Zoe Blunt

Is shit about to get real at BC's pipeline blockade?

Zoe Blunt — Wed, 14 May 2014 07:15:14 +0000

Maybe. Here's how we'll know.

(Disclaimer: I don't speak for Unis'tot'en Camp. This analysis comes from first-hand reports, anonymous tips, and public sources. The situation could change at any time. Updates are posted at the Caravan page, http://facebook.com/nopipelines, and the Unis'tot'en Camp page, http://facebook.com/unistoten.)

Turfing out the racists

Zoe Blunt — Tue, 15 Jan 2013 16:44:10 +0000

Anti-Racist Action takes on the haters in Victoria

VICTORIA – Anti-racist organizers report they have won several skirmishes with a "conspiracy cult" linked to US patriot and militia organizations.

Victory! Vancity divests from Enbridge

Zoe Blunt — Wed, 22 Aug 2012 17:03:13 +0000

"Pipeline boycotts and blockades are just beginning"

Vancity announced today that it has divested Enbridge stock from its Socially Responsible Investment funds. The BC credit union is the first financial institution to quit investing in pipelines, but it won't be the last, a Victoria group promises.

Now Hiring: "Tens of Thousands" of Americans for Pipeline Jobs in Western Canada

Zoe Blunt — Mon, 09 Jul 2012 22:32:19 +0000

Announcement contradicts "pipelines create jobs for Canadians" ads

A company in Marietta, Georgia claims to have an "exclusive employment initiative with Alberta" to fill "an immediate need for tens of thousands of workers" on Canadian pipelines -- apparently contradicting the recent flood of "pipeline jobs for Canadians"

Vancity, Enbridge under pressure from enviros at annual meetings this week

Zoe Blunt — Mon, 07 May 2012 23:26:46 +0000

"Socially-responsible" credit union holds stock in tarsands companies

VICTORIA - A Vancouver Island environmental group is giving Vancity credit union a deadline to divest from Enbridge, the energy corporation responsible for planning the Northern Gateway pipeline from the Alberta tarsands to the BC coast.

Deep Green Resistance

Zoe Blunt — Sat, 05 May 2012 18:40:47 +0000

Words as tactical weapons

Originally published by Canadian Dimension.

Victory! Vancouver Islanders send mainland developer packing

Zoe Blunt — Thu, 15 Sep 2011 07:03:37 +0000

Every so often, something happens that reveals the power of people standing together to defend the land we love. This month, a collective effort to stop a destructive development on Vancouver Island reached a tipping point and overturned the forces of destruction.

Victoria human-rights advocate to sail with Gaza Flotilla

Zoe Blunt — Sat, 04 Jun 2011 23:02:17 +0000

Kevin Neish survived the Israeli attack on the 2010 flotilla, smuggled out photos of atrocities

One year after surviving a brutal Israeli attack on a humanitarian aid flotilla to Gaza, a Victoria human-rights advocate says he plans to join the next aid flotilla in June.

West Vancouver developer threatens world-famous park

Zoe Blunt — Thu, 20 Jan 2011 05:12:21 +0000

Proposal for a sprawling resort on the Juan de Fuca Trail draws heavy fire

Update: The Dogwood Initiative, Wilderness Committee, and Forest Action Network have joined with elders of the Pacheedaht First Nation and indigenous activists to demand a moratorium on deve

"You're not crazy and it's not your fault"

Zoe Blunt — Fri, 12 Nov 2010 20:15:00 +0000

Derrick Jensen on this destructive culture

On November 17, Jensen returns to the University of Victoria, BC to speak about "Endgame: the Problem of Civilization." 7 pm at MacLaurin Auditorium, room A144. Admission is free. More info here.

Vic PD Chief faces complaint over Olympic spying

Zoe Blunt — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 06:45:02 +0000

More fallout for Graham after undercover operation

Monday, December 7, 2009
Contact: Bruce Dean, 250-298-7256
Video and background links included

A Victoria man has filed a misconduct complaint regarding police chief Jamie Graham and undercover Victoria police operations.

Bury My Heart at Main and Hastings

Zoe Blunt — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 22:04:54 +0000

Olympic Games and murdered women

The Downtown Eastside of Vancouver – Canada's poorest urban neighbourhood – hosts the world at the Olympic Games in February. The people in this old Skid Row don't have much in terms of material things, but they have more than their share of murder and mayhem. As many as a hundred women, most young and aboriginal, have gone missing from these dirty streets in the past two decades. Dozens of them have been murdered.

Life in the Downtown Eastside can be harsh, but the residents are fierce about remembering the dead. They hold an annual memorial march for the missing and murdered women every February 14, Valentine's Day. After a huge prayer circle that shuts down the intersection of Main and Hastings at the steps of the fortress-like police station, grandmothers in full native regalia lead the hours-long march beating drums and singing the Woman Warrior song as they tour the neighbourhood and remember the women who are gone.

Now the Olympic Security police are trying to shut down the march. February 14 is Day 3 of the 2010 Olympic Games, and Hastings is a main Olympic traffic route and therefore part of the security zone. No demonstrations will be permitted there. The RCMP and VPD are trying to change the march route or cancel it completely while the Games are on.

A special kind of anger is reserved for the police in the Downtown Eastside. A special kind of rage can build up over years of insults and abuse from beat cops and mounted bulls. That rage nearly boiled over during the years when authorities refused to acknowledge the "epidemic" of women disappearing from the neighbourhood. And the residents know why. Most who vanished were aboriginal and female (two strikes), and most of them were also sex workers. So their lives were not worth as much as a Vancouver City Councillor's, for example. People who got too vocal and public about demanding an investigation got beat up by police, say organizers.

The cost of freedom in 2010

Zoe Blunt — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 03:36:40 +0000

The 2010 crackdown on civil liberties has already begun. Our response may determine the future of free speech and the rights we take for granted.

Context and recent events: 2010 bylaws in Vancouver, detaining local organizers, routine harassment of photographers in Victoria. Now ISU "won't rule out" using agents provacateur.

Exclusive: Background check on ISU chief Insp. Bud Mercer – how he put forest blockaders' lives in danger in the Elaho Valley in 2000, and how he retaliated against their complaints.

Interviews: Vancouver and Victoria organizers, BCCLA lawyers, comment from ISU, Vancouver city councillors, Victoria councillors.

(1600 words)

Writing Samples:

Vancouver Island Hippies: Top Security Threat for 2010? http://vancouver.mediacoop.ca/story/1606 After the 2010 Riot http://gnn.tv/articles/3913/After_the_2010_Riot Squat or Die http://zoeblunt.gnn.tv/articles/2682/Squat_or_Die

About the Author:

I regularly work as a journalist

I make less than $10,000 annually

Email Address:

zoeblunt@gmail.com

One-line bio:

Zoe Blunt is a journalism-school dropout and freelance writer on Vancouver Island.

In the Shadow of the Spruce

Zoe Blunt — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 01:34:31 +0000

Report back from Wild Earth action training camp

Once upon a time, about 800 years ago, a seed sprouted beside a river. As the centuries passed, the tiny seedling grew to be the largest Spruce in the country, a jagged gnarly moss-covered monster that blocks out the sun. It is covered with burls and shelf fungi the size of horses. Ferns and berry bushes sprout from its upper branches.

"Racist" Developer May Get the Torch

Zoe Blunt — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 05:33:42 +0000

Halloween uprising on Vancouver Island?

Victoria, BC – A local blog is reporting rumours that the controversial Bear Mountain Resort may host part of the 2010 Olympic Torch relay on Halloween.

WTF Langford? cites “insider gossip” as the source of this news, noting that municipalities recently sent their proposals for Torch venues to the Vancouver Olympic Organizing Committee (VANOC). An announcement is expected later this week, the blog says.

Conflict has dogged Bear Mountain Resort for over two years, with native protests and a ten-month-long treesit that blocked the route of a highway to the resort.

Last week, WTF Langford? named Bear Mountain owner Len Barrie Vancouver Island’s Most Racist Developer for desecrating native graves, blowing up SPAET Cave and willfully destroying a million-year-old native artifact.

The web site spells out a cozy relationship between Barrie and the BC Liberal Party, which is well-known for forging sleazy deals with developers. That relationship was consummated last year with a $10,000-a-plate Liberal fundraising dinner at Barrie’s sprawling estate at Bear Mountain.