Heads-up about that Gaza motion at the GA
I would like to bring to the attention of the undergraduate community a rather important issue that will be brought up as a motion during the upcoming SSMU GA on Thursday at 4 p.m. The motion aims to condemn the bombing of Gazan educational institutions during the recent Israeli incursion.
As an educational institution that takes pride in transcending differences for the pursuit of knowledge and the betterment of our community, we must take a moral stance in supporting our fellow students’ right to education. The illegal Israeli occupation of Palestinian territory has long hindered and crippled every facet of Palestinian society, as well as encroached on basic humanitarian rights. Furthermore, the recent bombardment has left Gazan society in shambles, and has been condemned by international, as well as Israeli human rights organizations.
I want to stress that the upcoming motion is in no way partisan in nature and is only intended to show support for the rights of Gazans to continue their educational pursuits. This further serves to uphold McGill’s reputation as an international institution that has long advocated diversity and renounced violations of human rights.
Jamal Daoud
PhD III Biomedical Engineering
Vote for the Bloc? Ugh
Re: “The Bloc legitimizes Canadian democracy” | Letters | January 29
After reading David Searle’s article on why the Bloc deserves the support of Canadians, I felt the need to respond. The argument that the Bloc deserves our “wholehearted” support as well as our votes (!) is one not only lacking in material to back it up, but also rather outlandish and excessive.
Our votes? Why? The Bloc does not represent the views of millions of Canadians, so why should we vote for them – to promote national unity? I’m not sure why supporting another party, such as the NDP, does not promote national unity and strength just as well. Is the Bloc honestly our only option for ensuring national unity?
I personally have nothing against Gilles Duceppe; I actually think he is a very strong leader. But I do bristle at the argument that the Bloc “legimitizes” this country’s democracy. Giving that praise to only one party that only runs in one province is not a very democratic action itself.
Jessica Roberts
U4 Sociology
Meat is the eco-elephant
Re: “I want my bottled water” | Letters | January 26
It is great that bottled water has been removed from the bagged lunches given by Residence Food Services. Bottled water is obviously an unnecessary luxury, potentially unhealthy and wasteful of our natural resources.
However, bottled water is small fish in the giant, sludge-filled lake of environmentally destructive choices made by the McGill administration. If McGill is really looking to eliminate from their food services items that fit the afore mentioned criteria – unnecessary, unhealthy, wasteful – perhaps their attention should be turned to the harvested flesh served three times a day to the nescient freshmen it houses.
Animal agriculture far exceeds bottled water in the devastation it wreaks on the environment, in too many ways to even begin to mention in the 300 words I am allowed to use. Of course, this will never happen; people might even say that it would be “crazy” to remove meat from the food residence offers, that the kids need the “nutrition.”
First, how backward is our world when the crazy person is the one who wants to eliminate senseless waste and death? Second, it seems strange to me that the McGill freshmen “need” their seasoned corpses for sustenance while globally, hundreds of millions of people live rich, active, long, energized lives free from the vampiric need to consume an animal’s rotting body.
At the very least, the administration can put warnings in front of meat dishes with facts like, “These pigs were castrated, de-toothed, de-tailed, and de-eared without anaesthetic,” followed by, “Studies have found pigs to have a greater capacity for intelligence than dogs.” Or “Animal agriculture accounts for 65 per cent of the world’s N20 production, a greenhouse gas 300 times more potent than carbon dioxide.”
In the discussion on sustainability, meat is the elephant in the room. If McGill wants any kind of credibility in its efforts toward sustainability, this is something it has to address.
Kyle Kaplan
U2 Music Technology
Your propaganda is so much worse than theirs
Re: “Deface this!” | Commentary | January 29
No thanks, Hartlee Zucker, I get enough propaganda from your side! I’ll take my propaganda from the other side, just this once.
Kudos to the McLennan admin for having the balls not to cave to your lobby.
Dan Adshead
U3 Political Science & Economics
Apathetic publicity to blame
Re: “No one…campus” | News | January 29 & “Bring tampon… Shatner” | Commentary | January 26
OK, so I read this little ditty in the Daily about the alleged Reclaim Your Campus meeting which “attributed the low turnout…to general student apathy.”
Yeah, it’s probably more due to the fact that no one knew it was happening. If “advertising remains minimal,” you probably shouldn’t expect inauguration-type numbers of people to show up. This is totally the kind of thing I would be into attending if I knew about it.
In fact, I happen to know a small group of students who are about to embark on a beautiful journey into the world of democratic engagement and activism on campus. So they probably would have gone too, if you had publicized it a little more. Maybe try the bathrooms – without the tampon machines there’s nothing good in there anymore…except maybe the hand dryers in Shatner; those are pretty cool.
Incidentally, that article by Sarah Mortimer was the best thing I’ve read in this paper in a long time.
Jenna Gogan
U1 Sociology
We like kids when they’re born, too
Re: Defending the born | Letters | January 29
I would like to reply to Mr. Sprague, who argues that we must defend the born. He says that pro-lifers should work toward creating a condition in which women have access to the resources they need to raise a child if they find themselves unexpectedly pregnant. I wish to assure him that Choose Life wholeheartedly agrees.
That “abortion seems to be the only choice” is truly unacceptable in a society that so highly values the freedom to choose. No woman should ever feel that due to her financial situation she must end the life of her child.
Indeed, this is the philosophy of Feminists for Life, a group that challenges pro-life student leaders to put themselves in the shoes of a pregnant or parenting student and try to find the basic resources she would need. Mary Meehan, the speaker that Choose Life hosted in January, expressed her support for its work and provided a list of resources for those in attendance.
This list, along with information on other resources for pregnant and parenting students, is available at ssmu.mcgill.ca/chooselife. An essential part of our mandate is to ensure women know that they do have a real choice, and that they can find the assistance they need. We do, however, recognize the necessity of vastly improving the current support system, and are committed to working toward this goal.
No matter where you stand on abortion, I urge you to join us in creating a community where abortion is not something any women feels she has to “choose.”
Natalie Fohl
U2 Biology & Political Science
Choose Life President
Send your non-offensive letters to letters@mcgilldaily.com at 300 words or less, and include your year and program. Please. We like it a lot. (See cover.)