The Charter is alive and continue to protect the rights and freedoms of Canadians. Two recent cases in British Columbia, one dealing with polygamy and the other about the manner in which suspects rights were ignored attest to this. These cases also  revealed the extent to which Canadians enjoy rights which they previosly did not have and how they had been victimised. On April 15, 1982 Canada became a more democratic country and arbitrariness was limited, and it was done with a Charter that married parliamentary supremacy with judicial review. Outstanding. It avoided the rigidity of the American Bill of Rights and the "flexible conventions" of the British Bill of Rights.    
    In the latter, a B.C. judge tossed out evidence after finding that the RCMP had "ignored" charter rights of suspects to such a degree that "one might have thought that the investigation took place before the Charter of Rights had ben enacted" . Two half-naked suspects were hosed down in the cold outside their home, no interpreters were brought in to read the suspects their rights, failing to allow suspects to read warrants and not filing court documents in a timely manner. "The officers in charge did not seem to care....  and the cumulative violations lead to the conclusion that they operated in 'bad faith'". ( see Sections 7-14, Legal Rights of Charter). Warrants were not translated into Chinese, no interpreters were provided, contents of search warrants were not read or their contents shown, doors were broken down and suspects clad only in underwear were handcuffed and forced to lie down while being hosed with cold water.
     Canada's polygamy law is constitutional but flawed  B.C. Supreme Court Chief Justice Robert Bauman ruled, Nov.23, 2011.The law prohibiting polygamy is sound but inconsistent with the Charter of Rights and Freedoms as it applies to children between 12 and 18, who marry into polygamy or enter into a conjugal union with more than one person at the same time. He suggested that the law be "read down" concerning the term"everyonr" in Section 293 of the Criminal Code to exclude potential accused persons under  18.
     In upholding the polygamy law the judge pointed to the "elevated risk of physical and psychological harm that women in polygamous relationships face. "They face higher rates of domestic violence and abuse, including sexual abuse". In this reference case the  judge heard arguments from the government of B.C. and Canada of the harms and risks that polygamous marriage puts women and children and that Section 7 of the Charter of "life, liberty and the security of person" should trump the right to "religious freedom", Sec.2 of Charter.He agreed, adding that " early marriage for girls is common, frequently to significantly older men. The resultant early sexual activity, pregnancies and childbirth have negative implications for girls, and also significantly limit their socioeconomic development". The B.c. Civil Liberties Association had also argued that Section 293 of the Criminal Code was too broad, criminalizing consenting adults. The judge did not accept  this arguement but did suggest that it be "read down' for those under 18.
     There is a message here for those from particular religions that have some "peculiar" practices, whether it be practised by those calling themselves Christians, Jews, Muslims. Hindus or any other sect or "religious group" . The Charter of Rights and Freedoms exist for all. However, this means that not only should we be aware of the Charter, we must also know what it is and what protections are offered and we must be willing to use these Rights and Freedoms. Section 15 on Equlaity Rights and Section 28 on Gender Equality ( this section unlike Sec.15 is not subject to the "notwithstanding clause", Sec.33.) are there for our protection also.    

     The hopes and promises of the Arab Spring is drying up like a raisin in the hot, arid Arab sun.
     The election in Tunisia and the call for sharia in Libya have sent a chilling air through the halls of power in the West.
     The treatment of Mubarak and the ugly killing of Gadahafi have sent a message to the other tyrants from Syria to Yemen that a similiar fate awaits them and their cohorts and thus, they have circled the wagons and dug in their heels. They will use all at their  disposal to remain in power irrespective of the plaintive wailings from the West.
     The Americans are distracted by their ongoing election and France and Brirain "have shot their load" and now must try to capitalise on their "Libyan victory", both politically and economically. Canada and especially its Defence minister are only good at making "yipping" barks. There is no bite (Canada has wasted/squandered half a century of goodwill and respect, earned by stalwart/ yeoman service as UN peacekeepers by becoming joining America's (adventure) "nation making", in Iraq and Afghanistan.
     The courageous of Tahrir Square are making a valiant effort to save their dream of a democratic Egypt. The mistake they made was to trust their "respected" military , the same one that carried the suppressive orders of Mubarak for thirty fears. They were not organised with a leader ( not Mousa or Baradei, who while they had high profile in the wider world, lack the common touch), and so the gains they made frittered away and they lost the initiative. They are back, but this time the world is missing(no CNN, ABC, NBC et al rushing to cover events, they are too occupied with Republican "clown show" and  Penn State).
     So, the Egyptian military played a waiting game and now they are clampimg down. This is a military armed by the USA..check the bullet casings and gas canisters. The West is silent or merely tut-tutting.
     In Tunisia, the Islamists have won the election and sharia, which is incompatible with democracy, is the law.
     Now that Gadaffi is no more, the Islamists and secularists and tribalists and regionalists are fighting for a peice of the cake. Already the NTC has announced that sharia will be the basis of law. SO MUCH FOR DEMOCRACY.
     Nothing has changed in Yemen. It is more important to defeat al qaeda, than to support democracy, which can rear up and bite you as in Tunisia.
     Bashar al Assad is going nowhere. He will not give up power. Syria is a potential powder keg. Allied with Iran and Hizballah in Lebanon, the fall of Assad could unleash a conflagration that would envelop the Middle East and draw in the West. So the sanctions are as far as they dare to go.
     So much was promised and so little has been realised. Too much self-interest and too little "interest of the people". 
    Short term gain for the West, but long term pain for the Arabs. Their day will come but until then "their dreams are drying up like a raisin in the sun"

     The appointments of Monti and Papademas to respectively lead the governments of Italy and Greece is an admission of failure of their democracy, and that this is the last desperate act to introduce some firm leadesrhip in both countries. They had both become too divided and difficult to govern in the usual way and thus have borrowed a page from the fascists, which both had experenced in the past but from which little was learnt.. Mussolini ruled Italy, with an iron fist because to govern it was "useless". He ended up being hanged upside down. The Generals overthrew the democratic government of pere Papandreou and established corporate rule, until their excesses caused the people to rise up and get rid of them and returned Paopandreou to power.
   In Latin and Central America, from Argentina to Guatemala the landed aristocracy ruled their plutocracy with the help of the  military. Fascism and tens of thousands of lives lost and years of civil wars was gradually replaced by democratically elected governments and the intervening years have seen the entrenchment of democratic values. It was not easy but they stayed the course and Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua and the rest have accepted that democracy with all its "messiness" is the best form of government, far superior to the "juntas".
     The surrendering of power to technocrats is the capitulation to fears and ignorance, to save the banks and their questionable investments, which has seen the near bankruptcy of the PIIGS...PORTUGAL, IRELAND. ITALY, GREECE and SPAIN and the threat to the Euro and of the European Zone. Timid policies proposed by Gremany and France were adopted and failed and led to riots. This scared the "troika"..the IMF, the European Central Bank and the European Union and so additional pressures were placed on Greece and Italy. Papandreou wanted to legitimize the new austerity measures that he was forced to sign on to, by holding a referendum. This caused panic amongst the "troika" caused the (so far) "bloodless revolution", that replaced the elected government by technocrats led by Lucas Papademos, one of their own. In Italy the embattled Berlusconi, bedevilled by personal "foibles", and weakened by years of trying to hold a fractious coalition together, was pushed aside and replaced by the technocrat / European Commissioner Mario Monti. The Italian parliament "fell in step" and agreed to the economic reforms imposed by Europe. He will have a cabinet of 12 like-minded technocrats, who are charged with "recovering the trust of investors and European institutions", the Troika.
     "Civil servants(technocrats), make the best government, but after two weeks, you will find them hanging from lamp posts", Walter Bagehot. In the short term, even a computer, properly programmed would come up with the best and most efficient policies (check out HAL), It is when those policies interact with the needs and wants of the people that their shortcomings, their weakness will be exposed. That is when the people will look for" lamp posts".
     Government is not about efficiency alone. It is also about humanity. It is in the words of the Utilitarians "the greates happiness to the greatest numbers". That is what democracy, with all its warts, is. 
    Power without restraint serves only those in power. Power without responsibility seves the irresponsible and power witout accountability seves no one. 
 

     "How dare you? Merkel lashed out at him, reported Haaretz. "You are the one who disappointed us. You haven't made a single step to advance peace". This was in February, when he critized Germany for backing UN Security Council resolution condemning settlements. Germany's frustration continued last month when, Merkel questioned his committmen tto restarting talks, after Isreal approved building new homes in annexed East Jerusalem.
     EU foreign policy chiel Peggy Ashton urged him to show "leadership", and US Defence Sect. Robert Gates described as being "ungrateful", saying that Washington had "received nothing", in exchange for its support of Israel's security needs. This was after Netanyahu lectured Obama on live television, on the struggles of the Jewish people. This was after Obama had satted that talks should re-start with no pre-condition  and based on pre-existing 67 border.
      Clinton did not fullY trust him (in his previous term as PM, 1996-1999), saying that he had reneged on pledges to withdraw from occupied Palestinian land, thus destroying peace efforts. The Clinton White House accused him of failing to honor committments made "at the highest level".
     Around the same time, the British Fpreign Office had a blunter view, with officials saying  that Netanyahu was " the armor-plated bullshitter". This according to memoirs of former communications chief of 10 Downing Street (the PM's office), Alastair Campbell.
     Netanyahu is more concerned about remaining in power, and he uses the media well for this. He "bobs and weaves" in and out of positions always aware of the audiences at home and in the Israeli lobby groups. That was why after lecturing Pres. Obama, he sought comfort from AIPAC.
     This does very little for the reputation and security of Israel. He gambles that no matter what , the USA will continue to supoort Israel and he knows that he has the support of the Israeli lobby in the States and the hard-liners in the religious community and the Occupiers on the West Bank, who clearly do not want to give up their comfortable, subsidised life-style.
     " I can't stand him anymore. He is a liar." Sarkozy.
       "You may be sick of him, but me, I have to deal with him everyday" Obama replied. This was at the recent G20 in Paris
     PS. See previous posts on

     Arisrophanes would be proud of the "danse macabre". The tragedy of people losing jobs and paying higher taxes and getting less service, was followed by the comedy of errors by Europe's self-proclaimed saviours Sarkozy and Merkel (both facing defeat at the next polls and in dire need of some miracle) grand entrances, worried looks, tut-tutting Papandreou and offering piecemeal, tentative "bail-out deals" that are at best stop-gaps.
     George, tired of protests at home and finger-wagging from Nicolas and Angela spun his own web (Arachne would be proud) and the "farce" of a coalition government was created. This is a tail wagging a dog. It will solve nothing but offer more "smoke and mirror", activity not action.
    'Governer c'est choisir" .Leadership that is firm. Decisions that are clear. Action that is direct. Either Greece stay in the Euro or it goes its own way. There is no in-between. Let the Greeks be Greeks and they will muddle through. It may take a while, as in the case of Argentina.
     Creating dependency, whether in an individual or a state does not work. It is a short-term fix that eventually make matters worse. The idea of a united Europe (economic, military and especially political) between unequals is a pipedream. However, economic and military treaties between and among nations do work and achieve the same end, security and development. NATO safe-guarded Europe and the Common Market allowed for the free flow of goods and people. Once you create a (political) con-federation of nation states, the trouble begins. Differences are real, linguistic, cultural, economic etc. values/attitudes/beliefs are deeply ingrained and difficult to unlearn. Time is of the essence but evryone is in a hurry. 

     The Palestinians have won a seat on UNESCO by a vote of 107-14, with 52 abstentions France ,China, India, almost all Arab and African and Asian nations voted yes. Britain and Japan are amongst the abstentions and USA, Israel Canada, Australia and Germany amongst those who voted no. The USA as is their wont, voted to cut off aid (they usually pick up about 22%, about $60 million of the budget). This no surprise as the Jewish vote/lobby/ money are crucial to Obama's re-election and it has been US policy since the 90s. Canada's vote is also tied in to Harper's drive to wean the Jewish vote from the Liberals and of course the Germans are still paying for their past. India, China remain consistent as well as the Arab, African and Asian states. The Brits like to play both sides, but Japan is puzzling.\
     This the first step in the inevitability of the Palestinian state.
     Meanwhile, the election in Tunisia has ended with the Islamists winning the largest number of seats and they will have to work with the two leftist parties that finished 2nd and 3rd. Some violence and a lot of tension. The Tunisians have issued a warrant for Arafat's widow as part of a corruption probe of Ben Ali's family. Suha Arafat has expressed surprise, saying that she was a victim of the old regime.
     NATO has ended its war in Libya. The Libyans have picked a new leader from Tripoli, but the declaration that sharia will be the basis of laws has caused grave concern at NATO. Saif Gadhafi, is exploring the option of surrendering to the ICC, but he he has other options and access to massive wealth, portable and in foreign accounts.
     The Arab League has called on Bashar al Assad to withdraw his tanks from Syrian streets and hold talks withopponents. Bashar has threatened an "earthquake' if Syria is attacked and NATO has ruled out a no-fly zone, with NATO chief Rasmussen saying "we have no intention whatsoever to intervene in Syria". Syria is accused by Lebanon of the kidnapping of 4 dissidents. Syria is not Libya. It has better weapons and defences. Toughe  nut to crack.
     Saudi prince Khaled bin Talal has offered a bounty of $900,000 for the capture of any Israeli soldier. He said this on Saudi broadcaster Al Daleel, according to Israeli newspaper, Haaretz. Also a Saudi cleric Awad al Qarri has offered to pay $100,000 for each Israeli  soldier. This comes at a time when a hardliner (former Interior minister) is named Crown Prince. The silence coming from the West is "deafening". Don't want to step on Saudi toes. All that oil. A Canadian imam Usama aL-Atar is arrested by religious police, while on a pilgrimage to Medina. Released after the intervention by the Islamic Human Rights Commission, a UK-based organisation. Kept under "horrid" conditions, but would say no more, as he intends to remain in Saudi Arabia for a couple of weeks.