"... water, water everywhere, but not a drop to drink ..."

Tak about history repeating itself. The youth groups that snake-danced their way into City Council chambers on June 16 pulled off the most spirited demonstration in a long time. In fact, you have to go back nearly 30 years to find anything comparable - back to the heady days of those lovable young pranksters, the Yippies. The number of parallels are uncanny. There was

the same noisy theatrics, the same music and dan- cing, the same in-your-face disrespect of the good burghers and, in a way, the same old issue - the determination of council and the business establishment to make the streets of Vancouver safe for all the decent, money-spending folks.

Back in 1970 the Yippies bombarded council members with marshmallows and balloons over the NPA-dominated council decision to buy nightsticks and other new toys for the police to sweep the streets of unruly demonstrators. Today, the youth groups are protesting the one-party NPA

council giving the police the right to sweep the streets of people who are hying to make a few extra bucks panhandling or busking.

The Yippies were an anarchy-minded non-group of idealistic street youth ("hippies") and students, their moral outrage fueled by an international tragedy - the U.S. invasion of Vietnam. Today's protesters are a loose affiliation of street youth from the Urban Youth Alliance (681-3676) and students with a severe case of indigestion from international alphabet soup - NAFTA, APEC, MA1

Then, as now, the police were totally out-of-line in their political comments, trying to marginalize and trivialize the issues. About the Yippies, police said they were a few outside agitators leading a flock of sheep. About today's youth protesters, in the words of Insp. Dave Jones, who also called them a rent-a-crowd: "They purport to represent the downtrodden. In fact, I think they are just putting on a show."

This type of comment, amplified by the compli- ant med& is totally inappropriate for a police officer. Their~job is to enforce the law and stay neutral, not run down people who are exercising their right of free speech.

Maybe it doesn't occur to the cops that some people are at various events because the cause is linked - against the suppression of street rights. It's not as if the police aren't a blue-shirted rent-a- crowd themselves, always showing up where people are trying to make a point. For that matter, politicians are mixed up in every protest too - as the cause. Maybe if somebody complained to the 1 BC Police Commission about the cops' political , meddling, it might make them button their lips. -

Even with the arrests on June 16 the spirit was 1 high and the young people enjoyed themselves, vowing to continue their protests. They provided a -

good example for the older generation, which stages far too many grim and humourless demos that can leave you feeling down at the end.

As Emma Goldman used to say: "If I can't sing and dance at your revolution. I don't want to be part of it."

By BEN BURRUTI 1

Editor, Vancouver Mayor Philip Owen and his City

Council have recently enacted anti-panhandling legislation. Apparently impoverished people in Vancouver are creating a bad image for wealthy tourists? Council won't have it! So to deal with the poverty and homelessness and all its attendant eyesores - like panhandling, drug addiction, alcoholism, mental illness, etc. - City Council, lead by a man of vision like Owen, decided to outlaw poverty and all its trappings by laying down new sets of by-laws to ... ? to keep the poor people off the streets and out of sight? ... I guess. They don't want any poorly dressed, shabby- looking people asking better dressed tourists for help! By God! if Vancouver refuses to help these wretched people then it's not going to let its "honoured visitors" shoulder the burden either.

Makes a bit of sense - doesn't it? Funny thing is Mayor Owen and Council are very

worried, troubled and just plain angry at panhandlers asking for nickels and dimes in

LEARNHOW TO PLA Y POOL -

FOR BEGINNERS INSTRUCTORS: VOLUNTEERS ON DUTY EVERY 2nd SATURDAY OF THE MONTH.

Vancouver - yet if you're some fly-by-night contractor who wants to stick up shoddy, poorly designed, badly built 'condos' just go to Vancouver City and they'll give you as many building permits as you want. This is actually the smart way to go! I mean why panhandle for change when you can just get a building permit and make off with a few million.

It's true: City Hall doesn't want you on the street bugging people for nickels and dimes, but if you want to rip off mostly retired seniors, go ahead. Maybe part of the problem is that the City doesn't get a cut of the panhandlers' 'take' ($5 over four hours) but it does in building permits and taxes for all the law ofices and courts and... Iueems amazing to me that some petty, self-

serving municipal politicians are able to enact anti- democratic laws and to rescind our hard-fought for basic freedoms.

high noon in the downtown eastside

a young native man is pinned to the sidewalk in front of the bank at the corner of pender and main a crowd surrounds him his dark pockmarked face is pushed into the sidewalk

somebody walking by jumps in and kicks him in the head someone in the crowd kicks him in the leg and someone else punches him in the kidneys

a police officer arrives he kneels down to cuff the native man and while he does so somebody steps forward and slugs the man somebody else kicks him right between the legs the man is kicked and beaten until more police officers show up and clear the scene

hands cuffed behind his back the young native man sits barefoot on the sidewalk so alone vulnerable naked ill hated and his eyes are fierce with pain and defiance

he grabbed a woman's purse at noon on a crowded sidewalk a desperate and foolish move fueled by extreme poverty generations of genocide and need for a drug to relieve his suffering

after he snatched the purse the woman screamed people reacted and may well have killed him if the police hadn't arrived

and now when I walk through chinatown J

I cannot help bit wonder if the hands of the people walking past me are those that would have murdered the young native man

or if their hands are those that signed the petition of 15,000 signatures that would exterminate the young native man's community

Bud Osbom

Serenity Meditation Prayer

I pray I am never so serene as to accept the unacceptable in my powerlessness to change it

in seeking inner peace I find life coursing dynamically animated and never still even in death shall I writhe maggotted

you who stare when I jerk swing twitch sway can clench clamp down on the stick up your ass 1 funk l tweak push chi am groovy

you who boast tranquillity as placid lakes're pissed on the mother of all bound gagged vigorously sodomized by business-suited bandits you owe me a fucking eight-ball

Rupert B

you+h Challenqe Internat iona 1 J

Volunteer's Experiences

K~rsten Werner has rcccn4lY rcturncd from ler 10 week volunteer pro' ect in Guyana. Her projes+ included building a WOM~H'S CENTER and HIV/AIDS awsreness training.

I VanCity Place For Youth 1CI - - - - [ u-iia OP=BsxNG!

Srmday, Jrdy 12; 1 :00 - 4:OO 326 West Pender Street

Free BBQ, Street Art Exhibition, entertainment by Public Dreams Society,

mural painting lantern-making workshop.

I COME OM? COMEALL! I

Positive Stories About Poor People Anyone?

I'm sure there are a lot of people out there who have good stories to tell about poor people.

Please ... take the time to honour these people by writing a short story or poem about their positive qualities and why you like or admire them. Your story might be about a family member, a friend, an acquaintance or someone else who you admire. The number of submissions is unrestricted. Use

nom de plumes if you desire and please express your wishes concerning anonymity. Your right to privacy will be strictly respected.

You don't have to be a meat writer; it's content

that's important. Let's get some positive stories out to combat all the negative ones about people living in poverty.

Please include your phone number and a self- addressed, stamped envelope if you would like to be contacted upon acceptance. Copyright, editing and acceptance privileges remain with me for all published works. The submission deadline has been extended to August 3 1,1998. Please mail your submission to:

Diane McPherson C/O United Vision Community Support Services

112-1657 128th St., Surrey. B.C. V4A 3V2

WARRIORS AGAINST VIOLENCE 1

PROGRAM We are now doing intake assessments for the SPRING 1998 Men's Spousal Abuse Counselling Program.

The group involves 12 sessions held twice weekly. This group is appropriate for men who want to end abusive behaviours towards their partnerlspouse. The format joins psycho-educational counselling with culturally-specific activities directly relevant to the experience of First Nations men (sweat lodge ceremonies, pipe ceremonies, and other cultural activities). Sessions are open to First Nations men, or non-Native men who are in relationships with First Nations women.

Men may be referred through service providers or may join as self-referrals.

For further information or to make a referral contact Joe Fossella Sr. or Dan Parker, Group Facilitators, at 255-3240. Joe Fossella pager # 622-3831 and Dan Parker pager # 622-8937.

All contact is kept strictly confidential.

Warriors Agait~st CTolence IS szrpported by the /q~r.st Nnlions Wt.ll~re.s.s Socieg.

The Yellow House

With uour writlnq Every Monday and Friday July 3, 98 to August 2 8, 96 , Time 12PM- hll 2PM Third Floor Carnegie Learning Center Contact Letgh Donohue

I

Jen. Pain, Marlaina, Karl and Tiin just moved into the Strathcona community. They were wel- coined to the neighbourhood by a burglar who stole 60 Cds, a video camera, a special video tape and a black, triangular pack.

Anita Stevens reported this to the Newsletter in the hope of getting the one video tape back. It is the record of the birth of Marlaina - filmed 'live'. Just after calling here, one of the people got a call from a cyclist who'd found the pack in a field on Station Street. If anyone reading this knows of or has this one tape, please bring it to the Newsletter office. Thanks.

Love is loving all despite all Loving you can be pretty wonderful Love may never disappear.. maybe 1'11 love you forever, however, I'll never forget you even if I die Highest power and I will be looking out for you no matter what Higher power of yours to be looked after timelessly

Without having looked out for you before 1 shall disembowel your enemy tragically for him, not for you.

After we love, after we have loved, we shall embrace

as sister to sister and never part

Elizabeth Th orpe

I have died to live again went through sorrow went through pain

We have come to wealth C

and gain

\ We will conquer yet again.

Elizabeth Thorpe

Canpliment - ''I love your car." V Affirmtion- "I love You." Philosophy - ' b v e each other as you love

yourselves. "

Love is a word used t o express a "positive" feelmg. A positive feeling about m t e r i a l goods t o be admired. A positive feeling that occimed long before the divorce procec_.dings. Rut does the wrd itself really define anything of p e m e n t value.

h t s i d e of family feelings, the only pure form of true, honest love occurs at about the fourth grade of school.

We see sawone five days a & i n the sam c k m or in the assembly hal l , and that xmone beccms so attractive t o our young eyes that we snse the richest of feel- ings just t o be in the sam world with them.

Ckr elders try t o cheapen that feeling by calling it a crush, but its @her continues for the whole school year unti l smner vacation canes i n devastating unfairness.

?hat f i r s t "crushf' ms of pure love because it consisted of the highest positivity attain- able altrrrisn. We m t e d nothing of a m t e r i d or physical nature from the subject of our affection. We j u s t wanted than t o be there when w got t o the school yard every glorious mrning.

In my case her rme was &-en.' She sat t h ~ seats up and one row over frun me where I would gaze a t the red hair draping down over her green seater as Mr. -Welhm read fran the Wind In Tne Willows t o the class.

A t my school, Herbert Spencer E l m t a r y , the boy's playground kk3~ on one side of the school and the g i r l ' s was on the other side. So at recess and lunch tine I 'd shoot m b l e s or chase af te r the soccer ball, but every thQ or three minutes I 'd think about Karen and wonder what she was doing right then.

She was sl ightly taller then I ' kk3~ but it didn't bother me because I knew innately that we were too young at that stage of l i f e t o be as clcse as elder mtes were. Rut ,

jus t as innately, I knew that i n the endless future she would be my mte .

I think that year, so long ago, h a s the only pericd of time that I 've ever been a consistently happy person. In retrospect, I now believe I ms in the s ta te that the poets and philosophers refer t o as Love.

In September of that excellent year, I returned t o Herbert Spencer Elementary a bi t bigger and, of course, m r e mature fran my s m w r vacation experiences in f a r off Alberta.

For three days I searched for Karen. In the hallwiys during recess rush hours. I'd even ask to go t o the bathroom so I could look into the other classroans for her red hair and traditional green sweater. Chce I kicked the soccer ball so it would bounce down the sl ight slope in front of the school and r o l l close t o the taboo girl's field.

I caught up with the ball, and ignoring the yells of 'hurry up" behind me, I scanned the girl's field for Karen's st- fom, but she w't there.

I t d around and dribbled the bal l a couple of t i m s , then I booted it w i t h all the force my soul could s-n.

Finally, I broke a hole i n my shell of shyness and approached one of Karen's friends from ' las t year' t o inquire about her.

"Ch, her family mved t o White Rock."

A t that age, .White Rock ms as f a r amy as Alberta on bicycle, so I had t o redLize that scmthing very important t o me had caw t o an end.

... A t 52, I think I can count on my ten fingers

the nuher of times I've said "I love you" t o the wmm I've been close to or even the few I've lived with.

I f e l t strong physical and enotional ties t o tlaem, but (and i n hindsight) nothing ever came close t o that I f e l t for Karen when the world kas young and real, and I couldn't s e t t l e for less.

LIFE WITHOUT TV

Imagine life without TV Then, and only then

When there weren't too many computers We got,our news from reliable sources Like Time, Life and Reuters. My internet! My internet! The chips (memory) are turning brown Is it another weird virus? or the start of a major meltdown? 1 recently heard over the airwaves The radioman, Art Bell, live at ten (PM)

I About increased radiation (Cesium 137)

! Across the alpine glen (Switzerland). The East Indians, the Pakistanis, the Chinese have it too: The atomic bomb, the computer and, yes,

? God-like TV, which all eyes are glued to.

Procrastination

Procrastination one of the most accepted cards of earth. It's like drinking lukewarm tea in a Victorian hotel. Procrastination what a noun in birth a snneaky space where someone can perform censorship while you're sitting on a toilet in some exhibition with a do-it-yourself magazine on your lap. Oh by the way the shows have already started. What a shame! If you t ied to get there you'd only be late again. Pro-cras-tin-ation what a serious religion another profound way to live. Procrastination an unusual fate ... I guess the rich and pious can afford it. The rest of us well --- we'll have to wait.

Leigh Donohue Larry Mousseau

Neighbourhood News * Vancouver's International Symposium on Crime Prevention & Drug Treatment This is neighbourhood news? It was 125 bucks a crack to register and be among the inany professionals; to hear the politicians from Vancouver and Victoria, doctors and professors from Sweden, the United States, England and Canada, research fellows and the odd front-line person give their discourses. No I wasn't there; no I don't have a great story from several or even one person who was. The Program shows that on Saturday afternoon, after a day of indoor meetings, "tours" were available for all to visit St.Paul's Hospital and its Ilzrsk t o I ) m w thing ..The Gathering Place; ..the still empty VanCity Place for Youth on West Pender; ..the Needle Exchange; . .Oppenheimer Park; ..Youth Action Centre at ground level under the Hazelwood; ..the Neighbourhood Safety Office at 1 2 E.Hastings ... all in "ride-along" mode with Vancouver Police. The printed material that every participant got:

1 . Summary Review of Selected Papers - an over- view of publications on drug use in Vancouver summarizing findings & recommendations. This has a list of drug & alcohol services already in place, reports on HIVIAIDS, Needle Exchange, health issues, women, crime and gaps (read black holes) in treatment, detox, dealing with housing, poverty, homelessness (nah, I created the last few). The Cain Report from the province's chief coroner in 1993 was still as fresh and clear as it was 5 years ago - in that little seems to have been translated into action. This might bring indignation from people who have been in the trenches for

doesn't seem to be much to show. 2. Local Action Recoinmendations -On the upside, there is no dearth of hope. Addiction Treahnent (harm reduction approaches); Accessible health care enhancing responses to the HIV epidemic and appropriate services, including education of users (and education, training and skills for sei~ice providers); Housing and Community Suppnits which focus on getting adequate shelter and counselling, with the models highlighted being the 'a place to sleep, something to eat' kind with the societal heavyweights of poverty, homelessness, classist laws and so on being "part of a different discussion" (!); Community Involvement in serv- ice delivery adinits people need to have "walked the walk" and generalities ahout integration and coordination are a stah at reducing turf wars and fights over funds; treahnent/prevention/education on AIDS is integral to all this and the final section nn Critne Preventinn linkc c?!-~!gr: tn prny~$i crimp hut, y i n , t h ~ cncietal thiug nf legislated p 0 \ ~ e 3 iq alinnst entirely i pwed .

Wait and see, said the grinning cat * Trade & Canvention Centre is getting great press everywhere except from those who don't nwn nne On Monday the City of Vancouver and Greystone (the developer) put on a show in Carnegie theatre in "consultation with the community". Rehearsed. as one local described it, when it came to reciting the n~~mber s jobs for Incals - 150 n ~ l t nf 700 or sn and some o f the cnnstn~ction work thvnugh prngrains like Blade Runners and Tradeworks It was all in 'man-years' and 'entry-level positinns' and seemed to be part of the foundation, some- thing that no one could say no to. A few of the

Social Impact

Access to Crab Park

- - -- - - - . - - - -.

Futurc Expansion

-- - - . . - -

Proximity to SROs

Rc~ncclial actions by clcvclopcr

- - - - - - - - Rolc of Go\.crnrncn t

- -- - . -~ . .-

Student ~ : I S ;in o h v ~ o u s disrcgarcl for ncgat~vc efl'ects or clcvclopment on csistlng and futurc ;~cl~;iccnt iic~gllhourhtx,d:; ;111tl parks

. - - ---- Stuclcnt proposes 71 loading bays (6 bays currcnlly cxistj with access prlni:lr~ly down h h i n St. l 'our~sts first, citizens nncl rcsldcnts last ~p -~ ~

O h ~ d l . it's h:rd snough to gct to a s it is Won't m:kc any difference E;lstlancls (phase tu.0) could szrlous rcduce acccss :1nd ; i \ai lnl>~l~ty of ~ w r k [or c s ~ s t ~ n g rcmlznts .. .. - . .. . - - .-- -~ -.

Callccl the "I~:~r;tl;~nJs". this is this plccc of land I:; right nest to ( ' I - ; I ~ 1':rrk Stuclcnt h;ls not Ixxn c l c x o n the pl:lns I;v tht< ;lrc.:l

~ . . . --- 1f;llf ( ( , ~ l ~ u i l c l ~ n ~ s . 3 . 3 6 1 - u n 1 t ~ o f ~ h c resiclcnt~:~l liotcls In the INiS nlc n.itli~n a 15 nlinute walkmg cl~stancc of rhc proposed ccntrc. Stuclcnt admits r w n c land vnlucs will - thrcatcn this housinc nnrl the n&hbourhood

X C _ .

We eslmtecl wav niore fro111 this student. Less than $6 m ~ l l ~ o n in coniniun~ty hcnef~ts This amount ~nclutlcs the 1;astl:lncls Stutlent clcmon:;trales :I gcncr;tl h c k of Interest on t h ~ s sulycct. Much more work IS nccdcd

- . . . ~ - - - ~- - -.. . - . .--

~t&h's prcycct partners I;~ck asscstivrncss or coniniitmcnt l h v s not completed thc hotcl nnh-convsrs~on by-law or usccl a portion of IIotel Tau to crcatc a houslng subsicly fund - - - -- - -- - - -- -- A poor proposal Student must resubnut Seen14 to havc gone to estraord~nar). lengths to Ignore the ncyatlvc effects 11 ~ 1 1 1 have on the r)owntown Eastsde.

gasbags (read 'people purporting to speak for Gastown in tenns of homeowners, property ownership, residents, tenants, merchants, safety societies, heritage and fireplug design, dress codes and gumchewing ...' all told about 25-30 people) had a hard time getting anyone to see this $900 million project as they saw it - the greatest thing since sliced bread, guaranteed to speed gentrifica- tion and the elimination of the Downtown Eastside community. Layout isn't done yet, but on a page close by is a report made on the basis of both Vancouver and the provincial government grading

- Sttident must repeat year and

demonstrate a serious commit- ment to dealing with the nega- tive impacts of the proposed project. A meeting is required with the parents (Glen Clarke) before student can proceed.

this thing on its impact. The local community will pursue an anti-conversion bylaw to protect low- income housing, I000 units of low-income hous- ing to be built to alleviate the impact, and the entire range of recommendations, including several strategies focused on the seeming taboo subjects of legislated poverty, homelessness and safety for users and sex-trade workers from the drug symposium, in a fair and (dare I say it) sincere response to this megaproject. In a report on experience from San Francisco, local housing activists state "The impact of a convention centre is overwhelming. A few thousand people ended up with no place to live as property owners all tried to cash in on it. There weren't many compromises once it got going." The downside to this "community consultation" was the lack of interest fiom Podmore, the developer, on concerns expressed. There was no one even taking notes; to put it politely, it seemed to be an information session with as little regard for local concerns as possible. Stay tuned. * The Witness Project, emanating from the Learning Centre, has its results - pictures and writings of participants - on display in the Art Gallery on Carnegie's 3rd floor. This is well worth seeing, and is a strong view of current practices that affect our environment, physically, mentally and spiritually. * The Vancouver/Richmond Health Board and BC Housing are both pleased with the acquisition of the Sunrise and Washington hotels. and the non- profit society selected to operate them is supposed to be announced any day. l 'he VIRHB is also announcing establishment of Coininunity Health Councils and services, but this seems to be administrative (meaning I don't know). More soon * If anyone's noticed, it's surmner. Slow down? Hah!

PRT

We wish to correct an error in the May 28 article, "Downtown Eastside split bared," that said the Strathcona Residents Asso- ciation was one of the groups calling for a moratorium on so- cial housing and programs in the Downtown Eastside. Our position is that single-room-oc- cupancy housing should be pro- tected and upgraded until it can be suitably replaced for long- term residents.

We also urge that measures be taken to improve the quality of life of the long-term resi- dents . These include more detoxification programs, better support for persons with men- tal illness, more policing and fewer businesses that can be magnets for the drug trade (e.g. pawn shops , 24-hour food , . stores).

To achieve our goals, we sug- 1 gest the city investigate such options as an anti-conversion bylaw, a citywide development tax, and selling city property at reduced rates to support new social housing.

We hope community groups with differing interests can overcome their divisive atti- tudes and work toward a better quality of life for all residents of the Downtown Eastside.

JAMES BURTON TATIANA PETROV

Strathcona Residents Association, Vancouver

not just for the musically inclined THC I* WARLIYG SlG)(S OF 5

A Social Satire of Grandiose Proportions

\. for Marylin Sarti \ My hope for love leaves me sometimes

4. it falls between my legs and I shiver like an early spring river trapped in an earthquake. Is she a symbol or a satire I wonder? Does she mingle with the suggestive faces you can find in my mirror? Oh when the sunlight goes on in the morning will those ill-attended lectures begin again. Will the angles flatter themselves with that flippant attitude we humans suspect was created by Cupid or Marc Le'lain. Maybe we're

Fridays 1:OO - 3:OO

Carnegie Theatre April 17 - June 26

just part of __2_

some banal program on proper etiquette and legal procedures.

me unples

with a supporting premise All hail but hell social worth. it's too much work! It's my birthday again Leigh Donohue

Do you have any information regarding

Louis Rywk (spelling could be wrong)

He would now be 55 or so and lived in the DE in the early 60's. He was blond, curly-haired, 6 ft., 180 Ibs., and was married to an English woman (Valerie?) in 1963 or 1964. He did some singing in the Smiling Bud& boxed in local gyms and claimed to have been in the US armed forces.

His mother was a short lady with dark hair who lived on Powell near the Sunrise market. Her nan was Diane Ma. Louis had 2 or 3 sisters.

This is for a personal reason. Please phone or have Louis phone CAROL at 899-9401.

Compassionate Flow

I sit and visit with compassion at least thought aboutit ... who hasn't? when feelings and emotions are in balance, \ -

there's no reason why that shouldn't happen. \ Staring up at the holes in the sky, it's a wonder why we still sometimes lie, denying that fire from within,

shorten our chances of living out our full being.

Dauntingly the past serves and puts you on your way hurriedly along we scuny and scatter, \ the future abounds with nary a chance of making it pay,

Surely, the key is every moment that should only matter.

Faith twists its endless coil around our lives, who are we to complain when we cry,

from out of nowhere the crow flies, we too will see the best of the morningside.

So use your chances and put wony aside, lets take bold new steps and walk in stride, for the past is gone and tomorrow can wait,

'tis the time now to celebrate! I M-vles G Meetoos /

Snooker & 9 ball tournament

Saturday, August 1 1 pm in the Pool Room

4# 8~ Prizes $5.00 entry fee (pay at info) sign up on or after June 24 Carnegie Membership required

- To the Editor:

- My name is Bob Ogiltree and I now publish the Sweet News, which is Vancouver's new Street news paper. The reason 1 am writing to you is because you

recently published a letter to the editor of Spare ('hange (Robert R. Rich, June 1, 1998). I would like to take this chance to tell your readers that although our roots stem from Spare ('hange we are not the same paper. Spare ('hange stopped publishing in May 1997. Our policies toward people with habits no matter

what the substance we will not tag them with undesirable titles. Around our office and anywhere else my staff and I treat everyone the same. We have moved to the eastside to be closer to the people we most want to help and write about.

i When I started this paper my intention was and still is to focus on the positive issues which never seem to be told in the mainstream media.

1 So please don't just assume that the Street News is just another ,Spare ( 'hange.

Attention TOURISTS

Welcome to the La La Land Travel Agency! We guarantee:

- indefinite vacations - straitjackets - leather restraints - controlled substances - mind-altering drugs - dehumanization - hair loss - weight gain - drug pushers - drug addiction - dependency - shock ttreatment - brain damage - total submission - no mercy - no refund - locked wards - rubber rooms - industrialization

... all compliments of the Ministry of Health and the Mental Health system. Enjoy your stay.

PS: "Abandon all hope, ye who enter" - Dante

Anita Stevens

1 Street Novs is at 501 EHastings; 729-2654

DOWNTOWN STD CLINIC - 219 Main; Monday - Friday, 10 a.m. - 6 p.m. EASTSIDE NEEDLE EXCHANGE - 221 Main; 8:30 a.m. - 8 p.m. every day YOUTH NEEDLE EXCHANGE VAN - 3 Routes ACTIVITIES SOCl ETY

5 1998 DONATIONS Z P a u l a R.-$10

0 +' 9 m Wm. B.-$12 V) p. I J o y T.-$18 5 c h a r l e y 8.-$15

O" L i b b y D.-$50 Sam R.-$40

. R i c k Y.-$45 n Sharon 5.-$30 +' BCCW -625

Ray-Cam - $ l o

Val A.-$50 Neil N.-$20 H e l e n e S.-$18 J e n n y K.-$18 T i m S.-$18 Thomas B.-$14 B e t h L.-$18 Bill G.-$100 I

Rol f A.-$25 Bruce 5.-$14 BCTF - $12 S a b i t r a - $15 S u s a n S.-$7

City - 5:45 p.m. - 11 :45 p.m. Overnight - 12:30 a.m. - 8:30 a.m. Downtown Eastside - 5 3 0 p.m. 1:30 a.m.

THE NEWSLETTER IS A PUBLICATION OF THE CARNEGIE COMMUNITY CENTRE ASSOCIATION

Articles represent the views of contributors and not of the Association.

- c. Haro ld ~ . - $ 2 0 M a r g a r e t D.-$20 m Sonya S.-$80 DEYAS -$I 50

' Vancy ti.-$35 PRIDE -$50 $, J e n n i f e r M.-$15 w Srenda P.$10

The Downtown Eastside Residents Association can help you with:

* Welfare problems * Landlord disputes * Housing problems * Unsafe living conditions

Come to the DERA office at 425 Carrall Street or phone us at 682-0931

The Law And Class War - Part 2

"Justice is open to all - like the Ritz Hotel." Judge L.T. Mathew

If you get arrested, and you're poor and can't raise bail, you'll remain in the slammer. You may spend months in jail waiting for your case to come up in court. You could lose your job, and your family may have to go on welfare. Finally, your case may be dismissed, or you may be found innocent.

If you're poor, and you can't pay a fine, you'll go to jail. Panhandlers who can't pay a fine, could go to prison. Studies show that richer persons (doctors, lawyers, business tycoons) don't seem to be any more law abiding than poorer persons (young, poor school drop-outs for example), but the white collar crime of well-to-do people doesn't often lead to prison. A $100 robbery may end in a ten year jail term. A $100,000 embezzlement may - end in a suspended sentence. Prisons are, for the most part, a weapon used mainly by the rich, and

.. mainly against the poor. If you're low income, you won't be able to afford

a lawyer, and legal aid is being decimated with financial cut-backs. We're not just talking criminal law here. We're talking welfare rights, tenants' rights, the Workers' Compensation Board, immigration and refugee matters, divorce law, unemployment insurance claims, and human rights law.

The People's Law School of Los Angeles wrote, "In the past, traditional legal institutions have mass-produced lawyers whose concept of lawyering consisted of joining an elite organization dedicated to maintaining the ... status quo.. .by serving the rich.. .The non-establishment student, if not an outcast, is nevertheless segregated with a small group concerned with what are...considered the marginal interests of society: the areas of poverty, civil rights, labour ' and criminal law." (quoted in Legal Services And The Poor, by R.J. Gathercole)

At least 58 per cent of crimes are crimes against

property. This pattern tells us something about the unequal distribution of wealth and income in Canada. The richest 10 per cent of Canadians own 5 1.3 per cent of Canada's wealth. The poorest 20 per cent of Canadians own minus -0.3 per cent of wealth. This unequal distribution of wealth is a major reason for crimes against property. Fair tax laws and social programs are two ways wealth can be redistributed in an equitable way, yet Canada has developed tax laws that widen the gap between rich and poor, and has undermined social programs with laws such as Bill C-76 that set up the Canada Health and Social Transfer (CHST).

In response to the social chaos that results from severe unemployment, increasing part-time work, deeper poverty and the destruction of social programs, our governments build more prisons. With 130 inmates per 100,000 population, Canada now has the fourth highest incarceration rate in the western world, behind the United States (wit11 over 500 inmates per 100,000 population), Russia and South Africa. It costs at least $124 per day to keep a person in prison. We can't solve the problems of unemployment, poverty, panhandling and homelessness by throwing people in the slammer. This path leads to holocaust.

Our present corporate, global, economic system, driven by the dynamic of accumulation, has no restraint. We need laws to restrain it and the company executive officers who are trapped in its web. We can use the law to return democracy to Canada - but it won't be easy.

Sandy Cameron

I was brought up on the truth: "Never hit a man when he's down." Hence my dismay at the new City By-law: "No person shall panhandle on a street at any time during the period from sunset to sunrise." The term "panhandle" is a euphemism to include beggars, indigents, mendicants, bums, vagabonds, wastrels,

stiffs, down-and-outers, ne'r-do-wells ... in fact, anyone 'who has no place to lay his head'. Today our streets, byways, public places, even some churches are out of bounds to the "outcast" reaching

out his hand ... Ah, let us cast a cold, cold eye on the hard of heart, so much at ease in their high places.

Sam Roddan

Sunday July 12th from 10:oo to 2:00 p-1,

Cottonwood Gardens - 800 Block Malkin Ti Strathcona Gardens - 700 Block Prior

Great plant sale - lots of perennials PLANT SALE & 1

VanLIusen Master Gardeners at both sites Tours of both sites

pi a OPEN IIOUSE 7 Something for every one

-- - ,urn,'.- a,

% STRATHCONA COMMUNITY GARDENS %$COTTONWOOD COMMUNITY GARDENS

over bob and muggs

I get an autumn feeling so find myself outside in cool baby-blue and grey headed for the seawall sometimes fragrance gets so thick it seeps into your soul and paints the halls and rooms where wander tearfully sweet loves and mists breathed out to frost

falling crunchy leaves intoxicate perfectly the world-weary like a fairy tale elixir

and I walk under trees that bend they whisper out to me "yet while we live we're breathing flesh but you your bones are wooden"

a breaking wave splashes up and over bob and muggs the instant it freezes time is suspended but a whole day's suspended anyway I think about ancient love other cool baby-blue grey days it feels so much like afterlife I'd gladly call it home like a rainy window like kittys and tea smiling alone at the table a tender touch

and I walk under trees that bend and they bend over bob and muggs and we live, are breathing flesh and our bones are wooden

Rupert B.

I went for a walk

I went for a walk one night because I was bored, but as this time in my life is, so 1 say, a lonely time, the walk, leisurely enough, became something of an emor!onai crrv-.tdarrty, and in three hours or so, the time it took me to walk &om the house to the middle of Granville Bridge and back, circuitously, 1 fluctuated between intense happiness, almost giddiness, at some really quite silly things, like the ocean breeze, little good- natured, or whatever the term is, acts or words between people that I happened to witness, to overhear. a lone seagull, a thought about D, and intense sadness; almost depression, at some of the same things. but more at the fatal absence of any- thing even vaguely resembling community in this city. community based on relationships with land beyond fiscal. commercial. proprietary concerns. The history of so-called progress is the history of land theft. I thought. the conversion of productive. fertile land. by way of very destructive processes. into non-p~oductive, useless real estate, and the so-called real estate barons are actually nothing but thieving and niudemus prrates. It is the easi- est, commonest thing in the world to say that dead real estate barons, or dead industrialists etc. were thieving and murderous pirates. Everyone does it. But no one wants to calI the living real estate bar- ons or industrialists thieving and murderous pi- rates, though they are as thievish and murderous as their predecessors, if not more so. By time we can be certain of something, 1 thought, it is far too late, which is why we advocate so strongly, I con- tinued thinking, fioin our positions of passion, even when we are uncertain of the outcome of our struggles, or whatever the term is, as we generally are. Up and down emotionally 1 went, not without plateaus, as when I stopped to examine a building or a fountain. to examine some part of someone else's reul e.stute. Everything 1 know. I thought. I learned by walking. by looking by looking at thit~gs. by listening. and if I had never ambled. 1 thought, 1 would he a complete imbecile. Books are like signs pointing out possible directions to

amble, 1 thoud~t, but the ambling is the thing. We read posters, signs. engravings, graffiti etc. when we walk, but there is also something very close to reading involved in looking at concrete. fenders. bricks, clothes. trinkets. stairwells etc. 1 thought. I'm glad I'm no longer the kind of person to cor- rect someone when they say "eksetra" instead of et cetera, I thought.

If we nip something in the bud, as they say, we are more often than not denying, or de- stroying, the part of ourselves that can read /he stnefs and buildings, as it were, the part of our- selves that learns just by being in a place, the part of ourselves that i s in and of a place, as opposed to the part that merely observes a place, the part of ourselves that can be involved in something with- out being complete!y &fined by that rntwlvemenl. Observation of that other, anal-retentive sort, some of us are fond of saying, is willful blindness, or whatever the term is, an example of the same posture of so-called objectivity that makes main- stream newspapers so unintelligible, so reaction- ary, so much a part of and contributor to a world of nipped-in-the-bud thoughts and feelings and impressions, the world of television and newspa- pers, and, I might add, the mlernel. Everything has a proper response or interpretation, according to them, and any other response or interpretation is strange. There is, we suppose, a way of looking at all these things similar to ambling, a way of watching TV or reading newspapers or surfing the internet such that one learns about everything, about everything else, by doing one thing, any thing ohsenrantly, seg:obsen~an/ly hut not orer- self-conscrowly, and partrcrpalrngly. But the cir- cumstances that obtain now, we note, almost pre- clude ambling or observing, and self- consciousness is anathema. The world we live in now, we find ourselves saying, is a world of peo- ple who are either anal-retentive or who lack any sphincter control whatsoever, a world of strict rules and silly gestures, of law-enforcers and co- medians. of batons and beach balls.

Dan Feeney