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Volume 106, Issue 21 | Monday, March 20, 2017 | mcgilldaily.com Knees are the nipple of the leg since 1911

North American Indigenous Games Reconciliation, resurgence, and youth empowerment through sports

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NEWS 3

March 20, 2017 mcgilldaily.com | The McGill Daily

President

VP University Affairs

VP Internal

VP Operations

VP External

VP Student Life

VP Finance

NEWS

SSMU election results Taking a stand against police brutality Does SSMU need a sexual violence policy?

Capitalism and human migration

SSMU Election Results

Muna Tojiboeva

Isabelle Oke

Event on the academic boycott of Israel

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COMMENTARY

Maya Koparkar

Anuradha Mallik

Connor Spencer

Women’s strike and labour Bush and revisionism Healthy eating in residence

11 FEATURES Toward decolonial anthropology

14

SPORTS

Jemark Earle

Arisha Khan

2017-2018

What does sports-based reconciliation look like?

Executive

15 SCI+TECH

team

The advent and dangers of drones

announced

16 CULTURE Photos by conor nickerson | Infographics by marc cataford Misogyny in the music world

18

President

VP University Affairs

Comic

Amendments to SSMU’s Constitution

EDITORIAL

Racial profiling in Montreal must be confronted

19

Referendum

COMPENDIUM!

Yes Tojiboeva

Oke

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News

March 20, 2017 mcgilldaily.com | The McGill Daily

Clashes at anti-police brutality march Protesters shoot fireworks at police, who respond by kettling protesters

Rayleigh Lee The McGill Daily

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AGM &

MiniCall for Candidates All members of the Daily Publications Society (DPS), publisher of The McGill Daily and Le Délit, are cordially invited to its Mini-AGM:

Wednesday March 29th @ 6:30 p.m.

ARTS Building Room 145

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

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

Positions must be filled by five McGill students, duly registered for the upcoming Fall 2017 & Winter 2018 semesters, as well as a Community Representative, who are able to sit from July 1st, 2017 to June 30th, 2018.

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

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

Deadline: Tuesday, March 28th @ 5 p.m.

Want to try something new?

Write for news!

Email an editor at news@mcgilldaily. com to find out how to get involved.

No experience necessary.

n the evening of Wednesday March 15, more than a hundred people gathered at Place Valois, despite a snowstorm, to participate in Montreal’s annual March against Police Brutality.

The march was organized as part of the International Day Against Police Brutality by the Collective Opposed to Police Brutality (COBP), an organization formed in 1995 in response to arrests following a demonstration against Human Life International (HLI).

The theme of this year’s march was gentrification, highlighting the struggles of those marginalized by the influx of luxury businesses and households into lowincome neighborhoods. As such, the protest began in HochelagaMaisonneuve, a community currently undergoing gentrification.

“Who protects us from the police? I ask this question every day, as we see police abuses of all kinds.”

–Anonymous organizer Opening remarks In one of the opening speeches, made at Place Valois, an anonymous organizer denounced the systemic oppression which has historically been perpetrated by police forces, specifically as related to racism and colonialism.

“Year after year, we ask ourselves the same question,” said the organizer. “Who protects us from the police? [...] This question arises when the suffering at the hands of the SPVM is considered acceptable by the media [...] Who protects us from the police? Let us think about the [Indigenous] women [...] who have disappeared, who were violated by police officers. Think of the families who are defenceless against the system, that have worked five hundred years against unending colonization [...] Who protects us from the police? I ask this question every day, as we see police abuses of all kinds. [...] Who protects us from the police? [...] We can count only on [....] ourselves, our communities, our neighbourhoods, and our solidarity to protect ourselves.”

Police intervention Once the introductory speeches had been delivered, the protest began. Participants marched briskly along Ontario street, moving west towards the Quartier des Spectacles. They held banners denouncing police brutality, capitalism, and racism, and shouted slogans exuberantly as they walked.

The protesters were escorted by the Service de police de la ville de Montréal (SPVM), who followed the march closely, but did not initially intervene. This continued for roughly two hours, until the march reached downtown Montreal, whereupon a small subsection of the demonstrators began smashing the windows of stores and of a nearby police car. A few fireworks were also thrown at the SPVM officers who, by this point, had begun to surround the march.

As the tension palpably increased, many protesters took this opportunity to leave the scene.

Meanwhile, the remainder of the group proceeded back eastward along Ste. Catherine, closely followed by dozens of police officers in full riot gear.

At the junction of St. Urbain and Ste. Catherine, the SPVM surrounded the now smaller march, kettling several different groups of people.

Eventually, however, all of those kettled either pushed their way out or were released. No arrests were made, and no fines were imposed, although some protesters’ backpacks were taken by the police as evidence. Small groups of protesters continued walking for a short period of time, but after the confrontation at St. Urbain the protest was effectively dispersed.

“Last year it went really well and we were all very surprised about that,” said a participant volunteering as a medic who asked to remain anonymous when speaking to The Daily. “But [...] it’s hard to tell what to expect from [the police]. I think that there’s been a lot of newer people getting involved, [...] I think this march has a reputation, and I think that people [...] know and expect it to be a lot more intense than usual.”

–Anonymous organizer

absolutely something that needs to be talked about more. [...] There is police brutality in Canada, it’s not just in the United States and people of color are the ones [who] suffer the most from it. So I think that needs to be addressed more.”

“Last year it went really well and we were all very surprised about that. [But] it’s hard to tell what to expect from [the police].”

–Anonymous Volunteer medic The medic, a member of Resist Trump and the Far Right, also highlighted how marginalized populations – primarily Black and Indigenous people – are subject to disproportionate levels of police brutality.

“This march has a reputation, and I think that people [...] know and expect “Let us think it to be a lot about the more intense [Indigenous] than usual.” women [...]

–Anonymous Volunteer medic who have march [...] really matdisappeared, ters“This to me because I’ve personbeen a victim of police harasswho were ally ment and certain bad experiences police,” they explained. “But I violated by with also think that [...] what’s going on in regard to the police and the police officers.” [...]

Indigenous people in Canada is [...]

Racism and police brutality The 2016 March ended with no police interventions or arrests, unlike previous years where multiple fines were imposed.

News

March 20, 2017 mcgilldaily.com | The McGill Daily

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Will SSMU adopt a sexual assault policy?

Concerns raised over the potential effectiveness of such a policy Xavier Richer Vis The McGill Daily Content warning: sexual assault, domestic abuse

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he recent resignations of two Students’ Society of McGill University (SSMU) executives – former President Ben Ger and former VP External David Aird – over allegations of gendered violence have sparked intense criticism of SSMU’s nominal commitment to transparency and accountability. Moreover, many are calling for the Society to adopt a sexual assault policy (SAP) which would apply to its Executive Committee.

While the University did recently adopt its own Sexual Violence Policy (SVP), which applies to all students registered at McGill, a SSMU SAP would in theory give undergraduates at the University more recourse in holding their elected officials accountable.

A SSMU Sexual Assault Policy would, in theory, give udergraduates at the University more recourse in holding their elected officials accountable.

The SVP cannot be used to suspend or remove SSMU executives from their positions. This means that if any future executive were to be accused of sexual assault, SSMU members would have to wait for the University to take action against that executive as an individual - something McGill has historically been reluctant to do.

A SSMU SAP, or or more administration involvement?

Nevertheless, many students have argued that it should be McGill’s administration, rather than SSMU, which takes a larger role in countering sexual violence on campus.

In a letter published on March 2, 2017 in The McGill Daily, 18 SSMU representatives, all of

whom sit on the Society’s Legislative Council, addressed McGill’s administration. The letter recognized the “insufficiency of the SSMU executive team in the handling of their response,” but felt that this didn’t excuse the Administration’s silence on the matter.

“The problem of sexual violence is not limited to the SSMU,” reads the letter. “It affects everyone on campus, especially those survivors that have come forth.

Principal Fortier, the administration is accountable to every one of its students and shoulders the burden of the responsibility to take action. The silence from the Administration throughout this process is alarming.”

“The administration is accountable to every one of its students and shoulders the burden or fhte responsibility to take action.”

—SSMU representatives and legislative councillors The letter called on the administration to collaborate with SSMU to “to emphasize section 8 of the sexual violence policy and push the active working group to hold workshops and presentations concerning sexual violence at McGill residences and campus as a whole for the remainder of the semester.”

The letter also called on the administration to follow and adopt the CDN’s demands, and “to take direct measures to ensure the continued safety of students and survivors on and around campus.”

Measures listed included timely disclosures, safety planning, section changes. Most importantly the letter called for “screening of [SSMU] executives.” Nowhere in the letter is there a call for SSMU to adopt its own SAP to counter its own shortcomings.

Hence, a large part of the debate over a SSMU SAP revolves around how much independence SSMU and its members should have in regulating its own Ex-

ecutive Committee, and when the University’s administration should step in.

The Executive Committee talks a SSMU-specific SAP VP Student Life Elaine Patterson, who has taken on the role of SSMU spokesperson following Ger’s resignation, told The Daily in an email that there “have been conversations amongst the SSMU executives regarding a policy and a set of protocols that can be put in place in order to create a structure to better manage reports of disclosure of sexual harassment to an exec.”

“In terms of first steps,” she added, “we hope to organize a time for the current executives and the [newly elected SSMU] executives to attend a workshop on reports of disclosure offered

by Consent McGill. Additionally, [VP University Affairs] Erin Sobat is in touch with representatives from the Community Disclosure Network (CDN) to ensure consultation while this policy and these protocols are in development.”

In a statement to The Daily, Sobat spoke about the process of creating such a policy.

“By their request I am working [...] to help meet the requests in [the CDN’s] statement, re: sexual violence in general not just harassment,” he explained. “However this is really [...] labour of policy/protocol development based on consultation and outreach to different groups and oversight from our governance bodies.”

“The silence from the Administration throughout this process is alarming.”

—SSMU representatives and legislative councillors “We are looking into the best ways to facilitate sensitive consultation and dialogue on moving forward, through CDN and staff resources,” he added. “We recognize that people do not necessarily feel comfortable reaching out to the executive right now and that there need to be multiple avenues for involvement and input.”

“Well intentioned but dangerously half-baked” While many on campus have called for such a policy, some students feel that this simply isn’t enough.

“There have been conversations amongst the SSMU executives regarding a policy and a set of protocols that can be put in place in order to create a structure to better manage reports of disclosure of sexual harassment to an exec.”

—Elaine Patterson VP Student Life Silence is Violence (SiV), a survivor-led collective of community members at McGill which “advocate for institutional accountability and tackle rape culture on campus” released a statement last Thursday detailing their thoughts on a hypothetical SSMU SAP. While the collective expressed outrage at Ger and Aird’s behaviour, and understood the calls to action, they expressed concerns that calls for a SSMU-specific SAP are “short-sighted, narrow and lack adequate context.”

“Since the adoption of SVP last winter, and, indeed, in the past few years when a SVP has been under development at McGill, [the] McGill Administration has constantly used the SVP to make a show of its supposed commitment to responding to sexual violence - and shut down any criticism of its shortcomings in that regard,” reads the statement.

“While a policy can indeed provide structure for addressing sexual violence,” the statement continues, “calling for the creation of a policy without holistically confronting - in this case

- the dynamics that encourage, sustain and tolerate abuse in activist communities is a cheap way out of assuming liability for past incidents and committing to their prevention in the future.”

SiV also raised concerns about whether or not this meant that clubs, faculty and departmental associations, and other groups on campus would themselves also adopt a sexual assault policy of their own.

“How much time and resources would that take?” SiV wrote.

“How many sexual assault policies does this institution need?”

SiV stated that, instead, they felt McGill would “benefit more from a campus-wide initiative to use already existing structures to extend the SVP to all other separate legal entities at McGill.”

The collective cited the Office of the Dean of Students signing a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Management Undergraduate Society to extend the Code of Students’ Conduct and a variety of other forms of oversights to Carnival, an event which involved heavy drinking. “Participants would hence be subject to this Code in case they cross the line,” the statement reads.

“[The] McGill Administration has constantly used the SVP to make a show of its suppoed commitment to responding to sexual violence.”

—statement from Silence is Violence McGill At the time of publication, the Sexual Assault Centre of the McGill Students’ Society (SACOMSS) had yet to sit down with SSMU executives to discuss the Society adopting a sexual assault policy, and hence were not comfortable speaking with The Daily about their recommendations on the subject.

Moreover, the CDN has yet to respond to The Daily’s request for comment.

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News

March 20, 2017 mcgilldaily.com | The McGill Daily

Global capitalism and migration

Saskia Sassen talks extraction, displacement, and de-urbanization

Nora McCready The McGill Daily

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n March 13, a group of students and community members gathered in the McGill Faculty Club for a lecture by Saskia Sassen, a professor of sociology and the Chair of the Committee on Global Thought at Columbia University. Sassen’s lecture was titled “A Massive Loss of Habitat: Three New Migrations.” She examined the extractive and expulsive practices that have come to dominate our global financial system.

Land grabs and extraction Sassen began with a discussion of land grabs. Africa is the most affected by land grabs, she said. However, land grabbing, or large-scale land acquisitions, are spreading across the globe.

Sassen brought up a few examples such as Bosnia’s Saudi-run wheat plantations, Southeast Asia’s history of foreign-run biofuel extraction, and water bottling companies’ amassing of real estate worldwide.

These land grabs are destructive because they push out longterm inhabitants and quickly drain natural resources. When this happens, the affected territory becomes what Sassen calls “dead land.” This practice of pushing people out for corporate profit is creating “a massive loss of habitat,” she said, “that is generating a certain kind of migration.”

“The [Indigenous inhabitants] have knowledge [of] how to keep that land alive for millennia, for centuries,” said Sassen. “When they’re thrown out of that land [they end up] in big slums in big cities. At that point, we – the scholars, [...] the researchers – have lost track of them. We see them as urban slum dwellers. We have forgotten the fact that they have knowledge about how to keep that land alive.”

This cycle tends to repeat itself, said Sassen, to ever more destructive effect: people become invisible, their practical knowledge is forgotten, their land dies, and corporations move on to new and unexploited areas.

Sassen also discussed the recent phenomenon of countries making land grabs abroad. While this may be construed as a form of neo-imperialism, she emphasized land grabbing in foreign countries mainly concern extraction for financial gain. This contrasts older forms of imperialism involving political or religious agendas.

“If you think of the old imperial mode of the French [...] they didn’t want to just control the whole of Africa, they also wanted everyone to learn French,” she said. “It came with a superstructure.” The same was true, she continued, of the Spanish invasion of Latin America: Spain had certainly pillaged the region’s natural resources, but it had also come with a “civilizing mission” rooted in Christianity.

Today, by contrast, extractionbased concerns are far more allconsuming, and this logic is the backbone of numerous modern commodities. Google and Facebook are both extractive of information, Sassen said, and “finance is an extractive sector: [finance] sells something it does not have.”

“So is this new type of foreign owner of land in a country that is not its own,” she concluded. “It just extracts.”

“We see them as urban slum dwellers. We have forgotten the fact that they have knowledge about how to keep that land alive.”

—Saskia Sassen Chair of the Committee on Global Thought at Columbia University New migrants The extraction and destruction of land, Sassen went on, has led to the development of a new kind of migrant: “a migrant who, when she appears at our borders [...] is invisible to the eye of the law.”

“When you take the traditional subjects, the immigrant and the refugee, there are legal regimes.

They might be highly imperfect, but they exist.”

“The immigrant is a strong subject. She leaves behind a place.

She wants to contribute to further development [...] This [new] subject is not necessarily a strong subject [...] They’re being pushed out,” she said. “What throws out these migrants – plantation development, mining, the water bottlers – registers as GDP per capita growth in the countries where this is happening.”

This point, said Sassen, illustrates the ironic space within which the new migrant operates. On the one hand, their country of origin is benefitting financially from land grabbing and extraction. However, “you have to combine what is seen by the system as a positive [...] with the fact that millions are expelled every year.”

Recently, there has been a profound increase in the number of unaccompanied children coming to the United States from Central America. Most of them are coming from El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala.

“El Salvador and Honduras are considered among the most violent

Saskia Sassen. countries in the world” said Sassen.

“When you ask the children ‘why, why did you [leave]?’ They always say ‘la violencia.’”

“They left because of violence but the point is that violence doesn’t fall from the sky ready-made,” Sassen continued. “Small farmers have been thrown out of their land by the development of massive plantations owned both by foreign capital and by old local elites.”

These small landowners are forced to go to the cities: “San Pedro Sula for example, in Honduras. a country reported to have the highest national murder rate in the world according to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crimes (UNODC) in 2012.

“They left because of violence but the point is that violence doesn’t fall from the sky ready-made.”

—Saskia Sassen The local economies in theses cities are struggling, and the drug trade is one of the only developing financial sectors. The parents of these migrant children often become involved due to a profound lack of opportunity, and in many cases, they end up being killed.

This, said Sassen, is ‘la violencia,’ The Dinant Corporation is currently the largest landowner in Honduras. “The world bank just gave [the CEO] a prize [...] he runs a very well-run plantation. He had to expel all kinds of people. So here again we enter this strange zone.” Sassen continued, “In the statistics of the country it all looks

Nora McCready | The McGill Daily fantastic. [However] it actually rests on killing.”

Sassen implied that many people are unaware of the true cause of this destruction, and instead attribute the violence to racist preconceptions about the regions affected.

“You can’t just say ‘la violencia’ – you have to say land grabs, you have to say certain modes of economic development, you have to say the corruption of governments. [...] Then you’re actually getting at some of the foundational facts.”

Urban expulsion Recently, said Sassen, foreign buyers have been purchasing property in cities considered desirable, and developing luxury properties there.

“Atlantic Yards [in New York City] was [once] dense with all kind of activity,” she explained. “All the artists that were too poor to live in Manhattan wound up there. It was bought up by a Chinese company [...] and they’re now building fourteen of these towers, luxury towers, apartment buildings. They are raising the density of the place enormously but they’re actually de-urbanizing [...] You’re just eliminating mixed economies and cultures [...] and replacing it with luxury apartments.”

Not only are foreign buyers building new high rises and deurbanizing neighbourhoods, they are also buying up units in preexisting buildings, Sassen went on.

This means that a lot of urban space remains empty, becoming nothing but a symbol of foreign capital. This can be very destructive to the local economy because it drives up the cost of living for the people who are actually contributing economically. In the last ten years, fourteen million households have been foreclosed on.

“That’s almost forty million people thrown out” said Sassen. “That’s a lot of materiality [made] invisible.”

Sassen related this idea of loss

of habitat and simultaneous gain of corporate profit to historical economic trends.

“They are raising the density of the place enormously but they’re actually de-urbanizing. [...] You’re just eliminating mixed economies and cultures [...] and replacing it with luxury apartments.”

—Saskia Sassen “It’s not like the Keynesian period after World War II [in which] the [middle class] grows,” she said. “If you’re doing better, you don’t care that much about the fact that the rich middle class is doing even better than you. But what we have now is loss, loss, loss, gain, gain, gain.”

“I can imagine an extreme period with two rising urban formats. [...] Endless stretches, some of it becomes slums, some of it not, some of it is legal, some is not, but very very dense. All those people who are being expelled, many of them wind up here. And then massive expansion of these corporate centres.”

Sassen concluded her talk by showing a photograph of luxury highrises next door to a deeply impoverished neighbourhood.

This, she implied, is our future.

news

March 20, 2017 mcgilldaily.com | The McGill Daily

7

Panel discusses strategies for an academic boycott of Israel Shedding light on a rarely-discussed part of the BDS movement

Tala Abdullah News Writer

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n Tuesday, March 14, a group of around twenty students and community members attended a panel arguing in favour of an academic boycott of Israeli universities. Following the panel, participants held small discussion groups to present their own strategies for implementing such a boycott.

Held in McGill Arts Building as part of Israeli Apartheid Week, the event featured Michelle Hartman, a professor at McGill’s Institute of Islamic Studies; Ralph Haddad, a member of McGill BDS Action and an editor at The Daily; and a representative of the Anthropology Graduate Student Association (AGSA) of McGill, who wished to remain anonymous.

Academic boycott On an international level, the movement for an academic boycott is spearheaded by the Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI). PACBI, in turn, is part of the larger Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) campaign.

The aim of BDS is to pressure institutions and governments into complying with international law by upholding Palestinians’ right to self-determination.

The aim of BDS is to pressure institutions and governments into complying with international law by upholding Palestinians’ right to selfdetermination.

According to PACBI’s website, “Israeli universities have played a key role in planning, implementing and justifying Israel’s occupation and apartheid policies, while maintaining a uniquely close relationship with the Israeli military.” The organization also holds that the majority of Israeli academics have, directly or as a result of their silence, contributed

to maintaining Israeli oppression of Palestinians.

“People think that the academic boycott is against freedom of speech and expression,” said Haddad, in an interview with The Daily, “but we need to rethink these rights as universal and start thinking about them as rights that some people have and some don’t.”

“People think that the academic boycott is against freedom of speech and expression, but we need to rethink these rights as universal and start thinking about them as rights that some people have and some don’t.”

—Ralph Haddad Member, BDS Action McGill Haddad added that Palestinians do not have the same access to education as Israelis do.

“For example,” he said, “Israel has repeatedly closed schools and universities throughout the West Bank as part of its military regime of the area. In one famous documented case, Israeli soldiers are seen throwing tear gas at a group of children on their way to school.”

Academic boycott of Israel, according to PACBI, includes measures such as refraining from participation in academic collaboration with Israeli institutions, and withholding funding from such collaborative initiatives. Instead, PACBI calls on the international community to support Palestinian academic institutions, and to pass motions in support of BDS at universities around the world.

McGill’s ties to Israel At McGill, the only direct Exchange Programs in the Middle East are with Israeli universities.

Students wishing to study at uni-

versities elsewhere in the region do not benefit from the same institutional support as Exchange students do, and must arrange their own Independent Study Away singlehandedly.

“Many of these universities are built directly above a razed Palestinian village,” Haddad continued.

“The Technion Institute of Technology manufactures weapons for the Israeli occupation forces, which are fieldtested on Palestinians in Gaza. McGill students actively participate in this research by going on Exchange to the Technion, oftentimes given special awards by McGill in order to make it easier for them to travel and study there.”

Breakout groups The AGSA representative discussed the successful passing of a BDS motion within AGSA last January, and shared insight with those present.

Then, once the issue at hand had been contextualised by the panelists, the attendees broke up into small groups to strategize and troubleshoot possible obstacles to an academic boycott campaign.

According to the participants, one of the issues faced by Palestinian solidarity activists is the unwillingness of other like-minded individuals to show their support for fear of harassment. Many people keep their support of the cause private, as it can lead to being profiled and targeted.

Many people keep their support of the cause private, as it can lead to being profiled and targeted.

Another difficulty identified by the participants concerned community outreach. While interested in fostering open and constructive conversation, participants said they often it difficult to present themselves as approachable to those opposing BDS. As one student attending the panel told the room, “if we really want to counter the anti-BDS campaigns, we should go to their

Nora McCready | The McGill Daily events, sit, listen to their arguments […], and then counter them during the Q&A.” Moving forward In an email to The Daily, written in French, organizer Abir Haddade explained the rationale behind the panel and discussion: “The goal was [...] to offer more space for the [BDS] movement,” she said, “and particularly to the academic boycott, which is still not discussed very much as compared to other forms of boycott.”

“I was pleasantly surprised by the outcome of the event,” Haddade continued. “Several innovative ideas were raised, actually.

Michelle [Hartman] emphasized the importance of strengthening ties between the different universities in Montreal. Montreal is a student city par excellence and knowing that the BDS movement has been particularly successful on university campuses, it’s a

shame for each of us to work on our own.”

One of the breakout groups, she added, had also suggested organizing wine-and-cheese events from time to time.

“We disagree? Our ideologies are in opposition? That’s OK, let’s discuss it over drinks. It’s as simple as that,” Haddade said.

“I think that this meeting allowed us to get a valuable sense of the challenges and obstacles we face,” she finished, “but also to engage with approaches which will allow us to overcome them. Discussing with students from neighboring universities (Concordia and UQAM) was very promising with regard to future collaborations. [...] Linking McGill to the rest of student life in Montreal will only strengthen our local BDS network.”

The McGill BDS Action network may be reached at mcgillbds@ riseup.net.

Commentary

March 20, 2017 mcgilldaily.com | The McGill Daily

We don’t lean in, we strike

8

Toward a revolution for all women

Anne-Cécile Favory The McGill Daily

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n March 8th, the organizers of the Women’s March on Washington called for a general strike, which was in turn criticized for not being accessible to the women most affected by precarious work and intersecting oppressions. Due to our current economic system – to which the strike was opposed – many women could not participate in the action, which evidently warrants criticism and a re-evaluation of organizing tactics. Even so, to even consider a general strike is indicative of a departure from the mainstream feminist and labour politics of the last couple decades. “A Day Without Women,” as it was called, coincided with International Women’s Day, an annual “celebration” of women that has been increasingly depoliticized despite having its roots in the labour movement of the early 1900s. The depoliticization of International Women’s Day in the last few decades is especially due to the encroaching corporatization of social movements, which is a deliberate effort by the existing system to maintain the status quo. Thus, a depoliticized International Women’s Day only serves to turn women’s subordination into a spectacle and a false narrative of linear progress, where all women now possess equal rights.

Depoliticization also props up mainstream feminist rhetoric that revolves around “leaning-in” and breaking glass ceilings within the confines of neoliberalism.

According to this brand of feminism, our society has changed but our economic system stagnated.

Many prefer to disregard the final signs of late-stage capitalism, which first appeared in the 1950s, such as the increasing austerity measures exploiting the poor as well as the working class, the failure of the welfare system to provide for them, and a political system devoid of actual content but rather regulated by the global market. Economic justice and labour rights seem to be an afterthought for some feminists, instead choosing to question if women can truly “have it all.” We praise the women CEOs but fail to be critical of their actions as CEOs. While the Sheryl Sandbergs and Marissa Mayers of this world continue to tell us to “lean in,” we must remember that gendered and racialized inequality within the class system is a feminist issue that will not be resolved by adhering to the principles of capitalism.

Criticism of mainstream feminism, and the privileged few who lead it, is not new. In contrast to the ideals of second wave feminists, women of colour have always worked to create a movement for the masses and not the few.

Feminist struggles encompass social

Sonia Ionescu | The McGill Daily welfare, state violence, education reform, workers’ rights, and other societal ills that are inherently tied to the subjugation of women. In today’s movement, many of those at the forefront of grassroots feminist organizing center these intersections in their work, including the organizers of the March 8 strike.

While commendable and crucial, there are limitations to organizing around intersectionality in a system that rewards individualism and encourages hierarchical specialized labour. Evidently, to reduce racial and gender oppression to by-products of the class system is false, hurtful to the cause, and ahistorical. However, as “A Day without Women” proves, class power underlies the privileges – whiteness, access to education, wealth – afforded to those striking. For this reason, detractors of the strike called it useless, impossible, and irrelevant in a society that no longer organizes through unions and is hostile to the welfare state. However, considering the current political climate and changing world order, shouldn’t the impossible be worth trying?

Striking as a tool for change is one that has been used since the Industrial Revolution. The March 8 strike was meant to denounce the privileged feminism of Hillary and Ivanka, the kind that uses feminist language to further capitalism, a violent system which actively disenfranchises billions of women.

At different stages of capitalism, women worldwide, and not only the privileged few, have withheld production as a form of dissent. Even

in recent times, most social movements have been led by women risking jobs, careers, and family for the cause. For instance, queer black women are at the forefront of the Black Lives Matter Movement, Indigenous women are often frontline defenders in the fight against climate change, and teachers’ strikes across North America have been spearheaded by women, especially women of colour. With that being said, should the burden of fighting against oppression fall on the oppressed? No. The idea that we have unbridled ownership of our livelihoods and living conditions is a meritocratic principle used by capitalists to justify oppression, exploitation and evasion of dissent.

It is against this very principle that strikes are often organized. Striking should render visible some of the barriers working against a marginalized portion of society.

Strikes in a globalized and increasingly divided world may seem irrelevant or even illustrative of the very privileges they seek to address, which gives us even more reasons to give them a chance. In terms of visible collective action, striking, if done properly, can put an actual strain on the system.

However, there is no denying that much has to change for striking to be effective in 2017 while still being done in solidarity with all women. First and foremost, a collective effort must be made to put historically marginalized groups at the forefront of labour organizing, which means that those with the privilege and capacity to do

so will have to facilitate and create an accessible space. This effort can take the form of legal reforms and increasing unionization which allows more women to strike without fear of repercussions, radical and disruptive direct actions that increases visibility of the labour movement and raises social consciousness, and an understanding that racial and gendered inequalities within classes were created deliberately and thus, must be dismantled purposefully.

A depoliticized International Women’s Day only serves to turn women’s subordination into a spectacle and a false narrative of linear progress, where all women now possess equal rights.

Viewing class struggles through an intersectional lens can help revive a feminist move-

ment that has strayed from its roots. The failings of the March 8 strike generally stemmed from rush organizing – due to a sense of urgency – that didn’t allow for the implementation of workplace safeguards which would have allowed for more women to partake. We may no longer be able to organize under unions and a strong labour movement, but those spearheading grassroots movements are learning from these actions and adjusting the organizational structures of our predecessors so as to benefit all women. In the meantime, we should continue to put on actions despite their supposed impossibility. Neoliberalism convinces us that collectivity is unattainable and that the only way to demand rights and freedoms is through a system put in place to disenfranchise us and maintain power for the few. We have a long way to go and much to learn about solidarity. A movement advocating for the 99 per cent has no other option but to take into consideration the intersections of women’s oppressions. After all, the current state of the world calls for us to be ambitious as well as radical, disruptive, and self-critical.

Anne-Cécile Favory is a U4 student majoring in World Islamic & Middle East Studies. She is an editor at The McGill Daily but the opinions expressed in this piece are her own. To contact her, email anne-cécile.favory@mail.mcgill.ca.

COMMENTARY

March 20, 2017 mcgilldaily.com | The McGill Daily

Nostalgia for a “Lesser Evil”

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We should be cautious of rebranding Bush post Trump’s inauguration Rachel Harrison Commentary Writer

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eorge W. Bush ended his second term with a 25 per cent approval rating, one of the lowest in the history of the United States. The criticism he received during his presidency, as well as in the years following it, which centred on his initiation of the Iraq war and bumbling presentation, has been a touchstone of left-wing political commentary. So it comes as a surreal surprise to see Bush making headlines for his book of paintings (which recently topped the Washington Post’s best-seller list), his rationality, and his apparent friendship with the Obamas, rather than the militarism which made the Iraq war the most defining feature of his presidency. Ironically, the same bumbling nature that once served as a point of critique, is suddenly attractive in comparison to the brash and aggressive figure now in office.

The shock of a Trump presidency and the Executive Orders flooding in, have understandably left many feeling nostalgic for another time.

However, before we rush headlong into a congratulatory parade for Bush’s newfound position as “not as bad,” we should consider the implications of disconnecting him from the actions of his presidency, and where we draw the line in dubbing people “a lesser evil.”

With Bush no longer at the forefront of the American government, it is easy to forget that this grandfatherly figure who calls for unity and artistic expression, once stood under that infamous star-spangled banner declaring “Mission Accomplished.”

The reality is that every year since 2003, Iraq has ranked in the top ten of countries worldwide for number of people displaced. According to 2016 statistics from the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre, around 3.4 million people are estimated to be internally displaced in Iraq. Though Bush’s actions in Iraq may appear distant, their implications are not.

Bush is no longer commander in chief, but that does not presuppose a complete absolution of his actions as such. Rather than viewing Bush’s actions as the past and Trump’s as the present, they should be viewed as components of a historical trajectory.

In isolating Bush Jr. and Trump from their surrounding contexts, you reduce them to their individual personalities, ignoring the political climates which cultivate them. Presidents serve primarily as figureheads, whose personas greatly impact public opinion, but they are supported by the historically-built ideologies of white supremacy, misogyny, and

Nora McCready | The McGill Daily settler-colonialism, amongst various other forms of oppression. Their actions, and even just their elections, are the manifestations of the history of exploitation in the U.S.. The Iraq war is more than just the actions of George W. Bush: it is the culmination of a culture of militarism, imperialism, and colonialism. Trump’s election represents the overwhelming presence of white supremacy and Islamophobia in the U.S.. While it is easy to reduce them to their latest TV presences, whether this be a bumbling old painter or a shouting demagogue, they neither possess nor deserve the credit for the power to singlehandedly produce events. By simplifying them to comparable evils and talk show appearances, you ignore the broader narrative to which they contribute, and fail to condemn the implications of this trajectory.

Naturally, the present is more easily called to mind than the past, but the oppressive systems that exist today trace back through Bush and the decades preceding him. One example of this is the “fake news” rhetoric which is so heavily used by the current Republican administration.

Considering Trump’s gas lighting technique of establishing the mainstream media as a national enemy and his apparent use of Breitbart as his source for White House briefings, the extremity of it all can seem too distinctly Donald to associate with the existing legacy in the U.S. However, Bush’s denunciation of Trump’s anti-media rhetoric is starkly differ-

ent to his behaviour in office. While in power the Bush administration produced and distributed fake news segments known as Video News Releases, also known as VNRs, which were presented without reference to their source, in order to propagate success of the Iraq war. The same war was initiated based on false knowledge of weapons of mass destruction, used by the administration to push their agenda. While Bush’s personality, or at least presentation of his personality, might have changed since his time in office, his actions still remain a part of the techniques used by the U.S. to justify oppression.

History builds on itself, and Bush and Trump are not outliers on this trajectory, but manifestations of its path. By longing for the days of Bush, one is wishing to return to a different era of the same injustice. Neither of the two men are isolated cases, so comparisons determining who is a “lesser evil” are pointless. They are particularly notorious leaders whose implications are scary, but they are powered by prejudices and systems of oppression which are firmly ingrained in society. By absolving Bush you not only normalize his actions, but normalize components of the system which supports him. With the shadow of 9/11 acting as public justification, Bush called for the war in Iraq, but was powered by the history of militarism and imperialism. Trump’s travel ban is presented through his rhetoric but is fuelled by pre-existing Islamophobia and xenophobia in the U.S..

It is easy to forget that this grandfatherly figure who calls for unity and artistic expression, once stood under that infamous star-spangled banner declaring “Mission Accomplished.”

If we choose to relegate Bush to the role of the lesser evil, it begs the question as to where we draw the line on who can qualify for this designation. Hinging the public opinion on the degree of expressionism contained in someone’s hobby paintings ignores not only the ramifications, but also the implications, of certain events in our recent history. Will we one day be saying “well, Trump doesn’t seem too bad anymore?” By forgiving people, or at least minimizing their negative impact, on the basis of how they compare to the evils of others, we allow for a continued es-

calation. If this is the case, then the only requirement for forgiveness becomes the presence of someone louder and worse. When do we stop normalizing these actions entirely rather than settling for a less extreme option?

For many Trump’s election feels like a bizarre alternate universe, or is just rightfully terrifying. It’s natural that this has many wishing to return to a time before now, but before we run straight into grandfather Bush’s open arms and ask him to teach us about modernist painting, we should consider the implications this has for both our present and future consciousnesses. If we forgive Bush, then we normalize everything he stands for, and move one step closer to normalizing Trump as well. We also lose sight of the broader historical narrative when we allow Bush’s distance from the office to distance him from his actions. Trump and Bush are not simply their personalities, nor are they isolated events. They are the product of systems of oppression in the U.S. which are built to use prejudice in order to justify abhorrent actions. Rather than leaving historical events in the past in favour of more immediate problems, we should consider the ways in which they build on each other, and the broader implications they hold for the U.S..

Rachel Harrison is a U1 student majoring in eEnglish and history.

To contact the author, email rachel. harrison@mail.mcgill.ca

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Commentary

Fed, but not nourished

On-campus cafeterias contribute to disordered eating The Looking Glass The McGill Daily Content warning: eating disorders The following is a real account of a McGill student’s experiences disordered eating on campus. Names have been changed upon request.

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From what you’ve told me,” Laila’s psychiatrist says while peering at her, “it’s very clear that you have bulimia. You don’t have to necessarily vomit after every meal to have bulimia, but it’s simply the act of balancing between two extremes – binge eating consistently for a few days and then not eating at all for the next few days to compensate for this, or by say – exercising, taking laxatives, things like that.”

Laila almost smiles at first. Her psychiatrist at the McGill clinic sounds like she is reading from a grocery list. She wonders how many other students have been given this exact news on this very sofa. On her way to the Subway in the Arts building (she is doing a significantly lowercalorie version of the Subway diet these days: nothing for breakfast, a six-inch sub for lunch, nothing for dinner, repeat) she calls her parents and tells them about her appointment. They are eating dinner and watching the television. She always binges when she is homesick – she misses the days when her mother would come sit next to her whenever she would insist on skipping a meal, kiss her forehead, and feed her with her own hands, no matter how old she got. Today, Laila is aware of the fact that perhaps one of the main reasons her eating patterns have become so much worse in college is because her main source of food and nutrition is also the place where there are abundant triggers for her disordered eating. This includes the way the stereotypical “skinny” figure is celebrated and strived for among students, as well as the abnormal and unhealthy eating habits that exist on campuses.

The funny thing is, Laila is far more concerned about the fact that this diagnosis has had almost no effect on her. In retrospect, she should have seen it coming. Over winter break, she binged almost every single day. She broke her own record on the last Saturday before winter semester began. In a span of a few hours, Laila had consumed a glass of chocolate milk, a heaped bowl of macaroni and cheese, a bowl of pasta, a cinnamon bun heaped with frosting, a substantial amount of sushi, a bubble waffle, bubble tea and of course, Ben and Jerry’s Half Baked ice cream. The implications of this were not clear to Laila, because bingeing is another eating habit that is normalized in a university environment. Around bedtime, she had two glasses of green tea and called it a night. First semester, her meals consisted of pastas, piz-

zas, Cokes with every meal, cookies, the four dollar desserts, sometimes a salad, but usually the standard was chicken burgers with cheese and fries instead. All courtesy of the McGill cafeterias, where students with disordered eating have no immediate support and a million available opportunities to, like in Laila’s case, binge.

Watching a small ocean of mayonnaise being poured into her sandwich, Laila thinks to herself: there are two courses of action available to her. The first is to add a few cookies and maybe a bag of chips to your order. Eat to your heart’s content – the greasiest poutine, a large pizza, a kilogram of Nutella. Destroy your body for the momentary satisfaction. Limits are made to be crossed.

The meal plan exists for a reason after all – the cafeterias welcome you with all sorts of delights.

The second option is to go home with her Subway sandwich and stick to her diet. Lose all that weight. The objective is to become smaller, but Laila sometimes thinks that the ultimate goal is simply to disappear completely.

A third option has been giftwrapped courtesy of her psychiatrist. Once Laila is referred to the eating disorder program, she will have to meet with a nutritionist who evaluates her situation, discusses it with her psychiatrist, and presents her with a diagnosis. Once this is done, she is likely to be offered the opportunity to attend a psychoeducation class, which will inform her about the different things that trigger eating disorders, and how to prevent them.

Laila finds herself sitting before a nutritionist a few weeks later.

There is a glow on the nutritionist’s face, and kindness in her eyes, which make her instantly comforting. Laila opens up to her, answers all her questions, allows herself to be guided to the weighing machine, grimaces with great discomfort as a number appears in that ugly sepia colour. The nutritionist then gives Laila a pamphlet in which to make a note of all her meals. She is supposed to write what food she ate, what time she ate the food, who she ate it with, where it was eaten, whether she had the urge to binge or restrict her intake while she ate, whether she acted on the urge, and of course, the dreaded “thoughts and feelings” section. Laila feels like her most private thoughts are being laid out on a cold hospital bed for an MRI scan to be performed.

Her nutritionist smiles at her. She tells Laila that this will be triggering at first, but sometimes that needs to happen in order for recovery to begin. Recovery is an acquired taste, and Laila has failed time and again to develop it.

As she is getting ready to leave, her nutritionist says, “Next session, we’re going to make you a really

comprehensive meal plan. It’ll really balance out your life if you slowly begin to integrate it into your diet, not all at once because that’s an unrealistic goal. It’s going to reset your metabolism, your fullness and hunger cues, and over time, your eating will begin to respond to your body rather than your mind.”

“That sounds all very nice in theory,” Laila says, “but I keep thinking to myself that I’d rather just starve myself until I lose a bit of weight.

I’m sorry, that was far too honest.”

Her nutritionist smiles. “No, honesty is great. That’s the eating disorder talking. We’re going to make progress.”

For a second Laila believes her.

Then the door closes.

That night, Laila sits with a few friends at dinner – one of them is talking about how this is her first proper meal of the week.

The rest has all been black coffee, Premier Moisson brownies and junk food from the vending machines.

Another friend brings up how “fat” a girl in her class is. Laila stares down at the pieces of penne generously coated with parmesan and oregano, and it has never looked more unappealing to her.

So far, this is what Laila’s progress looks like. When her sister visits, she eats the unhealthiest food.

In a span of three days, Laila finishes an extra large jar of Nutella and close to seventy Lindt chocolate balls all by herself (there was a sale at the Lindt shop in Eaton Centre).

Then there are a few days where she becomes ferociously committed to healthy eating. She orders salads at restaurants, snacks on Greek yogurt topped with granola, and munches on carrots.

These days, every kind of food is making her nauseous. Yesterday, the first thing she ate all day was yogurt at seven in the evening, followed by a slice of pizza. This has a lot to do with how residence cafeteria has absolutely no healthy options to offer save for a half-empty salad bar station. As for the pizza, this was the only vegetarian, mildly filling option available at the cafeteria across the street. The only other alternative was veal tortellini, which was a few assorted pasta pieces swimming in a bowl of heavy cream; there wasn’t even any chicken left at the grilling station, which happened to be the only truly healthy option that she could eat. A little later, she threw up both the yogurt and the pizza.

Admitting to this will be one of the most difficult things Laila has to do, but going an entire day without nourishment had ignited in her a twisted sense of accomplishment.

To know you are not gaining weight is enough satisfaction, even if it comes at the cost of your physical and mental wellbeing.

Tomorrow, Laila is going to try and channel through her nausea, eating fresh fruits and vegeta-

bles, treating her body to protein.

Enriching it, nourishing it, treating it with an almost familial tenderness. She tries to remind herself, your body is your home. Don’t destroy it.

To do this, however, Laila is going to have to walk to the cafeteria in the snow and wait 15 minutes for her grilled chicken, while the freshly prepared pizza (still hot from the oven) practically laughs at her misfortune.

Many students may not have the means to spend too generously on food, and therefore the exclusion of affordable healthy food options at the cafeteria does a great disservice.

Then again, there is a very good chance that Laila will wake up tomorrow and fill herself with thousands of calories, or maybe she will wake up and decide an insufficient five calories are enough. Either way, the cafeteria downstairs has everything she needs. Sugary waffles, slices of fudge, two bite brownies, packs and packs of Doritos, chocolate croissants. It will almost never go according to plan, and that has a lot to do with the immensely triggering temptation that encompasses living upstairs from a cafeteria where the only (mildly) filling (and not at all nutritious) option is the occasional macaroni and cheese that tastes vaguely like plastic.

However, there is a silver lining. The lady who works at Laila’s residence cafeteria takes an active interest in the food options that are available. She tells Laila about the protein options and the freshly made vegetable paninis she wants to add to the cafe. Sure, she also tells Laila about how she is restocking the two-bite brownies, but where there is a demand, a supply needs to be generated. What matters is that there are people who are actively enthusiastic about, and concerned with, how well-nourished the students are – this is one small mercy in Laila’s story, which is painfully common and largely unaddressed at McGill.

McGill cafeterias urgently need to work to improve the quality of their food. Although the grilling stations and the salad bars are a good place to start, more sandwich options can be introduced, along

with a larger selection of salads and vegetables. Healthier soup options can be made available, as opposed to just one (usually a meat-based potage.) Little things can really go a long way. From the existing budget that we use to feed the students unhealthy food, we can invest in more healthy food options.

Admittedly, healthy food options can sometimes be more expensive, especially at the cafeteria where a banana will cost you a dollar, when in any grocery store, an entire bunch of bananas cost a dollar. A big bag of chips costs five to six dollars. On the other hand, a pizza is going to cost significantly less than a grilled meat with salad, but the difference it makes to your health is priceless.

Furthermore, many students may not have the means to spend too generously on food, and therefore the exclusion of affordable healthy food options at the cafeteria does a great disservice.

Presently, McGill cafeterias cater more to what a student wants to eat than what a student needs to eat. Furthermore, deals like “cookie madness” make it increasingly difficult for a student to restrict how much food they are taking in.

However, initiatives like “Meatless Mondays” featuring only vegetarian options, can go a long way if similar options can be developed to generate enthusiasm among students to eat healthier and smarter throughout the week. Instead of the occasional hot chocolate station, fresh fruit juices can be brought in instead. Charts and banners illustrating what a healthy, balanced meal should look like should be placed at every counter, with the intention of educating the student about health and reminding them that it should be a priority for them.

According to the nutritionists at the eating disorder program, a healthy meal should be fifty per cent vegetables, 25 per cent protein and 25 per cent carbohydrates. In the “hot meal” option at the cafeteria, the “main dish” is usually a carbohydrate option like pasta or lasagna, or sometimes a protein option, while the sides are usually carbohydrates as well, along with a small bowl of salad. Tomorrow, take a stroll in one of the cafeterias and see for yourself how many students miss out on the essential components of healthy eating. In this environment that they exist in, unhealthy eating is not only normalised, but it is celebrated in the content of memes all over the internet or in the bond that develops between two people when they split a twelve-inch Double pizza at three in the morning.

The Looking Glass is a column based on the author’s reflections on mental health and first-year life on campus. To contact the author, email thelookingglass@mcgilldaily.com.

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Classroom colonialisms Calling out racism and working toward decolonial anthropology at McGill Written by Meara Bernadette Kirwin & Marcelle Partouche Gutierrez | Visual by Mariya Voloshyn

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hen I try to explain what socio-cultural anthropology is, I usually say that it’s ‘like sociology but with stories instead of statistics.’

My peers and I appreciate it for its power to help us question and deconstruct our our own ways of thinking and living. Anthropologists can use their research and writing for fostering cross-cultural understanding, like Zora Neale Hurston, and for challenging the ideas behind systems of oppression, like Laura Nader or Audra Simpson. Of course, there is a lot of an-

thropology that we are not proud of, both in the past and the present.

Anthropologists have often been on the wrong side of history – using their research and theories to promote and justify slavery, colonialism, assimilation policies, and biological and cultural racism. Sioux scholar Vine Deloria Jr. wrote “In believing they could find the key to man’s behaviour, [anthropologists] have, like the churches, become forerunners of destruction.” Anthropology can be a tool for Othering, for speaking over people, for cramming the diversity of human

experience into Eurocentric theories of humanity.

While most of our courses at McGill critically examine these practices, and some encourage alternative anthropological practices, our classrooms often perpetuate the very colonial relationships and ideologies that anthropology tries to destabilize and critique. My peers and I identify colonialism in our studies as the privileging of white people and white ideologies to the detriment of Indigenous people and people of colour, and the marginalization of their ideas. In anthropology, this of-

ten manifests as the study of historically and contemporarily colonized peoples using Western methodologies and theoretical frameworks. It also shows up when we talk about colonialism as part of the history of anthropology, in order to ignore the fact that colonial ideologies and attitudes persist in present practices. We as students, as well as our professors and administration, perpetuate colonialism through our silence and our failure to challenge the status quo.

When we don’t question why most readings on the syllabus are by white men, or the ways that racialized stu-

dents are made to feel uncomfortable and excluded in our classrooms, we further ingrain these practices as the normal, natural way of the academic world. This is the meaning of “structural colonialism.”

While “decolonizing anthropology” is a catchy slogan for our goal, I’m wary of diluting the real meaning of “decolonization.” As Eve Tuck and K. Wayne Yang write, “Decolonization brings about the repatriation of Indigenous land and life; it is not a metaphor for other things we want to do to improve our societies and schools.” In

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the case of McGill, decolonization means returning stolen land to the Kanien’kehá:ka and Anishnaabe people. Recognizing and respecting that, I maintain that it’s important to agitate for an anthropology that allows Indigenous and other peoples from colonized countries to speak for themselves. Indigenous scholar and critical anthropologist Kim Tallbear explained to me in an interview that she would define “decolonial anthropology” as “the actual practice of anthropology in the service of anticolonialism.”

While “colonialism” means literally stealing land from Indigenous peoples, it also can refer to the ways white supremacy has structured our language, our knowledge, and our sense of self. As such, I continue to use the language of “decolonization” while acknowledging that no matter how much we work towards making McGill’s anthropology program diverse and inclusive, we can never really decolonize this institution as long as it stands on stolen Indigenous land.

“In believing that they could find the key to man’s behaviour, [anthropologists] have , like the churches, become forerunners of destruction.” ­ Vine Deloria Jr. — Sioux scholar/activist Métis anthropologist Zoe Todd argues that “The academy is anthropology’s ‘human error:’ the white supremacist, Imperial human dimensions of the academy itself prevent the re-imagining of disciplines like anthropology.” Therefore, the “classroom colonialism” explored in this article has as much to do with how the university works as it does with how anthropology works.

Through this article, I hope to make these colonial practices visible, and encourage the whole of the McGill community toward anticolonial action in our academic spaces.

The “I”s in this article refer to Meara, but Marcelle contributed greatly to both the writing and thinking behind this piece, and we therefore conceive of it as a shared piece. Both of us are current or former McGill anthropology students.

I (Meara), as a white settler student from Alberta, have not directly experienced the marginalization that my friends and classmates of colour have described to me – in my studies, or elsewhere. While it is by no means the place of white or settler

students to take leadership roles in decolonial projects, it is also unacceptable for us to remain silent on the issue. My intention in writing this article is to continue the work, which has been led by Indigenous and people of colour for decades, of making colonialism visible in our academic spaces. Everything in this article is owing to these scholars and to the folks generous enough to share their stories and thoughts in interviews.

Politics of the canon There are certain anthropologists and scholars that every anthro student ‘needs to know’ by graduation: Malinowski, Boas, Geertz, Mead, Evans-Pritchard, Foucault, Fanon, Marx, Butler; in short, “the canon.” These scholars have had large impacts on how the discipline of anthropology has developed, and need to be studied in order for us to understand where contemporary theories and practices originate. However, it’s important that we think critically about who we read and who else we might be ignoring. Sara Ahmed, a feminist cultural studies scholar, addresses the politics of the canon on her blog, Feminist Killjoys, as it works through our collective “citational practices.” The thrust of her argument is that if we continue to center our academic work around mostly white, mostly male scholars, these scholars will retain the power to guide our academic disciplines.

They become easier to access, more relevant to contemporary research, and slip easily into the canon. If, instead, we challenge ourselves to reference and think with scholars who have been marginalized through racism and sexism, we can deconstruct hierarchies of power in the academy and challenge the notion of canonical texts altogether.

One example of a critical approach to the canon is that of McGill professor Gretchen Bakke, who taught me an anthropology theory course in 2016. In a recent interview, she argued that when studying canonical texts, instead of uncritical acceptance, it’s important that students learn to analyze how these texts are in conversation with others in the field. This allows us to trace not just how anthropology as a discipline changes and transforms, but what political, theoretical, social, and geographical contexts shaped its transformation. Further, it allows us to see what texts were not canonized, and how some theoretical moves were made at the expense of others. As Tallbear explained to me, “because anthropology has had the self-reflexive moment, and has had feminist anthropology and people of colour anthropology and Indigenous anthropology, in the world I run in, it has incorporated those critiques into the canon. It’s still marginal, but at least it hasn’t writ-

ten it out of the canon in the way that, say, the biological sciences don’t incorporate their histories of failure around race.” Both Bakke and Tallbear reveal that the anthropological canon is changeable and changing, and that we must ask ourselves why some voices still remain marginal to the conversation.

Politics of the classroom Who is included in the canon, on our syllabus, and in our faculty has implications not just for the discipline as a whole, but in the lives of my friends and classmates at McGill. Several classmates – all women of colour – have shared stories with me of being made to feel that they are not legitimate students of anthropology, and that their identities and their knowledge don’t belong in anthropology classrooms.

Marie*, a U3 international development student, started her degree in anthropology but soon became frustrated and disillusioned by the colonial dynamics of the discipline (though she says that international development is not much better). As a Black African woman, she could not see her identity or experiences reflected in either her professors or the authors of her course texts. Black African women were not presented as anthropologists, despite the fact that Black Africans are often the subjects of anthropological study in canonical texts. Of course, there are plenty of Black African anthropologists, such as Clara Fayorsey, Kwesi Kwaa Prah, and Maxwell Owusu, but none have been taught in any of Marie’s or my classes, while plenty of white Euro-American anthropologists are centered in the discipline.

If we continue to center our work around mostly white, mostly male scholars, they will continue to slip easily into the canon.

Messaouda*, a recent McGill graduate with a major in anthropology, is of mixed race background, identifying as both North African and Mexican, and experienced explicit discrimination from a professor. At the start of her final semester, she realized that she was missing a required course for which she didn’t have the prerequisites.

The student asked to take the prerequisite course concurrently with the required course, explaining her need to graduate that semester. She

explained how so very few students who, like her, grew up in foster care graduate university.

Still, both the professor and the department head refused her request.

Thankfully, the Dean of Students approved her enrollment. But before starting the course, she visited the professor who had originally refused her entry. “The professor told me that ‘people like me’ were lucky to be at McGill, and that I should take advantage of the precious time I got in the classroom. The professor said that this might be my only chance to experience an education like this, and that I should be grateful and not want to rush the experience.”

“Through repetition of the sentence that ‘someone like me’ should appreciate my time in university, she condescendingly implied that I would surely never be equipped to do research, so again, I’d better simply enjoy the time I have as a student. I felt horrible throughout the entire encounter, some moments were so insulting and difficult to endure; I remember squeezing my phone and holding back my tears. I was shocked and angered, particularly by the phrase ‘people like you;’ was the professor referring to my skin colour? My persistence in academia despite my status, my class, my past as a child in care? Which angle of my Otherness, of my deviance in relation to a predominantly privileged white anthropology department personnel was this professor really referring to?”

Bekkie*, a South Korean anthropology student raised in Canada, noticed in both anthropology and other Arts disciplines that many of her professors and classmates valued her contributions to the class as a “case-study,” but not as a theorist: “A lot of professors expect their white students to elaborate on the theoretical side, asking questions about readings and whatnot.

Where, for a student of colour to speak out and be taken seriously, it’s more powerful to come from their experience rather than like, ‘my critique of this thing…’” She went on to say, “when I wrote an essay about my own story, I felt like [professors were] more fascinated than when I introduced an idea of doing something which was more academic or theoretical. I don’t know whether to take that as my advantage, or as a kind of fetishization of the Other.”

This apparent anthropological fetishization of the Other prevents Bekkie and other students of colour from being recognized as fully capable theorists and intellectuals beyond their stories about culturally exotic “life experience.” While this is likely a phenomenon in many disciplines, it is particularly troubling in anthropology, where the field’s colonial tradition is characterized by white anthropologists studying communities of colour. Bekkie described the longterm repercussions of this academic fetishization: “My personal identity

was actually quite shifted – to think that I’m this, that I’m a case study.

And in many senses it’s better to be a case study, [because that’s what’s validated by the system].”

“I was shocked and angered by the phrase ‘people like you;’ was the professor referring to my skin colour?” ­—Messaouda* McGill anthropology graduate Messaouda and Bekkie both argued that the unequal power relationship between professors and students is central to the maintenance of structural colonialism in universities. For example, Bekkie described a professor who introduced the scholar Paul Farmer as an example of an anthropologist doing ethically responsible, relevant anthropological work. When a student questioned this, making an argument that Farmer’s project is actually an example of colonial “white saviour complex,” the teacher quickly shut down the critique.

Bekkie explained that it’s difficult, both intellectually and practically, to challenge the theoretical frameworks that your professor brings into the classroom. Even assuming that your professor values independent thought, doing research and theoretical work to craft critical arguments, rather than just regurgitating what you’ve already been taught, is more than many students have time or energy for. We are, then, rewarded for agreeing with our professors, and maintaining the status quo. We could say that professors operate in their classrooms like canonized scholars do in our citational webs – their ideas, legitimized by the academic institution, guide and limit the theoretical and political boundaries of the course.

This dynamic was clearly demonstrated in an anthropology class I was attending at the beginning of this semester. On the first day of classes, the film Of the North

by Dominic Gagnon was shown.

The film is a compilation of “found footage” uploaded to YouTube, all depicting people and places in Northern Canada. Many Indigenous artists and activists have accused the film’s director of blatantly perpetuating a racist stereotype of the Inuit as drunks, and, after much public agitation, the Montreal International Documentary Festival (RIDM) officially apologized for including it in their 2015 festival. Our class discussion, however, engaged with the film as a “controversial” art

FEATURES piece rather than explicitly addressing the troubling political and social climate that produced this film and is reproduced by it. After Gagnon came in to speak about his film, many students voiced their discomfort and outrage, but critical engagement with the film or the discussion with Gagnon was not encouraged or given space by the professor. This event demonstrated once again the power of our professors in guiding and limiting the theoretical and political limits of discussion.

Visions and schemes for decolonial anthropologies If we’ve decided that something needs to change, and we’ve decided that that change might be called ‘decolonizing,’ we next need to ask: what might a decolonial anthropology look like at McGill? And who needs to do what to make decolonial anthropology a reality on our campus? Do professors have to change the ways they teach? Does the administration need to change their policies? Do students need to speak up a little louder? Do we need protests? Calm conversations in board rooms? I would say yes, we need all of those things. There are students organizing around decolonial academia on campuses in England, South Africa, and Alberta, who might give us some ideas:

“My personal identity shifted – to think that I’m this, that I’m a case study.” ­ Bekkie* — McGill anthropology student The students’ union at SOAS, the School of Oriental and African Studies at the University of London, despite the institution’s fairly imperialist name, is a group committed to decolonization in many spheres of life at their university. The union’s 2016-2017 “Decolonizing SOAS: Confronting the white Institution” campaign aims to increase critical conversation about the school’s racial inequalities and colonial structures, paying particular focus to the politics of the canon in their courses. They demand that “the majority of the philosophers on our courses are from the Global South or it’s diaspora. SOAS’s focus is on Asia and Africa and therefore the foundations of its theories should be presented by Asian or African philosophers (or the diaspora).”

Further, they demand that “If white philosophers are required, [they must be approached] from a critical standpoint.” To this end, they’ve set up a working group between stu-

March 20, 2017 mcgilldaily.com | The McGill Daily dents, faculty, staff and administration to discuss how these goals will be achieved.

We could say that professors operate in their classrooms like canonized scholars do in our citational webs.

At the University of Cape Town (UCT) in 2015, a student campaign formed around the slogan “Rhodes Must Fall,” a call to remove the statue of Cecil Rhodes, an early British imperialist, from UCT campus. The campaign was confrontational from the outset, and it worked. Rose, a member of Rhodes Must Fall’s Oxford University chapter, reports: “On March 9, 2015, a student threw a bucket of human faeces on the statue, and participated in a toyi-toyi dance with other protesters. Gaining both media attention and support, a swift vote saw the removal of the statue one month later. It was a victory in the fight for the decolonisation of education in South Africa.” This action grew into an ongoing movement, described on the group’s Facebook page as “A student, staff, and worker movement mobilising against institutional white supremacist capitalist patriarchy for the complete decolonization of UCT.” It sparked similar movements at universities around South Africa and at the University of Oxford in England. All of the campaigns are ongoing, involving actions both diplomatic and militant, symbolic and material.

A third inspiring example is the Native Studies Course Requirement Group at the University of Alberta. Following the University of Winnipeg and Lakehead University in Ontario, students and professors at the University of Alberta are calling for one course in the Native Studies department to be a requirement for all university undergraduates. They’ve circulated a petition, and they’re continuing to hold panels and consultations with various stakeholders.

Here at McGill, the Provost’s Task Force on Indigenous Studies and Indigenous Education is conducting research and drafting proposals for initiatives that might better support Indigenous students as well as promote Indigenous education in various academic programs.

Their recommendations will doubtless be relevant to the anthropology department, as well as all students and professors at McGill, but the official institutional response to structural colonialism will not dismantle

the system. As illustrated in the examples above, there are things that we, as students, as well as our professors, can and must do in our individual practices and as organized collectives to challenge colonial academic practices at McGill.

A clear first step, according to McGill professor Eduardo Kohn, is to directly confront the lack of racial diversity in the anthropology faculty.

Kohn holds that diversifying faculty is key, since once they’re hired, professors have a lot of freedom within their courses. Marcelle and Bekkie echoed the need for diverse professorships. Marcelle explained that it’s the “multiplicity of voices” that makes anthropology powerful, and that this must include not only racial diversity but people from “all walks of life.” The faculty has been pressing for better gender equity in recent years, but anthropology professors are keenly aware that the majority of the faculty is still white. Kohn offered a couple explanations for this. First, he acknowledged the structural barriers for people of colour in the academic world – like racialized poverty, the school-to-prison pipeline, and lack of role models – which translate into fewer scholars of colour eligible for faculty positions. However, there is also a dynamic more specific to McGill: the department’s job postings are for very “specialized hires,” seeking scholars with particular academic interests and assets. Often, Kohn explained, the specializations are ones which are not primarily engaged with by scholars of colour.

The factors which lead to racial divisions of research/labor are complex and beyond the scope of McGill, but is something which must be recognized when developing hiring practices. The McGill administration prefers specialized hires rather than “casting a wide net,” because it takes less work and holds less risk. However, a research report on “Equity in the Hiring of McGill Academic Staff” released by the Students’ Society of McGill University (SSMU) in 2016 reveals that hiring equity is not taken seriously by the McGill administration. There is little in the way of transparency or accountability measures in the hiring process, there is no equity office in the McGill administration, and no equity training is offered to members of hiring boards. With no equity structures in place, biases such as those permitted by specialized hiring practices are allowed to persist.

Second, we need to start more explicitly discussing the political contexts and implications of our studies. What we read, how we discuss it, what research we do, and what theories we promote are caught up in real-world struggles for justice and liberty. In her book, Native American DNA, Kim Tallbear describes research as a political tool, through which knowledge is collected and mobilized to either promote or undermine the needs and

desires of communities of people.

This reminded me of a course I took with professor Colin Scott, which focused on the historical, cultural and political contexts of Indigenous projects for self-determination. We read texts with explicitly political engagements, and carried this into our conversations and assignments.

It made visible the connections between research, theory and politics in our own studies.

A clear first step, according to McGill professor Eduardo Kohn, is to directly confront the lack of racial diversity in the anthropology faculty.

Marcelle argued that the anthropology faculty, both individually and collectively, needs to be more open about discussing personal and collective politics in academic settings. Then, rather than overlooking the political and ideological assumptions we’re working within, the political entanglements of our education can be openly discussed and debated. When I mentioned this to Eduardo Kohn, he noted that political and ideological engagements must be handled carefully, to ensure that classrooms remain welcome spaces for conversation; spaces of ‘play,’ and not political dogma. So, while we must address and grapple with our politics in educational spaces, we also must, as Marcelle said, “be more aware [...] when you say something, pay attention to who you’re excluding.”

Is it possible to decolonize our discipline’s canon while still providing students with the necessary context to understand contemporary conversations? As Kohn noted, anthropology professors at McGill have a lot of freedom in determining their own syllabi; a freedom that it might not be beneficial to take away by pushing for external regulation of course curriculum. It’ll come down to a combination of factors: more diverse readings, more transparency about political ideology, better hiring equity and professor diversity, and more student input on syllabi.

Another essential practice is consciously creating more equitable, antiracist classroom practices. Treating students equally is not a passive act. Working within an intellectual and institutional context of racial inequality, both students and professors must actively work to make sure that stu-

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dents of colour are not fetishized, marginalized, and written out of the discipline. For white students, this means questioning the ways in which we take up space in the classroom, questioning the whiteness of the curriculum, and actively validating and supporting the contributions made in classes by students of colour. It means calling out our professors when they do or say things which oppress or silence our classmates and marginalized communities. Bekkie emphasized the role of language in classroom power dynamics: “the conversation is in English, which deters a lot of English as a second language speakers from speaking out. Even me, I’ve been speaking English for twelve years, and I’m usually pretty confident, but in classes I’ll just like choke up completely. [...]

When I’ve talked to a lot of other people about it, they feel similarly, that they can’t articulate enough.”

While it’s not practical to decenter English as the language of discussion, making space for alternative means of communication in classrooms and assignments has been identified by both Marcelle and Bekkie as critical to overcoming colonial academic standards. Their suggestions include allowing students to do readings or assignments in languages other than French or English when possible, and making space for students to complete assignments with images, videos, presentations, and creative writing.

Do we need protests? Calm conversations in board rooms? I would say yes, we need all of those things.

Lastly, we cannot discount the power of direct action and making a fuss. If, in trying to work within the system, we discover that those in power cling to it too tightly to consider reform, there is value in taking and using the power we have to fight for the university we want.

Demonstrations, art, theatre, writing, sit-ins, and popular education are all tools available to us. While the focus is and should always remain on decolonization for the sake of colonized peoples, we all benefit when structural colonialism is challenged.

As Marcelle said, “let us accept and examine the complexity that many minority students find themselves in.

If we allow their stories, their intuitions, and responses to lead the dialogue, we can find ourselves guiding academic knowledge towards new theoretical insights.” *Names have been changed

Sports

March 20, 2017 mcgilldaily.com | The McGill Daily

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On sports-based reconciliation 2017 North American Indigenous Games to be held in Toronto

Louis Sanger Sports Writer

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his summer, the North American Indigenous Games (NAIG) will be held in Toronto and surrounding municipalities, taking place on the traditional territories of the Mississaugas of the New Credit First Nation, Mississaugas of Scugog Island, Six Nations of the Grand River, the Huron-Wendat Nation, as well as the traditional homelands of the Metis Nation of Ontario. From July 16 to 23, the Games will draw over 5,000 Indigenous athletes between the ages of 13 and 19 from across North America to compete in 14 categories including canoe/kayak, box lacrosse, and rifle shooting.

The opening ceremony on July 16 will set the tone for the eight day long gathering in which cultural, culinary, and artistic events will take place alongside athletic competitions.

According to the Toronto 2017 organizers, the NAIG is expected to be the largest continental gathering of Indigenous peoples participating in sporting and cultural events.

Since its inauguration in Edmonton, Alberta, in 1990, the NAIG has been held eight times across the continent, with teams representing their province, territory, state, or region. The 2014 NAIG, the last time the Games were held, took place in Regina, Saskatchewan. Incidentally, Team Saskatchewan boasts the most successful NAIG team with six overall team titles under its belt. This year, teams are expected from all ten provinces and three territories, and 13 teams from the U.S. will also be in attendance. The Games will use the venues that hosted the 2015 Pan Am and Parapan Am Games in Toronto, as well as others located in Hamilton and Six Nations of the Grand River Territory, the largest Indigenous reserve in Canada.

The NAIG is expected to be the largest continental gathering of Indigenous peoples participating in sporting and cultural events.

More than a series of games According to previous organizers, the NAIG aims to “promote the holistic concepts of physical, mental, cultural, and spiritual growth of individuals” and “demonstrates

unity among Indigenous Peoples.”

In an interview with The Daily, Allan Downey, Assistant Professor at McGill’s History Department, added that gatherings such as the NAIG are especially important in terms of opening up dialogue between youths from different Indigenous nations.

“With these mass [sporting] events you’re bringing Indigenous youths from all over the place – most likely there’ll be a few teams from my community in central B.C.,” Downey said. “And those youths will be able to come to Southern Ontario and see Haudenosaunee and Anishinaabe [the traditional territories on which Southern Ontario is located] culture, ceremonies, traditions, their regalia.” “[These events] expose [Indigenous youths] to various Indigenous nations that they’re not generally exposed to, which creates an international dialogue,” he continued. By “international dialogue,” Downey referred to dialogue between Indigenous nations.

The 2017 NAIG will be the first edition of the Games since the Truth and Reconciliation Commission published its findings.

Downey also added that sporting events for Indigenous youths can “engage youths with Indigenous resurgence.”

Resurgence, as a grassroots movement, seeks to reconnect Indigenous people with their land, culture and communities.

According to Downey, resurgence for Indigenous youth can involve “re-empowering [their] culture, ceremonies, traditions, governance structures, [...] languages through sports.”

As an important avenue of athletic development for Indigenous youths, the NAIG has been the cornerstone of an Indigenous sport movement. Arising from literature and activism on sports-focused development, this movement aims to teach leadership, communitybuilding, initiative-taking, and other life skills to Indigenous youths through sports, according to Downey.

Apart from national and provincial organizations devoted to Indigenous athletics, certain NGOs have also been involved in promoting sports in Indigenous communities.

While Downey believes in the numerous health, social, and cultural

Marina Djurdjevic | The McGill Daily benefits of these sporting events and gatherings, he warns that a critical eye must be cast on sports and these development initiatives, particularly those administered by NGOs. “We don’t think [critically] of the values that are ingrained and taught through sports. [These values] are actually very Eurocentric ideas of sportsmanship, gender, governance structure, even language [...],” Downey told The Daily, adding that Indigenous communities have their own values associated, taught, and celebrated through sports. “[These Indigenous values] are very wellestablished and have been under attack for a really long time through various colonial policies. Are [sports for development programs] just adding to the problem?”

“[Mass sporting events] expose [Indigenous youths] to various Indigenous nations that they’re not generally exposed to.”

—Allan Downey McGill Professor The NAIG after the Truth and Reconciliation Commission The 2017 NAIG will be the first edition of the Games since the Truth and Reconciliation

Commission (TRC) published its findings two years ago about the nature and impact of the residential school system. Along with its full report, the TRC features 94 calls to action to “redress the legacy of residential schools” and “advance Canadian reconciliation.”

Article 88 in particular demands governmental support for hosting the NAIG. To make the Games more accessible (particularly to lower income and rural youths), this support specifically includes the allocation of funds for “provincial and territorial team preparation and travel.” The aim of the call is, in the words of the TRC, to “ensure long term Indigenous athlete development and growth.”

As a tribute to TRC, a central component of the 2017 Games is a campaign called #Team88, aiming to raise awareness about and access to sports for Indigenous youths through community tours, museum exhibits and more. An aspect of #Team88, for example, is to highlight the stories and accomplishments of 88 NAIG athletes.

Following the calls made by the TRC, both the Governments of Ontario and Canada have pledged to help fund the Games, providing $3.5 million each. Moreover, the CBC has also committed to producing a minimum of a hundred hours of live and on-demand coverage, content on cultural events at the NAIG, as well as documentaries to highlight the accomplishments of the participants. Regarding this coverage, Downey expressed his heartfeltness for Indigenous families who will be able to watch their youths compete.

“I’m not here to go against that, because this is their experience

and that’s valid. I can imagine it’s exciting. I can imagine myself in that situation when I was younger – it would’ve been an exciting moment,” he told The Daily.

Resurgence, as a grassroots movement, seeks to reconnect Indigenous people with their land, culture, and communities.

Downey added, however, that this optimism does not prevent him from being concerned about the discourse surrounding reconciliation.

“Definitely there are positive things that are coming out of the TRC and [the process of] reconciliation,” Downey told The Daily. Still, he said, one ought to be critical about the implications of reconciliation. “I would say I’m cautiously optimistic but still a realist.”

Currently, the NAIG Council, the body governing the NAIG competitions, is in the process of organizing bids for the 2020 Games. Everyone, including nonIndigenous people, is encouraged to attend the Games and associated events as spectators volunteers, or even sponsors.

To find out more, you can visit www.naig2017.to.

Sci+Tech

March 20, 2017 mcgilldaily.com | The McGill Daily

Droning out the noise

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What drones mean for our future

Bao Chau Bui & Lana Saleh Bacha Sci+Tech Writers Content Warning: military, warfare, death

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he US employed drones as weapons in the wars they waged against countries such as Pakistan, Afghanistan, Yemen – and continue to use them, today.

In these and many other affected countries, drones represent a constant fear of death for most civilians.

The sky becomes associated with a destructive technology that does not distinguish between civilian or enemy, and threatens to kill them at anytime. Drones involve an operator in front of a screen (that looks like a scene from a First-Person Shooter video game) controlling the fate of people’s lives across the world.

Some argue that using drones in war can hardly be considered a war when it is a one-sided battle, and involves a shooter hidden safely far away from all possible danger.

Under the government’s claim to “combat terrorism,” innocent civilians have been targeted and killed by drones. More alarmingly, there is presently no precise data on the number of civilians killed by drones.

The U.S. government does not provide the actual number of casualties but the Columbia Human Rights Clinic estimates that in 2011, 72 to 155 civilians were killed, with 52 of them identified reliably by name in Pakistan alone. The Bureau of Investigative Journalistm also estimates that 800 civilians have bveen killed by drone strikes in Pakistan, Yemen, and Somalia.

As demonstrated in numerous U.S. missions to supposedly combat terrorism, a vacuum can be created which fuels radical groups and perpetuates Islamophobic rhetoric. Not only do drones cause physical damage, but they contribute to the vicious cycle of the U.S.’ War on Terrorism. We argue that drones should be abandoned in wars no matter how tempting it is to use them because the consequences of drone warfare, such as unknown civilian casualties as well as fueling terrorism, are much more important than the advantage of possibly protecting the soldiers’ safety.

The dangers in the increased use of drones are important to keep in mind in order to make adequate rules and regulations. Drone crashes are dangerous – and since airplanes cannot detect small drones in the sky, drone crashes might put pilot and passenger safety in peril.

Safety and privacy issues as well as data security are a few of the main

Marc Cataford | The McGill Daily concerns regarding propagation of drone technology , in addition to the aforomentioned issues. In 2015, a viral video depicted an 18-year-old in Connecticut who, working with his university professor, assembled a gun-firing drone, and the video shows the drone firing a gun outside at no particular target. Although they technically did not violate any laws since nobody was hurt, it is still dangerous when weapons can be possibly placed on drones by any civilian. This video clearly demonstrates how much drones need to be regulated in detail.

There is presently no precise data on the number of civilians killed by drones.

The Federal Aviation Administration in the U.S is currently trying to regulate drones in a balanced way that allows for technological growth while protecting civilians’ rights and safety. Although there are currently drone pilot training schools in place, a certificate from one of these schools must be essential for drone owners. Furthermore, tickets

and penalties need to be put in place regarding breach of rules of drone flying conduct. New drone surveillance technologies need to be developed in order to ensure drones will not hinder security in any way.

In Canada, if a drone weighs less than 35 kilograms and is not used for commercial purposes (meaning it is strictly for recreational use), no permission is needed for it to be obtained: anyone can get a drone as long as those conditions are satisfied.

The legal requirement is to follow the rules in the Canadian Aviation Regulations, more specifically the Unmanned air vehicles and Model Aircraft sections. If an aircraft is put at risk, if drones are flying in restricted zones or if they hinder anybody’s safety, a fine of up to $25,000 may be issued as well as jail time. The regulations assure basic safety for civilians, but they definitely need to be expanded upon. Transport Canada needs to issue new rules, policies, minimum age of drone flying as well as licenses for recreational use in the near future to keep up with this fast evolving technology.

Nevertheless, we are hoping that this advanced technology is used for more fruitful purposes that do not put in question our ethics. Drones should be adapted to be used in agriculture for example in efficient seeding, irrigation, crop spraying and getting soil and crop yield analysis.

Drones have been aiding in remote sensing for optimized management of natural resources, and these devices are used in the Agricultural and Environmental Sciences Faculty located at Macdonald Campus.

Transport Canada needs to issue new rules, policies, minimum age of drone flying as well as licenses for recreational use in the near future to keep up with this fast evolving technology.

Drones capturing high resolution images as well as crop data can help to present maps showing soil quality and possible damage to plants.

Drones can increasingly help transporting supplies like food and medical kits to remote areas. On a similar note, Amazon and Google want to

use drones for package deliveries and more companies might join in soon after. Although this might encourage more people to consume and buy items since the delivery is fast and efficient, this delivery system might be good for the environment by reducing traveling to stores usually done by cars reducing a bit of traffic and consuming less fuel Drones can also be used in many other fields like journalism to capture perhaps a reality or event that would be difficult to capture in person due to security or accessibility issues especially in wartorn countries.

Films and documentaries can be made using drones instead of using helicopters and flying a filming crew to remote areas to capture inaccessible landscapes. Traffic surveillance and conservation of wildlife are among other possibilities of drone usage that seem promising.

They have the potential of protecting some types of wildlife and forests, and they have the ability to track wildlife, and be used in the fight against poachers via thermal imaging. It might take time and be challenging at first, but with future drone regulations and policies, this technology can be integrated in our society with ease, hoping that aside from their recreational use, drones can help solve some of our transportation, data acquisition and environmental problems.

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March 20, 2017 mcgilldaily.com | The McGill Daily

Content warning: Discussions of sexual assault, misogyny

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asily Petrenko made headlines in 2013 – but not for his accomplishments as a rising star in the world of orchestral conducting, leading the Oslo Philharmonic and Royal Liverpool Philharmonic at only 37 years old. It was for his overtly sexist comments alleging that women don’t merit a place on the conductor’s podium. “[Orchestras] react better when they have a man in front of them,” he told the Norwegian newspaper Aftenposten. “A cute girl on the podium means that musicians think about other things.”

Culture

Petrenko immediately came under fire: critics called for his resignation, while Norwegian conductor Cathrine Winnes questioned his “extra-unacceptable” comments, and National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain chief executive Sarah Alexander expressed disappointment in his “narrow view.”

Yet, less than two months later, Petrenko’s album of Shostakovich symphonies topped the United Kingdom’s classical charts; the following year, he was invited to conduct the European Union Youth Orchestra. His career continued to skyrocket without a hitch.

Petrenko has since walked back his Aftenposten comments, noting that his words had been poorly translated from Norwe-

gian and interpreted out of context. “What I said was meant to be a description of the situation in Russia, my homeland,” he explained in a post on the Oslo Philharmonic’s website. “I have the utmost respect for female conductors.”

“I’d encourage any girl to study conducting,” he added in the statement. “How successful they turn out to be depends on their talent and their work, definitely not their gender. I also want to add that my beloved wife is a choral conductor.”

A “description” of sexism in Russia, without context or critique, is far from a condemnation. History has also proven that one can be married to a woman and

still participate in misogynistic thought and culture. However, the general consensus in the classical music industry now seems to hold that Petrenko’s comments were misreported and not spoken with misogynistic intent. In the court of public opinion, Vasily Petrenko was acquitted of all charges.

Last month, on February 22, Petrenko joined the Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal (OSM) as a guest conductor, strolling on stage at Place des Arts’ Maison Symphonique to enthusiastic applause. The audience, though not a full house, was surprisingly large for a midweek show. They were there to catch Petrenko and the OSM interpret Brahms’ brooding First Symphony, and

March 20, 2017 mcgilldaily.com | The McGill Daily

Culture

to hear Blake Pouliot, the 22-year-old winner of the prestigious 2016 OSM Manulife Competition for emerging classical musicians, perform Erich Korngold’s cinematic Violin Concerto.

Also on the docket was Plages, Quebec composer Serge Garant’s 1981 abstract symphonic soundscape meant to portray “[bands] of musical time and orchestral colour,” according to the OSM’s program notes. The piece fell flat: combinations of instruments blasted discrete pillars of sound in plodding and dissonant sequence, leaving the audience uncertain of when to applaud.

Petrenko immediately came under fire: critics called for his resignation [...] Yet his career continued to skyrocket.

It was refreshing to hear a contemporary work programmed alongside symphonic strongholds like Korngold and Brahms – particularly a work by a Quebec composer. However, a certain mediocrity plagued Plages, along with the other two pieces on the program.

Pouliot’s showmanship – knees bent à la Elvis, leaning in to face concertmaster Andrew Wan for a warmly phrased duet in the third movement – managed to compensate for a solo tone that was far too hushed. Meanwhile, gruff brass and occasional high-octane vibrato made the Brahms fall a bit below the OSM’s usually exquisite standards.

The OSM is regularly hailed as one of the greatest symphony orchestras in North America. Yet, under the baton of a conductor who may or may not be a misogynist, the orchestra flailed.

Under the baton of a conductor who may or may not be a misogynist, the orchestra flailed.

Vasily Petrenko’s alleged misogyny, however, is not the problem – it’s a symptom of something larger: a systemic force that bars women from participating equally in the orchestra.

To use the OSM as a case study: according to data collected from the 201617 brochure, out of 87 works programmed throughout this season, only one was composed by a woman. The OSM commissioned and premiered two brand new works this season, both by men. Twenty two men per-

formed with the OSM as invited instrumental soloists, compared to only three women.

And out of 14 guest conductors invited to lead the orchestra this season, exactly zero were women.

The OSM hired a conductor who was once censured for his alleged misogyny, but did not hire any women to fill that role.

These patterns are not exclusive to the OSM. While the Los Angeles Philharmonic has announced a promising lineup of four women guest conductors to take the helm in the 2017-18 season, journalist Brian Lauritzen noted in an article for KUSC radio, “More women will conduct the LA Phil next season than the symphonies of Chicago, Cincinnati, Detroit, Dallas, Houston, Indianapolis, Nashville, Oregon, the Philadelphia Orchestra, and the New York Philharmonic combined.”

The OSM hired a conductor who was once censured for his alleged misogyny, but did not hire any woman to fill that role.

The numbers are unsurprising, McGill bassoonist Danielle Findlay observed in a phone interview with The Daily. “These are industry standards everywhere,” Findlay said. “There’s no pressure [...] to have ten per cent minimum female composer works, so there’s just no reason for that. They have no mandate or idea or concept in mind that this even matters.”

To Findlay, however, representation does matter a lot. Several years ago, while participating in a musical ensemble, she was harassed by the ensemble’s male conductor.

“I was one of the more advanced players, so that kind of gets you attention,” she explained. “This was when I had only restarted bassoon playing [following an injury], so I was progressing quickly as I picked up the instrument again, and people thought well of me. That’s when the director started talking to me more, and it started getting sort of too close for comfort, and this was getting worse as time went on.”

Findlay began receiving inappropriate messages from the conductor. “It was all too often,” she said. “There were a few sexual jokes he’d make [...] Then he’d say he was just kidding, or, ‘oh, I shouldn’t have said that.’” When Findlay discovered that another woman in the ensemble was receiving similar messages, she offered her colleague a warning, and ultimately decided to leave the ensemble.

“The ensemble’s great – all the musicians were super, which is why I stuck it out. I can’t

describe the sense of family that this ensemble really offered, which is the only reason that I stayed […] But eventually I couldn’t go to rehearsals anymore. I didn’t have it in me to wear the smile and play.”

Findlay’s experience is not unique. Smaller orchestras may lack the human resources infrastructure to investigate complaints or accommodate anonymity, and in larger organizations, the person making advances may be in a position of power, such as a conductor or Principal player – thus discouraging any reports of the incident.

Beyond non-consensual advances, sexism in orchestras often takes subtle forms.

“Misogyny is all over the place,” Findlay stated. “When I started playing contrabassoon […] I wasn’t really taken seriously. I’d have people doubting that I could fill the instrument with air, or transport it around.”

Assumptions and biases about women in the music industry begin as early as childhood: a University of Washington study found that five-year-olds exhibit preferences for certain musical instruments based on gender stereotypes – boys favouring trumpet, percussion, or saxophone, while girls tended toward violin, clarinet, or flute. As a future music educator, Findlay aspires to challenge these preconceptions.

“When I started playing contrabassoon [...]

I wasn’t really taken seriously. I’d have people doubting that I could fill the instrument with air, or transport it around.”

—Danielle Findlay McGill bassoonist

“My goal would be a nice, even distribution between men and women within the section, so that there’s no being shy to play tuba if you’re a girl […] You don’t need to be a dainty, small girl to play flute,” Findlay said. “I will do what I can to get [these assumptions] out of their heads and just present every instrument as equal opportunity to musical creativity, and that no one is imposing limitations that don’t actually exist.”

When Vasily Petrenko’s comments first came to light in 2013, Marin Alsop – acclaimed Music Director of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra – was about to become the first woman conductor to lead the celebrated fi-

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nal concert of the U.K.’s annual BBC Proms, a milestone 118 years in the making. Regarding her appointment to conduct the performance, Alsop told the Guardian. “There is no logical reason to stop women from conducting. The baton isn’t heavy. It weighs about an ounce. No superhuman strength is required. Good musicianship is all that counts.”

“As a society we have a lack of comfort

Vasily Petrenko’s alleged misogyny, however, is not the problem – it’s a symptom of something larger: a systemic force that bars women from participating equally in the orchestral workplace. in seeing women in these ultimate authority roles,” Alsop added.

Across industries, opponents of workplace gender parity argue that hiring a woman for a position denies that job to a man who might be more qualified. However, this argument ignores the systems of privilege and oppression that have, for centuries, woven a false narrative of equivalency between maleness and workplace competence. As the OSM proved on February 22, placing a man on the conductor’s podium does not guarantee successful results.

In the 1970s, professional orchestras began instituting “blind auditions” (where the musican’s identity is concealed behind a screen) to curtail the bias that prevented women from even crossing the threshold into the orchestral workforce. Even as more women are hired for orchestral positions, there is one job post – the conductor – that remains out of reach.

Findlay calls this “the final frontier.” “It’s this leading role, and everyone just has to believe in what you’re doing,” Findlay said.

“You’ll see orchestras can be close to gender parity, but the podium will definitely be a long time coming.”

Data cited in this piece are drawn from the OSM 2016-17 season brochure, and include data from the Grands Concerts Series, Haydn & the Minimalists Festival, Italian Festival, and Closing Concert. Excluded were the Metro+Concerto Series, Holiday Season, OSM Pop Series, Children’s Corner Series, and Music & Images.

EDITORIAL

Volume 106 Issue 21

March 13, 2017 mcgilldaily.com | The McGill Daily

19

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.

The Montreal police force has a racial profiling problem

coordinating editor

Sonia Ionescu

coordinating@mcgilldaily.com

managing editor

Ralph Haddad coordinating news editor

Vacant

news editor

Marina Cupido commentary & compendium! editors

Khatira Mahdavi Inori Roy culture editors

Taylor Mitchell Coco Zhou features editor

Saima Desai science + technology editor

Igor Zlobine sports editor

Paniz Khosroshahy multimedia editor

Viola Chen Rayleigh Lee photos editor

Conor Nickerson illustrations editor

Marina Djurdjevic copy editor

Anne-Cécile Favory

design & production editor

Rahma Wiryomartono

web editor

Marc Cataford

le délit

Content warning: anti-Blackness, police brutality

O

n March 12, Kendrick McRae, a Black man, was stopped by a Montreal police officer while driving a Mercedes and asked for his license and registration. According to McRae, after checking his documents, the officer told McRae that “the lights above his license plate” weren’t working.

McRae demonstrated that the lights were functioning and began recording evidence of the altercation with a camera.

Police then arrested him for “disturbance,” handcuffed him, detained him in the back of a police car, and deleted the recorded evidence. This wasn’t the first time McRae was racially profiled; in fact, he had purchased the camera to “protect himself from the police.” There are endless cases involving non-Black police officers harassing Black men in Montreal without justification, revealing how the Service de police de la Ville de Montréal (SPVM) – which is 88.7 per cent white – makes decisions based on Black racial stereotypes. The endemic nature of racial profiling within the SPVM, and the longstanding difficulty mitigating it, is emblematic of the SPVM’s abuse of power in policing racialized bodies. It’s imperative that we advocate for justice and compensation for McRae, as well as critique practices within the SPVM and the judicial process.

Montreal has seen a particularly high number of racial profiling cases. Between 2001 and 2007 in the Montreal North borough (a community which is largely racialized), identification checks conducted by police officers increased by 126 per cent and predominantly affected Black men. For instance, in 2011, Victor Whyte was violently beaten by multiple officers

after being accused of getting on a city bus without paying.

At the time, Whyte filed a complaint with the Quebec Human Rights Commission (CDPDJ) about this injustice. After six years, he has not yet received any compensation; the CDPDJ has been said to have a “culture of delay.” The CDPDJ, which includes no commissioners who are people of colour (POC), has also been accused of apathy toward systemic racism. Within the commission, reports of racial profiling often take five to seven years to be addressed, and are often dismissed due to “insufficient evidence. This “culture of delay” is exacerbated by the SPVM’s general lack of accountability, and their tendency to deny accusations made against them – as evidenced by their refusal to investigate McRae’s case.

In March 2016, Quebec’s national police school discussed strategies to improve the representation of racialized people within their student body by reaching out to CEGEP students.

When this strategy failed to produce significant results, the school’s director of communications, Pierre Saint-Antoine, told the CBC that they had “little influence” over their applicants, effectively dodging responsibility. What Saint-Antoine missed, however, is the differing perceptions of the police force held by white people and POC. McRae deserves an apology and compensation, but that won’t end racial profiling. While the police’s band-aid solution of hiring more POC may seem to solve the issue, it does not address the systemic racism which is at the root of racial profiling.

Rather, the SPVM and any reform initiative should take into account the systemic racism that pervades the police force.

—The McGill Daily editorial board

Ikram Mecheri

rec@delitfrancais.com

cover design

Conor Nickerson contributors Alaina Aamir, Tala Abdullah, Lana Saleh Bacha, Carly Gordon, Marcelle Partouche Gutierrez, Rachel Harrison, Meara Bernadete Kirwin, Nora McCready, Louis Sanger, Mariya Voloshyn

ErratA “SSMU Council discusses allegations of gendered violence,” March 13, News, p.5: The Daily published material which was subsequently removed from our website at the request of an affected party. The Daily regrets the error.

“SSMU Elections,” March 13, pullout p.3: In our write-up of Muna Tojiboeva, The Daily mistakenly reported that Tojiboeva had been a chief justice on the SSMU Judicial Board for two years; in fact, she has held this position for three. Moreover, she is a legal assistant at a law firm, not an intern. The Daily regrets the errors.

“SSMU Elections,” March 13, pullout p.6: In our write-up of Anuradha Mallik, The Daily mistakenly printed that Mallik had organized a conference for McGill Modern United Nations. In fact, the quote in question referred to the Secondary Schools’ United Nations Symposium. The Daily regrets the error.

3480 McTavish St., Rm. B-26 Montreal, QC H3A 1X9 phone 514.398.6790 fax 514.398.8318

“SSMU Elections,” March 13: In the descriptions of the SSMU executive positions, The Daily mistakenly wrote that the VP Operations and VP Finance positions were split into two separate portfolios this year; in fact, this occurred last year. Moreover, we wrote that the VP Student Life was previously titled the VP Clubs and Services; in fact, this change also occurred last year.

The Daily regrets the errors.

“Procrastination Man,” March 13, Compendium, p.20: The Daily recognises the ableist and insensitive nature of this comic, and apologises for its publication.

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Zapaer Alip, Janna Bryson (Chair), Marc Cataford, Julia Denis, Cem Ertekin, Sonia Ionescu, Ikram Mecheri, Boris Shedov, Alice Shen, Théophile Vareille All contents © 2017 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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Compendium!

March 20, 2017 mcgilldaily.com | The McGill Daily

19

Lies, half-truths, and snow day every day, snow day every day!

A day in the life...

... Of a cutting edge contemporary bourgeois liberal nihilist academic Nochill Cécile The McGill Weekly *grabs keys and etches the word ‘nuance’ on the side of your little souped-up four-wheel drive* *sips kombucha & gin by the fire and plods toward inevitable mortality* *surrenders to the disarray of mind as Kanye West’s Famous plays on the turntable* *picks out one black cashmere turtleneck of many to adorn flesh prison* *uses the Nietzsche Reader as step tool to reach crystal wine glasses* *has a friend named Jean-Yves Guillaume de La Faune or some variation of that* *laughs at a joke referencing Lacan made by said friend*

*starts barking and running on all fours when the idea of violence in social movements is brought up* *understands and agrees with Zizek’s critique of Kung Fu Panda* *throws away gluten-free, sugar-free, dairyfree organic artisanal cupcakes from the bakery owned by twin sisters* *quotes Arendt and calls for revolution, but is hypercritical of grassroots organizing* *shudders and curls up in ball when someone mentions identity politics* *puts fingers in ears and hums God Save the Queen anytime colonialism is mentioned* *starts barking and running on all fours when the idea of violence in social movements is brought up*

*runs a start-up as a social entrepreneur that facilitates the creation of synergy and interconnectedness for nondescript companies who offer a discount on hoverboard rentals and has a ‘self-care productivity-enhancing ballpit of serenity*

*goes to Beirut to study Arabic; ends up speaking English to the locals*

*short circuits when discussions about race take place*

*thinks we should colonise Mars, and mine the moon*

*literally explodes when own privilege is pointed out*

*thinks emma watson is a great femnist*

*drives a Tesla car with customized license plate and booster seat for son, Eurydice* *enrols Eurydice in alternative eco-house that runs avant-garde pre-kindergarten programs such as Transcendental Meditation for Tots* *is an avid follower of soul leader Gwyneth Paltrow*

On

Wednesday, April 5

the staff of

*goes to foreign country, and criticses their culture while taking advantage of their hospitality*

*thinks Shailene Woodley did a great job at Standing Rock* *takes an impromptu escapist trip to Croatia to clear mind and finish paper on the effects of himalayan flower on higher consciousness and interconnectedness* *exhibits an art show about feminism comprised solely of flowers in vaginas; overcharges for tickets to said show*

The McGill Daily

the 2017-18 editorial board.

will elect the

We hope you’ll consider running for one of our open positions. If you are interested in joining our non-hierarchical team, here’s a quick guide on the election process for becoming a Daily editor.

becoming staff:

the basics: Our editors are elected

by Daily staffers rather than hired by a committee. To run for an editorial position or to vote in the election, you must be Daily staff.

To be staff, you must have six staff points – contributing articles, photos, graphics, and illustrations count as one point each. Writing a feature or coming in for a production night count as two points. If you’re not staff yet, there’s time before the election, so email an editor to get involved!

the editorial board: Editors share equal voting rights on issues, and work together to produce the newspaper every week. Each editor receives a monthly stipend.

For more information on individual positions, contact specific section editors (emails can be found on page 19 of this issue). You can also stop by The Daily’s office in Shatner B-24.

the positions: Coordinating Managing Coordinating News News (x2) Commentary (x2) Features Sci+Tech

Elections

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April

5

6:00 p.m.

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Email your letter of intent to coordinating@mcgilldaily.com

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