Quote of the week:

“Slavery is over. We don’t want to be like the United States where they’ll take any old job for any old salary.” —CSN vice president Roger Valois, reacting to Lucien Bouchard’s charge that Quebecers don’t work hard enough.

Campaign trail anarchy

The last federal election was an interesting one, as far as these things go. We saw the Liberals lose, the Conservatives win and one street punk try to get elected as an independent in Outremont. That particular candidate, Éric “Roach” Denis, briefly became a mini-celebrity as mainstream media picked up on his quixotic mission to add some pizzazz to an otherwise stultified House of Commons. Along the way, Roach documented the ins and outs and steep learning curve any budding politician faces on his inaugural campaign trail. The result is a 68-minute doc Punk le Vote, having its world premiere this Friday, Oct. 20, as part of the Festival de Nouveau Cinéma.

While homelessness was Roach’s primary campaign issue, proportional representation—which distributes seats according to the percentage of popular votes—followed closely. “Thirty-four per cent of the population voted for the Conservatives, and they control 100 per cent of the power,” he says. “That’s the fucking problem right there.”

Punk le Vote screens at Ex-Centris (3536 St-Laurent) on Friday, Oct. 20 at 9:15 p.m. and Saturday, Oct. 21 at the Just for Laughs Museum (2111 St-Laurent) at 10:30 p.m. —Patrick Lejtenyi

Gulu walks again

The vicious little war in northern Uganda may be quieting down somewhat, with rebels from the maniacal Lord’s Resistance Army and the government in tetchy negotiations (despite ceasefire violations by both sides). But the situation on the ground remains dangerous, so, for the second year in a row, an estimated 1,000 Montrealers will participate in the global Gulu Walk Day to raise awareness about the plight of the thousands of children who leave their villages every night for the relative safety of bigger cities like the regional capital, Gulu.

The Montreal Gulu Walk is being coordinated by Andrea Charbonneau, a former McGill student who is setting up a charity shelter in Uganda for the night commuters and has herself recently returned from a trip to Uganda. “It’s amazing to see the interest,” she says. “This is actually a chance for a few people to make a difference.”

The 12.5-kilometre walk begins at McGill’s Roddick Gates at 2 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 21. There will also be a screening of the documentary Uganda Rising at Concordia’s De Sève Cinema on Friday, Oct. 20 (1400 de Maisonneuve W., 7:30 p.m., $10) to raise funds for Gulu Walk initiatives. —Patrick Lejtenyi

Biocolonialism bites

In the good/bad old days of colonialism, the great powers tried to dominate the land and resources of non-European peoples. Today, with the advent of genetic engineering, activists warn the powers that be aren’t satisfied with controlling just the visible world.

“Biocolonialism is a new form of colonialism; everything from the patenting of indigenous peoples’ genes and seeds to mining on indigenous land to anything in between,” says Ambrose Kirby, a member of Concordia’s Frigo Vert natural food co-op.

Tonight, Oct. 19 at 6 p.m. (free), le Frigo Vert is holding its fourth annual Anti-Colonial Thanksgiving, focusing on the theme of biocolonialism. The evening will feature guest speakers, a film screening and, of course, a whole lot of food. This year, for the first time, the folks at le Frigo Vert are teaming up with the Native Friendship Centre (2001 St-Laurent), where the festivities are being held.

Dinner will include a four-course vegan meal, featuring shepherd’s pie, squash soup, always-tantalizing vegan gravy and pumpkin pie. The Leech and the Earthworm film, which deals with the effects of biocolonialism on indigenous communities, will be shown after dinner.

Childcare will be available, as well as translation. For more info, contact lefrigovert@resist.ca. —Christopher Hazou

Loving your elders

Sure, we’ve all been tempted to give Granny a good whack in the head sometimes when we hear her constantly complaining about... well, everything, but the truth of the matter is, few things are more troubling than elder abuse—be that physical, mental or via simple neglect.

According to Anne Caines, project coordinator for Ressources ethnoculturelles contre l’abus envers les aîné(e)s (RECAA), “various studies show as many as one in 10 people over the age of 65 are being neglected, victimized or abused. Elder abuse remains one of the most underreported forms of abuse in all communities.”

To help raise awareness and funds to better support RECAA’s travelling elder workshops—events “working towards a culture of respect so that elders may live in dignity, free of exploitation and physical or mental abuse”—the public is being invited to RECAA’s annual Rythmes Montréal evening on Wednesday, Oct. 25, at la Sala Rossa (4848 St-Laurent). A multicultural soiree of “music, dance and storytelling,” attendees can look forward to sets from the Raging Grannies, Socalled, the “hilarious vocal trio” Ladies Luncheon and more.

Tickets are $15 at the door, $12 for seniors and students. Doors open at 7:30 p.m. —Chris Barry

REAR-VIEW MIRROR

18 years ago - Oct. 21–Nov 3, 1988

On the cover: Spider-Man, as Toronto film-maker Ron Mann’s documentary Comic Book Confidential screens at the Festival of New Cinema and Video. “I think comic books have always been considered idiot literature,” he says. “I wanted to make an argument that they’re an art form and always have been.”

• The Mirror examines Dr. Ewen Cameron’s MKULTRA CIA-funded brainwashing experiments at McGill’s Allan Memorial Institute in the 1950s. Linda Macdonald, one of the experiments’ victims whose mind was wiped clean of all memory, says, “I started to have some kind of idea that I was a person, but I was still a baby—born in 1963, weighing 130 lbs, age 26.”

• On Jack the Tab, Psychic TV “blatantly try and propagandize suburban disco-goers to take acid. It’s our sense of the bizarre—they go to these clubs so what can we do to get at them?” says Genesis P-Orridge.

• The Book Supplement contains articles on Québécois literature, John Turner, Brian Mulroney, Ed Broadbent and Clive Barker.

Angel >> Challenging the blackout law Paul Bryan, a B.C. software developer, told the Supreme Court on Monday that a national blackout on election results is useless in the Internet age, and wants the law struck. He has a point: not only does the law—which dates back to the era of the telegraph—bar posting election results after polling stations across all of Canada’s six time zones, but it fines people like Bryan who do post them, as he did in 2000. Bryan says the law is both unenforceable and impractical, given the ubiquity of instant messaging, e-mails and telephones.
Insect >> The Canadian prison system The Correctional Investigator of Canada, the country’s top prison watchdog, had some harsh words for the federal government, in particular how it treats aboriginals. Saying the prison system suffers from “institutionalized racism,” Howard Sapers says aboriginals account for a disproportionate number of inmates in maximum-security prisons, are unfairly segregated, are kept in jail longer and do not have access to the proper programs once released. He also warns that aboriginals, who account for 2.7 per cent of the general population, account for 18.5 per cent of inmates. In the Prairies, that number rises to 60 per cent among federal prisoners.