Part 2 of footage from the 2007 Regional Social Forum in London, Ontario.
Interview with and performance by Darius Mirshahi

Footage provided by London Ontario Indymedia
londonontarioindymedia.org

Part 1 of footage from the 2007 Regional Social Forum in London, Ontario.

Includes interviews with Jeanelle Spratt from Kay Nou, Joan Mason-Grant of the Salv Aide Project and former RSF organizer Andrea Browning.

Footage provided by London Ontario Indymedia
londonontarioindymedia.org

“Iconoclast”- a person who supports ‘iconoclasm’, a term that has come to be applied figuratively to any person who breaks or disdains established dogmata or conventions. (Wikipedia).

This magazine is designed to do such that - to smash contemporary mythologies of London Ontario, Canada and the world. Some of these myths could be the following:

o   Canada is a “Peacekeeping” nation, and is a “Force for Good”on the international stage
o    Big Business is good for everybody globally and locally
o    “Ambassador London” is a grassroots campaign
o    We need to attract new Big Businesses to London Ontario
o    The Canadian government embraces diversity
o    Sprawl is inevitable
o    London Media accurately reflects the interests of average Londoners and relevant issues

Myths are often taught in subtle ways, usually, in the form of various medias. Language can be used to fog over the reality of situations and topics one can speak about. The objective, clinical language is commonly negated. The reason this magazine uses the name Iconoclast is because it is trying to dispel myths by naming things what they really are - and what is really happening.

Canada’s refugee board was ordered by a judge to rehear an application by a US war resister to remain in Canada. Federal Court Justice Robert Barnes said that mistakes were made by Canada’a Immigration and Refugee Board when they turned down Joshua Key’s claim for asylum. In 2003, Key served eight months in Iraq as a combat engineer. On his return to the US on leave, he his wife and four young children moved to Canada to seek refuge. There are more than two hundred US war deserters in Canada avoiding service in Iraq. A recent poll shows that 64% of Canadians would let US war resisters stay in the country. On June 3rd the Canadian parliament passed a non binding resolution calling for deserters to be allowed to stay and to put a halt to deportations. So far Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper, a close ally of the Bush administration, has ignored the resolution.

Life here in London Ontario, compared to the majority of places to live in the world, is pretty posh. Although many of us live well below the poverty line, and some of us deal with racial discrimination and other oppressive experiences, we do have access to a lot of things such as social services, clean water, parks, schools and libraries. So why, you might ask, does Iconoclast preach and bitch so much? I have 2 answers:

-Londoners have the ability to improve our own living conditions. Many of us have access to education, the internet, food and water. There are at least a few dozen bad apples spoiling the barrel at city hall, but it wouldn’t take more than a dozen progressive people who actually care to make London a healthier and a better place to live. We have the power to kick out Walmart, build affordable housing and to reclaim our city from corporations.
-Londoners have the ability to help those who do not have power to improve their living conditions. We do not wake up everyday to gunfire. Most of us have enough food to survive. Many of us have WAY TOO MUCH.

So here are a few suggestions. The time is now. We are headed for an economic crisis, so this is the time to get political and start caring.

1. Clean up the RIVER. The river is so low this year it appears as a thin band of brown slime spread across a rocky pathway. Imagine actually being able to swim, and for animals and fish to be healthy. Yes! You could go the river and get in. Life would be immediately better.

2. More affordable HOUSING. Get people in homes. Act like it is their right. Subsidize housing and allow for people to have a better quality of life, get the homeless off the street, and let people have spending money for food, clothing, vacation etc with out having to feel like they are in ‘survival mode’. Also, stop Farhi, Transglobe etc from having their oligopoly.

3. Make TRANSIT better. Allow for bikes and groceries to be put on the buses. Also, make them run longer, more frequently and on sustainable fuel. Or better yet bring back rail cars.

4. Create more BIKE lanes. Yes, there are other ways to travel without polluting, causing noise pollution and making everyday life threatening. Create a bike-sharing and repair program. Also, change existing streets such as Albert St, to pedestrian only.

5. Remove all of the ridiculous BYLAWS in this city that restrict people from enjoying the city such as those about lawn upkeep, hanging laundry outside, j-walking, 24-hour noise violation, restricted use of public parks, fire pits etc.

6. Stop using WALMART and make suburban development sustainable and reasonable.

7. Remove war MONUMENTS in Victoria Park (put them in a museum), yellow ribbons on public vehicles and parks dedicated to soldiers. Newsflash to City Hall: pro-war allegiance does not reflect your city’s beliefs.

8. Subsidize forms of micro-sustainable ENERGY such as solar, wind and thermal for homes and businesses, in place of giving large corporations tax breaks.

9. Have garbage-free festivals, ban bottled WATER, install more public water fountains, and actually recycle what is in the blue bins.

10. Cut the POLICE budget.

11. Make the downtown LIBRARY open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

12. Protect bogs, woodlands, forests and water from Tom Gosnell and other REAL ESTATE developers (especially the ones who run the city).

13. Alternative MEDIA is needed to reflect and promote the views of progressive and younger citizens.

This article is based on interviews with Walmart employees in London Ontario.

Does it make sense to you that people earning minimum wage, living well below the poverty line, are doing fundraising for charities which are organized by the corporation to which they are employed? Yes that’s right, Walmart has its workers doing fundraising for charities in its name: brilliant and cheap “good works”.
A friend who worked at Walmart as a cashier for many years told me that she was expected to participate in various fundraisers, including “staff donations”, and if she did not she was treated as if she was not a valued employee. It is bad enough that employees are subjected to singing the Walmart song every morning, and if they are lucky enough to be there at close, the managers broadcast the total sales for the day throughout the store. Employees are expected to cheer and help the store break sales records daily. Ironically, what a Walmart in London can earn in a day, typically well over 150,000$, a cashier will never take home in a dozen years working for minimum wage.
Recently over 800 Walmart employees with friends and family participated in a walk to raise funds for the Children’s Foundation. But who ultimately benefits from the efforts of the low-wage workers? Walmart can donate funds enough to support hundreds of organizations and charities without exploiting its obliging workers (actually Walmart can’t really do anything without exploiting anyone). These events are nothing but publicity stunts to make Walmart look responsible and caring, two things which it is not.
If Walmart really cared, perhaps it would choose to “fundraise” to pay its employees a living wage, and clothe, house and feed the workers in China who make the plastic crap they sell. More fundraising ideas: environmental cleanup from the extraction and processing of petrochemicals, dyes, and metals used to make the products they sell, cancer clinics to treat people who work and eat at their McDonalds’ and revitalization programs for the tens of thousands of small town main streets across North America that are now ghost towns because of Walmart.

Talk show host Dr. Phil McGraw is known for his psychological practice on the famous Dr. Phil television show.  The straight laced, happily married, respected Texan helping the everyday person through struggles in his or her personal life.  In my opinion Dr. Phil is nothing but a contradiction.  Truth is Dr. Phil is the ideal authoritarian figure: a Caucasian Christian male, and an aggressive rich American who is both inexperienced and verbally abusive.  Mr. McGraw is a large, loud man who uses his beliefs (according to popular American moral law and typical Christian beliefs) to intimidate and belittle his emotionally sensitive patients in order to create a dramatic spectacle to gain viewers.  Mr. McGraw publicizes an individual’s personal life by broadcasting 2-3 minute tape of the individual’s sensitive and private issues.  He then responds to that content in a manner in which reflects his personal beliefs.  For example In a 2-part public series on an intervention for two female twin sisters addicted to heroin, he called them “coke-whores.”   A trained professional such as Dr. Phil should have the compassion and human dignity to treat two emotionally sensitive and substance addicted woman with respect, rather than degrade them and allude to them in a negative sexual context.  Mr. McGraw claims that he has never consumed alcohol or partaken in marijuana leaving him ignorant of typical modest substances, yet he preaches on substance issues to which he cannot relate to at all.  He also claims that he has not had a fight with his wife Robin for their 22 years of marriage which is hard to believe considering they have raised 2 children and gone through life changes in order to accommodate Mr. McGraws fame.  Is Dr. Phil a pure, righteous man speaking from a Godly perspective or a rich American bully living in and creating a distorted reality?