11 members of a workforce (the 'security force') of 10,000 sent home (see story at the foot of the page) was an "extremely minimal number."

But if one window gets broken and a little paint spilled it triggers (!) a massive security response.......

It's all about security

For a full size image of this poster.....

If nothing happens to threaten 'security' security forces will say 'see, we did a good job.'

If something happens they will say 'see, we were needed'.It's a 'post 9-11' version of nuclear deterrence.

All festival details are available at the Heart of the City Festival website here

Wed. 28 October - Sun. 8 November 2009

Over 80 events at over 30 venues throughout the Downtown Eastside

I'm particularly drawn to the event on November 7th

Illuminating the Four Corners: an outdoor multi-level event at Main and Hastings featuring visual projections on buildings and through windows; DTES musicians and poets performing from windows, rooftops and soap boxes; a welcome song with Sam George; music of the DTES Samba Band; a theatrical reenactment of a 1935 milestone at the Carnegie Museum; songs from the Carnegie Village Choir Project led by Beverly Dobrinsky; ending with a street celebration on the four corners.

and from elsewhere on the site a different presentation of the themes and styles of this project......

I had been wondering for a while why the phrase 'civil society' as mis-used and abused by Sullivan and his cronies (and council staff and journalists who sucked up to this phrase) had such a nasty ring to it.

Then I saw this piece in the New York Times and was reminded of Ralf Dahrendorf and his wonderfully stimulating re-working of Marxist theory - it's not so much money as power that is unfairly and unjustly distributed.

This lead to much innovative re-examining of what constitutes true consultation, participatory planning, and even the title of a recent DTES paper - I believe called 'Not about us without us.'

Truly empowering people breaks the power attached to money and indeed removes the power implicitly assocaited woth money.

Time to re-read "Class and Class Conflict in Civil Society" (1957)

This abstract and summary is quite good

http://fathom.lse.ac.uk/features/122552/

AS you'll seee these ideas are exactly what Fearless, W2 and other groups are achieving in the DTES and why the stale hierachical organizations - Portland Hotel Society as seen two weeks ago - find loose progress and achievment so threatening.

(From the link above:)

Organisations: These would be voluntary associations, and non-governmental or non-profit organisations, social movements, networks and informal groups. These organisations make up the infrastructure of civil society; they are the vehicles and forums for social participation, "voice" processes, the expression of values and preferences, and service provision.

Individuals: Citizens and participants in civil society generally. This would include people's activities in civil society such as membership, volunteering, organising events, or supporting specific causes; people's values, attitudes, preferences and expectations; and people's skills and in terms governance, management and leadership.As an analytic, conceptual term, civil society is very abstract, even somewhat vague, and certainly highly complex, seemingly resistant to any precise measurement. Yet as an operational definition, it refers to the activities, values and other key characteristics of institutions, organisations and individuals located among the market, the state and the family. (end quote)

From the New York Times:

Ralf Dahrendorf, Sociologist, Dies at 80

By WILLIAM GRIMES

Ralf Dahrendorf, a German sociologist whose experiences in Nazi Germany led him to develop a theory of liberalism and human freedom that often went against the grain of German politics in the postwar period, died Wednesday in Cologne. He was 80.

His death was confirmed in a statement from Chancellor Angela Merkel, who said, "Europe has lost one of its most important thinkers and intellectuals." The cause was cancer, said his wife, Dr. Christiane Dahrendorf.

Democracy and its problems preoccupied Mr. Dahrendorf for his entire career as a scholar and as a politician in West Germany in the 1960s and 1970s. As a high school student he had been imprisoned by the Nazis for spreading leaflets opposing the regime, and early in his life he developed a deep suspicion of what he called "closed, encompassing systems."

Mr. Dahrendorf championed liberal pluralism, which he defined as a social system that recognizes divergent interests and aspirations and puts institutions in place that allow them to be expressed.

Democracy is "about organizing conflict and living with conflict," he told an audience at the Institute of International Studies at the University of California, Berkeley, in 1989.

"The world isn't simple, nor should it be simple," he continued. "It's rich because it's complicated. Let's learn to live with this."

He explored these ideas in "Class and Class Conflict in Civil Society" (1957), which famously proposed the counter-Marxist idea that power, rather than property, defined social class. Later books like "Society and Democracy in Germany" and "Modern Social Conflict" pursued similar themes.

"As a scholar he was always addressing human value problems in democracy, especially freedom, but he was also deeply involved in the civic life of Germany," said Neil J. Smeltser, an emeritus professor of sociology at Berkeley. "He bridged the gap between social theory and social practice as well as anyone I can think of."

Ralf Gustav Dahrendorf was born in Hamburg, where his father, a Social Democratic politician, was arrested and removed from his job by the Nazis in 1933. The family moved to Berlin soon after. Mr. Dahrendorf's father was arrested again in 1944, and a few months later, Ralf was arrested by the Gestapo for anti-Nazi activities and sent to a concentration camp in Poland. He was released as Soviet forces advanced in 1945.

At the University of Hamburg, Mr. Dahrendorf studied philosophy and classics, earning a doctorate in philosophy in 1952. He went on to earn a second doctorate, in sociology, at the London School of Economics, where he studied under Karl Popper. It was Mr. Popper's "Open Society" that provided the answers, he once said, to the great questions of modern industrial society posed by Marx.

After teaching at the universities of Saarbrücken, Tübingen and Konstanz in West Germany, and at Stanford in California, he ran for a seat in the regional Parliament of Baden-Württemberg. In 1969 he was elected to the federal Parliament as a Free Democrat. He was a junior foreign minister in Willy Brandt's first government and in 1970 became a European commissioner.

At a time when liberal democracy was under attack, Mr. Dahrendorf, as both a university professor and a politician, held fast to the principles of pluralism and personal freedom. His convictions were Social Democratic with a libertarian spin.

He favored laws and policies that encouraged personal freedom, a sense of citizenship and a broadening of social, economic and political opportunities. Germany's problems, he argued, stemmed from a belief in absolute answers and in the yearning for an all-powerful leader to put them into effect.

In 1974 he was invited to become director of the London School of Economics, a post he held for the next decade. He later wrote a history of the school.

He returned to Germany to become chairman of the social sciences department at Konstanz University, but in 1987 he accepted the position of warden of St. Antony's College, Oxford. He became a British citizen in 1988 and was made a life peer under the name Lord Dahrendorf of Clare Market in the City of Westminster in 1993.

In addition to Dr. Dahrendorf, his third wife, he is survived by three daughters, Nicola, Alexandra and Daphne, and one grandchild.

Arcane rules prevent would-be performance venues from becoming viable, councillor says
 
By Randy Shore, Vancouver SunMay 1, 2009
 
 
Save On Meats at 34 West Hastings in Vancouver was to be developed into a gallery but the plan has proven too expensive.
 
Save On Meats at 34 West Hastings in Vancouver was to be developed into a gallery but the plan has proven too expensive.
Photograph by: Ian Smith, Vancouver Sun, Vancouver Sun

The city will take a first step next week toward lowering the barriers faced by artists and small venue operators with an eye toward creating more performance spaces in the city.

Under the city's bylaws, changing the use of a building to open a gallery, an eatery or a boite triggers a whole mess of required upgrades to meet fire and seismic codes.

Add to that a punishing property tax regime and layers of licensing rules, and creating a profitable performance venue is almost insurmountably difficult

"I have one space in Vancouver with a rent of $700 a month and a property tax bill of $1,500 a month," said Vancouver entrepreneur David Duprey, who operates several buildings with gallery and artist space.

The average income for a working artist in Canada is less than $25,000.

A seismic upgrade that Duprey had been considered to revitalize the former home of Save-On-Meats would have run into hundreds of thousands of dollars.

The math is more than challenging and it's one of the reasons that so many buildings in the Downtown Eastside have been boarded up for years, he said.

Duprey operates several buildings and a restaurant, mainly in ground-level storefronts with artist studios occupying the remaining space in the building.

Parties and performances help draw customers, but arcane rules often prevent owners and operators from staging events.

On Tuesday, Coun. Heather Deal will bring a motion to council, proposing the creation of a working group to advise council on various ways to lower the bureaucratic and taxation barriers and to change the liquor bylaws and special occasion licences, which can often be the difference between setting up a profitable new venueor putting some more plywood on the windows.

Obviously there are base levels of safety that have to be maintained, Deal said.

"But we have rules now that don't allow more than two people to perform at cafe-galleries or restaurants and we have to break down those barriers and stop treating these spaces like they are all such different things," said Deal.

The city is in year one of a 10-year plan to develop a more vibrant culture industry in Vancouver and job one is making sure artists and performers have studio and performance space.

A two-day workshop that was held in March was the first step toward arming the culture community with the tools needed to navigate the complexities of project development and the bureaucracy.

"It's incredibly difficult to go through the process with the city and most artists just won't go through it," Duprey said.

"If you have a 30- or 40-year-old retail space that people are working in right now and you want to change the usage to say a gallery, it suddenly means you have to bring everything up to 2009 standards."

"Heather is really on to something here," he said.

"If we can lower those barriers, it will really make a difference in neighbourhoods like the Downtown Eastside, where we have a lot of boarded-up buildings."

rshore@vancouversun.com
© Copyright (c) The Vancouver Sun
 
 
 
Save On Meats at 34 West Hastings in Vancouver was to be developed into a gallery but the plan has proven too expensive.
Photograph by: Ian Smith, Vancouver Sun

The Grand March for Housing drew support from a wide range of groups and individuals across British Columbia, all of whom have had enough of the pain and distress caused by homelessness they see everyday, and are calling for all three levels of government to stop talking and act.

This shot shows the marchers gathered at the Art Gallery in front of the ironic excesses of the Georgia development.


While this shot is of a white board where people were encouraged to write their comments - the 'shovel' sums it up.

 

The march was passionate but peaceful, as several streams of marchers united before gathering at the Vancouver Art Gallery to hear speeches and entertainment. More about the coalition and future events can be found here: http://www.citywidehousingcoalition.org/

It's often said that if we ignore our history we are doomed to repeat
it. By recognizing and recording the stories of 20 sites in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside, mobile videographers connect past to present, creating an opening for informed reflection on the future. This crossmedia exhibition and web project remixes Labour, Work, and Working People: A Working Class and Labour History Walking Tour using Web 2.0 strategies to expand the number of voices heard and stories told.

Gerry Bellett

Vancouver sun

Donate your old mobile phones to help DTES artists share stories, and tap into life, jobs & family

How can you help?

1. Your used mobile phones - preferably with video, camera, wi-fi
2. Cash donations (* tax deductible) or new phone donations
3. Conversation - tell your friend on your blog, twitter, etc. - post a badge

Action Plan:
First, Gather phones!

Collect all the un-used mobile phones at your office and home - dig into your boxes of stuff, ask you friends! Digital cameras gratefully accepted too.

Next, Arrange Pick-up:

• Let us know via Twitter: Fearless City, email: info (at) fearlessmedia (dot) ca, Phone/SMS: 604.644.4349, Voice mail: 604.682.3269 xt 8320
• We'll come by on purple Yahoo bikes on Tues. Dec. 23rd & 30th to collect your devices
• We'll take your photo, bring treats, and thank you publicly with a link

Or, Drop-off (after Tuesday, 23rd) at:

• Roundhouse Community Centre - 181 Roundhouse Mews 
• Pathways - 390 Main Street (kitty corner from the Canegie)
• Raincity Studios - 1 Alexander St. @ Water st.

Want to be a drop-off point? Let us know.

More can be found here on the Fearless City site

And here on Twitter

Live blogging.....refresh the page to see latest comments......

Sunday
4:05 So I'm seeing a guitarist, a (probably) first nations older man, and a younger guy in black - context/ description needed

4:10 Sound on guitarist good, young man cuts out, older man very big gaps

4:15 Younger man in black seems to be talking about turning his life around

4;15 Older man discussing priorities in Vancouver - global versus local - sound still cuts out a lot

4:16 Younger man - sync is out sound/image

4: 16 Guitarist very pixelated - talking instead of playing now

4:40 Young man sound out, guitarist good sound and images, older man stopped at 3 minutes or so??

4:48 April putting pictures in context - v.good - dusk, views of north shore mountains etc

Fearless City Mobile
November 10-16 Workshop Reminder

TONIGHT HEART OF THE CITY 4-5pm Online! and Ukrainian Hawks and Pender
If you're on the Internet from 4-5pm tonight, check out the live stream of
our Heart of the City interviews with Residents of the DTES at
<live.fearlessmedia.ca> or come down to the Ukrainian Hall at Pender and
Hawks for the closing evening of HOTC and the location of our mobile
screen.

MONDAY LIFE SKILLS EXPERIMENTAL VIDEO PRODUCTION CLASS 1-3pm at 410 E.
Cordova
If you are interested in learning how to use the N77 mobile video cameras,
please check out the Experimental Video Production class at Lifeskills
this Monday November 10th.

The Experimental Video Production class on Tuesday November 11 IS
CANCELLED due to Remembrance Day.

WEDNESDAY WORKSHOP 1-3pm at Lori Krill Co-op 65 W. Pender
Lorraine Murphy will be taking on from where Roland Tanglao left off with
her workshop: Web Community: International Websites, blogs & projects that
engage mobile phones in inner-city campaigns.

THURSDAY TUTORIAL AT LIFE SKILLS 1-3pm at 410 E. Cordova
Scott Nelson will be sitting an open tutorial from 1-3pm in the video
production lab at Lifeskills. First come first serve, with a 30min
tutorial limit when people are waiting for assistance. Come with your
questions about live streaming, blogging, using the Fearless City Mobile
website, using the N77 cameras, or downloading your material onto a hard
drive.

SATURDAY BLOGGING WORKSHOPS AT TRADEWORKS 10-2pm at 87 E. Pender
10-11:30am Fearless Blogging 101 11:30-12 open computer access and questions
12-1:30 pm Connecting With Your Community Online (resources, contacts, and
how you can use the Web to help make our community stronger)
1:30-2 open computer access and questions



Saturday

10:36 Hearing review of the event by the filmmakers - what went well and what didn't - how does one know when the stream is being streamed? And does/ should this affect what is being said and seen...........?

10:16am - thanks for the feedback in the UK - sound still fragile on stream 3

No stream 1 visible

10:08am - sound cutting out on stream 3

Stream 2 good colour and sound

Fearless City Mobile streams Live! @ Heart of the City Festival

Today, Saturday November 8, from 9:30am-10:30am, and from 7-8pm, Fearless
City Mobile teams will be simultaneously interviewing three residents of
the Downtown Eastside from three distinct locations. These interviews will
be live streamed online, and to our roving shopping cart screen which will
be located on the front steps of the Dominion Building from 9:30-10:30am
for Homelessness walk, and in front of the Russian Hall from 7-8pm prior
to Bruce the Musical Beginning.

To view these live streamed interviews visit live.fearlessmedia.ca . An
archive of these interviews will be posted on fearlesscity.ca shortly
afterwards.

We will also be broadcasting tomorrow, Sunday November 9 from 4-5pm at the
Ukrainian Hall! Hope you see you at one of these events, or online!

amy