WHEN A PARTNER IS UNFAITHFUL

When a Partner is Unfaithful What to do, when your partner is cheating behind your back? Or, when your best friend spreads malicious gossip about you? Or, when your trusted boss hires a younger, better looking employee whom you begin to suspect is there to replace you? What happens to your sense of self when your own government, with whom you occasionally disagree, but nevertheless feel has your best interests at heart, sneakily double crosses you? And once awareness of such betrayal sinks in, how are We the People to manage our crushing disappointment in the institutions of government? I suggest that complete loss of faith in our federal and provincial governments may be as devastating as loss of trust in other valued or beloved relationships. The same emotional elements are there which include a deep, abiding sense of betrayal. And, in environmental circles I believe this is beginning to affect people like David Suzuki. David has announced that he is separating himself from his foundation so he can speak out more freely against the forces that are hell bent on destroying our earth without jeopardizing the charitable status of his foundation. It’s about time. I’m pleased, even if it did take the threat of losing the foundation’s charitable status for David to make the move. I’ve always suspected that a no holds barred activist (as opposed to, or in conjunction with David’s role as teacher, film maker, lecturer) lay beneath that learned heart. And there was another announcement this past week from another notable environmentalist, Valerie Langer from ForestEthics. I worked with Valerie from the beginning of the Clayoquot Sound Blockades of 1993 (she worked; I was promptly thrown into jail and stayed there for the duration). Valerie’s knowledge of the rainforest and her committed desire to save Clayoquot Sound from clear cut logging seemed marvelous to me. I was equally impressed by scenes from old films of logging blockades in Clayoquot Sound prior to 1993. These scenes depicted Valerie and a handful of other blockaders on isolated logging roads trying to slow the clear cutting of ancient public forests. There was nobody there to protect Valerie and her colleagues then, no police, no media, no protection of any kind, just a few young, environmentally clued-in young people, brave and heroic, as they stood up against the machines of the powerful. But later I did feel, and I still feel, that several of the environmental groups, including ForestEthics, put their faith, not in themselves, but in an unfaithful partner…the BC government. Governments, both provincial and federal, will try to explain away their past records and may proceed much the same as a lover bent on seduction when they go after environmental activists. Having chosen to lay the honey trap, so to speak, there will be many smiles, flatterings and promises of undying love. The seduced, the morning after, will awaken with more than a headache. They will awaken with trashed dreams. When ForestEthics, GreenPeace and Sierra Club BC signed onto a deal with the government in hopes of saving the Great Bear Rain Forest from logging they signaled that in exchange for the agreement there would be no more “war in the woods”. In my opinion they had no right to do this as these three groups didn’t own the war and they didn’t own the woods. However, this strategy did serve to badly split the environmental movement in BC and it didn’t necessarily do much for the rest of BC First Nations outside the Great Bear. And in my opinion if the ongoing destruction of BC lands and waters is slowed or finally stopped it will be primarily by the concentrated opposition of First Nations. I’ve always thought that depending on the government to give you the funds to oppose its policies is a sure way to water down your opposition. Now these three groups are complaining of increased logging in the Great Bear, increased depletion of Grizzly Bear populations, the refusal of the BC Liberal government to implement the full agreement they signed in good faith, and the lack of protections from the proposed Enbridge line, along with many other worries. In my opinion, there is only one group that fully acknowledges the perfidy of the BC government other than some First Nations, and refuses to make deals, and that isn’t an environmental group. It’s the BC Teacher’s Union. The BC Teacher’s Union recognizes that the strike is the only real weapon they have and have refused so far to give it up. Would that all environmentalists might equally recognize that peaceful civil disobedience is really the only weapon we have, like the strike, and not only refuse to give up peaceful civil disobedience, but also refuse back room deals that assume only certain groups count. And, while I hesitate to say this I believe it to be true... if Harper cut off all monies to environmental groups then the groups would either get radical or go under. At least we would know who was who and what their intentions were. I also believe that, at this point, we could regroup and start over. I do. I really do.

FAT, FALLOW, AND SEX CHANGED FISH

March 27, 2012

The Honourable Peter Kent, P.C., M.P.
The Honourable Keith Ashfield P.C. M.P.

Sirs,
We of the Women’s Party are not satisfied with our correspondence with you concerning Genetically Modified Salmon.

In the first place, we are of the opinion that this matter rests squarely with the Ministry of Fisheries and Oceans as well as with the Ministry of the Environment. Of course this also eventually concerns the Ministry of Health but as Ms Aglukkagq seems to have passed the buck completely in her reply to the Women’s Party on the matter, we will simply concentrate on the two federal government departments that are most directly and immediately affected by the keeping of GMO fish in West Vancouver and the question of how they got there, and why the public was not notified of their arrival or their presence.

As mentioned, we strongly feel that the DFO is instrumental in everything that goes on in the fisheries of British Columbia. All fish farms are now directly under the attention and control of the DFO (since 2009). And of course, the mutant fish that are being prepared to be released into the fish farms of BC should everything go well with the approval process in the United States, comes under the care and control of the Department of Fisheries and Oceans. To pretend otherwise would be to insult our intelligence so please don’t do that.

The silence of the DFO on the preparation of mutant fish in West Vancouver to be released into BC fish farms as soon as the go-ahead arrives from the US has a link, in our opinion, to other questionable practices by the DFO in BC. Aside from the mutant fish being prepared for Canadian market when the time comes, there are other radical DFO experiments going on with fish in fish farms and also in BC rivers and streams that is everybody’s business who eats fish.

We know according to Dr. E.M. Donaldson, DFO (and others) that fish on BC fish farms have been literally sex changed, primarily by treatment with estrogen, due to the fish farms demand for all female fish in the pens in order to cut their losses . These losses occur by the phenomenon of a large percentage of males “jacking” early and dying before harvest. We also know according to Dr. E.M. Donaldson, DFO (and others) that fish are being released into the rivers and even open waters of BC that have been sterilized and pumped full of estrogen. As these fish then do not go into the reproduction cycle they grow unnaturally bloated and fat for the tourists as well as for market.

We also believe that this experimenting around with hormones to get fat, steril fish and then allowing them on the market as well as in BC open waters poses a danger not only to wild salmon (as some still retain the capacity to breed) but to humans. Hormones are the most potent growth and sex differentiation substances in nature and to throw the female hormone around so recklessly is endangering humans as well as wild and domestic animals that consume fish. As the use of these hormones to change the sex of fish is a crime, we believe, and against nature, as they also makes the fish unwell. We suspect that the use of sex hormones to change the sex of fish and the process of sterilization may also very well contribute to the diseases that are plaguing both fish farm and wild fish such as the ISA virus that is being documented by Biologist Alexandra Morton and her colleagues.

The Women’s Party also disputes the concept put forth by Mr.Keith Ashfield, DFO, that the government only holds a patent on the genetic material that goes into the making of the DMO fish, so that this does not constitute a patent on the actual fish, and therefore does not contravene the Canadian Environmental Protection Act. This is similar to the way Mr. Peter Kent, Minister of the Environment ,can say that Canada has an Endangered Species Act, but the endangered species themselves are on the street, as it were, as there is no protection for their habitat, that is, no place to live. We deplore this kind of rationalization and claim that the Department of Fisheries and Oceans and the Ministry of the Environment are indeed in contravention of the Environmental Protection Act.

We have also asked for a risk assessment on the mutant GMO fish being raised in West Vancouver (Jan. 19, 2012) We hope to hear from both of your departments in full in the near future. Thank you for your attention.

Betty Krawczyk (Writing for the Women’s Party)
betty.krawczyk@gmail.com

cc The Honourable Christian Paradis, PC, MP
The Honourable Leona Aglukkasq PC, MP
The Honourable John Weston, MP

BRING BACK THE “WAFFLE”!
When I first came to Canada in 1966 from the American South I was happy to be out of a country that was, in my opinion, becoming increasingly sexist, racist, militaristic, and where fundamentalist Christian religion condoned all of the above. To my relief, not only was Canada not involved in a cruel and senseless war (Viet Nam) but had a history of socialist thinking that was unheard of in the States. The “Waffle”, commonly described as the left wing of the NDP, and blatantly socialist oriented, fascinated me. I immediately joined up.

Now, forty five years later I find the Harper government not only championing unjust wars and threats of wars with righteous aplomb, but as well as trying desperately to break unions, undo health care, bring back the issues of birth control and abortion through his back benchers, deny science, and stealthily practice fundamental religious beliefs by egging Israel on to bomb Iran in order, in my view, to bring the “Rapture” and fulfill Biblical scripture. Not to mention trying, in my view, to criminally rig elections.

Given that privatization is the economic mantra for both the Harper government and the BC Christy Clark government and as this continuing privatization brings more pauperization for the people, while further enriching the one percent, what’s the solution? What’s the solution when people become so improvised by privatization that they can’t buy the things made by machines? When most of the nations’ money slumbers in off shore bank accounts? When nothing can move because one small group has it all? I believe the only antidote to privatization is nationalization.

And yes, nationalism means socialism, real socialism, not just a theory tacked onto the back of a capitalist structure that is riddled with corporate corruption. With a bow of gratitude to the NDP’s Tommy Douglas for Canada’s universal health care plan, I contend that we Canadians, having lost the “Waffle” wing of the NDP, do not have a home grown Socialist Party.

Socialism is first, and foremost, the recognition that there will never be any fairness and justice in a country if the country’s banking system is controlled by private banks. All of our banks in Canada are private except for one…The Bank of Canada. The Bank of Canada is a public bank and it belongs to us. The government of Canada can borrow without interest from The Bank of Canada for public works, military spending, health care, etc., whatever it needs to run the country. However, all Canadian Prime Ministers since 1935 have been persuaded, one way or another, by the private banks that it would be good for the country to borrow from them instead of from the Bank of Canada, as then the private banks could charge compound interest that would be paid by citizens through public debt. This is wonderful for private Canadian banks (check their profits) disastrous for us (check our load of private debt) and our national debt.

The second major recognition of any country that is working toward Socialism is that it must make haste to get its natural resources in hand. This means that a country’s natural resources such as water, oil, gas, mining and forestry must be under direct public ownership, and not private corporations.
Corporations and private companies operating in Canada would laugh at the suggestion of nationalizing Canada’s banks, water, oil, gas, and trees. It’s because they believe these natural resources belong to them and when they stopped laughing at any suggestion of nationalizing “their” resources they would shout “Communism!” and then sit back, still chuckling, as if that accusation would settle the matter. The mere accusation of godless Communism is thought to frighten passive Canadian citizens senseless.

But no, it doesn’t settle the matter. Communism implies such an advanced citizen consciousness that it doesn’t need the state and this exists nowhere on this earth. However, in my opinion, if we don’t become Socialists in its most fundamental sense in Canada, if we continue to depend only upon our natural resources in corporate hands with next to no manufacturing base, then I agree with those who say we are set to become a third world country. Help! Bring back the “Waffle”!