December 15, 2013, carnegie newsletter

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DECEMBER 15,_2013

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Carnegie ~ NEWSLETTER

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Imprisoned in 1963

Sentiment & Desire

of "White Suprem-acy''

By Fel ic ity Arbuthnot Accusing politicians or former politicians of"breathtaking hypocrisy" is not just over used, it is inadequacy of spectacu. Jar proportions. Sadly, searches in various thesaurus' fa il in meaningful improvement.

The death of Nelson Mandela, however, provides tributes resembl ing duplicity on a mind altering substance. President Obama, whose litany of global assassinations by Drone, from infants to octogenarians- a personal weekly decree we are told, summary executions without Judge, Jury or trial - stated of the former South African' s President's passing: "We will not likely see the likes ofNelson Mandela again ... His acts of reconciliation ... set an example that all humanity shou ld aspire to, whether in the lives of nations or our own personal lives. " I studied his words and his writings ... like so many around the globe, I cannot fully imagine my own life without the example that Nelson Mandela set, (as) long as I live I w ill do what I can to learn from him ... it falls to us ... to fo rward the example that he set: to make decisions guided not by hate, but by love ... " Mandela, said the Pres idential High Executioner, had: " ... bent the arc of the moral universe toward justice."

Mandela, after nearly thirty years in jail ( 1964-1990) forgave his jai lors and those who would have preferred to see him hung. Obama committed to closing Guanta namo, an election pledge, the prisoners still self starve in desperation as the ir lives rot away, without hope.

The decimation of Libya had no congress ional approval, Yemen, Somalia, Pakistan and A fghanista n's dismembered.

Drone victims are a Pres idential roll call of shame and horror and the Nobe l Peace Laureate's tri gger fi nger still hovers ove r Syria and Iran, for all the talk of otherwise. When his troops finally limped out of Iraq, he left the biggest Em bassy in the world and a proxy armed force, with no chance of them leaving being on even the most distant horizon.

Clearly learning, justice and being "guided by lo ve" is proving bit of an uphill struggle . Ironically, Obama was born in 1964, the year Mandela was sentenced to jail and his " long walk to freedom."

B ill Clinton, who (i ll egally, with the UK) ordered the near continual bombing of Iraq throughout his Presidency (1993200 1) and the siege cond itions of the embargo, with an average of six thousand a month dying of "embargo related causes", paid tribute to Mande la as: "a champion for human d ignity and freedom, for peace and reconciliation ... a man of uncommon grace and compassion, for whom abandoning bitterness and embracing adversaries was ... a way of life. All of us are living in a better world because of the life that Madiba lived." Tell that to America 's victims_.

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In the hypocrisy stakes, Prime Minister David Cameron can compete with the best. He said: "A great light has gone out in the world. Nelson Mandela was a towering figure in our time; a legend in life and now in death - a true global hero .... Meeting him was one of the great honours of my life.

On Twitter he reiterated: "A great light has gone out in the world. Nelson Mandela was a hero o f our time." The nag on Downing Street was to hang at half mast, to which a follower replied: "Preferably by no-one who was in the Young Conservatives at a time they wanted him hanged, or those who broke sanctions, eh?" Another responded: "The Tories wanted to hang Mandela. You utter hy pocrite."

The two tweeters clearly knew their history. In 2009, when Cameron was pitching to become Prime Minister, it came to light that in 1989, when Mandela was sti ll in prison, David Cameron, then a: "rising star of the Conservative Research Department ... accepted an all-expenses-paid trip to apartheid South Africa ... funded by a firm that lobbied against the imposition of sanctions on the apa11heid regime."

Asked if Cameron: "wrote a memo or had to report back to the office about his trip, Alistair Cooke (his then boss at Conservative Central Office) said it was 'simply a jolly', adding: 'lt was all terribly relaxed, just a little treat, a perk ofthejob ... '"Former Cabinet Minister Peter Hain commented of the trip: "This just exposes his hypocrisy because he has tried to prese nt himself as a progressive Conservative, but just on the eve of the apartheid downfall, and Ne lson Mandela's release from prison, when negotiations were taking place about a transfer of power, here he was being wined and dined on a sanctions-busting visit.

"This is the rea l Conservative Party ... his colleagues who used to wear 'Hang Nelson Mandela' badges at university are now sitting on the benches around him. The ir leader at the time Margaret Thatcher described Mandela as a terrorist."

In the book of condolences opened at South Africa House, five minutes' walk from his Downing Street residence, Cameron, who has voted for, or enjoined all the onslaughts or threatened ones referred to above, wrote: " ... your generosity, compassion and profound sense of forgiveness have given us all lessons to Jearn and live by."

He ended his message with: " Blessed are the peacemakers for they shall be called the children of God." Hopefully your lower jaw is still attached to your face, dear reader. If so, hang on to it, worse is to come.

The farcicall y titled Middle East Peace Envoy, forn1er Prime Minister Tony Blair (think "dodgy dossiers" "forty five minutes" to destruction, illegal invasion, Iraq's ruins and ongoing carnage, heartbreak, after over a decade) stated: "Through hi s leadership, he guided the world into a new era of politics in which black and white, developing and deve loped, north and south ... stood for the first time together on equal terms.

"Through his dignity, grace and the qual ity of hi s forgiveness, he made raci~m everywhere not just immoral but stupid; something not only to be di sagreed with, but to be desp ised. In its place he put the inalienable right of all humankind to be free and to be equal.

"I worked with him closely ... "said the man whose desire for "humankind to be free and equal" (tell that to the Iraqis) now includes demolishing Syria and possibly Iran. It seems with Blai r, the memories of others are a little different: "Ne lson Mandel a fe lt so betrayed by Blair's decision to join the US-led invasion of Iraq that he launched a fi ery tirade against him in a phone call to a cabinet minister, it emerged. "Peter Hain who (knew) the ex-South African Pres ident we ll, said Mandela was 'breathing fire' down the line in protest at the 2003 military action. "The trenchant criticisms were made in a formal ca ll to the Minister's office, not in a private capacity, and Blair was informed of what had been said, Hain added. ' I had never heard Nelson Mandela so angry and frustrated."

On the BBC's flagship morning news programme "Today" former Prime Minister "Iraq is a better place, I'd do it again" Blair, said of Nelson Mandela:" ... he came to represent something quite inspirational for the future of the world and for peace and reconciliation in the 2 1st century." Comment is left to former BBC employee, Elizabeth Morley, with peerless knowledge of Middle East politics, who takes no prisoners: ''Dear Today Complaints, "How cou ld you? Your almost ten minute long interview with the war criminal Tony Blair was the antithesis to all the tributes to the great man. J cannot even bring myself to put the two names in the same sentence. How could you?

"Blair has the blood of millions of Iraqis on his hands. Blair has declared himself willing to do the same to Iranians. How many countries did Mandela bomb? Blair condones aparthe id in Israel. Blair turns a blind eye to white supremacists massacring Palestinians. And yo u insult us by making us listen to him while our hearts and minds are focussed on Mandela.

How cou ld you?" (Reproduced with permission.)

"We know too well that our freedom ,s incomplete without t~e freedom 路 of the Palesfinians."

-Nelson Mandela ~

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Nelson Mandel a was incarcerated on Robben Island for 18 of his 27 years in prison. During this time, he contracted tuberculosis and, as a black political prisoner, received the lowest level of treatment from prison workers. In 1990, Mandela was released and immed iately urged foreig n powe rs not to reduce press ure on the South African government fo r constitutional reform.

Nelson Mandela was a powerful and ins pirationa l leader who e loq uently and forcefully spoke truth to power. As tributes are published over the coming days, the corporate media will paint a sanitized portrait of Mandela that leaves o ut much of who he was. We expect to see 'safe' Mandela quotes s uch as "education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world" or "after climbing a great hill, one on ly finds that there are man: more hills to c limb."

We wanted to share some Nelson Mandela quotes which we don't expect to read in the corporate media's obituaries: *"A critical, independent and investigative press is the lifeblood of any democracy. The press must be free from state interference. It must have the economic strength to stand up to the blandishments of government officials. I must have sufficient independence from vested interests to be bold and inquiring without fear or favor. It must enjoy the protection of the constitution, so that it can protect our rights as c itizens." *" If there is a country that has comm itted unspeakable atrocities in the world, it is the United States of America.

They don't care for human beings." *"The current world financial crisis a lso starkly reminds us that many of the concepts that guided our sense of how the world a nd its affairs are best ordered, have s uddenl y been shown to be wanting." *"Gandhi rejects the Adam Smith notion of human nature as motivated by self-interest and brute needs and returns us to o ur spiritual dimension w ith its impulses for nonviolence, justice and equal ity. He exposes the fallal of the cla im that everyone can be rich a nd successful provided they work hard. He points to the mi ll ions who work themselves to the bone and still remain hungry."

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Here are some of Mandela's most poignant quotations. *"l was not a messiah, but an ordinary man who had become a leader because of extraordinary circumstances." *"I can rest only for a moment, for with freedom come respons ibilities, and I dare not linger, for my long walk is not yet ended." *"For to be free is not merely to cast off one's chains, but to live in a way that respects and enhances the freedom of others." *"If you want to make peace with your enemy, you have to work with your enemy. Then he becomes your partner." *"Man's goodness is a flame that can be hidden but never extinguished." *"As we let our own light shine, we unconsciously g ive other people permission to do the same." *"I was made, by the law, a criminal, not because of what l had done, but because of what I stood for, because of what I thought, because of my conscience." *"I learned that courage was not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it. The brave man is not he who does not feel afraid, but he who conquers that fear." *"After c limbing a great hill, one only finds that there are many more hills to c limb." *"Do notjudge me by my successes, judge me by how many times I fell down and got back up again." *"It always seems impossible until its done." *路'Lead from the back- and let others believe they are in front. " *"There can be no keener revelation of a society's soul than the way in which it treats its children." *"In countries where innocent people are dying, the leaders are following their blood rather than their brains." *'路When a man is denied the right to live the life he believes in, he has no choice but to become an outlaw." *"To deny people their human rights is to challenge their very humanity." *"There is no doubt that the United States now feels that they are the only superpower in the world and they can do what they like." *'路It is said that no one truly knows a nation until o ne has been inside its jails. A nation should not be judged by how it treats its highest c itizens, but its lowest ones." *"Overcoming poverty is not a task of charity, it is an act of justice. Like Slavery and Apartheid, poverty is not natural. It is man-made and it can be overcome and eradicated by the actions of human beings. Sometimes it falls on a generation to be great. YOU can be that great generation. Let your greatness blossom." *"We know too well that our freedom is incomp lete without the freedom of the Palestinians." *"No single person can liberate a country. You can only liberate a country if you act as a collective." *''If the United States of America or Britain is having e lections, they don't ask for observers from Africa o r from Asia. But when we have elections, they want observers." *路'When a man is denied the rig ht to live the li fe he believes in, he has no choice but to become an outlaw."

CARNEGIE COMMUNITY ASSOCIATION BOARD MEETINGS FOR THE FOLLOWING DATES WILL BE CANCELLED DUE TO HOLIDAYS: December 26TH- Community Relation Committee December 31 51 - Program Committee January 1st. 2014 -Finance Conunittee January 2nd - Board monthly meeting January gth - Volunteer Committee August meetings will not be held this year due to poor attendance in past years.

In Solidarity: Irish Workers and Apartheid in South Africa

By Caoimhghin 6 Croidheai On July 19th, 1984. Dunnes Stores worker Mary Manning refused to check out a customer's South African frui (Outspan). Her union, !DATU (the Irish Distributive & Administrative Union), had directed their members not to handle goods from South Africa.

She was given five minutes to change her mind and when she rejitSed, she was suspended on the spot.[I} The 1980s were also a time of high unemployment making strike action a difficult decision for the workers.

Photo: Derek Speirs '路Most of the workers at Dunnes in Henry Street went on strike that day, and eight of them joined Mary ManninJ and Karen Gearon thereafter. They would stay on strike for the next two and a half years, surviving on strike pa of 拢21 a week, returning to work only after the Irish government prohibited the sale of South African fruit and vegetables in Irish stores."

This selfless action by Irish workers in 1984 led to extraordinary events as support for their actions grew despitt fierce racistreaction by some individuals. Karen Gearon and Mary Manning were invited to meet Desmond Tutu in London and Gearon testified in front of the United Nations Special Committee Against Apartheid. Then things really hatted up when the girls were invited by Tutu to visit South Africa. '"'Myself and eight of the strikers flew to South Africa and weren't allowed in," says Brendan Archbold, the IDATU official in charge of the strike. "We were held at the airport and weren't allowed contact our families fa over 24 hours ." They were put on the next plane back home. The furore over their disappearance captured the public imagination. '路[t definitely changed the tide," says Gearon.

While taking photos of the offending oranges and grapefruit I was stopped by the management who threatened to take my film on the basis that I was 'stealing the ir display designs' . The finished print can be seen below.

The strike would last nearly 3 years before the Irish government banned S.A. goods from being sold in Ireland.

Their story entered the popular imagination as the Dunnes Stores strikers had songs written about them by C hristy Moore ('Dunnes Stores) and Ewan MacColl ('Ten Young Women and One Young Man').

Several months after being freed from prison in February 1990, Nelson Mandela met with some of the strikers when he visited Dublin and told them that their stand helped keep him going during his imprisonment.

Cathryn O'Reilly, from Finglas, one of the Dunnes Stores strikers, presenting Nelson Mandela with a Robe1t

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Ballagh print calling for the release of the Birmingham Six in 1990.

In 2008 the workers strike action was commemorated with an official plaque in central Dublin.

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Plaque to the Dunnes Stores Strikers, outside Dunnes's Stores, Henry Street, Dublin (Source: Gavin Brown)

from the Editor's head This issue has stuff about people far away and (some) long ago. The piece about women in Ireland parallels the piece about those who didn ·t change their public tunc abo ut apartheid until practically the who le world did. Until it was a bandwagon only those with dedicated commitment went against the status quo.

In the Downtown Eastside the fight is against the gentrifying forces: unscrupulous developers, the high cost businesses taking advantage of the povc1ty in our community, the politicians & their bureaucrats using words and procedures to balk anything but the developers' creed of'anything to get our way and make a million ... ' Point: The reasons for picketing & protesting against the expensive restaurants opening are available and w01thy of sober consideration. Kim Hardy was outside, had her "$6 pickles" prop grabbed by the owner of PidG in and s uffered physical assault by this guy. It was on 3 different video cameras, there were at least 12 witnesses (including 3 condo-owners) who waited for the police to step up and take statements. Instead of doing their duty the police charged Kim(!) vvith assault (for holding onto her prop too long?) and refused to take statements from anyone. Kim got a NoGo order put on her and had to stay out of the neigh bourhood for months. The day before she was fi nally going to be in court to tell her side and call witnesses she got a phonecall saying all charges were dropped.

Point: A developer wanting to get a whole block on Powell Street got a building that was sound torn

down. The Chinese Seniors· residence next door was damaged and threatened with being declared uninhabitable. The Filipino Women's Centre, \Nhich owns their bui ld ing on the same block, was forced into bankruptcy when their place was inspected by three engineers, ordered vacated and suffered extensive damage within when no one was there. The water was shut off and hydro stopped. Lo & behold some days later the water somehow came on and the entire building was ruined by extensive flooding. Only the land is left.. fo r purchase .. by this same developer.

Point: There is a police presence when people are picketing/protesting outside the Quincila restaurant on Powell. The reasons are the same as apply to PidGin - the rights of people already here. The cops sit in their cruiser, witness the passing of packages and envelopes inside, witness assaults (both verbal & physical) on those outside and refuse to even get out of their car. ~ There are many, many more points but the direction of bias is clear: money is talking so human rights and social justice are not concerns.

I expect there wi ll be a plaque placed in the near fuh1re laud ing those who are standing up for the rights of low-income residents and changing the course of history in the Downtown Eastside.

By PAULR TAYLOR 111

PS: I became editor with the December 15 issue in 1986. This one in your sweaty hands marks 27 years!

PPS : There is no January I >I issue .. so don't commit yourse lf if not having the latest on New Year's Day freeks you out. (No hari-kari either.)

HomeGround Festival Singing Workshops

Who's Who iu tlte Bible: tu~forgettable people und timeleS.\' stories from Genesis to Revelation By Jean

Singing Workshops facilitated oy Sandy Scofield.

In a 6 week worksnop leading up to the HomeGround Festival in February, Sandy will guide you through Contemporary and Traditional Music, leading to a festival performance.

Introductory Session Monday Dec 16"' 1-3pm in the Carnegie Theatre, 401 Main St. Everyone Welcome!

Workshops will continue

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Jan 6, 13, 20, 27, Feb 3

from the LibrarY! First of all, the Library staff members want to offer our best wishes to everyone for a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. Thafs to all our Library visitors, the Community Centre staff' and patrons. and all the Centre's amazing volunteers!

Readers of this newsletter might al ready know· that the Carnegie branch library has a Book Giveaway on Hastings Street, on F riday afternoons. On Friday December 20. the Book Giveaway will be a little different: we will include lots o f children's books sui table for holiday gift-giving (or just to e nj oy). Special thanks to Andrea. my colleague at the nearby Strathcona b ranch library, who has e nthusiastically agreed to join me on that day-- Andrea knows children's books especially well. Friday December 20 at 2:30 p.m .. out on Hastings Street.

The Carnegie branch now has FAST READS. No. you don't have to be a fast reader! T his special serv ice al lows you immediate access to some of those brand new. extra-popular titles that have very (very!) long waiting lists. With a PAST READ copy, there is no wailing list - if you see it, you can check it out.

The mai n difference is that you need to return the book within ONE week, instead of our usual three \-veeks. Ask any of the library staff for other details. .

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Here are a lew ot the books we' ve recently added to the library. on display this week.

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Pierre lsbouts Her~ is the newest ·who ·s >vho' for both the llebrew books (Old Testament) and the Ne\.v Testament. As ca n be expected, National Geographic has produced a superlative presentation. The parables, verses and teach ings have been brought to graphic life o n every page, with gorgeous works of art as \-Veil as numerous maps. If that isn't enough, very readable commentary gives insight into the historical context and offers narrative analysis. For those with any c uri osity about the Bible. this is a companion comucopia.

Secret Power ofSpirit Animals by Skye Alexander If you love animals. and appreciate our dependent and crucial relationship w ith them, th is guide will take you fUI1her and deepen your appreciation of their spirits and how they may relate to you. A vast range of animals are reviewed. Sections are devoted specif:. icall_y to how animals can benefit us, and are additional ly divided into: animals, bird s, insects, reptiles and amphibians, fish and sea creatures. Each of these is then viewed in greater detail as a means o f both spi ritual and useful application to develop and enrich one' s life and relationships. Powerful stuff.

Real Encounter:)~ D~fferent Dimensions, and Othenvorld~v Beings by Brad Steiger and Sherry llansen Steiger If it isn' t human, or. at the very least not exactly human, the authors have investigated meetings between us and them . The res ults are, not surprisingly, out-ofthis-world extraordinary!

131 cases are documented: Bizarre 'animals'. supernatural pets. sub-terrestrial and sub-oceanic civilizations a nd humanoids, and of course. UFOs and their passengers. But, there· s more! Amazing ... but true!

Di:.·c:o1•er Ma;:uzine 's Vital Si;:ns true tales of medical mysteries, obst:ure diseases and life-saving diagnosis by Dr. Robert A. Norman Ancient diseases appear again, bizarre skin eruptions, sw·el li ngs growing larger and larger: herein are trueli fe , and truly bizarre medical vignettes with chilling descriptions of the symptoms and -- after desperate detective work -- their treatme nts. If you enjoyed watching the television hit House, you'lllove reading these gruesome tales of medical oddities.

Stephanie, your librarian

THE NIGHT BEFORE T'was da night before welfare and all through da land Everybody was starving both woman and man Da minister of welfare was in bed but awake He was getting some so da checks they could wait Then all of a sudden there arose such a clatter "que pasa?" he yelled! "saywhat? Waz da matter?'

He jumped outta bed through da kitchen he ran Tripped over da cat and knocked over da fan He looked down da hallway and what did appear?

A binner a native and few of ther peers A tired old woman her face full of woe Gave out a yell "hey cough up da doe!"

The minister pouted 'i'm sorry i'm wrong' But alas of course we've all heard that song He gave out the cheques and he passed out stale beer Then he said with a sneer "see ya same time next year!"

Carl MacDonald

Star Don 路r wannabe no rock star crawling on the sidewalk looking for traces of heaven too numb in the skull don't wannabe no kind a star starring in my own movie

J\ctors & Performers from Carnegie present

Our Own: A Oapne!lie Tfteat~~e OftJtistmas I'(Jf}eant "Show thou Carnegie workshop Players"

@庐 "the night before Christmas"

Tues December 24, 8:45pm Carnegie Theatre

combo porn & horror flick with a big snuff: heads are blown otT as the orgasm hits home a coke shot from hell you never lived long enuf to tell; shoud I say sell AI

THE GOLDEN BIN I pray this year that i will win The chance to dive that golden bin The golden bin it holds no tin Has coffee, brass and maybe gin It just might hold a dream or two A lotto ticket trips to the zoo TVs radios computers old There's just no telling what it may hold You'll know I've found the golden bin For on my face will be a grin A VCR maybe I've fou nd A brick of gold maybe a crown One thitlg I know I'll find no dope The golden bin has love and hope It may be thick it may be thin But still it'll be the golden bin The golden bin is full of grace It's full of love for every race The golden bin is never locked The golden bin is fully stocked Maybe I'll fi nd some boots or socks The golden bin it holds no rocks From the east north south or west That golden bin will be the best Unlike the uncaring city tart The golden bin gives from the heart In sun snow sleet or rain Jt gives and gives with no pain The goose that laid that golden egg Knows that I won't need to beg No needles in that golden bin The golden bin someday I'll win

HAPPY HOLIDAZE Carl MacDonald

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Concert by

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Preview performance

Friday, December 27th 6:00PM Carnegie Theatre

Wednesday, December 18th 7:30pm Carnegie Theatre Come and enjoy Collage's holiday show with a fun selection of pop, jazz and show tunes and plenty of opportunity to sing along!

Hepatitis C Treatment Support Group

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A Support Group geared to the needs of Women starts on Wednesday, January Sth, 10:30 a.m.

Community Health Centre 59 W Pender St, Van

Join us fo r a pr~view performance of William Shake speare's Measure for /o.1easure! The llonest Fishman ger.s (the compa~at brought the critically acclaimed product1ons of Hamlet and KinR Lear to the Havana Theatre) are teaming up with Pacific Theatn to present Shakespeare's dark comedy It's free and Christmas goodies will be provided!

For info on content and times for mixed groups: Contact Lesley Gallagher at 604-669-9181

CRUNCH CALENDARS FOR SALE __ _Jim Dewar has been publishing his Crunch cartoons in the Carnegie Newsletter for several years. A calendar featuring his work is now available for $10. phone 604-569-4310 or email jimdewarll@gmail.com

Carnegie Community Action Project (CCAP) NEWSLETTER vancouver.word ress.com

December 15, 2013

JUSTICE not CHARITY! Poor People's Radio Show drives home a holiday message: We want justice so that we don't need charity

By Bill Hopwood "Food Banks have been going for 31 years and the CBC has been raising money for 27 years, but they are not getting that people and families are starving all year round. Standing in line at Food Banks is deme:ming. We want the dignity to be able to buy our own food. Many of us have health issues - I have diabetes so I need to eat healthy food which I cannot do on welfare."

That's what Tracey Morrison, president of the Western Aboriginal Harm Reduction Society, said on the "Poor People's Radio Show" at the CBC plaza on December 6, 2013. Over 75 people gathered for the Radio show, part of Raise the Rates' third annual trip to the CBC. The show was co-hosted by Wendy Pederson, a DTES community activist, and Paul Taylor, Director of Gordon Neighbourhood House. The Solidarity Notes Labour Choir and Dalannah Gail Bowen, inspired us with their singing.

" We want the respect to buy our children healthy food," said Stacey Bonenfant, a single mother with two children. "We don't want band-aid solutions: we want real healing. BC again is the worst in Canada for child poverty and has been • for a decade.

BC can build pipelines but not feed children.

The government needs to think about its priorities."

Tracey Morriso

500,000 people, and 15% of the children of BC suffering food insecurity. This is not a natural disaster or a tragedy that we have no responsibility for causing. The poverty is here is caused by decisions made in BC.

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JjVjf{0 !~~~ c~ (\'"If Bill Hopwood, Raise the Rates organizer, explained "We are here today to thank people who gave to the Food Banks, as we know people are hungry, and also to encourage them to call on the politicians of BC to act now to end hw1ger and poverty. Food Bank Day is an ideal time to encourage dialogue about the root causes of poverty and hunger and to encourage governments to act to end the scourge of poverty in BC." Jean Swanson said, "In 1982 Food Banks were established in BC as a 'temporary' measure. After 31 years they can't be called temporary. Food Banks have become a tragic pem1anent feature. The community does its share to tackle poverty with its generosity, but it cannot be solved without the government doing its share.''

In BC, food insecurity is widespread with 11% of BC's population, over 2

BC can afford living welfare and minimum wage rates. In fact, poverty costs BC over $8 billion a year. The cost of a comprehensive program to end poverty, which would include raising welfare and the minimum wage, building social housing and providing good universal child care would be less than $4 billion.

THe province would be saving $4 billion a year.

"It is a shame that the BC government does not act to provide dignity and justice by raising welfare rates and tackling poverty and hunger." s(\id Dalannah Gail Bowen.

TOWN HALL MElTING REPORT BACK What is the city planning for the future of the DTES and what are we going to do about it?

That was the question on everyone's mind on November 30th at the Town Hall Meeting in the Carnegie Theatre.

Hosted by CCAP and Local Area Planning Process (LAPP) Low Income caucus, the Town Hall Meeting was a chance for DTES residents to get an update on the city planning process and share their views. People also signed the CCAP and Low Income Caucus petition, which is still open for signatures now in our office.

The Low Income Caucus members explained that zoning rules were part of what was being debated in the DTES plan. "Zoning sets the rule of how high you can build, what a building can be used for, and how many apartments are in it, ", former LAPP co-chair and meeting co-host Herb Varley explained to a packed room. "There's a rule on the table that would put a special zoning area in the DTES Oppenheimer District. Sixty percent of all new buildings would be social housing, and the other 40% would be rentals.

This would be a way to depress land values until we get the feds and province to buy into social housing."

"Even if we do get the 60%/40%, it won't all be at welfare rate", said LAPP Low Income Caucus member Colleen Boudreau. "We'll be luck if 1/3 of the housing is at welfare rate.

The city is saying that social housing can go all the way up to low-end market rent prices."

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"The whole LAPP is about crumbs", said DTES Community member Sid Tan. "We know what we want, and we have people who arc going to se1l out on each point."

"Developers and people who are outside the community want to gentrify our neighborhood" stated Town Hall Meeting co-host Tami Starlight. "They argue that we want the area to be a slum. We want people who are marginalized but want to live here to be able to stay and not be pushed out."

The week after the Town Hall Meeting, the city released its draft Local Area Plan (LAP) report to the LAPP Committee. We'll have more details in our next newsletter.

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Taking the City to Task on SROs Jean Swanson repor t s back from a city meeting on SRO maintenance Did you know that city staff can require hotel owners to do certain things in order to get a business license? I learned this from a city lawyer at an interesting meeting on Nov. 21.

Almost all the people there were city staff except for DJ Larkin from Pivot and me from the Carnegie Community Action Project (CCAP).

Staff presented some of their findings and ideas about SROs after having interviewed 160 SRO residents and looked at a bunch of surveys and statistics. One staff member said that people who lived in the SROs said they were "dehumanizing."

City staff talked about what actions they might recommend taking to deal with the DTES housing situation. One was reducing the minimum square footage of a new or renovated unit from 320 to 180 feet! I spoke out against that. 180 feet is way too small. They also talked about giving non profit landlords incentives to combine 2 SRO rooms One of Jean's phone pictures of a into one apartment with a plugged toilet at the Regent. kitchen and bathroom.

At the end of the slide show, I showed my phone pictures of three disgusting overflowing toilets on the 7th, 6th and 5th floor of the Regent Hotel. I asked the city if they could get non profit management in skuzzy hotels to clean them up, especially when some hotels have had maintenance 4

problems for years. That's when the city lawyer said that the city could require non profit management as a condition of getting a business license. So maybe that's something we could work for in the short term, while we're still struggling to get more decent self-contained social housing.

But DJ and I pointed out that there were two problems with this: we'd loose desperately needed housing and there is no guarantee that the rents won't go up in the renovated units so that people on welfare and basic pension couldn't afford them.

Nowhere in the report did the staff call on the province and feds for a funded national housing program which is the only way we can really end the housing crisis.

Curioser and curioserl All those planning meetings, and rm still stuck in th1s skuzzy SROI

There were some good ideas from staff: • Increased monitoring and enforcement of maintenance and fire bylaws; • Support for increased information about tenant rights, maybe a poster in all buildings; • Getting the provincial Residential Tenancy Act to create a distinct SRA category with language prohibiting guest fees , rules around evictions, rents tied to the unit and not the tenant and rent subsidies.

After the meeting Pivot and CCAP wrote to the city calling on them to require problem landlords to get non profit management as a condition of their business licenses. We also said it would be good for the city to ask the province to let them expropriate buildings where owners do not meet basic standards, and to have rent control based on the unit, not the tenant.

When rent control is based on the tenant, as it is now, landlords have an incentive to evict them cause they can raise the rent as much as they want for a new tenant. - JS

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Carnegie Com unity ction Project

5

Gentrification threatens the loss of low-income housing By: King-mong Chan

In July, a vacant building on Powell Street (451 Powell St.) was demolished by the City of Vancouver after only a few hours of inspection following a report regarding a cracked wall in the building. Ten lowincome seniors and the Instant Coffee Artist Collective were evicted out of neighbouring building (439 Powell St.), which was owned by the Ming Sun Benevolent Society. As a result of the demolition, the wall that was shared between the two buildings was also damaged; subsequent vandalism and damage has made the building unlivable.

Last month, the City of Vancouver ordered the demolition of 439 Powell St., citing safety reasons. The tenants were paying rents below the welfare shelter rate of $375, which as our annual Hotel Reports shows, is a rate that very few private places , even SROs, charge. If the building is demolished, we are faced with the loss of low-income housing in addition to the loss of space for 6

local artists.

These events must also be seen as linked to the forces of gentrification in the Downtown Eastside, as Chane! Ly of so importantly reminds us in her article in The Mainlander: "The Displacement of Chinese Seniors at 439 Powel'l Street." According to his interview with CBC, Mr. Tom Chow, the owner of Double Happiness Food (429 Powell St.) supports demolishing 439 Powell St. In fact, the engineering report, referred to by the City, that recommended the building to be demolished was commissioned by Mr. Chow. However, a report prepared by another engineering firm has found the building to be structurally sound.

As of the possession date, September 15, 2013, Mr. Chow became the legal owner of 451 Powell St. as well , thus owning the lots on both sides of Society's building.

Furthermore, he has already approached the Ming Sun Society several times , offering to

buy their lot. According to his interview with the CBC, the reason why Mr. Chow is trying to assemble these properties is because he wishes to redevelop the 400-block to expand his business.

Condo projects are part of the forces of gentrification. which is a threat to the low-income community because of the negative impacts it has . One impact is that it raises land prices , which causes rents to continue to increase in This planned redevelop/ addition to making it ment may very well be __....... even more difficult to for a condominium project. After the Emerging get government funding Directions of the DTES for more much-needed ..,.,._.,.,.,...,.....;........,.:.-x:.,..,.. low-income housing Local Area Plan was ......,_,_.......__ _ __....._ _~..- because even more released, which included rezoning the Oppenmoney would be needed.

If the building on 439 Powell St. gets heimer District to 60% social housing and demolished, it will be even easier for Mr. 40% market rental (i.e. no condos), word has it that developers have been scrambling Chow to realize his dream of redeveloping the block. It wil l also be yet another case, to submit their condo applications to the as our annual Hotel Reports have been City under the current zoning since condodocumenting, that already much needed miniums are the most profitable. The most low-income housing becomes lost due to recent application was last month (626 • Alexander St.; 29 units in totaJ). gentrification.

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CCAP Volunteer Colleen Boudreau (right) at the Raise the Rates Rally. For more pies, sec our facebook page.

8

Support for this project does not necessarily imply the Vancouver Foundation 's endorsement of the findings or contents of this newsletter

Wrap Yourself in Dance

An Oak

T want

I forget about you In ti-ont of my window Seven stories tall Swaying in the breeze Leaves like rain Falling in the night

to tell you Wrap yourself in the dance Let it enfold you Let the dance dance you.

!

Major Quake off the Coast

Leave behind those memories I clutch onto you, my son, desperate to hold you, Like the forgotten leaves desperate to keep you safe as the tremors catch me. I On the ground feel you dropping as the earth opens beneath our feet Stay grounded. but I cling on. I am not letting you go.

I hear screams and the low grinding of the eatth as it Be one with the others It actually travels from one place to a new moves.

As you weave and stray resting place.

And so do we all, those walking so Weave together, come apart on the soil of Mother Earth that she wants to heavily Feel the links between you. shake us off.

Let go the street Phoenix Winter · You are no longer there Transfonn your place To your performance.

Phoenix Winter

The oak is strong The strongest tree But it cannot bend Easily, it breaks Like my broken heart Phoenix Winter

J{APPY SM'ES 'TO }/O'll Because there's opium in A fghanistatl & oil in Iraq There's a canal in Panama (and cocaine too) And then there are these (and other things) In Venezuela and Columbia Gust you wait and see) And the Americans will soon remind us that there's A lot of coffee in Brazil or a lot of water (as well as other things) in Canada Because Milton Friedman claims there is NOTH ING That cannot be given a market value Everything is now on the block It's all up for grabs and you ain't seen nothing yet ''HAPPY SALES TO YOU ... UNTIL WE MEET AGAIN ... '·HAPPY SALES TO YOU .... , They stuffed Trigger did you know? .. in a museum And you can see him (if you wru1t to) But you have to pay admission '· ... UNTIL WE MEET AGAIN ... •· Ken Morrison

Acorns Pinging down Hitting cars Bouncing off Missing people· by. inches And they blame me Blame the wind!

Invisib le.

It' s so easy to be invisible To be the one who stands in a corner While others laugh and talk ru·ound you To know that whether you're here or not Makes no difference to them It's easy to be invisible To laugh and be happy for others But to have no one to laugh and be happy for you To be the one who waits on others Rather than the one who is waited on It's easy to be invisible When on the outside you' re smiling And on the inside you're cryi ng When everyone else is partying And you're home reading Yeah.

It's easy to be invisible.

Jessica Harmann

A Mayor from Long Ago Mayor Art Phillips who ran Vancouver from 1972 to 1976 did many good things. Butjust like other mayors he liste ned to the developers too.

Back in 1975 Phillips and his TEAM mates pushed for and got the rezoning of Kitsilano. The n as now Kitsilano was a s izeable area west of the Burrard bridge and Bunard street that hugged the shores of the Burrard f nlet. Back then, the area jumbled together small homes, many rooming houses and some apartments.

The rezoning ofKits il ano was bitterly opposed by a group call ed The West Broadway Citizens Committee. The committee was led by a young charismatic organ izer named Jacques Khouri. It had other strong organizers too, like Susan O'Donnell and Peter Beaudin. Doing the research was Donald Guttstein who went on to write many books about civic politics. The West Broadway C itizens Committee put up quite a fight, but in the end Phillips and TEAM got their wishes and K itsilano was rezoned .

The rooming houses and small homes in the area started to vanish. In their place came new apartment buil dings and more expensive houses. Once again low and moderate income people had to move and make way for ric her folk.

"I call Art Phillips 'Art Flip Flop'." a Commercial Drive reside nt said years late r. "He just moves from one political side to another whe never it's convenient for him to do so."

While Phi llips was mayor. Bruce Eriksen had already started up the Downtown Eastside Residents Assoc iation (DERA). DERA did get s ome grants from the city council and Eriksen pushed successfully to get sprinklers put in rooming houses so avoiding destructive dangerous ti res that otten swept thro ugh SRO's and e v en kill ed people. Eriksen and DERA scored other victories too, including getting the Car-

negie Centre open. But this happened after A rt Philli ps was no longer mayor, Most T EA M councillors kept their distance from Eriksen and DERA, tho ugh two councillors helped .

One was Darlene Marzari who ran under the TEAM bam~e r. She he lped Eriksen an d his partner. Libby Davtes, thread t heir way through the city hall ru les and reel tape. The othe r person who stood up for DERA on council: COPE councillor Harry Ra nkin.

In 1976 Phillips stepped clown as mayor. He backed one TEAM councillor Jack Vo lrich over another TEAM councillor M ike Ha rcowt. Vo lrich won the TEAM nomination and we nt on to be mayor from 1976 to 1980. Harcourt and Darle ne Marzari then left TEAM and ran and won as inde pendents . "l think it was true that the N .D.P. backed Mike Harco urt in that nomination contest," longtime N.D.P.'er Doris Mutch said years later. Fo ur years later though, Harcourt beat V o lrich for the mavor's chair. ~u~ by then, TEAM was shri ve lling aw~y.

Phtlltps briefly served as Mem ber of Parliame nt for Vancouver Centre from 1979 to 1980 . T hen in t he electi on of 1980 he went down to defeat at the hands of Conset'\1ative Pat Carney . Phill ips then went back to developing property and making money. He also helped the political career of his second wife Caro le Taylor who se t~vecl on city council and later as Finance Minister in Gordon Ca mpbell's Liberal governme nt.

Finally Art Phillips left B.C. to another legacy seeker; namely Gordon Campbell. Campbell served as Phillips:s ~xecutive ass ista nt when Philli ps was mayor. Phtllrps was Campbell's mentor. At that time like Phillips, Campbell was a federal Liberal. Yet . later after working for Marathon Realty. Campbell became a hard core conservative. "[think Phillips real ly fe lt sorry that Gordon Campbell turned into the conservative that he did " said someone who knew Ph ill ips. Stil l. you can't ' blame Phillips for some of the th ings t hat G ordon Campbell d id whe n he became prem ier of B.C., g iven the ttme and p lace he lived in, Phil lips wasn't a bad mayor and at times did some very tine things.

He took over as mayor after the right wing NPA had ruled Vancouver for fotty straight years . "It was all about doing things di ffe rently," this former investm~n~ counsellor said about his time as mayor.

Phil lrps p assed away in 20 13 at the age of 82.

By Dave Jaffe

ijushvritethis/itsnotnasty!That we lived on, Our Planet Earth 1 It wandered off And our species A minimal glance at our It disappeared, By attacking our Humanity Planet's time line shows We knew where Child after Chi ld, That we all did not stand up It would be, Generation after generation, At the same time all over Century after century, Some of our ancestors we never feared, Millennia after millennia ...

Were sorely cursed But poor cave brain Cannot see ahead Because we ate Did not work right Or from side to s ide AII plants first, Out of mind as soon as Its targeted us and our home Then we stood on Anything was out of sight For what will be its last time: Our back legs Scared and starving, Destined to die off our spec1es And looked around Became a Blitz Attacker The mentality of the stray dog, At barren land, Feeding from the That scraper/scratcher, No trees or shrubs, Backs of herds, That digger/defiler Human Culture?

No roots or grubs, Poor cave brain That scorched Earth bent repeat this until No food at all, Did the best that he could, Of the canine/cave brain we get an answer...

Scorched Earth, Eating babies, His last great stand How can we tell So on four legs The wounded, On TV every day ... that our culture is Or on two, The sick, and the old, Anti-Human brain cond ucted by the We died off Continued dying off Cannot Account For back of our species, Cuz we had no food , Even after we stood The Evolution Of the last to stand up, We'd have to range Centuries after the Our HUMANITY. the canine brain Far and wide, First of our species on two legs? ...

Terry Munroe Poor stray dog brain Came out of the woods, Just look around ...

Couldn't see side to side, With fire and Anything done Narrow vision, Lots of food ... without the health Mostly blind, Community was and welfare or Did not develop Our reason for being, human beings the A Human mind, Protecting our babies ultimate priority, Mangy, scared, There were no creatures like us, must be perpetrated Undernourished, We had fire and by those of little Vicious cannibal neighbo An open Human mind, \ } humanity and Of Honorable Tree Peopl We were interested In everythinr '~ ft 0 bereft of the Who flourished, That we would find, ~ "' ~ >:~ • characteristics 4;~ Having stood on Tunnel vision denies us ~ .J that make Humans 5 Our back legs proud of bei ng Human Wide angle range, ~Ei' >:;~ Long, long ago, We can suffer over-focus :. ~ Everybody knows that After topping out When our periphery ~· • ~ifl the Human Spirit Must At 80 plus Cannot be gained, C&iq \. ~\1 ~ be broken to make us miles per hour, And then Humanity suffers ... ~ 0 tlt.)J ~ e • think that we're meant that was us, to live in a hierarchy ...

And Animality is ~\ ~~v \sl\3 Smart, strong, Hierarchies are what Sustained in our Q.J\'UV' And very, very fast Supposed civilized world • make animals seem 3D vision with civilized to the cave The narrow mind A sharp, sharp mind, Cannot Hide brained pack predator We knew that time and the herd herbivore ...

Itself From ~~~ Moved along, The heretic now, Terry Munroe Like the massive herds It can only bully

I I

r--------~~:------------ both consistency and flexibility. Further, if particular members The following piece is the )".\\:)f 3-4 parts. It is an excellent report were experiencing health or other personal struggles and were on the struggle that has been going on for years, to gain some unable to participate actively, there would always be other security and worker's rights for women involved in the sex trade. committee members that were available to instruct counsel.

It's too good to reduce by removing portions just to fit it in 2 pages. The members of the litigation committee were also very ef(Go to http:l/pivotlegal.org/Publications/reports.htm for the fective in empowering each other throughout the litigation, and footnotesand references. Ed. ) ensured that information was obtained and shared from both sides of the relationship. Committee members felt comfortable asking questions of counsel to ensure that they understood Sex Workers United Against Violence the legal issues, counsel's recommendations and the nature of & KiseJbach v. Canada : the decisions they were being asked to make. This was a very important aspect of the lawyer-client relationship given the An innovative approach to strategic litigation complexity of the issues and the importance that SWUAV was on behalf of marginalised communities. empowered to make fully informed decisions and to feel comDarcie Bennet, C ampaign Director, Pivot L.S. e-: pletely in charge of the process.

Pivot and SWUAV agreed that all legal representation would Jill Chettier, Coordinator, Downto-wn Eastside Sex g be on a pro bono basis (free of charge) and that Pivot would Workers United Against Violence Society DJ Joe, Director, Downtown Eastside Sex Workers 0 raise funds to cover litigation-related expenses. This agree~ ment was vital to SWUAV's ability to pursue the case, given United Against Violence Society the organization's very limited funding and the extensive legal Lisa Kerr, Doctoral Candidate, New York University and other resources that go into making this type of litigation School ofLaw possible. Pivot assigned Katrina Pacey as lead counsel on the Sheryl Kiselbach, Violence Prevention Coordinator case. Katrina then recruited a team of skilled and committed PACE Society lawyers in private practice in Vancouver. As the litigation proKatrina Pacey, Litigation Director, Pivot Legal Socie gressed, it became clear that this dedicated team of pro bono lawyers would be key to the success of this lengthy litigation.

Elin Sigurdson, lawyer, JF.K Law Corporation The case demanded thousands of hours of preparation and The Lawyer-Client Relationship court time as they navigated complex and varied legal issues.

Working with any corporate or organizational client can preThe Fight for Access to Justice sent challenges for counsel who must represent the interests After much preparation and deliberation, SWUAV's action of a group of people, as opposed to a single individual. Given was filed in August 2007. It was not long before counsel rethat more than 200 sex workers are involved with SWUAV, it ceived a letter from the government stating their position that was important for Pivot to think carefully about the lawyerSWUAV did not have "standing", which means the legal right client relationship, and particularly how the group would make to bring an action before the courts. The government stated decisions路 and instruct counsel. Katrina Pacey, as lead counsel that in order to have standing, the plaintiff must be at risk of and a long-time collaborator with SWUAV, recommended that arrest or prosecution, or directly affected by the laws that are the organization delegate responsibility for instructing counsel being challenged. It was the government's position that this to a "litigation committee." The committee would be empowtype of constitutional challenge to legislation must either occur ered to meet regularly with counsel, provide instructions to as part of a criminal prosecution or in a civil action where an counsel and present regular updates and reports to the individual active sex work is named as the plaintiff. broader membership.

Eager to avoid a battle over the procedural issue of standing, This was a successful model in several respects. It enabled SWUAV and counsel attempted to satisfy the government thai counsel to maintain steady communications. When working the litigation should proceed in this manner. They wrote a with very marginalized communities, ensuring consistent letter outlining the many barriers faced by members of communication can be a challenge. Most SWUAV members SWUAV to initiating a legal claim. This proved unpersuasive. do not have telephones, email or stable housing, so it is esSWUAV and counsel also revisited the question of whether an sential that counsel find a reliable way to communicate with individual active sex worker could be added to the claim. After the client so they can direct the litigation. The litigation commany conversations with potential plaintiffs, the same chalmittee provided a consistent group of women who were up to lenges arosehow could an active sex worker, already facing date on the litigation process and who were designated to criminalization and various other vulnerabilities, take on the make decisions on behalf the larger group, which provided

%

additional risks and burdens of major, complex and controversiallitigation.

Fortunately, Pivot was connected with Sheryl Kiselbach, an activist, outreach worker and former sex worker in Vancouver.

Before moving into her current position as an outreach worker, Kiselbach worked for 30 years in various aspects of the industry including on the streets of Vancouver. Her political goals were aligned with SWUAV, in that she was committed to the fight for decriminalization and believed that street-based workers, who are the most intensely criminalized and suffer the most egregious violence, should drive the litigation. In early 2008, Kiselbach was added as a second plaintiff to the legal action. However, this did not convince the government to change their position on standing. The government maintained that, despite 30 years of involvement in sex work, including experiencing horrendous violence and criminal convictions for prostitution-related offences, the government claimed that the laws at issue in the litigation no longer affected Kiselbach.

They took the view that the addition of Kiselbach, a former sex worker, as a plaintiff did not resolve the standing issue because she was not at risk of arrest and conviction for a prostitution-related offence.

On September 17, 2008, just five months before SWUAV and Kiselbach's trial was scheduled to begin, the government filed a motion to strike out the case on the basis that the plaintiffs lacked standing. If the Court were to agree with the government and dismiss the claim, that motion would bring the case to an end.

The Law of Standing in Canada

Standing is an important aspect of Canadian law, aimed at ensuring that courts do not become overburdened with marginal or redundant cases, and that courts have the benefit of hearing from those most directly affected by the laws or government action. 1 The law of standing, acting as a gatekeeper to the courts, must also accord with access to justice principles so that the courts can fulfil their proper role within our democratic system of government, upholding our constitution.

There are two types of standing: private interest and public interest standing. Private interest standing is granted in case where a plaintiffs rights are directly engaged and where a court decision will have a direct effect on the plaintiff that has brought the claim. The alternative is public interest standing, which can be granted in cases where issues of public importance are raised, but the impugned laws do not directly affect the plaintiff. The idea of public interest standing is to ensure that laws are not immunized from judicial review because a privately affected plaintiff is unlikely to come forward with a case. At the time the government brought the motion to strike the SWUAV/Kiselbach claim, the leading decision on public interest standing set out a three-part test:

First, is there a serious issue raised as to the invalidity of legislation in question?

Second, does the plaintiff have a genuine interest in the validity of the legislation?

Third, is there another reasonable and effective way to bring the issue before the court?2 The government's position was that neither plaintiff was entitled to private or public interest standing. With respect to public interest standing, which became the central point of contention, the government argued that neither plaintiff satisfied the third part of the test, saying that there were multiple "reasonable and effective ways" that this claim could be brought before the Courts by individuals with private standing. It was this third branch of the test that became the central issue in this litigation, and the aspect of the test that would be eventually reformulated to improve access to justice for SWUAV, Kiselbach and other marginalized litigants in Canada.

This Is Me It didn't take me lo ng to realize l wasn't beautiful Or even close to perfect I look at myself in the m irror and I see An ugly scared face staring back Is that me? â&#x20AC;˘ Is that really how I look?

These days everyone thinks everything is about appearance, As time passed I began to believe them, My life is a mixture of hollow memories and sad times Hope was torn from my life & stolen from my d reams Hatred bubbles in my heart, Emerging from lies and fairy tales.

There is one thing left One thing that hasn't been shattered My love I may not love my li fe.

My choices. paths or perks But deep inside a stra nger is \.Vaiting to come out Then it will strike me that I am beautiful I a m happy I am not afraid

l AM ME! Jessica Harmann

An Update on 317 E Broadway

Irs been s~veral months s ince the last time we wrote to you, and we truly miss being in touch! Since our last dispatch. Rhizome has wrapped up and closed, and Heartwood Cafe has opened at 3 17 East Broadway. We are thrilled to see that the space continues to be a warm and welcoming commun ity hub, and we have deep respect for everyone at lleartwood who has worked so hard to bring it to life.

We're writing now to share with you some exciting developments at Heartwood-and to remind you to stay in touch with Rhizome, in our new virt ual form!

Heanwood has hired Melanie Matining as the Cafe路s new Arts and Events Curator. Melanie is a wellknown and respected organizer. activist and advocate who is involved in a number of groups that were active at Rhi zome. In her role as Atts and Events Curator, Melanic wi ll be responsible for outreach to community groups, coordinating events and meeting room bookings, hosting events. connecting with artists who are interested in showing their work at the Cafe, producing Heattwood's monthly newsletter and events calendar, and more. We arc so excited that Melanie was chosen for this role! The Cafe is already hosti ng great programming, and there vvill be much more to come now that Melanie is on board!

We encourage you to contact her about your meeti ng, events, and arts needs. She can be reached at events(@.heartwoodcc.ca. Visitlleartwood 's website (www.heartwoodcc.ca) to view the calendar of upcoming events, get on the mailing list, and find out how you can support this important community worh. by becoming a Friend of the Cafe.

Finally, please visit Rhizome's new virtual home at www.RhizomeCafe.ca! You can peruse Rhizome photos, old monthly calendars. videos. collective art projects, and use this s ite as a way to remember all that we did together in that space. reel free to leave a comment in the guest book, and send us any photos or videos that you'd like to add to the archive.

We look forward to being in touch with you agai n!

We' re still in Vancouver until early 2014, and then will head to Toronto and start having conversations about establishing the new Rhizome there. Once we have settled in a bit, we' ll reach out again to ask you to put us in touch with your Toronto contacts.

Many thanks to all of you!

-Lisa and Vinetta

A Potential Appeal by 1\lei/ H..!nson Getting there gets the job halfway done, may be possible not improbable,路 doing or not what is expected evidently lies in confidence of a criminals' honor as reliable.

A foolish thought, silly and stupid. can be cavalier, not too careful when completing some activity, that appears to have been attractive: the Pied Piper. and Mayor Rob Ford.

Ex-con scientist, and ex-con artist, morally. ethically inso lvent, Robin would take from rich to give to poor, a swindler there, a lost angel here. the scam scheme gimmick to mimmick.

Peoples Liberation Movement I PLM The People Un ited will never be defeated The People United are you and me and The people united stand together for one another Know your neighbours al l across the country Know yo ur MPs and hold them to their promises Or better yet, without regret we take every seat in the house and take the country back.

Every riding, every minis ter and never let the process get too sinister A mass ive movement of liberation A brand new Zion with love unlimited No more sickness ofthe Human Race Dirty politicians we don't know trying to save face Are you up to it it's more than some might believe Hovv e lse do you propose Are we lame and not willing to tight And say that's just how it goes?!

Darren Morgan

THE 32nd of DECEMBER Barely remembering what it is I have to forget, I stick a piece of temperament- flavoured gum in my mouth splash water down my face now I am set, anger consumes my thoughts these words are strictly from the heart. lik.e Snoopy being the most vicious dogfighter I just don't feel connected and have drifted away falling apart, I look beyond the clouds I was born overcast on the 32 11d of December not a standing ovationish way to have to start my allotment of time. everyone gets a chance but we all end me you and 75 bil lion other voices the silence is heard around the world The abusers or losers or selfishists or worse just may not have to rehearse as everyone's attention stops dead joining every country painted red even if all flag are unfurled. li ke chemotherapy curing hair cancer or helping an old lady to the other much darker side of the street more human evil answers 'Is today your day?' like an alter with revolving doors when fear creeps in it fills up it really pours for those on the fence thinking if time is a bomb waiting for the 32m1 of December \·vel! do you fee l lucky go make my day!

(Go away) far away, .I wipe the lips off my frown and feel empty inside thin king we are in hell. It began being born every second of every day of everything nothing but rid icule and scorn all love is lost when love melts into emotional decay, do you thi nk if Santa got stuck and had to eat some of his reindeer what would all the childre n think possibly an undergro'vvn revolution with tiny fingers all agreeing Code Pink: You go spread god's word over morning toast what was it that Saint Minus wo uld clearly say, ohya all over creation and still dreaming out loud look beyond the sky and realign the clouds white a fresh coat of sour removes all stains of the sweet..such a crook-ed line between infancy and lunacy then agai n opportunity rears its sel fish human-like head, To every single soul from the Downtown Eastside to the most barren point sticking out in the North Pole please do not give an inch to those World War Three smiles and these new turn of styles we are all on their files .. they may thin k they know everything just do not let them gain admittance to your thoughts. beliefs and all that is sacred tucked neatly away in your very own (as in no one owns it) individual head.

You take care. and stay alive!!!

By ROBERT McGILLIVRAY

PS: ·'Share the road don·t wear it!!'"

Q:''O but we dreamed to mend whatever mischief seemed to afflict mankind. · W./3. J"eals

DTES NEW YEAR'S

FR'JHREAD From Love to Action December 31 Aboriginal Fnmt Door· 384 Main Street 4:00-6:00 Kat Norris here! How's everybody doin?

Raising my hands up to all who are going to help out this year! 60 helpers so far! People showin the love to our people, and all who reside in the DTES community to put on the A nnual DTES New Year's Frybread Giveaway, "From Love to Action.'· What we do each year. is bring a little bit of home to the DTES by cooki ng up frybread to hand out. We'll have all the fixings, butter. jam, peanut butter. Also we'll have some warm gloves and toques. 'vVe have 2 locations to cook out of: the Aboriginal Front Door and the Downtown Eastside Neighbourhood House, both who have opened their doors to my crazy venture again this year.

1-lychka to both.

Drop off of items, will begin at noon at both locations The frybread giveaway begins at 4:00 and goes til 6:00pm at the Aboriginal Front Door.

We need donations of: flour, baking powder, baking powder ((again) each year we run out and have to do runs.) We need oil, or lard. Also helpful: napkins. lunc h bags, jam, peanut butter. Each year families get together and drop off cookies, cakes, stews. soups ....

Feel free to email me at katnorris@hotmait.com with the subject line: FRYBREAD GIVEAWAY

One outta hundred of you is \\O rth talkin' to just who do you think you are your ' toug hness' is getting real old being a psycho don路t make you anyone e xcept some delusional pride with problems so sick of the so sick I hide in my room, bang on the door w hatever I got seems you need it more so tough guy w ith your tou gh talk take a hike take a walk my hands are getting sore bolstering the door al l you bonks arc just a bore and l just can ' t handle it no mo re

DOWNTOWN EASTSIDE

FREE PHONES Carnegie Centre 401 Main Every Day: 9am - 9pm For members only (membership $1)

Evelyn Saller Centre 320 Alexander Monday to Friday 9am - 11 pm Saturday & Sunday l Oam-1 Opm

Jake Dahlmer

First United Church 320 E. Hastings Monday to Friday 8:30am

Lifeskills Centre 4 12 E. Cordova Monday to Friday 1Oam - 4pm

Lookout Shelter 348 Alexander During visiting hours only 2-4:30 & Monday to Friday 6:30-8pm

for Allistair Dude seen a thousand times behind the desk waving me on now all of a sudden he's gone and Reggie 路fore him and on and on all gone the brothers are a tribe in decline brothers come here to do their dying. as I watch ' em all pass I can't stop cry in' know it's just weeks 路fore my Mama goes joins the rest, all the best a re already dead catch my drift? hear what I said

AI

Women's Centre 302 Columbia

Mon, Tues. Thur &Friday 10am-5pm Wed l1 am-5pm; Sat & Sun 12-5 Women only.

UBC Learning Exchange 6 12 Main Street Tuesday to Friday 1pm-5pm

I.

about all the young people at the University is generally one of'each is smart, motivated, far and away more advanced in developing their lives & personae'.

The internal voice of Hum20 I people has that to look at but not to augment self-deprecation; my learning has many different experiences and pressures not possibly in the lives of the student body.

Experience is a keyword with infinite ramifications, but the general rendition of reasons why- at least from Hum20 I people I have some insight intocontains refe rences to hard times (hard ly unique), mental health dysfunction (more prevalent that / .. 路 ....,.,..-~ 路 - ""'' anyone cares to admit), substance abuse (drugs & alcohol are hardly unknown in the circles of academia) and the factoring in of being on the margins of the mainstream . What doesn't register with the middle- to upper-class families which have bred and been 'enjoyed' by the vast majority of students is the over-arching feelings engendered by the stigmas of income assistance, poverty, no tenure of hous ing, hitchhiking long dista nces with no money, police harassment and relegation to the suspect-class. Doors r---:1 open to these young students may have never even On Keywords been ajar for the majority of Hum20 I people.

A caveat comes to mind: " When strangers meet, Words liks capitalism, materialism, gentrification, much latitude should be given to acco mmodate the revitalisation, intellectual property and so on may be differences in language, training and culture." This debated, but only in an academic sense. The givens was used to mediate and ameliorate the ris ing tensof obvious attitudes - on the streets, in the locked ions between two men ready to fight to the death cars driving by, in to urism and video-cameras out the over interpretation of the word cannibal s. One had w indow- show that the impacts of such forces on us accused the other's people of drinking the blood of as residents of low-i ncome neighbourhoods and their dead; the other turned to his host at the dinner consequent life choices can be grating, but enlighttable and corrected the allusion, saying "The water of enment and acti vity to change what can be changed the dead belongs to the tribe; surely a dead man no is worth uncapping our individual vials of hope. longer requires it."* The challenge is to get past the academic barriers on Being careful has its sore points. Education to both sides, and to accept differences in behaviour and university students seems to be enthrallment with training as necessary to foment the intuitive conelectronic toys, attending classes to e ither excel or structs at the core of each individual's being, to join get an easy credit, working to pass to get work to pay as a pennanent revolutionary in the fight to establish for all the education. Education to a lumni of the sadvipra samaj. ** Humanities 20 I program is a spark that didn't die, or Respectfully submitted, get rationalised behind free meals, bus tickets, no PauiR Taylor work to do unless yo u want to and playing at being part of whatever illusion yo u have about the *DUNE by Frank Herbert "regular" students. **Enlightened society established by spiritual Learning is not a mirrored exercise, in terms of warrior-poets with moral courage. absorbi ng new ideas and wann ing or cooling accor[See PROUT; nee-humanism; white !antra, Sahaj, ding to the manner of presentation. The assumption vishesh, rajadiraj yogas]

~ ---------------------路'Never doubt that a smal l group of thoughtful committed citizens can c hange the world. Indeed, it is the only thi ng that ever has." -Margaret Meade THIS NEWSLETTER IS A PUBLICATION OF THE CARNEGIE COMMUNITY CENTRE ASSOCIATION Articles represent the views of individual contributors and not of the Association.

WANTED Artwork for the Carnegie Newsletter Small illustrations to accompany articles and poetry.

Cover art- Max. Size:17cm(6 .7")wide x 15cm(6")high.

Subject matter pertaining to issues relevant to the Downtown Eastside, but all work considered.

Black & White printing only.

Size restrictions apply (i.e. If your piece is too large, it will be reduced and/or cropped to fit).

All artists will receive credit for their woriL Originals will be returned to the artist after being .copied for publication.

Remuneration: Carnegie Volunteer Tickets.

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WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTIO~

DONATIONS 2013: (Money is needed & welcome) Sheila B.-$259 Jenny K.-$25 Elsie McG.-$150 Terry & Savannah -$100 Robert McG.-$100 Leslie S.-$125 Laila B.-$65 Dave J.-$38 Christopher R.-$100 Anonymous 路$25 Bob S.$200 Laurie R.-$70 Penny G.-$60 Yukiko-$20 ' Ellen W.-$23 Eleanor B.-$60 Nathan E.-$50 Maxine B.-$20 Tom W.-$25 Michelle C.-$100 Janet W.-$100 Renee S.-$23 Barb & Mel L.-$150 Gail C.-$25 Michael C.-$50 Susan S.-$50 Ron C.-$25 In memory of Sandy Cameron(Mary R) -$100 Amy V.-$25 Shyla S.-$200 Maureen 0.-$50 f Muggs & Bob -$300 Donald G.-$50 BCTF -$200 Harold & Sharron D. -$1 00 Barbara M.-$150 Margaret D.-$40 Lisa & Jason B.-$50

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