News Briefs
Student prostesters at Harper's speech
Students protest Harper
On Oct. 4, before Stephen Harper was scheduled to speak at the Franco-Manitoban Cultural Centre in St. Boniface, Winnipeg, student-protesters from both the Saint Boniface University College and the University of Manitoba, stood outside protesting.
“We disagree with the reasons that Harper is here in Winnipeg,” said Steve Mack, a member of the college’s democratic club. “He’s doing the same that he recently did in Quebec. He’s here to buy votes. He’s here to throw money at French communities and pretend like he cares about the culture and that’s not true. He’s not a man that’s true to his word.”
In addition the students were protesting Harper’s speech earlier that day launching the federal government’s anti-drug strategy.
Daniel Laverne, a protester and student at the college, said that it’s legalization that they’re fighting for but, specifically, Harper’s strategy.
“Stephen Harper, with the new drug policy that’s coming along, he’s trying to increase penalties for marijuana cultivators and distributors and . . . for smokers. I think it’s a bad idea to bring them back into the criminal element and fill our jails up with people that are non-violent. [It’ll] cost taxpayers money [and] waste lives in jail.”
Laverne opted for better education on marijuana as an alternative to Harper’s plan.
As Harper was driven in to the parking lot, his car pulled him around and dropped him off at the side door, missing the protesters.
As Harper exited in his car, he gave a wave to the protesters watching.
U of M convocation moved
For Oct. 17 and Oct. 18, the 1,271 graduates planning on attending convocation will have to shift their directions from the university campus, the traditional mainstay for convocations, to the Church of the Rock at 1397 Buffalo Place.
The switch in locations is due to the CAW strike currently on campus.
“It was a decision that was made in order to ensure the best possible convocation for graduating students and their families and friends,” said John Danakas, director of public affairs.
This event will mark the 40th anniversary of fall convocation.
Number of worldwide abortions decreased since 1995
A recent study, released by the Guttmacher Institute, has revealed, after studying abortion rates from 1995 to 2003, that there has been decrease in worldwide abortions from 46 million to 42 million in 2003.
In 2003, for every 1,000 women (ages 15-44), 29 women in developing countries and 26 women in developed countries were estimated to have had an abortion.
Most abortions, 35 million, occur in developing countries, while seven million occur in developed nations.
North America, at 17 abortions per 1,000 women, is among one of the lowest abortion rates along with northern and western Europe.
Forty-eight per cent of all abortions worldwide are unsafe. However, a majority of unsafe abortions happen in developing countries where they have a 55 per cent rate of unsafe abortions. Developed countries only have an eight per cent rate of unsafe procedures regarding abortions.
Each year, five million women are hospitalized due to abortion-related complications such as sepsis and hemorrhages. Complications with abortions result in an estimated 67,000 death annually or 13 per cent of all maternal deaths worldwide.
About one of in five pregnancies result in abortion.
University of Winnipeg library “well below average”
In the recent “Library Report 2006-2007” distributed by the University of Winnipeg, they are below funding and in need of help.
The library has admitted a decrease in spending by three per cent. In addition, there is a lower percentage of purchasing books by 11 per cent. The university has purchased one book for every student while the average is 1.5. There is also a lower amount of funds spent on students with $193 spent on each student in the University of Winnipeg library in comparison to the regional average of $352 per student.
As well, the brochure admits to a staffing shortage of one librarian per 867 students, with the next highest being the University of Calgary with 543 students for every librarian. The University of Manitoba has 436 students per librarian, which is below the average level of 491 students per librarian.
The brochure states that in “comparison to other western Canadian academic libraries, our collections, budget, and staffing levels are well below average.”
As well, the U of W only has one chair for every 10 students, where elsewhere, it is one chair for every five. The U of W stated that “the library has inadequate facilities for group work.”
Online strike against IMB
On Sept. 27, an estimated 1,800 people from 30 countries went online to the picket lines for the first online union action ever.
In the simulated online community, Second Life, where players, or avatars, can alter their dress and appearance, people gathered as per usual in any union protest.
Avatars had bullhorns and placards and were shouting demands against IBM.
IBM’s Italian workers initialized the strike after the loss of an annual one thousand euros ($1,375 Canadian) performance bonus. The strike included members from other unions such as CUPE and CAW.
As the 12-hour strike began, avatars began popping up on IBM’s islands. Island can be purchased on the Second Life website as a means to have enough space to create big ideas, according to the Second Life website.
Avatars managed to block many of IBM’s islands, islands that can only hold 40-70 avatars at once.
