Once upon a time there was... {Issue 11 May 28 2014}
BECOME AN OFFICER. GAIN EARLY RESPONSIBILITY AND LEADERSHIP SKILLS.
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{ Contents }
THINGS WE LEARNED THIS ISSUE
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The Letters have been trickling into the Canta office at the same pace as a pensioner’s stream of urine. We are quite relieved to have a few to publish this week.
8 Are vigilantes necessary or are these freaks in latex and tights creating more trouble for our favourite fictional cities? We have a look under the cape to find some answers.
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In this section of the magazine there will be seven things revealed to you dear reader and seven things alone. Its 7 Things with Jessy Erceg!
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Fairy tales are weird and wicked. Read a few popular tales in their traditional costume, resplendent in all of their grotesque morality. Do you like to crunch numbers and make predictions? Matt Burgess does, Ef-Soc interview him.
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The profile is less of a flat this week as we look up More House from Rochester and Rutherford.
I was being forced to think about dead babies, but also because they reminded me that writing is hard. And that writing well is even harder.
EDITORIAL A while ago, when I was overseas with a friend, we were walking down a street in Vancouver when we came across a fence with the words “For sale: baby shoes, never worn” painted along it. As I was trying to get over the minor bout of major depression that six-word sentence induced in me, my friend turned to me and said, “That’s Hemingway. Good, isn’t it? Fucking depressing, but really good.” Growing up, I had always wanted to be a writer. I dreamt of achieving Hemingway-esque genius by the age of 21. So when I read those six words, they crushed me. Not only because
The thing that’s the most difficult to figure out is whether what you’re spitting onto a page is gold, or just a shiny turd dressed up in similes and metaphors. Of course to you, the ingenious writer, the words alternate between the two states of matter, so you simultaneously love and hate your work. But when it comes down to it, it’s not actually about what you think of your work. Good writing is really about how your words read to everyone else. My first brush with the world of literary critique occurred when I was but a spritely seven. My masterpiece, entitled ‘Leaves,’ was inspired by my favourite autumn activity – jumping in leaves. It got me first place in the junior school’s poetry competition, and at the time I couldn’t have been happier about the future prospects of my career as a writer. Unfortunately, it was all downhill from there. After many a failed entry in creative writing competitions I was beginning to lose hope. And then NCEA English set me up for failure.
The winner of the fiction competition as chosen by Greg Stubbings, the man known in the office as “The Hair.”
Under Macmillan Brown there is a cave of wonders. It holds great art treasures. Someone bring me the lamp.
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The International Court has been accused of hunting Africans. A review of the AGM. Let us all be politically aware together.
That system was responsible for fuelling my grandiose delusions. Despite the fact that all of my stories were centred on how I felt that time my cat choked on a chicken bone, and ended with either the main character getting hit by a bus, or riding off into the sunset, I was under the impression that I was growing as a writer. I was not. At uni this became painfully obvious. It turns out that good writers have more in their arsenal than a mastery of NCEA metaphors and onomatopoeia. In Creative Writing 101, the word “suddenly” as a sentence opener became less acceptable. Writing about a dead cat for three pieces of assessment in a row was now “repetitive.” And just because it rhymed, that didn’t mean it was poetry. It’s a harsh world out there for young writers. As you peruse this week’s copy of Canta, judging the work of those who are brave enough to share their words with you, remember, although you may not think they’re the next Hemingway, at least they bothered to give it a shot. And they didn’t make you think about dead babies.
Annalee Jones Deputy Editor
PRESIDENT’S PIECE Sarah Platt
As promised, my President’s piece this week is all about the AGM. While it was rumoured that AVICII and the Ghost of Stonewall Jackson would be making an appearance apparently we had no such luck, though having said that, something that was almost as good was the turnout. Past AGMs and HAGMs have seen us struggling to reach quorum (60 students) but this year, well that was a different story! With the final count at 226 students in attendance it is possible we had a record turnout. Now to what you have all been waiting for, the juicy details, the good the bad and the ugly about what happened. Firstly I highlighted some key points from Erin’s report (the 2013 UCSA President) which included:
- How well services operated in 2013, with the highlights including UCSA bringing three international acts to UC as well as launching the UCSA subsidised dental program - UCSA holding the first ANZAC Day Memorial Service on campus - The 2013 UCSA Executive exiting the compass group agreement for food and beverage on campus and bring the operation back in house - The sale of the Forestry Block - Student representation on University Councils - The UCSA Building and the regret, not for lack of trying, around the lack of significant inroads made. We then moved onto the annual accounts where I noted that financially we are in good shape with a strong balance sheet and that though 2013 saw a loss, this included depreciation costs - most of which were attributed to our UCSA building (which we don’t occupy), meaning we are operating at a cash surplus. After accepting the 2013 annual accounts and appointing our solicitors and auditors for 2014, Simpson Grierson and BDO respectively, we moved on to passing 4 constitutional changes. The most notable of which was the inclusion of, ‘To commit to representing all student diversity, including culture, religion, gender, ability, age and sexual orientation, and to supporting equality in theory and in practice’. This was passed with a very unanimous ‘aye’ followed by cheerful ‘whooping’ and clapping from the crowd. The last part of the AGM was an update from myself about what the 2014 Executive has been up to so far this year. This included:
- A food & Beverage update detailing the changes to The Foundry and the opening of Sejuice, our new juice bar in the Undercroft. - The wonderous news that there will soon be lots more lockers in the Undercroft that, wait for the best bit, will be FREE. - What we have been doing to work towards achieving one of the 2014 Executive’s goals of raising the student awareness of the UCSA. - An update on student representation on University Councils and the potential reform to University Councils that is outlined under the Education Amendment Bill (No. 2). - Where we are at with the UCSA Building - The exciting new Living Room space on campus! - Upcoming events At this point I opened the floor for questions which after some gentle encouragement came flooding in. The majority of these questions were focused around student representation on University Councils and where the UCSA stood on this. I explained that our Council strongly believed in the representation model and following a letter from Jeff Field, the Registra and University Council Secretary inviting the Executive of the UCSA to appoint student representation to the University Council for 2014, we were confident that we would hold a place on Council. We will however be making a statement to say we do not believe University Councils should have the right to remove student representation. Stay tuned for more details! Annnnd if you’d like any more details regarding the AGM pop to our website for the full minutes! Have a lovely week. Sarah
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{ Canta 2014 }
ASK THE PRESIDENT Tired of complaining to your Facebook newsfeed about your locker-less existence, or the lack of microwaves in the engineering building? Well, you can stop now. Your 400 friends don’t give a shit about your uni problems. But luckily for you, Sarah does. Send in your UC related questions, criticisms, and curiosities to president@ ucsa.ac.nz and Sarah will get back to you in the next edition of Canta.
CONTRIBUTORS Christina Hallaway
Jessy Erceg
The King
Nikita Bryce
Age 20, LLB/BA, ‘16
Age 20, Bachelor of Fine Arts - Design, ‘15
Age unknown, BCom – Ruling the kingdom, Since Ages Ago
BSc in Geology, ‘16
Jessy is featured in the 7 Things section this week in Canta, this means plenty more details on this creative personality.
This King was the fellow who opportunistically made some babies when he came across a pretty dame fast asleep in the woods. A lack of consent is no match for true love.
Christina is part of Law for Change and co-wrote an article on International Human Trafficking with Frances Gourlay.
What is your favourite children’s book? The Witches by Roald Dahl
What substance would you choose to fling at a politician? The truth
If you were to write under a pseudonym, what would it be? If I was to tell you what pseudonym I would write under, wouldn’t that defeat the purpose of writing under one?
Who is your favourite writer? F. Scott Fitzgerald
If a woman hits a man is it acceptable for him to hit her back? No
What is your favourite children’s book? Dr Seuss books
What is your favourite children’s book?
What substance would you choose to fling at a politician?
Matilda by Roald Dahl but it’s much too good for children.
An Octane 8% Bourbon or an Aubergine
If you were to write under a pseudonym, what would it be?
What substance would you choose to fling at a politician? Gold.
What’s a pseudonym
If you were to write under a pseudonym, what would it be?
Who is your favourite writer?
The Queen.
Darran Shan
Who is your favourite writer?
If a woman hits a man is it acceptable for him to hit her back? No not really I don’t think it’s okay for anyone to hit anyone
Aristophanes.
If a woman hits a man is it acceptable for him to hit her back? Absolutely. He should probably murder her as a pre-emptive form of self-defence.
Nikita is the wonderful winner of Canta’s fiction competition for 2014. You can check out her $200 winning masterpiece on page 18.
What is your favourite children’s book? Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone by J.K Rowling.
What substance would you choose to fling at a politician? I would throw the colour run dye at them because if I’m still trying to get the pink out of my running shoes 5 months later its not going to go very well in their suits. Also it will make them brighter and more happier looking and at least they will be slightly less boring to pay attention to.
If you were to write under a pseudonym, what would it be? John A.Bryce
Who is your favourite writer? Cassandra Clare. If you haven’t read her books you haven’t lived!
If a woman hits a man is it acceptable for him to hit her back? Contributors Nikita Bryce, Nick Evans, Frances Gourlay, Old Gregg, Christina Hallaway, Simon Murrow, Adam Nisbett, Elisha Nuttall, Louis O’Brien, Tom O’Brien
Send us your stories, photographs, epiphanies
Editor At Large Hannah Herchenbach Deputy Editors Callum Ching and Annalee Jones Designer Emily McCormick Money Honey Victoria Lean Webmaster Rupert Curlett
It is never acceptable for a man to hit a woman under any circumstances.
canta@ucsa.canterbury.ac.nz
{ Canta 2014 }
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{ Letters to the Editor }
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR NICE UNDIES OPEN DUCKFACE SEASON Dear SelfieBot guys, I’m glad you’re not wasting our time trying to do trivial shit. Like cure cancer or something. Because the world needs more Selfie-taking robots. Signed
Sarah Platt’s skirt at the AGM was very short. I felt like a pedo. ROLF
EVEN NICER UNDIES Dear Canta,
SELFIE-RIGHTEOUS
We need to 3D print Cara Delevingne. As proof, I’ve attached a picture of Cara Delevingne. Sincerely, BAGS FIRST GO
LETTERS All your letters to Canta must come from a @canterbury.ac.nz email address.
PHLAT PROFILE To the Hamiton Arena lads, Best flat profile this year. Hands down. You had art. You had rats.
STRICTLY ANONYMOUS. We don’t share our letters (or who wrote them) with anyone. Not even other people in the office. Unless they have a police badge. And maybe a gun. Even then, we try to avoid it.
You had a four times national micro scooter champion.
So send us a letter. We all know they’re the best part of the magazine.
You totally nailed it. It’ll be bloody tough to beat that effort*.
canta@ucsa.canterbury.ac.nz
Cheers, THE OTHER (OTHER) SCOTT *unless some chicks get naked.
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However, apart from a quick cut and paste by the editor – they remain
{ Canta 2014 }
{ Point }
Nick Evans
VIGILANTES V
“Some men just want to watch the world burn” The infamous line, spoken by Alfred Pennyworth, was intended to explain the chaos wrought on Gotham City by the Joker, the most renowned of Batman’s antagonists. But when we look at the state of cities such as Gotham and Starling, as protected by the Green Arrow, it’s entirely unclear that the Joker would be dissatisfied. For all the positive publicity that surrounds these so-called philanthropists, the worlds they create are dark and sinister, dominated by perpetual crime. These vigilantes are at least as bad as the forces they claim to combat. Let’s present an alternative to the gritty, hellish realities faced by the citizens of Gotham and Starling City. Instead of a world where police forces stand down, delegating crime-fighting to wealthy “superheroes”, we should endorse an assault on the root causes of crime, and a responsible exercise of police power against super-villains. Jim Gordon should earn his uniform, and get familiar with the Gotham Armed Offenders Squad. So, why is Batman (along with his moneyas-a-superpower peers) so ineffective? Three reasons: personal problems, injustice, and failure to deal with the root causes of crime. The first question we need to ask is why Bruce Wayne, a billionaire who can buy out troupes of Russian dancers for yacht parties, would ever want to become Batman. Sure, he fulfills his corporate-social responsibility in a more exciting way than Bill Gates’ malaria nets, but some would argue that a donation to the GCPD would be enough to assuage his conscience.
That leads on nicely to the issue of injustice. Given how clinically challenged our superheroes are, it’s unsurprising that the villains we’re dealing with are similar. They are also, predominantly, victims of horrific incidents: the unprosecuted mutilation of the Joker’s face, the non-OSH compliance at GothCorp that led to Mr Freeze’s condition, or the fact that Waylon Jones was born as a half-crocodile, and then still had to suffer from domestic abuse because Gotham doesn’t have CYFS. Funnily enough, these aren’t criminals motivated by inherent evil – they’re driven to crime by either psychosis or major failings in the system. Half of the criminals being pursued are so insane that they should spend their days in an asylum receiving modern psychiatric treatment, as opposed to being interred in Arkham where they’re only good at seducing interns and escaping. The rest aren’t even really at fault for their offending – that makes it seem pretty unfair that they’re constantly pursued by an angry man dressed like a bat.
Which brings us to the real reason: personal trauma. Unlike the meteor-child origins of Superman, which inevitably set him apart from other people, wealthy superheroes should have no reason to abandon their carefree lifestyles to personally assist the vulnerable by fighting crime. That reason is found in brutal awakenings – the death of Bruce Wayne’s parents, Tony Stark’s kidnapping by terrorists using Stark Industries weapons, or the marooning of Oliver Queen on a deserted island for five years.
Not only is this situation unfair, but the presence of vigilantes actively worsens the causes of crime, which brings us to the final issue. In delegating the pursuit of injustice over to vigilantes, the authorities lose their sense of responsibility for their citizenry. Instead of investing in good state education and affordable housing, their whole budget gets blown on Bat-signals, sewer systems easily flooded with neurotoxins and ever-more escapable prisons. A focus on rehabilitation instead of retribution would go a long way.
These are incidents that would screw anyone up. Typically we’d put people suffering from those levels of post-traumatic stress disorder into care, but instead these cities decide to make them head crime-fighters. What does that lead to? That’s how we get the Joker hanging from a bat-line, instead of splattered on the pavement. That’s why Tony Stark gets obscenely drunk half the time, instead of responsibly resolving world crises. These individuals are dramatically unstable, which actively hurts their ability to fight crime. If someone had put a bullet in the Penguin twenty years ago, or deported Bain back to Mexico, I feel like Gothamites would be a little happier.
This means that so long as we rely on superheroes to solve the problems of supervillainry, none of the causes of crime will be resolved. While Bruce Wayne defrauds his shareholders to develop bat-tech, the people starving in the slums of Gotham will always be driven to become new henchmen, while an appalling lack of support for the most vulnerable will turn them into forces of evil.
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{ Canta 2014 }
Batman is a bandaid for serious, institutional illnesses. If we cared a bit more about villains instead of hunting them, that would be better for everyone.
Unlike the meteor-child origins of Superman... wealthy superheroes should have no reason to abandon their carefree lifestyles to personally assist the vulnerable by fighting crime.
VS. VILLIANS
{ Counterpoint }
Tom O’Brien
…why shouldn’t we just funnel more money into making sure that kids whose fathers razorblade their face don’t grow up into murderous clowns? Simply put: because that’s not enough.
There’s a lot to be said for Batman. I mean it’s pretty much undisputed that he’s awesome, which is quite surprising when you consider that he’s a grown man who labels everything that he owns the “bat-something.” But the fact of the matter is, when he gets out of his bat-bed and puts on his bat-suit in his bat-cave under his bat-mansion, he’s bat-doing something that the police in his city can’t: keeping people safe by dealing with similarly wardrobe-obsessed super-villains. R*pl*c* the Po-lice. And that’s really the key to why cities over-run with super-villains need vigilante superheroes. In our society, we give the police a lot of power. Police officers can pull you over when you’re driving, enter your property without permission, or even put handcuffs on you and take you away to a cell if they have reasonable grounds to suspect that you are doing something dodgy. What’s more, they have the power to use reasonable force to overcome resistance, and resisting them is itself a crime. Effectively, they are the only ones in society who are empowered to use force on a day-to-day basis, and anyone who challenges that ability is punished with the full power of the state. They get all these powers because they need them to do their job. That job is to keep people safe and to uphold the law. So if they can’t do their job for whatever reason, or if they’re not doing it because they’re incompetent or corrupt, then it’s pretty hard to justify them continuing to have a monopoly on the legal use of force. When “crime” (interlude: I say crime because in super-hero movies they always talk about the “menace of crime” or suchlike, but given the number of explosions that they tend to feature I’d say “terrorism”, “local revolution” or “natural disaster” (hi Godzilla!) is more appropriate) is so rampant that judges are being assassinated, giant mutant lizard things are rocking round the city, or some British relative of Dath Vader is driving a fucking nuclear bomb around the city, it’s hard to dispute that the police are not doing their job. At all. Especially if they’ve been trapped in the sewers because for some reason the Chief of Police decided that it was a good idea to send every last officer there on a wild goose chase (which shows that they clearly don’t care about ordinary citizens getting mugged/ raped/murdered in the interim). When that’s the case, then ordinary citizens have the right to defend themselves. And if you’re an ordinary citizen with a truckload of bat-money in your bat-account – or superpowers bestowed from whatever alien race/radiation source you happen to have been exposed to – then you definitely have
a moral right (if not a moral duty) to use your immense wealth/massive (probably terminal) genetic mutation for the public good. We (don’t) have the technology But why isn’t it enough to simply beef up the police force? Or why shouldn’t we just funnel more money into making sure that kids whose fathers razorblade their face don’t grow up into murderous clowns? Simply put: because that’s not enough. A lot of super-villains have heart-wrenching backstories that explain why they have grown up into psychopaths. But many of them are just uber-rich guys or uber-smart guys (it’s usually guys for some reason) who have a grudge against society/a massive hard-on for themselves, who decide to use their wealth or intelligence in crazy ways. Also, some of them stumble upon their powers in the same “accidental” way, but just decide that using their powers for good would be boring. That means that no matter how much money you spend on redistributive policies or social workers, you will always get super-villains. And when super-villains appear, the police force are just not cut out for dealing with them. Why? Because super-villains (as I said before) are more like terrorists or leaders of a revolution than criminals. And police-forces aren’t really cut out for dealing with those kind of bad-guys. Neither is the army. Declaring martial law and flooding the streets with machine-gun carrying 18 year olds might make citizens feel safe at first, but that wouldn’t last. From Iraq and Afghanistan to Stalingrad, history has shown that modern armies struggle to pacify cities without destroying them. And who wants to live under permanent martial law? Far better to have a caped crusader defending us in the night, even if they do wear their underwear over their pants.
{ Canta 2014 }
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{ 7 Things }
7 THINGS YOU DIDN'T KNOW ABOUT
JESSY ERCEG The creator of Life on Sundays t-shirts and designer for CUBA.
You’ve probably seen her designs around campus, or maybe you’ve even worn them if you joined CUBA this year. With her own t-shirt label and completing a Fine Arts degree, majoring in graphic design at UC, 20 year old Jessy Erceg is a force to be reckoned with. So what is there to know about this radical gal?
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Her label, ‘Life on Sundays’ began over the summer. She had some extra time so she created an Instagram. “I got a surprising reaction,” she says, and it grew from there. She originally hand painted her designs, but now screen-prints them. She is influenced by a lot of Australian artists: “I like the chilled out Byron bay kind of vibes.” This pretty much describes her t-shirts, which are relaxed fitting, some with bold designs. They come in a range of colours, including tie-dye. Sunday is her favourite day. “It’s the only day where I can be creative,” she says. The brand name ‘Life on Sundays’ stemmed from this and many of her t-shirts bare the phrase, which reflects her unique, creative flair.
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She dreams of Australia. “I’d love to have [the label] in Australia,” she says. She spent half her life in Sydney, and she says that living in such a fashion-orientated city had a major influence on getting her to where she is today. John Key wore her design once. At the UC clubs day this year he decided to try one on for size. “He put the tee-shirt on and was holding a skateboard,” she says. It was probably the raddest he’s ever looked. Her favourite artist is Billy Bain, a graphic artist from Byron Bay. “He’s got funky pictures. Its got nothing to do with my tee shirts but that’s where I draw a lot of stuff for my design like surf culture” she says. She likes vintage clothes, and enjoys op-shopping. Even though she likes wearing brands too, she says, “I’d rather wear my own brand”. Her style is comfortable yet stylish. True to her word, she currently wears her own t-shirt with a wide brim hat and finishes off her effortless look with a denim shirt draped casually around the waist.
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Sean Keenan is the one celebrity she’d like to see wearing her designs. He’s a pretty sweet actor from Australia who just happened to like one of her photos of her artwork on Instagram once. “I just lost it,” she says. I would too girl, I would too.
You can follow Life on Sundays on the gram (@lifeonsundays_ ).
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{ Canta 2014 }
14 - 26 juLy tH
tH
Don’T geT lEFt oUt iN tHe cOLd, keEP up-TO-daTE on ALl The DEetS on FAceBOok.COm/The UCsa
wWw.uCsA.orG.nZ
{ Guide }
A Fraction Too Much Fiction
Canta’s guide to fairy tales in their original (and quite frankly, rather disturbing) forms:
SLEEPing beauty SNOW WHite This story was once printed as Sun, Moon and Talia – by Giambattista Basile. If you were wondering, Talia is the name of the princess. I had to Wiki it.
In the 1812 Brothers Grimm version of the story, Snow White’s “evil stepmother” is actually her mother. Makes it quite a bit creepier, right?
In this version, the princess doesn’t prick herself on a spindle (Wiki that yourself), but gets a sliver of flax stuck under her fingernail. This makes her fall down, and appear dead. People apparently believed that a piece of flax under your fingernail would do that? They were simpler times.
Well, to crank up the creep-factor, in the original story the Queen sends out the huntsman to bring back Snow White – but not ALL of her, just her liver and lungs. Which she is apparently going to EAT.
Talia’s father can’t stand the thought of losing her, so lays her down in a garden at one of his estates. Eventually a king comes riding past, sees her, and tries to wake her. He can’t. So what does he do? You guessed it…HE RAPES HER. Nine months later, while still unconscious, Talia gives birth to two children. One of them accidentally sucks the flax splinter out from under her fingernail and she wakes up. The King’s wife tries to kill and eat the babies (as you do) – but the King (good guy that he is) burns her alive for her trouble. What a great ‘how we met’ story!
Little red riding hood This story existed before the Brothers Grimm. And they actually sanitised it – a little, anyway. For a start, there is no huntsman to swing in and save the day. The original Red Riding Hood just climbed into bed (naked) and got eaten by the big bad wolf. Naked… Think that’s bad? In another version the wolf actually makes RRH eat her own grandmother, and drink her blood (like a nice Chianti). However, what this 17th century story is really all about is (you guessed it) sex. The point being that you never know who is trying to get you into bed. Naked. They won’t always look like the proverbial, ‘Big Bad Wolf.’ He or she might even be your… um, grandma? On a more useful note, the French idiom for a girl having lost her virginity was, “elle avoit vû le loup” – which translates to, “she has seen the wolf.” So there’s one to use at The Foundry: “Hey, babe… do you want to see the wolf?”
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{ Canta 2014 }
Also, Snow White isn’t in a deep sleep when the prince finds her – she’s, like, fully dead. He doesn’t seem to mind, and is happily carrying her off in a coffin when a servant slips and the poisoned apple is accidently dislodged from Ms. White’s mouth. And then she isn’t dead? In the end the evil Queen is forced to step into iron shoes that have been heated in a fire. Then she dances until she dies, at Snow White’s wedding. Which is one way to get the D-floor started I suppose.
CiNDERELLA The best part about the Grimm version of this story is the ‘ugly (actually: cruel) stepsisters’ getting their comeuppance. However, in the original version those basic bitches get married off to members of the royal court. Which sounds awfully un-fairytale like, right? Well, take solace in the fact that the sisters had previously cut off pieces of their feet in an attempt to fit into the glass slipper. And it was the pooling blood that gave them away. Lucky it wasn’t a suede slipper. Also, for those looking for a ‘special bonus feature’ – some doves come down and peck out the sisters’ eyes. Doves: the most psychopathic of birds.
rapunzel
This is my favourite. Apparently in the original version, Rapunzel was letting down more than her hair. She was also letting down her panties. Pretty soon she became pregnant to the prince. The witch, who is keeping her imprisoned, isn’t up for nanny-duties – so lops off Rapunzel’s hair and banishes her to live as a solo mum/beggar in a far away land. This is possibly the first known example of slut-shaming. But don’t worry; it’s an equal-opportunity fairy tale. The witch then lures the prince up to the tower with Rapunzel’s recently chopped off hair, then pushes the dirty bastard off. He doesn’t die though. He just hits some thorn bushes and they poke out his eyes. In the end (somehow?) he reunites with Rapunzel and the tears of joy he sheds restore his sight. And here we are wasting thousands of dollars on optometrists.
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This week’s winner: STEPHANIE REEVES
www.ucnow.canterbury.ac.nz
{ Feature }
I predict vanilla
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{ Canta 2014 }
{ Feature }
FUTURE FINANCE Interviewed by Elisha Nuttall
Matt Burgess is a Financial advisor to Bill English, the Finance minister for the Government. Previously he was the Chief Executive at iPredict, a company launched by Victoria University in 2006, just before the General Election that year, to form market-based predictions of political and economic outcomes. iPredict is New Zealand’s first real money prediction market and has already proved more accurate at forecasting than traditional polling methods. In 2006 Matt also launched the tradesman review website mytradesman.co.nz. Could you explain briefly what a prediction market, like iPredict, is and how they work?
How are prediction markets better than other, more traditional methods of gathering information?
If you could bet on any highly improbable future event to occur, what would you choose to bet on?
They’re markets in which offers to buy and offers to sell are matched and traded. What is traded is what makes prediction market interesting. On iPredict, the thing being traded are contracts to be paid out a certain amount if a particular event happens, like a particular person becomes Prime Minister, or it rains tomorrow, or oil hits $200. That amount is usually $1 per contract held if the event is true. Those contracts trade for a price, which is reached by agreement between willing buyer and willing seller. The traded price is the prediction. So for example if a contract that pays $1 if an event happens, and $0 otherwise, and the contract is trading on the market for 40 cents, then the market says that event is 40% likely. That is how a prediction market forecasts.
In general terms they reward trading on good information, and so they pay for information discovery, and they are self-correcting. If somebody comes up with a better way to forecast election outcomes, traders on a prediction market can trade on that better forecast, and by doing so that new information is included in the market forecast.
That would depend on the price. So I would bet on an event I had good reason to think is more likely than most other people. And that would have to be a Crusaders win this year’s Super 15. Go Richie.
When you were Chief Executive of iPredict, what was the most interesting prediction stocks you helped create? Probably conditional contracts. We set up some contracts in advance of a by-election to predict which party would win conditional on the candidate each party would select to stand. So a contract would pay $1 per share if and only if candidate X was selected and their party won. What’s interesting about conditional contracts is that they can tell you which candidate is expected to maximise your party’s chance of winning. What’s difficult about them is that they are demanding on traders, who have to work convert their beliefs in both events into a price, and so it is hard to get a lot of trading or a good price out of them.
How could prediction markets be potentially implemented into everyday life? That’s a question I thought about every day for four years. I’m sure there is an answer but it hasn’t come to me yet.
Where do you think prediction markets can be of the biggest benefit to society? Share markets are prediction markets. They perform the extraordinarily difficult and valuable task of real time prediction of a company’s future free cash flows. That has a lot of benefits, among them helping resources find their highest value use, disciplining management, and rewarding innovation. That is the highest value use so far discovered for prediction markets and will be hard to beat.
In what circumstances would prediction markets not work well? Where there is no bright line test to make adjudication clear, or forecasting events (other, perhaps, than elections) more than 2-3 years in advance, or where it is hard to define the set of things that could happen. Prediction markets don’t work on matters of taste, only objectively verifiable events. Polls tell you about matters of taste.
What New Zealand markets or industries would you see as being a large, or much larger part of our economy in the future? I am encouraged by the success of Trade Me and Xero and the entry of a number of technology companies onto the NZX in the last 2 years. It seems to me New Zealand will tend to specialise in places where neither distance or low population is a penalty. One of those places is fixed information based businesses whose services can be delivered on the web and where New Zealand standards are not too different to elsewhere in the world. Xero seems to me to tick those boxes, the question is how many other future business opportunities there are within those constraints (my guess is many).
If you had to solve a problem and you could do it by math or by logic, which would you choose, and why? Math, because that is what I was trained in, and possibly because it is more amenable to evidence.
Is Bill English’s favourite ice-cream flavour really vanilla? Or does he just like his budgets plain and predictable? I can tell you his favourite budgets are the ones showing a surplus in 2015. In ice-cream terms that is any flavour so long as the price is right!
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MORE FOUR We’re More House of Rochester and Rutherford. The benefits of More include being closer to The Foundry, and being better looking than College House. We don’t have to explain why. It’s obvious. There is also always someone who dresses up in a stupid costume. We have had the most floor outings out of all of the 12 floors in Rochester and Rutherford – we’ve been out to the Port Hills, to a driving range, to the beach, and an eventful trip to the ice skating rink where Lachlan lost two teeth. Well, he has them back now, but he can also take them out whenever he wants. That was one of our Sober Saturday nights, and we still ended up in the A+E ‘til midnight. Our floor is injury prone to say the least. We have been to the A+E four times so far this year – too many. Sophie pushed doing the splits a little bit too much the other day and heard a click. It was a tie breaker round. Josh says his injury is from rugby but we know he jumped on a cone. Colleen had an eye patch for a while. There are lots of nicknames on the floor – there’s Soberish, Problem Child, Ugly Liam Hemsworth, Yu-gi-hoe, Corn Dog, Meals on Wheels and Miranda Hart, and Sorry Who? That last one is Alice, who we didn’t see for the first week. She’s not here. We don’t know where she is. There’s been some good pranks too – we wrapped one room up with Christmas decorations and filled another with balloons. David glad-wrapped Colleen to a chair so she wouldn’t procrastinate. One girl thought she has possessed speakers for a while. Someone had stolen her remote and would turn them on and off. He gave it back eventually. We’re like a family. We have a family tree, but you don’t want to see it. We’re crossbred. The stuffed dogs in the photo are George and Georgia. Lachlan found his in an op shop a while back, Laura has had hers since she was a kid. They’re dating. The stuffed dogs, not Lachlan and Laura. Watch this space. Don’t show them the family tree though. That might get confusing. Our lifestyle is like our president’s campaign – More House, more party, more fun.
Colleen was wrapped with her new bedrrom decor...Lame? Well yeah, sorry, couldnt help it.
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The First Battle Nikita Bryce My Mother, Electra was the daughter of one of the most famous war horses of all time, Bucephalus; Alexander the Great’s mount. She was the most beautiful mare in all the land and every stallion wanted to court her. Her solid black coat shined with hours of care and she had the strong features and air of her father had. The Friesian heritage ran strong in their blood, allowing them to be fast, strong and reliable mounts for battle.
This is the winning entry for Canta’s Annual Fiction Competition 2014. Congrats Nikita, and cheers to everyone that entered. Now enjoy this tale of weird rainbow stallions. Kick ass horse illustration by Adam Nisbett.
My father Aethelbeorn, was the Amazon Queen Hippolyte mount. He was small and sturdy built, but with magic flowing through his veins. His herd’s mane and tail varied in colour, so did their hooves. The only thing they had in common was a blue ring around their eye. Aethelbeorn was a war warrior. His ability to move extremely fast, his sure feet and his agility gave him a fantastic reputation in battle; never has an Amazon died while astride his back. It was in the time of Alexander wars that my parents met. It was the day that Electra first went into her first battle, she stood proud behind Bucephalus. Her body shivered with anticipation for she had been waiting for this very day for her whole life. She let out a shrilling whinny, only for her father to lay back his ears and bare his teeth. With this, Electra pawed her hoof impatiently and gave out a frustrated snort, but nonetheless fell silent. It seemed like days that the army stood there waiting, but in reality it was only hours. Then suddenly Alexander raised his sword to slash the air, while Bucephalus reared on his mighty haunches, letting out a mighty neigh. Electra reared too and at the same moment both surged forward, leading the army into a battle Electra would never forget. Electra lost sight of her father as soon as the battle began. The clashing of swords, war cries and the dull thud of another body hitting the floor filled the air. Electra was frightened by what she saw; being her very first battle and all. But being the daughter of Bucephalus she wouldn’t allow that fright to conquer her. She threw the fright into the back of her mind and charged on, wanting to carry her riding partner safely through the battle and into a glorious victory, just like her father had done so many years before her, in his first battle. The battle went on and the sun moved slowly across the sky. Suddenly a crunch of a twig breaking made Electra twirl round, to look straight into the eyes of an enemy, his spear aiming for Electra’s rider. The enemy threw his spear, his aim sure and true until Electra quickly made a decision. She reared up on her exhausted hind legs. Her rider gripped the saddle tightly as the enemies’ spear sunk into Electra’s chest. A pained squeal slipped out from her mouth before her legs folded beneath her. From a distance Bucephalus saw his own daughter rear and take the spear met for her rider. He watched as she squealed in pain and her body come crashing to the earth. He raced towards his daughter, his rider, Alexander forgotten on his back. He halted at Electra’s side and let out a thunderous mournful neigh which split the heavens. He dropped his head and nudged his dying daughter, a low sign escaping her muzzle. Suddenly the sky erupted in luminous colours and a stream of light hit the battle field and from this light came the weirdest horses Bucephalus had ever seen in his life. They were short and sturdy looking, with manes and tail all the colours of the rainbow, a ring of blue around one of their eyes. Astride their backs sat only women in battle clothes, wielding swords and screaming wild war cries. Bucephalus wondered who on earth these women were. Alexander voice whispered the answer to Bucephalus questions, “Amazon warriors.” One Amazon warrior came galloping up to Alexander. Bucephalus reared fearfully at the weird stallion, for the spirit of the stallion wasn’t inside his body, but outside like a ghost. The Amazon warrior spoke to Bucephalus from a distance, her voice soothing him and Bucephalus very quickly dropped his head in submission, allowing the Amazon warrior to come closer. “My name is Hippolyte and I am the queen of the Amazon warriors. We heard you and your army’s prayers and have come to help you in your journey Alexander”, the Amazon queen said, “Now hop to and back to battle, both you Alexander on your faithful mount, I will protect you personally. Aethelbeorn, my horse will stand guard of the young mare, and treat her as well as he can.” Bucephalus looked sadly at his daughter, now so close to death. He looked up at the strange stallion pleading, “Please Aethelbeorn, great warrior, if you could watch over my daughter while she passes onto the next world I would be eternally grateful”. With this said Bucephalus raced off to without a backwards glance. It was cruel bloody battle, it went for ages and the armies on both sides grew weary. The horses heads drooped and there steps stopped being bounds becoming short strides. Blood coated nearly every surface. Death and ghosts hovered in the air. The battle grounds were stained crimson, the ground torn up by horse’s hooves and uneven with remains of the dead. They had won. It was a long journey back to the campsite, Bucephalus dragged his feet along the ground; he wouldn’t look at his horsey company to see who had survived and who had passed on. To him his world had been taken from him, his precious daughter... dead. He ignored the grooms as they cooled him off, cleaned his wounds and made his coat sparkle again. He refused to eat or drink anything including the honey cakes which Alexander brought him, even though they were his favourite.
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Outline of Ria Bancroft and Pat Mulcahy’s Energetic Forms previously installed in the Science Lecture Theatres. Photo: Laura Dunham.
HIDDEN IN
Tjalling de Vries, You sure are ugly, but you sure can dance, acrylic on canvas, 1970 x 1590mm, 2010. Reproduced with the permission of Tjalling de Vries.
MACMILLA Annalee Jones
Lurking amongst the archives of the Macmillan Brown library, hidden between centuries old books and racks of expensive paintings, you’ll find UC’s Art Curator Jamie Hanton, and his trusty assistant, Laura. Between getting UC’s art collection online and sorting out earthquake related art matters, the duo has been rather busy lately. But despite a hectic workload, Jamie managed to take some time out of his Friday afternoon to have a chat about exactly what’s been happening under the stairs at Macmillan Brown. 20
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The Macmillan Brown library has a wealth of resources for students, but due the sheer amount of material, it takes some serious and dedicated digging to get to the good stuff. To make it easier for those who are interested in the art and artefacts housed in the library, UC has launched a project called Kā Kohika – a place where anyone, anywhere can find the library’s archives and art collections online. Jamie says it’s been a long and hectic process to get things onto the site, but it’s great to see the collection’s 5000 odd pieces go global. “Before this, only a very small proportion of the collections were accessible online, but now you can search for them anywhere, which is really cool.”
Jamie and Laura work with UC’s Photographic Services to produce the images you see on Kā Kohika, but it’s not always as easy as traipsing over to the studio with a pile of sketches for them to shoot. Sculptures, installations, and large pieces around campus have proven to be difficult to get through the doors, and mean that there are a few pieces still to be digitised. Although the digitisation of the art collection has taken a lot of time and effort over the past few years, what really eats up the hours is the team’s work with quake stuff.
With the campus undergoing a major rebuild and repair at the moment, hundreds of pieces of art have been left homeless. Some pieces pose few problems, easily fitting into a neat little box to be tucked away in storage somewhere. But things can get a little tricky when Jamie and Laura have to figure out what to do with some of the massive works UC once kept in now nonexistent buildings. “One major project was a site-specific installation that was in the science lecture theatres. It was about 4.9m long and 2m high – a huge piece, and when the theatres were demolished it had to come out. It’s a long process – we deconstructed the work into 19 pieces, had these crates made, then cut out slots in bits of foam so they would fit in there, flush. And then there’s the question of when the science lecture theatres get rebuilt, is it going to go back in, and how do we do that?” Problem solving on this kind of scale isn’t usually what you’d expect from your typical art curator. Before this, Jamie worked down in Dunedin, directing a project space that was funded by Creative NZ. And before that, he finished off his Honours in Art History here, back in 2010.
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Francis Upritchard, Derek, ceramic and mixed media, 520 x 350 x 270mm, 2007. Reproduced with the permission of Francis Upritchard.
Joanna Langford, Honey in the Rock #2, mixed media: polystyrene balls, paint, plastic, LED light, 120x140mm, 2010-11. Reproduced with the permission of Joanna Langford.
AN BROWN Back in Jamie’s day, UC was a little more supportive of the arts than it is now. At the moment, perhaps somewhat understandably in the light of the quakes, the uni doesn’t support art way it used to. Since 2011, the acquisitions budget has been cut dramatically. At the moment, there is only money to purchase a few pieces from the Select Exhibition at the end of each year, which is a great opportunity for our fine arts students, but one has to wonder, what happens to keeping up with more established Christchurch creatives?
“There is a real danger that we’re going to miss representing this period of time. We want to have a well-rounded collection that reflects our policy, and is strengthened by acquiring work by important alumni artists as well as pieces that are relevant to the students for learning and research – which means high quality examples of New Zealand and Canterbury contemporary practice. We get the odd donation, but the problem with donations is that we’re not augmenting the collection the way we want – we’re building it based on who gives what, which is a pretty scattergun way to develop a collection.” Despite the pause in acquiring new art, there are still plenty of excellent works to get excited about. UC has a Four Square man
print by Dick Frizzell ready for the commerce building, and six works by Shane Cotton who studied here and has now become quite the international name. Jamie’s favourites are a few treasures that live in the depths of storage, waiting for an excuse to come out. “There’s a really lovely Tjalling de Vries painting, and a really great Joanna Langford work. The funny thing is that with this being a collection on a campus, they’ve never been exhibited.
There is a real danger that we’re going to miss representing this period of time.
Tjalling’s work has a naked woman in the corner, so nobody wants it in their department, and the Joanna Langford needs to be plugged in all the time because it’s got LED lights in it. Another one of my favourites is a Francis Upritchard that’s a hanging ceramic piece. Unfortunately that means it’s an earthquake hazard, a students-walking-into-it hazard, all of these hazards, haha.” As for Christchurch as a whole, Jamie thinks that things are on the upswing for the Cantabrian art world. “I think there’s actually a lot of activity. Although the Christchurch art gallery is in a really tricky position, their outer spaces project has been really great. We’ve also got places like Dog Park – a project space that started up behind the stadium on Wilson’s Road. The Physics Room is good too. And in terms of earthquake related art, I think people have kind of digested what it means now – we’re starting to see some really interesting stuff at the moment.”
For more Kiwi art, and to see exactly what UC has been harbouring in the basement of Macmillan Brown for all these years, check out Kā Kohika on the UC Library’s Heritage Collections website. { Canta 2014 }
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TROUBLES AND TRIALS OF THE INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL COURT Louis O’Brien – UC Pols
In its short history since 2002, the International Criminal Court (ICC) has busied itself indicting the scum of the earth. As a permanent tribunal for prosecuting individuals for genocide, war-crimes, and crimes against humanity, it is an advocates champion, an unprecedented tool for international justice. High-profile indictments by the ICC include the likes of Omar al-Bashir of Sudan for genocide and war crimes in Darfur, and a particular Joseph Kony for, among other things, ordering kids into conflict. This is all well and good; these guys are assholes so to heck with them, but the ICC’s evenhandedness has been called into question, and the current trials of the leaders of Kenya may soon reveal the court’s conduct to be as damaging to its own credibility as to the stability of Kenya. As things currently stand, all 21 of the cases before the ICC are of individuals from Africa. There’s a seeming imbalance in the way cases taken by the ICC are selected, and many, not least from African nations, are questioning the agenda of the ICC. How is it that there is such a dominating focus on African nations, yet war crims from elsewhere knock about with unfettered impunity? Is there truth to the claim by the African Union that the ICC is “hunting Africans”? Are the needs of human rights victims met by the ICC, or is it serving more as an instrument of Western imperialism? In Kenya, the ICC has been put in charge of prosecuting the current President and Deputy-President, Uhuru Kenyatta and William Ruto, for crimes against humanity. They’re accused of organising and inciting the 2007 post-election violence that left upwards of 1300 people dead and the displacement of 600,000 more. The conflict was largely fought between two ethnic groups, Kalenjin and Kikuyu, which also represent two significant voting blocs. Incitement for political gain is clear, but deep-seated tension between these groups has existed since colonial times. Since orchestrating the post-election violence,
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Kenyatta and Ruto have assumed political leadership of Kenya. Representing both sides of the large, ethnic-based voting blocs, Kenyatta and Ruto have built an unbeatable political alliance based on “reconciliation”. One morning last year I had a cup of tea with an internally displaced person of the conflict. Peter Mwangi is now in his early 60s and he wears oversized pin-striped trousers and an affable grin. A man who would be nearing retirement in New Zealand, Mwangi had to relocate his life and start his canteen business from scratch following the 2007 post-election violence. And this isn’t the first time ethnic violence has drastically altered his life. In 1992, Mwangi took five arrows to the body in similar politically-driven ethnic violence. That conflict marked the end of 15 years of military service for the Kenyan Army when he was accused of murdering a superior officer in all the violence. For the next three years he was held without a trial and routinely tortured. He explained that his difficulty walking now is a result of being forced to walk heel-toe along boards with nails protruding an inch into his feet. Other torture methods were more inhumane and he didn’t elaborate. After being released without conviction he set about farming on a block big enough for him and his family to subsist on and sell its surplus produce.
Are the needs of human rights victims met by the ICC, or is it serving more as an instrument of Western imperialism?
Following the disputed elections in 2007, systematic violence erupted in Kenya’s Rift Valley. Violence directed at the tribal group Mwangi identifies with saw dozens of murders in his area, and several families took refuge in Mwangi’s family compound. Around an hour before dawn they were awoken by an armed mob – mostly neighbours – that had surrounded their compound and were looking to kill them. Mwangi managed to sneak most of his family and friends out through the maize field behind his house, but in the ensuing violence his eldest son, son-in-law, and two friends were murdered. Mwangi escaped by tying a rope around his waist and hiding down his well as his house and farm were razed to the ground. Since then, Mwangi has re-established himself and his family in a town a couple of hours from where his home once stood. Kenyan land laws prohibit him from selling his land, and for obvious reasons he’s not comfortable returning there to farm. He wakes early each morning to bake and deliver bread to shops and cafes around town before opening his canteen for the day. I asked how he felt about having the two guys accused of orchestrating the post-election violence as the leaders of his country, and what he thought about the ICC prosecuting them. Expecting resentment towards Kenyatta and Ruto, I was surprised when he said the political alliance between the two was a good thing. From his perspective, the ICC trials were an unsettling and unnecessary meddling in Kenyan affairs. At least for now there is peace, he said.
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It’s an interesting angle on the ICC. In the west, the ICC is typically framed as a key human rights institution in the world – bringing justice to those committing crimes against humanity, and deterring those that might just be thinking about it. For Mwangi, the important thing is that he and his family have the peace to live and to do their thing. There’s uncertainty around the benefits to Mwangi from guilty convictions of Kenyatta and Ruto. What is known is that underlying ethnic tensions still exist and unfavourable results could end up breaking the tenuous peace.
Mwangi escaped by tying a rope around his waist and hiding down his well as his house and farm were razed to the ground.
Prosecuting the Kenyan leaders for crimes against humanity – crimes so atrocious it affects all humans – fits the narrative of not letting “conscience-shocking” crimes happen again. But although we may try and empathise with Mwangi’s experience, it’s hard to argue that as members of “humanity” all people outside of Kenya have been as adversely affected as him. In convicting Kenyatta and Ruto, perhaps the ICC does more to soothe the shocked consciences of the west – the segment of humanity not displaced, raped, and murdered – than it does to make any meaningful difference to many in Kenya. As Mwangi said, at least for now there’s peace.
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INTERNATIONAL HUMAN TRAFFICKING Christina Hallaway & Frances Gourlay Law for Change
When many people think of slavery, they think of the 19th century trans-Atlantic slave trade: plantation houses, slave auctions, and the American Civil War. They think of it as an awful period in human history that, however horrific, is now in the past. In fact, slavery is more common today than it has ever been before. It may no longer be legal, but it is just as structured, systematic and ubuquitous as it was in the 19th century. The US State Department estimates that 27 million people are enslaved around the world today, in one form or another - six times the population of our entire country. One form of modern day slavery is human trafficking – one of the fastest growing crimes in the twenty-first century. It is inherently linked to poverty and disenfranchisement. The vast majority of victims are people who are poor and looking for work, abducted or tricked into the custody of traffickers who then move them away from their communities and exploit them. The International Labour Organization (ILO) estimates the worldwide annual profit from sex trafficking alone is US$27.8 billion. That may not seem like a lot in the grand scheme of world finance until you realise that often, a turn at raping a trafficked women or child costs less than one New Zealand dollar. Despite the horrific statistics, trafficking rates continue to increase.
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Forms of Human Trafficking Human trafficking takes many forms. Often, the line between smuggling, trafficking and lesser forms of exploitation is extremely blurry. Poverty and desperation are often as important factors as actual coercion in recruiting victims. Traffickers use threats, weapons and drugs to subjugate their victims, often removing the need for overt abduction or imprisonment. If you traffick an illiterate, underprivileged girl at age 12 and feed her methamphetamine, she may become so consumed by addiction that you don’t have to lock her in a room twenty four hours a day to keep her. The question is, does that make it any less trafficking? When the girl becomes an adult and is still subject to exploitation, the legal line becomes blurred and prosecution is difficult. The two most prolific manifestations of trafficking are for sex or for labour. Broadly defined, human sex trafficking (or as some abolitionists call it, the rape-for-profit industry) is a form of involuntary servitude, where individuals and groups profit from the sexual exploitation of mostly women and children. The ILO estimates at least 1.39
Poverty and desperation are often as important factors as actual coercion in recruiting victims.
million people at any given time are victims of commercial sexual servitude, trafficked both transnationally and within their own countries. There is a strong link between sex trafficking and gender inequality. Women and girls who live in countries that place little value on equal rights are more likely to become victims of trafficking, due to their economic circumstances and lack of social power. There is a misconception that sex trafficking occurs only in South East Asia, in countries such as Thailand. However, sex trafficking occurs all over the world, even in countries such as New Zealand (more on that next week). The UNODC states the largest numbers of traffickers are from Asia, but closely followed by Europe, and the US State Department has identfied New Zealand as a source country for fly-in/fly-out sex trafficking of South East Asian girls. Labour trafficking or forced labour is defined by Anti-Slavery International as “any work or services which people are forced to do against their will under the threat of some form of punishment.” They state that forced labour is most frequently found in labour-intensive and/or under-regulated industries such as: agriculture and fishing; domestic work; construction, mining, quarrying and brick kilns; manufacturing, processing and packaging; and market trading and illegal activities. Victims of labour trafficking are often tricked into their situation, rather than abducted. They are promised a job away from home where they will be able to earn lots of money, but they are then taken to workplaces with terrible conditions, no pay and without a passport. They are never paid for their efforts, and it is very difficult to near impossible for them to escape from their situation. A variation on this is the extremely common form of slavery known as debt bondage, where a victim is promised work, but upon starting work, is told he or she owes an exorbidant debt and must pay it off.
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They are promised a job away from home where they will be able to earn lots of money, but they are then taken to workplaces with terrible conditions, no pay and without a passport
What action is being taken to put an end to human trafficking? The UNODC states the challenge for all countries is to target the criminals who exploit vulnerable people and to protect and assist both the victims of trafficking and smuggled migrants. Human trafficking is prohibited under the United Nations Convention on Transnational Organized Crimes and its protocols on trafficking in persons and migrant smuggling. The European Union is perhaps the most progressive on the issue. It has implemented the EU Strategy towards the Eradication of Trafficking in Human Beings in 2012. The EU places obligation on its member states to lay out practical measures to be implemented over five years for combating and preventing human trafficking. These include: prevention, protection, support for victims, the prosecution of traffickers, the establishment of national law enforcement units specialising in trafficking and the creation of joint European investigation teams to prosecute cross-border trafficking offences.
There is also a significant modern abolitionist movement in the form of faith-based and non-governmental organisations. Many highly skilled men and women are fighting tirelessly to not only rescue and protect victims, but to catch and prosecute traffickers. Sadly, as with any industry, the key lies in the demand. As long as there is demand for slavery, it will continue to happen. As we have seen in the recent abduction of teenage girls in Nigeria by Boko Haram, there is a market for human lives. Awareness is one major barrier to overcome: the more people who know this practice exists, the more will stand up and say that it simply isn’t right. We hope you’ll be one of them.
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FIVE MINUTES WITH… SAM DAVIES Simon Murrow
Alum Sam Davies Talwar is a founding member of Engineers Without Borders NZ and a current Board Chair. Ahead of EWB’s July conference here in Christchurch, the local student chapter of EWB chats to Sam about how he got started. What did you study at Canterbury? My undergrad degree was in mechanical engineering – I’d always loved building things so it felt like a logical progression for me. From there I went on to study a Masters in Engineering Management (MEM) in order to better understand business and the process of commercialising technology.
And it was during this time that you formed EWB? Canterbury EWB formed out of a MEM project by a guy called Sofian Irshide. Having been aware of EWB in his home country, Germany, he wanted to investigate the opportunity to get things started here. Sofian ran a presentation on his work one afternoon back in late 2007, from there I teamed up with Sofian to kick off the UC chapter and later form EWBNZ by merging with a University of Auckland chapter which had sprung up at the same time.
EWB has grown a lot since then, what’s the post university story of EWB? We certainly have. From those original two university chapters we now have six chapters covering both students and professionals in Auckland, Palmerston North, Wellington and Christchurch. We’ve worked with community organisations both at home and in a wide range of South Pacific Countries including Tonga, Samoa, Vanuatu, Kiribati and Fiji, teaming up with a wide range of organisations from in country community committees to larger international
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NGO’s such as Oxfam and World Vision, and directly with the New Zealand Government through NZAID and MFAT. EWB has always taken a partnership approach where by we partner with and support local community initiatives rather than jumping in and doing our own thing. We started out focusing on discrete technical projects but now are increasingly focusing on longer term partnership and capacity development. We see providing a pathway for learning about international development for both students and professionals as a core part of what we do.
And I see you are running a business now... Yes, all that study has paid off. When I left UC I was determined to find a job where I could use both my technical and business skills to develop new products and businesses. I was fortunate not to have to go far, picking up my first job with powerHouse Ventures, a company which invests in technology which comes out of the likes of UC and turns it into businesses. It’s been great working with my old department and we’ve been working on some really interesting applications from aerospace to infection prevention surfaces for hospitals.
So what does EWB have in the works? We’ve got heaps going on across the board from our work with schools and universities around New Zealand to our direct engagements with community based
organisations across the Pacific. We currently have projects and placements under way in Tonga, Samoa and Vanuatu and have some exciting new partnerships in the pipeline.
And you have a conference coming up, Engineering Change? Yes indeed, and excitingly 2014 will be the first year that we hold it here in Canterbury. EWBNZ’s conference is a one-day event where we bring together speakers from across engineering and international development communities. This year we’ll be focusing on disaster risk and recovery, co-operation in the development sector, and indigenous perspectives on development.
Would it be of interest to non engineers? Absolutely, if you’re interested in international development Engineering Change is for you.
Want some inspiration to get up and do something with your life? Interested in entrepreneurship, business or any of those other related buzz words? Or do your interests lie in using the skills you picked up at UC to make a difference to peoples lives? Join Engineers Without Borders.
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CANTA WENT TO THE AGM Initial Impressions The first thing we noticed about the 2014 AGM was the record number of students who turned up this year. 267 to be exact. Considering past years have registered around 60 in attendance, this was pretty much the Coachella of AGMs. The second thing we noticed was the free food. This is actually a lie. It was the first thing we noticed. In fact, we had a sausage in each hand before we got in the door. The third thing we noticed was the height of the platform President Platt was standing on. It was nearly as high as her skirt. Enough said.
Minutes and Amendments and Stuff All pretty straight-forward stuff. The highlight was Sarah Platt forgetting her own flatmate’s name, and then going redder than the sausage on our hash brown. Yeah, we also got a free hash brown. You really should have been there.
Accounts The UCSA sold a forestry block last year, which helped contribute to a cash reserve of $1.6Million. I know, it sounds like we could buy a lot of Foundry Draught with that sort of mullah. But according to the CEO, we’re “keeping our powder dry” as we wait to see what will happen with the UCSA buildings. Upon hearing of these cash reserves, Canta attempted to start a monorail chant. Nobody joined in.
President’s Update Ms Platt’s president report outlined some of the great stuff the UCSA and the Exec had done for us all lately. It was actually pretty impressive. Sort of made us wish we’d written some of it down. We’re sure she’ll mention it somewhere. What we can confirm is the price of pies has dropped! As has the price of several drinks at The Foundry. This announcement left most of the crowd in a euphoric state – a brilliant tactical move as we approached the everpopular Question Time.
Question Time (aka Execution Time) The questions were rather slow coming (unlike this writer, BOOM!) but once underway, they could be grouped into three key categories: 1. Student Representation On The University Council (~94% of questions) Concerns were raised by a range of attendees about the move to reduce the number of student reps on the University Council. Previously there were two student representatives, but this has been voluntarily reduced to one following a government proposal that will reduce the size of University Councils overall, and potentially do away with mandatory student representation.
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{ Canta 2014 }
Jenny loves sausage
Some serious questions were put to President Platt regarding the UCSA’s official stance on the issue – or lack thereof – and whether it was prudent to rely on the existing ‘good relationship’ and ‘assurance’ with the council/ university rather than an airtight ‘agreement’ that students would be appropriately represented in future. The UCSA was also questioned on its support for other student bodies who are potentially losing their student representation on respective councils. The general feeling was that a core group of students care very deeply about this issue of student representation on the University Council, and want to see the UCSA take a more hardline stance on the changes. And you thought people only came for the sausages! 2. The Foundry and Shilling Club (~4% of questions) A large, hirsute man at the back (a proud regular of The Foundry) raised several issues around opening and closing times of the bars on campus. He feels they open too late, and shut too early. A man close our own hearts! He was assured by the CEO that the UCSA are closely monitoring the hours of both establishments. The same lion-maned man pointed out that while pie prices had dropped on campus, most other food and drink prices had not. Again, he was assured that the UCSA was working on it. Canta hopes they are also working on a pie/ beer combo deal. 3. Student Alcohol Culture (~2%) Two students raised the issue of, ‘what are the UCSA doing about the student drinking culture?’ This included noting that the President was presenting the AGM in front of a wall plastered with Tui posters. Not the best start. However, Platt’s response was particularly comprehensive. There was talk of the ‘emergency tent’ at UCSA events, the greater emphasis on food at The Foundry, and the support of the ‘Good One’ party registration campaign. Her response was delivered with such fluidity and sincerity that we’re sure we
That’s a finger point, not a salute...
weren’t the only ones that wanted to buy that girl a beer! Or a diet Coke. Drink responsibly kids.
Conclusion And just like that it was over for another year. But that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t approach the UCSA Exec if you have ideas, suggestions or complaints. They don’t bite. And even if Sarah did try to bite you, she’d only reach your lower thigh.
NOTE: At one point it was suggested that the UCSA should do more to increase awareness of issues that effect the student population via its social media channels, and Canta magazine. We here at Canta would like to take this opportunity to assure anyone who potentially wants to write about anything about university life that concerns them (or anything that doesn’t), that they are extremely welcome to contact us: canta@ ucsa.canterbury.ac.nz
WHAT’S ON GC Speed Dating 2014 Friday 30 May 6:30pm – 11:00pm Secret Location – Bus leaves from the Foundry Tickets: $15 (Members only) The Language Café
Petro Heads Race Motorised Chilly Bins Wednesday 28 May 11:00am S Block Lawn COMSOC Launch: Meet and Drink! Wednesday 28 May 7:30pm – 11pm Harrington’s Riccarton Te Akatoki Maori Students’ Association Special General Meeting Thursday 29 May 2:00pm 129 Ilam Road
Saturday 31 May 10:00am The Living Room Imaginary Blues Machine Thursday 29 May 8:00pm Dux Live FREE
Thursday 29 May 1:00pm – 2:00pm UC School of Music Room 205 FREE
30 May – 14 July Presented by Christchurch Art Gallery Peterborough St Library
A Midsummer Night’s Dream Saturday 31 May 7.30pm Court Theatre Tickets from $31 Ahoribuzz
Herbs Unplugged
Saturday 31 May 10:00pm Winnie Bagoes City $30
Thursday 29 May 6pm Morrell and Co Tickets: $25
Monday Night Magic
UC Arts Presents: The Acoustic Lounge
There are a number of 10 minute slots available for anyone to perform. Email ucartsexec@gmail. com to secure your place.
Contact: lha18@uclive.ac.nz
UC SoM Lunchtime Concert: Wind and Percussion
The Art of the Dust Jacket
Thursday 29 May 7.30pm The Shilling Club
The Language Cafe is a meetup for anyone wanting to learn languages through social conversation.
Tahuna Breaks with support from Midnight Gallery Friday May 30 8:00pm Dux Live Tickets: $25 +bf
Monday 2 June 7:00pm Darkroom FREE V Adrenalin Course Wednesday 4 June 11:00am C Block lawn { Canta 2014 }
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PUZZLE TIME
THE QUIZNEZZ 1) What is the capital of Greece? 2)Who is the most capped All White? 3) What is Miley Cyrus’ real first name? 4) How old is John Key?
Jean M. Auel
THE SATANIC VERSES
Harper Lee
THE CATCHER IN THE RYE
J.D. Sallinger
DISGRACE
Charles Dickens
TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD
Salman Rusdie
CLAN OF THE CAVE BEAR
J.M Coetzee
GREAT EXPECTATIONS
6) Who is Helen Clarke (hint: sport)? 7) Who is Luke Gillespie? 8) Whose real name is Caryn Elaine Johnson? 9) What does VHS stand for? 10) How many times has Lisa Marie Presley been married?
ANSWERS: 1)ATHENS 2)IVAN VICELICH 3)DESTINY 4)52 5)64 6)FORMER BLACKSTICKS HOCKEY GOALIE 7)UCSA VICE PRESIDENT 8)WHOOPI GOLDBERG 9)VIDEO HOME SYSTEM 10)4 TIMES
MATCH THE AUTHOR TO THE BOOK
5) How old is former PM Helen Clark?
SU-DOH!-KU
MINI CROSSWORD
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