A dissident, broadly defined, is a person who actively challenges an established doctrine, policy, or institution. When dissidents unite for a common cause they often effect a dissident movement.from Wikipedia
The noun was first used in the political sense in 1940, with the rise of such totalitarian systems as the Soviet Union.
While originally applied to Soviet citizens who spoke out against government policies in the USSR we can now apply the term "dissident" to those citizens in Canada, or the United States or Europe who criticize government policies.
So if government policy is to favor war over diplomacy those who criticize this approach are therefore "dissidents"
We can conclude that "Dissidents" in Canada & the USA include those who defend Muslim Canadians or Muslim Americans & Muslim Europeans when the government and the media are attacking Muslims everywhere as being untrustworthy as being anti-Western, or anti-Democracy or anti-Feminism and as essentially all terrorists whether overtly or covertly as by Stealth.
So the "dissidents" in our society are for example those who criticize the way the War on Terror is framed and carried out including the American invasion and occupation in Iraq and the on-going quagmire in Afghanistan which has more to do with so-called Real Politik & the West's belief that it has a right to dominate politically and militarily the entire region.
Since the G20 Debacle in Toronto Ontario Dissidents also include- the way things are here in supposedly mild-mannered Canada- those who believe that all Canadian citizens have a right to speak out against certain government policies or to even hit the streets in demonstrations and marches .
We are now told that protests are either not permitted because there is a chance of violence or that a legal protest is illegal once any act of violence is committed by one individual or by a fringe group even if that group is not recognized as being an official part of the protests by those who have organized the protest march.
And once those in authority deem the protest illegal those taking part in the protest and those who are supporting it by various means are no longer protected by Canada's Charter of the Bill of Rights & Freedoms.
So with the throwing of one rock our Democratic Rights become null and void ???
Anyway it appears to be the consensus in Canada that the police have the right to beat, abuse , imprison without cause anyone protesting against the G20, the G8 , or the policies of any country allied to Canada. Further from now on there are to be no protest allowed by Canadian citizens over government policies-federal, provincial, municipal because there is the chance that one or more persons might commit acts of violence. We are are now in the post-9/11 world in which everyone is a suspect.
If someone protest against a government policy or against policies of Canada's allies then because we are officially in a state of war such protests are deemed to be giving aid and comfort to the TERRORISTS.
Because protesters peaceful or violent are deemed terrorists the police are not bound by the laws of the land or by our Charter of Rights and Freedom.
The only demonstrations permitted are those in support of government policies and especially in support of our disastrous Afghanistan war policies and in favor of our troops.
Will they soon be arresting people for not going to the Support the Troops rallies held in some places on a weekly basis.
Yes it is a tragedy each time a Canadian soldier is killed in Afghanistan or anywhere else but this does not mean that all Canadians must support the government's policy concerning Afghanistan.
Amnesty International at Queens park rally July 17th 2010-G20 TORONTO
G20 Violence Against Women Press Con.mov - Testimony begins at 2:20 on Video.
G8/G20 Communique: G20 violence against womenBy Krystalline Kraus via Rabble.ca, July 23, 2010
Anti-Violence Against Women activists joined women claiming abuse by the Toronto Police at a July 22, 2010 press conference held by the Toronto Community Mobilization Network. The press conference sought to link the violence experienced by women at the G20 Summit to the larger social issue of police violence and violence against women.
According to the accounts of women arrested during the G20 Summit, they were subjected to verbal and physical violence because they were women. Statements released include:
"They (the Police) asked me and other women I was with if we wanted to have sex with them," said Alison Peters, a young woman who was detained at the Eastern Avenue Holding Centre during the G20 Summit. "We were told to take our clothes off if we wanted to be taken seriously...they made a joke about having a sexual threesome with me and a female officer." For the full statement by: Alison Peters.pdf
"When they stood me up against the wall to search me, an officer leaned in beside my face and told me that I was going to prison, where I would be raped repeatedly," reported Skylar Radojkovic. "[Later in] a separate room, I was strip-searched and called various unprintable names by these officers. When they brought me back, saying that they had found nothing, the detective yelled at me that I was wasting his time. He shoved me face first into a corner of the room and pushed me repeatedly into the wall." For the full statement by: Skylar Radojkovic.pdf
Video statement by Lacy Macauley and Amy Miller were also released.
The press conference joined the voices of women who accuse the Toronto Police - who were part of the larger G20 Integrated Security Unit (ISU) - of violence-against women with community activists familiar with the issue. Both voices at the conference were critical of the police and made the case that rights had been violated
"Threats of sexual assault, sexual harassment and other forms of sexual violence are against the law. And the police are not above the law," says Beverly Bain, an expert on policing and sexual assault.
Jane Doe - the pseudonym for the woman who successfully sued the Toronto Police for negligence and gender discrimination in their investigation of her rape - spoke of her distrust of the police's ability to self-investigate.
"The Toronto Police are not equipped to investigate themselves or to work democratically with independent community initiatives." "I spent eleven years seeking justice but the Final Report on the Review of the Investigation of Sexual Assaults by the Toronto Police Service is a disappointing failure that exposes the chronic refusal of the Toronto Police to take these issues seriously," Doe said. For the full statement by: Jane Doe.pdf
The Toronto Police Services Board has appointed lawyer Doug Hunt to investigate police accountability during the summit. Toronto police have asked people with allegations against them during that weekend to file a formal complaint.
Two different probes have been launched by police to investigate G20 Summit related complaints and groups such as Amnesty International and the Canadian Civil Liberties Association are calling for a wide-spread G20 inquiry on the matter.
"The Toronto Police is more interested in going on an expensive witch-hunt for protestors rather then hold their own accountable for violence" says Farrah Miranda of the Toronto Community Mobilization Network. "The People's Investigation is going to work with Ontario Women's Justice Network and others to look into instances of police sexual assaults and demand that the entire political and police command structure be brought to justice."
"The gender violence the police employed during the G20 is not a surprise, it is part of an old and familiar pattern," said Grissel Orellana of the Toronto Rape Crisis Center. "For decades we have raised concerns about police assaulting women and trans folk, and failing to properly respond to and investigate sexual assaults in the community, but police and politicians have done their best to stifle our cries. If there are not immediate consequences for this chronic police violence, we can be sure that the assaults that happened during the G20 will be repeated."
Pie ruling a boon to potential G20 lawsuit By Amber Hlldebrandt via CBC July 23, 2010
Those seeking a class-action lawsuit over police conduct at the G20 summit may be one step closer to their goal after a decision by Canada's top court in the case of a lawyer strip-searched because of false suspicions he was plotting to hit Jean Chrétien with a pie.
Vancouver lawyer Cameron Ward was arrested Aug. 1, 2002, because he matched the description from a tip police received about a man planning to throw a pie at then-prime minister Chrétien. The lawyer was arrested, spent hours behind bars and was strip-searched.
Friday’s Supreme Court ruling upheld $5,000 in damages against British Columbia for breaching Ward’s charter rights. Essentially, it means people whose rights are infringed can seek damages even if they suffered no actual loss and even if authorities acted in good faith.
“This is quite a breakthrough,” said Nathalie Des Rosiers, general counsel for the Canadian Civil Liberties Association.
“It clarifies the law and certainly then makes the likelihood of a class-action less daunting and more susceptible to success.”
Des Rosiers says the decision eliminates a legal obstacle on the road to a class-action lawsuit by removing the necessity to establish some measure of intent by the police officers, which can be difficult to prove.
“It’s particularly interesting receiving that decision right after the G20, when it could be used right away,” Des Rosiers said. Nearly 1,000 people were arrested in Toronto before and during the G20 summit in late June.
Lawyer sees link
It’s a potential application that did not go unnoticed by the lawyer at the centre of the Supreme Court's ruling.
“If people are able to prove that they were wrongly detained or arrested —or in some cases perhaps even strip-searched — they may be able to recover monetary compensation, which would also act as a deterrence in certain cases,” Ward noted in relation to G20 arrests.
But so far, pursuit of a G20 class-action lawsuit has been stymied by a lack of a lead plaintiff, one person required to represent the larger group.
While David Midanik, one lawyer pursuing a class-action lawsuit related to police action at the G20, says he’s received a lot of inquiries but many are unwilling to represent the lawsuit due largely to mistrust of the system.
“They believe because police behaved the way they did … that there’s little or no chance of a court — which they see as part of the same thing — giving them justice, so they’re reluctant to co-operate,” said Midanik.
Midanik believes, however, that though the ruling doesn’t mark a legal change, it could make more people feel comfortable enough to come out of the woodwork with their claims.
Harper's Federal Government & Canadian Police Forces say screw the poor , the weak, the helpless & dissident Malcontents???
In Canada anyone protesting against government policies or against the policies of Canada's allies are now deemed terrorists ???
Vancouver Police Shove Woman with Cerebral Palsy to the ground & the walk away-
Is that how The Police interpret to protect and to serve- or does that only count for the Middle Class & the Wealthy and not for the lower classes or the weak and defenseless.
Do Canadian Police Officers feel emboldened after their rampage at G20 Toronto???
Police shoving woman on video raises questions CBC July 23, 2010
The woman, who has cerebral palsy, appears to brush an officer who is walking with two others.
The officer shoves the woman to the ground and the three stand over her before walking away, leaving her lying on the ground.
There is no sound on the video, so it's not known if the woman threatened the officers, but David Eby of the Civil Liberties Association says there appears to have been no reason for the shove.
"We imagine she would be hauled off and handcuffed if she said something threatening to the officers. It's clear that they didn't see grounds for arrest, but even if they did it is hard to imagine that the force that they used was appropriate.
"She looks like she weighs about 90 pounds in the video. She is clearly disabled," Eby said. "There was no need for any use of force."
Eby said such an incident wouldn't happen in Kerrisdale or Point Grey and it shouldn't happen in the Downtown Eastside.
The professional standards section of the Vancouver Police Department is investigating.
At a news conference Thursday afternoon, Const. Jana McGuinness said the officer has been on the force for little more than a year and is still out on patrol.
She said the officer reported the incident to his supervisor immediately, a move which initiated an investigation.
"Many of the answers are going to come from the investigation and we need to allow it to run its course. We recognize that those who view this video are going to find it unsettling and concerning," she said.
McGuinness said the officer apologized to the woman a short time after the incident, expressing regret for his action and for not helping her up.
Corrections and Clarifications
* The BCCLA originally said the woman had multiple sclerosis, but CBC News later learned from the woman that she has cerebral palsy.
and so it goes,
GORD.
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