Sunday, February 12, 2012

The Response to Toews' List Should be one of Absolute Outrage

http://goo.gl/qswg The response from both the media and politicos to Toews' list seems remarkably tepid to me.  Shouldn't an appropriate response be one of absolute outrage? I certainly consider this threat to progressives to be the most heinous, the most openly articulated, the widest assault yet perpetrated by the Harper Regime against those who would democratically exercise free speech and their rights to speak out against what has now clearly become a repressive regime: we're all positioned in these remarks as fundamentally terrorists, as "enemies of the state." Look closely at this text from Toews and tell me it isn't worrisome: vigilance will be exercised against "domestic extremism" - a euphemism for "domestic terrorism" - “based on grievances – real or perceived – revolving around the promotion of various causes such as animal rights, white supremacy, environmentalism and anticapitalism.”  Who determines what extremism is? Why of course the state. And Toews thinks of course he's being rhetorically clever dropping in "white supremacy," and note the weasel phrase "real or perceived." Even if your grievance against, say, Gateway pipeline is only a "perceived", not a "real," one, you're still an enemy of the state. And who determines what is real or perceived? Why of course the state, but the difference doesn't matter: you're screwed either way. Members of the occupy movement better look out too since they would clearly appear to be enemies of the state in their anti-capitalist, anti-neoliberal protests. Someone might want to phone Pamela Anderson as well.

It's way too early to invoke Godwin's Law, so I'll just say instead that I don't care whether the buses run on time. This is pure, unadulterated fascism. 

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