Five Tribes of the Global Consumer World.

Heritage, religion. class and nationality are no longer the things that describe who I am, nor do I believe it adequately describes the people I meet, or the people represented as types in the news media.

Political labels such as Conservative and Liberal do not really describe political parties that have learned to adapt in order to gain the most votes. Labels are superficial and often serve only to promote propaganda.

Perhaps we are more stereotypical in our group associations than we would like to believe, and the intelligence required to fly airplanes, perform medical surgeries, teach physics or any other achievement, just crumbles away when we choose leaders. Or the system fails to bring us what we think we voted for.

I propose that we might have five world views which could be seen as tribal persuasions: The Fronters, Freshskins, Strategists, Greeds and Transcendents.

The Fronters

These are the people who have never known protection or security. They feel they are continually being cheated materially, psychologically or emotionally. No matter how hard they try to rise above their own sense of injustice or poverty, they feel they can never win. Justified as they may be in their feelings, they cannot grasp the idea of equality or social justice. Political efforts to equalize feel more like something is being taken away rather than given or shared. Their experience of power is an early visceral sense of being a victim of power-over rather than protected by a shared power. They cower from those who have more (as it may appear in charisma, talent, courage or mere bullying) and will vent their fear and anger on those who have less than they. In fact they feel contempt for the victims of injustice rather than sympathy because they cannot cope with identifying with them or allowing the long held rage to explode out towards the oppressive systems.  Being the most psychologically vulnerable, this group is the one most easily manipulated to further oppress the politically vulnerable - minorities, marginalized, homeless, poor, and the sick.  This tribe make up the force behind the gang, the hate group, the mass murderers, the rapists, the suicide bombers.  The Trumps, the Stalins, the Hitlers of this world know this as do that vast anonymous group who fund their campaigns in order to maintain a system of violence and fear. .

The Freshkins

These are the ones who are aware of what is going on around them. They are sensitive, unassuming, compassionate and rarely noticed.  The Freshkins are not comfortable with mass movements or politics. They will engage when it is necessary but it is no fun for them. It’s more likely that Freshkins will be artists and poets, nurses, teachers and healers. They strongly identify with an individual sense of personal responsibility within society. Later in life Freshkins will join movements for the environment, for social justice or will make their names in provocative fields of study.  Freshkins understand how injustice manifests in the neural substrate, and how it magnifies among the general population.  Freshkins quietly harbour broken hearts, but refuse to be bitter or hateful.

The Strategists

These are the ones who seek to organize the world. They eschew sentimentality and focus mostly on the task required once they have a strategy they feel is realistic. The world to them is a chess board, or a mathematical construct, and they make their moves unaware of whether the outcomes hurt anyone.  The world to them is a list of resources and opportunity. They are interested in what will sell, and the financial returns.  They don’t see a connection between their strategies and the effect on social well-being beyond the immediate returns. For Strategists if it can't be measured it doesn't exist. 

The Greeds

Easy to identify they dedicate their lives to acquisition. For the Greeds, money, status, influence, power, followers, fans, stocks, shares, real estate, corporations, fame – is all about accumulating for the sake of accumulating.  It’s not quality or aesthetics that excite the Greeds – it’s possession, having the most and being known for it.  They are not interested in how money can help the world.  Wealth is a zero sum game for the Greeds. There is no point in having money if everyone has it. They seek to have what others can’t have – the biggest diamond, the most mansions, the most power.  They need to be envied or feared. Life is something to own rather than experience. Greeds who are not rich covert it and scheme to become close to to wealthy interests in the hope they will be.

The Transcendents

These are the tribe who quietly live outside of the rules.  They don’t publicly protest, they don’t need approval.  They are guided by an inner sense of fairness. They will not be pinned down or predictable. They do not seek fame or status within society, but are willing to put their own lives on the line rather than be oppressed. Transcendents operate on energy – they are waves not particles. Their sense of right and wrong come from within.

So which of these are you? Is there one you identify with or do you have a blend of more than one? Is there a way to heal the pain of the Fronters, encourage the Freshkins to participate only, find a strategy to bring the tribes together or transcend the conflicts on this planet?

Dear Prime Minister Trudeau and delegates to the UN climate conference

LosAlamosLaboratory via Flickr

It’s time for Canada to become a global climate action leader. 

With policy-makers representing all levels of government coming together in Paris for the United Nations climate conference, Canada has an unprecedented opportunity to emerge as a front-runner on the road to developing a stronger, cleaner global economy. 

To seize this opportunity, leaders like you must work together in the best interests of all Canadians. The policies and technologies needed to solve the climate crisis already exist and are being used across the country. 

I urge you to advocate for these five outcomes from Canada in Paris: 

1. A responsible plan with clear, ambitious targets to cut carbon emissions.

2. A national price on carbon emissions to accelerate solutions. 

3. Investment in green and low-carbon infrastructure like transit and renewable energy. 

4. Strong efficiency standards for vehicles and buildings. 

5. A fair commitment to support developing nations in pursuing sustainable economies. 

As our leaders, you must work together to develop a coordinated plan to ensure Canada builds a national clean economy and that we do our part to support developing nations in strengthening their economies in the most responsible way possible. 

As a Canadian, I believe our country has the resources, workforce and leadership to show the world that prosperity doesn’t have to be at the expense of our environment and security. 

I ask you and your fellow Canadian delegates at the Paris climate summit to work to support an agreement that will promote healthier communities; a cleaner, more diversified economy and prevent global average temperatures from rising beyond a safe level.

Sincerely

Janet Vickers

Petition signed on David Suzuki Foundation Website.

Will we ever learn? Isis and the West

Ceasefire has posted a quote from Paul Rogers:

Paul Rogers, writing for Opendemocracy.net, provides a clear analysis of the evolution of ISIS and the western worlds’ failure to find a way out of the trap cast by ISIS (“ISIS’s plan, and the west’s trap”, Opendemocracy.net, 27 November, 2015). Tactics employed by ISIS have continued to change but the West has failed to adapt, thus giving more power to these Islamic extremists. - See more here. 

How to Fight Terrorism

1. Know the purpose of terrorism.
To create fear and confusion in the hearts and minds of people everywhere, to alienate them from their own humanity and their community so they can be manipulated to work for the wealth and power of a few. Xenophobia, blaming Muslims, race-baiting and hate is not the way to fight terrorism. In fact it is precisely what will keep us from an understanding of who we are. Xenophobia is really an inverted projection of ourselves - we project onto the other what we don't want to see in ourselves. Security and policing agencies are charged with the mandate to deal with the symptoms of terrorism - they cannot cure it or get rid of it.

2. Know who the terrorists are.  
Terrorists are not just those who wear suicide belts, who plant bombs and who bring machine guns into public places. Ask who funds terrorist organizations? Who supports their ideologies with propaganda? Who inflames hatred and suspicion with words, images, policies, entertainments and games? Who lobbies governments to undermine democratic systems? Who conflates crises into racist 'causes'? Who are the institutions that work secretly with other institutions to centralize power through misinformation and ideology? While most of this demographic are not entering theatre halls with guns and bombs, they are all part of the industry that creates fear and encourages public disengagement, creating fertile grounds for the marginalized to seek radical 'solutions'. Ideologies that exclude large groups of people based on race, gender, and social orientation are the most effective feeders for terrorist groups.

3. What do terrorists hate?
While I don't personally know what all the men and women who have willingly joined a terrorist organization really love or hate, the message emanates from the action. Killing people you don't know is a very strong message that symbolizes what they hate. They hate the unpredictable. They hate diversity. They hate anything that questions their world view?  They love unquestioning obedience and loyalty to a cause and the muths of perfection.

4. Know their weapons.
Their primary weapon is indoctrination that deadens thought and reflection. Guns and bombs are just the hardware to shut down all aspects of human nature, such as curiosity, language, art, love, friendship, empathy, generosity, and all the soft skills that contribute to civil engagement.

5. Know their victims.
The first victims are the volunteers who are trained to kill. PTSD is a sophisticated term to describe what happens to men and women who can no longer manage to live normal, emotionally fulfilling lives because their nervous systems have been cauterized by violence. The second victims are the families of those who have lost loved ones in terrorist attacks. The third victims are those who have lost limbs and lives. The fourth are the racial and religious minorities who are blamed for the violence because fear without access to healing is followed by hatred.

6. Know how to defeat them.
The only way to defeat them is to defeat their ideologies.  Retribution keeps terrorists alive because it is the endless game of war and violence that becomes more entrenched and imperative with each generation under siege. The most fertile nations for terrorists are those who have been economically and culturally destroyed by war. Hegemonic systems create terrorism by making people refugees in their own country by turning all of nature, including human nature, into a resource to be exploited.

Once  upon a time we might have debated the pursuit of equality and social justice as a kind of delusional idealism. Now the urgency of this call means we either build human capacities on a reverence for life or deliver the future into the hands of terrorists.

Reflections on the future and elections

One election won't fix the looming crisis. What we need to do is see how the worship of power has got us to this point where people are actually willing to vote for governments that erode our hard earned human rights and democratic sensibilities.

We are organized by centralized power (herein referred to as CP) who have the means to buy media and government and then spin or omit the facts as they please, to their advantage. The strategy used is divide and conquer - set up false enemies or sensationalize distant threats.  Because we feel powerless we love to look for those who have less power - minorities, women, Asians, Africans, gay, lesbian, transgender, those with obvious disabilities and the poor.  These are the pool of punishables, so that whenever the government or big business is pulled up on bad choices and destructive outcomes - they can pull out, quick as a gun, an issue that blames one or two women who want to wear a niqab at a citizenship ceremony.

The CP keep giving us scape goats but not for our own good - to deflect their abuse of power. We do not need scape goats. We have evolved beyond that time when our sins were laid upon the rear of a sheep and sent off into the wilderness carrying all our fears.

According to scholars and scientists we have the capacity to turn our economy on renewable clean energy, the knowledge to create a just society, to house the homeless, to feed the hungry - but the reason we haven't is not because we can't.

Imagine that it goes deeper, right to the core of what we call our civilization and that no one outside of ourselves can effect real change, that our civilization, our governments are sick and that we are mentally ill and spiritually dead and that all our issues and crises are symptoms of this deeper sickness…. Charles Bowden 1945-2014.

Imagine that the majority of voters know better than to vote for the handmaidens of unregulated industry and they know their future depends on a minority who vote for a manipulative system, because they are afraid to look too close to the way it works.

Imagine that the resistance to CP causes that majority to re-create their own communities based on action, justice and peace, and that they are imprisoned, tortured and murdered, yet the guilty are not brought to trial.

Imagine that business goes on as usual and the masses become more afraid and more desperate to avoid seeing the world as it is, and that more of the innocent are harmed, starved and murdered, and that we lose our capacity to discuss ideas, to challenge injustice. Imagine that we forget what equality, freedom and democracy was, and we forget our culture.

Imagine that the world is so unsafe we lock ourselves up in our living rooms and watch the world from a 27 inch screen for that is the only way we dare participate in our society.

Imagine that this is not just a future possibility but what is happening and has happened all over the world. That the CP has manufactured false societies with false issues and false threats.  Then you get a picture of what is to blame for the conditions of war, poverty, domestic violence, climate change.

Imagine that you have learned there is no point to beheading the aristocracy, the ruling elite - as in the French Revolution - because you know that whoever takes over from them will institute the same system. Imagine that you and I finally get it!  The work and struggle of creating social justice is not just a matter of fairness it is a matter of mental health which is basic to the survival of our species.

Then we'll understand what the price of freedom really means, and what it is for us to do.

The Leap Manifesto

This post is uploaded from The Leap Manifesto - put together by a group of Canadians including David Suzuki and Naomi Klein, to address the looming crisis of environmental and social breakdown.


Sign the Leap Manifesto:

"The leap must begin by respecting the inherent rights and title of the original caretakers of this land, starting by fully implementing the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

The latest research shows we could get 100% of our electricity from renewable resources within two decades; by 2050 we could have a 100% clean economy. We demand that this shift begin now.

No new infrastructure projects that lock us into increased extraction decades into the future. The new iron law of energy development must be: if you wouldn’t want it in your backyard, then it doesn’t belong in anyone’s backyard.The time for energy democracy has come: wherever possible, communities should collectively control new clean energy systems.

Indigenous Peoples and others on the frontlines of polluting industrial activity should be first to receive public support for their own clean energy projects.We want a universal program to build and retrofit energy efficient housing, ensuring that the lowest income communities will benefit first.

We want high-speed rail powered by just renewables and affordable public transit to unite every community in this country – in place of more cars, pipelines and exploding trains that endanger and divide us.

We want training and resources for workers in carbon-intensive jobs, ensuring they are fully able to participate in the clean energy economy.

We need to invest in our decaying public infrastructure so that it can withstand increasingly frequent extreme weather events.We must develop a more localized and ecologically-based agricultural system to reduce reliance on fossil fuels, absorb shocks in the global supply – and produce healthier and more affordable food for everyone.

We call for an end to all trade deals that interfere with our attempts to rebuild local economies, regulate corporations and stop damaging extractive projects.

We demand immigration status and full protection for all workers. Canadians can begin to rebalance the scales of climate justice by welcoming refugees and migrants seeking safety and a better life.

We must expand those sectors that are already low-carbon: caregiving, teaching, social work, the arts and public-interest media.

A national childcare program is long past due.Since so much of the labour of caretaking – whether of people or the planet – is currently unpaid and often performed by women, we call for a vigorous debate about the introduction of a universal basic annual income.

We declare that “austerity” is a fossilized form of thinking that has become a threat to life on earth. The money we need to pay for this great transformation is available — we just need the right policies to release it. An end to fossil fuel subsidies. Financial transaction taxes. Increased resource royalties.
Higher income taxes on corporations and wealthy people. A progressive carbon tax. Cuts to military spending.

We must work swiftly towards a system in which every vote counts and corporate money is removed from political campaigns.


This transformation is our sacred duty to those this country harmed in the past, to those suffering needlessly in the present, and to all who have a right to a bright and safe future.
Now is the time for boldness.
Now is the time to leap."

It is incumbent upon us to care about the world because we can

Sheila Haniszewska - on UN resolution condemning "glorification of Nazism"

Memorial to the Jews who perished at the end of WWII*

In November 2014, the Harper Conservative government, along with the USA and Ukraine, voted against a United Nations resolution that condemned the “glorification of Nazism”. This resolution also called for the condemnation of “other practices that contribute to fueling contemporary forms of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance.” It also asked member nations to take legislative measures in order to stop Holocaust denial.

115 countries supported the resolution, 55 abstained. We were one of the three countries who did not support this.

Why isn't this more widely known? This is scandalous. What does this unwillingness to condemn Nazism say about the Harper government? What does it say about Canada? Does this represent our values? Do people need to be reminded what Nazism is? Why did Canada vote this way? 

I think this issue needs to be raised as soon as possible with our current government.

We have the Anti- Terrorism Act, just passed this spring, and yet we are willing to turn a blind eye to Nazis? This is especially significant with the rise of ultra -right forces in many European countries and particularly Ukraine, where the United States and Canada are providing military and other support.

It needs to be an election issue.

(After the Nazi's left Budapest the Arrow Cross party rounded up the remaining Jews, marched them to the river, ordered them to take off their shoes and jump in the river.)

The Leap Manifesto

"We could live in a country powered entirely by truly just renewable energy, woven together by accessible public transit, in which the jobs and opportunities of this transition are designed to systematically eliminate racial and gender inequality. Caring for one another and caring for the planet could be the economy’s fastest growing sectors. Many more people could have higher wage jobs with fewer work hours, leaving us ample time to enjoy our loved ones and flourish in our communities.

We know that the time for this great transition is short. Climate scientists have told us that this is the decade to take decisive action to prevent catastrophic global warming. That means small steps will no longer get us where we need to go." The Leap Manifesto

Sign The Leap Manifesto

Requiem for a Nation (reposted)

This post was first published in May 2011 just after the Federal Election. I re-blog to revisit my thoughts during that time, as the 2015 elections approach and the stakes seem much higher. The world has become even more barbaric and suffering globally and nationally more evident. 

In spite of all the efforts of good people to inform the public, 40 % of voters chose the party that promised to deplete  the programs that make us rich with a quality of life such as good education, health care, social services to help those at risk, programs that promote civic engagement.  

Over the last thirty years we have seen how the natural wealth and beauty of this country have been eroded in the name of the "economy", and we have watched our leaders become vague on policy in exchange for populist slogans. The air waves are filled with entertainments where discourse used to be. And we have seen how nations have scuttled out of environmental stewardship.

Politics has become another new product. It can't be complicated with real issues that will make voters seem uninformed. It musn't make them feel stressed or pressured. It must be easy, make them feel superior, that their prejudices are right and their intuitions on track. The campaign must be shiny and slippery. 

Sure there have been other voices alerting us to the danger ahead, giving us statistics, calling out errors made by the government, and even though they didn't get much in mainstream coverage they got the majority of votes. But not enough for our first past the post system.

Canadians did not win, the military industrial complex did. That vast and resounding voice that comes through hundreds of TV's and most corporate sponsored newspapers, that huge global propaganda machine, that ideology that we must worship profit instead of people, was the great winner tonight. And that isn't hard because sub-consciously we all sense where power is invested and it's much safer to get behind the bully rather than confront him.

Hidden behind the pre-packaged images and formatted perceptions, the real world will continue to unravel. There will be more unemployment, more homelessness, more domestic violence. Beyond the facade of morality, abortions will be illegal, purportedly to save the unborn who will be left to starve once they are born. Our youth will be sent to war in countries they have never heard of for reasons they'll never know. Prisons will be filled with conscientious objectors tortured by the criminals in charge. And the earth with its inhabitants will die a slow death through poisoning.

This may sound too far fetched, but consider the difference thirty years has made in our expectations of what a functioning democracy means. A good standard of living where we thought hard work and education would pay off, where we expected our government and corporations, guided by reason and knowledge, worked for the people. Remember when we thought we lived in a fair and progressive country full of people who had risen above prejudice and racism?

What was it that changed? People or the theatre of  information we are bombarded with?  What instruments and strategies have been at play to make us believe people (and when we say people we mean other) have become stupid? 

Absolute power corrupts absolutely and we are no longer in a friendly beautiful place, but a place that has been co-opted, extracted, re-interpreted by power interests that feed us what they want us to feel.

What has happened is that power has been centralized and life is merely its meat. What has happened is we do not see the ways we are manipulated because we can't see the strategies used against us.

Before we can win back democracy we must examine and interrogate this power that we have enabled, that has become the monster. To believe in our own power to change the world for the better is a good start.

THIS CHANGES EVERYTHING | Int'l Trailer

Syrian Refugee Crisis

To: Stephen Harper, Thomas Mulcair, Justin Trudeau, Elizabeth May and Gilles Duceppe:

I am calling on you to set politics and campaigning aside to urgently address the mounting Syrian refugee crisis. Immediate, concrete and generous steps must be made to significantly increase Canada’s contribution both to resettling refugees and international efforts to resolve the conflict and human rights crisis in Syria. 

I am urgently calling on the government to: 

• Announce a program to immediately resettle a minimum of 10,000 Syrians through government sponsorship and provide support for generous levels of private sponsorship of Syrian refugees.

• Lift obstacles to speedy family reunification and allow refugee cases to be processed within Canada.

• Launch an immediate review of Aylan Kurdi’s uncle’s case to identify any obstacles that stood in the way of approval of his family’s application for resettlement to Canada.

• Intensify Canada’s efforts to ensure more effective international action to resolve the conflict and human rights crisis in Syria, including increased humanitarian aid and pressing for a comprehensive arms embargo.

All parties should articulate a concrete policy for Canada's response to refugees, including this current crisis.



  

Is CBC doing the work that our government doesn't want to do?

Missing and Murdered Women 

THERE'S ALWAYS MONEY FOR A WAR

Early Voting in the Canadian Federal Election

For those who are away on Election Day October 19th, here, courtesy of Jennifer Davidson, is some information on when and how we can all cast our ballots.

1. The easiest way if you are not leaving until after Thanksgiving is to vote in the

advanced poll on October 9, 10, 11 or 12. Location TBA – should be in paper or use contact t information for Elections Canada below.

2. If you are leaving before Thanksgiving, you can vote by mail-in special ballot as follows:

• Ballots can be picked up at Elections Canada office at the old Dufferin Crescent Elementary school at 1111 Dufferin Crescent. Apparently it is a bit of a process to register, so leave yourself lots of time. Ask for the Special Ballot Coordinator
• You can fill out and return your ballot at the office or take it away and mail in later
•  Registration must take place before October 13
• Ballots mailed in must arrive at Elections Canada in Ottawa before 6 pm on Election Day.
• Elections Canada office is open as follows:
• August: 10-5, Mon-Fri, but the Special Ballot Coordinator is only available from 10-1pm. September/October: 9-9 Mon-Fri; 9-5 Saturday and 12-4 Sunday.

You will need the following for ID: 

i. Drivers Licence with current address OR
ii. Government issued photo ID with current address OR
iii. 2 pieces of Id showing photo, name and residence address e.g. passport and Hydro bill

More information can be found at www.elections.ca or by phoning 1-866-545-0624
Hope this helps you to get out and vote!

Signs of Creeping Fascism

Fascism is  "a governmental system led by a dictator having complete power, forcibly suppressing opposition and criticism, regimenting all industry, commerce, etc., and emphasizing an aggressive nationalism and often racism" says Dictionary.com.

There are always interests that seek fascist power wherever there are profitable resources. Fascism begins with a greed for power and creeps through organic systems so that it appears as a grass roots movement.  We may not suddenly slip into a fascist state or even choose it, but it does find its way slowly and we are better off if we can recognize some of the signs. Below are signs that seem to me to indicate its invasion.

When people vote for a party that has made it clear they have no value for civil society’s democratic institutions then you know that fascism has found roots in your neighbourhood.

When their leader says that people don’t care about their government being found in contempt of parliament then are rewarded with a majority, you know that fascism has deep roots in your neighbourhood.

When peaceful protesters are kettled, imprisoned and intimidated with threats of torture you know that fascism is supported with big money.

When the president of the world’s most powerful nation has to provide a full birth certificate to prove he has the right to be president, then you know that fascism is backed by very powerful big money and that media is its handmaiden.

When media incites hatred towards minorities – racial, religious, gender and sexual orientation, you know that fascism's brainwashers are prepared to invoke violence on their sleepy public.

When wars are organized that cost much more than the social programs being cut to pay for them you know that fascism is well established enough to spread seeds of division and ultimately a contempt for life.

When mainstream religions begin to protest human rights under the guise of some biblical verse you know that fascism has crept into the most sacred institutions of civil society and have turned theology into a weapon.

When the news headline reports a rise in gay bashing, the rape and murder of native women, the killing of spouses and children, the physical and mental abuse of patients, you know that fascism has undermined the mental health of society.

When politicians and economists say socialism must be destroyed and replaced with free markets you know that fascism has invaded the board rooms.

When environmentalists are lambasted and false science is broadcast globally, you know that, unchallenged, everything life depends upon will be destroyed for the sake of power.

This is how fascist power alienates the mind and the body . This is how power makes life redundant. If the fascist can't rule the world, he will destroy it.

But once power is turned around with an interrogation of structures instead of people, a celebration of diversity,  expressions of loving kindness, and the majority of thinking citizens engage in the building of their society, fascism dies. Fascism needs humans to feed it with hate and fear in order to survive.

This is the great irony - no matter the extent of contempt fascism has for humanity, it only survives because we give our power to it.

The Devil and The Harper - Bob Bossin

Published on Aug 22, 2015

The Devil and The Harper by Bob Bossin, video by Paul Grignon. Funny how traditional songs retain their relevance. Feel free to distribute. Vote smart. Stop Harper!

More recommended reading for the wise

Harper, Serial Abuser of Power: The Evidence Compiled

The Tyee's full, updated list of 70 Harper government assaults on democracy and the law.

By David Beers and Tyee Staff and Contributors, Today, TheTyee.ca

1. PMO Tied to Senate Hush Money Scandal
2. Harper Found in Contempt of Parliament
3. Against Court Order, Refusal to Share Budget Info
4. Conservative Cabinet Staffers Granted Immunity from Testimony
5. Conservatives Falsify Reports and Documents
6. Repeated Duplicity in Afghan Detainees Controversy
7. Repeated Duplicity on Costing of F-35 Fighter Jets
8. Harper Minister Lies, Blames Statistics Canada for Killing Long Form Census
9. Conservative MP Admits He Lied to Parliament
10. Conservative House Leader Admits to Mockery of Question Period
11. Harper Maligns the Supreme Court Chief Justice
12. Conservatives Engage in Abuse of Process with Omnibus Bills
13. Auditor General Sheila Fraser said that "Parliament has become so undermined that it is almost unable to do the job that people expect of it."
14. Harperites Deliberately Sabotage, Stymie Committee System
15. Harper's Own MPs Protest Muzzling
16. Conservative Bill Rewrites History to Protect Mounties from Potential Criminal Charges
17. Harper Minister Caught in Advertising Scam with Public Funds
18. Corrupt Conservative Cronies
19. Access to Information System Impeded
20. The Silencing of the Public Service
21. Loyalty Oaths Imposed on Public Servants
22. Integrity Commissioner Christiane Ouimet sat on more than 200 whistleblower files before quitting. Her style? 'Gross mismanagement,' concluded the auditor general.
23. Harper Government Sued by Justice Department Whistleblower
24. Conservatives Block Accreditation for Opposition MPs
25. Tactic Borrowed from North Korea's Dear Leader
26. Clampdown on Freedom of Speech of Diplomatic Corps
27. Marine Science Libraries Decimated
28. UN Blasts Canada's Treatment of Immigrants
29. Harper Government Denies Khadr Basic Rights
30. Illegitimate Prorogation of Parliament, Twice
31. Undue Interference with Independent Agencies
32. Billions Borrowed without Parliament's Permission
33. Lapdogs Appointed as Watchdogs
34. PMO Attempts to Cover up Video Leak Putting Troops at Risk
35. The 'Harper Government' Labelling Deception
36. Conservatives Place Party Logos on Government of Canada Cheques
37. Record Amounts of Partisan Political Advertising, on the Public Purse
38. Conservatives Stack Their Own Ridings with Infrastructure Funds
39. $50 Million Spending Deception as Documented by the Auditor General
40. Patronage Run Amok
41. Undermining Statistics Canada, Killing Data
42. Government Muzzles Science Community
43. Death of Evidence rally in Ottawa
44. Like Never Before, Limits Placed on Media Access
45. Harper's Team Tries to Ban Journalist for Asking Question
46. Harper Minister Sucker Punches CBC Budget
47. Suppression of Research
48. The Vic Toews Porno Smear
49. Harper's Fallen Soldiers Blackout
50. Protesters Put under Blanket Surveillance
51. Rights and Democracy, Other Groups, Dismantled
52. Harper Government Spied on Aboriginal Critic, 'Retaliated'
53. Revenue Canada Loosed to Attack Charities
54. Conservatives Use Unheard of Tactic to Force through Anti-Union Bill
55. Harper Smears Liberal Sikh MP, Insinuating Tie to Terrorism
56. Veterans' Advocates Smeared
57. Conservatives Run Undercover Sting Operations
58. Conservative Convicted on Robocalls Scam
59. Harper's Ex-Parliamentary Secretary Jailed for Breaking Election Law
60. 'Reprehensible' Dirty Tricks Campaign against Irwin Cotler
61. Conservatives Bar Crosbie Candidacy
62. Election Violations Prompt Resignation of Cabinet Member
63. Conservatives Attempt Election Campaign Frame-up
64. Harper's Office Deploys Interns for Dirty Tricks
65. Citizens Ejected from Conservative Rallies
66. Conservatives Make Campaign Event Attendees Sign Gag Order
67. Conservatives Unfix Their Own Fixed Date Election Law
68. Guilty Plea on In and Out Affair
69. Cons' Elections Bill Strips Power from Elections Canada
70. Harper Minister Smears Head of Elections Canada
71. Copyright Grab for Attack Ads
72. Conservatives Use Terrorists' Propaganda in Attack Ad
73. Record Use of Personal Attack Ads

What to Read before the MacLean's Debate today!

Here is a list for those who have time to watch and to prepare for the MacLean's debate today. This is the first one since the writ was delivered and includes four leaders: Tom Mulcair, Justin Trudeau, Elizabeth May, and our PM Stephen Harper.

Rabble has a list of questions to consider that ought to make up a debate and you can also watch it here.

The Eight Principles of Uncivilisation - Dark Mountain Project

‘We must unhumanise our views a little, and become confident As the rock and ocean that we were made from.’

1. We live in a time of social, economic and ecological unravelling. All around us are signs that our whole way of living is already passing into history. We will face this reality honestly and learn how to live with it.
2. We reject the faith which holds that the converging crises of our times can be reduced to a set of ‘problems’ in need of technological or political ‘solutions’.
3. We believe that the roots of these crises lie in the stories we have been telling ourselves. We intend to challenge the stories which underpin our civilisation: the myth of progress, the myth of human centrality, and the myth of our separation from ‘nature’. These myths are more dangerous for the fact that we have forgotten they are myths.
4. We will reassert the role of storytelling as more than mere entertainment. It is through stories that we weave reality.
5. Humans are not the point and purpose of the planet. Our art will begin with the attempt to step outside the human bubble. By careful attention, we will reengage with the non-human world.
6. We will celebrate writing and art which is grounded in a sense of place and of time. Our literature has been dominated for too long by those who inhabit the cosmopolitan citadels.
7. We will not lose ourselves in the elaboration of theories or ideologies. Our words will be elemental. We write with dirt under our fingernails.
8. The end of the world as we know it is not the end of the world full stop. Together, we will find the hope beyond hope, the paths which lead to the unknown world ahead of us.

from The Dark Mountain Manifesto

found on Synthetic Zero

Preparing for an uncertain future: A Response

Janet, your essay provokes thought and moves towards defining the kind of action which this future seems to require. Nonetheless, when you say that we must become the piece in the puzzle to support and sustain what is life revering, I am not sure that all that is required is to offer alternative views in a respectful manner. That is one kind of action, yes, and an important one, especially in the face of the kind of power and privilege that does everything it can to shout down other voices. And I, as well as you, should and will continue to take that kind of action wherever and whenever we can.

However, I think there is another kind of action that is equally important, if not more so, now. I would like us all to think about and do this kind of action – the kind of action that acts out our values, not just talks about them. For some of us, for example, that might be civil disobedience of the kind where we sit down in front of the bulldozers clearing the way for oil pipelines. For others, it might be the growing of food, the conserving of water, the development of survival strategies for our tribe, however we might construe that term. In particular, I am seeing local organization of small groups around emergency preparedness in neighborhoods as critical to resilience in the conditions I now fear rapid climate change will bring down on us. And I think we have to pay attention centrally to the kinds of communication and organizational skills that will permit these groups both to emerge and to flourish. Developing and using such skills is not just enactment of our values, it will be critical to our survival.

So for me at this point, I am more concerned with these practical actions, enactments of my values if you will, and less with attempting to change minds, particularly the minds of those who have a huge investment in certain kinds of behavior. An investment that is literal as well as figurative.

We don’t have a lot of time left, and I want to use my “community time” as effectively as I can. Yes, to support those who will do civil disobedience, but more particularly to take action with others in my neighborhood to try to ensure we care for each other as well as possible when things get really difficult – which it seems, they surely will.

May Partridge - Sociologist, Creative Non-Fiction writer and Poet.

Harper's Economic Performance Graph

article by Jeremy J. Nuttall. Unifor's Report on Harper's Economic Performance, The Tyee. July 31, 2015

Preparing for an uncertain future

I see a few posts on Facebook that indicate people see our future as being decided by the Harper government. I use that term because the Conservative party and Canada's democracy have been destroyed by this PM who proudly bragged we would not recognize Canada when he finished with it.

We were warned by so many quotes that he would turn us into a Republican branch plant - a petro state that Chris Hedges describes as intentionally destructive:

Extraction industries, like wars, empower a predominantly male, predatory population that is engaged in horrific destruction and violence. Wars and extraction industries are designed to extinguish all systems that give life—familial, social, cultural, economic, political and environmental. And they require the obliteration of community and the common good.

Jennifer Hinton describes the Greek Crisis as being the result of a parasite which "… comes from the surplus of the system (profit) being taken out of the real economy (the economy of physical goods and services) and put into the financial sector to generate more wealth for people who are already wealthy. This requires the economy to continually grow to compensate for the extraction of profit, which is essentially the extraction of the economy’s surplus."

So the economy in this case no longer serves the society that creates it. If Capitalism destroys societies how will it sustain itself? And is it really fascism in sheep's clothing?

A quote attributed to  Tommy Douglas, says "Fascism begins the moment a ruling class, fearing the people may use their political democracy to gain economic democracy, begins to destroy political democracy in order to retain its power of exploitation and special privilege.” 

Democracy and the kind of social responsibility which enables our freedom is clearly under threat in Europe, the US, Canada and other nations. But a percentage of the population will not see it that way.

Perhaps I am over simplifying - but it seems to me that Harper's base are those who have lived under the canopy of several absolutes:

1. that the white man is inherently superior, 
2. that men are more reasonable than women 
3. that religion is necessary to maintain morality
4. that punishment is required to keep people on the right path
5. that capitalism is the natural vehicle for our economy
6. that Canada is a Christian country. 

For these beliefs to sustain themselves a mind must avoid straying beyond these tenets - to explore is dangerous, to think is heresy. 

Christianity has been usurped and corrupted as a kind of manufactured spiritually-gated community to support the power and privilege of a ruling elite. In these cases it is no longer about Jesus and his teachings, or the insights of Biblical prophets.  This is not Christianity at all. It is not about good orderly direction in the Universe. It is not about virtue or humanity. It is a means to control minds and to keep the masses living in fear. It was the instrument that Hitler used, and that South Africa used to sustain apartheid. It is the way that war and violence has been glorified for the ambitions of colonial and imperial states.

As Chris Hedges, who is also a minister of a Christian church, reminds us: "There is nothing inevitable about human existence except birth and death. There are no forces, whether divine or technical, that will guarantee us a better future. When we give up false hopes, when we see human nature and history for what they are, when we accept that progress is not preordained, then we can act with an urgency and passion that comprehends the grim possibilities ahead." 

It is time to act, not simply accept the status quo. There is a responsibility we have to find a way to contribute to the future with the particular skills we have. To use our knowledge and art to present a different way of being. To pool our resources so that these skills are offered as an extension of our selves within our society. This is the way we contribute to our survival. We do what we can and if we are not sure we can we try it.

Judging, shaming and blaming is a waste of energy unless it leads to our action to fix that which we see is wrong. There is no righteousness in texting or twittering if we can't ask ourselves what can be done about it.
We are not required to change the world tomorrow, but let's not dismiss our capacity to meet and talk sincerely with one another about what and how we can apply our knowledge to the problem.

Voting, protesting, marching, carrying banners all have their place in revolution, but there is another step beyond that. Becoming the piece in the puzzle to support and sustain what is life revering. It means offering alternative views without name-calling, insulting and de-humanizing others.

It means researching the right information, questioning our own prejudices, interrogating our own privileges.
It means compassion. 

The Link Between Climate Change and ISIS

“One of the things that preceded the failure of the nation-state of Syria and the rise of ISIS was the effect of climate change and the mega-drought that affected that region, wiped out farmers, drove people to cities, created a humanitarian crisis that created the symptoms — or rather, the conditions — of extreme poverty that has led now to the rise of ISIL and this extreme violence.”

Martin O'Malley, Democratic Candidate. Think Progress

Remembering Tommy Douglas

“Once more let me remind you what fascism is. It need not wear a brown shirt or a green shirt – it may even wear a dress shirt. Fascism begins the moment a ruling class, fearing the people may use their political democracy to gain economic democracy, begins to destroy political democracy in order to retain its power of exploitation and special privilege.” Tommy Douglas

We the Citizens of Canada - hear this

Canadian Flag - Vancouver Observer

But if we, the citizens of Canada, win the next election, then there can be big, gloriously positive changes in the way this country runs – which will lead to an outpouring of optimism, a flowering of creativity, an expansion of community-centred energy and a hell of a lot of real fun.

Warren Bell, Vancouver Observer

From Peggy Mason of the Rideau Institute on Non-Nuclear Proliferation

"I am writing this blog post not only as RI President, but as a former Canadian Ambassador for Disarmament to the United Nations.   I had much direct experience of negotiations with Iran, in the context of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty review process and in many other arms control negotiations at the UN.  Of course that was at a time when Canada’s foreign policy was not based on much sound and fury and little substance but, instead, on a steadfast commitment to, and demonstrated talent for, diplomacy as the means to achieve the peaceful resolution of disputes, as the UN Charter obliges member states to do." - See more at: Ceasefire.

A Small Needful Fact by Ross Gay

reposted with permission from Split This Rock Poem of the Week.

A Small Needful Fact

Is that Eric Garner worked
for some time for the Parks and Rec.
Horticultural Department, which means,
perhaps, that with his very large hands,
perhaps, in all likelihood,
he put gently into the earth
some plants which, most likely,
some of them, in all likelihood,
continue to grow, continue
to do what such plants do, like house
and feed small and necessary creatures,
like being pleasant to touch and smell,
like converting sunlight
into food, like making it easier
for us to breathe.

Ross Gay is a gardener and teacher living in Bloomington, Indiana. He is the author of the collections Against Which, Bringing the Shovel Down, and most recently The Catalogue of Unabashed Gratitude (Pitt Poetry Series, 2015). His poems have appeared in American Poetry Review, Atlanta Review, Harvard Review, Columbia: A Journal of Poetry and Art, and Margie: The American Journal of Poetry, among other places.

About Split This Rock:

cultivates, teaches, and celebrates poetry that bears witness to injustice and provokes social change. It calls poets to a greater role in public life and fosters a national network of socially engaged poets. Building the audience for poetry of provocation and witness from our home in the nation’s capital, we celebrate poetic diversity and the transformative power of the imagination.

Split This Rock explores and celebrates the many ways that poetry can act as an agent for change: reaching across differences, considering personal and social responsibility, asserting the centrality of the right to free speech, bearing witness to the diversity and complexity of human experience through language, imagining a better world.

Split This Rock is dedicated to revitalizing poetry as a living, breathing art form with profound relevance in our daily lives and struggles. Our programs integrate poetry of provocation and witness into movements for social justice and support the poets of all ages who write and perform this vital work.

The name "Split This Rock" is pulled from a line in “Big Buddy,” a poem from Langston Hughes.

Don’t you hear this hammer ring?
I’m gonna split this rock
And split it wide!
When I split this rock,
Stand by my side.

About Eric Garner: The Guardian

Capitalism

"… comes from the surplus of the system (profit) being taken out of the real economy (the economy of physical goods and services) and put into the financial sector to generate more wealth for people who are already wealthy. This requires the economy to continually grow to compensate for the extraction of profit, which is essentially the extraction of the economy’s surplus."

Jennifer Hinton on the Greek Crisis, Truthdig

Fire Safety and Preparedness

Garden in July

There is an abundance of advice in British Columbia regarding potential fire hazards and preparedness.

Updates on fire hazard conditions can be found at  Gabriola Fire Dept. 

Air Quality Advisories will give you updates here at  BC Air Quality

Emergency Social Service for Gabriola has a web site here ESS

For BC current alerts and evacuation information can be found at Emergency Info BC

Here is a list of things you might pack ready for an emergency from the Regional District of Nanaimo:

• Battery flashlight/radio - the crank variety are very useful
• Personal medication for up to 72 hours - one week is best. Ask your pharmacist about bubble packing
• basic first aid kit
• personal items (glasses, contact products etc)
• book/game - to keep kids busy
• family photos
• personal papers (photocopies of insurance papers, health info, ID)
• walking shoes
• change of clothing
• bottled water
• non perishable food
• light weight emergency blankets
• large garbage bags to use as a rain poncho, waterproof shelter, to keep pack dry or to capture rain water
• whistle and map
• toiletrries (toothbrush etc)
• information about your pets and supplies
• contact list - family, friends, doctors names and phone numbers
• extra keys to house, vehicles, safety deposit box

Here's wishing for rain and lots of it.

Juan Cole: Seven Churches Burned Down in the Last Week

Church of Global Denial

"This news is being reported tentatively and in the passive mood. The churches burned or were burned. But that arson directed at an African-American church in the South after the Roof murders is likely the work of white supremacists is only hinted at. The ambiguity of thunderstorms is typically brought in, quoting local authorities. But there are lots of thunderstorms all the time in the South and churches have lightning rods. Why would a church that had stood for decades suddenly succumb to a single storm?Shouldn’t the headline be “Suspected White supremacists burn down at least four African-American churches” ? Shouldn’t there be an agent, a doer, involved?

Compare how the press handled Daesh (ISIS, ISIL) attacks on Christians and churches. It was front page news! And the active voice was used, even though these events happened thousands of miles away amidst a fog of war and there were no Western eyewitnesses."   Juan Cole, Truthdig 

With each century we have become more blinded by our own prejudices, more in denial, more fearful and more inadequate in seeking justice.