By: Right of Return Coalition

While there are many Israeli and multinational companies that benefit from apartheid, we put together this list to highlight ten specific companies to target.  Many of these produce goods in such a way that directly harms Palestinians by exploiting labor, developing technology for military operations, or supplying equipment for illegal settlements.  Many are also the targets of boycotts for other reasons, like harming the environment and labor violations.

1. AHAVA

This brand’s cosmetics are produced using salt, minerals, and mud from the Dead Sea, in particular, natural resources that are excavated from the occupied West Bank. The products themselves are manufactured in the illegal Israeli settlement Mitzpe Shalem.

2. Delta Galil Industries

Israel’s largest textiles manufacturer provides clothing and underwear for such popular brands as Gap, J-Crew, J.C. Penny, Calvin Klein, Playtex, Victoria’s Secret (see #10) and many others. Its founder and chairman Dov Lautman is a close associate of former Israeli President Ehud Barak.

3. Motorola

Motorola components are also used in unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs or ‘drones’) and in communications and surveillance systems used in settlements, checkpoints, and along the 490 mile apartheid wall.  See ‘Hang up the Motorola’ campaign.

4. L’Oreal / The Body Shop

This company is known for its investments and manufacturing activities in Israel, including production in Migdal Haemek, the “Silicon Valley” of Israel built on the land of Palestinian village Al-Mujaydil, which was ethnically cleansed in 1948.

5. Dorot Garlic and Herbs

These frozen herbs that are sold at Trader Joe’s are shipped halfway around the world when they could easily be purchased locally. Trader Joe’s also sells Israeli Cous Cous and Pastures of Eden feta cheese that are made in Israel.

6. Estee Lauder

Chairman Ronald Lauder is also the chairman of the Jewish National Fund, a quasi-governmental organization that was established in 1901 to acquire Palestinian land and is connected to the continued building of illegal settlements. Estee Lauder’s popular brands include Clinique, MAC, Origins, Bumble & Bumble, Aveda, fragrance lines for top designers.

7. Intel

Intel employs thousands of Israelis and has exports from Israel totaling over $1 billion per year. They are one of Israel’s oldest foreign supporters, having established their first development center outside of the US in 1974 in Haifa

8. Sabra

This brand of hummus, baba ghanoush and other foods is co-owned by Israel’s second-largest food company The Strauss Group and Pepsico. On the “Corporate Responsibility” section of its website, The Strauss Group boasts of its relationship to the Israeli Army, offering food products and political support.

9. Sara Lee

Sara Lee holds a 30% stake in Delta Galil (see #2) and is the world’s largest clothing manufacturer, which owns or is affiliated with such brands as Hanes, Playtex, Champion, Leggs, Sara Lee Bakery, Ball Park hotdogs, Wonderbra, and many others. Similar to L’Oreal (see #4)

10. Victoria’s Secret

Most of Victoria’s Secret’s bras are produced by Delta Galil (see #2), and much of the cotton is also grown in Israel on confiscated Palestinian land. Victoria’s Secret has also been the target of labor rights’ groups for sourcing products from companies with labor violations.

Remember, it’s also important to let these companies and the stores that sell them know that we will not support them as long as they support Israeli apartheid!

By: Canada Haiti Action Network (CHAN) and allies

We, the undersigned, are outraged by the scandalous delays in distributing essential aid to victims of the earthquake in Haiti. Since the U.S. Air Force seized unilateral control of the airport in Port-au-Prince, it has privileged military over civilian humanitarian flights. As a result, untold numbers of people have died needlessly in the rubble of Port-au-Prince, Léogane and other abandoned towns. If aid continues to be withheld, many more preventable deaths will follow. We demand that US commanders immediately restore executive control of the relief effort to Haiti’s leaders, and to help rather than replace the local officials they claim to support.

We note that obsessive foreign concerns with ‘security’ and ‘looting’ are largely refuted by actual levels of patience and solidarity on the streets of Port-au-Prince. The decision to avoid what US commanders have called ‘another Somalia-type situation’ by prioritizing security and military control is likely to succeed only in provoking the very kinds of unrest they condemn.

In keeping with a longstanding pattern, U.S. and U.N. officials continue to treat the Haitian people and their representatives with wholly misplaced fear and suspicion. We call on the de facto rulers of Haiti to facilitate, as the reconstruction begins, the renewal of popular participation in the determination of collective priorities and decisions. We demand that they do everything possible to strengthen the capacity of the Haitian people to respond to this crisis. We demand, consequently, that they allow Haiti’s most popular and most inspiring political leader, Jean-Bertrand Aristide (whose party won 90% of the parliamentary seats in the country’s last round of democratic elections), to return immediately and safely from the unconstitutional exile to which he has been confined since the U.S., Canada, and France helped depose him in 2004.

If reconstruction proceeds under the supervision of foreign troops and international development agencies it will not serve the interests of the vast majority of Haiti’s population. Neoliberal forms of international ‘aid’ have already directly contributed to the systematic impoverishment of Haiti’s people and the undermining of their government, and in both 1991 and 2004 the US intervened to overthrow the elected government and attack its supporters, with devastating effect. This is why we urgently call on the countries that dominate Haiti and the region to respect Haitian sovereignty and to initiate an immediate reorientation of international aid, away from neo-liberal adjustment, sweatshop exploitation and non-governmental charity, and towards systematic investment in Haiti’s own people and government.

We demand a much greater international role for Haiti’s genuine allies and supporters, including Cuba, South Africa, Venezuela, the Bahamas and other members of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM). We demand that all reconstruction aid take the form of grants not loans. We demand that Haiti’s remaining foreign debt be immediately forgiven, and that the money that foreign governments still owe to Haiti–notably the massive sums extorted by the French government from 1825 through to 1947 as compensation for the slaves and property France lost when Haiti won its independence–be paid in full and at once.

Above all, we demand that the reconstruction of Haiti be pursued under the guidance of one overarching objective: the political and economic empowerment of the Haitian people.

To sign-on to this petition/letter, please go to http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/relief-not-militarization-for-haiti

By: Kapit-Bisig Centre, Magkaisa Centre, & Kalayaan Centre

The mass and democratic organizations of Filipino Canadian workers, women and youth of the Kapit-Bisig Centre, Magkaisa Centre and Kalayaan Centre extend our warmest feelings of solidarity and support to the Haitian people and their families who have been affected by the recent earthquake that devastated the entire nation on Jan. 12, 2010.

The 7.3 magnitude earthquake that killed more than 100,000 Haitians and has injured and rendered thousands homeless, has left the entire nation grappling with the loss of their loved ones as they pick-up the pieces in the process of rebuilding a nation. While we witness the tremendous damage that is unraveling as a result of this calamity, we also witness the long-term impact of the devastation brought upon to a nation that has been battered by years of U.S. imperialist domination. The ongoing implementation of the anti-people and neo-liberal economic policies perpetuated by the United States continues to target Haiti, leaving it to be “poorest country in the western hemisphere.”

As a community that shares similar struggles with the Haitian people against imperialism, the forced migration of Filipinos is also a result of the intensifying U.S. intervention in the socio-political and economic affairs of the Philippines. As such, progressive Filipino-Canadians heighten the fight to expose and oppose imperialism in all its forms and its attacks on Third World peoples and nations.

While international aid pours into Haiti for relief, recovery and rehabilitation, we express genuine international solidarity with the Haitian people in their struggle for democratization as a step towards the rebuilding of Haiti as a nation and as a people. We oppose and are critical of the immediate deployment of over 10,000 U.S. military troops as part of the U.S. ‘relief efforts’. Such is a clear attempt of the U.S. to further expand military intervention and control towards the re-colonization of Haiti.

As we continue to learn about the ongoing struggles that Haitians face, we also learn of the long history of resistance of its people against slavery, colonialism and imperialism. In the spirit of international solidarity, we extend our unconditional support to the people of Haiti, particularly to the Haitian community in Canada. We support their efforts to reunite with members of their family in Canada and vow to continue to raise the Canadian people’s awareness about the root causes of people’s common struggles all over the world.

Long live international solidarity! Victory to the people of Haiti!

For more information please contact:

ukpc-on@magkaisacentre.org
pwc-on@magkaisacentre.org
siklab-on@magkaisacentre.org

By: Ashley McEachern

photo by Ashley McEeachern

“We need to understand that in Honduras people are not part of this election…they are protesting everywhere and… at this moment, the repression is strong against the resistance” – Member of the National Front Against the Coup

This message was relayed from a resistance fighter in Honduras to a crowded room of people on Bloor St. W. on Nov. 30, 2009.  Everyone gathered in solidarity to condemn the elections in Honduras. The man on the phone paints a picture of the situation in Honduras and the people gathered promise to check in periodically in case of any emergencies.

Seven months ago, Manuel Zelaya (nicknamed Mel) was ousted from Honduras and the people of his country have been on the streets ever since, demanding his reinstatement and participation in the country’s political processes. They called on the international community to denounce the coup and the elections.

“These are fraudulent elections” one man shouts. The coup regime has framed the elections as a way out of the political crisis that has defined Honduras for months. Mel and the National Resistance Front Against the Coup asked fellow Hondurans to abstain from voting on Nov. 29, 2009, in order to denounce the election and the systematic human rights violations linked to the de facto regime. Various political candidates decided against running in this election and many people were not willing to vote.

One young Honduran woman, with coup-supporting parents, declared that she would stay in her pajamas and lock herself in her room all day to avoid being dragged to the polling stations. Many others were doing the same.

Around 6:00 pm on the day of the elections, a man at the meeting in Toronto received a call from his wife in Honduras; according to her, the regime was extended the voting period by an hour and the polls remained barren. “You cannot force people to vote”, said a friend.  Another speculated that “the village is winning”. We leaned toward a cell phone and listened as our friend in Honduras sadly explained how seven of his comrades had been arrested, how the streets were blocked, and how the protesters were repressed by teargas and threats of attack by the military.

The official voter turnout numbers were released just hours after the election. Coup supporters proudly declared a 62% turnout rate at the elections. However, investigative journalists from the Real News have since uncovered that in fact, fewer than 50% of voters participated in the election.

The six month coup in Honduras exacerbated poverty and violence in the nation. Schools and hospitals were closed down, funding for many social assistance programs was cancelled, and repression was rampant. For the resistance fighters, who are somehow not yet exhausted after months of mobilization, their resistance comes at a cost.

Since June 28, 2009, over twenty deaths been recorded and more are rumored to have occurred on Election Day. Human rights abuses, torture, rape and repression have been the harsh realities for these activists during the past few months. Local reports suggest that the repression is ongoing even after the elections.

On Dec. 6, 2009, five deaths were recorded; on Dec. 28, 2009, a journalist was brutally tortured; and on Jan. 6, 2010, a Garifuna radio station was burned down, reportedly for its opposition to the coup.

Jan. 27, 2010, was the official transfer of power to Pepe Lobo, the Presidential candidate elected in the November elections. One of Lobos first action plans as President was to dismiss all charges laid against all of those involved in the June 2009 coup that shook democracy in Honduras. He then facilitated the exile of Zelaya from the Brazilian embassy in the Honduran capital to the Dominican Republic. Zelaya is now also able to evade charges against him. Thousands of Zelaya supporters saw him off as he and his family left the airport shouting that “we’ll be back”.

The future of Honduras has been unpredictable since June. Today, resistance fighters declare that they will not be silenced. Well aware that they face a regime capable of arresting, torturing and ‘disappearing’ more resistance leaders, they take the risk, knowing that if they do not act now, they will face this repression for years to come. “This is a struggle for justice”, they announce, ready to continue fighting for peace.

Torch Sparks Action Nationwide: A Review of the 2010 Torch Trajectory

By: Shailagh Keaney

photos by karol o. / decipherimages.com | All images are from the Toronto ‘Block the Torch’ rally, Dec. 17, 2009. Police attempted to intervene multiple times, but protesters were successful in blocking the torch for nearly two hours.

On Oct. 30, 2009, the Olympic Torch was ignited in Canada and set out on its 106-day relay. A “unique moment in Canadian history” when people can “feel the Olympic Spirit and reach for gold,” according to major Olympic-backer Royal Bank of Canada (RBC), the cross-country tour has aimed to build hype for the 2010 Vancouver Olympics. But the torch was not the only thing to be sparked and hype was not the only thing to be built in the months leading up to the Games.

The trajectory of the Torch Relay, set to finish on Feb. 12 in Vancouver, will have brought the torch to 1,000 communities throughout the part of Turtle Island now known as Canada. The relay events feature flashy setups, local artists and promotional trucks for Coca-Cola and RBC, two of the relay’s major sponsors.  Police have accompanied the Torch throughout, with a resulting $4 million security budget.

True to form, many people have been swept up in Olympic hype and have waited in crowds and on roadsides with children in tow, anxious for an Olympic moment of their own. Hidden beneath the relay’s messages of inspiration, however, is a harsher reality that demonstrators coast-to-coast have attempted to display in nearly 20 cities so far.

People have greeted the torch along its route with their own messages, including the theft of Indigenous land, corporate profit grabbing, ecological destruction, militarization and migrant exploitation, all directly associated with the Olympics. Some have also used the relay to bring forward issues of sovereignty, lack of justice for hundreds of missing and murdered Native women, and opposition to the seal hunt.

As the Torch Relay has moved from community to community, it has been a magnet for opposition to the Olympics and has simultaneously stirred assertions of sovereignty in First Nations communities along its route.

At the Torch Relay kickoff event in Victoria, 400 people held a zombie march and took part in an anti-Torch Relay festival. At one point, the protest jammed the street and forced the torch to be extinguished and re-routed. In the week before the event, at least 25 people were visited by Integrated Security Unit and asked questions about the torch, according to an article on anarchistnews.org.

From there, the torch traveled north across the Yukon and the Northwest Territories, bypassed the Alberta tar sands, circled up to the northern tip of Nunavut and back down again to the Atlantic Provinces where it would once again meet opposition.

It saw dissidents with banners in Halifax, followed by more in Quebec City. Five days later, residents of Kahnawake saw to it that the RCMP would not enter their territory; local Mohawk Peacekeepers accompanied the torch instead.

photos by karol o. / decipherimages.com

Montreal’s sizeable opposition came next, with 200 people blocking the stage set up for the occasion and delaying the fanfare for almost an hour. “We are here today to express our solidarity and our resistance with people in British Colombia and all across Turtle Island who are resisting these disgusting Olympics that are being built on stolen Native land, which are causing displacement all over downtown Vancouver [and] all over the interior of so-called British Columbia,” announced demonstrator Aaron Lakoff through a megaphone. Police in riot gear eventually arrived on the scene and heavy-handedly shoved the demonstration out of the way.

Five days later a small but respectable troupe leafleted in Peterborough, and in downtown Toronto, a demonstration of over 250 people arrived to stand in opposition to the torch. Speakers and a march were followed up with a banner reading “No Olympics on Stolen Native Land” in the Anishinaabemowin language, which was unfurled over the Torch Relay’s stage. Two people were arrested, both charged with mischief and one with assault.  Ian Robertson, a journalist working for The Toronto Sun, was shoved to the ground by a police officer during the relay, suffering a concussion. Constable Mandy Edwards, spokeswoman for the Vancouver 2010 Integrated Security Unit, described the situation as being handled in an “appropriate manner,” and explained to the Canadian Press that Robertson was shoved only after already being told twice that he was getting too close to the torch bearer.

“This is an Olympic Torch Relay. It’s a feel-good event. It’s the last place where you would find heavy-handed, police-state, goon tactics,” Robertson told The Canadian Press.

After Toronto, at the scheduled stop in Six Nations, in anticipation of the torch, the Onkwehonwe were engaging their own struggle for sovereignty. The Canada-imposed band council had agreed to host the torch, despite opposition from community members. “In 2009, there was a town meeting where 90 per cent of the people in attendance opposed the torch,” Lindsey Bomberry of the Onondaga nation explained to The Dominion.

A declaration from the Onkwehonwe of the Grand River read, “This land is not conquered. We are not Canadian… We hereby affirm our peaceful opposition to the entry and progression of the 2010 Olympic torch into and through our territory.” People created a blockade to stop the flame from going over the Grand River or down Highway 54 into the heart of the Six Nations territory. As a result, the torch was re-routed and festivities were held at another location on the Six Nations territory.

“This was very significant,” says Melissa Elliott, a founding member of Young Onkwehonwe United (YOU), and member of the Tuscarora Nation. “Six Nations was the first community to have the torch rerouted. [The demonstration at Six Nations] was held entirely by Onkewonkwe people, and so it had our issues at the forefront: issues like sovereignty, like our territory and our land.”

photos by karol o. / decipherimages.com

“The Olympics is not just about sport. It is political, and it is colonial and it is imperial, and the torch carries this symbolism. When we heard that it was coming through our community, there was strong opposition since we have already been facing what the torch stands for,” adds Bomberry.

The following day, people in Oneida succeeded in repelling the Torch Relay entirely using a blockade and a pledge to keep the torch from entering Oneida.

Two days later was Christmas Eve, and London folks served a holiday meal “to anyone who thought free food was a better deal than an overpriced flame,” according to an article posted on no2010.com. Around 40 people joined in.

In Kitchener, over 150 people marched with banners denouncing colonialism on Turtle Island. Banners were draped from RBC buildings, where “the government of Canada and the RBC were publicly shamed for their role in the ongoing genocide of Indigenous people and their support for the criminal developments of Alberta’s tar sands,” according to an article on peaceculture.org.

According to Alex Hundert of Anti-War At Laurier (AW@L), the RCMP intervened in the demonstration as it was winding down, formed a “hard line,” and pushed some demonstrators in the process. “There were people who were voicing the perspective that if the police were violating the family-friendly protest, then it was time to take the gloves off and all bets were off,” he says. “And it was in response to that that the local police called the RCMP off.”

Then came Guelph, where a small demonstration of 20 to 30 people made headlines when a torch-bearer was knocked over during a skirmish with police. Witnesses say she tripped over a police officer’s leg. Two protesters were charged with assault, but the charges were later dropped.

There was leafleting in Sudbury and then Nairn Centre, where an attempt at a highway blockade and banner drop opposing the Olympics was thwarted by police. A group made up primarily of Indigenous people arrived and were stopped almost immediately. “People were arrested before everybody was out of the van,” says Hundert, who was nearby.

Some days later in Roseau River First Nations, Manitoba, people held signs and photographs showing some of the over 500 missing and murdered women in Canada as the torch went by. Former head of the Assembly of First Nations Phil Fontaine criticized the event for “tarnishing the image of Canada.”

“The fact that there is a list of over 500 murdered and missing Native women is what tarnishes the image of Canada,” Chief Terrence Nelson, one of the organizers of the event, rebuked.

In Winnipeg people dressed as Olympic rings each representing a particular issue: homelessness and the criminalization of the poor, massive police spending and the outlawing of dissent, environmental destruction, missing and murdered women, and the theft of Native land. Upon taking the street, demonstrators were pushed out by Winnipeg police. The torch was extinguished and transported forward in a truck.

Later was Saskatoon and then Calgary, where over 500 brochures were handed out. Teri, who helped to organize the leafleting, told The Dominion two people were ticketed for littering–apparently for a brochure that a police officer dropped.

The final stop will be in Vancouver on Feb. 12, in the midst of the NO2010 Convergence, where people are anticipating a festival involving days of actions and protests against police brutality and calling for justice for missing and murdered women.

Over the past four months, the torch has been moving from North to South to East to West and back, draping the Canadian flag and littering miniature Coca-Cola bottles all across the country.

This, however, will not be the only legacy of the 2010 Vancouver Olympics.

“I think the Torch Relay is a major step where various forms of anti-colonial and anti-capital resistance that were rooted in very different places and different issues along those common themes had come together physically in several places,” explains Hundert. “One of the things that is going to be really interesting to see is the way momentum does get carried into Toronto and the G20.”

Shailagh Keaney is a writer based in occupied Atikameksheng Anishnawbek territory.

This article was originally published in The Dominion.

Diesel Fueled Trains set to run Through Western Toronto: Community Concerns and Resistance

By: Jesse Zimmerman

Currently, there are plans to create a train route through Western Toronto that would connect Union Station in downtown Toronto to Lester B. Pearson International Airport in the far Western point of the city.  The proposed route bisects various neighbourhoods, starting from the downtown areas of City Place, Fort York, Brockton Village and Parkdale, Roncesvalles, up to the Junction, Harwood, and through the North-West regions of Weston, Humber Heights and Kingsview Village. The main purpose of this project is to allow the flow of imports and exports, and to ensure the market runs smoothly.  The train route will be good for business, but will have severe consequences for the residents of the areas it runs through.

The company behind this is Metrolinx, a public authority that serves the Greater Toronto Area and the Hamilton region.  The Ontario provincial government created the organization and is responsible for running the train route project. This expansion consists of two projects; the Georgetown South Service Expansion (GSSE) and the Union-Pearson Rail Link (UPRL). The GSSE is an expansion of the service from Union to the Georgetown Corridor, while the UPRL is the greater extension to connect Pearson Airport to Union Station. Construction is slated to start in 2010 and be completed by 2014.

A grassroots group known as the Clean Train Coalition formed in the spring of 2009.  This organization notes numerous concerns regarding the proposed railway. Their concerns include the bisection of communities and the noise that the trains will produce.  More importantly, it has been revealed that Metrolinx and the Government of Ontario plan to use diesel-fueled trains in this project.  The Clean Train Coalition’s number one priority is the health and environmental impact of diesel being pumped into the air.  It is estimated at this point that nearly 400-450 trains a day will run along the rail.  The Clean Train Coalition demands the use of electrification as it will run quieter and be less of a burden on both the environment and the well-being of residents.

The Clean Train Coalition is co-chaired by community activist Mike Sullivan. When asked why Metrolinx and the provincial government insist on diesel fuel he responded: “We suspect it is again related to the Air Link.  Metrolinx could electrify the corridor within the time frames allotted.  But SNC Lavalin may not want to run electric trains and may already have purchased diesel.”

During the summer of 2009, Dr. David McKeown, Toronto’s Medical Officer of Health, publicly stated his concerns about this project: “What we know about air pollution in Toronto is that any proposal now should pass a very stringent test before it goes forward. This proposal has not passed that test in my view.  The study, conducted by Metrolinx itself, indicates clearly that there will be impacts on air quality as well as health risks for those that live close to the line.”

McKeown has mentioned an increase in severity for those who suffer from respiratory ailments as well as a possible risk of increased leukemia occurring in children who live near the line.

On Sept. 26, 2009, a community response came in the form of a vast Human Train Protest, headed by the Clean Train Coalition and other community, social justice and environmental groups.  The human train moved along the proposed corridor, making various stops throughout the city’s West End.  At each stop there were speeches, performances and new contingents of demonstrators joining.  By the end of the demonstration about 1,000 people had gathered.  Various political representatives attended, some notable ones including NDP MP Olivia Chow, former Parkdale-High Park MP Peggy Nash, MPP Cheri DiNovo and others, as well as Gerrard Kennedy, the current Liberal MP for Parkdale-High Park who received some heckling after insisting the minister of Environment in McGuinty’s government was a good minister.  A few city councilors were also present.  The demonstration received a fair amount of media coverage and brought to light the coalition’s concerns.

Despite this demonstration and the growing mobilization that has since followed in the soon-to-be affected communities this past Oct. 5, 2009, John Gerretsen, Ontario’s Environment Minister, officially approved the project.  Some environmental conditions were attached to the project, such as the regulation that the diesel trains use Tier 4 diesel trains.  The Clean Train Coalition is not satisfied with this and pledges to continue to fight for electrification.

When asked what long-term effects we can expect from this project, Sullivan explains, “Massive increases in pollution–in particular Nitrous Oxide and Particulate Matter (soot).  Particulates also are the aggregating point for a whole range of carcinogens–they aren’t just unburnt carbon molecules.  Some particulates stop at the mucous membranes, but most of them will be much smaller and can get into the lungs. Some are small enough to get through the blood barrier and into the blood.  Nitrous Oxide and Particulates also are directly responsible for smog, which makes breathing difficult, particularly for asthmatics and the elderly, and anyone with cardiovascular or respiratory issues.”

“Massive increases in noise and vibration, Metrolinx has proposed some noise barrier walls in some places, but admit they can`t mitigate the noise above the second floor of apartments by the tracks, so those residents will have to suffer.  They also pulled a fast one and decided to measure the increases in noise against an imaginary ‘no build’ scenario in which the number of trains doubles.  So the real increases in noise is not reflected in their studies.  Same for vibration.”

The struggle against this plan will continue.  Alongside environmental concerns and the health of the residents there are also classist undertones.  Most of the communities that are set to be bisected by this railway are working-class and generally low-income communities.

“If this were Forest Hill, Rosedale, or the Bridle Path, these trains would be electric yesterday.  But because the communities are primarily lower income, recent immigrant populations, there are those who believe the project will be rammed through anyway,” explains Sullivan. “The number of times people have been told ‘you chose to live by the tracks, there are going to be trains’ is legion.  People chose to live by tracks with a certain kind of acceptable level of noise vibration and pollution.  To tell those folks to accept an eight-fold increase and then blame the residents is classist and shocking.”

“Metrolinx should be held to account for the high-handed, arrogant and deliberately misleading process they have run,” says Sullivan. “The number of deliberate half-truths and misleading statements is neither honest, nor transparent.  Other agencies have had massive shakeups because they spent unwisely.  This one is an embarrassment to the government.”

The Clean Train Coalition encourages residents to write, phone, e-mail and visit their MPs, MPPs and City Councilors in protest against these plans.  Not only are the neighbourhoods directly alongside the railway affected, but nearly everywhere in Toronto will be susceptible to the long-term consequences as wind will move toxic carcinogens throughout the Greater Toronto Area.

For more information visit the website http://www.cleantrain.ca/ (sign the petition if you are concerned about this) or e-mail info@cleantrain.ca.

Dear TWB community,

The Toronto Women’s Bookstore is in crisis and we need your help! Independent businesses and bookstores have been closing their doors this year, and after 36 years it is possible that we will have to do the same if we are not able to raise enough money to survive. TWB is one of the only remaining non-profit feminist bookstores in North America, but despite all of the events, courses, workshops, community resources and additional services we offer, the fact that we are a store means that we do not receive any outside funding and rely entirely on sales and the support of our customers to stay in business.

Over the past few years, our sales have not been enough to sustain us and this is why we are coming to you, our community, for help. If every one of you donated $10 we would raise enough to keep going for 3 months, $20 each would keep us in business for 6 months, and $30 each would be enough for us to keep our doors open, hopefully for good. All donations will go directly towards covering the bookstore’s costs, and are a part of a larger plan of action and structural change to make the business sustainable in the current economy.

In the past, when feminist bookstores were closing down all across North America, the support of the community is what kept TWB alive. You are the reason that we are still here today, and we believe that with your help we can once again work together to save this organization where so many of us as readers, writers, feminists, artists, and activists have found a home.

You can make donations over the phone, on our website www.womensbookstore.com (paypal link available soon), or in person at the store. As a non-profit store we are not eligible for charitable status and cannot offer tax receipts, but we are hoping to be able to offer tax receipts for donations over $100 in collaboration with a non-profit charity who shares our mandate.  We will have that information available on our website and in store as soon as possible.

You can also help by spreading the word to your friends and community, contacting us if you know of any funding we might be eligible for, promoting this fundraising drive in your paper or on your blog, website or radio show, organizing your own save the bookstore fundraisers or just passing the hat at your parties, giving a TWB donation as a gift, and of course, coming in and bringing all your friends to the store for some shopping!

Thank you all for your support,

The Toronto Women’s Bookstore Board, Staff & Volunteers

University of Ottawa’s Newest Weapon in the Fight against Freedom of Expression

By: Joseph Hickey

photo by: Joseph Hickey

A full-time graduate student in Physics at the University of Ottawa (U of O), Joseph Hickey, has called on Mr. Vern White, Chief of Police, to keep the Ottawa Police out of campus politics.  The University of Ottawa issued a no trespassing notice to the U of O campus to Hickey for his alleged participation in a freedom of expression event that resulted in the painting of the message “These Walls Belong to Students” in the outdoor poster-display areas of the university library walls.  Having already contacted U of O President Allan Rock several times to ask that he revoke the no trespassing notice, Hickey went to make an appointment with President Rock at his office on Friday Dec. 11, 2009, where he was arrested by the Ottawa Police and served with a trespassing ticket.

When asking Constable De Los Santos of the Ottawa Police to verify Hickey’s registration at the university, the student learned that the University’s Protection Services had given De Los Santos false information about Hickey’s registration status.  The university made a claim that since Hickey’s exam in one course was completed he was no longer a registered student.  However, Hickey is still a full-time graduate student at the U of O, since Master’s students are registered at all times in the Master’s thesis program.

“As a registered full-time graduate student with course, research, and Teaching Assistant obligations, I have the right to be on campus every day, without discrimination or interference” said Hickey.

Both the teaching assistant union (CUPE Local 2626) and the graduate student association (GSAÉD) wrote to President Rock, insisting that the no trespassing notice be rescinded immediately, and protesting the discrimination and interference Hickey had been made to suffer.

Three days later on Dec. 14, 2009, Mr. Hickey was removed from the Department of Physics Christmas party by university police without any explanation other than the Chairman of Physics Béla Joós saying “sorry, Joe,” and a university police officer’s private comment “you are disturbing people by being here.”

After having his Teaching Assistant contract withheld by the department of Physics, and being threatened with the loss of his employment, local student media began to cover the story with headlines such as “Battle to stay on campus leads to arrest: Student arrested for trespassing while making an appointment.”

The no trespassing notice was finally revoked without condition on Jan. 11, and Hickey began his TA job two days later.  However, the letter in which the trespass notice was revoked assigned guilt to the student rather than presuming innocence, and affirmed the university’s right to use trespass against students in the future as it sees fit.

Hickey has commenced a grievance with the TA Union over discrimination, harassment, improper discipline, and violation of academic freedom.  He will be disputing the Trespass Ticket that he received when arrested at the President’s office.  The trial will take place on March 1. The misuse of trespass as a political tool dates back to the campuses of the 1960’s, including its use in the Berkeley Free Speech Movement to remove outspoken students from their university.  In his letter to Police Chief White, Hickey urges him not to let the Ottawa Police repeat the errors of the past.  “Let us keep the police for authentic criminal and safety matters, not campus politics. I also ask that Ottawa Police officers be informed about student rights before making any more arrests of this type on university campuses,” stressed Hickey.

In using these newly rediscovered powers to trespass and forcefully remove registered students from campus, the University of Ottawa runs the risk of resuscitating their most potent counter-measure: direct student action in defiance of the absurdity embodied by the university administration.  Ottawa Free Speech Movement?  That has a nice ring to it.

For more information, please contact: Joseph Hickey at jhick059@gmail.com.

York U Student Arrives Home After Being Detained in Indonesia more than 11 Hours

By: Canadian HART

Canadian student, Jessica Chandrashekar, University of Toronto Alumni and PhD student from York University arrives home after being detained in Indonesia for supporting Tamil refugees marooned on a boat of the coast of Indonesia at the behest of the Australian government. Friends and family of Jessica welcomed her home on Saturday Jan. 30, at Pearson International Airport. Jessica will be speaking to the media about her confinement.

During her three days of detention her passport was confiscated and she was asked to sign a document that was in Bahasa Indonesia. Jessica was warned against speaking out to the media. She was in Indonesia meeting with senior officials of the Indonesian foreign ministry to arrange humanitarian supplies for the 254 Tamil boat refugees.

“I am really looking forward to being back home in Canada. I can’t believe I was arrested for doing humanitarian work. But what is worse is the treatment of these refugees who are stuck without food, water or safety on a boat.” said Jessica Chandrashekar in a statement.

The asylum seekers, who have been living on a boat for over 100 days, are under threat of deportation back to Sri Lanka. One asylum seeker has died from having been denied medical care. Another person is in need of immediate medical attention for injuries sustained during the war. There are 31 children on the boat and one pregnant woman. All of the asylum seekers are suffering from lack of food and medicine and the denial of medical attention.

The Australia-bound boat was intercepted by the Indonesian Navy upon Australia’s request. Australia, as a signatory to the 1951 Refugee Convention, has a responsibility to protect these refugees. Human rights advocates around the world are condemning Australia and Indonesia for stalling the refugee boat for the past four months.

Experts on the war in Sri Lanka, and international refugee agreements, who are also familiar with family members of the some of the refugees, will be available for interviews.

For more information contact Canadian Humanitarian Appeal for the Relief of Tamils (HART) at (647) 836-6858.

Through community outreach and media campaigns, Canadian HART seeks to raise awareness about the human rights abuses against the Tamil minority population in Sri Lanka. Working in collaboration with labour unions, student groups, faith-based organizations and community organizations, Canadian HART aims to draw Canadian and international attention to the situation of Tamils in Sri Lanka and to push for an international presence and monitoring of the humanitarian crisis in Sri Lanka.

Proposed Vari Hall Renovations Worse than a Waste: York Community Members Oppose Misplacement of Priorities, Resources

By: Committee to Defend Student Space

The York University administration’s plan to renovate Vari Hall rotunda is an outrageous attempt to eliminate space for independent student cultural and political assembly. This scheme entails misallocation of scarce resources, exclusion of student governments’ recommendations, and neglect of concerns about campus accessibility. A committee of students, faculty and staff is organizing to respond to this negligence and to defend student space.

The administration pleads poverty when asked to address actual campus priorities. Sexual assaults persist on campus but we have yet to see increased shuttle service or improved lighting. Student tuition and user fees rise uncontrollably as researchers and staff await further budget cuts. York researchers still lack access to the University of Toronto’s academic libraries; following U of T’s fall 2009 decision to block external library users, other university administrations (e.g. McMaster and Ryerson) negotiated and allocated resources to restore faculty and graduate student access. The list goes on.

In this context, why should we funnel resources into a misguided renovation project? Vice-President Students Rob Tiffin has now admitted that the renovation initiative is intended “to quell protests”. Administrators regularly leverage the rotunda’s central design flaw–the proximity of classrooms to the rotunda’s acoustics–to suppress student activity.  In past years, administrators have issued blanket prohibitions on use of Vari Hall for independent organized student activities of any kind. The community has continually rejected these prohibitions, so the administration is now trying to impose them through architecture.

When the York Federation of Students (YFS) and Graduate Students Association (GSA) recommend reasonable solutions to the rotunda noise, such as soundproofing the classrooms, their contributions are ignored. Other important stakeholders are similarly overlooked. The proposed renovation designs fail to honour the 2005 Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act (AODA) and were not put together in consultation with people with disabilities. One plan involves stairways, another incorporates an elevated platform, and all three plans will clutter an already busy rotunda.  All three features will inadvertently obstruct the way for people with mobility and visual impairments.

The Task Force on Student Life, Learning and Community 2009 report (which the administration uses to justify the renovation) is peppered with safeguards for free expression and assembly.  For example, “universities are and should be sites of scholarly, intellectual and political engagement, places in which provocative questions can be asked which intentionally seek to disturb the status quo and which need to be raised free of intimidation and harassment”.

The report adds, “Our primary focus is on promoting more speech and expression, rather than less”.

We will hold the administration accountable to these principles and to the promised opportunity for debate of the proposed designs.

The proposed renovations of Vari Hall are culturally, politically, and socially harmful for our campus. Unless fundamentally changed, in meaningful consultation with students, they should not proceed. The Committee to Defend Student Space calls on fellow community organizations and individuals to express outrage in response to the process and substance of the renovation initiative, and to join us in ensuring that better options are pursued.

Send a letter to the York University Administration!

http://www.yfs.ca/studentspace

Contact the Committee to Defend Student Space at defendstudentspace@gmail.com or find the group on Facebook.