Friday, February 17, 2012

Coincidence or Planned Political Control?

Coincidence or Planned Political Control?
By Stephen J. Gray

“The nearly universal access to radio, television and increasingly the Internet is creating a community of shared perceptions and envy that can be galvanized and channeled by demagogic political or religious passions. These energies transcend sovereign borders and pose a challenge both to existing states as well as to the existing global hierarchy, on top of which America still perches.”[1]
Zbigniew Brzezinski


Recently here in Canada we have seen the furore over the proposed internet surveillance, Bill C-30.
But it is not only Canada that seems to have a proposed “Big Brother” watching over us. Other countries are immersed in watching and suppressing their citizens via legislation. A number of countries have signed the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) including Canada. Protests against ACTA have been happening in many European cities. The Guardian U.K. of February 13, 2012, stated there were, “protests in cities across the continent by tens of thousands of protesters” over ACTA. [2]
The EU Observer of 03.02.12 had the headline: “Battle lines drawn up in EU row on Acta” the article went on to state: “Parliament does not have the right to table amendments to Acta as it does on most other bills - as it is an international agreement - but instead has a single vote whether to approve the text or not.”

Strangely,though there does not appear to be much demonstrations against ACTA in Canada. Have the people been kept in the dark? Was it raised in the Canadian parliament before this “agreement” was signed?

“The Honourable Ed Fast, Minister of International Trade and Minister for the Asia Pacific Gateway, signed the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement on behalf of Canada on October 1, 2011 at a ceremony in Tokyo alongside Australia, Japan, Morocco, New Zealand, the Republic of Korea, Singapore and the United States.” [3]

The United States government has passed the National Defence Authorization Act (NDAA) which many people say could turn the USA into a police state. And Canada has signed a, “Canada-U.S. perimeter security pact,” which makes one wonder: Could Canadian citizens face arrest under the NDAA since this pact is called “Beyond Borders?” The video link below describes the seriousness of this NDAA.

Ron Paul Moves To Repeal NDAA Police State Provisions
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xs04CGyFyUU

Another proposed piece of legislation was the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA)
The National Post of January 20, 2012 had the headline: “SOPA stopped after unprecedented online protests” Still, one has to ask the question: Is it coincidence that all this proposed legislation seems to be happening at around the same time and in different countries? But hey, we don’t have political conspiracies, do we? Of course not, we know we can trust our political leaders? And we know our leaders think that it is good for democracy that people around the world can interact almost instantly? After all they believe in free speech and free expression! Don’t they?

“For the first time in history almost all of humanity is politically activated, politically conscious and politically interactive….” [4] Zbigniew Brzezinski

It is true that people everywhere are able to interact instantly because of the internet. Only political dictators fear freedom and free peoples. There is no doubt the internet is a danger to those who have power and one wonders is this why the move is on to censor and spy on those using it? Does the “existing global hierarchy” feel threatened? Do they wish to have total control of us all? And are we now living in Orwell’s “Big Brother” world?

"There was of course no way of knowing whether you were being watched at any given moment. How often, or on what system, the Thought Police plugged in on any individual wire was guesswork. It was even conceivable that they watched everybody all the time." George Orwell, 1984

Stephen J. Gray
February 17, 2012

Endnotes:
[1] http://www.the-american-interest.com/article.cfm?piece=56


[2] http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2012/feb/13/acta-protests-europe

[3] http://www.international.gc.ca/trade-agreements-accords-commerciaux/fo/intellect_property.aspx?view=d

[4] http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/16/opinion/16iht-YEbrzezinski.1.18730411.html


Info for further reading at links below:

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/story/2012/01/17/f-sopa-canada.html
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-16999497
http://euobserver.com/871/115128
http://edmonton.ctv.ca/servlet/an/local/CTVNews/20120210/internet-copyright-piracy-law-20120210/20120210/?hub=EdmontonHome
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/canada-us-perimeter-security-pact-will-cost-1-billion/article2191336/
http://news.nationalpost.com/2012/01/20/sopa-stopped-after-unprecedented-online-protests/