Quote of the week

“I know very well now that it was an isolated case. Again, I’m sorry.” —Quebec singer Kevin Parent, who had blamed a beating he received from a group of anglos during the Quebec Carnaval on simmering linguistic tensions. The bilingual Parent, who apologized on Tout le monde en parle, says he won’t press charges if anyone is arrested.

And now Chile

For those looking to send aid to Chile in the wake of the 8.8 magnitude mega-quake that rocked the country last weekend, the Quebec Chilean Association (QCA), together with l’Association des professionnels, des techniciens et des artistes Chiliens du Québec, the United Church of Canada and the Consulat général du Chili à Montréal have come together in the effort to make this an easy, one-stop affair for donors.

“After meeting in the immediate aftermath of the quake, we’ve concluded that the best thing to do at this time is to send financial help to Chile instead of material goods,” says Ledda Urbani, vice president of the QCA. “We’re in the process of opening a bank account where people can directly donate funds and leaving it up to the Chilean authorities to decide what do with this money once it arrives.”

According to Urbani, the offices of the QCA at 3730 Parc have been “non-stop busy” since the disaster struck, but she’s nevertheless encouraging anybody concerned about the safety and/or whereabouts of loved ones in Chile to stop by, “where we’ll use our facilities to help them secure this information. So far we’ve had very good results.”

For more information, go to chilenos.qc.ca.

Chris Barry

Rad queers mouth off

In its second year, the folks at Radical Queer Semaine are once again hosting a week of non-mainstream events surrounding gender and sexuality. The week features radical queer perspectives, with workshops, performances, debates, parties, film screenings, a “queer ballet” session, direct action, collective kitchens and a game of Capture the Fag! Some of the events tackle taboo issues, like the workshop on barebacking, i.e. sex without a condom.

“In spite of the fact that we are interconnected, overconnected, there are still voices out there that aren’t heard as much as they could be,” says co-organizer Jordan Arseneault. This year’s edition takes a special look at issues dealing with prisoners, transgendered and HIV-positive people.

In urban spaces like Montreal, where same-sex unions have long been legal, some facets of queer life aren’t always openly talked about, Arseneault adds.

“RQS comes out in the Harper era, and yes, we have same-sex marriage, we have gains in terms of having medical coverage for transgender operations, but there are no illusions about having heterosexual forces at play,” says Arseneault. “These gains are not as certain as we think they are.”

For more info, see radicalqueersemaine.org.

Lina Harper

Bad, bad IAW

The sixth annual Israeli Apartheid Week (IAW) got some unwanted attention last week when the Ontario parliament voted to denounce the use of the term apartheid in regard to Israel, a country they say is a model democratic nation, barring the occasional siege, invasion, security wall, targeted assassination and humiliating checkpoint system. A similar motion is on the table in Ottawa. IAW organizers, however, were unmoved by Ontario’s lesson in semantics.

“If you look very closely at how legislation is processed in Israel, its purpose is to alienate the Palestinian people whether they live in Gaza or the West Bank or in Israel itself,” says IAW Montreal organizer Nina Amrov. “There’s a clear difference of treatment for the Jewish community as opposed to the Arab community.”

The theme of this year’s conference is the ongoing Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) campaign, which has picked up international support over the last year.

Keynote speakers include South African anti-apartheid activist Na’eem Jeenah and Palestinian-Israeli politician Jamal Zahalka. The conference is rounded out by film screenings, concerts and a Palestine solidarity contingent in the International Women’s Day march (Monday, March 8 at Atwater and Ste-Catherine, 5:30 p.m.).

IAW runs March 4–11 at various locations in the city. For more info see apartheidweek.org.

Matt Jones

Old media will live!

Online media’s exponential growth over the past decade has hit traditional newsrooms hard, but Marc Raboy, the director of the multi-disciplinary communications research organization Media@McGill, isn’t sounding the death knell for newspapers just yet.

“There’s a lot that can be done to preserve newspapers,” he says, pointing to online pay sites and the idea of allowing newspapers to restructure as nonprofits.

These ideas, and the changing role and structure of newspapers, are on the minds of many media people convening next week at La Grande Bibliothèque for a symposium on the plight of newspapers. The event coincides with the centennial celebrations of Le Devoir, one of Canada’s last independent dailies.

Raboy believes newspapers like The New York Times, with high-quality content, a huge online following and a loyal, affluent readership, could pave the way for newspaper pay sites. “They probably could, more than anyone else, stop [printing] and go completely online,” he says.

“The Independent Newspaper: Elusive Dream or Beacon of Democracy?” takes place Friday, March 12 from 9 a.m.–5:30 p.m. at 475 de Maisonneuve E. and is free, but registration is requested: ledevoir.com/colloque.

Tracey Lindeman

Rear-view mirror

20 YEARS AGO - MARCH 1–8, 1990

On the cover: La La La Human Steps’ Edouard Lock, who finds working on David Bowie’s Sound + Vision tour hell, thanks to a 900 number fans can call to vote on the playlist. “With the flexibility of the 900 number, there will be some surprises,” he says. “And that doesn’t help anybody.”

• Mayor Jean Doré announces a $119-million plan to refurbish Mount Royal. “We’re talking about changing Camilien-Houde from an expressway to a country road,” says the mayor. Other plans involve refurbishing Parc Ave. as a tree-lined boulevard, building cable-cars to a kids’ ski school and creating a new look-out near the summit.

• Having disagreed with Jim Jarmusch over his non-speaking role in Mystery Train, Screamin’ Jay Hawkins says, “To me it was the dullest picture ever made until I saw it.”

• Crash Vegas’s Jocelyne Lanois welcomes Neil Young comparisons. “We’re not Neil Young groupies or anything, but his name comes up occasionally as a good influence because he’s very honest in his music.”

Angel >>Chastising government secrecy Now that Parliament is back to work, Canada’s elected officials can get back to the issue of tortured Afghan detainees. This week, Liberal MP Derek Lee will table a motion that would hold the Conservative government in contempt of Parliament if it does not come clean. The Conservatives have long hidden behind the nebulous excuse of national security to indefinitely delay any explanation as to why Canadian troops were handing suspected Taliban fighters over to Afghan government forces knowing full well they’d be tortured—but despite a three-month recess and a successful Olympic games, the country still wants to know what happened. Prorogation was a bad misreading of the public mood, and it may come back to haunt Harper.

Insect >> Insect: Criminally negligent infrastructure Everyone is well aware of the crummy state of our roads, but just in case there was any lingering doubt, a cop who investigated the 2000 collapse of a Highway 15 overpass in Laval blamed criminal negligence in the structure’s construction. One man died as a result. A Radio-Canada investigation into the incident found that, despite clear evidence that a shady company was involved in its construction, no one was ever charged. The investigator says he is baffled why not. Six years later, Highway 19’s de la Concorde collapsed, killing five. Given last year’s construction industry scandal, charges of criminal negligence certainly make sense, and aren’t surprising in the least.