10.23.13
Gemini version available ♊︎Risky Energy and the Crushing of Protests
Photo by John Steven Fernandez
Summary: Tar sands profit drives political agenda and Canada is crushing protests again, bringing back memories of Toronto under Police Chief Blair (above)
JAPAN is learning the hard way that energy cannot be acquired so quickly and yet cheaply. There is a price to pay when you’re looking for shortcuts [1] and many people are likely to die from cancer as a result.
According to some reports [2], one family alone is poised to earn an outrageous amount of money by just destroying nature in Canada (and parts of the US). “Koch Brothers Could Earn $100 Billion in Tar Sands Profit if Keystone XL Pipeline Is Approved,” Alternet says.
“Many protests cannot happen without some level of privacy and policemen are increasingly turning to on-the-scene surveillance, taking videos of people’s faces at protests.”Meanwhile, reveals another report from the corporate press in Canada [3] (comments closed), Americans are protesting against fracking in their precious land and police vehicles are set ablaze, which may or may not be the action of the Americans. Past events suggest that sometimes the cars are set ablaze by the victim in order to demonise and crush the protests, as allegedly happened in Toronto due to overzealous ‘policing’ several years ago (Richard Stallman also alluded to this strategy a few days ago). A quick search for “shale-gas project canada police cars” reveals many more press articles, all of which suggest that the protests turned violent (tear gas and rubber bullets are said to have started this violence) and none refute the dramatic event which is police cars on fire by Americans.
The bottom line is, protest is increasingly being crushed, even using weapons and unjust arrests that are supposed to intimidate and imperil protests. Many protests cannot happen without some level of privacy and policemen are increasingly turning to on-the-scene surveillance, taking videos of people’s faces at protests. If that’s not enough to stress the importance of privacy, maybe the victims of environmental pollution (dirty energy) will. Dissent is gagged when people are no longer able to express themselves without fear of retribution. █
Related/contextual items from the news:
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Radioactivity level spikes 6,500 times at Fukushima well
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Koch Brothers Could Earn $100 Billion in Tar Sands Profit if Keystone XL Pipeline Is Approved
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Violence erupts in N.B. as RCMP move in on anti-fracking protest
Police cars were set ablaze near a reserve north of Moncton, N.B., on Thursday as the RCMP clashed with native protesters who are trying to prevent seismic testing at a proposed shale gas development near their community.
[...]
The protesters refused the demands to disperse, and the confrontation devolved into a melee of tear gas and rubber bullets. In the end, at least 40 people, including Elsipogtog Chief Arren Sock and several council members, had been arrested and five police cruisers had been set ablaze. The situation had calmed by early evening with news that Mr. Sock and some of the other protesters had been released.
[...]
Native leaders say it was the police who sparked the confrontation. They say police arrived with guns drawn and targeted elders with pepper spray. Ms. Levi-Peters said the police cars were set on fire after natives learned about the arrests.
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