The McGill Daily Vol. 107 Issue 13

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Contents

January 15, 2018 mcgilldaily.com | The McGill Daily

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S D N E K WEE-LARGES X

4

Concordia and allegations of sexual violence

Commentary

Academic freedom of speech

SHERBROOKE ST-LAURENT

NEWS

SSMU: Expectations for second semester

7 57 PRINCE-ARTHUR E

12 Student

EDITORIAL

Winter necessitates better resurces for the homeless

LES

2

Journalism Week

13 Sports Making waves in Indigenous rights

14 Culture British-Palestinian stories Knitivism

CAFECAMPUS.COM

9

Features

Black veganism

LE PETERSON IS READY TO WELCOME YOU

16 Compendium!

Time’s up for who?

International News

IN THE HEART OF THE QUARTIER DES SPECTACLES

Salvadorians’ revoked legal status

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n Monday, January 8, the Trump administration announced the termination of Temporary Protected Status (TPS) permits for more than 250,000 Salvadorians within 18 months. Those who currently live and work in the United States now have until September 9, 2019 to find another way to stay in the country or to make arrangements to move.

TPS is a program created by the U.S. in 1990 meant to authorize immigrants from countries affected by violence, natural disasters, or disease to live and work legally in the country. The status has been granted to El Salvador several times over the last twenty years, most notably when two earthquakes devastated the country in 2001. Since then, according to the Center for Migration Studies, these Salvadoreans have become one of the best integrated groups of immigrants to America: they represent more than 135,000 households, 85 per cent can speak some English, 88 per cent are part of the labour force, and 10

per cent are married to U.S. citizens. Further affected by the termination are nearly 200,000 children born in the U.S. to Salvadorians with TPS. Families will be broken up as parents who have been stripped of their TPS will not be automatically allowed to stay with their children, who have U.S. citizenship. The Department of Homeland Security stated in its official report that “the substantial disruption of living conditions caused by the earthquake no longer exists.” Nevertheless, the report ignores the fact that El Salvador is currently one of the most dangerous countries in the world largely due to gang violence: in 2015, the country had 109 homicides per 100,000 people, a number 22 times higher than the United States. The Salvadorian government has been lobbying the U.S. to extend protections, but the Trump administration seems adamant as it also looks to determine the fate of TPS for Honduras and other countries currently supported by the status.

Protests in Iran DISCOVER EVERYTHING LE PETERSON HAS TO OFFER. SALES CENTER

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wo weeks have passed since the beginning of popular protests in Iran. The demonstrations have resulted in 22 deaths and more than 1,000 arrests, marking the largest protest movement in the country since the Iranian Green Movement, wherein protesters demanded the removal of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad following allegations of electoral fraud in the 2009 Iranian presidential elections.

People have taken the streets to voice their discontent with the Iranian government: following the 2015 nuclear deal, which lifted sanctions on the country, inflation and unemployment have persisted.

Though the central message of the protests is difficult to discern, there appear to be principal themes: people are expressing their opposition to the Supreme leader, Ali Khamenei, by ripping down portraits of the religious leader on the streets.

Secondly, rising unemployment and other economic

issues, like high prices for food and gas, highlight the corruption impeding equitable distribution of benefits in spite of the economic growth that has been taking place since 2015. Moreover, youth unemployment rates stagnate at around 24 per cent for citizens aged 15 to 24. The declining living standards have spurred negative public sentiment against the Iranian government.

While the country has now returned to a calmer state, the resentment that fuelled the protests has yet to be addressed. Some experts have called the situation in Iran a “crisis of expectation,” as many of the promises of last year’s presidential elections have yet to be fulfilled. A U.S. intelligence official stated that even though demonstrations had more or less ended, “concerns were not going away, as they are symptomatic of long-standing grievances that have been left to fester.”

EDITORIAL

Volume 107 Issue 13

January 15, 2018 mcgilldaily.com | The McGill Daily

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editorial board

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Extreme cold demands that Montreal supports its homeless population

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news editors

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Jude Khashman culture editors

Caroline Macari Arno Pedram features editors

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Jenna Yanke design + production editor

Vacant

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contributors

Florence Ashley, Andreann Asibey, Victor Depois, Christine Luc, Sara Hashemi, Krysten Krulik, Gemma McNeil, Hannah Murray

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Yves Boju, Marc Cataford (Chair), Mahaut Engerant, Ikram Mecheri, Taylor Mitchell, Inori Roy, Boris Shedov, Rahma Wiryomartono, Xavier Richer Vis 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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or people living in Montreal, winter is a difficult experience that impacts individuals and communities differently based on factors like class, accessibility, and infrastructure. Winter can limit physical mobility, interfere with plumbing and heating infrastructures, and exacerbate illness, among other things. In the McGill community, some of us are privileged to be able to easily adapt to the harsh conditions. In contrast, winter can be dangerous – and often life-threatening – for disadvantaged communities, in particular people impacted by poverty and homelessness. It is crucial that the city improve the resources and accomodations it offers them throughout the season.

In 2015, a Montreal Homeless Census recorded a total of 3,016 people experiencing homelessness. This record is based on a count of people living on the streets, which does not accurately account for hidden homelessness— living without a permanent address. Community groups estimate a much higher population of 20,000 people experiencing all forms of homelessness in the greater Montreal area. In response to the extreme weather, Montreal is said to have invested $778,000 in emergency resources for the homeless, leading to 925 more spots in shelters and 20 community outreach workers to facilitate the process. Shelters like the Old Brewery Mission also employ an overnight shuttle service that transports those in need to the emergency accommodations. In addition, the Societe de transport de Montreal (STM) allows those experiencing homelessness to take shelter in available stations, which can provide temporary relief.

While these measures appear to provide a shortterm solution, they are the bare minimum that the city of Montreal can ensure. The STM can only keep stations open to those who need shelter during operating hours, as maintenance is done overnight. The Old Brewery

Mission shelter runs a shuttle bus that operates to send people living on the streets to emergency shelter spaces, but the few shelters open 24/7 only operate during emergency weather conditions. Often, shelters are forced to turn people away due to lack of funds and resources.

In addition, shelters are sometimes not a viable option for those who are experiencing homelessness, for reasons such as the possibility of contracting illnesses. These issues are often ignored by the authorities; for instance, police are allowed to force people on the streets into a shelter for the night. Montreal also features hostile architecture, such as benches designed with middle armrests, restricted spaces in bus stops, and stool seats in STM stations, which prevent homeless people from sleeping or resting in public spaces.

It is up to the newly elected Montreal city council to meet the needs of this vulnerable population, especially in the winter. During the 2017 campaign, promises were made regarding assistance to the homeless; however, the current mayorship, led by Valerie Plante, has recently revealed a $318-million shortfall in the administration’s budget left by Coderre’s leadership.

While Valerie Plante’s municipal party, Projet Montréal, has a homelessness platform, its efficacy is limited by this shortfall, and the platform has outlined no promising plans thus far. We therefore call on Projet Montréal to acknowledge the urgency of the issue, strengthen their policy on homelessness in consultation with community organisations, and implement concrete and rapid measures that offer support to one of Montreal’s most vulnerable populations during dire weather conditions.

Individuals can contribute to this effort by volunteering or donating their money or resources; below is a list of support organisations for homeless individuals in the city.

—The McGill Daily Editorial Board

Welcome Hall Mission benevole@missionba.com

Chez Doris (Women’s Shelter) joelle.michaud@chezdoris.org

Old Brewery Mission pvandenbosch@missionoldbrewery.ca

La Rue des Femmes abrunet@laruedesfemmes.org

The Benoit Labre House https://www.canadahelps.org/fr/dn/3905

Dans la Rue info@danslarue.org

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January 15, 2018 mcgilldaily.com | The McGill Daily

NEws

What has SSMU been up to?

Connor Spencer, VP External

T

he VP External is responsible for representing McGill students’ interests at the municipal, provincial, and federal level and lobbies on the behalf of SSMU. She’s responsible for SSMU’s political campaigns and maintains active communication between student associations, civil groups and campus labor unions. As of yet, SSMU is not a member of any active student federation, but holds observer status with the Association for the Voice of Education in Quebec (AVEQ). As such, the VP External attends AVEQ meetings.

During the Fall semester, Spencer oversaw the hiring of the Sexual Violence Policy Coordinator, a full-time contract position within SSMU dedicated to sexual violence prevention work on campus. Spencer also works with the Community Affairs Commissioner who is currently working on establishing student co-ops to provide alternative housing to Milton-Parc, which can be financially straining for students. Spencer also mentioned that student inhabitants may contribute to gentrification and noise pollution in the area, which has been a recurring issue for the past few years.

This winter semester, Spencer hopes to focus on Indigenous Affairs. “There is an event series we created […] to get Indigenous Affairs off the ground,” said Spencer, referring to the Indigeneity and Solidarity events, which will feature

film screenings, workshops and conferences. There will also be a guide released for settler students articulating “how to navigate Indigenous affairs on campus in a way that doesn’t overburden Indigenous groups on campus.” The event is scheduled for next Monday, on January 15.

In terms of community affairs, Spencer is overseeing the launch of the McGreen Project. The project will provide a service to collect old furniture from students on move out day, furniture which will then be refurbished and sold to international students in September at an affordable rate. In conjunction with the McGreen Project, Spencer is launching a waste management campaign for Milton Parc residents and students. “Over the last couple of years, there has been some […] confusion on where residents should go if there are noise complaints.” Spencer is working toward a plan in conjunction with the Community Affairs Commissioner, the Dean of Students Chris Buddle, and the former Deputy Provost & Student Life and Learning Ollivier Dyens to consolidate a plan.

Spencer will be launching a campaign informing students of the Quebec student movement, the importance of provincial representation, and why McGill students are part of provincial associations. SSMU is currently not affiliated with a provincial student association. However, an affiliation referendum will

be held this semester to determine whether SSMU will be associating with Association for the Voice of Education in Quebec (AVEQ), or L’Union Étudiante du Québec (UÉQ).

“It seems to me that before we can make a decision between which student association we want to associate ourselves with, we first have to have a campaign informing students why they should care, […] and why it’s important that we join a provincial student association,” said Spencer.

Isabelle Oke, VP University Affairs

T

he SSMU VP University Affairs (UA) serves as the primary liaison between the McGill administration and the undergraduate student body, advocating on the latter’s behalf at monthly Senate meetings and maintaining open lines of communication between on-campus student group and SSMU representatives.

The VP UA’s portfolio also includes heading the library improvement fund, the SSMU Equity Committee, the academic roundtable, and the SSMU research and advocacy committee.

One of the office’s main projects this semester is the “Know Your Rights” campaign. This campaign will focus on unpaid internships by “getting people thinking about how internship policies are strangely set up against students” as Oke puts it. The campaign will additionally begin to bring attention to open educational resources, which include “anything you can use in classroom for educational purposes that has an open license.” Free material is available online, but textbooks are still mandatory for many classes, and often expensive. The University Affairs office will present the “Textbook Broke” social media campaign in different

faculties, which will encourage students to take pictures of their textbook receipts and post them online.

Over the course of the semester, Oke hopes to lay a solid foundation for the establishment of a sanctuary campus program at McGill. This program, already in place in some American universities, hopes to provide a safe space for students and people lacking legal documentation.

For the past semester Aishwarya Singh, the SSMU Policy and Advocacy Research Commissioner, has been doing research regarding the documentation requirements for students. “Right now, if a student’s visa expires, he or she is immediately de-registered from the university,” explained Oke. “In this case, the idea would be to implement a system where students in the process of renewing their visa would be able to still submit assignments.”

Oke also hopes to mobilize students around what the ideal library would look like. In the future, McGill will demolish the McLennan library to build a new, more modern one. Oke wishes to gather as many student opinions regarding what the new library should look like, in order to recognize their visions.

Muna Tojiboeva, President

T

he president coordinates the activities of SSMU and determines the long-term vision of the society. Unfortunately, President Muna Tojiboeva was not able to respond to the interview questions at the time of publication.

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News

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Maya Koparkar, VP Internal

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he VP Internal is in charge of the official SSMU listserv and primarily oversees communication between SSMU and its members. Furthermore, Koparkar works with the First Year Council (FYC) to help first-year students plan campus events. Last semester, Koparkar oversaw the joint Downtown-MacDonald campus Halloween event in collaboration with other student organizations. Event planners underwent training on being active bystanders, resolving conflict, and planning accessible and inclusive events on campus. The Fall semester also saw the launch of the new and improved SSMU website, which was redesigned to streamline the user experience.

This Winter semester, Koparkar is working on new, practical guides to better assist student organizations and SSMU. “I’m planning to create a how-to guide for social media and communications at SSMU,” said Koparkar. The guide would provide incoming students with information about different media sources for various types of services, as well as strategies for running campaigns. On a larger scale, Koparkar is hoping

to create an event-planning guide outlining resources, best practices, and sustainability. The event planning guide is to be available as a checklist for all McGill students. “This would be something that anyone can use. […] it’s good for executives to come to one another if they have questions, but having it codified and providing some documentation that people can refer to […] easily would be a good thing to do.”

With the mid-semester Faculty Olympics on the horizon, the VP Internal hopes to ensure that the event is financially feasible, as the incipient closure of the SSMU building means SSMU will be operating outside the building, and will thus incur larger unforeseen financial costs, unlike previous years.

Koparkar hopes to see the continuation of inclusive events on campus, which were a large part of her election platform last year. “We have our signature events, but there is also room to improve,” said Koparkar.

Looking ahead towards transition, Koparkar mentioned that SSMU may have more involvement with Frosh 2018 than in previous years and is in conversation with Campus Life and

Engagement (CLE). Koparkar is also currently liaising with the office of the Deputy Provost Student Life and Learning to allow for better relations between administrative services and the student body.

Jemark Earle, VP Student Life

T

he VP Student Life position is relatively new, created in 2016 when several executive portfolios were restructured. It deals with clubs and services, mental health initiatives, and independent student groups. One of Earle’s major responsibilities is to organize Activities

Night, which has been highly successful so far: Fall Activities Night broke attendance records, featuring over 300 groups and clubs.

Winter Activities Night this semester will take on January 16-17. Earle is optimistic about the event, although it will feature slightly fewer clubs and groups than the Fall version and will run for only two days. This time around, Earle is working on a partnership with the newly-launched SSMU Eats app to provide hot drinks for students waiting in line outside.

Activities Night will coincide with another key event for the Student Life portfolio, Mental Health Awareness Week.

Earle will be partnering with different groups and services such as Students In Mind, who will be taking the lead on the closing days of the event series. “On the Advocacy and Outreach Committee, we have various members who are part of their departmental health committees,” said Earle, “so we’ve gotten fresh ideas, and we’re collaborating with different departments on some of the events.” In contrast to previous years, he and his organizing team have tried to

Esteban Herpin, VP Finance Candidate

T

he VP Finance is responsible for the overall financial stability of SSMU and more specifically administers the Society’s investment funding group. The position has been vacant for two months, since the resignation of Arisha Khan on November 16, 2017. Following Sarah Abdelshamy’s withdrawal from the VP Finance by-election this term, Esteban Herpin, a third-year Finance student and a former member of the Management Undergraduate Society’s (MUS) Corporate Relations team, remains the only candidate for the position.

On January 12, a public candidate Q&A was held, during which Herpin answered questions from SSMU executives and students. When asked by VP External Connor Spencer, “What type of relationship do you feel the SSMU executive should have with the administration?” Herpin mentionned that SSMU should work with the administration wherever possible.

Herpin was particularly concerned with mental health on campus, saying, “I think that [mental health issues on the McGill campus are] very intense from what I compare with other people in [different] parts of the world and Canada, there’s the issue of stress.” If elected, Herpin hopes to improve upon mental health by asking the McGill administration to have “more data

and more surveys on how students feel throughout the semester, and [to use them] more effectively.”

Herpin’s election platform additionally emphasizes more support for students struggling with mental health: he mentioned the inadequate resources dedicated to mental health, which, according to Herpin, amount to $0.40 per semester per student. However, regarding student fees overall, Herpin claimed that he “would like to cut down costs, just in general.”

Part of Herpin’s platform comprises increased funding for clubs, emphasizing operational changes aimed to provide a net benefit for students. In the Fall semester, the only funding towards Culture Shock, a weeklong event series that address issues of race, colonialism, white supremacy, and xenophobia for students of colour, was cancelled. Herpin was not aware that the funding for Culture Shock and its parent organization Quebec Public Interest GroupMcGill (QPIRG) had been removed. However, he responded that he would like to “take meetings with those students” following a question on accessibility for racialized students during the Q&A. Other aspects of Herpin’s platform include financial transparency and investment. The election results will be announced on January 18 after a three-day polling period.

vary the types of events held during Mental Health Week to attract more students, and to make them more accessible by, for example, scheduling more events in the evening rather than during class time.

A major challenge facing Earle is the SSMU building closure. Last semester, he and his team initially did a poor job of communicating relevant information to building tenants and students at large, sparking confusion and anger. Now, however, it seems that things are going more smoothly – according to Earle, locations have been found for most SSMU services.

“We’re working on getting space for everyone who is a tenant of the building,” he told The Daily. “There are a few outliers that require specific needs, such as Midnight Kitchen, the Players’ Theatre, the Musicians’ Collective, [...] so we’re still working on those because they [...] can’t just go into any building. [...] We’ve spoken to the groups, and [...] if worse comes to worse, they would change their programming for that period of time. [...] Hopefully, by the time September rolls around, we’ll have at least the first few floors back.”

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January 15, 2018 mcgilldaily.com | The McGill Daily

NEws

Concordia faces allegations of culture of sexual violence

Professors accused of abusing power to harass female students Inori Roy The McGill Daily Content warning: sexual assault, abuse of power

C

oncordia University’s English department, and the larger world of Canadian literature (“CanLit”), is facing allegations of a culture of sexual violence, harassment, and abuse of power by professors and writers over the course of several decades. The allegations, outlined in a blog post by writer and former Concordia instructor Mike Spry on January 8, do not identify individuals by name. Instead, they point to a systemic pattern of sexual harassment and exploitation of vulnerable young female writers.

Spry states in his blog post that he has “been witness to and made aware of innumerable instances of unwanted affection, groping, inappropriate remarks, and propositions” over the course of his relationship with the university, beginning as an undergraduate student 14 years ago, up until his time as an instructor at the university from 2013 to 2015.

“A professor/writer harasses a student, and the student remains silent because they need the grade, or the letter of recommendation, or the internship at the prof’s publisher,” Spry wrote. “Both Concordia and CanLit have fostered inappropriate behaviors and environments that have permeated throughout the community.”

Spry went on to admit that he himself had been complacent in this culture of misogyny – both in remaining silent as his friends and coworkers abused their power, and in participating in this culture of abuse himself.

“I demanded respect and relationships I felt I was owed.

I dated women inappropriately younger than me. I treated them poorly,” Spry wrote.

Spry’s apparent role in Concordia’s culture of misogyny was made clearer when, in the

days following his post, his former girlfriend Julie McIsaac wrote her own blog post about her experiences with misogyny in CanLit. In her post, she described her experiences with Mike Spry, whom she describes as “deeply sexist.”

“[Spry] was an active player who belittled and harassed women writers who only wanted to make the same career moves he benefited from.

And now his career is likely to benefit from his speaking out.”

—Julie McIsaac

“He was an active player who belittled and harassed women writers who only wanted to make the same career moves he benefited from. And now his career is likely to benefit from his speaking out,” she wrote.

While the validity of Spry’s presence in this movement has been called into question, following McIsaac’s post, his allegations have been affirmed by many other writers and graduates of Concordia, most of them women.

In fact, Spry was not the first to write publicly about these experiences – in a 2014 essay written for The Hairpin, writer Emma Healey discussed her experience of being in a relationship with a professor at Concordia. At the time, she was 19, and the professor was 34; he pursued her,

aggressively and to the knowledge of his colleagues. As Healey describes the relationship, it was unhealthy and violent.

“While the relationship itself was consensual, much of what happened within its borders was not,” she said.

Healey is one of many women who have spoken about similar experiences over the course of the last decade. Most of them have also acknowledged the use of whisper networks as tools of information, in order to warn their peers about predatory men.

“A story like this is a password. Once you say it out loud, doors start to open,” she wrote.

University responds to allegations Concordia president Alan Shepard announced the launch of a formal investigation, conducted by an external investigator, in response to the blog post. This will take place alongside a university-wide task force to ensure campus safety and well-being.

“I’m profoundly sorry that some of our alumni and students have experienced what they’re reported to have experienced,” Shepard said in a press conference on Wednesday. “I’ve been reading that it’s an open secret, but it was not an open secret to me.”

Shepard’s comments were surprising to some, given that in 2015, a group of alumni wrote a letter to Concordia’s administration in response to Healey’s 2014 article. In the letter, they described the “toxic” culture at the university and its detrimental impacts on women. The letter was apparently received by the Human Resources department, and no action was taken, according to its writers.

Several reporters present at the press conference asked about the steps taken by Concordia to protect students from predatory professors, but Shepard did not speak to the university’s previous or ongo-

ing disciplinary proceedings.

“All investigations are confidential by law and by our policies,” he said, “and I won’t be able to comment on the specific investigation, or people who have been named on social media.”

Healey is one of many women who have spoken about similar experiences over the course of the last decade. Most of them have also acknowledged the use of whisper networks as tools of information, in order to warn their peers about predatory men.

Shepard also clarified that while faculty-student relationships are not banned at Concordia, they fall under the conflict of interest policy, which requires that relationships of this nature are disclosed to the university.

Concordia is currently in the process of expanding their working group and policies around the issues of sexual violence and power imbalance in relationships.

Since the press conference, two Concordia professors named as alleged abusers on social media

have been reassigned pending investigation.

Widespread abuses of power across university lines Concordia is not the only university to face allegations of sexual harassment and violence by faculty members, and a culture of “open secrecy.” McGill has been plagued with allegations of sexual violence by professors for the last several years.

Most recently, a professor in the Islamic Studies department was accused of several accounts of sexual harassment and abuse of power: stickers bearing his name and allegations surrounding his conduct have been found across the campus throughout this academic year.

When asked about these allegations, Principal Suzanne Fortier said, “When it comes to access to information, there are certain things that are to be kept private. You will not hear about investigations […] the absence of information does not mean the absence of investigation.”

Then, in December, a dentist at the Faculty of Dentistry was accused of sexually assaulting one of his patients in November of 2016.

The woman who experienced the assault expressed feeling disappointed and neglected by the university’s response to her allegations, stating that she did not feel supported or believed by the administrators investigating her case. No outcome was publicised in that investigation.

McGill Prominent professors implicated in tell-all posts about abusive power dynamics and sexual harassment has not commented on either of these allegations, or the existence of whisper networks amongst women students on campus. Despite allegations of sexual harassment or abuse of power by several prominent professors at the university, the administration has not publicly initiated any efforts to protect its vulnerable students.

Commentary

January 15, 2018 mcgilldaily.com | The McGill Daily

I won’t be silenced

7

Student academic freedom must be protected by the University

nelly wat | The McGill Daily Florence Ashley Commentary Writer

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s part of its commitment to freedom of expression, the university should invest in defamation insurance for its students.

Our university is currently at the heart of recent discussions about freedom of expression. Students and professors who face disciplinary measures from their higher learning institution seek safety under the protective veil of free speech. However, disciplinary measures are not the only way by which people target academics’ speech. When academics deploy critique as an extension of their scholarly endeavours, there is always the possibility that criticised individuals will file defamation lawsuits in response. This is a less-discussed yet serious threat to free speech in academia.

Recent experiences I was implicated in such an unpleasant situation. In one of my recently published articles, I criticised a person and their work.

That person then threatened to sue the newspaper and me, forcing the newspaper to withdraw my critique. As a jurist, I have a good sense of where the law lies on defamation. I reviewed the law and asked a lawyer friend for confirmation, for good measure. Although the accusation of defamation had little to no legal plausibility, we had to fold. The cost of defending a lawsuit is too high, however un-

meritorious the lawsuit may be. Though punitive damages can be sought, you are still required to pay out of pocket until damages are awarded. The whole ordeal left a bitter taste in my mouth, and I’m now more scared than ever of criticizing public figures.

Because marginalized voices are rarer, singling them out for censorsip is more effecive.

My story is far from unique. A dear friend of mine who is an exceptional researcher was sued for penning an op-ed that criticized a psychologist known for engaging in conversion therapy on trans youth. The lawsuit was settled a few weeks ago, after close to two years of looming anxiety. He was the first to warn me against criticising the powerful.

But the powerful are the ones who most need criticism, and marginalised voices are the ones which most need to be heard.

Effect of the lawsuit threats The risk of a lawsuit had a chilling effect on public debate, one which disproportionately impacts marginalised groups. The general public sees itself more in those we critique than in us. Few think our plight im-

portant enough to stand for, and we critics are often accused of overreacting and attempting to censor others. Those who stand behind me are also marginalised people with few resources and limited access to public platforms. No one is scared of what I might do. And because marginalised voices are rarer, singling them out for censorship is more effective.

University students don’t all write publicly. However, I am far from the only one, especially among graduate students. Our voices are integral to the flourishing of the McGill community and to its influence beyond the Roddick gates.

Engagement in public debate is a function of the university. Knowledge is empty if it does not translate into action. Indeed, academic freedom is often defended in light of the role of the university as a contributor to public debate. Protecting students against defamation lawsuit isn’t a fringe demand. It goes to the heart of what universities are about.

I began writing because I hold a lot of educational privilege. You wouldn’t expect it, reading my piece in the Daily’s Sex and Gender Issue, but I actually have two law degrees and am currently a graduate student in law. Legal knowledge, and to a lesser extent academic knowledge to a lesser extent, is rare in Quebec trans communities. Therefore, I feel that I have a duty to use it to defend and carry the voice of my trans siblings.

Education empowers us with a critical voice which we may freely apply to the world around us. Although we are notionally protected against university sanctions, publicly-minded students remain vulnerable to censorship from outside the university in the form of defamation lawsuits.

Canada’s origins are ugly and shameful.

A brief overview of Canadian settlercolonialism is not nearly enough to reveal the brutalities of Canadian colonial history.

McGill University should encourage students, staff, and faculty to engage in public debate by granting them the soothing reassurance of defamation lawsuit insurance.

Defamation lawsuit insurance is necessary for marginalised groups to keep the few platforms they have. Because promoting public debate is a function of the university, the duty falls upon it rather than upon student associations.

Interested in student journalism?

Email coordinating@mcgilldaily.com to get started.

Features

January 15, 2017 mcgilldaily.com | The McGill Daily

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A Seat at the table with Syl Ko:

A discussion on Black Veganism by Andreann Asibey & Gemma McNeil Visuals by

Gloria Franรงois

Features

January 15, 2017 mcgilldaily.com | The McGill Daily

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A Seat at the table with Syl Ko: A discussion on Black Veganism Andreann Asibey & Gemma McNeil Features Writers

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estled on a nondescript cobblestone corner stood the entrance to the Bonsecours Market. You would never have knowm it looking from the outside, but inside those walls the venue was bustling with hundreds of people gathered together for the Montreal Vegan Festival.

One of sixteen guest speakers, Syl Ko, co-author along with her sister Aph Ko of Aphro-ism: Essays on Pop culture, Feminism and Black Veganism from two sisters, was slated to discuss some of her work, titled The Myth of the Animal Within. The book discusses the implications of the colonial invention of the “animal” that has been imposed onto both humans and animals, and the resulting oppression that mainly minority human populations face, as well as actual animals. Animality, the sisters claim, has become a racialized weapon of white supremacy. This is because the equation of Black people to animals by use of colonial language has allowed for their dehumanization. Just as animals have been forced into a space of “subhuman” by the white supremacist patriarchy, so have racialized peoples. As a result, animality must be reclaimed and factored into our analyses of oppression. Syl perfectly sums this up in chapter four of the book when she states, “One of the easiest ways to violate a person or group of people is to compare or reduce them to “animals.”

Animality, the sisters claim, has become a racialized weapon of white supremacy.

This is because the equation of Black people to animals by use of colonial language has allowed for their dehumanization.

Just as animals have been forced into a space of “subhuman” by the white supremacist patriarchy, so have racialized people.

In a society where “human” has become synonymous with whiteness, anyone who does not fit into this Eurocentric framework is automatically animalised.

A brief introduction to Black Veganism Black veganism differs from mainstream white veganism (all-about-the-animals veganism), but that is not to say that this way of approaching the topic is more correct than the other. Claiming that there is a “right” way to be vegan entails privileging a particular viewpoint over another, which is why many Black people have a hard time subscribing to mainstream veganism. Oftentimes people in places of power forget that not all people have the same access to resources they do. So when folks who live in a food desert (usually people of colour) are berated and shunned for not adopting the vegan lifestyle, they shy away from a movement that does not take into consideration their real life experiences. These people simply do not have the same access to produce; instead of meeting them with disgust and contempt, mainstream vegans must think of ways to improve accessibility within these communities. Moreover, when Black people are literally fighting for their rights everyday, it is difficult for them to put other needs in front of theirs, and rightly so. Tokenism in the mainstream vegan community also contributes to the lack of people of colour (POC) in the movement. Too often are POC voices drowned out or used to fulfil an image of diversity, and white people often take up too much space in these movements, not allowing for other people to have a voice.

Vegans of colour rarely get features in conferences and popular vegan blogs. On too many occasions I have seen vegan groups tweet things likes, “Black lives matter . . .

more than Chickens’ or Cows’ lives . . . apparently.” The comparison of the oppression of Black people and/or chattel slavery to that of the treatment and oppression of animals is not only extremely insensitive, racist and dehumanizing Black people; it also gives us reason to distrust them and believe that their rhetoric of anti-oppression is false. These are a few reasons as to why mainstream veganism can be inaccessible to in people of colour and in particular Black

Oftentimes people in places of power forget that not all people have the same access to resources they do.

So when folks who live in a food desert (usually people of colour) are berated and shunned for not adopting the vegan lifestyle, they shy away from [the] movement.

people, thus encouraging the creation of the Black Veganism movement.

An interview with Syl Ko After delivering her talk on animality with a calm demeanor and enlightening words, Syl graciously agreed to sit and chat with us. Despite the heavy topic of conversation, the atmosphere was light and inviting as Syl, Andreann, and I (Gemma), three black women, shared and openly discussed situations and experiences that were relatable to all three of us.

Andreann Asibey (AA): When and why did you become vegan?

Syl Ko (SK): Oh, wow . . . no one has asked me that one. I became vegan about seven years ago now. I was a vegetarian for a long time before that and didn’t even know what veganism was. I thought when you said vegan it was like a white punk music thing. I didn’t really know what it was but as soon as I started to learn about it, I was like, ‘That’s me!’ Now why. . . that is a tough question. I didn’t really have a specific reason. I guess the best I could say is I became vegan because I don’t want be the kind of person who is not bothered by what is happening to animals, other than that I don’t have any real reason.

AA: So were you raised in a vegetarian family?

SK: No, so my father was really sensitive about animals—we had chickens for instance. He is originally from Poland, and there he had a farm where they used to kinda just eat their animals. He wanted to recreate that here because we were poor and it was just easier to do that. And so he tried with one chicken and then we all became depressed, then he decided that we were just gonna keep the rest of the chickens as animal companions, that’s sorta how my father was. I remember one time, he thought he was shooting a hawk or something.

The comparison of the oppression of Black people and/ or chattel slavery to that of the treatment of oppression of animals is extremely insensitive, racist and dehumanizing of Black people.

There was an animal that was attacking our chickens and he wanted to protect them, and he accidently shot an owl. And we had a funeral for the owl and I remember my Dad cried for a week about it. My father, he was really influential for me in the sense of having a moral sensibility for animals. And even when I was around six or seven, when I first found out that bone . . . like bone . . . chicken bone, was a bone inside an animal’s body,

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January 15, 2017 mcgilldaily.com | The McGill Daily

I remember the whole night I was just really hard on myself that I never made the connection. Then I started to hide the meat from our meals in my shoes, and I would go flush it down the toilet. And my parents — cos we were really poor — were like “Wtf you’re flushing food down the toilet.” I thought that I was going to get in such big trouble and instead my dad gave me a book by Plutarch, an ancient philosopher, and Porphyry, and it was his weird way of saying that there are people who think like you. It’s just been this life long obsession with trying to figure out what are our obligations to animals.

“Even now I don’t consider myself to be in the vegan movement. We really consider ourselves to be anti-racist thinkers and antiracist activists and we think that part of that anti-racism is just also thinking about non-human animals.”

Features know just mostly talking to people. Mostly because I don’t have this thing that I notice a lot of other activists have. They have this very firm idea that this is how things have to go and this is the way to think about animals and if you think differently, you are terrible and you don’t care about animals. I don’t feel comfortable going in someone’s face and saying, “No, you gotta do this and this, and this is how you think about things” because for me I don’t really know. And I think it actually does come with being white like this “I know better than you and I have the answers” but I don’t know the answers, I don’t even know the questions.

AA: Why do you think that the Black community is so removed from the concept of veganism?

SK: I think because mainstream veganism has a very different experience with

SK: Aph and I are best friends. For the past ten years we have been on the phone, on Skype, emails, constantly talking about papers, books, films. Our friendship is cemented in our interest in feminism, racism, and all this animal stuff. So Aphro-ism started out as a blog. It wasn’t super intentional.

We had already talked about it for ten years so this was sort of the result. We consider it an intellectual diary between us; we were already talking about these things before we just decided let’s put it in a blog. You know, not expecting anyone to really care and when it picked up, we decided to turn it into a book. She is really bright. I have learned more talking with her than I think I have in a PhD program.

AA: How did the idea come to fruition? What was the aim?

SK: There was an absence of a really

—Syl Ko AA: Did you find it easy to integrate yourself into the vegan community that was present at your university, and did you face any barriers entering that space as a woman of colour?

SK: The people were great but I never felt that I was in the vegan movement.

Even now I don’t consider myself to be in the vegan movement. We really consider ourselves to be anti-racist thinkers and anti-racist activists and we think that part of anti-racism is just also thinking about non-human animals. I didn’t really involve myself too much. I mean, I would go to demonstrations and stuff, but I always did have that feeling that maybe they want me to come so they have that Black person there. There is always that thing that plagues you, if you are a Black person in a white space. Like, wait are they just doing this because I am Black and already that in itself is such a dehumanizing feeling that you have to keep questioning your own personhood. Like am I just here as a representative of a race or something? So I for the most part did not really get that involved, but I was lucky enough to be in the philosophy department where there are a lot of vegans. But we didn’t really demonstrate together, we actually were just talking with each other about ideas that just had to do with animals. That for me was way more enjoyable than just going out and smashing stuff or bothering people at Chipotle or whatever. Some of those methods, I don’t get it, like how does this have anything to do with freeing animals. So yeah, I was pretty uninvolved, but I was always involved in more intellectual ways, you

the words human and animal. If you are not animalised or in any sort of marginalised position, human and animal are very simple concepts for you. I mean, when you’ve been called an animal before, or someone’s told you at one point you weren’t really human, you’re a gorilla or whatever. We already feel this colonial idea of animal. We feel it within us. So we’re not saying we have the same oppression or we have the same experience, we’re just saying, “OMG we are all wrapped up in the same project that is affecting us very differently.”

AA: You worked with your sister on your book Aphro-ism: Essays on Pop culture, Feminism and Black Veganism from two sisters. How was it working with your sister?

Was this the first major project you worked together on?

important narrative not just in the vegan movement but in anti-racism. I mean, so when you look at Black people organising.

We first started talking about Black Lives Matter and we were wondering why was there this obsession in talking about race with actual skin colour, like why aren’t we talking about what racism really is, that is, it was a project to separate humanity from one another basically. So how are we talking about racism or dismantling racism and we don’t wanna talk about this social human-animal binary which is keeping in place racist thinking. How are we not noticing that human and animal are racialized terms and so that is why we decided that the stuff we are talking about is really important.

The book came because the response [to the blog] was overwhelming. So we decided

to put it in a book form because so many people wanted a book. There is no way you are going to process an idea like this, which literally takes your whole experience as a racialized person into consideration. There is no way you are going to get the full force of that by reading blog posts and moving onto the next thing. You’ve got to have it sitting with you at night reading it over and over and reflecting on it. Books help in slowing things and in paying attention. We really want people to pay attention to these ideas.

Not just because of animals but because we deeply care about liberating ourselves from the shit that we have to deal with.

AA: Can you tell us a bit more about your current research?

SK: The simplest way to put it is that I am trying to find applications of Black Veganism, so other questions going on involving animal oppression. Black Veganism is this nice theoretical move that you can make, so there are a lot of different questions I am interested in. One big thing I am really interested in is the problem in speaking for animals. Lots of different oppressed groups, they speak for themselves because they have the language that you need to involve yourself politically in this society and animals of course can’t do that. Of course they can speak to us but they don’t speak out political language, so there is the question: is it right to speak for animals? Who speaks for animals? And so forth. Black Veganism is a way to avoid that altogether because we are not speaking on the behalf of animals, we

“Lots of different oppressed groups, they speak for themselves because they have the language that you need to involve yourself politically in this society and animals of course can’t do that. [...] So there is a question: is it right to speak for animals? Who speaks for animals?

Black Veganism is a way to avoid that altogether because we are not speaking on the behalf of animals, we are speaking about animality.”

—Syl Ko

Features are speaking about animality. Then there was the paper I was talking about today, which is about assumptions we make on how we are supposed to feel a bond with animals. This paper I am working on is to do with the animal within and using Black Veganism as a way to sort of diagnose talking and just missing the point. Basically I am using Black Veganism and trying to find a way to apply it to questions that already exist.

I think that there are stupid questions that can be answered and then we move onto something else.

AA: In your talk you provided three different concepts about the word ‘animal.’ “All humans are animals,” “No humans are animals,” and “Some humans are animals” — can you please expand on the latter of the three?

SK: I put those sentences together, so that it is obvious to see how [the word] ‘animal’ is being used differently. So it is the same word but the word has a different extension in all those cases. A weird example is the word can. ‘Can’ can be used like an ability, it can also be used as a noun like an actual can, and can also be slang for jail. So it is the same word, but they mean different things. With ‘animal’ it is harder to see because the definition and the concepts are so overrated. I did that on purpose so you can see clearly, like obviously, that there has to be three different meanings going, otherwise it would just be be, “All Humans are animals.” So what I was doing was trying to show that there is one way that we talk about it, which is the first way, like we are all animals. The second way is animals refer to beings that are not members of the species Homo sapiens. The third way is the social way in which we use the word, so it’s not talking about any sort of biological designation, but pointing out something about your social status. The way Trump made the statement about Latinos (his call for police to rid the country of “animals” that are harming communities), he was not being

“And in fact Aph and I become annoyed with the tendencies of the Dear White People article; we are spending all these resources trying to point out what they are doing wrong in their spaces and it’s like that is their space.

This is a way that they experience those concepts. Let them. . . do you, boo.”

—Syl Ko

January 15, 2017 mcgilldaily.com | The McGill Daily

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a biologist, rather he was saying something social about them (Latinxs). So we get it when it comes to humans, but then when you say animals are animalised everyone gets confused. No, we are just saying the same thing in the way we are applying the social category to some humans and using this vehicle to oppress them, we use the exact same concept against non-human animals.

The only thing confusing here is that they are using animal in one sentence in completely different ways.

AA: How can one decentralize the white narrative in Veganism? And whose responsibility is it to decentralize that narrative?

As someone who knows of many instances where white and non Black people of colour vegans choose to downplay, ignore, and outright deny the plight of Black lives, whilst advocating for the “equality of all life forms,” Black Veganism provides genuine intersectionality to the movement.

SK: I think it’s ours! For me it’s always very weird when there is this preoccupation with what white people are doing and what they are getting wrong. And in fact Aph and I become annoyed with the tendencies of the Dear White People article; we are spending all these resources trying to point out what they are doing wrong in their spaces and it’s like, that is their space. This is a way that they experience those concepts. Let them. . .do you, boo.

We could just do it ourselves, instead we are trying to get rid of this colonial narrative that we have to wait for white people to come along and create theories for us or for white people to get it right before we can join the movement. We can just do our own thing and it doesn’t have to be because we hate each other or they are doing it wrong. What I am saying is that there are lots of different ways to approach a problem and we should have the liberty to do that for ourselves.

AA: How does Black Veganism challenge white supremacy?

SK: Black Veganism is an anti racist strategy. That is what it is. Listen. If you want to dismantle racism, you’ve got to go to the root of racism and the root of racism is this distinction between human and animal in a social way. So if we’re trying to dismantle racism we won’t be able to do it by keeping the roots in place and so it chal-

lenges white supremacy because I think it is one of the few vegan views that is out there that actually goes to the root of white supremacy. White supremacy is not just coming up with different racial views in terms of skin colours. White supremacy is rooted in a very particular project in making only a certain amount of being human and everyone else is shit and we are just meant to serve people. So I think that Black Veganism is super anti white supremacy because we are doing something radical in white supremacy by going beneath racial categories and going to the real source of the problem. This all started because some people decided to say that they are the real human and everybody is meant to serve them.

AA: Our final question is what is your favourite vegan spot?

SK: Ahh, oh woooow . . . . Probably Veggie Grill in California. It’s a chain . . . great vegan fast food. I took an internship in Cali just to be able to eat Veggie Grill for two months.

Black Veganism for the authors We would like to extend a special thanks to Syl Ko for sitting down with us and having such an open and honest conversation about Black Veganism, and how it is so much more than just being Black and Vegan. We want to thank Syl and Aph for putting into words the thoughts and feelings marginalized people have had for years but lacked the words to express.

For me (Gemma), someone who is Black and vegan, the idea of Black Veganism was new and eye opening. I heavily prescribed to mainstream veganism and focused my activism solely on animals. Through talking with Syl and reading Aphro-ism, I’ve been able to use my experiences as a Black woman to shape and re-form my understanding and approach to animalism. Animalisation and dehumanization play a role

in the justification of violence done against Black bodies, and are routinely ignored by mainstream white veganism. Veganism focused exclusively on animals is not activism enough when these are the same people who can and do enforce animalism on marginalized groups. Being Black has shaped my perspective in every aspect of my life, so why should it not also shape how I approach my veganism?

For myself (Andreann), as someone who is not vegan but has thought about adopting the lifestyle, I am greatly intrigued by the ideas of Black Veganism because it takes into consideration my experiences with white supremacy. I have always thought to myself, “How can I take up my cross for a movement which claims to care about animals but blatantly shows no care or love for me?” As someone who knows of many instances where white and non Black people of colour vegans choose to downplay, ignore, and outright deny the plight of Black lives, whilst advocating for the “equality of all life forms,” Black Veganism provides genuine intersectionality to the movement. This statement from an article written

by Heather Barrett, titled “White veganism doesn’t care about Black lives,” sums up my thoughts on mainstream veganism: “White vegans often advocate for the lives of animals, but their voices fall short when it comes to the lives of fellow humans that do not share their skin colour. I believe Black Veganism creates a safe space for a group of people who have always been pushed to the bottom of society, allowing them to be the centre of focus for once.

Aphro-ism has been fundamental in developing our understanding of anti-racist and animal rights activism by bravely exploring the human-animal binary and its place in racist rhetoric and white supremacy. Should you wish, the book is available for purchase on Amazon.com.

The interview was heavily condensed and edited for clarity.

THE TRIBUNE PUBLICATION SOCIETY AND DAILY PUBLICATIONS SOCIETY

JOURNALISM AND MEDIA CONFERENCE FEBRUARY 26-28, 2018

UNIVERSITY CENTRE, 3480 McTAVISH STAY TUNED FOR MORE DETAILS!

Sports

January 15, 2018 mcgilldaily.com | The McGill Daily

Dramatic success from a peaceful protest

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Looking back on two New Brunswick basketball players’ protest

Hannah Murray Sports Writer

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n November of 2016, Quentin Sock and Jeremy Speller, two Indigenousstudent athletes at St. Thomas University (STU), used an exhibition basketball game as a platform for social justice. Sock and Speller knelt during the singing of ‘O Canada’ while holding a red shawl, the symbol of the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women (MMIW) movement.

The effects of such a protest, at first controversial, are still being felt on the St. Thomas campus.

The protest has also influenced the University’s town of Fredericton, New Brunswick.

The National Enquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women was officially enacted on September 1, 2016. Despite this, in the fall of 2016, Sock and Speller felt that this crisis was not receiving enough attention. They decided to plan a peaceful protest for their season opener that would shed light on the issues at hand, and bring more awareness to the movement

for justice, as young Indigenous women are five times more likely to die under violent circumstances than other Canadian women.

At the same time, the world of sports was being swept by the “kneeling movement” that had been made famous by San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick, who knelt to protest racial inequality and police brutality in the U.S.. A controversial topic in the states, where many fans and team owners spoke out against Kaepernick, this caused some initial hesitance towards Sock and Speller’s idea. However, as described by Jeffrey Carleton, the Vice-President of Communications at STU, in a meeting about a week before the protest, the school faculty was “so impressed with their thought process” that it was “allowed and supported 100 per cent.”

Having spoken with their own team and the King’s College Blue Devils, the game day opponent, the athletes were met with widespread support. Sock and Speller invited friends and family from their respective nations, the Elsipogtog and

Gesgapegiag First Nations communities. Covered by local media and attended by school faculty, including STU president Dawn Russell, Sock and Speller’s protest became a powerful community event.

By protesting on an athletic platform, instead of an academic one, the protest was made acces-

portion of Fredericton; also, of St. Thomas’ 2000 students, over 170 are Indigenous. As a small liberal arts school, St. Thomas offers an Indigenous students committee, an Elder Residence, and a Native Studies program.

Raising awareness both on campus and in Fredericton, the protest

Covered by local media, [...] Sock and Speller’s protest became a powerful community event. sible to members of both the STU community and Fredericton residents who attended the game.

With such overwhelming support, the protest was covered by the CBC and became the front page of both STU’s student newspaper and the Daily Gleaner, a local Fredericton paper.

Although not directly affected by the MMIW crisis, Sock and Speller recognized the importance of such a protest in their community. The St. Mary’s First Nation’s reserve comprises a large

kicked off a series of events highlighting the MMIW crisis.

In the year since the protest, a heightened awareness and emphasis has been placed on Indigenous issues within St. Thomas University. Shortly after the protest took place, a senate was formed in Fredericton to address the recommendations made by the Truth and Reconciliation Council. In February 2017, there was an on-campus reading of the Council’s 94 recommendations, attended by over 300 people. Additionally, in the 2017

school year, STU has supported the Indigenous community to a further extent than in the past, with an Indigenous student welcome centre and a powwow held during STU’s “Welcome Week.”

Due to their thunderous success, these community events and the MMIW movement itself have gained momentum in Fredericton and on the St. Thomas University campus.

Unprecedented in the St. Thomas community, a protest such as this has not been repeated at STU, nor on a large scale at other Canadian universities.

Quentin Sock and Jeremy Speller are no longer playing basketball for St. Thomas: Speller has recently graduated and is now in British Columbia working towards a Masters in Governance, while Sock is in his fourth year at STU, hoping to graduate with an honours in Political Science at the end of the school year. Nevertheless, Sock and Speller’s peaceful protest in 2016 on the basketball court continues to be a source of inspiration and pride for St. Thomas and Fredericton.

Christine Luc | The McGill Daily

CUlture

January 15 2018 mcgilldaily.com | The McGill Daily

Stitching for change

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A little history of radical knitting

Claire Grenier The McGill Daily

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nitting is typically associated with grandmothers, older folks, so-called spinsters: characterizations dripping with contempt, or at least a lack of respect, for “homebody” work. But, in truth, knitting has never been an easy pursuit. Typically deemed “woman’s work,” crafts have been devalued for centuries; but through those centuries, some women have used knitting as a medium to make a statement.

Knitting for a statement, or knitivism, a derivement from writer Betsy Greer’s term craftivism, is hardly a new phenomenon. On her blog, Greer describes craftivism as “the practice of engaged creativity, especially regarding political or social causes. By using their creative energy to help make the world a better place, craftivists help bring about positive change via personalized activism.

Craftivism allows practitioners to customize their particular skills to address particular causes.”

Part of the power of knitivism is the complicated history of needle crafts. These crafts, almost always done by women, were necessary for family survival. Economically disadvantaged women, and women of colour in particular, have experienced the exhausting demands of needle crafts, because for them, they haven’t been crafts but non opt outable work. These practices still continue under horrific working conditions in sweatshops, and it is often a privilege and a luxury to be able to treat this work as a hobby. By taking up these crafts in the modern age, the hope is to repurpose a tool of oppression into a vessel for change.

Yarnbombing [...] is a form of knitted graffiti. The method has notably been used to cover tanks in gigantic bright pink cozies by artist Marianne Jorgensen.

Knitivism has a rich history of mobilization to express defiance. One such way was the French “tricoteuses,” or “the knitting women.” During the French revolution, these women would sit beside the guillotine during executions and outholler each other, taking in the gruesome spectacle while cheerfully

knitting the emblematic blood red Phrygian caps characteristic of the French revolution.

The women chose to knit at the executions as an act of utter contempt for the lives and actions of those being decapitated right in front of them. Later, during the American War of Independence, as detailed in historian Anne McDonald’s book No Idle Hands, women were encouraged to use knitting and other crafts to show small acts resistance.

draw attention to those experiencing homelessness. The Blankets for Canada Society began their project in the late nineties calling on volunteers to knit blankets to give out to the homeless. They had a goal of reaching 100 blankets by the end of their first year, and ended up doubling that amount. All blankets collected by the group have a cheerful label sewn on them reading “Courtesy of the Blankets for Canada Society: NOT FOR SALE.” Morton has also placed 800 recycled sweaters as part of an urban installation in Toronto’s Trinity Square Park, a piece called “Cozy.” Sweaters were free to take for those who needed them.

The most recent and most popularized instance of knitivism is last January’s Women’s March. The march, held in protest of the United States’ 45th president, became known for the bright pink hats with cat ears knitted by activists and worn by marchers. These “pussyhats” became a cultural phenomenon, in spite of their transClaire Grenier | The McGill Daily exclusionary implications. tanks in gigantic bright pink cozies by art- People from across the world knit hats to ist Marianne Jorgensen, and to spread the send to the marchers in Washington, or for iconic red squares indicating support for themselves to participate in smaller scale the 2012 Montreal student protests against solidarity marches across the globe. Many of tuition hikes. In Indonesia, artist Fitriani these hats were knit by people who took up Dalay uses yarnbombing to challenge the the craft specifically for this occasion. The plights of consumerism, art elitism, and Pussyhat Project, started in November 2016 political censorship in her country. She and by Krista Suh and Jayna Zweiman, offers a thirty other artists formed the collective free pattern for the hat on their website. The QuiQui, a group who engulf their community pattern PDF includes a mission statement which provides an history and justification of their actions. The mission statement touches on why they chose pink, and the name “pussyhat” itself. Pink was chosen to reclaim a colour used to often to demean femme people, and the term pussyhat was coined to, as written in the foreword, “reclaim the term as a means of empowerment.” The term

Economically disadvantaged women, and women of colour in particular, have experienced the exhausting demands of needle crafts, because for them, they haven’t been crafts but non opt-outable work.

Knitting and radical activism really began to intersect in the latter half of the 20th century. The sixties saw a Canadian anti-Cold War activist group Voices of Women (VOW) champion an initiative where members were asked to knit camouflage baby clothes for children in Vietnam in an effort to protect children against the US government’s devastating air strikes in Vietnam. In the early eighties, British anti-nuclear missiles activists at the famous Greenham Common Women’s Peace Camp used knitting and various other needle crafts to decorate the fences of the military base by which they were camped.

Yarnbombing, the technique used at Greenham Commons, is a form of knitted graffiti. The method has been used to cover

in brightly coloured squares of yarn.

In the aftermath of the anti-Black violence and police brutality in Ferguson, MO, CheyOnna Sewell founded the Yarn Mission. The Yarn Mission is a group which promotes Black leadership, supports Black businesses, and uses yarn “to promote action and change to eradicate racism, sexism, and other systems of oppression.” A member of the group, Taylor Payne told the Guardian in an interview “as a Black women, you’re invisible, but knitting makes people stop and have a conversation with you. If someone asks me what I’m doing, I say, ‘I’m knitting for Black liberation.’”

In Canada, both The Blankets for Canada Society and Canadian artist Janet Morton have used knitting and other needle crafts to

Knitivism has a rich history of mobilization to express defiance. “pussyhat” may be empowering for some, but it reinforces an already too pervasive cisnormativity, and can be read as an active form of trans exclusionary “radical” feminism, as not all women have vaginas.

This year’s Women’s March will take place on Saturday, January 20, so it’s a good time to pick up a pair of needles to try your hand at trans-inclusive knitting. McGill has its own knitting club, and there are plenty of other free resources available to learn how to knit.

Create something with your anger. Wear it. Make a statement: grab some needles.

January 15, 2018 mcgilldaily.com | The McGill Daily

Culture

15

Threaded on a London Keffiyeh ‘England Times Palestine’ documents British-Palestinians’ stories

Krysten Krulik Culture Writer

“

I don’t want Palestine to become an -ism,” remarks a British-Palestinian activist at a roundtable discussion held between members of London’s Palestinian community at Tatreez, a warm, brick-walled Palestinian owned, and operated restaurant. In that space, hashtags like #BuyPalestinian are utilized to stray the word “Palestinian” away from its typical associations — conflict, terrorism, jihad.

This conversation is not playing out before me; but rather, on screen during McGill’s Islamic Studies Institute’s screening of England Times Palestine. Directed by Caroline Rooney, a professor at the University of Kent specialized in postcolonial representations of the Middle East, England Times Palestine was produced as a response to the centenary of the British-sponsored Balfour Declaration. The Balfour Declaration of 1917 was the first document to formally recognize the foundation of a “Jewish national home,” ushering an era of forced displacement of an estimated 5.8 million Palestinians now relocated in Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, the West Bank, and Gaza (as of 2017).

The movie explores individual Palestinian identities on Palestinian

terms through both interviews and personal photos and stories.

Contemporary questions around Palestinian identity are often cast ın relatıon to the establishment of a “national home for the Jewish people” in Palestine as both a consolation for the British refusal of Jewish Holocaust victims as immigrants and a desire to withdraw British forces from the occupied Palestinian land. What does it take to be Palestinian, when most refugees have relocated as many as four times throughout their lives? From Palestine, to Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, the endless rotation of refugees left Palestine drained as Israel swelled. England Times Palestine touches on only a sampling of these refugees located in England, delving into individual stories of fleeing, forming, and fighting.

Unlike many documentaries about Palestine, England Times Palestine actively seeks to portray Palestinians as individuals. The group of British-Palestinian refugees portrayed in the film find themselves grappling with the identity thrust upon them: British by birth or address, but Palestinian by blood. Unable to be Palestinian and to inhabit their long-lost homes, these refugees have sought out new homes in places like Tatreez.

The protagonists are shown creating home in the very country

Street in Hebron. which signed away their beloved olive groves, their Haifa home, and their taata’s (grandmother’s) tameez. These Palestinians harbour and preserve their history in several ways: holding on to the keys to their homes now located in Israeli occupied territory, and family photos of the Nakba’s pain (the forced 1948 exodus of Palestinians from their homes).

Documentaries about Palestinians tend to reduce Palestinian lives to the mere conflict, overlooking the too often forgotten subtleties and complexities of the locals.

Apartheid wall in Bethlehem. Krysten Krulik | Photographer

England Times Palestine uses personal stories and interviews with Palestinian refugees in England to touch upon their resilient existence.

Splicing stories of various refugees, England Times Palestine showcases Palestine’s own entity, culture, and people who, while inextricably connected to the Arab-Israeli conflict,

Krysten Krulik | Photographer possess their own complexities and personal stories. Documentaries about Palestinians tend to reduce Palestinian lives to the conflict, overlooking the too-often-forgotten subtleties and complexities.

Rooney purposely depicts a myriad of Palestinian refugees in the film. One of them is a Gazan receiving his PhD, after an NGO spent 15 years filing for the passport he needed to attend university in England. An elderly woman and activist for Palestinian rights in London, who feels equally parts British and Palestinian, speaks of her daughter’s identity as a “Londonite” over “Palestinian.” A PalestinianAmerican, who lives in London with her British husband and children remarks that her children “don’t know a word of Arabic. Charlie [her son] used to but . . .” Rather than prioritizing one identity over the other, Rooney gives space for the idiosyncrasies of the protagonists to make bridges between diverse contemporary Palestinian identities.

England Times Palestine rebukes closed narratives. There is no one path to claiming refugee status as a Palestinian. One of the Palestinian women depicted in the film, a London -based creative writing student, reads a novel subtitled, “A Palestinian Story.” Rooney moves away from this singular “Palestinian story,” or trope, of suffering, trauma, refuge, and the inevitable foreignness that comes with re-location. Instead, she gives space for Palestinians to carve their own history, as authors of their own collective and individual experiences.

England Times Palestine aims to honor individual Palestinian narratives, while revealing the common

intergenerational traumas of the Nakba and life as a refugee. These personal histories form a larger canon of Palestinian experience and cultural practices through their juxtaposition. While each refugee manifests Palestinian identity uniquely, the common thread of Palestine, like

England Times Palestine aims to honor individual Palestinian narratives, while revealing the common intergenerational traumas of the Nakba. a thread stuck sorely into the intersecting weave of a keffiyeh, is woven through the rainy streets of London.

While the erasure of Palestinian identity looms above London’s Palestinian refugees, so does this embolden them to be more visible. England Times Palestine serves as documentation of the people, the culture, and the place that so many have fought to preserve. The movie is not a pseudointellectual shell of “Palestinian-ism.”

It is a lasting reminder that Palestine still lives and breathes, wherever its people might be, and they still yearn to be . . .

Compendium!

January 15, 2018 mcgilldaily.com | The McGill Daily

16

Lies, half-truths, and LEsbIAN SEEEeeeeeeEEEx.

#TimesUp, For Whom? Golden Globes Highlights Sara Hashemi The McGall Weekly

O

n Sunday night, celebrities made the bold fashion choice of wearing black outfits to the Golden Globes as a political statement, a colour otherwise absent from red carpet events.

This year’s hottest fashion accessory?

Women of colour. Amy Poehler, Michelle Williams, Emma Watson, and other celebrities brought activists as their plus-ones, and, in true Hollywood fashion, gave them no speaking roles. Male celebrities such as Timothée Chalamet, who is starring in Woody Allen’s upcoming movie, wore Time’s Up pins to let the world know they won’t support abusers.

Unless they make, like, really good movies. The ceremony began with Seth Meyer’s monologue, which brought up the scandals that shaped Hollywood this year. Whoever wrote the speech hadn’t seen last year’s show, because the Hollywood Foreign Press joke was a deja-vu moment. Meyers then recreated a segment from his show, “Jokes Seth Can’t Tell.” “Call Me by Your Name is nominated for Best Motion Picture. It is a gay coming of age film.” “Said Kevin Spacey: You lost me at ‘of age,’” replied Billy Eichner.

Get it? Cause Kevin Spacey’s gay? And the movie’s gay? And Kevin Spacey sexually assaulted a boy?

Throughout the first half of the event, powerful feminist shows such as Big Little Lies and the Handmaid’s Tale won many awards, a big win for white women and the one recurring black character.

After a moving acceptance speech from Oprah, the Internet went wild when rapeapologist Natalie Portman probably read off her script and mentioned the lack of female director nominees. A truly feminist moment from the woman who signed a letter in support of child rapist Roman Polanski.

The night came to an end with James “I try to hook up with 17 year olds” Franco and Gary “I hit my wife in the head with a telephone” Oldman taking home the Best Actor awards. A New Day indeed.

After the show, Best Picture winner Greta Gerwig was asked about her feelings on having worked with Woody Allen. In her black dress, she said: “Well, you know, I’m so thrilled to be here tonight as a writer and director and creator, and to be making my own movies and putting that forth. You know, it’s something that I’ve thought deeply about and I care deeply about, and I haven’t had an opportunity to have an in-depth discussion where I come down on one side or the other.”

I guess a black dress is just a black dress.

We were told time and time again during the ceremony that times are changing. That time is up. But for who? For Woody Allen?

For Roman Polanski? For Gary Oldman? For James Franco? It doesn’t seem so. We need more than performative activism and black dresses, more than empty speeches, more than activists used as props. We need more than wealthy white women on the front stage. I hope to see Tarana Burke and Marai Larasi’s voices elevated. I hope to see justice for Dylan Farrow. I hope to see a feminism that is void of hypocrisy, that is intersectional, that is true.

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