International Year of Chemistry.

Its difficult to throughly endorse a worldwide celebration of chemistry, and its "contributions to our well-being", when it's sponsored by chemical industry corporations of such notorious disrepute as BASF (with partner Monsanto in the shadows), the Dow Chemical Co., and DuPont. In fact, it may be even more imperative with sponsors such as these to contemplate the negative impact of industrialised chemistry during a year of events where that particular side of the matter is unlikely to be widely scrutinised.

But then the International Year of Chemistry is an initiative of the IUPAC (International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry) and UNESCO (the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization), which has been endorsed by the UN with the stated aim of raising awareness among the general public of the vital contributions chemistry makes to our lives ever day (and hopefully attract youngsters to the field). The aim of the year's events is also to raise awareness of the potential chemistry has for solving contemporary as well as future global problems. Both these aims are quite worthwhile.

It may also be pertinent to reflect on the fascinating history of the field, from the dimly lit alcoves of ancient alchemists to the gleaming laboratories (and toxic waste sites) of today. Especially when the year coincides with the 150th anniversary of the first printing of Michael Faraday's (1791 - 1867) The Chemical History of the Candle, based on a series of lectures for young people which today have transmogrified into the Royal Institution's Christmas Lectures (not to forget the 220th anniversary of Faraday's birth). It also coincides with 350th anniversary of the first printing of Robert Boyle's (1627 - 1691) The Skeptical Chymist, a volume considered a cornerstone in the field, which contributes to Boyle being regarded as the founder of modern chemistry.

More importantly, as the organisers have noted, the year coincides with the 100th anniversary of the Nobel Prize being awarded to Marie Skłodowska Curie (1867 - 1934) — the perhaps most renown among female scientists in any field. As such it presents an ample opportunity to highlight the work of the many female chemists (like, among many others, Marie-Anne Pierrette Paulze, Lise Meitner, Clara Immerwahr, Ida Noddack, Rachel Fuller Brown, Agnes Pockels, Rosalind Franklin, or Irène Joliot-Curie), as well as female scientists in other fields, whose contributions to our knowledge of the universe we inhabit generally remain widely unrecognised and unacknowledged. Chemistry, after all, is the one field of science which connects material sciences, astronomy, physics, biology, and geology, through its concern with the very building blocks of everything (atoms and their subatomic particles: protons, electrons, and neutrons).

Most of the year's official events are organised through national chemical societies and regional chemical federations, hence for the most part consist of rather exclusive or trade oriented events — such as conferences, congresses, fairs, meetings, and symposia. However, there are a number of "outreach" events planned as well, including lectures, open discussions, workshops, and art exhibitions actually aimed at increasing public (rather than fellow chemists) appreciation of chemistry. Luckily, by the very nature of chemistry, the general public need not rely on "official" efforts to educate itself. As the science of matter and the changes it undergoes, chemistry — through its concentration on the composition, behaviour, structure, and properties of matter — is perhaps the most substantial, hands-on science, which can be practically engaged in by anyone with practically anything.

Everyone engages in it everyday, through simple acts like boiling an egg, without necessarily being aware of it: chemistry is all around us. With a little help form the nearest public library, and an assortment of ordinary household items, we can all easily set about exploring the wonders of the matter that surrounds us, binds us together, and makes us what we are from the comfort of our own homes.

International Year of Forests.

Over 1.6 billion people around the world — almost a quarter of humanity — depend on forests for their livelihood. Forest products are a source of employment and economic growth, accounting for some US$ 270 million in global trade annually, sustaining communities around the world. Home to some 300 million people worldwide, forests are also integral to regulating the climate and supporting biodiversity. Yet the world's forests, and the people who depend on them, are under increasing pressure from unsustainable logging, and agriculture and biofuel producers competing for land.

Each year 130,000 km² of the worlds forests are lost, mainly through conversion to agricultural land, unsustainable harvesting of timber, unsound land management, and the creation of new human settlements. Covering over 31% of the world's total land area, the Earth's forests and forest soil store more than one trillion tons of carbon, twice the amount found in the world's atmosphere. Forests offer the quickest, most cost effective and largest means of curbing global emissions, while deforestation accounts for up to 20% of the global greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to global warming.

Not only impacting carbon emissions and climate change, forest degradation also destroys animal and plant habitats, contributes to soil erosion and siltation of rivers and streams, frequently destroying the livelihoods of the poorest among (forest dependent) people. Harbouring 80% of the world's biodiversity, providing habitats for about two-thirds of all species on Earth, the continuous deforestation of closed tropical rainforests in particular could account for the loss of as many as 100 different species every day. Which is why the United Nations is launching the 2011 International Year of Forests at the UN Forum on Forests (UNFF) to raise awareness about sustainable management, conservation, and sustainable development of all types of forests.

However, it seems that in Canada — proudly displaying a leaf as its national symbol — the current Conservative government is happy to mark the International Year with a mere pat on the Canadian forest industry's back. Claiming to have more protected forest, and more "third-party certified" forest than any other country, as well as some of the "toughest" forestry regulations in the world, Canada's government and forest industry seem quite content congratulating themselves for the country's position as the world's most successful exporter of forest products.

The Canadian forest industry's inroads in Asia are fodder for a government hungry for any signs of its dismal policies' successes, with Canadian wood exports to China, for instance, tripling in value over the past five years — from C$ 109 million in 2005 to C$ 385 million in 2009. Yet what government and industry frequently fail to mention is that less than 10% of Canada's forest are fully protected, and that logging of one of the world's three largest remaining "frontier forests" (the other two situated in Brazil and Russia) as well as clearcutting account for nearly 90% of all logging activity in Canada.

It may therefore be worthwhile to consider the importance as well as the future development of Canada's forest industry, especially at a time when logging remains the dominant activity in the country's forests. An estimated 50% of Canada's vast boreal forest, the "northern" forest which occupies 35% of the total Canadian land area and 77% of Canada's total forest land, is now accessible by highways and logging roads. Simultaneously, the Canadian Forest Service has experienced dramatic reductions in budget and staff, making access to information about the state of Canada's forests, as well as oversight and promotion of sustainable land management more difficult than before. In other words, it's now easier for Canadian's to find out exactly how large profits the forest industry is reaping than it is to see the forest for all the wood.

Comprising nearly 45% of the total Canadian land area, the forest's animals, plants, and products affect each Canadian every day, from the products we consume and depend upon on to the air we breathe. The "productive" forest areas of Canada total almost 2.5 million km², or roughly a quarter of Canada's total land area. Forestry is Canada's largest natural resource industry, with forest products' trade surplus almost eclipsing the combined surpluses of agriculture, energy, fisheries, and mining, making our country the largest exporter of wood products in the world.

Representing almost 2% of Canada's GDP, worth C$54 billion annually, the forest products industry is one of the country's largest employers, providing 240,000 direct jobs across the country (in silviculture, logging, wood industries, paper and allied products), as well as thousands of indirect jobs through purchases of goods and services. The Canadian forest industry is the economic heart of some 200 communities across the country — communities which have limited alternative economic and employment opportunities.

Clearly, there are many more reasons to take the opportunity over the coming year to consider the asset as well as natural wealth Canada's forests represent, and how we are managing the over a third of the world's boreal forest, the fifth of the world's temperate rainforest, and the tenth of the total global forest cover which lie within our borders. Clearly, our forests deserve more than a round of sanctioned cheers to celebrate how fast we’re managing to sell them.

International Day of Peace.

September 21 is the International Day of Peace, originally devised to strengthen the ideals of peace within and among all nations and all peoples. Proclaimed in 1981 by the United Nations to fall on the third Tuesday of September in order to coincide with the opening of its General Assembly's regular sessions, its date was fixed in 2001 when the day was also declared a global day of ceasefire.

For the past 27 years, the day has begun with the UN's Secretary-General ringing the Peace Bell at the organisation's New York headquarters, calling on all peoples and all nations to cease hostilities for a day, and reflect on the causes of of conflict in our world. The day is intended as a respite from further violence, during which aid can be administered to victims of conflict, and entrenched positions — locking opponents in mortal struggle — can be reconsidered. Given the astounding proliferation of not only armed conflict but armaments, there is much to contemplate.

There are currently seven major armed conflicts in progress around the world, with at least 30 "lesser" conflicts carried on with varying degree of intensity. The definitions vary, as most of these are civil or "intrastate" wars, fuelled as much by racial, ethnic, and religious animosities as by ideological fervour. Yet, regardless of their nature, the majority of these conflicts' victims are civilians — a distinguishing feature of practically all recent wars.

During the First World War, civilians made up fewer than 5% of all casualties. Today, 75% or more of those killed or injured in wars are non-combatants. By very modest estimates, close to a million people (practically the entire population of Edmonton) have been killed in the currently ongoing conflicts, some of which have persisted for over four decades.

Women and children — those least responsible for causing the conflicts — have become the primary victims of war. They are increasingly both its targets and its instruments. Over two million children have been killed in armed conflicts over the past century. Another six million have been permanently disabled, while more than 250,000 are currently exploited as child soldiers.

Thousands of women and girls have been raped and subjected to other forms of sexual violence and exploitation. As the most vulnerable members of society, rarely wielding any significant power, women and children are killed, maimed, orphaned, abducted, deprived of health care and education, and — should they survive — left severely traumatised. All of them deserve the attention and protection of the international community.

More than any other continent, Africa has been marred by war. Over 20 major civil wars since 1960 have caused untold economic and social damage to its nations. As food production is practically impossible in areas of conflict, famine — in addition to war — has condemned generations of African children to lives of misery. In certain cases threatening the existence of traditional cultures.

But even those of us lucky enough to inhabit largely peaceful nations cannot avoid the effects of seemingly faraway wars. The massive displacement of people within countries and across borders — which has become another distinguishing feature of post-Cold War armed conflict — bring waves of refugees to our door. The scarred diaspora from areas of conflict challenge not only the welfare arrangements of our societies but our sense of security as well; as long as our neighbours' safety is compromised, we aren't entierly safe either.

Conflict prevention, mediation, humanitarian intervention, and demobilisation are crucial to the success of developmental assistance efforts. Health, nutrition, and education programs cannot succeed in nations at war — as billions of dollars in development assistance already wasted in war-ravaged countries readily prove. But the peacekeeping, peacemaking, and peacebuilding efforts currently in place are merely band-aids, in most cases incapable of dampening the cumulative impact of armed conflict, rising commodity prices, recession, or environmental disasters (like drought).

Canada's currently involved in one major armed conflict, as part of the International Security Assistance Force (IASF) in Afghanistan, directly involving over 2,800 Canadians as of August 2010. Yet, our government is disinclined to admit we are at war, since no official declaration preceding Canada's involvement was made (Canada's only declared war three times: in 1939 on Germany, in 1940 on Italy, and in 1942 on Finland, Hungary, Japan, and Romania). For a country that in its 143 year history hasn't known the horrors of war on its own soil, or participated in colonial conquest, Canada's decisions to take up arms in the past decade have been preceded by precious little debate.

In stark contrast to the commitments of the international community, international military spending continues to rise. In 2009, global military expenditure totalled US$ 1.53 trillion — an increase of 6% since 2008, and 49% since 2000. Military expenditure comprised approximately 2.7% of global GDP in 2009, with all regions seeing significant increases since 2000 except Central and Western Europe. Despite 27 mandatory multilateral embargoes in force — twelve imposed by the UN, fifteen by the EU — against fifteen states in 2007, global arms production also continued to increase.

The combined sales of the top 100 armament producers reached US$ 347 billion in 2007 — an increase of 11% in nominal terms and 5% in real terms since 2006. The value of the top 100 producers has increased by 37% since 2002. Forty-four US companies accounted for 61% of the top 100 producers' sales in 2007, while 32 West European companies accounted for 31%. India, Israel, Japan, and Russia accounted for most of the rest.

The US and Russia remain the by far largest armaments exporters, followed by Germany, France, and the UK. Together, these five nations account for 78% of the volume of exports between 2004 and 2008. They have been the top suppliers since the end of the Cold War, and account for three-quarters of all exports annually. With US$ 721 billion worth of expenditures (nearly half of its federal budget) the US accounted for practically half of all the world's purchases — more than the combined total of the next 32 nations.

The International Day of Peace offers an opportunity to inquire whether the enormous amounts of money spent on armaments wouldn't be better invested in health care, education, science, and culture — areas where increased investment would not only exceedingly enhance human welfare, but do far more to secure peace than any amount of guns ever could. The day offers an opportunity to consider whether it's wise to spend US$ 225 for each person in the world on armaments, when a billion people worldwide struggle to survive on US$1 a day.

It offers an opportunity to ask whether we've got our priorities right, utilising our assets to supply a gun to one in every ten people while 20% of the global population (1.1 billion people) lack access to safe drinking water. It's an opportunity for both national and international authorities to address the deep structural divisions among our societies. It's also an opportunity to address the underlying causes of war, the conflicts over power, wealth and resources — with overpopulation the towering elephant in the room nobody seems willing to approach.

But beyond the immense global issues, the day is also an opportunity to make peace on a personal level. Apart from participating in the day's events, we can take the opportunity to end the conflicts in our own lives, hold a "ceasefire" of our own. The challenge is to reconcile not after the conflict, but instead of the conflict. While we wait for our representatives — elected or otherwise — to extend the hand of mutual tolerance, we can make peace with and among ourselves.

Note: this is a slightly updated version of an article originally published on September 19, 2009.

World Oceans Day.

On Tuesday the second annual official World Oceans Day will be celebrated. First suggested by the Canadian government at the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, it had been celebrated unofficially until receiving UN endorsement in 2009. It's an opportunity to not only consider the world's oceans but also reflect on our relationship with them. Some 74% of the Earth's surface (or roughly 361 km²) are covered by a continuous body of water, conventionally divided into several oceans and seas. It's a vast quantity — some 1.3 billion cubic metres, more than half of which over 3,000 metres deep — and its sheer size may very well be one of the reasons we tend to take it for granted.

In the Solar System, Earth is the only planet with liquid water on its surface. While we may one day discover water on some of the Solar System's moons, or even on planets in other systems, it may prove a long and in many ways impractical trek for a drink. Never mind that access mightn't be unrestricted; even on Earth we have great difficulty sharing and distributing the oceans seemingly infinite resources. Not that the oceans simply serve as a reservoir: they're the very cradle of life on our planet and home to a myriad of creatures. Life evolved in the oceans three billion years prior to the occurrence of plants and animals on land. Thus the oceans are, in a sense, the ancestral home of all life on Earth.

The oceans generate most of the oxygen we breathe, they absorb carbon-dioxide, and have a significant effect on our climate. The evaporation of ocean water is the source of most rainfall, while the temperature of the oceans determine climate and wind patterns. Yet the vitality of the world's oceans is threatened by our activities and the climate changes they've brought about. Over-exploitation, illegal and unregulated fishing, destructive fishing practices and pollution — particularly from land-based sources — threaten vulnerable marine ecosystems. Increased sea temperatures, sea-level rise, and acidification caused by changes in the climate further threaten not only marine life, but coastal and island communities as well as national economies.

The oceans area also essential to trade: roughly 90% of the world's non-bulk, non-perishable cargo is shipped across the seas. Despite being slow, shipping remains significantly less costly than other types of transcontinental transport. Because of this, the oceans are also affected by criminal activity. Piracy may look cool at the cinema, but in reality armed robbery threatens the lives of mariners and the safety of shipping. Smuggling of contraband and trafficking of people endanger lives, security, and peace not only across the oceans but eventually across lands as well.

Serving as the world's transport medium of choice entails other hazards: though silicone-based paints are now used to keep fouling organisms (like barnacles) off ships' hulls, the majority of the more than 51,000 commercial vessels that ply the world's oceans have hulls treated with biocides that poison and contaminate marine life, including commercial fish species — placing human health at risk. Ships also produce almost as much air pollution as half of the total number of cars on the planet (some 300 million), propelled by cheap sulphur-rich "bunker-oil" which produces tiny particles of soot and sulfuric acid known to damage lungs, and believed to be responsible for as many as 60,000 deaths a year worldwide.

The oceans are essential to the health and survival of all life on the planet, they provide nutrients that help sustain us, and are of great economic importance to everyone who relies on fishing, tourism, and other marine resources for income. So take some time on Tuesday to celebrate the oceans and their inhabitants, the nourishment they provide, their importance for trade and communication. (It could be as easy as watching Finding Nemo with the kids.) While The Ocean Project's theme this year is Oceans of Life, the UN's theme is Our Oceans: opportunities and challenges, and though most events in Canada will be held along our ocean coasts, those of us inhabiting the largely landlocked prairies should take time to consider what's downstream the many rivers that provide our needs. Each and every on of them eventually empties into the oceans. Along with whatever we put in them.

Note: this is a slightly updated version of an article originally published on June 7, 2009.

Canada Book Day.

April 23 is Canada Book Day, as well as World Book and Copyright Day, devised to raise awareness and interest for books, to promote reading, publishing, and — in the case of the international day — the protection of "intellectual property" (an unfortunate euphemism that leads to all manner of faulty reasoning about knowledge.)

The day is intended to be a celebration of books as a key instrument of knowledge and freedom, as well as an opportunity to consider the contribution of books to humanity's wealth and cultural heritage. Canada Book Day was first organised through the Writers' Trust of Canada, a national, charitable organisation supporting anglophone literature. Which — for the second year in a row — has no plans for any special events this year worth communicating to the general public.

No other organisation or level of government has stepped in to lead celebrations, and the day has been preceded by no promotion whatsoever. In fact, most Canadians are unware the day has supposedly been the focal point of Canada Book Week since 2003.

World Book and Copyright Day on the other hand is organised by UNESCO, which adopted the day at its General Conference in 1995. The date was selected as it had been celebrated since 1923 as el dia del llibre (The Day of the Book) in Spain. There, a thrifty bookseller in Barcelona — the publishing capital of both Catalonia and Spain — had begun to promote April 23, also known as el dia de la rosa (The Day of the Rose) or St. George's Day, with a combination of books and roses.

The idea was ostensibly to honour the nearly simultaneous deaths of Miguel de Cervantes and William Shakespeare; the date also happens to be the date of birth of other prominent authours such as Halldór Laxness and Vladimir Nabokov. It has since become one of the world's largest book swapping events, with half of the the total yearly book sales in Catalonia (estimated at 400.000 titles) taking place on April 23.

This year, UNESCO hopes to highlight "the need to preserve creativity from piracy" during the day, hoping to impress readers worldwide that "there can be no book development without respect for copyright". Yet the agencies' botched website mainly reveals a most casual interest in the issue, perhaps fostered by the assumption (particularly in the so called "developed world") that the business of books is thriving, and reading therefore in no need of special support.

Despite the arrival of e-books and the ascendency of electronic media, printing is still a booming business with more than half a million publishing houses worldwide. Rather than replacing the traditional media the new technologies seem only likely to augment and complement printed reading matter, presenting no more a threat to its existence than elevators do to stairs.

Certainly, in the so called "developed world" books and reading do not appear imperiled. Only 31% of Canadian adults reported not reading a single book for pleasure in 2007, while those who read regularly consumed more than 20 titles during that year. On average Canadians spent 4.5 hours reading per week, though with roughly 50,000 titles published annually in Canada that's barely time to keep abreast. Little wonder the Writer's Trust perceives no need for a day of special events and celebration.

Nevertheless, the glowing numbers in Canada and elsewhere obscure the glaring imbalance and extreme difficulties in accessing books that persist worldwide. Even in Canada access to books could easily be threatened: in 2006, Indigo with 230 stores nationwide accounted for 44 % of domestic book sales — 67% if online, mail-order, and sale at university and college bookstores are excluded. Which potentially means that if Indigo choses not to carry a book the publisher of that title loses access to half of the Canadian retail channel.

Since special events appear to be few and far between this coming Canada Book Day, and World Book and Copyright Day, one suggestion would be to simply read at one's own behest. Another, as the date alludes to the Catalonian tradition of book swapping, would be to gift someone a book. Or to visit a local library — maybe even bring a contribution or two to its collection.

Note: this is a slightly updated version of an article originally published on April 21, 2009.

World Water Day.

March 22 is World Water Day, designated by the UN in 1993 to highlight the critical lack of safe, clean, easily accessible drinking water worldwide. Perhaps not yet a huge concern to those of us lucky enough to inhabit a part of the world where "designer" bottled water with no health benefits whatsoever abounds. But it's a different story in the rest of the world, where entire societies live with acute public health threats because their inhabitants are at times forced to drink water from drains.

Not that the problem is confined to a particular region of the world — overpopulation, misuse, and pollution are rapidly turning scarcity of water into a problem for all of us. The availability of drinking water is inadequate and shrinking, poising access to water as the next great source of global conflict. In 2001, the first UN World Water Development Report indicated that the quantity of water available to everyone would decrease 30% by 2020. With over 70% of the world's freshwater used in agriculture, manufacturing, and energy production, more than trendy water bottles and swimming pools are at stake.

Water is a fundamental requirement for all known organisms on our planet; plants, fungi, micro-organisms, and animals (which mean us, humans) need it to stay alive. According the World Health Organization, each human being requires at least 20 litres of fresh water every day. Yet some 900 million people (almost 13% of the world's population) lack access to safe drinking water. Lack of clean water - essential to the treatment of diseases - coupled with lack of basic sanitation and hygiene education, is one of the largest obstacles to global progress and development.

Half of the world's hospital beds are occupied by patients suffering from waterborne diseases. In much of the so called "developing" world, 90% of all wastewater enters local rivers and streams untreated, leaving over 2.6 billion people (almost 40% of the world's population) without access to adequate sanitation. All while a single flush of a toilet in the "developed" world consumes as much water as one person in a "developing" country uses to drink, wash, cook, and clean in one day.

Waterborne diseases are the world's leading cause of death, killing 6.000 people every day, two-thirds of them children. In a world of unprecedented wealth, a child dies roughly every twenty seconds from a disease that could've been prevented by something as basic, and comparatively inexpensive, as proper sanitation. Out of the 2.2 million deaths in 2004 caused by unsafe drinking water (4.1% of the total global disease burden), 90% were children under the age of five.

An estimated 443 million school days are lost each year because waterborne diseases keep children out of school, or affect their ability to learn when they attend. Poor health resulting from inadequate water and sanitation doesn't merely rob children of an education, but also impacts the earning power of adults. The costs associated with disease and productivity losses caused by unsafe water and poor sanitation amounts to 5% of GDP in Sub-Saharan Africa alone – more than that region receives in aid.

Women and girls are particularly affected, as they are usually the ones responsible for collecting enough water for drinking, cooking, and basic hygiene. The daily chore of hauling heavy water containers from a distant source, further prevents women and children from pursuing an education or earning additional income. Some 40 billion hours are expended annually hauling water around – on average for three hours each day – equalling over 19 million full-time employees.

As water isn't a finite resource the actual amount that exists on Earth isn't the problem, but rather its distribution for drinking, sanitation, irrigation, industry, and energy generation. Since 1990, 1.6 billion people have gained access to safe sources of water, with the proportion of people in the "developing" world with access to safe water increasing from 30% in 1970 to 71% in 1990, 79% in 2000 and 84% in 2004. If this trend continues, the UN Millennium Development Goal of halving the proportion of people without sustainable access to safe drinking water by 2015 will likely be achieved in most regions (except Sub-Saharan Africa).

Because of the suffering, increased poverty, high child mortality rates, low levels of education, and political instability that lack of safe water sources contributes to, the urgency cannot be overstated. Even if the 2015 goal is achieved, almost 900 million people will still be left without water, while over 76 million people will have perished from waterborne diseases by 2020. Unless major changes occur, waterborne diseases could by then have killed as many people as the AIDS pandemic. In 2006, a UN report stated that "there is enough water for everyone" but access to it is hampered by incompetence and corruption.

Add to that the attempts to privatise water resources and companies by the unwashed neoliberal bastards at the IMF and the World Bank. Currently, more than 90% of the world’s water and sanitation systems are publicly owned and operated, with a mere 9% (or the services of roughly 545 million people in 2004) being operated privately. But the 142% increase in profit that followed the 1989 water privatisation in England and Wales has wet the appetite of the world's most short-sighted and unconscionable "business people", who have no scruples about giant multinational corporations controlling the necessities of life.

They conveniently ignore how in the England and Wales example, profits were valued over service, expensive centralised projects were undertaken at the expense and exclusion of smaller, decentralised projects (like wells, or rain water collection), tariffs were increased by 46% in the years that followed, and that quality and supply declined while much of the infrastructure was left to decay. As long as they can place a pricetag on every single object in the known universe, nothing else matters.

So, participate in events this coming World Water Day, take some time to consider where that stuff pouring out of your tap – or your fresh and trendy bottle – originates, how much you pay for it and to whom, and how you use your share of our water.

Note: this is a slightly updated version of an article originally published on March 20, 2009.

Freedom to Read Week.

Now in its 26th year, Freedom to Read Week is an annual event aimed at raising awareness among Canadians of the intellectual freedom guaranteed them under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, as well as The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (Article 19). Organised by the Freedom of Expression Committee of the Book and Periodical Council (an umbrella organisation for associations of writers, editors, publisher, manufacturers distributors, sellers, and lenders of books and periodicals in Canada), it's marked with numerous events across the country between February 21 and 27.

Most of us take our freedom to read for granted, but even here, in Canada, books and magazines have been banned at the border, and are frequently challenged and removed from libraries, schools, and bookstores. These infractions on our freedom of expression are seldom reported widely, yet affect the right of all of us – not just Canadians – to decide for ourselves what we chose to read. Although government-instituted censorship has apparently been abandoned in the Western world, public concern over "offensive" literature hasn't subsided.

In Canada, a majority of us accept the Supreme Court's authority and prerogative to restrict reading material; we trust the court to interpret the Charter and determine the reasonable limits to our freedoms. A majority of us also accepts that a stable, vibrant democracy can withstand disagreement and a wide range of beliefs. However, this doesn't prevent private entities and individuals from attempting to limit, sanitise, and censor literature and information that doesn't fit their particular position. These attempts to "protect" society, by arbitrarily deciding what others can read, merely smother creativity and stifle open debate of controversial issues.

Public libraries are in fact expected to act as benevolent guardians of literature in many places, particularly concerning books for young readers. Even in notoriously "liberal" countries like Norway and Sweden, which introduced some of the earliest laws regarding freedom of the press, scrutiny of public and school libraries remained a concern throughout the 20th Century. The die-hard tradition of literature surveillance in America is perhaps less surprising, where various groups intent on choosing what others should read constantly demand the removal of books they deem contain "questionable content".

Canada is no exception: the Canada Border Services Agency, parent groups, and religious organisations have all tried to ban books for reasons varying from sexual orientation, racial or religious content, to explicit language and witchcraft. J. K. Rowling’s Harry Potter series remains among the most challenged books in this country; Robert Munsch’s Thomas' Snowsuit was banned by a Catholic school board because Thomas' refusal of a snowsuit was deemed disrespectful to school authorities.

Only last year the Toronto District School Board, having removed Deborah Ellis' Three Wishes from its public school libraries on the grounds that its inclusion of interviews with Palestinian as well as Israeli children offended the Canadian Jewish Congress, considered restricting access to Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale - winner of the Governor General's Award in 1985 and the first Arthur C. Clarke Award in 1987, and a seemingly permanent top-40 fixture on the American Library Association's list of the 100 most frequently challenged books in the 1990s.

The undermining and obliteration of independent, local booksellers by large chains of big-box retailers poses yet another serious challenge to what literature and information we can access. Take Canada's largest bookstore chain Indigo Books & Music Inc. for example, a retailer with the publicly stated goal of becoming "the world's first cultural department store", which doesn't shelve books or magazines its owners personally object to, and whose profits are funnelled into dubious martial projects that have little in common with literature, never mind Canada.

Like their electronic counterparts, Indigo isn't a library but a business, with a right to stock whatever it wants. But it's a right that becomes problematic when a bookseller dominates the market like Indigo, Amazon et al do. Any titles they, and the other three or four major players, decide not to stock become harder to find, and - by extension - to publish. Supermassive booksellers can also exert pressure on publishers (as Amazon has done in the past) to offer greater discounts, and interfere with publishers direct sales, thereby undercutting the profitability - and ultimately, the existence - of small publishers in particular. It's censorship by proxy.

However, Freedom to Read Week serves not only as a reminder to remain vigilant of the challenges, but also as an opportunity for Canadians to celebrate our freedom to chose what we read, and to reach out to our neighbours across the world. We can acknowledge it by reading and making up our own minds about some of the books challenged in Canada, patronising our remaining local independent booksellers, or checking up on the state of libraries and information in the rest of the world. We could even indulge in some banned literature online. After all, the only thing worse than suppressing, banning or destroying books is not reading them.

Note: this is an altered, updated version of an article originally posted on February 19, 2009.

Say No to Violence against Women.

November 25 is the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, designated by the UN in 1999 (though marked by women's activists since 1981) to raise awareness of the violence, abuse, and mistreatment women and girls around the world are subjected to. The date was chosen to commemorate the murder of three of the Mirabal sisters, political activists in the Dominican Republic. It also marks the beginning of the 16 Days of Activism to End Violence Against Women, and is part of the UN Secretary-General's 2008 - 2015 campaign to intensify action to end violence against women and girls.

Today, violence directed at women is one of the most common violations of human rights. One in three women will be beaten, coerced into sex, or otherwise abused in her lifetime, most likely by a man she knows. One in five women will be the victim of rape or attempted rape in her lifetime. Half of the women murdered around the world each year are killed by their current or former husbands or partners. Women aged 15 – 44 are more at risk from rape and domestic violence than from cancer, malaria, traffic accidents, and war.

In Canada, 51% of women over the age 16 will be subjected to an act of physical violence in their life time. They are five times more likely than Canadian men to be seriously injured or killed by their partner, and hundreds are murdered each year. Aboriginal women in Canada are five times more likely to die as the result of violence than other women their age. In the EU, between 40% and 50% of women report some form of sexual harassment in the workplace. Between 500.000 and 2 million people – the majority of them women and children – are sold annually into prostitution, forced labour, slavery and servitude.

According to Amnesty International, an estimated 130 million women and girls alive today have been subjected to female genital mutilation, while 2 million girls are at risk each year. This particularly sadistic practice is common worldwide, not merely confined to ingrained pockets of ignorance and superstition, as are the thousands of “honour” and dowry killings committed each year by some of the world’s most ignorant and uneducated inhabitants.

The easiest way to demonstrate your support is adding your name to the Say NO - UNiTE to End Violence against Women campaign, a web-based initiative of the UN Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM) that's seen 5,066,549 people sign on since November 2007 to a global call to make ending violence against women a top priority worldwide.

Though Canada's Minister of State for the Status of Women officially signed on our government's behalf in November 2008, commenting that “Canada is a world leader in advancing equality for women,” the Conservative government she's a member of meanwhile cut the Status of Women Canada budget, closed twelve of sixteen Status of Women Canada regional offices, eliminated the Court Challenges Program and the Law Commission, and refused to fund women's groups that engage in advocacy, lobbying, or general research.

The day may therefore also be spent inquiring of the minister how preciesly that brand of leadership - eradicating independent organisations that defend citizen's rights, question, analyze, and provide different perspectives to government - has advanced women's equality in Canada and elsewhere. It should be apparent to everyone that this kind of "leadership" Canada's - and the world's - women can do without.

Note: this is an updated version of the article originally posted on November 24, 2008.