Login / RegisterFire This Time activists return to SkyTrain stations after arrests for handing out newspapers
Uncowed and defiant, Fire This Time Movement for Social Justice activists have returned to SkyTrain stations to distribute their free newspaper.
At around 8:30 a.m. today (September 21), the Straight saw at least four members of the social-justice group handing out the Fire This Time paper at Commercial-Broadway Station in Vancouver.
It’s the first time that Fire This Time has come back to a SkyTrain location since transit police and RCMP officers arrested three of their members while distributing the newspaper at Metrotown Station on August 31.
TransLink rules provide that noncommercial papers can be distributed in transit properties other than vehicles and fare-paid zones. Because the three activists were following regulations, they were released without charges.
David Eby, executive director of the B.C. Civil Liberties Association, has described the August 31 incident as a “classic civil-liberties, free-speech issue”.
Alison Bodine was one of the Fire This Time activists at Commercial-Broadway Station this morning.
Although TransLink spokesperson Drew Snider previously told the Straight that he doesn’t anticipate any further issues with Fire This Time newspaper distribution, Bodine said in a brief interview that they had been approached this morning by transit police.
According to Bodine, an officer informed them that a call would be made to a transit police supervisor.
Bodine also said that a Fire This Time team will be at Metrotown Station this afternoon.
Don't know how much Translink is paying you, but try to change-up your writing style-on consecutive posts- a bit. It's too obvious you're the same person.
Judging by the quality of your propaganda, TL must be paying you at least $100k/year.
FTT has some good articles, but it's also plastered with Cuban propaganda. It would be nice if Allison could take her blinders off and take an objective look at Cuba. What she does at the sky train station would NEVER be allowed in Cuba. Period. Social justice? Sure there are many issues in Canada. But supporting the Cuban government using a "social justice" discourse? Wow...talk about some blinders.
1) never mentioned the article...mentioned rhetoric
2) what's an X-File?
3) obviously hit a nerve
4) how much are you being paid?
This argument is a logical fallacy. Anyone who argued this way in a formal logic exam would fail immediately.
I will not refute the claim about the supposed repressive nature of Cuban society here, but I will point out two essential points of CONTEXT, which must always be considered when evaluating any situation.
1) Cuba has been under siege, up to and including direct military invasion, for 50-odd years by the most powerful empire this planet has ever seen. Their avowed intent is nothing less than the direct destruction of that tiny nation. Under these circumstances, Cuba is obliged to defend itself. For comparison, consider what happened to Japanese-Canadians during WW2.
2) In Canada, we have the right to criticize the government, (unless we do it at a Skytrain station, eh?). But large numbers of people are starving on the streets in this country. Literally. Political rights have no value whatsoever until you first have those economic rights that allow you to live with dignity.
Please understand that I have provided only the skeleton of an argument here; books could be written on the subject.
I'm not trying to provide a useful social model. I'm simply making a point about the article. I agree that the paper should be allowed to be distributed.
However, I feel that it's strange that Fire This Time is concerned about free speech when many of its articles clearly favour and support the Cuban government. To be fair, when people present Cuba in a positive light, they rarely have any criticism for the government. Books could also be written about the Human Rights violations in Cuba - not just the social and educational achievements they have made.
Since you do take the position that FTT should be allowed to distribute their literature in what is effectively a public place, and I guess the Supreme Court agrees as well, then saying anything at all about the content is a distraction in the context of this thread, as long as the content is within the bounds of what is considered protected content.
In my last post, I did not dispute the claim about human rights violations in Cuba. Now I will. There are certain historical facts that need to be explained in order to attempt to understand Cuba. First, the outcome of the Bay of Pigs invasion. Second, Cuba's survival through the Special Period. Third, the mass demonstrations that happen on a regular basis in Cuba. These material facts exist. A proper explanation of these facts cannot be made compatible with the claim of human rights violations in Cuba. However, refusal to explain these facts means that you are reduced to magical thinking: events happen by magic, or by accident; explanations are neither needed nor available.
Again, this is only a skeleton of an argument. I leave it to the reader to fill in the details.