Section 83.01 of the Criminal Code defines terrorism as an act committed "in whole or in part for a political, religious or ideological purpose, objective or cause" with the intention of intimidating the public "[w]ith regard to its security, including its economic security, or compelling a person, a government or a domestic or an international organization to do or to refrain from doing any act."
rabble.ca's Amira Elghawaby interviewed Glenn Greenwald before his address in Ottawa on October 25th.
Videographer: Jase Tanner for rabble.ca.
Watch rabble.ca's rebroadcast of our livestream of Greenwald's Ottawa talk here, and find out why this video went viral.
If you like these videos, please chip in a buck or two so that we can keep bringing you more rabbletv! Donate here.
Two weeks after the senseless murder of a soldier on Parliament Hill (and another earlier in Montreal) there are several things we know and many we don't. Obvious questions have been asked and inconvenient ones have been left aside. We know -- and indeed could predict one second after the shooting -- that Stephen Harper would use it as an excuse to expand the security and surveillance state he has been constructing. We know that the shooting was not a terrorist act, but a criminal one, regardless of what the RCMP and CSIS, eager to enhance their political role and resources, are saying. (Within an hour of the shooting, an over-eager CSIS official was declaring, hopefully, "this will change everything.")
Questions of root causes
After Wednesday's events in Ottawa, I want to comment on one version or account (yes, the dread "narrative") which was dominant in the reporting. It's the "unprecedented chaos, lost our virginity/innocence, never gonna be the same, demise of Canada as a Peaceable Kingdom" rendering.
The Peaceable Kingdom isn't even a Canadian phrase. It was used by U.S. Quakers in the 19th century. Literary critic Northrop Frye applied it here in the 1960s and it was popularized by Toronto historian and city councillor William Kilbourn. When I challenged him on its usage, he scoffed, "Don't you recognize irony, man?" It was sarcastic, or at best an aspiration far from reality.
Environmental and First Nations activists are increasingly appalled by the continuing revelations that they are being spied on by police and the Canadian security establishment on behalf of the corporate sector.
First Nations activist Ambrose Williams recently told The Georgia Straight that last year, when he and other anti-fracking activists left Vancouver in a three-vehicle caravan bound for New Brunswick, they were followed and watched by police during the entire cross-country trip. They were heading East to reinforce the Mi'kmaq protestors fighting Texas-based SWN Resources. The company has been exploring for shale gas on unceded Mi'kmaq territory in that province.
Another U.S. shooting spree has left bullet-riddled bodies in its wake, and refocused attention on violent, right-wing extremists. Frazier Glenn Miller, a former leader of a wing of the Ku Klux Klan, is accused of killing three people outside two Jewish community centers outside Kansas City, Kan. As he was hauled away in a police car, he shouted "Heil Hitler!" Unlike Islamic groups that U.S. agencies spend tens of billions of dollars targeting, domestic white supremacist groups enjoy relative freedom to spew their hatred and promote racist ideology. Too often, their murderous rampages are viewed as acts of deranged "lone wolf" attackers. These seemingly fringe groups are actually well-organized, interconnected and are enjoying renewed popularity.
Please support our coverage of democratic movements and become a supporting member of rabble.ca.
Re: Union is a thought-provoking political drama inspired by the real-life story of American Quaker and academic, Norman Morrison who, in protest of Vietnam War set himself on fire below the Pentagon window of Robert McNamara. Morrison's youngest child Emily was at his side.
Building on this piece of American history, Devine fictionalizes a reunion between McNamara and Emily thirty-six years later. In the days following 9/11, Emily plans to carry on her father's legacy by inviting McNamara to witness her act of domestic terror in protest to America's military intervention in Iraq and its new Patriot Act.
Comments
Do
Don't