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News

The McGill Daily, Thursday, October 15, 2009

3

Superhospital plods forward McGill hospital being built as a public-private partnership In-Depth

Sam Neylon The McGill Daily

Unions and the PPP

I

n April 2007, the provincial government announced it would be building Montreal’s two newest “superhospitals” at McGill and the Université de Montréal as publicprivate partnerships – also known as PPPs. In such an arrangement, the private sector puts up the huge initial capital investment for the construction, and then designs, builds, and runs parts of the project until the Ministry of Health takes control – in this case, 30 years from now.

Two consortia are competing to build the hospital for the McGill University Health Centre (MUHC or CUSM), which will be constructed at the Glen Yards, a large empty field south of Vendôme metro station, located between the NDG, St. Henri, and Westmount neigbourhoods.

Provincial officials have grown less fond of the PPP method, but the MUHC is already deep into the bidding process, and expects to begin construction this winter.

While there are still many critics of the PPP, such as the MUHC employees’ union, the wide swath of stakeholders – ranging from doctors to those living in the neighbourhood – are attempting to negotiate this changing terrain and have their concerns addressed over the course of this enormous project.

Megaprojects like this, that immense sort of construction that brings together and hopes to solve all problems at once, are a favourite of city planners and politicians alike.

The sheer size of these projects demands that many visions synthesize and provides an opportunity to use the latest technologies, implement the best practices, and use donor funds. They also provide a constantly shifting target for critics of the ideologies and agendas that these projects represent.

In an email to The Daily, Dianne Fagan, Chef des communications, projet du redéploiement du CUSM, said that the MUHC believes the PPP offers “several important advantages.”

The advantages she refers to include the competitive process that will create two “innovative plans,” the consortium taking on some of the financial risk, and a 30-year contract that creates incentive for the consortium to build and maintain the facilities well, Fagan wrote.

The actual design and construction of the superhospital has already involved, and will continue to involve, hundreds of committees, thousands of reports, hundreds of thousands of people, and billions of dollars. These micropolitics are the real place where contentions must be hashed out.

Olga Giancristofaro, the president of the MUHC Employees’ Union-CSN, said that PPP option will cost more and do less.

“We’re a big hospital at McGill, and McGill shouldn’t be used as a guinea pig to see if PPP works or not – we have professionals and good technology, but with the traditional method we will be getting a better quality hospital,” Giancristofaro said.

Giancristofaro, along with the Syndicat des employé(e)s du centre hospitalier de l’Université de Montréal-CSN, Médecins québécois pour le régime public, among others, have spoken out and protested against the PPP-method.

“We are not fighting not to have a new hospital. We want a new hospital – we are just fighting the method of construction – that the consortiums are in control of construction and not the public,” she said.

In her email to The Daily, Fagan insisted that “no clinical or paraclinical services will be overseen by the private consortium,” but that “support services directly related to the physical plant (building maintenance and public utility management, for example),” will be managed by the consortium.

This privatization of some former union positions is bound to set off alarm bells at the union, but with the PPP apparently moving forward, Giancristofaro implied that the union must be involved in how the hospital is run.

Union members had been invited to Great Britain to tour PPP-run hospitals.

“Some of [the hospitals] did work, but the PPP that worked best was the one where the unions and the employees are involved in the administration – that is what McGill has done, but the costs [in the long run] are [still] going to be more,” Giancristofaro said.

The surrounding neighbourhood McGill urban planning professor Lisa Bornstein, who heads the “Making Megaprojects Work for Communities” research team – a partnership between academics from six Montreal research institutions – has worked with the neighbourhood, hospital, community health, and government stakeholders to closely monitor the superhospital process since 2007.

Bornstein outlined the multivariate and overlapping concerns that neighbourhood stakeholders, represented by the Concertation Interquartier (CIQ), a group of neighbourhood associations from St. Henri, Westmount, and NDG, have with such a large project.

These concerns included, but were not limited to, the effect that retail within the “mall-style hos-

Justin K. Wong/The McGill Daily

pital” will have on local business, concerns around massive new traffic flows, insufficient public transit infrastructure, and more.

“There are hopes that there will be employment that’s drawn from the local area, that it just won’t be people relocating into the area… which can provoke displacement of lower-income people and negative aspects of gentrification,” Bornstein said.

As this series of both small and large negotiations happens between the community and McGill, the researchers try to make interventions – providing both sides with appropriate plans and models from past development projects around the world.

With the bidding process beginning and the consortia being brought in, Bornstein points out how complicated and unclear things are quickly becoming.

“Last year the community groups asked to participate in the PPP-process. They said they wanted to have a community rep in the PPP-process, we want to meet with the consortia, we want a community benefits agreement, and I think they asked for a community auditor position to watch the PPP-process,” Bornstein said.

“The PPP exec said, ‘no way to this community-auditor position, no way to a community benefits agreement within the PPP,’” Bornstein added.

The MUHC did let one community rep sit on a design committee.

This was one of the “hundreds” of committees at the hospital that the consortia have to meet while putting together their bids.

Pierre Gauthier, an urban plan-

ner from Concordia University and a member of the research project, was chosen as the community representative, bringing community concerns to the MUHC and consortia.

However, Bornstein said, during the bidding process itself, Gauthier was not allowed to communicate any details of the two projects.

Bornstein explained that the two consortia must be given identical information, and for confidentiality reasons, no one in the process can talk about what either consortium is designing to anyone outside of the process. So the community representative can at no time communicate ongoing plans with the community groups. This is a legal restriction to ensure fair competition.

“So fine, community groups agreed to this ‘black box’ because they have faith in their representative,” Bornstein said. “So if you want to think about advantages and disadvantages to the PPP, it may be that having this competition, this intensive set of meeting and co-creation between the hospital and the consortia, it does mean there’s been limited opportunities for the community groups to provide input.”

Government control While the relationship between the superhospital and its surrounding neighbourhood is being hashed out, the stakeholders must also worry about the day-to-day operations of a PPP-run hospital and how to prepare for these operations during the planning phase.

McGill urban planning professor Raphael Fischler lays out the context of a PPP, explaining that

the profit-motive is both the raison d’être and most complicated part of this method.

PPP projects, Fischler explains, are undertaken to “let the government off the hook in terms of massive one-time investments. Now the private sector does not do that out of charity, it does that at a profit. Which means that when you calculate the total amount spent by the public sector on this public facility, it comes out to more money than what the private sector spent [initially].”

Fischler explained that these PPP plans are entered into with the assumption that not only will the private sector (and requisite bidding process) bring a level of efficiency to the construction and administration of a hospital, but also that they’ll have large amounts of capital on hand.

“It’s like going to the bank to get a mortgage, you pay interest, you pay more than if you had the cash – but the government does not have the cash – the private sector has the cash,” Fischler said.

“The experience with PPPs in the U.S. has not been extremely favourable to the public sector unless you have very very strong expertise and political will to really squeeze the private sector as best as possible,” Fischler said.

The problem here, is that although PPP’s have been run well in other parts of the world, it is only with experience and abundant political will, something that Quebec will be tested on often while the hospital is running under a PPP. “The Quebec government does not have a long track record yet with PPP; it’s not something we’ve done for many years,”wFischler added.

4 News

The McGill Daily, Thursday, October 15, 2009

NEWS BRIEF

Mendelson defends free speech at town hall Students question University’s stance on contentious events

Dominic Popowich / The McGill Daily

“If you spend three years at university and are not troubled by something you hear, then we aren’t doing our job. You’re supposed to be troubled by things you hear, you’re supposed to be upset by them, supposed to challenge them. You’re supposed to be

engaged by them. The mere fact there is an idea out that is deeply disturbing to you is something we have to protect,” Mendelson said. “As long as the idea does not violate the law – so hate speech is out, slander is out – the public expression of ideas is fine.”

PGSS council fills Thomson House MBA tuition, TA wages among issues debated Eric Andrew-Gee News Writer

T

he Post-Graduate Students’ Society (PGSS) met in the ballroom of Thomson House last Wednesday for their monthly council meeting. The makeshift council chamber was near capacity. PGSS president Daniel Simeone said the turnout was unusually good.

MBA Tuition The most extensive and emotional debate at council concerned the recent proposal to increase tuition for McGill’s Master of Business Administration (MBA) program as it adopts a self-funded model. Tuition for this well-regarded program was previously set at $3,000 a year for Quebec residents, but was raised across the board to $29,500 – an increase of 1,600 per cent for Quebec students.

Those who supported the tuition hike pointed to McGill’s recent

decline in the business school rankings, citing higher tuition as a way to increase the quality of the program.

PGSS VP Internal Harry Saitis also mentioned that almost every MBA student at McGill has a high-paying job waiting for them after graduation, and so the degree essentially pays for itself.

However, history student Margaret Carlyle argued that high tuition does not necessarily yield a better program. She received loud applause when she urged her fellow councillors “to send a strong public message that this [tuition hike] is unacceptable.”

Carlyle urged students to “act now,” proposing a motion in which Simeone would draft a letter to the MBA program explaining the council’s concerns. Amendments were added saying that the letter should contain signatures from the executives of the Association of Graduate Students Employed at McGill (AGSEM) and the Fédération

étudiante universitaire du Québec (FEUQ). The motion passed with an overwhelming majority.

AGSEM Wage Woes The former AGSEM VP External said the union has set a court date to fight McGill over a delay in TA wage increases. Facing a $17.2-million deficit, McGill proposed pushing back TA wage increases. These increases were granted to TAs in an earlier agreement. The wage hike would have amounted to $128 a semester for TAs who worked over 180 hours in that time.

Family Care Issues regarding the children of graduate students came up repeatedly in the council meeting. Pamela Lirio, the Family Care Commissioner, reported on the projects she had in mind, which include determining how many graduate students are parents and creating a McGill day-care service for graduate students who require

it.

PGSS VP Academic Dahlia El Shafie fielded questions later on in the meeting about her plan, reported in The Daily profile of the PGSS executive, to fund a parental leave program for graduate students at McGill. The University of Montreal currently provides their students with a five-month paid parental leave, a program on which El Shafie’s proposition is modeled.

PGSS is currently looking for a donor to fund the project.

Committee Elections Simeone nominated Tarek Hamade as elections commissioner, and an almost unanimous vote approved him. Hamade is now listed as interim commissioner on the PGSS web site. Cynthia Nei was nominated and also quickly elected as interim environment commissioner. It will be Nei’s task to monitor McGill’s implementation of its own environmental policy.

Canwest Global, Canada’s largest media conglomerate, successfully filed for bankruptcy protection in a Toronto court on October 6.

The company – whose holdings include Global Television, the National Post, the Financial Post, and the Montreal Gazette – was granted protection from creditors under the Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act (CCAA), ensuring that Canwest will be able to promptly and more profitably restructure its businesses without collapsing under the weight of its approximately $4-billion debt.

“We’re a very profitable company, [but] we had too much debt,” said Canwest CEO Leonard Asper in a public statement last week. “This is about getting rid of that debt and driving forward.”

In an article in the Financial Post, Canwest attributed its ailing financial condition to “a combination of declining ad revenues, slumping profitability, loss of audience, and the need to switch from analog to digital transmission.”

Filing for bankruptcy protection under the CCAA allows companies temporary relief from creditors while they restructure their businesses. Canwest presented a “prepackaged plan of arrangement” to eventually settle their debts that was already approved by a majority of creditors. If the plan is approved by the court and the remaining creditors, CCAA protection can be extended for the duration of the restructuring.

“This virtually assures that the restructuring plan we set out will succeed,” Asper said. Once all groups are on board, Canwest’s business operations can go forward uninterrupted.

Bankruptcy protection will affect the debt related to approximately 30 per cent of Canwest’s revenue stream. Debt related to Canwest’s chain of 11 newspapers and the specialty TV channels it owns jointly with Goldman Sachs will be negotiated separately.

—John Lapsley

*For haikus, see Culture, Tuesdays 5:30

D

eputy Provost (Student Life & Learning) Morton Mendelson laid out McGill’s policy on controversial events and fielded questions from students at a packed town hall last Thursday in the Shatner building.

Referencing three events that have stirred debate over the past year – a talk by a Turkish professor on the Armenian genocide, a flag display

by Solidarity for Palestinian Human Rights, and a recent Choose Life event that ended in two arrests – Mendelson indicated that the University would maintain a policy of respecting freedom of speech, as long as the events in question are not hateful or slanderous.

Mendelson noted, though, that while the University respects students’ right to protest, this right is subject to certain restrictions.

“The University has been very open with respect to protest, but it also has limits. One of the limits we are absolutely adamant about is protest that disrupts the free expression of ideas on campus,” he said. “[It] crosses the line because that protest is attacking or undermining the core value of a university, that is meant to educate, transmit, and discover knowledge.”

When SSMU VP External Sebastian Ronderos-Morgan asked whether SSMU’s equity policy and constitution would be considered for contentious events, Mendelson said that the University’s stance would be determined independently.

“If there is an event that is

Canwest granted bankruptcy protection

Mondays 4:30, Shatner cafeteria Serious journalism only. No haikus*

The McGill Daily

approved for university space, then we don’t look to others outside the university – and SSMU is outside the university, though students are not. We don’t look to expressions from stakeholders to determine whether we are going to have the event,” Mendelson said, noting that he takes the same approach when concerns are raised by other interest groups, such as private donors or professors.

While Mendelson said that he evaluates controversial campus events personally and on a caseby-case basis, students like VP Clubs and Services Sarah Olle and Science Senator Mitran Mehta both commented that they found this policy arbitrary and problematic.

“The University holds responsibility not only to students but to the local community,” Mehta said.

“There are some events out there that want to express a unilateral point of view. I feel there should be general guideline to work from.”

Karina Gold, U3 Political Science and Latin America studies, asked Mendelson to define more specifically when he felt a campus group was using hate speech or denying another group’s existence.

“I’m not a lawyer. We have to make a distinction between hate speech and speech we may find hateful,” Mendelson replied. “Just because someone finds something very disturbing and very problematic does not make something hate speech.”

Referencing his time at university in the sixties, Mendelson said events that make students feel uncomfortable – provided they are not hateful – are an important part of student life.

If you want to write For The Daily news section, Come to our meetings.

Erin Hale

News

The McGill Daily, Thursday, October 15, 2009

5

Senate discusses Choose Life and MBA tuition Principal defends controversial changes on campus Humera Jabir The McGill Daily

M

cGill Senate convened Wednesday to discuss university affairs for the second time this academic year.

Principal Heather Munroe-Blum’s remarks on the arrests of two protesters at last week’s Choose Life event and the administration’s decision to drastically raise tuition for the McGill’s Master of Business Administration (MBA) program drew a strong response from some student senators. In addition, a motion was tabled addressing the emergency warnings that have appeared on course outlines.

Choose Life protest a “dark cloud” over campus In her opening remarks, Principal Heather Munroe-Blum addressed the demonstration last Tuesday that effectively led to the cancellation of Choose Life event “Echoes of the Holocaust”. Munroe-Blum criticized the protesters for having denied the pro-life group’s guest speaker, Jose Ruba of the Canadian Centre

for Bio-Ethical Reform, his right to freely express his views.

“The intimidation of protestors was so significant that students who were involved in the planning of the event were intimidated against continuing with their program. I see this really as blight in the context of a university that is known worldwide for its academic freedom and freedom of speech…. I urge them to consider reconvening the event right away,” said Munroe-Blum. She added that the protest cast a “dark cloud” over campus last week.

Arts Senator Sarah Woolf responded to Munroe-Blum, expressing dismay that the University would endorse an event to which a large number of students were opposed. SSMU VP University Affairs Rebecca Dooley then explained why SSMU Council had censured the event.

“I want to emphasize to the Senate body that while it is important in terms of freedom of speech, it is also important to consider that environments that are hostile and draw people to one side - hatespeech - marginalize a person’s ability to engage in collegial debate,” said Dooley.

University Provost Anthony Masi

joined the discussion, comparing the protest to thought-policing. “[The event] took place behind closed doors, no one was forced [to go]…. We do have rules about where the line is, but the fact of the matter is that we expect major disagreements to be the norm on our campus. Differences of points of view are important, but not intimidation, silencing, or thought police,” said Masi.

Masi cited the movement to protect freedom of expression at the University of California at Berkeley as an example of the culture he would like to see at McGill, commenting that the right to free speech should be universal, and that discourse between political rivals on campus should be conducted respectfully.

Students cold on MBA fee hike Following last month’s announcement that tuition for the MBA program will jump to $29,500, MunroeBlum addressed concerns that the program will be financially prohibitive for many graduate students by stating that the hike was necessary for the program to remain competitive.

“It is an exceptional move on the part of the faculty, the administration, and the Board of Governors

that targets a significant increase in tuition fees tied to a graduate professional level program,” said Munroe-Blum. “[The program] has been disproportionately drawing subsidization from our large undergraduate student program because of the gap in the costs of supporting MBA students on an annual basis,” she said.

Munroe-Blum commented that the gap in funds received and the costs of operation had grown so significant that McGill’s MBA program risked falling behind other leading institutions. She added that the hike will allow undergraduate departments to retain the funds that had previously been funnelled into the MBA program.

The decision to hike fees was met with some opposition by Faculty of Law representative Faizel Gulamhussein, who disapproved of the University’s failure to consult the Senate in making the decision.

Concerns were also raised over the potential implications for other faculties. Senator Richard Janda, also of the Faculty of Law, reproached the University for making such a large alteration to one of the principal professional programs at McGill without greater discussion

of spillover effects on universitywide academics. Faculty of Law students can participate in a joint Law and MBA degree program.

Swine flu hits course outlines Senator Darin Barney of the Faculty of Arts took issue with the alerts that have appeared on course outlines this fall, which notify students that courses may be altered in the event of an emergency.

Senator Bernard Robaire, of the Faculty of Medicine, supported the alerts but expressed reservations.

“We have been getting a growing list of directives about what to put [before] the course outlines. I don’t have the space [for] my course outline anymore,” said Robaire. “Could we possibly have a recommendation that would provide a web site that students need to abide by these supplemental guidelines?…

For us to have to extend the course outline [does not correspond] with what the title says – it’s a course outline.”

Deputy Provost Morton Mendelson responded, stating that the directive was meant to guarantee flexibility in the way courses are administered in the event of student or instructor absenteeism.

Student groups gearing up to fight CEGEP fees Provincial government plans to charge students for public education Alison Withers News Writer

C

EGEP students across the province could witness a sea of change in access to public education, after the Liberal Party of Quebec recently proposed to introduce tuition fees in an effort to address these underfunded programs.

Quebec currently faces a $3.9 billion deficit, and introducing tuition is just one strategy intended to help get Quebec out of the red by the 2013-2014 fiscal year. Finance Minister Raymond Bachard proposed the plan on September 26 at the Liberal Party’s pre-budget briefing.

The prospective fee has elicited a strong reaction from several student groups. Public CEGEPs were intro-

duced in 1967 and provide cost-free education to approximately 170,000 students across the province.

The provincial government currently provides 90 per cent of the funding for public CEGEPs. Quebec students who want to pursue postsecondary education must attend CEGEP in order to qualify.

Fédération étudiante collégiale du Québec (FECQ) President, Xavier Lefebvre-Boucher, argued that the government is damaging their long term interests as Quebec risks losing its position as the province with the highest proportion of students enrolled in post-secondary programs.

“This tuition would hurt accessibility,” Lefebvre-Boucher said, indicating that many 16- and 17-year-old students would not be able to afford the proposed fees. “We can’t afford to decrease the number of gradu-

The McGill Daily

ates in Quebec.”

The idea of students paying for their first year of CEGEP – the equivalent of Grade 12 in other provinces – is worrying to some who feel it shows a government neglect of public education and training.

Christopher Monette, Executive Secretary of the Dawson Student Union, which represents over 7,500 anglophone CEGEP students, echoed this sentiment. “[Quebec] is a leader in terms of accessible education, and we shouldn’t be jeopardizing this for a quick fix to the deficit,” Monette said.

Despite the flurry of opposition from CEGEPs and faculty-level associations, it is unlikely that tuition fees will be instituted anytime soon.

Not even a bill yet, the proposal will have to undergo the slow process of

public consultations before its introduction to the Quebec National Assembly.

There is also a concern among students that education is no longer seen as a provincial priority. A series of tuition hikes or deregulation measures in the past years point to rising barriers to accessible education in the province.

However, Catherine Poulin, Press Secretary for the Quebec Ministry of Finance has denied that there is a hidden agenda behind the government’s approach to education issues. Poulin stated that public consultations on CEGEP tuition and other budget items may be held as early as November.

CEGEP student groups may soon find themselves in a battle with the provincial government to ensure that students do not have to pay for their education out of their

own pockets. Recent protests by students associations against Bills 38 and 44 – which would drastically alter the governing structure of CEGEPs and universities across Quebec – are indicative of broadbased discontent with the Liberal Party’s approach to post-secondary education.

The FECQ and other organizations are currently demanding that the Liberals release a public statement on whether they will introduce their proposal as a bill.

Monette and others have said that they are prepared to actively defend their interests if the Liberals do decide to move on this.

“I’m an optimist,” Monette said.

“I think that the CEGEP student unions are going to [conduct] a good fight, and I do believe that sooner or later we’ll get the message through.”

Missing the boat since 1911. Red in the face since 1911. To the rescue since 1911. Staying out of Riverdale since 1911.

Going under since 1911. In it for the food since 1911. Off the cuff since 1911. Uncorked since 1911. Awaiting confirmation since 1911. Beyond one dimensionality since 1911.. Holier than thou since 1911. Voting for something since 1911. Ending up on the cutting room floor since 1911. Failing the taste test since 1911. Critical since 1911. Blue collar since 1911.

Freesince Monday Thursday onsince campus...

Straight to video since 1911. Demanding 1911.&Cold and distant 1911. Passé since 1911. Tender loins since 1911. Who you’re gonna call since 1911. Produced unethically since 1911. Judged by the cover since 1911. Dropping acid since 1911. Rooting since 1911. Wishing we could since since 1911. On the couch since 1911. Tying one on since Since 1911 1911. Yellow journalism since 1911. On the Main since 1911. Head in the clouds since 1911. Forever young since 1911

6 Commentary

The McGill Daily, Thursday, October 15, 2009

Aristotle’s lackey Sana Saeed

F

all semester of the 2008 school year at McGill, my political science degree came to a sombre close. I had come to university as a bright-eyed, excited 18-year-old, in love with politics and assured that I was meant to study in the field. And like every other political science major, I was determined to pursue a degree in international law at a prestigious university and ideally wished to work in some sort of diplomatic department at the United Nations, after a wonderful and brief stint at a well-established non-governmental organization (NGO). This is how I would have saved the world.

But that was September 2005.

By my fourth and final year, every ounce of idealism and hope had been successfully dismantled by too many fumbles into the dreaded bell curves and the endless nonsense of realism that seemed to punctuate all the classes I took in the department.

Regardless, I was saddened when my political science career ended. This sorrow, however, was not limited to the end of a personal era. The very last paper I wrote for my major was the first paper I had ever written on Africa. My only contact with the place prior to this was in the form of Egypt, in the MiddleEastern context, and North Africa, discussion of which merely revolved around the recognition of the area’s existence. This final paper thus

forced me to question and analyze my personal and academic relationship with the “Dark Continent.”

What I realized, in part thanks to conversations with my token African friend, was that my own perception, as well as the popularly projected view of Africa was almost exclusively this oddly pornographic, stagnant, and singular image of the continent. In other words, we have a grossly generalized and exploitative view of Africa, as bereft of its constituent parts, as a single entity ravaged by famine, poverty, and disease. We rarely think of the parts that make up Africa, and when we do, those pieces of the continent are limited to conflict-ridden countries.

The “real Africa,” as we know it seems to be in between North Africa and the south, the latter of which is associated with being Western and European. And we never go beyond the negative. We never even think to ask about Africa’s thriving arts, literary, and academic cultures. African history is limited to the period of and after colonialism. Rarely are the historical achievements stemming from the African continent, which have helped the world modernize and progress, discussed – let alone acknowledged.

International institutions and NGOs don’t exactly change this, either. While helping the poor and destitute of the world is vital, the campaigns undertaken by groups rang-

ing from UNICEF to Make Poverty History to Save The Children have exploited and exacerbated the view of Africa as a single “country” ravaged by war, lawlessness, illiteracy, disease, and drought. These issues do exist, but in varying degrees in the various countries that share the continent. This attitude also clouds our perception of most of the nonWestern and non-European world: this “other” world becomes ours to save. All we see is Kipling’s burden alive and thriving within our minds. In other words, every time you donate to World Vision, you are undermining the ability of Africans to be the agents of change of their own condition. How do you sleep at night?

I recently decided to see if this perspective is in fact correct: do most people see Africa through a pornographic lens? I updated my Facebook status (a most accurate empirical approach) and asked friends to comment, without pretending to be enlightened, with the first word(s) that popped into their heads at the mention of Africa. The results were unsurprising. Out of a total of 25 responses, three said “black”; four friends wrote “disease” (of whom one said AIDS); four said “famine”; and two responded with “Toto.” Other responses included: oppression, tribes, rain, drought, children, safari, cows, Simba, beautiful black women, Apartheid, and The Gods Must Be Crazy.

Intrigued, I updated my status once again, this time applying the same question to Europe. The results were radically different.

The 13 word-associations included: wine, sophistication, art, dream destination, empire, culture, gourmand, imperialism, education, croissants, cafés, and cobblestone.

Europe epitomized high culture, savoir-faire, knowledge, art,

Too often we ignore African people’s contributions to progress. and personal desire. The Cradle of Civilization, on the other hand, was reduced to a colour, to famine, to children, to Toto. One continent claimed the pinnacle of what a civilization should be while the other encompassed precisely all that creates the antithesis of a great civilization. The power relationship between the two continents, both historic and epistemic, is thus apparent. Surprise, surprise.

The “Dark Continent” remains as dark as ever, but more so because we have allowed for greater darkness to overtake it. By ignoring the contributions of African civilizations, the continent’s particular parts, its

Sasha Plotnikova / The McGill Daily

The popular, pornographic view of Africa

non-colonial history, and its thriving cultures, we do a great disservice to our fellow human beings and undermine our own so-called humanitarian efforts. Aid, food, condoms, clean water, and building schools will help. But nothing will help more than acknowledging that Africans are beyond care packages, that they are beyond drums, beyond civil strife, beyond pigment, and beyond our television screens.

Sana Saeed is back! Follow her exploits here every other week.

Write Sana at aristotleslackey@ mcgilldaily.com.

HYDE PARK

Something’s fishy about Miatello’s logic A former intern defends development internships Marc Trussler

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aving read Lisa Miatello’s recent piece (“Something’s fishy about IDS internships,” Commentary, October 8), I felt obliged to stick up for those – including myself – who have interned abroad under the McGill banner. It’s clear that Miatello has not interacted on any level with any person who has completed an internship, and that she is unaware of their goals in doing so. Her topic was clearly a springboard to discuss issues other than internships, and was full of assumptions that were so far afield that they were, in fact, falsehoods. This, as I mentioned, was extremely insulting to my colleagues and me.

Let me be blunt. Miatello seems bent on railing against (among other things): entitlement, selfish careerism, neo-colonialism, global inequality, and capitalism in general.

I get it. My point is that any passing glance in the direction of McGill’s Arts’ Internship participants would show that she has clearly picked the wrong group to make the target of her agenda.

Now, perhaps I have self-selected out of the heartless-bastard-capitalist sub-group, but all of the interns I have met care deeply about issues of poverty, inequality, and human rights around the world (including, yes, in Canada – I would point out the numerous internships that take place domestically). All of these interns, including myself, went into our summer with one goal: learn-

ing. That’s it. No saving the world.

No colonialist superiority. No white man’s burden. (Speaking of which, where are all the minority interns in Miatello’s article?)

This mission was – we would

My internship in Ghana came at a large expense to myself. Would that money have been better used if I had wrapped it up with a bow and handed it off to Oxfam? If you look at my internship by itself, even I would

We need to close the gap between isolated academia and the real world freely admit – selfish. But certainly not in the ways she mentioned. We went out into the field to gain a better understanding of our academic pursuits, so that perhaps we could add something to the battle against the very things Miatello herself purports to hate.

argue that perhaps it would have.

But that would be missing the point, which is this: the internship program at McGill, and all those like it, seeks to send young people out to these places so that we can better understand the problems that the world faces. We need desperate-

ly to close the gap between isolated academia and the real world, to better our understanding in order to make real contributions to the fight against global injustice. I would not be so crass as to say that my internship alone served this purpose, but on the balance, global outreach and real experience by those from the West stands up to the criticism levelled against it.

Miatello’s ill-thought-out words were insulting and harmful to all of those who are a part of this mission.

She missed the point completely, and owes an apology to McGill’s interns.

Marc Trussler is a U3 Honours political science student. Write him at marc.trussler@mail.mcgill.ca.

Commentary

The McGill Daily, Thursday, October 15, 2009

7

HYDE PARK

Close, but no development cigar Radically Reread un-radically repeats truisms about IDS internships Vladi Ivanov

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part from evoking some important and enduring debates in the practice of international development, “Something’s fishy about IDS internships” (Lisa Miatello, Commentary, October 8) adds very little to discourse on the field, and was misinformed, riddled with unfounded and often offensive generalizations, and disconcertingly sarcastic and unconstructive in its tone.

The dichotomy that Miatello draws in her piece between the invariably white “Westerner” or “great white traveller” and the “poor people of colour” (or worse “desolate backdrop” of “small black and brown children”) is an overracialized simplification of identity both in the West and the “Global South.”

To put it simply, Western society does not consist merely of white people, and to generalize all development practitioners as such is incredibly inflammatory and insulting. Moreover, the assumption

that all students who go abroad on internships have never taken time to think about the broader context of their work is simply unfounded.

Not only does Miatello tell us nothing particularly new, she does so in a very unhelpful manner.

I was among a group of McGill interns who went abroad last summer on internships. Some of us were white; many of us were not. Some of us were IDS students; many of us were not. Before going abroad, we were all required to undergo training during which issues of racial, economic, and cultural relations and neo-colonialism were discussed; we were encouraged to think critically about these problems.

Certainly, not all of us were in rural areas taking World-Vision-style photographs with the local children.

Many of us worked in cities, in offices, in courts, with businesses and NGOs with various goals and functions. Yes, some did go abroad to find that our organizations worked perfectly well without us. But, some also learned that issues of corruption and mismanagement can cause severe setbacks. You can be sure that none of us came back patting

ourselves on the back with the illusion of having singlehandedly fixed the problems we observed.

And if interns really don’t “understand the language, the peoples, the politics, or the history of the regions in question,” then why are they to be denounced for trying to better their understanding by living abroad for a few months? How can Miatello assume that all interns are going to countries for which they care not at all, if some of them (like myself) were returning to their region or country of origin? If Miatello had informed herself a bit more, or even had talked to some of the interns she so crassly ridicules, she might have evaded the generalizations and assumptions she made, which so gravely degraded the quality of her discourse.

I commend Miatello for trying to engage a very important issue in North-South relations. Yes, we are privileged to have had the chance to go and do internships abroad, and that privilege must be examined and criticized. However, there is no room in intelligent discourse for lowbrow sarcasm and the disparagement of one’s colleagues.

Miatello’s mockery of interns for experiencing culture shock and her characterization of their narratives as “grating” is an insulting and ignorant way to address the issue, especially given that she has demonstrably missed or ignored many of the

nuances and variations in identities and narratives among international interns.

Vladi Ivanov is a U3 Honours IDS student. Write her at vladi.ivanov@ mail.mcgill.ca.

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8 Commentary

Echoes of HYDE PARK

Make up your mind, Choose Life Evelyn Lo

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All Graphics by Sally Lin / The McGill Daily

hoose Life can’t seem to decide whether it’s a SSMUapproved club or a hardcore propagandist society, and it’s shooting itself with indecision. Choose Life makes a habit of showing its commitment to open and civil discussion by creating opportunities for such discussions. Unfortunately, Choose Life has an equally longstanding habit of emotionally priming discussions and minds with provocative imagery and associations, with the aim to shock and provoke guilt. The photos at the crossroads, the signboards at the Silent No More Awareness Campaign, the images at last week’s event: each time, the words “emotional manipulation” come to mind. Moreover, Choose Life makes open and civil discussions less open, and markedly less civil.

Emotional manipulation, reducing

“discussion” to a one-way, imageheavy, guilt-causing proclamation: all this has vaguely propagandistic tones. But this isn’t propaganda; it’s all part of a respectful, civil discussion, which is what Choose Life is all about. We know this to be true because Natalie Fohl, the president of Choose Life, says so. Last week, Fohl and Richard Bernier, on behalf of Choose Life (“Choose Life digs its heels in,” Commentary, October 8), stated that “we are committed to … respectful, civil discussion.”

Besides this, Choose Life also keeps trying to hold events to spur two-sided discussion. For that, Fohl is right to defend and define her group as a club, with a club’s commitments and right to protection of opinion. However, she forgets that everyone else has that right; Choose Life is expected to give others the same respect of opinion it receives.

In persisting with its tried-and-failed method of discussion, Choose Life has shown it is not living up to this expectation. It is behaving as a propaganda group, a collection of people who don’t care what you think, just want you to think what they think, and don’t care how they make that happen: by putting up fetal photos, by toting signboards, by misusing history with a peculiar inability to foresee the

offense that would be generated, and by gussying it up to be civil, thought-provoking material.

In the same article, Fohl states, “We will not allow others to decide before listening to us whether our contribution is legitimate or not.”

There’s a reason why such “others” exist. First, people do not need to listen to you before deciding the legitimacy of your contributions.

They only need to see the tact, or lack thereof, with which you dress up your contribution. Second, Choose Life fails to uphold its commitment to civil discussion, and its obligation to respect other groups.

It succeeds only in ruining whatever credibility the group had as one that encourages level-headed discussion and whose words are worth consideration. Choose Life thereby undermines its own official purpose, to “promote human life and rights from conception to natural death.” Its persistence in behaving the same way despite protest shows that, oddly enough, it really wants to commit club suicide.

This is ultimately depressing because it is an example of how, even in a system that promotes diversity of opinion, people can still massacre their own beliefs simply by promoting them inappropriately. Choose Life is not promoting respect for human life – if anything, it’s promoting ridicule of the prolife stance – and it’s neither opening itself up to nor establishing its credibility as a proponent of civil discussion. Choose Life’s inconsistency – stating it would cancel “Echoes of the Holocaust,” then deciding to go through with it anyway – highlights the fact that the club does not know whether to cram its message down our throats via emotional manipulation and graphic images, or grow up into a club that gives others respect. Which is something that many are rapidly losing for Choose Life.

Whatever has caused these antics – be it genuine identity crisis, disingenuousness, need for publicity, or total cluelessness – Choose Life’s maybeI’m-this-maybe-I’m-that dance has been going on too long. Likening abortion to the Holocaust is really just the icing on one huge self-defeating, split-personality cake.

Evelyn Lo is a U1 Biology and Philosophy student. Write her at evekyn.lo2@mail.mcgill.ca.

HYDE PARK

Let Choose Life be Women need such a club on campus Andrea Paolucci

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o make a true choice, one needs two things: information and resources. Without information on a given subject, one cannot make an informed, educated choice. We get up in arms when we feel as though our politicians have “hidden agendas,” precisely because in our democratic society that would mean our vote was an uninformed one: it might not have reflected our true opinions, and we might regret our choice of candidate. Secondly, we need resources. A choice made without access to real options is not a true choice at all.

Twenty-one years ago, the last laws regulating abortion in Canada were struck down, making our country one of the few in the West with no restrictions on abortion. Finally, Canadian women had gained the right to chose whether or not to have a legal abortion. However, 21 years later, I question how far we have really come. Information about abortion procedures, the possible psychological side effects of abortion and its impact on fertility, as well as information about the development of the fetus, is not readily available to women. It is not readily available because this information is often considered “oppressive”; it is often thought that it will make women “feel bad” – rhetoric we hear all too often on our campus.

At previous Choose Life events, members of the club shared information about abortion and fetal development. As in the past, the protestors at Jose Ruba’s presentation felt the need to censor this information. The protestors at Ruba’s talk said the images of abortion he projected were “disgusting.”

What are we really saying? Women are too emotionally fragile to handle information about their bodies and about the important decisions they have to make? As a woman, I take great offense to that.

The “abortion distortion,” a term coined by Rachel MacNair, a

pro-life feminist and psychologist, describes the phenomenon where, when abortion is mentioned, a double standard comes into play, even when women’s health is at stake.

The distortion happens when valid studies about the negative effects of abortion on women are ignored, when side effects of abortion are kept under wraps, and when dialogue on an issue affecting thousands of women and men is suppressed and labelled oppressive. Is not the suppression of this dialogue in itself oppressive? The abortion debate is far from settled in Canada.

The uproar in the summer of 2008 over the awarding of the Order of Canada to Henry Morgentaler, the physician and abortion rights activist, is just one testament out of many to that fact.

SSMU should not allow themselves to be bullied into suppressing this dialogue on campus and oppressing women by denying their right to information about their bodies and abortion. Choose Life is a group on campus where women can get access to pregnancy information and resources – for example, through the organization Birthright International – that don’t rely overmuch on abortion. In the name of free speech, the freedom of assembly, and women’s rights to information and resources, Choose Life must be allowed to exist and hold events on campus.

Both by providing women with support in their pregnancies through information and resources as well as by working toward putting responsibility back into sex, and thereby, working to prevent unwanted pregnancies in the first place, we can continue to truly liberate women. This can be accomplished by protecting their reproductive rights in honest ways that do not interfere with the legal status of abortion.

Andrea Paolucci received her B.A. in psychology in 2009, and is currently a special student. She’s also a Choose Life member. Write her at andrea.paolucci@mail.mcgill.ca.

The McGill Daily, Thursday, October 15, 2009

9

a protest HYDE PARK

No to hate speech The administration should protect its students Elaina Kaufman & Liam Olson-Mayes

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fter exhausting all other possible recourse for preventing the event “Echoes of the Holocaust” from taking place on campus, we chose to participate in the disruption of the event. “Old MacDonald Had a Farm” and other exuberantly sung musical numbers are, in our opinion, a measured and appropriate response to the presence of that particular presentation and the organization behind it at McGill. Our action was not a prochoice protest, nor did we hope to convince anyone in the room to become or to remain pro-choice.

We do not seek out anti-abortion events off campus in order to disrupt them, but we felt obligated to stop this event from happening on campus because it violated McGill’s policy on student rights.

We do not presume to speak on behalf of all the disrupters at the event. However, we did consult with other disrupters in writing this article, and their responses are expressed here. We were not permitted to write this article anonymously, but wished to because of the backlash that our actions have already received. Disrupters whose names were published have been subject to angry messages from complete strangers, and have had their identities referenced on the National Post’s Full Comment blog (“McGill abortion advocates block opposing opinions,” October 9, 2009); videos of the entire event have been posted on YouTube against our wishes. YouTube comments single out individual protesters based on appearance and clothing, speculate about their sexualities, and say that the protestors deserve to be tasered or beaten. It appears that YouTube has removed the most threatening comments, but there are messages on other web sites saying that the protestors deserve to be punished and demanding that they identify themselves.

Some of us had qualms about this action, as we had never chosen to cen-

sor an event. We are not a club and did not have an organizer. In response to Jose Ruba’s allegation that we did not know the content of the event and were afraid of the truth, we would like to assure him that many disrupters had viewed Ruba’s material online and were familiar with the content of his presentation.

Choose Life can thank SSMU’s trusting nature for its current status as a SSMU club. During the SSMU council meeting of October 2, 2008, which gave the club interim status, Choose Life President Natalie Fohl said, “We have decided against graphic images.” This should be viewed as a promise to SSMU councillors – no councillors at that meeting defended the proliferation of sensationalized abortion imagery on campus. The condition that Choose Life not use graphic images was paramount in the decision to grant the group club status.

One year later, at the SSMU Council meeting of October 1, 2009, Fohl asserted that what she said in 2008 did not amount to a promise.

In our research, we found that Ruba, the Canadian Centre for Bioethical Reform (CCBR), and Choose Life are all part of a larger phenomenon tied to the National Campus Life Network (NCLN). This organization operates across Canada, giving support and funding to start up pro-life clubs on university campuses, including Guelph, Carleton, the University of British Columbia, St. Mary’s, and the University of Calgary, among others. The clubs act as a foot in the door for events such as “Echoes of the Holocaust” and the “Genocide Awareness Project,” both of which are put on by the CCBR and rely on graphic abortion imagery to make their point. Often, the student governments are provoked to ban or withdraw support from the clubs because of the harmful effects on students. Human rights complaints are then filed against these student governments by anti-abortion groups. It is possible that Choose Life did not intentionally manipulate SSMU into granting them club status, but their actions resemble those

of other student anti-abortion clubs rooted in the NCLN. What link is there between the NCLN and Choose Life? The club is listed on NCLN’s web site as one of their campus groups, and the club’s affiliation to the NCLN is stated in its constitution; at Choose Life’s events, free NCLN-produced anti-abortion pamphlets and flyers have been circulated. Furthermore, NCLN provides many resources to campus anti-abortion clubs, including a list of appropriate speakers and events – Ruba and the CCBR are first on the list of “Campus Speakers” on their site. What’s more, the NCLN’s web site acts as a conduit for Choose Life, instructing readers to consult NCLN for more information on the club.

Now, some may find it surprising that Choose Life went ahead with “Echoes of the Holocaust,” despite threats that holding the event on campus would result in their inability to ever receive funding from SSMU. But since the event took place at McGill without funding from SSMU, it seems reasonable to assume that Choose Life members paid for Ruba’s speech out of pocket, that he came for free, or that Choose Life received some other form of external monetary support.

In light of the fact that Choose Life was able to hold “Echoes of the Holocaust” without SSMU funding, it’s clear that the club does not require SSMU’s financial support.

All the research we have done about the CCBR has shown that their primary goal is to remove abortion as an option for anyone (including survivors of rape and incest), permanently.

Inciting hatred against any “identifiable group” is an indictable offence under the Criminal Code of Canada. Because of this law, the CCBR’s web site is meticulously worded to avoid overtly hateful speech. But the CCBR’s American affiliate, the Center for Bioethical Research is not subjected to these laws – their web site shows no effort to avoid hateful speech. A quick peek at the two groups’ web

sites makes it abundantly clear that despite their differences on paper, they share the same goals and strategies.

Because our university is a relatively liberal environment, many people who are pro-choice think that the fight for abortion rights is over in Canada and that it’s best simply to ignore anti-abortion activist organizations like the CCBR. To this, we point out that women die in large numbers when they are not granted access to safe and legal abortions.

It’s also important to remember that the CCBR and its American affiliate are part of an extensive network of influential organizations that lobby to restrict access to abortion in Canada and the United States in view of eventually illegalizing abortion.

The Canadian Constitution protects the right to safety of person; institutionally denying any woman access to abortion contradicts her absolute right to physical safety. Thus, the politics of the CCBR threaten the safety of women. They are unwelcome on our campus whether or not some students support their views.

McGill students are not the first to have shut down Ruba’s speech.

At St. Mary’s University in Halifax, students shouted down “Echoes of the Holocaust.” They disturbed the presentation for an hour and a half until the administration responded by ending the entire event.

Organizers then moved the presentation to a nearby chapel – without any police intervention.

At York University in Toronto, a unanimous student union vote in February 2008 resulted in the cancellation of an “abortion debate,” in which Ruba was to argue the “prolife” position. A member of York’s student union explained that the CCBR is a discriminatory organization, and that they felt accountable for keeping student-funded spaces free of discrimination and harassment.

They viewed the event as carefully disguised anti-abortion propaganda.

Ruba insisted on showing graphic abortion imagery at the event.

What’s more, the web site of the CCBR, which Ruba co-founded

and represents, lists “five types of abortion-minded women.” The fifth – supposedly the only one who will ultimately choose abortion – is the type of woman who goes ahead with an abortion even after being shown graphic videos. According to the CCBR, this type of woman has “hardened her heart to all information.” It follows that the purpose of showing these images is then not to raise discussion as they claim, but rather to scare and shame women out of having abortions. This promotes contempt toward those who are not moved to condemn abortion after they have seen the images.

These images are used in a way that targets and discriminates against pregnant women. We are astonished that administration officials like Morton Mendelson ignored the policy documents that protect constitutional minority rights.

McGill’s Handbook of Student Rights and Responsibilities lists pregnancy as one of the reasons for which an individual cannot be discriminated against or harassed.

In response to those who have accused us of committing a crime against free speech, we remind you that Canada is a country where opinions that incite hatred are censored or curtailed in a public arena.

For that, we are thankful. We are thankful that this protection is not up for debate and does not hinge on the opinions of the majority. On the contrary, it is promised by SSMU’s Equity Policy, McGill’s policy on student rights and responsibilities, and the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. We do not know why our figures of authority failed to protect our rights as they are stipulated in these documents. Nevertheless, we remain hopeful that McGill will not remain a university where discrimination and human rights violations are tolerated.

Elaina Kaufman is a U3 Biomedical Sciences and Middle Eastern languages student. Liam Olson-Mayes is a McGill undergraduate. Write them at liam.olson-mayes@mail. mcgill.ca.

10 Features

Fresh solutions Beth Hong examines community-based initiatives addressing food insecurity

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t is 4:50 p.m. on a Monday, and there is already a long line up near the door of the Notre-Dame-De-Grace (NDG) Food Depot, a food bank located in one of Montreal’s most multicultural neighbourhoods. A quick survey of the line reflects the diversity of NDG. Families, young couples, students, and older people stand about, speaking Spanish, Russian, Chinese, Arabic, French, and English, amongst other languages. There is a certain anticipation in the air, and almost everyone has brought their required items – reusable bags, photo identification, and a client file number at the Depot. Some may have forgotten one or more of these items at home. The one thing that no one has forgotten, however, is why they are here. They don’t have enough food at home to last the day, the week, or the month. They live in a state of food insecurity.

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ood security is a situation in which “all people, at all times, have physical and economic access to sufficient, safe, and nutritious food to meet their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life.” This definition was part of a 1998 report on Canada’s Action Plan for Food Security – the federal government’s response to the Rome Declaration, a plan released by the landmark World Food Summit in 1996. The declaration brought food insecurity to the fore with its commitment to “reduce by half the number of chronically undernourished people on the Earth by the year 2015,” and its affirmation

that “every man, woman, and child has the inalienable right to be free from hunger and malnutrition in order to develop their physical and mental faculties.”

Building on the Rome Declaration, the Canadian Action Plan is divided into two main parts – initiatives on the domestic front and on the international front. However, despite the broad scope and depth of the report and its recommendations, Canada’s Action Plan and the handful of reports on food security by other organizations are rarely addressed as top priorities by policymakers at the provincial and federal levels.

Canadian policymakers often choose to address food insecurity as part of larger initiatives involving poverty reduction, education, and public health. However, Stefan Epp of the Manitoba Food Charter said this is starting to change as food security policy becomes increasingly of interest to provincial policymakers – although at the present, many provincial initiatives are too preliminary to evaluate.

One angle these provincial initiatives have taken in recent years is “community food security,” which Michael Hamm and Anne Bellows define in their article “U.S.based Community Food Security” as “a situation in which all community residents obtain a safe, culturally acceptable, nutritiously adequate diet through a sustainable food system that maximizes community self-reliance and social justice.”

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s a summer intern at the NDG Food Depot, I saw elements of this model

at work in the Good Food Box, a collective food purchasing group that buys fresh, locally grown fruits and vegetables and makes them available to the community at reduced prices. Starting as a pilot project in September 2007 at the NDG Food Depot, the project has grown from 300 boxes of fruit and vegetables delivered every month in two boroughs to more than 1,200 boxes in 15 boroughs. In the summertime, boxes are delivered every two weeks, with multiple pick-up locations around NDG. McGill Farmers’ Market (every Tuesday from September to October) is based on a similar model of collective food bought directly from local producers.

Another community food security initiative is the annual Festi-Faim, a food drive and day camp organized by the city borough office of NDG and Côte-des-Neiges (CDN).

Festi-faim is a day-long festival for day-camp participants, who collect non-perishable goods for food banks in the NDG and CDN area. As Project Outreach Coordinator, my task was to create a presentation about the Depot and to interact with the day campers on the issue of food security in the community. Preparing a presentation for a horde of six-year-olds turned out to be surprisingly informative.

While at an individual level, the vast majority of Canadians are food secure, Canada is far from being food secure at the community level. Food may be accessible, but it is not necessarily nutritionally or culturally appropriate for those living close to or below the poverty line.

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ood banks provide one of the clearest views of the food security situation in urban Canada today. Food banks were set up in 1981 by Canadian charities as temporary measures to help people in emergency situations, but since then they have become permanent fixtures of Canada’s urban centres. According to the Canadian Association of Food Banks, the use of food banks from 1989 to 1997 has roughly doubled.

In addition to low-income families and seniors, students are also vulnerable to food insecurity. “Students who are living on their own might not have cooking implements or kitchens. They might have a microwave and a little refrigerator, which really limits what kind of food preparation they can do and how healthy their diet is,” observes Harriet V. Kuhnlein, a former professor in the Department of Dietetics and Human Nutrition.

Kuhnlein’s observations highlight the importance of services for students experiencing food insecurity, such as the Midnight Kitchen, a student-run food collective that provides vegan lunches during the school year on a free/by-donation basis, or the Yellow Door’s Rabbit Hole Café, a vegan collective that serves lunch every Friday. Bon Accueil (Welcome Hall Mission), a non-profit community organization based in Montreal, is currently running a “Students Helping Students Food Drive” in conjunction with over 25 groups from McGill and Concordia to collect food for students who are struggling to make ends meet during the current economic recession.

The McGill Daily, Thursday, October 15, 2009

Rebeccah Hartz for The McGill Daily

Food security-related initiatives on/near campus

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he economic recession and its impact on food insecurity was a key theme at the Global Food Security Conference last week at McGill, which brought together leading experts on food security. “Hunger is not a new phenomenon,” said Hafez Ghanem of the Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) at the conference’s public lecture.

Since the Rome Declaration was drafted over a decade ago, little progress has been made on the goal of halving the number of hungry people by 2015. According to Ghanem, “While the global financial crisis has made the food security situation worse, it has attracted attention to a problem that has existed for a long time.” His sentiments were echoed by fellow panellists David Malone of the International Development Research Centre, and Member of Parliament Michael Chong.

One of the biggest obstacles identified by the conference speakers was a lack of investment in agriculture, in both developing and developed states. “The first thing to do in the development process is to invest in agriculture,” says Professor Anwar Naseem from the Department of Agricultural Economics.

“This raises productivity, and in turn raises incomes,” Naseem added, emphasizing the link between increased incomes and human welfare.

While Naseem’s convictions seemed to share general consensus amongst the conference speakers, the issue of political will was pointed out as the elephant in the room.

Malone, by turns witty and caustic in his appraisal of the current economic crisis and

its impact on global food security, pointed out that among many obstacles to achieving food security, there was the “huge challenge” of expecting people’s trust in government and acceptance of new ideas and practices.

This can apply to developed countries seeking to achieve community food security.

While taking root in small pockets in urban centres, projects such as the Good Food Box, community kitchens, and gardens are still considered “fringe” activities by many Canadians. Even at McGill, many students are completely unaware of the existence of Midnight Kitchen or the Farmers’ Market – never mind why they exist.

If the prospect for a food secure world seems to be a distant illusion, it isn’t such a distant goal here at McGill, thanks to fellow students who volunteer their time, effort, and skills to help others who are not food secure.

The least we can do, if not help, is to be aware of their contributions.

Montreal Organizations NDG Food Depot depotndg.org Welcome Hall Mission missionbonaccueil.com/en/index.php Multicaf Food Bank multicaf.org Moisson Montreal moissonmontreal.org/en/home.html

Students Helping Students Food Drive: Right now until Friday October 23 at 5 p.m. Over 25 groups from McGill and Concordia are joining together to collect food to distribute to students who are struggling because of the economic recession. The food drive is conducted through the organization Bon Accueil.

Drop off of food items at: - SSMU office: 3600 McTavish, Suite 1200 - CSU: 1455 de Maisonneuve room H-711 - Jack Reitman Hillel House: 3460 Stanley - Centre Hillel: 5325 Gatineau - Concordia Tables: October 14 and October 21 at the Hall Building Mezz - McGill Tables: October 13-14 at the Crossroads, October 15, 20, and 22 at Shatner, October 19 at Leacock, October 21 at Law Faculty To volunteer or for more information, contact claire.tobias@mail.mcgill.ca.

Farmers’ Market: Every Tuesday in October from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the Three Bares Park (past the Y intersection). Buy locally grown, organic produce as well as home-baked goods.

For more information: ssmu.mcgill.ca/environment/?q=groups-8.

Midnight Kitchen: The Midnight Kitchen is a non-profit, volunteer- and workerrun food collective dedicated to providing affordable, healthy food to as many people as possible. They provide free/by donation vegan lunches Monday through Friday at 12:30 p.m. in the Shatner building on McGill campus.

For more information: themidnightkitchen.blogspot.com.

Yellow Door: This community organization runs two initiatives. Food for Thought gives free, non-perishable food items and vouchers in its community cupboard every Friday from 12:30 to 3:30 p.m. Also, there is a small resource library with recipes, guides on where to get cheap food in Montreal, nutrition info, and to links to anti-poverty initiatives and legal information.

The Rabbit Hole Café is a vegan collective, cooking up lunches every Friday at 1 p.m. for $2 – proceeds go toward maintaining this program. Throughout the school year, Food For Thought supports antipoverty initiatives in the McGill community. To get involved, call (514) 845-2600 or email the coordinators at rabbitholecafe@gmail.com.

For more information: yellowdoor.org.

Santropol Roulant: Santropol Roulant has a diverse range of projects, including a rooftop garden, EcoChallenge, kitchen workshops, bicycle workshops, and worm composting in addition to its main operations as a low-cost food delivery service for those that lack autonomy in the Montreal community.

For more information: santropolroulant.org.

11

12Art Essay

The McGill Daily, Thursday, October 15, 2009

Part #2

by Ming Lin

Today I knit a scarf of muted tones.

A dirty cotton candy that makes me think I am 100 years old.

...so blond and precise, this must be paradise

Letters

The McGill Daily, Thursday, October 15, 2009

14

Re: “SSMU responds to Choose Life event” | Commentary | October 8

If “protecting students” is what SSMU actually aims to do, it is offensive that the organization is treating its students as children Shane Caldwell Master’s I Biochemistry

Though somewhat fishy, IDS internships actually have a complex bouquet Re: “Something’s fishy about IDS internships” | Commentary | October 8 I am in agreement with Lisa Miatello that most people doing international internships are not actually helping the local community in question, but actually helping themselves. However, her analysis of the situation is an oversimplification. Just a few notes: 1. Not just IDS students go on international internships. I know many students in science, engineering, business, and education that go overseas with the intention of “helping” those abroad as well as enhancing their own resumes.

2. Many IDS students (a large proportion as compared to other programs, as far as I know) are heavily involved in the Montreal community and volunteer for organizations here as well as abroad.

3. Not everyone going overseas is privileged and white. Many of us are actually from the “regions of need” and go back to help the communities in which we grew up. Yes, it enhances my resume, but guess what, that’s the way the world works. Sometimes, you need to get with the program before any change becomes possible. Lots of people wish they were in our position but are not.

4. Culture shock is normal. Any number of people from across Canada and the world coming to McGill experienced culture shock. It’s a learning experience.

And learning is okay. I think a lot of the people that end up going overseas really do have a lifechanging experience, whether it benefits the community or not, and they’re able to come back and reflect on their experiences in a positive way. Although volunteer tourism is sexy on a resume and is debatable in ethical terms, it is an educational experience, and as such, it is one of the things that IDS students and students in other disciplines should be able to complete as part of their curriculum in order to become better citizens of the world and to apply what they learn in the classroom.

Raïsa Mirza U4 International Development Studies and Environment

Right message, wrong suggestions Re: “Something’s fishy about IDS internships” | Commentary | October 8 Lisa Miatello draws a parallel between IDS interns and colonial overlords. It’s an amusing comparison, but it falls apart rather quickly when you recognize that these interns are not being forced on the communities they serve.

McGill interns are not surreptitiously parachuted into their posts from a helicopter piloted by the staff of the Arts Internship Office; all the interns are invited to these communities by the same local organizations that Miatello celebrates as being “productive and effectual.” In fact, many of these laudable organizations request interns year after year, so they must see some value in working with McGill students. Miatello is absolutely right to decry the West’s messiah complex, but she is demonstrating that tendency herself by suggesting that grass-roots organizations in the developing world are incapable of deciding how best to serve their own communities.

Nick Rosen McGill ‘08 BA International Development Studies

The lesser of the two Maxes complains pitifully This letter is to express my outrage against one of your people.

Max Halparin is a jerk, and clearly the lesser of the two Maxes writing in campus papers.

Moreover, he totally randomly flipped me the bird the other day. Me! And what’s with those glasses?

Plus, according to Facebook he’s in geography. Pffft.

Max Silverman U4 Canadian Studies

Biology student thinks Obama reads Daily Yes, Obama, you should be surprised about your Nobel Prize.

Especially since you still have troops in Iraq and you finance all your satellite-countries’ wars

Still paging Doctor Cornett Re: “Paging Doctor Cornett” | Commentary | October 8 Alanis Obomsawin’s documentary focuses on two related issues. First, it concentrates on Norman Cornett’s work. We learn about his “unorthodox” but very effective teaching methods that, despite the negative label, inspire and motivate students. The interviews with students, colleagues, and collaborators reveal all the qualities of a knowledgeable and dedicated teacher, a fearless spirit, and a compassionate human being.

Second, it focuses on McGill University’s firing of Norman Cornett – after 15 long years, Dr. Cornett was dismissed without a word of explanation. The beloved professor was let go because he couldn’t “divorce the right answer from an honest answer.” The subtitle tells us something not only about the reasons of his dismissal but also makes us realize that truth and open discussion are not valued in academic circles. Yet institutions of higher learning should be at the forefront of all new experiments, investigations, discoveries, and ideas, whether nurtured in the classrooms of orthodox or of unorthodox teachers.

While presenting the facts of Cornett’s life, the documentary succeeded in capturing the essence of his “dialogic” philosophy of education. There is no denying that traditional teaching methods provide a strong foundation for learning. Yet the “dialogic” method allows one to soar into the imaginative world of creativity. The one-on-one meetings with Priscilla Uppal, Branford Marsalis, Christine Jensen, Ingrid Jensen, Andrew Paul MacDonald, Frédéric Back, Sue Adams, Susie Arioli, Rawi Hage, and Erin Mouré confirm the value of Cornett’s “dialogic” philosophy of education.

Anait Keuchguerian U2 Theology

as well. You still have a good part of your country believing that peace is achieved by war and that killers are heroes.

Congratulations.

Adriana Celada U2 Animal Biology

Remember when your mom would make you clean the house because visitors were coming?

As a visitor to McGill, I share in a frustration, frequently overheard at the library, as students are unable to find books that should be on the shelf. In my own borrowings, a full third of the books I look for are unlocatable. Casual conversation with the librarians makes clear that this is a frustration shared by librarians, and I have been told that at the Humanities and Social Sciences Library, it sometimes takes over a month for a returned book to be reshelved. Part of the problem seems to be that the library has funding to hire only half the students that they’ve hired in previous years to reshelve books. This backlog exacerbates a general mishandling of materials – not only are books misshelved in what must be a mad rush by overwhelmed workers to return books to circulation, but it is not uncommon to find books on the shelf that have either not been entered into the new catalog system, or that remain listed, in the catalog, as “on order.”

A misshelved book can be lost for years and academic books, even if they are still in print, are expensive. The impressive (and valuable) collection at McGill is seriously diminished by the false economy of skimping on the necessary costs of maintaining an orderly library.

Daniel Wilson Cornell University (PhD candidate)

Been there, heard that Re: “Something’s fishy about IDS internships” | Commentary | October 8 After reading Lisa Miatello’s column this week, I couldn’t help but feel the irony of her column’s title: Radically Reread. There was nothing radical or original about her denouncing the masses of “white benevolent heroes” going off to save the “bottomless reservoir of poor people of colour.”

Miatello does have valid points, but takes on the role of an enlightened observer looking down at the misguided white

You’re not my mom!

Re: “SSMU responds to Choose Life event” | Commentary | October 8 I’m glad to hear that SSMU has taken it upon itself to keep offensive ideas away from students.

Students are far too stupid and can’t be given the opportunity to develop their own opinions; they need a governing body to tell them what their best interests are.

While they’re at it, could SSMU convince McGill to remove Freud, Conrad, and Wagner from the classroom? Certainly ideas they had were discriminatory, offensive, and dangerous, and students shouldn’t be exposed to that.

If “protecting students” is what SSMU actually aims to do, it is offensive that the organization is treating its students as children.

If they are acting to advance their own views (as seems more likely), they should drop the facade and concede their actual motivations.

Shane Caldwell Master’s I Biochemistry

Rock on, Radically Reread Re: “Something’s fishy about IDS internships” | Commentary | October 8 Thanks to Lisa Miatello for her solid critique of humanitarian tourism. The Daily needs more of this type of analysis and prose.

Fred Burrill U4 History

bourgeois, slaves to their upbringing. She criticizes without analyzing the issue fully and ends up offering a rant that merely prods the surface of the argument.

What’s her solution? Is she arguing that those who are not white who engage in voluntourism have a more legitimate experience? Or is her argument more about privilege than race?

Bring something new to the discourse. Don’t rearticulate ideas that are already out there.

Emily Clare U3 Political Science

The Daily received more letters than it could print this issue. The rest will appear in the next issue. Send your letters to letters@mcgilldaily.com from your McGill email address, and keep them to 300 words or less. The Daily does not print letters that are lesbophobic, classist, or otherwise hateful.

Culture

The McGill Daily, Thursday, October 15, 2009

15

The life of Johnston

Zoë Robertson chats with Daniel Johnston about art, life, and his new album

G

raying, dishevelled, and notoriously timid, Daniel Johnston doesn’t seem like the most likely character to become a musical icon. But if you have never heard of the 48-yearold artist or his music before, now is a good time to get to know him.

Johnston is a familiar name within numerous prominent and influential musical circles. He was discovered in the eighties in Austin, Texas after handing out homemade tape recordings of his music.

The West Virginia native quickly rose to prominence in the lo-fi/ indie genre after being profiled on an episode of the MTV reality show The Cutting Edge in 1985, featuring the Austin music scene’s local talent. Johnston’s cult-like following continued to grow after betterknown acts such as Nirvana, Sonic Youth, and Yo La Tengo publicly praised him.

Although he has remained fairly active as a musician since then, Johnston struggled with manicdepressive disorder in the late nineties, even spending time interned in a psychiatric care centre.

Nevertheless, with the release of his album Rejected Unknown in 2001, Johnston picked up where he’d left off, thrilling listeners with the

His drawings, at least as important as his music, have graced album covers, T-shirts, and gallery walls.

“I’ve got some offers from different comic book people, you know, so I intend to do that eventually. I’d be really happy doing it,” he commented. So, if you ever see an imaginatively drawn version of a “Captain America in World War Two comic book or something” – an idea he’s been toying with – complete with felt-tip marker outlines, you’ll know it’s another of Johnston’s iconic pieces. “I think about my characters and stories all the time, and how cool it would be to do [that].”

In regard to the two art forms, singing and drawing, Johnston states, “it’s the same thing really.

You know, it’s just art.” It’s clear that for Johnston, these two modes of expression are intertwined. When describing his method for composing songs, Johnston says “Well, I just uh, I like to try a little bit differently every time, you know. Like I’ll paste little pictures on my notebooks, on the top of the paper, you know? And I’ll do like the, half of the notebook that way, and then when I’m writing, I look at the picture and try to get the song from the drawing somehow, you know, like it’s about the drawing. I’ve done that a lot,” he

First Last / The McGill Daily

“I look at the picture and try to get the song from the drawing somehow” Daniel Johnston

steady evolution of his musical style while staying true to the uncomplicated melodies and touchingly sincere lyrics that won fans over in the first place. Though his career has often been troubled by the events in his life, Johnston comments, “I haven’t given up, you know. And I still write.” He has recorded more than 40 albums over the past 28 years, some of which were released by various record companies while others were simply handed out to passersby on the street. Johnston’s career aroused enough interest that in 2006, filmmaker Jeff Feuerzeig made the documentary The Devil and Daniel Johnston, profiling the rise of Johnston’s popularity, as well as the turbulent times surrounding the diagnosis of his mental disorder.

I spoke to Johnston from his Waller, Texas, home to talk about his influences, his intentions, and his newly-released album, Is and Always Was. During the interview, he divulged his desire to pursue a career in visual art later in life.

laughs.

Lately, Johnston’s been working more on his drawings than his songwriting. “I’ve gotten away from writing songs for a while because I’ve been drawing so much, but I hope to get back into writing songs again,” he said.

Johnston appears to be keeping busy with his music, however, especially with the October 6 release of Is and Always Was. The album was produced by Jason Falkner, who has worked with the likes of Beck and Paul McCartney. Asked about the album’s resulting studiofinished sound, Johnston chuckled, “Well there you go, I’m glad you noticed! We tried, because after all those years of those bad-sounding tapes… Yeah, it’s totally different with this producer.”

With the album’s recent release, Johnston has also been on the road for some time. “We went to L.A., and I guess we went to some other places, we were on tour here in the United States…. I just did a show at South by Southwest a few

Olivia Messer for The McGill Daily

For Daniel Johnston, drawing and music are inseparable. “You know, it’s just art.” nights ago and we’re planning to go on tour again, and, uh it’s a lot of fun. You know, different things going on.”

His current tour will bring him to Montreal’s Ukranian Federation this Friday. It’s worth going just to hear his slightly timid but wholehearted chuckle, a mannerism that makes obvious how the singer so easily composes the songs that have earned him his reputation. His lyrics are simple, subtle, and persistently haunting.

On the album, you can look forward to hearing “Fake Music,” a song Johnston describes as “one of my favourites.” Also “‘Queenie the Dog,’ and ‘Is and Always Was.’ Those are my favourites.” If you go to his show, you may have the

chance to hear these songs live.

“We’ll probably do some of the new songs on the album, so, you know, so it will be a different kind of show.”

Johnston cites his influences as “the Monkees record, Elvis’ Christmas album, and the Beach Boys’ ‘Fun Fun Fun.’” He explains, “Well, when I was young, there were a lot of records that we had that we would just play all day, when we were about four or five years old, you know?.... We would just play those records over and over again and that was really how it started for me,” he concludes with a laugh.

Although he cites a wide array of influences, Johnston is, at heart, a Beatles fan, and a well-known

one at that. Speaking of his new album, Johnston comments that “[Falkner] made it sound like the Beatles themselves were playing.

I really enjoy it a lot.” Johnston’s take on the Beatles themselves?

“Well, it’s gonna be great forever.

You know, like Van Gogh. It’s like a hundred years since Van Gogh, or something, and it’s still admired, and still published, still have books and stuff like that, you know.

There will always be the Beatles.

I believe it.” Again, he lets out a bright chuckle, and it’s hard not to believe it, too.

Daniel Johnston will play at the Ukranian Federation (5213 Hutchison) in Montreal on October 16.

16Culture

The McGill Daily, Thursday, October 15, 2009

Two states, one state, or no state at all Israeli anarchist author discusses government-free solutions to Arab-Israeli conflict

The

McG

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aily

hierarchical, anti-authoritarian, and particularly their bi-national, IsraeliPalestinian, organization.

Indeed, Gordon stressed that anarchist activity in Palestine does not require dogmatic adherence to ideology, saying that “we are not there to teach people about anarchism, but as a solidarity group and to follow the lead of local grassroots committees.”

To those who aren’t anarchists, this non-ideology can seem counterintuitive, or even hypocritical, particularly when anarchist organizers – including Gordon – accept certain state-based solutions. According to McGill undergraduate Emma Cusumano, “they don’t really seem to be proposing an anarchist solution to the conflict – what makes it anarchism if they’re willing to use litigation or accept a two state, or any state, solution?”

However, Gordon emphasized that anarchism is compatible with pragmatism. “If the Palestinians and the Israelis sign an agreement, it’s going to be two states, or one state, but it’s not going to be no states. I support an independent Palestinian state tomorrow. If the Palestinians agree to it, two states tomorrow, no problem. It does no good to tell the Palestinians, ‘sorry, you have to remain non-citizens under occupation until conditions are ready for one, socialist state.’ There are humanitarian reasons that trump everything else.”

ani /

T

he term “anarchism” doesn’t evoke images of strident manifestos and charismatic leaders, the way that other “-isms” do – we might just associate it with a vague sense of chaos, perhaps even violence.

Rooted in a philosophical tradition dating to the 19th century, however, anarchism offers a potentially liberating political philosophy that triumphs individual rights and community cooperation while rejecting oppressive structures – often rejecting government altogether.

Israeli anarchist theorist Uri Gordon has written not only on anarchy’s theoretical underpinnings, but on its practical applications as well, adapting its tenets into solutions to the continuing Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Gordon spoke at Le Cagibi in Mile End last Thursday about the details of anarchist activism in the West Bank and launched his new book, Anarchy Alive!, which addresses both practical and theoretical aspects of anarchism.

Gordon based Anarchy Alive! off of his University of Oxford doctoral thesis, modifying it for the sake of accessibility, as well as to provide readers with techniques for anarchist mobilization. “My book is anti-authoritarian politics from practice to theory, and the inversion of the usual order in which

we hear those words is intended to convey the attempt to ground the theory and commentary in everyday practices as activists,” Gordon explained.

In keeping with this sentiment, Gordon spent a large portion of his talk discussing the day-to-day reality of organizing what he termed the “joint struggle” of Israelis, Palestinians, and international citizens against Israeli occupation.

In recent years, much of the anarchist activity in Israel and Palestine has been in protest against Israel’s construction of the West Bank barrier, a project begun in the early 2000s. However, since much of the fence has already been constructed, Gordon described the protests as more symbolic and part of a routine than an active tool for change.

Gordon talked about the weekly protests in the West Bank village of Bil’in, describing the typical chain of events as “a rally at the village centre, we’ll march towards the fence, there’ll be 200, 300 people…[and] speeches for five or 10 minutes, then inevitably tear gas. Kids from the villages throw stones a bit, there are a bit more altercations, and then by 4 o’clock it’s pretty quiet.”

More important – and “more anarchist” – are what Gordon describes as “positive, constructive actions.”

These include projects like community health groups in West Bank villages or replanting olive trees, activities which fall under the anarchist categorization because of their non-

il Vir

The McGill Daily

Aqu

Emilio Comay del Junco

Uri Gordon advocates constructive anarchist action to work toward Israeli-Palestinian peace.

Homegrown horror Quebec filmmaker Eric Tessier scores creepy hit with 5150, rue des Ormes

John Watson Culture Writer

I

f you’re looking for a fresh, disturbing horror film this Halloween season but are tired of seeing the new ways in which Saw producers can remove limbs and splash innards, then you need not look too far. Quebec filmmakers have proven that they can scare the shit out of you and tell a good story at the same time.

In the psychological thriller 5150, rue des Ormes, we are drawn into an unpredictable world of isolation, despair, and mind-games.

In the film, Montreal talent MarcAndré Grondin, well-known for his role as a sexually confused teenager in 2005’s C.R.A.Z.Y., plays Yannick, an aspiring filmmaker who just got accepted to a film school in rural Quebec. Before long, he is committing a horror flick faux-pas: entering a stranger’s house uninvited. Yannick sees something he

shouldn’t see, and when the home’s inhabitants realize this, he is locked into an empty room and becomes a prisoner in the family’s suburban home. As the film unfolds, Yannick makes desperate attempts at escaping, but as his attempts continuously fail, he is left with only one possibility: to beat the man who imprisoned him – serial killer and invincible chess player Jacques Beaulieu – at his own game.

Director Eric Tessier’s fluid shots as well as Grondin’s phenomenal performance as Yannick bring us deep into the mind of this perfectly average and innocent character, who develops into a beaten-down, disturbed, and emotionless shell of who he used to be as the film progresses. The film is set primarily in the Beaulieu family’s home, which gives the viewer the feeling of being trapped there with Yannick. As cabin fever sets in, we become desperate for a breath of fresh air or a change of scenery. But we aren’t given one.

Instead, we are forced to suffer

Yannick’s isolation with him, and experience the growing comfort he has with his circumstances. As the film progresses, Yannick becomes eerily accustomed to his new setting. Although the Beaulieu family is keeping him against his will, in an odd way, they begin to stand in for the family he never had. He begins to retreat inward, obsess over chess, and have creepy hallucinations reminiscent of Ewan McGregor in Trainspotting. Yannick’s progression throughout the film showcases the range of Grondin’s acting abilities. Similarly, the supporting cast, who depict the members of the Beaulieu family, is comprised entirely of Quebecois actors, and portray the psychological effects of Jacques’s patriarchal control with pitch-perfect sensibility.

An interesting point raised by a friend, who filled the role of “hand to squeeze during the scary parts,” is the way in which female characters are uniformly repressed throughout the film. Maude, the wife and

mother, is timid and completely dependent on her husband and on her religious beliefs. Michelle, an aggressive punk teen, takes on

compelling film that manages to reveal the thin line between normalcy and lunacy, without being preachy or cautionary. For those

He must beat the man who imprisoned him – a serial killer and invincible chess player – at his own game the role of apprentice to her father’s serial-killing campaign, but struggles to gain his approval. Anne, the younger daughter and arguably the film’s most tragic character, is permanently affected by the punch she received from her father while still in the womb. Clearly, 5150, rue des Ormes can be read as a commentary on patriarchal violence, and paints a distressing portrait of its realities.

5150, rue des Ormes is a grossly

who are a little bit squeamish, there are a few disturbing shots featuring blood, corpses, and a lot of chess (but it’s tasteful, I swear!) If you’ve read this far and really don’t think that this is your type of movie, you could at least go for the sheer pleasure of seeing Marc-André Grondin in his underwear for about half of the film’s duration.

5150, rue des Ormes is out in wide release throughout Montreal.

Culture

The McGill Daily, Thursday, October 15, 2009

17

A bizarre bazaar Susannah Feinstein Culture Writer

O

n Monday, October 5, the Quebec Writers’ Federation (QWF) held an event called “‘Tequila Mockingbird’: A Literary Salon and Auction of Curiosities,” in the hopes of raising funds for the organization and gathering locals with a penchant for literaturethemed mixers.

The QWF is a registered charity comprised of Quebec’s Englishlanguage writers and literature enthusiasts. The federation’s goals, according to the event’s literature, include “providing tangible community support for the promotion and encouragement of English language literary arts” and “undertaking activities which will increase public awareness of the literary arts and of literary institutions within the province.” The federation is involved in a wide range of activities, publications, and programs in Quebec.

As I had never been either to a “literary salon” or an “auction of

curiosities,” I had no way of anticipating the bizarre happenings which would ensue that night, events which ranged in oddness from “okay, this makes me sort of uncomfortable” to “I have my phone pre-dialed to 911.” Immediately upon entering the reception area of the Mainline Ballroom on St. Laurent, two cheerful bespectacled women greeted me warmly, gave me a tag with my name written on it, and handed me a sheet of “topics and ideas [I] may be inclined to discuss (at length) with the other people at this lovely event,” a list which included such common discussion starters as “If you went evil tomorrow, what would be your villainous plan?” or “If you were a serial killer, what kind of people would you target?” and the ever-popular “If you and your partner switched bodies, could you have sex with yourself?”

I was then told to go enjoy myself and speak with the 20 forty-or fiftysomethings in the room. Um, okay.

And so, I set off to explore and mingle.

My eye immediately caught the

Sasha Plotnikova/ The McGill Daily

Quebec Writers’ Federation raises funds with an unconventional literary salon and auction

auction table upon which many exotic items were displayed. Had you been there, you could have realized your dream of owning Yann Martel’s glow-in-the-dark inflatable globe of the night sky, a (slightly creepy) wax bust of author Joel Yanofsky’s face entitled “Yanofsky or Bust,” or a CD from Montreal-based poet and painter Sherwin Tija adorned with

snapshots of cats which includes “over an hour of hi-def purring!!!”

Most of these items sold for somewhere between $10 and $30.

As I couldn’t end the night without trying the event’s signature “Tequila Mockingbird”, I was directed to the bar, where I was simultaneously handed a drink and greeted by an Asian dude in stilettos and a black sequined dress. It

WIN ONE OF THE 75 DOUBLE PASSES TO THE MOVIE!

was the charmingly quirky “Madame À Bientôt,” the “salonnière” whose function was to “introduce newcomers & gently pluck wallflowers out of their seats and into the flow of conversation.” I had quite an interesting conversation with them about various fascinating topics, like the other unusual fundraisers hosted by the QWF (think along the lines of “Strip Spelling Bee”), how they themself became involved in the QWF, and how much money a member of the Beatles’ bowel movements sold for after being discovered in a hotel by a chamber maid.

Although it may seem as if my time at “Tequila Mockingbird” was an awkward social experiment, I truly enjoyed myself. I had a chance to speak with local professors, poets, fiction writers, and profoundly and delightfully strange people. And if you’re wondering what’s in a “Tequila Mockingbird” – it’s just tequila, orange juice, and Southern Comfort.

To find out more about the QWF, visit their web site at qwf.org.

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STARTS FRIDAY, OCTOBER 16 !

Come by the McGill Daily Office (Shatner B-26) and get a free double pass to Law Abiding Ci�zen. First come, first served. Student ID required.

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Compendium!

The McGill Daily, Thursday, October 15, 2009

18

Lies, half-truths, and useless, intricate graphs

Incredibly, Obama wins peace prize President-for-nine-months has done little, nothing Mémène Sansfaçon The McGill Daily

P

resident of the United States Barack Obama has been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize “for his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples.” The president has also promised to donate his $1-million prize to charity, noting that it’s small change compared to the fees he’ll be charging to speak for a couple of minutes after he’s not the president any more.

Reaction around the world and on campus has been mixed.

When quizzed about the attribution, Norwegian Nobel Committee member Knut Håvard Høgset said: “I haven't read a newspaper in three years, but my kids told me about this Obama character. Sounded like

he was doing a bang-up job.”

Høgset added though that some late night image Googling of Obama had swayed his decision, particularly a photograph of the president shirtless at a Chicago beach – which incidentally also bumped him up in the polls during his run for Illinois senator in 2006.

Echoing Høgset’s sentiments, hordes of Obama-worshipping illiterates ran screaming into the streets of major university towns throughout North America the morning the prize was announced. Riot police were called in to control crowds in Chicago, Boston, San Francisco, Washington, D.C., Toronto, and Montreal. New Yorkers were reportedly “so over” Obama; contact to Los Angeles was intermittent due to smog, and at press time it was unclear whether or not “Obamania,” dormant since January 20, had reappeared with the award.

Daily editor Harin Pale was also reportedly told to “shut the fuck up already” after telling anyone and

Not everyone agreed with awarding Obama with the prize, however. Increasingly senile professor

“[Obama's health care plan is exactly the same thing as Nazi] eugenics” Stockminster Thorstein Professor of politico-religious psycho-geography in early-modern Ukraine

everyone who stopped to give her the time of day (literally) that she had “met Obama” at her friend's high school graduation in Chicago.

“His speech was actually really bad,” Pale posted on her Twitter account, “but he titally [sic] deserves the prize.”

Stockminster Thorstein, a specialist on the politico-religious psychogeography of early-modern Ukraine who has recently been studying the plight of Cynthonians, responded to the news with uncharacteristic rage.

“How can they give this warmon-

ger a prize like this? Same day they give him the fucking Peace prize, he’s bombing the indigenous people of the moon! [See “U.S. to bomb moon,” Compendium, October 8] He’s worse than Hitler! Have you heard about his health-care program? It’s exactly the same thing as Nazi eugenics. Haven’t you seen those photos that Lyndon Larouche touched up in Photoshop – those are incontrovertible evidence that Obama is not just like Hitler, but is a reincarnation of the Führer. It’s no accident that Obama was born precisely on the day Hitler died, precisely six minutes after he passed!”

When pressed about the apparent inconsistency between his current opposition to the moon-bombing and his unconcerned stance as of last week, Thorstein threatened to pelt this reporter with feces.

—With files from Télésphore Sansouci

No, byt really, I was serious.

I really want more cartoonists.

Email me: compendium@mcgilldaily.com To the person ringing my doorbell for ten minutes straight at four in the morning on a Friday:

Sources of Daily content

WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS. LEAVE ME ALONE. PLEASE.

September-October 2009

Fuck This! is a therapeutic anonymous rant column bout anythang you want. Send your 200-word-or-less harangues every week to compendium@mcgilldaily.com. Anonymity is guaranteed, but nothing hateful – just frustrated!

2% Anarchists 3% Trans rights

Second-wave feminist issues

24%

3% First Nations 1%

Choose Life

50%

Actual Genocide War on

0.5% Afghanistan

1%

Miscellaneous marginalized peoples

15% Radically Reread Aaron "Sweet 16" Vansintjan / The McGill Daily

Camilla Grudova for The McGill Daily

2% Queer rights

STARTS FRIDAY, OCTOBER 16 !