Liberties group condemns Olympics ‘jail’ law
p2pnet news view P2P | Politics:- The IOC Almighty is stomping, or wants to stomp, people who dare to publish Olympics news or images without its permission.
Now, further news reveals British Columbia, p2pnet’s home province an the location of the forthcoming Winter Olympics, has also decided censorship is the way to go.
“A proposed B.C. law would allow municipal officials to enter homes to seize unauthorized and possibly anti-Olympic signs on short notice,” according to the CBC.
Raids on people’s home in search of ‘anti-Olympic signs’?
It looks like a very sick joke, but it isn’t
“Violators could be fined up to $10,000 a day and jailed up to six months, the B.C. Civil Liberties Association said Friday,” says the story, going on »»»
The proposed law was introduced Thursday as a bill to amend the Municipalities Enabling and Validating Act.
The government said in a statement that the changes will “provide the municipalities of Vancouver, Richmond and Whistler with temporary enforcement powers to enable them to swiftly remove illegal signs and graffiti during the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games.”
“The legislation does not change the existing scope of authority to regulate signs and graffiti. Rather, it provides, on a temporary basis, a faster way of removing signs and graffiti that violate municipal bylaws during the short period the Games are underway.”
Bill Bennett, the minister of community and rural development, said that given the short duration of the Olympics, the cities of Richmond, Whistler, and Vancouver must be able to enforce their own bylaws quickly.
“That to me seems like a reasonable thing to do when you’ve got the Olympic games lasting 20-odd days,” Bennett said.
People, “will be risking $10,000-a-day fines and six months in jail just to criticize the Olympics,” the CBC has the BCCLA’s Robert Holmes stating.
Moreover,”legal experts” warn the definition of an unapproved sign is open to interpretation and The BC Civil Liberties Association says the vague wording might be used against anti-Olympic signs or promotions for anti-Olympic events or material, the story says.
In a statement, the association condemns BC government Bill 13 proposals to allow Richmond, Whistler and Vancouver to, “enter residences and other private property with only 24 hours notice to remove or cover up signs during the Olympic period,” continuing »»»
The amendments to the Municipalities Enabling and Validating Act (No. 3) introduced in the legislature apply only to the three Olympic cities over February and March 2010. Another amendment changes the Vancouver Charter to permit fines for sign and bylaw violations of up to $10,000 per day and imprisonment for up to 6 months. Previously, people had 14 days to comply with the bylaw, and fines were $2,000 per day.
“It used to be that a person’s home was his castle, but now the local governments want to storm the citadel of every castle to take down signs they regard as offensive to their Olympic plans,” said Robert Holmes, President of the BCCLA. “Telling people who exercise free speech that local authorities may barge in, rip down signs inside your property, fine you or throw you in jail will underscore the growing impression that our governments care more about their own camera appearances at Olympic events than about people’s rights.”
The provincial law is at first reading and has not yet passed. If the law passes, municipalities would need to enact their own bylaws to take advantage of the new powers granted.
“If Vancouver acts on this provision, people will be risking $10,000 a day fines and 6 months in jail just to criticize the Olympics,” said Holmes, says, declaring, “6 months in jail is usually reserved for criminals who have a record of several convictions for breaking and entering, but now it’s government that wants to break in.”
Stay tuned.
First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win ~ Mahatma Gandhi
stomping – Olympics bosses: No pix, no words, unless we say, October 12, 2009
CBC – Anti-Olympic signs could mean jail: rights group, October 9, 2009
statement – BCCLA condemns unlucky B.C. Government Bill 13, October 9, 2009
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October 12th, 2009 at 5:04 pm
it is definitively I mean definitively en encroachment to the freedom of Speech.
I am not an activist but I am demanding governments to follow the law.
If governments themselves break the law then there is no law and this is the law of the strongest and guess who is going to go down?
The old piece of shit in charge of the government who can not fight!
So if I was them I will not mess up with the law since the law is the only thing that separate them from death.
Just a though!
October 12th, 2009 at 9:03 pm
I would put an anti-slogan sign in my window just due to this.
Who wants to sponsor me to go there and to put an anti-slogan sing in a rented condo window?
October 13th, 2009 at 1:38 am
So what I want to know is where can I get anti-Olympics bumper stickers?????
October 13th, 2009 at 4:18 pm
My advice is if this bill becomes law, break the law. Post anti-Olympic and anti-IOC signs, placards and slogans everywhere. And I don’t just mean in the front window of your residence. I mean on every city pole, tree, bulletin board, writing slogans on sidewalks and so on. But most of all, wear t-shirts with anti-Olympic slogans and have at least one bumper sticker on your car with an anti-Olympic message.
And all of the above refers only to the 3 cities that are attempting to suppress free speech, Vancouver, Richmond and Whistler. I further propose that netizens the world over use social networking sites and the internet to spread anti-Olympic slogans about the upcoming winter games as well as inform netizens of this bill and how it restricts free speech.
Show the powers-that-be who really is in charge!!!!
October 13th, 2009 at 6:38 pm
In addition to Brian’s suggestion, for those whom are charged, lawsuits! Massive lawsuits against the cities and provinces. Research now to the nth degree to provide every legal means to nail the cities with $100k per enforcement for violation of free speech. Have all the papers drawn up, ready to go. Then wait.
Wait for the VPD and RCMP to violate the rights of citizens, have massive numbers of cameras, everyone with a cellphone camera use it and post it on YouTube (though expect most or all ISP’s will block youtube, especially Shaw during the games). Record the CSIS agents, the RCMP, the VPD, record them all. Every step, every coffee, every taser, everything!
Gather all the evidence you can, as many people doing this as possible.
They can’t arrest us all!
If people actually did this in the thousands, we’d have a great case to break the police state Vancouver’s IOC compliance is hoping to create.
On the downside, there are many third-world countries that will gladly violate human rights for the sake of the money the Olympic games bring in (Brazil isn’t third world, but they are already prepping and starting their ‘cleanup’ proceedings). However, once these lawsuits start, go after the root cause, the IOC themselves.
Sure they’ll try to weasel out of it, just like the sudden “oh hey, we didn’t mean take-down, we meant change your license on your pics” paradigm shift, but don’t stop and nail them without any chance to change.
This is the ONLY way to stop the development of police states from becoming worse than they already are!
October 21st, 2009 at 11:07 am
The Olympics are self destructive. With the threat of global warming we cannot afford such flagrant displays of excess and overconsumption. The best way to avoid 300,000 tons of emissions is for people to simply stay at home.
http://selfdestructivebastards.blogspot.com/2009/10/olympics-are-self-destructive.html