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"THE OTHER PRESS

 

 

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The Other Press is a democratically run, autonomous student
newspaper, published several times a semester [usually every two
weeks| under the auspices of The Other Publications Society. Our
funding comes by way of a direct student levy paid at registration
time and through local and national advertising. The Other Press
is a member of Canadian University Press and of the national
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The Other Press welcomes new and prospective members to
come to our semi-regular staff meeting usually held on Thursdays
at 12:00 noon. Story and production meetings alternate every
Monday at 4:00 P.M. All meetings take place in The Other Press
newsroom adjacent to the student lounge off the main concourse
in the North Building in room 2305 |right beside the student

society offices].

Phone: 525-3542
Mailing Address:
The Other Press
Douglas College
700 Royal Avenue
Box 2503
New Westminster, B.C.

 

el V3L 5B5

It’s been a month since
the start of the fated year,
““1984’’. The manic fear
generated by Gearge Or-
well’s novel has subsided

by LITTLE SISTER

into an oatmeal acceptance
of Big Brother and his bed-
room antics in our society.
The general concensus
seems to be that the con-
cerns~put forth by Orwell
are not upon us, so why
worry? After all, it is ar-
gued, we don’t have Big
Brother intervening in our
lives; as a matter of fact, we
have more personal free-
doms under Democracy,
than has-been seen since
mankind left the caves. This

based on fallacious observa-
tions, leads to a bland ignor-
ance, which in turn may
very well lead to the estab-
lishment of, Orwell’s. night-
mare. But what of the argu-
ments you ask?

Firstly, to counter the
argument of governmental
intervention | would like to
draw your attention to the
Macdonald Commission; an
investigation into the al-
leged . charges of illegal
seaches and wire-taps, un-
dertaken by the RCMP. For
the last few years, several
people in this country sus-
pected of sedition (speech or
action causing a discontent

Dear Editor;

In reply to Ms. Gagnon’s
letter, re: democracy within
the Douglas College Student
So¢iety.

It is unfortunate that Ms
‘Gagnon has not expressed
any interest in, nor taken
the. time to look at the
Student Society before wri-
ting this. letter. If she had
she might. have avoided
making statements that
have no basis in fact.

She would have found out
that Student Society repre-
sentatives total 20 members.
This number represents
more than twice the number
of students usually on coun-
cil at this time. These stu-
dents represent all facets of
Douglas College, hardly un-
democratic representation.

The meeting at which the
DCSS voted to support the
aims and objectives of a
general strike, and the sub-
sequent targeting of specific
problems with the new bud-
get were not mere rubber-
stamping exercises. Ms.
Gagnon would have found
this out with the smallest
effort on her part.

Not only has Ms. Gagnon
not requested minutes from
the meetings in question,
she has never attended one

 

acceptance by the masses,

Wednesday, February 1, 1984.

or revolt against the govern-
ment), have been subject to
illegal wire-taps, _ illegal
searches and general har-
assment by Canada’s finest!
But fret no more. Presently
before the House of Com-

mons is the solution to all:

our problems; Bill-157. This

bill outlines the formation of
an-!

a secret police force,
swerable to the Federal gov-

ernment: and. designed to.

investigate the citizens of
Canada, suspected of rebel-
tious attempts to overthrow
the government. You can
now breathe more easily
with the knowledge that
anyone, including the loyal
Opposition parties of
Canada, may in fact be
investigated for plotting. to
overthrow the present gov-
ernment.

This special investigative

force is designed to free the

RCMP for their designated
duties such as busting gam-
blers, junkies and potheads,
prostitutes, white punks
found loitering in front of
the Surrey MacDonald’s,
jay-walkers, traffic violaters
and all the other criminals
committing the victimless
crimes, that presently are
cluttering our court system.

As for our alleged person-
al freedoms, | would like to
direct you to the guide to
“The Canadian Charter of
Rights and Freedoms’’, Part
1. ‘‘The Canadian Charter of

Society Senate
meeting. We cannot lead
individual students by the

hand to our meetings, in a’

democratic organization the
members must make use of
the democratic structure.
Getting involved and finding
out what the issues are and
how we can best deal with
them is what is needed,
uninformed letters are not.
In our concern for post-
secondary education and the
people involved (students)
the Society chose to oppose
government policy that:
1) eliminated elected school
board representation on col-
lege boards and replaced
them with ministry appoint-
ees. (bill 20)
2) lets landlords evict ten-
ants without cause. (bill 5) °
3) eliminates the Human
Rights Branch and Commi-
sion in the most racist prov-
ince in Canada. (bill 27).
4) eliminates the Alcohol
and Drug Commision and
subsequent counselling and

* referal services that it provi-

ded. (bill 8)

5) gives the government the
power to overide decisions
on course offerings at BCIT,
eliminating student, faculty,
and staff input.

6) eliminated tenure for

oe rape of society

Rights and Freedoms guar-
antees the rights and free-
doms set out in it, subject
only to such reasonable lim-
its prescribed by law as can
be demonstrably justified in
a free and democratic socie-
ty.’ If you are wondering
just exactly what they mean
by the term ‘reasonable’,
don’t worry because you are

not alone. In essence, you
have your personal free-
doms, up until the point

when a ‘Reasonable’ law
demonstrates justly, why
you can’t have them. To
bring it close to home, ‘little
sister’ may find herself go-
ing directly to court,
charged with sedition, for
merely exercising her right
to freedom of thought, opin-
ion, belief and expression.

In strict Machiavellian
terms, .the government of
this country has not only
successfully ovtained. and
maintained its power over
the citizens in Canada, but
is now in the process of
expanding that power and
control, with the recent ad-
vent of Bill C-157. Should
this bill pass, Pierre Tru-
deau, upon retirement, will
be placed in the history
books, crowned with the
glory of being the major
motor, elevating George Or-
well to the pedestal of the
greatest prophet of the 20th
century.

Gagnon letter unresearched

'Student

teachers.

Since students include

‘women, children, the poor,

unionized labour, racial min-
orities, renters, and the dis-
abled, we feel that it is not
only within our jurisdiction
but moreover it is our res-
ponsibility to oppose such
measures.

Opposition to the resolu-
tions passed was listened to
and acknowledged, yet dur-
ing the strike, a larger
percent of students than
faculty respected the legal
picket lines that were a-
round our college. By Bill
Day’s estimates there were
fewer than 50 percent of the
students in attendance the
first day of job action and
fewer than 20 percent in
attendance on the last.

Anti-student legislation
must be opposed for the
simple reason that the de-
cline in accessibility to post-
secondary institutions repre-
sents perhaps, one of the
saddest wastes of human
potential in British Colum-
bia. This Student Society
will continue to oppose such
measures whenever they ap-
pear.

Sincerely,
Sean Balderstone

 

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