The G20 summit hasn't even started, yet protesters are being accused of faking injuries by Michael Feldman, a member of EMS Special Operations. Feldman is recruiting doctors for a "treat and release" facility, which will provide first aid to in-custody victims of tear gas (euphemistically referred to as "riot control agents) as well as other relatively minor injuries.
Feldman's email says:
“I am assuming that these patients are a fairly young, healthy
population, and some of whom will probably claim factitious (sic) injury
as part of their tactics,” the Toronto Star reports.
"Treat and release" is a strange name for what is actually a detention facility, unless "returned to police custody" is your idea of being released.
Asked for comment, Feldman said he was not authorized to speak about the summit. National security no doubt.
Sarah Reaburn, a volunteer nurse with the Toronto Community Mobilization Network, asked "what do they plan to treat in a trailer with barely running water? What
kind of quality of care is that?” Genius, that's what! Let those damn demonstratorsanarchists
terrorists stew in their tear-gas soaked clothing.
Nathalie Des Rosier of the Canadian Civil Liberties Association urged doctors to ignore the presumption that people are faking injury, calling it an “inappropriate attempt to interfere with the ethics of medical decision
making.”
Jane Farrow has rejected Pride Toronto's invitation to be this year's "Honoured Dyke" citing the censorship of Queers Against Israeli Apartheid.
From her letter published today by XTRA! and sent to the Pride Toronto board:
"As a long time cultural producer, journalist and community organizer, the practice and ideals of free speech are very dear to me. I also value and celebrate the political essence of my queer identity. Queers have rightfully insisted that the personal is political, so when more than a few of us get together in one place, political terrain is created. To me, queer gatherings of any sort – parades, demos, cultural events, sporting clubs and disco dance parties – are and always will be implicitly political events. It's little wonder then that a wide variety of political groups and voices seek to be heard at pride festivities."
She continues:
"A discourse of 'safety' and 'inclusion' has been put forward to justify censorship at Pride 2010. I feel this is unfortunate and wrong-headed. I, like many people, do not feel 'safer' or 'included' by any decision to limit political speech. Quite the opposite. As history shows, suppressing people's right to express and explore political difference leads to some very dark and dangerous places."
Farrow joins Dr. Alan Li in declining honorary titles bestowed by Pride Toronto. It's very telling that real activists, the ones who actually participated in the struggle for gay rights in this country, are also the ones who've declined to legitimize the censorship and attempts to de-politicize by the current Pride Toronto board of directors.
As the people from the Gaza aid convoy begin to return home, we can finally begin to learn their side of the story. The only hard evidence they have is the injuries sustained. Israeli forces confiscated all cameras, cellphones and laptops in an ongoing attempt to censor information, which began with jamming cellphone signals prior to the boarding.
Nevertheless, there are 700 of them, and that collective voice will have weight.
Israel continues to claim that the commandos were only acting in self-defense and did not initaite the violence which has left 9 or more dead. But activists tell of pre-emptive force with shots and tear gas being used prior to the actual boarding.
"Israeli commandos started shooting from the air without warning," said Mubarak al-Mutawa, a lawyer who was on the main vessel, the Turkish-flagged Mavi Marmara. They killed a number of volunteers even before landing aboard the ship," reports al Jazeera.
Talat Hussain, executive director of Aaj TV in Pakistan alleged that Israeli soldiers were shooting people in cold blood. “Four people were shot in the forehead in front me." quoted the Hindu News.
Israeli forces also used tasers and tear gas prior to boarding. Australian photographer Kate Geraghty was was struck by a stun gun before Israeli authorities boarded their vessel.
"Even before they jumped on the boat they did use their taser guns to get people ... because when they approached our boat we were standing close to the edge and putting our hands up trying to prevent them from getting on, so they threw these percussion grenades that explode on the boat and also used tasers to push people back," she said.
MEMBERS OF THE SHAYATET 13 ISRAEL'S NAVAL COMMANDOS
Retired US diplomat Edward L. Peck who was not on the ship where fatalities occurred was interviewed on his return by the Baltimore Sun. "We tried to resist passively, which the Israeli people were not prepared to accept."
"If somebody were to appear at my door, fully armed, wearing balaclava masks, I'd defend my home," he said. "It's the Israeli commandos that were attacking" a ship in international waters "that didn't want to go to Israel," and the passengers defended themselves with deck chairs and iron pipes, but no guns.
What is the legality of the boarding?
In a letter to the Times UK Daniel Machover, chair of the British group Lawyers for Palestinian Human Rights writes: The attack by Israeli forces on the Turkish-registered vessel Mavi Marmara in international waters was clearly unlawful.
By virtue of the decision by the Permanent Court of International Justice in the Lotus case (1927), the basic principle under customary international law, is that “...vessels on the high seas are subject to no authority except that of the State whose flag they fly”; in this case, Turkey. Indeed, a 1988 treaty, to which Israel is a party, criminalises the unlawful and intentional seizure or exercise of control over a ship by force and all connected injuries, deaths and/or detentions.
Israel claims that it was lawfully enforcing a legal blockade. Even if the blockade is legal, in order to rely on this legal justification, Israel is required to liaise with the flag state, Turkey, before trying to board the vessel. It did not.
In any event, this blockade is not lawful. An embargo on adequate food and medical aid can never be lawful. As the boarding of the Mavi Marmara by Israeli forces was unlawful, those on board had the right to defend themselves, subject to the constraints of Turkish criminal law. Any force used by Israeli commandos may be judged as unlawful, let alone the use of lethal force.
Turkey must now be assisted by all UN member states to gain access to all of the evidence relating to this incident so that it may conduct a comprehensive criminal investigation, at the conclusion of which the Israeli personnel involved may need to defend their actions before a criminal court. UN sanctions should be imposed against Israel if it refuses to co-operate with such an investigation. Finally, the unlawful blockade of Gaza must now end.
Meanwhile, an Irish ship which was separated from the main flotilla is still heading towards the blockade. Ireland has asked Israel to allow it safe passage and has warned Israel that an attack on the ship will have "serious consequences."
Would you indeed, you reckless, self-absorbed slimeball? I guess the 11 workers from the Deepwater Horizon would say the same thing, if they weren't fucking dead. How about the 491 birds that have been found washed up on shore? Do you think they'd like their lives back? Or the 227 turtles? The thousands of fish? The dolphins? It's a strange and rather evil alchemy that digs up the remains of the dinosaurs and kills in the here and now.
ABOVE A YOUNG HERON, DYING IN THE OOZE
A DEAD DOLPHIN, ENTIRELY COVERED IN OIL.
The fact is, for Tony Hayward, BP and the rest of the oil industry, spills like this are just the cost of doing business. As the death toll mounts for the millions of creatures that live in the gulf, and the economic hardships of lost livelihoods hit the people, all Tony Hayward cares about is how it's messing up his schedule.
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Now that the Oliphant inquiry has concluded that Brian Mulroney's tale strains credibility to the breaking point, it's time to crack open the memory banks, to revisit some of the doings of the second-most loathsome Prime Minister this country has ever seen.
But first, while checking out the timeline at the G&M, something struck me as odd about Schreiber's 2007 lawsuit against Lyin' Brian. I originally thought this was a sure sign that they had fallen out, but was it?
Mulroney's defence, aside from the "error in judgement" sop, was that he was no longer PM when he accepted the money, and that it was for future lobbying efforts, not past ones. Past ones being Airbus.
Schreiber's lawsuit attempting to recover the $300,000 bribe fee stated that Mulroney did no work after the payment. So, was Mulroney a lousy lobbyist, or was the money for services already rendered? I've always thought it was the latter, that the cash was for Airbus, and was held for him in the "Britan" account until he stepped down as PM. In fact the payments began very shortly thereafter.
But here's the odd part. Schreiber's lawsuit actually gives credence to the story that the cash was for future efforts, by clearly stating he hadn't received value for money. Was that the point of it? Was he still helping his pal? Both of their stories are as convoluted as an IUD.
Anyway, now that I've finished The Armageddon Factor, which I hope will have the same effect on Harper's reign as this book did on Mulroney's, it's time to pick up a copy of Stevie Cameron's On the Take.
"The widespread corruption the public suspected during Brian Mulroney's regime is confirmed and detailed in this meticulous journalistic account. Now, with shocking new information for Tory insiders, On The Take is even more hard-hitting and revealing. This is compelling, gossipy, required reading for all Canadians." Random House
Cameron has been deeply immersed in research for an upcoming book on the Robert Pickton case (shudder) and hasn't been updating her blog lately, but there's still info aplenty on Mulroney, Schreiber and Airbus that's worth a read, including the original tip-off to the Airbus bribes.
Late last night I got the email I've been waiting for from Scott Tribe welcoming me to the Progressive Bloggers network. I couldn't be more thrilled!!
I haven't been blogging for long, but I have been ranting and bitching all my life, so I guess this is a natural progression. If there's one thing that ticks me off it's injustice. And lies. And corruption. Okay, that's 3 things... I'm sure I could come up with more, but at the moment I'm feeling too happy, and honoured and stuff.
