the opt-out period in midSeptember by setting up a web site and a Facebook group.

In a statement addressed to QPIRG on its web site and facebook page, QPIRG Opt-Out states that QPIRG represents a “radical fringe of the McGill community, which is often completely antithetical to the mainstream beliefs of students on

filed a lawsuit of $28,000 against the Society. The case was due to be heard in court last December, but was postponed to May when SSMU changed legal counsel.

Max Silverman, who served as SSMU VP External from fall 2006 until spring 2008, argued that since McGill undergraduates had disaffiliated from CASA in October of that year, they were not obligated to pay eight months’ worth of fees to the Alliance.

“Because we left in the fall of that year...and for us the school year is eight months long, it didn’t make sense that we should have to pay all eight months for only one month of membership. I know that basically

that was our moral claim to the money,” Silverman said.

In 2007, SSMU had offered to pay CASA $8,000 to settle the claim.

Silverman considered the offer to be a reasonable compromise since the Society had already paid its first installment of fees – understanding that CASA had planned for the revenue in its budget.

CASA national director Arati Sharma said that while CASA does not often go to court when members leave, unpaid membership dues are cause for legal action.

“We are a small organization and don’t have a large budget, and so when a school leaves and doesn’t give

proper notice, it significantly impacts our budget, impacts our work here in Ottawa for the rest of our membership, and means that we have to pursue legal action,” said Sharma.

SSMU president Ivan Neilson said that although last year’s executive had finalized the terms of the settlement, he welcomed a conclusion to the case.

“It doesn’t serve our interest to have the organization be burdened with legal battles unnecessarily and we are happy to have reached a decision,” said Neilson.

Neilson also said that while SSMU’s former legal counsel had recommended legal action, Rena Kermasha,

the Society’s new legal representative, decided to settle out of court after having reviewed the facts.

“Most cases that get introduced into the court record end up being settled, and it’s not a reflection of good faith or bad faith, but a question of leverage,” said Kermasha. “[In this case], both parties were interested in negotiating, which is why we ended up settling outside of court.”

The financial cost of the case, however, is not limited to the $35,000 settlement. According to Jose Diaz, SSMU VP Finance, the case will eventually cost SSMU approximately $70,000 in legal fees.

campus,” that it adheres exclusively to a far-left and “antagonistic” agenda, and that it has failed in its commitment to the public interest.

Anna Malla, QPIRG’s Internal Coordinator, said that the opt-out campaign tries to speak on behalf of “mainstream” McGill.

“It worries a lot of us that they attempt to understand what most McGill students think, how they think, and what their political beliefs are,” said Malla. “We’re very much a non-partisan organization, whereas this [campaign] is coming from Conservative McGill and Liberal McGill.”

The QPIRG Opt-Out Facebook page also says that QPIRG’s support for Tadamon!, Young Jews for Social Justice, and Israeli Apartheid Week indicates that the group supports and practices anti-Semitism – an allegation Malla said was offensive and nonsensical.

“To criticize a state – that is in fact imposing apartheid policies upon the Palestinian people – has nothing to do with criticizing Jewish people, and we actually find that really offensive,” Malla said. “We’re an organization that operates under an anti-oppression mandate; that includes all forms of oppression, all forms of discrimination, including anti-Semitism, and I think it dilutes

the real issue of anti-Semitism, [by using it] to dismiss accusations against a state.”

QPIRG’s working groups include the Anti-Gentrification Group, Campus Crops, the Filipino Solidarity Collective, the Montreal Indigenous Sovereignty Week Organizing Committee, and a group called Tadamon!, which is committed to Palestinian solidarity activism.

Malla responded to the campaign’s accusations that QPIRG is an undemocratic organization by stating that its “objective is not to make us more democratic; it’s to shut us down.”

In fall 2007, QPIRG tabled a motion at SSMU’s General Assembly (GA) demanding that the Society resist the administration’s new electronic opt-out system, which they feared would lead to an increase in student opt-outs. Both GAs that academic year, however, failed to reach quorum and the motion was never adopted.

QPIRG has seen a rise in opt-outs since the new system was installed, and has seen a further rise in optouts this semester.

Charest Liberals propose CEGEP tuition

for many specialized programs at universities across Quebec.

Charlotte Guay-Dussault, spokesperson for the fledgling provincial party Quebec Solidaire, said that given the government’s history of raising education costs, she wouldn’t be surprised if subsequent increases in tuition should follow this initial fee, making postsecondary education less accessible to Quebeckers.

“With the increase in university rates, there are about 6,000 people a year in Quebec who can’t enrol,” said Guay-Dussault in French. “I think in the CEGEP it’ll be just about the same thing.”

Guay-Dussault said that rather than imposing tuition fees on students, the government should “raise taxes on the rich” to rectify its financial problems.

Charest intends to balance the budget by 2013-2014, and has also said he wants to create 210,000 skilled jobs by 2012. Boucher stated that these two long-term objectives of the PLQ are contradictory and unfeasible, and added that the Liberal majority would pass the proposal, should it be tabled at the National Assembly.

— Niko Block

Facing a $3.9-billion budget deficit, the Quebec Premier Jean Charest’s ruling Parti Liberal du Quebec (PLQ) is proposing to start charging tuition for CEGEPs across Quebec. Calling the proposed fee “modest,” Finance Minister Raymond Bachand introduced the idea on Saturday during what was dubbed the government’s pre-budget meeting.

Xavier Lefebvre Boucher, the president of the Fédération etudiante collégiale du Québec (FECQ), is skeptical that the fee’s impact on students will be as negligible as Bachand indicated. Boucher pointed out that the last time the government raised university tuition in 2006, officials used the same word to describe the fee increase, which amounted to roughly $500 per year by 2012.

“I think ‘modest’ has a different meaning for them than it does for us,” said Boucher in French.

Currently, many CEGEPs are publicly funded and charge no tuition fees. The two-year post-secondary program provides vocational training for prospective skilled workers, and CEGEP diplomas are required

— Eric Andrew-Gee

Want to write for news?

Meetings are Monday, 4:30 p.m. in the Shatner caf.

Or email news@mcgilldaily.com

Letters

The McGill Daily, Thursday, October 8, 2009

9

Re: “Choose Life cancels ‘Echoes of the Holocaust’” | News | October 5

Clamouring to rescind women’s reproductive rights isn’t the same thing as choosing life – it leaves us with no choices at all Rachel Gotthilf Law II, on behalf of Young Jews for Social Justice

Young Jews don’t like Holocaust comparisons Re: “Choose Life cancels ‘Echoes of the Holocaust’” | News | October 5 We are completely appalled that Choose Life McGill continues to defend their comparison of abortion and the Holocaust. Choose Life claims that they attempt to help women by “connecting pregnant, parenting, and postabortive students with the support they need.” We do not see how comparing women who choose to have abortions to Nazis is in line with this (apparent) goal.

The SSMU councillors quoted in “Choose Life cancels ‘Echoes of the Holocaust’” argued that this comparison trivializes the Holocaust and violates the dignity of women who choose to have an abortion.

Yet Choose Life President Natalie Fohl seems to completely ignore these legitimate concerns. On the one hand, she claims that her event does not seek to compare the Holocaust with abortion. But on the other hand, she proceeds to claim that this week’s Choose Life event confronts the issue of whether “the medical profession [dehumanizes abortion] in a similar way to that in which the Nazi regime dehumanized Jews.”

Perhaps we should not be so surprised at the incoherence of Fohl’s defence of the title of this Choose Life event. After all, even the name of her group is Orwellian and misleading; clamouring to rescind women’s reproductive rights isn’t the same as choosing life – it leaves us with no choices at all.

Rachel Gotthilf Law II, on behalf of Young Jews for Social Justice (a QPIRG McGill working group)

I wish I was unborn

More pervy parties, please

Our bad!

Re: “Seeking new approach to anti-abortion activism” | Commentary | October 5

Re: “Sit-ins are so last century” | Letters | October 1

Re: “Birks: Where better to fuck with the papacy?” | Letters | October 5

I, The Dark Motorcyclist, hereby declare my intention to take the throne of “Pro-Abortion” spokesperson in the debate with Jose Ruba.

When I was in the womb, I BEGGED my mother to abort me, but alas, she refused. At long last, there will be representation for the unborn children who DO NOT WANT to be born into this sour world.

Queering spaces is not inherently a violent action. Although it requires going against the heterosexist grain and may cause some surprise, the only people who will feel any real discomfort are those homo- or trans-phobic enough to be upset by queers in any context.

We have the right to go, like anyone else, into a bar and be ourselves.

If a group of queers enters a space and someone were to find themselves “interrupted over a drink, on a date, [or] during a dance” and upset to the point that there might be a response “in fists or words,” then that violence is the problem, and is not our fault in the slightest.

It is this very violence – stemming at times from sentiments as mild as “Who are these people? And why are they bothering me at a bar?” and at other times from more virulently hateful opinions or ideologies – that is the real issue. The event last Thursday was held at Peel Pub, historically a gay bar pre-gentrification – and the site of a violent gaybashing incident a few years back.

Violence directed at queers drives our communities to congregate in spaces like the Village and prevents us from accessing spaces like Peel Pub when we feel so inclined.

The analogy likening a guerilla gay bar takeover to “’recontextualizing Club Choices…in a guerilla whiting operation” is incorrect. When oppressed communities create spaces, it is to protect themselves from hegemonic and otherwise omnipresent violence or hate. Thus, the “normalization” of these spaces poses a very real threat. In the case of “chalkies” who choose to enter such a space to try and deprive people of colour of their own space, the power dynamic is inverted. And that’s violence of another sort – racism.

The next Guerilla Gay Bar will be on October 19, so stay tuned!

The Daily recently published a mildly humorous letter to the editor that I wrote regarding the September 28 edition of Compendium!

Firstly, I would like to make clear that the letter came from me as a McGill student, and not in any capacity in my role as PGSS president. The Daily editorial staff added in the PGSS title at the end of the letter. The letter to the editor had originated from my personal email account, and made no mention of my elected role.

Secondly, I take exception to the usage of profanity in the title appended to my letter. The letter was written in the fashion of mild theological humour that would likely amuse and not offend those of an ecclesiastical persuasion. My respect for both Catholic and Protestant religious traditions is such that I did not make use of profanity in my letter.

I kindly request that The Daily acknowledge both of these items, and refrain from adding in unwanted profanity in the future.

With good intentions, “The Dark Motorcyclist” Devon Welsh U3 Religious Studies and Drama & Theatre

Zoog ponders Re: “Can you keep a brain alive in a jar?” | Science+Technology | October 5 Hello World, Daniel Lametti is onto something.... A severed brain could fair well in the nooks and crannies of space, all the spots where friendly extraterrestrials might be loitering. We could shoot brains out into the universe like bullets in Schwarzenegger’s classic, Commando, and hope for some strange green brains in jars to be fired back.

Of course, we’d have to do some testing first, to make sure all the gadgets are in order.... I wonder if the McGill pro-life group would volunteer to have their brains removed and experimented on?

We might find the malfunctions responsible for recent events....

With eyes and brain pointed at the stars, Zoog Devon Welsh U3 Religious Studies and Drama & Theatre

Adam Wheeler U1 Sociology Queer McGill Political Action co-ordinator

Daniel Simeone Master’s I History President of PGSS

I’m pro-life, and even I think this is inappropriate Re: “Choose Life cancels ‘Echoes of the Holocaust’” | News | October 5 While I am not presently a very active member of the club, I was on Choose Life’s executive last year (as VP External), and I am pro-life.

That being said, I do not think this event was prudently introduced, titled, or pursued. From what I have heard about the body of the talk itself, I do not find the content objectionable, but I think naming it with explicit reference to the Holocaust, given the emotionladen and awful associations that are bound to come up in anybody’s

Let ’em make fools of themselves Re: “You have the right to remain stupid” | Letters | October 5 Considering the virtual cacophony over Choose Life that has been going on, Sana Saeed’s comment on the group stands out as a fair and sober analysis of the situation. This is not surprising, as Saeed has proven herself in the past to be an intelligent writer and columnist. However, I do take issue with one of her points: she argues that an anti-abortion group has every right to exist at McGill, but says that these rights of expression do not go so far as to extend comparing those who have had abortions to Nazis. Comparing abortion to the Holocaust is pretty offensive to everyone, perhaps most offensive to McGill’s Jewish population. However, I think Choose Life should not be forced to abandon this campaign, as they recently did after the SSMU Council voted to censure the group and threatened to cut off the group’s funding. If Choose Life wants to make the abortion-genocide comparison, let them. I think that pro-choice activists at McGill should welcome such a demonstration from Choose Life; after all, it just makes them look like they’re fucking nuts.

James Hirsh U2 Political Science and North American Studies

mind was sensationalist, insensitive, and short-sighted. A bit of meditation on gentler, more generic means of phrasing the heart of the talk might have yielded a much more positive, open-minded response.

On behalf of pro-life persons who do not agree with Choose Life’s actions in this matter, I apologize to those who were offended.

Amy Bergeron McGill alumna

Pleasured? Bothered? Let us know – send your letters to letters@mcgilldaily. com from your McGill email address, and keep them to 300 words. The Daily does not print letters that are lesbophobic, racist, misogynistic or otherwise hateful.

10Art Essay

The McGill Daily, Thursday, October 8, 2009

Mind&Body

The McGill Daily, Thursday, October 8, 2009

11

Braden Goyette The McGill Daily

I

t’s evening at the elementary school of the Hellenic Community Centre of Montreal – the children have gone home for the evening, teachers are preparing the next day’s lessons – and Fotis Komborozos looks around the empty corridors. “There’s no signs of it up yet,” he says, looking at the drawings and posters on the walls.

“But the children, they’ll live the anniversary this year.”

Montreal’s Greek schools are celebrating their 100th anniversary this year, bringing alumni together, hosting events throughout the city, and looking back on the schools’ evolution since the first school was established out of a basement in 1909. Since then, they’ve expanded to offer trilingual elementary schools with multiple branches around the island and north shore, as well as Saturday schools for highschool students and Greek language classes starting at beginners level.

The Community Centre, a complex of interconnected buildings in Cote-des-Neiges built in the late eighties, is home to the community’s administrative headquarters, as well as housing and services for senior citizens, meeting halls, a church, and the bases of the elementary and Saturday schools.

Komborozos, public relations director for the Hellenic Community and formerly president of the elementa-

ry schools, showed a couple of Daily staffers around the premises while telling us about the history of the community in Montreal.

The portraits of former presidents of the Community lined one corridoor in wooden frames, sporting the haircuts and thick-framed glasses of past eras. “We call this our small parliament,” he said, showing us into a room with Quebec, Canadian, and Greek flags and partitioned seating on all sides facing toward the centre of the room. The space is meant for representatives from the different Greek communities of the greater Montreal area to converge and discuss common issues.

The schools themselves grew in tandem with the waves of Greek migration to Canada. Immigration to the North American continent swelled particularly following the destruction of the first and second world wars in Europe, as well as after the Canadian government relaxed its migration policy in the sixties.

“Greece had huge casualties in World War II, mostly civilian casualities,” explained Dimitris Karantanis, a teacher at the Saturday schools who also works in the McGill Language Department secretariat. “You had kids starving even in Athens.”

Over the course of the past century, the Greek community has left its mark on the fabric of Montreal – and for a time the Socrates elementary schools were

The budget bon-vivant Justin Scherer

F

all is here, and that means that I, and most of my friends, are sick. As an antidote, I prescribe soup. Nothing warms your innards and makes you feel better than a warm bowl of delicious, rich soup. These are two of my favourite soup recipes.

1. French (Canadian) Onion Soup: This is a classic. Just a warning, though: this is a slow-food recipe, and depending on how much you make, it may take awhile (45 minutes or longer).

Ingredients: A stick of butter, 5 medium-sized yellow onions (you can get sacks of onions for cheap

Quebec-government funded, starting in the late seventies when they adopted the Quebec curriculum.

This arrangement ended last year, and they’re now in the process of going private.

Greek migration to Canada has slowed since the fall of the Greece’s military dictatorship in 1974. But though the numbers are slowly decreasing at the Saturday schools as migration ebbs, Karantanis feels this kind of education is important.

“I think allowing [students] to have the option of feeling Greek as well, on the part of the Quebec government, kind of makes it easier for them to be here, you know?”

“It’s beneficial for the children to keep the language and the culture,” Komborozos also explained, citing higher parent involvement than at other schools. Being able to preserve their culture, both indicated, has helped the Greek community integrate into Quebec society.

“Greeks are very proud, they kind of feel that the whole Western civilization started based on their culture.... If you’re an immigrant, that’s something you hold onto,” Karantanis explained. “And their parents, they just grabbed onto this and didn’t let go when they came here. Yes I might be poor, I might be an immigrant, I might be washing dishes, but I come from the land of Socrates and Aristotle.”

In the Community Centre, murals representing immigration grace the walls outside of community halls. Gesturing to the murals,

Shu Jiang / The McGill Daily

Montreal’s Greek schools turn 100

Fotis Komborozos tells of a century of community education.

Komborozos tells us about the progress of the generations of immigrants, how members of the first generation in the sixties worked largely in factories and public works, while the second and third generations went on to professions like medicine and law. Artifacts of the relationship of Greece and Quebec line the walls – a picture of Trudeau on a visit to Greece, and a memorial to members of the community who

from Segal’s at Duluth and St. Laurent), sugar, beef (veggie) stock, salt and pepper, a bottle of Québecbrewed wheat beer (e.g. Maudite, Cheval Blanc, Fin du Monde, and there are many more), that rockhard, crusty baguette that has inevitably been sitting on your counter for a week (cut into medium-large cubes), and cheddar cheese for the top.

Method: Put on your favourite French Canadian music, open your beer and take a long swig, and warm your largest, thick-bottomed pot over medium low heat. Melt about half of the butter. In the meantime, chop all of your onions – brace yourself, it’ll bring tears to your eyes – but not too finely. Sauté the onions until they are golden brown and carmelized (they will be roughly the colour of carmel).

Reduce heat and simmer ten minutes, add 4 cups of beef (veggie) stock and one cup of water. Add about half a cup of your beer – but don’t add too much or it will make the soup taste skunky. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer uncovered for 20 minutes.

Add cubes of your baguette, and serve piping hot.

When I’m cooking for a lot of people, I double the recipe. Enjoy!

gave their lives in WWI. As attendance at the Saturday schools decreases due to demographic shifts and the strain of doing another day of school in addition to a regular five days of class, Karantanis remains unconcerned.

“It doesn’t affect how you teach; it doesn’t affect what you do,” he said.

“I think what they’ve offered all these years that they’ve been there is amazing.”

2. Cantonese Corn Soup: This recipe is super cheap and delicious. The sweet corn and the ginger are wonderful together. You can make this with chicken, but we usually make it vegetarian.

Ingredients: 400 g canned cream corn, 6 cups stock (chicken, preferably, or veggie), salt to taste, 2.5 tablespoons corn starch, a hefty amount of ginger, 2 egg whites (lightly beaten), 2 teaspoons sesame oil, 250 g skinless chicken breast, minced.

Method: There are two ways to make this recipe.

The first is to sauté the chicken (if you’re using it) until it’s no longer pink in the middle, then add all the ingredients in a crock pot, set to medium or low (depending on how long you want to wait), and leave it in the pot long enough for the eggs to be cooked completely. The second way is the same, only without a crock pot. Sauté the chicken in a little bit of oil until cooked, add everything else, and simmer uncovered on low to medium-low heat for about 20 minutes or until the desired thickness is reached.

Sasha Plotnikova / The McGill Daily

All photos Joe Penney for The McGill Daily

12Features

A country of contradictions Joe Penney recounts a shift in perspective after working as a photojournalist in Guinea-Bissau

“H

e wrote me that the pictures of Guinea-Bissau ought to be accompanied by music from Cape Verde.

That would be our contribution to the unity dreamed of by Amilcar Cabral. Why should a country so small and so poor interest the world? They did what they could. They chased Portugal out, so traumatizing its army that it moved to overthrow its own dictatorship and led briefly to believe in a new revolution in Europe. Who remembers all that? History throws its empty bottles out the window.”

— Chris Marker, Sans Soleil (1983)

I

was drawn to Guinea-Bissau because of its extremes and contradictions, its peculiar status as the sole ex-Portuguese West African country (it’s located directly south of Senegal), its dozens of small, unknown islands, and its complete anonymity on the world scale. I wondered how a tiny, poor, illiterate nation with few resources fought the most successful African liberation war, but could manage little more than political infighting and civil wars for 35 years after independence. I wondered how a country incapable of creating a functional central government could have produced one of the 20th century’s most visionary leaders in Amilcar Cabral. But above all I was eager to enter a country that seemed to exist only in my head, a place of contradictions I could not fathom. I wanted to know

the other, the unknowable.

As a third-year McGill student at the end of my fall semester last year, I decided I needed a break. I couldn’t handle another four months of staying inside during -30 degree weather, spending 15 minutes preparing myself with layer after layer if I needed to go to the corner store, or waiting indefinitely to wear shoes other than boots. I could not handle another semester of essays, Redpath, Tim Hortons, myCourses, and Minerva.

I had been planning to spend the winter semester in Havana to get involved with community living and public education projects, but those plans fell through at the last minute.

Since I had spent the previous two summers in West Africa doing volunteer work, I thought instead of the Caribbean I could go to a new place in a familiar region. I emailed the Reuters news bureau in Dakar, Senegal, West Africa, to see if they accepted any interns. I was soon on a direct flight from New York to Dakar with plans to work as a journalist for five months.

Before I left North America, I immersed myself in the region by reading a book on Guinea-Bissau’s revolutionary liberation leader, Amilcar Cabral. Cabral almost single-handedly led an illiterate, impoverished populace to drive the Portuguese colonists out, before being assassinated in 1974, one year before Guinea-Bissau gained independence.

One of the first mornings after I had moved into my apartment on the third floor

of a new Dakar building, a BBC radio broadcast transmitted news that the president of Guinea-Bissau had been shot in Bissau, the capital city, the army chief-of-staff had been blown up, and a successor would be elected in three months. I knew I had to be in Bissau for those elections.

Over the next three months, I kept Guinea-Bissau on the periphery of my mind.

There was plenty of other work to do and people to see, but Guinea-Bissau tinted all my actions. I befriended Alberto Yusuf, a 23-yearold Bissau-Guinean studying French in Dakar with dreams of owning a business. I visited his house, a sparse and small room with one bed that he shared with another student. In an attempt to construct Guinea-Bissau in my head, I asked him what he thought of his country (it’s great), would he would go back home eventually (yes), will he vote in the upcoming elections (no), how is the food (très bon), does he miss his family (yes), how the girls are there (beautiful), what his house is like (he didn’t know how to describe it in French).

Yusuf took me to his uncle’s house, a typical Dakar home apart from the Brazilian soap operas and talk shows, just as permanent a household fixture as the uncle’s spot on the maroon felt couch and the picture of Mecca on the wall.

I was slowly understanding Guinea-Bissau by way of Dakar, gathering hints and picking

The McGill Daily, Thursday, October 8, 2009

up as many traces of the country as possible. I constantly checked the Reuters wire for news about Bissau. When the idea of a vacation came up with my dad, I immediately thought of Portugal. With the money I had made – and with minimal planning – I was soon in Lisbon.

In the Portuguese capital, I always kept an eye out for African immigrants, and even wore a T-shirt from Dakar to see if any wandering Senegalese or Bissau-Guinean would spot it.

On my last day in Portugal after a week of tourism, I contacted Yusuf’s cousin who had immigrated to Portugal the year before. In my broken Portuguese, we managed to meet for lunch outside Lisbon. From that brief encounter, I collected information about immigrants from Guinea-Bissau to Portugal. He ekes out a very meager but sincere existence: his daily 12-hour construction shifts netted him about 900 euros a month. Nevertheless, he bought me a 20-euro lunch simply because I was his cousin’s friend. Over lunch, he told me in earnest his plan to get rich in Europe: to move to Hamburg and sell coke with another BissauGuinean as soon as he got an EU passport.

Then, he said, he would have enough money to live comfortably and send plenty back home to the extended family. As a practicing Muslim, he did not drink nor dabble in drugs, so there would be no risk of adverse effects

on his personal life. hen I arrived in Bissau in late June, I had a better idea of what to expect, though I had known it all along: a poor West African country similar to southern Senegal, but Portuguese-influenced and less developed. But that still did not tell me much.

I went to Bissau as an unaccredited freelance photojournalist, with Reuters as my main client. Even though Reuters did not want to take any legal responsibility for my presence in the country, they were willing to buy any useful pictures of political events. Because of how little the elections of a small country with few resources matter to an international audience, Reuters sent no photojournalists to Guinea-Bissau. I was left with virtually no competition.

The few other Western journalists covering the election gave me a ride from Dakar, which eased the feeling in the pit of my stomach from the daunting endeavour. The trip would be crucial because I was now an unqualified peer of professional journalists, and because I had built up Bissau in my mind as an otherworldly city. On a Friday night, our group of four journalists (three Americans and one Brit) took an overnight ferry to southern Senegal, and drove three hours to Bissau the next morning. Anticipation swelled as we

W

crossed the border from Senegal to GuineaBissau in our expatriate-staple white Toyota four-by-four, and entered Bissau city less than two hours later.

Within a few minutes, the city – and the country – I had spent so much time dwelling on in the past few months lay bare before my eyes.

I was startled. Bissau was nothing more than a few blocks of crumbling colonial-era buildings with a couple of miles of humble West African concrete houses surrounding downtown.

Walking around the city, which I could cover on foot in under a half hour, I was struck by a number of extremes. There were the glaring, obstinate images – abject poverty, cratered roads, crumbling buildings, exhausting heat and humidity that turned a two-block walk into a day’s exercise – but subtle contradictions made the place a West African twilight zone.

The hotel most of the journalists stayed at was occupied by members of the Western media, non-governmental/UN workers, and members of Colombian drug cartels taking advantage of Bissau’s instability and its geographical position, a midpoint for cocaine trafficked from South America to Europe. The country had no substantial electricity grid or water planning system, but boasted several nightclubs, restaurants, and even a bumper car park.

Bissau was dying slowly, its fragile pages tearing at the edges. Its haggard skyline showed how little it had developed over the last 30 years. Yet vigorous, fervent BissauGuinean music, a loud, up-tempo Afro-Latin dance rhythm called gumbé, poured out of the decrepit buildings, breathing life into the deliquescent topography.

Everywhere I went, I saw stark contrasts.

These were some of the poorest people on the planet (the fifth poorest country according to the Central Intelligence Agency). Average Bissau-Guinean income is $460 a year, and yet I could not walk two blocks without someone inviting me into his or her house to eat.

Before I left Dakar, I had asked Yusuf if I could stay with his family during my trip. With only one day’s notice, he told me it was no problem, called his parents, and informed them of my imminent arrival. They were a poor family, but offered everything to me and treated me as their own because I was a friend of their son.

B

issau-Guineans have an intense national pride, despite that, in the words of an International Crisis Group report, “GuineaBissau needs a state. Its political and administrative structures are insufficient to guarantee control of its territory, assure minimum public services or counter-balance the army’s dominance.” Each day in the main square, pedestrians would stop campaigning and salute soldiers who raised and lowered the flag in front of the old liberation movement party building. They were saluting memories more than anything, for the leathery building had been unoccupied after being shelled during the country’s 1999 civil war and was now pockmarked by bullets and grenades.

The longer I stayed in Bissau the more I appreciated the country. I felt free. Walking the streets, driving around the peeling building blocks and potholed boulevards in a seventies Mercedes with a Senegalese friend, attending large political rallies with loud gumbé and thousands of energetic BissauGuineans. There was always a sense that you could not predict the next day, that anything could happen, that life was on the edge for Guinea-Bissau.

13

I suppose it was then that I recognized the folly of my judgments. Why did I view these things as contradictions? I had seen in Guinea-Bissau some of poorest people in the world, but that did not mean that their lives were fundamentally different from my own.

They were still the same people as you or I; they had the same desires, the same human traits. Had I expected the people in GuineaBissau to be a different type of humans, who can more easily adapt to living in a country with no state, no running water or electricity, no health services or welfare, nor access to Internet or computers? No, there was nothing in their blood that made them more predisposed to poverty, to unemployment. They woke up every morning and did not see contradictions or extremes; they saw features of a day, a week, a life.

A contradiction is a contradiction only if we let it be. Absurdities are only absurdities because we view them from the confines of our environments. Obstacles and boundaries only exist if we allow them to. If BissauGuineans did not consider their country absurd, what reason should I have to disagree? Were their lives any more extreme or contradictory than ours? If you or I woke up to a world without health insurance or broadband Internet, we might consider it absurd.

But would a Bissau-Guinean not find my life completely absurd, travelling so far from home with no immediate reason to leave my family? What right do I have to judge the logic of one’s life if, as Albert Camus says, we are all elected to the same fate? The variations in defining what is normal eventually renders the concept completely useless. Anything can be normal, just as anything can be absurd.

Once I realized that, Guinea-Bissau was easy to reconcile. The last few days I was there, I accepted everything about the country as normal. I didn’t mind the blinding, sweaty heat, or the Colombian drug dealers, or the drunk soldiers with AK-47s, or the squat toilets – all of it became a part of the environment to which I was now privy. In the words of Immanuel Kant, “human understanding is the true lawgiver of nature.”

In a search of self-affirmation, I looked for the other in Guinea-Bissau, and for a while I was content to view, observe, and interpret the country from afar. Once there I wanted to live the other’s life, if only for a little while, to understand it in an attempt to construct a contrasting meaning for my own life. But after two weeks, what I realized is that the concept of the other has no firm basis in reality and exists only to help me define myself. The other is not only the same as me, the other is me.

U

pon returning to North America, I fell into a bit of malaise. Gone were the days of inviting my neighbour to my house to eat, or helping out people I did not know, or treating everyone with respect. After two weeks in a house in Bissau, I had met more people on that block than I know on my block in Montreal where I’ve been living for three years. In many of my conversations, I reverted to competing with my friends about how much I spent on clothes, or how hard I partied, or how much more or better I had done something, rather than taking a genuine interest in a friend’s well-being.

I still struggle to instill some GuineaBissau mentality in my life, even though it is easy for me to readjust to my North American life, for it is mine. The solidarity with the fellow human is something I hope to live up to.

14Commentary

The McGill Daily, Thursday, October 8, 2009

Olivia Messer for The McGill Daily

Something’s fishy about IDS internships Radically reread Lisa Miatello

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magine: white benevolent heroes, a desolate backdrop, small black and brown children.

Sound familiar? You know the drill – it’s your generic IDS poster promoting internships in the Third World.

It seems that one of the most normative ways to be a contemporary do-gooder is to reach out beyond Canada’s borders to help all the “needy” folks abroad. Let’s not get confused now. The problems exist over there, not here. To be sure, there is a bottomless reservoir of poor people of colour who are sitting pretty just waiting to be rescued. And they’re all far away: Latin America, Africa, South Asia, bring it on!

Now, Western students aren’t only travelling to these far-off countries for the warm, cuddly feelings afforded by altruism. That would just be silly. So what’s in it for them?

And who really seeks to benefit from their efforts?

Let’s throw some things into focus. The ability to volunteer abroad, forego an income for three months, and receive funding from the alumni of an international university bespeaks extreme privilege.

Insofar as downward mobility is unlikely to be found on anyone’s to-do list, most budding capitalists have a vested interest in either maintaining their class status or strengthening it. Yes, even the ones who want to make life better for all the starving babies of colour in remote (and distant) places.

So what benefits does the great white traveller acquire in venturing to these impoverished lands?

Well, there’s the whole academic credit thing. And then there’s the building-of-the-CV thing. Oh yeah, and the using of your internship as leverage for higher education thing. Sounds like a pretty sweet package for someone who’s simply trying to make the world a better place.

Profiting off of the Global South is nothing new. Back in the old days, when colonialism was an explicit system of domination, the European empire’s economic and political power was consolidated through slave labour and the extraction of resources. Honey, the rules may have changed, but the game is still the same. By wearing a mask of humanitarianism, neocolonialism grants us the permis-

IDS internships often seem to serve students more than local people. sion not only to capitalize on the struggles of people in the Third World, but to feel damn good while we’re doing it. Righteous pioneers, indeed!

The most grating part of Western students’ narratives is their confessions of culture shock. What, exactly, is shocking? That you’re a white Westerner who’s either being viewed with suspicion or is disturbingly revered? That the “real deal” defies your omniscience by failing to line up with your course packs?

That you, in fact, don’t understand the language, the peoples, the poli-

tics, or the history of the region in question? That your “help” is not needed? That these grass roots organizations are productive and effectual on their own? Quelle surprise! Colonial mentalities aren’t just a relic of the 19th century.

Let’s face it, we’re at the top of the global food-chain because masses of people are at the bottom. In the famous words of Albert Memmi, “If [the European’s] living standards are high, it is because those of the colonized are low….

The more freely he breathes, the more the colonized are choked.”

Channelling resources into internships to increase the opportunities, status, and wealth available to the rich is not a viable solution – even when done in a spirit of goodwill.

Journeying home after a couple months in the “thicket” and patting yourself on the back does not a better world make.

Lisa Miatello is one of The Daily’s new biweekly columnists. Follow her exploits in this space every other week. Write her at radicallyreread@mcgilldaily.com.

HYDE PARK

Paging Doctor Cornett Unorthodox professor dismissed by McGill helps students reach their full potential Emily Rose Antflick

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ducator George Leonard describes lecturing as “the best way to get information from teacher’s notebook to student’s notebook without touching the student’s mind.” The information that Professor Norman Cornett presents takes an alternate route, arriving soundly at its proper destination – the minds of his students. And staying there.

During my undergraduate degree at McGill, I took two classes with Cornett. Neither of them had anything to do with their course titles; both stirred me on an intellectual level like no other course has before or since. The tone was set as we walked into class with theme songs like Trooper’s “Raise a Little Hell” blasting, and the sentence starter “I believe...” scrawled on the blackboard. Cornett’s students were engaged in a complex dance with

our own identities – simultaneously cloaking ourselves in pseudonyms and anonymous readings while revealing truths about, and to, ourselves through no-holds-barred reflections and candid dialogic sessions. At us he hurled issues like same-sex marriage, aboriginal land rights, and the Holocaust, and shattered our apathy about them.

Employing media as varied as contemporary dance, short stories, musical performances, documentary films, and political cartoons, Cornett showed us not just that we were capable of formulating educated opinions about contemporary issues, but more importantly, that our opinions mattered.

By my fourth year at McGill, I was achieving excellent grades but was jaded and frustrated. I despised the formulaic, institutional learning style that was being imposed upon my once-agile mind. Another day, another A. Depressed and on the verge of dropping out, I consulted

Cornett. He convinced me to stick it out for one more semester – and he also set me on a lifelong pedagogic quest. For my final project in his course, I painted a self-portrait,

the Birks Building, circa 2002. I felt the anxiety of anticipation – will he anonymously read one of my reflections to the class? After the screening, Cornett’s Q & A transformed

Depressed and on the verge of dropping out, I consulted Cornett literally seeing myself in a new light thanks to his guidance.

A few months ago I attended the premiere of Alanis Obomsawin’s excellent film profiling Cornett and his ongoing struggle with McGill administration (if one can call such a one-sided battle a struggle) at Toronto’s Hot Docs film festival. Sitting in a row with several of my former classmates as the lights dimmed, I was transported back to

into one of his famed dialogic sessions. He thoughtfully addressed a range of topical questions and comments and facilitated audience dialogue with his wife Laura and with Obomsawin.

One moment was particularly illustrative of Cornett’s care for each and every one of his students. In the midst of a rambling but insightful answer to a question about applying his pedagogic theories to the teaching

of math and science, Cornett paused, looked into the theatre’s upper rows, and with eyes alight exclaimed, “Dora the Explorer!” He had spotted one of his former students, and without missing a beat, called her by the nickname that she had assigned herself for his class years before.

As the recipient of an MA in education and a current student at teachers’ college, I’m perpetually shaping and refining my ideas about effective teaching. Thanks to Cornett, one thing is for certain, though – my pedagogic philosophy involves raising a little hell.

Alanis Obomsawin’s documentary will be screened for free at the NFB’s CinéRobothèque (1564 St. Denis) from October 8 to 14 at 7 p.m.

Emily Rose Antflick received a BA Honours in Renaissance Jewish Studies in 2004. Open a dialogic session with her at emily.antflick@ gmail.com.

15Commentary

The McGill Daily, Thursday, October 8, 2009

Roman Polanski: let him off the hook?

In 1977, Roman Polanski, director of Rosemary’s Baby, Chinatown, and many other films, was accused of the rape of a 13-yearold girl. Polanski was 44 at the time. As part of a plea bargain, Polanski pled guilty to unlawful sexual intercourse but fled the country before serving any sentence or paying any fines.

POINT

COUNTERPOINT

Let sleeping dogs lie

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iscussion of the fate of Roman Polanski has become terribly loaded. Given the diversity of opinion, and the labyrinthine nature of the blogosphere and public debate in general, this development is hardly surprising, but it appears that this particular topic is more controversial than most. This is for two reasons.

Primarily, the problem is simply that everyone seems to jump immediately to the most emotional of responses.

It’s ironic that while Samantha Geimer is entirely opposed to a resurgence of the media frenzy that has made her life so difficult in the past, there are so many who leap quickly to her defence, demanding justice in spite of her wish to spend less time reliving a painful experience and more time with her husband and children.

This idea of justice then brings us to the second issue colouring this debate, reductive ignorance of what actually occurred in the Los Angeles courthouse in 1977. Yes, Polanski was initially charged with six counts: furnishing a controlled substance to a minor, lewd or lascivious act upon a child under 14, rape by use of drugs, unlawful sexual intercourse, perversion, and sodomy. However, all charges were dropped except for unlawful sexual intercourse, or statutory rape, to which Polanski pled guilty.

Why? Geimer, her family, and her lawyer decided that it would be much better to work out a plea bargain than force the 13-year-old girl to testify in court, live through a full trial, and have to deal with her name being made public. This had nothing to do with Polanski’s celebrity status or any other sort of privilege he might have exercised to get away with his crime.

Of course, the idea of celebrity does bring up another interesting aspect of the legal proceedings. Judge Rittenband, whose judicial misconduct in the case is at the very least somewhat absurd, appears to have been much more obsessed with celebrity than Polanski ever was. His attempted manipulation of both the defence attorney and the defence attorney’s arguments in the courtroom, as well as his media-conscious sentencing plans,

betray him as entirely inappropriate to be judging such a case; it is for this reason that he was eventually removed at the request of the two lawyers involved.

Despite the probation board’s recommendation for probation as a sentence, and the district attorney’s acceptance of this ruling, Rittenband thought it necessary to send Polanski to 90 days of “psychiatric evaluation,” not because he needed further psychological testing but as a punishment before his sentencing.

In fact, had the press not become gradually more opposed to the idea of probation during Polanski’s time in evaluation, the judge would probably have gone through with it. Instead, he called the two lawyers into his chambers before the scheduled sentencing, and attempted to work out a deal.

Again, he attempted to tell them what to say in court, and then attempted to negotiate a prison sentence that he would subsequently recall for the press after the initial sentencing. Some of his suggestions were questionable, some entirely illegal. It was this unreliability of a judge who was more concerned with his appearance in the press than justice that scared Polanski into flight.

Should he have left? Of course not. Was he guilty of a horrible crime? Absolutely. But at this point in the legal process, falling into vitriolic obstinacy that he should be locked up forever is somewhat ridiculous. Polanski is not, and has never been, a threat to society since his singular abhorrent act. If one blames Polanski for running from potential jail time, one also has to be angry with the judicial process, which includes the judge and the people who negotiated the initial plea bargain, for not doing their best to put him there. The alternative, of course, is to give up being righteous, and to acknowledge the imperfect nature of justice and the importance of doing what is best for the victim.

Daniel Walber is a U3 History and Italian literature student. Write him at daniel@walberco.com.

Sasha Plotnikova / The McGill Daily

Daniel Walber

Polanski should face justice Hannah Freeman

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nly three criteria are necessary to evaluate the recent uproar over Oscar-winning filmmaker Roman Polanski’s arrest by Swiss authorities on an outstanding warrant for a statutory rape charge. Is what he did a moral and legal wrong, and therefore a crime? If what he did was a crime, was he justified in fleeing sentencing in the United States? And if he was not justified, were the Swiss authorities right to pick him up when and where they did?

Did Roman Polanski commit a crime?

Yes. Unambiguously, despite Whoopi Goldberg’s horrifying assertion on The View last week: “I know it wasn’t raperape.” In 1978, the girl he attacked testified before a grand jury that he picked out clothes for her and took photographs of her after asking her to take off her shirt and bra.

That he gave her alcohol and then part of a sedative drug.

That he got in a Jacuzzi with her and told her to take her underwear off. That when she told him she wanted to go home now, he said he’d take her home and then forced upon her what she called, at 13 years old, “cuddliness” or cunnilingus, as any adult, like Polanski, would know it. That he took her into a bedroom and put his penis in her vagina and anus while she said “no, stop” but, as she explained, “wasn’t fighting really because I, you know, there was no one else there and I had no place to go.” She was a child; she was drugged and given alcohol; she consistently said “no.”

This is rape. This is a legal wrong, and so fearing life in prison on six felony counts including rape by use of drugs and child molestation, he pled guilty to the lesser charge of unlawful sexual intercourse.

Was Polanski justified in fleeing sentencing? No, because it is wrong to undermine the criminal justice system by proving that if you can make beautiful things, you aren’t accountable for any other decisions you might make or crimes you might commit. If Polanski believed he was about to receive an unfair or erratic judgment when he fled the U.S. on the

day of his trial, he should have utilized the extensive appeals process. Instead, he booked it for Europe, proving that if you are rich enough, and white enough, and creatively gifted enough, you are in practice exempt from the justice system created by the people of the United States for the people of the United States. He lived in exile in France for 32 years as a fugitive and a convicted felon, during which he continued to make movies, receive awards, married, had two kids, and won an Oscar, remaining so unrepentant that he refused to come home, even after the questionable judge’s death, or even to pay – as of 1996 – the $500,000 damages the person he attacked won in a separate civil suit.

Meanwhile, the person he attacked lived without justice, resolution, or closure.

Did the Swiss authorities pick him up at the right time and place? Yes and no.

Yes, because despite the petition of over 100 of his defenders in the film community who argue that this somehow violates the idea that “film festivals the world over have always permitted works to be shown and for filmmakers to present them freely and safely, even when certain States opposed this,” this is not a case of censorship, nor will it create a slippery slope to censorship. No creative person, no masterpiece filmmaker, ought to be worried about the integrity of their work because of Polanski’s arrest; his art could be as controversial or fascinating as he liked, and film festivals should be neutral spaces for it, so long as he did not commit a crime. But he did. And yes, even if he is no longer a danger to society, even if the person he attacked has found closure and no longer wants to be part of this media circus, no person earns a free pass on their crime by running away for 30 years.

And also no, because this has been far too long in coming. Because Polanski’s refusal to make any recompense to the person he attacked, along with the delay in this arrest, has been a giant, public “fuck you” to every present and future sexual assault survivor in the United States. Because Polanski’s art is not more significant than the fact that rape is real and painful and deserving of justice.

Hannah Freeman is a U3 English literature student and The Daily’s copy editor. Write her at hannah.freeman@ mail.mcgill.ca.

16Commentary Miranda Whist for The McGill Daily

The McGill Daily, Thursday, October 8, 2009 HYDE PARK

Choose Life digs its heels in Natalie Fohl and Richard Bernier

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Choose Life’s event in Leacock 232 on Tuesday was disrupted by protests.

OPEN LETTER

SSMU responds to Choose Life event Ivan Neilson

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he SSMU executive is incredibly concerned and upset about the response of McGill University to the recent “Echoes of the Holocaust” event, hosted by the SSMU club Choose Life. We feel that McGill University has not only disrespected the rights of the SSMU as the accredited representative body of all McGill undergraduate students, but also failed to protect students’ rights.

McGill University has not respected SSMU Council and the SSMU executives as representatives of the McGill undergraduate student population. When the SSMU Council passed a resolution officially and publicly censuring the event “Echoes of the Holocaust”, the SSMU Council clearly stated that for Deputy Provost (Student Life and Learning) Morton Mendelson to permit it to go forward would disregard the desire of the Council.

In response, Professor Mendelson argued that this resolution is a tyranny of the majority. Firstly, this is an offensive misrepresentation of the purpose of SSMU Council. The SSMU Council was acting on behalf of all undergraduate students, both in its representative capacity and in reaction to many conversations with students. Secondly, it is worrisome that the Deputy Provost interprets a large percentage of students being outraged and appalled at an event to be a tyranny of the majority. SSMU had hoped that Mendelson would consider the impact as well as content of the presentation instead of ignoring the formal intervention of students’ representative body by using the rhetoric of academic freedom.

By ignoring the SSMU Council’s decision, McGill acted as an enabler for a group attempting to violate

SSMU’s governing documents. The resolution regarding “Echoes of the Holocaust” was passed because the subject and format of the planned presentation violated the SSMU Constitution and Equity Policy.

Council did not pass judgment based on individual opinions, but on the constitutionality of the event overall.

SSMU did not censor Choose Life’s opinions, but the offensive format within which those opinions were being presented. Moreover, the SSMU Council, as the highest governing body of SSMU, has ultimate authority over SSMU clubs. McGill University must respect the right of SSMU to govern groups under its jurisdiction according to its constitution, by-laws, and policies.

SSMU is also disturbed by McGill’s callous disregard of its need to protect students. The Deputy Provost has argued that the behaviour of the protestors was disappointing and appalling. SSMU understands that the disruptive behaviour of the protestors impeded on an event that the University had permitted to happen. However, the University has failed to address the concern that all other formal avenues had been exhausted, but to no avail. Vulnerable students tried to communicate their concerns to the University through the available channels: the SSMU executive, SSMU Council, AUS Council, the McGill Tribune, and The McGill Daily. There were no other avenues through which to stop this event, which they deemed victimizing, offensive, and stifling of educated debate, from happening.

Furthermore, it is unfair to expect these student protestors to watch a presentation calmly and to engage with a speaker when such a presentation would make them feel violated, demonized, and silenced.

In his February 27, 2009 article in the McGill Reporter, “Free and Open

Expression on Campus,” Mendelson said that free speech should be permitted as long as “we do not create a hostile environment for members of our diverse community.” This event created a hostile environment and should not have been permitted. It is possibly most disappointing that when students peacefully engaged in a public response to this hostile environment, they were removed through a police intervention. Administrators did not intervene at all during the height of the event, even after requests from the SSMU executive to do so. Students felt entirely abandoned by the McGill administration upon seeing fellow students removed from the safety of the downtown campus and handed over to the Montreal police and the public media.

SSMU has continually tried to serve and represent McGill undergraduate students in this situation, and will continue to do so. We will continue to engage in a conversation with the McGill administration concerning their respect for SSMU and our students’ rights. We will provide impartial information and guidance to any student defending any action to McGill or initiating a grievance with McGill. Most importantly, as the representatives of all undergraduate students, we will hold ourselves to the highest standard of accountability to our students and to the SSMU constitution, by-laws, and policies.

We hope to work with McGill to address these concerns and formulate constructive solutions. If any students would like to discuss these issues with the SSMU executive, please do not hesitate to contact us.

Ivan Neilson is president of SSMU and is writing on behalf of SSMU’s executive. Write the executive at pres@ssmu.mcgill.ca.

hat are the features that define genocide, and can any of them be meaningfully applied to the phenomenon of abortion – or is that simply an unhelpful, even inflammatory suggestion? Are there any parallels between the language used to depersonalize victimized peoples during the Holocaust, and the language used today in legal and social discourse regarding the human fetus? How can we address the question of the human rights of the unborn in ways that do not jeopardize the rights of adult women? These are some of the questions that Jose Ruba wanted to discuss in his October 6 talk, “Echoes of the Holocaust,” organized by Choose Life.

These questions are controversial. Some of them even divide members of the pro-life community. The event was attended by the curious and the questioning, by supporters of Ruba’s position, by opponents (pro-life and pro-choice) who came to listen and raise real objections and concerns. In the end, none of these questions were discussed, as a group of protesters drowned out all dialogue with a tiresome farce that lasted two hours. Despite polite and repeated invitations to leave or raise objections during the open discussion following the talk, despite the patience of those in attendance who came to engage with the issues and calmly waited for the lecture to proceed, the evening was entirely consumed by the churlish antics of a few.

The title of the talk was controversial, and unquestionably open to debate. Concerns about the content of the talk were based on hearsay and innuendo, and Choose Life has been implicated by insinuation with any number of opinions that we explicitly repudiate. Despite intolerable and slanderous suggestions to the contrary, Choose Life does not believe and will never support the claim that Canada is like Nazi Germany, or that post-abortive women are in any respect like Nazis. Choose Life is committed to defending the dignity of human life from conception onward, and we will not be cowed by insults into keeping quiet, as long as a portion

of the human family is marginalized by depersonalizing language and unjust actions.

There are many pro-life students at McGill, completely committed to raising awareness about the oppression of the human person in the fetal stage. There are many others who are firmly pro-choice, who wish to hear what the other side has to say, or make the most of opportunities to change the minds of their opponents through rational discussion.

A third constituency is the cohort of students who aren’t sure what they believe about the rights of the unborn but who want the chance to craft their own informed opinion.

For these reasons, for these students, Choose Life isn’t going anywhere. We will not go away, no matter how often our right to engage in civil conversation is disrupted and violated.

Choose Life appreciates the professionalism of McGill University’s administration, which made every effort to allow the event to proceed peacefully. We are vividly aware that some students feel nervous about the discussion of abortion, and are sensitive to the fact that some members of the McGill community feel unsafe or harassed by the presence of certain kinds of pro-life discourse on campus. Choose Life is absolutely committed to transparency and to respectful, civil discussion, and we welcome any suggestions or dialogue that will help us to occupy our place on campus in as constructive and non-threatening a way as possible. That civil, courteous, safe dialogue is possible and desirable, we have no doubt at all; we passionately desire peace of mind and a safe space for every single student.

This is our commitment. This is our commitment because we are here, and here to stay. We will not sit down and shut up. We will not allow others to decide before listening to us whether our contribution is legitimate or not. We will not try to drown out those who disagree with us. We will not be silenced.

Natalie Fohl is a U3 Biology and Political Science student and the president of Choose Life. Richard Bernier is a PhD IV Religious Studies student. Write them at natalie.fohl@mail.mcgill.ca.

Reader, I still haven’t heard from you.

Please – please – write soon.

Desperately, letters@mcgilldaily.com

Culture

The McGill Daily, Thursday, October 8, 2009

17

Sickly Sweet Cal Lane refashions steel oil drums into incisive environmental art

McGill Daily luk for The Yasemin Bo

Laura Anderson The McGill Daily

Laura Anderson The McGill Daily

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weet Crude, artist Cal Lane’s latest exhibition, derives its name from one of the world’s most sought-after energy sources, petroleum oil. Of course, oil is involved in the current production processes of many widely used items. From the food we eat to the cars we drive, and everything in between, the substance is integral to modern consumer culture and the affluent lifestyle that comes with it. As levels of industrialization and consumerism continue to increase globally, and oil reserves simultaneously begin an irreversible decline, the scarcity of this non-renewable resource is becoming an unavoidable reality.

Though alternatives to oil energy exist, unless world leaders are willing to implement a viable substitute on a

mass scale, oil scarcity will likely lead to conflict in the future. In fact, it already has – both the first Gulf War and the current conflict in Iraq lend evidence to this claim and suggest that the clash over oil will only become more pressing as time goes on.

These issues are at the centre of Lane’s exhibit, not only because of the subject matter she addresses, but also through her unconventional choice of medium. By using an oxyacetylene torch and a plasma cutter, Lane was able to carve a series of intricate images into steel oil drums of varying sizes. While some of her pieces are flattened into two-dimensional objects and then mounted on the walls of the gallery, others retain their original three-dimensional form, and are displayed as large sculptures throughout the gallery’s space. That these works of art are constructed from repurposed oil drums is clearly recognizable, a fact

that heavily impacts the viewer’s perception of the exhibit.

“As a material, I love how steel can be manipulated. As a metaphor, I love how the material relates to the industrial, functional, structural,” Lane says, in describing her affinity for the medium. “It’s a material of strength and power and masculinity,” she continues. “The material itself carries a lot in the way of symbols… . I love to work with and against these symbols when altering objects.”

Lane’s background clearly fostered her interest in the use of everyday objects as media. Having been discouraged by her parents from becoming an artist earlier in life, she worked in a series of “practical” trades, from hairdressing to welding, before eventually attending art school in her late twenties. “Having this life of trying everything, struggling to figure out where I fit in, was what influenced the work I made,” she says.

The images present in her pieces are varied, but the concept of contrast forms a major theme throughout Lane’s work. The artist acknowledges the use of opposing ideas in her art, saying, “I like to work with contrasts, both as a way to create a balance and a fight; there is always another side to a story, a visual devil’s advocate.”

In some parts of Sweet Crude, the social commentary is clear, as with the rows upon rows of houses and car-garages depicted in “Sprawl” and “Cul-de-sac Column.” Other works depict more benign imagery: floral patterns, curving topographical lines, and natural scenes.

Several of Lane’s pieces involve large maps of the world carved out of the steel of the oil drums, with clearly discernable continents and oceans laying on grid-like backdrops. Other images – animals, vehicles, and mythological crea-

tures, among others – are scattered over the maps. The content presented here is suggestive of multiple struggles: between strong and fragile, masculine and feminine; between practical and aesthetic, and between ancient and modern ideas.

Lane lays out these struggles without providing a straightforward narrative about the conflicts in question. These images are presented in a manner that reflects their complicated nature, provoking thought in the viewer. A number of distinct ideas are blended together in the works Lane presents in Sweet Crude; the work is sure to raise questions about oil dependence that are important for all to consider.

Sweet Crude is on display through October 31 at Art Mur (5826 St. Hubert).

18Culture

Festival du Nouveau Cinema 2009 Montreal’s Festival du Nouveau Cinema (FNC) has a history of showcasing the new and innovative in Canadian and international film. Each year, new, more obscure works find a home at the FNC alongside better-known works by prominent directors. This year, the festival features its usual diversity of films.

There is a significant Canadian and

Quebecker presence, as well as some imported controversy from abroad in the form of the Lars von Trier gore-fest Antichrist . We suggest you take a look at the FNC schedule, online at nouveaucinema.ca, to peruse the festival’s full offerings. To get you started, we’ve chosen five films that caught our attention – some good, some bad; all of them intriguing.

Film Ist a Girl and a Gun A

s the French director Jean-Luc Godard famously mused, “All you need to make a film is a gun and a girl.” In his latest montage film, aptly titled Film Ist a Girl and a Gun, director Gustav Deutsch takes Godard’s advice quite seriously. Weaving together scenes from a variety of media, including both early film and archival footage, Deutsch guides his audience through a dreamlike meditation on the life cycle, fixating on two of film’s greatest obsessions: sex and violence.

Before I delve into the meat of the film, I must give a fair warning to the less adventurous among us – Film Ist a Girl and a Gun is an often bizarre, mildly pornographic, and sometimes downright incomprehensible piece of work. The movie proceeds like a free association of strange and occasionally disturbing images that generally resist interpretation. That being said, there is a method to Deutsch’s madness, and those who are will-

ing to submit to his experimental approach will undoubtedly recognize the artistic value of his work.

Deutsch’s film is particularly intriguing because it is comprised solely of “found footage,” meaning that its success is almost entirely the result of clever editing. Deutsch often jumps back and forth between two or more sets of footage to create fleeting vignettes, transitioning so quickly that the viewer has little time to reflect on their meaning. At other times, the montage is slow and reflective, with no concern for plot.

While this approach may sound slightly disappointing, the overall effect is truly mesmerizing.

Regardless of technique, Film Ist’s raw material is a gold mine in and of itself.

Benefiting from his access to a rare collection of historical and scientific footage, Deutsch selects scenes from the past archives of the

Kinsey Institute – famous for its research on sex and gender studies – as well as from the specialist collections of the Imperial War Museum. Deutsch frequently arranges his nonfiction fragments with clips of early silent films to create dynamic montages of basic human drives, like sex or violence, and their cinematic representation.

Though the film has no concrete plot, Deutsch creates an internal coherence to his visual narrative by dividing the film into acts named after classical literature: “Genesis,” “Paradeisos,” “Eros,” “Thanatos,” and “Symposium.” These chapters, largely devoid of dialogue, are interspersed with philosophical quotes that illuminate the images they accompany. But it is the spectacular soundtrack that really sets the tone for the film. Ranging from classical symphonic music to modern electro beats, Film Ist a Girl and a Gun builds an incredible

soundscape that is seamlessly synchronized to its visuals. The combination of music and poetic captions save Deutsch’s chaotic montages from total obscurity, affording the scenes a lyrical elegance that is actually quite moving.

Film Ist a Girl and a Gun is guaranteed to be popular among those who enjoy montage film or have a passion for early cinema, although its provocative approach is sure to pique the interest of a larger audience as well.

Deutsch’s work is a refreshing break from mainstream cinema and a fascinating revival of film’s forgotten, controversial beginnings.

—Maeve Clougherty Film Ist a Girl and a Gun screens at Ex-Centris – Le Parallèle (3536 St. Laurent) on October 15 at 5 p.m. and at Cinéma du Parc (3575 Parc) on October 16 at 7 p.m.

Leslie, My Name is Evil eslie, My Name is Evil is director Reginal Harkema’s commentary on sixties American life. The decade saw the Vietnam War, the free love era, and the infamous Charles Manson murder cult, the trial of which features prominently in the film’s plot. Leslie skillfully unites these themes together through the trajectories of two parallel stories, which converge when Perry (Gregory Smith), a puritanical, sexually frustrated young teen is chosen as a juror to try the Manson death cult. The separation of Perry’s world from Manson’s is brilliantly executed throughout the movie. In the many graphic killing scenes, Manson and his murderous vixens are filmed in a highly stylized and richly colourful way, which is juxtaposed with Perry’s cold, drab existence, filmed in muted pastels. The dichotomy enhances the audience’s recognition of the culture of repression prevalent in Perry’s sixties religious family.

At the trial, Leslie (Kristen Hager) – the most beautiful member of the death cult – becomes an unusual object of desire for the sexually repressed Perry, who cannot make love to his wife-to-be because of her devotion to Jesus. The Charles Manson character, played by Ryan Robbins, is himself depicted as Jesus, once getting literally tied up to a cross, and worshipped by his female followers. Perry’s frustration peaks in the film’s most graphic scene – a dream sequence in which he violently stabs his wife, while she derives some sort of sexual pleasure from it.

Eventually, Perry becomes so infatuated with Leslie that he begins to defend her actions, becoming the last juror to hold out against

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conferring a guilty verdict.

The courtroom scenes are intensely funny, with the courtroom itself serving as a mockery of the American legal system. The defendants are positioned in front of a giant American flag, while the camera occasionally flashes to the jury, busy making comical faces. Every time that Charlie and his three female cult members enter the courtroom, they present a new form of protest, ranging from their provocative clothes to the crosses carved into their foreheads. And in a seeming parody of the Leopold and Loeb trials, Manson’s beautiful followers develop a cult celebrity status during the trial, before they are ultimately found guilty.

The other theme in the film is protest of the Vietnam War. Bombarding the audience with stock footage of the war, the film makes a point about the outrage the war incited during the sixties – precisely what Manson claims to be protesting with his killings.

Leslie, My name is Evil is an amusing film decidedly not meant for the squeamish. But in spite of its senseless violence, gratuitous sex, and over-the-top killing scenes, the film’s political agenda nevertheless manages to be thought-provoking. Over four decades later, these themes have remained sensitive to North Americans, giving Harkema a reason to look at them with a fresh eye, however lightheartedly he chose to do so.

—Kamran Aryah Leslie, My Name Is Evil screens at Cinéna du Parc (3575 Parc) on October 10 at 9 p.m. and October 13 at 5 p.m.

The McGill Daily, Thursday, October 8, 2009

19

Mary and Max D

iscovering a new filmmaker is a joyful experience. A fresh voice emerging on to the cinematic scene has the potential to invigorate and inspire in a way that seasoned directors sometimes cannot, weighed down by genres they have already established and mastered. Australia’s Adam Elliot is very much one of these new and visionary talents, with his first feature-length film, the claymation Mary and Max, standing as testimony to his skill at this year’s FNC. Mary Daisy Dinkle (voiced by Toni Collette) is an 8-year-old girl living in Melbourne. Her parents are largely absent; her father works long hours at a tea bag factory, and is absorbed with his taxidermy, while her mother spends much of her time “testing” gin. Mary is made fun of at school, and is the happiest when watching her favorite television show, The Noblets. She wishes she could collect Noblet figurines, but doesn’t have enough money, so she makes her own out of string, glue, and other little things she finds around the house.

But Mary’s life changes when she picks a name at random out of a book of New York names and addresses at the post office, and subsequently becomes pen pals with Max Jerry Horowitz (voiced by Philip Seymour Hoffman). A 44-year-old Jewish, atheistic, severely obese man with Asperger’s syndrome, Max is at first terribly apprehensive about this friendship. Yet he soon warms up to Mary, and the two form a lasting bond.

The film follows their relationship as it moves forward, through Max’s struggles with his disorder, Mary’s romance with the boy across the street, Nick Popodopoulos (voiced by Eric Bana), and all the other ups and downs of life.

What makes this movie so wonderful is its light-hearted attitude and artfully heartwarming animation. Elliot’s sense of humour is present even in the unhappiest of circumstances, using cleverly placed jokes and amusing absurdities to balance the sadness of the death of a parent or the fear of a confrontation with the overwhelming urban form of New

York City. As the years fly by, and life certainly does not work out as planned for either of the characters, there is never a sense of loss or despair, but rather a constant joy. Life can be sad, but it can also always be funny and warm if you look at it from the right angle, which is exactly what Mary and Max ask us to do.

Of course, you don’t have to take my word for it. Elliot’s previous work, the short film Harvey Krumpet, which depicts a Polish emigrant to Australia with chronic bad luck, a penchant for nudism and Tourette’s Syndrome, won the Oscar for Best Animated Short in 2004, and is available on YouTube. Narrated

by Geoffrey Rush, this short film is a great distillation of Elliot’s distinct and wonderful perspective as a filmmaker, and shouldn’t be missed.

—Daniel Walber Mary and Max is screening at Cinéma du Parc (3575 Parc) at 7 p.m. on October 10 and 5 p.m. on October 14.

es Signes Vitaux, Quebecois director Sophie Deraspe’s most recent film, is at once eerie and heartwarming. Taking the cold Quebec winter as its backdrop, the film lets the viewer feel two incongruous emotions, intertwined in one complex sensation.

Wavering on the border of romance and drama, the film offers a new perspective on life, mortality, and the mysterious desire to help others in need.

Marie-Hélène Bellavance plays Simone, a young, independent biology student at Harvard who has come back home to deal with the aftermath of her grandmother’s unexpected death. Her grandmother’s passing forces Simone to enter a palliative care centre for the first time in her life.

The fact that she was not present for her grandmother’s last moments sparks Simone’s interest in forging bonds with the people in the centre where her grandmother passed. Simone signs up to volunteer at this centre, and forms some of the most intimate, but short-lived, relationships she’s ever experienced.

The story of these relationships allows the movie to deal with themes of mortality and morality. While it is clear that Simone is an independent woman, she is obsessed with her own perceived weakness.

A car accident in her youth resulted in the loss of her legs from the knee down, and categorized her as a disabled person. That Simone is able to help the centre’s patients, who rely on her for nearly all their needs, gives her a sense of authority and purpose that she has not experienced before. However, this overwhelming sense of gratification quickly takes a subconscious toll on Simone’s life, as she grows too

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close to the patients and ignores the rules of therapy. It even affects her personal life, as she gets more deeply involved in her already tumultuous relationship with her lover, Boris (Francis Ducharme).

Bellavance gives the film’s strongest performance, outshining her costar Ducharme with the sincerity and warmth she adds to Simone’s character. Nearly silent scenes and a recurring minimalist soundtrack only add to the film’s appeal. Clear, poignant shots of benign objects – for example, a snowblower – allow the viewer to identify, fully appreciate, and absorb the emotion the scene tries to convey. When the music returns, overpowering the speakers with its powerful, eerie trumpets, it further emphasizes that emotion, allowing the viewer to feel its full range and force.

Still, Deraspe avoids getting too wrapped up in the solemn moments, and the film also has a sincere sense of humour when needed. The amusing pangs don’t take away from the overall sensibility of the movie, but rather add another dimension to the already multi-layered plot. Les Signes Vitaux provides an interesting perspective on palliative centres and the people involved in them, with its raw depiction of death, the fragility of life, and the potentially dangerous feeling of power in the presence of the weak.

—Sophia LePage Les Signes Vitaux screens at Ex-centris (3536 St. Laurent) on October 10 at 8:45 p.m. and at 5:15 p.m. on October 12.

Graphics by Rebeccah Hartz for The McGill Daily

Les Signes Vitaux

Rapping with Shakespeare W

ith his new documentary Rapping with Shakespeare, director-producer Michael King delivers a heart-warming film about one teacher’s mission to reach his students through literature. The film follows five students at Crenshaw High School: Myles Thompson, Adam Juneau, Joanna Cruz, Esephany Lara, and Emmanuel Cortez.

A predominantly African-American secondary school in south central Los Angeles, Crenshaw draws its students from rough, poverty-stricken neighbourhoods riddled with violence and gang rivalries. Victims of a school system that has failed them, the students have no reliable role models. Andy Molner, however, a Crenshaw English teacher, tries to engage his students by incorpo-

rating rap and hip-hop into lessons about Shakespeare. The students examine their struggles and triumphs through the lens of Shakespearian characters, and manage to connect with Shakespeare because of the bard’s enduring themes, like murder, violence, betrayal, and infidelity. All of these issues dominate the real lives of the students themselves.

Molner makes connections between hiphop figures and Shakespeare’s characters in order to help his students not only understand Shakespeare from a unique standpoint, but also to teach moral lessons about the implications of street crime. Rapper The Game, for example, was attending a prestigious university on a basketball scholarship

until he began selling drugs and was eventually caught and sent to prison. Macbeth, also, was unsatisfied by his successes, eventually setting off a irreversible chain of violence.

From an academic perspective, both of their downfalls were their ambitions, but drawing parallels between The Game and Macbeth also teaches students that joining a gang has the potential to lead to a life of despair and hardship.

At times, the film is successful in capturing the essence of high school in south central L.A. and the violence involved. However, the film’s subjects are exceptional students with high academic performance, who do not represent the struggles of the majority of the student body. Though all of the students

featured in the film have overcome difficult obstacles or been subject to violence, they are Crenshaw’s rare success stories, and do not account for the majority of the area’s population. Upon close scrutiny, the film’s politics don’t quite add up, and its original focus dissolves into soap-operatic tones toward the end. Despite these shortcomings, however, King manages to pull off an inspiring tale about literature’s potential to do good.

—Alexis Montgomery Rapping with Shakespeare screens at Cinéma du Parc (3575 Parc) on October 8 at 9:15 p.m., October 12 at 3:30 p.m., and October 13 at 1:15 p.m.

20Culture

Courtesy of Bo Huang

The McGill Daily, Thursday, October 8, 2009

Bold steps Danses Buissonières’ emerging choreographers aren’t shy about dancing Maya Hamovitch Culture Writer

T

o say that Danses Buissonières, Espace Tangente’s juried show of new work by emerging choreographers, is eccentric would be a profound understatement. The collection of works dares to disregard the mainstream; it is an exhilarating, controversial, and titillating performance, brimming with idiosyncratic quirks and powerfully moving, jawdropping scenarios. The audience at the show’s premiere on October 1 was clearly hungry for cuttingedge dance; they undoubtedly got what they wanted, yet left hungry for more.

Danses Buissonières’ unique, offbeat character is the outcome of the method that underlies its madness. Dena Davida, artistic direc-

tor of Espace Tangente, says that the aim of the show is “ to create a space for experimentation….we are looking at work that is experimental, innovative, and pushes boundaries.” Six choreographers, selected by a peer-juried competition, comprise the creative team behind Danses Buisonnières. All of them are fresh out of school and eager to convey their unique views through dance. The works these choreographers presented during Danses Buissonières were stunning, individually and collectively. They were vastly different from one another in tone, and invited a range of responses from the audience, from shock to uncontrollable laughter.

Three radically different works were the highlights of the evening.

The first of these was choreographed by Barthelemy Glumineau, and was titled Les bras, les yeux

(“Arms, Eyes”). The piece began with the abstract movements of a hand emerging from offstage; it then focused in on Glumineau, dressed as a waiter, who exited a restaurant to find an adorable and hungry golden retriever outside.

Although they are different species, dog and dancer delivered the same central message through their movements: that awe and servitude are life’s spiritual forces. The dog, silently whimpering for food, and Glumineau, placing elastics over his face, both portrayed images of suffering. The result was incredible.

In contrast to this and other esoteric pieces was a refreshingly humorous, lighthearted dance entitled Un Colon Irritable (“An Irritable Colon”). The dancers moved in fits and spurts, allowing the audience to travel down a torturous path of gastric problems. As dancers con-

vulsed, audience members roared and bellowed; hysteria filled the room. This was an enlightening surprise, which proved that even contemporary dance – often seen as uniformly deep and highly symbolic – can provide an amusing perspective on natural human conditions.

The final piece presented was indisputably controversial. A modern interpretation of the birth of Jesus, the dance was stimulating, sexy, and tantalizing. Covered solely by large wooden crosses, three dancers exposed body parts while partaking in an overt threesome onstage. Covered in hay and drenched with water, one could use words other than “dance” to describe the piece. The dancers’ final pose replicates the traditional image of Mary after giving birth to Christ, a scene that would be remembered long after the curtain

fell.

There were other highlights at Danses Buissonières. There were solos and duets marked by primal physicality; the sharp and edgy movements of dancers attached to an invisible remote control, put on pause, rewind, and fast forward; or Dorothy’s tumultuous journey through Oz to the soundtrack of Pink Floyd’s “Dark Side of the Moon.”

Danses Buisonnières is inarguably a production ahead of its time.

Its highly imaginative perspectives, raw and sincere expression of the human condition, and its rejection of predictability and conformity make for a production that touches on truth and spirit.

Danses Buissonières runs October 8, 9, and 10 at 7:30 p.m. and October 11 at 4 p.m. at Espace Tangente (840 Cherrier).

McGill Symphony Orchestra kicks off new season Opening concert sets tone for a diversity of performances this year Stephanie Lopez Culture Writer

M

usic is a universal language. It is also a temporary flight from reality, where your imagination can take you almost anywhere. Last Friday night, conductor Alexis Hauser and the McGill Symphony Orchestra (MGSO), along with a special guest, talented violinist Alexander Read, opened their doors to the first concert of the season and a fantastic musical soirée.

The evening’s program included Shostakovich’s Violin Concerto No. 1, Op 77, Brahms’ Tragic Overture, Op. 81, Overture to Benvenuto Cellini by Berlioz, and Brahms’ Der Rosenkavalier Suite. It was important to Hauser to convey a specific set of emotions through the music.

“The idea of this program was the journey from the most dark and tragic to the happier, more joyful things in life,” he said. It was an apt description of the evening – what the audience witnessed was a gradual progression from the somber to the sweet.

The program began with Tragic Overture. To Hauser, the work symbolizes “the happening of an immense catastrophe and the immediate reaction thereafter.

[There is] a lot of despair and anger in this work.” As they were preparing for the concert, Hauser told his musicians to imagine the terrifying events of 9/11 in order to create the appropriate mindset for interpreting music on the program.

Tragic Overture was followed

by Shostakovich’s Violin Concerto No.1, with Alexander Read playing the solo sections. The first move-

ment, entitled “Nocturne,” began quietly. Hauser saw this as parallel to the day after the tragic events, “the slow and fragile efforts of how to build a life.” He characterized the remainder of the piece, from the second movement through the last, as a depiction of “quotidian living with a huge wildness of human emotions, including sarcasm, humour, but profound feelings as well.” The different emotions lead to the “grotesque circus music of the finale.”

After the intermission, the musicians played two operatic pieces, Berlioz’s Overture to Benvenuto Cellini and Strauss’ Der Rosenkavalier. According to Hauser, these pieces “lead up to more joyful moments of life, with dance, love, joie de vivre.”

Led by Hauser, the young orchestra played an outstanding perfor-

mance. The music that emerged from the instruments was like fireworks; energy filled the room.

Read’s passionate performance also added much excitement to the night.

The violinist, who is currently pursuing a Master’s in Music at Yale, has a Bachelor of Music with honours from McGill. He was, in fact, the concertmaster of the MGSO last year. Ee has won numerous prizes for his performances, and has appeared in masterclasses with the likes of Zakhar Bron, Joseph Silverstein, and Pamela Frank.

The audience reacted enthusiastically as Read played his violin with confidence and ease. In Shostakovich’s piece, he started with a soft and melancholic tone, which grew more emphatic as the music erupted into intensely emotional melodies. Read played both

the delicate and dramatic parts of the score effortlessly. He has the delicacy as well as the energy to be able to play both extremes.

It was clear that Violin Concerto No. 1 was of special importance to Read. According to Hauser, their shared enthusiasm for the piece was the inspiration for the night’s program. Hauser characterized their work with Shostakovich as “nothing but a labour of love.”

The MGSO’s concert season continues through April 2010, with discounts available for McGill students.

Hauser said there will be “various and contrasting styles of all epochs, with vocal and instrumental soloists and performances from the early classics to the most contemporary.”

If Friday’s concert was any indication, Hauser’s gift for integrating diverse styles will make for a continually interesting season.

Culture

The McGill Daily, Thursday, October 8, 2009

21

Country art, city art Alyssa Favreau Culture Writer

W

hen you think about Montreal’s diverse art community, Ste. Catherine does not immediately come to mind. But if you leave the busy downtown shopping district behind and step inside the Belgo Building, just off of Jeanne-Mance, you’ll be met with a striking, formerly industrial space filled with design firms, dance centres, and art galleries. One of those spaces, Galerie SAS, is currently hosting Montrealbased sculptor Marc Dulude’s newest multimedia exhibition, and may well merit a visit.

Dulude’s work, on display at SAS until October 31, centres on the way people relate to natural landscapes in an increasingly fast-paced and urban age. Through his art, Dulude asks if we can, while being so far removed from them, still have a relationship with forests, mountains, and meadows. Though these may seem like the tired existential queries of a philosophy classroom, in exploring the subject, Dulude

creates a haunting, ethereal exhibit, beautifully enacting the fleeting connection between humans and nature.

Using multiple mediums, the exposition affords Dulude the opportunity to explore the relationship between the organic and the technological. Instead of displaying his sculptures, the viewer is only shown their depictions through photography and film, demonstrating just how removed we are from the natural world, and nature’s limited effect on distanced observers.

Dulude is fresh from a residency at the Scottish Sculpture Workshop, an experience that inspired many of his recent works. His art is partially motivated by a recurring desire to explore different materials and all their possibilities, and his current three-part exhibit is no exception.

As part of his attempt to rethink scenery and contrast the natural with the man-made, Dulude has included two photographs, “Kaleidoscopique 1 and 2”, into his exhibit at SAS. Meant to represent landscapes, these extreme closeups of aluminum foil reflect and refract the lights of Dulude’s studio,

giving the impression of fantastically coloured scenery.

Another piece, “The Invisible Bike”, is a fully functional bicycle covered in mirrors, and presents a welcome alternative to the fastpaced travel to which modern society has become accustomed.

Reflecting the countryside through which it is being ridden, the bike seems non-existent, completely erasing the rider’s connection to the material world while also allowing the viewer to see through the eyes of the cyclist. Dulude says that he chooses his materials for their physical, formal, or symbolic qualities, and “The Invisible Bike” is in alignment with this opinion. The bicycle itself flawlessly represents the act of slowing down and enjoying scenery from outside a car, while still retaining its manufactured attributes.

“Foggy Mirror” – named after the phenomenon in which Highland fog is so thick that a person can see his reflection in it – is an eerie film following the twists and turns of mist and fog through an impossibly still and undisturbed scale model of a mountain range built by Dulude himself. An accompanying photo-

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Quebec artist Marc Dulude approaches rural landscapes in downtown gallery space

graph titled “Night Hill” strengthens the recurring theme of reflection, and further emphasizes the way we look at, live in, and relate to nature.

All three works impart to us the unique way in which a sculptor interacts with landscapes. In an effort to reinvent how art depicts nature, the scenes shown are not traditional paintings or photographs, but manmade objects that Dulude hopes better represent our relationship with the natural world.

Although the artist was deeply affected by his residency in

Scotland, his work remains firmly rooted in Montreal. When the Galerie SAS proposed that Dulude present his work at their space, he accepted, stating that it was rare for a private gallery to showcase multimedia art. Marc Dulude’s captivatingaddition to the Montreal art world is an intriguing step away from the hustle and bustle of the Montreal downtown.

Marc Dulude’s exhibition runs through October 31 at Galerie SAS (372 Ste Catherine O. Suite 416)

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The McGill Daily, Thursday, October 8, 2009

22

Lies, half-truths, and mooning

Pro-life protestors interrupt sing-along Manuel Nellón The McGill Daily

P

ro-life protestors interrupted an officially-sanctioned singalong in Leacock 232 this Tuesday, to the confusion and consternation of the McGill Sing-Along Society (MSAS).

“I just don’t get it,” said MSAS president Charleen Simplehaven.

“We just wanted to sing a couple of innocuous tunes like the FreshPrince of Bel-Air theme song and a rousing chorus of ‘Happy Birthday’ for the practice of abortion.”

Blocked inside of Leacock 232 by the protestors, the MSAS made several emergency phone calls to SSMU, AUS, SUS, EUS, Hillel McGill, the Muslim Students’ Association, and various other on-campus advo-

cacy groups in hopes of blocking the protestors.

Each of these groups in turn contacted the administration, but to no avail.

At length, the police were called.

Two students were arrested for mischief and an indeterminate number of additional students fined for hating music.

“I’m as much at a loss as the students,” said one of the officers on the scene, Raymond Baillargeron.

“How can you hate sing-alongs?”

Meanwhile, the lithe figure of this school’s venerable principal could be seen slinking out of the James Administration building on a rope made of bedsheets.

“Look at her go,” said the Plateau tricycle guy.

“She always knows when to stay and when to get lost.”

Miranda Whist for The McGill Daily Olivia Messer for The McGill Daily

Artists’ rendition of U.S. moon bombing.

U.S. to bomb moon

Though this is in Compendium!, some of this is true Télésphore Sansouci The McGill Daily

T

he United States of America announced the other day that they are planning on bombing the moon this Friday at 7:30 p.m. Eastern time.

“We heard that Hitler had left his secret moon base for a vacation in Tampa,” said U.S. Secretary of Defence Gobert Rates. “Naturally, we wanted to take advantage of this absence to finally rid the world of Nazism.”

Unfortunately, as many televisual commentators have pointed out, the scourge of abortion, which has many parallels to Nazism, will still exist. Gates refused to comment.

Reactions on campus were varied. “’Bout fuckin’ time,” said U2.5 Divination student Florkus Fangelham. He refused to elaborate, and when pressed, flipped this reporter off.

On Tuesday, USA@McGill, the expatriate American club, held an impromptu rally at Three Bares Park. Miffed Farmers’ Market vendors fled from interminable chants of “USA! USA! USA!” Many students and professors expressed concern about the

implications the bombing would have on the inhabitants of the moon. In-fighting in selenophile organizations led to the protest’s collapse, however, early on Wednesday.

Rival groups clashed at the Y-Intersection, some calling for “Rights for the Moonmen,” others demanding “Respect for Moonpeople,” and still more clamouring for “Cynthonian self-determination.”

“These people – for they are people, like you or I or a fetus – have been without food, water,

“’Bout fuckin’ time.”

Florkus Fangelham U2.5 Divination or air for millenia!” exclaimed Shirley Bozentrove, U3 Semiology of Geology student and founder of the Cynthonian Liberation Front (CLF).

“It’s absolutely imperative that our country step in and use its immense influence on U.S. policymakers to put an end to this bombing.”

Attempts to contact moon dwellers were fruitless. The staff

of Hitler’s moon base refused to comment, and since 1945 they have enforced a media blackout in regards to Cynthonians.

Nevertheless, Stockminster Thorstein, a professor specializing in politico-religious psycho-geography in early modern Ukraine, who has long studied the Cynthonians, offered some speculations on their situation.

“Well, listen,” the professor said avuncularly. “Moonmen aren’t like you or I – they don’t breathe or eat or drink. They have an incredible work ethic. They love to build.

I don’t think they need any saving, and I don’t think they’ll mind this bombing.”

Members of the Organization of Moonpeople and their Allies at McGill (OMAM) denounced both protesters and the bombing.

“This is about self-determination. Maybe we should bomb the moon; maybe we shouldn’t,” said OMAM’s coordinator through a translator. “The real question is: what do the Moonpeople want? No one seems to be asking that question. Not even the CLF.” No, but seriously, the United States is actually going to bomb the moon for some crazy reason this Friday at 7:30 p.m. EST. Watch it, watch it!

Admin bans bikes Sustainability initiative accelerated in response to moon bombing Charlie Palin

T

he administration has started implementing ahead of schedule the final phases of its Sustainable McGill project by banning bicycles from the planet.

The immediate reason given by Principal Meather Bunroe-Hlum was moon bombing announced by the United States earlier this week.

“The destruction of the moon that will probably result from this bombing will have simply catastrophic effects on our budget,” she said.

“What’s more, it will probably have some sort of effect on the environment as well. So we thought it was time to pay security guards to stand all over campus telling people

to get off of their bikes.”

“Let’s face it,” the principal continued. “Bikes are an anachronism.

Hello! We’re living in the 21st century. Bikes are costly, they pollute, they clog campus and wear roads away. We need to be lucid: there’s no room for such a destructive mode of transportation in a 21st century society.”

Bunroe-Hlum abruptly interrupted my interview with her, however, and fled campus as word of a campus sing-along being interrupted by pro-life protestors was communicated to her via twitter.

“I have to go,” she said. “I can’t be seen not acting – so I need to go where no one can see me.”

And with that, she leapt through her window.

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