As Canada’s experiences with the Toronto G20, 2010 Olympics, and Vancouver’s anti-gentrification kerfufel show us- there are people in Canada’s activist community who’ve begun to get out of hand. There thousands of people across the country who espouse the use of political violence, and hundreds who misguidedly follow their guidance. Many of them are just dumb kids who wouldn’t otherwise be so bold. Some of those kids lives got screwed up- if this escalation continues it’s likely there’ll be plenty more.
As when diagnosing any social problem, it’s important to ask the question of who benefits from it and who are the enablers. In Canada, a bit part of the problem comes from the media- from the both far left outlets that promote the violence, and the those in the centre who rarely dig deep enough to find the real story. Both sides are, in part, culpable for where we are today.
Enter Amy Goodman of Democracy Now…
The two most barefaced promoters of political violence in Canada are Rabble.ca and The Media Co-Op. Both publications have put extensive effort into supporting violent activists, and helping to promote them as ‘political prisoners’ while they passed through the courts for their crimes. That may be fair prior to conviction, but Rabble and TMC continued even past their convictions.
TMC often takes things much further than Rabble- rather than just promoting the antics of violent criminals, they actually give violent activists a platform to brag about and promote further crimes. TMC allows their members to do all this anonymously- they’ve also allowed anonymous posters to use their publication to distribute unproven smears against those they disagree with.
Amy Goodman supports both Rabble and the Media Co-Op. She’s written articles for Rabble, and as you can see in the above screenshot, she most enthusiastically promotes TMC. Could this be happening because she promotes the violent activism, or is she one of those people in the media who just doesn’t know better?
When examining some of the articles Goodman’s Democracy Now show has put out about Canadian activism, it appears she may be in the former category. DN’s stories about the 2010 Olympics appear quite transparent- they promoted the anarchist’s statements without questioning (many) big gaps in their logic, and featured some of Canada’s most pro-violence activists.
Their stories promoted Harsha Walia, Canada’s most prominent promoter of political violence. The cop baiters got their share of the coverage too- including Jayson Fleury, a man who’s primary interest appears to be clashing with police. DN went as far as to take one of their reports from Franklin Lopez of the Media Co-Op, a man who comes in close-second to Walia’s notoriety. Lopez’s report includes some of the same people we see stirring-up anger at the Pidgin restaurant protests today.
So, let’s follow the money. Dig into DN’s funding and we see the same cast of foundations funding other militant organizations working in Canada. Their benefactors include the TIDES Foundation, Ford Foundation, and the Open Society Institute.
The voices of ordinary Canadians are being drowned out by foreign special interests. Amy Goodman is a part of that problem. It’s no wonder she was asked questions about her intentions when she came to Vancouver before the Olympics. The surprise is that she was allowed entry…
4 comments
Skip to comment form
“Democracy Now” is the name? A cover. The are anti-democracy.
Author
Indeed, revolutionaries (by definition) are an affront to democracy…
Mediacoop looks like a spinoff of the defunct Vancouver.Indymedia.org Indymedia.org was set up and funded by tides to cause the rucus at the battle in seatle. Look deeper and you’ll find A network of hollyhock zombies fueling dishonest media fires.
Author
You’re right, they are a spin-off of Indymedia. And, in the US, TIDES has given Indy lots of support. Curiously, Indymedia in San Fran has been publishing Sakura Saunder’s stories lately. She keeps on appearing next to TIDES. Hmmm…