concordia’s independent newspaper running out of since 1980’s since 1980 Non-stop Pop • Special festival insert volume 30, issue 7 • tuesday, september 29, 2009 • thelinknewspaper.ca volume 30, issue 7 • tuesday, the link • september 29, 2009 • thelinknewspaper.ca/news news 03 contents Petitions to leave CFS from sea to sea 4 news Tortured, trapped and ignored: Student exodus threatens to break national organization Abdelrazik speaks • JUSTIN GIOVANNETTI of the defederation campaign at Carleton University, said that vol- After weeks of rumblings and unteers helping him organize a 10 features rumours, it’s official: students at petition have been harassed and 13 universities across Canada are threatened. Project Genesis reaches collecting signatures to break off “Former [Carleton University across borders from the Canadian Federation of Student Association] executives Students. have been following petitioners All told, nearly 167,000 of the around and calling them liars. national student lobby group’s They have also started their own 13 fringe arts 500,000 student members are at counter-petition,” said Tester. risk of leaving. “They have been making all kinds When blood and gore can be A petition campaign has been of wild accusations against us and really special active at Concordia University for personal attacks have been nearly two weeks, collecting sig- thrown at me and other volun- natures from both undergraduate teers. This is unfortunate and 14 literary arts and graduate students on two sad.” separate petitions. If both are Despite the opposition, Tester Canadian science fiction: signed by 10 per cent of stu- said the petition was “on the what a CON*CEPT dents—about 3,600 signatures— cusp” with 2,200 signatures the Concordia Student Union and already collected and only 50 left the Graduate Student Association to find. The campaign only lasted A map of the schools with active petition campaigns. GRAPHIC GINGER COONS 17 sports could face referendums to leave two weeks. the CFS next semester. “We have had enough of the education act. Student governments Greg Johannson, the presi- [CFS] and how they waste stu- Although she could not facing petitions: Men’s rugby victory marred by dent of the Canadian Federation dent money,” Tester said. “Their answer The Link's questions con- Concordia Student Union, Graduate bone-crushing injury of Students’ Quebec branch, is lobbying efforts are totally unsuc- cerning specifics about the act or Student Association of Concordia, faced with the possible demise of cessful. They have been running how it would be introduced, she Post-Graduate Student Society of his organization as all four mem- Drop Fee campaigns for 28 years did provide a report released by McGill, Dawson Student Union, 21 opinions ber schools in Quebec face peti- and tuition fees have gone up in the Canadian Association of Carleton University Students’ tions. Ontario every year since then. University Teachers in 2007. Association, Central Student “Our members have the right “In provinces where there has “This is part of a general call Association at U of Guelph, Arcan and Falardeau to re-examine their membership been a tuition freeze, the quality for increased post-secondary University of Windsor Students’ remembered as Quebec icons in our organization,” said of education has gone down and funding at the federal level,” Alliance, Trent Central Student Johannson. “There has been education has become less acces- Giroux-Bougard said. Association, Kwantlen Student some dissatisfaction with the sible,” he continued. When asked if the press Association, U of Victoria’s Student CONCORDIA’S INDEPENDENT NEWSPAPER CFS-Q and CFS national. I take it Katherine Giroux-Bougard, release was related to the 13 peti- Society, Graduate Students’ Volume 30, Number 7 editorial: (514) 848-2424 that is why the petitions are being the national chairperson of the tions against the CFS, Giroux- Association of the University of Tuesday, Sept. 29, 2009 ext. 7405 arts: (514) 848-2424 ext. organized.” CFS, disseminated a press release Bougard answered, “I am not Calgary, University of Regina Concordia University 5813 Hall Building, Room H-649 ads: (514) 848-2424 ext. Other petition campaigns have on Sept. 23—two weeks after the knowledgeable on that issue, but Students’ Union, Society of Graduate 1455 de Maisonneuve Blvd. W. 8682 Montreal, Quebec H3G 1M8 fax: (514) 848-4540 seen more friction with student first CFS petition stories broke— I would recommend that you Students at the University of Western business: (514) 848-7406 government. Dean Tester, leader calling for a new post-secondary check your sources on that.” Ontario editor-in-chief student press liaison TERRINE FRIDAY OPEN news editor photo editor JUSTIN GIOVANNETTI ELSA JABRE features editor graphics editor Tree lady talks LAURA BEESTON VIVIEN LEUNG ‘It was honourable to resist’ fringe arts editor managing editor MADELINE COLEMAN CLARE RASPOPOW literary arts editor layout manager Sovereigntist talks collaboration, remembers Falardeau CHRISTOPHER OLSON MATHIEU BIARD sports editor webmaster • TERRINE FRIDAY of UdeM’s sovereigntist student group (MÉSUM). OPEN OPEN opinions editor business manager For UdeM’s sovereignty “mega-week,” Laporte DIEGO PELAEZ-GAETZ RACHEL BOUCHER Students at the Université de Montréal gathered and his colleagues drew such names as Québec copy editor distribution OPEN ROBERT DESMARAIS on Sept. 28 to hear the words of journalist and Solidaire spokesperson Amir Khadir and former DAVID KAUFMANN Quebec nationalist Patrick Bourgeois as part of the Quebec premier Bernard Landry. Pauline Marois is The Link is published every Tuesday during the university’s two-week Quebec sovereignty celebra- expected to wrap up the festivities with an Oct. 1 talk academic year by the Link Publication Society tion. entitled “Sovereign Governance and Energetic Inc. Content is independent of the University and student associations (ECA, CASA, ASFA, FASA, Bourgeois, editor-in-chief of the nationalist news- Independence.” CSU). Editorial policy is set by an elected board as provided for in The Link’s constitution. Any paper Le Québécois and president of the Réseau de Although Bourgeois touched on Falardeau’s con- student is welcome to work on The Link and résistance du Québécois—a fringe activist group for tributions to the sovereignty movement, his talk become a voting staff member. The Link is a member of Canadian University Press and Presse Quebec independence—took a moment before his focused around its title, “A Short History of Universitaire Indépendante du Québec. Material appearing in The Link may not be reproduced talk to praise the works of the late Pierre Falardeau. Collaborationism in Quebec.” Wangari Maathai. PHOTO ELSA JABRE without prior written permission from The Link. Letters to the editor are welcome. All letters Known for his outspoken views on Quebec iden- “The first time [we] used the word ‘collaboration’ 400 words or less will be printed, space permit- tity and federal politics, Falardeau, 62, passed away was during the Second World War” to describe the • CHRISTOPHER OLSON ting. Letters deadline is Friday at 4 p.m. The Link reserves the right to edit letters for clarity on Sept. 25 from cancer. Having produced several collaborative efforts between the Allies at Vichy, and length and refuse those deemed racist, sex- ist, homophobic, xenophobic, libellous, or other- independent films—such as 15 février 1839 and the Bourgeois said. On Sept. 28, Wangari Maathai wise contrary to The Link’s statement of princi- award-winning Elvis Gratton trilogy—his strengths Although, he continued, collaboration hasn’t told Concordia’s H-110 auditorium ples. Board of Directors 2009-2010: Matthew Gore, as a filmmaker surpassed accusations of racism, always been the best alternative in the province’s his- that “trees are more valuable stand- Giuseppe Valiante, Ellis Steinberg, Shawna Satz, Jonathan Metcalfe, Matthew Brett; non- exclusion and ignorance. tory. ing than cut.” voting members: Rachel Boucher, Terrine Friday. Typesetting by The Link. Printing by “Thank you, Pierre, for all you’ve done,” “It was more honourable to resist,” Bourgeois The Kenyan Nobel Peace Prize Transcontinental. Bourgeois said of the regular contributor to Le said of Quebec’s response to the British in the mid- winner was the first entry in this THIS WEEK’S CONTRIBUTORS Ali Ahmed, Joel Balsam, Esther Bernard, Marie-Ève Bourque, Frederic Québécois. “He never missed an edition, except for 18th century before its fall. year’s CSU speaker series. Bouin, Salim Bou Ziab, Matthew Brett, Sebastien Cadieux, Vihn Cao, Laura Cohen, ginger coons, Charlotte Cornfield, Travis Dandro, Alexander Davis, the one where he started getting sick.[…] Pierre gave According to Bourgeois, collaborative efforts to “Maathai is the first African to Jaime Eisen, Emilio Esteban, Ion Etxebarria, Nicolas Fafard, Elisabeth Faure, Natalie Gitt, Peter Haegheart, Aliseh Hoque, R. Brian Hastie, Les Honywill, Arshad Khan, Tristan LaPointe, Evan LePage, Tom Llewellin, a lot for his cause.” resist are today taking on new forms. speak at Concordia and as an Sophia Loffreda, James Lynch, Alex Manley, Steven Myers, Ashley Opheim, Jonas Pietsch, Mae Price, Lorne Roberts, Amanda Shure, Jesara Sinclair, “Falardeau was one of our spiritual fathers,” “Today, the real force of collaborationism is in the African I am proud,” said CSU Mireille Tarcha, Natasha Young, Jessica Vriend, Hiba Zayadeen, cover by Alexander Davis echoed Maxime Laporte, a law student and president media,” he said. President Amine Dabchy. 04 news the link • september 29, 2009 • thelinknewspaper.ca/news Abousfian Abdelrazik (left) sits in the crowd as his lawyer reads out of a 30-page document detailing his client’s treatment under the UN no-fly list. PHOTO ELSA JABRE Tortured in Africa Trapped by the United Nations Ignored by the Canadian government Abousfian Abdelrazik tells his story • ARSHAD KHAN In 2003, Abdelrazik’s wife was diag- then I say give me a fair trial, even if in letter from his lawyer. The consul shouted nosed with terminal cancer.