A Time To Rage (Part Two) The B.C. Election, "Corporate Totalitarianism&

An “independent” paper like the Asian Pacific Post, frankly on the Right, declares in a mid-election, major editorial that the NDP wants a chance “to ruin British Columbia,” giving not a single fact about the real history of NDP government in B.C. or of the savage attack by the Campbell corporate totalitarians upon decent living in B.C. Other independent papers, of which Vancouver’s Georgia Straight and Victoria’s Monday Morning are only, perhaps, the best known, are too “sophisticated” (even though sometimes mildly sympathetic) to provide any serious balance to the big monopoly Right press. Those independent papers are yankee-style anarchist, New Age, or believers in corporate totalitarianism. They are not, basically, the expression of a counter culture to corporate totalitarianism, but, rather, they’re the street-level, dumbed-down, sensational excrescence of it. “Sensational” is the exact word. Study them. They concentrate on the sensations: hearing (bands and music), seeing (films), taste and smell (restaurants), and touching (various kinds of soft pornography). Thinking? Don’t be stupid. Thinking isn’t a sensation. Yes. Yes. The Georgia Straight’s latest issue devotes about two and a half of its 116 pages to the state of education in B.C. (April 21-28, 2005) But get this. In a province in which the Campbell Liberal government is doing everything it can to undermine and destroy public education, the Straight stories are full of “on the one hand, and on the other hand” excuse making. Indeed, in the midst of an election campaign, the B.C. Minister of Advanced Education, Ida Chong, failed or refused (as reported in two of the stories) to be interviewed about matters in her jurisdiction. THAT should have been on the front page of the Georgia Straight. Instead, one writer (Pieta Woolley) fills in for Chong. She writes: “If Minister of Advanced Education Ida Chong had returned Straight’s calls, she might have pointed out the success of Liberal changes to postsecondary education. Chief among them….” And so on. (p. 39) How’s that for balanced reporting? The minister in charge hides from one of the only media people who might question her Toxic Right policies, and so the journalist COVERS for the minister, arguing her case! A free press? Who are we kidding? Then there are the progressive research and advocacy groups. One is the B.C. Citizens for Public Power, a strongly supported group trying to prevent privatization of B.C. Hydro. It does good work, but…. Another is the B.C. branch, Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, a people’s response to the Fraser Institute, the C.D. Howe Institute and such like reactionary indoctrination tanks (mistakenly called “think tanks”). CCPA does good work, but…. But what? But they preach to the converted and pray with the saved. If you’re on their mailing list, you get information. Otherwise you know almost nothing of their work. Citizens for Public Power had a meeting to which it invited the responsible Liberal MLAs – who refused to attend. What did CCP do? Nothing. Between it and the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, they have enough ammunition to defeat the present government – quite apart from information about Gordon Campbell Liberal lying, breaking contracts, and scandals (about 12 people facing charges for criminal activity related to the sale of B.C. Rail – a matter almost never mentioned by the opposition or the media in this election campaign). The information of those good agencies is almost useless in the present campaign. The rotten B.C. press and media touch almost none of it. And the people running the two organizations (and there are more) seem unwilling to soil their hands with street-level politics. They might lose their tax-free status. They might offend CanWest monopoly press and be attacked by it. They might be challenged as being “political”! They are, however, only a part of the rot. The unions should be in the streets – as unions with major grievances – every day with good information hand-outs. They are nowhere to be seen. The B.C. Federation of Labour is leading people … nowhere. Carol James, leader of the NDP, faces an election in a province that has an almost totally polluted press and media – that undermine her at every turn. She is fighting an election in a province that is more polarized than it has been in decades. Her opponent – the Gordon Campbell Toxic Right government – has attacked British Columbians (in favour of [foreign] private corporations) through the tax system, in healthcare, in legal services, by dirty privatizations, by legislating environmental degradation, by hammering the aged, sick and defenseless at all levels of social assistance, and by working to destroy public education. The polarization is outrageous. (See “A Time to Rage”, Part Three). One of the mantras of Carol James is that she is not interested in polarizing issues in British Columbia! And she says a lot of the dirty things done by the B.C. Liberals can’t be undone. The unions and the progressive research and advocacy groups, with the NDP, should be in the streets daily with a brilliant, easy-to-understand set of pamphlets, telling the ugly, dirty, shameful story of the rotten press and its bedmate, the Gordon Campbell Liberal government. They should be delivering the pamphlets - house by house – all over British Columbia – accompanied by a short, sharp NDP statement of platform for change. They should be polarizing as hard as they can. I know their first answer. “If you’re so anxious, go ahead and organize such action.” I spoke to leaders of both research organizations. They were clearly not interested in citizens’ action in the streets. I tried to interest unions in a non-union, citizen-support organization. They either simply refused to talk to me (the B.C. Federation of Labour), or they talked and then ran away. What would the union hierarchy do with a strong support organization that disagreed with union hierarchy submissiveness? I know their second answer, too. “We couldn’t get volunteers to deliver the pamphlets to homes, to libraries, to people on street corners.” I believe there are people all over the province who would do those things. But we won’t know, will we, without a campaign to gather people, to respect, inspire and involve them? And so we are left with a perilous situation. It is, in fact, a situation the leaders of social action and concern in B.C. are, mostly, unwilling to admit to themselves, a situation in which the very structures of Canadian democracy are being destroyed by the Campbell Liberal government. It is a situation which demands a huge response. The B.C. population has to go to the polls on May 17 and throw out the Campbell corporate totalitarians. It is going to have to do that without significant leadership. It is going to have to do it in a province that not only is without a free press and media but one in which the press and media support Corporate Rule and suppress important information. The B.C. population has to go to the polls through a sea of media and corporate lies and propaganda. The B.C. population has to change the government of B.C. without being given the reminder information it must have and would have if the province had a free press. The population has to throw out the Campbell corporate totalitarians without dynamic leadership. And when the opposition leadership does try to reach the voters, it is smothered by the corporate press and media. The B.C. population can throw out the Campbell corporate totalitarians on May 17, even with all the strikes against such an outcome. And the B.C. population must do it. [Proofreader's note: this article was edited for spelling and typos on May 2, 2005]