Two weeks ago Toronto City Councillor Kristyn Wong-Tam tweeted out a picture of a hate-filled letter that was mailed to her office at City Hall. The envelope was postmarked on April 10th. It’s unknown when …
[Note: Do you like my work and want to help me cover the costs and encourage more articles? If so. would you consider making a donation? You can find my PayPal account here, or consider …
[Note: Do you like my work and want to help me cover the costs and encourage more articles, would you consider making a donation? You can find my PayPal account here, or consider a monthly …
[UPDATE: Christopher Wilson interviewed protesters at the woman’s march in Vancouver who indicated they travelled to the march because it was “free”. Who paid for it then?] The Women’s March On Washington appears to have …
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In the continuing string of evidence that anti-pipeline protests are mostly led by the same, small, cadre- a group of the usual suspects gathered at Burnaby Mountain this morning to protest the Trans Mountain pipeline. Showing an utter lack of creativity, the protesters used the tired old tactic of locking their necks to the front gate of a Kinder Morgan facility.
A protest like this usually has two goals. First, as described by Victoria based bully anarchist Zoe Blunt, it’s a form of “economic sabotage”, restricting a company’s ability to run their business. The other goal is to get the attention of the media- lazy BC reporters stenographers eat this stuff up, rarely questioning the fact it’s always the same people locking themselves to the gate.
In this case, being a Saturday, it’s unknown how much economic damage they’ll cause; but the action was timed perfectly for an anti-pipeline rally planned for later this afternoon. What better way to attract more people and media than throwing-in some Kryptonite theatrics!
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Permanent link to this article: http://www.genuinewitty.com/2014/09/13/breaking-usual-suspects-lock-themselves-to-kinder-morgan-gate-on-burnaby-mountain-feat-gandhi/
If you’ve been following this site for long you’re probably familiar with my work examining how unions, NGOs and activists all too often appropriate marginalized people’s voices. My first awareness of this phenomenon came during Occupy Vancouver when activists from No One Is Illegal inserted homeless indigenous men into the camp, labelled them as “elders”, and tried to use their presence to pressure the city into accepting a (faux) sacred fire.
My research into appropriation of voice often leads me to Canada’s new militant union unifor (a merger of the CAW & CEP). The biggest example was with Kevin Annett, a man who falsely claimed to discover a mass grave of Indian Residential School children in Ontario- there was a CAW activist on-site at the ‘dig’, and Annett was employed by the CAW after the United Church defrocked him for his fraud. My favourite example of unifor’s appropriation was in February, when two white people (including one named White!) issued a press release capitalizing on the death of Loretta Saunders.
Knowing unifor’s history, I fully expected I’d find myself writing another appropriation story. But, considering our lack of agreement on things, I never thought I’d be the person whose voice was being appropriated!
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Permanent link to this article: http://www.genuinewitty.com/2014/09/10/unifor-comms-staffer-appropriates-my-voice-for-the-olivia-chow-campaign-feat-john-tory/
It’s not just the bagpipe that’s full of hot air…
Update: The Oregon Aquarium says that the Pacific Sideband snail is “considered common”, not endangered.
In our last posting we covered how protesters against the expansion of Burnaby’s Trans Mountain pipeline attacked “the man” by yelling insults and expletives at the working man. Meanwhile, the Pulitzer worthy (well, more worthy than Linda Solomon at the Observer) geniuses at Burnaby Now newspaper have claimed that the battle is heating up. And how did they back this theory? With a picture of 19 protesters and another of a guy with a bagpipe.
Previous protests involved scores more protesters- adding the fact that Burnaby is a college town with a population of over 200,000, it’s becoming clear that the Trans Mountain protesters are going nowhere fast. So, what’s a protester to do when the public doesn’t give a damn? Simple, time to go hunting for Spotted Owls!
If you’re a fan of French cuisine, you’ll find their solution deliciously fun…
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Permanent link to this article: http://www.genuinewitty.com/2014/09/08/will-mia-nissens-spotted-owl-slow-burnaby-trans-mountain-pipeline-expansion-to-a-to-snails-pace/
Mia Nissen: Compared herself to Gandhi in fake hunger strike
Mia Nissen is a clear case of what happens when an activist goes off the rails. Her first 15 minutes of fame came in January when the (dodgy) Vancouver Observer quoted Nissen comparing herself to Gandhi at the start of a “hunger strike” (7 days of fasting). Nissen locked her neck to the gate at Chevron’s Burnaby, BC refinery in May- continuing her mockery of the great Indian leader, she partnered with Dan Wallace, a man who openly promotes violence.
Things didn’t work out so well for Nissen after that protest; the RCMP let them walk away without charges, but Chevron has stepped in and is demanding the court takes action. The trial is scheduled for September 8th, most average people would probably tone things down at this point; not Nissen, instead, she’s decided to double-down on the crazy
But this time, rather than sticking it to “the man” with acts of economic sabotage, she’s decided to take her anger out on the working man.
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Permanent link to this article: http://www.genuinewitty.com/2014/09/04/burnaby-pipeline-protesters-go-after-the-man-by-attacking-the-working-man-feat-mia-nissen/
Protesters at the May blockade of a Chevron property in Burnaby, BC
Back in May, a group of three protesters locked their necks to the front gate of a Chevron facility in Burnaby, BC. They were a ragtag trio, Dan Wallace was filmed a few weeks earlier promoting violence at a May Day Rally, Mia Nissen compared herself to Gandhi in an article in the Vancouver Observer, and not much is known about the third protester Adam Gold.
Chevron got an injunction against the protesters, and police came to cut them off of the gate. They got away with their crimes in the end when the police dropped the charges. Everything looked good for the protesters until a few days ago when Chevron gave them a surprise- they’re not willing to put up with the police’s lack of action, and are pursuing a declaration from the court that the protesters failed to comply with the injunction. This could be the first step towards a civil suit.
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Permanent link to this article: http://www.genuinewitty.com/2014/08/15/chevron-to-take-vancouver-protesters-to-court-feat-dan-wallace-mia-gandhi-nissen/
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