Quote of the week

“C’est surprenant la première fois puis après c’est moins drôle?” —From an interview by former Radio-Canada journalist Dominique Payette, sampled in the introduction to the White Stripes’ song “Jumble, Jumble” from their album De Stijl. Payette is suing the band, Third Man Records and BMG for $70,000, alleging copyright infringement.

Chanology vs. Scientology

The mysterious group of Scientology foes known only as Anonymous are planning a demonstration outside the church’s Montreal branch on Papineau this Sunday, Feb. 10. The demonstration is one of an estimated 170 planned outside Scientology centres worldwide.

News of the demonstrations was released on a YouTube video titled “Call to Action,” posted on Jan. 28. The protests are part of what’s being called Project Chanology—a reference to the group’s origins in 4chan.org, an image-based bulletin board—and seem to have their genesis in the church’s attempts to remove the strange Tom Cruise promotional video that found its way online last month. And while Anonymous has its roots in hacking, Project Chanology members derive from all walks of life, with only one thing in common: they hate the Church of Scientology.

“We aren’t afraid of Scientology,” one Anonymous caller told the Mirror on Monday. “Fear is their main weapon. Fear and litigation.”

Similar rallies were held on Saturday, Feb. 2, in Orlando, Florida and Manchester, England. The Montreal rally begins at Park Lafontaine at 11 a.m. and will picket outside the church (4489 Papineau) at noon. For more info, see www.partyvan.info/index.php/Project_Chanology.

A Montreal representative from the church declined to comment on the matter.

For more info, visit www.antirecrutement.info.

Post-Manley hearings

If the Manley Commission on the Afghan war was capable of Swiftian shrewdness, its findings, issued two weeks ago, might have been interpreted as a show of desperation. The commission recommends 1,000 more soldiers to beat back the Taliban, who’ve regained control of a good chunk of Afghanistan, and the deployment of aerial drones, along with slicker efforts to sell the ineffable benefits of the war to Canadians and firm words for NATO allies. The report, which recommends that no deadline be set for troop withdrawals, was warmly accepted by the Prime Minister and denounced by anti-war groups.

More than 40 such groups, including Quebec unions, will hold a public hearing on the war Saturday, Feb. 9. The event is organized by anti-war group Échec à la guerre, which says the Manley Commission ignored popular sentiment against the war.

“The commission was unrepresentative,” says Échec à la guerre organizer Raymond Legault. “We’re creating an event where popular groups can participate.”

The groups are calling for submissions on the war to be presented during the hearings.

The event will take place in Centre St-Pierre (1212 Panet, room 100) from 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. For more info, see www.echecalaguerre.org.

by SAMER ELATRASH

Mining and boycotts

On Wednesday, Feb. 13, the Concordia Mexican Student Association (MAS) and the Broad Opposition Front Montreal (FAO) will have a party at the Vinyl Lounge (2109 Bleury) to raise funds for a cultural festival in Cerro de San Pedro, Mexico.

The festival is organized every year to oppose the operations of Minera San Xavier, a subsidiary of Canadian mining corporation Metallica Resources, which opponents say is devastating the town and its surrounding area.

Despite local resistance, Metallica has been running an open pit mine next to the town, which is one signature away from being recognized as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Coincidentally, the mining company, for the first time, is organizing its own festival this year. FAO members say Metallica is organizing the festival to boycott the opposition to the mine and to get the population on their side.

“We’re hoping for many people to show up, everyone’s participation counts in raising awareness about the issue and together we can put pressure on Mexican and Canadian authorities to stop the destruction of Cerro de San Pedro,” said MAS’s Daniella Guerrero.

The band IQI Balam and DJs Sonido Nordico will play this weekend’s party. Doors open at 9 p.m., suggested donation is $5.

by VERONICA ISLAS

Queer Sense

For the last four years, NDG community do-gooders Head and Hands have cheerfully exploited the sanctity that is the high holiday of Valentine’s Day by partay-ing to raise funds for the Sense Project, their highly worthwhile sexual health workshops devoted to “bringing a queer-positive, trans-positive and all-around positive spin to sex education.”

And this year will be no exception, as the Fifth Annual Anti-Hallmark Valentines Love Brigade, in conjunction with Head and Hands’ on-going benefit dance party, Faggity-Ass Fridays, gets set to go down at the Main Hall (5390 St-Laurent) on Friday, Feb. 15.

“I guess it’s a queer night,” reports event coordinator Christina Foisy, “you know, in the sense that we’ll have gender-neutral bathrooms and be providing resources like safe sex guides specifically targeted towards queer and transgendered youth, but it’s really more of a free-for-all that’s open to everybody.”

In addition to a screening of Hedwig and the Angry Inch, volunteer DJs Julie D, Toothnecklace, Dirtyboots, JP and Xavier T will be spinning, with drag kings Nat King Pole and the Mambo Kings also making an appearance.

The suggested donation is five bucks, with all monies going towards the Sense Project.

by CHRIS BARRY

Rear-view mirror

14 YEARS AGO - FEB. 10–17, 1994

On the cover: A fist, representing an out of control Montreal police force. After cops beat Richard Barnabé into a coma, the force’s critics are fingering the police brotherhood for creating a feeling that they are above the law.
• After the feds and the province slashed tobacco taxes to combat the contraband trade, one Oka-based smuggler suspects law enforcement will still target Natives. “The SQ are a bunch of assholes, and the local cops will beat the shit out of you, and get away with it,” he says.
• The StreetSeen column polls local music figures for the best love song. Some suggestions: Bongwater’s “Kisses Sweeter Than Wine,” (Michel Meunier, l’Oblique); Coltrane’s “A Love Supreme” (Sylvain Bouthillette, Bliss); Kiss’s “Beth” (Steve Durand, Tinker); Prince’s “When Doves Cry” (Orion, Shades of Culture) “That song ‘Yummy Yummy Yummy (I’ve Got Love in My Tummy)’” (Al Warnock, Shlönk).
• “Carrey’s Ventura doesn’t resemble a Clouseau, Smart or Doolittle so much as he resembles Carol Burnett on speed,” reads the Ace Ventura: Pet Detective review.

Angel >> Quebec’s drop in suicide According to the Institut national de santé publique, Quebec’s suicide rate has dropped dramatically over the past decade, especially among young people. Overall, suicides dropped by 35 per cent since 1999, but by 65 per cent among people aged 15–19, and 47 per cent for 20–34-year-olds. The only age bracket without any percentage drop was 50–64. Quebec still has the highest suicide rate in the country, but prevention workers are happy at what they see is less reluctance among young people to seek help. The 18th annual Suicide Prevention Week runs until Saturday, Feb. 9. For more info, visit l’Association québécoise de prévention du suicide at www.aqps.info.

Insect >> Canadian Super Bowl ads This year’s Super Bowl was far better than most, but Canadian viewers were still shut out of what’s considered the most entertaining part of the game: the ads. For years, Canadian football fans without an illegal satellite hook-up have been forced to endure CTV’s repeated pimping of its own lame-ass shows—is anyone really going to watch its latest MOW, Mayerthorpe? And how many ads for the new rump-season of Lost do we need to see? This year’s Super Bowl ads are available on MySpace (owned, perhaps not coincidentally, by Rupert Murdoch’s NewsCorp, which also owns Super Bowl XLII broadcasters Fox), but the entire set-up seems needlessly archaic. Free TV!