jayward33.blog-city.com
The new boss, same as the old boss...
posted Wednesday, 21 October 2009
The revolution eats its own, promises not kept and the reality that the new boss is the same as the old boss.
Listening to the short wave Radio South Africa and the complaints from former fighters who have gained little or nothing from winning the fight against apartheid as the promises of SANU have been put off or forgotten entirely when the WMF managed to convince the democratically elected government under the leadership of Nelson Mandela to buy the mirage of free trade and gut national programs and sell off state assets to "free enterprise" and privatize state functions like power, health, water and the mail. As is usual in these cases South Africa is becoming a basket case with the neo-colonial companies sucking the vitality out of the economy and shipping the profits off shore and creating extraordinary levels of poverty and unemployment within a country already in the midst of a horrendous AIDS pandemic.
Charity and NGOs cannot fill the gap and although there are many great humanitarians involved in the fight, the West, involved with saving the banks from their own folly and stuck in the wars on a word in IRAQ and AFGHANISTAN there is scant attention to Africa's problems given the myopic view that only the West's problems are worthy of any attention.
Listening to the hourly news and the furore over the pseudo democracy in Afghanistan which equates democracy to merely holding elections without curing the corruption that undermines all democracies. Merely electing a corrupt dictator or political party for a fixed term does not a democracy make, no matter how many run offs are held.
Down loaded the security map for the Olympics I see that most of the streets in my neighborhood are in the "Security Zone" and access merely to go shopping will become a logistical nightmare. Stanley Park is off limits as all the roads leading to the park are in the restricted zone. Between that and dealing with the "Sign Police" and the undoubted sweep up of the poor into some kind of temporary concentration camp so as not to bruise the tender sensibilities of the rich idiots for whom the party is being held.
Am I pissed, you bet your sweet pattotie I am.
Ciao, JWL
Listening to the short wave Radio South Africa and the complaints from former fighters who have gained little or nothing from winning the fight against apartheid as the promises of SANU have been put off or forgotten entirely when the WMF managed to convince the democratically elected government under the leadership of Nelson Mandela to buy the mirage of free trade and gut national programs and sell off state assets to "free enterprise" and privatize state functions like power, health, water and the mail. As is usual in these cases South Africa is becoming a basket case with the neo-colonial companies sucking the vitality out of the economy and shipping the profits off shore and creating extraordinary levels of poverty and unemployment within a country already in the midst of a horrendous AIDS pandemic.
Charity and NGOs cannot fill the gap and although there are many great humanitarians involved in the fight, the West, involved with saving the banks from their own folly and stuck in the wars on a word in IRAQ and AFGHANISTAN there is scant attention to Africa's problems given the myopic view that only the West's problems are worthy of any attention.
Listening to the hourly news and the furore over the pseudo democracy in Afghanistan which equates democracy to merely holding elections without curing the corruption that undermines all democracies. Merely electing a corrupt dictator or political party for a fixed term does not a democracy make, no matter how many run offs are held.
Down loaded the security map for the Olympics I see that most of the streets in my neighborhood are in the "Security Zone" and access merely to go shopping will become a logistical nightmare. Stanley Park is off limits as all the roads leading to the park are in the restricted zone. Between that and dealing with the "Sign Police" and the undoubted sweep up of the poor into some kind of temporary concentration camp so as not to bruise the tender sensibilities of the rich idiots for whom the party is being held.
Am I pissed, you bet your sweet pattotie I am.
Ciao, JWL
Further on the the City's and B.C. governments anti free speech law and the challenge in the courts.
City tries delay tactics to stall court challenge on bylaws
A press release and a letter to the B.C. Civil Liberties Association show that the City is working hard to avoid having controversial anti-free speech bylaw provisions get to Court before the Olympics.
Two activists, Chris Shaw and Alissa Westergaard Thorpe, in partnership with the BCCLA, have filed a lawsuit challenging the bylaws.
“We don’t know why the City would wait until the 11th hour, almost literally, to respond to our concerns,” said BCCLA Executive Director David Eby, who believes the City now recognizes the bylaws they’ve passed are unconstitutional. “We’ve had to help activists file a lawsuit to challenge this unconstitutional bylaw before we could be taken seriously.
After making a mockery of our concerns in the media, the City now appears to be trying to buy time so that our lawsuit can’t get to court.”
The letter to the BCCLA received late Friday from the City’s legal department says that the court challenge to the Bylaws is “moot” because the City is planning on making unspecified amendments.
The press release makes promises that the City will not include provisions that would jail people for posting illegal signs, and suggests that amendments may be “considered” and other sections “clarified” on an indeterminate schedule.
The BCCLA has not seen the text of any proposed amendments.
“These bylaws were passed at the last minute, with limited public input,” said Eby. “The time for amendments and consultation was July at the latest, not three months before the Olympics. We don’t have the time or the inclination to wait and see how close the City wants to cut their constitutional duties to protect free speech.”
With only three months to go before the Olympics, there is almost no time to get a Court to consider the provisions that were introduced in July, 2009. The lawyers on the lawsuit are finalizing a draft application to shorten timelines so that the matter can get to Court before February 2010.
Letter from City of Vancouver law department >> Letter from BCCLA to City of Vancouver law department >>
Letter from City of Vancouver law department >> Letter from BCCLA to City of Vancouver law department >>
1. BILLY WILLBOND left...
Wednesday, 21 October 2009 8:03 am :: http://iwvpa.net/willbondwha/the-passing
They came for the gypsies and nothing was said. They came for the
socialists, shortly most of them were dead. And the masses, they all turned
away. They came for the Jew and oven smoke laid a grey dust. All or the
citizens kept trust and they turned away. Will they come for the poets at
the end of the day? Is Justice Just? Not such as it must, that's what some
of the survivor folks say. Good rant buddy - billy