Ryerson Free Press March 2010

MAR 2010

BursArY or BriBe? anti-choice groups offer students who are single parents the chance to win.

NEWS

Responsible Action needed for Haiti

By Elizabeth Chiang

Haiti’s political history is as complicated as it is unique. It is a country of firsts: after the revolution, which began in 1791, Haiti became the first independent nation in Latin America, but more importantly to the identity and culture of its peoples, the first Black-led republic in the world.

On January 12 an earthquake rocked the country and decimated the capital city, Port-Au-Prince. Amidst the rising death toll, there remains a shattered infrastructure and a massive rebuilding and healing process. The country’s current political situation is shaky, something many feel is due to the unnecessary military presence in the wake of the disaster. After the earthquake, international aid groups jumped to help and university campuses followed in suit.

But in a culture inundated by organizations clamouring for donations and dollars, a question still lingers: what is “aid” and are we really helping out in the best way possible?

On February 11, the Ryerson Students’ Union (RSU)and the United Black Students at Ryerson hosted All Eyes on Haiti, a panel that tackled this very question of “responsible aid.” Panel speakers included Melanie Newton, associate professor of history at the University of Toronto, and David Delisca, a Toronto-based, spoken word poet of Haitian descent. A third speaker from the Haiti Action Network was scheduled, but unable to attend.

“It is important to reflect on the enormity of what happened in Haiti. What people are still living through is beyond the scope of our imagination,” said Professor Melanie Newton. Newton was born and raised in Barbados and moved to Canada in her late-teens to pursue her university career. Her area of specialization is the social history of the Caribbean. She read from her article, “The future of the world in Haiti,” which was recently published in the January issue of the U of T Bulletin, and also appeared in Barbados’ Nation News.

“Over the years, western destabilization of Haiti has been fostered by a deep culture of racist paternalism. This is evidence of the failure of countries such as the United States, France and, yes, Canada, to come to terms fully with the legacies of their own support for the slavery that the Haitian Revolution so boldly rejected. Engagement with Haiti must be based on a recognition that Haitians do, in fact, know better than we do what is best for the country,” said Newton.

She stated that the tragedy that occurred is not merely a natural disaster, but a political and historical oversight, preceded by decades of unnecessary military intervention, geopolitical interests and politically created poverty. “One of the most destabilizing aspects of Haiti’s political history has been the use of aid and loans by powerful external donors in order to call the political shots, control Haiti’s economy and facilitate

the exploitation of its people…. Foreign governments have repeatedly used the excuse that the Haitian government is too corrupt to be trusted with these funds. At the same time, these self-interested international actors have failed to reflect on their own role in manipulating such a climate of corruption.”

David Delisca recounted the story of his youth, growing up in South Florida in a Black community, where he was faced with preconceived notions and stereotypes of being Haitian and considered as “second standard” among the Black population. He recalled that he got into physical fights every day up until fifth grade, when he finally met other Creole speaking kids who, to his surprise, were not ashamed to speak the language in public and actively embraced their Haitian roots.

“Growing up, I didn’t know too much about Haitian history… When

Melanie Newton 2 ryersonfreepress.ca

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Manding Foli Kan Don

Nora Loreto

News Editor somebody is taught to not like themselves, almost indirectly, how can you appreciate yourself when you don’t even know yourself?” he asks. Delisca emphasized that awareness is critical to understanding what forces are at work behind government agencies and stressed the importance of looking back at history and learning from it.

“That view that the government we elected has a primary responsibility to us first is something we need to change. That sense that our government ‘does things outside in the world’ is a mindset that needs to change. An informed population is a population that can make changes, and this is not an informed population,” said Newton.

Rodney Diverlus, RSU VP Equity elect, echoed the sentiment, “This is beyond aid. It’s ensuring that we continue to put the pressure on policy makers. It starts from educating, not only Haitian born Canadians, but the student population.” The RSU’s decision to support the Haiti-based organization Partners in Health, which has been in the country since the late 1980s, was influenced by this need for responsible aid and understanding where funds would go to.

The panel concluded with a group discussion, prompting a participant to ask where the perception that “aid is a beautiful thing” came from, and how to imagine the future.

“It’s a Cold War generated, colonial mindset. A lot of people are under the assumption that all aid groups must be doing good. Financial assistance should be about building human relationships. It is not that hard to imagine a world where partisanship does not play a central role,” said Newton.

“Aid is not the way it should be and it’s not the way it will always be,” she continued, “Haiti has enormous and well-organized grassroots organizations. There is a level of hope and political imagination that we can really learn from. The democratic potential of Haiti is scary to the West,” said Newton. She calls this potential an “uncontrolled conversation” and believes it is something that the

West, especially the United States, sees as a threat to the centuries of Western dominated rule.

As dismal as events may seem, we can indeed learn from history. Take, for example, apartheid, which was an accepted part of post-colonial rule up until the end of the last century. “Anti-apartheid began in Britain as a group of five people, but it turned into a huge movement. The change you want to see will not happen overnight, but it doesn’t take too many people,” said Newton.

Following the panel, a fundraiser in support of Partners in Health was held at the Ram in the Rye, with spoken word performances by David Delisca and Ian Kamau, and Guinea West African dance group Manding Foli Kan Don.

All Eyes on Haiti panel

James burrows

Features and Opinions Editor James Clark

Layout Editor Andrea Yeomans

Culture Editor amanda connon-unda

Photo Editor Dan Rios

Contributors samantha anderson Astrid Arijanto inderjit bansal nicole brewer stephen Carlick Elizabeth chiang Chanel Christophe malissa farnham nick ferrio kaitin fowlie Federico Fuentes graeme z. johnson Am johal gursevak kasbia derrick o’keefe hugh mackenzie haseena manek jesse mclaren lian novak arti patel judy rebick sachin seth brett throop sara torvik angela walcott rich williamson P. R. Wright

Publisher CESAR The opinions expressed in the Ryerson Free Press are not necessarily those of the editors or publisher.

Advertising Ryerson Free Press’ advertising rates are as follows. All prices are for single insertions.

Discounts apply for Ryerson groups and departments.

Full page—$750 Half page—$375 Quarter page—$195 Eighth page—$95

David Delisca

CORRECTION: In the February issue of the Ryerson Free Press, the Arcola Theatre was misidentified as being in London, Ontario. The theatre is, of course, in London England. London, Ontario isn’t awesome enough to have a green theatre and this should have been a red flag to the editor-in-chief. We regret the error.

Ryerson Free Press MARCH 2010 3

Israeli Occupation Feels Like Apartheid

By Graeme Z. Johnson

This past week, 30 MPPs from all parties in the Ontario Legislature banded together to deliver their unequivocal condemnation of the sixth International Israeli Apartheid Week (IAW), a week that is part of a global movement aimed at promoting solidarity with the Palestinian people living under Israeli occupation. IAW calls for members of the international community to institute sanctions against the state of Israel, similar to those placed on South Africa, in order to end its continuing colonization of Palestinian territory.

According to Peter Shurman, the Progressive Conservative MPP behind the motion, comparing the situation in Israel to the apartheid measures once practiced in South Africa “is close to hate speech.”

“Israeli Apartheid Week is not a dialogue, it’s a monologue and it is an imposition of a view by the name itself,” Shurman told reporters, “the name is hateful, it is odious.”

Shurman even went so far as to claim that use of the word ‘apartheid’ was offensive to Black South Africans who were oppressed by the racist South African government.

IAW rallies are planned for three South African cities, including Durban, Johannesburg and Cape Town.

Additionally, many Black South African leaders have condemned Israel’s treatment of Palestinians as remarkably similar to the former situation in South Africa.

In a 2002 article written for The Guardian, former Archbishop of Cape Town and anti-apartheid activist Desmond Tutu drew many parallels between the oppression he experienced and that of Palestinians.

“I’ve been very deeply distressed in my visit to the Holy Land,” Tutu writes, “it reminded me so much of what happened to us Black people in South Africa. I have seen the humiliation of the Palestinians at checkpoints and roadblocks, suffering like us when young white police officers prevented us from moving about.”

Tutu also insists that the only solution for Israel is “to strive for peace based on justice, based on withdrawal from all the occupied territories, and the establishment of a viable Palestinian state on those territories side by side with Israel.”

Likewise, Nelson Mandela, South Africa’s first Black president, has asserted that the two peoples’ struggles are uniquely intertwined, stating that “[W]e know too well that our freedom is incomplete without the freedom of the Palestinians.”

“I understand that some people look at this and don’t understand,” says Suha Jarrar, one of the co-organizers with the Peterborough Coalition for Palestinian Solidarity (PCPS), which has organized IAW events, “but if you actually take one minute and look at the definition... apartheid is happening in the twenty-first century and you’re not hearing about it.

“The exact wording of apartheid means ‘separate’ and this wall,” Suha says, referring to the Israeli West Bank barrier, a 703 km wall currently under construction around the Palestinian territories, “that Israel is calling a ‘fence’ right now, separates non-Jews from Jews. Because I’m not Jewish, I can’t go there. However, Jews can come, in fact, they are in Palestine. They are there,

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they have checkpoints, they control who goes and who comes and it’s exactly like apartheid.

“There is this assumption that apartheid is a word from history. But the fact that it happened does not cancel the fact that it can happen again when we allow it to happen, when the international community allows it to happen.”

Suha, an international student originally from Palestine, has experienced firsthand the oppressive policies of Israel’s racist apartheid system.

“I don’t know if you’re familiar with the IDs that we carry,” she says, as she holds up a small plastic folder with a card inside, “This is my ID. Mine is green and Arab citizens of Israel have a blue one.

Maybe six or seven years ago we had green, blue and orange. The orange was for the people a little north of Palestine and the green was for people in the middle of Palestine. I have the green one and my grandparents live where the orange one is and my aunt came to my city to work, which is an hour’s drive away – not that far – and she had the orange one, but she got a job and she was living with us.

Everything, her job, her life, her clothes, everything was in my city, but she had the orange card.

“Then we went – me, my sister and my aunt – we went to Nablus to visit my grandparents and while we were there, Israel released a new rule that said, for ‘security reasons,’ whoever has the green card cannot go to the orange area and vice versa. Because I had the green one, I could go back to Ramallah, but my aunt had the orange one, but we were like, ‘okay, she has to come, we went just for the weekend.’

“When we came back we had to ride a bus because we can’t take our cars, we had to ride a car and then get off, then pass a checkpoint and ride a bus, then get on another car. They stopped us at a checkpoint – this was after the checkpoint where we had to actually get off, it was just a random checkpoint. They stopped her and a soldier was yelling at her ‘What are you doing? Didn’t you hear the news? What colour is this? It means that you belong there, you don’t belong here.’

We didn’t expect them to tell us to actually get off the bus, because it’s in the middle of nowhere, but he said ‘I can let you go to Ramallah, but you need to get off right now and walk.’ He even said ‘Good luck getting home.’

“This is apartheid. When the colour of your ID actually denies you a basic human right to visit your parents who are an hour away, or the colour of my ID actually controls where I fly from and the way I’m treated in airports and checkpoints. So, yes this is apartheid.

“For people who have a problem with this definition, because they don’t live there, because they haven’t experienced it, they don’t have the right to say that it’s wrong.”

Israeli Apartheid Week takes place March 1-7 in more than 35 cities worldwide. For more information on local events, visit www.apartheidweek.org.

stUdents’ Vote reJeCts CoKe

By Gursevak Kasbia mcmaster stUdents took to the polls on February 3 and 4 in order to determine whether they would enter into a future exclusivity contract with the giant transnational corporation Coca-Cola.

Students voted against the university renewing its contract with the company.

Coca-Cola has exclusivity rights with many universities across North America including here at Ryerson. The company and school enjoy some perks, including sports and arts sponsorship, assumes that students will buy their overpriced products at the cafeteria and other vending machines.

There has been much opposition on many campuses to the cola company. Many protestors have taken issue with Coke’s ethics and human rights abuses in developing nations. An international campaign website based in New york, killercoke.org features a student action on the issue of Coca-Cola’s human rights violations.

These violations include the use of child labour in El-Salvador, and the anti-union/workers rights practices of nations it chooses to do business with.

Recently, the National Film Board and Cinema Politica also announced that they will be touring the documentary the Coca-Cola Case, a film that has angered the corporation and features many human rights violations.

While students may have voted against the exclusivity contracts, the ultimate decision is with the University. The McMaster administration claims that the university requires the income with the changing economic climate and significantly reduced government funding since the Mike Harris years.

While the administration claims it respects the student’s wishes, money seems to be a greater priority than human responsibility for this educational institution.

The last exclusivity deal saw Coke-Cola pay the university $765,000 over four years, less than $200,000 per year. This helped the university to fund some sporting events. Still, many argue there are other more innovative ways in which the university could raise revenue in a more ethical manner. Added to the issues is that many of the products which Coke produces are completely unhealthy. Will Ryerson University ever have its own referendum on the issue of Coca-Cola exclusivity? It’s difficult to say. Still with a greater student voice on the issue, it may just be the spark needed to try bringing greater democratic choice to the campus.

PHOTO: OMER WAzIR/FLICkR

ryerson free press

MARCH 2010

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Toronto Tamils Fight for justice in Indonesia

By Sachin Seth

The food is unhygienic, the water is dirty, and there’s one toilet for more than 250 people. One man has died because of the unsanitary conditions in which he, his family, and his friends were forced to live.

In early October 2009, a rickety wooden boat carrying more than 250 Tamil men, women, and children was intercepted off the coast of Indonesia. It has been more than four months and the 254 men, women, and children, seeking to avoid persecution by their own government, are still trapped on-board that 30-metre boat, still docked in Merak, Indonesia, about three hours from Jakarta.

The United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) has been denied access to the boat

by Indonesian officials, even though, according to Canadian Humanitarian Appeal for Relief of Tamils (CanadianHART), more than 100 of those on board are recognized refugees.

Jessica Chandrashekar, a York University

graduate student, arrived in Indonesia on January 21 with CanadianHART in a planned attempt to board the ship and document the conditions by taking photos and conducting interviews with the detained. She, and two Australians with similar missions, was arrested by the Indonesian government and held for 11 hours. She did not have permission to board the ship and was repeatedly interrogated, The Excalibur reports.

Chandrashekar did not reply after several requests for an interview. However, she told The Excalibur that she was denied basic rights while under detention by the Indonesian police. “[The police] took me to the police station in Merak and held me there for quite some time. [They] questioned and interrogated me and took away my passport and cell phone and would not let us call an embassy.”

According to a spokesman for the Indonesian police, Chandrashekar and her Australian counterparts tried to give documents to those on board, which is strictly illegal. Chandrashekar returned to Canada on January 30, and is now banned from visiting Indonesia for six months.

In early February, Indonesian officials reported that the identities of the

Learning What’s Good For her

By Sara Torvik Carlyle Jansen, one of Toronto’s top sexperts, desended upon Ryerson’s campus on February 11 for an event put on by the Women’s Centre. The event was a sex-positive workshop for all self-identifying women to come and have an open, honest discussion about sex and how it affects their lives.

About 10 women showed up for the workshop, giving it a very intimate and comfortable feeling. Jansen, owner of the store Good for Her in Toronto, started by explaining her history and how she came to be so involved in getting women more in touch with their bodies. “I grew up in a very conservative home,” she explained.

“Sex was just not something that was ever talked about.” Jansen’s hope since she opened Good for Her in 1995 was to get as many women as she could to feel more comfortable with themselves and to be able to feel true sexual pleasure, since much of her young adult years, as a result of her upbringing, were spent not being able to do so.

The workshop covered a wide range of topics, including the various erogenous zones on the female body, how to find

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and stimulate the elusive g-spot, and how to communicate to your partner exactly what you want out of a sexual experience. For this, Jansen had everyone pair off for an exercise in communication and listening. Each person was to hold out their arm and give instruction to the other person to touch them in various ways that felt good to them. The other person wasn’t allowed to stop until they done everything that their partner asked of them. The purpose of this exercise was to show that you can’t always just presume that somebody else is going to know what you like, you have to be able to actually tell them and be patient while they learn.

Overall, this workshop offered a lot of very useful advice about sexual health for women. Jansen is a very relatable person, and made a lot of topics that might have been uncomfortable to talk about in a different setting seem completely comfortable and normal.

For more information about her workshops and her store, visit www.goodforher.com. And keep an eye for other events like this put on by the Ryerson Women’s Centre.

Tamils on-board would soon be verified and their futures would be determined. But the people on board say they’ll only step onto Indonesian soil if they are guaranteed to be sent off of it. The Indonesian government says that’s something they cannot promise without verifying identities and documents first, but the Tamils on board remain uncompromising.

Spokespeople for various human rights organizations say that all of the paperwork and questioning can be done while the Tamils stay on the boat, as many are afraid that they will be jailed as soon as they disembark, just as other asylum seekers were almost a year ago.

Those asylum seekers, who are currently confined to a tiny jail for 24 hours a day with less than one metre squared per person, are now on a hunger strike. They hope it will spur the authorities to provide them with a resettlement deal that will relieve them from their dirty cells and place them in a suburb in Canada or Australia.

The Tamils on-board the boat also want to be resettled to Australia or Canada. Canada would be a fitting home because Toronto is home to the largest population of Tamils outside of Sri Lanka.

Aadish Srivastharan, a young activist who participated heavily in protests in Toronto during the war in Sri Lanka, says he’s now shifted his focus to those trapped in Indonesia, in what he calls “inhumane conditions.” Srivastharan wants to go to Indonesia,

but after being told of what happened to Chandrashekar, he looks a little worried.

“I didn’t know that. She got arrested?

See, that’s ridiculous. How do you get arrested for trying to bring food to your brothers and sisters? It’s not right,” he says, his voice trailing off at the end of the statement. Srivastharan looks off into space, trying to imagine what his countrymen and women are going through. “I understand that some people are against letting them off the boat because some are believed to be terrorists working with the [Liberation of Tamil Tigers Eelam]. I don’t know, maybe they are being too stubborn.

Maybe, they should get off the boat and see what happens. They can’t stay on it forever.”

Rights groups and the global Tamil diaspora hopes the Indonesian government will not send the Tamils back to Sri Lanka.

There they will likely be branded as traitors, jailed, persecuted and charged with illegal migration, as many others trying to flee the country have been.

According to the Indonesian government in early February, the problem should have, by now, been solved. But, the government’s definition of solved likely differs from that of the Tamils’, who want safety and security promptly, as politics and paperwork are never prompt.

Srivastharan is however, optimistic.

“It’ll be over soon. They are barely surviving.

They’ll have to get off if they want to live. But what kind of life will they live?”

Greece looks to overhaul economy, increase tax on Wealth

By Chanel Christophe

Greece is on the brink of bankruptcy. The country has within the last decade seen its public debt balloon to over four hundred million dollars.

The national debt, at 124 per cent of GDP, is the highest debt to GDP ratio in the European Union (EU). Discussions are swirling now as to whether to extend a bailout to Athens so that it can meet its debt obligations. France and Germany, the largest economies in the Union, seem wary of such a proposal.

But their economic future and that of the euro might be jeopardised if this turns out to be a Greek tragedy. The value of the euro dropped with the revelation of the extent of the debt crisis in Athens and has raised fears within the eurozone – the 16 nations that use the euro currency – of a possible domino effect from weaker EU economies.

The EU leaders, after a February 11 meeting, have pledged to help, though no specific details of what form that help would take have crystallized.

The true extent of the Greek debt was hidden primarily because of the fuzzy accounting of previous governments who doctored the financial data to present a rosier picture than reality.

The cleanup of that financial mess has now fallen to Prime Minister George Papandreou whose Socialist Party came into power in October 2009. In an effort to bring the budget deficit to three per cent, Papandreou announced a 10 per cent cut in social security spending, a drastic overhaul of the pension system, and a new tax

system that will make the wealthier carry more of the burden.

Further, he wants to abolish bonuses at state banks and slap a 90 per cent tax on private bankers’ bonuses. He has vowed to fight seriously against corruption and tax evasion, issues he has highlighted as the country’s biggest problems.

These austere measures are some of the structural reforms that some analysts say are urgently needed if Greece is to come out of this crisis. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has offered its technical assistance in drafting plans for reform. The offer has raised European nationalist sentiment, particularly in France, which does not want the Americans involved in what they view as a European affair, and has been rejected by Greece.

The European Central bank president JeanClaude Trichet seems encouraged by the Papandreou proposals revealed so far. “The ECB governing council approves the medium-term goal... we expect and are confident that the government will take all decisions that will permit it to reach that goal,” he said. “The measures taken...the tax raises, the freezing of wages in the public sector, and the pension reform, are steps in the right direction.”

Not surprisingly, the unions vehemently disagree, and have stepped up campaigns to resist the reforms. A number of national strikes are planned to encourage further public displays of dissent with the package of proposals that have been put forward.

New coalition demands better funding for universities

By Brett Throop

W

ith a $25 billion projected deficit, the Ontario government will be weighing spending priorities against some harsh economic realities as its 2010 budget is written this month.

A new coalition of Ontario university students, staff, and faculty wants to make sure deficit reduction does not come at the expense of universities. The Ontario University Coalition says that after years of under-funding, “[T]oday Ontario’s university system is at a crossroads in providing accessible, affordable, quality education.”

In a press release, the Coalition pointed to “creeping privatization” and “ever-increasing tuition fees” as the result of under-funding.

Coalition member Graeme Stewart, from the Ontario Confederation of University Faculty Associations answered questions by email.

Ryerson Free Press: What is wrong with Ontario’s university system?

Graeme Stewart: Ontario actually has a very good university system. But it faces some serious challenges. To begin with, our universities are underfunded. Today, universities receive 24 per cent less in per-student funding than they did in 1990. Ontario is also ninth out of 10 provinces in terms of per-student funding. This under-funding has a variety of negative effects. It increases the student-to-faculty ratio and class sizes, reducing student access to their professors. It makes it difficult for universities to renew aging infrastructure and acquire the latest technological resources. And, it leads to large tuition increases. Ontario students currently pay the highest tuition fees in Canada.

All of this is made worse by the fact that enrolment – especially at schools in the GTA – is set to expand significantly. More students will strain the system even more, leading to a crisis in educational quality. Without a high-quality education, Ontario’s students won’t be able to compete in the new knowledge economy.

RFP: How does privatization threaten universities?

GS: There are two ways to think about privatization. First, in terms of where operating funds for universities come from. Right now, 43 per cent of university operating funds in Ontario come from tuition fees (which is a private source of income). At some schools, this proportion is much higher. At Trent, for example, it is 48.1 per cent. At the point the proportion of operating funds constituted by tuition fees crosses 50 per cent, a university is no longer a true “public” institution. It also means students are paying for too much of their education.

Another form of privatization is the growing influence of corporate interests. Government policy tends to over-emphasize commercialized research at the expense of basic, curiosity driven research. In turn, an emphasis on research with commercial applications

can influence how resources are divided within an institution. This can affect the academic freedom of individual faculty and the autonomy of a given institution. The coalition is not entirely opposed to commercialized research, but it is important that this activity be properly balanced with non-commercial work.

RFP: What does OUC want to see in the 2010 budget? How can funding be strengthened despite Ontario’s looming deficit?

GS: Overall, we would like to see government funding for universities increase. We are sensitive to the financial circumstances facing the provincial government. But Ontario’s economic and social success depends on the ability of the university system to produce research, innovation, a skilled workforce, and the next generation of engaged citizens. Under-funded institutions cannot fulfill this vital role as effectively as a system with adequate public support.

Simply put, Ontario cannot afford to under-fund its universities. Increased public funding is not a cost against the Government of Ontario. It is an investment in the future of our province, one that is urgently needed. If universities do not receive sufficient public funding, they are left with two options: reduce the quality of education, or charge students more in tuition fees. Both are unacceptable. We need a high quality post-secondary system to ensure the economic success and social vitality of our province. Moreover, we already ask our students to pay for more than their fair share of higher education. If we allow tuition fees to increase further, then we prevent many low- and middle-income students from pursuing university education. Those who are able to attend will graduate with crippling levels of student debt.

Stewart added that through “a sustained public and government advocacy campaign, we will help focus public attention on university issues in the next provincial election.”

Coalition members include the Canadian Federation of Students (CFS), the Canadian Union of Public Employees Ontario (CUPE Ontario), the Confederation of Ontario University Staff Associations (COUSA), and the Ontario Public Service Employees Union (OPSEU).

Soft Sentence in Racially Motivated Attack

By Nick Ferrio and Malissa Farnham Outrage and anger were front and centre at a Newmarket Court February 12, as Trevor Middleton, of Sutton West Ontario was sentenced to two years less a day in jail for his participation in racially motivated hate crimes on AsianCanadian anglers on September 16, 2007.

Susan Eng, a lawyer and activist in the Chinese community in Toronto, was disappointed with Justice Alfred Stong’s sentence, stating, “it was really appalling in the view of everyone in the room except of course of the family and friends of the perpetrator. Those of us in the advocacy group wanted to hear the judge have an absolute finding; that in fact the activity was motivated by hate.”

Reportedly, Justice Stong found Middleton was “partially motivated” by racism in his attack. While the prosecution was expecting a sentence of 8 to 10 years based on section 718.2(a)(i) of the criminal code which entitles a judge to enforce a more severe sentence when a crime is motivated by hate. However, Justice Stong gave Middleton a sentence of only two years less a day, as he had no prior criminal record and was only 20 years old at the time the crime was committed.

The details of the altercation that ultimately lead Shayne Berwick, to suffer injuries resulting in severe brain damage and confinement to a wheelchair, are horrific and unsettling.

A group of mixed race anglers were fishing on the shores of Lake Simcoe at Mossington Park in Sutton, when two of them, both Asian Canadian, were approached by local young men asking to see their fishing licences.

They were then pushed into the water and an altercation ensued between the two groups, ending in a high speed car chase down a narrow hedged road with a number of

sharp turns. Middleton, driving a pick-up truck, repeatedly rammed into the back of the Honda Civic driven by Ruohang Liu, that eventually was pushed off the road. It slammed into a tree and ejected two of the passengers, one of which was Berwick.

Although this particular incident was the most severe, it is certainly not isolated. These acts of purported ‘vigilante justice’ targeted at Asian anglers have taken place some thirty times between 2007 and 2009 in Ontario, according to a report by the Metro Toronto Chinese and Southeast Asian Legal Clinic. Of note is the fact that not one of the anglers reporting attacks were found to be fishing illegally.

This case set a precedent within the Canadian judicial system, as Justice Stong took judicial notice of the term “nipper-tipping” – the name given to this small-town pastime of pushing anglers of Asian descent and/or their equipment into the water – as an inherently and unequivocally racist term.

Eng argued, “People can feel comforted by the fact that the legal system works, at least in part. Acknowledging that this case was hate motivated beyond a reasonable doubt and taking judicial notice of ‘nipper-tipping’ as a racist term are important from the point of view of advancing the law and the cause of anti-racism as a judicial construct. But, second and apart from that, the impact of the sentence, in terms of the role a criminal sentence has in society, did not serve its purpose which is to adequately show society’s condemnation of this behaviour and to deter others from doing the same thing.

“When you have a sentence like this,” Eng continued, “it is not enough for the judge to simply make strong findings

that this was motivated by hate. The length of the sentence is disproportionate.”

Convicting and sentencing Middleton, however, also sets a precedent within rural Canadian communities where attacks on immigrant anglers have taken place. “Most people who carry out these activities are not just naïve, but believe that they will not be caught, or if they are caught, their community’s values will support them in what they did.

Remember, [Middleton] was a motocross champion and was celebrated by his community. Often people think they can get away with this. The fact of a conviction, the fact of any custodial sentence at all, sends a strong message to the communities involved,” said Eng. In terms of an institutional response, the reaction “has been disappointing by and large.” While York Regional Police set up a hotline specifically for attacks on anglers, the response by local politicians and the Ministry of Natural Resources, in whose name Middleton and his friends claimed to be acting by claiming they were enforcing fishing regulations, have been sub-standard.

“Their answer was to re-publish fishing regulations in Chinese. While ordinary individuals may or may not take a lesson from this, what is really disappointing is that ministries of government have not taken much of a lesson from this,” stated Eng. “They have a role to play in both political leadership and the implementation resources, such as education, to try to prevent this from happening again.”

Eng believes that this case is far from over. “We’re asking that the sentence be appealed. Simply put, the length of the sentence is inadequate and disproportionate to the crime.”

Ryerson Free Press MARCH 2010 7

OPINION Taskforce on Anti-Racism delivers final report Now it’s time to implement the recommendations

By Nora Loreto, Editor-in-Chief After two years of deliberations, the Taskforce on Anti-Racism at Ryerson released its historic final report on February 11. The report documents the experiences of students, faculty, staff and community members who have encountered racism on our campus, and identifies those structures that perpetuate systemic racism.

The report makes 59 recommendations for combating the “chilly climate” felt by many racialized groups at Ryerson. These include policy changes, expanded and more sensitive course curricula, improved security measures and many other steps meant to help Ryerson become a more comfortable and open space for all who study and work here.

Not surprisingly, the report’s release attracted immediate criticism. Marcus Gee, writing in the Globe and Mail, crows: “Racism at Ryerson? Look carefully or you’ll miss it.” Gee seems incredulous that racism could exist at Ryerson, “one of the most diverse and welcoming universities in the country, if not the world.” Sadly, Gee fails to recognize that his position as a white, middle-class male journalist doesn’t necessarily give him any insight into the experience of racialized groups at Ryerson – never the mind the right

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to decide what counts as racism.

Gee’s assessment attempts to undermine the careful and considered research that informs the Taskforce’s final report. Unfortunately, he’s not alone. Far too many critics, especially those who have no real connection to Ryerson, seem to think that, because they can’t see it, there’s no racism at Ryerson or anywhere else, for that matter.

But that’s precisely the point.

Racism manifests itself in all kinds of different ways, and is often invisible to those who have never encountered it personally.

The purpose of the Taskforce is to draw attention to these experiences, to acknowledge and legitimize them, and to find ways to prevent them from happening again.

To identify racism at Ryerson is not necessarily the same thing as saying that Ryerson is racist. The Taskforce simply concludes that not everyone experiences Ryerson in the same way, and that not everyone is equal while at Ryerson.

Racism is a complex issue that must be addressed honestly and with sensitivity. The Taskforce clearly understands this, and has done well to initiate a sometimes difficult and painful conversation – and one that all mem-

bers of the Ryerson community must engage.

For instance, the report reveals that fewer racialized faculty members get tenure, that some students feel silenced or marginalized in their classes, and that the grade appeals process may be influenced by a students’ racial or ethnic origin – to name just a few of its findings. All these experiences matter, and must be generalized to the wider community.

The Taskforce was led by two co-chairs: Eileen Antone, associate professor of adult education, community development and counselling psychology at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, University of Toronto, and Grace-Edward Galabuzi, associate professor of politics and public administration at Ryerson. In addition to two co-chairs, ten other members rounded out the Taskforce: three students, three staff members, three faculty members, and one senior administrator.

Its final report delivers a thorough environmental scan of how members of the Ryerson community experience racism, and lays a solid foundation on which future anti-racism initiatives may be developed. One of the report’s central strengths is the comprehensive and inter-connected nature of its 59 recommendations. For these recommendations to be effective and meaningful, all of them must be implemented.

As Ryerson begins to discuss and evaluate the Taskforce’s final report, we have a real opportunity to set an example for other campuses to follow, one that will hopefully address the province-wide problems faced by racialized students, faculty and staff in higher education. Ryerson students should be proud that they are already at the forefront of this important struggle.

In addition, we have a real opportunity to recognize and educate ourselves about the experience of all those who have been affected by centuries of imperialism, war, colonization, and racist immigration policies – especially Canada’s role in these experiences. The Taskforce deserves credit for drawing attention to these histories.

An important step in this process is to recognize that Canada is a settlerstate. Our institutions were built from (and therefore inherit) structures that perpetuate inequality. It is not always an easy task to admit this, but we really have no other choice.

Another settler-state, South Africa, remains a popular example of an extreme manifestation of racist, state-sanctioned segregation. As an apartheid regime, South Africa codified racism as state policy. The indigenous Black population was forced into poverty and restricted from positions of power.

According to CBC’s Digital Archives, South African apartheid was a “a brutal system of racial separation that kept the nation’s black [sic]

majority in poverty while a white minority held the wealth and power.” The Archive later quotes Justice Thomas Berger – the youngest person to be appointed to the Supreme Court of Canada in the twentieth century – who wrote in 1966 about British Columbia’s treatment of First Nations people: “They began by taking the Indians’ land without any surrender and without their consent…Then they herded the Indian people onto Indian reserves. This was nothing more nor less than apartheid, and that is what it still is today.”

Almost 50 years later, there have been few changes to the Indian Act, or to the racist legislation that came before it. Closer to campus, our very own Egerton Ryerson is credited with founding the Normal School System, the basis for which the Residential School system was developed. These systems became tools for the federal government’s assimilationist policies that sought to destroy the nations of people whose land the settlers stole.

As students who will forever be associated with Ryerson’s name – and/or as people who occupy this land as stewards or settlers – we must resist racism and all forms of oppression: at Ryerson, in Toronto, across Canada, and anywhere we encounter it.

As citizens or residents of Canada, we have a duty to uphold our Treaty obligations – a commitment that should form a critical part of what we mean by citizenship. Universities can play an important role in developing this concept. Regardless of our generational claim to this land, all of us can benefit from a new approach to knowledge and curriculum that includes voices that are systemically silenced.

Bringing Indigenous experience into existing curricula, creating more spots for Indigenous scholars, and introducing traditional approaches into scholarly methods will create better educated students, and help reestablish the kind of knowledge that has been developed in the millennia before our campus ever existed.

The struggles for racialized communities, First Nations, women, queer people, people with disabilities and all oppressed groups are interrelated, and will rise together or fall together. Our collective struggle for real and genuine equality is far from over; on many fronts, it is only just beginning.

The Ryerson Free Press takes pride in giving voice to the perspectives of marginalized and isolated communities and struggles, perspectives that all too often remain absent from Canada’s mainstream and corporate media. We take pride in our commitment to challenging racism and oppression wherever we see it. And we take pride in the stories that appear in our pages, and in our writers who tackle difficult and often controversial issues.

It is in this context that we applaud and endorse the final report of the Taskforce on Anti-Racism at Ryerson, and call for its swift and immediate implementation. The recommendations of the Taskforce are in keeping with our own commitment to global justice, and represent an important step forward to building a more open, accessible and unified community at Ryerson.

stop tHe AttAck on ttc WoRkeRs

By Jesse McLaren

tHe corporate press and TTC management are going on an offensive against TTC workers, scapegoating them for an underfunded transit system and pushing towards a privatized system that would be bad for workers and transit users alike. We need to speak out up in support of TTC workers, expose the corporate agenda behind these attacks, defend public services, and expand good green jobs.

scapeGoat There is growing anger directed at transit workers is fuelled by the corporate press. A tiny number of people who photographed workers against their will were given frontpage coverage, while the radio has hosted forums to rant about workers and even question their right to a washroom break. This has created the illusion that the public is up in arms against transit workers, and that the union is responsible for deteriorating conditions and rising fares.

As Bob kinnear, president of the Amalgamated Transit Union Local 113, explained, “There is no group of workers in this city who are more subject to public assault than TTC workers. Every time there is a fare increase, we brace ourselves for the inevitable spike in insults and assaults. But the recent media focus on a handful of TTC workers has made a bad situation much, much worse.”

Rather than address the underfunding that is starving cities of cash, the government, TTC management and corporate press are blaming workers. Their goal is not to improve transit conditions or lower fares, but to privatize the system for more private profit.

corporate aGenda This attack on transit workers has not come out of thin air. In the lead up to Toronto’s mayoral election, the Toronto Board of Trade has launched a campaign-votetoronto2010. com--to promote neo-liberal policies (attacks on workers, privatization, contracting out, and user fees) as the solution to underfunding. As the President and CEO of the Toronto Board of Trade argues, “New ways will need to be found to control labour costs. New models of service delivery must be investigated, including introducing competition and doing more outsourcing...The city will need to consider the monetization, or outright sale, of selected assets. User fees must be closely examined.”

Scapegoating workers is the first step towards these policies.

defend pUblic services Blaming transit workers for a fare hike is the latest in a series of attacks on public services that scapegoats workers for government and management decisions that have undermined services.

During the 2008 transit strike, the TTC claimed budgetary constraints were the fault of greedy workers, and tried

to pit workers against those who use public transit. But Torontonians received a rude awakening to the real source of transit under-funding: when Mayor Miller applied for $1.2 billion to update transit, Federal Minister of Transportation John Baird told Toronto to “fuck off ”—and this from a government that plans on spending $490 billion on war over the next 20 years!

In 2009, rather than address decades of education cut-backs, york University and University of Toronto tried to balance their budget on the backs of Teaching Assistants, and pit striking workers against students. The real blame for tuition hikes was later revealed when the University administration introduced Flat Fees—a money grab that punishes part-time students.

Last summer, Mayor Miller scapegoated city workers for the recession and tried to take away their sick day bank. This unleashed a right-wing backlash that blamed workers for everything from city underfunding to flu deaths.

Now transit workers are again under fire, for conditions they did not create. Transit workers are not responsible for funding, fares, scheduling, or routes. These are the domain of government and TTC management. But instead of blaming deteriorating conditions on those responsible, the government, TTC management and corporate media are channelling public anger against workers. One expression is MPP David Caplan’s proposed bill to outlaw strikes by TTC workers, which Bob kinear rightly described as “a pathetic political ploy to deflect attention away from his government’s cronic negligence of public transit.” This was quickly proven

by McGuinty himself, who endorsed the “essential services” bill while refusing to allocate more funds to the TTC.

expand Good Green Jobs Transit workers are not the problem, they are part of the solution. As capitalism lurches towards climate chaos, it is vital that we massively expand good green jobs. Transit workers provide safe and environmentally friendly public transit, and these kinds of jobs and services need to be defended and expanded.

Instead, the TTC management raised fares--despite admitting this could result in the loss of millions of riders--and turned the resulting public anger against workers.

We need good green jobs and accessible public transportation, and that starts with defending transit workers under attack.

Global recession For decades we’ve been told that cuts, concessions, privatization, and corporate tax cuts would protect jobs and grow the economy. Now that this profit-driven corporate greed has created a global recession, the same old disastrous policies are presented as “new” solutions, and again working people are being asked to pay. Any so-called “bailouts” transfer billions of public dollars to banks and CEOs, while more

concessions are demanded from workers.

It is these attacks on workers that produced the muchhyped “economic recovery”, which was only reflected in CEO bonuses and bank profits, while unemployment continues to rise. But even this “recovery” threatens to end as stimulus funding dries up, leaving governments and companies to continue attacking working people in order to extract more profit.

Attacks on public services--from city workers, to teachers, to transit workers--are a conscious strategy to make ordinary people pay for the recession, through privatizing, cutting wages, and gutting pensions and benefits. But working people didn’t create the economic crisis, and shouldn’t have to pay for it!

UnderfUndinG and privatizinG All levels of government are using the recession to slash spending and privatize, and demonizing workers is part of this agenda.

Harper is spending billions on a war Canadians reject, and prorogue Parliament rather than answer question on torture, climate change, and the economy. His minister gave the middle finger to Toronto’s demand for transit funding, and when he finally returns returns to work, it will be with an austerity budget and threats of privatizing via Rail and Canada Post.

Provincially, the Dalton McGuinty government is implementing a 28.5 per cent corporate income tax cut that will deplete Ontario of $10 billion in tax revenue, while refusing to bail out the TTC and pushing to sell the LCBO. Municipal governments are following suit, transferring the burden onto ordinary people, and blaming unions. Last year city workers were the scapegoat, and now its transit workers. But it it is the labour movement that has won all the public services and benefits Canadians enjoy, from the weekend to minimum wage to Medicare.

Global resistance The labour movement is again starting to rise up. From Britain to South Africa, strikes are spreading, Greece is in the middle of a series of general strikes against government austerity measures.

Toronto has seen the creation of the Good Jobs for All Coalition in Toronto—which has been raising demands for good green jobs for all, and building solidarity between labour struggles.

Last summer working people came together to defend city workers on strike, and solidarity continues to grow for ongoing struggles like the locked-out workers at Cadillac Fairview.

When companies and governments push to see how much of this crisis can be dumped on the shoulders of workers, we need to build solidarity with every fightback, and build rank and file networks to strengthen our unions.

TTC Timeline

PHOTO: JESSE MCLAREN

2007 november

2008 april

2008 december

2009 June

2010 January

2010 february

Fare hike

TTC workers legislated back to work after going on strike to earn the same wages as transit workers in other municipalities, and to prevent contacting out of maintenance workers

City of Toronto declares no fare hike given the recession

Federal Transportation Minister John Baird tells Toronto to “fuck off ” rejecting the city’s request for $1.2 billion to improve public transit

TTC raises fares again, media launches offensive against workers

Premier Dalton McGuinty refuses to allocate funds for the TTC, then endorses MPP David Caplan’s private members bill to declare the TTC an “essential service,” outlawing TTC worker strikes

ryerson free press

MARCH 2010

9

Deficit is no excuse to end economic stimulus

By Hugh Mackenzie

As Canada’s recession winds down, despite growing talk of housing and debt bubbles, there is an even bigger bubble that’s set to burst.

It’s the Harper government bubble – that carefully crafted, out-of-touch universe our Prime Minister has been living in since recession threw hundreds of thousands of Canadians out of work.

Within the Harper bubble, the recession is over and so it’s time to turn the taps off stimulus funding and get back to the original extreme Conservative program of gutting public services.

Within the Harper bubble, unemployed Canadians are grateful for all the help they are getting. Within the Harper bubble of government-sponsored TV ads, Canada’s recession victims look downright cheerful, despite the fact that 810,000 Employment Insurance (EI) recipients are poised to run out of benefits with no strategic stimulus plan to get them working.

In the real world of recession and a fragile economic recovery, the Harper government’s efforts in last year’s federal budget fell far short of what’s needed. It’s a problem still in search of a solution.

Canada’s commitment to economic stimulus has been lukewarm compared with that of many other countries in the OECD. The contrast between the Canadian stimulus program and that of the United States could not be more stark: A scattergun program less than the sum of its parts in Canada versus a strategic focus on capacity-building priorities in the United States.

In Canada, the Harper government held up more than 80 per cent of its stimulus spending for more than a year – and then winter set in and the ground froze.

In the U.S., where President Barack Obama refuses to live in a bubble, the federal government had already delivered millions of jobs by the third quarter of 2009.

Thanks to the Harper government’s foot-dragging and scrambling for political advantage, Canada’s economic stimulus is late getting into the market, and with the threat of a slowdown in Canada’s hot housing market, the worst thing the government could do right now is take its foot off the gas and hit the brakes.

Canadians deserve better. And it isn’t too late to make a fresh start.

The number 1 priority has to be employment. Canada lost nearly half a million jobs in the recession and those jobs aren’t coming back quickly.

Canadians still need the support of extended EI. Canadians also need a robust stimulus program aimed at creating jobs and building Canada’s capacity for the future.

The absolute worst thing the Harper bubble government could do now is to shift its focus to deficit hysteria. Canada’s economic recovery is fragile, and that of the United States – our biggest trading partner – is even weaker. As both the International Monetary Fund and World Bank have pointed out, governments that pull their stimulus funding too quickly could cause another recessionary dip.

That mistake must be avoided at all costs.

As big as our deficit may look in Canadian historical terms, it is not that large in a global context. A recent survey

in The Economist shows that Canada’s deficit as a share of GDP is the second smallest on a list of major economies, larger only than China’s.

Our debt as a share of GDP is a fraction of that faced by other major countries. It is far too early in the economic cycle to know if Canada even has a structural deficit large enough to worry about in the longer term.

The Harper government should use the opportunity presented by this week’s federal budget to shift the emphasis in economic stimulus toward investments that will pay off for Canada’s economy in the long term: strengthening our postsecondary education system; addressing the health system challenges of an aging population; continuing to rebuild our physical infrastructure; and funding a Canadian response to climate change.

Finally, although this may be too much for even the most incurable optimist, the government could set aside its ideology, suspend its planned corporate tax cuts and reconsider its non-policy on early childhood education funding.

The corporate tax cuts don’t make sense. They put Canada out front in a race to the bottom in North America that we shouldn’t be in. They make no contribution to the recovery of businesses hurt by the recession – and not making any profit anyway – while delivering savings to industries that don’t need the help.

A budget that took on these challenges would be a refreshing change for Canada. It’s time for the Harper bubble to burst.

Hugh Mackenzie is a CCPA Research Associate.

Deadly game of war continues in Afghanistan ‘Olympic Truce’ more symbol than reality for Afghans killed in violence

By Derrick O’Keefe The Olympic Games in Vancouver ended as they began for the people of Afghanistan: timed perfectly with NATO’s use of deadly violence. Just as the Opening Ceremonies coincided with the launching of a massive new military offensive, the Games’ closing celebrations coincided with new attacks in Afghanistan that claimed civilian lives. The Associated Press gives the headline and intro to the fact that four NATO soldiers were killed, putting less emphasis on this latest Afghan civilian carnage: “KANDAHAR, Afghanistan — Four NATO service members died Monday in separate attacks across Afghanistan, including a suicide car bomb that targeted an international military convey as it crossed a bridge in the Taliban-dominated south, the coalition said. Nine Afghan civilians also died in four bombings in the south, officials said...

“The two-week-old Marjah offensive, involving thousands of American troops along with Afghan soldiers, is the largest combined assault since the 2001 US-led invasion to oust the Taliban’s hard-line Islamist regime. It is the first test of NATO’s new counterinsurgency strategy since President Barack Obama ordered 30,000 new US troops to Afghanistan late last year.”

Sadly, all of this stepped up violence in Afghanistan took place under the cynical fraud of an “Olympic Truce,” which VANOC, the Canadian government, and all United Nations member states had endorsed. Based on the images of Canadian and U.S. troops playing ball hockey or watching the gold medal game from their base in Kandahar, many might have had the impression that hostilities were somewhat on hold. The reality was that hostilities were ramped up more than ever, arguably using the spectacle of the Games as cover.

Surely this must rank as one of the most underreported stories of these Vancouver Games.

The lives of dozens of Afghan men, women, and children were ruthlessly snuffed out over the duration of the Winter Olympics. We will never know

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their names, their pictures will never be shown on our national news, but their families’ and their country’s suffering will continue, with Ottawa’s complicity, until we take action together to end it.

This opinion piece was originally published on rabble.ca on March 1, 2010. Derrick O’Keefe is the co-chair of the Canadian Peace Alliance.

PHOTO: The U.S. Army/FLICKR

olympics sHould be About tHe love of spoRt All athletes deserve our support, even if they didn’t win a medal

By Gursevak Kasbia it all started with the Opening Ceremonies. I was amazed by the Canadian artists who mesmerized the crowd, and who made us all feel proud as we stood on the world stage. But when one of the torches “failed to launch” near the end of the performance, I started to get a bad feeling about the Games.

Throughout the Olympics, we saw so many of our athletes featured in television commercials, including medal hopefuls Mellissa Hollingsworth and Manuel Osborne-Paradis who performed well, but didn’t win any medals.

Others did, including Alex Bilodeau whose heart-warming performance in the freestyle moguls inspired Canadians everywhere.

Canada’s federally funded

$112 million “Own the Podium” program was no doubt successful, insofar as Canada came out on top with the most gold medals won by a single country in the history of the Winter Olympics. But what about all the Canadian athletes who were ranked within the top three of their respective sports who didn’t win any medals? Did “Own the Podium” raise expectations too high? Are we sending the message that we only celebrate those athletes who win medals?

Shouldn’t win be celebrating their love of sport, and congratulating them – win or lose?

Even though we didn’t win the medals race, we should be proud of all our athletes, and include them in our sense of national pride.

toRonto Women’s bookstoRe mAy not suRvive tHe fiscAl yeAR

By Haseena Manek last montH, tHe Ryerson Free Press published an excerpt of the Toronto Women’s Bookstore’s (TWB) letter to the community asking for financial support.

“In the past,” it reads, “when feminist bookstores were closing down all across North America, the support of the community is what kept TWB alive. you are the reason that we are still here today, and we believe that with your help we can once again work together to save this organization where so many of us as readers, writers, feminists, artists, and activists have found a home.”

Unfortunately, the situation for “the largest nonprofit feminist bookstore in Canada” is still looking pretty bleak.

Despite the fact that the response from customers and members of the community was “amazing,” the same publicity that helped raise almost $40, 000 (through donations, volunteering, fundraisers and auctioning services like massage sessions and yoga classes), may have also contributed to the end of the Toronto Women’s Bookstore, as we know it.

The letter, posted on the store’s website, (womensbookstore.com), asked for donations, as well as encouraging readers to hold fundraisers, promote

BOOk PHOTO: ‘PLAyINGWITHBRUSHES’/FLICkR

other fundraisers in any way possible and generally spread the word about the TWB’s situation.

According to Janet Romero, co-manager and book buyer, all the fantastic media coverage, (meant for those that love the Toronto Women’s Bookstore and would sorely miss it if it was gone), also reached the store’s Canadian suppliers.

In anticipation of the store having to close down, and in true capitalist and compassionless fashion, the majority of the these suppliers decided to close their accounts, cancel orders, switch to prepaid terms and/ or set very tiny credit limits.

Negotiations with suppliers have so far been disheartening, creating additional stress on the store, its board members and its many fantastic staff and volunteers.

The battle with this new enemy may be TWB’s last, but staff are remaining hopeful that negotiations will enable the store to stay open longer. The fear is that that the store will have to close altogether by the end of this fiscal year (which ends on the May 31).

Another option that has been considered is selling the business, as a way of ensuring that it could remain as a resource for the community.

Clearly the board is considering every possible

option to keep TWB and everything it provides, and stands for, alive. Unfortunately, capitalism is proving to be an onerous and resilient enemy, constantly resurfacing in new, more demanding ways.

The threat of corporate giants is not a new one to Toronto’s streets, (we mourned the loss of Queen St.’s Pages last summer), nor is it new to the Toronto Women’s Bookstore. The store was hoping that the beginning of textbook sales this past September would help bring TWB out of its two-year deficit.

“However,” says Romero, “course book sales were much lower than expected and we found ourselves in a position where we realized we were not going to be able to pay our bills – that is when we decided to send the call out for help to the community.”

After almost forty years, the Toronto Women’s Bookstore is not just a bookstore, it is a veritable treasure trove of information, inspiration, support and advocacy for “political actions, women’s health care, anti-violence advocacy, and anti-oppression politics for individuals and community groups.” Invaluable to students and non-students alike, it is a true prize on the streets of Toronto.

If only metaphoric riches could count against the Chapters chequebook.

ryerson free press

MARCH 2010

11

Bursary or Bribe?

Anti-choice organizations are offering money to single parents at some Canadian universities. Is this coming soon to a campus near you?

By Nora Loreto, Editor-in-Chief Helping single mothers can give any organization positive press, and a great photo opportunity, too.

The anti-choice movement, not normally associated with the struggle against the systemic barriers facing many low-income single parents, has recently caught on to this. Single mothers can now benefit from bursaries offered by anti-choice groups at some universities.

But many are concerned that this is simply a way of “guilting” women into not having an abortion. These bursaries, ranging from $400 to $500, amount to ten per cent of one year’s average tuition fees, or a month’s rent.

Jaqueline Bergen is a student in critical disability studies at York University and a mother of a nine-year-old. “[These bursaries are] sending out a message to young women who may consider having a child while being a student that you will be financially supported...this is an illusion,” she said in an email. “There are still very limited amounts of funding available for women or men who choose to parent while doing their education.”

Laura Collison, an alumna of the University of Alberta and a volunteer for the feminist collective campus news radio show Adament Eve, called these bursaries manipulative. “I appreciate that they’re supporting women with education, but this is not a feminist act. It seems like they’re paying women to keep their pregnancies.

“If these groups were really concerned about how women could afford university, they’d be involved in advocating for lower tuition, child care…and a higher minimum wage,” she said.

For Bergen, “Getting subsidized daycare was the big one that really gave me the oppurtunity to form a life...attend school, and have some time to clean the house...there were many times where the rent was behind several months, my tuition is rarely fully paid...My biggest source of ‘help’ has been from my mother who is my daughter’s ‘other‘ parent and the greatest source of love and support.”

At Collison’s alma mater, the anti-choice club offers the Charlotte Denman Lozier Bursary for Single Mothers, for women with “born or unborn children.” The club’s website advertizes the award as being funded through club fundraising, and the Archdiocese of Edmonton’s Go Life Extravaganza seems to be its primary funding source.

On Saturday, March 6, the Extravaganza will feature a semi-formal with “cocktails, musical performances, dinner, dance, silent auction, and an address from Archbishop Richard Smith.” A portion of the $60 ticket ($40 for students/youth) will be donated to the Charlotte Denman Lozier Bursary.

Similar awards are available at other schools. Just below the UNBC Math & Physics Society Scholarship on the awards and bursaries website for the University of Northern British Columbia, is an award for single parents. Donated by the local Knights of Columbus, the Catholic men’s organization, the UNBC Students for Life Bursary has been given away for the past two years.

At St. Francis Xavier University in Nova Scotia, a Students for Life Bursary is given annually to single parents with demonstrated need.

“If you’re opposed to abortion, you should be very for this [award],” said Anne Cooke, Administrative Assistant at St. Francis Xavier’s financial aid department.

“It encourages young mothers to carry their children to term,” she said, adding that the community there is very welcoming, and that people are available to help women whether their pregnancies were planned or unplanned.

“It’s not trying to influence women or anyone about abortion; it’s just for people who’ve already made their decision,” she added.

Joyce Arthur, from the Abortion Rights Coalition of Canada, said that she has noticed an increase in the number of groups seeking funding and status from student unions for clubs that are specifically anti-choice. While she thought providing money to help single parents was important, she questioned the motives of the groups.

In early February, the Senate at the University of Victoria rejected the proposal of Youth

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Protecting Youth (YPY), the local pro-life group, for a similar bursary. YPY has been engaged in a public fight against the University of Victoria Student Society (UVSS) for club recognition and funding from the pro-choice students’ union.

Through e-mail, Theresa Gilbert from the National Campus Life Network (NCLN) said that she was disappointed to hear that the YPY bursary was denied. “Many people and organizations claim to be pro-choice… However, when universities steadfastly refuse to offer any additional support to single mothers, it becomes very difficult for a woman to choose to raise her child, complete her education and manage the costs that are involved with both endeavours.

“Universities across Canada need to recognize the additional difficulties that these student parents face and provide some additional support (bursaries, on campus day-care, rest/ nursing facilities etc.) before universities can truly claim to be ‘pro-choice’ when it comes to unplanned pregnancies.”

Abortion has proven to be a tough issue to take on for students’ unions and university administrations alike. Those students’ unions that take a pro-choice position have found themselves up against an onslaught of an organized anti-choice movement. A year ago, the University of Calgary charged students from the local anti-choice group with trespassing for demonstrating how abortion can be compared to the Holocaust and other genocides. Their charges were stayed in November, 2009.

At Ryerson, student clubs can form for just about any reason. Campus clubs, however, must operate within a framework that is determined by decision-making bodies of the Ryerson Students’ Union (RSU) or the Continuing Education Students’ Association of Ryerson (CESAR). Similar to other campuses, student unions set policies, and clubs either operate within the scope of these policies, or exist without official recognition.

Clubs policies allow students to self-organize. In some cases, like Hillel @ Ryerson and the Catholic Student Association, external funding and resources are available from organizations within the broader Jewish and Catholic communities respectively. For most clubs, such supports don’t exist, and students rely on the funding of the students’ union.

This is where controversy exists: on many campuses across Canada, student clubs dedicated to only advocating for so-called life issues – no abortion, no euthanasia and no stem cell research – have been popping up. This poses a real dilemma for those students’ unions that are progressive and brave enough to take pro-choice stands.

The NCLN support students who form pro-life clubs on campus. They provide posters, newspaper inserts and a list of speakers for campus events. They offer sample constitutions, a sample budget, sign-up sheets for volunteers and ads that promote the next meeting. They offer templates for press releases, letters to the editor to refute anti-choice positions, and fundraising letters. They also employ full-time staff (including organizers in western and eastern Canada), organize national leadership training events, and provide clubs with a sample of activities to undertake in each month from August to March.

Despite this organizational capacity, and the apparent financial resources to sustain bursaries, pro-life clubs still seek official recognition from local student unions. Ryerson doesn’t have a pro-life club; the most recent attempt of one forming was in 2003.

NCLN does not appear to be centrally coordinating these bursaries, but pro-choice activists should be prepared for the expansion of these awards. The Charlotte Denman Lozier Bursary for Single Mothers at the U of A was established just last October.

Bergen’s daughter was three when she started school again, and she continues to struggle to finish her Master’s. “I have had an extremely difficult time financially getting through school. I am always broke, she said. “Tuition eats up about 25 to 30 percent of my annual income. I have been mostly dependent on social assistance, which I am not that ashamed of. I was unable to get OSAP...I got some special bursaries from York because I have a disability. I get the Canada Child Tax Benefit.

“It’s great if single mothers can graduate and have support to do that,” said Arthur. “It’s not great to make them feel guilty.”

Haiti’s reconstruction must be shaped by Haitian hands Statement of the Canada Haiti Action Network

In the wake of the devastating earthquake that struck Haiti on January 12, genuine solidarity for the people of Haiti has become even more critical. The loss of lives, the hundreds of thousands of sick and injured, the destruction of housing and infrastructure, all of these enormous problems constitute an unprecedented disaster in a country whose population is among the most vulnerable on the planet. This tragedy has provoked a strong reaction of compassion among millions of people around the world, all sharing a desire to help and to offer support for the urgent needs of the Haitian people.

In particular, we note the remarkable contributions made by medical and emergency assistance agencies, including Partners in Health/Zanmi Lasante, Médecins Sans Frontières, and the many medical brigades provided by the Government of Cuba. Throughout this crisis, the Haitian people have responded with great dignity and solidarity – though the international media has all too rarely reported on this. Such dignity is especially impressive given the unspeakable neglect they have suffered since the earthquake.

In contrast to this powerful human response within Haiti and around the globe, the group described in the mainstream media as the “Friends of Haiti” – including the governments of Canada, the US, France, and Brazil – has been anything but. The failure of the aid effort has been due in large part to its militarization. The “Friends” group

appears to operate with an irrational fear and disdain for the Haitian people. They are preparing a coordinated “reconstruction” process for Haiti that will once again see powerful, non-Haitian decision-makers setting the course, within a context structured by military occupation and a “charity” model of assistance.

This neglect follows a pattern.

An embargo on financial assistance to Haiti’s elected government from 2000 to 2004 was followed by its violent overthrow on February 29, 2004. This coup d’état was carried out by a paramilitary uprising with political and military backing from the U.S., Canada and France. A twoyear regime characterized by its grave human rights violations was appointed by foreign powers, with the blessing of the UN Security Council.

A Security Council-authorized police and military mission has played a preponderant role in Haiti’s affairs ever since.

The aid and financial embargo continues to this day. Haiti’s president René Préval has remarked on this to foreign media since the earthquake. He has complained that the aid money flowing into the country is not being directed either towards existing Haitian institutions or to creating the new ones that will be required.

The Canada Haiti Action Network is deeply concerned about the observable trends in Haiti since the earthquake. We are expressing our concerns to the appropriate authorities. We will continue to urge upon them the following principles to

guide the aid and reconstruction effort in Haiti. We invite readers of this statement to do likewise.

1. Respect for Haiti’s sovereignty and a Haitian-led crisis response and reconstruction – While the January 25 Montreal Reconstruction Conference saw many leaders of the “Friends of Haiti” governments paying lip service to these concepts, it is nonetheless clear that Haitian voices, and most significantly the Government of Haiti itself, have been consistently sidelined in these discussions. Clearly, any meaningful reconstruction and development process in Haiti will require a central, decision-making role for its government and social organizations, and a dedicated and well resourced effort to build, re-build, and greatly expand Haiti’s public sector and governmental capacity. All pressures on the Haitian government from the Government of Canada and other “Friends” to further privatize Haiti’s public enterprises must be firmly rejected.

2. Opposition to militarization of relief and humanitarian assistance – The fact that Haiti was already occupied by a 9,000 strong Security Council-sanctioned military force (known by its acronym MINUSTAH) did not stop the United States government from quickly dispatching 20,000 marines of their own and seizing the Port-au-Prince airport. The Government of Canada followed this by sending 2,000 troops of its own. As is now widely known, this military control has been a major contributor to the failure to

reach vast numbers of earthquake victims with urgently needed relief supplies and medical aid. The obsessive foreign concern about “looting” and “security” has proven to be inaccurate and an impediment to the relief effort. Relief activities must be de-militarized and they must be fully coordinated and overseen by the Haitian government and its agencies. All foreign NGOs and agencies should be put at the service of these local authorities and should assist them to build the appropriate structures, as needed.

3. Demand for absolute and unconditional debt cancellation for Haiti – While more and more national and international agencies have come to recognize that Haiti’s debt is not only odious but also a choking obstacle to its recovery and development, the International Monetary Fund and other key multilateral lenders continue to resist efforts to cancel it. Under the circumstances of the earthquake crisis, there can be no justification for Haiti sending vitallyneeded funds to foreign banks.

4. Support for the settlement of the international debts owed to Haiti – Another major contributor to the serious inadequacy of Haiti’s infrastructure and its dire economic circumstances is the odious “debt” imposed on Haiti by France in the early nineteenth century under direct military threat and as a condition of establishing diplomatic and economic ties to the newly-independent republic. From 1825 to 1947, Haiti paid some $21 billion in current dollars to France as compensation for

the loss of “property” of French slave plantation owners. The immorality of this extortionate debt has always been clear to the people of Haiti.

Natural justice requires that these extorted funds be returned.

5. An appeal for immediate adaptation measures by Immigration Canada – The federal government must immediately recognize the dramatically changed circumstances faced by the Haitian community in Canada and those in Haiti needing access to family, support, and medical care. Such measures must include the extension of eligibility for family sponsorship to siblings, aunts, uncles, cousins and adult children and temporary waiver of sponsorship application fees (as has been applied in comparable emergency situations).

The admissibility rules for family reunification must also include the issuing of temporary-resident permits to allow the processing of such cases in Canada rather than in Haiti, as has been established in Haiti’s tiny Caribbean neighbour state of Antigua.

For more information, please see: www.canadahaitiaction.ca, www. haitianalysis.com and http://www. cepr.net/index.php/blogs/relief-andreconstruction-watch/.

This opinion piece was originally published by the Canadian Haiti Action Network (CHAN) on February 28, 2010: http://canadahaitiaction. ca/. CHAN is an information and action network that coordinates the work of Haiti solidarity committees in cities across Canada.

Ryerson Free Press MARCH 2010 13

Annual women’s memoria marc

February 14 was recognized as a day to rem and honour the Aboriginal women wh been murdered or gone missing in Can Toronto, a march weaved through the dow as people drummed, carried banners photos of missing or murdered women.

The March is in its nineteenth year, a held in cities across Canada, including M Winnipeg, Vancouver and Calgary.

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al ch

member ho have nada. In wntown, or held

and was Montreal,

PHOTOS: JOHN BONNAR

Ryerson Free Press MARCH 2010 15

the fight for insite

By Nicole Brewer

Imagine saving 700 lives. Or, maybe, first imagine taking them. That’s like wiping out 35 hockey teams, or two average-sized elementary schools. Insite, North America’s first supervised injection site, averted almost 700 deaths by overdose in only three years thanks to the onsite staff of medical professionals and supervisors.

A supervised (safe) injection site is a location for drug users to inject their own drugs in a clean, safe environment while under the supervision of trained medical staff. First aid and wound care is available on site for users, as well as nurses and councillors to provide referrals to other medical services such as addiction treatment, primary health care and mental health providers.

Located in downtown Vancouver, Insite was established in September 2003 to serve four overlapping purposes.

According to its web page on the Vancouver Coastal Health website, the safe injection site hoped to improve public order and reduce the number of injections taking place in public, thus stabilising the community. It aims to stop the spread of infectious diseases such as hepatitis B, hepatitis C and HIV/AIDS. Through education and attention to hygiene, the site also aimed to stabilise drug users’ health. Finally, Insite wanted to form relationships with its clients and encourage them to access healthcare services such as addiction treatment.

In 2001, the Canadian Medical Association found that about 100,000 Canadians were injection drug users, with approximately one-third of those people living in Toronto, Vancouver, or Montreal. In 2007, an informational brochure circulated by Vancouver Coastal Health stated that Vancouver is home to about 12,000 injection drug users – that’s half the number of students at Ryerson. Of Vancouver’s drug users, more than 4,000 of them are living in the downtown eastside: the poorest neighbourhood in the city and one of the poorest in Canada.

Unlike Vancouver, Toronto’s drug users are not concentrated in one area. This observation has led to doubts as to whether a safe injection site would have the same positive effect in Toronto as it did in Vancouver’s downtown eastside. Dr. Ahmed Bayoumi, a clinician scientist at St. Michael’s Hospital, is a principal investigator in a study currently being conducted to determine whether there is a need for a supervised injection site in Toronto. The study is being conducted by the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health at St. Michael’s Hospital, and Bayoumi says that results are expected to be out in the spring of this year.

Eric Single, the Canadian Centre on Substance Abuse’s director of policy and research, defines harm reduction as “a policy or program directed towards decreasing adverse health, social and economic consequences of drug use even though the user continues to use psychoactive drugs at the present time.” Safe injection sites have been started up all around the world to focus on harm reduction, and for as long as they have been in place, they have been studied. Since its opening, Insite has been subjected to vigorous third-party evaluation by the BC Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS: one of the world’s leading research organisations.

Substance Abuse and Treatment writes that Insite has not led to an increase in drug-related crime, and that in fact vehicle break-ins and thefts have significantly decreased. The Canadian Medical Association Journal states that the safe injection site has also been found to have reduced the number of people injecting in public and the amount of injection-related litter in the community. According to The Lancet, 70 per cent of those who used the safe injection site were less likely to share syringes, thus reducing the risk of spreading blood-borne diseases.

Comprehensive community support was needed in order to open the safe injection site in Vancouver.

Partners included Vancouver Coastal Health, the Vancouver Police Department, the City of Vancouver, and the Office of the Provincial Health Officer.

Similarly, a safe injection site in Toronto would need public, governmental and legal support. But Detective Lawrence Ratchford of the Toronto Drug Squad says that “the Service does not support a safe injection site.” Instead, it supports harm prevention and reduction “through education, direct contact in the

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community [and] enforcement.”

In 2003, the Canadian Medical Association Journal published an article outlining a study performed in 2000 by the Vancouver Injection Drug User Study (VIDUS). This study observed the effectiveness of one of Canada’s largest heroin seizures, and found it to have no difference in the amount of drug use or the availability of drugs. The price of heroin actually went down after the seizure, suggesting that other shipments had compensated for the seizure. The seizure was also found to have no impact on the amount of deaths from overdose.

Elsewhere in the world, cities have tackled their drug problems by installing supervised injection sites. In 2003, the Drug and Alcohol Review published an article regarding safe injection sites across Europe. It was found that 59 sites were operating in Switzerland, Germany, the Netherlands,

Spain and Australia, up from 45 in 2000. Clients of a facility in Hamburg, Germany reported being more conscious of hygiene and cleanliness since visiting, injecting less often in public, and taking more time when doing so. Positive feedback also came from the Rotterdam facility in the Netherlands, with over three-quarters of clients reporting a decrease of using in public, and more than half paying more attention to cleanliness and injecting in a safer, calmer way.

Vince Cain, once British Columbia’s chief coroners, said it best: “We have to disabuse ourselves of the notion that jail is the answer for users. Neither short sentences [nor] long sentences…mean anything to the user. We have to establish alternatives to imprisonment. The cyclical process must end… The money spent on policing, sentencing, and serving time would be much better spent on curing the causes, rather than labouring over the symptoms.”

ILLUSTRATION: ASTRID ARIJANTO

Mortgages and Harper’s ‘pre-emptive’ bank bailout

By P.R. Wright

For months, a chorus of voices has been warning Ottawa that Canada is in the midst of a housing bubble, not unlike the housing bubble that preceded the US mortgage meltdown, and triggered the near-collapse of the global financial system.

In response, Finance Minister Jim Flaherty announced new measures to “prevent Canadian households from getting overextended and to prevent some lenders from facilitating it.” But some critics argue that the measures are akin to splashing a glass of water onto a fire after you poured gasoline over tinder and set it ablaze.

Worries about a housing bubble stem from the seemingly unstoppable rise in housing prices, coupled with record low interest rates where growing numbers of home-buyers and speculators are purchasing homes with as little as five per cent down, variable interests rates, and mortgage payments spread out over 35 years. As the buyers surpass sellers, home prices are bid upward.

Rising home prices are prompting cash-strapped households to refinance—with banks lending up to 95 per cent of the now inflated value of the property. Given the current period of jobless recovery, wage stagnation, and widely expected interest rate hikes, some analysts worry that the risk of mortgage-defaults is growing. Others worry that once the housing bubble bursts, prices will fall, leaving borrowers with debt-loads much greater than the dropping value of their home.

Flaherty’s three basic modifications—to take effect April 19 this year—are nothing, if not modest.

First, to be eligible for a 35-year mortgage, borrowers must be able to qualify for a more standard, five-year fixed-rate loan. If borrowers qualify, they can still opt for the 35-year, variable-rate mortgage.

Second, those re-financing can borrow 90 per cent of the appraised value of their home—down from 95 per cent.

And finally, if the residence being purchased is not a primary dwelling (meaning you don’t actually plan on living in it), then the down payment must be 20 per cent. Ostensibly, this latter measure is to temper speculation—or flipping.

The real estate industry and the banks all breathed a sigh of relief when Flaherty unveiled his changes, finding them to be “about right.”

But this isn’t the whole story.

In 2006, the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC, a Crown corporation) was the first to insure loans with extended amortization periods of up to 30 years. Within months, it announced it would insure mortgages paid over 35 years. And by 2007, CMHC was insuring 40-year mortgages.

Extending the amortization period means borrowers pay less on a monthly basis, but pay for a longer period of time. Some say extending the repayment period from 25 to 40 years triples the amount of interest a paid to the bank. (This is the same phenomenon that students decry when it comes to income-contingent student loan repayment schemes—those with the most modest incomes pay the most in interest.)

And while the monthly payment is lower, banks can still maintain—and expand—their monthly revenue stream by getting even more people into the scheme. The drive to increase the numbers of borrowers explains why the CMHC also introduced a new “mortgage product” in mid-2006: the interest-only loan.

In this scheme, borrowers pay only interest on their loan for the first ten years, at which point the payments on the principal kicks in.

As a result, more and more people flooded to home-ownership as a more affordable alternative to renting. New entrants to the housing market kept housing prices soaring at a rate of nearly 10 per cent per year. According to Canadian Business Online, house prices increased nearly three times faster than did income and nearly five times faster than employment increased.

The Canadian Real Estate Association predicts that in 2010 house prices will hit a record average price of $337,500.

Total mortgage debts swelled from $431 billion in 2000 to $871 billion in 2008—just as the waves of the global financial crisis were lapping at Canadian shores. Nervous Canadian banks reduced the maximum mortgage-repayment period from 40 to 35 years.

And in the fall of 2008—just as Harper was proclaiming that “Canada’s fundamentals were solid”—Flaherty was quietly helping Canadian banks unload billions of dollars worth of risky mortgages from their books under Canada’s new “Insured Mortgage Purchase Program” (IMPP).

Under this scheme, Canadian banks could choose to auction their risky mortgage packages to the CMHC in exchange for cash, proffered up by the public purse. Simply put: Harper and Flaherty engineered a pre-emptive bank bailout.

Here’s how a March 2009 parliamentary research paper (International Affairs, Trade and Finance Division) explained the IMPP: “Under the IMPP, the government proposes to purchase these mortgages from financial institutions. More specifically, through CMHC, the government intends to buy National Housing Act Mortgage-Backed Securities (NHA MBS), a kind of bond for which the underlying asset is a pool of mortgage loans guaranteed by CMHC. In exchange, financial institutions will receive a cash payment that they may use to make new loans to consumers and businesses…

“The NHA MBS bonds purchased by the CMHC consist of pools of mortgages already guaranteed by CMHC against default. As a result, the risk of default by a mortgage holder is

already borne by CMHC, whether the mortgage appears on the balance sheet of a financial institution or that of the government of Canada.”

In other words, the debt no longer appears on the banks’ balance sheets—but rather, the government of Canada’s. It makes the banks’ financial statements look better, and the public’s financial situation worse. This slight of hand allowed Canadian banks to reward themselves with hefty bonuses and continue with reckless lending practices without fear.

When Flaherty first announced the IMPP in October 2008, the “program envelope” was $25 billion. In November, it was $75 billion. By the time the 2009 Federal Budget was tabled, the funding envelope had ballooned to $125 billion and the program was expanded until March 31, 2010.

Thanks to such business acumen, Canada’s top six banks reported record profits in each of the years 2005, 2006, and 2007. And while records weren’t set in 2008, Canada’s top six banks still reported total profit in excess of $14 billion—despite the global recession. Already in 2010, so great were the first quarter profits for the Royal Bank of Canada that president and CEO Gordon M. Nixon was prompted to state: “These results reflect the strength of our Canadian businesses and demonstrate the value of our diversified business model. We earned over $1 billion this quarter for our shareholders, notwithstanding market impacts.”

In the meantime, a new report by the Vanier Institute on Family Finances shows Canada’s families have been hit hard by the economic crisis and jobless recovery. According to the report, aggregate wages shrank in 2009 and bankruptcies climbed. The debt-to-income ratio (which includes mortgage and credit card debt) hit an all-time high of 145 per cent. In other words, people owe nearly fifty per cent more than what they bring in, suggesting that 1.3 million households could have a vulnerable or dangerously high debt service load by the end of 2011.

To make matters worse, Andrew Jackson, an economist with the Canadian Labour Congress, predicts that half a million workers will exhaust their Employment Insurance (EI) benefits in 2010.

And while workers have contributed at least $57 billion more in EI contributions than they have received in benefits, the Harper government has refused to make meaningful changes in the system that would extend the duration of benefits and improve access to the program, claiming Canada’s finances could ill afford such expenditure.

No wonder. Harper and Flaherty have given it all to the banks!

Finance department data shows that so far, the Harper government has handed the banks $66 billion under the Insured Mortgage Purchasing Program between October 2008 and February 2010. As we go to press, the financial sector is lobbying intensively for the government to extend the life of the IMPP until March 2011, just to be sure the banks will be “okay.”

Ryerson Free Press MARCH 2010 17

Step Aside Vancouver

Toronto Prepares for the world

By Inderjit Bansal Preparations are being made for the G8 and G20 summits which will be held this June. The G8 summit will be held in Huntsville while the G20 summit will take place in Toronto at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre.

Some of the issues that will be addressed in the summits include sanitation and access to drinking water. The G8 summit will discuss methods of improving Third World health, especially that of infants and their mothers.

The summit will also address security issues such as reducing nuclear arms, terrorism threats from Yemen, and repairing Haiti. In the G20 summit, Prime Minister Stephen Harper hopes to focus on the need to reform banking systems between the member countries as well as continue with stimulus to pull the world from the global financial crisis.

A concern that some of the countries have includes the fear of inflation occurring from incorporating loose economic and monetary policies. Also, the G8 summit will discuss the accountability of the money donated to some African countries before discussing another attempt to offer aid.

These summits will be even more critical as they will help determine whether having both forums are necessary or just keep the G20 forum, which includes some developing countries as well. The G8 summit is seen as being made up of the eight richest countries in the world. Some Canadian officials are concerned that Canada’s voice will not become heard through the increased number of member countries of the G20 summit.

One of the main concerns that organizers are trying to address in the summit preparations are those critical voices that will come from the streets.

With every summit, there has been a lineup of protestors fighting advocating a variety of issues. It is anticipated that the protestors are likely to be more concentrated in Toronto, while only a few will head up north to Huntsville.

However, there has been a safe boundary set aside to allow for protestors to

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demonstrate near the summit in Huntsville. A portion of Highway 60 will be closed to everyone except for emergency vehicles.

Protestors will be expected to show up for this event as Facebook groups and websites have been established primarily for this purpose. Some of the fears that the protestors speak about involve the fears of a single global currency and the selfish intentions of the G8 and the G20.

The RCMP will be installing an Internet Protocol- based wireless network in time for the summit in Huntsville. The OPP and the RCMP will be patrolling the area to form the Integrated Security Unit (ISU). This is due to the fact that the RCMP is also responsible for the security of the Internationally Protected Persons (IPPs) while the OPP will help to ensure that any external activities will not disrupt the work of the G8.

The use of fences may not be needed but there will be barriers put in place to protect residents around the area. Also, there will be a restriction, preventing the people from using boats and other marine vehicles from entering the surrounding lakes and the canal around Muskoka. The ISU will try to minimize the effect on recreational activities such as swimming.

For the G20 summit, the annual Pride Parade will be postponed to July 4. A Twilight Conference (TwiCon) for vampire pop culture fanatics which had originally been scheduled to be held in the Metro Toronto Convention Centre, has been forced to move to Ottawa due to the summit.

This location was chosen for the summit since it is in the heart of Toronto’s financial district. The alternate location is Exhibition Place, which was the city’s preference. The main issue will be that the Convention Centre is in a high-traffic area. The PATH system is close by as well as the subway, GO trains, and various condominiums and offices.

After the Vancouver Olympic Games, this will be the next high-profile global event for Canada, and organizers are undertaking careful preparation.

PHOTO: boliston/FLICKR

Israel is an apartheid state

...and that is why they are losing legitimacy.

By Judy Rebick, Sam Gindin Chair in Social Justice and Democracy

Before Israeli Apartheid Week (IAW) even began members of the Ontario Legislature and the Canadian Parliament are falling all over each other to denounce it. I can’t remember another time when elected legislators formally denounced a student activity like this. Perhaps during the 1950’s when McCarthyism was rampant but that was before my time.

The Ontario Legislature unanimously passed a resolution denouncing Israel Apartheid Week submitted by PC MPP Peter Shurman who said calling Israel an apartheid state was “close to hate speech.” While there were only 30 MPPs in the Legislature at the time, NDP MPP Cheri di Novo was one of them and spoke in favour of the resolution. Federally, a Conservative MP is introducing a resolution calling IAW anti-Semitic.

Before I deal with why these unprecedented attacks are taking place, I’d like to share with you a great talk I heard at Ryerson from Na’eem Jeena, a leading activist and academic from South Africa who works for Palestinian solidarity. He told us that South African apartheid had three pillars of apartheid and Israel shares all three.

1. Different rights for different races. In the case of Israel, it is different rights for Jews and for non-Jews. For example the law of return of 1950 says Jews can return to Israel and be given citizenship even if they have no links to the country other than mythical biblical ones; whereas Palestinians cannot return even if their parents or grandparents lived there.

2. Separation of so-called racial groups into different geographical areas. Even within the borders of Israel, 93 percent of land is reserved as a national land trust or Jewish National Fund land is for the exclusive use of Jews. The 20 percent of the population that is Palestinians living in Israel have to share access to the 7 percent of private land that is left. The Israeli Supreme Court has made a number of decisions that Palestinians cannot live on Jewish lands. There are not only residential areas that are banned to Palestinians but there are separate roads for Jews and Palestinians. That was never true in South Africa even in times of crisis. Moreover Palestinians have less access to water than Jews living nearby Finally the movement of Palestinians is severely restricted much more so than were blacks in South Africa. The famous pass laws in South Africa meant that Blacks had to show government issued passes to move around but Palestinians are even more restricted by walls and checkpoints and if they live in the Gaza Strip can’t leave at all.

3. Security and Repression Matrix of Laws and Security. There was serious repression in the Black townships but there were never tanks or planes buzzing overhead like there is in West Bank. Israeli military violence against Palestinian communities, says Jena, is far worse than anything suffered by Blacks in South Africa during apartheid.

If Israel is becoming a pariah in the world it is not because of antiSemitism, it is because they are practicing a form of apartheid even

PHOTOS: JOHN BONNAR

more egregious than that practiced in South Africa. Others have compiled comments from some of the most respected leaders of the anti-apartheid movement in South Africa who see what Israel is doing as apartheid.

There is a reason why the BDS is strongest in South Africa. People there recognize apartheid when they see it.

Finally the UN Convention on Apartheid condemns the crime of apartheid that refers to a series of inhuman acts—including murder, torture, arbitrary arrest, illegal imprisonment, exploitation, marginalization, and persecution—committed for the purpose of establishing and maintaining the domination of one racial group by another. If the shoe fits.

So why are politicians including some from the NDP setting a student activity like IAW in their sites? An all party coalition of parliamentarians has been holding hearings on what they call the “new anti-semitism,” by which they mean criticism of Israel. They heard from every university president who appeared before them that there is no rise of anti-semitism on their campuses and yet the false rumours of such a rise persist because of the equation of criticism of Israel with anti-Semitism. Israel is beginning to see that the non-violent anti-apartheid and BDS (Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions) movement is a greater threat to their power than the any military threat. In Israel and Palestine, they are moving to arrest non-violent activists who are leading the movement there.

And they are using all their economic and political power to push friendly governments to move against these protests. But there is a problem. It’s called democracy and freedom of speech. However much you might disagree that Israel practices apartheid, you cannot shut down a discussion of the issue or a demonstration or disinvestment campaign against Israel because freedom of speech is a fundamental democratic right in most Western countries. In Canada, the only way to shut down the movement is to vilify it as hateful or anti-Semitic. That is what our parliamentarians are now trying to do.

I am Jewish and have been working one and off for Palestinian rights for many years, as have many other Jews who feel a special responsibility to speak out against injustices committed by Israel. During that time, I have rarely experienced any anti-Semitism. In the IAW organizing, I have experienced none. If Israel is losing legitimacy in the world, it is because of what their government is doing to the Palestinians, not because of anti-Semitism. This attempt to shut down criticism of Israel is the most frightening assault on freedom of speech I have ever seen in this country.

Whether or not you think Israel Apartheid Week is the best name for this week of discussion supporting Palestinian rights, please write your MP and your MPP and tell them you think it is wrong for Parliamentarians to denounce this kind of educational activity.

This article originally appeared at Judy Rebick’s blog www.transformingpower.ca, and at rabble.ca.

Ryerson Free Press MARCH 2010 19

After the Games: B.C. hangover begins

By Am Johal

Budget Day in B.C. hit like a brick yesterday. After all the empty patriotism and uncritical headlines in Vancouver mainstream media that glossed over eight years of democratic distortion, which approached neo-authoritarianism at times, the sad reality of Olympic opportunity costs are about to hit daylight.

Axe to the arts After unpacking the numbers, it looked like the arts and cultural sector is facing a 50 per cent cut which will result in job losses, less cultural events and the demise of several organizations which have decades of history in the province. After seeing the bloated presentations of the opening and closing ceremonies, the axe to the arts is devastating precisely at a time when the sector was reaching a new level of maturity and organizational excellence. These cuts will completely undermine long term organizational planning in the sector and push many organizations in to triage. The sad reality on the ground is that many of our most important voices will simply be forced to move elsewhere.

Increase in public debt and decrease in public services—reality check Provincial debt will be boosted to $56 billion from the current $41 billion over the next three years - a whopping increase of 35.4 per cent since 2001 when provincial debt was $36.1 billion.

The carrying costs of the debt will increase with higher interest rates and be a futher drain on operating funding in future years.

The inability of government or financial analysts to look at opportunity costs for the games was completely irrational from the outset.

We have yet to see a proper cost/benefit analysis for the Olympics. In fact, it’s never been done - not even by the $2 million Pricewaterhouse Coopers report. The initial estimates of between 118,000 to 228,000 jobs created by the 2010 Olympics and the economic impact of between $5.7 billion and $10 billion that was released during the bid process are one of the great works of fiction in BC economic history.

Incidentally, the bid boosters wanted to say that the Trade and Convention Centre should not be included in the costs of the Olympics, but wanted to include the economic benefits that were associated with the project. Under the economic model used by bid boosters, cost-overruns were viewed as a contribution to GDP. There will be an 11 per cent reduction in the provincial public service over the next three years which will see 4,142 fewer employees by 2013. There will be a 9.11 per cent rate hike for BC Hydro. Taxes will be downloaded to citizens, disproportionately impacting low and middle income people, particularly with the HST, the carbon tax and hikes to medical premiums. There will be a $198 million cut to the Ministry of Forests. This year alone,

there will be a $1.7 billion deficit.

Was the $40 million price tag for the Opening and Closing ceremonies worth it? Was the $1 billion cost of the Sea-to-Sky Highway worth it? How about the luge tracks and the sliding centre?

This year, BC will be forced to pay $252.5 million as its share of the Olympic security costs. The provincial government covered $20 million of the $40 million cost of the Opening ceremonies that included a faulty hydraulic system and an unlit torch.

Social housing units under threat At the Athletes Village, the promised 252 units of social housing may never materialize due to the mismanagement of the project under the City of Vancouver’s previous government. It is possible that the City of Vancouver may sell the units and build them on a future site, if at all. It is possible that no affordable housing on Southeast False Creek may be available until 2015.

Once again, the Inner City Inclusive Commitment Statement has been a total and unequivocal failure due to the active marginalization of civil society by VANOC and its government partners.

The promise of a funded watchdog group never materialized.

Furthermore, the City of Vancouver will be eliminating 158 full-time jobs this year to make up for a $28.1 million budget shortfall.

Bring the Troops Home From Afghanistan Now From the Canadian Peace Alliance

The Government of Canada and its NATO partners argue that we need to stay in Afghanistan to build democracy, support women’s rights and to stop terrorists. But if you scratch the surface of those claims, we find a very different picture emerges about what impacts the war is having on the country and its people. Here are a few of the many reasons why Western countries need to remove the troops from Afghanistan.

“No nation can donate liberation to another nation. These values must be fought for and won by the people themselves.

They can only grow and flourish when they are planted by the people in their own soil and watered by their own blood and tears,” said Afghan MP Malalai Joya.

For more information on the war in Afghanistan and how you can help bring the troops home now contact the Canadian Peace Alliance at: www.acp-cpa.ca or cpa@web.ca.

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NATO is not bringing peace to Afghanistan. In 2008 there was a 40 per cent increase in civilian casualties as NATO bombs killed more people than at any point since the invasion in 2001. Resistance to the occupation increases with every new soldier sent to the war zone. The Carnegie Endowment for International Peace states, “The mere presence of foreign soldiers fighting a war in Afghanistan is probably the single most important factor in the resurgence of the Taliban.”

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Women’s rights have not improved for most women in the country. Honour killings and attacks on women continue to rise. The newly passed family law allows husbands to refuse food to their wives if they refuse sex and forces women to ask permission to leave the house or find employment. As Joya says: “The government of Afghanistan is a photocopy of the Taliban when it comes to women’s rights.”

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The war is un-winnable. Every attempt to occupy Afghanistan has ended in a humiliating defeat for the foreign forces. The British, Russians and now the US and Canada have all been unable to control

the country.

The war doesn’t make us safer from terrorist attack.

On the contrary, Canada is now seen as part of a hostile coalition and every day we stay in Afghanistan the chances of attacks at home increase.

Canada continues to transfer Afghan detinees to be tortured and held indefinately by the Afghan National Army and at Bagram Air Force Base - known as “Guantanamo’s evil twin”.

“The war in Afghanistan is not reducing the terrorist risk, far from improving Afghan lives it is bringing death and devastation to their country,” said Afghan War Veteran, Lance Corporal Joe Glenton in a letter to Gordon Brown

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The government of Afghanistan is dominated by warlords that are responsible for killing thousands of Afghan civilians during the civil war from 1992-1996.

Western policy towards Afghanistan has always been influenced by the need to secure energy corridors – that is pipeline routes from the massive gas fields of the Caspian region through Afghanistan to Pakistan and India. One of the first things Hamid Karzai did after being appointed is to renew the plans to build a pipeline through the country.

There is little reconstruction in Afghanistan. The Government of Canada currently employs four times as many people to do public relations work than to do reconstruction. Many areas of the country are still destroyed eight years after the war started. NATO drops more

than 100 tons of bombs a month (that doesn’t include missile strikes) which destroy houses and infrastructure.

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Opium production, which was largely eradicated in 2001, is now the chief business in the country. The government ministries in charge of halting opium production are run by some of the country’s biggest drug lords such as General Mohammed Daoud. Hamid Karzai’s brother Walid is a well known opium trafficker.

The war has already cost Canadian taxpayers $18 billion and the Conservative government has decided they will not make public the future costs of the war. The war is also being used to justify huge increases in military spending. The Canada First Defence Strategy, the military policy paper of the Harper government, proposes spending $490 billion on the military over the next 20 years - that’s more than $16,000 per person.

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The war is spreading and could engulf the entire region. Attacks by the U.S. continue across the border in Pakistan, bringing open war to a nuclear armed nation of 170 million

people.

All of the initial justifications for the war are being proven false. The Afghan people continue to live with poverty and violence and the war is worsening with each new NATO deployment. How many more people will be killed before Canada and the other NATO countries leave? It’s time to bring the troops home.

“No nation can donate liberation to another nation. These values must be fought for and won by the people themselves.

They can only grow and flourish when they are planted by the people in their own soil and watered by their own blood and tears,” said Joya.

PHOTO: The U.S. Army/FLICKR

Venezuela’s Revolution faces crucial battles

By Federico Fuentes

Decisive battles between the forces of revolution and counter-revolution loom on the horizon in Venezuela.

The campaign for the September 26 National Assembly elections will be a crucial battle between the supporters of socialist President Hugo Chavez and the U.S.-backed right-wing opposition. But these battles, part of the class struggle between the poor majority and the capitalist elite, will be fought more in the streets than at the ballot box.

So far this year, there has been an escalation of fascist demonstrations by violent opposition student groups; the continued selective assassination of union and peasant leaders by right-wing paramilitaries; and an intensified private media campaign presenting a picture of a debilitated government in crisis – and on its way out.

Chavez warned on January 29: “If they initiate an extremely violent offensive, that obliges us to take firm action – something I do not recommend they do – our response will wipe them out.” The comment came the day after two students were killed and 21 police suffered bullet wounds in confrontations that rocked the city of Merida.

Chavez challenged the opposition to follow the constitutional road and a recall referendum on his presidential mandate if they truly believe people no longer support him. Under the democratic constitution adopted in 1999, a recall referendum can be called on any elected official if 20 per cent of the electorate sign a petition calling for one.

He said if the capitalists continued down the road of confrontation, he would “accelerate the revolution,” which has declared “21st century socialism” as its goal.

Empire on the Offensive The stepped-up campaign of destabilisation is part of the regional offensive launched by the opposition’s masters in Washington.

Last year, the U.S. installed new military bases in Colombia and Panama, reactivated the U.S. Navy Fourth Fleet to patrol Latin American waters, and helped organize a military coup that toppled the left-wing Manuel Zelaya government in Honduras.

This year, the U.S. has occupied Haiti with 15,000 soldiers after the January 12 earthquake and U.S. warplanes have been caught violating Venezuela’s airspace.

A February 2 report from U.S. National Director of Intelligence, Admiral Dennis Blair, labelled Venezuela the “leading antiU.S. regional force” – placing the Chavez government in Washington’s crosshairs.

PHOTO: www.venezuelanalysis.com

The opposition hopes to fracture Chavez’s support base – the poor majority and the armed forces – and win a majority in the National Assembly (with which it is likely to move to impeach Chavez). At the very least, the opposition is seeking to stop pro-revolution forces from winning a twothirds majority in the assembly, which would restrict the ease with which the Chavistas could pass legislation. The current assembly has a large pro-Chavez majority as a result of the opposition boycotting the 2005 poll.

Revolution Advances The global economic crisis is hitting Venezuela harder than the government initially hoped. Problems in the electricity sector, among others, are also causing strain.

The government’s campaign to raise awareness about the effects of climate change and wasteful usage has minimised the impact of the opposition and private media campaign to blame the government for the problems in the electricity and water sectors.

Far from fulfilling right-wing predictions that falling oil prices would result in a fall of the government’s fortunes, Chavez has continued his push to redistribute wealth to the poor – and increased moves against capital and corruption. This is occurring alongside important street mobilisations supporting the government (ignored by the international media, which gave prominent coverage to small opposition student riots).

There are new steps to increase the transfer of power to the people, such as incorporating the grassroots communal councils further into governing structures.

In November, Chavez announced interventions into eight banks found to be involved in corrupt dealings. A majority were nationalised and merged with a state bank to form the Bicentenary Bank. Together with the Bank of Venezuela, nationalised in 2007, the state now controls 25 per cent of the banking sector – the largest single bloc.

Nearly 30 bankers were charged and face trial over the corruption allegations. Significantly, a number of these had been closely aligned with the government. One of them, Ricardo Fernandez Barrueco, was a relatively unknown entrepreneur in the food sector who rose up the ranks of the business elite to own four banks and 29 Venezuelan companies.

Much of this meteoric rise was due to his ties with a section of the Chavez government, which provided him with generous contracts to supply government-subsidised Mercal food

stores with produce and transportation. This earned Fernandez the nickname the “Czar of Mercal.”

The arrest of another banker over corruption allegations, Arne Chacon, led to the resignation of his brother Jessie Chacon as Chavez’s science minister.

State institutions, militants of the Chavez-led United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV), and the National Guard have also moved to tackle price speculation following the January 8 decision to devalue the local currency, the bolivar. More than 1000 shops were temporarily shutdown for price speculation in the first week after the announcement.

The bolivar devaluation means imported goods have become more expensive, lowering workers’ purchasing power. To compensate, the government decreed in January a 25 per cent increase in the minimum wage.

Grassroots Organizing Despite the violent protests and slander campaign, a January poll by the Venezuelan Institute of Data Analysis (IVAD – generally accepted as one of Venezuela’s least biased polling companies) found more than 58 per cent of Venezuelans continue to approve of Chavez’s presidency. The same poll also found 41.5 per cent believed the opposition should have a National Assembly majority, compared to 49.5 per cent who didn’t.

Some 32.6 per cent said they would vote for pro-revolution candidates, 20.8 per cent for the opposition and an important 33.1 per cent for “independents.”

That 33.1 per cent will undoubtedly shrink by September. The question is whether this section will abstain (as in the 2007 constitutional referendum) or the revolutionary forces can organize themselves to win them over and deal a decisive blow to the right.

Three massive pro-revolution demonstrations have been held already this year, dwarfing the small, but violent, opposition protests.

A new grouping of revolutionary youth organzations, the Bicentenary National Youth Front, has also been created to organize the pro-revolution majority of youth and students. The injection of organized youth into the revolution is vital for its future. This is needed, as Chavez noted in his February 12 speech to a mass demonstration of students in Caracas, to tackle the serious problems of reformism and bureaucratism that hamper the revolution.

Chavez has argued against those sectors of the revolutionary camp that insist it

is possible to advance by strengthening the private sector and wooing capitalists. Chavez has repeatedly said the “national bourgeoisie” has no interest in advancing the process of change. Chavez has emphasised the “class struggle” is at the heart of this process.

He said it was vital to combat the inefficiency and bureaucracy of the state structures inherited from previous governments that hold back and sabotage the process. “We have to finish off demolishing the old structures of the bourgeois state and create the new structures of the proletarian state.” To help achieve this, the government has encouraged the creation of 184 communes across Venezuela. Communes are made up of a number of communal councils and other social organizations, bodies directly run and controlled by local communities. Chavez has referred to the communes as the “building blocks” of the new state, in which power is intended to be progressively transferred to the organized people.

The recent creation of peasant militias, organized for self-defence by poor farmers against large landowner violence, is also important.

However, the biggest challenge is the continued construction of the PSUV, a mass party with millions of still largely passive members, as a revolutionary instrument of the masses. In its extraordinary congress, which began in November and continues meeting on weekends until April, debates are occurring among the 772 elected delegates.

Differences have arisen between those who support a more moderate reformist approach and those arguing for a revolutionary path.

The debates also included whether party members will elect National Assembly candidates, or whether this important decision would be left in the hands of a select committee (as more conservative forces preferred).

After the decision to hold primary elections for candidates was announced, Chavez said on February 11: “I have confidence in the people, I have confidence in the grassroots, they will not defraud us.”

Federico Fuentes is a member of the Green Left Weekly Caracas bureau. This article first published at Green Left Weekly website.

This is an edited version of a feature was originally published as “Venezuela’s Revolution Faces Crucial Battles” by Federico Fuentes in the Bullet on February 22, 2010. The Bullet is the official publication of the Socialist Project: http://www.socialistproject.ca.

Ryerson Free Press MARCH 2010 21

CULTURE film RemembeRs eRnst beyeleR, WoRld’s gReAtest modeRn ARt deAleR

By Lian Novak

Interview with Thomas Isler Ryerson Free Press: why did you decide to make a film about ernst beyeler?

Thomas Isler: The French production company BIX FILM was looking for a partner in Basel for this project and contacted Freihändlerfilm which contacted me, since we had worked together earlier…The idea for the film came from Philippe Piguet, not myself. He is an art critic and curator and was looking for a partner who could realize this film as a director. So, this project was offered to me.

on tHUrsday febrUary 25, the man renowned as one of the world’s greatest modern art dealer, Ernst Beyeler, died. According to the New york Times, Beyeler died at his home in Riehen, Switzerland, outside Basel. He was 88.

As the man was dying, the film by Thomas Isler, called Ernst Beyeler: Art Dealer, was being screened as part of the seventh annual Reel Artists Film Festival. This year the festival, produced by the Canadian Art Foundation, showcased 13 documentaries from around the world.

What does it take to become one of the most successful and influential art dealers of all time?

Tenacity, love, passion, guts, risk-taking and a whole lotta chutzpah. Ernst Beyeler possessed all these traits and a few crucial others, like a good eye for top quality artworks by the likes of Picasso, kandinsky and Cezanne.

Thomas Isler’s film, Ernst Beyeler: Art Dealer, produced in 2007, gives viewers a behind-the-scenes look at Beyeler’s life. The film has interviews with Beyeler’s long time acquaintances and colleagues and gives its audience insight into what made this world renowned art figure tick. Isler and his collaborator, Philippe Piguet (interviewer and art critic), got Beyeler to open up and share many personal anecdotes of his encounters with friends like Picasso and other luminaries from the art world.

Ernst Beyeler was born in Basel in 1921 and grew up in a middle class family and nurtured his love of art on his own by studying it at university. In 1945 he took over a local bookstore that he had been working at part-time and turned it into the Gallery Beyeler was at until his passing. Beyeler’s main interest lay in classical modern twentieth century art. His first major coup came in the 1950s when a Pittsburgh steel tycoon, David G. Thompson, decided to sell his entire collection of over a hundred Giacommettis and klees to a young Beyeler instead of a well-established New york art dealer. In the film Beyeler amusingly recounted their somewhat bristly first encounter.

Beyeler became the success he did by building his business, clients and collection slowly and carefully. His love of art came first and selling second.

Unlike art dealers today, who buy art based on market predictions, Beyeler bought artwork based on the love and passion he felt for the piece.

There’s an interesting anecdote in this film about how a client of Beyeler’s desperately wanted to buy one of Picasso’s impossible-to-get guitar sculptures. Beyeler realized that a different approach was necessary. He knew that Picasso had a weakness for Cezanne paintings and told his client that perhaps an exchange of artwork would have PHOTO: WWW.ART-MAGAzIN.DE

more luck. As Beyeler had hoped, Picasso was intrigued. Picasso considered the offer and held onto the offered Cezanne painting overnight to think the deal through. Picasso met Beyeler’s client the next day and told him with a sad face, “I’m sorry but I cannot trade you my guitar for this Cezanne.

However, I will give you my guitar.” This incredible deal never would have happened without the insight and personal connection Beyeler had with these great artists.

Isler keeps the film moving at a fast enough pace to keep you immersed in Beyeler’s life story, but also knows when to slow down and move away from the anecdotes and adoring colleagues to focus on the quiet beauty and splendour of the art itself.

The silent shots of some of the famous works now found in Beyeler’s museum were insightful. So was the interview with one of Beyeler’s long-time secretaries. She paints a slightly less perfect picture of Beyeler as a passionate, yet at times stubborn or in her words, ‘cold-headed’ man. She says that while he would consider and listen to others people’s opinions, he ultimately made the final decision himself.

One cannot mention Beyeler without mentioning the biggest and most important art fair in the world, Art Basel. In June of 1969, Beyeler helped found this now famous art fair in his hometown.

Art Basel showcases classical modern and contemporary art. It attracts hundreds of thousands of art dealers, collectors, curators, critics, artists and art lovers from around the world every year. If a piece of art is accepted into Art Basel then its price goes up immediately as it shows that it’s a quality approved piece.

Beyeler was not only a collecter, dealer and buyer, but also an artist himself. Isler manages to get a rare peak at some of Beyeler’s own paintings, mostly watercolours of flowers and nature. Beyeler’s love of art and not money cannot be more evident than in the fact that he almost went bankrupt because he did not want to part with some of his favorite works. Beyeler even decided that not only would his favorite pieces never be sold, but he also decided to generously share them with the world by opening his own museum, Foundation Beyeler, in a small town near Basel.

While Beyeler’s heart stayed in his hometown, his impact was felt worldwide. He never left his small town for the bright lights of Paris or New york, but stayed close to the nature and familiar streets that he loved and knew so well. Somehow he managed to bring the world to him. Isler’s film captures the breadth and reach of this famous figure while also showing that he was human, with flaws just like the rest of us.

RFP: How long have you been interested in beyeler?

TI: I was interested in portraying Ernst Beyeler since I knew him for a long time as a public person. As a child, my father took me to his gallery, located in a very old building with creaking floors and small rooms where major art works were exhibited. Later I went to school nearby and I often saw him ride his bicycle to his gallery.

Ernst Beyeler was part of my local world in Basel without me being aware of his international reputation. That changed, of course, as I started to work on this film.

RFP: was this a collaborative effort with philippe or did you ask him afterwards to be the interviewer?

TI: The idea to include Phillipe in the film was mine. I felt it was important to complement the already rather frail Mr. Beyeler with another person. I was also interested to show the incredible curiosity and passion of Philippe for the lifetime work of Beyeler. I wanted to show that Philippe is from a major cultural centre, Paris, but needs to travel to small town of Basel to see Beyeler, who worked with many of the most important artists of the twentieth century.

All the interviews in French were conducted by Philippe, the others by myself.

RFP: i really enjoyed your quiet shots of the artwork and of the men loading and unloading, packing and unpacking the pieces of art for exhibitions. there was a meditative quality about them. was it important to you to show some of the behind-thescenes work that’s involved?

TI: I wanted to show that Ernst Beyeler was directing a system that dealt with works of art, which turned them into commodities. A commodity with a significant aura, which is good for business and good for the museum. These works of art are being treated very specially. And they change with different contexts. A painting is different at the auction than in the museum. I wanted to show this type of contextualization of the art.

RFP: i know you have two other documentaries on the immigrant experience. was it important to you to show the lower classes of the art world, i.e. the workers who actually move the pieces?

TI: The art world is highly artificial. Like in show business it has highly polished surfaces. The real work behind-the-scenes is rarely visible. I worked for a long time in a museum building the settings for exhibitions and I know how much work goes into it. However, that was not the main focus of the film – after all, I was commissioned to portray Ernst Beyeler – but I wanted to show how many hands are necessary to make Beyeler’s system work.

RFP: what are some of the challenges you faced while making this film?

TI: A real challenge was the collaboration with Philippe. We have not only have two different professions – the art critic and the film maker – but also two different views on art. To bring them together into a common project was as an interesting challenge.

RFP: what was beyeler’s response when he saw the final product?

TI: I think he was very happy and made small jokes about himself and his associates. And he was very taken by the statements of his colleagues who paid tribute to him.

ryerson free press

MARCH 2010

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Ian Kamau’s riveting performance at Kuumba Festival

By Angela Walcott

There is a certain vibe in the air as the Kuumba Festival at Harbourfront begins to wind down. It’s all good. There are no remaining seats inside the spacious Brigantine Room, but people are happy to stand, as long as they can catch a glimpse of wellknown Canadian hip-hop artist Ian Kamau.

His performance of his song Becoming is riveting. He is as creative as he is real and there appears to be a deep sense of honesty and urgency in the words he delivers. His is an honesty which translates even during the interview following his performance.

He explains, “I got into rapping accidentally -- I was forced on stage by my high school teacher,” his Oakwood Collegiate African Civilizations teacher, Jamil Kalim. “I was terrified at first, but I got over my fear,” Kamau admits. He has fond memories of his former teacher adding that he focused on encouraging the positives of his students’ personal identity. “He listened to us and supported us as young people.”

Kamau, who is the son of writer Roger McTair and television producer Claire Prieto, studied Fine Arts and Graphic Design at York University. As part of a collective, Kamau released an EP in 2003 (The First EP) and an album in 2004 (The Pangea Project).

Kamau was also featured on three albums by Canadian rap artist K-OS. Love and Other Struggles Vol. 3, Kamau’s latest project, is the third and final installment of the September Nine mixtape series. He created the mixtape to explore the reality of love of communities, friendships, family and the self. It’s his attempt to express the many sides of love.

The mixtape as a medium of expression has evolved, said Kamau on his blog. “mixtapes have blown up not only as a creative outlet but also a means for promotion… With

the freedom of communication afforded by the internet, artists have been able to become well-known… without being signed and without having an actual album out.”

When one talks about mixtapes in the way Kamau does, the recent Canadian Grammy nominated hip-hop artist Drake, aka Aubrey Graham, immediately comes to mind. Drake’s mixtape approach was so successful that it garnered the attention of influential rappers Lil’ Wayne and Eminem even before he released an album.

“Artists now have much more ability to build a direct relationship with their audience and be more independent (for better or worse) than ever before,” wrote Kamau on his blog.

Kamau says that Love and Other Struggles Vol. 3 is the last mixtape he will be making before the release of his first full length album Hands & Heart, due out this summer. He explained that the hands symbolically represent action and the heart represents intention.

Kamau is not only known as a hip-hop artist, but has also been referred to as a spoken word artist. He says that spoken word is a hidden gem because it is about honesty.

“There is something about it being done live. It doesn’t translate as well to recording.

People put on a guise of what it is to be an artist, as a poet you adjust and develop,” he said.

Ian Kamau performed as part of the annual Kuumba Festival at Harbourfront Centre. The festival took place over the course of two weekends to celebrate Black History Month. This year’s events included cooking demonstrations, dance and drumming workshops and film screenings - notably Chris Rock’s critically acclaimed documentary Good Hair.

The future of 3D cinema has arrived Avatar and NFB StereoLab project highlight the trend

By Kaitlin Fowlie This year’s blockbuster Avatar hit the theatres with a bang – literally. In addition to playing in 3D formats such as RealD, Dolby, XpanD, IMAX 3D, in Korea the leading multiplex chain used 4D presentation. They added more than 30 physical effects, including moving seats, sprinkling water, lasers, smells of explosives and wind effects, in synch with the movie.

Film Director James Cameron originally wanted to start working on Avatar after he finished his 1997 film Titanic, but at the time 3D technology hadn’t caught up with his vision.

Twelve years later, the technology had caught up, and audiences demonstrated their appetite for the new generation of 3D special effects that Avatar promised.

The film became the most profitable movie of all time in North America. But despite the film’s larger than life proportions and the praise it garnered, some critics posed the question as to whether the grandiose sense of entertainment may become more important to us than cinema’s intellectual content.

We don’t know the answer to that yet, but one thing is sure - 3D is making its way as the future of cinema. As this new development in film technology has emerged, so has our appetite for it.

The stereoscopic era of motion pictures dates back to the late 1890s when British film maker Friese Greene filed a patent for the first

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3D movie. His patent entailed two films being projected side by side and the viewer looking through a stereoscope to converge the two images. Due to the obtrusive technicalities behind his method, 3D was relegated to a niche in the industry. But now, 3D films have reached a point in production which has granted enormous mainstream acclaim. Coinciding with developments in digital media and high definition, 3D is on the rise. Its proponents believe it may be as significant a technique in film as the introduction of modern colour was in the 1930s.

Disney’s first computer generated 3D feature, Chicken Little, played in only 84 theatres equipped with digital projector based RealD systems (the most widely used digital stereoscopic projection technology for watching 3D movies). A year later in 2006, stereo 3D versions of Disney`s The Nightmare before Christmas and Sony’s Monster House played in 200 RealD theatres across the country.

By 2007, when Paramount Pictures released Beowulf in 3D, the number of RealD theatres had expanded to 900. Now, film and its outlets are moving quickly toward a major revolution.

Since then, a number of Hollywood studios including Disney, Paramount Pictures, Universal Pictures, Twentieth Century Fox and Lions Gate contributed over $1 billion to upgrade 20,000 North American Movie theatres to digital projector systems.

With this fundamental change in filmmaking, 3D films are starting to be made alongside their 2D versions, as opposed to being an afterthought. Now, filmmakers want to know how they can adjust their films for the stereoscopic medium. Directors are entering a whole new space with new rules.

Advocates of 3D film look forward to bringing the artistry back into our restless world. Viewers might be able to derive more emotion from films, as opposed to the fast cuts and fast pacing of conventional film. In this sense, the two media are incomparable.

The whole storytelling art form becomes a spatial art form in 3D, one that the viewer is completely immersed in. This could have huge benefits not just for the arts world but also for education. Imagine National Geographic specials shot in 3D where students are able to feel like they’re actually inside underwater caves or in space.

The medium is not without obstacles, however. Audience acceptance must span from children to adults, as well as film makers – not every artist will be willing to jump on such a bandwagon, and not every viewer will be easily sold. All advances in cinema had their own hurdles to conquer - visual language is constantly in flux. At the earliest colour movie screenings, some audience members lamented that film makers were using colour more for spectacle than for storytelling. Colour was so

saturated back then that reviewers said it hurt their eyes.

If the introduction of colour in film once hurt, the phenomena of 3D signifies our evolution to a place where we can no longer be fazed.

Continuous changes in the increasingly popular media of 3D film are making the medium more accessible to everyone. Recent experiments at The National Film Board have developed into a project called the NFB StereoLab, a group specializing in 3D animated films. As well as making the films, StereoLab also conducts research into the development of the medium. It has existed for about 10 years.

The group was originally inspired by SANDDE, (stereoscopic animation drawing device), a digital animation technology created by IMAX which allows artists to transform their hand drawn animations into 3D. Using colour encoding to adapt their work for the web, the StereoLab has gone online. To access the creations of the StereoLab, you need colour code 3D glasses which can be ordered free from the NFB online store.

It is estimated that there will be 12 to 18 feature films done in 3D by the end of 2010.

Upcoming films include Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland, Final Destination 4 and Frankenweenie. 3D film is clearly the future of cinema, or at least the near future. So grab some Gravol, your James Cameron fan club t-shirt and prepare for a much more immersive future of film.

Photo: blogmtviggy.com

Reviews

MUSIC Triple album from freak-folk harpist is beautiful and consistent Joanna Newsom – Have One On Me

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latter half of eight-minute epic “In California” is reminiscent of a young Joni Mitchell. Meanwhile the sombre lilt of “No Provenance” shows Kate Bush being worn on Newsom’s sleeve. If you asked me to pick a favourite disc, let alone a favourite track, I’d probably be stumped. Newsom has sequenced all three discs of her album so well that none of them stands as a clear winner or loser. All three are rewarding, both as part of the greater whole and as a single-disc musical entity. Have One On Me may just prove to be Newsom’s opus. It’s an album that’s as essential for long-time fans as it is a perfect starting point for those unfamiliar with her previous work. Rating: A- —Stephen Carlick

ne could be forgiven for being intimidated by Joanna Newsom’s first full-length in four years. Not only is it a triple album, but the average track length of each six-song disc is nearly seven minutes. Don’t be afraid, though: Have One On Me is Newsom’s most delicate, most accessible and most beautiful album to date. Here, Newsom trades in her divisive nasal, child-like vocals for a full-bodied alto that remains quirky without being offensive.

Her unique timbre floats effortlessly around sweet, hummable melodies. Have One On Me pulls off the near-impossible task of feeling faintly familiar without ever seeming contrived. Newsom channels her pop influences here more than ever before. The

Ex-Genesis frontman records a self-indulgent collection of cover songs with no added originality Peter Gabriel – Scratch My Back

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t’s all well and good to go out there and pick a bunch of songs to cover that will make you look all trendy and “with it,” but then you have to take those songs and run with them. You have to have a reason to cover the song. Maybe it would sound good sped up, or played on distorted guitar, or maybe changing the song’s chord structure could make the melody more interesting.

Peter Gabriel didn’t have music-related reasons and ideas for the songs he chose to cover. He had a bunch of money, an orchestra and an idea that a carefully-selected bunch of songs by critically respected artists could garner him some big-time credibility. Gabriel was respected. He had a career of progressive, interesting music to his name

that would stand the test of time. He wasn’t expected to keep up with the times. So by releasing a covers album on which he turns twelve great songs into schmaltzy, dragged-out cheese fests, he’s only done his credibility harm. He sapped David Bowie’s “Heroes” of all it’s original triumph and energy. He turned the Arcade Fire’s “My Body is a Cage” into a melodramatic ballad that replaces the original’s soul-rattling climax with a thirty-second mess of cliché strings. He even managed to turn Radiohead’s “Street Spirit” into a pointless, meandering zombie of a song. Seriously, this album should be stuck like a head on a pike to scare others from ever making a cover album like this again. Rating: D- —SC

Montreal epic post-rockers create a labyrinthine album of raw, cathartic elegance

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Thee Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra – Kollaps Tradixionales

ollaps Tradixionales is supremely engrossing. You’d think that an album with only seven long tracks would get tedious and repetitive, but Silver Mt. Zion aren’t that kind of band. The band is constantly on the musical move, which is reflected by their evershifting moniker. They’ve released full-lengths under no less than five different band names. Kollaps opens with the gigantic “There is a Light,” which arguably acts as a microcosm of the album as a whole. It moves through multiple movements. The band floats through dreamy, violinaided soundscapes and then burst loudly forth with triumphant, wailing vocals and splashy cymbals before

fading back to a harmony-laden chorus. Efrim Menuck’s ravaged tenor is as expressive an instrument as the violins that surround him.

As if these whiskey-soaked tales needed more emotion. Track transitions like that between the concluding wails of “I Fed My Metal Bird The Wings Of Other Metal Birds” and the sobering “Kollapz Tradixional (Thee Olde Dirty Flag)” make Kollaps something of an emotional roller-coaster. But the highs and lows here are worth every second of the ride. Silver Mt. Zion have audibly invested blood, sweat and tears into Kollaps Tradixionales. You’d have to be made of stone not to feel it in every song.Rating: A —SC

Ryerson Free Press MARCH 2010 25

FILM

EVENTS

In The Carter Lil’ Wayne appears colossal yet vulnerable

A portrait of the arts in Parkdale

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I don’t foresee shit. I’m good, but I’m not that good,” prolific New Orleans rapper, Lil’ Wayne says as he starts to fidget in his seat. One can feel the sudden air of discomfort congesting the room. Wayne was just asked about death. Specifically, his own death.

Lil Wayne was born Dwayne Michael Carter Junior in a small suburban neighbourhood called Hollygrove, just outside New Oreans. Lots has circulated about him over the years, especially the fact that he accidentally shot himself at age 13. But for the most part one gets the impression that Wayne makes a conscious effort to keep his past veiled in secrecy.

In The Carter, director Adam Bhala Lough creates an expose about the life of this prolific rapper, through a portrait of his European tour. Lough originally struck a deal to shoot a one-on-one interview with Wayne but the deal fell through after controversy erupted when Wayne expressed distaste with the director’s first cut. This forced Lough to release The Carter not only without a seemingly crucial interview, but more significantly, without the rapper’s blessing.

In the film we get an honest depiction of Wayne’s drug habits. Wayne lives in Amsterdam. Why? “Wayne likes smokin’ weed,” explains Manager, Cortez Bryant.

“Weed’s legal in Amsterdam.” In the film we see Wayne spending the majority of his time alone, cooped up in luxury hotel suites, watching TV, smoking weed and recording whatever comes to mind. We learn that he only listens to his music and never writes down lyrics, fearing that someone, someday may try to retrace his steps. “To be the ultimate artist,” he explains, “you have to be like me.”

Unloading a briefcase full of bare essentials, Wayne shows Lough just how ‘easy’ life on the road is for him. Inside his case he reveals a book of women’s breasts, a wad of thousand dollar bills, and a bottle of thick vitamin water that Wayne confesses, “ain’t no vitamin water.” Rather, it’s syrup, a dangerous prescription-strength cocktail. It contains cough medicine (codeine) and grape cola. “Sizzurp,” became a drug of choice for many Southern rappers who made ‘chopped and screwed’ style hip-hop music. (For a history brief on this music see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ Chopped_and_screwed) Another scene in Lough’s film takes us to just nine days before the release of Wayne’s highly anticipated third record, The Carter III. Wayne and his crew were abuzz with speculation on whether they’ll hit a million, and topple the mighty Kanye West. Everyone seems

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to care a whole lot, except Wayne. When Cortez pays a rare visit to Wayne’s tour bus enthusiastically announcing platinum (a million sold) status, Wayne appears indifferent. “Five million next time,” he predicts confidently.

Bryant and surrogate father/producer, Brian “Baby” Williams, bask shamelessly in the mountain of profit generated by their protégé. Besides ensuring Wayne’s status as ‘the greatest rapper alive’ and rewarding him handsomely for his efforts, the two appear largely absent from the rapper’s life. Bryant confesses that “seeing his [Wayne’s] eyes like that, I couldn’t look at him for too long, cuz it hurt me.”

Bryant’s past attempts at intervening on Wayne’s destructive addiction potentially jeopardized their relationship. And as the film delves deeper into the relationship of these two men, we begin to understand the dangerous consequences of a friendship overcome by the power of greed.

Wayne’s destructive lifestyle would be more palatable if it only affected him. Unfortunately, as always, this isn’t the case, and in one of the film’s most heartbreaking moments, we meet his ten-year-old daughter Reginae who proudly adorns a T-Shirt reading, ‘My Dad Rules.’

The best present she ever received from her father? She smiles, reflecting for a moment before replying, “Just him being here. That’s the best present.”

Despite Lough’s lost interview, the film paid off for audiences. Minutes in to the documentary, Lough’s seamless storytelling technique allows us to easily connect the dots between Wayne’s vivid lyrics and his bizarre lifestyle. What is the real price of fame?

Is Wayne the ultimate artist, or is he a slave to the constant demand he’s generated? In a world where fresh albums are bootlegged three months before they drop, one wonders whether having new money is really worth the pain of neglecting meaningful relationships.

Wayne’s gravelly drawl will seduce you to his most haunting of recollections, but above all Lough understands that it’s the subtext of the artist’s words that speak volumes. We come to expect Wayne to exude a larger than life personality and in doing so, recognize the questions he chooses not to address as bearing the greatest significance in our judgment. Wayne might appear colossal, but remove the shades, tattoos and auto-tune and you’re left with vulnerabilities not uncommon to most 27-year old men. He just has the money to ignore them. —Rich Williamson

t’s Friday night and Alison Snowball is in the back of her gallery past store hours. With paint smeared on her face and hands, she fixes her glasses and stares into her work of art.

“It’s upside down,” she said as her petite fingers lifted up rectangular canvas board and flipped it.

Snowball is finishing her second black and white painting. The store is still closed but beat-filled music inside make it seem like the gallery is very full.

The 28-year-old artist from North York owns the Snowball Gallery located at 1690 Queen St. W. in Toronto.

Snowball, like many, have made the Parkdale neighbourhood home to their artistic businesses and living spaces. With a booming artist scene, Parkdale is a way for these artists to express themselves while saving pennies at the same time.

Parkdale stretches from Queen Street. W. to Roncesvalles and Dufferin Street and is one of Toronto’s most diverse and heavily immigrant populated areas. Over the past few years, it has grown into a hip scene where art galleries and antique shops appear.

Marcus McLean, coordinator of the Parkdale Village Business Improvement Area works with local Parkdale businesses to encourage both new and existing customers and more monetary investments in the area. He also oversees the business-oriented goals of the neighbourhood while managing the changing interests of the area, and the neighbourhood’s negative stigmas.

“Our crime rates are lower than what people imagine them to be, there aren’t always panhandlers, you won’t see an emotional episode from street people and shops here are both on the high-end and lowend,” said McLean.

McLean wants Toronto to know his neighbourhood, the ‘real Parkdale.’

“Once you are on the west-side of Toronto, you feel comfortable here,” he said.

To integrate both the removal of the negative stereotypes about the neighbourhood and to showcase another edgy but positive side of the neighbourhood, McLean and Snowball Gallery took part in

the second annual Fireside Culture Week.

Fireside Culture Week is a seven-day celebration of local art, culture, food, music and local talent in Parkdale. The event took off on the last week of February 2010. Teaming up with local businesses and other artists in the city, McLean wanted to celebrate art, even if it was snowy and chilly outside.

“We are what Toronto tells the world is multicultural and truly diverse,” McLean said.

The week was jam-packed with everything from fire twirlers and human statues to drawing classes and burlesque dance performances.

Photos of vintage clothes on mannequins were pasted on the surface of a gallery’s storefront window. Passersby on the street were invited in to see more. “The impression we want to give … is we want to open the door for Parkdale,” McLean said.

For McLean, this week should be the inspiration for continuous community engagement and discussion about Parkdale. “I think it’s important to have events like this that foster, grow and encourage art on a local level,” he said.

Michelle Germain, the owner of Shopgirls Gallery Boutique has been in Parkdale for over two years now. For her, the location of her new store was important. “There are so many artists that live here, you have a different and edgy vibe,” she said.

The 38-year-old has been living in Parkdale for about five years and was also attracted by the lower rent prices in Parkdale. “That’s how artist communities start. [Artists] moving into less desirable parts of the city to make them more artistic,” she said.

Germain also speaks of the divisions on Queen Street in Toronto and how each end has a different meaning. For her living on the other side of Queen Street (east of Dufferin) might have her paying three times more for rent.

Equally importantly, on the west side, Parkdale is her escape from commercialization.

“No Starbucks and no chain stores,” she explained. “All you have to do is look out the window and it’s very vibrant,” she said. —Arti Patel

Photo of Lil Wayne Courtesy of www.lilwayne-online.com

Human Rights Watch Film Fest

New dance piece explores the strength of Haitian women

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ifteen young women kneeling, bent over with their foreheads pressed to the floor sit up and reach the full length of their arms to the ceiling, their fingertips curling and their skirts glowing under the hot lights in the dark theatre.

The dance piece, entitled “Oh Bondye Poukisa?” (meaning “Oh God Why?”), is an exploration of what it means to be a Haitian woman. It is one of the longest pieces in Ryerson Theatre School’s Choreographic Works for 2010.

Rodney Diverlus, a second year dance student of Haitian descent choreographed the piece before the earthquake occurred. But afterward he was able to sit down to think about how the piece would morph and intensify, as a result of the tragic events.

On the news, Diverlus saw the images of Haitian women, and their resiliency amid disaster. “You see a community,” he said, “[you see] the power of being together.”

Oh Bondye Poukisa? addresses the fight against oppressive forces and other systemic issues that Haitian women endure, Diverlus explained.

Diverlus’ work, as well as the work of other student dancers and choreographers is being showcased in Choreographic Works, this year produced by faculty member Vicki St. Denys.

What makes Choreo so popular is that it is a student effort, and performers have to dedicate their time outside of school. Many performers and production crew spend late nights preparing for the opening.

Everything from costume design to lighting to sound takes a lot of co-operation to pull off.

The dance styles in the show this year are intensely diverse, with performances ranging from ballet, hip-hop and contemporary jazz to modern

dance. The students’ training in multiple dance disciplines really shows.

“We don’t even bother drawing the line anymore,” Diverlus said, “[we are] not confined to a certain category.”

The variety of dance genres makes the show that much more interesting to watch, he said. “Come with an open mind,” he said, “it will change your perception of dance performance.”

Diverlus said the pieces he choreographed are politically inspired, and he believes that dance is about interpretation.

Intimate seating will allow audiences to see what Ryerson dancers do best, Diverlus said.

He said the show is also a chance for the Ryerson community to re-connect. But it is also a chance for theatre students themselves to work with each other.

Paulina Witkowski, a third-year dance student, is in 4 pieces altogether. Witkowski said this year Choreo had a very high number of auditions, over 90, and students start preparing early on.

“It gives you a good idea of what happens in the real world,” Witkowski said about how much work goes into the show.

Elisa LoCurto, a forth-year dancer, choreographed and is dancing in a piece entitled Follow the Fire. She said working one-on-one with her peers has been great. “There’s something in it for everyone I bet,” LoCurto said. “I just can’t wait to see it,” she said.

For now, students prepare for opening night, which is March 3. —Samantha Anderson Choreographic Works runs until March 13, 2010, at the Ryerson Mainstage Theatre and tickets are available at the Ryerson Theatre School Public Relations and Box Office.

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his year, the Human Rights Watch Film Festival, celebrated it seventh anniversary. Human Rights Watch aims to protect and defend human rights around the world. They have hosted the film festival in other cities around the world.

The festival is held in partnership with Cinematheque Ontario, which is part of the Toronto International Film Festival. Cinematheque provided their expertise in the selection process for films that are screening at this year’s festival.

Karin Lippert, a student committee worker with the organization, said, “film is the most important way to bring about issues of human rights abuses.”

The festival includes an outreach program that involves students at Ryerson, Humber, York and the University of Toronto.

“The goal is to involve students in issues, and to attend the festival and screenings,” said Lippert. Jasmine Holmes, a third-year arts and contemporary studies student in the diversity and equity stream, has been a member of the group for two years. “It has made me much more aware of what is going on in the world,” says Jasmine. “I am privileged to have grown up in Canada.”

Holmes has been involved with selling tickets for the event and set up a Facebook page. “I believe that social networking is a great way to get the message across.”

During each film, guest speakers included filmmakers or Canadian journalists who have worked on the issues portrayed in the screened film.

Writer, Giller prize winner and co-host of CBC’s the Fifth Estate, Linden MacIntyre, who has done several investigative stories in the face of political conflict in war-torn countries, introduced Triage, and said it is a stirring and “difficult film to watch, but important.”

Colin Farrell’s depiction of the affected photojournalist in Triage was convincing and moving. In it Farrell’s character copes with post-traumatic stress disorder after working in war torn Kurdistan. Often times the victims of conflict are those who are there and witness certain events.

The screening for the opening night gala of the festival was director Lixin Fan’s film The Last Train Home, which examined the lives of factory workers in China. His unconventional approach to the topic of factory work displayed how the system splinters the family unit. Because of the long hours and little vacation time, parents often leave children behind to be raised by a grandparent. This leads to a breakdown in communication between parents and children.

Other films in the festival include Welcome and The Greatest Silence: Rape in Congo by director Lisa F. Jackson, a rape survivor herself. —Angela Walcott

Poetry Slam – An Underground Movement

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line of people snakes from the main floor of the Drake Hotel down a long flight of stairs to the basement.

The six-foot plus bouncer scrutinizes one youngster and demands ID from another. There is an underground movement at the Drake Hotel – in the most literal sense of the word.

Inside, a DJ spins the latest pop tunes and the crowd of over a hundred people, consisting mostly of smiling high school and university students, mills around. David Silverberg, host for the event, gives a jovial welcome thanking everyone for coming out on a Friday night. His charm and wit adds to the ambiance and he expresses regret for having to turn away several people at the door because they are at capacity.

A graduate of Ryerson’s journalism program, Silverberg works as a journalist but loves to write poetry. He is a member of the Last Call Poets collective and was the editor of Mic Check: An Anthology of Spoken Word in Canada.

Since it first started, the Poetry Slam event has moved from the El Mocambo to Drake Hotel where Silverberg says they have formed a comfortable working relationship. The winter months are their busiest for their event which celebrates spoken word ranging from retrospectives and confessionals to socially conscious rants and tangents about politics. Attendees can hear the genre’s roots with hints of hip-hop, dub poetry and performance art styles.

With only a few winning spots up for grabs before the Poetry Slam finals, Silverberg explains the rules to everyone in attendance. “Poets perform three-minute original works in three rounds…Anyone who goes over the three minute mark, receives a deduction. Poems are scored by five random judges based on delivery, performance and originality. The audience is free to boo or applaud the score results.”

A young poet takes to the stage and cries out “Why did you Leave Me?” She implores, begs and curses as she recounts how every item in the room reminds her of her lost love. Another poet recites a love poem to his late grandmother. It is a visibly emotional moment for him to share and he shakes uncontrollably. The Poetry Slam competition features an eclectic mix of poets whose work covers many PHOTO of Shauntay Grant: Angela Walcott

topics and genres from rants to ballads, and from love to the love of carpentry, depression and physical abuse. No subject matter is untouched.

Silverberg says the appeal of the event is the people and the art in their performances. “The rawness on stage is so rare,” said Silverberg. “It is a refreshing change from online communication. It is entertainment… You rarely hear the same poem twice.”

Silverberg says the most memorable performance at their events was by a man who beat-boxed while dressed in a chicken suit. Things went to a whole new level when he started to strip down to his underwear. “I felt sorry for the people in the front row. Anything goes,” he remembers as he laughs.

The highlight of the recent Toronto Poetry Slam at the Drake turned out to be a special performance by Nova Scotian musician and writer, Shauntay Grant. Grant is the host of CBC Radio One’s All the Best, a weekly music program that airs on CBC in the Maritimes. Grant happens to be the third Poet Laureate of Halifax. She has a children’s book entitled Up Home, which she performed to the delight of the crowd.

After the Poetry Slam, Silverberg shared his vision for his events. “I hope it will attract new artists and that it will reach more schools.” He seems well on his way to reaching this goal. More students are getting involved with the Toronto Poetry Slam and youth just can’t seem to get enough.

While the independent small presses in North America have been turned on by the phenomenon of spoken word since it emerged in the 1960s during the Beat Generation, the phenomenon experienced a resurgence in its popularity in the 1990s, and has recently garnered far more attention from the mainstream media.

Former National Poetry Slam winner Shane Koyczan started to write because he was bullied. He developed his writing skills and entered Poetry Slam contests. He won the 2000 Individual Championship title. Koyczan performed his bril-

liant piece, “We Are More,” at Parliament Hill in Ottawa to a larger audience than he’d ever expected. Then at the Vancouver Olympic Winter Games Opening Ceremonies this year Koyczan performed the same piece before a huge audience of 3.5 billion people. —Angela Walcott The Toronto Poetry Slam occurs every month. Admission is $5. Doors open at 7 p.m. and poets register to compete at 7:30. Semi Finals are March 14 and Finals are April 24.

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