Welcome to York: A York U 'Knowledge' Production

NEWS (2-6)

FEATURES (7-17)

ARTS & CULTURE (24-26)

Debunking Excalibur 18 Tar Sands Genocide 19 Adoptees of Colour 20 Caught Crying Wolf 21

No More Silence Photos 24 Bodies Resist 25 Headlines 25 Olympic Resistance Photos 26

Fabiano Fabbrucci

Pink Elephant Loses 2 York Admin Faces Court Order 7 OCAP Crashes Dinner Party 3 Boycott Ariel and the Rest 8 Silenced Expression U of O 4 Accessibility At York U 10 We Cannot Be Neutral 6 Tribute to Himani Bannerji 14

COMMENTS (18-23)

Winter Issue 4, 2010

Your Alternative News Magazine at York

Volume 2, Issue 4

2

WINTER ISSUE 4 2010

Editorial Another Year has Past, but the Struggle for Accessible Education Continues…

Some people might assert that research and advocacy campaigns engaging with the politics of postsecondary education are akin to social elites whining about guilt-ridden privilege from their disconnected ivory towers of afar.

From this weary perspective, public funding and sparse discursive space should be inclusive of causes other than for those who cannot afford to enter the restrictive breaches of academia.

For such reasons, it is important to preface this year’s final YU Free Press installment by affirming why education deserves our selfreflective attention in the first place.

This is not to state that universityfocused critiques supersede others sites of struggle. Rather, the purpose of this issue is to showcase the fights for accessible education and social justice in all of its social, economic, political and ecological manifestations.

We are at a time when women’s safety at York University continues to be at an all-time low, minimum graduate school funding has been potentially abolished, tuition fees are at their highest in Canadian history, public/private collusion

CORRECTIONS

Vol. 2, Issue 3

is becoming ever more prevalent, and free speech is challenged on a daily basis. There is definitely more than enough impetus for students to join and learn from how these circumstances are connected to the same root causes that reproduce external community based problems.

Presenting our 4th and final issue for this school year, “Welcome to York: AYork U ‘Knowledge’Production,” we would like this issue to serve as a space for a critical assessment of York University, not only of its administrative affairs on campus, but also with respect to much broader international relationships.

We hope to demonstrate how these dynamics are deteriorating the quality of education, and in turn, the society that is impacted by what is legitimized and produced out of these scholastic havens.

With this background, the News Section begins with Zubaira Hussaini’s ‘Pink Elephant Loses to Students First,’ a contextualization of the YFS election and the way conservative student campaigns are reinventing themselves over time. We are also happy to present, ‘University of Ottawa vs. Freedom

COVER IMAGE

Capital Education Services: Cool Ersatz Blast

By Nathan Nun

In the article ‘Is York University Ditching Guaranteed Graduate Student Funding?’, written by Jordy Cummings, these sentences were originally written in the following way: “’Unit threes’ have been active in the more militant wings of our local, during and subsequent to last year’s strike...” “...a pre-emptive strike against a bargaining unit that has been and still is a hotbed of labour militancy.”

Nathan Nun is an artist and graduate student in Social and Political Thought at York. The image “Capital Education Services: Cool Ersatz Blast” is a comment on the commodification of education.

What will you do now?

of Expression: University Continues to Apply Ludicrous Criminal Charges against its Own Student,’ an update on the wrongful arrest of U of O student Joseph Hickey. Also following the theme of education, we have reprinted the statement signed by concerned faculty and students, ‘We Cannot be Neutral on a Moving Train! Open Letter to the International Geographical Union,’ regarding its decision to hold the annual conference in Tel Aviv, undermining the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions campaign of the apartheid state of Israel.

In our Features Section, we are excited to include Canova Kutuk’s exploration of York University Professor David Noble’s court case against Lorna Marsden and Paul Marcus, whose recent decision sends a clear message to the York University administration that they will not get away with repressing pro-Palestinian voices and activism on campus. The Features Section also is happy to include profiles on Professor Himani Bannerji and the late Professor Howard Zinn, both influential academic figures who have made profound impacts on education and knowledge

...read, write, help out YU Freepress!

www.freeimages.co.uk

Our Comments Section showcases a spectrum of works, beginning with Aaron Lakoff’s ‘Size Doesn’t Matter...But Apartheid Does,’ which critically assesses Israel’s newest tourist marketing campaign.

Furthermore, Gitz Crazyboy brings much needed attention to the worsening relationship between ‘The Alberta Tar Sands and First Nations Eco-Genocide.’

The International Community of Adoptees of Color also release a statement that encourages the western world to stop transnational cross racial adoption when it comes to dealing with Haiti’s postearthquake orphan influx.

Finally in Arts & Culture, the Women’s Studies Undergraduate Student Club at York revisits

the significance of their recently held alternative fashion show. As well, Elley Newman’s photos and thoughtful commentaries provide a first-hand account of ‘Olympic Resistance at a Glance.’ Lastly, our ‘No More Silence’ photo essay

by Sofia Guerrieri popularizes a Feb. 14 rally and march that saw hundreds of Toronto-based activists demand justice for the 500+ Indigenous women who are missing or who have been murdered across the country over the past 30-40 years.

In reaching the end of the winter semester, the YU Free Press would like to take this time to thank its volunteer core, contributors, readers, and overall support system for successfully getting us through our second year of existence. We will be accepting submissions over the summer to lead into the Fall Issue. Please remember to submit all articles, photos, community event notices, art, and general inquiries to info@yufreepress.org.

The YU Free Press looks forward to building from your constructive feedback to propel us into the many issues to come!

- The YU Free Press Editorial Collective

Pink Elephant Loses to Students First Zubaira Hussaini The Students First slate claimed victory in this year’s YFS elections, a second round of success for the progressive slate that also won a landslide victory in last year’s elections.

ased news source on campus politics for students, something that many students would rebuke given Excalibur’s coverage of the elections.

Casey Chu Cheong, Chief Returning Officer (CRO), maintained that all election rules must be observed to maintain the integrity of Results showed Students First the electoral process. Chu Cheong beat opposition slate New York stated, “Candidates are supposed to by a large margin, with Students follow the rules, and if they violate First taking all positions except the rules and election code itself, it Schulich, Fine Arts, Winters, and is my duty to levy from that point as stipu“I think the choice was pretty l a t e d the clear: a pink elephant, or an in code.”

{

Students had a mixed reaction to this year’s elections. Third year Political Science major Anne said, “Well the New York team seems to have a bunch of arts students. Not that I don’t think they can run for office.”

Another student said, “I think the choice was pretty clear: a pink elephant, or an experienced, mature team that will deliver the results; a team that will take their job seriously.”

experienced, mature team that will deliver the results...”

Glendon directors positions.

Election results were made available on Mar. 8, outside the YFS office.

This year’s elections, as with last year’s, were tense on both sides. York Forward, a slate in last year’s YFS elections, reinvented themselves as New York.

They were rumoured to have been backed by Conservative government members with an agenda to change student politics.

Contact: info@yufreepress.org www.yufreepress.org

production. Some other important articles we have included in the are the Maigkaisa Centre Organization’s exploration of Canada’s Live-In Caregiver Program and discussion of the continued exploitation of Filipino workers, and Camilo Cahis addresses the hypocrisy of the Canadian government’s condemnation of democracy in Venezuela while parliament remains prorogued.

This year’s elections also saw the dismissal of 16 New York candidates for accumulating too many demerit points, most of which were handed out for the charge of distributing Excalibur, an unauthorized campaign material, to students, along with “Vote New York” written on them. In their defence, members of New York argued that Excalibur is an unbi-

The particular issue of Excalibur that was seen distributed by New York members had a picture of Saravanamuttu depicted on a dart board, accompanying an article about an anonymous executive member of a student club who claimed the Students First President threatened to reduce their clubs funding. This allegation was found to be false and made only to defame Saravanamuttu and Students First because the power to withhold funding does not lie with the YFS president.

There were also several reports of Students First posters being torn down, yet no details or The mascot of ‘New York’ - a pink elephant. reports by security have been produced on this.

3

WINTER ISSUE 4 2010

News Free Speech on Palestine is Here to Stay at York!

The YU Free Press Is Officially Vindicated of Claims of anti-Semitism and Receives Financial Compensation for Stolen Copies The YU Free Press Editorial Collective After approximately 12 months, two separate investigations, and countless external letter as well as media campaigns projected both for and against the YU Free Press, York University’s newly launched alternative campus newspaper is pleased to announce that it has recently achieved two major victories in the growing fight to defend free speech on Palestine in university campuses worldwide.

However, before positing the positive implications of such breakthroughs, it is important to note that both investigations emanated in response to a series of events following the release of our March-April 2009 ‘Another Way Must Be Tried Issue,’ which included the controversial imagery of pro-Palestinian political cartoonist Carlos Latuff. At the crux of the debate was Latuff’s decision to depict the sheer brutality of Israel’s colonialist mandate toward Palestine by drawing parallels to the Holocaust itself.

Similar comparisons of Israel’s colonialist policies toward Palestine have been echoed by prominent Jewish as well as non-Jewish academics, activists, politicians, and public figures from across the world including Norman Finkelstein, Desman Tutu, Naomi Klein, and Richard Falk, to name a few. As well, a former holocaust survivor, Suzanne Weiss, echoed the same point in a YU Free Press article only one month before the Latuff interview.

newspaper, we feel that it is necessary to popularize that on Mar. 8, 2010, the YU Free Press was officially exempted of claims of anti-Semitism by an autonomous judiciary campus body.

Not only that, a second independent noncampus deliberative process headed by the Toronto Police has also resulted in financial compensation of $400 for retaliatory incidents connected to the release of the issue with the Latuff interview. In these incidents, two pro-Zionist York University students, including the former President of Hasbara Fellowships at York, Aaron Rosenberg, and the second, Mark Levin, indiscriminately threw out approx. 1,000 copies of the newspaper claiming it was anti-Semitic. The two students were caught on videotape whilst throwing out the newspaper.

Both students were arrested for this culpable act in Jun. 2009, and were originally charged.

In a hearing held on Sept. 1, 2009, the charges were dropped, as both Aaron and Mark, were willing to pay restitution. This restitution has finally been received in the form of a

$400 cheque made out to the YU Free Press on behalf of both Aaron and Mark, money that now has helped to create this current issue to continue to present marginalized and underrepresented voices that are often left out of mainstream media.

At a time when the Toronto District School Board has banned Israeli Apartheid Week, and criticism towards Israel is internationally growing, now, more than ever, the public needs to learn about the successes in overcoming Zionist lobbying attempts to repress critiques of the state of Israel and become mindful of when democratic rights are actually upheld.

The YU Free Press will continue to be an outlet for respectful debate on pertinent topics of injustice by joining a growing host of Canadian campus-wide student publications that will not be silenced by Israeli state propagandists or its far-reaching apologists.

For more information, please contact: info@ yufreepress.org.

{

EDITORIAL COLLECTIVE Victoria Barnett Raji Choudhury Troy Dixon Zubaira Hussaini Nathan Nun Jen Rinaldi Shaunga Tagore Carmen Teeple Hopkins

COPY EDITORS

PUBLISHER

away!”

The group was loud, energetic, and determined despite being physically attacked by Toronto Police and Liberal Party members.

Members of the Ontario Coalition Against Poverty (OCAP) organized to crash the fundraiser, at which Premier Dalton McGuinty was scheduled to speak, outraged because rich Liberal Party supporters could spend more on a meal than people on welfare have to live on for a month.

“In the midst of the economic crisis, attacks on poor people have increased, and the potential of social cuts in the upcoming Provincial budget is undeniably real and will mean an explosion of poverty in Ontario.”

banquet hall. Just as hundreds of dinner attendees gathered in the reception area sipping on champagne, OCAP occupied the centre area chanting, “Raise the Rates” and “We’re hungry, we’re angry, we won’t go

WEBSITE http://www.yufreepress.org

Jeremy Appel, Jorge Antonio Vallejos, Himani Bannerji, Victoria Barnett, James Burrows, Camilo Cahis, Alya Canova, Gitz Crazyboy, Yves Engler, Kareem El Dabbagh, Sofia Guerrieri, Maria Guadagnoli-Closs, Joseph Hickey, Zubaira Hussaini, Andrew Iliadis, Imran Kaderdina, Canova Kutuk, Tristan Laing, Aaron Lakoff, Carlos Latuff, Nora Loreto, Shourideh Molavi, Jonathan McIntosh, Elley Newman, Nathan Nun, Justin Podur, Jen Rinaldi, Shaunga Tagore, Carmen Teeple Hopkins, Erykah Turner, Jesse Zimmerman, Howard Zinn

Poor People Crash Lavish Liberal Dinner Party

At about 7:00 pm at the Metro Convention Centre, approx. 50 low-income people and OCAP supporters disrupted the fine dining and cocktails, walking past police and security and proceeding right to the front of the

EMAIL info@yufreepress.org

CONTRIBUTORS

After defending our right to free speech in a Human Rights investigation that quickly ensued after claims of anti-Semitism were filed against the Latuff article (though we cannot release the specificities of this process), and given the immense amount of support that we have received since the inception of our

On Thurs. Feb. 25, 2010, dinners at a lavish Ontario Liberal Party fundraising event that cost $950 per plate (and $9,500 per table) did not leave attendees finishing their meals in comfort.

ADDRESS York University 4700 Keele Street Toronto, Canada

Hammam Farah Canova Kutuk Stefan Lazov Daniel Pillai Jamie M.A. Smith

By publishing Carlos Latuff’s cartoons and his accompanying interview with former YUFP editor Ali Mustafa, the YU Free Press does not endorse anti-Semitic perspectives, but critiques of the state of Israel on a social justice perspective and on international law.

The purpose was to provide a non-censored discursive platform whilst acknowledging the progressive anti-Zionist voices that describe the conditions in Gaza.

Ontario Coalition Against Poverty

The YU Free Press is a free alternative monthly newspaper at York University.

Our principal objectives are to challenge the mainstream corporate media model and provide a fundamental space for critical analysis at York University and wider community.

Amidst the Liberals’ feast, thousands of people in this city go without food or shelter.

While the Liberals promise “poverty reduc-

tion strategies,” they are doing all they can to eliminate Special Diet access, a benefit people can access to limit their poverty if a medical provider considers it necessary.

Beginning in 2005, OCAP’s Special Diet campaign pushed to take advantage of this benefit, a supplement of up to an additional $250 per month. OCAP organized provincewide ‘Hunger Clinics’ to gain people much needed access to the Special Diet benefit.

Special Diet spending in the Province increased from $5 million in the 2002/03 fiscal year, to $67 million in the 2008/09 fiscal year.

In the most recent attack, the Liberal government has sent memos to welfare and Ontario Disability Support Program (ODSP) offices that give untrained staff the right to evaluate and reject the diagnoses of health providers.

This is leading to a huge reduction in access to this vital benefit.

The loss of Special Diet income for the poor in Ontario will be a major cut in people’s

CONTINUED ON PAGE 5

The YU Free Press Collective The opinions expressed in the YU Free Press are not necessarily those of the editors or publishers. Individual editors are not responsible for the views and opinions expressed herein.

Images used by YUFP under various creative commons, shared, and open media licenses do not necessarily entail the endorsement of YUFP or the viewpoints expressed in its articles by the respective creators of such images.

Only current members of the Editorial Collective can represent the YU FreePress.

ADVERTISING

For advertising rates, please visit our website at: www.yufreepress.org

EVENTS

Event listings can be sent to

info@yufreepress.org

The YU Free Press welcomes typed, articles and letters and short creative works and visuals. All submisions must be accompanied by the author’s name (with relevant affiliations).

Materials deemed libelous or discriminatory by the YU Free Press Collective will not be printed.

Send all submissions to info@yufreepress.org

News

4

WINTER ISSUE 4 2010

Community Demands Access to Education without Fear: Toronto’s Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell Policy Remains Unenforced in many Schools James Burrows No One Is Illegal believes that to label a person ‘illegal’ is to deny them of their humanity and to create a community that is constantly in fear.

This is the message that grade 10 students at Harbord Collegiate received when they packed into their auditorium for a presentation

by No One is Illegal and a documentary entitled Education not Deportation.

No One Is Illegal describes themselves as “a group of immigrants, refugees, and allies who fight for the rights of all migrants to live with dignity and respect. We believe that granting citizenship to a privileged few is part of racist immigration and border policies designed to exploit and marginalize migrants.”

Education not Deportation outlined the campaign by No One Is Illegal and allies to encourage the Toronto District School Board (TDSB) to pass a ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ policy.

Under this policy, when a parent attempts to register a child in

{

unimplemented in many schools.

Although the Education Act of Ontario is clear that a student’s status does not preclude them from an education, in practice the situation is much different.

When parents attempt to register their children they are often met with administrators and forms requesting proof of their status.

The Education not Deportation campaign argues that “despite being at the backbone of Canada’s economy, non-status people are barred from access to essential services including shelter, health care, social housing, emergency, and settlement supports and education. They live in daily fear of detention and deportation.”

“Creating safe spaces for students is about more than just admission.

You walk out of the classroom and you are scared. You are not just thinking about your marks. You think if you speak up, someone may report you,” noted one Harbord Collegiate student.

It is this fear that the ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ policy was meant to address. But, as the Education not Deportation documentary attempts to show, much fear remains in the

“Despite being at the backbone of Canada’s economy, non-status people are barred from access to essential services including shelter, healthcare, social housing, emergency, and settlement supports and education. They live in daily fear of detention and deportation.”

school, their legal status is not requested and if their legal status is discovered, the school is forbidden from passing this information on to any government agency.

This policy was passed by the TDSB in 2006 but continues to be

community because many schools remain unaware of the policy.

“Without actual access to education [people are forced] into economically oppressed situations where they live in poverty,” said Javier Davila, a teacher and a

Kareem El Dabbagh “No One Is Illegal’s campaign demands a stop to immigration raids in schools, and a fair and safe education for all, regardless of status” member of Ontario Secondary School Teachers Federation, District 12. “This is a crisis and much of it is to be blamed on our fearful access to education that we have created by not following the Education Act.”

activist group No One Is Illegal with the huge help of community support, students, parents, a broad coalition of partners including the Ontario Secondary School Teachers’ Federation.” CUPE also supports the campaign.

Section 49.1 of the Ontario Education Act states that a person “who is less than 18 years of age shall not be refused admission because the person or the person’s parent or guardian is unlawfully in Canada.”

Pam Dogra, an elementary school teacher noted that “very few parents will come to schools, particularly if there are signs up that say the opposite of what the policy actually is. Sometimes you’ll walk into a school and the regular checklist is, ‘Can I see your immigration papers?’ ‘Do you have a passport?’

So parents, I think, are very fearful to come in, and word spreads very fast in the community.”

This section was amended following Canada’s ratification of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, which states that all children should be able to access education.

In the documentary Davilla stated, “Education not Deportation is a campaign initiated by grassroots

TDSB Trustee Chris Bolton stated “this is the first time that you as students have come together to hear about the policy.” Bolton also added that if anyone hears of

a student not being able to access education in Toronto they should “call my office and we will make sure they have a space.”

No One Is Illegal believes that “in the absence of public education in schools and migrant communities to ensure access not fear for undocumented people, the TDSB is missing out on becoming the model for schools across the country.”

The documentary was part of a series of films that are being shown through the school’s ‘Movies that Matter’ series. No One is Illegal was brought in as part of the history and civics program that focuses on immigration policy in Canada.

There are as many as 500,000 undocumented people in Canada.

This article was originally published in the Ryerson Free Press.

University of Ottawa vs. Freedom of Expression: University Continues to Apply Ludicrous Criminal Charges against its own Student Joseph Hickey In December 2009, a graduate student at the University of Ottawa, Joseph Hickey, was arrested and criminally charged with Mischief Under $5000 for allegedly painting the message “These Walls Belong to Students” on a poster-backing

wall at the university’s Morisset Library.

Joseph Hickey was immediately deemed to be trespassing on university property, despite being full-time registered as a student (including his job as a TA in the first-year Physics labs). After

numerous attempts to contact University of Ottawa President Allan Rock to have the Notice of No Trespassing revoked, Hickey went to the President’s office to make an appointment and was handcuffed, arrested, and served with a Provincial Offence Notice for trespass.

The police officer’s report for this arrest demonstrates that University of Ottawa Protection Services gave the officer the false information that Hickey was no longer a student and had already finished his degree. The police report also reveals political discrimination on the part of Protection Services, stating that their agents on Joseph Hickey the scene informed Employee of a university-hired external company (Bungee Banner), installing aluminum- the police officer backed, anti-graffiti posters over student chalk art. Messages were not removed from the that Hickey had walls before installation and no charges were laid, despite Protection Services’ descrip- been “taken in by a radical group of tion of the student chalk-messages as “damage to property”.

students at the school.”

Protests from the teaching assistant union and the Graduate Students’ Association, along with growing media coverage, ultimately led to the unconditional revocation of the Notice of No Trespassing in January 2010. However, the criminal charges against the

{

calling the “absurd” damage costs “a disgusting attempt to use student tuition money to exert punitive measures against a University of Ottawa student. There was absolutely no necessity to remove anything from the poster backing walls. The University’s recent (February 4, 2010) installation of propaganda posters over top of

“The police report also reveals political discrimination on the part of Protection Services, stating that their agents on the scene informed the police officer that Hickey had been “taken in by a radical group of students at the school.”

student still stand. The university claims $1038.45 in damage costs for removal of paint from the wall, which is now covered by a brand new aluminum-backed poster complete with an anti-graffiti coating.

A recent public letter from the University of Ottawa’s Student Appeals Centre to President Allan Rock decries the continued imposition of criminal charges and damage costs on the student,

student-made chalk messages on the same walls attests to this fact.”

There has still been no response from President Rock. At his most recent court date on Mar. 16, 2010, Hickey continued to seek full disclosure of evidence from the Crown Prosecutor regarding proof of payment for the claimed damage costs. The trial date will not be set until all relevant disclosures are provided by the Crown.

News in Brief Nathan Nun & Carmen Teeple Hopkins US Congress Debates Afghan War American congressman David Kucinich evoked the War Powers Act to exercise the constitutional responsibility of Congress eight years into the war in Afghanistan on Mar. 10, calling for American withdrawal from occupying the war-torn country. During the long-overdue ensuing debate, Congress affirmed Obama’s war policy and also took its share of responsibility. The measure lost 356 to 65, but forced a debate and opened expressions of opposition within Congress in an atmosphere dominated by pro-war voices.

Kucinich summarized the debate as “a chance, for the first time, to reflect on our responsibility for troop casualties that are now reaching a thousand, to look at our responsibilities for the costs of the war, which approaches $250 billion; our responsibility for the civilian casualties and the human costs of the war; our responsibility for challenging the corruption that takes place in Afghanistan; our responsibility for having a real understanding of the role of the pipeline in this war; our responsibility for debating the role of counterinsurgency strategies, as opposed to counterterrorism; our responsibility for being able to make a case for the logistics of withdrawal.” The lack of press coverage of the debate was itself a point of criticism.

Icelanders Reject Paying for Financial Crisis The ‘Icesave law’ that would have Iceland’s taxpayers guarantee repayment of massive debts incurred by bankers in bailing out its collapsed banks was resoundingly rejected in a referendum. About 93% of voters said ‘no’ (5% spoiled) to the law that would bail out Iceland’s financial elite amid declines in employment, rate hikes, and attacks on social spending. Icelanders feel bullied by the International Monetary Fund

CRASHED PARTY CONTINUED FROM PAGE 3 income. People on social assistance live on incomes that have lost at least 40% of their spending power since 1995. People are even poorer today than they were under Mike Harris.

The Feb. 25 OCAP action was organized to stop the attack on welfare and disability recipients, and to expose the hypocrisy of the Provincial government and their ‘poverty reduction’ veneer.

Poverty is not comfortable, nor should we allow rich supporters of

5

News

WINTER ISSUE 4 2010

(IMF) which demands that Iceland ‘honour’ its debts to Britain and Dutch governments; the Iceland government responded with eroding living standards and cutting back on health and education.

The former Health Minister, who resigned over the ‘icesave’ deal, stated: “This is a dispute between people and capital, property rights and human rights. Maybe we need a little bit of revolution--this is why many people in finance dislike the referendum, because it is symbolic.

It is people questioning the rights of capital.” The crisis has sparked protest and organization at the grass roots demanding debt cancellation, removing the IMF from Iceland, that the investors who bankrupted the country be held responsible, and that the economy should be run for people and not for profits. The established social democratic party will resume negotiations over the deal, pragmatically suggesting that the ‘no’ vote will result in a more equitable solution for Iceland.

There are fears that refusing to pay the debts could diminish the financial future of the country, but the consequences of paying in terms of living standards are potentially more deadly, as is surrendering to the power of capitalist institutions.

Conservatives Reject Torture Allegations, NDP Tables AntiTorture Bill Government documents suggest that Canadian officials deliberately intended that Afghan detainees be tortured to gather intelligence.

The allegations centre on whether officials knowingly disregarded that prisoners turned over to Afghan officials would be tortured.

Opposition parties have called for a full public inquiry into the case.

Opposition also suggests this was one issue over which parliament was prorogued. Conservatives have rejected a public inquiry and recently proposed that the Supreme Court review disputed documents, deciding which should be released.

An internal memo has also surfaced McGuinty’s Liberals the comforts that they assume from the backs of the poor.

In the midst of the economic crisis, attacks on poor people have increased, and the potential of social cuts in the upcoming Provincial budget is undeniably real and will mean an explosion of poverty in Ontario.

That’s why, on Apr. 15, 2010, OCAP will hold a large mobilization against the Provincial Government. We won’t pay for their crisis or their deficit.

We demand the right to decent income and a future free from poverty. Raise the Rates by 40% Now! Join us at noon on Apr. 15 at Allan Gardens Park (Sherbourne and Gerrard) and fight for the right to decent income!

For more information and to get involved, please contact ocap@tao.ca or 416-925-6939.

Fight to Win! www.ocap.ca

OCAP

Originally published on the OCAP website.

confirming that officials began formulating plans to deal with abuse allegations as early as March 2007.

Meanwhile a torture prevention bill has been tabled by the New Democratic Party that would prevent government complicity in torture, establishing mechanisms to report all knowledge of torture and repatriate Canadian citizens at risk of torture. If the allegations are true, Canadian officials could be held accountable for war crimes.

German New Left Thrown out of Bundestag for Anti-War Protest, Troop Increase Members of Die Linke (The Left) serving in the Bundestag were thrown out after a silent protest against Germany’s continued participation in the war in Afghanistan in February.

The protest which involved unfurling banners with the names of Afghans killed in a military strike called in by the German army in September last year. On the occasion of proposals to send more troops to Afghanistan, The Left’s Christine Buchholz called the “military counterinsurgency and the protection of the [Afghan] population … irreconcilable aims.” “Germany is involved in a war against the ordinary people of Afghanistan,” she said. Buchholz especially urged the Social Democrats and Greens to “bear in mind that however you justify the war, you are today deciding on life and death.” Despite the growing unpopularity of the war members voted 429 to 111 to increase troop levels to 5,350 soldiers.

Israel Illegal Settlements Plan Undermines Peace, Alienates US Israel announced a plan to build an additional 1,600 homes in occupied East Jerusalem just after Joe Biden announced continued support for the Israeli government. Although Biden condemned the decision of the government, suggesting it undermines trust necessary for revitalization of the US ‘road map’ peace process, no measures have been taken to force compliance with the road map or international law. Biden’s visit also focused on the policy of sanctioning Iran.

Palestinians have agreed to direct peace talks on the condition that construction of settlements on occupied land stops. Palestinians and progressive Israelis rallied in East Jerusalem against evictions of Palestinians that would make room for Israeli settlers. As contradictions between Israeli settlements, official US positions, and US aid unravel, Israel’s ambassador to the US, Michael Oren, has suggested that US-Israeli relations are facing their worst crisis in over 35 years.

Palestinian Member of Israeli Knesset Denounces Israeli Apartheid Dr. Jamal Zahalka, a Palestinian member of Israeli Knesset (parliament), condemned Israeli Apartheid on Thurs. Mar. 11, 2010 at the Quebec National Assembly.

A long-time activist, Zahalka is one of the leaders and founders of the anti-occupation movement in Israel. He spent two years (197274) as a political prisoner for his pro-Palestinian work in Israel.

His public statement in Quebec was part of the 6th annual Israeli Apartheid Week.

Australia Recognizes Specific Sex Category

Non-

In early March 2010, Australia created a law acknowledging a

‘non-specific’ sex category. The New South Whales government issued a ‘Sex Not Specified’ Recognized Details Certificate to replace the birth certificate of an individual named Norrie. Norrie is now legally categorized as neither a man, nor a woman. Utilizing the pronoun, zie (a gender specific pronoun to replace s/he), at 23 Norrie had gender re-assignment surgery, but did not feel comfortable in hir gender. Since this time, zie has identified in-between genders.

One-Day Greece

National

Strike

in

A national strike was held in Greece on Thurs. Mar. 11, 2010, to protest the increase in cutbacks and taxes as a result of the debt crisis. Most public service workers were on strike: schools were closed for the day, only emergency hospital staff worked, and public transportation was cancelled. Airports halted flights while police, firefighters, and coast guard workers also participated in the strike. Approx.

10,000 people took to the streets in Athens.

US National Day of Action to Defend Public Education On Mar. 4, 2010, thousands protested in approx. 32 states across the US to fight for public education. The call-out came from California, where marches and rallies were the strongest.

Berkeley students blocked a major highway for 45 mins., resulting in 160 arrests, and at UC Santa Cruz students started at 5:45 am and blocked the campus, resulting in the campus police to send a memo at 7:45 am stating that the campus was closed for the day.

the newly-elected conservative President Sebastián Piñera. Piñera has called his administration, “the government of reconstruction.”

University Secretary and General Counsel under Investigation...?!

By Alya Canova According to various rumours circulating within the York community, Harriet Lewis, Secretary of the York Senate, Board of Governors, and the York University Development Corporation (YUDC), is under formal investigation by the Upper Law Society of Canada for professional misconduct. Having spent well over 30 years at York University, Harriet remains in office as the institutional memory of York. As the general counsel, she is responsible for managing the University’s legal affairs. She is also responsible for co-ordinating the development and circulation of University policy. Investigations undertaken by the Upper Law Society are kept strictly confidential unless a notice of application for a formal discipline proceeding is filed by a committee of Benchers.

When asked whether or not she can deny the rumours, Lewis replied, “I will not comment.” Associates of Lewis’s in the Office of the Secretariat also refused to comment on the situation.

If the ‘rumours’ are well grounded, then we, as students, faculty and staff, should be seriously concerned about Lewis’s ability to work for York University while under formal investigation.

(Source: http:// thesepamphleteers.blogspot.com)

Earthquake in Chile amidst Presidential Transition On Feb. 27, 2010, the centre of Chile was hit by an 8.8 magnitude earthquake that killed over 450 people and left 180 missing.

Michelle Bachelet’s government has been criticized for slow delays to aid. The earthquake also occurred during a political transition from social democrat Bachelet to

Harriet Lewis

News

6

WINTER ISSUE 4 2010

Author Requests Publisher Not Distribute Book to Chapters Indigo Yves Engler Yves Engler, author of Canada and Israel: Building Apartheid, which began shipping in late February has asked his publisher, Fernwood Publishing, not to release the book to Chapters Indigo bookstores.

Engler’s previous three books have been sold by Canada’s largest bookstore chain.

“This decision could harm sales, but the book calls on people to boycott Chapters Indigo and it would be inappropriate to sell it through that chain,” said Engler. “Canadians who care about Palestinian human rights should boycott Chapters Indigo until the chain’s owners

{

“Canadians who care about Palestinian human rights should boycott Chapters Indigo until the chain’s owners end their support for Israel’s armed forces.”

end their support for Israel’s armed forces.”

According to the Coalition Against Israeli Apartheid, the majority shareholders of Chapters and Indigo Bookstores, Heather Reisman and Gerry Schwartz, established the HESEG Foundation for Lone Soldiers, which is a program to financially support young people who go to Israel to join the Israeli military. In January 2009 HESEG representatives handed out

$160,000 worth of ‘thank you’ gifts to Israeli soldiers

participating in the attacks on Gaza.

“Israel has been occupying Palestinian land for longer than I have been alive and some Canadians have been active participants in this ongoing crime,” said Engler.

“Those of us who want justice and peace must put pressure on Israel and its supporters, just like when Canadians joined a worldwide movement to successfully end

South African apartheid.”

Canada and Israel: Building Apartheid is the first critical primer about Canada’s ties to Israel. It is a devastating account of Canadian complicity in 20th and 21st century colonialism, dispossession and war crimes.

The book documents the history of Canadian Christian Zionism, Lester Pearson’s important role in the United Nations negotiations to create a Zionist state on Palestinian land and the millions of dollars in tax-deductible donations used to expand Israeli settlements in the West Bank.

For more information call Yves Engler at 514-618-2253.

We Cannot be Neutral on a Moving Train! Open Letter to the International Geographical Union Undersigned Faculty and Students As geographers, faculty, students, and people of conscience, we are profoundly dismayed by the International Geographical Union’s (IGU) decision to hold its July 2010 regional conference in Tel Aviv, in violation of the widely endorsed Palestinian civil society call for Boycott, Divestments, and Sanctions (BDS) against Israel. We are equally troubled by the IGU’s response to the open letter issued by the Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI), which urged the Executive Committee to relocate the upcoming regional conference out of Israel.

PACBI’s letter was a compelling reminder that Israel’s academic establishment (and geography in particular) is implicitly and explicitly complicit with the Israeli state’s colonial, discriminatory, and oppressive policies toward Palestinians. As important social institutions they advance, sustain, and provide the intellectual and moral justification for Israeli actions against Palestinian people and their representatives both within Israel and in the occupied Palestinian territories.

It is noteworthy that “no Israeli university or academic union has ever taken a public position against the occupation, let alone against Israel’s system of apartheid or

the denial of Palestinian refugee rights.”

PACBI underlines the prevailing and deeply disturbing role of Israeli universities in developing the very weapons and military doctrines used against Palestinians.

Moreover, they highlight the tragic irony of geographers holding a conference about ‘Bridging Diversity in a Globalizing World’ in a country built on urban destruction and gradual ethnic cleansing. Such a conference will take place in a state which defines itself as an exclusively Jewish state, not a state of all its citizens, one that continues to violate human rights with total impunity and stands accused of war crimes for its latest offensive in Gaza.

The IGU Executive’s response claims that they are “morally and possibly financially bound to honor the commitment the IGU made to its colleagues in Israel” in 2000.

Pragmatic impediments to relocate such an event are understandable yet solvable. It is however far less clear what the executive means by the ‘moral’ standard that binds them to ignore the widespread international outcry against Israel’s longstanding mistreatment of the Palestinian people as well as the open calls for support by Palestinians in their quest for basic justice. Against these concrete ethical imperatives

the Executive Committee invokes its statutes, which proscribe boycotts, along with the guidelines of ICSU (International Council for Science) on the free circulation of scientists.

First, the assumption that the relationship between Israel and Palestine is a symmetrical one ignores the overwhelming economic, social, military, and political power of Israel relative to the poverty-stricken, war-ravaged state of the Palestinian people, their state and its institutions. A historical colonizer-colonized relationship along with the constant threat of military assault robs Palestinians of their basic livelihoods let alone the privilege and right to disagree politically or otherwise.

arrest and deportation of local academic and international staff.

The latest example of these policies in our field is the travel ban imposed by Israel on geographer Khalil Tafakji, Director of the Cartographic Section of the Arab Studies Society in Jerusalem, and regular lecturer in international forums about Israel discrimination and ethnic cleansing policies in East Jerusalem.

Yet, we know that statutes are open to amendment in the face of critical In light of the above, and in the circumstances and geographers tradition of engaged geographical have, over the last five decades, scholars such as the well-respected debunked positivist reductionism late James M. Blaut whose and struggled successfully to intellectual efforts were guided free our discipline from the false by solidarity with oppressed ‘objectivity’ of traditional science. people including the Palestinian The fact of Israel’s colonial and apartheid system, the oppression of the “The fact of Israel’s colonial and apartheid system, the Palestinian people, oppression of the Palestinian people, including the denial including the denial of their inalienable rights, the irrational violence against of their inalienable rights, the irrational and enclosure of the people of Gaza along with widespread violence against international condemnation are ample and pressing reasons and enclosure of the for cancelling or relocating the Tel Aviv conference.” people of Gaza along with widespread and South African international condemnation are Second, the intimation that the people ample and pressing reasons for Israeli-Palestinian question is about anti-apartheid groups, we the cancelling or relocating the Tel “policy and political differences” undersigned, believe that it is our and therefore not the concern of moral responsibility as scholars, Aviv conference. geographers since politics and intellectuals and activists to talk The IGU Executive says that they science are two pure and separate truth to power against injustice. In are concerned that the Boycott spheres is an anachronistic vision this spirit of international solidarity forecloses the possibility of debate of the discipline, and an insult to and resistance to oppression we and feel “the most effective way the very many geographers around stand in support of Palestinians’ to resolve policy and political the world whose work does not non-violent, anti-colonial struggle differences allegedly justified by adhere to that simple binary and through a public campaign science is through direct and open is ethical, policy-oriented and/ or of Boycott, Divestments, and Sanctions. confrontation of the conflicting politically engaged. ideas and their proponents.” These arguments are based on three Third, the suggestion that boycotts Historically, geography as a science are not effective or legitimate was established and consolidated in crucial misconceptions. is decisively invalidated by the direct service of European imperial example of South African anti- and colonial expansion. The apartheid movement, which shows discipline’s critical turn in the latter it to be among the most useful and 20th century has worked to expose least violent tactics in resisting and repudiate this history and its oppression and injustice at an militaristic and colonial tradition. international level. A rising tide It is in this spirit that we, the of international support for the undersigned, collectively petition Palestinian BDS campaign calls the IGU Executive Committee to on us to take a similar stance in the take immediate steps to relocate the Jul. 12 – 16, 2010 regional case of Israel. conference outside Israel. Given To date, all other forms of the circumstances if the conference international intervention have goes ahead inside Israel we will failed to convince or force Israel not attend or otherwise participate to comply with international law in any manner. and to end its repression of the Palestinians. As educators and We urge you to act promptly and intellectuals we must take exception ethically in this matter. to the impunity with which Israel has targeted Palestinian educational To sign, go to: rights. Since its establishment, Israel’s policies have been aimed https://spreadsheets.google.com/v at the destruction of Palestinian iewform?formkey=dEw0OUVnek historical manuscripts, journals and huNW9SYV93WHN1OXJfUFE6 MA books, suppression of academic freedom and closure of Palestinian To view the up-to-date list of universities, mobility restrictions endorsers, please see: on staff and students, destruction www.tadamon.ca of educational infrastructure, http://spreadsheets.google.com/ systematic discrimination against pub?key=tL49EgzHn5oRa_wXsu9r_P Palestinian students, as well as Q&single=true&gid=0&output=html

{

7

WINTER ISSUE 4 2010

Features The Tail that Wags the Dog has some Answering to do: York University Board Members Receive Court Order Canova Kutuk Prelude About six years ago at York University, David Noble, a professor in the Division of Social Sciences and the Department of Social and Political Thought at York University, distributed a publication titled ‘The York University Foundation--The Tail that Wags the Dog (Suggestions for Further Research).’ The flyer was distributed on three occasions: twice in Noble’s lectures (dating Nov. 17 and Nov. 18 2004) and once again on Nov. 18, 2004 at a film event at York.

Shortly following Noble’s publication, on Nov. 19, 2004 the university issued a defamatory press release (that has mysteriously disappeared from York’s Media Relations web page) and an email on behalf of the York University Foundation (YUF) that targeted Noble’s professional reputation and credibility as a professor here at York University. Various press releases by the university and Canadian Jewish Congress denounced Noble as an anti-Semite and bigot.

Noble proceeded to take the YUF to court.

Who or what is the Tail that Wags the Dog? Following several attempts by the administration to stifle student activism and the suspension of student activist Dan FreemanMaloy for engaging in a proPalestinian demonstration and for using a megaphone, David Noble attempted to understand the reasons behind the administration’s repressive methods. Upon research, Noble discovered that York’s Board of Governors and the Board of the York University Foundation housed many staunch pro-Israeli lobbyists, activists, and fundraisers. Noble published these findings along with other issues of importance. Matters explored in the flyer include: [Abbreviations: York University (YU), York Federation of Students (YFS), United Jewish Appeal Federation of Greater Toronto (UJA), United Israel Appeal of Canada (UIA), Mt. Sinai Hospital Foundation (MSHF)] 1) The strong pro-Israel orientation of the YUF 2) Information about York University: YUF, established in 2002, is guided by corporate and financial considerations.

Paul Marcus (President and CEO of the YUF and former director of development at UJA and MSHF) spearheads York’s fundraising affairs.

Marshall Cohen (Chair of the YU Board of Governors and former Molson CEO, former director MSHF) and Lorna Marsden (YU President and Vice Chancellor) sit on the YUF board, currently comprised of 24 persons [The

Board is now comprised of 29 persons. At the time of Noble’s flyer, the Board was comprised of 24 members].

3) Information about the direction of the current YFS at the time: YFS President Paul Cooper and Yaakov Roth, campaign manager for the slate “Progress Not Politics” were both members of Young Zionist Partnership.

4) The political influence leading to the Argonaut football stadium being built at YU: The initiative was engineered

by Howard Sokolowski (CoChair Campaigns UJA; Israel Emergency Fund; CEO of Tribute Homes whom bought land from YU for housing), who conveniently enjoyed a seat on the YU Board. Tax payer contributions to the project are estimated at well over $42 million (that’s our money).

5) Eleven of the 24 Board of Directors of YUF affiliations with various corporations, political parties, and pro-Israeli institutions like UIA, UJA, MSHF, and Israel Emergency Fund.

{

Upon the dissemination of the flyer at a film event on York campus, David Noble, who identifies as Jewish, was targeted by York’s Media Relations and several other organizations like the Canadian Jewish Congress, and labelled an anti-Semite. In response to such defamatory accusations aimed at stifling free speech, Noble launched a defamation action, claiming $19 million worth of damages.

As an interesting side note: sadly only two students and one faculty member sit on the YU Board of Governors and no student nor faculty member sits as a Director on the YUF Board. Rather, the university is managed through individuals (with strong corporate links) who are detached from the day-to-day workings of York.

The Court Case On Dec. 6, 2007, the YUF, Lorna Marsden, and Paul Marcus delivered their statement of defence in which they deny Noble’s findings. Parts of the defence statement read: 7. In the Flyer, [Noble] falsely asserted, inter alia, that: (a) The Foundation “is the tail that wags the dog that is York University”; (b) The Foundation “is biased by the presence and influence of staunch pro-Israel lobbyists, activists, and fundraising agencies”; and, (c)Certain decisions of Marsden and Board of Directors “appear to reflect the strongly pro-Israel orientation of the [Foundation].”

Following their statement of defence, Marcus and Marsden were examined for discovery.

Marsden was asked, “And can

you say whether some--or I guess some or many individuals [listed in the flyer], whether they are pro-Israel lobbyists, activists, or fundraising agencies?” Similarly, Marcus was asked the following question, “I’m wondering if you can identify which, if any, of the Board members listed here would be pro-Israeli in their political orientation, and I’ll be more specific about the question, that’s to say with respect to the dispute in Israel-Palestine whether these individuals would have a proclivity one way or another, whether you would call them pro-Israeli or proPalestinian?”

to divert attention from criticism of Israel and the lobby itself through allegations of anti-Semitism.”

Refusing to answer is no longer a viable option for Marsden, Marcus, and other members of the YUF Board. “That strategy has now been demolished,” Noble said. “In addition to their having to answer our questions they will have to produce all documents pertaining to their pro-Israel ties, views, and activities.”

and/or agencies affiliated with the state of Israel up to May 24, 2007.

Noble noted that although the court’s order deals with the YUF, it extends to all defendants. The defendants include, Hillel of

Conclusion

“Those who run York University may finally have some answering to do--not just to David Noble, but to the wider York community concerned with the institution’s links to repression of and violence against proPalestinian resistance.”

For three years, the defendants refused to answer Noble’s questions about their pro-Israel ties, views, and activities based on the false belief that the questions were ‘irrelevant.’ Their refusal prompted Noble to go to court to receive relevant answers to relevant questions. Although Marsden and Marcus had stated that Noble’s allegations were false (see above), they ceased to provide any evidence that they may have in relation to that statement. Marsden and Marcus had also agreed to provide answers to examination questions about their own political orientation regarding the matter of Israel and Palestine. These questions were left unanswered and the discovery process was jeopardized.

Greater Toronto, the United Jewish Appeal, and the Canadian Jewish Congress/Ontario.

What Now? On Mar. 15, 2010, the defendants Marcus and Marsden paid to Noble $4,000 in costs of the motion.

Noble proceeded to send a letter, requesting all documents relating to each party’s involvement with the state of Israel, as well as agencies and/or organizations associated with the state of Israel; each party’s advocacy on behalf of the state of Israel, or any agencies and/ or organizations associated with the state of Israel; the YUF Board members’ respective involvements with and advocacy on behalf of the state of Israel, or any organizations

Marcus, Marsden, and the Foundation have not appealed the court’s decision. However, what they have done is refuse to comply with the court order; the defendants are in for contempt of court as they have not responded to the questions even though the deadline of Mar.19 has long past. Paul Marcus could not be reached for comment.

Those who run York University may finally have some answering to do--not just to David Noble, but to the wider York community concerned with the institution’s links to repression of and violence against pro-Palestinian resistance.

Board members like Marcus and Marsden also need to realize that disobeying the court’s authority is unacceptable and no matter what position they hold, they are not above the law.

Although the court’s decision was released on Feb. 17, 2010, the York community at large has been unaware. According to Noble, Excalibur “got the [court] order a day after it was issued.”

Regardless, Noble says he has not heard anything from Excalibur whatsoever. What I am wondering is why the central newspaper on campus has not notified students and faculty of this significant decision concerning York University. According to Noble, “this is the first time in North America that an allegation of antiSemitism […] has been answered by a defamation suit. If successful, it will set an historic precedent.

This court order is a giant step toward that success.”

The above events were heard in a motion dated Jan. 15, 2010. One month later, Master Robert. A Muir, of Ontario’s Superior Court of Justice stated the order of the court. Below is the decision: “The court therefore orders: (a) Marcus shall, on his own behalf and on behalf of the Foundation, answer the question posed to him...within 30 days; (b) Marsden shall answer the question posed to her...within 30 days; (c) Marsden, Marcus and the Foundation shall pay to [Noble] his costs of this motion, fixed in the amount of $4000.00, inclusive of disbursements and GST, within 30 days of the date of these reasons for decision.”

The order is significant for many reasons. Contrary to Marcus’s and Marsden’s claims that the Board’s connection to Israel is irrelevant, the court order establishes inquiries into information regarding the Board’s connection to Israel as relevant. When asked about the order, Noble replied, “the landmark court order is a decisive victory against Israel lobby efforts

The 'Goddess of Democracy' stands tall inside York's Student Centre, but how democratically do the heads of administration run this institution?

8

FEATURES

WINTER ISSUE 4 2010

Boycott Ariel and the Rest!

All Israeli Academic Institutions are Complicit in Occupation and Apartheid Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel

T

he Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI) continues to demand a boycott of all Israeli Academic Institutions that comply with and maintain Israel’s occupation, colonization and apartheid against the Palestinian people. This is especially in response to the recent decision by the Israeli government to upgrade the status of the so-called Ariel University Center of Samaria (AUCS) to a full university.

Academics, journalists, and others on the Zionist ‘left’ who have opposed the academic boycott for years are now enthusiastically advocating a boycott that solely targets Ariel College because it is illegally built on occupied Palestinian territory. This, however, reduces the scope of the academic boycott to one against settlement institutions, while exonerating the Israeli academy at large, which is just as complicit, if not more, than Ariel in maintaining and justifying the Israeli colonial and apartheid apparatus.

All Israeli universities are deeply linked to the militarysecurity establishment, playing indispensable and both direct and indirect roles in perpetuating Israel’s decades-old violations of international law and fundamental Palestinian rights. No Israeli university or academic union has ever taken a public position against the occupation, let alone against Israel‘s system of apartheid or the denial of Palestinian refugee rights. Israeli universities are profoundly complicit in developing weapon systems and military doctrines deployed in Israel’s recent war crimes in Gaza; justifying the ongoing colonization of Palestinian land and gradual ethnic cleansing of the indigenous Palestinians; providing moral justification for extra-judicial killings and indiscriminate attacks against civilians; systematically discriminating against ‘non-Jewish’ students in admissions, dormitory room eligibility, financial aid, etc.; and many other implicit and explicit violations of human rights and international law.

After Israel’s war of aggression on Gaza, several Israeli academic and cultural figures came out in support of Boycott Divestment and Sanctions campaign (BDS).

Long before the Gaza massacre, though, staunch Israeli supporters of Palestinian rights such as Rachel Giora, Ilan Pappe, Haim Bresheeth, Oren Ben-Dor, Anat Matar, and the late Tanya Reinhart had embraced BDS and defended it against Israeli critics, particularly so-called ‘leftists’ in the academy. The recently formed group, Boycott! Supporting the Palestinian BDS Call from Within, is particularly praiseworthy, as it unconditionally accepts BDS as defined and guided by the Palestinian BDS National Committee, and is therefore

regarded as a reliable and principled partner in the movement.

These emerging voices from inside Israeli society point to the growing appeal of BDS and the recognition of its power to effect real change toward just peace. It is nevertheless crucial to emphasize that the BDS movement derives its principles from both the demands of the Palestinian BDS Call, signed by over 170 Palestinian civil society organizations in July 2005; and, in the academic and cultural fields, the Palestinian Call for Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel, issued a year earlier in July 2004.

These calls underline the prevailing Palestinian belief that the most effective form of solidarity with the Palestinian people is direct action aimed at bringing an end to Israel’s colonial and apartheid regime, just as the apartheid regime in South Africa was abolished, by isolating Israel internationally through boycotts and sanctions, forcing it to comply with international law and respect Palestinian rights.

and Arab lands; and recognizing full equality for the Palestinian citizens of Israel. In this sense, the BDS Call effectively counters the systematic Israeli fragmentation of the Palestinian people and the reduction of the struggle for freedom and self-determination to an endless bargaining game over land in the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip.

Central to the Palestinian BDS movement’s three demands is an understanding of Israel as an apartheid state. Israel fits the UN definition of apartheid not just in the West Bank and Gaza Strip; it defines itself as a Jewish state, not a state of all its citizens. Most importantly, Israeli laws, policies, and practices discriminate openly

{

In this respect, the importance of the 2005 BDS Call lies in its comprehensive approach to the Israeli colonial and apartheid system as a whole and its subjugation of the Palestinian people, whether as second-class citizens inside Israel, subjects under its military occupation, or dispossessed refugees. This was summarized in the concise demands outlined in the Palestinian BDS Call that Israel recognize the inalienable right of the Palestinian people to selfdetermination and fully comply with international law by doing the following: respecting, protecting, and promoting the right of return of all Palestinian refugees; ending the occupation of all Palestinian

homes and lands from which they were expelled. In contrast, any person who claims Jewish descent from anywhere in the world may become an Israeli citizen and national under the so-called Law of Return. Moreover, Israel’s brutal war on Gaza was not an anomaly; rather, it represents the most recent example of the systematic policies of ethnic cleansing and colonial oppression that Israel has carried out against the Palestinian people for more than six decades.

During this recent military onslaught, Israel killed over 1,440 Palestinians, of whom 431 were children, and injured another 5,380. Israel subjected the besieged population of Gaza to three weeks of unrelenting state terror.

As

for

the

targets

chosen

"All Israeli Universities are deeply linked to military-security establishment, playing indispensable and both direct and indirect roles in perpetuating Israel's decadesold violations of international law and fundamental Palestinian rights."

against Palestinian or ‘non-Jewish’ citizens of the state. The pervasive and institutionalized racism and discrimination are particularly evident in the vital domains of land ownership and use, education, employment, access to public services, and urban planning. The apartheid character has been part of the design of Israel since its inception.

The state of Israel was established in 1948 by forcibly displacing the overwhelming majority of Palestine’s indigenous Arab population from their homeland.

Today, these Palestinian refugees are prevented from returning to their

for BDS actions, the strength of the BDS movement lies in the fact that it does not impose specific targets or tactics on solidarity groups around the world. Based on the principle of context-sensitivity and respect for the autonomy and integrity of democratic international groups supporting Palestinian rights, the Palestinian BDS collective leadership has always believed that people of conscience and organizations advocating human rights know their respective situation best and are the most capable of deciding the appropriate ways and pace to build the BDS movement in their contexts. Sometimes the tactical

targeting of settlement-only products may be the best way for a campaign to progress. At other times, it may be resolutions at local unions endorsing BDS, or cultural boycott targets, etc. But even if one were concerned only about Israel’s occupation, not its denial of refugee rights or its apartheid system, this cannot justify a principled focus on boycotting ‘settlement products’ only, as if Israel’s colonies themselves were the party guilty of colonialism, not the state that established them and sustains their growth. In no other boycott context in the world does anyone call for boycotting a manifestation of a state’s violations of international law, rather than the state itself.

After all, under international law states are the legal entities that are supposed to be held accountable for crimes and violations that they commit.

Regardless, it is never up to Israeli academics or activists, no matter what their principles are, to set out the reference parameters and priorities of the movement, particularly for activists worldwide. More often than not, members of the Zionist left have refused to recognize the BDS Call issued by the overwhelming majority of Palestinian civil society organizations and its anchor and leadership, the Palestinian BDS National Committee, BNC. In so doing they fail to respect the aspirations of the Palestinian people and our right to define the goals of our struggle.

Moreover, in response to the Zionist left’s insistence on focusing on the symptoms of the Israeli system of colonial oppression by calling only for an end to the Israeli occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip, it is worth emphasizing that in apartheid South Africa it would have been ludicrous to focus solely on the Bantustans. The struggle against the Bantustans was an intrinsic part of the struggle to end the apartheid system as a structure of dominance whereby the white minority subjugated and oppressed the Black South African population.

As a people living under Israeli apartheid and exiled from their land, it is up to the Palestinians and their mass organizations to set their priorities, objectives, and strategies to attain our rights under international law. Israeli support is a welcome and necessary part of this movement. But it must be extended in the spirit of real solidarity, as in the case of Boycott from Within, respecting the wishes and aspirations of the Palestinian people themselves.

This article was originally published on http://pacbi.org/ etemplate.php?id=1175

Wikimedia

Ariel University Centre of Samaria is illegally built upon Palestine territory.

T he President of University, Sheldon

Ryerson Levy, recently gave two speeches in a bid for advancing the neoliberal development of this academic institution.

These speeches contained numerous references to the supposedly “important” roles that digital information and communication technologies (ICTs) as well as long-term urban planning would play in the university’s future endeavours. The first speech, delivered in 2006 to the Canadian Club of Toronto, found Levy outlining his vision of university planning as urban development.

Levy warmed his colleagues to the decidedly neoliberal idea of cooperation between public and private institutions and particularly to the special arrangements that can be made between corporations, universities, and city councils.

The second speech, delivered in 2009 to the ominous sounding Empire Club of Canada, recapitulated the ideas presented in the first speech before moving on to the outlining of a future project that involves transforming a significant part of the university campus around Yonge St. into a singular “digital destination” for Canadians.

The Rhetoric

Any discussion about neoliberal universities should first take into account the rhetoric that surrounds the concrete plans for neoliberalization. For instance, the neoliberal conception of the university is often accompanied by an official rhetoric of ‘excellence.’

From the University of Ontario’s Institute of Technology’s desire to recruit only the most “excellent students” to the University of Pennsylvania’s ‘Agenda for Excellence,’ the rhetoric of excellence inaugurates the disappearance of culture from the university and the beginning of a university education that is steeped in a type of interchangeable learning where what you learn matters much less than how well you learn it, and so the neoliberal university emphasizes a type of accounting over accountability.

urban planning. Levy began by recapitulating his message from the 2006 speech, stating that he wanted “to talk about city-building in terms of the economy--knowledge, wealth creation, and jobs.” But there was a very idiosyncratic idea at work.

Quoting Philip Preville from an article in Toronto Life entitled ’The Good News About the Bad Times,’ Levy stated that “Ontario doesn’t make stuff anymore. We let other places do that.” He continued: “in Ontario we are moving away from manufacturing, and into technology--and I would refine this by saying we are moving into digital media.”

The rhetoric of development used here is unabashedly neoliberal in that, according to Levy, his approach is going to be a “practical one” where “industry, business, and government tell us what the economy needs.”

{

begin with a pilot project to test the waters. It all started with one of Canada’s first joint-ventures between the university, city council, and a private corporation.

Long-Term Urban Planning In the late 1990s, Ryerson University entered into a privatepublic deal with a large corporation, Pen Equity (a Canadian asset management firm that develops projects for its clients), and the City

transfer property rights over to the city anyway. A provision was then made in the city plan to allow Ryerson to transfer development rights to a private institution, a first in Canada.

This project was confronted with numerous difficulties from the very start. City Council encountered strong opposition from property owners over the potential expropriation of buildings within the project area.

Landowners claimed they were not receiving fair compensation, and so they took the city to court. Their hearing was quickly dismissed on condition that the plan proceeded as expected to completion.

Property owners were not expected to receive a share of the profit.

Unlike Ryerson’s expropriation threat, the landowners were not treated with the same stick-andcarrot manoeuvring.

“It is no longer the students and teachers who make the university; rather the economy dictates how the university is to operate.”

Practical? On whose terms? Needs?

Whose are they? It is no longer the students and teachers who make the university; rather, the economy dictates how the university is to operate. Pedagogy was not included in Levy’s discussion, nor did he mention the lower income neighbourhoods that surround Ryerson on all sides. Instead, we were asked (not literally, since it was a private speech) to envision the university in the future, surrounded by a “pedestrian plaza on Gould Street” as well as galleries and sidewalk cafes where students could purchase goods and services.

The image of the future university was summed up in the following sentence: “On Yonge Street, from Gould in the south to Gerrard in the north, we have a corridor of highend digital stores all in one cluster-and the block hums with activity.”

But before anything like this could be imagined, the university had to

of Toronto. A case study in The University as Urban Developer describes “a joint university-city project adjacent to a public square in downtown Toronto” entitled The Dundas Square Metropolis Project.

The deal materialised between each of the parties due to the fact that Ryerson owned an important piece of land on the northern edge of the square.

It is interesting to note that The City of Toronto initiated the project (not Ryerson) because of high levels of crime and a stagnant retail area (filled mostly with dollar stores, adult shops, and other ‘undesirable’ retailers), and so in order to begin the transformation of the whole of Dundas Square into the Canadian equivalent of Times Square (Dundas Square has an annual flow of over 50 million people), they needed to obtain the land belonging to Ryerson. During the planning stages, Ryerson transferred development rights to Pen Equity after the city strongarmed them into a partnership deal; the university was essentially told that they would gain classroom space and that the city could pass a law which would force them to

The lead tenant under Pen Equity, AMC Theatres of Canada, was expected to move into the newly acquired property, and under the new partnership deal Ryerson would receive some much needed theatre space for lectures (Ryerson has had the lowest amount of space per student in Ontario).

The case study states that recent amendments to “faculty contracts” at Ryerson allowed larger class sizes, which put the university in a position of “requiring larger classrooms to capitalize on potential efficiencies.”

While the need for extra pedagogic space is a real problem for an everincreasing student population, those alleged “faculty contracts” have never materialized. CUPE contracts continue, as they always have, to have maximum class sizes; at least since Ryerson became a university in 1993, the Ryerson Faculty Association contract has

Beyond the flashy websites and sloganeering, the rhetoric of excellence enforces the university administration’s emphasis on ICTs and long-term urban planning, which work as alibis to a phantom democratic education; in other words, the university enacts the concept of ‘excellence’ at the expense of truly democratic forms of pedagogy. These are systemically ‘structuring’ technologies and economies that allow the university to speak less of knowledge and more of a homogeneous type of learning system across all disciplines.

In Levy’s 2009 speech, all of the old coercive language was there, but this time his rhetoric placed an even greater emphasis on the development of ICTs and

www.blogto.com As Ryerson students fight for lower fees and the end of poverty, the Ryerson administration sees deepening the pockets of already-rich corporations as their main objective.

$ $ $

Mapping Ryerson’s Neoliberal University

$

i-everything: Andrew Illiadis

9

FEATURES

WINTER ISSUE 4 2010

never had caps on class sizes.

Ryerson’s system is, somewhat ironically, “student driven,” i.e., driven by “student enrolment intentions,” in the same way that the general practice of neoliberal governmentality is driven by fluctuations in the economy.

Upon completion of the project, Ryerson saved about $16 million from the partnership; however, because of massive delays, Ryerson was negatively affected by lack of access to theatres for classroom space. They had to approach Carlton Theatre with a deal similar to the one with AMC in order to use their facilities until construction of the AMC theatres was complete.

This cost the university extra money, not to mention the fact that students and staff had to relocate their classrooms several city blocks away. The classes also experienced general disorganization due to the fact that the proposed AMC movie theatres were to be classroom ready, whereas the Carlton Theatre was not.

Development delays aside, other negative results of the project’s completion include a large increase of traffic around the university and an increase in crime in Ryerson’s green spaces. The Dundas Square Metropolis Project essentially put a significant number of Ryerson students in the direct path of 50 million non-students and an increasingly commercialized building space filled with franchised stores and advertisements for everything from Universal Pictures to Starbucks. Finally, the deal did not include a penalty clause for noncompliance. Ryerson could have been left high and dry; one of the dangerous risks of neoliberal business contracts.

Resistance?

Our job as academics, activists, and community members should be clear. How can we theorize specific social locations of the exercise of neoliberal practices or of resistance to it in the contemporary neoliberal university? Are there possibilities of an emancipatory educational praxis?

Resistance may come from students who assert that neoliberal development in the university should be seen as the organization of a unilateral power relation by a type of university-as-corporation.

Students, activists, and community members should be aware of the embedded regulatory forces that exist within the long-term plans of any neoliberal university. Another site of resistance can come from the professors--not contractually, at first, but in terms of retention.

If schools like Ryerson continue to lose top faculty to other schools who have better teaching conditions, then they will have to act, not to protect pedagogical ‘excellence,’ nor to ensure there are teachers in the classrooms, but because committed researchers foster a genuinely interesting scholastic environment; something Footlocker could never do.

10

FEATURES

WINTER ISSUE 4 2010

A Call for Accessibility at York University I

Maria Guadagnoli-Closs & Jen Rinaldi

t is evident that the York University campus continues to exclude students, researchers, and faculty members with physical disabilities.

York University’s mandate strives to provide an accommodating and accessible environment; however, the university’s commitment to these virtues should not stagnate and indeed, is not enough.

Our intention is not to discount the ways in which people with intellectual, psychiatric, and learning disabilities, as examples, are excluded and discriminated

{

render our campus more accessible.

Currently, the AODA Alliance, a disability consumer advocacy group, is campaigning to see the implementation of the Act across Ontario, while other advocates fight for these rights around the world.

With these advances in mind, we strongly recommend that York University ensure ‘universal accessibility’ by addressing the inaccessible buildings, and any future building plans, which contravene the guidelines stipulated

informed them they could return.

Why is York University’s disabled community being informed last to evacuate a potentially hazardous environment when more time and care are required to safely evacuate these students? If there are technical difficulties and protocols that are not working, why are these not being revisited?

As another example, many automatic doors are prematurely locked by six pm, while others are not even unlocked at 11 am.

Some doors have the automatic push button in unrealistic and unreachable locations. Also, for students with dexterity issues, the sizes of the buttons may be difficult to push. Many doors, classrooms, and washrooms do not have automatic door openers even though these spaces are designated for disabled persons. This past year, an automatic door was not working and a disabled student who was unable to open the door was struck by it. The only reason attention was called to this issue was because the student acted as an advocate and contacted York University administration herself. Accommodations should be installed in anticipation of disabled bodies, rather than as an afterthought when enough injured people complain.

“We would like to call these issues to attention of not only York University administration but the community at large who may not understand the implications of these inaccessible places for people with physical disabilities.”

against on campus, for ableism cannot be redressed by simply installing enough ramps. The universal icon for disability--the blue and white wheelchair user-has the effect of reducing the category of disability to physical disabilities only, thereby silencing or devaluing other members of the disability community, even those with invisible physical disabilities.

While we are calling attention to examples of York University’s physical barriers, we acknowledge that even removing these barriers will not be enough to ensure our campus is inclusive.

With the 2005 Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act (AODA), and the ratification of universal human rights in Canada, (in)accessible public spaces are still the paramount focus. These human rights initiatives have provided us with an opportunity to

within the AODA, in order for York University to honour and uphold their commitment to physically disabled persons on this campus.

We further recommend that a York University community task force, which includes persons with disabilities, be created to provide input regarding any foreseeable changes.

During a recent fire alarm in Vari Hall, students and staff with disabilities were told to exit the building using the front doors, the very doors which do not have an automatic opener. Any such future improvements, such as the installation of automatic door openers, have yet to be addressed.

Another recent situation included a fire alarm that did not go off in the assistive technology lab to inform students and staff with disabilities to evacuate the building. By the time the students attempted to leave the building, security had

The most devastating omission of persons with physical disabilities, to date, is the proposal put forward by the York University’s Task Force on Student Life, Learning and Community on renovating Vari Hall. Unfortunately, this proposal has been approved without consultation with York University’s disabled community.

This lack of consultation is reflected in the inaccessible and unaccommodating designs. There is no mention in the plans whether fully accessible washrooms with

Penn State Live “ Despite the use of cutting-edge technology, Disabled students at universities still face many accessibility constraints.” automatic door openers will be installed on the main floor, or whether technological equipment to benefit disabled persons will be installed in every room, design features which would be much more important than a lounge in the rotunda.

Accommodations continue to be requested by the York University disabled community.

These requests go unrecognized as ‘important’ issues and unanswered while faculty, students, and staff struggle to negotiate inaccessible campus spaces. Does a disabled student have to be seriously hurt by the inaccessible spaces on the

No Genuine National Childcare until the Live-in Caregiver Program is Scrapped Magkaisa Centre Organizations

D

espite a recent proposal by the Liberal Party to create a national childcare program, progressive Filipino Canadian organizations under the Magkaisa Centre express that the ongoing exploitation and violence perpetuated by the Live-in Caregiver Program (LCP) renders the Liberals’ proposal an empty promise that falls short of genuinely fulfilling the childcare needs of all Canadians.

The Philippine Women Centre of Ontario, SIKLAB–ON (Advance and Uphold the Struggle of Filipino Workers) and the Ugnayan ng Kabataang Pilipino sa Canada/ Filipino Canadian Youth Alliance– ON are wary of celebrating the announcement made by Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff, and are instead calling for a critical examination of the proposal.

Any initiative to create a national childcare program is incomplete until the LCP, which the groups describe as Canada’s de facto national childcare program, is scrapped.

“What was not mentioned in Ignatieff’s recent announcement is the ongoing use of the LCP to meet Canada’s ever-pressing childcare and healthcare needs,” states Alleben Purugganan, member of the Philippine Women Centre of Ontario. In order to lure Filipino women, who compose 97% of workers in the LCP, to migrate as domestic workers to fulfill Canada’s childcare and healthcare needs, Citizenship and Immigration Canada offers them the promise of citizenship upon completion of the program.

However, ongoing community research and organizing work has revealed that three years of working in exploitative conditions under a precarious status prove to be a heavy price to pay for attaining permanent residency. Working

{

working in private homes as caregivers and nannies, while each political party has failed to create a national childcare program that genuinely addresses the childcare needs of Canada. Childcare in Toronto has been chronically

York University campus prior to the re-evaluation of these limiting spaces?

We would like to call these issues to the attention of not only York University administration but the community at large who may not understand the implications of these inaccessible places for people with physical disabilities. We need to work together to find ways to improve the space on this campus, not (re)create barriers. We ask the York University community to acknowledge these concerns and to ensure the inclusion of persons with disabilities.

demanding an end to this ongoing form of violence inflicted on Filipino women and on the rest of the community. Such a comprehensive campaign prompts the elimination of the demand for cheap foreign labour to fulfill the childcare needs of mostly middle and upper-class families.

If the Liberals are able to implement a national childcare program while allowing the violence of the LCP to persist, they are, in effect, creating the conditions for a two-tiered childcare system wherein a few families are sanctioned to continue the exploitation of Filipino women by hiring them as nannies. The three organizations stress that only through the scrapping of the LCP will a national childcare system be truly accessible to all Canadians, regardless of income or status. “While FilipinoCanadian women continue to work in poverty and while their children continue to inherit that poverty, we must question the implementation of a so-called ‘national’ childcare program,” states Purugganan. “A genuine national childcare must not

"The healthcare system in Canada, in its current state, is riding on the backs of the Filipino community, with Filipino domestic workers, Personal Support Workers, LCPs, and nurses bearing the brunt of the burden."

under the LCP for most of these women results in their deskilling, poverty, and psychological trauma.

“Our women are essentially being legislated into poverty through the LCP,” says Bryan Taguba, member of SIKLAB–ON. For over two decades, Filipino women, most of them professionals in the Philippines, have been

underfunded by the Federal government, with the city currently facing $63.5 million in childcare losses.

For over 20 years, the National Alliance of Philippine Women in Canada, SIKLAB–Canada, and UKPC/FCYA–Canada have been calling for the scrapping of the Live-in Caregiver Program,

CONTINUED ON NEXT PAGE

11

FEATURES

WINTER ISSUE 4 2010

Canada Accuses Venezuela of Stifling Democracy while Parliament Remains Prorogued democratic space in Venezuela.”

Camilo Cahis

T

he Canadian minister responsible for the Americas recently made a short stop in Venezuela. While there, Peter Kent took the opportunity to express the Canadian government’s concerns over the “shrinking democratic space” in Venezuela.

The Venezuelan government recently sanctioned three TV stations, including RCTV, the network that played a key role in organizing the coup that briefly overthrew the Venezuelan government in 2002. The three TV stations refused to comply with Venezuela’s broadcasting laws and had their licenses temporarily suspended. The broadcasting laws in Venezuela are similar in scope to CRTC regulations in Canada; they establish standards for child and adult programming, prohibit racist, sexist, or inflammatory content and incitement to violence, place limits on commercial advertising, and require stations to broadcast important government announcements. As recently as three weeks ago, RCTV had aired an interview with Noel Álavarez, the president of the bosses’ union FEDECAMARAS where Álvarez had called for another “military solution” to the political situation in Venezuela.

Surely, the CRTC would have suspended any TV or radio station that sanctioned a “military solution” to the Stephen Harper government!

{

Kent’s concerns could be laughable if it were not for the real threat that countries like the US and Canada pose to Venezuela. Many will remember that it was the same Peter Kent who was the most vocal supporter of the military coup d’etat that overthrew democraticallyelected Mel Zelaya in Honduras this past June. The dictatorship that was installed in Honduras has killed scores of people. However, the Canadian government did not even cut off military aid to the Honduran dictatorship!

Kent made further accusations, claiming that President Hugo Chávez “has a history of concentrating power in the executive.” Kent’s hypocrisy knows no bounds! At the same time as he made this claim, Kent’s Conservative government has prorogued Parliament for the third time in as many years. Last year, the Conservatives suspended Parliament to prevent a LiberalNDP coalition from coming to power. This year, the Tory government needed to suspend Parliament to prevent further details from coming out on how the Canadian mission in Afghanistan was responsible in the torture of innocent people. In the past couple of weeks, tens of thousands of ordinary Canadians have come out to protest the shrinking democratic

Kareem El Dabbagh Canada is quick to criticize Venezuela for lacking democratic practices, which, ironically, is exactly what Canada is committing against its citizens. channels in Canada? The Canadian government has played a proactive role in preventing Al-Jazeera from gaining a license to broadcast in Canada. The current government is known for rarely giving open press conferences and for pre-selecting w h i c h questions can be asked by reporters.

“Kent’s Foray into Venezuela is yet another attempt by Canadian governments (both Liberal and Conservative) to undermine the Venezuelan Revolution and to demonize it internationally.”

While passing through Venezuela, Kent said, “Canada is concerned over the Venezuelan government’s recent suspension of broadcasting of [three] television stations and the death of two students in protests related to this action. These events are further evidence of a shrinking

space in Canada. We can only imagine the outcry from Stephen Harper or Peter Kent if Chávez shut down the Venezuelan national assembly in the face of a nonconfidence vote.

In terms of the media, where has the Tories’ indignation been in the selective barring of certain

Live-in Caregivers CONTINUED FROM P. 10 only be accessible to all Canadians, it must also be able to benefit all Canadians, regardless of race, class, or gender,” she continues.

Another fact overlooked in Ignatieff’s recent announcement, as the groups identified, is how the LCP also contributes to the increasing privatization of healthcare in Canada. Aside from performing childcare duties, workers under the LCP – many of who are healthcare professionals in the Philippines – also fulfill duties as private nurses and caregivers for the elderly, the sick and disabled.

As a shortage of nurses and the chronic underfunding of the healthcare system looms in the face of a current economic crisis, the LCP provides a cheap alternative for addressing Canada’s healthcare needs.

Moreover, community advocates

have already pointed out that the privatization of care in Canada, both in childcare and healthcare, continually falls short of ensuring efficient and equitable treatment for all taxpayers. “As the private sector reaps the benefits of the privatization of care, it is the public who largely bears the losses of the private sector’s investments and risks. If the Liberal party will run on a platform of social justice in the next Federal elections, it must provide an explanation for the ongoing privatization of healthcare in this country,” Puruggan adds.

She emphasizes that for the hardest hit working-class population, “this problem must not be tolerated and cannot continue.”

The healthcare system in Canada, in its current state, is riding on the backs of the Filipino community, with Filipino domestic workers, Personal Support Workers (PSW), LCPs, and nurses bearing the brunt of the burden. Despite their

Kent’s foray into Venezuela is yet another attempt by Canadian governments (both Liberal and Conservative) to undermine the Venezuelan Revolution and to demonize it internationally. The Canadian embassy in Caracas has been caught twice in recent years funnelling money to the Venezuelan opposition. Large Canadian corporations (such as Barrick Gold) have made it very contributions, these workers have been effaced from current history by a lack of proper acknowledgement and compensation. While Filipinos continue to be funnelled into poverty, de-skilled, and stamped with temporary status, no political party will get the attention of our community unless they address our fundamental issues and concerns.

“We will not be treated as voting banks by the Liberal party while the needs of our community’s settlement and integration have yet to be met,” states Mark Serrano, member of the Filipino Canadian Youth Alliance–Ontario (UKPC/ FCYA–ON).

The continued existence of a government program that dehumanizes the Filipino community must be challenged and opposed by all Canadians.

Scrapping the LCP is essential to the creation of a genuine national childcare in Canada, and to the future of the Filipino-Canadian community.

Magkaisa Centre organizations: Philippine Women Centre of Ontario SIKLAB Ontario (Sulong Itaguyod ang mga Karapatan ng mga Manggagawang Pilipino sa Labas

clear that they are not pleased with Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez and are worried about the safety of their economic interests.

As detailed earlier, Canada played a very important role in the overthrow of President Zelaya in Honduras over the summer.

The revolutionary movements in Latin America, especially in Venezuela, pose a serious threat to the interests of imperialism in the hemisphere. They also pose a threat to the interests of capitalists at home. The successes that are being won by ordinary workers and poor people in countries like Venezuela or Bolivia can serve as a real inspiration for Canadian and US workers. We know that the successful occupation of the Republic Windows and Doors factory in Chicago was a direct result of successful workers’ occupations in Venezuela. For the ng Bansa/Advance and Uphold the Struggle of Filipino Workers) Ugnayan ng Kabataang Pilipino sa Canada/Filipino Canadian Youth

bosses and their representatives in government, it is more important than ever to discredit and destroy the popular governments in Latin America.

It needs to be the duty of the workers’ movement in Canada to speak out against the lies of the Tory government and to point out the hypocrisy of people like Peter Kent. The struggles of the workers and poor people in Latin America coincide with our own struggles in the North. The workers’ movement at home needs to join in the defence of the revolutionary struggles in Latin America, to ensure our own victories.

This article was originally published in Hands Off Venezuela: www.handoffvenezuela.org

Alliance–Ontario. www.magkaisacentre.org

www.globalcaregivers.ca The Liberal Party's national childcare program falls short of doing justice for marginalized Filipina workers.

FEATURES

12

WINTER ISSUE 4 2010

Ontario MPPs Ignore International Denunciations of Israeli Apartheid Shourideh Molavi

O

system of occupation, expulsion, exclusion, and exploitation.

n Feb. 25, a group of Ontario Members of Provincial Parliament (MPP) voted unanimously on a motion to “denounce” this year's Israeli Apartheid Week (IAW).

Claiming to send a message of socalled “moral suasion” to all “fairminded Ontarians,” Peter Shurman, the MPP who tabled the motion, argued that the mere application of the phrase ‘Israeli apartheid’ is “about as close to hate speech as one can get without being arrested.”

In what seemed a veiled threat of possible arrests in the future of those accusing Israel with the crime of apartheid, Shurman moved on to state that he was “not certain” that its use “doesn't actually cross over that line.”

So, what is the issue with the term ‘apartheid?’ Ontario MPPs seem to argue that the term has an expiration date. Apartheid, Shurman says, “was only ever applied in one historical case and remains applicable only to that one period of South African history.” We cannot condemn the racial discrimination embedded in the system of laws, institutions, structures, policies, and practices which regulate the relationship between the State of Israel and the Palestinian people until we invent another term. In other words, people of conscience are asked to ignore the elephant in the room.

To make the case for curtailing the use of this phrase, random online blogs not associated with IAW are quoted, after which a barrage of name-calling that vilifies the organizers as “propagandists” and “liars,” and labels IAW as “pure garbage” and “toxic” follows.

Once the motion was tabled, bizarre anecdotes about relatives, neighbours, and friends who support the Zionist project were presented by various MPPs as reasons for supporting this blatant censure of freedom of expression. Other than a letter written by Ontario NDP leader Andrea Horwath, distancing the NDP from the motion, there was little disagreement.

On this note, the record is clear.

Palestinian, Israeli, and international academics, legal scholars, and solidarity activists are not arguing that apartheid South Africa is an exact replica of Israeli apartheid.

In fact, it would do the MPPs and their supporters some good to read 'Not an Anaology: Israel and the Crime of Apartheid' by Hazem Jamjoum of the Badil Resource Center for Palestinian Residency and Refugee Rights. In this piece, Jamjoum argues that while points of similarity and difference between apartheid South Africa and Israeli apartheid are outlined with great detail by prominent scholars and solidarity activists, apartheid is a political and legal system that could be practiced by any state.

He moves on to point out that even with regards to the legal definition of apartheid, the 1973 adoption of the International Convention on

Israeli Apartheid: Not an Analogy

Of course, campaigns to stifle criticism of Israeli crimes of apartheid are not new. A similar unity by senior Canadian Members of Parliament and university administrations surfaced during last year's IAW: the financial blackmail of local community organizations and campus groups, bureaucratic harassment of trade unions supporting Palestine solidarity groups, vilification of respected community leaders, baseless accusations of antiSemitism aimed at capturing and ending all criticism of Israel--an allencompassing umbrella that would also capture dissenting Jewish and Israeli voices-- and elaborate attempts to stifle organizing on campuses by denying space for lectures and panel discussions, and banning the official poster of the initiative.

{

the Suppression and Punishment of the Crime of Apartheid by the UN General Assembly explained that the definition of the crime of apartheid was not limited to the case and borders of South Africa.

In other words, there is no basis for the argument that apartheid refers exclusively to a particular government, period of rule, or moment in history.

MPPs Malign the Work of International Legal Figures, Academics Charging Israel with the crime of apartheid was not concocted by the organizers of IAW. Defining Israel’s

colonizing power under the guise of occupation which includes many of the worst features of apartheid.”

Former President of the United Nations General Assembly, Miguel d'Escoto Brockmann, compared Israeli violations in the West Bank and Gaza Strip to “the apartheid of an earlier era,” urging the international community that “we must not be afraid to call something what it is.” Also, in a recent article, former national director of the American Jewish Congress and of the Synagogue Council of America, Henry Siegman, argued that “Israel's relentless drive to establish ‘facts on the ground’...

“There is a complete neglect of Israel’s blatant disregard for Palestinian life, its ongoing violations of international law, international humanitarian law and human rights, all of which have been thoroughly documented by several human rights organizations.” institutionalized domination and multifaceted system of control over the Palestinian people as apartheid is the result of an informed position held by a range of Palestinian, Israeli, and international academics, religious figures, journalists, politicians, and other persons of conscience.

On numerous occasions, John Dugard, the UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in the Occupied Palestinian Territories, has asserted the fact that Israel's ongoing military presence is not a ‘normal’ type of occupation--a controlling force over a territory after a period of violent conflict. Instead, Dugard points out that what Palestinians experience on a daily basis is described as “the regime of a

have succeeded in locking in the irreversibility of its colonial project” and as a result “Israel has crossed the threshold from ‘the only democracy in the Middle East’ to the only apartheid regime in the Western world.”

The extensive list of prominent Palestinian, Israeli, and international intellectuals, politicians, academics, journalists, religious figures, and solidarity activists who have used the term apartheid to describe Israel and its policies of exclusion also includes Archbishop Desmond Tutu, BritishIsraeli Professor Avi Shlaim, Israeli Professor Oren Yiftachel, Palestinian-Jewish Professor Uri Davis, among others.

If charging Israel with the crime of apartheid is the issue, then these Ontario MPPs would also advocate the silencing of these prominent figures along with the organizers of IAW. The Suasion to Support Israeli Apartheid Week Evident from the motion passed by this group of MPPs is their hypocrisy. There is complete neglect of Israel’s blatant disregard for Palestinian life, and its ongoing violations of international law, international humanitarian law and human rights, all of which has been thoroughly documented by several human rights organizations. Rather, these MPPs have decided to reward Israel for its belligerence by taking steps to censor informed criticisms of the Zionist project by human rights organizations and persons of conscience. No doubt, Premier Dalton McGuinty’s upcoming trade mission to Israel on May 23 is part of the reward-package.

And it does not stop here.

Conservative Member of Parliament Tim Uppal recently declared his intention to introduce a motion before the House of Commons condemning IAW, the planned series of informed lectures and panel discussions, and, by extension, the charge of Israeli violations with the crime of apartheid. In this context, supporters, participants, and organizers of IAW will attempt to address Israel’s systematic violations of human dignity, which the Ontario Premier and this group of MPPs seem to have excused. Supporting IAW this year means continuing to assert the need to hold Israel accountable for its recalcitrance, its military adventurism, and refusing to yield to efforts by elected officials to intimidate and silence advocates of human rights.

This article was originally published in the Bullet: http://www. socialistproject.ca/bullet/318.php

Evidenced by a series of academic lectures and presentations welcomed with packed rooms of students of the Zionist-Palestinian conflict during last year's IAW, their united effort failed.

As a result, this year, Ontario MPPs are not interested in a political discussion. Realizing that public dissent and discourse in the face of continued infringements of human dignity and blatant violations of international law cannot be muted easily, the argument is now that there is no issue with debating the Israel-Palestine conflict; instead, “the problem is the name Israeli Apartheid Week.” The concern lies with the mere use of the word ‘apartheid’ to describe the Israeli

Kareem El Dabbagh Protesters supporting the BDS campaign to end Israeli Apartheid. Ontario MPPs condemn the use of the term ‘Apartheid’ to describe Israel; various Palestinian, Israeli, and international academics, religious figures, journalists, and politicians argue from an informed position that the term applies perfectly to Israel’s policies towards Palestinians.

13

FEATURES

WINTER ISSUE 4 2010

Howard Zinn

(1922-2010)

Thank You, Professor Zinn Nathan Nun

H

istorian, playwright, and activist Howard Zinn died last January of heart failure. Even for those of us who would know him only through his many writings, he was inspiring and formative, a committed public intellectual of conscience.

The son of Jewish immigrants, Zinn grew up in the slums of Brooklyn and worked in the shipyards until he enlisted as an air force bombardier in World War II. His war experience, which included the bombing of cities and the first use of napalm in Europe, influenced his stark anti-war stance later in his life. He came to question even the so called ‘good wars,’ viewing all wars as essentially mass killings. Wars, he said, solve no fundamental problems and they poison everyone involved.

Zinn attended university on the GI Bill and eventually received his doctorate in History in 1958 from Columbia University. He taught at Spelman College and Boston University during which time he took part in the Civil Rights Movement and the movement against the war in Vietnam, also writing one of the first arguments for leaving Vietnam, ‘The Logic of Withdrawal.’ Dismissed from

Spelman in 1963 for siding with students against segregation, beaten by police at an anti-war protest, his commitments did not end with such attacks or the changing of political seasons to come. Until the end of his life he was a voice for social justice in the lecture halls and on the picket lines.

As a public intellectual, Zinn was concerned with bridging the gap between scholarly work and social responsibilities. His popular, ‘A People’s History of the United States’ depicted history not from the viewpoint of generals, captains of industry, rulings powers, or the

{

disconnected from the present.

Throughout his writings is the sentiment that in understanding our real history we begin the process of atonement and repair by refusing similar sufferings, violations, and atrocities here and now. Certainly this past is weighty, we are wounded from it, but as Zinn always emphasized, we need not be transfixed by it (‘Historian as Citizen’). Indeed, as he states in ‘People’s History,’ “If history is to be creative, to anticipate a possible future without denying the past, it should, I believe, emphasize new possibilities by disclosing those hidden episodes of the past when, even in brief flashes, people showed their ability to resist, to join together, occasionally to win.” His most powerful message was simply to remind us of our powers, to always speak up, and never give up the fight for a just world--it just might work.

“Until the end of his life [Howard Zinn] was a voice for social justice in the lecture halls and on the picket lines.”

so-called ‘heroes’ of traditional history, but of workers, rebels, the victims of colonialism, slavery, and war, “who suffered silently or fought back magnificently.” Zinn as a historian was not a collector of disinterested, ‘objective,’ dispassionate narrations, the ersatz objectivity of official state history that distorts our moral proportion, or the kind of history that is remembered for its uniqueness,

At the conclusion of one of his last speaking engagements at Boston University, Zinn counselled the audience, “We should look for a peace movement to join. Really, look for some peace organization to join. It will look small at first,

US Air Force Howard Zinn as an US bombardier in 1945. In later life Zinn became involved in the anti-war movement. and pitiful and helpless, but that’s how movements start. That’s how the movement against the Vietnam War started. It started with handfuls of people who thought they were helpless, thought they were powerless. But remember, this power of the people on top depends on the obedience of the people below. When people stop obeying, they have no power.

When workers go on strike, huge corporations lose their power.

When consumers boycott, huge business establishments have to give in. When soldiers refuse to fight, as so many soldiers did in Vietnam, so many deserters, so

many fraggings, acts of violence by enlisted men against officers in Vietnam, B-52 pilots refusing to fly bombing missions anymore, war can’t go on. When enough soldiers refuse, the government has to decide we can’t continue. So, yes, people have the power. If they begin to organize, if they protest, if they create a strong enough movement, they can change things. That’s all I want to say. Thank you,” (Boston University, November 2009).

Thank you, Professor Zinn, for your years of courage and inspiration.

The Optimism of Uncertainty Howard Zinn

I

n this awful world where the efforts of caring people often pale in comparison to what is done by those who have power, how do I manage to stay involved and seemingly happy?

I am totally confident not that the world will get better, but that we should not give up the game before all the cards have been played. The metaphor is deliberate; life is a gamble. Not to play is to foreclose any chance of winning.

To play, to act, is to create at least a possibility of changing the world.

There is a tendency to think that what we see in the present moment will continue. We forget how often we have been astonished by the sudden crumbling of institutions, by extraordinary changes in people’s thoughts, by unexpected eruptions of rebellion against tyrannies, by the quick collapse of systems of power that seemed invincible.

What leaps out from the history of the past hundred years is its utter unpredictability. A revolution to overthrow the czar of Russia, in that most sluggish of semi-feudal empires, not only startled the most advanced imperial powers but took Lenin himself by surprise and sent him rushing by train

to Petrograd. Who would have predicted the bizarre shifts of World War II—the Nazi-Soviet pact (those embarrassing photos of von Ribbentrop and Molotov shaking hands), and the German Army rolling through Russia, apparently invincible, causing colossal casualties, being turned back at the gates of Leningrad, on the western edge of Moscow, in the streets of Stalingrad, followed by the defeat of the German army, with Hitler huddled in his Berlin bunker, waiting to die?

{

enterprise, perplexing everyone.

No one foresaw the disintegration of the old Western empires happening so quickly after the war, or the odd array of societies that would be created in the newly independent nations, from the benign village socialism of Nyerere’s Tanzania to the madness of Idi Amin’s adjacent Uganda.

Spain became an astonishment.

I recall a veteran of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade telling me that he could not imagine Spanish Fascism

power. Yet they were unable to control events, even in those parts of the world considered to be their respective spheres of influence.

The failure of the Soviet Union to have its way in Afghanistan, its decision to withdraw after almost a decade of ugly intervention, was the most striking evidence that even the possession of thermonuclear weapons does not guarantee domination over a determined population. The United States has faced the same reality. It waged a full-scale war in lndochina, conducting the most brutal

“...it’s clear that the struggle for justice should never be abandoned because of the apparent overwhelming power of those who have the guns and the money and who seem invincible in their determination to hold on to it. That apparent power has, again and again, proved vulnerable to human qualities less measurable than bombs and dollars: moral fervor, determination, unity, organization, sacrifice, wit, ingenuity, courage, patience...”

And then the postwar world, taking a shape no one could have drawn in advance: The Chinese Communist revolution, the tumultuous and violent Cultural Revolution, and then another turnabout, with post-Mao China renouncing its most fervently held ideas and institutions, making overtures to the West, cuddling up to capitalist

being overthrown without another bloody war. But after Franco was gone, a parliamentary democracy came into being, open to Socialists, Communists, anarchists, everyone.

The end of World War II left two superpowers with their respective spheres of influence and control, vying for military and political

bombardment of a tiny peninsula in world history, and yet was forced to withdraw. In the headlines every day we see other instances of the failure of the presumably powerful over the presumably powerless, as in Brazil, where a grassroots movement of workers and the poor elected a new president pledged to fight destructive corporate power.

Looking at this catalogue of huge surprises, it’s clear that the struggle for justice should never be abandoned because of the apparent overwhelming power of those who have the guns and the money and who seem invincible in their determination to hold on to it.

That apparent power has, again and again, proved vulnerable to human qualities less measurable than bombs and dollars: moral fervor, determination, unity, organization, sacrifice, wit, ingenuity, courage, patience- whether by blacks in Alabama and South Africa, peasants in El Salvador, Nicaragua and Vietnam, or workers and intellectuals in Poland, Hungary and the Soviet Union itself. No cold calculation of the balance of power need deter people who are persuaded that their cause is just.

I have tried hard to match my friends in their pessimism about the world (is it just my friends?), but I keep encountering people who, in spite of all the evidence of terrible things happening everywhere, give me hope. Especially young people, in whom the future rests. Wherever I go, I find such people. And beyond the handful of activists there seem to be hundreds, thousands, more who are open to unorthodox ideas.

But they tend not to know of one

CONTINUED ON NEXT P. 16

$ 14

FEATURES

From our Hands to Where?

A look at York’s Pension Fund

Compiled by Victoria Barnett & Imran Kaderdina

Every day, we influence things, people, and places around the world that we may not really be aware of. York University invests hundreds of millions of dollars every year through the Pension Investment Management office, based on money from tuition fees, external donors, faculty, staff, and alumni; but where does this money go and what does it affect or influence?

A lot of what is invested in the endowment funds and the pension funds are indifferent to ethical standards. Taking a glance at the Pension Fund for staff and faculty, you’ll see they’re invested in weapons manufacturing corporations (Northrop Grumman), oil companies (Imperial Oil), and resource-extraction companies that have been known to commit human rights abuses (Barrick Gold). We take for granted that our ability to work and make money for retirement is built upon the abuse of some of these corporations. It’s unlikely that professors support these companies, some of which may even work against professors’ interests, but since the investment is done on their behalf from a distance, without easy access to influence what the pension fund is invested, they may continue to fund human rights abusers, or polluters in their own backyards.

However, since fiduciary responsibility obliges trustees to seek maximum financial returns without taking into consideration other interests their constituents may have, they may invest in corporations to the detriment of their constituents. Fortunately, there has been mounting evidence that environmental, social, and governance practices of corporations influence their long term returns on investment, and thus, the argument could be made to trustees to begin taking some of the aforementioned concerns into consideration.

This article looks at a few companies that York’s Pension Fund is invested in and highlights their active involvement in significant violations of human rights and environmental degradation, among other things. This article wants to raise awareness for students, faculty, staff, and community members in the hopes that we can look more closely at where York University is choosing to invest through the Pension Investment Management office. This list is just a few of the many companies, but the full list of companies in York’s Pension Fund is available here: http://www.yorku.ca/ finance/divisions/pensioninvestments.htm.

Gildan Activewear

Montreal based Gildan Activewear is one of North America’s largest shirtmaking companies and human rights violators. The company owns and subcontracts many sweatshops in poor Central American countries like Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, El Salvador, the Dominican Republic, and Haiti, which do not have adequate labour laws and regulations. Companies operating within these countries are free to exploit labourers, and in some cases child labour. Ironically, Gildan is a member of the Fair Labour Association (FLA), an organisation that inspects working conditions in companies that operate overseas; but the company has a long history of firing workers who attempt to unionise, forcing workers to sign ‘voluntary’ resignation letters, setting work shifts beyond the legal maximum, and injuring workers without adequate pay, benefits or insurance.

Northrop Grumman

Northrop Grumman: one of the world’s largest weapons manufacturers.

It produces all the fuselages, wings, tail, engine cowlings, canopies, and avionics containers, as well as the optional Longbow mastmounted 360º radar, for the Apache AH64D Longbow Helicopter.

Amnesty International has described the Apache AH64 as a piece of “key equipment used by the [Israeli military] in the [December 2008-January 2009] Gaza bombing campaign.” Northrop Grumman also assists in producing the Longbow Hellfire 2 missiles. The wide use of Hellfire 2 missiles by the Israeli military against Palestinian civilians in Gaza has been clearly documented by numerous human rights organizations. (http://carleton.saia.ca)

Coca-Cola

Coca Cola factories in Columbia have been linked to paramilitary death squads and repression of union organizers. Colombian troops connected with the paramilitaries have trained at the US Army’s School of the Americas (SOA) at Fort Benning, Ga., where trainees were encouraged to torture and murder those who do “union organizing and recruiting;” pass out “propaganda in favor of workers;” and “sympathize with demonstrators or strikes.” This was made public when the Pentagon was forced to reveal the contents of training manuals used at the school. (For more information, see www.soaw.org, the website of SOA Watch.)

Coca-Cola factories in India cause water depletion and environmental contamination. Some CocaCola plants enjoying heavily subsidized electricity are accused of spewing toxics into surrounding agricultural fields. Some plants have caused serious water shortages and as a result, locals are forced to travel long distances in search of water.

Coca Cola was also a primary sponsor of the 2010 Winter Olympics. (www. killercoke.org)

WINTER ISSUE 4 2010

Barrick Gold

An estimated 50% of mining operations occur on native lands. For many Indigenous people, who often rely on their environment for food and necessities, mining threatens not only their livelihood, but also their traditional way of life. Land and water rights are often ignored while their resources are exploited and their environments destroyed. Gold mining is a highly consumptive and environmentally destructive industry. In addition to the landscapes that is destroys, gold mining (especially open pit gold mining) creates massive amounts of toxic waste that often causes acid mine drainage and heavy metal contamination. Gold mining and metal processing also use vast amounts of water and energy, often subsidized. They also utilize dangerous chemicals such as cyanide in their leaching processes, posing a threat to local water systems. Gold mines are dangerous for both the people surrounding them and the people who work them. Mine workers have faced human rights abuses, death, and violent police repression. Gold mining is completely unnecessary: 80% of gold is used for jewellery, and it has been estimated that enough gold has already been dug up and stored in vaults to last current demand for 20 years. (www.protestbarrick.net)

Motorola

Involved in designing and implementing perimeter surveillance systems around illegal Israeli settlements and military camps in the occupied West Bank. Motorola is entrenching the occupation and solidifying military bases and illegal settlements as “facts on the ground.” Motorola and its subsidiaries also have hundreds of millions of dollars worth of contracts to supply the Israeli military with telecommunications technology. Several Motorola subsidiaries are involved in manufacturing watchtowers, metal detectors, motion sensors, military surveillance and communications systems, public announcement systems, and x-rays, which are used at the illegal wall, checkpoints, terminals, military bases, and settlements that Israel has established in the occupied West Bank. (http://carleton.saia.ca)

Royal Bank of Canada

RBC: The Royal Bank of Canada is the largest funder of the Alberta Tar Sands--one of the most environmentally destructive industrial projects in world history. The region contains some 2 trillion barrels of oil, but getting to it will mean destroying an area larger than the state of Florida. The environmental and human impacts of this project are disastrous. Toxic lakes, created by the Tar Sands production process, leak 11 million litres of contaminated water into the environment every day. And levels of arsenic 33 times the acceptable level have been found in moose in Northern Alberta--and moose are a food staple for many First Nations communities in the region. The Tar Sands translate into massive profits for Royal Bank of Canada. Oil companies plan to invest at least $100 billion into Tar Sands production by 2020 and RBC gets a huge chunk of this money.

They’ve loaned a total of $45 billion to Tar Sands companies in the last five years, far more than any other bank. The Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) was also a primary sponsor of the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, which has resulted in human rights abuses, environmental destruction, and increased homelessness. (http://ran.org/tarsands)

Pfizer Inc.

Pfizer is one of the world’s leading pharmaceutical companies and fraudulent drug marketer. In 2009, Pfizer pleaded guilty to the largest health care fraud in the United States; the corporation had to pay a fine of $2.3 billion after it was discovered that Pfizer had illegally promoted four drugs (Bextra, Geodon, Zyvox, and Lyrica) for uses that were not approved by medical regulators. The company allegedly bribed healthcare providers to encourage them to prescribe the drugs. The company is also notorious for conducting unapproved human testing and forging fake documents to skew results of tests (see 1996 case in Nigeria). Just recently, the company has been ordered to pay $142 million in damages for fraudulent marketing (again!) of the drug gabapentin, marketed under the name Neurontin. Sales of the drug are $300 million in Canada. Pfizer promoted the drug as a treatment for pain, migraines, and bi-polar disorder when in reality, the drug is not effective in treating these conditions. A majority of the users for the drug will have chronic neurotoxicity or poisoning of the brain (way to go Pfizer!). To top it all off, Pfizer’s environmental record is far from clean. The company is a repeat violator of environmental laws and is infamous for the spread of hazardous air pollutants generated from pharmaceutical manufacturing operations. The company also has poor safety conditions in various labs (for instance Becky McClain vs. Pfizer).

York Will Miss You, Himani Bannerji Shaunga Tagore I’m not as complicated a person or as intellectual a person as some of you may be. Nor is theory of great importance to me. I don’t...know what that means, really. [But] I need to understand what I’m going through and what people around me are going through. I want to use any tool I can find in order to do that.

-Himani Bannerji, Dec. 11, 2009

T

he work, knowledge, and presence of Professor Himani Bannerji have been some of the most valuable assets to York University over the decades. This has become even more apparent to many students, colleagues, and friends as her upcoming retirement signals the closing of her journey at York. A professor of Sociology and Women’s Studies, Bannerji has been a groundbreaking theorist within Marxist, Post-Colonial, AntiRacist, and Feminist studies, as well as an influential writer, speaker, and thinker on concepts of capitalism, globalization, multiculturalism, and nationalisms.

Not only are her contributions as an academic deep and far-reaching, she is also an accomplished writer of poetry, short stories, and children’s stories.

15

FEATURES

WINTER ISSUE 4 2010

celebrating the work and career of Bannerji, organized by the Centre for Feminist Research (CFR). Critical Race, Feminist, and Marxist scholars such as Sherene Razack, Sunera Thobani, Radhika Mongia, and David McNally, among many others, spoke on panels engaging with the breadth and depth of Bannerji’s contributions and the influence her work has had on various academic fields. Bannerji’s own professors and mentors even flew in for the occasion: Dorothy Smith from Vancouver and Jasodhara Bagchi all the way from Kolkata, India.

If that isn’t enough to describe the impact Bannerji has had on the York community, just ask your friends at Berries and Blooms at York Lanes how annoyed they were with me on Dec. 11 when, as an

employee of the CFR, I kept having to unexpectedly request them to boil more and more tea and coffee for the overflowing amount of students, teachers, and friends who kept piling into the Assembly Hall, eager to participate in the Bannerji symposium.

{

watching a waterfall of knowledge and inspiration powerfully fill the room. I recall the articulate way she was able to make so many overwhelming concepts and histories of racism, slavery, patriarchy, capitalism, and globalization fit together and make sense; how it was suddenly impossible--under her simple and matter-of-fact tone of voice-to separate intimate, day-to-day violences, politics, and resistances from global systems and dynamics of power.

in which colonial violences are contemporarily naturalised within discourses of multiculturalism and liberal democracy. This book especially points to the gendered and classed impacts these violences of Canadian nationalisms have on racialized, Indigenous, poor, and non-status people’s--particularly women’s--everyday lives. In this sense, it is important to assert that the university institution is an apparatus of a colonial state, and therefore very powerfully operates in conjunction with projects of colonial, racist, sexist, classist violence.

The complex and intimate violences expressed by Bannerji in the piece below can thus be understood within this larger context.

"Particularly relevant to [the] theme of knowledge production in relation to York is Bannerji's reflection of the impacts that racism and sexism have had on her as a racialized professor in a dominantly white institution."

Taking a course with Bannerji was without a question one of the major highlights of my undergraduate career, and I don’t doubt that many other students who have had the pleasure of being in her class feel the same way. I remember going to class every week and sitting in awe while listening to her speak; it was like

In acknowledgement and appreciation of the influence of Bannerji’s work at York University, the YU Free Press is excited to include Bannerji’s own writing in this Issue: excerpts from ‘Re: Turning the Gaze’ from her edited collection Thinking Through: Essays on Feminism, Marxism and Anti-racism. Particularly relevant to our theme of knowledge production in relation to York is Bannerji’s reflection of the impacts that racism and sexism have had on her as a racialized professor in a dominantly white institution.

What I find especially interesting is to read her thoughts in ‘Re: Turning the Gaze’ alongside her theorizations in her book, The Dark Side of the Nation: Essays on Multiculturalism, Nationalism and Gender. This book interrogates Canada’s history as a settler colony and explores the ways

On Dec. 11, 2009, large crowds gathered in Founders College Assembly Hall for a day-long symposium honouring and

Even though Thinking Through was published in 1995, Bannerji’s reflection in ‘Re: Turning the Gaze’ still resonates deeply with many people today who struggle to navigate through an institution built upon colonialism and oppression.

Personally speaking, Bannerji’s writing and overall presence have given me the strength to keep going, when daily and pervasive experiences of racist, sexist, classist violence at York cause many to drop out or to never make it through the doors in the first place. Honestly speaking, one of the very few times throughout my graduate career at York that I believed I could survive this experience was while listening to Bannerji speak about South Asian Feminism. At the end of the talk she said to me, “You should stay in school. If people like you leave, the ground disappears...” But it is you, Himani Bannerji, who has grounded me, and so many others, with the strength and support to keep striving to learn and pursue knowledge.

Excerpts from ‘Re: Turning the Gaze’ Himani Bannerji

U

sually I write quickly. Usually I like writing. It’s like fishing with a net, it’s flung far, pulled in and gathered to a point, gathering me together into thoughts and images.

This time, months of false starts, procrastinations, a nerveless dead centre. My mind turns its back on the project. I want to/have to and I don’t want to/cannot forget/ remember my years of teaching, being perhaps one of the oldest non-white women teachers in Ontario universities, on what has become trivialized and sanctified at the same time as the “mantra,” or perhaps a hegemonic device for teaching a certain kind of feminist theory in the universities, namely “Gender, Race and Class.”

What I want to write about finally is this not wanting to, of a persistent refusal by me, the writer, an Indian woman, to write about me, the Indian woman teacher, in a classroom at York University and in many public spaces for lectures. The private and the public parts of me refuse to connect in a meaningful formulation, and actually simply even to recount...

The other night I tried to describe what is going on to two of my students in a course on “Race and Racism” that I am currently teaching. I tried to speak to them as thoughtfully and honestly as I can, trying to bring across the “essence,” as it were, of this teaching experience. And what comes out of my mouth is not “pedagogic” or “conceptual”; I am recounting, I notice, about being a body in a space.

And since it is a body, in a space, I am speaking particularly of my own non-white Indian woman’s body, in a classroom where the other occupants are mostly white, and in a classroom in Canada...

imperialism, we are discussing histories of pillages, plunders and conquests, we are watching classes forming in Canada and other “Western countries,” we are decoding images of bodies which are not “right,” not “normal,” grossly noticeable as “visible minorities.” We are reading all this through class and gender. But

my lecture and the readings are touching the edges of disbelief of many of these students, going against years of their living and institutional education. The method and the content are alien, and they hug the upper edge of the class as though getting away from the centre, from me from whom these sounds float up and spray the edges

The course material is about racism. We are going through books that critique socio-biological theories about Shaunga Tagore “race,” the political economy of slavery, Himani Bannerji speaks at York on Dec. 11 and has the closing words on a day-long colonialism and symposium honouring her work.

of their consciousness. But their disbelief, discomfort or down-right anger, float down to me as well.

They confront me. They look at me. Their look tells me volumes.

They stop on the outer edges of my skin, they pick out my colour, height, clothes, and I am aware of this look, “the gaze” that both comes from and produces fixity.

And I am teaching about bodies and how they are constructed into signs of differences tinged with inferiority. How histories cultures, ideologies of Europe constructed a “European – White self,” in relation to whom the “others” now called “people of colour,” “visible minorities,” “immigrants,” “third world people,” are “different,” the inferiority of whose “difference is signalled physically – materially, by skin colour, a nose shape, a mouth, a yellow star, leg irons, or other symbols of danger and domination...And while I am lecturing on “bodies” in history, in social organization of relations and spaces, constructed by the gaze of power, I am actually projecting my own body forward through my words. I am in/scribing rather than erasing it. First I must draw attention to it, focus this gaze, let it

CONTINUED ON NEXT PAGE

16

FEATURES

WINTER ISSUE 4 2010

‘Re: Turning the Gaze’ CONTINUED FROM PAGE 15 develop me into a construct. Then I take this construct, this “South Asian” woman and break it up piece by piece. In every sense they are leaning on my body. I am the teacher, my body is offered up to them to learn from, the room is an arena, a stage, an amphitheatre, I am an actor in a theatre of cruelty...

The social relations of teaching and learning are relations of violence for us, those who are not white, who teach courses on “Gender, ‘Race’ and Class,” to a “white” body of students in a “white university.” I want to hide from this gaze. I don’t want to be fixed, pinned with meaning. I hear comments about a Jamaican woman with 13 children being “related to rabbits or something.” It hurts me, I don’t want to have to prove the obvious to explain, argue, give examples, images from everyday life, from history, from apartheid, from concentration camps, from reserves. And my body from which all this information emanates, fixed, pinned and afraid, hiding from the gaze.

And I dissociate.

I dissociate from my own presence in the room. But I signify, symbolize, embody a construct and teach on it. But I would rather not, I am tied to a stake and would rather not be – a “Paki,” a “visible

minority woman,” an “immigrant woman,” a “they,” an “other” – but be “I” among many. But this body, along with centuries of “knowing,” of existential and historical racism, is my “teaching” presence and tool.

And I dissociate. My own voice rings in my ears, my anecdotes of the street feel hollow, I am offering up piece by piece my experience, body, intellect, so others can learn.

Unless I am to die from this violence of the daily social relations of being a nonwhite South Asian woman, in a white Ontario, Canada classroom – I have to dissociate. I hold a part of myself in reserve. All has not been offered up. A part is saved. That is mine. I step out of the half circle of the teaching space; here and there I meet “students.” They say “You’re great”; the teaching assistances say, “That was a good lecture.”

Some student wishes to speak after class, she is young, white and good natured. She is asking very basic questions, I can see that the course is working. But I, the “I” of me that has been preserved feels no connection with what is being said.

But asks instead, “What has this to do with me?”...

{

Teaching does not permit or perform anger, but real life, meanings, grievances and injustices are daily brought into the room where I teach, a real relation of violence obtains the room itself. I am a real person who is angry at having to prove to real people grown accustomed to racism, that it has a history, political economy, culture, a daily existential dimension.

Skeptical, brutal, shame-faced questions dart out at me; a white

“Subversion, protest, not revolutionary yet, or perhaps will never be. Yet a stream moving on its way, a little tributary to join what I dream of – a real socialist revolution, feminist, antiracist, Marxist, anti-imperialist. The voices, the logic, the politics of my students, who are also my fellow beings, may become a little clearer, more convinced.” woman defends the killing of a Black young man, herself a parttime member of the police force, her husband implicated in the killing. I hear her, I see the stoney faces of the Black students in the class, the uncomfortable body motions of some white students, I hear a few hisses. My body feels tense and hot, I want to shout at her, just plain scream – “you fucking racist idiot,” “you killer” – but I cannot. The theatre of teaching, its script, does not permit me to do that. I have to say it, I have to say it pedagogically; exact a teaching moment out of it. I must build up a body of opinions and explanations

Optimism of Uncertainy CONTINUED FROM PAGE 13 another’s existence, and so, while they persist, they do so with the desperate patience of Sisyphus endlessly pushing that boulder up the mountain. I try to tell each group that it is not alone, and that the very people who are disheartened by the absence of a national movement are themselves proof of the potential for such a movement.

Revolutionary change does not come as one cataclysmic moment (beware of such moments!) but as an endless succession of surprises, moving zigzag toward a more decent society. We don’t have to engage in grand, heroic actions to participate

here, which I challenge and crush her racism. Carefully, cunningly, smoothly I create with comments and statements and debates an ambush for her racism. I begin to summon up previous police killings, the work of the police in general. I invoke Sophia Cook, I remind her of the essays on the state, the police and common sense racism...on and on. I am teaching.

The point is coming across, the meaning of racism is becoming

history – these hours of lectures, examinations and essays, are my spontaneity, my anger, formalized, expanded and contained, occasioned and stymied by the regulations of a white university. Subversion, protest, not revolutionary yet, or perhaps will never be. Yet a stream moving on its way, a little tributary to join what I dream of – a real socialist revolution, feminist, antiracist, Marxist, anti-imperialist.

The voices, the logic, the politics of my students, who are also my fellow beings, may become a little clearer, more convinced. An anger motivates me. I work on the anger of others with reason, so that somehow it will take shape of a sustained politics, of strategy and goal...

in the process of change. Small acts, when multiplied by millions of people, can transform the world.

Even when we don’t “win,” there is fun and fulfillment in the fact that we have been involved, with other good people, in something worthwhile. We need hope.

An optimist isn’t necessarily a blithe, slightly sappy whistler in the dark of our time. To be hopeful in bad times is not just foolishly romantic. It is based on the fact that human history is a history not only of cruelty but also of compassion, sacrifice, courage, kindness. What we choose to emphasize in this complex history will determine our lives. If we see only the

worst, it destroys our capacity to do something. If we remember those times and places--and there are so many--where people have behaved magnificently, this gives us the energy to act, and at least the possibility of sending this spinning top of a world in a different direction.

And if we do act, in however small a way, we don’t have to wait for some grand utopian future. The future is an infinite succession of presents, and to live now as we think human beings should live, in defiance of all that is bad around us, is itself a marvellous victory.

evident and wider; but in the meanwhile there is me, there is she. My anger seeking the release of name-calling, a slap across the face, not this mediated rage. Of course I dissociate. My work and I part company. I am aware of doing violence to myself by choosing this pedagogic path...

And yet I choose to do this violence to myself. Because I choose to de-colonize, to teach anti-racism, not only for myself but for others as well. This slow, long, extended anger of a method, perspective, theories, ideology, instances, political economy and

{

Yes, it distorts me or us. Because anger against the daily ordinary violence and anger of racism distorts us. But there is no way out, no clean hands.

Undoing history soils us, cuts us up. We are in the front line. Others are coming along with and behind us, someday we will be whole.

So yes, I disassociate. The mediation of my anger cuts me into two. But here in my actual, immediate work of teaching, I am not silent. At least not that...

‘Returning the Gaze’ was originally published in Thinking Through: Essays on Feminism, Marxism and Anti-racism. Toronto: Women’s Press, 1995.

“To be hopeful in bad times is not just foolishly romantic. It is based on the fact that human history is a history not only of cruelty but also of compassion, sacrifice, courage, kindness. What we choose to emphasize in this complex history will determine our lives.”

This and other Zinn commentaries are available at Znet: www. zcommunications.org

"A truly free university would not celebrate obedience, for obedience is what has enabled governments to send young men by millions to die in war. It would celebrate resistance and disobedience, because the world, so full of authoritarianism, so full of policemen, so racked with injustice and violence, needs rebels badly. It would admire not that technical intellectual efficiency which ignores the fate of human beings far away or near, but that combination of sense and sensibility one finds in good people everywhere, educated or not. It would understand that the most important thing about the university is not its programs or curricula or any of the accoutrements of the upward-striving educator, but its soul."

(Howard Zinn, ‘Silber, the University, and the Marines,’ 1972).

B-Fest of Athens indymedia Howard Zinn speaks at Babylonmedia’s international anti-authoritarian festival “B-Fest” in Athens, Greece, May 2009.

17

FEATURES

WINTER ISSUE 4 2010

Slumdogs vs. Millionaires: Sainath in Toronto Justin Podur

T

he lecture hall slowly filled up as slides of families of the 200,000 farmers who committed suicide in India between 1997 and 2005 played on the flat screens on the side of the room. P. Sainath, the day’s speaker, was the journalist who brought the farmer suicides to wide attention. He opened his talk by updating information on that story: between 2004 and 2010, an Indian farmer committed suicide every 30 minutes.

The author of ‘Everybody Loves a Good Drought,’ Sainath is in my opinion one of the world’s best journalists. He describes himself as “the greatest reader of government documents, which is how I got a reputation as an expert on Indian fiction.” Speaking at Toronto’s York University on Mar. 10, Sainath began by contrasting the trillions that were found for the economic bailout in 2008 and since with the constant budget cuts to social services and agricultural support, as well as the hundreds of billions in corporate taxes that go uncollected each year in India. The principle: “No deserving corporate shall ever go hungry.”

Sainath estimated that $12 million USD per hour will be received by Indian corporations in tax writeoffs this year, in corporate taxes, customs, and excise exemptions.

Sainath got these from the publicly available Indian budget documents under an item called “statement of revenue foregone.” The total writeoff was $109 billion USD this year, not including subsidies, giveaways, lands granted, and the special economic zones. That figure, $109 billion, is 80% of the revenue that the government is entitled to.

Starved of the massive source of revenue, the government is raising taxes on petrol and diesel, both of which result in increased food prices at a time when food inflation is 18% (the government figure) before the budget. A consequence of this inflation is that net per capita food availability on a daily basis has been falling for two decades.

In contrast with what eminent nutritionist George W. Bush and the Wall Street Journal said during

the food crisis two years ago, that India and China were “gobbling” the food supply (“like 2 billion turkeys,” Sainath said) net per capita food availability (which is (total production - exports + imports - wastage + stocks)/population) has gone from 510g seven to eight years ago to 436g in the latest budget. The average Indian family is consuming 100-110kg less food in a year than before, while the top 10% of Indians are eating better than ever before.

What, then, Sainath asked, is the bottom 40% eating? He spends 270 days a year in rural areas and poor regions answering this question. And the answer is, they are eating less. It isn’t because they are eating more meat or fruit, despite such claims by Indian economists. And redefining the number of calories that Indians need, from 2,400 a day to 1,800 per day, is also not going to do anything for peasants. The 1,800/ day figure is the one given by the FAO for light or sedentary labour.

“Is the woman carrying 35-40kg on her back for 20km doing light and sedentary labour? Is the coal miner riding his bicycle to and from the mine doing light and sedentary labour? Is the person working 12 hours in the field doing light and sedentary labour?”

{

billionaires are richer than Russia’s or Germany’s: four of the ten richest men are Indians. One of the Ambani brothers, both of whom are on the billionaire list, is building a $2 billion dollar home, building 26 floors, two helipads, and “an unquantifiable amount of resentment.” The entire Daravi slum, the area featured in the film Slumdog Millionaire, could be rehabilitated with that sum. And the path of billionaires in India is different: whereas Russia’s billionaires spend ten years on the list, after which they go to prison, India’s billionaires, as a democracy, head to Parliament after ten years.

Sainath then provided a caveat: all of the claims about India’s progress, all of the India’s shining successes, are true. They are true for a narrow segment of the population. The fastest growing sector in India is not IT, it’s not software; it’s inequality. India is a “Tiger;” “we should ask why we name successful economies after an animal that is rapidly going extinct.” India has always been unequal, but never before has inequality been so cynically created or so brutally enforced.

While climbing the ranking for number of dollar billionaires, India has been falling down the ranking for the UN’s Human Development Index, now to 134th, from 120th before the neoliberal reforms of the 1990s.

Sainath made the local connection-years ago when Canada was 1st on the Human Development Index, if the Indigenous communities were analyzed separately, they would have ranked 63rd. India is behind every single LatinAmerican country, behind Gabon, Botswana, and the Occupied Palestinian Territories.

None of these countries have India’s resources, wealth, growth rates (9% for a decade), nuclear power, software superpower--all handled poverty far better. There are hunger alarms in every single state in India, and some states, like M a d h y a Pradesh, have hunger rates comparable to any country in sub-Saharan Africa. The overall Indian average for child malnourishment is 46%, while the sub-Saharan African average is 35%.

According to Forbes and the Times of India, India is the 4th on the planet in dollar billionaires-with 53 of them--after the US, Russia, and Germany. And India’s

India’s billionaires outgun Scandinavia, Australia, and Japan.

The billionaires control wealth that’s equivalent to 1/3 of India’s GDP, about $341 billion in a $1

“...between 2004 and 2010, an Indian farmer committed suicide every 30 minutes.”

{

trillion economy--in a country where 836 million Indians live on 50 cents a day. The World Bank says that $1.25/day is poor, but India’s definition is 24 cents/day, so that only 260 million Indians live in poverty by this definition.

The billionaires are making some $300,000-700,000 per minute.

One good program by the Indian government, one of its few achievements, is the rural employment guarantee, in which peasants can get $1.50-$2 per day for nine hours of work in the fields in 45 degrees celsius. “Rotating hunger” is a rural survival strategy.

In a 6-8 member family, two members will eat on a given day.

They work and earn the $1.50, doing a job like digging 100 cubic feet in colonial-era style public works. People in their 60s and 70s are going to work in the program because it’s the only way to eat.

Last July, India created the world’s cheapest automobile (the Tata nano) while hosting the world’s most expensive red gram (dhal, a kind of pulse which is a staple protein), reaching 100 rupee/kg.

When pensions are 200 rupees per month, options like rotating hunger come into play.

Over a period when labour productivity increased by 84%, real wages fell by 22% and CEO salaries went through the ceiling.

The face of poverty in India has an agrarian, feudal, gender, and caste basis: 24% of India is poor but 35% of Dalits are poor and 42% of

Farmers in India today control nothing but the land. Pesticide, seed, fertilizer, water, electricity--are all controlled either by governments or corporations. The prices of inputs go up and farmers are forced into debt and encouraged to grow unstable cash crops, leading to increased risk, debt, and ultimately, suicide. In the 1990s they closed the rural banks, shifting credit to urban elites. Today agriculture is in the greatest crisis since the Green Revolution. Eight million have quit farming. Where did they go?

“We don’t know. We were too busy covering Paris Hilton.”

How was all this done? Through the mechanisms of neoliberalism.

A withdrawal of the state from anything serving the poor--the state remains interventionist and present in serving the rich. A transfer of wealth from the poor to the rich. The collapse of any restraints on profit and finance. The privatization of everything, including the intellect and the soul (“What’s a public intellectual?” Sainath asked. “One who hasn’t been privatized yet.”)

And the growth of inequality.

What all this means is that “an unraveling has begun,” and the economic unraveling that started in 2008 didn’t really start in 2008 and isn’t over yet. But there are thousands of little struggles all over India, against what is happening. “Whatever you call it, neoliberalism, corporations, some of us with a more limited vocabulary just call it capitalism.”

But the struggles against it are going to take a very local character. The details will be different in different places, but what is important is to not let it pass in silence.

Sainath concluded by telling a story from Tacitus about a party put on by the Roman Emperor Nero, a party where the Roman elite came out and enjoyed food and music in an evening lit by people, “criminals,” whom Nero had set on fire. “I remember being struck by this story-not because of the cruelty, because the 20th century surpasses Nero, and we surpass Nero every day in this world--but because I asked myself, who were Nero’s guests? How come they remained silent?”

“There are hunger alarms in every single state in India, and some states, like Madhya Pradesh, have hunger rates comparable to any country in sub-Saharan Africa.”

Adivasis (“this is what you would call here First Nations”) are poor.

Agriculture is the hardest hit and 65% of agricultural work is done by women. In 1990 agriculture took up 14.5% of the budget, while in 2006 it took up just 5.9%. Sainath told government officials that they might as well send the air force and bomb them, it would be a quicker death but no less certain.

After eight to ten years, Sainath said, I have my answer. You have the answer. Whatever we do, he said, your way or my way, let us not be Nero’s guests.

Justin Podur’s blog can be read at: www.killingtrain.com

Kareem El Dabbagh As India makes $12 million USD an hour from tax writeoffs, corporate taxes, and customs, most of the Indian population is struggling to cope with rising prices and diminishing social services. Left: A young boy picks through garbage; “While the rich get richer in India, the poor are getting poorer.” Middle: An example of bathrooms serving tens of families in Dharavi Slums, famous for being the setting for the movie Slumdog Millionaire. Right: As the Indian government neglects the needs of its citizens, it is often marginalized groups like women that bear the consequences: confined to extraordinary manual labour with endless hours.

18

WINTER ISSUE 4 2010

COMMENTS Size Doesn’t Matter...But Apartheid Does Aaron Lakoff Every year for the last six years, many cities (43 in 2009) around the world have joined together to coordinate the annual Israeli Apartheid Week (IAW), which focuses on the growing campaign of Boycotts, Divestments, and Sanctions (BDS) against the state of Israel. This year, like every year in the past, pro-Israel apologists have responded with campaigns that range from outright offensive to bizarre and puzzling.

Critics have accused IAW of trying to shut down dialogue and debate on the Israel/Palestine issue, when IAW is in fact striving to create more spaces for these issues to be discussed in a serious and scholarly manner on campuses.

What is interesting is that critics of IAW often avoid taking the debate head-on. Rather, they often try to ban IAW from campuses altogether

as a happy-go-lucky, innovative, and sexy country. Size Doesn’t Matter represents an evolution, albeit a miniature one, in proIsrael distraction campaigns over the years, which have also taken the form of ‘Islamo-fascism Week’ at York University and ‘Israeli Culture Fests’ in Montreal. When you don’t have many winning arguments to contest Israel as an apartheid state, it’s much easier to talk about falafel, techno music, and pretty girls in bikinis on the Tel Aviv beach. I mean, everyone loves those things, right?

And then there’s the more extreme responses to IAW, such as the ones that are put forward by so-called ‘human rights’ groups like B’nai Brith. On Feb. 25, 2010, they issued a press release applauding members of the Ontario legislature who had put forward a motion

Aaron Lakoff

despite American President Barack Obama’s empty talk of a freeze on new settlement construction. It occurred in the context of the 1.5 million Gazans who are “When you don’t have many winning arguments to contest still reeling from last Israel as an apartheid state, it’s much easier to talk about falafel, year’s brutal massacre, are not allowed to techno music, and pretty girls in bikinis on the Tel Aviv beach.” who import basic construction supplies to rebuild their homes.

More importantly, or create distractions. to condemn IAW. What’s more, IAW occurred despite a tireless the organization is calling for an During the last week of February, “outright ban on ‘Israeli Apartheid campaign of censorship and pro-Israel groups at Canadian Week’” for the second year in a muzzling from pro-Israel activists. universities launched a campaign row. Groups such as B’nai Brith But it came out on top. IAW and called Size Doesn’t Matter. Craftily are not successful, given that more the BDS campaign against Israeli timed to coincide with the launch and more universities are beginning apartheid are threatening to some because they are working. For one, of IAW on campuses, Size Doesn’t IAWs every year. it is a non-violent campaign aimed Matter boasts a flashy website which tries to deflect attention This year, IAW took place amidst at social justice for everyone in the away from the uglier sides of the backdrop of a right-wing Middle East. the debate (occupation, the siege government in Israel which on Gaza, Palestinian refugees) has continued to expand illegal In the six years since Palestinian while trying to re-brand Israel settlements in the West Bank, civil society called for a boycott

{

of Israel, there have been major victories to note. During the last week of February, a group of over 500 Montreal-based artists issued a declaration in support of the BDS campaign. Large labour unions and student federations in Quebec and Canada have also pledged their support. Last year, Hampshire College in Massachusetts became the first educational institution in North America to cut its ties to Israel, and just recently, students at Carleton University in Ottawa launched a campaign to push their campus to do the same. Indeed, this is a movement that is gaining momentum.

There is little substance to the antiSemitism claim and it negates the participation of Jewish people in the BDS campaign around the world.

Finally, there is the claim that initiatives such as IAW are antiSemitic and promote hatred against Jews. IAW is a critique of the Israeli state, not of Jewish people.

Aaron Lakoff is a Communications student at Concordia and a member of ‘Not in Our Name,’ an anti-Zionist Jewish group on campus. This article was originally published in The Link.

Debunking Excalibur’s Objectivity Erykah Turner In an editorial published on Mar. 10, 2010, entitled ‘This is Not an Endorsement,’ the Editor-inChief of Excalibur, Alexandra Posadski, wrote how she felt insulted that the Chief Returning Officer for the York Federation of Students (YFS) elections, Casey Chu Cheong, would feel that the Excalibur is campaign material

and thus give demerit points to the Opposition slate New York for handing out copies of York’s largest student newspaper. Of course, by mainstream definition, a news source should be fair, balanced, and unbiased, but for the most part, in reality this is not the case. Not coincidentally, in the case of Excalibur, there seems to be a continuous bias portrayed on particular issues that simply cannot be ignored by any conscientious

York observer who is attempting to make sense of the post-YFS elections aftermath.

What could possibly give somebody just cause to demarcate the Excalibur as biased campaign material which is swayed in favour of the New York slate? For one, in the Mar. 3, 2010 edition (Vol. 44, Is. 26) of Excalibur, somebody apparently authorized a front cover displaying a disturbing image of Krisna Saravanamuttu, the incumbent YFS president, on a dart board with pins pointing at him.

Not only that, the article that accompanied the image was based purely on allegations of hearsay, Erykah Turner and absolutely no proof was Fox News and York’s Excalibur both equate themselves with being ‘Fair and Balanced’ but given for any just what kind of balance do they speak of?

{

actual wrongdoings. The article alleged that Saravanamuttu had threatened to reduce club funding to an anonymous club if the club did not endorse the Students First

It is often said that you can measure the strength of a social movement by the reactive impulses of its opponents. The fact that IAW is back for another year at Concordia and across Canada, despite attempts to censor it, is in itself a success. To the state of Israel and its supporters, size may not matter, but IAW is gaining steam, and supporters of Israel will soon have a lot of questions to answer.

Saravanamuttu on a dart board and the accompanying article may have hindered his chances of receiving votes because of allegations that were not proven.

Elections in any form whether it be federal, municipal, or student

“...when a newspaper displays an image of a running candidate on a dartboard bull’s-eye with allegations that are unproven, any claims at being ‘fair and balanced’ are lost to oblivion.” campaign, yet the club’s name was not mentioned once and the tipster could not provide any substantiating proof to warrant an article so heavily skewed against Saravanamuttu.

The problem with alleged information is that there is no factual basis to it--it is only what someone heard or someone claimed. The fact that this article came out right in the midst of the YFS elections is indeed a bias, and as Posadski put it “the issue was intended to inform our readers about...in particular, one of the candidates.” People were led to believe that the current YFS president was involved in this scandal, and then expected to make an informed choice about the elections. For people who knew nothing about the YFS, or elections, or Saravanamuttu for that matter, seeing the cover of Excalibur with

based, always have and will create a lot of tension, with numerous sides battling to win the most votes possible. Propaganda, lies, and allegations generally go hand in hand with elections, and newspapers and media are often times the source of such propaganda. But when a newspaper displays an image of a running candidate on a dartboard bull’s-eye with allegations that are unproven, any claims at being ‘fair and balanced’ are lost to oblivion.

A fair and balanced news source would wait until allegations are proven or disproven to print such an article, rather than try to slander a candidate’s name in the midst of an election. Furthermore, the image of Saravanamuttu on the front page as a dart board is actually threatening, and could make one (Saravanamuttu particularly) feel

CONTINUED ON NEXT PAGE

g/

19

COMMENTS

WINTER ISSUE 4 2010

The Alberta Tar Sands and First Nations Eco-Genocide Gitz Crazyboy The issue of the tar sands is now beginning to affect everyone, however if it was affecting everyone equally then this problem would be resolved at an exponential speed. The most serious problems that are plaguing the First Nations community of Fort Chipewyan, located north of the oils sands development, have to do with large rates of cancer deaths as well as rare types of cancer. Our water is contaminated, our animals are sick and the natural world around us is dying. There is a body count that is steadily rising.

{

agents within their bodies. It’s not a matter of eating around the sores.

Our traditional practice of hunting and trapping is endangered and all the sacred lessons and cultural teachings we hold onto about life, our connection to the land, animals, our responsibility, and what we pass onto to the next generation is completely threatened.

Earlier this year, an oil spill in the Athabasca River caused oil companies to shut off taps and stop water intake. A call was not placed to inform the community of Fort Chipewyan until about 30 hours later. A report released earlier this year states that for three years Suncor has been of dumping “Our water is contaminated, guilty contaminated our animals are sick and the untreated waste into Lake Athabasca natural world around us is the Water stream, dying. There is a body count and community members were not that is steadily rising.” informed.

Approximately 1 in 100,000 people will get a rare type of cancer that affects the bile duct which usually causes fatalities within a month’s time. If you were to take all the population of Fort McMurray, you’ll get about 100,000 people.

Statistically speaking, at least one unfortunate person would get this form of cancer. However, in the small community of Fort Chipewyan with a population of 1,500, about 20 have caught this cancer, with others dying from other types of cancers as well.

In the north, hunting and trapping were carried out by individuals or family groups, and by the end of the 19th century family trapping territories, or traplines, were well established. Today, more and more animals that are being hunted near and around the tar sands are being skinned and found with large sores in their bodies. Fish are being found with contaminations, and people are afraid to eat the wild animals for fear of cancer causing

Excalibur Debunked CONTINUED FROM PAGE 18 unsafe, regardless of the possible metaphorical meaning of displaying a ‘target’ or not.

One other recent issue concerning Excalibur’s bias toward a particular topic is the newspaper’s love of slandering Israeli Apartheid Week, and anything to do with Palestinian activism. For example, in a Features piece entitled ‘Let the Games Begin’ from the Feb. 24, 2010 edition (Vol. 44, Is. 25), written by the Managing Editor of the Excalibur, David Ros, Ros begins by comparing Israeli Apartheid Week (IAW) to the

There was a time where you were able to drink out of the Athabasca River. That time has passed. Every year since the tar sands have begun their expansion, we’ve seen a steady degradation in how the water looks, smells, and tastes. If the Dene knew in advanced that our right to hunt and fish would soon cease to exist, any historical treaties agreed upon with external entities that are in operation now would have never been signed in the first place. After all of this, oil companies want us to believe there is no connection between the tar sands, its water treatment, and the staggering cancer related deaths found in local Aboriginal communities.

Our tragic history has been wave after wave of genocide: the expansion and exploration of ‘The West,’ the Indian wars, biological germ warfare, population control ‘scalping raids,’ residential schools.

The newest wave of genocide is the Industrial Genocide:

{

indiscriminately killing plant life, water life, and human life. What is happening up north is nothing short of an eco-cide, an Environmental Holocaust, with human lives paying this price. Genocide is a very strong word to use, but I use it because current practices are killing my people, and if left unchecked they will kill us all.

That’s what genocide is: a system that destroys if left unrestrained, and will decimate an entire people.

The atrocity of the oil sands is also a matter of violating human

drink the water, eat wild game, or even breathe the air?

Those in power only listen to others who are in power. You need to look no further than the apology issued to First Nations people across Canada: something we’ve been demanding for years, but only after pressure from Jack

your members of Parliament. This is a matter of human rights, which is a responsibility for us all.

Gitz Crazyboy is a member of the Blackfoot/Dene First Nations Tribe(s) of Alberta.

For further information or to get involved in some campaigns

http://switchboard.nrdc.org/ rights. Any Indigenous Nation that is around or near industrial development is at risk of Industrial Genocide and their rights to life, liberty, and security of persons, as stated by the UN’s Declaration of Human Rights, are in serious jeopardy. What kind of life is it, when you are born into a community where you have a higher likelihood of developing rare types of terminal cancer? What kind of cruelty do you call it, when you are afraid to

Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics, on women in both Vancouver and as if IAW were a bunch of games. Palestine. He is equating a fight for Of course the comparison of IAW human rights with games that have to the Winter Olympic Games is contributed to taking away human ludicrous because firstly, IAW is rights, and human rights are not a a one week (not two weeks as Ros game. explains) event aimed at educating the general p u b l i c “Any claims at neutrality are false, about the and it’s time for publications to apartheid crimes that realize that there is no such thing... are being as neutrality in journalism.” committed against Palestinians by the state of Israel Excalibur has been around for (taking place in classrooms rather many years, and continues to be than, as Ross asserts, Vari Hall) an important part of York’s campus and is thus NOT a game. Also, life. This article is intended to the Olympic Games were taking identify the bias of the newspaper place on stolen Native land, which in the hopes that maybe it will is something that the organizers change, and if not change, at least of IAW are fighting against not admit that attempting to call a only in Palestine, but worldwide newspaper fair and balanced can (as shown through in Indigenous be equated with the likes of Fox Solidarity events held at IAW).

News. Any claims at neutrality are false, and it’s time for publications The ‘fair and balanced’ part of this to realize that there is no such article reached about as far as the thing--no matter how much attempt second word of the title before is made at being so--as neutrality the bias began. If Ros is going to in journalism. There is something speak about IAW and the Winter called honesty, the truth. Excalibur Olympics, he should first look into needs to stop its attempts at fair the issues surrounding both, namely and balanced, and just realize the the violation of Indigenous rights, best thing to report is the truth with environmental degradation, as well the facts to back it up. as the homelessness/displacement that has occurred and the impacts

{

“...oil companies want us to believe there is no connection between the tar sands, its water treatment, and the staggering cancer related deaths found in local Aboriginal communities.”

Layton to Stephen Harper was an apology finally issued. It is the responsibility of Canadian citizens to help each other and help other Nations.

I’m not asking you to fight our battle for us, I am asking you as one human being to another to stand beside us and be an ally. I am asking for your public support to create awareness in your communities and begin public pressure with

currently reference:

going

on

please

-Indigenous Environmental Network: http://www.ienearth.org/ -Rainforest Action Network: http://ran.org/ -Film: “The Canary Effect” (2006) -Website: http://oilsandstruth.org/ -Book: “A Little Thing Called Genocide” – by Ward Churchill

COMMENTS

20

WINTER ISSUE 4 2010

The Pitfalls of Proroguing Parliament Jeremy Appel On Mar. 1, 2010, Canadian Parliament was back in session, after Stephen Harper shut it down for the second time in little over a year. One would think that the important issues discussed prior to prorogation (economic stimulus, Afghan detainee torture, etc.)

would be on the agenda. Instead, we are left with a half-baked budget and outrage over the lyrics to our national anthem.

The Mar. 5 issue of The Toronto Star provides excerpts from Finance Minister Jim Flaherty’s budget speech. In it, he claims to be “taking the same approach that Canadian families take in managing their household b u d g e t s , ” meaning, “[w]e are looking beyond that emergency, to ensure we can keep paying off the mortgage and saving for our children’s education.”

We cannot invest in “big, expensive government programs” that would help the economy in the long-term, because that would be bad for Our Dear Leader’s children.

Apparently, only the military is important enough

to require “major, necessary investments;” of course, one has to protect their immature children from the bogeyman. Unfortunately for Mr. Flaherty, Canada is not one big family (just ask the Aboriginals), and Harper’s subjects are not children.

Regardless, according to a report from the Parliamentary Budget Officer, from CBC News, Flaherty lied about the budget forecasts: “The projected deficit is $10.5 billion larger in the final year than the budget forecast.” The report also notes that the government’s “projected revenues…are $6.0 billion lower,” while “government expenditures…are $4.5 billion higher” than the Finance Minister claims. Cutting spending during a recession (that has supposedly

{

According to an EKOS poll, 83% of Canadians believe the government was aware of the Afghan detainee torture scandal before the news broke. This is despite a parliamentary committee where top generals, including former chief of defense staff Rick Hilliard, pleaded ignorance.

This controversy focuses on the anthem’s third line: “In all thy sons’ command.” Sure, the lyric is sexist, but what about the first line, with the nonsense about Canada

being “our home and native land?”

Or “God keep our land?” These lyrics are racist and theocratic, respectively. We might as well

Adoptees of Colour Statement on Haiti International Community of Adoptees of Colour This statement reflects the position of an international community of adoptees of colour who wish to pose a critical intervention in the discourse and actions affecting the child victims of the recent earthquake in Haiti. We are domestic and international adoptees with many years of research and both personal and professional experience in adoption studies and activism. We are a community of scholars, activists, professors, artists, lawyers, social workers, and health care workers who speak with the knowledge that North Americans and Europeans are lining up to adopt the ‘orphaned children’ of the Haitian earthquake, and who feel compelled to voice our opinion about what it means to be ’saved’ or ‘rescued’ through adoption.

We understand that in a time of crisis there is a tendency to want to act quickly to support those considered the most vulnerable and directly affected, including children. However, we urge caution in determining how best to help.

We have arrived at a time when the licenses of adoption agencies in various countries are being reviewed for the

widespread practice of misrepresenting the social histories of children. We bear testimony to the ways in which the intercountry adoption industry has profited from and reinforced neo-liberal structural adjustment policies, aid dependency, population control policies, unsustainable development, corruption, and child trafficking.

For more than 50 years ‘orphaned children’ have been shipped from

areas of war, natural disasters, and poverty to supposedly better lives in Europe and North America. Our adoptions from Vietnam, South Korea, Guatemala, and many other countries are no different from what is happening to the children of Haiti today. Like us, these ‘disaster orphans’ will grow into adulthood and begin to grasp the magnitude of the abuse, fraud, negligence, suffering, and deprivation of human rights involved in their displacements.

We uphold that Haitian children have a right to a family and a history that is their own and that Haitians themselves have a right to determine what happens to their own children. We resist the racist, colonialist mentality that positions the Western nuclear family as superior to other conceptions of family, and we seek to challenge those who abuse the phrase “Every child deserves a family” to rethink how this phrase is used to justify the removal of children from Haiti for the fulfillment of their own needs and desires. Western and Northern desire for ownership of Haitian children directly contributes to the destruction of existing family and community structures in Haiti. This individualistic desire is supported by the historical and global anti-African sentiment which negates the validity of black mothers and fathers and condones the separation of black children from their families, cultures, and countries of origin.

As adoptees of colour many of us have inherited a history of dubious adoptions. We are dismayed to hear that Haitian adoptions may be “fast-tracked” due to the massive destruction of buildings in Haiti that hold important records and documents. We oppose this plan and argue that the loss of records requires slowing down of the processes of adoption while important information is gathered and re-documented for these children. Removing children from

Haiti without proper documentation and without proper reunification efforts is a violation of their basic human rights and leaves any family members who may be searching for them with no recourse. We insist on the absolute necessity of taking the time required to conduct a thorough search, and we support

Despite all this nonsense, as of a Mar. 4 EKOS poll, the Conservatives are ahead of the

By setting up a parliamentary committee, the administration is able to dismiss the charges of abuse in Afghanistan and focus their energies on apparently more important issues, like the lyrics to O Canada.

“Harper’s constant vacationing and general contempt for democracy seem to have left Canadians apathetic and docile; they would rather be lied to and openly treated like children than face a new election.”

ended) is one thing, but lying about its effect on the economy is a whole other ball game.

change our anthem to a Rush song; “Closer to the Heart,” anyone?

strangers. Immediate removal of traumatized children for adoption-including children whose adoptions were finalized prior to the quake-compounds their trauma, and denies their right to mourn and heal with the support of their community.

We affirm the spirit of cultural

Liberals by approximately 3%.

These are the same Liberals who neither shut down Parliament, nor lied about their budget’s details.

Harper’s constant vacationing and general contempt for democracy seem to have left Canadians apathetic and docile; they would rather be lied to and openly treated like children than face a new election. Michael Ignatieff and the always mediocre Liberal Party are partially to blame for refusing to take a principled stand against the Conservative agenda.

Oh, Canada indeed. removal of Haitian children through intercountry adoption, should be considered by all to be a direct challenge to their cultural sovereignty. We support the legal and policy application of cultural rights such as rights to language, rights to ways of being/ religion, collective existence, and a representation of Haiti’s histories and existence using Haiti’s own terms.

http://adopteesofcolor.org Local Haitians, the vast Haitian Diaspora and adoptees of colour from across the world are rejecting transnational child adoption as a safe post-earthquake protective solution, will Western sympathizers listen to such calls? an expanded set of methods for creating these records, including recording oral histories.

We urge the international community to remember that the children in question have suffered the overwhelming trauma of the

{

sovereignty, sovereignty, and selfdetermination embodied as rights for all peoples to determine their own economic, social, and cultural development included in the Convention on the Rights of the Child; the Charter of the United Nations; the UN Declaration on

“We uphold that Haitian children have a right to a family and a history that is their own and that Haitians themselves have a right to determine what happens to their own children.”

earthquake and separation from their loved ones. We have learned first-hand that adoption (domestic or intercountry) itself as a process forces children to negate their true feelings of grief, anger, pain, or loss, and to assimilate to meet the desires and expectations of

the Rights of Indigenous Peoples; and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. The mobilization of European and North American courts, legislative bodies, and social work practices, geared toward facilitating the forced

We offer this statement in solidarity with the people of Haiti and with all those who are seeking ways to intentionally support the long-term sustainability and self-determination of the Haitian people. As adoptees of colour we bear a unique understanding of the trauma, and the sense of loss and abandonment that are part of the adoptee experience, and we demand that our voices be heard.

All adoptions from Haiti must be stopped and all efforts to help children be refocused on giving aid to organizations working toward family reunification and caring for children in their own communities. We urge you to join us in supporting Haitian children’s rights to life, survival, and development within their own families and communities.

On ‘Setting Priorities’ in Social Movement Activism Tristan Laing In this article I take for granted that serious political action is required to mitigate anthropogenic (human-caused) climate change, and that such action is required by justice. However, climate change mitigation is not the only goal required by justice--there are other political actions on other topics which justice might also demand.

For example, the recognition of residential school genocide, the restoration of the welfare state, limiting the power of corporations, changing the way we treat and relate with non-human animals, etc…

The standard approach to the plurality of valid goals which social justice activism can take up is to make priorities in deciding which goals one thinks are the most important to put resources toward right now. Some might assert that the massive amount of future devastation that climate change can wreak on humanity is, within the logic of setting priorities, a reason to set it above other goals--even ignore or devalue other priorities.

Why care about animal suffering when there are starving children?

Why care about crimes in the past when the greatest crimes are being committed right now?

However, the assumption that one must set priorities is not neutral. It comes from the logic of resource allocation--that I have a set amount of ‘activist material,’ i.e. time and energy, and I should set it to use in the most effective way. This is the logic of production, which is not very different from the way a firm might decide to allocate resources such that they produce the greatest profit. The difficulty with this approach is that it makes the individual the unit of social activism. I do not believe that individuals, qua individuals, have any ability to change the world, to ‘effectively’ pursue social

21

COMMENTS

WINTER ISSUE 4 2010

justice goals in isolation. Political movements that attain the change they demand are popular, made up of many people, each with their own priorities. Yet how do we negotiate the fact that social activism requires groups, and groups are made of

pursue those interests.

I’d like to propose, however, that this is an absurd way to go about constructing a social movement.

There simply is no such thing as a finite amount of ‘activist material.’

common goals they shared made the Revolution possible. Or for a more current example, take this year’s Israeli Apartheid week. Rather than privileging Palestinian issues over First Nations issues, both have been presented; the result has been synergies between the analysis of both issues, as well as a sharing of ideas about how to confront similar injustices at home and in the Middle East. If the above analysis and examples are correct, more power and more life can be gathered into

Most images by JonathanMcIntosh, Wikimedia Commons

up of individuals who all have different priorities?

One solution is to tell other individuals they should have the same priorities as you. You can try to convince them with arguments or you may do better with films and music.

Either way, after you’ve convinced a l l i e s that your priorities are the correct ones, you can go into battle as a set of individuals which are all basically alike, and use your diverse skills to

{

From my own experience I can say assuredly that becoming involved in different issues can result in one having more energy, and more resources to pursue different ends.

Furthermore, there is no need to have the same priorities as others to work toward common goals.

particular movements precisely by not telling people that “this is the crucial one,” but instead by seeing the similarities between ‘this one’ and others. This is not to say that I’m in favour of social movements co-opting other social movements.

Rather, I’m in favour of genuine alliances that only come as a result of genuine respect a n d understanding of the priorities of others.

“...how do we negotiate the fact that social activism requires groups, and groups are made of up of individuals who all have different priorities?”

Take for instance the early stages of the French Revolution, wherein there were various groups all with different specific goals, but the

One of the most valuable lessons I have learned in post-secondary studies is that perception is everything. The perception of events shapes our concepts of the world around us and its functions and dynamics. From historical accounts of wars, revolutions, and colonial endeavors, all our sources account for a limited series of perceptions and we must utilize only these perceptions to construct our own knowledge about these events.

Carlos Latuff Artist Carlos Latuff depicts a Palestinian activist who is being labeled as antiSemitic for standing up for Palestinian human rights.

Case in point, given emerging allegations of universities throughout Canada being ‘hotbeds of anti-Semitic activity,’ one has to take note that these allegations are, like everything else, constructed by perceptions and one must take into account the originating sources of these very serious and potentially alarming claims. Due to the spread of these

So, what would this ‘broad approach,’ as opposed to an individual-priority approach, look like? For starters it becomes less about telling other people what priorities they should have, and more about learning from each other, figuring out what is held in common between apparently diverging priorities. It means we have a greater duty to learn about more social justice issues which we do not have a prior interest in, if only because integrating with more causes increases the strength of one’s primary interest. There is no need for the individual to get rid of one’s priorities – it would be possible to pursue the ‘broad approach’ for purely selfish reasons.

However, I think by engaging in real confrontation and engagement with other valid issues, and recognizing the synergies between different goals which justice sets for us, there is every likelihood that individuals will become less selfserving, certain-in-themselves, and more holistically minded in their outlook on social change.

Tristian Liang is a graduate student in Philosophy at York University and a contributor to http://burycoal.com.

I therefore advocate for a broad

Crying Wolf: Making False Accusations of AntiSemitism and Its Detriment to York’s Community Jesse Zimmerman

approach to social change, and we should work hard to see connections between issues even when these connections are not obvious.

For example, there might be a deep connection between taking the residential school genocide seriously (which means at the same time recognizing the continued oppression of First Nations people in Canada), and taking the present and future environmental crisis seriously. In both cases we know what our values, as well as our ideals demand us to do, and in both cases there is a large gap between what is demanded of us and what we are actually, as a society, achieving. Hypocrisy is thus the overriding norm and this hypocrisy can be opposed both by criticizing the legal immunity the Harper government has granted the churches, just as it can be criticized on the topic of carbon emissions targets.

claims, mobilizations to investigate the facts have emerged, the highest and most influential ones taking place in Federal Parliament itself.

This has manifested itself in the Parliamentary Committee Coalition to Combat Anti-Semitism, a group that has been analyzed in an article appearing in the YU Free Press before. Anti-Semitism in Canada and elsewhere is of grave concern and this type of hatred and prejudice, like all others, must be confronted and eliminated.

Many scholars and journalists have stated that this Parliamentary Committee is more about silencing criticism of the State of Israel than it is authentically about combating anti-Semitism in Canada. Recent condemnation from the Ontario Legislature of the student-led Israeli Apartheid Week has revealed evidence of this as well.

“All initiatives to combat racism deserve praise, provided this work benefit Canadians, rather than serve

the interests of foreign powers. One such power is the State of Israel for whom anti-Semitism provides its raison d’être,” says Dr. Yakov Rabin, Professor of History at the University of Montreal. In this initiative York University has been singled out specifically as being one of the worst of these ‘hotbeds of anti-Semitic activity.’ Due to the possibility of this Parliamentary Committee containing an ulterior motive, one has to comprehend the reality that perception can be manufactured and facts can be embedded, exaggerated, or blatantly made up for the purpose of fitting such perceptions into certain organizations’ agendas. I suggest that the perception that universities becoming ‘hotbeds of anti-Semitism’ may be a cloak for silencing criticism of the state of Israel’s apartheid-like policies in its treatment of the indigenous Palestinians. Groups that bring awareness about the Palestinian plight have grown substantially over the years, with universities being the forefront of this campaign.

CONTINUED ON PAGE 23

COMMENTS

22

WINTER ISSUE 4 2010

Bur$ary or Bribe?

Anti-choice organizations are offering money to single parents at some Canadian universities. Is this coming soon to a campus near you?

Nora Loreto Helping single mothers can give any organization positive press, and a great photo opportunity, too. The anti-choice movement, not normally associated with the struggle against the systemic barriers facing many low-income single parents, has recently caught on to this. Single mothers can now benefit from bursaries offered by anti-choice groups at some universities.

But many are concerned that this is simply a way of ‘guilting’ women into not having an abortion. These bursaries, ranging from $400 to $500, amount to 10% of one year’s average tuition fees, or a month’s rent.

Jaqueline Bergen is a student in Critical Disability Studies at York University and a mother of a nineyear-old.

a life…attend school, and have some time to clean the house… there were many times where the rent was behind several months, my tuition is rarely fully paid…My biggest source of ‘help’ has been from my mother who is my daughter’s ‘other’ parent and the greatest source of love and support.”

At Collison’s alma mater, the antichoice club offers the Charlotte Denman Lozier Bursary for Single Mothers, for women with “born or unborn children.” The club’s website advertizes the award as being funded through club fundraising, and the Archdiocese of Edmonton’s Go Life Extravaganza seems to be its primary funding source.

financial aid department.

On Sat. Mar. 6, the Extravaganza featured a semi-formal with “cocktails, musical performances, dinner, dance, silent auction, and an address from Archbishop Richard Smith.” A portion of the $60 ticket ($40 for students/youth) was donated to the Charlotte Denman

“It’s not trying to influence women or anyone about abortion; it’s just for people who’ve already made their decision,” she added.

“It encourages young mothers to carry their children to term,” she said, adding that the community there is very welcoming, and that people are available to help women whether their pregnancies were planned or unplanned.

{

and organizations claim to be prochoice… However, when universities steadfastly refuse to offer any additional support to single mothers, it becomes very difficult for a woman to choose to raise her child, complete her education and manage the costs that are involved with both endeavours.”

“If these groups were really concerned about how women could afford university, they’d be involved in advocating for lower tuition, child care…and a higher minimum wage,”

Joyce Arthur, from the Abortion Rights Coalition of Canada, said that she has noticed an increase in

“Universities across Canada need to recognize the additional difficulties that these student parents face and provide some additional support (bursaries, on campus daycare, rest/nursing facilities etc.) before universities can truly claim to be ‘pro-choice’ when it comes to unplanned pregnancies.”

Abortion has proven to be a tough issue to take on for students’ unions and university administrations alike. Those students’ unions that take a pro-choice position have found themselves up against an onslaught of an organized anti-choice movement. A year ago, the University of Calgary charged students from the local anti-choice group with trespassing for demonstrating how abortion can be compared to the Holocaust and other genocides.

Their charges were stayed in November, 2009.

“[These bursaries are] sending out a message to young women who may consider having a child while being a student that you will be financially supported…this is an illusion,” she said in an email. “There are still very limited amounts of funding available for women or men who choose to parent while doing their education.”

Laura Collison, an alumna of the University of Alberta and a volunteer for the feminist collective campus news radio show Adament Eve, called these bursaries manipulative. “I appreciate that they’re supporting women with education, but this is not a feminist act. It seems like they’re paying women to keep their pregnancies.

“If these groups were really concerned about how women could afford university, they’d be involved in advocating for lower tuition, child care…and a higher minimum wage,” she said.

Lozier Bursary.

Similar awards are available at other schools. Just below the UNBC Math & Physics Society Scholarship on the awards and bursaries website for the University of Northern British Columbia, is an award for single parents. Donated by the local Knights of Columbus, the Catholic men’s organization, the UNBC Students for Life Bursary has been given away for the past two years.

At St. Francis Xavier University in Nova Scotia, a Students for Life Bursary is given annually to single parents with demonstrated need.

{

For Bergen, “Getting subsidized daycare was the big one that really gave me the opportunity to form

the number of groups seeking funding and status from student unions for clubs that are specifically antichoice. While she thought providing money to help single parents was important, she questioned the motives of the groups.

In early February, the Senate at the University of Victoria rejected the proposal of Youth Protecting Youth (YPY), the local pro-life group, for a similar bursary. YPY has been engaged in a public fight against the University of Victoria Student Society (UVSS) for club recognition and funding from the pro-choice students’ union.

“The National Campus Life Network does not appear to be centrally coordinating these bursaries, but pro-choice activists should be prepared for the expansion of these awards.”

“If you’re opposed to abortion, you should be very for this [award],” said Anne Cooke, Administrative Assistant at St. Francis Xavier’s

Through e-mail, Theresa Gilbert from the National Campus Life Network (NCLN) said that she was disappointed to hear that the YPY bursary was denied. “Many people

At Ryerson, student clubs can form for just about any reason. Campus clubs, however, must operate within a framework that is determined by decision-making bodies of the Ryerson Students’ Union (RSU) or the Continuing Education Students’ Association of Ryerson (CESAR).

Similar to other campuses, student unions set policies, and clubs either operate within the scope of these policies, or exist without official recognition.

Clubs policies allow students to self-organize. In some cases, like Hillel @ Ryerson and the Catholic Student Association, external funding and resources are available from organizations within the broader Jewish and Catholic communities respectively. For most clubs, such supports don’t exist, and students rely on the funding of the students’ union.

This is where controversy exists: on many campuses across Canada, student clubs dedicated to only advocating for so-called life issues--no abortion, and no stem cell research--have been popping up. This poses a real dilemma for those students’ unions that are progressive and brave enough to take pro-choice stands.

The NCLN support students who form pro-life clubs on campus.

They provide posters, newspaper inserts, and a list of speakers for campus events. They offer sample

CONTINUED ON NEXT PAGE

Bursary or Bribe?

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 21 constitutions, a sample budget, sign-up sheets for volunteers, and ads that promote the next meeting.

They offer templates for press releases, letters to the editor to refute anti-choice positions, and fundraising letters. They also employ fulltime staff (including organizers in western and eastern Canada), organize national leadership training events, and provide clubs with a sample of activities to undertake in each month from August to March.

Despite this organizational capac-

‘Crying Wolf’ CONTINUED FROM PAGE 21 This perception is shaped by groups on the ground as well, and I turn now to an incident that may in fact be part of this ‘manufacturing of perception’. I cannot claim without a doubt that I know the intentions of this group, but it may be a possibility that should be considered. On Feb. 1 this year an

{

ity, and the apparent financial resources to sustain bursaries, pro-life clubs still seek official recognition from local student unions. Ryerson doesn’t have a pro-life club; the most recent attempt of one forming was in 2003.

NCLN does not appear to be centrally coordinating these bursaries, but pro-choice activists should be prepared for the expansion of these awards. The Charlotte Denman Lozier Bursary for Single Mothers at the U of A was established just last October.

Shortly thereafter, Hasbara issued a press release stating that “an angry mob of around 50 students” surrounded their table and “chanted … anti-Semetic slurs.”

The press release went so far as to claim that the opposing students, “formed a mob,” “were yelling and screaming,” and claimed “[the mob] actually hit two students.”

The allegations made here are quite serious and if this did indeed occur it should not be tolerated, no matter what disagreements individual students may have had with Hasbara’s display. If these

difficult time financially getting through school. I am always broke, she said. “Tuition eats up about 25 to 30 percent of my annual income.

I have been mostly dependent on social assistance, which I am not that ashamed of. I was unable to get OSAP…I got some special bursaries from York because I have a disability. I get the Canada Child Tax Benefit.”

“It’s great if single mothers can graduate and have support to do that,” said Arthur. “It’s not great to make them feel guilty.”

Bergen’s daughter was three when she started school again, and she continues to struggle to finish her Master’s. “I have had an extremely

This article was originally printed in the Ryerson Free Press, hhtp:// ryersonfreepress.ca.

allegations turned out to be true, York might be considered an unsafe place for Jewish students among many other repercussions.

shortly after.

On Feb. 8, a full week later, another article appeared in ShalomLife debunking these allegations. Vari Hall has a CCTV camera that is running at all times and the Hasbara table and the ensuing ‘incident’ on Feb. 1 were filmed. The footage has been examined, and York security and media sources found no evidence of the claims made. It was clear that there was a confrontation of some kind; however, from the student’s body language it did not appear to be intimidating and there was no more than 15 to 20 students present at the time. The claims of assault turned out to be completely

This is a perfect example depicting a direct exaggeration of a reality, and perhaps a deliberate attempt to manufacture public perception.

One cannot know the motivations behind this, but it seems to fit in with growing analyses which conclude that perceptions of university c a m p u s e s , especially York University as ‘hotbeds of anti-Semitic activity’ are being consciously created by groups that may have ulterior motives. As for the Parliamentary Committee, for the most part university presidents and faculty have rejected the claims, while pro-Israel groups have continued to make these allegations. One cannot help but see a trend here and truly question the underlying motivations and the intentions.

If this hypothesis is correct, then one could claim these groups are

unfounded. York’s local newspaper Excalibur re-iterated this story

‘crying wolf’ when it comes to anti-Semitism in order to silence

In the following days, various media outlets published stories using this press release as the primary source, including ShalomLife, a Jewish Toronto-based newspaper and even the Jerusalem Post in Israel.

Naturally people, especially in the Jewish community here in Toronto, were quite concerned with this.

“The claims of assault turned out to be completely unfounded...This is a perfect example depicting a direct exaggeration of a reality, and perhaps a deliberate attempt to manufacture public perception.”

incident occurred in Vari Hall here at York University involving the pro-Zionist group called Hasbara Fellowships @ York University.

When Hasbara was tabling, some students took time to engage the members and debate the issue.

23

COMMENTS

WINTER ISSUE 4 2010

{

“‘Crying wolf’...to silence critics of a foreign state is harmful to those who truly wish to combat actual anti-Semitism.”

opposing viewpoints on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. This is problematic in many ways.

For the York community, as it exacerbates tensions, may make many Jewish students feel intense

‘Crying wolf’ on these issues to silence critics of a foreign state is harmful to those who truly wish to combat actual anti-Semitism. If Zionist groups continue to call every criticism or disapproval of the state of Israel’s actions as ‘anti-Semitic,’

Carlos Latuff anxiety when on campus due to this perception, and is detrimental to combating real anti-Semitism.

Real anti-Semitism does indeed exist and university campuses are not free of it, just as they are not free of Islamophobia, anti-Arab racism, anti-Black racism, and all other forms of prejudice. All of these forms of hatred must be confronted and eliminated from campuses to better our communities.

then the claims of anti-Semitism become routine and less credible in the eyes of many, thus creating another form of perception. This is problematic and worrying as it hinders the community’s ability to truly combat the ugly face of antiSemitism and other prejudices that must be stopped.

24

WINTER ISSUE 4 2010

Arts & Culture

No More Silence: O

n Feb. 14, 2010, marches and rallies were held across the country to honour Indigenous women who are missing or who have been murdered. Over 500 Indigenous women have been murdered or gone missing-most over the last 30 years--on Turtle Island. In addition to the Toronto rally, marches and other events took place in Vancouver, Victoria, Winnipeg, Calgary, Edmonton, Sudbury, London, and Montreal.

Vancouver has been at the forefront of organizing annual memorial marches every Feb. 14; 2010 marked their 19th annual march, as well as Toronto’s 5th annual march.

On Feb. 14 we came together in defence of our lives and

March for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women

to demonstrate against the complicity of the state in the ongoing genocide of Indigenous women and the impunity of state institutions and actors (police, RCMP, coroners’ offices and the courts) that prevents justice for all Indigenous Peoples. We began at the Toronto police headquarters at the corner of Bay and College, following by a march to the Coroner’s office on Grosvenor St. The Toronto march was organized by No More Silence (NMS). NMS is part of an inter/ national network to support the work being done by activists, academics, researchers, agencies and communities to stop the murders and disappearances of Indigenous women.

Photos by Sofia Guerrieri

25

Arts & Culture

WINTER ISSUE 4 2010

Bodies Resisting through Activism:

How Disciplined Bodies can use Oppressive Tools against Themselves Women’s Studies Undergraduate Student Club at York Feminism and fashion--are these two pillars that go together? If we look at mainstream media, it would seem the two are mutually exclusive.

A proliferation of particular bodies (thin, white, privileged, able-bodied, hetero, ‘Western,’ etc.) are heralded as the ultimate manifestation of beauty, classiness, and ‘fashionista.’

Everyday people are constantly struck with overwhelming imagery that tells them this is what they need to be(come). Fashion is thus defined in the narrowest of understandings, preventing the underlying origin of fashion--selfexpression and celebration of the marriage of external aesthetics and internal joy--from reaching the mainstream population.

Fashion is but one of a multitude of outlets and institutions that try to discipline all bodies, regardless of gender affiliation.

The overwhelming power of women’s fashion cannot be denied, as it originates from the highest houses of couture and makes its way down

{

Barbie, special edition Spanish Barbie, or Mulan.

These bodies that are disciplined and forced into normative chains can break these chains by using their bodies as sites of resistance, turning fashion on its ear and claiming it back as their own.

Female bodies in particular can

“These bodies that are disciplined and forced into normative chains can break these chains by using their bodies as sites of resistance, turning fashion on its ear and claiming it back as their own.”

to the lowliest teenage fashion and gossip sites.

This mainstream fashion helps to feed the self-fulfilling cycle of what ‘normative’ is in terms of physical bodies. The psychological and medical damage that is done to millions of female bodies and spirits manifests itself in ways that are immeasurable.

How can we as people, living within a society that upholds this institution as a form of dominant culture, resist? By questioning what is normative, we can still use these same forms that once oppressed us, but instead sing the praises of our own individual identities, in all their intersectional glory.

In a perfect world, little girls would not identify themselves wholly based on which Barbie they are: Barbie, Black

be represented in ways that do not fulfill the narrow gender norms, such as through drag, fat burlesque, and so on. Fashion can be taken back and reclaimed as a form of resistance. For every human body that chooses that particular fashion for what it means to them (whether in a corset or in a pair of pants), the oppressive nature of fashion is slowly deconstructed.

York’s

Women’s

Studies

Headlines:

Metro (Toronto) Newspaper Wed. Mar. 10, 2010 Jorge Antonio Vallejos 1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

Cops Tuning Public Out (p. 3) Fallen Officers Remembered (p. 6) Diversity Growing (p.8) Quebec Woman Banned From Class For 2nd Time Over Niqab (p. 8) With Aboriginal Skilled Trades People Together We Can Make ThingsGreat (p. 18) Centennial Launches Islamic Finance Course (p. 21) Beg, Borrow, or Rent (p.24) Luminato Welcomes The World (p. 44)

“Fallen Officers Remembered” although “Cops” are always “Tuning Public Out” forgetting that people have to “Beg, Borrow” if they can’t buy or “Rent” and that while 500 Aboriginal Women are Murdered or Missing, it’s only brown, male labour that is wanted; the ads read: “With Aboriginal Skilled Trades People, Together We Can Make Things Great,” our “Diversity Growing”-YAY! “Centennial Launches Islamic Finance Course” while “Quebec Woman Banned From Class For 2nd Time Over Niqab,” all that forgotten as “Luminato Welcomes The World.”

WSUSC Various WSUSC Photos from the Feminist Fashion Show on Mar. 2, 2010.

Undergraduate Student Club (WSUSC) planned to do exactly this through grassroots activist forms in their Feminist Fashion show, which took place on Mar. 2 in the Student Centre. While drawing upon aspects that often come to signify typical forms of fashion shows--high energy, loudness, and vivaciousness--the untypical was present as well. By blurring boundaries concerning the notion of what gender can and should be, what a ‘normal’ body should look like, and by smashing the mold of a fashion clone world, the fashion show was one of many ways to inject agency into an otherwise patriarchal, oppressive power dynamic.

Who determines what ‘normal’ is--normal bodies, normal gender behaviour, normal fashion? Life experience is subjective and

beauty--physical, mental, spiritual-can blossom in an endless range of expressions.

26

Arts & Culture

WINTER ISSUE 4 2010

Olympic Resistance at a Glance ers Memb tudent S of the ian Christ nt e Movem the d atten ack our B 'Take stival e City' F at the ver u Vanco lery. l a Art G

With extrem e poverty p Vancou ersisting in ver itse l of mee ting pe f, instead ople's basic v ital ne eds the govern ment c h ose to spend o ver $6 bill ion on hosting t Olympi he cs.

Heart Attack, a march to ‘clog the arteries of capitalism’ and disrupt 'business as usual' on the first day of the Olympic Games. sued ests en r r a d ity an nt in. brutal were se Police e c i l o ot p once ri

Indigenou s, environme anti-poverty, migra nt, and ntal justice many grou a ps taking p ctivists were some of art in the resista the nce.

, More police more poverty on Vancouver streets

People ga Women ther for the 19th A ’s Mem nn or of over 500 mi ial March, in ual ssing a Aborig nd mu honour inal w rdered omen.

Photos by Elley Newman

27

WINTER ISSUE 4 2010

EVENTS APRIL ‘T-DOT PIONEERS’

WHEN: Mar. 4 – Apr. 18, Wed. – Fri. 11:00am–6:00pm & Sat. 12:00pm–6:00pm WHERE: Toronto Free Gallery, 1277 Bloor St. CONTACT: 416-913-0461 or info@torontofreegalery.org DETAILS: Toronto Free Gallery is a not-for-profit art space that supports work dealing with social justice, cultural, urban, and environmental issues expressed through all media. Toronto Free Gallery is intended to be a creative laboratory aimed at providing artists with a space to experiment, explore new ideas, question norms, and challenge both themselves and their audiences. In addition to the exhibit, a series of free events and panel discussions will take place over the month to inspire dialogue and build awareness of the contributions made by immigrants and marginalized communities within the hip hop industry and Canada as a whole.

Spoken Word – Rafeef Ziadah

WHEN: Fri. Apr. 2, 8:00pm–11:00pm WHERE: 612 Markham St., Toronto CONTACT: info@beitzatoun.org or 647-726-9500 COST: TBA DETAILS: Rafeef Ziadah is a Palestinian spoken word artist and activist. Rafeef started performing poetry in Toronto in 2003 with the spoken word collective Pueblo Unido and is the winner of the 2007 Mayworks Festival Poetry Face-Off.

Rafeef’s poetry speaks to the struggle of immigrants to ‘make it to/in Canada’ and the politics of exile. Being Palestinian, she reflects in the CD on the realities of her homeland today, a homeland to which is not allowed to return.

Public Talk with Judy Da Silva from Grassy Narrows and Judy Rebick

WHEN: Tues. Apr. 6, 6:30pm WHERE: Steelworker’s Hall, 25 Cecil St. CONTACT: riverrun2010@gmail.com COST: Free but we encourage you to donate to support Grassy Narrows struggle for freedom DETAILS: 40 years ago our people were poisoned with mercury by a paper mill that contaminated our river upstream. Our people are demanding justice because we are still dealing with the ongoing health impacts of this avoidable disaster. We want to sound the alarm that this poison will affect everyone if we don’t stand together to protect our water. At this public talk, learn about the issue and how you can get involved and work with us.

River Run: Creative March and Rally for Grassy Narrows WHEN: Wed. Apr. 7, 12:00pm WHERE: Meet at Grange Park (Beverley St., S of Dundas, behind the AGO) CONTACT: David Sone – riverrun2010@gmail.com COST: Free in price; requires giving passion, a loud voice, and a lot of energy DETAILS: For decades our GNAA grassroots people have been on the front lines of the movement to defend the earth, and to uphold Indigenous self-determination, culture, and spirituality. We have kicked out logging giant Abitibi for now, but there is still much work to be done. This is a great opportunity to show your support, and to join us in the fight to protect the water, air, land, creatures, and rights that we all depend on.

Women’s Mental Health and Wellbeing Speakers Series: Health care career mentoring of marginalized female youth in the Jane-Finch community WHEN: Wed. Apr. 7, 12:00pm–1:00pm WHERE: York Lanes, Room 280N, Keele campus CONTACT: to RSVP, e-mail owhchair@yorku.ca DETAILS: After a very successful Women’s Mental Health and Wellbeing Speakers Series last year, another great line-up of speakers has been organized this year, by Prof. Nazilla Khanlou (OWHC Chair in Women’s Mental Health Research in the Faculty of Health at York University).

Public Provocative Porn: The Year’s Best in Feminist Film

WHEN: Thurs. Apr. 8, 9:30pm–11:15pm WHERE: Bloor Cinema, 506 Bloor St. W. CONTACT: To purchase tickets go to http://www.goodforher. com/tickets_public_provocative_porn_years_best_feminist_ film COST: $12 DETAILS: Join us for a special screening of selected clips from films and Q&A with prominent filmmakers and/or performers including Tristan Taormino, Shine Louise Houston, Nica Noelle, and April Flores, moderated by CoCo La Creme aka Lorraine Hewitt. Sorry, this venue has no accessible washroom.

Toronto Anarchist Assembly

WHEN: Fri. Apr. 9, 6:00pm; Sat. Apr. 10, 11:00am–7:00pm; Apr. 11, time TBA WHERE: United Steelworkers Hall, 25 Cecil St. CONTACT: http://toronto.tao.ca/events/2010-torontoanarchist-assembly DETAILS: It’s time for us to gather. To assemble and talk to each other. To bring together folks who secretly or not so secretly identify with anarchism, and continue to build a larger and more vibrant community. Building on last year’s ‘Toronto Anarchist Gathering,’ this will be a bigger and better weekend of events including panel discussions, booktables, workshops, social events, and more.

Fifth Annual Southern Ontario Social Economy Node Symposium

WHEN: Mon. Apr. 12, 8:30am–4:30pm; Tues. Apr. 13, 8:30am– 3:30pm WHERE: Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, 252 Bloor St W. Ground Floor Library CONTACT: http://sec.oise.utoronto.ca/english/symposium_10. php COST: Free, but you must register at http://www. surveymonkey.com/s/95GS5NH DETAILS: Keynote lecture on The Social Economy: A New Way to Manage Wealth with Michel Labbé, President and Founder of Options for Homes and more recently Options for Green Energy. Also features short workshops on topics relevant to social economy organizations.

Managing Without Growth. Slower by Design, not Disaster

WHEN: Wed. Apr. 14, 1:00pm–2:00pm WHERE: St. George, Trinity College, 6 Hoskin Ave. Combination Room CONTACT: www.sigmaxi.utoronto.ca or call Madhur Anand at 519-824-4120 DETAILS: Economic growth is the over-arching policy objective of governments worldwide. Yet its long-term viability is increasingly questioned because of environmental impacts and impending and actual shortages of energy and material resources. Furthermore, rising incomes in rich countries bear little relation to gains in happiness and well-being. Growth has neither eliminated poverty, nor brought full employment, nor protected the environment. Results from a simulation model of the Canadian economy suggest that it is possible to have full employment, eradicate poverty, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and maintain fiscal balance without economic growth. It’s time to turn our attention away from pursuing growth and towards specific objectives more directly relating to our well-being and that of the planet.

Toronto & York Region Labour Council Special Meeting: Public Sector Leadership Summit WHEN: Thurs. Apr. 15, 7:00pm WHERE: 89 Chestnut St., Conference Centre, University of Toronto CONTACT: www.labourcouncil.ca/publicsectorforum.pdf DETAILS: The Labour Council is calling a special Public Sector Leadership Summit. This Summit will focus on unions in the public sector at all levels--federal, provincial, municipal-including education and healthcare. The object is to bring together leaders and key stewards to look at the extent of the attack taking place on public services and public sector workers, and develop a common response.

Raise The Rates: The Campaign So Far

WHEN: Thurs., Apr. 15, 12:00pm WHERE: Allan Gardens Park, Sherbourne & Gerrard CONTACT: http://update.ocap.ca/node/85 DETAILS: Every month in Ontario, hundreds of thousands of people receive welfare and ODSP cheques that are far too small for them to pay the rent and eat properly. The 21.6% that Harris cut from welfare cheques in 1995 is now worth almost 40% today when inflation is included. The paltry 5% raise given by the McGuinty government simply does not provide the necessary income that families need to feed themselves. In response, OCAP began the Raise the Rates Campaign and is mobilizing people to force every penny we can out of the system and push the government to raise social assistance rates to a livable amount.

Norma Scarborough: Tribute to a Pro-Choice Fighter

WHEN: Sat., Apr. 17, 3:00pm–5:00pm WHERE: Koffler House, 569 Spadina Ave., Room 108 CONTACT: info@canadiansforchoice.ca COST: free; donations are encouraged DETAILS: Join us to pay tribute to Norma Scarborough’s life of feminism and pro-choice activism. Memorial donations will be accepted for the Canadians for Choice Norma Scarborough Fund.

The Mental Health of Health Care Workers: Identifying Problems, Finding Solutions

WHEN: Fri. Apr. 23, 9:00am–4:30pm WHERE: 89 Chestnut St., Conference Centre, University of Toronto CONTACT: isousa@yorku.ca DETAILS: Care work should not create mental health problems. This workshop is designed for those with interest and/or responsibilities in worker health and safety, health promotion, women’s health, mental health, and health care human resources. Come learn about recent research and practical strategies. Discuss them with researchers, union and government representatives.

Critical Disability Studies 6th Annual Graduate Student Conference

WHEN: Sat. Apr. 24, 9:00am–5:00pm, Reception 5:00pm– 7:00pm WHERE: Vari Hall, Keele campus CONTACT: cds_grad@yorku.ca or http://www.yorku.ca/cds_ grad/call_for_paper.htm DETAILS: Hosted by the Critical Disability Studies Student Association, this annual conference is meant to showcase graduate students across Canada and their work relating to Critical Disability Studies. Lawyer and disability rights advocate David Lepofsky will present as our keynote speaker. A fine arts exhibit will be on display throughout the day, and our reception will feature classical music played by the Camerata

Luna quartet.

Community Forum: We’re all in this together – Defending the public interest during the recession

WHEN: Wed. Apr. 28, 3:00pm–5:00pm WHERE: Multi-Faith Centre, University of Toronto, 569 Spadina Ave. CONTACT: Cathy 416-324-5069, www.recessionrelief.ning.com DETAILS: As not-for-profit social agencies strain to meet increasing need with less funding, there is growing concern that governments’ economic stimulus packages are doing more to serve the interests of corporate CEOs than address immediate social needs. The desperate struggles of those hardest hit by the recession are inspiring increased activism around issues of poverty, labour, health, human rights, housing, food security, and equity (among others), as people attempt to redirect their governments’ attention to serving the public interest.

Day of Mourning for Injured, Killed, or Sick Workers

WHEN: Wed. Apr. 28, 12:00pm WHERE: Nathan Phillips Square, 100 Queen St. W. CONTACT: Labour Council 416-441-3663 DETAILS: On Wed., Apr. 28, we remember our sisters and brothers who have been killed on the job or who have died as a result of workplace diseases. This special day also offers an opportunity to re-dedicate our efforts to achieve healthier and safer workplaces and seek justice and fair compensation for injured workers.

Hot Docs 2010

WHEN: Thurs. Apr. 29 – Fri. May 7, Mon. – Fri. 11:00am– 7:00pm & Sat. – Sun. 11:00am–5:00pm WHERE: Alliance Cumberland Cinemas, 159 Cumberland St.; Bloor Cinema, 506 Bloor St. W.; Innis Town Hall, 2 Sussex Ave.; Rom Theatre, 100 Queen’s Park; The Royal, 608 College St.; Winter Garden Theatre, 189 Yonge St. CONTACT: http://www.hotdocs.ca/ COST: $10 single screening; $160 for a full pass DETAILS: North America’s largest documentary festival runs for 11 days, presenting over 170 films from more than 35 countries and welcoming hundreds of international filmmakers and industry delegates to Toronto.

MAY-JUNE-JULY No One Is Illegal! May Day of Action

WHEN: Sat. May 1 WHERE: TBA CONTACT: http://toronto.nooneisillegal.org/mayday DETAILS: Believing that the struggle for Status for All is a struggle for good jobs, housing, food, education, shelter, freedom, justice, and dignity for all people. Inspired by the struggles for justice for migrants, for Indigenous sovereignty, for justice for working people and for the poor across the globe.

Women’s Mental Health and Wellbeing Speakers Series: Cumulative trauma and post-traumatic stress symptoms among income-assisted single mothers

WHEN: Wed. May 5, 12:00pm–1:00pm WHERE: York Lanes, Room 280N, Keele campus CONTACT: to RSVP, e-mail owhchair@yorku.ca DETAILS: After a very successful Women’s Mental Health and Wellbeing Speakers Series last year, another great line-up of speakers has been organized this year, by Prof. Nazilla Khanlou (OWHC Chair in Women’s Mental Health Research in the Faculty of Health at York University).

Mining (in)justice: at home and abroad - A Conference on the Canadian Extractive Industries WHEN: Fri. May 7 - Sun. May 9 CONTACT: www.solidaryresponse.net

G8/20 Summit Days of Action

WHEN: Mon. Jun. 21 – Sun. Jun. 27 WHERE: Locations TBA CONTACT: community.mobilize@resist.ca DETAILS: In opposition to the G8/20 and with a will to transform, people across Turtle Island are organizing community-based days of action in Toronto, Canada. The days of action will be led by Toronto-based organizations of people of color, Indigenous peoples, women, poor persons, the working class, queer and trans people and disAbled people.

We will organize for these days of action by deepening our roots.

Rastafest 2010

WHEN: Mon. Jul. 12 – Sun. Jul. 18, times TBA WHERE: Yorkwoods Library/Jane-Finch parking lot CONTACT: http://www.rastafest.com/ COST: TBA DETAILS: Annual Rastafarian arts and culture festival featuring reggae music, drumming, theatre, children’s activities, films, and videos. *There will be many more events throughout the summer months so please refer to other event listings for more! We encourage you to participate!

Compiled by Stefan Lazov SEND YOUR EVENTS TO: info@yufreepress.org