Quote of the week

“We cannot compromise the security of families and children that would attend the event.” —André Juneau, head of the National Battlefields Commission, on his decision to cancel the reenactment of the Battle of the Plains of Abraham, citing threats of violence from sovereigntists, according to CBC.ca

Welcome, Obama,
sort of

While just about every thinking person agrees that Barack Obama is a vast improvement over George Bush, a small contingent of protestors will still be urging him to end the war in Afghanistan when he visits Ottawa today, Thursday, Feb. 19. The mood at the demonstration will be different, however: welcoming, rather than hostile. And it will not include a delegation of Montreal’s best-known anti-war collective.

“We have nothing planned,” says Raymond Legault, of Collectif Échec à la guerre. “Right now we are saving our energy for other things, so it is not very important to us, we have other priorities, such as concentrating on the Palestinian issue.”

The non-official, seven-hour presidential visit will not feature any public events—not even an address to Parliament—so Legault thinks that, before jumping the gun, his collective will wait and see what the new administration is all about. He remains wary of the promise to close the detainee camp at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and to end extraordinary renditions, saying, “the door for torture is still open.”

In the meantime, Legault says the collective is organizing an anti-war demonstration in Montreal on April 4, to coincide with the NATO Summit in France and Germany.

Anti-apartheid campus

Palestinian solidarity activists in cities around the world are getting ready for the fifth Israeli Apartheid Week, which takes place from March 1–9. Here in Montreal, IAW will be marked with a series of public events ranging from lectures to film screenings. “We want people to learn about the realities on the ground and let them come to their own conclusions,” says Meg Leitold, one of the organizers behind IAW Montreal.

Highlights of this year’s program include former South African Minister of Intelligence and high-ranking member of the African National Congress, Ronnie Kasrils, who gives the keynote speech on Wednesday, March 4, at McGill’s Shatner Ballroom (3480 McTavish) beginning at 6:30 p.m. Noted Palestinian political analyst and human rights campaigner Omar Barghouti discusses “Democracy as an Existential Threat to Apartheid Israel” on March 5 at McGill’s Stewart Biology Building (1205 Doctor Penfield, Rm. S 1/4), at 6:30 p.m. And Palestinian journalist and blogger Laila El-Haddad talks about life under siege in Gaza on Friday, March 6, at 6:30 p.m. at Concordia’s Hall Building (1455 de Maisonneuve W., Rm. H-937). All are free. For a complete listing of events, visit iawmontreal.org.

by CHRISTOPHER HAZOU

Farha’s AIDS masquerade

While Canadians might not be dying from it quite as predictably as they were 20 years ago, the consequences of contracting the AIDS virus remain pretty damn nasty regardless of any recent medical advances towards a cure. In the effort to “sensitize the public to the issues while collecting as much money as we can,” the Farha Foundation, Quebec’s leading AIDS fundraising organization, will be sponsoring the 10th edition of Maskarade on Saturday, Feb. 28, at the Sheraton Centre (1201 René-Lévesque W.).

According to Nancy Farha, executive director of the foundation, “Maskarade is a take on Truman Capote’s famous 1966 Masked Ball, and what we’re trying to do is play upon those people who are forced to wear masks because of this disease. We want to bring people forward and sensitize them to the fact that AIDS is still here, that people infected with AIDS are still living in crisis, and that we’re still seeing far too many new infections every year.”

Hosted by Justin Trudeau and Sonia Benezra, and featuring sets by Serena Ryder and Jully Black, patrons can purchase their very own Maskarade masks and get more information about the event by going to maskarade2009.com. All monies raised will be going to AIDS organizations in Quebec.

by CHRIS BARRY

Crisis from the left

With the world economy seemingly unable to stop itself being flushed down the toilet of the financial crisis, it might not be a bad time to get our heads out of the water and try to figure out what’s going on. So thinks Sam Gindin, former economist for the Canadian Auto Workers and current York University professor.

“It’s a massive crisis. The establishment is responding in, from their perspective, fairly radical ways,” he says.

“They’re throwing tonnes of money at banks, they’ve got interest rates down to zero, they’re talking about stimulus in a way they’ve never talked about it before.”

Gindin thinks it’s time the left began to fill in the gaps missing in mainstream media analysis.

“What are we doing about the contradiction of the government saying we have to stimulate the economy and business responding in survival terms by laying off people and cutting wages? Do we just want to fix the system and get back to where we were? Or do we actually want to use this moment to challenge how the system works?”

Gindin will be giving an alternative analysis of the financial crisis on Friday, Feb. 20, at 7 p.m. at Concordia (1455 Maisonneuve W., Rm. H435). For details, see massecritique.org.

by Matt Jones

Rear-view mirror

15 YEARS AGO - FEB. 17–24, 1995

On the cover:Montreal’s high priests of cyber,” performance artists/authors/academics Marilouise and Arthur Kroker. According to them, everyone has two bodies. “We have this flesh on one hand and then we have this virtualized body that has different kinds of ports and orifices for television, telephones etc., but best of all for the Net. And the Net is like… the skin of the electronic body.”
•Wu-Tang Clan “is deft with metaphors but ‘they ain’t all that,’” reads the review of Enter the Wu-Tang Clan (36
Chambers). “My loss, I guess.”
•The Metropolis presents “A Psychedelic Flashback Experience,” with “tribute” bands the Back Doors (the Doors) and the White (Led Zeppelin). Plus: body painting, Captain Cosmic’s Big Love Tent, Herbal/Smart Bar, Lava Lamps!
• In the review of Reality Bites, Ethan Hawke’s Troy, “the poetic dropout musician,” is similar to “Matt Dillon in Singles, only far cleverer.”
•Nicolas Jenkins of K.O.X. writes an open letter stating that, despite the recent closing of G-Spot at the Station C complex, lesbians remain welcome.

Angel >> Standing up to Facebook Following a revolt by users, social networking site Facebook backed down on a seemingly arbitrary decision to alter its terms of service this week. Much thanks is owed to the Consumerist, the blog of advocacy group Consumers Union, which pointed out the legalese that effectively granted Facebook control of user content and licenses even after an account was closed. The issues of ownership, control and privacy are tricky ones when it comes to social networking, but the widespread user outrage at the move shows that, as fascinated as they are with the banal minutiae of their daily lives, some people still aren’t ready to bare all while staying connected to “friends.”

Insect >>Canadian science brain drain: In another example of Canadian politics being behind the times, funding for research science here—on topics as diverse as climate change to childhood development—is drying up, sending top-notch young scientists abroad to continue their work. One prominent victim of Ottawa’s neglect is the Canadian Foundation for Climate and Atmospheric Sciences, which funds university research projects across the country. Its funding runs out in March 2010, and, with no new funding planned, its hundreds of dependent scientists will either have to seek private donations or look for work elsewhere—especially the U.S., where the new stimulus bill contains $10-billion for the National Institutes of Health, the main funding body for American medical research.