Action Speaks Louder Fall 2010 by OPIRG Toronto

Your City Is A Battleground

ACTION SPEAKS LOUDER OPIRG TORONTO’S FIELD MANUAL FOR THOSE WHO’VE HAD ENOUGH

Auguste Blanqui (1866)

IN THIS ISSUE: G20 and its Aftermath H Student Rights and How to Get Them H Welcome to the New Neoliberalism H Apartheid Then and Now H Strategies of Refusal H Not Your Parent’s Sex

ACTION SPEAKS LOUDER

ACTION SPEAKS LOUDER FALL 2010

actionspeaksloudertoronto@gmail.com OPIRG-Toronto 101-563 Spadina Cres. Toronto, Ontario M5S 2J7 PRODUCTION Clare O’Connor Lindsay Hart EDITORIAL TEAM Baolinh Dang Lindsay Hart Sharmeen Khan Clare O’Connor AK Thompson CONTRIBUTORS Maryam Adrangi Baolinh Dang Yutaka Dirks Martin Giroux-Cook Martin Lukacs Clare O’Connor Sakura Saunders Faraz Vahid Shahidi Ontario Coalition Against Poverty OPIRG Board DESIGN AK Thompson COVER ART AK Thompson

FALL 2010

TABLE OF MALCONTENTS Board of Directors

How Do You Know When You’ve Had Enough?

The Root of the Problem

OPIRG Staff

Action Group Listings Martin Giroux-Cook

Flat Fees: Another attack on the right to education

Ontario Coalition Against Poverty

Getting the Goods: Direct-action, anti-poverty organizing in Toronto

Sakura Saunders

Digging for Legitmacy: Barrick Gold mines U of T

Martin Lukacs

Canada’s Dirty War Against the Algonquins of Barriere Lake

Yutaka Dirks

Drop the G20 Charges: End the criminalization of dissent

Maryam Adrangi

Movement Ecology: Overcoming the monoculture of mainstream environmentalism

Faraz Vahid Shahidi

I Know What You Did Last Summer: The university, the G20 and the betrayal of principles

Resources

IT’S TIME TO TAKE ACTION Action Speaks Louder is the biannual newsletter of the Ontario Public Interest Research Group at the University of Toronto. We publish articles about social and environmental justice advocacy and activism, with specific focus on issues that affect members of the campus community.

LAYOUT AK Thompson Clare O’Connor Printed at Thistle Printing, Toronto, ON by Union Labour Produced by OPIRG Staff, proud members of CUPE 1281

If you want to work on a radical publication, write to us: opirg.toronto@gmail.com. The newsletter committee will begin meeting in late September to start work on our Winter 2011 edition. If you would rather just write for us, submit a pitch! The submission deadline for the winter issue is Monday, November 1st, 2010. Write about campaigns you’re involved in, or your thoughts on any political or social justice issue. To send us a short pitch, please e-mail actionspeaksloudertoronto@gmail.com. Look for our winter issue on campus in the new year! If you just want to meet and talk with some like-minded people, write to opirg.toronto@gmail.com, or drop by the office: Room 101, 563 Spadina Cres (just north of College).

ACTION SPEAKS LOUDER FALL 2010

HOW DO YOU KNOW WHEN

YOU’VE HAD

ENOUGH? GREETINGS FROM THE 2010-2011 OPIRG BOARD OF DIRECTORS

“THE YOUNG DO NOT KNOW ENOUGH TO BE PRUDENT, AND THEREFORE THEY ATTEMPT THE IMPOSSIBLE, AND ACHIEVE IT, GENERATION AFTER GENERATION.” - PEARL S. BUCK

e each get involved in politics for our own reasons. Maybe it’s an enraging report on homelessness or domestic violence, or a theory book that helps make sense of the economy. Sometimes our parents are activists. Or we’re from places where the scars of colonization and war make politics impossible to ignore. Often, we’re compelled into activism by the experience of working non-stop to be taken seriously, against the persistent bigotries of racism, sexism, homophobia, ableism, ageism, and classism. Whatever the initial catalyst, we stick around for one important reason: in this society, fighting back makes us human. There are lots of ways to fight back, and we’re bound to disagree – this letter went through eight drafts, notably. And collaboration is crucial, especially when we’re squeezing activism into our hectic student schedules of over-caffeinated essay writing, relationships, part-time jobs, family obligations, and sleepless nights at the library. Sometimes, it’s just nice to know you’re not the lone alienated soul in this absurd edu-factory. But where do you go on campus if you’re uninterested in sectarianism and fed up with the limitations of social democracy? Where can you meet people who agree that politics and oppression permeate every aspect of our lives, and who understand that “radical” is a good word that means “getting to the root”? The Ontario Public Interest Research Group is one option. We think it’s the best one. Whatever your interest, OPIRG is a forum for uniting research and activism and exploring alternatives to conventional education structures. You can volunteer with OPIRG, join one of this year’s nine Action Groups (all of which operate autonomously around specific political issues), or think about starting your own! Check out full Action Group descriptions on page 4. OPIRG is starting the year with our annual DisOrientation Week (Sept 13th-17th), five days packed with teaching, learning, plotting, poetics, and, of course, partying – because, in the words of Emma Goldman, “if I can’t dance, I don’t want to be part of your revolution.” See the back cover of this newsletter for the full DisOrientation event schedule. We’re also going to kick into action our Tools for Change workshop series, so we can share skills and gather the tools required to transform the campus, the city, the world. These are a few things we’ll be working on this year, and there’s much more to come. Our hope is that OPIRG will continue to serve as a critical space for those who need it and use it. But it’s not only our space; it’s yours too. So, if you’re angry about injustice and want to fight it but don’t know where to start, come find us – we’re angry too. We need your ideas and are excited to share ours. If you’re frustrated but you don’t quite understand why, swing by the office – you’ve probably just had enough. In solidarity, Shamineh, Kalin, Kerri, Faraz, Alex, Kevin, Alison & Andrew

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THE ROOT OF THE PROBLEM

OPIRG STAFF EDITORIAL

“PROFESSOR MISAK THOUGHT THAT THE [FLAT FEES] MODEL WAS A VERY GOOD ONE. MOST IMPORTANTLY, IT WOULD ENCOURAGE STUDENTS NOT TO THINK OF INDIVIDUAL COURSES AS COMMODITIES BUT RATHER TO THINK OF A YEAR’S STUDIES AS A COHERENT, FOCUSED WHOLE.” - MEETING MINUTES, UofT GOVERNING COUNCIL, 27 APRIL 2009. REPORT NUMBER 174 OF THE BUSINESS BOARD.

Baolinh Dang and Clare O’Connor

eoliberalism has transformed the campus political landscape. It’s difficult to imagine a university where lecture halls aren’t named after multinational corporations and students aren’t “Basic Income Units.” Many left-leaning liberals agree that the commodification of education is undesirable. Even Cheryl Misak, Provost of the University of Toronto, leverages the concern to validate her policy recommendations. We could interpret Misak’s comments about Flat Fees as a tactical appropriation of leftist critical analysis. Misak, a philosophy professor, is well aware that alluding to these concerns is a good way to win points in the academic community. And tact is required to garner support for such a shameful policy (see page 6 for more information about Flat Fees). But there’s more going on here. When we reflect on the ease with which Misak uses the language of anti-commodification to advance the university’s privatization agenda, we find that the institutional approach to commodification is not to get rid of it, but rather to change the way people experience commodities. In the case of Misak’s absurd argument, the best way to prevent students from conceiving of individual courses as commodities is to make them pay by the year – this new arrangement will cost more, but students will experience their education differently, “as a coherent, focused whole.” This logic is familiar. Advertisements don’t describe commodities; they sell experiences. Cell phones bring people together, beer ensures a great party, tampons make you feel like playing volleyball, etc. So, assuming we even accept that Misak’s concern about commodification is sincere, her strategy is one of depoliticization. And depoliticization is contagious these days. Referring to ecological crisis and anti-capitalism, Slovenian philosopher Slavoj Zizek explains, “It is much easier for us to imagine the end of the world than a small change in the political system. Life on earth maybe will end, but somehow capitalism will go on.” The activist correlative to Misak’s commodity experience diversion is our tendency to produce representations

of radicalism rather than produce the conditions for actual radicalism. We do this when we “support” or “oppose” a position without taking action, as though political problems were merely logical problems. Or we find ourselves “demanding the impossible” but never really trying to define the impossible – the representational phrase is all we can muster. Similarly, we celebrate images of other people’s resistance – Marcos and the Zapatistas, Leila Khaled, Che Guevara – without wrestling with the constraints that make it difficult to produce conditions for similar resistance here and now. This is not to suggest that representations aren’t important – they’re crucial to the movement. But it’s also crucial to figure out how to effectively fight commodification and win. What does it mean to be a radical? What are the steps towards bringing about radical transformation? These, undoubtedly, are questions without easy answers. We hope that on this campus, OPIRG can be a place for collective strategizing. We aren’t after a different experience of capitalism. We want to get rid of it.

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WHERE THE ACTION IS ACTION GROUPS LISTINGS Action Groups are at the heart of OPIRG’s work. They are volunteer collectives that organize autonomously for social and environmental justice. The following are our Action Groups for 2010-2011.

BARRIERE LAKE SOLIDARITY TORONTO Barriere Lake Solidarity (BLS) Toronto is a local organizing collective that provides direct support to the community of the Algonquins of Barriere Lake. This small community of about 450 people is located three hours north of Ottawa in Quebec. They live on a 59-acre wildlife reserve, Parc La Verendrye, though their traditional territory spans 17,000 square kilometers of the Upper Ottawa watershed. The Algonquins of Barriere Lake are one of only 10 – 15 Indigenous communities in Canada that govern themselves under their customary code – meaning, they have never been governed under band council elections. BLS supports the Algonquins of Barriere Lake through fundraising, educational events, direct action, media work, political campaigning, and by building a strong base of support for Indigenous activism. BLS Toronto is part of a regional network of grassroots groups supporting Barriere Lake that includes Indigenous Peoples Solidarity Movement Ottawa and Barriere Lake Solidarity Montreal. We also work alongside other anti-colonial organizations to educate and share resources. Taking leadership from the Algonquins of Barriere Lake, this year’s activities will focus on reversing the destruction of the August 2010 imposition of band council elections. More information can be found on www.barrierelakesolidarity.org.

DISABILITY ACTION MOVEMENT NOW

DAMN is a direct action group currently bringing together disabled people, those affected by ableism, and our supporters. We believe that accessibility is more than adding in ramps, it is about ensuring that things are made accessible in a wide variety of ways to a wide variety of people. It also means looking at how different identities intersect and ensuring that there is room for everyone in our struggles. Disabled people must work towards cross-disability organizing which allies us to other people with disabilities as well as with other oppressed groups. Whether it is blocking access to an inaccessible subway station or working with other groups to bring out over a thousand people for an antipoverty day of action, we have and will keep fighting for what disabled people need to thrive.

DAMN builds campaigns around disability issues – poverty, immigration, racism, homophobia, transphobia, incarceration, institutionalization, etc. DAMN is currently organizing campaigns against cuts to social assistance, the elimination of the special diet, caps on direct funding. DAMN is demanding free and accessible transit for all, prisoners’ justice, and access to attendant care with dignity. DAMN critically analyzes all institutions – including academic institutions – and examines how they actively limit accessibility by instituting economic barriers, physical barriers, and social isolation. DAMN challenges how activism itself can be inaccessible. DAMN questions how certain bodies get criminalized, marked as hyper-visible or invisible, while always claiming our political agency and autonomy, and accessing our collective empowerment. To get involved, contact damn2025@gmail.com.

ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE TORONTO

The aim of EJ Toronto is to strengthen the city’s environmental justice community. Toronto-based organizers have been collaborating to hold Canadian mining companies, financial institutions, and politicians accountable to upholding human rights and the rights of Mother Earth. Canada is home to 75% of the world’s mining and exploration companies and the largest industrial project on earth, the Alberta tar sands. EJ Toronto will focus on providing local educational and skill-building opportunities related to exploitative global mining practices, tar sands issues, Indigenous solidarity, climate policy, political lobbying, non-violent direct action and creative movement-building. We seek to highlight these issues and raise the voices of those most impacted and at the forefront of these struggles. Please contact us for more information at ejaction@gmail.com.

MOYO WA AFRICA

Moyo Wa Africa (MWA) is a coalition of Africans on the continent and in the diaspora who are committed to the reclamation of Indigenous African spiritualities, knowledge systems, economic praxis, and resources as the only viable means of addressing the colonially-induced dis-ease and dysfunction plaguing our peoples. MWA is focused on rebuilding healthy, self-sustaining and sustainable societies, and devoted to resisting continued oppression, attaining reparations and bringing about justice for Africans who have faced genocide and other human rights violations.

This year, Moyo will continue providing our Chezuva Cultural Education Program at places like Anitafrika DubTheatre, YWCA, Mabel and Pelham Park TCHC communities and the new Africentric school. We will continue providing workshops where people of African descent can learn about, experience and celebrate African spiritualities and cultures. Together, we explore our history, present and future, as we build the consciousness and connectedness of African communities locally and internationally. One of our new focal points is a partnership with Seed To Table, which is allowing us to provide regular workshops in Scarborough and integrate Africentric and Indigenous focused programming into a food security and urban agriculture program. We will also continue to support and network with the African Reparations Fund. We intend to continue outreach, collaboration and education efforts, including our contributions to academic forums like OISE’s Decolonizing the Spirit conference and U of T’s Decolonizing Our Minds conference. Please contact Amai Kuda amaikuda@ gmail.com or Sedina Fiati sfiati@gmail.com to get involved.

NO ONE IS ILLEGAL TORONTO

NOII student network seeks to highlight the ways in which the pursuit of social and environmental justice is tied to addressing the root causes of migration and the exploitation of migrants. Neocolonial policies such as structural adjustment programs and war/occupation have forced migrants to leave their homes and come to Canada. In Canada, processes of exploitation are continued with the denial of status and the corresponding denial of basic services like education. NOII student network, as just one of the many campaigns run out of No One Is Illegal-Toronto, works with students, teachers, school staff and unions to assert and defend the right of all people to learn without fear of arrest or deportation. To get involved, email us at noiistudent@gmail.com.

R3: ROOTS RHYTHMS RESISTANCE

R3 is an artist collective focused on Resistance to coloniaI oppression, the attainment of Reparations for colonized peoples, and the Reclamation of Indigenous world views and ways of life. Our objective is to raise funds and awareness for decolonization work, which encompasses all the efforts of colonized peoples to heal and rebuild communities, recreate sustainable and self-sustaining grassroots economies, reclaim land and resources as well as spirituality, language, his/herstory and other aspects of culture eroded by colonization. R3 programs feature a diverse range of socially conscious artists in terms of genre, style and identity. Our events are multimedia showcases, incorporating film, music, dance, visual art, shadow puppetry and theatre, and showcase many local talents. We strive to create accessible spaces for Disabled people and intend to bring on board ASL interpreters. Our goal is to draw in a wide audience and enough money to really effect change in our communities. We welcome involvement from UofT students and community members. Please contact: Isabel Lay at bellabella_87@hotmail.com or Amai Kuda at amaikuda@gmail.com.

STUDENTS AGAINST ISRAELI APARTHEID

Students Against Israeli Apartheid (SAIA) at the University of

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Toronto is a network of university students, faculty, and staff working to raise awareness about Palestine and Israeli Apartheid. We are connected to the growing Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions Movement (BDS) against Israeli Apartheid, and work to sever economic ties between our campuses and the policies of the Israeli state. SAIA organizes several actions on campus throughout the year, including the annual international conferences Week Against the Wall and Israeli Apartheid Week (IAW). IAW began in 2005 at the University of Toronto, and has since grown into a global event held in over forty cities and campuses around the world. The aim of IAW is to educate people about the nature of Israel as an apartheid state and to build the BDS movement. This year, SAIA-UofT is looking forward to launching a divestment portfolio addressing the university’s investments in companies that assist in, and profit from, Israeli Apartheid and the occupation of the Palestinian territories. To get involved, write to us at saia@riseup.net.

TORONTO BOLIVIA SOLIDARITY

Toronto Bolivia Solidarity (TBS) was founded in January 2008 on the initiative of a group of Bolivian-Canadians organized in the Bolivia Action Solidarity Network. TBS aims to spread knowledge in Canada of the democratic transformation underway in Bolivia, and to build links and solidarity with its popular grassroots movements and Indigenous populations. TBS sent delegations to Bolivia in December 2009 to cover the presidential elections, and in April 2010 to the World People’s Conference on Climate Change and the Right of Mother Earth. At present, TBS is a leading contributor in drafting a working document for a nation-wide popular consultation on climate and systemic change, and actively participating in the building of a People’s Assembly on Climate Justice in Toronto. We are also planning three study sessions on Bolivia and a teach-in in September and October for the student and Toronto community. For more information or to get involved please write to torontoboliviasolidarity@gmail.com.

TORONTO FREESKOOL!

The Toronto FreeSkool is a do-it-yourself community learning project that veers away from tuition and bureaucrats to imagine and create the kind of world we want to live in, premised on utopian visions of cooperation and mutual support. FreeSkool is inspired by anarchist philosophy, anti-oppression, consensus and egalitarianism. We believe in sharing skills, ideas and curiosities outside of state and capitalist institutions, free of prohibitive costs, grades, and hierarchy. FreeSkool is a project in liberatory learning fuelled by love. Come learn with us! We’ve got a whole bunch of amazing classes and workshops starting up this fall. Discuss radical elements in popular fiction, alternative sexualities, animal liberation, cook up delicious vegan meals, and share knitting skills. For a list of classes and workshops check out our website: torontofreeskool.wordpress.com. See something you like? Email the facilitator directly for more information or to enroll in the course. Something missing from our class list that you’d like to facilitate? Email us a proposal: torontofreeskool@gmail.com. See you in the streets! And the classrooms!

ACTION SPEAKS LOUDER FALL 2010

FLAT FEES ANOTHER ATTACK ON THE RIGHT TO EDUCATION Martin Giroux-Cook

n May 2009, the University of Toronto Governing Council passed a resolution to implement Flat Fees for incoming Arts and Science students. Outside the Council meeting, an outraged rally of students and faculty condemned

the decision. The Flat Fees policy eliminates the per-course payment option. As of September 2010, Arts and Science students enrolled in three or four courses will be forced to pay the equivalent of a full five-course load, more than $5,000 per year. Nearly 70% of all full-time Arts and Science students take fewer than five courses per year, many of them working parttime jobs to support themselves and finance their education. For students enrolled in only three courses (previously $1,000 each), Flat Fees impose a 66% tuition fee increase. For a decade preceding the infamous Governing Council decision, U of T’s Program Fee Implementation Committee (PFIC) repeatedly recommended against the Flat Fees proposal. It was clear that this fee hike would impose tremendous hardship for Arts and Science students, many of whom struggle for decades to pay off their massive tuition loan debts. The PFIC again voted against Flat Fees in 2009, but, in a shocking violation of university procedure, the committee’s new chair, Professor Scott Mabury, overruled this recommendation. (To add insult to injury, Mabury was promoted to position of ViceProvost of Academic Operations shortly thereafter.) In late February 2009, a broad coalition formed to fight the implementation of Flat Fees. The coalition included the University of Toronto Students’ Union, various college councils, the Arts and Science Students’ Union, students from the Ontario Public Interest Research Group, faculty members from Arts and Science, alumni, and others. In addition to coordinating basic outreach and education on campus, this coalition generated opposition to Flat Fees by writing letters to faculty, coordinating alumni to threaten revoking their funding to the university, and securing sympathetic press coverage on and off campus. The coalition also filed an injunction against the University to challenge Mabury’s defiance of university procedure. The groups involved in this coalition know that Flat Fees at U of T reflect general trends in post-secondary education. Tuition fees are steadily increasing on campuses across Canada. Simultaneously, neoliberal restructuring is undermining the quality of this expensive education; more classes are taught by contract faculty, class sizes are growing, and critical programs face threats of defunding. At U of T, the Faculty of Arts and Science has started to eliminate interdisciplinary and area studies programs. University administrators take in grand salaries while claiming that fee hikes and program cuts are necessary financial management measures. The same year U of T President David Naylor oversaw the approval of Flat Fees, his salary was $380,100. With the campus community opposed to the Flat Fees money-grab, broad support needs to shift to broad action. To successfully intervene, students and faculty cannot just passively disagree with the implementation of this policy, but actively push back against it. And with the review of Flat Fees approaching in the spring of 2011, we will have our chance. Martin Giroux-Cook is a Toronto-based journalist, who writes primarily for BASICS Community Newsletter.

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GETTING THE GOODS DIRECT-ACTION ANTI-POVERTY ORGANIZING IN TORONTO

Ontario Coalition Against Poverty

hen G20 leaders met in Toronto this summer, they agreed to a global plan of action: balancing their budgets by imposing strict and devastating austerity measures. Most of us have learned to be suspicious of government promises, but we can be sure that Canadian politicians at all levels will follow through on this one. We can also expect that these austerity measures will not hinder operations of big business or the rich, but will be felt most acutely in poor and working communities. One such measure came down months before the June meetings. In the 2010 Ontario budget, the McGuinty Liberals announced their plan to axe the Special Diet Allowance, an essential monthly supplement received by over 136,000 people on social assistance.

the first time in over a decade the provincial government was forced to provide many poor families with enough cash to purchase healthy foods such as fresh fruits and vegetables. Rather than recognizing that this widespread response pointed to the inadequacy of current social assistance rates, McGuinty’s Liberal government responded by first limiting access to the Special Diet and then by cutting it altogether in the 2010 Ontario budget. To justify this brutal cut, the Liberals cited an Auditor General’s Report that alleged the Special Diet Program was “not sustainable and not achieving the intended results” due to fraudulent applications. Apparently providing those on social assistance with money to purchase adequate and nutritious food is not on the Liberal agenda.

THE BACK STORY

A DIRE SITUATION

In 1995, the Conservative Harris Government imposed a 21.6% welfare cut. Today, with inflation and cost of living increases, that 1995 cut constitutes well over 40% - this money is owed to people on social assistance. In 2005 the Ontario Coalition Against Poverty (OCAP) launched the “Raise the Rates” campaign, demanding a living wage and a 40% raise in welfare and disability rates. From the beginning, a central component of the “Raise the Rates” campaign was promoting the Special Diet Allowance, a provincial program that enabled those on social assistance to access up to an additional $250 on their monthly cheque if a doctor deemed it necessary. Word spread fast, and doctors and nurses across the province began signing people up. The cost of the Special Diet program rose from a total of $5 million in 2003 to $67 million in 2009. For

The McGuinty Liberals have worked hard to distinguish themselves from the Harris Conservatives. They would like us to believe they are committed to their Poverty Reduction Strategy and that their hands are tied in tough economic times. They try to maintain this public image, but have actually consolidated Harris’ neoliberal agenda. Different PR strategy, same antipoor agenda. At the time of writing this article there are approximately 700,000 people in Ontario living on social assistance, and the vast majority are children. The basic amount for a single person living on social assistance is $585/month (which is meant to break down to $356 for shelter and $216 for basic needs). For a single parent with one child it is $920/month CONTINUED ON PAGE 15>>

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CANADA’S DIRTY WAR AGAINST ALGONQUINS BARRIERE LAKE THE

Martin Lukacs

he January sun was rising on one of the coldest days of 2007, as a group of Algonquins from Barriere Lake set out for a showdown with loggers. It was forty-five below, snow banks on the off-roads reached past shoulder height, and winds clawed their unprotected faces. But the provincial government had refused yet again to respect an agreement curbing clear-cut logging on Barriere Lake’s territory in north-west Quebec – logging that would destroy their trap-lines, jeopardize their sources of subsistence, and slowly asphyxiate their way of life. So the Algonquin planned to bring the forestry companies to heel themselves. Police cruisers waiting at the highway entry to the logging area ensured a blockade was impossible. Led by a mild-mannered 54 year-old spokesperson, Michel Thusky, the Algonquin instead headed down the road to deliver a cease-and-desist letter. It made little impact. Already at work in massive timber-jacks, tearing trees from the iced-over soil, the loggers waved away the group. Appeals a dead-end, Thusky planted himself squarely in front of a multi-ton machine. From behind the window of the machine’s cabin, the operator spit out slurs. Bouge, cochon! Bouge, sauvage! Move, you pig! Move, you savage! Then he brought the timber-jack bucket down over Thusky’s head. Thusky’s only option was to grab hold as it swung across, lifting and suspending him two metres in the air. Unable to keep his grip, Thusky fell back, hit a rock, and lost consciousness. When he came to, he was unable to move. By the time the ambulance arrived he had regained feeling, and a trip to the hospital confirmed no broken bones, though enough bruising to keep him hobbling and dependent on pain-killers for the next year.

The violence in the woods went unreported. Charges were never laid. And the Quebec government ignored the act of protest. Altogether, it was an ordinary day for the Algonquins of Barriere Lake, a community that could serve as an icon of the easy, obscene injustice endured by Indigenous peoples across Canada. But in a country oblivious to its deepest and most pressing grievances, it’s fitting that most people have never heard of Barriere Lake and their steadfast struggle to protect their lands and culture. Written out of records of our country’s past and cleansed from public memory, their story is part of the secret history of colonialism in Canada.

THE POWER OF THE DISPOSSESSED For the Algonquins of Barriere Lake, the forests are a homeland; for governments and logging companies, a corporate dreamland. Through the last century, governments have parceled off Barriere Lake’s land for private profit. Today, outside interests make off with $100 million a year in forestry, hydro-electricity, and recreational hunting and fishing. Their subsistence economy was progressively strangled, and they were squeezed out of the new economy built on their land. In the 60s the Algonquin were at least guaranteed work as fishing and hunting guides. No longer. If someone is lucky – not many are, with ninety percent community unemployment – they’ll get a job serving tables at the local tourist lodge. The community’s only source of electricity, though the reserve straddles a hydro-electric reservoir that flooded the heart

of their territory in the 1920s, is a diesel generator. As a model of trickle-down colonial economics, teenage boys chop the unwanted wood that forestry companies sometimes dump on the outskirts of the reservation. The wood heats homes when the generator breaks down, as it often does, plunging the community into cold and darkness. In the 1960’s the provincial and federal governments, with the help of local priests, saw fit to shunt the community onto a 59-acre reserve. Ridding Canada of its “Indian problem” has always meant getting Indians off the land, to get at what lay under. Academics label this “sedenterization.” Barriere Lake must have had their own home-grown sociologist, someone who gave the name to their reserve: Kitiganik. To be planted, as if artificially. It never worked. Community members who were children in the 60s remember pulling up stakes that marked the boundaries of the reserve and the thin, clapboard housing from the Department of Indian Affairs. They didn’t begin to settle on the reservation until the 70s. And they never have permanently, refusing to lose attachment to the territory they’ve used for thousands of years. They hunt moose and bear, trap small game and fish for walleye, gather bush medicines, keep watch over old cemeteries and gathering sites, on a land mass that is a country unto itself: nearly 15,000 square kilometres, the size of a Puerto Rico or East Timor. By the 1980s they began engaging in a series of confrontational set-tos with multinational logging companies and Quebec and Canada to preserve what remained of their forests. Their young Chief, Jean Maurice Matchewan, a carpenter with a grade two education but the mind of a professional war-room strategist, led them on protests, logging and highway blockades, and camp-outs on Parliament Hill. They paid a visit to the home of a belligerent logging company owner, chainsaws in hand, to give him a playful scare – a taste of what it might be like to have tress felled over your home. Matchewan publicly burned Minister Joe Clark’s constitutional proposals for not recognizing Indigenous self-government, and then hounded him across the country. They established a record of non-violent direct action that is as unappreciated as it is unmatched in creativity and consistency. Their blockades were the example that inspired the Kanehsatake Mohawks to mount their own in 1990 to stop a cemetery from being bulldozed for a whites-only golf course.

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The Algonquin’s struggle thus became the indirect catalyst for the cross-country Indigenous political resurgence that was triggered by the Oka Crisis – a well-kept secret in the history of anti-colonial resistance. When Canada and Quebec could no longer exclude them from a negotiating table, the Algonuqins signed an agreement – the 1991 Trilateral – that was so subversive it was several years before government officials realized what they had agreed to.

THE COSTS OF AGITATION Ever since armed submission went out of fashion, the Canadian government has preferred to negotiate the dispossession of Indigenous peoples. They compel communities in British Columbia and Quebec that still have unceded title – like Barriere Lake – to agree to surrender rights to the majority of their territories as the very pre-condition for negotiations. Flying in the face of Supreme Court decisions directing the government to recognize land rights, it amounts to conquest by the letter. The objective is to gain “certainty” over the land – unquestioned Crown sovereignty – to smooth the way for corporate exploitation and economic development. But the agreement Barriere Lake negotiated deliberately skirted this rigged process. It was supposed to have granted them a say in development decisions on their land and benefits from the resource extraction, without compromising their land rights or extinguishing their Aboriginal title. It didn’t stake an ownership to the land, but also uncompromisingly refused to surrender it. Aki kina awek kedoja madizi, as the Algonquin say. The land belongs to no one. It’s only borrowed from the generations to come. The government finally understood the community’s intention to “backdoor,” as a top Indian Affairs official put it, one of the bastions of Canadian colonial policy. A secret government report recently exposed through court order confirms the realpolitik underlying the Canadian and Quebec governments refusal to implement the agreement. If successfully implemented, other First Nations might be “justified in questioning” the Canadian government’s preferred model for dealing with them. Questioning might quickly turn into defiance. The architecture of power is not as sturdy as it seems. CONTINUED ON PAGE 11>>

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DIGGING For BARRICK LEGITIMACY GOLD MINES U of T

Sakura Saunders

eter Munk is the founder and chairman of Barrick Gold. Recently, he donated $35 million to the University of Toronto to establish the Munk School of Global Affairs. This donation follows Munk’s previous gifts (totaling $25 million) to establish the Munk Center for International Studies. With these donations, Munk has effectively branded entire areas of international study at the University of Toronto. Affected fields include public international law, international development, and global policy analysis. When Munk donated $6.4 million to establish the Munk Center for International Studies, The Varsity learned through the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act of an agreement signed between the University of Toronto and Peter Munk. This agreement bypassed Governing Council, the university body that oversees academic affairs. The donation ensured the establishment of a Munk Center Council that would cooperate with the Barrick Gold International Advisory Board. It also committed the University to funding the Munk Center for the next 30 years. After public outcry from the University of Toronto Faculty Association, this contract was eventually amended.

Do students want the University of Toronto to be associated with unsavory figures like former US President and CIA director George Bush Sr., (who received an honorary degree from U of T in 1997), Gustavo Cisneros (the Venezuelan Media Mogul implicated in the coup against President Hugo Chavez), or Adnan Khashoggi (a notorious Saudi arms dealer and known conduit in the Iran-Contra scandal)? Many such figures have sat on Barrick Corporation’s International Advisory Board. Khashoggi is one of Barrick’s first major financiers. When asked why former PM Brian Mulroney was nominated to sit on the board of directors at Barrick, Munk famously responded “he knows every dictator in the world on a first-name basis.” Barrick Gold is working hard to brand itself as a socially responsible corporation. It boasts of its public listing on the Dow Jones Sustainability Index. At the same time, however, Barrick has also been working hard to stop bill C-300, a bill that asks the government to withdraw funding and diplomatic support from companies that violate human rights or international environmental norms. Last year, the Norwegian Pension Fund divested $230 million from Barrick because of

practices at their mine in Papua New Guinea. Later that same year, Amnesty International released a report detailing forced evictions (via house-burning) and human rights abuses near Barrick’s Porgera Mine in Papua New Guinea. According to local organizations, Barrick supported these operations to make way for mine expansion. Additionally, the Swiss research firm Covalace listed Barrick as the 12th least ethical company (out of 581 companies evaluated). In an effort to protect their reputation within Canada, Barrick is currently using Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation (SLAPP) against three academics and two small presses that have published or announced an intention to publish media that would damage its claims of corporate social responsibility. The close ties between Barrick and the University of Toronto should concern campus community members — this company is accused of human rights violations, labor violations, environmental devastation and/or corruption in nearly every country where they operate. But the implications of the recent Munk donation extend beyond undermining the university’s reputation. Last October, the Harper government appointed Marketa Evans, founding director of the Munk Center, to a newly established federal post of Corporate Social Responsibility Counselor. Evans’ role is to assist Canadian mining, oil, and gas companies resolve disputes relating to corporate conduct abroad. At the time of publication, she has yet to pursue a single investigation. Not surprising when one considers that company consent is required before any allegation against them can be investigated. Evans’ appointment raises questions about how U of T’s prestige is being used to get people favored by industry into government posts. Students should be similarly concerned about the 19 faculty members appointed to the new School of Global Affairs and the school’s emphasis on the study of Corporate Social Responsibility, which critics cite as a corporate-led strategy for avoiding government oversight. The Munk donations make the University of Toronto an ideological battleground. The outcome of these battles will help to shape the next era of corporate globalization. Students are implicated. And we have a choice to make. Sakura Saunders is the editor of ProtestBarrick.net, a website that profiles Barrick’s operations in ten countries and networks groups organized against Barrick Gold.

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CANADA’S DIRTY WAR >>CONTINUED FROM PAGE 9

The report, written for the Minister of Indian Affairs in 2007, also set out a range of schemes to undermine the Trilateral agreement, including fostering and taking advantage of community divisions. Having fostered the divisions ever since, the government has now taken to invoking them as a convenient pretext for their latest attack on the community – abolishing Barriere Lake’s very system of government. Their traditional governance system – consensus-based, directly democratic, and one of only a dozen still existing among First Nations – is a late target for destabilization and assimilation. Under Barriere Lake’s customs, only those members who live in the territory and have knowledge of the land can participate in the assemblies that approve and give consent to leaders. Canada’s preferred brand of government – electoral band councils, styled on municipalities – would extinguish Barriere Lake’s system and sever their connection to their lands. It’s little wonder they’ve been pushing them on Indignenous communities for 130 years. It has undermined traditional forms of authority and values and collective control of territory. It’s brought leaders into the orbit of Ottawa’s influence. But the last time the government had to resort to force to impose the elected band council system was in 1924, when they dispatched the RCMP to shut down the traditional political Confederacy Lodge in Six Nations. In 2010, can the Canadian government still pull off such a stunt? They’ve won over much of the media by publicly lecturing Barriere Lake about the virtues of their brand of democracy. So democratic, that the only way they could open polling stations this summer was under the threatening watch of the Quebec police. So democratic, that even though almost two hundred community members signed a resolution rejecting the Indian Act band elections, Indian Affairs declared a new Indian Act Chief and Council had been elected by acclamation on the basis of some 5 to 10 nominations. Folks in Barriere Lake understand that democracy is not defined by a ballot box. It’s defined by the will of a community finding expression in the vision and decision-making of their government. In late August, 2010, Quebec police set siege to the reserve, guarding the homes of the new, acclaimed rulers of the community. The government-imposed Indian Act Council has no authority in the reserve for now, but that may change. There is a great deal at stake in the forests of north-west Quebec: whether or not this country can live alongside, even learn from, Indigenous nations, and share the land’s wealth, or if it knows only how to trample and assimilate and seek their cultural and political demise. For more information, visit www.barrierelakesolidarity.org. Martin Lukacs is a writer and activist in Montreal, and is involved with the Barriere Lake solidarity collective.

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END THE CRIMINALIZATION OF DISSENT!

DROP THE G20 CHARGES END THE CRIMINALIZATION OF DISSENT

Yutaka Dirks

etween June 25 and June 27, leaders of the G8 and G20 met in Ontario. Community activists across Canada opposed the G20’s policy agenda of austerity and cutbacks to social programs, which would force already marginalized peoples to pay for the economic crisis. People planned and mobilized for a week of resistance in Toronto to highlight local struggles led by women, disabled people, queers, people of colour, indigenous people, and immigrants and refugees. The Movement Defence Committee (MDC) – a progressive coalition of Toronto-based lawyers, law students and activists – organized legal support for the anti-G20 community mobilization. The MDC’s Summit Legal Support Project (SLSP) offered a series of “Know Your Rights” training sessions for activists, trained and fielded approximately 100 legal observers to document police action during the summit, and pulled together a group of volunteer criminal defence lawyers to provide pro bono legal representation for G20 arrestees at bail hearings. The police responded by mounting a campaign of repression and intimidation. Seventeen respected community organizers were arrested and charged with ‘conspiracy.’ This serious charge came out of a year’s worth of police infiltration and surveillance of activist groups. Hundreds of people were illegally detained and searched, more than 1,100 people were arrested, and almost 300 were criminally charged. Many were beaten by the police. Women were sexually harassed and assaulted in custody and arrestees were denied their most basic legal rights. In the weeks following the summit, police released photos of protest participants, asking the public to identify the individuals. In this way, at least 20 others were criminally charged.

During the aftermath of the G20, the Movement Defence Committee organized workshops for defendants and those who want to hold the police accountable. In these workshops, participants discussed the process of filing complaints and human rights applications, and launching civil and class action suits. If you were detained, arrested, or injured by police during the G20, you can find information on all of these options by visiting our website at movementdefence.org. 303 people facing G20-related charges appeared in court on August 23rd. At least 30 people had their charges withdrawn, or were told that their charges would be dropped if they successfully participated in a diversion program and completed community service. Some defendants were offered a peace bond – a deal which usually lasts a year and requires that an individual “keep the peace” in exchange for charges being withdrawn. More than two hundred people still face criminal charges for their part in resisting the G20 agenda. We ask that people support the G20 defendants and the struggle for a socially and ecologically just world by donating to the legal defense fund and by getting involved with the Toronto Community Solidarity Network’s campaign to drop the charges and free all political prisoners. By mobilizing massive repression, the police aimed to silence us. In response, it’s necessary that we continue to speak out, protest, and hold governments and corporate leaders accountable for their destructive polices. Please visit g20.torontomobilize.org for more information. Yutaka Dirks is a member of the Movement Defense Committee and works as a tenant rights organizer with a Community legal clinic.

MOVEMENT

ECOLOGY OVERCOMING THE MONOCULTURE of MAINSTREAM ENVIRONMENTALISM Maryam Adrangi

Photos by Andrew Nugyen

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fter the failed UN Climate Negotiations last December, many environmental and climate activists experienced what came to be known as “Post-Copenhagen depression.” Toronto based organizers who returned home to a call-out for anti-G20 organizing had little time to recover. For these activists, it became clear that the fight for social and environmental justice meant more than pushing for a legally binding climate deal. During the anti-G20 mobilizations, many activists linked an environmental justice politics to other struggles for liberation. A real movement for environmental and climate justice can only begin when we acknowledge the need to also fight for justice for communities of colour, indigenous people, migrants, queer people, womyn, disAbled people, and other marginalized communities. As Judy Bari, an organizer with Earth First! has noted “the same power that manifests itself as resource extraction in the countryside, manifests itself as racism, classism, and human exploitation in the city. The ecology movement must recognize that we are just one front in a long, proud, history of resistance.” This doesn’t mean that we can’t highlight environmental issues, but it does mean that we need to also address the injustices faced by marginalized people. During the week of action against the G20, the Toxic Tour of Toronto was an attempt to do just that. Environmental and climate justice activists staged a creative rally to highlight some of these destructive powers and institutions. The march stopped at various locations, including the Royal Bank of Canada, the mining building at University of Toronto, and the Toronto Court House. The march was organized by grassroots organizers working in solidarity with frontline communities who led the march and spoke at each stop. “I’m here on a personal matter,” said Jasmine Thomas. Thomas is a member of the Carrier Nation living in Saik’uz, a community along the route of the proposed Enbridge pipeline. “Where my father used to hunt and fish and gather, there are now open pit mines that you can see from space.” Referring to the tar sands gigaproject in Northern Alberta, Thomas concluded by noting that “the world’s largest energy project is destroying my people.” Along with Thomas, speakers from First Nations communities, Kenya, and Guatemala spoke about how the operations of powerful, industrialized countries were impacting their friends and families. Grassroots environmental groups approach to G20 organizing was remarkably different from that adopted by mainstream environmental NGOs (ENGO). These groups continued along the same road that led to the Copenhagen talks, drafting demands for world leaders to reduce emissions and responsibly deal with the climate crisis. In contrast, grassroots groups changed their path and became increasingly aware that the world’s “leaders” will not protect us. We chose to ally ourselves with the communities to which we are accountable and with others who were also committed to challenging the G20. The relationships and connections that we forged between communities have lasted beyond the summit. They are sources of strength in our fight for environmental and social justice. The G20 has come and gone but our communities remain. The G20 mobilization was an opportunity to build a movement. It allowed us to begin transforming the culture of environmental and climate justice struggles.

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I KNOW WHAT YOU DID LAST

SUMMER

THE UNIVERSITY, THE G20 AND THE BETRAYAL OF PRINCIPLES

Prime Minister Stephen Harper; Peter Munk; Nina Munk; U of T President David Naylor.

Faraz Vahid Shahidi

he university is, for better or for worse, presumed to be our society’s repository of truth. In its Statement of Institutional Purpose, the University of Toronto declares that the University is responsible for safeguarding, above all, the “human right to radical, critical teaching and research.” Commitment to rigorous inquiry and critical thought is fundamental to U of T’s purported dedication to “the pursuit and dissemination of the truth.” Why, then, did U of T endorse the suppression of dissent that swept the city in June 2010 when Ontario hosted the G8 and G20 summits? Together, these summits represent the meeting of the world’s 20 ‘major economies’ – that is, the 20 richest and most powerful countries that collectively govern more than 85% of the world economy and 80% of global trade. In other words, their decisions affect us. It’s a basic democratic expectation that people will interrogate G8 and G20 policy agendas. Yet, at this historic moment, our university ignored its mandate. On Friday, May 21, U of T Provost Cheryl Misak declared by administrative fiat that the University would be shut down during the entire week of the G20 Summit, for all intents and purposes. On the basis of campus proximity to the absurd and

undemocratic “designated protest zone” at Queen’s Park, Misak joined the police’s fear mongering about potential “violence, tear gas, arrests, disruption and damage to buildings.” Misak’s communiqué referred to a cynical activist stereotype, and reinforced the state’s manipulative distinction between good and bad protestors. A month later, university buildings were locked, libraries emptied, classes canceled and exams postponed. Residence students were evicted, campus services disrupted, and U of T administrators offered the campus to the G20’s Integrated Security Unit (ISU). Police were granted sole access to campus roads (specifically King’s College Circle) and residence buildings, some of which were converted into ISU housing. Caught in the midst of this political maneuvering were evicted students who did not receive adequate financial compensation for alternative housing arrangements – students were only compensated $135 for four nights. The G20 summit provided an opportunity for U of T to affirm its political alignment with neoliberalism. The week of the summit, U of T hosted a joint conference with the newly established Munk School of Global Affairs titled “Making the Case for Global Governance.” The keynote speaker was former Prime Minister Paul Martin, who is credited with conceiving of the G20. This new School was established with a $35 million donation from Barrick Gold’s Peter Munk – the largest private endowment to a Canadian university. It houses the G8 Research Group and the Canada Centre for Global Security Studies – the latter was created with a $25 million endowment from the Harper government. Meanwhile, the campus closure forced the cancellation of critical public events, including the major Council of Canadians “Shout Out” public forum on the G20, originally to be held in U of T’s Convocation Hall on June 25. Event organizers scrambled to find an alternative venue to host confirmed speakers Maude Barlow, Pablo Solon, Naomi Klein, Vandana Shiva, Amy Goodman and others. A network of campus groups criticized the closure and publicly announced that their offices would remain open. Among them was the Graduate Students’ Union (GSU), which was billeting out-of-town protestors during the summit in its gymnasium – they commonly billet for large events. On the morning of June 27, police raided the GSU gym and arrested approximately 70 of these billeters. U of T administrators have yet to comment on this specific assault, let alone condemn the mass violation of civil liberties perpetrated against anti-G20 protesters that weekend. These events raise questions about the nature of the relationship between the university and the state. As students consider our role in challenging illegitimate bodies like the G20, we must not be blinded by statements of purpose. We must acknowledge that instead of fostering a democratic culture of critique and debate, U of T stifles dissent. Instead of safeguarding the truth, U of T harbors liars. Faraz Vahid Shahidi studies the political economy of health at the University of Toronto. He is a member of the OPIRG-Toronto Board of Directors and an organizer with Students Against Israeli Apartheid.

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GETTING THE GOODS >>CONTINUED FROM PAGE 7

($560 for shelter and $360 for basic needs). Disability income rates are only slightly higher, and the Ontario Disability Support Program is difficult to qualify for – gaining access usually requires appeal processes and long waiting periods. Given this dire situation, it is no wonder that thousands of people in Ontario drove far distances to find doctors who understand that poverty is a health issue and that current social assistance rates are dangerously low? As OCAP organizer Liisa Schofield explains, “The dramatic increase in people accessing the Special Diet is not an indication of fraud, it is an indication of a hunger problem and a looming health crisis in this province.” Far from feeling ashamed for promoting access to the Special Diet, OCAP is proud to be part of a movement that has forced the provincial government to pay people a slightly more livable income. It is not fraudulent when people access funds to put healthy food on the table. We stand with those who refuse to suffer in silence, those who have the courage to fight for the money they need to pay the rent and support their families.

IN THE STREETS OCAP continues to work with our allies to demand a livable income for all. On April 15, 2010, over 700 OCAP members and our allies marched in Toronto, demanding that the provincial government restore the Special Diet and raise the rates by 55%. On July 21, people marched again from the Ministry of Family and Social Services to Liberal Party Headquarters. The crowd, led by members of the Disability Rights group DAMN, was greeted by a group of demonstrators on the inside who made speeches and hung a banner from a second story window. In the spirit of G20 policing, all eleven demonstrators on the inside were quickly arrested and now face serious criminal charges. In spite of police intimidation and the determination of the McGuinty Liberals to ignore the needs of poor people, OCAP will continue the fight to raise the rates. As the economic crisis continues for poor and working people, we must challenge the Liberal government. We must broadcast our opposition and fill the streets and their offices to lay bare the reality of Liberal policies. If you are interested in joining OCAP to fight, please get in touch or check out our website (www.ocap.ca) to find out about upcoming events and actions. Raise the Rates Family BBQ: Saturday, September 18, location TBA. Join us for great food, soccer, and fun! OCAP 20th Anniversary: Autumn 2010, date and location TBA. Come celebrate 20 years of active resistance. Donate! Donation to the Special Diet Action Legal Fund can be sent to: ‘Ontario Coalition Against Poverty’, 10 Britain St, Toronto, Ontario, M5A 1R6

SUBMIT TO ACTION SPEAKS LOUDER ACTIONSPEAKSLOUDERTORONTO@GMAIL.COM PITCHES FOR NEXT ISSUE DUE NOV. 1, 2010

U RESOURCES 16

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SPACES ON AND AROUND CAMPUS

ACTIVIST NETWORKS AND ORGANIZATIONS

519 Community Centre Bike Pirates: DIY Bicycle Shop Centre for Social Justice Centre for Women and Trans People at U of T Native Canadian Centre of Toronto Toronto Rape Crisis Centre/ Multicultural Women Against Rape Toronto Women’s Bookstore

LOCAL

www.the519.org www.bikepirates.com www.socialjustice.org womenscentre.sa.utoronto.ca

NEWS AND ANALYSIS

Coalition Against Israeli Apartheid Low Income Families Together (LIFT) No One is Illegal-Toronto Ontario Coalition Against Poverty Queers Against Israeli Apartheid Sikh Activist Network Toronto Stop the War Coalition Toronto Vegetarian Association Toronto Worker’s Assembly OPIRG-York

LOCAL

NATIONAL AND GLOBAL

BASICS Newsletter Toronto New Socialist Ryerson Free Press subMedia.tv The Dominion Toronto Media Co-op Upping the Anti: A Journal of Theory and Action York University Free Press

www.ncct.on.ca www.trccmwar.ca www.womensbookstore.com

basicsnews.ca www.newsocialist.org www.ryersonfreepress.ca submedia.tv www.thedominion.ca www.mediacoop.ca www.uppingtheanti.org www.yufreepress.org

NATIONAL AND GLOBAL Al Jazeera Democracy Now! Independent Media Centre Infoshop News Rabble.ca Socialist Project Z Communications

english.aljazeera.net www.democracynow.org www.indymedia.org www.infoshop.org www.rabble.ca www.socialistproject.ca www.zcommunications.org

www.caiaweb.org www.lift.to toronto.nooneisillegal.org www.ocap.ca www.queersagainstapartheid.org sikhactivist.net www.nowar.ca www.veg.ca www.workersassembly.ca www.opirgyork.ca

Animal Liberation Front www.animalliberationfront.com Assaulted Women’s Helpline www.awhl.org AW@L peaceculture.org Canadian Haiti www.canadahaitiaction.ca Action Network Canadian Tamil Congress www.canadiantamilcongress.ca Defenders of the Land www.defendersoftheland.org INCITE Women of www.incite-national.org Color Against Violence Indigenous Environmental Network www.ienearth.org Jews Against the Occupation www.jatonyc.org Justice for www.justicia4migrantworkers.org Migrant Workers North Eastern Federation www.nefac.org of Anarchist Communists International Jewish www.ijsn.net Anti-Zionist Network Palestinian Campaign for the www.pacbi.org Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel Prison Justice Action Committee www.pjac.ca