Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable.
- John F. Kennedy (1917 – 1963), in a speech at the White House, 1962

I write this on the eve of Remembrance Day, 2010, as PM Harper flies to South Korea for a repeat performance of the G20, as three days of testimonies unfold in Toronto and Montreal to question RCMP conduct, and the government continues to refuse a public inquiry into the G20. This judicial inquiry is morally imperative as it would enable the federal court to subpoena evidence from witnesses under oath to knit together the patchwork of incriminating evidence, establish the chain of command of policing during the G20, and finally assign culpability. Both parties are standing firm- this all-encompassing inquiry must not be allowed happen. It may be the only issue they agree upon at this time, having closed ranks to goose-step around civil liberties. Meanwhile, PM Harper is fiddling while Rome burns, selling more of our assets to multinationals in South Korea. Has it occurred to him that Canada is not his to sell?

I dedicate this article to my grandfather, who fought in the First World War, and was one of the few who survived the air force. He came back so shell-shocked that if his family spoke while he drove, he had to pull over to the side of the road to calm down. Within my extended family, several members have been awarded Orders of Canada for public service. I am, however, a vilified ‘protester’, as I believe that there must be a full inquiry into the G8/G20 Summit so that both levels of government are forced to be responsible for the gross abuse of police power, violation of civil liberties and powers of taxation, and desecration of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. If the Charter cannot defend its own constitution and abrogation of civil rights, it is a constitution no longer.

It is exactly one week since I witnessed the voting down of the second reading of Bill 121, a public interest investigation into the G8/G20 Summit tabled by Welland’s NDP MPP, Peter Kormos, by 8 ‘ayes’ to 28 ‘neas’ in Queen’s Park. Upon the resounding ‘nea’ across the floor by the consolidated Liberals and Conservatives, there was a unanimous, audible gasp by those in the peanut gallery. Included in that singular voice was my own, and within an hour, having sped away on my round legs, I was listening to Chris Hedges talk about his new book, “The Death of the Liberal Class” at the Munk School for Global Affairs. His lecture was a play-by-play of what I had seen at Queen’s Park, and spoke directly to me.

Could it be, according to Chris Hedges, that the liberal left – unions, churches and universities, progressive political parties, and the press – has lost moral suasion as a guiding voice for democratic dialogue? Have we abandoned our moral compass in favour of corporate elitism? And have we allowed the gutting of ethics, and the erosion of civil liberties, for financial gain? As I watched the provincial NDP fight back at Queen’s Park, and be mocked for their efforts by the opposing parties, I thought no- it is worse- citizens’ rights are being viewed with contempt as they contest the streamlining of economic interests, the growing division between the rich and poor, and the destruction of the environment. As Chris Hedges notes, without a robust liberal voice to engage in this debate, there is a very real danger that things will degrade into violence as the middle and working classes become increasingly disenfranchised, angry and confused. Internationally, general strikes rage, generated by falsely imposed austerity measures imposed by the banks, and Chris Hedges predicts that the US, then Canada, will be next, on the front line. A cynical friend said that no doubt the Conservatives had a contingency fund for legal challenges as part of their G20 bottom line, a line item right after their $500, 000 worth of delegate party favours -glow sticks, hand sanitizer, and $100 pens.

At Queen’s Park, throughout the presentation of the bill, I was distressed by the disregard the opposition had for the NDP. They held extended conversations during their presentation, loud enough to be heard by me in the upper gallery, to show their displeasure at the possibility of the second reading of Bill 121. For me, as a Canadian citizen, it was a momentous historical occasion, for the Liberals and Conservatives, it was a $1.3 billion farce of the highest order, worthy of a William Hogarth cartoon – when Peter Kormos mentioned the editorial in the Star demanding a formal inquiry, a Liberal MPP turned to the fashion section, searching for it there. I watched her. A MPP from the Muskoka region, Garfield Dunlop, mentioned the success of the G8 in Huntsville, although I heard how golfers were losing balls off the green, and militia were crawling out of the brush, holding the golf ball up, and warning them not to hit off the fairway again.

I have always been ambivalent about the Ontario Parliament Network, the official channel of the provincial legislature, but I was glad that it was recording and broadcasting this debate for posterity, ignored as it was by the opposition. MPPs, please be aware that you are being observed. I have heard how the intellectual level of discourse, as transcribed in the Hansard, the official record, is the lowest it has ever been historically, but the resounding speeches of NDP MPPs, Peter Kormos, Andrea Horwath, and Cheri DiNovo , showed courage, a monumental standing up for the underdog. As I left the gallery, I made the universal symbol for typing to Cheri DiNovo. I will transcribe my own citizen’s Hansard of events, and I will remember this travesty of justice in the defense of the Charter, and my grandfather, who fought for a kinder, gentler Canada, and my right to protest. During the G20, police erased incriminating photographs on iPhones by resetting the factory settings to default, and stomping on memory cards, to erase incriminating evidence of police brutality. I refuse to let these memories be erased.

Later, at the lecture, deeply shaken, I asked Chris Hedges about the vilification of protesters, and he spoke of having his microphone cut off, twice, during a lecture, and being escorted off a university campus. The press reported that he had created a riot, and the university sent him his coat by mail. Protesters, intellectuals, academics, environmentalists- these are all epithets, just as a Liberal MP pointed out the eloquence of Peter Kormos was due to his background as a lawyer during the Bill 121 debate. Those who ask for educated discussion are discredited to enable bigotry and prejudice, as PM Harper plays his role as ideologue to evade facts, discourage analysis, and hold court through emotion. Elitists, environmentalists, lawyers, lefties, union members, protesters- these have all become dirty words – just read the comments section online, and see how democratic discourse has descended into name calling, supported by this new form of government.

There will be no justice until there is a public inquiry, which ties together the disparate inquiries into a coherent series of events enabled by a chain of command, and yes, assigns blame. We deserve to know what happened, and not to be distracted by the pomp and circumstance of yet another G20 Summit, quick on the heels of our own. Regulation 233/10, the five meter fence rule, will lead right back to the Premier McGuinty’s office, then to the Prime Minister’s Office.

Investigation of this fallacious law will prove PM Harper’s desire to cut away the backbone of peaceful resistance by targeting caring, educated and engaged youth to ensure their future political passivity. The young woman, hit by rubber bullets, may never return to Toronto, and sadly, these memories of the state of martial law have changed a generation’s perception of police. As an educator, I will never forget this deliberate humiliation of over eleven hundred protesters, and as a citizen, I will never forget that my grandfather fought for naught, because I can be taxed to the hilt to have my civil liberties suspended for a political spectacle enabling police brutality, and civilian abuse. Canada is not safer since the Summits and the Charter of Rights and Freedoms has been allowed to be put into question, and with that, the fundamental rights of every citizen. Shame.

References:
Hedges, Chris. The Death of the Liberal Class. New York: Nation, 2010. Print.
Theo Moudakis, Opinion in Toronto Star, Public Inquiry November 1st, link at http://www.thestar.com/opinion/editorials/article/883743–g20-summit-public-inquiry-still-required
Krystalline Kraus, “Activist Communique: Ontario G20 inquiry public members bill failed to pass second reading and the Summit cost totals”, ‏link at http://rabble.ca/blogs/bloggers/krystalline-kraus/2010/11/activist-communiqu%C3%A9-ontario-g20-inquiry-public-members-bill
The Hansard, November 4th, http://www.ontla.on.ca/web/house-proceedings/house_detail.do?locale=en&Date=2010-11-04&detailPage=%2Fhouse-proceedings%2Ftranscripts%2Ffiles_html%2F04-NOV-2010_L066.htm&Parl=39&Sess=2#P1300_294131

There was a time when the pen was mightier than the sword. That was a time when people believed in truth and regarded truth as an independent power and not as an auxiliary for government, class, race, ideological, personal, or financial interest.
Paul Craig Roberts
Good-Bye: Truth Has Fallen and Taken Liberty With It

At the end of September, Rick Salutin, an award-winning, left-leaning columnist, was fired by the Globe and Mail. His second last article, ‘Stephen Harper – the last Straussian?’ received over 590 comments. The first sentence is pure Salutin:

People keep asking why Stephen Harper acts as he does, it looks so buttheaded. He seems to muck up his own prospects: firing decent people, lashing out, raising the partisan rhetoric, proroguing Parliament haughtily, binging on military toys, mauling the census – he’s a bright boy, it’s hard to figure.

I am curious why the Globe and Mail is not publishing the numerous letters questioning why Rick Salutin was fired for writing articles of such gravitas, and supporting his twenty years of incisive political analysis. Indeed, Rick Salutin’s final paragraph in his last article, ‘Rob Ford and the loss of Hope’, was censored by the Thomsons, as farewells are ‘not permitted’. Rick gives a clarion call against Rob Ford coming to power, and states ‘It’s the failure or shortfall of hope that leads to fear.’ As the London School of Economics responded by letter to the Queen, when she asked why their experts had not foreseen the economic meltdown of 2008, that ‘it was a failure of imagination’, so it will be for Toronto if we elect Rob Ford, and turn back the progressive policies enacted during the past seven years under Mayor Miller. Our actions will show that we no longer believe that our city that it can be a better place to live, and we will permit it to be ruled by suburban interests, rather than responsible urban planning and engaged environmental and social stewardship. Collectively, we care much more than Rob Ford for our city, and we have much more knowledge of how it can be run.

Is such a censored dismissal Straussian, Globe and Mail? Hundreds of thousands of readers, and Rick, deserve a proper explanation. ‘Redesigning’ is not enough. PM Harper pays $75,000 of our tax money to have a new media company monitor negative online comments, and no doubt, he just pressed the panic button to notify them to quickly repudiate the readers’ indignation and howls of support for Rick. You can read the online comments here. Off with his head, the Conservative Privy Council Office said, and the Thomsons agreed. It doesn’t pay to be controversial.

In their attempt to attract younger Internet savvy readers, who are not accustomed to investigative reporting, and prefer larger pictures, the Thomsons are revamping the newspaper to have a more glossy tabloid look and feel, with one of the issues that ‘define Canadians’ extolling the bright future of the armed forces. In the Globe’s recent ‘Canada: Our Time to Lead’ TV ad, touting the redesign, a young woman, riding a bicycle on a country road toward the camera, says that ‘Canada is not defined by universal health care or peacekeeping’. Funny- last time a poll was run in Canada, 80% of respondents said healthcare is the crown jewel, and distinguishing attribute of Canadian society, and why we accept high taxation levels. This subtext of this ad asks us to envision a new Canada, militarized and ‘open for international business’- a corporate Canada we are beginning to know, driven by unsustainable, neoliberal policies for endless exploitation. Who will take care of us when media corporations own us, and our messaging? Curiously, Irshad Manji, ‘Osama bin Laden’s worst nightmare’ has been chosen to replace Rick Salutin. The independence of the fourth estate is no longer.

This silencing of the media opposition is just another instance of what I have known for some time- the leftwing media is being censored and sidelined, soon to be extinguished, as part of the campaign against freedom of information in Canada. PM Harper holds a stranglehold on media relations stronger than any other prime minister in Canadian history. The scientific community’s head, and right to speak, is on the block, as well, as the byzantine process of asking for scientific data has been enforced, no doubt, to control press releases about the recent, peer-reviewed report about the poisoning of the Athabasca River due to the runoff of the tarsands’ tailings ponds. It is hard to speak when your head has been cut off.

On July 27th, I launched a formal CRTC complaint regarding the inequitable coverage of the G20, which prioritized images of police cars burning over issues peacefully presented by non profit and non governmental organizations. On August 16th, I received a phone call from a bigwig in one of the major Canadian TV networks. His tone was pugilistic, and twenty-five minutes later, after he mocked my commitment to march, I felt discredited, and verbally beaten up, for defending my rights to have adequate, or any, media coverage of the civil society response to the G20. I was told that footage of the ‘violent riots was fresh, new, important and newsworthy’, whereas the democratic discourse surrounding the dismantling of civil society, and fire sale of Canada to private interests, was a tale told again, and again, and was simply not newsworthy. ‘Anyway,’ I was told, ‘the people in the Labour Parade on Saturday did get 30 seconds of airtime.’ Let’s divide 25-40,000 citizens by thirty seconds each, and see if they can get a word in edgewise.

I hung up the phone feeling that the onus was on the left to provide more and more flamboyant spectacles of protest, and that the left, by its nature diverse in its concerns, is beholden to provide a unified message for easy media consumption. It is the job of activist organizations to be credible public relations firms, and perform theatrically, for a few seconds of media coverage, although the pockets of our opposition run deep, lined with our tax money being readied to be used against us, such as hiring a new media firm to troll online comments, or looping clips of a police car burning ad infinitum. Whoever controls the media, controls the mind (Jim Morrison).

What is newsworthy was the current exponential speed, impact, and secretiveness of the media campaign attempted by the Prime Minister’s Office to extinguish our democratic right to free speech through a Category 1 news channel, SunTV, nicknamed ‘Fox News North’ by Margaret Atwood. Fox has repeatedly undercut President Obama during his time in office, and its unrelenting critique of his administration is often perilously close to slander. SunTV would be a mirror image of Fox News, and a house organ of the Conservative party, as developed by Kory Teneycke, Mr. Harper’s former director of communications. Next, the Conservative Party will try to beam this news channel into schools as part of the curriculum, just after students rise for the new national anthem – ‘O Say can you See’. ‘No, I cannot, I do not have access to different media sources and opinions. I am blinkered by the government.’ The public outcry has been swift, and there are over 87,000 signatures on a petition against this news channel initiative on Avaaz.org.

As a new media professor, I am aware that investigative reporting has become increasingly expensive for news networks, and print media, as media content becomes less profitable because of online access to primary source coverage, and decreased advertising revenue (read Clay Shirky’s ‘Newspapers and Thinking the Unthinkable’). I was reminded by the TV network representative that the alternative press culls from the mainstream media’s content through search engines, yet his company bears the brunt of employing stringers on Parliament Hill. If I had had greater presence of mind, I would have reminded him that the alternative press reporters were denied access to the Fake Lake media press resort during the G20.

Disenchanted after the phone call, I was left feeling that mainstream media assumes that involved analysis regarding policy is considered too complex for the average citizen. This is condescending in the extreme, as evidenced in the brilliant citizen media reportage in the Real News Network, Democracy Now, and Tyee, which use the web and Youtube as outlets for distribution. I have turned to citizen media to supplement my media diet, and found such gems as Kevin P. Miller’s “A QUESTION OF SOVEREIGNTY”, which defends John Turner’s nationalistic views of Canada. Historically, it recounts Mulroney’s free trade agreement in 1988, and Bills C-51 and C-6, which have formed the basis of the yet-to-be passed Bill C-36.

Bill C-36 needs to be stopped for the following reasons, according to Kevin P. Miller:

In the new Bill C-36, Health Canada has proposed that the powers provided to Parliament should be forfeited so that Canada can “honour its international agreements and commitments.” If Bill C-36 and similar Bills are adopted, foreign entities, multinational corporate interests, Codex, WTO and WHO would be free to write self-serving laws that affect Canadians — and they could do so by bypassing Parliament completely.

Perhaps this is what they mean by ‘Free Trade’ — ‘free’ of oversight by elected officials.

In three weeks, PM Harper will attempt to hammer the last nail into the Comprehensive European Trade Agreement, which will make us the only company in the world which has free trade agreements with both the US and Europe, undercutting our sovereign ability to control international trade agreements, provide municipal services, and employ our own citizens. The government is dismantling regulation federally through C-36, and sub-nationally through CETA.

Image via Alex Garcia, Chicago Tribune

By Ron Jacobs in Dissident Voice, September 27, 2010.

On September 24, 2010 the FBI raided several houses and a couple offices in Minneapolis/St. Paul, Chicago and North Carolina under the guise of looking for proof that the people living in those houses were involved with organizations that “lent material support to terrorists.” Ironically (or perhaps presciently) the National Lawyers Guild (NLG) also released an 88 page document titled “The Policing of Political Speech: Constraints on Mass Dissent in the U.S” on that day. Not content to criminalize the representation provided by attorneys to those accused of fomenting terrorism as in the case of Lynne Stewart, with these raids the Obama administration has stepped up the repression that became quite commonplace under George Bush.

In short, the government is attempting to criminalize the organizing of antiwar protests. Furthermore, it wants to make opposition to Washington’s assistance in repressing struggles for self-determination illegal. Other repressive actions by law enforcement against US citizens, including the sentencing of a videographer to 300 days in jail for trespass after he tried to film an unauthorized talk in Chicago and the acknowledgement by the Pittsburgh FBI office that it had spied on peace activists and used a private agency to help out, makes it clear that the PATRIOT Act and its excesses are alive and well under the Obama administration. Repression is a bipartisan activity, especially when it comes to the repression of the left.

These raids are a clear and vicious attempt to intimidate the antiwar movement. The grand jury is a fishing expedition, as evidenced (for example) by the warrant asking for papers from no determined time. This intimidation is a continuation of the harassment of the Twin Cities left/anarchist community that began before the 2008 Republican National Convention. If one recalls, several organizers had their homes and offices raided prior to the convention. In addition, hundreds of protesters were arrested and many more were beaten by law enforcement. Eight organizers were eventually charged with a variety of charges including conspiracy. As of September 25, 2010, three of those charged had all of their charges dropped and the rest face trial on October 25, 2010.

This is not just about the movement in the Twin Cities, however. The September 24th raids also took place in Chicago and North Carolina. There is a grand jury being convened in October 2010 with the intention of perhaps charging some of the people (and maybe others) subpoenaed on September 24th. These raids are an attempt by the federal government to criminalize antiwar organizing They are also an attempt to make support for the Palestinians and other people fighting for self-determination illegal.

The PATRIOT Act was passed on October 26, 2001. Since that passage, the level of law enforcement intimidation and outright repression increased quite dramatically. From little things like protesters being forced to protest in so-called free speech zones or face arrest to the recent approval of the assassination of US citizens by federal death squads, there has been a clear progression away from any concern for protecting civil liberties. Indeed, the concern for civil liberties is usually dismissed by politicians, judges, and other people in power almost as if they were some worthless costume jewelry from your grandmother’s jewelry box. As mentioned earlier, this harassment and repression is not new to US history. In addition to multiple murders of Black liberation activists, illegal surveillance, false imprisonment and other forms of harassment, the use of grand juries was essential to the repression of the antiwar and antiracist movements of the 1960s and 1970s. As the NLG document points out, “from 1970-1973, over 100 grand juries in 84 cities subpoenaed over 1,000 activists.” However, nowadays there seems to be less resistance to it. Some of this can be attributed to the lack of press coverage, which is quite possible intentional. Much of the lack of concern, however, can be attributed to the state of fear so many US residents live in. This is a testimony to the power of the mainstream media and its willingness to serve as the government’s propaganda wing.

To those who argue that the media doesn’t always support the government and then cite Fox News’ distaste for Obama or a liberal newspaper’s distaste for certain policies enacted under George Bush, let me point something out. Like the two mainstream political parties (and the occasional right wing third party movement like the Tea Party), even when different media outlets seem to be opposing each other, the reality is that neither opposes the underlying assumptions demanded by the State. In fact, the only argument seems to be how better to effect the underlying plan of the American empire. The plan itself (or the rightness of the plan) is never seriously questioned.

The September 24, 2010 raids in the Twin Cities, Chicago and North Carolina may not seem like much, even to other antiwar organizers and leftists. The setting up of “free speech zones” may also appear minor. A grand jury fishing for supposed links to “terrorism” by antiwar activists may seem like no big deal. Violations of human rights in cases involving foreign nationals like Aafia Siddiqui (who was sentenced to 86 years after a trial that barely recognized her defense) do not even register on most Americans’ radar. Yet, it is the cumulative effect of all of these efforts at repression that we should be aware of. As James Madison wrote: “”I believe there are more instances of the abridgment of the freedom of the people by gradual and silent encroachments of those in power than by violent and sudden usurpations.” If these seemingly minor encroachments on liberties we assume we have go unchallenged, how long might it be before assassinations and torture by the US military and their mercenary cohorts are carried out on US citizens? Oh wait, that’s already happening.

Return to El Salvador will be playing in Toronto at the Carlton Cinema from Oct 8th-14th, 2010

The documentary  tells the story of vibrant Salvadoran individuals and communities and the intricate geo-political systems that have so profoundly impacted their lives.

The above video is the entire, uncut first seven minutes of Return to El Salvador. This sequence will introduce one of the many Salvadoran faces you’ll get to know over the course of the film, and a brief introduction into the past 40 years of rocky Salvadoran history.

Narration by Martin Sheen.
Opening title sequence music by Manu Chao.
Edited by Dan Moretz and James Knightly.
Visual Effects and Graphics designed by Steve Chandler.
Directed by Jamie Moffett

Pre-order the DVD: www.returntoelsalvador.com

Video posted on YouTube by jamiemoffett

By Claire Tremblay at rabble.ca,  September 28, 2010.

We suspected it and now it is confirmed. The Conservatives don’t think domestic violence is a crime.

MP Candace Hoeppner said as much on CBC Radio, no less, in Toronto last week. At the tail-end of her long, failed crusade against the long-gun registry, she distinguished use of the registry in domestic violence from fighting crime.

She said: “if the only defence of it [the gun registry] right now is domestic violence” then that means “nobody is saying that it [the registry] stops crime anymore.” It’s hard to interpret that any other way than it expressing the thought that domestic violence is not a crime.

Conservatives appear to think preventing suicides is a bit of a waste of time too. Apparently, the only lives the gun registry is worth saving are those that are caused by “criminal” activity. Or, as Hoeppner puts it: “I’m kind of watching with interest the pro argument that’s being made. It doesn’t even have to do with stopping crime in the sense of criminal activity. It has to do with domestic violence and suicide.”

So, as this reasoning would appear to suggest: if someone wants to go ahead and kill themselves, fine — it ain’t a crime is it? And the gun registry is supposed to be there to prevent crimes, like duh. In this argument, Ms Hoeppner appears to be working with a different definition of crime on behalf of her Conservative colleagues. A definition that defies the Criminal Code of Canada that says a murder is a murder no matter who commits it. One that says when a woman is killed by her husband it’s not a crime, but if she’s killed by a stranger on the street, it is a crime. A definition that in a nutshell that diminishes the nature and impact of a husband killing his wife, because a man’s home is his castle.

Or perhaps Hoeppner isn’t aware that most murders are not committed by strangers. The fact is, women are more often than not murdered by the intimate males in their lives. In the seven-year period from 2000 to 2006, more than 500 women in Canada were shot, stabbed, strangled or beaten to death by the intimate males in their lives. To provide perspective on these figures: 101 Canadian soldiers and police officers were killed here at home and in Afghanistan during a seven-year period of war in the same decade(Figures are from The War on Women: Elly Amour, Jane Hurshman and Criminal Violence in Canadian Homes, by Brian Vallée.)

In Hoeppner’s view, it would appear that the gun registry is a dud because it doesn’t prevent deaths cause by crime, you know, the Conservative’s definition of a “real” crime. But for those of us who are an uneducated lot who call a tragedy a tragedy no matter how it occurs, the gun registry really does seem to have something going for it. Gun deaths have dropped by a third since implementation. And for those even less uneducated of us who think that a murder is a crime — whether it happens on the street or behind closed doors, it is great value. Police use this tool more than 13,000 times a day. There is a reason for that. That’s because unlike Hoeppner, police treat an attempted murder as a crime — where it happens or by whom and to whom doesn’t matter. But, then again, the police and the Conservatives haven’t been agreeing on much lately.

“Uneducated” policemen, who wouldn’t know a crime if it hit them, know that a woman is 12 times more likely to be murdered if a gun is involved in domestic violence. They know that they need to remove a gun from someone who is beating up another person. They know if they remove a gun from a premises where a woman and or her children are at risk, they might save their lives. There is a reason for that: statistics from the Domestic Violence Death Review Committee found firearms to be present in 47 per cent of domestic homicides in 2007. They also know that 88 per cent of women shot in domestic violence are shot by a long gun. If police know a registered long gun is on the premises and someone is at risk, it needs to be removed. Guns can kill, period.

At $4 million a year, the gun registry costs two times the price tag of the G8/G20 Fake Lake pavillion. Or if you really want to knuckle down to it — it costs 10 cents per Canadian per year to operate. Better still, it costs nothing to register a gun and is a simple on-line “operation” (so it won’t hurt a bit) that takes no longer than booking a hotel. So let’s all pry those two nickels from our cold, cold hands and get on with the business of protecting public safety.

Claire Tremblay is the Co-ordinator of the Ad Hoc Coalition for Women’s Equality and Human Rights.

by Elroy Yau. Published by the Toronto Media Co-op

PHOTO nouspique

Media Co-opEditors Note:  the Toronto Media Co-op received the following letter this week from Elroy Yau.  Mr. Yau’s story was reported on shortly after his arrest and detainment by the G20 Police in the Toronto Star.

Hi!

Some of you may have heard of me. My name is Elroy Yau.  I was the Toronto Transit Commission (TTC) employee arrested in full uniform for going to work and detained for over 30 hours; all for going to work.

So the update so far is, I have been off work since July 4th 2010. The Ontario Workers Safety Insurance Board (WSIB) has more or less denied my claim because I refuse to sign a form that forbids me from suing Toronto Police Services or the City of Toronto for their blunders. (But WSIB IS allowed to sue.) I am not prepared to give up my civil rights for that. I cannot believe WSIB is denying me benefits because I refuse to sign a waiver of suing any third party.

I am under the care of a primary physician. I see him once a week. I saw a psychotherapist offered by TTC Employee Assistance Program (who was of no help) for 6 sessions. I have also seen the TTC psychiatrist, and my own doctor is making arrangements for me to see a real psychiatrist which can take up to 1 year.  I am under a variety of medications, Immovane for sleeping, Clonazapem and Ativan Sublingual for anxiety, panic attacks, and flashbacks. Percocets for body/back pain, none of which are really working.

I had everything very well documented as well as medical records and dates. I look at the sick benefits forms he fills out for my Company Sick Benefits Association. I have never seen words such as “debilitating”, “not improving”, and “poor” used to describe my condition. It appears, after our last doctor’s meeting on Sept 22nd 2010, he is going to try a more aggressive medication with even more side effects.

I see a chiropractor 3 times a week. Soft tissue damage and back, lower lumbar, and shoulder damage which was caused when I was tackled to the ground, and the damage caused is consistent with police hard arrest tactics.

Everyday, I wake up, and sit in a chair and look out a window. If it weren’t for my dogs, I wouldn’t leave the house. I have lost my appetite. I went from a healthy 155 pounds to a 142 pounds. I have little or no appetite and don’t eat much.  I lost friends and feel isolated. I have little contact or support from even my work, or my benefits plan. The stories are true; I am just a number at work, nothing else.

I missed out on summer. I missed out on my favorite summer activities. Pride, Taste of Danforth, Divercite, and Buskerfest. Anxiety, panic attacks, and flashbacks keep me from going out unless I really need to do something. Grocery shop once a week, doctor and chiropractic appointments three times weekly, and walk my dogs. That is what my day consists of. My summer was ruined. My life has changed forever. No BBQ, no beach, no summer, no siting on a patio enjoying one of the best summers in Toronto history. My day consists of looking out a window at them building a condo in front of mine in a blank, mindless stare.

Some people dream of having the summer off; I had it, and I hated it. All I wanted to do was go back to work, back to my old life and live a normal life. Unfortunately, something that will never happen again.

Elroy Yau

“Being thrown back in jail illegitimately and maliciously in no way dampens my resolve, in fact it only strengthens it and I am resolute to continue fighting. I hope that while I am in jail as many people as possible will continue building movements and building relationships across struggles, and will continue to push back against the system and its norms of domination.” — Alex Hundert from jail, Sep 19th, 2010.

Video by LeftStreamed

Rady Ananda for Dissident Voice, September 20, 2010

Agribusiness giant Monsanto, which genetically modifies plants to exude or tolerate pesticide or to produce nonviable seed, hired the services of the mercenary firm, Blackwater, to spy on activists, Jeremy Scahill reports. A death-tech firm weds a hit squad.

This is no doubt in response to a decade of GM crop sabotage efforts around the globe.  Since the publicly-announced introduction of GM crops in 1996, concerned citizens have vandalized such crops every single year somewhere on the planet. Several thousand GM plants have been partially or wholly destroyed. (See brief history below.)

Blackwater is most notorious for its Nisour Square Massacre in 2007. Seventeen innocent civilians died when Blackwater goons opened fire in a busy market square. The hit team was later acquitted in a U.S. court.

Scahill reports that through its web of companies, Blackwater (now Xe Services) spied on and/or infilitrated groups opposing Monsanto in 2008 through early 2010.  He writes:

The relationship between the two companies appears to have been solidified in January 2008 when Total Intelligence chair, Cofer Black, traveled to Zurich to meet with Kevin Wilson, Monsanto’s security manager for global issues.

After the meeting in Zurich, Black sent an e-mail to other Blackwater executives, including to [then-president Erik] Prince and [former CIA paramilitary officer Enrique] Prado at their Blackwater e-mail addresses.

Black wrote that Wilson ‘understands that we can span collection from internet, to reach out, to boots on the ground on legit basis protecting the Monsanto [brand] name…. Ahead of the curve info and insight/heads up is what he is looking for.’

Black added that Total Intelligence ‘would develop into acting as intel arm of Monsanto.’ Black also noted that Monsanto was concerned about animal rights activists and that they discussed how Blackwater ‘could have our person(s) actually join [activist] group(s) legally’….

…Wilson confirmed he met Black in Zurich and that Monsanto hired Total Intelligence in 2008 and worked with the company until early 2010. He denied that he and Black discussed infiltrating animal rights groups, stating ‘there was no such discussion.’”

Monsanto said only publicly available information was monitored. Scahill writes of Monsanto’s security manager, Kevin Wilson:

He claimed that Total Intelligence only provided Monsanto ‘with reports about the activities of groups or individuals that could pose a risk to company personnel or operations around the world which were developed by monitoring local media reports and other publicly available information. The subject matter ranged from information regarding terrorist incidents in Asia or kidnappings in Central America to scanning the content of activist blogs and websites.

Tom Philpott of Grist notes:

I can confirm that Monsanto likes to keep a close eye on blogs and websites. Back in 2005, I got my break as a food-politics writer after a Monsanto lawyer slapped my blog, with its all of 30 readers, with a cease-and-desist letter.

Monsanto has also openly engaged with activists on blogs. During my tenure as Senior Editor at OpEdNews.com, site owner Rob Kall approved membership for Brad Mitchell, Monsanto’s public relations chief.  Mitchell particularly focused on articles by Linn Cohen-Cole. (See e.g. the comments on Monsanto’s dream bill, HR 875.)  Cohen-Cole claimed that after her articles at OEN received widespread attention, she noticed surveillance vehicles on her street.

That early 2009 decision at OEN spiked the ire of food writers. They objected to a forum for ordinary people granting equal access to a multi-billion dollar corporation which can publish in mainstream media, and hire professional psyops agents like Burson-Marstellar. B-M represents genocidal regimes, claimed the Bhopal disaster wasn’t so bad, promotes secret vote counting software, and is generally the go-to spin doctor for the world’s worst enterprises.

By a wide majority, OEN members condemned Kall’s approval of Monsanto membership, forcing him to rescind it. Two months later, in May 2009, he demoted and/or banned several “radicals,” including those of us who deride GM foods. In fact, my banishment prompted the inception of Food Freedom, a website that includes coverage of GM foods and Monsanto.

But no matter how many bloggers it tries to silence, the biotech industry has lost in the court of public opinion. This is why it lobbies to ensure genetically-modified foods are not labeled. Not even Burson-Marstellar has been able to overcome the “frankenfood” reputation.

GM Crop Sabotage in Defense of Biodiversity

But it isn’t just public opinion that concerns Monsanto.  Monsanto didn’t hire assassins to sway public opinion. GM crop sabotage, which originated in Europe, has been an ongoing global effort since at least 1997.

In 1999, Andrew Hund compiled several reports of GM crop sabotage around the world, some of which are included in the time line below.

Just focusing on the U.S., Gordon Rausser documented thousands of GM plant destructions in 1999 alone. Citizens targeted GM corn, sugar beets, sunflowers, melons, tomatoes, walnuts, and strawberries. The attacks occurred in Maine, Vermont, Minnesota, New York, and California.

Kathryn Brown reported in Scientific American that in 2000, “in Maine, midnight raiders hacked down more than 3,000 experimental poplar trees. And in San Diego, protesters smashed sorghum and sprayed paint over greenhouse walls.”

This year, Marcel Kuntz described 70 instances of GM crop sabotage in England, Switzerland, France, and Germany from 1999 through 2010.

The timeline below is but a brief sampling of such actions. It shows a wide variety of crops on several continents. And it shows unending interest in ridding the planet of this technology. (Too numerous to list, the cases of GM crop sabotage in the US are not included. See sources above.)

1997 Irish destroy GM sugar beets
1998 Irish destroy GM sugar beets
1998 French destroy GM corn
1998 Brits destroy GM crops on over 40 separate plots
1999 Indian farmers burn GM cotton
1999 New Zealanders destroy GM potato
1999 Canadians destroy GM trees
1999 Brits destroy GM corn
2000 Brits destroy GM corn
2001 Brits destroy GM corn
2001 Brazilians destroy GM corn and soy
2001 Brits destroy six separate fields of GM corn and rapeseed
2002 Indian farmers destroy GM cotton
2003 French destroy GM rapeseed (canola)
2004 French Guiana activists destroy GM coffee
2005 French destroy 50 acres of GM corn
2006 Germans destroy GM corn in several attacks
2006 French destroy GM corn
2007 Brits destroy GM potatoes
2008 Brazilians destroy GM corn
2008 Swiss destroy GM wheat
2009 Swiss destroy GM wheat
2009 Icelanders destroy GM barley
2009 Brits destroy GM potatoes
2009 Brits destroy GM apple trees
2010 Swiss destroy GM wheat
2010 Spaniards destroy GM corn
2010 Italians destroy GM corn
2010 French destroy GM grapes

Not everyone has the luxury of destroying GM crops. In India, under a new biotech bill known as BRAI, people can be imprisoned and fined simply for “misleading” others about GMOs.  Since the entire biotech industry is based on “misleading” information (e.g. one protein-one gene, or that GMOs are substantially equivalent to normal food), one has to wonder if Monsanto executives will get a pass, while only those who disparage the technology become the law’s target.

Elsewhere, dissent has been met with violence.

Last month in La Leonesa, Argentina, 100 thugs attacked local farmers who gathered to hear a scientific presentation on the toxicity of glyphosate, the main ingredient in Monsanto’s Roundup. The Chaco provincial government had previously reported a tripling of childhood cancers and a quadrupling of birth defects in the area in the ten years since “the expansion of glyphosate and other agrochemical spraying in the province.”

Monsanto, by hiring a mercenary army and former CIA field agents, is deadly serious about protecting its deadly products. Yet, this contract further discredits the company. The public can now paint an even bleaker picture of the firm that brought us Agent Orange, PCBs, rBST, DDT, aspartame and, now, hit men.

Image via Ghana Business News

OTTAWA, Sept. 20 /CNW Telbec/ – Several First Nations of Quebec under the leadership of their Chiefs are taking part in the National Week of Action on Education to denounce the shocking attitude of the federal government regarding the education of First Nations. “By maintaining a system based on colonial tenets, the Conservative government is keeping our children and our communities in an unfair situation. This is a shame for the Canadian society”, declared Ghislain Picard, Chief of the Assembly of First Nations of Québec and Labrador (AFNQL).

Chief Picard and other Chiefs from Quebec, Ontario and other regions of Canada undertook a week of action to denounce the discrimination suffered by First Nations children in education. This discrimination speaks for itself regarding the underfunding of First Nations schools at the elementary and secondary level. The Chiefs also denounce the impending threat of the federal government to terminate the Post-Secondary Student Support Program. In Quebec, students and parents from First Nations communities will be undertaking actions, such as sending letters to the federal government, holding awareness raising activities, distributing flyers, and dispatching regional press releases. The main event is a walk from the community of Kitigan Zibi to Parliament Hill in Ottawa, in view of making the federal government react and grant the attention necessary to the important issue of First Nations education. A great national gathering of First Nations organizations and communities is also scheduled to conclude the National Week of Action on Education on September 23^rd, on Parliament Hill.

On September 21st, the Chiefs will be present at the Parliament to meet with parliamentarians, senators and members of the political scene to present their vision of education and discuss the stakes and issues regarding the future of First Nations education. “The time has come to go beyond The Indian Act and build a new relationship with Canada. A relationship built on mutual respect instead of colonialism”, stated Chief Picard.

Other initiatives will be held across the country in addition to the activities scheduled in Ottawa and within the First Nations communities of Quebec.

Underfunded schools

“Our schools are striving to survive with an obsolete funding formula that hasn’t been revised since the last twenty years. This is simply unacceptable and intolerable”, indicated Lise Bastien, Director General of the First Nations Education Council (FNEC).

Developed in 1988, the federal formula for First Nations education is highly discriminatory as it allows for a considerable gap in funding when compared to the much higher funding received by Quebecer schools from their provincial government. The federal formula ignores the following costs:

• Costs relating to the integration of technology in the schools.
• Costs relating to school libraries.
• Costs relating to vocational training.
• Costs relating to the sports and recreation.
• Costs relating to keep pace with provincial reforms, with considerable impact on the curriculum, teaching hours and support measures, such as homework help.

What is more to it, the funding of First Nations schools has not been indexed since 1996.

Contrarily to the provinces which have been investing since several years in modern systems for their schools, the federal government disregards this crucial need for the First Nations schools under its fiduciary responsibility. This does not prevent the government from accusing First Nations of withholding data, even though they are deprived of the tools to obtain the requested data. “By denying First Nations the means and access to quality education, the government of Canada is fully aware that it is closing the doors to their future”, added Lise Bastien.

Threats to abolish Post-secondary financial support
The federal government recently announced its intention to terminate the Post-Secondary Student Support Program. This support is crucial for the First Nations youth to undertake collegial and university studies and thereby increase their socioeconomic conditions and that of their families. “This threat is clearly based on ideological doctrines instead of common sense and good judgement”, pointed out Lise Bastien.

For further information:

by Tim McSorley,

Published in the Toronto Media Co-op on Sept 18th, 2010

About 100 people have gathered at the Old Court in Toronto this morning in support of local activist and organizer Alex Hundert, who was taken into police custody on Friday night by Toronto police.

Hundert, one of the most outspoken critics of the G20 and the police crackdown on those who participated in the Toronto protests at the end of June, was reportedly arrested at around 10:30pm yesterday following his participation on a panel at Ryerson University. The panel was entitled, “Strengthening Our Resolve: Movement Building and Ongoing Resistance to the G20 Agenda.”

Police have said that his participation on this and other panels amounts to a breach of one of his bail conditions stipulating he can not participate in a public protest. Hundert is scheduled to appear in court sometime today.

Hundert was originally arrested on the morning or June 26 before the G20 protests began. He is co-accused with over a dozen others on conspiracy charges relating to the protests, and has been labeled a protest “ringleader” in the media. He is currently out on bail with strict conditions.

“We are outraged at Alex’s re-arrest. He was speaking at a panel discussion in a university classroom alongside professors, which is clearly not a public demonstration,” said No One Is Illegal organizer Mohan Mishra in a statement to the press. “This is yet another attempt to silence Alex, and is a strong indication of the police’s intent to criminalize ideas, dissent, and effective community organizing.”

Hundert and his partner and co-accused Leah Henderson had both previously been threatened with re-incarceration for breach of bail conditions over interviews they had granted to the press. This included an interview he granted to the Vancouver Media Co-op, and republished in The Dominion.

Hundert’s re-arrest comes as police have continued to make arrests in the months following the protests. Juan Pablo Lepore, an Argentinian documentary filmmaker, was the latest to be arrested in early September. He remains in Toronto police custody awaiting bail on charges of mischief exceeding $5000, mischief endangering life, and assault. Supporters say he is being targeted because of his work as an indymedia journalist.

Despite what many see as a concerted effort to criminalize protest and freedom of speech, community organizers say they will continue on.

“Though many of our members have been arrested and are facing trumped-up charges, our movements will not be silenced. We will continue to organize against the G8 and G20 leaders and their corporate villains that pillage the earth with industrial projects and profit from war,” Rachel Avery, a member of Anti-War at Laurier (AW@L) and a music student at Wilfrid Laurier University in Waterloo, said at the same press conference as Mishra, earlier on Saturday.