Local Stuff

This pretty neat. My long time pal Paul Burrows (co-founder of the A-Zone and Mondragon here in Winnipeg) just got his first peer-reviewed paper published in the journal of the Manitoba Historical Society. It’s called “Apostle of Anarchy: Emma Goldman’s First Visit to Winnipeg in 1907″. Very interesting stuff that goes beyond romantic period-piece-ism and manages to critically assess both Goldman’s visit and her legacy. Go to the journal section at any library in the province right now and you should see a copy of issue no 57 (feb 2008) front and centre. Atta hum, Paul!

Also, Pat Mooney will be in town tomorrow, Tuesday April 29 at 7:00 pm - 9:30 pm in Eckhardt-Gramatté Hall, 3rd Floor Centennial Building, University of Winnipeg, as part of a panel on global impacts of growing biofuels on food, farmers and human rights. I’ve seen this guy speak before and he’s pretty excellent if i remember correctly. Check it out if you got time.

And thanks for coming out to the Albert on Friday if you were there!

That was fun and about 14 years overdue! It was funny to play those old demo songs, too bad we somehow forgot to play Government Cartoons too! Shit! We’ll have a tally tomorrow of how much got raised for the Tyendinaga Legal Defence Fund but i’m pretty sure it was over $3000 grand. That’s great. (Thanks to Sam and the Albert, Barney and Dustin for sound and of course Pip Skid and Big Trouble in Little China for supporting the cause…much appreciated!)

Imagine that you lived in a house with your family and that one day a bunch of men kicked down your door and starting rummaging through all your stuff, taking whatever they wanted, coming and going when they pleased, leaving you not only traumatized, but without the means to ensure the security and survival of your family. If you’re like me, i think you would have a reasonable expectation that not only could you pick up the phone and call the cops to come stop the crime in progress, but also that your neighbors would be outraged and come to your defense. But what if your neighbors turned a blind eye to it? And what if the police not only didn’t come to your defence, but rather showed up, threw you and your family in the back of their patrol car and protected the thieves as they continued to pillage your home? What would you do? What options would you have left?

In my opinion, this is the position the Tyendinaga defendants have found themselves in. They’ve been abandoned by their neighbors (the majority of Canadian citizens who prefer buying stuff to justice) and hung out to dry by the authorities who have the power to stop the continued pillaging of their land.

The least (truly the least) we can do is help them defend themselves against further persecution with the threadbare legal recourse they have left, no?

Insert Pastor Martin Niemöller “First they came…” poem here. Yadda yadda…

PS. read this

Posted by Jesus H. Chris on April 28th, 2008 in Activism, Band News, Commentary