In 2013, a couple of developments in the long history of manufacturing have changed this picture irrevocably. The real wage of the average American worker has stagnated for more than thirty years, while elites have clocked incredible economic gains. Much of North America’s manufacturing has long since moved to Asia – witness the demise of the local textile industry, once the lifeblood of Montreal neighbourhoods and small towns in Quebec’s southwest, now remembered only through abandoned red-brick factories scattered around Mile End. The union job and the middle class are in decline, a constant theme in the liberal press since the Great Recession five years ago. The Occupy movement came and went, failing to enact meaningful political change, but succeeding in imprinting the idea of the 99 per cent on the North American psyche.

Last year, a flurry of articles cautiously heralded a ‘return’ of manufacturing jobs from China to the United States. Most news outlets were prescient enough to note that the flow of jobs from China to the United States, if it can even be characterized as such, was a slow trickle at best. Then, in February, American television show 60 Minutes published a segment on “the jobless recovery.” According to an emerging body of economic research, jobs are returning to the United States, not to be worked by humans, but by robots.

60 Minutes interviewed two MIT professors, Erik Brynjolfsson and Andrew McAfee, authors of a recent book, Race Against the Machine, in which they argue that ongoing automation in the American economy threatens wider income inequality and higher unemployment. Human organizations must catch up to technological change, or face obsolescence in the labour market, as increasingly complex and efficient networks of robots and computers protect corporations’ bottom line. McAfee and Brynjolfsson believe that by encouraging entrepreneurship and embarking on an audacious update of the educational system, we can help keep humans relevant in our processes of production.

Unfortunately, the effects of automation grow at the same pace as developments in its technology: that is, exponentially. Will entrepreneurship training and an overhaul of education really enable humans to keep pace with the progress of technology twenty, thirty, or forty years in the future? Race Against the Machine suffers from the same assumption proposed by Marxism, capitalism, and even good old Christianity: that it is necessary and good for humans to work.

Consider a world, decades in the future, where automation has replaced nearly all of the simple, mechanical jobs that are still tenuously held in America. Electricity is generated from a variety of renewable resources, from hydroelectric dams to advanced nuclear fission and solar panels. People move about using driverless mass transit and automatic cars. Factories and warehouses produce goods without human involvement, aside from perhaps a few engineers who monitor the production. Hydroponic farms, with automatic irrigation systems, grow food under optimal conditions until robotic harvesters collect the ripe produce. Dairy cattle are raised in much the same way they are today: in “factory farms,” by the thousand, their udders connected to suction devices.

Whether this vision strikes you as a paradise or a dystopia, the technology already exists, and is being implemented increasingly in the world today. Driverless transit systems are already in use in Vancouver, Tokyo, Singapore, and other modern cities. Google is testing a driverless, self-directing car. Existing sources of renewable energy, though slow to catch on, must eventually be implemented, as oil wells run lower and carbon emissions become a more pressing problem. Hydroponic agriculture is predisposed to automated processes; even outdoor farms are gaining higher yields through the use of GPS-coordinating robotic harvesters.

All of this bodes ill for the average worker. True, the “knowledge economy” won’t soon be replaced by robotic researchers, writers, or hi-tech entrepreneurs. But for the rest – skilled factory workers, drivers, agricultural labourers, clerks, and so on – the future looks bleak, if current political and economic conditions continue.

The only way to plan for such a massive shift in the economy is to reconsider our notions of employment, welfare, and the moral value of work. In a future where machines produce most of the value – in food, energy, transportation, and consumer goods – but where our current economic structures persist, not everyone will find a remunerative job. Full employment, a concept promoted in conventional economics as the sign of a healthy economy, will no longer be possible. The only morally acceptable alternative, then, is a wide-scale form of welfare. Already in America, there is need for a much better system of redistribution, as evidenced by the fact that most of the U.S.’s economic growth over the past thirty years has lined the pockets of the rich and well-educated. Unless we are content with a fundamentally inequitable social order, one that will inevitably be worsened by the progress of automation, a guaranteed minimum income is a future necessity.

Of course, the idea that a large portion of the population would be kept in house and home by the state is anathema to the traditional conception of capitalism. But as our economy continues to experience the radical changes wrought by super-efficient technological systems, we must reexamine what we consider to be an acceptable social order. Fundamentally, our notion of the “right to work,” at least insofar as it applies to creating value in a capitalist economy, should be replaced by more fundamental values: the right to be healthy, the right to spend time with one’s family, the right to experience art, and the right to leisure.

The post Machines in the labour market appeared first on The McGill Daily.

For a city in North America, Montreal is remarkably aware of its own architectural value. Perhaps that’s because it’s older than Vancouver and Toronto, more densely built, at once grander and more decrepit. Now, the city’s physical charms are a primary tourist draw, benefiting Montreal and its citizens with millions of dollars of revenue. The abundance of whimsical vernacular architecture reinforces the cliche of Montreal as a ‘Latin’ city, with an appealingly laid-back, hedonistic culture.

Other aspects of the city don’t inspire as much pride. Our downtown, pockmarked with parking lots, boasts a few big-city skyscrapers among older row-houses, but suffers from an overarching trend of architectural mediocrity. Some cities were lucky enough to undergo minimal development during the most destructive phase of “urban regeneration” in the sixties and seventies. We were not so lucky. Jane Jacobs, who fought the powers-that-be in New York and Toronto to stymie the construction of superhighways across the city core, never lived in Montreal. From the fast-crumbling Turcot interchange, to the vast, useless space of the Olympic complex, Montreal bears the bruises of mid-century monumental folly. Bringing these areas back to the appealing, human scale that locals and tourists value in the Plateau, for example, will require billions of dollars and a lot of smart, citizen-oriented development thinking.

Unfortunately, Montreal suffers from a municipal government that is inefficient, corrupt, beholden to certain interests, and mired in the urban design theories of the past. Take, for example, the haphazard development of the Quartier des Spectacles. Designed to nurture the city’s cultural industries – in part a reaction to the loss of manufacturing and other traditional economic providers – the Quartier centralizes a couple of the city’s larger festivals, like the Jazz fest and Just for Laughs. But has it really become the city’s destination for culture? With Osheaga and Piknic Electronik on St. Helen’s Island, and the contemporary music scene up in the Plateau and Mile End, why was the area around Place des Arts selected for millions of dollars of investment?

The venture is characterized by a continuation of the same sort of thinking that wrecked the city’s physical environment in the sixties. The desire to define a district by a particular function, to be determined by government, smacks of Le Corbusier’s dreadfully stale city models. Although the city has created some appealing public spaces, the destruction of buildings, including much of the lower Main, has left the area with more empty lots than it had before.

Rather than embarking on ambitious new ‘great projects’ to support arts and culture, the municipal authorities – when not attempting to clean house – should focus on removing obstacles to neighbourhood development, and facilitating hubs of artists and entrepreneurs through subsidized spaces and studios, rather than shiny architecture.

Until ten years ago, there was an elevated interchange at the intersection of Pins and Parc. An absurd ten lanes of car traffic converged on Parc. Access to the mountain was restricted, and the downtown district and the western Plateau were spacially divided by a wall of concrete and fast-moving vehicles. Totally hostile to pedestrians, the interchange posed a huge obstacle to the neighbourhood’s development into the walkable, appealing area it is today.

Many other examples of bad urban planning persist across the island. Between the Old Port and downtown lies a massive trench containing the Ville-Marie expressway. A tear in the urban fabric, the trench is surrounded by a layer of empty space and abandoned buildings, which eventually give way to the more contiguous areas of Old Montreal and Chinatown. The Turcot expressway casts a neighbourhood-sized shadow in which almost nothing lives or grows. Rosemont and Hochelaga are cut off from the Plateau because of a lack of safe pedestrian crossings of the rail line that defines the north and east borders of the neighbourhood.

The reconnection of our core urban districts will have a positive effect on the city’s economy, liveliness, and aesthetic value. Unlike the creation of new single-vocation districts, the effects of this sort of targeted redevelopment – or ‘undevelopment’ – are multifaceted and highly positive for the surrounding area.

The post Unmaking Montreal appeared first on The McGill Daily.

The 20th century saw the population of the island of Montreal grow from a few hundred thousand in 1900 to 2 million in 1970, after which it started to fall into decay, a state from which it is arguably yet to emerge.

At the risk of oversimplification, I would propose a simple formula: civic growth equals construction, and construction equals graft. For example, in the booming 1950s, when the economy was growing and suburbs both on- and off-island were being thrown up left and right, Mayor Camilien Houde apparently saw “corruption of the city council, police and the press as a fact of life,” according to his biography in the Canadian Encyclopedia, which also mentions that Houde argued against fighting the Nazis, because he admired the nationalism of Mussolini and Vichy France. What a guy! Despite Houde’s fascistic tendencies, and his fatalistic attitude toward corruption, we named the beautiful road that runs over Mount Royal after him, just as we will, apparently, name the street leading to the new superhospital “Arthur Porter Way.” Whatever qualities are required of someone in order to be preserved in Montreal street nomenclature, civic virtue certainly isn’t one of them.

Camillien Houde was followed by Jean Drapeau, the man who fought for the Expo and the Olympics, and who bestowed upon the city much of the shitty infrastructure that we are now demolishing. Drapeau, who spearheaded a commission that examined police corruption under Houde, was elected with popular acclaim in 1954. Ruling the city as a kind of soft dictatorship, Drapeau promised Montrealers that he would clean up city government, and build them a world-class métropolitain. He definitely delivered on one of those points, giving the city one of the most well-decorated and costly subway systems this side of the Iron Curtain. (As a side note, Drapeau shared some of the worst tactics of the 20th century’s autocrats: in 1970, he used the excuse of the October Crisis and violent separatist actions to jail his opponent before the election on trumped-up allegations.)

Unfortunately, the long-term problem of systemic government fraud proved intractable, and Drapeau stuck to providing beautiful distractions, famously declaring, “What the masses want are monuments!”

As it turns out, corrupt politicians, construction companies, and the mafia like monuments even more than the “masses” do. In 1970, underdog candidate Montreal won a bid to host the 1976 Olympics against bids from Moscow and Los Angeles. Drapeau personally selected Roger Taillibert, the architect of Paris’ Parc des Princes, to design a stadium unlike the world had ever seen. As one might expect, it was a cash cow for the local mob. André Pratte, author of the landmark history of the Montreal mob, Mafia Inc., noted the well-established link between the mafia and the delay- and cost-overrun-ridden construction of the stadium and the Olympic Village. Similarly, Allan Fotheringham wrote in Maclean’s magazine in the late 1990s that Drapeau’s Olympics were a “blueprint for corruption.” Due to the aforementioned overruns, the city finished paying off the cost of the stadium a mere thirty years later, having paid in total a cool $1.5 billion. Aside from serious motocross fans, I doubt anyone would contest the nomination of the Olympic Stadium as the city’s most unloved monument.

The 21st century seems to have brought no significant change to the city’s status as a corrupt metropolis. Currently, the commission presided over by Superior Court Justice France Charbonneau is conducting a wide investigation into the links between government, the construction industry, and the mob. Although it is ongoing, and testimonials from those who have appeared at the commission are often contradictory, the commission has already revealed significant information about how collusion robs the city of its tax revenue.

Basically, corruption occurs at the level of contracts. For example, did you notice the poor quality of Montreal’s water system, say, just over a week ago? Although that has something to do with the age of the city, many much older cities seem to experience fewer water main-related disasters, and fewer of the constant, disruptive repairs Montrealers have grown used to.

Here’s one possible reason this pattern seems to repeat itself: city bureaucrats have been taking bribes and overpaying contractors while essential infrastructure is neglected for lack of funds. For years, aqueduct-related contracts were handed out by Gilles Suprenant, a city engineer who deliberately inflated the cost of repairs, and gave overpriced contracts to construction firms in return for a significant personal kickback. According to his own testimony in French, 97 per cent of Surprenant’s contracts were “faked.” Moreover, Surprenant received $437,000 in cash and valuables such as Canadiens tickets from construction entrepreneurs.

Enter a shadowy figure known in municipal politics by the jovial nicknames of “Bagman,” and “Monsieur 3 per cent.” His real name is Bernard Trepanier, and according to the testimony of engineer Michel Lalonde, Mister-three-per-cent went around making sure that the construction companies that won municipal contracts were the ones whose bosses had already agreed to pay back 3 per cent of the contracts’ value in often-illegal donations to Union Montréal, the city’s former ruling party. Bagman made sure that Union Montréal was defrauding citizens to ensure a successful reelection campaign. Eventually, evidence of Trepanier’s wrongdoing – including remarkable testimony from Martin Dumont, whom Trepanier allegedly called to his office to help close a safe that was overstuffed with cash – helped destroy the rotten organization that was Union.

Unfortunately, that was cold comfort to Montrealers. The millions in lost tax revenue are yet to be fully counted, and the “barrel of snakes,” a term used by Gazette columnist Henry Aubin to describe the ongoing revelation of allegations, is yet to be untangled.

For the record, Mayor Applebaum, the replacement for Gérald Tremblay, who was recently pressured to resign, was implicated vaguely by Le Devoir in certain “doubtful transactions” while he was the elected representative for a western borough [Côte-des-Neiges–Notre-Dame-de-Grâce]. Applebaum responded strongly in support of his own innocence, and no hard facts have come to light as of yet. But I warrant that Montrealers, hardened to years of government crime, aren’t feeling particularly generous at the moment.

How much change can we, as citizens, expect from the Charbonneau Commission? To her credit, the commissioner has worked fiercely and tirelessly in her interrogation of the witnesses, and her report is expected to shine a great deal of light on the sins of municipal government, and send several of the worst offenders to jail. But as our history shows us, there is a resilient culture of corruption in City Hall, and none of the commissions launched between 1888 and now have been able to resolve the problem. Those who claim that there is just as great a degree of corruption in other major Canadian municipalities should check their civic pride, and glance down at the cracked pavement they stand on: Montreal is rotten.

Quebec is a highly political place by Canadian standards, and as we are embroiled in discussions over the cost of education and what measures should be taken to protect the French language, we owe it to ourselves to reflect on how we can help end the rampant collusion in Montreal’s administration. The public should be more strident in demands for transparency: the Charbonneau Commission would have been launched much sooner had the kind of direct-action tactics used in the student struggle been applied to demanding such a necessary inquiry. We should also reflect on the appearance of a new political bloc on the municipal scene, Projet Montréal, which is less integrated in the established municipal system, and which has fresh ideas to help rejuvenate our city. And finally, we must resist the sort of ossifying, complacent, plus-ça-change attitude that comes from observing all of the graft in politics.

Long ago, Mayor Drapeau notoriously assured us that “the Olympics can no more lose money than a man can have a baby.” If we already beat those odds, what’s the problem with ending a 125-year-old culture of corruption?

Kaj Huddart is a U2 History student and Daily Culture editor. He can be reached at kajhuddart@gmail.com. The views expressed here are his own.

The post Long live our civic shame appeared first on The McGill Daily.

McGill Daily (MD): How would you evaluate the current [U.S.] administration’s handling of the Arab Spring and the war in Syria?

Zbigniew Brzezinski (ZB): I think it has been prudent and cautious, but under the circumstances, that is justified. The Arab Spring, widely proclaimed by journalists as a great democratic phenomenon, is still uncertain of its historical trajectory. It could easily end up as the “Arab Winter.”

MD: How would you evaluate the relationship between the current administration and Israel? Do you think the administration should be tougher with Netanyahu?

ZB: I think the administration should be guided by its best judgment of the American national interest. What is good for America is almost inevitably good for Israel, given its dependence on America.

MD: Do you think that the opposite is true, that what is good for Israel is inevitably good for America?

ZB: No, I think that what is good for America is inevitably good for Israel, given its dependence on [our] military and financial support. Now obviously, America is not dependent on Israel for support.

MD: Do you think that, considering the backlash against the announcement of new settler homes to be built in the West Bank, that the administration should reign in Israel?

ZB: The United States reacted critically and publicly to these decisions. There were statements to that effect both from the White House and from the State Department.

MD: On a different topic, how do you feel about the funding of the Mujahideen in Afghanistan during the Carter administration?

ZB: I think it was a desirable and necessary step, supported by the overwhelming majority of the international community. The Soviet [invasion of Afghanistan] was an outright aggression and it was potentially destabilizing for the entire region.

MD: Is there a way that America could have prevented the growth of the Taliban out of that funding?

ZB: You know, the Taliban arose about ten years after the Soviet invasion. I don’t think you are very familiar with the facts, judging by that question. The Taliban didn’t appear on the scene until about ten years later.

MD: But many journalists and commentators have inferred that the funding of the Mujahideen in the late 1970s was somehow responsible for the rise of the Taliban. Do you contend that?

ZB: The rise of the Taliban was the consequence of the destruction of the Afghan society by ten years of war, which was waged by the Soviets against the Afghan resistance.

MD: Okay, on the subject of Iran: do you think that the United States should bear moral responsibility for the replacement of [the democratically elected president] Mossadegh by the Shah, and the backlash against the Shah by the Islamist regime?

ZB: I think the United States was unwise in the way it handled the Mossadegh challenge. I understand the Iranian resentment about what happened in the early 1950s, in other words, almost sixty years ago.

MD: What would you identify as the greatest success and the greatest failure of your time as National Security Advisor?

ZB: I think the greatest successes were several. I think the Camp David Accords between Israel and Egypt was a major success; I think the opening, both political and strategic, to China, was a very major breakthrough, which continues to shape international affairs to this time. I think the peaceful resolution of the Panama Canal problem created stability in America’s relations with Central America. I think the greatest setback was, of course, the failure of the rescue mission.

MD: On the topic of Iran today, how do you evaluate the nuclear threat?

ZB: I think it potentially could be serious, but in my judgment, it can be handled effectively without a war.

MD: Do you think the regime is sufficiently irrational to launch, or even threaten to launch, a nuclear weapon?

ZB: I don’t think there is one item of evidence to support that proposition. It is a self-serving regime; it is a very scheming regime; but it is not a suicidal regime. And neither is the country suicidal. The Iranians are very intelligent people.

MD: On the topic of Chinese-American relations, how do you think they should evolve? And what is the biggest challenge to the Chinese-American relationship?

ZB: I think the biggest challenge to the relationship is the rising nationalistic fervor in Asia, and the resulting regional instability. The way to cope with it is to have a close, consultative relationship with the Chinese, so that each side has a better understanding of the other side’s point of view and interests. Okay, one more question, okay?

MD: On the subject of the U.S. economy: do you think that the U.S. economy is doomed to be uncompetitive, and how does the U.S. absorb the non-service economy?

ZB: Let’s look at the economic projections for [2013]. Already indications are rising that the recovery is beginning. I think that in the advanced world, that the American economy is the engine of change. Of course, China, in the longer run, may surpass America. But that is several decades away.

MD: How do you think the U.S. should get used to not being the hegemon; that is, how should the U.S. get used to being in a multi-polar world?

ZB: Well, I wrote a book about it, which appeared earlier this year, called Strategic Vision. It is very exactly on that subject. So let me end on a very self-serving plug for my book. If the readers find this interview of interest, perhaps they should look at that book. Could you do me the favour of sending me a copy of the McGill – it’s still called the McGill Daily? I’d love to have it. I very much valued my days at McGill.

— Compiled by Kaj Huddart

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Montreal’s most recent large-scale festival is a stunning display for both the eyes and the ears. Three stages make up the grounds, where ice sculptures and mulled wine can be found at every turn, backed by the thump of ever-present basslines. Don’t let the cold turn you away, even if heated wine isn’t in the budget; the body heat from the crowd is a wonderful thing, and leaves you feeling like you’re (at least) at room temperature without the buckets of sweat that accompany a trip to an indoor venue. Plus, if you’re too cheap for the mulled wine or not clever enough to sneak your own alcohol past the bouncers, you can take drugs (but say “no” to drugs).

Watch out for the early start, as the first acts are on by 6:30 p.m., and the evening wraps up by midnight. While this may shift your pre-drink by an hour (or three), it’s a small price to pay, and who doesn’t have drinks with dinner anyway? Tickets are $20 “at the door,” $18 with an online purchase, and $16 if you go to a listed boutique (such as Off the Hook or Moog Audio).

Igloofest has officially begun and we’ve heard good things about the last weekend. To help the Igloofest-naive navigate the many nights of revelry still ahead, we’ve written a few short blurbs about the most promising nights coming up. The cheesy titles we gave to each evening reflect The Daily’s interpretation of Igloofest’s lineup, and are not endorsed by Igloofest.

January 24 (Thursday) –“Girls in the House”

This year Igloofest has invited serious female DJ talent to an almost-all-girls night on Thursday, January 24. Local producer Alicia Hush will initiate proceedings with a tech-house set at 6:30 p.m., followed by Miss Kittin’s throwback electroclash, and finally, the good old techno of Germany’s Ellen Allien.

If we were comparing the festival’s female DJs, Russia’s Nina Kraviz would certainly come out on top (she would also stack up well against any of Igloo’s male picks). She plays on Friday with the excellent Pan-Pot. For Thursday’s fest, our favourites are still our hometown heroes, Nymra & Sofisticated, who’ve held down Piknik and Salon Daomé for years with their rock-solid house sets.

January 26 (Saturday) – “(We) Beez in da Trap”

In some circles, this is shaping up to be one of the bigger nights at Igloofest, with a hip-hop theme that will likely attract a massive crowd. On at 8 p.m. is Kaytranada, who has been making a name for himself with an array of beats that are fantastic to funk to (funk to, guys). His remix of “If” by Janet Jackson is a particular highlight. After him comes the celebrated duo of Hudson Mohawke and Lunice, also known as TNGHT, whose music looks to be a great fit for the open spaces and contagious energy of Igloofest. Trap music, polarizing as it may be, is their calling card, and the combination of minimal melodies with in-your-face bass can only result in what many are so eloquently terming “a massive party”. This is one you don’t want to miss.

February 1 (Friday) – “Acid/Techno/UK garage/insertgenrehere”

How better to avoid hypothermia and satisfy your MDMA-induced dance-lust than a night of UK garage? Going over the classics, we’re forced to ask ourselves, was dubstep ever necessary? Anyway, local garage heads Lexis and Dr. Love will be holding down the “Virgin Mobile Igloo” while a killer trio – Montreal’s Vosper, Berlin’s Ewan Pearson, and Detroit’s Magda – will be spinning various flavours of techno and house on the main stage. This is the mixed-bag night where you’re certain to find something you like, and probably something you’ve never heard before.

February 9 (Saturday) – “Techno über Alles”

Deutschland is coming to the main stage: Tommy Four Seven and Chris Liebing will be rounding off another year of Igloofest with crisply produced minimal and tech-house beats, timed to exactly 134 BPM (just kidding). But we are not kidding about the seriousness of this night: it’s a chance to catch a glimpse of the Berlin club culture without the price of Stereo or a plane ticket.

The post Preview: Igloofest appeared first on The McGill Daily.

When the story broke on China’s Weibo services – microblogging websites akin to Twitter – it immediately went viral. The rage against the ungrateful family built through internet users’ (netizens) posts about the incident. “Human flesh search them,” cried thousands of netizens.

The expression “human flesh search” has an ugly ring to it in English, but it’s a confusing translation. It refers to the use of crowd-sourcing to find individuals; “human flesh” refers to the searchers, not the target. Often, such as in the case of Deng Jinjie’s drowning, the online masses, fueled by indignation, are seeking a type of vigilante justice. In this case, thousands of Weibo users in the city of Loudi cooperated to identify the family, who were forced to make amends, of a sort. Under police protection they apologized to a portrait of the deceased, kowtowed to Deng’s family, and handed his grieving mother an envelope full of cash. Without the power of the human flesh search, it is highly unlikely that their moral transgression would ever have been found out.

Some human flesh searches have been more philanthropic in nature. In 2010, a user on an amateur photography site posted the picture of a handsome and well-dressed homeless man in the city of Ningbo, which was later re-posted to a Weibo service. The man in question quickly became an explosively popular meme, gaining the name “Brother Sharp,” and began to be harassed on the street by middle-class teenagers wanting to take pictures with him. It was learned that he was seriously mentally ill. Eventually, he was reunited with his family in their village, and offered a social assistance allowance with the intent of reintegrating him into society. Their project now complete, flesh-searching netizens turned their attention to other anonymous pictures.

Another common focus is corrupt local government officials. For instance, netizens have investigated the social network profiles of women who flaunt luxury-brand goods and refer to being mistresses of party functionaries, whose salaries normally wouldn’t cover such extravagance. When this type of flesh search happens, the phenomenon takes on a unique political role. Tim Sedo, professor of Chinese history at Concordia University, characterizes it as “issue-based activism,” the outing of individual examples of corruption to criticize how the system facilitates graft.

This can have surprisingly contradictory effects on China’s authoritarian power structure. The Chinese conception of government, Sedo says, is divided between guo jia, which includes the concept of the nation state as well as the top-level leadership, and zheng fu, which represents the entire breadth of government between the leadership and the average citizen. While human flesh searches are often to the detriment of the zheng fu, they can actually be a legitimizing force for the guo jia. Often, the higher authorities will respond to Weibo-trending cases of corruption by punishing the exposed officials, and Chinese state media will even explicitly mention the role of human flesh searching in bringing such figures to justice.

Although the Chinese internet censors and overseers technically have the power to do such investigations on their own, Sedo explained, they don’t have the will or the need to. Human flesh searches include the people in the judicial process in a way that doesn’t fundamentally threaten the existing power structure. China’s secretive political elite ensures that top level officials are never targeted by netizens. And for many normal citizens, the prospect of being able to out corrupt politicians – even low level officials – is tantalizing.

Would such an ad hoc system of outing corrupt government officials exist in a country with due process? “Probably not,” Sedo says, suggesting that human flesh search is filling in a gap in Chinese society. Netizens can now post evidence of corruption to a Weibo service, and hope that the viral tornado of outrage will pick up the story. It isn’t a particularly reliable process, but it is more appealing than the petition system, the antiquated system of bringing grievances against the authorities that the Communist Party has deliberately neglected. In the absence of a consistent and workable legal system, one that is mostly impervious to the influence of patronage, the collective-powered human flesh search can cut down even well-connected government officials.

Although it is a fascinating process for Westerners to watch, observers on this side of the Pacific have often misunderstood the human flesh search, or have tried to force it into the typical American narrative, which is perpetually concerned with how and when China will “democratize.”

“When human rights advocates look at this stuff and call it nascent democratization, they get it wrong,” Sedo said. China’s young generation is used to running well ahead of the state internet censor – in fact, the Weibo systems host surprisingly open political conversations. But their focus, Sedo said, seems to be on correcting mistakes, not on replacing the Party or the system that supports it. Often, the human flesh searches are not about politics at all, but rather about good or bad expressions of national character, such as in the case of the drowning of Deng Jinjie.

Although the human flesh search has been observed most frequently in China, variants have been practiced occasionally elsewhere in East Asia, and, increasingly, in the West. Anonymous, the nebulous hacktivist group – some call it a subculture – uses ‘doxing,’ a term invented to describe the process of crowd-sourcing individuals’ personal information with the intent of publishing it publicly on the internet. Doxing uses the same mechanism as human flesh search, but has a narrower objective: it has so far only been used to expose people whom Anonymous sees as deserving of punishment. In the past, this has included online pedophiles, racist commenters on online forums, and the suspected bully who elicited compromising photographs from Amanda Todd, a 15-year-old from outside Vancouver who committed suicide on October 10, 2012.

Unfortunately, Anonymous initially released a false dox (as a noun, it refers to a dossier of personal information). Although they got a real name – Kody Maxson, a man with some dubious online history – Maxson wasn’t necessarily the culprit in the Amanda Todd case. Furthermore, the dossier was filled with false information, one piece of which led to an innocent woman’s house in New Westminster, a suburb of Vancouver. She phoned the police after receiving death threats at her address.

Anonymous’ false dox raises serious questions about the effectiveness and the ethical implications of crowd-sourcing private information. Although the innocent woman was never harmed, the false outing demonstrates the limitations of dox and human flesh search, which is a problem shared with much of the internet: a combination of excitement and anonymity encourages people to pass along information they aren’t necessarily sure of, and false leads can go viral well before they are fully investigated. Vice and Jezebel reported Anonymous’ dox as fact, before everyone realized that the phone number, street address, and email addresses were false, and worse, that they could lead would-be vigilantes to the homes and lives of unrelated, innocent people.

To the ardent defenders of individual liberty, being punished by a jury of anonymous, online peers is an ominous prospect.  This form of crowd-sourced justice has already proven itself to be both collectively gratifying but individually dangerous. While it serves myriad purposes in China, where it both challenges and reinforces existing power structures, its use in North America has been more exclusively punitive. Either way, people seem eager to use the internet to collectivize their moral sense and shape society accordingly.

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One of the results of this cultural shift has been the rise of a new generation of very young and talented producers, who are enabled by easy access to music and production software. Many of them, like McGill U3 Philosophy student Valentin Stip, are still in university as they gain prominence through self-publishing on the internet or releasing tracks on indie labels.

21-year-old Stip, who is finishing up his degree, publishes his music through the New York imprint Clown & Sunset. Only two years old, Clown & Sunset was founded by Stip’s friend Nicolas Jaar. Jaar’s 2011 debut LP, Space is Only Noise, was an evolutionary landmark in the world of electronic music, selected by Resident Advisor (a prominent dance music website) as their Album of the Year. The album was hardly danceable, as it ticks along at about 80 beats per minute. But Jaar succeeded in pushing the boundaries of the genre: the album’s groove is undeniable. Jaar’s music combines a huge array of elements, drawing broadly from soul, jazz, and blues; as well as rarer ingredients such as Mulatu Astatke’s Ethiopian jazz and the Situationist speeches of Guy Debord. The resulting sound is far more identifiable by its mood – reflective, smooth, and conspicuously dark without being maudlin – than it is by any definable genre.

Clown & Sunset’s artists, including Stip, share some of Jaar’s stylistic characteristics, as well as his devotion to experimentation beyond the limits of the genre. Their shared vision is at least partially a result of adolescent proximity, as most of them attended the Lycée Français de New York, a posh school that also graduated Julian Casablancas of The Strokes and the lead singer of Nada Surf, along with several former French presidents.

But while Nicolas Jaar’s jazz-inspired sound maintains a consistent groove, Stip is more ambient, less funky, with a noticeably classical element. Growing up, Stip studied piano, eventually deciding that he wanted to be a concert pianist at 17. After being told by his instructors that his playing wasn’t good enough to apply to conservatory classical performance programs, Stip abandoned music and moved to Montreal to attend McGill. After spending a few morose months here without his piano, he decided to re-introduce music to his life by learning how to use Ableton and other music-production software. Although it began as his life’s side project, Stip is now planning on launching himself into a music career after university, with the goal of supporting himself solely by playing shows and releasing music online.

As an electronic artist, Stip explained, living in Montreal has a particular set of advantages and limitations. Musically, the city’s reputation is inextricable from the great indie successes of Godspeed You! Black Emperor and Arcade Fire, indicative of a tendency toward traditional instruments and small-venue concerts, rather than the type of club scene found in London, Berlin, or New York. But the city’s laid-back music culture and relative lack of pretension create an encouraging atmosphere for a developing artist, and the mental proximity between artists and crowds can make it seem as if he is playing “to a group of good friends,” according to Stip, who is more used to the self-conscious clamour for attention among crowds in Manhattan.

But the dearth of good venues for electronic music, driven partly by a lack of interest in this indie-loving city, and partly by the ongoing crackdown against illegal parties by the police, keeps the local house scene well underground. Afterhours haunt Stereo, which opens at the crack of three in the morning, is a nice illustration of how liquor laws exclude all but the most devoted electronic fans. “Either you have to go to sleep at 7 p.m., and wake up at 1 a.m., or you take drugs,” Stip said. “The way the city is set up is not to the advantage of places like this.”

So Stip and others rely on the nomadic after-hours scene to both play and listen to music. They are forced to change locations frequently, because the police like to make an appearance wherever people are setting up paid-entrance parties and serving alcohol without the consent of authority. Yesterday, the venues included the Torn Curtain or the Silver Door; today the scene has moved elsewhere, as police have shut those down. One effect of this policy has been to push the electronic scene outside the city’s core, north of Mile End to Jean-Talon and beyond, where the SPVM is less accustomed to shutting down illegal fun.

It’s unfortunate that in a time when music is available so freely on the internet – creating both unparalleled access for listeners, while eliminating the album as a source of revenue for artists – that it is so difficult to see emergent producers in the informal spaces where electronic music thrives. Artists and collectives often don’t have the money to rent more formal, legal spaces, and the cost of venue licenses is prohibitive. So the scene remains inaccessible to thousands of potential fans, while artists lose out on exposure and much-needed financial support.

But the scene has long been adapting to its conflicts with the law: nomadism and the temporary repurposing of the city’s many abandoned industrial structures have kept it ahead of the police. Stip is a founding member of the Booma Collective, a group that specializes in putting on shows that feature both live acts and DJ sets in informal locations. Although Booma has a Facebook page, many other groups are more protective of their anonymity, giving the city’s electronic scene a sort of tight-knit, underground flavour. This, Stip believes, may actually be an advantage, as it ensures that artists regularly attend each other’s shows, and keeps the atmosphere friendly and intimate (as long as the police don’t arrive).

Despite the high level of precaution, artists love having people attend their shows, Stip said, and knowing the “right people” will go a long way towards finding yourself some underground fun for the weekend. So if you want to attend a night of great house music, and continue drinking and dancing until six in the morning, ask around.

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As it turns out, my mom and I weren’t alone. Screened on October 18 as part of Cinema Politica’s weekly documentary program at McGill, Léa Pool’s 2011 documentary, Pink Ribbons, Inc., expertly deconstructs the “Run for the Cure” culture. Based on Queen’s University professor Samantha King’s book Pink Ribbons Inc.: Breast Cancer and the Politics of Philanthropy, Pool’s film interviews a wide variety of women, from stage-four cancer patients to feminist author Barbara Ehrenreich, illuminating the underside of the flashy annual events.

The film seeks not to criticize the thousands of participants in “Run for the Cure” events across North America, but rather to bring to light serious problems with the movement that anyone who cares about breast cancer should know about.

First, there is the chilling effect of corporate sponsorships. When sponsors of Breast Cancer Awareness Month (BCAM) include companies whose products are associated with the development of cancer, including cosmetic corporations, car and gasoline companies, and Kentucky Fried Chicken, how can the public be sure that research funding is being effectively used? Unsurprisingly, KFC’s tie-in commercial was particularly crass, featuring actors holding buckets of fried chicken, declaring, “for my mom,” and “for my wife,” before promising as a corporation to donate fifty cents to the cause “for every pink bucket of Grilled or Original Recipe.” Obesity is a risk factor associated with a wide variety of cancers, including cancer of the breast.

According to King and Pool, despite the fact that the rate of breast cancer among North American women has increased to one in eight from one in twenty-two earlier in the 20th century, there is precious little concrete information available to the public on the causes of the disease. Only 15 per cent of the money raised for breast cancer goes to prevention research, and only 5 per cent is channeled towards investigating environmental causes. The film reveals that Avon, a cosmetics company that has championed the cause, sells multiple products that contain chemicals associated with the development of breast cancer.

Even more sinister is the development of Breast Cancer Awareness Month. According to the documentary, BCAM was invented during the 1980s by AstraZeneca, a pharmaceutical company that holds the patent for Tamoxifen, now the world’s most common drug in the treatment of breast cancer. AstraZeneca also produces Atrazine, the most popular herbicide in the United States. Although the research is contradictory, Atrazine has been associated with the development of breast cancer in certain rats, and is a disruptor of the mammal endocrine system, which regulates hormones.

As Pink Ribbons, Inc. demonstrates, these kinds of dubious relationships are intrinsic in the mainstream breast cancer movement. Pool’s muckraking doc also raises problems with the portrayal of the disease as a middle-class, white affliction, while little research exists on minority demographics. It exposes the lack of global coordination in breast cancer studies, which creates overlaps and gaps in much-needed research. Illuminated with the pithy commentary of veteran feminist author and cancer survivor Ehrenreich, the film is a well-coordinated effort that offers a nuanced critique. Credit must be given to King and Pool for courageously tackling a subject many might avoid for fear of backlash from well-intentioned but poorly-informed critics.

—

For more information on the politics of breast cancer, check out bcaction.org.

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As an aspiring alt-pop star making the transition from blog-buzz to general fascination, Grimes’ personal style is as important as the quality of her music. On both accounts she delivered, playing a continuous, medium energy-level set with a good mix of new material, as well as hits such as “Genesis” and “Oblivion.” Boucher herself came onstage dressed like a perky teenage goth-punk, surrounded by her tour mates. Myths, the first of two openers, backed her up on the mixers, while Elite Gymnastics cavorted energetically along with a couple flamboyant male dancers. The stage itself featured a screen (which showed John Waters’ 1998 film Pecker throughout her set) and a huge piece of translucent fabric hung in the shape of a vagina. By the standards of Pop Montreal, the staging was elaborate, giving the impression of a post-apocalyptic and post-heteronormative fantasy.

Following this year’s release of Visions, Boucher’s universally well received third LP, the future looks bright, if treacherous. Does the enormous hype around Grimes exceed her obvious talent? Will she and other similar-sounding acts be the dark, industrial inheritors of the blog zeitgeist, now that Chillwave has been around for several years? Judging by the performances of her opening acts, Myths and Elite Gymnastics, the answer is no. Myths, consisting of two women from Grimes’ hometown Vancouver, opened the show with a wince-worthy half-hour set that saw them alternately screaming into microphones over tribal rhythms, and cavorting awkwardly around the stage in all-white costumes. Elite Gymnastics, which is supposedly a duo, ambiguously introduced themselves as “Elite Gymnastics and Magical Clouds,” although “Magical Clouds” soon left the stage, leaving one Ariel Pink-looking band member to mess around with his laptop and sing self-consciously. At one point, he rambled to the audience about how difficult it was for him to perform live, due to social anxiety, and then engaged in a bizarre meet-and-greet with the front row of the audience in the middle of his set. A few minutes later, he admitted “technical difficulties” and displayed his laptop’s screen via the overhead projector onto the wall behind him. In concert, as it turns out, Elite Gymnastics uses Ableton Live (a program usually used only by DJs to mix tracks.) This shouldn’t come as a surprise, explained Elite Gymnastics to the mostly bewildered crowd, because “every band on Pitchfork does it.”

There’s a lot of truth to Elite Gymnastics’ admission. Caribou, Mouse on Mars, and Cut Copy have all openly said they use Live. And Grimes admits freely that she made Visions on Garageband, a consumer program so simple that it is provided free with every Apple computer. If the mid-2000s were defined by the popularity of post-punk throwback bands like The Strokes and Interpol, we have since witnessed successive years of reference to the more electronic side of the 1980s. Openly admitting that one uses Garageband or Ableton Live to make music is new, however, and while some might bemoan the simplicity and supposed lack of skill necessary to use computer-based instruments, it has allowed many bedroom-pop-producing university students to embrace a musical career that might otherwise be available only to those who’ve spent a lifetime developing their passion.

Another point to remember is that lack of inspiration, unlike lack of technical skill, can’t really be masked by a computer program, as Elite Gymnastics demonstrated Friday night. Grimes’ beguilingly gothic image, her psychedelic self-drawn cover art, and her weird-pop sound is stranger than any other would-be pop star of recent times. If using Garageband is the best way for her to create the appealing sound her fans love, then why not.

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Austra

Originally from Toronto, Austra formed in 2009 and quickly developed a sound entirely their own. Relying on heavy synths, fast paced beats, and opera-trained lead singer Katie Stelmanis‘ voice, Austra is able to create haunting melodies that are upbeat enough that  you can still dance along. Their debut album, Feel It Break, was nominated for a Juno and was shortlisted for the 2011 Polaris prize. They will be playing with the percussion-heavy experimental electro band Doldrums. You won’t want to miss seeing both groups back-to-back.

Austra will be playing with Doldrums at Mission Santa Cruz, 60 Rachel West, on Friday, September 21. The show starts at 11:00 p.m. Free admission. 

Gotye 

As much as you don’t want to admit it, you have probably had  “Somebody That You Used To Know” stuck in your head at least one point in the last year. Although Gotye has been around since 2002, it wasn’t until this past year that the Australian singer shot into mainstream success. With a number-one billboard chart hit, Gotye is definitely reaping the benefits with the most expensive ticket at Pop ($54). If money grows on trees for you, he boasts a wide variety of pop-rock songs that you can definitely bust a move to. (And hey, you don’t even have to tell your friends you went.)

Gotye will be playing with Chairlift at Metropolis, 59 St. Catherine East, on Friday, September 21. The show starts at 6:00 p.m. Tickets are $54. 

Wild Nothing 

Up-and-comers Wild Nothing has received critical praise across the board for their sophomore album Nocturne, released this past August. Refining their dream-pop sound, Wild Nothing definitely emulates bands like Beach House while incorporating eighties-style synths and melodies to create something all their own. Paired up with Valleys, a dream pop band with some darker tones and DIIV, a band best know for their melodic guitar, the lineup promises to deliver from start to finish. If dream pop is your thing, you won’t want to miss out.

Wild Nothing will be playing with Valleys and DIIV at Il Motore, 179 Jean-Talon West, on Wednesday, September 19. The show starts at 9:00 p.m. Tickets are $13. 

Lil B 

Berkeley-born Lil B is one of the strangest rap stars the world has ever seen. He has released a mixtape with over 700 songs, has challenged homophobia by entitling an album I’m Gay, and has been called “the most revolutionary MC of the last 15 years” by Vice magazine. With the help of the internet, this 23-year-old rapper has become a bizarre phenomenon. His playful and lo-fi sounding tracks drop a myriad of pop-culture references and musings on consumerism, amid the usual boasting about “swag” and “b*****s”. He may wear the same dirty pair of Vans in most of his amateurish videos, but his cultish fan-base semi-seriously revere him.

Whatever you think of Lil B’s lackadaisical Youtube videos or his repetitive hundreds of songs, the guy is definitely pushing the genre beyond anywhere it has gone before.

Lil B will be playing with Lunice and Cadence Weapon (DJ Set) at Club Soda, 1225 St. Laurent, on Friday, September 21. The show starts at 9:00 p.m. Tickets are $28. 

Brave Radar 

There must be something in the water here in Montreal. That’s the only explanation for the city’s penchant for continuously offering up talented local musicians, ranging from wild, near-performance art acts to soft-spoken indie rock. Brave Radar runs more toward the indie variety, with a low-key sound that makes you feel like you should be sitting on a beach, a beer in your hand and salt water in your hair. Don’t make the mistake of reading low-key sound as forgettable sound however – the melodies sneak up on you. “Line Storm” is particularly interesting, with a haunting intro, and slightly dissonant lyrics. The song grabs you and doesn’t let go until the final chord. “Sternwall,” with a slightly more upbeat feel, shows off the variety of tone that can be achieved by the group, as well as just being a song that would make you want to turn the radio up.

Brave Radar will be playing with Chevalier Avant Garde, Sheer Agony, Cresting, Freelove, Fenner, and Mavo at Brasserie Beaubien, 73 Beaubien East, on Wednesday, September 19. The show starts at 8:30 p.m. Tickets are $10.

A Tribe Called Red 

A Tribe Called Red offers a truly distinctive sound, a difficult feat in the sea of talented artists comprising the Pop Montreal festival.  Hailing from Ottawa, this First Nations DJ group has invented a style of electronic music they’ve termed “Pow-Wow Step.” The group fuses traditional Pow-Wow music with a plethora of different sounds. Mixes range from fresh and upbeat, with Pow-wow singing or drumming coming to the forefront, to more mainstream dub step, with booming beats and intense drops. DJ’s NDN, Bear Witness, and Shubs will have you tearing up the floor, clamouring for more of their unique electronic stylings.

A Tribe Called Red plays with Nautiluss, Prison Garde, and Blank Capsule  at Église Pop Little Burgundy, 5035 Ste. Dominique, on Friday, September 21. Opening sets by Blank Capsule, Nautiluss, and Prison Garde. The show starts at 11 p.m.  Tickets are $10. 

Lunice 

Native son Lunice is an ambitious synth hip-hop producer. Freshly returned from a big North American and European tour, this past year has seen Lunice collaborate with Diplo, Azealia Banks, and Glaswegian DJ Hudson Mohawke, with whom he made an EP, TNGHT. He certainly hasn’t forgotten his hometown, though, having recently teamed up with fellow Canadians Ango and Prison Garde to form Nouveau Palais, a group that we strongly suspect is named after the popular restaurant on Bernard.

Lunice will be playing with Lil B and Cadence Weapon (DJ Set) at Club Soda, 1224 St. Laurent, on Friday, September 21. The show starts at 9:00 p.m. Tickets are $28. 

Ghosts Before Breakfast 

For any student taking an art history course, Ghosts Before Breakfast offers a worthwhile excuse to ditch your readings for an evening and head out to Pop. Named after a Dada short film made in 1928, the group produces tracks worthy of their artistic predecessors. Their songs, such as “Desert Home,” present strong melodies that start off sounding like any moderate group you could hear on Top 40 radio – but then the guitar tune begins to change, the lyrics start, and suddenly you’ve stepped through the looking glass. Ghosts Before Breakfast’s off-kilter songs are rock and roll mixed with Dadaist irreverence.

Ghosts Before Breakfast will be playing with Loon Hunters, Star Hunters, and Statue Park, at L’Escogriffe, 4467 St. Denis, on Wednesday, September 19. The show starts at 9:00 p.m. Tickets are $10. 

Nicky da B 

“Bounce” is a booty-oriented hip-hop subgenre created and played mostly in the lower-income neighborhoods of New Orleans. While the lyrics are simple and heavily repeated, Bounce songs are a great excuse to shake your ass (or twirl it, or dip it, et cetera) Little-known outside of NOLA, “Sissy Bounce” is the sub-sub-genre of Bounce created by queer artists including Nicky da B and last year’s Pop selection, Big Freedia. Through the efforts of Pop and other avenues of dissemination, Bounce is gaining notoriety across North America. High-profile collaborations including Nicky da B and Diplo have helped to spread the good word further. Check out Nicky’s videos for an introduction into the riotous and sexual New Orleans party culture that Bounce is centered on.

Nicky da B will be playing with Sun Araw and Shaydakiss at Église Pop Little Burgundy, 5035 Ste. Dominique, on Sunday, September 23. The show starts at 11:00 p.m. Tickets are $12. 

Grizzly Bear 

If you hadn’t heard “Two Weeks” at least some point in 2009 you may have been living under a rock. Indie darlings Grizzly Bear’s third studio album Veckatimest shot to the top of “best of” lists everywhere with their signature dreamy folk-pop. Marked by heavy bass rifts, perky piano melodies, and multilayered vocals, Grizzly Bear’s sound hits everyone a little bit differently but definitely leaves an impression. The band’s most recent album, Shields has a decidedly more upbeat sound, harkening back to folk legends like Neil Young. Die-hard Grizzly Bear fans will definitely want to check it out, but at $40 a ticket this is one of Pop’s more expensive concerts.

Grizzly Bear will be playing with Unknown Mortal Orchestra at L’Olympia, 1004 Ste. Catherine East, on Sunday, September 23. The show starts at 8 p.m. Tickets are $40. 

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Didn’t manage to attend Cannes this year? Adding to the city’s rich film-festival lineup, Cinemania showcases the best francophone films from the past year. Hosted at the majestic Imperial Theatre, this is the most convenient way for anglophones to check out French cinema, with the entire lineup of films conveniently subtitled in English. Sponsored by Air France, it is solely devoted to North American, Canadian, and Quebec premieres of French films. Past years have screened masterpieces including The Diving Bell and The Butterfly, A Prophet, and Poliss.

Cinemania takes place at the Imperial Cinema (1430 Bleury) from November 3 to 13. Listings for the 2012 edition will be published in late October.G 

Gardens of Light: The Magic of Lanterns and Aki

No one is too jaded to enjoy the Magic of Lanterns, a hugely popular autumn tradition. Hundreds of lanterns, many of them traditionally produced in Shanghai and painstakingly arranged at the magnificent Chinese Garden, illuminate the evenings at the Botanical Gardens next to the Olympic Stadium. If you haven’t been yet, this is an excellent excuse to see the sprawling and meticulously kept Botanical Gardens. This year’s festival theme is “The Celestial Banquet.” The Magic of Lanterns is held concurrently with Aki, a display of “the interplay of light and shadow” in the adjacent Japanese Garden.

Gardens of Light is open until November 4. The Botanical Gardens will remain open daily until 9 p.m. The student admission rate is $13.50. The Gardens are located at the corner of Pie-IX and Sherbrooke. 

Rencontres internationales du documentaire de Montreal (RIDM)

The Rencontres internationales du documentaire de Montreal (RIDM) festival focuses solely on documentary film. The vision of the event aims to promote Canadian and foreign films. This year, the festival’s fifteenth, is shaping up to be particularly exciting. Organizers are producing a special portion of programming titled “15 Years for 15 Films.” 15 special guests have been invited to the festival to pick a documentary that “changed their lives,” each of which will be screened at the festival. One by one, the special guests are being revealed on the festival website. So far, Gael Garcia Bernal, Lou Reed, and Alanis Obomsawin are among those slated to appear, with five more still to be revealed.

The RIDM runs from November 7 to 18. They are in the process of announcing their 2012 program and ticket prices.

Festival du nouveau cinema

The most contemporary of Montreal’s big film festivals, the FNC has a broad focus with an emphasis on fresh ideas.  Impeccable taste and a serious admiration for maverick filmmaking shape the festival’s lineups each year. Among many other great films, last year’s FNC presented Pina, Wim Wenders’ 3D tribute to the late choreographer Pina Bausch; The Skin I Live In, Pedro Almodovar’s brilliant exploration of plastic surgery; as well as Monsieur Lazhar, an insightful Quebecois drama that was nominated for Best Foreign Film at the Academy Awards.

The festival features several sections, with one devoted entirely to Quebecois and Canadian cinema, one for risqué cinema and another for children’s films, as well as a prestigious short-film series.

The Festival du Nouveau Cinema will run from October 10 to 21 at Excentris on St. Laurent. This year’s program and ticket prices have yet to be announced. 

M for Montreal

The other big indie music event in the fall is M for Montréal, Pop’s smaller, more francophone cousin. M generally featuress acts better known in Quebec and Canada than the rest of the world. It is used as a scouting service by the world’s largest festivals, including Glastonbury, Coachella, SXSW, and Les Inrockuptibles. Last year’s fest included Karkwa, Bran Van 3000, Arianne Moffatt, and Peter Peter.

M for Montreal happens from November 14 to 17. More information about lineup, ticket prices, and location will be released in October.

Black and Blue Festival

Having run for 21 years, B and B is a queer institution. This dance party/festival raises money for the BBCM foundation, which supports the fight against HIV/AIDS. Black and Blue will be hosting parties around town, from the “Jock Ball” and the “Leather Ball” to the main event, a huge rave at Palais des Congrès. Most days of the festival start with a long brunch that evolves into an evening of relentless partying at several locations.

Black and Blue prides itself on its inclusive nature, and explicitly incorporates heterosexual participants and DJs. Electronic fans would do well to check out the list of performers. Whether you want to support the cause, celebrate being queer, or just party hard, Black and Blue has a place on the dance floor for you.

Black and Blue takes place in the Village and around town from October 3 to 9. Tickets come in various packages; the main event on October 6 is a $120 for general admission. Other nights offer less expensive parties.

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The Biosphere is run by Environment Canada, and according to its website, is the only environmental museum in North America.

Featuring exhibits on climate change, ecosystems, and urban transportation, the Biosphere also presents a series of popular daily activities. Over 100,000 people visit the museum each year.

The Biosphere – a spectacular geodesic dome designed by Buckminster Fuller – is housed in the former American Pavilion, built in 1967 for the Montreal Expo. It was repurposed in 1990 to become an environmental museum for the next twenty-five years.

Environment Canada signed a $17.5 million agreement with the City of Montreal to occupy the building and maintain it as a cultural facility. It is currently unclear whether the federal government will allow Environment Canada to fulfill its agreement with Montreal, which extends to 2015.

In June, all 25 Biosphere staff members were informed that their positions might be terminated in a round of federal layoffs that will affect some 5,000 public service jobs.

Quebec spokesperson for Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC) Patrick Leblanc told The Daily that it is Mayor Gérald Tremblay’s responsibility to keep the Biosphere open.

“Everything depends on the mayor,” Leblanc said, because “the biosphere is still the property of the city.”

Rather than maintaining the Biosphere as a public facility, Leblanc said that “[the federal government] wants to do something more private with the Biosphere,” and that it will likely end up as a private Environment Canada facility.

The West End Times has reported that it is to be transformed into a weather station.

Two months later, Vision Montréal – the official municipal opposition party – published a petition online that calls on Mayor Tremblay to protect the Biosphere from the budget cuts. The petition currently has 878 signatures.

The David Suzuki Foundation, PSAC, and l’Association des communicateurs scientifiques du Québec have also joined Vision Montréal in its quest to defend the Biosphere from closure.

Louise Harel, current leader of Vision Montréal and councilor for the borough of Hochelaga-Maisonneuve, said in a press release that Tremblay’s lack of action to protect the Biosphere is “unacceptable.”

The press release also called for Tremblay to pressure the federal government to respect the 25-year lease and argued that the dome should remain open to the public as part of Montreal’s cultural heritage.

Leblanc said that the PSAC has little idea of when the Biosphere will be closed, noting that “it could be years, or it could be months.”

Tremblay’s decision to allow the government to close the Biosphere, he said, “doesn’t respect the contract signed 20 years ago.”

Mayor Tremblay’s office could not be reached for comment at press time.

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The glorious Comiccon will soon grace Montreal with a huge two-day indoor festival of pop culture, sci-fi, anime, and French bandes-dessinées. Like other such events in the United States, the Montreal Comiccon allows fans – obsessive or otherwise – to meet famous personalities from their favourite series.

The big-name guests will be Star Trek actors Patrick Steward and William Shatner. Also present will be Matthew McDowell from A Clockwork Orange, Adam Baldwin of Firefly and The X-Files, and Quebec BD luminary Michel Rabagliati. But actors will not be the only recognizable stars of the convention – vehicles at the show include the 1989 Batmobile and Scooby-doo’s Mystery Machine.

On top of all that, gaming developers Ubisoft, Eidos, and Bioware will be holding conferences within the event. Comiccon will be hosting dozens of exhibitions and over 100 artists over its three days.

Comiccon will be held from September 14 to 16 at Palais des congrès. Individual day tickets vary in price from $20 to $28 in advance; tickets for the whole weekend are $50. Shatner and Stewart, as well as some other events are sold separately.

Montreal International Black Film Festival

The Montreal International Black Film Festival (MIBFF) aims to promote and support films that deal with the social, political, and economic issues faced by black people around the world and gives an engaged audience to films that struggle to make it onto the big screen. The films offered vary from documentaries such as Dara Kell and Christopher Nizza’s Dear Mandela, which follows three young South Africans after the apartheid era; animated shorts, like Lucius Dechausay’s The Mark, which uses the symbol of a mask to discuss issues of prejudice; and feature films such as Darrell Roodt’s Winnie, which examines the life and struggles of Winnie Mandela through powerhouse performances from Terrence Howard and Jennifer Hudson.

The Central Park Five, the final film showing at the festival, promises to be a gritty documentary experience, touching on racism and injustice in the legal system as well as media sensationalism.

With numerous offerings and reasonably -priced tickets, the MIBFF has made these exceptional films accessible, when they otherwise may have been lost in the pantheon of tired Hollywood tropes and sequels.

The Montreal International Black Film Festival will run from September 19 to 30 at several venues, including Cinéma du Parc. Tickets for each film are $10.

Pop Montreal

Pop is the big autumn music festival, and possibly the most fun you’ll be having until the spring thaw. This huge festival has spawned numerous offshoot festivals, including Puces Pop, a huge design showcase; Film Pop, for music-related movies; Art Pop, for visuals; and Kids Pop, a bunch of art workshops for the little’uns.

Although Pop is more about discovery than putting on big names, the lineup does include some well-known talent. David Byrne, former Talking Heads chief, will appear in concert with art-rocker St. Vincent.

Also featured is bizarre rapper Lil’ B, whose incredibly prolific output and internet following have garnered a fanatically loyal fan base. Last year, Lil’ B released an album entitled I’m Gay, which was not so much a coming-out as it was a challenge to the conventions of the rap world.

And have you heard of Grimes? She was expelled from McGill not long ago for failing to attend class and then became 2012’s favourite alt-pop star, getting millions of views on YouTube and making “one of the most impressive albums of the year,” according to the New York Times. She produces her otherworldly music on Garageband, but her videos display a lavish and playfully gothic aesthetic. Her story should be an inspiration to all the closet bedroom-pop artists in our student body: leave the life of academic drudgery for money, fame, and a mention in the Times.

Pop Montreal goes down all over town from September 19 to 23. Over 300 bands will play. Passes are $300 (which is why you should write for Culture – free tickets!). Individual concert tickets vary in price from free to $35. Grimes will be playing at Pop on September 20. 

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According to the PQ platform, the party envisions a Quebec that is defined both by the cultural dominance of the French language, and a tradition of strong secularism. To the effect of the latter, the PQ announced the drafting of a “Charter of Secularism” in mid-August. Among other provisions, Marois said, the Charter will ensure that no religious symbols – including clothing such as a chador or a Jewish kippah – can be worn by employees of public institutions. The only exception the PQ will permit is an unobtrusive crucifix, which the PQ claims that, though it violates the tradition of secularism, is part of the history of Quebec.

Unlike the rest of Quebec, Montreal is a profoundly multicultural place. Over 15 per cent of the city’s population is from a religious background other than Christianity. Here, no one bats an eyelid at a kippah, turban, or hijab aboard a city bus. Moreover, the definition of “public employee” is dangerously broad. The public sector forms a larger proportion of the Quebec economy than exists in most other provinces. Everyone from bus drivers, to employees of Hydro-Québec, to doctors are employed by the state to provide services to citizens.

Another plank in the PQ platform has been to stiffen the province’s language law, Bill 101. Currently, Bill 101 prohibits signage in English (unless French is provided a dominant position on the same sign), and mandates that francophones and allophones (those who have a mother tongue other than French or English) attend school in French. The PQ intends to extend Bill 101 so that English CEGEPs – often the first place that immigrants and French students can learn in English, if they so choose – are also off-limits to francophones and allophones.

Although Marois chose to hold her post-election speech in Montreal, the Parti Québécois won only six of the island’s 28 ridings. The result reflects a growing divide between the city’s increasingly multicultural nature and the demographic continuity of the rest of the province. Quebecois-focused identity politics hold little appeal in most of the city. However, one of the most common reasons stated for strengthening the provisions of Bill 101 is the necessity of francisation in Montreal. Since 2006, the proportion of francophones on the island has been less than 50 per cent, and by most accounts continues to decline. Much of this is due to the emigration of francophones from Montreal proper to its off-island suburbs. In many of these satellite cities, francophones make up over 90 per cent of the population.

The reasons for this suburban migration are not entirely clear, but are almost assuredly comprised of a mix of factors, and not merely a flight into ethnic isolation. Economic factors such as high taxes, the poor quality of infrastructure, and traffic are reasons for suburban migration across North America. Citing the flight of francophones from Montreal as a reason to strengthen already-strict language legislation is an excuse to carry out an agenda that is ultimately hostile to the city’s mix of cultures.

Whether the Parti Québécois succeeds in passing much of its cultural agenda remains to be seen. While the concerns of encroachment of anglo-Canadian and global English-language on the Quebecois culture are legitimate, it would be unfortunate to harm Montreal’s prospects, both as an international city of culture and as an attractive place for immigrants, by further restricting its citizens’ freedoms.

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Pussy Riot’s goal was to further the protest movement in advance of the March 4 election – which Putin won – and to embarrass the Russian Orthodox Church’s close ties with the President. The Russian protest movement has long derided Patriarch Kirill I of Moscow for his unbridled support for Vladimir Putin – whom the Patriarch referred to as “a gift from God” – and for dictatorial Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko. Kirill allegedly worked closely with the KGB during the 1980s. Following the collapse of the Soviet Union, Russian media accused him of using the church to make millions from a duty-free cigarette import scheme. The Orthodox Church under Patriarch Kirill combines the oppressive power of religion, capital, and an authoritarian state, making it an obvious target for Pussy Riot’s punk indignation.

“Punk Prayer” is perhaps the most memorable and successful act of political performance art in our time, and has arguably done more to damage the reputation of the Putin regime outside of Russia than almost any other single act. As a result of their detention and allegations of harsh treatment, Pussy Riot has spread their message through Russia, where, apart from Moscow’s liberals, it has largely been met with religious outrage. In Western countries, where anti-Putin sentiment runs high, Pussy Riot has found sympathy among musicians and politicians. Although some conservatives in the West have questioned the ethics of disrupting a holy space for political purposes, the unsavoury closeness between the Patriarch and the President mitigates this concern.

Other than incarceration, several elements seem to have converged to make Pussy Riot’s protest so successful. The lyrics to “Punk Prayer” are bitterly acerbic: “The Church praises the rotten Dictators/The cross-bearing procession of black limousines.” The song itself is simple and rough punk rock, though for the chorus, Pussy Riot sings in a mock-Gregorian harmony, imploring the Virgin Mary to “drive away Putin.” Both culturally appealing and politically specific, “Punk Prayer” was more effective at arousing a global emotional reaction than the 2012 protest movement’s eloquent public speeches.

Of course, the question of gender is also intrinsic to the shock value of Pussy Riot’s performance, especially in the Russian context. As an all-female feminist punk band, Pussy Riot has positioned themselves against the male-dominated establishment. Many critics argue that women’s rights have regressed in Russia since the fall of the Soviet Union. The Russian Orthodox Church does not ordain female clergy, and even though women outnumber men in Russia, they make up only 14 per cent of the State Duma, the national parliament. Pussy Riot’s perceived attack on Orthodox Christianity was rendered more striking because its members were all female; moreover, their bright balaclavas and long clothing both desexualized and playfully militarized their image.

Perhaps the most important lesson from Pussy Riot’s protest is that the internet has created a new forum for political performance art with global reach. Subversive Chinese artist Ai Weiwei, who has been under house arrest in Beijing since his release from prison in 2011, decided to mock the authorities last April. In recognition of the 15 surveillance cameras pointed at his house, Ai set up a further four webcams in his residence, allowing the public to become voyeurs into his life. Ai attracted 5.2 million views before his project was shut down by Chinese internet censorship. Despite Pussy Riot’s incarceration, the future looks brighter for subversive artists in repressive states, who are able to use the internet to disseminate their work.

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