genuinewitty.com – Page 20 – Sacred cows make the tastiest hamburger

Jun 07

Is ForestEthics Gravitating Towards The Militants Now? (Feat. Ben West, Gord Hill)

By grenouf in Ben West, ForestEthics, Gord Hill

Wittingly or not, Ben West is a dangerous man…

To steal a phrase used by TIDES Canada, our country’s environmental movements often bring together some strange bedfellows. The most striking of these relationships has to be the partnership with Green Party leader Elizabeth May and the Council of Canadians leader Maude Barlow- May is outspoken against violence (albeit in a strangely twisted manner), while Barlow and her organization are influential enablers.

Until recently, ForestEthics seemed rather benign. Radicals have harshly criticised them for being fronts for US business interests- some have spent a lot of time attacking FE leader Tzeporah Berman. But there have been recent indications that FE is getting closer to the radical elements. And, this week, their campaign director Ben West has stepped into some very dangerous territory.

Jun 05

[Updated] Vancouver Activist House Raided In Anti-Pipeline Vandalism Investigation (Feat. Gord Hill)

By grenouf in Gord Hill, VPD

Classy, real classy…

Update: Quell surprise, Ben West of ForestEthics has complained that the police were too heavy-handed…

Vancouver has been experiencing a Vandalism problem over the past few months. A person (or persons) have been prolifically spray painting “No Pipelines” on buildings across the east side of the city. The graffiti is in no way artistic; and in some cases has actually been painted over real art (see above). It’s the type of thing that leaves one wondering about the stupidity of some protesters, or if someone is intentionally trying to poison their cause.

New information came to light on the case this week when Vancouver Police executed a search warrant on an East Vancouver house on Parker Street. In an approach similar to last year’s raid on a London, Ontario anarchist house, the search warrant allowed police to confiscate the resident’s digital media. Five people were taken into custody, including on of the country’s most notorious militants.

Jun 02

What Didn’t The Media Tell Us About Desmond Tutu’s Visit? (Feat. 350.org & Eriel Deranger)

By grenouf in 350.org, Desmond Tutu, Love Is The Movement

ACFN Chief Allan Adam & Desmond Tutu

The one thing I admire most about Desmond Tutu is his rigorous advocacy of non-violence. As the creator of the concept of the Rainbow Nation, and chairman of South Africa’s Truth And Reconciliation Commission, Tutu’s work made a real difference to many people’s lives. More recently, Tutu spoke out against the African National Congress, saying “it doesn’t seem to me now that a freedom-fighting unit can easily make the transition to becoming a political party,” and describing South Africa as “the most unequal society in the world”.

This weekend Tutu travelled to Canada, a country whose residents enjoy a high standard of living, above-average economic equality, the freedom to say what we want, and a sense of security that South Africans could only dream about. Tutu’s message was both that he’s not here to tell Canadians what to do, but that the current trajectory of the oilsands is producing ‘filth’ and is evidence of our country’s ‘negligence and greed’. Many Canadians agree with this message- equally, many others feel that Tutu is misguided.

Tutu’s visit was covered by media outlets around the globe. But, as usual, most reporters completely missed the obvious- the influence of an American NGO…

May 31

Burnaby Chevron Protesters, Threats Of Violence, And The Perversion Of Mahatma Gandhi

By grenouf in Unist'ot'en Camp, Vancouver, Vancouver Observer, VPD

Hey, doesn’t that sign look familiar?

Activists interrupted a Burnaby, BC fuel truck refilling station yesterday, protesting Chevron’s involvement in the Pacific Trails Pipeline project, and showing ‘solidarity’ to the (violent) Unist’ot’en Camp. Replicating Greenpeace’s similar stunt in October 2013, three of the protesters locked themselves to the front gate. Their message for Chevron was to ‘frack off’, a slogan as stale as their tactics. But of course, the media ate it all up!

Talking to the media, the group and their representatives stressed that they’re just “ordinary citizens” who’ve decided that enough is enough! But, are they just ordinary folk or is there more to the story that the media didn’t tell us? I’m sure you’ve guessed the answer already, there’s much more to be told- including how one arrestee was recently filmed advocating for violence (and how another tried to cover it up).

Let’s have a look at who got arrested…

May 29

[Updated] Slacktivist Exploitation Of Missing Toronto Women Has Unintended Consequences

By grenouf in Slacktivism, Toronto Police Department, Toronto Star

Update: The two teenage girls have now been found.
Update 2: Corrected a mistake: Paisley Ray’s spreadsheet separated the men into their own tab, I missed that. Ray has created a Storify page of her tweets.

I use an app on my phone to subscribe to the Toronto Police Service’s news release updates. It’s an interesting barometer of what’s happening in the city, and perhaps a good way to catch a story or two- but most of the time it’s a lot of white noise.

There’s rarely a day when I don’t see missing persons alerts; for people of all genders, races, and socioeconomic backgrounds. The alerts are almost invariably followed by an announcement that the person has been found. I see so many of these messages each week that I often tell myself I should find an app that can filter them out.

The alerts turned into a minor, and questionable, controversy on Tuesday. Three women were reported missing near Queen St West and Osslington, two were teenage friends who were known to have been together; the third case was unrelated, a 40 year old Asian women. The story quickly caught the attention of the slacktivist class- outspoken radical New Brunswick feminist Kathleen Pye announced the hashtag #TorontoWomen. Everything started going downhill from that point.

May 27

Eco-Terrorism: The Scariest Part Is Watching The Enablers (Feat. Daryn Caister & Kevin Farmer)

By grenouf in Daryn Caister, Elizabeth May, Green Majority, Gren Party, Kevin Farmer

Kevin Farmer and Daryn Caister scare me...

Kevin Farmer (a.k.a. Tweedledee) and Daryn Caister (a.k.a. Tweedledum) scare me…

On Saturday afternoon I got a tweet from Antonia Zerbisias at the Toronto Star. She and I’ve had a bit of a rivalry over the past year, Antonia got quite upset after I criticized her reckless support of militant activists who promote violence (she got quite nasty in return). So, considering Antonia’s past behavior (and questionable ethics), I figured I was in for a treat.

Meet Daryn Caister and Kevin Farmer, the subject of today’s story. Caister runs a syndicated (on university radio stations) and presumptively named radio show called The Green Majority, Farmer is a regular guest. They used this week’s show to attack my first appearance on Sun News- unfortunately for them, even Sun News has torn apart my work better (Michael Coren makes them look like amateurs).

Their attacks were juvenile and, quite frankly, lame. Let’s hope (for the sake of environmentalism) that these two don’t represent the majority.

May 20

A Drive-By Report On Today’s (Sad) Line 9 Protest (Feat. Usual Suspects)

By grenouf in Swamp Line 9

Anarchists huddled under a tarp made of oil

Update: This report initially said that the Line 9 spokesperson claimed this dig would fix 400 defects, that was inaccurate, and has been fixed.

If you read my story Yawn, Another Line 9 Pipeline Occupation, then you probably don’t need to bother reading any further, today’s 12-hour ‘blockade’ of a Line 9 site is pretty much the same. The protests themselves are no longer very interesting; the tactics don’t change, they’re led by the same group of professional protesters, they keep using the same signs. Quite frankly, today was a dud- but that was to be expected, right?

What’s also to be expected is that the media would eat this up and spit-out some crap regurgitating the protester’s message. For the most part this was true; but, refreshingly, a couple of journalists were bold enough to question the gaps in the blockader’s logic. You’ve probably figured this out already, but the CBC’s reporting was deeply lacking.

UndercoverKity and I hopped in his car today and made out way out to Burlington to find out what the media wasn’t telling us…

#NoLine9, #SwampLine9, Adam Carter, Bailey Lamon, CBC, CHCH, Danielle Bossineau, Dave Vasey, Enbridge, G20, hamilton spectator, Lana Goldberg, Leadnow, line 9, Lynn Adamson, Occupy Toronto, Quaker, Sâkihitowin Awâsis, Trish Mills, violence
2 Comments

May 19

LeadNow’s Anti-Social Climate Rallies Leave Vandalistic Legacy! (And what we can do about it)

By grenouf in Ezra Levant, Lana Goldberg, Leadnow.ca, Marxism, Occupy Toronto, Occupy Vancouver, VPD

LeadNow.ca's posters are plastered across the city

LeadNow.ca’s posters are (literally) plastered across Toronto

Last weekend LeadNow.ca organized their Defend Our Climate, Defend Our Communities rallies across the country. LeadNow claimed they had events in over 100 locations (some possibly in people’s living rooms), and that many thousands of people showed up in support. The two largest gatherings were in Vancouver and Toronto- many of the usual suspects appeared, including (of course) leaders from the Occupy movement.

Like many Vancouver and Toronto protests, LeadNow’s rallies both had their moments of hypocrisy and anti-social behavior. Each protest left their own legacy too- Vancouver protesters spray painted a counter-protester’s sign, organizers in Toronto left scores of promotional posters wheat pasted on street furniture across the city. The former is a criminal act, cleaning-up the latter will take money out of the city budget.

That’s not fair, is it? LeadNow should be made to pay! (Keep reading and I’ll show you how…)

May 17

Ojibwe Girl Refuses Cancer Treatment, Radical Agitators Chomping At The Bit For War (Feat. Two Row Times)

By grenouf in Two Row Times

Pictures blurred to protect the innocent…

A video was released this week of a an 11 year old indigenous girl explaining her intention to forego chemotherapy and instead rely on ‘traditional medicines”. Doctors say the child would have an 80% chance of survival if she continued with her treatment; she was 11 weeks into it before deciding to give up. She claims that she saw Jesus Christ, and he told her she’s now healed. Her father is the pastor of a small evangelist church.

The hospital, in accordance with child protection legislation, has informed the Children’s Aid Society of Brant- the ball is now in their hands. Whenever there’s a story featuring an indigenous issues, the radicals, militant unions, and anarchists are never far behind. In this case the story was broke by the Two Row Times; a radical publication managed by former CUPE activist “settler ally” Tom Keefer- one of the key figures in the 2006 Caledonia Grand River Dispute .

There’s often a fine-line between advocacy and exploitation. If the Kevin Annett story has taught us anything, it’s that the radicals are all too often unabashed to cross that line. Today’s story is no different, one opponent of the referral to the Children’s Aid Society has promised war if they try to take the girl away. The TRT were so enthusiastic for new Agitprop, it appears they may have broken child protection laws publishing their story.

May 12

Environment Hamilton Gives Militant Anarchists “Environmentalists Of The Year” Award! (Feat #SwampLine9)

By grenouf in Alex Hundert, Environment Hamilton, Swamp Line 9

#SwampLine9: Hamilton's Environmentalists of the Year!

#SwampLine9: Environment Hamilton’s Environmentalists of the Year- go crime!

One of my most disturbing discoveries while researching the resurgence of activist militancy was the large number of ‘legitimate’ organizations who’ve been willing to work with people who promote violent tactics. Sometimes it’s blatant, like when a leader at the Council of Canadians helped bring the Black Bloc into the Olympic protests; or things that make you go ‘hmmm’ like when the BC Civil Liberties Association withdrew their ‘Legal Observers’ shortly before the attack.

But, when it comes to adding insult to injury, nothing works better than giving them an award. The last time we saw this was in February, when Department of Foreign Affairs funds were used to label a mask fetishizing promoter of anti-police marches as one of Alberta’s “Top 30 under 30” activists. It was a true slap in the face for all the non-violent activists who’ve been effectively working towards change.

Today’s slap in the face is brought to us by the folks at Environment Hamilton…