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Journalists arrested for reporting on 1492 Land Back Lane

Ontario Provincial Police arrest journalists after tension rises at 1492 Land Back Lane

Karl Dockstader, a member of the Oneida Nation and journalist, was arrested on Sept. 2 while covering the occupation of the land development Mackenzie Meadows. Dockstader is an award-winning journalist who works for One Dish, One Mic.

The day after Dockstader’s arrest, Courtney Skye, who is Six Nations and a freelance journalist, was also arrested. The independent media outlet Azaadi Now has also made a statement that one of their production members was arrested on Sept. 9.

Since July, Land Defenders have occupied land along the Haldimand Tract, bordering the town of Caledonia and the Six Nations reserve, near Toronto. The occupation is referred to as ‘1492 Land Back Lane,’ referencing the year Christopher Columbus arrived in the Americas, beginning centuries of colonization.

The Haldimand Tract was granted in 1784 to the Six Nations after they had allied with the British during the American Revolution.

“Through a series of colonial manoeuvres, the land is now slated for a housing development named Mackenzie Meadows,” noted Shree Paradkar, writer for The Star.

The Land Defenders assert that the land is rightfully theirs, yet Haldimand County Mayor Ken Hewitt claimed in a public statement that no land was stolen, and everyone has legally paid for the land they own. Mayor Hewitt stated that he believes the federal government is responsible for any mismanagement of land claims.

“I am tired of hearing about stolen land and that we are guilty of stealing land,” he wrote. “I look forward to the peaceful end to this ILLEGAL occupation, and I will not support lifting the injunctions until all roads, railings and property are completely vacated.”

The injunction was granted by the Supreme Court in July, calling for Land Defenders to leave the development. Then on Aug. 5, the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) attempted to clear out the Land Defenders, who resisted by setting construction equipment ablaze and barricading roads.

This resulted in the OPP firing rubber bullets at the crowds — which can cause severe injuries and, in rare cases, death.

A press release regarding Dockstader’s arrest stated that he was arrested for mischief and failure to comply with the court order.

“He understood that as a journalist, as long as he didn’t actively assist the land defenders that his status as a journalist would protect his work,” read the statement.

Dockstader had partnered with Canadaland to explore the systemic anti-Indigenous racism in the RCMP and the OPP, and how those issues are at play at 1492 Land Back Lane, where he was arrested.

Skye, who was charged similarly to Dockstader, tweeted, “I was sitting on the banks of the Grand River with my auntie/sis. I was literally arrested within feet of our river in my homelands.”

“To me it’s fairly cut and dry that this is an overreach of the OPP,” said Alan Conter, a journalism professor at Concordia. Conter believes that the OPP overstepped and never should have arrested the journalists.

“It’s ridiculous,” he said. Conter stated that there is legal precedent from the Newfoundland and Labrador Court of Appeal ensuring that journalists aren’t barred from areas with injunctions and are safe from arrest during demonstrations.

“Another overreach by the police in terms of criminalizing journalistic behavior,” said Conter.

Conter said he will be flabbergasted if Dockstader’s appeal against his charges don’t go in his favour, yet Conter admits that it’s never a good idea to guess what will happen.

“The OPP should drop the charges and save Ontario justice from the embarrassment,” he said.

Conter said that it’s vitally important that journalism students are taught about how the authority of police are used to block investigations, and not just for Indigenous issues. He believes that if a journalist is facing aggression and detainment from the police, the best thing to do is to comply and then take the police to court afterwards.

“It’s an attack, in civil society the media is one of the pillars of society,” said Dr. Catherine Richardson, a Métis director of the First Peoples Studies at Concordia. Dr. Richardson said that the media gives accurate accounts and informs the public on issues and events, an integral aspect of democracy.

“Arresting journalists is another way of stifling dissent,” she said. “It serves the interests of the elite to stop journalists reporting.”

Dr. Richardson believes that one of the reasons the police are becoming more militarized is because of the rise of the right wing, and that some of the wealthy elite invest in this militarization to police Indigenous movements.

When asked if she believes only Indigenous journalists should report on issues like 1492 Land Back Lane, she explained that while non-Indigeous journalists don’t have the same inside perspective as Indigenous reporters, non-Indigenous people usually have the advantage of more access to resources, money, and legal aid.

She said the most important thing that non-Indigenous journalists must do is their research to better understand the complexity of Indigenous issues.

 

Visuals by Taylor Reddam

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Poli Savvy: “And the Nobel Peace Prize goes to…”

Everything you need to know about the historic Abraham Accords

Number one was for North Korea. Number two was for Israel, the United Arab Emirates, and Bahrain. Number three was for Kosovo. In the past few days, the three contentious nominations of Donald Trump for the Nobel Peace Prize have been the talk of the town.

Though the US President is by no means guaranteed the prestigious tribute — among hundreds of other nominees, it’s highly unlikely that he will be chosen — this endorsement flared up the controversy leading up to the diplomatic Israel-UAE-Bahrain deal, which was officially signed at the White House on Sept. 15.

Here’s a quick recap of what’s been going on in recent months

Because of past treaties, Israel has retained military control over most of the West Bank. Conveniently labeled areas A, B, and C, three zones have been delineated as the result of decades of war and diplomatic talks. Still, only about 18 per cent of the territory remains entirely in the hands of Palestinian authorities to this day.

In recent years, the Israeli government has been subsidizing the establishment of Jewish communities in the West Bank — the infamous settlements — despite not owning the territory. This has been decried by, well, everyone, for many years, because it blatantly violates international law.

But in 2019, the Trump administration announced it would no longer call the settlements illegal, a major setback for Palestinians, whose fragile sovereignty depends on international recognition.

This isn’t so surprising, though, considering Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s friendly relationship, and also as the upshot of Obama’s 2016 agreement to give Israel $38 billion in military aid in the next 10 years.

And then Netanyahu announced he was planning on launching a project to annex parts of the West Bank as soon as July 1, threatening the enactment of the coveted two-state solution.

So … what’s the deal?

Announced in mid-August, the Abraham Accords called for a complete normalization of the diplomatic relationship between Israel and the UAE, with Bahrain joining in soon after.

This means economic and military alliances, embassies in each country, and most importantly, formal acknowledgement of Israel’s sovereignty — something only two other Arab countries, Egypt and Jordan, have carried out thus far. In exchange, the Jewish state must suspend its inchoate annexation plan.

In essence, the treaty formalizes Israel’s ties with its neighbours, as the UAE and Bahrain are the first Persian Gulf countries to agree to amicable relations. To some, this was received positively — as long as Israel holds its end of the deal, all three countries will profit economically and effectively avoid conflict.

For others, including many Palestinians and Bahrainis, it means betrayal; as more Arab states normalize their ties with Israel, they are forfeiting their fraternal support for the Palestinian cause in favour of financial gain.

Since Netanyahu has shown no desire to bring an end to his settlement projects or to his plan for future annexation, many are feeling helpless in a decades-long fight against Israeli occupation of the West Bank.

Annexation or not, the plight of those living in the West Bank will remain unresolved. Experts haven’t been wrong in calling this accord historical, but only time will tell if it lives up to the title of peace deal — and if it would even entitle Trump a seat at the Nobel Peace Prize winners’ table.

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Anti-mask protest or freedom conspiracy rally?

They’re protesting their displeasure about COVID-19, but it seems like there’s more than meets the eye.

Thousands of people gathered on Sept. 12 in downtown Montreal to share their displeasure with the Quebec government’s handling of the COVID-19 virus.

One of the largest anti-COVID-19 restrictions protests in Montreal to date started outside Premier François Legault’s office. At its peak, the estimated 8000 person crowd spanned through more than five blocks of downtown Montreal.

Protesters young and old not only attempted to share their displeasures with how the province has responded to the COVID-19 pandemic, but also other issues that aren’t usually highlighted in the public spotlight.

From 5G deniers to Trump supporters to anti-vaxxers, the message was clear: in their eyes, their freedoms have been violated, and patience is wearing thin.

“Listen, it’s about free choice, I’m not against the mask, I just want us to have the right to choose whether or not we can wear it,” said Daniel Klein, one of the protestors.

“If you’re at risk or scared, put a mask on. But for kids, where we have seen no deaths in that age group in Quebec, there shouldn’t be a reason for them to be wearing a mask,” said Klein.

Few people were willing to be interviewed on the record, as the majority did not want to be questioned, especially from journalists.

With every thud of the drums and tap of the tambourines, the crowd loudly chanted “Liberté,” which echoed throughout the dense crowd of protesters. While the protesters marched down Sherbrooke Street, a countless amount of Trump and Patriotes flags waved in the wind behind them. With no masks in sight, attendees were clearly not worried about contracting or spreading the COVID-19 virus.

“When the vaccine comes out, I will not be taking it and no one can force me to take it either, I’m a free person,” said Steve, who preferred not to disclose his last name. “When it comes to the government threatening people in their own homes with these new laws, it’s unethical. It’s a small percentage! Is there a virus? Yes, there is, but there are viruses everywhere around the world that kill people that are even worse than COVID-19,” said Steve.

Many protesters were seen Saturday with QAnon signs and flags. Often distinguished by the capital letter ”Q,” QAnon is an American alt-right website promoting theoretical, non-factual and sensationalized stories. With a tacit endorsement from President Trump, the website is known to share unverified information to an absurdly wide audience. Before their admin was revealed and the website was ultimately shut down, they amassed over 10 million visitors in the month of July alone.

The march ended in front of the Radio Canada building. Speakers accused the government of exaggerating the dangers of the disease to spread fear amongst the public, as well as blowing the virus out of proportion altogether.

The most recognizable amongst the speakers was actress Lucie Laurier, known for her brief role in Bon Cop Bad Cop; she is one of the major front runners for the anti-mask movement in Montreal.

“Yes, there are people who won’t like us, and our words will bother some,” said Laurier. “We’re causing a stir because we’re telling the truth!”

On the day of the protest, Quebec public health recorded 244 new COVID-19 cases in Montreal, the highest number of new active cases in the city since June 4.

 

Feature photo by Gabriel Guindi.

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Poli Savvy

WE are never ever ever getting back together

To Justin Trudeau’s relief, we haven’t heard about the WE Charity scandal in a minute. To his dismay, here’s a reminder of it, and why it’s important we don’t forget.

So what exactly happened?

In mid-April, as the Federal Government was still scrambling to make sure all those financially affected by COVID-19 were given proper support, Prime Minister Trudeau announced additional funding for students, whose income relied on job availability during the summer.

Introduced alongside the Canada Emergency Student Benefit (CESB) was the Canada Student Service Grant (CSSG), a program where the government would compensate university students and recent graduates under 30 years old who signed up to do volunteer work. With a budget of $912 million, this program would be administered by the WE Charity, a Toronto-based international human rights organization focusing on youth empowerment, who would be allocated $43 million in management costs.

When Conservative Party members asked to verify how the charity was chosen, Trudeau stated that they were the “best and only organization able to deliver on the scale that we need.” Of course, this isn’t true: not only is the government itself well-equipped to handle this project, but 20 other organizations were considered for the management of the CSSG starting in April.

Why is it a problem?

Justin Trudeau and his family have been closely affiliated with WE for years. He, his wife, his brother, and his mother have attended and been invited as keynote speakers at WE’s annual WE Day event as far back as 2007, the year of the event’s first edition.

Over the years, the Trudeau family was paid an estimated $283,400 for speaking at these events.

This begs the question: how was the WE Charity chosen as the “best and only” organization? And why did no member of Trudeau’s Cabinet, whose role is to oversee his decisions, speak up on the conflict of interest at play?

Why does it matter now?

The PM’s recent decision to prorogue Parliament is going to be a big setback for the ethics committee currently investigating this deal. Because all Parliamentary activity is being put to rest, the investigation will only continue after Sept. 23, when MPs are due to reconvene.

For now, WE Charity has cancelled its WE Day events indefinitely, cancelled the deal made with the government, and repaid the $30 million it had been handed for the administration of the project.

To many, though, prorogation is simply Trudeau’s way of further delaying this investigation, as well as the one currently looking into the country’s relations with China. Considering this isn’t the PM’s first rodeo when it comes to corruption charges — what with the SNC-Lavalin case and his trip to the Aga Khan’s island four years ago — only time will tell what and whether he will be facing any consequences once Parliament returns.

 

Graphic by Victoria Blair.

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Erin O’Toole: From MP to PM real quick (maybe)

The new Conservative leader’s potentially quick rise to national power

Erin O’Toole recently became the Conservative Party’s new leader after a whopping 57 per cent vote victory. Self-described as a military man who will fight for the rights of Canadians, O’Toole’s election comes at a critical time in Canadian history, as the country struggles with a pandemic and the Liberal Party loses trust following the WE Charity controversy. In just a few months, he could even become Prime Minister.

This parallel universe in which O’Toole becomes the leader of Canada just a few months after winning the leadership of his own party exists because Parliament is currently in prorogation.

But what exactly is prorogation?

According to the CBC, prorogation “suspends all parliamentary activity, including all legislation and committee work,” until Parliament is next summoned.

In a nutshell, prorogation is like hitting Parliament’s reset button. Ongoing committee work such as bills, studies and investigations are paused during this period and can be reintroduced once the break is over. To top it off, a fresh agenda will be proposed by the Trudeau government upon the reopening of Parliament activities.

In point of fact, Justin Trudeau considers that Parliament has been due for a reset because “the throne speech [they] delivered eight months ago had no mention of COVID-19.” Trudeau said  his government wants to test the confidence of the House.

On Sept. 23, the new session will begin. A speech from the throne will be given, and a confidence vote will be taken.

If confidence is lost…

Should the House decide that it does not have confidence in the government, elections would be triggered.

Canadian elections have historically been ruled by the Conservative Party and the Liberal Party, suggesting that a race to power in this scenario would be dominated by either Justin Trudeau or Erin O’Toole.

However, O’Toole does not intend to trigger this scenario. In an interview with The West Block in Toronto, the pro-choice leader states that Fall elections are not his priority.

 

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Anonymous group of activists and protestors topple Sir John A. Macdonald statue following a peaceful protest to defund the police

The incident exposes Canada’s divided opinion over the the legacy of the former prime minister

A peaceful Montreal protest in favour of defunding the police ended abruptly on Saturday after a 125-year-old statue of Sir John A. Macdonald was toppled by an anonymous group of activists and protesters.

Politicians such as new Conservative leader Erin O’Toole and Mayor Valérie Plante have largely condemned the act, with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau saying Monday, “those kinds of acts of vandalism are not advancing the path towards greater justice and equality in this country.”

The protest was organized by the BIPOC Coalition for Liberation. In an interview with The Concordian, Elijah Olise, one of the coalition’s founders, said, “what we wanted from the protest is not what we got, because [we] got a lot of attention on the statue, and that’s not what we went out there for.”

“We were caught by surprise just as much as everybody else. Do I condone their actions? No…but also I do not condemn [them],” said Olise.

The protest was coming to a close on Saturday afternoon, during which approximately 60 protesters remained at Place du Canada park. According to Olise, another organizer had set up a speaker system located roughly 250 metres away from the Sir John A. Macdonald statue for the closing ceremony speeches.

Olise introduced the speaker list and remained in front of the crowd of protestors watching the final speeches.

Meanwhile, several people had climbed up the monument base to stand next to the statue and install banners, a regular occurrence at various protests over the years.

Olise said he was focused on the crowd when a rope was thrown to the ground by people standing next to the statue. A few individuals grabbed the rope and started pulling, with some protestors joining in to help.

At around 2:45 p.m., the statue of Sir John A Macdonald came crashing down on the hard pavement, with its head flying off while protestors cheered.

“The statue came down in a very short amount of time,” said Olise.

SPVM spokesperson Jean-Pierre Brabant said that after the statue fell, the SPVM announced over a P.A. system for everyone to leave the area “for safety purposes and to establish a perimeter.”

“I realized at that point I was probably a target as an organizer,” said Olise. He said the police shot rubber bullets at him and other organizers and protesters as they collected equipment and left the area.

Brabant said, “there was no confrontation and no physical intervention.”

 

On their Facebook page, the BIPOC Coalition for Liberation wrote, “these racist monuments don’t deserve space.”

The organization added a list of demands for the police-defunding movement, such as reparations for the BIPOC community and RCMP off of Indigenous lands. They later added the “removal of all statues, plaques and emblems both on public and private property of any person, act, symbol, or movement that promotes or has promoted slavery, anti-Black racism, or anti-Indigenous racism.”

A flyer with the headline “TIME’S UP, JOHN” was distributed following the toppling of the statue, stating it was a deliberate act by an anonymous group of activists.

“We offer this action in solidarity with the Indigenous peoples of Tio’tia:ke, Turtle Island and across the globe,” the flyer continues, “and all those fighting against colonist and anti-blackness in the struggle for a better world,”

Olise obtained a copy and shared the contents with The Concordian.

 

An image of the flyer distributed after the statue was toppled, courtesy of Elijah Olise.

Serge Simon, Grand Chief of the Mohawk council in Kanesatake told The Concordian he was “torn” regarding whether the statue should be permanently removed, or should stay as a “reminder.”

He explained how the former prime minister’s actions against Canada’s Indigenous Nation still resonate today, stating “everything Macdonald did laid the groundwork for later on, for the RCMP interventions against First Nations to the residential schools … Macdonald planted the seeds of First Nation suffering.”

“The lessons of history just can’t simply be wiped out by taking down the statue. Maybe the statue could remain, as a reminder of what not to do,” Simon added.

Nakuset, the executive director of the Native Women’s Shelter of Montreal, expressed concern over how the statue was removed, “if anyone should bring it down it should be the politicians, it shouldn’t be protestors.”

Nakuset said politicians should look into Macdonald’s history and compare it to the reconciliation promises that have been made.

“Don’t put up a statue without actually putting reconciliation forward,” said Nakuset.

Nakuset added that the statue could be replaced by Mary Two-Axe Earley, a human rights activist who helped change laws that discriminated against Indigenous women.

According to tweets by Valérie Plante, the city plans to reinstall the statue with new historical information on the former Prime Minister.

“Some historical monuments, here as elsewhere, are at the heart of current emotional debates. I reiterate that it’s better to put them in context rather than remove them. I am also in favour of adding monuments that are more representative of the society to which we aspire,” Plante said.

On Tuesday morning, Trudeau tweeted regarding a National historic designation for residential schools, saying, “We must acknowledge the dark and shameful chapters of our past, including the residential school system that tore Indigenous families and communities apart and has had enduring impacts on Indigenous peoples across the country. We must make sure such acts are never forgotten.”

The last residential school closed in 1996.

 

The SPVM has confirmed the statue has been taken by the City of Montreal for repair.

The SPVM is investigating the incident, and is working to identify a potential suspect involved.

 

Photo courtesy of @noreornot on Twitter

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Poli SAVVY: Bill 40 passed under closure? So much for democracy, Legault!

Authoritarianism can have many faces.

We tend to depict it with extreme images such as slavery, dictatorship and oppression––but not all forms are as explicitly visible. And one of the worst kinds is silencing the opposition.

This rigid tactic is starting to be the trademark of Prime Minister François Legault and the Coalition Avenir––the current centre-right Quebec Government.

Last week, I wrote about Britain’s lack of urgency when it comes to dealing with Brexit—well, over here, we have a government that’s dangerously in a hurry. When it comes to passing bills, the CAQ is a bulldozer.

Late Friday night, it invoked closure for the fourth time in less than eight months, to pass Bill 40. The procedure allows the government in power to limit debates over legislation, even though some National Assembly members who wished to speak haven’t had the time to do so.

Despite severe critics coming from the educational system, 60 over 35 voted in favour of Bill 40, abolishing Quebec’s francophone and anglophone school boards. Additionally, in a last-minute decision, the original transition period of two weeks was eliminated, immediately kicking many commissioners out of their elected positions.

It was widely reported that school boards, teachers’ unions and English-language lobby groups, among the opposition parties condemned the government for rushing into an intense reform that needed more time and more consultation.

What was Legault’s response to evoking closure? “The opposition was ‘obstructing’ the passage of the law,” he said while speaking to reporters in Washington, D.C. on Saturday.

Yet, this is the entire purpose of the opposition: balancing powers and ensuring democratic debates over issues such as this one. Why was the CAQ quick to act so undemocratically?

Well, simply take a look at another controversial bill that was passed under closure; when Bill 21––the secularism law—was voted in last spring. The English Montreal School Board (EMSB) has since been one of the loudest opposition voices, in challenging Bill 21. If the board that’s challenging Legault’s precious laicity law doesn’t exist anymore, can the fight continue?

“Faire d’une pierre, deux coups,” they say—and the CAQ is striking hard.

 

Graphic by @sundaeghost

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Dolly, they will always love you

I feel like the world has never been more divided. You’ve got “Red” on one side, “Blue” on the other and no one in the middle.

We are no longer listening to each other. We aren’t engaging with the opposition and everyone seems like, well, a politician. When was the last time you saw two people with completely opposing political views standing next to each other peacefully?

Oh, that’s right—at a Dolly Parton concert. 

A country music icon, Parton has managed to navigate through the celebrity world as an A-list singer/songwriter, without having a political opinion. This is truly unheard of.

This isn’t to say that Parton doesn’t have opinions. She has helped lead a working class women’s movement, with her acting, singing and songwriting of the hit 1980’s movie 9 To 5. This movie, starring Jane Fonda, Lily Tomlin as well as Parton herself, focused on hardworking women wanting to be treated better in the workplace. This came at a time when women were extremely frustrated with their lack of rights. The theme song became an anthem for gender equality.

When this movie was readapted to Broadway, she told the red carpet in London, “It’s as relevant now as it was before, and with the #metoo movement this is a good time for it.”

She stands up for women, but never really calls herself a feminist. She is constantly crediting the men in her life, and has the motto that everyone should be treated equally.

Parton’s lack of political position comes at a very interesting time for the world. We are constantly trying to find public figures to lead us. We must like musicians that stand for a good cause, support comedians that are breaking barriers and make sure that like-minded people are the only ones allowed in our echochamber. Parton takes this concept and destroys it. Her diverse fans love her work, her brand and most of all, her. Most are not worried about what she stands for.

She explained to Jad Abumrad in his Podcast Dolly Parton’s America that it’s too much pressure to have a political opinion.

I hope I don’t let people down,” Parton told Abumrad. “They’ve put me up on this pedestal, I hope they don’t knock me off of it.”

Parton has been frustrated in the past with interviewers and the media constantly asking her about her political opinions. In 2017, when Trump had been in office for just under a year, Parton, Fonda and Tomlin all presented an award at the Emmys. The other women, being the powerful activists they are, made a pointed statement directed at the President. Dolly was expected to follow suit, but instead, she decided to make a boob joke.

“I didn’t like it,” Parton told Abumrad. “I had already told Jane and Lili that I wasn’t going to get into the politics of anything. I don’t do politics. I have too many fans on both sides of the fence.”

Whether or not you agree with Parton’s apolitical nature, it works for her. She is an incredible business woman and knows how to work the system. We cannot deny that her neutrality has helped her make a buck. By staying out of political discussions and navigating show business, she has unified two worlds in a way that we haven’t seen before.

There truly is no one like her. 

 

Graphic by @sundaeghost

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Poli SAVVY: Is pushing for traditional values in a modern world the way to leadership?

BREAKING NEWS: There are still entitled men in politics.

On one side, we have potential Conservative candidate for the leadership, Richard Décarie who, during an interview with CTV’s Power Play on Wednesday, said “LGBTQ” “is a Liberal term” and that being gay “is a choice.” He then said Canadians must encourage traditional values that have served us in the past, encouraging the defunding of abortion services and reinforcing the idea that marriage should be between a man and a woman.

Then, on Friday, not too far from us, Trump became the first U.S. President to walk in the largest annual anti-abortion rally, the 47th March for Life in Washington.

I’m sorry, I didn’t know this was the 18th century?

While Trump’s decision might actually help him win the 2020 election, as a big part of his electoral voters are evangelical Christians who stand firmly against abortion, a Pew Research Centre survey conducted in the summer revealed that 61 per cent of Americans believe abortion should be legal and are concerned that some states are making it hard to access.

And over here, Décarie just gave a quick crash course on “how to lose an election in Canada.”

Federal elections have displayed over and over again that the Conservatives’ weak spots are their social values being out of tune with Canadian ones. More recently, Scheer’s stance on such topics hasn’t quite helped him win voters––au contraire.

A few Tories, such as frontrunner for leadership Peter Mackay, were quick to denounce the comments on Twitter. Still, Décarie’s reductive and ignorant remarks highlight exactly how replacing Scheer won’t necessarily erase the mentality that runs deep within the Conservative Party. Last October, in a post-election analysis, the co-founder of the anti-abortion group RightNow, Alissa Golob, proudly said they were able to elect at least 68 “pro-lifers” out of the 121 current members of the Conservative caucus.

What’s that expression again? Beware of who’s pulling the strings. 

 

Graphic by @sundaeghost

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What experts think about human rights violations in China

A panel on China’s human rights violations was held in Concordia University’s Faubourg building on Jan. 15.

The experts, who were invited by the Montreal Institute for Genocide and Human Rights Studies (MIGS), expressed concerns about the Uyghur Muslim concentration camps in Xinjiang, an autonomous region in Western China. They also discussed the brutal repression in Hong Kong and Tibet, as well as China’s increasing influence on the Western world and its implication for the future of democracy.

The event took place just days after Human Rights Watch (HRW) executive director Kenneth Roth was denied entry into Hong Kong and HRW’s launch event for its World Report 2020 was disrupted by protestors, according to MIGS executive director Kyle Matthews.

“Human rights issues in China are nothing new,” said speaker Margaret McCuaig-Johnston, Senior Fellow at both the University of Ottawa’s Institute for Science, Society and Policy and the University of Alberta’s China Institute. She listed historical events such as the Cultural Revolution, the Xidan Democracy Wall, and the Tiananmen Square Massacre which she said “trampled on individual human rights in a myriad of ways.”

McCuaig-Johnston continued to explain that although China has lifted more than 800 million people out of poverty since 1978, this is not the same as ensuring individual human rights. She described how the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) uses detention as a pressure tactic against dissidents and the abusive conditions under which they are detained, which were revealed by HRW’s interviews with former prisoners. She also explained the social credit system, in place since 2014, and the CCP’s widespread interference in Western countries.

Both McCuaig-Johnston and Benjamin Fung, a Canada Research Chair in Data Mining for Cybersecurity and an Action Free Hong Kong Montreal activist, highlighted the CCP’s infiltration in Canadian academics and described the pressure on faculty and Chinese students to self-censor criticism of the Chinese government.

The CCP’s use of technology, such as facial and voice recognition for repression, was also extensively discussed by both experts. Fung additionally focused on Chinese companies’ goal to expand the 5G network––he explained that the CCP controls every large corporation in China and that technology companies are obligated to cooperate with Chinese intelligence units.

“It’s about trust, you trust Apple to update your iPhone because it is a private company,” Fung explained, adding that we cannot trust Chinese companies who would introduce malware into the 5G network if the CCP asked them to.

Fung also spoke in detail about China’s one country, two systems policy and the CCP’s broken promise: its decision to maintain control over Hong Kong’s government instead of allowing universal suffrage, which Fung asserts was promised in the 1984 Sino-British Joint Declaration. He described what he called an ongoing humanitarian crisis and a system of police brutality, lengthy prison sentences, sexual assault, and white terror––attacks on pro-democracy activists.

The situation in Tibet was discussed by Sherap Therchin, executive director of the Canada-Tibet Committee, who explained it has been 70 years since China illegally invaded Tibet, and the Western world seems to have forgotten about it. He described the CCP’s reflexive control strategy: how they have been feeding manufactured information about Tibet to target groups so consistently that the Western world now believes their narrative that Tibet was historically part of China.

Therchin continued to explain that in the Western world’s eyes, control over Tibet is now an internal issue––a problem for China to deal with without Western influence.

Finally, Dilmurat Mahmut, a Ph.D. candidate at McGill University’s Faculty of Education, talked about the Uyghur re-education camps in place since 2017. According to documents obtained through an investigation by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, an estimated 1 million Uyghur Muslims are detained in these camps, but Mahmut said these numbers could be as high as 3 million. He explained the history of the region of Xinjiang, originally East Turkistan, and the CCP’s labeling of all Turkic Muslims in the region as potential terrorists or pre-criminals.

Mahmut described the conditions in what the CCP calls vocational training centres, and explained that Uyghur children are being forcibly detained and sent to state-run orphanages where they are forbidden from learning the Uyghur language and, instead, only learn the Chinese culture—he called this cultural genocide. Mahmut finished his presentation with a warning from Roth on the dangers of not challenging Chinese human rights abuses and worldwide interference.

 

Photos by Brittany Clarke

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Michelle Williams, what do you mean “vote in your self-interest”?

Michelle Williams first won my heart not too long ago.

Her role in The Greatest Showman, more specifically her performance of “Tightrope,” embodied everything a complete hopeless romantic like myself feels when in love: faith, devotion through highs and lows, “mountains and valleys, and all that will come in between.”

The 2019 Golden Globes honoured Williams with a Best Actress in a Limited Series award for her role in Fosse/Verdon. Although I didn’t watch the show, reviews were great: Rotten Tomatoes gave it an 81 per cent rating, while IMDb had a 7.9/10 rating. Knowing her — loving her — I will say she deserved it, and that’s that!

Except that it isn’t.

Much like the popular tendency of celebrities to get political at award ceremonies, Williams took the opportunity to emphasize the importance of voting for women. She spoke beautifully about the importance of choice, and how thankful she was for being acknowledged for the choices she has made as an actress and as a person. She added that she’s grateful to “live in a society where choice exists, because as women and girls, sometimes things happen to our bodies that are not our choice.”

In a way, this is all anyone ever wants — to live where, once you look back, you recognize your own handwriting, as she put it. Now, I think it’s important to note that Williams was not at all addressing an international audience in her speech. She was specifically speaking to American women, encouraging them to employ their right to vote. Even more so, she urged women to vote in their own self-interest.

“Wait, what,” was my exact reaction. To this day I’m unsure if I misunderstood it, or she really meant it that way, but to me, “self-interest” should never be what fuels a democracy. A modern society is a collection of different people coexisting in the same place — asking each and every one of them to think of their own self-interest when it comes to matters that will unquestionably and unequivocally affect the other is not only wrong, it’s absurd. As Williams pointed out in that same sentence she preached for self-interest, “it’s what men have been doing for years.”

Since when do we want to do what men have been doing in matters of democracy and the world? I mean, two World Wars, literally countless acts of colonial violence, and abuse of power historically led by men, why would we ever want to do what they have been doing?

Women, exercise your right to vote. Do it so the world “looks a little more like us,” but also make sure that “us” isn’t just an inverted version of the selfishness and cruelty that a world led by white men has brought us. The world looks so much like men because they’ve chosen so selfishly that there was no room for otherness — instead of self-interest, how about public-interest?

 

 

Graphic by @sundaeghost

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Canada, I love you, but you can do better

Look, Canada I love you a lot, but we need to talk. I’m worried about our future.

You act like you’re number one but the facts say otherwise. The OECD (Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development) says you’re very middling: your Gross Domestic Product per person is sixteenth in the OECD family of 36 members. Worse, your social spending lags – public pension spending, family benefits, and spending on incapacity are 7th, 6th and 5th – from last. Gender earnings equity is 4th worst, household debt 9th highest, tax on personal income 7th highest and savings 8th from last. The September 2019 unemployment rate at 5.6 per cent was more than double the rates of the Czech Republic and Japan and trailed Mexico and the USA, tied at 3.5 per cent. What can I say? You’re just not number one.

And even your middling performance is precarious. Most of your trade goes to a single market – the increasingly volatile USA. You were doing well, by diversifying trade with China until you arrested Meng Wanzhou at Washington’s request, and that was that, wasn’t it? Then there are your “cash crop” industries: oil, mining and forestry that in a greener, cleaner world could disappear just as quickly as the baby seal hunt, asbestos and fur coats. Let’s face it, much of your service sector is a house of cards: real estate, financial services driven by mortgage and other consumer debt, and three levels of government.

You should be innovating like crazy to create new, green, industries but you aren’t. R&D spending lags the OECD average of 2.4 per cent and the 2019 Global Innovation Index ranked you 17th in 2019, down from 15th in 2016 (you once were in the Top 10). Although the Global Affairs website states that: “The Arctic is fundamental to Canada’s national identity,” you aren’t the world’s leading builder of icebreakers… Finland is. Agriculture? The Netherlands is the world’s second largest exporter of agricultural products. You’re number eight. According to Environment Canada, you’re the world’s third largest producer of genetically modified organisms (GMOs). You’re also the first in the world with a GMO animal product – salmon. But with much of the world GMO-averse, what on earth were you thinking?

I know, Canada, you say I worry too much and I might agree with you if you weren’t warning newcomers of the employment risks they face “…being accepted to come to Canada does not guarantee you employment in Canada in your preferred job or any other job.”

So you see Canada, it’s time for an adult conversation about our future. Trouble is, there’s little sign of that happening.

The last general election wasn’t much of an adult conversation, was it? Will the next one be any better? I wonder. For the moment I’ll have to rely on the OECD data — they’re my best bet for getting to the truth about our future.

Graphic by @sundaeghost

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