Peaceful exercise of Power

Is anyone other than the usual out to lunch right-wing apologists surprised that there is violence in most serious protests. First it is usually the government that either uses violence or instigates violence using their imbedded agents in the protest movement to discredit the movement. 

This is standard procedure all the way back to the Luddite revolt and resulting mayhem of 1811-1812 in Lancashire England which Samuel Whitbread an MP said of the event Quote "As to the persons who had blackened their faces, and disfigured themselves for the purposes of concealment, and had attended the meeting on Deanmoor, near Manchester, it turned out that ten of them were spies sent out by the magistrates... These spies were the very ringleaders of the mischief, and incited the people to acts which they would not otherwise have thought of. [Parliamentary Debates, lst Series, Vol. 23, Col.1000, (l8l2)”. 

This is the same tried and true tactics used to this day to corrupt demonstrations, so even if it were possible to get all demonstrators to remain nonviolent there will always be government or corporate fifth-columnists to instigate violence and property damage to discredit the protesters message, such as took place at the G20 where these infiltrators even proposed using Molotov cocktails and the police were ordered to stand down to allow the maximum damage that could then be blamed on the protesters. 

Here is a perfect example of a flawless nonviolent civilized by the letter of the law protest, the anti-HST referendum that had the backing of 91 percent of the population of BC initially and even after relentless government lies, threats, misdirection not to mention $20 million dollars of tax and corporate brainwashing still lost  to the anti-HST people in a referendum vote. I guess you would have to say 

“ so much for a legal, peaceful, democratic protest as the government still collects the hated HST tax and will continue to do so until the next election and probably beyond”. 

So much for the government listening to the voters of a peaceful democratic exercise in grass roots democracy and the obvious contempt they have for the people they work for. 


Sad to say but the only thing governments react to is violence.

Wayne Clark