Basics Free Community Newsletter
28 January 2009
Wearing a face covering is legal. Attending a public demonstration is also legal. However, if Montreal city council gets it’s way doing these two perfectly legal things at the same time would have you under arrest. A new bylaw currently being debated would specifically ban the wearing of face coverings while attending a public demonstration, even if no laws are being broken by any protesters.
The bylaw is designed to target the city’s left wing forces. In an interview with CBC Radio Paul Chapelo, head of communications for Montreal Police, specifically mentioned anti-police brutality demonstrations as being one of the motivations for the bylaw.
Montreal has had increasingly militant resistance to police violence, especially since the cops murdered Fred Villanueva, an unarmed 18 year old, last August. Montreal police are known to engage in widespread racial profiling and assaults on the homeless.
Protesters wear masks in order to protect themselves from repression by the state, as the police regularly monitor, harass, and arrest on false charges people they know to be activists. Others fear they may lose their jobs if their employer finds out they attended a demonstration. Masks are also used by performers engaged in creative street theater.
Even though the bylaw is a violation of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms and the constitution (the prevention of crime is not within the jurisdiction of a municipality), it is likely to pass as the mayor’s party has a majority on the council. In another troubling move, Montreal city council also considering a bylaw that would make it an offense to “insult the police” by using terms like “pig” or “doughnut eater”.
People from all over Canada should protest this offense against civil liberties. If the bylaw is passed and upheld in Montreal, we will see similar laws enacted across the country.
Part 2 of a 3-part series on the life of Norman Bethune: Canadian doctor, internationalist, and revolutionary hero.
by J.D. Benjamin Basics Issue #12 (Jan/Feb 2009)
In 1936, civil war broke out in Spain between the democratically-elected government and foreign-backed fascist rebels. Wanting to help in the fight against the rising tide of fascism, Norman Bethune joined the Committee to Aid Spanish Democracy and agreed to head the Canadian Medical Unit in Madrid. Travelling by steamship, Bethune arrived just as the fascist forces were launching a savage offensive against the city.
As a renowned surgeon, Bethune was offered a post at either the military hospital or the training centre for the International Brigades. Instead, he refused both and took the radical step of creating a new form of medical team – a blood transfusion unit that would operate where it was needed most, right on the front lines of the conflict. The anti-fascist Spanish Republican forces already had blood transfusion units, but they were centralized in Barcelona, far from the front. At the time, it was standard practice in warfare for wounded fighters to be transferred into the rear before receiving treatment. Many would die during the trip from shock as a result of blood loss.
Bethune and his team quickly organized a mobile medical unit, which was the first of its kind in the world. It contained enough medical equipment to dress 500 wounds and perform 100 operations and had its own delivery service that collected blood from thousands of donors in the rear and delivered it to the unit on the front. This unit saved countless lives and was so innovative that it would be used as the model for war-time medical care all over the world. It was a major accomplishment and Bethune was honoured by the Spanish government with the rank of major, the highest rank held by any foreigner in the medical service. Read more…
Why is this Regent Park organization bearing the name of white supremacy?
by S. da Silva
Basics Issue #12 (Jan/Feb 2009)
The Minstrel Foundation is a Toronto-based music education charity that has as its mandate “to secure and expand the opportunity for inner city young people to study and excel in music.” While this cause seems praiseworthy enough, this organization needs to seriously consider changing its name.
For those who are not familiar with the word ‘Minstrel’, in a North American context the word’s most common usage traces back to the “Minstrel Shows” of the 19th century where white actors with blackened faces would tour around the country and lampoon and caricature the behaviours of Africans. Later, after the Emancipation Proclamation in the U.S. where slaves were set “free”, these white theatre companies would often enlist Africans directly in playing out their own ridicule. Some have considered today’s corporate media giants like BET or MTV to be promote modern forms of Minstrel, since those black entertainers who get the most play propagate the most destructive values for black people.
If we choose to trace the word further back into history, we find that Minstrel is etymologically derivative of the Old French word menestral, which meant both entertainer and servant, and tracing further back from the Latin word ministerialis, it meant servant. Therefore, whichever way we play it, the word ‘minstrel’ carries a connotation that implies subordination and is offensive to whosoever the term may be directed at.
Is the message that this organization is sending to Toronto’s “inner city” youth that they only have a future in entertaining people born into privileges greater than their own? Is it not enough of an affront to the minds of these youth that they are constantly being seduced with the images of role models as basketball players, rappers, and scantly-clad women in music videos?
The Minstrel Foundation is greatly offending Toronto’s racialized working-class masses by carrying out their charity work under the banner white supremacy. On December 25, 2008, I personally emailed a letter to this organization expressing these sentiments (see our website for a copy); but they have not responded.
If this organization chooses not to account for its actions, this should be a sign to Torontonians of the attitudes contempt, ignorance, and indifference that people of privilege hold towards historically (and presently) oppressed peoples. A disguised racism is far more menacing to us than an overt one.
The racist “Darky” iconography illustrated on this Toronto-based Minstrel show poster appeared on sheet music from the 1870s through the 1940s.
Mass arrests and harassment charges being used against legal mass activists in Southern Tagalog
Issue #12 (Jan/Feb 2009)
Mass organizations across the Philippines and their allies around the world are condemning the persecution of legal democratic activists in the Southern Tagalog region by current Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo.
72 leaders of people’s organizations in the region have had false charges of multiple murder, multiple frustrated murder and arson slapped against them by the Inter-Agency Legal Action Group (IALAG), an agency created by Arroyo. 6 of the charged are currently being held in prison. The charges are an attempt to derail the people’s movement against Arroyo by keeping their leaders busy fighting legal harassment.
The accused are alleged to have participated in a raid carried out by the New People’s Army in Puerto Galera, Mindoro Oriental on March 3, 2006. The legal team for the accused called the charges ridiculous, saying that “the judge did not even bother to check if there was probable cause… There is not an iota of evidence.”
This new tactic is the third method that current Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo has adopted to try to cling to power. Widely despised for her corruption and electoral fraud, the Arroyo regime first tried to quell the opposition through targeted assassination of leaders in the people’s movement. Since coming to power in 2001, over 977 legal mass activists have been murdered by death squads that are mainly composed of military intelligence agents.
This tactic only further alienated the people and drew international condemnation, so the Arroyo regime switched to the method favoured by the Argentinian dictatorship of the 1970s: forced disappearances. Human rights organizations in the Philippines have documented 201 victims of enforced disappearances, where activist leaders would be snatched off the street by government agents, shoved into a vehicle and never seen again. Many were tortured and killed, their bodies hidden. The government would then deny ever having the victim in custody.
Fortunately for the people, nobody was fooled. The national and international outrage against the worst human right record of any Philippine government since the Marcos dictatorship only intensified. Unable to stifle the movement at home or the embarrassment abroad, the Arroyo regime is test driving the new tactic of harassment through false charges in the Souther Tagalog region. If it succeeds, it will be expanded across the Philippines.
“What the Arroyo regime could no longer accomplish through extra-judicial killings and abductions, it now tries to achieve through the filing of non-bailable criminal charges,” said Dr. Carol Pagaduan-Araulo, chairperson of Bayan. “The objective is clearly to neutralize the activist leaders by detaining them illegally or forcing them to go into hiding. At the same time, there is the intention to terrorize the remaining leaders, activists and the political mass base of progressive organizations and party-list groups.”
It is critical that people across Canada condemn the arrests in Southern Tagalog. The Arroyo regime is desperate to avoid the exposure of its crimes against the people and has shown that that it is vulnerable to international pressure. This tactic has already drawn criticism from the UN Special Rapporteur on extra-judicial, summary, or arbitrary executions, Philip Alston, who called on the Arroyo regime to abolish the IALAG. We call on everyone to raise this issue in their union, their church, with local politicians – anywhere where support for the rights of the Filipino people can be found. The Arroyo regime can and must be forced to respect human rights!
These Southern Tagalog activists and one other have been imprisoned: Atty. Remigio Saladero, Nestor San Jose, Crispin Zapanta, Rogelio Galit, Arnaldo Seminiano, and Emmanuel Dionida.
by Rosina Kazi of LAL
Basics Issue #12 (Jan/Feb 2009)
I have been involved with the band lal as the lead singer for just over ten years, and we have always made a point of connecting music with issues of social justice. This need came from our own personal and communal experiences. What we share is an intimate experience of injustice, but our ethnicity, class, gender, sexuality, physical ability are only some ways which create differences in our experiences; and many of us aren’t aware of how our privileges or lack thereof, play out in the world we live in, in our public and personal lives.
Nicholas Murray, Rosina Kazi, and Ian de Souza of LAL (left to right).
Almost everyone will experience some sort of injustice in their lives. If we can connect with one another through this shared experience, while recognizing that some of us have a more difficult struggle, whether or not it’s obvious, then maybe we can move forward. We talk about diversity and it’s importance but we do we embrace diversity in beliefs and experiences in a real way? Do we create solid friendships? Are we creating a community that is diverse in thought, class, gender, sexuality etc? Essentially becoming family? I believe part of it is working on how not to place judgment on others and ourselves, essentially learning to love ourselves completely.
It is through music that I have found a way to connect with people. We have worked hard to create a space that is inclusive. But this creative endeavor is something that involves many, not just the three members of lal. It includes activists, artists, academics, queer, straight, and questioning peoples, artists, art enthusiasts, business people, the old and young etc… We don’t plan on ‘making it big’, only because to do so would throw us in a world that we dislike: a world of intense hierarchy and bullshit. The reality is that the entire world functions in this way, and those of us sensitive to hierarchy and injustice find ourselves lost and continually trying to create something different, not being afraid of change and embracing and acknowledging our own mistakes, as hard as this can be.
Our work with No One is Illegal (NOII) has very much inspired our latest cd ‘Deportation’ and we’ve been working with NOII over the last 4 years to get the word out about the work NOII has been doing, fighting for the right for non-status peoples to live with dignity and respect in Toronto and in Canada.
In the end, I believe creativity must go hand in hand with social movements and activism. We should not be cliquey and should provide avenues for all to take part, using art, not as a weapon but as a tool for personal and political change.
by Kabir Joshi-Vijayan
Basics Issue #12 (Jan/Feb 2009)
On January 20th, Barack Hussein Obama will be sworn-in as the 44th President of the United States, realizing the hopes of millions of people who came out in record numbers to elect and support him in November. Americans were especially desperate for a change after eight years of war abroad and economic ruin at home. But unfortunately, Obama can not live up to such hopes. His government will not represent any real change for the people of the U.S. or the world. By every decision he has made since his election, and his alignments and positions during his campaign, Obama has assured that the United States of violence, terror, occupation and white-power will continue under his presidency.
We only have to look at who he’s picked to run the country with him. Obama’s Secretary of State (the government’s representative to the world) will be Hillary Clinton, a notorious supporter of the illegal occupation and invasion of Iraq, defender of the racist state of Israel and consistent champion of brutal American foreign policy. Robert Gates, Bush’s handpicked replacement for the criminal Rumsfeld, will remain as Defense Secretary. Not only is Gates against ending the Iraq war (Obama’s major election promise), but he was responsible for past crimes, including the Iran-Contra affair (where as the deputy-director of the CIA in the 1980s Gates encouraged his boss, Bush Sr., to finance the massacre of a democratically-elected government in Nicaragua, which was financed by selling weapons to Iran and pumping crack into ghettoes in the US). This pattern continues with the up and coming Homeland Security Secretary, Janet Napolitano, who allowed for the murder and torture of Mexican refugees in her home state of Arizona. These choices are not just bad decisions on Obama’s part, but they mean he made sure his new government will be led by war criminals, human rights abusers, anti-environmentalists and all-around imperialists.
Some say these corporate and military thugs would be kept in check by Obama. Yet when has the President-elect shown us that he is not a war monger and reactionary himself? During his election campaign he promised to eventually end the Iraq occupation, but only so troops could be increased in Afghanistan (a war just as brutal and illegal as in Iraq). Obama told the world racism was no longer an issue in America, at a time when more than 83,000 black people die from the black-white health gap each year, when prison concentration camps imprison black men 8 times more often than whites and just 4 years after the government let thousands of blacks in New Orleans die.
On January 20th, Obama will become the leader of the most violent and destructive empire in world history – one that has been designed for 200 years to rob, enslave and brutalize the world’s population – and that’s something that won’t “Change”!
On his trip to Israel in July 2008, Obama expressed his uncompromising support for the Israeli apartheid state.
by Minnalkodi Sivan
Basics Issue #12 (Jan/Feb 2009)
On December 26, 2004, massive tidal waves swept the shores of Sri Lanka, a country once known as “the pearl of the Indian Ocean”. That day, the whole world stood still as they watched clips of the tsunami. Canadians contributed millions for the victims on the Island, not knowing that most of the aid would never reach the most devastated areas of North Eastern Sri Lanka, homeland of the Tamil people. Instead, most of it was diverted to Sinhala areas and the rest is still unaccounted for.
The divisions on the island can be traced back to Sri Lanka’s colonial past. The Island was initially colonized by the Portuguese and then the Dutch. The two parties ruled the Sinhala and Tamil kingdoms separately. But during British colonization, both homelands were combined for administrative convenience. When the British left, ruling power was given to the Sinhala majority, which has since brutally oppressed the Tamil minority.
As a result of the tsunami, over 500,000 Tamils became internally displaced persons (IDPs), with very little aid provided by the government. When foreign representatives visited to monitor progress in the affected regions, they were not exposed to the Tamil areas. When Global TV attempted to produce a documentary on post tsunami recovery, the producer was asked to sign a “letter of agreement” by the Sri Lankan High Commission. The letter had restrictions and conditions that violated freedom of expression and the right to freely access public information. Furthermore, the Sri Lankan government has been ranked the #1 human rights violator and the second worst country for press freedom in South Asia. So the oppression and genocide of Tamils is being brushed under the Sri Lankan government’s blood-drenched rug.
In 2006, the Sri Lankan government withdrew from their ceasefire agreement with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). The LTTE have been fighting for Tamils’ right to self- determination for over 25 years. As a result of the war, many more Tamils have been displaced. Currently there are over 300,000 Tamil IDPs in the war stricken areas, including many who are still displaced from the tsunami four years ago!
In September 2008, the government violated IDP rights by banning non-governmental organizations (NGOs) from providing aid to these areas, including basic human necessities such as food, water and medical care. Moreover, there have been ongoing indiscriminate bombings of IDP camps, schools, hospitals and even a church on Christmas Day. There have also been incidents of the usage of cluster bombs, a weapon which has been banned internationally by 120 countries except for China, India, Israel, Russia, U.S, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. The situation is worsening with the arrival of the monsoon season as rain drenches and floods the shelters, leaving IDPs helpless and even more vulnerable to diseases.
Despite Canada being home to the largest Tamil diaspora in the world, the Canadian government has remained dangerously silent. The politicians do not want to intervene in this issue because they value Canada’s “strategic” partnership with India and other geopolitical interests more than the rights of the Tamil people. Regardless, such crimes against humanity cannot pass unnoticed. We have to stand united against any form of oppression by lending our voice to the oppressed and taking action. Visit www.canadianhart.org for more information.
by Alok Premjee
Basics Issue #12 (Jan/Feb 2009)
On the evening of December 10th, 2008, the Toronto-based organizations Hood 2 Hood, Set-It-Off, and NO COPS (the Newly Organized Coalition Opposing Police in Schools) held a triple launch party for their organizations at the AnitAFRIKA! Dub Theatre, working in conjunction with Black Action Defense Committee (BADC), BASICS, and the Strictly Roots Project. The event consisted of music provided by two tenth grade DJ’s from Sir Sanford Fleming Collegiate, dinner, poetry, and dance performances by talented artists from around the Greater Toronto Area.
The purpose of the event was to bring together groups that focus on organizing working class communities, primarily racialized working class communities. The Hood-2-Hood group is organizing in a number of low-income areas in Toronto to bring an end to the horizontal (youth-on-youth) violence that divides our communities and to redirect the attention of the youth towards the real enemies of the community, such as TCHC and the big development corporations conspiring to destroy social housing, or incessant police terrorism.
The Set-It-Off group is a rapidly growing young women’s organization with over 50 members, which is serving as a space for young women’s social networking and fulfilling a self-help function by dealing with issues of teen pregnancy and misogyny; providing a positive space to learn about black history; and organizing cultural activities like dancing, singing, and skills-building like writing.
Set-It-Off is working out of Sir Sanford Fleming, Westview Centennial, & Vaughn Road Academy. One of the important social and political roles that the group has been serving has been to raise political awareness around the planned demolition of Lawrence Heights by the City of Toronto.
NO COPS is a coalition of parents, teachers, students, and other allies which formed as a response to the Toronto Police Service’s and Toronto District School Board’s decision to place armed police in almost 30 high-schools across Toronto. The stated goal of the organization is to mobilize communities opposed to the police occupation of schools with the goal of getting the cops out.
After dinner and a series of presentations from the organizations, the performers hit the stage. Performances were kicked off by the Hustle Boyz, who represented Vaughn & Oakwood and Jane & Tretheweys, followed by Vaughn & Oakwood’s own and T-Dots finest MC Quanche, who performed solo and did a rap duet with the Original Wasun. Following these performers the audience was blessed with some female talent, with reggae artist Rakaya, some beautiful vocal performances from Set-If-Off performers. D’bi Young, one of Toronto’s finest dub poets and the owner of the AnitAFRIKA! Dub Theatre, also mesmorized the audience with one of her poems. Next, the mic was passed onto D-Squad, representing Jane and Tretheweys, who performed a couple of banging tracks, just before the Phantom Dancers arrived straight out of Scarborough, who showcased some of the latest dancehall moves. That set the scene for a dance off and a dance jam that broke out to end off the hype night.
Much respect to the anitAFRIKA! Dub Theatre for providing their extraordinary venue for the grassroots community event.
by Justin Panos
Basics Issue #12 (Jan/Feb 2009)
British Columbia resident Tooryalai Wesa was recently chosen to be the governor of Kandahar province in Afghanistan where most of the Canadian armed forces are based. Wesa, a 58-year old agricultural expert, claims that he can tackle the social ills and violence that has plagued this dangerous region. “I always wanted to be the bridge between two of my home countries, Afghanistan and Canada,” Wesa told the CBC.
Born in Kandahar City, Wesa studied Agriculture in Kabul, Beirut, and Nebraska before obtaining his PhD from the University of British Columbia. Wesa was minister of higher education in Kabul in 1989-1990 for eight months. He has been living in Canada since 1995. Despite his background, many dispute the legitimacy of this appointment.
Residents have expressed concerns over the qualifications of a man who has been out of the country for over 10 years. They feel that he will not represent their interests as he will be working primarily with other appointed officials and reconstruction ‘experts’ rather than working with the people to address their needs. Furthermore, Wesa was selected by Hamid Karzai, the current President of Afghanistan and his childhood friend. Karzai himself was initially appointed, not elected to serve the people and did not enjoy popular support outside of Kabul. It is said that he only won the 2004 election because of endorsement by George W. Bush, the backing of the US army and other occupation forces, and official media smear campaigns against his opponents. His campaign was partially funded by his younger brother, Ahmed Wali Karzai, believed to be a key player in the heroin trade.
The legitimacy of any elections or governing officials in a country under the occupation of NATO forces and the Canadian army needs to be seriously called into question.
The fact that Hamid Karzai, himself appointed with U.S. backing, needed to install a Canadian citizen to govern Kandahar should be a sign to Canadians that the corrupt officials running Afghanistan are not running the country in the interests of the Afghan people, but in the interests of the occupation forces.
