SFU Professor Tim Takaro: Terrorist, or useful idiot?
If there’s one thing we’ve learned from BC’s anti-pipeline protests on Burnaby Mountain it’s that Simon Fraser University has some seriously nutty professors. Nuttiest of all is English professor Stephen Collis, a man who writes poetry glorifying street violence like the Toronto G20. Then there was biology professor Lynne Quarmby (now a Green Party candidate) who claimed not to be a radical, while sharing the stage with the nuttiest of bedfellows.
Today we introduce another nutty SFU professor who has followed a long tradition of Burnaby Mountain protesters making lame and disrespectful attacks against the RCMP. Unfortunately, as entertainment value goes, Tim Takaro’s attack was horribly unoriginal- a carbon copy of Lesslie Askin’s September, 2014 incident, where the 71 year old woman was visited by the RCMP after being seen taking pictures of Burnaby Mountain’s oil storage tanks.
Like Askin, Takaro took his tale to the media after being contacted by the RCMP. Investigating Askin, there doesn’t appear to be any reason they’d worry about her. But what about Tim Takaro? Are there any red flags they should be concerned about?
Spring is back, the horror of this year’s winter is over, and it was time to get out on the streets and watch the union members thugs in action! So, I met up with Undercoverkity behind the Toronto Convention Centre to watch OPSEU’s finest (and their OCAP friends fiends) attack Liberals as they walk into their convention. We weren’t disappointed, the union members thugs got nasty with motorists- it all stopped when they realized the people filming weren’t “union friendly”.
In March 2014 I wrote the story International Common Law Court” Indicts The Pope While Sitting On The Toilet! The story featured a video of Kevin Annett sitting in someone’s bathroom reading a proclamation against the Pope. It was a low moment in the life of man whose career transitioned from being the only person ever defrocked by the United Church to being a second class con-artist grifting off of the memories of children to suffered abuse at Indian Residential Schools.
I never expected the story to be very popular, Annett’s con was well exposed by then, only a fringe of Barnum class suckers still believed him. Turns out it was perfect timing, the article has now become one of the most popular stories on this site (over 80k hits from people around the globe). And, now, it appears that the video featured in the article has inspired a parody- Kevin Annett indicts the Pope while sitting IN the toilet! The Kevin Annett puppet is amazing work.
On March 20th 2013 several thousand people gathered at Dundas Square in Toronto to participate in a pro marijuana rally. As the clock struck 4:20 hundreds of protesters simultaneously lit joints, bongs and other implements clouding the square with pot smoke to protest what many Canadians view as unfair laws.
Right at the same time a group of about a dozen people connected to the Hugo Chavez People’s Defense Front parked themselves at the northwest corner of the square. Carrying signs promoting Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro, the group cheered as if he was the next messiah. It seemed strange at first, why would they chose to do this during the 4/20 protest? The answer came a few days later when it was discovered that video of the event was used to create pro-government propaganda for people back in Venezuela.
Venezuela Unmasked is a two part series. Part I will look into the phenomenon of Canadians staging pro-Venezuelan propaganda, incidents where it was used by the government and its supporters, and how it’s all connected to one of Canada’s most influential anti-oilsands protesters. Part II gets even more exciting when we explore how one the Hugo Chavez People’s Defense Front’s leaders was denied transit through the US after meeting with a DHS designated terrorist group in Ireland.
Earlier this week Vancouver Sun reporter Peter O’Neill wrote the naïvely titled story RCMP claim of B.C. anti-pipeline extremists shocks native, environmental leaders. From one perspective the story was gut-bustingly funny, blatant misinformation so poorly researched it could have come from the Vancouver Observer. But it was also profoundly disturbing- dangerously sloppy reporting that could potentially get people hurt.
The story was centred around the release of an RCMP document outlining critical threats to the Canadian petroleum industry. Despite being marked “Canadian Eyes Only”, most of the content appears to come from open source information. The interesting part was the analysis, a peak into activist militancy through the lenses of the RCMP. And, as expected, the document’s release was followed by the inevitable torrent of activist complaints.
Up until Wednesday, the most obviously propagandistic article criticising the RCMP was published in NOW Magazine by American Anarchist Sakura Saunders- not unexpected for an anti-social hooligan who leads f##k the police marches. But O’Neill’s story really takes the cake, interviewing Grand Chief Phillip Stewart and framing an image so wildly deviant from reality that there were reports of people seeing the glow of Linda Solomon’s blush as far away as Halifax.
The analysis in RCMP’s document presented a solid explanation of the current state of the anti-pipeline movement. Regular readers of this website are already familiar with most of the content- subjects including terrorist events like the 2010 Ottawa RBC fire bombing, protests against Enbridge’s Line 9 reversal, the Elsipogtog anti-fracking riots in New Brunswick, and the violent (mostly anarchist) Unist’ot’en Camp in northern BC. There was also some information on funding sources, most based on the excellent work of Financial Post contributor Vivian Krause.
As any good propagandist will tell you, one of the shortest paths to deflecting criticism is to use language that discredits the source. Phillips’ first quote is the perfect example, labelling the RCMP’s concerns as “absolutely bizarre,bordering on misguided hysteria” was brilliant, less transparent than “tin foil hat” but leaving readers with exactly the same impression.
The Union of BC Indian Chiefs is a Vancouver based organization whose membership is reported to consist of somewhere between 30-40% of BC first nations (not the majority). The group is led by Grand Chief Phillip Stewart, a man whose activism often appears to parallel the policies of the radical arm of the NDP. He was recently a featured speaker at the launch of luxury hotel aficionado Jenny Kwan’s campaign to take Libby Davies’ seat in Parliament. Showing signs of either poor judgement, or shameless solidarity, Stewart was a vocal supporter of “Homeless Dave’s” 2013 fake hunger strike.
UBCIC held a press conference in September, 2014 on the Mount Polley mining disaster. Considering they’re an indigenous sovereignty organization, it was rather unusual to see Anushka Nagji (a non-native employee of the Council of Canadians) leading the event. It was also interesting to see a framed image of a fist on the wall of their conference room. When asked about the image, the person running their Twitter account responded saying “You see militancy, we see freedom”.
It’s not hard to see the conflict here- as the old adage goes, one man’s terrorist is another man’s freedom fighter. If Phillip Stewart is concerned enough about “misguided hysteria”, it might be a good idea to take down the fist and to ask his Twitter person to stop going all Che Guevara on us. That is, if his intentions are good.
“Perhaps a summer of barricades, balaclavas and burning tires will serve to draw attention to the urgency of the desperate situation of the Aboriginal people of Canada” [Phillip Stewart, 2007]
Take Back The Land, Kill The White Man
The membership section of UBCIC’s constitution outlines the different types of people and groups and their voting rights- if you read through it you’ll find a special section for the Native Youth Movement labelling them as official members. The group was originally founded in Winnipeg in 1990, the BC wing launched in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside in 1995.
If an organization wanted to get itself placed onto the RCMP’s list of potential extremists, adding the NYM to their constitution would be a quick and easy way to accomplish that. The NYM video above is a great example. The first thing you’ll notice is that there are people of all ages carrying guns and wearing balaclavas. Then there’s explosive language like “take back the land kill the white man”, and “if white crosses that line, there’s gonna be some blood squirting”- technically, these are hate crimes. Also interesting is the presence of Vancouver activist Jayson Fleury- one of the people suspected of fire bombing the police cars at the Elsipogtog fracking riots.
Gord Hill’s art -symbolism or “terrorist propaganda”?
Gord Hill is a talented artist whose work is at risk of being declared “terrorist propaganda” by Bill C-51. The above image is an excellent example- showing what many have interpreted as a call for people to promote sabotaging pipelines, rail, and electrical infrastructure. Hill was a participant in the NYM.
One could argue that Hill’s drawing is merely symbolic, and perhaps it is, but his history indicates it may equally intended to promote terrorist activity. Hill has publicly advocated the doctrine of diversity of tactics, an ideology that says it’s okay if people chose to use violence. He was featured in a film by Franklin Lopez (a guy whose work unabashedly promotes violence) called End:Civ. The movie features and promotes the ideology of Derek Jensen, the charismatic leader of an end-of-the-world cult called the Deep Green Resistance. Jensen openly advocates that people should blow up dams and power lines.
Harjap takes the money for a racist violent hate group…
One of the more transparent signs that NGOs and non-native activists have been appropriating indigenous sovereignty movements is that the money rarely goes to an Indian- more often than not in BC, the money ends up in the hands of the Council of Canadians. The NYM was an interesting twist on this problem- the money went to Harjap Grewal, an Indian who works for the CoC’s. Wait don’t cheer yet, you see, Harjap is the wrong kind of Indian- he comes from a Sikh family. So basically, still more of the same.
Harjap is a special kind of nutbar. He supports diversity of tactics, but takes things one further with his wackadoodle theory that Gandhi’s victory in India came as a direct of people who used violence. The CoC’s is the perfect place for Harjap to exercise his brand of extremism, his colleague Bob Ages was responsible for enabling Black Bloc protesters at the 2010 Olympics and CoC leader Maude Barlow has advocated for the smashing of windows.
(click to expand)
When you’re a nutbar who perverts the story of Mahatma Gandhi, and works in an NGO that has no problem with the use of violence, it’s important to have a partner who can handle your extremism. Harjap lucked out, hooking up with Harsha Walia- the country’s biggest cheerleader for Black Bloc and diversity of tactics. Adding to her (scary) zaniness, Walia is the Canadian version of Al Sharpton- race is a weapon in her world, and a tool to help with her “movement building”.
Curiously, considering how hard Stewart Phillip has worked to try and convince British Columbians it’s unjust the RCMP view him as a person of interest, he simultaneously thumbed his nose at them by allowing Walia to stage manage his arrest at the Burnaby Mountain protest. Putting it into layman’s terms, the entire premise of Stewart’s statement to Peter O’Neill is untrue (or perhaps Stewart is senile and Walia is taking advantage of him?).
Elsipogtog Anti-Fracking Riots
If not activist violence, spontaneous combustion?
In 2013 protesters gathered in New Brunswick to protest the gathering of knowledge. SWN had planned to use sonar “thumper trucks” to map underground to see if there’s natural gas. Activists have put a lot of effort into framing Stephen Harper as “anti-science”, the perfect phrase to describe the protesters in Elsipogtog.
A Georgia Straight article about the riots quoted both Phillip Stewart and Gord Hill- and, once again, Stewart’s statement demonstrated credibility problems:
“The brutal response on the part of the RCMP…was, in part, to send a message—a very strong message—to the First Nations and the environmental movement in British Columbia.”
Readers unaware of the circumstances may have fallen for this manipulative statement, Phillip conveniently neglected to mention that the RCMP had intelligence indicating the protesters had guns and improvised explosive devices (which they did). It’s curious that O’Neill failed to challenge Phillip on this- sloppy journalism, at best.
Phillip Stewart’s Final Statement
Picture of BC activists breaking the law found on BCUIC Facebook page
O’Neill closes off his interview with Stewart Phillip with a fish story big enough to both dwarf Ogopogo and put Tommy Flanagan to shame:
“Phillip said he’s never met anyone prepared to engage in criminal activity since his association with the B.C. environmental movement began in the 1970s”
Let’s start with the obvious, unless Phillip was a co-conspirator, it’s not very likely people are going to tell him they plan to commit a crime- this statement is impossible to prove. That said, take a look at the above picture that was posted on UBCIC’s Facebook page- three masked activists committing criminal mischief by putting bicycle locks on the front door to Enbridge’s office.
Next, BC was once home to Paul Watson, possibly the world’s most famous recidivist. There’s no evidence that he and Phillip have ever met, but Sea Shepherd members were right beside Phillip Livestreaming his arrest on Burnaby Mountain.
More important than all of that, it’s reckless of Phillip to spread the gospel that people engaging in civil disobedience aren’t willing to break the law because it’s not automatically guaranteed they won’t be charged with a crime. There’s always the possibility that people engaging in civil disobedience could get charged with contempt- the odds are that they won’t, but anyone who takes this path needs to understand the risks they’re taking.
UBCIC, ISIS & Cognitive Dissonance
Clayton Thomas-Muller with UBCIC’s NYM “Jihadi” Army
Though ISIS are a group of repulsive animals, there’s still one thing more respectable about them than Canadian militants- they’re blatantly honest about their tactics and intentions. For example, ISIS doesn’t bother trying to cover-up that they’re burning people alive in cages, they post the video on YouTube. UBCIC is not so straightforward about what’s going on in the background:
“Every day when you turn on the television, you witness insane acts on the part of disturbed people,” he said. “But to suggest there’s a very well-organized jihadist-style network out there that’s a threat to the Canadian public — in my experience this is absolutely not the case. I hate to say this, but this is Canada. Excuse me?”
The problem is, Phillip’s statement is not only untrue, but the Jihadist style network is named in UBCIC’s constitution. The above picture is from the 2010 Olympics when Clayton Thomas-Muller was the spokesperson for the Native Youth Movement- they’re certainly dressed like Jihadi’s! Thomas-Muller has been tracked by the RCMP for his extremist activities since 2010- he made a similar denial about not having an army last year.
True, the Native Youth Movement isn’t burning anyone alive in cages (yet), but they do present a threat to the Canadian Public. They were participants in the 1995 Gustafsen Lake Standoff, an incident where protesters occupied private property with guns (for “defensive use only”). The protesters shot their guns at RCMP officers one night, resulting in the most expensive police action in history. Several people were charged, some sentenced to time in prison.
I hate to say this, but this is Canada. Excuse me?
Stewart Phillip’s last statement in O’Neill’s article is very important- giving good advice that the people of British Columbia should all pay attention to:
“If I were to move in that direction (towards recommending criminal acts), I think we’d quickly alienate the vast majority,”
Now, of course, there’s no evidence of Phillip recommending criminal acts- it would be reckless for him to even consider doing that. But when UBCIC put’s Harsha Walia’s name as the key contact for a press release, the fact is that they’ve already moved in that direction. Walia openly praised the criminal act of “de-arresting” protesters in her speech after the Olympics- calling people to take such actions “deeply heroic” (de-arresting means that people use violence against the police to take back people being taken into custody). G20 Organizer Alex Hundert spent several months in prison for counselling people do do this.
The truth is that most British Columbians would be quickly alienated if they knew this was happening. Unfortunately, they’re not, because they don’t know that it’s happening. Why is that? Well, it’s simple really, lazy (or corrupt) hacks like Peter O’Neill are’t telling them. Instead, they’re producing propaganda stories that ignore the inconvenient truth. Organizations like the Native Youth Movement and Walia’s No One Is Illegal have already proven there’re dangerous- but, equally, the media’s complacency is too.
Shiri Pasternak: Anarchist queen of dodgy disclosure practices
After three and a half years studying anarchist appropriation of indigenous voices, one lesson I’ve learned is that organizations with the word “Solidarity” in their names are often a good place to look. Barriere Lake Solidarity is an excellent example- more anarchists than a G20 bail hearing, close connections with the pro-violence AgitProp extremists at the Media Co-Op, and more bullshit than the Liniers Cattle Market.
BLS is a unincorporated “working group” running under the banner of the student fee funded Quebec Public Interest Research Group (QPIRG) at McGill University. The groups founders include Martin Lukacs, an editor with the Media Co-Op and contributor to The Guardian newspaper in the UK (who often writes on First Nations issues without disclosing his activities as a “solidarity” activist). Lukacs was arrested at a BLS protest with fellow Media Co-Op leader Dru Oja Jay in 2008.
Anarchist Shiri Pasternak is a post doctoral fellow at Columbia university who has worked closely with BLS. She’s also an associate with Defenders of the Land, and works closely with their leader Russ Diabo. Pasternak came out with a sensational accusation last week claiming that “The Harper Government” has frozen BLS’s PayPal account- “due to our successful campaign to raise money for families who were going hungry because of negligent government service provision”. Really?
Earlier this week Greenpeace released a document they acquired from the RCMP. The paper warns that certain elements of the environmental movement pose a “realistic criminal threat to Canada’s petroleum industry, its workers and assets, and to first responders”. As expected, the news has caused quite a stir in the environmentalist world- with many supporters using it as a example of how the “totalitarian Harper government” has been “criminalizing dissent” in an effort to further their “evil plans”.
Of all the propaganda written by the country’s environmental movement, the most blatant was published yesterday by NOW Magazine. Professional protester Sakura Saunder’s article Why Is The RCMP So Afraid Of Enviro Activists argues that “The real threat to oil and gas industry is not the so-called ‘anti-petroleum movement,’ but growing public support for Indigenous land defense [sic] across the country”- there’s a problem though, Saunders is completely full of shit.
An interesting story was posted yesterday to the Anarchist News website about “a person in Hamilton who has been active in organizing against Line 9”. According to the story, this person was visited by the Hate Crimes and Extremism Unit of the Hamilton Police who took them into custody for breeching the conditions of their bail. The story went on to say that “Subsequent court appearances have made it clear that the Hate Crimes and Extremism Unit targetted [sic] this person as part of the security operation in the lead up to the Pan Am Games”.
If you’re not familiar with the Pan-Am Games, statistics say that a large percentage of Canadian’s aren’t, they’re an event not much different than the Olympics- only, limited in scale to people from “the Americas”. Also similar to the Olympics, the police have some genuine concerns that some unsavoury activists may use the occasion for violent self-promotion. Buy how realistic of a problem is this?
The Vancouver Observer was founded on misinformation. It all started when editor Linda Solomon arrived in BC and published her book “Why I Love Vancouver Reflections on a City by a Pulitzer Nominated American Journalist”. Solomon, like her fellow Hollyhock instructor Rex Weyler pulled a cheap trick on the people of BC- they’re not really Pulitzer nominees. You see, anyone can put $50 in an envelope and send it to the Pulitzer Prize Board- nominees are people who’ve made it to the finals, everyone else is considered an “entrant”.
Since its dubious foundation, the Observer has made itself into the Pravda of Western Canada- which would be funny if it wasn’t for the fact their reporting has become a danger to our country. Take for example their dodgy NDP “Spying” story that published misinformation about Canada’s security services- weakening their ability to do important work monitoring the small percentage of activists who’ve been promoting sabotage and criminal activity.
So, how does a fake Pulitzer nominee follow-up creating Western Canada’s “truthiest” online publication? Solomon’s idea is to launch the National Observer, continuing her tradition of publishing dangerous propaganda. Adding insult to the injury, Solomon has shamelessly misappropriated the memory of Rosa Parks- a brave woman who stood against America’s institutionalized racism by defying the rules and sitting in the front of a Montgomery, Alabama bus.
The first Cop Watch started in the San Francisco Bay area by Van Jones, an American Maoist who later became Barack Obama’s “Green Jobs Czar” (and was thrown out after his extremist connections were exposed). It sounds like a good idea on the surface, ordinary citizens standing on the sidelines with video cameras keeping an eye on the police and reporting incidents of brutality and misconduct.
Unfortunately, many Cop Watch chapters degraded into what should have been called “Cop Hate”, with activists harassing police as they did their jobs. Vancouver DTES Cop Watch’s lowlight was when anti-police activist Jennifer Allan was filmed yelling out racist abuse at Constable Paul Ballantyne. The video is posted on this website’s YouTube page. There was also the incident where Allan harassed VPD going doughnut fishing.
Jamie Richardson was one of the leaders of Vancouver DTES Cop Watch, a man who has deep vitriolic hate against the police. Part of the reason for his hate may be his criminal tendencies, Richardson was arrested in July 2012 for allegedly forging transit passes. It seems his arrest only made him more angry, Richardson recently posted a veiled threat against Constable Ballantyne.
