The McGill Daily Vol 107 Issue 15

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An interview with Kai Cheng Thom PAGE 10

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EDITORIAL

Volume 107 Issue 15

January 29, 2018 mcgilldaily.com | The McGill Daily

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editorial board

3480 McTavish St., Rm. B-24 Montreal, QC H3A 0G3

phone 514.398.6784 fax 514.398.8318 mcgilldaily.com

The McGill Daily is located on unceded Kanien’kehá:ka territory. coordinating editor

Inori Roy

coordinating@mcgilldaily.com

managing editor

vacant

coordinating news editor

Stand with sex workers for decriminalization

vacant

news editor

Rayleigh Lee commentary + compendium! editor

Jude Khashman culture editors

Caroline Macari Arno Pedram features editors

Vita Azaro Tai Jacob

sci+tech editor

vacant

sports editor

Louis Sanger multimedia editor

vacant

photos editors

Claire Grenier Adela Kwok illustrations editors

Laura Brennan Nelly Wat copy editor

Jenna Yanke design + production editor

Vacant

web + social media editor Gloria François le délit

Mahaut Engérant

rec@delitfrancais.com

cover design

Adela Kwok and Gloria François contributors

Ariane Beck, Lydia Bhattacharya, Victor Depois, Panayot Gaidov, Bee Khalili, Tali Ioselevitch, Harshita Iyer, Phoebe Pannier, Gabriela Rey, Yasmeen Safaie, Jay Van Put, Jiawen Wang, Dorothy Yip

O

n January 16, 2018, Laval Mayor Marc Demers’ bylaw to curb sex work services came into effect.

Currently, all massage parlours, strip clubs, and other erotic businesses operate in 14 zones across Laval, but are now being pushed to relocate to one small industrial zone called IA-134. Montreal similarly engages in anti-sex work crackdowns. The city has approximately 350 erotic massage parlours operating with therapeutic massage business permits. This allows the 70 per cent of Montreal’s sex workers employed by these establishments to have safer working conditions.

Sex work establishments operating under such a license are subject to hefty fines for ‘misrepresentation’ of services. Quebec politicians have historically targeted sex workers and continue to do so, which especially impacts vulnerable communities such as trans, racialized, and economically disadvantaged women, among others.

In 2014 Parliament passed the federal law Bill C-36, which criminalises the purchase of sex, the advertisement of sexual services, and the receipt of material benefit from sex work. In addition, sex workers are excluded from provincial Employment Standards Legislation. Therefore, they lack recourse when facing discrimination and violence in the workplace, as they cannot mobilize in labour unions. The Canadian Criminal Code also makes it difficult for sex workers to report instances of domestic violence, because of the possibility that their partners will be charged with “living on the avails of prostitution,” according to section 212. These factors push existing sex workers into unsafe working conditions by forcing them to work in isolation without the protection of a business, or to operate illegally to protect the anonymity of their clients.

In January 2017, the city closed down multiple businesses in Rosemont-La-Petite-Patrie due to discrepancy between the business permit and actual usage. After receiving “complaints from citizens,” borough mayor François Croteau claimed that the

presence of sex workers makes neighbourhoods more dangerous for families — a discriminatory argument used repeatedly to pass laws and initiate investigations against sex work. Sex workers’ presence does not jeopardize neighbourhood safety; instead, this stigmatization is used to justify the criminalisation of sex work, putting sex workers in danger. This belief dehumanises sex workers and implies that they are not members of families or have families of their own. Croteau’s statement suggests a distinction between citizens and sex workers.

Crackdowns to keep sex work away from residential neighbourhoods happen periodically in Montreal, especially during election cycles, as demonstrated by Denis Coderre’s re-election platform last fall. Coderre’s claim that continuous crackdowns will reduce human trafficking and the employment of minors in sex work has been applauded by those who believe criminalisation would safely regulate the industry.

However, the current regulations do not ensure the working rights of sex workers or address the systemic roots of the problems Coderre associates with sex work. The three million dollar program implemented in 2016 to fight teen sex trafficking led to more arrests, but also cut $110,000 in funding from Chez Stella’s (an organisation dedicated to improving quality of work and life for sex workers) safety programs aimed at combating sexual exploitation.

Organizations such as Chez Stella urgently call for the repeal of Bill C-36 and decriminalisation of sex work and state that sex workers need “tangible services including economic security, housing and health support,” allowing them to participate in the industry on their own terms. The government of Quebec must shift its policies toward respect for the agency and needs of sex workers, ensuring that Chez Stella and similar groups have adequate funding to continue providing resources and safety programs.

—The McGill Daily Editorial Board

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Nouédyn Baspin, Yves Boju, Marc Cataford (Chair), Mahaut Engérant, Ikram Mecheri, Taylor Mitchell, Inori Roy, Boris Shedov, Rahma Wiryomartono, Xavier Richer Vis All contents © 2018 Daily Publications Society. All rights reserved. The content of this newspaper is the responsibility of The McGill Daily and does not necessarily represent the views of McGill University. Products or companies advertised in this newspaper are not necessarily endorsed by Daily staff.

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ISSN 1192-4608.

“Venezuelan situation worsens” January 22, News, p.4: The Daily would like to apologize for the misrepresentation of the current political crisis in Venezuela. Our reporting of the circumstances did not align with our Statement of Principles, and the Daily regrets the error.

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Contents

January 29, 2018 mcgilldaily.com | The McGill Daily

3 EDITORIAL Demanding the decriminalisation of sex work

4

10 Features In conversation with Kai Cheng Thom

15 Art essay

4 NEWS Prison abolition awareneness

16 Sports

International news blurbs

Looking forward to PyeongChang 2018

McGill holds open forum on respect and inclusion

17 Culture

SSMU Council meets

Queering maps

Divest McGill mobilises students

9 Commentary

Gaming and social justice

Students disrupt for institutional change

20 Compendium!

Free Ahed Tamimi

Crossword

News

The Termite Collective raises awareness on prison conditions

Local organization hosts workshop about incarceration and abolition Victor Despois The McGill Daily

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he Termite Collective, a self-described Montreal-based collective that supports “folks doing time,” organized its first “Lunch and Learn” event on January 26 alongside Midnight Kitchen at the Shatner building.

While the grassroots organization collectively hopes to expose the increasingly repressive nature of prisons through workshops, political parody, and criminal cabaret, the Termite Collective does not hold a singular line of thinking that members have to follow. One member explained that the Termite Collective prioritizes a “shared value system brought together by concerns regarding life inside prisons.”

The night’s discussion began with an overview of the history of prisons in Canada, and their relation to Canada’s colonial and expansionist past. The topic transitioned to a discussion about the lived experiences of Canadian inmates, particularly Black and Indigenous populations, who are overrepresented in prison.

Members of the collective explained how Black and Indigenous people are more likely to receive poor treatment in prison: in 20152016, out of 1,800 “use of force” incidents in federal institutions (i.e. the use of inflammatory agents, such as pepper spray, the use of restraint equipment, weapons, as well as the display and/or use of firearms), 30 per cent involved Indigenous inmates and 18 per cent involved Black inmates. According to the report, 36.6 per cent of the incidents involve inmates with an identified mental health issue, and people of colour in prison are far less likely to receive counselling for mental health issues.

The discussion eventually gravitated toward the understanding of the debate around prisons. The collective stressed the importance of being critical of laws that function to control rather than to prevent harm, which are often put in place to empower elites. Concepts of restorative and transformative justice were also discussed. The “Lunch and Learn” event concluded with a group discussion where participants engaged with members of the collective to share experiences.

Rayleigh Lee| The McGill Daily

January 29, 2018 mcgilldaily.com | The McGill Daily

News

International News

Update on Tunisia

5

Biopolitics and Beyond: New Directions in Indigenous Studies February 2, 4:30pm-6:30pm, Arts-W 215 Keynote: "Caretaking Relations, Not American Dreaming : IdleNoMore NoDAPL, and BlackLivesMatter" -Dr Kim TallBear Panel Discussion with Jennifer Brown, Rico Chenyek & Kristen Simmons Moderated by Rosanna Dent

Protests continue despite social reforms

Claire Grenier | The McGill Daily

T

unisia’s recent implementation of the 2018 Finance Act has sparked intense protests among the country’s youth: the unpopular finance reforms entail a rise in the value-added tax of cars, alcohol, phone calls, internet coverage, and hotel accommodations, among other things, inciting many to take to the streets. Government officials have stated that the tax hike aims to cut down on the country’s deficit in accordance to the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) conditional $2.8 billion loan program tied to the Tunisian government’s implementation of socioeconomic reforms.

The Tunisian economy has been characterized as unsteady since the Arab Spring protests in 2011: nine separate governments have come to power since the toppling of President Zine el Abedine Ben Ali, few of which have made concrete improvements to the country’s economy since. Terror attacks in Sousse and Tunis did little to help tourism revenue, and with general inflation in Tunisia averaging 6 per cent a year and youth unemployment sitting at twice that

of the general population, the country has seen a rise in youth activism. One of the prominent groups, Fesh Nestannew, which translates to “what are we waiting for?” primarily consists of young citizens from disenfranchised suburban communities, where they struggle to find work. Speaking to Al Jazeera, one 24-year-old man has asserted that “either they employ us or it’s better that they kill us.”

Thus far, around 800 demonstrators have been arrested, most of whom are under twenty years old, and at least one person has been killed. In an effort to appease protesters, the government has announced new social reforms which include free medical aid for unemployed youth, better state pensions, assistance to poor families, as well as housing funds. However, demonstrations have continued throughout the country: last weekend, protesters in the southern town of Metlaoui were hit with tears gas canisters.

A resident of the area told Reuters: “There is feeling of injustice and marginalization here. […] We’re only asking for jobs and development.”

Operation Olive Branch Conflict between Syrian Kurdish forces and Turkey continues to displace Syrian civilians Yasmeen Safaie | The McGill Daily

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n January 20, 2018, Turkey launched Operation Olive Branch in the city of Afrin, located in the Western region of Syria, in order to to “destroy all terror nests.” The operation is currently being carried out on the ground by 10,000 Syrian opposition forces.

This campaign is Turkey’s second initiative in Syria, the first of which was in August 2016 following the launch of the Euphrates Shield offensive, also led by the Syrian opposition, to oust ISIS forces in the region.

Turkish officials are currently advising Syria’s opposition forces to wage an armed campaign against the Syrian Kurdish militias, prioritizing this initiative over the removal of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

In interviews with the Guardian, Syrian opposition forces stated that they will stand with Turkey, which is the only country providing support and training for their forces. This extensive training provided by the Turkish government garnered hope from some citizens that these actions may lead to a unification of the opposition forces, thereby increasing their chances. As of now, the People’s Protection Units (YPG) controls most of the border between Turkey and Syria, a massive point of concern for Turkish officials. Turkey believes that the YPG is smuggling artillery across the border to the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK). Action has shifted towards the border

cities of Afrin and Manbij, as they are both Kurdish enclaves with a strong YPG presence. The Turkishled Syrian opposition forces currently control the land between the two cities, and Turkey is sending more reinforcements to prevent the YPG from having autonomous control over the entire length of the border between the two countries. The UN estimates that Turkey’s offensive has now displaced 5,000 civilians living in the Afrin region.

Operation Olive Branch was launched in response to the U.S. announcement that it would construct a border of 30,000 forces including the YPG. This force was deployed in order to patrol Syria’s borders and prevent the reemergence of ISIS. However, the Turkish government regards the proposition as a national security threat with potentially severe repercussions for Turkey. This stance is in direct opposition to the US support of the YPG, posing a potential future conflict between Turkey and the U.S., who are currently NATO allies.

This issue has international consequences.

In response to the enactment of this operation, Germany has suspended an upgrade of tanks that was previously approved to send to Turkish forces.

This suspension came after images surfaced of the tanks that Germany had donated to fend off advances from ISIS instead being used for Operation Olive Branch.

BOOKS THAT MATTER Indigenous Writes A GUIDE TO FIRST NATIONS, MÉTIS, & INUIT ISSUES IN CANADA

February 21st, 2018 2:15pm-3:30pm

Thomson House Ballroom (3650 McTavish)

February 22nd 1pm-4pm Location: TBA These events brought to you by:

Special Meeting & Call for Candidates All members of the Daily Publications Society (DPS), publisher of The McGill Daily and Le Délit, are cordially invited to its Special Meeting of Members:

April 2018, date and time TBA Location TBA

The presence of candidates to the DPS Board of Directors is strongly advised.

The DPS is currently accepting applications for its Board of Directors.

Positions must be filled by McGill students, duly registered for the upcoming Fall 2018 & Winter 2019 semesters and able to serve until June 30th, 2019, as well as one Graduate Representative and one Community Representative.

Board members gather at least once a month to discuss the management of the newspapers and websites, and to make important administrative decisions.

To apply, please visit dailypublications.org/how-to-apply/

Deadline: April 2018 (Date and time TBA)

6

January 29, 2018 mcgilldaily.com | The McGill Daily

NEws

McGill consults students on respect and inclusion

Open forum discusses respect, inclusion, and free speech Arno Pedram The McGill Daily

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n December 4, 2017, the Principal’s Task Force on Respect and Inclusion in Campus Life emailed a survey to McGill community members requesting their opinion on values of respect, inclusion, and free speech on campus.

Created as a support line for people who have experienced, or are experiencing, exclusion or discrimination on campus, the task force itself is made up of people from varying roles and positions on campus, consisting of two co-chairs, both professors at McGill; one undergraduate student from the downtown campus, one undergraduate student from Macdonald Campus, one graduate student, two additional faculty members and two staff members.

No members are directly tied with the university’s administration. The survey was available from December 4 to 7.

McGill’s consultative process A majority of the survey’s questions focused on the concept of free speech, while others constituted inquiries into possible instances of discrimination and exclusion on campus. The survey’s choice of language sparked some criticism, mainly as a result of its focus on issues of freedom of speech with only a few questions about inclusiveness, despite the task force’s mandate.

In addition to the survey, as part of the consultative process, five closed-door focus groups around different themes of inclusion were organized, occurring between January 17 and 29: Teaching & Learning, Social Spaces, Graduate Student Life, Residence Life, and an open-themed discussion. Each one was composed of twenty students, lasting for 90 minutes.

As of publication, four have been held (all expect Residence Life).

The Open Forum on Campus Culture The University held an Open Forum on Campus Culture Wednesday, January 24 in Leacock 232. McGill staff chose not to moderate the forum beyond requesting people’s definition of the theme of the focus group, discussing inclusion or exclusion experienced in that space, and requesting that the participants concentrate on discussion rather than debate.

The night’s exchange revolved around whether or not the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement had a place (or simply a right) on campus. Laila Parsons, a professor specializing in the IsraeliPalestinian conflict at McGill, spoke about her views on the movement’s legitimacy.

“If the upper administration wants students themselves to engage in respectful and inclusive dialogue in a genuine way, then it needs to itself practice what it preaches,” she asserted. “It needs to respect the right of students to mobilize around the BDS movement, without picking those students out from all other activist groups on campus for special condemnation.”

She also reproached Principal Suzanne Fortier’s February 2016 statement

Rayleigh Lee & Jude Khashman | The McGill Daily condemning the BDS movement after the SSMU motion to endorse the movement failed to be ratified. Parsons referred to the Principal’s statement as “bullying,” “intrusive,” the “opposite of respect and inclusion,” and “exacerbat[ing] tension rather than reduc[ing] it.”

Concerns surrounding the Task Force Shanice Yarde, the Equity Advisor with McGill’s Social Equity and Diversity Education (SEDE) office, acknowledged the value of the task force and the hotline, but brought up important questions about the priorities and driving motives of the task force; this worry seemed to be common among many students.

“Does McGill value free speech without qualification, or only on specific issues that might upset their donors?”

—Anonymous One student, who wished to remain anonymous, spoke to The Daily.

“I question the extent of which the university genuinely values free speech,” they said, “considering that, in my time at McGill, the only times the admin stepped

in about student voices had to do with activism that related to Palestine. Similar responses were not expressed when, for instance, an association at McGill hosted a transphobic discussion by noted pushers of hateful propaganda. Nor was there much concern or action against students who drunkenly paraded around campus with misogynist messages on their clothes.”

“Does McGill value free speech without qualification, or only on specific issues that might upset their donors?” they concluded.

During discussion, there were a few instances of students arguing for the free roaming of ideas. These students were arguing for the need to defend “free speech” even when other students’ might feel that their sense of safety was put in jeopardy by such speech, a theme many religious minorities, queer, and racialized students feel conflates freedom of speech and freedom to discriminate with one’s speech.

Another student who chose to speak with The Daily anonymously said: “It was a nice experience, people who would normally not sit together had a chance to have some debates. The board of volunteers took many notes. Unfortunately, like most commission, I seriously doubt there will be any concrete implementations of the suggestions made to the administration.

In other words, such a committee with no authority does not help me believe in a better future at McGill.”

Moving forward Proposals brought up during the forum included: having more face-to-face debates from opposing sides on controversial

issues, implementing a binding process to make syllabi fit a required diversity clause to ensure racial and gender diversity in syllabi sources, increased support to the SEDE office, greater inclusion of student input on tenure-track applications, and representation of student perspectives in tenure-track application committees.

“A committee with no authority does not help me believe in a better future at McGill.”

—Anonymous Participant The task force is expected to deliver a final report and submit its recommendations to Principal Fortier by April 27, 2018, to be made public shortly thereafter and formally presented at the May 16, 2018 meeting of Senate, where the initiatives findings on inclusivity and respect will be given the opportunity to shape future policies at McGill.

Group submissions are being welcomed by the task force until January 31, 2018 at principals.taskforce@mcgill.ca as Word or PDF documents not exceeding two pages. At any time, any individual can also send the task comments or suggestions by email to the same email.

January 29, 2018 mcgilldaily.com | The McGill Daily

News

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SSMU Council uninamously passes Survivor Bill of Rights Council discusses sexual assault allegations, sustainability

Yasmeen Safaie The McGill Daily Content warning: sexual violence

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n January 25, the SSMU Legislative Council convened to discuss motions and address a range of topics.

The council first heard a presentation by Sustainability Director Francois Miller and Communications Officer Toby Davinee from the McGill Office of Sustainability (MOOS). Councillors then discussed the Faculty of Dentistry’s response to the sexual assault allegations made by a student towards a faculty member. Three motions were passed, including a rescheduling of the Winter 2018 General Assembly and nominations to the SSMU Board of Directors (BoD). The motion to endorse the SSMU Survivor Bill of Rights, headed by VP External Connor Spencer, was passed unanimously.

The bill to endorse SSMU’s Survivor Bill of Rights articulated survivors’ rights in the “immediate aftermath of an instance of sexual violence,” “during the process of disclosure,” and “in seeking accommodations within their communities and institutions.” The amendment to the fourth clause was put in place in order to specify the accountability of the Legislative Council and individual councillors in “advocating for the rights enclosed in this bill within their associations and larger student and McGill communities.”

McGill Dentistry Graduate Student Society responds to sexual assault allegations made against dentist During question period, councillors discussed the sexual assault allegations made against a member of the Dentistry faculty by a former student, reported by CBC in December 2017. The incident in question occurred on November 2016, and was reported to the Service de Police de la Ville de Montréal (SPVM) the following day. A complaint made to the faculty of Dentistry yielded no clear results following an investigation conducted by the dean.

When asked what steps the Dentistry Student Society (DSS) has taken, or is planning to take, in support of students regarding “sexual violence, academic harassment and intimidation,” Councillor Ryan Siciliano read

a statement prepared by the President of the McGill Dentistry Graduate Student Society (MDGSS), Ninoska Enriquez, which stated that the society “takes very seriously reports of harassment or violence against any member of the university.”

“Above all, students have access to the UGME [Undergraduate Medical Education and Dentistry] and WELL [Wellness Enhanced Lifelong Learning] office which is an excellent third-party system to report mistreatment safely, rapidly, and with anonymous action,” said Siciliano. According to CBC’s coverage of the incident, the faculty member accused of the assault has been allowed to return to work, under conditions unknown to the victim.

The MDGSS’s statement emphasized a close community between student groups and faculty members: “We [MDGSS] are a very unique faculty in the sense that we spend at times 12 hours a day seven days a week with each other, so I know students very, very well.”

The faculty member accused of the assault has been allowed to return to work, under conditions unknown to the victim.

The statement then read, “We as the DSS and me, as the President […] don’t feel that we have a fear of harassment or something more systemic than these allegations made by the two individuals ... This is simply not representative of dental students at the moment.

Students have a very strong and active relationship with faculty members and feel like we have adequate outlets if any inappropriate situations should arise.”

However, in contrast to the statement, the university-appointed harassment assessor, Adrienne Piggott, reported the existence of harmful systemic problems, including “management and governance issues.” In response, McGill Provost Christopher Manfredi

Interior of the Shatner Building. agreed to work with the dean to address the systemic issues.

Siciliano mentioned that that the Dentistry faculty, the Order of Dentists in Quebec, and the police were investigating the situation, and that “the Dental Student Society was happy with the way that [the investigation] was being conducted.” The report made to the faculty is still currently under investigation, well after a year of filing the complaint.

When asked by VP Connor Spencer and faculty of Medicine representative Councillor André Lametti about what further actions would be taken not for the majority but for individuals feeling unsafe, Siciliano responded that “we [DSS] are satisfied with the outlets that are currently being explored and we won’t be taking any further action regarding the current allegations.”

Presentation on Climate and Sustainability Action Plan The council heard speakers Miller and Davine present longterm and short-term goals of the Vision 2020 Climate and Sustainability Action Plan. The lan includes twenty-two short-term targets to be achieved by 2020 and two long-term targets: first to achieve carbon neutrality by 2040 and second, for McGill to attain a platinum sustainability rating by 2030. The plan, which started consultations in fall 2016, was approved in December 2017.

Claire Grenier | The McGill Daily Miller explained that the approach to carbon neutrality was through the three pillars of priority; reduction, carbon sequestration, and carbon off-setting. To reach the platinum sustainability rating the MOOS will be using the Sustainability Tracking, Assessment, & Rating System (STARS), which is a “self-reporting framework for colleges and universities to measure their sustainability performance.” Given that the STARS measurement is based on self-reported surveys, VP External Connor Spencer and Councillor Vivian Campbell asked Miller and Davine how McGill would be accountable toward their targets if MOOS were to self-report their own progress.

Miller responded that “just in terms of accountability, one of the measures that we did [in regards] to the Board of Governors is a series of key performance indicators [...] We’ve [also] headed three sustainability key performance educators so the Board will be also informed on a yearly basis on the progress that the university is making towards these long-term targets.”

When asked by Councillor Campbell about the accountability of smaller groups affiliated with McGill, Davine responded that although decentralization of the campus makes complete transparency difficult, there is a sustainable-labs working group,

for wet-labs in particular, to manage sustainability.

Motions passed A motion was presented by Spencer to move the Winter 2018 G.A. to March 26, 2018 after the SSMU elections was passed. Spencer mentioned that the new date would “ensure that the new executive is accountable to the goals that they … were elected upon; that they then would have to work with the current executive” to work on how to efficiently achieve goals in place, and to have the members prioritize as a group those goals.

A motion concerning nominations to the SSMU Board of Directors was passed unanimously, making Connor Spencer the fourth Officer to sit on the BoD. The motion was prompted by the inability for Esteban Herpin, the newly elected VP Finance to sit on the BoD as he is neither a Canadian citizen nor a permanent resident. Herpin stated that although he will not be able to sit on the BoD, he still plans to “begin working with the Funding Commissioner and Funding Committee closely to see what [they] can do to improve funding for, not only SSMU clubs but other initiatives around campus and make those more accessible” and to also “make students more aware that this funding exists.”

Herpin stated: “my main priority for this semester will mainly be to get a budget report presented to Legislative Council.”

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January 29, 2018 mcgilldaily.com | The McGill Daily

NEws

Divest McGill mobilizes students Divest McGill hosts information workshop on environmental justice

Dorothy Yip News Writer

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n Thursday, January 25, Divest McGill held an information workshop on divestment and environmental justice titled “Divest 101.” The information session, which took place in the ECOLE house, covered the history of the Divest campaign at McGill, its mobilization, as well as its current and future projects.

Speakers included organizers Nina Sheer, Annabelle CoutureGuillet, and Jed Lenetsky, all of whom spoke during a question and answer period following the event.

Fossil fuels, climate, and McGill Sheer began their introduction explaining how fossil fuels, such as oil, gas, and coal, impact the environment, and why it is more important to target fossil fuel companies in their campaign than other industries.

“Sometimes you end up with revolving doors, where politicians sometimes become lobbyists, and back and forth like that,” said Sheer. “For example, Exxon spent millions of dollars on the U.S. presidential election in 2012. This shows that fossil fuel companies have a strong impact on democracy.”

According to Sheer, the wealth fossil fuel companies have generated can be attributed in part to large subsidies from governments, further emphasizing how fossil fuel companies have the financial capacity to regularly fund biased scientific research that serves their own interest.

“That is noteworthy, because as McGill [students], we would want to step away from that lack of integrity,” said Sheer.

Divest has long campaigned McGill to divest from its holding in fossil fuel companies, in order to move away from a carbonbased economy. As of 2015, McGill received around eight per cent of its endowment from companies like Suncorp and Embridge.

Sheer believes that it is possible for McGill to cut ties with fossil fuel companies and invest in others. “It would not be a crazy barrier for them, logistically,” they asserted.

Institutional changes During the discussion, CoutureGuillet, a U2 Sustainability, Science & Society student and organizer at Divest, explained the hierarchy of impacts for change, and how while individual efforts to mitigate climate change are useful, they might be too little too late if institutional shifts are not put in place.

“There are different levels of change,” Couture-Guillet said.

“There is obviously the individual

level, that relates to all the little things we can do. I can decide to bike to school, I can decide to not eat meat. But if that was a mathematical function, there would be an upper bound to what we can do with that. We need to move further, to governmental levels, and eventually to international levels” “But there’s also this in-between level, that is institutional,” they clarified. “Institutional is where McGill fits in. It’s in using the fact that I’m a student in a university that has such a big reputation, hierarchy of impacts of power,” Couture-Guillet said.

Divest organizers shifted that discussion to Divest’s main goals, the main one being removing fossil fuel companies’ social license.

“It’s not about financially crippling the fossil fuel industry,” said Sheer. “It’s about putting people with political clout, ethical clout such as universities, at the frontline to make the shift to a cleaner economy happen faster.

It’s more political and social than financial, as a tactic.”

“It’s about putting people with political clout, ethical clout such as universities, at the frontline to make the shift to a cleaner economy happen faster.”

Laura Brennan| The McGill Daily

“We really believe in intersectionality,” continued Sheer, commenting on Divest’s communications with other groups on campus that promote social, political and environmental causes.

“Divestment is just one tactic in a huge problem that needs all kinds of solutions to happen at once.”

Divestment Day and during Ban Ki Moon’s visit to McGill in 2015, along the way garnering support and endorsements from SSMU, the Faculty of Arts, the School of Environment, and a myriad alumni.

In 2015, twenty alumni symbolically returned their diplomas in protest of McGill’s second refusal to divest following a long sit-in in the administration building.

Lenetsky, a U3 Environment student and Divest organizer, believes that the endorsement from the McGill Association of University Teachers (MAUT), which encompasses professors and librarians, has been the biggest win for Divest so far.

“We were expecting more resistance, and there wasn’t any,” they explained. “It’s very difficult to find professors who would agree on anything, so the fact that there is so much consensus around this issue amongst our professors is really promising, and it’s testament to how far we have come along as a campaign. Not only is MAUT endorsing Divest, they are also calling on the professors’ pension committee to divest, and divesting their own money as well. So they are not just endorsing this, but leading by example.”

The Long Road to Divestment Founded in 2013, Divest has sofar submitted two petitions to the McGill administration requesting that it divest on grounds of environmental and social responsibility, both of which were rejected by the university for what they felt was a lack of evidence. Since then, the student group has engaged in class demonstrations on National

Balance between aggressiveness and diplomacy During the Q&A session, participants discussed Divest’s activism within and outside the system, and differences in their effectiveness. Sheer pointed out that Divest’s two-pronged method must achieve a balance between aggressiveness and diplomacy in order to achieve its goals.

—Nina Sheer Divest McGill Organizer

“The whole point is to offer a way for the administration to say yes on their own terms,” they said. “After actively protesting, we go to meetings and persuade them to sign. Sometimes tensions can build when we’re singing and they’re trying to talk. It’s very important not to hurt any feelings the administration aren’t bad people; we just need to get somewhere together.”

To protest against such changes, Divest mobilized at the BoG meeting, forcing the meeting to adjourn and be postponed.

On December 12 2017, the McGill Board of Governors (BoG) met to discuss changing the terms of reference in the mandate of the Committee to Advise on Social Responsibility (CAMSR), the administrative body that ruled in 2015 that climate change, and by extension investments in fossil fuel companies, did not constitute, “grave social injury.”

The proposed change was to add a clause in the mandate to advise the university against using resources to advance specific social or political causes,

with no community consultation prior to the meeting. It was proposed that the frequency of review of such terms be reduced from every three years to every five years.

To protest against such changes, Divest mobilized at the BoG meeting, forcing the meeting to adjourn and be postponed.

Couture-Guillet argued that such proposed changes were problematic in many ways, and was a calculated attempted to rule out any attempt to divest.

“Anything can be political or social, and education arguably is,” she said. “It’s even more disturbing because they tried to pass that in the middle of finals, and if you look at the document, this change to the mandate was not listed in the beginning in the summary, so you really need to look through, in the details, to find out. Changing the review terms from three years to five years makes it even harder for student activists campaign to follow up.”

Lenetsky added that the closed decision-making process of CAMSR adversely affected the whole student activist movement.

“Some members of CAMSR think divestment is too political, and they are allowed to think that, but when the individual opinions of members are enshrined into the mandate of CAMSR, it’s impossible for CAMSR to recommend divestment no matter what evidence we give them,” he said.

On February 15, the BoG will hold the postponed meeting to discuss the mandate, and Divest says they will be present as well.

Commentary

January 29, 2018 mcgilldaily.com | The McGill Daily

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McGill tries to shut down divestment campaigns

Administration ignores student calls for consultation

Divest McGill & McGill Students in Solidarity for Palestinian Human Rights

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n December 12 2017, McGill’s Board of Governors tried to take the ‘social responsibility’ out of its social responsibility committee, which would have effectively destroyed the potential for any divestment campaign in the next five years. The board did this without informing or consulting students.

The Board of Governors came close to passing an amendment to the mandate of the Committee to Advise on Matters of Social Responsibility (CAMSR). The change would have had CAMSR “refrain from using the University’s resources to advance social or political causes.” To repeat, the committee that oversees the ethics of McGill’s investments was told that

it need not pressure the university to make investment decisions on the basis of morality.

The proposed amendment would have struck a serious blow to Divest McGill and the McGill Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) campaign on campus, as both campaigns call for the university to “refrain” from investing in corporations that advance the social or political causes of Climate Change and Israeli colonialism of Palestine.

The moral integrity of our university is at stake.

Divest McGill has demanded divestment from fossil fuel corporations in McGill’s endowment, and has twice requested that CAMSR support such a demand. CAM-

SR determines whether McGill’s investments cause “grave social injury;” it has claimed that fossil fuel corporations, such as Enbridge and Petro-Canada do not. CAMSR is currently chaired by Cynthia PriceVerreault, who has held several senior management positions with Petro Canada, an oil corporation that has since merged with Suncor.

McGill Students in Solidarity for Palestinian Human Rights (SPHR) and the McGill BDS campaign have also critiqued McGill’s complicity in the Israeli occupation of Palestine. One example is its $2 million investments in RE/ MAX, a real estate firm that has financed the development of illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories.

In a 14-1 ruling in 2004, the International Court of Justice, the highest legal body in the world, ruled that Israeli settlements in the West Bank are illegal under international law.

McGill has divested from corporations supporting violations of international law before, such as those complicit in apartheid in South Africa, but it refuses to divest from corporations committing similar crimes today.

The proposed amendment did not pass because representatives of Divest McGill and SPHR McGill disrupted the meeting to stop its passing. We argued that students had a right to know about the proposal, as it has clear political repercussions, and demanded that it be tabled until the issue was brought forward in a community consultation session. The Board of Governors refused to agree to do this, and instead postponed a final decision on the amendment until the next meeting on February 15 so that the rest of the board, most of whom seemed ignorant about the content of the amendment and its social and political repercussions, could review the report further before making a decision. When it became

clear that the board had no intention to consult the community about the proposal, we shut down the meeting in song with a rendition of “We Have Got the Power.”

The content of the proposed amendment was carefully calculated to end McGill divestment campaigns, as the pre-empting of social and politically responsible investment decisions would be irreversible for another five years. The manner in which the amendment was proposed was equally brazen: the index of the agenda explicitly stated that “the current review [of CAMSR] does not introduce major changes,” merely “clarification in language and updates that reflect current practices.” We at Divest McGill and SPHR McGill believe this is a major change; do you?

Help us stop the second attempt to pass the amendment at the next Board of Governors meeting on February 15. The moral integrity of our university is at stake.

Free Ahed Tamimi

Palestinian child prisoners should not be neglected Students in Solidarity for Palestinian Human Rights (SPHR)

O

n January 31 Ahed Tamimi, a 16-year old Palestinian youth activist from the village of Nabi Saleh in the Occupied West Bank, will face trial in the Israeli military court. Though the particulars of her case have swept the internet, gaining international attention, her predicament is not unusual — the latest figures reveal 400 Palestinian children are in Israeli jails. With a conviction rate of 99.7 per cent for Palestinians in Israeli military courts, it is safe to assume that another child will go to jail.

The Tamimi case On December 19, the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) shot Ahed’s 14-year old cousin, Muhammad Fadel Tamimi, with a rubber-coated metal bullet. He was subsequently placed in a medically induced coma. Shortly after, while the family was still unsure of Muhammad’s fate, IDF soldiers appeared at the Tamimi residence. The family ordered the soldiers to leave their property, and attempted to physically remove them. Ahed was filmed slapping one of the soldiers, an act that now founds the basis for her trial. Ahed’s mother, Nariman Tamimi, and her 21-year-old cousin Nour Tamimi, were also detained.

Ahed now faces up to ten years in prison based on 12 charges, including assault under aggravated circumstances and incitement.

The Israeli military court filed the charges over offenses that include five other incidents over the past two years.

Child prisoners in Palestine Ahed Tamimi is not a unique case of the injustices Palestine children confront daily.

In the past five decades alone, an estimated 45,000 Palestinian children have been detained by the Israeli military. Israel is “the only country in the world” that prosecutes between 500 to 700 Palestinian children in military courts each year. Hundreds more are also arrested with their habeas corpus rights suspended, being left to languish in prison without prosecution or trial.

Israel’s actions and treatment of Palestinian child prisoners is in complete disregard of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, which states that the arrest, detention or imprisonment of a child must be used “only as a measure of last resort and for the shortest appropriate period of time.” Despite this, lawyer reports show that “Israeli security forces are using unnecessary force and violence in arresting and detaining children, in some cases beating them, and often holding them in unsafe and abusive conditions.”

On trial in the occupier’s courts Ahed, like other Palestinian children and adults, is currently being detained in a military prison and being tried in a military court.

Illegal settlers on the Halamish settlement, which neighbours Ahed’s home, do not receive this treatment; if they commit similar acts, they are tried in an Israeli civilian court.

In the past five decades, an estimated 45,000 Palestinian children have been detained by the Israeli military.

Jonathan Pollack, a spokesperson for Tamimi’s legal team, drew attention to the ways in which Israel’s two-tiered legal system upholds apartheid, stating: “Palestinians are subjected to military law, which is not based on legislation but on the decrees issued by the military commanders. That didn’t even exist in apartheid South Africa. They had one legal system — it was discriminatory, it was bad, but it was a single system of law.”

This is just one example of discriminatory laws and practices by Israel, which ultimately backed a recent United Nations report categorizing Israel as an apartheid state.

The fight for justice will go on Despite ongoing attempts to pacify and suppress Palestinian youth, their spirit is not so easily broken. Just last year, over 1,000 political prisoners launched the largest Palestinian prisoner hunger strike against “Israel’s inhumane system of colonial and military occupation [which] aims to break the spirit of prisoners and the nation to which they belong, by inflicting suffering on their bodies, separating them from their families and communities, using humiliating measures to compel subjugation.”

When brought to trial, and asked by a judge, “How did you slap the soldier?” Ahed boldly replied, “Take off the cuffs and I will show you!”

Let’s follow Ahed’s demonstration of defiance and join the call by Samidoun Palestinian Prisoners Solidarity Network to mark January 26-30 as days of action to free Ahed Tamimi, Palestinian prisoners, and all other prisoners unjustly held in Israeli jails.

Email mcgillsphr@gmail.com to get involved.

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January 29, 2018 mcgilldaily.com | The McGill Daily

Features

T he stories we carry

An interview with Kai Cheng Thom Arno Pedram, Tai Jacob, Vita Azaro Photography: Adela Kwok, Sonia Ionescu Stylist: Gloria Franรงois

Compiled by:

January 29, 2018 mcgilldaily.com | The McGill Daily

Features Cw: sexual violence, abusive relationships, trauma.

K

ai Cheng Thom is a writer, spoken word artist, therapist, wicked witch, and lasagna lover who divides her time between Montreal and Toronto, unceded Indigenous territories. Her poems and essays have been published widely in print and online, and she has performed in venues across the country, including Verses International Poetry Festival and the Banff Centre for the Arts. Her first novel, Fierce Femmes and Notorious Liars: A Dangerous Trans Girl’s Confabulous Memoir was released

by Metonymy Press in 2016, and her debut poetry collection, a place called No Homeland, was released

by Arsenal Pulp Press in 2017. Her book for children, From the Stars in the Sky to the Fish in the Sea, was published in October of the same year. Kai Cheng was also a featured columnist for The McGill Daily from 2012-2014, writing about race, sexuality, and gender. She sat down with us on a sunny Saturday morning to talk about queer community, #MeToo, sinning, living in diaspora, dreams, love, and radical healing. This interview will make you laugh, cry, and really want to sit down and talk with Kai Cheng.

The truth of the heart Arno Pedram (AP): Hello.

Kai Cheng Thom (KCT): Hiiiii.

AP: So my name is Arno.

Tai Jacob (TJ): I’m Tai. KCT: I’m Kai Cheng Thom. I wrote some books that all came out at the same time. I didn’t mean for that to happen, but they all came out last year. I also write for the internet sometimes. I used to be very much involved in, like, Montreal activism and queer activism culture, and now I’m not so much, partly because I moved to Toronto, and partly because I am getting older, and I’m like, I don’t know what I’m doing with my life! Also, I’m visiting Montreal right now because my wife Kama La Mackerel lives in Montreal.

TJ: That’s a name drop! (everyone laughs) KCT: Giant name drop. I’m married to someone famous! And yeah, Montreal is always going to be the city where my heart came into being and where I found myself and also was destroyed, and found myself again.

TJ: That sounds a lot like the story of Fierce Femmes and Notorious Liars, which was one of the three books that all came out at the same time. I was wondering, in what ways is this book an allegory for your actual life experience?

KCT: Oh, not at all.

TJ: Really?

KCT: I don’t know, it’s really funny.

People ask this question in different ways a lot and I love answering it. So Fierce Femmes and No-

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torious Liars, the subtitle of this novel is “A Dangerous Trans Girl’s Confabulous Memoir,” and when you put the word memoir in the title of your novel, people are always like, “Hey, oh my god, I’m excited to read your memoir!” And I’m like, “It’s not my memoir, it’s the memoir of the character who is fictional.” But of course, people notice certain superficial similarities, like this character being an Asian trans woman growing up in a city where it’s always raining on the west coast, and moving to a city where everyone is speaking French and smoking cigarettes. I used to be an English major in theatre, and my favourite play that we studied was Tennessee Williams’ A Streetcar Named Desire, a classic play about an aging Southern belle who’s also, like, a deep racist and you know, a horrible person. But Blanche DuBois, that aging Southern belle, has a line where she’s being accused of being a pathological liar, which she is, right, she’s lied to everyone in her life and kind of tried to trick everyone into seeing her as something that she’s not. And she says, “I never lied in my heart.”

AP: “Never inside, I didn’t lie in my heart.”

KCT: Yes, oh my god! (Laughter) AP: It’s my favourite line.

KCT: I love it, I love it. And that’s what Fierce Femmes is about. You know, it’s the truth of the heart.

And so, nothing that really happens in the novel “happened” — and I have to also say that for plausible deniability, which is the joke I always make — but that novel is the truth of what happened to me in my heart.

And this is what trauma takes away from us; the potential to be forgiving and forgiven.

—Kai Cheng Thom Sin and punishment AP: Okay, so let’s get into activism and queer spaces.

KCT: Sure!

AP: Having read your article “Righteous Callings,” I was wondering: how do we manage accountability in social spaces, activist space in particular, in the context of a callout culture, and how does shame fit into that?

KCT: Mhmm, just like a nice, light question. Oh god, I don’t fucking know, but I’m gonna take a try, because you asked me the question.

Whenever this question comes up in any kind of interview context, I’m like, let us set the stage, why am I being asked. And I think people

are asking the question because I write about it a lot, and I just want to make it really clear that because I write a lot about accountability does not mean that I am an expert in accountability. It just means that I think about it a lot and, also, that I put these thoughts on the internet.

All that to say, I think we live in a culture, in addition to call-out culture, of celebrity culture, in activist space. And we do this thing where we’re like, oh my god Kai Cheng Thom, Kim Katrin Milan, Mia Mingus, all the big names, and some names are bigger than others obviously. And we’re like, “Those people are perfect and the example of how we should live our lives.” And that is terrifyingly similar to certain religious communities, where beautiful ideas around accountability and goodness are then pinned to people who are actually very fallible. Because, I mean, scratch the surface

of any celebrity and you will find a sinner. All this to say, I have done bad things. I’ve been called out for some things that I think are fair, others that I don’t think are fair. So take everything I say with a grain of salt! Coming back to accountability in social space, the truth is, I think we’re obviously going through a crisis of accountability in all space right now. In so many countries, in so many places, with the #MeToo movement. And I think the powerful and amazing thing is that the veil is being ripped off of the shame of survivors, and, like, the shame of people who have experienced violence, who have been silenced for such a long time. Maybe this is the first time in history that this particular kind of movement is happening. But I think we are conflating the conversation of punishment with the conversation around accountability and justice.

TJ: I have questions about this actually. Specifically, about that really good article you wrote for GUTS, called “#NotYet,” in response to #MeToo. How do you work at the intersections of the work surrounding sexual violence and work surrounding prison abolition?

KCT: So I think we have a really powerful and beautiful statement, a beautiful activist truism, now blowing up in the mainstream, which is: “I believe women, I believe survivors.” This is a really important statement, in that survivors and women have not been believed for a long time. And that statement, I think, finds its greatest use in situations of support. Whether you’re providing a social service in an institution, or you’re providing support for your friends, the thing you don’t want to do when your friend is like, “I’ve been hurt,” is to say, “Really? Can you tell me exactly how?

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January 29, 2018 mcgilldaily.com | The McGill Daily

Does it fit into a legal standard?”

And this comes from a history of women’s shelters operating in the United States and Canada where, by law, the definition of sexual assault excluded sexual assault and violence between married partners.

But believing survivors has taken on, I think, and maybe I’m wrong about this, but I think it’s taken on a different kind of meaning when we talk about justice and accountability. I think in the mainstream there is a move to conflate, “I believe survivors,” with, “And that means the person who is the perpetrator should go to jail, or go through some kind of punishment.” And we really have not figured out how to separate the idea of punishment from the idea of justice. So like, if I have been harmed, that means the only way for me to feel like that harm has been seen and addressed is that the person who hurt me is being punished. And that is really hard to let go of. To be honest, like I really wish that some of the people that have hurt me would be punished. But from a place of values, when I really think about that, then I’m like, okay, that doesn’t solve the problem of violence. Carceral solutions to violence only displace violence into the prison system and also disproportionately affect vulnerable people, because the truth is that punishment doesn’t happen to the powerful. Punishment only happens to people who can’t stop it, who don’t have the power to stop it. And the activist response to that, which is shunning, or to remove people from social circles, only displaces violent people into other communities, and those people are

then angry and traumatized by the loss of their community and so the cycle just spins and spins.

And then the secret truth, I think, about activist communities, in the same way the secret truth about religious communities is, is that all of us are sinners. And the extent of the sin varies, it obviously does.

But I think all of us, if we were to look into our past, would find something bad that we have done.

And it’s so important to talk about this. I’m actually really happy, in a weird way, that the Aziz Ansari story is unfolding the way it does, because the reason there has been so much pushback around that story is that Aziz Ansari, who in his own way is sort of like a figure for liberal and leftist communities, what he did is actually normal — not good, but normal. And when we start to understand that violence is normalised and normative, and happens all the time, we can realise that, actually, most of us are participating in it in some way, from either colluding with the perpetrator to being the perpetrator.

Then, I think we can start having a discussion about shame: shame is a normal and healthy response to having done something bad, but it cannot stop there, and we cannot let shame silence us. The most important truth that we need to come to terms with, as believers of justice, is the truth of the harm that we, ourselves, have caused, and not the harm that we think other people have caused — because the truth is, the place where we will have the most impact is in our own hearts and relationships. And I say that as someone who has, you

Features know, a trail of shattered relationships behind me. So there you go.

It’s so human that we fuck up and people leave us and it SUCKS, right?

And then there’s just that moment of totally being lost in the pain, and there’s something about how pain returns us to the body that is so important.

—Kai Cheng Thom Being bad KCT: As a therapist I have the privilege of speaking to people in an intimate way about things that they’ve done that are abusive, that they know are abusive, and the pattern that always comes up is, “Look what you made me do!” The desire to shift blame onto another for one’s own personal pain, trauma, behavior, taken into its extreme, is an abusive pattern. The best part of the movement/moment we’re in is the part that says, “Look at yourself, and also love yourself.”

TJ: Something that I value so much about your work, specifically the article “Righteous Callings” is the way that you incorporate yourself into your analysis, and you start off “Righteous Callings” with this line, “I have always believed that I’m a bad person,” and that’s also been a theme in this interview, the idea of sinning, being bad, and religion. It keeps coming back! But I wonder if perhaps this is the wrong framework, if perhaps we could move beyond sinning and badness to just, “This is who we are.” Because sinning still implies that it is wrong, what if it isn’t wrong? What if it is just who we are and we’re constantly working towards something…?

KCT: What I’m terrified of about this thought, what I struggle with in moving towards this thought is this: “What if I’m just trying to let myself off the hook for being bad?”

TJ: I know, that’s exactly why I stopped my question halfway, because I thought, “What if we’re actually bad.”

KCT: So much of the righteousness, self-righteous part of social justice is like, “See how you’re bad! See

how you’re racist!” and the right response is, “You’re right. I am a racist,” and that’s of course true in some ways but also, there is this desire in me to be like, “But also, this is a human being human and growing up surrounded by a giant fucking terrifying system of trauma and systemic oppression, and this is all of us!” Does that mean I’m not being accountable? I guess we could question the framework of accountability itself, that, you know, we should do at some point. But also I’m like, “If I said that, what would happen next?”

TJ: I’m wondering what the motivation is? I guess the desire to be good, constantly, actually is a utopic desire — a place that is actually no place. What if we can think of goodness as always inaccessible, and that being okay?

KCT: That would be amazing!

And you see people trying to create homelands that are free of sin: like with the Islamic State, a perfect caliphate, similarly with the cultural revolution in China, creating a communist land free of the sin of bourgeoisie. Whoever is doing that is creating this trap of desperately trying to be good, never getting there, blaming everyone else, hurting everyone else. I would love that to be able to say, “It’s okay...not to be good,” but then how do you respond to things that are violent?

That need to be changed? But I think those two things are not incompatible!

And I think the powerful and amazing thing is that the veil is being ripped off of the shame of survivors, and, like, the shame of people who have experienced violence, who have been silenced for such a long time.

—Kai Cheng Thom Kill your heroes?

AP: I feel like a lot of queer culture has built itself around guides, and the history of queer communities often is: in your life you meet certain people who allow you to get further and further into your exploration of queer identity. Should we seek to have no more guides? Or should we try to keep it in a spiritual, social, kinship way?

What you get to have is a memory, the ghost that your parents gave you, and you get to let the past go, and think that’s really important actually—to embrace living in this “place called no homeland” is to be able to let go of the past.

—Kai Cheng Thom TJ: That’s really interesting when looking at the similarity between religious communities and queer activist circles.

AP: And also in relation to fame.

KCT: I think it’s always most illustrative and interesting to talk about how I’m actually impacted by this.

I often talk about the hypocrisy of celebrity culture and how much I hate it, which is, you know, kind of burning the ship that you’re sailing in, because, obviously, hello?!

So much of what I have in my life is because I’m a micro-celebrity.

I became a micro-celebrity, basically, as an alternative to becoming a sex worker. I’ve never said that out loud before, but that is true.

The options that I felt were open to me in my life, as a trans woman of colour, were sex work or doing the queer celebrity gig. And I chose queer celebrity because, honestly, I found sex work too difficult to get into; I didn’t have the skills. I also found a different career path in social services, but that too is really tied to my queer celebrity. Part of the problem with queer celebrity is that it’s a neoliberal culture — it’s a brand! I’m sorry to pick on fellow micro-celebrities, but most of us are making anywhere from a tiny amount of money, to a moderate size amount of money from speaking, running, touring, modeling, all these other things. And so many of the queer youths that I work with have this in mind: “Oh I could be a YouTube celebrity, I could be a speaker/writer/artist/whatever lifted by the activist community into the realm of fame.” Because it’s neoliberal, and we have to make money, so we’re always trying to be the next critical thing. And I just want to be suspicious of that as someone who is also, supposedly, anti-capitalist, and also, this is how I pay most of my rent guys! When it comes to guides: who doesn’t look

Features up to someone and say, “I wish that were me/could be me?” That’s so powerful! I don’t want to take that away from people! And I couldn’t!

TJ: And it’s more than that too, that person is helping you survive.

KCT: Yeah! This person is helping you maybe not harming yourself, or ending your life. What I do want to speak against is the concept of infallibility. Because that is so scary both for the people who have idols and for the idols. “Kill your heroes.”

The thing queer communities love is celebrities, but the community also loves to hate celebrities. What if we set up a system where we don’t kill, or eat, or burn anyone? Inherently, the idea of having a hero that you then kill, or burn, or eat is disposable, disposability culture. So I’m wondering if we could allow for there to be guides, celebrities, with an understanding that people are humans and actually do some terrible things in life to survive, and also humans do some shitty stuff in life all the time, because they’re human.

The most important truth that we need to come to terms with, as believers of justice, is the truth of the harm that we, ourselves, have caused, and not the harm that we think other poeple have caused— because the truth is, the place where will have the most impact is in our own hearts and relationships.

—Kai Cheng Thom No homeland AP: I’m wondering how identities of queerness, being in a diaspora, not being able to speak your language as you would like to, intersect. I found this in a place called No Homeland, and I particularly resonated with the part where you have this recognition of someone that you see as part of your (diasporic) family, and you feel the need to bond because diasporic identities

January 29, 2018 mcgilldaily.com | The McGill Daily are so lonely and unique. But even then, we come to feel a tension between our diasporic identity and queer identity, we could ask ourselves: is queer identity a Western identity, a white thing?

KCT: a place called No Homeland is my favorite piece; I wrote it over ten years! That topic is the primary theme of the book, as the title indicates: feeling connection to different places, but also massive disconnection from those same places, and language and identity is so much a part of that. I do not really speak Chinese very well, even though I’ve taken some courses, but there are many different kinds of Chinese that vary between generations, even within my family. What we’re trying to access is a homeland that is frozen in time, a fantasy, that actually doesn’t exist anymore: you can never really go back. But there are different ways of accessing homeland. In some ways the homeland that is really yours is your immediate family: parents, siblings, uncles, which can also be full of trauma for some people. And there are different things we do, like making different foods, trying to access different pieces of culture. The truth is, living in diaspora and being queer means we are so many shades removed, and that can be a terrible and painful thing. It also is, I think, an amazing and powerful gift, when you realise that what is happening to you is the result of your family’s resilience, and a breaking of the narrative of nationalism and homonationalism that entrap most people and most queer culture.

When you walk into a queer community, you immediately disrupt it as a person of colour, and when you walk into queer cultures in “the homeland,” you bring this Westernness. I think something interesting is that contemporary Western identity politics are actually very based on essentialism, which feminism and post-modernism tried to break out of for a while. People now are really hammering down, “Are you a POC? Are you a BIPOC? What kind of person of colour are you? How much do you pass? What is your white skin privilege? What is your adjacent-ness to whiteness?” All these terms are coming up, right?

I think if you just take a second, it’s easy to realise that everything is fluid and that your experience is your experience, the story you carry is the story you carry, and there is something very freeing about that.

When I run into queer Chinese people from the mainland, Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong: it’s always different, and there is always a point of connection. What you get to have is a memory, the ghost that your parents gave you, and you get to let the past go, and I think that’s really important actually — to embrace living in this “place called no homeland” is to be able to let go of the past.

TJ: Also living in diaspora is constantly living in a liminal space.

KCT: Exactly. I am of the opinion that all things are happening at the same time — that all traumas are happening past and future, and I love that — when we are talking about diasporic people, the past is always going to be with us but the future is with us too! And we’ll always be a part of that.

AP: I have a hard time writing in my first language, French, or my second, English, in relation to what I am discovering now about this whole part of my Iranian heritage.

It doesn’t have to be, but it’s like English allows at the same times that it limits diasporic creativity. How do you feel about English, what do you think English has allowed you and what do you think it is pushing away?

KCT: Another hard hitting question. I love it! Yeah, I have a complicated relationship with English,

like most diasporic writers. And English is so much my first language and my best language. So I was raised speaking Chinese and English, and then, you know, more and more English, and then I really stopped speaking Chinese at all, and then I learned French when I moved to Montreal. But yeah, language is so complicated and does have its limitations, and is such a form of colonization, right? And I think the truth is, I might not be a writer if English were not my best language, because I feel like with English I’m always trying to figure out how to say things that don’t exist yet. And maybe they would exist for me if I spoke my mother tongue more fluently. So I think English pushes me, to find more ways of expressing meaning, and to find new ways of saying things.

Also, most of my literary exposure has been through English, some through French also, but like, all of

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my major references are to English writing, even if the English writing is diasporic or post-colonial. I’m so shaped by that. And I actually do sometimes wonder how limited my politics are because so much of them are in English, and therefore also from the American canon.

Dreams and nightmares TJ: What are your dreams?

KCT: So, I’m not gonna lie to you!

I have a really strong dream that keeps coming up. Literally, when I’m sleeping, but also its a fantasy life. So I am currently married to Kama, but I am also dating a white guy, whom I love, who is definitely the dude who has treated me the best in all the world of all the dudes I’ve ever met, and he’s in tech. And I have this fantasy that he’s going to become a tech millionaire, that we’re going to live in Silicon Valley, and that I’m going to be like a tech millionaire’s trophy wife, and host

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Features

January 29, 2018 mcgilldaily.com | The McGill Daily

And then the secret truth, I think, about activist communities, in the same way the secret truth about religious communities is, is that all of us are sinners. And the extent of the sin varies, it obviously does.

But I think all of us, if we were to look into our past, would find something bad that we have done.

—Kai Cheng Thom

parties and be disconnected from the world and just float in this billionaire’s palace for the rest of my life.

TJ: Wooow. Wait, I’m sorry, but this happens for a moment in Fierce Femmes.

KCT: It does.

AP: It does.

KCT: It does. And sometimes life is very fascinating because I didn’t meet this boy until right after Fierce Femmes was published. And like, the names are also very similar. Anyway! So, I have this fantasy dream of being lifted into wealth and into heterosexuality and into safety, out of queer community, out of activism, into like the 1 per cent, living a life of safe luxury. That’s a fantasy. It’s also kind of a nightmare, obviously. Because what happens in the book, Fierce Femmes — oh, I guess I can’t spoil what happens in the book — but you know, the character in the book who

has that for a moment, doesn’t really enjoy it. And I don’t think I would enjoy it if I had it, either.

But I think this says a lot about what I fear right now. And to be really honest, what I fear is queer community and I fear this political moment. At the same time, all of my loves are in queer community, and all of my strengths and all of my gifts come from queer community. And all the potential to change the world in a positive way comes from this political time. But it’s terrifying. Let’s be honest, I think we’re all fricking fucking terrified!

TJ/AP: Yeah, yeah, yeah.

KCT: Because, you know, a despot, like a nationalist despot, is in control of the most powerful nation in the world. All of our idols are falling from the stars, for good reasons maybe, but are still falling, and I think we’re all kind of falling with that. And the longing for safety is ingrained in

us, and I think it’s an essential thread in white, queer American community, this idea of safety also being tied to economics and if you can just be wealthy enough and married enough and heterosexual enough, then you can be safe. When of course, everything that Fierce Femmes is about is releasing these ideas of safety to seek out transformation, to seek out justice, to seek out connection, to seek out magic. So I guess the shadow dream to my dream of becoming a tech millionaire’s trophy wife is the dream of continuing this life and finding more freedom in that. The dream of being a tech billionaire’s wife is embracing the unknown, and I think that’s what we all grapple with, right? And we have the choice of being assimilative or upwardly mobile, in the same way that my parents really, really tried to fit in — this is like the dream of a different kind of world.

Forgiving and being forgiven TJ: What is the role of relationships and friendships in healing in social justice movements? We kind of touched on it before, but could you expand? I’ve been thinking about friendship as the root of freedom and the communities that we form being alternative universes.

KCT: If we can return to a cliché for a moment, it’s been said that love is the answer, that our relationships are the answer, that within the microcosm of our intimate partnerships and chosen families we create these spaces of not constantly having to experience otherness, of not having to experience non-consent. But we know the truth about a lot of our friendships and family relationships, especially at this age, is that of course violence is replicated in queer family, how could it not be? We are traumatised creatures trying to build, and when we are doing that we are going to fuck it up, a lot. So I think the revolutionary potential in relationships is the potential for honesty, for saying, “Wow you really fucked up and hurt me badly,” and for forgiveness. And this is what trauma takes away from us: the potential to be forgiving and forgiven.

When we live in traumatic environments with parents or caregivers, we are taught to believe that making a mistake will erase us from the possibility of having love.

There’s this horrible, beautiful quote in the God of Small Things where this child is being chastised by her mother, and her mother

says, “Do you know what careless words do? They make people love you less.” And there’s this terror in queer communities of being loved less because of careless words.

You say something that’s a microaggression, or you do something that is politically incorrect, or is problematic — that’s the word, right — then we will be loved less and less and less, we live in terror of this, right? And one thing I wish was more present in queer community, that actually was present in a weird way in the Christian community I grew up in, is this idea that you could be forgiven if you were honest about your mistake. I mean, it didn’t work out for the Christian community that I grew up in, but it was an idea that was around, and I feel like it is actually not that much around in queer community right now. But now as a therapist, what I know is important for recovery from trauma is the ability to break a relationship and to repair it again, and to have faith that we won’t lose each other.

Returning to the body KCT: It’s so human that we fuck up and people leave us and it SUCKS, right? And then there’s just that moment of totally being lost in the pain, and there’s something about how pains returns us to the body that is so important. And I think we have to listen to that, the body tells us things, that people are important and that it’s bad we fucked up, for one thing, and also that relationships are changing. You know, as we’re talking about this experience of getting into these close relationships, and you hurt each other and you love each other again, I think sometimes people resist that idea for the good reason, because I think a key factor of abuse in intimate violence is someone saying you have to forgive me, and things have to be the way they were again. Like, if I said “I’m sorry, now we have to be friends exactly the way it was,” and that’s actually not possible.

When you hurt someone you do change the relationship forever, and sometimes we change it in a way that is better and more close, and sometimes we change it in a way where it’s time for it to be over. And forgiving and being forgiven, or having forgiveness as a value, does not mean someone has to still be your partner after you’ve hurt them or still be your friend, or even that you have to like each other. It just means that you’re allowed to exist together, right?

And that grief and that pain is what transformation feels like, but also is what allows us to change.

Pain is what tells us, “Okay, I really have to change my patterns,” or “Oh, that person was really important to me, and I grieve that loss.”

I think we spend so much time trying to avoid that pain that we end up sometimes blocking ourselves into really difficult and sometimes violent patterns.

This interview has been significantly edited for length and clarity.

Art Essay

January 29, 2018 mcgilldaily.com | The McGill Daily

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“Homes from the Past,” Claire Grenier

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January 29, 2018 mcgilldaily.com | The McGill Daily

Sports

PyeongChang 2018: What

McGill students tune in

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he 2018 Winter Olympics begin February 9, in Pyeongchang, South Korea. Several stories have dominated the coverage so far — namely, the exclusion of Russia by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) after the discovery of a state-sponsored doping program. More recently, it was confirmed that North Korea will attend, and claims were made that a joint women’s hockey team will be formed between the two Koreas. For Canada, the run-up to the games has been less eventful. The National Hockey League’s (NHL) decision to ban its players from competition sparked worries that the Canadian men’s hockey team will face a challenge against stronger European teams.

The McGill Daily asked students from McTavish to McMed if they’re going to tune in, what events they’ll watch, and why.

Jeremy, Finance “I was interested in hockey but now that NHLers aren’t going . . . I don’t know. Probably more European teams will do better. Team Canada is based on the Spengler Cup team and USA is mostly based on junior players so I feel it will be less interesting but of course I will hope Canada wins.”

Colin, Food Science

Hugo, Materials Engineering

“My favourite winter sport would be the ski jump. I like winter sports especially cause it’s like, how do you get into this? It’s hard to do a baby step first. Especially with ski jumping, how do you get your parents on board with that?”

Johnson, Physiotherapy “I don’t watch the Winter Olympics . . . I didn’t even know it was happening to be honest.”

Sophia, Political Science

“For the Winter Olympics I’m interested in mostly the hockey, alpine skiing, just cause it’s so fast paced and athletes take a lot of risks in that sport and some of the freestyle events. I heard this year there’s going to be snowboarding and a couple new events, but I’m not really sure what they are. Hockey gets really exciting cause I’m American and I like the rivalry between America and Canada and then sometimes Russia. Now that NHLers aren’t allowed, it seems like Americans are sending some retirees and I think Canada are sending some younger players, but America also has a good college program so we’ll see.”

“My favourite olympic sport is biathlon. It seems practical. Also if you’re over 30 you can still get into that . . . there’s 35 year olds killing it in that and they only got into it when they were 28!

Kieran, Biology “I just watch [the Winter Olympics] when it’s on the screens, you know, in a restaurant it’s just on, and you end up watching it. I’m a big fan of snowboarding cause I used to skateboard when I was young so I see similarities there. Balancing on a board, that kind of thing.”

January 29, 2018 mcgilldaily.com | The McGill Daily

sports

15

McGill is looking forward to

to the Winter Olympics

Sean, Arts

Josh, Finance “I like to watch Canada and support all the young people [who] succeed in the sports they’ve dedicated their lives to, whether it be skiing, hockey, or frankly anything. I’m always going to watch the hockey. Everything else is kind of secondary.”

Aidan, Economics “Excited for the curling really, Cheryl Homan is the one to watch, as she’s heading up Canada’s team.

That’s really all I’m interested in, she’s a dominant curler.”

“I’m actually not that interested not for lack of interest . . . I just don’t think I have time to give a shit about sports.

It’s hard to balance school and games.”

Rebecca, Architecture “I guess curling is the best.

What I really dig about that sport is the way you have to throw the stone with just the right weight. And then when the stones smash together that really gets me going. Bang!”

Jason, Latin American Studies “I’m excited to watch the US hockey team. It’ll also be interesting to see the dynamics between North and South Korea, from what I’ve heard about their women’s hockey teams doing a joint team. And the absence of Russia will be . . . nice.”

Zachary, Mechanical Engineering “I’m going to watch the Winter Olympics mostly ‘cause I’m a ski racer and I always watch ski racing but especially the Olympics are exciting. It’s really dope to see top level athletes in something that happens only every four years.

And I think all the events are really entertaining. Luge is really cool.”

Tommy, Biology “I’m excited to watch some weird sports that I never really see anywhere else. Bobsledding and luge are cool just for the wild speeds that they’re doing and the alien outfits. Biathlon I think is really stylish, I would love to ski around with a gun on my back.

Finally, I’m probably most excited to watch freestyle skiing because it is actually a really impressive sport.

They have to ski down some really steep moguls and then be able to go off a huge jump, do some flips and land right back in some more moguls. I think that’s impressive.”

Dorian, Computer Science “I’m excited, although I’m not really following it. I’d be excited to see France compete as that’s my country. I’d say the cross country skiing is fun. I like the biathlon. Apart from that, downhill skiing and that’s about it.”

Annabella, Linguistics “I don’t really know much, but I remember Alex Bilodeau doing the moguls [at Vancouver 2010]. I only know about the Winter Olympics in isolation, with Vancouver 2010.”

Culture

January 29, 2018 mcgilldaily.com | The McGill Daily

18

Archiving queer histories

Lucas LaRochelle digitalises queer occupancy of space Panayot Gaidov Culture Writer

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world map allows participants to mark an area of their choice to document an experience they’ve had as part of Montreal’s queer community by inserting a pink satellite. The project, titled “Queering the Map,” was created

by Lucas LaRochelle, a Bachelor of Fine Arts student at Concordia University. To describe the piece in LaRochelle’s own words, it is a “community-generated mapping project that geo-locates queer moments, memories and histories.”

The piece bridges the physical and the digital, existing online and in print as a collection of the website’s data (www.queeringthemap. com), which constitutes a map that allows you to pin hot pink location bubbles at places you have experienced as “queer,” and to leave a note sharing a story or expressing a sentiment. Any place of significance to one’s queerness qualifies.

The piece in LaRochelle’s words [...] is a “communitygenerated mapping project that geo-locates queer moments, memories and histories.”

Queerness, for that matter, falls anywhere on the sexuality or gender spectrum, and it is up to the contributors to curate the experiences worth publishing. Posts range from bittersweet memories of romantic escapades to tear-jerking coming-out stories from the ’60s, though the occasional (graphic) disclosure of where people have lost their virginity also crops up — for example, “I sucked my first dick here, while my dad mowed the lawn outside. Summer of ‘03.”

Posting is anonymous, which perhaps invites potential oversharing. Some stories are NSFW(not safe for work, explicit), though LaRochelle is adamant that such content is a core part of queer culture, and that as such, it has a rightful place on the website. They are not wrong. The project is a public celebration of queerness aiming to increase the community’s visibility by giving its members a voice, and sex has always been integral to the community’s culture, from bathhouse sex to Grindr debauch-

Gabriela Rey | The McGill Daily ery. Using the vehicle of communal sharing, “Queering The Map” presents a platform for the local LGBTQ+ community to feel united and heard.

The word ‘queer’ in the title of the project “Queering The Map” is cheekily employed as a verb that stands for claiming queer space.

Constructed this way, it suggests spreading and dissemination of queerness in space, but also, a viral spreading, a contamination.

Turning “queer” into a verb reappropriates the threatening power of “queerness,” putting it in the hands of queer people themselves.

The project is a political statement in the guise of a love affair.

The affair is one between people and places: a universal fondness for and connection to the settings that shape our memories. Attachments to places happen regardless of one’s sexuality. What makes “Queering The Map” political, then, is that by “claiming” spaces on the digital map, the LGBTQ+ community expresses its queerness in a public manner. It constitutes a coming out, but instead of coming out of a closet, people are out on the streets, or at least in cyber space. “Queering The Map” expands on the community’s complicated relationship to public space. A space of violence and rejection. Nevertheless, some parts of it have also been known as a sexualised, especially to gay men.

The ownership of space by queer people has therefore been predominantly masculine, and, in that framework, the project proposes a more inclusive ownership of space

by its format, its fluid membership and qualifications to add an entry.

In this sense, one could say that “Queering the Map” is an online adaptation of a Pride Parade. With sufficient exposure, it could be as impactful as a march.

The occasional (graphic) disclosure of where people have lost their virginity also crops up — [...]

“I sucked my first dick here, while my dad mowed the lawn outside.

Summer of ‘03.”

As a mapping project that asserts the presence of one community over others, “Queering the Map” has to contend with its own colonial implications, especially in the context of North America. LaRochelle says they are aware of the efforts required to “avoid reifying colonial practice,” and they shared that “the question of what a queer spatial politics that is investing in decolonization looks like is one of the primary concerns of this project.” Their goal

with the framing of “Queering the Map” is to succeed in making it “coalitional with Indigenous land politics.” The decision for it to be on a digital platform rather than existing in the physical environment is one way in which this is tackled.

The reminiscent entries document a queer history written by the community, though not necessarily for it. Anyone can get lost reading here; the range of styles, length, content and locations is exciting aesthetically, and its breadth is captivating.

Space has already been ‘queered’ on 6 continents (Antarctica, you’re next!), which also means that the project is growing with haste. Since it is local to Montrealers, however, it currently looks like it is becoming a travel journal for Canadians to use to share their queer experiences abroad.

The content is unfiltered and unmonitored in the sense that it evolves organically, though LaRochelle reserves the right to delete offensive posts. They did not seem easily offended, though.

When I asked them if they were worried about launching the website and giving control over to the public, they coolly responded that that had been the plan from the beginning. “Participatory work interests me. If anything, I put my energy into becoming a facilitator for the project. I see it as something that I created the conditions for, rather than something I ‘designed.’”

During the vernissage, I also got to chat to LaRochelle about what inspired them to create “Queering the Map,” which they also discuss in the foreword of the book. As it

happens, all it took for the idea to emerge was an emotional event now pinned on their map. They recalled the moment, saying “I was biking home one day when I passed by a tree where I’d met one of my first partners. There was an intense feeling that I recognized in biking there; a feeling of queerness coming from action. In that sense, I became interested in capturing the feeling of queerness in relation to specific environments, and to then map them out.”

“Queering The Map” expands on the community’s complicated relationship to public space.

“Queering the Map” is LaRochelle’s Residency Project at the Concordia Fine Arts Reading Room, which they took up in Fall 2017. They are currently finishing their BFA in Design and Computation Arts. Their minor in Sexuality studies has informed recent projects such as “Queering the Map.” LaRochelle and their collaborator Tess Kuramoto are now working on developing a speculative wearable/installation project, that gathers participants bio-data and uses it to animate a series of post-human sculptures.

culture

January 29, 2018 mcgilldaily.com | The McGill Daily

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Calling all social justice warriors, archers, and rogues Game Curious has the event for you

Tali Ioselevich Culture Writer

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ideo game culture is not often synonymous with social justice or revolutionary change. For people who grew up largely excluded from it, particularly folks who are not white, cis, or masculine-presenting, or who don’t have the funds to sustain a gaming habit, the gaming community can feel alienating. Those familiar with the GamerGate harassment campaign are acutely aware of the difficulties in holding discussions around sexism and representation in the gaming community. Game Curious, a new Montreal collective, is changing the way people interact with video games. By using video games as a medium to discuss important issues such as immigration, police militarism, and consent, they are fostering a gaming community that engages social justice issues in a welcoming and accessible environment.

What is Game Curious Montreal?

On its website, Game Curious describes itself as “a book club for games.” Supported by the Mount Royal Gaming Society (MRGS), Pixelles, Quebec Public Interest Group (QPIRG) Concordia, and Association for the Voice of Education in Quebec, they offer “a series of free public events aimed at creating a space for people who are new to games, or who feel marginalized or excluded by the dominant culture.” The collective provides an accessible avenue for engaging in radical social justice topics for players of any background — from those who’ve always been curious but have never played, to those who’ve clocked in many hours at their favorite video games. This initiative allows people with any level of experience to contribute something important to the discussion of inclusivity in games and gaming spaces.

Game Curious’ weekly themed workshops The workshops take place on Sundays at 2 p.m. in Café Aquin, on the second floor of UQAM. Free food is offered, with plenty of vegan options available. The space is wheelchair accessible, and services such as childcare and FrenchEnglish whisper translation are offered. There are laptops featur-

Jiawen Wang | Illustrator ing games related to each week’s discussion. Zines explaining Game Curious’ safer space policy and local grassroots organizations, such as Solidarity Across Borders, are also available. After giving players several hours to test out each game, a round table discussion is held to talk about the games, their impact, and how they relate to the theme of the day.

The collective provides an accessible avenue for engaging in radical social justice topics for players with any background.

The first workshop in the series this year was held a week ago with the theme “Immigration & Borders.” Showcased games included Papers Please (2014), Borders (2017), I’ll Take Care of It (2017), Bury Me, My Love (2017), and Penalties (2013). The discussion centred mostly around Papers Please, a game where you play as a bureaucratic border agent forced

to either allow or deny people’s entry into the fictional post-Soviet country of Arstotszka. The game forces players to be complicit in the system of oppression that upholds the racist ideal of the “model immigrant.” It gives players insight into which aspects of immigration are regulated. At a certain level of the game, they must even deny those whose outside appearance doesn’t match the gender on their passport. As the game progresses, the player is also forced to make choices between taking care of their family or joining the resistance movement, at their own cost.

Though the experience of playing this game is tedious and menial, it encourages players to question the legitimacy of borders and nationality, and to reflect on current refugee crises.

In I’ll Take Care of It, you play as a young Latina immigrant who is being harassed by faceless, heavily militarized immigration agents, who wear helmets dotted by two shining red eyes. She seeks the help of a ‘bruja’ (a Latina witch) living in her apartment building who comes ready to brawl the next time the police arrive. This power fantasy inspires the player to fight back against the likes of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in the U.S. by declaring that “anyone can be a bruja,” and shows the importance of support networks for immigrants.

Penalties is an autobiographical game by a Palestinian refugee in the U.S. This escape-the-room horror game has a self-harm content warning, and induces feelings of anxiety and for some, claustrophobia. It intentionally makes the player feel trapped, choiceless, and desperate with the hope of escape. These feelings parallel what it’s like to be suffocated by oppressive structures upheld by ethnonationalism and borders.

[Papers Please] encourages players to question the legitimacy of borders and nationality, and reflect on current refugee crises.

Conclusion Video games, like any piece of media, do not exist in a vacuum.

Video game design and content reflect the dominant ideologies of the context in which they are produced. Ignoring and refusing to discuss the politics of video games only feeds into the alien-

ation and marginalization of certain groups. On that backdrop, Game Curious carves out spaces for subversive dynamics to grow, bloom, and boom.

Game Curious carves out spaces for subversive dynamics to grow, bloom and boom.

Upcoming Game Curious workshops revolve around the themes of Policing and Prisons on February 4, Feminism and Consent on Feb. 11, and Capitalism and Workers Struggles on Feb. 18. Additionally, the Game Curious website has links for all the games showcased so far, so if you’re unable to attend a workshop they’re there for you to explore. The collective also plans on hosting workshops to teach people how to create video games of their own, with a group game-making event (also known as a Game Jam), following shortly after. If you’re interested, make sure you stop by to play some games and to participate in the discussion.

Game on, comrades.

compendium!

January 29, 2018 mcgilldaily.com | The McGill Daily

20

Lies, half-truths, and sucking my second dick.

White students in 300-level gender studies class literally invent intersectionality

Benevolent White Woman 1 & Benevolent White Woman 2 The McGall Weekly

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handful of students in a 300-level Gender, Sexuality, Feminist, and Social Justice Studies class went beyond syllabus requirements and coined the term “intersectionality” to represent the diversity in their friend group.

“It’s really quite simple,” says Marina, a U2 Cultural Studies student. “You can be more than one thing. You can be lots of things. I’m a woman who’s white.

Emma is a woman who’s bisexual and white. And Christine is a woman who’s white but is also from Quebec.”

The group is equally committed to outreach and sharing their creation with the community. “It’s like, the perfect party theme,” says one student excit-

edly. “It literally works for anything.

Intersectional potlucks. Intersectional clothing swap. We’re actually heading to intersectional brunch right after this. It’s pay-what-you-can.” (Except the mimosas. They’re $12.09) Emma, also a student in Gender, Sexuality and Feminist Studies GSFS 376: Special Topics, expressed her excitement at this novel intervention into feminist theory.

“It’s really groundbreaking,” she enthused, as she updated her Instagram bio to include the label “intersectional feminist”.

She also outlined some potential applications of this term. “I took a class on racial inequality this term, and my dad is a cop who says really racist shit at Thanksgiving dinner sometimes. That’s exactly what intersectionality is about.

I think he’ll be really on board with the concept because it speaks to the ways in

Crossword

which our family exemplifies multiple lived experiences.”

Marina emphasized the concept’s broad reach: “We think this will have lasting effects for people of colour. We want them to feel included in these difficult conversations. In fact, I can’t believe they couldn’t come up with something like this earlier. But anyway, we’re just really honoured to be here to speak for them.

Christine eagerly contributed to the discourse around race as well. “Thanks to intersectionality, those people —like, anyone who isn’t white — can do all kinds of things they couldn’t do before.

Like for example, they can come to queer dance parties now. It’s really revolutionary.” The group pauses to collectively break into a “yaaas, queen!”

Zainab, who is one of three racialized students in the class, was less convinced.

“I know that these girls are super excited right now, but I think they’re missing the fact that this concept… exists. Kimberle Crenshaw was--” Christine interjected at this point.

“Yeah, she was great! I read her book in Intro to Feminist Studies. But we really think that this concept is bigger than that. Thank you so much for doing the emotional labour involved in raising that point, Zahara.”

Zainab was not available for further comment.

At the time of publication, the group of students were brainstorming ideas for merchandise to sell on their intersectional feminist online store. Emma proudly displayed her “Intersectional” Rosie the Riveter cross-stitch and “Nasty Woman” laptop decal for our writers at The McGall Weekly.

Jay VanPut Official Crossword Wizard Across 1. Bad day for Caesar 5. Flinching grimace 10. Stringed instrument 14. West African country 15. Bikini, for one 16. Creme-filled cookie 17. Heaps 18. India’s neighbor 19. Study 20. Militia fighters in the American Revolutionay War 22. Sound producing finger movements 23. Cries at fireworks 24. Expected 25. Box 28. Common off campus study spot 34. Osama bin ____ 35. Time teller 36. Hoppy beer, abbr.

37. Singer Redding 38. Reserves 39. Fruity coolers 40. Bit of business attire 41. Troubled 42. Exhausted 43. Archaic time teller 45. Long-winded 46. Comics shriek 47. Small batteries 48. What your feet help you do 51. Memorable moment in hindsight... Or a clue to 20, 28 and 43 across.

57. Role in a movie 58. Diamond weight 59. Earring site 60. High school breakout 61. Prefix- meaning “few” 62. Abbr. at the end of a list 63. State of mind 64. Showbiz twin MaryKate or Ashley 65. Back talk

Down 1. Muslim leader 2. Surrealist Salvador 3. Tesla CEO 4. Positions oneself 5. What the moon does half the time 6. Big-ticket ___ 7. “I don’t think so” 8. Close-knit group 9. Building addition 10. Great _____ Owl 11. Length x width, for a rectangle 12. Harvest 13. Pea holders 21. Ergo 22. Type of cost 24. Google program 25. Woven fabric 26. Relationship between numbers 27. “I bid you ____” 28. Milan Operahouse La ____ 29. Santa’s helpers 30. Women attending university Archaic 31. Autumn drink 32. Flip over 33. Unhealthily pale 38. Ancient trade route ___ Road 39. Followers of Jesus 41. Elderly 42. Smack, as a fly 44. Did not own 47. Luxury car ____ Martin 48. Junk E-mail 49. ___ Bell 50. River in Florence 51. Plummet 52. Colored eye part 53. Anger 54. Small amount 55. What people might get from Desautels 56. Snakelike fish 58. Dove’s sound