I imagine the day, probably within twenty years, when Stephen Harper, former prime minister of Canada, will sit in the prisoner's dock to stand trial.
Harper and his co-defendants will be tried for crimes against humanity and treason. He will be tried for his instrumental role in subverting action to arrest global warming both within Canada and internationally and causing the otherwise avoidable deaths of thousands, perhaps millions, of innocents.
I know this all sounds ridiculously fanciful - today. Harper on trial? Over climate change? Preposterous. Sure, today. But twenty years from now we may well see his actions much differently. Indeed we may be living with the exceedingly unpleasant and even dangerous consequences of his perfidy.
Law students are taught the doctrine of retroactivity in criminal law. You cannot convict someone of a crime that wasn't a criminal offence at the time it was committed. Yet, as with all legal doctrines, there is much grey area. And within that, I propose this.
As the consequences of inaction are potentially so catastrophic for our children and grandchildren and, as they have no current voice politically, and as those deciding their fate are those in power today, let us subscribe to and circulate a petition, placing these people on unequivocal notice, that they shall be held responsible, civilly and criminally, in future for the actions and decisions they take today that could be foreseeably hazardous to our future generations.
It's not as though we're asking them to take stabs in the dark. The science exists, the consensus is patent. What conceivable right have they to ignore it in pursuit of their very passing, short-term interests?
I need to find some organization capable of undertaking this sort of online petition. We and our children and our grandchildren, need to fix responsibility for their future through the balance of this century on the decision makers of today. They need to be held to account and, for the life of me, I cannot and have not thought of a better way to do it.
If Harper & Co. and their New Dem and Liberal successors knew they would face having to answer for their callous and self-serving neglect, they would damn well think twice on it. Iron bars and forfeiture are the only way to control this sort of political excess.
We must make this gang of petro-pimps, whether Conservative, Liberal or NDP, once again fear us, the Canadian public. We have too long lived in fear of them.
And to make this idea go down just a little easier, try this:
10 comments:
Perhaps someone at the Council of Canadians could help? Of course there are the online options such as Avaaz or Care2.
Perhaps their refusal to acknowledge climate science is the admittance that they simply lack the managerial skills to feed, house, employ, and otherwise govern our current population. Perhaps they find it easier to maintain their ruling class with a smaller peasant class to keep in control? Perhaps I'm cynical. Perhaps they're just that ignorant or arrogant.
Anon, to anyone you can think of who might help, please pass along a link to this post. We're running out of time.
I met a man on a Via train last year who was telling me about his effort to put together a legal case to charge Harper with this sort of crime.
Interesting idea. I think the language of such a petition would require that it be bullet-proof in a legal sense. Would the petition be valid in 10-20 years? Could it be legislated out of existence? Could leaders use the Nuremburg defense and just say they were following orders or the tenets of their religious faith? Would it be required that the petition be presented to leaders on a yearly basis or just once during their mandates?
I am not a lawyer, but it seems to me that the language and process of any such petition would have to be carefully considered.
"Could leaders use the Nuremburg defense"
Recall that the "Nuremburg" defense was famous for being declared INVALID at Nuremburg. Mind you the evil slime has learned a lot of tricks since then and poor guys like Nixon would be jealous of what the current crop gets away with scot free.
I think of the banker/fraudsters in 1929, who had the courtesy to jump out of their windows rather than demand corporate welfare.
RE: Anonymous comment Mar 27, 22012 at 10:05 provideed you/us with the two current orgs (CoC and Avaaz) that may be able to accept and promote the challenges you eloquently discuss in your post. The Council of Canadians, being home based, is proactive in all activities relevant to prrogressive Canadian citizens and would be the place to start IMHO. They were front and centre at the prorogue demos and have just launched a court case/challenge regarding electoral fraud issue in a number of ridings accross the country. Avaaz, with its global initiatives and a broader world perspective is another excellent source for dealing with the issues faced worldwide - they do have a branch affiliate that resonates the Canadian perspective and is in tune with progressive initiatives.
I have contacted Avaaz about this and will also try to reach the Council of Canadians. Any other suggestions? Thanks all.
MOS...you will need to be very careful and watch your back. Look at what is happening to the Military.
Here is the link to the Care2 Petition site:
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/
Man you guys are funny!
For a minute there I actually thought you guys were serious!!
LOL
Deno
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