Thursday 27 August 2015

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.

Saturday 22 August 2015

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!

Monday 10 August 2015

More recommended reading for the wise

Harper, Serial Abuser of Power: The Evidence Compiled



  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

                                                                                                                                                  Thursday 6 August 2015

                                                                                                                                                  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

                                                                                                                                                  Tuesday 4 August 2015

                                                                                                                                                  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.



                                                                                                                                                  A second chance for humanity

                                                                                                                                                   The Biblical story of Adam and Eve has been used to support male dominance over female.  Eve is the temptress who is curious even though &q...