Briarpatch articles from March 2002

Briarpatch archives from March 2002

Off the top.(Brief Article)
March 1, 2002... Every year Briarpatch dedicates it's March edition to celebrate women and issues related to women. Every year this special issue is important to us and comes about as a collaboration of many efforts. This year when we sat down to determine...

The many faces of the Zapatista women: Soldiers, gardeners, healers, teachers and nurturers - they are the hub of a community resisting and re-building in Chiapas, Mexico.
March 1, 2002... It was four o'clock in the morning preceding a July day in 2000. The dark and quiet enveloped me as I walked through the still streets of San Cristobal de Las Casas in the southeastern state of Chiapas, Mexico. I was heading toward the market...

Iraq still stands: Returning to Iraq as part of a delegation to document the impact of sanctions leads to the troubling discovery that everyone living there is affected - including members of her own family.(social conditions in Iraq)
March 1, 2002... My two khales (aunts) and I didn't have to search for long for the cab that would take us across Baghdad. Cabs are numerous in this ancient city. For many Iraqi professionals it has become a secondary income. Living under a decade of history's...

Following the path to peace and justice: Women continue to organize in spite of horrendous acts of violence in Colombia.
March 1, 2002... Colombia is a country of geographical contrasts and extremes. Here one can find desert in the north-east, jungle along the Pacific coast, the mountains of the Serrania de la Macarena and islands off the coast. Colombia boasts an abundance of...

Not the sopranos: Ann Hansen, out of jail and looking back, in conversation with Peter Steven.(urban guerrilla)(Interview)
March 1, 2002... Peter Steven: Your book, Direct Action: Memoirs of an Urban Guerrilla, is about radical politics and might seem uncomfortably close to advocating violence. Given the events of September 11 in the USA, what are your thoughts and feelings about...

"Students can freeze, but not tuition fees!": This attitude is even coming from "friendly" governments. As the cost of education escalates, working class students are left out in the cold.(Saskatchewan)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2002... They're organizing to stop being frozen out any longer Riddle me this: what do you get when you mix the Saskatchewan NDP and skyrocketing tuition fees? As it turns out, absolutely nothing. Despite the fact that Saskatchewan has had the...

Gaggle (of raging Grannies).(Poem)
March 1, 2002... GAGGLE (of raging grannies) The Edmonton Raging Grannies (Sung to the tune of "Side by Side") Oh, we are a gaggle of -- GRANNIES, Urging you off of your -- FANNIES, We're telling you boys, We're sick of your toys,...

Bombies. (Film Reviews).
March 1, 2002... airs March 20 at 10PM (ET) and March 26 at 1 AM (ET) Planet 360 Documentary Series VisionTV www.visiontv.ca The "Secret War" in Laos that Americans, including their Congress, didn't know about is getting the attention and hopefully...

20th Century gals (according to Babe). (Film Reviews).
March 1, 2002... Making Waves Productions I can't imagine a more fun way to review the "herstory" of Canadian women's accomplishments in the last century than to review the headlines in the newsroom office of star-reporter Babe Bennett (of This Hour has 22...

Eat the sky. (Music Reviews).
March 1, 2002... Wilma Groenen Audio Art Studio Saskatoon, 2002. Briarpatch readers will recognize Wilma Groenen from her frequent performances at our May Day fund-raisers. Finally she has made a CD with many of our favorite tunes, including "Green Eyed...

Eternally Hard. (Music Reviews).
March 1, 2002... by Bitch and Animal co-produced by Ani DiFranco Righteous Babe Records www.righteousbabe.com When I twitched slightly at the name of the artists, I resolved to not let my knee-jerk priggishness get in the way of giving this CD an attentive...

The Natural Child: Parenting from the heart. (Book Reviews).
March 1, 2002... By Jan Hunt New Society Publishers, PO Box 189, Gabriola Island, BC, 2001. Finally, a book that de-bunks the harmful "how to control your child" parenting manuals that have been influencing the treatment of children in our...

Exposing Pivatization: Women and Health Care Reform in Canada. (Book Reviews).
March 1, 2002... by Pat Armstrong, Carol Amaratunga, Jocelyne Bernier, Karen Grant, Ann Pederson, Kay Willson Garamond Press, 308 pages, 2002. Health care reform is big news. The Canadian public is inundated on a daily basis by the media reporting the...

All You Can Eat: Greed, Lust and the New Capitalism. (Book Review).
March 1, 2002... Linda McQuaig Penguin Books, www.penguin.ca, 2001. Linda McQuaig contends that people are essentially social - and not by nature self-interested - and that history is all about collective struggles against oppression. How...

For the women of Afghanistan November 13th, 2001. (Thoughts from the Next Generation).
March 1, 2002... For the women of Afghanistan November 13th, 2001. remove your shackles cursed gift from your father walk alone through Kabul at dawn tears falling to the streets you cry allowed out loud around you women,...

'Perfect' window of peace. (Thoughts From the Next Generation).(Poem)
March 1, 2002... I've heard threats of anger resonate through city streets. I've seen love turned to hatred. I've felt deep-rooted betrayal. I've tasted this life. And amidst all the chaos and uncertainty I try to remember peace. "Peace...

Being In Total Control of Herself. (My Opinion).(how to empower oneself when oppressive language is used)(Brief Article)(Column)
March 1, 2002... Why are women called bitches when we express ourselves? Why are gays and lesbians called fags, dykes and queers? These words have been used against us to oppress and silence. When we reclaim these words, we take the power that has been used to...

Pagan tongues.(Poem)
March 1, 2002... Pagan tongues whisper truth hidden behind numbered trees. Ignore your heart, keep your feet on Bethlehem ground. Hate yourself to believe in emptiness, preach intolerance to descendants of your god refuse me to...