Monday night, a group of McMaster students issued a petition urging McMaster administration to cancel classes and assessments on the afternoon of Sept. 27 so that students, staff and faculty can participate in a climate strike this Friday.
The students organizing the petition are a part of McMaster Students for Climate Change Advocacy (MSCCA), a McMaster-based climate advocacy organization.
The planned climate strike will come as part of a week of mass climate actions from Sept. 20-27, culminating in a global general strike to raise the alarm on the climate crisis.
Climate activists are planning a mass disruption, calling on people from all facets of society to walk out of school and work, thus disrupting business as usual and forcing leaders to pay attention.
“Together, we will sound the alarm and show our politicians that business as usual is no longer an option. The climate crisis won’t wait, so neither will we,” says a statement from Global Climate Strike, an environmental organization coordinating the protests.
While organizers hope that this will be Hamilton’s largest climate strike, it is not the first. Since March, young people from schools across Hamilton have been organizing regular protests to bring attention to the climate crisis. In collaboration with Fridays for future, young people from around the world have been walking out of classes on Fridays to demand immediate, far-reaching action on the climate emergency.
By making sacrifices to their education in order to attend the climate strikes, the activists are demonstrating that the climate crisis is an immediate priority.
“You’re really going to show that these people are in it for the long haul and especially if you’re missing work [or] you’re missing school. You are taking consequences and showing the fact that . . . if you don’t take care of this now, you won’t have a job, you won’t have school,” said Kirsten Connelly, MSCCA founder and co-president.
The urgency of the climate crisis was highlighted in a 2018 report from the United Nations International Panel on Climate Change. According to the report, it is of critical importance to limit global warming to 1.5°C within the next decade. It is very likely that failure to do so will result in catastrophic changes including mass extinction, floods, wildfires and the spread of infectious diseases.
Earth Strike Canada, the organization coordinating the Canadian climate strikes, asserts that the climate crisis is a result of an economic system that relies on indefinite growth, requiring unsustainable resource use and thus diminishing future quality of life. Earth Strike Canada’s demands include investments into green technological advancement, resource management reform and economic reform.
MSCCA’s role has been to encourage McMaster students to participate in the climate strike. To accomplish this, they are urging the university to cancel classes and evaluations on Friday afternoon so that students, staff and faculty can participate without penalty.
“Students shouldn’t have to choose between global citizenship and McMaster citizenship,” stated Connelly.
On Sept. 13, Concordia University announced that they would be cancelling classes the afternoon of Sept. 27 to allow students to attend the climate strike. McMaster students are urging the university to follow suit.
Last week, McMaster issued a statement saying that the university would stay open on Sept. 27 so that academic and research activities can continue as scheduled.
However, MSCCA members are still hopeful. As of Wednesday afternoon, the petition had over 2,100 signatures on Change.org, and the numbers are growing.
Organizers are pushing for a mass climate strike around the world. Hamilton’s climate strike will be held on Sept. 27 at 12:00 in Gore Park.
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Tucked away in the basement of the Hamilton Antique Mall (233 Ottawa St. North) is Dollywood Plus Vintage, a vibrant pink, Dolly Parton-bedecked, oasis of vintage fashion and body acceptance. It is owned and operated by Jessie Goyette, who is a vocal advocate for the plus size community. Last year, Goyette organized the Hamilton Plus Size Flea Market and received overwhelmingly positive feedback.
This past summer, Goyette applied for a booth in the Hamilton Antique Mall. She was accepted almost immediately, and she says the response has been incredible.
“I had people coming in and buying up everything. I had people messaging me, telling me how this is something that they’ve never seen before or been a part of and how there’s no spaces explicitly for plus size people that are run by independent folks in Hamilton, or even in the area in general. Especially focusing on vintage. That pushed me to keep doing it,” said Goyette.
While the body positive movement is slowly gaining traction, there are still many spaces that do not offer options for plus sized people. Having to choose from a tiny selection of ill-fitting clothing is all too common, particularly for anyone looking to express themselves through fun and innovative fashion. Additionally, having only plus-sized options reinforces the narrative that plus sized bodies should be hidden away. Dollywood Plus Vintage looks to battle that narrative through body acceptance and positivity.
“It isn’t just about clothes, and selling clothes. It’s about paying attention to a group of people that are just as deserving to express themselves the way they want to, and embody themselves in whatever way they choose,” said Goyette.
https://www.instagram.com/p/B1RTIx3HZj3/
For Goyette, body positivity means celebrating plus-size bodies.
“I think fat bodies in particular are often devalued or seen as bad. It’s important to acknowledge that people with fat bodies are desirable and worthy of anything that anybody else with a body is. Regardless of their health, regardless of how you whether or not you perceive them to be living healthy or not, that doesn’t matter. I think it’s a human right to be able to express yourself and feel comfortable with who you are, and not be made to feel uncomfortable about the space you take up with your body,” said Goyette.
Going forward, Goyette plans to expand beyond clothing. Zines, buttons, patches and stickers are all in progress.
“I want to have different types of media, literature and art that explicitly speak to the experience of plus sized people in Hamilton,” said Goyette. She hopes that this will foster a sense of community and acceptance that isn’t always easy to find.
Dollywood Plus Vintage itself is bright and happy. Any spots not filled with unique clothes are covered with pictures of Dolly Parton, the Grammy award-winning country singer. The VHS copy of Steel Magnolias rests next to zines and patches. Goyette says that Parton’s song “Wildflowers” in particular speaks to her.
“Wildflowers are still really beautiful despite them not being the norm. They have the capacity to thrive and to overcome anything, regardless of where they are. That, to me, was something that carried over to the fat experience. Much like the wildflower, fat bodies are beautiful in their own way and are dynamic and able to bounce back from anything that society might throw at them,” said Goyette.
Dollywood Plus Vintage has only just begun, and if the initial response is anything to judge by, it will be around for a very long time. Goyette hopes that one day we will live in a world where there’s no need to have an article about a plus sized store because, hopefully by then, it will be so normal. Until then, Goyette’s store can be found in the basement of the Hamilton Antique Mall at stall 01L, and is well worth a look.
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By Ember, Contributor
Recently, there’s been a lot of push for individual initiatives to combat climate change. This can be considered admirable and noble – but they hardly scratch the surface of the problem. These initiatives tend to overlook industries as the largest contributors to climate change, the Global North’s role in plastic pollution and they place misdirected blame on disabled people.
In a scientific paper that outlines that the Pacific Ocean is rapidly accumulating plastic, Laurent Lebreton et al. states the following findings.
“Over three-quarters of the [Great Pacific Garbage Patch] mass was carried by debris larger than five cm and at least 46 per cent was comprised of fishing nets. Microplastics accounted for eight per cent of the total mass but 94 per cent of the estimated 1.8 (1.1–3.6) trillion pieces floating in the area,” they say.
Almost half of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch’s mass is abandoned gear from industry fishing. Another 20 per cent of the mass is thought to be remnants from the 2011 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami in Japan. In comparison, Seth Borenstein, a journalist, noted the extremely small proportion of plastic waste made up of plastic straws.
“Straws on average weigh so little – about one sixty-seventh of an ounce or .42 grams – that all those billions of straws add up to only about 2,000 tons of the nearly nine million tons of plastic waste that yearly hits the waters,” Borenstein said.
Banning plastic straws seems pretty asinine when you consider a few different factors. It’s interesting how alternatives like the new Starbucks lids were created to replace the use of plastic straws, but they have been found to contain an equivalent amount or more plastic than what a plastic straw contains. Christian Britschgi, an associate editor at Reason, described the miniscule impact of the Starbucks nitro lids.
“Right now, Starbucks patrons are topping most of their cold drinks with either 3.23 grams or 3.55 grams of plastic product, depending on whether they pair their lid with a small or large straw. The new nitro lids meanwhile weigh either 3.55 or 4.11 grams, depending again on lid size,” said Britschgi.
Point blank, this “solution” is performative – it is a cheap tactic spearheaded by a corporation to make the common folk feel like they’re making a difference in regards to climate change when it really amounts to nothing.
Then why not use paper straws or reusable straws? Well, because these options are awful. Often times, banning plastic straws does not take into account how alternative straw materials can be detrimental to disabled people.
“Biodegradable [straw] options often fall apart too quickly or are easy for people with limited jaw control to bite through. Silicone straws are often not flexible – one of the most important features for people with mobility challenges. Reusable straws need to be washed, which not all people with disabilities can do easily. And metal straws, which conduct heat and cold in addition to being hard and inflexible, can pose a safety risk,” said Godoy.
Another thing to keep in mind is that biodegradable straws can also be made of soy – a common allergen – and because it isn’t food, corporations aren’t required to disclose ingredients on the packaging.
Putting the responsibility on disabled people to survive in public without plastic straws because you don’t believe stores should offer straws is venomous.
It’s not that disabled people don’t care about the environment – we absolutely do. But instead of demonizing us for existing, shouldn’t able-bodied people help create an accessible, environmentally friendly alternative to plastic straws?
Currently, I am a student studying earth and environmental science, and I’m aiming to get a minor in sustainability. I am also disabled and I realize that climate change is larger than any one of us.
However, it’s important to note that often disabled people are the ones being accused of holding the environmental movement back, while corporations are conveniently cropped out of the frame. The big picture of climate change and environmental collapse is large enough for all of us to fit inside – so please don’t forget that industries play a large part, too.
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Perhaps you’ve never heard of Dolores Huerta’s name before today, likely due to the deep sexism that prevents her work from appearing in textbooks and classrooms, but chances are you’ve heard her iconic words, “Sí se puede”.
Spanish for “yes we can”, Huerta’s rallying cry inspired labour rights movements in the United States, and her words were famously echoed by the 2008 Barack Obama presidential campaign.
Huerta is an American labour and civil rights activist who fought for the rights of agriculture workers and consumers’ rights. She co-founded the United Farm Workers in 1962 and was the leader of the five-year Delano grape strike.
Huerta’s life as a rebel, activist, feminist and mother was documented in the film Dolores which released earlier this fall. The film is part of the official selection for the 2017 Sundance Film Festival and winner of the Seattle International Film Festival.
The Workers Arts and Heritage Centre had spent months planning a public screening of Dolores and a presentation by Evelyn Encalada Grez, a local migrant worker activist and advocate, which took place on Oct. 26.
“She’s a very important feminist leader in France. Thanks to her, we have the right to abortion. She’s a very respectful and important woman for us, and she [passed away] a few months ago so I chose to honour her.”
Alexane Heredia
Attendee
At the event, a banner with the words “Sí se puede” surrounded by paintings and iron-on transfer photographs of feminists from around the world hung proudly.
Youth had gathered the night before the screening at a banner making workshop organized by WAHC program coordinator, Tara Bursey, and Daniela Giulietti from YWCA Hamilton, to learn about the legacy of Huerta.
“[Dolores Huerta] served as the foundation for the workshop, we are taking inspiration from her and thinking about how we can make a collective statement together, as youth, as artists and ask folks who are interested in feminism, labour and activism,” explained Bursey.
At the workshop, attendees had complete creative freedom to make the banner a statement of their own. Together, they decided to emphasize Huerta’s iconic words by writing “Sí se puede” in the different languages of feminists.
Mehar Hamid, who is a member of the WAHC Youth Council, described banner making as a unique skill that played an important role in labour history and activism.
“The purpose of today’s event is to gauge people’s interests and for the youth to see where their interests take them through this hands-on activity, and maybe the activity would be a catalyst for [the Youth Council] this year.”
Tara Bursey
Coordinator
“[Banner-making] is something that can be learned and used when you go to a protest… It’s a piece that links to activism. Instead of just learning or hearing about things, [banner making] is a form of action,” explained Hamid.
The members of the WAHC Youth Council were also joined by youth who had never heard of the centre before. Alexane Heredia, a French student who is learning English in Hamilton, came out to the event hoping to meet new people and learn something new.
“I’m super happy to discover a place like that. I’m thinking to come back as a volunteer… I come from France, so I chose to write ‘yes we can’ in French next to Simone Veil,” said Heredia.
“She’s a very important feminist leader in France. Thanks to her, we have the right to abortion. She’s a very respectful and important woman for us, and she [passed away] a few months ago so I chose to honour her.”
Other attendees printed and painted Huda Sha’arawi, a pioneering Egyptian feminist leader and author, Simone de Beauvoir, a French political activist and existentialist philosopher and Rosemary Brown, the first Black Canadian woman to run for federal party leadership.
The banner making workshop and film screening fulfilled WAHC’s purpose of engaging the community with the contemporary experiences of workers and labour history, while also paving the way for the Youth Council’s future initiatives.
“The purpose of today’s event is to gauge people’s interests and for the youth to see where their interests take them through this hands-on activity, and maybe the activity would be a catalyst for [the Youth Council] this year,” explained Bursey.
Dolores Huerta’s strengths, struggles and powerful words are serving as the inspiration and foundation for this year’s youth initiatives at WAHC. “Sí se puede” will continue to be the anthem for pushing the limits and making strides through activism, here in Hamilton, and beyond.
The Workers Arts and Heritage Centre is a multidisciplinary art centre and community museum located at 51 Stuart Street. McMaster students, especially those studying or have an interest in the arts, sociology, labour studies or activism are encouraged to be part of the Youth Council.
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The standard definition of the term “broad” means to cover a wide scope of area or subjects. The informal definition? A woman.
Broad Conversations, an idea surrounding communal discussion, held its first gathering on March 21 at 541 Eatery and Exchange, gathering over 50 like-minded woman-identified, non-binary and gender fluid folk to discuss issues that matter.
The idea behind Broad Conversations emerged out of a desire for collective learning and informed conversation. Through gatherings and newsletters, Broad Conversations ultimately aims to promote community and host informal, discussion-based workshops. The first gathering, which coordinator Erin O’Neil stressed as an experiment, served as a space for individuals to discuss their feelings, questions, and ideas about the world in a communal setting.
“I realized that part of what I found so sad about what was happening in the [United] States and what I felt so much about the change in politics was that there’s a lot of apathy and a lot of hatred in the world. It wasn’t so much about one person getting into office, but it was the fact that people allowed that to happen,” said O’Neil.
“I realized that the antidote to that is getting people together… Broad Conversations is an opportunity for feminist broads to get together and converse about the world in a safe place,” she said.
The first gathering was themed around “Conversation”, and began with a panel of speakers with backgrounds in practice, activism and academia. The panel acted as conversational starters before guided conversations and open mingling.
The speakers, including Gachi Issa of McMaster Womanists, Broad Conversations coordinator Erin O’Neil and Elizabeth Maracle an Indigenous feminist, social worker and counsellor at the Sexual Assault Centre (Hamilton Area), discussed themes of conversation from their own experiences and the importance of conversation as a whole before guests were invited to discuss these topics amongst themselves.
#BroadConvos 1 was a thrill. Thank you to all the thoughtful, kind, inquisitive women who came. Newsletter signup: https://t.co/ZTAQmO6tBR pic.twitter.com/8a9UYWXgsp
— Broad Conversations (@broadconvos) March 22, 2017
“We need one another,” said Maracle. “Connection, respect and talking with one another can restore circles of support and trust. Oppression and violence disconnects and isolates people. Anything we can do to change that has great value. Conversations can give spaces to rage, grieve, question and challenge oppression. Conversations have the power to repair, heal, and restore social connection.”
Each gathering hosted by Broad Conversations is free. Instead of charging admission, attendees are asked to donate to a Broad Conversations giving group in order for a collective financial impact to be directed at a local feminist cause.
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“These events give a chance for feminists, change makers, seed planters to be with one another. They provide opportunities to connect, heal, strengthen, plan and mobilize. Living in colonialism is hard; I lose circles of connection all the time. I know it’s normal to disengage for safety’s sake but need connection and support in my life, especially since one of my life goals is to eradicate oppression and violence. When we acknowledge and listen to one another’s voices about our lives, we can expand our knowledge and momentum to impact social change. When we gather and discuss we resist oppression, we heal and strengthen our movements,” said Maracle.
O’Neil hopes to host gathering three to four times per year and has been approached with ideas of collaboration events from other like-minded groups, which she says could happen whenever there is an opportunity.
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Every March, past and present MSU student leaders, University administrators and some members of The Silhouette, get together for Student Recognition Night, an evening that highlights achievements and successes in student politics and service provision. Apart from the awards ceremony, one of the most anticipated parts of the evening is the current MSU Board of Directors’ Swan Song — a humorous and final goodbye from the President and the Vice Presidents of the MSU that has traditionally been used to poke fun at student politics, sing a couple self-deprecating lines and throw a few (welcome) jabs at our coverage.
Unfortunately, this year the song crossed the line from humorous to offensive. Although much of the song was funny and light-hearted, I have two issues with it: the individual attack towards a student activist, and the way it ridiculed the efforts of student activism, specifically the pro-Vice Presidential election reform campaign team and the Student Mobilization Syndicate.
Addressing student concerns of increasing tuition rates and groups that have requested that the MSU be more active beyond its role with OUSA, the song included lines like, “They say that tuition has doubled; maybe because they’ve been here for 10 years,” and in the same vein, “They’re now on the SRA; at least I’ll soon be gone.” For anyone involved with the MSU, the identity of the person the BOD was referring to is very clear. It’s also well known that this person is also a mature student who used to attend McMaster and has now returned for reasons that we’re not aware of and which frankly are none of our business. Whether their choice to leave was because of financial reasons, health reasons, or simply a matter of personal choice, whatever angle you decide to look at this line from, it is extremely offensive.
The person in question is also, as the song gives away, a new member of the Student Representative Assembly. The lines only create unnecessary and damaging animosity between the executive branch of the MSU and its governing body members, which should expect more respect from the BOD. There is a difference between inside jokes and personal attacks towards people you don’t engage in constructive dialogue with. That the person was also not present (or invited) to Student Rec Night makes the whole thing even more uncomfortable.
Beyond the personal attack, I was also disturbed at the willingness of the Board to ridicule the efforts of student groups whose goals are to push for change within the MSU. I’m not arguing that their stances are good or bad, but students should feel free to speak their mind about how they want to govern their student union without being ridiculed. For example, one line from the song about the VP reform petition was: “VPs-at-large they tried to file a petition once or twice… by once or twice I mean maybe a couple of hundred times.” It later added, “It’s too bad you lost VP to some Yik Yaks and memes… 21 votes,” referring to the small number of votes the pro-reform side lost the referendum by (a sad 0.3% under the two-thirds majority needed). What good does it do to ridicule the efforts of students with good intentions and students who want to improve the democratic process of our union? The BOD are the people in power. Whether you choose to respect their opinions or not, they still hold a lot of ground. Ridiculing student movements creates a hostile environment that discourages people from expressing opinions that the larger voices within the MSU might look down on.
Before anyone messages us to let us know that we don’t get the “point” of the Swan Song, that it’s meant to be in jest, let me assure you that we know. We know that it is meant to highlight the sometimes ridiculous and immature nature of student politics, and give the BOD a chance to respond to criticisms they’ve faced throughout the year. But it is not meant to be malicious or attack individual people. It’s not meant to discourage student activism, especially not activism that doesn’t align directly with how the MSU sees itself. The petitions and activist groups get attention because they speak to people — the numbers speak for themselves: both in the number of people who signed the VP reform petitions and those who voted in favour — and the last thing the MSU should be doing is making people feel that they will be ridiculed for wanting to make a change or be involved. Though the Swan Song does not take away from this BOD’s accomplishments, it ends the year on a sour note.
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I’ll admit that Hamilton’s Pride festivities have never been particularly impressive and I’d never been inclined to attend any before this year. But the quality of Pride celebrations in Hamilton this year pointed to the lackluster state of LGBTQ+ affairs in the city.
It’s understandable that Pride events in Hamilton gain less attention and have lower attendance than those in larger cities like Toronto, but for the city’s queer community, their existence is equally, if not more, important.
However, this year’s events were even more disheartening than usual. At the Pride flag raising event at City hall, a group of Hamilton queer activists left angered by the choice of speakers made by the LGBTQ+ advisory committee— all white, cisgender queer community members, as reported by the outlet Daily Xtra.
This is bad news for a city that has a human rights complaint underway about a case involving a trans woman being denied access to a women’s washroom by an HSR guard. On a larger scale, Hamilton also doesn’t have any functional services directed at meeting the needs of its LGBTQ+ community.
Two of the advisory committee members, Chris Erl, a recent McMaster graduate, and Marlon Picken apologized for the lack of diversity. Chris Erl also publicly announced his resignation from the committee in his response to activist Poe Liberado’s social media post regarding the controversy, and stated that the small size of the committee made it hard to ensure quality and due diligence.
Everything from the number of events, to the fact that many events were held by the Rainbow Health-funded initiative Space Between, to the quality and lack of diversity at the flag raising event, points to a city that is not taking the needs of its LGBTQ+ community and especially marginalized communities within that community (such as people of colour, with disabilities, indigenous people) as seriously as it should be.
Aside from the obvious appeal to social equality and dignity, this issue is important to Hamiltonians of all identities. Celebrating its marginalized communities and investing in service provision for LGBTQ+ people is paramount to Hamilton’s development, as well as its retention of graduating students like myself. I know that I would be more willing to stick around if Hamilton’s queer community was vibrant and its marginalized groups weren’t suffering. And I imagine I am not alone in holding this conviction.
The pictures, names, and detailed resumes of students involved in the contentious Boycott, Divestments and Sanctions campaign in North America are now easily compiled for your convenience in a website called Canary Mission.
The purpose of Canary Mission is to identity individuals who engage in activities that are “anti-Freedom, anti-American, and anti-Semitic,” so that these “radicals” don’t become the “employees of tomorrow.” In a response to the backlash it has received, Canary Mission says that its real end goal is to act as a deterrent for students who spend their undergrads campaigning in favour of boycotting the state of Israel.
It’s not the public nature of the website that’s predominantly worrying. All of the people featured on the website have likely already made their opinion public through Facebook posts, tweets, videos, and rallies. Any employer can easily do a background check and uncover the same information. Public shaming is a tactic that takes place everywhere along the entire political spectrum. The social justice left has ended careers of those who have recklessly tweeted out offensive statements, and similar things have happened on our campus as well.
So while the public shaming aspect of it is concerning, it’s not what I find most frightening about the website. If the information they have compiled about each activist is false, they will most likely face legal action, and if it is not false, then all they have done is compile already available information.
However, the website is part of a disturbing pattern of deterring public speech in the West, that lies beyond the BDS movement and its critics.
It warns anyone who criticizes Israeli policies and occupations to think twice or find themselves featured on a website that will forever associate them with anti-semitism. In doing so, it silences those who question these ideas, by threatening to destroy their public image.
"The website is part of a disturbing pattern of deterring public speech in the West, that lies beyond the BDS movement and its critics."
Another instance of this sort of public speech being deterred through scare tactics happened recently in Canada. When the email exchange between a CBC reporter and a public relations staff for the Minister of Public Safety that suggested campaigning for BDS could be seen as a hate crime under Canadian law became public, the MSU quickly released a statement dismissing the claims as “egregious.”
Radical acts are vilified as being anti-Canadian and anti-American. A valued cultural identity is used to make the radical act appear as a foreign act that someone who is Western, in support of freedom, in support of these two countries, would never do. Whether this fits into the American or Canadian identity is decided by a select few people with a lot of power and a large audience to legitimize their words.
McMaster is no stranger to the complexity of the Israel-Palestine and BDS debate. People from both sides have complained about the animosity they have felt on campus throughout the discussion. These feelings are even more impactful in a university the size of McMaster, where you’ve probably met someone who strongly stands with either side. However, while we should be cautious that only non-violent, peaceful, and non-hateful activism takes place on our campus, knee-jerk reactions to activism as being hateful only further reinforces its initial goal to change the way we talk about an issue in the first place.
Deterring activism through a negative platform such as Canary Mission is a way of maintaining a specific political stance as the only correct stance, and erasing the other sides of the discourse from the public sphere. It cuts activism at its root by threatening the livelihood of potential activists.
The activism that BDS campaigners partake in is not criminal. This logic of deterring an act by threatening someone’s livelihood applies to crimes, not non-violent activism. That’s why it is left in the hands of the judicial system, not to the whims of the public and individuals that can possibly benefit from silencing certain viewpoints.
Given the lack of consensus among experts and world leaders on the Israel-Palestine conflict—I’m not suggesting that they are the epitome of moral and ethical guidance but rather a good sample of the complex nature of the conflict—it is illogical to deter activism and debate as if the right answer has already been found, and it is illogical to claim that anyone who disagrees needs to be punished publicly.
The website, along with the recent Canadian story, is an incredibly concerning method of control and silencing. As long as an activist group isn’t encouraging hatred and violence towards a group of people, why is their activism harmful, and who’s to say it is?
The ability of groups to silence with subtle threats of losing one’s place in the world, of having fewer career options and a bleak future ahead, is detrimental to the open nature of our academic environment. If we can’t have these discussions in the Western world, where we pride ourselves of being champions of freedom and human rights, then when can they happen?
The discussion isn’t about choosing one side over the other. I hope that even after the vote in favour of BDS at this year’s General Assembly, respectful discussion can continue at McMaster about international issues that, in one way or another, affect us all.
Animal rights issues have recently been in the news. A couple of weeks ago CBC Marketplace aired an expose on factory farming right here in Canada that featured undercover footage of a turkey being killed with a shovel. Last week, McMaster was to benefit when a professor from Rutgers was set to give a talk on animal ethics. And this past Saturday's Spectator featured an article from The Washington Post in which scientists queried whether crustaceans feel pain. Why people with PhDs are unsure about this is completely beyond me.
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After all, regardless of the specifics of an invertebrate's nervous system, we should acknowledge that as a natural organism of the earth they have a right to life. This is not to say that this right disqualifies them from being consumed. The food chain is as much a part of nature as the beautiful aspects. All the wondrous things we see are contingent upon the fact that species continue to survive by consuming each other on a daily basis. It's not pretty, but food is one of the most basic things about living on earth.
There is a fundamental difference, however, between what occurs in the animal kingdom and the way that humans harvest. Prior to the industrial age, man's relationship with animals was one of necessity, scarcity and animal husbandry. Generally speaking, many people had a direct link to the animals they cared for, along with some rhyme and reason to how they got to the local butcher. Likewise, animals also economize how they acquire food.
But the problems today are that we have unpleasantly commodified meat to such an extent that we take it for granted. For example, we fish the seas with mile-long nets that trap most everything along the way. This is troubling not only because of the way animals are treated, but also because we live in a very wasteful society. We don't feel enough responsibility to take seriously our role and opportunities to be stewards of the earth. It is one thing to at least put resources to good use, but a portion of the animals which suffer for food production never even get eaten, and instead expire and are thrown out (like much food in wealthy countries).
It's also curious how arbitrary our ideas are. Traditional farm animals are deemed okay and legal for food consumption, while cats and dogs are not. Society is sickened when pets are neglected while many do not consider the suffering in our farm factories. This disconnect is highlighted when we consider our uproar at learning that other cultures eat dogs or snakes, while in turn they cannot understand why we in North America eat cows, which are sacred in India.
Ultimately, we don't really want to think about these things, because if we cared then we would truly realize the horror of these practices. I personally don't know what the answers are. There was a point when I was a vegetarian for a time, but I have again begun thinking about the issues deeply.
Some of these don't only extend to meat, however, but agriculture as well. Exploitation of workers is rife, as are debates about pesticides versus organic. But this idea of endlessly abundant food, always available for an ever-growing number of supermarkets around the world, supplied by dwindling resources, does not seem realistically sustainable. Certainly not as long as we see our relationship with food as something that one way or another will inevitably somehow just be there when we go to market.
The first step to a new reality is one which has already been happening, and indeed has never really left certain parts of the globe - that of rising prices as supplies drop. Though, this is usually an occurrence that North Americans are not used to, the recent severe drought in California this winter, which has not been well-publicized, is a case in point. Faced with extreme water shortages, in part due to a highly deficient snow-cap this winter, farmers have been forced to leave large swaths of land fallow. With the coming summer heat, it is anyone's guess how this may further impact a region that supplies much of North America with alot of its crops.
Though these challenges are immense, there is something that we should be doing. We should, for one, not place only a monetary value on life. This would also provide numerous benefits. But suffice it to say, the days of all-you-can-eat buffets should be drawing to a close. It's not good for our waistlines nor for businesses that prepare a lot of food that never gets eaten. And it's not good for our conception of food as something that spills out of some kind of mythical cornucopia which disguises the true nature of how it actually comes to our dinner tables, and who has to pay the price for it to get there so cheaply.
Jeffrey Doucet
MSU VP (Finance)
As many stirring campaigns have tried to address, the intersection of young people and politics is not at a high point. In the last two federal elections, voter turnout amongst 18-24 year-olds has hovered around 40 per cent, which I think is pretty pathetic. But while this is an issue frequently addressed, what is lesser-discussed but equally problematic is the harmful role that youth can play when they do engage in politics.
You would think that youth who are engaged in the political process would be the solution, but I think they are not. Young partisans – youth who are strong supporters of one political party – are making politics toxic, and driving their peers away from the political process.
Canadians are frustrated with political parties that simplify complex problems, painting their opponents as incompetent individuals with bad intentions. We are frustrated because we are an educated population, and election slogans that read, “my opponent is the worst” don’t motivate educated people to vote. These poor tactics are driving young people away from the voting booth, and young partisans deserve to shoulder some blame.
To be fair, young partisans are not the root of this problem, but they aid and abet as they deliver the party message to the public. Youth do not design election platforms or campaign strategies, but they mobilize them. Youth are the volunteers that work tirelessly during election campaigns, knocking on doors, passing out flyers, and delivering the message to the voter. This is where these young people are failing their peers; they aren’t pushing back against political authority.
We are the most educated generation ever. We are receiving world-class education that teaches us to think critically and challenge the status quo. We know that answers to complex problems are not often simple solutions that can be broken down into 140 characters, or 15-second sound bites.
Yet, while well intentioned, far too many of my peers’ involvement with the political process is merely to follow marching orders rather than to contribute critically and effectively to the party of their choosing. This kind of engagement with our political system is damaging and has led to a parliament where criticizing your leader in public is seen as a sign of weakness, rather than an act of courage.
I think it is fair to say that the political leaders of all three leading parties in Canada are pushing forward policy that does not capture the intelligence and thought of their young political volunteers.
Canadian politics are in a sorry state, and Canadians will continue to not show up at the ballot box until our youth hold political parties to a higher standard. Let’s push back against the assumption in Canadian politics that if you sign up for a political party, you support every single decision made by political leadership.
Advocate based on issues that are important to you, and let’s push to make political parties a reflection of our generation.
