THERE GOES THE NEIGHBOURHOOD: 481 Prince Arthur, a one-time frat house in the McGill Ghetto, has gone condo, and some people aren’t happy about it. According to the real estate agent’s Web site, the five condos range in price from just under $200,000 to almost $600,000. Photo by Rachel Granofsky

Quote of the week

“I found it rather amusing…. They look completely ill at ease.” —Pierre Léonard, president of the Quebec Society of Graphic Designers, on the Quebec Liberal campaign posters, which often feature candidates posing with their right hands touching their chins, in Tuesday’s Globe.

Peace theatre

Public demonstrations and protest gatherings are truly essential means for raising awareness about important issues or speaking out against the evils in society, but let’s be honest about it… most of us attend these things for the entertainment. So, if you’re up for some politically inspired performance art, Montreal’s Unité Théâtrale d’Interventions Loufoques (UTIL) will be presenting their unique brand of street theatre at the Marche pour la paix rally on Saturday, March 17, at Dorchester Square (corner of Peel & René-Lévesque, 12:30 p.m.). The event is being organized by local activist group Échec à la guerre in order to protest ongoing military adventures in Iraq and Afghanistan.

“There is an apparent contradiction between what our governments are telling us and what is actually happening,” says UTIL spokesperson Alexia Bürger. “We have a paradox when soldiers are shooting people, and then providing them with food.”

UTIL request that people wear black, but not just for mourning purposes—the play is an interactive event, where audience members become unwilling participants. So if you’re an aspiring thespian, get ready, because this just could be your big break!

For more information visit: www.theatreutil.org.

by Steve Zylbergold

McGill gets queer

Queer pride week at McGill is upon us, and to mark the occasion, QPIRG McGill, in collaboration with the edgy queer collective Q-Team, are organizing a series of events. Debate on the corporatization of queer culture will be central to this series, which will reflect on the development of a radical queer identity since Stonewall.

“Gays of Our Lives” will include a lecture by Cuban author and performer José Muñoz on Friday, March 16 at McGill’s Leacock 132 (855 Sherbrooke W.). Celebrated New York drag queen Ms. Vaginal Davis will be visiting Montreal as well, and will perform as part of a multi-media event and discussion at Articule Gallery (262 Fairmount W.) on Saturday, March 17 at 5 p.m.

“As a drag artist, Vaginal Davis has been active in the queer punk scene for decades,” says Leila P., coordinator of QPIRG McGill. “This is a scene that developed out of the mainstreaming of gay culture and picked up steam in the early 1980s.

“These events are trying to provide a sense of history to Montreal’s really active queer community,” says P. “This week will illustrate a more politically engaged and critical side of Montreal’s queer community.”

by Stefan Christoff

Darfur rocks

Just how stupid and cruel is the Sudanese government? The campaign of ethnic cleansing against Darfur’s Fur people, carried out with gusto by the government-backed Janjaweed militia, has spilled into neighbouring Chad, now home to hundreds of thousands of refugees—but the Sudanese government denies there is any ethnic cleansing in Darfur, of course. “Conflicts can sometimes break out within the same tribe,” the Sudanese justice minister lazily told the Sudanese Tribune.

The ethnic cleansing campaign has killed about 300,000 people, and Sudan opposes the deployment of United Nations troops alongside the maladroit contingent of African Union soldiers already deployed, to no consequence, in Darfur.

Here at home, STAND, a coalition established to pressure the Canadian government into action on Darfur, says the Canadian government has yet to do its part in pressuring the Sudanese government into ending the ethic cleansing. “Canada has a responsibility to protect, but no one’s enforced that,” says STAND organizer Helen Downie, who is organizing the Rock Darfur benefit Thursday, March 15, for Doctors Without Borders’ work with Darfuri refugees (8 p.m, Club Lambi, 4455 St Laurent; cover $10, with acts including NateEscape and Polar Eyes).

“If a country is committing genocide and won’t stop it, it becomes a global responsibility.”

by Samer Elatrash

Franco fiesta

While the International Day of Francophonie officially falls on Tuesday, March 20, the ever-zealous tongue troopers—otherwise known as the Office québécois de la langue française—is holding its own Francofête, an annual celebration of French language and culture now in its 11th edition and currently underway.

Instead of showering hosannas of praise on Bill 101 or deploring Anglos’ obstinate resistance to change, Francofête’s coordinator Virginie Auger urges people to look beyond the evident dichotomy. “We always say that the event aims not only to reach francophones but also francophiles and anyone who is interested in French culture,” she says. This year’s slogan invites people to “tell the world in French,” and the Rosemont-Petite-Patrie borough, which is designated 2007’s “Francoquartier,” hosts the lion’s share of events on the island of Montreal.

Among the many activities taking place are “Corbeau, cigale, cordes et clavecin,’’ a free concert that makes use of the well-known Jean de La Fontaine fables on Sunday, March 18 (3535 Rosemont, 3 p.m.). There are lots of others, with the fête running until Sunday, March 25. These events aren’t, however, for ze typique Gallic snobs, but rather for anyone who wants to get their French on. Details on all the screenings, readings and gatherings at www.francofete.qc.ca.

by Michael-Oliver Harding

Rear-view mirror

14 YEARS AGO - MAR. 14–21, 1996

On the cover: Mayor Pierre Bourque’s face through a keyhole “is spending millions to spy on workers… and maybe even you.” A Mirror investigation revealed that the Bourque executive committee has been secretly allocating money for security and the investigation of city employees—which reflects Bourque’s management style “that predates the industrial revolution,” says the president of the city workers’ union.

• The Mirror’s “techno ’zine” Access—technically, three articles—features one about Montrealers Thomas Fedoryak and Aaron deMello’s Domain, a Java-based “feast for the senses” that is part movie, part interactive Myst-like game, another on the advent of DVDs for computer- and home video use, and three game reviews (The HIVE, Triazzle and You Don’t Know Jack).

• “Spring breeds sex, and even though it’s not spring yet, an aura of randiness has hit Houseville,” writes Mireille Silcott in 3 A.M. Eternal.

• “Gong Li is the Orient’s Cindy Crawford, but she can act,” reads the review of Shanghai Triad.

• Montreal choreographer William Douglas dies, age 43, of AIDS.

Angel: Anti-racism week Today, Thursday, March 15, marks the beginning of Quebec’s Action Week Against Racism (technically, it’s an Action Week and a Half, running until March 25). While there isn’t much of a point to list the perils of racism here, there are some interesting events coming up that non-racists might be interested in, particularly the second annual Montreal Human Rights Film Festival, with movies from around the world screening at the Cinéma du Parc, and an open house at the Montreal Holocaust Museum. Lots of fun? Maybe not. Thought-provoking? Most definitely. See www.inforacisme.com, or call (514) 842-7127 for more information.

insect: Bush government malfeasance The vicious, vengeful Bush White House keeps self-destructing, as Kyle Sampson, the chief of staff of Attorney General Alberto Gonzalez, resigned Tuesday, the first casualty of the administration’s decision late last year to fire district attorneys whose political reliability was questionable. A total of eight district attorneys lost their jobs, ostensibly for poor performance records. But recent investigations revealed that at least six were fired because they did not bend to Republican pressure to investigate cases of alleged electoral fraud by Democrats, or didn’t pursue death penalty and immigration cases rigorously enough. Stephen Harper’s been mucking about in the judicial process lately, so it behooves him to take notice of what’s going on south of the border before he gets mired in the same kind of dirty pool.