FREE - d o f l a t l ~ l l s accepted. FEBRUARY 1 , 1992.

Mac K

WORK. ing

STREET TALK: Guy Prairie and Diane Mackenzie both favor the old Vogue theatre as the ideal spot for - - - - . I - - -1 - bf G ~ L I U I I VI a new Downtown South centre

ROBERT SARTI Vancouver Sun

They've got a lot of free time, but not many wholesome places to spend it.

Surrounded by the beer parlors and low-rent cafes of the Granville Street strip, residents of J

Vancouver's newest neighborhood started work Friday on obtaining a safe and public "gathering place" to help save their community.

"People here can't afford the bus fare to getIup to the West End or down to Hastings Street," said 52-year-old Guy Prairie. '

"We can meet in the beer parlor, but who wants 4- A n 4 h n 4 7 9 ) I LU uu wab.

About 2,000 people live in the hotels around Granville and Davie. Most are single older men, many with disabilities and on fixed income.

City council has rezoned the area - now dubbed Downtown South- to allow dense rede- velopment as housing for office workers, but has okayed planning for a gathering place, a health clinic and other facilities to help stabilize the long-term hotel residents.

The residents already have a model for what they want - Carnegie Community Centre, which serves a similar population in the Downtown Eastside, about two kilometres away.

Carnegie director Diane Mackenzie, who has been assigned by council to make recommenda- tions about the new centre, told 50 residents at a meeting called by the Downtown Eastside Resi- dents Association that she intends to talk to everyone in the area, from local developers to < I " 1 . , 1

The meeting was held in the lounge of a nearby' social housing project. . .

"When I started at Carnegie, I walked the streets with the p~l ice on welfare cheguenight; and got a gciod idea of the comn~unity,': Mackenzje, said. . -

''I'm going to ask the police if l'can'faur with* them on Granville."

Police Insp. Ken Doerq, who was in the audience, interrupted her, saying: ".Y6u donft have to ask - you can walk with us.". . , I *i

Mackenzie told the residents it's up $0 them tg decide what goes into the centre. . i . ,

"Carnegie has things like a mm.'.a kit'chen and '3 -- , food progkm and a lhrary - so you decide:: she said. . . c. j

Funding for the centre would come from levie$'j . . imposed by council on developers. ' ., .

The residents also decided to fight for ahealth ., clinic in the area - again similar to one i? the,.'? Downtown Eastside. . , . . ; . i

City social planner Jeff Brooks said:he had :' already started talking to St. Paul's HoSpital on; : cials about decentralizing some of their.prograhs . . . into a street-level clinic on Granville. . . .

"If peode on Granville get a Cold in the chest: and need attention, nine times out of 10 the^ end .; up in St. Paul's," said Brooks. . * ' .

"That's not economical for St, Paul's.'It would help if they moved out of their walls.and down :' here." , \

. I

Brooks said health program for seniors, men- tal patients and alcohol and drug abusers woulc' be priorities in thq :fir&. . .,,

JEFF

Powell S t r e e t S u n r i s e

I looked o u t t h r u t h e g l a s s o f my e a r l y morning bedroom. I saw a p ink c loud f l o a t i n g low i n a r e d gloom, and it d r i f t e d i n and o u t t h r u t h e , p o r t h o l e s o f my eyes , then I saw t h e d e s t i n a t i o n where my head would come t o r i s e .

The pink c loud grew heavy on t h e s h o u l d e r s o f my b r a i n , s o I threw it a t a b l i n d g i r l who s a i d I looked insane . Then she c a l l e d me a f o o l , and shouted o u t loud, "You never w i l l r e g a i n your s u n r i s e cloud!"

The sun melted me, and my rage b u r n t t h e sun. I reached f o r d e s t r u c t i o n t o s t o p what I had d6ne. But t h e p ink c loud shone o f v e l v e t add t h e n d r i f t e d i n t o b l a c k ; I could almost r e a l i z e t h a t it never would come

I f y o u ' r e e v e r i n my space and you s e e a weary g i r l , w i t h a glow a l l around h e r l i k e a crimson g l a x e s swirl, p l e a s e g i v e h e r my r e g a r d s , and s a y I ' l l t h i n k s h e ' s k ind i f s h e would j u s t r e t u r n my s u n r i s e mind

I Am Afraid o f Nothing

Resolved: I am a f r a i d o f no th ing Even t h e o l d d read o f walking

down t h e s e grim s t r e e t s ... My t r e a d i s f i r m now, i n

a courage o f having l o s t eve ry th ing I am a f r a i d o f no th ing now.

Negating f i n g e r s reach me through t h e h e a r t o f t h e s e long n i g h t s - i n

t h e v a c u i t y of d a y l i g h t s met e x p r e s s i o n s - o b l i q u e reminders

reminding me t h a t - now - I am u t t e r l y u n a f r a i d .

A B i r t h i s t l e

back

P e r s p e c t i v e

I f a l l I s e e i s o n l y a l l t h e p a i n i n t h e world then I would f e e l t o t a l p a i n

I f a l l I s e e i s on ly a l l t h e love i n t h e world then a l l i would f e e l i s t o t a l l o v e

What I want t o s e e i 3

my choice .

Dreamweaver

The following s t o r y appears i n t he End Legislated Poverty Newsletter f o r January. I t ' s r ep r in t ed here a s a f i n e piece of news - a s t he t i t l e i s a statement of v i c to ry and the author i s one of the determined indiv idua ls who helped make it happen.

NDP Government t o Fund Food f o r 100 Schools

By PAT CHAUNCEY n-,,..,: -- &#: 1- - . r bllrlbL I v ~ ~ h ~ EUCOU~L i j l Education

Minister Anita Hagen announced a $7 mil l ion package f o r a provinc ia l food program: They made t h e announcement on Jan. 14th i n Surrey.

The program i s a r e s u l t of End Leg- i s l a t e d Poverty's community organis- ing s ince 1987.

There wouldn't be a food program without hero ic e f f o r t from a handful of low income women.

One o r two people g e t a t t e n t i o n from the p re s s when an i s s u e i s r a i s - ed. Usually t he re a r e l o t s of o the r people involved.

Low income people r a r e l y g e t a t t en - t i on and success from t h e i r e f f o r t s .

Other people get c a l l e d exper t s when they've never l i ved with poverty.

Some of the r e a l expe r t s a r e low income women. Here is a p a r t i a l l i s t of women who deserve c r e d i t f o r t h e food program. Many o the r s contr ibuted.

Vancouver: Debbie El l i son , Georgina Isaac, Rose Brown, Pat

Garret, Mary Ellen Johnstone, I rene Schmidt, Georgina Marshall, Jacquie Cowlan, Yvonne Marks, Cora Case, Pam Cooley, the r e a l Margaret Mitchel l , Katherine 6 Georgina Zeron, She i l a Baxter, Ellen Woodsworth, Colleen Burke, Betty McPhee, Dee Martin, and honourary women Dave Martin and Alan Alvare.

-

Victor ia : Cindy McLaren, Brenda Pohl Dorothy Livingstone, Kathy Edwards, Abby Kindlan, Glor ia Harr i s , Evelyn Hammond, Susan Noakes.

Surrey: Saffron Kanzeon, Ann Regan, J enn i f e r Chobotuck, Val Watson.

Burnaby: Anita Gingrich, Antoinet te Naaffa, Carol Withers-Chow, Tim Tar te r .

Nanaimo: Karen Sh i l l i ng ton , Louise Ross, Gail VanDerLeek, Jane t Doherty, Mary Wasley.

The s t a f f a t End Legislated Poverty ( P a t r i c i a Chauncey, Linda Marcotte, Pam Flemming, Jean %3::so:: - Ed. > worked f o r years with low wages and continued t o l i v e i n poverty while working t o ge t a food program i n place.

A l l of these people continued t o work through family c r i s i s , hunger, homelessness, depression, s i c k and emotionally upset k id s , l e g a l prob- lems, c h i l d apprehensions & Ministry Inves t iga t ions .

Lots of times people had l i t t l e support i n t h e i r l i v e s and had famil- i e s 6 f r i ends who were embarassed by t h e i r e f f o r t s .

The new food program could be exact- l y t h e kind of program ELP wanted. Food w i l l have t o be ava i l ab l e t o a l l ch i ld ren within a school. People who can a f f o r d it, pay what t hey can. The meal i s f r e e f o r people who c a n ' t pay. No one w i l l be i d e n t i f i e d i f they need f r e e food.

The food program w i l l be expanded t o a t l e a s t 10 more schools i n Vancouver.

" I t j u s t goes t o show you t h a t i f low income people work toge the r we can g e t what we need," s a i d Linda Marcotte,

C ., .. r-~rte ( I T I r~e 1 0 1 i ~ t ittte 0 1 g ~ i i ~ e ~ ~ . One problem wi th t h e food program i s

t h i s : t h e gov3;t wants School Boards t o decide between hot E cold food and be- tween breakfas t , lunch and snacks.

Children l i k e t h e hot lunch program. Margaret Mead once sa id , "Never

doubt t h a t a small group of thoughtful committed c i t i z e n s can change t h e world; indeed, i t ' s the only th ing t h a t eve r does. "

End Legis la ted Poverty i s concerned about communities no t admit t ing t h a t t hey have hungry school ch i ld ren .

I< you a r e i n t e r e s t e d i n g e t t i n g food in your school phone 879-1209 and ask f o r Linda o r Pat.

Dear P r e m i e r and M i n i s t e r s :

On beha l f of t h e Carnegie Community Rel- a t i o n s Committee, I 'd l i k e to thank your Government f o r i t s dec i s ion t o fund school lunch programs on a l a r g e s c a l e .

I am appea l ing t o t h e NDP Government t o make Crisis Grants more a c c e s s i b l e . The food voucher system should be made a v a i l - a b l e t o people wi th c h i l d r e n on s o c i a l a s - s i s t a n c e , handicapped, e l d e r l y and those with unemployable s t a t u s due t o phys i ca l o r mental d i s a b i l i t i e s . They should never be denied e x t r a food when they need it.

During school , lunch programs a s s i s t with f eed ing some hungry c h i l d r e n bu t what about du r ing summer, Christmas 6 E a s t e r ho l idays and t h e r e s t o f t h e t ime t h e s e c h i l d r e n a r e n o t i n school? What about c h i l d r e n no t lucky enough t o a t t e n d a school t h a t has a lunch program? Un t i l people a r e g e t t i n g en- ough money t o f eed themselves p rope r ly t h e r e must be a way t o a t q u i r e enough food t o ensu re t h e y can e a t p rope r ly a l l month.

The food voucher is p r e s e n t l y de f ined a s a c r i s i s g r a n t . Every five-week month c r e - a t e s a c r i s i s f o r people on a s s i s t a n c e . Taking money from t h e suppor t p o r t i o n of t h e i r cheque t o pay e x t r a s h e l t e r c o s t s c r e a t e s a c r i s i s . If a F inanc i a l Aid Worker chooses t h e y can deny a c r i s i s g r a n t . This i s u n f a i r a s most people a r e a f r a i d t o ap- pea l t h e i r worker 's d e c i s i o n s .

I r e a l i z e some i n d i v i d u a l s g e t t h e i r che- q u e s a i L p ~ u n g t l ~ s p e d tile ~i~uuey u11 ~ L U -

ho l e t c . However, t h i s l i s t h e mino r i t y and t h e m a j o r i t y should no t be sub jec t ed t o hunger because o f t h e a c t i o n s o f a few.

A few y e a r s ago I at tempted t o address t h i s i s s u e wi th t h e Soc i a l Cred i t Govern- ment b u t wasn ' t succes s fu l . Your Govern- ment i s now i n a p o s i t i o n t o s t o p hunger. I am appea l ing t o t h e New Deomcratic Gov- ernment t o ensu re t h a t t h e food voucher system i s made a v a i l a b l e t o a l l o f t h e ab- ove groups of i n d i v i d u a l s wi th no p e n a l t i e s a t t a c h e d t o i t s use . This could s t o p t h e hunger f o r t h e most needy of t hose on Soc- i a l Ass is tance . Anxiously awai t ing a r e p l y .

Bharbara Gunmundson

The Nature of Loss

There is no descr ip t ion f o r l o s s o ther than t h e word i t s e l f ,

I t s one s y l l a b l e c ~ n t a i n s volumes

about suf fe r ing , unut te rab le p r i v a t e t raged ies ; Unti l you have l ived i t s torment

you w i l l remain ignorant of t h e word. .

Don't attempt t o pronounce it . Don't race t o catch up. Shut up, and be g r a t e f u l !

ABir th i s t l e

The l a t e s t welfare "increases" a r e again 2n outrage. Even t o c a l l it an increase i s iiiisleading.

The breakdown between s h e l t e r G sup- po r t f o r s i n g l e people g ives an 8.3% increase t o t h e landlord, a 5% increa- s e i n income t o people on handicapped GAIN and nothing a t a l l t o o t h e r s i n - gles, - employable o r unemployable.

In $$ t h i s means - . .

OLD NEW - Single her Sup. She1 . Sup.

employable $300 $200 $325 $200 unemployable $300 $250 $325 $250 handicapped $300 $394 $325 $414

The $25 s h e l t e r increase is a g i f t t o D.E. ho t e l l andlords , I t w i l l be- come the main f a c t o r i n upward press - u r e on r en t s . I t i s t r u e t h a t 1992 r e n t s i n severa l cases were creeping above t h e $300 s h e l t e r l i m i t . Some p laces a r e i n t he process of going up t o $310 o r so. But t h e s h e l t e r increa- s e w i l l mean t h a t v i r t u a l l y a l l h o t e l s w i l l go t o a base r a t e of $325, with the supposedly ' b e t t e r ' es tabl ishments topping t h a t by another $10 o r so.

I t i s almost c e r t a i n t h a t t h e in - crease w i l l pu t r e n t s $15-$25 h igher than they would have been.

For s en io r s , f o r whom t h e cos t -of - l i v i n g increase t h i s year was 754 a month, t h i s w i l l r e s u l t i n add i t i ona l hardship.

By MARG GREEN

On t h e f r o n t page of t h e Sun (Jan.2

a s Federal Employment Minis te r Berna ralcourt i s quoted saying, "How long :an we cont inue t o pay people t o j u s t lo nothing?" Socia l Assis tance i n Can la i s a r i g h t G a neces s i ty . Of cours .here a r e s t o r i e s of an ind iv idua l he )r a family t h e r e consciously G de l ib - x a t e l y avoiding work. And of course :here a r e hundreds of thousands of peo- ~ l e f ind ing themselves accessing s o c i a l l s s i s t ance f o r t h e f i r s t t ime, while .ooking a l l day every day f o r a job . . l t ~ ~ t iitfiye thiiii~ Z ZiZiiXiiit iizge d ~ ~ d -

1 I

:nd i n sweatshop condi t ions with zero , ~ e n e f i t s .

Valcourt c i t e s Ifthe magnitude of t h e iebt t h a t i s there" t o put t h e blame Eor it squarely on t h e v i c t ims of "free" zrade, with over 300,000 jobs permanent- ly l o s t ; of t h e GST, wi th a 400% in - 1

:rease i n cross-border shopping; of m i v a t i s a t i o n G deregula t ion , with nassive lay-of fs , p l a n t c lo su res and r e - locat ion of scores of t r ansna t iona l ms ines ses i n t h e southern US G Mexico.

A t l e a s t 4 of Canada's 6 major banks reported record p r o f i t s i n 1991. The Royal Bank of Canada had over $145 m i l - l ion i n income t axes de fe r r ed in .1987 - standard p r a c t i c e f o r over 93,000 cor- porat ions which pay no income t ax . In 1991, t h e Royal Bank had i t s beancount- e r s reword s tatements t o show they d id not a c t u a l l y n e t $1.2 b i l l i o n . . . j u s t $987 mi l l i on . Valcourt must see t h i s a s ' evidence t h a t bank owners work 25 hours a day, 8 days a week, bu t t h e r e ' s some- thing amiss i n t h i s brand of l o g i c - a person earning t h e minimum wage has t o work 87 hours a week t o have a g ros s income a t S t a t s Canada' s o f f i c i a l pov- e r t y l i n e . Maybe it has something t o do with t h e TV ad about "You must work smarter!" How smart i s it t o cons i s t en t - l y reduce corpora te income t a x t o where

t h e t o t a l s a c t u a l l y p a i d a r e on ly 11% of a l l income t a x e s c o l l e c t e d ?

Valcourt s t a t e s t h a t b u s i n e s s i s h u r t i n g f o r l ack o f s k i l l e d workers. There may be v a l i d examples h e r e E t h e r e , bu t it has almost no th ing t o do wi th t r a n s n a t i o n a l s s e t t i n g up shop i n t h e maquiladora zone i n Mexico E enjoy- ing n o n - e x i s t e n t enforcement o f p o l l u - t i o n c o n t r o l s E a workforce wi th $4-$5 a DAY p a i d t o t h e average employee.

Valcour t i s t h e M i n i s t e r o f Employ- ment y e t h i s own p a r t y applauds both t h e Bank o f Canada E t h e Business Coun- c i l on Nat ional I s s u e s when t h e y d e c l a r e t h a t h igh unemployment i s a n a t u r a l , normal, even i n a l i e n a b l e concommitance of a market d r i v e n economic system. Crud is a word used t o d e s c r i b e t h e pro- duc t o f a b u l l 1 s bowel movement.

In 1988 t h e p u b l i c r e l a t i o n s cam- paign of t h e P r o g r e s s i v e Conserva- t i v e s , e n t h u s i a s t i c a l l y supported ( o r a t l e a s t p a i d f o r ) by t h e 1% of Can- a d i a n s who own 68% of t h e weal th , garnered 43% of t h e vo te . They a r e now a t a dismAl 15% i n p o l l s , y e t a r e engaged i n t r y i n g t o en t rench t h e Con s e r v a t ive/Corporate Agenda i n Canada's c o n s t i t u t i o n wi th t h e "econ- omic union" p roposa l s .

A "consul tant" is someone who bor- L"w5 ;".".ur .w*tc;i t" L.. 1, .--..

L G L L YVU iVliLit tillle

it is. Valcour t i s paying t h e wrong people t o t e l l him what i s p o l i t i c a l - l y popula r t o say.

PaulK Taylor , E d i t o r , Carnegie Newslet ter .

EMPHYSEMA

m a t everyone should know about em- physema: F i r s t o f a l l it w i l l k i l l you - I should know; my f a t h e r q u i t smok- ing a t t h e age o f 52 and l i v e d ano ther 20 years , but he s u f f e r e d i n agony.

I was t o l d a year ago by D r . L e s l i e

, Lawson t h a t I have t h e d i s e a s e ... i f I d i d n ' t s t o p smoking I ' d be dead i n a year . I had smoked f o r 45 years .

I was a very s i c k person; I could on ly walk a h a l f a block, t h e n s t o p , t r y i n g t o g e t enough oxygen i n t o my lungs t o g e t my h e a r t slowed down enough t o g e t ano ther ha l f -b lock . I wds sick ellough iu g e i i n SL. P a u i C s Hospi ta l f o r about 10 days . They t o l d me I had an en la rged h e a r t , a s well a s low blood'pressure and b r a i n damage. D r . Lawson pu t me on l i q u i d oxygen 24 hours a day, 3 d i f f e r e n t i n h a l e r s p l u s 2 p i l l s twice d a i l y . I a l s o phoned Nicot ine Anonymous and found ou t over 3500 people d i e every y e a r and o v e r 700 non-smokers p a s s away from 2nd - hand smoke. The one t h i n g t h e s e people a l l had i n common was t h e y d i e d f o r nothing.

Smoke i f you wish, but do you r e a l l y want t o gamble wi th your l i f e o r , worse, wi th someone e l s e ' s ?

If you r e a l l y want t o q u i t smoking more informat ion can be ob ta ined from

' ~ i c o t i n e Anonymous. C a l l me o r t a l k ' t o Verna on t h e 2nd f l o o r .

JAMES R. - 253-5541 VERNA B - 685-3757

--- - -

The Wastrel

lump everyone, Dismiss everyone. Stop seeking splendour i n s i m i l a r souls. Explore, i n s t e a d , t h e t e r r i f y i n g

a s p e c t s o f your own e a r t h l y exper ience.

'ick it over a s do t h e crows i n s p e c t i n g r e f u s e , ferment ing

imagination d u s t b i n days.

lut magnificent o l d crows; magical o l d crows t h a t i v e fi love mate f o r l i f e . T h a t ' s r i g h t ! Then s t o r e t h i s burden

n your own p r i v a t e s o u l t o s h a r e , l a t e r , n o t among one o r two

u t with your c o n t r o v e r s i a l t ime.

. A B i r t h i s t l e

9. .NATIVE BOOKS I N CARNEGIE COMMUNITY CENTRE LEBRARY

On January 13th I a t tended t h e Cul tura l Sharing Night t o p u b l i c i s e our spec i a l c o l l e c t i o n of Native a r t and customs books.

For those who were not t he re , here is a rundown of what we have and how t o g e t it\, We have books on - I

* Native a r t s and c r a f t s , l i k e jewelry-making and carving

* Native c u l t u r e ( f o r example, t h e customs of t h e Haida)

* Native legends

* Native books f o r ch i ld ren

* Fic t ion by Native w r i t e r s

* Biographies of Native people

I We a l s o have - * Newspaper c l i pp ing f i l e s of Native a r t i s t s

* Newspaper c l i pp ing f i l e s on l o c a l p o l i t i c s , customs and people

Some of t hese books may be obtained d i r e c t l y from our Library shelves. The more expensive a r t books a r e kept behind ou r desk and go ou t on a one week loan with I D l i k e a s t a t u s card , b i r t h c e r t i f i c a t e , d r i v e r ' s l i cence , o r B C I D t o leave a s s e c u r i t y .

The more expensive books on customs, legends and p o l i t i c a l i s s u e s go out on a t h r e e week loan with any of t he above I D a s s e c u r i t y .

Please come i n and see our c o l l e c t i o n . J u s t ask a t ou r desk. I f you have any problems ask f o r me, ELEANOR, and 1'11 do my b e s t t o he lp you. I f you see any of ou r books l e f t behind i n h o t e l rooms, r e s t a u r a n t s o r anywhere i n t h e Downtown Easts ide, p l ease r e t u r n them t o us. Thanks f o r your he lp .

Eieanor Keiiy, Librar ian.

r A N IRON HAND upon the people

THE BLEEDING EYES of JUSTICE

In a h a l l t h a t s c a l l e d Forever, IVhere t h e r e i s no wrong o r r i g h t ; There J u s t i c e wept with bloodied t e a r s , Through t h e long ,e te rna l n i g h t .

For a soul t h a t was i n torment, Torn apa r t with i c y rage; S t a r ing beneath a shadowed sun, Death would t u r n another page.

A very l o s t and t o r t u r e d man, Who would wander block by c lock; Through s t r e e t s and lanes with angered pain, Through Deathss door he soon would walk.

A man no longer r a t i o n a l , - - 1 - - - --C h: r 1 ; Cn. J I I C I ~ > L ~ I I V I I V Z ; . ~ ~ ~ r r r v ,

His voice was but a mindless scream, In h i s hand, he held a kn i f e .

A mind deranged,who could not change, Confrontation with t h e Law; A kn i f e aga ins t a t h i r t y - e i g h t , This would be what J u s t i c e saw.

Stark,savage soun'ds,the loud r epor t s , Cracked hard across t h e sky; While t h e pavement ran with crimson, On cold pavement he would d i e .

For t h e Law held no compassion, Showed no mercy i n i t s brea th ; Only a s t e r i l e emptiness In a poor man's l one ly death.

In a h a l l t h a t l s c a l l e d Forever, Where the re i s no wrong o r r i g h t ; There J u s t i c e wept with bloodied t e a r s , Through t h e long ,e t e rna l n i g h t .

Michael James McLellan

I do not wish t o be an a l a rmis t , but c e r t a m mat te rs i n worid affairs 111ust be considered by a l l c i t i z e n s o f a l l count r ies . We must i n s i s t on u n i l a t e r - a l world government. I

Remembering h t e 60 ' s when my t h r e e 1 ch i ld ren a l l under 4 and watching t h e

1 1 TV news - t h e g r e a t d i scuss ions over 11 nuclear war. I I

People were a c t u a l l y bui ld ing s h e l t - 1 e r s , governments b u i l t underground bunkers and e a r l y warning systems ... I

People now tend t o t h ink t h a t with i t h e Sov ie t ' s changing economic b a s i s and t h e break-up of t h e r epub l i c t h a t t h e t h r e a t i s diminished.

I would hard ly th ink t h e nuc lear warheads have been removed, nor t h e i r t a r g e t s changed. The o t h e r s p l i n t e r coun t r i e s a l ready i n revolu t ion smack of t h e beginning of World War 11.

The army i n Russia involves probably 1 / 2 t h e people, e i t h e r a s s o l d i e r s o r m i l i t a r y providers . I d o n ' t th ink they w i l l enjoy t h e i r new l i f e i n soupl ines .

Yel t s in t o u r s t h e country promising a turned around economy i n 3 years . This i s an imposs ib i l i t y even with massive U.S. a id . Germany 6 Japan took 15 t o 30 years t o again become world leaders .

not so e a s i l y geared over f o r produc- t i o n of consumer goods.

Energy i s t h e key t o t h e whole of ~ o r t h American wealth. We use 2/3 of t h e world's resources . ,

The co l l apse of t h e Russian economy i s due mainly t o t h e i r i n a b i l i t y t o supply energy, i n t h e form of o i l , t o

I t h e i r s a t e l l i t e countrues. This switcf

I of economic systems i s not a North Am- e r i can v i c t o r y i n p o l i t i c s bu t a f a i l - u r e i n r e l a t i o n s between the Soviet

/ bloc and t h e i r e a s t e r n o i l - supply ing coun t r i e s , who wanted payment i n nuc-

1 l e a r weapons which were not given. I This i s why t h e Sovie ts had no argu- 1 ment with t h e U.S. & a l l i e s ' bombard- 1 ment & takeover of Saddam Hussein' s 1 o i l f i e l d s . I t was a g r e a t , s ca ry mes- , sage t o o t h e r OPEC coun t r i e s about

t h e i r f a t e i f t hey s t o p tHe supply of I,, black gold - and a poor ly done and un-

f i n i shed job. When t h e Sovie ts look a t t h e people

s t a r v i n g i n t h a t country and cons ider whether t h e U.S. w i l l j u s t d r ibb le i n

I supp l i e s u n t i l t hey a r e brought t o I t h e i r knees, one wonders what t h e Rus- s i a n m i l i t a r y l e a d e r s think..what course they w i l l t ake .

I I don ' t mean t h e 7n F, 8C1 ; ~ e ~ r - ~ l d genera ls , c ron ie s of Yel t s in & company but t h e younger 6 f f i c e r s who a c t u a l l y run t h e army.

Armies a r e not n e c e s s a r i l y l oya l t o governments; Yel t s in has a l ready prom- oted a 50 year-old major t o genera l . . one they th ink t h e t roops w i l l follow. Le t ' s hope so.

By TOM LEWIS

We mourn t h e v i o l e n t deaths of our Native women F, t h e o t h e r s i s t e r s of t he Downtown Easts ide, whose memories w i l l no t be forgot ten .

Friday, FEBRUARY 14

11-12 Powell & Salsbury, where Cheryl Ann's body was found

12noon - walk back t o Carnegie with t r anspor t a t ion i f needed.

1:00 meet a t Main & Hastings 1:30 Memorial Serv ice , speakers . .

(refreshments)

Cheryl Ann Joe Bernadine Standing Ready

Lorna Carpenter Sandra Flamond

Sadie Chartland Ray Arrance

Martha Garvin Tr i sh Waddams

Wendy Poole Rose Pe ters

G o t h e r s ... I f you know of any o the r s t o add t o

t h i s l i s t p l ease contact 665-2289 6 leave a message f o r Margaret Prevost.

Ibupee, or Not Toupee

The Legal Drug

Alcohol i s t h e weapon of those i n power. Without a lcohol a s t h e l e g a l drug the ly ing p o l i t i c i a n s of a l l p a r t i e s wouldn't g e t away with a l l t h e nega t ive th ings they do.

There is the v i s i b l e drunk and t h e i n v i s i b l e drunk. The p r i v a t e drunk l i v i n g i n suburbia with a family E job o f t e n i s more v i o l e n t than t h e v i s i b l e drunk. Wife bea t ing and c h i l d abuse is usua l ly a crime of t he i n v i s i b l e drunk i n suburbia.

The p o l i c e make a hab i t o f a r r e s t i n g t h e v i s i b l e drunk. For tuna te ly t h e major i ty of pub l i c drunks a r e not v io- l e n t . . i t i s more a r e l e a s e of tens ion o r boredom. So-called s o c i a l d r inking i s mainly f o r t h e upper income c l a s s ; t h e i r excuse i s t h a t t h e y ' r e " j u s t be- ing sociabl~e", which i s a p i l e of BS.

People don ' t u sua l ly dr ink t o be soc iab le . . they dr ink t o escape d a i l y l i v ing . Without a lcohol a s a l e g a l drug many people would d i r e c t t h e i r anger t o those i n power who deserve it

Without t he l e g a l qIvgjiG--illegal drugs, violence &&lh a c t u a l r y inc rease a l l over soc i e ty . F rus t r a t ion G anger would be d i r ec t ed t o those i n power. The l e g a l drug alcohol i s o f t e n more d e s t r u c t i v e than t h e so-ca l led i l l e g a l ones.

Recently a committee was formed t o l e g a l i s e i l l e g a l drugs, which would e l imina te much crime. A 'Narc' was in - terviewed about t he drug problem E h i s only concern was "don't rock t h e boat ; wait 3 years , then I ' l l have my pen- s ion ." Thousands of Narcs E o t h e r s i n t h e phony war on drugs know it i s ass - i n ine drug laws t h a t cause most of t h e

problems but t h e i r motivat ion i s job s e c u r i t y f o r l i f e . They make a ca ree r 1

out of ly ing t o t he p u b l i c by manipula- , t i n g crime s t a t i s t i c s i n favour of keeping drugs i l l e g a l . P roh ib i t i on of booze proved t h a t making it i l l e g a l increased v i o l e n c e . . i f t h e d e s i r e i s s t rong enough one i s going t o g e t what one wants - i l l e g a l o r l e g a l .

By BRIAN WAGGET

Honesty

Last June I went t o t h e Royal Bank on a Saturday t o g e t some money out of t h e night aachFfie, 1 p i ~ n r h ~ d i n t h e r i g h t numbers and, when my bank card came out , I took it and placed it i n my wa l l e t along wi th a $50 s o c i a l s e r - v i ce cheque. I then pu t it on t h e -i.

counter i n f r o n t of me! I reached f o r t h e cash with my l e f t hand, and a l s o t h e r e c e i p t with my r i g h t , then walked I

out . Nobody c a l l e d nor turned t h i s i n . I

had t o make a p o l i c e s tatement so I could go t o t h e wel fare o f f i c e with a p o l i c e case number i n o rde r t o r e - I

place the missing cheque. The I D w i l l t ake months t o rep lace .

I t was only l a s t month t h a t my bank book f e l l ou t of my pocket i n one of t h e washroom's i n Carnegie, bu t a c a l l from Butch a t t h e f r o n t desk r b l d me

someone had turned it i n . I ' d l i k e Do g ive these honest people a g r e a t b i g Thanks! Honesty i s a r a r e q u a l i t y i n 1

t h i s day and age. James Roadknight '

What say JACK E MAY. ... on t h e new year of 1992

- What a r e your hopes; what a r e your a s p i r a t i o n s f o r 1992, she asked me.

- Who d id?

- The woman on t h e TV show.

- You watch t h a t program? ,

- I t comes on, I see it, switch, switch, ads, ads ... So I s t a y awhile.

- So, what a r e your hopes..your a s p i r a t i o n s ? Aspi ra t ions - what 's t h a t , d i f f e r e n t from hopes?

- Well, I hope t o answer your quest ion, but I a s p i r e t o be i n t e l l i g e n t . What a hope! For me, I hope t h a t i n 1992 Mulroney drops dead, and I a s p i r e t o be o f f welfare and i n a job.

- Both un l ike ly . But one - may happen and t h e o t h e r could happen, i f ... - If what ... ? What d l y e know? I s t h e r e something ... ?

- Now, j u s t cons ider . 1991 was a he l luva year and I c a n ' t see t h e mess being c l ea red up soon. 1992 w i l l be tougher; and if Mulroney were t o d i e , what d i f f e r ence would t h a t make? The s t r i n g s t h a t make him jump 6 work h i s jaw s t r e t c h from Washington. And puppets a r e cheap where mul t ina i tona l s a r e concerned. On t h e o t h e r hand if we, who have l o s t confidence (you know, LA:...,. vLA. .p ,,,,,,,, 4-L? ,,PC csshless 2nd cms~? i len t 1 y y i n t l e s s i n a market economy), a sp i r ed i n 1992 t o g e t b e t t e r organised . for a c t i o n In support o f p o i i c i e s t h e NDP have committed themselves t o , t o r a i s e l i v i n g s tandards here i n BC ;ind improve job oppor tun i t i e s and working c l a s s r i g h t s E s e c u r i t y - you j u s t might ge t o f f welfare and i n t o a job ... a t l e a s t f i n d y-ur welfare not so low down under t h e poverty l i n e . I . . .

- I t ' s a hope; and I ' m one t h a t ' s ready t o a s p i r e .

- L e t ' s do it. The t r a d e unions a r e working people organised on t h e job; commun~y and s o c i a l o rgan i sa t ions and agencies a r e mostly working people off t h e job, i n t h e i r neighbourhoods, s e l f - a c t i n g and helping a s volunteers i n s o c i a l l y b e n e f i c i a l agencies and pub l i c i n s t i t u t i o n s . Working toge the r i n support o f t h e needed p o l i c i e s a f r i e n d l y government has proclaimed, o r can be reasonably expected t o respond t o i n a he lp fu l way.. We here i n B .C . can hope f o r and reasonable a s p i r e t o br ing about p o s i t i v e changes f o r t he b e t t e r i n t h e general democratic, l abour f, employment s i t u a t i o n here i n '92. ,

- L e t ' s do it. -

Hope with scientists Editor, The Times:

The new NDP program for "sustainable de-nJ" represents some hope for the pollution concernea population. Now the environment problem starts to be a primordial issue in the legislature.

Nevertheless, to promise economic growth without harming our en- vironment is a wrong strategy. The public will soon learn the reality: that the present environmental nightmare can only be stopped with substantial economic sacrifices.

The only tenable argument, which politicians should use is the following: our economy will collapse anyway when 90 percent of the population will be disabled by mental disorders, cancers, AIDS and other modern cellular diseases; our cellular immune system is jeopardized bv the exaggerated inchitria: pdliiti~ii. It is frightening to peliici i i~e rlurnber oE future disabilities with the help of today's statistical data.

The cleaning of the environmental mess is a "must"; it should be con- sidered as a mandatory prevention in order to secure human life and to preserve a tolerabie economic situation for the future. We should definitively f o r g e t o u t economicgrowth.

For sincere ecologists the most crucial problem is to find a new way of life, which is in harmony with nature. This is presently impossible, because we do not know how nature works.

It would be the duty of science to guide us, but instead we experience a complete scientific confusion and ignorance. Due to the complexity of the problems, scientific opinions are expressed by those spokesmen, who are also selling the products. The best example is the nuclear power and nuclear technology: is it really polluting or not? This question is a story of believe it or not even for the best trained scientists.

Our only hope is that some independent unorthodox scientists will soon introduce revolutionary new scientific ideas and theories, which will allow us to better understand nature's mechanism. Different organizations, in- cluding political.. parties, should endorse such scientific efforts.

Etienne, Szekely, Rossland

# -;:~ditor, The Times: After reading the article "Courses tackle' environment" (Trail Times

Sept. 26), I would like to congratulate the efforts of all those who organized m c h courses. They tackled a problem which is probably much more dif- %,$iicult and complicated than they thought. $ In order to help them I should add some complementary comments: ur It is a great pity that dealing with the different pollutions the nuclear and 'A 5; nuclewhemica1 technology is neglected. Most of'the environmentalists are 4 imitating the ostriches because they do not want to deal with the scientific

aspect of the nuclear problem. Thinking that they are not competent, they 4 often endorse the opinions of those scientists who are on the payroll of the ;; polluting industries. -* Wurthermore, we have to be very iareful by dealing with the new 8 fashionable expression of "sustainable development", which wants to 4 "marry" ecology with economics ;?T;d presently it is used a s a political 4 gimmick. 3 Sincere environmentalists must acknowledge that all kinds of human %activities in connection with developments are very polluting if we start to $exaggerate. Of course, we should be able to distinguish and judge which one *!of the pollutions is more or less dangerous. As an example, let us consider SEple who prefer to spend their holidays in Hawaii, who buy vegetables

nsported from Chile, who endorse auto-racing, motorboat trips, water -skiing or other pleasure activities h c h llnnece%arily b u n energy sour- a&; they a r e much more part of thg problem as those who do not recycle W i r garbage. 1 ' Unfortunately, today we get a situation where we must concentrate nearly

all OW efforts to survive and to save the quality of our life. Meanwhile, we :;System cannot be sustained tapply the "brake" on all kinds of de~&~&ent . hp '~dito;, The Times: ,"wedlock" between environment and economics is just an illusion. , I When politicians debate sustainable growth (The Times, Feb. 141, we

Etienne Szekely, Rossland. experience com$te political chaos. - -I(,. This chaos is already world-wide and it is ecluallv present in ~olitical. w*

It was very hteresting to read about the pROUT theory 6 tconomic, scientific and-spiritual activities of oui life: Overybody feels the beceSsity of a total transformation and as a result there are only two

in recent Carnegie Such possibilities: Survival of a part of the human population after the collapse of g ive some hope f o r an e n t h u s i a s t i c eco log i s t l i k e me. I the industrial society; or total extinction of the homo sapiens.

I found the term "sus ta inable development" i n one a r t i c l e . ' It seems that most of the ~oliticians are still mainly concerned with r~7h., r l r r a ,.. p ~ , , . . ~ a uru I.,. uG - - - I . - - - J 3C;U 2 - U c L d l l I - & - : 7 zU misunderstanding. Br;st;;iiiiiig the economic prusperity of ine induslriai estabiisiunent. Tiley

1 ~ 1 d be perfect if people would develop 6 reinforce their have confidence in a chaotic scientific illusion and they believe that investing honey in scientific researches solves the environmental problem.

Spiritual life, incE!ase their =pacity to meditate 6 better Representing the Social Credit party at Selkirk College9 forum, Mr. t h e i r physical condi t ion 6 hea l th . Today t h e word "develep- :bohnst,on declared: "We're not prepared to shut down production to nlppt - -

ment" is r a t h e r reserved f o r economic & i n d u s t r i a l growth, I:$nvironrnental standards." A delkate question arises: What kind of business success , unnecessary technologica l G s c i e n t i f i c I

.production? Nobody will argue about those products which are strict:y ~necessnry for our survival if the production and the demand is equilibrated.

ventures pleasure Such be Yet, the majority of products are unnecessary industrial junk. which are sus t a inab le ; they des t roy our l i f e - We must admit that9 i n %uwposed to serve our commod,it,v or our lea sure. Further over-~roduction t h i s sense. we a r e d a n ~ e r o u s l v ove r -deve lo~ed . i $ f such junk is criminal; it ser;ires only a rhnority of short-sighted profiteers

u

I Our civil isat ion 6 t h e whole human r ace i\ i n a l a t e old 'and helps US to become the 'fdinosaurs" of the industrial age. . In this chaos an increasing number of people start to meditate in- age state ' In this condition it is stupid to dream about Bvidually. They find out that in the future we rather have to collect cpiritml

successfu l economic developments . 'I;n ardek t o b e t t e r expla in yalues instead of material junk. my ideas I send you some a r t i c l e s publ ished i n T r a i l Times. After all, humans are living entities able to meditate individually. Wr do I l m glad t o r e g u l a r l y r ece ive your news le t t e r . F e l i c i t a t i o n need spiritual leaders or religious writings to reinforce our spir~tual l i f t

f o r your exce l l en t work and I wish you l o t s of success . Furthermore, in the present transformative chaos only those people have the 'thance to survive who made the transition from a materialistic to a spiritual

Etienne szeke ly (Box 1198, Rossland, BC VOG 1 Y O ) ;way of life. Etienne Szekely. Rosslantl.

Stepped on by an Elephant

Whether it was an Indian o r African elephant I do not know ~ u t such a c rue l e lephant This my sca r s w i l l show Nor was it an Indian teak wood l o t Nor an African s a f a r i No j u s t a block o r so away In dimly lit Blood Alley. The residence t h a t I could a f fo rd t o engage On my lowly p o e t ' s wage Was d i r e c t l y o ' e r t h e very spot The c rue l pachyderm trumpeted n i g h t l y on t h e s t a g e So when I s e t t l e d i n my bed i n qu ie t so serene '1'0 enjoy my favour i t e , E l i o t , a man I do esteem. Unexpectedly about nine The s i l e n c e it did s h a t t e r Along wrth a pane of g l a s s t h a t f e l l ou t with a c l a t t e r The f l o o r began t o s h i v e r t h e very wal l s d id shake And I thought Oh Jesus i t ' s a bloody earthquake But it continued every hour r i g h t up ti1 a.-m. The elephant t rumpett ing bass with f e r v o r and

t h r e e g r e a t g l ee

Ti1 I f i n a l l y r ea l i zed it was a l t e r n a t i v e music They were rockin ' up a t me. The next day over beer I d id meditate Deciding t o approach t h e ma t t e r a s would a man of s t a t e D i rec t ly did I in te rv iew t h e keeper of t h e elephant A t h i s ga t e To ask him p o l i t e l y , i f t he elephant could t u r n down The volume on h i s bass . H i s r ep ly was "1 pay 5 G ' s a month t o subs id ize you bums u p s t a i r s and we w i l l p lay the music a s loudly a s we care" And I re jo ined we were about t he same age Perhaps we could cont inue t h i s d i scuss ion ou t s ide t h e e l ephan t ' s cage H i s he lpers suggested they had heard enough Implying the s i t u a t i o n would improve i f only I ' d ---- o f f Retreat seemed wise, bu t l a t e t h a t n ight A water p ipe sprang a leak EUREKA an elephant wading pool The second round seemed mine and I went t o ce l eb ra t e In a happy beery fog l a t e t h a t n i t e I s taggered home And I swear a l a rge grey animal stomped upon,almy dome In t h r e e places my jaw was f r a c t u r e d and I l o s t s eve ra l t e e t h The moral t o t h i s s t o r y i s t h a t i t ' s a t e r r i b l e gaf f To walk i n darkened a l l e y s o r t o g ive an elephant a bath.

Tom Lewis

i It was wet E it was e a r l y but t h e spirits of over 30 people were high. The time was 7:30 i n t h e morning, with

I *eople from community, t e n a n t s s r i g h t s , environmental, labour , w t5 -pove r ty s en io r s groups ga ther ing and walking

4 t o t h e Simon F rase r Univers i ty a t Har- : bour Centre on W.Hastings. "Protest",

er em on strati on". . . it was 6 is ser ious . The event t h a t brought u s but was a

pol icy Workshop on Regional Governance. The purpose of t he conference was t o s e t out t h e groundwork E s t r a t e g y f o r a reg iona l planning process i n BC. But the organisa t ion E f e e s t r u c t u r e elim- ina ted democratic p a r t i c i p a t i o n .

The conference agenda had been de t - ermined by a few academics and engi- neered by t h e development E r e a l e s t - a t e indus t ry . By not i n v i t i n g t h e above-mentioned groups, by excluding us from t h e planning of t h i s confer- ence, changes i n reg ional governance provide an oppor tuni ty f o r t h e devel- opment i ndus t ry t o proceed without i n t e r f e rence from neighbourhoods, l ab- our E community organisa t ions .

The most r ecen t example of publ ic process being scorned was a t t h e Parks Board,when, even a f t e r t h e NPA sponsor- ed "Zoo Expansion" referendum was de- f ea t ed i n t h e municipal e l e c t i o n s , t h e

l -vo te NPA maj6r i ty on t h i s Board de- cided t o spend $100,000 on another s tudy - t he Future of Stanley Park - i n t h e face of a c l e a r r e j e c t i o n by vo te r s . The Task Force consul ted with expe r t s 6 p r i v a t e i n t e r e s t s , but when they reported t o t h e Board were t o l d t o go ahead and hold pub l i c meetings before br inging recommendations back. One of t he members of t h i s Task Force, Alan A r t i b i s e , co inc iden ta l ly t h e chairman of t he Regional Governance Conference, l i t e r a l l y freaked out and stormed out of t he Parks Board meeting a f t e r abrupt ly resigning.

What does it a l l mean? I f t h e r e is a "study" on poverty, does it make much sense t o ask someone with a degree i n s o c i a l planning o r s o c i a l work while never consul t ing people working with an t i -pover ty groups? I f development i s hoped f o r , does it make sense t o p lan f o r h ighly concentrated masses of people, i n h igh r i se s , o f f i c e s , e t c . without t a l k i n g t o people involved with t enan t s ' r i g h t s o r s o c i a l housing =. +h#. .̂." ;-̂.."̂..+"l --.-..---L? T I I &I-

cllb b l I Y LL V J I I I ~ = ~ L L a ~ I I V v G l l l ~ l l L . 11 L I I ~

' p lan ' involves br inging thousands of people i n t o t h e downtown area , "build a freeway" i s e a s i l y agreed t o i n t h e corpora te boardroom, leaving r e s i d e n t s along whatever pathway i s "chosen" t o r e a c t with confronta t ion demonstra- t i o n s - t he ongoing Us aga ins t Them.

In t h e case of t h e Regional Govern- ance conference, t h e sponsors were a couple of u n i v e r s i t i e s , t h e Board of Trade, Real E s t a t e Boards, Archi tec t - u r a l and Engineering groups.. and t h e planners of t h i s conference were q u i t e s a t i s f i e d t h a t everyone who mattered was represented. DERA, End Legislated

Poverty, Tenants Rights Action Coali- t i o n , Greenpeace, COPE Counci l lors E reps from over a dozen o t h e r groups seemed t o have been excluded on t h e b a s i s of being "special i n t e r e s t grouptf m i s f i t s . Oddly enough, A r t i b i s e e t a1 don ' t s ee development corpora t ions o r r e a l e s t a t e boards a s "special i n t e r e s t groupsf' - t h e i r l og ic being t h a t such groups a r e profi t -motivated so of course represent anyone who mat te rs .

The p o l i t i c a l p a r t o f t h i s was cover- ed by such a notable a s Gord Campbell, c u r r e n t l y ac t ing a s Mayor of Vancouver and author of such pub l i c process f i a s - coes a s Downtown South, t h e Resource i+i n? --c ,,a nn r I ~ I I ~ altu J V " 1 1 .

The exper t s , r ight-wing p o l i t i c o s , corporate consul tan ts 6 t h e owners of same a r e xll q u i t e content t o make plans and design s t r a t e g y with only the smal les t sop t o "special i n t e r e s t s ' ' - t he pub l i c - by having 2nd E 3rd eche- lon employees t ake t h e complete c h a r t s G graphs t o t h e charade t h a t passes fo r a publ ic meeting.

We've a l ready seen what such narrow- minded, "you- scratch-my-back- I ' 11 - scratch-yours" manouevering has done, l i k e the Savings E Loan d i s a s t e r i n t h e S t a t e s . A l l t h e f ' r igh t" people got t o - ge ther , made it l e g a l r i g h t down t h e

l i n e f o r ind iv idua ls t o g e t obscenely r i c h a t t h e expense of t h e general pop- u l a t ion , then milk t h e pub l i c t r e a s u r y and run, leaving a $500 b i l l i o n debt f o r t he same pub l i c t o pay.

P a r t i c i p a t i o n from t h e very beginn- ing of reg iona l governance E a l l t h a t it implies is e s s e n t i a l t o r eve r se t h e wealth polar i sa tkon t r end t h a t i s now acce l e ra t ing - a s it d i d i n t h e 1920's before t h e Great Depression of 1929.

The economic d i s a s t e r of t h e 1930's w i l l seem l i k e a p i c n i c compared t o what i s coming. P r i o r i t i e s E communi- ca t ion must be i n c l u s i v e t o change from a c u l t u r e based on greed looking out r-- -.-- I.--- --- A - L U L ~lulllvr;;~ u~ir; L V & ~ ~ ~ i e t j i k u i l t uil

compassion E looking out f o r each o the r .

By PAULR TAYLOR

THE "WORLD ' S GREATEST" : [ I m T a q ' I\ ax-1

Joan le descr ibed h e r s e l f once a s "The World's Grea t e s t Chair Dancer." Chair danc ing is what you do when you don ' t want t o Eet up & dance, bu t you l i k e the -mus ic so nuch you c a n ' t s i t s t i l l .

Joan ie r e a l l y was t h e wor ld ' s g r e a t e $ t . She was unique - & unique is t h e oppos i te of conventional , i f you know what I mean.

I remember Joan ie s p i l t bee r on he r dress i n t h e middle of an i n s p i r e d , s l i g h t l y drunken speech she was making one n i g h t i n t h e Blackstone (her f a v o r i t e pub besore it became t h e Hotel C a l i f o r n i a ) .

She stopped' cha i rdancing f o r a minute, grew s i l e n t & s t a r e d a t t h e s t a i n on h e r dress ' ... a c t u a l l y , she t i l t e d h e r head s l i g h t l y & examined i t wi th g r e a t c u r i o s i - t y . Then, with s tud ied concen t r a t ion , slow l y poured a l i t t l e more bee r i n t o he r l ap .

She seemed t o become o b l i v i o u s t b every- t h ing around he r , & obvious ly approved o f t he e f f e c t , sp l a sh ing a few more spo t s on

herself . Suddenly she had c r e a t e d , i n h e r own eyes, a work of a r t - a mas terp iece , t h a t bore a message a s c l e a r l y a s i f i t had been w r i t t e n i n t h e bee r s t a i n s them- se lves . . . " A l l of l i f e i s a c r e a t i v e a c t - even t h e mistakes."

1f Joanie had been a convent iona l s l o b ins tead of a unique c l a s s i c , she wouldlve reacted i n one of two ways a v a i l a b l e t o conventional minds: e i t h e r she would have dismissed t h e s t a i n a s unimportant - o r be come obsessed wi th c l ean ing it up.

As it happens, i n t h e s p i r i t o f a l l good cha i rdancers , Joan ie took t h e high road, & turned a s loppy s o c i a l embarassment i n t o a creative a c t t h a t s a t i s f i e d her . Not only

c r e a t i v i t y , bu t humi l i t y f, a s ense of humour animated t h i s impulse.

J o a n i e was ve ry human, Her h e a r t was i n t h e r i g h t p l a c e f, t h e r e was nothing she could do about it. She was cont inuous ly looking f o r good homes f o r an end le s s sup- p l y o f k i t t e n s , s i n c e she could never r e f - u se t h e u se o f h e r c l o s e t t o s t r a y c a t s t h a t happened t o g e t pregnant .

J o a n i e was unconventional , c h i l d l i k e , 4 unique. Real human n a t u r e i s l i k e t h a t . This i s something p o l i t i c s , s c i ence 6 med- i c i n e w i l l never understand. I'm s u r e t h e r u s h hour o f western progress w i l l n eve r know what it missed.

TORA

i REASONS WHY Canada should not enter into the proposed trilateral 'TREE"

trade agreement with the United States & ~ e x i c o :

In 1988 Brian Mulroney promised jobs, 'obs, jobs under a Free Trade Agree- ment with the United States. Instead d anadians have suffered the loss of over 200,000 jobs and the number is rising. We cannot trust the Mulroney government to rotect the interests of the majority of Canadians. f The Mexican dea can only result in the loss of many more jobs.

In 1988 Brian Mulroney said free trade would bring lower consumer prices and save the average family $800 a year as a result. Instead rices did not come down and 1991 actually saw piices increase with the Goo and Services Tax. Why should we trust their promises this time?

'El In 1988 Brian Mulroney said free trade would bring prosperity to border communities

,-i 1'- - --- 1 - - L T--&--.-I I-:- f - a m LC... as Americans took pcivarliage of awesu t u ~ ~ G C U ~ L L L L L ~ L L L C G . I-VGCW r u a U U r uoJ

caused thousands of Canadians to flock to US. shop ing centres at the price

products flooding the market. i

% of jobs a t home. This can only become worse with cheap exican-assembled

In 1988 Brian Mulroney promised retraining and relocation programs to offset any "adjustments" to our economy because of the FTA. Out-of-work Canadians are still waiting. Instead of delivering that promise, we have seen the Conservatives dismantle our primary social safety net - Unemployment Insurance.

In 1988 Brian Mulroney assured Canadians that water was not on the negotiating table. Instead the Saskatchewan Tories signed agreements that will require diverting water from other systems to meet obligations to the United States. With the Mexican deal, abundant Canaclian resources will be even more in demand.

There are now close to 2,000 American and multinational factories operatin in k Mexico to take advantage of low-wage levels. Since the Mulroney trade dea , a t least 40,000 jobs have been relocated to Mexico from manufacturing jobs in Canada. Under an expanded agreement, this "trickle" would become a flood of lost jobs.

The number of Maquiladora assembly plants along the border is growing by 15 ercent every year. This means on average that one new plant opens every worLng day in Mexico. Under an expanded deal, this growth would mushroom dramatically and cost Canadians thousands more jobs.

Not only is Brian Mulroney asking us to compete with wages of 60 cents per hour. We must become "internationally com etitive" in every sense with a Mexican s stem i! i! which turns a blind eye to child la our and every other imaginable abuse o workers. Over 10% of the workforce in the Maquiladoras is under 16 years of age.

The current government of Mexico routinely engages in human rights abuses .such as torture, assassination, political frabd and repression. These cases are well documented, and cannot be ignored in any trade deal.

The multinational corporations have turned the Maquiladora zone into a toxic waste durn . Mexican authorities have turned a blind eye and refuse to enforce what regu ? ations now exist. Without insisting on minimum standards, Canadians are endorsing this practice by expanding trade with Mexico.

i"l

As the Empire Gro ws: Canada- US-Mexico Free Trade. Trade i s n ' t f r e e . It c o s t s a l o t & working peop le pay. Th i s i s t h e b i t t e r

lesson communities a l l o v e r t h i s coun t ry have l e a r n e d s i n c e Canada s igned a Free Trade d e a l w i t h t h e US i n 1989. And ' F r e e ' Trade i s n ' t j u s t about t r a d e , but is

g i v i n g b i g b u s i n e s s e s un l imi ted freedom t o move t h e i r c a p i t a l anywhere a t anytime, wi thou t r egard f o r t h e communities t h e y r u i n i n t h e p rocess .

'Free ' Trade i s about m u l t i n a t i o n a l c o r p o r a t i o n s t h e world over ( w i t h t h e h e l p of t h e p o l i t i c i a n s t h e y prop up) s t r i p p i n g governments of t h e i r power t o govern. cisio ions t h a t a f f e c t t h e economic, s o c i a l & c u l t u r a l l i v e s of c i t i z e n s a r e b e - . ing made i n t h e boardrooms of t h e s e c o r p o r a t i o n s . Less & l e s s can o r d i n a r y c i t i - z e n ~ look t o government a s t h e way f o r u s t o d e m o c r a t i c a l l y c o n t r o l our l i v e s . NOW Canada is g e a r i n g up t o s i g n t h e North American F r e e Trade Agreement (NAFTA). The g o a l - " E n t e r p r i s e f o r t h e Americas" - is a huge t r a d i n g b l o c , a c o r p o r a t e empire cover ing t h e e n t i r e Western Hemisphere from Alaska t o Argent ina . NAFTA i s t h e i r hope t h a t e x t r a c t i n g cheap r e s o u r c e s from Canada & e x p l o i t i n g cheap l abour from Mexico w i l l b e t h e t i c k e t t o i n c r e a s e d p r o f i t s .

A team of people from labour & community e d u c a t i o n groups wrote a paper w i t h t h e

t i t l e above. I n i t t h e impact of f r e e t r a d e s o f a r i s looked a t , sugges t ing where t h i n g s a r e l i k e l y t o go w i t h

NAFTA & t h e need t o develop a l t e r - n a t i v e s .

, 11 We w r i t e f o r people i n Canada

/ who know t h a t F ree Trade h u r t s . We b e l i e v e t h a t i f we p u l l to-

g e t h e r we can f i n d a l t e r n a - t i v e s - ways t o t a k e back

c o n t r o l i n communities. We need t o p r o t e c t com-

munity v a l u e s & econom- i c development p u t t i n g

The Moment i s a r e s o u r c e f o r peop le who want t o l e a r n and

a c t f o r j u s t i c e .

lndividuslr Inrtitutionr

1 - 9 copies $3.00 each $4.50 each

rS Subscriptions (3 issues of The Moment a year)

$9.00 $13.00 - -

A The Moment A 947 Queen Street East A Toronto, ON A M4M 1 ~g A A Phone (41 6) 469-1 123 A FAX (41 6) 469-3579 A

M r . Trever Lautens, who w r i t e s f o r t h e Vancouver Sun, wrote t h a t it was not f i t f o r t h e s t a t e t o feed hungry school ch i ldren . .nor anybody e l s e f o r t h a t matter . Mr. B i l l Vanderzalm made t h i s same statement when he was l eade r of us a l l . These two gentlemen would have done very well i n South Afr ica a few years ago. Both Trever and B i l l fo rgot what they learned a t t h e i r Mommy's knees -

Share your joy, your happiness, your time, y w r food, your money, g l ad ly with a l l . Give a l l t he love you can with a glad hea r t and hand. Do what you can f o r o t h e r s and back w i l l come A - 1 A + A A 1 A cl.,.-;nrr C I U U I I L l b J J J L V I b J U I U I C I J J I I I & . U I I L L l l l l &

draws o t h e r s t o you. You may not s ee ' t he r e s u l t s of your sharing r i g h t away. Tomorrow they w i l l come back a thousand fo ld .

James Roadknight

I I f e e l so happy when.1 see ch i ldren

playing toge ther .and they don' t

c a re about t he f u t u r e o r t he next day They don ' t know anything about

t h i s world and they a r e happy f o r what they have.

I t makes me f e e l so good and happy a f t e r a long day when I e a t such

good and l i s t e n t o slow music.

I always thought nothing could make the sad person happy u n t i l by accident

I found you can be happy when you t a l k about what 's on your mind

Danny Mehrdad

It t h e time of my inca rce ra t ion I was not conscious of t h e clanging netal door fly thoughts t u r n inward t o a mind Full of Lacerat ion

4t b i r t h a s i c k l y c h i l d Unknowing, naive Let t o grow working c l a s s Naive I bel ieved i n God, Right & Wrong A l l was well , Tryth & J u s t i c e were s t rong

Oh! But I learned with t h e passing, of years VL- ??*I-: -- I l l ~ GL111L3 we c l i n ~ tz are a s changing seasons appear Morality with genera t ions Arranging ye t rearranging Turn t h i s way one s e t of views Swing around once i t ' s a l l old.new:

Time f l i e s , time t rudges ye t it does not e x i s t An invent ive r eco la t ion One could i n s i s t To keep boundaries on t h e Miasmal m i s t Continui ty i n a vacuum. What pr i son? may you ask Why locked a t b i r t h What heinous crimes were your t a sk (Here, have a mo from my f l a s k ) Were t h e gods angry a t your innocent mask.

But i n a crowd with i t s bois te rous swell The clangor of workers r i n g l i k e a b e l l To and f r o busy l i k e a n t s they f l y Making, bu i ld ing , s e l l i n g and a l l We a l l must labour, pay our dues joy, sorrow and b lues Locked i n you and I Deadlocked ti1 t h e day we d i e .

Tom Lewis

STD CLINIC - Monday th rough F r i d a y , 9am - 5pm. D9b'NT0WN FREE MEDICAL CLINIC - Mon, Wed, F r i d a y , 5 :30-7 :30pm

NEEDLE EXCHANGE - 221 Main; e v e r y day 9am - 5pm. 'OUTH

Needle Exchange van - on t h e s t r e e t Mon-Sat even ings . ACTIVITIES N . A . meets every Monday n i g h t a t 223 Main S t r e e t .

SOCIETY

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* any welfare pro1)lerns + lniormatlon on legal rlghts * disputes wil l1 landlords * u!is?>e !iyL-g ecfidi~:;;:g - + lnconlc lax + UIC problems * finding housing * opening n bank actaunt

I or phone us at 682-0931 I DERA HAS BEEN SERVING T H E

DOWNTOWN EASTSIDE F O R 18 YEARS.

bly f i n g e r s walked the Yellow Pages under A r t 4 pages - g a l l e r i e s , shops, supp l i e r s , c r a f t s . d e a l e r s Turning the pages my d i g i t s s t r o l l e d t o Poetry A complete vacancy Apparently poe ts need no t a damn th ing nor do they a d v e r t i s e I n t e l l e c t doesn ' t come packaged Cheap a r e penc i l s and paper There e x i s t s though small subterranean c lubs C ~ i d l e l i ~ l ~ i dud wur& hidden under t h e s t a i r s Spies a r e more open and b e t t e r pa id

I s t h e t r u t h found only i n performance Does poe t ry become show business Would a reading on a video have more impact

Perhaps poe t ry belongs only t o t h e u n i v e r s i t i e s l i k e organs donated by dead d r i v e r s t o be d issec ted , discussed and discarded. No my f r i e n d s Poetry i s only f e e l i n g and thought wherein personal iy I ,sneak up behind t h e t r u t h only t o f i n d He's reading i n some o t h e r d iml i t c e l l a r leaving l i e s strewn about t o cover h i s t r a i l u,3-..c, +,-.A",, F ---,. .I---------- .*"*" Gvuuj r( gull- C U l l l U l l U W

A t h i e f i n t he n igh t o f f e r i n g up g r e a t rewards f o r h i s capture A char la tan a s s a u l t i n g t h e mores of t h e people Nickled G dimed Well, fuck poe t ry Riding my b icyc le i s more fun.

Tom Lewis

What i s a pa thologica l ' ' l i a r t t . . . a person who l i e s a l l t h e t ime, even when she o r he knows they a r e going t o ge t caught. How can you t e l l i f a person i s one?

Dear Friend.

Pathological l i a r s don ' t know t h e d i f f e r e n c e between a l i e E t h e t r u t h ; they mix up f a c t and f i c t i o n . Unlike kids who w i l l f i b o r t e l l s t o r i e s t o g e t a t t e n t i o n and sympathy, patholog- i c a l l i a r s have a form of mental ill- ness .

Fortunately, ( " i t ' s t r ea t ab le" ) Joe Paul

~ d i t o r , c h i n a ' s expulsion of our 3 MP1s begs

the quest ion, should human r i g h t s be a aajor component of our foreign pol icy?

Late l a s t year t he Vancouver Board of Trade made a shocking response t o the violence i n Indonesia and Canada's

of our a i d program t o them. In a l e t t e r t o t he Minister , t he Board wrote, "I am aware t h a t ou r a i d prog- ram t o Indonesia i s under review, I am concerned t h i s response may be an over- react ion. Often our wetern values on human r i g h t s a r e not f u l l y understood by o the r c u l t u r e s and a r e viewed with suspicion. I be l i eve Canada should promote the r i g h t of l i v ing , but we must guard aga ins t appearing sanctimo- nious and, a s wel l , including i n human r i g h t s those concepts t h a t a r e not cons is ten t with t h e behavioural va lue i f i t h e r c u l t u r e s . "

I would ask t h e Board of Trade what c u l t u r e includes random k i l l i n g o r t he roughing up of v i s i t i n g e l ec t ed o f f i c - i a l s as a behavioural value?

Canada should cons i s t en t ly use i ts in t e rna t iona l wclout" t o "push 6 shovew count r ies t h a t do not respec t i nd iv i - dual r i g h t s .

Darren Lowe fhln rhnv.lrl -1 ,..-,,-+,.- *L-r. r ~ - \.sV d ~ z v u r u u ~ a v ~ ; u a l a ~ l c v u L l l a C G L l t

r i g h t s of c i t i z e n s a r e not s a c r i f i c e d t o ind iv idua l 6 corporate greed. - Ed)

Editor ,

Normally I f ind t h a t Carnegie Centre weathers any storm being a s organized a s it i s but I do have a bone t o pick.

"Seniorf s OpenHHouse with Snacksw A s I a r r ived a t t h e door t o t h e

Seniors Lounge, I was asked t o show ID. My Seniors (membership) card had exp- i r e d i n December.. too bad, I don' t go. in . An Open House i s f o r everyone. When you c lose t h e door t o one, your house i s no longer open. Members only is f o r p r i v a t e clubs.

Dreamweaver

PS: I ' m now a paid-up member (again) .

Dreamweaver,

Doubtless members of Carnegie who happen t o be sen io r s (over 40) w i l l respond, bu t t h e bas i c r u l e f o r years has been t h a t t h e Seniors Lourage i s f o r people, over 40, who pay $1 a year t o be a member of Carnegie. I t was passed a t a Seniors ' Committee meeting because t h e Lcunge holds t he only TV i n Carnegie and a l l t h e c h a i r s were being taken om a d a i l y b a s i s by non- s en io r s , people with l i t t l e o r no r e s - pect f o r o the r o r o lde r sen iors , smok- e r s 6 coffee d r inke r s who couldn ' t a f - fo rd t h e d o l l a r f o r a y e a r ' s membership. Admi sqinn t o m y p~!ent i n t h e S ~ n i n y g Lounge i s gained by being a Carnegie '+n i o r member.

A r t Work

He has e l ec t ed t o forgo h i s s tudy of t h e Old

Masters. I t only aggrieves him, how

the Old Masters w i l l emulate

h i s techniques - have b l a t a n t l y l i f t e d c e r t a i n s t rokes

of h i s ; p a r t i c u l a r t reatments; he has found

many repeated ins tances .

The i c e i s beginning t o melt . Back in 1981-82 t h e r e was a rab id socred, ac t ing a s premier, named B i l l Bennett. He had j u s t been e l e c t e d , I t h ink , and l i k e Mulroney is doing now decided t h a t ord inary c i t i z e n s should pay f o r t he i n c r e d i b l e mess he G h i s cohor t s i n t h e government had caused. The word was "Restraint" , s h o r t f o r " I ' v e got mine and I ' m going t o screw you f o r yours too ! I t

There was born a c o a l i t i o n of labour and community groups named "Sol idar i ty" and b a t t l e was joined. There were dem- ons t r a t ions , marches, meetings ... it was t h e f i r s t t ime t h a t labour 6 c i t i - zens' o rgan i sa t ions had worked togeth- e r l i k e t h i s , bu t t h e r e l a y t h e core of t h e problem. Labour has very s t r u c - tu red procedures; you make a case f o r your view of an i s s u e and then i t ' s nwi- f~ 2 ynre - m~jnr i t ; r ~ I J L ~ . C e z l l 1-- - t i ons G r e spec t ive (non-labour) groups operate on t h e b a s i s of consensus.. you propose s t r a t e g y l a c t i o n t h a t most everyone i s comfortable with (o r a t l e a s t has no s e r i o u s problem doing).

Bennett was going a l l he could t o ) ignore t h e growing s o c i a l un res t bu t [ S o l i d a r i t y was determined. Labour in- volvement i n S o l i d a r i t y was coming un- glued a s they d i d n ' t have con t ro l ; a union r e p had 1 vote , even i f t hey were r ep re sen t ing a 10,000 member org- an i sa t ion , while t h e r e would be a r e p

i t h an equal vo te even i f they were rom an o rgan i sa t ion with only a hand-

f u l o f members.

I t came t o a head when t h e r e was a 4

vote t o hold a general s t r i k e . There were 20 community groups G 19 labour unions represented and t h e vote was I

20-19. Members of unions were supposed t o hold an ' t i l l e g a l " s t r i k e , f ace f i n e s 6 imprisonment; t he s t a f f and volunteers of t h e community groups d id not have t h i s t h r e a t t o f ace .

I t h ink it was Jack Munroe o r some- one who went t o Kelowna and made a dea l with Bennett ... t h e s e v e r i t y of h i s " r e s t r a i n t " program was sharp ly r e duced. From then u n t i l now the BC Fed e r a t i o n of Labour has consciously op- posed involvement i n c o a l i t i o n s .

Over t h e l a s t few years , with "free" t r a d e , t h e GST, p r i v a t i s a t i o n G dereg- u l a t i o n , l o c a l Labour Councils have worked with var ious c o a l i t i o n s but t he Fed, under George t t i , has not given support . When t h e Canadian Labour Con- g r e s s made $18,000 ava i l ab l e t o each p rov inc i a l Federation - funds f o r org- an i s ing "Enough i s Enough1' ac t ions on O c t . 2 6 ' ~ n a t i o n a l day of ac t ion - t he BC Fed was t h e only p rov inc i a l labour body i n Canada t h a t re fused t o match them and r e l e a s e them t o he lp .

Local labour counci l s and ind iv idua l unions donated what they could and went t o t h e BC Fed ' s Annual General Meeting determined t o break t h i s jam.

I don ' t p ro fe s s t o know how unions work p u t i t took a l o t of energy t o g e t t h e fol lowing " s u b s t i t u t e reso lu- t ion" passed and t h e f u t u r e b r igh tens :

WHEREAS success ive Conservative and Libera l governments have i n f l i c t e d c r e d i b l e hardships on Canada's work ing people; and

WHEREAS unemployment , enormous pub1 debt , u n f a i r t axa t ion and s o c i a l s e r - v i c e cutbacks cont inue t o hu r t work- ing people; and . . . .

pUuxlr-^--.

8L IT FURTHER RESOLVED t h a t t he B.6. Federation of Labour p a r t i c i p a t e i n t he na t iona l Action Canada Network; E

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED t h a t t he B . C . Federation of Labour Executive Board convene a meeting of groups such a s the cu r r en t Action Canada ~ e t w d r k BC, o the r l o c a l c o a l i t i o n s , F i r s t Nation: organisa t ions , s e n i o r s , churches, women1 s groups, n o n - a f f i l i a t e s , and o the r i n t e r e s t e d community groups with t h e goal of e s t a b l i s h i n g a v i a - b l e , r ep re sen ta t ive province-wide component of t h e Action Canada Net- work t o accomplish labour ' s agenda. .

I heard t h a t Ken George t t i , t h e President of t h e BC Fed, wasn't too t h r i l l e d with t h i s bu t everyone has t o wake up soon.

By PAULR TAYLOR

Carnegie Newsletter,

IVell, a year has passed s ince we l a s t s en t you a donation t o cover t he mail ing c o s t s of t h e Carnegie Newslet- t e r , so I am sending you a cheque f o r another year . We r e a l l y enjoy t h e new- s l e t t e r and f i n d it authent ic , c r e a t - +ve 6 provocat ive. Keep up t h e good work!

I have enclosed a copy of ou r news- l e t t e r , which i s kind of tame by comp- a r i son , bu t we a r e working on it. We a r e a l s o s t i l l t r y i n g t o make t h e Grea ter Forest Lawn I n i t i a t i v e Council a t r u e g ra s s roo t s , community develop- ment organisa t ion , but t h i s is not without i t s d i f f i c u l t i e s . We c e r t a i n l y a r e i n sp i r ed by t h e Carnegie Centre G D.E.R.A. Best wishes t o you a l l !

J u t t a Elbe

IF YOU OPEN

~f you open your e a r s you' 11 heal- t h e most o p t i m i s t i c a r e t h e p r o f i t s . o f doom TIME WAS t he ghost pes s imis t i c need prophets and soon the evange l i s t preacher a monetary black hole t he e v o l u t i o n i s t t eache r says humanity l acks sou l ,

I f you open your e a r s y o u ' l l hear the w h i g n ~ r i n g i/!inds cf donkt

r ----- t he whimpering winds of doubts t he b i l l i o n s of stomach growls t h e mi l l i ons e a r t h quakes a s it scowls

I f you open your e a r s you ' l l hear the moan o f e x t i n c t spec ies sounding the groan of Noah's hammer pounding t h e creak of t h e Reaper's gr inding wheel t h e squeak of g i an t l o c u s t s i n t h e f i e l d

I f yau open your e a r s y o u ' l l hear t he biased h i s t o r i a n remembering t o fo rge t t he s igh o f a plundered p l a n e t ' s deep r e g r e t s t he avenging angels above you soar t he heavens evening a l l t h e scores

J. La Riv iere