Les Milles Mots

By Frederic Smith on May 15, 2008

20080115FredericSmith.jpg

Québec and Israel. Contre la doctrine du mépris.

By Beryl Wajsman on May 15, 2008

Yesterday, the 14th of May, was the 60th anniversary of the independence of the State of Israel. Last week, some 15,000 Montrealers marched downtown to celebrate that event on its date on the Jewish calendar. They were not all Jews. They were from many different religious, creeds and races. What brought them together was a fidelity to the struggle of a small, lone democracy surrounded by a sea of tyranny to remain free...

Le patriotisme perverti

By Daniel Laprès on May 15, 2008

Depuis longtemps déjà, un groupe de brutes épaisses fait partie du paysage idéologique québécois. Elles ont d’ailleurs encore fait parler d’elles ces dernières semaines : dans la nuit du 25 au 26 avril, elles ont profané la sépulture de l’ancien premier ministre Pierre Trudeau. Mais la souillure aura été double : les brutes épaisses ont aussi sali le nom de Louis-Joseph Papineau, qu’elles ont barbouillé sur le caveau de la famille Trudeau...

The age of rule-by-pandering

By Peter Sauvé on May 15, 2008

As noted in The Métropolitain's May Day launch edition, the essential mission-statement of this new Montreal media enterprise is considerable—to encourage all of us take back our democracy from those political, media and bureaucratic elites who've commandeered it for the worse...

Monmarquette au pays des extralucides

By Pierre K. Malouf on May 15, 2008

Avez-vous lu le rapport Monmarquette ?1 Moi si. Une brique de plus de trois cents pages, qui m’a tout à fait convaincu. Ne vous fiez pas aux commentateurs, surtout pas à votre humble serviteur, lisez le rapport....

Le Quartier des Spectacles

By P.A. Sévigny on May 15, 2008

So what about the toilets? That was just one of the questions asked of the Ville-Marie urban planning commission during last week’s public consultation meeting...

Notre maître l’avenir

By David Simard on May 15, 2008

In 1944, la devise électorale du premier ministre libéral du Québec, Adélard Godbout, était un vibrant « Notre maître l’avenir », celle-ci étant une riposte au morne et arriéré « Notre maître le passé » de Lionel Groulx...

Merely children

By David Solway on May 15, 2008

Contemporary academics and intellectuals (or anti-intellectuals), by and large, strike me as the Mr. Beans of the vaudeville clerisy, epitomes of conceptual ineptitude. But they seem no less retarded than their immediate precursors, re-cycling the ineffable Bertrand Russell who in a 1937 speech declared that “Britain should disarm, and if Hitler marched his troops into this country when we were undefended, they should be welcomed like tourists and greeted in a friendly way.”..

Silo Souvenirs

By Robert J. Galbraith on May 15, 2008

The Kremlin has announced that Russia is threatening to suspend its participation in the Conventional Forces in Europe (CFE) treaty, along with refusing to implement the strategic arms reduction talks (Start 11). These decisions are in response to U.S. plans for the proposed installment of an anti-missile shield in Eastern Europe, which President Bush says will deter long-range missiles being launched from the Middle East and Asia, with Iran being the main threat...

Is debt the new slavery?

By Anthony Philbin on May 15, 2008

Let’s imagine for a moment that you want to buy a family home. Average price in Canada today: $300,000. You go to a friend and ask them if you can borrow the money, but your friend doesn’t have the $300K—not even close. Despite the fact that they don’t have the money, your friend pulls out some official-looking forms and tells you to sign here, here and here...

Hong Kong sur le Saint-Laurent

By Vincent Geloso on May 15, 2008

Depuis plusieurs années, les voix qui s’opposent à la mondialisation crient que le capitalisme ne conduit à rien de positif. En fait, si l’on doit croire ces mêmes voix, la mondialisation entraînerait un appauvrissement de la population générale pour le seul bénéfice de quelques privilégiés. Ainsi, les riches s’enrichiraient et les pauvres s’appauvriraient...

Piperberg's World

By Roy Piperberg on May 15, 2008

piperberg20080515.jpg

What Leonard taught me about food

By Nancy Hinton on May 15, 2008

Leonard Cohen taught me this about cooking:  Do not judge.  Just do your thing.  Try and please the person on the receiving end, the consumer of your art, whoever he or she is without any expectations of appreciation...

"Equus" is best show in town

By Alidor Aucoin on May 15, 2008

Ignore the script's dubious psycho babble. Equus, playing in French at Théatre Jean Duceppe in Place des Arts until May 31 is electrifying drama, thrilling theatre, and at the moment best show in town...

“Odd Couple” excellent

By Alidor Aucoin on May 15, 2008

The Odd Couple is a time tested, proven draw.  The one-liners that  fly around the Segal Centre's production of the two mismatched colocataires, finicky Felix (Rod Beattie) and "divorced, broke and sloppy" Oscar, (John Evans) can still pull laughs 40 years after Neil Simon's comedy made its Broadway debut. Everyone who has ever been stuck with an offensive roommate can relate...

L’invitation au voyage

By Louise V. Labrecque on May 15, 2008

« Songe à la douceur, mon amie, ma sœur » !  Oh oui… J’ai la conviction d’avoir été invitée, pour reprendre les mots de Baudelaire, au voyage.  J’ai même pensé, amis lecteurs, que vous pouviez lui ressembler, et j’ai aussi souhaité en savoir plus long sur l’auteur… savoir si ce roman lui avait coûté beaucoup d’effort… J’ai dû faire moi-même un énorme effort pour me décider… parce que j’étais obsédée par mes propres interdits...

Que reste-t-il de nos années ?

By Louise V. Labrecque on May 15, 2008

Certains livres ne nous parlent que le temps qu’on les lit. Après, ils se referment et se taisent pour longtemps, voire pour toujours. Certains livres sont réellement ainsi, mais pas Les Années d’Annie Ernaux. Née il y a 67 ans, cette auteure contemporaine tente de comprendre, en signant ce livre, le monde où elle vit, depuis sa naissance jusqu’à aujourd’hui. Cette histoire, qui est un peu celle de sa vie, constitue la somme de tous ses livres...

Emotional Arithmetic

By Sharman Yarnell on May 15, 2008

The shadows of the past are darker in some lives than in others. Those belonging to survivors of the Holocost follow their every move into different continents, into different lifestyles, into different homes. In many cases, they are memories that become a cancer, a cancer that eats away not only in themsleves, but deep into the very core of their families...


Editorial Staff

Beryl P. Wajsman

Redacteur en chef et Editeur

Alan Hustak

Senior Editor

Daniel Laprès

Redacteur-adjoint

Robert J. Galbraith

Photojournaliste

Roy Piberberg

Editorial Artwork

Mike Medeiros

Copy and Translation

Val Prudnikov

IT Director and Web Design

Editorial Contributors
La Patrie