The McGill Daily Vol. 107 Issue 10 by McGill Daily

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Published by The Daily Publications Society, a student society of McGill University. The McGill Daily is located on unceded Kanienâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;kehĂĄ:ka territory.

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Essay Writing Contest for Engineering Students Wattco, manufacturer of electric heating elements and controls, is looking for submissions of 2000word essays on the following topic: “Different Types of Industrial Electric Heaters in Industries and their effectiveness in their applications.” Papers should be submitted in Word file format (.docx) to contest@wattco.com. The student who submits the most interesting and accurate paper will be eligible for an apprenticeship at Wattco in summer 2018.

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Contents 4 EDITORIAL Settlers must support the Karihwanoron Mohawk Immersion School

5 NEWS International news AUS Legislative Council Panel on racial profiling Culture Shock!

9 Commentary Freedom of speech on university campuses Accessibility in academia: a Twitter rant

10 ART SUPPLEMENT Student submissions of art for our special issue

Blurb

November 13, 2017 mcgilldaily.com | The McGill Daily

12 Existence referendum Testimonials from Daily alumni

13 Sports

Privilege and politics on the playing field Basketball on the international stage

15 Sci+tech Phantom limb research Do we really have free will?

17 Culture Bridging Arab identity Resistance through gathering

20 Letters

EDITORIAL

Volume 107 Issue 10

November 13, 2017 mcgilldaily.com | The McGill Daily

editorial board

3480 McTavish St., Rm. B-24 Montreal, QC H3A 0G3

phone 514.398.6784 fax 514.398.8318 mcgilldaily.com

The McGill Daily is located on unceded Kanien’kehá:ka territory. coordinating editor

Inori Roy

coordinating@mcgilldaily.com

managing editor

Marina Cupido coordinating news editor

vacant

news editors

Rayleigh Lee Nora McCready

Settlers must support the Karihwanoron Mohawk Immersion School

commentary + compendium! editor

Jude Khashman culture editors

Caroline Macari Arno Pedram features editors

Vita Azaro Tai Jacob

science + technology editor

Tony Feng

sports editor

Louis Sanger multimedia editor

Julia Bugiel photos editors

Claire Grenier Adela Kwok illustrations editors

Laura Brennan Nelly Wat copy editor

Jenna Yanke design + production editor

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web + social media editor

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le délit

Mahaut Engerant

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cover design

David Diao, Nelly Wat

contributors

Nadia Boachie, Emily Carroll, Abby Couture, David Diao, Isabella Greenwood, Farid Ibrahim, Chris Jeske, Navneet Kaur, Aidan Kearney-Fick, Krysten Krulik, Tallulah Lebowitz, Refilwe Mpai, Anouk Muradyan, Phoebe Pannier, Yasir Piracha,Nicholas Raffoul, Elea Regembal, Cecilia Rogovin, Hana Shirashi, Kathryn Slomski Naz Sutcuoglu, Anastasia Sylenko, Bettina Trabelsi, Maham Waheed, Nick Yeretsian

he Karihwanoron Mohawk Immersion School in Kahnawake, Quebec is the only Mohawk language immersion school in Canada. Founded in 1988, it has been teaching students Kanien’keha, a Mohawk dialect, for nearly 30 years on a reserve just south of Tiotia:ke(Montreal). By engaging children with the language and the traditional culture of the Kanien’keha:ka, the Karihwanoron Mohawk Immersion School exemplifies resistance through education, reclaiming much of what was stolen in the process of settler-colonialism on Turtle Island (North America). However, funding is a recurring problem in sustaining the school, let alone in fulfilling the hopes of educators at the school to expand their program and teach students beyond grade six. The existence of this school is crucial to the preservation and revitalisation of Indigenous cultures and identities. If Canada is serious about reconciliation, reparations need to be made for the actions taken by settler governments and their institutions, like residential schools, to separate the Mohawk community from their language and tradition. Karihwanoron Mohawk Immersion School responds to the calls to action of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) related to education (points 6 to 12). It pushes back against a history of cultural genocide perpetrated in residential schools through, for example, punitive measures taken against Indigenous people speaking their ancestral language. In order to preserve the Karihwanoron language, it is crucial that the young generation in the community is provided opportunities to learn Kanien’keha as early as possible. With adequate monetary support, the immersion school could expand its programming beyond the grade six level, enriching the lives of even more young people in Kahnawake, and setting a precedent for other Indigenous language revitalisation efforts. The Canadian government doesn’t provide the Karihwanoron Mohawk Immersion School with

adequate state funding. While at first the school relied almost entirely on community funding, over the years, access to state funding increased via programs such as Brighter Futures and Aboriginal Headstart. Recently, however, these funds have been cut, and accessing the money available has become competitive as more initiatives within the community have applied for it. Moreover, on the fundraising page for the school, organisers state that the school’s chances for receiving state funding are jeopardised because the school does not conform to the Canadian education model. Demands to replicate Canadian systems of knowledge further alienate Indigenous people from their cultures, denying legitimacy to non-colonial ways of knowing. The fact that the school doesn’t receive adequate government funding means that it is largely supported by the community it serves. A recent online fundraising campaign only managed to generate $13,731 of its $40,000 goal over the course of seven months. While fundraising campaigns like these are able to generate valuable interest and activism for a short time, they are often unable to sustain the momentum needed to reach their goal. The responsibility to fund the school should not fall on the shoulders of the Mohawk community alone. In the absence of state support, it falls to settlers— including those at McGill—to support the Karihwanoron school. Organisations around McGill have used their voices to raise awareness about Karihwanoron, including CKUT, Midnight Kitchen, and QPIRG, who jointly hosted an anti-colonial picnic and fundraiser for the school earlier this year. The online fundraiser is still active, and although the school year has begun, all who are able to should donate and spread awareness. It is crucial to keep this community engagement alive, and to foster greater awareness and support around Mohawk language revitalisation and cultural reclamation. —The McGill Daily Editorial Board

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Yves Boju, Marc Cataford (Chair), Marina Cupido, Mahaut Engerant, Ikram Mecheri, Taylor Mitchell, Hannah Raffin, Inori Roy, Boris Shedov, Rahma Wiryomartono, Xavier Richer Vis All contents © 2017 Daily Publications Society. All rights reserved. The content of this newspaper is the responsibility of The McGill Daily and does not necessarily represent the views of McGill University. Products or companies advertised in this newspaper are not necessarily endorsed by Daily staff. Printed by Imprimerie Transcontinental Transmag. Anjou, Quebec. ISSN 1192-4608.

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November 13, 2017 mcgilldaily.com | The McGill Daily

International News US general elections: recap Claire Grenier The McGill Daily

n Tuesday, November 7, a number of general elections took place in select areas of the U.S., spanning across states and levels of government. These elections resulted in a number of historic victories for Democratic party nominees, many of whom are members of the LGBTQ+ community and are visible minorities. This is in stark contrast to the results of last year’s presidential election, the anniversary of which was last week. Notable victories from Tuesday’s races include several from Virginia. Danica Roem is the first openly transgender person to hold a seat in any American state legislature; she follows in the footsteps of transgender representative Althea Garrison, who lost her Massachusetts seat after being outed as transgender in the 1990s. Roem’s victory also unseated the republican incumbent responsible for Virginia’s iteration of a “bathroom bill”. Virginia also saw the election of Hala Ayala and Elizabeth Guzman, the first Latina lawmakers in the state, as well as Kathy Tran, the first Asian-American lawmaker in the state, and the election of Justin Fairfax marked the second time that a Black person was elected to the position of Lieutenant Governor in Virginia. Elsewhere, Seattle elected its first openly gay mayor, and its first female mayor since 1920, Jenny Durkan. Hoboken, New Jersey elected its first Sikh mayor, Ravinder Bhalla. St Paul, Minnesota elected its first Black mayor, Melvin Carter III, while Minneapolis elected Andrea Jenkins, the first openly transgender person of colour being elected to public office in the United States. She will now serve as a city councillor for the city. This dramatic increase in support for the Democratic party, if continuous, could result in the house of representatives shedding Republican control in the 2018 midterm elections.

Catalonia and declaration of independence Claire Grenier The McGill Daily

ince declaring their independence in regional parliament on October 27, the Catalonian government has been struggling to bring this declaration to fruition. The government of Catalonia was dissipated by the Mariano Rajoy’s Spanish government after declaring its independence. A constitutional court ruled the declaration of independence “unconstitutional and void.” The Spanish government has called a snap regional election for December 21 while several former leaders of Catalonia are currently hiding in Belgium, or are incarcerated. Among those are deposed Catalonian president, Carles Puigdemont, and four other prominent politicians. A Spanish request for an European Union arrest warrant on these officials is pending approval. This past Wednesday in Spain saw massive pro-independence strikes occupy over sixty roads in the Catalonia region, with many routes to Barcelona being interrupted. A warning against travelling by car was the only advice given to the Catalonian people from its Ministry of Transport. Spain’s foreign minister has also put forward the idea that Spain may adopt constitutional changes to make way for regional referendums on independence. However, in the foreign minister’s referendum model, all 47 million of Spain’s citizens would be able to vote on one region’s bid for independency. The minister, Alfonso Dastis, in his remarks to the BBC said, “We acknowledge there is a political situation that deserves to be looked at but, in any case, it’s clear that the decision will be taken, will have to be taken by all Spaniards.”

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Arts Undergraduate society meets for legislative council

Council debates bylaw amendments, votes to endorse DPS Inori Roy The McGill Daily

n November 8, the Arts Undergraduate Society (AUS) met for their bi-weekly Legislative Council, during which a number of motions were debated, including the creation of a Quebec Studies Student’s Association (QSSA), the amendment of the Fine Arts Council by-laws, and the motion to endorse a “yes” vote in the Daily Publications Society’s (DPS) existence referendum.

Formation of the QSSA New business began with the proposal to form a Quebec Studies Student’s Association, moved by VP Internal Rebecca Scarra and President Eric Partridge. The Quebec Studies program is a small department in the Arts faculty, which is currently struggling due to low enrollment that threatens to shut down the program. This point was raised by VP Academic Madeleine Wilson. “The Quebec Studies program is [...] being terminated [...] because of low enrollment, the faculty is trying to cut the program. I realise that the association being established is trying to prevent that, but realistically, the only thing that will prevent that is getting enrollment numbers up. [...] Does the proposed QSSA have any concrete plans as to how this association is actually going to increase enrollment?” Scarra replied that her conversation with the person who proposed this motion hadn’t included a concrete plan of action. “However,” she added, “I do know that they’re hoping that by having this association, it’ll increase visibility in the AUS and get more people to enroll. They would also like to do collaborative events with other departments in order to raise awareness about this minor and this program, in order to hopefully increase enrollment.” Given that, as the AUS constitution and the motion itself state, “Each Department and Interdisciplinary Program in the Faculty of arts shall be entitled to a Departmental Association,” there was no debate and the motion passed unanimously. Amendment of the Fine Arts Council (FAC) bylaws The subsequent motions, regarding the ratification of committee roles and minor amendments to the wording of the fee increase questions for the Fall 2017 referendum, both passed without debate. These were followed by a motion to amend the FAC bylaws, which was the most extensively debated motion of the evening. The Fine Arts Council,

as described by Classics Students’ Association (CSA) VP External David Epstein, is “a wide-ranging funding source, [...] funding theatre, literature, visual arts, and dance, for groups as well as individual artists.” The FAC is mandated to consider and review all applicants who seek funding, and this year has seen a record number of new applicants. To accommodate these new demands, the FAC’s motion proposed that the “affiliate” clause of their by-laws be eliminated, in order to widen the scope of applicants the FAC is able to consider for funding. The “affiliate” clause of the by-laws mandates that the FAC give a designated amount of their funding to specific Arts faculty groups every year - Epstein argued that some of these groups are now defunct, and in order to avoid the unnecessary designation of funds to groups that no longer require them, the “affiliate” clause must be terminated altogether.

“[The fine arts council is] a wide-ranging funding source, [...] funding theatre, literature, visual arts, and dance, for groups as well as individual artists.” —David Epstein, CSA VP External

Debate on this motion saw many parties voice concerns over the unilateral termination of the “affiliate” clause, given that many of the affiliate groups still require funding. Some councillors raised the question of why the entire clause would be terminated when defunct groups could simply be struck from the by-laws. Epstein clarified that the amendment was not intended to target or marginalise specific organisations, and that the by-laws would be rewritten to create clearer funding guidelines which make up for the current, “hastily” and “poorly written” bylaws, as he described them. As the night of the council meeting was also the deadline to send out funding to these groups, Epstein encouraged the motion to be passed

The panel at the Newman Center. that night itself. However, debate did carry on for a period of time during which department representatives brought up issues of transparency in the amendment process, the lack of clarity regarding the requirements for each affiliate group in the funding process, and the discrepancy between the small number of defunct groups and the large-scale impact of the amendment. Partridge proposed two amendments to this motion. The first, would, among other things require all FAC funding to be ratified by AUS legislative council. The second proposes that the striking of affiliate clauses be delayed until February 1, 2018, so that only the second semester allocation would be impacted. This, Partridge argued, would allow for affiliate groups forewarning regarding cuts to their funding. Both of Partridge’s amendments passed. Given the second amendment regarding a delayed striking of the affiliate class, Department of English Students’ Association (DESA) VP External Thomas Macdonald motioned to table the motion til the next AUS Legislative Council meeting in two weeks. This motion failed. After further debate, the original motion passed with Partridge’s amendments. Endorsement of a “yes” vote in the DPS Existence Referendum Macdonald then brought forward a motion for AUS to endorse a “yes” vote in the DPS existence referendum. The DPS is the publication service which publishes both the McGill Daily and Le Delit, and

Rayleigh Lee | The McGill Daily

is undergoing an existence referendum from November 13-16. This referendum takes place every 5 years, as part of the process of renegotiation of a memorandum of agreement (MoA) with SSMU. This year, for the first time in decades, SSMU chose not to endorse a “yes” vote. Macdonald argued that an endorsement by AUS could fill the gap that SSMU left in not endorsing the DPS. “The DPS, McGill Daily and Le Délit privilege marginalised voices and stories, and freedom of press is [...] the cornerstone of a robust and egalitarian politic, so I think we should all vote yes.” A representative from the German Students’ Association requested a brief point of information regarding what a loss of the existence referendum would actually mean for the DPS, to which Macdonald clarified that the DPS would no longer be able to negotiate an MoA with SSMU and would thus completely cease to exist. During debate, Partridge clarified for the record that the reason for his no vote is that endorsements by the AUS are unprecedented during referendum periods. The question of making the fee opt-outable was also mentioned. Some departmental representatives encouraged a yes vote to this motion, for reasons including the fact that Le Delit is the only Francophone publication on campus, and that the press has a right to continue regardless of political stance. A representative of the PSSA said, “I think that it’s very clear that if the DPS is not renewed, it will end the

Daily and Le Délit, we shouldn’t kid ourselves about that [...] they will not have the funds to continue to operate. [...] I personally don’t agree with the political stance of the Daily, but I firmly believe in their right to exist. I don’t necessarily see this as a referendum on the political stance of the Daily, it’s about voices on campus.”

“The DPS, McGill Daily, and Le Délit privilege marginalized voices and stories, and freedom of the press is [...] the cornerstone of a robust and egalitarian politic so I think we should all vote yes.” —Thomas MacDonald, DESA VP External

Partridge requested that the vote be recorded; the motion to endorse the “yes” vote in the DPS existence referendum passed with 33 in favour.

News

November 13, 2017 mcgilldaily.com | The McGill Daily

Robyn Maynard, Desmond Cole, and Andrea Ritchie on racial profiling Panel of activists gather to discuss racialized policing practices Rayleigh Lee The McGill Daily

n November 8, the Black Students Network of McGill (BSN) and Media@McGill hosted a panel titled “Opposing racial profiling and police violence.” The event featured three speakers: Robyn Maynard, a Montreal-based community organizer, journalist Desmond Cole, and Andrea Ritchie, a U.S. based activist and lawyer. The panel, moderated by Dr. Rachel Zellars, discussed police brutality, racial profiling in Montreal, and its implications on education and immigration. 375 years of racial subjugation Maynard spoke to the audience about racial profiling in Montreal, and the legacy of racialized violence in Canada. “While it’s important to talk about anti-Blackness as a national crisis and a global crisis, [...] it’s also important to think of [anti-Blackness] as a local crisis, as one that impacts our day to day lives here,” said Maynard. “Montreal very recently celebrated its 375th anniversary, and this [...] is an opportunity for us to reflect on the long standing racial violence [...] that brings injustice of profiling Black communities. [...] Disproportionate punishment to Black communities that have really been a part of this city’s fabric since then.” Maynard noted that James McGill, the founder of McGill University, had enslaved Black and Indigenous people, contributing to a “longstanding legacy of racialized violence, domination and dehumanization.” Maynard highlighted the ways in which racial profiling is perpetuated in Montreal: “If we think about the neighbourhoods that we’re living in, the populations with the highest percentage of Black communities in St. Michel and Montreal North today still are not only subject to extreme levels in terms of policing, but drastically underserved in transit, jobs, and housing.” According to a report by Centraide, around 30 per cent of the Montreal North residents live below the poverty line. Activist groups in the region have voiced concern on a “systemic anti-Black racism” in Quebec following the death of Bony Jean-Pierre, who died after being shot by police in Montreal North.

In addition to the harms of antiBlack racism in Black communities, Maynard noted that communities such as Burgundy and Cote des Neiges have been gentrified, disproportionately affecting Black and other racialized residents. She noted such “geographies of injustice” perpetuate racial profiling. “This is a long-standing pattern of Black people [who] are being killed in the hands of the police, [who] are not being represented as a local crisis that [they] absolutely must. [...] When we’re talking about celebrating 375 years of this city, we also need to be talking about what it means to be living in a city with 375 years of [...] racial subjugation and over-policing of Black communities,” said Maynard.

“When we’re talking about celebrating 375 years of this city, we also need to be talking about what it means to be living in a city with 375 years of [...] racial subjugation.” -Robyn Maynard, Montreal-based community organizer Racial profiling beyond carding Maynard referred to an internal report by criminologist Mathieu Charest, which states that the chances of a Black youth being stopped by the police in the north part of Montreal is at 40 per cent. The percentage is drastically lower for white youth, at merely 5 per cent. While the report was commissioned by the police after the shooting of Fredy Villanueva by a Montreal police officer in 2008, it was rejected by the Montreal police when leaked by La Presse. Maynard stressed the importance of looking beyond statistics and visible forms of police violence despite the “massive” discrepancy highlighted by the report.

“We only focus on spectacularized kinds of events, for example, police killings, police violence. We miss all of the kinds of daily rituals of violence that occur [...] without death, including racial profiling. [...] There are so many other kinds of policing and profiling that don’t necessarily [..] get put into this framework because it doesn’t [...] result in a body. [...] We need to look at racial profiling in a broader sense, not just law enforcement.” She continued, “what the statistics don’t convey is the [...] humiliation and shame that comes with being stopped by the police. [...] The inability to actually be in public space without fear of harassment or actual lived harassment is [...] ultimately [...] a form of violence.” Maynard noted that racial profiling is also a “gateway” for other forms of violence. “We need to expand this definition of what is actually happening in schools,” said Maynard, noting the importance of thinking beyond carding as an indication of anti-Black racism. “What anti-Black racism means is that, [...] for us, policing is everywhere. So it’s absolutely necessary for us to realize this when we talk about what it means to strategize against the onset of racial profiling. [...] If we focus our energy only on the issue of carding while ignoring the broad, sweeping things that exist beyond that, I think we will be doing a disservice to ourselves.”

“There are so many other kinds of policing and profiling that don’t necessarily [...] get put into this framework because it doesn’t result in a body.” -Robyn Maynard, Montreal-based community organizer According to a report by the Commission des droits de la personne et des droits de la jeunesse, Caribbean background students were three times more likely to be labelled as student with special

needs. “This is the kind of profiling, [...] pushing youth out of access to decent education [...] as a certain kind of harm,” said Maynard. Definition of Policing Cole spoke about the boundaries of law enforcement, and the ways in which policing is perceived by the public. “What I want to talk about today is this idea of the definition of policing. [...] What is it in real life? What is it in the public consciousness?” asked Cole. “Teachers, nurses, bus drivers, social workers, universities. [...] You can find any walk of life that you’re going to have a conflict with one another. But only the police are told that it’s part of their job, you can kill. [...] What if we stop arguing about whether they have the training (which they don’t)? Whether they should carry a rubber bullet gun or a taser, weapons? None of which they should have.” Cole referred to the the Toronto Board’s recent decision to temporarily suspend a program that allowed armed police to surveil in high schools. “What’s been happening in Toronto recently [is] [...] we are pushing back against a ten year police in schools program [that] finally got suspended in the Toronto district school board,” said Cole. The School Resource Officer (SRO) program was implemented in 2007 to improve student and police relations, but was put up for review after community members published a report detailing the negative impact of the SRO. Subsequently, the SRO has been been criticized for alienating racialized students and criminalizing undocumented students. In June, groups such as Black Lives Matter and Not Incarceration called for the abolition of the SRO at a board meeting, halting the program. The Toronto District School Board will be conducting a written survey for participating schools to evaluate the SRO. “But what we’re seeing is that it’s principals and teachers, not just the police who are driving this conversation to have police in schools,” said Cole. He emphasized the importance of re-defining policing to prevent racialized violence perpetrated by police institutions. “As a description of policing; don’t kill, don’t maim, don’t arrest children who are in school, don’t report children who are in school to the border agency. [...] This is

where we have to go. [...] If we take away the option to kill, all the antiBlackness starts flooding in as an excuse to why we can’t do it. [...] ‘What is the police’s job?’ [...] We seem to want to pretend that [...] we agree that police should be not reporting undocumented children who are going to school [..] but when we say ‘let’s make that part of the job’, they [respond], ‘no [...] what if’. [...] That’s the way I see anti-blackness manifest itself.”

“You can find any walk of life that you’re going to have a conflict with one another. But only the police are told that it’s part of their job, you can kill.” -Desmond Cole, journalist and activist

Cole referred to Toronto activist Sandy Hudson, the co-founder of Black Lives Matter Toronto, in a conversation on “what it means for Black people to receive care, rather than policing.” “ I start to think about what is the definition of a police officer, and what happens when we start to challenge that definition,” said Cole. He noted that the suspension of the program is not only a push against anti-Black racism, but also re-examines the definition of policing. “The definition of their jobs are up for discussion right now,” he noted. “When we try to turn policing from the abusive institution that it is now to an institution that could actually care for people [...] the white colonial settler state [...] gets scared.”

“The definition of their jobs are up for discussion right now.” -Desmond Cole, journalist and activist

November 13, 2017 mcgilldaily.com | The McGill Daily

News

Culture Shock workshop addresses systemic racism

McGill students must educate themselves on racial discrimination Nicholas Raffoul The McGill Daily

n November 9th, QPIRG McGill hosted an “AntiRacism 101” workshop as part of their Culture Shock event series. The series ran from November 7th to November 12th and dealt with issues such as anti-racism, migrant justice, and Indigenous solidarity. The anti-racism workshop was moderated by Vincent Mousseau, a community organizer and activist for groups such as Montreal Noir, Pervers/Cité, and RÉZO. Mousseau is currently studying Social Work at McGill. Distinguishing racism and racial discrimination The workshop began with a discussion about the difference between racial discrimination and racism. Mousseau defined racial discrimination as “discrimination based on aspects such as race and skin colour, which is a manifestation of prejudice.” They noted that “prejudice is the idea, and discrimination is acting upon that idea.” They also stressed that “anyone can be discriminatory towards anyone of any other group; [however], racism is understood as the systemic institutionalization of

respect, Nakuset, who is the Executive Director of the Native Women’s Shelter in Montreal, was taken from her community and adopted into a Jewish family in Montreal and was told that she was brown because she was from Israel. That’s the reality of her life. She had to go through trying to understand that and go through these aspects of racialization.”

these prejudices. This is present everywhere...I live in fear of my life and I think of these things consistently.” Mousseau continued by discussing their own experiences with racism, citing one of their first experiences at McGill. “When I got to McGill the first thing I did was buy a McGill lanyard, a McGill hoodie, and I kept my student card in the front of my wallet.” “The reason for this is I have not worn a hoodie since Trayvon Martin died. I am terrified of what any interaction with the Montreal police can look like for me in this way. And I know that, as unfortunate as it is...it is more unacceptable to kill a McGill student than it is to kill a Black person.”

“I know that, as unfortunate as it is, it is more unacceptable to kill a McGill student than it is to kill a Black person.”

Violence against Indigenous populations Mousseau discussed Indigenous residential schools as an example of racialized violence. “As Sir John A. MacDonald...said, this was the attempt to ‘kill the Indian in the child.’” Mousseau also spoke of the Sixties Scoop, “where social workers actively targeted Indigenous communities, found the smallest reason to pull children from their homes, and adopted them into white families.” “A person that I adore and

-Vincent Mousseau, community organizer “We are on stolen land... the reason why we are here as settlers, irrespective of our issues of racialization, is because of the inherent violence that was committed against Indigenous populations, this act of cultural genocide being one of them.”

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SSMU closure unveiling racism and disregard on campus When asked about systemic racism at McGill, Mousseau talked about the SSMU building closure and the effect that it is having on student groups. For example, the Muslim Students’ Association will no longer have a space to pray. “When SSMU tells folks, ‘Oh, oops, surprise! Your building is being shut down,’ [and] there is a prayer space so many students on our campus rely on [that is] being taken away from them, that’s an issue.” Mousseau also talked about the importance of SSMU as a space for marginalized groups to organize. “[Soon] there [will] no longer [be a] specific hub [for] Black queer [people]. [Right now] you can walk between Queer McGill and the Black Student Network in order to try to organize something. That is a barrier to making sure that our services are represented. This is just an example of some of the violence that exists against racialized folks at McGill. It’s often times coming from a place like ‘we didn’t even think about it that way.’” “I try to give this workshop in order to try to raise consciousness on these issues and try to force people trying to organizing on campus to think more about the [role] racism plays in their organizing.”

Educate yourself An anonymous participant added to the conversation, “You need to call out your white friends for their racism. Direct them to specific resources. Educate yourself. You can not surround yourself with people of colour for the sole purpose of having them educate you. Do your own educating.”

“The reason why we are here as settlers, [...] is because of the inherent violence that was committed against Indigenous populations, this act of cultural genocide.” -Vincent Mousseau, community organizer

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Commentary

November 13, 2017 mcgilldaily.com | The McGill Daily

The right to an audience

On the separation of academic freedom and free speech Yasir Piracha Left of the Left

wo weeks ago, at the same time that tension flared at the Students’ Society of McGill University (SSMU) General Assembly (GA), a professor at Drexel University, George Ciccariello-Maher, was placed on administrative leave. His suspension was the result of a string of tweets in response to the Las Vegas massacre earlier this year. “It’s the white supremacist patriarchy, stupid,” he wrote, discussing how this mass-shooting was a “morbid symptom of what happens when those who believe they deserve to own the world also think it is being stolen from them.” His tweets were misrepresented as victim-blaming by far-right media (including Breitbart and eventually, Fox News), and the threats he received in the following days are what pressured the university to take this decision. Drexel University cites “safety” as their main reason for the suspension, yet they refuse to comment on what measures had been considered before settling on an abrupt and unnecessary moratorium for all of his classes. Ciccariello-Maher is another victim of the far-right firestorm, one that is determined to silence leftist voices on campuses. He first received widespread notoriety in December 2016 when he tweeted satirically about the myth of White Genocide. A simple Google search is enough to find that White Genocide is a “figment of the racist imagination,” a conspiracy theory fearing that immigration, racial integration, and abortion will result in the “extinction of white people.” Despite the obvious humour, Ciccariello-Maher ended up in the crosshairs of multiple media outlets calling for his immediate dismissal. As a self-identified communist, it became increasingly clear that far-right forces were jarred by the “respectable” institution’s association with his radical politics. Fundamentally, this is an issue of academic freedom. The death threats against Ciccariello-Maher should have been treated as threats made against the university itself; the university should have thoroughly investigated them and taken appropriate and incremental action. Instead, Drexel was swift in caving to the pressure of far-right media. To many, this came as no surprise. It is becoming increasingly common for radical leftist viewpoints to be quickly stifled, even more so when they are voiced by marginalized individuals. However, institutions and mainstream media still promptly come to the defense

nelly wat and jude khashman | The McGill Daily of violent right-wing academics in the name of academic freedom. A Princeton University professor was notably forced to cancel her public lectures after receiving death threats in response to her anti-Trump stance. Princeton representatives claimed they were aware of the threats, but did nothing to support her, mentioning that she was on sabbatical. Meanwhile, Robert P. George remains an honoured Princeton professor, despite his advocacy against abortion and same-sex marriage. These trends are evident across the continent. The University of Toronto backs a transphobic professor, Virginia Tech continues to employ a neo-Nazi, and the State University of New York at Stony Brook continues to support a white supremacist Ph.D alumnus. Sitting on committees and attending club meetings at McGill makes it apparent to me that some students often need to work much harder for their voices to be recognized, and when they are heard, they are more heavily criticized. At a recent meeting I attended, I noticed that a white student received praise for having an epiphany about the struggles of queer people of colour on campus. These struggles are real, everyday occurrences for multiple students who were part of the discussion, yet the white student was still centred in the subsequent conversation, as if he had unearthed a novel, revelatory idea. This event was one of many that demonstrate how privileged voices are often prioritized in discussions, their ideas offered the most time and space, even if marginalized people have been trying to communicate those same ideas for far longer. Even in conversations about equity, it seems that those who are most comfortable sharing their opinions freely are those who have been encouraged to do so all their lives.

Reading about these stories made me ask myself questions I never thought I’d have to: Who listens when I speak? Who will defend my freedom to communicate my ideas?

Even within conversations about equity, it seems that those who are most comfortable sharing their opinions freely are those who have been encouraged to do so all their lives.

When a white person’s opinion is prioritized over the lived experiences of a person of colour, marginalized students are taught that their lives are secondary to the voices of white people. Structures of power such as institutional racism, residual colonial hierarchies, and racialized policing all contribute to the (intentional or unintentional) reverence of white voices. The message sent to marginalized students is clear: your experiences don’t matter. White supremacists have their academic freedom reassured, but educators like Stephanie McKellop, a UPenn teaching assistant, are having their classes cancelled for releasing strategies to encourage minority students’ participation (deemed “discriminatory to-

wards white students”). This biased application of academic freedom reproduces power structures, further oppressing marginalized voices. However, voices on both sides of these debates often falsely equate academic freedom with free speech. It is not ‘free speech’ that allows Ciccariello-Maher to pursue his politics at Drexel, or allows pro-Israel speakers to visit McGill. Whereas academic freedom ensures that academic authorities can pursue their interests free from outside influence, freedom of expression is a state-sanctioned right allowing individuals to speak their mind, as long as they do not incite violence. Free speech does not give anyone the right to a platform. Guest speakers at McGill and universities around the world have survived student protests and outrage by calling upon free speech, which (according to McGill University exprovost) must be upheld “no matter how reprehensible the message or messenger.” Yet neither free speech nor academic freedom is violated when a speaker is denied access to McGill, just as it is not violated when a newspaper decides not to print somebody’s pitch. Everyone has the right to speak their mind but it is fallacious to believe that this right is infringed upon if someone doesn’t hand you a megaphone. Free speech does not include the right to an audience.

Free speech does not give anyone the right to a platform. Again, this false defence seems valid when discussing speakers (white men) with far-right politics. Meanwhile, hate-mongering speakers such as Richard Spencer and Milo Yiannopoulos gain access to dozens

of universities, and the way no one speaks up when speakers from marginalized groups are overlooked. The conversation is thus less about free speech, and more about whose speech is protected and why. When Douglas Farrow and Moira McQueen spoke at a panel at McGill earlier this year, they were both violently transphobic, misgendering students and promoting a diluted form of conversion therapy as an effective treatment for what they abhorrently referred to as “gender dysphoria.” This egregious conversation was not denounced by the administration at McGill, and no support was provided to any students who may have been troubled by the panelists. Protestors at the event were even criticised for stifling free speech and the “free flow of ideas” that academic freedom provides. Ironically, these marginalized students were accused of being intolerant, yet the blatant intolerance of the speakers was accepted as “intellectual inquiry.” Who can stop students, then, from denying a platform for speech they believe does not deserve it? As Ciccariello-Maher argues: “there’s nothing more radically democratic than thousands of students showing up and making it utterly impossible . . . for far-right speakers to enjoy the platform that a university provides.” Systemic power dynamics benefit privileged voices. Racialized students often feel no desire to speak out on campus politics, knowing, consciously or subconsciously, that their speech will likely remain undefended and undervalued. This fosters a culture in which the voices that are least heard are the ones that have been ignored in the past. Meanwhile, white men often have no problem being loud and vocal about political issues: they are continuously assured that society will value, protect, and accommodate their voice. Without conscious encouragement for the voice of marginalized students, systemic oppression continues to be reproduced. Free speech is discussed as fundamental to a democratic society, but for these discussions to be of any value, they must include a clarification of whose speech is valued and whose is not. The definition of free speech is twisted and conflated with academic freedom, which leads to the false belief that this freedom is being equally applied in every context. Within a systemically oppressive institution and society, marginalized groups consistently have their speech silenced and disregarded, and the only ones actually benefitting from this weaponized version of free speech are those with the most privilege.

November 13, 2017 mcgilldaily.com | The McGill Daily

commentary

A manifesto that can only be understood by ten academics isnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t revolutionary A short recap of an end-of-the-week Twitter rant

Arno Pedram The McGill Daily

ast week, as I started reading through my coursepack for a critical synthesis, I found myself stuck at one of the most obscure readings of the semester. Everyone meets one of these through their academic life. These readings take you to the most unknown and

sophisticated realms of academic lingo, effectively losing you on the way as new words ebb and the sentencesâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; meaning recedes from your mind...I started ranting about the inaccessibility of academia and the obsession of acadmics in creating new words without spending

time to defining them and making those terms accessible. I continued my rant to apply it to the section I am currently in charge of at the Daily, Culture. Here are the receipts of the twitter rant and the discussion that occured with a fellow twitterite.

Art Supplement Big Words, Phoebe Pannier

Skate Park, Tallulah Lebowitz

Art Supplement

Speech, Anastasia Sylenko

Rose, Cecilia Rogovin

Nick Yeretsian

Flight of Ideas, Phoebe Pannier

Art Supplement

Isabella Greenwood

Cecilia Rogovin Heavy, Kathryn Slomski

Art Supplement

Yerevan, Anouk Muradyan

Freshly Done, Claire Grenier

Coloured Motifs, Maham Waheed

Art Supplement

From top left: Chicago Above, Money Below, All Love Chris Jeske

The Music In Me, Hana Shirashi

Art Supplement

From top left: Untitled, OKA, Riviere Rouge Farid Ibrahim

Upstream, Laura Brennan

Abandoned, Anastasia Sylenko

Art Supplement

Tipping Point, Emily Carroll

Zoned, Adela Kwok

Winter Sunrise in Capetown, Refilwe Mpai

Hypnagogia, Anastasia Sylenko

Althea, Cecilia Rogovin

Art Supplement

Rain Street, David Diao

Highway to Exploration, Bettina Trabelsi

The Shell, Kathryn Slomski

Art Supplement

Navneet Kaur

Art Supplement

Contribute to the McGill Daily s special issue ’

Send your pieces by Thursday November 16 to culture@ mcgilldaily.com

On Facebook search the event “The Daily’s sex & gender issue” for more information

unfit to print November 7 Last Tuesday marked the return of Unfit to Print, The Daily’s collaboration with CKUT. Multimedia Editor Julia Bugiel was joined by Dolores Chew, one of the South Asian Women’s Community Centre’s founding members, to talk about anti-racism and community building. The second half of the show is coverage of Desmond Cole’s talk “How to read the news,” which took place earlier that day as part of QPIRG McGill’s Culture Shock programming.

Viola Chen | The McGill Daily

November 14 Next Tuesday we have a Culture Shock recap with Kiera Sheppard, QPIRG McGill’s Campus Outreach Coordinator, as well as coverage by Rayleigh Lee of the panel “Opposing racial profiling and police violence.” The program also covers Sunday’s “Grande manifestation contre la haine et le racisme.” Finally, we’re joined by several journalists in a discussion of how to decolonize journalism, with topics including settler coverage of Indigenous news and the need to support Indigenous voices.

Unfit to Print airs Tuesdays from 5-6 p.m. on CKUT 90.3 FM.

VOTE YES !

The Daily Publications Society (DPS) is holding a referendum this week, between Monday, November 13, and Thursday, November 16, that will determine the continued existence of The McGill Daily and Le Délit. The student media is an important source for critical reporting and creative work on campus – vote yes for the free press!

TESTIMONIALS FROM OUR ALUMS

I transferred to McGill in 2008 feeling generally alienated and disconnected my first year and I credit The Daily for being the vessel through which I finally felt like I was part of the McGill community. While I could write glowingly and at length about my personal experiences working at The Daily and how it prepared me for my career, I want to talk about how The Daily serves McGill as a whole. And I think the thing that I appreciated the most about The Daily was that it expanded the world I lived in making me a more connected and engaged person. There were so many issues, cultural events, and communities at McGill and in Montreal that I learned about through The Daily; things I would not have thought of or experienced on my own. Sometimes I disagreed with The Daily and that was OK—it didn’t seek to proselytize, but only asked readers to consider things critically and from new perspectives. The Daily broadens the horizons of McGill allowing us to step out of our bubbles and explore what was happening in the city and the wider world. At a time when our worlds can feel more insular or narrow, there’s nothing more valuable. (Maybe gold. The price of gold is doing pretty well.) Eric Wen, Sports (The Daily, 2010-11) It’s a common refrain but one that bears repeating: I learned more working at The Daily as a writer and then editor than I ever did, or ever could, learn in my classes. School newspapers provide critical thinking skills and real life experience. Most importantly, The Daily’s particular political standpoint is intensely valuable: it broadens the limited perspectives of McGill students and exposes them to worlds they never knew. Dana Wray, News (The Daily, 2013-14),

I have fond memories of my time at the Daily, but I hope it sticks around for more than my own nostalgia: A thriving student journalism landscape is necessary to prepare students for a variety of careers in media, and can benefit anyone who will need to communicate with other humans as part of their job someday. I studied physics at McGill, and worked for the Daily in my free time. Thanks to experience I earned in both the lab and the newsroom, I currently work full-time as a journalist covering science and technology for major news outlets. The Daily taught me how to do an interview, write a feature, and talk about quantum mechanics in a way that will engage readers for more than four seconds. Shannon Palus, Science+Technology (The Daily, 2010-12) DPS Director (2012-13) For me, The Daily was a second home, a place where I learned the basics of journalism – how to interview, fact-check, write, and edit – but also where I could debate, learn, collaborate, and engage with a broader community than I would have otherwise. The Daily and Le Délit are important institutions, not just for the current students who work on or read them, but for the histories of McGill and Montreal that they have recorded and reported on for over 100 years. Queen Arsem-O’Malley, Coordinating (The Daily, 2013-14)

The Daily was a formative experience that acted as my primary training ground in community journalism, the ethics of writing about stories from a grounded perspective, and mediating an open space. These are real-life skills that I have taken throughout my life to other fields. As another form of education that is based in hands-on work and engagement with the McGill and greater Montreal community, the independence of The Daily makes for a platform for critical voices that otherwise go unheard.

My name’s Erin Hale, I’m a freelance journalist based in Asia for the past few years. I was a news editor at the Daily from 2008 to 2010. I spent most of my free time as a student at McGill in the Daily’s basement office – and while my grades certainly suffered I can say that experience is the main reason I’m a journalist today. In fact, before I came to McGill, I never thought about being a journalist but within a few months of joining the Daily’s news team I knew that I wanted to make it my career.

Hera Chan, Photo (The Daily, 2012-13),

The Daily is where I learned skills like how to write a news story and conduct interviews but also more broadly how to think about “big picture issues” in our editorial discussion meetings and the role of the media.

Multimedia (The Daily, 2013-14) My time with The McGill Daily was the highlight of my years at McGill. I wrote my first commentary article very early in my first year, and I was immediately hooked. I had no intention of becoming a journalist before nervously stumbling into The Daily office, but when I left, doing so was my only option. After McGill, I did a Masters of Journalism at Ryerson University. While that degree was certainly helpful, I still believe my time with The Daily was the best crash course in journalism I’ve received. I not only learned the skills of how to be a good journalist, but also discovered an ethos of journalism that I’ve taken with me throughout my entire career. Since leaving McGill, I’ve gone on to work at Vice, the National Post, and The Globe and Mail. I’ve also had articles published in Al Jazeera, BuzzFeed, The Walrus, Maisonneuve, the Huffington Post, Canadaland, and many more. None of this would have been possible without my time at The Daily. Davide Mastracci, Commentary columnist (The Daily, 2011-12), Copy (The Daily, 2013-14)

Coordinating (The Daily, 2014-15)

For endorsements and more info: savethedaily.ca

An important thing to know about journalism is that you can only get better at by practicing over and over (and also making mistakes.) The Daily provides aspiring journalists with the safe and creative space to do that and also guidance from peer editors. Whether you agree or disagree with the Daily’s editorial line, it’s a very important place for aspiring journalists to get their start. Many of the editors and writers I worked with as a student also ended up working at major media outlets or have moved on to other interesting careers in law and academia. I hope all students vote to support the Daily and continue the work of one of Canada’s oldest student publications. Erin Hale, News (The Daily, 2008-10)

sports

November 13, 2017 mcgilldaily.com | The McGill Daily

McDavid’s Trump costume is an insult Edmonton Oilers captain’s offensive costume shows his privilege

Louis Sanger The McGill Daily

fter dressing up as Donald Trump for halloween, Edmonton Oilers captain Connor McDavid told reporters, “It was not meant to be anything, to mean anything.” This is just the latest in a long series of disappointing responses by the hockey world to Trump’s presidency. As previously reported in The Daily, the National Hockey League (NHL) has been, at best, weak in its criticism of Donald Trump and, at worst, supportive of the president’s messages. Very few players joined in the widespread anthem protests at the start of the season. In fact, many NHL players have criticised the athletes who do protest their national anthems. For example, PK Subban echoed Trump’s words when he said he would prefer to “stand, respect, and sing along” to the Star-Spangled Banner than to kneel, implying that kneeling is disrespectful. The 2017 Stanley Cup champions, the Pittsburgh Penguins, insisted that they would follow through with their White House visit. Captain and MVP Sidney Crosby told reporters that the team would visit Trump’s White House, stating “From my side of things, there’s absolutely no politics involved.” Unfortunately for Crosby, and the younger McDavid, there absolutely are politics involved. To hear from the two

brightest stars of hockey that it is not merely permissible, but right and respectful, to show support for Trump, or that dressing up as him for Halloween is just a bit of fun, is incredibly damaging to both fans and the game. Hockey has historically lagged behind other sports in terms of its political activism and awareness, but in the year that more than 200 football players took a knee in protest, the NHL’s pride in remaining ‘apolitical’ is insulting. It is not okay to show support for the bigoted, racist, homophobic, and transphobic president in any way. To pass this support off as one’s ‘duty’ as a hockey player, as Crosby and Subban have done, is shortsighted and frankly appalling. Being a hockey player does not have to mean being politically inactive or ignorant. Players such as Ken Dryden and Georges Laraque have gone on to progressive political careers. When Crosby, Subban, and McDavid refuse to acknowledge their responsibility as leaders, they deny the power that their actions hold. The Penguin’s trip to the White House was clearly political, as other champions like the Golden State Warriors refused their invites. While it is Subban’s choice to kneel, and one should not criticize him for standing, the issue is that Subban used Trump’s language of disrespect in his statement. McDavid’s halloween costume is an insult to all people directly harmed by Trump’s presidency. To brush Trump off as

a joke is a privilege that few people have. McDavid, a multimillionaire white athlete from Richmond Hill, Toronto, is one of these few people. Flaunting the fact that Trump’s presidency can be funny for him demonstrates how far removed McDavid is from the everyday reality of those harmed by the current American Administration, many of whom may be fans of his.

To brush Trump off as a joke is a privilege that few people have. McDavid [...] is one of these few people. It is time for hockey players like Crosby, Subban, and McDavid to acknowledge their influence and privilege. Perhaps for them, a Trump presidency can be a joke, or a non-issue, but for millions of people around the world it is dangerous and at times life-threatening. It is not their duty to remain apolitical under the Trump administration. It is their duty to support their fans, many of whom are made vulnerable by Trump’s presidency.

Laura Brennan | The McGill Daily

November 13, 2017 mcgilldaily.com | The McGill Daily

SPORTS

The key to global basketball

How the Chinese basketball league is changing the face of the game Aidan Kearney-Fick Sports Writer

n the aftermath of successful careers in the National Basketball Association (NBA), many athletes take their talents to China, seeking greater success and more lucrative paychecks. The stars of yesteryear, waning in the NBA, see the Chinese Basketball Association (CBA) as the next arena for them to dominate and maintain their stardom. The CBA offers a talent level above the European leagues and the NBA’s G-League, but still many echelons below the NBA, allowing veterans to play at a high level among players many years their junior. This has led to players who never achieved dominance in the NBA excelling in the CBA. While there are many ways in which this happens, the most frequent is the aging NBA star signing in China and proceeding to dominate once again. The most well-known story of these players is Stephon Marbury. A two-time all star in the NBA, Marbury was one of the most polarizing figures of his class after being surrounded by controversy, personality conflicts, and egotistical play. After excelling in Phoenix, New Jersey, and New York, “Starbury” signed with the Beijing Ducks in 2010 and has since won three championships in China. Widely credited (along with Kobe Bryant) as one of the most important foreign athletes in the cultural acceptance and subsequent celebration of basketball in Chinese society, Marbury has turned his shooting ability and charisma into the catalyst for the American transition into the CBA. Similar to Marbury in both his brief stardom and also his controversy, is Gilbert Arenas, who is most famously known for confronting a teammate with a firearm in the Washington Wizards (Formerly known as the Washington Bullets) dressing room. Arenas played a couple seasons with the Shanghai Sharks, and his dynamism led to mass adoration from the Chinese market and his averaging a double-double in points and assists.

Agent Zero, as Arenas is known, followed the path of Marbury into the Chinese league as a powerful American presence. Recently, Emmanuel Mudiay played with the Guangdong Southern Tigers before being drafted by the Denver Nuggets. Financial issues drove Mudiay to play for a team which would actually pay him, instead of playing college basketball in the United States. His decision illustrated the growing respect for the talent level of the CBA. Until then, only the washed up or undraftable players would leave North America to play. Mudiay’s signing is probably the most crucial signifier of the rise of Chinese basketball, as this represented a legitimate nod to the prowess and development of the CBA. So what does the emergence of China as a basketball market signal for basketball as a whole? Firstly, China represents the largest national market in the world, one which could prove exponentially more valuable than the North American market the NBA currently occupies. While there are other countries with small leagues, the profitability and population pale in comparison with China’s size and capital flows. Secondly, the relationship between the NBA and China has the potential to normalize foreign players in the league, eventually leading to the NBA becoming a league of global talent. The NBA has been playing global preseason games since 1994, yet only began to schedule annual games since 2013, with at least one being played in China, either against a CBA or NBA team. While this will never become part of the normal league schedule due to the difficulties of large travel times and disorienting schedules for players, it further expands Chinese appreciation of the game. With old NBAers flocking to China to extend their careers with lucrative contracts, and newer players starting careers there, there is a gradual recognition of the healthy basketball environment being curated. The global expansion of basketball truly begins with the popularization of the sport in China.

Laura Brennan & Nelly Wat | The McGill Daily

Write for Sports! The Sports Section is always looking for writers. If you are interested, contact us at: sports@mcgilldaily.com.

SCI+TECH

November 13, 2017 mcgilldaily.com | The McGill Daily

Phantom limb neural pathways Scientists map neural connections for patients with artificial limbs

Emily Carroll | Illustrator Naz Sutcuoglu Sci+Tech Writer

here are a number of phenomena in the world of medicine that have yet to be understood. Phantom limb pain (PLP) is one of them, and one for which we still lack a consensus definition. PLP is most generally understood as an experience where patients feel pain in a limb that has been amputated or lost. For now, it is believed to be caused by confusion in specific parts of the brain due to nonsense signals which the brain has difficulty interpreting. It is estimated that nearly 80 per cent of all amputee patients are affected. Though PLP is obviously prevalent among amputee patients, there is not a single drug prescribed to address phantom limb pain specifically. Many doctors will prescribe antidepressants, anticonvulsants, or narcotics, which may help, but do not help the majority of patients

suffering from PLP. Alternative treatments such as acupuncture may be recommended, but the possibility of these treatments actually curing PLP symptoms is very low. Ultimately, lack of knowledge concerning phantom limb is a barrier to effective treatment.

Though PLP is obviously prevalent among amputee patients, there is not a single drug prescribed to address phantom limb pain specifically.

However, PLP has been gaining more visibility and has been largely addressed in popular television shows such as Grey’s Anatomy because of the perplexity accompanying it. By appearing in TV shows, PLP gains exposure. While it is a very interesting phenomenon in the medical community, the pain experienced by patients is serious and necessitates more research into treatments. Visibility in popular media can inspire an increase in research, possibly spiking the interest of scientists in this field. In addition, television coverage helps PLP patients feel like their pain is being taken seriously and gives them courage to speak about their pain without fear of being judged. There are many hypotheses about how PLP works, and what constitutes it. However, none of these theories have been proven or widely agreed upon to date. One possible explanation is that the pain results from the brain work-

ing to rewire its system in order to make up for the deficit of neurons and axons which were lost with the amputation. For some people, PLP goes away with time,but recovery from and duration of PLP varies case by case. Recently, at École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), scientists found a way to map the neural connections for the artificial limbs of patients, using ultra-high field functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). fMRI examines blood flow in the brain to detect areas of activity. This is used by doctors and scientists to diagnose diseases in the brain, and possibly to map out all of our neural connections. fMRI can be useful in analyzing what we’re thinking and feeling. It is believed that a typical MRI scanner has a strength equal to that of three teslas, a force about 50,000 times stronger than the Earth’s magnetic field. fMRI employs ultra-powerful magnets

Science and writing? There’s more chemistry than you think! To write for the Sci+Tech section, contact scitech@mcgilldaily.com and get involved today!

that are five times stronger than the magnets inside of a regular MRI scanner. Scientists from EPFL have also found a way to show how the brain re-maps sensory and motor pathways. This technology uses robotic artificial limbs controlled by the brain with the help of targeted motor and sensory reinnervation (TMSR) using normal MRI scanners. TMSR is a surgical procedure that reroutes residual limb nerves towards remaining muscles and skin, enabling amputees to control robotic prosthetic limbs. These findings put science a step forward in understanding what happens in the brain once a person loses a limb. They also give rise to new and better inventions, making it easier for amputee patients to live close to phanto painfree lives. Mapping neural connections is a huge step on the path towards a better life for many.

November, 13, 2017 mcgilldaily.com | The McGill Daily

SCI+TECH

Free will and determinism What neuroscience tells us about moral responsibility

Abby Couture| Illustrator Nadia Boachie Neuroethics

euroethics is an interdisciplinary field of research that centers on two general topic areas: the ethics of neuroscience and the neuroscience of ethics. This dual definition refers to research that either critically questions the role of neuroscience in society or applies neuroscience to explain human moral behavior. Today there is concern that understanding how brains cause behavior may undermine our views on free will and, consequently, moral responsibility. We make thousands of decisions every day. We wake up, decide what to wear, choose what we eat, and decide which route we will take to get to school or work. It appears that we are consciously guiding our bodies in a purposeful way; we think that our thoughts and actions are freely chosen. Psychologists Dan Wegner and Thalia Wheatley published a paper almost twenty years ago that altered the way many thought of free will. They proposed that the experience of intentionally willing an action is often nothing more than a post hoc causal inference that our thoughts caused some behavior. A dominant view of the relationship between free will and moral responsibility is that if an agent does not have free will, then that agent is not morally responsi-

ble for their actions. Free will, as the name suggests, means that an agent has the capacity to choose his or her course of action. Our action entails responsibility — how we act can be our fault — because our action is something that we determine for ourselves. We must be responsible because we are in control. Therefore, some insist that free will is necessary for a person to be morally responsible for their actions.

A dominant view of the relationship between free will and moral responsibility is that if an agent does not have free will, then that agent is not morally responsible for their actions. Joshua D. Greene, an assistant professor of psychology at Harvard says that “to a neuroscientist, you are your brain; nothing causes your behavior other than the operations of your brain . . . If that’s right, it radically changes

the way we think about the law. Often those who do not support free will are said to be determinists. A determinist says that the causal mechanisms in a person’s brain, for example, a genetic predisposition to violence, makes someone less culpable for his or her actions.” The rationale is that if the rules that govern the universe exist outside of ourselves and before we are born apply to our actions, how can we be responsible for those actions? If our actions are governed by chemical interactions in the brain, then our actions are a result of predictable interactions governed by laws of classical physics. How far can we take determinism? There are several examples of legal cases in which neuroscientific evidence has an impact on the outcome of the trial. Lie detector tests and other neuroimaging results have been used to indicate the abnormalities in the brain that cause the aberrant behavior of the defendant. In the 1990s, Herbert Weinstein, a 68-year-old man, was charged with murder of his wife. Weinstein’s lack of emotion when discussing the crime and apparent lack of remorse for his action led his legal team to question whether he could be suffering from a neurological impairment that caused an uncharacteristic act of aggression. Physicians who consulted with Mr. Weinstein’s defense attorneys suggested that Mr. Wein-

stein undergo neuropsychological testing and brain scanning that could reveal potential structural and/or functional differences in his brain. And those tests showed that Weinstein’s brain had an abnormal cyst. Weinstein’s lawyers claimed his actions were because of this abnormality in his arachnoid membrane, which surrounds the brain like a spider web. Can we excuse Weinstein’s behaviour because of the discovery of a cyst? Stephen J. Morse, professor of law and psychiatry at the University of Pennsylvania maintains that “brains do not commit crimes; people commit crimes” — a conclusion, he suggests, that has been ignored by advocates of determinism. He believes that often those who support determinism are “infected and inflamed by stunning advances in our understanding of the brain . . . [and] all too often make moral and legal claims that the new neuroscience . . . cannot sustain.” He calls this “brain overclaim syndrome.” Morse is referring to the use of neuroscientific evidence to distinguish between “normal” and “abnormal” brains. “There’s nothing new about the neuroscience ideas of responsibility; it’s just another material, causal explanation of human behavior,” says Morse, “How is this different than the Chicago school of sociology?” Morse does not believe that using scientific evidence to identify an “abnormal brain” should mitigate responsibility. Neurosci-

ence could hypothetically reveal that reason actually plays no role in determining human behavior: without our conscious participation, all actions are simply determined. If determinism is taken at face value, humans are automatons in this respect. But if all behavior is caused by our brains, this mean all behavior could potentially be excused. This may mean we have to abandon current ideas about responsibility and seek other ways of protecting our society. Neither free will nor determinism are proven, but remain controversially debated. Determinism is inconsistent with societal views of responsibility, selfcontrol, and moral obligation. When neuroscientific evidence is introduced to trials, questions about moral responsibility waver and are strongly debated on a case by case basis. Perhaps it is not necessary to equate free will with non-determinism at all. Just because our choices are predictable it does not mean that we do not consciously make those choices. Regardless if you believe in free will or determinism, it seems that the two opposing philosophical explanations for human behaviour cannot individually determine moral responsibility. Even if neuroscience is able to disprove any trace of free will in human behaviour, determinism alone fails to justify a lack of moral responsibility for actions.

November 13, 2017 mcgilldaily.com | The McGill Daily

culture

Bridging Arab identities

Mahbas proposes Lebanese-Syrian reconciliations through humor

Krysten Krulik Culture Writer

olitaire (Mahbas), screened at Cinema du Parc as part of this year’s Festival du Monde Arabe de Montréal, boasted a vivacious cast, an eager crowd, and roaring laughter from the audience that resounded throughout the entire theatre. Two sold-out screenings across the Festival revealed the hunger of the Montreal community for Middle-Eastern representation. Not a single U.S. army uniform made its way across the screen; rather, this film featured a global understanding of regional issues. More rich than the solely Western viewpoint characterized by heavy U.S. military presence as a form of diplomatic mediation, Solitaire offers an Arab perspective on Lebanese-Syrian relations that is both Arab and global. From its commencement, Solitaire demonstrated that this is a film for us and by us to be shared with the world. Directed by Sophie Boutros, Solitaire touches upon the intricacies of the terse relations between Lebanon and Syria in the ten years following Syria’s official recognition of the sovereignty of Lebanon. Solitaire laments love, loss, misconception, and mending through the eyes of the main character, Therese (Julia Kassar), who is the matriarch of a Lebanese family mourning the death of her brother at the hands of a Syrian bomb twenty years prior. When Therese’s daughter, Ghada (Serena Chami), returns home to her village in Lebanon with her Syrian suitor, Samer (Jaber Jokhadar), the shock of Therese’s lifetime ensues. A political commentary on the classic “meet the family” weekend, Solitaire measurably tackles contemporary Lebanese-Syrian relations that burrow as far back as French colonisation. Working against the often haphazard grouping of all things Arab, Solitaire tackles regional specificities usually washed over in North American discussions of what it is to be Arab. The director uses humor as a formal technique to discuss Syria’s complex influence on Lebanese politics, spanning from the conclusion of the Lebanese Civil War in 1990 to Syria’s withdrawal during the 2005 Cedar Revolution. The movie even touches upon events of the last decade since Syria’s 2008 recognition of Lebanese sovereignty. The complexities

Courtesy of Solitaire (Mahbas) of Lebanese-Syrian relations are indisputable, especially following the recent influx of Syrian refugees in Lebanon and the resulting curfews placed on them there, like in the city Rmeish. Small municipal moves like these have spread throughout Lebanon and widely reflect Lebanese disdain for their Syrian neighbors.

Working against the often haphazard groupings of all things Arab, Solitaire tackles regional specificities usually washed over in North American discussions of what it is to be Arab. Despite what Western viewers often perceive as an implicit

politicization of these histories, Solitaire works to identify and negotiate these regional tensions. By implementing comedic elements, Solitaire is able to open discussion, overdramatize, and then poke fun at otherwise highly sensitive political conversations. Rather than shying away from controversial Lebanese-Syrian relations, the film caricatures poignant stereotypes of both Arab groups. Humour thus mediates what is usually a difficult but necessary conversation, but it does so carefully with humanity, understanding, and self-reflection. Humour is thereby an act of humanity — opening topics otherwise too divisive to engage with. Apparent through the booming laughter of the Cinema du Parc audience, Solitaire’s stereotypes rang true, especially to the Arab audience. Preying on these caricatures of Lebanese-Syrian discrimination revealed an infamous dual edged sword — the tragedy of such rivalries, as well as the relatable absurdity. Hearing only one word of Sabah Fakhri’s tenor voice on the radio, Therese pointedly silences the device. She does so out of disdain for the famed Syrian singer, but this action reflects Therese’s silencing of the Syrian population at large — a silencing and hatred she repeats

throughout the movie. Therese’s fear of the past and the tumultuous political history between the two states serves to inform a divergent future — until Ghada’s engagement. Thus, it is Ghada’s return that serves as a brutal upheaval of Therese’s warped values concerning who is the true Other in Lebanese society.

The complexities of LebaneseSyrian relations are indisputable, especially following the recent influx of Syrian refugees in Lebanon and the resulting curfews placed on Syrian refugees in Lebanon.

Similarly, Solitaire plays the role of Ghada to the audience

— it reaches beyond the screen to infuse in viewers a sense of awareness. Humour is therefore part reflection and part mitigation throughout the entirety of Solitaire, allowing for two conversations to be initiated: one between Syrians and Lebanese, the other between audience members and stereotypes. Stereotypes are poignantly laid out for all to see, such as quick jabs made on-screen that highlight tensions between Syrian refugees in Therese’s village. In these Lebanese and Syrian caricatures, room for topics such as familial bonds, women’s spaces, intergenerational traumas, infidelity, and love are also made apparent. Rather than portraying an exotic life set wholly against a backdrop of hate and conflict, these histories transcend their outlandish, comedic caricatures. Humour negotiates different Arab identities, and opens a channel through which two independent states with intertwined histories are able to converse. Solitaire is a Lebanese-Syrian story broadcasted to the world not as another stereotypical one, but rather as a film that underscores the importance of looking beyond difference. If even the most caricatural Lebanese family can find peace with the Other — the Syrian — why can’t other Lebanese people? Undoubtedly, the LebaneseSyrian conflict is more than a marriage proposal, more than a family’s tragedy, more than the chaotic dinner meal around which the film revolves. Rather, it is a complex, living, breathing tapestry of the histories of two peoples who have fallen victim to biases as simple as differences in accent. Most importantly, Solitaire is as human as the laughter it generates. Laughter opens a conversation far beyond the scope of the Western gaze. While most discussions in the Western context imagine the Arab world as a threat to North American peace and sovereignty, Solitaire challenges these conceptions. Despite depicted homogeneity and eternal turmoil, the Middle East is something more than the local 2am Boustan run, or the debates around the Islamophobic Bill 62. Rather than solely viewing the Arab world in light of shisha lounges and Islamist terrorism, Solitaire gives room for viewers to formulate a nuanced take on the regional politics of the Middle East.

CUlture

November 13, 2017 mcgilldaily.com | The McGill Daily

Resistance through gathering

The Wood Land School explores memory, space, and treaty-making Éléa Régembal Culture Writer

hile Canada celebrates its 150th anniversary occupying on Turtle Island, and Montreal its 375th, Wood Land School takes over the SBC Gallery of Contemporary Art with “Kahatenhstánion tsi na’tetiatere ne Iotohrkó:wa tánon Iotohrha / Drawing Lines from January to December” 2017. This exhibition, organized by Duane Linklater, Tanya Lukin Linklater, and cheyanne turions with Walter Scott, is structured into four “gestures,” or periods of time during which different works enter or leave the space. The gallery itself is quietly perched on the fifth floor of a building in downtown Tiohtià:ke (also known as Montreal). Upon entering, the viewer becomes aware that the space around them holds a gathering of Indigenous identity expressions. The exhibition hosts paintings, written texts, and collages that address issues of Indigenous memory, anti-colonial resistance, community-building, and Indigenous futurism. Annie Pootoogook, an artist at the center of Indigenous dialogues Upon entering the exhibition space, first piece that the visitor sees is an obituary to Annie Pootoogook, a prominent Inuk artist who passed away in 2016. The obituary was written by Heather Igloliorte in Inuktitut, and the

English translation is only available on the exhibition’s website. This situates the work as primarily by, about, and for Indigenous artists and visitors. It redefines and reclaims the language space by limiting access to it. Annie Pootoogook, “a hugely influential artist who forever changed the face of Inuit art,” according to Igloliorte, holds a central space in the exhibition. Her work Coleman Stove with Robin Hood Flour and Tenderflake, is the only one to remain in the exhibition space over the course of all four gestures. Her drawing shows the ingredients and instruments required to make bannock, a bread, embodying the exhibit’s goal of bringing specific expressions of Indigenous identity to detail. The ingredients in Pootoogook’s drawing have meaning and purpose only when positioned together; they are part of a recipe, though the dish itself is never shown. Much like these ingredients, the other works in the gallery also create meaning and purpose in the space throughout the different gestures. Pootoogook’s openended artwork is also an attempt to give agency to the spectators by not giving them instructions on how to read either her piece or the exhibit as a whole. Lines as vectors of history, memory, and transmission It is important to focus on the title of the exhibition to under-

View of Heather Igloliorte’s obituary to Annie Pootoogook, Wood Land School: “Kahatenhstánion tsi na’tetiatere ne Iotohrkó:wa tánon Iotohrha / Traçant des lignes de janvier à décembre,” quatrième geste, 2017. Courtesy of Wood Land School / SBC Galerie d’art contemporain, Montréal. Paul Litherland | Photographer stand what it seeks to transmit. “Kahatenhstánion tsi na’tetiatere ne Iotohrkó:wa tánon Iotohrha / Drawing Lines from January to December” poses the question: “What is a line and what can its powers be?” The exhibition pamphlet speaks to “the power of line to mark history and invoke memory” and clearly states the artists’ mission to create “lines without beginning or end as a way

to imagine Indigenous futurity.”

The artists’ mission [is] to create “lines without beginning or end as a way to imagine Indigenous futurity.”

For example, Charlene Vickers’ Diviners is composed of several long, sharpened cedar spears, positioned in small clusters in the back corners of the exhibition space. The lines pass through one another and intersect. The cedar spears reference their historical uses in weaponry, hunting, and shelter-making, while being positioned in a contemporary context. Much like the exhibition which, through the unfolding gestures, becomes a line without start or end, the cedar spears call up past meanings to create new ones and legitimize their place as present and future cultural markers. A decolonial project: reclaiming

View of Charlene Vickers’ Diviners (2010) installation, Wood Land School: “Kahatenhstánion spaces, voicing resistance tsi na’tetiatere ne Iotohrkó:wa tánon Iotohrha / Traçant des lignes de janvier à décembre, The exhibition engages with quatrième geste,” 2017. Courtesy of Wood Land School / SBC Galerie d’art contemporain, colonialism and recognizes that it Montréal. Paul Litherland | Photographer is ever-present in its silencing and

exclusion of Indigenous voices. This is especially relevant in sight of this year’s anniversary celebrations, which fail to acknowledge that they only celebrate colonisation and genocide. In this context, “Kahatenhstánion tsi na’tetiatere ne Iotohrkó:wa tánon Iotohrha / Drawing Lines from January to December” can be seen as a disrupting force, taking up space on colonised ground and recreating exclusive space for the peoples dispossessed. When I considered this context, Linklater’s “lines without beginning or end” took on new meaning. They were ways for the artists to refuse categorization, to resist being restricted to the past, as the Canadian government seeks to define the country’s existence with start dates supposedly marking the end of Indigenous sovereignty. There is a sense of reciprocity and communication in the project among non-Indigenous people. The exhibition pamphlet mentions the “tenants of treaty” as part of the project. The exhibition thereby seeks to educate and demand responsibility from settlers in the role they have in listening to Indigenous peoples and investing themselves when needed in the path to decolonization. Over the course of the four gestures, Wood Land School creates multiple occasions for dialogue by giving space to community initiatives such as talks or performances. They connect audiences and artists beyond the gallery’s walls, for them to join forces in the process of decolonization.

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Novermber 13, 2017 mcgilldaily.com | The McGill Daily

Submit your own: letters@mcgilldaily.com

In response to the op-ed “I’m Jewish, and I voted against ratifying Noah Lew” Dear Tali Ioselevich,

wanted to personally thank you for taking stand for an important distinction between anti-Semitism and anti-Zionism. I too believe this is a very important distinction we need to make lest we silence all the voices that speak out against injustice. Having personally witnessed the oppression and the violation of basic human rights in occupied Palestine, I believe that BDS is a viable peaceful movement that can have a tangible impact for the better. Please keep up your activism.

Enoch Lee, B.Th. Student Presbyterian College

The English Graduate Student Association Statement regarding Bill 62

e, the English Graduate Student Association of McGill University, take notice of the fact that the government of Quebec adopted Bill 62 into law on October 18th, 2017. This law, titled “Loi favorisant le respect de la neutralité religieuse de l’État” (An Act to foster adherence to State religious neutrality and, in particular, to provide a framework for requests for accommodations on religious grounds in certain bodies), forbids access to public services for anyone wearing a face covering, including access to University, public transportation and health services. We oppose this law because it is inherently racist and unambiguously Islamophobic, operating under the guise of secularism. We oppose the law because it is indicative of a failure to address issues of systemic racism on part of the provincial and federal governments, and in fact constitutes an intensification. It serves neither to increase public security nor to promote a society in which all citizens are treated equally. The law discriminates against Muslim women who wear face veils in particular, putting them at risk for social exclusion and crucially, increased violence on the streets and on public transit. We, the English Graduate Student Association, officially condemn “Bill 62” and oppose it through such actions as making public statements and organizing and participating in actions that oppose it. We are committed to providing reasonable support to any member of EGSA suffering consequences of disregarding this law, or the law being applied against them.

–The English Graduate Association

In response to the SSMU General Assembly Dear Vice-Chancellor Fortier:

am writing to express my grave concern regarding the Students’ Society of McGill University voting out members who are Jewish. Discrimination on the basis of religion is not acceptable, not to mention in violation of the Canadian Charter of Rights. The University can not allow this to happen. Would this have been allowed if the members were Muslims or Catholics or Atheists?

Universities have a mandate to encourage freedom of thought, allowing differing ideas, not creating a factory of singular thinkers. Differing opinions and ideas should be encouraged and discussed, not banned. These student members are as entitled to their opinions as the other students are. Assuming that someone who does not blindly agree with the majority, or has a different belief is automatically wrong, is not only ignorant but contrary to what Universities should be teaching. Students should be encouraged to consider other view points without being so quick to automatically reject contrary positions. In areas where there is conflict, there exist multiple viewpoints, activities, and realities that are perceived differently by different parties. No progress can ensue should contrary opinions not be open to discussion. It is critical that you veto this discriminatory and prejudicial decision by the Students’ Society of McGill.

Sincerely, Dr. Zoe A. Zlot

VOTE YES ! The Daily Publications Society (DPS) is holding a referendum this week, between Monday, November 13, and Thursday, November 16, that will determine the continued existence of The McGill Daily and Le DĂŠlit. The student media is an important source for critical reporting and creative work on campus â&#x20AC;&#x201C; vote yes for the free press!

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