Democracy gone Astray

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.]

Tuesday, January 15, 2013

'Why I'll never take the Pill again'

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There are seldom moments of sheer magic in the world, but one certainly took place on January 11, 2013 in the Grand Parade in Halifax, Nova Scotia.

The Grand Parade is the political, spiritual, military, and commercial center of the city with City Hall on one side of the square, St Paul's Anglican Church (the first Anglican diocese in North America) on the other, the Nova Scotia provincial Legislature just east of the square, and the Halifax Citadel -- the historical, military fortress -- just to the west, and with Halifax's clock tower looking down on it all. The Grand Parade is the place for democratic speech and action, the former home of the Occupy movement in Halifax, the site of the cenotaph to the fallen of the First and Second World Wars. And so it was a fitting place for hundreds of people to gather to be a part of the Idle No More movement.

Several people have been arrested in Vancouver after protesters burst into hearings on the controversial Northern Gateway pipeline project and cordoned off the room with tape.

There are reports that about six people have been removed from the downtown hotel where the hearings are taking place, but Vancouver Police did not immediately confirm that.

"Christy has not been given a fair shake. She has not been identified as a competent premier." -- Jim Shepard, Concerned Citizens for B.C.

A political action group formed by a retired corporate leader will soon launch a $1 million "blanket coverage... full multi-media campaign" to attack the BC New Democrats and help re-elect Premier Christy Clark's BC Liberals, according to leaked documents obtained by 24 hours Vancouver and The Tyee.

In the wake of the horrific mass shooting in Newtown, Connecticut, support for re-banning assault weapons grew exponentially inside and outside of the Beltway. It's only natural when an AR-15 is used to slaughter twenty schoolchildren and six educators, only months after another was used to shoot seventy-one people inside a movie theater.

Yesterday, Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel—seen as recently as 2006 recruiting pro-gun Democrats to run in House races—said that Newtown was a “tipping point, a galvanization for action.” He’s now calling for an assault weapons ban, expanded background checks, and is ordering Chicago municipal pension funds to divest from all gun manufacturers.

During his first term in office in the late 1990s, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was considered the most polarizing leader the country had known. The left refused to forgive him for his part in the incitement that led to Yitzhak Rabin’s 1995 assassination, while the right adored him for leading the opposition to the Oslo Accords. Now approaching his fifth election campaign as head of the Likud party, Netanyahu doesn’t generate that much passion anymore. His fans are less enthusiastic, while his critics have grown tired. More than anything, it seems that a majority of Israelis have simply grown accustomed to him. At a time of regional upheaval and international instability, Netanyahu’s ability to maintain the status quo seems enough to deliver what, according to all indications, should be his third term in the prime minister’s office. But Netanyahu’s success is not just about the relative stability Israelis are enjoying; it has even more to do with political and ideological changes that have seen the entire political system shift gradually to the right, including the rise of a new right-wing elite.

First Nations leaders and Idle No More activists have promised only peaceful protests on their national day of action Wednesday, but once the snow melts and warmer weather sets in, key highways — including the main road to Alberta’s Fort McMurray, a major oil production hub — could be blocked for days, weeks or even months, prompting what one chief called “chaos.”

These latest threats of economic upheaval come at a fragile moment in First Nations-Crown relations, especially now that National Chief Shawn Atleo announced on Monday that a regional chief will take over his duties while he takes a “brief” doctor-ordered stress leave.

VANCOUVER - Five protesters face charges after a group of people staged a noisy disruption at Vancouver hearings into the Northern Gateway pipeline project.

Three men and two women managed to sneak into the hearings on Tuesday despite efforts by the federal review panel to limit access, said Vancouver Police Sgt. Randy Fincham.

OTTAWA - A highly critical human rights report released Tuesday is shedding new light on the darker implications of the Conservative government's ambitions for Canadian mining companies in Africa.

The report by Human Rights Watch says Vancouver-based Nevsun Resources Ltd. failed to ensure that forced labour was not used in the construction of its mine in Eritrea, the hermit-like pariah state on the Horn of Africa.

MONTAGUE — A single mom protesting a denial of her EI benefits has been flooded with everything from hot soup and support, to offers of money and even a possible job.

Marlene Geirsdorf’s one-woman protest has sparked an outpouring of public concern as the 30-year-old epitomizes the fears anticipated by many in the Atlantic region about federal government EI changes in a region ripe with seasonal work.

Democracy gone Astray