Posts Tagged ‘speech’

Montreal Protester Crippled, Comatose

Sunday, May 27th, 2012

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q8zEdYa1bt8

(This is the edited, slow-speed version. Original copy here.)

One of Montreal’s protesters is now in hospital with brain damage, severed spine, broken vertebrae and little chance of recovery, according to reports.

As seen in the video above, the unidentified man has a brief scuffle with an officer, apparently holding on to the officer’s bicycle for a few seconds. Almost instantly, the man is full-speed tackled to the ground by another officer, striking the protesting man in the back of the neck with a police baton. The violent collision sent the man’s limp body to the ground where his head walloped against the concrete.

After this, numerous police swarmed the unconscious man, keeping a knee on the back of his neck. He was jarred around while police searched and handcuffed him. Over 30 minutes passed as paramedics finally tended to the comatose man.

All this took place over a week ago. The mainstream media remains utterly silent. The identity of the man still has not surfaced.

This begs the question, what will happen to the police officer who all but killed a guy? Repercussions must be dealt to this bad cop, otherwise police will think they can get away with it. And so far it seems as if they are going to.

Misplaced Muslim Mistrust

Wednesday, March 28th, 2012

A poll came out this week showing more than half of Canadians believe Muslims to be untrustworthy, scoring far worse than any other group.

What is up with that, Canada? (more…)

Occupy Congress Starts Tomorrow

Monday, January 16th, 2012

Just a friendly reminder to all you freedom loving people in the greater D.C. area, Occupy Congress starts tomorrow, January 17th! If you care about the fact that your political system has been failing for decades, now is the time to speak out.

Democracy goes to who ever shows up.

Presently, the corporations and bankers (and their dollars) have been gaining large amounts of our precious politician’s favor. The only way to counter this (without an equal amount of money) is with massive amounts of people power.

So get involved in the people’s uprising. It has never been easier than it is today, and you can help make a better world just by showing up.

Testing the Occupation’s Resolve

Monday, October 31st, 2011

Corporations and big banks are forever expanding their influence across the financial and political spectrums. Expensive and unproductive wars have been destabilizing nations and economies around the world. More than one in six humans on earth are currently starving while a few thousand people control enough wealth to feed the world indefinitely.

There are many very serious reasons to be upset at the establishment. But try to exercise your rights to free speech and peaceful assembly, and you just might find out how militarized our own police forces have become.

Just ask activists from Richmond, Rochester, Portland, Oakland, Austin, or Denver, who’ve found themselves forcefully evicted with their property demolished. Armor clad security forces are clashing with groups of unarmed civilians because the start of humankind’s very first global insurrection is proving a nuisance for nearby residents and businesses.

But it doesn’t matter what the police do. Regardless of how many arrests and beatings and deaths our governments inflict upon us, we will not be silenced.

Instead, we will continue to channel the deserved discontent of the masses into a voice too powerful for the powers that be to ignore. And in the end, humankind’s great awakening will result in a complete overhaul to the way democracy works around the globe.

WOW! Go Pres of Ireland!

Sunday, October 30th, 2011

Check out this impassioned speech by poet and Irish President Michael D Higgins, lambasting income disparity and the continued debasing of the lower and middle classes. Unbelievable! He’s like a spokesperson for the 99%.

We need more leaders like this guy… elected officials who will stand up for the regular people who voted them into power.

Islamophobia Machine Uncovered

Saturday, August 27th, 2011

A $40M, 10 year campaign designed to promote fear of Islam and Muslims – coordinated by interconnected foundations, think tanks, pundits, and bloggers – has been uncovered by the Center for American Progress (CAP).

The 140-page CAP report, “Fear, Inc.: The Roots of the Islamophobia Network in America,” identifies seven foundations that have quietly provided the multi-million dollar funding needed to spearhead the nationwide effort from 2001 to 2009.

The anti-Islam propaganda party includes what the report calls “misinformation experts” who are often tapped by television news networks and right-wing radio talk shows to comment on Islam and the threat it allegedly poses to U.S. national security.

“Together, this core group of deeply intertwined individuals and organizations manufacture and exaggerate threats of ‘creeping Sharia’, Islamic domination of the West, and purported obligatory calls to violence against all non-Muslims by the Quran,” according to the report.

Once these ‘experts’ get their hate speech out there, it gets reverberated in the “Islamophobia echo chamber” consisting of leaders of the Christian Right, Republican politicians, and FOX news.

Judging by recent polls, the Muslim bashing network has proved remarkably successful, according to the report which cited a 2010 Washington Post poll that shows 49 percent of U.S. citizens held an unfavorable view of Islam, up ten percent since 2002.

So what’s the lesson here? Well, for one, it demonstrates how, for a modest sum and with a coordinated effort, one can significantly alter public opinion and media messaging.

More importantly, this report shows us the importance of getting our information from a wide range of sources. If we trust just one source for all our news, we could very easily fall victim to brainwashing.

But, if we take the time to diversify our news gathering – relying on Internet news, foreign sources, and a multitude of ideological perspectives – we will be immunizing ourselves against the power of special interests, ensuring that we have the most accurate to perception of reality.

George Galloway Graces Great White North

Saturday, November 27th, 2010

Outspoken anti-war advocate, former British MP and fervent Palestine supporter George Galloway will finish up his pan-Canada speaking tour when he shares his ideas with an audience in Ottawa this afternoon. His hour or so long speech covers several topics, including free speech, ending the occupation in Afghanistan, and ending Zionist  Apartheid in Israel.

Now, if you listen to his critics, like those who had him labeled a terrorist and barred from speaking, you would expect his speech to be full of hatred and racist diatribes spurring his listeners to violence. But, having seen him speak last night, most of what he delivers are rational arguments that present alternative viewpoints on the issues. (Full video to be uploaded soon)

One reason Galloway is not well liked in certain Canadian circles is his stance against the occupation of Afghanistan. He calls the efforts “doomed” and a “waste” of lives and treasure. The terms of withdrawal that we will eventually make, says Galloway, will be the same whether we leave right now, four years from now, or had we left five years ago, meaning we are not gaining anything by staying.  In fact, Galloway iterates a point to which many agree, that we are only adding to the “swamp” of discontent in the Muslim world that fuels extremism, so the results of the occupation are having the opposite effect of the intended goals.

Perhaps the biggest threat Galloway’s speech poses is his contradiction to Zionist Israel’s PR campaign which paints Israel as the victim and Palestine as the terrorists, when the opposite more accurately represents the reality. The Palestinian people have been brutalized, subjugated and murdered for decades by religious extremists, and anyone who acknowledges this gets labeled an Anti-Semite.

Mr. Galloway is an excellent orator. Eloquent and well-informed. Having only seen him in clips, it was a great pleasure to see him speak in person. Many thanks to the Canadian Peace AlliancePeace Alliance Winnipeg, and all for organizing this tour.