tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-86552682024-03-14T02:27:23.227-04:00Ecology and Participatory Democracya garden shall arise, in lovelinessTimothyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11166349466530374539noreply@blogger.comBlogger483125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8655268.post-78062759728570858972014-02-19T21:11:00.000-05:002014-02-19T21:11:41.220-05:00A eulogy for the ashMy posting dreams isn't unheard of. One of my recent blog posts was about a nightmare. You can compare and contrast these dreams, if you like. The dream I had last night wasn't a nightmare. On the contrary, in last night's dream, I visited a permaculturist. He was, as is typical of organic farmers in Canada, sort of a patriarch and obdurate. You have to be unafraid to take a go at it on your own, just to be a farmer at all in Canada, and doubly so to be able to strike out against the status quo and do organic farming. Which is to say nothing of permaculture. In any case, in last night's dream, this permaculturist man had planted a nursery of rainforest tree species. I saw the saplings growing on a slope, and I knew that this was the right place. The trees were carefully spaced for the movement of air to promote healthy growth, and to allow for a good amount of light. Somewhat more mature young trees were carefully spaced throughout the nursery to shelter and protect the saplings. Older, mature trees grew up over them, and even taller, enormous ancient giants with trunks as wide as a city block grew up over them and protected the more ordinary, mature, adult trees. Through the blue haze of humid air, over the very tallest of the ancient giants, I could see at least one truly great tree that sheltered even the clouds and the sky under its branches. Its size was of cosmic proportions.<br /><br />... that wasn't the only dream I had last night. I had a troubled sleep, and so I woke and slept and dreamed a lot...<br /><br />I awoke finally in the morning to the roar of a municipal arborist's chainsaw. By the time I left the apartment, the sick ash had been cut down. It had been the first tree, every year since I moved to Ste-Anne de Bellevue, to lose its leaves in the fall. It was shaped more like an elm. It was particularly noticeable because it stood across Rue Perrault from the path by the playground and the public tennis courts.<br />
<br />
I am so sick of men cutting down trees as if they hadn't sheltered and protected them their whole life. They treat the other organisms as if they were so much less then they are. Human beings, and particularly men in their prime, need to wake up to the fact that the other organisms are their equals, their evolutionary contemporaries, and their lives shouldn't be disposed of for mere convenience.<br />
<br />
I just can't handle the fact that people keep cutting down the trees who I love. I can't handle that I'm expected to keep my chin up throughout the day, as if nothing happened. Everybody expects me not to mourn, and definitely not to cry.<br />
<br />
I think it's satanic not to mourn these deaths.<br />
<br />
When I went out this morning, first a bluejay, then a whole lot of birds all exclaimed about the tree being cut down. Even a nuthatch, who doesn't always come around, came around and beeped from the trees nearby. There was a real feeling of curiosity and mourning and loss.<br />
<br />
Anyway, finally, because I had that dream, I hold in my heart a sweet hope that someday a truly great tree will grow, who will once and for all protect life on Earth.Timothyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11166349466530374539noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8655268.post-5675367476722136472014-02-11T09:25:00.003-05:002014-02-11T09:35:09.739-05:00Please be sympathetic to Elena Klimova<!--[if !mso]>
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<br />
<span style="color: #274e13;">(I'm posting another one of my Amnesty International letters. Some the students here at McGill University's Macdonald campus have fundraised for Elena Klimova's "<a href="https://www.facebook.com/children.404" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Children 404</a>" project. So, I was surprised to see Amnesty's urgent action <a href="http://www.amnestyusa.org/sites/default/files/uaa02514.pdf" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">callout</a>. and the letter below is just based on the points in the callout. There is much to be said about why I am posting this, however, it would be better for these things to be discussed face-to-face. :)<br /><br /><span style="color: black;">To: sverdloblprokuratura@mail.ru </span><br style="color: black;" /><br style="color: black;" /><span style="color: black;">Cc: info@rusembassy.ca </span><br style="color: black;" /><br style="color: black;" /><span style="color: black;">Dear Prosecutor,</span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #274e13;"><span style="color: black;">I must add my voice to those with deep concern that Elena Klimova was charged with “propaganda of non-traditional sexual relations”.</span><br style="color: black;" /><br style="color: black;" /><span style="color: black;">The Russian authorities ought to drop their charges against Elena Klimova and abstain from prosecuting any person under Russia’s homophobic legislation.</span><br style="color: black;" /><br style="color: black;" /><span style="color: black;">I hope that the appropriate authorities - and maybe you are one of those who will - repeal the “propaganda” law which is being used to clamp down on freedoms of expression, assembly and association of the LGBTI community and those who support them/us, as it creates an atmosphere in which they/we increasingly face discrimination, harassment and violence from vigilante groups.</span><br style="color: black;" /><br style="color: black;" /><span style="color: black;">Yours Sincerely,</span><br /><br />[etc.]</span>Timothyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11166349466530374539noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8655268.post-81934970760809256412013-10-09T05:22:00.002-04:002013-10-09T05:24:34.317-04:00McGill's Global Food Security Conference<h5 class="uiStreamMessage userContentWrapper" data-ft="{"type":1,"tn":"K"}">
<span class="messageBody" data-ft="{"type":3,"tn":"K"}"><span class="userContent">It's
4:25 a. m. And I can't sleep. Today McGill University is hosting a
Global Food Security Conference that is sponsored by Syngenta.<br /> <br />
Historically, industrialization has been opposed to food security, and
the process of industrialization removed people from their life on the
land, and took from people that special kind of dignity that one has
when one can sustain oneself from the land where one lives. It moved
people from their traditional rural agricultural communities and pressed
them into urban poverty where we live precariously, and must do what
industry demands of us or become homeless and hungry. Industrialization
cleared the commons. Industrialization did this in the distant past in
Britain and in Canada, but it is doing it today elsewhere. Modernization
has moved us away from the land personally by demanding that our
energies be spent specializing and producing patentable knowledge
products.<br /> <br /> The attendees of the food security conference ought
to know that in order for people to be food secure, people need to stop
globalizing and deregulating capitalization on agriculture and the
processes of food production.<br /> <br /> However, I am not advocating
socialized agriculture at this time. The presence of agricultural
industry throughout our decision-making institutions would likely turn
any attempt by us to socialize agriculture toward the further
establishment and institutionalization of monoculture agriculture.
Unfortunately, if we were to socialize agriculture at this time, and
establish a right to food as we have a right to healthcare, the
corruption of our political process would merely make
herbicide-dependent monoculture mandatory. It would eliminate resilient,
diverse, localized and organic agricultural operations altogether.<br /> <br />
I am a Ph. D. candidate at McGill. During my time here, I studied the
responses of canola plants to bacterial signal molecules. As someone who
studies canola, I am perhaps particularly aware of how production and
capital have steered research over the decades, and how unaccountable
millions of dollars have been sunk into the development of dubious
agriculture and biotechnology, based on the aspiration for gains to the
quality of life for the researchers, and for the production of patents.
Who knows what those millions of dollars would have been spent on, if
the primary concern had not been capitalization upon the sale of the
seed and crushing for oil.<br /> <br /> Science has been abused to continue research and perpetuate the production of patents.<br /> <br />
The perpetuation of monoculture agriculture has simplified and
lobotomized the agricultural relationship between farmers and the land.
Monoculture has increased the size of fields, and the size of the
machinery, and the yield of corn and soybeans, but it has decreased our
ability to produce a nutritious diet that would otherwise be composed of
the diverse organisms that would or could live in ecosystems that have
been drained and transformed into flat, eroding, genetically homogenous
landscapes. The genetically homogenous landscapes that are advocated by
the agricultural industry necessitate the use of fertilizer, which
contaminates the water, and pesticides, which are poisons that cause
disease and the destabilization of the food web.</span></span></h5>
Timothyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11166349466530374539noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8655268.post-41613510561756463442013-03-16T14:39:00.002-04:002013-03-16T14:39:58.246-04:00Cool new blog style (and Blogger deleted my sidebar)Blogger just purged my sidebar. My little list of my friend's blogs, my list of scientific and activist resources, my great big list of revolutionary environmental and social justice oriented people and groups: all gone.Timothyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11166349466530374539noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8655268.post-79232710233027807812013-02-12T13:06:00.003-05:002013-02-12T13:06:53.151-05:00<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px;">These are some of @Schwinghamer's recent tweets re McGill University's protest protocol:</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px;">For #McGill to survive, it must be disrupted & the "normal activity" of the whole organism must change. The protocol must allow that.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px;">#McGill Administrators who spend most of their lives in climate-controlled artificial environments will misjudge "tones of discourse"</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px;">#McGill Admin, any effective & lawful picket line will likely block the access to a building. Does this new protocol disallow picket lines?</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #38761d;">[Answer: Yes]</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px;">#McGill Admin, protests inevitably move people from their "normal activity." Survival requires significant deviation from the status quo.</span>Timothyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11166349466530374539noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8655268.post-9044023769196611462012-12-01T17:24:00.002-05:002012-12-01T17:25:00.682-05:00I updated the sidebar!Hello. I just updated this blog's template. Now the sidebar includes links to many of the groups who are supporting the Unis'tot'en blockade of the Pacific Trails Pipeline!Timothyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11166349466530374539noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8655268.post-29819512432480566992012-11-29T15:05:00.002-05:002012-11-29T21:53:45.937-05:00From graduate and undergraduate students at McGill University's Macdonald campus:<br />
The Unis'tot'en Blockade is a rallying point, or a convergence point.<br />
<br />
The
Wet'suwet'en are, among the west coast First Nations who have – over
and over – been vocal and visible – and they have been heard all over
the continent. They resist the destruction of the land and their home.
In the past the Native Youth Movement was a good example, like the
Mohawk Warriors, of what could be an anti-colonial Warrior ethic. This
is very exciting.<br />
<br />
Not just pipelines, but Natural Resource
Industries threaten forests with clearcutting and threaten unceded First
Nations land with hydraulic fracturing, but also open surface mining
and other fossil fuel extraction projects. These threats could impact
our atmosphere, which, by virtue of its turbulence and fluidity, could
extend the threat to further endanger the ancient, established ways of
life of all creatures on the land and in the ocean (owing to
reprecussions upon ocean currents and pH).<br />
<br />
Therefore, the threat to Wet'suwet'en land is, in fact, a threat to us all, not just to the trees, or the coast of BC!<br />
<br />
We
have to resist these projects! We have no disagreement yet in our
assertion that we should resist all projects of the fossil fuel
industries. Furthermore, this resistance ought to be globalized.<br />
<br />
Here,
in Ste Anne de Bellevue, it is cold, it's snowing, and it's
Winter. We are not resolved to invite the undergraduate students at
Macdonald College to protest outside, under these conditions. Besides,
recently, other kinds of actions have shown to be effective to raise
awareness, draw the attention of Society, and seemingly effect change.<br />
<br />
So, we are going to follow the Unis'tot'en callout, but act in the electronic realm.<br />
<br />
We
will contact Encana Corporation (@encanacorp), Apache Canada, Enron Oil and Gas
Resources (partners of Pacific Trails Pipeline), Royal Bank of Canada (@RBC_Canada),
and Jarislowsky Fraser Limited. We will also find contacts for the
Enbridge Northern Gateway (@NorthernGateway) and the Kinder Morgan Trans Mountain Pipeline
expansion, and the Pembina and Spectra projects, etc. We will contact
all these groups with the message: "There will be no pipelines on
Unis'tot'en lands. These pipelines are harmful to the land and the
community. These extractive projects are based on a fundamentally
destructive colonial and capitalist model that forces profits ahead of
Indigenous self-determination and stewardship, destroys, and exploits
the land and ecosystems, and disregards the safety and health of
communities including those who have to work the poisonous jobs in these
industries."<br />
<br />
We will copy these messages to the Unis'tot'en camp,
Francis Scarpaleggia (@ScarpaleggiaMP), and west coast politicians, or include their
twitter names in our tweets.<br />
<br />
We will "like," follow, and join the
organizations that endorsed the Unis'tot'en campaign and make them aware
of our electronic campaign:<br />
<a href="https://unistotencamp.wordpress.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">https://unistotencamp.wordpress.com/</a><br />
<a href="http://stoptheflows.tumblr.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">http://stoptheflows.tumblr.com/</a><br />
<a href="http://forestaction.wikidot.com/caravan" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">http://forestaction.wikidot.com/caravan</a><br />
<a href="http://www.fracturedland.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">http://www.fracturedland.com</a><br />
<a href="https://bcblackout.wordpress.com/2012/09/11/pacific-trails-must-fail/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">https://bcblackout.wordpress.com/2012/09/11/pacific-trails-must-fail/</a><br />
<a href="http://www.barrierelakesolidarity.org/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">http://www.barrierelakesolidarity.org/</a><br />
<a href="http://oshkimaadziig.org/oshkimaadiziig-unity-camp/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">http://oshkimaadziig.org/oshkimaadiziig-unity-camp/</a><br />
<a href="http://www.defendersoftheland.org/grassy_narrows" target="_blank">http://www.defendersoftheland.org/grassy_narrows </a><br />
<a href="http://borealforestnetwork.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">http://borealforestnetwork.com/</a><br />
<a href="http://www.scienceforpeace.ca/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">http://www.scienceforpeace.ca</a><br />
<a href="http://www.canadians.org/">http://www.canadians.org/</a><br />
<a href="http://www.deepgreenresistance.org/">www.deepgreenresistance.org</a><br />
<a href="http://www.ienearth.org/" target="_blank">http://www.ienearth.org/ </a><br />
<a href="http://ijvcanada.org/">http://ijvcanada.org/</a><br />
<a href="https://www.facebook.com/IndigenousReoccupationOfAncestralLands">https://www.facebook.com/IndigenousReoccupationOfAncestralLands</a> <br />
<a href="https://indigenoussolidaritynetwork.wordpress.com/">https://indigenoussolidaritynetwork.wordpress.com/</a><br />
<a href="http://ilps-canada.ca/">http://ilps-canada.ca/</a><br />
<a href="https://miningjusticealliance.wordpress.com/" target="_blank">https://miningjusticealliance.wordpress.com/ </a><br />
<a href="https://www.facebook.com/groups/8247699673/?ref=ts&fref=ts" target="_blank">https://www.facebook.com/groups/8247699673/?ref=ts&fref=ts </a><br />
<a href="http://www.nooneisillegal.org/" target="_blank">http://www.nooneisillegal.org/ </a><br />
<a href="http://risingtide.org.uk/">http://calamites.resist.ca/</a><br />
<a href="http://shitharperdid.ca/" target="_blank">http://shitharperdid.ca/ </a><br />
<a href="http://prairie.sierraclub.ca/">http://prairie.sierraclub.ca/</a><br />
<a href="http://www.streamsofjustice.org/">http://www.streamsofjustice.org/</a><br />
<a href="http://t.grupoapoyo.org/">http://t.grupoapoyo.org/</a><br />
<a href="http://truthfool.tumblr.com/">http://truthfool.tumblr.com/</a><br />
<a href="http://www.turning.ca/store.htm">http://www.turning.ca/store.htm</a><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
Timothyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11166349466530374539noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8655268.post-46906200761313819182012-09-28T14:29:00.001-04:002012-09-28T14:34:19.704-04:00The latest study showing human health effects of GE foods<br />
Séralini, G-E., E. Clair, R. Mesnage, S. Gress, N. Defarge, M. Malatesta, D. Hennequin, J. Spiroux de Vendômois. 2012. Long term toxicity of a Roundup herbicide and a Roundup-tolerant genetically modified maize. Food and Chem Toxicol. <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.fct.2012.08.005">http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.fct.2012.08.005</a><br />
<br />
For further insight into this study, and the controversy that inevitably surrounds it, check out <br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.criigen.org/SiteEn/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=368&Itemid=1" target="_blank">FAQ – From CRIIGEN research Team</a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.cban.ca/content/view/full/1342" target="_blank">E. Ann Clark, September 2012. 5 pages. Discussion of reaction to Seralini's GM corn study such as the use of "red herring arguments".</a><br />
<br />
For more discussion about the human health effects of GE crops, click on the label below...Timothyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11166349466530374539noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8655268.post-23727382499055553182012-09-24T14:57:00.000-04:002012-12-05T10:29:19.524-05:00My Nightmare<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
I am
going to try, such as I am able at this time, to express part of the whole
realization that dawned upon me after waking from a dream. I hope I can communicate this simply and clearly
to you, without any undue emotionalism.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
I had a strange dream last night. In
the dream, I was at home for the Winter Break. The mild December
weather, green grass, and leafy trees weren't what was strange about
it, though. I was unsettled by the development around my mother's
house. My mother's house used to be my great aunt Ruth's house, and
it was built and rebuilt near the long, forested peak of the Hill of
Boisdale. The house and the whole community of Upper Leitches Creek
is surrounded by fens and the so-called "Appalachian Forest,"
although it is located on Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia, Canada.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
I believe all attempts to certify her
family's hectarage to be thwarted by topography. My mother's family
would have lived out there on the Upper Leitches Creek Road for seven
generations, but in reality, she has sold the house since moving down
to Halifax. She sold the house, but kept the land.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br />
In my dream, there was another asphalt
road or two cleared from where trees had been, and there were new houses. They were tacky and pretentious, in contrast to the typical Nova Scotian home, which is a monotone box, with tiny rectangular windows, that lacks pretension intentionally, consciously, and by design.<br />
<br />
The steep slope between the new roads was covered with
turf. This unsettled me. Even though I was not lucid in this dream
- even though I didn't know that I was dreaming - I could feel the
wrongness of it all inside. Like worms or being inhabited by demons.<br />
<br />
I spoke with two old women in my dream
(without any lucidity). I said to them that, although it was so sad
that the forest was cut down, it was good that there was a bus to
town, for my mother to visit her children, who work in the city. I type these last words
with horror, because that isn't how I think about things! I really
love the forest dearly. I could say that, more than any other thing, I want it
protected.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
The real horror of this dream
unfolded, however, as I woke up. Although my eyes opened and I sat
up in my bed, a mysterious understanding dawned upon me. The objects of my bedroom surrounding me seemed to be thrust forward, each proof of the nightmarish
totality of our "evolutionary trap." I saw a box of
Tobasco Sauce on my desk, and it seemed like an artifact of a
degenerate, spiteful, and careless industry. And of course it really was and is.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Development, and what could be called
progress, and the establishment in which we live, immerse us
spitefully in artificiality that is only the reassembled defiled and dead remains
of eliminated landscapes, eliminated homes, and communities of living things
that have been erased from existence. This is the nightmare that
industrial capitalism makes of our desires for development and
career ambitions.</div>
Timothyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11166349466530374539noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8655268.post-33780572327223619002012-09-23T18:54:00.003-04:002012-09-23T18:54:46.116-04:00International Assessment of Agricultural Knowledge, Science and Technology for Development (IAASTD) Global Summary for Decision Makers <span style="color: #38761d;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #38761d;">Today I encountered a link to this:</span> <a href="http://www.agassessment.org/docs/Global_SDM_060608_English.htm">http://www.agassessment.org/docs/Global_SDM_060608_English.htm</a><br />
<span style="color: #38761d;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #38761d;">I highly recommend you check it out, if you're looking for pro-organic or alternative agriculture arguments based on science.</span>Timothyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11166349466530374539noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8655268.post-91003250210422772002012-06-27T17:20:00.000-04:002012-06-27T17:20:25.251-04:00Protesting austerity measures is dangerous everywhere, even in Sudan<span style="color: #38761d;">[I have long since ceased to post my <a href="http://www.amnesty.ca/atrisk/actnow.php?gclid=CKW1p8ir77ACFWkCQAod5zzDvw" target="_blank">Amnesty International</a> letters. That said, let me immediately contradict myself by posting this appeal for the freedom of another anti-austerity activist.]</span> <br />
<br />
Your Excellency,
<br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Magdi Aqasha, leader and spokesperson
of the <a href="https://www.facebook.com/pages/Sudanese-Youth-For-ChangeSPARK/189655154391130?v=info" target="_blank">Sharara</a> and member of the Sudanese Conference Party, was
arrested on June 24<sup>th</sup>, at the scene of a traffic accident,
by Sudan's National Security Service. I am only writing to you to
request that you exert your power to release Magdi Aqasha immediately
and unconditionally. Please ensure Magdi Aqasha is not subjected to
torture or other ill-treatment, and ensure that, regularly, he has
access to his family and a lawyer of his choice.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
The harassment by Sudan's National
Security Service of peaceful activists and journalists must stop.
Sudan must honour its commitment to freedom of expression as
enshrined in the International Covenant on Civil and Political
Rights, to which you are a party.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Sincerely & Respectfully,</div>
<br />
<span style="color: #38761d;">[etc.] </span>Timothyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11166349466530374539noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8655268.post-68168775463802750512012-06-04T10:03:00.002-04:002012-06-05T15:11:46.954-04:00Bill 78[<b style="color: #38761d;">I didn't write this, I'm just reposting it.</b> <b style="color: #38761d;">I agree with it wholeheartedly.</b>]<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<pre>This is a half-page flyer written about 'special law' and <a href="http://www.assnat.qc.ca/Media/Process.aspx?MediaId=ANQ.Vigie.Bll.DocumentGenerique_60857en&process=Default&token=ZyMoxNwUn8ikQ+TRKYwPCjWrKwg+vIv9rjij7p3xLGTZDmLVSmJLoqe/vG7/YWzz" target="_blank">Bill 78</a>, the anti-protest law
passed by Quebec as part of a crackdown on the student movement. This was made to be
distributed in Ontario at the 'casseroles,' or pots and pans demonstrations, inspired by
and in solidarity with the struggle in Quebec.</pre>
<pre> </pre>
<pre>Reading version available for download at <a href="http://zinelibrary.info/special-law-anarchist-perspective-bill-78" target="_blank">Zine Library</a>.</pre>
<pre> </pre>
<pre>The law, in its majestic equality, forbids rich and poor alike to sleep
under bridges, to beg in the streets and to steal bread. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anatole_France" target="_blank">Anatole France</a> </pre>
<pre> </pre>
<pre>"Violence was the law, and with the cannons in the hands of the whites,</pre>
<pre> the law was white." <a href="http://www.wmst.ubc.ca/s_thobani.html" target="_blank">Sunera Thobani</a> </pre>
<pre> </pre>
<pre>The social struggle in Quebec, grown out of a student movement against
tuition, has inspired many. But perhaps the central issue causing people to take the
streets with pots and pans across the country is Bill 78, known as the 'special law.'
It criminalizes demonstrations not approved by police and imposes heavy fines for
political activity on school campuses. It has been accompanied by a crackdown that has
seen more mass arrests than the FLQ Crisis of 1970, at last count over 2,500.
But the special law is not special. It is a predictable response to a special
mobilization, a struggle that is unprecedented in its size, popular support and ferocity
in recent Quebec history. In Ontario, we got a taste of 'special law' in 2010 at the G20
Summit, where government and police collaborated to create a 'no-go zone' around the
security fence protecting G20 leaders. Rights were thrown out the window as downtown
Toronto was transformed into a police state. Middle class white people were especially
outraged, and will have their day in court now that the threat has temporarily subsided.
But for people already criminalized under this system, this only represents an
intensification of an everyday experience of targeted harassment. We see this same process
happening in long-term ways on a federal level, with sweeping crime bills and specific
laws aimed at pre-empting dissent, such as the anti-mask law with penalties of up to 10
years in prison.</pre>
<pre> </pre>
<pre>[<span style="color: #38761d;">Here I would have written also that whether or not such a law is in place,</span></pre>
<pre><span style="color: #38761d;">the police use force to disperse gatherings that challenge the status quo, in any case.</span>] </pre>
<pre> </pre>
<pre>This is about the interests of government and capital, not the evil conspiracies of
Charest or Harper.</pre>
<pre> </pre>
<pre>[<span style="color: #38761d;">I would have written "... and the evil conspiracies..."</span>]</pre>
<pre> </pre>
<pre>If we exceptionalize Bill 78, we ignore the fact that the law is a set of tools and
weapons governments use to entrench the interests of the powerful, control and regulate
the general population, and wage war against the ungovernables. The Canadian state is
founded on the genocidal conquest of indigenous nations and land, and concessions such as
the Charter are desperate attempts to create legitimacy where there is only a ruthless
violence underpinning 'Canada'. So we shouldn't be shocked when we see these same rights
instantly evaporate in a 'crisis'. And in these times of social upheaval and economic
austerity, we are approaching perpetual crisis.
Focusing on a particular law or appealing to rights risks going on the defensive and
getting drawn into a conversation with our enemies. It paints the movement as powerless
victims. We should be inspired to action not just by images of police brutality, but also
by images of masked rebels chasing riot police. Now is the time to build our grassroots
power, prepare for repression, support those targeted by the state, but most importantly
to go on the offensive.</pre>
</div>Timothyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11166349466530374539noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8655268.post-32010094311203370272012-05-23T10:41:00.001-04:002012-06-05T15:14:37.247-04:00Translating the printemps érableHere's the link to the tumblr blog that's posting translations into english of french articles about the Quebec student strike: <a href="http://www.quebecprotest.com/" target="_blank">http://www.quebecprotest.com/</a>Timothyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11166349466530374539noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8655268.post-74707264683161002492012-04-04T23:07:00.003-04:002012-05-23T10:38:49.267-04:00For the anonymous studentFrom Mont-Royal<br />
four vultures<br />
circled over McTavish and Sherbrooke.<br />
<br />
In the McGill Bookstore<br />
the women said Notre-Dame<br />
withheld the name<br />
of the student in surgery<br />
who was beaten by police,<br />
and the sociologist said<br />
Le Village Gai<br />
was the “perfect storm,”<br />
<br />
but the rainclouds blew off<br />
and orange clouds sprayed<br />
from out of his fractured bone<br />
to drench the island with his spirit.Timothyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11166349466530374539noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8655268.post-45450136745092111492012-03-22T18:23:00.002-04:002012-03-22T18:25:45.400-04:00Hey look I'm in the news: <a href="http://www.mcgilldaily.com/2012/03/gaybashing-on-mac-campus-not-isolated-incidents/">http://www.mcgilldaily.com/2012/03/gaybashing-on-mac-campus-not-isolated-incidents/</a><br /><br />and I just want to say that the student strike today in Montreal, 200,000 people, was just beautiful!Timothyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11166349466530374539noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8655268.post-28359663323123883732012-03-20T09:22:00.003-04:002012-03-20T09:37:08.201-04:00Tangled Roots: Dialogues exploring ecological justice, healing, and decolonizationMatt Soltys is writing a book. It's a collection of interviews he has done through Healing the Earth Radio, titled Tangled Roots: Dialogues exploring ecological justice, healing, and decolonization. It's coming out this summer.<br /> <br />As of today, Matt's launching his book's website and a fundraising website to sell advance copies. His website is www.healingtheearthpress.org, and there's a fundraising website where you can buy copies in advance to raise money for printing at www.indiegogo.com/tangledroots.<br /> <br />Check it out! And it would be a huge help if you could pass this on to anyone you can possibly think about who may be interested in supporting this project by getting a copy. It's a book that Matt hopes will appeal to a range of people, including left-leaning and enviro-minded folks, and those who are already fairly radicalized.Timothyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11166349466530374539noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8655268.post-90186145124326028702012-03-17T20:14:00.007-04:002012-03-31T21:12:43.451-04:00Poem to post on Macdonald campus walls during the strikeHave you listened to Jim Nicell<br />referring to himself as “we?”<br />Nice, hell, Jim's a fuss about<br />institutional emergency.<br /><br />Jim has told us that he has<br />a response team who decides<br />to send us emails, to communicate<br />with the rest of us. Besides,<br /><br />He advises we avoid Sherbrooke Street<br />and the people waiting there.<br />He wants you to know about those things<br />that might unsettle, disturb, or scare<br />Of unlawful students you ought to be<br />especially aware.<br /><br />While it is safe to leave buildings<br />(sometimes it is quite quiet)<br />Jim warns us to be cautious<br />of downtown's simmering riot.<br /><br />He warns us specifically<br />of the south and east,<br />because that's where the students clash<br />with Montreal police.<br /><br />That tricky bureaucrat!<br />Shall we let him decide<br />to manipulate us, saying<br />“For the moment, stay inside”?Timothyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11166349466530374539noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8655268.post-78338982798370271062012-02-24T10:51:00.004-05:002012-02-27T09:06:09.107-05:00How very long it has been since I posted 2 things in 1 day<span style="font-weight:bold;">#1</span><br /><br />Dear Editor of The Montreal Chronicle: I'm disappointed by the Public Safety Minister's comments in the House of Commons last week. He accused Francis Scarpaleggia - and perhaps all of us - of "siding with the child pornographers." In any case, as can be seen by the perpetually hacked status of the FBI and Interpol websites by Anonymous et al., law enforcers simply aren't as savvy as they are frequently & fictitiously portrayed. In any case, according to a poll by the government's privacy commissioner, 8 out of 10 Canadians oppose legislation that would grant authorities warrantless access to our private information. Such detailed surveillance of the citizenry would require an enormous number of spies, and as such it would necessarily be prohibitively expensive. More than mere apology for his comments, which would be warranted, I would like to see Minister Toews resign. (In my opinion, Harper's Conservatives ought to be drummed out of town altogether.) At the very least, the Canadian government ought to commit to abandon any online spying legislation. They ought to commit to removing the warrantless access provisions in the legislation, insert privacy safeguards and enforcement, and provide a clear plan to offset the estimated $80,000,0000 this will cost Canadian families and businesses. I encourage everybody to join the 112,000+ people who have already voiced their opposition to Bill C-30 by signing the Stop Online Spying petiton at <a href="http://stopspying.ca/">stopspying.ca</a><br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">#2</span><br /><br /><a href="http://unpocodeficcion.tumblr.com/">This is Arturo's blog</a>! Check it out!Timothyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11166349466530374539noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8655268.post-53217760352411515902012-02-13T10:26:00.005-05:002012-02-15T11:38:10.700-05:00Reposting my post from McGill University's discussion blog[posted <a href="https://blogs.mcgill.ca/openforum-expression/">here</a>]<br /><br />I'm sure people with positions in the McGill University hierarchy will want to protect their gains and the comforts of their elevated positions.<br /><br />However, we need to abandon the insensitive & rigid traditional hierarchical structure.<br /><br />We have been disappointed too many times by the collusion of elites in the hierarchy with economic and military actors who have been too destructive and too guilty of the chaos into which our society, economy, and ecology are descending.<br /><br />We need an adaptive and intelligent institution that receives information from its members, by sensitive and non-hierarchical communication. This means that what have been institutional decisions at the highest level must be made non-hierarchically, collectively.<br /><br />We need Reason to chart our course and not Capital.<br /><br />We need an institution that doesn't merely purport to be ethical, but actually IS ethical.<br /><br />If McGill doesn't become more sensitive and adaptive in this way, it won't have much of a future.Timothyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11166349466530374539noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8655268.post-35079887235094783502012-01-28T21:39:00.004-05:002012-01-28T21:50:33.255-05:00A Comparison of the Effects of Three GM Corn Varieties on Mammalian Healthde Vendômois, J.S., Roullier, F., Cellier1, D., Séralini, G.-E. 2009. A Comparison of the Effects of Three GM Corn Varieties on Mammalian Health. Int J Biol Sci 5(7):706-726<br /><br />We present for the first time a comparative analysis of blood and organ system data from trials with rats fed three main commercialized genetically modified (GM) maize (NK 603, MON 810, MON 863), which are present in food and feed in the world. NK 603 has been modified to be tolerant to the broad spectrum herbicide Roundup and thus contains residues of this formulation. MON 810 and MON 863 are engineered to synthesize two different Bt toxins used as insecticides. Approximately 60 different biochemical parameters were classified per organ and measured in serum and urine after 5 and 14 weeks of feeding. GM maize-fed rats were compared first to their respective isogenic or parental non-GM equivalent control groups. This was followed by comparison to six reference groups, which had consumed various other non-GM maize varieties. We applied nonparametric methods, including multiple pairwise comparisons with a False Discovery Rate approach. Principal Component Analysis allowed the investigation of scattering of different factors (sex, weeks of feeding, diet, dose and group). Our analysis clearly reveals for the 3 GMOs new side effects linked with GM maize consumption, which were sex- and often dose-dependent. Effects were mostly associated with the kidney and liver, the dietary detoxifying organs, although different between the 3 GMOs. Other effects were also noticed in the heart, adrenal glands, spleen and haematopoietic system. We conclude that these data highlight signs of hepatorenal toxicity, possibly due to the new pesticides specific to each GM corn. In addition, unintended direct or indirect metabolic consequences of the genetic modification cannot be excluded.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.biolsci.org/v05p0706.htm#headingA11">http://www.biolsci.org/v05p0706.htm#headingA11</a>Timothyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11166349466530374539noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8655268.post-21361592955422215712012-01-14T12:27:00.004-05:002012-01-15T11:37:37.173-05:00Mandy HiscocksAmanda Hiscocks has a blog, and you can listen to an interview here:<br /><br />interview: <a href="http://uppingtheanti.org/news/article/uta-interviews-mandy-hiscocks">http://uppingtheanti.org/news/article/uta-interviews-mandy-hiscocks</a><br /><br />blog: <a href="http://boredbutnotbroken.tao.ca/">bored but not broken</a>Timothyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11166349466530374539noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8655268.post-17348074997242640832011-12-17T10:45:00.002-05:002011-12-17T10:49:56.247-05:00anguswd@sen.parl.gc; caboisvp@sen.parl.gc; cabrazep@sen.parl.gc; cacarigc@sen.parl.gc; cachampa@sen.parl.gc; cadallar@sen.parl.gc; cadawsod@sen.parl.gc; cadebanp@sen.parl.gc; catessil@sen.parl.gc; cafortis@sen.parl.gc; cafrasej@sen.parl.gc; cahervic@sen.parl.gc; calacomd@sen.parl.gc; calacomd@sen.parl.gc; calacomd@sen.parl.gc; canolinp@sen.parl.gc; carivarm@sen.parl.gc; cajcrivest@sen.parl.gc; caseidmj@sen.parl.gc; cavernej@sen.parl.gc; cawattc@sen.parl.gc.ca<br /><br />Dear Senators,<br /><br />The Canadian Bar Association, representing over 37,000 lawyers across the country, has identified 10 reasons why the passage of Bill C-10 will be a mistake and a setback for Canada:<br /><br />1. Ignoring reality. Decades of research and experience have shown what actually reduces crime: (a) addressing child poverty, (b) providing services for the mentally ill and those afflicted with fetal alcohol spectrum disorder, (c) diverting young offenders from the adult justice system, and (d) rehabilitating prisoners, and helping them to reintegrate into society. Bill C-10 ignores these proven facts.<br /><br />2. Rush job. Instead of receiving a thorough review, Bill C-10 is being rushed through Parliament purely to meet the “100-day passage” promise from the last election. Expert witnesses attempting to comment on more than 150 pages of legislation in committee hearings are cut off mid-sentence after just five minutes.<br /><br />3. Spin triumphs over substance. The federal government has chosen to take a “marketing” approach to Bill C-10, rather than explaining the facts to Canadians. This campaign misrepresents the bill’s actual content and ensures that its public support is based heavily on inaccuracies.<br /><br />4. No proper inspection. Contrary to government claims, some parts of Bill C-10 have received no previous study by parliamentary committee. Other sections have been studied before and were changed — but, in Bill C-10, they’re back in their original form.<br /><br />5. Wasted youth. More young Canadians will spend months in custodial centres before trial, thanks to Bill C-10. Experience has shown that at-risk youth learn or reinforce criminal behaviour in custodial centres; only when diverted to community options are they more likely to be reformed.<br /><br />6. Punishments eclipse the crime. The slogan for one proposal was Ending House Arrest for Serious and Violent Criminals Act, but Bill C-10 will actually also eliminate conditional sentences for minor and property offenders and instead send those people to jail. Is roughly $100,000 per year to incarcerate someone unnecessarily a good use of taxpayers’ money?<br /><br />7. Training predators. Bill C-10 would force judges to incarcerate people whose offences and circumstances clearly do not warrant time in custody. Prison officials will have more latitude to disregard prisoners’ human rights, bypassing the least restrictive means to discipline and control inmates. Almost every inmate will re-enter society someday. Do we want them to come out as neighbours, or as predators hardened by their prison experience?<br /><br />8. Justice system overload. Longer and harsher sentences will increase the strains on a justice system already at the breaking point. Courts and Crown prosecutors’ offices are overwhelmed as is, legal aid plans are at the breaking point, and police forces don’t have the resources to do their jobs properly. Bill C-10 addresses none of these problems and will make them much worse.<br /><br />9. Victimizing the most vulnerable. With mandatory minimums replacing conditional sentences, people in remote, rural and northern communities will be shipped far from their families to serve time. Canada’s aboriginal people already represent up to 80 per cent of inmates in institutions in the Prairies, a national embarrassment that Bill C-10 will make worse.<br /><br />10. How much money? With no reliable price tag for its recommendations, there is no way to responsibly decide the bill’s financial implications. What will Canadians sacrifice to pay for these initiatives? Will they be worth the cost?<br /><br />Please defeat the omnibus Crime Bill. Thank you for your consideration and time,<br /><br />[etc.]Timothyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11166349466530374539noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8655268.post-69791661637886850932011-11-17T17:34:00.004-05:002012-01-28T21:56:47.353-05:00protestsongs.caMy mother is from Cape Breton Island. Our family has 7 generations who can be said to have lived there, or at least really enjoyed many long holidays there, or even years of aimless wandering in the backwoods up on the hill of Boisdale. I enjoy Cape Breton Celtic music rarely, but I have found <a href="http://protestsongs.ca/">protestsongs.ca</a>, and I have realized that there's a whole genre of Cape Breton music that I absolutely CAN'T GET ENOUGH OF!Timothyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11166349466530374539noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8655268.post-187967019122562022011-11-04T19:07:00.007-04:002011-11-04T21:31:37.948-04:00System change at McGill UniversityMany of the workers of McGill University are on strike. Secretaries, technicians, cleaning staff, etc., have been walking the picket line for months. McGill University hasn't been accommodating. I suppose it has never been the tradition for McGill to accommodate with magnanimity in such situations.<br /><br />Winter is coming, the strikers are getting tired, and it seems that their fate will be to return to work, concerns unmet.<br /><br />McGill University wasn't founded by men who respected the working class. McGill's pretensions and elitism seem preposterous and awful to me, given that it is a colonial Canadian institution, without much in the way of history, relatively speaking, anyway. Its pretensions are where its lack of sympathy comes from, I think.<br /><br />The Teaching Assistants, including myself, and the Research Associates, may soon be forced to strike. As I understand it, a Research Assistant, who has worked at McGill for 30 years, who holds a PhD, is paid similarly to a newly hired BSc employed in a similar position at any of the other Montreal universities. That's scandalous. However, the truth is I know a few of my colleagues aren't getting paid for their work at all! Do we all at McGill need to be reminded that we all require sufficient pay to make rent & buy food, etc.? It is horribly predictable that our basic needs are often overlooked, here at the home of Canada's most highly paid administrator.<br /><br />What is happening at McGill is like Occupy Wall Street, on a small scale. The smallness of the scale does not negate the significance of this event. On the contrary, this should be instructive.<br /><br />What is happening here is the long-prophesied System Change. System Change is an important ingredient of Global Change, which has long been thought to be unavoidable, owing to the intersections and collisions of climatic, social, and economic crises.<br /><br />I hope you can understand, as I have come to understand, that System Change asks of us all to bring into being new systems, in a way similar to what is happening at McGill. <span style="font-weight:bold;">Our new arrangement must be designed to meet the concerns of the people who are parts of it</span>.<br /><br />The old systems don't work. Our environmental & economic crises are evidence of the old systemic inadequacies. There is no avoiding system change, because our systems have to change in order for them to continue. Some of those old systems will not change, and they will not survive. Systems, such as McGill University, will not continue in the manner that they were before, because the people, who are the bones and muscles of such an institutional body, just can't handle the old way (the unsympathetic & elitist way) of organizing things anymore.Timothyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11166349466530374539noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8655268.post-81007641357783032392011-10-18T15:19:00.002-04:002011-10-18T16:03:50.003-04:00Decolonize MontrealHello,<br /><br />I took the McGill Intercampus Shuttle downtown before dawn this morning.<br /><br />I walked down to Square Victoria. I asked a couple of policemen - who crossed the street with me - how many tents there were at the park. N.B., there were lots and lots of tents, probably more than one hundred. They said "Oh maybe fifty. No. Maybe thirty." Shameless liars.<br /><br />I recognized a very nice guy from Musquodoboit, who I see at all the protests and Anarchist Bookfairs. We watched the union conference attendees arrive. There was a very large crowd of them, and they made a few speeches in french before going back to their conference. I wouldn't mind talking to that guy all day, but he escaped for soup.<br /><br /> So I talked with the Global News cameraman. Donny wanted to run Global News out of the tent site, because the Global coverage has been unfair. Donny recommends the Mirror's story instead: <a href="http://www.montrealmirror.com/wp/2011/10/13/cover-the-99-are-coming/">http://www.montrealmirror.com/wp/2011/10/13/cover-the-99-are-coming/</a><br /><br />So, that's all for now. I plan to go back soon with lots of sidewalk chalk.Timothyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11166349466530374539noreply@blogger.com0