Quote of the week:

“You want to grab them by the hair or by the ears and walk them through the War Museum,” said Ottawa South MP David McGuinty, a sample of the outrage—and hysteria—over photos of teens peeing on the National War Memorial last weekend.

Booze boycott for Palestine

Two years ago this week, the International Court of Justice in the Hague deemed Israel’s West Bank wall illegal. Since then, the wall has continued to expand, and the situation of Palestinians in the occupied territories has continued to worsen.

“As we’re speaking, Palestinian families are going without food or water,” says Bruce Katz of the Coalition for Justice and Peace in Palestine.

On Saturday, July 8, at 1 p.m., the coalition will rally in front of the SAQ at the corner of Jean-Talon W. and Parc (metro Parc) to demand the removal of Israeli products originating in the occupied territories. Their first target will be the Golan Heights Winery.

Katz says activists are encouraged by recent developments like the decision taken by the Ontario branch of the Canadian Union of Public Employees to divest from Israel until it begins respecting Palestinian human rights and international law.

“Commerce cannot be divorced from moral obligation,” says Katz. “We invite Montrealers of all faiths and origins to come out and show their support.” —Chris Hazou

China-Tibet railway rolls

A China-Tibet railway, with train cars provided by Bombardier in Montreal, will strengthen China's hold over Tibet and infringe on Tibet’s cultural and religious autonomy, according to a Canada Tibet Commitee (CTC) spokesman.

“Chinese officials have already confirmed this railway has political objectives, to keep Tibet under Chinese control,” says the CTC’s Tenzin Dargyal.

Dargyal says the railway, inaugurated last weekend, will be used for a “massive population transfer” of Chinese immigrants looking to settle and work in Tibet, which was invaded by China in 1950.

The Chinese government says the railway will help modernize Tibet and join it with China. “Tibet is a part of China. If any Chinese want to go there, that is their choice,” a Chinese official told Reuters.

Bombardier, which has contracts for other railways in China, says the railway will be beneficial for Tibet. “It's an economic opportunity,” says Bombardier spokeswomen Helen Gagnon.

“Bombardier can't have the excuse that politics and human rights don't concern them,” says Dargyal. —Samer Elatrash

Community BBQ with Belaouni

In the six months he has spent in St. Gabriel's Church in Pointe St-Charles, Algerian asylum-seeker Abdelkader Belaouni has attracted many supporters and discovered a talent for piano. Belaouni, who has diabetes and was blinded at a young age, is appealing a deportation order to send him to his native country, where he says he would be in danger.

His supporters, who include Amnesty International and the riding's MP, say it would be heartless of the government to deport him, and are appealing for his stay on compassionate grounds. Belaouni's application had been rejected partly because he was unemployed when his case was reviewed, solidarity activists say.

His supporters are in touch with the government over his case, says Bronwen Agnew, a Belaouni support-group member. "Everybody's feeling optimistic" she says.

The group is inviting people to meet Belaouni at a barbeque at St. Gabriel's (2157 Centre, Charlevoix metro) on Sunday, July 9. There'll be food for carnivores and vegetarians, a piñata for the kids, and possibly a piano recital courtesy of Belaouni. —Samer Elatrash

Swim-in in the fleuve

Ever since the days of Nouvelle France, the St. Lawrence has been central to Montreal’s self-image. Yet despite the river’s ubiquitousness, Montrealers are strangely water-shy—perhaps because of decades of pollution.

Myriam Broué of the Comité citoyen Montréal baignade (CCMB) wants to change residents’ perception of the river, which, according to daily water quality tests, is swimmable in many areas.

“We live on an island but we’re not taking advantage of the water,” Broué says. “We have a few beaches—the next step is to use them.”

In the hopes that the city will increase public access to the waterfront, CCMB members will don their lifejackets and nose plugs today for a swim-in at the Quai Jacques Cartier in the Old Port, just as the similarly oriented Regroupement Montréal Baignade did in the East End last weekend. Today’s dip is tentatively scheduled for 7:30, meeting at Resto L’Aventure (438 Place Jacques-Cartier). See www.montrealbaignade.com for the latest about this and future swim-ins. —Elise Hugus

REAR-VIEW MIRROR

15 YEARS AGO THIS WEEK
July 4–July 11, 1991

On the cover: Venetian comedian Ennio Marchetto, in Montreal for Just for Laughs. Marchetto’s oeuvre, which combines lip-synching and large paper costumes, simultaneously revers and mocks stars such as Edith Piaf, Madonna and Michael Jackson. “I don’t want to be a star,” he says. “The material itself is éclatant, and that’s what I want to be. Simple, but éclatant.”

•Brendan Kelly interviews Run-DMC’s Darryl McDaniel (aka DMC.), who comments on the popular rap of the day. “I’m not knocking [MC] Hammer…I just hope, one day, the people buying his music realize he’s fake. But maybe they’re scared of the real rap.”

•David Zucker, co-creator of Airplane! and the Naked Gun films, claims, “All I do is fill 90 minutes with jokes, and it seems to work.”

•In her Notes From Underground column, Jenny Ross reports on St-Jean Baptiste Day festivities, chiding absent “Anglosaxophones” for their “fear of a French planet.” “I myself needed four aspirins for my headache,” she writes, “one for each corner.”

Angel >> Quebec’s DIY Kyoto, now on tour Unveiled in mid-June, endorsed by Greenpeace and the David Suzuki Foundation, Quebec’s climate change plan puts the Kyoto-waffling feds to shame. With help from Greenpeace Québec, provincial Environment Minister Claude Bechard will tour Canada to encourage other provinces to follow Quebec’s lead. The plan includes a target to reduce emissions by 1.5 per cent below 1990 levels by 2012, a building code expected to increase energy efficiency in buildings by 25 per cent, and a new fuel efficiency standard for all cars sold in Quebec, matching that of California, the USA’s most environmentally progressive state.
Insect >> Moving-day homelessness There’s bound to be some gold for garbage-pickers in them thar piles of post-moving junk. But there’s no silver lining for the roughly 300 people who were put out with the trash last weekend. This year’s crop of nouveau-homeless is attributed to a perpetual lack of affordable housing, and a reduction in emergency aid from the province, which has also restricted the availability of said aid. The city is sending families to YMCA residences and motels for shelter. Meanwhile, the SPCA is seeing a record daily influx of 30–50 animals, a fraction of the thousands of pets (mostly cats) abandoned on July 1. According to the SPCA, Montreal is the stray-cat capital of North America.