Quote of the week

“I love Katz’s pastrami more than life itself … but I still found Schwartz’s marginally better.” —Gourmet magazine writer Robert Sietsema, comparing a New York deli’s pastrami sandwich to our own Schwartz’s smoked meat.

Anarchists are go!

“As anarchists, we think capitalism is crisis,” says Jaggi Singh, a member of the Anarchist Bookfair Collective, asked about the current wretched state of the economy. “A state of permanent crisis.”

He and dozens of other anarchist activists are taking advantage of these rough times to spread their message. The annual month-long Festival of Anarchy kicks off next week, on Friday, May 1 and continues throughout the month, offering an overwhelming smorgasbord of politicized literature, theatre, arts, actions and perhaps even a little fun.

The month starts with a Demonstration Against Capitalism, with the theme “We Will Not Pay for this Crisis!” It starts at Cabot Square (Atwater and Ste-Catherine W.) at 5:30 p.m. and will march to the befuddled headquarters of the Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec in Old Montreal.

But the centrepiece remains the Bookfair, now entering its 10th year, and is still the single biggest anarchist event on the continent, says Singh. The grassroots-organized Bookfair will attract over 20 exhibits, and any proceeds will go to groups they’re supporting: Montréal-Nord Républik, formed after the Fredy Villanueva shooting last summer, the Dira anarchist book store and “an anarcho-feminist collective in Mexico City,” says Singh.

For a full run-down on the month’s events, see anarchistbookfair.ca.

Patrick Lejtenyi

On the road against res schools

The Mohawk Traditional Council is extending an invitation to the general public to come show solidarity by marching on Ottawa this Wednesday, April 29. According to MTC Wolf Clan representative Stuart Myiow, Stephen Harper’s apology in Parliament last summer regarding the federal government’s support of residential schools last century rings hollow and is pitifully insufficient.

“We’re not crying over spilled milk, but the fact remains that there was a Holocaust, a genocide that continues to this day,” insists Myiow. “The purpose of placing our children in residential schools was to kill our culture by assimilating our children into the dominant culture. To kill the Indian in the child. This practice was encouraged by both the government and the Church. So if that can take place and be sanctioned by the Pope himself, it shows the Church is not just corrupt but evil. And so is the Canadian government. We have to bring this to the attention of the people.”

Head to Ottawa next Wednesday and be outside the Department of Indian Affairs building at 10 a.m. For updates and to learn more about the MTC’s position, go to mohawktraditionalcouncil.org.

Chris Barry

Amnesty gets down

The folks at Amnesty Canada’s francophone division take a break from saving the world this weekend to do a little housekeeping and have some fun, with their annual general assembly taking place at Cegep du Vieux-Montréal (255 Ontario E.).

“Historically, Amnesty has worked on civil and political rights,” says Charles Perroud, activism coordinator with AC’s francophone section. “[But this year] we’re introducing our new ‘Demand Dignity’ campaign for economic, social and cultural rights.”

Things kick off Saturday, April 25, at 8:30 a.m. with a public symposium on poverty and human rights. Special guest, author and philosopher John Ralston Saul speaks at 2 p.m. Putting theory into practice, participants will hit the streets at 4:30 p.m. for a march against poverty in association with Accueil Bonneau, where they’ll invite homeless individuals in the Berri-UQÀM area for a meal and an evening musical performance by Ivy, which begins at 7 p.m.

On Sunday, April 26, participants get down to business with the general assembly, which is also open to the public. Tickets are $10 for Saturday’s symposium or the concert, $15 for both. For tickets or more info call (514) 766-9766 or visit amnistie.ca.

Christopher Hazou

Read ’em, they’re cheap

A good seat in the city’s recently thawed parks and patios is nothing without a good book.

Public libraries clear out their collections every summer to make room for new acquisitions, and the thousands of books that shake loose are put up for sale, dirt cheap. Over 85,000 books will be available for $1 each, or less, at a massive booksale starting April 25.

But Amis de la Bibliothèque de Montréal, an organization mandated to promote reading and support public libraries, stress this isn’t an island of misfit books.

“We are always surprised ourselves when we do sort [the books out] to see what we receive. There are truly small jewels that pass through our hands,” Amis de la Bibliothèque assistant director Sylvie Payette said.

All funds raised will finance public library activities, including Livres dans la rue, a program encouraging low-income neighbourhood children to get out to parks and into books.

The organization often has hundreds of leftover English books, so Payette is calling for anglos to turn up in droves.

The sale runs from April 25 to May 3 from 1–7 p.m. at Étienne-Desmarteau Arena (3430 Bellechasse).

Matthew Brett

Rear-view mirror

17 YEARS AGO - APRIL 23–30, 1992

On the cover: An illustration by Montreal-born, Toronto-residing Fiona Smyth, planning her first solo show here. Her work is said to have become “grimmer, more literal,” writes Jack Ruttan. “I’m exorcizing some demons,” she says.
•Mayor Jean Doré is closing some indoor pools because of the recession and we all have to tighten our belts, but enraged Plateau resident Hélène Pilozzi says, “Costs for renovations to city hall are skyrocketing, and we don’t have anything left to tighten.”
•In Robert Altman’s The Player, “Scene after scene depicts the callousness and artificiality which arise from Hollywood’s self-important, emotionally void world: flattery, schmoozing, hypocrisy, back-stabbing, superficiality.”
•On the difference in sound between their second album, Bull and their first, The Brown Album, Bootsauce guitarist Sonny Greenwich says, “It’s not as sloppy and we’re not as fucking stupid. That’s basically what it is.”
•In Female Persuasions, Julianne Pidduck salutes “the toughest of the tough, … the female tree planter.” She warns them, though, of the “potentially dangerous” university jock (“male variety”).

Angel >>The Sierra Club of Canada The Harper government is loosening the purse strings to fund infrastructure projects across the country, but they’re also doing it by exempting 2,000 of them from legal requirements of environmental assessments. Smelling something fishy here is the Sierra Club, which last week filed a legal action to have the exemptions quashed. At issue, they argue, is the way the infrastructure spending was approved: by the Prime Minister’s cabinet, rather than the House. The feds say that, for the money to be effective, pesky environmental assessments have to be sidelined, but Sierra’s lawyer says Canada is just about the only government in the world to do that.

Insect >>Michel Brûlé The lunatic local publisher has money to burn, axes to grind and his ego to bloat, it appears. With the publication this month of his anti-English screed ANGLAID—and by anti-English, it’s anti-British, American, Canadian, the entire language itself—it’s evident Brûlé has really gone off the deep end. According to him, English-speakers are the most racist people on Earth, our first-person, capital “I” denotes a subconscious superiority complex and the language itself is ugly. And while it would be silly to get all huffy and puffy about yet another buffoonish windbag’s frothing, we can at least thank him for standing tall and proud above the usually grey commentators like the tumescent prick he is.