Over The Edge Page 6 National Student News November 19, 2001 By Chris Lutz, Ontarion HAMILTON, Ont. (CUP) -- The editor of the student newspaper at a Hamilton col- lege has resigned under dubious terms following actions taken by the student association that the editor is calling censorship. Bob Fisher, the managing editor of Mohawk College’s Satellite, says that on Oct. 19 executive members of the Mohawk Students’ Association (MSA) requested he attend an informal meet- ing. During the meeting, Fisher says MSA president Nathan Fehrman and vice- president executive Roble Nour told him college admin- istrators and staff had serious concerns over the newspa- Student editor alleges he was censored, ousted in newspaper fiasco per’s content. Fehrman and Nour presented Fisher with a confidential letter written by the association’s executive committee that accused the paper of printing material they allege violated human rights. The letter ordered the newspaper to submit all con- tent to Nour for approval prior to publication. Fehrman and Nour requested Fisher sign the letter, which he did. Fisher says he feared the paper would be immediately shut down if he refused to sign. Fehrman says the associa- tion acted after receiving complaints from several members of the college com- munity, including high-rank- ing officials. "The people who brought some of the prob- lems to our attention ...were the counseling department right on up to the president's Staff of the college," Fehrman said. According to _ Fisher, Fehrman and Nour cited arti- cles from the Satellite they considered offensive, but maintains neither could pro- vide explicit incidences of any party’s human rights being contravened. Fisher says he hasn’t heard complaints from students and doesn’t under- stand why the.MSA is responding to concerns from professors and administra- tors. "All | keep hearing from the MSA is ‘it’s full-time staff, they’re complaining, it’s the teachers, the professors, the media,’ to which | say, ‘you’re the student government, you should be serving the stu- dents,” he said. Fehrman argues the MSA is doing just that. "We want as many students as possible to use the paper as a service and not feel uncomfortable reading it, so we’re defending the rights of the full-time stu- dents." Fisher claims the MSA was trying to shut the paper down. Fehrman says that’s not true. "We asked [Fisher] to sign the letter, outlining his job description, just to acknowl- edge he was aware of it," Fehrman said. "The paper was never going to be shut down." Four days after the meet- ing, on Oct. 23, an issue of the Satellite appeared on campus with the confidential letter reprinted inside and marked with sarcastic foot- notes. On the page opposite the letter, writing under the pen name "James Fisher," Fisher presented his account of the affair. The word "censored," in bold type, is scattered throughout the piece in an attempt to chide the MSA for its actions. In an editorial in the paper, Fisher condemned the student association and ~ urged students to express (Continued 16) Klein addresses receptive crowd as WTO opens trade talks By Laural Raine, Ubyssey VANCOUVER (CUP) -- Globe and Mail columnist and No Logo author Naomi Klein addressed a full house in Vancouver last Friday, the _ first day of World Trade Organization (WTO) meet- ings in the Persian Gulf state of Qatar. More than 600 people crowded into the city’s Maritime Labour Centre to hear Klein speak about "Globalization in our back- yards." Those who didn't arrive early enough to find a seat stood five rows deep at the back of the centre, while several hundred others who arrived later were not admit- ted. Klein’s address focused on the WTO summit, during which trade Officials. announced they would begin a new round of global trade regotiations. Double the power of your degree Work in the Global Village International Project Management a 12-month post-graduate certificate program in international development at Humber College Now you can study for employment in the growing field of international Development. Learn applied skills for writing international project proposals, cross-cultural communications, managing resources for overseas international development, and more. The program includes an 8-week field placement or applied research project which may be completed overseas or in North America. Call (416) 675-6622, ext 3032, or e-mail Imitchel@humberc.on.ca. LE (HUMBER The Business School ave wns Oe boo: SO "[The WTO] had a problem: no one wanted to hold [the meeting]," Klein said of WTO members’ reluctance to play host to a summit that was two years ago stalled after mass protests in Seattle. "From the perspective of a trade negotiator, Qatar had some undeniable benefits. It's not a democracy, there are no protesters on the streets and Qatar was willing to severely limit the number of visas issued.” The atmosphere during Klein’s speech was upbeat, with the crowd laughing and cheering. Avi Lewis, Klein's hus- band and host of CBC’s CounterSpin Sunday, sat in the front row, often chid- ing his wife for cheesy jokes or controversial statements and often nod- ding his head in agree- ment or leading outbursts of applause. Klein began her speech commending those in the audience who attended the WTO protests in Seattle in November 1999. "That was a moment that really kicked this move- ment into high gear. Because of you shit dis- turbers and trouble makers who went to Seattle two years ago, the WTO has basically been in crisis ever since," she said, "and the developing world countries have been emboldened to stand up to Europe and the U.S. and resist the pressure for a new round of negotia- tions." Klein also commented on the implications of the events of Sept. 11 for the anti-global- ization movement. "Post-Sept. 11, we're already seeing the ‘war on terrorism’ being used, not to deepen democracy, but to systematically crack down on pro-democracy and liberation struggles around the world, whether it’s a stepped-up mil- itary presence in Chiapas, or the increased surveillance on our own local movements," she said. Klein argued that the ero- sion of public infrastructure in debt-ridden and war-torn countries encourages sup- port for fundamentalists like Osama bin Laden among a public which is discontent with lack of basic government services such as_ roads, schools and basic sanitation. She said, however, that poorer nations are not the only ones susceptible to extremism. "Fundamentalism comes in many shapes and forms and sizes," she said. "The terror- ists aren't the only ones who believe that all of life can be crammed into a set of rigid humanity-denying rules, whether they be a literal read- ing of the Qu'ran, or a rigid faith in trickle-down economics. We are surrounded by funda- mentalism of all kinds, and the task for those who are fighting for humanity in all of its diversity is to resist funda- mentalism in all its forms: reli- gious, economic, ecological, cultural, and political." Klein also spoke about the future of the anti-globalization movement, stressing the importance of a truly global movement. "There aren't any fences built that are big enough to contain a movement that is actually everywhere," she said. "| really think that maybe we'll look back on this day as the beginning of a new chap- ter, where we truly decentral- ized and started to surround them from all directions."