May 2011

MAY 11

RESPECT

Torontonians rally and demand respect from their Mayor.

Will Rob Ford listen?

An HISTORIC ELECTION

Disenfranchised? It’s probably not your fault

By Nora Loreto, Editor-In-Chief During the election, it felt as if we were going to have 100 per cent voter turnout.

People around me were buzzing with news of this poll or that scandal. Both online and in real life, all of my friends and family were completely engaged as they watched this election unfold.

But the percentage of voters only rose slightly from the low 2008 election turnout.

There are lots of reasons not to vote, and I respect a person’s decision to protest an election by not voting. Indeed, most elections force voters to choose from among a pathetic roster of the uninspired. I’d guess, however that active protests accounted for a small number of people among the millions who didn’t vote.

Throughout the election campaign, there was a lot of attention of groups who are normally underrepresented by voter turnout percentages. A cadre of uncreative journalists placed young people and students in the centre of the voter turnout debate. Young people were the low-hanging fruit of stories about voter engagement, and solutions like vote mobs and online voting were offered by some whose surface analysis stopped them from writing about more systemic issues.

The voting patterns of non-white and first-time voters who recently immigrated to Canada also received some media coverage.

Thanks to anti-racism activists like the performers at the Colour of Poverty whose Michael Jackson video went viral in the early days of the campaign, some journalists paid attention to the trends and barriers to voting for these so-called ethnics (or “very ethnics”). It helped that Conservative staff members had a series of accidental leaks of information that demonstrated their party’s obsession and thin respect with these groups, as they tried to lure the “ethnic vote” to the Tory side.

But no amount of media coverage, Facebook pontificating and Youtube advertisements could convince some people.

This wasn’t a failure of those instruments of publicity used to promote the vote however. It was, and will always be, a failure of our system.

Canada’s voting system is a blend of the British and American systems and was instituted in a way that specifically prohibited a majority of Canadians from being able to vote.

With land ownership as the primary determinant of

eligible voting status, nearly all women were prohibited from voting. So were the nations of people whose own sophisticated governmental systems were under sustained and consistent attack from the central colonial government of Canada.

Others were excluded from voting as well. Bureaucrats were nearly universally excluded from voting. In Nova Scotia, anyone who had received social assistance or charity was ineligible. First Nations people were explicitly banned, and Chinese people were banned from voting in British Columbia.

When enfranchisement was enacted through federal law in 1885, people who were “Mongolian and Chinese,” First Nations and who were women were still not granted full enfranchisement.

It should be no surprise that the electoral system we have now, which was built upon exclusion and created by political parties who remain today continues to disenfranchise Canadians, albeit more subtly.

Even though a mere 40 per cent of Canadians who voted (that is, 24 per cent of all Canadians), elected the Conservatives, they won their majority. When examining the votes that delivered the ‘majority’ riding by riding, this magic gift was the result of the votes of only 0.018 per cent of Canadians, according to Rabble.ca.

As long as 27 of Stephen Harper’s new Members of Parliament don’t die, they can govern however they’d like.

Time will tell to what extent they will carry out their agenda.

But for the 76 per cent of Canadians who either voted against the Conservatives or chose not to vote, they remain unrepresented.

Until our electoral system is changed to ensure that the popular vote is reflected in the House of Commons, tens of millions of Canadians will be disenfranchised. No amount of vote mobs or Rick Mercer rants are going to change this reality.

Unfortunately, all governments who are elected will have already benefited from our archaic system.

If that’s the case, democratic reform could arguably never come through voting for it.

And so the question remains: how can we impose our system on them, so that they can stop imposing their agenda on us?

How can we impose our system on them, so that they can stop imposing their agenda on us?

After the election, the debate over electoral reform continues

By Emily Loewen May 2 has come and gone, along with talk of polls and preferences. But amidst the electoral hubbub, the system we use to vote hardly warranted a mention. Though the way our votes are counted underpins the entire election experience, neither the Liberals nor Conservatives talked about how well the system serves our country (possibly because each would stand to lose from reform).

Pointing to the numbers, many are arguing that it is clear that Canada’s parliament doesn’t represent Canada fairly. In 2008, only 22 per cent of MPs were women, and the numbers were lower (6.8 per cent) for visible minorities. Over the years both professors and politicians have said one solution might be changing our electoral system to allocate seats based on the popular vote. Low voter turnout has also been attributed to our first-past-thepost system. So while the election is over, the question still lingers: is it time for a change in the way we vote?

Two major complaints are often levied against our current system. The first being that with the right geographical concentration of support, one party could win an election and form government without coming close to half the votes — leaving all the votes for the other party meaningless – and that, as the hypothesis goes, leads to voter apathy and low turn out.

The second is that it tends to elect the status quo – older white men — leaving us with a government far from representative of its people. Professor Melissa Haussman, of Carlton University, explains that because each riding is all or nothing, political parties always back the candidate most likely to win, which is usually a male incumbent with more political experience. “A self-fulfilling cycle if there ever was one,” Haussman wrote in an email.

These complaints are not new. In 2004, the Law Commission of Canada reported that in the year 2000, 49 per cent of Canadians believed first-past-the-post was unacceptable, up 10 per cent from 1990. Their report also recommended that Canada use proportional representation as its electoral system, instead of, “trying to make a nineteenth century institution work within a twenty-first century society.”

Proponents of a proportional representation system argue that it represents Canadian democratic values accurately. The Citizens Assembly on Electoral reform went so far as to say

that currently, “there is no logical or systematic relationship between a party’s total share of the votes cast and its seats in the legislature.”

Though not everyone sees it that way. Haussman agrees that our government doesn’t reflect Canada the way it should, but she’s not sure overhauling our ballots and ridings is the way to get a more equal parliament or increase participation.

“Really, as I say in class,” she wrote, “instead of reforming the electoral system we need to reform our socialized expectations that only women should stay home with children and that they should delay their careers until children get older.”

And it appears other Canadians aren’t prepared for the shift either. Heidi Cumby, was politically involved enough to vote before election-day but said, “I don’t see a reason to change it, everyone has a fair opportunity.”

It’s not just Cumby, in the last decade there have been several attempts to change the way we cast our vote, none succeeded. British Columbia had two referenda, in 2005 and 2009, P.E.I. held one in 2005, and proportional representation advocates called Ontario’s 2007 referendum, with only 36.9 per cent support for change, an “unmitigated disaster.”

One reason for the limited enthusiasm might be confusion about what proportional representation actually is. Cumby, for example, saw no reason to change our system, but she had never heard of any others. In the Ontario referendum, the single greatest reason people voted “no” was lack of information, according the report “The Quiet Referendum: Why Election Reform Failed in Ontario.”

And it makes sense. Instead of casting one vote as we do now, most proportional representation systems require multiple votes, sometimes for Candidates in opposing parties, which can leave people confused about how their vote would get counted.

That hurdle may be part of Haussman’s hesitance to support an overhaul of the system. “I think there will continue to be huge resistance to changing that system,” she wrote. Although it might be as insurmountable as electoral reform, Haussman believes that changing societal expectations of what politicians look like could help create, “a Parliament that actually looks like Canada and can legitimately claim to make policy on its behalf.”

Ryerson Free Press MAY 2011 3

No mandate for Harper’s agenda How to keep the ‘orange wave’ spreading

By Jesse McLaren The 2011 election results are contradictory. On the one hand, Stephen Harper achieved his long-coveted majority government, increasing his party’s seats from 143 to 167. According to Harper, Canadians elected a “strong, stable, national Conservative government.” But at the same time, the New Democratic Party nearly tripled its vote, making huge gains in Quebec, and has become the Official Opposition for the first time in history. How do we make sense of this contradiction, and continue the inspiring orange wave?

A reconfiguration of the corporate vote Despite Harper’s and the media’s claims that Canadians have shifted to the right, the Tories increased their share of the vote by only two per cent, gaining just over 600,000 votes. They won their majority based on a historic collapse of the Liberals, who have lost almost a million votes in each of the past two elections.

If you believed Ignatieff ’s claim that the Liberals were a clear alternative to the Tories, then you’d believe Harper’s claim that he has earned a strong mandate. But the Liberals and the Conservatives are the twin parties of corporate Canada. While many had illusions that the Liberals could provide an alternative, their experience has proved them wrong.

Since the last election in 2008, the Liberals joined the Tories to extend the mission in Afghanistan and to defeat bills on Employment Insurance and climate change. The Liberals even defeated their own pro-choice motion in the lead-up to the G20, and a Liberal private member’s bill supporting US war resisters. Ignatieff also supported Harper by becoming the MP with the worst attendance record in the House of Commons.

Since the economic crisis in 2008, Bay Street has craved a majority—either Liberal or Tory—to force through an austerity agenda, while ordinary people have wanted an alternative to Harper. These forces have ripped the Liberals apart: their right-wing base gave Harper his majority (endorsed by

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nearly every mainstream newspaper and media outlet in Canada), consolidating the corporate vote in one party, while those on the left ditched “strategic voting” and voted NDP. Harper’s stronger regime in Parliament obscures the steady erosion of the combined Liberal/Tory vote as result of what has happened outside Parliament. In 2000, the combined corporate vote was 78 per cent.

After the anti-capitalist mobilization against the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) in Quebec City in 2001, the G8 protests in Calgary in 2002, and the historic demonstrations against the war in Iraq in 2003, the combined corporate fell even more: to 66 per cent in 2004 and 2006. With growing anger over the war and the start of the economic crisis, it slipped down to 64 per cent in 2008. Now, after three years of austerity and growing resistance—from Egypt to Wisconsin—the combined corporate vote has fallen to 58.5 per cent. Meanwhile, Parliament’s disconnect from ordinary people led many to continue voting with their feet: despite a higher turnout than last election, it was still the third lowest in Canadian history, another reason why Harper has a majority without a mandate.

Growth and reconfiguration of the left vote The real story this election is not the 24seat gain for the Tories (offset by a 43-seat loss for the Liberals), but the 65-seat gain for the NDP. With a historic surge in Quebec, and increased seats in BC, Ontario and the Atlantic provinces (along with finishing second in most Alberta ridings), the NDP nearly tripled its seats, becoming the Official Opposition for the first time in history. All other alternative parties saw supporters migrate to the NDP, which is a step forward for the left.

The corporate alternative of the Liberals has been decimated. The Bloc implosion is not a repudiation of sovereignty, but its reconfiguration on a left platform. While the Bloc Québécois has failed to improve the lives of people in Quebec, the NDP

campaigned against the war and for social services, respected Quebec sovereignty, and benefited from the provincial left alternative Québec solidaire—a party that has galvanized the left sovereigntist position as it campaigns against austerity and for social and ecological justice.

Meanwhile, the “neither right nor left” Green Party lost half its votes (but picked up a seat), which shifted to the NDP—uniting green politics with trade unions and the anti-war movement. That the “anybody but Harper” vote has been consolidated in Canada’s only labour party is a step forward for the development of working-class consciousness, which forms the basis of opposition to Harper’s agenda.

This growth and reconfiguration of the left have not happened in a vacuum.

It is connected to the economic crisis and growing resistance around the world. The political earthquake of the Tunisian and Egyptian revolutions has triggered a wave of resistance in the region, washed over Europe with massive strikes against austerity, flooded Wisconsin with a rebirth of trade union militancy—and has arrived in Canada with the ‘orange wave.’ In Britain, a Tory-led government is trying to impose a brutal austerity regime, but has been thrown into crisis by a mass students’ and workers’ movement.

This is how we can expose the underlying weakness and instability of Harper’s majority, and stop his corporate policies.

What next for the ‘orange wave’?

There are precedents for uniting mass movements outside Parliament, and building unity between people in Canada and Quebec, with opposition inside Parliament to stop a corporate party majority from imposing its policies. The majority Liberals tried to impose the Multilateral Agreement on Investment in the late 1990s, but they were stopped by protests across the country, including a blockade in Montreal. The majority Liberals also tried to join the corporatedriven Free Trade Area of the Americas, but 80,000 people across Quebec and Canada,

including leading members of the NDP, protested in Quebec City in 2001, part of continent-wide opposition that defeated the proposal. When the majority Liberals tried to join the Iraq War in 2003, Jack Layton and the NDP helped build the mass protests that saw hundreds of thousands protest across the country, including two demonstrations in Montreal of 250,000 each. The NDP opposition within Parliament united with a mass movement outside Parliament to drive a wedge among the majority Liberals who, despite the backing of Stephen Harper’s Tories, were forced to say no to war.

This election saw a surge in student activism, while Hamilton steelworkers rallied on Parliament Hill for May Day. There is no sign that activism is going away after the election: already people in Montreal have organized two protests against Harper’s majority. NDP gains can give people the confidence to fight the austerity agenda at the municipal and federal level, from opposing garbage privatization in Toronto to uniting workers across Quebec and Canada behind a possible postal workers’ strike at the end of May. While Harper seems to have the formal power to do whatever he pleases, we can extend the election victories of the NDP into the streets and workplaces and beat back Harper’s corporate agenda. We now have the largest NDP opposition in history that unites workers and their struggles in Quebec and Canada, and a population radicalized by a decade of movements and recent revolutions.

Now is the time to ramp up anti-Harper opposition inside and outside Parliament to demand troops out of Afghanistan, an end to the Tar Sands, a reversal of corporate tax cuts, and funding for social services and Employment Insurance. We all must continue to build the student, labour, antiwar and ecology movements outside Parliament—to give momentum to orange wave to challenge and confront Harper and his corporate policies inside Parliament.

This op-ed originally appeared in a Socialist Worker special supplement on May 4, 2011: www.socialist.ca/socialistworker/index.html

PHOTO: THE PRIME MINISTER’S OFFICE/FLICKR

The real victory is the NDP’s

‘Mr. Harper: How Do You Sleep?’

Why I’m not depressed about the outcome of the election

A letter from a reader

By Shawn Whitney I know lots of people are depressed this morning thinking about four years of majority rule under the heel of the Nasty Party.

It’s true that they are a ghoulish and evil lot and they will try to shaft workers, the poor, women, the Québécois, Aboriginal peoples, people with disabilities, peace-lovers, the environment and all things good and right in the world that I may have missed. They are, in short, scum.

Just so that you know where I stand.

But while the wing-nuts who make up the Tory base may be gloating a bit this morning, my guess is that Harper—a sharper sort of scumbag—is rather more circumspect. Sure, he got his majority, but only by poaching a section of right-wing Liberals who were peeing their pants at the thought of an NDP federal government and only by promising them stable, moderate rule.

Now, of course, Harper is an inveterate liar and charlatan and not prone to keeping his word or respecting democracy or its institutions. But he also doesn’t want the Tories to be the next Liberal wipe-out in waiting. If he pushes too hard, he has to know that he may win some short-term gains, but the result will be that the already fragile Liberal Party will complete its collapse as the remaining bulk of its members head to the NDP and a smaller number head to the Tories. If he unites the left under the umbrella of the NDP, he will have polarized the country, shifted close to a majority of the electorate to the left and made it much less likely that the Tories will be able to ever win a majority again.

All it would take is a breakthrough in the Prairies to put the nail in the coffin of future Tory majorities. So, he will have to govern carefully—I don’t expect to see

any great lurch to the right in the coming months, just more of his attempt to slowly transform Canada into a right-wing dystopia of Seuss-like proportions.

Now, a lot depends on the ability of the NDP to really capitalize on their massive electoral breakthrough. And, in an ironic way, a Harper majority will potentially make that easier and allow the NDP time to consolidate its gains in Quebec, build a party machine to deepen its Quebec roots and pave the way for further gains. If that building process is accompanied by strong opposition in Parliament and, even more importantly in my mind, with campaigning on the ground to involve the hundreds of thousands of people who have turned to the NDP, it could really transform Canadian politics.

I’d be interested to know, for instance, what sort of relationship exists between the activists and leadership of Québec solidaire (QS) and the federal NDP. QS is a left-sovereigntist party in Quebec with one seat in Quebec’s National Assembly and a presence to some degree across the province, plus several years’ experience in holding together riding associations, etc. They are certainly to the left of the NDP and have an official position of being a party of both the ballot box and of the streets.

One hopes that sensibility is widely held in the Quebec wing of the NDP because, if two-thirds of the NDP caucus seek to build the party through a strategy of mobilizing and that infects the party in English Canada, things could get very exciting. In fact, in the short term, my guess is that the NDP is about to become the country’s fastest growing political party and it will be infused with idealistic youth and formerly cynical trade unionists.

If the flux and the growth combine in the

right recipe—something nobody can know at this point but about which we ought to be optimistic—we could be looking at a mass, renewed left-wing movement and party.

There are dangers, of course: the union leadership is made up of slow-moving, conservative bureaucrats with little interest in mass mobilizing or anything that disturbs “business as usual.” The NDP leadership, much of it union bureaucrats, is likewise conservative in this sense. Layton is a wildcard.

He’s no radical, but he supports extra-parliamentary movements: he has spoken at innumerable anti-war events and Olivia Chow has gone the distance with the War Resisters Support Campaign, both inside and outside of Parliament.

Layton might encourage this process, which would help it immensely, or he might try to follow a more Harper-esque model of containing the party’s rookies by tightly controlling the flow of information and the model of party-building. Hopefully, the political situation in Quebec is dynamic and massive enough that it will push things forward, regardless of what the party leadership thinks.

Harper will have nowhere near that dynamism from his victory and he no longer has the cover of a minority government to blame for his failings. The continuing experience of austerity and recession for the majority of Canadians will undermine Harper’s credibility. Having a big, left-wing alternative will facilitate that decline.

That’s why I’m not depressed.

This op-ed originally appeared on Shawn’s blog RedBedHead on May 3, 2011: redioactive.blogspot.com/2011/05/real-victory-is-ndps.html

On March 29, Prime Minister Harper played the keyboard while singing John Lennon’s “Imagine” at a Winnipeg campaign stop. Another song on Lennon’s 1971 album Imagine is “How Do You Sleep?”—directed at Paul McCartney. If you’re familiar with the melody, try these new lyrics. All together now!

Mr. Harper, How Do You Sleep?

So the contempt vote took you by surprise You better see through the people’s eyes Those guys were right on the price of the jets Cost twice as much, but what about our vets?

How do you sleep?

Ah, how do you sleep at night?

You made coalition a dirty word Most Parliaments have them, haven’t you heard?

Policies favoured by most in their land More moderate than left and right demand How do you sleep?

Ah, how do you sleep at night?

Prorogue the Parliament, twice down the drain Can’t hear Afghan detainees scream in pain Large tax cuts for the largest companies And for the Tar Sands boys more subsidies How do you sleep?

Ah, how do you sleep at night?

At the climate talks, what do we have here?

Four times awarded Fossil of the Year!

Those Action Plan ads cost twenty-six mil The G8 and 20, over one bill How do you sleep?

Ah, how do you sleep at night?

Why did you lose the seat at the UN? Who inserted the word “not” with a pen?

Five times Bruce Carson convicted of fraud Then secret clearance in a PMO job How do you sleep?

Ah, how do you sleep at night?

Only five questions, ‘cause you are the king Jump when reporters ask you anything You keep them more than forty feet away Behind steel fences, just another day How do you sleep?

Ah, how do you sleep at night?

You challenge Michael to a face-to-face He tell you any time, any place Next day you say that it can’t be done You’ll just abide by the consortium How do you sleep?

Ah, how do you sleep at night?

Get back on the ‘rights’ track, says Amnesty And how do you define democracy?

Your London rally, two students kicked out ‘Cause of a picture on a Facebook account How do you sleep?

Ah, how do you sleep at night?

Read the background on John Lennon’s “How Do You Sleep”: http://bit.ly/mQJINZ

Ryerson Free Press MAY 2011 5

NEWS

Rabble celebrates 10 years of critical journalism

By Carly Conway

Sun News Network may have crashed the party, but it didn’t dampen the birthday celebrations.

On April 18, the right-wing network launched its “hard news and straight talk” programming as Rabble marked 10 years of left-leaning content focused on progressive politics and social issues—born partly out of frustration over an increasingly conservative media landscape in Canada.

“The first reaction was to laugh,” says Rabble’s publisher Kim Elliott. “What irony that [Sun News] should choose the same day to launch as [us].”

Taking full advantage of the situation, Rabble unveiled its (Sun) Media Watch blog the same day, in a post titled “Don’t be blinded by SunTV.” But the highlight of Rabble’s tin anniversary culminated at a gathering in the Gladstone Hotel Ballroom. About 100 Rabble supporters joined past and current contributors in a lively look back on the organization’s growth and earnest look forward at the future of the not-for-profit.

The event, “Bearing Witness, Creating Hope: 10 years of rabble.ca,” saw the return of Rabble founder Judy Rebick in the role of moderator at the night’s panel discussion, which featured fellow founder Mark Surman. Along with media activist and journalist Judy MacDonald, Rebick and Surman first published the site before the Summit of the Americas in Quebec, a moment in Canadian history that saw one of its largest anti-globalization demonstrations.

Rebick quickly dove into a congratulatory retrospective of Rabble’s history of achievements, namely its success as an online forum, long before the importance of the digital age was realized. “We really prefigured social media in the way that babble worked,” she said of the site’s discussion board. When Rabble first came to be, it followed the launch of Wikipedia by months and pre-dated sites like Facebook and Twitter by several years.

The pair of founders looked back on not only Rabble’s accomplishments in a new and ever-changing medium, but also on some of the moments that have come to define it, at least for them. Rebick recalled her 2001 experience at the Quebec City summit, when she watched teddy bears shoot out of a catapult, she helped finance, over the security wall, as demonstrators gathered to protest capitalist globalization and trade liberalization. Her simultaneous rage and hope for what could be done in an increasingly digital world to disseminate alternative viewpoints sparked the very creation of Rabble.

September 11, 2001 also came up as one of Rabble’s pivotal moments, with enthusiastic members of the audience helping piece together the events that followed the attacks on the World Trade Centre. While the chaos and confusion resulted in the crashing of websites for

mainstream media outlets, Rabble became a go-to source, one audience member called out.

Whereas Rebick and Surman looked fondly back, there were others involved in the discussion that represented Rabble as it exists today, and as it continues to push forward.

Activist and Rabble contributor Ben Powless was only 14 when Rabble was founded.

“There was really no other place like it,” he recalled thinking when first introduced to the site.

Today, Powless’ work has garnered national and international readers. In 2008 he called on over 2,400 users on Facebook to demand Globe and Mail columnist Margaret Wente’s firing after she referred to First Nations culture in Canada, up until 30 years ago, as “savagery.”

In 2009, his work in Peru covering the military crackdown in the Amazon resulted in him becoming a source of information for major media outlets around the world.

“That really struck me as the power of this type of citizen journalism,” he said of his experience in Peru. “The power of Rabble.ca was immediately evident in that moment.”

Despite the progress Rabble has made over the past decade, there’s no room for complacency. Olivia Nuamah of the Atkinson Foundation — the organization that initially funded Rabble — reminded the crowd there’s still work to be done.

“For me, what it means to become bigger, what it means to become better,” she said, “is to reach out further to marginalized groups, to those who still don’t have a voice in the media landscape.”

“It is about constantly asking the difficult questions now, not basking in the glory of what you have achieved.”

As Rabble enters its second decade of existence, efforts continue to be made to ensure voices of all Canadians are being heard.

“We prioritize our budget for writers who are underrepresented,” Elliott said, explaining their annual budget is $234,000 a year and includes payment for staff, writers and all the technical support that is involved with an online publication. She seeks out writers from established groups, such as migrant rights organization No One Is Illegal and Megaphone, a Vancouver publication sold on the streets by homeless and low-income vendors. “[We] go to organizations that are working with groups who are more marginalized and who have less access to mainstream outlets,” Elliott said. “It’s something to always keep in mind and keep making efforts to reach out and connect with people who aren’t part of your day to day networks.”

Rabble will continue its birthday celebrations year-round with issue-driven events planned in cities across the country. Elliott and her fellow rabble-rousers will head to Vancouver in June, just in time for the federal NDP convention.

Chomsky on Freedom and Survival at U of T

By Salmaan Abdul Hamid Khan

On April 7, renowned academic, political activist, and author Noam Chomsky addressed a crowd of approximately four hundred in the Great Hall at the University of Toronto, with an additional two hundred or so tucked away in the overflow rooms.

Professor Chomsky’s talk, the State Corporate Complex: A Threat to Freedom and Survival, was preceded by an introductory speech by author Linda McQuaig. McQuaig briefly outlined Chomsky’s prolific career, noting that he is one of the most cited political thinker of all time.

When it came time for Professor Chomsky to speak, he jumped right into the meat of the matter, reminding us that “those that control the economic life of a country also tend to have overwhelming influence over state policy.” Multinational corporations and financial institutions, noted Chomsky, “ensure that state policy serves their interests, however grievous the effect on others.”

As the overwhelming majority of the population continues to suffers under the current economic crisis--where unemployment remains at rates experienced during the great depression in the 1930s--big corporations, like Goldman Sachs, which Professor Chomsky pointed to as, “one of the architects of the economic crisis,” are “now richer than ever.”

In fact, Chomsky declared, Goldman Sachs “recently announced $17.5 Billion in extra compensation for last year, with their CEO, Lloyd C. Blankfein, getting an extra $12.6 million.” This was in addition to his base salary, which almost tripled.

Rather than be punished for their crimes, and for having caused the economic crisis in the first place, financial institutions like Goldman Sachs are being rewarded at the expense of the working class population.

As Professor Chomsky pointed out, “inequality has soared to its highest levels in U.S. history...for the majority of the population, real incomes have stagnated and people are getting by with heavier workloads, and increasing debt. The miniscule categories of victors are the CEOs, hedge hunt managers, who use their political power to enhance the process.”

Before ending his talk, however, Professor Chomsky reminded the audience of the task at hand, and of their responsibility to change the conditions that exist today. Unless we stand

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up against multinational corporations and financial institutions; unless we fight against the corporatization of our universities and our government, “all of this and much more can proceed.”

As long as the general population is passive and apathetic, devoted to consumerism, or hatred of the vulnerable. As long as that’s true, the powerful can do as they please and those who survive will be left to contemplate the ruins.”

PHOTO: AUDRINGJE/FLICKR

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Features and Opinions Editor James Clark

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Culture Editor

Protesting Barrick Gold Gaining Momentum Locked out of Barrick’s annual general meeting, mining injustice activists build a protest movement

By Megan Kinch Despite calls for rain, April 27 was sunny and beautiful for a high-energy protest against Barrick Gold’s annual shareholder meeting (AGM). According to some of the 100 or so activists in attendance, Barrick Gold’s continuing disregard for human rights, their refusal to recognize Indigenous sovereignty, as well as their disregard for the environment were some of the reasons for the protest.

Although corporations are supposed to operate through a voting process that is accountable to shareholders, Sakura Saunders of ProtestBarrick.net was not allowed inside the meeting even though she is, in fact, a shareholder.

“They tried to blame my removal on the Metro Centre security,” she posted on Facebook, “but the head of security at the building assured me (in front of Barrick’s Head of Security) that I was allowed to be in the building, and they would only [stop] me if Barrick requested it.

Barrick proceeded to request my removal and have me escorted out by the police.”

Natalie Lowrey, also with ProtestBarrick. net, explained how Barrick AGMs don’t even follow normal corporate procedure: “Generally at [annual general meetings (AGMs)] they have people with microphones just sitting there, but at Barrick AGMs…it’s much harder to get a place to speak. They are trying to make it as difficult as possible for affected communities or

even shareholders in general to get a chance to speak on issues.”

The undemocratic nature of the meeting encouraged activists to prioritize protesting outside instead, as voices from affected communities were silenced inside the meeting.

Jethro Tulin, speaking on behalf of communities affected by the Porgera mine in Papua New Guinea, spent four days traveling in order to try and speak. However, due to visa trouble at the border, they arrived a few hours late too speak at the Barrick Gold AGM. Finally, Tulin was able to address the crowd outside Barrick Gold Headquarters. This is the fourth time that Jethro has traveled all the way to Canada to address a Barrick Gold meeting.

“Nothing has changed,” he told the crowd.

“They say Barrick is a sustainable company, but they are just buying more and more time to come and extract more. They cannot regulate themselves, we were pushing for Bill C300 but it didn’t go through, it got stopped short. We need to grow a lot of groups like this,” he said, pointing at the crowd. “It will take time to grow your pressure.”

Earlier this year, Barrick Gold security guards were arrested for raping women living near the Porgera mine site in Papua New Guniea. In response, Barrick Gold president Peter Munk appeared dismissive, stating “gang rape is a cultural habit.”

When asked about Peter Munk’s infamous statement, Tulin said, “[Peter Munk] said that rape is a cultural habit. It’s inhuman, and I don’t see how he can say that…when the minister for mining of Papua New Guinea demanded an apology, he was just running and passing the buck.”

Marco, a member of the Latin American and Caribbean Solidarity Network, spoke on behalf of mining affected communities in Latin America, especially Indigenous communities. “It is a shame that the mining companies are doing what, 500 years ago, these so-called conquistadors [did] to our communities,” said Marco. “We oppose not only Barrick, we oppose all these companies who are making a profit off extraction and destruction”.

Meanwhile, at the University of Toronto, students and faculty have been protesting Munk’s multi-million dollar donation, which is intended to fund the Munk School of Global Affairs. These protests have included banner drops and sign alterations in university classes and outside the construction site, as well as protests at governing council meetings. Even Noam Chomsky got in the act, appearing at an anti-Munk protest when he was in Toronto on April 7.

manori ravindran

Cover Photo CHARLOTTE IRELAND

Contributors Sarah-Taïssir Bencharif erin byrnes carly conway marsha ellis keith flett CHARLOTTE IRELAND priyanka jain zhina jalali Salmaan Abdul Hamid Khan Megan Kinch peter lewicki emily loewen haseena manek jesse mclaren hafsa mulla manori ravindran regan reid andrew rotilio amy ward shawn whitney

Publisher CESAR The opinions expressed in the Ryerson Free Press are not necessarily those of the editors or publisher.

Advertising Ryerson Free Press’ advertising rates are as follows. All prices are for single insertions.

Discounts apply for Ryerson groups and departments.

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This is an edited version of an article originally published by the Toronto Media Co-op.

Ryerson Free Press MAY 2011 7

Quarry One-Third the Size of Downtown Toronto Planned for Dufferin County Local residents feel they were tricked by American company claiming interest in potato farming

By Marsha Ellis A U.S based hedge fund company from Boston has plans to build a limestone quarry, one-third the size of Toronto, over some of the richest farmland in Ontario. This megaquarry, just an hour and a half drive northwest of Toronto, in Melancthon Township, would be the second largest mega-quarry in North America and sits in an ecologically sensitive area.

Ever since the proposed quarry application went up, in early March of this year, fierce opposition has been stirred up in Melancthon and surrounding areas and community members are feeling that they have been misled.

In order to fight the mega-quarry, a coalition of concerned residents have come together to form the North Dufferin Agriculture and Community Taskforce (NDACT).

Landowners in the area, NDACT, and associated environmental organizations, such as the Council of Canadians, Waterkeeper, CAUSE, CORE, ECOLOGOS, and members from Six Nations, have joined forces to stop the destruction of some of Canada’s most fertile farmland.

Those fighting the quarry believe that policy and decision makers in Canada should be concerned about this vital issue and the preservation of valuable Ontario farmland and the protection of watersheds that feed a massive area of south-western Ontario.

In this resource rich area of Dufferin County, wind power, cropland, and stone exist in abundance. Melancthon Township has a strong history of agricultural based industry, and it is still the predominant feature of both employment and land use in the area.

Melancthon is situated on the limestone bedrock of the Niagara Escarpment. Under the farmland in Melanchthon is a rich deposit of amabel dolomitic limestone. This limestone is found in the land 20 storeys below the fertile topsoil, which means a massive open pit operation will be necessary. The soil in this region is known as honeywood silt loam soil, and is particularity well-suited for growing

potatoes. If the quarry proceeds, the land is capable of producing more than $18 million per acre for the company.

The area affected is within the watershed of the Grand and Nottawasaga Rivers, and could have devastating environmental effects on the drinking water of thousands of residents, as well as hundreds of thousands of residents elsewhere.

In order to dig beneath the watershed, the Highlands Company proposes that 600 million litres will be pumped through 16 pumps, seven days per week, 24 hours a day. The water will be pumped out of the quarried area so as to provide a dry area for the mining activity to take place and will pumped into the surrounding farmland. NDACT, however, believes that, “the daily management of 600 million litres of groundwater is unproven in such a location and there is little analysis or information provided regarding water quality impacts locally or in downstream communities.”

NDACT has also objected to the company’s statement that it will return the land to “suitable agricultural” use following mining operations, noting that no definition of “suitable” has been produced and under current legislation there is no obligation to rehabilitate the land if operations are below the water table.

John Lowndes, president of The Highlands Company, is a businessman whose interest was captured by the area’s massive money-making potential. In 2006, the company began purchasing parcels of land in Melancthon, telling locals that they were interested in creating a consolidated potato farming operation. The company began by approaching landowners in and around Melancthon Township, offering approximately $8000 per acre, which was 30 per cent above fair market value.

Lowndes purchased his first 25 acres in Melancthon on November 2006 and within six months he owned 4,400 acres and within a year he owned 6,500 acres. Today, the Highland Company owns over 7,500 acres in Melancthon, a

number which has increased to 9,500 acres when including the surrounding areas of Mulmur Township and Norfolk County.

While approaching and convincing land owners to sell their land, Lowndes told the farmers that he had hopes of becoming the province’s largest potato grower. Many farmers accepted his offer and were happy to sell their farms for the generous prices offered and welcomed new investment in the area.

Some community members, however, were sceptical of Lowndes’ true intentions. Community members were worried that an extravagant amount of money and land was changing hands quickly, and transactions were taking place without a lot of public awareness. Some began to question why a largely American-funded corporation, run by a man with experience in the extractive industries, would pursue a multi-billion dollar potato investment in a rural Canadian township.

When The Highlands Company made explicit in January 2009 that it would pursue “additional land uses,” including wind-power generation, the reinstatement of the rail line between Orangeville and Owen Sound, and aggregate extraction on 2,400 acres, many area residents were outraged.

Local farmers are asking why it is necessary to allow an open pit mine on one of the most valuable renewable prime agriculture areas in Canada, when only half of one per cent of all of Canada’s land is dedicated to farming.

Activists are concerned that the 7,200 large trucks that will be coming and going from the open pit mine everyday will affect the surrounding crops, livestock, and local residents. This is the largest quarry application to ever be put through in Ontario and those affected insist that they are not going to let this happen. One local activist described what is at stake as, “the basic stuff of human life: water, food, and family heritage.”

BOG downloads cost onto students

By Carly Conway

Make sure to save some extra cash this summer—tuition fees are going up, again.

The 2011-2012 university budget, which was unanimously passed at the April 25 Board of Governors meeting, will see tuition fees, along with residence fees ancillary fees and meal plans, among the list of student expenses to increase from 2010-2011 levels.

“They’re not easy times,” assistant vice-president of Financial Services Janice Winton acknowledged at the Monday night meeting. “The long list of requests [from departments and faculties] is so overwhelming.”

First-year undergraduates coming from within Canada will be welcomed to Ryerson with tuition fees 4.5 per cent higher than last year, while upper-year students can expect an increase of four per cent. This falls in line with the Ontario government’s five per cent cap on universities’ overall average tuition fee increases.

So how much can students expect to fork over next year?

For an undergraduate arts student, the increase works out to about an extra $200 in tuition a year. For lower income students, which was defined by students whose families make less than $60,000 a year, they may see this increase offset by OSAP and Student Access Guarantee payments.

“It’s definitely disappointing,” said Ryerson Students’ Union (RSU) president Caitlin Smith, who was at the Board of Governors meeting. “There were so many references to the fact students were picking up the bill.”

Tuition aside, students will also be paying five per cent more in residence rates, 4.5 per cent more in food plan prices, plus a new Ryerson Athletic Centre fee of $63 that comes into effect January 2012 (the full $126 fee will be charged starting in September 2012). A full breakdown of the budget is available online at the Board of Governors’ web page.

These fees add up, Smith said. The former vice-president finance for RSU noted that while $200 may not seem like a terribly high increase for tuition, every dollar counts when considering the other expenses students incur while in university. “That few or couple of hundred dollars is rent, groceries and books,” she said.

Though Smith would like to see administration look for other sources of revenue besides jacking student fees, the options are limited, according to provost and vice-president academic Alan Shepard, About 98 per cent of the university’s operating budget comes from student fees and

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the government, said Shepard, who is responsible for the budget. With the government not providing extra money for annual inflation costs, he said the school isn’t left with much of a choice but to raise fees. “It’s a very difficult choice. But in a world where that’s my framework,” Shepard said of not being able to count on the government to cover inflation, “where exactly am I going to go?”

Shepard believes it can actually be in students’ best interests for tuition to go up.

“It would actually hurt the place,” he said of the idea of not raising tuition. He argued that in order for Ryerson to remain competitive among other schools, both nationally and internationally, the university has to pay its faculty members competitive wages and upgrade infrastructure and lab equipment. Should the school remain stagnant in the amount of money coming in, it could lose its competitive edge.

The race to remain or become competitive with what some international schools’ tuition fee rates is most obviously reflected in the MBA, MBA/MMSC and first-year masters in fashion programs. For international students enrolled those programs, they can expect to see a 20 per cent tuition hike next year. The MBA programs will jump from $20,589.59 to $24,707.51, while the fashion fees climb to 20,754.30 from $17,295.25.

“We’re trying to compete against institutes like the Pratt Institute in New York,” Shepard said, referring to the prestigious fashion school. “There’s an opportunity here where we think the market will bear it.” The reason why the spike is so drastic among international students, Shepard adds, is because the university receives no funding for them, whereas it receives grants for Canadian students.

However, Smith suggests there are other ways to keep a balanced budget without touching tuition.

“The students are giving a lot of money to the university, but when are their complaints being heard?” she asked. While she appreciates the need for student services and new initiatives like the Math Assistance Centre, which ultimately add to student fees, she thinks a simpler approach could be to stop increasing the financial burden on students, so that they aren’t forced to take on sometimes multiple part-time jobs, just to stay afloat.

“Maybe if students didn’t have to put so much time in to working [part-time jobs], they wouldn’t be forced to use these services because they’re falling behind on their school.”

OPINION Don’t hate on Kate!

Why Canadians care about the Royal Wedding

By Haseena Manek Obsession with celebrities is not something we’re unaccustomed to, but when it comes to the “wedding of the century,” it looks as if people have pulled out all the stops.

British people and people on this side of the pond seemed to take the event very seriously. It was all over Canadian news, taking precedence over a recent bombing in Marrakesh’s main square, tornadoes in the United States and even the federal election.

Despite the thorough coverage, it seems that reaction among Canadians was mixed, from ambivalence to obsession.

Deirdre Bradd, 21, and a friend prepared for the big day by buying some bubbly and baking a “Congratulations Will and Kate” cake, which they enjoyed while watching the ceremonies (which started at 3:00 a.m. EST). “We wanted to feel we were celebrating with them,” says Bradd. “I think we were both more interested in the love story, rather than the relationship between England and Canada.”

Another Toronto student, Vivian Mak, thinks that relationships between countries are relevant. “Although it doesn’t really relate to Canadians, I think it is still of Canadian interest, because our association with England is a huge part of our history,” she says. “We live in a global society now where every country can very easily affect each other. We still remain in good relations with England, so why not be happy for them as well? Happiness doesn’t need a justified reason, and love is a universal component of humans, not just the future King and Queen of England.”

However, with all this emphasis on the people and their romance, we forget that Wills and Kate, as much as people might claim otherwise, are not exactly ‘ordinary people.’ Toronto resident Kayla Guida doesn’t think the Royal Wedding is a real love story. “I don’t believe in the Royal Wedding. It’s not based on true love the way a marriage should be. It’s choreographed based on politics and royal status.”

Someone else told me that the enthusiasm to see the wedding live comes from people just wanting to be a part of history, while others just “wanted to see her dress.”

I wonder: wouldn’t participating in last month’s first-ever SlutWalk (now popping up all over the world), or going out and voting in the federal election that was just days later, be a more relevant way to be a part of history?

“I think with Americans and Canadians, they really like the idea of princes and princesses,” says Stacey Rhodes, born in Australia but living in London. “And living out the fairytale wedding and life; they are all just extremely obsessed. It’s intense!”

Jessica Caballero, an employee at Westminster Abbey notes, “[P]eople love fairy-tales; the poor (well, middle-class) girl marries the prince, heir to a kingdom and-a-half.”

Is this keen interest just a projection of a childhood diet of Disney and Barbie? The closest we can get to a real Cinderella story?

But why are the Windsors and their history so captivating for Canadian audiences?

Many other countries have monarchies, many of which are still politically active. But days before our federal election, I flip on the local news channel and all anyone is talking about is the Royal Wedding, the first royal kiss, the royal dress, the earrings and especially the Queen’s outfit, as if they are the only royals, and the only monarchs worth talking about.

“I think Canadians, like many other countries, can trace links back to England,” continues Caballero, “whether it be family ties, or having been part of the empire or Commonwealth.”

Serena Hemraj, a high-school student living in Alberta, points out that “the British monarchy’s influence stretches around the world. Prince William’s grandmother is head of state of 16 Commonwealth countries.” Has Great Britain’s colonial legacy earned them the attention of the eyes around the globe? Or maybe the fact that so many other countries are interested in the affairs of their royal family is just evidence of the extent of the monarchy’s history of colonization.

I’m wondering: if we’re concerned with the ways the histories of our two countries are entwined, how can we not consider that the relationship is one tainted with bloodshed and genocide? Do those memories have a time limit?

Speaking of history, another popular opinion is that the Royal Family brings to mind another story, that of the British monarchy’s history of imperialism and colonization.

Mera Sivanesan, UK-born but raised in Toronto says, “speaking as a Sri Lankan Tamil woman who is part of the Sri Lankan Tamil Diaspora...the main reason why the bulk of that specific Diaspora was created was the war in Sri Lanka which, in turn, happened because of the legacy of British colonialism...why would I celebrate anything to do with the institution that caused this and so many other stories of dispossession, separation, exploitation and theft?

“We can’t take that wedding out of context, it’s not just a happy union between two people in love, its steeped in history… so I don’t buy the argument that people are watching it to just see that, it’s not true… We may be watching it for all the pomp and pageantry and glitz, but all of that stuff is predicated on the methods used to acquire such obscene amounts of wealth.”

Speaking of wealth, many people I talked to argued that the wedding was a welcome distraction during distressing economic times, but it was a distraction that cost millions.

How can we not consider the irony in that?

I wish I could partake and enjoy the festivities, and be pleased for the happy couple, but with every glance at a newspaper that shows me the Royal Wedding instead of real world events, I think about the state of the world and Arundhati Roy’s words echo in my head: “Imperial Britain’s festering blood-drenched gifts to the modern world…”

Can’t get enough of the Royal Wedding? Check it outline: http://www.officialroyalwedding2011.org PHOTO: JON CURNOW/FLICKR

Ryerson Free Press MAY 2011 9

FEATURES A festival for the workers The origins of May Day

By Keith Flett The British Marxist historian Hobsbawm describes May Day as a “labour ritual,” a characteristic form of organized labour. The early May Days were actually a lot more exciting than that. The first International May Day was proclaimed by the socialist Second International in 1889.

However, the origins go back decades before this.

The link between May Day and the use of the red flag as a symbol for socialist workers is close, perhaps above all in France. The British angle is not just that of a demonstration, but of a workers’ festival based on miners’ galas. So that first May Day already inherited some complex traditions: a demonstration of working-class power which had to be respected, and was respectable. But again, as Hobsbawm notes, it was combined with beer and skittles.

It was both a tremendous celebration of working-class culture and a display of working-class organization. There were political speeches, and there was also eating, drinking and games. This is what the social historian Peter Bailey has termed “thinking and drinking,” and to this day the London May Day events comprise not just a march and political rally, but a football tournament and an evening of culture as well.

The first British May Day demonstrations were actually held on Sundays. So it was on Sunday, May 4, 1890, that Frederick Engels commented that “the English working-class joined up in the great international army...the grandchildren of the old Chartists are entering the line of battle.” Engels clearly saw the rise of the May Day demonstration as the rebirth of the international labour movement.

At first, getting united May Day demonstrations, including both trade unionists and socialists, was difficult, and unity had to be fought for over a number of years. A report of the 1898 Manchester May Day demonstration notes that “26 trade unions, the Independent Labour Party, the Social Democratic Federation and the Manchester Labour Church took part in the demonstration which was acknowledged to be the largest in point of numbers and the most successful May Day labour demonstration yet held.”

The first May Day was planned as a one-off demonstration. The fact that it became an annual event was due not to the leaders of the Second International but pressure from the grassroots. Some socialist leaders at the time felt that the May Day march should be an entirely serious, perhaps even glum affair. This view of life may be familiar to those who have experienced some British May Day activities in recent decades. However, by 1893, Engels was referring to May Day as a “Maifeier” or celebration, and in the same year the workers’ leader Costa argued that, “Catholics have Easter— henceforth, workers will have their own Easter.” The Italian May Day perhaps led the way in the aspect of celebration.

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An international movement The original May Day demand was for a legal eight-hour day on an international basis. However, as the years rolled on May Day came to assume the form of a wider demonstration of workers’ power. It was here that arguably the most potent aspect of May Day arose, the festival becoming a one-day strike in many countries. For many others, it was also a commemoration of the U.S. ‘Chicago Martyrs’—anarchists framed and executed by the state.

May Day, as Hobsbawm notes, became such a huge festival and demonstration that it also spawned a massive range of badges, flags, papers and cartoons. Much of this is still familiar today. However, an aspect that is less well known is the association of the May Day events with spring, youth and rebirth. Here the symbol was a flower. Almost always, whether a carnation in Austria or Italy, a paper rose in Germany or a poppy in France, the flower was red.

May Day became an international socialist symbol of what the artist and designer Walter Crane called the “dawn of labour.” A Crane cartoon for May Day 1896, for example, shows an English worker offering the hand of international socialist cooperation to Italian, German, French and other workers with the slogan “International solidarity of labour— the true answer to jingoism.” Crane dedicated the cartoon to “the workers of the world.”

Eric Hobsbawm has unearthed a marvellous quote from an Italian worker recalling what early May Days meant. The worker, Pietro Comollo, noted, “Everybody used to say, ‘It’s our festival—it’s the workers’ festival.’ We knew vaguely that it was in memory of those who’d fought for the eight hours, the Chicago Martyrs. So that was a symbolic fact. And then, well...it was just a holiday—there were the red carnations.

It was a fighting demonstration...because we were all there together and united. Even the anarchists turned up.”

In some cases, May Day demonstrations and strikes continued during the First World War. Following the arrest of the Scottish socialist leader John Maclean on April 15, 1918 and a charge of sedition against him, the Glasgow May Day Committee called a one-day strike for peace on May 1, 1919.

Maclean’s daughter Nan Milton has recalled that, “when the great day dawned, the most sanguine hopes were justified.

One hundred thousand Glasgow workers took the day off to march in procession, and thousands more lined the streets to cheer the demonstrators as they passed by. Glasgow was on fire with red banners, red ribbons and red rosettes. The air was alive with the sound of revolutionary songs and with the blare of bands…This great celebration finished up with

a huge crowd marching to Duke Street prison. Three times a tremendous shout arose from thousands of lusty throats: ‘John Maclean! John Maclean! John Maclean!’”

Going underground Such was the strength and power of those early May Day protests that those in authority tried to take it over. The Bolsheviks made it a genuine workers’ day, but Hitler also made May Day a national holiday of labour, with very different imagery and meaning to that of 1889.

After the First World War, the nature of May Day demonstrations began to change. For a start, such huge expressions of working-class organization were only possible where the labour movement was legal. First in Italy, then in Germany and in numbers of other countries this was not the case. The tradition continued underground, but this was a very different matter to public displays.

In general, certainly since 1945, two things can be said about the celebration of May Day. Firstly, it has ebbed and flowed depending on the general level of class confidence.

Difficult though it may be to recall now, there were actually huge May Day marches in Britain involving strike action in the 1970s. Edmund and Ruth Frow have recalled how “many factories” in Salford were closed as workers joined the protest. The continuing tradition of strike action on May Day was one reason why a Labour government acted to make it a public holiday. Even in the difficult years of the 1980s, the tradition continued. In his diary for Monday, May 7, 1984, Tony Benn recalls May Day celebrations in Chesterfield at the height of the 1984-85 miners’ strike. He noted that it was the “biggest ever, with 10,000 people marching through the town. There were one or two hiccups during the speeches. No woman speaker had been included, and the women demanded the right to speak.”

The second thing that has endured about May Day is the iconography. The colour red is still associated with May 1, as are certain songs such as the “Internationale” and Bandiera Rossa.

It is important to remember both the history and traditions of May Day, not only because those in authority would like us to forget them, but also because, in making May Day again a huge international celebration of working-class politics and culture, we can re-appropriate this history and symbolism, and start to make some of our own.

This article originally appeared in issue 263 of Socialist Review in May 2002: http://pubs.socialistreviewindex.org.uk/ sr263/flett.htm

Ryerson alum carries NDP banner

A profile of student candidate William Molls

By Carly Conway William Molls was only six years old when Carolyn Bennett first won her seat in St. Paul’s. During the election, he tried to take the Liberal incumbent’s job.

Molls, now 23, had a strong showing in the federal election on May 2. Despite constantly being questioned about his age, labelled an underdog and taking on an incumbent who’s won each of her five election campaigns with more than 50 per cent of the voters’ support, Molls made his intentions clear: he’s running to win.

“I hope to be the next Member of Parliament for St. Paul’s,” he says matter-of-factly in his campaign office, a nofrills storefront on Vaughan Road by Bathurst. It’s filled with stacks of lawn signs piled against colourless walls, a few foldable tables and chairs and two friendly campaign workers.

“If, God forbid, we’re not elected here in St. Paul’s—but I think we have a real chance of that happening—then, at the very least, I hope to send a message that young people really do care about politics,” he says.

For Molls, bridging the gap between young people and government has become a major theme within his political pursuits, of which he’s had many in a short period of time.

His run for a seat in Parliament marks his second campaign for elected office since graduating from Ryerson’s radio and television arts program in 2010. In October, he ran for city council in the municipal election for Ward 22 (St. Paul’s), which is where Molls grew up before his family moved to

Stratford when he was eight.

He also founded the VoteTO16 initiative that’s pushing to lower the voting age to 16 in municipal elections. Despite a disappointing finish in the municipal race—Molls finished with only four per cent of the vote—he didn’t hesitate at the chance to run federally when presented with the opportunity.

“I continue to argue that we need more young people in the House of Commons. I think a lot of commentators and experts will tell you young people don’t care, or they’re apathetic, or lazy or they just don’t care about their country.

And I know that’s not true,” Molls says. Instead, he thinks the issues young people care about—namely climate change and the environment—are not reflected in the way government is currently run.

“We sort of see our problems being left to the next generation because the people we elect don’t really have to worry about it, because these are not problems they will see in their lifetime.”

Molls credits his earliest interest in politics to his father, a German immigrant who taught him not to take this country for granted. At eight years old, Molls recalls getting into the car with his father and driving to Montreal during the 1995 Quebec Referendum to take part in the Unity Rally.

“That was sort of my first experience with politics—I was watching the news, trying to keep up with it,” he says.

At 16, Molls joined the NDP, and was active in the Ryerson Young NDP group on campus. “The NDP was the underdog, fighting for the little guy, and I’ve always loved that,” he says, fully embracing his own label as the underdog candidate in St. Paul’s, explaining other candidates underestimate him. “And that’s absolutely the worst mistake they can make,” he says.

However, his youth and relative inexperience have also cast doubt among constituents over the age of 30, who see Molls as too young to represent St. Paul’s in Ottawa. It’s an issue that’s just meant more work for Molls, who says people are generally receptive to him when he explains why the government needs greater representation of the younger demographic.

With the momentum for the NDP on the rise as the campaign enters its final days, Molls is optimistic about his chances of pulling off a major upset. But he’s also looking forward to a break from the seven-day workweek, running an election campaign. He admits sheepishly: “To be honest with you, and this is a little embarrassing, I play video games, and I have been going through withdrawal.”

In the federal election on May 2, Molls placed third, winning 22 per cent of the vote against incumbent Liberal candidate Carolyn Bennett, who was re-elected with 40.6 per cent of the vote.

Anything but standard High marks for Toronto’s newest online publication

By Manori Ravindran, Culture Editor The Toronto Standard couldn’t have come at a better time. Marketed as a “daily digital briefing on the life of the city,” the online magazine had been anticipated by media outlets eager for a new digital platform. It’s not everyday a new magazine joins the fray. And with the website’s innovative design, musings on urban affairs and commitment to multimedia, it’s becoming clear that the latest addition to the media community is anything but standard.

The publication may not look familiar (unless you’re about 163 years old), but it’s a revival of a local newspaper that operated between 1848 and 1850. On its “About” page, the site says that when the paper shut down, Toronto was a trading village of 23,000. “There were no izakayas or charcuterie restaurants, people drove horses and it was still possible to contract rickets.” Almost two centuries later, Toronto has transformed into a global city, and the Standard has returned from the dead, not only to report on Toronto-centric affairs, but also to observe life in other cities and report on challenges faced by big urban centres.

For Christopher Frey, editorial director of the Standard, this objective means that the publication will offer more stories based in foreign cities, relating to urban issues. “There’s no real city magazine that talks about other cities,” he says. “Instead of going hyper-local, we’re interested in Toronto and its place in the world.” When it comes to finding and funding reporters to write these international stories, Frey says his background comes in hand. Having previously worked at a travel magazine that he helped start, the director says he got to know a number of writers around the world.

Outside of the Foreign Desk, readers will find reporting, commentary, interviews and video documentaries organized under everything from “The Sprawl”—a hub of features on topics like architecture, media and transit—to “The Daily Cable”—a round-up of various Toronto-centric affairs (think G20 and HotDocs with some Royal Wedding fare thrown in for good measure).

The month-old Standard already has an impressive list of well-known contributors. “A lot of it is the network my colleagues have had. We’ve worked in magazines for 15 years or more,” says Frey. Many of the writers are individuals Frey and his team have admired and were eager to work with. And it seems he didn’t have much convincing to do, either. “People bought into it very quickly.”

With a team of talented scribes, the magazine is attracting attention in terms of editorial content. Toronto-based freelancer Denise Balkissoon’s piece “Witch Hunt” discussed controversial female columnists such as Christie Blatchford and Rosie DiManno in the context of gender balance in the op-ed section. The piece quickly made the rounds on Twitter and Facebook, getting people not only to read the story, but also to explore the Standard.

Aside from progressive content, perhaps the most innovative aspect of the new publication is its packaging. Following the Standard’s launch, the magazine’s understated, stylish aesthetic has gotten readers talking.

“That’s what really appealed to us,” says Frey. “Creating a media brand from scratch.”

Appropriating the “Toronto Standard” header from the original newspaper worked in their favour. “That nice tension that it sets up...gives us the opportunity to have some fun, visually and technically.” The spirit of the original, largely observed in the monochromatic logo and images, is pervasive throughout the website—no easy feat in a digital climate that often calls for brazen colours and bold statements.

The Standard, however, does subscribe to the realities of its online readership. The magazine is accessible by most mobile devices. Working with Playground Digital, a local digital design and development company, the site features a “liquid layout.” This means that when you

resize your browser window, the content on the web page also resizes and shifts according to the new boundaries. And just try accessing the Standard on a smartphone or tablet: once again, the entire website resizes itself to fit your screen, but also reconfigures depending on whether you’re holding your device horizontally or vertically.

That’s not to say, though, that the Standard hasn’t had some technical kinks as a result of these features. Frey points out that the “flip page” option for the articles—created in order to simulate an “old-fashioned reading experience”—had some bugs after the launch, and had to be temporarily removed. Still, Frey is confident that all the site’s elements will convene in due time.

“We took a chance, and I think we took the right chance, in addition to the editorial, which also sets us apart.”

What may end up distinguishing the Standard from other online media in Toronto is its video platform. Frey says this was a conscious effort on the part of the creative team, all of whom wanted to include multimedia aspects that weren’t being utilized by other outlets. “We wanted to include high-production video that nobody’s doing.” The result is “Made in Toronto,” a video series profiling local artists.

A second project, “Friday Night at the Standard,” is a concert video series that recently featured the band Austra, who performed inside a “cave” built in the magazine’s offices. The Standard’s three filmmakers, Scott Cudmore, Tate Young and Ian Daffern, are responsible for video content—a far cry from other publications that force reporters to double as videographers, even if they have little to no experience.

It’s still early to predict the fate of the Toronto Standard. The new magazine has its share of technological setbacks to overcome, and a new media brand isn’t always the easiest sell among Toronto readers. But once the magazine irons out the kinks, a combination of compelling editorial content, high-quality multimedia and mobile accessibility could set the Standard for the rest of us.

Visit the Toronto Standard online: www.torontostandard.com

Ryerson Free Press MAY 2011 11

rally for respect

On April 9, Torontonians rallied downtown to demand respect from t to the TTC and the threat of garbage collection privatization, unionis agenda and call for respect for the city’s working people.

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the city’s new mayor Rob Ford. With pending service and funding cuts sts, students and activists took to the streets to reject Ford’s austerity Photos by Charlotte Ireland

Ryerson Free Press MAY 2011 13

Sanctuary: A place of hope

By Ken Harrower “At Sanctuary, we are becoming a healthy, welcoming community where people who are poor or excluded are particularly valued. This community is an expression of the good news embodied in Jesus Christ.” – Sanctuary Mission Statement Sanctuary is the name of a church on Charles Street East in the heart of downtown Toronto. It started about 15 to 20 years ago as a practice space for the band Red Rain and slowly evolved into a Christian community. It is a place for the homeless and people living on the fringes of society, and offers a place to eat and a place to worship and learn about the teachings of Christ.

Sanctuary is very different from most traditional churches. Although Christian-based, it is open to any faith and anyone is welcome. People who attend come from all walks of life and are encouraged to participate during the service in any way they feel comfortable—by praying out loud or reading a passage from scripture. Some members of the church may attend drunk or cause commotion during the service.

There are also many groups that are involved in the work and life of the church that are not necessarily faith-based. There are weekly AA meetings and medical support is available for people in the congregation. The church also provides the opportunity for people who have talents in the Arts to learn from each other and to develop their skills.

I moved here in January of 1999 and started to go to Sanctuary in June of that year. At the time, Sanctuary did not have an elevator, so members of the church had to carry me (and then my wheelchair) up and down the stairs every Sunday. It was pretty awkward to have to be carried up and down the stairs every week, but I wanted to be part of the service and they were willing to do that for me.

I painted in high school, but gave it up for a while. Between 2000 and 2005, I had been panhandling. At that time, Sanctuary had an art teacher who, one day, stopped to talk to

me as I was panhandling. She suggested that I come to the arts drop-in at Sanctuary and start painting again. At the end of September that year, I stopped panhandling. In October, I started painting again and have not panhandled at all in the past six years.

Most of my art is abstract and I paint with acrylic but I have also started to paint in different styles. Some of my paintings have been included in the art shows at the church and sometimes I have sold some of them. The art shows happen about three times per year. One just happened in March and the next will probably be over the summer. If you are interested in seeing some of my art, you can find it online: http://kenharrower.blogspot.com/.

Greg Paul is the pastor at Sanctuary and a member of the band Red Rain. They play music together every Sunday to start the service and throughout the first half. People are encouraged to join in the singing and are welcome to shout out song requests from the church hymnal. During the service, the church community shares in communion and, after a short break, listens to Greg deliver a sermon. Sometimes other members of the church will speak, referring to a specific passage in scripture. Then we all pray together before the service ends.

Greg has written two books about his experiences within the church and the homeless community of Toronto. My personal story is in his second book The Twenty Piece Shuffle, which is available for purchase from the church.

Every year the church organizes a play. This year, it is called “Wonderful.” It opens on April 29 and runs every Thursday to Saturday until May 21. The doors open at 7:30 p.m. and the play starts at 8:00 p.m. (it’s about two hours long). One of the church members wrote the play herself and is directing it. Some of the cast are church members, myself included.

Support Sanctuary and its work, and come see our play. Tickets are available online: www. sanctuarytoronto.ca

Mixed Martial Arts and the UFC An anti-capitalist critique

By Jay Gannon On April 30, the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) was held in Toronto for the first time, as welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre defeated challenger Jake Shields in a long anticipated title match. The UFC, as it is known, is the largest mixed martial arts (MMA) promotion in the world, and its recent rise to prominence is inescapable. Some have declared MMA to be the fastest growing sport in the world: but where did it come from?

Although its origins can be traced to the pankration competitions of ancient Greece, its modern era began in 1993, as the UFC broadcast its first tournament. It billed itself as a search for the answer to an oft-repeated question: What is the most effective style of martial arts? It featured a kickboxer, a sumo wrestler, a boxer and others—and very few rules. Popular wisdom, fueled by fascination with martial arts movies, suggested that the fastest, strongest competitor who could knock his opponents into unconsciousness would win.

Nothing could be further from what happened.

A lanky, 170-lb Brazilian named Royce Gracie, outweighed and outmuscled by virtually every opponent, repeatedly emerged victorious above all others. Using a form of jiu-jitsu developed by his family, Gracie’s style was based on taking his opponents to the floor, followed by the efficient application of leverage in the form of a chokehold or joint lock, forcing his opponents to submit.

His father Helio described the purpose of the art: “The primary objective of Jiu-Jitsu is to empower the weak who, for not having the physical attributes, are often intimidated.”

The Gracie clan’s Brazilian jiu-jitsu style was so successful that the results created complete shock in the martial arts community, sparking renewed interest in the grappling arts, and infuriating those who feared that the public would begin to turn away from the traditional approach they were selling.

By creating a communal laboratory to test unarmed combat techniques, the UFC and its imitators ensured that self-defence effectiveness was the most important criteria in determining a martial art’s value, not tradition. Whatever worked was kept; that which didn’t was discarded.

In short, it was nothing short of a revolution in martial arts. And like many revolutions, counterrevolutionary forces emerged, as did contradictions.

In its early days, MMA was relentlessly hounded by politicians, in particular by Arizona Senator and Republican presidential candidate John McCain, who launched a campaign of moral panic against what he and others alleged to be a form of human cockfighting. Because of the controversy, no advertiser would touch it—and yet today, Zuffa, the company behind the UFC, employs a marketing strategy involving nu-

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merous corporate sponsors, prime-time television and even a heavy dose of militarism, due to a prominent role for the U.S. Marines.

The controversy around the sport grew until it was banned in most jurisdictions in the U.S. and Canada. But now, legislators can be seen scrambling to attract its high profile events to their local arenas.

Its detractors claim it is nothing but barbaric bloodsport. But MMA is likely safer than its closest rival, boxing (and undoubtedly much safer than its “fake” competitor for pay-per-view dollars, pro wrestling). In terms of serious longterm injury, MMA may actually be less risky than competition in established contact sports like hockey and gridiron football.

This is not to say that the sport is without risk. Action packed and physically demanding, MMA is full-contact fighting. It incorporates techniques from a variety of styles, including boxing, wrestling, jiu-jitsu and judo. The ways to win include knocking the opponent out or making them submit, referee stoppage, and judge’s decision if the time limit expires. Any sport that includes the opportunity to strike the opponent’s head also includes the dangers involved with cumulative brain injury. Unlike boxing, however, fighters have multiple paths to victory: some have even been won without a single blow being thrown.

Ironically, the battle to get MMA regulated, while undoubtedly a progressive step for fighter safety in many ways, including standardized medical screening, may have increased the dangers in other way. MMA has since inherited some traditions from boxing, a sport more familiar to most athletic commissions.

The division of each fight into rounds, unheard of in the early days of the sport, gives fighters more opportunity to rest, ensuring that more strikes can be thrown. Giving the referee the ability to restart the contest on the feet when it turns into a stalemate has had similar results. Finally, the introduction of mandatory gloves, while creating the illusion of safety, actually allows more punches to be thrown without the risk of the broken knuckles that were so ubiquitous in the early, bare-knuckle days of the sport, further increasing the potential amount of head trauma.

But in terms of fighter safety, just like workplace safety, it isn’t just the rules on the books that matter. What also matters is the economics behind the workplace, and the ability of workers to organize for better conditions.

Large promotions like UFC, by the standards of the industry, have employed numerous safety measures, but the drive for profit in a lucrative market inevitably forces

competitors to cut corners. It also forces promoters, large and small, to ensure that the pay scale for fighters is a race to the bottom. While there are a handful of fighters who earn massive paychecks, they’re the exceptions: for every fighter like Georges St-Pierre, there are many more earning significantly less, many of whom don’t even earn enough to cover the medical costs incurred while fighting in a country with private healthcare.

Even at the top levels, there is no insurance, no retirement plan—and no union. The independent contractor status of fighters helps to insure that competition between fighters doesn’t just stay in the cage—it instead becomes the standard relationship between the talent and thus undermines attempts at solidarity in the face of exploitation by promoters.

For those who speak up or try to get out of their contracts, like Randy “The Natural” Couture, who retired at the Rogers Centre event and once had a high-profile legal dispute with UFC management, there is little but collective silence from other fighters.

Martial arts can be found in virtually every culture on earth. They are our games, our sports, our fitness routines, our way of protecting ourselves—and our training for war.

Their story is as complex as our own.

The nature of sports in general under capitalism serves many functions, many of them contradictory as well. Sports serve to entertain, inspire and provide many of us with an escape from the grind of alienating work, while often creating more drudgery for the athletes and workers most closely involved; they promote health and physical fitness while reducing vast numbers to inactive, passive spectators; and they instill a valuable sense of cooperation and camaraderie and yet frequently stoke the fires of ruthless competition and encourage a spirit of winning at any cost.

Sports are useful to the ruling class in that they provide a sense of local and national identification that is conveniently distinct from our own class interests, and yet any appreciation of the feats they involve constantly reminds us that we are merely a part of a larger humanity. The sport of mixed martial arts is no different. Whatever one’s personal feelings about combat sport, neither an uncritical view of its business practices nor blanket condemnation of its fans and participants gets us anywhere. A wider view, taking into account all of these contradictions, contributions and limitations, shows us that it is really just one more human activity that must be liberated from the inhumanity of capitalism.

This op-ed originally appeared on Socialist Worker online.

CULTURE Fast-a-thon channels spirit of Ramadan for a good cause

By Sarah-Taïssir Bencharif A packed room of students is patiently waiting to eat.

It’s getting late and they’re hungry.

With every passing minute, the sun is setting lower and lower in the sky, until it eventually begins to disappear below the horizon.

At 7:44 p.m., it’s time to break the fast.

On Thursday, March 31, about 200 students participated in the Ryerson Muslim Students Association (MSA)’s annual Fast-a-thon. This fundraising event was held in support of the Ryerson Community Food Room, which provides students and staff with perishable and non-perishable food when they can’t afford it.

Every year, more than 1.5 billion Muslims worldwide fast in what is called the month of Ramadan. During this month, they don’t eat, drink or smoke cigarettes from sunrise to sunset. Muslims fast the entire month of Ramadan to understand how those who don’t have enough to eat feel every day.

The event is usually held during Ramadan itself, but because the month of Ramadan follows the lunar Speaker at the Ryerson Muslim Students Association’s calendar, this year it begins Annual Fast-a-thon. in August. It was important

to still hold the event even though Ramadan no longer falls during the school year, says Deqa Farah, president of the RMSA. At the Fast-a-thon, Muslims and non-Muslims alike fasted for a day. In the evening, they gathered at the Student Centre to break their fast together. Each student brought a can of food as their entry ticket, together collecting about 300 cans.

The Fast-a-thon was in support of the Food Room, but it also gave participants the chance to better understand Islam. When the sun set, everyone broke their fast with dates, the traditional way of breaking the fast in Ramadan.

The organizers had a full program ahead of the meal: spoken word artists shared their struggles as Muslim Canadians, and lectures explained the significance of the fast. The crowd also enjoyed seeing MSA students perform the traditional Palestinian dance, the dabkeh.

It was Johana Grande’s first time participating in a Fast-a-thon. For the coordinator of the Food Room, the sense of unity at the Fast-a-thon was memorable. The event “opened our minds to experiences of people from different cultures,” she said. Grande says she gained an understanding of Islam and of the commitment Muslims make to fast an entire month. “To fast, it takes a lot of courage, dedication and commitment, and I can’t believe so many people do it. It was an amazing experience,” she adds.

Farah was happy to see so many non-Muslims fasting for the day. The Fast-a-thon was an opportunity for people to “understand how to fast, what the whole purpose of fasting is, what the wisdom behind it is and experience hunger for themselves,” she says. She adds that it was great for non-Muslims to see how addressing poverty is an important part of Islam.

While the participants of the Fast-a-thon got to break their fast with a delicious meal at the end of the day, Farah knows that’s a luxury many don’t have.

The MSA Fast-a-thon brought students together to better understand hunger so that others wouldn’t live it. It also allowed them to learn about Islam and why over 1.5 billion people fast from sunrise to sunset during the month of Ramadan.

Screenwriters’ Summit tackles the craft of creativity

By Amy Ward “Creative people are crazy and mentally ill and none of the teachers know what to do with any of us.”

Screenwriting instructor Linda Seger’s goodhumoured take on the challenge of learning a creative craft provided a thoughtful opening for a recent weekend writing seminar. The Screenwriters’ Summit, held at the University of Toronto’s Victoria College on April 9 and 10, brought Hollywood screenwriting teachers Syd Field, John Truby, Michael Hauge and Seger to a Toronto audience. The event attracted 200 attendees from as far away as South Africa, the U.K., Australia and across North America.

In spite of her admission that creativity is hard to teach, Seger talked about strategies that writers and other creators can use to enhance their skills. She emphasized that courses were good for motivation, but writers must ultimately experiment with style and technique in order to become masters.

“Learn as much as you can about your own individual creative process,” she said. Knowing what time of day you are at your most creative, when you can most easily access the hypnagogic unconscious state – the transitional phase between wakefulness and sleep, is the first step to taming your muse.

The screenwriting workshop has become a popular phenomenon in recent years as students try to learn the craft of creativity. Universities like Ryerson offer courses for credit, and colleges, online schools and community centres have also gotten in the game. Some courses focus on critiquing and revising scripts-in-progress, while others study the texts of Oscar-winning films. Weekend workshops are designed as crash courses to motivate students, often teaching a set of

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rules for structuring, positioning or selling a story. Workshops typically sell out in New York and Hollywood, where audiences range from novice writers to seasoned professionals looking for inspiration. Another popular screenwriting guru, Robert McKee, helped revise and was even written into the script of Charlie Kaufman’s Adaptation (2002).

“Screenwriting seminars are bullshit,” said the film’s lead character, Charlie Kaufman, a stand-in version of the writer himself. “Those teachers are dangerous if your goal is to try to do something new. And a writer should always have that goal.”

That may be a valid argument for artistry, but as the four speakers at the Screenwriters’ Summit reasoned, you can always independently produce your unique artistic vision.

If you’d like to sell your script in Hollywood as an unknown writer, you’ll need to fit the story to expected conventions.

Standards of length, genre and story structure may seem constricting, but sometimes limitations themselves can spur creativity. Rather than reinvent the screenplay, the speakers focused on tools to build a better script within the conventional confines.

“Plot is the most underestimated of all the story skills,” said John Truby, who creates genre-specific software tools to help writers map out their plot twists. “Ninety per cent of scripts fail in the middle pages.”

Truby said writers should use the main character’s opponent to keep the reader questioning what would happen next. “Give the opponent the strongest justification you can for doing what they do, while still making them wrong.”

Story consultant Michael Hauge reminded writers to think about what they want their scripts to evoke. “The thing

you should know if you want to be a storyteller of any kind, the primary objective, is to elicit emotion,” he said. Whether it’s a horror, a romance or a thought-provoking drama, a good story must connect with an audience on an emotional level to make an impact.

Syd Field, hailed by CNN as “the guru of all screenwriters,” challenged writers to rethink the way they look at revisions. “Begin the creative process with the word what instead of why,” he said. Instead of pondering why a scene isn’t working, he suggested thinking about what changes would make it a better scene.

The Screenwriters’ Summit first brought the four speakers together in Los Angeles and Tel Aviv. Future stops are planned for London and Mexico City. The Toronto event was the first time the group came to Canada.

“It was an amazing event and the feedback has been incredible,” said Beverley Wood, managing partner at White Dog Seminars, which produced the event.

A lasting inspiration was Field’s reminder about putting the summit’s teachings to good use. “You may be in this course today, but this course doesn’t really begin until Monday when it’s over and you’re writing.” Screenwriting courses may teach you a few new tricks, but ultimately it is up to you to master them.

The Screenwriters’ Summit will return to Toronto next year, on April 28 and 29, 2012. In the meantime, Syd Field will give his own two-day workshop in Toronto on September 25 and 26, also organized by White Dog Seminars. Both events are expected to cost $395 (or $295 for full-time students). For more information, visit WhiteDogSeminars.com.

PHOTO: Sarah-Taïssir Bencharif

Modern Landscapes: Geographic portraits of peak oil

By Erin Byrnes Surreal in scale, you need to see Edward Burtynsky’s photographs to experience the inhabited world he captures with an unbalancing perspective and depth of field. These twenty-first century landscapes, presented in large format photographs, hold acres of crisply focused mines, drills, highways, suburbs, shipbreaking and industrial refuse. Shot mainly from an aerial perspective, the photographs depict our dependency on oil and the way that it has shaped our topography. Taken over 12 years and now on a five-year global tour, Edward Burtynsky: Oil touches down for the next few months at Toronto’s Royal Ontario Museum.

Burtynsky, a native of St. Catharines, Ontario, is a Ryerson graduate whose photographs of global industrial landscapes have garnered international recognition and appeared everywhere from The Guggenheim to the pages of Playboy. Hosted at the Institute for Contemporary Culture on the fourth floor of the ROM, this exhibit holds 53 large-format prints and is presented by the Ryerson Gallery and Research Centre and the Scotiabank CONTACT Photography Festival.

The size of the photographs and the context they encompass is monumental, bringing realist narratives into a high-art frame that seems to engulf anyone whose gaze lingers.

Beautiful, devastated, these landscapes reveal a perforated planet running on a finite and environmentally devastating resource. While landscape art has typically been a celebration of nature, these images move away from the sentimental and provide aerial views of three themes related to oil: Extraction and Refinement, Transportation and Motor Culture and The End of Oil. In a photograph of a Syncrude industrial facility in Alberta, bitumen, a vicious heavy crude, is separated from sand through a water-intensive process that emits more carbon than any other source in Canada. Leaking sulpher drains in blood-red streams towards the lower edge of the frame, while the Athabasca River meets the smoke-filled sky in the background of the world’s largest surface mining operation, obscuring the illusory boundaries of earth and industry. In another image, clouds are reflected in the toxic, iridescent tailings ponds, which seem to swallow them. In the vast expanses of the Alberta tarsands, bright little trucks allude to the size of the blackened and razed area around them.

Oil derricks tower above the ground, seemingly restrained from takeoff by cables that anchor them; oil drills puncture the dusty plains in kilometers of perfect symmetry surrounded by sand and rusted-looking bushes. A Texas refinery sprawls across the land, a realm beyond our sight that fuels the imagination of the crowds at the Talladega speedway.

Las Vegas suburbs cluster in the midst of a desert, surrounded by turquoise man-made waterways. Highways loop and cross each other in dense proximity. Glimpses of sky between the shiny metal tubes of a refinement plant, or the soft sunset behind the incision of an offshore oilrig, presents a world where the idea of a nature unaffected by man doesn’t exist.

“The photographs are about man and what he has made of the earth,” says the large format catalogue that accompanies the exhibit. However, we don’t see a face until the End of Oil section, where a young man stands in stark relief against the towering hulk of an oil tanker in one of the shipbreaking images.

In the geography of oil, a mountaintop range of tires spans two-, almost three-, metre wide frames that form a diptych, filled with black rubber treads and the peaks and valleys of California’s Oxford tire pile. The leviathan skeletons of oil tankers, seemingly rejected from the sea and washed onto the beaches of Bangladesh, are surrounded by the workers who disassemble them.

A derelict oil derrick in Azerbaijan is reflected in a pool of dirty water, where the simple and structurally sound lines of its construction waver and wane in the rippled mirror of a wasteland of disorder and disuse. In another photograph, texture and form are juxtaposed in a colorful portrait of recyclage, where oil drums in Crayola hues are crushed in soft and scrapped folds to form a wall of metal cubes.

The tension in Burtynsky’s work is not maintained through contrast, but rather by contextualizing the pervasive culture of oil through these landscapes of production, consumption and deindustrialization, and presenting the naturalized landscapes of industry.

The aesthetic and the political meet in the diffuse light of the golden hour, as Burtynsky traces the industrial circulatory system to the end of oil.

Edward Burtynsky: Oil runs until July 3 2011. Full-time post-secondary students with ID receive free admission on Tuesdays.

Hot off the spring runway A TOAST TO OUR MAMAS!

By Hafsa Mulla

Luxe white decor encircled a glimmering 18-foot-tall chandelier to outfit Canada’s premiere event, LG Fashion Week, where the nexus of Toronto’s fashion elite came together to celebrate and support local talent. The Fashion Design Council of Canada’s (FDCC) Fashion Week, now in its twelfth year, kicked off on March 28 and concluded on April 1. It showcased over 30 leading Canadian labels and designers ready to stir the upper echelons of fashion.

A swarm of fashion bigwigs, la-dee-da socialites, snazzy celebrities, media and industry folks au courant with the fashion scene embellished the red carpet in lollipop shades and bold prints. And while vertiginous crimson-lacquered soles pranced around the marble floor, tailored tuxedos and modish bowties also enjoyed a new vogue.

The crème de la crème charged the front row with glamour, poise and many “Mon Dieus.”

Then, the lights dimmed, the music boomed and a hollowcheeked, sultry model with a darling figure sashayed down the runway, to preach the commandments of great style that fits and flatters. Fierce glamazons came together in what was a five-day affair of loud makeup, sky-high bouffants, perfect pouty lips and 18-year-old legs. It was downright glitzy.

While black was the most front-and-center theme on the PHOTO: Hafsa Mulla

spring runway, neutrals and slight pops of colour were also recurrent.

Collectively, the shows echoed the return of luxury with decadent jewel tones, rich fabrics, and a mélange of textures – the devil was in the detailing.

No one encapsulated magnificence quite like Izma, in which designers Izzy Camilleri and Adrian Mainella marked the return of bead-work, metallics, opulent organza, velvet, sheer fabrics, leather and sequin accents. The stunning use of sapphire and many other vibrant tones animated every ensemble to the tee.

Joe Mimran struck the right note with awe-inspiring statements on the runway and a splash of orange, emerald green, cobalt blue, turquoise and a slight splatter of mustard for the Joe Fresh collection. Fringed skirts and lustrous animal print made a stunning debut for year-round appeal.

The coveted designs were perfect examples of fashion eclecticism at budget prices.

Influenced by the Far East, Anu Raina’s collection revealed a slight pushing of boundaries both visually and conceptually with a multitude of textures, rough, smooth and sometimes translucent.

It was a combination of unexpected materials and delicate, deep and saturated textiles that incorporated striking qualities to create that oomph. Gaunt models added radi-

By Priyanka Jain

ance to the plush apparel as they glided theatrically in the dim-lit studio with lustrous ginger manes.

In contrast, Diepo reinvigorated the art of minimalism. It was a uniquely choreographed show with tree stumps that surrounded the runway and dominated the space with plum lips and long, flirty and casual fishtail braids over the shoulder, neatly tied with a leather cord. The label’s charming, streamlined casual wear was a blend of loose-finish pieces and whimsical imprints. The easy-breezy look was perfected to the utmost, to put it mildly.

All in all, it was difficult to bat an eyelid as chic creations waltzed on the catwalk, which made it all the more obvious that the Canadian fashion industry is brimming with talent. The edgy designs and stellar colour combinations had many

swooning over tasteful decadence.

Aside from satiating one’s fashion-hungry appetite, guests were treated to swag bags, and were able to enjoy the glamorous pop-up bar, the ultra sophisticated cafe infused with drool-worthy aromas, creative vendor displays, the LG media lounge, the flashy beauty booth powered by L’Oreal Paris and one of the most futuristic additions – the M Boutique. This swanky fiasco was an imitation of awesome, if you will.

With the help of 400 volunteers and dozens of dedicated FDCC members, LG Fashion Week celebrated spring with inventive shows, flair and flamboyance.

Needless to say, many have come down with fashion fever and the spring checklist has perilously tripled. But hey, who’s complaining?

Bonjour, spring!

Here’s to…

The times you worry about us The times we make you laugh The times we drive you crazy The times we create happy tears The times we frustrate you with our attitude The times we realize that you were right The times we slam our doors at you The times we secretly try to impress you The times we don’t care what you think The times we show you off And the countless times we forget to tell you how much we love you Happy Mother’s Day!

“If you live to be 100, I hope I live to be 100 minus one day, so I never have to live without you.”

—A. A. Milne

Ryerson Free Press MAY 2011 17

Reviews

BOOK

Get Laid or Die Trying: The Field Reports

I

t’s a typical weeknight: Jeff Allen is at the El Rio bar in San Francisco, looking to meet women. He starts by approaching the line for the women’s restrooms, and begins with one of his improvised pick-up lines: “Okay, ladies, on a scale of one to ten, how bad do you have to go?” The night continues in a similar fashion, with Allen desperately trying to meet attractive women.

Now, years later, Allen is an executive coach with Real Social Dynamics (RSD), the “world’s largest dating coaching company,” according to their website. Simply put, Allen’s job is to help men establish sexual rapport with women in social situations, at places like bars and clubs.

Get Laid or Die Trying: The Field Reports is a renamed and edited, but essentially identical version, of Allen’s previous book Nine Ball. This time, instead of being sold through the RSD website, it is distributed by major publisher Simon and Schuster, making it widely available.

The book, haphazardly classified as “self help” on the back cover, and as “biography” on the inside, details an alleged period from 2000 to 2006 where Allen goes from being the average guy to mastering “the game” that is picking up “chicks” and having sex with nearly 200 of them – he kept a scorecard.

Though Allen’s job as dating coach conjures to mind a Hitch-esque drama – the Hollywood film where Will Smith plays love doctor to loser-type men – the two could not be more different. While Hitch helps a selective clientele get romantic with women out of their league, Allen installs psychological “pegs” in the women he meets, and his job is to teach other men how to control and use women as effectively as he supposedly does.

Hitch’s ethics scintillate by comparison. Allen is not a prodigy; in fact, save for the last ten pages of his 330page memoir, he is a sex– and drug– addicted maniac.

For Allen, it all begins after a drunken meeting

M

FILM LiTTLEROCK

ost people visiting the United States for the first time probably don’t have Littlerock, California, on their itinerary. But Japanese siblings Atsuko and Rintaro haven’t got much of a choice. When their rental car breaks down on the way to Manzanar, they’re stranded in the dusty desert town with a smattering of English, a couple of suitcases and a wariness of Americans.

Generally, road movies reveal a destination at the beginning of the film. But throughout Mike Ott’s Littlerock, it’s unclear why Atsuko and Rintaro are visiting the U.S. We know they’re going to Manzanar, but what’s there for the siblings isn’t exactly clear. It’s only at the end of the film that Ott quietly reveals how the unexpected pit stop in Littlerock changes the siblings’ impressions of America forever.

When they stay at a motel while their car is being repaired, a loud party in the next room forces Rintaro (Rintaro Sawamoto) to investigate. Instead of telling the partiers off, Rintaro and his sister are invited to stay and drink with the locals. Cory, an aspiring model, takes a particular interest in the siblings, introducing them to his friends, and showing them around Littlerock the next day.

While Atsuko takes a liking to the sleepy town and its colourful natives, even getting romantically involved with one of Cory’s friends, Rintaro remains distant.

When their car is fixed, the siblings part ways: Atsuko stays in Littlerock, and her brother sets off for San Francisco.

Considering Atsuko is alone in a new town and doesn’t speak English, there are a myriad things that

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with his ex-girlfriend who won’t take him back. He decides to become a player, and vows to let go of his illusion of true love: “I just don’t care,” he says. “No more feelings.”

He keeps his word. From then on, Get Laid or Die Trying: The Field Reports is filled with unnecessarily graphic, descriptive tales involving drugs, sex and threesomes. By page ten, Allen has already been drunk four times, puked twice and has “coked up” once. While reading the excruciatingly repetitive details of his umpteenth threesome, one can only hope, though dimly, that the author might clarify the purpose of it all.

It only takes a few minutes of reading to realize Allen is a functional junkie. It is impossible he would remember the exact timing of events along with superfluous details about people he never spoke to, even if he did write each “field report” within 24 hours of each set of events, as he claims to have done.

The book’s website compares Allen to a “friendly Himalayan mountain guide” helping readers reach the peaks of seduction through “hidden trails.” But if Allen were indeed a Sherpa, his entire expedition of mountaineers would surely fail, exactly as readers would if they attempted to use his overly intricate and dated pick-up techniques. Fellow RSD coach Owen Cook, who wrote the foreword for Allen’s book, notes that the company now recommends different pick-up manoeuvres, like approaching the woman and saying “hi” to her confidently. As Allen himself would say, we’ve got a genius here.

At best, Get Laid or Die Trying: The Field Reports is a man’s attempt at catharsis with no payoff for the reader. It’s perplexing to know that in the end, Allen learned nothing truly useful from his bashful life – except that alcohol is high in calories. And his bathroom pick-up lines certainly teach nothing worth knowing, either. — Zhina Jalali

could have – and would have – gone wrong in any other film. But, other than a little heartache, nothing ever does in Littlerock. Slowly paced and beautifully shot, it’s the locals that bring this indie to life.

Simply put, Atsuko’s self-appointed protector Cory (Cory Zacharia) steals every scene he’s a part of. You get the sense that the effervescent Zacharia, a first-time actor, is playing himself as he unsuccessfully pursues a relationship with Atsuko. Although she’s interested in someone else, his unwavering kindness towards her and their unlikely friendship gives Littlerock some of its more tender moments.

Co-written by Ott, Okatsuka and Carl McLaughlin, the film also provides a quiet commentary on xenophobia in the U.S. Atsuko’s Mexican co-worker at the restaurant she works at, who also can’t speak English, gets hassled by locals, and even Atsuko is eyed by some of Cory’s friends with suspicion. Although she enjoys her time there, you have to wonder how things would have turned out for Atsuko if she wasn’t just passing through Littlerock.

We’ll never really know, though, because Rintaro eventually comes back for his sister, and we find out why they’re visiting Manzanar. But there’s an understanding that things will never be the same for Atsuko, and maybe even Cory. Ott conveys a relationship that transcends a language barrier, and gives this road movie a lot of heart.

Littlerock recently won the title of “Best Film Not Playing at a Theatre Near You” at the Gotham Awards in New York, and is slated to show at a number of festivals throughout 2011. — Manori Ravindran

Written Wanderlust showcas in White on Black Inc.

By Peter Lewicki

Yae

By Andrew Rotilio

Andrew Rotilio is CEO and founder of White on Black Inc.

20 ryersonfreepress.ca

The Ar creation On differen show.

The the cloth inspired rock-sta

charlene nagy

amanda reid

What do Brian Eno, Depeche Mode, A Tribe Called Quest and Joy Division all have in common? They are all part of the diverse musical community that has inspired us to bring you Ryerson’s first-ever music club. On March 30, Ryerson Students’ Union’s board of directors unanimously voted on White on Black Inc. (W.O.B.). After a year of deliberations, the W.O.B. executive team, Andrew Rotilio, Yoel Tedla and Nathaniel Wisnicki are bringing you free concert tickets and a school extracurricular that finally kicks ass. And they’re taking names, too, says vice-president Yoel Tedla. “Anyone can join at any time. You don’t necessarily have to be a Ryerson student, either.” Tedla says that over 150 people have already joined the club.

W.O.B. allows students of any program, culture and sub-culture to form and meet on the basis of a shared interest in music that goes beyond just the jam. Through ethnomusicology, the study of cultures through music, W.O.B. allows us to stimulate our musical senses and broaden our cultural horizons by experiencing new tastes. We’re taking you to jams across the city, where your act will get the chance to perform live. And for the non-performers, we’re also taking you to free concerts spanning any genre, with no borders: rock, hip-hop, alternative, indie, grunge, goth, trance, dub-step, jazz and even country. But more than that, W.O.B. will take you through a musical journey that allows you to experience new sub-genres and meet cool new people. Starting in September and at the end of each month, W.O.B. will be hosting pub nights across Toronto. You will get to experience some of the city’s most iconic hot spots like The Imp, El Mo’s, Sneaky Dee’s and Neutral.

Nathaniel Wisnicki, public relations executive for W.O.B., says that the club is not just for people who play music. “We’d like to make the idea of a music club more than just a gathering for musicians. We’re planning to run listening sessions, and stage discussions about music, so that people who may not even play music themselves can have a friendly forum in which to speak their mind, no matter which certain aesthetics interest them.”

W.O.B. is a multi-faceted musical organization that caters to everyone. It delivers an array of musical resources by tapping into all areas of the Ryerson community. W.O.B. merges the gap between the musical aspects of Ryerson’s academic and student life by combining the two with self-expression. Our organization branches out to people who like to write or discuss music, play music and to those just looking to have fun.

No matter your academic faculty, we urge you to take part in moulding our musical community by helping us tailor it to your flavour. If you would like to become an official member, please follow the guidelines on our Facebook page at White on Black Inc. and, this September, you will find us listed under the RSU club list. Also, look for us in the September issue of the Free Press.

michelle im

ses Ryerson’s fashion talent

el Shoham

rcadian Court in downtown Toronto buzzed with the colour, glitz, talent and ns of Ryerson University’s second- and third-year fashion students.

April 13, models strutted the catwalk in the art deco hall, showcasing over a hundred nt outfits from nearly as many design students in the first annual Wanderlust fashion

e show featured both women’s evening wear, and menswear. Organized by themes, hing ranged from whimsical, romantic fairy tale themes to a playful, summer-fair d “Carousel” line; from sophisticated nautical looks for the men, to edgy, urban and ar clothes.

alexandra boultzi

caterina abate PHOTOS: PETER LEWICKI

Ryerson Free Press MAY 2011 21

Toronto’s Best Video Stores

By Regan Reid and Manori Ravindran If you ask any Toronto video store owner, they’ll tell you that the rental industry isn’t what it once was. According to an employee at Suspect Video, a DVD that is rented about 60 times in 2011 is doing pretty well. But in the nineties, that same film on VHS would have been checked out about 600 times over a couple of years. Nowadays, with most people turning to the Internet to download films or subscribe to Netflix, it’s becoming harder for video stores to compete.

But there’s something about visiting these local businesses that keeps some of us going back. Maybe it’s the movie recommendations from the raging cinephile behind the counter (a real human being, not a tomato-scale), or the thrill of the hunt for that rare classic. Whatever your reason for choosing a local establishment over the Internet, we happen to live in a city that’s teeming with some of the best video stores any film buff could hope for. Listed below is a selection of stores that each brings something unique to Toronto’s video rental scene.

black dog video

ing, ask the staff for help. They’re incredibly friendly, knowledgeable and genuinely interested in film.

The Little Video Shop 13 Baldwin Street 416-205-9435 New Release: $5 The Little Video Shop makes up for what it lacks in size with personality and charm. Stop by this colourful Baldwin Village movie store to browse its more than 7,000 titles, eat some free popcorn, or talk movies with owner Leila Deciantis. She’ll gladly chat about why video stores are better than Netflix (is there really a debate here?), the importance of community, and – of course – all things film. This little shop is more than just a movie store; it is a genuine community hub. Deciantis plays free movies on her projection screen outside in the summer, she serves coffee and gelato and even offers free Wi-Fi. Though Little Video has a small collection, it’s an impressive one. You’ll find all the new releases as well as a wide array of classics and foreign films. And if you’re like Deciantis and enjoy documentaries, stop by on Tuesdays when you get a free doc with a new release rental.

Queen Video 412 Queen Street West 416-504-3030 New Release: $4.20 Ask any Torontonian film-lover where to rent a movie, and they’ll tell you Queen Video. With three locations, Queen has made a name for itself as one of the best independent video chains in the city. The shop first opened in 1981 with only 175 VHS tapes, but has grown to include more than 60,000 DVD titles in its three locations. As owner Howard Levman says, they specialize in everything – and he’s not lying. You will find new releases like Morning Glory to obscure films like Michael: Gay, themed videos of the German silent era – and everything in between. You won’t find any coffee or gelato here, they’ve stuck to their original formula of just renting videos, but they have one of the cheapest rates around for new releases and an unbeatable selection.

Suspect Video

Black Dog Video 986 Queen Street West 416-530-0006 New Release: $5 Black Dog Video is more than a movie store. It’s also a cute cafe, which has somehow mastered both the young and hip and mom-and-pop-shop vibes. They’ve got more than 13,000 videos to choose from, coffee and desserts to enjoy and even Black Dog T-Shirts for sale. At first glance, the shop looks tiny, with just a couple of chairs and tables, and one (exposedbrick!) wall adorned with staff picks and new releases. But make your way down the tiny hallway and you’ll find a big back room full of films to enjoy. And the best thing about Black Dog (well maybe second-best, I didn’t sample their milkshake) is their organization. The films are arranged into sections such as “Criterion,” “Director” or “Foreign,” making it super easy to find what you’re looking for. Plus, the hanging chalk-board signs, which mark each section, are fun and add to the visual appeal of the place.

605 Markham Street 416-588-6674 New Release: $4.50 Tucked in a corner next to Honest Ed’s department store, Suspect Video – a cinephile’s haven –has been serving the Annex since 1991. The store specializes in horror, sci-fi and exploitation genres, but also supplies a wide range of other films. That means that while you may see Love and Other Drugs in one corner of the store, don’t be surprised to spot titles from the “Nasty Nun” genre elsewhere. Though most of its 40,000 titles are on DVD, employee Glenn Salter says it’s the store’s array of VHS tapes that sets it apart. “There’s still a lot of movement among the VHS collection,” says Salter, who’s been working at Suspect for nine years. “The ones we kept are titles that aren’t available in DVD.” So whether you’re a film student trying to find a rare VHS title for class, or a sci-fi junkie looking for your next fix, Suspect’s formidable collection will rise to the occasion.

film fest dvd rentals

bay street video

Film Fest DVD Rentals

Bay Street Video 1172 Bay Street 416-964-9088 New Release: $4.95 For movie-lovers, Bay Street Video is a Toronto institution. It might not have the greatest aesthetic appeal, but with more than 21,000 films to rent and an additional 5,000 to 10,000 to buy, Bay Street has everything you need (and if they don’t, they’ll order it for you ASAP).

In order to provide its customers with as many movies as possible, the shop organizes its films into rows (and rows and rows) of flip cases – like the kind you see in a poster store. The system works; the place is jam-packed with awesome movie finds. But if it seems overwhelm-

405 Duplex Avenue 416-322-3555 New Release: $5 When Film Fest opened seven years ago, it was the first video rental shop to offer exclusively DVDs. The Midtown store continues to be an anomaly, stocking its shelves with everything from classic Disney films to the latest Gus van Sant feature, instead of catering to a specific market. Employee Jake Dolgy has been around since 2004, and says it’s the variety that makes them different. “It used to be that with the Blockbusters around, independents had to carve out niche markets for themselves...But now the video store itself is the niche. So, rather than alienate certain markets, we’ll try to cater to all of them as best we can.” With just under 11,000 titles and over 8,000 members, they’re doing pretty well, too. In April, the store moved to a new location (2305 Yonge Street) just around the corner, and rebranded itself as Upstairs Video. But wherever they are, this Midtown spot will continue to give preppy Yonge and Eglinton some cinematic street cred.

Ryerson Free Press MAY 2011 23

PRESENTS

CESAR Board of Directors By-Election Meeting

and TOWN HALL On Democratic Renewal

For more information email: info@mycesar.ca

Wednesday May 25 5pm - 8pm

ROOM G STUDENT CENTRE