watch it...

This was yet another WAPC event that I didn't make it out to. I thought I would post the videos from that day for you. Check it out:

The world's oldest customer

Interesting article, I've only cut and paste the conclusion, cause it's pretty long. You can read the rest here.

The world's oldest customer

By Yotam Feldman

In addition to her allegations against the police, Levenkron is also furious with the clients. "They all think that the victim of trafficking is some other woman," she says. "'My private Natasha,' they say, 'is happy to open her legs every evening in the escort service I visit. She is not a trafficking victim.' That is exactly the image that is cultivated in ads for sex services - she does kickboxing, she works in high-tech - that is what they have in their head. She enjoys all the clients."

Curator Ariella Azoulay suggests speaking about the clients more explicitly as rapists. "When we speak about the 'sex industry' and about 'clients,' it is impossible to recognize the rape that trafficked women testify time and again that they went through as part of the 'examination' of their quality as merchandise as rape. The notion that we need to enact additional legislation so that it will be possible to try the rapists - who in most cases are the traffickers of the bondswomen - is fundamentally mistaken. The problem is not the law; the law exists, and it prohibits rape. The problem is that women who are deprived of civil status cannot enjoy the protection of the law, certainly not when they are assaulted by Israeli men who possess a civil status."

What do you think of the use of the word "client" for men who go to prostitutes?

"With regard to trafficking of women, the term 'client' diverts our attention from the real point - the fact that this is the renewal of slavery. The women are not selling services and they do not have clients; these are women who were enslaved by coercion - and, one could say, by the light of day - to a master who keeps them as bondswomen. The term 'client' affords this whole business a facade of normality. At the same time, it is important to emphasize that the effort to divide attention between the prostitute and those who benefit from the enslavement of women like her is extraordinarily important. But we have to be careful not to forget that we are dealing in the first place with a social, legal and political structure that makes the phenomenon possible and preserves it. It is that structure which has to be attacked." W



Not my words, comments closed.

some music....

I haven't posted in a while, nor have I had a chance to just post some tunes.... plus, I think Donna misses me ;)

So here are some tunes. The first is Broken social scene, with a song that is really awesome - and a video that I just discovered 5 minutes ago which is even better.

I really, really, really love the videos that Broken Social Scene puts out - such as fire eyed boy, I'm still your fag and cause = time (all available on youtube), because they all challenge rigid and traditional machismo. This video is especially interesting because nudity is often tied to 'women' or the 'feminine', especially when it comes to war time (ala the centerfold, rape of women, creation of pockets of third world R n R - rest and recreation). In this video you have a dude dancing in his undies while being a military combatant (and I swear I saw a dude on dude kissing scene in there!) - not prolific but the image itself challenges dominant notions of masculinity.

Check it out: Ibi Dreams of Pavement (A Better Day)



And of course interpol, because I just fucking love this song (take you on a cruise). To be honest their new album "Our Love to Admire" isn't really doing it for me. I've listened to it a good 5-6 times and I still can't say that any single one song is memorable. :(

George Bush is coming to Canada . . .

George Bush is coming to Canada . . .
Get on the bus to join the protest!

Information
Event Info Name: George Bush is coming to Canada . . .
Tagline: Get on the bus to join the protest!
Host: Toronto Coalition to Stop the War
Type: Causes - Protest
Time and Place Date: Sunday, August 19, 2007
Time: 7:00am - 10:00pm
Location: Bus departure and drop-off location
Street: 720 Spadina Avenue
City/Town: Toronto, ON
Email: bushbus2007[AT]gmail[DOT]com

Description
Stop the War!
Stop the Security and Prosperity Partnership!
Demonstrate in Ottawa on August 19

US president George Bush will join Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Mexican president Felipe Caldéron for a summit of the Security and Prosperity Partnership (SPP) in Montebello, Quebec this August.

A mass demonstration will take place in Ottawa on Sunday, August 19. Other actions are planned for August 20 and 21.

The Toronto Coalition to Stop the War is organizing buses to and from Ottawa for the mass demonstration on August 19. Depending on demand, additional buses may be booked for actions from August 19 to 21.

To book a seat on the bus, please e-mail your name, phone number and e-mail address to:
bushbus2007[AT]gmail[DOT]com.

Let us know if you're interested in staying for actions on August 20 and 21.

Buses will depart and return at the following times:

Depart Toronto on Sunday, August 19 at 7:00AM
Return to Toronto on Sunday, August 19 at 10:00PM

Cost: $60 to $90 sliding scale
(pay what you can afford within this range)

Return fare to Ottawa on Greyhound is more expensive: $91.60 (with student discount) or $148.20 (regular price)

All buses depart from and return to the same location:
720 Spadina Avenue (south of Bloor, west side of Spadina)

Some subsidies are available by request.

There are many reasons to protest Bush, and his backers Harper and Caldéron: their wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, their support for Israel's occupation of Palestine, their refusal to challenge climate change, their support for corporations and the neoliberal agenda, their attacks on civil liberties, their anti-democratic behaviour, and the list goes on . . .

Whatever your reason, get on the bus to join the protests!

For more information, please visit:

Canadian Peace Alliance

Council of Canadians

Toronto Coalition to Stop the War

the non-review review of SICKO...

It was FABULOUS, seldom do I like movies.... more so now than ever, but this was FAB. I laughed really, really loudly and I cried with full blown tears three times, if not more....Don't get me wrong, this movie was NUANCED as well. I think it will open a lot of eyes and raise a lot of questions about hyper-capitalism and corporate interests.

IT WAS GOOD! GO WATCH IT! NOW!

And in case you were wondering - most DRs in Canada also live in million dollar homes and sadly we aren't all socialists. Hell, they even showed a conservative canadian wax poetic about Tommy Douglas (in case you don't know of him already - you'll learn), that's how much the average Canadian citizen cares about healthcare as an issue.

ETA: I realized I rushed to write this post last night, and I should add a few things. There are a few problems with Canadian Healthcare (NOT the 'longer wait times'):

1) In the past 5 years tuition for Drs has increased to about $10K/yr, so it's pretty much only accessible to rich people and it leaves those who aren't rich in a higher debt (but not to worry, the banks offer huge credit loans to potential Drs - cough, cough). When you consider most 'non-professional' programs only cost $4500K a year for tuition - $10k is A LOT of money.
2) Physiotherapy, Optometry and dentistry (all needed things) are not covered. BUT most dentists do offer a sliding scale for people who don't have health coverage from their empolyers. Students usually only have to pay 70% of their dentist's/prescription expense because you pay a small medical fee when you pay your tuition. In the past physio and optometry were covered, slowly the government has been chipping away and 'streamlining' our healthcare system - which is very scary. A visit to the physio costs roughly $80-100/hour. A visit to the opt costs roughly $100-160.
3) Drug and Glasses Prescriptions are not covered. This is especially troublesome when you factor in the working poor and the growing senior population...
4) To book a specialist can often take months. BUT they do prioritize patients, if you are very ill, you can get an appointment much faster.
5) Most lab testing is covered.

ETA2:
6) There is a shortage of Drs in Ontario
7) There are many Drs with foreign training credentials who aren't given the opportunities that "Canadian trained" Drs are given.
8) When foreign trained Drs are recertified they are the first to get placed in rural towns (they do get higher pay), where they may/may not have racialized communities and interactions (this becomes isolating for them).

But I swear I've never heard someone having to chose between which finger they wanted to save... But under American capitalism that makes sense. How cruel.

From a Canadian perspective, the timing of this movie couldn't be better our new conservative government is okay with privatization, AND the Ontario government has approved 6 new private healthcare facilities in this province...This is a deeply disturbing problem of course. We can't allow this to happen - and having a two-tierd healthcare system is not going to help anyone ... but of course .... the rich!

It was humane, intelligent, funny, touching and very-well done overall. I think many Americans will start questioning who feeds them commie myths and who tells them who their enemies are etc...

The one quip I had about it was that Moore had to refer to Hillary Clinton as 'sexy'. Why? Why do female politicians (or female anythings) have to be sexified?

Happy Canada Day - notes on Multiculturalism...

So, two days ago (oops I missed it!) was Canada Day. This blog is still primarily read by Americans... so, yes, Canada Day was on July the 1st. Which means our country celebrated 140yrs of colonial occupation nation-building on this land mass....

Long story short, I've always not really enjoyed the Canada Day Celebrations [putting aside my issues with the concepts of nationhood and states] much. Don't get me wrong, it's fun, I get to hang out with people I love, we usually manage to hang out and do lots of fun things... but...My disdain mostly arises from not being able to relate to why people like Bharat natyam and other 'traditional' folk dances so much on that day. I lived for a long time in the nation's capital and going to parliament hill to do this sort of thing got really tiring after the ..... first 20 minutes. I don't do classical indian dances, none of my relatives do either, in fact they aren't very popular in India either (from what I know) - with exception, kind of like how ballet works here.

Anyways, here is an excellent passage on the problematic nature of 'multi-culturalism' from a new book that I can't recommend highly enough "Discourses of Denial: Mediations of Race, Gender, and Violence" by Yasmin Jiwani (UBC Press - 2006). Go out and get this!!! It is a must read, it's not necessarily anything drastically new for people who are familiar with critical race studies, but Jiwani's book provides an amazing synthesis of current work and she uses contemporary examples to illustrate these ideas. Plus, she is a fabulous writer who doesn't hold back.

This passage I believe can aptly be used to describe the problematic nature of Canada day style multi-cultural festivals (she is referring more specifically to media representations and news coverage):

"Or, alternatively, their [POC] representation us used to show up the image of the dominant society as one of tolerance, meritocracy, and equality. Of course, this does not hold true for raced bodies that stereotypically appear most frequently in the music and sports sections of the newspaper. here, their success is often attributed to their innate predisposition toward these activities.

The novelty or dramatic criterion of news stories also coincides with the certain aspects of racialized minority cultures. Seen against a backdrop of White society, these groups offer colourful alternatives. Their fashion, music and cuisine become objects of attention in the coverage devoted to ethnic festivals and ceremonies. Conversely, cultural rites and rituals are given coverage when they are perceived and positioned as being antithetical to social norms. The persistent coverage of arranged marriages, circumcision rites, communal living arrangements, and different religious traditions contributes to images of racialized communities that cast them as being uncivilized, oppressive, and undesirable......these legacies are grounded in a legacy of colonialism and imperialism" (Jiwani 2006: 40)

Earlier in the book Jiwani has an amazing passage that explains why communities of colour often take-up these roles under multiculturalism and multicultural policies. I wish I could type out the two pages - but I will type up bits of it:

"Communities, then [in regards to race-based program funding by the government], become a focal point of the policies, despite the reality that these communities are, as Bannerji (2000) reminds us, not natural constructions but but social constructions mediated out of a necessity to respond to particular state policies. In turn, these communities are harnessed by these policies to better serve the status quo and thereby utilized to maintain a hierarchical racialized structure of power. Such communities are reified as embodiments of particular cultural formations even though what they may be representing is a graft of a culture, specific social classes within that cultural formation, and particular interpretations of cultural traditions. Patriarchal and economic elites maintain the boundaries of these so-called cultural communities, ensuring compliance and cohesion. However, as Bannerji remarks this is not only a top-down imposition but also a bottom-up response, based on the racism, exclusion, and hostility from the dominant society faced by these groups. Within the context of these communities, power is naturalized and rendered normal through the recuperation and reification of tradition.

Bannerji calls our attention to a key element of multiculturalism, namely, the connection between race and culture. Racialized communities are minoritized and interpreted as primordial cultural entities rather than as entities formed through state measures. Further, these cultural labels are not neutral but carry Orientalist and racially inscribed connotations of Western society that represents itself as progressive, emancipatory, and democratic. Racial differences become cultural differences, and race itself is culturalized. ....emphasis on culture evacuates concepts of race and racism, so that cultural tolerance comes to replace the need for racial tolerance....to tolerate is to 'put up with'. " (Jiwani 2006: 13-14).

A final word on 'upper-class POC':

"Assimilation also offers, especially through class privilege, a greater degree of mobility. On the other hand, the deeply racialized nature of identity, both group and individual based, limits such latitude in the sense that no matter how rich or assimilated a person of colour is, where s/he can go is undoubtedly curtailed by elite structures of power....illusory promises of fitting in and belonging provided one buys into the trappings of so-called normalcy and normative behaviour - are just that - fictions - when they run headlong into the reality of race and racism...... In a hierarchy structured in dominance, the ideological labour involved is one of keeping each group "in its place." This includes racialized people of colour whose confinement at a particular level of the hierarchy ensures that those above can maintain their power and privilege." (Jiwani 2006: 28)

Cross posted at Pass the Roti.

This Blog is rated....

R...And you know why? Because we used the word 'gay' 6 times!

We're genuine 'badasses' (damn homophobic terms like this that I use) around here...

This rating was determined based on the presence of the following words:

gay (6x) sex (3x) lesbian (2x) xxx (1x)

Mingle² -

H/T Yolanda