Opinions “OVER THE EDGE _ danuary 30, 2008 The opinions expressed in Over the Edge are those of the writers alone and do not necessarily reflect those of the editorial staff or newspaper society. Feedback can be e-mailed to over-the-edge@unbc.ca. sR ENE GHS. Cody Willett - Editor In Chief — 2008: The year it all went right? It’s the end of January and the world is a troubled place. In 2007 there were wars and conflict grinding on and on while we watched starlets crash cars on their way to revolving stints in rehab. At the same time natural disasters continued their trend of increased de- struction while we spun our wheels in the muddied debate on who’s responsible for climate change. Law enforcement took it upon themselves to try to start riots in throngs of peaceful protesters. Prices for grain, corn and other food staples began to skyrocket in rivalry of oil and gold. The blissful abandon of a buoyant global economy was checked by harsh reality when under-regulated financial houses of cards tumbled to the trad- ing floor. Violence, sabre-rattling and discontent took hold of formerly peaceful relationships. Meanwhile, those in charge found it easier to (mis)direct our attention toward buying red cell phones and the ‘fact’ that not supporting the war is tanta- mount to disliking our brave soldiers. Too many people got dizzy in the spin. But what for the adage that it had to ‘get worse before it gets better’? Call me simplistic and naive but I think history is about to both repeat and learn from itself. Those of us who can’t remember, but still have a sense of recent history, look to the 1960s as an inspiration about atmosphere. There was a Cold War afoot and people feared the ‘other’ in the East. It must have felt as though at any moment those who ‘hate our way of life’ would try to do us harm. Of course, much as people were fearful, it was the 60s and Western society was a technological wonder to behold: elegant cars, haute fashion, electronic gizmos and the space race made us proud. Yet just below the consciousness of everyday life a war of attrition was heating up in the jungles of Indo-China. By 1967 society’s most sensitive artists were getting restless. Things were on the brink of trouble in times of free love and youthful vigour. As the Baby Boomers were coming of age around the Summer of Love they were being called off to war while the once mir- aculous Post-War economy started to show signs of sage By 1968 John Fitzgerald’s little brother Bobby Kennedy was stirring up the US presidential primary race while Trudeau- mania had claimed Canada’s gleefully patriotic population. A breath of fresh air to the tottering 60s mentality was instead a winding as an assassin wrote the next chapter of the infamous Kennedy curse. Instead of hope, the Free World got Nixon, the oil shocks, the War on Drugs, and a whole lot of economic malaise. Vietnam got six more years of Napalm and TNT. Much of that idealistic generation of Boomers lost their way, going from peace-loving hippies to self-loving yuppies. By the time the likes of Mulroney and Reagan took over, spite for the willy-nilly hippie-dippy counterculture had sidelined progressivism, and competition for accumulation reigned. Throughout the 80s and 90s finding out how to ‘get mine” be- came more important than finding out how we could fix the world’s most pernicious problems of want and disease. But there were children; lots of children. Some were comfortably fed and entertained by their fretful and busy parents. Many others outside the West died or lived the most scarce of exist- ences. For those belonging to the West’s Boomers, life as part of the Echo Boom is sweet. Cell phones, video games, iPods, MSN and‘constant entertainment keep us plugged in. Ritalin, Zoloft and Prozac keep some of us tuned out. Yeah, life is easy when 30 is the new 20 and we aren’t expected to work too hard; not when we can access ‘cheap’ credit and get what we want to our instant-gratification. Luckily the times, they are a changin’. Once again those sensitive artists out there have picked up on the prickly vibe a. pallor of despair casts upon the world. Slowly we Echo Boom- ers are getting informed and wise to the spin and bluster our ‘leaders’ insist is the truth. We’re demanding action. From in- die music taking back to airwaves to Jena 6 we’re beginning to take action. In online awareness campaigns to primary voting booths youth are starting to define our voice. As the chorus gets louder and more Ase, those who’ve fomented anger toward other cultures and shamelessly profited from ongoing war will be asked to step aside for we who peddle hope amidst the spectre of more war, economic chaos and shallow social ignominy. In 2008 there will be debate. The interests of the few will square off against the interests of the whole in Canadian and American elections. We all know the petro-dollar party is over. The ‘invisible hand’ acted as the long arm of the law to shut that party down when the housing and debt bubble burst and people started getting hurt. Through we’re a little young to have had our turn at the beer-bong, we can still see the con- nection between destructive disregard for the Earth and the current economic paradigm. Everyone unwilling to start mak- ing wholesale changes to how we live, work and play repre- sent the worst of society’s hungover bingers. They are easily. overtaken on our march. We have the chance to elect leaders this year who are tuned into our desires for revision, peace and meaningful action. 2008 will bring the rumbling echo of our historically reminiscent voices to the fray. Led Zeppelin is even going out on tour this year; the past’s reverb strikes our best chords. We know this economic model’s time is past, and this year we will imagine how to make it work with Mother Nature rather than against her. Students and young workers will organize and rally to the clamouring calls for recognition of the plight of others. We will think not selflessly, but of the fate of the self being inescapably tied to that of the other. With this attitude, there becomes many a chance to create a renais- sance of progressive action. However, with our weary know- ledge of what might befall us should we allow ourselves to be distracted and subverted, we will see to it that no matter what chicanery goes on at the ballot box, we of the Echo Boom suc-* ceed where those who came before us failed. 2008 will be the year we decided that while we aren’t always right, you can still produce hope from what’s left. On the Digital Front Jeremy Johnson - Stai Writer ‘Music Sales t Up Despiurt Copyright Law Complaints Well, well, well, looks like a major copy- right meltdown occurred just after my last column piece before the Christmas holidays. After immense pressure from US corpor- ate interests, Jim Prentice, the Minister of Industry, was suppose to table a bill that he promised would meet with “international obligations”. Many observers note that these “international interests” come from the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), which is generally known for merely looking out for mainly US interests. And no, Canada isn’t actually “obligated” in any way to ratify anything - we just signed on to participate in discussions. Essentially speaking, a major uprising oc- curred since the minister announced that he would table a new copyright bill that would comply with these “international obliga- tions”. When the uprising grew at an amaz- ing pace, Prentice panicked and pulled the legislation before anyone got a chance to read it. With the throne speech and Prentice say- ing that he would comply with US interests, it wasn’t hard to figure out where he was going with the bill. Right now, the consumer rights movement is demanding that a public consul- tation should take place before the legislation is tabled — essentially, ‘hear us out first’. So, will he just open up and ask what the opinions of Canadians are (including Canad- ian consumer artists, consumers, businesses like the major canadian record labels like Nett- werk, etc.) before the copyright bill is intro- duced? Many signs point to that the answer is ‘no’. He can’t even promise that will happen. Instead, he promises a public consultation after a parliamentary committee has reviewed the laws. Some suggest that if the parliament- ary committee reviews it first, changing any- thing that is undesirable in the bill afterwards would be made extremely difficult. Of course, we know where the lobbying is coming from. One group is the CRIA (Canadian Recording Industry Association), which does its best to look out for the foreign record labels. Another organization called ACTRA (Alliance of Can- adian Cinema, Television and Radio Artists) has been out in force - in my mind, almost out of the woodwork - to fight for protecting DRM (Digital Rights Management) through anti-circumvention laws, etc. I couldn’t find any information on who was in ACTRA, only that ACTRA has 21,000 members. This makes their claim that a “vocal minority” is control- ling the debate since the opposition on the “Fair Copyright for Canada” is at over 37,000 members (getting close to doubling ACTRAs membership). \ The CRIA have been saying countless times that the sky is falling, music will dry up be- cause of these laws that we have and the music industry is going to vanish at any time. So is it really a big surprise that Nielson Sound- scan Canada published a study that suggests _ that digital music sales in Canada are up 73% in 2007? Not to mention digital album sales _ this year also went up by 93%? I’m sure that compliments a very nice study that said that in 2006, music sales were also up by 122%. Yeah, the music industry in Canada is dying as fast as the Chinese economy. I know I may be very alone on this, but I’d say that despite how many people have. sug- gested our copyright laws are out of date, when you look at the two latest incidences the copyright laws in Canada are standing up quite well. It was used in the arrest of Can- ada’s only movie pirate, and music sales are going through the roof. Need I mention that in the United States, where copyright laws are incredibly strict by comparison, digital music sales of this year only went up by 45%? Yes, this is the same country that supposedly sup- ports their artists more than Canadians sup- porting their artists which is supposedly why we hear more American acts more often. Pay- ola anyone? In any event, with a minister (many are say- ing) refusing to listen to Canadians on a ‘par- ticular issue, Sony BMG finally being the last major record label dropping DRM (Digital Rights Management) and a grassroots move- ment growing faster than ever, it’s probably going to be another eventful semester on the Digital Front!