Court system sends a message...
To aboriginal lawbreakers... "Live and don't learn."
Mohawk activist Shawn Brant was ordered to stand trial on nine criminal charges before walking out of a Dundas Street West courthouse and into the arms of friends and loved ones Thursday.Of course, the fact that Brant has previously broken his bail conditions, not once, but twice... apparently doesn't figure into this decision.
Brant, who has spent the last two months in custody, was released on strict bail conditions including not to participate in any demonstrations or protests and not to leave his house for the next 30 days without police permission.
Sadly, none of this gets mentioned in the media. At the CBC website they refer to Brant, not as a law-breaking thug... but as a "Mohawk crusader."
Brant was also ordered to stay away from the Deseronto Road quarry currently occupied by fellow protesters and to report daily to his mother Deanna Brant and family friend Winston Maracle, both of whom put up $50,000 each to the court in collateral to secure his release.Don't worry... he'll be back.
Technorati Tags: Shawn Brant, Mohawks of the Bay of Quinte, suckass political correctness
25 comments:
Inofrm yourself on Mohawk history and culture and _then_ comment.
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"Rob Budde said... Inofrm yourself"
you mean this sort of history and culture?
that's scary stuff.
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No further, deeper, farther back. Ask yourself why you might be forced to take up arms against an invading nation/culture. What conditions might be imposed that would create that kind of desperation and anger? I am asking you, for a moment, to imagine an alternate vision of Canada from the perspective of the Mohawk resistance. What would you do?
And yes, I am what you would call a "leftbot." But, as a risky experiment, let's try to bridge the great ideological gap between us and see what happens.
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"rob budde said... forced to take up arms against an invading nation/culture"
ok, i'll play...
lemme see... hundreds of years ago, a pre-literate hunter-gatherer society got pushed aside, as had many others over thousands of years of human history, by a technologically superior, colonising force.
they chose not to integrate into larger society and, as a result, their culture and society went into decline and collapsed in on itself... resulting in unbelievable pools of largely self-inflicted misery, that decimated them physically, mentally and socially.
the rates of criminality, illiteracy, substance abuse and domestic violence, compared to society-at-large... went through the roof.
now... hundreds of years later, they are going to attempt to take back everything they pissed away... not by working within the existing frame of law... but by threats and physical violence.
yeah, sorry rob... it just ain't workin' for me.
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“neo con said: a pre-literate hunter-gatherer society”
How about rich, complex, and oral nations (plural)?
“nc said: they chose not to integrate into larger society”
Would you ‘integrate’ passively if you and your society were overrun with a culture you did not share?
“nc said: largely self-inflicted misery”
Not true. Even the most conservative of histories document the incredible level of violence and discrimination inflicted upon First Nations. Much of the misery of today is a result of identity loss and cultural vacuum. Like a violent crime victim, the culture requires justice and healing to recover.
I am personally shocked at the patience and level-headedness of First Nations in Canada. Lesser peoples would have created a blood bath.
Even the ultra conservative “Liberal” Cambell government here in BC is addressing issues of redress and treaty rights with some measure of good faith.
rb
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"rob said...I am personally shocked at the patience and level-headedness of First Nations in Canada"
wow... talk about delusional.
try selling that snake oil to the widow and children of Marcel Lemay.
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"neo con said: "open armed revolt"
2:58 PM, March 31, 2007
I would suggest this is "delusional." You cite one incident; I'll wager proportionally more RCMP have died by white hands than FN hands. Blockades typically are peaceful protests that are aimed to simply draw attention to an issue that has been ignored. i.e. building a golf course over a burial ground.
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"rob budde said... You cite one incident"
how many do you need? you could ask sam gualtieri about peaceful aboriginal protest...
or how about...
-- CAYUGA, Ont. -- An aboriginal activist was denied bail Monday on numerous criminal charges, including allegations he tried to run over a provincial police officer while hijacking an undercover police van at Douglas Creek Estates in Caledonia, Ont.
Albert Douglas, 32, faces attempted murder, robbery, unlawful confinement and other serious charges arising from the alleged hijacking on June 9.
He also faces robbery and assault charges for allegedly attacking two television cameramen on the same date and counts of obstruct and assault police for allegedly fighting with police when they arrested him on April 20, 2006.
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Even if violent, wouldn't you say defending your lands is justification? Again, what would you do if you were part of a society that has been oppressed and marginalized and stripped of their culture? Would you just assimilate? Let say a middle eastern nation (ps. don't go off on Iran here, just imagine the possibility) suddenly became a superpower and invaded and placed our kids (Canadians') in residential schools, outlawed christianity, and placed us on reserves. What would you do?
rb
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"rob says... placed our kids (Canadians') in residential schools, outlawed christianity, and placed us on reserves"
you mean like evil space aliens from an alternate universe enslaving all mankind? yeah, sure... that could happen.
now, rob... unless i'm misreading you here, what you're saying is... the present day hellish native environment is totally the fault of racist, anglo-saxon society and that aboriginals don't have to take any responsibility for perpetuating their own miserable existence.
the addiction, the crime, the domestic violence and horrendous child abuse... it's all caused by the wiley white man.
sure... that sounds perfectly reasonable... you go, girl.
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neo con said: "the present day hellish native environment is totally the fault of racist, anglo-saxon society and that aboriginals don't have to take any responsibility for perpetuating their own miserable existence."
Instead, the present day situation of inequality and
suffering is the result of a complicated history that does implicate European colconization. Yes. Been following the United Nations and how Canada is viewed world wide on this issue?
http://www.un.org/News/briefings/docs/2007/070906_Indigenous.doc.htm
ps. been following the Van Airport tazer incident fall-out? He doesn't seem so crazy to me.
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"robb says... doesn't seem so crazy to me"
yeah, robbie... guy stands around waiting 10 hours in an airport and then pitches a fit and starts playing furniture dodgeball... your definition of crazy is obviously a little looser than mine.
as for the united nations... are we talking about the same u.n. that appointed libya to head up it's human rights commission?
you may just want to stay in the "alien abduction" end of the pool my friend.
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nuh-uh, let's not resort to dismissive name calling; we set out to engage over the issues, not stonewall.
so,
1. you think the tazer incident was all the Polish-speaking fellow's fault?
2. you reject the UN completely, even though it is the most globally respected governing body?
3. you think First Nations descrimination and genocide was all their fault?
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"Rob Budde asks...
1. you think the tazer incident was all the Polish-speaking fellow's fault?
i think the "polish-speaking fellow" had some significant mental health issues... which brought about the intervention that ended with his death.
2. you reject the UN completely, even though it is the most globally respected governing body?
good sweet shit... "most globally respected"... where do come up with this stuff? libya was heading up the u.n. human rights committee a while ago... choke on that.
3. you think First Nations descrimination and genocide was all their fault?
you mean like when one native tribe waged war on another?
you've got a specific question... ask it... btw, it's spelled discrimination.
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I have heard a million times about the cultural assimilation angle to this native dispute.
I may or may not have had european nobility in my ancient family background. I sure as hell don't seem to be able to use that as an excuse to change my current 'blue collar' existence today. My point being that I can't 'CLAIM' for something I've never really had, no matter how far back in my family tree you go. Those relatives back then may have indeed had nobility, but as a direct decendant (sp) I do not reap the benefits of their status.
Modern-day natives cannot keep flogging that dead horse about their culture that they do not know, live, or practice regardless of the reasons for not being able to live that way. They can't be denied something they never had.
How many of those people would willingly trade(regress) the modern tools and luxury for a teepee and a buffalo robe? Other than the excersizing of their traditional hunting rights, they don't live, nor wish to live in that primitive lifestyle. They would quickly find out that laying around watching the grass grow would lead to imminent starvation. Primitive life was a 24/7 'job' that was not particularly fun. Funny how they want our modern way of life day-to-day, but use the 'loss' of their traditional ways when it is expedient to do so.
You can't have it both ways. Time to pick sides and pull yourselves up by your bootstraps and get on with it. Playing victim just doesn't cut it. If they are un-educated, unemployed or adicted to anything, they can only blame themselves. They were offered education and rejected it. They can work anywhere they want, but reject that too. I don't remember anybody holding them down and pouring booze down their throat either. In fact, they used to have to give up all their treaty right just to legally drink alcohol in many parts of this country.
I didn't cause harm to these people, I didn't take away their land and I didn't refuse them a job, but I sure have to pay for those that did many hundreds of years ago. I'm paying guilt-money to people that didn't have anything taken away from them either, those people have been dead for hundreds of years also.
Get off the reserve, get an education and stop blaming the current, living citizens of this country for things that happened long ago by people who are dead.
arctic_front said:
“I didn't . . . , I didn't . . . and I didn't . . . , but I sure have to pay . . . . I'm paying guilt-money”
I hear this over and over and don’t buy it. Redress for Japanese internment wasn’t made by those who displaced and discriminated against Japanese-Canadians during and after WWII—our government recognized the wrong in what happened and made an effort to make amends--it was “social justice” . . . “halls” and you seem to have no concept of this. A crime has been committed on a cultural scale and must be addressed.
Saying ‘just assimilate’ and get it together is not helpful. It is mean and self-centered. Genocide denial is never a pretty sight.
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"rob budde says... Genocide denial is never a pretty sight."
damn straight, rob... so are you gonna help me get prince charles to pony up for all the homicidal injustice the british crown perpetrated on my irish ancestors?
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Maybe there needs to be some corrective action having to do with British-Irish injustice, you are right. These oppressions are swept under the table but they always come back to haunt the region (as will First Nations haunt Canada). Better to heal them now then fight a war later. I'll wager you can trace every damn war back to a historical wound where a people has been oppressed. Well, except American wars--they're just greedy. :->
ps. what's with the piece pic on yr profile? Guns kill people man.
What did you think of Harper's apology to survivors of residential schools?
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"rob budde asks... What did you think of Harper's apology to survivors of residential schools?"
well, rob... i have to wonder if harper has the right, never mind the responsibility, to apologise for decisions made by people, before he, harper... was even born.
here's a question back for you...
how about the mohwawks of oka apologise to the family of officer marcel lemay... whom they murdered in cold blood... in much more recent memory?
better yet... they can turn the killer over, so he can face justice himself.
that work for you, rob? or is justice a one-way street?
fwiw... i'm still waiting for prince charles to apologise for chasing my people out of scotland... you wanna help me with that?
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Yes, yes, marcel lemay, you've mentioned him already, got it. He shouldn't have been there. Don't build the damn golf course. Duh. Justice is not a one-way street between one isolated incident and another BUT in the big picture justice is one way because injustice has been one way. Make sense?
If we (we two whiteys) are going to live here peacefully, on someone else's land, there has to be some sort of reckoning.
Are you movng back to Scotland? If so, I'll help you with that.
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"rob budde asks... Are you movng(sic) back to Scotland? If so, I'll help you with that."
well, grey owl... here's a thought.
if this thing has been gnawing at your guts for the last 13 months... maybe, just maybe... it is you.
and hey, rob... do you really believe marcel lemay deserved to be shot in the face?
funny how that works, huh?
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