One of the low-points of my elementary school days was the moment some bully decided to kick the rims of my BMX bike. I was a geeky kid- kind of like our Prime Minister is today…
It may have been different if I was protected by a gang of men in well-pressed suits- that said, if it were Harper’s security detail, I’d probably be in the same situation. Despite the fact that I advertised Occupy Harper & Christie’s Photo nearly 24 hours in-advance on Facebook, they were completely unprepared for today’s events.
Three of Harper’s Stooges
It was a beautiful Vancouver winter’s day. The sun was shinning and the mountains were no longer hiding behind the clouds. Our Prime Minister was hiding though- he sneaked in through the back door, and threw us a snarky wave when it was too late for the demonstrators to block him. We were okay with that, it is what we expected.
Beautiful day for a protest Officer!
We found out that he drove over the bricks of the seawall to get in. So, the crowd marched over to the other side of ScienceWorld in search for some rabble to rouse. It was then that we realized we may be able to block Harper’s exit!
We don’t need no stinkin’ badges- we’re occupiers!
As time passed, the lack of police presence was resolved by a gang of six motorcycle cops. Then, some of the bigger VPD’s showed-up in their starched white shirts. Harper’s security people were pacing back & forth between the police and their handlers behind the gates. The more nervous they looked, the more we felt we were onto something!
Houston, we have a problem!
At one point, I go to the VPD and tried to test the temperature stating: “I don’t believe we are on a public highway. But, if you can show me any laws you quote we are breaking, I’ll do my best to get the crowds to move. But, I will research these laws and we will come back to you if this was not right!” The look of anger on the starched-white shirt VPD was priceless. Stalemate! We were winning!
Is that a legal structure? ROTFL
After a while (and I believe after we had started effecting Harper’s schedule) the motorcycle cops started their engines and moved into a formation. They then say there idling and the crowd began to remind them of Vancouver’s anti-idling laws. A good time was had by all!
Fifteen minutes later I get a call from a fellow demonstrator who was on the other side of the building. He told me that Harper was making a mad dash trying to get away. Coward!
A group of us ran over to catch the people on the other side. I saw the PM’s car speed by just as I got there- with the sound of a large “CRUNCH” behind him. I walked to the parking lot, started taking pictures as I was walking. Then, suddenly, some bully cop lightly shoved me out of the way. Forgive me if I am wrong, but I don’t believe it was legal for him to do that! Police violence! lol
I’m too afraid to speak to occupiers!
I noticed, after Prime Coward Harper had sped away he had crushed some girl’s bicycle! And, apparently, he almost ran-over one of Vancouver’s finest. Pitiful.
Harper’s new bicycle policy- “Crush them!”
So, #OccupyHarper proved to the world that #OccupyVancouver is still here, and that we are powerful enough to shake up Mr. Harper!
And, to quote this camerman- Occupy Vancouver is “Better than a food fair!” But, then again, you all ready knew that didn’t you?
One other cameraman who agreed- Better than a food fair!
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I’m very peeved I missed it due to sick day. God, if there is one thing I like more than a man in uniform it’s a sinister-looking man in a black suit and shades. Something to do with a CSIS founder being best man at my parents’ wedding or something.
I love that picture with the motorcycle cops: that’s Raven, isn’t it? The woman in charge of the Accessibility committee? I think I got her name right.
Go Vancouver! Occupy Calgary salutes you!
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Thank you! I salute Calgary all other occupations! :-)
absolutley awsome. i hope that he at least offers to buy the poor girl a new bike. i bet he wont!
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Actually, his office offered to pay for the bike repair- least he could do. Would have been a lot easier for him to talk to us for 5 minutes. But, obviously, he is too much of a coward for that…
Maybe slippery, reptilian, scaly cold skinned, cold hearted, non-responsive, how the fuck-did-he-get a majority government….
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He got there because most Canadians don’t vote! It is our fault! (well, perhaps not you and me- but, you get it….)
genuinewitty, I believe you need a re-think regarding voting and its importance in our propagandized ‘democracy’ (i.e., in name alone).
Poor turn-out at the polls is the go-to answer perpetuated by those wanting change but generally no further understanding of how change can be effected. It is an acceptance of our cultural dogma that our governance is a democracy. It isn’t. It’s a republic wearing a tarnished tiara at best, and is actually a quasi-fascist corporatocracy driven by the plutocrats.
Just consider Australia, a country much like our own in history and culture which has mandatory voting laws. According to your argument, it should be a bastion for democracy. It isn’t. It suffers from the same woes as we do. Voting is not democracy itself; it is only a tool of democracy IF democracy is in place.
Democracy is in the streets, it is in our behaviour and how we approach the political world. The rulers — whether deemed democratic, communist, despot or otherwise –only bend when they feel a force from below which may upset their grip on power.
We need to relentlessly exert that force in all we do — from the small things like talking with our neighbours and looking people in the face and smiling; to the larger things, like refusing to support the capitalist cartel composed of the state and large corporations. In fact, legitimate argument can be made that voting itself is an acknowledgement that you consent to this illusory form of democracy. At best, voting in Canada is the least effective action we can take to bring about substantive change.
That said, thanks for the gossip on Harper. Understand, though, he is just one of the worst victims of the propaganda campaign raging against us this last 100 years, and a true believer in the imperialism of our culture. [And he is a trained economist in the Calgary School (investigate the Chicago School of Economics, Milton Friedman, and Leo Strauss for a background on Harper’s intellectual influences) where free-market capitalism is taught as science.] So the principle reason a man of Harper’s low character gets elected Prime Minister is because we all suffer from the cognitive bludgeon of propaganda to varying degrees, and do not acknowledge, let alone intelligently respond to, the fundamental problems with our body politic and economic paradigm.
Two questions to ask yourself:
1. If we are in a democracy (i.e., ‘of, by and for the people’), how does 40% of the vote allow a single man to operate with seemingly impunity (eg., war crimes and torture; denying peaceful protest G-20, illegal detention, etc)?
2. Fundamentally our economy is in place to serve for the well-being, prosperity and stability of the people; so why are the people serving the economy?
So the penultimate question is, why do we have heads full of dis-information and, ultimately, what are we as individuals going to do about it?
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IgbyMac, Thanks for writing. You made a lot of assumptions about what I wrote- but, all I said was that Harper was PM because the majority of Canadians don’t vote. The consequence is that power is concentrated to people who do vote. Hence, we have a right-wing conservative Christian who supports Israel in power…
Now, I do believe in the power of voting, but there is a whole lot more to the solution…
One of the key issues in Canada is also media ownership. Most (civilized) countries don’t allow the concentration of media ownership we have in this country. Another big issue is the corruption caused by the fact most mainstream candidates get a high percentage of their campaign funding from corporate interests- this is why my first action at Occupy Vancouver was to promote the concept of Take Corporate Money Out Of Politics.
I spoke with an MP on this issue and got great support. It was interesting why they explained their party was unable to go public on the issue of Harper’s trying to re-introduce corporate money into politics- because “…he has positioned it to the media as a cost-cutting activity.” And, curiously, with the ownership of the media on Harper’s side, I was told that they had little interest in covering the story.
There are many other issues that got us here- but, I believe these are the two ‘biggies’. Curious to hear other people’s take on this…
The mere fact that they want the job should automatically disqualify them for the job.After 7000 years mankind demands that its leaders should be qualified, dragged kicking and screaming into office and, if they do a good job be giving early parole Arthur C. Clarke
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