Issuu

Who elected them, anyhow? If you want to know wbat it feels like to be a non-person, just go up to htyCouncil on an issue of concern to the Downtown Eastside. For most of the councillors, the Downtown Eastside doesn't exist as a neighbourhood, and the people who live here are literally invisible. That's how Margaret Prevost and Lorelei Hawkins were treated when they went to council March 9 to speak out about the proposed March for Jesus. Margaret and Lorelei tried to tell the councillors how they felt about the prospect of

15,000 strangers marching through the neighbourhood, chanting religious slogans, taking over Crab Park with a blaring sound system. They talked about how the neighbourhood is under stress from noise and crowding and social problems, how residents feel they have to endure far more than their fair share of disturbance. But most of the council members (Jenny Kwan was the only exception) couldn't care less. Their contempt was obvious as they approved the march for Saturday morning,

27, along Water Street and Alexander to Crab Park. Mayor Philip Owen totally ignored the Downtown Eastside delegation's concerns, but he did comment sympathetically on a delegation that wasn't even there - the Gastown business interests, who want the march to end early so it doesn't interfere with their lunch hour trade. By the way, Owen himself is a fundamentalist Christian (can you say conflict-of-interest?). When the councillors did address the delegation directly, it was either to lecture them or to try to trick them. Counc. Jennifer Clarke wanted Margaret and Lorelei to admit there was an inconsistency in opposing the March for Jesus but supporting an anti-casino rally in the park. She didn't seein interested in their explanation that the anti-casino rally was an event by and for neighbourhood people. That gave Counc.Gordon Price the opening for a pompous little sermon on how the park belongs to everybody in the city and should be used by everyone - as if the park-poor Downtown Eastside's one little waterfront green patch is equal to all the beaches on English Bay, Queen Elizabeth Park, Stanley Park, the University Endowment Lands and other large west-side parks. Can you imagine them greeting a delegation from Shaughnessy or Point Grey like that? In the end Council went out of its way to

ignore city staffs own recommendation that the march be held from City Hall over the Cambie Street Bridge to the Plaza of Nations. Unfortunately, that kind of treatment is all too colnmon at City Hall. It happened recently when Downtown Eastsiders tried to explain why an expensive new condo at 8 East Cordova would have a negative effect on the low-rent hotels in the area. Council members can be so enthusiastic about a few hundred "urban pioneers" (yuppies) moving into glossy new condos, as if there aren't already 10,000 people living here. When the poor are forced into the streets, the yuppies will just step over them, not noticing the former inhabitants as they chatter on about the price of BMWs and the merits of all the smart new restaurants and pool halls. It's just a continuation of a sad old story when European adventurers came to this continent in search of plunder, they pictured it as an empty wilderness with no one living here. The native people weren't even considered human, so they could be ruthlessly hunted down and exterminated. (* 1492 was not the year North America was "discovered"; there were already millions of people here living full and imaginative lives. 1492 was simply the year in which sea pirates began to cheat & rob & kill them.) It seems council members won't listen to polite appeals from their constituents in the low-rent part of town. Maybe we will have to get less polite before we are noticed. By BEN E. NOIR

It's hard to put into words, the anger I feel inside at the amount of bad dates, killing, etc. The total loss of such special people who didn't deserve to die. I don't know what gets into these guys' heads; talking about the growing numbers of

Take total precautions when dealing with people. A lot of girls get so high, jump into anyone's car, and don't come back. Buddy. Buddy systems. Watch out for one another - take down plates, remember what guys look like, don't be afraid to report the bastards. Like I said, it's not going to get any better. So it's up to us to do whatever is necessary to put a stop to the violence. We need all the help we can get. Leslie Grainjest

NPA COUNCILLORS ABUSE THOSE OPPOSING "MARCH FOR JESUS"

I went to City Hall upon request from the Four Sisters ~ o a r d . w k q -? shit, I am still asking myself. The abuseNPA Council was terrible. I went up to put a recommendation forward about the "March for Jesus", to ask the City and Joe Kelder to find an alternative route to the one that will bring over 12,000 people

~ o r d k nPrice and Belamy said that the park is open for anyone to use. The unfortunate thing was that no one told me in advance to bring money to this meeting. Yes yes yes indeed. It's a fact that if you don't come with money to City Hall you don't leave with what you are asking for. I am very upset with the NPA side of Council... they can not see beyond their own noses but they can smell money a block away. I was also surprised to see Mr. Belamy awake and alert at this meeting. Usually at the Tuesday Council meetings, the camera is often on him and he is sound asleep. Why is it that we are asked to come and let them know exactly how we feel about such issues as this "March for Jesus" when in fact they have already, in advance, made a decision? Joe Kelder, the public pusher for it, said, "If

there really is a strong sentiment against this THING then I wouldn't want to push it." I don't know what part of this sentence the NPA Councillors didn't understand. It was very clear to me that if we did NOT want this march to go through our community then it would not. Let's talk about another person who I am sure many of you don't know. Her name is Leonore Sali, a Gastown business person. It was said that she didn't want it going through Gastown because of the disruption caused by the March last year. The route through Gastown was the March organisers' first choice but, once again, money talks. Leonore sent a letter from her spiffy glass office to say she supported it going through the D.E. as long as it was done about loam. With that the NPA Council said "There's support." Leonore was not there, being busy in Gastown with her efforts to quietly rush panhandlers out of her block, sometimes being persuaded with $2. After being pelted by the NPA, Joe Kelder tried to make amends by asking Lorelei and I to have a coffee with him. The vote had been in favour of this March, and he wanted to know what the community had against it. 1 invited him to come down and ask the community himself, suggesting that he come to Carnegie and set up a Town Hall Forum. He felt he wouldn't be well-received because of the experience he had at a DERA General Meeting (which made him feel 'unwelcome') It was so good to see the shoe on the other foot. We may have lost but this is not the end. Margaret Prevost PS I believe if we had more from the Community at City Hall we would have had a chance, even it you didn't have any money.

into forests that still luxuriate we think, back of our homesteads and the shed, once shared by wheel-barrows shovels and spiders, has been taken down where wild rhubarb, over which I jumped once, in a last mad dash to catch whoever was "it" off-guard is someone's suburban fence, glittering in artificial light so we ran off, in each direction into our suits, our romances failing, our breaths of desire or pain, into the blue haze of television and exhaust wild for statement, for task, for whatever still chased us, or hid, or demurred which turned out to be the untranslatable, dialect legalese of existing, post-game, post-sunset post-everything, here, stumbling where the darkness is fluent with stars and one is it forever Dan Feeney

Learn how to play this centuries old Asian game Friday, March 10 Thursday, March 16 Friday, March 24 Friday, March 3 1 3rd Floor, Classroom 2 Sign up with Marina

S T R I P SEARICH Wimins Prison ers stripped by male guards. I watched in unbelieving horror, wanting to turn off the TV if it had been fiction It would have been gone in a flash, but it was real...... A young woman kneeled, submissed in body, but not in mind. Bent naked, chained, nameless, just a prisoner in Kingston Jail. Hands cruelly chained to back, legs shackled forcing thighs apart Showing black pubic hair ... A guard leans over her pulling yet another chain over her bare breasts This is for her waist it seems, a small waist, not too much resistance there.

Male and female guards, more than eight I think, Stand ready to prod her with their heavy sticks. They have shields, riot sticks, as they crowd around this small woman, so naked so still. No, this isn't a sex video or an S&M flick, It's Kingston Prison for Women in Canada. No, not some "foreign land". Another prisoner is hog-tied and guards rip her clothing off with huge shears She screams loudly No. No...No... No one hears her. The guards don't stop until her bare buttocks and private parts are there for all to see...(and we tell our children no one should touch your private parts) Do wimin prisoners lose their private parts? I wonder.

The rage I see in these wimins' faces From the dehumanization of this horror Where will it go to? 1 imagine some shrink saying 'and how did it feel when the male guards stripped you and. bound Did it remind you of the sexual abuse you experienced as a child?' I wonder did the male guards get erections when they stripped these wimin? Is that why their shields were held up close to their bodies?

Sheila Baxter

Dreaming of an urban utopia amid darkening shadow o f Fort Cordova -

he stairwell of the Dodson Hotel is dim and stinks of half a century's cigarettes and dirty socks. Three of us stand looking north at the glorious blue and gold morning, the sky, the sea, the snow-dusted mountains. Some of the Dodson's old-timers have spent years jockeying for a room with this view, says John McWatters. These are guys who have been here 10,ltjyears. Well, they can give up now. The northfacing rooms at the Dodson will look straight into the wall of a new 12@footbuilding tkdt McWatters calls Fort Cordova. McWatters and Jeff Sommers, both of the Neighbourhood Helper's Project, have brought me here because they hate what Eight East Cordova is and what it repre-

This urban utopia was dreamed the Downtown Eastside wonders how long he'll have a roof over his , by people who have every right to be angry, not idealistic. But in a city head. How long will hotel owners ruled by the mega-buck, is anyone hang on to their properties once listening? When city hall is approvcondo development makes land ing monstrosities like Fort prices zoom? Cordova, residents have no reason his is all gening pre& hard to take when, let's face it, cool down- to expect enlightenment from that town creatures don't want old men corner. "I honor the skepticism of that," peeing in their doorways. What does that mean for the old-timers? i says associate planning director Move 'em out, head 'em on. Larry Beasley, referring to the Well, the neighborhood isn't cry- community's suspicions generally. W h a t we have to do over the next ing uncle. m e Carnegie Centre gathered people together and said, weeks and months is prove that we let's do up our own vision of what don't have malicious intent." We'll see. The city is starting a we want the waterfront and the study to collect basic facts that I)owntown Eastside to be. They everyone can agree on. The provinwanted to dream about a cial government will soon have a space, not a corporate space. ' study under its belt about what to Their visions, sketched out in color on the walls of the Carnegie, do with the central waterfront -fit in a convention centre and a cruise are extraordinary. People want green grass, clean beaches, places I ship facility, says Jeff Sommers. to sit in the sun. They want public Members of the community are trymarkets, community gardens and , ing to stand up and be counted as skating rinks. They want cafes, experts in their own right about swimming pools and movie houses. what happens in their neighborIn other words, what all of us want. hood. The waterfront would be accessiAs long as someone has the wisble by foot, bike, wheelchair and dom to follow the basic precept of transit. Cars would be limited. the Carnegie: build for people. not There be a maritime muse developers. Otherwise, as Jeff Samum, a Vancouver historical centre, a says: "people will be steppng First Nations historial and cultural out of their front doors and centre. Downtown thenext bodies of people who dents would be trained and hired to ping used over to live door.w work ...there. ... The Carnegie project's Pam CooThe Car@@ Copnmunit~Action ley says people weretemarkably Project would love to hearfiom you unselfish as they pictured what about visions for Hastings Street and t h want ~ the waterfront to be. They want housing, bGt not right ' the waterfront. Call 689-0397. The drawings are on display through on the water. " ~ o u s i n gon theSunday at the Carnegie Centre, 461 waterfront is a very privileged idea," says Cooley. Main Street. I

ELIZABETH AlRD sents. It's a high-security condo for yuppies and first-time home-buyers who think it will be cool to live a block from Pigeon Park and Army & Navy. After the body blow of 10sing Woodward's to condos, it's a boot in the head to a community of souls who are calling their turf "the incredible shrinking neighborhood." While developers eat lunch with planners, the average poor guy in

The proposal is to build 35 one-bedroom units and 12 self-contained sleeping rooms in a six-storey structure to be located on the empty lot just north of the Sunrise Hotel. The architectsldesigners, Fran DeGrace and Wilfred Ussner, brought the computergenerated 'photo' here, along with the floor plans, and talked about all the special features that zoning and need require. Things like laundry and individual washrooms and an internal 'courtyard' and common rooms and a rooftop garden and sundecks and enclosed 'balconies' and security. The truly brilliant use of thc main floor will be as the new hame for the Downtown East*side Women's Ceiitre. There is scope for computers, a kiichen, jaundry, chikken, mccting spacc, loiingcs and crafts. All +his is again required by zoning in making the main floor peuple-friendly. . . . Agr;in, ~nzrcdible.

Equally inc~edibleis the muck that a fcw condo owners ir; Gastown are trq.ir;g to mire this project in. The Gastouln Heritage Area Planning Coinlnittec (GHAPC) has decided that this project will attract "undesirables" to :he area. These'pompous pricks have decided that only yuppies able to buy property are desirable as residents and the poor and local residents will just have to get out. This is not a made-up scenario, casting the "rich" as some villainous sect. GHAPC, and especially its chairperson Michael McCoy, are quite clear: they want the gentrification of Gastown to proceed f ~ d speed, l and any more social housing and social services are unacceptable. They want the Bridge Housing Project to be located in Surrey or somewhere, as long as it's not here. Local people, for whom this housing is essential, are also "undesirables", according

to ~ ~ ~ f l McCoy. a n dThis is appalling. Both Fran and Wilfred are available for information on their project, (at 434 W. 17 or at 875-0477), as is Gail Harmer, the society's coordinator. Fortunately there are many people in Gastown and elsewhere who are as upset and angry over the gall of these few people calling themselves "representatives of the community" when they are just self-interested condo-owners seeking to increase the value of their property. These few change their name

as often as it suits and misrepresent others who have legitimate interests. Gastown Merchants Association; Gastown Residents Association, Gastown Business Improvement Society, GHAPC, etc. etc etc. The same people changing their hats in the closet... The Bridge I-lousing Project and the new home for the Downtown Eastside Women's Centre is a welcome addition to our neighbourhood. Well done! By PAIJLR TAYIAIR

)...

Our Aborigi~a!People are dying due to aicotiol and drug abuse. We have many Aboriginal organisations in Vancoi~ver,but there is a problem with-hospitals- pai-ticularly %.Paul's Hospital. It's been said that Vancouver Gencrd won't accept anyone from the Downtown Castside unless they ha-;e bcen badly iqjtrrcd (i.c. h c d or spinal cord injuries). St.Paul7sis inundated with all the stabbing, heroin and cocaine overdose and some gunshot victims. Reports from recent patients have co~iiplaintsof beirig mistreated because :hey are Native, drug addicts, or just because they come from the D.E. An Elder from North Vancouver was beaten up recently, the week of cheque-issue day. He was robbed of his money and stripped of his dignity. He was a kind gentleman, soft spoken; he was taken to St.PaulYsand the Emergency Room staff made him feel very bad, mistreating him. They dealt with his wounds and released him, even though he was in no condition to go anywhere. Some of the staff have real attitude problems.,

This seems to be the norm at St.Paul's, and Aboriginal people are not respected - their voices are very faint to these 'professionals' If you know of anyone who has not been seen for awhile (a week or a month) call the hospitals or go to the Native Liaison Office o n Main Street. It's no fun to lie alone in a bed for a long period of time. WE DO CARE By MARGARET

Community-Based Policing It seems that whenever there is a police or govcrnment-sponsored hearing or "community consultation" on policing issues, community participants invariably voice the same coni is no independent process by cerns: ~ h uthere which complaints against the police can be assessed; l l ~ u there t is a lack of communications between the police and First Nations or visible minority individuals or groups; hut most individuals' exposure to police officers occur solely in negative contexts; Ihul, often enough, most police officers' exposure to First Nations or visible minority individuals also occur in negative contexts; and, more recently, thui funding cuts to police departments stress their resources to the limits. Such concerns were raised at the Oppal Commission hearings.. and such concerns were raised at the "community consultation" held in the Carnegie Theatre on March 2nd. About 35 people, representatives of various municipal, provincial and federal police departments & solicitor generals' offices, the Native Liaison Storefront and interested individuals attended the meeting, organised by the Canadian Centre for Police-Race Relations (CCPRR), a federal body formed in 1991 and composed almost entirely of career police officers from various departments. The purpose of the meeting, as stated in the promotional literature, was to discuss "practical applications of strategies, practice & theory of anti-racist policing from a Community Policing perspective," in preparation, apparently, for the expansion of

the VPD community police storefront operations. (One is coming to Hastings Street in June.) But, as always happens in such gatherings, the topic (as defined by CCPRR) is seen in a much broader context by the participants, and where the level of frustration is high, the 'topic' is nearly forgotten. Nevertheless we did learn from one CCPRR rep, John Spice, that the RCMP has a growing program whereby bands may subsidise work terms for selected youth at local detachments.. and we learned that the VPD refuses to allow criminoloby students at the NEC to do similar work terms with their operation. (Ken Dowland, VPD Community Services, said he'd look into it.) We learned that funding cutbacks had stymied VPD quotas for the hiring of First Nations and visible minority individuals, and of women. We also heard persistent calls for more foot patrols in the DES and far more police sensitivity when dealing with victims, especially women. What we did not learn about, what we did not discuss, was the topic - how the VPD and this community can & should cooperate in this community-based policing initiative. It was a tentative step toward broader involvement of the community in this project than currently obtains with the various liaison groups, but the meeting demonstrated the high degree off frustration on both sides, and the overall lack of communication. If certain structural changes in the police department are ruled out, might this process be long and tiring and, ultimately, achieve very little? By DAN FEENEY

aod too looks for company - a

By Bud Osbom

cold rainy nasty november afternoon getting dark fast

afterwards I see the young hooker I've noticed before noticed for months around the same corners waitinglikesomanydo the groi ;e they've been d can't straight wearing all the bruises eyes like the north shore mountains when clouds cover them

ARE REA,11 ...

she's standing there looking like a lost dog in the rain no coat hands folded close not in prayer but pain from the col d she sees me smoking and asks if 1 have an extra cigarette I hand her one and the lighter but her fingers have trouble unstiffening he doesn't have to but does tell me how cold she is say yeah it doesn't take long to freeze out here vhere it's so very bitter hen she asks me if I'd like some company le cc line ) I say knowing in il le said it but he eart wouldn't have bought her no matter what her age I sold I my cock for a few bucks or a bottle or some dope or a place to stay the night or a few minutes out of the rain I sold my pain for nothing but she didn't walk away she said if it's only money she'd take just twelve buclIts I said I only had a dollar and some change she too said she had only a dollar I was just making big plans for that dollar 1 said so was I she laughed and said she decided on a candy bar

she crossed east hastings with me when the light changed then said well I guess 1'11 keep foraging good luck and take care 1 told her she smiled and her blue eyes that looked buried alive brightened a little she raised her cheek towards me I kissed it she said see ya and walked away like she was 85 years old and arthritic the word company means sharing bread sharing the bread of life with someone else and so the young hooker forages blindly for a quick fix for everything but god can break through everything anywhere anytime to anyone god too looks for company

"Man dies because he cannot join the beginning to the end" Plato "Anyone who seriously trys to know himself objectively is accused of selfishness & eccentricity"

"Loss of roots & lack of tradition neuroticize the masses & prepare them for collective hysteria where rationalistic materialism holds sway, states tend to develop less into prisons than into lunatic asylums." Carl June

...

purchases at the expense of the soul" Heraclitus "It is the smallest part of the mind that indulges in the biggest fantasys." Father Sylvan / Gnostic Christian priest

Editor

It's a tough day for me at work today. You'd think a Monday day shift at the front desk is nothing more than your typical experience of being inundated with questions, phone calls, messages, mail lists, transfers, more questions and whatever else comes my way via the open front doors, twenty feet from my "fox-hole" (as I sometimes call it), but today's tough. First of all I couldn't get the memory of Vicky Bones off my mind. After hearing of her tragic death on Mar.4th' I couldn't help reminisce about how I'd tease her on the phone, saying "You mean you're the world famous Vicky Bones" because she'd always get messages or mail. I loved playing with her daughter when Vicky would come in. She was always friendly with me and would smile brightly. For the longest time I had a secret little crush on her. Maybe because she was quiet around the desk when things were insane.. maybe because she was charming. She never ignored me. She was very polite. Warm. Vicky was a beautiful woman in many ways and her death, for me, has become yet another loss to my "street family" here at Carnegie. I guess the minuscule article in the Province or the way in which she died didn't help Just when I was getting to a relaxed thought about the fact, I heard about Morns Broeffle, who died of an overdose that Sunday night. The name rings a bell as loud as one in any cathedral but I can't put a face to it. People were saying "ya you knew him, he'd come here all the time to get his mail and messages." I sit, blank and frustrated. Then on the notice board a picture of Robert Higgs, who 1 had seen countless times over the years but only spoke to him when he

needed something at the front desk. ~ e ' s c o n e too. Three people gone and three different memories or impressions lure about me. I don't know about other people but for me all this is hard. Having lost my 98 year-old Aunt Rosalie three weeks ago was tough enough. Whenever I hear about someone's death here at Carnegie it makes me want to have a photographic memory - to remember the names of every membership card 1 fill every message. 1 begin to think that we're all so fragile. Our lives are so unpredictable. We never know who's going to go or when. Regardless of the outside world's stigmatisms, we are a loving people here. We are hundreds with names and backgrounds, character and feeling. I'm proud of all of us. Even those I don't know! If they're in Carnegie they're part of me. That's a special feeling that will never die. By STEVE ROSE

!!i,

I, M~kcRastlen, have been attending thc Learning Ccntrc for about eight months or so I'm really grateful for starting school. I've learned so rnuch in the past few months It's funny.. you people always say I should do this or that but I never do it. I'm finally doing something I feel good about. I'm also grateful for the fine people I've met I don't know many people here in Vancouver, hit the few I know are good people.

CARNEGIE WALKER'S CLUB 1995 RENEWAL!! Start off thc new season with a stroll through:

Annieville, Delta Discover this old-time fishing village on the Fraser River, learn about the legends and have h n while exercising! ! !

Montreal Canadians Fan-of-the-Month Pristine Goddess China White

FRIDAY, MARCH 24 MEET AT INFO DESK AT 10:OO

You take me to places out of sight - I am pretty and very cute in so many ways Thank God I am here .-

fiutisportutim inclurlerl (privute Cirrnegie couch) Lunch inclutled (Home-murk C'urnegiefoorl) P1eu.w sign up with Murinu, us space is limited. \

\\ \

How many children have you taken? How many mothers are forsaken like needle poke to my love is gone so far away Here is for this kind of day o take my dying fears away od Damn - here for the day Sarah Forever

IMPS YOU UP:

So you know about the hotel. convention centre & extra cruiseship terminal the Vancouver Port Corporation is planning to build with provincial & fdederal approval next door to our crabby little waterfront park - But did you know that the CEO of the Port Corp, Ron Longstaffe, said in a public meeting that he thought the Downtown Eastside would cease to exist in 10 to 15 years?...Later, of course, he told the Vuncouver Sun that he really didnot mean what people heard him say. Maybe he just relaxed too much & what he really thought suddenly popped up in the wrong place? Anyway, 10-1 5 years gives you some idea of the time-span these guys are working with while we take one day at a time.. Larry Beasley, always eager to smooth over the ugly gap between rich & poor, claimed his job as Deputy City Planning Director was to "adjust City policies" so that D.E. residents can continue living in their neighbourhood. So our very existence is made to depend on whether Larry does his job or not?. ..I sure hope he doesn't screw up. The newly-arrived occupants of condoconvenience-living invariably claim they just want to live in a "mixed" neighbourhood (or is that a 'mixed up' neighbourhood?). Anyway, they usually say it's "stimulating" & "interesting" to have the rich mingle with the poor, who are, in this benign version of their

image, considered to be "colourful characters" or entertaining eccentrics. You never know, when you approach one of these condo people, whether they'll laugh at you or have you arrested. The old-age pensioners & young social dropouts who live in small hotel rooms are called S.R.O.'s (single room occupants) - a real estate term used to label an incredibly diverse variety of people. This includes your grandmother with her cats & plants, the recluse in the basement, the derelict father, the single mother, the kids of all ages, the mentally challenged radical in the corner room, the philosopher in the stairwell, the bag lady, artist, musician & poet who is only half crazy & proud of it, the Native north american Indian who is making his or her way through some kind of timewarp, the Chinese, Spanish, African immigrants trying to learn English & still remember who they are... all these people & more, they call SR07s- I suspect they'd rather think of us as SOB'S, but really we're more like UFO's. This is just another way to homogenize & pigeonhole us & put us "on the map." Then

they can elect Gordy Campbell, form posses & take back what was never theirs in the first place. Bryce Rositch, a new DE occupant, is not an SRO. He's a condo-convenience type of guy

who says he & his "staff" are making a 'positive contribution' to the colnmunity by cleaning up the alley & chasing druggies off his property. It may be 'positive' Bryce, but it ain't too human ... This is typical ofthe kind of positive contributions condo stakeholders will make to our community - & control freaks & police mentalitys will applaud them for it; but don't forget, the only reason drug dealers & brutal street versonalities are

where & when-rted. It's like prostitution - they keep calling it the "oldest profession" but when it comes down to cans & bottles you're always a sinner & a suspected dangerous psychotic or something. So when Bryce or anyone else starts acting like a cop, chasing people around, harassing them & "making a positive contribution", they are just adding their self-righteous little

markets for them. The police are paid with public money & trained to enforce laws that criminalize human behaviour, &just in case you think 1'111 soft on crime I want you to know I support the death penalty for murder, as long as it's proven beyond a shadow of a doubt.

But the police, who don't care if a law is right or wrong, just go ahead & do their ':job" - wherever "illegal" substances are found, whoever is associated with them must be treated like scum ... those involved get the message & retaliate. In effect, the police & government criminalize the people, making it virtually impossible for them to maintain honest business practices in relation to these substances that have been purchased & used for so long nobody can really say for sure

drop-in-the-bucket to a tidal wave of disrespect that will blow us all away unless some miracle makes the rich man want to act with a reasonable amount of tolerance & understanding. It's these "fighters for justice" with vigilante attitudes that will punch holes in the side of our D.E. ship & take us to the bottom unless they are restrained. At this point they are an unknown social factor in our volatile neighbourhood, like loose cannons who may strike out at anything strange & unfamiliar to their cherished "goodness" & sense of "responsibility." How about that word "responsibility"? It looks like "response-ability" to me, & do these people have the ability to respond in a naturally human way to lifestyles they've been trying to avoid falling into all their lives? I think not. If you examine the language, all kinds of weird contradictions start to appear because we speak & think in ways that have lost their

roots in meaning. The Ian wargames, for example, i businessmen. The "level playing tleld" they are always demanding for themselves is never extended to local residents (long-term stakeholders) - if it were, we would all be guaranteed equal time at political meetings, but things are arranged so that media can give people the idea that what we say is just "uninformed opinion" & what paid consultants say is "expert adviceM..nolevel playing field here. The people who live here have "hands-on experience" - how could such a thing be interpreted as "uninformed opinion" unless there was a plot to maintain the distorted social masks that allow social feasibility reports to be written up in back rooms with a few cellphone calls to trusted friends? Business personalities are always so proud of their "healthy" competition. They point to nature & say evolution would be impossible without competition - big fish eat little fish & all that. t com~etition'siust a minimal side effect,

an undesirable spin-off of nature's plan. At least that's what it was originally before they pumped it up into the image it has today. Actually, the cooperation & harmony of cells & molecules that upholds all this is incredibly powerful & mostly invisible - it alone maintains life & makes evolution possible. But the business personality confuses "progress" with "evolution". They're not the same at all; in fact they are opposites -one destroys, or at least limits, the other. The overemphasis business heads place on competition, their constant selling of this idea on television & government's willingness to go along with them because competition .J politics, threatens to turn this already sad society into a hellhole of aggravation & insecurity. Personally I think both cooperation & competition are undesirable side effects. Real lifesupport goes much deeper. Rhythms & resonances, psychologically speaking, create harmonys & harmonys create the possibility of dissonance. TQmy musically inclined ear, the co-operation versus competition thing is just so much dissonance, & dissonance (sour notes in a symphony) is directly related to disease. When you keep playing sour notes over & over again, eventually it disrupts the natural harmony of cellular tissue., It's like advertising your sickness, or training yourself to act

sick, bilt it is certainly not going anywhere useful like evolution was supposed to. Many people believe cooperation & competition go hand-in-hand to create progress & that's good enough for them. Unfortunately, we no longer reach out for natural harmony,. Well ...some of us do, but then they call us slaves to our instincts or something. This great thing they call "freedom" has intervene - not real freedom - a kind of image of

freedom that can be applied to anything in order to validate it. The so-called freedom to compete, or co-operate, to contend, to be a shallow happy-face, to be a hypocrite, a backstabber, a takeover artist, a rip-ofc the "freedom" to be dissonant, to play the wrong notes, create destructive process & make a million dollars on real estate, or whatever.

MARTHA: There's always been something wrong. Alwayr-ds long as I can remember. But I never knew it until all this happened.

"Viewing this research activity (psychological research on dreams, sensory deprivation, creativity, hypno-sis & psychedelic drugs), one finding seems of major significance; namely that richness of imagination & so-called regressive experiences are not the exclusive privilege of madmen & artists. Instead, this work indicates quite conclusively that under favourable circumstances, most people can greatly expand their experiential horizons without sacrificing effectiveness in dealing with conventional reality." Charles T. Tart / Altered States of Consciousness (1969) Tart teaches humanistic psychology & experimental psychology at the University of California, studied Electrical Engineering at MIT, & holds a Ph.D. in psychology at the University of North Carolina. He has served as instructor in psychiatry at the University of Virginia Medical School, & as lecturer in psychology at Stanford University. He is the author of over fifty 1scientific DaDers & articles.

Carnegie Character Portrait "Behind the Scenes Prevost" To create a portrait of one of Carnegie's greatest characters was a trying task. But, being given the responsibility to write up a referral for Volztnteer Vuncower for Margaret Prevost, our chosen Volunteer of the Year. inspired me. Donald has been persistent in asking me to continue with my 'Character Sketches', so I thought !'d choose someone who is a very well-known and well-loved person here. It was a great honour to do this article with Margaret and I thank her for her honesty and trust. "I was born in Alert Bay on March 4th, 1950something (1956). My mom's name was Bessie and my dad's was Ernest Prevost. I have 10 brothers and 2 sisters - one died in 1978. I knew my mom until about 1972 but didn't really know her too well because we were taken from home at a young age and placed in foster homes. Most of us were sent to different places. The five oldest boys never went to foster homes because they were old enough to take care of themselves. My grandmother always looked after us when my Dad was out fishing and Mom was drinking. Grandma was the backbone of the family. So when she died that's when the social workers came by and within a week took us away one by one. My three yearold brother Wilfred was first to go. We didn't know what was going on. There was no explanation. They just picked him up and took him away. Dad was out fishing; Mom was home but she was drinking. Nothinrr was ex~lained.The older brothers tried to stor, them.

Within a week we were all placed in foster care or a receiving home. We were at the Alert Bay Receiving Home run by Ethel and Alvin Alfred. They were good people and I was well taken care of. I was there for a month and then we were all put into homes around Alert Bay. My first home was with an Australian lady

named Colleen Johnson. She was a teacher in our school. Today I call her m$ Wter mofhm She's always given me that "you can do it - nothing can stop you" inspiration. She's always been, and still is, a big role model for me. I was with her for maybe 6 months, then she went back to Australia. That waspainful. I ran away just before she left; I couldn't have been older than 1 I . I went back home for 2 days, but my parents were oblivious to me being there because they were so drunken up. Colleen reported that 1was missing but I think she knew that I needed space. She'd &d tojpplain why she had to leave but I was just a kid. Over the years h still keep in contact. So the government scsglped us up again and placed my sisters and I in the Port Alberni School for Girls. It was hard to handle, adjusting to their rules, because in our family we were taught to respect our elders and take carMf the house, but that was ab%wt,it. We used to beat up on other girls and put thumbtacks on their seats! So whyere punished often for disobying rules that we were not accustomed to. We lasted four months there. We were back with our pqents for abouthmontb and then I was sent to a family in Campbell River. 1 was in 13 foster hom&before I was finally placed with a family who actually cared for me.. who weren't in it for the money. Over the 10 years 1was there I got into a lot of sports. I played softball. If it wasn't softball it was lacrosse. If i.4 wasn't lacrosse it was t - & field. I became a pitcher for the Campbell River wome2n'sSoftball T e a i d We toured the island and 'the championship in 1972! We partied it up and i t soon bebamea habit -bfind areason to 'cMqbrate' and drink, especially on the weekend. These activities helped me deal with a &.of the pain I was going through then.

In 1973 1 spent a year in Mqtreal going to school. &feltquite alone there and tried to focus on the language, but couldn't. Sports kept me on track (you don't need to speak French to play sports!), but I asked my fostm mom, Bev#to come and get me. On the way back I was involved in a car accident that was to change my life forever. It was on Nov. 13, 1974, on the Trans-Canada near Thunder Bay. The conditions were very bad, with heavy winds and snow. My mom's fiance tried to pass a truck that was ahead of us. Half way, passing the truck,.we hit a VW van head on that was in the oncoming lane. We slid int~?!& buck, which knocked bs off thb road, rolling 3 times into the ditch. The emergency people came out o'Pmhere; that's how quick they were. They used the "jaws of life" to free Bev (my mom) and when woke up in the hqspital in Thunder Bay in the same sleeping bag I they got mb out I went blank. I*I was in w w e accident occurred. I had a spinal cord injury and couldn't move anything from the shoulders&#a. When they went to operate they told me they had to cut my clothes off because I couldn't move. I b w yelling and screaming because I was in my favourite pair of jeans. but they won. Oh god, they won, I 11 tell ya. The operation they performed on me was called de-compression of the spine. It was to relieve the presst& that was causing the paralysis in my shoulders. It was all up hill from there. YOUknow, it took awhile to get used to not being able to move anything from the waist down. I stubbornly insisted to the doctors in Vancouver that I was going to walk out of there; I went out in a wheelchair, to GF Strong, for rehab. While I was there I was still very insistent on walking. They actually helped me but I needed braces and had to use crutches. It took me a year to get used to all this. At least I felt pretty good about getting oul of that chair. I wasn't one to be told I couldn't do it because I'll prove that I can." (She hasn't changed.) "In GF Strong I met a sweet man named Stan Strong who took me under his wing and eventually introduced me to swimming. I couldn't believe that he could teach me to walk or swim, but that day I went to

Britannia and saw all those people in the water and all those wheelchairs lined up, I had to tty it. I tried it $@&~iouldn't feel my feet. Two volunteers held me up and eventually let me go and there 1 was, standing alone, BY MYSELF!!! So I got involved with the group there and got into wheelchair sports. 1 entered into the BC Games in Kelowna in 1976 - and came out with 3 gold medals, 2 silver and 1 bronze.. all in swimming. Stan, and others in wheelchairs, helped me to understand the philosophy that the wheelchair is only metal: I still have my brains, my arms; other people don't even have that. After the BC Games, my confidence arid dignity came back. I proved to myself that anything can be overcome if 1 put my mind to it. Between 1976 and 1982 I was involved in other wheelchair sporting events which took me all over Canada & the U.S.;then Alert Bay sponsored me to go to France where my team placed 5th overall in women's wheelchair basketball. In 1982 at the International Games for Wheelchair Athletes, my fiance, Julian, proposed to me at Dalhousie University. We were married on Oct. 16, 1982. He was also in a wheelchair and it was televised on CBC as "Love on Wheels". It lasted six months. We had been together for four years prior to that.

In between 1982 and 1989 I was here, there and everywhere. What's an alcoholic to do? I started drinking again, with the sports. I wasn't into drugs. These weren't happy times, as a lot o my childhood issues returned - trymg to understand why my parents still didn't want us around. I hated my mother and father for years because 1 couldn't figure out why she'd let those people take us away. So the drinking deadened the pain but eventually stopped me from being Margaret. I was in the scene down here on a daily basis. It basically took over. The breaking point was when I was taken back home by a family member. Too many things happened to me that had happened to me before, when I was young, and I broke down. Things soon brewed to a point where I couldn't take it anymore and 1 tried to take my own life. I ended up in St.Paul's Hospital. I realised that I had to take a look at myself and honestly reach out and ask for help. That's when my GP suggested I go to Round Lake, near Kamloops. So I called up Bob and Diane and told them what I did and they were very supportive. In 1991 I went to Round Lake. My doctor gave me the ability to bring my voice out from deep within in going there. Once I was in Round Lake I began to deal with the bad things of my past and understand that today is today. The only person who could hurt me was me. It helped me to deal with what had happened to me as a child. The power I'd given my "abuser" was given back to me. Getting involved with the community here was and still is the best thing I could do for myself. In looking back at all that happened to me in 1991, and considering how I feel today, I'm proud and happy. I have a voice. I'm active and stronger than I've ever been in my whole life." In telling her story, the incredible inspiration that Margaret gives to us here at Carnegie should come as no surprise at all. She is a valuable person who rightly deserves to be Volunteer of the Year. But, when 1

asked her how she feels about this, she said, "That's a loaded question. When I was first told about it I said 'Ya, right.' I really have mixed feelings about being volunteer of the year because what I do here gives me pleasure; to be a voice for people who may or may not have a voice. I enjoy the things I do and the gratitude is good but to t ~ and y comprehend being volunteer of the year is tough. It's like when you look up at the sky you see stars but you know there's something behind the stars. I'm honoured and grateful that I was chosen." I also asked her if anything would ever take her away from the Downtown Eastside and she had this to say: "Since my Dad died a couple of years back, my dream has always been to go back home and help the people on the reserve. But I don't ever see that happening because my home is here. I was born in Alert Bay but my home is here in the D.E. with 10,000 people. I'm proud of my home and I feel fulfilled." TO

By Steve Rose on Margaret's behalf. ~>~:~:$:;9+~:$:$::<;::::

Orar S i r and/or

Madame:

I am compelled t o e x t e n d t o you my warmest complements f o r t h e e x c e l l e n t b e h a v i o r o f your agent, W i n t e r . L i k e an i d e a l o l d f r i e n d o f t h e f a m i l ) i t p a i d i n f r e q u e n t v i s i t s , s l e p t over a c o u p l e o f n i g h t s on very few occass i o n s , and b r o u g h t p r e s e n t s f o r t h e c h i l d r e n (snow f l a k e s ) .

I t d i d n ' t make a p e s t o u t of i t s e l f b) hanging about f o r weeks on end, and was g e n e r a l l y a r e f e s h i n g l y p l e a s e n t guest. Keep up t h e good work. With k i n d e s t regards, Woodrow O f l o o s j a w (President o f the Lower Mainland A n t i Corporate Welfare League (LMAWL))

GAY and LESBIAN Drop-in 1st & 3rd Thursday of each month

P o t t e r y Room C a r n e g i e Community C e n t r e 401 Main Street

cause 1 haven't seen him for awhile...but today. corner b f main and hastings...how ya doin keith? ...not too good bud ...1 got hiv... keith's older than 1 am...closer to 60...skinny as a bus pole...cheeks sunken...teeth almost gone... face greyer than the sky...I'm not sick yet he says...maybe I got another 5 or 10 years...I'm dyin anyway ...but this way I get a hundred more dollars a month from welfare...it shoots my sex life all to hell ...but ...oh well ...takes away one thing gives another...keith turns in at owl drugs...says he's picking up a script for codeine...starts in the door...stops and comes back and says...I been talkin all about how I am ...what about you? ...how you doin?...I'm okay keith...still straight and sober...you look good he says...but I'm never going to be straight again if I can help it ...just gonna stay haywire ti1 the end ...then we part ... ...I think about how less than 3 years ago... 1 looked worse than keith does today ...skinnier...more like a skeleton ...more like death ...more flashes of terror in my blue eyes than in his ...1 envied his health then ...his ability to handle alcohol and narcotics better than 1 could...1 was always a lot sicker than keith was...when he ran a shooting gallery down the hall from my room ...when I used to shoot-up with his old used needles and blood ran down my arms...but I don't have hiv ...

...when keith and I met ...in the summer ...both of us straight for awhile...getting fat ...he had a job he liked...he felt good...he was good to be with ...played the horses once in a while...1 couldn't understand it ...and when I was getting straight for real ...1 envied him again ...1 hurt like a bastard for months...like somebody was beating on my bones and tnuscles with a ballpeen hammer...and using a blowtorch fueled with depression and fear and rage on my nerves and thoughts and spirit... I envied keith when I'd see him higher than a kite floating down the street...able to smile and crack a few jokes ...my jaw was so tight it fel like I was biting a sidewalk...I didn't believe I could ever feel good again ...and that was okay as long as I never had to go back to the inferno from which I was saved...the inferno consuming keith today ...

...keith used to show me clippings of his father...a well-known politician in alberta...1 showed keith the clipping about my father...hanging himself in jail.. .we'd sit there stoned...like 2 little boys...scared in the night without their daddies but lying about it...I thought my rejection was worse but you can't compare tragedies...keith's father on his death-bed told keith he was a rotten son ...a piece of shit... ...keith's not the only one or the closest to me of those I've known ...dying without ever really coming to

life...but how to get to life?...that's the question I've had to find the answer to ...1 can't find it in myself. ..I've been too long in love with death ...I can't find it in ...society's death disguises...or in the lives of those who pretend they're never gonna die...who believe what they do each day makes them immune ...

...laying in a detox a couple of years ago...burned-out and burning up ...nobody in the world able to help me at that moment ...not able to help myself...only thing I could think of...run back into the night ...into the street...find keith...instead...from somewhere...the thought came to me ...say a prayer...any other time in my life...I'd rather have been dead...than do something so...uncool ...so humiliating...but I prayed...and meant it ...and was relieved...1 was still in pain ...I was still angry...but I wasn't afraid...I was no longer alone...and today ...oh yeah I pray ...I just saw keith ...he's got hiv ...I say ...our father... Bud Osborn

Bureaucratic red tape traps popular grandpa ROBERT SARTI

daughter stripped of her clothes. "He is fed up with those problems, and doesn't want to go through it He escaped the war in El Salvador, again." Only a week ago, friends and comonly to land up in the middle of the drug scene on Vancouver's East Hast- munity groups held a tamale dinner i n g ~Street. and passed around the hat so GonBut now Salomon Gonzalez is fac- zalez, who is on welfare, could pay ina what seems to him the most mvs- the $500 Immigration fee to apply to tifj;ing foe of all - Canadian immi- remain in Canada on humanitarian gration department red tape. and compassionate grounds. After three years in Canada, the 6 8 But this week he was told he can't year-old grandfather is facing depor- apply until h e pays the new $975landtation. ing fee, imposed retroactively by fedImmigration h a s rejected his eral Finance Minister Paul Martin as refugee application and is trying to a deficit buster in the federal budget send him back to El Salvador on the only two weeks ago. grounds that the civil war in that Cen- In a further painful turn of the tral American country is over and bureaucratic screw, Gonzalez can't he is no longer in danger. even apply for a government loan to "I can't understand all this," he said pay the fee because, as of Friday, Friday in halting English, shuffling the loan-application kits were not through a sheaf of letters h e has yet available. received from immigration officials. .When he first came to Vancouver. "key don't accept me. Why do they Gonzalez took English lessons in a do this to me?" storefront school on East Hastings, Gonzalez, a former union official in dodging the drug dealers to get to El Salvador, said all he wants to do is class. live out his years babysitting his Since the actual deportation order grandchildren in Vancouver. could come at a ~ l ytime, he will have As for the immigration depart- to give up his apartment and move ment's contention that El Salvador in with his son's family in a Downis safe: 'The men with the guns [the town Eastside co-bp, taking over the death squads] are still there.People bedroom of one of his grandchildren. Lawyer Shirlene McGovern said still die. I am afraid, so dangerous." Now he dreads hearing the knock permission to stay in Canada on on his Canadian door that means -humanitarian or compassionate immigration has come to take him grounds can be granted if the appliinto custody. . ,% , . cant has roots here and would sufHis son and daughter-in-lab were fer undue hardship if deported. given refugee status and are now Considering his community supCanadian citizens. port and his grandfatherly devotion, "At his age, why should he have to that shouldn't be hard to prove, she go back? said daughter-in-lawDomin- said. ga Palomino. "Salomon is a total sweetheart, and "He has seen so many killed, he was it would be nice to s e e him stick beaten himself by the soldiers and his around," she said. Vancouver Sun

W H O IS A CHRISTIAN? I am writing this with the hope that 1 can shed a little light into apparent misunderstandings regarding Christianity, as portrayed by certain writers in the newsletter. Primarily, though it is in the context of concern for community in the Downtown Eastside, that I make these remarks. As I understand ~hristidnity,one of its basic perceptions is that everyone without exception is capable of extraordinary destructiveness, lovelessness, and self-centredness; yet the principles of Christianity offer real hope in its ideals of self-sacrifice, and love and service to other human beings, especially those without power and resources in society. Personally, I shudder to imagine what life in the Downtown Eastside would be like, what my life would be like, if all the Christians down here suddenly vacated the area. Off the top of my head, I think of the First United Church, the LJnion Gospel Mission, Inner City Ministries, the Salvation Army facilities, St. James Church, St.Paul's and the Franciscan Brothers and Sisters of the Atonement, as places where Christians have quite literally devoted their lives to sustaining this community on a daily basis, over a very long period of time. The activities of the people involved cannot be separated from the Christianity they live, since the specifics of their faith are the basis and strenah of their commitment, and indeed make their commitment possible. I have been guilty of the most prejudicial response to Christianity myself, and have tarred all Christians with negative attributes; but I have begun asking myself 'Who is a Christian?' IS it Bill Vander Zalm, former Premier of

BC, who cut services for mothers on welfare and told them instead to "find Jesus"? Or is a Christian anyone of the people at St.Pau17s Church, who quietly live to the best of their ability Jesus' message: "Love your neighbour as yourself '? When I look for inspiration among my contemporaries, I often turn to the life and writings of Ernesto Cardinal. Cardinal is a Catholic priest, as well as one of the world's foremost poets. He was Minister of Culture with the Sandinista government in Nicaragua, and has established a religious community for the poor. Yet, it seems like the most publicized Christians are those like Pat Robertson, an evangelist in the United States, who uses Christianity as a cover for his attempt to secure worldly power - a contradiction of Christianity. When I ask 'who is a Christian7 have I thought the abominations of a pedophilic priest representative of Christianity; or do I think of Mother 'Teresa who, when 1 heard her speak many years ago, said, "I want you to give something that hurts. I want you to give love in your own homes " And when I think of Mother Teresa, which Mother Teresa do 1 mean? The living emblem of compassion for "the poorest of the poor7'or a Mother Teresa who came to Vancouver, visited a chapter of the order she fou~ded, which here was a home for single mothers, and who removed the washing machines and dryers because she believed in simplicity of living, but misunderstood cultural differences between Canada and India - and so killed the program? Who is a Christian? Those who murder

abortion doctors in direct opposition to the Christian admonition "Thou shalt not kill"? or a Downtown Eastside priest who enabled me to visit my son in Oregon, after I had not seen him in years? This priest drove me to Oregon, paid all expenses both ways, including motel accommodations, solely to provide me with the opportunity to re-unite with my son, in what perhaps was the most important occasion in my life. And when I think of community, I think things like this: that while I know almost all the top Nazis came from Christian homes, as soon as these men gained power in Germany, they regarded the Christian churches, quite accurately, as their only serious opposition; and set out to destroy the churches and replace them with their own version of paganism. However, it was an underground Christian community which rendered much of the lifesaving help in Germany's forbidding circumstances.

Christian principles can and have sustained community in the most destructive and adverse circumstances. I am not unmindhl of all those among us who are not Christian, but who put into our everyday lives the self-sacrifice, helpfulness, compassion, love and caring for others, characteristic of the best principles of Christianity, and who in fact live these much better than many self-professed Christians. The Downtown Eastside is being relentlessly attacked by the forces of greed and destruction,,Resistance to these evils will depend upon recognising our strenghs as a community. Certainly one significant and vital opponent of those who would degrade and displace us, will always be discovered in etforts of Christians to simply live the message of their God, under any circumstances. By BUD OSBORN (This has been shortened. References can be found throughout history of people doing incredible things, being spiritually exalted and having a profound influence on the lives of many. Such an extensive report could be made by followers of many religions. The perspective can get muddied or even lost amid the actions of the Vanderzalms, Robertsons, those responsible for residential schools and the notorious cruelty of Christians. The one article that prompted this was described as "hate literature"; it was in the last Newsletter and was a reprint of a list of the deaths caused by God in the Christian bible. There is no "hate" but amid the exemplary actions of the dedicated few are the manipulative, exploitative greed-driven drivel of the "selfproclaimed" adherents of any belief. No one is exempt from scrutiny, but hypocrisy is telling. - Editor)

b) to impress a woman? Nah ... it's partly the above reasons but there's more... I write to help and serve the reading communty. This is not a narcissistic endeavor, but rather an attempt to strenghen the argumentative abilities of the readers; to help them to rationalise the often strange situations that confront them. Writing is, as well, revenge by proxy. Beauty and fame are deceptive. To an insect, a sundew plant or a Venus flytrap look attractive and appealing enough, but once the insect lands on the plant's lethal threshold, it's all but too late for the insect to reflect on its mistake. The same goes for us... we are the insects and high level politics are the carnivorous plants. My greatest fear is that one day, I'll write an

article so outrageous that I'll be lynched! I once wrote an article about how the Yellow Pages (until the 93-94 year) began with the business listing Abattoir and ended with Zoo. Being listed by types of businesses beginning with A to Z.. It continued with the thought of how this is linked to Desmond Morris' 7Ae Human Zoo. But I ended the article by slamming all small businesses in general so it was never published. Interestingly enough, maybe BC Tel got hold of the field notes (journalism lingo for the pre-printed pre-edited manuscript) and now the Yellow Pages begins with Aboriginal Goods instead of Abattoir. Well, this is your yellow journalist, your Xanthic reporter, signing off 'ti1 next time.

Friends won by favours are easily lost to others willing to do more for them.

Joe Paul

Canada, what does i t mean a p r i d e o f union with m i l l i o n s o f other p e o p l e , o r a r i g h t w i n g m i n d c o n t r o l o f t h e masses. Ask any r e a s o n a b l y i n t e l l i g e n t B r i t i s h Columbian what r e a l b e n e f i t comes f r o m b e i n g a p a r t o f "Canada" o t h e r t h a n n a t i o n a l p r i d e , and y o u ' l l be l u c k y t o g e t any r e s p o n s e o t h e r t h a n a p u z z l e d s t a r e o r t h e word hockey. T h e r e - a r e t h r e e d u b i o u s b e n e f i t s B r i t i s h Columbians g e t from c o n f e d e r a t i o n : 1. Revenue s h a r i n g 2 . The armed f o r c e s 3. The t r a n s - c a n a d a highway. Canada i s an economic c o n c e p t i n t e n d e d t o c r e a t e more w e a l t h f o r t h e few g r e e d - d r i v e n e l i t e o n t h e b a c k s o f t h e dumb masses, who d o l t i s h l y a d m i r e them.

The dumb masses how r i d i c u l o u s we a r e . We f i n d no c o n c e r n w i t h t h e f a c t t h a t one man, Conrad B l a c k , f r o n t i n g f o r h i s m u l t i n a t i o n a l e l i t i s t gangs, owns b o t h o f V a n c o u v e r ' s d a i l y newspapers. We a r e t i c k l e d and amused when A r t h u r G r i f f i t h s o f f e r s u p V a n c o u v e r ' s d e c e n t r e p u t a t i o n t o t h e c o r p o r a t e death-merchants7 G e n e r a l M o t o r s , v i a t h e new hockey p a l a c e , and t h e n f l i p s h i s supposed c o n t r o l l i n g i n t e r e s t s t o h i s American c o h o r t s . 4.

Associated Press

WASHINGTON - General Motors C-K pickups involved in fires 150 people have died a s a result of side-&pact fires in the trucks, Pena said, and many others suffered serious htvrnc

'This design was selected for marketing reasons," Pena commented, adding &was not changed for 15 vears despite "evidence that G M was aware that this design made these trucks rnoru!&ux& . rn were QCCUTTIIUI.

Con1 t o n n e x t page

Canada- its middle classes rise up and scream about taxes, while children like Mindy Tran are taken from their yards and left raped and murdered in some filthy swamp, while the federal justice system waits with a briefcase full of "rightsfffor her killer. The Canadian justice system- new laws are created every year to encourage lawbreakers, and in turn, leave less incentive for people who might otherwise live their entire lives without committing a major crime. British Columbian judges are forced to live by Canada's federal laws, while we sit back and desensitize ourselves when one of Ralph Klein's rejects crosses the border and kidnaps a beautiful young lady and leaves her raped body decomposing in the canyons. Police and judges are still giving criminal records to people in possession of the nature-grown plant marijuana.

Why? Because the

Canadian federal, capitalist inspired, law refuses to budge out of fear that hemp will cause the elitist capitalists to lose money. So, how long do we stupidly wave the Canadian flag with all its repressive and evil controls. The realization must come that from the Rocky Mountains to the Pacific ocean, we are, logistically, our own people, and thus, should be free to control, for ourselves, the laws of our communities for the protection and well-being of ourselves. The reality is that we have more potential economic interests with the Pacific Rim countries than we ever had or ever will have with the federal capitalists on the other side of the Rockies. It's time to say good-bye to right wing flunkies like Ralph Klein and Preston Manning, and look beyond Greenwich to the West. Garry Gust

DOWNTOWN EASTSIDE YOUTH ACTIVITIES

STD CLINIC - 219 Main; Monday - Friday, loam - 6pm. NEEDLE EXCHANGE - 221 Main; 9am - 8pm every day. Needle Exchange Van - on the street every night, 6pm-2am (except Mondays, 6pm-midnight)

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l l e l p i n t h e D o m t o w ~E a s t s i d e ( f u n d i n g )

Articles represent the views of individual contributorsand not of the Association.

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NEED HELP ?

Deadline NEXT ISSUE 27 March

The Downlown Easlslde Residents' Associalion can help you wilh: @

a a a

any welfare problem Information on legal rights dispules wilh landlords unsafe living condilions . Income lax UIC problem finding houslng opening a bank account

Come Into the DEAA office at 9 East Haslings St. or phone us a1 682-0931,

DERA HAS BEEN SERVING THE DOWNTOWN EASTSIDE FOR 21 YEARS.

The Fight For The Carnegie Community Centre

Part 8

Jean Swanson Joins D E W

Jean Swanson was slinging beer in a downtown east beer parlour when DERA started. She was a single parent with two small children, and she didn't know much about politics in those days. She did know that it was better to be a union member than not, because union workers were paid more than non-union workers, and she had heard of Bruce Eriksen, the scourge of beer parlour managers who forced their waiters to overserve the customers. "Watch out for Eriksen," Jean's boss told her. "He'll report you if you break the law." Yet that same boss pressured his workers to push beer on the customers. When Jean asked for five beers for her tray, he'd give her ten. The customers would take the extra beers, not because they wanted them but to help her out. They knew a full tray of beer was heavy, and they knew she couldn't take full glasses back to the bar. Jean remembered one old-timer in his 80's who used to come to the beer parlour to socialize. After two beers he'd wet his pants, and she would have to refuse him service. One day he became angry and yelled at her, "Where else can I go and meet my friends?" On another occasion Eriksen came in with a woman who looked too young to be in a beer parlour. Jean asked her for her identity card,

Libby was old enough to be there. Jean knew that Eriksen was doing good things in the Downtown Eastside. She had seen too many customers who'd been served until they wcre too drunk and then tossed into the street. She had read the Downtown East newspaper, and had seen Eriksen on television speaking about the clean-up of Skid Road. Shc thought that she would like to bc part of the positive energy associated with EERA. One day Jean saw Eriksen having lunch at the Ovaltine Cafe Gathering her courage together, she sat down at his table and asked him for a job. They talked for a few minutcs, and Jean volunteered the information that she had been editor of her high school newspaper. She also had a degree in history from a university in Oregon. "O.K., give us six weeks to get our grant money and we'll see what we can do," Eriksen said. Jean Swanson started working for DERA in the summer of 1974. In some respect Jean Swanson and Libby Davies played the traditional supportive role of women in relation to Bruce Eriksen, the charismatic leader. Davies and Swanson,

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however, could be as strong and determ~ned as he was. While they shared the tasks to be done, each person had skills that contributed to the success of DERA. Eriksen was a superb street worker. Davies, as treasurer, was a co,npetent administrator, and Swanson, as sccrctary, was an excellent writer. sometimes Davies and Swanson would literally push Eriksen into the street because he was driving them crazy in the office with his obsessive intensity, yet they stayed together. They weren't the kind to give up on a ~roject.They were committed to justice in the Downtown Eastside, and they expected others to be as committed as they were. The cause was far Inore important than their personal

"It is extremely important to tell children fairy tales & legends & to integrate religious ideas into adults, because these things are necessary symbolized with whose help unconscious contents can be channeled into consciousness, interpreted & integrated Failing this, their energy flows into consciousness unexpectedly & intensifies the contents of the mind to pathological proportions. We then get apparently groundless phobias & obsessions crazes, idiosyncrasies, hypochondriac ideas & intellectual perversions camouflaged in social, religious or political disguises."

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disagreements. It was a bond that held them, and many other DERA workers, together, even when the organisation had no money. Solidly behind them was the DERA membership, which involved over three thousand Downtown Eastside residents before the 1970's were over. The Association met once a month, and the members fully discussed the issues that were important to them. Eriksen, Davies and Swanson could have done nothing without the support of the DERA membership.

Crew meeting and auditions at 4-00-pm, Thursday, March 16,3rd floor Auditions, rehearsals, set design, costu~nes props, and other interesting things to be done. Come on out and let us know you want to be part of it!

for PEPPERCORN PIRA TES script. See Windy or Dora

everything. His theories seem outdated today. He, like George Orwell when he was writing the future-history novel 1984, never foresaw I mentioned a fear of being lynched for my the tremendous cultural impact of music and writing. Writing is like being the initiate in drugs that was to appear in the 1960's. one of the ritual dances of the Cannibal Marx said, "Religion is the opiate of the Society of the Kwakiutl Indians. The masses." But today, in the late 20th century candidate, when he performs his initiation Downtown Eastside, it is rather that "Opiates dance, falls into a frenzy and eats human are the religion of the masses!" flesh. But if he makes a ritual mistake the In Marx's time the proletariat and the whole crowd tears him to pieces. bourgeoisie were distinct social classes, but That's why I will try to gingerly approach today the bourgeoisie is the proletariat! the topic of this article, Karl Marx. Marx was influenced by Georg Hegel's Karl Marx lived from 1 8 1 8-1 883. He was a dialectics. Hegel believed that history contemporary of Andrew Carnegie, this progessed in a dialectical pattern of thesis building and newsletter's namesake. followed by antithesis followed by synthesis. Marx was best known for his pamphlet, The Sort of how the far-left '60s was followed by Communist Manifesto, but later he wrote a the far-right 80's. Marx believed in a much larger tome called Das Capital. Dialectical Materialism, the idea that it was Many Marxists really have not read every not as important to use the dialectical method last word that Marx wrote. And like many of of argument to reconcile any ontological or us they have chosen to follow some of the philosophical dilemma as it is to figure out a things Marx talked about while deliberately way of getting food on the table and clothes disregarding some other things he wrote. on the back. Mao-tse Tung was influenced by And Marx, after all, never did claim to know Marx7sideas of dialectical materialism and - utilized it in his agricultural reforms in China in the mid 20th century. '. Marx started as a socialist writer but later became heavily entrenched in the production and profit formulas of capitalism. The Carnegie Newsletter proclaims a socialist agenda, yet old Andrew was a capitalist! Go figure. And his name is emblazoned on the front page: CARNEGIE. If he was alive today and read the Newsletter, he might be outraged at the political climate here! KARL MARX

The Yellow Journalist DEAN KO

Preston Manning HadA Dad Preston Manning had a dad, Who was just as right-wing As the son he had. Both men had the very same name, Both men shot to Albertan fame. Let's look first at Manning senior, He was once Alberta's premier. From '43 to 1968, Manning senior was the state. Social Credit was his party His right-wing grip was hale and hearty. But then in 1971 Social Credit was undone. Peter Lougheed swept to power For this was now the Tory hour.

Manning junior crept away From the whole political fray. But he vowed there'd be a time When his right-wing views would shine. And then in 1987 Canadians weren't in seventh heaven. Manning junior crept back in view To start a party with a Few. The oilmen chipped in quite a bit, They knew Reform would be a hit. For Mulroney had made quite a mess And Tory voters way out west Wanted a party hard and tough Don't be nice to Quebec, they dais Be tough. And what's all this with the GST? Alberta's always been sales-tax free

Then Mulroney's constitutional deals Were turned down as Tory steals. The Reformers were on the rise It brought a gleam to Preston's eyes. Don't bring in Asians, Reform implied We want immigants with blue eyes Get tough with those who break the law Don't be kind to the poor. Gut social programs to the bone Be hard-hearted as a stone. Then came Election '93, In Alberta and B.C. The Reformers won many seats They were now the ones to beat. So Manning senior sired a son, Who may not yet be number one. And Manning junior may not take power, Yet from him the Liberals cower. For they'll cut probvams one by one, So Preston Manning has really won. So Preston Manning had a dad Who was just as right-wing as the son he had. Dave Jaffe

Whoever sees unity or "planetary consciousness" in this phenomena, sees only a daydream which the instrumentalities of science allow everyone to share."

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I consider any social system that prevails in the modem world, I can't, so help me God, see it as anything but a conspiracy of the rich to advance their own interests under the pretext of organizing society. They think up all sorts of tricks & dodges, first for keeping safe their illgotten gains, & then for exploiting the poor by buying their labour as cheaply as possible. Once the rich have decided that these tricks & dodges shall be officially recognized by society (which includes the poor as well as the rich) they acquire the force of law. Thus an unscrupulous minoritv is led bv its insatiable meed to monopolize what would have been enough to supply the

LIBERALS DISMANTLE COUNTRY THEY CLAIM TO HAVE BUILT Years after they fought free trade, the ~iberalssecond budget does everything it can to harmonize Canada with the United States. This budget goes far fi~rtherin selling-of'f Canada than any Tory budget dared. Paul Martin released a budget that ensures the ongoing profits of the banks, but does nothing to fix the hardship, poverty and inequality especially for young people, women, and native people - caused by massive unemployment. By continuing to slash social programs and public services, and refbsing to fix the unfairness in the tax system or deal with interest rates, this budget guarantees standstill. Rising levels of personal poverty and hardship will continue.

ECONOMIC DIRECTION * the government will never meet its targets for deficitldebt seduction because they gut social spending and job creation and refuse to deal with the real problem: the unrealistic and anti-job inflation goals set by the Bank of Canada; * the government has not addressed the possibility of lowering real interest rates by one percentage point to simulate economic growth; * deficit reduction is happening at the expense of social programs and public services rather than addressing the real issues of monetary policy and the revenue crisis caused by massive unemployment and a regressive taxation system.

SELLING-OFF CANADA The government has decided to privatize: Petro-Canada Canadian National Transport Canada's Air Navigation System (the air traffic control system); Canada Communication Group (formerly the Queen's Printer); The government may privatize: the National Resources Canada; inspection and regulation of agricultural products inspection and regulation of food products weather services; fisheries. CUTTING JOBS * government cuts of $25 billion over the next three years will cost between 500,000 and 870,000 jobs; * no targets have been set for job creation in the short or long term; * unemployment is likely to remain above 10%; * they are cutting 45, 000 jobs from the federal government alone, which will cost thousands in spin-off losses; * massive cuts in the public sector will mean higher levels of unemployment and poverty for women. TAX REFORM * regardless of all the Liberal talk of "tax fairness", tax increases continue to reward the rich at the expense of the poor; " while there was not an increase in inc&&e taxes, the single biggest tax, on gasoline, will be regressive, hitting the poor hardest; * although they introduce a national wealth transfer tax on large inheritances, it

won't come into effect until 1999; * a one year tax on banks is offensive, given the billions in profits made; * the government figures don't account for the billions they will lose as a result of increased unemployment.

IJSERFEE FOR IMMIGRATION: THE NEW HEAD TAX

* the government is introducing a fee of $975 for people applying to immigrate to Canada; * this fee will apply to both immigrants and refugees; * this fee will act as a barrier to people from developing countries entering Canada and amounts to an elitist and racist attack on the most vulnerable people trying to attain Canadian citizenship. BLOCK FUNDING * this budget lumps funding for social services (welfare), post-secondary education (PSE), healthcare, Established Program Financing (EPF) and the Canada Assistance Plan (CAP), into one block funding grant to the provinces, called the Canada Social Transfer (CST); * on top of the massive cuts to these programs in recent years, the federal government has slashed another $4.5 billion (the Reform budget would have cut $3.5 billion); * in exchange for the further cuts in funding, the provinces are being given increased ability to set their own principles for such programs, and will now be free to introduce programs like workfare and more and more user fees for healthcare, * the federal government will not be able to enforce national standards under block Gnding, service from province to province will difTer dramatically, much like the situation n the United States

UNEMPLOYMENT INSURANCE * after years of cutbacks, another $700 million will be cut from UI in 1996-97; where this money will come from has yet to be announced; * Axworthy's reforms for UI and other social programs will reduce the overall size of the program by 10%; * instead of fighting the problem of unemployment, they have chosen to attack the unemployed; * there has been no move to expand UI to protect the increasing number of peopled working part-time or contract jobs. POVERTY * the budget will significantly increase levels of poverty, especially in the Atlantic region where cuts to UI and the Atlantic Region Freight Subsidy will devastate local economies, * government took no responsibility for job creation, housing, income security, or child care at a time when over 3 million Canadians are living in poverty. CHILD CARE * there is NO MENTION WHATSOEVER OF CHILD CARE IN THIS BUDGET; there isn't even reference made to the promises in the Red Book; * this is a massive blow to the fight for women's equality and for poor people's chances of re-entering the job market in any fair way. ActionBulletin

- Action Canada Network

Liberal Finance Minister Paul Martin has tabled a budget for the bond traders, currency speculators, stock brokers and other f a t cats. Martin's budget projects HIGH UNEMPLOYMENT, fewer public and private sector jobs, MORE CUTBACKS to social services and medicare, higher provincial and municipal taxes, new RACIST HEAD TAXES for immigrants, doubled and tripled tuition fees for students, EVlGTlON for farmers, and FEWER GOVERNMENT SERVICES for those who can't pay up front. THE LIBERALS, who already BROKE THEIR PROMISE to end the CST, are now throwing their promise of day care into the garbage. And RICH Canadians, whose LOW TAXES and high interest rates caused the deficit and debt, will continue to GET OFF SCOT FREE.

"The Liberal government and Paul Martin have succeeded in bringing down the budget that former Conservative finance minister Michael Wilson always wanted to craft." - Jeffrey Simpson, Globe & Mail

Now is the time to say NO to the budget and YES to an alternative that puts people first and profiteers second. Join our fightback against the budget. g Sponsored by the Committee to Defend Public Services

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The L i b e r a l budget attacks you

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Tell the federal government what you think about a budget that gives in to Wall Street and sends the bill to Main Street.

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Sunday, March 19 March a t 1 pm, Art Gallery, Georgia St. Rally a t 2 pm, Vogue Theatre, 918 Granville St.