Deconstructing the Wall

Martin Boyd

Photo by Hillebrand Steve, USFWS“They [Mexicans] are bringing drugs. They’re bringing crime. They’re rapists. And some, I assume, are good people.” – Donald Trump, candidacy speech, June 16,2015

It would be fair to say that in recent years, US-Mexican relations have hit one of their lowest points in living memory. With his promise to build a wall spanning the US-Mexican border, the current US president made hostility towards Mexico a pillar of his campaign for the White House in 2016, a hostility that proved fundamental to his baffling success. The bizarre tribal chant “Build that Wall!” shouted by thousands of supporters of Donald Trump at his incendiary campaign rallies, has gone hand-in-hand with his campaign slogan “Make America Great Again” in the collective imagination of the trumpistas, for whom the exclusion and denigration of their neighbours to the south is inextricably tied to what they view as their own nation’s mission to recapture its “manifest destiny” as the world’s greatest superpower. The border wall has become the Trump nation’s most tangible symbol, a concrete manifestation of an almost pathological need to abuse and reject Mexico in order to assert American greatness.

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The Immortal Cantinflas

Martin Boyd

cantinflasThroughout the Spanish-speaking world and in Mexico in particular, Cantinflas is, beyond all doubt, a cultural icon. With Cantinflas, the Mexican comedian Mario Moreno created a character who featured in more than 50 feature films and became an emblematic image of Mexico’s national identity: the archetypal “pelado”, obtuse, at times insane but always hilarious, with a strong dose of social satire.

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Mexican Independence: What is Remembered and What Is Forgotten

Isabel Martínez

On September 15, Mexicans all over the world will be celebrating the independence of their native land once again. Both in towns all over Mexico and in Toronto and other cities of the world where there is a significant Mexican population, Mexicans come out to the public squares every year to commemorate the night in 1810 when the priest Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla called upon the parishioners of the town of Dolores, in the state of Guanajuato, to take up arms against the Spanish. This celebration is so firmly ingrained in the national collective imagination that sometimes its most basic features are obscured or forgotten.

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Mexico 2018: Art and Culture Confronting the Country’s Challenges

Conference, seminar and concert
Glendon College, York University
Friday, October 27, 11.00 a.m.

Mexico is experiencing one of the most difficult periods of its modern history. Human rights, governability, corruption, security, inequality, education, health, the environment, justice, and bilateral relations with the United States: all these are aspects of national life about which different national and international organizations, media outlets, academics and civil society are raising their voices in warning.

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Was Castro Canada’s Favourite Dictator?

Juan Gavasa

It was the most oft-repeated comment in the hours after Fidel Castro’s death that he was probably Canada’s favourite dictator. Canadians certainly never approved of the methods used by Fidel Castro to govern Cuba; press censorship and political repression, his insistence that the unions be managed by the government, and the arbitrary practices of his revolutionary courts would never have been welcomed in a democratic and diverse country like Canada.

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Mexican Classical Music Comes to Toronto

When: Saturday, November 5, 2016
Where: Windermere United Church
356 Windermere Ave., Toronto.
Tickets: $25.00

An evening of Mexican and international chamber music, combined with visual arts. Duo Luna, featuring violinist Paulina Derbez and pianist Araceli Salazar, will be featuring works by classical Mexican composers such as Manuel M. Ponce, Federico Ibarra, Silvestre Revueltas and Alexis Aranda. Also featured will be Cesar Franck’s Sonata and Spiegel im Spiegel by Arvo Part, with the visual accompaniment of digital artist Jaime Luján.

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Diálogos Celebrates its 10th Anniversary!

Martin Boyd

On September 25, 2006, the company Diálogos was born. I founded the business just two months after arriving in Toronto from Mexico City, with the primary purpose of providing Spanish-English translation services, but also with a broader vision of offering a forum of intercultural exchange between the Spanish- and English-speaking worlds in Canada. Over the past decade, Diálogos has evolved into a premium agency providing translation services in the legal, literary, academic and commercial fields, serving clients here in Canada and all over the world. At the same time, our broader vision of supporting exchange between Hispanic and Anglophone communities in Canada has been realized through a wide range of initiatives.

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Celebrating Latin American Culture

mississauga-latin-festival_250Mississauga Latin Festival 2016

When: Saturday August 6 and Sunday August 7, 2016, starting at 1 p.m.
Where: Mississauga Celebration Square
300 City Centre Drive, Mississauga

The best of our Latin American culture will be on display at the second edition of the Mississauga Latin Festival 2016, where you will have the chance to enjoy orchestras, folklore, traditional foods, handicrafts, children’s activities, a cultural exhibition and much more.

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York University Professor Forced to Return to Costa Rica for Having a Son Who Is Different

Leonora Chapman

Felipe MontoyaOn the occasion of World Down Syndrome Day, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon issued a statement on March 21, 2013, saying that: “in working life, stereotypes against persons with Down syndrome often mean they are denied vocational training opportunities and their right to work. In the political and public sphere, persons with Down syndrome and other persons with intellectual disabilities are often deprived of their right to vote and fully participate in the democratic process.”

Down syndrome can give rise to very complicated situations for individuals and families. This is one of these cases.

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Casa Maíz Celebrates International Women’s Day

Arte en Forma de Mujer“Arte en Forma de Mujer” Exhibition
Celebrating the artistic talent of Hispanic Canadian women on International Women’s Day

When: Saturday, March 5, 2016. 7 p.m.
Where: Casa Maíz,
1280 Finch Ave. West, Suite 204, Toronto

Admission: Free

Casa Maíz is pleased to celebrate International Women’s Day with its now traditional “Arte en Forma de Mujer” (Art in the Shape of a Woman).

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