Quote of the week

“They are really too drunk to copulate.” —Concordia prof Dr. James Pfaus, on his study of rats who have been given large amounts of alcohol, cocaine, methamphetamines, morphine and caffeine and their sex habits. Pfaus concludes that being really drunk or stoned actually reduces both inhibitions and sexual performance.

G20
hangover

The VIPs have gone home and the barricades are gone, but the lingering effect of the recent G20 summit and its concomitant riot are still being felt, both in Hogtown, here in Montreal and possibly at the United Nations.

According to a statement released Tuesday, July 6, Jaggi Singh, arguably Montreal’s best-known anarchist activist, turned himself in to the Toronto PD to face charges of “several serious counts of criminal conspiracy, including alleged conspiracies to commit mischief to property, assault police and obstruct justice.”

Locked up in a hoosegow isn’t new to Singh: he was arrested at Vancouver’s 1997 APEC demo, Montreal’s own G20 in 2000 and 2001’s Summit of the Americas in Quebec City. He beat all charges but, notes the statement from No One Is Illegal and Solidarity Across Borders, two organizations Singh is involved with, “recent charges against Jaggi represent a troubling escalation of state criminalization of activists.” They further note that 16 people remain behind bars as of July 6.

In other G20-related news, La Presse is reporting that a group of G20 arrestees are working with Montreal’s Ligue des droits et libertés to prepare an official complaint to the UN. A Ligue representative was unable to comment by press time.

PATRICK LEJTENYI

Witness to a
bloody raid

On May 31, Israel’s already stellar reputation as a moderate, cool-headed player in Middle East politics took a serious bashing when its commandos stormed a convoy of ships delivering aid to the besieged Gaza Strip. Activists aboard the MV Mavi Marmara had the audacity to fight back, and the result was a bloodbath: nine activists lay dead, and Israel was further condemned by an international chorus of governments and human rights advocates.

Aboard the Mavi Marmara that day was Canadian citizen Farooq Burney. As the director of Al Fakhoora, an international campaign directed at improving the lives of Gaza and West Bank students, Burney says he was simply trying to deliver 65 much-needed computers to the region as part of the non-weapons-laden aid flotilla when it was attacked. He was detained by Israeli authorities and eventually released, and is now embarking on a cross-Canada tour delivering an eyewitness account of the raid, as well as discussing aid efforts and critiquing the Canadian government’s ongoing and seemingly unquestioning support of Israel.

Burney will speak on Sunday, July 11 at Alternatives (3720 Parc) from 7–9 p.m. For more information, see fakhoora.org.

PATRICK LEJTENY

God in Haiti

If you’re feeling strong emotionally and are up to viewing some stunning yet thoroughly heartbreaking photographs of the devastation that is post-earthquake Haiti, one-time Mirror photographer Normand Blouin’s free exhibit, Haiti, Oh My God, will be running until Aug. 28 at the Bibliothèque de Rivière-des-Prairies (9001 Perras Blvd).

“I arrived there three weeks after the earthquake and was particularly touched that the Haitians were asking forgiveness from God for what had happened, as though they were guilty of something and God was punishing them,” recalls Blouin. “So this aspect is well represented in the exhibit.”

Blouin, a seasoned photojournalist who has witnessed plenty of ugliness over the course of his career, says his recent Haiti stint was particularly draining emotionally, especially when the subjects he was photographing were children affected by the disaster. “I adopted a Haitian boy four years ago, and in so many instances, these boys I was photographing easily could have been my son, you know? I wanted to take all these children back here with me. I think this is the best work of my career, it’s very artistic but there are no dead bodies in my pictures, only emotion, a lot of emotion.”

To check out Blouin’s work, go to web.me.com/normanblouin/site/Haiti_2010.html.

CHRIS BARRY

Love for
Alex McQueen

This weekend’s Made With Love Atelier will bring together five unbridled fashion designers and let them go nuts on hair and makeup as they create looks for an event benefiting the Canadian Mental Health Association.

Organizers from Lab Créatif say the inspiration came from the death of British designer Alexander McQueen in February. McQueen suffered from depression—his death was ruled a suicide.

“We were very saddened to hear about the death of McQueen,” says Lab Créatif’s general director Helka Witko. “We were also very touched by the work the Canadian Mental Health Association does, and we wanted to help contribute to the changing of the negative image the public often has of mental illness.”

The designers essentially have carte blanche on creativity, and audience members will get to see the process from beginning to end. All profits will go to the Montreal branch of the Canadian Mental Health Association.

Made With Love Atelier takes place this Saturday in Old Montreal—check labcreatif.ca for the exact location on event day. Tickets are $15 for the daytime event (3–5 p.m.) and $25 to also attend the afterparty.

LINA HARPER

Rear-view mirror

17 YEARS AGO - JULY 8–15, 1993

On the cover: Virunga, Kenyan “superstars,” coming to town for the Nuits d’Afrique festival. Their sound combines the styles of soukous “derived from the French word secouer, meaning to shake,” and benga, a blend of dance rhythms, acoustic guitars and Swahili lyrics.

• Following the Stanley Cup riot, lawyers recommend that insurers sue the police (again) for damage done by looters on Ste-Catherine.

• In other riot news, two shootings during the Carifête parade triggered unwarranted police brutality, according to the Mirror. An hour after shots were fired, police dispersed paraders—most of whom were unaware of the shootings—by beating them with batons. Some revolted by throwing bottles, breaking windows and looting.

• Director Terence Davies reveals that he plans to adapt John Kennedy Toole’s Neon Bible, “one of the few American books about failure,” but one that ends on a hopeful note. “The Americans like tragedy with a happy ending. Whereas the English just like tragedy because we’re bloody miserable!”

• Sharx pool bar downtown beckons patrons with, “Shoot pool, not people!”

Angel >>Parc Avenue Say goodbye to the Parc Ave. you know and love, because next week, it’s going under the knife big time. For the next two years, the city will be tearing it up and reworking its guts, causing an inconceivable amount of noise, dust, traffic headaches and general mayhem. The work is needed, says the city: the water mains that serve an estimated 145,000 residents around the area are in terrible shape. But it’s well worth remembering the fiasco that resulted when the city botched the Main reconstruction a few years ago, because when these things go bad, they go real bad. Work starts between Fairmount and St-Viateur next Monday, July 12.

Insect >> This heat Yes, we’re in the middle of a heat wave, and after last year’s weird, wet summer, it’s a welcome change. But before you strip naked and leap with joy into the nearest fountain, consider this: According to the U.S. National Climatic Data Center, the first five months of 2010 have been the hottest worldwide since records were first kept in 1880. March, April and May were particularly hot, registering temperatures that were 0.73 per cent higher than the 20th century averages. Oh, and the Arctic ice field melted 50 per cent faster than usual. And yes, the Center’s chief climate monitor is saying the findings are consistent with the science of climate change.