alex hundert, the g20, and our civil liberties being flushed away

Between school and war resisters, my blog time is very limited these days. I've been reading about the events surrounding activist Alex Hundert, that is, the very real threat to all of our basic civil liberties. I haven't been able to write anything myself, so I'll just redirect you to someone who has.

For the best news and analysis on this, see Dr Dawg:

Alex Hundert, an anarchist arrested for G20 actions before a single demonstrator was even on the street, is back in jail. As many readers will know, he was out on bail when he was re-arrested by seven police officers for speaking on a university panel. Allegedly this was a breach of previous bail conditions that forbade his attendance at political demonstrations. An evidently brain-dead justice of the peace--no legal training is required for these patronage appointees--agreed with the cops, and he was jailed over Thanksgiving.

At a new bail hearing this week, he was told he would be freed, but only upon several new conditions, including (pay close attention here, Canada) no expressing political views in public, including in the media. He said no to that, and as of this writing he's behind bars.

Not that the corporate media give a damn about this obvious breach of what used to be our Charter rights. As of this writing, the news about Hundert has appeared in all of two places: Rabble.ca and the Vancouver Media Co-op.

The above post has two updates, and you can get all caught up there.

There's also very good coverage from Peace, order and good government, eh? and a statement from the Canadian Association of Journalists at Rabble.

This is scary stuff, and if we think it's insignificant because it's happening to only one person, that's even scarier. We shouldn't need anyone to quote the old saw that ends with "...and then they came for me." It's happening here, in my country, to someone. Isn't that enough reason to speak out?