The public face of the Sarnia blockade…
One of the more controversial demonstrations that’s come out of the Idle No More (INM) movement is the Aamjiwnaang rail blockade. It began on December 24th when a group of people setup a camp on the middle of a rail track in Sarnia, Ontario. And, despite that Chief Theresa Spence and INM have called for only ‘peaceful acts’, the blockade continues to this day.
The picture up above was taken at the Sarnia blockade- a group of native people supporting the fight against ‘the Harper government’. On the surface, it looks like a typical INM protest- only, these people have decided to block a railroad instead of a city intersection. What’s more interesting than the picture is what’s missing from it. Equally, there’s a lot more to the story than a simple blockade against CN Rail…
What’s missing from the picture is a number of familiar faces from the anarchist/Occupy world- including at least two members of the Ruckus Society. It’s obvious that they’ve taken care not to be part of the official face of the blockade but they typically make mistakes- this time they published their photos on Facebook.
Sakura Saunders, Darius Mirshahi, Dave Vasey & Lana Goldberg Setting Up The Sarnia Blockade
The first person I recognized in the pictures was Dave Vasey. Dave was the self-styled leader of Occupy Toronto (an officially leaderless movement) where he and his compatriots conducted some horrific acts of group bullying. Dave is also a member of the Ruckus Society (who promote group bullying)- an anarchist organization that’s been funded by the TIDES Foundation. Vasey was also the first person arrested at the Toronto G20.
Vasey’s girlfriend (on the far right) is Lana Goldberg, a union campaigner who put a lot of effort keeping Occupy Toronto’s focus on union issues. She’s probably most well-known at Occupy for setting up a pro-Steelworker’s flash mob in defence of usury by the banks. In September Goldberg tricked a group of people from Occupy Toronto into travelling to Ottawa for what turned out to be a rally to back-up Sid Ryan of the Ontario Federation of Labour.
Next, there’s Sakura Saunders- one of the biggest bullies to come out of Occupy Toronto. Saunders is a revolutionary Marxist who works with No One Is Illegal, and runs ProtestBarrick, an anti-mining group that’s a front for an attempt to attack Peter Munk and the Jewish National Fund. In here past, Saunders has worked with a couple of George Soros/OSI funded organizations including Prometheus Radio and Corp Watch.
Saunder’s husband, Darius Mirshahi, was there. He’s half of a surburban sounding Hip-Hop band called Test Their Logik [sic] who are famous for promoting that people ‘break up shit’ at the Toronto G20. Mirshahi was on-stage with Sid Ryan in Ottawa at the rally hijacked by Lana Goldberg. There were a few other recognizable characters including Curtis Nixon & Rob Roy from Occupy London. And there was Trey Winney from Occupy Toronto who is famous for following Sid Ryan’s leadership and deciding to assault a member of the press.
All of these people, with the exception of Saunders, have something in-common with Sid Ryan- they all participated in last months gathering of the Ontario Common Front. OCF is led by Ryan’s Ontario Federation of Labour, and appears to be the first official co-gathering of union flying squads, OCAP and other Marxist leaning organizations with the anarchists.
As they say at TIDES Canada- strange bedfellows…
So, what’s the big deal? CN Rail is losing some money- who cares? Well, it appears that many of the local residents care- both indigenous and others. The rail spur that they are blocking leads to the Chippewa Industrial Park industrial park. Now, this is really curious- because the park is owned by the Aamjiwnaang First Nation.
One of the residents of the reserve, who has owned a business in the park for 14 years, has written a rather heart-wrenching letter trying to appeal to the people holding the blockade. It appears that the businesses in the park are suffering- one of them, ARI fleet services, is on the verge of shutting their operations in the park.
Here’s one of the most disturbing quotes from her letter:
“Not only have you jeopardized these jobs but a whole company who is unwilling to do business in our Industrial park. What do you think the band will do to make up the rent lost by ARI? I,m not afraid to guess that an operation that size would pay approximately 400 000.00 a year in rent to our band to care for their people.
This protest has also hurt men at the railroad who cannot go to work to put food on their tables and pay their mortgages at the end of the month. Does anyone really believe these men and their friends and families will want to support the causes and needs of the native community who would do this to them?”
So, in essence, the ultimate victims of this blockade are going to be the very people who INM is supposed to be supporting- the indigenous people who are benefiting from rent payments, jobs, and the viability of the band’s business. So, who is really benefiting here?
Well, first, the anarchists are seeing some benefit. ARI Fleet Services makes train cars- including tankers that can be used to transport oil and chemicals. There’s also a chemical company that’s beginning to idle because of a lack of the propane that gets delivered over the rail. So, this action suits their purposes just fine.
The only other people who would benefit would be those who want to see the Aamjiwnaang Band Council suffer. This is probably the most interesting part of the story. When Theresa Spence made an announcement to INM that they should take the leadership of the chiefs, there was a great push-back by the radicals. In fact, two of the radicals who were involved with causing division at Occupy Vancouver jumped-in only moments after Spence’s announcement.
Right after, they started a new Facebook page focussing on taking the chiefs out of INM. What they’re doing is a virtual replay of what happened at Occupy. After conducting one of Occupy Vancouver’s most socially violent meetings, Tami Starlight then tried to re-name and re-structure Occupy Vancouver into “Decolonize Vancouver”. Anarchist attention seekers live for opportunities like this.
The Occupy/Anarchist crowd are revolutionary Marxists who have been actively promoting division on indigenous reserves for some time now. Alongside with the unions, they are the vanguard of Canada’s Marxist community’s attempts to bring this country to the point of a Marxist revolution. It sounds comical, as it is, but this hasn’t stopped them from trying.
These are many of the same people who brought con-artist Kevin Annett onto the reserves….
What’s happening in Sarnia is a lot like what happened in Toronto with Zach Ruiter’s GE-Hitachi uranium plant fiasco. The anarchists started-off giving the impression that they were crusading on behalf of the residents next to the plants. But, when it came down to it, all they did for the locals was to put a dent into their property values.
A judge has now filed an injunction against the blockade, and according to a story in the Toronto Star, the protesters have said they will leave the track by tomorrow. I’ll leave you with an ‘organization chart’ pointing out some of the relationships involved. Notice how INM’s spokesperson, Pamela Palmater, is a close associate of Judy Rebick, who is a close associate of Vasey & Saunders….
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Canada is getting to the point where we see this coming. We are resigning ourselves to the fact that whenever there is a protest movement anarchist clowns are going to take it over.
I have no such resignation, these anarchists are criminals, and it is at a point that it’d be due time to see them all get arrested and tried for treason. They have violent ideologies and are not a desirable element in any present day society. They aren’t even real anarchists, collectivism and anarchism do not mix they are completely polar ideologies and I’d rather just call them fanarchists. (for faux anarchists).
I heard that our government’s eyes have been on this article, and I’d like to know why it is that may of us canadians have been complaining about how the indigenous are being inflamed and how these movements are not legitimate movements, it is time for this government to review their tapes of legislature security cameras for example, and ticket and arrest everybody as opposed to the blind eye it has currently given to what is clearly criminal activity.
I understand that the indigenous are upset at this government, I am as well, but I refuse to support anybody taken under the wing of a soros funded agenda. Pamela Palmater’s CIG gets funded by tides and the CAW. The Tides Foundation, is an organization ran by a criminal white collar foreigner who has no business in our politics. He funds that creepy school called CIGI which gets the lion’s share of government money going to universities and which intends on exploring geo-engineering. I do not think the indigenous want geo-engineering do they? The CAW and other major unions are definitely political beasts with political agendas. But non-living entities should butt out of the politics of the people. Sure one can argue that we all work and that unions have done good things, but unions have been known to have been corrupted before (it definitely happens). These unions need to help their workers but stay the hell out of the politics that have impact on the lives of people who share no such association with a union, and allow us to keep our section 2(d) rights.
Finally, I would like to point out that our universities are being used and it is clear that essentially our own tax dollars are being used. For example, to the tune of $34 million dollars via. CIGI, which clearly has an agenda to institute global governance and undermine our national sovereignty. Our government is clearly in on this! Charities get tax breaks, and I’ve even noticed that they love to turn a blind eye on fake charities nowadays because it is all part of the scam.
Shame on this government, but even more shame on Canadian’s who should know better considering not a single bankster has been busted for their crimes. Shame on occupy for wasting over a year of people’s time and distracting us all from what sparked protest in the first place. And shame on the indigenous for not being more questioning of strangers bearing free gifts (which historically has never worked out well for your culture)!
Wake up people, we have a common enemy but it most definitely is not against each other — you see that is what the enemy wants is for the indigenous to fight against Canadians…. while the real criminals come in and screw us both for everything!
Author
I think more optimistically about it. The more often they are exposed, the more people there will be who know what they’re all about. I see it working- and, they know this rodeo is over for them…
this is ridiculous, you call people bullies just because they were trying to protect people and themselves from your online bullying and harassment. And this whole Soros conspiracy has no basis. The rail blockade was peaceful through and through, was started by the Chief and a few councillors, was continued by Aamjiwnaang members, and was dismantled the other day peacefully after a court ordered it down. The blockade was a beautiful demonstration of community solidarity with the Idlenomore movement and Chief Spence. I’m very proud to have been there to support it as an ally and get to meet all of the wonderful people who were apart of it.
I would seriously question that bully and harassment label you use. Based on the pictures, I see that greg has been seriously assaulted physically by those involved in the social justice movement, and still have yet to see any evidence of any violence on greg’s part.
Social Justice is an ethics devoid movement that will use criminal acts to shred and intimidate the opposition. It starts with labels like yours to inflame others into doing such bidding, then it ends with violence like it did for greg. It is the perfect cover for a stalker or harasser to label their victims as doing such to justify their activities of doing the same sort of things! Not saying that you are specifically doing that, but others in your collective are.
I’ve also noticed a lack of responsibility. We know who assaulted greg. As I am sure others in your collective know aside from those who did it. Nobody is standing up. Why is that? Simple, because the ethics and morals are simply not there with a sociopathic collective pushing an agenda nobody really wants. And that is why social justice is absolutely rancid, rotten, and not for me, and never will be. I’ll resist till the day I die as will many other Canadians, and the numbers waking up to it’s BS are expanding every single day.
How about you give up on your vision and start trying to work with ALL Canadians to achieve a more common vision and equitable future rather than trying to push the elite’s version of one? One has to ask themselves, in your position how much are you actually aware of what is really going on? How about you stop PR managing everything and just doing what is right?
My opinion is that YOU are a bully, and a persistent harasser, and that you can’t stand the criticism and have to resort to discrediting baseless labeling to achieve your political motivations. Which is precisely what I am getting at, those with political aspirations should not be involved in the revolution, and anybody that demonstrates they are willing to act like dishonourable shitheads and can’t stomach a debate when called on their crap — should be given the permanent boot for being the dishonest meddlers that they are.
Your sort and ilk are not trustworthy and I’ll be damned if I am going to let any of your rules invade my life.
It’s about time you folk learn that spreading awareness, and then using vandalism and violence, is uncivilized behaviour and will not be tolerated by a society that views such individuals as spoiled brats. From my perspective, you and your ilk just vandalized many people’s employment, which may have dire consequences upon the lives of others.
SOCIAL JUSTICE is guilty of engaging in conduct that produces injury and victims. It would be nice if Canadians could put the whole movement on trial!
Author
No, Sakura. I call you a bully because you, on video, told some pretty horrible lies about me. I’ve outlined those lies in this article, and I’m still waiting for you share your side of the story. You have, continually, told a lot of vague and unsubstantiated lies about me. If you want to be taken seriously, you need to give times,dates and whatever documentation you have to back your story. I’ve done that, it’s now your turn.
I don’t know why you think that it’s a conspiracy that American billionaires have been pouring 100’s of millions of dollars into Canadian political and environmental campaigns. Sandy Garossino tried that whole ‘conspiracy’ line with Vivian Krause. I wrote a little story about that, exposing Garrosino’s faulty logic- she’s now a laughing stock on the west coast. Are you up for the place of the Garossino of the east? You’ll have some challenging competition, Antonia Zerbisias is way ahead of you.
You talk about all of the bells & flowers at the blockade. That may be true, I wasn’t there- but, I also remember that you have continually failed to make any mention of the fact Occupy Toronto was a den of hard drugs, violence, and supposedly rape. So, I’ll wait until I hear what happened from a more impartial source. That said, the letter from one of the victims of the blockade is quite powerful- did all of the hugs & kisses make up for the members of the 99% who got hurt?
And, let us not forget that it was people very close to you who hospitalized me. Say hi Darius for me- tell him I now know…
lol the hugs and kisses are there for social manipulation. It is an emotional safety net that lulls dupes into a false sense of security while they are being used by social justice to achieve a political agenda. Taking advantage of those whos families have abandoned, in order to cloak the fact that the 1% are pulling all of the strings. Surrounding oneself with downtrodden and homeless doesn’t distract from the fact that all those in the most visible positions are not the same as those they purport to be representing. These people are nothing more than wolves in sheep’s clothing. Have a problem with their agenda?? well I am sure there is a working group for that designed to steal away people’s voices and use them to empower the agenda or at least silence the voice of resistance, and if someone takes notice of that and continues to speak out they are a bully, stalker, misogynist, harasser, racist, whatever label works towards achieving the manipulative ends of these faketivist individuals.
People are noticing that it is always the same people involved and that they are not nice people, under the surface are the most venomous, evil, and vile individuals.
Author
If you want to know how vile people can be. Watch Sakura in this video introducing Kevin Annett to Occupy Toronto saying “he’s going to announce something very important”. Next you see Annett waving around fake bones he said that belonged to a mass grave of residential school survivors.
Sakura, and Judy Rebick, and many of their comrades were instrumental in getting Annett his fame. Curiously, they’ve done NOTHING to stop his continuing damage towards indigenous communities.
Greg, as a person who was at the occupy Toronto encampment, I can tell you that sexual assaults were very much a problem, as were drugs .. However, these so called leaders / facilitators not only condoned thier use, they actually openly welcomed these people into the park so that they use and abuse drugs in the park since the police for the most part, stayed out of the same park. St James park was home to two drug labs , an overdose, and countless fights as a result of dope heads getting a little too high and wanting to fight anything that thier drug induce sights were set upon. THAT is what occupy toronto was about. The park was a very dangerous place, ask the women who fled in droves.
well.. in terms of you waiting for a response from me… it looks like on the article accusing me of being a liar, I’ve had a comment awaiting approval since Sept of last year! (see: http://protestbarrick.net/img/original/Screen%20Shot%202013-01-11%20at%206.03.43%20PM.png)
Also… regarding a response to the “lies” that you say I said about you… here’s the pic you posted of me and my partner to twitter, calling us “black bloc” http://twitpic.com/8v35pj. That date was before you even started to target Protest Barrick, I believe.
Also, me and darius were at a music festival when you were attacked and the week beforehand. we had nothing to do with it and have no idea who was behind it outside of the accusations you post. You accused ProtestBarrick of taking Soros funding when you had no proof of it (and you have no proof because PB doesn’t receive any Soros funding). You targeted PB because I was voicing concern for your presence at Occupy Toronto based on what I had heard about you in Vancouver. Don’t act like you were genuinely concerned with the Soros connection, because like I said earlier, you have no proof and never will because we have never received funding from Soros. Now you think that a NGO I worked for 7 years ago (doing admin) that got a grant for Soros means that I’m beholden to him? Well… that is a pretty big stretch. Again, I believe you are targeting me because I warned people about you and advocated that you not be allowed to be at Occupy.
You also said that (as far as you knew) I never visited the on-going occupiers and that I talked down about them… but if you asked your niece Alice, she could tell you that I did visit the occupiers at Osgoode and next to Riverdale park! So, again… you are suggesting false information about me to make me appear bad.
You are clearly libelling and now that you have re-libelled me, I should thank you because I can now sue. Every time that you repost this garbage, my ability to sue using the Libel and Slander Act is renewed. Please cease and desist now!
Author
What have you been smoking tonight Sakura?
First, I didn’t post that message of yours because it was full of outright lies. For example, you said that I called Rabble about Krystalline- absolute hogwash. Another bit of hogwash you posted then was when you said this:
“you took a picture of me and posted it on twitter claiming I was black block. it was at that anti-election fraud rally and I was wearing black pants and beige boots. there are only three people in the shot and you call us black bloc.”
Now, let’s have a look at the picture you sent today that you said you were referring to:
Hmmm, there seem to be many more people in that picture than three Sakura- my count is 32. What do you have to say about that? And, where did I specifically refer to you? I think the lady (not that you’re a lady) doth protest too much- probably as a result of your being a professional protester. Also, notice that this isn’t a picture of you- it’s a picture of a crowd of people taken at a public rally where there were TV cameras and other media.
Twist the truth often do you Sakura? Pitiful.
Next, in that unpublished comment you said this- which is also absolute hogwash. I had no idea where Smolcic was at the time, so don’t know how I could have reported him to the police. What I did was to call Crimestoppers and verify if he was, or was not, still wanted by the police. As a responsible journalist, I was obligated to do so.
“you called the police on this guy, and record it on your blog: http://www.genuinewitty.com/2012/02/15/the-curious-case-of-adam-smolcic-david-eby-the-occupy-movement/”
Sakura,once again, you are proving that your words aren’t worth the electrons used to electronically store them. Please, next time you post, refrain from saying any more lies. Yes, I know that’s a challenging request for an NDP anarchist- but, give it a try, you just may find that it works!
One last thing, while you’re here. I talked with CSX rail today and they confirmed that they are investigating sabotage on the line- right beside your blockade in Sarnia. Do you have any comments about that? Who was the person with the shovel who dug-up the dirt under the train tracks?
“The rail blockade was peaceful through and through”
A few have touched on this, but I will again. There is nothing peaceful about a blockade; it is a form of force, or, if you prefer, violence. In point of fact, blockades of roads/rail lines are quintessentially military actions, so if you want to be completely accurate, you should call it not peaceful but an “act of war.” I understand this is very strong language, but the rodeo, as Greg calls it, is over—the forty years of totalitarian destruction-and-replacement of the English language with newspeak (we call it protest, not war!) is going to come to an end, hopefully sooner rather than later. A bunch of people with Bachelor of Arts degrees prating on about how up is down, black is white, left is right, does not make it so.
And it is quite sad, because peaceful, incremental change is possible—but radicals will make it impossible and will make the mass of mankind legitimately suspicious of anyone who wants to change anything for any reason outside of the “official channels”. There is or was an old saying: “nobody got fired for buying IBM.” We cannot afford to have a political system that trusts the vested interests (IBM) solely because at least we can rely on their being large enough to not want to screw things up too badly, and to have a broad-base of supporters: investors, employees, regulatory stakeholders. It is clear we cannot count on activistocrats to have our best interests at heart—not that I ever thought we could, but I did hold out hope that some of you would do something effective, rather than your sordid obedience-cult follow the leader. Here’s a tip: real anarchists don’t have collectives. They also don’t obey rules from textbooks about what is anarchism. They also don’t believe in the hegemony of anti-bullying newspeak. Real Anarchism(tm), I am sad to say, is something that eludes you kids.
A blockade is not peaceful. Blockades are not peaceful. What gives you the right to stop others? What gives you the right to prevent the freedom of movement of others? Are you really that arrogant? You are hurting people with your blockade. Haven’t native people in this country been through enough? Now we have a known anti-semitic Misogynist bully in Syd Ryan looped and taking up their cause.
Yet another group trying to save natives from themselves. Nothing more than a 21st century version of European and American missionaries trying to convernt the natives to their own narrow views. And of course speaking for them and deciding what is best for them.
Look up Friends of the Indian and the Dawes Act. It is from these do-gooders that, among other destructive things, that the idea for residential schools came. How long will it take before people stop treating the native people of North America like children and let them fight their own battles and make their own decisions?
Oh, and BTW, in Canada it is still illegal to kick a police car. You seem to have trouble with that one.
Sakura Saunders, you present as such a “nice” person. Smiling and polished…always ready with your “everyone is beautiful in their own way” postcard persona. You could write a blog and call it “bloody scenes from the battlefield” and make it all so palatable. I see you as the most likely to be chosen by your comrades. As Canadian as maple syrup!! The poster girl for homogenizing what is in fact an evil agenda lying underneath the surface of all your do goody smiles. You really do make swallowing the koolaid so much easier for some poor dupes.
The problem lies in the fact that what you REALLY represent is far from the feel good, “we are all in this together” kind of movement that you were chosen to portray. It’s a Trojan horse that will usher in a new world agenda whose intent is to strip away what’s left of our civil liberties and our freedom of choice. The only world you will be saving is the one led by the 1%. Now who is the dupe?
SakuranSaunders , or is it now Sakura Blue, which ever you wish to call yourself ….. I really think you need to wake up from this slumber because the only reality you seem to be living in is one you have dreamed up.
I cannot help but read this drivel of yours proclaiming that a blockaid is legal and that it was for the benefit of the people there. Ummm, Sakura, that blockaid you so highly touted actually had a negative effect on the very people who you claimed to support since it cut off the very goods they needed, and, it put the LOCAL business’s in serious financial harm. Why don’t you do something useful for a change and get a real job to see what it really takes to survive, your rapper partner is not that good so as to make a living from it.
If this were an actual Marxist country they would just keep those trains a going. Put a big plow on the front and run it right through that blockade. Didn’t these people ever see a PSA for railroad safety?
From today’s CBC News piece about #IdleNoMore:
“While the movement is bringing together native groups across the country, it’s also exposing dissent within some First Nations communities.
Organizer Steven Kakinoosit says it’s great Prime Minister Stephen Harper has agreed to meet with the Assembly of First Nations next week, but he believes the AFN doesn’t represent 80 per cent of First Nations people in Canada.
The 22-year-old Vancouver student says the protest movement is a reaction to the chronic poverty and despair on many reserves and he blames First Nations leaders and the federal government for that.
Kakinoosit questions why millions of dollars is given to improve their lives but nothing changes at the community level.”
Great to see people like Steven Kakinoosit speaking out and, rightly IMO, taking both the Canadian government AND aboriginal leaders to task for their failings. Why is it that band chiefs and their families and sycophants live like kings while the people they are ostensibly representing live in third world conditions? Ottawa’s policy of simply handing millions of dollars to these chiefs and trusting them to improve their communities with it is obviously an epic fail. The white man certainly does not have a monopoly on greed and nepotism.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/story/2013/01/04/bc-idlenomore-peace-arch-protest.html
Ryan, a couple of things:
First how do you propose that unions help their workers AND stay out of politics? Are you that naive? Do you understand how power flows in society? Unions, to maintain relevance, have to be politically active. To be political is to engage with the system.
Second I have to point out the irony that is your diatribe against social justice and Sakura Saunders when you have employed the very same silencing and harassment tactics against myself. Or do you deny banning me from facebook forums you admin in a co-ordinated effort with Lawrence McCurry solely because you do not like, no can argue coherently against me.
I have no ties with any of these anarchists, communists, or political groups, if I did you no doubt would have posted the evidence long ago, you couldn’t smear me, you couldn’t best me, so you silenced me.
When you are done being a hypocrite perhaps we can re-engage in dialogue, my invitation remains open.
Standing Water
Unusually daring that you call the acts of unarmed protesters an “act of war”. I believe the Department of Homeland Security has a job for you. An intensely interesting viewpoint for silencing dissent.
You mention that incremental and peaceful change is possible. Perhaps you could provide examples from history where such a thing has taken place in isolation from any accompanying civil disobedience “i.e. acts of war”. I would be interested to know.
I enjoyed your insight that those that support the status quo can be trusted to support the status quo (IBM). But we can’t depend solely on large corporate self-interest and we can’t depend on activists “activitocrats”, then who does that leave?
Most of the protesters seem to have arms to me. Are they all amputees? Hey-o, I’m here all week, tip your waiter, try the veal. But they also have staves (sticks) which they have camouflaged with signs, etc. Flagpoles also count as staves, and in our law bringing a stick, having it in hand, etc. counts as being armed. The standard for “weapons” is more or less what you would be allowed to carry around a courthouse. And if you used your body to block a door, obstruct people in and out of the courthouse, that would be a sort of “armed force,” where your body is the weapon. The human body is itself a weapon if used as such, and I have a much more expansive view of weaponry than a self-serving protestcultist might.
Well, a good example is the incremental move toward enfranchising catholics in England after they were disenfranchised—if you want an example from the last 100 years, sorry, most of the last 100 years has been riot and violence designed to conduct nationalizations (e.g. civil rights movement, which nationalized hotels, etc.) or to support illegal combinations for the raising of wages, that is, trade-unions. The history of the last 100 years is the history of Orwell’s “continual war,” except he did not get it right—the state is not the belligerent; the state is composed of people who mean well and who sometimes have to make tough choices. The clear story of the last 100 years is one of “total war” on the part of factionalized, communistic proletariat morons who drink koolaid (PROPAGANDA, PEOPLE!) and who have no care for anything but advancing their self-serving agenda, at the cost of everything dear to rational men and women.
As for who we can rely on, well, I can only chuckle at the leavings of Christianity in the minds of various people—that is, the idea that salvation is always possible and that it comes if only the right method is employed. Not that all Christians believe that, certainly not Calvinists, which is, as far as I am aware, the more reasonable variation on Christianity: the elect are saved, the rest are unregenerate and not salvageable. There is no reason that things ought to be able to be made better than they are in this, the best of all possible worlds—certainly the environmental degradation is permanent and crippling, no matter how many band-aid socialist-totalitarian regimentation schemes make it appear less-so, on the snake-oil promise of cleaner air for grandchildren at the expense of liberty for those humans already birthed.
So then comes the question of what motivates one to try to “fix” things. Is it the view that every problem has a solution? Well, that’s unscientific—sometimes limbs must be amputated; sometimes palliative care is all that is possible. So, a good exercise is this: what is the “red line” for when palliative care for the species becomes the only option? I’d suggest that for most rational people, the red line was passed several generations ago, certainly by the time of WWII if not WWI.
Finally, I don’t think you got my insight—it’s not about supporting the status quo, it is about supporting a company large enough to have a reasonable vested interest due to the broad-base of stakeholders and who can therefore be relied upon to provide a decent product. Are there better products for some applications? Probably. But there are also worse products, so, as the saying goes, “nobody got fired for buying IBM” means that, in your terms, “nobody caused violence in the streets by being a law-abiding citizen who avoid protesting.” So it depends what you want—and as we are all aware there are factions of people in Canada who believe that violent revolution is the only “solution” in spite of the writing on the wall re: violent revolution. Meet the new boss, same as the old boss, in a world where most people, reasonable people don’t want to be boss—so what you have is one group of mental defectives trying to take power from another group of mental defectives—but to re-use the IBM example, at least IBM’s mental defectives are predictable. Who the fuck knows what black bloc shitheads if they, not that it is even possible, got into power.
The Hammer
Blockades indeed are a form of invisible violence. What gives them the right? I suspect that they arrogate the right unto themselves the same way those at the top of the cultural pyramid do to propagate violence down the hierarchy. The violence which is also invisible but omnipresent. Think about the power we delegate to police officers, we do so for the express purpose of our protection from the bad element, of course it is only when we are inconvenienced ourselves by the very same power do we realize that it is capricious and can be turned on anyone. This is the system to which we subscribe, an uneven bargain of relative power.
It is interesting that you ask the question about when are we going to stop treating Native Americans like children and let them fight their own battles and make their own decisions. It is a good question, I think it will be when we actually let them make their own decisions (stop treating them like secondary citizens and infants in law) and stop confining them to reservations
Nah, the Big Chiefs don’t want that. They’d rather have continual second-class citizenship for their people, nominal second-class citizenship for themselves, while banking mad cash all so that they can continue the bilking ad nauseum. I’m sure you’re familiar with what Chretien and co tried to do in the late 60s:
“Eliminate Indian status
Dissolve the Department of Indian Affairs within five years
Abolish the Indian Act
Convert reserve land to private property that can be sold by the band or its members
Transfer responsibility for Indian affairs from the federal government to the province and integrate these services into those provided to other Canadian citizens
Provide funding for economic development
Appoint a commissioner to address outstanding land claims and gradually terminate existing treaties”
http://indigenousfoundations.arts.ubc.ca/home/government-policy/the-white-paper-1969.html
The problem is with the FN wanting to be “separate and greater,” which is enshrined in the Canada Act, 1982 in terms of the cockamamie recognition of “aboriginal rights.” All humans have the same rights. Enshrining positive law in a constitution is a nonsensical act—one day I may just look into how such pure bullshit ever got put into a document purporting to be the basis for a free and democratic society.
What FN want is nothing more than to be a hereditary ruling class having at least a veto and at most outright control over most any decision that effects “their lands” which are purportedly “all of Canada.” What is most hilarious about this is how socialist-types who would never support a light-skinned natural aristocracy (EVIL! RACIST!) will apparently support a dark-skinned natural aristocracy. An Englishman in London telling a dark skinned refugee muslim to “go back to the middle east”? Evil! Racist! Danger! An indian in Canada telling a fourth generation Canadian of Scotch descent toto “go back to scotland”? People are fucking insane—clearly the cognitive “red line” was passed long ago, so all we can do is palliative care for these mental defectives.
It is indeed tme we stop our system of apartheid in this country. It never ends though does it? Not just here but in Africa too. There are always people who appoint themselves to speak on behalf of First Nations people. And those with the best of intentions are often those who do the most damage. As I stated before. The idea for residential schools in the US came from a good of progressive minded do-gooders who called themselves “Friends of the Indian.”
Interesting read, I think you could agree that by abolishing the Indian Act it would most certainly result in the cultural dissolution of natives as an entity in Canadian politics. The single act of turning band land into private land available for sale would most certainly have scattered the bands to the wind as the impoverished native people would be pressured into selling the land to the representatives of the dominant culture. So they were right in opposing it. I often wonder why the nascent Canadian Government of the day felt it necessary to put this defeated culture on life support. It was unusual to say the least considering the history of western civilizations encounters with indigenous peoples.
About weapons…
Indeed you do have a much more expansive view of what is considered a weapon. Like the police that shot protesting miners in the back, but the miners, they had fists, right? Clearly a danger to police armed with pistols and rifles. The miners were even initially charged with the deaths of their fellow workers. Absurdity upon absurdities. It is an absurd stance to take Standing Water, semantics and nitpicking aside.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-19466825
About Catholic Enfranchisment…
That is an interesting example, made for a good read. I couldn’t help but notice that the enfranchising took place between two very influential and powerful institutions of society, the church and the state. Two entities of roughly equivalent bargaining power. The disenfranchisement began due to a clash of who had jurisdicition in the event of a priest committing a felony, the papal authority assumed it was themselves and the King figured it should be him, clearly a threat to his kingly authority. Basically I would have to conclude that the Church could afford to wait based on their position in society which was clearly not the bottom rung. To have resorted to violence would have damaged their power and influence in society and thus made no strategic sense. So based on the fact that you cannot think of a peaceful incremental example in the last hundred years and based on the fact that it is doubtful that you could find an example of peaceful incremental transition between entities of clearly unequal power and influence that perhaps peaceful and incremental transition by itself is highly improbable (leaving communistic proletariat morons who drink koolaid aside assuming that every transition in the last 100 years could be attributed to them)?
About the leavings of Christianity…
That is fascinating, perhaps because the remnants of Christianity also contains within it the seeds of its own apocolaypse? The faithful waiting for the second coming in which they would be drawn up into the sky, raptured. When all one cares about is “being saved” the here and now (let alone the future fate of Earth), seems a little less important. So if the environmental degradation is permenant and crippling, is there nothing to be done about it? Just wait around for the clean slate?
About the “red-line”…
I am astoundeded that your musing are actually very much in line with the environmental eco-terrorists that Greg writes about. Where you use the term “red line” Derrick Jensen would say “what is your threshold”. Their view is that industrial civilization must be amputated, which will most likely result in a rather large die off of the human species. Quite terrible really, but the alternative, if they are correct and we decide that doing nothing is pretty swell, is annihilation of most life on earth. So it stands to reason that yes, we are not facing problems which have solutions, but rather predicaments which have responses. Of course for most of us as individuals, both scenarios ends the same way. Not exactly cheerful thoughts.
About missed insights…
No I think I understood your insight quite well. Let me explain, you have a company that is large, that is supported by a wide variety of stakeholders, all of whom derive their benefits from the continuation of the current system, that is why they got large to begin with and that is why their stakeholders support them ($$$). So if the system says perpetual growth is needed or the economy will go bust, that is the direction that those who are plugged in and depend on the favours of the system will inexorably go. You raise a good point about reasonable people do not want to be bosses, but from a libertarian perspective they certainly want to be bosses over themselves. So rather than have a bunch of mental defectives trying to wage proxy wars on each other using the masses as the middlemen, we should consider a system in which authority is dispersed and can only accumulate temporarily and narrowly.
If that is what their view is, to amputate industrialization, then our food system will collapse and many people will go hungry. These asshats have no solution for the fake “food for everyone” promises they parrot off, they have no proof that they can actually pull it off.
Plus I am not going to live in a mud hut just because they say so. Rather than amputate I think we just need to adapt, the amputation idea comes from some seriously technologically inept individuals who are probably trained in soft-arts, such as international governance, social justice, and similar rubbish offerings that our universities actually (and hilariously) charge people to learn. Pay for your own brainwashing….. that’s where these communist pieces of crap are spewing fourth from, thanks to our government, unions, big business, soros, and organizations like cigi.
Doesnt a railway constitute a ‘public works’? And wouldn’t a situation like a blockade be considered grounds for enacting the Public Protection Act?
Author
That’s a good observation- something I need to look into…
xtofury says:January 11, 2013 at 17:19
“These asshats have no solution for the fake “food for everyone” promises they parrot off, they have no proof that they can actually pull it off.”
Most likely you are correct, with an investment in industrial agriculture that is dependent on fossil fuel to function, we’ve not enough time to re-nourish the soils to provide anywhere near the amount of food required.
“Plus I am not going to live in a mud hut just because they say so.”
For someone who professes not to work or contribute to the collectivist system you certainly have a funny idea of what you will be capable of living in, mudhuts may well exceed your ability, I see card board boxes in your future.
“Rather than amputate I think we just need to adapt, the amputation idea comes from some seriously technologically inept individuals who are probably trained in soft-arts, such as international governance, social justice, and similar rubbish offerings that our universities actually (and hilariously) charge people to learn.”
Hmmm…then let us consider those who are trained in the hard arts that state that there is no realistic replacement for fossil fuels in our infrastructure. Technology doesn’t exist in a vacuum, it requires energy to make and maintain. So you see Ryan, industrial economy has but one path when coupled with an economy orientated around growth, collapse. No Eco-terrorists required.
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