Quote of the week

“We’re the next generation civil liberties movement.” —Rick Falkvinge, of Sweden’s Pirate Party, elected on a platform of reforming copyright law to the European Parliament on Monday. Other electoral winners included a slew of right-wing parties, including two members of the U.K.’s xenophobic BNP.

Uprising explained

First Nations people in eastern and southern Ontario seem to be in an uproar these days: from the ongoing fight against property developers by the Six Nations of the Grand River, south of Hamilton, to the recently boiled over armed border guards controversy in Akwesasne, a large reserve straddling Quebec, Ontario and New York state, and now the blockade of the Skyway Bridge over the Bay of Quinte in eastern Ontario, there is enough anger and resentment on all sides to go around.

But there’s also a lot of confusion: why are the more militant factions of the First Nations in the area so angry? Why are the feds insisting on arming border guards in their territory?

To help answer these and other questions—from one perspective, anyway—are Jacqueline House of the Six Nations of the Grand River Territory and Sakoietah, a member of the Men’s Traditional Council (aka the Warrior Society), two people intimately involved in the recent actions. They’ll be in Montreal giving their version of recent events next Tuesday, June 16, at the Native Friendship Centre (2001 St-Laurent), 6:30 p.m., free, donations welcome.

“There have been all kinds of complaints about harassment, abuse of power, racial profiling and cavity searches,” says event co-organizer Sarita Ahooja.

PATRICK LEJTENYI

Biking
in the buff

If you’re someone who’s always railing on cars and would like the world to know just how much you care about promoting bicycles as a clean, healthy alternative to those nasty carbon-emitting killing machines, now’s the time to put your money where your mouth is. This Saturday, June 13, at 9:30 a.m., hundreds of folk sharing similar concerns will be gathering at Parc Bellerive (2382 Notre-Dame E. between Poupart and Fullum), to commence a one-hour bicycle ride/demonstration through the streets of Montreal sans clothing.

“We’ve notified the police about the event and they’ll be accompanying us on the ride to ensure safety,” reports local World Naked Bike Ride organizer Paul De Bellefeuille. “We have a permit from the city that gives us 15 minutes before the ride where we can be undressed, and another 15 minutes upon its conclusion to put our clothes back on.”

At least 123 cities in the northern hemisphere will be participating in the World Naked Bike Ride this year, its stated purpose being “to draw attention to oil dependency and the negative social and environmental impacts of a car dominated culture.”

It’s also a great excuse to get naked in public without fear of legal harassment. For more info, go to worldnakedbikeride.org.

CHRIS BARRY

Roulant makes move

After 14 years of delivering free meals to 90 mostly elderly shut-ins, Santropol Roulant, the Plateau sustainability-focused community organization, is pulling up stakes and heading east. All of five blocks east.

Their new digs at 111 Roy, corner Coloniale, are bigger, better, has lots of room for growth and will be all theirs, says SR’s director of development and communications Elana Ludman. “There were two reasons for the move: We’ve outgrown the old space, there was no option for long-term growth. Also, in August our lease ends, so we would have had to purchase the building in order to stay there.”

According to Ludman, the new place will be twice the size of the original, have three rooftop gardens including a greenhouse, a bigger kitchen, more composting and an above-ground bike workshop. She adds that their current rooftop gardens at McGill won’t be affected.

The date of the move, in the works since 2006, is to be confirmed later, and Ludman insists it won’t disrupt their meal deliveries.

Currently halfway through their fundraising campaign—they’re looking to raise a total of $2.8-million by the end of 2010—Ludman says the organization is always looking for volunteers or financial help. Call (514) 284-9335 or visit santropolroulant.org if you’re feeling generous.

PATRICK LEJTENYI

Rock
like a girl

Guys and girls will get to contribute to the creation of future rock stars this coming Saturday, June 13, at a fundraiser in support of the Rock Camp for Girls. The five-day music camp for girls aged 10–17 happening this August will focus on DIY music culture.

Jennifer Duffin, one of the organizers for Rock Camp for Girls, says the camp is heavily influenced by feminist theory—but mostly, she says, Rock Camp is about scheduling face time with girls and local musicians. “We’re just trying to foster empowerment and skill-sharing for young girls by creating links with local musicians and other girls.”

Duffin wants the young ladies to feel at ease in front of a live crowd, and a show is planned to this end after camp. “What’s super exciting is the fact that you can get a group of girls together who’ve never picked up an instrument and play to a live audience.”

The organizers are still actively looking for people who are “really into playing guitar or other instruments” to act as mentors and volunteers.

Performing Saturday, June 13, are Nightwood, Little Scream, Giselle Numba One and DJ Lynne T at Il Motore (179 Jean-Talon W.), 9:30 p.m. $10. Camp registration forms are available at girlsrockmontreal.org.

LINA HARPER

Rear-view mirror

10 YEARS AGO - JUNE 10–17, 1999

On the cover: Dutch-born, Ibiza-bred pop sensations Vengaboys (actually two boys and two girls). “You pronounce it with a B, ‘benga,’ because it’s Spanish,” says Vengaboy girl Kim. “If you translate it literally, it means the Come Boys. But I don’t think you want to print that in your magazine!”
•Dutch-born, Ibiza-bred pop sensations Vengaboys (actually two boys and two girls). “You pronounce it with a B, ‘benga,’ because it’s Spanish,” says Vengaboy girl Kim. “If you translate it literally, it means the Come Boys. But I don’t think you want to print that in your magazine!”
•On her lesbian porn film Classy Cunts, local filmmaker Eden says, “We wanted the word cunt in the title because it’s a beautiful word.” She also asks that her real name be kept secret. “My mother would kill me!”
•Now prepared to strike, Canadian actors are referred to as “snow niggers” by some U.S. producers, given their lack of respect and low pay, reports Matthew Hays.
•Food columnist Spanky Horowitz builds his own smoker, with excellent results. “Twenty-six hours later, the pig emerged, meat falling off the bone.”

Angel >>Conservatives and their big dumb mouths Two good gaffes, hot on the heels of each other, revealed some uncomfortable truths about the Conservatives this week. The first involved Natural Resources Minister Lisa Raitt, who in an accidentally taped recording told an aide she hoped to get credit for fixing the “sexy” isotope crisis since Health Minister Leona Aglukkaq wasn’t up to it. The saltier one came the day after, when Transportation Minister John Baird—perhaps echoing many people’s sentiment, if not their reasons—told his aides Toronto “should fuck off” after the city’s bid for stimulus spending didn’t meet federal technical standards. Thanks for keeping us laughing, guys.

Insect >>China’s Green Dam The Chinese government, not content with compromising Google, Microsoft and Yahoo, is now trying to make computer hardware companies, including Dell and Hewlett-Packard, kowtow to their paranoia. New directives issued this week require all new computers sold in the country be pre-installed with the so-called Green Dam, software that would filter out porn and other “unhealthy information.” Critics think it would lead to even more government control, and that the software is a Trojan horse to monitor and block unfriendly traffic. With China one of the fastest growing markets for PCs, computer makers in the West are reportedly unnerved and mulling over the new requirement.