Quote of the week:

"Sustainability in housing, sustainability in transport, sustainability everywhere, especially the economy." - Richard Bergeron, head of Projet Montréal, a new municipal party focusing on sustainable development, at its founding assembly on Sunday.

Trans on celluloid

Next Saturday, Nov. 20, is Transgender Day of Remembrance, a time to reflect on the murders of transsexual and transgender people around the world. It's one of those days that the majority of the population doesn't know about, and those that do tend not to pay it much attention. But for the folks over at Head and Hands, an N.D.G.-based youth outreach service centre, it's a time to look at the violence that plagues this community and get into activist and advocate mode. On Thursday, Nov. 18, Head and Hands will be hosting a "Trans-positive" movie night, featuring the 1996 American doc You Don't Know Dick and the 2003 Montreal-made La Journée internationale de la transexualité.

"I recognize that there is a strong history of trans activism in Quebec and feel that these stories need to be heard more," says Head and Hands director Marlo Ritchie. Although not trans-identified herself, she says that in the seven years she has worked reaching out to the community, she has seen appalling levels of violence and discrimination. She says services like the ones offered by Head and Hands are key, as trans people often face police and institutional violence. There will be a discussion after the film with members of the Trans/Gender Alliance.

The movie night, at 3475 Peel, with a sliding admission between $6 and $12, 7 p.m., will be followed on Friday with a speakers series and on Saturday with workshops. For more info call 481-0277. For more info on Transgender Day of Remembrance, visit www.rememberingourdead.org. » Patrick Lejtenyi

Allende Park proposal

With something like 250,000 to 300,000 locals being of Latin American extraction, it would seem time for the map to start reflecting their valued presence. Thus our Spanish speakers have found an unnamed and not-so-huge park at Bélanger and Chateaubriand, which they consider ripe for a Latino-style christening.

In a few short weeks, they've collected 500 signatures on a petition to name the park after Salvadore Allende, a Marxist sawbones elected president of Chile in 1970. Allende irritated the rich by nationalizing industries and ignoring foreign payments. The poor loved him but the Americans didn't. The CIA encouraged his opponents and Allende was killed and replaced by General Augusto Pinochet in 1973.

Daniel Inostroza, who moved here from the coastline nation 35 years back, reports success in his efforts to lobby the mayor for the park, where he hopes people will assemble every September 11 to mark the leader's death. "It's just a corner with a few trees, it doesn't matter that it's small," he says. "It's the intention of the thing that has value. Allende was a source of inspiration because he decided to remain in power to help the poor people of Chile."

Andres Brito, who presides over the Latin American House of Culture, says that they're also eyeing the newly created park at the Montreal exit of the Jacques Cartier Bridge to be named after Monsignor Oscar Romero, a Salvadorian priest assassinated by extreme right opponents. "But we have to go slowly," says Brito.

Ring 276-9050 to find the nearest location to smudge your John Hancock on the renaming petition. » Kristian Gravenor

Hot doc picks

There's a whole lot of docs going on this year at the Rencontres internationales du documentaire de Montréal, and for the politically minded, there's plenty to get you either foaming or cheering.

Those interested in Argentina's economic mess and filled with indignation after seeing lefty power couple Naomi Klein and Avi Lewis's The Take might want to check out Cartoneros, about Buenos Aires street scavengers, or Grissinopoli, about factory workers' attempts at self-management. Then there's Oscar, which follows a B.A. taxi driver as he culture-jams (i.e. defaces) advertising around town on his down time.

Anti-globalizers can get their fix this year with Pas assez de volume, which examines the WTO (with English subtitles), The Fourth World War, which looks at global citizens' movements and Musique rebelles Americas, which documents South American social movements' musical components.

For those who can't get enough of the Israeli/Palestinian conflict, there's Arna's Children, a story of theatre and cross-cultural cooperation in Jenin; No. 17 attempts to reconstruct the identity of the 17th unidentified victim of a Tel Aviv suicide bomber.

With this year's special focus being the United States, however, there's no shortage of films that examine our bizarre, conflicted neighbour. Look for Army of One, which follows three recruits who signed up in the days following 9/11; Deadline, about the Illinois governor who cancelled 167 death sentences; and Star Wars Dreams, tracing the 50-year attempt to weaponize space. There are many other films well worth watching, with more info at www.ridm.qc.ca. » Patrick Lejtenyi

REAR-VIEW MIRROR

11 YEARS AGO THIS WEEK
Nov. 11-Nov. 18, 1993

On the cover: Two couples in a subway car, one of mixed gender making out and the other both male, whose hands are barely touching, as the Mirror examines how Quebec has failed gays and lesbians. Although the Quebec Charter of Rights and Freedoms, passed in 1977, forbade discrimination based on sexual orientation, police raids, angry demonstrations and a string of unsolved murders has the gay community feeling threatened and marginalized.

• The Page 7 photo shows a riot cop shoving an elderly man demonstrating against the Miron dump.

• "We had problems getting the single pressed at the time because some people who worked at the plant were up in arms saying, ‘You can't call a song "Orgasm Addict."' We had problems with ‘Oh Shit!' as well," says the Buzzcocks' Steve Diggle.

• In his Real Astrology column, Rob Brezny tells Scorpio (Oct. 23-Nov. 21) that "you will drink Gatorade in front of a refrigerator while discussing the prospects of joining a game which could be lucrative both financially and emotionally."

Angel >> Opening up the airwaves A Quebec Court judge recently issued a ruling many avid TV watchers have been waiting for: denying their access to foreign satellite television signals infringes on their Charter rights and is therefore illegal. While ostensibly in place to protect Canada's vaunted cultural products (Train 48! Air Farce! H2O!), the ban has been criticized especially by ethnic and linguistic minorities who can't watch TV in their native languages. The ruling opens the door for Canadians who want to watch quality programming from around the world, including the States, but until now either did without or stole it. The ruling doesn't take effect for another year, but the Coalition Against Satellite Signal Theft is urging the feds to appeal the ruling.
Insect >> Homeless Santa If a scientific report released this week is to be believed, then yes, Virginia, we really are in serious trouble. The Arctic Climate Impact Assessment, written by 300 scientists and sponsored by eight countries (including Canada) says in no uncertain terms that global warming is shrinking the polar ice cap faster than was previously thought. By the end of this century, the North Pole may be completely ice free in the summer months, sea levels will rise by up to a metre and polar bears may be extinct. What this means for future children come Christmas remains unclear, although the Bush White House remains firmly opposed to pushing for mandatory regulations or caps on greenhouse gas emissions.