CRIMINALIZATION OF DISSENT

Kudos to the Waterloo Region Record for their story in yesterday's paper titled "Ichim sues over G20 arrest". I believe that Mr. Ichim is long overdue for some positive press. He has been the canary in the coalmine as far as freedom of speech and freedom of dissent in this region and province for many years. No I do not agree with his stated Marxist-Leninist politics. So what? I sure as heck don't remotely agree with Stephen Harper's Conservative politics either. If that makes me a criminal then I now understand why the Tories want to build more prisons. Over half the voters in this country disagree with what their prime Minister is doing. Try jailing all of us you morons.

The author of this story states "He was charged with conspiring to do property damage and obstruct police but the charges were dropped six months later.". Further Mr. Ichim states "I was identified as a threat to the G20- not because of any physical actions I have done, but rather instead for the politics that I hold, which are Marxist-Leninist politics". Further the lawsuit alleges the undercover officer involved violated Mr. Ichim's privacy by conducting intrusive surveillance. This included advising lawyers and officers of Mr. Ichim's romantic interludes. The best quote in this newspaper article is Mr. Ichim's following comment : "I have no idea what my favourite sexual positions have to do with national security.".

One final comment here is my disgust with the authorities involved. All charges were dropped around his arrest but months later Mr. Ichim was charged criminally for using the undercover officer's psuedonym on his Blog . The Blog can be accessed by googling "Julian Ichim". Keep in mind this officer used this false name for over a year and is the name he was known by within the activist community. Also keep in mind his real name was published by the lomg established print media. What is going on here? Pretty clearly Mr. Ichim is a thorn in the side of our establishment and they are abusing their power and authority to try and shut him up. He truly is the canary in the coalmine and as he is treated by our authorities is how we all will eventually be treated.