© News the other press Kelly Parry e kelly-parry@telus.net December 3, 2003 Newsworthy Events Melissa Beedle OP Contributor On-Going Open Speakers Forum Open forum for ideas on rights, money matters, politics, justice, the environment, health, and other issues Sapperton Hall 318 Keary Street, New Westminster First Tuesday of every month, 7-9:30pm Free admission. December 10, 2003 The 55th Anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights Coast Plaza Suite Hotel at Stanley Park, 1763 Comox Street, Vancouver Wednesday, 6-8:30pm Admission by donation. December 11, 2003 Douglas College’s Opportunities Enabled Centre hosts grand opening. Come and see the potential. The Opportunities Enabled Centre, a new facility at Douglas College designed to help people with physical dis- abilities or workplace injuries retrain for Information Technology careers, hosts its grand opening. Drop by and meet the instructors, try pro- gramming the Lego robots, and test out the computers. The Centre will be home to the Opportunities Enabled Program, an Information Technology training program for people with disabilities. The program launches in January, and will run nine months, plus four months of work place- ment. David Lam Campus Room A2070 1250 Pinetree Way. Coquitlam Thursday, 9:30am—1:30pm For more information, contact Barbara Allen at 604.527.5247. December 14, 2003 Douglas College’s Community Music School celebrates the festive season with a fund-rais- er concert to showcase the musical diversity of its faculty. From Baroque choral music to Middle Eastern drumming to Celtic fiddling—the concert delivers something for nearly every musical taste. Tickets are $10 and are available from the Community Music School Office or at the door. Performing Arts Theatre Fourth floor north, New West aes. Page 4 _http://www.otherpress.ca Campus Sunday, 2pm For more information call 604.527.5469. December 18, 2003 Originally broadcast on Global TV, Foreign Fields is a one- hour documentary that exam- ines the apparent decline in Canada’s international influ- ence and explores different visions for renewing the nation’s role in global affairs. The film is hosted by the World Federalists of | Canada— Vancouver Branch. The public is cordially invited to attend the viewing, which is followed, by discussion and refreshments. The World Federalists promote the development of democratic world institutions to make and enforce world law. Unitarian Church Centre 949 W. 49th Avenue, Vancouver. Thursday, 7:30pm For more information, contact Larry Kazdan at 604.874.9982 or e-mail: Ikazdan@shaw.ca. Free admission. January 24, 2004 Rolling Thunder Democracy Tour For those of you who are Michael Moore fans, there is a tour in the US called the Rolling Thunder Democracy Tour. The idea for the tour was developed by commentator Jim Hightower. The concept is to put on community democracy organizing festivals in towns across the US to celebrate and reflect on the power of grass- roots movements for change and activism. Participation is grassroots and not affiliated with any political party. Previous speakers include Michael Moore, Patch Adams, former Iraqi Ambassador Joseph C. Wilson IV, and independent filmmaker Robert Greenwald. In Seattle, representatives from labour, agriculture, _ faith, health, human service, inde- pendent and new media, the environment, education, and other progressive organizations gather to make it happen. The next Thunder Tour will be in Seattle. Maybe we can take a school field trip to Seattle? For more information, . It’s free and open to anyone. MiniMUN—Canada’s Efforts to Combat Terrorism Mike Falys OP Contributor Video conferencing with a bureaucrat in Ottawa or asking questions of a for- mer Canadian ambassador is not an everyday experience for most students, but that is just what happened at Douglas College on Friday, November 21, 2003. As a warm-up for their four- day February main event, the Douglas College International Model United Nations. (DougIMUN) hosted a suc- cessful half-day conference called MiniMUN, which drew about fifty attendees, including a substantial con- tingent from a local private school. The theme of the conference was Canada’s efforts in combating terror- ism. Graham Rodwell, Douglas College’s Dean of Humanities and Social Sciences, opened MiniMUN with an impassioned speech on the importance of global awareness in edu- cation, which he referred to as “an essential part of general education in the 21st century.” Rodwell’s speech included a surprise announcement of his commitment to “work toward mak- ing global studies part of the signature of Douglas College, especially with the development of new programs.” The next speaker was Gordon Longmere, former Canadian ambassa- dor to Cambodia, Thailand, and Vietnam. Longmere was fresh from an official fact-finding trip to Southeast Asia. He was sent by the Canadian gov- ernment to gather information on the growth of Islamic extremist groups preying upon the “softer targets” of this region. His goals were to see how nations such as Indonesia and Malaysia were handling the problem, and to see “what Canada could bring to the table.” His talk was peppered with informa- tion and insights into the history and current activities of these extremist groups. According to Longmere, Canada’s role in Southeast Asian anti- terrorism has been largely “declarative” to date, but he called the conclusion “inescapable” that Canada needs to turn attention to terrorism in the region. In countries where US motiva- tions are viewed with some suspicion, Canada is seen as being “without ulte- rior motives,” a fact which might pro- vide Canada with unique opportuni- ties. When a person is able to say that he has met some of the leaders of these extremist groups, his words carry weight. Longmere was a tough act to follow, but the ambassador was outdone by the bureaucrat. The video conferencing with Peter G. Bates, Deputy Director of International Crime and Terrorism from the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade, was a treat. For the first 20 minutes of his ses- sion, Bates addressed the issue of glob- al terrorism and Canada’s role in com- bating this threat, revealing that the federal government has spent eight bil- lion dollars to promote the govern- ment’s power to combat terrorism globally. This presentation was fol- lowed by an extended question and answer period where Bates responded with surprising candour. A fine exam- ple of his frankness was when he quipped, “In the West, we haven't defeated corruption, we have only suc- ceeded in managing it better.” When asked what the greatest threat Canada faced from terrorism was, Bates focused on the transnational nature of terrorist groups like Al Qaeda. Earlier in his talk, Bates had called terrorism the “sharp end” of international criminal activity, and dis- cussed the “franchising of terrorism.” However, when speaking to the specif- ic threats Canada faced, Bates observed that previous generations of immi- grants had lost their connection to the land of their birth due to serious com- munication difficulties. With recent immigrants, though, the ease of mod- ern communication and transportation has kept alive close ties to the culture and the conflicts of their homeland. Consequently, events a world away can remain personal attacks and can bring terrorism home to Canadians. Personal attachment to old struggles was a direct factor in the worst terrorist attack in this country’s history, the Air India bombings, which killed 331 people, mostly Canadian Transnational terrorist groups can manipulate the strings of old struggles. When faced with tough questions revolving around the clash between civil liberties and fighting terrorism, Bates offered the guidelines he gave his staff: “The important issue in dealing with terrorism is not only remember- ing what we are fighting against, but to remember what we are fighting for.” The DougIMUN organizers should be applauded for the mini-conference they put together. Secretary Generals Anneliese Ganske and Merrill Farmer credited a “wonderful organizing com- mittee,” but gave a great deal of the credit to faculty advisor, Marlene Hancock, who they said means “Everything!” to DougIMUN. When asked what she liked best about MiniMUN, Farmer said that she was impressed with the attitudes of the attendees, who instead of just absorb- ing information “were questioning things and trying to find answers.” Despite a few rough edges to MiniMUN, if the quality of speakers at this mini-conference is a reflection of the talent that will be shown at the February International Model United Nations, it will be an event not to be missed. citizens. DougIMUN World in Turmoil: Terrorism in the 21st-Century confer- ence will be held during Douglas College reading break, February 7-10, 2004. This four-day event is also the fifth anniversary of DougIMUN. It will feature delegates representing UN ambassadors from countries around the world debating real issues within a model UN setting. Reportedly, the debates and interac- tions can get quite heated, the delegates become very passion- ate about represent- ing their country faithfully. Cae DougIMUN is hop- ing for the participa- tion of over 200 del- egates. They already have student delega- tions coming from as far away as West Virginia and the American University in Cairo, Egypt. For more information on this event, attend their information session Wednesday December 3, 2003 or watch for announcements of more information sessions in January. Visit the DougIMUN web site at for more information.