Ottawa: Where Anarchists Dance With Union Czars…
Many good-hearted members of Occupy Toronto were tricked on September 17th. The put a lot of hard work into preparing a rally for the anniversary of the Occupy movement. They painted signs, some busked for money to pay for the bus. There was a lot of genuine good-heartedness in their efforts- unfortunately, their good intentions were trampled on. Sid Ryan and his anarchist supporters hijacked the rally and used it to promote the NDP.
Typical…
One of the more puzzling decisions that day was to include anarcho-rappers Test Their Logik (sic). On the one hand, it made sense- Sakura Saunder’s husband is a member of TTL. But, they put this anarchist and violence promoting band on the very same stage as Sid Ryan, the head of the Ontario Federation of Labour.
TTL was used to promote the violence at the G20 back in 2010. They sang the theme song for the violence promoting No One Is Illegal (NoII). Did Sid Ryan know who he was sharing a stage with? One part of me thinks that he couldn’t possibly know- after all, wouldn’t that be damaging to his reputation?
Anarchist TYL member Chris Bowen being arrested at the G20…
But, having seen the video of Ryan trying to stir-up dissent on the last day of Occupy Toronto, a part of me also think’s Ryan may been happy to be seen on the stage with people who support violence on the streets. He is a militant union leader after-all, right?
Anarchist Sakura Saunders and her husband Darius Mirshahi in the video
I saw a fascinating video by TTL this afternoon. It has more prominent members of Toronto’s anarchist community than all the films from May Day rally this year. First, of course, it has Darius Mirshahi, Saunder’s husband, and a member of the band. I wrote about Darius back in March when he was exposed for selling cheap Chinese eco-trinkets.
Sakura has been helping to promote TTL- she’s been pimping Mirshahi’s grooves at her Protest Barrick joint for some time now, as far away as Saskatchewan. Together, Saunders and Mirshahi appear to be battling to be the star couple of the Activisticrat’s débutante ball. Now that Sid Ryan has picked them up, the sky is their only limit.
Alex Hundert & Mark Corbiere, Both men have physically assaulted me.
Yes, Sid Ryan’s newest mentorees are promoting the incarcerated organizer behind the violence and destruction at the G20! Also, beside him, is Mark Corbiere- I’ve written about him before when he was involved in an assault. And, Hundert was responsible intimidating people at the entrance to two Occupy Toronto General Assemblies. Curiously, he was on bail with conditions not to be at such events- when the Toronto police came, they didn’t arrest him. They didn’t arrest Corbiere either- and the police watched it happen.
That still puzzles me. Are they in the middle of a deeper investigation? What’s the depth of the connection between police forces and Hundert’s AW@L. Are the collaborating? Or, perhaps they have still have someone deep undercover?
Or, perhaps, there’s a bigger game being played here? I’m still puzzling over Macdonald Stainsby’s declaration that eco-warriors only have two years left before the end of the world is neigh.
Someone challenged me yesterday on my statement that the Deep Green Resistance is a cult. My immediate answer was that any group who have such radical protocols, beliefs – partnered with a timeline for the end of the world – must be a cult. That makes sense, right?
I long time ago some people told me that Macdonald Stainsby’s partner Dave Vasey had a similar tattoo as some other occupiers. They also mentioned that a commonality between the people with the tattoos was that they were members of the Soros funded Ruckus Society. I didn’t write about this before, because I cold find very little evidence- but, that’s changed:
Love is the movement… (for each other, at least…)
Here we have Occupy Toronto (and No One Is Illegal’s) Dave Vasey and CUPE’s Taylor Flook showing-off their matching tattoos on an anarchist hip-hop video. Interesting, isn’t it? Even more interesting is the company they are keeping on this video. If you ever wondered what motivated Alex Hundert to commit an act of violence while out on parole- well, this answers it. Hundert, Vasey, Saunders, Flook and Mirshahi are a tight-knit group.
They’re also darlings of the militant unions. From now on, when you think about unions and Black Bloc together, change the phrase to ‘black ops’ and it will make a lot more sense. Militant unions have traditionally allied with anarchists and troublemakers.
Sid Ryan was also at Occupy Toronto, working with this very same crowd. On the last day, he brought a crowd of chanting unionists to stir-up the energy of the Occupiers as they were being evicted. I have no doubt this helped motivate some of the anarchists who got arrested that day. Watch the video of the event, notice how Ryan manhandles and gets physically threatening with the reporter. Realize what sort of a mentality we’re looking at here- mob, gang, threatening violence…
Brandon Grey was Ryan’s useful idiot that day..
One of the most cherished moments for militant unions was the Haymarket affair in 1886- an anarchist bombing that took place at a labour dispute in Chicago. It was a clash with the police- just like at the G20 and the Olympics. There was one difference though- things got real, and people died.
Most people view Haymarket as one of the seminal moments in the North American union movement. Ever since then, the unions and the anarchists have been joined at the hip. Or, at the hip-hop in the case of this story…
The question we have to ask is whether it’s acceptable for the unions to use violent tactics in this day and age? Personally, I believe that the answer is no. How can we build a better world if we do it on a foundation of violence? The majority of Canadians don’t accept violent tactics any longer.
I’ve not read the proposed bill C-377 in much depth yet- but, when I think of the unions and their relationships with anarchists, it makes sense to me that there is some more transparency. Most union members have no clue about the depths of the actions their unions have been taken. Each time I explain what’s happening with a union member they first react with denial, then shock, then anger (either at the union or at me.)
If union members could have transparent access to how their dues are being spent then they would be able to take action to keep union executives in-line. Equally, the media should have access to this information. I believe that most people in the union movement believe in the concept of open government- they should equally believe in open unions, open corporations, and open academia. (But, nobody should believe in the Open Society Institute, lol)
I’ve read some complaints about the mechanics of the bill- apparently, there are issues with the current wording that could result in privacy issues. If so, fix the words, but keep the bill. As the Occupy movement stated from the beginning- transparency is essential to building a better world, and it should apply to all institutions…
Here’s the video:
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Sid Ryan has no problem being seen on stage with people like this because he is one of them. Brother Sid is a radical socialist who has made a career out of weaseling his way into union leadership positions in order to advance his political causes.
As leader of CUPE Ontario he used his influence as head of the union that represents Ontario university support workers to push Ontario universities to ban Israeli academics from teaching. Even for CUPE this was too much and caused friction with the CUPE national office. Even members of CUPE 3902 publicly denounced Ryan for this. Not too long after Brother was no longer head of CUPE Ontario and appeared as head of the OFL.
Several unions who are memebers of the OFL have grown tired of Brother Sid’s politics and bullying. The Ontario Nurses Association and OPSEU (the largest provincial public service union)both suspended their membership in the OFL because of Sid.
Sid is a great leader. While there are many anarchists that understand how bad Harper and McGuinty are as leaders, there are just as many folk who are not afraid to try and make the system better that are also behind him. I’m glad we have people like Sid stepping up while Harper sells us out to China and Europe and his party cheats to get elected, while they cover up torture and silence watchdogs and trash the environment, while they conspire to control the media and help bring in 400,000 foreign workers to do jobs Canadians could be doing, while they attack good paying jobs and try to privatize our healthcare. The problem in Canada is apathy and people not getting involved in politics. People like you that write articles like these are only serving to help Harper screw the rest of us. Do us a favor and take your poison pen and write about how the Harper government is screwing Canadians with his Economic Action plan advertising when the plan has been done for a year and is mere propaganda. I hope Sid stirs up every Canadian to get rid of Harper and McGuinty because there will be no Canada or Ontario left for people that wish to build a better world. At least anarchists know something is wrong and are speaking out and trying to change things. With this article You are aiding and abetting the conservatives in attacking labor and would probably like them to have no influence on elections so that Dic tator Harper gets a majority again. Great job!
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So, because Harper is a bad guy, we shouldn’t criticise Sid Ryan for promoting people who are doing violence on our streets? Are you insane?
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