| Back to school: Demonstrators opposing former Israeli prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s Concordia speech occupy de Maisonneuve street on Monday while the city’s overwhelmed riot police try to maintain order. Windows of the Hall building were smashed, five people were arrested, fights broke out between pro- and anti-Netanyahu students, pepper-spray was used and general mayhem ensued. Netanyahu’s talk was cancelled. Photo by Jason Felker >> |
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Self-defence,
The 15 legal assistance volunteers known as Libertas Légal (formerly known as Quebec Légal) hosted their first of a series of free how-to-beat-a-criminal-rap workshops last weekend. “Lately there are more and more people representing themselves in court without lawyers,” says Peter Edelmann, a group member who co-hosted last weekend’s workshop. “In many cases legal aid won’t cover lawyers, and just because you don’t qualify for legal aid doesn’t mean you have $10,000 to spend on a lawyer.” The crash courses in legal self-defence also aim “to help make the accused more comfortable with the process so they can work with a lawyer better,” says Edelmann. “Once you’ve done your research, you can sit with a lawyer for half an hour and it will cost you $60. Or you can go to the YWCA and get a consultation for $5. But if you don’t already have your case prepared, that half hour will be a waste of time.” The 40 or so attendees of last weekend’s workshop
included some of the 400-plus protesters rounded up in both the December
anti-police brutality march and this spring’s downtown G-8 demo.
The public is invited to upcoming workshops explaining the legal aspects
of cross-examination, evidence and how to research at legal libraries.
Organizers welcome donations to help fight the charges against political
protesters soon to hit the docket. For further info: 842-3251 or www.quebeclegal.org.
: Blue Bonnets: Don’t put your money on the rumour of the provincial government turning the Blue Bonnets racetrack into a second casino, advises veteran West-End city councillor Marvin Rotrand. “It’s just a trial balloon,” he says. “Nobody has put anything credible on the table to the effect that there should be a second casino there.” The secretive Régie des alcools, des courses et des jeux manages both operations but is apparently unsatisfied by the limited potential revenues from the current casino. “They grumble periodically but that’s all it is: grumbling,” he says. “What’s clear is that the citizens of the borough of Côte-des-Neiges/NDG, particularly those of the Snowdon area, don’t want a casino there. They don’t want to see Blue Bonnets redeveloped for what in essence would be a completely wrong use of very valuable land,” says Rotrand, who has long advocated the racetrack be replaced by residential housing units. “That’s one of the few large tracts of undeveloped land in the heart of the city and it’s absolutely insane that it’s going to waste with a horseracing track that basically lives off the public dole and freezes development for a site that could be used for housing.” Rotrand predicts that the racetrack will be redeveloped
for housing if voters put the spurs to the Parti Québécois
in the next provincial election. “Eventually the economics of the
situation will become apparent to everybody, and people will eventually
say enough is enough.” : Ringing Not much has been said about the American military involvement in the Philippines because not many people know what’s going on. That’s something the International Solidarity Mission, a group of 68 international observers from 10 different countries, wants to change. Back from their week-long trip to the Philippines at the end of July, the group’s Montreal members will be hosting a night of discussion, film clips and testimonials as to what they’ve seen, what they’ve heard and what, in fact, is going on. “The degree of militarization is mind-boggling,” says filmmaker Marie Boti, one of two Montrealers who took part in the mission. About 1,000 American troops are helping the Philippine army crush Abu Sayaaf, a Muslim paramilitary group in the country’s south. She says she witnessed first-hand unsanitary and overcrowded prisons housing suspected terrorist sympathizers between the ages of 11 and 60, mass evacuations of villages, and heard stories of the direct involvement of American troops in raiding parties and the shooting of civilians. What troubles her perhaps most, however, is the lack of coverage back home. “When we came back here, no one knew about it. There were such dramatic intense things, and no one knows. We know about Iraq, but we know very little about this second front. We want to get the word out.” The public meeting will take place on Sunday, September
15 at the Maison de la Culture Côte-des-Neiges (5290 Côte-des-Neiges)
from 1 to 4 p.m. It’s free. :
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Communications Gratte-Ciel Ltée 2002 |
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Angel
>> Montreal’s beautiful downtown core After
eight years of re-building its run-down core, Montreal, or more specifically
the city’s Commerce-Design Montreal Awards, was awarded an international
prize for sprucing up the city centre. The International Downtown Association,
which represents 600 North American and European cities and handed out
the award, will donate $1-million (U.S.) in prize money to the Commerce-Design
Montreal Awards and hold their next conference right here chez nous.
With the construction boom chugging along happily, let’s hope
we’re still up for this award in a couple of years.
Insect
>> Crooked maple syrup producers Messing with
the province’s most cherished export after NHL goalies and cheese
curds, two maple syrup producers in the Eastern Townships were fined
$4,000 each for using paraformaldehyde (PFD) to disinfect tap holes
in trees. PFD has been banned for a decade but is a tempting tool for
greedy producers as it allows them to tap trees weeks ahead of time
and keep them open for the season. Scary to think what else could be
hiding in our favourite mega-sweet Sunday morning pancake topping.
