Photo By 0NAU
Pfft, I say! Democracy schemocracy. We are currently living in nothing less than a thinly veiled dictatorship. What I've heard some refer to as a "Harperocracy". Excellent word. *If you disagree with my first word - dictatorship - feel free to comment. I will explain. :)
Well I'm pissed off about it. Not only were civil liberties stripped from thousands of people in downtown Toronto in late June, 2010, and democracy was bashed with batons, pepper sprayed and pushed to the ground, but it's once again being stomped on. Our system seems to be broken. Law breakers are a-okay for this prime minister and his cronies!
Part of me wishes I had been in Toronto for the G20 demonstrations. I wish I had been there, standing beside fellow Canadians, speaking out for something I believe in - truly, I very well could have been amongst any of the many groups that were there demonstrating peacefully.
Most of all, I feel that maybe I could have done something about the injustices that happened that day. Injustices done to many youths who were exercising their social activism muscles for the first time; injustices to hard working freedom fighters of groups such as Amnesty International; injustices done to mothers and fathers, who spent the weekend terrified because they hadn't heard from their democratically-minded children for over 24hrs; injustices done to our forefathers who had a vision of our country that included the right to gather in public spaces as a people with a common goal; the disgusting joke of a temporary prison that INNOCENT PEOPLE were treated worse than loathed animals in; injustices done to the smaller store owners downtown due to residual vandalism from the small group of people the police AVOIDED arresting...
That weekend was an injustice to all Canadians. Yeah, you too. As I keep saying - if it's happening to anyone, it could happen to you. You know... the whole Common Fate thing?
*Tell me honestly... what would you have done? This image impacts me
tremendously. It's the infamous blockage of passage on Queen and Spadina.
These people were eventually rushed by the police and arrested. Really...
what would you have done? Comment, please.
It wouldn't have mattered if I had been down there, I'd just be more frustrated, enraged and hurt than I already am. We all got Conservatively screwed that day. I bring in the political party because it was in their hands to host this bullshit meeting in the first place. They got it WRONG.
Anyway, this news story is something we should all be up in arms over. Though from other things I've heard, two officers were charged with something? I could be wrong... but two out of 10 000 police officers seems only slightly laughable. Especially since only 6 out of the 1 100 demonstrators arrested have ACTUALLY BEEN CHARGED! Grrrrrrr...
But COME ON! As IF they have the audacity to cite the excuse that they can't identify the officers... HELLO!?!?! A lot of them had no identifying markers on them!! How about you charge the people who allowed hundreds of officers to go out into the streets without badges or name tags on?
Someone needs to learn a lesson. I have nothing against police officers in general, but I have something against a politically created mob mentality within the police forces that were present that weekend - and the heavy handedness that ran rampant.
I *rarely* pull this card... like extremely rarely... but it's true, so:
We have people we love over seas that are there specifically to deliver our democratic values to the populations of the oppressed and war-torn. How the fuck can we be so pious?
I have to start writing e-mails, I can feel ulcers forming.
I know you all love JFK, so here are wondrous words of wisdom from the man:
"Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent
revolution inevitable."
- John F. Kennedy
These people look like the comic revolution types, ha! Sorry if you're afraid of clowns.
I don't think the cops were. :P
