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Nearly four years and
$10 million after the event, we have
been
presented with what will surely be a
useless report on the police actions
against "demonstrators" at the
Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation
summit (APEC).
This mini-war took place at the
University of British Columbia and
anyone who has forgotten what it was all
about has only to think of the
pepper-spraying "Sgt. Pepper" to be
reminded of it. For this fine fellow
whose real name is Hugh Stewart
(sometimes called Handsup Hughie) has
been seen dozens of times on TV using
his spray can. The slightest mention of
the Commission of Inquiry conducted by
retired judge Ted Hughes has always
brought the sergeant on screen like a
genie out of a bottle.
Such over-exposure was intended by the
television folk to show police
brutality in action against poor little
innocent students. The Globe & Mail
even managed to call the pepper spraying
"infamous". But every time I saw it I
laughed. I think most people did,
because the "protester" deserved
what they got.
They weren't just holding up cards and
screaming abuse. They tried to
blockade the motorcade routes used by
the visiting prime ministers and
presidents and tore down the security
fence that was designed to keep them
away.
That was when the great Pepper used his
noodle and his nozzle. In
fairness to the judge, it must be said
that he absolved the sergeant from
blame, while criticizing his superiors
for allegedly not organizing things
properly. Still, I blinked when I read
the front-page headline in the
National Post that read, "Federal Role
AT APEC 'Improper'".
It was based, of course, on the Hughes
report, which, unless the media have
missed it, has nothing to say about the
students' role having been improper. The
protesters, meanwhile, complained that
their constitutional rights were
violated.
Do we have a constitutional right to
storm police barricades, throw
things at the police, and act as if
rioting is a constitutional entitlement?
Yes, judging from what has been going on
here in Loonyland.
When the B.C. legislature opened in
July, the usual ceremony on the
front steps of the building could not be
held because thugs were
threatening violence. They almost
succeeded in pushing down the fence
behind which the Lt. Governor was to
speak, and he was obliged to sneak in
by the back door. He had sneak out the
same way.
- Garth Mullins
"This is what democracy looks like,"
said the revolting Garth Mullins, a
weirdo who was also at the UBC demo, the
Battle in Seattle, and every
other battle he could reach. He was also
one of the organizers of the riot
that took place two years ago in the
Vancouver Public Library when I gave a
talk on freedom of speech. |
Do such antics inspire our media to
express rage? Not exactly. Bland
acceptance is the rule. When union
people and others forced the mayor and
council to leave the council chamber on
the same day that the Lt. Governor
became a refugee, a fem Vancouver Sun
writer wrote a thinly-veiled piece of
approval on "British Columbia's culture
of protest". But a different tune would
have been played if the Heritage Front
or some other right-wing group had been
doing the protesting.
There is much in Mr. Hughes' report
about what the police should have
done, what they didn't do, what the feds
might have done, and so on. But
in many respects it is a masterpiece of
unreality. It states, for instance
that the police should tell
demonstrators how to avoid arrest!
Neither Hughes nor anyone else has
mentioned that the demonstration
at UBC was yet another leftist event by
loonies, with Mullins's misnamed
Democracy Street group prominent in the
parade. They are in fact a bunch of
hard-line radicals for whom democracy is
a joke. And if Fidel Castro had
been attending the summit instead of
that arch villain Suharto of Indonesia
we would have heard cheers from the
screaming multitude, not jeers.
Another freak in these affairs is Jaggi
Singh, always referred to in
the papers respectfully, like Mullins,
as "Mr" and much interviewed, as
also is Mullins. "Mr." Singh was twice
arrested at UBC, once "inappropriately"
according to the report. Released on
bail on condition
that he stay away from the protest, he
did not, and is now free on bail
again after being arrested in the Quebec
City riot. Among other things, he
faces a charge of having been in
possession of a weapon there.
The concern about constitutional rights
for rioters rings a bit strange
when you consider that human rights
commissions are busy punishing people
for just SAYING the wrong things and
being politically incorrect. Not much
talk of constitutional rights there.
Sgt. Pepper made my day. Pity he didn't
manage to spray Mullins, though.
Perhaps he'll do better next time.
Meanwhile, I nominate him for the Order
of Canada.
-----
Doug Collins, was a World War 11 hero --
elven escapes from German PoW camps. He
has had 55 years of journalistic
experience in Canada, with the Calgary
Herald, Vancouver Sun, CBC, and most
recently as a columnist with the NORTH
SHORE NEWS. He was the victim of a B.C.
Human Rights Tribunal and was fined for
some of his controversial columns. The
case is now working its way toward an
appeal in the courts. He is being backed
in this appeal by the Canadian
Association for Free Expression.
---------------
Note: Garth Mullins leads a
Vancouver-based anarchist rent-a-mob
that is committed to mayhem under the
guise of protesting human-rights abuses.
A slightly butchy version of Jean Harlow
in appearance, he decries the end of
free speech on Mondays amd Wednesdays
and crashes meetings supporting free
speech chaired by Doug Christie and Doug
Collins on Tuesdays and on Thursdays. In
Absurdistan (a.k.a. "Canada"), where the
torture apologist Bernie Farber is
hailed as a 'human rights activist,' for
example, Garth Mullins, likewise, is
ascribed a moral authority he is
galaxies away from possessing. |
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