The Peak

July 31, 2006 123/13 FREE

www.peak.sfu.ca | Offending all sides since 1965

SIMON FRASER UNIVERSITYS STUDENT NEWSPAPER

NEWS

Seven SFSS staff sent home Senior staff questioned

page 8

OPINIONS
SFSS fiasco: start to a crazy year
page 4

SFSS Night of Long Knives

page 6

What happened to SFSS staff?

page 6

Members of SFSS staff union CUPE 5396 show their support for Hattie Aitken during her five hour questioning session with SFSS President last Friday evening.

9 I Res revolt catches a break

11 I Gaza crisis: a brief history

FIRST PIQUE
the peak

Volume 123 Issue 13 - Monday, July 31, 2006

THE PEAK

Maggie Benston Centre 2901 Simon Fraser University 8888 University Drive Burnaby, B.C., Canada V5A 1S6 www.peak.sfu.ca Production Room Phone 604.291.4560 Advertising Fax 604.291.4343 Copy Editor Derrick Harder copy@mail.peak.sfu.ca 604.291.4560 Production Editor Amanda McCuaig production@mail.peak.sfu.ca - 604.291.4560 News Editor Ricardo Bortolon news@mail.peak.sfu.ca - 604.291.3597 Features Editor Debby Reis peak_features@mail.peak.sfu.ca - 604.291.4560 Arts Editor Justin Mah arts@mail.peak.sfu.ca - 604.291.4630 Opinions Editor Jen Hardwick opinions@mail.peak.sfu.ca - 604.291.4560 Humour Editor Curtis Lassam humour@mail.peak.sfu.ca - 604.291.4560 Photo Editor Vacant photos@mail.peak.sfu.ca - 604.291.4560 Business and Advertising Manager Larry van Kampen larry@mail.peak.sfu.ca - 604.291.3598 Ad Designer/Production Resource Amanda McCuaig amanda@mail.peak.sfu.ca - 604.291.4560 Network Administrator Andrew Yang epeak@mail.peak.sfu.ca - 604.291.4560 Distribution and Archives Coordinator Josephine Wong larry@mail.peak.sfu.ca - 604.291.3598 Columnists Warren Haas, Iain W. Reeve Associate Staff Contributors Ed Blake, Asim Chaundhry, Richard Cottier, Amara Der, Elaine Gebert, Vicki Haynes, Alex Hemingway, Mike Hingston, Dylan Innes, Mehdi M. Kashani, Kevin Lalonde, Cindy Lou, Joe Paling, Nick Pannu, Kevin Tilley This Weeks Contributors Meg Allan, Nick Boudin, Nic Brown, Mark Carter, Theressa Etmanskitt, Graham Fox, A. Guertin, Shawn Hooper, Bryan Jones, BJ Judge, Erin Kurk, Shara Lee, Rebecca Li, Casey McCarthy, Kathleen McElwain, Jaclyn Lord-Purcell

Amanda McCuaig / The Peak

Natalie Pormukdamanee and Chilipoin Taninart dance at the Asian Cultural Day in Convo Mall last Tuesday.

C you screw D
thank you to open bars. screw you to cash bars. thank you to open doors
and open meeting policies. screw you to closed doors and in-camera meetings thank you to solidarity. screw you to confidentiality. thank you to rumours and gossip. screw you to unanswered questions. thank you to Flash Gordon. screw you to weenies. thank you to kitty cat phone books for helping us keep organised. screw you to the shedded fur of my kitty cats that is all over my clothes and sheets. thank you to teachers who are retiring and allow you to take really long extentions on your final papers. screw you to due dates that are fast approaching. thank you to user edited websites and the users who insert inappropriate photos of penises instead of cartoon characters. screw you to user edited websites that quickly realise that their users have been playing practical jokes. thank you to organised groups of people. screw you to tinpot dictators. thank you to Dr. Kreis for teaching not organic chem. screw you to prunes. I want some. thank you to history. screw you to forgetting. thank you to the free press.

thank you

In this issue...
3 8
Voices of the voiceless
People around the world suffer in silence, and are forgotten. However, many of us have voices, which are powerful and profound. Now all we have to do is use them to protect those who cant speak for themselves. By Shawn Hooper and Theressa Etmanskit .....................................5

opinions

Rent revolt catches a break

Louis Riel House residents presented to the Board of Governors reasons to discontinue the unbearable increases in rent. Rent is expected to increase through 2012 when the building will be demolished, despite its dilapidated condition. By Ricardo Bortolon...................................................................9

news

11
features

Gaza crisis
We are bombarded daily with information about the conflict in Israel and Palestine, but whats the background of the most recent events? Alex Hemingway did some in depth research to help us understand. By Alex Hemingway...................................................................11

All articles published in The Peak will appear on www.peak.sfu.ca

The Peak is published every Monday in each of the fall, spring, and summer semesters at Simon Fraser University. It strives to cover the SFU community and issues relevant to students in a fair, responsible, informative, and engaging manner. The Peak is a member of Canadian University Press (CUP), a national cooperative of over 70 college and university student newspapers. CUP policy is to oppose sexism, racism, homophobia, and other oppressive prejudices. Subscriptions to The Peak are available at $56 per year. Subscription requests and payment should be addressed to the Business Manager. The Peak is located underneath the Higher Grounds Caf in MBC 2901. If you have a complaint about something that appears in The Peak, you can write a letter to the editor or contact the Editorial Appeals Committee. Letters to the editor must be between 150-400 words and can be delivered to The Peak or emailed to opinions@mail.peak.sfu.ca. Letters may be edited for length. The deadline is Wednesday at 4:00 p.m. Due to space restrictions, The Peak can not guarantee that all letters will be published. One letter per student per week. The Peak reserves the right to edit all submissions according to stylistic, grammatical, and legal guidelines. The Peak also reserves the right to reprint submissions at any time, in both written and electronic formats.

16
arts

Visually arresting gaze of Antonioni

If those summer blockbusters just arent satisfying your being, then retire youself to the Pacific Cinmathque to watch the films by Italian master filmmaker Michelangelo Antonioni. While watching his films, accompany the lives of disaffected souls as they search out for purpose and meaning. By Mehdi M. Kashani.................................................................16

21
humour & beyond

Humour.............................................................21 Etc....................................................................22 Column.............................................................23 Last Word...........................................................24

Eliminating political opponents, consolidating power, disregarding process; these are the steps that lead to tyranny and are currently under way at our very own SFSS. Kevin Tilley On the SFSS. Page 6

Peak Publication Society Board of Directors

At-Large Reps Titus Gregory Benoit Stooke Cindy Lou Debby Reis Kevin Lalonde Vacant Amanda McCuaig (chair) Larry van Kampen
Canadian University Press

Collective Reps Alumni Rep Employee Rep Secretary

Campus Plus

The Peak is a proud memeber of Canadian University Press and sells multi-market advertising through Campus Plus.

Cover Design: Amanda McCuaig Cover Photo: Amanda McCuaig

the peak

July 31, 2006

OPINIONS

opinions editor e-mail phone

Jen Hardwick opinions@mail.peak.sfu.ca 604-291-4630

An open letter to the Right Honourable Mr. Stephen Harper

I am concerned by your statements regarding the violence between Israel and Lebanon. Israels bold, explosive-centred approach to peacemaking is the kind of outside-the-box thinking that will win them the friends they need. Given our commitment to Israels Right to Exist and Middle Eastern stability overall, and given that the capture of two soldiers directly imperils the life of every single Israeli, I see no reason why we cannot lend military aid. Ideally, we should further demonstrate our moral support through imitation. Should Canada ever see a repeat of the 1970 October crisis if an organization that might compromise our security captures Canadian VIPs, and should they fail to surrender on our demand then it is our duty as a peace-loving country to systematically level the suspect region of Quebec, but only after following Israels example and leafletting the target areas. Leafletting is crucial, as it makes the subsequent deaths of the unaware, incredulous, slow, illiterate, nightshift workers, and those who die from disrupted infrastructure, stray bombs, or inadequate leafleting within the bounds of international law. Additionally, should the United States find, or strongly suspect, a terror network to be operating within Canada, we must defend the USAs right to exist (or that of the real or imagined terror cell, depending on who has the stronger case) with gusto as one side obliterates areas they believe to be harbouring the leaders of the other. Im sure youll agree with all of the above. Still, there remains the question: how can peace talks between the leaders of Israel and Hezbollah be expedited if the latter refuse to respond? I suggest that Canada do its part to facilitate their participation by providing the services of our fine reserve of mediums, channelers, and necromancers, as post-mortem communication specialists are probably the best way to reach the leaders of Hezbollah at this point. This leaves the question of domestic consequences. No need to worry; I believe that your support of Israels actions will draw nothing but support from Canadas Arab voters, who will be pleased to have yet another telling example to counter the stereotype of its Arabs who bomb other people. Your Humble Servant, Graham Fox, President, Rhinoceros Party of British Columbia

Letter of the week

What is the best movie you have seen this summer?

Interviews by Vicki Haynes. Photos by Justin Mah.

Peak Speak

Tarek Suliman Wanting the beyond

Oh, Pirates. Definitely. It had a really cool ship,and the look of the undersea zombie guys was pretty sweet. I wish I could hang with those guys.

Daliha Yousuf Full of anticipation

X-Men definitely. I guess all the build-up from X1 and X2, and then having everyone see it before me. . . I couldnt get tickets for about a week.

Joshua JRozario Limited choice

I would have to say X-Men, because I havent seen anything else all summer.

Wanted: social skills for professors

In a stunn i n g twist of e ve n t s, a young Asim Chaundhry f o o l d o e s nt look where hes going and bumps into my chest. His attention lay elsewhere and apologies were forthcoming. He says I wanted to say hello to my professor, I want to shake my shell of solitude and ask him for which course English. I think at that point I no longer wanted to talk to him and began to read the Poetry in Transit offerings right above the windows right below the fluorescent lights. The same person now sitting opposite myself had pulled out a paper and it was red: the red grammar corrections, the red question marks, red double question marks, red comments in the caption area, the red lines indicating inappropriate paragraph breaks, red circles denoting misused apostrophes, red periods where periods ought have been placed, red hyphens, red commas and red scribbling on the comments page in the back. The professor who marked his paper is seated in front of him, and the student goes up and asks him how to improve his writing. The professors reaction is priceless, yeah well, oh yeah ya know. The student, for his part, is asking useless questions, and does not realise how putrid his writing actually is. The poor student has not a clue as to how he will improve his writing, and the professor is not saying anything except well yes, you raise a valid point worth considering, all the while flipping though the pages aimlessly. The issue for students who ask for their professors assistance is that professors ability to exchange on a basic social level can be difficult. What the professor is saying and thinking are always two different things. In this case the professor may be saying hmmm, but hes clearly thinking that you arent cut out for English; you need to hook yourself on basic phonics and begin with the building blocks you need to stop wasting time driveling about and devote your time to improving your language skills. The professor is thinking all of this, and perhaps even wrote something on the marked paper not dissimilar. But try to get a professor to explain their positions in lay terms and they sound cartoonish (check out their facial expression if this point seems invalid). Professors need to learn the art of effective communication. Meet a few professors outside of lecture, and they become garbled, are at a loss for

words, cannot give impactful advice, and generally repeat themselves over and over. If I were the English professor under observation and had a dejected student come up to me I would tell him earnestly that his English skills were paltry. I would recommend basic English courses, a good style book (The Elements of Style, William Strunk), and ask him to find people who can eloquently discourse in the English language, and speak to them about matters both grand and insignificant. Clearly the professor wrote comments on the paper; however, most professors comments can often be indecipherable many write chicken scratch. Plus the thought that a student paying tuition goes up to his professor for clarification and advice, and only receives ho hum rejoinders, is troubling; a situation in dire need of rectification.

Karen Bassi Behind the lines

The last movie I watched was The Da Vinci Code. It was really a movie because, its not like a regular movie it had history behind it, and this whole cool story. It was really interesting.

Eena Kacra Big screen living

My favourite movie was The Da Vinci Code, because even though I knew it was fiction, it was a like a history lesson for me, and I got to learn new things. It was like an adventure without leaving your home. It was cool.

Steve Nash Speak:

Sometimes you just need to change things up. Thats why I cut my hair, and its why you should write for The Peak next semester. Dare to be diferent.

opinions@mail.peak.sfu.ca

the peak

July 31, 2006

OPINIONS

Editors Voice

Last year my friends started getting married. Okay, so there were those few odd couples who got married right out of high school, but for the most part no one went off and got married until recently. This is weird, right? I can honestly say that this phenomenon scares me shitless. Does it mean that Im Debby Reis expected to go off and get married Features Editor too? Ive started wondering why that expectation is there. But more importantly, why do people get married at all? The obvious answer is because youre in love. Its difficult for me to imagine that kind of love though perhaps because Ive never felt it. Or at least every time I have felt it, or something like it, it went away. Maybe my break-ups have left me cynical, but how can you depend on someone sticking around forever? Forever is hard to grasp. Its abstract, its unreal, yet there it is . . . till death do you part. Or get divorced. With the apparent increase in the divorce rate I wonder why anyone spends the time and money on an elaborate ceremony and reception. Its just a piece of paper, often rings. But why the claim of forever? And the party? The party is the best part though you have to admit that. The wedding parties I went to this year have been two of the best. The first was held at Heritage House on Jericho Beach. With the sun setting in the background, the ceremony was performed as the guests sat in foldable white chairs. When vows were read, the bride cried and also managed to make everyone laugh. When the groom started to state his vows, he said hed have a hard time following up. We were given rose petals and rice to toss, and soapy water to blow bubbles at the bride and groom as they filed out of the chapel area. Before even being give the chance to leave our seats, waiters were offering wine . . . ah, the open bar the top reason to attend any wedding. Dinner was held under a tent and we had a choice of steak, salmon, chicken, or vegetarian pasta. How swank can you get? The other wedding this season took place on a boat. We boarded and were asked to go directly the upper, outdoor deck where there was a flowered arch and seats awaited. With downtown Vancouver as the backdrop, the justice of the peace remarked on the symbolic nature of the water, the land, and the air. Sounds cheesy, but it was pretty. During and after dinner the boat sailed under the Lions Gate Bridge and around West Van where we could admire the extravagant lifestyles of those who can afford waterfront property (sorry, thats my cynicism coming through). While both weddings had their slight faux pas running out of time for games, no bouquet toss (I would have stood aside regardless), and as always, the dancing gets cut off just as its starting to get good they went off well and the emotion expressed by the families and friends of the couples and of course from the couples themselves, was genuine. Seeing both those couples staring at each other, obviously happy on their day, it was touching . . . really . . . no cynicism this time! But that doesnt mean Im ready to make the leap. Marriage is a big step. Its one that Im fearful of taking, and perhaps its this that makes my initial reaction to getting married one of disdain for all that hoopla for a piece of paper. But its not just a piece of paper. Its a public promise of partnership that you strive never to break. The wedding is a ceremony and a celebration, a chance to dance with people from multiple generations, and take photos. But its the marriage thats the test of what was said and done on that day.

Campus Views
When Hattie Aitken, the graduate issues and university relations coordinator, came to SFU on Friday to meet with her employAmanda McCuaig ers specifiProduction Editor cally President Shawn Hunsdale and Internal Relations Officer Wei Li speculation was thick over what the issue might be. But even more impressive than the gossip and speculation which included a story that Hatties dog Rufus mated with an alien and then birthed alien babies in the walls of the SFSS resource office and thats why staff members were sent home on leave was the support her union showed her. CUPE 5396 is made up of staff people from Quad Books, the General Office, the Advocacy area, the Finance Office, Ombuds Office, Benefit Plan Office, Out On Campus, and the Womens Centre. Just about every one of them showed up and congregated in Convocation Mall shortly before Aitkens meeting was scheduled, around 4 p.m. As the group milled about and chatted, a feeling of having been wronged sifted through the air. All but one of the staff people who had been sent home on leave were present to support their

SFSS Fiasco: start to a crazy year

co-worker. But the best was that there were t-shirts. T-shirts with pictures of the group together (classic, school photo-type pictures); t-shirts with a picture of Rufus, Hatties dog, who had attended meetings for years until the current SFSS Board of Directors decided it was a problem and asked her to leave him at home; t-shirts with a picture of several members of the union surrounding Hattie in a glob that says we support her on all sides. The last t-shirt was my favourite; it had all of the people looking down at the ground in a terrified manner. When I joked that it looked like they were shying away from a monster, one replied oh thats easy, its Hunsdale. So, it looks like itll definitely be an interesting year. We joke in The Peak office that this situation is the summers campus fiasco a joke title that I wrote that accidentally made it through copy and was published during the IBT negotiations between the administration and a private company last spring. As the night wore on, couches from the Womens Centre were pulled outside for people to curl up on, photos were shared among friends, a game of Frisbee was started. CUPE 5396 drank coffee and tea and speculated. While the union appeared to be among friends, and, though worried, felt comfortable with their support of one another and comfortable in their open disappointment in the situation, executive members of the board who werent in the questioning session with Aitken sat quietly in their offices going through files. Derrick Harder, Peak copy editor, and I meandered back and forth we chatted with the union, we worked on The Peak, and we went to poke at the kids at the SFSS. At one point we did the chicken dance outside the window of the office for three stressed looking executives. As Derrick mentioned near midnight, as we watched the executives file out of the MBC into the parkade beside our offices, this whole situation is turning out to be a bonding experience for them. The executive will have bonded over the fact that I keep prodding at them to tell me things and they cant either due to unwillingness or due to the very unique disclosure agreement they had to sign, and the union will be stronger due to having to withstand the near obscene level of secrecy coming from their employers. Many many questions remain over why Aitken is being hounded by her employer they come from the union, they come from concerned graduate students, they come from us, and in some cases they even come from members of the SFSS Board of Directors themselves. Its a shame that the timing of this fiasco was such that The Peak will be unable to give any concrete answers to the public until September. Congrats on good timing, secretive SFSS board.

Woohoo: SkyTrain

Subways have a tendency to remind me of the darkest moments in cinema. Theres nothing quite like being trapped underground in a dark tunnel with no idea where youre located to really get your skin crawling. Trams are just uncool. In Calgary, there are many places where you cant cross the tracks due to large fences, and in places Toronto I live in fear of getting run down by the little wannabe trains. So hurrah for the SkyTrain! Not only is there lots of light, significantly reducing any claustrophobia or murder related fears that I have, but riders can always see where theyre going, and the land underneath the SkyTrain can be used for clever projects like MOBY, a community garden project in the Commercial/Broadway area.

Boohoo: Injection site

The safe-injection site of Vancouvers Downtown Eastside the only one of its kind in North America may be forced to shut its doors if the federal government doesnt smarten up. The current, three-year exemption, which allows users to inject illegal drugs, expires September 15. The safe-injection site accommodates more than 600 drug addicts every day. Recent research illustrates benefits including less ambulance visits and hospital stays, a reduction in deaths from drug overdoses, in binge drug use, and drug-related litter. One good piece of news, however, is that MP David Emerson has been reported as saying that he will pressure Health Minister Tony Clement to extend the operation. Amanda McCuaig

the peak

NeAL Ash / The Peak

Wedding season

OPINIONS

July 31, 2006

Voices of the voiceless

Shawn Hooper and Theressa Etmanskit The Peak
While taking in the sights of another lovely and hazy SFU morning, reading peoples opinions in the local paper, I recently came to realise how much of a voice we Canadians actually have in our communities. There are, however, those in the world who do not enjoy this privilege. Recently I received an email from a friend who is currently at the sociology/ anthropology field school in South East Asia. This is an email she sent to a group of friends. Hello, I returned this afternoon from two days at a refugee camp on the Thai/Burma border. There were 600 men, women, and children at the camp who had all fled the Shan state because of constant army raids of their villages and attempts at ethnic cleansing. The Thai government does not recognise them as refugees as there is technically no fighting going on in Burma. Because of this, they have not issued ID cards and can therefore not leave the camp without being arrested. The land of the camp is owned by a temple nearby that is run by two monks and houses 40 young novices (monks in training probably no older than 12 or 13) most of whose parents were killed amongst the turmoil. When we arrived at the temple, the boys were supposed to be reinforcing the temple floor; instead they were playing in the mud that had been created by the monsoon overhead. So much spirit you could have never guessed what theyve been though. Mans ability to normalise things is amazing. The temple was originally on both sides of the border, but in 2002 the Burmese army laid land mines on the area in between the two sides so that nobody would cross. This is where the children live. I was able to talk to a few individuals at the camp who had learned English back in Burma. One had been forced to leave his village to look for work,but then had to escape to Thailand when the army tried to force conscription. This is typical for men living in rural villages in Shan State, though my understanding is that conscription is not legally mandatory. He now teaches English to the children at the camp and, when given the opportunity, goes out to do day labour in the fields of local farmers (though this is a risk because he can be arrested for leaving the camp). For this he earns 80 baht a day (about $2.50 Canadian). To buy a phone card to speak with his family is 500 B. He only talks to them once a year. The other person who I spoke with actually accompanied us to the camp as he has been given the opportunity to attend Chiang Mai University. Previously he lived at this camp (he too has been separated from his family), but has been sponsored by an organization called AEIOU which allows him to leave the camp and attend university. He has many friends who are members of the SSA (Shan State Army different from the Burmese Army) and one was able to drop him off some deer meat (at the border? I wasnt quite sure). The deer was killed by a land mine. In the evening they performed for us traditional Shan dances, some of which involved elaborate costumes and instruments. This was an amazing contrast and it made it easy to forget for a few moments where we were. They asked us to perform for them something traditionally Canadian. We couldnt come up with much more than the Hokey Pokey, but some of the children got into it. In general it took them a little while to warm up to us, but once they did we had lines of them fighting to be picked up and twirled around long after we were completely exhausted. Many of the people at the camp will never be given the opportunity to leave the camp unless things get settled in Burma which has yet to happen and its been about 50 years (dont quote me on that as I still have much research to do). The guy who seemed to be in charge of everything told us that learning English was an important skill for the children to learn as it might provide them with opportunities in the future. We brought bags of notebooks and pens and dictionaries with us to distribute to the children, though this did not feel like quite enough. They repeatedly invited us back to teach English whenever we are able to. I think this will be my next trip. I feel emotionally drained and also motivated to learn more about the situation. I wish I could have stayed longer and done more, though I realise that this issue is much larger than I can tackle quite yet. Many of the people at the camp feel as though theyve been forgotten by the rest of the world. By sharing this experience I hope that you will at least think of them for a moment or two. Anything more is up to you. Theressa A tenacious creature when it comes to advocating human rights and her various other beliefs (if you have the privilege, ask about her thoughts on golf), Theressa has a relentless compassion for those deprived of the lives we so often take for granted. This story may move you or not or it may motivate you to do something. What? I dont know. Thats up to you. However, doing something (donating, volunteering, etc) can be costly which may put many off. But whats free is your voice. Talk about this with family or friends. Have a class discussion on this topic or other travesties against humanity. Phone your MP. The whole point is to talk. A voice is something these people dont have you have it and its free. Use it and discover its power.

...TXT MSGS:
Got something to say in 60 words or less? E-mail it or MSN it to opinion s@mail.peak.sfu.ca (it also serves as the The Peaks MSN account), for e-mails include TXT MSG in the subject line. Submissions must include your full name and your student number. The Peak will not print submissions considered to be sexist, racist, or homophobic, or attacks of a personal nature.
www.studentunion.ca What happened to Rob Taylors articles? I miss reading about poetry, popcorn, and beer. Rob Taylor #1 Fan Social Psychology Lab is looking for participants for an online attitudes survey. Participants are entered into a draw for $50 and may be contacted for future paid studies! Contact masstesting-social@sfu.ca. Highland Pub Concert Series! Stabilo, Sweatshop Union, Black Halos AND MORE Coming this September wwww.sfss.ca/events Megan, met u @ celeberties on tuesday night! I tried to steal ur purse but u stopped me with kisses. then I saved ur life, and wrote my number on ur lost friends arm. damn ur cute! id like to see u again. hex56@yahoo.com Highland Pub Concert Series Dates! The Kitchen + Stabilo Friday Sept.15 Sweatshop Union Friday Sept. 22 Exit This Side + Black Halos Friday Spet. 29 Better Friends Than Lovers Oct.6 More info at sfss.ca/events Thank you so much to the person or persuns who took down the anti-choice banner in Convo Mall (however brief). And to all those who are opposed to abortion: JUST DONT FUCKING HAVE ONE!! Welcome back Noah! Hope Europe was grand. Turn your headphones down on the bus! I dont want to listen to your metal-rap at 8:30 in the morning! Sean I love you man. Im ready to get off this island!!! Have been for hours! What is it with weddings and text messages? Small town joy learning to use transit at 18, and discovering the beauty of downtown highs and lows. God bless the crazy man. Wanted - Need someone to walk my pet midget, 3 times a week. Must be careful, she bites. gtosix@wrack.ca

To Becky Cribb, re: Brandon Ferguson

Becky, Becky, Becky, where should I begin? Your boring, uninspired prose style? Kevin Lalonde Your lack of appreciation for obvious and humourous satire? Your outlandish comparison of social critique to 1960s era racial segregation? Or just your adorable last name (its Cribb, come on, thats so cute!)? Lets just start from the top. Unless Im mistaken, the origin of your witless rage is a music column penned by my good friend and colleague Brandon Ferguson entitled Why Tickle-Me-Emos just another fad [ January 30, 2006], in which he indicts a group of people he calls emo-geeks, or emoks, not for their pansy-ass taste in music which he asserts is in fact often pretty tasteful, not for their black painted nails or shiny Chuck Taylors, and not even for their brainless, wheezing, whining blogging habits, but rather for their reluctance to dance. Oh, and also that we all thought Franz Ferdinand was great until they got popular yeah, it took us 18 months to figure out that six guitar chords over 13 songs get boring really quick. So my question is, can you really argue? Just Tuesday night I was at Richards for the Rentals reunion show, their first in Vancouver in years. And from my vantage point on the balcony, I can staunchly agree with my pal Fergie: Indie kids dont fucking dance. And this was the Rentals, one of the most energetic, pop-delicious bands Ive ever heard. Eventually it occurred to me that if everyone started acting half as happy as frontman Matt Sharp and started to jive a little bit, we all would have been having the hottest, most inspired sex later that night, because as Brando is quick to point out, emo girls are cute as hell, and dancing leads to touching, and touching to scronking. But this isnt whats bothering you, is it Becky? To use an apt description that you authored,

Continued on page 7

What is a designer vagina?

The term designer vagina is slang for labiaplasty, which is a surgical procedure to change the labia (the two sets of lips surrounding a womans vagina). Labiaplasty is often used to reduce labia size due to infection, discomfort or pain. It is also undertaken to create labia and a clitoral hood for transsexual women. Some women may choose labiaplasty to look younger or more symetrical, however, there is concern that this reflects low self-confidence produced in some women by media images of ideal vulvas. It is important to recognize (and celebrate) that labia come in all shapes and sizes. As a relatively new procedure, no standard protocols have been set and many respected healthcare organizations have not taken a stance for or against labiaplasty. As with any other surgery, there are risks involved. Many practitioners will suggest that you see a psychologist or sex therapist instead of surgery. If you are concerned about your vulva or labia specifically, or if you have any questions please see your doctor.
Candid Conversations give you non-judgemental, straight forward and factual answers to your questions about relationships, sexuality, and sexual health. Answers complied with the advice of qualified health professionals.

Got a question? Send your anonymous question to candid@sfu.ca.

the peak

July 31, 2006

OPINIONS
Free speech in Convo Mall
Two weeks ago, SFUs pro-life club, SFU Students For Life, had their poster stolen from one of the display cases in the Convocation Mall. This didnt come as a big surprise because several of our small flyers, which often get posted around the school, get stolen as well. The poster that was stolen from the display case read Abortion Hurts Women ~ prolife@sfu.ca. Not only does abortion hurt women through an increase in the risk of suicide, depression, miscarriage, breast cancer, and other terrible effects, but people who try to cover-up this truth are also hurting women. If you wish to dispute this, then bring forth your reasoning and scientific evidence. To steal a poster because you have a different opinion is an attack on freedom of speech. Does freedom of speech just apply to you and those who agree with you, or does it apply to everyone? The university campus, of all places, is meant to be a marketplace of ideas. People should feel free to express their opinions, values, beliefs, theories, etc. without fear of persecution. Our club simply asks for the same fundamental rights and freedoms that are afforded to everyone else on campus. Mark Carter

SFSS Night of the Long Knives

Thanks to the 20th century, we now know all the warnings signs of an unhealthy Kevin Tilley democracy on its deathbed. Eliminating political opponents, consolidating power, disregarding process: these are the steps that lead to tyranny and theyre currently underway at our very own SFSS. To understand the plot, we need to know a little about graduate students, health plans, and the Canadian Federation of Students. So lets start there. Grad students at SFU fall under the same student union as all other students at SFU, but are given some autonomy in the form of the Graduate Issues Committee (GIC): a body with one staff member and some funds at its disposal. From time to time this relationship with the rest of the SFSS is threatened when the undergrad-dominated Board of Directors disagrees with the graduate students and attempts to thwart their proposals. Most significantly was last years decision by grad students to enter into a health plan with a health broker named Gallivan. Gallivan, however, is in direct competition with the health plan run by the Canadian Federation of Students, a massive national student organisation that has the ability to exert huge amounts of political pressure on student groups. In this case, some CFSfriendly board members, such as current president Shawn Hunsdale, are organised in an effort to scuttle the deal that grad students had negotiated independently. The ensuing fracas endangered the unity of the SFSS as grad students threatened to split from the SFSS, but in the end, the Board voted to sign the deal with Gallivan, much to the relief of some rather tense grads. This springs general election, however, saw the decisive victory of the CFS-backed Common Sense slate, and the machines have now sprung back into life. The Board of Directors has overruled a decision by the Graduate Issues Committee to send representatives to a health plan conference, and prevented GIC from spending its money, despite existing policies and procedures. Now, many are concerned that the Board is attempting to terminate the only staff member in place to organise graduate students. In the meantime, the Societys staff have been banned from the premises and ordered to not speak with each other. Shawn Hunsdale has established himself as the sole contact with the health plan broker, perhaps with an eye to ending the deal when the contract expires next summer, and installing the CFS-run plan in its stead. But this debacle extends well beyond simply the debate around the health plan and grad student autonomy. For years, Hunsdale has not-so-secretly had an agenda of returning the SFSS to the CFS control. In recent years SFU students and their elected representatives have been critical of the national student organisation, irritating those high up in the organisation, and Hunsdale has been working towards ending this period of dissent. As has been the case at other locals across the country, installing CFS-friendly staff and eliminating critical voices is the most efficient way to ensure long-term CFS hegemony over independent student unions. Here at the SFSS with a CFSfriendly board finally in office, we are now seeing the beginnings of this program at work. But as Hunsdale and the CFS alienate grad students and upset the democratic process, it will remain to be determined how students respond. There may be enough active and capable graduate students to successfully separate from the SFSS and establish their own union. Likewise, SFU students may be sufficiently upset to initiate the difficult process of leaving the CFS. The deciding factor, however, will be whether students are able to recognise the tactics being employed as the affront to democracy that they are, or if like so many citizens in the early 20th century, they will turn a blind eye.

What happened to SFSS staff?

Last week, seven staff members working for the SFSS were told that they were immediately on leave with pay, and given no reason for this. Staff were forced to relinquish their office keys and computer passwords and board members were then seen going into staff offices and removing computers. Why are students paying for seven SFSS staff to stay home? Why? Who made this decision? Why were computers removed and put into cars? Was the computer of the graduate benefit plan coordinator with private information put into a car? Why can grad students only talk to Shawn Hunsdale, SFSS president, about health plan questions and appeals? Whos keeping records and processing cheques at the Finance Office if staff are at home? Whos approving grad caucus grants? Did the lawyer at the SFSS board meeting get paid $300 an hour on July 26? Did staff get warning about this? Are the staff who were targeted active in CUPE? If staff dont vote at the SFSS, whats the threat? Is this unionbusting? Is this happening anywhere else? When do the staff come back? Isnt there something better to do? When did this start? Bryan Jones

Cartoon reminicent of Stuck between anti-Jewish propaganda heaven and hell

When I clicked onto last weeks editorial cartoon, NeAl Ashs How to secure a Majority Government* Step 1: Secure the Jewish Vote, I was reminded of the Anti-Semitic propaganda of the Third Reich. The cartoon caricatures our current Prime Minister as an Orthodox Jew. The American flag on his canoe indicates that Canada is being controlled by US and Jewish interests. Perhaps I need clarification, but I am offended and frightened by Ashs message. Through imagery and words, Ash uses an old propagandists standby, the myth of the Zionist Occupation Government to elicit an emotional response from his readers. He appears to be drawing upon The Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion, an anti-Semitic screed that was discovered at the turn of the century and disseminated by the Tsarist secret police, but was later debunked. This fallacious document itemised a set of absurd protocols that purported to outline plans for Jewish world domination through underhanded and nefarious means. It was doctored to appear as minutes from the meetings of the secret cabal The Elders of Zion. Though it has been discredited, its defamatory accusations appear authentic enough to perpetuate real world violence in the form of pogroms, and it was the rationale for Hitlers demonisation of the Jews. Ash, who is apparently an educated and enlightened humanist drawing for a progressive university paper, disappoints with this offering. Is he suggesting that Jews, who make up 1.1 per cent of the Canadian demographic have the will or the power to give a majority to any government, Conservative or otherwise? What is happening in the Middle East is horrifying and immoral, but it is all too easy to point fingers at one side. That is just lazy journalism. If one disagrees with their leaders words and deeds, it is healthy for him to say so. But to take the route of perpetuating this poisonous stereotype is irresponsible and dangerous. Why dont you just go ahead and say it, Mr. Ash, Jews control the world and are responsible for the war. Did I get your message right? Nick Boudin I was watching the devastation occuring in Lebanon and Israel with feelings of frustration, sadness, and guilt. Guilt, primarily because I have such an uncomplicated and predictable daily existence when the majority of the world is experiencing chaos. My biggest worries are petty compared to somebody who is fighting for survival in nearly every moment of their life. However even my guilt is not resilient, and within minutes of reading about a child who has been blown-up, I find myself in a shop with an iced cappucino in my hand. I attribute this to my feelings of cynical confusion and apathy. My disconnect comes from the fact that my life is just so different. The capitalistic rat-race doesnt stop for the masses as long as some continue to benefit by the worlds countless inequities, but deep down I know these are only excuses. Still, how do I reconcile the capitalistic conundrum with my social con-

science? My usual fluster of feelings which generally culminate into detachment. was recently marked by annoyance. I was watching the news broadcast with somebody who kept making incessant superficial comments, while dramatically gasping everytime there would be footage of innocent civilians whose lives were literally snuffed-out in an instant. Then came the superficial and nonsensical comments such as: Do you ever feel that were in heaven because we get to live in such a peaceful place? I suppose at face value this comment is innocent enough it is hopeful and even somewhat nationalistic but I dont see things that way. Instead I am reminded of Dantes notion that the darkest place in hell is reserved for those who maintain their neutrality in times of crisis. So no, I do not think we are in heaven. Why is that the one sure realisation I have come to? BJ Judge

the peak

OPINIONS
Emo antics
Coninued from page 5
youre whining about somebody whining about people whining. How very poignant of you. And the best youve got is a reminder of the attitudes the majority of the white population had about anyone of a different colour skin? Whats next, are you going to tell us that Hitler hated emo kids too, and that Pol Pot dismembered every Cambodian with a pair of Buddy Holly glasses? All Im saying is that I think you should loosen up a bit. Brandon and I have very different views about the way people behave in relation to their musical tastes and he would probably hit me for sticking it to you like this but that doesnt mean we cant both rock out to some Rheostatics together. And for Pete Dohertys sake, learn to appreciate a little humour, would you? Nobodys gonna kick your ass because you dont like Henry Rollins. Because if they are, Ill be the first with a black eye. Kevin Lalonde If you ask anyone what the purpose of university is, they will surely tell you that it is to provide an education. My question is: how can I get an education when I cant get into the classes that I need? I am a third year Criminology student. For the past two years, I have taken all the prerequisites to get into the Criminology program, with the expectation that come third year I could take my upper division requirements and graduate in four years. However, the enrollment system and political practices of the university have made this incredibly difficult. My enrollment date for the fall semester was July 21, which apparently was too late, since all of the classes I wanted, excluding one, were full. The registration system is obviously very faulty and I know that I, along with most third year students, am getting screwed. How can we be expected to graduate and get our careers started within four years when the registration system is putting us back at least a semester? Actually, its probably more it wouldnt surprise me if come next registration time people still cant get into the classes they need. After my brutally failed attempt at getting into classes, I am left wondering why I am not receiving the opportunity to take the classes I need to graduate. It has also left me pondering the real motive of the universitys administration. Perhaps its top priority is not to provide a fair and just education to its students, but instead is one of profiteering. For example, many of the Crim classes I was looking to take are being held in small lecture halls, which seat only 200 students, and I am being very generous when I give that number. I do not know the exact number, but I am assuming there are a lot more than 200 Criminology majors who need to get into those classes. Why is the university not offering at least two classes for each course? Is it so that people like me will pay to take classes they do not want to take while waiting for another semester to try again to get into the classes they need? Furthermore, I was talking to one of my friends who went to Douglas College and is transferring to the Crim program at SFU, which is the same program as mine. Her enrollment date was a day before mine. I find this both unfair and frustrating because I have attended SFU for two years, paying more money than people attending college, and I am not even given priority of getting to pick my classes before transfer students. I have been trying to figure out why the system is set up this way and have been left wondering if transfer students are given better registration dates so that more people will transfer to the university, and the university will make more money. I am hoping that the university considers the following suggestions, which I think will give rise to a more effective and fair registration system. Firstly, any student who has taken the prerequisite classes to get into his or her department of choice and gets accepted into that program should be guaranteed a spot in upper division classes. In order to do

July 31, 2006

The trouble with registration

this, my second suggestion is that the university provides at least two classes for each upper division course. Finally, I think the university should give current SFU students priority and provide them access to upper division classes before transfer students. I know I am not the only one suffering from frustration. These past few days, the major topic of discussion amongst my friends attending SFU has been registration and how nobody is really sure what to do because most of the classes they planned on taking are full. Many people are obviously dissatisfied with the current system. The appropriate and necessary thing for the university administration to do is create a more effective registration system one that will leave people more happy, stress free, and continuing to get educated. If something does not change, I will be left wondering if my perhaps off-base assumptions of the universitys motives are not far stretches from the truth. Erin Kurk

Why dont people cry in public? Why I talk on my cell

The other day I had a rather dismal and awful meeting with my ex, Mr. Tomato Head. Normally, after our little meetings, he would walk me to the SkyTrain, but this time he didnt. He was busy and I understand that. Im not a part of his life and I get that too. Thats a different story all together. So I kind of got lost in his apartment building and I eventually managed to take this roundabout way to the SkyTrain station. I called my friend and was whining about how I was semi-lost in the area. I was talking and then I tripped on this uneven sidewalk area. My whole body fell onto this grassy/sandy patch. My phone flew away from me. I took it and then held it to my ear. I felt the pain through my whole ankle and felt like I was going to die. I started to cry and held my face in my hands; I did this with the phone still to my ear. I cried for a good five seconds before getting up and limping to the Skytrain. I started to walk and then there was this man that passed me. I didnt care if anyone saw me crying, but when this man looked over he walked a bit farther away from me like I had some sort of disease. Tears are a scary thing. I would like to think that Im not the type of woman that cries easily but I think everyone cries eventually. Then I was at the light and my face was wet still and no one dared to look at me. I did see a woman in this minivan looking at my sad face. I think she was staring at me but I was amazed that no one looked or cared. That minivan just drove off and I stood there with my face down. I was standing on that street with about five people waiting for the light to change. Bottom line: no one cares if youre sad or happy. Why dont people cry in public? Because we are supposed to have no emotion in public. If you see some girl limping around on campus, you can be the first to know that I cried when I sprained my ankle. Whats the point of all this? People are always whining about people talking on their cell phone but theres a reason. I think that cell phone was the only thing that could comfort me enough to get up and keep going. That small voice from my friend whos in Calgary helped me get back up from a fall. Rebecca Li

the peak

July 31, 2006

NEWS
Amanda McCuaig Peak Staff
In a surprise move, the Board of Directors of the Simon Fraser Student Society is undertaking organisational changes which have upset the societys staff. The SFSS sent home seven senior staff members for a week of paid leave beginning Wednesday July 26, 2006. Staff was given no prior notice of the request. They will remain at home until further notice and have been requested to stay away from the Maggie Benston Centre. After being issued letters containing the directive, staff were escorted off the premises and were asked to hand over their office keys. Computers have been removed from the resource office, located next to the SFSS general office. Staff members were asked to hand over their usernames and passwords for all computers. The removal of staff personnel was orchestrated by the Labour Committee, a sub-committee of the SFSS Board of Directors compiled of five executives and one board member. If the labour committee or the society has any reason to be suspicious of any kind of activity then they could initiate that kind of action, explained former president Clement Abas Apaak when questioned about the procedures being followed. They may start up forensics to allow them to have access to information that they could otherwise not have with the fear that maybe that if the staff were to know that this is the case that the sensitive information could be destroyed. The Board of Directors held a record to the issue. Though Internal Relations Officer Wei Li was approached following the end of the meeting, he refused to talk, stating that he was too tired. As the decision to send Aitken and Apaak to the conference was made by grad students on the GIC working group, members of the union and GIC have significant doubts over the legitimacy of the concerns expressed by the SFSS. The GIC working group is not under investigation, and neither is Apaak. However, Apaak has been denied the $80 per diem he is entitled to for his attendance at the conference on behalf of grad students. While members of the board who have seen evidence legitimising the long questioning period between Aitken and Hunsdale

news editor e-mail phone

Ricardo Bortolon news@mail.peak.sfu.ca 604-291-3597

Campus Fiasco

Seven SFSS staff sent home

board meeting at 4:30 p.m. Wednesday afternoon that was attended heavily by graduate students and employees of The Peak. Without regular staff available to take meeting minutes, General Office Staffperson Rob Quinn was asked by the Board of Directors to act as scribe. Under the terms of the CUPE 5396 collective agreement, only advocacy area staff are allowed to resource the Board and standing committees. The Board voted to ratify Erica Halpern, at-large representative, as scribe until Quinn arrived. As it is against the collective agreement for Board members to do the wpork of bargaining unit members, Halperns actions could open the Board to a grievance. Approximately 15 minutes into the meeting, members of CUPE 5396 composed of staff who work at the General Office, Finance Office, Quad Books, Ombuds Office, Benefit Plan Office, Out On Campus, the Womens Centre, and the Advocacy area escorted Quinn to the meeting in order to express their support for him and their decision to accept the boards request that he act as scribe. CUPE 5396 is a new local. Until recently, student society staff were part of CUPE 2396 along with staff people from other student unions in the Lower Mainland, SFPIRG, and the Canadian Federation of Students provincial office. SFSS staff voted to separate last year over concerns about CFS influence in the bargaining unit. All members of the CUPE 5396 executive happen to be amongst those staff on leave. A number of sources have speculated that the temporary leave of staff and confiscation of computers

Computers and keys confiscated with no explanation

is related to the graduate benefit plan which was instituted last fall. The plan was approved by the student body in a spring 2005 referendum. After a lengthy bidding process in spring 2005, the Graduate Health Plan working group recommended that the board sign a contract with Gallivan and Associates. Although the plan was approved by the board on June 1, 2005, it was stridently opposed by then-External Relations Officer Shawn Hunsdale, now president. At the time, Hunsdale was a strong proponent of signing a contract with the National Student Health Network, a competing broker owned by the CFS. To do so would have overridden the recommendation of the Graduate Health Plan working group. The Peak has learned that the graduate benefit plan is currently functioning normally and that graduate students continue to be covered by the plan, despite the lack of on-site staffing. Members of the Board of Directors are unable to provide comment due to the confidentiality surrounding personnel issues. Their inability to comment on the matter is further solidified by a motion passed last Wednesday stating that legal action will be taken against board members who break confidentiality. The meeting was attended by a Vancouver labour lawyer Walter Rilkoff from the firm of Lawson Lundell. His areas of practice include construction, labour law, employment and labour, and privacy. The Labour Committee is a standing committee of the student society that does not keep minutes, meets in camera, and does not have staff support.

manda McCuaig / The Peak

Wei Li, Vanessa Kelly, Margo Dunnet, and Shawn Hunsdale wait for the SFSS Board of Directors meeting to begin.

Senior staff questioned

Five hour long meeting ends with no concrete results
Amanda McCuaig & Derrick Harder Peak Staff
As of Friday July 29, Hattie Aitken, graduate issues and university relations coordinator and a longtime employee of the SFSS, was the only staff member under investigation. Members of her union, CUPE 5396, the TSSU, and other supporters over 20 people altogether waited as a group in Convo Mall throughout the duration of the meeting. Aitken met with SFSS President Shawn Hunsdale, Internal Relations Officer Wei Li, and a representative for labour lawyer Walter Rilkoff from the firm Lawson Lundell last Friday. Aitken was accompanied by CUPE Representative Gary Yee and Ed Deeks, Quad Books coordinator and acting shop steward for CUPE 5396. Student Union Organiser Sam Bradd normally acts as shop steward, but has been placed on leave by the Board of Directors and has been ordered not to enter SFSS offices. The meeting began at 5:00 p.m. and lasted until 10:47 p.m. to grateful cheers of the waiting union, who had brought out couches from the womens centre to relax on and who had started a game of Frisbee in the darkened mall. Part way through the meeting, Aitken emerged from the MBC looking slightly downtrodden and warmly accepted the hugs of supportive union members who had been waiting outside. The Peak has learned that the questioning surrounded Aitkens attendance at the recent Gallivan and Associates conference. Gallivan and Associates were recommended by a working group of the Graduate Issues Committee to be the broker for the graduate benefit plan, approved by over 80 per cent of SFU students in April 2005. The conference, attended widely by members of student unions across the country that have health plans with Gallivan, was held in Calgary in early July. Initially, Mary Catharine Lennon, former graduate issues officer, and Jewelles Smith, a GIC member, were selected to attend. The board voted in favour of sending the two candidates, agreeing to cover travel costs and provide a per diem of $20 per day in accordance with policy. Lennon, who had been awarded a prestigious scholarship in the UK, later resigned her position, and Smith stepped down from her placement as a representative. The GIC benefit plan working group selected Aitken and Clement Abas Apaak, a graduate student and former SFSS president, to replace Lennon and Smith as SFSS representatives to the conference. Aitken attended the conference last year with Caelie Frampton, the chair of the original GIC health plan working group and at-large graduate representative on the 2004-05 Board of Directors. At the time The Peak had to go to press, none of the staff people on leave or members of the Board of Directors were able to speak on

manda McCuaig / The Peak

Above: members of CUPE 5396 show support for Aitken. Below: Nadine Chambers and Sam Bradd accompany Aitken out of the MBC after a five hour questioning session. believe the issue could be serious, upwards of 10 past board members from four consecutive boards have speculated that it may just be an attempt to drive Aitken out in order to make room for a Canadian Federaton of Students loyalist.

the peak

NEWS
Campus News

July 31, 2006

Rent revolt catches a break

Ricardo Bortolon News Editor
The proposed rent increase for Louis Riel House will not take effect until after September 30. At last weeks Board of Governors meeting, the Louis Riel Tenants Association presented their case to halt rent increases. The LRTA argued that the rent hikes are too high for the poorest residents of SFU and that the current condition of Louis Riel House demands immediate, serious attention. Louis Riel resident David Newman stated in his presentation, The 7.5 per cent rent increase projected for this year, following a similar rise last year, is causing extreme hardship for many low income families, leaving some to move out and others to explore options off campus. Faculty Board Member Judy Zaichkowsky noted, I do not think it is reasonable to expect these people to pay market rates. Rent increases began in 2004 and are planned until the buildings closure and demolition in 2012. Student Board Member Titus Gregory proposed that rent increases be postponed until an assessment beyond the LRTAs presentation is dissected at the next BoG meeting in September. The motion passed, but leases will not be extended; new leases will still have to be signed. The new leases will be of a onemonth length, in contrast to the usual four-month length spanning the semester. Residents can begin signing new leases July 31. After the next BoG meeting, residents will know whether rent will continue to rise. Gregory expanded, [The next one] is going to be a difficult meeting. The university has a current view that residence and housing should be revenue neutral, but Louis Riel House needs money for repairs and the rent is too high. In my opinion, the best strategy is to ensure Louis Riel House is not subsidising other buildings. The current plan is for profit from Louis Riel House to subsidise new buildings. Associate Vice-President of Students and International Nello Angerilli disagreed, explaining that income goes into a pool and goes to where it is needed; thusly Louis Riel does not directly subsidise new housing. Student Board Member Shawn Hunsdale was not present for the LRTA presentation or discussion

Rent increases for Louis Riel temporarily postponed

The motion to hold back the rent increase sets a precedent where such an interjection has been made on budgeting, interrupting normal lease scheduling. Fee increases in the past have not been stopped so near the deadline for signing new leases, only two days away. The recent decision is too late for some current residents who have already made plans to leave due to the increase. It will also affect expected residents who anticipated more vacancies that may no longer exist if some residents choose to stay after the decision. Tim Rahilly, senior managing director for campus and student life, stated, We have a rather full waiting list for the suites in the fall. Students that wish to remain because of the extension of current rates will impinge on our ability to let the new students move in . . . The conditions are the primary concern, and I am uncomfortable with the notion that we are alright with the conditions at a lower rate. The LRTA appealed their case to the BoG because residents are not covered by any legislation, neither the B.C. Residential Tenancy Act nor the University Act, leaving residents at SFU without any-

Kathleen McElwain / The Peak

Peeling paint reveals asbestos in Louis Riel House. where else to turn. If the LRTA was covered by the B.C. Residential Tenancy Act, the size of the rent increases over the last few years would have been illegal. Angerilli noted that the recent rent increases have been necessary after years of none. He added that the past lack of increases kept Louis Riel House from having sufficient funds for some repairs that have become much more expensive today. President Michael Stevenson corroborated, Stopping the rent increase will bring us back to the time when all this started from lack of funds. Thurham noted her own experience with the deteriorating building, Several months ago a pipe burst in our childrens bedroom and the ceiling was left with a gaping hole revealing possible asbestos dust circulating throughout out house. We were offered a single bedroom for our four-person family at a hotel, but we decided not to take it up for logistical reasons. Instead, the children slept in our bedroom while we slept in the living room. Stevenson argued that the Residence Sustainability Plan had already been through extensive public consultation and already voted through the board previously. Angerilli conjectured, The good news and bad news is that [external inspectors] said it was absolutely average for what people are paying and what they get. In every university in Canada, one can expect to see a building in about that condition costing about that much money. Its not a happy story, but it is a reality.

No money for fun despite Campus composting aims to increase athletics expansion
Ricardo Bortolon News Editor
SFU Recreation and Athletics is facing expansion without any increase in resources, prompting increases to user fees. Intramural leagues will no longer be free, as competitive leagues will begin charging $50 per team for the season. This money will go to higher wages for intramural referees, an increase which is expected to draw better referees. The recreational leagues may end up having no referees at all. Currently, both recreational and competitive leagues pay $10 per hour for referees, with one referee for each match. Linesmen are sometimes used during playoffs, if available. Recreational Sports Facilitator Jason Stockley explained, Were playing it by ear because we dont know how popular one [league] is going to be over the other, so were not going to have the leagues finalised until after sign-up . . . none of this is assured yet, we still need to meet and finalise. Stockley noted that no leagues will be cut. Were having to deal with expansion without any increase in funding. A new artificial turf field was recently completed just beyond the existing grass fields, with funding provided by the Vancouver Whitecaps, an A-League soccer club. Grants have brought substantial upgrades to the main fields turf, Continued on page 10

Campus News

Campus News

sustainability
Ricardo Bortolon News Editor
Sustainable SFU members are working to make SFU more sustainable by bringing composting to the campus. Composting has failed in the past, but SSFU, formerly the Sustainable Campus Coalition, plans to see it through this time. By the end of September, Chartwells will be composting its pre-consumer waste. It will be removed at daily and held at the loading dock until its pick-up for off-site composting. Research Coordinator Janice Brahney noted, [Chartwells does] a lot of food preparation, especially at Ravens. They are thinking of making Ravens the

Sustainable SFU hopes to make composting a reality after several failed attempts.
central location for all food preparation on campus so it makes sense to focus the pilot there . . . We have to train Chartwells. We have to teach them what is and what isnt compost. Post-consumer waste will be implemented at a future date, as it requires new bins and extensive education to avoid contamination. Post-consumer waste is also removed separately from preconsumer waste. Brahney added, Post-consumer waste adds the problem of contamination. Composting has previously been attempted in residence, but extensive contamination forced the pilot to be pushed ahead. SSFU plans to expand the pilot Continued on page 10

Amanda McCuaig / The Peak

The new gym will be completed before the end of the fall semester.

the peak

10

July 31, 2006

NEWS
2002 and 2005, increasing from 1121 to 2174 individuals. The critical situation of poverty that Vancouver is facing now is not a sudden phenomenon. Since the 1990s, decisions have been made by Canadian policy makers that have greatly changed the accessibility of social welfare and widened the gap between the rich and the poor. In 1996, the incumbent Liberal administration ended the Canada Assistance Plan, under which the federal government shared 50 per cent of the cost of social assistance and services with the province. In 2002, the B.C. government introduced new welfare policies that increased the barriers to getting assistance. In terms of affordable housing, the federal government canceled all spending on new social housing projects under Paul Martins 1993 budget. British Columbia continued funding 600 units of affordable housing per year, despite federal cuts. In March 2002, however, the Campbell government cancelled that funding as well. Meanwhile, welfare rates have remained the same for 12 years while the cost of living in Greater Vancouver has risen dramatically. Recent efforts by the provincial government to battle homelessness include a $300,000 grant given to the Vancouver Homeless Project. The project sends outreach workers out to the streets to help homeless people find a place to live, apply for income assistance and social and health services. In a news release published by the provincial government, Minister of Housing Rich Coleman says, Outreach workers put them in touch with government services they might not otherwise access. Those services provide stability and support and can help the homeless get off the streets. Jean Swanson, anti-poverty activist and author of Poor Bashing: Politics of Exclusion, says that the Vancouver Homeless project is a positive step but questions why such a program is needed at all. The ministry has erected so many barriers and so much red tape that prevent people from getting on welfare by themselves like they use to be able to do. For example there is a 27 page web orientation you have to do before you can even apply. Well, what if you dont have a computer? What if you cant read? All of these rules and degradation you have to go through really puts people off from applying for welfare, especially the most vulnerable. According to Swanson, five things are greatly needed to alleviate the critical situation in Greater Vancouver: affordable housing with funding from both the federal and provincial governments, a 50 per cent increase in the welfare rates, an end to barriers that keep needy people off welfare, an increase in minimum wage to 10 dollars, and an end to the training wage. She believes that we need to look at the real roots of poverty and homelessness in order to tackle it.

Local News

Down and out in Vancouver

The problem of homelessness continues to grow in Vancouver and the Lower Mainland.

Ricardo Bortolon / The Peak

One of the homeless prepares to light up a marijuana cigarette.

Cindy Lou Associate Staff Writer

Ted and his girlfriend Colby have been homeless for over a year. Recently, they have started living in a tent set up in an empty lot near one of the SkyTrain stations in the Downtown Eastside. Their tent, along with the temporary settlements of the 20 or so residents, are tucked away amongst the low shrubs and bushes which have kept them mostly out of sight from the busy traffic only meters away. Is it tough living outdoors? one of the homeless is asked. Tim, as he

calls himself, answers, No, not really. Colby, beside him, retorts, Yes it is, dont lie. They talk about Tim losing his job and trying to live in rundown hotels - the only accommodation they can afford with their welfare cheques. But, with drug dealers, crooked landlords, and experiences of being evicted without any notice, the couple finally decided to live outside instead. Its safer, cleaner, and easier here, Colby explains. You go across the street over there you see the hotel mattresses, all sitting out back, theyre covered in bedbugs, its so gross. You guys have prob-

ably never experienced bedbugs before but theyre the most horrible fucking things ever. You lay in your bed, your arms, your hips, your legs, everything swells up. Tim and Colbys situation is just one of many stories heard on the streets of Vancouver as homelessness continues to be a growing problem. On July 20, the National Council of Welfare released The Poverty Profile, 2002 and 2003, a study which found that British Columbia had the highest poverty rate in Canada. The 2005 homeless count for Greater Vancouver reported that homelessness has doubled between

Composting coming to campus

Continued from page 10 program later to residence and then the rest of the campus. Cross-campus composting is contingent on the success of the other pilot programs and is not expected in the immediate future. Residence Outreach Coordinator Matt Casselman stated, Cross-

campus composting is a huge undertaking that we have yet to work through. Residence needs to first prove that it can successfully recycle, as it has had extensive problems with contamination in recycling as well. SSFU is working on a residence education program with the community advisors. Casselman elaborated, [SSFU volunteer] Saya is working on an international recycling guide for all the international families in Louis Riel, and I will be on a board in the fall promoting sus-

tainability by the Residence Hall Association who oversee Hamilton Hall. The education program will be part of a larger residence sustainability education program including water and energy conservation. It will be running by the fall semmester as well, with a temporary monitoring program overseeing contamination rates. Brahney said, Because the cafeteria in residence is Chartwellsbased, that may be a way to get composting in there. UniverCity had shown interest in joining the composting pilot

but has opted to go forward with composting independently. Conflicts with different waste removal contracts were noted. Dialogue for the pilot was opened with Facilities Management through the work of two undergraduate students. Iisak Andreller and Travis Streb completed a campus sustainability assessment on composting, which was presented to Facilities Management. Casselman added, Lawrence Reason has been an amazing addition to Facilities Management who has
Despite the acclaim of the new facilities, Stockley had criticisms as well. [The new gym] is only as big as the east gym, but there are side rooms so we can put clubs like karate into there and free up gym time and space . . . the wrestlers want out of the Combatants Room and into the gym, understandably because its a dungeon down there. But, it just doesnt make sense to me to use gym floor for something like that. Fight Club member Mike Peabody replied, I dont have a problem with [the Combatants Room]; its better than being on the racquetball courts. The musty atmosphere seems right for that kind of sport.

Intramurals to begin charging fees

1985 The Simon Fraser Student Society received applause after presenting a brief entitled Students Against Star Wars. The SFU delegation criticised U.S. President Ronald Reagans Strategic Defence Initiative, a high-tech missile defense system, and discussed several problems that Canada would potentially face if it opted to jump on Americas defence bandwagon. SDI has recently reappeared as Ballistic Missile Defence, and Canada has once again declined to participate. 1987 For the first time in the history of Canadian universities, SFU President William Saywell started a safer sex campaign in hopes of encouraging students towards responsible intercourse. Doctor Peter Harmon of SFUs health services described the campaigns design as non-threatening and approachable so students will not be intimidated. It was Harmons belief that most students have never seen or touched a condom. Compiled by Shara Lee

Continued from page 10

as well as new facilities; the new fitness center is already open, in limited capacity, and the new gym should be open by mid-October. Stockley continued, We have the new field paid by the Whitecaps and the gym came through grants, but we need to pay for staff and equipment and were not getting any more in our budget. Just look at this office. A posted sign in the room aptly names it The Other Ghetto.

helped this along. The original on-site proposal was rejected because it would not be sensible with SFUs expected levels of organic waste, but it opened doors for dialogue leading to the off-site proposal. The cost of waste removal is expected to rise. In contrast, demand for composting facilities is expected to push the construction of necessary facilities to locations closer than the current ones in Squamish. This should decrease the cost of organic waste removal. Brahney continued, Compost makes up 40 per cent of institutional waste on average . . . Theres definitely an economic benefit to SFU, but theres also the environmental benefit. Director of Facilities Management Sam Dahabieh has expressed some reservations because of the failed attempts in the past, but Brahney explained, The failed attempts were because they were overseen by students; students are transient and volunteers. Now were setting up a top-down system, managed by the university; people are paid to take care of these projects so we dont have to worry about people getting busy and leaving. We dont have to worry about it going to pot.

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July 31, 2006

FEATURES

features editor e-mail phone

Debby Reis peak_features@mail.peak.sfu.ca 604-291-4630

Gaza
crisis
As the bombs rain down on Beirut, the ongoing assault against the Gaza Strip has been overshadowed. In Lebanon, the civilian infrastructure is being destroyed as precision-guided weapons demolish houses, bridges, roads, television stations, farms, and medical vehicles. The UNs top humanitarian official describes Lebanon as block by block, levelled to the ground, denouncing the Israeli attacks as a violation of international law. Yet, these conditions would not be unfamiliar to residents of occupied Palestinian territories. Moreover, throughout the Gaza crisis, as in the attacks on Lebanon, the sequence of events has been obscured, and crucial information ignored, by both Western leaders and pundits. To develop an accurate analysis of the situation in any conflict zone the elementary facts must be addressed. The aim of this article is to examine how the current crisis in Gaza began and progressed and consider the broader context of the IsraeliPalestinian conflict.

By
Alex
Hemingway
killed no Israelis according to BTselem, the Israeli human rights group; however, the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs holds Palestinians responsible for the killing of one Israeli on June 11. The facts notwithstanding, reports continue to describe the June 25 militant raid as unprovoked, signalling the beginning of a new cycle of violence, presumably based on the understanding that Arab lives dont count.

The
current
crisis:
Starting
points
By now, we are well aware that on June 25 Palestinian militants crossed into Israel and raided an Israel Defence Forces (IDF) outpost, capturing an Israeli soldier. Two other soldiers and three Palestinian fighters were killed in the raid. The Palestinian raid was met

with considerable shock and condemnation in the West. The name and image of the captured soldier, Gilad Shalit, has become familiar to millions of people around the world and politicians everywhere have called for his release. In contrast, the events of June 24 appear to be of significantly less interest to Western journalists and leaders. On that day, Israeli soldiers crossed into Gaza and raided a Palestinian home, capturing a doctor and his brother, and beating the owner of the house. Needless to say, millions of people have not seen the faces of the captured men, Mustafa and Osama Muammar, on television nor are world leaders calling for their release. Indeed, the story of the current crisis in Gaza is clearly and consistently reported as starting on June 25.

In a sense, though, perhaps we are correct to ascribe little significance to June 24, if we examine the first 23 days of that month. During that period, in 140 IDF incursions into the occupied territories, Israeli forces abducted more than 160 Palestinians, including at least two women and 17 children, while Palestinians held no Israeli prisoners. The IDF also confiscated several Palestinian houses for military use. Furthermore, on June 16, a failed Israeli assassination attempt killed three Palestinian children and a pregnant woman. On June 9, Israeli artillery shelling killed seven members of a beach-going Gaza family, orphaning a 10-year-old girl. In total, Israeli forces killed at least 44 Palestinians in the occupied territories over 23 days. During the same period, Palestinians

Prisoners
and
negotiations
Following the June 25 raid, the captors of Gilad Shalit demanded the release of detained PalestinContinued on page 14

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July 31, 2006

FEATURES

Get Wrecked
Summer semester is a stressful undertaking for even the most studious of scholars and it is not unusual to feel an urge to hurl oneself in front of a bus without warning. However, there is an alternative to death by public transit that is just as effective at relieving built up pressure in the pancreas (the stress organ). Jump on the next ride west and dont stop until you reach that other BC university where the Thunder Chickens roam and city gives way to sea. have to tip the guy serving you beer. Unfortunately, the hike back up really kicked the shit outta me that first time and the driver got lost on the way back too, so I was real heat sick in the back of that shit brown Porsche on the ride home. But Id be back.

By Richard Cottier
Beach has a strict Clothing Optional policy; there are no words for Hey you! Put some pants on! Some might say this is a huge deterrent to those who wish to visit the otherwise very attractive location. Who wants to see old hairy men with their imperceptible knobs and giant melon sized balls, or fat saggy women with cottage cheese for ass cheeks? Probably nobody, but this is a silly reason to avoid the sheer freedom one achieves by strutting ones stuff around in public. There are no pretensions for a naked person. The professor of philosophy loses his academic authority outside his tweed suit and becomes just another bum. Speaking of which, one can always tell when youve been sitting on your lazy ass because it bares a big red circle and the imprint of whatever you were sitting on. You cant hide that kind of thing with no clothes on. The lack of a tailored faade lends everyone a feeling of equality and might lead one to believe that world communism failed simply because Russians must wear so much clothing. The people one meets on the beach are the true source of the unique atmosphere at Wreck. No one is working. Even the vendors strolling up and down the sandy strip arent really doing anything like standing in front of a cash register or tending a bar. There is a woman who skips out from under her food tent to announce Mexican food is ready! Tacos, burritos, nachos!, before plunking herself down in the sand again to wait for her customers. Some vendors are more ambitious and carry their products with them, such as the short South American lady who tempts growling stomachs with calls of Empanadas! Chicken, beef, and veggie! Other beach-walking entrepreneurs

Trail number six

Down, down, down the jungle staircase, seemingly endless steps wind down the forested cliff at the very western point of Vancouver. Pacific Spirit Regional Park feels like a special place, as though the trees, shrubs, animals, and people know that this is the very end of mainland Canada where the westbound road that runs clear across the nation finally halts for good. Or maybe Ive got it all backwards and this cliff is where the road begins. But if I were to begin a crosscountry journey at the bottom of Trail Six I would say, Fuck it and stay right at the bottom of the stairs where the stretch of beach called Wreck lies nestled between the end of the Fraser and the beginning of the Pacific. At 17, three friends took a drive out of the Valley to visit one friends sister in the city and look for a nice time out. The older sister was going to work but suggested Wreck as an experience they couldnt pass up. The notion of a nude beach was exotic and novel to a trio of teenagers with nothing to lose but their clothes and virginity so they were willing to undertake the mission. Parking woes and path-finding aside, the three youths managed to march down to the beach, take off their clothes, and go swimming. They relaxed in the heat and even bought some beers which were served cold! The drive out to the city had been very long as the driver had gotten lost numerous times. So they were content to lie on the sand like beached seals. This was the life. Worked yesterday, working tomorrow: an 18 hour holiday. Low travel cost, no need for accommodation, and you dont

Slice of paradise
Wreck Beach has good quality sand. Soft, fine, and stick free, I challenge anyone to find more podiatrically pleasing sand anywhere on the Canadian Pacific coast. Perhaps in Oregon this type of luxury is common-place, but at most beaches in the Lower Mainland the waterfront is covered with wood, rocks, shells, and general crap to bite into the soft undersides of normally shoe shackled feet. The good sand doesnt stop at the shore but continues as far one is able to stand out into the ocean. Low tide is prime time for beach goers as the shore extends over a hundred yards west and leaves pools of cool water and waisthigh shallows ideal for wading and walking. As the tide begins to retake the ground it conceded only hours before, waves roll into the shore and beg to be bodysurfed. Children and grown men swim with the wave, ride the crest and sometimes get a mouth or nose full of salty ocean water. High and low tide mean little to the legions of skim boarders at Wreck. These are boys and girls who put away their snow and skateboards in the summer and come to the beach to slide along the shore break and just look pretty cool in general. It isnt Wakiki, but Wreck is the place for ocean riders who cant afford a trip to Tofino. But Wreck is hardly about doing anything. It is about escape from anything even remotely like activity or work. No roads are within sight or earshot of the beach. The behemoth boats venturing out of the Fraser River, English Bay, Burrard Inlet,

Wreck is hardly about doing anything. It is about escape from anything even remotely like activity or work.

or Howe Sound, or coming in from the Pacific are benign reminders of the civilisation surrounding this sequestered slice of paradise. The edge of the earth has many redeeming qualities for those who want to experience Nature at her finest and slip out from under the intrusive machinations of man, if only for a few brief hours. As the day begins and the sun starts its ascent up the ladder of the sky, the beach is chilled from the short night and the early risers begin to wander the dew dampened sands. The quiet is short lived, as each hour more beach-heads clomp down the stairs and lay out their blankets for a day of basking in a sun that gets hotter by the minute. By noon the place looks like Rio de Janeiro to Canadians who are used to a fair amount of open space, though a Brazilian might wonder about all the vacant realestate. The smell of barbeque, sunscreen, and sinsemilla will be present for the bulk of the daylight hours. Sometimes there is a band that gathers to play old hippy tunes like The Guess Whos Share the Land or Jimi Hendrix Purple Haze. The beat of the drum circles are ever present and sometimes discordant with the fellow sitting two logs over, strumming out a Sublime lick on his acoustic guitar. As the day winds down and the sun cools off, the party just begins. A bonfire is not an uncommon occurrence as night takes hold of the sky and only the hardcore Wreck Beachers remain after all the tourists have taken the long climb back to the real world. The ocean becomes a black void and only boat lights define earth from space.

Everybody get naked!

There is one other quality that makes this beach appealing to those looking to blur the lines, specifically the tan lines. Wreck

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July 31, 2006

13

strive to satiate a different sort of appetite. The calls of Ice cold beer here! are tempting but ultimately a tease, as one can expect to pay like the beach was a downtown bar. Fair enough, as lugging beer down those steps is sheer torture and the cops can make easy prey of anyone with beer in public. Besides, fluiddraining beverages are hardly the cure for your head on a hot sweaty day. Those guys yelling Bud arent hired by Budweiser reps to push a brand. But again, even dope prices arent the same as youll find from that buddy out in Pitt Meadows. The lady in the grass skirt with seductive solicitations of Wacky Cookies! is the real deal at Wreck. For some reason, the price of magic mushrooms doesnt get inflated by the time they are down the stairs. Not everyone on the beach is there to make a buck. Most are there to relax, be a part of the scene, and make themselves buck. A lovely Finnish nurse spends much of her leisure time at the beach with her husband and her three sons. One son is an avid gymnast and explores the beach looking for high places to jump off of. An overturned stump is his favourite for performing crowd-pleasing backflips. It is incredible to watch this boy of no more than 15 years climb a six-foot platform, approach the edge heel first, and suddenly launch himself in a spectacular maneuver which lands him safely in the sand on both feet. I think he will be in the circus some day, the Finnish nurse predicts, But not Cirque De Soleil because I hear those guys are assholes. Some people are more permanent fixtures than others; one can always tell a lifer by the deep brown tan that can make a German look like a Fijian. One such fellow named Larry had a small propane stove set up to make Jello and boil noodles right next to his rain-

bow-coloured hammock which hung between two of the vertically entrenched logs that make up the skyline of the beach. Like a beach bum version of Scorpio, Larry can tell you all about buying a hammock: (with a heavy hoser accent) Oh yeah, you can get em at Canadian Tire. They cost anywhere from $50 to $120 depending on size and quality. When asked if this is where he purchased his hammock Larry responds, No, no, no. This hammock I got as a gift for baby-sitting someones cat for a month. So what is the point of going to the beach? What is the attraction laying face down naked in the sun doing nothing all day? Three answers: Naked is natural and its liberating to bare it all at the beach. Drugs are neat and you can buy em relatively cheap. Relaxing is relieving and your pancreas is sure to drain completely by the time the sun melts into the horizon and is swallowed by the ocean.

Amanda McCuaig / The Peak

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July 31, 2006

FEATURES
Syria West Bank

Lebanon Mediterranean Sea

Gaza Strip Israel / Palestine Egypt

Dead Sea

Left: map of Israel / Palestine and surrounding area. Above: the Gaza Strip.

Jordan

Gaza
crisis

Continued
from
page
11
been launched by Palestinians, taking eight Israeli lives. tinians than Israelis have been killed in the conflict, including six out of every seven children slain, perhaps leading Palestinians to believe that they also have a security concern. The effects of the occupation on Palestinian daily life extend beyond death and injury. For example, at least 4,170 Palestinian homes have been bulldozed and demolished by the IDF since 2000, in violation of the Geneva Convention. The West Bank is peppered with Israeli military checkpoints, severely restricting freedom of movement, and illegal settlements housing nearly 250,000 Israelis on confiscated land. In addition, a large network of Israeli-only bypass roads runs through the West Bank, dividing it into discontiguous pieces. Israel also continues to erect a separa-

ians, particularly women and children, in exchange for the return of the Israeli soldier. Israel currently detains approximately 7,000-9,000 Palestinians, including nearly 1,000 held without change or due process rights, and approximately 500 children. Palestinians are also detained by Israel on the basis of their political opinions and non-violent political activity, according to BTselem. In contrast, Palestinians hold one Israeli prisoner, Gilad Shalit. In response to the Palestinian offer, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert promised extreme action and launched a major attack on the Gaza Strip, while openly rejecting any possibility of negotiations or prisoner exchange.

Effects
of
the
hostilities
In Gaza, Israel has attacked civilian infrastructure and residential areas, which is a war crime prohibited under several articles of the Geneva Convention. Israeli forces demolished the only power station in Gaza, leaving much of the population with no electricity and forcing hospitals and sewage treatment facilities to run on ill-equipped generators. Air strikes destroyed bridges, eliminating freedom of

movement within Gaza, achieving consistency with the siege conditions that Israeli forces have imposed on Gazas borders for months. The IDF seized and detained 20 Palestinian legislators and eight cabinet members, as well as hundreds of other Palestinians. Various Palestinian government buildings and educational institutions have been destroyed in missile strikes, along with more than 70 houses and apartment complexes. According to BTselem and the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights, Israeli forces have used Palestinians, including children, as human shields during house-to-house raids. The IDF has raided or closed down at least 41 charitable organisations, while more than 2,000 Palestinians have been forced from their homes. In Israel, there have been continued Palestinian Qassam attacks which have reached civilian areas. The use of these crude, homemade rockets is considered a war crime because of their indiscriminate nature. Since June 25, there have been at least 12 injuries in Israel, as well as property damage, including a severely damaged apartment building. Palestinians have killed two Israelis in the occupied territories, and several IDF soldiers have been injured. In contrast, Israel has killed at least 157 Palestinians in the oc-

cupied territories since June 25, injuring more than 700, including at least 189 women and children.

Prior
artillery
The
broader
shelling
and
context: Qassam
Security
and
attacks occupation Correctly, there has been considerable concern about Palestinian Qassam rocket launches against Israel, although there has been little discussion of Israeli artillery shelling. In a study undertaken in April, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA) reported that over a two-week period Palestinians launched 67 Qassams into Israel, but no casualties were reported. However, the UNOCHA also reported that Israel fired 2,300 heavy artillery shells and 34 missiles into the Gaza Strip during the same period, killing 17 Palestinians and injuring 62 others (including more than a dozen children). In fact, prior to the current crisis, since September 2005 alone, Israel has fired approximately 8,000 heavy artillery shells into the occupied territories, claiming at least 80 Palestinian lives, while in the last five years, approximately 1,000 Qassams have Palestinian rocket attacks and suicide bombings against Israel have been discussed extensively in the West. In this context, security is viewed as a critical concern primarily for Israel. However, over the last six years, nearly four times more Pales-

In
contrast
[to
Israeli
prisoner
Gilad
Shalit]
people
have
not
seen
the
faces
of
the
captured
[Palestinian]
men,
Mustafa
and
Osama
Muammar
.
.
.
nor
are
world
leaders
calling
for
their
release.

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FEATURES
tion wall on Palestinian territory, which has been ruled illegal by the International Court of Justice. The West Bank and Gaza are effectively cut off from Jerusalem, the centre of Palestinian culture and commerce, as well as the outside world, economically strangling Palestinians. no ultimatums in response to Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert publicly stating, My people have an eternal and historic right to this entire land, an effective denial of any future Palestinian states right to exist. In addition, while Hamas forged an agreement with rival Palestinian group Fatah to accept a twostate solution shortly before the current crisis, the Israeli gover nment has long been actually enacting Olmerts professed position, both through the ongoing military attacks in the occupied territories as well as an annexation plan for the West Bank. Under what Israeli leaders call the convergence plan, Israel is in the process of annexing the most valuable Palestinian land and water resources, cantonising what remains of the West Bank, taking the Jordan River banks, and retaining East Jerusalem. Israeli government officials have also acknowledged that the purpose of the unilateral disengagement policy is to prevent the establishment of a Palestinian state, as stated by Dov Weisglass, a top advisor to the Ariel Sharon government. Furthermore, he added, the significance of the disengagement plan is the freez-

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15

D e m o c r a c y
and
duplicity
Despite Western calls for democratisation in the Middle East, US and Israeli officials told the New York Times in February that they were discussing ways to destabilise the [newly-elected] Palestinian government; they proceeded by halting aid, seizing tax revenues, and restricting the flow of goods and people across Palestinian borders. As a condition for an end to the destabilisation campaign, Western and Israeli leaders have demanded that Hamas recognise Israel and renounce violence. However, the latter criteria seems somewhat dubious, given that this condition is imposed on only one side in the conflict and considering the distribution of violence between Israel and the Palestinians. In the case of the former criteria, Hamas is indeed frequently admonished for failing to recognise Israels right to exist. Yet, in contrast, there are

There
must
be
mutual
recognition
and
security
guarantees;
an
Israeli
withdrawal
from
the
West
Bank,
Gaza,
and
East
Jerusalem
(as
per
UN
Resolution
242);
and
a
limited
right
of
return
for
Palestinian
refugees.
Still,
an
agreement
remains
elusive.
ing of the peace process . . . it supplies the amount of formaldehyde that is necessary so there will not be a political process with the Palestinians.

Solutions
and
rejections
The basic components of a two-state solution to the IsraeliPalestinian conflict are widely understood and accepted. There must be mutual recognition and security guarantees; an Israeli withdrawal from the West Bank, Gaza, and East Jerusalem (as per UN Resolution 242); and a limited right of return for Palestinian refugees. Still, an agreement remains elusive, and the lack of a negotiated settlement is frequently attributed to Palestinian rejectionism. However, by the mid-1970s, the Palestine Liberation Organiza-

tion had accepted the two-state solution. In January 1976, such a solution was formulated and put to the UN Security Council, with Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) support, only to be vetoed by the United States. The same proposal was put to the UN General A s s e m b l y, receiving overwhelming support, but was rejected by the US and Israel. Since then, the US has blocked dozens of UN resolutions pertaining to Palestinian rights in the occupied territories. More recently, during the lauded Oslo peace process, the Israeli position softened. Namely, they permitted Palestinians to control three per cent of the West Bank, while 97 per cent remained under Israeli military authority, although Palestinians were allowed to administrate 30 per cent. While the areas under Palestinian control were supposed to expand over time, they did not. After the Oslo accords, Israeli settlement in the West Bank actually increased steeply. The Oslo process culminated in the Camp David negotiations in 2000, and Israel made what was widely called a generous offer. Under the proposal, Israel would annex nine to 10 per cent of the West Bank, such that three virtually disconnected cantons would be created for Palestinians, while Israel would retain control over key parts of East Jerusalem, as well as the Jordan Valley, effec-

tively surrounding any Palestinian state. Israel would also maintain control over all Palestinian airspace, water resources, and certain borders. Yasser Arafat rejected the offer, facing a great chorus of scorn from Western leaders and pundits. Nonetheless, a solution addressing these deficiencies was approached between high-level Israeli and Palestinian negotiators at the Taba Summit in 2001. However, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak withdrew his representatives. He rejected Yassar Arafats calls for a return to negotiations, as did Prime Minister Ariel Sharon after his election. In 2003, a group of influential Israeli and Palestinian moderates devised another peace proposal in Geneva. While Arafat signalled his approval of these accords, Sharon rejected them, insisting there is no partner for peace.

Conclusion
Depictions of the current Gaza crisis as caused by Palestinian aggression and the broader conflict as stemming from Palestinian rejectionism are common in the media, yet they are not borne out by the evidence. I hope this discussion has helped to shed light on a few elementary facts and to address some of the more egregious deficiencies found in mainstream portrayals of the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians. Sources: BTselem (Israeli Information Centre for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories); Palestinian Centre for Human Rights; Israel Defense Forces (IDF); United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs; Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs; Palestinian Red Crescent Society; Human Rights Watch; Amnesty International; Haarretz; New York Times; BBC News.

Gilad Shalit, the Israeli soldier who was captured by Palestinian militants on June 25.

Ehud Olmert, Israels prime minister, who promised extreme action in response to the offer of a prisoner exchange from Shalits captors.

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July 31, 2006

ARTS

arts editor e-mail phone

Justin Mah arts@mail.peak.sfu.ca 604-291-4630

Film Retrospective

Visually arresting gaze of Antonioni

Swimming in anomie and chronic ennui, modernist filmmaker Michelangelo Antonioni
Mehdi M. Kashani Associate Staff Contributor
The films of Michelangelo Antonioni are being shown at the Pacific Cinmathque (1131 Howe Street) July 27 - August 17 & 24 28. Visit www.cinematheque.bc.ca for showtimes. It has probably happened to all of us, falling in love with an artwork for no apparent reason. Picasso expressed this nicely when he said that Art is not the application of a canon of beauty but what the instinct and brain can conceive beyond any canon. My affinity for Michelangelo Antonionis cinema is similar to what Picassos work must evoke for many people images and feelings of transcendental nature. Nonetheless, canons of beauty can just as easily be applied to justify his well-established status of having the vision that changed cinema. Antonioni, the last living master from the golden era of the 50s and 60s, began his career in the waning years of Italys post-WWII neo-realism movement. After making some socially conscious melodramas such as Il Grido, he made his most groundbreaking film, LAvventura in 1960. In the film, a young woman named Anna has inexplicably disappeared while on an island, causing her fianc and best friend, Sandro and Claudia, to set off on a journey to find her; as they do so, they come to learn that they are in love with each other. At its 1960 premiere at the Cannes Film Festival, misunderstood viewers who expected a firm resolution by the films end received the film harshly; the open ending, the uncertain love affair between Sandro and Claudia, and many other enigmatic elements were too much to grasp for the unprepared audience. The passage of time and positive contributions from certain critics has helped the film to find a niche for itself. After LAvventura, and feeling confident that he had found his desired language, Antonioni used a similar style for his next two

Film still courtesy of Sony Pictures Classics

Images courtesy of Pacific Cinmathque

Michelangelo Antonioni.

(above) Marcello Mastroianni plays a self-absorbed novelist in La Notte. (top) Jack Nicholson plays a dispassioned journalist in Antonionis The Passenger.

movies, La Notte and LEclisse, and which along with LAvventura form an informal thematic trilogy; in all three, the protagonists have failed in an affair and are about to start a new one. Monica Vitti, who stars in all three films, embodies the main obsessions of the director: alienation and the inability to communicate with fellow humans. His next movie, Il Deserto Rosso, marks Antonionis arrival to color filmmaking. In such films, he deliberately uses the colour palette to exploit meaning and themes that are consistent with his characters traits. After that, he ventured into his first feature in English, Blowup, which tells the story of a pokerfaced photographer who, after covertly taking pictures of two lovers in a park, and then enlarging the photos while developing them, discovers what seems to be a dead body. But as he tries to make larger blowups, the picture gets more and more obscure. Interpreted as Antonionis take on the manipulation of truth in the post-JFK-assassination epoch, the film became both controversial and a commercial success. Four years later, Antonioni made his first film in America. Spiced up with Pink Floyds musical numbers, Zabriskie Point deals with hippie culture. Excoriated by critics who condemned his foreign vision of America as nave and simplistic, Antonioni waited five years before mak-

ing his next film, The Passenger, starring Jack Nicholson as an American reporter in Africa. Laid back about his life, he assumes the identity of a dead man in a deserted motel, not knowing he was once a gunrunner. The final seven-minute long-take sequence, starting inside the hotel room, which then passes through the barred window, turning smoothly and travelling back into the room, is among the most memorable (and most academically studied) scenes in cinematic history. Unfortunately, Antonionis recent films like Beyond the Clouds lack the power of his earlier work, though his die-hard fans can find remnants of the masters aesthetics. The characters of Antonionis universe are alienated and mostly introverted. They speak not to express themselves but to hide their emotions, and their happiness is as fleeting as a rainbow. Through their portrayals we are intimately exposed to their troubled lives. Narrative-wise, his plots are promising (disappearance of a woman, murder, etc.) and when its mysteries are left unsolved, they interestingly provide the characters with an opportunity to study themselves in new situations. In short, in his peculiar style, Antonioni shows us the angst of the modern individual in communicating with others and their surrounding environment.

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Night Market

July 31, 2006

17

Celebrating Asian culture

The Richmond Night Market administers merriment long into the evening
Amara Der Associate Staff Contributor
The Richmond Night Market (12631 Vulcan Way, Richmond) is open Friday - Saturday 7 p.m. until Midnight, Sunday & long weekend 7 p.m. - 11 p.m. For more information visit www. richmondnightmarket.com. At the cost of only four dollars for parking you can feel like youre going to the PNE excluding the rides and the games. Of course its not the PNE that youre at, but the Richmond Night Market. I remember when the Night Market first started, back when its original location was the Lansdowne Center parking lot and parking was free. It seemed fairly large at the time, but I now realise how much bigger it has become. The Night Market, founded by Raymond Cheung Richmonds Chamber of Commerce Young Entrepreneur of 2003 is an event made for anyone and everyone. For the chronic shoppers kicked out of the mall, the Night Market provides late night shopping. And for those who love food especially dim sum the Night Market hits the spot for those who just cant wake up on time to go to a Chinese restaurant. Shopping and food; what more could you want? Well, theres this other part of the Night Market that is also quite important: the entertainment. On the night I went, I had the pleasure of watching and listening to CJ Li, an up and coming singer/songwriter from Vancouver. Though young, she possesses a powerful voice that can influence the publics view in a positive way. She, like other artists, believes in expressing ones feelings in a constructive manner through singing. As such, performing at the Night Market is the perfect way for aspiring singers to expose themselves to local music lovers; and I assume that the public enjoys hearing more local voices that can represent us culturally. Another show is a very serious karaoke contest, which is organised by the karaoke company DiDaDi Karaoke. Anyone with enough confidence is invited to sing and dance. While I was there, there was this one guy who decided to sing a lot of Michael Jackson, including one of my favourites, Billy Jean. I think he even imitated the dance moves from the music video too. I always thought that a karaoke contest involves people who can sing apparently not. Remember William Hung, who had a little more than five minutes of fame through American Idol? Well, this guy could have been the next William Hung. Unfortunately this karaoke singer does not have the advantage of gathering such publicity on the Night Market stage as William Hung did on the American Idol floor. Okay, enough of the singing. Lets talk about the awesome stuff you can get. Personally, I enjoy the cheap little trinkets that you can buy for school. For example, as I was observing the stores, I ended up buying the cutest Little Mermaid calendar for four dollars. The place also had agendas, blank notebooks, pencils, and other stationary items. Im sorry, but I love stuff I can use for school Im a nerd that way. Nevertheless, there are tons of other fun and exciting things, such as accessories, clothes, electronics, books, and even plants. As mentioned, this is the place for chronic shoppers: I go there all the time. The Richmond Night Market is, as overheard over the intercom, the largest multicultural place in Canada. I cant entirely believe such a statement, but I can say from all my years of watching the Night Market grow, that this event is going to become an integral part of Canadas culture.

Photos courtesy of the Richmond Night Market

Hungry night-owls are allured by the savory aromas emanating from the Richmond Night Market.

Musical poetry for the ears

Nick Pannu Associate Staff Contributor
Sarah Noni Metzner Daybreak Morning [Dog My Cat; 2006] folk artist Sarah Noni Metzner; Something Beautiful, her first album, released just last year, received positive reviews from various publications including Vancouvers Terminal City and the Echo Weekly. First time listeners will immediately be captivated by the albums authentic sound, as Metzners sultry vocals emanate alongside her unique acoustics. And the instruments used in Metzners debut album are cued up appropriately, facilitating a soothing though invigorating listening experience. Sarah Metzner takes an introspective approach to her songwriting that incites many revelations from listeners. The themes explored in Something Beautiful are diverse as Metzner examines the dynamics of family, friends, and lovers. Sincere and non-coercive, Sarahs songs manage to, at times, trigger paradigm shifts on issues relating to the environment, peace, and gender equity. Though as much as Sarah Metzners 2005 debut album might have set a precedent, her new album, Daybreak Morning, has somehow managed to evolve beyond it. Though her vocals and acoustics are still prominent on this sophomore album, other components such as piano and perceptive production have been seamlessly incorporated. Issues such as loneliness, drug dependency, and death are more explicitly examined this time in a symbolic fashion as to allow listeners to deduce their own meaning; through the consolidation of these aspects, Metzners Daybreak Morning is noticeably enriched when set beside its predecessor. And though its obvious that Sarah Metzners style has evolved, the foundation and core aspects that define her authenticity as an artist remain present; candidness, humility, and unapologetic idealism still emanate from her songs, in addition to the symbolic nature found in Metzners writing that has to power to call vivid imagery to the minds of listeners as they delve into the issues she explores. Feminist issues are also subtly incorporated in a nonmilitant fashion. Metzner never goes off on abrasive rants that would offend anyone. Rather, Sarah Metzner tactically writes music that is not exclusive to one group, but inclusive to everyone. No one is alienated. Sarah Noni Metzners live performances are quite entertaining and tend to live up to and surpass expectations. Sarah Noni Metzners next live performance in Vancouver will be at the Railway Club on Sunday, August 13. For more information about Metzner, check out her website at www. sarahmetzner.ca.

CD Review

Lately theres been a lot of hype and buzz surrounding emerging

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July 31, 2006

ARTS

Film Reviews

The Scoop on Woody Allens latest film

Scoop, though a minor note in Allens career, its sure to entertain
Casey McCarthy The Peak
Scoop opened in select theaters on July 28. In a move that surprised many fans and critics alike, Woody Allen began shooting in London to film his suspense-thriller Match Point; Scoop, the latest in this series of films shot in London, again stars Scarlett Johansson, though takes a turn back to the neurotic comedy that we have typically associated with Woody Allen films. The film opens with the funeral of Joe Strombel, a London newspaperman played by Ian McShane. While on his way down the river Styx, the deceased Strobel gets the scoop on the identity of a Jack the Ripper-like serial killer who is tormenting London. At the same time, a young American journalist student named Sondra Pransky (Johansson) is visiting London, and who, upon agreeing to participate in a magic trick performed by Sid Waterman alias the Great Splendini (Allen) is confronted by Strombels ghost. Strombel sets her on a mission to catch the alleged killer and aristocrat, Peter Lyman (Hugh Jackman). Things become increasingly complicated, however, as she falls for the object of her investigation. Scoop can be best described as something between a romanticcomedy and murder-mystery film, succeeding in some ways more than others. Though the murder lends itself to an intriguing premise and moves the film into fertile comedic and narrative ground, the film as a whole fails to maintain coherence. The film fares better as a romanticcomedy its a great alternative to what usually passes as a romantic-comedy in Hollywood recently, since this film focuses on comedy over romance. Although Scoop is not nearly as funny as Allens more important works, it delivers enough snappy dialogue to satisfy the expectations that we hold to any given Woody Allen film. And there are plenty of quotable lines from this film, mainly from Allen, like when he tells someone that he was born of the Jewish persuasion, but converted to narcissism. Another great scene comes when he is explaining how he manages to eat a lot and stay thin because being nervous all the time is fantastic exercise. Although Allen steals most of the scenes just by his presence, some of the best moments come from Johansson, who oozes Woodys neurotic energy in the guise of a gorgeously nerdy college girl. While that description might sound a bit distressing, it works wonderfully on screen. The chemistry thankfully not sexual between Allen and Johansson is one of the highlights of the film. In order to investigate Lyman, they believably pose as father and daughter. Waterman amusingly uses this as an opportunity to tell made up stories about Sondras childhood at dinner parties; she later begs, Stop telling everybody I sprang from your loins! Watching the two interact makes Scoop an enjoyable journey, even when the murdermystery aspect of the film starts to meander. The only thing truly unsatisfying about Scoop is Allens failure to utilise London in certain ways; while the scenery is stunning, it remains a rather clichd portrayal of the city. And though Allen has an obvious affection for the city, the setting often feels coincidental for the viewer. In addition, though Allen took on talented young actors from the Isles such as Jonathan Rhys Meyers, Emily Mortimer, and Matthew Goode for his film Match Point, in Scoop he neglects the local talent. This all said, though Scoop will most likely be a minor note in Allens career, its a fun, quirky film that manages to satisfy expectations and keep its audience amused at every turn.

Film stills courtesy of Focus Features

In Scoop, Sondra (Johanson) falls for Londons tarot card serial killer.

A gloomy but important reminder

Shooting Dogs poignantly revisits the all-too-recent events of the Rwandan genocide
Jaclyn LordPurcell The Peak
disoriented; it was difficult for me to digest that within my lifetime, racism and brutal genocide had erupted with such force in Rwanda. Shooting Dogs tells the story of the Ecole Technique Officielle, a United Nations backed school that served as a refugee camp for roughly 2500 Tutsis when the genocide began. Day after day as tensions rose, more and more Hutu militia gathered outside the barricades of the school, with UN soldiers waiting to fire only if fired upon. Five days after the genocide began, the United Nations, along with all other white refugees, abandoned the school along with the men, women, and children that had sought a safe haven behind the schools barricades. Within minutes 2500 people were massacred. Shooting Dogs plays on the emotions of its audience simply because its based on real events and is also filmed on location where the story took place. Written by David Wolstencroft and based on the story by Richard Alwyn and David Belton, Shooting Dogs is directed by Michael Caton-Jones. John Hurt, who plays Father Christopher delivers a powerful performance as the headmaster of the Ecole Technique Officielle. Equally notable, Hugh Dancy plays Joe Connor, a young European professor at the school. Dancy is introduced as a young nave teacher, but is deeply changed by what he experiences in Rwanda; his character transforms from a young professor to someone who is forced to succumb to the ethnocentric system in order to get out of Rwanda alive. To understand the distinction between Hutu and Tutsi, in which this whole film is based, a small amount of background information may be useful. Traditionally, the Rwandan royal family and ruling class were Tutsi they tended to be taller, slimmer and lighter in complexion then the majority of the population, and also tended to specialise in cattle herding. Europeans tended to favour the Tutsis, as it was believed they were racially closer to Europeans, and therefore superior. Influenced by European standards, two distinct castes with strict distinctions were created in Rwanda. Both castes were separated by occupation, social status, military power, and physical and moral differences. Although the rift formed between Tutsi and Hutu was not as clear-cut before the arrival of the European colonialists, there is evidence that a slight social hierarchy did exist. Therefore, it is clear that the Europeans acted to heighten the racism and tension that is present to this day. While Shooting Dogs is a difficult movie to experience firsthand, it gives you a newfound appreciation of the luxuries of living in a free country such as Canada. This luxury is one that we all take for granted. Personally, I was left disoriented because the events described took place when I was alive. Shooting Dogs is a must see for anyone that can handle a heavy topic, but wishes to be educated on a piece of African history that many still dont know about. Most of all, Shooting Dogs imparts an important lesson: racism, hatred, and violence can escalate so quickly; if we dont catch it early on, genocide can occur. Shooting Dogs opens in select theaters on August 4. Leaving the preview screening for Shooting Dogs on Monday morning, I couldnt help feeling a little

Film stills courtesy of Equinoxe Films

Shooting Dogs details the needless killings at the Ecole Technique Officielle during the Rwandan genocide.

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Even More Film Reviews

July 31, 2006

19

Death of the dick joke, and other Kevin Smith nightmares

Clerks II, a nightmarish labyrinth of inside jokes and artificial monologues
Mike Hingston Associate Staff Contributor
Clerks II is currently playing in theaters across Canada. To absolutely nobodys surprise, Clerks II is an awful movie. It is poorly written, awkwardly acted, and a nightmarish labyrinth of inside jokes and artificial monologues about love and friendship. The one thing it does correctly is accidentally document every movie fans worst nightmare: the day you wake up and realise pop culture has passed you by. Overly vague references to early-90s fare like Silence of the Lambs were dated when the original Clerks was released in 1994 now, 12 years later, you get the feeling a joke about the cotton gin would feel more topical. But writer/director Kevin Smith has always relished this slice of cinema history, and Clerks II is proof that hell devour even his own career highlights to squeeze out one more Star Wars is the best and heres why anecdote. As a punctuation stickler, I always imagined Clerks might be safe from sequel purgatory because of the telltale period in its full title: Clerks. As in the end, next topic, no returnsies. But Smith dispatches with laws of punctuation the same way he dismisses Lord of the Rings fans that is, without a second thought, and often without logic. As Dante discovers his beloved Quick Stop burning to the ground during the films opening scene, the title appears as the full-stop disappears (and the nostalgic black-and-white fades into full colour), and suddenly Clerks becomes Clerks II before our eyes. From the opening inferno, notorious slackers Dante and Randall are forced into new jobs at the fastfood chain Mooby Burger. Dante is getting ready to move to Florida with his new fiance, Randall hates his Hobbit-loving coworker Elias, and Jay and Silent Bob (the former fresh out of rehab) return to their two specialties: loitering, and sing-rapping while dealing drugs to the unwashed masses. And on the periphery of the action, theres an outside love interest in Dantes boss, much talk of why porch monkey might not be a racist phrase, and a climactic scene involving a traveling duo called Kinky Kelly and the Sexy Stud. (One is a horse, and one is a hairy guy, but whoa! Which is which?! Whoops, I mean, spoiler alert.) But while the above feels like the Kevin Smith universe were all familiar with, its the dialogue (which is a Smith staple, for better or worse) that really makes the film implode. The formerly playful gay jokes now feel strangely like fratboy homophobia, while Randalls movie guru figure has completely shifted from everyman to just middle-aged man. All of the action inside the Mooby World microcosm feels so decrepit that when Jason Lee who has found career-high success as of late on TVs My Name is Earl shows up for his obligatory cameo as a customer, you remember how bright Smiths own star used to shine, and how far his respectability has fallen since then. To be fair, Smith is at an unfortunate stage in his career right now. Hes simultaneously too famous to re-use indie staples, like shooting in black-and-white, without seeming condescending, and at the same time not famous enough to call in favours from his more-famous friends without looking desperate. And while part of me feels sorry for the toilethumourist-all-grown-up, a bigger part of me wants him to cut his losses before he retroactively destroys his early work entirely. The scariest thing is that he seems to have lost even his sense of irony, the humourists bread and butter. The last line of the movie is an entirely straightfaced, This is the first day of the rest of our lives. No smirk, no sarcasm, no dick jokes. Just a pan backwards, a fade back into black-and-white, and the collective sound of 300 fanboys in the audience grunting how theyre going to go home and blog about how bad it sucked. A typical reaction to a Kevin Smith movie, only this time theyre right.

Film Still courtesy of MGM

In Clerks II Dante and Randall frolic in mediocrity at the fast-food chain Mooby Burger.

Mistress of Spices, not spicy enough

Picture-perfect characters makes for a withdrawn viewing experience
Meg Allan The Peak
Mistress of Spices opened nationally on July 28. When the possibility of writing a review of Mistress of Spices came up I was thrilled at the idea of seeing the film adaptation of Chitra Banerjee Divakarunis magical-realist novel. After checking out the trailer and learning that not only would the novels elderly protagonist Tilo be played by the markedly younger and more glamorous Aishwarya Rai, but that her Native American love interest would be played by berCaucasian Dylan McDermott, lets just say that my expectations for this film began to decline. Sadly, upon viewing the film, my suspicions that it would be little more than a visually stunning, light-hearted voyage into exotic territory were confirmed. Paul Mayeda Berges directorial debut, Mistress of Spices, invites us to suspend our disbelief and enter a world where mystical spice mistresses sacrifice any chance of an ordinary existence in order to help their own people and the problems they face away from their homeland. For Tilo, this means a selfless life of servitude to the spices which prohibit her from ever leaving the shop she tends, touching another human, or even using the power of the spices for her own gain. Through helping her largely diasporic Indian client-base at the Spice Bazaar, Tilo is able to prescribe the perfect spice to remedy any problem, especially if the problem revolves around the typical culture-clash dilemmas found in films by Gurinder Chadha, such as intergenerational conflict and intercultural marriage. Tilos own station in life is challenged when her commitment to helping her people leads her outside the confines of her shop and finds herself falling for Doug a brooding Native-American struggling with his own conflicted identity prompting her to question the codes she has followed without question. While Berges film is decent and I have to admit that without the context of the book, I probably would have really enjoyed it, I cant help thinking that many of the changes made in adapting Divakarunis novel to film were cowardly and unnecessary. The most horrific change for me was the films depiction of Tilo; in addition to drastically altering Tilos age, the film takes a character that the book portrays as realistically imperfect and eliminates any flaws that could cause the audiences esteem for the characters to drop. Unfortunately, this decision results in Tilo seeming unrealistic and impenetrable, which is a shame as it was the realism inherent in Tilos personality that made me more willing to accept the more magical aspects while reading the book. And though the film does present some of the social issues that are featured in the book, Berges merely glosses over them, failing to provide much more than a fraction of the depth that the book treats them with. Though fans of the book will most likely be disappointed with this film, those who are looking forward to the newest film from the people that gave us Bend It Like Beckham and Bride and Prejudice should enjoy Mistress of Spices.

Image courtesy of Maple Pictures

Tilos spices can amend even the most formidable dilemma.

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July 31, 2006

ARTS
Cheap Metal Jacket
Twelve dollars or less events can be added here by through the healing arts: jap6@sfu.ca
Tuesdays and Wednesdays all Summer Semester Bagel & Ovaltine lunch, 11:30 2: 30 p.m. below Higher Grounds, $5 suggested donation. Thursday, August 3 A night of rockunroll w/ Fuck Me Dead, Live Girls, Vapid, White Lung @ Lamplighter, 210 Abbott, $7. Friday. August 4 & ongoing Little Miss Sunshine is a film starring Steve Carrel, who plays a suicidal homosexual. Sounds pretty damn provocative if you ask me, and Im sure you think so too @ Fifth Ave. Cinemas, 2118 Burrard, $8 w/ student ID. Saturday, August 19 Red Bull Flugtag! The first Flugtag took place in Austria in 1991. Since then, the dream of flying handmade machines into unsuspecting bodies of water has spread like wildfire, from Salzburg to Vancouver; yall gotta check this out @ Concord Pacific Place, next to Science World in False Creek, Noon, Free. Saturday, August 19 Bring your sombrero for Mexican night w/ the Vancouver Canadians as they take on Da Boise Hawks @ Nat Bailey Stadium, 4601 Ontario, $8, or go to any of the other season games until September, cause you have to go to a baseball game this summer: www.canadiansbaseball. com. Sunday, August 20 The one and only, from S(N)FU Mr. Chi Pig is hosting Karaoke, my goodness thats amazing! Its @ Cobalt, 917 Main, $5

Shakespeare Festival

Achilles, an American?
Plays correlation of Trojan War with American Civil War is more than just a stretch
Vicki Haynes Associate Staff Contributor
Troilus and Cressida, performing July 12 - September 21 on the Studio Stage at Vanier Park as a part of the Bard on the Beach Shakespeare Festival. Visit www.bardonthebeach.org for more information. Criticised as neither a comedy nor a tragedy, Troilus and Cressida is one of the least often produced Shakespearean plays. It defies dramatic categorisation and muddies linguistic waters with more newly-coined phrases than any other Shakespeare play. All these critiques taken into consideration, the gravest sin of Troilus and Cressida has been identified as its lack of redeeming or likeable characters. None of the characters in this play stand out either as ideals of goodness or villainy. Despite this perceived problem, I find Troilus and Cressida to be one of my favourites on a conceptual basis alone. Roughly, the plot of the play revolves around love frustrated by war. Troilus and Cressida consummate a long-burning love only to have it ravaged by a prisoner exchange agreement during the Trojan War. The main value in this play is its attempt to break free of the dramatic genre and allow for a more realistic portrayal of people in dramatic circumstances. No person is entirely good or bad and as such the characters of the play exhibit both likeable and detestable behaviours. This play also succeeds in highlighting the importance of circumstance in determining human actions and reactions. We need not get into the plot line too deeply, since I have no quarrel with the script itself. The original piece is good. What I do take issue with is the liberties that were taken in the production of Troilus and Cressida. To begin with, the current production at Bard on the Beach has set the play during the American Civil War whilst maintaining the original script. This entails that the characters still refer to each other as Greeks and Trojans as opposed to the Union and the Confederates. The correlation between the two wars is a stretch at best. This interpretation also means that half of the actors are attempting to perform Shakespearean English lines in Southern American accents. As if Shakespearean dialogue was not complex enough on its own, we are now forced to contend with the actors inability to uphold a consistent and often unbelievable accent throughout. Quite frankly, there simply are some words in the Shakespearean dialect that cannot be coherently uttered with a southern accent. Setting aside the production, I am also dissatisfied with the interpretation of some of the characters. In an attempt to be fresh and edgy, the character Patroclus has been made overtly gay to the point of becoming a simpering fool. In the rough, violent setting of war, his character execution leaves the audience struggling with the notion that he would be involved in any way. Theres no question that gay people are just as capable of killing as straight people but, just as there are some straight people that have no business on the battlefield, this incarnation of Patroclus would in no way exist in either the Trojan or American Civil War. There is no reason why this character in particular has to be so completely unbelievable. There are two other implicitly gay characters in this play, Pandarus and Achilles, who are entirely believable. The characterisation of Pandarus, in particular, clarifies and enriches the original script. With very few exceptions, this particular conception of Troilus and Cressida does little to enlighten or enrich the storyline. The whole play is not to be written off. The actors were absolutely without fault, given what they had to work with. However, what they had to work with was terrible and I applaud them for achieving such a high standard of performance in spite of poor interpretation and kitschy sound program. If you are at all interested in seeing an attempt at realism in Shakespeare, then please go see a production of Troilus and Cressida . . . just dont see this one.

Events transcribed from a vision by Joe Paling

CJSF 90.1 FM
WEEKLY TOP 20 RECORDS
1. Wire, Pink Flag (Pink Flag) 2. Isan, Trois Gymnopedies (Morr Music) 3. Deerhoof, Se Piangi, Se Ridi b/w Strawberry Bananas (333 Recordings) 4. B. Fleischmann, Frisky He Said b/w Broken Monitors (Morr Music) 5. *Black Mountain, Stormy High/Voices (Suicide Squeeze) 6. Grkzgl Esque, Grkzgl Esque (.angle.rec.) 7. Thom Yorke, The Eraser (XL) 8. Spoon, Soft Effects EP (Merge) 9. CSS, Cansei De Ser Sexy (Sub Pop) 10. Various, Drone Records: Dr-75 to 77 (Drone) 11. *Cities In Dust, Night Creatures (Paper Bag) 12. *The Pointed Sticks, Waiting For The Real Thing (Sudden Death) 13. *Various, The Greatest Underground Show On Earth (Independent) 14. *James P. McAuliffe, From Chaos To Poetry (Independent) 15. *Million Dollar Marxists, Do You Wanna Evolve? (Seeing Eye) 16. Banda Unio Black, Yeah Yeah Yeah (Vampi Soul) 17. Vicious, Obsessive (Feral Ward) 18. Hank III/Antiseen, Hank III/Antiseen Split 7 (TKO) 19. Francisco Lopez, Untitled (2005) (Anoema Recordings) 20. *Vancougar, Losin It! (Scratch)
Images courtesy of the Bard on the Beach Shakespeare Festival

Gerry Mackay as Achilles in Troilus and Cressida.

*denotes Canadian artist conscientiously compiled by Ed Blake

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July 31, 2006

Dr. Googaw #6

HUMOUR
Curtis Lassam Stella! STELLA! No Fools

humour editor e-mail phone

Curtis Lassam humour@mail.peak.sfu.ca 604-291-4630

Curtis Lassam

Dylan Innes & Elaine Gebert

FU Simon

A. Guertin

This Fire is out of Control

Curtis Lassam

Autobot Leadership

Curtis Lassam

Best Ever

Curtis Lassam

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July 31, 2006

ETC
FREE CLASSIFIEDS are available to SFU students for personal use. Thirty words maximum. Drop by The Peak offices in MBC 2901 to put in your ad, or go to our Web site: www.peak.sfu.ca or e-mail: class@mail.peak.sfu.ca. One ad per person. All others: $7+GST per week, prepaid, for 30 words. Each additional 10 words: $1+GST. Five ads or more for the special price of $5+GST per ad. Cash or cheque only please. Make cheques payable to: Peak Publications Society, mail it with the ad, attn: Business Manager. For paid ad inquiries, phone 604-291-3598.

Hastings @ Holdom, LARGE master bedroom in apartment, 325$+1/3 utilites (~45$) hardwood floors, dishwasher, patio, own individual parking space, walk to Safeway, furniture if necessary, and great roomates! Contact: aramji@sfu.ca Looking for a chill roomate 2 share 2 bedroom condo. Own bathroom, pool/hot tub, gym etc. Mayfairplace;located a block from edmonds skytrain stn. 500$/month 604 780 3809 2 roommates needed for 5000 sqr ft 8 br house! 1.5 kitchens, 4 bathrooms, 3 livingrooms, big backyard with patio, laundry. rent 356 + utilities. ns/ np/ quite and responsible yet social ppl only please! 5 mins from SFU. Must be 20+. No partiers! 1 Bedroom Basement Suite Kitchenette, Bath. $485.00 per/month. Utilities, cable incl. From Aug. 16th. Close to buses, BCIT (12 mins) and SFU (30 mins). Phone 604-5223362 or 604-530-4313; please leave a message. F13

Why live in rez when you can have your own kitchen, a bigger room and a nicer building? Studio suite available at 9288 Univercity Cres. 600$/ month. Call Rob @ 604.431.1800 University Crescent 1 den suite, 6 apps, 5 min walking to campus/bus stop, no pets/smoking, avail now, can share among students. Call Vicky @604-617-1599 F13 Looking for a brand new 2bedroom apartment, two bathrooms, fireplace, nice kitchen? This ones available right now in Serenity and its state of the art.About 15mins walk from Campus. Call 604-760-4638 F12

TI-83 plus Calculator in great condition for sale: $75 obo TI-82 Calculator in great condition for sale: $65 obo nrahman273@hotmail.com Two Nokia-3595 phones FREE!!! if you take over the remaining 13 months of my contract:$35/month for both phones. Ideal for couples: unlimited family calls and weekends. 100min weekdays. +get $100deposit next Sept. 604-5122196 ELECTRIC INSECT SWATTER!! 2 AA batteries included. $10 each, two for $18, over 3 $8/ea. Can deliver to Burnaby campus or most skytrain stations. longw@sfu.ca or call (778)388-1859

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classifieds
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$1200/mo incl ht/water, Aug. 15, will rent fast, Jennifer 803-4929 for all details Enhance your portfolio! Student photographer w/ 1-2 years exp needed for wedding events Dec 14,15,16. Email melmasri@alumni.sfu.ca to for interview & to show portfolio of work. Compensation Negotiable. F13

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Toyota Echo Hatch Back 2004. 2dr Price: 13000$, ~20500Km, Mp3/CD player, Anti-Theft, automatic, no accident, warranty until Apr 2007. Email: r_mottaghi@yahoo.com Very underused 1989 Sonata (37,000 km). Runs like a much newer car. Reliable, full service records, 4dr, automatic transmission, plenty of space. Lady-driven. $4900, firm. See http://vancouver.craigslist.org/ car/179849020.html or (604) 2668755. 99 Civic DX hatch. 5 spd, midnight blue, 93k kms. Excellent cond, new tires/battery/brakes/rotors. call 604818-7003 ask for ken for more info. $8800 obo. 1998 MAZDA MILLENIA 4dr Black,135,000 mile, 6 Cyl, Auto, A/C, Sunroof, Alarm, AM/FM CD, Anti-Theft, Keyless Entry, Heated leather Seats, Power Mirrors Seats windows, reg. maintained, $6800. Tel:604-630-6175 F13

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The Peak is now putting Notices, Messages, and Personals in the opinions section, under the heading ...TXT MSG Please look for them on page 5.

Wednesday August 2 Upcoming

events
on campus

Peak Collective meeting at 11:30. Come join us in The Peak office, MBC 2901, to voice complaints, meet us, give suggestions, sit on our ratty furniture, or learn how you can get involved. This is your opportunity to help us improve! FREE outdoor concerts every Saturday beginning July 8th - Aug 19th from 4-7 @ Cates Park North Vancouver. Featuring local indie bands ranging from alternative, rock, reggae, garage, and some acoustic styles!! Check out ---> www.myspace.com/dcmstudios or www.myspace.com/catesconcertseries for the official line up. This year we are selling a compilation CD, Cates For The Cure, which features all of the artists with the proceeds going to The Parkinsons Society BC. Come out to enjoy the sunshine, support your local music scene, and help us raise money and awareness for this great cause!

the peak

ETC

July 31, 2006

23

Notice:
This is the last issue of The Peak for this semester. The Peak will resume September 5, 2006. In the meantime, good luck with exams and get as much beach time in as you can. Its going to start dumping rain on us again soon! We love you all.

The end
Iain W. Reeve
technology has brought us several palatable secular alternatives to the wrath of God(s). And while, we assume, the world has not yet been doomed, the medium of film has been fantastic for showing us the many possible ways we could see fit to send head between legs and pucker up. Those who subscribe to the Jerry Bruckheimer approach to film making (unrealistically sped up action-packed disaster + sexy all-star cast = mad stacks) know that few things seem to capture our collective imagination better than the thought of our own eradication. Hollywood, for decades, has delivered us countless slices of prospective doom with smiles, frowns, and often an awkward combination of the two. Doomsday demonstrated on film comes in many forms. Often doom comes from space, in the form of resource hungry aliens or gigantic earth-hating space rocks. Doom can come from extreme cases of human hubris, be they environmental collapse, dystopian meltdown, or eradication in nuclear war. Perhaps the most common doom story, at least in contemporary film, is the good old natural disaster story. No matter if we are the cause of said disaster, like in The Day After Tomorrow, or merely expendable pawns in natures twisted design in films like Earthquake. The one place where Hollywood gets sheepish about doomsday is when it can be related to religion. There are a few exceptions, of course. Dogma envisioned the end of existence when a piece of church law stood to prove God fallible. The evercontroversial Left Behind told the story of people who were not chosen to go to heaven being, you guessed it, left behind to face the end of the world. Youd think, with all the films and stories we use to guess about the end of the world, wed be a little more knowledgeable and careful about what to do. But still, no matter how many times we watch Dr. Strangelove we still have nuclear weapons, no matter how well warned we are about robots in Terminator 2: Judgement Day, no matter what attempt to teach us humility and ethics in the face of judgement religion tries, we just dont seem to get it. I suppose the only thing that makes me wish I could be around for the end is being able to see who got it right. My money is on space rocks; they hate planets big time.

The Story on B12

As The Peak ends for the semester and the scholastic year, I wanted to talk about the most definitive end there is to talk about. Judgement Day, Armageddon, Apocalypse, Doomsday; the end of the world carries more monikers than a weathered sports veteran. Every source we, as a people, use to tell stories and pass on experience has spoken at some point about the end of history, and theyre all taking bets on who will be right. Id be remiss in talking about the end of the world as we know it (and I feel fine) without mentioning religion. In the attempt to answer all of the big questions about why were here and where we came from, the religions of the world inevitably needed to tell us where we would end up. Not wanting to leave us hanging how good is a book without an ending? most of the major religions have given us some picture of the end of all things to help bring the purpose of our lives into tighter focus. Judgement Day seems to have developed as a mostly JudeoChristian enterprise, though Im told Hinduism has some similar teachings. In Judgement Day were talking about the act of God, after the end of humanly existence, judging people and assigning them to either a cozy property in heaven or a bachelor suite in hell. This is not to be confused with Armageddon, which is the actual process by which the world will come to an end. Religion has all sorts of flashy ideas about this one, from organised war on earth between the forces of heaven and hell, to the revelation of God, to the Nordic idea of a battle between Gods called Ragnarok, to the slow decent into hedonism and immorality that many religions subscribe to in some form or another. While for most of history people of the world were forced to imagine only supernatural religious forms of Armageddon, modern

The above is the opinion of the columnist and may not represent the views of The Peak collective.

the peak

24

July 31, 2006

LAST WORD

peace
delayed: Behind
Israels
offensives
By
Nic
Brown
With the invasion of the Gaza strip and the Israeli demands for border fixtures in the nor a comfortable atmosphere for peace. new war in Lebanon, Ehud Olmert, Israels much awaited two-state solution. Despite Hamas has refused to recognise the right prime minister, has made it inexorably clear the fact that Hamas had honoured a cease for Israel to exist and used this as their only that Israel will not negotiate. They will not fire for over a year, Canada, the US, and the bargaining tool. Surely, no recognition of a negotiate with the European Union, they EU suspended all financial support to the future Palestinian state was to be realised will not negotiate with the international Palestinian Government (now Hamas con- under these conditions either. What was to community that condemns these wildly trolled) guaranteed by the Oslo agreements. transpire however, were increased tensions disproportionate massacres, they will not The population and a stalling of negotiate with Hamas or Hezbollah, and began to starve. progress. they certainly will not negotiate any sort Gaza, which had The kidnapping of peace terms. Israels response to the kid- already been of the soldier napping of one of their soldiers by sending suffering from marked an act the cavalry into the dilapidated Gaza Strip, sporadic Israeli of desperation destroying infrastructure and power sup- blockades causfrom the virtually plies, wounding and killing whole families ing food shortpowerless Hamas and children and creating a humanitarian ages, broke into militants, who disaster had world leaders scratching their civil strife as replayed right into heads and human rights groups scrambling maining President Abbas forces squabbled Olmerts hands. The subsequently brutal to their keyboards. Israeli troops proceeded with Hamas security while the U.S. and EU invasion of Gaza did not lead to the release to bomb and shoot an already starving discussed ways to funnel money directly to of the prisoner, but only more armed repopulation, arresting key Hamas leaders if Abbas office. In a tour of the West Bank this sponse. With Hezbollah now joining the fray not outright executing them. Hamas did April, I watched middle class families hawk Israel could better play the victim, while not budge, insisting on the time honoured their jewelry and sell their cars to make ends also giving them a chance to wipe out Heregional tradition of the prisoner trade. meet, much too proud to except the chari- zbollah militants (an impossible task) who Enter Hezbollah, Lebanons resident reli- table donations usually reserved for refugee have been a thorn in their side for decades. gious righties a militant group that holds camps. I shuddered to think of how the Ignoring the Lebanese parliament's statedemocratically elected representation in poorer majority would manage. Meanwhile, ment that there was no state involvement the Lebanese parliament who raid the Olmert released a statement declaring that in these fresh kidnappings (recently connorthern Israeli border to nab two more if Hamas did not recognise the right of Israel firmed by the UN), Israel chose to punish soldiers, helping out their long standing to exist, Israel would set its own borders by the nation as a whole, and is bombing not Hamas allies. Olmert responds by pointing the end of 2007. The situation in Gaza was only Hezbollah-controlled south Lebanon, the finger at Syria and Iran for providing desperate: civil strife and the exchange but Beirut as well. But Olmerts motives are logistical and military support, and now of rocket fire with Israel, starvation, lack beginning to show. His party, Kadeema, has Stephen Harper can suitably ape George W. of medicine, and Abbas making political no intention of sitting down and negotiatBush, as both leaders release public state- threats. There could surely be neither time ing a two state solution as it has previously ments that Israel has the right to defend itself by blaming the entire Lebanese population and bombing Beirut. Forget that collective punishment is condemned by international law which counts for zip when measured against the will of the US and Israeli governments. Forget the broken bodies, decimated homes, and dead soccer-playing children. Lets talk context. To understand the real intentions of Israel we must look back to the January Palestinian elections, when Hamas took the top democratic prize that saw previous Palestinian government Mahmoud Abbass secular party (Fatah), floundering in its reputation of corruption. The US and Israel refused to recognise Hamas, and Jimmy Carter slapped his own forehead knowing full well that the election was legitimate and transparent. Score one for democracy. The US and Israel were backing Abbas, who looked pliable to A main thoroughfare in Beirut, known as the Paris of the Middle East, before the attacks from Israel. stated. To do so would mean having to bow to the pressure of the international community and draw their borders back to the green line of 1967, widely regarded as the only suitable solution for an established Palestinian state. This is unacceptable to Olmert, who wants control of the vital water resources in the West Bank and to buttress the presence of illegal Jewish settlements that have been established for years. This notion is confirmed by the pattern of the security fence, which now doubles as a barrier to resources and land, cutting across the green line and shutting the poorest of Palestinians off from their livelihood. The longer Olmert can maintain an environment of hostility and exacerbate tensions in region the longer he can delay if not outright avoid legitimate negotiations. This will allow Israel to draw its own borders, leaving Palestinians scattered pieces of broken land with no semblance of functional statehood. Supporters of Israels actions who argue that Hamas has no legitimacy as a government for operating as a terrorist group either have very little grasp on Israeli history or choose to ignore it as an inconvenient stumbling block. As Gwynne Dyer adeptly pointed out in The Georgia Straight, Israel too operated as an ambiguous protostate funded by the international community under the auspices of a British mandate. Prior to 1948, in order to secure their creation, they built military institutes such as the Hagana and elected councils, both of which often indiscreetly cooperated with terrorist groups the Stern Gang and Irgun in bombings, kidnappings, and assassinations of British officials and Palestinian innocents. As Palestinian and now Lebanese casualties climb steadily in proportion to low Israeli casualties, Olmert will continue to enjoy the scuttling of peace, reaping its political and economic rewards. As Palestinians respond to dire conditions, they will continue to be painted as the aggressors by the US and Canada both of whom have clear political motivations in the region, and rely on Israel as a trusted ally. It is this writers humble wish that the true motivations of these three states will no longer be obscured in the discourse of finding peace and democracy and that the desperate and outraged voices of an oppressed and humiliated people can be given their due recognition. Then we will see if Olmert will put down his guns.

Israel
chose
to
punish
the
nation
as
a
whole
and
is
bombing
not
only

Hezbollah-controlled
south
Lebanon,
but
Beirut
as
well.

Last Word Policy

The opinions presented here are the authors, and do not necessarily reflect those of The Peak. This space is here for the exchange of ideas and opinions. Articles should be 1,000-1,200 words. For more information, call Debby Reis at 604-291-4560 or e-mail peak_features@mail.peak.sfu.ca. Say anything, the last word is yours!

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