Ryerson Free Press May 2009

may

2009

“The reason why the flags fly so high today is because we are without hope.�

See page 11 for coverage of tamil solidarity rallies

NEWS OPIRG and OPCCA: Reactions to Leaked Tapes

By Mai Nguyen

The leaks that show a conservative campus group’s attempt to destabilize local student unions is symptomatic of a national political trend occurring in Canada, said Louisa Worrell, a member of the Ontario Public Interest Research Group (OPIRG) Ottawa.

“Stephen Harper is our first Conservative leader in a long time and there is a trend of people leaning to the right,” she said. “There is definitely a parallel on campus.

The biggest problem is when groups essentially try to uproot left-leaning socially progressive groups.”

In last month’s issue, the Ryerson Free Press reported on the leaks of several audio recordings, documents and photos from a training session organized by the Ontario Progressive Conservative Campus Association (OPCCA)—OPCCA is a student-run organization designed to encourage conservative students to become active on campus.

The workshop was held in early February at Wilfred Laurier University where Peter Braid, Member of Parliament for Kitchener-Waterloo, was the keynote speaker.

Recordings of the session revealed that speakers were providing information to the audience on how they can become a part of the Board of Directors of OPIRGs or run in student union elections to promote a Conservative agenda.

OPIRGs are independent, non-profit organizations that are committed to social, environmental and economic issues with the support of organizations like Amnesty International, the Canadian Federation of Students and Oxfam.

The speakers at the presentation also included Braid’s campaign manager, Aaron Lee-Wudrick and former vice-president of the Waterloo Federation of Students, Ryan O’Connor. On the tapes, some of their advice included establishing “front organizations” in order to tap into student unions’ funding and also, run for student union elections.

From the audio recordings, Lee-Wudrick is heard saying, “If it’s possible if, in one fell swoop, to take over the board of directors [of OPIRG], I think that it would be pretty impressive, and you’d be a hero to the Conservative movement if you can pull that off.”

After the leaks were made available online, OPCCA expressed concerns over the actions of the anonymous individual who recorded the session under a false identity. According to OPCCA, the individual was a member of OPIRG. Eric Merkley, president of OPCCA, said that the comments found in the audio recordings were taken

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out of context by some reporters.

“We believe that there is an unbalanced view on campus,” said Merkley, who was also Braid’s former deputy campaign manager.

“We want to show that there are other ways of thinking without fear of persecution from extreme leftwing professors or from OPIRG.” Merkley adds that during Braid’s 20-minute keynote speech, the MP talked about his experiences with past elections and how important it is for students to engage in the political process. “The reality is, conservatives want to get involved with campus life,” said Merkley.

However, Ontario Chairperson of the Canadian Federation of Students (CFS) Shelley Melanson said she is concerned about giving a political party a role in student politics because it undermines the autonomous nature of student unions and its elections.

“It’s a question of whether political parties should be a part of the democratic policy,” she said. “It actually violates student election policies. Part of the problem of this scandal is that they’re teaching [student] unions how to govern elections. They’re doing it with the purpose of taking over the student union.”

Merkley said that OPCCA has no affiliation with the Conservative Party of Canada. However, according to the OPCCA website, the group is connected with the Ontario Progressive Conservative Party. The Ontario Progressive Conservatives, and the federal party, have held similar meetings like this on campuses across Canada.

Brian Petz, president of the Ryerson Campus Conservatives, was unaware and skeptical of these leaks when contacted.

“It sounds like very dirty politics,” said Petz. “Things should be rather transparent.”

The club occasionally updates the OPCCA with its recent events and activities, but its relationship to OPCCA isn’t entrenched.

OPIRGs are operated with student funding determined by referendum and have been around since the late 1970s. The levy is normally between $2 to $4 per student each semester.

Merkley doesn’t approve of the mandatory fees. “In our eyes, [fees] undermines the university experience for students and the CFS and OPIRG are the cause for that,” he said.

“We have no problem with left-wing views on campus and we believe in free speech, but we don’t believe

that they should use student fees.”

Merkley would like to see OPIRG raise its own funds by starting up a campaign to give students a chance to opt out of the fee.

According to Worrell, OPIRGs have historically been a target of attack.

The Nova Scotia PIRG recently faced the possibility of funding removal after it was accused of being antiSemitic for condemning Israel’s attack on Gaza.

Last year, the University of Western Ontario OPIRG

“We want to show that there are other ways of thinking without fear of persecution from extreme leftwing professors or from OPIRG.” had its club status revoked supposedly because it endorsed pro-Palestinian speakers at an anti-war week of events. In the early 2000s, Lee-Wudrick and O’Connor attempted to strip the University of Waterloo OPIRG of its funding multiple times, as was discussed in the leaked audio recordings.

“There is inevitably going to be a contradiction when dealing with a conservative agenda,” said Worrell. “[But] it’s inappropriate to be using tactics to gain power and undermine other groups. There’s a way to express [political opinion] and be respectful. The fact that the documents were leaked as opposed to being made public is suspicious. Students respect transparency. No one likes to be manipulated.”

NEW CESAR EXEC TAKES POWER

RYERSON FREE PRESS

By Alexandra MacAulay Abdelwahab The new execuTive team for the Continuing Education Students’ Association of Ryerson (CESAR) promises to work together and place a strong focus on outreach.

They plan to do a lot more class visits, a lot more tabling and a lot more events to get as many students involved with CESAR as possible.

“The four elected executives and the executive director are a team and we make decisions collectively,” said Mohammed Ali Aumeer, the incoming president.

CESAR represents more than 16,000 students in continuing education, distance education, off-campus, and part-time degree courses.

Any class with 31 hours or more of instructional hours, including students taking distance education courses, has the opportunity to elect a class representative to the association in the first two weeks of each semester.

The class representatives meet once a month and elect twelve members to the CESAR board at the Annual General meeting each year. This year, the AGM happened on March 24 and elections took place on April 9.

Aumeer served as vice-president of programming and out-

reach last year. He was responsible for bringing Juno-nominated rapper DL Incognito to the Ram and the Rye and was very involved with Ryerson Students Against War. He worked on two events that fought against the deportation of American war resisters living in Canada.

Daniel Vandervoort, the new vice-president of finance, was elected as vice-president of programming and outreach last year, but left his position in June to go to Philippines with his partner. He has been a board member since 2005 and has experience working with non-profit organizations.

While staying in the Philippines he worked with feminist group Isis International.

Tania Hassan was elected as vice-president of student rights for the second year in a row and also sits on Ryerson’s Senate as the CESAR representative. Besides being very involved with the Drop Fees campaign last year, she also worked on sustainability and anti-racism campaigns. Hassan was part of the group that brought David Suzuki to campus.

The new vice-president of programming and outreach, Vanessa Holroyd, joined the board in November after a bi-election.

Last year, she focused her atten-

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tion on the Drop Fees campaign and the child-care campaign. She is planning many events dealing with violence against women in

a lead up to a big event for the 25th Anniversary of the Montreal polytechnic massacre held on Dec. 6, 2009.

NORA LORETO

have you been a victim of fraud?

By Amanda Cupido

Julian howaTT was shocked when he tried to use his debit card a few weeks ago but the transaction didn’t go through. This was not a matter of insufficient funds; his account had been frozen.

The first-year urban planning student at Ryerson was caught in a fraud incident. Not knowing what happened, he went to his bank. “I found out $300 had been stolen,” Howatt said. “I had to fill out a fraud report and get a new debit card.”

He also found out that $1000

childcare in the evenings as well.

“Students shouldn’t have to choose between going to school and having to take care of their children. They should have the opportunity to do both,” said Vanessa Holroyd, vice-president of programming and outreach.

They plan to continue working with the RSU on the Drop Fees campaign, which vicepresident of student rights Tania Hassan says is especially significant for part-time students. “[High tuition fees affect] a large number of marginalized students like working parents, students of colour, students with disabilities.

There are many, many reasons [why] students are in part-time education in the first place,” Hassan said, explaining that she works two jobs just to stay in school.

The Close Gould Street campaign will

had been deposited into his account, but it had actually been an empty envelope. “I assume the person wanted to withdraw the money immediately but they couldn’t because of my limit,” said Howatt whose withdraw limit is $500 per day.

His bank froze the account after the suspicious transactions.

Howatt felt inconvenienced but was confident that he’d be able to get his money back. “I was pretty sure the bank would have some sort of way to take care of this,” he said.

Howatt is not the only student who has been a victim of fraud this year. Christal Gardiola, a fourthyear Ryerson journalism student, was close to losing $800. “There was a message left on my answering machine from my bank,” she said.

Gardiola didn’t act on the message until she tried to use her debit card at a Starbucks and was declined. “I was so embarrassed.”

Her bank notified her that someone tried to withdraw $800

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continue to be a focus and CESAR is also trying to establish a formal health and dental plan for part-time students. The plan has been in the works for a while and the board hopes to put it to a referendum for students this year. “I’m definitely a big fan of the health and dental plan and I’m hoping that it is something we can get on the agenda this year,” said Vandervoort.

They also plan on ensuring that course evaluations get completed. During the second half of each semester, CESAR members visit classes and get students to evaluate the class material and the teacher’s performance. Results are posted online and in a booklet available to all CESAR students.

CESAR will finalize their plans for next year at the first formal executive meeting planned for the middle of May.

from her account. Since Gardiola’s balance was lower than that amount, the fraudster deposited an empty envelope and tried again.

Luckily for Gardiola, that was enough for her account to be frozen.

“I was so surprised,” she said.

“I kept thinking ‘how is this even possible?’”

Christopher Heard was not surprised when he heard these stories. As the associate director of Fraud Squad TV, he deals with people who have lost thousands of dollars because of fraud. “We can’t go through the day without using [debit cards] anymore,” he said.

“Sometimes protecting your pin is not enough.”

Heard suggested staying away from variety store ATM machines and to be wary of machines that are not linked with a specific bank.

With technological advancements and hard economic times, Heard said that fraudulent crimes are common. “Fraud is very so-

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What CESAR has been up to & plans for next year CESAR has been working to inform business students of Ryerson’s plan to make all part-time business students who take three classes or more pay full-time fees. The change takes effect in September and CESAR hopes to work hard over the summer and reverse it. “[P]art-time business students are now being hit with a big cash grab. That’s something that we’re already mobilizing for and meeting with students to find out what their concerns are and students are seeing it for what it is, for just being a cash grab,” said Daniel Vandervoort, vice-president of finance.

Together with the Ontario Coalition for Better Childcare and the Ryerson Students’ Union (RSU), CESAR is trying to expand childcare hours for students on campus 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Saturdays and are working to get

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phisticated and widespread,” he said. “The more people who realize that, the better. There needs to be a heightened awareness.”

Howatt’s stolen money was refunded but he is still on guard.

After getting a new debit card, his bank notified him that his information may still be compromised and his cash withdrawal limit has been lowered.

Gardiola was told to get a new debit card as well. She was expecting to receive it one week after the incident but has been without a new card for over a month.

Heard said that students are often victims of fraud. “There are a lot of specific frauds that target students.” Some of those include debit and apartment fraud.

Fraud Squad TV is currently working on their second season. If you want to know more about common frauds and fraud prevention check out their website at fraudcast.ca.

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Contributors ALEXANDRA MACAULAY ABDELWAHAB

STEPHEN CARLICK AMANDA CUPIDO SAMANTHA EDWARDS JESSICA FINCH MARIANA IONOVA MARTA IWANEK MAIYA KEIDAN SALMAAN ABDUL HAMID KHAN CANDICE KUNG MARGARET LAPIERRE PACINTHE MATTAR JESSE MCLAREN FARRAHNAZ MERALI NADIA MOHAMMAD MARK N. MAI NGUYEN ADRIANA ROLSTON VANESSA SANTILLI MITU SENGUPTA TAKARA SMALL NAYANI THIYAGARAJAH ANGELA WALCOTT RICH WILLIAMSON

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ryerson free press

May 2009

3

Q&A

By Amanda Cupido

with the incoming RSU executive team

What have you started planning in preparation for next year?

Which campaign promise will bring forth the most obstacles?

What is one strength you bring to the executive team?

What is one weakness you bring to the executive team?

What does “undivided” mean to you?

What legacy do you wish to leave?

Jermaine Bagnal President

Toby Whitfield VP Finanace & Services

Liana Salvador: VP Education

Lise de Montbrun VP Student Life & Events

My first task is to understand what everyone wants. I have been meeting with faculty directors and executives and discussing goal setting. I have also been educating myself with a lot of different issues that have been happening. I’m a busy bee.

We are going to see if we can sell new books at the book room. We are also looking at getting more staff for TTC sales and sending out e-mails or text messages when passes sell out. We are planning to build a computer lab outside the RSU office with 6-8 computers.

We had a meet and greet with the new board [members] where we discussed why we ran and we tried to find common goals so we can focus on that next year. We realized we are all here for similar reasons.

We’ve been planning for orientation including the Parade and Picnic, frosh week and the Week of Welcome.

Maybe closing Gould Street because it’s not just dealing with the school, but dealing with the city.

Finding a permanent space for RUtv is going to be a challenge because it’s hard to find space that is adequate and secure for them.

It will be a challenge to find out what they need and how to support them.

The 24-hour library. We are obviously going to keep working on it but it will be the hardest to do. We are planning on putting all our goals on a piece of paper and posting it for students so they know what’s going on at the students’ union.

Probably any campaign that has to go through the university.

The fact that I’m a bit older and have different experiences. I have participated in high-level athletics and you learn how to work with people who have different personalities and how to work toward achieving common goals.

I’m pretty passionate about the need and importance of having a student’s union.

I think that having a body on campus to advocate for students is important. I’m looking forward to bringing my experience from this year. We need to focus on bringing people together since we spent a lot of time arguing this year.

I think I bring passion and charisma. I’m super excited to be doing the work full-time.

My strength would be that I am coming in clean with new ideas.

Wanting to do everything and realizing that I have to take bite size portions of things.

I’ve been here for a year and that can be a strength and a weakness. I will spend more time training and educating the new members of the board and not make the assumption that they know what they’re doing.

I need to learn the politics and understand the bureaucracy, but it’s OK because I can learn that.

That’s hard to say... I can’t think of any.

It’s like an end goal. You want something that represents unity.

It was good for the campaign but once we start as a board, slates don’t exist anymore.

The foundation for a strong students’ union. When we’re undivided, we are united. By bringing people together we’re going to be more powerful. If we could get 500-1000 students on the street for a close Gould Street rally then we can definitely close it down.

Our entire goal for next year. Even though it was my slate, I think everyone agrees that some common goals are increasing communication, getting more student involvement and uniting the campus. I’m really optimistic that all the drama is behind us.

It means being stronger together and working as students across Ontario and within Ryerson.

I’d like to leave a student union that has set out a huge number of goals and achieves them. I would like to leave behind a legacy of a board [of directors] that functions.

I want to close Gould Street, even if we could get it closed from Monday-Friday. We could have some fun doing it.

This is a hard thing because I’m realizing how short one year is. I would be so happy to bring in new people who will carry on what is started this year. That’s how you build a strong, solid student movement.

Good events all around. Keeping the usual events and bringing in new ones.

What will be done to fix the financial situation for the upcoming year?

We don’t know the deficit from [last] year but we need to develop a five-year financial plan. It’s not going to be easy but it’s something we need to do.

[Toby only]

Which celebrities will be at the parade and picnic?

[Lise only]

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We are in the process of negotiating so don’t have anyone for sure yet. We are meeting this week with different agencies.

Freedom of Expression Campaign aims to speak out against human rights abuses

By Nadia Mohammad

After law student Mohammed Khan was forced to remove an Israeli Apartheid Week (IAW) poster by management at York University without explanation, he felt compelled to continue to try and voice his opinion about the Israel-Palestine situation through attending the Freedom of Expression campaign at the University of Toronto.

Students are always encouraged to give input on all manner of policy and operational issues at universities, however, Khan said, “When we voiced our concerns that IAW is supported by many prominent Jews and Jewish groups, and therefore it is illogical to characterize it as anti-Semetic, we got no response.”

Multiple organizations came together on April 15 to host the Freedom of Expression Campaign to defend the right to educate and speak out for Palestinian solidarity and their human rights in Canada.

On December 27, 2008 Israel bombarded Gaza after a ceasefire was broken. The attacked killed over 1,400 Gazans, injured over 5,000 and demolished schools, hospitals and homes. Gaza is lacking in aid and is facing a shortage of basic supplies such as food, water, medical aid and electricity. Organizations such as Sociology and Equity Studies in Education (SESE) at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education and the Canadian Arab Federation (CAF) want to educate more Canadians about the situation that Palestinians are facing.

SESE and CAF believe that the press and individuals are being silenced when it comes to discussing the issue in Canada. Vice-president of CAF, Ali Mallah said, “We are being singled out.”

The Minister of Citizenship, Immigration and Multi-

culturalism, Jason Kenny, cut funding to CAF because he disagreed with the organization’s criticism of Israel. The government refused to renew the two-year, $2.1 million contract which expired at the end of March for language services for new immigrants in Canada funded by CAF. Rafeef Ziadah, Facilitator of the Coalition Against Israeli Apartheid (CAIA), said, “It’s one campaign against us all.

We have to push back as one movement because we’re being attacked as one movement.”

Jason Kenny also banned British MP, George Galloway on March 19 from entering Canada. Galloway was scheduled to tour four cities from March 30 to April 2.

The decision was due to Galloway’s strong opinions about the war against Afghanistan and being a supporter of Hamas.

“They don’t want to debate about the issues, they want to shut down the issues,” said Ziadah.

York was not the only university in Ontario to ban IAW posters in February.

Carleton University, Trent University and Wilfred Laurier also banned the poster due to it containing an “inflammatory message” and depicting Israel as “directing violence.” The universities failed to explain what policy they were relying on and many students felt it was a violation of their human rights.

Ziadah explained that CAIA and similar organizations attending the Freedom of Expression campaign launch believe in social justice, equality and human rights. Such organizations aim to hold meetings where academics lecture and debate about issues like Israel and Palestine. However, community activists, students and teachers feel that their opinions and voices are trying to be silenced.

U of T professor, Sherene Razack said she has been

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Canadians in support of palestine refuse to be silenced

targeted several times, with people leaving sexist and racist messages on her phone and threatening her. Undercover police officers have showed up several times to similar meetings held at U of T campus, later charging these organizations with large bills. “In this issue, we are all Palestinians,” said Razack.

Through the Freedom of Expression campaign and other events, students, teachers and community activists are continuing to voice their opinions on the matter.

“We have the right to say what we’re going to say and they’re not going to stop us,” said Ziadah.

Scientists and activists call for eco-justice York U conference reveals developing nations are not a priority for the global environmental movement

By Samantha Edwards For Miriam Duailibi, discussions of climate change impacts ignore one important factor: the needs and conditions of billions of people in developing nations.

Duailibi, director of ECOAR Institute for Citizenship in Brazil, said the global north needs to be aware of the circumstances facing disenfranchised people, and dreams of a platform where these concerns could be voiced.

It was this thought that sparked the eco-justice conference last month at York University. On April 16 and 17, 14 international community activists and scientists from Brazil, India, South Africa and the Canadian Arctic gathered to discuss how disenfranchised peoples will adapt to climate change. Each part of the conference featured unique climate change challenges and local vulnerabilities.

Paulo Cunha, a technical consultant on carbon sequestration in Brazil, said the biggest challenge for his country was unsustainable consumption of resources and the

carbon cycle disequilibrium.

“Almost all of us were innocent in the past about our way of living with carbon dioxide emissions and its consequences on climate change…but now, no one is innocent and now the guilty ones are you and me,” he said.

According to World Resources Institute figures from 2000, Brazil was the eighth largest greenhouse gas emitter and the third largest in the developing world. Unlike most developed and many developing nations, Brazil’s energy sector contributes little to their emissions. Unsustainable land use and forestry contribute the most.

Cunha and Duailibi both said the solution to reducing Brazil’s carbon footprint was through carbon sequestration, a technology that stores carbon dioxide and other forms of carbon for the mitigation of global warming.

Carbon would be captured from large point sources, such as fossil fuel power plants, and then stored permanently in underground geological formations.

Audience members at the conference expressed concern about how carbon sequestration is a relatively new technology and feared eventual leakage of the stored carbon dioxide. Others described our climate crisis as an “ecological holocaust” and criticized environmental scholars saying, “Stop being activists in the classrooms, in your seats, we need to bring the education to the streets.”

However, in the case of Vivek Jha, who works with the Energy and Resources Institute in India, bringing education and resources to the local level is his number one priority.

According to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), India is the second largest greenhouse gas emitter in the developing world after China. Jha said that with two-thirds of India’s population living below the poverty line and many of those peoples living along the coastal regions, India is especially vulnerable to climate change. The greatest threats to India, according to Jha, are food and water security.

Jha said that in order for India to adapt to the climate change crisis, the solution must be infused with traditional Indian practices.

“Our buildings need to go back to our Indian roots…we need to bring back the courtyard for air circulation and stop building glass facades, a Western influence that is not made for the Indian climate.”

Jha also noted that renewable energy technology, biotechnology and biofuels derived from raw wood could help empower vulnerable farmers suffering from the affects of climate change.

South Africa’s vulnerability to climate change comes mostly from its geographical location rather than unsustainable consumption or population. The South African County Studies Programme identified the health sector, maize production, plant and animal biodiversity, and rangelands as areas of highest vulnerability and that need to be targeted for adaptation measures.

Similar to the case in India, vital components to South Africa’s solution is education, training and awareness of climate change and its impact will help accelerate the implementation of policy change.

The Canadian Arctic faces similar challenges to South Africa, as its vulnerability originates from its geographic location. The Arctic Climate Impact Assessment, a study by the International Arctic Science Committee, found records of increasing temperatures is resulting in melting glaciers, sea ice and permafrost.

The eco-justice conference comes months before the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen, Denmark. From December 7-18, international leaders will come together and discuss the Kyoto Protocol and form a framework for climate change mitigation beyond 2012.

Ryerson Free Press May 2009 5

University of Guelph cuts women’s studies programme

The $100,000 savings will be used to help off-set the university’s $16-million deficit

By Candice Kung Despite a wave of intense criticism, numerous petitions and rallies that spread across the country like wildfire, the women’s studies programme at the University of Guelph has been officially chopped.

The programme fell victim to the university’s push to resolve its $16-million deficit.

Targeting programmes with low enrollment rates, the U of G’s Senate voted to put the final nail in the coffin of the women’s studies program on April 7.

Over the past three years, fewer than 25 students have majored in women’s studies at Guelph. But the recent elimination has made the U of G one of the only Canadian research-based universities to not have a women’s or gender studies programme.

“It’s really disheartening,” said Jack Hixson-Vulpe, a fourth-year women’s studies major who has been at the forefront of the “Save Women’s Studies” campaign.

“Guelph is definitely experiencing a very right-wing shift nowadays.”

His campaign to stop the university from cutting the programme has gained widespread support across campus.

The facebook group “Women’s Studies on the chopping block at Guelph? That’s BULLSHIT” now has over 2,000 members and hundreds of people have attended solidarity rallies held on campus and as far away as Winnipeg.

“Students were really happy with the programme and we want it to continue,” he said. He points out that most of the frustration comes from the university not being able to give concrete reasons for the cut.

When it was widely reported that the women’s studies programme would only save 0.17 percent—about $100,000—of the overall deficit, the university changed its tune, attacking low enrollment rates instead and declaring that the programme was stagnant and at an impasse.

But the end of Guelph’s women’s studies programme came at the same time the Government of Ontario released a list of the highest salaries at Ontario universities—with Guelph’s president, Alastair Summerlee, ranking in the top five and raking in close to $450,000 last year.

At the rallies, protesters sported giant signs bearing

a photo of Summerlee from a recent advertisement in the Globe and Mail. The ad itself allegedly cost $45,848—as one student put it, for two ads, Guelph could have one woman’s studies programme.

“It’s a large backward step for females and gender studies in general,” said Hayley Brooks, a second-year international development student minoring in women’s studies at Guelph. She emphasized that the programme is crucial for understanding gender issues and said that it’s not just filled with radical feminists and bra-burning rituals.

“It’s a small programme and there aren’t a lot of people in it. But to have it says a whole lot about how far women’s

kept enrollment numbers low, the programme is gaining popularity. “Over the time that I’ve been here, we’ve gone from having no students that ever apply asking for a degree in women’s studies, to having this year 45 of our applicants specifying for it in advance,” she said. She also expects enrollment rates to rise since as of 2010, school boards across Ontario will be introducing a women’s studies course in high schools—including Guelph’s own John F. Ross Collegiate.

“I heard good things in general about Guelph and I was considering it,” said Shayna Sayers-Wolfe, a Grade 12 student at Oakwood Collegiate Institute who was planning on majoring in women’s studies. Her mother, Leslie Wolfe, said

“I’m surprised that the university has stuck firm on this. It’s a public relations nightmare…

Universities shouldn’t be run like businesses.” movements have come—and to take it back, I think it totally goes against the grain to what all these women have worked towards,” said Brooks. She also noted that there were at least 200 people in her first-year women’s studies course.

Helen Hoy, the former coordinator of the women’s studies programme at Guelph, said that over the past 20 years, women’s studies has evolved to encompass not only feminism but also matters of equity and issues of sexual orientation, race, and ethnicity. “Except in women’s studies, where else does that sort of thing get a focused attention?” she said.

“What’s ironic is that I came in [as coordinator] partly because I had heard that Guelph was perceived as quite queer friendly—and it is. There are a lot of transgender students and queer or gay and lesbian students who have counted on women’s studies as a place to do study,” said Hoy. “I’ve always felt quite proud of this institution and this is the first time I’ve had to reconsider that.”

Hoy also said that though chronic underfunding has

she was shocked that a university would cut a program as an answer to financial hardships.

“As a parent, it was a disappointment that a university that has a very good reputation and is a place where I would have encouraged my daughter to look into seriously, now does not have the programme that she would like to major in,” said Wolfe.

At a time when sexual assault rates are spiking and gender-based inequalities still exist, a women’s studies programme seems to be even more necessary at universities like Guelph. Meanwhile, Hixson-Vulpe and students at the Guelph will continue to hold rallies and write petitions to fight for the programme. “We’re going to continue to lay pressure on them and we will definitely continue to have a very vocal participation in everything we can,” he said.

“I’m surprised that the university has stuck firm on this.

It’s a public relations nightmare,” said Hoy, adding that it’s been an unfortunate decision and an embarrassment for the University. “Universities shouldn’t be run like businesses.”

Canada remains firm in refusing to sign the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Australia signed two years after the Declaration was ratified by 143 countries, excluding the United States, New Zealand and Our Home on Native Land

By Alexandra MacAulay Abdelwahab On April 3, the Australian government signed the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, demonstrating a dramatic shift in policy on Aboriginal issues from the previous conservative government.

When the United Nations General Assembly adopted the declaration in September 2007, 143 countries supported it. Only four countries – Canada, New Zealand, Australia and the United States – refused to sign.

The non-binding declaration establishes the individual and collective rights of Indigenous peoples and prohibits discrimination against them. It also promotes their full participation in all matters that concern them.

At the time, Australia had argued that the declaration could give

unfair advantage to the Aboriginal people and overrule Australian law.

Canada and the U.S. had made similar arguments.

Now, many groups including the Assembly of First Nations are calling for Canada to follow Australia’s lead and also sign the document.

“There are now only three countries left in the world that have not implemented the declaration. It’s shameful,” said Don Kelly, Assembly of First Nations’ communications director.

“Imagine what would have happened if Canada had refused to sign on to Universal Declaration of Human Rights or the Convention on the Rights of the Child? It’s no different.”

But the Canadian government has no intention of signing the document.

“Canada’s position has not

6 ryersonfreepress.ca

changed,” said Patricia Valladao on behalf of the Ministry of Indian and Northern Affairs. Valladao stated that Canada’s situation is different from Australia’s because treaty rights are protected under Canada’s constitution.

But Ruth Koleszar-Green, the academic support advisor at Ryerson Aboriginal Student Services said that Canada’s situation is not that different from Australia.

“Australia’s situation was modeled after Canada’s. So our situations are similar and the way the government has dealt with us is very similar,” she said.

Koleszar-Green also doesn’t think the way the government is dealing with treaty rights is adequate. “The way that treaties are dealt with is problematic,” she said.

“There are [a] bunch of things

that are treaty rights that don’t get acknowledged.”

As an example, Koleszar-Green explained that free education is a guaranteed treaty to all Aboriginal people but the amount of funding provided by the government is not enough to cover all the students who need it.

An internal audit released by the Ministry of Indian and Northern Affairs last month reported that education funding has not kept up with tuition fee increases over the past several years. The government has not tracked the affect the lack of funding has had on students.

Article 37 of the UN declaration states that Indigenous peoples have the right to recognition, observance and enforcement of treaties and to have states honour and respect them.

The declaration says Indigenous

peoples have the right to the lands, territories and resources that they have traditionally owned and may not be removed from their lands without prior and informed consent.

Governments must obtain their free, prior and informed consent before adopting and implementing legislative or administrative measures that may affect them.

It also says Indigenous peoples have the right to self-determination, the right to participate in decisionmaking in matters which would affect their rights through representatives chosen by themselves. They also have the right to self-government in matters relating to internal and local affairs.

Citing the ministry’s official statement, Valladao said that Canada has objected to the parts of the declaration dealing with lands, territories, resources, land claims and self-government.

“Whatever their concerns are, they are unfounded,” said Kelly, explaining that the Assembly of First Nations has never received consistent reasons from the government about why they refuse to sign the declaration.

But Koleszar-Green believes she knows the real reason why Canada has so far refused to sign.

“They don’t want to admit they’ve done something wrong. This is Canada, the land of opportunity.

This is where people come for a new life. So to admit they’ve done something wrong is hard for them.”

how cloSe iS the death of the print induStry?

For Rabble’s eighth birthday, this question was posed to veteran journalists for an audience at the University of Toronto. The conclusion: the industry, as is, is screwed

By Pacinthe Mattar

dan rios

The birThday Message, scrawled across the blackboard at the front of the auditorium in white chalk, was a curious one.

“Happy 8th Birthday Rabble!” it read in capital bubble writing.

Then, below, in small, shy letters: “By the way…” Followed by slightly bigger, more assertive writing, the question of the night: “What’s wrong with our newspapers?”

For months, even years, the question has flitted around the minds of business people and media moguls, and plagued both journalists and journalism-lovers, those who love lazily leafing through the world’s happenings with one hand, their morning coffee in the other on Sunday mornings.

On April 16, the University of Toronto’s Koffler Auditorium filled up with people who wanted answers to the elusive question at an event aptly titled “What’s Wrong With Our Newspapers?” sponsored by rabble.ca to mark its eighth year of being Canada’s most popular source of independent news and views.

After an introduction by moderator and rabble.ca president Duncan Cameron, Peter C. Newman, acclaimed journalist and former editor of the Toronto Star, was the first to offer his insight on what’s wrong with our newspapers.

“My answer is that they deal with news,” Newman began in his hoarse, quiet voice. “Newspapers should step away from what is happening and move more towards why what’s happening next. They’re boring. That pyramid struc-

ture is boring.”

Newman complained about reading news stories that centre on statements by the prime minister that Newman suspects haven’t even been written or read by the Prime Minister himself.

Newman authored a groundbreaking book on former Canadian Prime Minister John Diefenbaker, The Diefebaker Years. “I’m much more interested in body language.

It’s the only language that doesn’t lie. I don’t quote them, I talk about their gestures, how they treat their wives, secretaries. That’s a window into their character. That’s where stories start. Newspapers need to go into that type of journalism.

Interesting. Unique.”

“We need less concentration and more diverse views,” Newman continued. “That’s one of the problems media has: fragmentation of audience. How do you produce relevant news items when everyone has their own interests?” he asked.

Newman then pointed the finger of blame. “If you want to blame someone, blame people in charge for not listening,” he said.

“There’s this popular notion that Darwin spoke of the survival of the fittest. Darwin didn’t say that. He said survival of the most adaptable.

Newspapers didn’t adapt. Whether or not it’s too late? Yes, for existing newspapers.”

“There will of course be some way of getting opinion and news around. But now, it’s an awkward way of getting news out: cutting down trees, turning them into pulp to be made into paper, running it through these big printing presses, then some little boy walks around

handing them out,” Newman quipped. “There’s something not quite twenty-first century about it,” he said to the laughing audience.

“Not only are newspapers dying, but deserve to die,” Newman said forcibly, then offered suggestions for improvement, including shifting “decisively” to investigative reporting.

“If they could be original...”

Newman trailed off, gave an exasperated sigh and continued.

“The [investigative journalists] are there, but newspapers don’t give budgets. They know if they got great investigative reporters telling great stories, they wouldn’t sell one extra copy.”

Newspapers have to decide what’s worth their readers’ time and what isn’t, Newman explained.

“We have to sort out the significant and the trivial,” he advised. “We can’t throw both at readers and hope they have the time to wade through it. People don’t choose books based on price, but on time invested. Time is our most precious commodity. Same with newspapers. Do you want to take the time to wade through the Star? Publish something that’s worth people’s time.

Newman offered his wishes for the future era of newspapers. “If we’ve lost our mandate as carriers of news, let us be carriers of hope, writing stories about people who have done great things, or helped other people” he pleaded. “Stories about murder and traffic accidents?

There’s not much there.”

“Media in my view are the arteries of community, mediating our social structure,” Newman concluded. “We need to be the central nervous system of our country. We need to have that kind of clout.

That will only happen if we realize that ‘newspaper’ is an oxymoron. I rest my case.”

Linda McQuaig, author and award-winning Toronto Star columnist, followed Newman’s thoughts with her own insight, starting with a quote from Mark Twain: “‘Those who don’t read newspapers are uninformed; those who do read newspapers are misinformed.’ That sums up the problem with newspapers.” “[M]ainstream newspapers have an agenda: the agenda of

the corporate élite,” McQuaig explained. “If newspapers were owned by environmentalists, we wouldn’t be surprised by pro-environmental stances…The truth is all newspapers are owned by corporations. We don’t think they have special interest, but they do. This is a real problem for journalists,” she warned.

McQuaig highlighted what she views as a blindness to the issue of class and overlooking the fact that the élite have special interests, and that there is a large gap between the aspirations of the corporate élite—who own mainstream newspapers—and most Canadians.

“Ordinary people want strong government, social programmes, regulations in the public interest, they want an independent Canada that’s separate from the United States,” McQuaig explained. “The élite want the mirror opposite: small government, low taxes, financial deregulation, deeper U.S integration. They are diametrically opposed positions. The problem is that newspapers are owned by these people,” she said.

“The National Post, for years, has been pushing a neo-conservative agenda,” McQuaig argued.

“This is not because they think it will sell newspapers. They know the public doesn’t like it, so they’re trying to make it popular, sex it up.”

“All newspapers want to sell a point of view – the one they have themselves, the corporate world view. What they’re doing is trying to make that point of view palatable. Newspapers are still supporting capitalism after the big capitalist collapse. They give the impression that the [Canadian Auto Workers] is responsible for the economic meltdown. That’s the economic point of view that is always put across,” McQuaig complained.

McQuaig then shifted to newspaper coverage of Canada presence in Afghanistan. She referred to a story in the Globe and Mail about a wedding party that was attacked by a NATO plane, killing 36 people and wounding dozens of others, including the bride.

“That should’ve been on the front page with a picture of the bride’s blood-stained wedding dress. Can you imagine if that had actually happened?”

McQuaig asked. “There would be rage in Canada. I found it on the

twenty-first page of the Globe… If that story actually made it onto the front page, there would be a lessening of support for military spending. As a result, the story is buried. That is highly political…

In the media, there is no question of our motives in what we’re doing over there,” she explained. “There’s a basic acceptance that what we’re doing over there is helpful. I would argue there’s no evidence to support that,” McQuaig said.

Offering a technological stance on the current dilemma facing newspapers was self-professed nerd Wayne MacPhail, a rabble.ca columnist and board member, and former Hamilton Spectator journalist. He argued that the demise of newspapers has been a long time in the making, dating back to as early as the birth of the Internet in 1991.

“The twin dilemma of newspapers is that newspaper people then and now just love newspapers,” MacPhail explained. “It’s incorrect historically to say that newspapers in Canada were blindsided by the Internet and change. They certainly were not. Lots of people were talking about what was coming and doing experiments in the newsroom.”

One of these experiments took place between 1994 and 1995 at the Hamilton Spectator, with a poly-publishing model system where journalists could be involved in producing news for print and online.

MacPhail explained that they would pick weekly sections to experiment with, and by 1995 they had a fully functioning poly-publishing model.

“The reason you didn’t hear about it and it wasn’t used is because their intentions in the early Internet days was to have it be run by non-guild, non-union people.

In Torstar, e-newsrooms had no reporters. They weren’t allowed to touch print,” MacPhail explained.

“This was partially geared for profits, partially to keep guild employees out of the Internet.”

“It was a strange confluence of events, the seed of a perfect storm: accidents and deliberate mishaps that put us into the situation we’re in now,” MacPhail explained.

“Newspapers weren’t blindsided, but data-blind. Newspaper people were being shown what the future would look like, but derided it.

They had a problem of being unwilling to see what’s in front of them.”

“Newspapers were historical centres and they could be political mirrors to, but they’ve lost that,” MacPhail admitted. “I agree with Peter – it’s too late. Traditional newsrooms have wasted too much time, they have far too much baggage with infrastructure” “What we’re looking at now is the end of a perfect storm that began in 1991,” MacPhail forecasted.

“I don’t think it’s a happy ending for traditional newsroom. Sadly, I think they’re yesterday’s news.”

ryerson free press

May 2009

7

Green enerGy act a Start

By Samantha Edwards

Parents of five children, migratory fruit workers from Arkansas. Berrien County, Michigan. Photo: John Vachon (Library of Congress)

the arreSt of migrant workerS in toronto

By Nadia Mohammad

hundreds of people marched on May 2 at a rally organized by the social activist group, No One Is Illegal (NOII). They are hoping to send a clear message to the Canadian government and show support to the recently detained workers.

The outcome of over 100 migrant workers that were detained by the Canadian Border Service Agency (CBSA) on April 2 still remains unknown.

More than 100 temporary and undocumented workers were arrested during immediate raids conducted by the CBSA in three businesses and 12 residences in Bradford West-Gwillimbury. The workers were from Thailand, China, the Philippines, Bangladesh, Vietnam and the Caribbean.

CBSA claims that the detainees were suspected to be violating Canada’s Immigration and Refugee Protection Act (IPRA). Arrests at the Cericola Processing plant, Cericola Farms and an agency in Bradford were made by both CBSA and the South Simcoe police. The migrant workers were followed to their homes and were placed

8

on GO busses. The workers were handcuffed and detained at the Heritage Detention Centre in Mississauga for several hours.

South Simcoe Police Chief, Bruce Davis, told the Barrie Examiner that the raids were carried out to reveal immigration violations and also expose the abuse of illegal workers, “and possible human trafficking.” Although no charges were placed under the Criminal Code, a criminal warrant was implemented

by CBSA.

“It’s unbelievable what Canada is doing to women of other countries— the abuse, the harassment, not to mention unfair wages that need to be exposed and stopped.”

ryersonfreepress.ca

Alexia Dyer, youth counsellor

Outraged by the situation, NOII held an Emergency Action at the Heritage Detention Center in Toronto on April 5. Nearly 200 community and labour activists participated at the rally, demanding the release of the migrant workers.

While they marched down the street, clutching signs and posters, they chanted, “No one is illegal!

Stop deporting people. We didn’t cross the borders, the borders crossed us!”

In a press release issued by Citizenship and Immigration Canada on February 20, Jason Kenny, Minister of Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism stated that immigration targets for 2009 have largely increased for permanent residences. Activists claim that Kenny has sent a direct message that economics is the key driver for Canada’s immigration policy.

As the investigation continues, community organizations are coming together to fight for foreign worker’s rights, against immigration raids and for justice. Protesters at the NOII rally include community activists, teachers, lawyers, students and other Canadian organizations.

On their website, NOII has written, “corporate and political élites are using the current ‘economic crisis’ as an excuse to attack poor working-class and racialized communities by increasing immigration enforcement… wrecking social services… and targeting those they perceive as the weakest –...[R]efugee claimants; women in shelters; queer and trans migrants, caregivers; factory workers and temporary workers.”

Alexia Dyer, a youth counsellor at The Redwood Shelter, planed to participate on May 2 because Dyer believes that the situation is infuriating and unjust. Dyer said she worked at a shelter for women and children fleeing from violence and has seen firsthand how these domestic workers are being treated, “It’s unbelievable what Canada is doing to women of other countries – the abuse, the harassment, not to mention unfair wages that need to be exposed and stopped.”

david suZuki is concerned we’re personifying the economy the same way demons and monsters were hundreds of years ago. He said during an economic meltdown, the economy cannot be treated as a real entity and environmental concerns certainly cannot be sacrificed to its ruthless claws.

“When we thought monsters and demons were mad at us, we would throw money, we would throw virgins at them…now we’re doing the very same damn thing with the economy, except there aren’t any virgins left.”

For Suzuki, it’s time Canadians put the eco back in economy and with Ontario’s proposed Green Energy Act, the future of renewable energy has never looked so bright.

Suzuki, along with other greenenergy advocates – Denis Hayes, founder of Earth Day and former director of the US National Renewable Energy Laboratory, and Preben Maegaard, founder of renewable energy in Denmark and vice-president of the European Association for Renewable Energy – spoke at the University of Toronto on April 23 about the benefits of the Green Energy Act. The Green Energy Act is a revolutionary proposal towards a green energy shift that would place Ontario light years ahead of North America in renewable energy.

The act would implement a system of renewable energy tariffs, based off of successful policies in Germany, Denmark and Spain. The tariffs create an incentive structure to promote the transition to renewable energy by forcing regional electricity utilities to buy green energy at rates sets by the government. The tariffs would be the first of its kind in North America.

The proposed act promises to boost the economy by creating thousands of jobs while helping to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

While Suzuki said Ontario was at the peak of a truly historic moment, he fears the separation of the economy and the environment.

“We can

be concerned about health and the environment, but once the economy gets into trouble, we switch and focus on that…our problem is that we put these issues in separate silos, but in reality these are all incredibly interconnected.”

Suzuki noted that a similar situation occurred in 1988 under Prime Minister Brian Mulroney.

He said the environment was the number one issue in Canada and in that same year, George Bush Sr. ran for president with an environmental campaign.

“Bush said, ‘If you vote for me, I’ll be your environmental president’…and then the minute he was elected, he became the worst environmental president and stayed that way until his son was elected, and then became the second worst.”

However, Suzuki said that similar to current economic woes, the recession of the late 1980s is the origin behind the sudden switch in focus. He believes politicians need to be held accountable for their environmental actions.

“I believe what is going on now, in our current government is an intergenerational crime, it’s criminal. There is no means for throwing these guys into the slammer for ignoring what scientists have been saying for years.”

While the new legislation would create a historic opportunity, critics of the Green Energy Act point out that it only envisions eight percent of power coming from new green power sources, such as wind turbines and solar panels by 2027.

Suzuki noted this flaw, adding that while the event was meant to celebrate the act, there was still a long way to go in achieving a truly sustainable province, and it starts by recognizing the connections between the economy and the environment.

“The economy cannot grow forever. If you reduce the earth to a size of a basketball, the biosphere would be thicker than the layer of varnish painted on, that’s it, it’s fixed. Nothing within that can attempt to grow except cancer cells and economists.”

harper told to bring khadr home

By Mariana Ionova

Guantanamo Bay stands for, [Harper] trades degrading treatment” and ensure that his an interview with the Ryerson Free Press. “Mr. away the good reputation of every Canadian rights are not violated.

Kuebler stands up and talks about a solicitorand he is telling the world at large that we Harper, however, was not eager to comclient relationship but, in reality, there is no don’t care, which is not true,” said Edney. “We ply with the court’s order and reiterated his solicitor-client relationship between a Guancare about justice. Enough is enough, and let intention to remain uninvolved in the Khadr tanamo detainee and a military-appointed this man come home.” case by saying that he is considering an aplawyer. That has always been a concern of Khadr was captured by U.S. forces in July peal. mine.”

2002 near Khost, Afghanistan, and is accused Edney has long criticized Harper’s ongoBut, despite the chaos surrounding the ing refusal to intervene in the U.S. handling of of throwing a hand grenade during a firefight defence team, Edney, who has fought for which killed U.S soldier Christopher Speer. his client and said that his actions contradictKhadr since 2003, maintains that the focus The Canadian-born detainee, then 15, was ed Canada’s “strong constitutional tradition of remains on bringing the detainee back to taken to Guantanamo Bay on Oct. 28, 2002 justice and fairness.”

Canada. and has since been awaiting trial.

“With his refusal to ever criticize what “I think that my position is similar with the present military team in that the primary issue is whether Mr. Khadr should be returned home and, we say, he should,” said Edney.

“We say he has been violated in terms of his physical integrity through torture and abuse and he has been denied rights that are most basic. In the interest of fairness and justice, Mr. Khadr should be allowed to return home.”

The Federal Court seemed to echo this sentiment on April 23, when Justice James O’Reilly ruled that Harper must make an effort to bring Khadr back to Canada. In the 42-page court ruling, O’Reilly wrote that the government has a duty to protect Khadr from “torture A protest in October 2008 in front of the human rights monument in Toronto called for the repatriation of or other cruel, inhuman or Canadian Omar Khadr from Guantanamo Bay. Picture here is Khadr’s younger brother Abdulkarim (centre).

NORA LORETO

While Omar Khadr’s trial hit a standstill when the American government suspended it in January, the dizzying power struggle between lawyers, politicians and military officials has been going strong. In less than a month, Khadr’s U.S. military defence lawyer has been fired, reinstated and left hanging, while, on the Canadian front, a court has ordered a not-so-keen Prime Minister Stephen Harper to push for the detainee’s repatriation.

Guantanamo’s Chief Defence lawyer, air force Col. Peter Masciola, kicked off a hectic April by dismissing Khadr’s lawyer, U.S. navy Lt.-Cmdr. William Kuebler, on the grounds that his management of the defence team was poor and his removal was “necessary for a client-centered representation.”

Kuebler fired back by appealing to army Col. Patrick Parrish, the presiding officer in the case. On April 7, just four days after his dismissal, Kuebler was reinstated by Parrish, who ruled that Masciola did not have the authority to make that decision.

Masciola disagreed with Parrish and appealed the decision, once again casting uncertainty over the future of Khadr’s defence team. Although Parrish seemed to stand by his decision, it is not yet clear whether Kuebler will remain on Khadr’s case.

While the conflict between Kuebler and Masciola has taken time away from the defence, the spat is not expected to affect the case. But, according to Dennis Edney, one of Khadr’s Canadian lawyers, the fact that his client has not been allowed to select—and dismiss—his military defence is an issue.

“Myself and Mr. [Nathan] Whitling are Mr. Khadr’s council of choice,” said Edney in

Model of access for university education on the chopping block University of Toronto considers cutting the Transitional Year Programme

By Mai Nguyen High school dropouts may not get a second chance to access post-secondary education anymore, according to faculty and students at the University of Toronto.

Their comments came in response to several changes proposed by the university administration that would affect the Transitional Year Programme (TYP), a special curriculum available to people who don’t qualify to enter university due to financial issues or a lack of formal education.

One of the proposed changes is that TYP share space with a similar programme for part-time students, the Millie Rotman Shime Academic Bridging programme, and operate out of Woodsworth College.

Currently, TYP runs as an independent academic unit within the Faculty of Arts and Science, reporting directly to the Provost’s office. The changes would require TYP to report to the faculty administration instead.

TYP is a year-long programme composed of about 15 faculty and staff members and approximately 65 students every year. Its purpose is to allow students entrance into an arts or science programme, specifically those who

are disabled, of a visible minority, identify as LGBT or living in a single parent household.

During a community forum on the preservation of TYP held in late March, students, alumni and staff got together to discuss the effects of these proposed changes.

“The structure, curriculum, faculty and autonomy of this programme are not accidental,” said Ahmed Ahmed, a current TYP student. “These are things that people have fought for for a very long time and for the university to casually recommend that we lose these things after many generations of students having successfully gone through the program is, quite frankly, insulting.”

Other changes include budget cuts and staffing adjustments. As three faculty members are slated to retire this year, including program director Rhonda Love, Ahmed said, “the university has not lifted a single finger to replace these faculty members.” He also adds that TYP’s budget was cut by $65,000 out of an operating budget of $120,000 this year.

Students and alumni who are committed to fighting the changes and preserving the programme established the Transitional

will not be cut. According to Laurie Stephens, director of media relations at the U of T, the university is still in consultations about the changes and no decision has been made yet.

In 2006, a peer review recommended that TYP share services with the Academic Bridging Programme at Woodsworth College in order to benefit from the combination of resources. Stephens said the university has recognized that there are duplications in the two programs and it is still figuring out how the combination of both programs would work.

“The university is looking at how to merge the two programmes in order to beef them up, not to cut TYP,” Stephens said.

According to a statement from Woodsworth College, the administration is ensuring that an alliance would not damper the strengths of any of the programmes, but instead, preserve each programme’s goals and agenda.

“In these extraordinary and difficult economic times, U of T is putting much energy into trying to enhance and improve the budget for TYP, which gets minimal funding from the province,” reads the statement. Consultations between members of the two programmes will continue until June 2009.

Despite the university’s assurance, TPA feels it is still important to preserve access and equity to education for students—combining TYP with the Academic Bridging Programme would limit the ability of both programmes to serve their communities.

“The focus of TYP is to give people a chance to succeed,” said Ashley Sanders, who

TYP’s budget was cut by $65,000 out of an operating budget of $120,000 this year.

Year Programme Preservation Alliance (TPA).

TPA drafted a letter opposing the changes to university president David Naylor and provost Cheryl Misak.

Despite the worries of students and staff, university administration assures that TYP

completed the programme and is expected to attend the University of British Columbia to obtain a PhD. “[It’s to] give them an equal opportunity as everybody else in making education accessible. Education is a public service and we all have a right to learn. That’s what TYP is based on.”

After completing TYP, Sanders experienced difficulties in trying to enroll in science courses at U of T. Instead, she was told to apply for arts courses. TYP was there to help her get into her desired area of education. “In a very cold and isolated world, having someone believe in you is instrumental,” she said. “You need that. TYP provided a family for me and they still provide that support.”

Also present at the community forum was Karen Braithwaite, co-founder of TYP. She focused on the successes that TYP has made since its inception in 1969, including the large amount of students who have completed TYP and continued to work in areas of education and law.

“Dropout rates in high school are going up,” said Braithwaite.

“We still need TYP 40 years later. There is a heightened need for programmes like this to help students access their future and education is an important ingredient to that access.”

Braithwaite also added that universities should not turn away students who don’t qualify for post-secondary education in the traditional process. “We need an expanded mandate to access and equity to education,” she said.

“TYP should be at the forefront of leadership in the university. Our programme has been a demonstration lesson that access works and that universities don’t suffer from taking in students who have not completed high school.”

Ryerson Free Press May 2009 9

Space eXpanded in ryerSon’S Student centre School of

By Adriana Rolston

The ryerson sTudenT Centre will be getting a minor facelift this September when a new computer lab is constructed on the third floor of the building.

Ryerson Students’ Union (RSU) vice-president of finance and services, Toby Whitfield is working with Campus Planning and Facilities to create a functional computer lab and study area in the lounge space directly in front of the RSU office.

“After the CESAR [Continuing Education Student’s Association of Ryerson] renovation, obviously, we lost the computers in the building so now we’re looking at building some more of it,” said Whitfield.

The new lab will have about four to eight computers and a printing station available to students.

The Student Centre Board of Directors will cover the cost of the new study space through funding from the Ram in the Rye and mandatory student levy fees.

Since CESAR’s winter renovations, Whitfield said that students have been enquiring about the lack of computers and the RSU is trying to meet that need.

“As time goes on and we see the demands of this building shift, we’re just trying to make sure that we’re responding,” he said. “This year we tried to add more space and make the study space more clean and organized.”

According to Whitfield, construction on the new lab will be minimal. Computers will line the left cement wall of the room and will be divided from the lounge space by a partial wall of unfrosted glass, making it more secure. The lounge will consist of chairs and sofas and additional furniture will be redistributed throughout the student centre study spaces.

Gail Alivio, former president of CESAR, says that the Board of Directors approved removing their lounge because continuing education students were

rarely using it.

“We noticed that the lounge was mostly being used by full-time students so we decided to decrease the size of the student lounge and put a computer workstation in the corner.”

Computer and printing services will soon be available to part-time students in the CESAR office’s reception area. In the meantime, students can bring their USB drives to have printing done by the front desk, which is now wheelchair accessible. The renovated CESAR office has individual offices for its executive staff and a private office for students to consult with the student rights co-ordinator.

Alivio feels that there is a lack of viable student space on campus and is aware that Whitfield is working to increase that space for students.

“We believe that space for full-time students should be provided by the university,” she said.

Although CESAR doesn’t have enough additional computers to donate to the new lounge, they will contribute computer workstations.

Whitfield feels that although the CESAR lounge was in place for continuing education students, the student centre needs a computer lab that is available to all students.

“CESAR is here for part-time students and I think this computer lab will just be for everyone. Although everyone was able to use the CESAR computer lab I think it’s appropriate that we have a computer lab in general in the building.”

A new lab for part-time and full-time students will help people who need to print off last minute papers and assignments, or who feel that the library is an inconvenient trek just to reach a computer.

“It’s definitely something that students have been asking about,” Whitfield said.

bhakti yoGa: one approach to environmentaliSm

By Jessica Finch for Many people around the world, yoga has become a way of life. Bhakti yoga, the ancient Hindu philosophy, has influenced not just followers’ physical journeys but also their economical and environmental ways of living. The InSpirit Festival at the University of Toronto presented a 10-day tribute to bhakhti yoga with special emphasis on the environment and sustainability.

On April 17, the festival brought monk and Krishna consciousness leader Devamrita Swami to discuss his thoughts on climate change and the global environment. Originally from New York City, Swami graduated from Yale University in 1972 and shortly thereafter began following the teachings of Krishna. The InSpirit Festival was glad to welcome him back for the third year in a row as he presented on bhakti yoga and its links to the environment.

During the talk, Swami dealt with a myriad of hard facts associated with the weakened state of the environment but also said, “We need to jump outside the box.” While he agreed that political action and plans like the Kyoto accord are necessary for improving the state of our planet, he urged the audience to examine the deeper issues behind climate change.

10

“If we go deep underneath the environmental problem we find a lust problem,” Swami said. He referred to lust not in the sense of sexual desire, but as want in general.

Swami said consumers have grown so used to consuming they have transformed the economy into one of wants as opposed to needs.

Levels of consumption, particularly in the western world, have pushed the planet and its resources almost to breaking point and as Swami pointed out, if this current path continues, the results will be disastrous.

Tropical deforestation today is occurring at the rate of one acre per second, while the rate of species disappearance is moving 1000 times faster than its natural rate, Swami said.

The lust problem may exist on an individual basis but with the level of economic growth over the past 50 years, it can be said that the problem also exists on a mass scale. “Economic growth is lust on an organized scale,” Swami said. This growth problem—or lust monster—has rooted itself into our lives and environment, but there has to be a way out.

Once the culprit behind environmental problems had been identified it was time to discuss

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koshyk@fLickr.com

solutions—the principle one being bhakti yoga. Such yoga techniques as kirtan (mantra chanting), vegetarian or vegan diet, and sustainable ways of living were presented as means of cleansing the consciousness.

Only after cleansing one’s consciousness could people begin to live better, less lustily and more sustainably, therefore having an improved outlook and impact on their own environments, Swami said.

This approach to environmentalism avoided political strategy and focused more on the individual fixing his or her way of living through environmentally friendly techniques.

The InSpirit festival takes place once a year but there are events relating to spirituality and the environment going on around Toronto all the time visit urbanedgeyoga.com for more information.

continuinG education haS new dean After the sudden departure of former Dean Anita Shilton, Gervan Fearon has been hired to take the helm of Canada’s largest school of continuing education

By Angela Walcott gervan fearon, associaTe Dean at York University’s Atkinson College, will serve as Dean for the School of Continuing Education at Ryerson effective July 1, 2009.

Fearon is well-suited to the position for many reasons, most importantly because he is passionate about education and student success.

Fearon, who holds a BSc and MSc from Guelph and a PhD in Economics from the University of Western, embodies the most essential qualities that Ryerson requires.

He is able to look at things from the bigger picture: as a CE student, teacher and policy-maker.

He has enrolled in continuing education courses in the past so he understands students’ needs.

Fearon has taught CE economics courses at Ryerson and the University of Toronto and therefore has a unique perspective about teacher expectations. He has also been an Associate Dean at York. He is able to draw from these various experiences and this provides him with a unique perspective for decisionmaking. What CE students want and need from an educational and administrative perspective is someone who can relate.

In this way, Fearon is the perfect candidate.

He was honoured in 2007 with the Dean’s Award for Excellence in Teaching from York University and the Professor of the Year Award for Management from U of T (Scarborough) in 2000.

Fearon will hold a tenured position as associate professor in the Department of Economics which will allow him to encourage, challenge and motivate students as Dean.

Fearon has such a diverse background and because of his many qualifications, he would like to address the needs of CE students by development and effective engagement.

He has worked for the Ontario Government for a number of years in the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture and Food, as well

as with Chase Manhattan Bank – Chase Econometrics. He has also volunteered for various non-profit organizations.

He wishes to set Ryerson apart from other universities by seeking opportunities for students through innovation: possibly student internships, focusing on courses delivered to students, outreach to alumni and donors.

“My hope is to contribute to the profile and prominence of Ryerson through student success and experience at Ryerson.” He is reviewing student consultation reports that include activities such as instruction within class and engaging with teachers in evening classes. “Students want excellence in instructional delivery and students want to have a great student experience,” he said.

A major concern with CE students is the limited number of services available specifically for them. Fearon wants to work with student groups to look at opportunities to better meet their needs.

There is excellence in development and student experience.

The unique culture of a downtown campus compared to the suburban locale of York is another feature about Ryerson that he finds attractive. Growing up in Toronto, he found it was all about accessibility.

“Toronto is home. It represents accessibility for a wide range of the population including clients, stakeholders and students working in the downtown core. It represents a statement of accessibility to continuing education, fostering improvement,” he said.

“It is a mechanism for lifelong living. Not only that, the downtown core is visible and Ryerson uses the space. It leaves a footprint – it’s a livable city.”

Fearon believes the School of Continuing Education is part of the transformation of this livable city that is welcoming to the downtown core. “[The] School [of Continuing Education] is a great place for life-long learning.”

OPINION

Pirates or Independent Coast Guards?

What’s the real story behind Somali Piracy?

By Salmaan Abdul Hamid Khan Labelled as the most dangerous waters in the world, the area off the coast of Somalia is home to rampant piracy. The popular media has latched on to this phenomenon and has placed it on the centre stage of its ‘issues with Africa.’

Over the past year, Somali pirates have attacked some one hundred ships, with 42 successful hijackings. The rate of attacks is steadily increasing with almost daily attacks in March. The pirates, armed with AK-47s and travelling on small speed boats, are known to fire on passing commercial ships, forcing them to stop. They then use grappling hooks and irons, some of which rocket-propelled, to climb aboard and seize the vessel.

Once in control of the ship, the pirates then sail to the Somali town of Eyl, also known as the ‘Pirate Hub.’ Here they hold the ships, its contents, and crew for ransom.

The Gulf of Aden, located off Somalia, remains one of the world’s busiest shipping routes, connecting Europe to the rest of Asia, as well as carrying most of the world’s oil supply. As such,

any disruption caused through this passage way can cause great distress.

In response, the international community has taken swift action, placing warships from nearly 20 navies along the Somali coast. Canada’s very own HMCS Winnipeg is but one of the warships patrolling these waters.

What is unheard of in the media is the real story behind piracy in these waters, where the Somali people are the real victims.

For many years foreign trollers have been illegally fishing in Somali waters making life for local fishermen extremely difficult.

These foreign vessels, some from nations such as Italy, Korea, Spain, and Kenya, have been illegally fishing off the Somali coast.

This plunder of one of Somalia’s natural resources has resulted in an estimated $300,000,000 lost annually by local fishermen.

Apart from destroying the livelihood of local fishermen, foreign ships have also been accused of the illegal dumping of toxic waste into these waters. For years commercial liners passing through

It is time for Non-Tamils to support the Tamil call for an end to the Sri Lankan civil war

By Charlie Jack Today Sri Lanka has a population of about 20 million people, 80 percent of whom are from the Sinhalese ethnic group. But the country also has significant minorities, the largest of which are the Tamils.

As colonial occupiers, the British had built a local base of support by manipulating ethnic divisions on the island. They favoured the indigenous Tamil minority – mostly Hindus with a small number of Muslims – and discriminated against the largely Buddhist Sinhalese majority.

Sri Lankan nationalism developed mainly among the Sinhalese community, framed in terms of Buddhism. This movement won independence in 1948, and ever since then, all Sri Lanka’s governments have discriminated against the Tamil minority.

The country’s strong trade union and progressive movements never managed to bridge the gap between the communities. Sri Lanka had two large communist parties, and both were involved in the development of the union movement. But by 1970 both these parties were drawn into government alliances with the main Sinhalese nationalist party, the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP). This compromise prevented them

the Gulf of Aden have been dumping toxic waste such as Uranium into the water.

Some of these barrels filled with waste wash up onto the shore and break up, causing exposure to toxic chemicals. Neighbouring villages are greatly affected resulting in illnesses such as bleeding gums, skin rashes, respiratory problems and abdominal haemorrhaging.

Somalia is a nation that has had no effective central authority since 1991, and the current transitional government is unable to protect the people against illegal foreign activity. Even the United Nations failed to conduct a thorough investigation in relation the illegal activity off the coast.

It wasn’t, however, too slow in passing the UN Security Council Resolution 1816, in June of 2008 that spoke of decisive measures to be taken in combating piracy in the region. This time, directed toward combating the local Somalis who were plunderring foreign ships.

As such, the local fishermen took it upon themselves to protect their rights in response to the illegal fishing and dumping of waste.

These vigilantes, or unofficial coast guards, armed themselves and tried to fend off foreign plunderers within the Somali territorial zone. These are the beginnings of what would become the industry of

piracy in Somali waters.

Soon enough Somali fishermen, who were now out of business, realized the profits and rewards in pirating ships. The highest ransom paid to Somali pirates to date, for a ship is $2.5 million with the lowest amount at $24,000.

For a community left in shambles not only because of the breakdown of a fishing industry, but because of the overall socioeconomic problems that have ravaged Somalia for many years, piracy seemed all too good to be true.

The question then that remains for the international community is how to put an end to this piracy. Somali president, Sharif Sheikh Ahmed suggested that the best way to counter piracy off Somalia’s coast was to equip and train Somali police.

The international community, predominantly purveying the voice of the developed west, has taken on a policy of control and combat, deploying numerous warships to police the area. Are these the right tactics needed to put an end to the Somali pirates?

Perhaps the best way to resolve this issue would be for the international community to crack down on the exploitation by foreign trollers and help give the local

from decisively breaking with the divisive politics of ethnic nationalism.

The SFLP tried to shore up Sinhalese support by making Buddhism the country’s official religion. By the late 1970s anti-Tamil discrimination had sparked the growth of a Tamil separatist movement.

Initially, this involved a legal party called the Tamil United Liberation Front, and the guerrilla fighters of the Tamil Tigers, fully called the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). The Liberation Front won all parliamentary seats in the Tamil north and east parts of the country in the 1977 elections.

The Tamil Tigers demanded independence – but the government responded by attempting to preserve the integrity of the state by force.

This led to both widespread anti-Tamil riots and an increase in attacks by the Tigers, plunging Sri Lanka into civil war.

More than 70,000 have died in the fighting since 1983.

The Sri Lankan government launched offensives in the 1990s that devastated most of the north of the country. The Tamil Tigers responded with bombings in the capital Colombo, and wounded President Chandrika Kumaratunga in 1999.

She lost elections in 2001, and in February 2002, the new prime minister signed a ceasefire with the Tigers.

Talks collapsed in April 2003 and, in November, the president sacked the government. Elections produced a coalition government. The current hardliner president, Mahinda Rajapaksa, was elected on a promise to “get tough” with the Tigers.

In 2006, the Canadian government banned the Tigers, joining over 30 other states that currently designate the Tigers as a “terrorist” organization. Not everyone agrees with such a designation, with some critics arguing that the Tigers represent a legitimate resistance movement that seeks national self-determination for Tamils in Sri Lanka.

Progressives should unconditionally support struggles for national self-determination, but shouldn’t hide their criticism of tactics that undermine the potential for a broad united movement. The Tigers are often the target of unfair and hypocritical criticism from Western governments who refuse to condemn the violence of the Sri Lankan government, or to recognize the difference between the military might of a state and the sometimes desperate responses of guerrilla struggles.

fishermen, who make up a large portion of the pirates, back their livelihood. It is no doubt though that piracy off the coast of Somalia has greatly shifted from protecting fishing rights, to an industry of looting. Yet what else can you expect an impoverished community to do when placed in such dire conditions?

Piracy in African waters is no strange phenomenon. In 2008, there were almost 40 pirate attacks off the coast of Nigeria, within the Niger Delta region, which is the centre of oil exploration in the country.

The group claiming responsibility for these attacks, the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND), said that they’re fighting against what they regard as the exploitation and oppression of the people of the Niger Delta region and the destruction of the natural environment by foreign corporations.

Not surprisingly, this act of piracy on behalf of the local community is once again in response to the exploitation of natural resources and the degradation of the environment. Who then are the real pirates? Who are the real looters and criminals? The locals who are fighting for their livelihood or the foreign corporations who pillage and plunder?

There are also legitimate criticisms of the Tigers, and some of their tactics. But the resistance movements and the wider struggles for justice and peace – both in and out of Sri Lanka – will be strengthened by more meaningful gestures of international solidarity. In turn, they increase the potential for more unified movements to develop, and with more effective tactics.

In recent weeks, tens of thousands of Canadian Tamils and their supporters have led mass demonstrations to protest the Sri Lankan government’s ongoing war against the Tamil population. Protesters have held non-stop rallies in Ottawa, Toronto and cities around the world. In Ottawa, participants occupied intersections in the downtown core, and held one rally on Parliament Hill that attracted over 30,000 people. In Toronto, a non-stop protest has been underway outside the US Consulate on University Avenue since April 23. For almost a week, both lanes of University Avenue were blocked by demonstrators who occupied the street in their thousands – day and night. When numbers dwindled, police moved the demonstration onto the sidewalk, although the protests continue.

Allies outside the Tamil community have now begun to mobilize in greater numbers, including trade unions, student unions, peace coalitions and community groups – a sign that the suffering of Tamils in Sri Lanka is now getting a much wider hearing, and that the demonstrations have had an effect in attracting the attention of the wider public.

Gestures like these should not be underestimated. The experience of Tamils in Sri Lanka is marked by decades of war and oppression. Since January 2009, human rights groups estimate that over 6,000 Tamils have been killed, tens of thousands injured, and hundreds of thousands internally displaced.

The Tamil community needs the support of non-Tamil allies, and non-Tamil allies should show their support to demonstrate that the Tamil community is not isolated.

In recent years, the progressive movements have shown their support for other communities under attack, by mobilizing in large numbers for rallies, marches and other solidarity actions. We have marched for Iraqis, for Afghans, for Palestinians, for Lebanese, and for Somalis – among others.

It’s now time to march for the Tamils.

This is an edited version of an opinions piece that originally appeared in issue 503 of Socialist Worker, February 13, 2009.

Ryerson Free Press May 2009 11

As the largest Tamil community outside of Sri Lanka demonstrates to bring support and attention to the plight of Tamils back home, many Canadians are asking,

“who are the tamil tigerS?”

By Nayani Thiyagarajah

i aM a TaMil-canadian.

But for the better part of my 21 years, I often left out the word before the hyphen.

Born and raised in Toronto, I associated myself with Canada; I was a Canadian above all. To me, there was nothing better than being a Canadian. If anyone asked where I was from, I’d answer quickly and without doubt, “Canadian!”

For the better part of my 21 years, I denied my history.

I refused to water the roots of my being. Instead, I ignored, neglected, forgot about them. But I would soon come to realize that you can only go so long, before you have to acknowledge your roots. They will forever be there, whether always near death or strong and alive. They are there.

Two years ago, I began a journey that would change who I am. In the midst of my Canadian life, I lost my mother’s language, I lost pieces of my parent’s culture, and I lost the land where my people come from: all the things that my parents ran away from their home to preserve. In their own homeland, they faced threats to their language, to

not Tamil Tigers.”

As I got older, I heard more of the Tigers, read more of them, saw more of them (on the news). I became familiar with them. However, only in the last two years have I really begun to understand what they represent and why they do what they do.

Indeed, there are legitimate reasons for why the world views them as terrorists. They do create terror. But only in response to the terror Tamils have faced for over 50 years within the state of Sri Lanka. When a group, such as the Tamil people, has no means of protecting themselves from the terror of others, often their only response is to retaliate with terror. Terror in response to terror, that’s come to be the only solution. The Tamil Tigers fight against the terror that the Tamil people face today, and the terror they are likely to face far into the future, if the things carry on as they have.

I think there is one question that I need to answer before moving on. Do I support the Tamil Tigers? I don’t know if support is the right word. Or if it encompasses all that I feel for the Tamil Tigers.

The only thing I can say for sure is that I understand why they do what they do. I understand what drove them to fight the fight they fight.

I understand why they continue to fight that fight. And I understand why the Tamil people, my people, will always fight in some way, shape or form. We fight, in different ways, for the culture others attempt to murder; for the language they attempt to murder; for the rights they’ve murdered for almost 50 years; for the mothers, fathers, brothers and sisters they’ve murdered already.

The Tamil people will never simply forgive and forget.

I’ve grown up meeting and knowing many Tamil people who support them. For all that they’ve lost and continue to lose, they support their Tigers. I guess those of us who support the cause, the fight for our freedom, in essence support the Tamil Tigers. Though we may not support all their means and tactics, the desperation and undeniable necessity for freedom from oppression spurs our support.

Regardless of whether the current Sri Lankan government finishes the Tamil Tigers off for good, the future will be filled with distrust and hatred for the government that systematically has tried to kill us off, whether through outright murder or not.

The reason why the flags fly so high today is because we are without hope.

The Tamil Tigers are the only ones who have ever spoken up for the Tamil people, for our livelihoods.

The Tamil people are not terrorists who innately wish to create terror. So why do they support their Tigers? Desperation, fear, the lack of hope: desperation based on how we were treated, fear based on how we continue to be treated, and a lack of hope based on how we believe we will continue to be treated. If our families even survive.

As the saying goes, “One man’s terrorist is another man’s freedom fighter.” For many Tamil people in Sri Lanka and many of those a part of the Tamil diaspora, the Tamil

“The reason why the flags fly so high today is because we are without hope.”

“Regardless of whether the current Sri Lankan government finishes the Tamil Tigers off for good, the future will be filled with distrust and hatred for the government that systematically has tried to kill us off, whether through outright murder or not.” never to see your family again?

These are true stories. This is why we protest. For the way the government treated us, for the way they continue to treat us, for the lives we’ve lost, for the lives we continuously lose, the Tamil people continue to protest, to demonstrate, to support the Tigers. It is because they have no faith in Sri Lanka, and have been given no reason to believe that our people will be free. That our people will survive. dan rios

their culture, to their lives. And in a place where I am free to learn and grow as I wish, I allowed myself to lose bits of all of that.

The history of Sri Lanka is complicated, to say the least. The tiny island, known as the Pearl of the Indian Ocean, is rich in culture and history. But allow me to start at a point in history, which leads us to the situation Sri Lanka is in today. Allow me to talk about what the Tamil people have faced.

Following Sri Lanka’s (formerly known as Ceylon) independence from Britain in 1948, the Sinhala majority took control. For years, devastating choices were made by successive Sinhalese governments – ones that changed the lives of the Tamil people forever.

First, the government’s choices affected our language and culture. By law, the Sinhala government imposed their language and religion (Buddhism) on the Tamil people. According to the government, their language and religion were the official expression of the entire nation. But what about the rest of us? The rest of us, with our own culture, or own language, our own religion?

Then their choices affected our development. They limited access to universities and civil services. For example, the Tamil people were expected to receive higher grades and achieve higher test scores than our Sinhalese counterparts, in order to obtain an education. Simply put, access was inequitable. Our development, and thus our success, was purposely prevented.

Their choices also affected our participation in the nation. For years, we fought for our rights through political means. But eventually, the struggle became a violent one in which people felt pushed to take up arms. In the 1970s, the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (a.k.a. the Tamil Tigers) came to be.

The question of who are the Tamil Tigers is something I’ve faced for many years. One thing I’ve always known is their goal: a separate Tamil state in the north and northeast, where Tamils can ideally live free of oppression.

I remember the first time I heard the words ‘Tamil Tigers’ clearly uttered by another person. In second grade, I was talking to another young Tamil, a friend, who I know to this day. She asked me, “Are your parents Tamil Tigers?” Naïve and unaware of what that meant, I quickly responded “No!” Then I paused, to think about what she had just said. I did not understand. Finally, I said, “They’re

Tigers are our freedom fighters.

It’s easy to say that they are terrorists for people on the outside. For people who haven’t lived what we have. For people who don’t come from where we do. For people who don’t understand our plight.

In the case of Sri Lanka, there is no easy solution. All I can argue is that one cannot simply deem the Tamil Tigers as “terrorists” and expect that this is the only explanation to the conflict. The problems of Sri Lanka started long before the birth of the Tamil Tigers, and the terror at the hands of the successive governments continued long after the Tamil Tigers. It continues to this day.

Though I do not expect readers to support the Tamil Tigers, I hope you have a better understanding of why they fight the way they do. I hope you better understand that what led to the war that Sri Lanka faces today, involves a long history of oppression and lost blood.

The Tamil Tigers were the only ones to ever speak up for the Tamil people, to fight for our lives. And for that reason, I assure you the flags will continue to fly high; they will fly for the men and women, who fight and die so that our families can continue to live within the boundaries of Sri Lanka.

Initially, we tried to leave the Tiger flags behind in our demonstrations and cries for help, for notice, for justice for the Tamil people in Sri Lanka. But over the last few months, the Tamil diaspora has watched the international community largely ignore what’s happening to their families in Sri Lanka. And for that reason, the flags came out. The flags came out for the only people who have continuously stood up for the Tamils of Sri Lanka.

Before I end, I have one request of you. The next time you find yourself complaining about the trouble the Tamil people cause through demonstrations, please ask yourself one thing: what would you do if you were in our position?

I understand that our lives are busy. We have places to go, people to see, and things to do. We reason that life shouldn’t stop because of some angry protestors.

But what would you do if you were us? What would you do if you had no means of knowing whether your family were dead or alive? What if the only way you knew if a family member was alive was if you managed to catch a glimpse of them on TV in a crowd? What if you were a blind or deaf child, stuck in an orphanage, unable to even hear the bombs dropping or know which way to run? What if you were

12

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the bloodbath in Sri lanka Why battering the Tamil Tigers won’t bring peace

By Mitu Sengupta over The course of a long and brutal war with Sri Lanka’s armed forces, the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) emerged as one of the world’s most formidable insurgent groups. Besides engaging the Sri Lankan government in a bloody battle for more than 25 years, the LTTE (or, more informally, the ‘Tamil Tigers’) managed to seize substantial chunks of government territory, and operated these as a quasi-state for well over a decade. Today, however, the mighty Tigers are on the verge of total military defeat.

Will their demise bring peace to Sri Lanka?

Unsurprisingly, the LTTE’s hammering has come at an enormous price. Since its beginnings in the early 1980s, the war has claimed more than 70,000 lives, rendered some half-a-million Tamils refugees in their own country, and driven an equal number out of Sri Lanka. The last six months of fighting have been particularly intense, with the Sri Lankan government at its most aggressive in decades.

Reports from the United Nations, Red Cross and several other reputed humanitarian organizations indicate that the country is on the brink of a colossal humanitarian disaster.

Some 6,500 civilians have been killed since January, and another 100,000 are caught – facing carnage, and without adequate food, shelter and medicine – in the crossfire between the Tigers and government forces. An additional 40,000 or so that have fled the war zone are being held in military-run camps, where conditions, according to the most recent reports, are similar to those in Nazi-run concentration camps ( journalists and humanitarian workers have been banned from these camps for over a month).

Led by the United Nations, concerned voices in the international community have repeatedly pleaded for a halt to the fighting, or even a ceasefire of a reasonable length, in which more civilians may be moved to safety, and aid workers allowed access to the sick and wounded.

Determined to run the Tigers to the ground, however, the Sri Lankan President, Mahinda Rajapaksa, has remained undeterred, apparently confident that a full purging of the LTTE – now perhaps only days away – will have been worth the carnage and dislocation, and the palpable damage to his country’s international reputation.

Rajapaksa evidently believes that a Sri Lanka free of the Tigers will be a Sri Lanka whither all good things will come.

Over the years, the LTTE has earned the reputation of

With independence in 1948, however, the Tamils were deprived of their patrons, and found themselves outnumbered and marginalized inside the new Sri Lanka’s unitary state and majoritarian institutional framework. With the Tamils rendered politically irrelevant, short-sighted politicians competed with each other for the Sinhalese vote, and soon discovered that the political party with the stronger anti-minority stance was almost always guaranteed electoral success.

Such “ethnic outbidding,” as scholars have characterized the dreadful process, led to the rise of a ferocious Sinhala nationalism that demanded revenge for the Tamils’ supremacy during the colonial period, along with a revival of Sinhala language and culture. It saw Sri Lanka as for the Sinhalese alone, and insisted that the Tamil minority submit to its second-class position or, better still, simply leave the island.

In the first few decades following independence, Sri Lanka’s Tamils were systematically stripped of their erstwhile social and economic privileges, with the demotion of their language (Tamil) to secondary status, and the imposition of strict quotas that shrank their employment and educational opportunities. Sinhalese farmers were encouraged to settle in and around the island’s north-east, in an obvious attempt to reduce the concentration of Tamils in these areas.

Initially, the Tamils attempted to resist these changes through democratic means, forming political parties that pressed for federalism and various minority guarantees.

While many sensible Sinhalese politicians warmed to such appeals, the forces of majoritarianism always seemed to triumph. Any government seen as making too many concessions to the Tamils was swiftly pulled down, a disheartening ritual that eventually left most Tamils alienated, and the Tamil parties largely discredited.

By the late 1970s, the conflict had taken a violent turn, with the surfacing of several militant outfits, including the LTTE, which called for armed struggle and secession – the creation of a Tamil ‘homeland’ (‘eelam’) out of the Tamil majority areas in Sri Lanka’s north-east. The LTTE proved the strongest of these militant groups, and, out-powering its rivals, became locked in bitter conflict with the Sri Lankan state.

As an insurgent force, the LTTE has been remarkably successful. By the early 2000s, it had captured much of the north and east, and was governing these territories as though they were already a separate state (the LTTE provided schools, postal services, and even rudimentary hospitals). The LTTE brought forth a harsh and authoritarian regime, but one that was, perhaps, an inevitable response to the harsh and authoritarian regime that the Sri Lankan government had become.

Human Rights Watch has characterized the Sri Lankan government as one of the world’s worst perpetrators of enforced disappearances. Indeed, in many ways, the LTTE and the Sri Lankan state have been reflections of each other’s total lack of generosity. Both have squandered numerous opportunities for peace, though it is unlikely that the Sri Lankan government would have agreed to negotiate at all – as it did in 2003, following a ceasefire – had it faced a lesser organization than the Tigers.

The annihilation of the LTTE will mean that only one of the two fearsome, unbending contenders in the country’s long and bloody war will have left the arena and, that too, probably not for good. Far from being a recipe for peace,

Tamil human rights activists both inside and outside the country have spoken out against the LTTE’s cruel ways, totalitarian structure, and uncompromising, maximalist demands.The LTTE has duly assassinated many of these detractors.

The LTTE is the product, not the cause, of Sri Lanka’s deadly politics

possible that while tens of thousands of Tamils languish in these camps, encircled by razor-wired fences, the government will move large numbers of Sinhalese settlers into the island’s north and east, thus stamping out, once and for all, the geographical rationale for a separate Tamil homeland.

The counterpoint to the government’s expected belligerence might be an even darker phase in the Tamil resistance; one with a more lucid and focused fury that will bring great disquiet to Tamils everywhere.

To most governments, the bloodbath in Sri Lanka is the consequence of a sovereign power besieged by a brutal domestic insurgency. This is to be expected in a world where states are generally considered legitimate, no matter what they do, and those that challenge their authority are immediately viewed as criminal – a distinction that’s been sharpened, of course, by the menacing language around the “war on terror.”

Indeed, following Sri Lanka’s success in having the LTTE proscribed as a terrorist organization by 31 countries, including the United States and Canada, the sense that the Sri Lankan state is on the right side of history has gone from strength to strength, which might explain the muted condemnation of its actions in the rapidly unfolding tragedy.

It’s probably too much to expect the US government – or any other government for that matter – to accept the argument, however rigorously advanced, that the Sri Lankan state and the LTTE have mirrored each other’s unyielding attitudes and methods, and, that ultimately, the noble sovereign power and the sinister terrorist organization are two sides of the same bloodied coin.

The one, small opening for peace that the LTTE’s retreat may provide, however, is that without its looming spectre, the Sri Lankan government will be less able to shield its decaying democracy and ugly human rights record from the eyes of the world. It will, hopefully, be the subject of an international initiative that helps rein in the country’s majoritarian forces, thus barring any further acceleration of the vicious cycle of injury and retribution these tend to set in motion.

Mitu Sengupta, PhD, is an Assistant Professor of Politics at Ryerson. She may be reached by e-mail: mitu. sengupta@gmail.com This article was originally published by Counterpunch on April 27, 2009, and is available at http://www.counterpunch.org/sengupta04272009.html

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being a ruthless organization; one that turns children into hardened soldiers; that has perfected suicide bombing as a tactic; that relies on extortion and smuggling for funding; and that has zero tolerance for critics and competitors. While there are no reliable measures of the extent of support for the LTTE among Tamils in Sri Lanka, or within the vast diaspora, Tamil human rights activists both inside and outside the country have spoken out against the LTTE’s cruel ways, totalitarian structure, and uncompromising, maximalist demands. The LTTE has duly assassinated many of these detractors.

Indeed, given all of this, it is tempting to presume that Sri Lanka will be infinitely better off without the LTTE, and that its elimination will necessarily steer the country towards order, stability and reconciliation.

But though appealing, this conclusion ultimately rests on a wrongheaded view of the Tigers’ role in the conflict.

The LTTE is the product, not the cause, of Sri Lanka’s deadly politics.

To begin with, the conflict, if not the war, predates the LTTE by a few generations. Its origins may be traced to the effects of the nefarious “divide-and-rule” policies devised by British colonial administrators to govern Sri Lanka (then Ceylon) in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The British used the island’s Tamil minority to keep its Sinhalese majority in check, and in return, gave Tamils the best government jobs and the benefit of English education.

this will probably ignite a new cycle of grotesque injustice and pitiless retaliation.

One danger that looms heavily is that the Sri Lankan state will try to use its victory to seek a permanent solution to its “Tamil minority problem.” The government might begin by preventing Tamil civilians interned in its military camps from returning to their villages. These camps have already taken on an air of permanence, with the government arguing that no-one can be moved until the LTTE is fully flushed out, and the military demines the conflict zone.

This could take months, if not years. It is entirely

ryerson free press

May 2009

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toronto’S alternative a needed break from ...although the event, now in its fourth

By Takar

a

phoTos by dan rios

five-foot bunny stomps down the runway.

His left ear is off centre and once snowy-white fur is now a dirty grey. The creature reaches the end of the runway, cocks his head to the side and suddenly reaches deep inside its stomach.

In a split second, a paw becomes a hand and quickly rips out the white stuffing deep inside its chest to throw at the audience.

Balls of cotton are everywhere and a man with a slight protruding tummy steps out of the costume in tight dark blue underwear. The cameras go wild and the man bears his teeth in response.

This is the furthest from what most would consider fashion but here, its the norm. This is Fashion Alternative Week where designers push the boundaries in pursuit of fashion-forward art.

Toronto Alternative Fashion Week, which goes by the confusing acronym FAT, gives artists the opportunity to showcase their creative side away from the expensive and constrictive tents of LG Fashion Week.

Held in the historic Distillery District between April 21 to April 22, the week-long event offers the public a glance at Toronto fashion, art displays, dancers and live performances for a fee of $22 per day or $55 for the entire week.

Organizing a fashion event of this magnitude isn’t an easy task says founder Vanya Vasic. It’s four days that take months to plan and only possible through selfless devotion.

“FAT is a labour of love,” the tall brunette says, “ I do this not because I have to but because I want to.” Forty eight fashion labels paraded their creations down the runway to sold-out crowds that proved even in times of a recession people still care about fashion.

This year Diepo (pronounced De-YUP-po) designers Kirstin Poon and Justine Diener, were the self-proclaimed winners of the week. The designers, made ready-to-wear clothes that were simply stunning and reminiscent of the pin-up girls a la Bettie Page that women loved to hate but men couldn’t help but love. The outfits, complete with waist cinchers and see-through lingerie, looked like something legendary burlesque dancer Vita Don Teese would have

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faShion week provided m the mainStream... year, struggles to stay true to its roots

ra Small

no problem pulling off and women who want to indulge their inner sex kitten would steal for.

Diener and Poon, former Ryerson grads, were inspired by sex vixens like Jessica Rabbit and Grease character Rizzo. “We modeled our line off of the 50s bad girl” Diener says. “Empowering and fun at the same time.” The line that was by all means more wearable than some of the other designs showed how diverse FAT is and was one of the reasons the duo were attracted to the show in the beginning. “People think [FAT] has to be out there and very alternative but the great thing is that people can show what they want.

Our designs are different than anyone else’s because it represents who we are.”

Vasic, who gave the girls the chance to show their sophomore collection, considers it an honour to take part in the event. “It’ a great opportunity for indie designers,” she says. “It gives students and others a way to show their art in reputable places to great people.”

Some of those great people this year were the who’s who of Canadian fashion: Entertainment Tonight Canada correspondent Rick Campanelli and reality star Jessica Biffi who showed her collection at FAT two years ago. The voluptuous contestant from Project Runway Canada Season 2 was on hand for Thursday and Friday’s shows and had nothing but positive things to say about the nonprofit organization that started her on her path. “FAT is great way to learn more about your talents” she says “I got my first big break here after I graduated and shortly after that landed on Project Runway.”

And it’s not just the designers that are falling a part at the seams to be a part of the show. Models like five-foot-seven stunner Romany Williams got to participate in the shows as well. The thirdyear journalism student signed up as a volunteer model last year on a whim but stayed on because of how confident it made her feel.

“One of the reasons I did it was to feel more confidence day to day in a big city.” Williams who, while gorgeous, doesn’t look like the models one finds at L’Oreal fashion week. The 20-year-old of ItalianJamaican descent who weighs 145 pounds and would be considered overweight by industry profession-

als loves how designers UND and Heidi Ackerman appreciate her curves. As a young woman that loves fashion Williams saw them as an oasis in the city far away from the weight issues that women are constantly bombarded with and tells whoever will listen to come out to the shows. “When I came to university I’d never met so many girls with unhealthy eating issues,” she says. “When I walked for the first time I felt so empowered and beautiful because all the girls are naturally curvy.”

During the week many people pointed out the unusual material and garments that made it almost impossible for models to walk in: a reminder and/or wake-up call for those that have never seen couture show. Many couture designs play off imagination and aren’t always wearable off the rack clothes. The unique designs are what Williams enjoys the most because it shows a different side of the fashion industry that is rarely talked about. “LG fashion, as great as it is, represents such a minute aspect of fashion.

Obviously it’s not all off-the-rack stuff but its important in fashion to let the people with creative minds do their stuff.”

As FAT reaches its fourth year, it’s evident that the growing pains are beginning to show. It seems FAT as expands it also moves further away from its grassroots past. The event that prides itself on being so unconventional this year bucked tradition and allowed signed models to walk the runway.

Unlike last year where everyday girls were used, skinny prepubescent girls as young as 13 were parading down the catwalk in 6-inch heels wearing more make-up than most adults do.

Like everything that challenges the norm, FAT is bound to make mistakes. The inclusion of certain mainstream aspects put it in danger of becoming just like every other fashion show but it’s dedication to the up-and-coming designers redeem it. Critics of the event need to take a better look at Toronto and realize that LG Fashion Week only offers those with disposable income a chance at exposure. This event is the lifeline for hundreds of designers. Hopefully the fashion show will be around for a while and give Torontonians the opportunity to get a little bit of FAT.

ryerson free press

May 2009

15

FEATURES Culture shock

By Mark Naser

L

ike a sea of giant black waves, the crowds trudge through the ticket gates and beyond, waiting in line at escalators that would be much quicker to walk up. When the train finally zooms in and its steel doors part in synchronized order, the dark-suited bodies relentlessly shove their way in before the doors hiss shut. After all, the train has somewhere to go, too.

From afar, you observe with the eyes of someone who’s witnessing something otherworldly and unique, as though it were the Running of the Bulls in Spain or Antarctica’s annual march of the penguins. But this is Japan, and when you are amongst the crowds en route to your job, as they are, your perspective invariably changes.

The scene above was an instance when one of the major train lines in Tokyo was stalled, likely due to a “jumper,” which you become desensitized to after living there for a month. Tens of thousands had to alter their paths to reach their destinations, and I was among them, wide-eyed in astonishment and unable to replicate the purposefulness with which everyone was walking.

Even to someone who’s never stepped foot in Japan, it may sound familiar. Much has been written on its idiosyncratic culture. We can picture Shinjuku station and its millions of daily commuters because the image has been seared into our minds since childhood. We are frequently exposed to such iconic brands as Toyota, Pikachu and Hello Kitty, as well as to some of Japan’s traditional symbols - karaoke, sake and samurai. We’re aware that they boast a pioneering fashion sense, they’re keen on baseball and they’ve produced some of the best high-tech gadgetry in the world. Yes, that’s right. Some stereotypes are true.

But to gain a true appreciation for the profundity of Japanese culture, it is often best to step into the shoes of the Japanese themselves, or perhaps more fittingly, the zori of a geisha.

For instance, did you know that many “salarymen” the typical Japanese company employees typified by indistinctive black suits and ties, often get less than five hours of sleep a night? Or that over 30,000 Japanese commit suicide every year?

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You very well might, but living or even travelling there would provide some insight into the reasons behind these social concerns.

Whereas Western society espouses individuality as an ideal, Japan champions social harmony.

This takes on a much more personal meaning when you interact with the culture on a daily basis.

As an English teacher in Tokyo, I would often encourage my students to debate each other on contentious topics. While “Natto* is delicious” would elicit unanimous murmurs of agreement, a more polarizing declaration should have sparked debate.

It took serious effort to spark even the slightest discussion, because it all inevitably came down to some variation of “I don’t want to offend you by saying anything to the contrary.” As I was wholly involved in the cultural anomaly, I grew frustrated and desperate. How could my students learn the nuances of disagreement if the very concept of debate was eschewed by their cultural identity? This obstacle, unpleasant as it was, forced me to appreciate how the Western standard is not the way, but a way, neither being right or wrong.

As it turns out, suicide and extreme devotion to one’s work are both traceable to their root cause of social harmony. The typical Japanese worker learns to shun any feelings that he ought to be home with his family for dinner, as cultural standards dictate that loyalty to one’s company trumps family affairs. Any overtime work is unpaid, and insisting on leaving unless it’s granted affords one the same kind of stigma as going AWOL from military service.

In David Suzuki and Keibo Oiwa’s book “The Japan We Never Knew,” they recall journalist Hiroshi Ishi’s likening of salarymen to drones on the battlefield, who “travel, uncomplaining, in jam-packed subways to reach the battlefront” and “when the battle is finished at the end of the day, then the men confirm their solidarity and fraternity at the bar.” That they don’t complain is an understatement, as challenging the harmony of the group is considered an unconscionable act that would significantly damage that individual’s reputation. Workers are so

loyal to their companies that it’s not uncommon for some to simply drop dead. The word “karoshi” has even been introduced to the Japanese lexicon to indicate the sudden death of a healthy individual by working too much.

This militaristic behaviour is also evident in the early years of Japanese. Ishi speculates that “Japanese boys go to school in military-like uniforms and short haircuts.” It’s no surprise, then, that the multitudes of workers rushing to the trains also bears elements of this strict uniformity in appearance and behaviour. The military must adhere to a particular code of dress and conduct, and so must schoolboys and salarymen.

Of course, part of the reason Japan bounced back from a poor economy in the 1970s was due to their efficiency as a group. Just as each part of a car fulfills its duties and the vehicle as an entire unit accelerates, Japanese workers function with the entire unit in mind.

Certainly the individual ends up the casualty of this convention, but society as a whole prospers. One glance at the cars surrounding you at a red light is more than enough evidence of Japan’s industrial strength.

Group harmony is evident when you witness Japanese waiting in line at an escalator that would be much quicker to walk up. Even though most people are clambering to get to work, they’re reluctant to be the only ones walking up when everyone else is waiting in line to simply stand. And while Canadians stand on the right side and walk on the left, it’s exactly the opposite in Kanto, the region of Honshu whose central hub is Tokyo. If ever you’ve felt Western and Asian culture to be diametrically opposed, there’s an example in the most banal of senses.

So ingrained is the notion of harmony in Japanese culture that outsiders, or “gaijin,” are often regarded with distrust. Far from suggesting that Japanese harbour any true hostility for foreigners, Japanese are some of the most hospitable, polite people on the planet. But they are a homogenous society, and only fellow Japanese are considered true citizens of the country. Having one-sixteenth Chinese blood has in some cases disqualified otherwise Japanese individuals from promo-

tion to political positions.

Unless you’re particularly attractive, it’s unlikely that train passengers will want to sit beside you.

From personal experience, a person boarding a train would rather sit beside a slobbering old man than me, provided that slobbering old man was Japanese. Experiencing firsthand the difference between Toronto, one of the most multicultural cities in the world, and Tokyo, one of the most homogenous, can often be disquieting.

The somewhat xenophobic attitude towards foreigners often carries some frustrating consequences. Some of my Englishteaching friends were often stopped by police for random alien registration card checks. Some bars and clubs choose not to allow any Westerners, or simply enforce a rule whereby foreigners can only come if accompanied by an equal number of Japanese. Politicians don’t exactly intend on changing the status quo, either. Shintaro Ishihara, the longstanding mayor of Tokyo, has often made racist remarks regarding foreigners living in Tokyo, suggesting that a perfectly homogenous city would be preferable to one tainted

by Koreans, Chinese and people of other non-Japanese ethnicities.

Crime has also been blamed on foreigners in an effort to galvanize public opinion against them, which for the most part works because of the trust Japanese citizens have in their leaders.

No civilization is exempt from criminal behaviour, of course, and that includes Japan. In June of 2008, a man went on a murder rampage in a popular Tokyo district, killing seven and injuring ten. That man was Japanese, and he claimed to have committed the crime because he felt severely unrecognized by those around him. If he felt there was an outlet for his grievances, he might have dealt with his pain differently. Similarly, if the 2,645 Japanese who committed suicide this past January felt they had an outlet for their grief, perhaps they’d still be alive. Silent cries for sympathy often remain just that – silent - and even though there are people and organizations willing to listen, many suffering Japanese are left with the impression that their complaints

aren’t welcome.

There is strong evidence though to suggest that Japanese society lacks the sort of crime we read about happening in Toronto – gang-related murders, aggravated assault, theft and the like. When my parents visited me in the fall of 2007, their first impression was not one of disdain but of deep admiration. In their fatigue from enduring an international flight, they left a black bag on a train on the way back to their hotel. When we arrived at the station, they realized their oversight and panicked, understandable given that inside the bag were their passports and digital camera. I told them not to worry. Japanese are more likely to turn the bag in to authorities out of a sense of appreciation for the established order of society than to appropriate it for personal profit. Sure enough, we called the Japan Rail Lost and Found a few days later and found that it had been turned in.

Not only had nothing been taken, but the camera had been mindfully bubble-wrapped lest it somehow incurred damage in the meantime.

We knew that to expect that kind of selfless behaviour in our own urban centres would be foolish.

The same decent standards of conduct can be contributed to the cleanliness of the streets. Even major areas of the city are appallingly litter-free, despite Tokyo having a population over four-times greater than Toronto and lacking a credible number of waste disposal bins.

Oftentimes in my afternoon haste to get to work I would grab a can of coffee from the nearest vending machine, and when finished, would look for somewhere to toss it out.

This was in vain. Even the train stations themselves seldom have anywhere to dispose of trash; you’re just expected to hold onto it until you find one somewhere. After all, it’s considered ill-mannered to eat or drink on the train, although doing so – even alcohol – is not illegal.

Drinking on the streets is also tolerated, and yet it’s rare to see someone fiendishly imbibing on public property. If done, it’s done tastefully so, and not likely in an irresponsible manner one might imagine if a law were passed in Canada permitting alcohol consumption on public property.

Apart from appreciating cul-

tural differences, living in a foreign country also helps you to appreciate the intricacies of language. Kana is a Japanese written form composed to two syllabaries: katakana and hiragana. The former is used for foreign words, whereas the latter is used in all other cases where simple Japanese ought to be used. Kanji, however, is severely complex and takes a lot of practice to master. In fact, the average person must acquire at least 2,000 characters over the course of their lifetime to be able to read the daily newspaper.

I would often tell my students, though, that despite the complexity of kanji, Japanese is altogether a much simpler language than English, and who would be able to predict that without being exposed to it on a daily basis? With Japanese, what you see is what you get.

Each syllable has only one way of being pronounced, and so you won’t need to grapple with pronunciation if you can read the kana characters in front of you. Hearing the Western pronuncation of sake as “sah-kee” becomes a laughing matter.

Further, Japanese grammar rules don’t have heaps of exceptions attached to them like English does.

And witnessing the common mistakes of Japanese English students firsthand will really expose you to the intricacies of speaking English well in a way that you wouldn’t necessarily get by way of sheer imagination. It’s no surprise then that we mock something known as “Engrish,” a collection of misspelled, ill-grammared sentences that often say something completely different from what was intended.

Japan is a country unique in its uniqueness, one that provides a refreshing alternative from the Western mode for those who are brave enough to step out of their lives of comfort and routine. It’s always possible to read a book on Japan or watch an anime, but firsthand experience makes a world of difference. So if ever faced with a sea of black waves, take the plunge.

After all, Lost in Translation can only teach you so much. *Natto is fermented soy beans, an extremely popular Japanese dish.

To the average foreigner, it’s the most nauseating item in Japanese cuisine.

Ryerson Free Press May 2009 17

eating clean in a world of dirty food How one woman’s diet is helping people to eat, look and feel better. But there are some problems with the diet. Vanessa Santilli investigates Two woMen are at the checkout counter at a bookstore. One makes a purchase while the other talks animatedly. As the cashier rings the items through, the talkative one grabs a book from a nearby display, places it with the rest of her friend’s items and continues chatting.

“What’s this?” she asks, cutting in.

“Trust me, you’ll love it.”

“Then why don’t you buy it?”

“Oh, I already have it, hun. Works like a dream.”

“I’ll take this too,” the woman says, pushing the book toward the cashier.

The book is Tosca Reno’s the Eat Clean Diet which, as she puts it, “transformed a formerly fat and desperate housewife” into a cover girl and swimsuit model, all after she turned 40. When the millennium arrived, Reno was depressed and weighed just over 200 pounds. She also suffered from low blood sugar levels, called hypoglycemia.

Her worst hypoglycemic attack, as she recounts in her book, left her passed out, face down in the dairy case at a grocery store. But once she started eating clean, everything changed. “My weight remained steady. I no longer craved foods, especially sugar and starchy ones. My blood-glucose stabilized, so that I no longer suffered from the horrible hypoglygemic attacks that left me

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sweating and breathless. Literally, from the very day I changed my eating habits, I felt and looked better. It wasn’t long before I had reshaped my health and my physique.”

Published in January 2007, the Eat Clean Diet guarantees healthy, steady weight loss. Reno’s latest book in her clean eating empire, the Eat Clean Diet for Men, is being released at the end of May. The eating plan combines plenty of food from all food groups to give you “the body of your dreams” without going hungry, she says. Along with the physical benefits, Reno promises that your self-esteem will soar, depression will vanish and energy levels will rise. “Unanimously, people tell me they don’t have the need to overeat when they eat clean.

There is just a better understanding of what they’re eating and why they’re eating it,” Reno says. “It’s not fad diet, so I’m not asking people to do a ridiculous restriction-type diet. What I’m advocating with clean eating are habits that drive and merit a healthy body.”

With the fundamentals of the diet on the table, the Eat Clean Diet resembles more of a healthy approach to weight loss than a money-making fad diet.

So, what habits drive a healthy body exactly? The basics of the diet are as follows: eat five or six small meals every day, combining lean protein (such as chicken breast or egg whites) with complex carbohydrates (fruits and veggies). Eating clean, which has its roots in the world of bodybuilding, requires dieters to eat every two to three hours for a very important reason, says Ottawa-based personal trainer Robert Lagana. “Bodybuilders need a lot of protein. However, some studies say that you can only digest 30 grams of protein per meal. To increase the amount of protein, they would eat more with their carbs, using a protein/carb meal combo five to six times a day.” The next element of the diet involves kissing over-processed foods goodbye and embracing “clean foods:” fresh produce, whole grains, vegetables and lean meats.

Sugar-loaded pop, juices and alcohol are replaced with at least two litres of water daily, which Reno credits for her radiant skin. As well, dieters should avoid all foods high in calories but low in nutritional value, usually those high in sugar or “the white poison,” as Reno calls it.

“Its emphasis on eating unprocessed whole foods and getting away from the sugar and high fat convenient ones is certainly good,” says Toronto-based Registered Dietician Susie Langley. However, a main flaw in the diet is that it’s low in calcium. “Adults between 19 and 50 need three servings (or 1,000 mg) of calcium per day to stay healthy,” something which she says the two-week menu plan falls short of. Ottawabased Registered Dietician Helene Charlebois agrees. “It is a good nutritious diet with mainly three food groups,” she says. “The dairy is mostly missing, so I would suggest a calcium supplement with Vitamin D be taken. The principles are great and the diet is balanced, but adding more dairy would make it complete.”

Another important aspect of the diet to

assess, says Charlebois, is the level of freedom one is given while eating clean. “It can become a lifestyle and not a fad diet as long as cheating is allowed. Dieticians only ask for 70 to 80 percent compliance. When there is a high percentage of compliance you just set yourself up for failure. Dieters may have to cheat on special occasions, when PMS strikes or in highly stressful situations.”

Chantel Prashad was in one such highly stressful situation. Last year, as a fourth-year Art History and English major at the University of Toronto, Prashad found the Eat Clean Diet extremely difficult to fit into her hectic schedule.

She was scheduled to start work at her part-time job at 11 a.m. one morning and overslept. She had no time to prepare a “clean” dish before hopping on the bus so ate nothing. The food that she had prepared for work was not a dish you could eat on the bus, so again, she ate nothing. When she got to work, there was no time to eat, so she didn’t have any food until her first break at 2 p.m.

“I don’t have enough time,” she says. “I go to school in the morning and then work an eight-hour shift at night. I only have so much time to eat in between classes and breaks at work.” The impracticality of the diet can be found within the book’s glossy pages, she adds. “There’s a picture of a woman walking around with a huge cooler filled with fruits and vegetables,” she describes. “Walking around campus with a huge cooler on my arm and my backpack and all my books? It’s not going to happen.” Prashad strongly disliked the emphasized breakfast choice of oatmeal (which she dubs healthy glue), the higher cost of specialty foods, such as almond butter, and the copious amounts of water (which had her escaping to the ladies room four times during a lecture, she recalls).

Sharon Tuck, a mother and owner of a residential cleaning service in Milton, Ontario, found the diet extremely easy to follow. “I made a shopping list, eating schedule, list of ‘don’t eat foods,’ bought a little travel cooler and stocked my fridge and pantry. I carried the book with me for encouragement in case I had questions,” she says. Tuck has been on numerous diets since she was a teenager. Over the years, she’s been to Dr. Bernstein’s clinic (where she lost 40 pounds), took Proenzi 99 Ephedra pills (losing 85 pounds, most of which she managed to keep off ) and also tried Weight

Watchers, Nutrisystem and the Zone Diet. The difference between all of those diets and the Eat Clean Diet, Tuck says, is that “Tosca’s diet didn’t feel like a diet. I was never hungry. I chose what food to eat from the list in her book so it was all food I liked. I got to eat every few hours so cheating never entered my mind. I was energetic, had regular bowel movements and slept better. I was always hungry with other programmes.”

One such program was the Grapefruit Diet, a restrictive seven-day diet that advocates eating a grapefruit, or grapefruit juice, with every meal in order to speed up fat loss. “One day is lots of hardboiled eggs, but no fruit. The next would be lots of grapefruit, but not protein. I was able to have a lot of salad, which was the only good thing. It was tough to follow because it wasn’t real eating, and I was craving so many things like carbs and sugar. Every day I ate specific things at specific meals, yet each day was a completely different menu, no variances allowed,” she says. “I felt hungry on this diet but I refused to eat after six o’clock. Sometimes I’d go to bed early to avoid the temptations of popcorn or ice cream.”

Belleville-based Registered Dietician Heather Williams praises the diet for the numerous healthy habits it promotes.

Williams likes the frequent small meals, emphasis on portion control, eating lots of fruits and veggies and staying away from processed foods. “Incorporating more fish fats and omega three from flax seeds, walnuts and canola oil is also a great idea,” she says. “All in all, this programme looks very healthy to me. Although,” she adds, “it really isn’t anything new. It promotes a lot of the same things that we as dieticians promote. It’s a good idea to limit processed foods and get back closer to the farm.”

Last summer while training for three 10-kilometre runs, Candice Sells went on Reno’s plan as she wanted a healthy eating regimen to follow. Sells, who has done herbal detoxes before, says she felt energized and cleansed on the diet. During her first week, she craved lots of junk food. “After the first week, she says, “my body adjusted to eating clean foods and the cravings lessened. My mood improved and my general

attitude towards life was more positive. I felt like I was doing something good for my body. I’d recommend this diet to anyone, especially people that don’t know how to eat healthy foods. I feel like it has changed the way I think about food. Now, I try to squeeze as much healthy food into my diet as I can.”

The section on supplements, on the other hand, is a different story. “I would never recommend all the supplements she mentions to my clients and definitely would not take them myself,” says Williams. “The scariest one is the Human Growth Hormone.” Human Growth Hormone (hGH) increases our ability to burn fat faster. Reno recommends a non-prescription product called pro-hGH that stimulates natural hormone production and mentions that actual hGH is available only by prescription, as an injectable, and costs US $600 per injection (which you must take daily). She adds that you must see a doctor throughout the course of your therapy. “Human Growth Hormone is a banned substance,” says Langley. “And since its illegal, there should be no MD who’d prescribe it unless there was a very special medical need for it.” With regard to the diet’s pro-hGH stance, Langley doesn’t believe they are effective and says that even mentioning it in her book reduces the author’s credibility.

While Langley agrees with Reno’s view that some of the most effective ways to produce this hormone naturally are through sleep, exercise and protein, she adds, “It’s not just about protein, there must be enough calories as well.”

Without a doubt, this diet is packed with nutrient-rich, natural food and is based on many tried and true healthy eating principles such as portion control, frequent eating and drinking plenty of water. After eating clean myself for three weeks, I felt great, my cravings disappeared and the structured meals ensured that I was never reaching for the nearest chocolate bar. The Eat Clean Diet goes against the implied mantra of most diets: to be skinny you must not eat. Instead, clean eating promotes a healthy relationship between food and your body as you come to understand that in order to have a beautiful body, you must nourish it with the right foods. If you forget the recommended supplements, opting for a multivitamin instead, the strict guidelines about eating unclean foods and use the food lists she provides to suit your own tastes (as opposed to following her two-week menu plan), the Eat Clean Diet offers a health-centred way of eating that is guaranteed to optimize health in the long run.

ryerson free press

May 2009

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May Day: Jesse McLaren examines the roots of May Day, its history of resistance to capitalism, and its links to today’s struggles for peace and justice For more than 120 years, workers of the world have united to celebrate May Day. The size and scope of events has been a barometer of the constant struggle for a better world. With a new economic crisis and growing movements of resistance, May Day is re-emerging as an important day for solidarity and action.

Eight-hour workday May Day emerged in the United States in the campaign to shorten the workday. At its annual convention in Chicago in 1884, the Federation of Organized Trades and Labour Unions (the future American Federation of Labor) declared that the eight-hour workday would begin May 1, 1886, and that it would be enforced with strikes and demonstrations.

As one pamphlet proclaimed at the time: “Lay down your tools on May 1, 1886.

Cease your labour, close the factories, mills, and mines – for one day in the year… one day of revolt – not of rest… a day on which labour makes its own laws and has the power to execute them!”

This outlined the May Day tradition that continues today: workers using their labour power, regardless of state sanction, to fight for economic and political demands.

On May Day 1886, half a million workers

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went on strike across the US. In Chicago, the strikes brought renewed energy to workers at McCormick Harvesting Machine Company, who had been locked out for months. A garrison of police was sent to protect strikebreakers, and when the workers confronted them, police opened fire, killing two.

At a rally the next day in Haymarket Square, a bomb went off and police again opened fire, killing more. Then police arrested eight anarchist trade unionists, who were sentenced to death at a rigged trial.

This severe repression sent a chill through the nascent labour movement, but it reasserted itself a few years later. The Second International, an organization of workers around the world, adopted the motion for “a great international demonstration,” and in 1890, May Day went global.

In London, Friedrich Engels addressed a rally of 300,000. May Day, originally

intended as a one-time event to demand an eight-hour workday, has continued beyond this victory, adapting to specific campaigns and reaffirming international solidarity and workers’ power.

Peace and revolution In 1916, May Day in Germany became the focus of anti-war opposition. When the socialist Karl Liebknecht was arrested for his speech, “Down with the government, down with the war,” 50,000 metal workers struck for his release. At the same time, May Day celebrations in Russia served to gauge the militancy of the working class in the lead-up to the revolution that won peace and democracy. In the brief years of socialism in Russia, May Day became a rallying point for workers around the world to try to break Russia’s isolation by spreading the revolution in their own countries.

“Originally intended as a onetime event to demand an eighthour workday, May Day has continued beyond this victory.”

In response, states across Europe that sent armies abroad to crush the Russian Revolution also undermined May Day at home. The French government called for May Day to celebrate national unity rather than international workers’ solidarity, while fascist Italy banned May Day and substituted a day to celebrate the Roman Empire.

May Day suppression has continued in various ways ever since. Nazi Germany declared May Day a day of work, and the next day banned unions and arrested their leaders. At the height of McCarthyism in the US, the state called May Day “Loyalty Day” and then “Law Day” in an attempt to purge its radical nature. On the other side of the Cold War divide, state capitalist regimes turned May Day into a bureaucratized media stunt for Russia and China to parade their nuclear arsenals.

Defeating the Tories But workers have defiantly continued to assert May Day and use it as a focal point for organizing. During the Depression, Conservative Prime Minister R.B. Bennett’s response to unemployment was to create militarized work camps that paid 20 cents a day.

In April 1935 in British Columbia, 1,500

unemployed workers in government relief camps walked off the job and made their way to Vancouver. There they staged marches, protests and occupations to protest the government’s unemployment policies, and to demand aid. Workers formed a Relief Camp Workers’ Union, and demanded better wages, unemployment insurance and workers’ compensation, an end to police repression, and democratically elected committees.

Labour organizer and socialist Arthur Evans also argued for the broader labour movement to call for solidarity strikes and demonstrations for May 1.

May Day 1935 featured strikes by miners and longshore workers across the province, while restaurant workers and students walked out to join a march of 20,000 in downtown Vancouver. This mobilized support for the “On to Ottawa Trek” the following month, when a thousand relief camp workers boarded freight trains to take their demands directly to Ottawa. Though they were violently stopped at Regina, workers’ resistance helped bring down Bennett in elections a few months later, and close the camps.

Workers’ power During the upsurge of struggles in the late 1960s and early 1970s, May Day coincided with a number of important events. Through March and April 1968, French students protested against codes of conduct and the Vietnam War. In early May, university administrator and police repression radicalized a much wider layer of students, who erected barricades in Paris. A student occupation of the élite Sorbonne university led to an intellectual, cultural and political explosion critiquing all aspects of society.

The student spark ignited the worker flame. When trade unions called for a general strike, political demands against police violence spilled over to economic demands over wages, retirement age and labour rights. Then workers began occupying their factories and briefly running society, while their president hid in Germany fearing another French revolution.

In Portugal in 1974, May Day occurred a week after the fall of the nearly half-century dictatorship. That day, 100,000 people marched in Lisbon, many on their first May Day celebration, waving red flags and hearing from left-wing leaders returned from exile. This became a launching pad for strike waves, which involved 200,000 workers in more than 150 workplaces that month, and a progressive movement in the armed forces.

Ending apartheid In 1985, South African workers formed the Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU), which became the backbone of the fight against Apartheid. Because the regime depended on exploiting the Black working class, workers collectively withdrew their labour power became a powerful weapon for struggle.

On May Day 1986, COSATU called a strike that involved one and-a-half million workers, the first of many major strikes that ultimately ended Apartheid. On April 27, 1994, South Africans voted in their first multiracial democratic elections, and a few days later, May Day was declared a national holiday to honour the role workers played in defeating Apartheid.

May Day remains a rallying point to celebrate this victory, and to continue to connect economic and political issues - from demands for a living wage to the fight against HIV/ AIDS. As COSATU declared on May Day 2007: “In the dark days of Apartheid, South African workers

“May Day remains a rallying point to celebrate this victory, and to continue to connect economic and political issues.” proudly adopted 1 May as their day, and staged some of their biggest stay-aways and demonstrations to support the demand for it to be a public holiday. These played a major part in bringing down the old regime and winning the democratic rights we enjoy today. That is why it is a day to be treasured and must never be lost.”

Resisting neo-liberalism In recent years May Day has resurfaced across Canada and Quebec as a rallying point against neo-liberalism. In 2004, an illegal strike by hospital workers in British Columbia galvanized years of opposition to neo-liberalism.

On May Day, hospital workers led a march of 15,000 in Vancouver, the air filled with calls for a general strike.

Had the trade union bureaucracy not sold out the strike the following day, the province would have ground to a halt and dealt a blow to Premier Gordon Campbell.

In 2003, Quebec trade unions were central to mobilizing 250,000 people in Montreal against the Iraq War, a key event in stopping the Liberals from joining the war. This political radicalization fed into economic battles: the following year, 100,000 marched in Montreal for May Day, targeting the neo-liberal policies of Jean Charest. In 2007, a right-wing backlash spearheaded by the Action démocratique du Québec (ADQ) party saw May Day attendance drop to 3,000. But last year, May Day participation surged back up to 50,000, accompanying the collapse of the ADQ and the growth of leftwing party Québec solidaire.

Fighting racism and war May Day is now returning to its roots. In the US, the re-emergence of workers’ confidence is reflected by May Day events that have used strikes as collective weapons against racism and war.

In 2005, the US government began passing a bill that would further criminalize undocumented workers, in order to increase their exploitation and create racist hysteria. But immigrant workers and their allies fought back. In March 2006, a coalition of Catholic groups, immigrant advocacy groups and labour unions organized a series of massive rallies, including half a million in Los Angeles. Reviving the labour drives and boycott campaigns of Cesar Chavez, the protest wave became a launching pad for strikes on May Day 2006, dubbed “The Great American Boycott” and “A Day Without an Immigrant.”

To show how much the US economy depends on migrant workers, organizers called on their supporters to not buy, sell, work or attend school. Millions of people took part in strikes, demonstrations and walkouts, which called for amnesty and legalization of undocumented workers and their families.

Marches featured national flags from across the Americas

mingling with red flags and portraits of Che Guevara. In a show of solidarity, trade unions in Mexico and Central America called for a boycott of American products on May Day. These mobilizations succeeded in defeating the racist bill.

Last May Day, 25,000 longshore workers in the US shut down 29 ports on the west coast to protest the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and to demand the withdrawal of troops.

The International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) has a history of shutting down the ports in solidarity actions: against the Pinochet dictatorship, Apartheid South Africa, and the incarceration of Mumia Abu Jamal. This was the first time an American union has taken job action against an ongoing US war.

ILWU Vietnam veterans led the drive to declare May Day a “No Peace, No Work Holiday,” to recognize that working-class families bear the brunt of US militarism. As ILWU Local 34 President Richard Cavalli told a rally: “George Bush’s daughters get married in the White House, and our sons and daughters get buried in Iraq.”

Because of their strategic role in the economy, the longshore workers were able to paralyze the ports that process $1 billion of cargo daily, fighting back against the corporate warmongers. At a forum in Toronto the following month organized by the Canadian Peace Alliance and the Canadian Labour Congress, strike organizer Clarence Thomas explained: “The working class can speak for itself and that is why it is so critical for us to take action at the point of production: at the workplace. This is where we have our muscle, this is where we have our leverage and we need to use it.”

In response, the General Union of Port Workers in Iraq issued a statement of solidarity: “The courageous decision you made to carry out a strike on May Day to protest against the war and occupation of Iraq advances our struggle against occupation to bring a better future for us and for the rest of the world as well.”

Economic crisis This year’s May Day takes place in the context of the worst economic crisis since the Depression, which is increasing attacks on workers at home and abroad. But it is also in the context of growing radicalization and confidence to fight back, from the left-wing governments sweeping Latin America to the strike waves across Europe raising the hopes of a new May 1968.

Gaining inspiration and insight from previous May Days, we can see how workers activity has been central to struggles for a better world: winning the eight-hour workday, ending Apartheid in South Africa and Tory rule in Canada, fighting racism and war, and raising the possibility of socialism.

As the German revolutionary Rosa Luxemburg wrote a century ago: “The first of May demanded the introduction of the eighthour day. But even after this goal was reached, May Day was not given up. As long as the struggle of the workers against the bourgeoisie and the ruling class continues, as long as all demands are not met, May Day will be the yearly expression of these demands. And, when better days dawn, when the working class of the world has won its deliverance, then too humanity will probably celebrate May Day in honour of the bitter struggles and the many sufferings of the past.”

This feature originally appeared in issue 505 of Socialist Worker, April 14, 2009.

Ryerson Free Press May 2009 21

No One Is illegal leads May Day march for migrants’ rights

By Marta Iwanek On April 2 and 3, over 100 temporary and undocumented workers in southern Ontario were taken into custody by the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) in raids that targeted their homes and workplaces.

Many of those detained – and subsequently deported – say that their rights were violated. No One Is Illegal (NOII), a migrant justice organization, agreed and said that these kinds of attacks should not be tolerated.

“No one who is poor or no one who is undocumented is illegal,” said SK Hussan, a member of NOII. “We stand for the rights of all immigrants.”

NOII has been organizing to win status for all people in Canada and supports Indigenous sovereignty for First Nations people.

Hussan believes that the current economic crisis is being used an excuse to target immigrant workers.

The struggle to stop these attacks was one of the themes for this year’s May Day demonstration, which took place on Saturday, May 2. Chanting “No one is illegal” and “Stop the raids,” about 1,500 protesters marched through the downtown core from Allen Gardens to Nathan Phillips Square.

May Day, also known as International Workers’ Day or Labour Day, is celebrated in many countries on May 1. In some countries, it is

22 ryersonfreepress.ca

an official holiday. NOII wants to reclaim May Day, and to broaden its meaning. “[May Day is] not just a day for labour, but a day for labour that is targeted most: temporary workers, undocumented workers, and indigenous workers,” said Hussan.

The “revolving door policy” of the government – where workers come into the country, are exploited and are then sent back – must stop now, he said.

Participants in the May Day march raised a wide range of issues, from immigrants and migrants’ rights to the ongoing war in Afghanistan. People of all ages and backgrounds could be seen throughout the crowd.

Jethro Tulin, executive officer of Akali Tange Association, came from Papua New Guinea to speak on behalf of the Indigenous people who are being forced off of their land by mining companies like Canadianbased Barrick Gold. He was joined

by Sergio Campusano, an Indigenous leader from Chile who is currently touring Ontario, speaking to conferences about the experiences of indigenous people in Latin America.

Tulin and Campusano said that mining companies were causing the displacement of Indigenous people, human rights abuses and environmental degradation.

“My people have been made illegal on our own customary land,

which we have been living on for generations,” said Tulin. “And it’s just because one of the multinationals wants to extract gold.”

Tara Ghanbari marched for the rights of Iranian immigrants coming to Canada, and for activists in Iran.

She talked about the 150 people who been arrested in Iran for their demonstrations during May Day. “People should have the right to live in this country if they are not safe to live in their own country,” she said.

NOII usually organizes its May Day march in Christie Pits Park, in the west end of Toronto. This year organizers chose a different location, starting at Allen Gardens in the east end of the city. Activists were keen to highlight the area’s gentrification and the targeting of local people who live in the neighbourhood, Hussan said.

The march was co-organized by a number of organizations and groups from across Toronto, including Mujeres al Frente, Jane and Finch Action Against Poverty, and the Sikh Activist Network. The large number of groups involved demonstrates growing support for immigrants and migrants’ rights.

After the march, participants joined ongoing protests in front of the US Consulate on University Avenue, calling on Western government to stop Sri Lanka’s war on the Tamil people.

Wen-Do self-defence worth defending

adriana rolston

By Adriana Rolston

Genevieve Weigel was skipping class, riding the deserted subway back and forth between Kipling and Kennedy when three older male teens entered her car.

One sat beside her. When he asked the 15-year-old for her phone number she didn’t feel threatened, but then he placed his hand on her thigh.

Weigel shoved it off and rose to leave, standing taller than the trio. When the groper blocked her way and told her she wasn’t going anywhere she responded with the angry, gut wrenching yell she learned in Wen-Do. “Back off!”

She struck him in the gut and he buckled to the floor.

Another guy wrapped his arms around her from behind. She instinctively shoved her body backwards, smashing him into the connecting subway door, and rammed her heel up into his groin. He collapsed. The third did nothing as she pressed the yellow emergency strip, the doors closing behind her as she walked out of the subway car, which had just arrived at a station. Shaken, she told the conductor what had occurred, and left.

Weigel, who served as this year’s events coordinator for Ryerson’s Women’s Centre, took her first Wen-Do Women’s Self Defence class when she was 12-years old.

What she experienced on public transit is the kind of success story that women share in Wen-Do. Growing up she was usually stronger than the boys in her classes and often beat them in arm wrestling matches. When she was told that girls are weaker than boys she knew otherwise. “That always seemed like bullshit to me,” said Weigel.

Wen-Do exposed Weigel to her first feminist framework. “It was almost a revelation, like ‘Oh my God, I’m not by myself in this, and

women are powerful and I knew somebody knew that,” she said loudly, her crimson lips parting in a broad smile.

Wen-Do originated in 1972 and is Canada’s longest running women’s self defence organization, as well as a registered charity. It was developed in Toronto by Ned and Ann Paige in response to the murder of Catherine Genovese in New York, who was stabbed and killed in 1964 within earshot of 38 neighbours, none of which called the police.

Wen-Do is endorsed by the Toronto Rape Crisis Centre and taught entirely by women, for women and girls (ages 10 and up) of all ages, sizes, physical and mental abilities. Physical and verbal techniques are interspersed with open discussion of violence against women and girls from an antioppressive, feminist perspective.

Wen-Do emphasizes three goals: awareness, avoidance and action.

Deb Chard has been teaching Wen-Do full-time for 20 years, and taught Weigel’s first introductory course. She explains that self-defence means surviving and doesn’t always require punching or kicking.

She leans forward, elbows resting on her knees, her pale blonde hair short and textured.

“We’re looking at doing the least amount of self defence possible to run away,” she said, hands clasped, eyes fixed on each of us intently.

“That’s what this is all about. I hope I never have to do this but these are some tools that I have in my tool box.”

After centuries of being told certain outfits and behaviour cause harassment and abuse women accept it as truth, said Chard. It’s common to hear, “But I was asking for it.” If you wear those revealing clothes, drink, or go out alone late at night and something happens it’s

your fault. From childhood we are taught to modify our behaviour but in Wen-Do we discuss how skimpy skirts have nothing to do with it.

“Women have been raped in every imaginable article of clothing that you can think of,” said Chard.

Clothing becomes the justification, diverting attention from where the real responsibility lies.

Chard explains that when womanized men experience sexual assault in prison it indicates the reality of rape power dynamics over a group. Suggesting that low cut prison outfits instigate rape is ridiculous. If we can understand this about men, why can’t we understand it about women?

Our Wen-Do instructor Denise Handlarski is lying on her back as a woman in a loose, pink t-shirt is bent over the face, straddling her waist and clasping her wrists down against the carpeted floor. It’s April 5 and I’m taking a free 15-hour Wen-Do course at York University, organized by York’s Sexual Assault Survivors’ Support Line (SASSL). Eleven of us are seated in a circle on the floor of a brightly lit room in the student centre, watching Handlarski demonstrate a defence manoeuvre for a pinned scenario.

Anne Rajesparam, an officer and training coordinator for SASSL, stands bent over facing the woman in the pink, arms hooked

under her armpits in preparation to support her. When each woman confirms they are ready Handlarski pulls her heels against her butt and digs them into the floor while quickly snapping up her hips.

She simultaneously slides her arms down to her sides, resembling a snow angel motion as her “attacker” is launched forward over her head and into Rajesparam’s arms, emitting a loud gasp. Realistically, if an attacker pinned you while in bed the “bump” might send them headfirst into the headboard or the wall.

Over the course of the weekend we alternate between practicing physical techniques, verbal tactics and group discussions with breaks in between. In pairs we repeat hits into cushions, focussing on tightening our hands, breathing and yelling. We learn a variety of strikes, kicks and blocks in addition to wrist and choke releases, defence against weapons, and group attack strategies.

Handlarski’s dark, defined curls hang at the nape of her neck and she wears thin black glasses when she isn’t demonstrating attack defences. She instructs us to inhale and exhale while executing defensive attacks, saying “hut.” The “h” breath opens up the diaphragm ending with a “t” sound that prevents us from biting our tongues.

Yelling during a strike enables adrenaline and oxygen to fuse in the bloodstream, preventing us from freezing when afraid. It also provides a rush of energy and can surprise the attacker.

Handlarski reiterates that we’re not using strength against strength but using our larger body parts against the attacker’s weaker, smaller targets, such as a heel palm strike to the nose, a low kick to the shin, or a hammer fist to the collar bone.

These attacks are all examples of soft Wen-Do, which are not likely to cause permanent damage to most healthy individuals.

Hard Wen-Do is a technique that could be fatal or cause permanent damage, such as knuckle jab to the windpipe or a strike to the temple.

Learning the differences between soft and hard Wen-Do is important in the context of the Canadian legal system, according to Sue Kernoham, a detective and coordinator at Toronto’s Sexual Assault Crimes Unit. Although every woman has the right to fight

When she was told that girls are weaker than boys she knew otherwise.

“That always seemed like bullshit to me,” said Genevieve Weigel.

back, they have to work within the law and use reasonable force, says Kernoham.

If an attacker punches you and you retaliate by stabbing them that is excessive force. “It’s a really grey area, and all situations are unique.

You need to be able to articulate why you used as much force as you did (in court),” she said.

Handlarski gestures to the white calligraphy on her black tank top representing the Wen-Do symbol. In the centre is the Japanese character for “woman” surrounded by a circle, which she calls the line of justice. Women need to trust their instincts and give themselves permission to act, which can also mean escaping a dangerous situation. “I want you to believe you’re worth defending,” Handlarski said, looking around the circle at us.

Weigel thinks it could be realistic for the Women’s Centre to ensure that a full, 15-hour WenDo course is available to women at Ryerson. She hopes to volunteer with next year’s coordinators and gain support from the Office of Discrimination and Harassment Prevention Services and the Ryerson Students’ Union (RSU) to subsidize expenses.

Full Wen-Do workshops regularly cost $100 a person, which the Women’s Centres’ budget can’t currently cover.

Toby Whitfield, the RSU vicepresident of finances and services says that if the Women’s Centre requires additional funding for a student event, the Board of Directors will decide whether or not to incorporate it into next year’s budget. “If the priority for the Women’s Centre is to do something like this we would work to see if we could make that happen,” said Whitfield.

Another option for women on campus is Rape Aggression Defence for Women, a free, fourday course taught by Ryerson’s Security and Emergency Services Team. R.A.D. classes run once a semester but additional classes can be requested, says instructor Tanya Fermin-Poppleton.

Workshops focus on avoidance of threats in daily surroundings, like walking to and from the subway. Up to 12 women can attend R.A.D. and upcoming sessions are posted on the Security Services website as well as security bulletins around campus.

Having experienced sexual violence, Weigel wants to use WenDo as a way of regaining her voice and hopes to become an instructor someday. She feels that Wen-Do empowers women by discussing and experiencing what we can do as opposed to what we can’t.

“It really deals with how women are powerful, not just that they are oppressed and victims. Most of the time we resist and most of the time we’re successful and I think that needs to be something that women are taught.”

Ryerson Free Press May 2009 23

CULTURE anvil: the Story of anvil More heart than you’d expect from a band with song titles like and “Show us your tits”

By Rich Williamson “how Many bands stay together for 30 years?” asks former Guns’n’Roses shredder Slash.

He and a panel of rock mavericks including Metallica’s Lars Ulrich and Motorhead’s Lemmy pose this question early in Sasha Gervasi’s metal doc-with-a-heart, Anvil: The Story of Anvil playing at the AMC at Yonge and Dundas.

“You’ve got U2, The Stones, and Anvil.” But wait. Who is Anvil?

“Anvil,” we learn, were one of the hardest rocking metal acts of the early 80s. Touring the world with rockjuggernaughts like Bon Jovi and The Scorpions, Anvil was just as likely to succeed as the rest.

Fusing electric guitars with buzzing vibrators, they were considered revolutionary in a time when shock rock was king. Belting out tunes aptly titled the likes of “Thumb Hang,” and “Show us Your Tits,” Anvil made no gripes about their intentions to rock, and were poised to take the world by storm.

Fast-forward 25 years.

Fifty-something metal-heads Lips Kudlow and Robb Reiner of Anvil still long for rock stardom. Instead of touring the world, Reiner and Lips haul-ass, performing mundane occupations knowing full well of the dreams left unfulfilled. Braving the snowy roads of Ontario delivering food to cafeterias, Lips pathetically cries, “When I work at Choice Children’s catering, they don’t even know that my band exists!”

It wasn’t drugs or sex that defeated the rock dinosaur; success just happened to pass them by.

While the two struggle to make ends meet, they are excited to learn that an old fan, Tiziana Arrigoni of Sweden has booked a year-long tour across Europe. Before long, missed trains, tardy venues and overall mismanagement hinder a once-promising tour.

Gig after gig, less people show up. Anvil plays their hearts out to a crowd fewer than 10 people. “How much more love could one person put into something?” asks Lips.

One would be hard-pressed to argue.

Despite pitfalls, Lips’ die-hard integrity prevails. Returning to Canada from the failed tour he exclaims proudly that, even though everything went drastically wrong, “at least there was a tour for it to go drastically wrong on!” No doubt this blind enthusiasm has kept the old beast that is Anvil chugging along for so long.

Regrouping, Reiner and Lips decide to all-in, pouring their savings into producing the Anvil album to end all Anvil albums, This is 13, their thirteenth effort. This is their last chance to do it right.

Told with sharp comedic timing, Gervasi’s storytelling technique harkens back to classic mockumentaries like This is Spinal Tap. At times the character are so outrageous, the actions so unbelievable that one would be lead to believe the story fiction.

Watching Lips and Reiner trudge down College Street reminiscing over hard-rock memories quickly reminds us that these guys are real people. They’re the guys who busted their asses playing hard rock in their basements ’till four in the morning, raising the one-finger salute at anyone standing in the way of their unrelenting ambition. Those guys you called the cops on.

This was my second viewing of Anvil. Last summer I watched it while working as an usher at the Hot Docs film festival. The crowd was split in three. Everyday folks, film critics, and some guys with pink mohawks, multiple piercings and jean jackets. Everyone came in with preconceptions about the music. Some find it irritating; others worship its mighty tune. Some grew up with metal, others didn’t.

When the film ended, it wasn’t the music so much as the passion exhibited by Anvil’s Robb Reiner and Lips Kudlow that infected us all. The passion was contagious.

People who looked like they’d never be into metal were officially metal heads, tapping away to the beat of Anvil’s classic tune “Metal on Metal” as the credits rolled right to the end, asses still glued to the seat.

Go see it.

few riSkS taken at thiS year’S maSS eX But the risks taken made the show

By Maiya Keidan

doG SeeS God more than juSt teen anGSt

By Amanda Cupido

DOG SEES GOD: Confessions of a Teenage Blockhead captured teen drama, dilemmas and sexual confusion in a way that was humorous, yet hard-hitting.

The play opened with a monologue from the protagonist, CB, who was meant to represent Charlie Brown from the Peanuts gang.

Characters and references were tied to the cartoon throughout. CB was played by Jake Epstein from Degrassi: The Next Generation, who stole the show with his leading role. The audience followed CB who started contemplating life and afterlife when his dog had to be put to sleep. It takes the audience through his school-life where issues like homosexuality, suicide and bullying are prominent.

Although sounding like a typical story about teen angst, the play took high-school drama to a new level. The climax came when CB shares a passionate kiss with the school geek, Beethoven, at a party.

Onlookers become frustrated, angry and shocked at the display of homosexuality.

The deep plot was laced with powerful lines that forced the audience to think about their role in the world.

The technical direction was phenomenal with every sound cue synched with the actors on stage. Lighting effects were also well done, allowing for smooth transitions and

serious scenes to be accompanied by a dimly lit atmosphere.

The set was simple, but used well. The cast worked around a piece with two doors and a panel that turned into a table. With the use of block stools and some caging, the space was able to transform into six different settings.

Although the venue, Six Degrees, is typically a club and party room, it provided the audience with a different atmosphere. With couches in the front two rows and chairs lined up behind, it was a lounge meets black-box theatre feel.

Since half the cast work together on Degrassi: The Next Generation, it was evident that there was on-stage chemistry.

With a tight cast and a solid script, the play had a strong impact. Even to those who didn’t pick up on all the Peanuts references weren’t confused.

The play hits home and leaves the audience in awe.

i reMeMber, aT 16, staring wide-eyed at the vibrant colours and fabrics splayed on models who strode down the runway.

It was my first trip to the Ryerson fashion show; a field trip with a grade 11 fashion class. I was impressed by the creativity of Ryerson students and have returned for two more shows since.

It’s not just the fourth-year fashion design students who put in a lot of time and hard work. The show took months of planning on behalf of many Ryerson students from across campus, including fashion communication, theatre, and even image arts and radio and television students. My roommate is a fashion communication student responsible for the public relations side of the show and I can testify that she’s given the show countless hours of her life.

So, when the lights dimmed at 6 p.m. on Tuesday, April 7, I was poised, unsure of what to expect given the current economic crisis. Fear won out in several cases. Many designers played it safe with designs you’d swear you’d seen in store windows already. However, that doesn’t mean they weren’t good or unwearable.

Some were brave, catering to their own imaginations.

Martha Sharpe presented a more edgy collection, using linear patterns in her garments. Conkrete Jungle,

by Kirsten Landry, featured an array of unique jumpsuits. With the lights down, the neon-coloured graffiti-style patterns looked even more startling.

I also loved Meghan Roche’s designs, for her experimentation with lines and pastels in above-the-knee dresses, though I must admit I’m partial to pastels.

One thing many Ryerson designers succeeded at this year was mastering the dress. Laura George created a beautiful bridal collection, combining shiny gold fabric with classic white in elegant patterns.

Wedding gowns can’t be mentioned without discussing the dress, unveiled at the end of the show, from Revelation by Sheila Lam. The train was roughly three metres wide, spreading almost entirely across the runway’s breadth. Though the model shuffled rather than walked in the restrictive dress, she looked like a Greek statue.

The whole collection, with other fantastically creative costumes forming the remainder of the set, was the perfect and most beautiful way to end the show.

At the end of Revelation, the swinging light bulb background that began the show was once again displayed on the screen and the model in the long, flowing dress swung her upper body back and forth, in timing with the bulb, until it exploded and the stage returned to darkness. After the thundering applause, the lights flickered on and everyone in the audience sat in their seats for a few seconds before finally peeling themselves from their chairs and rising.

ryerson free press

May 2009

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RECORD REVIEWS

DOOM – Born Like This Rating: C+

DOOM’s apathy is becoming apparent with this ramshackle release

Born Like This couldn’t possibly have been as good as it was supposed to be. After waiting for more than four years since Mf Doom (now under the moniker DOOM) last released a full-length piece of new material (2005’s Mouse & the Mask with Danger Mouse being the last), fans had become restless until sometime in late September when a promotional PDF appeared on the website of Lex records announcing an Oct. 28 album release date for what they called DOOM’s “definitive album, encapsulating but surpassing all of his previous work.”

The finished product was finally released on March 24, and it hardly delivers on the promise of his promotional poster.

If anything, Born Like This sounds like it should’ve come out prior to his other work. The production sounds overwhelmingly tinny and sparse, rather than intentionally minimalist.

DOOM’s tracks sound generally half-baked and unfinished and many of them sound grating, as evidenced by overly noisy tracks such as “Batty Boyz” and “Cellz,” the latter of which dams the album’s flow by spending its first two minutes sampling a dry, crackling reading of a Bukowski poem. The unfinished nature of the tracks is compounded by the fact that only four of the seventeen surpass the three minute mark, making the album come off more like a pastiche of short song ideas that happened to be lying around, rather than a cohesive whole album. Indeed, Born Like This is made up largely of scraps, so to speak: “Gazillion Ear” uses samples that De La Soul used in later years, “Angelz” has been kicking around as a beacon that Ghostface and DOOM might record an LP together for nearly two years, and “Lightworks” is built on the most overused J. Dilla track of his discography (although don’t get me wrong, Dilla’s beat is mesmerizing – just overused), reflecting the notion that DOOM doesn’t seem to be trying anymore. Even DOOM’s voice is beginning to sound scratchy, diminutive and tired, which after a four-year hiatus is surprising; shouldn’t he be back and raring to go? Unfortunately, he isn’t, and Born Like This makes it obvious. The album is consistent, sure, but none of the tracks stand out. Nobody wants consistent mediocrity, especially from an artist who blew our minds on four separate albums between 2003 and 2005.

By Stephen Carlick

Cohesiveness, playing it safe makes Hazards a boring affair where it should have been ambitious.

A contender for album of the year blends emotion, melody, and craftsmanship to stunning effect.

The Decemberists – The Hazards of Love Rating: C

Mastodon – Crack the Skye Rating: A

The Decemberists typically surprise me. I really enjoyed 2005’s Picaresque, but a year later, when The Crane Wife was announced for release, I thought I was over them; I didn’t care. A couple of weeks after being released, I purchased it, their most ambitious and interesting album to date, and decided that when they next released an album, I would give the Decemberists the benefit of the doubt. This time around, they finally disappointed. Part of the reason is because Colin Meloy’s voice hasn’t changed an ounce since the band started; it’s also because the album is repetitive, and since the album is supposed to play like a rock opera, actually features multiple reprises that don’t quite work on a text that doesn’t entertain visually at the same time. However, the main reason that Hazards of Love falls flat is because it’s the most boring and the least evolved the Decemberists have ever sounded. This album was supposed to be the Decemberists’ most outrageous effort to date, calling itself a rock opera and promising previouslyunheard-of bombast from the band. Instead, the album is a largely mid-tempo affair, suffering not only from repetition, but from any sort of musical complexity that made The Crane Wife so likeable. None of Hazards is as pretty, as loud, as epic, or generally as interesting as on their previous album, and having been promised something different, I was disappointed.

Interestingly, the decision to give the album a cohesive theme actually hurt the album’s musical flow, as the songs are all split up by the multiple reprises and melodic repetitions, creating a sense that for every musical step forward the album takes, it takes two steps back. Even Meloy’s melodies seem to suffer here, but that may also be attributable to the repetitive nature of Hazards, if not to the generally simplicity of the music itself.

Gone are the mildly interesting time signatures and instrumentation of older albums; the drumming is yawn-worthy and the guitars are only safely distorted. Hazards of Love is the sound of a band playing it too comfortably and sacrificing the interest and individual beauty of each of the songs for the album as a whole, forcing me to wait another couple of years before I keep my word and give the Decemberists the benefit of the doubt one last time.

There’s nothing better than finding a gem in a genre you aren’t well affiliated with. When I heard Mastodon was releasing a new album I was in a musical drought and figuring I had nothing to lose, found my way to their MySpace and their first single from Crack the Skye, “Divinations.” It was heavy, of course, but there was a complexity and depth to the music that many people fail to recognize in any form of metal. Troy Sanders and Brett Hinds have deep baritone voices. Their mix of emphatic growling and screaming and atmospheric wailing gives their lyrics added emotional intensity, although it is the music being played that makes Crack the Skye so amazing. Finding a perfect balance between distortion and clean guitar, between prog and heavy metal, between singing and screaming, and most importantly, between melody and screaming/distorted emphasis, Crack the Skye is a complete album from beginning to end.

There is no real album highlight; all of the songs are equally important and enjoyable. Six of seven of the songs here surpass five minutes, but none of them feel forced or pretentious, even 13-minute album closer “The Last Baron” and 10-minute centerpiece “The Czar,” both of which contain many of the albums musical highlights (when the guitarist plucks his flanged and delayed strings out of the atmosphere in quickened rhythm at 7:10 of the latter, your face may actually melt). While each of the instruments employed are played with passion and dynamism (see the pummelling bass on the title track and the banjo that begins “Divinations”), it is truly the guitar work that makes Crack the Skye.

The solos never become cheesy or overwrought, but showcase the work of musicians in a genre where proficiency and creativity go hand in hand; rock musicians today simply don’t (and largely, can’t) play like this anymore. It’s refreshing as a music listener unfamiliar with metal to hear something so relatively new, complex, and emotional. Any album that can turn you onto an entire genre is surely deserving of acclaim, even if aficionados of the genre may not approve.

Consider this album whether or not you like metal; it’s one of the best albums of the year so far.

Body slamming in Afghanistan, to metal heads in Cairo The Sheikh’s Batmobile: In Pursuit of American Pop Culture in the Muslim World examines how American pop culture impacts culture in the Middle East

By Farrahnaz Merali Under the thick of the Mediterranean sun, Richard Poplak is wandering in a desultory fashion through the streets of Tripoli. Though his route is unplanned, his motive is calculated. He is trying to experience the city infused with a particularly kitschy Lionel Richie song, all the while dodging the perils of Tripolian traffic. “Hello” is fastened on repeat.

And he will listen to it 16 times before he hangs up his iPod, and curiosity, to rest.

For two years Poplak wandered through the streets of 17 other countries in the Middle East in search of something we all routinely digest: American pop culture. The fruit of which is his latest book The Sheikh’s Batmobile. In that previous scene in Libya, Poplak investigates the country’s supposed fascination with Richie, and attempts to confirm a rumour that involves Libyan children re-enacting the video-clip of the smash hit “Hello” for Richie during his 2006 visit to the country. The video, of course, centres around Richie’s beautiful

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love interest, who is blind, but somehow manages to mould a perfect sculpture of Richie’s face.

And so Poplak continues on his quest to observe and comment on presence of North American pop culture in the region. Each chapter is broken down into locales and minithemes where he concocts an engaging mix of commentary, scene setting, and interviews—and even the odd history lesson.

Whether it’s pop songs or professional wrestling, Poplak introduces an assortment of intriguing characters that consume— and sometimes reinterpret—aspects of American pop culture.

He passes his time with metalheads in Cairo, Palestinian Hip Hop artists in Israel, and manages to squeeze in a bowling match in an obscure village somewhere in Kazakhstan.

The title of the novel is drawn from Poplak’s peculiar experience at a car factory situated in a desert well-outside the heart of Dubai. Run by an Oklahoman with a southern-twang and a penchant for imported A&W root beer (incidentally you cannot find root beer in Dubai) the factory assembles wildly expensive custom-designed cars such as chrome-laced vintage Cadillacs, Corvettes—and yes, batmobiles—for Sheikhs and Emirs of the region.

Naturally, the idea of examining American pop culture in the Middle East is a little strange, given the western world’s conception of the two cultures as antithetical. But it is precisely this claim that actually inspired Poplak to pursue the mission three years ago: “It’s 2006 and really, the flashpoint, the point when our culture is supposedly at war with the Muslim world. There is a clash of civilizations. But my question was, ‘is there really?’” he said .

And so he seeks to re-examine Samuel Huntington’s famous thesis by highlighting the curious side effects of cultural exchange. For some of the subjects he interviews, American pop culture is something that is very real to them.

“What a lot of these kids feel, the kids that I met, is

an immense connection to hip hop, or the Golden Girls, or Magnum [P.I.] or whatever you want to call it. And that immense connection, I believe, comes from the fact that they can express their individuality in the paradigm of the pop cultural construct,” he said. Poplak added that the connection goes beyond politics or academics.

Poplak, who grew up in South Africa, personally relates to this fascination and imbuing of North American pop culture.

At points in the novel, he offers personal anecdotes from his own childhood in which he was profoundly influenced by the culture.

The book offers veritable proof of the heavy consumption and influence of American pop culture throughout the region.

Along the way, he encounters individuals who believe the culture is the root of all evil, and others who believe it defines who they are. It’s worth noting that Poplak conducted over 200 interviews for the novel—an impressive feat for a guy who says his Arabic is “not very good.”

While Poplak sincerely did his homework in putting together The Sheikh’s Batmobile, his writing style is what makes the book so readable. Poplak offers plenty of history for those unfamiliar with the politics of the region. But he pulls it off in such a way that the reader never feels like they’re being deluged with stark facts out of a history textbook. His wit is oddly contagious, injecting just the right amount of personality into the narrative. He has that enviable ability of describing things in a corporeal manner; instead of saying that the gets body slammed by an 11-year-old WWE fan in Afghanistan, he tells you what it feels like when your face hits the ground that’s covered in razor-sharp pebbles.

But what resonates the most are the questions that Poplak forces us to ask about culture and our own preconceptions of a society that we are consistently told is antithetical to ours. Which effectively makes the Batmobile ride as continuously stimulating as it is entertaining.

photos by dan rios

To the Max at the Gladstone Hotel Year-end show for Ryerson’s Image Arts students exposes students’ art for what it is: professional, provocative.

By Margaret LaPierre On opening night at Ryerson’s school of Image Art’s year-end show Maximum Exposure, the gallery space at the Gladstone Hotel shimmered with a certain kind of exuberance. Small groups of students flitted from room to room. Avid art admirers pored over the pieces. Pictures were taken. Sunlight spilled in through the open windows. A string trio played appropriately stirring music while a bartender sloshed out glasses of wine at a makeshift bar.

Maximum Exposure’s opening night

turned out the way a good photograph should: it was the product of perfect timing and a strong sense of focus.

The exhibition took place over the course of four days, April 16 to April 19, at two different venues, the Gladstone Hotel and the Lennox Contemporary Gallery. The space at the Gladstone featured the thesis work of the fourth-year graduating class while Lennox Contemporary played host to the works of first, second, and third-year students.

Although the students weren’t prescribed a particular theme with which to guide their work, there was nonetheless a synergy to the exhibition that made its impact that much stronger.

Themes of self-awareness, voyeurism, absence, and the feminine ideal surfaced throughout the show. The recurrence of themes was engaging rather than monotonous due to the range of style and artistic methods that were used.

Several students chose to photograph houses.

One series showed houses lit up and on display; another series featured houses with blank windows trapped behind fences. Both would have the viewer peering in on a space totally void of people, essentially focusing on the absence.

Another student produced chromogenic photographs of luridly

coloured thongs.

It seems to me that a question was being posed. Thongs, houses— what have these common subjects of voyeurism have to offer when there’s no one in them to spy on?

A standout piece of the exhibition was a short film by Elena Potter.

The film was downright haunting, showing the shifting space of the interior of an old house occupied by a woman whose presence was spelled out as an absence. The images were blurred, transposed and always changing, kind of like an old memory.

It’s funny to think that this show was entirely made up of the work of Ryerson’s own students.

I’ve seen a number of exhibits at the Gladstone by established artists and the work at this year’s Maximum Exposure easily rivaled many past shows in this venue. The exhibition was thoughtful and fresh, with an eye

for detail that showed that Ryerson’s Image Arts students aren’t just playing around.

Ryan Van Der Hout, who has been exhibiting his work for the past four years in both Toronto and New York City, said, “It’s been great getting to see everyone’s work in a professional context like this.”

It’s true, too—these artists have proven themselves to be nothing less than professionals. Van Der Hout—as well as about fifty other fourth-year Image Arts students—have worked intimately together over the past year to produce the work shown at Maximum Exposure. It will be interesting to see if they maintain the intensity and professionalism on their own in the art world.

Who knows, maybe some of them will even garner a little fame.

We all know Ryerson could use the exposure.

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