Sunday, December 12, 2010

The G20 and the Day of Infamy















Oh great. So now we know eh? They may have turned a Canadian city into a police state. They may have beaten up innocent citizens, and arrested hundreds of others. But Christie Blatchford wants everybody to know that anyone who calls that infamous, is guilty of hyperbole.

For all the failures of the G20 policing and Chief Blair, whatever they turn out to be, and despite the mass detentions and the rude awakening of the middle class to the horrors of such hard truths as there being no private toilets in prisons, June 25, 26 and 27, 2010, will not live in infamy as Dec. 7, 1941, did.

Because infamy can only mean Pearl Harbour, and it wasn't Pearl Harbour, so it wasn't infamous eh? 

Gawd. Crusty, Crusty, if you don't know the meaning of big words please don't use them. And as for the bit about the private toilets, kindly stick your head in one, and flush it. You old totalitarian. 

The even more depressing part? Most Canadians probably agree with Blatchford. Because for all our macho bluster we are probably the most passive people on earth.

We roll over too easily. We forget too soon. The old Cons scream at the moon: those young pinkos had it coming. The politicians are mostly silent.  It's like the G20 never happened.















Meanwhile in Britain.... tens of thousands of students have been protesting for weeks. It all sounds so familiar.

When did we give away the right to protest peacefully and then walk away when we had finished? When did we endorse the police holding our children for hours in freezing weather and preventing our presence, despite them having committed no crime? Why are we accepting that the police can trample on the rights of thousands because of the behaviour of a few? And why are we now having to teach our children that respect for and confidence in police officers could be naive and foolish?

But at least there the students are vowing to keep protesting.

And I LOVE these fighting words...



And don't you love these?

"Perhaps I should have known they'd put the guy in charge of the G20 in charge. Perhaps I should have been more concerned about my life..."

Oh boy. How can a kid in Britain know what so many fail to understand here?

We need more fighting words. Passivity is surrender.

If you don't defend freedom you lose it. The G20 really happened. 

And it will live in INFAMY...

4 comments:

thwap said...

That teenage dude was cool.

Anonymous said...

whoo hoo!
Go Montreal Simon!

Simon said...

hi thwap...yes he's quite something isn't he? If he was old enough to run for Parliament in this country I'd vote for him in a shot. For Prime Minister. ;)

Simon said...

hi anonymous...thanks...I'm guilty about not writing enough about the G20, especially since the fascist show took place in my own backyard. And I've kept my mouth shut while I waited to see what would come of the different inquiries. But having Blatchford describe it as "hyperbole," is the absolute limit. And enough is ENOUGH...