[R-G] Fwd: Re from Emerson to Chavez

[aaron doncaster]

I was not planning on writting anything for Davis Day but after
reading a letter in the Globe and mail, I could not sit on my ass, I
had to respond. It is about twice as long as the average size of a
letter to the editor and probably will not be published but who knows.
Regardless, I am sharing it with you all and I am hoping that all
NovaScotians will continue to resist the tyranny of Emera and the all
canadians will work to stop the trade pact with Colombia. Please feel
free to forward widely and if you wish to edit it for publication in
spots that enforce the idea of grammatical imperialism, if you have to
edit it, do not change the content, just the punctuation.


               Aaron



---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: aaron doncaster <aaron.doncaster at gmail.com>
Date: Wed, Jun 11, 2008 at 2:37 PM
Subject: Re from Emerson to Chavez
To: Letters at globeandmail.com


What a coincidence you should publish your article about the possible
Canadian trade agreement with Columbia on June 11. I am originally
from Cape Breton and the majority of Cape Bretoners know what June 11
means to them. June 11 to me is about resisting corporate domination
and oppression and asserting the right to self determination; the
right to be free of corporate control.


The year was 1925 and the miners of New Waterford, Cape Breton were
out on strike to protest against deplorable Wages,working conditions
and living conditions.  Many were indebted to the company store,(the
miners called them "pluck me stores") and were so poor that they were
sending their children to school in clothing made from flour sacks.
The workers were demanding better wages so they could feed their
malnourished families. Vice-president of BESCO, the company that owned
the mine and the town of New Waterford, Had no sympathy for the miners
and their families. He was quoted as saying, "Let them stay out for 2
months or 6 months, it matters not, Eventually they will have to come
back to us, They can't stand the gaff." The vice-president of the
company could not have been more wrong. When the company thugs shut
off the electricity and water to the town for a full week, the miners
decided to act. The miners and their families marched to the plant and
confronted the company thugs who fired indiscriminately on the
miners.Even though Davis was shot dead, the miners managed to knock
the thugs from their horses, beat them and cart them off to their own
jail. The miners then proceeded to the company store where they looted
it and burnt it to the ground. Besco was eventually forced to dissolve
and a new company was formed.


Let's fast forward 83 years to the present, where here in Nova Scotia
we find ourselves controlled by a greedy tyrannical energy company
much in the same way that New Waterford in the early 1900's was
controlled by a greedy, tyrannical company. Nova Scotia Power, a
company that was stolen from the people of Nova Scotia by Emera, a
private American company,now wants to raise our energy rates again,
this time by 13%. I guess the huge profits they make from burning
Colombian blood coal is not enough. That is right, I said blood coal!!
The coal from Colombia is dripping with the blood of assassinated
union leaders and other poor colombians who Have been shot by
government connected Death squads. At this very moment in Colombia,
many members and former members of Uribe's Government are being
investigated for having ties to right-wing death squads. This is not
just a case of "a few bad apples", this scandal reaches the top with
former senator, Mario Uribe, The presidents cousin, also being
investigated.


As we in Nova Scotia look for inspiration from the tactics used by the
miners of Cape Breton in 1925 to fight our own battle against Nova
Scotia Power, I hope the rest of Canadians can look to the example of
Nova Scotia Power and their profiting from Colombian blood coal when
they decide weather or not it will be good for Canadians to have a
trade pact with Colombia. The trade in coal between Nova Scotia Power
and Colombia has only seen exploitation and oppression for the poor of
Colombia and Nova Scotia while it has seen the profits of Nova Scotia
power and companies like the cerrejonn mine company in Colombia,
skyrocket. I think we in Nova Scotia would be better off appealing to
Hugo Chavez to add poor Nova Scotians to his growing list of poor
communities recieving humanitarian aid vis-a-vis discounted oil. Maybe
Canada would be better off signing a trade agreement with the
government of Venezuela. When you look at chavez and see his
governments connections to community councils and community
cooperatives and compare that to Uribes connections to death squads
and unscrupulous multinational corporations, I think it is easy to see
who we should be doing bussiness with in South America
                                  Aaron Doncaster, Halifax, Nova Scotia