Tuesday 25 February 2014

SUPPORT THIS

Support this,assholes. Call me a PC fascist, commie dupe, or whatever is convenient for you. It doesn't matter, because if you dare go outside of your ego, people are dying. It's not about what you or I think about anything. This shit is real, and happening right now.
From the Stop Mass Incarceration Network:

February 26, 2014:
A Day of Outrage and Remembrance
for Trayvon Martin and Jordan Davis

February 24, 2014 | Revolution Newspaper | revcom.us

Hoodies Up!
Targets Up!
Fists Raised!
We’re Standing Up!
No More Murder of Black Youth!

February 26, two years since the modern day lynching of Trayvon Martin, eleven days after a Florida court refused to convict racist Michael Dunn for the murder of Jordan Davis. Wherever you are, put on your hoodies, get people together, print out these targets, and gather at the seats of power and influence or go to the public square.  Stand together in silence, hoodies up, fists raised, holding targets. Be part of creating a powerful visual image and stand of defiance that goes out around the world.
On Wednesday, February 26, join with people in your city or town. Put on a Hoodie for Trayvon, hold a target with the message of “No More” for Jordan and all the Black and Latino youth who this system views as suspects. Defiantly represent that we refuse to accept a target being put on the back of every Black youth in this country, we refuse to accept the declaration that Black people have no rights that white people are bound to respect. 
February 26, make a difference. This action can break the paralysis by being the first national action against the mistrial of the murderer of young Jordan Davis and linking this outrage to the fight for justice for Trayvon. Be a part of puncturing the lie that there is nothing we can do—that we must accept this nightmare. Join with hundreds nationwide standing up to the murder of Black youth declaring that we are determined to stop it. 
Don’t let your action be a secret from the world at large.  Take pictures of yourselves, post themhttps://www.facebook.com/stopmassincarcerationnetwork and send them to stopmassincarceration@gmail.com and spread them everywhere.
Stop Mass Incarceration Network 347-979-7646 stopmassincarceration@gmail.com 
http://www.stopmassincarceration.net/ and on Facebook & Twitter

Sunday 23 February 2014

GET INTO IT!

Today I had a brief conversation with a homeless man that went something like this: Him:"There's never been a better time to be a canadian!" Me: "Why?" Him:"We won the gold today, man!" Me: "Oh yeah." Him: "Get into the olympic spirit!!!" Me: "Okay".
  Is there any better demonstration as to how much of an idiotic distraction these fucking games are for people? There's also no better time to be drinking rubbing alcohol, mouthwash, and to be living on the streets. Fly that fucking flag. Fuck. 50 billion dollars for these fucking games. Games. Did russia have no better way to be spending this fucking money? Does the fucking world have no higher priorities for fifty billion dollars?! At least the wide-eyed assholes will stop running around talking about how "we" got the medal for this or that pointless fucking competition. I'm glad it's over. Fuck off.
.: .

Friday 21 February 2014

THE SOONER THE BETTER

The united states of amerikkka has been a living hell for the entire world ever since it's inception, and especially so for the Black people living there. Racism still permeates the entire edifice supporting their filth, and will be there until that rathole is taken down through Revolution. Fuck the racist motherfucking police, and the system they ruthlessly uphold.

Statement by Carl Dix on Mistrial in the Murder of Jordan Davis

February 15, 2014 | Revolution Newspaper | revcom.us


The case of Michael Dunn, the white man who murdered 17-year-old Jordan Davis after arguing with him over the loud music Davis and his friends were playing in a gas station parking lot, shows once more why we need to make revolution to get rid of the capitalist system that has subjected Black people to brutal oppression since the first Africans were dragged to these shores in slave chains. Sixty years ago it was Emmett Till. Two years ago it was Trayvon Martin. Now it's Jordan Davis, another Black youth murdered by a white man out to put Black people "back in their places."
While the jury convicted Dunn of secondary counts, THEY DID NOT REACH A DECISION ON THE MURDER OF JORDAN DAVIS!!! ONCE AGAIN THE MESSAGE IS CLEAR: BLACK YOUTH—ALL BLACK YOUTH—HAVE TARGETS ON THEIR BACK. Dunn's defense came down to saying any white person has the right to kill any Black person he or she feels is a threat to them. And the jury did not contradict that!
By not convicting Dunn for the murder of Jordan Davis, Amerikkka is declaring, once again, that Black people have no rights that white people are bound to respect. How long are we going to put up with Black people being gunned down, or lynched, by racists and by the police? Nothing short of revolution is needed to uproot the white supremacist capitalist system that is responsible for these racist murders. And as part of getting to the point when it's time to make revolution, we have to powerfully come together against these outrageous injustices. Get with the Revolutionary Communist Party (RCP) and the movement for revolution it is building and get into the works of Bob Avakian, the leader of the RCP. These murders have been going down too damned long. They must be stopped, once and for all.
Let's look at what really happened. After picking a fight with the youth over their music, Dunn fired 10 shots at their vehicle while the youth sat in their car, killing Jordan Davis. Dunn even continued firing after the youth were driving away from the gas station, fleeing for their lives! The youth called the police right away, but Dunn drove back to his motel with his fiancé, took his dog out to "go potty" and ordered pizza for dinner. He got in the car the next day and drove almost 200 miles to go back home.
Again, everybody—Black people, white people, people of all races and backgrounds, everybody who has an ounce of justice in their hearts—needs to take to the streets in outrage over the failure to render justice for the murder of Jordan Davis. Our cry must be JUSTICE FOR JORDAN DAVIS! And this cry must be continued into the Day of Outrage and Remembrance for Trayvon Martin on February 26. And carried on till we end these outrageous murders, the white supremacy out of which they spring and the whole goddamned capitalist system that is responsible for this and many other horrors inflicted on the people.

Thursday 20 February 2014

THE UKRAINE AND THE OLYMPICS

The people of the Ukraine are fucked no matter what they decide to do. They could stay the course with russia, with all of the stagnation that that road entails, or they could go with the european union, and get totally get fucked over with privatization. The only thing the rich countries of the e.u. care about is getting richer at the expense of the less well off countries. And anytime the west or the u.s.a. are in favour of anything, step carefully. Those snakes care about nothing but themselves, despite all of the hollow rhetoric they are constantly spewing. And so far the e.u. have offered nothing at all. People are just so disillusioned with what's been going on so far, and are ready to unquestioningly believe the bullshit coming from the west.
   And that leads me to my next (very short) point. One of Ukraine's athletes, participating in that stupid distraction called the olympics, has today decided to not compete any more. The reason, she says, is that she can't focus while people in her country are going through such turmoil, fighting and dying. That's totally understandable. But it's when she said that it was horrible, what her government was doing, now that the olympics were on, and the whole world was at peace....Now hold on, you fucking idiot. Since when is the world at peace just because of the stupid fucking olympics?!!! Occupied Palestine, Sudan, Somalia, Iraq, Syria, Egypt, Afghanistan, Colombia, India, The Philippines......where is the fucking peace? The sweatshops are still operating, the imperialists are still raping, killing and stealing everything they can, children are dying of preventable diseases and hunger, the war on women and poor people is going full tilt in the u.s.a., with druglords trying to keep up with the demand in the richest country on earth, so where is the fucking peace? Get your head out of your fucking ass.

Monday 17 February 2014

FUCKING MORAL DEGENERATES

The united nations has just come out with a report saying that North Korea's leader, Kim Jong Un, should face trial over human rights violations. The report is full of unverified "facts", such as vast numbers of people in "labour camps", forced abortions for repatriated women, sexual violence in the prisons, and enforced mass starvation. Now, I have no doubt that North Korea is a bizarre and fucked up place, but how much that the u.n. says can we fucking believe? Who has over 2.4 million people in prison, most of them non-white? Which country is it that can hold people without charges or access to a lawyer indefinitely? Who kills their own citizens if they deem them to be an enemy of the ruling regime? One out of four women in their lifetime will be sexually assaulted in the land of the free. North Korea is constantly being accused of threatening the yanks with nuclear devastation, but it's the fucking u.s. who has used nukes on another country. Does North Korea send drones to kill civilians of other countries? And yes, both countries use the death penalty. So if the North Korean leader has to stand charges of human rights violations, then so does  reagan, clinton, both fucking bushes, and fuckface obama. One of the criticisms that the u.n levels against North Korea, is their refusal to "open up the economy". Fuck you. Fuck you, and your fucking parasitic imperialist system.

Sunday 16 February 2014

IF YOU MISSED IT....

If you missed last night's show at Logan's, you really fucking missed out. Black Jaw played their beautifully executed melodic punk style to an appreciative crowd, and honestly, there is no one in town doing this kind of music right now. It's refreshing. As refreshing, in fact, as the lemonade I'm drinking this very moment. AWT pulled of their trademark obnoxious fuck you punk rock, and it was awesome to hear some new stuff in the mix. And Big Rick makes the drumming look effortless. Fuck yes. All Out Panic from Vancouver fucking slaughtered the place. Non stop brutality hitting us from all corners of the room, and we loved it. I can't believe the singer could still talk after that. Legion Of Goons, also from Vancouver, assaulted our already pained eardrums with their dual guitar hardcore thrash weaponry. Fucking unapologetic punk. What a great show, and a great night. Happy Birthday Chuck, you crazy fuck. 

Saturday 15 February 2014

GO TO THIS TONIGHT



It's Chuck's birthday, and he's an awesome guy. Black Jaw are melodic mid-tempo punk, featuring Mike from Class Of 1984 on guitar and lead vocals, AWT are obnoxious Vic favourites, and these dudes know how to fucking put on a live show, and All Out Panic and Legion Of Goons are two of my current favourites (along with Car87), both from Vancouver. Go tot his and wish Chuck a happy birthday. See you there, assholes.

Friday 14 February 2014

FUCKING HYPOCRITES

The yanks can talk all fucking day about democracy and other fucking lies. The people of the world can see the reality, even if those living inside the borders of the fucking beast are purposefully blind. Fuck conservative ass punk rockers, and rock stars who uphold imperialism. Open your fucking eyes.

Thursday 13 February 2014

THE DOGS ARE STILL OUT...

As we approach the two year anniversary of the murder of unarmed Black teenager Trayvon Martin, we have to ask ourselves what has changed. Anything? Has having a "liberal" president in office meant anything to the most oppressed segments in u.s. society, and indeed, the world? Hell no. 
Two Years Since the Murder of Trayvon Martin

The Dogs Are Still in the Streets

by Carl Dix | February 10, 2014 | Revolution Newspaper | revcom.us

February 26—two years since the vigilante murder of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin. Two years since Trayvon went to the store for iced tea and Skittles and encountered George Zimmerman, a neighborhood watch member and wannabe cop, on the way back. Zimmerman saw Trayvon’s Black skin and hoodie and decided he “was up to no good.” He shot and killed Trayvon in cold blood.
This murder took us back to the murder of Emmett Till almost 60 years ago by some white men who thought he had done wrong. And back to the days of lynching when white mobs could grab any Black person and murder them for any reason, or for no reason at all. And back to slavery when Black people were considered property to be used and abused, to be worked, whipped, murdered and raped at the whim of their masters. These white supremacist criminals were NEVER punished, and their actions delivered a message that Black people had no rights that white people were bound to respect.
As news of Trayvon’s murder spread, outrage built. Thousands of people took to the streets demanding justice. Many more people wondered what it meant that, although Zimmerman was found standing next to Trayvon’s dead body, he wasn’t arrested and put on trial. Weeks of nationwide protests forced the authorities to back up and charge Zimmerman with Trayvon’s murder.
Many expected this would lead to justice. But the system worked the way it has worked since the days of slavery and the days of lynching. Trayvon’s killer walked free, and the system flashed a green light to every cop, every racist and every wannabe cop that it is open season on Black youth. Now it’s two years later, and the dogs are still in the street. A mother still needs to fear that every time her son steps out the door, it could be to meet the bullet of a cop or a racist vigilante. More than ever, it is time to take a stand.

The MURDER of Trayvon Martin

Let’s go back to what happened on that day. Zimmerman called the local non-emergency responder and reported Trayvon as a suspicious character. As he waited, he told the operator that “These assholes always get away.” Zimmerman made sure this one didn’t “get away.” He stalked Trayvon, confronted him and shot him dead at point-blank range.
The cops came onto the scene and found Zimmerman standing next to Trayvon’s dead body. They took him to the station, got his story and let him walk free! They drug-tested Trayvon’s dead body, but didn’t test the killer for drugs.
Houston, Texas, March 25, 2012. Photo: AP
The outrage and protest that spread nationwide over this murder forced the system to arrest Zimmerman and put him on trial. But in the lead-up to the trial, things got turned upside down. Trayvon had been demonized in the media, becoming not an unarmed child who was targeted, stalked and killed, but someone who had been suspended from school and been in trouble before, as a thug who made Zimmerman fear for his life. And Zimmerman, the armed stalker, became a noble neighborhood defender who was forced to kill Trayvon because he was in fear for his life.
And the trial itself was a straight-up travesty of justice. It was like Trayvon was the one being put on trial, not Zimmerman. The court invoked a rule developed to prevent prosecutors from removing Black people from juries to block the prosecution in this case from removing whites from the jury. The result of this was a jury that was almost all white and had NO Black people! This jury included a woman who felt there was something wrong with Trayvon being out after 7 p.m. and another with a cop relative. This was a case that was about Zimmerman targeting and murdering Trayvon because he was Black, but the judge ruled that the prosecution couldn’t use the term “racial profiling.” Yet the defense was allowed to put on a witness to tell of having been robbed by two Black youth. What the hell did that have to do with Trayvon’s murder!
The cops that the prosecution put on the witness stand did such a good job of telling Zimmerman’s story that his defense didn’t need to have him testify and face cross-examination. And Rachel Jeantel, who was on the phone with Trayvon as he was being stalked by Zimmerman and as he was shot dead, and was the witness who spoke the most truth about what happened that night, got ridiculed in court and in the media for the way she talked, how she looked and her righteous anger at being dogged by Zimmerman’s lawyer. Zimmerman was found not guilty. He literally got away with murder!
Compare this to the way the white men who murdered Emmett Till walked free after the lily-white jury deliberated for all of one hour. And how the white mobs that lynched thousands of Black people in the days of the old Jim Crow never faced trial at all. Amerikkka had once again delivered a message that Black people had no rights that white people were bound to respect. It had underscored the reality that youth like Trayvon would live their lives with a bull’s-eye on their backs; one that cops, and any racist, could use for target practice.
This verdict underscored the way this country has criminalized Blacks and Latinos, especially the youth. It is at the heart of racial profiling policies like stop-and-frisk that put young people on a trajectory of going in and out of prison. It is a feature of the warehousing of 2.3 million people, more than 60 percent of them Black or Latino, in prisons in the U.S. It is concentrated in the way that more than five million former prisoners, again disproportionately Black and Latino, are treated as less than full human beings after they’ve served their sentences. The vigilante murder of Trayvon had everything to do with the genocidal program, including mass incarceration that this country’s rulers have unleashed against Blacks and Latinos.
Cincinnati, Ohio, March 26, 2012.
In response people hit the streets in cities across the country. Black and Latino youth defiantly and righteously called out this lynching verdict. Parents in tears held their children and wondered how to tell them that this verdict meant a potential death sentence hung over their heads, one that may or may not be carried out. People of all nationalities, including many white people, joined the protests saying they couldn’t stand by in silence while Black people were mistreated like this. People of all nationalities raised the cry that “We are all Trayvon!”
What can you say about a system that sanctions the murder of innocent, unarmed youth for no reason other than the color of their skin? What can you say about a system that has confronted whole generations of Black and Latino youth with futures of hopelessness? What can you say about a system that treats these youth like they’re guilty until proven innocent, if they can survive to prove their innocence?
Such a system is no damned good! It’s illegitimate, and must be done away with as soon as possible. A big part of getting ready for the time when that might be possible, and working to bring that time about as soon as possible, is: fighting the power, and transforming the people, for revolution. Mobilizing masses to stand up and fight back against the system’s attacks. And bringing to them an understanding of the source of these attacks—the capitalist system—and what it’ll take to end them once and for all—revolution.
We don‘t have to put up with this system and all the other horrors this system enforces on humanity—the vicious assaults on women, the massive government spying, the wars for empire, the ravaging of the environment and more. Things don’t have to be this way. We can end all these horrors thru revolution, communist revolution. In Bob Avakian, the leader of the Revolutionary Communist Party (RCP) who has brought the science and method of revolution and communism to a whole new level, we have the leadership needed to make this revolution. The RCP has a strategy for getting ready and in position to make revolution in a country like this when the time is right. And we are building a movement for revolution that people who hate the way they and others are forced to live need to get with.
In that spirit, on February 26, two years since the murder of Trayvon, we must take up the call from the Stop Mass Incarceration Network for a Day of Outrage and Remembrance for Trayvon. Take to the streets and engage in other forms of resistance everywhere on that day. We must raise our voices to declare “We Are All Trayvon! The Whole Damn System Is Guilty!”
We must act today as Michael Dunn, the white man who murdered 17-year-old Jordan Davis in Florida because he felt Davis's music was too loud, goes on trial; as the killer of Renisha McBride, who was shot dead as she sought help after her car broke down, awaits trial in Detroit; and as Marissa Alexander, the Black woman who got a 20-year jail sentence for firing a warning shot to defend herself against her ex-husband who threatened to brutalize her, fights to get that sentence overturned. We must do this not only in memory of Trayvon, but for Andy Lopez, Ramarley Graham, Jonathan Ferrell, Jesus Huerta and all the others dead at the hands of the police. And for all the youth forced to live their lives with a bull’s-eye on their backs.
To all the people who were outraged at the murder of Trayvon and the exoneration of his murderer and are still angry but who haven't been in the streets since the trial, to others for whom these events may have receded from memory—join us in the streets and in acting in other ways on February 26. Youth shouldn’t be criminalized and demonized. Whether people live and how they live shouldn’t be determined by the color of their skin. Add your voice to those sending a message on that day that: THIS IS INTOLERABLE AND MUST BE STOPPED.
PUT YOUR HOODIES BACK UP!
WE ARE ALL STILL TRAYVON—THE WHOLE DAMNED SYSTEM IS GUILTY!

Sunday 9 February 2014

BURN THE RATS OUT

Government buildings set ablaze, police officers sent to maintain the status quo attacked, people from all walks of life up in arms, and a general air of discontent prevails in Bosnia-Herzegovina. What the fuck did anyone expect? There is a 40% unemployment rate. People are hungry, AND fed up. This whole scenario was inevitable. Now, before anyone wants to start with their crooked-mouth "aren't we lucky to live here?" crap, let's get the facts straight. It is the international monetary fund, the european union, and the fucking g8 countries who dictate how the poorer countries will run their affairs, especially if the country in question wants financial help. They order the privatization of industries,and when the new owners sell off the assets of those factories and leave the towns and the former workers fucked and destitute, who is to blame? Yes, the assholes who set this whole thing in motion in the first fucking place. And fuck yes, kkkanda is one of those rich countries ordering this shit to take place. So, is it "luck" to be the vampire instead of the victim with bloody bites on it's neck? Fuck no. It just shows that we are all interconnected.

It's spring at last in Bosnia and Herzegovina

An anti-privatisation protest in the city of Tuzla has exploded into general social insurrection.

Last updated: 09 Feb 2014 12:29
Jasmin Mujanovic

Jasmin Mujanovic is a PhD candidate at York University and currently a Visiting Scholar at the Harriman Institute at Columbia University.
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Protests erupted in the town of Tuzla over high unemployment and corrupt privatisation practices [AFP/Getty Images]
Whatever little semblance of legitimacy the constitutional order in Bosnia-Herzegovina (BiH) may have enjoyed at the beginning of this week went up in flames on Friday night. BiH's three Presidents, two entities, one special district, ten cantons and internationally appointed High Representative - the entirety of its bloated bureaucracy - witnessed the storming of their government offices in the cities of Tuzla, Sarajevo, Zenica, Bihac and Mostar.
As a result, at least two regional governments have collapsed, in the Tuzla and Zenica-Doboj cantons. What began as a local, anti-privatisation protest on Wednesday in Tuzla had grown by Friday into a general social insurrection.
Two years ago, I wrote that a "Bosnian Spring" was this country's only hope for a brighter future. Now, the spring has come, and with it, the storms.
For nearly twenty years, Bosnians and Herzegovinians have suffered under the administration of a vicious cabal of political oligarchs who have used ethno-nationalist rhetoric to obscure the plunder of BiH's public coffers. The official unemployment rate has remained frozen for years at around 40 percent, while the number is above  57 percent among youth. Shady privatisation schemes have dismantled what were once flourishing industries in Tuzla and Zenica, sold them off for parts, and left thousands of workers destitute, with many still owed thousands of dollars in back-pay. Pensions are miserly too; the sight ofseniors digging through waste bins[Ba] is a regular one in every part of the country, while the wages of BiH's armies of bureaucrats and elected officials have only grown[Sr].
Pervasive corruption
After the general elections in 2010, it took sixteen months for a state government to be formed, one which collapsed almost immediately thereafter. Since then, on the rare occasion that Parliamentary sessions have actually been held, the members of this body have mostly concerned themselves with calling for the ouster of their political opponents. ZivkoBudimir, for instance, the president of the Federation entity, was arrested in April of last year on suspicions of corruption and bribery. He was released shortly thereafter for "lack of evidence" and has since returned to his post. As Sarajevo burnt on Friday, Budimir declared[Sr/Ba/Hr] that he would resign if the people insisted - apparently refusing to look out his window as he spoke.
Al Jazeera World - Sarajevo My Love
Several major elected official in BiH have been under investigation for corruption. In the Federation, the squabbling of Bosniak and Croat nationalists has immobilised government institutions. In the Republika Srpska(RS) entity, President Milorad Dodik has attempted to make himself synonymous with the Serb nation itself -hounding the few independent journalists and activists who dared challenge him.
But the ethno-nationalist rhetoric of these elites betrays the realities of BiH's true political economy: accumulation through dispossession. The graffiti on the walls of the burnt out husk of the Tuzla canton government now offers a stark rebuke to these policies: "You must all resign! Death to nationalism!"
The international community has, meanwhile, allowed this sordid state of affairs to fester since the signing of the Dayton Peace Accords in 1995. An initial period of reform between 1996 and 2006 has all but completely ceased and since then the country has jerked from one constitutional crisis to the next. All the while, seething public anger has repeatedly threatened to boil over, as it did this past summer during the so-called "Baby Revolution".
The reasons for this rage are simple: At no point have the international architects of peace in BiH expended any serious energy to include ordinary citizens, students, workers or pensioners in the reforms which European and American diplomats insist the country requires. Instead, by engaging exclusively with members of BiH's obstructionist and recalcitrant political establishment, they have only cemented the oligarchs in their posts while the pleas and demands of ordinary citizens, students, workers and civil rights activists have been ignored.
A transformed society
Now, the entire structure of the Dayton system, precisely because of the arrogant and ignorant practices of its local and international representatives, has all but collapsed in a single night. Attempts to shore up this system will be made, of course, but the psychological transformation we have witnessed in the people of BiH is now irreversible.
Talk to Al Jazeera - Is another conflict looming in the Balkans?
A substantive parliamentary democracy fundamentally requires the autonomy of the citizenry and the expectation on the part of the ruling establishment that, unless they fulfil the needs and demands of their electors, they will be toppled - at the polls or in the streets. For twenty years this expectation has been absent in BiH. And for twenty years the ruling establishment has plundered freely. They have wrought so much misery that the speed with which the entire structure appeared to collapse on Friday left many citizens in utter disbelief.
In this mayhem, no small degree of confusion and fear will prevail. Many have already expressed anger towards the militants who torched the government buildings, claiming that the costs of the repairs will once again come out of the pockets of ordinary citizens. Such analysis, however, ignores the far more massive debts already incurred by all levels of government in BiH. 
The  Public Interest Advocacy Centre (PAIC), noted that the public sector debt with commercial banks doubled in the past four years and that: "A big part of corrupted activities stem from relations of government officials and commercial banks." The PAIC report suggested that the billions that have been borrowedhave mostly ended up lining the pockets of individual politicians,they are, nonetheless, being paid back through the further gutting of BiH's few remaining social services. This popular uprising, however, has the potential to reverse this course. 
There is also news of damage to part of the National Archives, rightfully eliciting anger in some quarters. Yet the National Museum of BiH has sat closed since October of 2012 and the country's other main cultural institutions are also struggling, to the dismay of a global network of activists and artists. Despite the existence of four separate levels of government, not one of them considers the preservation and financing of BiH's cultural monuments a priority. An institution that has survived three wars and has been operated continuously for a hundred and twenty four years is on the brink of collapse, not because of these protests, but because of these governments.
In the next few days, BiH will find itself a society transformed. Genuine change will require that those who have previously been excluded from power now have an opportunity to reshape their communities. The key organisers in Tuzla - more effective and popular than the current leaders, if this week's events are any indication - already form the basis for an interim government[Ba], one composed of the representatives of students and workers. Elsewhere, the situation is still evolving, but all foreseeable solutions include the same first step: The existing authorities must step down.
More broadly, there seems to be widespread support for the abolition or, at least, the reorganisation of the cantons: in short, a rationalisation of the state apparatus. The protestors realise that the country's dire economic situation is not merely the result of corrupt officials, but rather of the constitutional order itself. The changes they demand likewise address the system directly.
The fury on display in the streets of BiH over the past few days was an ugly sight. But what is still more hideous has been the past twenty years of corruption, thieving and manipulating on the part of the entirety of the BiH political establishment. Already, they have attempted to deny any personal responsibility and to offer duplicitous temporary solutions. It is much too late for them.
For the people of BiH, however, this is merely the beginning. Tumultuous days are no doubt ahead, but as long as the citizens of this little land do not forget the fear they inspired in their rulers tonight and continue to press their demands, together, they may yet usher in a truly democratic Spring.
Jasmin Mujanovic is a PhD candidate at York University and currently a Visiting Scholar at the Harriman Institute at Columbia University. Originally from Sarajevo, he is a regular Balkan affairs analyst. His Twitter handle is @JasminMuj.
The views expressed in this article are the author's own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeera's editorial policy.

Friday 7 February 2014

DIRTBAGS

Say what you will about filthy commie-pigs and sketchy punks, but at least I don't hang with shitbags like prime minister harper and his pedophile friends. Fucking dirtbags....

Drummer in Harper’s rock band charged with sexual assault on a minor



An award-winning Ottawa schoolteacher who played drums in a band with Stephen Harper has been charged with multiple counts of sexual assault on a minor.
Ottawa police said Thursday that Phillip I. Nolan, who most recently taught music at Avalon Public School, has been charged with five counts of sexual assault, sexual interference and sexual exploitation in connection with incidents that occurred between 1998 and 2000.

MORE RELATED TO THIS STORY

They said their investigation began last November after “a complaint of sexual assault on a minor by an adult male during the exercise of his functions as a teacher for grade 7 & 8.”
Police said they believe there may be more victims and are asking for anyone with information to come forward.
The charges against Mr. Nolan, 43, have not been tested in court.
Jason MacDonald, director of communications in the Prime Minister’s Office, said Thursday was the first his office had heard of this.
“We are obviously shocked and disturbed by these serious charges,” Mr. MacDonald said in a statement. “No allegations of this nature have ever been brought to our attention. Anyone found guilty of these charges should face the full force of the law.”
Herringbone is an Ottawa-based three-man band that met Mr. Harper through “a friend of a friend,” Mr. Nolan told The Globe and Mail in a 2009 interview. They’ve played with the Prime Minister for years and even jammed at 24 Sussex Drive.
Mr. Harper recently performed with Herringbone last December at the Jewish National Fund’s Negev Dinner in Toronto. They reprised classic rock tunes by the Who, the Rolling Stones and the Beatles.
Speaking to the crowd during the Dec .1 performance, the Prime Minister described Mr. Nolan as “mild-mannered schoolteacher.”
The Ottawa-Carleton District School Board said Mr. Nolan was removed from the classroom and assigned administrative duties during the investigation. Now that criminal charges have been laid, it said, he will be suspended.
On Herringbone’s website, which stopped functioning late Thursday afternoon, Mr. Nolan’s biography said he won the Ottawa-Carleton District School Board’s Arts Educator of the Year award in 2005.