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Rwandan politician Léon Mugesera’s deportation is being delayed with the intervention of the Quebec Superior Court.

According to the Canadian Press, he was supposed to be sent back to the African nation on Thursday to face criminal charges.

Charges against him are related to the 1994 killing of more than 800,000 Rwandans.

His deportation has been delayed to allow the legal evaluation by the United Nations’ committee against torture of Mugesera’s claim that he would be tortured if returned to Rwanda.

Mugesera has been living in Quebec City for decades and was in the hospital for a second straight day because of an unspecified health issue.

If the deportation order is carried out as it was planned, Mugesera would be the first refugee claimant to be sent back to Rwanda to face charges related to the genocide.

Despite relentless dedication by the Quebec Liberal government, the Concordia Student Union has far from given up on the fight against tuition hikes. At Wednesday’s CSU council meeting, councilors voted in support of a winter semester mobilization plan meant to combat the proposed tuition hike of $325 per semester for students who are Quebec residents over the next five years.

On the agenda is a March 7 special general assembly to vote for a weeklong Concordia-wide strike. 

The CSU has already booked three locations on campus to gather enough students for a significant mandate.

 “If we are going to have a vote on a strike that affects the entire student body we need to have a significant amount of students in order for it to be successful,” said CSU VP External Chad Walcott.

The sites include H-110 on the Sir George Williams campus as well as The Hive and the G Lounge at the Loyola campus.

Walcott is the man leading the charge. He said that the government will have no choice to negotiate if students go on strike and if classes must be cancelled for a semester. “Governments can’t afford to do that,” he said.

If the strike mandate is approved by students it will take place from March 26 to 29. However, it won’t necessarily end there. It could be extended indefinitely if students vote to do so in a general assembly planned for March 29.

“A strike is pretty much the only card left that students have in their hand in Quebec,” said CSU President Lex Gill.

In anticipation of questions and criticism, the CSU has planned out an information campaign devoted to convincing students that a strike is necessary.

Information will come in the form of booklets, mass emails and flyers, but also in the form of direct action. One of these activities will be a “Library Sleep-in” planned to take place from February 1 to 8.

The campaign is set to put “symbolic pressure on the university, without preventing students from going to class.”

During the sleep-in, information sessions will be orchestrated to defend the strike mandate and to handle questions and criticism.

Councilor Emran Ghasemi brought up a major criticism during Wednesday’s council meeting when he asked whether international students risk deportation if there is a strike.

According to several councilors, the External Committee and Mob Squad who are at the forefront of activism against tuition hikes at Concordia have considered this and believe international students have nothing to fear. 

CSU representative to Senate Kyle McLoughlin added that it is not only a student's right to strike, but their duty as a member of a union.

However, most Registered Educations Savings Plans (RESP) and government student loans are null and void if a student is not registered for full-time classes. This could create some complications.

The CSU also plans to join students across the province in a Quebec-wide protest on March 22.

The last protest on November 10, 2011 against tuition hikes gathered an estimated 20 000 to 30 000 demonstrators, but led to no new negotiations between students and the government.

Photo taken on November 10, 2011 by Joel Balsam. 

An award winning French journalist is dead after an attack in the city of Homs in Syria. According to the BBC Gilles Jacquier had just finished interviewing people at a pro-government rally when grenades exploded. The exact number of deaths has yet to be confirmed but Syrian TV said eight were killed.

Jacquier was in Syria preparing a documentary about the recent protests. He was part of a group of 15 journalists who were visiting the city of Homs. They were being escorted around the by Syrian soldiers and police when the grenades hit.

The UN Security Council estimates that about 40 people have been killed each day in Syria since the arrival of the Arab League monitors in December.  The numbers are hard to confirm since foreign journalists have had little access to the country.

The EU foreign policy chief said that Syria has a responsibility to guarantee the safety of foreign journalists in the country.

Name: Annick

What is your DJ alias? & what are its origins? : MF Gold. Well it’s actually kinda silly, see my middle name is Marie-Laure, which is a French name, and when I was a kid I was trying to translate it for my English friends and I at that time I thought laure (as opposed to l’or) meant gold so I told people my middle name was mary-gold which just stuck with me for a while till I eventually turned into MF Gold

Show: Say Word!

Genre: Hip Hop Culture Talk Show

How long have you been at CJLO? : since April 2011

What is the best thing about working at CJLO? : Being part of a posse always gives you street cred and CJLO street cred is OG

Describe your show as a potential life partner. What are its qualities? : My show is so fun and spontaneous. It really loves life and discovering new cultures. It’s super opinionated but very open-minded. It loves the best music and always gives credit where credit is due, but mostly what I love about my show is that it loves me and soothes me when I’m frustrated, understands my rants and is always up for a good time.

Two reasons why you do your show?:
1) I love Life
2) I love sharing what I experience in Life

What do you think makes your show unique?: Our Talk Spots! Playing great music is only 10% of what we do at Say Word! .. Our talk spots really define Say Word because we really take the time to highlight local events, hot topics and artists so you can always be sure that you’ll learn something new from listening to Say Word!. Plus the Caity and MF Gold dynamic is totally one of a kind.
 

If you weren't doing your show, in what other ways would you express yourself?: I love to write, sing, dance, scream at shows, stalk people on fb, videoblog... Don’t worry I’d find someway to make my opinions heard.

What was the biggest turning point in your musical journey?: Well I’ve always loved many types of music and Hip-Hop was always a super big part of my life but I guess I must have been about 17 when I realized that even if I love lots of genres of music I want to live Hip-Hop for the rest of my life and I owe Tribe Called Quest, A-Rock, Nomadic Massive and the Vinyl dancefloor for that.

Fill In The Blanks:

If I could travel back in time and bring back anyone, I would bring back My Dad and Che Guevara. Because, They were both epic men who actually met each other and I would love to see their dynamic together

Name your 2 favorite albums of all time: I don’t do the whole all time thing cause I’m so one who changes a lot but they are a few albums that will always stick in my mind such as: No Doubt ‘Tragic Kingdom’, Jamiroquai ‘Travelling Without Moving’, Jay-Z ‘Reasonable Doubt’, Tribe Called Quest ‘ Midnight Marauders’ and recently Nomadic Massive ‘Nomad’s Land’, Obsesion ‘El Disco Negro’, The Narcicyst ‘The Narcicyst’ and DJ Jazzy Jeff & Ayah ‘Back for More’

What is the one piece of technology you cannot live without?: My Laptop

Describe yourself in 3 words: Fun, Loud, Intense