Original author: Meg Hewings
Source: Hour Magazine
URL: [link]
Date: November 17, 2005


The real life experience of Montrealer Adil Charkaoui could have come straight out of a Kafka novel.

In fact, his story will be part of an adaptation of Kafka's The Trial, in which unsuspecting protagonist Joseph K. awakes to a fascist nightmare when he is abruptly arrested and held without charge or evidence.

The Teesri Duniya Theatre and the Coalition for Justice for Adil Charkaoui recently collaborated in order to present a Montreal version of Trial, a play written this past summer by social justice advocate Matthew Behrens and staged by theatre director Laurel Smith in Toronto. The play shows the striking parallels between the novel's exploration of the nature of bureaucratic power and the current effects of Canada's anti-terror legislation on five immigrants, Charkaoui and four others. All remain detained by security certificates - except Charkaoui who was recently released - a measure allowing authorities to hold non-citizens for indefinite periods without fair trial, under threat of deportation.Local poet, playwright and activist Ehab Lotayef is part of the team responsible for bringing the adaptation to Montreal.

"Most people don't even know what the security certificates are all about," he says. Last year, along with the Canadian Arab Federation, he went to speak with MPs on Parliament Hill, many of whom were not aware of the measures.

"We aren't dreaming this stuff up, this is a reality in Canada today. All it takes is for CSIS to convince two ministers that

someone is a security threat [regardless of whether the person is guilty or not] - then a person's fate is totally thrown into the unknown. A non-citizen can be charged without knowing what the charge against them is for, not for a limited time, but months and years. If something like that can happen to even five people, it means it can affect anyone. It means the system is already defective."

Lotayef believes that art and activist theatre can make a difference. "I don't think anyone who attends this reading will come out not moved or wanting to have a position."

A staged reading of Trial happens Nov. 19 at the F.C. Smith Auditorium (7141 Sherbrooke W.). For more info: [link]