Public Inteterest Research & Community
OPIRG, PAGE 11
The Drummond Report and Education NEWS, PAGE 3
The Student Movement, Then & Now RETROSPECTIVE, PAGES 5 & 6
THE STUDENT MOVEMENT
March/April 2012 | FREE
Issue 15 - Windsor’s Independent, Student Newspaper
Board of Governors confidentiality policy silences representation By Ian Clough
In Fall 2011, the University of Windsor Faculty Association (WUFA) almost went on strike to protect their pensions, which the administration was attempting to change to a defined contribution plan.
Yet pension issues still remain. On May 17, 2012, WUFA and the administration will be going to arbitration on two issues: lack of representation on the Board of Governors Investment Committee and a recent confidentiality policy which prevents WUFA reps from attending meetings.
International Women’s Day rocks UWindsor
The Board of Governors is the University of Windsor’s highest decision-making body and is mostly made up of members from outside of the campus community. Almost all of the Board are appointed by
By Ian Clough and Tracy Huynh
By Vajo Stajic
International Women’s Day participants pose during a belly-dancing class. Photo by Tracy Huynh
With International Women’s Day on March 8th, students at the University of Windsor hosted a series of event both on the day and during the week leading up to it. Here are some short reviews and summaries of the events for which we were able to attend. Screening of Miss Representation
I attended the Miss Representation screening on Monday, March 5th. The event had been organized by the Feminist Research Group and Leadership Advancement for Women in Sport. Before I say anything else, I highly recommend this documentary. The movie is chock full of informative statistics (though they’re based on American data) and also provides insightful perspective on how mainstream media affects our lives. Though the film primarily explores how media is related to the representations of women, it has a few insights on how men are also marginalized by corporate media.
Unfortunately, I found the ending to be a letdown. The film’s primary call to action was for a boycott of products and companies. Personally, I believe boycotts and other similarly-passive actions to be ineffective ways for creating change. Moreover, most documentaries have limited exposure, and therefore I can’t see Miss Representation reaching a wide enough audience to create a mass boycott (assuming, of course, that most viewers would even participate). Also, the narration seemed very forced and
delivered with little emotion (certainly a minor complaint, but something that bothered me while watching). Still, a highly recommended film.
Presentation by blogger and radio host Jennie Thunder
Jennie Thunder’s talk was very satisfying. She gave an overview of her modest introduction to feminism which ultimately snowballed into her career as a successful radio host, blogger, activist, and adbuster.
However, Thunder largely focused on her passion for adbusting, which is spoofing or parodying corporate advertisements: in this case, Thunder often pointed out the sexism or racism within the advertisements. Thunder also explained how adbusting takes the power away from the corporate hands and returns it to the public. With a quote from Banksy, a famous British graffiti artist, she demonstrated how advertising dominates our public worldand our obligation to reclaim it: “any advertisement in public space that gives you no choice whether you see it or not is yours, it belongs to you, it’s yours to take, rearrange and re use. Asking for permission is like asking to keep a rock someone just threw at your head...” Her presentation included a slideshow of examples of her own and other subversive graffiti on advertisements, mostly from magazines. Continued on page 4.
the Board themselves. There are several committees that report to the Board, including the Investment Committee.
Both workers and the administration pay into the pension plan, the monies of which are then invested with the hopes of a decent return to fund retirees’ pensions. The decisions regarding where and how to invest it are made at the Investment Committee. According to Professor Brian E. Brown, president of WUFA, his union has had two permanent seats on the Committee since 1976. Those seats have been removed. “That committee has changed in such a way that there’s an election that has to be held,” Brown said. “It’s only by chance that a WUFA rep will get elected to that Investment Committee.” Continued on page 10.
Quebec students call general strike
There is resistance in the air across Quebec university and college campuses.
The three main student unions in Quebec, the Fédération étudiante universitaire du Québec, the Fédération étudiante collégiale du Québec and the Association pour une Solidarité Syndicale Étudiante, as well as campus student unions, have launched a provincial student general strike in response to the Quebec governments call to raise tuition fees to $3,793 in 2016-17, from $2,168 $ in 2011-12.
In another action, a student was severely injured and may lose an eye after being struck by a stun grenade fired by police. On February 17th, the administration of the CÉGEP du Vieux-Montréal locked out students from the campus in order to prevent them from having access to the college. As a result the students occupied the building; police were called in and arrested 37 students. Many labour unions and public personalities have also publicly backed the students in their struggles.
According to most estimates there are Continued on page 10. currently about 125 000 students on strike in Quebec with the numbers are growing as more schools With growing austerity, we see our government hold votes to join the strike. step up its attack on working Canadians. They The student movement is already battling attacks by police. An estimated 8,000 students marched on the Quebec national assembly, only to be tear gassed by police. Several students have been arrested by police as a result of the protests.
assault us with back-to-work legislation, cuts to social services, and prioritizing corporate profit over human need. Windsor is being hit hard, with unemployment and underemployment on the rise. We must defend the working class and our community.
On May 1st
RESIST
5:30pm @ City Hall Rally and March #May1Windsor
The Student Movement | March/April 2012
2 | NEWS & EDITORIALS
Student SAGE teachers are “Agents of Change”
By Lauren Quinn
2011 marked the year Egale conducted Canada’s first National School Climate Survey, which researched the level of homophobia, biphobia, transphobia and heterosexism that students are exposed to in classrooms. With the oppressive language and violence that LGBTTTIQQ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, transexual, two-spirited, intersex, queer, questioning) students witness and experience
everyday in school, now more than ever teachers must serve as “agents of change.”
Members of the Student SAGE (Sexuality And Gender Education) Committee who are current and former students of the Faculty of Education have been proactive advocates to do just this. At the Faculty of Education’s recent Social Justice Conference, they hosted a panellist presentation and a unique workshop for teacher candidates.
Information on The Student Movement Current Editorial Committee Ian Clough Maaya Hitomi Tracy Huynh
Mission Statement The Student Movement is Windsor’s grassroots, student newspaper. Founded to inform and empower, TSM reports on political issues that affect the youth of Windsor, especially education and campus issues. The newspaper prides itself on critical and empowering journalism that encourages political participation and discussion. Contact Our office is in the OPIRG house at 372 California Ave. (behind the Neal Education Building) and you can email us at movement@tsmwindsor.ca
Organizational Structure The Editorial Committee of The Student Movement meets weekly to produce each edition of the newspaper. All decisions are made through consensus and the newspaper is accountable to the general membership at general meetings which are held following the release of each edition. There is no editor-in-chief or leader: we pride ourselves on the democratic structure of the newspaper. For more information, please visit tsmwindsor.ca/info TSM Online Website: tsmwindsor.ca Email: movement@tsmwindsor.ca Youtube channel: youtube.com/tsmwindsor Facebook page: facebook.com/tsmwindsor Twitter feed: twitter.com/tsmwindsor Flickr photostream: flickr.com/tsmwindsor
Get involved! TSM is currently looking for writers, volunteers, photographers, copy-editors, distributers, editors, coordinators, and general members. To get involved, email us at movement@tsmwindsor.ca
Support Through Donations TSM is a not-for-profit organization and our printing is funded entirely through donations and fundraising. If you’d like to show your support through donations, you can email us at movement@tsmwindsor.ca or make a donation during one of our tabling sessions (watch our twitter for times and locations).
The panel had four speakers offering diverse perspectives to answer the question, “What can teachers do to combat homophobia, biphobia, transphobia and heterosexism in the classroom?” The panellists included Rachel Baker (a student
at Massey Secondary School), Heather Harvie (an anthropology major), Maaya Kuri Hitomi, (a graduate from Developmental Psychology) and Allison Elliott (a graduate from the Faculty of Education and a prominent SAGE member).
The afternoon workshop entitled, “Coming Out: What Should I Do If a Student Comes Out To Me?” provided teacher candidates with lesson plans and concrete strategies on how to support LGBTTTIQQ students who are in the process of coming out. It also created an open dialogue about classroom experiences amongst teachers. “Sometimes students face homophobia in their own homes because family members do not accept them,” said Allison Elliott. “Teachers need to be allies for LGBTQ students. These teachers might be the only safe person these students have.” The room almost reached capacity with approximately 40 people in attendance. The response was overwhelmingly positive through verbal feedback and organizers received constructive criticism in exit surveys. Some of the comments on the surveys were, “This workshop should be mandatory for all teacher candidates” and “I feel better equipped to help my students feel safe.”
In the National School Climate Survey, 70% of students who participated reported hearing homophobic slurs every day in school. What’s more disturbing is that the survey also reported that teachers would often ignore homophobic and transphobic slurs and sometimes even made such comments themselves.
“Teacher candidates need to come together to combat homophobia, sexism, racism, ableism, and transphobia,” said Alina McCrae, a key organizer in the SAGE Committee and a teacher candidate. “Every student has the right to feel safe at school, no matter who you are.”
Since the Social Justice Conference, the SAGE Committee has been invited to conduct the same workshop for DRED students and teacher candidates next year. If you’d like to gather a group to participate in a “Coming Out” workshop or would like more information about SAGE, please contact the committee at sagewindsor@yahoo.ca. For valuable teaching resources, you can also visit the tumblr at sageresources.tumblr.com.
SAGE volunteers at their International Women’s Day table in the CAW Centre. Photo by Tracy Huynh
Editorial: Is protesting mainstream?
By Walter Petrichyn
A couple of weeks ago there was a national day of action to reduce school tuition fees all across Canadian campuses. The University of Windsor event had a great turnout, which was accompanied police monitoring and a giant green water bottle puppet. This sparked a thought for me about the right to mobilize and the ability to freely speak in public: has the act of protesting gone mainstream? Another important question to support the predecessor: does that matter? Let’s just revisit last year and determine how our media framed individuals and their movements.
Submission Guidelines TSM usually doesn’t publish a print version during the summer, but if you can still submit an article for our website, The Arab spring ignited multiple nations to or start working on something for the September issue. eradicate the dominant-hegemonic dictatorships in hopes of institutionalizing more democratic Contact us at movement@tsmwindsor.ca for more info. Advertising Policy TSM provides free advertising for not-for-profit events and organizations, as well as paid advertising for ethical businesses. Please submit advertisements by the third Wednesday of the month. We reserve the right to refuse to advertise for an event, organization or business. For more information, visit tsmwindsor.ca/info or email us at movement@tsmwindsor.ca
These kinds of responses reveal that teacher candidates are recognizing the critical importance of developing strategies to support marginalized students who identify as LGBTTTIQQ.
representation in government. There were attempts at censorship when protestors would connect virtually to the world to share what was happening in that moment in time. The images are already iconic with the masses of repressed individuals that mobilized and resisted military forces for weeks. One by one, governments were influenced by the public demand. Sometimes this even led to some fatal occurrences (most casualties were citizens but also some governmental officials).
Front page skybox photos: left and middle by Ian Clough, right Months later North America experiences by Stan Moll. May Day photo by Ken Townsend. mobilization that we could have only experienced
though images and DIY-video recordings. Occupy Wall Street gave birth to mainstream public discourse in the 21st century, but it is important to note that this discourse was only accessible by alternative media outlets. Mainstream groups have their agenda to frame protestors in the way that retains their opinion as the dominant discourse. One certain comment to consider from OWS and the Arab Spring is the global discussion revolved around protesting and the policing roles our nations possess. For example, this phenomenon of grassroots awareness of social issues brought Windsor its own Occupy group that retained its solidarity with every other participating city or town.
The choice to discuss a public concern, in the public sphere, is a right and after last year we have all at least reconsidered what protesting can create and evolve into. Individuals that didn’t understand what OWS stood for understood what was happening, and these people are voicing their concerns in a public forum. The media can frame the event however they like, but regardless they will cover the issue. The act of protesting has definitely gone mainstream and that is great in terms of garnering public awareness for social concern and provoking discussion that doesn’t marginalize any groups or citizens.
The Student Movement | March/April 2012
Dr. Wildeman’s response to student participation
NEWS & EDITORIALS | 3
By Darryl Gallinger and Vajo Stajic
The Drummond Report
Put the well-being of all members of society, not private interests, at centre of social services reform By Enver Villamizar
Reforms which improve the quality and delivery of social programs are needed across Canada today. Social services affect the vast majority of society and particularly so for the increasing number of people, who through no fault of their own, are victims of the upheavals of our economy and economic crises. How the issue of social services is sorted out determines what kind of society we have today and the direction we are moving toward tomorrow. In Ontario, the Drummond Commission on the reform of public services,is recommending cuts to social services and dramatic restructuring to privatize the delivery of these public services. The report’s conclusion is that society cannot
afford the current level of social services we have nor what is required by the vast majority of people.
The report is actually a confession: the current economic and political system, which puts the private interests of monopolies ahead of the well-being of the working-class people, is a failure. Successive Ontario and Federal governments, in the name of being “open for business” cut corporate taxes and provide “incentives” to monopolize interests, yet claim there is no money for necessary social services. Afterward, these corporations who have benefited from government payments, make decisions which destroy Canada’s manufacturing base (e.g., closure of Electro-Motive Diesel in London). The governments say these are private
The One Big Union is coming to Windsor
By Vajo Stajic
The One Big Union is coming to Windsor! The Industrial Workers of the World (also known as the Wobblies or IWW) are actively working to organize a Windsor Branch. Founded in Chicago in 1905, the IWW was one of the first organizations to allow anyone to become a member. At a time when racism and segregation were common place, even in labour circles, the IWW actively organized women, immigrants, African Americans, migrant workers, and anyone else who wanted to join. The IWW believe in organizing by industry, as opposed to the more common method employed today of organizing by trade. So for instance, at the University of Windsor we have multiple different union locals representing several different unions on campus such as WUFA, CUPE, and the CAW. If the university was organized by the IWW they would all collectively fall under the Educational Workers Industrial Union (IU 620). This would have the obvious benefit of increased bargaining power, through strength in numbers.
In a world where workers are under increasing attack from global capital, we must create a united front as working people in order to oppose these attacks on our livelihood. Subdividing workers into multiple different unions no longer works. The unions are being picked off one at a time and are not able to respond effectively. What we need is one big union with the power to shutdown not just individual companies, but entire industries. We must let the people in power know that an injury to one is an injury to all and we must take a stand. Everything we have today was fought for,
bled for, by people a lot like us. I’m not talking about on distant battlefield but here in our own streets. The 8 hour day, living wages, safe working conditions, and the weekend; these things weren’t benevolent gifts from an enlightened management, they came from the struggles of workers trying to create a better future for their families. People today often attack unionized workers or workers on welfare by say “they’re trying to get a little something for nothing” but these safe people ignore the handful of people at the top who are getting a whole lot of something for doing nothing at all. The IWW is a member run union. We don’t have high paid union official, each workplace is organized by its workers, and it is the workers who make all decisions, and have complete autonomy in running the local. The IWW also organizes the workers, not the workplace which means even if you are the only member in your workplace, if you are in need of help we will use whatever tactics and resources are necessary in order to help you out. We follow the “solidarity unionism” method of organizing which means that instead of relying on government or employer recognition we organize all the workers on the job so they build solidarity amongst themselves. In this way, if something happens to one worker it happens to all. If you are interested in joining the IWW contact us at: windsoriww@gmail.com facebook.com/windsoriww or for more info go to www.iww.org
business matters out of their control and refuse to defend the public interest. Instead of taking measures to strengthen the economy, measures are being taken which exacerbate the crisis. We live in a modern world. The vast majority of people are dependent for their livelihood and well-being on highly industrialized, highly socialized economies. It is the wealth they produce which sustains the social services they require and to which they are entitled. Social services like education and health care must be universally accessible and guaranteed according to the standard that society is capable of providing -- not according to a bare minimum decided by private interests, while everything else is privatized.
The Drummond Report should be judged on whether it puts the well-being of the people at the centre of its concerns, not private interests. Drummond Report Recommendations for Post-Secondary Education First of all, when considering the Drummond Report’s recommendations as a whole, it is striking that Don Drummond, a banker, has been given the role of putting forward massive changes to Ontario’s system of public services. In
this way, private interests are being put in command of public decision making, while the people of Ontario are left as spectators hoping their sector isn’t hit too badly. Having important decisions such as the nature and provision of public services be decided by a banker put in charge by the Premier relegates the role of the Parliament, let alone the people of Ontario, to spectators in a process that affects the services they rely on. Who decides and how decisions are made on such important matters cannot be ignored. It is fundamental to determining whether the proposed changes are in the interests of the vast majority of the people.
Secondly, when it comes to the recommendations on post-secondary education, one has to ask why it isn’t the students, faculty and staff of this sector which are the ones setting the agenda and putting forward the type of system that is required. Surely those in the sector are the most qualified to suggest how it can be reform for the benefit of those in it. Summary of Recommendations: Full Report Can be Found Here:
http://www.fin.gov.on.ca/en/ reformcommission/chapters/appendix1. htm
JOIN MEAL EXCHANGE WINDSOR AND FEED SOCIAL CHANGE!
Meal Exchange Windsor is currently looking for motivated leaders with a desire to combat local poverty and educate others about food sustainability. The following positions are currently available for September 2012 - April 2013. COORDINATOR/DIRECTOR CO-COORDINATOR PROMOTIONS & EDUCATION MANAGER MANAGER OF HUMAN RESOURCES MANAGER OF DONATIONS & COMMUNITY OUTREACH MANAGER OF CAMPUS RELATIONS
Interested students may also have the opportunity to participate in the Esurio conference in Toronto that takes place in August. This conferences connects students with other food activists across the country and provides resources and training to help students run their Meal Exchange chapter on campus.
If you think you’ve got what it takes, please submit a resume and cover letter to windsor@mealexchange.com before April 30th explaining why you want to work with Meal Exchange and how you think you would benefit this organization. For more information about Meal Exchange, check out www.mealexchange.com or contact Lauren Quinn at windsor@mealexchange.com.
4 | GLOBAL
Editorial: Oppose false choices to justify wrecking public education
By Laura Chesnik
syphon more money out of the public treasury. This is already being done in the day care sector in various communities in Ontario for example.
Providing a high-quality public education system goes hand in hand with building a modern, innovative and forward-looking society. This is why teachEducation workers are being bullied by ers, support staff, administrators, trustthe province and certain media outlets ees, parents and students across Ontario in order to try to get them to accept false are concerned about what the McGuinty choices to cover up what is really taking government is up to. The recommendaplace. The bullying goes like this: accept tions in the Drummond Report, as well bigger class sizes, fewer supports and as the appointment of retired Justice cuts to your pensions, wages and benJames Farley to lead negotiations with efits in order to help save the province education workers from economic ruin. In indicate that the Mcthis way we are being The millions McGuinty Guinty government is told to choose between hopes to remove from setting the stage for our well-being and that an assault on the pub- public education through of our students, our lic education system. negotiations and new communities, and the province. This is a false legislation will not go to choice. Firstly, our wellMany are rightfully angered by these de- benefit the students of being is inseparable velopments. Before from that of our stuOntario, their families the Ontario election, dents and our communinor their communities McGuinty tried to ties. Secondly, how can paint Hudak as a harming the well-being disciple of Mike Harris, while he himself of the people of Ontario benefit the provrepresented a “kinder, gentler” Ontario. ince? The condition for the well-being Now, we can see that McGuinty is follow- of the province is the well-being of its ing the same direction as Harris: attack people, especially its youth. We in the the wages and working conditions of education sector are at the forefront of those in the public sector by claiming proposing reforms to improve the qualthat this is necessary to make the system ity and effectiveness of the education “sustainable.” system; however, we won’t accept false choices in order to impose an agenda The millions McGuinty hopes to remove that will harm our interests and those from public education through negotiaof our students and the communities in tions and new legislation will not go to which we live. benefit the students of Ontario, their families nor their communities. It will go into the nests of the international financial vultures represented by Don Drummond who hold Ontario’s debt and deficit. A debt and deficit that was incurred by the McGuinty government and the Harris/Eves government before it, through pay-the-rich schemes. These schemes have handed billions of Ontario’s social product to international monopolies operating in Ontario through “incentives,” tax cuts, and various bailout schemes. These monopolies also hope that more underfunding of the public education system can be used to present privatization as a solution and thereby
Education workers do not accept that the public education system should be undermined so the economy can be used to keep paying the rich. Our experience with the McGuinty government shows that we should be our own saviours, rather than hoping this or that political party in the legislature will protect the education system everyone relies on. It is up to us, alongside the other workers in Ontario and everyone else who can be won over, to do it ourselves. Laura Chesnik is an elementary teacher in Windsor, Ontario. This piece has been reprinted from cpcml.ca
The Student Movement | March/April 2012
Teacher candidates participate in the 2012 Social Justice Conference
By Lauren Quinn
On Friday, March 9th from 8:30am to 5:00pm Education students participated in the 5th annual Social Justice Conference. Approximately 200 students attended the conference as well as respected members from the community. Faculty of Education students were able to choose from two presentations in the morning, scan the 3rd floor for the diversity exhibit from 12:00pm-1:00pm and then interact with other students in a cafe style workshop from 1:00pm3:00pm, where they shared lesson plans and classroom resources from the social justice groups that presented in the morning.
Some of the topics that were addressed included LGBTTTIQQ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, transexual, twospirited, intersex, queer, questioning) rights, bullying awareness, global education and the rights of students with disAbilities. Presenters from the Greater Essex County District School Board, former and current faculty of education
Women’s Day Continued from front page.
Of particular note were examples taken from Thunder’s adbusting workshop with young girls who were “busting” American Apparel ads. The examples she showed had half-naked models dressed with drawn on sweaters and pants, speech bubbles asking “Are you selling my pants or my chest?”
Thunder was also a guest on CJAM’s feminist spoken word show, Milk and Vodka on Monday, March 5th. To listen to the podcast, visit cjam.ca. You can follow Jennie Thunder @JennieThunder on Twitter. Her blog “Yeah, what she said,” can be found at womensradiocalgary. blogspot.com. International Women’s Day events
On the official International Women’s Day, the Womyn’s Centre hosted a series of events starting with a festival promoting different organizations and activities. Some organizations included Border City Brawlers, CJAM 99.1FM, Hiatus House, Sexuality And Gender
students and social justice advocates from within Windsor and outside areas provided valuable insight to teacher candidates on how to become more critical of social justice issues. Some of the presentations were developed by Faculty of Education students in the classes of Language & Cultural Engagement, Urban Education, Ecology and Wellness, Issues, English Language Learners, and LEAD (Leadership Experience for Academic Direction). Karen Roland, a Faculty of Education professor who organizes the conference annually and assists the Social Justice Representative is particularly interested in the chosen theme this year. “I think the theme, ‘Teacher as Agent of Change’ speaks loudly to the purpose of the conference to inspire our teacher candidates in the commitment to become social justice educators.” If you would like more information about this year’s social justice conference, or would like to assist next year, you can contact Karen Roland at roland1@uwindsor.ca Education, Student Health Services, Bulimia Anorexia Nervosa Association, Windsor Feminist Theatre, and several others. TSM also tabled, distributing copies of our newspaper, as well as buttons and posters promoting women’s reproductive rights and stopping violence against women. Any leftover material was donated to the Womyn’s Centre.
During the day, there were several fitness classes, including a belly-dancing class. Various derby girls zipped by on roller-skates while people from a wealth of backgrounds came together to celebrate women’s rights and womenoriented activities.
Evening festivities included a presentation guest speaker, the recipient of the Governor’s General Award of Excellence in Teaching, Shantelle Browning-Morgan. There were other performances such as monologues, traditional dances from various cultures, and singing. Overall, it was a successful event with a great turn out.
Occupy Windsor protests voter suppression By Ian Clough
On Sunday, March 11th, about 40 Windsorites gathered in Charles Clark Square to denounce the robocall scandal and the alleged voter suppression. The short rally was followed by a march through downtown and concluded at the Tower of Freedom monument. Many chants of “Stop Harper!” echoed off surrounding buildings.
This was the first action organized by Occupy Windsor (OW) since the December 17th “Occupy the Future” rally. So far in 2012, OW has been focused on internal discussions of consensus decision-making and other issues, though people from the movement have participated in the day of action to support Electromotive workers in January, the February day of action for education, and various other actions.
At the Tower of Freedom, several people made speeches about the need for political participation by average citizens, the attacks on democracy by the Conservative government, and the hopes that this rally will be the first of many leading to a “Canadian Spring.” OW had three demands which they ratified before the march: an immediate criminal investigation; full accountability, including up to the Prime Minister’s office and the impeachment of Harper himself; and either dissolution of government or new by-elections in each affected riding. The OW protest was part of a series of demonstrations across the country. The demands ratified were plagiarized from Occupy Toronto’s demands.
Occupy Windsor participants and supporters march down park street on March 11th. Photo by Ian Clough
The Student Movement | March/April 2012
Free trade is never free
GLOBAL | 5
A look at a new free trade agreement between Canada and Europe
By Ian Clough
Despite growing opposition to free trade, the Harper Government continues to negotiate a new free trade agreement (FTA) between Canada and the European Union (EU): the Comprehensive and Economic Trade Agreement or CETA. Compared to other FTAs, CETA is not widely known. The Conservatives have been negotiating CETA in secret and it has not received widespread media attention. Much of what people know about CETA is from “the Europeans themselves, who are very open about their demands, and through a now dated leaked draft of the text,” said Maude Barlow in a rabble.ca article titled “CETA: A threat to local democracy.” Like the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), CETA will remove restrictions on foreign corporations and allow them to bid on government contracts. One of the key differences with CETA is that it will allow European corporations to bid on municipal contracts as well: other FTAs did not extend to municipal governments.
CETA also extends to services and utilities left out of previous FTAs. “European corporations want to sell Canadians the services we now receive publicly, services such as health care, education, water and mail delivery, and CETA will give these private companies the right to bid on government tenders for goods
and services including schools, hospitals, airports, public transit, ports, and hydro projects to name just a few,” Barlow said in the same article. Many people are particularly concerned about the privatization of our water services. According to the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) website, “Canada and the provinces have failed to protect drinking water and wastewater services from trade rules that, in the current context, would encourage and lock in privatization.” Privatization means that governments (and the people who vote for them, if you believe in representative democracy) have less control over public services. The fact that the corporations that are being outsourced to are based in foreign countries with different laws further compounds these complications.
vices. Like us, they will lose democratic control of many important utilities.
Under FTAs, there are provisions that force governments to ignore additional, local benefits that a particular company may be offering (these are called “offsets”). In a paper from the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA) from June 2011, Scott Sinclair explains “If a prospective supplier offers to train local workers, transfer technology, make investments in the community or source a portion of goods and services locally, governments would not be permitted to even consider this in the procurement decision!” As of now, Canada already has a significant trade deficit with the EU, meaning
we import or buy much more from the EU than we export or sell to them. Under CETA, “Canadian imports (of both goods and services) from the EU will increase by twice as much as Canadian exports to the EU, resulting in a substantial widening of the existing bilateral trade deficit,” according to another CCPA paper titled “Out of Equilibrium” by Jim Stanford. Stanford goes on to say that “there is no historical basis to conclude that free trade agreements are good for either Canadian exports, or for Canadian trade balances.” Continued on page 10.
The European peoples will also be at the mercy of Canadian monopolies privatizing their public ser-
NDP member introduces shark fin ban
By Catherine Owen Shark finning, the practice of removing fins from live sharks and then discarding the rest of the fish, is something many would like to see stop. Fin Donnelly, the federal NDP fisheries and oceans critic from British Columbia, is one of those people. He has introduced a private member’s bill that would ban the importing of shark fins in Canada. Mr. Donnelly’s interest started when he read a report summary by the International Programme on the State of the Oceans that came out last year. The full report has yet to be released. The news was not encouraging for a number of reasons. One alarming trend is the rapid decline of ocean predators such as sharks. Some of these species have become critically endangered. These predators are essential for maintaining healthy ocean ecosystems.
Up to 73 million sharks are killed each year and while China remains the largest consumer of shark fins,Canada imports approximately 77,000 kilograms of shark fins. Shark fins are already banned from sale in Toronto, Mississauga, Oakville, Brantford and Pickering, but debate about the fairness and the legality of the municipalities ban on a legally imported product is increasing. While not all shark species are endangered, Mr. Donnelly stated that shark finning is putting all species of shark at risk. Furthermore, it is difficult to tell just by the fin what kind of shark it is. The second reading of the bill is expected to take place this fall. The NDP
member is busy developing support for the bill. He has a petition on his website, and is encouraging supporters to write letters and meet with their MPs. A free vote would be essential to allow it to pass. He feels it definitely is possible. Polls in BC have shown that the majority of the province’s citizens agree with implementing a ban on the importation of shark fins. Mr. Donnelly’s hope is that Canada would be a leader on this issue. If the United States and Europe pass similar legislation, it would lead to greater pressure on China. Dan MacDonald, spokesperson for the Windsor Animal Action Group, thinks the proposed legislation is a great way for Canada to lead by example. He states that due to the shark finning, “The shark population cannot recover.” He points out that besides the fin – which can range up to $400 a pound – shark meat itself is of low economic value. He thinks that restaurants that discontinue selling shark fin soup would attract new customers.
Carly Wong, owner of the Jade Restaurant in Windsor Ontario is largely concerned with the fairness of the proposed legislation. That is, because shark fin soup is a traditional delicacy, and is therefore expected to be on the menu, a selectively implemented ban may damage business – it should be federal to ensure that it is fair for restaurants.
Occupy Windsor protests CETA in October 2011. Photo by Ian Clough
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You are ready to take social action. You can have impact in Canada and influence global change but how? Did you know one of the greatest leadership opportunities on this campus lies right in front of you? Engineers Without Borders (EWB) is seeking people for various leadership and executive roles for the upcoming academic year. Students from any program are welcome to apply, and must be returning to the University in the fall for a full academic year.
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EWB has quickly become a role model and a trend setter in the international development world. With almost 40 chapters across Canada, each with their own networks, EWB is a movement of motivated and intelligent change agents in addition to being a great organization. Volunteering for EWB can be an incredibly rewarding experience. As an organization one of our values is investing in people. If you invest in our chapter you will be given the opportunity to really grow and develop new skill sets both in your work in Windsor and by attending conferences and/or retreats. Much more information can be found on our website uwindsor.ewb.ca including links to the national websites. You can also check out our Facebook page at facebook.com/ewbwindsor Thank You
6 | TSM: THEN & NOW
The Student Movement | March/April 2012
The Student Movement Past, Present, and Future
From Issue 1 of The Student Movement, March 2010: Why now?
A TSM meeting in the CAW commons, circa 2009/10
We feel that changes are being made at our university that are not in students, faculty and staffs’ interests. As the Federal government is currently prorogued, the Prime Minister has announced that when Parliament returns, it will be to “balance budgets” at all levels of government. Of course, we are not against or for balancing budgets; however, given the millions of tax dollars that were used for the government’s so-called “Economic Action Plan,” do they now mean that new rounds of cuts to social programs will be carried out in order to pay for it?
The Provincial government which is constitutionally responsible for the administration and funding of our education system may also announce significant cuts in our social programs. Ultimately, our university administration will be put in a position to further increase fees, cut back in programs and focus program directions towards getting private monies. In other words, the members of our campus community, students, faculty and staff all have a stake in what is taking place—yet, we are not included in the decision making. Instead, as students, we are viewed as tuition paying units who should simply be happy we got accepted to university. We do not accept this situation. Students, faculty and staff are the lifeblood of the university and should have a say so in what happens at the federal, provincial, municipal and campus level. We want campus empowerment and political discussion on what is taking place so that we can defend our interests under the circumstances. This pamphlet is aimed at building that empowerment and discussion in order to mobilize our campus to resist any increases in fees, or restructuring which doesn’t serve the interests of our campus community. We invite everyone to help us get the word out and build this movement. Please send us your comments, views and any important news so that we can keep growing! Signed,
Editorial Committee The Student Movement
Lauren Quinn Founding Member & Former Editor My experience with “the student movement” started one year before The Student Movement newspaper even existed. The phrase, “the student movement” can refer to the newspaper, but it actually has loaded significance as a movement that is made up of students across the world demanding accessible and afford-
able education for all. The ink that writes the words you’re reading now, the flimsy newspaper pages and a TSM logo does not drive “the student movement;” it’s the ideas and passion from the power of people and will continue to exist when this newspaper stops being printed. The other creators of the newspaper and I met in September 2008, when we came together demanding that the qual-
ity of our education be made a priority. This came at a time when classes were interrupted because the faculty was forced to strike. After the administration failed to attend a public meeting to address students’ concerns, a group of about 15 of us decided to occupy Chrysler Hall Tower where the administration’s offices are situated. We demanded that the bargaining talks begin again so that the strike could end quickly and classes could resume. We declared that we would not leave the tower until the strike ended. Most of us had never even met each other before the occupation, but we came together with a common goal.
out on important viewpoints. As student leaders, we were eager to get students involved in the decisions made on their behalf and hoped to push them to express their opinions on the issues and take action to determine their own affairs. The media has often been more of a hindrance than a help. Walter Petrichyn Arts Contributer & Former Editor
I joined The Student Movement at an interesting time. We had never printed on newsprint before, but the group used to distribute a series of monthly newsletters. I have been aware of the group for their campus political movements, but that is only one perspective of the organization.
Following the strike, we realized that the campus had been depoliticized for years and saw a need to create a space where students could have a critical dialogue about the hidden barriers Distributing TSM on campus, September 2011 affecting the quality of our education. The newspa- Ian Clough Founding Member & Current Editor per that students, faculty and community members have come to know throughout What I attribute most to TSM is empowthe years was originally a “pamphlet” and erment. Politics is often presented as was about 1/6 of the size it is now. The this private club where you have to be paper itself has grown, which possibly a “politician” to participate, where you mirrors our own personal growth as achave to have money to run a campaign, tivists and writers for the newspaper. or the right background and connections. This is true even on campus: Darryl Gallinger people are told that if they want to be Founding Member & Current Treasurer involved, they should run in UWSA elecThe Student Movement first started as tions (in my opinion, nothing more than two 8”x11” pages stapled together by a a popularity contest). few students who saw a serious problem TSM has broken that myth. We’re with the status quo in media. Serious all regular students who wanted to decisions made by the university with see change and created a medium to a major impact to students and major communicate important information to events were passing by mostly unnoticed. Those decisions that were covered students. We organize forums, pressure administration, and hold rallies, all by the local media featured only one without being “official.” The newspaper perspective on the issue, often missing
Windsor May Day rally, 2011. Photo by Ken Townsend
The Student Movement | March/April 2012 Solidarity march with locked-out postal workers, organized by TSM. Photo by Ken Townsend, July 2011
has grown to become one of the most respected publications on campus, and it started by us pooling together money to photocopy a four page newsletter! Walter
Back in preparation for the first TSM on newsprint, we were discussing how to advertise ourselves to the public. Our most iconic image is the raised fist holding a pencil, and we have that image with our name on stickers, bandanas, and pins. It is understandable that this newspaper may get coined as an anti-establishment voice. However, we need to keep in mind that protesting is one medium that we practice. It is the most natural and innate response to municipal, provincial, and national issues, but there are other ways to voice concerns for those who don’t associate themselves as activists.
politics to world issues to sports. Darryl
But writing wasn’t enough. We couldn’t sit passively on the sidelines passing on our observations to others. So we involved ourselves by starting or participating in discussions and events. If we wrote about an issue then we would follow up on it with the president at the public town halls he held, and then report back to the students on what he said. We created a website, and put up video of events important to students (such as Dr. Wildeman’s town hall Q&A, or the UWSA Annual General Meeting) which, for some reason, no other source had.
will to make change. Darryl
People sat up and took notice. They liked our cartoons, which broke down complex issues and injected some humour into them. Students started talking about what we wrote, and began writing in about what they experienced in their faculties. We received the financial support we needed from several organizations to produce a bigger paper on newsprint, and circulation increased to the point that we could expand into the downtown core and onto St. Clair’s main campus. Ken Ternoey Part-time student and supporter
What does TSM mean to me? A lot! The general masses of students are here at the university to get certified—i.e. a degree that is expected to result in a better than average job that is challenging and rewarding although not always highly paid. TSM volunteers are trying to better society by making the masses aware of the many controversial
Darryl
We decided to start our own medium. We would cover the boring Senate meetings where programs could very suddenly be axed, or where private corporations like Study Group International would try to move in to “help” our university. We would draw attention to the incredible events and campaigns that students put together on campus. Ian
We have taken the power into our own hands. We don’t rely on the mainstream media to present our message: we tell it ourselves. We do not compromise our message, nor our values. The newspaper has always strove to discover the truth and fight for student interests. Walter
As a former editor of TSM, I was part of a team that reviewed all the stories that went into the monthly publication. What I mentioned before about raising public concerns in non-protest formats includes writing into a grassroots publication like TSM. I contributed mostly arts content to the paper every month, but also shared the responsibility to look over content ranging from
TSM reporters at the Toronto G20 protests, June 2010 Walter
I also want to say that there is no individual voice in an organization like this. Essentially, TSM is like a massive movement or protest, but the medium has shifted. Protesting may never universally be condoned by mainstream thinkers, but it’s important for it’s contribution to fair representation and enacting our rights as a democratic society. I give my thanks to The Student Movement for redefining the media’s perspective of protesting, and for providing me the platform to become a better thinker and writer. Ian
Every member of TSM joined as normal students. We were not elected and did not sit on any councils or boards (although some of us ran in elections or joined organizations later). We’re all regular students collectively working for student interests. To participate, you don’t need money, don’t need to be elected, don’t have to know any of us: all you need is a
Students protesting a Board of Governors meeting. March 2009
social conditions that exist today. This subject ought to be a mandatory course of study to help students become more aware of the world as it is willed by the few, the powerful, the greedy, and the bored. It is important for young graduates to be aware of social conditions that are far from ideal and often downright despicable. TSM does not outright promote community but the issues are about community. TSM sows the seeds of a different perspective, a goal to equality among so many different individuals. This can never be wrong or evil. One day the social emphasis will
TSM: THEN & NOW | 7
perhaps focus to some degree on justice because of a small group of forward thinkers who are today The Student Movement. Ian
The community supported us from the beginning. We’ve always had funds and photocopies from multiple donors: that way, if we pissed off one, we’d be able to continue. But it has never come to that. Even when our supporters don’t agree with our content, they respect us and continue to support us as we strive to give students across campus a venue to have their voices heard. Thank you. Thank you to all our supporters, to those unions, organizations, and individuals who donated their money or made copies. Thank you to every person who submitted letters, articles, and pictures. And thank you to everyone who read the newspaper, who talked about it, and passed it along to their friends. Darryl
Most of the newspaper’s staff, which is all volunteer-based, just as our paper is funded entirely by donations, will be moving on. The critical and unique perspective which brought buried issues to the forefront of campus discussion will go along with it, unless students decide there is a need for such a thing and decide to keep that perspective alive themselves. Whether you choose to do so through continuing TSM, by starting your own media, or through a different project entirely, many of TSM’s former staff would be willing to provide a bit of support and guidance to help you get such a thing off the ground.
I hope you enjoyed reading TSM as much as I enjoyed producing it. Lauren
In terms of my own experiences with student activism, the most pertinent lesson I learned was that anyone can participate in politics and make change. A huge misconception is that only those with official titles have the ability or the right to be political. Social change is not about titles, it’s not about money and it’s not about resources. It’s about people with passion, ideas, strength and a desire for democracy. If you possess these traits, then you are The Student Movement.
Want to join The Student Movement?
Contact us at movement@tsmwindsor.ca
TSM members and other students talking to Dr. Wildeman after a studentorganized forum on education, November 2009. Photo by Ken Townsend
8 | ARTS
The Student Movement | March/April 2012
Arts
Meal Exchange Windsor presents “disComfort Food” Art Exhibit: Challenging Food Systems
By Lauren Quinn and Nicole Beuglet Meal Exchange Executives
Artist Resale Right: Alternative legislation to decrease poverty in the arts
By Michael DiRisio
A recent talk given by Kristain Clarke, the Executive Director of CARFAC (Canadian Artists’ Representation/le Front des artistes canadiens) Ontario, at the University of Windsor focused on the current political pressure to have Canada develop an Artist Resale Right (ARR). An ARR makes it mandatory to pay the original artist a percentage of the profit gained from the resale of their work, when the resale is between collectors, galleries, or other art institutions. CARFAC argues that this money would greatly assist Canadian artists, many of whom live below the poverty line and struggle to make ends meet. France was the first to develop an ARR in 1920, which they have termed the droit de suite, and similar legislation has since been adopted by 58 other countries. It
was created in France in response to a situation involving the impoverished family of the realist painter JeanFrançois Millet, and a purchase of his painting Angélus. The painting, which he completed in the mid 19th century, was famously sold between non-family owners who reaped substantial profits while Millet’s family lived in severe poverty, an event that caused significant controversy in France. Even today, this situation is not uncommon. In fact, CARFAC cites statistics which state that, based on the 2006 census, the average artist’s annual income was $13,976. Continued on page 10.
When you take a bite of your food, do you ever think about how long it took to travel to where you’re living? Do you consider that the greens you eat might have been picked and prepared by farmers working in extremely oppressive conditions? Do you think about how long people have to search to find a healthy, economically reasonable, vegan dish in the local area? With the expansion of free trade and globalization, the environmental, health and ethical costs situated around food have become a growing concern for food activists around the world. The popularity of the movie Food Inc., introduced people in mainstream culture to some of the horrors and realities of the food we eat. One topic it addresses is the style of factory farming in which workers are exploited and farmers are indebted to corporate powers. Farmers are forced to take out excessive loans to run their farms while making low salaries. Farmers are also forced to adhere to the unethical practices that the corporations dictate because of the setup of the current food system. Carole Morison, a Perdue Farmer
stated, “To have no say in your business is degrading and it’s like being a slave to the company.” Oppressive working conditions highlights only one major problem in the food industry. Food poverty is also becoming an increasing issue for communities, such as Windsor which experiences high levels of unemployment. According to The Windsor-Essex County
Community Food Matters Forum of 2010, unemployment rates in Windsor have been consistently over 10% since 2007 and 10% of the population lives in low income or below the poverty line. People living in Windsor rely heavily on food banks as a source of sustenance.
The study also stated that between 2006 and 2009 food bank usage increased 242%, with 235,000 visits to food banks in 2009 alone. This is troubling for Windsor, a relatively small city that is surrounded by farm lands. Despite community members’ need for food only 0.5% of what is processed locally is consumed by people living in the area as farms are predominately owned by large corporations. Continued on page 10.
Live Music in Windsor - March/April
Friday, March 23 Women in the Arts: Mary Ann Mulhern & Crissi Cochrane Poetry & Music Taloola Café 8pm Windsor Symphony Orchestra: Haydn’s Drumroll Symphony Assumption Chapel U of Windsor 7pm
Nefidovs ADHD Valerie Page Ghetto Blaster Dominion House 9pm Jerzey Ficon Matteo Pepe Boom Boom Room
Saturday, March 24 Father Head (Toronto) Phog Lounge 10pm Wooden Sky Daniel Romano James O-L & The Villains FM Lounge 10pm
Allison Brown & Chris Crossroads Taloola Café 9pm Sunday, March 25 Rococode (Vancouver) Sea and Air (Germany) Benjamn Winter (San Francisco) Phog Lounge 10pm Monday, March 26 Open Mic Surgery w/ James O-L Phog Lounge 10pm Open Mic w/ Clinton Hammond Manchester Pub 10pm
Tuesday, March 27 V.O.M.I.T. Night Villains Open Mic & Instrumental Talent w/ Eric Welton Band Villains Beastro 10pm Jamie Reaume’s Tuesday Night Music Club Manchester Pub 9pm
Open Mic w/ Alec Lauziere Dominion House 9pm Dekadens (UK) Téa (Vancouver) Phog Lounge 10pm
Wednesday, March 28
Live Music w/ Dusty Manchester Pub 10pm Chris Barrette The Dugout 10pm
P.U.K.E People Using Karaoke Equipment Villains Beastro 10pm Comic Book Syndicate filming Phog Lounge 10pm
Bright Lights Social Hour The Glow Simantix Dominion House 8pm Thursday, March 29 Vice Aerial Manchester Pub 9pm Mellow Shelf The Dugout, 10pm The Milkmen FM Lounge 10pm
Casa’s Thursday Open Mic Comedy Night Casa’s Restaurant & Night Club
Friday, March 30 The Tequila Mockingbird Orchestra Phog Lounge 10pm Tony Coates Taloola Café 8pm
10,000 Witnesses Clutch Tribute Venue Rock Parlor 9pm Paint Katlina & the Gracious Bleach State of Us Milk Coffee Bar 9pm Saturday, March 31 The Tyres ASK Bella Clava Phog Lounge 10pm Darjeeling Fashion Show Taloola Café 9pm
The Unsettlers Locusts Have No King FM Lounge 9pm
Meters to Miles Video Release Party Villains Beastro 10pm Monday, April 2 Open Mic Surgery w/ James O-L Phog Lounge 10pm
Open Mic w/ Clinton Hammond Manchester Pub 10pm Tuesday, April 3 V.O.M.I.T. Night Villains Open Mic & Instrumental Talent w/ Eric Welton Band Villains Beastro 10pm
Jamie Reaume’s Tuesday Night Music Club Manchester Pub 9pm
Open Mic w/ Alec Lauziere Dominion House 9pm Wednesday, April 4 Live Music w/ Dusty Manchester Pub 10pm Chris Barrette The Dugout 10pm
P.U.K.E People Using Karaoke Equipment Villains Beastro
Thursday, April 5 Vice Aerial Manchester Pub 9pm Mellow Shelf The Dugout 10pm Ten Second Epic The Dangerous Summer Brighter Brightest The Room 6pm
Friday, April 6 Vaughn Beneteaus FM Lounge 10pm
Saturday, April 7 The Jammies CJAM Awards FM Lounge 10pm
Monday, April 9 Open Mic Surgery w/ James O-L Phog Lounge 10pm
Open Mic w/ Clinton Hammond Manchester Pub 10pm
Tuesday, April 10 V.O.M.I.T. Night Villains Open Mic & Instrumental Talent w/ Eric Welton Band Villains Beastro 10pm
Tuesday, April 17 V.O.M.I.T. Night Villains Open Mic & Instrumental Talent w/ Eric Welton Band Villains Beastro 10pm
Open Mic w/ Clinton Hammond Manchester Pub 10pm
Open Mic w/ Alec Lauziere Dominion House 9pm
Open Mic w/ Alec Lauziere Dominion House 9pm
Jamie Reaume’s Tuesday Night Music Club Manchester Pub 9pm
Jamie Reaume’s Tuesday Night Music Club Manchester Pub 9pm
Wednesday, April 11 Live Music w/ Dusty Manchester Pub 10pm Chris Barrette The Dugout 10pm
P.U.K.E People Using Karaoke Equipment Villains Beastro
Thursday, April 12 Vice Aerial Manchester Pub 9pm Mellow Shelf The Dugout 10pm Friday, April 13 Sloan The Loop 8pm
Gerry Griffin & Heather Houston Taloola Café 8pm
Monday, April 16 Open Mic Surgery w/ James O-L Phog Lounge 10pm
Open Mic w/ Clinton Hammond Manchester Pub 10pm
Jamie Reaume’s Tuesday Night Music Club Manchester Pub 9pm
Wednesday, April 18 Live Music w/ Dusty Manchester Pub 10pm Chris Barrette The Dugout 10pm
P.U.K.E People Using Karaoke Equipment Villains Beastro Frontiers The Blue Stones Raised by Weeds FM Lounge 10pm
Thursday, April 19 Vice Aerial Manchester Pub 9pm Mellow Shelf The Dugout 10pm
Friday, April 20 The Star Trek Project FM Lounge 10pm Sara Fontaine Taloola Café 8pm
Saturday, April 21 FURS Taloola Café 9pm
Monday, April 23 Open Mic Surgery w/ James O-L Phog Lounge 10pm
Tuesday, April 24 V.O.M.I.T. Night Villains Open Mic & Instrumental Talent w/ Eric Welton Band Villains Beastro 10pm
Open Mic w/ Alec Lauziere Dominion House 9pm Wednesday, April 25 Live Music w/ Dusty Manchester Pub 10pm Chris Barrette The Dugout 10pm
P.U.K.E People Using Karaoke Equipment Villains Beastro
Thursday, April 26 Vice Aerial Manchester Pub 9pm Mellow Shelf The Dugout 10pm Friday, April 27 The Stig Leah Harris Tony Coates FM Lounge 10pm Erin Gignac Taloola Café 8pm
Saturday, April 28 Myskow Family Musyk Taloola Café 9pm
The Student Movement | March/April 2012
Jeremy Lin and ESPN’s ‘Accidental’ Racism
By Dave Zirin
The spectacular New York Knicks point guard Jeremy Lin just made more headlines by leading his team to victory over the defending champion Dallas Mavericks, with twenty-eight points and a career-high fourteen assists. But that’s not the only reason Lin is in the news. Outrage erupted when ESPN’s website posted a headline about the NBA’s first American player of Chinese origin that read, “Chink in the Armor.” Seriously. An ESPN anchor previously used the same phrase in an interview with Knicks Hall of Fame guard Walt Frazier and it had also been uttered on ESPN radio. But the webpage was captured and the frozen image went viral.
ESPN quickly posted a statement as bloodless as it was insufficient, which read: “Last night, ESPN.com’s mobile website posted an offensive headline referencing Jeremy Lin at 2:30 am ET. The headline was removed at 3:05 am ET. We are conducting a complete review of our cross-platform editorial procedures and are determining appropriate disciplinary action to ensure this does not happen again. We regret and apologize for this mistake.” Then they told the media that this would be their only comment on the matter. After outrage ensued, this was followed by another statement that the headline writer has been fired and the anchor has been suspended for thirty days.
There are only two conclusions one can draw from all of this. Either ESPN has a group of stone racists sitting at the SportsCenter Desk, hosting their radio shows and writing headlines (doubtful), or they have no anti-racist mental apparatus for how to talk about an Asian-American player. As a result we see again that people of Asian descent are subject to a casual racism that other ethnic groups don’t have to suffer quite as starkly.
No one at ESPN would talk or write about a lesbian athlete and unconsciously put forth that the woman in question would have a “finger in the dike.” If an African-American player was thought of as stingy, it’s doubtful that anyone at ESPN would describe that person as “niggardly.” They would never brand a member of a football team as a “Redskin” (wait, scratch that last one.) They wouldn’t do it because a mental synapse would spark to life and signal their brain that in 2012, unless you’re speaking at CPAC, that’s just not OK. This collective synapse was forged by mass movements for black and LGBT liberation in this country that have forced a lot of people, particularly white straight men, to have a clue. There simply hasn’t been a similar national struggle built by people of Asian descent. I spoke about this with William Wong, long-time journalist born and raised in Oakland’s
UK labor leader threatens strikes during the London Olympics
By Dave Zirin
If you were part of the 99 percent in the United Kingdom, you’d be forgiven for being somewhat befuddled at the moment. Deep spending cuts, austerity and privatization plans are the political agenda in Parliament, yet the country also is preparing full-blast for a little trifle called the Olympic Games. The games’ price tag has exploded from $3.7 billion to more than $14.5 billion (US dollars). In addition, there will be at least 13,500 British troops in the UK for the Olympics, more than are stationed in Afghanistan. Beyond the numbers of official troops, there will be at least 10,000 private guards and contractors. The esteemed Royal Navy’s largest battleship will be docked in Greenwich, to safeguard the equestrian events. Bomb-disposal units, helicopters, fighter jets and ground-to-air missiles will also be on standby. Welcome to “conservative” governance in the twenty-first century: a militarized, budget busting, carnival of neoliberalism disguised as sport. Len McCluskey, the leader of the country’s largest union, Unite, has looked at this state of affairs and raised the spectre of strike-action during the Olympics. McCluskey, in an interview with the Guardian said that the attacks on public sector workers were “so deep and ideological” that they had every right to target the games. He said, “The idea the world should arrive in London and have these wonderful Olympic Games as though everything is nice and rosy in the garden is unthinkable. Our very way of life is being attacked. By then, this crazy health and social care bill may have been passed, so we are looking at the privatization of our National Health Service. I believe the unions, and the general community, have got every right to be out protesting.”
SPORTS | 9
Sports
Chinatown, and he said, “We haven’t had a national mass Asian-American civil rights movement because our numbers have been small and diffuse thanks to various exclusionary and discriminatory laws. Our communities are also too diverse in terms of American history and intra-Asian cultural and political differences. But we should note that many Asian-Americans in the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s were energized by the larger civil rights movement to organize an Asian-American movement in states like California, Washington and New York where we had the numbers to come together.”
This is true. In places with concentrations of people willing to stand up, Asian-Americans have come together across differences of language and origin to demand respect and equal rights, often in the face of terrible violence. The question is, what happens now. We have seen everyone with a media profile trying to grab a little bit of Jeremy Lin’s shine. Sarah Palin is posing with Linsanity shirts. The cringe-inducing David Brooks is writing unreadable columns about what Lin “represents.” Every sports/culture/political writer wants
to have their say and bask in Lin’s glow. Let’s see if people rushing to stand with Jeremy Lin will stand up for him as well.
If one good thing comes out of this, maybe sportswriters can stop saying that they don’t think the issues of race and ethnicity have anything to do with Lin’s emergent celebrity. Of course it does. That’s why the hate is so ugly and supporters are so fiercely protective of his seat at the NBA table. The very kind of casual racism Lin has faced—the antiAsian Twitter jokes, the Yellow Mamba signs, the mock Chinese talk, the catcalls from people attending the games—is something every single Asian-American has experienced at one time or another. That it happens at all is a sad fact; that ESPN is now in a position of having to apologize for something which never should have happened shows just how far we have to go.
Dave Zirin is the author of the book: “Welcome to the Terrordome: The Pain, Politics and Promise of Sports” (Haymarket). You can receive his column Edge of Sports, every week by going to edgeofsports.com
McCluskey also urged the public to engage in “all forms of civil disobedience within the law.”
Labour Party leader Ed Miliband set a land-speed record for throwing the union under the bus, tweeting, “Any threat to the Olympics is totally unacceptable and wrong. This is a celebration for the whole country and must not be disrupted.” Miliband’s response shouldn’t be shocking. It was Labour Party leaders Tony Blair and former London Mayor Ken Livingstone who secured the Olympics as part of their Cool Brittania initiative. Blair is now disgraced. Livingstone was voted out, yet the Games remain.
Following Miliband’s case of the shakes, all political parties are falling over themselves to condemn McCluskey’s remarks. Tory Prime Minister David Cameron twisted the knife.“Unite is the single biggest donor to the party opposite [Labour], providing around a third of their money, and had more role than anybody else in putting the right honourable gentleman [Miliband] in his place,” he said. “It’s not good enough for them just to put out a tweet. They need to condemn this utterly and start turning back the money.” A spokesman for Cameron further called the threats “unacceptable and unpatriotic.” Conservative leaders aren’t just talking. They have been trying to pass anti-strike legislation, to fine and imprison workers involved in any work stoppages. Current London Mayor Boris Johnson wants a law that makes any strike action prohibited unless unions get a majority of every single member on the rolls to vote in favour walking out. Continued on last page.
Submission deadline for abstracts is April 15, 2012 Visit
ocs.uwindsor.ca/ocs/index.php/occupation/SJF/ for more info
10 |
Resale rights Continued from page 8.
The Canadian Council on Social Development situates the 2006 poverty line, officially referred to as the lowincome cut-off, at $18,147, for those with no dependants in a mid-sized city (population between 30,000 and 100,000). CARFAC argues that the ARR could contribute, even if only nominally, to closing this gap between the average Canadian artist’s income and the amount needed to live safely and comfortably.
In CARFAC’s written ARR proposal, they push for 5% of the profit of the resale of an artwork to go to the original artist or the artist’s estate, so long as the work is purchased at a price greater than $1000. This percentage is quite low, and they argue that it would not have a serious negative effect on the funding or budget of the art institutions that it involves. The Art Gallery of Ontario (AGO) recently expressed in their 2009/2010 Statement of Operations that they spent over $220 million on their Transform AGO building expansion, and it seems hard to argue that 5% would be unreasonable for an institution such as the AGO. Not all art institutions have such a budget, however, and the smaller or mid-sized ones would be affected differently. The Art Gallery of Windsor is an example of such a midsized organization, and considering that
Meal Exchange Continued from page 8.
One creative and influential way to draw attention to problems in the food systems is through the medium of art. Thus, Meal Exchange (MX) is inviting students and local community members to visit the disComfort Food Art Exhibit at Common Ground March 30th - April 4th. Opening Night will be March 30th from 7pm to 9pm and free vegan food will be provided. Artists have been invited to consider the environmental, political, social, cultural and emotional aspects associated with food to question current food systems. In the process of organizing the event,
Quebec strike Continued from front page.
The Quebec student movement traditionally has used general strikes to fight attacks on the affordability and quality of education. Previous strikes have occurred in 1986, 1990, 1996, and 2005. The strike of 2005 brought out 185,000 students including large numbers of high school students. The Quebec strike shows the power students have in improving the conditions of their education. It is because of actions like these that Quebec students currently pay the lowest tuition fees in the country. Low tuition fees were not just a gift of a benevolent government or university administration. The low fees students in Quebec pay came about as a result of the constant struggles and mobilizations of Quebec students over the decades.
The media frequently calls the Quebec students lazy, greedy, and frequently bring up their “sense of entitlement.” I don’t see any of that in the Quebec student strike . What I see is huge numbers of students who are politically active, know what they want, and are willing to fight for their rights. There was a time in this country when traits like that were looked up to.
it is closing its gift shop in order to rent space to the Windsor Public Library, it might have a harder time absorbing the loss of profits. The different effects that these institutions will incur needs to be considered further and was not addressed fully in either the proposal or Clarke’s talk.
The CARFAC proposal does provide other valuable information, however, such as the recorded total sales of art by Canadian artists in 1996, which amounted to $414 million. With an ARR at 5%, this would have generated approximately $20.7 million in income going back to the artists, which is significant considering that this costs the government nothing. This especially effects students, since art students often sell their work for very little, but face the possibility of that work then appreciating in value if they continue to practice as an artist. The ARR appears to be able to reward these artists for a sustained dedication to their practice, and CARFAC is right to relate it to the royalties that musicians and writers receive when their work continues to sell. With a greater amount of money going back to the original producers of culture, at a minor cost to institutions, CARFAC and many other Canadian artists view the ARR as a positive legal development that could address a serious social and economic problem.
Walter Petrichyn (another MX executive) stated, “Hopefully this show will be able to enlighten the community to reconsider the role food holds in our society. With this in mind, I hope that this show can create community discourse and inspire further developments into alleviating food issues in Windsor.”
If you’d like more information about The disComfort Food Exhibit, contact our executive team at windsor@ mealexchange.com. Food doesn’t just influence us over the 15 minutes it takes to scarf down a meal--there are stronger implications and lasting effects on our community and communities around the world.
CETA
Continued from page 5. The CCPA ran several simulations looking at expanding trade, elimination of tariffs, and other factors: “in every case, the bilateral trade balance worsens significantly,” and “the simulations suggest an incremental loss of between 28 000 jobs (in the first scenario) and 150 000 jobs (in the third),” according to Stanford. Similar to the NAFTA, EU corporations will be able to sue the Canadian government for perceived loss of profits if they feel they’ve been slighted. According to Barlow, under NAFTA, “the Harper government shockingly recently paid an American pulp and paper corporation, Abitibi Bowater, $130 million for the timber and water ‘rights’ the company claimed when it picked up and left Newfoundland and the workers high and dry.” Sinclair also writes in another CCPA paper titled “The CETA and Health Care Reservations” about how provisions in CETA will extend to NAFTA under it’s “most-favoured nation rule.” Preferential treatment given to European investors will also expand to American investors.
Board policy
The Student Movement | March/April 2012
Continued from front page.
The restructuring of the Committee is meant to bring in experts, but the Committee has had “14.7% in terms of the pension plan return, which was very good considering the time,” according to Brown. “We’ve yet to see exactly what this new Investment Committee’s return is going to be like,” he said. The other issue being brought to arbitration is regarding the Board’s confidentiality policy, which came into force after the February 2011 Board meeting. Under the policy, Board committee members are not permitted to disclose the discussions that take place during the meetings and are required to sign the policy.
“We’re dealing with a requirement for members who sit on the Investment Committee or any committee to sign a confidentiality agreement basically silencing our reps from really representing us and reporting back,” said Brown. “We’ve instructed our members not to sign the confidentiality agreement.”
Because of this, the WUFA representative cannot speak at meetings, but must attend regardless. “Our individual member has gone to those meetings faithfully,” said Brown. “[She] sits down and basically sits there until she’s asked to leave and hopefully she’s being recorded at that meeting prior to being asked to leave. We don’t know for sure.” Other concerns over the confidentiality policy are the publication of committee minutes. Brown spoke of concerns of committee minutes not being made public. With the new policy, all committee matters are automatically “in-camera” or confidential unless the president or committee chair determines otherwise.
Dr. Ed King, president of the Organization of Part-time University Students, who represents part-time undergraduates at the Board, said that “the minutes of that [committee meeting] then become public at the next Board of Governors meeting. The minutes are still public and they’re received by the Board, the Board doesn’t need to approve them, they’re just automatically received.”
Despite an almost total mainstream media blackout, municipalities are learning about and rejecting CETA by passing resolutions demanding to be excluded from it until they have access to and agree with the FTA. Recently, “Toronto city council has passed a motion asking to be shielded from the terms and conditions of the CETA,” according to CUPE.
Toronto joins “nearly 50 other communities,” including Windsor. Not long after the Windsor resolution was passed, Occupy Windsor held a march and teach-in to protest and raise awareness about CETA on October 29th. At the December 17th “Occupy the Future” march, Dino Chido, president of the Windsor District Labour Council, raised the issue again in a speech, saying that “CETA is not in our best interest as Canadians. We need to make sure we reach out to politicians at every level. The municipal level, the provincial level, and the federal level.” Canada and the EU are continuously meeting to negotiate CETA. As Cana-
He explains that there are issues that require confidentiality, such as seeking tenders for construction projects or personnel issues. “If they’re going out to tender, they’ll be in-camera to discuss what the maximum is approved.”
King hasn’t noticed any change with the new policy. “I think in effect it formalized what was already understood and was happening anyway.” From a student perspective, however, having access to information in advance is invaluable. Without knowing what is on the agenda for upcoming Board meetings, it is difficult to participate and know what’s happening on the Board, which decides on important issues, including tuition fee increases. “If you want to see what happened in that committee, the board has to approve,” said Brown.
Brown has taken issue with how the policy was passed. “During the [January 2011 Board] retreat, they made all of these changes to the structure of the board and committees,” said Brown. When these changes came to a vote in February, there was no discussion and “it passed very quickly as well.” The heart of this issue is representation. Enver Villamizar, who served as the University of Windsor Student Alliance president from 2001–2003 and sat on the Board, had similar issues. “We were always told that as a Board of Governors member we had a fiduciary responsibility first to the University, and not to those who elected us,” he reflected. “The signing of the confidentiality is basically muzzling the reps from informing even our executive of what’s going on, or even me, as president,” said Brown. “So we take it very seriously, and that’s why we’ve filed a policy grievance.” Since the Board is not an elected body and the few elected representatives are asked to ignore their constituents, normal students having access to documents is extremely important. Without knowing what’s happening on the Board, it is near impossible for students to participate and represent their interests. For more information on WUFA, visit wufa.ca For more information on the Board of Governors, visit uwindsor.ca/bog
dians, we need to raise our voices and demand to be included in the discussion before the Harper government sells off and trades away our essential services. Research CETA and discuss it with your friends, classmates, and family.
There’s a theme in alternative and independent media talking about the “Harper agenda.” It includes attacks on worker’s rights, erosion of public services, criminalization of dissent, and other things. I would argue that CETA is central to this agenda or even the culmination of it. Contracts for mega-prisons, a labour force with few rights, and starved public services are all opportunities ready to be exploited by foreign investors under CETA and an expanded NAFTA. We cannot let this happen. Under CETA, there will be fewer jobs, lower wages, and less “democratic” control of our public utilities. It is time to resist. I for one refuse to take this lying down.
OPIRG - WINDSOR | March/April 2012
ar A ye
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Solidarity March—September 2011
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Occupy Windsor—October 2011
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Global
The Student Movement | March/April 2012
Palestinian Human Rights Week
Photos provided by the Windsor Palestinian Solidarity Group. For more info visit windsorpsg.com or facebook.com/windsorpsg
1 4
2 5 3 From March 5th to 9th, the Windsor Palestinian Solidarity Group held Palestinian Human Rights Week, five days of activities to raise awareness about the horrible human rights violations happening in Palestine. 1. Yves Engler presented on March 7th, as part of a book tour promoting his latest work “Lester Pearson’s Peacekeeping: The Truth May Hurt.” 2. Executives from the Palestinian Solidarity Group take a photo with Dr. Norman Finkelstein (he is sixth from the left).
UK Strike
3. Dr. Finkelstein gave a presentation to a Continued from page 9. packed Ambassador Auditorium (standing room only) and discussed solutions to the Israel/ McCluskey’s response to these threats Palestine conflict. has been to dig in. “If [ministers] make these attacks against us, trying to limit 4. Students discussing Palestine. the type of strike action…if they push 5. Participants performed “freeze flash mobs” to us outside the law, they are going to raise awareness of the human rights violations. have to live with the consequences of 6. Many of the Palestinian Solidarity Group. that,” he said. “Because if we need to
6 break the law in order to defend what are our basic human rights—right of association—then we will do that.”
We will see if McCluskey can wrangle concessions on pay for Unite workers during the Olympics or whether he and the 200 000 (including 28 000 transportation workers) walk out and cripple the Olympics. If you listen closely, you can hear IOC
officials wishing every Olympics could be held in China so dissenters like McCluskey can be rounded up and dealt with in efficient fashion. If the unions and British left aren’t vigilant, the IOC may get their wish.
Dave Zirin is the author of the book: “Welcome to the Terrordome: The Pain, Politics and Promise of Sports” (Haymarket). You can receive his column Edge of Sports, every week by going to edgeofsports.com