Concordia’s annual book fair aimed to beat their goal of raising $30,000 for student scholarships through volunteer events
Concordia’s annual EPIC Used Book Fair made its grand return with over 1000 books to sell. The event took place in the EV building atrium on March 28-29. The fair aims to raise funds for student scholarships and give a second life to used books.
This year, the fair received 30 pallets, with each pallet containing over 20 boxes of books. The books were donated by faculty members, alumni, students and people from the community. Event coordinator Luke Quin said they were accepting donations year-round.
The book fair’s purpose is to raise funds for students. It is a charity event where all proceeds go towards student scholarships.
“Some of us are also passionate about used books and giving a second home to used books, so that’s an added incentive to running this fair,” said Quin, who would rather see a book go home with a new friend than see it end up in a landfill.
Students and members of the public can find books of all types, from science and math textbooks to books on performing arts.
Giordano Imola is a student in the performance creation program of Concordia’s theatre department who stumbled upon the book fair. “I came looking for plays […] and I found a bunch that I’m just looking forward to reading. I’m just deciding what to keep now,” said Imola.
The pricing was one of the main selling points of the book fair. Book prices began at $3 and went up to $10. In previous years, the book fair had made up to $30,000 dollars. This year they hoped to raise more.
The fair was entirely volunteer-run. The Concordian spoke with volunteer Ginette Leduc, who said that by 2 p.m. on the first day, her cash register alone had made around 150 sales, and she estimated that her partners had made similar sales.
It was Leduc’s first time working the cash register, which she found quite stressful albeit enjoyable. “People understand, there’s big lineups sometimes, but it’s for a good cause so that’s OK,” she said.
The book fair has been running for 20 years. Before Quin took over in 2016, it was run by Susan Hawke and a small core group of volunteers. Since then, they’ve been able to recruit new volunteers, accept electronic payment and get more book donations. Quin says they’ve had some support from Concordia’s University Advancement community and fundraising program to promote the book fair on social media, and a ton of support from the services and sustainability sector of the university.
Climber and author Gabriel Filippi discusses the danger of comfort zones
As the first Canadian to climb Mount Everest three times, Gabriel Filippi has experienced both remarkable achievements and unbounded loss. Born in Lac-Mégantic, the undeterred mountaineer has been to over 40 countries and scaled six of the seven highest summits in the world, which he details in his book, The Escapist.
In 2013, Filippi, a team of 10 climbers and one guide were set to climb Pakistan’s Nanga Parbat. Recognizing the peril that lay ahead, Filippi eventually made the gut decision not to pursue the climb, keeping his daughter in mind. It was only after he returned to Montreal that he received the harrowing news: his climbing team, all 11 members, had been massacred by the Taliban.
Two years later, while at the Everest base camp, Filippi experienced Nepal’s worst disaster in history: a 7.8 magnitude earthquake that ended up killing nearly 9,000 citizens.
After jumping to the rescue of those around him and witnessing overwhelming death, he inevitably found himself heading home with the burden of survivor’s guilt. After seeking treatment for PTSD, he returned back to climbing, now with the recognition that “no climber returns from a summit the same person as when they began their ascent.”
Although he has experienced more adversity than one person could ever be prepared for, the ineffable allure of reaching a summit has been enough to steer him away from resuming the normal nine-to-five work week.
Since the beginning of the pandemic, Filippi has had to put off another Everest climb, but has been busy hosting virtual conferences and motivational talks. He hopes that the anecdotes and lessons he shares can inspire others to address their own challenges, especially those struggling with the conditions brought on by COVID-19.
“I see this situation like any obstacle that comes my way: let’s adapt,” he said.
In terms of loss, Filippi knows he has no control over what the future holds, only how he can react to the circumstances that await him.
“On expeditions I have to let go of things I do not have control of. This will help me relax, be more confident and not make stupid mistakes under stress I shouldn’t have,” he explained.
As explored in both his book and through his motivational talks, Filippi has managed to reframe his position on fear and translate challenging moments into opportunities for resilience.
“I can’t say [my] expeditions are difficult. I prefer to say challenging,” he said. “For example, spending four nights in an ice cave at 17,000 feet on Denali with only two days of food and no tent wasn’t difficult, but instead challenging.”
Filippi has realized that in the face of dread, the best — and undoubtedly most difficult — thing a person can do is to confront the fears that plague them.
“On Everest we have to cross crevasses with ladders,” he explained. “The fear is present when you show up in front of the ladder, but to conquer that fear you need to take that first step.”
He’s noticed that people tend to remain in their comfort zone because they’re so familiar with the security, without realizing how harmful a life of predictability can be.
“My comfort zone is my enemy,” Filippi said. “I don’t want to stay there too long because nothing happens.”
To learn more about Filippi and his adventures, visit his website or pick up a copy of his book The Escapist.
Haruki Murakami became a household name after releasing the ever-popular coming of age novel Norwegian Wood. This sensual and tragic story centers around Toru Watanabe’s life in Tokyo amidst the student movement that took place in the sixties. Norwegian Wood became a hit in the West, with 2.5 million copies sold in the U.S. alone. Murakami demonstrates how a coming of age story is one that is nostalgic at its core and more than often harbors tragedy-stricken characters.
As a fan of both Japanese literature and the bildungsroman genre, as well as someone who quickly became a fan of Haruki Murakami, I finally decided to read Norwegian Wood, his most recognized work. The book had been recommended to me countless times and I began to ask myself just how great it is in comparison to his other works.
When I finished reading, I was surprised at how disappointed I was, despite still having enjoyed it. It was beautifully written, but something was still lacking. The book had become so glorified, most likely for its depth and beautiful prose. However, in comparison to his other books, something about Murakami’s portrayal of certain characters painted a picture of instability and insecurity, especially for the female characters. This isn’t always a bad thing, but I feel Murakami exaggerates a bit too much.
Despite a range of talented writers, Japanese literature had become dominated by Murakami and this one book is what the West most frequently associated the genre with. It’s almost a crime to limit yourself to one writer in a genre where the sky’s the limit.
The hangover from Norwegian Wood led me to order a few books from some of Japan’s finest modern authors. I decided on three books, although if I’m honest, choosing which three felt like Sophie’s Choice. I finally decided: Banana Yashimoto’s Goodbye Tsugumi, Ryu Murakami’s Coin Locker Babies, and Yoko Ogawa’s The Housekeeper and the Professor.
Goodbye Tsugumi follows cousins Maria and Tsugumi as they prepare to spend one last summer together in their sleepy coastal town, bidding farewell to their childhood home. I wasn’t a stranger to Banana Yoshimoto’s simplistic yet equally existential style, but Goodbye Tsugumi took me by surprise. Through the author’s minimalist imagery, the mundane is celebrated and appreciated. This narrative stayed with me long after leaving the page.
Next on my list was Coin Locker Babies. This postmodern novel follows the lives of two young boys abandoned by their mothers at a Tokyo train station. Known for his visceral horror stories, Ryu Murakami explores themes similar to those found in Haruki Murakami’s work. Ryu Murakami’s style deviates, however, in its exploration of the darker facets of life in Japan. Coin Locker Babies is an exceptionally told story for those who seek a coming of age account with a splash of dark comedy and surrealism.
Finally, The Housekeeper and the Professor centers around a brilliant mathematician who, due to an accident, suffers short term memory loss. The story follows his interactions with a lowly but irritated housekeeper and her son. Ogawa’s brilliant use of mathematical terminology is intertwined into the book, along with her usual earnest tone. This book is a much lighter read than the rest, but still manages to make the reader question the world they live in, even in the most ordinary moments. Ogawa leaves you wanting more each time, but that’s just part of her charm.
Japanese bildungsroman novels zone in on the psyche and moral growth of their characters, subjecting the readers to an often turbulent journey. They’re rewarding but also difficult to digest at times. Just as anyone would attest, no human life is devoid of adversity. If you’ve ever sought out the perfect coming of age story, one with a cut-and-paste happy ending, it’s simple: there just isn’t one.
Concordia professor launches her debut novel, Arabic for Beginners
Despite the relentless rain on Thursday, April 6, about 50 people came to support Concordia professor Ariela Freedman for the launch of her acclaimed debut novel, Arabic for Beginners.
The bookstore Drawn & Quarterly hosted the intimate gathering, with many of Freedman’s friends, family, colleagues and readers present to show their support.
“I love publishing, and I rarely enjoy it more than when I am in a position to launch a first novel and introduce a new voice in literary firmament,” said Freedman’s publisher, Linda Leith, when introducing her at the event.
Ariela Freedman is an associate professor at Concordia. Arabic for Beginners is her first novel. Photo by Ana Hernandez.
Arabic for Beginners tells the story of Hannah, a Jewish woman from Montreal who spends a year in Jerusalem. She becomes fascinated by group of mothers from her son’s daycare because of the cultural differences she notices. Upon meeting Jenna, a Palestinian mother, Hannah begins to reassess her own beliefs about motherhood and Israel.
The idea for the novel came about when Freedman traveled to Jerusalem in 2008 for her sabbatical year. She had spent time in the city during her youth, but it was during this return trip with her family that she found herself looking at Israel from a different perspective.
“Coming with young children made the country open up for me and brought me into contact with people I would have never met otherwise,” Freedman told The Concordian.
The novel explores themes of motherhood, friendship and nationality.
During the launch, Freedman read a passage from the book where Hannah is in a car with Jenna and her daughter. “Jenna smoked, drove and nursed,” she read. At this point in the novel, Hannah’s friendship with Jenna forces her to revisit her own assumptions about parts of her life, including parenting. The character contrasts Jenna’s behaviour with those of her “puritan” friends in Montreal who all quit drinking and smoking after having kids, and who buy organic foods and use water filters.
Freedman confessed the reason parenthood was a central theme in the novel is because of her own initial worries, confusion and curiosities surrounding it.
“In the first flush of motherhood, I couldn’t figure out how to keep space in my head for my own identity and ideas,” she said. “I was afraid I would vanish into this consuming role as so many women have.”
Freeman said it was also important for her to explore the Israel-Palestine conflict in her novel. Set during the Gaza war, the friendship Hannah and Jenna form is atypical because of their different cultural backgrounds. Freedman described the present-day political situation in Israel as “kaleidoscopic” and said “capturing it factually is elusive.”
Freedman said she wanted to tell the familiar story of the Arab and Jewish conflict but she did not want to focus on men and wars. Instead, she explored it through the small gestures and ordinary domestic tasks of women’s lives.
“By focusing on the characters and their relationships, I tried to not let the themes overwhelm the story,” Freedman said. “I like stories that seem constrained, but have dimension, like those old View-Master stereoscopes that you would peek through to simulate binocular depth perception.”
Freedman has written reviews and poems for several publications, including magazines such as Vallum, Carte Blanche, and The Cincinnati Review. In 2014, she was given a writing mentorship with Elise Moser by the Quebec Writers’ Federation (QWF). That was when Arabic for Beginners was really able to take off. That being said, Freedman recalls it was difficult to start the novel.
The launch took place in Mile End’s Drawn & Quarterly bookstore on Thursday, April 6. Photo by Ana Hernandez
“At a certain point, I decided that, if I wanted to write fiction, I just had to go ahead and do it without standing in my own way,” Freedman said.
Freedman said she sees herself as a reader first and a writer second. She wrote fiction as an undergraduate student, but went into literature in graduate school.
“That demanded a lot of my writing energy, but it also made the critical part of my mind so dominant that it became hard to produce creative work because I was always aware of where I fell short,” she told The Concordian. “Writing fiction has involved letting go of that critical voice.”
Freedman is currently working on another story that has potential to turn into a novel.
“The next thing I’m working on so far seems to be set in New York,” she said.
The author has lived in Calgary and London, but New York, Montreal and Jerusalem are three cities she said she particularly loves living in. “[They] provoke feelings of intense ambivalence,” she said. While Freedman said she would like to write a book set in Montreal, she remembered Margaret Atwood once saying it is easier to write about places from a distance.
Freedman also wanted to share some advice to aspiring writers: “I guess I’d add—for students who are writers—that it can be really useful to share your work, and to look for the people who can help you get it into the world.”
Caroline Vu’s Palawan Story tells a story of memory and Vietnamese culture
Concordia alumna Caroline Vu weaves a tale of memory loss and childhood trauma in her debut novel, Palawan Story, which was shortlisted for the prestigious Concordia University First Book Prize last week.
The First Book Prize is part of a series of awards honouring English writing by Quebec authors, and will be given at the 16th annual Quebec Writers Federation Awards Ceremony on Nov. 18. As the only university that offers BA and MA English-language creative writing programs in Quebec, Concordia University began sponsoring this award in 2011. Vu is shortlisted for the award along with Anna Leventhal for her collection of short stories, Sweet Affliction, and Sean Michaels for his novel, Us Conductors.
Stimulated by a desire to understand her mother’s experience with memory loss, Vu began writing this novel 10 years ago to explore the boundaries of memory within the context of her Vietnamese heritage. What began as mere stream of consciousness progressed into a desire to publish a novel for the public eye.
“The main theme is memory problems and how trauma can influence what we remember and don’t remember,” said Vu. “It’s about how memory identifies our identity.”
Though Vu was pressured into pursuing a medical career, her childhood passion for writing gave her the discipline to dedicate the hours of 11 p.m. to 2 a.m. to writing her novel. During her medical career, Vu worked with geriatric patients experiencing memory loss, and her cultural background as well as her interaction with these individuals allowed her to offer an authentic portrayal of her protagonist.
Vu’s psychology education at Concordia provoked her fascination with the shortcomings of memory and the question of its reliability as a source of information. Her novel’s title, Palawan Story, highlights the significance of storytelling as an integral element of identity construction.
For someone whose third language is English and who has never taken a writing course, Vu’s feat is an inspiration to aspiring writers with unique histories and diverse backgrounds in the Canadian multicultural landscape. Vu’s advice to writers?
“Don’t follow a formula. If you want to establish an authentic voice, your novel should come from the heart,” she said.
The novel tells the story of Kim, a young Vietnamese girl whose parents force her onto a boat headed towards Palawan along with other Vietnam War refugees. Mistaken for an orphan who shares her name, Kim is taken in by a family in America and must invent stories to recreate the identity they believe she possesses. Her inability to recall her past takes her on a journey of self-discovery as she returns to Palawan to work as a volunteer doctor. It is only by speaking to other refugees that Kim begins to piece together her past and strengthen her sense of identity. The opening chapter reminds the reader of the ambiguity surrounding the war’s beginnings and challenges the notion of establishing a concrete truth within a post-war context. A novel about trauma-induced memory loss, Palawan Story explores the challenges faced by people who escaped a war-torn Vietnam, were separated from their families and forced to rebuild their lives.
Vu has been published in the Medical Post, the Toronto Star, the Montreal Gazette, The Geneva Times, and The Tico Times (Costa Rica). She is a member of the Quebec Writers Federation and her second novel, That Summer in Provincetown, has already been accepted for publication.
The winner of the Concordia University First Book Prize will be announced at the ceremony on Nov. 18.
“The support I would have appreciated: one kind word from anyone. When I counsel women at the clinic now… I do what I can to communicate to these women that making a choice is another step towards empowerment—that they are choosing for themselves.”
These are the words of Lori, one of the 32 women who contributed to One Kind Word, a collection of stories from all walks of Canadian women about the experience of having an abortion.
Martha Solomon and Kathryn Palmateer, the curators of the project, hope to help erase the stigma that still surrounds abortion today.
“We wanted to tell the stories of these women, and show their faces so that people could see that they’re just like you and me,” said Palmateer, who is also the photographer for the project. “They’re our moms, our neighbours, our friends, our sisters, our teachers.”
Each woman in the book has a two-page spread dedicated to her. One side of the page is for the written anecdote of her story, and the other side features a face-on, black-and-white portrait.
“An important piece of the aesthetic was that the women could be seen, and not hidden in the shadows, not shrouded in darkness, because their stories so often are,” said Palmateer.
Solomon and Palmateer embarked on the project of collecting women’s abortion stories in 2008, after Palmateer saw an article in The Ottawa Citizen that detailed wait times of upwards of five to six weeks for a woman to have an abortion in Ottawa.
Many people, and even those who already identify as pro-choice or as feminists, have moved on from the fight for pro-choice and accessible abortion. Thankfully, in Canada and increasingly worldwide, abortions are legal. People are under the impression that we’ve already won that fight, Palmateer said.
Yet, the fight is far from over. “Even now, women all over the world are not able to make that choice. Even a lot of women here in Canada, who live in the North or in rural communities have very limited access to abortion clinics,” she said.
Of course, the picture is brighter than it was a few decades ago. This is abundantly clear while reading the stories of the women in the book. For many of the younger ones, the decision was theirs and theirs alone to make, and they had easy access to a safe, specialized clinic for the procedure.
One thing that comes across very strongly through the stories of all these women is that there is no right or wrong when dealing with making this decision, or how you should feel after you’ve done so.
“Some people seem perturbed that I was not more ‘cut up’ by the whole experience, which frustrated me,” wrote Kitty.
One woman, Melanie, lifts up her shirt in the photograph to show a Hebrew-letter tattoo on her lower stomach. The tattoo reads, “I shall be with you in spirit,” Melanie wrote. “It’s a tribute to the spirit baby.”
“We were striving for a diverse range of stories—we wanted to make sure we had older women, younger women, pre-Morgentaler, post-Morgentaler…” said Palmateer.
For many of the women who had their abortions in the pre-Morgentaler days, the decision was not even theirs to make. Some had to go through referrals by three doctors in order to be deemed a candidate for abortion; some had to resort to hush-hush procedures by illegal providers.
“My grandmother told me the story of her abortion,” said Palmateer. “This was the ‘50s, and she went to her doctor, who was very pro-choice and he told her he thought this was the right decision for her. She lucked out because she had a pro-choice doctor, but ultimately it was his decision.”
Palmateer hopes to continue this project with an increasingly diverse array of women in the future. “We want to get it into the library system, we want to get it into course readers for women’s studies programs, we want to get it into clinics across the country.”
For the moment, One Kind Word is available for purchase through its publisher, 3 O’Clock Press, or at Amazon.com.ies to de-stigmatize abortion
It’s the moment many hockey enthusiasts across North America have been waiting for, a moment many fans, and even people around the National Hockey League, thought would never happen. Bobby Orr has finally written his long-awaited book, Orr: My Story.
Many books have been written about him, including Stephen Brunt’s Searching for Bobby Orr, without ever having interviewed Orr or his family because the subject never wanted the attention. Thirty-five years after retiring, he finally decided it was his turn to tell his story.
It’s amazing how someone who is arguably the best hockey player to ever play the game can remain so humble. But modesty is the definition of Orr and this book.
Orr: My Story is more than just the former number 4’s “tell-all” of his hockey career. Though he does provide more insight into his ascension in the hockey ranks, the book is dedicated to thanking the people who helped him get there.
For example, Orr had this to say in the book about his first Stanley Cup victory with the Bruins in 1970: “[…] I never really liked individual honors, because they seem to miss the point. No one guy can accept the praise for the statistics he puts up, because it takes all kinds of unacknowledged help to get there. All the coaches in minor hockey and in Oshawa. All the friends and volunteers, teachers and billets. The neighbors who lent a hand at some point, and the teammates’ parents who drove me to the rink.”
In the book, Orr never fails to mention how his family, his teammates and his coaches have made him the player he was with the Bruins, and the person he is now. He even dedicates a chapter to Don Cherry, his coach in Boston and the flamboyant host of the CBC’s Coach’s Corner on Hockey Night in Canada. Orr explains how much Cherry meant to him and his family and almost makes you want to the warm up to him.
Much of Orr: My Story is also advice to parents and younger players, as Orr wanted people to learn from his experiences, good or bad. And if you’ve followed Bobby Orr’s career, you’d know he’s had his fair share of both.
For example, Orr writes that hockey should be played to have fun and if you’re good enough to make a career out of playing, great, but that’s not the goal. Orr says that his best memories involve playing shinny hockey in outdoor rinks in Parry Sound, because of how much fun he had, and that he never stopped having fun, even in Boston. His advice to parents is to let kids play, because the point of playing is to have fun.
Orr also offers his opinion on fighting, that it has place in the game but blind-side hits and hits from behind need to be removed.
Orr also dedicates a chapter to his former agent, Alan Eagleson. In short, he was a fraud and stole from his clients, including Orr. While Orr admits that he trusted Eagleson and should have paid more attention to his finances, Eagleson betrayed him and left him broke after Orr retired. Now, Orr works as an agent, but never handles players’ money, believing that the players need to learn how to manage their own money.
What you get out of this book is that Orr doesn’t see himself as a legend, as he is perceived to be. He proves throughout the book that he was not only a special player, but a special person to know as well.
Orr: My Story was released on Oct. 15 and is available at most bookstores and online retailers.
A non-fiction account of his life, Aleksandar Hemon considers the psychology of refugees, and the balance one has to make in order to start anew.
A Bosnian refugee brings with him his habits, thoughts and ideologies and struggles to make them fit into the western world. Aleksandar Hemon wanders two cities with his memories, filled with questions.
A non-fiction account of his life, Aleksandar Hemon considers the psychology of refugees, and the balance one has to make in order to start anew.
Hemon grew up in Sarajevo, hanging out with his “raja” group, living with his parents and sister, and loving the city with all its complexity. Hemon writes about his life in a stunning new memoir titled The Book of My Lives, his first attempt at non-fiction.
Published earlier this year, the book consists of a collection of essays, most of which were previously published in The New Yorker. Hemon infuses these essays with emotional insight and sharp observations, combined with diverse memories.
Hemon doesn’t stick to a specific timeline. Instead, he moves backwards and forwards in time; in one instance he highlights the structure of Sarajevo’s neighborhoods, in another he relates childhood memories. He speaks about his family life, about war, immigration and political rebellion. These diverse essays fit together to complete the puzzle on how he views his life.
He recalls innocently calling a boy “Turk” at a birthday party, not knowing what it means. To his shock, the boy, a Bosnian Muslim, burst into tears. This experience introduced him to the racial tensions that plagued his hometown.
Hemon was in Chicago when the war broke out, and became stranded in the United States as a result. He uses this background to describe feelings of loneliness in a new town and his slow process of adapting. He is a wanderer and makes Chicago his home by familiarizing himself with every nook and cranny of the neighbourhood. He never lost touch with his Bosnian roots and went back to visit, describing the difficulty of seeing a city that is not yours anymore.
His writing is elegant, seamless and mixes humor with raw emotions. The tales jump from a family dog Hemon acquired, to Bosnian food and culture, to his writing endeavors. His descriptions make you smell the cuisine and empathize with a population who endured a traumatic war.
The saddest essay is about the death of his young daughter from cancer. It is a tearful recollection of an unexpected tragedy and a family dealing with a void in their hearts.
Although his previous books, such as The Lazarus Project and The Question of Bruno, were fiction, Hemon establishes himself as a strong contender in the non-fiction genre.
His memoir is an honest account of his upbringing and his current life. Hemon’s memories that shaped his identity as a Bosnian-American are raw, insightful, funny, and sad at the same time. His hometown of Sarajevo becomes intriguing as a city, and the image of its people transcends the war horrors flashing on the television screen.
He has penned a total of five books and written many stories for The New Yorker making it hard to believe that Hemon learned most of his English as an adult.
In the cozy, dimly-lit setting of the Hall building’s 12th floor Greenhouse, two people serenaded a small audience on their guitars. About two dozen people were gathered to discuss whether the biggest threat to our environment today is in fact that we are just “too many people.”
Last Thursday, Concordia hosted the book launch of authors Ian Angus and Simon Butler’s Too many people? Population, Immigration, and the Environmental Crisis. As Butler couldn’t make the trip from Australia, Angus held a public discussion on their behalf.
In their book, the self-proclaimed eco-socialist authors argue that blaming today’s problems purely on growing populations is overly simple, and ignores the importance of the way wealth is distributed throughout the world.
“Corporations and armies aren’t polluting the world and destroying ecosystems because there are too many people, but because it’s profitable to do so,” explained Angus.
Angus continued that the “too many people” theory ignores the role of an economic social system in which short-term corporate profits always trump environmental sustainability. Angus argues that today’s economy has growth, waste, and devastation built into into it.
Fundamentally, the argument of overpopulation causing endless problems in the world hinges on a misuse of statistics and is a dangerous belief as it may lead to racism and anti-immigration reforms, according to Angus.
“If we misdiagnose the illness, then we will waste precious time on ineffective cures at best; at worst, we will make the crisis more intense,” he said. “As eco-socialists, we believe very clearly that we will not turn back the tide so long as capitalism remains the dominant economical system in the world.”
However, not everyone in the audience was convinced.
“I feel that he was saying population and individual consumption are not major problems and we don’t need to address them,” said Kristy Franks, a prospective student and citizen activist. “The way I see it, we need to focus on all of these areas, as they are all intertwined.”
Despite this, Angus still has reason to hope. “Today, millions of people know that another world is possible,” he said. “They know that this system may seem eternal, but it isn’t, and they are actively fighting for change.”
