Watch: The VICE Guide to Film with Gaspar No

Argentinian auteur Gaspar No's new film, Love, wowed audiences during its world premiere at Cannes Film Festival earlier this year, and it's finally hitting theaters next month. The semi-autobiographical, sexually-charged movie was shot in stereoscopic 3D, and it's the director's most narratively ambitious film since 2009's Enter the Void.

The film follows Murphy, who wakes in his apartment one New Year's Day to a frantic call from his ex-girlfriend's mother. His ex, Electra, has been missing for months and her mother fears the worst.

Over the course of a long, rainy day, Murphy finds himself alone in his apartment, reminiscing about the greatest love affair of his lifethe two years he spent with Electra.

VICE is premiering the new trailer for Love today, before the film opens in NYC October 30 and hits additional markets and online November 6. Watch it above.

Clients at the Eaton Foundation mental health center in Burton-on-Trent. Photos courtesy of Alex Eaton

This article originally appeared on VICE UK.

Let's start with some stats: In every country in the world, male suicides outnumber female suicides. In Britain, men are three times more likely to end their own lives than women, and suicide remains the most common cause of death in men under the age of 35. Of the 5,981 suicides in the UK in 2012, 4,590 were men.

Deeply concerned by the prevalence of male suicide, Alex Eaton, founder of the Eaton Foundation, decided to take the issue into his own hands. Earlier this month he opened the first male-only mental health center in the country. "It's important to have a male-only center, because men find it hard to talk about their feelings. It's that age-old thing of men being macho," says Eaton. "Having a men's center is a very simple concept. I'm surprised we're the first of its kind."

In Eaton's view, most suicides are preventable if those at risk know where to get help. "We don't go far enough to prevent suicide in Britain. Doctors would rather take the easy way out and chuck you some antidepressants," he reflects. "But if somebody came to our center with suicidal thoughts, we would react to it, safeguard them instantly, and seek the relevant help. Talking openly and honestly can save lives."

It was while mourning his father's death that Eaton first decided to set up the foundation. "My father, Neil Eaton, died in June, 2013, and we set up the Eaton Foundation in August, 2013 in Burton-on-Trent while I was still grieving for him," he explains. "In the last week we've opened a proper center in a new buildingit used to belong to an architecture company and has lots of stained glass windows. Sadly, if there had been something like this around at the time, my father would probably still be here today."

Eaton's father suffered from mental health problems, addiction, and depression for much of his life. "My dad was a big drinker. He would drink all the super strength lagers. When I was younger he slipped a disc in his back, so his mobility was very bad," he tells me. "He was in a lot of pain and on morphine and sleeping tablets. It became a huge problem because he was taking both the drugs and alcohol. One day, his body simply shut down and he died at the age of 53."

Read on VICE News: 'The Greatest Opportunity We Have in Mental Health': Inside the British Study Where Volunteers Mainline LSD

In Eaton's view, his father was not getting the help he needed and deserved. "The problem with the NHS's mental health teams is they won't touch you if you're drunk or under the influence," he says. "But when you're under the influence, you don't have the mental capacity to take decisions for yourself."

The death took its toll on Eaton. He suffered from depression for about a year and ended up having to leave his job. "However, opening the foundation in my father's memory really helped my recovery," he reflects.

Related: Watch the story of Paul Alexander and how mental illness derailed the career of a great skateboarder

And, clearly, it's helping others, too. "We see around 40 men per week and we respond to referrals within a day," Eaton explains. "We receive referrals from statutory services, third sector, and from self-referrals and third-party referrals from family or friends."

Besides its focus on men, Eaton believes there's something else that distinguishes the Eaton Foundation from other mental health centers. "We believe in a holistic approach. When you're going to one service for housing, another for debt, and another for mental health, you're constantly telling your story here, there, and everywhere," he explains. "We do not believe that men's issues should be treated in a vacuum, because they did not arise or affect them in a vacuum."

For this reason, the center helps men with the whole host of problems they face. "We've helped people with mental health, debt, benefits, housingwe've even been to court for disability allowance appeals," says Eaton. "I believe that consistency is key. I think that's why they feel safe coming here. We can support a man suffering with depression following dependency because of bereavement and a marriage breakdown all in one place. About 20 percent who come to us say they're suicidal, so obviously we take safeguarding measures."

The service caters for men from the tender age of 19 up to 70. "We are very much about empowering clients. We don't believe in being directive," Eaton explains. "We held focus groups of our clients and asked them what they wanted in the new center and we listened to them."

For the first two years, the foundation was entirely voluntary, with no salaries or funding for sessional fees, but it now employs three paid members of staff and ten volunteers. One of these volunteers is Rob Gilholy. "Gilholy suffered from mental health issues and was quite deep into dependency and addiction," explains Eaton. "We got him into detox and he's now six months clean and works as a peer support worker. I saw loads of potential in him and it was one of the best decisions I ever made."

Since opening, the Eaton Foundation has won five charity awards and has just been invited to join the male mental health research team in London UCL. "Funding permitted, one of our plans is to copy this center and put it in every single town across the country," Eaton explains.

In providing a safe space for men to talk openly, the Eaton Foundation challenges rigid, destructive typecasts of masculinity. In doing so, it ultimately takes steps to tackle the silent epidemic of male suicide, a British epidemic that is only growing: new research suggests that the number of male mental health patients who die by suicide in the UK has increased by almost a third in the last decade.

To understand male suicide, you have to understand masculinity. For many, masculinity leaves no room for vulnerability, self-doubt, or weakness. From a young age, men are conditioned, and later expected, to hide emotional fragility. Instead they must adhere to a narrow, restrictive view of manhood: a worldview characterized by power, dominance, rationality, control, and aggression.

So when holding down a job, being a breadwinner, and providing for your family is the barometer of "being a man," it can be acutely difficult to deal with things going wrong. If you're laid off, it's not just your job gone, it's your whole identity left in tatters. But being invulnerable is impossible for anyone. Just as nobody is immune to colds, nobody is immune to phases of doubt and anxiety.

Despite this, men remain reluctant to seek help for their mental health problems. In turn, depression continues to be under-diagnosed and under-treated among the male population. Put it like this: one in four women will require treatment for depression at some point in their life, compared to one in ten men, and yet men are four times as likely to commit suicide as women. Rather than seeking help, statistically speaking, men are far more likely to have an alcohol or drug problemthey're more likely to deal with their problems with a weeklong bender than a trip to the doctors. In turn, the rate of premature death (under 50 years old) is a staggering one-and-half times higher among men than women.

As we have seen, having a stiff upper lip or always acting the lad can quickly become exhausting, unsustainable, and damaging. Patriarchy might privilege men who conform to its narrow view of successi.e. those who are heterosexual, financially profitable, stoical, invulnerable, and domineeringbut it's less accommodating to those who don't conform. As such, it can be difficult to admit to going through a phase of crisis, depression, or anxiety. The roles, character traits, and behaviors we associate with manhood are all about control, but when men experience mental health problems, they lose control.

But gender isn't the only thing that has an impact on the probability of suicide. Unsurprisingly, the amount of cash in your pocket and life chances you have makes a difference, too. Those in the poorest socio-economic circumstances are ten times more likely to commit suicide than the affluent.

That said, it has to be remembered that it's never possible to truly know why someone chooses to take their own life. For this very reason, it's imperative we see the bigger picture and try to understand why so many men come to feel that they have no purpose, value, or significance. Centers like the Eaton Foundation bring us further on this quest. The simple, humble act of providing a secure place for men to openly express their problems free from judgment will hopefully save many preventable deaths.

Follow Maya on Twitter.

A group of anarchists took over an old university building in Athens with plans to turn it into temporary accommodation for refugees. Photo by Panagiotis Maidis

With several European countries closing their borders, certain politicians calling for a complete stop toall immigration, and local mayors making weird videos warning migrants not to come to their town, it is easy to forget that across Europe a lotof people have been doing their best to help the refugees arriving in theircountries. In many major European cities, citizens havebeen welcoming refugees at train stations, donating clothes and food, and insome cases even offering to put up migrants in their own homes.

In Berlin, a coupleset up website that helps you raise the funds to donate your room to a refugee, while similar initiatives are springing up all over Europe. The Dutch website I'm a Host Family for a Refugeewhere people can sign up to spend time with migrants during the day, help them with practical issues, or host someonereceivedover 24.000 applications in the last three weeks.

If you decide to engage with a refugee however, it is important to remember that they are likely to be traumatized by recent stressful experiences and could therefore require special treatment. I wanted to know if there is anything to look out for in such cases, so I got in touch with psychiatrist Ruud Jongedijk, director of the Dutch foundation Centrum '45 which helps people cope with traumatic events in their lives. I asked him about issues that you're likely to run into if you decide to open your house to a refugee and what you definitely shouldand shouldn't do.

VICE: Is there a dominant emotion that you havenoticed in refugees? What is the best way to deal with that, wheninteracting with people who are fleeing war?
Ruud Jongedijk: We often see abuild-up of emotions. Refugees have often endured terrible things in their homecountries, as well as on the way here. For example, at the center I met a mother who losther child during the journey. All those traumatic experiences tend to pile up. Peoplecope in the beginningthey have a lot of things to take care of and get a lotof attention from aid workers and volunteers. We call that the "honeymoon phase"everything is great. But the bad memories often resurface and can act as a majorsetback.

We saw that a lot withrefugees from the former Yugoslavia in the 1990s. Some of those refugeeswere put up with host families. That often went fine at the beginning but problems did later. That's partly because the refugees had some timeto rest and get settled. They'd had some time to think about it all and so the stress ofeverything they'd gone through started to manifest itself in different ways. Intrusive memories arewidespread, like in nightmares or flashbacks. People become depressed, havetrouble sleeping, or are easily agitated. Those are symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder. Not everyone develops PTSDpeople are very resilientbut itdoes happen. It must be noted here, that traumatic experiences don't automatically lead to PTSD.

Bakary, Mareike, and Jonas of the website Refugees Welcome, which helps you raise the funds to share your flat with a refugee. More on this here. Photo by Jean-Paul Pastor Guzmn

Is it a good idea to do something fun with yourguests or is it better to just let them be?
Playing football with them orhelping them out with practical stuff can be great. The best way to preventPTSD is by offering support in a social way. You shouldn't let thesepeople sit in their room by themselves all the time, otherwise they'll just keepgoing over everything they went through in their mind. What you need to do is make them part ofyour social structure. Keep them busy. But what we call "watchful waiting" isvery important. You are present, but you don't force your company on anyoneinstead you keep an eye on them to make sure they are doing OK.

How can one make a refugee part of a household without being too pushy?
I wouldn't pressure anyone intodoing things they don't feel up to. It's better to phrase these things as aninvitation, instead of a statement. It should be: "Would you like to have dinner withus?" or "Shall we play some football?" instead of "We'll all have dinner togethertonight and then, we're going to play football." You can also help themfind their way to the right authorities and organizations. By offering thesethings, you can show your involvement and support.

Ifthey start talking about the things they have experienced, make sure theconversation doesn't go on for too long. Don't let them go into detail anddon't ask for it. Show concern: Do let them know that you are interested in whatthey have to say but have the guts to stop the conversation when it gets to betoo much. It can become too stressful for the person concerned. By reliving memories one can develop otheranxieties.

But should you broach the subject yourself?
Some want to talk about their experiences a lot,others not at all. There are people who are so concerned about the situation at home that all they want to do is watch TV and keep abreast of news in their country, while others don't want to hear about any of it.

But not talking aboutthe past at all is also unnatural. You can say something like, "Man, you must have been through a lot." Showing interest is good, as long as you don't dig too deep.It's a big no-no to delve deeply into traumatic experiences. If theystart to lose themselves in their history, bring them back to the here and now by suggesting an activity. Don't try to offer them any kind of psychiatric careyourself. It is better to just support them in a social sense.

Related: Watch our documentary, 'Life As an Illegal Immigrant in Greece'

And if you notice that someone needsprofessional help?
The biggest danger is that welose sight of refugees. When you provide shelter at home, you can form a vitallink between the refugee and professional help. You might not be a trained careprofessional, but surely you can notice early signs of problems. If someone retreats,doesn't sleep, starts drinking heavily, gets angry quicklythat sort of stuffit'stime to get help. The local refugee council or your GP can provide that help.

Do you think people underestimate what they'regetting into, when they take in a refugee?
Well, maybe. It is avery nice and idealistic idea, but do you know who you'll get? Do you know whatthat person has gone through? You shouldn't underestimate the practical side of what you're about to do either. Giving up your privacy mightbe doable for a week, but doing it for a couple of months is a completelydifferent story. Cultural differences can also be an issue. It is important to do your research and really make sure you are ready to make that kind of commitment.

So making sure you're prepared is the mostimportant thing?
Yes, be prepared. Don't rushinto anything and make sure you're backed by a professional organization. Decide in advance what you are and aren't comfortable with. Are you OK withthree young guys coming to live with you, a family with young children or achildless couple? Also set a fixed end date. You have to know how long you arewilling to do this for. If you just say, "Just let them come, and we'll see," youmight end up hosting for longer than you're comfortable with.That's not good for anyone.

A fire keeps the bugs away from a dice game in the Brannon Hill parking lot. All photos by the author

Every day, Ismael Shahid fills five-gallon jugs of drinking water from a nearby building to haul to the burned-out shell that's providing the roof over his family's heads. Shahid and his teenage son Taha put the jugs in an Office Depot shopping cart and push it up the charred stairspast their neighbors, some of whom use crackinto Brannon Hill, a condominium complex near Atlanta that by all rights should just be torn down before it collapses.

Technically, they're squatters. So are most of the people around them.

"For us, we're just dealing with the situation as it is," says Shahid, a 42-year-old Iraq War veteran whose second career as a truck driver was derailed following being struck by a disability (he won't get more specific than that). "I would rather have my family in something than in nothing," he says.

Shahid (right) and his son, Taha

The condo complex where they live offers a reliable scene of open-air drug dealing, sex work, gang warfare, arson, and killings. Most of the residents who have not fled at this point are immigrants from east AfricaSomalia, predominantlywho settled there in part because of the proximity to the nearby refugee community in Clarkston, Georgia.

On VICE News: What I Learned About al Qaeda from Analyzing the 'Bin Laden' Tapes

Brannon Hill represents the result of several levels of institutional failure, starting with the condominium association and rising up through the county government. It's outside of incorporated city lines, leaving DeKalb County with jurisdiction over it. Up until this year, when confronted with the increasing social disorder of Brannon Hill, county leaders have cited the legal complexity of negotiating with more than 100 separate property owners, the futility of enforcing housing codes when those owners have no money to pay fines, the sensitivity of displacing a poor immigrant community, and the financial cost of eminent domain or condemnation. Meanwhile, things have continued to get worse.

Nationwide, the housing market has bounced back since the real-estate bubble burst in 2008but the recovery has been unevenly distributed. Zillow's most recent negative equity report shows that higher-end housing in Atlanta is about as likely to have equity as anywhere in America. But inexpensive housingwhich is to say, housing in predominantly poor black neighborhoodsis about twice as likely to be underwater as middle-value and top-value housing. The problem persists across America's urban landscape.

According to Zillow's negative equity data, about 38 percent of homes in Clarkston's 30021 zip code had underwater mortgages last year. And though DeKalb County's average housing values are above what they were during the depths of the crash, they're only about two-thirds of what they were ten years agofor reference, metro Atlanta's average home values have nearly returned to what they were pre-housing crisis.

The foreclosure crisis created graveyards of abandoned homes. Hard-hit municipalities from Fresno, California, to Atlantic City have been struck by blightunfilled buildings no one wants. But as long as housing values remain low, local governments remain starved of property tax revenue. There's less money to hire code enforcement officers, retain experienced cops, or condemn and tear down places like Brannon Hill, regardless of what the law says.

Local police and officials generally acknowledge Brannon Hill as the worst place in the county, if not all of metro Atlanta. "The living conditions are unbelievable," says Andrew Baker, DeKalb County's director of code enforcement. He's got five binders full of photographs and citations and code violations for the condo complex. When I spoke with him at the DeKalb County government headquarters in July, he recited a litany of abusessiding peeling off buildings, structures coming apart at the corners, rotten wood, balconies falling apart, exposed outlets and wires, holes in the roofing, holes in the walls, doors missing, windows missing, bullet holes, unsecured units, unlicensed vehicles, and burned-down buildings. Right now, he says, about 400 people live in the complex.

One of Brannon Hill's burned-out buildings

One building's hallways are filled with two inches of stagnant water, turning the floors into a sooty, garbage-filled paste. The stench is like being locked in a bathroom with a toilet that hasn't been flushed in a year. Some of the units are partly burned out. Make one bad step in certain areas of the complex, and the floor gives way.

Still, outside, there's a bright orange extension cord leading to a second floor balcony. Someone is trying to live here.

Most of the complex's buildings aren't quite that bad, but according to Baker, none meet code.

"We can send our code officers to look at the property, but our officers can only look at the physical exterior, the common areas, and so forth," he says. About 162 of Brannon Hill's 369 units are burned, while about 71 others are unoccupied, he adds. "They can't go into any of the units unless they're invited." The law does not allow an inspector to enter without permission. And no one in Brannon Hill gives permission because they're afraid of being put out of their homes, according to Baker.

Somalis began coming to Clarkston in the late 80s. White flight around Clarkston left the area relatively underpopulated, and refugee resettlement groups liked the relatively easy access to the last stop on Atlanta's MARTA rail service. Over the course of the next two and a half decade, agencies resettled thousands of refugees from Somalia, Ethiopia, Nepal, and elsewhere in and around Clarkston.

The refugee influx radically changed the economic makeup of the area. A thriving network of immigrant-owned shops emerged; the Dunkin' Donuts a mile up the street is still a gathering spot for Somali cab drivers. A mini-mall of Somali clothing stores, insurance agencies, and restaurants now sits a mile from the center of Clarkston. There's fantastic Nepalese restaurant next to an Ethiopian grocery and across the street from a Somali caf.

About 7,000 people of Somali descent live in and around Clarkston today, according to Omar Shekhey, 55, who runs the nonprofit Somali American Community Center in Clarkston. A relatively small number are still in Brannon Hillmaybe 400 or 500, he says. Some people move here to reunite with family, and will take housing where they can get it, especially if there's a question about the legality of their immigration status.

"People invested in these properties because Muslims do not pay interest and they don't take loans on mortgages," explains Faiza Mohamed, a Somali-American who renovated property there when she bought a unit in 2014. (Many observant Muslims view money as strictly a means of exchange, which means most mortgages aren't sharia-compliant due to the fact that they charge interest.) Since the condos were relatively cheap, Mohamed says, "this was their only option to live in a place where they owned it outright and wouldn't have to pay rent."

The community's troubles began in the early 2000s, when fires claimed some condominium buildings. Owners stopped contributing to the condominium fund, sending the association into a financial death spiral. Subsequent fires left half-burned buildings to become garbage-filled squats, driving down the value of the rest of the property. One by one, owners abandoned their investments and were replaced either by renters or no one at all.

The housing crash made things worse, as the declining real estate market opened up opportunities for some condo owners; property elsewhere started to look as affordable as Brannon Hill. "A lot of people had saved enough money to buy property elsewhere, and then they moved, and then things got worse," Mohamed says.

Gang graffiti that peppers the outside of the complex

Brannon Hill's decline has mirrored that of the surrounding area. Decades ago, nearby Memorial Drive was an idyllic middle-class suburban promenade, the site of the first-ever Home Depot. One by one, major businesses and anchor tenants for strip malls left and were replaced by tire shops, cash advance places, and dollar stores. The largest stores along Memorial now are a new Walmart and Nam Dae Mun, a well-regarded Korean farmers' market that slipped into space once occupied by a Publix grocery store.

Churches in the area have a quarter of the congregations they've had in years past, according to Pastor Randal Palm of Rock of Ages Lutheran Church, which sits across Memorial from Brannon Hill. A college group wanted to come volunteer there recently, he says. "It was a young group of college girls, all dressed very nicely, and they wanted to work cleaning up right here in front. And I told them no, unless you want to really experience what it feels like to be propositioned, because that's what's going to happen. Well, they wanted to go in the back, along the fence line. But I know that that's where the drug deals go on."

Residents say a three-bedroom Brannon Hill apartment rents for $300 a month, about $700 under the local average, per Realtor.com. That's cheap enough to still occasionally attract tenants, as long as they don't mind the occasional gang assassination next door. That is not an exaggeration: A police report indicated that detectives believe gang members at Brannon Hill deliberately burned down one of the buildings last year to facilitate a murder.

Brannon Hill might be right next to the city of Clarkston, but it's policed by DeKalb County, which is grossly understaffed and underpaid. DeKalb has been bleeding talent to other agencies for years: officers have told me that rich cities nearby, like Sandy Springs or Marietta, can offer experienced officers much better compensation packages. According to Politifact Georgia, the county has been relying on police academies to fill the ranks, but the departure of veteran cops have actually led to a 2 percent decrease in the overall number of officers. The result is a police force that is understaffed and inexperienced.

A mirror has been placed in the Brannon Hill parking lot so residents can watch for police

As the number of tenants in Brannon Hill declined, so did its finances. On paper, the condominium association should take in about $880,000 a year with all units in compliancethat's 369 units, each paying $200 a month in association dues. The number today is apparently closer to $50,000, because only about 20 units are paying their fees now. Most of that goes to pay for electricity, gas service during the winter, and wholly insufficient trash services, according to Haji Said, who administered affairs for the homeowners association in the past. There's no money for infrastructure repair, or to bring units up to code, or to obtain fire insurance, or even to sue people for failing to pay into the community fund.

Not that a lawsuit would have been especially easy even with a barrel of cash. Most of the property owners of record can't be contacted, Said explains. He holds up a fistful of mail. "All these letters are returned letters where we could not find the homeowners."

Said says the complex has not been insured for at least ten years. Until early August, the condo association had been long defunct. But community meetings held by neighborhood advocacy group PRISM last year in the area around Brannon Hill caused the county government to take set its sights on Brannon Hill again. A county government group met with residents, who then decided to try to reconstitute the homeowners association.

Meanwhile, the complex shut off water to several buildings to prevent catastrophic leaks, Said tells me. Not to avoid damage to the buildingsthe units with bad pipes are too far gone to repair in any casebut to stop a comically high bill from becoming even worse.

Last November, the county hit Brannon Hill with a $700,000 charge for water. Shedding that debt has, understandably, been a bit difficult. "We've asked everyone who owns a unit to pay something," Said says, but realistically it will never be paid back.

A Brannon Hill squatter named ASAP enters his home

Brannon Hill has been nobody's problem for so long that now it's becoming everyone's problem. A few years ago, what remained of Brannon Hill's now-defunct board commissioned a $10,000 report to assess the cost to renovate the condominium complex properly. The renovation price they came up with was $10.5 million. And no one around here has that kind of money.

If the county fined property owners with code violations into penury, says Luz Borrero, deputy chief operating officer for DeKalb County, it would just mean another lien on the property, making it unsellable if an actual developer wanted to fix it up.

And if DeKalb condemned Brannon Hill, by law it would be obligated to find housing for every displaced family, according to Georgia's Relocation Act. And neither the housing supply nor the money to fund such a migration exists, Borrero says. "Obviously, we cannot just take money from the General Fund and say that the rest of unincorporated DeKalb County taxpayers are going to pay for (mass relocations)."

A local rumor maintains that Georgia Perimeter College in Decatur would buy out the property for use as student housingbut that's not in the cards, according to the college itself. "We do not have any plans or interest in this property," says Andrea Jones, a spokesman for Georgia State University, which recently consolidated with Perimeter.

Until someone does something, Brannon Hill will remain home to a network of dealers, addicts, squatters, and the truly lost. Ismael Shahid's take on Brannon Hill is stoic to the point of being ascetic, and filtered through his Muslim faith. He says he believes he has found peace in Brannon Hill, but he's ready to take his five children out of there. His wife received an associate's degree from Georgia Perimeter this year and is studying at Georgia State now. Though managing his disability, Shahid's thinking about becoming a truck driver again. "You look at the structure and you'd say, 'How can you do this?' But I don't have someone threatening to throw me out," he says. "It's brought more peace for ourselves. Despite all of these things, we've always been protected. God has always protected us."

Follow George Chidi on Twitter.

Photo via Flickr user Seluryar

Earlier this month, a Nova Scotia newspaper published a story about a "prostitution crackdown" in Cape Breton, a laudatory summary of law enforcement's efforts to curb the "growing presence of female prostitution" in the city centre.

At the end of the article, the reporter (or their editor) found it necessary to include a list of the 27 alleged johns facing charges, complete with name, age, and place of residence. VICE has decided against linking to this piece, as sex workers rights' advocates warn this type of public client shaming does more harm than good.

"When you criminalize clients, when clients are less visible, women are out on the streets longer," says Audrey Garcia*.

Garcia, who now works as a community organizer with Montreal sex worker support group Stella, says that rather than protecting vulnerable women, law enforcement's crackdown on johns forces sex workers into isolation.

An environment where clients are trying to avoid police means sex workers are more likely to meet up with johns in dangerous areas, or get into cars without properly negotiating their terms, she explains. "When you're hiding, you're not accessing the information you need to do things safety, with consent, with communication."

Client shaming isn't a new tactic: in the US, police have taken to sharing johns' mugshots on Facebook or with the media. "And back in the day, police would show up on clients' doorsteps and out them in front of their families," Garcia says, "or they would send them letters that would be opened by their loved ones."

"If you look at the laws, they're actually rooted in client shaming and the idea that if you see a prostitute you must be a bad man, you must be a criminal."

This approach is part of what led to a 2013 Supreme Court challenge of Canadian prostitution laws. A group of women, led by former dominatrix Terri-Jean Bedford, fought to strike down the laws on the basis that they were unconstitutional. They won their case and forced the Conservative government to create new legislationknown as Bill C-36.

Yet as C-36 took shape and it became evident the Tories' new plan would be even more restrictive, Bedford threatened to publish a list of sex workers' prominent clients. This, she said, would "show the hypocrisy of those who want to impose their will on others while themselves engaging in the very behaviour they want to others to stop."

Before going through with her threat, Bedford surveyed sex workers to get their thoughts on the controversial gesture, eventually deciding to respect worker-client privilege.

While Garcia wouldn't comment on Bedford's motivations, she says that for sex workers, shaming one's own clients is not only dangerous but a form of career suicide.Most importantly, she says, "shaming" perpetuates the notion that sex work is inherently bad.

"The government takes for granted the impact of that stigma on the client but also on the people who sell sex," Garcia explains. She says this is why C-36which criminalizes pretty much every aspect of sex workis so problematic. "Prostitutes are considered victims no matter what, which means clients are perps." This, she says, is a flawed stereotype. "Clients are your neighbour, your dentist, they're literally everybody."

In the case of the Cape Breton arrests, she points out that two thirds of the men listed are over the age of 60. "I don't know who these men are, so I can't make an assumption," Garcia says, "But this list shows us the clients are older, they're not 20 or 30-year-old yahoos just running around. That's a big risk to take for someone that's 80, so we have to ask ourselves why they're taking these risks."

This doesn't mean men over 60 are incapable of violence or exploitation, "but the fact that people are seeking out sexual services is really important, and the fact that they're seeking them at different ages is really important."

Dr. Ummni Khan, a Carleton University professor whose research focuses on the stigmatization of sex trade clients, says that, in many contexts, access to sex work is not about exploitation. "It's one of the problems that the anti-prostitution view doesn't see the incredible value of sexual services, the need for intimacy and touch that many clients have."

She says the relationship between worker and client isn't always that different from what happens in a non-commercial relationship. "We can't realize the importance of sexuality for some people," she says. "It can be your life circumstances, you can be a client with a disability or not very good on the courtship market." Some men might simply want to experience something beyond what their wives or girlfriends are offering, "and there is also interesting work on male clients of male sex workers, and on female clients," Khan adds.

"There's a value in sex work, which is not talked about very often because of this construction of the client as an abuser," Garcia says.

While rhetoric that positions clients as exploitative criminals neglects the positive side of sex work, Garcia admits some johns are in fact abusers. However, she says the police's approach tends to dissuade more "good" clients than predators.

"Predators are few and far between, but they exist because we provide a legal context of desperation where sex workers will take those people as clients," she says. "At the end of day, are taking clients they don't want to see," Garcia says.

Khan points out that clients can sometimes be a resource for police. "Another issue that clients have talked about is that because they're directly criminalized, they're less likely to go to the police if they become aware of violence or coercion."

She points to a case in Ottawa, in which a ring of teen girls were forcing classmates into prostitution. "Police were alerted to it by a client who realized the person he was seeing was actually underage."

For Khan, law enforcement's current approach does little to help sex workers' social welfare issues. "What we need is better housing, cheaper housing, free housing and education," she says. "For people it feels easier to go with a criminal law approach and lock up perpetrators, but that doesn't help the person who is on the street or has addiction issues, it just puts more money into law enforcement instead of social programs."

Garcia hopes the upcoming election will lead to a revision of C-36. So far, the NDP and the Green Party have both come out against criminalization, although Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau has been rather mum on the issue.

"There's a way to do things that makes this safe, but if you can't talk about it, you can't do the things you need to do, and people suffer," says Garcia."That's a really big piece of the work we need to do, undoing the myths around the clients."

*Name has been changed

Follow Brigitte Nol on Twitter.

Photo by Michael Segalov

The sudden death of a teenage son is tragedy enough for a family. To see his face used by the media to crank up public fears about the latest "killer drug" only amplifies and elongates the grief, especially if your son's death has nothing to do with taking drugs.

This is what happened to the family of 18-year-old Ally Calvert, who happened to die in the midst of a summertime media frenzy over nitrous oxide, a relatively harmless drug that newspapers have bizarrely labeled "hippy crack." Police briefed journalists that Allywho collapsed after leaving a friend's birthday party in Bexley, South London in Julyhad probably died after taking nitrous oxide. The story was plastered over every national newspaper, casting Ally as the latest victim of the new drug scourge.

But as his friendswho set up a Facebook page protesting against the police's version of eventsknew all along, Ally suffered from a rare heart condition, which was later found by a post mortem to be the real cause of his death. Last week, Met Commissioner Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe met with and apologized to Ally's family for the "upset caused by the statements we made about Alistair's death."

In the drug war, like any other, disinformation swarms. Fiction parades as fact. And because drugs are such an intoxicating topic for the media, they'll print virtually anything, especially if it's given credence by the police. Despite the sensitivity around a loss of life, Ally's death is not the first time the police have fucked it up.

During the height of the mephedrone panic in March of 2010, the police were behind a tabloid story about 180 pupils being off sick from a Leicestershire school after snorting the drug. A week later, a police officer declared that two Scunthorpe teenagers had died after taking mephedrone. As a result of the inaccurate media hype, the government rushed to ban mephedrone. However, in the months after the ban, it was found the Scunthorpe lads had taken the heroin substitute methadone, not mephedrone, and the story about the 180 school kids was dismissed by Leicestershire Council as completely untrue.

The police are also partial to a good drug scare story, however far fetched it might be. In 2007, Oxfordshire Police Force alerted 80 schools about how drug dealers were peddling a new product called Strawberry Quik, a pink, strawberry-scented child-friendly crystal meth that was being sold to school kids as popping candy. Like the equally stupid Blue Star Tattoo myth of a decade earlier, where dealers were supposedly manufacturing LSD-soaked children's run-on tattoos, it turned out to be complete bullshit.

It's not just British police who like to spread a bit of narco-bollocks. Last Halloween, police in Colorado released a video advising parents to sift through their kids' sweets because drug fiends were planning on putting cannabis-laced gummy bears into children's trick-or-treat bags. This story went viral, despite there being no evidence of it being true.

Likewise, when 31-year-old Rudy Eugene chewed the face off a homeless man in the middle of a Miami street in May of 2012, it was widely claimed he had been driven to do this after using "bath salts" (an American term for mephedrone). Unsurprisingly, the rumor's source was a police officer. The bath salt zombie story turned out to be baseless, but someone made a bad film about it anyway.

Photo by Tom Johnson

The blunders can get quite Cake-esque. Like this, from an official statement to the media from Northamptonshire Police in 2012, claiming that the odor from cannabis plants causes cancer:

"Police are warning that when cannabis plants reach the final stages of maturity the odor they release has carcinogenic properties... Officers who deal with the plants use ventilation masks and protective suits, and people who have plants in their home, especially anyone with young children, may be exposing their family to a health risk."

Is there a sinister agenda at play here? Are police deliberately spreading propaganda about drugs just because they're illegal and they want to reduce demand?

No, says Pete, a senior drugs detective who asked to have his surname withheld. He says cops are mainly just ignorant of the truth about drugs. "Most police officers' views on drugs are based on myths from the 1970s," he tells me. "They get their information from newspapers like everyone else. If you told the average copper that dealers were making LSD tattoos for kids, they'd believe you. There are maybe four or five police officers in each force who understand drugs. Most police officers see drugs the same way they see society, in a very black and white, good and evil way. If you use drugs, you are thick. If you sell them, you are evil. All drugs are addictive. There's no motive behind this disinformation; it's just a total lack of knowledge."

READ ON VICE NEWS: Police Are Freaking Out Over Drugged-up Flakka 'Zombies'

Of course, it's in the police's interests to rail against drugs. They are illegal, after all. Police officers see the nasty side of drug abusethe damage it causes and the crime associated with addiction and selling. But there is a feeling among many police officersapart from those caught using or dealing them, presumablythat drugs are not just illegal, they are deeply immoral and need stamping out of existence.

You only have to look at the highest-ranking police officer in the UK, Met Commissioner Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe, to get a flavor of how our drug laws would look if the police were in charge. He's suggested that every working adult in Britain, especially teachers, should face routine, mandatory drug testing. One of his predecessors in the job, Sir Ian Blair, had some equally Big Brother style ideas. In 2005, he said that police would be raiding middle class dinner parties across the country, looking for people taking cocaine.

The cat and mouse game of hunting down drug dealers means that when police get a result, they need to make it count, both in terms of making a media splash and in their pursuit of the longest sentences possible for drug dealers in court. This can result in some deliberate exaggeration: police have a reputation for inflating the street value of a drug haul and of bumping up the seniority level of a nicked dealer. One court case in 2010 saw police trying to convince a judge, unsuccessfully, that a 16-year-old crack dealer from Peckham with learning difficulties was some sort of drug kingpin.

"For decades, police have exaggerated the value of seizures and pushed offenders as far up the drug dealing tree as they can," says a spokesman for drug charity Release. "It looks good in the media, increases the sentence, and justifies the expense of surveillance and raids."

Related: 'Spice Boys,' our documentary about people addicted to synthetic cannabis.

He told me the police tend to give a "street price" value for seizures because it looks far better to say in the media "we seized 20,000 ."

By giving out misleading information, perpetuating age-old myths and exaggerating drug busts, what the police are doing, willingly or not, is pernicious. Not only are they adding to the hail of confusion around the subject, which is part of the problem, they are playing into the hands of an institution with a far worse track record of propaganda on drugs: the right-wing British press.

Follow Max Daly on Twitter.

The eviction of Mostafa Aliverdipour

This article originally appeared on VICE UK.

At 7:30 AM on Friday, Mostafa Aliverdipourwas asleep in the living room chair that he is rarely able to move from, when hisFrench windows started to shatter with a loud bang. Bailiffs smashed throughthe glass with a crowbar, breaking into his home to repossess it as shoutingprotesters attempted to defend the disabled man's home on the Sweets Way Estatein North London.

Filming from inside, my legswere like jelly and my hands were shaking. When I heard the first bangs, I could barely remove the lens capas I ran downstairs shouting for Mostafa's son, Ash, to wake up. As I watchedshards shatter towards the floor, I was reminded again of the violent realityof the housing crisis.

Mostafa's story is a painfulone, but represents what the housing crisis actually means: displacement, lackof transparency, power play, profiteering, and straight-up inhumanity. Ash toldme the night before the eviction, "I used to think this is the safest place inthe whole world to live in, but London is for rich people. Everyone else, theydon't care about. Right now my father's basic human rights are being taken awayand no one is listening."

That night in his livingroom, Mostafa was trying to be positive but I could tell he was anxious and completelyexhausted. While Ash told me the story of what had happened to the family overthe last few years, Mostafa would add details from across the room.

Outside, rows and rows ofempty but perfectly good houses council house were boarded up, waiting to bedemolished by Barnet Council and Annington Property Ltd and replaced with 288swanky new houses and flats, only 59 of which will be "affordable." There was somethingquite apocalyptic about it. The story of Sweets Way is one of a council who hasneglected its duty of care on so many levels. Mostafa's story is just one ofthem.

Photo author's own

The family have lived in Barnet for 11 years. Mostafa was in full-time work as a carer for the elderly when he had an accident and lost the ability to walk and therefore, his job. He was then unable to keep up with his payments in the private rental sector. With nowhere to go, and his health quickly deteriorating, he had no choice but to declare his family homeless to the council.

Read on Noisey: How London Has Forced Out Musicians

In November 2014, the Aliverdipour family were moved to Sweets Way on a temporary basis. It was a ghost town. Their neighbors laughed in disbelief that the family were being moved theremost existing residents had already been served a possession order and were packing up the contents of their house, recalled Mrs. Aliverdipour. After receiving letters in the post from Barnet Council for an immediate possession order, some felt so scared that Mrs. Aliverdipour saw two families leave urgently at 2 AM without time to collect all their belongings. Some were moved out of perfectly good homes into bedsits. Some were moved out of the borough, as far as two hours away from where they'd previously lived.

In trying to find themsomewhere to live, Barnet Homes seem to have selectively read the numerous GPletters, medical reports, occupational therapy visit notes, and letters from hisMP that Mostafa has provided since 2012. They explain his inability to walk andalmost total dependency on a wheelchair. Even this temporary accommodation isunsuitable for Mostafa's needs. He has had to squeezing between door frames inhis wheelchair and was unable to get upstairs to where the rest of his familyslept. Every night Mostafa slept upright in the armchair in the living room.When he was in need of a bath or shower his sons carried their father upstairs.

His occupational therapist reports him lacking in confidence when movingwithout wheelchair. The therapist wrote:"He described that when mobilizing, his left leg can 'collapse,' presenting apossible further falls risk, and this appears to be affecting his confidence tomobilize without use of his wheelchair. Mostafa reported previous falls withinthe current and previous property, one of which he claimed had resulted in himbecoming unconscious." Barnet Homes maintain that Mostafa is only a part-timewheelchair user, and only needs the wheelchair when he is outside of the house.

Related: Watch 'Regeneration Game': VICE's documentary about the battle to live in London

When I asked Barnet Homes fora statement on the case, they said, "We have been working closely with Mr.Mostafa Aliverdipour over the past months to find him suitable alternativeaccommodation. Based on the medical evidence we have been provided, we wereable to locate a newly refurbished three-bedroom house on the borough borderthat we believe fully meets Mr. Aliverdipour and his household's needs. He hasaccepted the offer of the property and we will be helping him to move in duecourse." In fact, they have offered Mostafa a three-floored property in Enfieldwith no wheelchair access. He will be unable to move around in his own home,require constant assistance from his older sons, and not be able to visit hisfive-year-old daughter's bedroom on the next floor.

Barnet Homes added, "Wealways make every effort to minimize disruption to people's lives and we takeinto account individual's needs when offering alternative accommodation.Therefore it is very important that we are provided with evidence of anyspecial requirements if their circumstances change so this can be considered aspart of an individual's case." His seven-year-old daughter has moved threetimes in a year and yesterday, Mostafa was admitted to hospital suffering from stress-relatedpanic attacks after sleeping in his friend's house all weekend. The toll thisordeal has taken on his health has been recognized by his health advisor whohas advised him to go to a mental health doctor immediately.

Photo via author

Firsthand accounts I'veheard from all over Londonas well as my own brush with near-eviction froma halfway house in 2013, when the council didn't think it was unreasonable formy little sister to move three times in her GCSE yearsuggest a tendency for councilsto offer families houses as quickly as possible, while paying barely any realattention to their medical or other needs might be. Some people feel that theymust take whatever they are offered. With the council having technicallydischarged their duty, those who refuse an unsuitable property are consideredto have "made themselves intentionally homeless" and councils can washtheir hands of them.

Mostafa's son Ash summed uphis exasperation: "Myfather was offered seven properties over the course of three years. Fiveof them were withdrawn because they were not suitable for his needs and Barnetcouncil had agreed. Then he accepted the sixth offer, which was specially builtfor a wheelchair user. This offer was than withdrawn because of rentarrears, however my father is entitled to full housing benefits so there is noreason for the rent arrears happen at the first place. The council gave us noreason for this."

After a brief stay at SweetsWay, the family were inevitably given a possession order, and the council notified them that they heneeded to pay 60,000 per month. He remained in SweetsWay for almost six months.

Mostafa and his family arethe human collateral of a housing market where motivation to pursue profitoverrides duty to provide for a disabled man and his family.

From the private developersreaping the rewards, to the councils ridiculously handing them money, there isa systemic refusal to act on the best interests of families and vulnerablepeople. The displacement of 150 families from perfectly good homes to sell toprivate developers shows the continual disregard for the effect this has onhuman beings. Mostafa's story is one of the more shocking, but it's not theonly one.

Follow Daisy-May Hudson on Twitter.

Let's shake on it, winner gets a 24 of Laker. The Canadian Press

Canada's three main political idols took to the stage last night to prognosticate platitudes into a reverb-heavy sound system in an effort to make themselves look like the statesman that Canada wants, even if they're not the one we really need.Everyone knows who the clear winner of last night's sparring match was (you know who we're talking about), but we wandered out of the media room in the sub-basement of Toronto's Roy Thomson Hall after the event with a few questions.

So we'll just leave them here, and if the party leaders wouldn't mind calling us to go through detailed, substantive answers, that would be just great.

Why won't Stephen Harper scrum?

Yes, I am a broken record.

But last night's debate contained a particularly weird moment. After Justin Trudeau and Thomas Mulcair scrummed with reporters, we began to pack up. It's become a running joke. Sometimes I'll call out to the press guys, "Hey, do you know when Stephen Harper is scrumming?" And we laugh. And we laugh. And then we sigh.

So last night, a whisper went through the puddle of journalists: Kory Teneycke.

He's scrumming? He's scrumming. He's scrumming!

Then, with no warning, Teneyckeall seven-foot-eight of himwas standing slightly off-stage, waiting for reporters to come ask him questions. Quickly, a few cameras trained themselves on his face. And then there was silence. So I piped up. What follows is the transcript.

Me: Where is the prime minister?
Teneycke: He's not doing a post-debate scrum.
Me: Why is he not doing a post-debate scrum?
Teneycke: Because he's chosen not to.
Me: Then why are you here in his place?
Teneycke: I'm not here in his place. I'm here to answer any questions that you might have.
Me: Why isn't he answering our questions?
Teneycke: That's like four questions in a row. Is there anyone else who has a question?

Me and Kory Teneycke: best frenemies.

Video courtesy

I covered music, professionally, full time, for rent-paying money, for years. And I cannot play a note on any instrument. This disconnect always bothered me, especially when I stuck the knife into a newly released album. Yes, but Mike, can you do any better? The question burned. No. Always, no. I cannot. Give me a guitar, plugged into some sort of amplification, and I will make a sound with it that's worse than all the hounds of Hell raking their claws down a blackboard the size of the west face of K2.

I mostly avoided the old Guitar Hero video games, primarily because I was afraid that any inability to connect with their simplified interpretation of guitar playing, as showcased before an audience of peers, would only highlight my ineptitude with musical instrumentseven pretend ones plugged into games consoles. So I never got into the last main game of the Guitar Hero series, Warriors of Rock, which came out in 2010 to a mixed reception. Checking out some reviews, it seems the spirit that made those first few games great was lost; the feel-good factor of ripping through a favorite song with a plastic toy guitar sluing across your front had gone, replaced by a story mode that jarred with party gameplay and too many synth-led tracks. Sales were not ideal. The franchise looked dead and buried.

But here we are, five years later, and the tap-along peripherals are back. Guitar Hero Live is publisher Activision's unexpectedly ace (for me, anyway, coming to the series with a relatively open mind) revival of its rhythm-action fortunes. There's a change in development, with Warwickshire, UK-based FreeStyleGames stepping in to inject essential freshness into the format. How they've done that, visually, is remarkable. Rather than the previous on-screen action of computer-generated fantasy figures going through the motions, Actual Humans take the stage, running around from your point of view and sometimes-in-shot fret-fondling fingers, their behavior changing the better (or worse) you play. It's an adaptive, dynamic full-motion-video game, in a way, the actions of those around you dependent on either not sucking, or deliberately doing so to incite the ire of your bassist.

There's a Hollywood level of special effects wizardry at play herecrowds can stretch for what feels like a mile before you, a festival field flooded with thousands upon thousands of revelers, fireworks exploding overhead, everything created using green screen. But unless you're really looking closelywhich you're unlikely to, with the notes forever rolling towards you on the runwayyou're never going to notice the digital seams.

The term its makers frequently bring up is "stage fright"they want the player immersed in what feels like the real act of performing before a huge audience, nerves jangling, and adrenalin running hot. Explaining how they've created this effect would require reams of technical words, so allow me to simplify things: at least one huge and very expensive robotic camera, plenty of trial and error, and just a couple of crew injuries along the way. (Or, watch the video below.)

'Guitar Hero Live,' behind the scenes trailer

And let me tell you, when I'm messing up, and the drummer's giving me that face, and all the notes coming from me are screwed, and the punters have dropped their smiles and begun chucking (mercifully empty) drinks cups at my band: I'm feeling like I've royally fucked up. This is true fear, manifesting itself in my fingers, every one of which is failing to find its mark on the new Guitar Hero controller (six buttons, in two rows of three, corresponding to "up" and "down" icons on the game's runway). Then, from behind the always-encroaching notes in the center of the screen, one of my bandmates gives me encouragement. I begin to hit the right chords. The song shifts gear. The crowd turns. A few bars later, I'm on fire50-note streak!and the feeling that sizzles through my stomach, down and down, right to the tips of my toes, is little short of incredible. Shit, if this is what it's like to buzz on a stage for real, I messed up by never learning to play anything.

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The live-stage stuff is what's on the disc when you buy the game. There will be hundreds of songs, performed by a variety of flesh-and-bone bands designed well, assembled, I suppose, of real living and breathing musicians to represent a handful of genres from Mumford & Sons-like folk (ptui) to popular emo acts, all parent-bothering fringes and wild gesticulating. There's a growing list of what you'll be able to play, right out of the box, on the Guitar Hero website. But it's when you go online that the options really expand. Guitar Hero TV is a 24/7 "streaming" service that will constantly deliver new tracks to play along to, as their music videos are shown in the background, ensuring that there's always fresh content to riff your way into. In short: it's an interactive version of how MTV used to be. Sort by genre, or search by artist; simply play what's new or seek out an old favourite: Guitar Hero TV opens a world of possibility that this series never truly had before, reflecting in a video game how the music industry has largely moved from an record ownership model to one where streaming dominates listening habits.

Watch: VICE talks film with Shane Meadows.

And there's a potential problem with this. As you play tracks, you'll earn points and unlock play tokens, which can be exchanged online for your very favorite songs that may have fallen out of rotation. You can also buy these tokens with real money, but you'll never be able to "own" a Guitar Hero TV track, as you can the songs on the game disc. A Party Pass will open up everything for a short while, ideal for friends-over local co-op sessions; but again, your console won't ever let you keep the songs you love the most. You'll constantly have to work to unlock access, or pay your way to playing them three times per day. The game's creative director, Jamie Jackson, told Kotaku that this system suits the play style of most Guitar Hero fans. I suppose time will tell if he's rightbut Guitar Hero TV will at least monitor what type of tracks you're playing the most, and highlight newly streaming songs that you may like based on previous selections.

I stuck with what I knew when testing Guitar Hero TV: Soundgarden, Rage Against the Machine, Deftones, System of a Down (I'm old, leave me alone)but the on-disc "live" component pushed me out of my comfort zone to play along with a song by Paramore. And I enjoyed that just as much, as even though the track itself was nothing I'd listen to outside of the game, the stage set-up, having band members dance around me, was absolutely riveting. Again: the tingle, that electric rush that runs over your skin, is substantial, and lasting.

As an experience, Guitar Hero Live is a clear statement of new-generation intent: There's no way a contemporary game that looked like its predecessors would really resonate so many years after the series' fortunes appeared to fade. While it might appear, on paper, to be a backwards step in bringing FMV to the forefront of the Guitar Hero model, stirring memories of appalling Mega-CD games, in practice it's pitch perfect, snapping you out of your play space and into the screen, onto the stage. I'm genuinely surprised at how much fantastic fun I got out of my hands-on with Guitar Hero Live, and right now, while typing this, all I'm really thinking about is how awesome it's going to be to play it again.

Guitar Hero Live is released for Xbox and PlayStation home consoles, and Nintendo Wii U, on October 23rd.

Follow Mike Diver on Twitter.

Saskatchewan, the land of living skies and a horribly neglected HIV/AIDS crisis. Photo via Flickr user Kyla Duhamel

In parts of Canada, HIV is more prevalent than it is in some countries in Africa.

Federal data shows that while the national average for new HIV infections is 5.9 per 100,000 people, in some First Nations communities, the numbers jump to 63.6 new infections per 100,000 people. On Saskatchewan's Ahtahkakoop First Nation, 60 of 1,700 reserve members, or about 3.5 percent of the population, are HIV positive. Those rates are higher than rates in the African nations of Nigeria, the Congo, and Rwanda.

While Indigenous people make up just four percent of the national population, they accounted for 16 percent of new HIV infections in 2013 and 21 percent of new AIDS cases, according to leading Vancouver researcher Dr. Julio Montaner.

Montaner, who heads up the University of British Columbia Medical School's Division of AIDS, told VICE the issue amounts to an "epidemic"and he's astounded that the federal government won't recognize it as such.

"If HIV was represented in 'old stock Canadians' in the rates that its represented in First Nations communities, that would be declared an emergency tomorrow," he said.

Last weekend, Montaner attended 2015 UN General Assembly in New York City, where he discussed the 90-90-90 Target, a strategy to "end AIDS by 2030" based on work by BC Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS. The three-fold program aims to have 90 percent of all people living with HIV know their sero-status (antibodies detectable to HIV), have access to high quality antiretroviral therapy and have HIV suppression treatment by 2020. The plan has been backed by the UN, as well as a number of other countries including the US and China. But Montaner said Canada has largely remained silent about the developments, a result, he believes, of the ideology of the Conservative government.

Read more: Why the Fuck Aren't Canada's Federal Parties Talking About Student Debt?

"I've been told repeatedly by people based at the , that the problem is the current government party and leadership view work that we do as enabling of conduct that they object to." Specifically, he said he's referring to homosexuality, injection drug use, and sex work, pointing to Bill C-2, the Respect for Communities Act, which makes it more difficult to open sites like Vancouver's Insite, as an example of the government's failure to embrace harm reduction.

When reached by VICE, the Public Health Agency of Canada, said it "supports the principles of the proposed UNAIDS 90-90-90 treatment targets" and is looking to update its HIV guidance, which will move the country toward reaching those goals. It also said it recognizes the seriousness of the crisis in First Nations communities and is working on a framework to boost access to care on reserves.

Given the severity of the situation, you'd assume Canada's leading federal parties have a plan to tackle HIV/AIDS in Canada. But in terms of dollars and cents, the details are scarce.

NDP candidate Murray Rankin, who is running in Victoria, told VICE his party would adopt the 90-90-90 Target as a national program and, with community input, support the opening of more safe injection sites across the country.

"We think Canadians would accept the evidence, which is clear that these sites save lives," he said. He also said the party would attempt to improve access to health care in remote First Nations communities. The NDP recently made a string of healthcare announcements, including $300 million to build or expand 200 community health clinics or rural mobile clinics across the country.

Liberal candidate Carolyn Bennett told VICE she supports the goal of getting to zero new cases of HIV and that she would endorse the 90-90-90 Target. When asked about restoring funding to the Canadian Aboriginal AIDS Network, which told VICE its federal grants have been cut by 20 per cent over the last four years, Bennett said the party would consider it.

"I don't know how any Minister of Health can be cutting funding from this in something that's increasing," she said, adding "the government's policy on harm reduction and needle exchange is killing people."

But she admitted that because the party hasn't yet rolled out its healthcare platform, "I'm a little bit handicapped here." Overall, she said the Liberals want to focus on "reconciliation" with First Nations communities, including looking into the social determinants that lead to higher incidence of HIV/AIDS.

The Conservatives did not respond to numerous requests for comment and their website does not provide a health care platform. However, their current funding system works through transfers to the provinces, with cuts expected due to a new per-capita formula for calculating how much money each province receives. NDP Leader Tom Mulcair has said he would reverse the cuts.

The Green party directed VICE to its health care policy, which outlines goals such as reducing the stigma of having HIV and putting resources into the treatment and delivery of antiretroviral therapies as well as harm reduction.

With all of the medical advancements made in AIDS treatment, Montaner said it's inexcusable that Canadians continue to die from it today.

"This is a disease that is treatable, preventable and it's a disease that should disappear from our language."

Follow Manisha Krishnan on Twitter.

You would never guess from this idyllic photo just how much raw, untreated shit is about to be running through that river. Photo via Flickr user Joel Bedford

Read: We Asked VICE's Global Offices to Talk About Canada's Politicians Based on Pictures

Things are about to get really shitty in the St. Lawrence River with Montreal planning to dump eight billion litres of raw sewage into the water over the course of a week.

The untreated crapabout 16 billion beer pints' worth of itsourced from residences, businesses, and hospitals, will make its way to the river's southern shore beginning Oct. 18.

When questioned on the rationale behind the malodorous plan, city spokesman Philippe Sabourin told reporters, "There is no other choice."

Construction on part of the Bonaventure Expressway required a major sewage destination to temporarily shut down. The river, apparently, is the next best thing.

Sabourin said the St. Lawrence has a "significant dilution capacity," which means the literal shit storm won't do any long term damage. But he's still worried about water sports enthusiasts, such as kayakers and surfers. He said information will be posted in the impacted areas. (Hopefully with the instructions: GTFO.)

The Montreal Environmental Project is questioning the wisdom of polluting the water with billions of litres of straight up fecal matter, and have asked the city to consider other, less-disgusting alternatives.

"Would it have been possible to use a portable technology wastewater treatment?" asked spokesman Sylvain Ouellet.

Longtime Montrealers aren't likely to be offended by the arrangement; the city regularly dumped sewage into the river until 1980.

Follow Manisha Krishnan on Twitter.

Photo via Wiki Commons

Earlier this month, a debilitating wildfire ravaged Northern California's Lake County and the surrounding area, claiming four lives and destroying thousands of buildings. The blaze, known as the Valley Fire, was one of the worst in the state's history, and displaced much of the community, located about 150 miles north of San Francisco. And to add insult to injury, many Lake County residents returned to their homes only to discover that they'd been victims of looting.

Now, two medical marijuana companies are trying to abate the pain and loss by offering free product to people living in areas that were most affected by the blaze. The Los Angeles Times reports that the two companies, Care by Design and AbsoluteXtracts, have donated $20,000 worth of marijuana-related products to four dispensaries in the area, as well as one Lake County delivery service.

Residents who have a medical marijuana cardand whose own stashes were presumably destroyed in the blazeare eligible to up to $200 in marijuana

"Thousands of residents were forced to evacuate their homes, leaving them with restricted access to essential daily itemsincluding medical marijuana," the companies said in a press release. "This disaster happened in our own backyard. As a company that prides itself on putting patient needs first, we felt there was no better time to reach out and help our neighbors in their time of need."

Five In-Depth Stories About Legal Weed

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4. DEA Anti-Pot Crusader Michelle Leonhart Is About to Resign
5. Angry Weed Activists Demand Congress Stop Trying to Block DC Weed Legalization

Follow Drew on Twitter.

Vice President Joe Biden visits the VICE office. Photo by Ben Ritter

Vice President Joe Biden has not yet made a decision on whether he will run for president in 2016. (Trust us, you'll know when he makes up his mind). But a new poll from NBC News and the Wall Street Journal might help America's chill uncle make up his mind, suggesting that the 72-year-old Biden would be the most popular candidate in the 2016 presidential race if were he to run.

The survey (which can be viewed in full here) tested Biden against the 2016 Democratic field, as well as in hypothetical head-to-head match-ups with the Republican Party's 2016 frontrunners. And statistically, the Vice President's likability ratings were higher than any candidate currently running for president: 40 percent of Americans surveyed said that they had a positive view of Biden, while just 28 percent said their impression was negative.

Of course, it's easy to get people to like you if you're not running for president. And being a candidate usually means that people will like you less. So the fact that Biden isn't actually running has almost certainly helped his numbers. And if he actually does decide to run, his popularity will almost certainly falter.

The fact that Biden is not an official presidential candidate hasn't stopped him from acting like one. As the Wall Street Journal pointed out Tuesday, since the beginning of the month, "Mr. Biden has held events with nearly every Democratic constituency that would be critical to any White House bid."

The Journal continued:

Since Sept. 2, Mr. Biden has held an event about combating sexual assault on women at a college in the presidential battleground state of Ohio, marched in a Labor Day parade with union leaders in Pennsylvania and highlighted economic concerns in Michigan.

He has attended a solar-energy conference with environmentalists in California, addressed proponents of Historically Black Colleges and Universities and attended a breakfast with the Congressional Black Caucus.

He has also hosted a social gathering for Latinos at the vice-presidential residence, and addressed influential Jewish American leaders at a synagogue in Atlanta and a community center in Florida.

Today, Biden travelled to New York City to meet with world leaders at the United Nations General Assembly, where he charmed the Danish Foreign Minister into calling him "Mr. President." "Well, could have been! Could be! Well, who knows? If there's something you'd like to tell us," the minister, Kristian Jensen, chuckled. He'll continue the non-campaign campaign Thursday, with a live-streamed speech at the Concordia Summit; on Saturday,he'll be the keynote speaker at the Human Rights Campaign gala.

Watch Joe Biden talk climate change with VICE News:

He has also started ramping up his media presence, sitting down for an interview with CNN at the beginning of September, and appearing as one of the first guests on Stephen Colbert's The Late Show. Speaking with Colbert, Biden admitted that he's still dealing with the death of his son Beau, who passed away earlier this year at age 46, and said that he didn't think he would be able to run unless he felt he had healed emotionally.

"I don't think any man or woman should run for President," Biden told Colbert in a tearful interview. "Unless number one, they know exactly why they would want to be President, and two, they can look at the folks out there and say, 'I promise you you have my whole heart, my whole soul, my energy and my passion to do this.' And I'd be lying if I said I knew I was there."

Similarly, he told CNN, "The most relevant factor in my decision is whether my family and I have the emotional energy to run."

While the clock is obviously ticking for Biden to make his decision. CNN, for one, is practically begging him to run. The network, which will host the first Democratic primary debate next month, announced Monday that they have changed amended their criteria for participating in the forum: Now, any individual who is polling above one percent will be allowed on stage, as long as they promise to declare their candidacy by October 14the day after the debate. That means that hypothetically, Biden could show up in Las Vegas on October 13, and disrupt the entire affairwhich would obviously be great for ratings.

Election Class of 2016: Why America Is Waiting for Joe Biden

If he runs, Biden's chief opponent would be his former Obama administration colleague Hillary Clinton, whose campaign has been mired in a scandal over the private email server that she used to conduct business as Secretary of State. Just last week, the State Department announced that it had uncovered new emails that had not been turned over by Clinton's lawyers, suggesting that Emailgate is unlikely to die down any time soon. Nevertheless, Clinton remains the clear frontrunner for the Democratic nomination, with a more than ten-point lead over any rival, including Joe Biden, in national polls.

Biden, for what it's worth, has found an unlikely cheerleader in Dick Cheney, who said in a recent CNN appearance, "I'd love to see Joe get in the race. I think there's a lot of support for him in the Democratic Party. I think it would stir things up."

Follow Drew on Twitter.

All photographs by Charles Caesar

The Catholic Church is bleeding out. Twenty-somethings who inherited the faith are straying as Christian vices, like premarital sex, social media-backed vanity, and capitalist gluttony increasingly make the backbone of youth culture in 2015. Three million American Catholics shed their religious convictions since 2007, and for every one Catholic convert, six leave the church. It's entirely possible that, if you tell your friends you're skipping brunch to drag your hungover meatbag to Church, they will leer at you with confusion.

Despite our strong tendencies toward hedonism and liberalism, by and large, Americans dig Pope Francis. His holy 78-year-old mug has become ubiquitous (even arousing). On last week's trip to the United Statesthe fourth Papal visit everthe pontiff boldly addressed the global climate crisis, immigration leniency, and abolition of the death penaltyall issues that urban American youth hold dear. Papal celebrity is running rampant on the internet and devotees followed his every move with online "Pope Trackers."

While it's become increasingly difficult to lure young Catholics to the pews, millions still forego bottomless Sunday mimosas for church.These faithful worshipers look a bit different from their parents, though. A recent Pew Research poll reported that 23 percent of Catholics don't think abortion is a sin, while 39 percent don't believe homosexuality is a springboard to hell. Many hold true to the conservative teachings of the church, which are antagonistic to the increasing liberalism of our generation. Yet others ask, as Pope Francis did in 2013, "Who am I to judge?"

VICE interviewed young Catholics in New York preparing for His Holiness's visit. These Catholics, who ranging from missionaries to LGBTQ folk, explained how their religion is, to them, the perfect medicine for millennial disenchantment, a way to become more accepting of difference and, surprisingly, a countercultural identity.

Xorje Olivares

VICE: How did you come into your Catholicism?
Xorje Olivares: I was born in Eagle Pass, Texas. It's very Mexican-American. It's on the border. All my life all I've ever known is being Catholic. It's so much in line with the Mexican-American identity. When I was seven, I started to be an altar server at my local parish. It's something I've actively chosen to stay a part of, considering everything. My mom and her friends, they say, find it interesting that I still continue to go to church. There's no one keeping an eye on me. I can do whatever I want. But the one thing I've kept is going to mass every Sunday.

Still?
There's scene. My husband I met at church. We were both in the same choir at our Catholic church. I sat on one end with the basses, he sat on the other end with the tenors. We didn't speak to each other for three months. We were there every week together. He had been single for a while and had been scoping me out. He actually thought I was straight. A few months later, we ran into each other at a gay bar. He Facebook-friended me that night and asked me to hang out. It really did catch me as surprise.

How did your faith in God play into that?
It really did. Two weeks after I moved, He put this person in front of me. Once a week, in the presence of Jesus and the Eucharist, I was worshipping with him and didn't even know we'd be married.

Perhaps conservative Catholic folk would ask why God would bring two gay men together. They might say that it wouldn't be his plan, he wouldn't oversee their marriage. What would you say to that?
I think people spend a lot of time playing God. I don't think that we can know the mind, the heart, the being that is God. A set of teachings set up by humans over the course of 2,000 years, since when Jesus was on Earth, that is God to peoplethe set of teachings is God to people somehow. Therefore they can answer for God. But the church knows that it's a moving, breathing, living being. The church does change. It's hard to be on the front end of that. This is a new question for a lot of people. I do think he placed us together.

What was your wedding like?
Obviously we couldn't wed in the church. We had a small ceremony in Prospect Park in Brooklyn with mostly church friends. We had 20 people. Very spiritually based. Because we believe so firmly that we are recognized in the eyes of God, not the church, we wanted it to look as much like a Catholic wedding as it could without pretending it was. We had a priest. He couldn't sign the marriage license. My husband plays guitar. We're both singers. My husband's family was very against us being together. We didn't invite any of our family. It was too complicated. We knew that, for us, there was already so much stigma involved that we needed that day to be beautiful for us and beautiful for God.

*Janard declined to give VICE his last name or his age.

Follow Cecilia on Twitter. Follow Charles on Instagram.

The funeral of Genny Cesarano. Photo courtesy of Raffaella Ferr

This article originally appeared on VICE Italy.

Until recently, as part of an anti-Mafia campaign Naples's Piazza del Plebiscito palace had been covered in massive posters displaying the faces of organized crimerelated murder victims. The initiativecalled #noninvano (not in vain)included pictures of some of the people murdered in grisly revenge killings as well as innocents unlucky enough to have been caught in the crossfire. Lately, because of the slaying of 17-year-old Genny Cesarano in a city -enter shootout, a lot of people have begun talking about a new wave of young Mafia members.

Like most young Italians, boys in Naples spend their days texting their mates and driving around on scooters, but unlike most teenagers a lot of them have also become involved with the local criminal organizationthe Camorra. The problem of "young Camorrists" is not a recent one. Thirty years ago, Giancarlo Siania Neapolitan journalist killed by the Mafiawrote his last piece on the kids employed by the local criminal system. "They're called muschilli drug-dealers and young couriers. They work as intermediaries, only taking on minor roles. Drug kingpins use them to keep themselves out of trouble," he wrote. Back then, they were practically invisible, or rather hiding in plain sight. They were also pretty disposable.

Today, the muschilli no longer exist, or at least not in the same way. Young people are far more involved in the gangs and have attained higher ranks. A good example is Pasquale Sibillo, born in 1991, who allegedly already heads up a gang of his own. As the brother of a murdered Mafia boss, his acolytes look up to him and the last time somebody tried to kill him he escaped by jumping into a police car. He is the epitome of a young Camorrista, the kind of guy who talks about his gun in the same way he talks about his girlfriend.

Watch VICE's documentary on the Mafia's domination of Naples's waste industry:

In the past, you had to be of a minimum age to rise through the ranks and you needed the courage to carry out 'o piezzomurder. Once you had worked your way up, the Camorra would find you a job for life and offer their loyalty in return. Back then, the Mafia had employees, while today those working for the Camorra feel more like freelancers. As the recruitment process gets quicker, gangs and clans become increasingly fragmented and end up fighting over every single street. This has led to a new culture of smaller gangs and opportunistic criminals threatening the establishment.

In Rione Traiano, the situation has become criticalthe neighborhood can now boast the highest number of shootings in Naples. In fact, it's known for specializing in drive-by scooter slayings. For days at a time, you can hear the sound of gunshots ringing out around the area. It's as if the more weapons the police seize, the more end up on the streets.

The authorities are struggling to keep the rising levels of violence under control. The severity of the situation was made clear in a report by the Anti-Mafia Investigation Department (DIA), released at the end of 2014: "A variety of groups have widely infiltrated the region and a widespread criminal system is deeply rooted in the area, operating with disproportionate violence with respect to its objectives." It went on: "The situation deeply endangers public order... often through the actions of criminals belonging to the new generation. Among the key players are the descendants of powerful local families who had only apparently been weakened by arrests and defectors."

In last January's report, the DIA pinned down these new criminals even more precisely, pointing out ongoing feuds "both in suburban areas and in the heart of the city, in the North and East of Naples."

There's plenty of evidence for this generational shift. Last June about 60 youngsters affiliated to the Giuliano, Sibillo, Brunetti, and Almirante families were arrested. They were ruling over an area stretching a little over a square mile from the Forcella to the Maddalena districts. Investigators found that this cartel, who had already gained a "monopoly over the illegal activities in the centre of Naples," was made up of "very young members from well-established criminal families."

This younger generation of criminals has a different way of doing business, which is currently proving almost impossible for authorities to tackle. The Italian anti-Mafia intelligence wrote in a report that "the new establishment has a devastating impact on any possible counter-operation, which is made particularly difficult by the unpredictability of their actionswhich seem to follow no rationality."

Last Monday, the Italian Anti-Mafia Commission, headed by Rosy Bindi of Italy's Democratic Party, gathered in Naples to discuss the problem. During their first day of hearings with police, prosecutors and various anti-Mafia groups, the commission made a major slip-up. "The Camorra are an integral part of this city," said Bindi, provoking outrage from those who fight everyday to rid Naples of institutionalized crime.

Clearly, Bindi had meant that the Mafia are currently a huge part of life in the city, and that had to change. But that didn't stop one local asking, "If politicians think Naples means Camorra, what are they here for?"

More from VICE:

With the Sicilian Mafia in Decline, Who Is Running the Mob in Montreal?

What Happened to the American Mafia?

How the Mafia Once Controlled the New York Gay Scene

A mural of Bashar al-Assad in Latakia, Syria (Photo by Emesik via)

Welcome to the VICE Morning Bulletin. Here you'll find a roundup of the day's most important stories from around the world, all in one handy blog post, like a multivitamin of interesting stuff to start your day. With contributions from our global offices, the VICE Morning Bulletin will feature the biggest headlines in the US as well as internationally, and offer a handpicked crop of culture stories, long reads, weird news, and a VICE documentary each morning.

US News

• Trump Lauds Putin's Leadership
  Donald Trump has backed Russia's military build-up in Syria, giving Vladimir Putin an "A" for leadership. As the Russian parliament grants Putin approval for troop deployment in Syria, Trump says there is "very little downside with Putin fighting ISIS". AP
• Joaquin to Become Hurricane
  Tropical Storm Joaquin, strengthening in the Atlantic, is forecast to become a hurricane today. A hurricane watch is in effect for the Bahamas, with East Coast residents warned about stormy weather and possible flooding later this week. The Washington Post
• Georgia Executes Woman Despite Pope's Plea
  Georgia has executed a woman for the first time in 70 years, despite a plea for clemency from Pope Francis. Witnesses say Kelly Gissendaner was singing "Amazing Grace" before she was given a lethal injection. NBC News
• America's First Cannabis Casino
  The Santee Sioux tribe plan to open the nation's first pot-based gaming resort. Santee Sioux leaders want to grow their own weed and sell it in an "adult playground" on their South Dakota reservation. The smoking lounge will feature arcade games, slot machines and a nightclub. CBS News

International News

• Palestinian Flag Raising at UN
  The Palestinian flag is to be raised for the very first time at the United Nations today, following a motion passed by the UN General Assembly last month. It comes as Israel responds to a rocket fired from Gaza with strikes on targets in the Gaza Strip. BBC
• Japan Denies Spying
  China has arrested two Japanese men for spying. With reports claiming China is looking into the possibility the men were acting under instructions from the Japanese government, Japan's Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said his country was "certainly not doing such things". Reuters
• Saudis: Assad Must Go
  Saudi Arabia's foreign minister says there should be "a military option" to oust Syrian President Bashar al-Assad if a political process fails to lead to his removal. Adel al-Jubeir made the threat while talking to journalists at the UN. The Guardian
• Germany Struggles to Cope
  Faced with unprecedented refugee numbers, German states are dropping communal housing rules and lowering minimum space requirements for shelters. Refugee rights groups say conditions at reception centers are seriously cramped. AP

Matt Damon (Photo by Nicolas Genin via)

Everything Else

• Matt Damon Backlash
  The actor is getting a lot of flak for suggesting gay actors shouldn't come out of the closet if they want their careers to thrive. His appearance on The Ellen DeGeneres Show hasn't stopped all the heat. Salon
• Tinder Ad Fury
  Tinder and Grindr are not at all happy with an AIDS advocacy group that ran billboards suggesting a link between "hookup" apps and STDs. Tinder has sent a cease-and-desist letter demanding the ads are taken down. Mashable
• Free Weed for Fire Victims
  Medical marijuana companies are offering free product to people living in areas worst hit by the wildfire that ravaged California's Lake County earlier this month. It's available to people with medical marijuana cards. VICE
• Sex Ed for the Intellectually Disabled
  There's a lack of sex education available for young disabled people, which is rooted in the fact that no one wants to admit young disabled people think about sex. A new approach to the curriculum is trying to challenge that. Broadly

If that's enough reading for today, you should watch our documentary on the volunteers dragging Winnipeg's Red River for bodies:

Screenshot via YouTube

A group of close to two dozen animal rights activists stormed into a Toronto steakhouse last week, demanding to know if dog meat was on the menu while shouting at diners about animal cruelty.

As seen in a YouTube video, protesters from the animal rights group Direct Action Everywhere stormed the Keg Mansion in order to get the attention of diners and employees at the restaurant.

"I don't see any dog meat here," a protester says to a hostess in the video. "That's the latest thing. I thought this was a meat restaurant, yet I don't see any dog meat here."

The protesters then entered the dining area to shout about animal cruelty and raise signs with the message "It's not food. It's violence." written on them.

Police are seen arriving to the scene several minutes later, just after the protesters were told to leave the restaurant.

One of the organizers of the event, Jenny McQueen, spoke to VICE over the phone yesterday.

VICE: Tell me a little about why the protest happened and what motivated your group to do it.
Jenny McQueen: We're trying to cause a little disruption in society. Society normalizes violence against animals, unknowingly a lot of the time. People eat meat, buy meat from the supermarket. They don't realize what they're eating or what they're buying was a thinking and feeling animal. You know, pigs feel pain just like cats and dogs.

How long had your group been planning this for? Was it a public event or did you keep it hush-hush?
No, we do have a public Facebook page for Direct Action Everywhere Toronto but what we tend to do is agree amongst ourselves where the next location will be and we don't actually publicize that on the public page. This one had a posting about it made.

We've been doing this for a while now and we do events all around the city. There was one at Loblaws recently, another at the Eaton Center, but were very glad this one is getting noticed.

How did you guys come to choose the steakhouse, that particular one at least?Well, that's a good location. It's popular, it's busy, it's ideal, y'know? People are chowing down on animala lot of them. It's just a perfect place to disrupt.

So when you guys came in and started making noise, what was the reaction of the restaurant staff to the protest?
Asking if they serve dog meat is not something most people typically expect, so yes, they were taken aback. Also, when they realize it wasn't just one ladyit was a group of usthey wanted us to get out of there as quickly as possible. We basically always want to finish our message to the patrons, so we went inside and we continued our adage. We let them know exactly what they were partaking in, which is violence against animals.

You mentioned there were others with you and the video shows quite a few with signs. How many were there with you?
It was a good turnout, about 25-30 of us I'd say.

Were the customers on your side or the restaurant's?
There was a vegan lady eating inside at the time of our actionshe ran out and thanked us for coming inside, and hugged our folks. This was a beautiful example of one of the main purposes of our actions, empowering vegans and would-be activists, as well as disrupting the societal norms of animal abuse, to start a wider social conversation.

The police showed up at the end. Do you guys typically have trouble with law enforcement?
The police are usually called but we don't have any trouble with the police whatsoever. We're a nonviolent group and what we're doing is basically civil disobedience and if they ask us to leave, we'll leave.

In terms of activism you've participated in before, what would you say is the craziest protest you've been a part of?
Well, I think the most crazy thing is looking at the cognitive dissonance that meat-eaters have against what's on their plate. That's the crazy thing. You know, people will sometimes think that we're the crazy animal rights activists, but I think it's the other way around.

Perhaps I should have phrased it differently. I meant exciting or provocative.
Hm. Me personally? Just this year, I was at the Toronto Fashion Show and I went up on the stage and followed a model who was wearing the fur of a wild moose, and that was picked up by Huffington Post and got hundreds of thousands of views.

It seems that you guys don't have plans to slow down. What other events does the group have planned?
Yeah, we will be doing a convergence very soon, so cities all across Canada will be coming to Toronto and the Direct Action Everywhere folk will be coming here and we will be planning another disruption at that point. I also want to give a shout out to Toronto Pig Save, which is doing amazing work, and we've done a lot of protests outside slaughterhouses recently.

Actually if you want to talk about crazy action, I recently rescued a chicken from there recently.

Really?
Yeah. We asked plant manager if he could spare one life, and he brought out a chicken. That chicken is now living free at Cedar Row Farm Sanctuary.

That's something else. Was there anything more you wanted to add, any closing sentiments on your overall message?
Yes. People can do something on an individual basis, they can reduce the amount of meat they eat in their diet. If they're not willing to go vegan completelyobviously that's what we'd likepeople can do it in baby steps. Cut out chicken from the diet. Chicken is the most abused animal on the planet. Go for the Meatless Monday.

So just one step at a time then?
Yeah, for those people who aren't willing to do it completely, then at least make an effort, because animal agriculture is responsible for a huge wedge of global warming. Plus, the healththe health aspect is huge as well. Who wants colon cancer just because of what you eat?

Follow Jake Kivanc on Twitter.

Inside the classroom. All photos by Mircea Topoleanu

This article originally appeared on VICE Romania.

When I arrived at the Craiova Special Professional School, the teacher was busy doing roll call. The school is part of the Craiova Penitentiary for Minors and Youth, a juvenile detention center for young Romanian offenders. Out of the 243 teens currently incarcerated there, 129 are enrolled in the educational system.

Craiova is one of only two Romanian juvenile detention centers where detainees are offered the chance to be rehabilitated through school programs run by the Ministry of Education. Unfortunately, education or no education, 40 percent of all detainees end up being re-incarcerated following their release. I visited Craiova because I was curious to see how the first day of school felt behind bars.

"OK, boys. Let's see how things stand: How long are you set to serve in here?" asked Marius, the first grade teacher. The boys all answered back at the same time but with varying figuressome would stay three years, others only three months. According to Romanian law, school is mandatory for imprisoned minors (anyone under 17), but most of those in the class had already celebrated their 18th birthday, which means they weren't obligated to attend. However, many see it as a good opportunity to grow.

After roll call, the teacher asked whether anyone had family in the city and, more importantly, if they receive visits from them. Romanian law states that it's mandatory for at least some of the parents to be part of an administrative board, but in this class, the majority of the inmates had little to no contact with their parents. Realizing that he'd hit a wall there, Marius quickly moved on to deciding who would be appointed class president. In an attempt to dodge that bullet, one of the students quickly let it be known that he wasn't able to write. When he was told that writing wasn't a requirement to be a representative for the class, he laughed: "So, you're just looking for a snitch then?"

The view from the class room

According to a particular paragraph of the National Law of Education, the school is classified as a "special school." Special school classes are 45 minutes long and can have a maximum of 12 pupils. Each student is provided with a notebook, a language handbook, and a pen, but given that a pen can easily be turned into a makeshift weapon, the convicts only receive their materials when they enter the class and have them taken away at the end of each lesson.

Most of those in the room had never actually attended school outside of prison. They wanted to give it a try now because, as one of them told me: "Everyone says knowledge is power. We also want a bit of that power."

One of the things that struck me about the class was that everybody dressed so differentlyas if they all came from a different world. One guy was wearing an expensive shirt, another one was in a tracksuit. One was even wearing his flip-flops. I found the contrast odd because, in many ways, prison is synonymous with uniformity. Not here, though.

Of the nine people registered for the class, seven had shown up for the inaugural day. The two missing were either working, in court, or simply could not be bothered. None of those presentthe youngest being 15, the oldest, 24knew how to read or write but they all had a grasp of basic math, which they had taught themselves through exchanging cigarettes and the likes.

"I have never been to school before. It is weird, but I want to learn how to write and read," said one student.

Related: Watch our documentary, 'Young Reoffenders'

The class rules were pretty clear: don't steal; don't fight; you can only be absent for work, visits, or court hearings; and all students need to attend class from 8 AM until 12:30 PM. Everybody agreed to the terms, but most only seemed concerned about whether or not they could smoke on their breaks.

"At the beginning they'll test you. They want to figure out what type of jokes they can get away with. But after establishing the rules, you work with them like you would with any other student," Marius told us.

The parole board sees inmates' participation in activities like this school as a proactive attempt to change their ways. Sure, teachers are aware that many of these kids simply attend class as a means of passing time and because it'll make them more eligible for parole, but they're still happy that they can equip them with some basic skills. Every now and then, they even meet someone who's motivated. The class also gives the young people the option of further education after release, by granting them a place in a "second chance" program or night school.

Before leaving, I had a quick chat with a student named Tibi. He was 24 years old and had never attended school because he had no one to take himhis parents left the country right around the time he was supposed to begin learning the alphabet. He had, however, learned how to count by earning money when he was a free man. His biggest dream is that, in three years, when he leaves Craiova, he'll know the alphabet by heart.

When I asked him if he liked school, he seemed enthusiastic: "Yes. I'll always skip work to come to school. The only reason I'd miss a class is if I get a visitor."

School ended for the day and Tibi and his classmates returned to their cellswithout their pen and paper.

Check out more from Julian Glander at his Twitter, Instagram, and blog.

Song and Lan posing against a library backdrop. All photos by the author

It's 11 AM and pouring with rain. I'm huddled under a tree by the church at the intersection of Kent Street and Harry Street, waiting to meet Elsie, my guide for the day. Despite all the evidence suggesting otherwise, I'm not in a quaint, drizzly English town. I'm in Shanghai. Elsie is the co-owner of a local wedding photography company. We're meeting in Thames Town, a Shanghai suburb built to resemble a British town, because it's the location for today's wedding shoot.

The torrential rain forces us to begin the day inside. Thankfully, in true British style, Thames Town is prepared for the rain. Underground, beneath the mock Tudor houses, Thames Town hosts a purpose built wedding photography studio. The studio houses around 30 different backdrops used by couples having their pre-wedding photographs taken.

In Chinese cities such as Shanghai, these pre-wedding photographs, taken in a variety of poses, outfits, and locations, are an essential part of the wedding ceremony.

"The photos are mandatory," says Sophie Zhang, a 29-year-old receptionist from Shanghai. "Everyone has them," stresses Angel, a 35-year-old Mandarin teacher. Elsie explains that there's a certain expectation that couples will have these photos on display on their wedding day. Those who choose not to are "very special people, you knowheadstrong," she adds.

After an hour of hair, makeup, and selfies, the bride leaves the dressing room in her first outfit of the day, a white lace dress and a pair of bright pink Nikes. I don't think this is an attempt to channel Lily Allen; she probably just wants some ankle support for the next nine hours. Song Song and Peng Lan, the bride and groom, have their first photograph taken against a backdrop with hundreds of lamps hanging from the ceiling, while nearby another couple are having a photo against what looks like the top of the Eiffel Tower. Elsie explains that this couple's outfits are an example of last year's fashions, as are the poses they're doing with an umbrellawhich, even to my untrained eye, don't look too on trend.

From the traditional alpine cottage with evergreen trees and fake snow to the 19th Century library with its giant painting of Napoleon, there's no shortage of imagination when it comes to the backdrops. Perhaps my favorite is the "Hello Kitty Caf" faade, a bright pink room where I find a bride in an orange tutu and green velvet top lying on a pink bed having her photo taken, a sight that almost breaks my retinas from the sheer overdose of color.

After a few hours the weather has cleared, so we head outside to take photos by the church. For many, these European landmarks are simply a fashionable backdrop, but for Song the photos are particularly symbolic because she's due to be baptized in a few weeks time. Both Song and Elsie are part of China's growing Christian population. Elsie explains that sometimes the company is asked to decorate the photo albums with sentences from the Bible "because, you know, the sentence in the Bible is beautiful."

Song and Lan outside the church

The photos themselves, however, have nothing to do with religion, nor are they a longstanding cultural tradition. The history of the practice is purely commercial.

"These kinds of businesses come from Taiwan businessmen," Cheng Li, owner of a studio in Wuhan, tells me. He explains that the practice originated in Taiwan, where wedding dress manufacturers offered photo shoots as a way of selling more dresses. Then, in the 1980s, "they brought the business to the mainland because, you know, the mainland is bigger, so they can have many couples here," says Li.

This was shortly after the end of the Cultural Revolution, in which Maoist policies had effectively paralyzed the country. "Because some people maybe before their weddings, and then this became the fashion."

READ: How to Attend a Wedding in Your Twenties

These days, there's big money to be made in the industry. In January of 2015, CCTV America reported that China's wedding photography industry is estimated to be worth almost $30 billion a year. Most people spend at least $1,500 on their photos at Elsie's studio, but for those looking to really splash out, going abroad to a real Thames Townor to Paris, or New York, or Romeis popular, providing you can afford to pay $1,200 a day for each member of staff on top of everyone's flights, accommodation, and food.

Related: Watch 'Inside America's Lucrative Divorce Industry'

I'm intrigued by what it is about this practice that makes it so popular. Though Sophie and her boyfriend are yet to confirm a date for their wedding, they have taken a trip to the nearby city of Hangzhou to have their photographs taken. "I take these photos because when I'm old I want my children to know I was beautiful once," she explains.

And where do the ideas for the shoots come from? "Womenalways the women," Elsie tells me.

However, it's easy to forget that this isn't necessarily the norm for couples across the whole of China. As Elsie explains: "I know people from big cities and small cities always have the photographs, but I'm not sure about those from far away, in the very poor countryside. My hometown is in northwest China, and the photographs there are terrible. The dress, the makeup, the hairit's not good; it's still more old fashioned."

As the shoot finishes, nine hours after it started, I ask if it's been a special day for the couple. "Yes," the groom replies, "because today my stocks dropped."

Marriage and money is related, Elsie tells me. That's true of most countries, of courseyou can't put on a wedding without a bit of cash. But in China, among those who can afford to stage these elaborate photo shoots, absolutely no expense is spared.