INTERNATIONAL POLITICS EGYPT/ WINNIPEG:

WINNIPEG DEMONSTRATES IN SOLIDARITY WITH EGYPT:

Last Saturday local Egyptians resident in Winnipeg and their supporters came out to demonstrate in solidarity with the people of the Egyptian revolution. It was an interesting, spirited and actually quite enjoyable demonstration. Mass media outlets estimated the crowd as anywhere from 130 to 200 people. Molly's own admittedly flawed count was about 150 to 160. It consisted of a wide variety of people, both in terms of ethnicity and in terms of age with people from school children to grandparents represented. Even the speeches were less annoying than they usually are at demonstrations...brief and to the point with representation from both Egyptians and the labour community giving their piece. It was actually amazing to me to see that there is indeed an Egyptian community here on the frigid prairies. One wonders how they ended up here, and there's surely a lot of wonderful life stories behind this fact.

You can access video of the demonstration here , and there is a collection of photos here. For those interested in further information about the demo, and to see what might be upcoming in the future go to Winnipeg Protest For Egypt and Winnipeg Human Rights And Activist Events.

In the interim here is how the demo was seen by the Winnipeg Free Press.

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Canada not doing enough, rally told
By: Bill Redekop
Canada needs to be a stronger voice for democracy in Egypt to stop government-sponsored bloodshed in that country, said people at a Winnipeg rally Saturday.

"Canada has said what the United States said, (that) we need a peaceful transition," said Basil Elmayergi in an interview after he addressed the rally supporting democracy in Egypt.

But that implies allowing President Hosni Mubarak to stay in power until elections are held in September. That will result in a "slaughter-fest" by Mubarak's police and military against those advocating democracy, he said.

"I don't think Canada is doing enough," said Elmayergi.

About 200 people attended the rally on the legislative building steps. People waved Egyptian flags and placards and spoke passionately about the changes sweeping Arab countries in the Middle East and Africa. One placard said, "Game Over," beside a photo of Mubarak and another said, "We Are Finally Free."

Elmayergi heralded those in Egypt who have stood up for democracy as "our courageous brothers and sisters."

"Send a message that there has been enough beatings, enough torture, enough oppression," he said. "(Egypt) is going to be such a great country — a leader in the Arab world, a leader to the African continent."

Winnipeg's Egyptian population is estimated at only about 200 people, but the city has about 6,000 people of Arabic descent. Saturday's crowd was a mix of both.

Arabic people in the crowd said they see what is happening in Egypt, after the ouster of the dictatorship in Tunisia late last year, as the beginning of change throughout the Arab world.

"I think Tunisia was an inspiration for all of us," said Shirin Farag, Elmayergi's wife, who came to Canada 17 years ago.

"When Egypt saw that a nation of 10 million people (Tunisia) was able to oust its president, Egypt, with 80 million people, thought it could do it, too," she said.

Kadim Al-Roubaie, who emigrated from Iraq 36 years ago, said he attended the rally "to support democracy."

"I've lived here 36 years. I love it. It's a privilege to live in a democracy," he said.

bill.redekop@freepress.mb.ca

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition February 6, 2011 A15

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Here is the much more brief notice published in the Winnipeg Sun. It should be noted that their estimate of about 130 is low. Personally I am not given to inflating crowd numbers as I believe it is bad policy in the long term. My own count of 150 to 160 may be slightly on the low side and is definitely not an overestimate.

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Show of support for Egypt
By ROSS ROMANIUK, Winnipeg Sun

A crowd of Winnipeg protesters on Saturday joined the spirit of fierce demonstrations a half a world away, demanding that the Canadian government pressure Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak to resign.

About 130 people converged at the Manitoba legislature's front steps to shout their anger at what they say is the Harper government's unwillingness to push Mubarak to step down immediately, in the face of outrage in Egypt over government policies that protesters there say are hurting their country.

Unlike the violence that has marked the massive rioting and street battles in Cairo for the past week, though, the Winnipeg demonstration was emotional yet peaceful.

Despite talk in recent days of a possible "transition" of power from Mubarak to a successor, Egypt's longtime president has remained in office.

ross.romaniuk@sunmedia.ca

LOCAL NEWS-WINNIPEG:

SINGING FOR NICK:

Local left wing legend Nick Ternette is recovering from his bout with gangrene that claimed both his legs-and his teeth as well. His previous cancer treatment (I can sympathize here) made him susceptible to the infection that nearly claimed his life. Molly has only rarely agreed with Nick's politics, and any agreement that happened was much more by coincidence than anything else. On the other hand the vast public outpouring of support for Nick has come mainly from people who disagreed with him at least as much, or maybe more so, than I do. Here in Winnipeg there is great admiration for his "stick-to-it-veness" from all sorts of people, even our local right wing rag, the Winnipeg Sun. Of course I could mention that right wing statists have a lot more in common with left wing statists than either does with anarchists, but that would be mean spirited. I share the general admiration for Nick's determination however much I might disagree with his vision of socialism. The Winnipeg Sun has recently published an interesting item under Laurie Mustard's column about how the Minuk Denture Clinic has offered to provide Nick with new dentures as soon as his recovery permits. Great stuff. There is also an event coming up next Thursday as the Winnipeg Labour Choir will be holding a sing-along next Thursday, October 22, at the Rehabilitation Hospital, 600 Sherbrook St., 2nd Floor Auditorium at 7pm. Catch it if you can. Thus the 'Singing for Nick' title of this post. Here's the item from the Winnipeg Sun.

LNLNLNLNLNLNL

CHEEEEESE!
Yes, cheese is just one of the many things a happy and healing Nick Ternette enjoys chowing down these days thanks to his new dentures courtesy of Minuk Denture Clinic.

Following Nick's near-death duel with infection that claimed both of his legs recently, a battle that also included the removal of all of his teeth, the good people of Minuk offered to replace Nick's chompers as soon as his recovery allowed. Thanks to the remarkable work of denturist Morgan Ganetsky, mission accomplished.

Nick is thrilled to be going home Nov. 9, and in the meantime invites all who so desire to "Come sing along with the Winnipeg Labour Choir, in friendship and solidarity with Nick and Emily Ternette", on Thursday at 7 p.m. at the Rehabilitation Hospital, 800 Sherbrook St., 2nd floor auditorium.

Nick and Emily would love to see you there.

LATEST CITY MOVE ON THE KELVIN COMMUNITY CLUB:
The other day the City of Winnipeg made a surprise move that may indicate that they intend to break yet another promise and close the Kelvin Community club even before the threatened end of the season. The City gave notice that the Lacrosse club who store their equipment at Kelvin have until tomorrow, Thursday the 15th, to retrieve it. While this may be a random move on the part of the City bureaucracy it would still fit with a consistent pattern of broken promises on the part of the clique presently in power at City Hall. Mayor Sam Katz's "promises" have been detailed previously on this blog (see Jan 20th), and his trumpeting of "promises made:promises kept" on his website sound rather hollow in terms of his previous "commitment" to "no forced closures" of community clubs.





Meanwhile long standing civic activist Nick Ternette has echoed the proposal to have the community club turned over to the community in a letter to today's Winnipeg Sun. He also points out that there are nine other community centres in this city which may face closure in the future. One can bet that none of these will be affluent areas of Winnipeg. One of those in the ward of Katz's best hatchetmen, councillor Steeves, is receiving further support, a matter that has angered Elmwood residents.





Molly has previously advocated on this blog that the idea of turning the community centres into cooperatives (what Ternette calls non-profits) is the best and most sensible thing to do. The simple fact is that the community clubs as they are presently constitute are not "community" at all. They are the property of the City of Winnipeg and whatever clique controls the City essentially owns the clubs. The local residents of an area will support an institution such as a community club to the exact extent that they have real property rights in that institution. The larger the political organization controlling the institution the more diluted such rights become by the real control exercised by the controllers of the organization.





The situation of the Kelvin Community Club and other such clubs in Winnipeg is a microcosm of this dilemma. People will commit to an organization, group or institution very much and sometimes only to the extent that exercise real control over that organization, group or institution. Sometimes this commitment can be inflated by hidden elites, but over the long term "real property rights" count- at least in terms of voluntary commitment. The way that state socialism collapsed in Eastern Europe is a case in point. No matter what the rhetoric, supported by a vast propaganda machine and a secret police apparatus, the reality that this "socialism" really meant that the "socialized property" was the actual property of a bureaucratic ruling class meant that very few people actually believed the lies in their heart of hearts.





Similarly in Winnipeg. Mayor Katz and his development friendly cronies are actually very skilled game players. They either run in wards distant from Winnipeg's poor neighbourhoods that may indeed benefit financially from diversion of City funds to the better off, or, like Katz, they wish to solidify their voting support by bribery of middle neighbourhoods (while giving the lion's share to the affluent) by taking from people who hardly vote for him anyhow. Good gamesmanship !





One wonders if a move to close Kelvin down even earlier than announced would be a move to "kick the bastard while he is down so he can't get up again" ie to close the whole matter before further support can be organized for Kelvin and-especially- before a different vision of how community centres should be run in this town can gain traction. It's a distinct possibility.
Molly