August 15, 2011, carnegie newsletter

AUGUST 15, 2011

it was the poetry what done me in

A

Paul's law: You can't fall off the floor.

And Let's Begin!

What with little boxes and reminders ad nauseum, a few of you gentle readers may realise that the collector's item, the rare and valuable, nay, priceless 25'" A nniversary Edition of the Carnegie Newsletter is in you r hands!

Additional money to print a much larger issue came via the City of Vancouver's 125 1h Anniversary grant program. First idea was to apply for money to do a 2"d volume of The Heart of the Community: The Best of the Carnegie Newsletter. Then the criteria for grants over$ I0,000 kind of sidelined that hope - all kinds of collaboration and advisers and professionals of th is and consultants for that and matching funding were just for starters.

The under$ I0,000 grants were not so weighty but the caveat (because of the sheer number of applications) stipulated almost always I grant per group asking. The Carnegie Association was ask ing for funds to put on a community-wide event featuring dance. song and costumes circa I 886, with a 'special edition of our Newsletter to commemorate the 125'11 anniversary' coming out in mid-September. The paper being published around this event will already be featuring stuff on the Association's event, but it's not good enough for celebrating 25 years of blood (I cut myself on some dull scissors once and Dan jabbed himself with a stapler (I think)), sweat (delivering papers in the summer) and tears (it can get hysterically funny hearing people ycllingthrcats and hawking dope outside) . ... is this getting dramatic enough for ya?

Making the Carnegie Newsletter has been a life-saver; it has kept me from going really crazy and the constant building of awareness and hope keeps personal health ok. The physical disorder is more or Jess stable, even though talking can still sound like a drunken slur. When first arriving at the end of '81 dying seemed sure. Now it's kind of hazy, and immortal ity is not entirely out of the question.

My usual attempts to pen little wisps of wisdom are dispersed throughout this issue, with wee quirks & quarks from many.

Enjoy!

PRT

See these grey 'airs?

Know what i bin doin' to earn a few bucks?

Putting up posters!

I ask youAt my time of li fe!

I coulda been a bleed in' stockbroker Or a corporate what's it by now It was the poetry what done me in.

Shoulda never been exposed to it at a tender age ...

Sent me off, it did, on a wild goose chase After Truth and Beauty Quite forgot about money.

So, 'ere I am, Sticking up ruddy posters Instead of follerin' me muse Disentitled from Ul (ÂŁ1) Because I listed me trade on the form : POET. "I am seeking work as a poet."

Disentitled To a pittance of recompense By prosy people Who Like Plato Want no Poets In their ideal Republic.

David Bouvier

FnEE -donations accepted.

NEWSLETTER .:01 Main St. , V:liH路nuv<'r, ILC:. (604)(,(,)-2289

RALLY FOR HOUSING Vancouver City Hall Dec 19th

Defending the DTES by any lega l and Moral means Necessary, Part VI Pantages Theatre of the Absurd: Condozilla the Sequel or The Resistance Fights Back The True story of the Little Hummingbird Warrior The current unrest in Madrid, Athens, Rome and Tel Aviv has political objectives. These are the entitl ed, rioting at the prospective loss of their or others' entitlements ... The continental rioters have purpose and discipline; London's have none. -Mel Cappeformer Canadian high commissioner to the Uni1ed Kingdom August.IO 20 11

"It's the rich people," came the explanation. "It's the people who have all got businesses. That's why all this is happening, because of the rich people." London- female rioter talking about greatifnequality.

August 10, 201 1

I'm going to retell (adapt) an ancient story from time immemorial of the Indigenous Peoples ofthe land of the Condor - South A merica. It was original ly about a little hummingbird that tried to put out the great fire that threatened all the animals and other beings in their forest home. It was most recently publicly retold

by Michael Yahgulanaas (H aida Gwaii) and Wangari Maathei, Nobel Peace Prize winner from Kenya. ( Yahgu fanaas usua/fy writes abow the trickster Raven.)

But first, yes I have to get my big butt in here fi rst. I was at o ur Town Hall meeting this past Saturday and i was appalled to hear what the Rev. Ric Matthews had to say (pertaining to the issue of the safety and sexual assaults on women at First United Church. I publicly addressed him and called him out on what he had to say. Indeed, women on the front lines did a far better j ob of dressing him down, trying to gain redress to

this most vital issue to women and our community.

I want to say that women are the center of this commun ity. We just don't acknowledge it, in every way.

Not only are women the centre, they are our best and bravest warriors. I have seen it time and time again.

The women have been let down by the men, who are mostly pulling up the rear. There is a strong circle of men and trans but that must expand greatly-if we are to survive, as a community. We are not supporting and defendin g women nearly enough And the women who have been our g reatest warriors of all are our 路'poor" Aboriginal women, who have been the most brutalized, marginalized and ignored. i have had a vision again, so it is from this I propose we declare the I 00-block E Hastings a sacred site for our unique cu lture and community. and that the Pantages site be ded icated to our murdered and mi ssing women, including Ashley Mach iskinic and Harriet Nahanee. Furthermore the 100% social housing at this site should be reserved fo r our homeless and lowincome aboriginal women and the ir families. And that is the heart and soul of our community.

As a com munity, we wi ll never have healing until our women, especially our Aboriginal women, have healing and homes. They will help guide us to the way of healing and what it means to be fu lly human - I g uarantee it. And one day we men and children and all beings will join them in the centre.

But for now the DTES community faces its Darkest hour. Should they build condos at the Pantages, the comm unity implodes. I g ive you my word; we go together like Salmon and a Stream, that they will never be allowed to build condos at the Pantages site. But for that to happen we have to greatly widen the band of male, female and trans warriors. And we must never let our g uards down or accept Trojan horses.

The Pantages is scripted for us, it is theatre writ large.

Our Oppressors are counti ng on us being, "'too sick, depressed and oppressed" to fi ght this fight, but every dog has his day and even a sick dog can unexpectedly jump up and bite you. And l can tell you, it is not the size of the dog but the size of the fi ght in the dog, that wins the fi ght.

Every oppressor has their, Little Big Horn, Fish Lake (Tenzin' Biny), culture and env ironment d estroyingEnbridge pipeline. Heaven and Hell will be torn asunder before we let this community of Dreamers be destroyed. And I w ill g ive my iife if need be. Men,

Women and Trans, We must bind together all our strings of consciousness, that way we can never be broken or defeated.

A nd it is to that point that i will retell the true story of the Great Warrior: The Little Hummingbi rd Warrior of the Tim e Before the DTES Long ago, in the time before time, some call it dreamtime, in this exact area where the DTES now exists. was a land of mists and forests and forest beings of every kind and stripe, great and small.

This is the story of the Great Fire that threatened their beloved community and home. All the animal beings, great and small, panicked, scurried and flullered out of the forest. No fire had ever raged so mightily.

A lithe animal beings, great and small, huddled at the edge of their beloved forest home and watched in disbelief and shock. All except for one.

Lillie I !ummingbird. she did not abandon their home, but she courageously flew with fleetness and determination, to a stream, to pick up a single droplet of water in her beak. She flew back and forth tirelessly, every time dropping a single drop on the raging fire.

The other animal beings watched in horror.

Finally, W olf said to lillie hummingbird, "the fire is far too hot, it'd be useless for me to try and help."

Rabbit said,"! am shaking in my skin, there's nothing I can do."

Hawk said, "My wings will be singed by fire, and I' ll be useless if not dead" Finally, Great Bear said, "little hummingbird, are you crazy, what are you doing?"

And Little I lummingbird looked at all the other animal beings and said, " I am doing everything I can".

(Some quick facts about Hummingbird: Identified with the symbol for eternity, because its wings make that pattern. She is also known as the messenger and stopper of time. I !ummingbirds cannot live without flowers, and many flowers cannot live without her.

She symbolizes courage and is the smallest of birds.

She is known to fend off the eagle if her nest is threatened. She also symbolizes death and rebirth. In South America, she is thought to die on cold nights, only to reawaken with the sunrise. Hummingbird quickly dies if caged, caught or imprisoned) Love Anonymous Zero and homeless dave

(rjl What Kind of Cover-up Is the Missing Women Commission of Inquiry?

Rolf Auer "She calls out to the man on the street, I 'Sir, can you help me?' I 'It's cold and I've nowhere to sleep .. .' I 'Is there somewhere you can tell me?' I He walks on, doesn't look back, I he pretends he can't hear her. I Starts to whistle as he crosses the street, I seems embarrassed to be there. I Oh, think twice, 路cause it's another day for you and me in paradise. I Oh, think twice, 'cause it's another day for you, you and me in paradise.路 -路'Another Day in Paradise" by Phil Collins On August 5, 2011, the Missing Women Commission of Inquiry further marginalized women of the Downtown Eastside {DTES).

The Commission begins formal hearings in Vancouver on Oct. 11, 2011: exam111ing police conduct and other aspects of the investigation of convicted serial killer Robert Pickton.

On August 5, it announced it was seeking to retain and fund one or two lawyers to "present the perspectives of the Downtown Eastside community and Aboriginal women."

The Downtown Eastside Women's Centre (DEWC) and the Feb 14 Women's Memorial March Committee both have formal standing before the Committee.

Neither was consulted ...

In an open letter these DTES groups- representing women, especially Indigenous women, facing physical, mental, emotional and spiritual violence on a daily basisemphatically protested the decision, declaring "the purpose of the inquiry is being whittled away."

They wrote: "Women in the DTES have their own voices and stories and critical information to share with this Inquiry and have been demanding ... [that] for decades, but this Inquiry no longer facilitates this possibility."

Once again, as past evidence has born out, it would appear that a cover-up protecting the police and related authorities is proceeding apace. So, wrote the groups, "what do the police and officials have to hide and why is the Inquiry serving them?'

The letter forcefully concludes: "This was supposed to be our Inquiry- one that shed light on the crimes and complicity of the police and officials. But it appears there is no justice and no public in this Inquiry and the meaningful participation of women and the community has effectively been denied." p.s. Thank You Paul -for helming the good ship for 25yrs and for your courageous letter to the Vancouver Sun concerning the Sequel 138 Condos at the Pantages site. It is an honour to go into battle together with one such as you

----------------------- --...,n-. .-. • • • • . • ...... - - ....... Talking Dirty in The Pas Four lvhite boys talking dirty, {,fhispering four- letter words in The Pas " Girl - Rape - Kill - " knowing The Pas won 't protest, ' cos " Squaw" ain't a fo ur-letter lvord, and fifty-three stabs with a scre1vdrive r or a word like " justice" don't mean a fuckin ' thing, when you can't count to seven .

whenever Canada talks Racism.

The name of The Pas is now a four-letter the name of The Pas is now shit.

\fuite citizens talking dirty, whispering four - letter words in The Pas "Hush- don't talk ." Cops know the murderers, but stay silent cops also is a four-letter word. lfuen \-lhites kill the Native Indian, they kill the country, and the land does not forget but lays fallow, waiting .

Sixteen years , blood of Helen has been rising like a river, sixteen years Helen Betty's black hair has been spreading like roots, has been coiling round the foundation of lies sustaining The Pas; sixteen years, Helen Betty ' s spirit has been forming wings , sixteen years and Helen Betty bursts back from death, an eagle plunging from th e past to rend the conspir acy of silence hiding The Pas, and all those lies tumble out, disembOivelled and stinking lvhile truth roars like a forest fire through this shattered town, and the silence goes up in dirty smoke signals seen nation-lvide. lfuite citi zens of The Pas have had their good names scalded , have had their dirty mouths 1vashed by the blood of Helen Betty .

She has reformed the language made the name, " The Pas" the obscenitY

- -------- -... ---- - - - . - - . . . . . . . . . . . ...

This page sponsored by Bonnie Fournier, retired DEYAS Street Nurse.

This page sponsored by Barbara Morrison, former Carnegie Board member.

PURPOSE The Carnegie 'ewsletter is a publication of the Carnegie Community Centre Association. Hs purpose is to provide news, information and opinion of interest and relevance to the residents of the Downtown Eastside. Its contents aim to be inclusive of the Centre, its members and the community-at-large.

EDITORIAL POLICY !.The Association is ultimately responsible for all contents oft he newsletter, editorial or otherwise. As such, the Association will establish, approve and amend editorial policy as it deems necessary.

2.The editorial policy will recognize and support Carnegie's Mission Statement and the Associations' current policies and practices.

3.The content of the newsletter will reflect the diversity ofcommunity views and interests. Therefore, editing of the newsletter will not favour one position or viewpoint to the exclusion ofothers.

4.Editorial positions will reflect Board policies and positions where they are established. In the absence ofestablished policies/positions, the editor is free to express his or her views, clearly stated as such.

S.The editor retains the right to edit material from contributors; any editing of materials will endeavour to respect the content and the message of material submitted.

6.All contributors are required to ensure the factua l accuracy ofany material submitted for publication.

7.No contributions will be considered for publication that are or may be construed to be racist, derogatory, demeaning or discriminatory of persons, groups or organizations.

8.No political pamphlets, tracts, advertising or contributions from political parties or people seeking election will be published during an election period. However, politicians are free to utilise the newsletter outside of these periods to indicate what they are doing for our community and readers are free to respond with their views.

9.Every edition of the newsletter will contain a disclaimer indicating that the opinions expressed by contributors do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the Association.

I0. Not all material received can be printed, given the lim its of space in the newsletter.

THE PUBUCATION COMMITTEE The Board will appoint a publications committee consisting ofa minimum of three board members and the editor of the newsletter. The Board reserves the right to appoint other members from time-to-time. Committee members will elect the Chair ofthe Publications Committee, except that the chair must be a current member of the Board The Publications Committee will meet on the last Tuesday of the month to consider editorial content, resolve any issues relating to the Board's editorial policy and to address any production issues. As a regular standing committee of the Board, it will report to the Board in the same manner as all other committees.

TU 4At ~ijf

Within Us

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Author unknown

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Within our Reach lies every Path We ever Dream of taking Within our Power lies every step We ever dream of making Within our range lies every joy We ever dream of seeing Within ourselves lies everything We ever dream of being

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R.I~HTLfSS

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THe

IDEAS .

ArtfUl sundaYS

Downtown Eas tside Neighbourhood House

An outdoor, visual arts market in East Vancouver

DTES residents building a grassroots, secular NH since 2004

Hosted by Britannia Community Centre, each Sunday features the work of local artists, special events, workshops, community groups, live music and more!

Community Conversations Join us at the Neighbourhood House on A ugust 23rd@ 6:30pm for Community Conversations.

This informal gathering is for community members to give feedback and discuss topics related to the DTES Neighbourhood House and the Community.

Napier St @ Com mercial Drive Aug 7-Sept 4 12-Spm 5 Su ndays mor e in fo: tel: (604)718-5800 www.britanniacentre.or g

Light Snacks and Coff e e provided .

Hello from the DTES Neighbourhood House, We are looking for volunteers (once or twice a month) to help out with our monthly Roving Community Kitchen (Mobile Smoothies) and Banana Beat for August.

Tuesday, August 23 -Roving Community Kitchen Wednesday, August 24- Banana Beat About the Roving Community Kitchen: We travel to different organizations across the Downtown Eastside making smoothies and sharing the nutritional wonders of the humble blender.

Available shifts are: 9:30am- 1:30pm; 1:30- 4:30pm Meet at the Neighbourhood House (573 East Hastings @ Princess) at the beginning of your shift. If you wish you may join us for the whole day! · •• NOTE: Self-identified women only from 1:30pm - 3:00pm (we go to the DTES Women's Centre during this time) About the Banana Beat: We meet bright and early to hand out hundreds of bananas to our neighbours on the streets and in line for social assistance cheques. Some potassium to start the day. Meet at the Neighbourhood House at 6:30am: 2 teams head down Hastings and Powell with our shopping carts full of bananas from 7:00am - 8:00am and back to the NH for breakfast and coffee. We're done by 8:30/9am.

Please contact Melanie Spence (our Food Activist) either by email (dtesfoodnetwork@gmail.com) or at 604/215.2030.

_

- ~.:.. .....

Day 21 a one-eyed man just did me a kindness a cigarette offered an old man a gift freely given gratefully taken Day 21 my mother waits for the phonecall that won't come to tell her where her husband is and where he's been so long Day 21 the sun sets orange a ball in the august sky I wait for nothing, yet I wait not really knowing why Day 21 the old man hides won't give up hi s bones or a reason why he disappeared on us couldn't just die so he had to leave us dang lin' I hear my mother cry Day 2 1 all wrapped up in the setting sun before you blink your eyes Day 22 has begun AI

CA\

WilEN SECONDS COUNT DO YOU KNOW WIIA T TO DO?1J) CPR Cl IOK !NG BLEEDING FRACTURES BURNS HEAT STROKE POISONS

SNEAK PREVIEW CHARLIE: A HOCKEY STORY Monday, Aug. 29, 7:00pm Carnegie Theatre 'You may be behind and you may be exhausted and you may feel discouraged, but you should keep plugging all the way.'

(Charlie Sands) Spalding Gray meets Don Cherry and William Shakespeare faces off against Stompin' Tom Connors for 60 minutes of rock 'em sock 'em theatre!

In Charlie: A Hockey Story, J1m Sands uses mus1c, storyte. ling and acting to tell the story of his uncle, Charlie Sands, who played in the National Hockey league from 1933-43 fo1 the Leafs, Bruins, Canadiens, and Rangers.

Jim Sands is known by many for his portrayal of Hansel, the four-year-old German boy who wants to go home to Hamburg. For this performance, Jim hangs up the Lederhosen and takes on the role of a storyteller with tales from a forgotten decade in hockey history.

This free preview is in preparation for the opening of the play at the Vancouver International Fringe Festival where it will play at Havana Theatre from September 8-18. For more information see www.jim-sands.ca.

Jim Sands has lived in Strathcona for 18 years. Many know him as an East Vancouver based storyteller, songwriter, actor, musician and occasional clown who has performed both as a solo artist and with a variety of musical groups.

He shows how he teamed an important lesson- forgiveness by exploring the my1h and meaning of the life of an uncle he never met.

From 1933-43 Jim's uncle, Charlie Sands, played NHL hockey for During his 12-season career, Charlie met many of hockey's greatest legends including Foster Hewitt, King Clancy, Eddie Shore and Ace Bailey. He was involved in many events during a formative decade in hockey history.

These included one of the longest games ever played and one of the most violent incidents in all of hockey.

He has appeared as an actor and storyteller in plays and events such as the Downtown Eastside Romeo and Juliet, the Alice in Wonderland Festival, Heart of a City Festival and We Are the People!

FREE COURSE:

PET FIRST AID Learn the skills required to provide first aid to an injured pet! Free Saint John's Ambulance PET FIRST A ID instruction SATURDAY AUGUST 20 I 9:30AM- 4:30PM STRATHCONA COMMUNITY CENTRE 60 I KEEFER STREET-MULTIPURPOSE ROOM -orMONDAY AUGUST 29 I 9:30AM- 4:30PM OPPENHElMER PARK 400 POWELL STREET- FIELDHOUSE

Limited Class Size- Please Sign Up in Advance: petfirstaid@neighbourhoodsmallgrants.ca Made possible with a grant from the Vancouver Foundation's Neighbourhood Small Grants.

Snacks &Refreshments provided, Bring your own lunch.

To Mr. Harper " Every day that I walk by the Insite building on Hastings street I think about your reckless, mhumane objection to 1ts existence.

Having grown up in Nazi Germany, I recognize the emotion, fuel Behind your distaste for any facility or program that could be of benefit To a group of citizens who are not of any use to you, and therefore undeserving.

This ideology (hatred) relies heavily on a craving for power. control.

And you do have that!!

Watch the cravings and obsessions, Mr. Harper!

They are an addiction!! Do we not get addicted to our own adrenalin??!!

It can happen to anybody, anywhere. The fin est and most privileged Families have been plagued by it. No one is safe from it!

That brings me to this: what if someone in your own family should succumb to an ingestive substance and be in need of a place to go, where they could get med ical attention?

Arrogance about being exempt from those problems is already opening the door and keeping it ajar for disaster.

First they came for the communists, and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a communist.

Then they came for the trade unionists, and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a trade unionist.

Then they came for the Jews, and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a Jew. Then they came for me and there was no one left to speak out for me.

Martin Niemueller In the hope for more benevolence, therese lulf,

Vanishing Indian gets diabetes Whitey gets alzheimers one loses a leg other loses his mind poetic justice for the haters gets so buster can't remember exactly why he's got a hate on 'Member talkin ' on the sidewalk about the old guy fo lded his clothes, walked off into the winter, naked

sorta noble but we bitch when one of our own commits suicide the old way rather than put us all thru watching him slowly fade away he takes a hike, a long walk but even then we bitch can't ever seem to win AI

I may elude you with crazy talk cuz it makes you go awaybut the craziest thing is that the crazy has the most brains Hara

On the Road Again toothbrush packed American xpress tucked inside breast pocket flap snapped soap, shampoo and lotions nestled in the case ticket to ride at hand though my paranormal prescience making me forget the last place I put it cleaning ironing cotton blouses underwear and my si lly shirts just in case a long velvet skirt midnight blue Monte Carlo perhaps a plaid shawl and Cairngoin pin an endurable hat for the outback a black Swiss Army knife opens the4 Marks and Sparks tins double duty for Hereford com beef The Berlitz book of phrases I would like fries with that in Mandarin and Arabic Stationary, stamps /es plumes de ma /ante Helene Your photo with a quizzical smile when are you com ing home?

And I'm history- I'm gone Wilhelmina

"Y~u

LIS TeN Debit Cards Replacing Welfare Cheques 1

Toronto'~ ill soon become the first major Canad ian city to permanently replace the iconic welfare cheque with a debit card. a move that will produce savings for both Ontario Works recipients and a government that is itself scrounging for cash.

About 65,000 of Toronto's recipients receive their payments via direct bank deposit. Many of the 35,000 who receive cheques do not have bank accounts, and many cash the cheques at payday lending o utlets that charge high fees they can scarcely afford.

The cards. to be distributed in the fall or winter, will be reloaded monthly. Recipients will be able to use them to withdraw cash at A TMs and to make electronic payments at point-of-sale terminals.

The city may not force "cen ain" recipients to conven to cards, but its goal is to have all or almost all recipients make the switch.

Welfare cards have been adopted successfully by several U.S. states, including New York, California and Michigan. Recipients of U.S. federal payments are required to switch to direct deposit or cards by 2013.

But card s have occasionally been the subject o f controversy. State and federal po liticians have sought to prevent recipients from using them at casinos, liquor stores and tattoo parlours, among other places. Advocates for the poor, in turn, have argued that g ovrnments should not use the cards to try to eng ineer social behaviour. " I've been hearing people gripe for years- ' People get a welfare cheque, and the first thing they do is go to the liquor store, the beer store.' Well, usually when 1 get my paycheque, one of the first things 1 do is go to the liquor store or beer store," said government management committee chair Councillor Paul Ai nslie, a right-leaning ally of Mayor Rob Ford.

I

should have some enjoyment in life. 1 think irs@ a little draconian to stan saying, 路You' re on welfare, and this is exactly how you 're going to spend the money we give you .. , The cards will be designed so that its users cannot be easily identified as welfare recipients. Other details, such as whether withdrawals will be subject to A TM fees. are still to be determ ined.

The cards wi ll eliminate cheque fraud. They will also reduce the stigma associated with cashing a government cheque, Dyson said, and make recipients safer: they will no longer have to carry large amounts of cash. and the PIN-protected cards can be quickly cancelled if they are lost or stolen.

Comments: When the debit card idea for welfare was being considered in BC, Vancity Credit Union was considering applying for the contract and invited a bunch of us to a meeting with one of their financial folks to discuss thepros and cons. One of the interesting and frightening things I learned from the financia l people there is that using a debit card does give government the ability to track all your purchases. We contacted the Privacy Office here in BC and they were concerned about this too. We st ill don't have debit cards for welfare in BC. but it might be worthwhile to contact an Ontario Privacy o ffice to see if they can negotiate restrictions on the information that the government will get by using debit cards for welfare payments. Just a thought. Jean [Swanson} Toronto News: I've been in a number of stores that will not take a debit card for any purchase under $5.

As lo ng as there are two cho ices - " Direct Deposit" or "Debit Card" - then I guess it's OK. Bob On Bob's point, one sol ution would be to ensure that people have the right to request at least a modest amount of extra cash when they use the card to make a purchase. People do that all the time with their own bank or credit union cards. In this case, though, the money isn't in an account which "belongs" to the rec ipient in the way that a person's own bank account does, so the government might have to add that feature to the system.

IF the pri vacy and cash access issues can be sorted out, and IF it's an option along with direct deposit and not a requirement, debit cards could be a real benefit for people on social assistance or disability benefits.

Those are big "ifs" in the current political climate.

Your comments?

Monday morning volunteers who make hundreds of sandwiches for the daily foodline.

Arrivals and Departures This week many of us in Vancouver are excited at the arrival of famed Buddhist Tich Nhat Hanh.

Some of us are also saddened at the departure of the Sisters of Atonement, who will be sorely missed.

Around the convent friends of the s isters who are acti ve around Oppenheimer Park have put up the "Nuns on the Run" poster. The people who worked with and knew the s isters are saddened by the upcoming loss of them. We arc expressing our gratitude to the nuns.

For many of us Sister Elizabeth has been a figurehead for the S isters of the Atonement in the DTES. Sister Elizabeth Kelliher marched to the same drum as Tich Nhat Hanh. In his writings he urges us all "Do not avoid suffering, or close your eyes before suffering ... .Do not lose awareness of the existence of s uffering... Find ways to be with those who are suffering... Look with the eyes of compassion" .. .Indeed the Sisters followed the same mantra in their daily service to the hungry and dispossessed of their neighbourhood .. and tirelessly walked the walk for justice. not charity The following are some tributes of farewell from local activists who walked the walk with Sister Elizabeth: Mmy Ann Cantil/on *'Vigil for the Silenced' has been held every Wednesday noon hour throughout Advent and Lent on the streets of downtown Vancouver for the past seven

years. Sr. Elizabeth was always there, through rain and sleet. She inspired many.

David Dranchuk, Diocese of New Westminster *How I will cherish the memories of Sr. Elizabeth being part & parcel o f seven years of Vigili ng in and through the church seasons of Advent and Lent, both preparatory, pentitential d iscipl ines for Christmas and Easter, respectively. But while most of us were inwardly content to hold the home-made banner (thanks to Susan Henry), "Vigil for the Silenced'', she got right out there to interact and engage the many people passing by ( as we usually chose busy intersections ).

Forthrightly and boldly so, and respectfully... If/as these Vigils continue it w ill be a sheer loss with her departing absence. Yet, I entertain --and pray to be open to -- her sustaining presence all the same. This sageful elder kept us sane, safe, a bit creative and commi tted to the urgent public witness of the Christian faith: in season and out of season.

Affectionately, in shalom/saleem, Barry K. Morris, United Church minister with the Longl10use *We could always coulll on S ister E to fill the ear of whatever mayor and council of the day, with her strong arguments for social housing, particularly for families. She came to nearly every council meeting regarding the DTES and would stay until the bitter end. She' ll be missed. She'll have big shoes to fill and hopefully the new nuns w ill take up Sister Elisa-

Design a Carnegie Button!

The Carnegie Centre & Library has a table at this year's Word on the Street Festival on Sunday, September 25. J art of our table, we' re going to be giving away up to 250 buttons to people w ho visit our table. And we need your elp to design them.

Your design can be anything that represents the Carnegie Centre for you: a picture, a slogan, or something else.

We'll choose up to 5 designs to make buttons. The winners will get a small p rize as well as the chance to see your uttons on people all over Vancouver! *Please pick up an entry form at the library, and drop off your entry in the box at the Library by Frid ay, August 26

We'll let winners know by Sept 2.

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No advertising from alcohol or tobacco companies Advertis ing wi U follow a business card format (name of business, contact person, contact information) and will be accepted for a $ 10.00 fee The Editor reserves the right to decide what advertis ing is accepted within these guidelines There will be a statement that the Carnegie Association is not responsible for the infonnation contained in the advertising.

Individuals and organizations who make a donation to the newsletter will be acknowledged

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News From the Library 路 New Books Thanks to a very generous patron, we've been receiving a number of excellent non-fiction books as donations over the last few weeks. For this issue of the newsletter, I thought I' d highlight some of the titles we've received. All of the books in this column are part of the A Brief History of... series, a series of highly entertaining "brief histories" on a number of subjects.

A Brief History of the Crusades (940. 18) by Geoffrey Hindley looks at the first sig nificant conflict between the Christian and Muslim worlds, nearly a thousand years ago. More than a look at the distant past, Hindley brings his subject into the present by also exploring how the Crusades have impacted relations between Christian and M uslim countries up to the present day. He also includes several maps and appendices, both of which are a welcome enhancement to any book.

A BriefHistory of the Tudor Age (942.05) by Jasper Ridley recounts not only the history of the Tudor Dynasty, but al so the social and cultural history of England during that period of"great beauty and violence, achievement and despair."

Some two hundred years after the Tudor age came to an end in England, the Napoleonic Age began in France. No e..;ent stands o ut more vividly in the history of France under Napoleon than the dismal failure of his invasion of Russia in 1812. Alan Palmer's A Brief History of Napoleon in Russia (940.27) investigates this tragic campaign in detai l and concludes that Napoleon lost " not by fo lly but by default."

The Nazis rose to power in Germany in the early 1930s, but most historians trace the ir roots back to the end of World War I, and the establishment of the Freikorps, a paramilitary force made up largely of WWI veterans. Nigel Jones chronicles the Freikorps' link to the Nazis in A BriefHistory of th e Birth of the Nazis: How the Freikorps Bla zed a Trail for Hitler (943.08), a sobering read in light of the many far right paramilitary groups active today in Europe and

North America.

From the calamities and ills of history we those of the present day. A Brief History of Globalization (303 .4) looks at one of the most talked about and least understood phenomena of modern times.

Will globalization be our downfall or our redemption?

Read Alex MacGillivray's book to find out.

All of these books are in the library' s display case, and will be available to borrow on Monday the 22"d.

Help the L ibrary choose books Are you the type of person who always has a mental list going of which books the library should have in their collection? Are you interested in helping us improve the selection in the library? If so, we'd like you to help us choose our books. We ' re planning on going on a buying tr~ to Chapters downtown on Thursday, August the 18 at 2:30. We'll be selecting books for the non-fiction collection on topics like H istory, Science or Sociallssues. If you would like to be a part of this, and choose some of the library's books yourself, please e-mail elizabeth.bryan@vpl.ca, or come into the library and talk to the librarian.

-From Randy, your librarian for the summer

Time Time is running out for our Mother Earth Animals are starving in their forests Rivers are being destroyed Bears, birds have no resources to food.

Instead of killing our animals Fight for their rights.

They are on this earth to supply us Greed from humans is so shameful I'm so ashamed to call us human.

More houses are pushing our animals Out of their neighbourhoods. Hello!

That is why animals are eating our waste.

Stop, listen and open your eyes.

Give our animals room to roam ...

Stop building on their territories PISS OFF, h umans with no hearts All my relations, Bonnie E Stevens

Hey-notto worry.

Gasrown has one of the largest private police forces anywhere. They work full time to keep the unsightly panhandlers and shopping c_art people moving and away from you. The pimps and johns know better than to tangle with our efficient guardians. So you'JI always be fully protected as you enjoy your shopping experience. Don't you i路:cl ~afer already?

And Vancouver city police have big plans to make it even safer. They want to install surveillance cameras that can scan all the high-crime areas of Gastown, meaning just about every sidewalk and street corner (see walking tour map). Then they can keep an eye on you as you go about your shopping.

And that's not all: Gastown is getting its second police station, at Carrall and Cordova, less than t\'110 blocks from the first one, with 40 extra 0fficers dedicated to just one thing g1v1ng you a good old-fashioned Gastown welcome. ror your shopping convenience, we are planning to create a "Carrall Street Safe-Transit Corridor" where police and rcmacops will be patrolling in extra

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strength to protect you from unauthorized contact with the locals as you travel from Gastown to Chinatown and back in search of shopping experiences.

But we're also busy tackling the root causes of alt these problems, too. When we're finished with the final solution, there won't be any poor people left in Gastown to spoil your shopping experience - only the new gentry living in high-security gated complexes. With our friends in Chinatown, we are currently lobbying city council to prohibit any more low-cost housing or social programs in the area.

So once all those poor people finally get the message, they will pack up their few meager belongings and move to a cardboard box in another part of town or maybe to your town.

And as for all the people who have physical or mental disabilities, or have addictions, and the children and adults selling their bodies on the street, well, they'll just mend their ways on their own when they find out that there's no help for them available in Gastown.

So enjoy your visit to Gastown.

Remember, it's not who you are, it's how much you spend.

Be sure to visit our website at:

www.qa5tawnwelcome.com

[Editor's note: Someone just found this pamphlet (part of which is here), that gives a mu~h cleare. view of Gastown than the pap you get from their shills. Maybe more will be made and- f:lven out!)

The Political Future of the World Knowing that I have been right, or as close to , right as 1 or anyone, I presume, can be, all along 路 only serves to irritate me, and anyone l subject to myself, to no end, each confumation of each apparently correct estimation of each moment or event or exchange deadening my ostensible spirit, my stuffy knowing suffocating my ostensible heart, which would have or could have, l feel, quite without proof, at one point banished the horror in which I find myself messed up, if I bad only had been less terrified of just about everything. l want to supply pertinent examples of how T have been right (more or less) all along, but all I can think of are impertinences camouflaged as analyses. Analysis, the way I do it, churns rather than elucidates. The process is a churning and the result is a churning. I chum, therefore I churn.

When, for example, I more or less crashed the Coffee and so-called Ideas group, ranting about the apparent evils of optimism, in particular optimism regarding the political future of the world, a willfully naive and dangerous optimism in all respects, arising as it does from that most inane and idiotic of philosophical practices, idealism, the practice of talking and thinking about nothing by ostensibly thinking, or so-called thinking, about everything (nothing at all), I had just come from playing floor hockey for three hours - I wasn't entirely finished playing floor hockey, that grumpy, inelegant and sometimes boisterous socalled sport, as my grwnpy, inelegant and boisterous behaviour at the Coffee and so-called Ideas group indicated - and for the so-called life of me couldn't get the recent news items out of my head regarding the criminal behaviour of the Vancouver Police Department and the RCMP, an organization from start to fmish devoted primarily to the elimination of Indians, and the leniency with which these police groups treat the criminals within their ranks etc. Optimism from the well-fed is horrifying and offensive, 1 thought (churned), but optimism from the completely marginalized is inexcusable. Of course, the temptation to give in to platitudes about attitude, which (I am horrified to say) seem to be turning up on officially sanctioned posters within Carnegie, especially when

defying said platitudes inevitably results in_ one being so-called written off or treated as havtng a so-called bad attitude (being real, one might say), is great But if one does give in, if only in word, as they SilY, that is often enough, or more ,,than enough, to constitute giving in completely. In fact,

庐 it always constitutes comph~te capitulation to the inanitv that passes for so-called mental health or so-called community or whatever else is held to be really, really important. Stagnant phrases resonant with triteness exhumed by charlatans from ~orne heap of rejected hallmark greetings are not valuable in any way, but are rather insults, 1 thought, directed at those who are supposed, by some perverted twisting of class sentiment, t? be dieing to hear just such insults from people e1ther too afraid or too intransigently wrreal to be socalled real, l thought. Of course, 1 did not know that only days after I crashed the Coffee and socalled Ideas group, Austria would have yet another, but this time more overt Nazi sympathizer as president, for example, but it seemed to prove me right yet again, as they say, that there was (and is) absolutely not excuse for optimism. The political future of the world is nothing other than what you see now, I thought, only worse, nothing at all to do with what you want. Ravenousness for ideas, old age, new age, classical etc., is a direct reflection of and exacerbation of our present civilization's ravenousness for natural and unnatural resources and everything else, in all cases directed by the so-called expertise of so-called CX'J>erts.

Just as every bit of land is legislated and ruled and so-called owned, I thought, so our lives, and even what we can think within our lives.

Dan Feeney

Zombie Artists Protest Against Condos in "D拢AD ZONE" People who live and work on Hastings in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside say they've seen wellknown but long-dead visual artists in the abandoned demolition site at the old Pantages Theatre. Frida Kahlo, Salvador Dati, Vincent Van Gogh, Andy Warhol, Jackson Pollock, and Emily Carr have been sighted amid the splintered wood and naked brick walls. Zombie reports began after condo developer Marc Williams boa~ted that his 'Artist and Housing 路

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Humanities 101: Documentaries for Thinkers Free documentaries covering subjects seldom covered by mainstream media.

Shows every Saturday night in the Carnegie Centre Theatre EXCEPT the first Saturday of every month.

Often Q&A sessions with the producers attending.

Documentaries announced at beginning of month on posters at the Centre and in the Carnegie Newsletter.

More information contact Colleen Carroll

Project' (?) at the Pantages would not really kill the neighbourhood-because, he said, it is already "a dead zone."

The formerly-living artists and representatives fror DTES organizations that have joined in coalition pledging to stop condo development on the 1OO-bl01 will host a salon concerning the fatal effects of mon condos in the Downtown Eastside.

Frida Kahlo observed: "Williams' bizarre sales pitc suggests that by building more condo units, he and condo buyers will help solve addiction and social problems in the neighbourhood. The reality is that condo developers and buyers will force poor people and resident artists out of the DTES. Andy Warhol muttered: "His pitch includes a pious promise to help artists by leasing 2500sf to the myst rious "Art Space Action Society" (horrific spawn of the oxymoronic Social Purposes Real Estate conference). These middlemen promise to sub-lease workspace to artists who can afford to be sub-lessor in a new building. Such artists will come from elsewhere, not the DTES. Salvador Dali remarked: "Condos are being create in the DTES at a pace 3 times faster than social how ing. And condo-creation is even faster compared wi' rooms that rent at the welfare rate ... 11 times faster That contradicts the City of Vancouver Housing Pia for developing the DTES. Pantages condos would b( deadly for the low-income community.

Jackson Pollock snarled: "This proposal is a gentriE cation bomb in the heart of the Downtown Eastside, and this developer's record is a splattering of sales pitches without quality, substance, or integrity!) He was forced to shut down demolition work fo1 health and safety violations 路 ) He left combustible debris everywhere and the Fir Dept has had to attend 路 3) His only interest is in making a killing.

Williams' architect's design was rejected by city's Urban Design PaneL People who live or work in Vm couver, and supporters ofthe low-income communi~ in the DTES should contact CoV Planning Director Brent.Toderian@vancouver.ca and demand a public Development Permit Board meeting on the condo proposal for the Pantages site.

Emily Carr referred people to "The DTES is Not fo Condos" website for more information: http: I/d tesn o tfordevelopers. word press.com/

Ten Warning Signs of Normality

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I. COOL: You're cool, you hold everything in and always put "a good face on it" You never cry or laugh much, or show emotion in any way, certainly not in public. Your psychiatric label is "tearlessnicity."

2. SERJOUS: You always do the proper thing- never anything unusual, playful, spontaneous, "different," wild, or creative, if you can help it. You believe playing and being silly are beneath your dignity and only for children. You have a psychiatric label of"stiffupper lippity."

3. NICE: You always act nice even if you can't stand the person to whom you' re talking. You never say what you're really thinking. Your diagnosis: "inappropriate smiling."

4. RJGHT: You always do everything right- wear the "right clothes", say the ''right thing", ass<;>ciate only with the "right people"- you know there is only one right way, and it's your way. You are diagnosed as "conformity prone."

5. BORING: Your conversations, life and living space are dull and boring. In the more advanced stages you have much inner "lifelessness" and "flat affect" - in other words, you are one of the "walking dead." Your psychiatric label is "hyper-inactivity."

6. OBEDIENT: You always try not to offend anyone, especially those in authority- your security seems to depend on that. So therefore you are willing to put expediency ahead of principles. Your psych iatric label is "adjustment prone/adjustment reaction."

7. GULLIBLE: You believe that the doctor always knows best, that the media is telling the truth (major newspapers always print the facts, right?), and that the medical model of"mental illness" has been proven scientifically. Your diagnosis is "normal naivete disorder."

8. AVOID FEELINGS: You are out of touch with yourself, with the natural world, and with what is going on with other people. It has become too hard to face how others are being oppressed, so you choose a more comfortable path. TV starts to look very, very good. You are labeled with "severe blinder-itis."

9. DON'T TRUST YOURSELF: You learned in school that it's important to always pay attention to those in charge and n.ot to trust your own thinking. You learned â&#x20AC;˘o "play the game," and you are still doing that. You

believe your own lies. You have an advanced case of"schoolmania," which, if not stopped in its early stages can lead to severe overwork and, in advanced stages, "corporate asskissingitis."

IO. INDOORISM: You lost touch with wildness in nature, and within your own strong feelings. You do not rebel against ecological destruction. Label: "Tame."

DON'T PANIC: Normality can be healed! If you have two or more of these signs, within any lunar cycle, it is not too late. Join us for MAD PRIDE, support one another, and take action to stop psychiatric opyression before serious persistent ''normality" sets in. .

This page sponsored by W2 Cafe, now open in the Woodwards complex.

"The undeserving maintain power by promoting hysteria. Small souls who seek power over others first destroy the faith those others might have in themselves. Spirituality is the art of ruling tolithout hysteria, the art of being responsible for the uses of power." Frank Herbert.

Homelessness is beginning to mean not even having a street to sleep in.

PROFIT DOES NOT MAKE COMMUNITIES PEOPLE DO

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Do you wrestle with dreams?

Do you contend with shadows?

Do you move in a kind of sleep?

Time has slipped away.

Your life is stolen.

You tarried with trifles, Victim of your folly.

forces ... , otJ

If certain preconditions are necessary for the use of magic, those preconditions will inevitably arrange themselves.

2\ Lookout Society ... celebrates 40 years of providing solutions to bomelessness Arriv ing at a milestone 40 years of pro'> iding. service is a time to look back, as well as a time to look ahead.

The past 40 years have seen Lookout mature and move past the (very!) early '·we' II get homelessness solved in a cou ple of years'' brave naivete. We learned ear ly on. that "'homelessncss'' may not end. but each individual's homelessness can, and with help, will end.

We respect each individual, and know that some folks just !"Iced someone to listen to them, to see them. to offer a helping hand through their situation.

A s imple thing, but lives are transformed.

We have transformed. a li ttle. a lso. Once primm·ily Emergency Shelter (we sti ll offer emergency service) our primary service is now more permanent supported housing.

We have expanded, adding locations in Vancouver. in New Westminste r, and on the North Shore.

As we look ahead to what the next 40 years will bring we know o ne thing. Our clients. tenants, guests will always come first.

We more than give-a-damn.

31:

H'Arts in the Park

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Saturday, August 27th 2011 12noon- 4pm Oppenheimer Park, 400 block East Powell St., Van.

Carnival Games· Dunk Tank · Tug o' War • Lunch Everyone is invited!

Thank you to our Sponsors BC Housing, GBL Architects, Darwin Construction, Transtar Sanitation Supply!

City of Vancouver Proclaims August 27th Lookout's Solutions to Home/e.ftsness Day (for de/ails. please go to our ll"ebsile a/ luokoulsuciery.ca)

Lookout offers:

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Emergency Shelter Extreme Weather Shelter Transitional Housing (up to 2 years of supported housing) Permanent Supported Hous ing Additionally A Drop-In Activity Cemre Vocational Training Outreach services Connection to community Lookout is a safety net for those that have no resources. We will help .

40 YEARS OF LOOKOUT SOCIETY ... some of the highlights

1971 Lookout founded by group of dedicated young people concerned about shelterless people living on the street

1981 Downtown Housing Centre, Lookout's 1st purpose built shelter and collocated housing opens

1974 Lookout incorporated on July 19 Staff volunteer for 1 month to save Lookout

1988 Lookout statistics become computerized

1978

network of frontline service

ff unionize ' with BCGEU CMHC

impacts availability of DTES housing

1990

1995

Outreach program reimplemented

Lookout opens first extreme weather shelter at VGH

Activity van purchased

1993

1992

Living Room Drop In opens specifically for mentally ill

Lookout's Outreach extended to provide longterm support

1989 Lookout's Activity program begins

...

37-unit Jeffery Ross opens for DTES residents living with disabilities

Downtown Shelter an,rJ. Hazelton Reâ&#x20AC;˘â&#x20AC;˘ti11ant:E'

2001 Lookout partners with Jubilee Rooms owner for services to 35/80 rooms

1998 Regional Cold Wet Weather Strategy 2001 formed as Lookout offshoot of cofounds 2nd Shelter ShelterNet Working BC Group

1996 Jim Green Residence opens with 67 suites of permanent housing

2001 Purchased heritage building and renovated to create 23 unit Cliff Block ...

Lookout opens 1st first cold weather shelter in Marpole

Lookout purchases Sakuro So for transitional housing

2002 Yukon opens with 35 (later 71) shelter beds and 36

Tenancy program at 346

Housing Centre opens with 26 year round shelter beds and 25 studios for transitional housing Homeless

2004 Avalon partnership provides support to 35 of 86 residents

2003 Extreme Weather Strategy expanded

2006 Partnership with Cordova's Residence commences 2007 BC Housing purchases SRO'sLookout selected to manage Walton, College & Tamura

2009 Russell tenants return after major renovations Building wins Best Heritage Design award

2008 514 Alexander Partnership begins

Lookout Society Programs In addition to providing housinb ~olurions. Lool.out ':!ociet; serve.;; our communities b~ offering both training programs, and activities programs. The list or partnerships is growing, and Lookout is very pleased to highlight the following.

IXS Culinary Training The \lorrh Shore Culinary Training Kitchen is a 15 week training course that provides chef train mg. Eligible participants arc give a I 00°'o l3ursmy by Lookout.

To find out if you are elig1hle. please contact Chef Don at 604-982-9126 or cmal chef'i'lllookoutsocicty.ca.

NS Culinary Training is olTcrcd in partnership with AplusProjekt. Vlany thanks to the North Shore Foundntion and the inaugural North Shore Mayors GolfTournamenl for startup funding. 31: LivingRoom Drop-In The LivingRoom Drop-In is a members-only activity centre for the mentally ill in the Downtown Eastside Of the Drop-In's 2300 members. about 200 share fun activities and a mcnl. daily. :l€

Cyclcback A bicylc mechanic skills train1ng progmm. students in the Cycleback program receive skills training that may lead to employment. Eligible participants are g1ven a 100°'o Bursary b) I ookout (Please check with BOB for eligibility 778-328-7660).

Cydeback partners include the Bicycle Trade Association of Canada (BTAC), Norco, and Mighty Riders Bike Shop. Cyclebad. is pleased to be workmg with BOB (Building Opportunitil!s '"ith Business). the Mount Pleasant '-clghbourhood House. and many community partners.

Many thanks to the City ofVancouvcr. and the Vancouver Foundation for startup li.mding.

For more information please visit our website http./ lookoutsocicty.ca/Cycleback/ mdl!\. hunl. or call Robert at 604-264-16:10. 31:

Additional Lookout Programs

Contact lookout

Admininstrative Office 429 Alexander Street Vancouver, BC V6A 1C6 Admin: 604-255 0340 Email: info@lookoutsociety.ca Web: www.lookoutsociety.ca

Lookout continually seeks \\a)s to make a positrve di!Terence in the li\·es of people. Some of the programs that we otTer in partnership with community organizations mcludes: Volunteering with the BIA Literacy Partnership: Community Kitchen Peer \1entormg Groups Softball Soccer For information about Lookout progmms and how you can participate, please call 604-255-0340. 31:

A P:rayer :l!or Cb.Hdre:n.

We pray tor children Who put chocolate fingers everywhere, Who like to be tickled, Who stomp in puddles and ruin their new pants, Who sneak Popsicles before supper, Who erase holes in math workbooks.

Who never can find their shoes. . .

And we pray tor those Who stare at photographers from behmd barb-wtre Who can't bounce down the street in a pair of new sneakers, Who never "counted potatoes," Who are born in places we wouldn't be caught dead, Who never go to the circus, Who live in an X-rated world.

We pray for children Who bring us sticky kisses and fistfuls of dandeJions Who sleep with the dog and bUl)' goldfish, Who hug us in a hurry and forget their lunch money, Who cover themselves with Band-Aids and sing off-key, Who squeeze toothpaste all over the sink.

Who slurp their soup.

And we pray for those Who never get dessert, Who have no safe blanket to drag behind them, Who watch their parents watch them die, Who can't find any bread to steal, Who don't have rooms to clean up, Whose pictures aren't on anybody's dresser, Whose monsters are real.

We pray for children Who spend all their allowance before Tuesday,_ Who throw tantrums in the grocery store and p1ck at their food, Who like ghost stories, Who shove dirty clothes under the bed, Who never rinse out the tub,

Who get visits from the tooth fairy, W110 don't like to be kissed in front of the carpool, Who squirm in church and scream in the phone, Whose tears we sometimes laugh at, And whose smiles can make us cry.

And we pray for those Whose nightmares come in the daytime, Who will eat anything, W11o have never seen a dentist, Who aren't spoiled by anybody, Who go to bed hungry and cry themselves to sleep Who live and move, but have no being.

We pray for children Who want to be carried And for those who must.

For those we never give up on And for those who don't have a second chance.

For those we smother...

And for those who will grab the hand of anybody kind enough to offer it.

Ina Hughs

The Human Sunrival Party Manifesto

Our Government will have total charge of: - Fanning and food distribution.

- Housing and Real Estate - Healthcare.

- The Environment.

Most everything else can be the domain of the Capitalist speculators.

There wi ll be a Flat Tax of20% for all Earners, Businesses, and Corporations.

Woodrow O'Loosjaw President and only member

KINDLY OMIT THE FLOWERS A friend in passing told me nothing is everlasting but keep on writing & play ing music & who knows but you have to make those first steps, like sad actors with their bad acting hiding behind computer-generated mimicry with mass make-up does not sound very relaxing no one knows what will o r shall come next, like the world and its ways so many friends have passed away but there are 2 factors that live on 1 say Thank You and deser4vedly so, the first take in people who couldn' t ho ld onto a job if nailed thru their hand that wou ld be the Kettle Friendship Society who turn 35 th is year now without them I' d be dead and deservedly cold; now the 2nd of the two should be absolutely no surprise to you yes I'm referring to the Carnegie Centre Newsletter, who took me in regardless of my views on the human race I deface or religtion & not just a tunnel canary or almost forgotten about parks & pigeons like a Canadian fire with brim stone fo r tires we all deserve a second chance to get it together, I used to slash & burn this canvas covering called skin consumed in self-do ubt & d isrespect to my surprise I am not the only one alive who thinks there is only one way out, like a man who knows his number yet cannot tell stone from lumber I at least have 2 places plus 2 ways of releasing all the frustrations r can at least try to figure every & all that this is about; There was a time I' d ditch th is good-natured & nurtlired look of mine to shoplift anything to pay for a hit

be it cough syrup yes the bottle was always J quarters empty that has always been my way .. .ever try to count how many useless awards are g iven out like bein' best dressed before and after death I swear that Everest popsicle is easier to mount while Earth cries all cats are grey, so many people acknowledged only after death just one swerve to the left and before you can scream cheese they're newspaper material with lines like "Kindly omit the flowers." most who are eternally challenged only get respect for that one day, empty accolades to fill empty shelves if it wasn't for you 2 l'd never leave my shell I figured I'd be sightseeing hell soon enough anyway, being non-violent (except to myself) the Kettle and Carnegie Centre have definitively put a little self-esteem beside my Merits for Non-achievement but golly gee there's room on my shelf in between a life taken for g ranted not veryone is as evil and careless as it had seemed yet: The Cops Killing; Booze G uzzle Swilling; Over & Out of Control Population Willing; Laughable Laws Very Chill ing; The ear & Obey School Teaching Method of Brain Drilling; The Next Newest Madman Who Gets Top Billing; and of course The Next Person Who tries to Commit Planetcide or they fail God willing ... these are just a few nightmares I can't escape or awaken like imagination as vapid as a brain-dead patient's de scent into Thy Glorious Rapids This world really has the power to make anyone hafi now as I write they are declaring that the ill & poor ignore their plight cuz part of E Hastings in a DEAr ZONE- since when does Stephen King get exclusi\t rig hts to our fate, for now those who live and work in a city that constantly promises to care but never gives I could pick up the pieces for a yet unnamed thesis what the hell else can I do, so before I lose it thank you the Kettle and Carnegie Centre people who try the_ir best not to abuse it be it friendship or kindness or JUSt someone to ltsten and talk to as Time reminds us this 'dead zone' lives on in the minds and hearts and families not falling apart maybe one of these years there could be so many other voices loudly chanting thank you!

By ROBERT McGILLIVRAY

"There is no such thing as a 'self-made' person. We are ma~e up ofthousands ofothers. Everyone who has ever done a kind deed for us, or spoken one wora of encouragement to usw, has entered into the makeup ofour character and ofour thoughts, as well as our success." -George Matthew Adams

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"I don't mind being crazy if I can be gr eat and do something with it."

A. Stevens

What Cost The Trauma? ..It's worse than a bombing when they start smashing up your home, tossing sanity, security, hopes and dreams into a dumptruck ... who are these brothers and sisters who take such blows of greed? ..what cost their trauma? Despair?

SamRoddan

WHEN ALL HELL BREAKS LOOSE The best defence. when walls of treason choke us off is defiance, curses, fury. Then, hopefully, a rally offriends: knowledge, focus, confidence, courage, guts, stamina .. . then action with a counting of blessings and words of a prayer

SAMRODDAN

TOO MANY SERVICES? TOO MUCH LOW RENT HOUSING?

THE BIG LIE IN THE 00\t\!NTO\t\!N EASTSIDE Too many community services! Too much 'social' housing! If you haven't heard these claims yet you will be soon. ~astown business groups and their friends are out there chanting such words over and over again, telling anyone who will listen that services and social housing are what's wrong in the DTES. They claim that there should be less services and subsidized housing for people who live here. They say that would make this a better neighbourhood.

The real problem with that kind of claim is that it's just not true. Over 90% of the people living here have low incomes (very low) and need the services. In fact they get used to.t.he breaking point. And there are thousands of people on wa1tmg · lists for social housing. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to , figure out that the neighbourhood requires more community services and a lot more social housing.

So how do geople get away with claims that there are too many services and social housing here? It's an example what's called the "Big Lie technique." This is a theory of misinformation that goes like this: The easiest and best way to deceive people is to tell the most outrageous one lie possible as loudly and as often as you can. ·The Big Lie is most often used to single out one group of people and scapegoat them. This group then gets blamed for whatever problems are at hand. Attacking community serv· ices and housing for people with low incomes is a way to attack the people who use them. . · The claim is that people with low incomes are the cause of whatever problems there may be in the Downtown E~sts.ide (here, you can name your favourite problem). The cla1m IS that if there were less community services and low rent housing here, there would be less people with low incomes living here. The claim is that this would make the Downtown Eastside a better place. · This is an attack on everyone who uses Carnegie Centre and any other community service in the neigh?ourhood ..l!'s an attack on anyone who not only lives in but 1s on a wa1t1ng list for social housing. But it doesn't stand up to the facts.

Let's take a look at these facts. One of the sources often used by those who claim there are too many services in th~ DTES is a list of all the resources available to people who hve in !bis part of town. It has 268 entries. The problem is that a

o!

lot of these resources are also available to people in Point Grey, Kerrisdale and even West Vancouver! It's true that Downtown Eastsiders can use the Dog Pound, the YMCA (if you have the money), or the Vancouver Volunteer Bureau .. but so can people from all over the city. Most of tern aren't even located in the Downtown Eastside.

So if we eliminate all these kinds of services, we end up with' a list of 52 (out of an original268) which are aimed specifically at the people of the Downtown Eastside. However almost half of these are duplicates. For example DEYAS has (had) a number of different projects, as does the Salvation Army. Union Gospel has 3 listings, including 2 for Pilgrim's Market.

If we eliminate all the duplicates, we end up with a list of 26 services for Downtown Eastside residents. Now, these 26 services include 2 elementary schools, 4 churches, 2 resident's associations and 3 community centres.

In reality there only 15 services in and for the Downtown Eastside. That probably compares about equally with just about any other east side neighbourhood.

The real problem is that this is not just any other neighbo hood. The Downtown Eastside has the lowest average hm hold income of any urban neighbourhood in Canada. Peoj:le need the services that are here already and could use a few more. It is clear that more services are required and they should be services controlled by and for the people who live here.

People in the Downtown Eastside have worked wonders wit! what they have. It's never easy, but it's something everybod) here should be proud of and fight hard to support. It's import· ant to make sure property values don't smash community values.

By JEFF SOMMERS

sponsored by Christopher Richardson. former Vancouver Policeman.

SUBJECTIVE ALLOYS

WHAT'S OUT THERE. YOU'D BE BETTER OFF GOING TO A PLASTIC SURGEON, AND BUYING A PAIR OF 3 INCH ELEVATOR SHOES!

GOES, THE HI GHER YOUR CREATIVE OUTPUT GETS, WHICH, PARADOXICALLY, BRINGS TEMPORARY SELF-SATISFACTION THAT QUICKLY TURNS AND THEN GUILT.

Democracy in Action Does a picture ever tell the whole story?

The Chinatown Merchants Association the Gastown Business Improvement Association and the Strathcona Area Merchants' Society and a few other individuals got together to have a press conference and make statements demanding the closure of the Needle Exchange, the closure of the Carnegie Street Program and the withdrawal of funding from all agencies and/or services that support, assist or in any way aid the drug using population of the Downtown Eastside. They demanded then that all these dollars be put exclusively into " rehab" somewhere else.

We had about 2 hours warning of this and the calls went around. Muggs Sigurgeirson, Jeff Sommers and Tom Laviolette went to the address only to find that admission was to the press only - if you weren't invited, you couldn' t go in! All of a sudden they were inside and on the 3rd floor of the Chinese Benevolent Association's building on East Pender.

They loudly denounced the motley crew present for their narrow, reactionary response to the myriad problems in our neighbourhood. The three of them were arrested and taken out.

What the hell is this about?

Let's start with where we are- the Downtown Eastside has been given this awful rep by just about everybody, and momentous changes are demanded everywh~re. The crux of the matter is that some people want what's good for their pocketbooks, their self-images and their class. They want us - meaning

everyone not of some vague level of wealth, respectability and social standing - out. Drug users are being targeted as the most visible and, they hope, the most universally condemnable people. This is a front, the edge of the wedge. SAMS, along with the various Gastown groups (one per person..) are vehemently and insidiously fighting to have all social services, social housing and poor people in general eliminated from " their" turf.

Expo 86 exacerbated an effect of conscious police and 'holier-than-thou' policy to get all the poor and street people off Granville, out of the West End and into the Downtown Eastside. This one event sounded the bell for the greed of capital as off-shore money was luredfmvitedlbegged-for and all the local business-driven organisations tried to intensify the massive shift to blatant non-tolerance for us being visible in their neighbourhoods. Street action, drug & alcohol use, prostitution and various other symptoms of poverty (like homelessness, even when home is a lO'xlO' room) were driven into the DE in a vain.effort by the police-and-holier-than-thou's to clean up their sacred sight. The DE accepted the influx of younger people, tolerated the deinstitutionalised mental health consumers being ' released into

the community' (given one-way tickets or busfarc to the area) and just adapted. No, this wasn't any Utopia, but as a generally low-income community residents had life experiences that engendered some sympathy vâ&#x20AC;˘ith other$ being displaced from wherever.

Communi tv wasn't a co-opted buzzword, but the forces of gentrification and greed and power-plays began picking up speed and intensity. DERA had generated over 450 wuts of really decent housing, Carnegie was the living room of the Downtown Eastside, Main&Hastings Community Development and Four Corners Community Savings, Vancouver Native Health and all aspects of Native services, End Legislated Poverty and the Tenants Rights Action Coalition arc in it for the long haul, the Women's Centre and Bridge Housing, the Portland Hotel Society, Community Directions_ United We Can and recycling for binncrs and our enviromnent, various churches have good programs, and the community of all the poor_ the displaced, seniors, substance abusers and everybody are involved in getting the services and stuff that every real community needs as a matter of common sense. DEYAS began to deal with the growing drug problem, one of the most visible symptoms of societal imbalance. Youth housing, detox, bad date sheets, sharing of info on health and a needle exchange, counselling, referrals, and various services to meet the exploding incidence of reactions.

Then the death toll began to rise. Very wealthy

people took the dynamic tension and the concentration of the displaced as a business opportunity.

Heroin increased in purity and availability while its street price dropped. Overdoses were rampant. Over 350 people died in 1993 and addiction grew exponentially. A report by BC's Chief Coroner, Vince Caine, listed 63 recommendations on how to deal with addiction and drug use as health problems_ calling for a comprehensive system of treatment involving not only detox but counselling, housing, job training, treatment that is low-key and directly accessible. It was a light in the growing darkness.

The forces of darkness also began to coalesce. The last thing the gasbags want is established services and a comprehensive system of treatment that deals with addicts as people. Gastown was the first that began to get a closed- borders mentality, with the Business Improvement Association, under the needle nose of Leonore Sali, started harassing street people to "keep moving" and "go back where you belong". Seems that even the thousand or so residents in SROs in Gastown were unwelcome unless they just stayed invisible and paid their rent and didn't become tourist eyesores. The developer bogeyman got unprecedented concessions at shitty hall to build condos higher than anything even remotely close, to gate off public space for a private, gated no-man' s-land, and name the hulk after the guy who wanted to bulldoze Stanley Park. The Cityappointed Historic Area Planning Committee gets really loopy demanding colour changes on SRO

It was the right time to buy because it is a bad neighbourhood.

-LiES

-lf<J~...,ITW

(This community) is under a lot of pressure. There is . . development pressure from all sides. This is very valuable real estate and most of the people here are regarded as inconvenient to those who would like to build their little castles .. It is 0 irrelevant that there are I0,000 people It IS too easy for other people to come NOT down and relegate people here to a trash bin because you don't have anything.

You are wonhless or you are not wonh considerauon and you are JUSt one of DOT. COMSthose nameless people that can move once it is time for us to take over (Downtown Eastside Resident, interview 1998)

H ME S

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exteriors and even name changes for local concerns whose monikers suggest some abhorrent affiliation with the Downtown Eastside.

The nouveau tenants and property owners in Gastown were told. as part of the sales pitch, not to worry about the street - that everything they saw outside (Pigeon Park, East Hastings, etc.) would be gone in 2-3 years. That yap is 5-6 years old.

Chinatown sees the natural outv,rard movement of people into other areas as indicative of the failure of their marketing! Chinatown is no longer the only place for Chinese business, but the thousands of people coming every day are not enough. The fault must be assigned and what better scapegoat than the people a block or two over- the lowly street people and residents of the DE. Strathcona gets upset over the proliferation of drugs and sex and poor people are generally unwelcome. Each of these areas gets a few people claiming to speak for everyone, and their demands are mirrored by the same vested, selfaggrandising class interests mentioned above.

Gentrification. Greed. Globalisation. Class. Bigotry.

Racism. Real Estate. Image ...

About a year or so ago there was a renewed call for a ' safe corridor' between Chinatown and Gastovm.

The rentacops now prowling in relative security arc seen as white (or yellow) knights, to be deployed in even greater force along one public street to keep tourists and those in search of shopping experiences safe from the undesirable influences inherent in local contact. Community people agreed to meet and discuss concerns. Those claiming to speak for everybody in gas town brought visions of sidewalk cafes, shoppes, constant security and even closed circuit tv.

The closure ofSROs on the corridor and disbursement oflocals is, of course, part of their vision.

DERA and Carnegie brought concerns of poverty, housing, street safety and health issues, training for jobs and local art production. After lwo meetings,

the hardcore class junkies got fed up with listening to all this social shit and held a press conference.

"Close the Needle Exchange. No more social scn,iccs. Withdraw funding from any social housing or services that service, assist or support the drugridden, crime-ridden loca[ population.' ' Spokesperson was Sue Bennet, herself rwnoured to be a drug user, but hypocrisy is okay. The gaw1tlct was thrown do路wn but her stoned response to the many local residents in attendance certainly dispelled any rumours.

The matter ofWoodv.路ard's is a crucial one for the future of the strcetscape. The gasbags want it to go market, high-tech. shop-til-you-drop .. . the other ten thousand or so people who like living here want social housing and surrounding empties turned into daycare and bakeries and useful stuff. The guy who bought it, Kassem Aghtai, pulled his sleaze with the community for 14 months, then when he had no where to hide when it came to showing the money, pulled out and has been trying to flog it ever since.

Just before that, he met for a day-long 'conference' with the gasbags and was brought to his senses by Bem1et and slinky Sali and Rositch and others: the next thing was vying for a market-only development permit. Demonstrations, the infamous daisy painting, occupying law offices, holding a community celebration under the private dicks ' videotape, and most recently the actions organized by the AntiPoverty Action Committee have pissed off the same people putting their class and vested interests forward as just 路good for business'.

Brice Rositch is an architect, having an office at 120 Powell. He ran his mouth n a radio show the day after this meeting (this' s about the meeting in Chinatown, remember) and dumped on the innocent, pure Carnegie Newsletter for printing his address. (Tag!!)

He and fellow yuppy Grant Longhurst arc frontiJ;lg for various interests who see blaming everything on the N DP as one way to justifY calling for the destruction of all services and strategies now in effect.

Charles Lee, president of the Chinatov..n Merchants. sees this condemnation of community efforts and the NDP as his best platfonn for getting the Liberal nomination in the next election. Lives and thinking and \\Orkablc solutions are irrelevant.

Wayne Nelson. O\mer ofthc Patricia Hotel and morally responsible for the death of Olaf Solheim (evicted from his room after 40+ years so Wayne baby could gouge Expo tourists), got the Strathcona Merchants Society together but then took their mandate to mirror his personal idiocy, calling for absolute opposition to any services for substance abusers and declaring war on the ' element in lower Hastings". He profits off of alcohol, and the best coke in the neighbourhood is reportedly sold in his bar.

The focal point of all this bullshit is the proposed Resource Centre for drug users. Its modeled on the ideas and examples of effective drug strategies in Switzerland, Germany and England. The community has held extensive and inclusive public forums and conferences, invited speakers from these programs and others in Australia and the States, worked to gel as much perspective on how to work as holistically and realistically as possible. The opposition is all out-of-whack. Rather than seeing the first step in treatment and alternatives in education on safe practices and getting people inside and safe, the reactionary right calls for treatment on islands, in the middle of nowhere, just GET THOSE GODDAMN JUNKJES OUT OF MY SIGHT AND OUT OF MY

..:::.." .. p -路 ~ -""'\n C'tji

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"The Down Town Easiside is a health and safe1y hazard," They say

---

CITY. The Mayor seemed rattled in his press conference, held just before the one in Chinatown, where he seemed to change his tune to call for a moratoriwn on aU new drug and alcohol services for 90 days. The legal system gives those violently opposed to the existing programs another 60 days or so to exhaust their delaying tactics.

The Carnegie Street Program is condemned for working with drug users, for " teaching people how to be addicts" a warped perception of teaching people how to use safely. Tables on safe sex, on diabetes, on Hep C, music jams and board games and other activities not involving drugs are all condemned across the board as supporting drug users. Such blanket stereotyping gets us down to the real reason behind everything these twerps are on about - its stated bald-faced in the commercial promos ofTinseltO\m: ' We are proud to promote the gentrification of this area." If you don' t fit that mold, you ain' t gentry.

We respond, sometimes like talking to a five yearold having a temper tantrum. Money isn' t evil, but the things people do to get it and the effects that pursuit of power has on them would make a corpse puke.

ByPAULR TAYLOR

lf all poor p~ople had badges that srud I am a poor person then I think the gentry would be relieved they could identifY all the people they don' t like.

(Downtown Eastside resident, interview 1998)

Demands The undersigned community groups have come together to demand that *No city, prm'incial or federal resource of any kind be used to assist, facilitate or maintain the use and dealing of illegal drugs.

Drug injection sites, needle exchanges, drop-in centres, and I or any other non-treatment resources cannot be located in the Downtown neighbourhoods.

Govemment must cease its support of all programs which do not DIRECTLY offer treatment to addicts. * The Vancouver Police Department must enforce the Criminal Code of Canada equally throughout its jurisdiction.

The Vancouver Police must immediately cease its unequal and negligent application of the law in the Downtown neighbourhoods.

The Vancouver Pol ice CANNOT make policy regarding the application of the criminal code or reflect the lack of action by Provincial Court Judges.

Unsigned by individuals claiming to speak for the Chinese Cultural Centre; the Gastown Business Improvement Association. the Victory Square Property Assoc, and Strathcona Property Owners and Tenants Association.

Brigit Snider is the SRO owner who wants to get rid of all drug users and anyone else who might hurt her property路 s value.

Sue Bennett changes her fac;ade to Gastown Homeowner' s, Wayne Nelson ducked out in favour of Harry Jung, Grant Longhurst only runs his mouth and SPOTA is not behind this at all.

Okay. Enough characterization. The issues are plain. This bunch calls itself an alliance and labels all community efforts in the direction of harm reduction and working with an exploding problem as useless. The altemative they propose is not invisible, not complex, requiring much space and careful explanation; it's not even difficult to understand.

They have no alternative, no plan, and zero efforts that they can point to as workable solutions. This is a call to abandon everything that even remotely helps those with this health problem.

A Sun article in 1997 by Denny Boyd was entitled ' Ouit or Die' and called for the total abandonment of

It's a good thing w~re not helpless.

drug users to their " chosen fate" It was faxed to the Mayor & Council by Lynne Bryson of the fictitious Victory Square something, and the handwritten note said, "Many of us feel this way."

The point about the police is to blame them for not arresting everybody all day long until drugs disappear for lack of customers or something. The war on drugs is the US approach, where their biggest growth industry is prisons; where over 2 million people are locked up. Greed and gentrification ...

PRT

DTES homes are evicted as "health & safety hazards"

••• 't>llf~ENTLV WORKING- AWAY FOR THE P~S1'

2.S YEARS, DARING ,SOMETIMES CONTRoVERSIAL, "THE EVER 1NTREPID VOLUNTEER EDtTOR PAUL TAYLOR, coNTINUES To STAY ON TOP OF THOSE

PRESSING ISSUES, EXPRESSINC,. THE VlEWS AND 'IOICES BY, FOR AND ABou-r THE BA.D AND DISHON EST PEOPLE oF THE DOWNTOWN

EASTSIDE •••

~Mfi\M •.. !. ~ONDER W~~TJ foR LUNC~?

(exerpt from "Persephone All" I generally refer to as "FREAKIN' HANIIERHEADS' ) Near where I live there's a little store called Sharks and Hammers that has a really funny sandwich sign w ith a monkey riding a duck. like a cowboy. It's a chicken actuall y, but I changed it to a duck because it fits another story 1 made up about all this nonsense. Besides I like ducks.

Now you might or might not wonder about the relationships between ducks, monkeys, sharks and hammers and so do I, but in this strange world of people who don't have the ability to see themselves objectively the only things that seem to make any sense are fairytales.

One day a Hammerhead Shark was swimmin' around the great barrier reeftryin' ta find a way ta get at a flock of ducks he could smell who were swim min' around in a beautiful blue lagoon.

"Damn that barrier." thought the shark. "I want foul flesh fo r supper" So he decided to enlist the help of other ocean going predators to find a way into an area the earth mother had erected a kiddie fence around to protect. But nowhere in all the oceans could the Hammer-head fi nd anyone who could outwit the earth mother.

Hammer-heads are like that.

Years went by, and that old by now, or then Hammer-head had developed an entire mythology in his hammer head of spite and hatred for the earth mother over which he spent an inordinate amount of time repeating, to other predators. It became over the years a traditional shark-shite story in the world of carnivores.

Then one day the by-then ancient Hammer-head was presented with what he thought was a free meal except hi! nearly complete lack of teeth presented a problem. This strange critter was inside a cage.

Being an old and wizened shark he knew he had to get that critter out of his cage in order to eat.

"Oh hello strange fish." said the shark. "I've never seen a critter like you before. What are you?"

"I'm a monkey." the fish replied.

"Oh, is that so? You're not a fish? Apologies, after all my eyes aren't as good as they used to be. To tell youth truth Mr Monkey I was looking for a fis h to have for supper, but you're not it then. So tell me a bit about yourself."

"Oh I come fro m up there, above the water." the monkey began. "I came down here to look at all the critters who live in the ocean. But you know, I never thought I could actually talk with a shark before."

"Why's that" the shark queried, pretending he was more interested in intellectual d iscourse than having a cow of monkey meat.

"Well, no offense Mr. 路shark, but the other monkeys up there warned me about Hammer-heads. That's why I'r in a cage. " He lightly tapped the s ilvery metal.

The o ld shark reared his T-bar cranium back and bellowed a laugh he hoped was convincing that drew the attention of a passing w hale known throughout the oceans as Barnacle Bilbo. Now Barnacle Bilbo had a prett) good idea about what that laugh was, and he bore many scars from run-ins w ith Hammer-heads, this one in particular, so he decided to see what was about.

Meanwhile the hammer-head was attempting to mesmerize that monkey with the fairytale of dolphins, inviti~ the monkey to go for a ride.

"I g uess monkeys have a Jot to learn about sharks." the hammerhead condescended.

"We prefer mackerels and herrings."

And it was just about the time that the silly mo nkey had placed his hand on the door lever to the shark cagetl Barnacle Bilbo showed up.

"What's this then?" said Barnacle Bilbo. "A si lly monkey in an aqualung about to become a shark' s breakfill!

The monkey froze and the hammer-head started flipping and twisting about attempting to distract the monk~ from the whale's warning. But whales have a most defined and distinct song in the element of water, one the monkey couldn't be mistaken in hearing.

The shark became enraged in only the way a spite filled predator can become enraged and began bellowingt hate at the whale, completely forgetting all about the monkey.

Single minded rage, like most obsessive singularities pulls all in its wake like an avalanche of interrelated thoughts. Soon the shark was lost wi thin all his life's fail ures and began to see his imagined arch-nemesis, the earth mother, in the shape of Barnacle Bilbo.

The whale positioned itself between the monkey and shark and with his eye the shark could not see winked at the monkey. Barnacle Bilbo let the shark rant on uninterrupted.

"What g ives you the right to stand between me and my prey? You put up a great barrier of yourself but send me the scent of waterfowl! You rot my teeth, you blunt my hammer with age and leave me to scavenge the dead of the ocean ..... " The shark railed for as long as a shark could, but the whale kept himself between the two till the monkey, having had enough time to realize he'd stumbled into an old old argument he d id n't have a cl ue about tugged the secure line to his comrades above and the cage began to move.

Mark (

Rhizome Cafe congratulates the Carnegie Newsletter on 25 years of making community voices heard, and speaking important truths.

We wish you much success for the next 25 and beyond!

317 East Broadway, Vancouver, Coast Salish Territories * www.rhizomecafe.ca * 604-872-3166

Poem for My Next Lover -"one thing you can't hide is when you 're crippled inside." - John Lennon I don't know how to like your beauty in the tumble of the everyday. I get too 'excited' and confused and must pretend I don ' t care, to protect myself from admitting need.

So don't believe me.

Stephen Belkin

Last Public Poem Jittery sto mach, jitterbugging spirit.

Justice/stone. Just salvaged. Joy savouring sunshine. j ettisoning sadness. Just saying . ..

Stephen Belkin

Wave Interference -"you 're only coming thru in waves" -Pink Floyd Things go badly for me whenever I assert myself out in the real world.

A higher purpose keeps intervening.

Unfortunately for me, it so happens that I agree w ith the higher purpose.

Nevertheless ...

Stephen Belkin

Author's note: from now on I only write poems for my friends.

I'm in the phone book if you're intereste. For starters I'd like to know if Dorothy Kidd is still alive. If you know, please call.

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• e . e 1 Ca r n g r

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nilS UEWSLETIER IS A PUBLICAllOII OF THE CARUEGIE COMUUUITY CEUTRE ASSOCIATION Articles represent the vieNS of ir'dividual comribtnors and not of the Association.

Next Issue: SUBMISSION DEADLINE .. .. ... MONDAY, AUGUST 29th

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['7he following was spoken at the peoples' festival In victoria, b. c.]

take back space

~

I was talking last week with libby davies, member of parliament for the downtown eastside of vancouver, and libby told of a star trek episode she'd seen a futuristic situation in san francisco - an enonnous wall had been constructed dividirlg poor people from everyone else .. and outside tlus wall in super consumerist upscale society there was almost no awareness of who was struggling to survive on the other side of the wall nor how wretched their living conditions were and Ubby said "that's not our future it's happcni11g right now" north america's anti-panhandling bylaws and other

prohibitions against the presence of certain people

in what was fom\erly public space is a central objective irl the global and local war against the poor to put Uris situation in perspective I'd like to quote from an excellent book "geographies of exclusion" by david sibley; he says "power is expressed in the monopolization of space ru1d the relegation of weaker groups in society to less desirable enviromnents.. the boundaries between the conswning and nonconsmning public are strengthening with nonconsmnption being construed as a form of deviance at the same time as spaces of conswnption eliminate public spaces in city centres, processes of control are manifested in the exclusion of those who are judged , to be deviant imperfect or marginal - who is fell to belong and not belong contributes in an important way to the shaping of social space it is often the case that this hostility to others is :uticulated as a concern about property values the urge to make separations between clean and dirty ordered ru1d disordered us and U\em that is to expel the abject is encomaged in westem cultures creatir1g anxieties because such separations cru\ never finally be achiev~d ' this anxiety is reinforced by the culture of consumptlon in western societies I the success of capitalism depends on it

featur~ph.ies

of exclusion and a necessary the literal mappings of power relations and rejection is the collapse of categories like public and private and to be diseased or disabled is a mark of imperfection tl1e fear of infection leads to erection ofthe barricades to resist the spread of diseased polluted others there is a history of imaginary geographies which cast mirlorities .. imperfect people .. ru\d a list of others who are seen to pose a threat to the dominant group in society as polluting bodies or folk devils who are then located elsewhere ~~~vvuere might be nowhere as when genocide or moral transfonnation of a mirlority like prostihttes are advocated the imagery of defilement which locates people on the margins or in residual spaces is now more likely to be applied to the mentally disabled the homeless prostitutes and some racialized minorities" the downtown eastside of vancouver, where I live, is by arty statistical measurement of poverty and disease a third world area besieged by upscale developmental greed of truly genocidal proportions the highest rates and numbers ofhiv/aids ..suicide .. hepatitis c..syphilis and tuberculosis in the westem world and close to lhe lowest life expectancy and the single question I am asked more titan any othei by media and concemed citizens is "where will they go?" where will the people go when they are driven from tlus :u路ea by gentrification/displacement? referring to sibley, l must conclude that the municipal provincial and federal govenunents have some imaginary geography in mind because there is nowhere for the people to go and irl the downtown eastside Ule public space U1at has been available for dmg addicts, mentally disabled, homeless, prostitutes is beirlg seized from them

路

WfSH YOU WERE HERE .. .

shultcrs and grall:s cover doorways and stauw..-:lls where lmman hemgs who have nowhere else to go at leas\ could stand for awluk awmngs arc removed from buildings so that cold rain pours down on very ill people large povate security forces in gas town <md chinatown business distxicts en1orce to the limits oftheir capability anti-panhandling bylaws and harass poor and vulnerable people out of their <U"eas. away from tourists and businesses there is serious talk of establishing what is being called the carroll street corridor - a kind of demilitarized zone between gas town and chinatown so that tourists do not . have to walk through the defiled downtown eastside and in tl1e midst of tl1e downtown eastside the police have established a red zone for p1isoners released from jail, meaning you could be aqested simply tor being totmd on a certain block and vancouver c1ty council has recently invested time and money in an attempt to circumvent the charter of rights and freedoms naming the downtown eastside specifically as the target of this action to loosen even more the search and seizure regulations .. there are no-go zones in new westminster several block areas where you can be charged ·f you are deemed <UI tmdesi.mble just for being there ;md that is basicaUy i.n response to dmg addicts driveu hom the downtown eastside lo new west by police but there is resistance. l !-.now there IS here in v1ctoria and in vancouver not long ago activisb protesting the anti-panhandling bylaw invaded city lwU<~nd occupied city ~,;ouncil chambers the sophistication of the sy~ tem we are opposing is such thai the presence of panhandlers in bw;iness areas ot' vancouver has been t,rreatly reduced without the polic<.: having to chm~~e a single person yet thus the ~ystem 1s able to avoid a public legal chaUenge and public space continues to be seized to put tlus 111 a the\>logical perspective I' II hrieOy quoit! tio1n ,, hook ctltltkd "money ancf power" w;1ttcn hy p1cqnes d in!, who !ought 111 the resistance Ill lfiiiiCC dtlllllg the :>I.!Ct)J){) World Wi11' .otlll :.:ng.agcd 111 lll:any ,,>~; t ,t l JUsti..:.: :>ll Hggle, tl!rtlugl lotltllic r,;!lliii!Ldcrot'lw; Itt~. dl ul says

~ltimatdy Ihe rich sed, to kill th.: pot>t tlus happens because the rich are exasperated by constantly being called into question by god through the poor- and Ihis is U1e 11.!<11rcasl)n tor the amc~LiJ1g p10blem that in all :-;ocidie:; I hi! rich have detested th~ poor and why when precisely the rich are the powerli.1l the supcnor the strong do they :>etthemselves again:;! tho..! poOl') we can find ot'comse all the psychologtcal and sociological reasnns we could want but none l)f these reasons ts definitive none really l.!Xplams !mt they aU rclak to the !:tel that Ute poor are a lem!Joral retlcction of god" to resJst today IS to take back space but when we are tt!w in number:; and have no money or pol.it1cal power, what do we do'.l the question I finally askl.!d myself is not which cau::,l.!, which new assault on the poor should I take on? anti-panhandling bylaws'? the health care system? housing? the legal system? racism? unemployment? the theft of children from poor women? welfare? but who are the defiled',' the ones who don' t belong'? the human beings who are relentlessly dehumarilzed? those who are victimized by this social cleansing? in the downtown eastside as weU as throughout the province ofb1itish columbia it is the dmg addicts who are homeless, diseased who are excluded, mcu·ginalized, pushed out, vilified abandoned and destroyed and it is the impoverished drug addict on whmn the l.!ntire system bears ciown evety imtitution of law education lmsiltess health and religion the degraded situation nd ciJ·cumstances of dmg is one issue that affects or will affect everyone in b.c. and is the onlv opening, the only breach in the system I havl! yet seen -" dllt'i.ttg my activism in the downtown eastsicie the honeudous coudition of drug addicts has forced govenunent . the system. to yield r~sq.urces it n<::v<::r would have othe1w ise I believe that in the dowutown eastside

to defend th<:: entire community of poor people the best way lo do it is lo defend and stand wiU1 and those who ar.,; ltH>:>l d..:t.1lc:d Ltnd excluded ~~}ttf the ctrug addict:; ·... . '·· ·: · a y<.:ar ago Sl.!Vl.!r<.d dowl\t\)Wl\ ..:a:,lstdl.! acttvlst:; ;t ..;. .. involved with the dntg stlua tton held a protl.!st 'Will&\.~-~~

..~

we blocked the cotiler of main and hastmgs and distributed a pamphle t describing lite ltolTendous sihtation of overdose deaths and disease we planted 1200 crosses in oppenheimer park to commemorate the number o f people who have died as a result of dmg overdoses in the past 4 years and then as a member of the vancouver/ridmwnd health board representing the downtown eastside l introduced a motion wh.ich passed declaring the hiv/aids infection rate among injection dmg users vancouver's first public health emergency these events brought international media attention to the predicament in the downtown eastside and since dmg addiction and its consequences affects all areas of our live · massive health care costs

the has the story fi:om one perspective or ever since, in such a widespread and ongoing ma1mer, that libby davies said she has never in all her years of activism seen anything like it at approximately IJ1e same time as these events arm livingston and myself held meetings with drug addicts in the dO\•mtown eastside hundreds of addicts and listened to them say over :md over that what they most needed was a place to go a place, some space to be safe and rest and have the use of a telephone and a shower and a restroom common amenities denied them for even the community centre in the area is off limits from these meetings a campaign developed tor a 24-hour resource centre lor dmg users and that coincided wi.th the tecleral govenunent the liberals coming fm1h with a million dollars to deal with the public health emergency and it has been decided that the lederal govenunent will

initially ti.md this resource centre tor addicts a commitment which would have seemed impossible unthinkable and absurd a year ago there is Clmcntly a battle over where this facility will be <H1d there are those insisting it be located anywhere elsewhere nowhere but it w ill be in the downtown eastside; and it is space taken back because if anything can be said to be an anti-gentrification project, it is th.is one and the health board in cooperation (of all things) with other ministries and be housing put together money not marked .for any other housing venture and purchased 2 hotels in the dark heart ofthe emergency - the block where the red zone is located the block most people in business wish was gent.Iified and the addicts expelled as soon as possible

addicts, many of whom are infected with hiv/aids tltis initiative is an important signal tltat a commitment has been made to house "undesirables" in the downtown eastside and most dramatically of any project so tar is a dmg users' organization also fi.mded by the vancouver/riclunond health board it is called vandu -vancouver area network of dmg users sibley says in his book "there is always the hope that through political action the humanity of the rejected will be recognized and the images of defilement discarded" and that is what vandu has most powerfully begun to accomplish the de-marginalization of those most marginalized the most powerless and voiceless are finding their voices and speaking forth at meetings and conferences

fff' â&#x20AC;˘ ~----~~--¡~ only hope I see for actual concrete change it occurs to me regarding activism in the downtown eastside that out of advocacy efforts and the IIthetheredowntown eastside is being crushed meetings and demonstrations armmd housing, while are a million battles to fight and on committees where they had never been

or heard before

~

all

all

Unportant as acts of resistance, they have not yielded one square inch of space taken back but the drug emergency has been tmly hopeful

a petition campaign was begtm by vandu members for safe injection rooms in the downtown eastside more space for the lowest the least and the last and because ofthe horrendous number of overdose deaths, lllis has become a possibility the 24-hour resource centre committee tmanimously supported Ulis petition and safe injection sites and this committee includes a gas town business leader and an inspector of the vancouver police department and the cllief medical officer ofbc. john millar, in a report on the public health emergency, urges tile govenunent to yield resources with how;ing mentioned prominently â&#x20AC;˘ to help save lives of drug users = out oft his suffering of drug addicts and their families out of this exclusion, out ofUUs genocide, out oftlte enormous health care costs now and later out of the monstrous market of international drug trade against first nations people out of the wild fire consequences of the prohibition of illicit drugs out of the disease, out ofthe lives ofthe most execrated most wtitten-otTand hated htuuan beings in our society has come an opening .. a possibility for something new tor change tor taking back space

I

and the emergency is not going to go away problems associated with drug use will only increase and worsen if real changes are not made for social activists this is an opportunity that may not ever come again you can take on the whole system from the side of a drug addict this crisis is in victoria, it is in the comox valley it is on reserves throughout the province it is across the world and so I urge political activists to orgatlize with drug addicts - they are in the biggest mess there is their lives are the biggest messes and the closer you are to them Ute more of a mess you get into

I have never before realized the width and breadth and power of the system as I have in this advocacy because here is a real threat to the system, trying to save the lives ofthose others would rather see die

I'll close with another quotation from the best book I know on this whole debacle it's called "the comer" the comer being the dmg comer, Ute dmg scene. the authors david simon and edward bum say "the comer is everywhere and we have swallowed some disastrous pretensions allowing ourselves a naive sincerity that even now assumes the battle can be restricted to heroin and cocaine limited to a self-contained cadre of lawbreakers when all along the conllict was ripe to become a war against the wtderclass itself we can commit to the people ofthe comer,to the notion that they are our own, that their future is our fi.tture or we can throw the problem back on them empathy demands that we recognize ourselves in their faces, that we acknowledge the addictive impulse is something more than simple lawlessness that we begin to see the comer as the last refuge of the truly disowned ~._ and connectedness admits that between their world and ours the distance ~Y\ ~ in lnmtan tenns at least ~ (\ ~ is never as great as we make it seem"

>

),

l__j

Bud Osborn/"t..

:Z

The production of this 25th Anniversary edition of the Carnegie Newsletter has been financially helped by the Vancouver 125th Anniversary grants. There is a logo to include but I lost it. The colour covers are generously sponsored by Budget Printing. Thanks to Charlie, Ricky and the whole crew.