Quote of the week:

“It seems ironic that we wouldn’t want a discussion here about such a mission, given that a democratic society such as ours would always want to have an open discussion as to what’s going on.” —NDP leader Jack Layton, on Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s refusal to debate Canada’s Afghanistan mission

Actions against racism

Thursday, March 16, marks the beginning of the seventh annual Action Week Against Racism. There’s a whole slew of events going on, much of it geared towards children and teens. Here’s a sampling.

Throughout the week, the Montreal Holocaust Memorial Centre (5151 Côte-Ste-Catherine) will have an open house from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., with hundreds of artifacts, photos and films on display. Call 345-2605 for info and dates. At the nearby Saidye Bronfman Centre (5170 Côte-Ste-Catherine), you can catch a performance by Bialik High students in No More Raisins, No More Almonds: Children’s Ghetto Songs, based on songs written during the war about teens and children in Europe’s ghettos. Directed by Bryna Wasserman. Call 739-7944 for tickets.

On Friday, March 17, music lovers can catch the sweet sounds of Alpha Blondy, Kaliroots, Chango and more at the Medley (1170 St-Denis, $51.75, doors 7 p.m.) or Dibondoko, Gadji Gadjo, Syncop and others at Club Soda (1225 St-Laurent, $23, doors 6 p.m.) Tix to the Medley show get you into Club Soda.

There’s lots more to do. To find out, visit www.inforacisme.com. —Patrick Lejtenyi

B.Y.O. Computer

Believe it or not, gamers know how to party, and LAN ETS 2006 from March 24–26 will be 48 consecutive hours of playing, drinking, eating and very little sleep.

A local-area network (LAN) party is geekspeak for when gamers and their computers meet and play together in one big room. Organizers are expecting 500 participants and their rigs at École de technologie superieure (1100 Notre-Dame W).

There are prizes, and the winners of the qualifying events in Counter-Strike 1.6 and Source, Call of Duty 2, Battlefield 2, Quake 4 and Warcraft III will get a chance to represent Canada at the Electronic Sports World Cup in France this July.

Casual players should not be intimidated by head-hunting, hardcore Counter-Strike types; communications manager Roch Turgeon says LAN ETS will “combine gaming events for those who aren’t very competitive with more serious computer gaming tournaments.” Like any good party, Turgeon says it’s about “meeting people and putting a face on a nickname.”

Entrance is $40, and you need your own equipment. Sign up at http://lan.etsmtl.ca. —Erik Leijon

Resource rich and poor

Grassroots organizers and experts from the Andes and Quebec will meet next week in Montreal for a two-day panel on the non-sustainable exploitation of natural resources in the Americas.

The event focuses on the environmental problems faced by communities whose economies rely on mining, natural gas or oil, and on alternative models for development.

“Patterns for exploitation are similar all over the Americas,” says Marie-Dominik Langlois at the Comité Chrétien pour les Droits Humains en Amérique Latine, the local non-profit organizing the panel.

Speakers will include Peter G. Brown, professor at the McGill School of Environment, Kanesatake’s Grand Chief Steven Bonspille and Hilaria Serrano from the landless movement in Bolivia.

“Socio-environmental conflicts and self-determination” takes place on Thursday, March 23, from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. at UQÀM’s amphitheatre SH-2800 (200 Sherbrooke W.), and on Friday, March 24, from 9 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. at Concordia University’s Cinéma De Sève (1400 de Maisonneuve W.).

The event is bilingual and free. For full program, see www.ccdhal.org. —Irene Caselli

Skate for life

There probably was no one who grieved more at the passing last March of Quebec actress Guylaine St-Onge than her ex-husband David Nerman and their nine-year-old Aiden. The 39-year-old, who’d appeared in various TV shows throughout her career, died from cervical cancer, but rather than mark the anniversary quietly and low-key, Aiden decided the best way to remember his mother would be to tear up Orkus Skate Park in TMR. This Saturday, March 18, dozens of young skateboarders should be showing up for the “Feast On Your Life” event for an afternoon of fun, competition and raffles, with proceeds going to the Starlight Children’s Foundation Canada.

The title “Feast On Your Life” comes from the poem “Love after love” by Derek Walcott. “When she was dying we’d read this to her,” says David Nerman. “And it’s since become my mantra.”

The competition, with $3,000 in prizes, is open to boys and girls under 16, and costs $15. It runs from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. at Orkus (4300 Côte-de-Liesse). Visit www.guylainestonge.com for more details. —Patrick Lejtenyi

REAR-VIEW MIRROR

16 YEARS AGO THIS WEEK
March 15–March 22 1990

On the cover: Jamie Lee Curtis, in “feminist cop thriller” Blue Steel, directed by Kathryn Bigelow. Bigelow, however, denies the movie is meant as such. “With Blue Steel I was interested in exploring the ramifications of putting a woman in a man’s role, but mostly so I could search out the similarities in how people behave, not the differences,” she says.

• In an article on the Equality Party, Westmount MNA Richard Holden makes this analogy about the party’s leader, 29-year-old Robert Libman: “He’s like the fellow who nervously approaches an attractive young lady in a disco. She asks, ‘Your place or mine?’ and he says, ‘Well, if you’re going to argue about it, let’s forget the whole thing.’”

• Notes From Underground wishes “Happy birthday to Rina (RearGarde) and Kim (Me Mom & Morgentaler)—does being born on St. Pat’s necessitate a predilection for ska?”

• Self-proclaimed “Bible-believing Christian” letter-writer Michael Raybould tells Mirror editors and readers he will no longer advertise due to the “indescribably distasteful” Life in Hell strip.

Angel >> Water As eggheads, government ministers, activists, corporate types and representatives from big cities, including Montreal, descend on Mexico City for the opening of the fourth World Water Forum gabfest on Thursday, March 16, now’s as good a time as any to take stock of the state of the city’s water. It ain’t all bad, but it ain’t great. The St. Lawrence river has seen drastic improvements in its quality, but Montreal still experiences drastic leakages from its ancient pipe system, to the extent that two-thirds of it needs replacing, wasting as it does an estimated 40 per cent of our water. Expect the job to be done by 2025 or thereabouts, at a cost of $10-billion.
Insect >> Reckless development Now that the firestorm over Mont Orford’s proposed development has reached absurd levels, with the Liberal party violently split, the present owner taking legal action against the former and environmentalists and developers at ever more bitter odds, it’s fair to say that the word “fiasco” applies. Again. The Charest Liberals’ ongoing inability to do things right—like, for instance, consulting the public on the sale, or even making sure that the 85 hectares of public land wouldn’t wind up in the hands of Charest cronies Paul Gobeil and Claude Boulay—is pretty much summed up in the clumsy, bumbling manner the sale was approved. Stumbles like this may cost Charest his job, and fewer and fewer Liberals would complain.