Grad Student Marilyne Veilleix shares a riveting encounter with Montreal law enforcement during her own personal protest of the F1 Grand Prix. Her plan was to ride the metro back and forth while reading George Orwell’s 1984, a novel describing life under a totalitarian regime known as Big Brother. Seems harmless enough, right?
Unfortunately the mere act of nonviolent civil disobedience is enough to get you incarcerated now that a police state has descended upon Montreal.
Riding the subway, reading her provocative book while sitting across from a police officer, someone took her photograph. This was enough to incense the cop, who promptly called for backup. The troops summoned, Marilyne and others were placed against the wall and then escorted out of the metro. They were told that if they returned they would be arrested with no explanation as to why they were kicked out in the first place.
Marilyne describes what happened next:
I committed a terrible act of civil disobedience by going back down into the station and returning to read in a subway car. When the police officers saw me eating my apple, they shouted at me that they recognized my tattoos and came after me. I asked them what I had done wrong, other than peacefully reading, and they said that I had disobeyed police orders. I asked my question again, asking what was wrong with reading in the metro, and I got no answer. I was put under arrest and the two police officers did a high five to congratulate themselves on their good work.
I was transported, as if I were a criminal, to the SPVM detention centre in downtown Montreal, where they took mug shots. After confiscating my personal belongings, the officers took me took cell 52, where there were already three other women. I spent the day behind bars, in a cell with a dirty toilet, sleeping on a bench, without knowing when I would be released. All this for reading in a subway car, and then repeating this revolutionary act. Around 3:30 PM, I was released with a citation telling me that all this circus was for a charge of refusing to circulate.
Now you just know some people, upon hearing this story, will feel like that damn hippie got what she deserved. Not only did she antagonize the officer initially with the book, she went on to clearly defied a police order. Lock that bitch up!
But, here in Canada where education ranks amongst the best in the world, you better believe that most of us see something terribly wrong with what happened to Marilyne. It has taken so little for freedom to evaporate and for society to decay into a police state. And look just how quickly law enforcement snatch up any opportunity to exercise authority over their fellow humans.
A few months ago, a college aged person reading a book on the subway would not provoke a response. But now that police have the pretense that there is a war of sorts going on, anyone who fits the bill as a potential threat is fair game. Young? Check. Engaged mindset? Check. Sporting a red square or maybe just some tattoos? Check. Okay, release the Kraken!
If there’s anything to be learned is just how important it is to keep police powers in check right now. Sure, during peace time when everything is relatively calm, law enforcement will keep a low profile. But given a green light, these same personnel can become a free society’s worst enemy, cracking down at the slightest sign of dissent.
This is why we need to speak out against the ham-handed use of police force in Montreal. Just like we need to follow through on punishing cops who overstepped during the G-20 summit. The more we hold power-tripping law enforcement accountable to the public, the less abuse will happen in the future, and the better protected will our freedoms be.
Patsy politicians pandering to plutocratic priorities threaten to pilfer our precious privacy. Lousy legislation like ACTA, SOPA and now CISPA have come to the forefront of this fight, and these bills will all be, hopefully, crushed without mercy beneath the feet of millions of vigilant citizens.
Still, as disheartening as it may be to hear, these exercises could ultimately prove pointless because privacy is fast going extinct. (more…)
When it comes to the militarized use of unmanned aircraft, especially if it involves strapping bombs on them to obliterate people remotely (innocent or not), it is imperative that we protest against the use of drone strikes now. Otherwise protesting against drone strikes could become punishable by drone strike.
Taking that sentiment to heart, Ruben Bolling offers us his clever cartoon on the subject: (more…)
To learn more about these ‘Lawful Access’ bills, Law professor Michael Geist does a nice breakdown on his blog. As well, another of Geist’s posts worth reading shows how the government’s own documents do not support mandatory disclosure of subscriber information without a court order.
Not that the Conservatives care to listen to reason. If they do end up getting away with these bullying tactics, just be prepared for the day when we can either extend the Harper government’s term indefinitely or get accused of supporting Nazi terrorists.
Something extraordinary happened this week: droves of freedom fighters coordinated an online protest which successfully stalled the notoriously flawed censorship bills, SOPA and PIPA. It was a glorious victory for the people, exemplifying what can happen when millions of us work together.
But this is no time to get complacent. A greater threat has been looming. An international treaty – in development for a few years now – has the potential to go beyond simply crushing Internet freedom.
The Anti Counterfeiting Trade Agreement – ACTA – is the product of background, closed door negotiations by appointed (not democratically elected) representatives. Whose interests do these people represent? Why, the biggest corporations on earth, of course.
Here’s some information to get you up to speed about this growing danger to the future of a free human race:
If and when ACTA gets shot down, there will still be more liberty-stripping bills coming down the pipe. The price of freedom is eternal vigilance, and this holds true for the digital realm as well.
America (along with sidekick Britain) are imperialist forces hellbent on global domination, President Obama is the lead man in a military coup which took place in Washington, and despite a supposedly free press, most of these atrocities remain hidden from the Western world. And, according to noted journalist John Pilger, all of this has been happening for over 50 years now.
1. Attempted to overthrow more than 50 governments, most of them democratically-elected.
2. Attempted to suppress a populist or national movement in 20 countries.
3. Grossly interfered in democratic elections in at least 30 countries.
4. Dropped bombs on the people of more than 30 countries.
5. Attempted to assassinate more than 50 foreign leaders.
In total, the United States has carried out one or more of these actions in 69 countries. In almost all cases, Britain has been a collaborator. The “enemy” changes in name – from communism to Islamism — but mostly it is the rise of democracy independent of western power or a society occupying strategically useful territory, deemed expendable.
The sheer scale of suffering, let alone criminality, is little known in the west, despite the presence of the world’s most advanced communications, nominally freest journalism and most admired academy.
While past presidents presided over imperialist agendas in foreign nations, Barack Obama is the first to truly bring this war on democracy back home to the American people. Pilger:
A military coup was taking place in Washington, and Obama was their man. Having seduced the anti-war movement into virtual silence, he has given America’s corrupt military officer class unprecedented powers of state and engagement.
Obama’s most “historic” achievement is to bring the war on democracy home to America. On New Year’s Eve, he signed the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), a law that grants the Pentagon the legal right to kidnap both foreigners and US citizens and indefinitely detain, interrogate and torture, or even kill them. They need only “associate” with those “belligerent” to the United States. There will be no protection of law, no trial, no legal representation. This is the first explicit legislation to abolish habeus corpus (the right to due process of law) and effectively repeal the Bill of Rights of 1789.
On 5 January, in an extraordinary speech at the Pentagon, Obama said the military would not only be ready to “secure territory and populations” overseas but to fight in the “homeland” and provide “support to the civil authorities”. In other words, US troops will be deployed on the streets of American cities when the inevitable civil unrest takes hold.
The entire article is certainly worth a read, if only to expand one’s own horizons beyond the typical narrative laid out to those of us the Western world. You know what they say – Knowledge is Power!
Stock up on your memes while you still can: wide swaths of the Internet will be unavailable for at least 12 hours, starting tomorrow January 18th!
The outage is part of a coordinated protest against Internet-destroying legislation, like SOPA and PIPA, which have been creeping their way into American law books.
Stop SOPA! Prevent PIPA! The Internet community has spoken – we do not want the government to destroy our beautiful, free Internet.
Yet, just as vigilant Netizens have been rallying the troops, the mainstream media has – GASP! – once again failed to offer any significant coverage of these seriously flawed bills. The folks at Media Matters confirmed this, showing how the big TV news players have almost entirely ignored the issue.
No matter. It’s the Internet we are trying to save, and it will take Internet people to save it.
Take, as an example, Rep. Paul Ryan’s decision to suddenly drop support for SOPA after being inundated with pressure from constituents. The majority of this criticism came from social powerhouse Reddit, whose members coordinated the attack on the former SOPA supporter.
Rob Zerban, Paul Ryan’s 2012 Democratic challenger, extols Ryan’s flip-flop as a prime example of social networking power, saying “This is an extraordinary victory. Reddit was able to force the House Budget chair to reverse course — shock waves will be felt throughout the establishment in Washington today — other lawmakers will take notice.”
Ryan’s about face parallels last month’s change-of-position by GoDaddy, whose support of SOPA prompted a mass-migration as clients shifted their business elsewhere. GoDaddy did eventually drop SOPA backing, but not before doing irreparable damage to their brand.
Even the Internet’s biggest players – Google, Facebook, Twitter and others – are throwing their hat into the ring. The online giants have stated that they will take drastic measures, blocking access to their highly popular sites as a means of protesting the proposed censorship legislation.
With so much at stake, we must fight tooth and nail just to keep from sliding down the slippery slope being laid out under our feet. The future of a free human species could very well depend on what transpires in the next few weeks, so let us carpe this diem while we still can.
Dec 31, 2011: While most Americans were preparing champagne and party favors for their big New Years shindig, President Obama coyly signed the 2012 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) into US Law.
This civil rights shredding bill gives the US military the option to detain US citizens suspected of participating or aiding in terrorist activities without a trial, indefinitely.
Like I’ve said before, this dangerous legislation takes the US population one step closer to being imprisoned by a fascist state. Seeing as most Americans will be unwilling or unable to move out of the country, the only options left are to become enslaved or to grow empowered.
Which path will you take? Will you just passively observe as your government turns the system of laws into a jail around you? Or will you start taking action right now?
Enlightened and free thinking Americans everywhere should abandon their beloved nation like rats fleeing a sinking ship which also happens to be on fire.
The shockingly authoritarian piece of legislation known as the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) has cleared Congress and now awaits final approval by the greatest disappointment to change-lovers everywhere: President Barack Obama.
Under this new bill, the Pentagon can wage cyberwar on anyone labelled domestic enemies of the state, opening the door to hinder social uprisings like the Occupy Wall Street or Tea Party movements, as well as quash attempts by whistleblowers to expose corruption within the government.
On top of this, the new law will authorize indefinite detention of U.S. citizens on U.S. soil without a trial or hearing purely on the suspicion on being anti-government, meaning anyone willing to openly express dissent could end up in a military prison forever.
Amnesty International’s Tom Parker calls the act ‘a betrayal of the most fundamental principles of justice and equality’ saying “The NDAA enshrines the war paradigm that has eroded the United States human rights record and served it so poorly over the past decade as the country’s primary counter-terrorism tool.“
“By signing this defense spending bill,” says Kenneth Roth, executive director of Human Rights Watch “President Obama will go down in history as the president who enshrined indefinite detention without trial in US law.” This shouldn’t be too surprising, coming from the only Nobel Peace Laureate to openly escalate armed conflict and prolong torture.
So that’s it then. If you thought the PATRIOT act was ripe for abuse, just wait and see what happens when these new powers get stretched to their full extent. Just be sure to pick a non-American vantage point for watching the impending depravity.
