vol98iss10

Volume 98, Issue 10

October 2, 2008

McGill THE

DAILY

Blue collar since 1911

Poor traits art by ben peck 6

Cops bust out the camo More pop montreal news 3, compendium 19 culture 12

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News

The McGill Daily, Thursday, October 2, 2008

3

Camo sparks debate over police image

Working without a contract for two years, police union uses camo pants in a new phase of pressure tactics Shannon Kiely

The McGill Daily

M

ontreal police chief Yvan Delorme worried that the camouflage pants some members of his force are wearing– the latest pressure tactic applied by police to accelerate contract negotiations with the city – will worsen interactions between police and minority groups.

At an open meeting held by the Quebec Essential Services Council on September 24, Delorme said the pants would remind immigrants, – specifically Montrealers from Latin American Countries who had lived under military regimes in their home countries – of the violence and repression they fled.

Community organizations took offense to Delorme’s remarks, which they say are out of touch with the reality of minority interactions with officers.

Dan Philip, president of the Black Coalition of Quebec – a Montrealbased human rights organization representing the black community – was unimpressed with Delorme’s comment.

“It is unfortunate that when it’s convenient for [Delorme], he uses these instances to talk about how [the police] affect minorities,” Philip said. “[His comment] does nothing to bring into light police brutality toward minorities.”

Will Prosper, the spokesperson for Montreal Nord Republik – a

community group that sprang up in response to the police shooting of 18-year-old Montreal North resident Freddy Villanueva – thought Delorme’s comment overestimated the power of camouflage pants to remind minorities of traumatizing past experiences.

“People aren’t in their country any longer, and camouflage pants aren’t going to make them feel like they’re back,” Prosper said.

The pants are the newest phase of sartorial tactics applied by officers in an ongoing labour dispute between the Montreal police union, la Fraternité des Policiers et Policières, and the city. For nearly two years, Montreal police officers have been working without a contract with the city, but have been unable to legally hold a strike because they provide an essential service.

Martin Viau, the Fraternité’s director of communication, explained that many officers opted to go with camouflage pants.

“The camouflage pants are popular because they’re more comfortable than the others. They have pockets, and it’s easy to attach their police belt to them,” Viau said.

The city issued a formal complaint to the Essential Services Council that the camouflage pants put the police in danger and deprived the public of their right to an essential service.

“The clothes they’re wearing aren’t police clothes, and that could confuse the public,” said Bernard Larin, a press attaché for the mayor, in an interview with The Daily.

Following the open meeting, the Council had a closed meeting – attended by council members, city representatives, two unionized police officers, and Delorme – in which it ruled in favour of keeping police officers outfitted in camo pants.

But Montreal spokesperson Celine Jacob stressed that the Council’s decision didn’t rule out the possibility that the pants could deprive the public of its right to an essential service.

“If it’s necessary, the Council could re-intervene in this file,” Jacob said, adding that the Council will observe how the camo pants influence the public’s ability to access police service.

Prosper also worried that the force’s colourful pants would particularly undermine their authority in Montreal North, an area where tensions between police and residents have run high since the August riots.

“When they wear those pants, it’s hard to respect their authority – they look like clowns,” Prosper said. “For any citizen of any race, it’s hard to take them seriously.”

Prosper stressed that the police should improve their interpersonal skills and tune into the pulse of the neighborhoods they patrol.

“If a police officer wants to play with guns, he should join the army.

But as a police officer, you have a wider responsibility, because you have to interact with the population,” he said.

Montreal Nord Republik will present suggestions to the city in the coming months on how to improve inter-

Komal Ali for The McGill Daily

The police union maintains officers chose camo pants because they’re comfortable and have pockets.

action between the police and youths in the neighbourhood. Prosper complained that interaction between the two is limited to arrests and tickets.

Prosper hoped the city would consid-

er their proposal to have police officers assigned to the neighbourhood spend two weeks getting to know Montreal North teens at community youth centres.

NGOs in Haiti counterproductive, says activist Montreal conference criticized international intervention in Haitian hurricane relief

Ashley Joseph News Writer

Haiti’s long history of international interference has crippled the country’s ability to sustain itself in times of disaster, according to Montreal writer and political activist Yves Engler.

After Haiti was pounded by four tropical cyclones last month, Engler – speaking Tuesday night at a conference on the environmental devastation in Haiti, organized by QPIRG Concordia and Haiti Action – examined the role that the U.S., Canada,

and France have played in Haiti’s ecological crisis.

“Our analysis is that it’s not a natural disaster,” Engler said. “It’s a human-made disaster.”

Since government coup of 2004, an operation organized in Ottawa by the Canadian, American, and French governments has had the bulk of public services for the country being left in the hands of non-governmental organizations (NGOs).

As a result, the Haitian state has been dwarfed in its capacity to provide public services to the country.

Of the country’s $95-million budget, $85-million is provided by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and ends up in the hands of NGOs that constitute 80 per cent of Haiti’s governmental services, Engler said.

“There has been a plan from Washington and Ottawa to implement a neoliberal program of downsizing the state, and at the same time channeling what money goes into

the country into NGOs,” Engler said. “[NGOs are] eroding the legitimacy, will, and capacity of the Haitian state, weakening Haiti’s capacity to build itself.”

Colonial and imperial interference in the country has, over time, stripped the land of 99 per cent of its forests, and left Haiti exponentially more vulnerable to natural disaster, Engler claimed.

He said deforestation began with exports of mahogany to Europe in the colonial period, and worsened when Haiti’s plantations took over the economy. Seventy-five per cent of Haiti was forested when colonizers first arrived; 25 per cent in 1950; four per cent in 1994. Today, a mere 1.5 per cent of the country is forested.

Since no other fuel is available, Haiti’s peasantry continues to cut

down trees for charcoal. According to Engler, they know that cutting down trees will have serious long-term consequences, but still do it anyway.

“Desperation means that people have to cut down trees...just to have some food today,” he said.

“

Our analysis is that it’s not a natural disaster, it’s a human-made disaster – Yves Engler Montreal writer and political activist

According to Engler, the destruction of the countryside fits into the IMF’s economic plan for the country.

“The IMF has long seen Haiti’s advantage as a place of cheap labour,” Engler explained, “so one of the positive effects of destruction of the agricultural sector is that it pushes peo-

ple into cities.”

He explained that rural migrants are willing to work for low wages in the city, and that many find themselves producing t-shirts in factories for less than a dollar a day. Montrealbased t-shirt producer Gildan, which capitalizes on cheap labour in Haiti and Honduras to keep its production costs low, was one of his examples.

According to Paul Farmer, founder of Partners In Health, a non-profit healthcare organization whose largest and oldest project is in Haiti, the country needs to invest in infrastructure and forestation. In the short term, he argued, Haiti needs relief from disaster – water, food, shelter, and boats.

“People were already living on the edge and dying on the edge before these storms,” Farmer said in an interview with Amy Goodman on Democracy Now. “The storms may actually wake people up to the gravity of the situation.”

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News

The McGill Daily, Thursday, October 2, 2008

5

CNR-Mohawk lawsuit resisted by local activists Alexandra Dodger The McGill Daily

L

ocal activists are opposing a Canadian National Rail (CNR) lawsuit against three Mohawk nation activists from the Tyendinaga territory involved in the blockades of two highways and a CNR line that run through their land.

The Tyendinaga Support Committee plans to protest CNR headquarters in Montreal and to raise $5,000 by November 30 to subsidize the legal costs of the three activists – Shawn Brant, Tara Green, and Andrew Maracle.

“We blocked the railroad, Highway 401, and Highway 2. The blockade shut down the Windsor-to-Montreal rail corridor, part of Canada’s most heavily-used line for both freight and VIA rail passenger trains,” said Shawn Brant, explaining the group’s tactics.

“That train line was closed for almost two days to bring some attention, resolve, and commitment toward a land claim we were working on.... We closed the railway down, and we had to fight for it.”

But as a result of this protest, CNR filed a civil claim against Brant, Green, and Maracle, demanding $100-million in damages; the Federal Crown prosecutors filed criminal charges against Brant. The Crown’s initial push for a 12-year prison sentence was finally reduced to three months of confinement on the Tyendinaga thanks to a plea bargain this week.

Brant believed the offer of a plea bargain was made to avoid going to trial, where potentially embarrassing information about the conduct of the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) might have come to light. He claimed that the OPP used illegal wiretaps and misrepresented information while investigating his role in the blockades. He also charged that Julian Fantino – the commissioner of the OPP – threatened to put him in a morgue when speaking to one of the activist’s family members.

Lisa Stepnuk, who organizes with the Montreal Tyendinaga Support Committee, saw a connection between the criminal prosecution

and the civil suit.

“Our government is criminalizing indigenous resistance, so it is our responsibility to challenge them, or hold them accountable,” Stepnuk said.

Disputed since 1793, Mohawk sovereignty was finally recognized over the Culbertson Tract in 2003, according to the Support Committee web site – though it has amounted to little more than words.

“The county government continues to approve developments on the Culbertson Tract, and the provincial government has so far refused to revoke a license for quarry operations that are literally tearing up and hauling away Mohawk land,” the Committe web site said.

The Federal Department of Indian and Northern Affairs lists dozens of land claims across Canada with similar allegations of confiscated or misused land by CNR and its constituent companies. These claims include those made by six First Nations band councils in Quebec: the Abenakis of Wolinak, the Atikamekw of Wemotaci, the Kahnawake of the South Shore, the Kitigan Zibi Anishnabeg of Maniwaki, the Malcite of Viger, and the Montagnais of Lac St.-Jean Brant speculated that CNR sued him in order to intimidate other native groups with similar land claims.

The militancy among members of the Mohawk nation – which includes his Tyendinaga community and the nearby community of Kahnawake – will not be diminished by the suit, according to Brant.

“They know we could never pay this money; filing these lawsuits is about bringing economic destruction to our lives. They haven’t got a hope in hell of ever collecting it,” he said. “The frustration of living through isolation, suicides, land claim issues for so many years is still here. We have been shit under people’s shoes, and now we’ve decided we will make the decisions about how we will live and how our children will live,” he said.

The Daily was unable to reach a representative from CNR by press time.

Stephen Davis / The McGill Daily

Sally Lin for The McGill Daily

Nursery may nest in MISN lounge International students expect less accessible space Morgan Teeple Hopkins News Writer

T

onight’s Council will decide whether a SSMU nursery for children up to 18-monthsold will take over the current McGill International Students’ Network, (MISN) lounge in the Brown Building.

The nursery would complement the already existing SSMU daycare by providing eight spots each year to children of McGill students and faculty too young to qualify for the service.

Although the room on the first floor is used for MISN activities, SSMU President Kay Turner acknowledged that the potential loss of the lounge would not restrict the service’s activities by shifting MISN to the fourth floor. She added that the nursery would have a fundamental effect on McGill parents.

“For the students who have young children, having a nursery could make a difference as to whether or not they can complete their education,” she said.

The nursery – the only one in Montreal to prioritize McGill students – would be financed by SSMU and government subsidies.

The provincial government approved the construction of the nursery in mid-August, on the condition that it would be located in the room currently occupied by MISN. The room was the only viable

option that complied with governmental regulations concerning size, lighting, and evacuation protocol for nurseries.

Amy Vincent, SSMU’s daycare director, indicated that the nursery would meet an important demand for McGill students, especially undergraduates.

“On our waiting list of undergraduate students, all but one have children under 18-months-old,” Vincent said. “There has always been a need [for a nursery], but this is the first time we have been able to act on it.”

However, MISN President Charles Pontvianne was concerned that a move might hinder services provided to the 6,250 international students – comprising just under 17 per cent of the student population – at McGill.

Pontvianne was unsatisfied with SSMU’s offer of a space on the fourth floor of Shatner because it is far away from other services important to MISN such as International Student Services (ISS). He explained that MISN services rely on the large-sized lounge for the low-cost language classes and events.

“We would lose total visibility on campus. Very few students go to the fourth floor to see services. We need the lounge space,” said Ponvianne.

“By depriving us of this space, SSMU is preventing us from fulfilling our mission.”

Turner however, saw the nursery as an opportunity for SSMU to be accountable to student needs.

“People are always saying that SSMU never follows up on its mandate,” Turner said. “[The nursery] is a great opportunity to follow up with something students have said they want.”

Khalil Guliwala, MISN VP Internal, explained that fewer people would be served in a space transfer.

“SSMU is disregarding a big minority of students in favour of a small group of students,” Guliwala said.

Samantha Cook, SSMU VP Clubs & Services, explained that the future of MISN had not been overlooked.

“We have saved them a room upstairs, the same size room as any other service gets,” she said.

Cook added that it was unclear why MISN has been privileged to occupy a space far larger than those allocated to other clubs and services for many years.

But Guliwala was annoyed that SSMU was asking for their cooperation while still not meeting their needs.

“SSMU asked us to send out an email on our listserv about the deregulation of tuition fees. They are asking us to help them while we are losing out on physical space,” he said.

Though no decision will be reached until tonight’s Council meeting, MISN is already unsatisfied with how the decision-making process has proceeded.

“There was no dialogue at all between us and SSMU or SSMU and the general population,” stated Pontvianne.

6

Art Essay

The McGill Daily, Thursday, October 2, 2008

A Collection of Poor Traits by ben peck

Mind&Body

The McGill Daily, Thursday, October 2, 2008

7

Oktober is for lovers (of beer) All hopped up Joseph Watts In München steht ein Hofbräuhaus Eins, zwei, g’suffa!

Da läuft so manches Fäßchen aus Eins, zwei, g’suffa!

In Munich there’s a Hofbrauhaus One, two, drink!

That’s where the kegs are rolled out One, two, drink!

E

veryone has an idea about what Oktoberfest is – the German word for binge-drinking, lederhosen and dirdl-clad Bavarians running amok, or maybe just any old brouhaha. The real Oktoberfest is happening right now in Munich, the capital of the German state of Bavaria, and with over six-million visitors, its true definition is the largest folk festival in the world.

The first Oktoberfest was to commemorate the 1810 marriage of the future king and queen of Bavaria, Ludwig I and Therese, but it soon became a 16-day harvest celebration.

This bounty is reflected in the spirit of the modern Munich Oktoberfest, from the massive tents overflow-

ing with people, to the hundreds of thousands of sausages dished out.

Then, of course, there is the beer.

While Oktoberfest is much more than litre-sized steins of specially brewed beer, virtually every visitor comes thirsty. Known the world over for its beer, Bavaria has taken the art of brewing and drinking beer very seriously. The Bavarian Hofbräuhaus is the world’s only state-owned brewery, Augustiner Bräu, one of Munich’s most popular breweries, is almost 700-yearsold, and every brewery, including Paulaner, Hacker-Pschorr, Spaten, and Löwenbräu, sponsors a tent at the Oktoberfest. These draw a big crowd – each tent can be found packed full of folks enjoying beer while standing on tables singing oom-pah songs like the one above.

This week at Three Bares Park on lower campus you may see a similar, though ever-so-slightly smaller tent with people sipping beers, complaining about midterms, and chomping on some less than authentic skewered sausages. Oktoberhaus is a

three-day OAP-style beer tent put on

by AUS in conjunction with the Swiss Club of McGill. If you scoff at the lack of beer variety at Oktoberhaus – just Boréale due to the exclusive contract SSMU has with Brasseurs du Nord – know that the selection isn’t much better in Munich.

Märzen, or Oktoberfest beer, is brewed especially for the festival and is the only type served. Brewed in the month of Märzen, or March, from which it borrows its name, and aged in large wooden kegs in underground caves all summer, Märzen is a pale lager with twice the alcohol of other local beers like the Munich helles.

tivals outside of Munich, entering its 39th year on October 10. Meanwhile, Montreal’s own mini-beerfest, the Oktoberfest at Marché Atwater, will feature samples from 19 Quebecois breweries during the hours of the market, October 10-12.

If all else fails, the next time you have a

beer in your hand raise it high, sing a song, and be sure to say “prost!”

You can discuss the merits of a nice frosty Boréale with Joseph at Oktoberhaus, happening the rest of this week at Three Bares Park. If he really isn’t there, send your beerinspired revelations to him at AllHoppedUp@ gmail.com

Maybe if you bring your own stein and lederhosen to the Oktoberhaus at McGill it might feel more like the real Oktoberfest, but chances are that you might have a better time at one of the other Oktoberfests closer to home. KitchnerWaterloo, for instance, has one of the largest fesAnne Haldane for The McGill Daily

A new promise for the fight against HIV? Nikki Bozinoff

The McGill Daily

A

study comparing vaginal secretions from HIV-1 resistant and non-resistant Nairobi sex workers may have important implications for HIV prevention research. The paper, published in the Journal of Proteome Research, found that proteins known to inhibit HIV are over-expressed in the genital secretions of HIV-resistant sex workers, while others known to stimulate immune response are underexpressed.

The idea that immune-response stimulants are under-expressed in HIV-resistant subjects may seem counter-intuitive, but as Adam Bergener, a post-doctoral fellow at the University of Manitoba, and one of the paper’s authors, explained, the results actually makes sense.

“In the case of HIV [lower expres-

sion of proteins that stimulate immune-response] is actually beneficial because HIV infects immune cells. So if you have less immune cells present, then perhaps HIV doesn’t have as many targets to infect,” Bergener said.

Researchers at the University of Manitoba and the University of Nairobi have been collaborating on research of infectious diseases since 1980. The women who participated in the study are part of a larger cohort of 2,000 commercial sex workers, more than 140 of who have been characterized as being relatively resistant to HIV-1.

Bergener and his colleagues’ work is being praised by many of those interested in the science of HIV prevention, including Anna Forbes, Deputy Director of the Global Campaign for Microbicides.

“We’ve known about the phenomenon of the [HIV-resistant] Nairobi sex workers for a while…but it is very interesting to see more research being

done on it. I think what it tells us is in late-stage efficacy trials. However, that there is a great deal that we still none have yet been proven to halt the need to understand about the ecology transmission of HIV. Forbes highlighted the imporof the vagina, about how the vagina actually works, and how the vagina tance of Bergener’s research, saying that the development of an effective actually defends itself,” said Forbes.

Bergener was also enthusiastic microbicide could significantly help about the implications this research women. may have on the advancement of tools for the prevenThere is a great deal that we tion of HIV transmission. still need to understand about “Anything that we find can certainly aid in the the ecology of the vagina development of new micro– Anna Forbes bicides or better ones, since Deputy Director of the Global Campaign for Microbicides this is a natural model of “The right to protect oneself from resistance against HIV,” Bergener HIV is a human right, and right now, said.

Microbicides – gels, creams, foams, for millions of women around the and depositories developed for physi- world, it’s a human right that they cal application inside of the vagina or have no ability to realize because the rectum to halt the transmission insisting on condoms is not an of HIV – have been in development option, and insisting on abstinence is for some time now. According to not an option,” Forbes said.

The next step, according to Forbes, 50 candidate products have been identified thus far; three are Bergener, is to replicate the study

“

on a larger scale in order to ensure broader validity among HIV-resistant women, and to confirm that the differential expression of these proteins is not confined to these specific cases.

Currently, 600 women are involved in a follow-up study.

“Once we do that, then we’ll tackle the hard biology – looking at how exactly these proteins may be inhibiting HIV, if at all. Trying to figure that out will be years of work,” Bergener said.

What’s more, Forbes explained that this kind of research could be happening in more labs and could be moving at a quicker pace if more funding was directed toward it.

“We would like to see much more research going on,” she said.

“Women’s health has always been a very under-served area, and microbicide research, because it compounds the stigma of women’s health with the stigma of HIV, is even more under-served.”

8

Commentary

The McGill Daily, Thursday, October 2, 2008

The mesmerizing commute

volume 98 number 10

editorial 3480 McTavish St., Rm. B-24 Montreal QC, H3A 1X9 phone 514.398.6784 fax 514.398.8318 mcgilldaily.com coordinating editor

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Ben Peck le délit

Maysa Phares redaction@delitfrancais.com Contributors

Komal Ali, Francesca Bianco, Nicolas Boisvert-Novak, Nikki Bozinoff, Madeline Coleman, Alexandra Dodger, Sara Fegelman, Chloe Ferguson, Sarah Flatto, Ann Haldane, Peter Hurley, Ashley Jay, Sally Lin, Hannah Martin, Chase Moser, Erin O’Callaghan, Andrea Pedrero, Sasha Plotnikova, Kimberley Ryan, Sana Saeed, Carly Shenfeld, Morgan Teeple Hopkins, Marie Thomas, Meghan Wray

Sana Saeed

I

ran. I wasn’t in a rush, but everyone behind me was, and I hate being “that walker” everyone dreams of curbstomping. Within a few minutes of exiting my connecting train, I approached the BerriUQAM platform in the direction of Angrignon.

My pace, along with the pace of those rushing around me, quickly became one of curious hesitance.

Our eyes were fixated on the same image before us.

Her. I could not tear my eyes away from her. No one could.

Around 5’7’’ in a simple black heel resonant of the 1995 shoe style, she wore a gray A-shaped skirt that fell right in the middle of her calve area. With straight cut folds, it had a look of some serious grandeur. Her top was a jet black semi-long neck, half sleeve with a straight cut. It was tightly tucked into her skirt, which came up just above her navel. She was softly pale with blondish hair, which had had no visible special treatment besides that of a comb. On her right arm hung a simple, small black purse. There she stood, irresistible to any set of eyes that passed.

A model persona, without the visible ribs and contract. We were unfit to

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returned. On the same car as her, I felt like a prepubescent boy, once again seeking haven in the publishing dates. Flashing my eyes in her direction, I saw her sitting in complete peace. A second flash of the eyes was encountered by her soft blue stare.

She smiled, and I returned the favour.

I got off at Peel, feeling oddly elated. I think she was an angel.

Or someone on so much E that it perforated the senses of everyone around her.

Aristotle’s lackey will appear every other Thursday. Feel free to send “Solitude Sana” questions and comments to aristotleslackey@ mcgilldaily.com. If not, she will be sad. And alone.

Trust me, we need that $700-billion bailout Peter Hurley

The Daily is published on most Mondays and Thursdays by the the Daily Publications Society, an autonomous, not-for-profit organization whose membership includes all McGill undergraduates and most graduate students.

be in her surroundings.

The men stood, fixated. Hushed and enamored, they stared. They found themselves not aroused, but attracted to her. She didn’t allow for arousal. But she didn’t demand attraction, either. She just stood there, unflinching. Not an eyelash battered, nor a smirk shared.

With my gawking discovered, I grabbed 100 Years of Solitude (not autobiographical...yet) from my purse and read the publishing dates. Very interesting stuff when in an awkward enough position. After about 30 seconds my nosy eyes wandered and saw an unattractive male walk up beside her. He was short, had a bit of a belly, and was balding save for a few stringy strands. He was engulfed in his book and did not even glance to see her beside him.

Then, to the shock of every subatomic particle in Berri-UQAM, she asked him which book he was reading. A mumbled response resulted in a smile and a return to silence from her. I smiled. She did not acknowledge the existence of any of the men who gawked, glimpsed, gazed, and glanced at her. But the one man whose fixation lay elsewhere, she verbally acknowledged.

The train arrived and the rush

O

n Monday, the U.S. House of Representatives pulled the rug out from under what was the last best hope for preventing financial chaos.

The $700-billion bailout bill was derided both from the left and the right. Ultimately though, the costs of inaction will exceed that price.

On Monday, as the House voted, stocks plunged. But this doesn’t just affect rich people. This means that workers’ retirements are deferred, education is now less accessible, and poor and middle class people across Canada and the U.S. will lose their jobs as the economy slows.

On the day the House voted down the bailout, a larger sum, $1.2-trillion, vanished into thin air. And that was only in the U.S. The TSX dropped 840 points as well. There isn’t a fixed

amount of wealth and value in the capitalism, it’s the system we’ve got world, and the total pool of money right now. We have to work within is shrinking, fast. To put that in per- the framework of markets in order spective, on Monday afternoon, a to deal with this crisis – and it is a value equivalent to the entire annual crisis.

The plan that was on the table output of Canada just vanished.

Congress needed to plug the hole, Monday was far from perfect. It and unfortunately, almost nobody gave broad and vague powers to else can. Only about three entities the Treasury Department and was in the world can come up with the an unprecedented intervention into hundreds of billions needed to stop the bleeding and There is a strong emotional stave off disaster. They are desire to punish the Wall Street the U.S., Japan, and China.

For various reasons, Japan executives who led us into this and China won’t, so we’re mess. But this should take a left staring at Congress. back seat to saving people’s There is a strong emojobs, homes, and savings. tional desire to punish the Wall Street executives who led us into this mess. However, we markets. But something needed to have to keep the situation in per- happen, and this was the thing that spective. Punishing them right now had enough momentum to get to a should take a back seat to saving vote.

Congress needs to negotiate a peoples’ jobs, homes, and savings.

Whether or not you’re a fan of new plan and to do so quickly. If a

“

couple more weeks go by, we will begin seeing huge damage to the non-financial sectors of the economy. Paycheques will start to bounce as employers lack credit to make their payrolls. Banks will begin running out of cash, and the American and Canadian Deposit Insurance Corporations will come under huge pressure as larger banks start failing and no willing buyers emerge.

When banks fail in this way, taxpayers will be left with the bill.

Unless we’re willing to let people’s bank accounts vanish, we will be paying for this soon enough.

Peter Hurley is a U3 Economics and Philosophy student, and he’s suuuch a fucking capitalist. He can be reached at peter.hurley@mail. mcgill.ca. To clarify, Peter actually wants to punish the Wall Street fat cats, but not at the expense of the entire economy. He has no problem with felines in general.

Commentary

The McGill Daily, Thursday, October 2, 2008

A change we can Facebook in Andrea Pedrero (CUP)

POINT

I

f you have a Facebook profile, by now you’re fully aware that thousands of users are protesting its complete redesign to the “new Facebook.” It seems Facebook creator Mark Zuckerberg and other designers pushed the redesign through, and neglected to include the site’s users in the process. Because of that, users are determined in protesting the ugly, inconvenient new design.

The decision is similar to the one Coca-Cola made when it decided to reformulate its soft drink to make it taste a little bit sweeter, and consumers reacted with an unprecedented uproar against the new Coke. Pushed mainly by Coke president Roberto Goizueta, who decided to start producing the new Coke with a minimal amount of market research, the change became known as a “topdown” decision. The protest was so great that Coke surrendered and went back to its original taste.

Facebook now finds itself in the same situation.

The new Facebook isn’t just hideous, it’s not even functional. As I’m writing this, people who use Internet Explorer 6 can’t even access the new Facebook. Many people who use Windows must use Explorer by default at some institutions, and they

Leah Pires

COUNTERPOINT

A

fter years of relative apathy, millions are finally uniting to fight a great injustice against humanity. Are they finding a cure for cancer? Giving peace a chance?

Putting an end to Scientology? No. They’re campaigning for the right to revert to the old Facebook layout.

What has been called “a merciless top-down decision on the part of Mark Zuckerberg,” “another MySpace clone,” and “annoying and messy” is rallying the online masses to make a change where it really counts: the design of everyone’s favourite social networking web site.

Now, I’m hardly one of those anti-Facebookers – I have no qualms admitting that Facebook has its virtues, and I like to indulge in a little photo-browsing and wall-posting every now and again. You’re not reading the rant of some luddite who thinks Facebook should cease to exist altogether. Just someone who is shocked and appalled at the amount of resistance that is being given to a change as minute and ultimately meaningless as this one.

I don’t feel the need to make an itemized list of reasons why the “new Facebook” is potentially superior to the old one, though I am relieved to have all of that “Hatching Eggs” and

aren’t even allowed to upgrade to a newer Explorer or use a secondary browser like Firefox. Way to block a massive amount of members, guys!

To be fair, the developers recognize the problem and are desperately scrambling to fix it.

But the problem goes beyond browser restrictions. Zuckerberg says there are three objectives he wants to accomplish with the new look: he wanted it to look clean, he wanted users to have more control, and he wanted to feature only the most recent news. So far, the results are fail, fail, and fail. Let me explain why.

The new look is chaotic, the profiles are a mess, the margins are too wide, and there’s an excessive amount of wasted white space. Rather than fill up all that useless space, Facebook hid everything behind tabs – there’s even tabs within tabs, all within more tabs! It just makes me have to click more for content. Want to play a game on Facebook? You’ll have to press on the “Boxes” tab. Ironically, it’s the category that usually holds the most exciting content, and yet they gave it the most boring name.

Why should I be loyal to a site that doesn’t care about its users? I took it upon myself to see if there’s anything that compares to Facebook.

First, I revisited MySpace and was immediately reminded why I left it in the first place. It has so many spammers that your head spins. And the

fact that every second profile plays “I Kissed a Girl” automatically doesn’t help. I tried Google’s Orkut.com and felt like I had returned to “Web 1.0.”

I’ll admit some of their groups aren’t bad, but finding those useful groups was too much of a pain. I tried a new social network closer to home: the Vancouver-based web site WordArc. com. I found friends on there who were submitting articles and blogs on topics ranging from politics to creative writing. But it was more like a Facebook for intellectuals, or better yet, Facebook for writers and friends of writers. WordArc.com was too high-brow and serious for me to post any of the silly stuff I do on Facebook.

After my search, I realized what sucks about a top-down decision like Zuckerberg’s. All the people on the bottom suffer, simply because a site like Facebook can afford to make that decision when it has a userbase that’s so loyal to a design that used to just work. Regardless, we should keep making a stink and not give up. And if Zuckerberg sees our loyalty waning, we might have a chance to get the old Facebook back. Consumers have done it before with larger corporations.

“Your Horoscope” and “What German Philosopher Are You?” garbage out of my face. The new Facebook’s flaws or virtues are beside the point. The point is: ultimately, who cares?

The answer to that question is 3,659,289. That’s right, over 3.5-million enraged social networkers are busily protesting this change with every fibre of their online beings.

The group “Please Keep the Old Facebook. The New Version is a Disaster” elucidates the issue: “With all its complicated tabs and buttons along with endless space reserved for commercial advertisements, Facebook could lose potential users.”

In response to the unjust change, Facebook user Andrew Parry writes, “Facebook wont let me ave da old 1 bk how bad!!” When it’s so elegantly articulated, I find it hard to disagree.

Raymond Okekanmi cries plaintively, “If these ‘scenes’ (i.e. hassle with new FB) continue, i will have no other option but to deactivate my account. Hell is low indeed!!!” Low indeed, Raymond, low indeed.

Nicole M. Keach really gets to the root of the issue: “Bumper stickers and all the fun personality stuff is the on the last tab instead of the first page where people come to visit!!!” Good point, Nicole. How can we express ourselves, if not through bumper stickers, Microsoft Paint-level drawings, and “fun personality stuff” – like those “What Sex and the City

Character Are You?” quizzes?

The group “1 000 000+ to bring back old facebook” (whose member count clocks in at significantly less than the advertised million members – 400,464, to be exact) proposes an ultimatum: “ATTENTION FACE BOOK: IF YOUR NOT GOING TO CHANGE BACK, (WHICH YOU WILL) AT LEAST SEPARATE THE WALL FROM THE MINI FEED.” Listen “Face book,” you’re going to do what we tell you. You are a computer program, but we know “your” listening.

Millions of angry Facebookers have spoken, and they’re demanding a change! A change back to the way things were before this change!

Listen up, Mark Zuckerberg. You’d better start caring about us, or you’re going to lose us altogether!

Oh. Uh, I mean.... Hm. Seriously, people. Get a hold of yourselves. If the most moral outrage you have felt in the last month has been over the consolidation of your mini-feed and your wall posts, you need to reevaluate your priorities and maybe close the good ole MacBook for a while. There’s a whole offline world out there just waiting for you; take it, it’s yours. Though I can’t make any promises about whether or not it’ll change its layout anytime soon.

Andrea Pedrero is a student at Capilano University. This piece originally appeared in The Capilano Courier, a member of the Canadian University Press.

Leah Pires is The Daily’s coordinating Culture editor.

9

Letters: On super heroes, drinks, abortion, and money

Letters Sane shit from a made-up super hero Re: More crazy shit from theatre students | Commentary | Sept. 29 I take offense to the term “crazy shit,” or the use of “crazy” in describing my obviously eloquent and tothe-point letters. Recently someone I know had a dream that The Daily fell on its own sword. Be wary of sharp objects, Daily! Especially “crazies” with sharp objects.

Not only am I stereotyped as a “theatre” student, I am also compared to those people who have lost their minds...my diagnosis: too much of the world, too much second-rate journalism! If I am crazy, then let it be known that there are many more of me out there...those with genuine fears of extraterrestrial doom-bringers, hack writers collectively masquerading as a student newspaper, and the long shadows of apocalyptic horsemen rounding the corner at sundown.

I’m working on vanishing into thin air behind cleverly placed clouds of noxious gas, but until then, consider me the sanest Theatre AND Religious Studies student to grace this hallowed ground.

Yours, The Dark Motorcyclist Devon Welsh U2 Religious Studies and Drama & Theatre

The irony of choice Re: “Voices for choice” | Mind & Body | Sept. 18; “Must doctors perform procedures they deem immoral?” | Commentary | Sept. 21 I would like to thank The Daily for publishing the article “Voices for choice” and the point-counterpoint articles “Must doctors perform procedures they deem immoral?” Abortion is an issue that must be brought back into public consideration.

I was disappointed, however, that Conor Lynch alone, of the three authors, brings up the inherent irony in the “freedom to choose” rhetoric: that it limits the freedoms afforded to certain individuals. For every woman who exercises her freedom to choose, a human being is denied her right to life. Packaging abortion as a woman’s rights issue does not change the fundamental truth that abortion ends the life of human being.

I implore everyone with an interest in human rights to consider the moral concern in the abortion debate.

Groups of human beings have been deemed worthless before based on arbitrary characteristics. It turns out gender, ethnicity, and religion don’t define our value as humans. Should age? Can we condone killing nearly 100,000 unborn children in Canada every year?

Natalie Fohl U2 Biology & Political Science

Karl knows where to find the best $4 drinks Re: “Right On Karl! You’re the best!” | Commentary | Sept. 25 Lee Fiorio knows McGill. He knows its people, and he knows that McGill people are thirsty for spoken word, commentary on social justice issues, and world music.

But if you’re not thirsty for these things, take a cool sip of four dollars per semester.

Karl Tennessen U3 Science

Omigod, I can’t beliefe I just won! I never win anyting!

Compliment, you just won 6532.US$.

Would you beliefe, you just won 532.US$ Cheers Jacklyn, Have fun.

Salvador Dillon Super Jackpot Kasino

Send your letters from your McGill email address to letters@ mcgilldaily.com, and please keep them to 300 words for style and brevity. The Daily does not print letters that are sexist, racist, homophobic, or otherwise hateful.

The Daily received more letters than it could print in this issue.

They will appear in the next possible issue, provided Salvador Dillon and Devon Welsh don’t write again.

ErratUM In “Stars hide your fires let McGill see your space desires,” (News, Sept. 29) The Daily wrote that V-Day McGill paid “between $800 and $1,400 to stage four-night runs in Leacock 132”. In fact, McGill charges the group $800 to $1,400 per night.

The Daily regrets the error.

10 Features

Ben Peck / The McGill Daily

The McGill Daily, Thursday, October 2, 2008

11

Forgiving the unthinkable After witnessing reconciliation in Rwanda frst-hand, Sarah Flatto comments on Canada’s recent action – and inaction – in bringing refugee genocide perpetrators to justice

W

hen I arrived in Rwanda at the start of a nineweek internship this June, traces of the 1994 genocide were nowhere to be found. I went to Rwanda under the impression that defining ethnicity as either Tutsi or Hutu had somehow become obsolete, since public use of these terms is being phased out. I expected to encounter darkness in the eyes of a population traumatized by the unthinkable. I expected to find tangible remnants of destruction and despair.

But I didn’t. There were no bloodstained sidewalks, no cratered buildings, no empty villages. Most of the people I met in Rwanda were quicker to smile and laugh freely than I am. The friendliness and energy of the Rwandan people who shaped my experience of the country complicated my initial judgments.

B

etween 500,000 and a million people were massacred in just 100 days during the 1994 Rwandan genocide.

The crisis is now often considered to be one of the worst incidences of human cruelty fueled by political and ethnic extremism, and is a notorious case of the failure of international peacemaking.

Canada, and especially Quebec, have had important ties to Rwanda for many years. Quebecois scholars have taught in Rwanda, at the reputable National University of Butare, and many Rwandans have traveled to Quebec to study and work. Native Montrealer Roméo Dallaire was the force commander of the United Nations Mission for Rwanda. His memoir, Shake Hands with the Devil, recounts his experience of the genocide. After his calls for increased troops and logistical support were rebuffed by the UN, he watched in vain as the situation steadily worsened.

Canada’s link to Rwanda is particularly important when it comes to welcoming immigrants. The Canadian government has purposefully pursued a policy of multiculturalism since the 1988 introduction of the Multiculturalism Act, an unprecedented declaration of openness and tolerance. The act has, in part, provided for the continuing influx of immigrants searching for freedom in Canada. But what are the limits of multiculturalism? To what extent can individuals seek asylum in Canada when they are escaping punishment for serious crimes? Under Canadian and international law, a person can attain refugee status “owing to a well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, member-

ship of a particular social group, or political opinion, is outside the country of their nationality, and is unable to or, owing to such fear, is unwilling to avail him/herself of the protection of that country.” In addition, there is a special “designated class [of people] in need of resettlement” who may not necessarily meet the strict criteria of refugee status. Currently, applicants from Rwanda are part of this designated class.

T

he more time I spent in Rwanda, visiting massacre sites and speaking to more and more people, I began to notice footprints of the genocide everywhere. As I grew closer to the Rwandans with whom I was working and living, I began to understand the profound emotional aftereffects of the genocide. Many survivors have been driven from their homes; or, being unable to live in proximity to their family’s killers, have established new villages almost wholly composed of other survivors. This self-segregation has, to an extent, prevented these communities from healing from the past decade’s traumas. It has also reinforced mutual hatred between ethnic Tutsis and Hutus, passing the animosity to new generations. Conversely, in other neighbourhoods, both victims and perpetrators have reconciled, and live peacefully – they shake hands in the street and sit near each other in church.

I didn’t believe this initially. I can’t bring myself to forgive people who hurt me or my friends, so I found it incredible that these Rwandans were able to forgive the people who murdered their loved ones and destroyed their lives.

P., one of my Rwandan friends who is the sole survivor of his family, told me gently, “The ones that don’t forgive also kill themselves.” Another friend, E., watched his five siblings and father get hacked to death. E. was cut on the head and left for dead, but somehow survived. He spent two years recuperating in Italy before returning to Rwanda. Now, he is fluent in Italian and takes any chance he gets to invite his acquaintances over for home-cooked Italian food. With every story I heard, I was repeatedly confronted with the message that if someone is not at peace with others, they cannot be at peace in their own minds – and vice versa. The Rwandans I met were willing to forgive personal grudges that might have otherwise led to more violence.

Despite the forgiveness that has been fostered on individual and community levels, those who were perpetrators of the genocide should be brought to justice for their crimes.

C

anada took a step in the right direction by placing Désiré Munyaneza on trial in 2007 for crimes against humanity committed during the 1994 genocide. He was denied refugee status in Canada by the Immigration and Refugee board under the 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees, which states that refugees cannot seek asylum in Canada if they are charged with crimes against humanity. Five other men who have been formally charged with genocide crimes in Rwanda are living freely in Canada, and as many as one hundred other proven leaders of the genocide are at large in other countries. The Rwandan government should be able to assume legal responsibility for the condemnation of criminals Pierre Clestin Halindintwali, Gaspard Ruhumuliza, Evariste Bicamumpaka, Lon Mugesera, and Vincent Ndamage, who all helped rally their friends and neighbours to perform mass murders.

Objectively speaking, these men could fit under the legal category of refugee or designated class – they are not safe from persecution in their home countries. But the social and humanitarian implications of their past actions must be considered; a public indictment and trial is not a violation of their human rights.

T

he concept of international law in and of itself is one of dispute, debate, and subjectivity. However, the perpetration of genocide should not be subject to jurisdictional nuances or oversensitive multiculturalism that will let it slip through the cracks. Such responses to the Rwandan criminals-at-large have the potential to bring relief and justice to those still suffering from the implications of the genocide. It is almost inconceivable that in an age of accessible information and facilitated communication – especially given that both their names and acts have been published in newspapers – that these men are still able to escape from the past. Just as bottom-up approaches to progress, the likes of which are pervasive in Rwanda, are effective in peacebuilding and trauma rehabilitation, top-down approaches cement a paradigm for accountability.

The line between tolerance and complacency, appreciation and deference, understanding and apathy, is almost impossible to navigate constructively. Yet that does not relieve the Canadian government of its moral duty to locate and prosecute perpetrators of crimes against humanity.

These men deliberately deprived others of lives and liberty; their uninhibited freedom is an insult to a million lost souls and those who survive them.

Culture

The McGill Daily, Thursday, October 2, 2008

12

This is the second installment of The Daily’s guide to Pop Montreal, an annual five-day extravaganza of music, film, art, and shenanigans that takes place in various nooks and crannies around town. This year’s festival begins tonight and goes until Sunday. Though we’ve briefed you our top picks, popmontreal.com is brimming with more detailed and in-depth information on all the weekend has to offer.

Despite operating on the scene’s margins, poster artists make their mark on the communities where they advertise.

Popping the poster scene Died Young, Stayed Pretty is a movie about rock posters – those silk-screened graphic design wonders you see on telephone poles and mailboxes, here one day and gone the next. It’s about the eccentric characters who make them, and an artistic boom that happened discretely, a movement that wasn’t much of a movement at all.

Rock posters first caught filmmaker Eileen Yaghoobian’s eye in her native Vancouver, while she was going through a rough period after her brother’s death in 2002. Their cynical humour and twisted imagery appealed to her. “I just thought it was funny stuff,” she said, citing a poster of a teddy bear with its arms chopped off. The way the posters put found images into strange new contexts also struck her. “They alter pieces of other people’s forgotten dreams into a poster for a rock band,” she wrote in her Director’s Statement.

The posters raised some persistent questions: Have subcultures lost their edge? Is the system of cultural production too structured today for art to have any kind of subversive power? Yaghoobian wanted

answers, so she set off on a road trip across the U.S. and Canada in search of these artists who live off the grid, shooting on location for three years with no outside funding, filming alone, often sleeping on the floors and couches of the artists she interviewed.

Her documentary follows the sudden flourishing of poster production that arose in the wake of September 11, putting the spotlight on a group of artists that often work in isolation and rarely get talked about as a movement to themselves. If the poster artists belong to a community at all, it’s a particularly postmodern kind: diffused, decentralized, linked through the internet. What’s fascinating about Died Young, Stayed Pretty is that, un-unified though the artists are, common themes start to emerge.

Yaghoobian made a point of letting the artists speak for themselves rather than using voice-over narration. “I don’t want to preach what I think,” she said. “These are the discussions in their world: does the youth have [any] power? Do these posters even do anything? That’s really for me the most interesting

Courtesy of Norotomo Productions

Died Young, Stayed Pretty: October 3 at 9 p.m., Cinema du Parc Film Pop runs ‘til October 5 at venues all over Montreal. Check popmontreal.com/film/en for details.

question that I kept on trying to figure out.”

The conversations that result are surprisingly loaded, with globalization, artistic integrity, and the psyche of small-town America all out on the table for discussion.

A certain sense of cultural stagnation comes through in the crossfire.

Tom Hazelmeyer of Amphetamine Reptile Records questions whether subcultures today are doing anything new. “Being in a punk rock band now? That’s like being a hippy in 1984,” he says. “Jesus Christ, invent your own new thing. Let’s go forward! What happened to the fucking future?”

Some point to posters as a potential last bastion of artistic independence, outside the system of art galleries and cultural industry. Others say they’re crass advertisement, or even useless, sometimes appearing only after the show they’re promoting has already been sold out.

Conceived as the filmic equivalent of a rock poster, Yaghoobian’s documentary preserves the paradoxes surrounding poster art, letting multiple voices stand in contrast with each other without

drowning each other out. The film employs ironic juxtaposition and sassy editing, cutting off abruptly in ways that make the artists’ outrageous one-liners sound almost like stand-up comedy. Posters flash onto the screen with an effect like a flashbulb going off, lingering only for a few seconds in a way that underlines their ephemerality while giving them added force.

Died Young, Stayed Pretty is one of the feature offerings at Film Pop this year, the music-oriented film festival held each year in conjunction with Pop Montreal. It’s one of the 43 films on show, in addition to several live events, including appearences by the filmmakers, concerts accompanying the films, and master classes with celebrities like Jem Cohen at reasonable prices.

Highlights include a movie about one-man bands and a documentary on Montreal’s up-and-coming Rockabilly scene, followed by a performance by some of the featured bands.

Carmen Nagrelli, one of the Film Pop coordinators, says that it’s a different kind of film festival. First drawn to Pop Montreal as a volun-

teer, Nagrelli appreciated Pop’s collaborative ethos, in contrast to the more hierarchical structure of other industry situations.

“It’s not about what’s hot in the film world,” she said. “I think we have a lot of heart, basically, as cheesy as that sounds.” This year there’s a loose focus on building community, on coming out and watching movies together instead of alone in our homes.

Though Film Pop has a distinct interest in issues of underground culture, Nagrelli says it’s not their goal to make an overt statement.

“We’re not trying to be political,” she said.

Speaking about the experience of filming Died Young, Stayed Pretty, Yaghoobian said it was a strange time in America to be filming a documentary. Bush got re-elected, and Hurricane Katrina struck New Orleans. Yaghoobian herself was in the area when the storm hit, missing it by a day.

“Some people say ‘we’re not political,’” she said, “but they are, just because of the images they use, the times they’re living in.”

– Braden Goyette

Culture

The McGill Daily, Thursday, October 2, 2008

13

Fashion show: October 2 / Coda (4119 St. Laurent) Marketplace: October 4-5 / St. Michel Church Hall (105 St. Viateur O.) I had never set foot in Montreal when I decided to pack off to our fair city. My perception of Montreal was based entirely on the misleading “knowledge” of fellow Vancouverites who had. Popular kernels of wisdom ranged from “You don’t need to speak French at all,” to “It’s so European!” But by far the most common expression of admiration, and undoubtedly the most italicized, was the assertion that “Montrealers are sooo stylish!”

At risk of casting the people of Vancouver in too bumpkin-ish a light, languishing as they do in their western solitude, I will accept this last generalization as a fair assumption.

The young people of Montreal are indeed fashion-conscious.

However, beneath the glossy veneer, something sinister is at work: homogeny. In response to the pressure to look good, many have adopted a uniform. Why curate a varied wardrobe when one can easily acquire the “look” in one fell swoop at Urban Outfitters? Silk scarf, check. Flannel, check. V-neck, check. Sometimes fashionable is just another word for formulaic.

If this sartorial equation leaves something to be desired, have no fear – Puce Pop’s second annual fashion show is here! The show will be part of Puces Pop’s official launch party and will showcase six

young Montreal designers’ sweat, blood, and knit cotton jersey.

This event provides an important outlet for designers looking to start their careers, says Marilis Cardinal, one of the show’s coordinators. For most of them, it will be their first show. “A lot of people who applied said, ‘I’ve been wanting to do a collection, but I never had a reason to,’” she says. “Only one or two of them had ever [done a show] before.”

The Le Château-sponsored show will be juried by what the press release calls “fashion professionals,” with a $2,000 prize going to the winner. According to Cardinal, a budding tastemaker needs all the

help he or she can get. Material costs for small-scale producers are high, meaning that, despite young designers’ best intentions, they can rarely afford to put accessible prices on their clothing. The harsh reality, she says, is that although “people in Montreal are fashion-conscious, [most] don’t have enough money to buy from designers.”

One wonders if this realization was a harsh one for the designers competing in Pop’s show. All of them are currently based in Montreal, but many migrated to the city from Canada’s coasts to study fashion at Lasalle College. Montreal’s reputation as the “most stylish city in Canada,” which is likely based more

on a knack for thrifting than limitless clothing budgets, may seem incongruent with the difficulties faced by the city’s emerging designers.

Nonetheless, Cardinal encourages fashion hopefuls to give it their best shot. “Look on Craigslist for opportunities, post photos, get a web site up – just put yourself out there.”

If you support small businesses and youthful ingenuity, then you have all the more reason to make your way down to Pop’s fashion show this Thursday. “The cool thing about Montreal designers,” says Cardinal, “is that not one is like the other.” And that’s exactly what this city needs.

– Madeline Coleman

October 4-5 / École Lambert-Closse (5840 St. Urbain) October can be a stressful time. The carefree, warm days of September have ended and McGill students must actually tackle all the assignments that have piled up while we were partying, playing in the park, and pretending it was still summer. One technique many psychologists suggest to deal with such stressful events is known as “regression.” It involves reverting to patterns of behaviour used in childhood, when life was simple and there was no need to write a ten-page paper about the use of the Realist theory to explain protracted conflict in the Middle East.

If you’re looking to journey back into your childhood, Kids Pop might just be the ticket. The event offers free programming for “budding young artists.” Activities include various workshops and shows that take place at the École LambertClose at the corner of Bernard and St. Urbain.

One of the more notable events is a family dinner concert put on by Socalled, a hip-hop musician who mixes music from strange sources such as klezmer bands and Hebrew prayers. Ironically, his other performance at Pop Montreal will be a musical collaboration with Final Fantasy for a porn film at Cinéma L’Amour.

Two Kids Pop activities will be put on by McGill’s own CKUT. The Soundwalk is a tour of Mile End where kids record “iconic sounds” such as traffic, and people having coffee at the Cagibi, as well as local

artists who have been invited to perform in local spaces.

Also, families are invited to participate in a workshop where a CKUT group that invents its own sound equipment and experiments with circuit bending will help kids build their own instruments using electrical circuits. According to Marc Montanchez, who will be running the workshop, this type of musical experimentation is all part of a “subgenre of people exploring music as noise.” The tradition has roots in radio and allows musicians to explore the physics of sound. Information about the programs can be found on their MySpace page: myspace.com/ ckutcircuitworkshopensemble.

Charlotte Scott, who will be running the Soundwalk, states, “CKUT has a 20-year-long tradition of using sound in an experimental way” and is always excited to offer children an experience that can’t be found in schools, raising their awareness of other ways of making music.

According to Scott, family workshops are important parts of festivals like Pop Montreal because “the people who established alternative culture are getting older and having kids. They don’t want to give up everything they created, move to the suburbs, and have their kids grow up with only TV and crappy music....

In the ‘iPod era’ of consumer electronics, it’s important to show kids they have the ability and the right to create the culture they enjoy instead of just being blind receivers of it.”

– Carly Shenfeld

Courtesy of Hooded Fang

October 2 / O Patro Vys (356 Mont-Royal Ave. E.) You should definitely see Hooded Fang’s Pop Montreal show at O Patro Vys tonight. I’m not just saying this because half of their members happen to be ex-Dailyites – and I’m not just saying this because they personally told me they would read this brief when it comes out. I’m very picky about music, and I listened to every song on their Myspace page the whole way through. Twice.

In case you didn’t catch the reference, Hooded Fang got their name from Mordechai Richler’s Jacob Two-Two books, which is adorably Montreal-y of them, if I may say so myself. They’re a

six-member indie-pop band, currently based out of Toronto, that got started in Montreal just last February. In a short time, they’ve already booked several relatively large shows, including tomorrow’s Pop Montreal performance, as well as a gig opening for Born Ruffians at Toronto’s Opera House.

Hooded Fang strives to create archetypal pop songs with a twist.

They have a sound that’s reminiscent of what would happen if the Cure and the New Pornographers met and made babies. Think soothing male lead vocals, bells, danceable beats, and lots of hand-claps.

According to April, the bassist, if Hooded Fang were an ice-cream flavour, it would be caramel cone explosion made with soy, because they’re not boring vanilla, but not something weird like Tiger Tail.

They’re familiar, but with a twist: several people’s different ideas coming together to make cute, fun pop songs.

Don’t just take it from me, though. See for yourself: this is going to be one of those shows where everyone will be out of their seats, dancing like crazy by the end of the set. Doors open at 9 p.m., people!

– Carly Shenfeld

14 Culture

The McGill Daily, Thursday, October 2, 2008

October 4 / Parc des Princes (5293 Parc) My encounter with Malcolm Sailor, architect of Balkaninfluenced band the Youjsh, was anything but usual. Using the sounds and aesthetic of eastern European klezmer music as a starting point, Sailor’s colourful and extensive musical background truly lends the Youjsh’s sound to something quite extraordinary.

The name of the band, abbreviated from the expression “the usual,” is a fitting contrast to their unconventional origins, as well as their current status in Montreal’s music scene. Sailor explains, “It’s a

little bit ironic because I don’t really feel that our band is very usual.”

Reluctant to define the Youjsh’s specifically as “klezmerpunk,” Sailor emphasizes the atypical nature of his music and explains the attitude involved.

“It’s supposed to be party music, basically. It’s supposed to be crazy, get-shit-faced-but-still-really-interesting-as-music music….

Just tell people to expect the unexpected,” he tells me with a slight smirk. “For all I know, [klezmer-punk] is a big trend, but I feel that most people have felt

somewhat at a loss to compare [us] to anything.”

Young musicians dissatisfied with their McGill musical education, the Youjsh formed as a group of friends seeking to exploit their classical and jazz roots. Sailor explains, “We used to have parties at my apartment where we’d just play klezmer tunes – although not very many of us are Jewish – or we would play arrangements of other music in klezmer style. At Christmas, we played Christmas carols in klezmer style called ‘Christ does Klez’ and that was a

lot of fun. People would go crazy, dancing and stuff.”

This playful mentality has only been perpetuated, bringing with it a series of successes. With the aid of a Canada Council Grant, Sailor et al. – who have only been playing together since the beginning of this year – are very much anticipating their role in this year’s Pop festival, a context removed from their respective jazz and classical trainings.

They have some doubts, however, about participating in such an extensive event, as there is

the possibility that smaller, lesser-known bands could be overlooked. “Maybe [the Youjsh’s gig] will just get lost in the crowd with the many other things that are going on,” Sailor worried. “I think that’s the challenge with this kind of event. I certainly haven’t heard of the vast majority of [the other bands in the festival] and I don’t think most people have heard of our band.” Regardless, he remains optimistic. “I’ve never played with this band and had anything less than an amazing time.”

– Sarah Fegelman

October 2 / Le Divan Orange (4234 St. Laurent) Ben Peck / The McGill Daily

October 3 / Theatre Nationale (1220 Ste. Catherine E.) Bonjour success, Bonjour Brumaire!

Though relatively new to the Montreal scene, Bonjour Brumaire has been gaining popularity these past few months.

After impressing many critics at the 2008 Osheaga Music and Arts Festival, the group is back to make a good impression at Pop Montreal. Bonjour Brumaire is a francophone indie-pop group composed of Youri Zaragoza (vocals and guitar), Nathan Howard (guitar and vocals), François Lessard (drums), Jordan Larocque (bass and vocals), and Karine Novelle (keyboard, organ, and vocals).

The band’s niche is comparable to another francophone group called Malajube, though Bonjour Brumaire is notably more culturally diverse. While the group is from Quebec, it grew out of collaboration between franco and anglo-Canadian, French, and Belgian musicians, bringing a

unique mixture of influences to their sound.

Bonjour Brumaire was “Discovery of the year” at the Gala de l’Alternative Musicale Indépendante du Québec. Since then, they’ve released their first album, De La Nature Des Foules, on played a couple of festivals, and garnered significant acclaim.

After successes like “Brooklyn” and “Prunelle” they scored big, garnering a nomination for SOCAN’s songwriting prize with their song “Angelès.”

It’s not surprising that Bonjour Brumaire has met such success.

The group is original and quirky, their songs are beautiful, the lyrics are witty, and they’re capable of creating an intimate atmosphere when they play.

If you want to give them a chance to impress you, the band is not only playing Pop Montreal, but also has multiple local shows planned for the coming year.

–Kimberley Ryan

Post-punk is dead. No-wave?

Over. Or at least, that’s what These Are Powers might have you believe. The trio’s self-styled ghost punk aesthetic balks at comparisons, featuring shrieks, chirps, and incantations over tribal drums and bass-lines that sound as though they couldn’t possibly emerge from any stringed instrument. “We wanted to create a movement that could just as easily be dissolved the next day,” explains singer Anna Barie, of the deliberately nebulous ghost-punk tag. Appropriately, she and her band are also known for giving two other terms to describe themselves: the strangely apt “Pentecostal regaetton” and tongue-in-cheek misnomer “ambient ska.”

While atonality, distortion, and enthralling, repetitive rhythms can’t help but evoke no-wave and other movements past, the band has unequivocally set itself in opposition to rock as a medium. In the early 20th century, the European Situationist movement appropriated aspects of popular media to subvert their original meaning. These Are Powers have clearly taken note; the primary melodic support for Barie’s entranced vocals is Pat Noecker’s “prepared” bass, modified with a wooden dowel under the strings and set in nonstandard tunings. For his part, percussionist Bill Salas plays standing up, pounding bone-shaking patterns at an elec-

tro-acoustic drum set of his own construction. In more expressive terms, These Are Powers sound like jazz musicians who got stranded in the Amazon and started practising voodoo rites with power drills, urged on by deep-sea whales.

Indeed, the spiritual plays a central role to the band’s approach to art. Barie explains that meditating before shows allows them to “acknowledge each other’s presence…and establish a common thread.”

“It also becomes Pavlovian,” she laughs, “We do this, and now it’s time to perform.” Asked whether spirituality and noise music make an unlikely pairing, the singer adamantly disagrees.

“I think the two go hand-in-hand.

Around the world, music has an important role in evoking the spirit. Certain frequencies and sounds, as well as repetition, can manifest emotional and transcendent responses.” In fact, These Are Powers cite Kandisky’s efforts to express spiritual truths through art as an essential influence on the band. Drawing lyrical inspiration from dream imagery and streamof-consciousness, Barie seeks to “translate visual things into sound.” Noecker once explained on a San Francisco blog, “We use [effects] pedals like a painter uses paintbrushes.”

As both Barie and Salas attest, the sheer volume and physicality

of These Are Powers’s live performances give the shows a ritualistic quality. “We’re very aware of the interaction between the audience and the performers,” the drummer adds. “Anna [Barie] steps offstage and invites you to join the show.”

“We are entertaining, but we are not entertain-ers,” Sala stresses.

“We played one show at a bar/restaurant where the crowd remained seated the entire time. It was like dinner theatre. It’s hard to immerse yourself in the moment when [everyone is] not fully immersed.

It’s a symbiotic relationship.” In the ritual of a performance, he continues, “You have us, the audience, and the space. The space is just as alive as the performers and the audience. It takes all three to have a really good show.” The group makes it a point to play all-ages alternative spaces wherever possible, be they warehouses, basements or parks. “We’re not a rock bar band,” Salas says with frustration. “Those spaces kill me, kill us, kill the music.”

Thoughtfully poised between technophile noise nerds and inept guitar-bashers, These Are Powers’s cerebral yet raw approach to music carries a certain clout not often seen in experimental music. They talk art and philosophy, they seek the transcendent, they writhe on the floor. And they want you to do the same.

– Joshua Frank

Culture

The McGill Daily, Thursday, October 2, 2008

15

Li’l Andy chats with The Daily about pornography and pop before his upcoming performance.

October 2 / Cinéma L’Amour (4015 St. Laurent / With Angela Desveaux Chances are that if you’ve been to Bluegrass night at Barfly in recent years, you’ve seen Li’l Andy. It’s also likely that if you’ve been to Bluegrass Night at Barfly, then you’ve seen the nearby adult movie theatre, Cinéma L’Amour. On October 2, you’ll get the chance to see the two together.

Li’l Andy, backed by Ideal Lovers, will headline the festival’s first-ever Porn Pop by playing Neil Young’s 1975 album Tonight’s the Night in its entirety.

The proximity to Andy’s comfortable Sunday hangout may have played a role in his decision to cast the Cinéma as a venue for the upcoming Neil Young tribute concert, but will ultimately offer much more to patrons than convenience.

The Cinéma started in 1914 as a venue for Yiddish films and didn’t cross over to the adult movie sector until 1969. Today the theatre shows two movies daily, offering such films as Big Butt Teens and MILF Cruiser 12. At the Cinéma, clients can choose V.I.P. seating areas, which, as their web site explains, are

designed for “more privacy-minded clientele.”

Whomsoever you choose to spend your time with in a porno theatre, be it that special somebody in a private room or many strangers in the dark – or in Li’l Andy’s case, Ideal Lovers – there is a certain commonality between each of the experiences. Cinéma L’Amour is a place where you can sink away into the dark unnoticed or participate with the others around you. If you aren’t taking part, you have the opportunity to take in the experience of others. Regardless of your participation level, it is a place where your mere presence leaves you exposed – emotionally exposed, that is.

This kind of exposure is exactly what you’ll encounter when you head into the dim hallways of Neil Young’s Tonight’s the Night.

Here he confronts the deaths of two close friends, Bruce Berry and Danny Whitten. Young opens up and shares his grief with you, and although dismal at times, the

album isn’t without its pleasures.

Everything about it is raw, and while you get kind of sad, you also get excited; you know that when you’re done you’ll want to do it all again.

If this listening experience isn’t the stuff that viewing a public skin flick is made of, then I don’t know what is. And although I may not actually know what stuff going to a porno theatre is made of, is that really the point? Li’l Andy is taking us to a mysterious place and, frankly, isn’t that enough? I can’t think of a dark and intimate setting in the city that would better complement a tribute to this sombre and intimate album.

Good luck to you Li’l Andy, you’ve got the weight on your shoulders.

This concert should offer a chance for listeners to become fully consumed by the experience and with any luck, break the ice for a second edition of Porn Pop next year. At the very least, MILF Cruiser 12 will resume showing the next day.

– Chase Moser

Sasha Plotnikova / The McGill Daily

The McGill Daily: So the story goes that you bought Tonight is the Night for $5.99 when you were a kid, and this show at Cinéma L’Amour has been a long time coming. What was it that made you choose that specific cassette, as an 11-year-old in a record store?

Li’l Andy: As a general rule, I’d say that most 11-year-olds are pretty fascinated by death and darkness, and I was certainly no different. The album cover for Tonight’s the Night is pretty bleak and sombre: just a pitch-black canvas with a scragglylooking Neil in sunglasses. Having just started playing guitar, there was a secret part of me that dreamed of being in a rock band, dying of a drug overdose, and choking on my own vomit. I’ve since revised my ambitions, but that whole world is pretty appealing when you’re in grade seven.

MD: The Cinéma has quite the fabled past. How did it become the venue for your performance of Tonight is the Night?

LA: When I first moved to Montreal, I heard that Cinéma L’Amour was the place where Houdini took the punch in the gut that led to the internal bleeding that eventually killed him. Actually I’ve also heard the guy who hit him was a McGill student – which I like to believe. Shortly after that a friend of mine started working there as the popcorn girl, and I was really surprised by her descriptions of the “porn-enthusiast community” that gathered there. She said that most of the clientele were friendly old men who hung around, drank coffee, and talked about the construction on St. Laurent.

The idea for playing the whole album really started turning over in my head after a Percy Farm show at Divan Orange around four years ago. It was their first-ever live show, and at the end of it, the crowd started cheering for an encore. Problem was, they didn’t know any more songs. Daniel Isaiah Schachter, the singer, came up to me and said “Do you know the words to ‘Mellow My Mind?’” So I got up on stage and played it with them, not knowing that that song is way too high for someone with my kind of voice to sing. That’s why Daniel’s going to come on as a guest and sing that song this time around.

After that, Percy Farm and I started rehearsing the show for the 2007 Pop Montreal, but I was away

on tour for most of the summer and it was too much to organize. Then, Percy Farm split up. After hanging out with Ideal Lovers, I realized there was really no better band in town to do this kind of show with.

We bought some José Cuervo Gold and started rehearsing!

MD: Will you be making use of the cinema’s screens?

LA: We weren’t going to, but then Warren from Plants & Animals suggested that we have a live feed filming us playing the show to project onto the screen behind us while we play. So now, we’re going to play on the floor and have larger-thanlife projections of us right behind.

It’ll be like when you actually go see Neil Young in concert these days: you’re at the back of an arena and you can’t tell which guy on stage is Neil, so you have to watch it on the Jumbotron screen to even get a sense of what’s happening!

MD: If you could see any band, movie, or performance of any kind at Cinéma L’Amour, what would it be?

LA: Well, I’ve always thought that Leonard Cohen and Stompin’ Tom Connors would make a pretty good duo, so I don’t see why they couldn’t team up for a special show at Cinéma L’Amour. They could play the entire Hank Williams songbook. For entertainment at intermission they could get Lili St. Cyr to do that famous striptease she used to do in Montreal in the forties, where, since the city’s laws only said that it was illegal to undress on stage, she would walk on entirely nude and proceed to put on each article of clothing piece-by-piece. That would be worth the cover charge.

MD: I hear Cinéma L’Amour has a special V.I.P. section. Do you get any perks for playing a show there?

Season’s passes, perhaps?

LA: Yeah, the V.I.P. section is quite, um, swank. It takes up the entire upper balcony. There are private booths with couches, curtains, and a few zebra-striped plush chairs. The only perk I get is that I’ve had a few deluxe tours of Cinéma L’Amour and got to see the old projection booth they used in the 1920s. And besides, admission’s free on couples night, so – if you’ve got a date – you never really need a pass.

– Compiled by Leah Pires

16 Culture

The McGill Daily, Thursday, October 2, 2008

October 5 / Theatre Nationale (1220 Ste. Catherine E.) / With the Wedding Present You wouldn’t believe me if I told you, but the lost 11th commandment – “thou shalt not plan a rock festival without a venerable headlining act” – is actually the most widely observed. And though they’d never admit to it, the only reason big, important rock bands ever get back together is to keep the tourism industry going.

Now joining the ranks in upholding this fine tradition are legendary post-punks Wire. Recently on tour in support of their new album, Object 47, they’ve selflessly extended their mission to our fair city, lending Burt Bacharach a hand in rescuing Pop Montreal ‘08 from the hell of vast insignificance.

For those of you unfamiliar with them – and I suspect there’s at least six of you – Wire stand as

one of rock history’s most adulated bands, the kind rock snobs get off calling “quintessential,” “way ahead of their time,” and sometimes even “better than Joy Division.”

But unlike other critical darlings, Wire’s colossal achievements fully warrant gushing hyperbole, having somehow tripled the breadth of punk’s sonic palette in a time-span shorter than some animal pregnancy cycles.

Recalling their career-defining streak in the late seventies, it’s bizarre to think of Wire as anything short of a merry accident, a spontaneously solipsistic apparition. Yet their origin story – four musically untrained art-kids with their fingers taped to London’s pulse feel punk coming a mile away – isn’t so reminiscent of comic books as it is of

capital-H History. In other words: if Wire hadn’t been formed by these four art kids, then Wire would’ve been four others.

To my theory, their first album is a weird sort of testimony.

Obviously indebted to punk’s commitment to minimalism, Pink Flag nevertheless went several steps further, stripping all the unnecessary fat off the swollen rock music they were reacting against. Where the Sex Pistols were fiercely unrestrained, Wire was tightly mechanistic, exploiting rhythm at the expense of melody, using power chords only where they were needed, and never letting them ring out when they did.

In a sense, all Wire did with Pink Flag was push punk to its logical conclusion – that this con-

clusion sounded as good as it did stands as a lucky accident. But if Wire’s debut was merely the outcome of history’s motions, the successive left turns they took for their next two albums are anything but.

Released only a few short months after Pink Flag, Chairs Missing saw Wire completely abandon the irreverent nihilism that held their debut together. There to fill the gap was Wire’s full embrace of a fundamental punk taboo – electronics. But where that album coated Wire’s music in synthetic ripples, 154 saw them seep right into the core of their music, culminating in a unique sound, intermittently ambient and urgent. It’s one of the masterpieces of the punk era, and our

decade wouldn’t have been the same without it.

Thirty years and a few nearbreakups later, it’s very tempting to throw Wire in with rest of all those washed-up dinosaurs coasting on their past achievements. But if Object 47 is any indication, they wouldn’t care even if we did. While 2003’s Send was an angry, industrial call to order, their latest effort sees Wire coming to terms with the direction they’ve pushed music in, relinquishing any further control over it, comfortable indulging in the pop forms that always underlay their music.

With Object 47, Wire have finally passed the torch. And what we can do with it that they haven’t, I have no fucking idea.

– Nicolas Boisvert-Novak

Courtesy of Hot Chip

Hot Chip’s electro-pop beats shook down Metropolis last night, as they played a high-profile opening night slot at Pop Montreal. This innovative band hails from London, England, and is currently on a whirlwind North American and European tour.

Band members Alexis Taylor (vocals, electric guitar, and percussion) and Joe Goddard (vocals, synthesizer, and percussion) created Hot Chip in 2000, after having worked together on previous projects and studied together in high

school.

Their sound consists of rebellious pop with quirky lyrics and catchy electro-rhythms. They come off like a combination of the Beta Band, the Beach Boys, Daft Punk, and the Eels. With song titles such as “Playboy” and “Crap Kraft Dinner,” you know they have an interesting sense of humour.

In “Playboy,” these four British boys evoke emo-rap, with hypnotic synth rhythms in the background and a deep monotone voice carrying the song. It’s quite a shift from their

popular “Boy From School,” with its catchier dance beat.

Hot Chip’s musical influences are diverse, ranging from Sticky, a Scottish indie-folk band, to Spanish electronica funk group Wooky. Their expansive musical range is showcased on three major label records; their first, aptly titled Coming Out Strong, came out in 2004. A fourth album is in the works, but they’ve taken a recording break as they tour the club scene in both North America and Europe this fall.

– Erin O’Callaghan

Culture

The McGill Daily, Thursday, October 2, 2008

Yearning, learning

17

Anik See’s Saudade goes beyond superficial travel Melissa Wils-Owens Culture Writer

The Portuguese word saudade denotes a feeling of nostalgia for something of paramount significance, be it a time or place, now missing in one’s life. Anik See expresses this feeling through ten real-life narratives compiled in her new book Saudade.

Although the book is a collection of excerpts that are seemingly random and disconnected at times, See aims to uncover the principles essential to discovering true bliss.

Themes of remembrance and loss surface throughout her short stories, linking Cuba to Australia to Alberta to Amsterdam.

See describes the importance of appreciating life without electricity, as she experiences at a cabin in Algonquin, Ontario: “I like silence, and at the cabin I used to lie awake listening, counting the minutes between one last ember cracking and the next noise – the rustle of a vole dashing over a leaf or a bug bouncing off a pane of glass – thrilled when I lost count...and I have tried to live in similar places since.

It’s an instinctual need for honest, self-sufficient living. And penance.

For being so lucky.”

She could bear losing anything, she says, except memory; for when this is lost one is left with nothing

CULTURE briefs Modern meanderings “Enfin Vous Zestes” (“Finally You Are”) is critically acclaimed modern choreographer Louise Bédard’s latest creation. Having found inspiration in works by Canadian painter Marianna Gartner, Bédard crafts a show which claims to “guide us through the meander[ings] of our own existence, between riverbanks that mark our life paths” – quite a feat for a performance with six dancers and minimalistic set pieces. With regards to its lofty claims, Bédard successfully weaves an articulate storyline in which seemingly simple characters progress to reveal more intricate characteristics. Bédard explores this complex human layering in a way that never ceases to surprise viewers. In an otherwise dialogue-free show, dancers utter, “Want to come to my house? It will be lots of fun,” and “Do you want to take my picture?

but a new start. One must begin from scratch, and cannot keep the wisdom gained from mistakes made, adventures triumphed, or pain endured.

See is extremely perceptive to the timing of events. In “Rainy Summit,” an essay written shortly after her grandmother’s death, she goes for a bike ride to contemplate death, and rides until she reaches the residues of last winter’s snow, which stop her from biking on forever.

She turns back and eventually encounters a middle-aged hiker who has lived in the same place for his whole life and never reached the “Rainy Summit.” He explains: “Gosh, you live here your whole life and you think you see something new every day but you still don’t get to see it all before you die, do you?”

Irony and serendipity in sync, his query brings See clarity and newfound ambition, because she knows that he too has explained the tragedy of death and time’s fleetingness.

The author does a phenomenal job of depicting a need to travel more, travel more deeply, and become more perceptive of the real problems within a culture. Yet such involvement can be dangerous: having the gumption to delve into these situations means you cannot simply go home and forget what you know. The more one asks questions, the less capable one is of merely

How about a sketch?” allowing the audience to experience a moment of humour – though some may be unsure as to what they are laughing at.

Serious tones also come through thanks to the choreography and costuming; at one point a single dancer sits alone, playing child-like with a large yellow teddy bear, as others march around in business attire. Although it may be bewildering for those who have yet to experience a modern show, it’s unlikely that anyone will leave the performance without connecting to at least one moment of the broad range of human emotions presented.

“Enfin Vous Zestes” is playing September 25 to October 5 at Usine C (1345 ave. Lalonde). Showtimes are Thursday to Saturday at 8 p.m. and Sunday at 3 p.m.. Ticket prices run from $20 to $28.

– Victoria Diplacido

Sweet tooth La Carie – named after the French word for cavity – is a sweet little nook

Ben Peck / The McGill Daily

boarding an airplane, seeing a different part of the world, and moving on with one’s privileged life.

See is aware of the greed saturating Western society and despises it for forbidding its captive citizens from seeing the worlds’ starved, diseased victims. The pristine stretches

nestled in Montreal’s Marché aux Puces (1822 Ontario). This collectively-run kiosk is the brainchild of five intrepid Montreal youths with a penchant for charm and a keen eye for the unique.

What can attendees expect to find in this chalkboard and birchbark-decorated oasis? “It’s just things that we like,” co-founder Sasha Plotnikova explains modestly.

For those in the dark, that includes handmade feather masks, bejeweled gloves, a curated book and vinyl library, custom stationary, and imported foods. Also not to be missed is a vintage clothing closet selected by Caravan Traveling Vintage entrepreneur Arden Wray.

After a nomadic summer of hawking vintage delights around Toronto, Wray has found the Caravan a new – albeit more stationary – home at La Carie.

If you have a hankering for something sweet, be sure to attend the grand opening of La Carie this Saturday, October 4 from noon until 6 p.m.

Check kiosquelacarie.blogspot. com, or their Facebook group for more details.

– Leah Pires

of untouched landscape she sees, with children whose toys are scrap bits of string, induce her to search for self through minimalism; she rids herself of useless possessions as a way of life. It is a means through which See can bear to live with herself – truly a small penance for

being born so fortunate.

Ultimately, See wants her readers to critique their lives, hold sacred their memories, and quench their wanderlust, so that each may have their own epiphany, and so reconsider the materiality of their existences.

The City I find a certain melancholy in pavement, in its gray simplicity, love, too, the monotony of streetlights, the break pause, and gas of machine There is chaos in graffiti, its rainbow language that coils over walls, second cousin to the nausea of billboards, everywhere the sadness of this city, the labyrinth of crowds twisting fervently as mice. The filtering down of silt from rain through hair, under trench coats, rolling down spines into shoes.

– Francesca Bianco

Inkwell

18 Photo Essay

The McGill Daily, Thursday, October 2, 2008

Zagreb Photos by Marie Thomas

Compendium!

Lies, Half-truths, & Ear shots

The McGill Daily, Thursday, October 2, 2008

19

Police amp up protest of The Man with red caps, tough stance, multi-coloured camouflage trousers Few recognize irony in protesting authority, still have guns and tazers on belts Harriet Rocco

The McGill Daily

D

espite the fall weather, scores of Montrealers have recently invested in sunglasses and other assorted eye protection in response to the police’s decision to wear camouflage pants to work.

As the accompanying photo clearly illustrates, police crews are not phoning each other before they show up to work each day.

Fashion connoisseur and avid pedestrian Sophie Bourgeledais said she had trouble breathing as she passed the Tim Horton’s at MontRoyal and St. Laurent.

“It was like J.C. Penny invited red, orange, white, black, yellow, and Operation Desert Storm to these cops’ pants – and I basically almost yuked, which is slang for vomit,” Bourgeledais said.

She expounded on her point, explaining that she could not understand anyone donning such a thing voluntarily.

Unfortunately for Bourgeledais, the police do not seem to be stopping – one was even spotted wearing tight pink and white jeans with handcuff imprints on the ass. [Ed’s note: we wish that was a lie.]

The revolt started as a simple blue jeans affair, similar to when Montreal’s transit workers stuck it to the Système de Transport, and traded their uniforms for layman’s get-ups.

City records show that, for the first few days of the pantalon’d protest, Montrealers were alarmed, but quickly adjusted to the new look.

“Yeah, I take the 24, it goes along Sherbrooke, obvi,” said U3 Physics student O’Ria McRean.

“I figure they’re the ones driving the bus, they can wear whatever.”

When asked about the possible conflicts associated with police being on the, well, protesting side of protests for higher wages, one officer replied that he didn’t understand the question.

“Could you repeat that please, I don’t get it,” the officer said.

Other citizens interviewed detailed concerns about possible invisibility powers harnessed by camouflage’s all-powerful capability to make invisible everything it covers, no matter the outside condition.

“See, this cop was wearing pavement-camo’d pants, and I couldn’t even see his legs,” said investment banker Sheldon Randolph.

“My friends call me Shandolph, so you can call me that too if you want,” he added.

The confused officer then reappeared on the scene, and told Randolph to skidaddle, since he’d had it up to here with all the ruckus he’d been causing.

The officer then motioned to his red cap.

– with files from Marcus Vitu Ollie Camel / The McGill Daily

Ben Peck / The McGill Daily

Angel Chen for The McGill Daily

Angel Chen’s illustrations will appear every other Thursday. Send thoughts and lobes to angelclchen@gmail.com.

AGENDA FOR THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY

ORDRE DU JOUR DE L’ASSEMBLÉE GÉNÉRALE

STUDENTS’ SOCIETY OF MCGILL UNIVERSITY

ASSOCIATION ÉTUDIANTE DE L’UNIVERSITÉ MCGILL

October 7th, 2:00 pm – Three Bares Park

le 7 Octobre à 14h00 – Three Bares Park

Students must bring their McGill IDs.

Les étudiants doivent apporter leur carte d’identité McGill.

1.0 Call to order 2.0 Adoption of the Agenda 3.0 Announcements 4.0 Report of the Executive Committee 5.0 Old Business 5.1 Motion Re: Clubs and Services 5.2 Motion Re: Student Services 6.0 New Business 6.1 Motion Re: Catered House Party 6.2 Motion Re: SSMU Support for the Association of McGill Undergraduate Student Employees (AMUSE) 6.3 Motion Re: Military Recruitment 6.4 Motion Re: Administrators Identified as Star Wars Characters 6.5 Motion Re: Military Research 6.6 Motion Re: No Pants Fridays 7.0 Adjournment

1.0 Appel à l’ordre 2.0 Adoption de l’ordre du jour 3.0 Annonces 4.0 Rapport du comité exécutif 5.0 Ancien ordre 5.1 Motion Concernant: Priorités de l’AEUM 5.2 Motion Concernant: Services alimentaires 6.0 Nouvel ordre 6.1 Motion Concernant: Fête chez la directrice, repas compris 6.2 Motion Concernant: Soutien à l’Association des Étudiants Employés à McGill 6.3 Motion Concernant: Recrutement militaire à l’Université McGill 6.4 Motion Concernant: La désignation des administrateurs d’après les personnages de Star Wars 6.5 Motion Concernant: La recherche militaire à McGill 6.6 Motion Concernant: Les vendredis sans pantalons 7.0 Ajournement

Motions of the Regular General Assembly

Motions de l’assemblée générale régulière

Motion Re: Catered House Party Be it resolved that the Students’ Society of McGill University lobby the principal of the University to host a catered house party open to all McGill undergraduates as a fundraiser for student groups.

Motion Concernant : Fête chez la directrice, repas compris Soit-il résolu que l’Association Étudiante de l’Université McGill fasse pression sur la directrice de l’Université pour organiser une fête (repas compris) ouverte à tous les étudiants afin de recueillir des fonds pour toutes les associations étudiantes.

Fall 2008 Motion Re: Clubs and Services** Motion Re: Student Services** **to read motions in full, please visit: www.ssmu.mcgill.ca/GA

Motion Re: SSMU Support for the Association of McGill Undergraduate Students Employees (AMUSE) Be it resolved that the SSMU officially support the creation of the Association of McGill Undergraduate Student Employees; Be it further resolved that the SSMU offer its full logistical and organizational support to the campaign in non-financial ways and within the bounds of the law.

Motion Re: Military Recruitment at McGill University Be it resolved that SSMU not allow military publicity or recruitment in the Shatner Building, or through any other space, event or publication of the society; Be it further resolved that the SSMU actively oppose the presence of military publicity of recruitment on the downtown McGill campus.

Motion Re: Administrators to be identified as Star Wars characters Be it resolved that in all council reports, names of the following people be replace: Heath Munroe Blum shall hereby be known as “Emperor Monroe Blum” Morton Mendelson shall hereby be known as “Darth Mendelson”.

Motion Re: Military Research at McGill Be it resolved that the SSMU oppose any McGill involvement in the development of thermobaric weapons; Be it further resolved that the SSMU support the implementation of a policy for public transparency and ethical evaluation of all research at McGill funded by, or done in collaboration with a Military agency.

Motion Re: No Pants Fridays Be it resolved that every 3rd Friday of the month become a McGill wide holiday known as “No Pants Friday,” where students may not be persecuted for a lack of pants. *Quorum for a regular or special general assembly is 100 members of the association from at least four different faculties or schools. Qualified Quorum for this general assembly shall be 397 students, or 2% of the undergraduate population of McGill.

Questions or comments regarding this agenda may be directed to:

pres@ssmu.mcgill.ca • 514-398-6801 • www.ssmu.mcgill.ca/GA

Automne 2008 Motion Concernant : Priorités de l’AÉUM** Motion Concernant : Services alimentaires** ** ces motions sont disponibles à : www.ssmu.mcgill.ca/GA

Motion Concernant : Soutien à l’Association des Étudiants Employés à McGill Soit-il résolu que l’AÉUM soutienne officiellement la création de l’Association des Étudiants Employés à McGill ; Soit-il résolu que l’AÉUM offre son soutien logistique et organisationnel à la campagne par des moyens non-financiers et dans les limites de la loi.

Motion Concernant : Recrutement militaire à l’Université McGill Soit-il résolu que l’AÉUM cesse d’autoriser la publicité ou le recrutement militaire dans le bâtiment Shatner, ou à travers quelconque espace, événement ou publication de l’Association ; Soit-il aussi résolu que l’AÉUM s’oppose activement à la présence de publicité militaire ou de recrutement militaire dans le campus du centre-ville de McGill.

Motion Concernant : La désignation des administrateurs d’après les personnages de Star Wars Soit-il résolu que dans tous les rapports du conseil, les noms des personnes suivantes soient remplacés : Heather Munroe Blum sera désormais reconnue sous le nom d’ « Emperor Munroe Blum ». Morton Mendelson sera désormais reconnu sous le nom de « Darth Mendelson ».

Motion Concernant : La recherche militaire à McGill Soit-il résolu que l’AÉUM s’oppose à la participation de l’Université McGill à la fabrication d’armes à suppression thermobarique; Soit-il aussi résolu que l’AÉUM supporte la mise en oeuvre d’une politique de transparence publique et d’évaluation éthique de toute recherche conduite à l’Université McGill avec le soutient financier ou la collaboration d’une agence militaire.

Motion Concernant : Les vendredis sans pantalons Soit-il résolu que chaque troisième vendredi du mois devienne un jour de congé à McGill, durant lequel les étudiants ne pourront être persécutés pour l’absence de pantalons. * Le quorum pour une assemblée générale régulière ou spéciale est de 100 membres de l’Association provenant d’au moins quatre facultés ou écoles différentes. Le quorum qualifié pour cette assemblée générale est de 397 étudiants, soit 2% de la masse étudiante au 1er cycle de l’Université McGill.

Pour toute question concernant cet ordre du jour, contactez les présentateurs de l’AÉUM :

pres@ssmu.mcgill.ca • 514-398-6801 • www.ssmu.mcgill.ca/GA