March 19, 1993

Other Editorials & Opinions

the Other Press

 

Is Social Consciousness Becoming Social Unconsciousness?

 

by Mark S. Foster

There’s a frightening campaign
afoot in Vancouver's West End. It’s
called Change For The Better and it’s
war being waged by those who have
against those who have not.

Change For The Better is
sponsored by B.C. Liquor Stores, the
Downtown Parking Commission,
Intrepid Security and the Robson St.
Business Association. There can be
no doubt that these organizations,
especially the last on the list, are the
“haves” of the West End. They have
banded together to take on
Vancouver’s destitute, the
panhandlers...the city’s “have nots.”

The Change For The Better
warriorsarearmed withcostly, fancy
eye-catching pamphlets and shiny
new Plexiglas collection boxes. You
can spot the flawless, stylish new

cles beside cash registers in
many trendy RobsonSt. shops and at
the any liquor store in the area. The
Change For The Better movement is
armed to its teeth when compared to
its foes—Vancouver’s beggars.

4

Confrontation?

Those against whom the
are usually armed with only a plea
for help...and occasionally a hat, a
cup or a bedroll.

Change For The Better has the full
support of the Vancouver Police,
despite there being no laws against
passive panhandling in the city.

Aggressive panhandling is
another story. The police can file any
of a wide assortment of s
against an aggressive er.
Imagine the extreme advantage held

anannoyedandruthless merchant
ifaconflict witha lershould
arise. Whois a policeconstable more
pronetobelieve, theownerofa trendy

 

boutique or the driver of an
overflowing shopping cart? Because
“citizens” without money, fixed
addresses and steady lifestyles often
cannot meet the standards set for
i ted bail, sentenceis usuall
epondtefore i sedtacoumue
even determin

Think of the disadvantages
faced by a common being
tried in a court of law in which the
accusersareaffluent peopleannoyed
by the mendicant’s very presence in
“their” area! Without funding for
good legal defense, or a personal

tation equal to the accuser’s, a
tatterdemalionin the prisoner’sdock
hasn’t much hope for a fair

ing. Trial by one’s peers is
almost certainly out of the question
in such a case.

Check out theillustrations from
thepamphlet. Lookat the silhouettes

ting the Robson St. couple
and the Street person. Neatand clean
versus disheveled and ruffled?

Change For The Better’s

hlet was assembled by true
public relations (propaganda)
experts. “So the next time you're
confronted by a panhandler...”
Confronted. You aren't asked for
spare change, according to Change
For The Better, you face a
confrontation!

Dear reader, while you might
not want tobelieve thatsome people
are so terribly annoyed simply by
thesightand presenceofothers who
they don’t consider their equals,
please pick up a pamphlet and read
the fine print. Four of the five
organizations Change For The Better
claims to assist are located a long
way from the West End. Alexander
St., Main St, East Hastings and East
CordovaStreets...all Downtown East

 

Side locations, Vancouver's slums.

Change For The Better seems to be
collecting money intended for use to
keep the poor out of the West End. It
seems to say we'll help you, but stay
off of our turf. Justread the pamphlet,
“It’s a step in the right direction for
everyone.” Sounds like Change For
The Better is saying, if youcan’tafford
Robson St., stay away, stay east of
Granville St.!

The pamphlet says, “until now
there has been no easy reply,”
speaking of how those whoareasked
to give might have addressed those
who ask for spare change. Granted,
once in a very great while a simple
“no” from the askee may have
spawnedanas| ly...butthe simple
“no” has worked numerous times
each day for literally thousands of

le, on both sides of what we now

Ww is a confrontation.

Thepamphletalsoseemstoimply
that poor folks aren’t responsible
enough to take careof themselves...or
are not trustworthy enough.
Vancouver's unfortunates need help
handling life’s basicfunctions. Aslong
as all the street people spend their
days shi
another, east of Granville St., the Change
For The Better campaign seems to be

ing us that ev ing will be j
aren sects em Gee

Who, with the exceptions of the
utterly naive and the ho ly self-
centered will believe such drivel?!

Better has found strong support.
Perhapsthepamphlet’s creators have
succeeded in pulling the wool over
the eyes of the residents of an entire
sectionof Vancouver? Perhaps Change
For The Better offers what sound like
reasonable excuses for the masses to
be just plain greedy, not a farfetched

ing from one free meal to

 

SPARE
A QUARTER
FOR A CUP
OF COFFEE?

 

 

Change for the Better
lets your spare change
help street people
in need by supporting
the agencies that give
them food and shelter.
If you have a quarter
or two to spare, please

be kind.

 

 

 

possibility intoday’srougheconomic
times. Social consciousness can easily
becomesocial unconsciousness...look
atGermany in the 1930's or the United
States in the 1980's.

Maybe street people are

etically deficient and just plain
gapid? And perhapswe'll sive Brian
Mulroney yetanothershotatrunning
our socially conscious country?
Please don’t believe it’s really a
change for the better, dear readers.

St. Patrick: Saviour or Subjugator?

Irish oppression nothing to celebrate

 

by Angus Adair

March 17th is St. Patrick’s Day.
IntheGaelic tongue itis knownasLa
FéilePAdraic.St. Patrickisconsidered
to be the patron saint of Ireland and
much legend surrounds him. The

truth is far less glamourous than the

While little is known about St.
Patrickithas been established that he
did exist. He was orphaned asaresult
of fierce English oppression. He was
then turned over to an orphanage
and raised by Catholic monks.
Eventually Padraic would becomea
monk himself. Once proselytized he
was sent back to Ireland to replace a
missionary who had bees cn by
the native Celts, who were fiercely
resisting England’s attempt to
conquer and colonize them. Padraic
was Irish and therefore expendable.

Padraic is celebrated for driving
the snakes out of Ireland.Public
perception has credited this deed as
being responsible for attainin
sain . The truth is Ireland ha
no snake problem. In fact, Druids

wereknowntoanother Celtic le,
theWelsh, as Naddred or hake In
all threemajor Celticnations (Ireland,
Scotland and Wales ) prehistoric
beads of blue and green glass,
sometimescarved withaspecialinlay
were knownassnakestones or Druids
Glass. Also, in the Cauldron Rites of
the Celtic people adders were used,
in particular, a special secretion the
produced during the ritual known 2
anguinum. The snake was critigdl to
the native faith. Whether he ljfere
drove the snakes out or /nef
irrelevant. The message i§-d
Padraic became St. Pa ticks 1
destroying thenative spirjtuglityénd
replacing it with Catho! big Ph

 

aes ely
Padraic did notli opte elagid f
ey bing

partly succeeded. Iris thd cia
is unlike any othe en]
Catholicism in the world, ItTisteld i
a peculiar hybrid of the ps Jonlta
that has never left that makicd
and the religon forced ulpo
people by one of their own. Anof
Irish saint is St. Brigid, who is in fa
more revered than the Virgin May
in parts of Ireland to this day. St

Brigid is not a human upon whom
sainthood has been grasttd!)
resultofco-opti ig the Celt

 

oI S
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saor Eire and who struggle valiantly
for self determination. They are those
whoare proud to be Irish 365 daysa
year. They are those who strive to
retain the ways of the Old Ones and

OnSt. Patrick's Day Irish people
d the world embrace their
l-oppressors as their saviors.

le Whe SIebrate they will drink
pen een beer and feed the
pe of the drunken Irish.

 

who keep the art and music of a
in New York they magical placeand peoplealive. The
4gainst gays- by not arethose whodiein theEnglish gao

without crimeortrial. They are those
who refuse to be broken despite
suffering raperoutinely from gaolers
who call it strip searching. They are
the nameless dead of the artificial
Famine imposed by Britain. They are
thestarving whoworethegreen stain
ofeating grassand thistles tosurvive.
They are in Hell’s Kitchen, Boston,
ancouver and they are all around
you. They are unseen, mostly, but
ey are saints. They have suffered
more thanJoband yet they stillsmile,
wink and tell you in seriousness,
“tiocfaioh ar la“ - our day will come.
When that day comes, and it will, it
will be a day of liberation, not
oppression. That day is coming and
it won't be St. Patrick’s Day. No, that
day will belong to the Irishandall the
nameless saints who have sacrificed
and endured so much for it.

bven though their

The tru@sg peland are
eless. They are the ones who
ewith an unbreakable spirit to