Democracy Gone Astray

Democracy, being a human construct, needs to be thought of as directionality rather than an object. As such, to understand it requires not so much a description of existing structures and/or other related phenomena but a declaration of intentionality.
This blog aims at creating labeled lists of published infringements of such intentionality, of points in time where democracy strays from its intended directionality. In addition to outright infringements, this blog also collects important contemporary information and/or discussions that impact our socio-political landscape.

All the posts here were published in the electronic media – main-stream as well as fringe, and maintain links to the original texts.

[NOTE: Due to changes I haven't caught on time in the blogging software, all of the 'Original Article' links were nullified between September 11, 2012 and December 11, 2012. My apologies.]

Sunday, November 06, 2011

Occupy Calgary: Mayor Naheed Nenshi Says Demonstrators' Rights Must Be Respected

CALGARY - Calgary's mayor says that the city's Occupy demonstrators have been peaceful and the city has no right under the charter of rights and freedoms to force them out of a downtown plaza.

Naheed Nenshi says that regardless of what other cities have experienced, the protest has not created a hardship for Calgarians.

He says any suggestion the issue is a crisis is ridiculous, adding it doesn't rank in the top 10 concerns for Calgarians.

About a dozen people are living in tents in the city's Olympics Plaza.

Temperatures have dropped below zero and snow fell Thursday night, but it hasn't deterred the protesters, who have not delivered any particular demands to city officials.

Nenshi says the charter of rights and freedoms trumps any civic bylaws so the only thing police can do is write ticket and not arrest the protestors.

Nenshi hopes the situation will be settled through negotiation, but he says that could be difficult as the group has no real leader.

Origin
Source: Huff 

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