Quote of the week:

"Bill, how are you? I want to shake your hand, not your neck." - Quebec Premier Bernard Landry, to ubiquitous protester Bill Clennett, the man Prime Minister Jean Chrétien grabbed by the throat in 1996, while on the campaign trail in Hull last weekend

Charity on the catwalk

This Saturday marks the first annual Share the Warmth Foundation fashion show. Based in Point St-Charles, Share the Warmth has been dedicated to fighting poverty in the community for the last 13 years.

"Our goal is to answer needs as they present themselves," says director and founder Judy Stevens, "in order to overcome hunger and poverty of the body, mind and spirit." The organization runs a series of programs as well as a teen centre, to which all the proceeds from the fashion show will be going.

The teens and members of STW will be modelling vintage and first-hand clothing donated from such stores as Addition Elle, Le Château and Old River, among others. The vintage garb is from STW's own second-hand shop where they sell reasonably priced clothing to the community - in some cases just giving it to folks who can't afford to pay. All the clothing seen on the catwalk, and more, will be on sale after the show.

The initial idea behind the show, aside from raising money, was to bring together all those involved in some capacity with the organization.

However, Stevens feels that the event is having an even greater unifying effect: "A lot of the parents are coming out for this," and she feels that it's positively impacting the kids who are having a rough time at home. "They're standing taller."

The show will also include a performance from local songstress Lisa Forget. For tickets and info, call Share the Warmth at 933-5599. » Alexandra Spunt

Pillow fluffers grab pickets

Last year was a good one for the people who clean hotel rooms. The women who change dirty sheets and puff pillows for tourists saw their wages rise 15 per cent. "And the hotels didn't even have to raise their prices," says CSN union rep Arthur Sanborn. The higher payrolls "just dug into the hotel profit margins. That's millions of dollars that don't go into bank accounts of the people who own them, who usually aren't Canadian. Instead that wealth gets spread around Montreal, goes to corner stores, community papers and all over the place."

The chambermaid raise, however, didn't extend to the downtown Holiday Inn, which four weeks ago locked out its 80 housekeepers after they refused a contract offer that would have forced them to clean 16 rooms per shift, while the industry standard is 14. They would also make $2 less an hour than the $14 that has become the new standard.

It's not the first time the hotel has gone to war against its hard-working workers. A decade ago, workers went on strike for over three-and-a-half years, during which time then-owner Michael Rosenberg claimed bankruptcy. A judge eventually disagreed with the ploy and ordered the workers rehired. The hotel remains in the same family, according to Sanborn, who hopes they quit lowballing the women. "I personally feel it would be nice if we were all beyond that as human beings," says Sanborn. » Kristian Gravenor

Information war

The mainstream media's coverage of the war in Iraq has been predictably servile and carefully diffused. But that doesn't mean there's a total limit on access to news. Below is a short list of other informative sites offering different perspectives on the war.

• World Watch Monitor (http://monitor.airsecurity.com) Hour-by-hour, country-by-country updates written in headline style, created by Air Security International. Includes info on anti-war marches.

• Project Black (www.projectblack.net/iraqiwar.html) While hosted by a right-wing Texan photographer and tornado-chaser, this site does contain a large number of links to sites including Iraqi news services, various Middle Eastern and South Asian wire agencies, as well as U.S. government bodies and military hardware.

• Back to Iraq (www.back-to-iraq.com) Former AP and New York Daily News reporter Christopher Allbritton's blog is a vehicle to raise funds to send him back to Iraq. Interesting correspondences with Iraqis in-country with a long list of links. See also Warblogging.com (www.warblogging.com) and Warblogging.cc (www.warblogging.cc), an aggregate of "the best" war blogs, compiled by Allbritton and friends.

• AlterNet (www.alternet.org) A site run by former alternative weekly staffers with a decidedly leftist slant, it carries articles written by its own writers and others culled from various similar-thinking outlets.

• Finally, the World Press Review (www.worldpressreview.com) carries stories from sources the world over. With its own correspondents and links to other papers. » Patrick Lejtenyi

Rear view

15 years ago this week

• Cover: Legendary wrestler Maurice "Mad Dog" Vachon still has the same gruff charm despite having lost his left leg in an accident. Dismissing notions that pro wrestling may be rigged, he explains that "the toughest, worst thing to ask of a human being is that he loses, whether it's a fight or a card game."

• Civil rights groups worry that Bill C-77, the Emergency Preparedness Act, will prove as oppressive as the outgoing War Measures Act.

• AC/DC's Blow Up Your Video is reviewed, negatively. "Can AC/DC reinstate themselves as preeminent metal gods in this age of video pretty boys? On the strength of their first full-length album in three years, it's doubtful."

• The late Jenny Ross, in her Notes From Underground column, plugs a benefit for the magazine Reargarde, noting there will be "cheap beer, Fail-Safe, Chinese Bkwds, DBC, Parazit, Popper, etc…"

• Slum Dog Comix holds its launch party at Articule (4060 St-Laurent, #106).

Angel >> The Red Cross-Red Crescent If there is anything to admire in this war, it is the bravery of the members of the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, who will be among the first charities and aid organizations into occupied Iraq. Their task is daunting. They are the ones who will provide the food, water, medical treatment, electricity and shelter to civilians even before this mess of a war is over. The UN is already warning of a humanitarian disaster in the making, especially in the southern city of Basra. The situation is bound to deteriorate as the war goes on. To donate visit www.ifrc.org.
Insect >> Shoddy Gazette arts reporting With rumours of cutbacks to CanWest arts reporting abounding, one might ponder how it could get any worse. Last Monday and Tuesday's Gazette coverage of the Oscars featured plenty of commentary about dresses, hair and jewellery, but appeared to intentionally sidestep political issues. Despite its historical significance (never before has an acceptance speech been shut down by booing), Michael Moore's anti-Bush, anti-war rant - made while taking his Oscar for Bowling for Columbine, a Canadian-produced entry - failed to get mention in Montreal's sole English-language daily. At best, a dire omission, considering the story's strong Canuck angle, not to mention its obvious controversial nature.