May 15, 2002, carnegie newsletter

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FREE - donations acce~ted.

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The Ballots are in

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STRATHCONA'S

VOLUNTEER OF THE YEAR 2002

Better known as Chili Bob, he's been acknowledged

by Strathcona, got his picture taken and other stuff Congratulations! and the real story is ... ...

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Women only ComputerTraining EVERY THIRD WEDNESDAY OF THE MONTH 2-6 PM

A big Thank You tc, Diane Woods (a long-time volunteer) for designing this year's Volunteer T-shirt They have been a great hit! Also pictured here is our one and only EGOR).

Internet! E-mail! Word Processing!

Carnegie Community Centre, 401 Main St. Computer Room, 3rd floor

Open to all women.

No experience necessary.

Begins May 15,2002 Dave Olsen ffom Vancouver Community Network will be instructing.

children and youth Support and shelter rates SUPPORT: As of April 1,2002, the support portion ofwellire for a single parent with a child who is 3 years old or more was reduced to $325.58 per month (it used to be $376.58 per month). The support rates remain the same even if the parent has more than one child.

SHELTER: Ministry of Human Resources proposals include reducing the shelter allowance for families of three or more as of July 1,2002. The proposed rates are: 3-person family - $555.00 (down from $610.00) Cperson family - $590.00 (down fiom $650.00) 5-person family - $625.00 (down fiom $700.00) &person family - $660.00 (down fiom $780.00) %35 for each additional person SHARED-PARENTING SUBSIDY: The government has tightened up the rules for who will be eligible to receive extra money to allow them to have a Shared-Parenting Arrangement (SPA). Now, in order to qualitjr for SPA, the parent claiming for this assistance must show that the child lives at least 40% (12 nights a month) and not more than 50% of the time with them. The parent with whom the child stays most ofthe time will have the child included in their family unit for the purpose of determining eligibility and the benefit rate. The parent who has the child 40-50% ofthe time may receive some extra money for shelter costs. The amount of the SPA will be the difference between the current shelter entitlement and the maximum shelter if the child were added to the fimily unit based on actual shelter costs.

To get Shared Parenting Assistance, the parents must show the Ministry documents proving that they are sharing custody. The couple must produce documents that have been registered in court. If they do not have these documents, they cannot receive the Shared Parenting Allowance.

If the couple does not already have court documents, they can either write their own separation agreement and register it in court, or ask for help at the Family Justice Centres. To h d the Family Justice Centres, look in the Blue Pages of your phone book under "Government of BC -Attorney General, Ministry of- Family Justice Centres". Ifyou can't find them listed there, you can call Enquiry BC at: 604-660-2421 in the Lower Mainland, 250-387-6121 in Victoria, and toll free at 1-800-663-7867 from anywhere else in the province.

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lf you share custody of the child equally (50-50) then you must choose who will be considered the pri parent by the Ministry. You will have to fill out a Child Residency Statement, setting out who is the prima parent and should receive support for the child.

Note: It is important to know that ifyou have a shared parenting arrangement, the Family Bonus paid by one parent to another should be consider exempt income by welfare -the amount of money you receive 6om this should not be deducted i?om your cheque. The government does not have this in their computer system and Ministry staff will have to do this manually, so make sure that no mistakes are made on your file.

Income Exemptions A person who receives any of the following payments for their child will now have their welhre support reduced. Family maintenance fiom a parent or the Family Maintenance Enforcement Program; Orphan's benefits fiom the Canada Pension Plan (CPP) Child Care Subsidies Qualifying for a subsidy Another change in welfare that will hurt some families is that fnver families will now be eligible, for the Child Care Subsidy. The government has reduced the amount of money a family may earn and be eligible for a subsidy by $285 per month from $500 to $215 per month. Parents who earn more than the limit allowed may still get some subsidy, but 60% of it will be clawed back by the government.

People now receiving a Child Care Subsidy will only have their subsidy renewed until May 31,2002. Any subsidies given out after April 1,2002, will be decided under the new rules.

No one will receive a child care subsidy if they are paying less than $50 a month for child care.

Social Needs Cbild Care You used to be able to get help with child care if you had medical problems, were experiencing a f i l y crisis, had special needs children, or needed pre-school for your child.

Now the only reasons the govemment will give you a subsidy for child care, special needs childcare, or preschool is if you are conducting a job search, you are going to training, or if child care has been recommended by the Ministry of Children and Family Development as part ofa risk-reduction plan for your child.

Cbild in the Home of a Relative Generally speaking, a child is not eligible for income assistance ifthey are not residing with their parent. An exception to this is where the child resides with a relative and has been placed there by the parent. In these cases Child In the Home of a Relative (ClHR) assistance may be paid to the relative, on the child's behalf.

Effxtive April 1,2002, eligibility for CIHR benefits was made more restrictive. If the relative is the legal guardian of the child or has entered into an agreement under s.8 of the Child and Family SeivicesActto care the child, the child will no longer be eligible for CIHR assistance. Legal guardians can receive child-tax benefits, depending on their income.

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Youth 26, the proposed Employment and Assi5tance Act creates a new category of applicantlrecipient, "dependent youth" -a dependent child who has reached 16 years of age. This points to the creation of eligibility rules applicable to that group, such as the requirement to enter into an "employment plan" in order to get welhre. More will be known once the Act is proclaimed in force and regulations written. The Bill also imposes a requirement that applicants have been employed for a prescribed number of hour per month for at least 24 consecutive months. Regulations will exempt certain categories ofpeople. Presumably this is how the government will accomplish its stated goal of making youth ineligible for assistance for at least 2 years after finishing school or leaving home.

This information h a been adaptedfi.om afact sheet prepared by PovNet and the Legal Services Society P/ease watch the PovNet wbsite ( h t r p : / ~ o v n e t . o r gfor ) any new information and newfact sheets.

heat re workshops a t Carnegie Etery Friday Afternoon, I pm to 3 pm T h i r d floor. Classroom 42

n2OVE AIclb GROOVE

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Low Impact Ja Aerobics

L r a r n to . k t . Direct o r W r i t e n Plav Rectmr Familiar ~ i t the h Uuts and Rolts of Theatre cnffirrr s m w l -

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Coordinated b> Jay tlamburgr oiThsatre in the Ra&. .Ask fi)r Rika 665-3003 or Ja) '08-5448

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To Honorable Murray Coell Minister of Human Resources PO Box 9058, Stn Provincial Government, Victoria BC V5W 9EZ Date: Dear Mr Coell, RE: SINGLE PARENT BENEFIT CUTS

Did you know it is best t o Exercise before you Eat? You will Sleep better too!

Every Friday night 5-6 pm, in t h e Carnegie Gym

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I object to the following recently announced changes that will directly affect BC's single parents and their children: Employable single parents back to work when the youngest mild is 3 yrs (reduced !?om 7 yrs), Reduce support payments for employable single parents to match those of employable individuals 19-54, Eligibility for Child Care Subsidy reduced to a lower average income level, Eliminate $200 earnings exemption, Eliminate Family Maintenance Enforcement Plan $100 exemption, Reduce shelter rates for families with 2 or more children, Reduce shelter allowance in rural communities, Eligible employable parents with dependant children to receive assistance for a maximum of2 years out ofevery 5 years, afler which rates will be reduced by 1 1%, Destroying Hot Lunch and Out of School Care programs, Pharmacare cuts, and more

The child of a single parent has only one primary carecEiver. It is wrong of the BC Government to legislate a financial squeeze on that single parent (up to $400+ per month worse off), thereby deliberately putting the single parent and their child(ren) under even more stress.

The Vancouver Health Board and other health authorities are constantly telling us how important the first 5 years of life are in a child's development. I object to the BC Government forcing an early separation of the single parent and child in these formative years and against the advice of every renowned child-raising expert worldwide. Why won 't the BC Government let single parents do the importantjob of child raising?

thr Wl If 1 the MI

There aren't enough childcare spaces in BC, the BC Government is making it harder (not easier) for single parents to qualifj,for Child Care Subsidy, and there is already a shortage ofjobs in BC. 1 would like to respecthlly ask you, Mr Coell, to explain to me exactly how the BC Government has budgeted that a single parent ofone child living in Vancouver can manage to live on $1034 benefits per month ($307 Support + $520 Rent + $207 Child Tax Benefit / Family Bonus) remembering that diapers alone cost approx $100 per month -without rent, food, clothes, hydro, fiires, medicines etc?

I look forward to receiving your reply.

Signature: Name:

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Address:

Postcode:

My father

Tread Gently on Dreams

My father was a working man all ofhis life, all of his life.

When he was young he took himself a wife be took himself a wife.

Off to camp he went to feed his hmily, to feed his family.

12 hour days, a dollar a day in pay, Offto work he went to feed his family.

Every Sunday a 20 mile trudge home in 30 below The firewood must not get low.

Then came the depression, only a garden and hunting fed two young children.

They huddled in a shack with every lack But they still found time to play games on a cozy winter night.

Then came the war.

Farmers were needed more..jobs were easier to get.

At the end of the war a daughter they bore And a job road grading was found.

A car meant closer company.

Now shovel half a mile of snow, before to town they could go.

Unthaw the engine, wind her up To visit Grandpa, they got stuck.

Drive daughter to school, plow the road.

My father was a working man, all of his life all of his life.

Oil pipe came through, off to B.C. we'd go.

Found a home in Vancouver and a job in a saw mill.

Work hard every day for very low pay, A daughter needs an education.

Party with the neighbows, once in a while take time to smile, Then retirement came.

Travel, camp, hunt and fish, watch wrestling on TV fix the car to that there is no bar.

Take care of Mother, then a caring fimily takes care of you.

Work never ends when you're a working man If there are stairs to heaven, the loose step he'll fix before resting quietly.

My father was a working man all ofhis life, all ofhis life.

How little we know the inner life of our fellows private griefs long endured.. loneliness.. love never found.. As age creeps up 1 try harder to cheer on survivors down on their luck - the bewitched, unloved, forgotten. I make it my business to tread more gently on fading dreams.

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Sam Roddan

As ou may or may not know it is CookY s Appreciation Week,

starting Sunday. May 12th You will find all your favourite Kitchen volunteers and staff, anxiously awaiting your contributions, whether it be pot scrubbing, potato peeling, prep work, etc.. come on down to the second floor, and show us all any kudos, praise, admiration etc. that you can.

Any and all time (or other ways) spent showing your appreciation will be gratefullv accepted!!!

"Don we now our favourite apron!"

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WHY, THANK - YOU OFFICER !

The current proposal for a quick-fix solution to the complex issues in the Downtown Eastside has been tabled by the Vancouver City Police Department, and involves imposing blanket surveillance on the community in the form of 25 closed circuit video cameras . This proposal has been in the works since 1999, when it was first rejected by the public at large as an intolerable violation of human rights . The proposal was prepared for the police by exVancouver Police constable Grant Fredricks, who now works for the American digital technology company Avid .

That the proposal was drafted by Mr. Fredricks, whose business interests clearly stand to profit fiom the exorbitant costs of implementing their program, is indicative of the general vested interests the police have in shepherding the process.

The Vancouver City Police are determined to install closed circuit video cameras ( c.c.t.v.'s) for public surveillance in the Downtown Eastside, and have abandoned due propriety to improve their chances of pushing their plan through . There has been no public dialogue since the 1999 initiative was rehsed, and there is a concerted effort to keep the present attempt as far from open discourse as possible. Inspector Axel Hovbrender, who is in charge of the camera project, pretended publicly that private sources of community feedback were police initiated community consultation, accurately reflecting strong support for the idea. In addition, the Vancouver Police Board is continuing to support c.c.t.v.'s in spite of the recent announcement (from federal privacy commissioner George Radwanski) of retired federal supreme court justice Gerard La Forest's conclusion that general video surveillance violates the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedom's guarantee against unreasonable search and seizure .

The installation of c.c.t.v.'s in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside would violate the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act, as well as sections 7 & 8 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms .

Inspector Hovbrender is insisting that the Downtown Eastside is a unique community wherein there is no solution to it's problems associated with crime other than the introduction of a new policy of social control by authorities . However, he has not

produced any conclusive evidence to suggest that c.c.t.v.'s actually work to reduce crime, and would in fact be obliged to do so in light of innumerable studies indicating the opposite to be true .

B.C. Chief Judge Carol Baird Ellan suggests that installing c.c.t.v.'s in the Downtown Eastside would simply displace any criminal activity into the

surrounding neighborhoods . The Judge also points out that Vancouver's violent crime rate has decreased by between 5 & 10 % annually since 1996 (45% av. tot. ) The Downtown Eastside is unique in a way other than that suggested by Hovbrender in it's willingness to honestly and thoroughly engage in due process, especially regarding issues as critical as c.c.t.v.'s .

The consequences of installing continual blanket surveillance cameras will extend far beyond our little community here in the middle of Vancouver, and the entire nation will feel the repercussions of such a radical deviation fiom the essential privacy rights valued by all Canadians . The police department has yet to produce the required Privacy Impact Assessment documentgand are seemingly neglecting the appropriate sociological research in favor of that which is simply concerned with the technical operations of digital electronic surveillance .

florence spenser

The Blood of the Jackal A bit dramatic.. but looking at the cuts perpetrated

by Gordon Campbell and his cronies, you have to make some kind of sense out ofthem. At least I do.. but it keeps falling short of being rational.

DERA held its general meeting on May I0 and had Tom MacGregor, from the BC Coalition of People with Disabilities, Doreen Littlejohn, a nurse with the Native Health Society, and John Fraser, an advocate with DERA, give an overview of recent "policy changes" of the government's Ministry of Human Resources.

Welfare has 16 changes that directly affect almost everyone, and these have been listed in the last two Newsletters. They are designed to make it harder for anyone now receiving income assistance to continue doing so. The design includes making it very diflicult for any new applications to be approved.

The underlying idea is that it's somehow criminal to be poor andfor in need of help. The idea that anyone not working is somehow lazy or a bum or a vagrant is part and parcel, and no matter what spin is put on the "policy changes" that idea is always there.

One person at the meeting remarked on how the Minister, Murray Coell, stated he has a 'job bank' of over 5000 positions just waiting to be filled. Why is it that he doesn't immediately inform the 92,000 unemployed people in Vancouver alone of where these jobs are?

The disability legislation is going to be repealed and a whole new set of rules put in place. Changes include narrowing the definition of what is deemed a disability -meaning that unless a condition requires assistance in performing daily living tasks, it may not be a qualifying disability. There are also going to be work-requirements or job-searches necessary for those people who are deemed to be able enough to not qualify for disability assistance - and every one of the 45,000 people now medically disabled in BC will be re-evaluated in light of these new rules.

Doreen spoke of a small dropin she works out of providing over 55,000 meals last year at a cost of $1 12,000. The program is for the many people in the area who are HIV+. Nutrition and food regimens are an essential part of treatment for infected people, and both the staff there and their linked group at the Centre for Excellence (AIDS) are fighting back over the notice that this program and nutritional supplementation for infected people is being slashed.

Back to the idea that this is evil. The spin doctors for the Liberals keep trying to say how positive this all is going to be, but the vast majority of citizens don't believe them. The only outcome is thousands of the poorest and most vulnerable people are going to get poorer, sicker and more desperate. It's happ ened before, and people organize. As Doreen said, and everyone agreed, "the response has to come from the grassroots. We have to work together and not give up. Apathy is our worst enemy."

The Liberals have made one of their "policy changes" to the effect that after 24 months of assistance a person is just cut off until 5 years have passed. tan MacRae spoke at the end of the meeting on being at a housing conference in Washington State and learning that the US government and that State limited welfare to 5 years in a lifetime.. 5 years ago. They are now in the place that the Liberals will be in in 2 years - what to do with the thousands of peogle who haven't or just can't find work.

No amount of spin doctoring or just evil indifference will change this when people can't satisfy the fantasy of Campbell and cohorts. There is no excuse, but thkre will be changes or deadly consequences.

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By PAULR TAYLOR

P be

Castro's right. Maybe that's all globalization really is about.

On April 12, the Council of Canadians released a leaked copy of the G8 environment ministers' proposed final statement on the World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD) to be held in Johannesburg in August. Not surprisingly, the environment ministers from the eight leading industrialized countries will again support the corporate trade agenda of the WTO, this time by linking globalization to the ever-elusive concept of "sustainable development."

As the leaked document proclaims, "(the WSSD) should be a point of convergence for the positive outcomes achieved at the Millennium Summit in New York, World Trade Organization negotiations in Doha and (the) Financing for Development Conference in Monterrey."

But the G8 Ministers can hardly view all the outcomes of these meetings as positive. For example, Cuban President Fidel Castro informed the U.N.'s March, 2002 conference in Monterrey, Mexico that "the existing world economic order constitutes a system of plundering and exploitation like no other in history" not exactly a ringing endorsement of globalization-as-sustainable-development.He then stormed from the meeting, lingering barely long enough to enjoy a standing ovation.

It would be easy enough to dismiss Castro's antics as just another loser's rant. But what about that standing ovation'? Castro's words must have resonated with some of the delegates. The fact is, there is more than a little evidence that Castro had a point.

The real question is, why has most of the developed world ignored that evidence for so long?

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One answer is that over the past 25 years, the governments of market democracies, abetted by the mainstream media, have all but programmed their citizens to ignore it.

Today we scarcely acknowledge disconcerting trends in international development until some horrific event knocks us on the head - think 911 1.

So-called "modem" or "rational" society remains as self-delusory and myth-bound as any that has preceded it.

Now mass delusion is not necessarily a bad thing.

Indeed, cultural myths are the necessary glue for social cohesion and national unity. But there is a darker side in which social delusions amount to little more than deep denial in the service of evil.

(Remember the Holocaust?)

As writer Derrick Jensen has observed, "For us to maintain our way of living, we must..tell lies to each other, and especially to ourselves...The lies act as barriers to truth. The barriers ...are necessary because without them many deplorable acts would become impossibilities."

In recent years the governing elites of the market democracies have persuaded or cajoled virtually the entire world to adopt a common myth of uncommon power. All major national governments and mainstream international agencies are united in a vision of global development and poverty alleviation centred on unlimited economic expansion fieled by open markets and more liberalized trade.

For the first time, the world seems to be converging on a common development ideology, one that promises ever-increasing wealth for everyone, everywhere.

The downside is that constant repetition of the myth has so conditioned the population that the majority seems incapable of applying basic rules of evidence to the growing cascade of data that rehte it.

Instead, we deflect uncomfortable truths by telling reassuring lies to each other; we dismiss open-eyed globalization protesters as dangerous, uninformed rabble "who must be crushed." Meanwhile, living the myth is depleting the world's ecosystems, rending our social fabric and ultimately undermining world security.

Part ofthe problem is that the great'ship "Globalization" has lost its theoretical keel. The assumed benefits of a fair and efficient global marketplace depend on key assumptions of the theory of "general competitive equilibrium."

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However, as British economist, Prof. Paul Ormerod documents, there are "...so many violations of the conditions under which competitive equilibrium exists that it is hard to see why the concept survives, except for the vested interests of the economics profession and the link between prevailing political ideology and the conclusions which the theory of general equilibrium provides."

Fellow economist James K. Galbraith ofthe University of Texas is similarly disenchanted with n e e liberal theory. According to him, the empirical' evidence "flatly contradicts" the major premises and findings of economic analysis. Galbraith takes this disconnect from reality as evidence of a "...nearly complete collapse of the prevailing economic the0ry... It is a collapse so complete, so pervasive, that the profession can only deny it by refusing to discuss theoretical questions in the first place."

In these circumstances, we should hardly be surprised that the new world economic order is not delivering the promised goods even on its own terms.

Third World poverty reduction is ostensibly the major goal. However, the structure of the real-world global financial system ensures that the benefits of global growth accrue mainly to the already wealthy, those who designed and promote the globalization agenda (and who mostly live in the G8 nations).

Many debtor nations are forced under World BankInternational Monetary Fund structural adjustment programs to spend more of their income servicing debts to the world's richest nations than providing social services to their own impoverished citizens.

And to raise the money they often have no choice but to plunder their natural resources.

Market-based development can thus do real harm to entire peoples and to the ecosystems that support US all. Globalization protesters know this, and many development analysts know this.

But in 1999, when Joseph Stiglitz, then Chief Economist of the World Bank (and a Nobel Laureate) admitted to the problem, the myth prevailed. Stiglitz was noisily fired for breaking with WBOMF ideology The data, however, cannot be so readily dismissed.

In the 1960s "only" three dollars flowed North for every dollar flowing South; by the late 1990s, after 30 years of unprecedented growth and increasing globalization, the ratio had grown to seven to one.

In 1970 the richest I0 per cent of the world's citizens earned 19 times as much as the poorest 10 per cent.

By 1997, this ratio had increased to 27: 1 and the wealthiest 1 per cent ofthe world's people commanded the same income as the poorest 57 per cent. Just 25 million rich Americans (0.4 per cent of the world's people) had a combined income greater than that of the poorest 2 billion of the world's people (43 per cent of the total population). As I said, Castro had a point.

All of which raises a final question: Is it possible that the conventional myth merely serves as cover for a hidden parallel agenda?

Contemplate the counsel of U.S. presidential policy adviser, George F. Kennan, whose views in 1948 seem coldly resonant today: "We have about 50 per cent of the world's wealth, but only 6 per cent of its population...In this situation, we cannot fail to be the object of envy and resentment. Our real task is to maintain this position of disparity without detriment to our national security. To do so, we will have to dispense with all sentimentality and daydreaming.

"We should cease to talk about vague and unreal objectives such as human rights, the raising of living standards, and democratization. The day is not far off when we are going to have to deal in straight power concepts. The less we are hampered by idealistic slogans, the better...."

Kernan's words are unambiguous and provide a more revealing context for recent world history than anything the prevailing popular myth has to offer.

Perhaps we should keep this in mind as Canada prepares to host the G8 meeting in Kananaskis in June. Perhaps this time, instead ofmerely bashing the protestors, the media should give equal time to what they have to say.

William E. Rees is a professor at the University of British Columbia School of Community and Regional Planning.

T e r r o r Without Reason Given the climate of these troubling times It ain't right, I feel, to recite nursery rhymes Politico masters, behind closed doors, recreate cruel, oppressive doctrines that they proclaim, and then profess, as law.

To balance their books, without protest, Corporate agendas suppress the poor.

Defeat the weak, now and forever more.

They're cuttin' cheques and trirnrnin' lives.

'Who's wastin' away?"~ot us!' they say. , , Don't take these travesties lying down.

Lug your pickets signs all around your town, Pick up the phone.. send cards and letters..

If we're all as one we'll have it better.

As trite as it sounds, it's sure to get results. so persist on this path and withstand the insults.

Hard times drastic measures are feeble excuses for their reign of terror and unparalleled litany of abuses Dkja MI- it's all happened before

it's not a lie but it's not quite the truth and that's no sin something is calling haunting and haunted

and that's not strange excruciatingly real technically legal a realized miracle a prophecy of doom whispered about l~ngedfor in desperate hours charles fortin

When you have'nothing You need your pride Try to help and only remind her of her amis fortune I bring furniture Salt in her wounds Says 'if l need your help I would've asked' Still I can't stand

Bikeworks is a used bicycle and bike repair shop opened this May. We're an offshoot of the United We Can recycling depot at 39 East Hastings. We started out a few years ago as a maintenance shop for United We Can's small fleet of industrial tricycles and delivery bikes, expanded to a dropin Wednesday afternoon repair-it- yourself workshop, and now have opened a full service bike shop five days a week at 49 East Hastings, next door to United We Can. We still offer supported do-it-yourself facilities on a variable rate scale depending on how much help you need, as well as a full repair service.

Since the Bottom Bracket Bicycle shop on Dunlevy St. closed 2 years ago, the community has been without a full service bike shop, so we think we are filiing a real need. Al, the owner of the old Bottom Bracket shop has been really generous with his advice and support as we've been starting up, and drops in when he has time to renew acquaintances with hs old customers. PEDAL and Our Communi@ Bikes on Main Street are also helping a lot getting us set up.

We're open Tuesday to Thursday 10 to 5, Friday 10 to 6 and Saturday noon to 6. We've got some ' - reconditioned bikes for sale, and pride ourselves on fair pricing and fast inexpensive, safety-conscious repairs.

Stop in and say hello to Glen, Henry, John, Martin and sometimes Al. (usually two of us are there to

NIKE, NIKE, YOU CAN'T LIE Nike is "disappointed" in a California supreme court ruling which says that th company can be sued for fiaud for asserting that its overseas workers received adequate wages and that its working conditions complied with safety regulations. The court 's decision states that when a company "makes factual representations about its own products or its own operations, it must speak truthfilly."

Nike responded that the court's decision "sets a dangerous precedent."

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Eagles On a clear morning watching the eagles soar Sometimes a couple sometimes mother and child sometimes 5 in a group Watching from my bed I envy their freedom as I lay locked down here in this hotel room 1000 metres up alive addicted only to salmon Oh, to fly unfettered unmistakable even high above Burrard Inlet Answering only to nature My spirit joins their holy flight.

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What's The Background To The IsraeVPalestine Nightmare? - Part 3 In the Six Day War of June, 1967, Israel gained military control over the 2 1 percent of Palestine that had remained in Arab hands from 1949 to 1967. Israel also gained military control over all Jerusalem.

The oppression of Palestinian Arabs in the Occupied Territories (the West Bank, Gaza Strip, and Arab East Jerusalem) was fierce. The reason given for this oppression was security, but there is no security without justice, as the prophets have taught.

Palestinians have been reduced to the status of a nuisance. They have been stripped of their national identity. Their villages have been destroyed. Their cemeteries have been destroyed. Their homes have been destroyed. Their vineyards have been destroyed. Their leaders have been deported or disappeared Thousands of political prisoners are in jail. There is high unemployment, economic devastation, and overwhelming poverty in the Occupied Territories.

Schools and universities have been closed, curfews have been imposed, and pass cards made obligatory.

There is censorship on everything written by Palestinians. A Canadian nurse who spent eight months in the Occupied Territories said, "They are living in a big jail." (1)

In 1969, the U N General Asscnihly Kcsolution 2535B expressed concern "that the denial of (Palestinian) rights has been aggravated by the reported acts of collective punishment, arbitrary detention, curfews, destruction of houses and property, deportation and other repressive acts against refugees and other inhabitants of the Occupied Territories." Terrorism begets terrorism.

In 1970, UN General Assembly Resolution 2627C recognized "that the people of Palestine are entitled to equal rights and self-determination in accordance with the Charter of the United Nations."

By 1980, the European Economic Community (EEC) had declared Palestinian self-determination to

be a main plank in its Middle East policy.

The Palestinian people today constitute a nation in exile. Both Israel and Palestine have a future, but the future of one cannot be based on the nullification of the other. Hannah Arendt wrote in her book, The Origins of Totalitarianism (p.290),"After the(Second World) war, it turned out that the Jewish question was indeed solved - namely by means of a colonized and then conquered territory - but this solved neither the problem of minorities nor the stateless. The solution of the Jewish question (a Jewish state) merely produced a new category of refugees, the Arabs, thereby increasing the number of the stateless by . another 700,000 to 800,000 people."

The Jewish philosopher, Martin Buber, was one of the most important spiritual writers of the 20th century. He hoped for a bi-national state in Palestine in which Jews and Arabs would have equal rights and representation. (2) He thought a bi-national Palestine could become a beacon of peace in the world, and he reminded others that the prophets had said, over and over again, that justice had to be the ruling power in the promised land. Buber's vision was never taken seriously by those with guns.

The hope today is for a two state solution to the nightmare in Palestine. Sixty percent of Israel's Jews are from the Middle East, Asia and Africa.

Together, with Palestinians, they make up the poorest of Israel's labour force. Their average income is four times less than that of European Jews who control Israel's politics and culture. This class/ race division in Israel may help to explain why over one-half the population of Israel doesn't support the military occupation of Palestinian lands. (3)

By SANDY CAMERON to be continued ( I ) "Forum on Palestine arouses the emotions of SFU students," by Saaligh Gabier, The Peak, March 4,2002.

(2) The Nonviolent Coming of God. by James Douglass, Orbis Books, 1991, p. 183.

(3) Ibid: p. 185.

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DOWNTOWN EASTSIDE YOUTH ACTIVITIES SOCIETY 2002 DONATIONS

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STD CLINIC 219 Main; Monday to Friday, loam 6pm NEEDLE EXCHANGE - 221 Main; 8:30am - 8pm evely day NEEDLE EXCHANGE VAN - 3 Routes:

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THE NEWSLETTER IS A PllBLlCATlON OFTHE CARNECIE COMMUNITY CENTRE ASSOCIATION.

Articles represent the views of individual cootributon and not o f t h e Association.

Submission Deadline for next issue:

Welfare problems; Landlord disputes; Housing problems; Unsafe living conditions; ome to the Dera office at 425 Carrall Street or

ERA has been serving t

THE Residential School Referendum Five "Youknow I'm not black but there is a whole Iota times that I wish I wasn 't white. " Frank Zappa

Making money seems to be the primary motive for everything ugly in our society. Over and over again we've been commodified and chewed up for the sake of divine profit. The present government's s e called referendum is an inexcusable example of aggravated assault on the dignity and inalienable rights of indigenous peoples around the world.

Racially motivated arrogance abounds again and again.

Today we witness a government that feels neither respect nor compassion for this province's indigenous peoples' never-ending history of struggle. The primordial contributions that our first nations' brothers and sisters are sharing with us have been nothing less than the natural generosity of respect and spiritual kindness they hold towards all life.

The Self-righteous and shamefbl cowards of this Liberal Government want to eradicate the idea of native self-government before it has ever had chance to influence this society. These people are afraid of anything that is non-white.

The referendum five, a peanut gallery of failed flight instructors, used car salespersons and useless politicians are willing to give voice and credibility to racists, private corporations and any other elite that likes to see profit prevail and people perish. They proudly call themselves democratic non-native selfgovenunent.

The referendum five are afiaid of displeasing the oil and gas corporations. To nullify any native voice they have decided to recreate the same repressive atmosphere that built the religious residential dungeons of the past These modern residential schools would control every indigenous person in British Columbia by never allowing them to speak. The word Privatization has never and will never included the rights and fbndamental freedoms of any human being.

This latest Liberal oppression is nothing more than a thinly veiled vote for a legitimized racism with its concomitant call for legalized rape and physical abuse!

11 Native children, our young human beings, are still being taken away fiom their families. Non-natives

are being paid to firmly inculcate these helpless displaced children into mainstream culture. These young human beings are being pushed into a culture that doesn't want them but at the same time needs to abuse them Isn't it amazing that so many non-natives will make so much money off the very human beings they say are worthless.

21 A majority of street trade sex workers are young native human beings. Our brothers and sisters, so used to abuse in their lives, may have decided that getting paid for sex by lawyers, judges and politicians is a step up.

After-all this self-destructive illusion may seem justifiable to someone who's been used and abused all their short life by nuns, priests, politicians and police in and around every residential school in Canada. Today, sleazy cockroach ridden hotel rooms filled with dried blood and fresh puke house the remnants of those same young native human beings.

Our non-native provincial, federal and municipal laws say they deserve nothing better. With the ever present shadow of authority lingering over them young Native human beings have been forced to sleep in dormitories with piss soaked beds for decades.

I think the so-called questions on the so-called referendum actually say this: 1/ Privatize property is the right of non-natives

21 The terms and leases of non-native self-government, be they commercial or otherwise, will be upheld at all costs 31 Hunting, fishing and recreational activities (such as prostitution, child molestation and all other forms of human abuse towards native cultures and rights) shall be enshrined on Crown Land by building more prisons and Residential schools.

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41 Parks and PROTECTED areas will not promote or allow any uses or benefits for native humans

51 Province-wide standards for anything that stands in the way of profit will be demolished

61 Aborigines from Australia will not be allowed to stop the self-Governments of non-native white Canada from sending their dispossessed natives to brothels, poor neighborhoods, work camps, prisons or graveyards.

71 Treaties will only be recognized if they are monthly specials at Dairy Queen.

81 As worthless as native humans are they still need to pay taxes. Their culture, their children and their dead must pay whenever we want to violate, abuse or mistreat them.

1070-1641 Phone T; OMce hours

A white working class guy

presents

Olympics and the Do! Another 1 12 noon Thursday, Mi Carnegie Thl

Dr. Helen Jeferson I Author of: Inside thc Industry: Power, Pol

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F e b ~ a 4,2002 y Deadline fw national Olympic committees to pmvlde the IOC with the names c host the 2010 Games

August, 2002 - Intemational Olympic Commitee expectd to announce short-&

May 31, 2002 Applicant dtks submit "mlnl-bkl books' to IOC, summarhing how they intend to p

of candklate dtkr

Games

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January 10,2003 Candidate dbies submit thelr official Md books to the Intematb~l'0lymplcCon detall thelr plans for the Games

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hbrwry to Aprll, 2003 International Olympk Commrttee Evaluation Commission Issue5 report o

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I

May, 2003 IOC Evaluation Commisskn kws report on candidate dtks

July, 2003 - Intematbnal Olympic Commltbee meet5 h Prague m s e k t the host of the 2010 &mes

What Goes Around, Comes Around.

So the other day I'm on my way over here (Carnegie Centre) and I notice the police have got a guy in handcuffs, standing on the sidewalk.

I was about to go by, not paying much attention, but the guy said something.

Went over a bit closer, and I realized he wanted a cigarette. So 1 said to the police constable: "I s it legal to give him a cigarette?"

She says that not only was it legal, but that would be a "kind thing to do."

That sort of struck me as an odd thing for the police to say, but % 1 stuck a cigarette into his mouth. He had to hold on to it (with his mouth) and puff away, while I gave him a light. It's a bit tricky but it can be done.

Anyway, I went away feeling a bit better. When 1 do a kindness for someone else, it helps me.

Whether it helps them all that much, I don't know, but it helps me.

This is not purely an unselfish motive. I believe that

whatever you put into the world, somehow; somewhere along the line, you're going to get it back.

And you're going to get it back many times over.

One day 1 was going down the street. I stopped for a stoplight. The guy next to me said something: he was a well-dressed dude. Maybe he realized I was broke, which 1 was. So he said, "Do you need a

was going $2. 'when I looked at what he Ilanded me, 100-dollar bill! I even took his name, in case we ever met again, which we didn't.

That might seem strange, but it wasn't the first time strange things happened to me.

Shortly after that I was going along and I spied a strange-looking guy.. in fact, I was going to try to avoid him. What's worse, he appeared to be drunk; although it was only about 8:30 in the morning.

Suddenly, he says: "You need a couple of bucks?"

Naturally, I stopped. Well, he handed me a $20 bill.

But the strange thing was, it was an Australian $20 bill! I don't know what Australian money looks like, but I decided to take a chance. I took it over to the bank, and without batting an eyelash, the girl handed me $23 and something. It seems Australian money was a bit higher than ours.

I still don't know why that guy was going around packing Aussie money. He didn't sound Australian.

Or it could be like Androcles and the lion. Sometimes when I do something for someone, I think about Androcles and the lion.

Who was Androcles, you say?

Androcles was a Roman soldier who got lost in the woods during a military engagement. Stumbling though the woods, he came across a lion with a thorn in its paw. Needless to say, the lion couldn't get the thorn out so Androcles removed it and the lion ran off.

Soon after, other soldiers came upon Androcles. But they thought he had deserted, so they arrested him.

Before long, Androcles found himself in the arena.

Then the gates opened, and out came a lion. The lion came over to Androcles and suddenly it started licking him. It was, you guessed it, the same lion.

Now under Roman law, if you survive in the arena, you go free. You don't have to go back a second time.

After that, Androcles could sometimes be seen roaming the hills outside Rome, with his pet lion.

And all this shows that when you give something to someone, somewhere in the world, it's going to come back to you, and sometimes it comes back in unpredictable ways.

By Robert R. Rich

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