Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - June 15, 1997, Winnipeg, Manitoba A6 sunday free press Winnipeg june 15, 1997 Melq Cline forum editor Brian Cole / 697-7044 Freedom of Trade in Liberty of religion in editorial pleasure of a Good read the end of the printed word a the demise of the newspaper the death of the Book a has been predicted so often in this Century that one would think that people would no longer pay any attention to such prognostications. Even children after All learn at a very Early age the lesson of the boy who cried Wolf and even today they very probably learn it from a Book. People still make such predictions however and presumably some people still pay attention to them. The Assassin is variously identified. The arrival of film or radio or television or the computer or the internet will make newspaper and books obsolete. Not so very Long ago it was confidently predicted that the novel could never survive the breaking of the $10 Price Barrier that people would refuse to pay More than $9.95 for a hardcover work of fiction. All of these innovations have arrived and prospered themselves and yet newspapers Are surviving and books Are thriving a today a hardcover novels Are routinely priced up to $30 and still Chalk up sales in the tens or hundreds of thousands As they ride the bestseller lists even today. Each of these supposed assassins has in its Way Given new life to the Book. Radio and television publicize books a an endorsement on to by Oprah Winfrey can sell thousands of copies of a previously obscure Book. Novels Are made into movies that in turn promote other books by that author or in that genre. Even computers and the internet play their part. Computers serve As research and writ ing tools a a new Book doomed we fear to be a raging Best seller is based on the computer decoding of messages from god encrypted in the Bible although even the computer cannot explain Why god would choose to be More delphic even than the Oracle at Delphi in obscuring what a going to happen. And the internet is not Only helping to teach the Young to read but it is serving As a valuable marketing and promotional device for the Dusty old anachronisms we still Call books. The internet features previews excerpts articles and reviews and those in the know can by typing in the name of a Favourite author find soulmates who share their interest and even Reading lists of other authors they might like. Yes Reading lists those ambitious relentless reminders that an unoccupied mind is the devils workshop. Even today As the end of june approaches and the real summer draws near there Are people drawing up lists for their summer Reading. The free press would not presume to advise you of what you should put on your list of books the collected wit and Wisdom of the free press editorial Board not being available yet in Book stores a and no it will not be a really slim volume the subject is Worth some reflection however. Canadians who make a custom of this can cast their minds Back Over the years and notice a marked change in their Reading lists. These lists tend to be drawn up in a conflict of duty and indulgence a the books one feels one should read As opposed to the books one really wants to. It was not so Long ago that Canadian books on a summer list were As Likely to have been added out of duty As they were out of indulgence. Today that is not often the Case As Canadian writers produce More and More novels that we not Only think we should read but that we Are anxious to read As Well. In a recent article in the Globe and mail american novelist John Irving comments rapturously on the state of Canadian literature in terms of the Reading Public. In the United states he Points out the fiction Best seller lists Are dominated by popular writers of doubtful literary Merit. In Canada they Are often ruled by serious so called literary writers. And he is right a we can find such names As Margaret Atwood Timothy Findley Mavis Gallant Ann Marie Macdonald Carol Shields Sandra Birdsell commonly on the bestseller lists. Canadian writers Are giving us serious books world class literature that is Selling and being widely read both in Canada and abroad. They Are winning International awards bookers pulitzer the Orange prize and May have even bigger followings internationally than they do at Home although the Days that Canadian writers were without honour in their own land Are Long gone. Gone too Are the Days when canadians needed to be reassured by foreigners such As John Irving that their writers have Merit although it is always Nice to hear. When the latest Atwood or Birdsell or Findley is bought it May find a place on the bookshelf alongside Thomas Pynchon a Mason and Dixon or Umberto eco a name of the Rose but it will not As they so often do remain there forever unread. It will be read and usually enjoyed by canadians in every walk of life a even today. It will almost certainly find its Way onto the indulgence Side of the Reading nation avoids abyss Back in March it seemed that Papua new Guinea was about to descend into the special hell inhabited by countries like Sierra Leone a mutinous army was trying to depose an elected prime minister in a country where loyalties Are still tribal. But the crisis is Over though nobody knows yet How it came out. Papua new guineas 4.3 million people began voting june 14 in an election that lasts two weeks. But for most people the mercenary crisis of last March is no longer even an Issue. You could say that Papua new guineas problems Are african indeed super african 750 different languages no National consciousness beyond what the schools have inculcated in the past couple of generations and not enough Money to go around. All of which explains the problem that led prime minister sir Julius Chan to Call in Thelwynne Dyer Island of mercenaries. On the outlying Bougainville the worlds biggest Copper mine has been shut Down for the past eight years by a local revolt. The revolt has grown into a full blown separatist movement and the poorly armed badly led Png army proved incapable of re asserting Central control. So prime minister Chan turned to Australia for Aid in upgrading his forces and was turned Down Flat. A i had no Choice but to go to the private sector a said sir Julius. The private sector in this Case was Sandline International one of the sleek new firms of a Security advisers with brass plates in the Bahamas and Glass fronted offices in London and new York that have replaced the old Macho mercenary world of alcohol blurred types like mad Mike Hoare Black Jacques Schramme and Bob Denard Sandline a representative for the Png Deal was Timothy Spicer Obe sex scots guards and Falk lands Veteran. Sandline was to provide weapons and military equipment and Send 70 military specialists mostly from Africa to train counter insurgency teams that would a harrass the rebel patrols and deny them Freedom of eighty per cent of the contract was for equipment but the controversial element was the trainers a who might under unspecified circumstances even end up in combat. When the Deal became known in March the australian press followed by the Western wire services went nuts. Australian prime minister John Howard held four hours of talks in Sydney with sir Julius trying to bully him out of the Sandline contract. The International uproar gave army chief Jerry Singi Rok a pretext to move against the elected government of Papua new Guinea. On March 17, general Singi Rok arrested All the Sandline employees in the country and went on National radio to demand prime minister chants resignation accusing him of corruption. The facade of order is what makes Ordinary life tolerable and development possible but it is a very thin skin in a country with More ethnic groups than All of Europe. Sir Julius Chan instantly dismissed Gen. Singi Rok and then stood aside himself until a two month judicial inquiry absolved him of corruption charges. In the end the constitutional order held but it was a near run thing. So will sir Julius win this election who knows there Are 2,368 candidates running for Only 109 seats and Over two thirds of them have no party affiliation. In most of Papua new Guinea the contest is Between local a big men who spend heavily to win the support of their own tribe a and then expect to be compensated for their costs by whichever coalition they ultimately join in port moresby. Papua new Guinea will find out whether its next prime minister will be sir Julius Chan a or pairs wingtip or sir Michael sombre who have both held that office twice in the revolving door world of Png politics a Only when the new parliament meets and All the new members have been bought and paid for. Which one it is scarcely matters. What does matter is that constitutional order reigns in the country. Papua new Guinea came close to the Brink last March but it managed not to fall Over. Gwynne Dyer is a London based Independent journalist and historian whose columns appear in 35 countries. What was said or. Justice Kerr twaddle orally for the Manitoba court of Appeal in the Queen v Dean James Bauder the accused appeals his sentence of nine months imprisonment imposed on him for sexual assault. He does not question either the nature of the punishment a imprisonment a or its length what he asks is that he be allowed to serve the sentence in the Community. The offence in this Case consisted of the accused having sexual relations with a girl under the age of 14 years Over a period of time. The girl of course could not consent in the Legal sense but nonetheless was a willing participant. She was apparently More sophisticated than Many of her age and was performing Many household tasks including babysitting the accused a children. The accused and his wife were at the time somewhat estranged. The relationship which developed was entirely inappropriate and criminal but the circumstances do distinguish the Case from those in which a child has been interfered with by Force or deception. After imposing a nine month prison term the Only question the sentencing judge should have asked was whether an order allowing the accused to serve his sentence in the Community would endanger the safety of the Community. The judge did not decide this question stating she would make no Assumption. The question should have been decided. It can be without Assumption. What must be looked at is the nature of the offence and the accused a background. Is there a likelihood that the accused will conduct himself during the sentence in a manner which will endanger the Community on the facts of this Case the answer is obviously in the negative. The Appeal is consequently allowed and an order made permitting the accused to serve the sentence in the Community circumcision begins childhood pain the Brief radio news item stopped me in my tracks. A moment later it turned me into a raging Mother lion. A a new Canadian study is recommending that doctors routinely use an aesthetic Cream to ease the pain of circumcision a the news Reader said. A new research has found that newborns not Only feel pain but remember it contrary to what some doctors have was i really hearing this in 1997? a medical profession that turns out High tech miracles like in Vitro fertilization has to be told that infants feel pain follow up articles noted that aesthetic is rarely used during circumcision or even other surgeries on newborns for two reasons risks associated with anaesthesia and doctors beliefs that it Isnit necessary. The Toronto study finally documented that baby boys experienced pain for up to two Days after being circumcised without aesthetic and were More sensitive to pain six months later. What a revelation being held Down and having a part of ones body sliced off hurts like hell a not to mention the terror an infant feels during what doctors glibly dub a a five minute when i was pregnant with our son we read up on circumcision. Fortunately we had both a paediatrician and an obstetrician who recommended against it saying it Wasny to medically necessary. Finding out that aesthetic Isnit used would have decided the matter in and of itself. In the hours after my songs birth while gazing into those Wise old eyes i was amazed at his responsiveness to every touch and sound. He turned his head towards his fathers voice. He screamed when the paediatrician poked and prodded him. How could anyone who has known a Newborn believe they re incapable of feeling pain its ironic that in an Era when experts encourage parents to Chat with or play music for their unborn progeny that medical professionals Are still debating infants ability to suffer. Perhaps some doctors assumptions about circumcision Are partly a gender thing. Welcome to the world Little Man. May As Well learn right off that men done to cry. Its also another symptom of a culture that both romanticized and dehumanized our youngest Teichroeb babies Are cute and cuddly and great for Selling everything from peanuts to politicians. But scratch the surface and the victorian attitude that children should be seen and not heard is alive and Well. And it goes deeper than those glares of annoyance from a businessman who must share his flight with a babe in arms or the breast feeding Mother who is asked to leave a restaurant. It has to do with the unspoken belief that children done to deserve to be treated with dignity and respect. They can to vote so they have no political Power. They done to usually have any Money. And they Are totally dependent for better or for worse on the parents Fate has Given them. This attitude plays itself out in the Lack of support for new parents. After two Days in Hospital new moms and babies Are sent Home with Little or no followup. If they re Lucky they have family or friends who step into the void. If not they struggle alone with the often overwhelming transition to parenthood. After six months of partially paid maternity leave and two More months of unpaid leave new moms Are expected to Bounce Back to work As if nothing had changed. If they can afford it dads can take an additional four months of unpaid paternity leave. By contrast some european countries allow two or three years of parental leave and provide state sponsored Early childhood education and Day care programs. Yet scientific evidence is mounting about the crucial importance of the first three years of life in wiring every aspect of our brains. Babies Are not passive blobs waiting to grow up. They Are Complex human beings learning an extraordinary number of essential tasks. The love and stimulation they receive during infancy a or the neglect and pain inflicted upon them a sets the stage for years to come. Ruth Teichroeb covers social affairs for the free press ;