Today I turn sixty, Sixty, 60, for Christ sake's how the hell did that happen.

That’s when people turn old and gray, then they slowly become shadows and disappear

Not me Bucko. Ain’t happening, I was an angry young man for Forty years.

Now I aint’t young or angry now I am liberated once again. I am free to express myself, without worrying about how my employer might be impacted.

I am pleased to say after my recent experiences with diabetes, losing my foot and losing my teeth you would think that would mellow me well think again they gave me a cane to wave around. And dentures, I have a mouth and I must scream at injustice where ever it may be found. And beside my hair has been white since I was Forty.

At 15 I took on the world or at least the EPSB when I was a student radical in solidarity with striking public school custodians members of my future union local 474.

At 25 I was working for the EPSB as a Head Custodian, at Garneau School planning to use my retirement savings to go to Europe before I turned 30. Well that never happened and today I am glad it didn't because now I can retire with a decent income.

At 35 I was a member of my union executive, yep good old Local 474 which we transformed into a militant organization promoting our role as professional indoor environmental health workers and power engineers, fighting contracting out and the ideology of school based management. Yep I was in the same union I walked a picket line for at their first strike.

At 45 it was the end of the world, or at least YK2, 1999 my father had passed away, I was head custodian at the top academic high school in Canada; Old Scona, I had helped end the threat of contracting out of our jobs with EPSB, I was outed as a pagan, witch magickian by Alberta Report which came to Old Scona to expose me in 1997.

My father passed on in December 1997.

Those years were one of many challenges as our union worked to create a new dynamic within the school system to recognize the importance of custodial work.

At 55 I could have taken early retirement. My pension with the LAPP a province wide pension plan for the MUSH sector allowed me to with 85 points, birthday plus thirty years work. Wow thirty years later and my five year plan had turned into a pension.

I didn't retire because in 2001 I became the first Custodial Consultant responsible for Custodial Training, Professional Development and Best Practices responsible for developing the districts custodial training program.

I held that position until September of this year when it was eliminated by school board management.

So now I am Sixty and on medical leave for the loss of my foot,
When that extended benefit ends I will then take my well deserved Retirement.

I am planning my career as a Independent Custodial and Indoor Environmental Health Consultant. Including going back to school to get some more credentials.

I am working through the Hanged Man formula of the Master of the Temple whose oath I took as I transformed with my operation.

Those of the shamanic tradition will know the meaning of the loss of a limb and the ritual of the sacrifice of the shaman.

I have been lucky to have two biographical interviews done on my Anarchist politics and on my Magickal practices here in Edmonton.

I am damn luck to be alive and it is because of my priestesses past, and present who gave me their energy when I needed it most to insure I stayed here to continue the great work and kick ass.

I am Sixty holy shit. How did that happen. I was radical who was going to shake up the world, live life fully and never gave a thought to what I would do when I got here.

So I have at least another twenty five years to go, if not thirty or forty.

I have had the opportunity to think about that deeply over the past year as I recovered and dealt with learning how to walk again.

Looking back ‘I can say what a long strange trip this has been’ 

And I look forward to the next forty years not with trepidation or sorrow or regret but with optimism, and a touch of well earned skepticism to balance it out.

After all I am a Sagittarius the most philosophical of the signs, a Wood Horse in Taoism, and an ENTJ personality type,

I can truly say I know myself and I am a Hell of nice guy when ya get to know me.

It’s my birthday and I am looking forward to many more.

Thanks to everyone who has wished me happy birthday, to those who deliberately didn't, its ok I know who you are.

Eugene Plawiuk

American Prayer

Jim Morrison and the Doors

Jim: “I don’t know how many of you believe in astrology…” 

Random Chick in Audience: “JIM! JIM! I do!” 

Jim: “Yeah baby, I’m a Sagittarius, the most philosophical of all the star signs…” 

RCIA: “Me too Jim! I’m a Sagittarius too!” 

Jim: “Well I don’t believe in it myself.” 

RCIA: “Neither do I Jim!” 

Jim: “I think it’s a bunch of bullshit.

http://www.huddersfield1.co.uk/poetry/americanprayer.htm

Past musings about my birthday 

 http://plawiuk.blogspot.ca/2008/12/birthday-boy.html

I GOT MY OWN GOOGLE DOODLE FOR MY BIRTHDAY
I AM HAPPY TO SHARE
https://www.google.ca/logos/2012/birthday12-thp.png

GOOGLE.CA

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Economic integration and FTAs in Asian

Asian economies in the past three decades have experienced a market-driven economic integration, characterized by a dramatic surge in bilateral investment treaties, foreign direct investments, and a series of voluntary and unilateral tariff reductions. Integrated supply chains within Asian economies made trade barriers much more costly, which provided incentives for the voluntary removal of trade barriers. Economists have labeled the Asian economic integration as a “spontaneous cooperation” because it has progressed so far without a region-wide Free Trade Agreement (FTA).

Instead, a series of bilateral FTAs have helped to accelerate economic cooperation and growth. In 1993, only 14 FTAs had been implemented by Asian countries, 6 of which were signed by countries currently negotiating in the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP). As of 2013, Asian countries implemented 109 FTAs, and 67 of these agreements were entered into force by RCEP countries. Meanwhile, intra-regional trade within RCEP countries steadily increased from 34.4% in 1990 to 44.5% in 2011. Intermediate goods accounted for 57% of intra-RCEP trade in 2011, which suggests a significant amount of goods are being made in “Factory Asia.” Asian economies have increased its global share in both intermediate and final goods trade, become an essential part of global supply chains, and better integrated within its own region and the external global market.

Asian FTAs vary widely in quality, and South Korea stands out in particular as an active seeker and beneficiary of ambitious trade agreements. As of 2013, South Korea successfully implemented 9 FTAs with 47 countries. There are also currently 7 under negotiation, and 7 more for proposed consultation and study. The scope of South Korea’s FTAs with the U.S. and the EU has been particularly comprehensive, providing for short tariff phase-outs, not to mention the extensive coverage of trade issues with “WTO-plus” quality provisions.

The obvious benefit of these FTAs has been improved market access. While South Korea itself only accounts for 1.6% of the world GDP, its FTAs under implementation have allowed South Korean businesses to gain preferential access to 56.2% (nominal GDP) of global markets. In comparison, China and Japan have fairly limited FTA access of 16.2% and 17.1%, respectively. The proportion of South Korean trade with FTA partners has grown from 13.8% in 2009 to 35.3% in 2013. It is expected to increase further once FTAs that are currently under negotiation are concluded and implemented, most notably the South Korea-China FTA and the RCEP.

Comprehensive regional FTAs

Despite successes, the limitations of market-driven integration and inefficiencies of overlapping Asian FTAs have led to proposals of comprehensive region-wide integration policies. Opinions diverge on the prospects of regional policy initiatives. For example, Fred Bergsten of the Peterson Institute viewed that East Asia is clearly moving towards regional economic integration. On the other hand, Razeen Sally from Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy at the National University of Singapore and ECIPE has warned that ambitious regional integration initiatives are inadvisable and unachievable. Despite differing views, policy efforts are unmistakably geared towards consolidating integration through FTAs. Hence, rather than debating whether Asia should attempt integration policies, discussions are now being focused on whether ambitious regional FTA negotiations, particularly the region-wide initiatives of Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) and RCEP, will lead to rivalry or convergence.

The two initiatives differ in many aspects, including the progress of the negotiations, but one thing is clear: there is a recognition that meaningful FTAs must concentrate not only on tariff reduction, but also on more comprehensive trade norms—including investment, services, intellectual property, and state-owned enterprises (SOEs)–to ensure high levels of international trade rules. The scope and comprehensiveness of FTAs determine their benefits.

Some comparisons of Asian FTAs may be useful for demonstrating this point. The Korea-US FTA(KORUS FTA) eliminated 80% of tariffs immediately and will almost completely remove tariffs within 5 years, while the China-New Zealand FTA signed in 2008 call for its tariff agreements to be slowly phased in over 12 years, fully entering into force in 2019. The ASEAN Free Trade Area so far covers 44% of goods in trade, but has seen little progress in services, investments, non-tariff barriers and standard harmonization. In contrast, 100% of goods are covered in the KORUS FTA, and 81% are covered under the Korea-Singapore FTA. South Korea’s pursuit of ambitious and comprehensive FTAs has enabled significant economic integration with its FTA partners.

The South Korean experience with high-standard and comprehensive FTAs have critical implications for the region and its integration policy efforts. The benefits of comprehensive and high-level FTAs are easy to observe. Positive outcomes include better access to promising markets, improvements in regulations, harmonized standards on automobiles and food quality, and so forth. High-quality regional FTA efforts can make Asian economies more competitive and better positioned in 21st century global value chains.

Revolutionary Feminist Kurdish Guerrilleras: 

Female “State” vs. Islamic State

This is a new documentary produced by 60 Minutes Australia that simultaneously explores the hardship imposed on Kurds of Western Kurdistan (Rojava) at the hands of the fascist Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL) as well as the revolutionary resilience of the Kurdish self-defense forces (YPG), particularly as expressed by the female-led Women’s Protection Units (YPJ).  Though the program is nominally made by 60 Minutes, it is in actual fact less than half of that in length; additionally, its given title, “Female State,” is rather problematic, given in the first instance that the Kurds–like the Palestinians–have no State to speak of, and especially in light of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party’s (PKK) significant reorientation in recent years from a traditional Lenino-Stalinist political perspective stressing national independence to one that approximates social anarchism through autonomous means, or what the revolutionary Kurds themselves call “democratic confederalism.”

https://intlibecosoc.wordpress.com/2014/10/01/revolutionary-feminist-kurdish-guerrilleras-female-state-vs-islamic-state/

Ancient seal sheds light on Persian prophet 

AS THE LAST LINKS TO ANCIENT ‪#‎MANICHAEISM‬; THE ‪#‎YEZIDI‬ AND‪#‎KURDS 

 FACE GENOCIDE THE CRYSTAL SEAL OF ‪#‎MANI‬ THE #GNOSTIC APPEARS.

Crystal seal of Mani [Credit: Northern Arizona University]

   A SERPENT SWALLOWING ITS TAIL IS WHERE THE INSCRIPTION IS

 IN THE CENTRE THE HOLY TRINITY WITH A FAMILAR LOOKING RUNE

The rock crystal is flat on one side and rounded on the other, with a sunken carving on one half creating a positive image on the opposite side. Mani is flanked by two people, possibly disciples, and an inscription reading 'Mani, apostle of Jesus Christ' forms the perimeter. "The drills of the time used wound strings to spin a point to create an even carving," Gulacsi said.

 Gulacsi thinks Mani wore his crystal seal as a pendant, a practice of that time. The prophet's only known surviving artifact is about the size of a quarter; the thin quartz seal was likely once encased in gold to facilitate its use.

When a personal artifact of a religious leader is discovered nearly 1,700 years after its use, the object provides invaluable historical insights. Zsuzsanna Gulacsi, professor of Comparative Cultural Studies, has been studying an ancient crystal seal used by prophet Mani, to provide new interpretations and prepare the seal for further research

 Mani, a Persian born in 216, established Manichaeism, a religion drawing from the era's dominant religions, including Zoroastrianism and Christianity. Mani stood out among religious leaders of the time, Gulacsi said, because he wrote his own doctrine, compared to Jesus, Mohammad and the historical Buddha who were not known to read or write.

The engraved crystal seal was used to authenticate Mani's writings and correspondence. According to Gulacsi, Mani believed other religious leaders had their teachings distorted because they could not write themselves. "Their disciples did not have the capacity of a prophet, whose clarity of religious insight was believed to surpass that of ordinary human beings," Gulacsi said.

 

The Prophet Mani [Credit: WikiCommons]

In 274, Mani died in prison after being persecuted for his religious teachings. His belongings were likely passed to his successor, but the fate of the crystal seal is not known until it turned up in Paris in 1896, where it was purchased and housed in the gemstone section of the National Library of France. Despite its historical significance, Mani's engraved crystal seal had escaped attention until recently. Gulacsi has researched and written about the seal, including an article just published in the Bulletin of the Asia Institute. 

Source: Northern Arizona University [October 30, 2014]

Read more at: http://archaeologynewsnetwork.blogspot.ca/2014/10/ancient-seal-sheds-light-on-persian.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:+TheArchaeologyNewsNetwork+(The+Archaeology+News+Network)#.VFUswjTF_TpFollow us: @ArchaeoNewsNet on Twitter | groups/thearchaeologynewsnetwork/ on Facebook

Researcher explores the truths 

behind myths of ancient

 Amazons 

Hippolyta, Antiope and Penthesilea. These are the names of Amazonian women warriors made famous in folklore, thanks in large part to male Greek storytellers like Homer and Herodotus. In some archaeological digs in Eurasia, as many as thirty-seven per cent of the graves  contain the bones and weapons of horsewomen who fought alongside men 







 [Credit Erich Lessing/Art Resource] 


They were huntresses, founders of cities, rivals and lovers of adventurous men. They battled the Greek hero Heracles and fought alongside the Trojans in the final hours of Troy. And yet, they are widely held to be little more than figments of Greco-Roman imagination. But warrior women actually existed, according to Stanford's Adrienne Mayor, a research scholar in the Department of Classics. In her new book, "The Amazons: Lives and Legends of Warrior Women Across the Ancient World," Mayor explains the real-world underpinnings and history behind the Amazonian folklore. In Hellenic legends, as Mayor learned, Amazons often faced defeat and death at the hands of male Greek heroes. Yet the storytellers also described these female foreigners as exceptionally heroic, civilized and worthy counterparts to the Greek champions. "Amazons were modeled on stories of self-confident women of steppe cultures who fought for glory and survival and enjoyed male companionship," but, as Mayor puts it, "on terms that seemed extraordinary to the ancient Greeks." The hereditary stories left quite a mark on the Greeks. "The popularity of Amazon stories and images suggests that Greek women and men enjoyed imagining heroes and heroines interacting as equals and seeking adventure and glory in hunting and battle," Mayor said. 

An ancient Greek vase depicting an Amazon female warrior  [Credit: Colin/WikiCommons] Real women warriors

 Mayor began her investigation by amassing all the surviving ancient Greek and Latin accounts she could find that told of encounters with Amazons as well as "warlike, barbarian" women who behaved like Amazons of myth. The texts described them as members of nomadic tribes roving the territories that the Greeks collectively called "Scythia" – a vast expanse between the Black Sea and Mongolia – from the seventh century B.C. until the fifth century A.D. She proceeded to research the Scythians – Eurasian steppe peoples who cultivated a mastery of horseback riding and archery for thousands of years. Mayor consulted early European travelers' reports and ethnographical materials as well as contemporary descriptions of steppe life, comparing the latter to ancient Greek knowledge and speculation concerning the identity of the Amazons. Mayor also analyzed physical evidence – including "actual battle-scarred skeletons of women buried with their weapons and horses" – and she corresponded with the Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg to learn how researchers there used infrared cameras to reveal invisible tattoos on frozen female Scythian mummies from more than two millennia ago. "Their tattoos of deer and geometric designs resemble the tattoos and patterns on Amazons depicted in ancient Greek vase paintings," Mayor said. Furthermore, Mayor was able to collect and verify lesser-known tales and reports (such as a newly translated Egyptian papyrus in Vienna) that showed warrior women were the subject of much fascination in cultures beyond Greece – Persia, Egypt, Caucasia, Armenia, Central Asia, China and among the steppe peoples themselves. Examining the corroborating evidence, Mayor found that "real women warriors lived at the time that the Greeks were describing Amazons and warlike women of exotic eastern lands." She even determined that there was even more respect and exaltation for women warriors in the non-Greek traditions that stretched from the Black Sea to China. In these non-Greek stories, she said that male and female enemies were so equally matched that neither could win: "Instead of ending in doom for the woman, the former foes declare their mutual admiration and decide to become companions in love and war." 




A battle between Amazons and Greek warriors is depicted in a marble sarcophagus  on display at the Pio Clementino museum in the Vatican  [Credit: Colin/WikiCommons]

 Gender dynamics While Greek heroes usually defeat Amazon women in their mythic narratives, the triumphs are depicted as hard-won from worthy rivals. As Quintus of Smyrna described the tragically slain Queen Penthesilea in The Fall of Troy, "All the Greeks on the battlefield crowded around and marveled, wishing with all their hearts that their wives at home could be just like her." "After Heracles, Amazons were the single most popular subjects in vase paintings of myths," Mayor wrote. Artistic Greek objects of all sorts, crafted for men, women, boys and girls, underscored that admiration for the Amazons transcended gender and age groups. Mayor's exploration of the subtler gender dynamics within the Scythian culture is reflected in her linguistic analysis of the Greek name for this people, Amazones antianeirai. Homer's Iliad offers the earliest reference to the Amazons in the eighth century B.C., using the full designation Amazones antianeirai. 

Mayor counters the popular modern translations of antianeirai as "opposites of men" or "against men," pointing out that in ancient Greek epic diction, the word would more ordinarily translate to "equals of men." Scythian culture, she explained, was not a purely female-dominated society. Instead it afforded a greater range of roles to women and promoted parity between genders. Scythian women often dressed in the same clothes as their male brethren and often joined them in battle – helping them thwart forces such as those of Cyrus the Great and Darius of Persia. For example, the "Nart" sagas, Scythian oral traditions of the Caucasus passed down to their descendants, hold great praise for their women warriors, as led by the valorous Queen Amezan: "The women of that time could cut out an enemy's heart … yet they also comforted their men and harbored great love in their hearts." The sagas point to the possibility of a Caucasian etymology for the Greeks' nomenclature of "Amazon." Mayor's work also clears up confusion over whether the word signifies women who sacrificed a breast to become better archers: "The single most notorious 'fact' often used to describe Amazons is wrong … The origins of the 'single-breasted' Amazon and the controversies that still surround this false notion are so complex and fascinating that Amazon bosoms have their own chapter,"  Mayor said. 

Author: Fabrice Palumbo-Liu | Source: Stanford University [October 29, 2014] 

Food regimes and their transformation

In her first half-hour talk, Harriet Friedmann looks at food system transformation from the perspective of food regimes. She developed this perspective with Philip McMichael at Cornell University. They drew on French historiography, which looks at long time lines (long duree), and on US work on World System Theory, especially as exemplified in the work of Giovanni Arrighi, author of The Long Twentieth Century: Money, Power, and the Origins of Our Times, in looking at how the state system and world economy developed through long cycles since its origin 500 years ago, through colonial empires and international trade.

Relations among states in each cycle form a unique state system which organises that global market. This system of states goes through important transitions, in which the dominant states in power change and power alignments shift. The other important influence on this work on regimes is the French idea of filieres – long chains – from farm to table and the systems of transformation – processing, distribution, storage.

Food regime analysis follows these material chains to track state power, capital investment, class formation, and regional specialization constituting historical agro-economic systems. In this talk, Harriet first defines food regimes and their transitions, then discusses them since since the mid 19th century, and the current contradictions that may lead to a new regime

The End of the Long Twentieth Century? 

The Rise of China and the Possibilities of a New 

Global Fordism

Nick Jepson

It is now 20 years since the publication of Giovanni Arrighi’s The Long Twentieth Century, a highly influential and ambitious work charting the evolution of global capitalism over five centuries. Arrighi’s account posits the history of capitalism as a series of secular cycles, each consisting of expansionary material and financial phases. Every cycle is led by a hegemonic state, which houses an alliance of capitalist and governmental agencies best placed among various competitors to create the conditions for a stable profitable investment regime. The incipient hegemon’s competitive advantages over rivals (organizational, technological, geographical, etc.) gradually allow its capitalists to become the central actors in and beneficiaries of the most profitable circuits of accumulation. The dynamism of the hegemonic state-capital alliance drives (uneven) growth across the world-system as a whole, meaning that, generally speaking, the interests of all other capitalist actors become increasingly tied to supporting continued processes of hegemonic expansion. This tends to establish periods of relatively stable systemic growth, the material phase, which are eventually progressively undermined by their own contradictions. As returns on productive expansion under the organizational paradigm instituted by the hegemon diminish, capital begins to pull out of these activities and retreat into finance, in search of higher returns. The ensuing phase of financial expansion constitutes a brief belle époque in which the power of the hegemon appears to be resurgent. This proves illusory, however, as the financial expansion, not underpinned by growth in the real economy but in fact predicated upon an undermining of the bases of real growth, tends towards instability and quickly generates crisis. In turn, declining returns to financial capital promote a search for investment opportunities in a rising state-capitalist bloc that possesses the most advantages under the new conjuncture, eventually emerging as the new hegemon and providing the basis for another round of material expansion.

THE LONG TWENTIETH CENTURY

AND BARRIERS TO CHINA’S HEGEMONIC ACCESSION

ABSTRACT

Giovanni Arrighi’s The Long Twentieth Century is an almost unfathomably ambitious and 

complex work. Its monumentality derives from Arrighi’s conviction that the best way to handicap 

the possible futures of the world capitalist geo-economy is to analyze the structural evolution of 

this global system, an evolution spanning more than five centuries; the genius of the work rests in 

the distinctive approach that Arrighi takes. At the core of his approach is the identification of 

those long-term trends and accreted characteristics – one might call them “systemic 

contradictions” – that promise to send the world capitalist geo-economy in a radically different 

developmental direction as US hegemony wanes. Arrighi’s assessment of these contradictions 

compel him to make a provocative suggestion: in all likelihood, no singular concentration of state 

and economic power possesses the territorial scale or the organizational capacities required to 

lead the global system through another round of restructuring and expansion. Properly framed, 

this illuminating insight could serve as the starting point for a theoretical exploration of the 

socio-ecological constraints to global capitalist reproduction, but such is a journey (mostly) not 

taken by Arrighi in The Long Twentieth Century. In fact, to the degree that he subsequently 

contemplates the prospect of a China-centered reconstitution of the world geo-economy, Arrighi 

marginalizes the question of global systemic contradictions altogether.

ANARCHISM A HISTORY OF LIBERTARIAN IDEAS AND MOVEMENTS GEORGE WOODCOCK 1962, Postscript 1975 Contents PROLOGUE 7  PART ONE  THE IDEA THE FAMILY TREE 35 THE MAN OF REASON 56 THE EGOIST 87 THE MAN OF PARADOX 98 THE DESTRUCTIVE URGE 134 THE EXPLORER 171 THE PROPHET 207  PART TWO  THE MOVEMENT INTERNATIONAL ENDEAVOURS 223 ANARCHISM IN FRANCE 257 ANARCHISM IN ITALY 307 ANARCHISM IN SPAIN 335 ANARCHISM IN RUSSIA 376 VARIOUS TRADITIONS: ANARCHISM IN LATIN AMERICA, NORTHERN EUROPE, BRITAIN, AND THE UNITED STATES 401 EPILOGUE 443 POSTSCRIPT 452 SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY 465 INDEX 477 The first book I ever read on Anarchism. By a Canadian author formerly from the UK who was part of the Anarchist movement during WWII there. My articles on Woodcock can be found by clicking on his name.

RADICALS AND RADICALIZATION

RADICAL MEANS TO GET TO THE ROOT

Radix, the Latin word for root, is the origin of the word radical. In contemporary political philosophy, the term describes activists who challenge established views and who operate outside the parameters of social convention to achieve political aims, sometimes employing extreme or violent methods in that pursuit.
The concept of political radicalism evolved out of the language and logic of the scientific revolution when educated intellectuals began to view the world in scientific, secular terms. It gained popularity during the Enlightenment as social theorists employed the new method of critical thinking to challenge traditional religious and political dogma.
 http://science.jrank.org/pages/8021/Radicals-Radicalism.html#ixzz3Gu4BLJxK

TO RADICALIZE IS TO GET TO THE ROOT OF OR THE SOURCE OF THE PROBLEM, OF ONES OPPRESSION WHEN USED IN A MARXIST SENSE.

“To be radical is to go to the root of the matter. For man, however, the root is man himself.” ― Karl Marx

IT HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH ADOLESCENT YOUNG MEN BECOMING INFATUATED WITH VIOLENCE, WITH THE BELIEF THEY CAN CHANGE THE WORLD AND ARE IMMORTAL, LIKE ALEXANDER THE GREAT.

WHETHER IT WAS BOMB CHUCKING ANARCHISTS, THE MILITIAS IN THE US, ADOLESCENT JIHADIS, OR CHILD WARRIORS IN THE CONGO. THE COMMONALITY IS THEY ARE ALL HORMONAL ADOLESCENT MALES WHO HAVE BEEN DOING THIS FOR CENTURIES, WHICH IS WHY PATRIARCHY INVENTED WAR. AND LATER SPORTS, LIKE THE MAYAN HOOP BALL GAMES.

THE DAY AFTER THE OTTAWA SHOOTING

Conspiracy theorist Alex Jones is already calling the Ottawa shooting a false flag operation by the police, for Alex everything is a false flag of course It isn't, but neither is it a terrorist act like Harper likes to claim.

Firstly we have no knowledge of why this incident occurred and to jump to conclusions, like how many shooters there were, is speculation that almost always turns out to be untrue.

There was only one shooter, though for most of the days coverage on Canadian cablenews channels,  it was not clear if there was only one person or several. A common problem in reporting during shootings

What we know is that a young man from Quebec shot and killed a Canadian reservist standing on guard at the war memorial in Ottawa; he ran into the parliament buildings where still carrying his shotgun he was shot and killed.

The rest they say is speculation.

What we also know about him, is that he has a criminal record, that he was able to buy a long gun, without a license or registration because the Harper government eliminated the Long Gun Registry, talk about coming back to bite you in theass.

His criminal record tells all we need to know according to Mr. Harper who reminded us that after a young native woman’s body was found in the Red River in Winnipeg, foul play was suspected that there is no deep sociological reason for her death rather it is a simple criminal act. No need to address the root causes of her death.

Yet when it comes to MichaelHall, aka Michael Zehaf-Bibeau , the shooter in Ottawa suddenly he is not a criminal he is a terrorist and everyone is talking about the sociological phenomena of rootscauses of radicalization.

Like the murder in Winnipeg the shooting in Ottawa is a criminal act, it is irrelevant  that we are involved in the Middle Eastin another conflict in Iraq, which Harper approved.

Nor is it related to the car assault on the weekend in Quebec, which saw another Canadian soldier killed, in a hit and run by another supposedly ‘radicalized’ Canadian youth. Of course he can’t tell us his motivation either since he too is dead.

The link between these two events, or between them and the Canadian involvementin the air war in Iraq are dubious at best, simply put there is no connection, except in the mind of the reader.

In fact since both events occurred involving Quebecois you could say something about that particular culture which produced these events and the men involved as well as the men responsible for the shootings at Dawson College and the Ecole Poly Technique massacre.

The connection is as tenuous as claims of the car assault on the weekend or the public murder in Ottawa are acts of terrorism. They are more like publicity stunts in the age of social media. They are I hate to say it the result of the need for ones 15 minutes of fame.

These two acts are not terrorism but cries of ‘Hey Look At Me’, which has less to do with so called radicalization as it does to do with adolescent psychology, alienation and mental illness, what Wilhelm Reich called the emotional plague.

What all these events have in common going back to Marc Lapine
Is that it involves young men, most often guns, and some kind of deep rooted alienation and rage. They are not demons, or monsters,nor are they misunderstood, they are deeply scarred and damaged.  

There is nothing radical about it, they are not interested in changing society for the better, they are simply lashing out at a society that fails to meet their needs whatever they imagine them to be. On the other hand they are not Demons or Monsters that the media will try to make them out to be. They are ordinary dysfunctional Canadians that's far more scary than any terrorist threat.

While Mr. Jones is wrong about this being a False Flag it is similar to the origin of that phrase. Like the Reichstag Fire of 1933, which allowed Hitler to introduce a form of Martial Law into Germany, these two events, the hit and run murder of a soldier in Quebec and the shooting of a Soldier at the War Memorial in Ottawa will be used as an excuse to increase the powers of the Security State. And you can bet the Law & Order Harper Government will milk it for election purposes as well.

That is what is behind all the talk about so called Canadians Radicalized to fight in the Middle East as Jihadists.

Harper has already leaped on this to call for more funding for his war and security efforts.  With it having happened in Parliament with its fetishistic symbolism of peace, order and good governance, that brings a tear to the eye of all MP’s regardless of party, the answer will beunanimous.

The state needs no excuse to increase its security powers, that people give it one is convent cover. And that is how we can judge their actions, not whether they were or were not a terrorist, but can their actions be used to justifyincreasing the states policing powers over its citizens.  The state claims it needs increased powers to defend itself from assault, not us, not Canadians, but the uniform figures that represent state power and authority.

Fascism loves disorder, terror, chaos, so it can impose its own form of order on it.