Iconoclast Media

There’s a lot of talk lately about the ‘so-called’ out-of-control behaviour of Fanshawe students in the student ghetto. The corporate media keeps pushing an image of Fanshawe students as no-good drunken hooligans.  The cops harass us at our doors, extort us for money with their endless fines, and occupy and patrol our neighbourhoods like we live in a fascist dictatorship.  And our own overpaid, underworked, weasel of a college president is threatening us with suspensions and even expulsions for things that we do on our own time, off-campus.
When I heard that police had laid charges on over 700 people in and around the Fleming Drive area in less than a week I wasn’t concerned about student behaviour, I was concerned about the police behaviour.  Students have always, and will always get drunk and party, especially on the first week of classes. The only thing that has changed is the heavy-handed response from the authorities who have obviously too little work to do because of how overstaffed they are.
I know one of the 700 people who were charged that week.  He got a drinking ticket for having a beer on his own lawn.
700 people being charged with noise violations and drinking means that there isn’t enough real crime happening to meet the demand of the endless supply of cops our police state is training and hiring to oppress us with.  Therefore these cops must create new criminals out of anyone they can.  And with a 24-hour noise by-law it’s clear they are criminalizing students in this city.
Next time you see a police officer, approach them and demand to know why they‘ve chosen to make a career out of repressing you and other citizens.  Ask them how they feel about being used as pawns to protect the wealth and power of the rich at the expense of everyone else.  Tell them they are not welcome in your community.  Remember that trust, respect, and communication are essential components of healthy communities.  The cops don’t respect you, trust you, or care to communicate with you unless they’re trying to get the evidence they need to arrest you, your friends, or neighbours.  If a cop stops you and asks you questions do not answer them.  It can never help you to talk to police because anything you say will be used against you.  They wouldn’t ask you anything if they didn’t need your help to ruin your life and the lives of others.
Don’t ever call the police or the ‘crimestoppers’ snitch line on a member of your community. Just think of how many charges could have been avoided if people simply knocked on each others doors and asked their neighbours politely to turn the music down instead of calling in the city’s armed thugs.

Tips for dealing with police and staying free

-You are not required to identify yourself to police, even when arrested.
-There is no such thing in Canada as ‘being taken in for questioning’.  You never have to answer any questions, nor should you.
-If approached by police immediately ask them if you are being arrested or detained, if they say no, you’re free to go.
-If you’re arrested or being detained stay silent until you speak with a lawyer.
-Never let a cop enter your house without seeing a warrant first.  Make sure you check that its signed by a judge, has the correct address, date, and items to be searched for and seized.
-Never consent to being searched.  If the cops forcibly search you, or your vehicle, loudly proclaim “I DO NOT CONSENT TO THIS SEARCH”
-Start a ‘Cop Watch’ program to monitor and document police activity and abuses in your neighbourhood.

By Darius Mirshahi

By Enraged Bitch

After renting for many years I have come to the conclusion that there is no way for a renter to have autonomy or receive fair treatment in this society, despite the obvious wealth and resources around us. What I mean by autonomy is that because the renter or family is constantly subject to the whim of the landlord and the City of London, he/she/they are put into double binds that can prevent him or her from being able to improve or even achieve healthy living standards.
Let’s be clear about what renting is: it is NOT BEING HOMELESS. It’s not a privilege; it is a basic human right that is controlled by government, property owners and corporations, not people who reside in their homes. One step above not being homeless would be to have adequate heat, hydro and water. Quality of life would be having the ability to influence and control your living situation so that you are comfortable, healthy and feel like it is your home. How many of us have this?

The Double Bind
If I want to rent, I need at the very least these things:
o    good credit
o    money (1st and last)
o    references from other landlords

However, if I get the apartment and have problems that force me to move out such as:
o    poor heating, water or utility problems
o    no attention to repairs
o    unfair treatment or neglect by the landlord or company

That family or renter will be put in turn in the a situation where they may not have:
o    good credit
o    money (1st and last for moving, switching bills to new address)
o    PLUS the lease-breaking fee, possibly court fees
o    references from a landlord

Young people besides UWO students also have a hard time finding an apartment and being treated fairly. Unfit landlords and corporations such as Transglobe put hundreds if not thousands of renters in the city in unlivable conditions every year. These individuals and families must either cope with having their basic human rights ignored or be forced to find money, go into debt and find a new place. Those families who survive on Ontario Works have it even harder, and are not always eligible for assistance to move.
People who ask too many questions to a landlord are sometimes treated unfairly or not rented to at all. Often tenants live in fear of their landlord and are afraid to ask for their basic rights, and sometimes even misunderstand that it is they who are paying the landlord.

Solutions
1. There should be an independent body to assist with situations where a renter has no references because of a dispute with a landlord, such as a department of the Landlord and Tenant Board.

2. City Hall should enforce the heat bylaw (currently they do not) and raise the acceptable temperature from a cool 20 Celcius to a humane 23.
3. If landlords want to be cheap on heat, they should charge more rent. Heat is very expensive, but now landlords are including heat in the rent and tenants are paying high bills for electric heaters to compensate for poor heating provided by landlords, and therefore landlords save on heat bills.
4. Heat issues should be made a priority and temperatures should be written into the lease. In a situation where lawful temperature is not adhered to there should be at least no lease-breaking fee, or better still the landlord should owe rent back to the tenant PLUS the cost of moving (to say nothing of compensation for disrupting the tenant’s lives).
5. Ontario Works needs to review its policies to help families and individuals into better living conditions. Being poor doesn’t give anyone motivation to work if you don’t have hot water, clothing and the basic needs in life.
6. Lower deposit fees for Union Gas. Who can afford a down payment of 250$ ? If you have good credit with London Hydro you can request a letter of reference for Union Gas which will help to waive the deposit fee.
7. Consider the Repairs for Rent campaign currently being promoted in Toronto by the OCAP.

Help Now
What we have now: If you are having trouble with a landlord contact or look for information on:
o    The Landlord and Tenant Board
o    THAW program see London Hydro website
o    LIFE SPIN
o    I do not recommend expecting help from City Hall, I recommend contacting them (Heat Bylaw manager, Mayor, your Ward councilor etc.) and telling them to be aware that the heat bylaw need sot be enforced, but I wouldn’t expect help.

HEAT in your home, school and workplace
IS A BASIC HUMAN RIGHT.

A vaccination is an administration of antigenic (an unnatural substance which causes a direct bodily response) which is used to “protect” the body from disease and or infection.  Currently vaccines are used as cost effective, convenient ways of “preventing” or “stopping” an infectious germ from attacking the body.  Vaccines contain substances that are forms of bacteria or viruses (infectious toxins or poisons) and often animal viruses such as Cowpox.  Cowpox disease provokes symptoms such as red blisters that form all over the body when a human comes into physical contact with an infected cow udder.
Not only do vaccines contain animal viruses but they also contain additional harmful chemicals such as formaldehyde, aluminum phosphate, phenols, alum, acetone, and mercury.  Harmful chemicals are added to vaccines in order to make them more powerful.  These chemicals are neurotoxic and have been linked to serious health issues such as Autism, and Attention Deficit Disorder.  The medical community will claim “no conclusive evidence” in the link between vaccines and such disorders.  These studies are funded by pharmaceutical companies (multi billion dollar corporations) which irresponsibly avoid participating in studies concerning the overall health factor of vaccinations.
Because it is flu season you will likely start being pressured by doctors, school officials, administrative government, and the media to get yourself and your children vaccinated.  These authority figures will try to convince you that receiving your vaccination is the right thing to do, and may threaten you with “mandatory vaccination.” Many of us succumb to the social pressure to get shots so as not to “infect” those around us should we catch the flu. In a non-capitalist society, we would value home-rest and natural cures when we are ill. Instead, we are pushed to buy and consume chemical products and get back to work!

The truth is: VACCINES ARE NOT MANDATORY according to the Canadian Constitution.  Ontario schools do require proof of diphtheria, tetanus, polio, measles, mumps, and rubella immunization for school entrance.  Exceptions are made for medical and religious reasons. Download an exemption form at:

http://vran.org/legal/forms.htm

For more information visit:
http://www.vran.org

The single point that drives my political stance more than any other, is summed up best in a question posed to me by a mother with three little ones, while we were registering for the Salvation Army Christmas gift program a few years ago. She asked, “How come some kids end up with nothing for Christmas, while other people’s kids get the catalog Christmas? What decides who gets more or less?” That question echoes with me today.

What is the criteria for a child to have a Christmas holiday of plenty? Successful parents? Educated or skilled parents? So, children of those not as educated or skilled should pay a price for that fact? Maybe in a capitalist society we are to reward the financially stable. Financial stability achieved though what? Luck, if you read the headlines of numerous plant closures and layoffs, more sure to come as the reverberations of the earthquake that struck Wall St. shakes us all. I’m unconvinced that there is any justified reason that one could say to another as to why their child should do without, while yours does not. I would think that any loving parent would find such a proposal offensive and insulting. Yet, we accept living under such conditions perennially. Every Christmas is another year of doing without for a growing portion of our population. All while some celebrate in decadent opulence. Why do we tolerate these outrageous methods of distributing the joys of the holiday season?

How do we allow so many children to go without? These children are our neighbour’s children, our friend’s children, our children’s friends and classmates. These children are no different than any other, and deserve no more or less than anyone else’s. I don’t want anything more or less for my child than someone else’s. We teach our children to share equally, and that is an ideal that we all should stand by. Fair is fair, any way you slice it.

It is seriously scandalous that in this country 15% of our children - more than 1,000,000 kids – live below the poverty line.
Recall that more than 15 years ago Parliament voted unanimously to end child poverty. Is it too much to ask for a national early childhood education and care plan, affordable housing, a livable minimum wage, and support for the National Child Tax Benefit?
Or maybe we should just forget about such difficult social issues and have another election.