But I’m amazed that the two centre-left mayors would come down against a progressive movement right before an election. I suppose this signals that their more serious electoral threats are from the right (Paul Brown in Victoria and Suzanne Anton in Vancouver), but both mayoral seats are considered quite safe. It just goes to show that the centre-left in BC is more centre than left. (Gregor Robertson is an ex-NDP MLA; Dean Fortin is associated with the NDP.)

In Victoria the mayor has gone so far as to say that the Occupation needs to be evicted to make space for Christian-consumerist activities in Centennial Square. I guess democracy only gets one month of the year?

The Occupations are requiring larger amounts of police and other emergency responder time, but it is far from an emergency situation. The authorities should work with the Occupation General Assemblies to establish collaborative solutions. If the Occupation requires a continual police presence, so be it: the government has no right to constrain freedoms because they’re inconvenient or expensive.

The incumbent mayors are part of the problem, not part of the solution. Based on this, I am endorsing Steve Filipovic for Mayor of Victoria and Randy Helten for Mayor of Vancouver.

Maté was very careful to distinguish between “ayahuasca” as a ceremony that includes the use of naturally-occurring DMT and the drug itself. He doesn’t really care about experimental design or even the legality of importing psychotria plants into Canada. Much like a safe injection site, he thinks the treatment should be done because there have been positive results.

Someone asked the really interesting question of whether these ceremonies count as cultural appropriation, particularly in light of the popularity of Ayahuasca Tourism. The ceremonies are performed by residents of BC who have apprenticed under Peruvian shamans but Maté mentioned at least one that included BC First Nations ritual elements. Given that many addicts in BC are First Nations and the significant of First Nations in our province’s spiritual culture, I think it would make sense if these evolve into a hybrid ritual.

Maté only briefly compared ayahuasca with ibogaine, another hallucinogenic used in the treatment of addiction in Vancouver. From what I gather, ibogaine cures physical addiction but has less impact on the psychological cause of drug use in the first place. Although patients who participate in ayahuasca still have relapses without a follow-up support structure. Maté mentioned that he would like to try combining ibogaine and ayahausca.

Interestingly, Maté has participated in these ceremonies a number of times, which made me question his distinction between medical treatment, spiritual work and recreational drug use.

I’m a bit of a political history buff, but reading the Wikipedia page is not adequate preparation. My favourite scene was the meeting with Mao, where I had to work hard just to understand the references to the Cultural Revolution, never mind Mao’s sex life. The Third Act, about the characters’ private lives, went right over my head.

The minimalist music works exceptionally well with the enhanced singing voices. According to the program and reviews there were all sorts of references that make this music postmodern, but I missed them all. The basic repetition and drifting transformations make pleasing harmony with the repetition in the lyrics.

The kung fu – classical ballet hybrid dancing in the second act have some moments of shear brilliance, although most of the dancers fall into one or the other exclusive styles. The set design and lighting is very high-end, including projected rain that would have fit right in to the Olympics Opening Ceremonies.

The script feels a little uneven because Henry Kissinger is basically just an extra, without a solo to properly balance his counterpart, Jiang Qing (Madame Mao). (Zhou Enlai is actually Pat Nixon’s opposite: the way this works might be the neatest part of the whole script.)

I’m not sure who I’d recommend this to. You’d have to be really into listening to people sing and appreciate the minimalism of an opera plot. But your enjoyment would be higher the more you knew about the history.

The majority of Downtown Eastside residents have life situations that are similar to each other and different from the situations of the residents of any other neighbourhood. This congregation of difference creates a unique culture.* In particular, the culture is more community-oriented. Gentrification of the neighbourhood will destroy this unique culture.

* Testing whether this is true for language, (street) art and cultural rituals is an entire anthropology research program.