Amnesty International welcomes the G8 Muskoka Accountability Report and the commitment of G8 countries to increase transparency and accountability in relation to their individual and collective efforts towards achieving development goals. We also welcome the contribution by G8 countries to supporting global efforts to meet the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). However, as deadlines draw nearer, there is a very real danger that the MDG targets will not be met in several areas. Amnesty International believes that human rights standards - and the duty of all governments to realize them - must be put at the heart of MDG efforts in order to fulfill the promises made in the Millennium Declaration. For those living in poverty international co-operation and assistance can play a crucial role in ensuring the realization of at least the minimum levels of economic, social and cultural rights.
By Ola Roks
When most people take off for Vegas it’s for the strippers, the sluts, the slots and the shopping.
I want to go to the Nevada desert in the August heat and live like a skid for ten days with tens of thousands of unsupervised musician hippies. I am odd like that. I have a couple from the south of France that lives out in Nevada, offered to let me stay with them for as long as I like. They have a son who I never met yet because they had just turned into a couple when we’d met years ago. They were there when Bang Bus Brandy had a bad acid trip one New Years and spent the night humping the mattress, screaming like a banshee. They’ve since settled into normalcy, sort of.
They promised me a weekend out on the sands whipping around in dune buggies, and a trip to the red rock mountain things hiking when I visit them. They seemed especially fond of this Burning Man festival that keeps slipping into my conversations randomly everywhere I go. Here is the website if you care to gather more detailed information.
Artist: Vladimir Kato
June 4th- June 27th
Show and Tell Gallery
1161 Dundas St. W. Toronto
416-347-3316
www.showandtellgallery.com
In “Wilderness” Vladimir Kato uses the animal as a form or base to play with exaggerated color while capturing the individual personalities of the subjects he paints, a departure from the work he completed last year i.e. transvestite themes and Glam 80s pop style.
Not Your Father’s Contemporary
137 Robert St. 2nd Floor
notyourfathers@gmail.com
www.notyourfathers.wordpress.com
Brought to you by:
Curatorial Collective, Nice Stuff:
Charlie Irani
Teresa Aversa
Pantea Razzaghi
What happens when parents indulge their children? In this case, great things! Not Your Father’s Contemporary is the first of a series of experimental locations brought to you by the Curatorial Collective “Nice Stuff”.
By Allison Hall
So I’d like to think that I’m tough, I mean I have some piercings in my face and sometimes I quote Wu-Tang lyrics, but realistically, I am anything but intimidating. This fun fact aside, I’ve always had a bit of a fascination with brass knuckles. I could never really get behind the whole grill thing; mostly I just think that they’re funny looking, even when they’re not diamond encrusted. Brass knuckles on the other hand look pretty rad and they’re practical. I haven’t been in a fight in a really long time and I can assure you that it is way more likely that I was slapping and pulling hair instead of punching in that one, but I’d like to think that if I had been wearing something other than a mood ring that night, I probably would have thrown at least one punch (I’m kidding…maybe).
Believe me, I’m not condoning violence here, it’s not so much the idea of harming someone that attracts me to them, it’s more the aesthetic, like how cool having four rings attached to each other looks. I have never actually purchased brass knuckles. Apart from the fact it’s illegal to do so in Canada (but not in France, according to Wikipedia you only have to be 16 and older to get yourself a pair), I’ve always thought that the palm grip on the inside would prevent them from making a very comfortable ring, you know, for everyday wear. Can you imagine how excited I was last month when I first spotted a three finger ring on the hand of a woman passing by? These multi finger rings are the answer to my brass knuckle dreams…they’re palm grip free, they’re super cute and I won’t go to jail for wearing them! I just recently purchased myself a two ring for one hand and a three ring for the other. Appearance wise, I really like the three ring one, but it’s proving to be a little impractical. Having my index, middle and ring fingers all kind of stuck together makes it a little tricky to type as well as hold and pick things up; so I being right handed, I have decided to reserve that one for my left hand. The two ring one allows for quite a bit more freedom. I have been wearing it on my middle and ring fingers and I’ve found that having free reign over my index finger is quite helpful. I have yet to see any of these rings made for four fingers, but since I’m already struggling with the three finger one, I guess if I do happen to come across one, I’ll probably pass!
By Mikhail Saavedra
We are happy to recommend this film for two reasons: the cause is a good and decent and one of our good friends, DJ Machetero, is playing the after party!
Details:
Return to El Salvador documents the aftermath of a 12 year civil war and the interplay between the Salvadoran people and the US politics and policies that directly influence the Central American country.
Narrated by Martin Sheen, the film features interviews by former US ambassador to El Salvador Robert White, and has been endorsed by Nobel Peace Prize winner Archbishop Desmond Tutu.
The film also outlines the disappearance of prominent mining activist Marcelo Rivera. While in El Salvador shooting principal photography, Moffett and his crew stumbled upon the disappearance of Rivera - he had been “disappeared” days prior to the filming of the documentary. Investigating further, our crew found more and more signs in this mysterious disappearance pointing towards the Vancouver-based Pacific Rim Mining Company. Eventually, as the film goes on to tell, Rivera’s body was found - not by police, who had no information, but by his friends.
“I’m eager to share the story of the torture and death of Marcelo Rivera as it relates to Canadian mining corporations,” says Moffett. “The story I came across changed my life. It’s critically important that Canadians take stock of what corporations that fly the Canadian flag are doing and the way this affects how Canadians are perceived worldwide.” For this reason, the Toronto international debut is vital to this release.
After 15 years of staging Afro-Caribbean dance productions, Tamla Matthews shows us her heart. And who better to tell her own story, than the woman herself. Producing and starring in her true life story of shame, regret and triumph, The Caribbean Dance Theatre presents Tamla Matthews in, Awakening: An Urban Musical Story of a Dancer. Thursday June 17th - 18th 2010.
Publisher-Creator Mikhail Saavedra began life down by the deepest tip of southern Latin America. He started life with a deep curiosity for all things, with music and books being at the forefront, a curious child by all accounts. As he grew and opened his eyes to the world, he developed a sense of justice and dignity in part as a reaction to growing up in a military dictatorship. Alas, this did not fill him with fear or cynicism but a more rebellious spirit, which led him to being incredibly popular at the principal’s office and the local riot police department….
Then came Canada and it was here that he was able to formulate his deep desire to learn about the world, with Toronto being the kind of multicultural soup that could engage his need to know and embrace. It started with writing, then moved on to what became Toronto’s first Latin Alternative radio show, followed by an all-English show in the same vein. It was this desire to find the true “crossover” among people, which led him to the concept of “Alternavox”
He is a lover of wine, good food, Neruda, Eduardo Galeano, rebel music, revolutionaries, dancing, family and beautiful people. Believes that kindness in this much too cynical world is revolutionary, that you are a better person when able to give a little without asking for the change and that on the same token you should laugh at yourself and the madness surrounding you as often as possible as you set out to change the world bit by bit. 