EzraWinton.com | Media arts and politics

The image above is taken from the CBC - it’s a map showing Canada’s electoral colours. Under a system of proportional representation, this map would look  A LOT different. The Harperites would have less, the NDP more, and Greens would even have a handful of seats. Imagine that!

I’ve decided recently to get more involved in electoral reform in Canada in whatever capacity I can. I’m going to start by supporting Fair Vote Canada here and there, beginning with posting this press release received yesterday afternoon:

Election analysis determines that, once again, a majority of the electorate are Orphan Voters

Based on an analysis of preliminary results from Elections Canada, as available on October 16, Fair Vote Canada determined that the majority – 50.7% – of those casting votes in the federal election elected no one.

How many millions of voters were orphaned?

The election created just over seven million Orphan Voters – the disenfranchised voters who were unable to send an MP to Ottawa to represent them in Parliament.

“This travesty was completely predictable,” said Barbara Odenwald, President of Fair Vote Canada. “In every election, the first-past-the-post voting system denies millions of Canadians their right to elect a representative to Parliament – a right that voters in most Western democracies take for granted, because they use fair and proportional voting systems.”

Which party had the most Orphan Voters?

In terms of party support, more than 2.1 million Orphan Voters cast votes for the Liberal Party, 1.8 million for the NDP, 1.7 million for the Conservatives and just under 1 million for the Green Party.

“People are often surprised to see that the majority of Orphan Voters are those who support the Liberals and Conservatives,” said Larry Gordon, Executive Director of Fair Vote Canada. “Our electoral system discriminates against people of all political stripes, whoever happens to be in the minority in any region. This includes Liberals in the west and Conservatives in large urban centres such as Toronto and Montreal.”

Which provinces fared worst?

Among the provinces, Quebec had the highest percentage of Orphan Voters at 54.7%, followed by Nova Scotia at 53.0% and Ontario at 52.9%.

Every Conservative voter in Newfoundland was orphaned on October 14, along with every Liberal voter in Alberta, every NDP voter in Saskatchewan and PEI, as well as every Green voter in every province.

Which ridings fared worst?

In 40 ridings, the percentage of Orphan Voters exceeded 60%.

The worst riding in the country was Gatineau (QC), where 70.9% of the voters were orphaned, followed by Guelph (ON) with 67.8%, Brossard-LaPrairie with 67.4%, Pontiac (QC) with 67.4% and Welland (ON), with 67.0%.

Great Democracy Disaster Contest

The cash prize winners of Fair Vote Canada’s Great Democracy Disaster Contest will be announced in the coming days at OrphanVoters.ca. Prior to the election, people were invited to predict the number of Orphan Voters at the national and provincial levels to qualify for prizes totaling $2,300.

Fair Vote Canada (FVC) is a national multi-partisan citizens’ campaign to promote voting system reform. FVC was founded in 2001 and has a National Advisory Board of distinguished Canadians from all points on the political spectrum

I just received this from PAJU (Palestinian and Jewish Unity) this morning:

Israel must rid itself of Zionist terrorists.

On the night of September 24, Israeli professor Zeev Sternhell was wounded by a bomb put at his doorstep.

Who is Zeev Sternhell? He is an Israeli historian who has expressed empathy for the Palestinian struggle. That’s why he was attacked.

Who is Zeev Sternhell? He is a holocaust survivor who fought in three of Israel’s wars. He thinks that the Israeli occupation of the West Bank is a cancer that eats the soul of Israel. That is why he was attacked.

I accuse those who instigated this attack.

I accuse those who attack so-called “dangerous left-wing intellectuals” in Israel; who call people like Zeev Sternhell “anti-Semitic,” “self-hating Jews” and “enemies of Israel”.

I accuse those in the Israeli right who forgive and turn a blind eye to fanatical settlers who break Israeli law and international law on a daily basis, who harass Palestinians, beat them and sometimes murder them.

I accuse those who performed religious rituals condemning Yitzhak Rabin to death.

I accuse right-wing extremists who say that only they represent Israel; that anybody who has a different view of what is good for Israel is an enemy who endangers Israel. They are fanatics who kill in the name of ‘ideals’.

I accuse those who condone the acts of extremists. They encourage the murderers and terrorists, such as those who attacked Zeev Sternhell.

Hate-speech is not part of legitimate democratic discourse. We know that words create reality. Calls to violence find their ways into the hearts of fanatics who put these words into practice.

For too long the Israeli Right has forgiven and promoted its extremists.

Israel needs more Zeev Sternhells, and Israel needs to rid itself of Zionist terrorists.

Adapted from “I accuse!”, written by Israeli philosopher Carlo Strenger, of Tel Aviv University and published by Israel’s leading newspaper “Ha’aretz” on Sept. 29, 2008.

For full text, see: http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1024899.html

(Photo of Zeev Sternhells: Hebrew University)

Canada,

A country of immigrants,
Founded on genocide,
Maintained with white privilege and collective denial,
Imagined as “our home and native land,”
Visualized as one,
Fragmented as many,
And managed by violence and repression.

That’s what I think when I watch the video below of First Nations blockading a road in Northern Quebec (Algonquin). The police march into them as if they have no entitlement, as if this land belongs to the police and the state that signs their cheques. That’s not my Canada. My Canada would also be a country that had a real independent national media system that actually REPORTED on such ongoing brutal conflicts. But instead, we hear more about Palin in the US. Luckily, The Dominion is picking up where state and corporate media are failing miserably. The grassroots paper has constant updates online about the Algonquin standoff and repression. Check them out here. You can also email the CBC and ask them where their coverage of this social, political and cultural crisis is. I don’t know about you, but I’m tired of turning on the radio and hearing discussions revolving around “concerned citizens” who are worried about their portfolios in light of the recent economic meltdown south of the border. We have other kinds of meltdowns occurring within our own borders, and we need to know about them so we can take action or at least be aware. Visit the Barriere Lake Solidarity blog here.

Police attack Algonquin families at peaceful blockade of highway 117 in northern Quebec from Barriere Lake Solidarity on Vimeo.

Recently the Globe and Mail published an angry rant by one of Canada’s finest artists: the very talented and globally celebrated writer Margaret Atwood. Why is she angry? Because Stephen Harper apparently hates the arts and the artists who make the stuff that us “ordinary Canadians” celebrate, interact with and consume every day of our lives, regardless of where we are or who we are. Harper is certainly missing out on a global trend: “new economists” are pointing to a burgeoning new economy called “the knowledge economy” or the “culture industries” - one where jobs are created and where objects are created that are sold, and along the way taxes paid. I’m mostly on side with Ms. Atwood, and before watching tonight’s debate, I suggest reading her missive here in full. You may want to go have a stiff drink when you’re done, or maybe make some art! How about a documentary about the demise of art under fascism? Or a short film about how Stephen Harper’s cement hair actually controls his brain?

And just in case you’re wondering about “strategic voting” on October 14th, visit this site to see if it’s worth compromising your real choice or not: http://www.voteforenvironment.ca/.

To be creative is, in fact, Canadian

Mr. Harper is wrong: There’s more to the arts than a bunch of rich people at galas whining about their grants

From the Globe and Mail, Thursday, September 24, 2008

What sort of country do we want to live in? What sort of country do we already live in? What do we like? Who are we?

At present, we are a very creative country. For decades, we’ve been punching above our weight on the world stage - in writing, in popular music and in many other fields. Canada was once a cultural void on the world map, now it’s a force. In addition, the arts are a large segment of our economy: The Conference Board estimates Canada’s cultural sector generated $46-billion, or 3.8 per cent of Canada’s GDP, in 2007. And, according to the Canada Council, in 2003-2004, the sector accounted for an “estimated 600,000 jobs (roughly the same as agriculture, forestry, fishing, mining, oil & gas and utilities combined).”

But we’ve just been sent a signal by Prime Minister Stephen Harper that he gives not a toss for these facts. Tuesday, he told us that some group called “ordinary people” didn’t care about something called “the arts.” His idea of “the arts” is a bunch of rich people gathering at galas whining about their grants. Well, I can count the number of moderately rich writers who live in Canada on the fingers of one hand: I’m one of them, and I’m no Warren Buffett. I don’t whine about my grants because I don’t get any grants. I whine about other grants - grants for young people, that may help them to turn into me, and thus pay to the federal and provincial governments the kinds of taxes I pay, and cover off the salaries of such as Mr. Harper. In fact, less than 10 per cent of writers actually make a living by their writing, however modest that living may be. They have other jobs. But people write, and want to write, and pack into creative writing classes, because they love this activity – not because they think they’ll be millionaires.

Read the rest of this entry »

As Harper takes the lead in the polls and everyone in the creative sector braces for an ultra-Conservative chill to ooze over this country, some people have been busy making excellent missives against Harper and his gang of culture reformists. The video below is the most recent. Enjoy.

Before I left Bulgaria, I (rather quickly) wrote up a letter on the train trip from Melnick to Sofia concerning the state of Bulgaria’s environment and the need for a strong civil society to step forward and preserve and protect one the most beautiful places on the planet. It was printed in the August 8th edition of the Sofia Echo, an English-language weekly newspaper in Bulgaria. They also published it online here. The photo above is a graphic of what the once-wild, camping-friendly Sunny Beach on Bulgaria’s Black Sea now looks like, as does much of the coast line. And where prey tell is all the sewage from these monster hotels going? Hmmmmm….

Dear Editor:

As my Bulgarian wife persistently reminds me: it is difficult to impress a Canadian with nature outside of Canada. Indeed there is some truth to this statement, just as we Canadians do not exactly revel in showcasing our lengthy, rich history (one that is, for the European settlers who brought with them the gift of genocide for the inhabitants of the lands from James Bay to Santiago, a mere 200+ hundred years young). Yet travelling throughout this magnificent country, the rose of the Balkans as it were, I cannot help myself but to find fault in her modest words.

Bulgaria is breathtakingly beautiful. Whether it is the many tranquil mountain villages, stoic monasteries, golden fields, ancient ruins, soft sandy beaches, or tightly packed (with culture, history, people) metropolises, this land is rich in ways Canada can never dream of. But on this second extended visit something has plagued my view of the rolling green hills, sandstone pyramids, hot beaches and mixed deciduous-coniferous forests. It is a blight on this landscape that has cultural, political and ecological ramifications. Bulgaria is covered in discarded refuse.

Plastic bags swim alongside me – sometimes accosting me – in the warm and inviting Black Sea. Broken glass (the effect of which is presently displayed as a cut along the length of the bottom of my big toe), cigarette butts and packets and bits of metal, paper, rubber and plastic make up a hideous mosaic of material fragments woven in with ancient grains of sand that cradle the Bulgarian coastline between a free-for-all of wild west hotel development. Coca Cola, water and beer bottles peer menacingly out of bushes alongside forest trails hundreds and even thousands of metres above the sea. Newspapers, fast food packaging and cardboard pieces speckle the sides of country roads. A toxicity of unwant borne from want not only spoils the field of view nearly everywhere I turn, but is seeping into the soil, corrupting an ecologically diverse and robust land, while proclaiming evidence of apathy and ignorance.

I understand fully the implications of some hot-headed Canadian arriving on the Balkan peninsula and screaming ecocide at a nation newly minted on Western business, a nation confronting and embracing an imported culture of excess after a long and painful period of imported repression. But trading hotels for wild beaches, trading the collective attention of preserving the land and culture to billboards and celebrity pregnancy, trading Soviet repression for Western-style unchecked pillaging, is not just on this visiting Canadian’s mind. A new wave of environmentalist, conservationist, eco-minded Bulgarians is stirring here, and they have a big, ugly job to undertake.

In a country whose government is more concerned with padding their own corrupt pockets with both EU transfers and taxpayers’ leva, political representatives cannot be trusted as the guardians of the environment. A strong civil society is needed, and as Bulgarian citizens confront illegal and environmentally destructive development in nature reserves and on the Black Sea, they will inevitably confront a society that seems to view garbage as someone else’s problem. Canada is no perfect pick-nick to be sure, but in the process of ravaging soil for metals, razing forests and polluting waterways, we (the royal we, as in “many of us”) have also developed a counter-active ethos (counter to pillaging, that is) around our natural environment.

Growing up on the west coast on Vancouver Island it was ingrained in me from a young age that “one always leaves the beach or campsite cleaner than how one finds it”. Now of course I recognise this utopian postcard I am painting is imperfect and flawed – Canadians continue to show reckless abandon and ingracious malice for their beaches, forests, animals and water systems. But enough of us act as stewards, that is as responsible members of a species connected to every living organism around us. And we expect the same of our government who often act on behalf of corporate interests instead of the sanctity and preservation of the natural world. But when they do rule against green, we are there, just as protesters in Sofia were in front of Ministry doors this July demanding action against rampant development on the Black Sea. We show we care with action. With action we teach new generations new attitudes as well.

Throwing garbage into our natural environment is an act of negligence. Picking up discarded refuse is a political act that leads by example. Campaigning against eco-corruption amounts to civic participation and cultural heroism. Bulgaria belongs to no human being, it is “owned” by natural forces and humans remain guests on its mountains, seashores, and countryside fields. As more and more Bulgarians head for Turkey’s and Greece’s cleaner seaside vistas, more and more Bulgarians need to look into their own natural environment and see not only what is there to be enjoyed, but what is there to be preserved and respected. It is, after all, nature we need to impress, not Canadians.

Signed,
Ezra Winton

OK, I’m going to try and not make this bitter, despite how utterly bitter and negative I feel at the moment. I just received word from the Canada Council that they have indeed denied support for Cinema Politica, for a second time in a row. This time, I painstakingly applied to a different envelope - a new section at the Council that had less competition - with the hopes that that would increase our odds.

Nope.

Cinema Politica is massive and shows only signs of expansion. There are 30 locals with ten waiting in the wings to join the network of free political film exhibition sites across the country. Since our focus is documentary and Canadian independent works, and since our focus is on youth (most CP locals are located on Canadian campuses) and building new audiences for independent cinema in the country, we thought that we had a pretty damn fine chance at some funding. Everyone has been telling us at least. If only the people who have sat on the last two review committees saw it that way.

With this rejection letter, I am left with two possible conclusions regarding this country’s most important arts funding agency:

1. Cinema Politica does not fit in the Council’s mandate because documentary is not seen as an art by so many in the arts community and has historically faced discrimination;
2. Cinema Politica was not an attractive project to fund for the ten (two committees of five) independent artists who reviewed all the applicants because they a) do not value documentary as a media art, b) think the project is doing fine - based on our swanky website and expansive scope across the country - and is not in need of cash (which is so far from the truth it hurts), or c) are artists who have no understanding of the crucial need to fund initiatives in this country that aim to disseminate (READ: distribution!) independent cinema to new, young audiences at alternative exhibition sites.

Alas, with this incredibly depressing news, we may be forced to terminate the project. We desperately need to hire someone to run the sprawling network, to send films across the country, to secure screening rights, to offer support to new startups in the network, etc, etc.

This cannot happen with the network being so big. So, while the Canada Council is not in the business of supporting Cinema Politica, maybe you are? Drop me a line if know where we can find cash or would like to support our work. I’m going for a long, cold walk.

I recently had the pleasure of watching a Canadian fiction feature that has come out on DVD in the last year. Thank the film gods that there are independent video stores like Montreal’s Boite Noir, or I may have never discovered the little gem called A Simple Curve.

The fim’s plot is suggested in the title - a tidy little arc about a father and son living in British Columbia’s absolutely stunning Slocan valley. The son, played by Kris Lemche, is growing increasingly testy with both his business relationship with his father, played by Michael Hogan, and their back-to-the-land ways.

A couple of traveling hippies the dad takes in edge Caleb closer to flight, but of course he cannot deny his own history and the life he has built with his father, who has something crucial to tell the aspiring woodworker and local love catch.

With breathtaking cinematography of the Slocan Valley as well as some damn fine woodwork and woodworking (I’m a carpenter after all), excellent acting and a fine soundtrack the film is a Canadian cinema treat. I’m surprised actually, that Aubrey Nealon’s debut feature is so compelling to look at, considering the story itself is not that original.

But a clever script and believable characters brought out by talented actors and a very talented director amount to a funny, sweet and visually stunning fiction work.

This film has won several awards including kicking ass at the Leo’s in 2006, and has received critical acclaim. But we are in Canada, and this is a very Canadian film, meaning YOU have to do the work to see it. It did not enjoy any run with theaters across the country and can by purchased online with Amazon or at the film’s site, or rented at a handful of very fine video stores across the country.

I’ve selected the clip above because it shows the gorgeous cinematography that captures the essence of the Slocan, and it’s also a very funny scene with Caleb on the outdoor can. Enjoy!

The following post was originally (as in five minutes ago) posted on one of my graduate class’s blog, called Entertainment Studies. It’s about Facebook and burning jackets.

I get it already - Facebook is great because it connects us to old friends that we might not otherwise have been connected with, it’s more subtle and informal than email or telephones, it’s a way to promote events (the film series I curate, Cinema Politica, has several Facebook groups). Many of these great qualities I have decided to miss out on, and as our dear professor suggested to me in class, that’s my problem.

I guess I spend an already inordinate amount of time on my computer, and I’d rather not have another reason to be “wired in.” But aside from the personal implications of Facebook, which seem to be decent (although I’m fine with old highschool friends never tracking me down, given the traumatizing memories I have of that epoch), I’ve been wondering what are the political implications? And is there a Facebook Garfield group?

The latter question will have to go unanswered for the moment, but as for political implications, Tom Hodgkinson, editor of The Idler, has taken a crack at what is behind the social network everyone hates to love. On Monday The Guardian published his article, “With friends like these…” and the stones he turns reveal some pretty icky muck. It may not be any great revelations to Facebook users that there is a big nasty profit-hungry machine behind the enterprise, but what might surprise some is the connections the architects and financiers have to the ultra-Conservative elite in America, as well as to the CIA.

Hodgkinson can seem old fashioned at times in the article, as when he talks about “going to the pub” and “reading books,” but it made we wonder why such suggestions seem antiquated and cheesy. Is it because we’ve moved past the idea of communication without wires and gadgets? Or is it because it sounds like things our parents or grandparents did? I was reminded of Hodgkinson’s words yesterday when I did go to the pub before the talk by W. J. T. Mitchell at Concordia. I sat down at a table with some friends who were already there. There were three of them and they were all dutifully reading text messages or sending text on their cell phones. As I pondered this image of modern communication, I smelled something burning.

“Your jacket is on fire.” The waitress said to me, and calmly lifted my faux fur-trimmed hood off the table behind me, where it had accidentally slumped into a candle. I padded out the small fire and looked inquisitively at the man sitting at the table where a jacket had just been burning, wondering of course, why he had done nothing. As he slowly lifted his head from his Blackberry, where he had been typing with a plastic pencil, we exchanged a look that communicated the absurdity of the moment: here we were, in Hodgkinson’s pub, everyone still attached to their communication devices, and not even a jacket on fire could draw us together in the “real world”.

Below is a link to Hodgkinson’s article, it’s worth a read if you’re interested in the political economy of communication. The people behind Facebook and their connections to the neoconservative movement - including thevanguard.org, were pretty startling discoveries for me. But then again, Facebook is a bit like Wal-Mart: a large, sprawling corporate entity that serves to make life easier for its patrons who for the most part aren’t concerned with what happens behind the scenes. I guess I have the same relationship with Apple.

Here is the article link.

I’m back. Ira Wagman, my new professor for “Entertainment Studies,” has advised us all to try to write for at least one hour per day. I’m going to take him up on it, and when I’m not blogging for Art Threat or writing papers and presentations and articles, I’ll use the writing time to post here.

I spent the weekend sorting out Cinema Politica stuff - the network has gone crazy, too many locals for me to handle and now people in Manchester and Berlin want to join. This is why I applied to the Canada Council for funding. We desperately need it.

Other than that, I went rollerskating with Tyrell and worked at not breaking any bones. Baked some delicious sundried tomato, thyme and walnut spelt bread. Now I’ve got to write a presentation for my class. More interesting posts are sure to follow.

Of interest: Concordia pays off former president nearly $2 million to resign. Disgusting. And the University of Ottawa reports a $67 million surplus for last year but refuses to meet the demands of deaf students by providing hearing assistance at the Friday Cinema Politica screenings there. Ah, the corporate crunch of education…

Lastly, I’m reading a great book for my PhD class, “The Philosophy of the Image” with Michael Dorland. The book (pictured above) is called No Caption Needed: Iconic Photographs, Public Culture, and Liberal Democracy, and even has it’s own blog. It’s snowing right now and that has put me in the mood to listen to Antony and the Johnsons and get my presentation done..