Guelph Now!

Events for a Winter’s Night (with apologies to Gordon Lightfoot)

philallt — Mon, 29 Jan 2007 01:46:29 +0000

Two events of Note:

The Masai for Africa campaign and CANADA IN HAITI:

A very special benefit concert in support of the Masai for Africa campaign

Featuring music by:

Jude Vadala
Tannis Slimmon
and Katherine Wheatley.

Friday, February 9th, 2007
Doors open at 7:00 pm
Music starts at 8:00 pm

Eden Mills Community Hall
108 York Street
Eden Mills, ON

Tickets are $22 and are available at Wild Rose (23A Macdonnell Street, Guelph, ON, (519) 763-2233).

Tickets are also available by e-mailing dowhatucan@gmail.com

Also in the same week

CANADA IN HAITI: Assessing Our Contribution to Development and Democracy

Featuring: Jean Saint-Vil – Radio journalist, artist, founding member of CHAN; and

Kabir Joshi-Vijayan - Toronto Haiti Action Committee (THAC), student activist, radio host.

Wednesday, February 7th, 2007 – 5:20 p.m.

University Centre Room 442
University of Guelph, Guelph Ontario.

Free Admission

This special event is in recognition of the International Day of Solidarity with the people of Haiti; as well as Black History Month; and International Development Week.

Presentation content will include:
- A concise historical overview of Haiti’s birth and recent History
- Canada’s recent role in Haiti
- The “Responsibility to Protect” doctrine (R2P)
- The Role of NGO’s in the imposition of R2P
- A perspective on the work and challenges of CHAN in exposing that role

Sponsored by: Haiti Action Guelph – an affiliate of Canada Haiti Action Network;
The C J Munford Centre; University of Guelph
The International Development Society; University of Guelph
CSA Human Rights Office, University of Guelph

Taking Inventory of the Environment

philallt — Wed, 06 Dec 2006 14:13:08 +0000

Penguins in peril

“March of the Penguins” colony has declined by 70 percent.

Dateline: Tuesday, December 05, 2006

by Stephen Leahy

BROOKLIN, Canada, Nov 30 (IPS) — Ice-loving penguins have never been more popular, but few people realise they are threatened with extinction from climate change and industrial fishing.

The loveable stars of the Hollywood movie “Happy Feet” and the stoic and courageous creatures featured in the popular documentary “March of the Penguins” are in trouble.

Of the world’s 19 penguin species, 12 are now so threatened they need special protection, according to the Centre for Biological Diversity (CBD), a California environmental group focused on species extinction.

Popularity doesn’t guarantee survival. But it might increase protection and prompt action on climate change, says Brendan Cummings, director of the CBD’s Oceans Programme.

Cummings’ organisation filed a formal petition this week requesting that 12 species of penguins worldwide, including the well-known Emperor Penguin, be added to the list of threatened and endangered species under the United States Endangered Species Act.

Although there are more than two million pairs of Macroni Penguins left, they are listed in the petition because of a 50 percent population decline in the past 15 years. There are roughly 150,000 to 175,000 pairs of the world’s largest penguin, the Emperor, but that number is far fewer than a few decades ago.

The Emperor Penguin colony at Pointe Geologie, featured in the film “March of the Penguins”, has declined by 70 percent, Cummings told IPS. He blames the decline on fewer krill, a small shrimp-like creature that is its main source of food, the early break-up of ice shelves where chicks are born and the general changes to its ice and ocean habitat due to a warmer Antarctic.

Penguins are only found in the Southern Hemisphere. The US Endangered Species Act could prevent US vessels from fishing for krill and might force the federal government to take stronger action on its emissions of greenhouse gases, he said.

Krill are the keystone species of the Antarctic marine ecosystem. An essential food source not just for penguins but also for whales and seals, krill have declined by as much as 80 percent since the 1970s in some parts of the Southern Ocean, he said.

Industrial fishing boats have recently turned their attention to the great Southern Ocean to catch krill for the fast-growing trade to supply krill as fish meal for farmed salmon, says Clif Curtis, director of the Pew Charitable Trusts’ Antarctic Krill Conservation Project.

“Krill are not overfished at present, but there are worrying trends,” Curtis told IPS

There are also new fishing technologies being developed that will literally allow krill to be vacuumed up even when they are deep in the water column. One such Norwegian ship has been proposed that could catch 120,000 tonnes of krill in a season, he said.

This and other ships would likely supply the booming health food and pharmaceutical markets. Krill are rich in omega-3 three fatty acids, which are believed to prevent heart disease and inflammatory conditions such as arthritis.

Scientists blame krill fishery, global warming.

At the same time, climate change is reducing the sea ice cover which is home to phytoplankton that krill feeds on, he said.

The krill fishery is “laxly regulated”, says Curtis. His organisation has appealed to the 24-nation Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources to adopt monitoring, control and surveillance measures that other fisheries operating in the Southern Ocean already use.

The George W. Bush administration finalised a proposal this month that would clear the way for an expanded US fishing fleet for krill in the otherwise protected waters off Antarctica.

“It is absurd and illegal that the administration would authorise krill harvesting off Antarctica without even considering the well-documented impacts of global warming on krill stocks and the penguins,” said Cummings.

“First we fished out the whales and then the toothfish (Chilean Sea Bass) and now we’ve fished our way to the bottom of the food chain catching krill.”

In a statement, John Collee, co-writer of the movie “Happy Feet”, said, “We have this bizarre delusion that we can utterly destroy our marine ecosystems and somehow emerge unscathed.”

“As regards global warming, the entire West Antarctic ice sheet is balanced on the tips of mountains and fragmenting at the edges,” Collee said.

The United States, with four percent of the world’s population, currently produces about one-quarter of the world’s greenhouse gases. The US Government Accounting Office projects that these greenhouse gas emissions will grow by 43.5 percent through the year 2025.

Environmental groups and many US states brought a landmark lawsuit to the US Supreme Court this week to challenge the US Environmental Protection Agency’s refusal to regulate greenhouse gas emissions from automobiles as pollutants under the Clean Air Act.

“We’re all in denial” about tremendous impacts humans are having on the environment, Collee said. That reality is “so dark that most people don’t want to contemplate it”.

This story originally appeared on the Inter Press Service news wire.

Stephen Leahy is a freelance journalist who writes about science and the environment for Maclean’s, Wired News, New Scientist, The London Sunday Times, Inter Press Service News Agency (IPS), BBC Wildlife, and The Toronto Star.

Christmas, Afghanistan, Lewis Melville and music

philallt — Sun, 03 Dec 2006 03:49:29 +0000

Welcome to the Christmas season. Now that the euphoria of the municipal victories has somewhat waned and we await the dawning of a new era in Guelph, it is time to get on to other things.

Lewis Melville’s latest music project: “Afghanistan On Guard for Thee?”

In the spirit of thinking Globally and Acting Locally, local musician and producer Lewis Melville, in cooperation with Dave Clark and many others, has again put together a timely music project.

“Afghanistan On Guard for Thee?” melds music, politics and intelligent thought for those concerned about Canada’s role in a country half a world away.

Lewis has brought together the best of the best in Canadian independent music. Former Rheostatic Dave Clark, Tannis Slimmon, James Gordon, the kramdens, the great Ken Whitely have all contributed to this project. In total, 51 songs by as many artists are featured in this 3 CD set.

Why not consider this as an ethically appropriate Christmas gift for yourself or for someone else?

Proceeds from the sale will go to:

Doctors Without Borders/Medicin Sans Frontier (www.msf.org )

The International Red Cross (http:www.icrc.org)

Developing Countries Farm Radio Network (www.farmradio.org ).

For $25.00 this 3 CD set can be purchased:

from me by

emailing to phil@philallt.ca (and if you live in Guelph or nearby, I will personally deliver it to you)

or from a great music shop in beautiful downtown Guelph Ground Floor Music (www.groundfloormusic.ca ). Give this shop a visit. If the music you want is not in stock, Charles will order it for you. He ordered me a great Jerry Lee Lewis CD Last Man Standing and introduced me to the baseball and musical magic of Chuck Brodsky The Baseball Ballads.

Watch for other locations where this CD can be purchased in Guelph and elsewhere.

Alternatively this cd can also be purchased on line from www.Zunior.com – Canada’s alternative fair trade music downloading site or go to this site

http://www.standonguardproject.com for further information.

Hope your holiday is starting safely and wonderfully.

An Event of Note: Commemorating Freedom of Expression

philallt — Fri, 27 Oct 2006 23:18:13 +0000

Many of you will know radio journalist and human rights activist Jenn Moore, Jenn has just recently produced a very successful radio segement for CBC’s Dispatches - which you can listen to as Podcast. In this Jenn outlined how women coffee growers are asserting their independence and using the growing Fair Trade network to become more financially independent of male coffee growers.

Jenn does not let the grass grow under her feet. She has asked me to pass on the following announcement. This event looks promising. Perhaps many of you will be able to make it to view Hollman Morris’s and Ezequiel Vitonas latest contribution to the world wide effort to protect freedom of speech and expression.

Commemorating Free Expression

A Look at Independent Media and the Indigenous Movement in Colombia

With a talk & documentary screening by Hollman Morris, veteran Colombian journalist & Ezequiel Vitonas, Chief of Council for the Association of Indigenous Authorities of Northern Cauca (ACIN)

Friday November 3rd
2 to 4pm
Aboriginal Resource Centre
Room 102, 620 Gordon St (Federal Bldg, corner of South Ring Road and Gordon)
For a map see: www.uoguelph.ca/arc

Hollman Morris is this year’s recipient of the International Press Freedom Award from the Canadian Journalists for Freedom of Expression. In a country where self-censorship is the norm, and where there have been 28 cases of journalists slain over the last decade, Hollman Morris is representative of the independent journalist under threat.
The Communications Network for Truth and Life of the Association of Indigenous Councils of Northern Cauca (ACIN) who nominated Morris for the Press Freedom award, describes him as a journalist who “drop by drop, image by image, word by word, allow the threads of resistance…to weave together with distant places, in the construction of another country that we all dream about and deserve.”

“Walking the Word” (Caminando la Palabra) is what the Communications Network for Truth and Life of the ACIN do, in their ongoing struggle to defend their right to justice, truth and life, and to contest the manipulations of ‘truth’ about Colombia’s conflict and internal responses to it. It is what ‘free expression’ means to the Nasa: that the indigenous people of Cauca, Colombia will continue fighting for territorial and cultural autonomy, for the protection of mother earth, in face of increased militarization and broken accords.

Organized by Pueblos en Camino www.en-camino.org

For more information please contact Jen at jenmoore0901@gmail.com

This event is sponsored by:

The Peak,

CUPE 3913,

OPIRG-Guelph,

CFRU 93.3 FM

University of Guelph’s Central Students Association.

“Two Countries–One World” - A time to Think Globally, Listen, Eat and Dance “Locally”

philallt — Mon, 23 Oct 2006 03:18:23 +0000

In 1981, a massacre happened in El Salvador. I remember this as a time when nuns were brutally raped and an Archbishop named Romero was assassinated by CIA sponsored death squads. Very few outside of groups such as Amnesty International and Catholic Activist groups did anything about this.

I also remember this as a time when my late friend Rajah Singh worked overtime to raise awareness of the atrocities that were committed in Central and South America by American backed death squads fighting, apparently, to save the world for “democracy”. Some salvation, some democracy.

For me, this time was made all poignant because Rajah, a student from Guyana who was earning his Masters in History at Guelph, died of brain cancer just a year later. He was his family’s hope for the future. They put all their money into his education and his future. At the same time, Rajah put all his energy into raising awareness of human and civil rights violations all over the world.

For me, Rajah’s influence was formative and even today, I am still in possession of all his academic papers. I think of Rajah often when I teach students who fled Central America - Guatemala, El Salvador, The Honduras literally minutes ahead of pursuing death squads.

I think too of the student I taught whose family walked 1,000 miles to flee El Salvador hoping to live in the United States - an opportunity they were denied as the US borders were as closed then as they are now - no wetbacks (literally) need apply. That student shared with me how the baby sister he was carrying on his back saved his life by giving hers when a bullet hit her as he her carried across a river between one country and another.

In Iraq, Afghanistan, Haiti, Iran, Venezuela, Nicaragua, we are seeing the same American government committing the same lies and atrocities again just 25 years later. This makes the invitation from Lucy Reid which appears below all the more important.

For those of us who “Think Globally” and want to “Act Locally” we have a chance to do both on November 3rd and 4th . Read Lucy’s invitation and put aside a couple of hours to listen to the story of one family in El Salvador. By doing this you will help to train one doctor for that still impoverished and torn country.

“The Road From El Mozote and Post Civil War El Salvador”.

This past March Break a group of United Church youth and leaders from Waterloo, Kitchener, Guelph and Cambridge travelled on a social justice tour to El Salvador. In preparation they examined social justice issues in our local community and then in El Salvador.

We called the trip “Two Countries–One World”. One of the people they met in El Salvador was Rufina Amaya who has an appalling story to tell.

She was the sole survivor of the El Mozote massacre of December 11, 1981, during the brutal Salvadoran civil war. Her husband and four small children were killed, along with over one thousand villagers. The participants on the trip were so moved by her story that they are bringing her here to relate it to Canadians.

It is something we all need to hear. If the issue of justice concerns you, you need to attend.

This your invitation to come to hear Rufina Amaya and Alvaro Carias (social activist and cultural educator in El Salvador) speak. Afterwards you will have the opportunity to meet them.

Salvadoran snacks will be available and then we’ll have some latin music and dancing.

To ensure that many people have the opportunity to attend, we will be holding the event twice–in Guelph on Friday, November 3 and in Waterloo on Saturday, November 4.

Please plan to attend and invite anyone else you think who would be interested.

Friday, November 3, 2006 7:00 pm – 11:00 pm (formal talks will be from 7:30-8:30 p.m.)

Three Willows United Church 577 Willow Rd West Guelph

Saturday, November 4, 2006 7:00 pm – 11:00 pm (formal talks will be from 7:30-8:30 p.m.) Emmanuel United Church 22 Bridgeport Rd. W. (uptown Waterloo) Waterloo, ON

Admission: Advance and reserved tickets $20 ($25 at the door), $15 for students.

For tickets call 519-837-4058 (Guelph) or 519-746-6282 (Waterloo).

Email: rufinabenefit@hotmail.com

This is a fundraising event.

Proceeds will go to the scholarship fund (through “Seeds of Learning”) for Maritza Amaya, Rufina’s daughter, who is attending medical school in San Salvador. Hope to see you there.

Only in Europe you say? Let’s hope its gone no further -Contaminated Chinese rice found in Europe

philallt — Sat, 23 Sep 2006 12:09:08 +0000

I am very concerned about Genetically Engineered Foods. I am even more disturbed by the blatant corporate neglect that leads to these products being circulated and consumed without anyone knowing.

It is not just butterflies and insects that vulnerable to dangerouse GE plants. Greenpeace has found evidence of GE products being sold in Europe and consumed without any approvals.

Could this happen here? I hope not. However, Europe just might be our canary. For more information see below.

Contaminated Chinese rice found in Europe

London, United Kingdom, Sept. 6, 2006 — The genetic engineering industry sank to a new low when it was revealed recently that US company Bayer’s field trials of genetically engineered (GE) rice had contaminated rice exports. Japan moved fast and banned the US rice from coming into its ports. The EU quickly followed and placed import restrictions and testing regimes in place. Now, Greenpeace research has uncovered a new example of contamination of the world’s most important staple food.

We recently uncovered, and independently verified, that illegal GE rice from China has contaminated food products in France, Germany and the UK. We’ve notified authorities that the illegal GE rice poses serious health risks and we’re calling upon European governments to take immediate action to protect consumers.

Greenpeace offices and Friends of the Earth in the UK tested samples of rice products such as vermicelli, rice sticks and other processed foods. Five positive samples were found containing an illegal GE organism not approved anywhere in the world. However this may only be the tip of the iceberg. Rice products are included in everything from baby food to yoghurt.

“These findings are shocking and should trigger high-level responses”, said Jeremy Tager, GE rice campaigner at Greenpeace International. “Consumers should not be left swallowing experimental GE rice that is risky to their health.”

The illegal GE rice, genetically engineered to be resistant to insects, contains a protein or fused protein (Cry1Ac) that has reportedly induced allergic-like reactions in mice. Three independent scientists have issued a statement backing the health concerns we raised.

Greenpeace International is calling for immediate worldwide recall, measures to ensure no further contaminated rice enters the EU and the urgent implementation of a preventative screening system for countries with high contamination risks. Demanding GE-free certification for food from countries that grow and produce GE crops is reasonable, cost effective, and necessary to protect Europe’s consumers.

Like Bayer’s illegal GE rice in the US, this recent rice contamination in China began with field trials; the rice is not currently approved for commercial growing because of mounting concerns over its safety.

“Innocent consumers again become the victims,” says Tager. “Once illegal GE crops are in the food chain, removing them takes enormous effort and cost. It is easier to prevent contamination in the first place,” he concluded.

Greenpeace campaigns for GE-free crop and food production that is grounded in the principles of sustainability, protection of biodiversity and providing all people to have access to safe and nutritious food. Genetic engineering is an unnecessary and unwanted technology that contaminates the environment, threatens biodiversity and poses unacceptable risks to health.

Blue about Green (Party that is); Gucci Environmentalism is alive and well in Canada.

philallt — Wed, 06 Sep 2006 22:46:40 +0000

The Green Party is as susceptible to criticism as either the Conservatives or the Liberals (and in my books the NDP when it fails to be the voice of progress in social, environmental, and economic matters).

Make no bones about it, Green ideology has a foundation that might make some uncomfortable. So for that reason my comments of months ago re: Gucci Environmentalism still stand. Poverty is not a concern for many Greens and nor is foreign policy - witness the almost eerie silence on Stephen Harper’s stand on Afghanistan and working for peace instead of occupation therein.

In fact, it is fair to call the Greens “Blue Green” - a shade of algae best associated with the Spirolina I sometimes take.

Like Red Tories of the past the Blue Greens are trying to be all things to all people without being anything to anyone. Of course, there are also “Red Greens” - Liberals, free market environmentalist who believe the environment is served best by the whims of the marketplace. For me, both are patent falsehoods. In the true collective bargaining tradition of trade unionism, we will get the environmental improvements we negotiate, not those for which we wish.

Below is an article that appeared in Straight Goods - Canada’s online critical journal. Boyce Richardson is an Ottawa-based writer and filmmaker who has stong misgivings about the Green Party’s new leader Elizabeth May - a concern shared by me and pundits like Liberal Larry Zolf see: LARRY ZOLF: The Tory ties of the Green Party’s new leader CBC News Viewpoint | August 31, 2006 |

You be the judge, read what is below and Zolf’s column at CBC.ca. What passes for “progressive” might ultimately just be another form of “conservative”.

Phil

The Greens’ new leader

Reviewing Elizabeth May’s track record leaves doubts.

Dateline: Tuesday, September 05, 2006

by Boyce Richardson

Elizabeth May, still entranced by the aura of Canada’s most-hated PM, Brian Mulroney: an odd way to begin a leadership of a rival party.

I doubt if too many progressives are going to be flocking to Elizabeth May’s banner with the Green Party. She expressed her contempt for the Left when, in her acceptance speech, she declared she made no choice between Left and Right: a sure sign of a Conservative, if you ask me,

Her next move was to announce, in reply to a question, that she was going to invite Brian Mulroney to join the Greens.

Do us a favour, Elizabeth!

May has always been an equivocal figure on the political scene, although one cannot doubt her devotion to the cause of environmentalism. She has never really cared who she worked for: when I first heard of her, she was an active assistant to Tom Macmillan, Mulroney’s Minister of Environment. In my book that was sufficient reason to be somewhat suspicious of her.

Now that she is in politics, and presumably hoping to attract progressive-minded people, she will have to live down her reputation, so caustically described by Elaine Dewar in her book, Cloak of Green, about the environmental movement, of being on all sides at the same time.

Dewar first ran into May when she (May) was a member of the Canadian government delegation to the preparatory meeting in Nairobi for the upcoming Rio summit on the environment. Since May was national director of the Sierra Club, as well as executive director of Cultural Survival Canada, Dewar found this rather puzzling. After a little further questioning Dewar came to the conclusion that May had become an NGO interface with government. “In fact,” wrote Dewar, ” May was both government and opposition, depending on which hat she put on. She could represent the government one day, she could attack it another, she could sign letters from several organizations, she could become a groundswell of public opinion.

“In short, she was a debate-shaper; she was involved in so many organizations that if any were asked to comment, she would have some hand in forming it. How handy this was for governments or business seeking out contained criticism or praise: getting May on side was the equivalent of one-stop shopping: what she put in, what she left out, both could matter.

“She was like a node on an information network. Information, or a position on an issue, could be generated anywhere — in an embassy in Brazil, in a meeting room in Washington, in a boardroom in Switzerland — and, if fed to May, end up touted in the pages of the Globe and Mail.”

This is a pretty devastating critique, and one that one would think Elizabeth May would be anxious to live down, now that she is in politics.

But apparently she is still seduced by Brian Mulroney, who appears to be her man-of-influence of choice.

No thanks, Elizabeth. I think I will stick with the NDP, for all its faults.

Boyce Richardson is an Ottawa-based writer and filmmaker. He worked for newspapers on four continents, including eight years as London correspondent for the Montreal Star, where he became associate editor. He has been a free-lancer since 1971, producing half a dozen books and working on about 30 films for the National Film Board. He is a Member of the Order of Canada.

Treble in the Fields - Fourfold Music Festival and Fundraiser

philallt — Wed, 30 Aug 2006 13:34:15 +0000

I don’t often promote commercial ventures. However when these are in the guise of supporting fair trade, music, fair labour practices and a better life for all, I think otherwise.

The good folks at Fourfold Farms are having musical fundraiser. Its purpose is to raise funds to keep this organic venture going.

If you are around, this is a good way to spend the Sunday of the Labour Day weekend.

It is also a good warmup to the Annual Labour Day Picnic on Monday in Riverside Park.

Treble in the Fields - Fourfold Music Festival and Fundraiser

Sunday September 3rd

Directions: Fourfold Farm is at 7682 4th Line Nichol Twp, between Highway 6 (just south of Fergus) and County road 7 (just south of Elora) From Guelph take Highway 6 north, turn left at the 4th line. ph: 519-843-6822 or email fourfold@golden.net

Who: A whole bunch of groovy Guelph acts and a few imports to spread the love.

Schedule (subject to tweeking):

POI 1:00pm-2:25pm

Dead Pete 2:30pm-2:50pm

Lucid Dream - (an up and comin’ happening band, featuring Nathan Dyck) 2:55pm-3:05pm

Barley & Hops 3:10pm-3:25pm

Mike Sharpe 3:30pm-4:15pm

Martine Wizman 4:20pm-4:40pm

Dave Teichroeb 4:45pm-5:30pm

The Salt Lick Kids 5:35pm-6:20pm

Lisa Bozikovic 6:25pm-6:45pm

Big Smoke 6:50/7:00pm- 7:45pm

Dry Tickle 7:50pm-8:40pm

The Rizdales 8:35pm- 10:30/11:00pm

What Else: Great fresh organic food on a real organic farm! And not only fantastic veggies, wonderfully healthy meat as well.
Rain or shine

More info……
This message; a reminder of the Music Festival / Fundraiser at the farm this Sunday of Labour-day-weekend, September 3rd, 2006 (camping option on the Sunday evening into holiday Monday, is open as well.. ). A mostly local lineup of really good artists/musicians have once again generously donated their time and talents to the local cause here at the farm. (…the only acts that we haven’t gotten final confirmation on are the out of towners, The Rizdales and Gurf Morlix ).

In keeping with the past year’s ‘Treble in the Fields’, we have chosen among a myriad of possibilities another sub-theme / project to fundraiser for. This year the plan is to raise funds for a translucent heavy bale tarp for the bare hoops that are over the ’stage’.

This, is not so much to keep musicians out of the elements ( as it’s usually a good sunny day, and will be this time too, right…?), but to add some life to our old and ailing equipment , as well as transitional hay storage before it comes into the barn…

So it goes something like this ; Treble in the Fields 2006 presents the 7th annual Fourfold Farm Music Festival / Fundraiser : ” the Roof is Rain tight Ruckus”…. That said, it is a rain or shine event, as we have the barn literally behind us for a back up venue.

Donations will be accepted at the door as a pay-what you-can event . Funds from food sales, as is the custom, will also go towards this year’s project, ie. making sure the roof is Rain tight.

So what’s the Ruckus about?

…For some, the ruckus is about a reverence for & reveling-in the life on the farm, good music, friends, food and fun(ds) in support of a needed project; Sandra’s great meals, with vegetarian and meat options, baked treats and beverages ( …anyone who has a favorite dish they would like to add to the saleable buffet options, please do…; if so, you can give Sandra a call to let her know what you might bring…or just show up ) will be available all day. Fourfold’s own Demeter certified grass-fed beef will be on the barbecue as well. Volunteering for the food table etc. ( let us know if you can help in any way on the day of, or in preparation for… ) is most welcome.

We appreciate all of your support offered to the farm over the years and we look forward to sharing in the festivities with you again this weekend.

All the best,

Mark ( farmer and one of the owners)

ph: 519-843-6822 or email fourfold@golden.net

Serena Tene’s Passionate Plea for Humanity

philallt — Sun, 06 Aug 2006 18:20:10 +0000

Serena Tene is a friend of mine. She lived many years in Israel - many of them feeling under seige by those wishing to see an end to Israel, by Israelis who were similarly recalcitrant toward Palestinians, and even feeling under seige within her family.

Please find below an article that she has written pleading with people for restraint and to end the madness we are currently witnessing.
Serena’s perspective is unique. She is a person who lived in a warzone. Many of us speak, write and pontificate as if we have all the answers. Yet we have never experienced what she and millions in the Middle East experience daily. I commend her for her bravery and humility. As she stated to me “I am not the one who is brave, what about the Israeli peace protester confronting those who want war? That person might not even be alive today.”

We don’t have all the answers for the Mideast

SERENA TENE
GUELPH (Aug 5, 2006)I was born in Israel just after the war of 1967. I lived through the war of 1973, spending part of my sixth year in a bomb shelter. My family left when I was seven. I returned for extensive trips in 1981, shortly before tensions escalated again in the region, and in 1995 shortly after Yitzhak Rabin was assassinated for his intent to move toward peace. Most of my relatives, including my brother, live in Israel. I am tired of the madness. And I am very, very sorry.I am sorry for the long history of displacement of both Jews and Arabs in the region. For the profoundly misguided, ignorant and imperialist interference of major world powers throughout history, starting with the Romans 2,000 years ago and ending now with Britain and the United States. And I am sorry for the tragic loss of life, love and community on both sides.

I am sorry I lost my brother to the Israeli Defence Forces when I was 17. And I am sorry that my mother, in blind and unthinking loyalty to Israel, was happy that he joined. I am equally sorry about the Palestinian — and other Arab — children I have witnessed being encouraged by their parents to hate Jews and throw stones at Israeli soldiers. What could they possibly be thinking the result would be? Every generation we lose to this blind, fanatical hatred and fear is a crime against humanity.

I am sorry that Hezbollah is bombing one of my favorite cities in Israel, Haifa, home of the stunning Baha’i buildings and gardens. I love this complex, even though I am not Baha’i — or any other religion for that matter. The Baha’i faith was founded by a 19th-century Iranian prophet. Think about that, and then think about it some more — Iran is deeply embroiled in this war. The first line of text on the international website for the faith states that, “So far, humanity has tried everything except unity. Race, nation, sect, or class has always come first.” Well said. Peace is possible. I am equally sorry that Lebanon’s infrastructure, rebuilt after Israel’s invasion in 1982, is again being demolished. How utterly wasteful and degrading.

I am sorry that religion, and God’s name, are being debased by fundamentalist Muslims, Jews and Christians who really don’t have a remote clue. Any divine energy worth our allegiance would not encourage hate, war and the preference of one group over another. Certainly no God worth our allegiance would encourage the killing of children on any side. This is much more about massive delusions and abuses of power on all sides — Israel, Hezbollah, U.S., Iran, Syria, etc.

I am sorry about all the hateful, intolerant and ignorant junk I am reading about Jews and Arabs on Internet blogs and media websites, written by people who don’t understand at all but feel the need to state their opinions anyway. Please stay out of it; the region doesn’t need any more darkness. This is one area where choosing sides is part of the problem, not the solution.

What we need is humility and the willingness to admit that we don’t have all the answers. I’d like to see those who know the region deeply and intimately — from Israeli and Arab universities, for instance — and who can bring much-needed compassion into the dialogue, be invited to the table. I’d like to see the world community assertively rein in the United States and Iranian administrations. The hard talk about borders and the equal right of both sides to exist, regardless of past political mistakes, needs to happen. More hatred doesn’t need to happen. And I am sorry that Stephen Harper and the Conservatives have chosen to state their opinion on the matter at all.

After all this, I would like to share an otherworldly gift I was given on my last extensive trip to Israel in 1995 with a Canadian friend. At several checkpoints, we were warned about events that were occurring in the West Bank city of Hebron. Several Israelis had been killed in Palestinian attacks. We were warned by soldiers to not take a wrong turn and get lost in Hebron. So we promptly proceeded to take a wrong turn and get lost in Hebron. My friend, who was driving, was terrified. I tried to convince her not to buy into the fear and hate and to see through ages of conditioning and stereotypes. She refused to stop the car and ask for directions. We drove on in circles for two hours as the sky darkened, limiting our chances of finding the exit. Eventually, because she had no choice, we stopped a short distance from a small flat-roofed building, in front of which an elderly Palestinian man was preparing and selling flatbread. After several minutes of an exchange, she started to walk away from him back to the car. He called out to her and as she turned toward him, this beautiful man offered her — gave her — some flatbread. We drove out of Hebron in silence and in tears. Nowadays, I dream that in that same moment my Palestinian counterpart was trying to convince a friend of the humanity of Israelis and was given the same gift I was.

Serena Tene lives in Guelph.

Canada, Lebanon and the Damage caused by Stephen Harper - An Excellent Article by Charlie Angus

philallt — Thu, 03 Aug 2006 13:23:15 +0000

My good friend Charlie Angus has written an extensive critique of the Harper Government’s handling of the Lebanon tragedy. Charlie is the MP for Timmins-James Bay. He is the MP who blew the whistle on the Liberal mishandling of fresh water supplies in native communities. In the past, Charlie was also member of the Greivous Angels and often wrote about the human situation in his songs.

Below is Charlie’s take on Canada’s “do nothing” approach to Lebanon. Charlie scolds our prime minister for damaging Canada’s reputation as a middle power, peace broker. But he goes further. He slams Harper for failing to understand the simple truth of what the United Nations does in places like Lebanon.

Canada needs more MP’s like Charlie, articulate, passionate and right on the mark. Give this article a read and then contact your MP to express your views on this situation.

Harper Undermining Canada’s Role in Lebanon

By Charlie Angus MP Timmins-James Bay

The death toll among the innocent continues to rise in the carnage that is Lebanon. Among those dead are nine Canadians including four children and a UN peacekeeper. The death of peacekeeper Major Hess-von Kruedener is a frightening example of how much the lines between combatants and non-combatants has been blurred or erased. Major Kruedener was one of four peacekeepers manning a well-established UN observation post. Despite their UN designation, they had come under increasing fire from advancing Israeli army. So much so, that the UN had placed 10 calls pleading with the Israeli army not to fire on the base. But it was to no avail. The four peacekeepers were killed in a rein of shells.

The killing of peacekeepers brought worldwide condemnation. Even China decried the attack as an attack on the United Nations. Notably absent from this outpouring of international outrage was Canada. Prime Minister Stephen Harper did little more than shrug off the bombing of the UN post. In fact, Harper went far as to ask why the UN mission was there in the first place.

The answer should be obvious — they were doing their job. Major Hess-von Kruedener was part of a longstanding United Nations presence in Lebanon.No doubt their presence was inconvenient for the Israeli advance. Such is the nature of UN missions. It is simply unacceptable, however, that our Prime Minister did not demand clear answers when public questions were being raised as to whether these soldiers were targeted.

This is not about taking sides. It is about Canada standing up for the principle that the primary obligation of the international community in any conflict is to stop the killing so negotiations can take place. For decades, Canada has championed the principle of using international pressure to end the fighting so that civilians can be treated and stability restored.

A Canadian peacekeeper was killed trying to carry out this function. And yet, while the ruins of the UN mission were still smoking, Harper’s officials were in Rome undermining the principles for which this soldier died. The Rome Conference was called to find an immediate end to the killing. Foreign Affairs Minister Peter McKay, however, dutifully lined up behind the U.S. as they blocked, stalled and undermined any
chance for a cease-fire.

McKay has taken the position that a ceasefire is desirable but only insofar as one side has the time it needs to beat the other. This message was not lost on the combatants. The day after the Rome Conference failed, Israel’s Justice Minister Haim Ramon proclaimed that the country had been given a green light to continue the destruction of Lebanon. Soon after, the world witnessed the bombing of civilians in the biblical community of Qana.

Few international leaders believe that the U.S. /Canada position has any real chance of bringing stability back to the region. The rockets have not stopped. Civilians continue to be killed and a stalemate of blood letting is the only likely outcome.

Time Magazine, for example, denounced Condoleezza Rice as living in a diplomatic “Disneyland” for pursuing a policy that is allowing maximum collateral damage on an innocent country. According to Time: “Her case was hardly helped when she explained that the violence that has already killed more than 400 Lebanese and turned more than a half million into refugees represents the “birth pangs of a new Middle East.”

“Birth pangs” is a perverse way of describing the slaughter Lebanon. Indeed it seems as if the only thing being birthed is more radicalism and chaos. It reminds me of Y.B. Yeats and his terribly prophetic poem: And what rough beast, its hour come round at last / Slouches towards Bethlehem to be born?

Which leads us back to Harper. Since when has it been Canada’s tradition to shrug off the killing of civilians and wholesale destruction of national infrastructure? Since when has it been Canadian policy to drag our feet when the international community is pleading for ceasefire and negotiations? Regardless of the claims by Harper and company, the only victors out of a protracted war will be the hardliners on all sides.

If Lebanon cannot look to Canada as a model for multilateral engagement what hope can there be for this tortured region? Civilians and municipal infrastructure on either side of the conflict cannot be treated as irrelevant collateral damage. A Canadian peacekeeper died for this principle. Harper must do better.