Denouncing the
Tehran Taliban

Overshadowed perhaps by Sunday’s anti-war march was a much smaller demonstration held the same afternoon in Phillips Square regarding axis-of-evil power No. 2, Iran. About 20 Iranian-Montrealers held signs, unfurled a banner and played music to denounce Iran’s theocratic regime and its brutal repression of dissidents, including the death sentence handed down two weeks ago to liberal academic Hashem Aghajari and the subsequent handling of widespread student protests supporting him.

Borrowing from student protests across Iran, the Montreal demonstrators denounced the fundamentalist Shi’ite regime as the “Taliban of Tehran,” and called for more vocal support for them in their fight for basic freedoms.

“It is a very bad situation there right now,” says Mohammed Norouzi, a Montreal-based television producer who fled Iran 23 years ago. Sunday’s actions were timed with a larger protest in Los Angeles, and Norouzi promises more will follow in the coming weeks. “If you follow what is going on in the news, you see what’s going on. And we want to support the students there,” he says.

The news coming out of Iran isn’t great. Despite a moderate president, the country’s reins are still being pulled by its supreme spiritual leader, Ayatollah Ali Khameini, and the Guardians Council, who oppose any easing of the strict Islamic law imposed after a student-led Islamic revolution overthrew the Shah in 1979.

The power of Iranian students is not lost on Norouzi. “There will be another revolution in Iran,” he says. “I am sure of it.” : » Patrick Lejtenyi

Around the world in
one soirée

Normally, going from West Africa to the Dominican Republic to Scotland to the Middle East and back to West Africa would entail one hell of a headache and a lot of travel time. But those willing to shell out a paltry four bucks can get food, music and dancing from all those locales, as well as the chance to hear Bulgarian, Czech and Hungarian folk songs, in one evening designed to bring cultures from all continents together. That evening would be the Soirée interculturelle, hosted by the Comité social Centre-Sud, this Friday, Nov. 22, starting at 6 p.m.

Featuring food from the Ivory Coast, then a series of dance shows from different troupes featuring salsa and merengue (representing Latin America), jigs (representing Scotland), baladi (Lebanon and Egypt) and the 16-voice Mruta Mertsi Ensemble choir singing the folk songs, the night ends with traditional rhythms from the Ivory Coast, Ghana and Nigeria.

“This is multiculturalism at its best,” says organizer Daniel Noël. “It’s an opportunity for Quebecers to become more interested in the cultures that are here.” He points out that the choir is composed mostly of French Quebecers from the Plateau who don’t speak Bulgarian, Czech or Hungarian.

Tickets were still available by press time but are said to be going fast. The Soirée takes place at the Comité’s space, 1710 Beaudry. Call 596-7092 for more info. : » Patrick Lejtenyi

The future of skeptics

All measure of visionaries, soothsayers and seers are dared to try to blow the minds of the scientifically-oriented Quebec Skeptics Club with correct predictions for world events in 2003. Since 1995, the gang of debunkers has invited amateurs to try their hand at the predicting game, with some aspirants using such arcane methodology as the tossing of darts into a wall full of post-it notes scribbled with such divinations as, “Plane crash in Turkey.”

“Usually they get about 30 per cent of their predictions right, which is the same rate as Quebec’s big-name astrologers,” says Skeptic Club rep Pierre Cloutier. “The aim is to show that astrologers don’t predict anything.”

Cloutier believes the secret to bamboozling the gullible lies in “saying a lot of things,” and that throughout history, charlatans have claimed to see the future in order “to acquire power.” Cloutier recommends people find reward in thinking more rationally.

“When we trust in science, we understand the world better and can live our lives better,” says Cloutier. “Some figure that skeptics are less happy than others but, as George Bernard Shaw said, that’s like saying a sober man is less happy than a drunk.”

The skeptics offer no cash prize for the best predictor of events of 2003, but they happily note that a $1-million (U.S.) reward has been reinstated for anybody who can demonstrate the ability to control scientifically impossible phenomena. For further info, visit www.sceptiques.qc.ca. : » Kristian Gravenor

Angel >> More beds for the Old Brewery Thanks to a $490,000 grant from the municipal and provincial governments, the Old Brewery Mission on St-Antoine and Clark will be enlarged, updated and given an additional 56 beds to house homeless men. The Brewery often operates at over-capacity, with between 40 and 50 men sleeping on the cafeteria floor because no beds are available. The situation is worse when the weather is foul. The additional beds—38 for overnight stays, the other 18 for longer-term residents—are a welcome and much-needed addition, joining the existing 315 beds now in use. The extra beds should become available within a year.
Insect >> Decaf Not only does it taste crappy and do nothing to prepare you for your day, decaf coffee has now been found by Swiss researchers to increase the blood pressure of non-coffee drinkers as much as regular, caffeine-filled joe. But it doesn’t raise the blood pressure of regular coffee drinkers. The findings, published this week in Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association, add to an already lengthy debate about the effects drinking coffee has on human health. Caffeinated coffee has already been linked to memory retention in women, staving off Type 2 diabetes and protecting against cirrhosis of the liver. Decaf’s list of benefits is comparatively short.