MATT SOPROVICH
Pardon me if I sound pretentious, but with recent news coverage, I am going to assume that many of you have heard of residence students’ fight against the U of M’s current food bully, ARAMARK. If you are unaware of our present concerns, just track down any resident here and ask him or her what they think of Pembina Hall’s food quality, for which we pay $3,000 a year. I’m reasonably confident that you’ll get an earful or two. That said, the media attention that we got caught me off guard. Who would have thought that shitty rez food was headline news? For all those who are looking for more insight into this current “controversy,” here are a few more points about ARAMARK that really just grind my gears.
Privatization of our streets
Ever notice how there are never any student groups or councils trying to raise money by having hot dog and burger sales? It’s because ARAMARK owns the rights to our streets and the discretion to kick out anyone who
doesn’t adhere to the policies of “their” land. When a group tries to set up shop anywhere on campus they have
to go through ARAMARK, who’ll either force them to buy their own products at retail — around $2.50 a hot dog — or nix the deal. By contrast, meat markets charge as little as 8.5 cents a dog — that’s a 300 per cent increase!
Unused meal donations
Residents’ meals “expire” at the end of every month, meaning a great number of meals don’t get eaten. …

I have not had a chance to read the UMSU Budget Package yet and I do not really think I will get a chance to.
Somebody asked me tonight what thoughts I had.
All I can say is that I have been impressed with the consultation process that UMSU engaged students in this year asking them what their priorities were.
Since UMSU was returned to students with the ouster of the ‘clic’ that was running UMSU for years, UMSU has become grassroots and involved students way possible. The results are showing, this year voter turnout is at an all-time high and students-at-large are starting to outnumber Councillors on many committees of the union.
Amanda, Cathy, & Josh are about to leave the Executive to return to being students in a month. They have done a great job of engaging students-at-large and returning pwoer from the executive to students. I wish them the best of luck.
Now back to the budget, I am pretty sure it is a good one.
Lastly, give it up to UMSPAR for their protest the other day that got plenty of media play! Keep up the good work!
I cannot wait for Thursday when the Winnipeg Free Press arrives at Mill Library here at Mac to read the story from last week.
To all those who said in 04/05 that student apathy could never be overcome – it has been.
Also, I am going to update the UofM Blogosphere soon, so if you have a blog at UofM and want on email me: joey@joeycoleman.ca. …

Well, it seems that the MSU powers-that-be really do not like my habit of questioning the status quo.
Heaven forbid a MSU member actually start suggesting ways to improve the MSU.
First tonight in information period, I made a point of offering a peace gesture to the MSU Powers-that-be in the form of thanking them for putting on the General Assembly. I am a honest person so I stated that I look forward to the October General Assembly where we will get even more people out and that yes I will be bring forth the Accountability Act once again with improvements. At this point I started to get the dirty looks, way too funny. I then spoke of how I got feedback from a Students’ Union in the Martimes that included the suggestion that it should include an audit committee. I really like that idea, a committee that meets weekly just to go over the transactions of the week previous that is independent of political interferance. I believe that having the summer to tweak the Act will enable it to be much better in October and will make the MSU better in years to come.
Then at the meeting, a member brought up that the Election Appeals have not been heard yet and the new Council is supposed to take office this Wednesday yet the results are not final. This is clearly a problem if you ask me because due process is not being followed in our election process (now I am thankful that I say all the flaws with the process and got off Elections Committee). …

Do NOT do it!

March 24/06 – 10:45pm
Alright crowd, let’s get something straight. I’m not sure how effective this is with my, what, 8 hits a day, but nonetheless it needs to be said.
I’ve been just told of a significant and notable increase in the amount of mess, garbage and food being left in Pembina Hall that’s been happening since UMSPAR first started circulating our petition, and because of the timing of this I feel that it is my responsibility to say something:
Fucking stop it! Just fucking grow up and stop it! Stop!
Allow me to elaborate on these points a little further: To all the guilty parties, what you are doing helps absolutely nobody. Not only does it take away from the legitamacy of the cause because of its blatent immaturity, all that leaving mess on tables serves to do is make more work for the servers, which I personally absolutely do not want at all.
Like seriously, you probably all know what its like to wait tables, or be a clerk, or do something that involving cleaning. The P.Hall servers do a kick ass job day in, day out that I hold high regards to them for – same to all the cooks, busboys, lunch ladies, card-swiping ladies (who by the way helped me out quite a bit during both my stints as a cripple). And what I am striving for in no way implicates them – to anyone who actually attended the protest (around 10% of rez) I would like to think that I made clear in the speech that I gave.

…

I have always said that in a big organization, everyone is replacable and the organization is bigger than one person. I knew someone would pick up the torch (so to speak) at UMSU on food service and continue to scare the University Administration and Aramark into caring about students.
The replacement as step forward: Matt Soprovich of Tache/Speechly Hall.
Matt has been doing a great job of mobilizing students against the unaccountable ways of Aramark and UofM Administration.
When Matt emailed me weeks ago, I thought it was just another email that I would merely forward to the current UMSU Councillors, turns out it was not.
Keep up the good work Matt! I, and many other past and current UMSU Councillors are very impressed.
(If Matt runs for UMSU Council – vote for him – he is doing an amazing job) …

I want to thank everyone for their support the last couple of days. …

Attached is an Sil Article. Read it and see what the MSU President thinks of Accountability.
I have been initiated since I announced that I was moving this act at General Assembly. I have been confronted by members of the SRA, Board of Directors, and full-time staff of the MSU. A smear campaign has been engaged in by some of these people. I have had students that are associated with a member of the BoD call me a “Fucking Asshole”, “Fucking Douche bag”, and a “Fucking Idiot” in the last 24 hours.
The VP Finance attempted to dismiss me as Disability Coordinator representing and advocating for students (which is a volunteer position that I give about 12 hours a week to) Wednesday night but was overturn 2 hours by the MSU President. I was asked to keep quiet about it by members of the SRA and BoD in order to prevent damaging the image of the MSU. They attempted to appeal to my idealist view that the MSU can be reformed from within. I honestly believed the MSU President was he said he would deal with the issue. They said I had to understand that tensions are high right now and that the VP Finance was just lashing out at me because of how upset everyone is at my support of the General Assembly especially in light of the fact that two Engineers have moved to change the name of Quarters. I thought that was seriously the reason, it turns out that it has to do with accountability. …

Comments on the MSU Presidents Opposition to being accountable can be made here:

http://community.livejournal.com/mcmaster/264797.html …

…

With a new website and student group in Speechly/Tache Hall.
http://www.geocities.com/umspar/umspar
I am more than honoured that this group as approached me. As I said last year in April (not an exact quote as I do not remember word for word and never write out my speeches in advance. A practice I may begin.), “Yes, I am leaving you and yes I will not longer be your UMSU Councillor. This does not mean I am still not fighting for you and it does not mean that I will forget you. You all gave me the privilege of serving as your UMSU Councillor, I can only hope that I have proven myself worthy of the confidence you placed in me. … Remember, I am always available by email and promise to do my best to help. … Some people have expressed concern that the fight against Aramark will be lost without its leader. I say, I was not the leader, there was no leader. I was just merely the spokesperson. Yes, I was a student leader but without the student I am nothing. You all have it in you and all of you can be the next spokesperson. There will be somebody to speak out. ……. “
That somebody is Matt
I just read the Constitution of this group and I must say that I am not entirely comfortable with the way to settle a tie. I do find the thought of it to be amusing and would definitely be entertained but I definitely do not think it is the way to settle a tie. …

What can I say – read it for yourself:
http://www.rabble.ca/babble/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic&f=27&t=000252 …

Two Hours of 24 starts in five minutes …

I have posted over on the UManitoba LJ community in regards to the Sran Scandal that is currently ongoing at UMSU.
You can link to it here: http://community.livejournal.com/umanitoba/86756.html
Plus direct your comments to there. …

First Link:
Massive Muslim Protest Against Islamism in Bahrain
http://gatewaypundit.blogspot.com/2006/03/massive-muslim-protest-in-bahrain.html
I am very glad to see this. We are in this fight together and the only way we will win is by not being silenced by fear.
Second Link:
Muslim defends the publication of cartoons.
http://www.beliefnet.com/story/186/story_18648_1.html
Junaid Afeef is a man of honour and I am glad to see him standing by his convictions. …

MANIFESTO:
Together facing the new totalitarianism
After having overcome fascism, Nazism, and Stalinism, the world now faces a new totalitarian global threat: Islamism.
We, writers, journalists, intellectuals, call for resistance to religious totalitarianism and for the promotion of freedom, equal opportunity and secular values for all.
The recent events, which occurred after the publication of drawings of Muhammed in European newspapers, have revealed the necessity of the struggle for these universal values. This struggle will not be won by arms, but in the ideological field. It is not a clash of civilisations nor an antagonism of West and East that we are witnessing, but a global struggle that confronts democrats and theocrats.
Like all totalitarianisms, Islamism is nurtured by fears and frustrations. The hate preachers bet on these feelings in order to form battalions destined to impose a liberticidal and unegalitarian world. But we clearly and firmly state: nothing, not even despair, justifies the choice of obscurantism, totalitarianism and hatred. Islamism is a reactionary ideology which kills equality, freedom and secularism wherever it is present. Its success can only lead to a world of domination: man’s domination of woman, the Islamists’ domination of all the others. To counter this, we must assure universal rights to oppressed or discriminated people.
We reject « cultural relativism », which consists in accepting that men and women of Muslim culture should be deprived of the right to equality, freedom and secular values in the name of respect for cultures and traditions. We refuse to renounce our critical spirit out of fear of being accused of “Islamophobia”, an unfortunate concept which confuses criticism of Islam as a religion with stigmatisation of its believers. …