Quote of the week:

"He could be brash, but he was somebody who had a marvellous sense of humour. I always had the feeling that he was sort of chuckling." - Former city councillor Sam Boskey, on environmentalist Tooker Gomberg, who is presumed to have committed suicide , in Monday's Gazette.

McGillers mug pharmas

This week McGill students have been agitating outside the HQs of our local pharmaceutical firms in protest of a new legal wrinkle that allows the biggies an option to grab contracts from generic suppliers to provide needed medications to the developing world. "The big pharmaceutical companies might have good PR but behind the scenes they're part of this massive lobby group that pressured the government to change Bill C-9. The law, that is supposed to be about getting generic drugs to the developing world, has been hijacked and we're trying to expose this," says protester Kristin Nelson.

On Tuesday, students protested outside the GlaxoSmithKline pharmaceutical corporation, complete with a guerrilla theatre presentation portraying a pharmaceutical company official debating with a doctor on the issue. "When the real pharmaceutical reps came out they repeated the exact same arguments from our play: ‘Who'll do the research if there are no patents?' or ‘Look at all the charity and free drugs we give out.' They always repeat the same arguments," says Nelson.

Fellow protester Janice Dayle says that getting cheaper generic drugs to the poor is a question of life and death to many sick people. "It's not just HIV and AIDS, but other diseases like tuberculosis; these are curable diseases that could be treated if cheaper generic drugs could get into the hands of the sick."

All are invited to the final protest leaving from McGill's Roddick Gates at 1:30 p.m. on Friday, March 12. » Kristian Gravenor

Guatemalan strongman found guilty

A Quebec tribunal sentenced a former Guatemalan dictator to 5,000 years in prison on Saturday. The "people's tribunal" held a mock trial at the Université de Montréal over the weekend, finding Efraín Ríos Montt, 77, guilty of genocide and crimes against humanity. Under his military reign in 1982-83, more than 17,000 Mayans were killed. Unfortunately for the victims, the sentences carry little real weight. The event was organized by local human rights groups, the Centre d'action légale pour les droits humains au Guatemala, the Comité chrétien pour les droits humains en Amérique Latine (CCDHAL) and l'Association Américaine des juristes.

Since 2000, representatives of more than 25 indigenous communities decimated by Guatemala's 36-year-long civil war have been trying to bring their cause before the courts. In January of this year, Guatemala's newly elected president, Oscar Berger, stripped the General of his immunity from prosecution. The families of the dead and dispossessed see a chance for justice, and they want the Canadian government behind them. Martin Movilla, of the CCDHAL, says the death penalty is too good for the General.

"Ríos Montt has 5,000 symbolic years to think about the real consequences of his actions on all those people," he says. "It's also a message to Ottawa, to pressure the Guatemalan government to prosecute the people responsible. There must be justice in Guatemala. They have to pay for what they did." » Noemi LoPinto

Bashing IMF's birthday

You can bet that there won't be any cake and ice cream when Montreal activists convene for the 60th birthday of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, two organizations dealing in the business of Third World loans debt. A more fitting menu might be a glass of privatized water and a handful of devalued coffee beans from Latin America, says Eric Lamoureux, a member of the Social Justice Committee, a Montreal-based group focusing on global poverty and human rights.

Both the IMF and the World Bank have become famous in the southern hemisphere for structural adjustment programs that include slashing social services, privatizing public utilities and emphasizing non-subsistence cash crops like coffee, sugar, cocoa and tea. But policies applied in the Third World are also being applied to the First, according to Lamoureux.

"Although we have never borrowed a nickel from the IMF or the World Bank," says Lamoureux, "we seem to be adopting this advice as the economic mantra everyone must follow to deal with debt."

To send their best birthday wishes, the SJC will be hosting a series of workshops on popular resistance and the evolution of trade, both here and abroad, March 23 and 30 at Café la Petite Gaule, 7 p.m. Admission is on a sliding scale from $1-$10. People are also invited to take part in a night of dinner theatre at Peruvian restaurant, Puca Puca (5400 St-Laurent) March 14, 6:30 p.m., $13. For more information or to reserve, call 933-6797 or visit www.s-j-c.net/Events.htm. » Shannon Devine

REAR-VIEW MIRROR

11 YEARS AGO THIS WEEK
Mar. 11-18, 1993

On the cover: Famed feminist Gloria Steinem, who is said to be increasingly out of touch 20 years after shooting to the forefront of the movement, as witnessed at a talk she gave at Concordia. The event, which focused on self-help and self-esteem, left many in the audience underwhelmed. "It was my least favourite part of the '70s revisited," says one.

• Nicole Kidman's character Nicola is described as a "prim, marmish twit" in the review of Flirting, an Australian film about love, race and social pecking orders at boarding school. Nevertheless, her character's "gradual transformation from Miss Popular to being [the lead characters] Danny and Thandiwe's major supporter... is poignant proof that in this film, romance conquers all."

• "The Maritimes aren't Seattle or Manchester," says Sloan and Eric's Trip manager Peter Rowan, "but there are similarities in that they're isolated, often ignored places."

• Roch Carrier's novel The Man in the Closet, about a sexual crime committed in rural Quebec, offers "a rare insight into the most hideous of crimes: cultural egotism."

Angel >> Quebec's civilizing influence Ontario is mulling over the question whether to allow restaurants the option of going BYOB, something that, as any Montrealer who likes to eat out on the cheap knows, has existed in this province - and only this province - for years. Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty likes the idea, calling it "civilized." Indeed. Quebec's been getting a pretty hard rap over the last few weeks, what with that missing $100-million in sponsorship money and all, so perhaps we can consider the BYOB institution our way of giving something back to the country that has treated us so well.
Insect >> Computers as litter A new book released this week by the UN highlights one of the downsides of the information revolution. The rapid evolution of information technology has resulted in more disposed computers as recycling efforts have lagged, and new computers take more energy to build and run. Furthermore, old computers are leaking dangerous toxins into the environment, and users who don't turn their machines off place additional strain on energy supply. The book's authors found that it takes 10 times a computer's weight in fossil fuels and chemicals to build, but in the average lifespan of three years, it will have used more energy than an average refrigerator.