The following is a video plea and open letter to Prince Charles on the occasion of his visit to Montreal.  After having exhausted all other means of stopping the destruction of their performance space in the heart of Montreal’s historic Red Light district, burlesque dance troupe the Dead Dolls have turned to the Prince, a man who cares about heritage, with a simple request:  Save the Red Light District and Save the Main:

To HRH Prince Charles,

We are writing to you today from Montreal with one simple request. As someone who has demonstrated his love for the preservation of history, we are asking for your majesty’s assistance in saving the historic Red Light District on Montreal’s Main from destruction when you visit us on Tuesday.

St-Laurent Boulevard, commonly known as the Main, was the first street to leave the fortifications of what was then the city of Montreal. Over the next few centuries, it welcomed immigrants from all over the world to become the thriving multicultural hub that it is today.  It has even been declared a national heritage site.

Behind its historic facade, numerous independent artists including burlesque dancers, fetish performers and others call the vaudeville thrust stage of the legendary Café Cleopatre home and have done so for several years.

The lower Main, the gateway to the old port is living history and a vibrant artistic community, but it is under threat. A developer wants to evict the artists and residents, demolish the buildings and replace them with a twelve-story office tower under the guise of a Quartier des spectacles (entertainment district).

Despite objections from historians, academics, residents and artists and a ruling against the project from the Montreal public consultation office, the developer and the city plan to go ahead with the project, dubbed the Quadrilatere St-Laurent.

With nowhere else to turn, we are requesting that your majesty bring the issue up with Mayor Gerald Tremblay and any other officials you may encounter on your trip to Montreal or at very least make a public statement in support of the artists and residents and in support of our history.

UPDATE: TRYING TO MEET THE PRINCE

Tuesday night, the riot squad prevented us from delivering our message to Prince Charles in person:

Velma Candyass of the Dead Dolls and riot cops (photo by Domenic Castelli)

You can read media reports of what happened here:

“Prince Chuck misses out on lapdance” by Jamie O’ Meara, Up to the Hour (Hour Magazine)

“Royal welcome” photo by Kate Hutchinson, Montreal Mirror

“Montréal : œufs, tomates et strip-tease pour le Prince Charles” par Yannick Vely, Paris Match

“If the mayor won’t listen, maybe the prince will” by Jason C. McLean, Forget The Box

“please, charlie boy, save montreal’s red-light district” by Andy Riga, Montreal Gazette

“Une foule bigarrée accueille le prince” par Judith Lachapelle, La Presse

We never got to deliver our message to the Prince Charles in person and still haven’t received a response to our letter or video.  He’s in Ottawa until tomorrow.  Hopefully he’ll hear our message before returning to England.

** If you want to help spread the word, please forward, re-post, Facebook, Digg, etc. this post and/or this video to all your friends and lists, especially to people in England.

****You can also contact Prince Charles through his Regeneration Trust:

info@princes-regeneration.org

OTL has learned that agents of the Department of Homeland Insecurity along with the FBI will be in Montreal on Saturday, November 7th to track illegal aliens.  They need to be stopped and the aliens need to be protected at all costs.  You can help us by infiltrating the bureau.

In a secret communiqué obtained by OTL, the bureau is recruiting locals and offering a pay-what-you-can training session to give you the tools to help them track and apprehend aliens like this one:

We feel that this is a blatant attempt at discrimination and scapegoating.  After all, these supposed aliens aren’t evil.  They aren’t harming anyone.  They’re just trying to get by and aren’t even a drain.  They eat the food that the rest of us throw away or don’t even consider to be food in the first place as this photo suggests:

If you want to help us, here’s the plan.  Sign up for the bureau’s “training sessions” by phoning 514-699-3378.  You’ll need to have the password, which we have learned is “sparrowdove.”  These sessions are for three people at a time and leaving every 30 minutes or so between 3pm and 8pm on Saturday, November 7th, so you’ll need to reserve a spot in advance.

Then, at the appropriate time, go to the bureau’s Montreal headquarters which, due to budget cuts, are located inside Bar Bifteck, 3702 St-Laurent and look for this man:

Tell him you want to help, but always remember your mission.  You may get some help along the way from other more high-placed infiltrators in the bureau.  It’s a tough job, but please remember why you’re doing it, so the “aliens” can live free.

We’re counting on you, but more importantly, they’re counting on you

——————————–

Car Stories: Alien Invasion continues a tradition that has been described as “the most fun you might ever have in the backseat of a car” (Ottawa Citizen).  Three spect-actors at a time are invited to witness and take part in Montreal’s longest-running theatrical experiment by going on a guided theatrical joyride through the Urban Wonderland and its alleyways, cars and parking lots.

The 2009 edition won six Iffy awards at this year’s Buffalo infringement Festival where it premiered and now returns to Montreal for one day only.  Please call 514-699-3378 or e-mail carstories@optative.net to see the show or check out our site for more info.

If you saw us in June at the 2009 Montreal infringement Festival, this is a completely different show but it is still PAY-WHAT-YOU-CAN at the end, so hop in and enjoy the ride!

*** Please FWD widely and re-post

From May 28th – 31st the Société de Développement du Boulevard Saint-Laurent (SDBSL) hosted a four day party known as the Mainfest. Despite bad weather reports, the sun shone radiantly throughout most of the festival. This was wonderful for local merchants, musicians, performers, and pedestrians who converged at the Mainfest to participate in a multitude of activities. This was also fantastic for the Schering-Plough Corporation because their brand Coppertone set up a promotional stand at the festival to distribute sunscreen and inform pedestrians about Coppertone products as part of a guerrilla marketing campaign. An entire weekend of rain would have put a damper on Coppertone’s sunscreen publicity.

Under the bright sun, Coppertone promoters gave pedestrians free samples of sunscreen while warning them about the problems caused by the sun’s ultra violet rays. They also invited people to have a free evaluation of their facial skin to test for existing sun damage. The test was administered by a man in a white laboratory coat in the shade beneath a Coppertone branded umbrella. He performed his test with a “diagnostic camera” which took one picture, developed it in two different ways laid out side by side. On the left, the picture appeared overexposed and hid any skin blemish and on the right, the picture was underexposed revealing every wrinkle and spot on one’s face. The diagnosis was performed by comparing the two pictures. The man pointed out skin abnormalities from the underexposed picture. If he found skin problems participants were told that they could prevent further harm by using Coppertone products. If he found no damage, people were told to use Coppertone to prevent future skin problems.

Instead of thanking Coppertone for caring so much about my well being, I approached the Coppertone display to ask some very important questions. Why was Coppertone so concerned about my skin? Do they truly care or is this another marketing ploy to brand the Coppertone name? Is their diagnosis real or is it a sales tactic? How qualified is the man giving the diagnosis? I know that sun exposure can cause skin damage, but can Coppertone really protect me? Does Coppertone contain any ingredients which cause skin damage? These questions induced a little panic in the Coppertone promotion team. I guess the presence of my camera man didn’t help. Though, I didn’t get to the bottom of all these questions, I did discover some awful truths about their campaign.

Since the promoters didn’t work for Coppertone it was hard to find out anything about their products. Coppertone paid actors and event organizers from New Ad, a marketing company who delivers young people to corporations, and a nurse from Quality Health Services LTD. The nurse alleged that he could not make any formal diagnoses because he was not a doctor. In fact, none of the promotional staff could not answer any questions about how the product worked, how it was made, what ingredients were in the sunscreen or if any ingredients used in the sunscreen were harmful.

Like the glare of the sun, light shed on the true intentions of Coppertone’s promotional spectacle. Coppertone’s campaign was not designed to help people but to scare them.  If someone is told that they may develop skin cancer because they are not well protected from the sun, they should be more likely to take advice from the street promoters and apply Coppertone sunscreen. Furthermore, if people are told they have skin problems from someone that resembles a doctor, they may be scared enough to use Coppertone more frequently so the ‘damage’ doesn’t escalate, especially if the Coppertone name is associated with cancer prevention. If Coppertone was really concerned about people’s skin, they would have hired real doctors to make real medical assessments instead of contracting a nurse from Quality Health Services LTD who can only provide an unprofessional opinion. He only told me he was a nurse and that he was not making an actual diagnosis after I inquired. Those who didn’t ask may have assumed he was a doctor giving valid evaluations, prescribing Coppertone to prevent skin cancer.

If Coppertone sunscreen really prevented skin cancer, my argument could be moot. Maybe a little scare for something healthy wouldn’t be so bad after all. These tactics are commonly used in anti-smoking and anti-drinking and driving commercials. The main problem is that Coppertone sunscreen does not do very well in research conducted by independent sources.

In 2008, the Environmental Working Group conducted an investigation of nearly 1 000 brand name sunscreens. This report concluded that none of Coppertone’s 41 sunscreens met the Environmental Working Group’s criteria for safety and effectiveness. Coppertone was accused of using dangerous ingredients including Oxybenzone, which is reported to be a possible cancer causing agent (for a comprehensive list of harmful ingredients used by Coppertone, follow this link).

The other sources of research on Coppertone products are conducted and/ or  sponsored by Coppertone themselves. The Coppertone Solar Research Center is responsible for testing Coppertone’s sunscreen for safety and effectiveness. This center was opened in 1971 and is described by Coppertone as the world’s largest state of the art facility for testing the quality of their sun-care products. In addition, the Coppertone Research Fund was established to provide financial support for dermatology research in Canada. Research on Coppertone sunscreen is mainly conducted by their research center through their charity fund, a blatant conflict of interest. In addition, they hire promoters, like those at the Mainfest, who cannot answer basic questions regarding the safety or effectiveness of their sunscreen.

Coppertone’s Mainfest masquerade came to an end when members of the Optative Theatrical Laboratories drew attention to the hypocrisy of associating Coppertone sunscreen to cancer prevention, especially by promoters who know nothing about the product. Since Coppertone paid actors to promote their sunscreen at the Mainfest, we intervened by sending in actors of our own. Because of the insincerity of their campaign, they were culture jammed. Here is what transpired:

Today is May 1st, recognized in many places around the world as International Workers Day.  It traces its roots back to May 1st, 1886, when workers demanding an 8-hour work day walked out en-masse.  The police crackdown at the McCormick Reaper Works in Chicago two days later led to the Haymarket affair in where eight anarchists were eventually convicted of murder in a show trial.  Four of them were hung to death.

In Montreal, there is a long history of protest and artistic activism on May Day.  Sadly, there is also a history of police repression.  In 2008, for example, police cracked down on a mostly peaceful anti-capitalist march moments after it began.

This year’s march happens in the shadow of that event and also just a few months after the anti-police brutality march which ended, unfortunately, in police brutality and rioting.  Nonetheless, the march will begin today at 5:30pm in Cabot Square, leaving at 6:30pm for the Caisse des depots et placements in Old Montreal.

May Day also kicks off the Festival of Anarchy which now includes a theatre festival, arts exhibits, workshops, a squat (more on this in a few week) and of course the Anarchist Bookfair.  The festival lasts until May 31st.

Stella, the sex workers advocacy group, is hoping that workers’ rights will someday be extended to sex workers as well and in hopes of making this happen, they will be launching the latest edition of their ConStellation magazine tonight at Academy, 4445 St-Laurent, as part of a party thrown by Cirque de Boudoir.   The event starts at 9pm, costs $15 at the door (free for sex workers) and features DJ Frigid, Plastik Patrik and the Dead Doll dancers.

Over the past few years, the Immigrant Workers’ Centre in Cote-des-Neiges has hosted MayWorks an artistic celebration of workers’ rights.  This year is no different, except that the event will happen a week later on Saturday, May 9th starting at 5:30pm.

While debt and money seem to be key talking points in the mainstream media and in general public discourse quite frequently these days, there is a type of debt that has gone largely underreported for decades.  Not only is the debt developing nations owe to the world’s most prosperous countries and global organizations like the IMF and World Bank staggering, but it gives the creditors the power to basically set the agenda politically and economically in those countries.

The Dictatorship of Debt is a comedic critique of the global debt crisis that involves the spectators in the saga.  Audience members are assigned a regional home.  Whether they are Canada or sub-Saharan Africa, they are part of the story as the history of the rise of global debt unfolds.

Just as impoverished nations owing money to those with money isn’t a new thing at all, neither is this play.  It is in fact a decade-old Montreal tradition and according to many an unforgettable experience.

The Dictatorship of Debt is being staged as a theatre project of The Social Justice Committee, an NGO established in 1975.  The SJC hopes to encourage individuals and groups to become actively involved in building a more just global society and pushes for more accountability from the World Bank and IMF.  They are also actively involved in pushing for greater regulations of the Canadian mining industry operating in the Global South.  They accomplish their goals through education and advocacy.

Theatre has become one of their most effective educational tools, accompanied by videos, online resources and interactive presentations.

A teaser performance of The Dictatorship of Debt will be presented Saturday, April 4th as part of the McGill Drama Festival (3480 McTavish, 3rd floor).  The following night, it will be presented as part of a Grand Gala at La Sala Rossa (4848 Boul. St-Laurent, Show at 8pm, doors open at 7:30 pm tickets $4).  A talkback performance will take place at the Atwater Library on Thursday, April 9th (1200 Atwater, 8pm tickets: $4).

March 15th marked the 13th International Day Against Police Brutality, and in Montreal the mood was tense after an unusually brutal year whereby police officers killed a young man after they found him playing dice with his friends. Early in the evening on August 9th, 2008, 18 year old Fredy Villanueva was shot dead at point-blank range by Constable Jean-Loup Lapointe, as his accomplice, Stéphanie Pilotte, looked on. After killing the unarmed Villanueva, Lapointe went on to shoot two of the other youth present, one of them in the back. In Montreal police abuse is systemic, and there are special concerns about racial profiling, harassment of the disadvantaged, and police brutality in general.

Protest Against Police Brutality

Protesters met at 2 p.m. in front of Mount Royal metro station to express their displeasure with the Montreal police and their brutal ways. Organized by the Collective Opposed to Police Brutality (COBP), the protesters are demanding justice for victims of police brutality and the end of police oppression. The COPB also provides legal information for people who are threatened by police.

Unfortunately most years in Montreal the International Day Against Police Brutality turns violent once police begin attacking protesters. Ironically by instigating violence against those opposing police brutality, the police actually highlight the message that they are, in fact, brutal. Last year there were over 30 arrests after police turned violent.

Dramatically-speaking, it has been a farcical year in Montreal with the police attempting to control the theatre in the streets, demanding the banning of masks and even attempting to make illegal certain types of discourse, script or language. Exacerbating these problems is the fact that the police not only want to curtail critical drama on the streets, but they have also upped the stakes of their own intimidating performance;  allegedly as a form of protest for higher wages, police have altered their uniform/costume by dressing up in military fatigues. Despite the fact that the mayor of Montreal has asked police to act professionally and not to wear the camoflage pants at the protest, the police refused, essentially creating provocative recipe for violence.

The protest began at 2 p.m. at Mount Royal metro station. Usually a bustling square, the public space was transformed into a huge carnivalesque gathering place, with protesters preparing to march as the Chaotic Insurrection Ensemble rehearsed.

Chaotic Insurrection Ensemble rehearsing

The crowd was thick with arts-activists and many people wore masks of all varieties, a reminder of the recent victory against the attempted mask-ban.

Lovely dramatic masks

One man even dressed up as a Taser to raise awareness about the deadly police weapons.

Taser costume

Visiting the fringes of the gathering was a surreal experience, as critical citizens and dramatic voices melted away to what resembled a police state. Hidden in alleyways were riot cops, two helicopters buzzed overhead, and vans full of police officers lined surrounding streets.

Police chopper overhead

More overtly, a few lines of riot cops were visible on most sides of the square. One officer belonging to the very police force that attempted to ban masks was actually spotted wearing two masks himself.

Officer wearing 2 masks

Even more bizarrely, the horses of the cavalry unit were actually outfitted with riot masks.

Even police horses wore masks

At 2:30 p.m. the crowd began to surge and move. The marching band started playing, vegetables were thrown and fireworks exploded in the air, adding to the festive atmosphere. The line of riot police had to get out of the way at 2:50 p.m. as the protest surged to the west towards the tony Saint Denis street, which was quickly inundated with protesters chanting “A qui la rue? A nous la rue!” The Reclaim the Streets action quickly shut down traffic in both directions, and the avenue of pricey consumerism was transformed into a theatre of protest, complete with activist couples dancing as the Chaotic Insurrection Ensemble played on.

Dancing in the streets

As the carnivalesque march moved south, at around 3:25 p.m. it was greeted by a wall of riot cops on Saint Denis and Sherbrooke streets. Rather than let the dramatic march continue, police fired tear gas at the crowd, who responded by pelting their own projectiles such as vegetables, eggs, and paint bombs.

Police fire tear gas at activists

The police responded with more tear gas and strategies to divide and disperse the crowd. Activists broke into smaller groups and police played cat and mouse with many of them throughout the afternoon, with reports of rubber bullets being fired at demonstrators. How many people were injured by the police is the subject of speculation, but there is evidence that over 200 people were arrested, an unusually high number for a march of this nature. Shell casings retieved following the police tear gas attack revealled that the chemical weapon is actually called “Direct Impact”.

police chemical weapon casing

Upon reflection, this important protest was very theatrical in nature. As activists struggled for control of the street performance to get the critical message out, police cracked down on the show with their own brutal theatricality. It was empowering to see activists countering the police’s helicopters, cavalry units, tear gas shells, and military costumes – with fireworks, a DIY marching band, Reclaim the Streets, dramatic performances, and a strong, clear message that every Montrealer should heed - no more police brutality!

International Women’s Day is a yearly event that raises awareness about women’s issues across the planet, and has been doing so since 1911 after activist Clara Zetkin called for its creation in Copenhagen, Denmark. Created unanimously within a union hall called Folkets Hus (“The People’s House”), International Women’s Day has not shown any signs of abating over the decades. The ongoing global fight for gender equality and the end of abusive patriarchal behaviour continues to this day, and International Women’s Day is one strategy that brings together women and supporters to celebrate achievements while resisting patriarchy and demanding positive social change. It is a struggle fraught with challenges and nowhere on the planet has patriarchal oppression entirely disappeared. Ironically, one needs only look as far as Copenhagen where the movement began. In 2007 the historic and symbolic union hall where Clara Zetkin first created International Women’s Day was intentionally demolished – by a patriarchal Christian group calling itself Faderhuset (“The father’s house”) no less.

This year International Women’s Day fell on Sunday March 8, and in Montreal an event called “WONDER WOMEN” was created by local female artists. An evening of music and performances, the event was designed to “highlight the number of women who participate in Montreal’s cultural community and to raise awareness about the challenges that come with working in part-time, flex-time, contract, piecework, work-at-home, and other atypical conditions.” According to organizers: “These working environments do not provide a living wage. Rather, they keep women underemployed and in constant need of community support.” Living and working in the neigbourhood with Canada’s highest concentration of artists is a constant challenge, and many artists who cannot afford to live on their craft alone must work. As such, many of the workers on the Main lead double lives as artists, and “WONDER WOMEN” featured some of the best:

ANASTASIA LOMONOVA
AURESIA
BANANA AND THE FLYING COLORS
BITCHIN’ KITCHEN w/NADIA G.
CAMILLE McOUAT
CATCHFRAMES
CHRISTINE RIGBY
DEBORAH ADAMS DESIGN
ELLY ABRAMOVITCH
GRLFRNZ
FOCUS ALEATOIRE
JEANETTE HATHERILL
JULIA LOAN
KRISTI ROPELESKI
LADIES’ LUNCHEON
MAPLE FALLS
SUSAN MOSS
SVEA JONES
‘LADY LIKE’ DESIGNS

The evening was a truly interdisciplinary event with a vernissage of paintings and photographs alongside live music and theatre performances.  Strong and inspiring female characters peppered the evening, including Madonna, Freida Khalo, Rosie the Riveter, Lucile Ball and Wonder Woman herself.

Assuming the role of Lucile Ball, nursing student and bartender Eli Merkis performed because she feels strongly about gender equality: “Lucile could pull off anything – she could do it all. She didn’t want to fake anything about her life – her career, her dreams, her achievements – except her hair colour. She was a real pioneer and paved the way for women in film, for women in charge, and for proving that it’s not just men who can be sucessful both onscreen and off. She even broke a taboo by being the first woman on television to be visibly pregnant.”

Attesting to the popularity of the “WONDER WOMEN” performance was a packed house that cheered heartily all evening long. Erik Hamon, a male member of the audience, enjoyed the International Women’s Day performance because it “not only draws attention to issues affecting women today, but it also showcases extremely talented artists and performers.” Tim Hardman, another male spectator, exclaimed: “Patriarchy is useless. After all, when we sleep we are all equal in our dreams, so why not when we are awake?” Guests were invited to put pink handprints onto canvas to help create artwork opposing violence against women. These were sold later on, with proceeds going to women’s charities.

Behind the scenes, the organizing team is associated with an advocacy group called “The Main for women” who are putting feminist issues under the spotlight in for those living and working in the  Montreal historic site:

“the main boulevard has always been proud to call itself a liberal, all inclusive haven for workers of all industries to unite in the comforts of its cultural and material expressions. we’re trying to reinstate the values of our community by putting women’s rights back on the main agenda.”

A survey of female workers on the Main such as bartenders, waitresses, and other service staff reveals prominent concerns about the job environment: sexist attitudes and sexual harassment are prevalent from both staff and customers, there are expectations of objectification (e.g. “dressing up” to sell more product), it is difficult to get access to labour standards, getting home safely is no easy matter, and job security is non-existent.

Laura Nagy, one of the chief organizers of the collective hopes to bridge the gap between atypical workers, women artists, and women working in the service industry. She believes The Main is symbolic because it represents the main street of any city, and hence the best place to put women’s rights in the spotlight and on the agenda.

The Main for women collective plans to arrange a deal with ATLAS taxi company to ensure female staff can get home safely, and challenges are being launched against the hypersexualization of women through the group REBELLES, whereby sexist advertising has been culture-jammed with anti-sexist stickers. An action is planned for Worker’s Day and on May 4 organizations such as the CSN, Commission de normes du travail du Quebec, and WomenAware will meet to further discuss the agenda and take action against patriarchal oppression in the workplace.

Overall, International Women’s Day has once again proven itself to be a great opportunity to challenge sexist thinking through theatrical performance. Hearty applause goes to the female workers and artists who put the show together to raise awareness and challenge the oppressive patriarchal system that permeates our society.

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Now that the plan to re-enact the Plains of Abraham colonial war has been canned, a debate is brewing about what should replace the event that was designed to mark the 250 year anniversary. While the National Battlefield Commission is blaming “separatist threats of violence” for the cancellation, it is becoming increasingly clear that there was very little appetite in the first place for the pro-war event, as reported earlier . Ill-conceived from Day One and bound to stir up linguistic tensions and anger in Quebec,  the proposed re-enactment could only be described as difficult to stomach.

In an effort to steer the debate away from the Eurocentric “French versus English” hegemonic discourse, members of Quebec’s anglophone minority called for its cancellation and wrote letters to newspapers across the country, such this one (by yours truly) that appeared in the Toronto Star:

“As a member of Quebec’s anglophone minority, I was relieved to hear that the federal government is seriously considering cancelling the Plains of Abraham re-enactment. While many pundits are declaring this to be an English versus French conflict, I can assure you that many anglophones living in Quebec do not support re-enacting the Plains of Abraham battle.

Clearly, re-enacting military dominance over a historically oppressed group is both morally reprehensible and likely to cause anger, division, resentment and possibly violence. Why would Canada support, let alone fund and organize, such an offensive (and pro-war) activity? It is time for Prime Minister Stephen Harper to listen to all Quebecers, including anglophones, and cancel the re-enactment without further delay.

Donovan King, Montreal”

Other prominent Quebec anglos have also joined the debate, such as McGill university  military historian Desmond Morton, who described the attempted re-enactment as “folly”.

While the dust is only now starting to settle, skirmishes are still taking place over whether the federally-owned Plains of Abraham should be transferred to Quebec  and what should be done to replace the cancelled re-enactment.

The first replacement proposal came on February 18 from the Huron-Wendat First Nation near Quebec City, whose grand chief Konrad Sioui proposed a healing ceremony on the Plains of Abraham that would mark a “treaty of peace and friendship” among all participating nations who would “bury the hatchets” of past grievances. The hatchets would be buried on the Plains and a white pine would be planted over them in a spot where an underground river flows that would nurture the tree. “All nations wishing to join the alliance could benefit from the healing shadow of this protective pine,” according to grand chief Sioui, who modelled the ceremony on the 1701 Grande Paix de Montréal.

Sioui wishes to preside over the ceremony, smoke the peace pipe, and formalize an alliance “among all the parties wishing to join: First Nations, French, English, Scottish, Irish, new immigrants, sovereignists, federalists and so on…It’s our contribution, our way of doing things.” Sioui said the ceremony would be a “beautiful way” to put a stop to “European people who bring European wars to our territory.”

It appears that Grand Chief Sioui’s proposal may have fallen on deaf ears in Quebec, because several days later the predominantly-francophone Parti Québécois announced that it might hold its own commemoration, and later decided that a debate about the meaning of the Plains would be the best replacement for the cancelled battle re-enactment. Party leader Pauline Marois said other pro-sovereignty groups could also participate in the PQ debate, such as the Mouvement national des Québécoises et Québécois, the Société St-Jean-Baptiste and the Bloc Québécois. One dissenting voice at the weekend meeting was John Sewell, an anglophone delegate who disagreed with the motion and suggested that the PQ should take up the proposed Huron-Wendat ceremony. Sewell claimed a PQ-organized commemoration sends the following message: “We’re going to take control of the event and we’re going to make a political statement out of it.”

Which proposed commemoration is more appropriate? Should both be done? What issues are at play here?

Firstly, the cancellation of the Plains re-enactment signifies a cultural evolution. Instead of blindly following prescribed Eurocentric colonial commemorations and re-enactments, society has turned the lens onto the very nature of these massive public spectacles. Many of these “celebrations” actually discriminate against historically oppressed groups such as the First Nations and francophones, and postcolonial resistance to them is becoming more and more prevalent. One need only look as far back as 2006 when the “400th anniversary of theatre in Canada” was cancelled due to the fact the first European play written in Canada, Marc Lescarbot’s Theatre of Neptune in New France, is a redface show. Going further back to 1992, the 500 year anniversary of Columbus witnessed postcolonial cultural resistance. Likewise, resistance is mounting to the Vancouver Olympics in 2010, which are situated on stolen land.  All of these controversies speak to a cultural evolution whereby the society demands the end of “historical” Eurocentric performances, celebrations, commemorations, and re-enactments that degrade others.

Secondly, the battle cancellation signifies an exciting opportunity for re-evaluation. What should replace the offensive original?  Ideally, from a cultural theory point of view, the new creation emerging from the tatters of the cancelled Eurocentric project should critique the oppressive past while striving for a better, more just future. The cancelled Theatre of Neptune in New France was replaced with Sinking Neptune, a project that boldly deconstructed the original play and challenged audiences to look at the historical roots of racism in Canada and to re-evaluate Eurocentricity in the arts and media.

From these perspectives, it seems clear that the Huron-Wendat proposal is by far superior to that of the PQ. Firstly, it is inclusive, and invites all nations to participate, whereas the PQ’s debate is only open to francophone groups. Secondly it focuses on peace and healing through solemn ceremony, whereas the PQ debate, because it engages only francophones, is unlikely to lead to true resolution or healing. Thirdly, the First Nations proposal critiques Eurocentricity and colonization in present-day Quebec, whereas the PQ proposal concerns only francophone interests. Finally, if successful, the outcome of the Huron-Wendat ceremony will include buried grievances, the promotion of social harmony, and the showing of respect by listening to and learning from the First Nations.

Hopefully both the ceremony and the debate can go ahead, but it would be nice if the PQ opened up a bit of space for non-francophones to express their views as well.

So what’s the Montreal infringement festival going to be like this year?  Good question!

While the infringement may have been mentioned several times on this blog already and anyone who knows OTL has heard of the festival, we have never really discussed it in any detail in this space.  The sixth consecutive edition of the Montreal infringement will run from June 18th through 28th 2009 and is now accepting artist applications (and still looking for volunteer organizers and helpers), so what better time to try and answer the question of what may be in store.

In 2004, the infringement was created to offer a new way of doing things.  It was a bridge between the worlds of activism and the arts and its very first edition saw over 25 acts jump on board in just a few months, including Montreal playwright David Fennario, award-winning transgendered performer and writer S. Bear Bergman performing in a real bathroom and Car Stories, the interactive theatre piece that had sparked the creation of the festival after being kicked out of the corporate St-Ambroise Montreal Fringe Festival.  It was clear that a festival rooted in resistance to oppression and offering a place for artists and activists with something to say to speak out was both needed and welcome in Montreal and later the same summer in Toronto.

original infringement logo

2005 proved that it was also a welcome and needed change south of the border in Buffalo, where a festival was established which is currently the biggest one in the circuit (it’s going into it’s fifth edition this summer) and in New York City, which hosted a one time event in Manhattan (and this year will play host to the first-ever Brooklyn infringement).  In Montréal the same year music came to the festival full-force.  There was one music show the last night in 2004 and by 05, music made up more than half of what was being offered.

In 2006, the theatre section of the Montreal festival featured Gary Corbin’s …four one-legged men, a show about four different characters, each with only one leg.  Corbin is himself disabled and had experienced many difficulties breaking onto the theatre scene until he eventually put together his own show and staged it at the Buffalo infringement the previous year.  This was also the first year that the festival built its own black box theatre space, with lights, sound and curtains.  The music section grew in Montreal and the festival spread to Ottawa and Regina and returned to Toronto.

Gary Corbin

The francophone side of the Montreal infringement grew significantly in 2007 thanks to Landriault and his Chansons a Double Dose series (which later became Le Maître Chanteur).  The same year, the first infringement on European shores happened in Bordeaux, France.  Over the years, the festival had always tried to challenge corporate intrusions on the Main during street festivals that ran at the same time and this year, the Reclaim the Main campaign was fully integrated into its culture-jamming framework in the form of the fake ad company PubPartout.

The francophone side grew again in 2008 when, for its fifth anniversary, the festival ran almost the whole month of June.  This year, the pre-season saw several infringement Socials in sections of the city where the fest had never operated before such as Griffintown and St-Henri.  The festival also drew international culture-jammers Kinetic Aesthetic from the UK who aided Reclaim the Main and performed their own piece Sleep Sitting Up, to highlight the plight of the city’s homeless.

Kinetic Aesthetic

If one thing is clear, it’s that while the fundamentals of being a critical alternative to corporate mainstream arts festivals remain, the specifics of the infringement change from year to year.  This is inevitable because the festival is a composite of its parts and those parts are brought by whoever is taking part that year.  Participants are encouraged to bring what they would hope to find.

So what’s the Montreal infringement festival going to be like this year? Why don’t you get involved and tell us.

On Monday night over 50 masked protesters descended on City Hall for a Masquerade Ball protest – the Bal Masqué. Organized by an ad hoc collective known as Le Gros Bon Sens, the masked demonstration aimed to challenge the anti-mask bylaw the City of Montreal is attempting to pass as part of its larger “Public Security” portfolio, which now also includes a new bylaw against “insulting a police officer”.

Masked activists at the Bal Masqué

The Bal Masqué was playful, highly theatrical and extremely peaceful, as masked activists mingled, cavorted and danced at the entrance of City Hall. Before long, a dramatic performance, courtesy of the infringement festival, unfolded on the steps of City Hall. The scene began when two actors playing satirical masked “police officers”, one wearing a gas mask and the other a riot helmet, arrived to survey the protest and attempt to intimidate activists wearing masks at the Bal Masqué.

Masked “Riot cop” protests Drama Masks

“Gas mask cop” against Charter Section 2B

The “riot cop” soon announced the arrival of the Mayor of Montreal – M. Le Maire Gerald Tremblay. Ducking insults (and snowballs!), an actor with a large Tremblay mask appeared and delivered a mock “press conference” about the dangers of masks.

“Mayor Tremblay”: masks are dangerous

The “Mayor” then claimed that “all masks are now illegal”, and his security detail of masked “police officers” blew whistles and warned the masked protesters to unmask or face “arrest”.

Following the carnivalesque performance, dozens of masked protesters entered City Hall where real police officers told them to unmask, then go sit in a room to watch the proceedings on a Television. While many of the protesters left at this point – what could be more disempowering than having to watch the end of our Charter right to Freedom of Expression in a separate room on a TV? – some of them did stay on. According to La Presse, five of the protesters were forcibly evicted by police. What happened inside the meeting is the subject of much speculation, although a copy of the bylaw has now been released, revealling that mask-wearing will soon be punishable with a $100 – $300 fine for the first offence.

Here is a video of what happened, courtesy of Guerilla Video Productions:

Unfortunately, most corporate media decided to focus on the police, the riots they faced in 2008, and the mayor’s latest cabinet shuffle – instead of the theatre activists, their Masquerade Ball, and critical message that our civil liberties are under threat. Overall, quite a lot of the corporate media used images from past conflicts, such as burning police cars or the aftermath of riots, instead of employing images from the Masquerade Ball.

CTV News used old “riot damage” image

The Montreal Gazette, despite trumpeting the cause over the last week in Opinion columns, letters to the editor, and an editorial, only ran a tiny article on the protest (“Group unmasked”, Tuesday, January 27, 2009, A3) that ignored the masquerade-theatre, and focused instead on the police’s authority. Paraphrasing Chief Inspector Paul Chablo, The Gazette reported: “the regulation would be applied only at the kind of protests that have a history of turning violent, including spontaneous street gatherings following Canadiens playoff victories, an annual May Day protest and an annual protest against police brutality.” No explanations were offered about who would decide which masks and demonstrations would be under scrutiny, nor whether officers could apply the bylaw indiscriminately.

The next meeting at City Hall is in one month, presumably on February 23rd. It is quite likely that the City will try and pass the bylaw, although there is bound to be strong opposition.

Organizers of the Bal Masqué, Le Gros Bon Sens, promise more dramatic resistance. Porte-parole Jules Merveille made a pointed critique against the proposed bylaw in Le Devoir:

«Cette mesure est anticonstitutionnelle étant donné que tout individu a la liberté fondamentale de se cacher dans un regroupement et de ne pas dévoiler son identité, sauf en cas d’arrestation bien sûr. Nous trouvons cette mesure absurde»

Le Gros Bon Sens have declared that the fight isn’t over yet on their facebook page: “Le combat n’est pas terminé !”

On the more “official” political front, Projet Montreal leader Richard Bergeron announced his party’s total disapproval of the bylaw in 24 Heures newspaper:

« les manifestants qui contreviennent à la loi, qu’ils soient masqués ou non, devraient être arrêtés sur le champ. Mais compromettre la liberté d’expression en donnant le droit à la police d’arrêter les gens uniquement sur la base de la façon dont ils sont habillés ne peut que détériorer les relations entre la police et le grand public ».

From a legal perspective, perhaps the best hope for protecting Charter rights, civil liberties lawyer Julius Grey suggested on CTV News: “The bylaw clearly would violate Freedom of Expression because you can’t dissociate the freedom of expression from the way in which it is expressed.” In the Toronto Star Grey elaborated:

“There is nothing more perilous than giving discretion to the police… To decide which protest is acceptable and which is not is as unseemly as police deciding which newspaper is acceptable, and which one is not…They are there to carry out the law, not to determine its content…They shouldn’t be given discretion to violate freedom of expression.”

If you want to protect your Constitutional right to Freedom of Expression, stay tuned to the OTL Blog and keep updated as this story unfolds. If you want to participate in the next round of theatre activism at the February City Hall Meeting, or help organize, please contact otl@optative.net