The Thousand Words
Par Robert J. Galbraith le 6 mai 2009
Westmount-Ville-Marie MP Marc Garneau speaks during the Israel Rally in downtown Montreal on April 29.
Nous sommes tous des femmes afghanes
Par Pierre K. Malouf le 6 mai 2009
Je l’ai dit dans un précédent article, Obama vient de le confirmer, on ne le répétera jamais assez : si les attentats du World Trade Center n’avaient eu lieu, ni les États-Unis, ni le Canada, ni aucun pays occidental ne seraient intervenus militairement en Afghanistan. Ce qui se passe actuellement, ce sont les Talibans qui l’ont provoqué naguère en s’alliant à Ben Laden. L’Afghanistan des Talibans était pour Al-Qaïda une base de lancement pour ses attentats. Mettons-nous ça dans la tête : ce qui se passe en 2009 est la conséquence directe de ce qui s’est passé en 2001...
Community activist wins Vice-Presidency of Liberal Party of Canada
Par Beryl Wajsman le 6 mai 2009
Montreal community activist and Robinson, Sheppard, Shapiro family law specialist Brigitte Garceau won election last weekend as Vice-President (Francophone) of the Liberal Party of Canada at its Vancouver convention. The Beaconsfield resident organized a campaign worthy of leading political strategist Warren Kinsella. The title of one of his books, Kicking Ass in Canadian Politics, could well describe the successful run she made.
Sur quoi devrait être fondée l’identité canadienne ?
Par Phillipe Allard le 6 mai 2009
Au Canada, comme on dit en anglais, there’s an elephant in the room. Je parle ici d’une chose dont personne ne semble vouloir parler, mais dont la majorité subit la présence encombrante avec une indifférence résignée. Cette chose qui nous gêne, plutôt que d’être le symbole de liberté et d’autonomie qu’elle devrait être, nous empêche de bouger et de penser librement. Cette présence, plutôt que d’être le symbole d’unité nationale qu’elle devrait être, fut, est et sera toujours une source de division permanente...
A letter to Delara
Par Nazanin Afshin-Jam le 6 mai 2009
On May 1st 2009, artist Delara Darabi was executed in the Islamic Republic of Iran after spending almost six years in prison for an alleged offence committed at age 17. She maintained her innocence up until the very end. I am at a loss for words. My heart is empty and my tears are flowing...
They don’t even pretend anymore
Par Beryl Wajsman le 6 mai 2009
Though we can’t be surprised anymore, we still need to condemn. The World Conference against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance, commonly called Durban 2, concluded recently in Geneva. Durban I, eight years ago, at least had the veneer of civility however quickly disabused by the contents. This year’s incarnation didn’t even pretend. How could it? Two gangster regimes — Iran and Libya — co-chaired and co-organized it. The result was as anticipated. But the date was filled with pathos...
Canada vindicated at Durban II
Par Pierre Poilievre le 6 mai 2009
We Canadians are often too polite to say, “I told you so.” But 16 months after we told the world that the Durban “anti-racism” conference was anything but, we have been vindicated. Canada was the first nation to pull out of the Durban II conference and to cut off funds for NGO participation. Countries like Italy, Australia, New Zealand, the Netherlands, Germany, Poland, Israel and the United States of America followed us. Many other nations later walked out of the conference when Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad poured verbal acid all over Israel, the United States and Europe...
Obama and the art of double speak
Par Mischa Popoff le 6 mai 2009
How does B.H. Obama get away with it? He directed his campaign against George W. Bush, accusing him of taking the United States into an unjust war in Iraq, but now plans to launch a renewed effort in Afghanistan. I’m confused. Aren’t freedom, innocent people’s lives and democracy all worth protecting in both of those countries?
Why anti-semitism persists
Par David Solway le 6 mai 2009
In his 1995 book [1] Assimilation and Its Discontents, Israeli political historian and prolific author Barry Rubin speaks of a time when “anti-Semitism became too minimal to inspire fear or defiance.” Indeed, for both the Israeli sabra and the diaspora Jew, particularly in America, “anti-Semitism’s rout and the acquisition of equality … raises the question of what to do next.” Only a little more than a decade has passed since Rubin wrote those lines but the “question of what to do next” has taken on a completely different complexion. For once again anti-Semitism has returned with a vengeance...
China Targets Canada!
Par Robert Presser le 6 mai 2009
International Trade Minister Stockwell Day has returned from a goodwill trade tour of China making all the right gestures and remarks; a commitment to fight protectionism, two new Canadian trade offices to promote our goods and services in China, and kind words for Chinese officials in an effort to improve bilateral relations. There is even talk of a visit by Prime Minister Harper at a later date, a change of heart from his failure to attend the 2008 Olympics...
Taste of the Nation’s Laurie Normand-Starr is gone
Par Alan Hustak le 6 mai 2009
Laurie Normand-Starr, a community volunteer who died recently at her home in Westmount, threw lavish charitable fund-raising dinners where the rich were charged to feed the poor.
Mrs. Normand-Starr spearheaded Taste of the Nation, the annual event which collected more than $2 million for three Montreal charities since the Montreal chapter was founded 16 years ago. The money raised by the event was divided among three charities: Share the Warmth, the Pointe St. Charles community organization, Dans le Rue, and Oxfam-Quebec.
“Enemies of equality” Author warns of Islamist interference in politics
Par Dan Delmar le 6 mai 2009
A Syrian national is warning fellow Canadians to stand up for secular values and not make unreasonable accommodations for Islamists.
Djemila Benhabib, author of Ma vie à contre-Coran, spoke to a group of roughly 50 last week at a Côte des Neiges bookstore. Describing herself as an ordinary woman having experienced extraordinary hardships, she told the audience of her family’s persecution in Syria and the constant threats that came from religious fanatics that forced them to leave the country in the early 1990s. The title of her book refers to the battle she fought as a child and teenager against Islamist indoctrination in her homeland and the threat it now poses to the West.
L'apostasie : pas si inutile que ça
Par David Rand le 6 mai 2009
Depuis plusieurs semaines, les médias nous parlent de la vague d’apostasie suscitée par un sentiment généralisé de dégoût face à l'opposition réactionnaire de l'Église catholique à l'avortement et à l'utilisation du condom. Dans sa chronique du dernier numéro du Métropolitain, intitulée « Les apostats de la dernière pluie », Pierre Malouf ne saisit pas la pertinence de ce phénomène, et va même jusqu'à contester la réalité des dommages causés par l'interdiction catholique du condom...
Piperberg's World
Par Roy Piperberg le 6 mai 2009
City’s red light district moves to the ‘Net
Par P.A. Sévigny le 6 mai 2009
Police officials report street prostitution for both genders has nearly been eliminated and swept off the streets in both the downtown core and the east-end’s Hochelaga-Maisonneuve districts.
There’s always a market for sex,” said one downtown police officer, “…but now it’s off the streets and on the web which is fine with us.”
Two theatres: Two kinds of family portraits
Par Alidor Aucoin le 6 mai 2009
Family values are at the heart of Over the River and Through the Woods, Joe DiPietro’s heartwarming intergenerational comedy at the The Segal Centre for the Performing Arts until May 10. It’s a slight play, normally dinner theatre fare, but, like a plate of delicious pasta, the Segal’s production is hugely satisfying. It appeals to anyone who has ever found themselves caught between the demands of their increasingly dependent childish parents and grandparents, and their own, ever demanding professional obligations.
On n’entre pas au désert avec le goût du chaos
Par Louise V. Labrecque le 6 mai 2009
Dans les vingt nouvelles constituant ce livre, on constate un écrivain qui n’écrit pas pour s’éloigner des gens, mais au contraire pour essayer de s’en rapprocher. Salah Benlabed nous révèle que s’il n’a jamais eu besoin de certitude et que, selon lui, tout est une entreprise à perte, c’est là qu’il veut tout de même travailler, c'est-à-dire dans une entreprise qui est humaine avant d’être littéraire.
AMADEUS
Par Alidor Aucoin le 6 mai 2009
Benoit McGinnis fait une impression inoubliable sous les traits de Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart dans la brillante adaptation qu’a faite René Richard Cyr de la pièce Amadeus, de Peter Shaffer. La pièce est à l’affiche du Théâtre Jean Duceppe jusqu’au 21 mai prochain.
GALLANT WOMAN
Par Alan Hustak le 6 mai 2009
Mavis Gallant has spent a life time doing what many writers can only dream of – living in Paris and consistently crafting some of the finest short stories in the English language that have been published for six decades in the New Yorker. Reading Going Ashore, the thirty or so recently published short stories that Gallant wrote early in her remarkable career, not only demonstrates how durable her work has always been, but also serves as a reminder of just how important the art of the short story remains to those who make their living as writers. In a digital age that threatens the survival of newspapers and mass circulation magazines, renders the novel impotent and makes biography almost irrelevant, the short story might be the last salvation for those who care about literate expression.
Anchor turned author
Par Alan Hustak le 6 mai 2009
Former Pulse News anchorman Bill Haugland, who retired three years ago as one of Montreal’s most familiar and trusted faces on television will undoubtedly add to his considerable fan base with his first novel, Mobile 9.
