Sunday, April 20, 2008

On whether the Disabled are "inherently progressive", "inherently reactionary" or neither

One of your cadre responded to my remark, that disabled community that regards the killing of Tracy Latimer to be an act of violent bigotry, the disabled people "aren't inherently progressive" and talking about the reactionary and racist high school I went to (I think that he was implying that they were "inherently reactionary"). The high school I went to was for people with disabilities. One thing about my high school is it was a private school making it only available to the rich. Another point, is that the administration/board-of-directors didn't provide ESL services at the high school as well as having an entrance exam where fluency in the English language is required (these things would prevent immigrants and minorities from entering the school). This meant that Fraser Academy, my high school, was a fertile ground for reactionaries including white supremacist. The administration, I believe, shared in this racism and the administration were not disabled. Very few disabled people from minority ethnic backgrounds or from blue-collar or plebeian backgrounds went to Fraser.

In terms of whether the disabled are "inherently progressive" or "inherently reactionary" I would argue neither. The disabled community like any minority community is divided into classes. There is the Proletariat who's objective interests are in abolishing private property and class society. There is the Bourgeoisie who's interests are in maintaining this decaying order. Then you have the Petty-Bourgeoisie and the Lumpenproletariat who can go either way in class-struggle.

Even if people with disabilities were "inherently reactionary" I think it would criminal not to defend them from oppression. The Lumpenproletariat have a reputation for social backwardness. Does that mean they should be defended from state terror. Islam and Sikhism (like all religions including Christianity and Judaism) seek to chain the working class to their exploiters. Does that mean the workers movement shouldn't oppose the oppression of Sikhs and Muslims.

In terms of the argument that Tracy Latimer was in "continual agony" and needed to be "relieved of pain". This is the typical hackneyed rhetoric of ableist bigots who promote the killing and oppression of the disabled including eugenicists and outright fascists (like the Third Reich). When Hitler had the disabled "mercy killed" (only the first victims of the Nazi by the way) he described them as "live unworthy of life" and their lives as "lives not worth living". It has been commonly argued by ableist bigots that the disabled are in "hopeless pain" and need to be "put out of their misery".

It has been argued by some that because Robert Latimer didn't personally say "I am for violence against the disabled" that what he did was not an act of terror. By the that logic the cops don't commit acts of terror, because in their press conferences, when they are interviewed by the press or on their websites they don't talk about killing minorities or terrorizing the oppressed. They instead talk about "law and order", "fighting crime" and "getting tough on criminals". You could also logically argue that suit-and-tie fascists aren't racist or fascist because they say they want to kill, terrorize and exterminate minorities but instead that they are "white separatist", that they are for "civil rights for white people", "self-determination for white people" etc. There is even a white-supremacist group out there called the "National Association for the Advancement of White People (NAAWP)" a sick parody of the National Association for the Advancement of Coloured People (NAACP).

Comradely,
M.G.

A Robert Latimer Support who Supports Flogging, Hanging and Tasers

This is a Robert Latimer supporter who supports the use of police tasers and supports the reintroduction of the death penalty by hanging and the flogging of children in the nuclear family and public schools.

http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=507995461

Saturday, April 19, 2008

The Tracy Latimer Case, the Gutting of Public Services and the Rights of the Disabled

There are supporters of Robert Latimer who will argue that Latimer was justified in killing his daughter because healthcare has been gutted. There is no denying that public services has been gutting and that this has been harmful to the disabled. Programs that are beneficial to the disabled include vocational services, welfare, disability, mental health housing and healthcare. That being said, the fact that an oppressed person is denied public does not justify the killing of that oppressed people. Does the fact that blacks in the US are disproporionately unemployed, disproportianately jailed mean that lynching is justified? Does the fact that first nations people in Canada are segregated on reserves justify cop terror against natives? There are many arguments made by racists of this sort such as "blacks were better off during slavery", "Hitler was an asset to the Jewish cause" etc.

As for the claim by some that the Latimer case is "an example of rural people being blamed for their own oppression". The killers of Matthew Shepard and Gwen Araujuo took place in rural towns. Would condemning the killing of Matthew Shepard and Gwen Araujuo be "blaiming the victim"? The KKK has a strong foothold in the southern states in the US and the Prairies in Canada both of which have been historically rural. Does that make opposing fascist terror "blaiming the victim". The scabs and the gun thugs, the nucleus of the fascist movement, are generally recruited from the lumpenproletariat. The lumpenproletariat are oppressed, so is one to assume that the fascists aren't a threat to the working class or the oppressed or that opposing the fascists is "blaiming the victims for their own oppression".

As for the argument by some that Robert Latimer and Tracy Latimer "suffered together" I personally think this is absurd. Their are plenty of cases of parents of the disabled being bigoted towards their own disabled children. Do racists "suffer together" with racially minorities? Do homophobes "suffer together" with gays, lesbians, bisexuals and transgenders. Do misogynists "suffer together" with women? I would personally have to answer no to all of those.

Comradely,
M.G.

On whether the State has a Vendetta against Robert Latimer

Personally, I would argue that the state does not have a vendetta against Robert Latimer. Robert had planned to murder his daughter Tracy 12 days before he actually killed her. This would make what he did technically, first-degree murder. Robert Latimer was, however, charged with second-degree murder. If the state was determined to go after Robert Latimer wouldn't they have charged him with first-degree murder?

A case similar to this, I think, is the Robert Pickton case. The courts only charged Pickton with second-degree murder when his actions two were premeditated, meaning he should have been charged with first-degree murder. Not only that, but when Pickton's victims were disappearing, the cops sat on their hands.

What Robert Latimer's victim and Pickton's victim have in common (apart from being killed in cold-blood) is the fact that they are both oppressed peoples. Pickton's victims were all female First Nation's prostitutes and Robert Latimer's victim, Tracy Latimer, was a mentally challenged girl with cerebral palsy. And as we know the Bourgeois state is not in the business of defending oppressed people.

It can not be denied that the Bourgeois state has unjustly jailed people. Notable examples would include Mumia Abu-Jamal, Leonard Peltier, Alison Bodine, the Cuban Five, the MOVE Eight, the Ohio Seven etc. What these people have in common is that they all fought for the oppressed. Robert Latimer, however, killed an oppressed person. Bigots that kill minorities, immigrants, natives, the disabled etc. are, in my opinion, are not class war prisoners and do not belong on your stipend program nor should they have the solidarity of the workers' movement.

I think I noted before that Tracy Latimer was not terminally ill, not brain-dead nor is their any evidence of her wanting to die or consenting to being killed. This is murder not assisted suicide. I'm all for suicide and assisted suicide being legal or at least decriminalized. Being disabled, however, does not make someone better off dead. Their is a big long history of people with disabilities being considered "better off dead". This has been the logic of the eugenics movement and of the Nazis. Hitler when "mercy killed" the sick and disabled described the disabled as "lives not worth living" and "life not worthy of life". Robert Latimer supporters describe Tracy as "dead the day she was born" which is quite simply not true. Tracy's life was not "nothing but pain".

The overwhelming majority of the disabled community as well as disability rights groups see what Robert Latimer did as an act of violence and ableist bigotry. If the Trotskyist League and/or the Workers' Movement supports Robert Latimer this will only drive a wedge between the worker's movement and the disabled. The disabled community would rightly see the Trotskyist League and the worker's movement as supporting their extermination. This in the past has at it worst forced sections of the oppressed into the hands of the Bourgeois. The betrayal of the Reformists, Centrists, Stalinists and Syndicalists of the popular front in Spain for the peasants and the Moroccan separatists into the hands of Franco. The betrayals of the Kremlin and Warsaw Stalinists forced the historically class-conscious Proletariat into the hands of Solidarnosc which was controlled by Washington, Wall Street, London, the Vatican and the IMF.
I get that this is a very sensitive issue for alot of people and I apologize if I have come off as too confrontational with you people but a revolutionary party that prides itself on fighting for all oppressed people must not capitulate to ableist bigotry and support the murderers of the disabled.

Comradely,
M.G.

Thursday, April 17, 2008

Altruistic Filicide: Bioethics or Criminology?

http://www.ualberta.ca/~bioethic/HETVol12No1/page8.html Altruistic Filicide: Bioethics or Criminology?

On whether Robert Latimer is oppressed

From what I understand, Robert Latimer owned a farm which would make him a peasant (petty-bourgeois) since he owned land he would not be a landless peasant but either the middle or upper stratum of the peasantry (I don't know how much land he owned). I think the petty-bourgeoisie could be considered oppressed. I think landless peasants would be the most oppressed peasants. He is white (not oppressed), he is male (not oppressed), from what I understand he is heterosexual (not oppressed). I am not aware of him being of a minority of any stripe.

In terms of Latimer killing his daughter, I don't think Latimer is oppressed. I earlier compared the killing of Tracy Latimer to "honour killing". "Honour killing" from what I understand has taken place in the Muslim community and I think the Sikh community. On the one hand, Muslims and Sikhs are the victims of oppression but then again so are women, the victims of "honour killings". The fact that Muslims and Sikhs are oppressed, which they clearly are, doesn't mean that "honour killings" aren't barbaric.

Reflections on the Tracy Latimer Case

I think if I gave the impression that Robert Latimer was a fascist that it was inaccurate since he has never called for the decimation of the Proletariat. Bigotry isn't necessarily fascist. One thing about the Holocaust is the goal was to wipe entire peoples off the face of the earth. This is different from a single act of bigotry like the killing of Matthew Shepard or the killing of Gwen Araujuo it is not merely an act of genocide.

In terms of "mercy killings" (involuntary "euthanising" of the disabled and other oppressed people). This has been advocated by Eugenecists and the Third Reich. Again, I should probably, there is no evidence that Robert Latimer is a fascist since fascists are for decimating the working class (which Latimer hasn't called for). In terms of whether not Latimer is support the extermiting of the disabled, I haven't yet confirmed but have heard that Robert Latimer is lobbying the government to legalize "mercy killings" (i.e. the killing of the disabled).

I terms of whether Robert Latimer's action were an act of bigotry. With Robert Latimer and his supporters and likely with Robert Latimer himself they don't seem to make a distinction between "relieving someone in pain" and killing someone with a disability. Many of his supporters including the Canadian Civil Liberties Association (CCLA) will say things like "he did what he did to relieve Tracy of her pain (she had severe cerebral palsy)" or they justify what Latimer killing Tracy without consent on the grounds that she had a low IQ or has the mind of a 3 month old child. The fact that someone has a low IQ doesn't make killing them any more exceptable. This same society that to a large extent is sympathetic to Robert Latimer is also a society deeply bigoted towards the disabled. Whenever someone non-disabled is killed by their parents their is outrage yet when a parent kills their disabled child there can often by public sympathy. And not all bigots are as openly bigoted. Many opponents of affirmative action say they are "fighting for equal opportunity". The are white racists who claim to be fighting for "civil rights and self-determination for white people".

In terms of a number of Robert Latimer's being white people with shaved head. Historically, from what I understand, white people with shaved heads has been associated with outright fascists. I should have pointed out that there are some white people with shaved heads her aren't fascist. I think, however, if white guys with shaved heads are rallying around a person who killed someone with a disability I don't think this should be ignored. He also has a prominent supporter who claims the US is a puppet for Israel.

In terms of Tracy feeling nothing but pain, this I think is highly inaccurate. According to the Toronto Star, "Tracy Latimer is remembered by her schoolteachers as a girl who loved music. They also remember her smile." There were points were she felt great pain mind you. Many people with Tracy's condition, however, choose to go on living. Cerebral palsy is also treatable, in fact Robert Latimer was opposed to giving Tracy hip surgery saying that "it was mutilation and that it wouldn't cure Tracy". He also refused to give Tracy a permanent institutional place a respite home. The Toronto Star pointed out "critics say other people who take anti-convulsing medication do find compatible pain relief".

In terms of whether or not the killing of Tracy Latimer has led to more killing of the disabled, according to Ragged Edge Magazine:

"Between 1990 and 1994, the average number of Canadian murder cases in which parents killed their children was 34 for each year, according to University of Alberta psychology professor Dick Sobsey.

Between 1994 and 1998, the average rate was 49, with 62 cases in 1997 alone.

Why the increase in what Sobsey calls "altruistic filicide", the killing of a child out of the belief that death is in the child's best interest?

Sobsey, the head of J.P. Das Developmental Disabilities Centre, points to the 1993 murder of Tracy Latimer, and the media coverage surrounding her death and her murderer's court trials.

"After 1994, we saw a big increase in the number of parents killing their children in Canada," Sobsey said.

It goes on to say:
"The case has become a focal point of a debate between disability rights advocates who see Tracy's death as one of countless examples of extreme abuse upon people with disabilities, and people who believe that "mercy killing" is justified when the victim has a severe disability. Most on both sides agree, however, that the media and public sentiment favors Robert Latimer."

In terms

My sources:
http://www.historyplace.com/worldwar2/holocaust/h-euthanasia.htm The History Place - Talks about "Mercy Killings"
http://www.eugenicsarchive.org/eugenics/ Eugenics Archive - Talks about "Mercy Killings"
http://www.dnai.org/e/index.html DNA Interactive - Talks about "Mercy Killings"
http://dawn.thot.net/Tracy_Latimer.html DisAbled Women's Action Network - On Tracy Latimer not feeling "nothing but pain"
http://www.thestar.com/comment/columnists/article/309347 The Toronto Star - Talks about Tracy Latimer feeling more than just pain
http://www.ragged-edge-mag.com/drn/latimer0402.html Ragged Edge Magazine - Sympathy for Robert Latimer link to increase in child murders

An Anti-Semite who Supports Robert Latimer (The "Free Robert Latimer!" Group had a link to him)

One person that the Free Robert Latimer group has as a supporter is a man named Greg Felton who also wrote a book claiming the United States of America is a puppet for Israel which has been a slander made by, I believe, the Militia of the 1990s (a movement of Right-Wing Paramilitaries, which is affiliated to outright fascists like the KKK) as well as outright fascists like the Neo-Nazis.

Demands I Think You Should Have on the Disability Question

1) Abolish all state-funding for the Lovaas Treatment, IBI Treatment and ABA Treatment!

2) Abolish all state-funding for the Autism Society and all "Cure Autism" groups! Abolish all groups advocating the supremacy of neurotypicals.

3) Abolish the Judge Rotenburg "Educational Centre"!

4) Mobilize Labour to Smash the Free Robert Latimer Movement!

5) Labour must oppose "mercy killings" of the disabled and the oppressed!

6) Labour must oppose must solidarize with all disabled and oppressed people who fall victim to "mercy killings"!

7) Defend welfare, public healthcare and government funded vocational services from government cuts!

Note: "Mercy Killings" are fundamentally different from Euthanasia.

A Hue and Cry for a Witchhunt against the Disabled: The Bourgeois Presses Support for Robert Latimer

Dear Spartacist Canada/Workers' Vanguard/PDC,

The bourgeois press for the most part has been favouring Robert Latimer against the disabled in the case of him lynching his disabled daughter. This has had a bandwagon effect on the majority of society. The majority of Canadian bourgeois society favours Robert Latimer. And like I have said before "mercy killing" which Robert Latimer calls his actions has been proven by history to be a rallying cry for fascist terror and genocide against the oppressed. Hitler described the killing of people in the concentration camps during the 'Final Solution' as "mercy killings". Eugenecists used the term to describe the involuntary "euthanizing" of the disabled as well as other oppressed people.

I believe the bourgeois press's support could be paving the way possibly for a witchhunt against the disabled. Often, from what I understand, the bourgeois press will be sure to whipped up hysteria when preparing for a witchhunt, bolstering the state, going to war etc. The bourgeois press whipped hysteria about "Satanic Ritual Abuse" to whip up the anti-sex hysteria, the third great witchhunt. The bourgeois press whipped up hysteria about "weapons of mass destruction" before going to war with Iraq. The bourgeois press whipped up hysteria about "terrorism" before curtailing civil liberties. The beorgeois press today is whipping up hysteria today to pave the way for possible wars on China, North Korea and Iran. I think too the beorgeois press is whipping up bigotry towards the disabled and sympathy for Robert Latimer possibly to pave the way for genocide or witchhunt or the like against the disabled.

Comradely,
M.G.

What I think you stances should be on the Abortion, Euthanasia and "Mercy Killings"

1) I think that you are right to call for 'Free Abortion on Demand'. The reason being fetuses are not scientifically human since they are not yet living outside and physically part of the women's body.

2) I think that you are right in supporting Voluntary Euthanasia (especially the terminally ill). The reason being that it is a personal choice.
3) I think that you had the right stance on the Terry Schiavo case since Schiavo is brain-dead. The Terry Shiavo incident was technically not a homocide

4) I think that you should unconditionaly oppose "mercy killings" (involuntary "euthanasia"). The reason being that "mercy killing" has historically been a rallying cry for fascist terror and genocide against the oppressed. "Mercy Killing" was advocated by Eugenicists as well as the Nazis in Germany (Hitler used the very term "mercy killing" in reference to the Final Solution). "Mercy Killing" today has been used today as a pretext to kill the disabled (eg. The lynching of Tracy Latimer at the hands of her fascistic yahoo of a father Robert Latimer).

5) If someone is not terminally ill or brain-dead and there is evidence of them requesting to or consenting to have their life being terminated then, in my opinion, it is not a case of euthanasia.

6) Groups that support the "mercy killing" of disabled as well as the 'Free Robert Latimer', I think, should in most cases be labeled as fascistic (unless there is evidence of them physically attacking the working class, in which I think that they should be labed fascist). If these groups were to rally it should be dealt with the way you deal with KKK, Neo-Nazi, Skinhead or Minutemen rallies. If these people speak at a forum they should be dealt with they way you deal with the Minutemen or right-wing bigots like Horowitz when they speak at a forum.

7) Since "mercy killing" has been historically advocated by fascists and many of Robert Latimer's supporter (at least on facebook probably in the real world too) are white people with shaved heads, I think it can be assumed that the Free Robert Latimer Movement contains within it the embryo of fascism.

More Information on Tracy Latimer

http://www.ccdonline.ca/publications/latimer-watch/1298d.htm Council of Canadians with Disabilities: Publications: Latimer Watch
Article by a Fascistic Bigot Arthur Schafer from Manitoba who supports legalizing the lynching of the disabled (his article really plays on emotions):

Bioethics and the Rights of the Disabled

http://www.ccdonline.ca/issues/bioethics/1199.htm Council of Canadians with Disabilities: Issues: Bioethics - Gene genies: The opinions of disabled people are being ignored in the ethical debate over genetic testing.
http://www.ccdonline.ca/issues/bioethics/1099.htm Council of Canadians with Disabilities: Issues: Bioethics - Disabled People seek input on Bioethics: Breaking Down Barriers
http://www.ccdonline.ca/publications/latimer-watch/0300.htm Council of Canadians with Disabilities: Publications: Latimer Watch - Confronting Ableist Bias

Judge Rotenburg "Educational Centre" an Abu Graihb for Autistics and other people with Disabilities

The "Educational Centre" involves aversives the worst being electric shocks for Autistics:
http://www.motherjones.com/news/feature/2007/09/school_of_shock.html School of Shock - Mother Jones - By Jennifer Gonnerman - August 20, 2007
http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2008/01/17/showdown_over_shock_therapy/ Bill will limit, not ban, shock therapy - Boston Globe - Patricia Wen, Globe Staff - January 17, 2008
http://www.motherjones.com/news/feature/2007/09/nagging_zap_swearing_zap.html Nagging? Zap. Swearing? Zap: New York's Invesitigations of the Rotenberg Center - Mother Jones - By Jennifer Gonnerman - August 20, 2007
http://www.motherjones.com/news/feature/2007/09/why_cant_mass_shut_matthew_israel_down.html Why can't Massachussets shut Matthew Israel Down - Mother Jones - By Jennifer Gonnerman - August 20, 2007
http://www.motherjones.com/news/feature/2007/09/how_a_cult_spawned_the_tough_love_teen_industry.html The Cult that Spawned the Tough Love Teen Industry - Mother Jones - By Maia Szalavitz - August 20, 2007
http://www.motherjones.com/news/feature/2007/09/experts_on_matthew_israels_methods.html Experts on Self-Injurious Kids Challenge Dr. Israel's Methods - Mother Jones - By Jennifer Gonnerman - August 20, 2007
http://www.motherjones.com/news/feature/2007/09/non_shocking_therapy.html What Works for Troubled Teens? - Mother Jones - By Maia Szalavitz - August 20, 2007
More about Autism:
http://www.nationalreviewofmedicine.com/issue/2006/04_30/3_patients_practice05_8.html "We don't need to be cured", says Autistics - National Review of Medecine - Gillian Woodford
Stuff by the Judge Rotenburg "Education Centre":
http://www.judgerc.org/ Judge Rotenburg "Education Centre"
http://www.judgerc.org/history.html The "History" of the Judge Rotenburg "Education Centre"

Doctor's group in UK suggest mercy killing for disabled babies: Ethics questions

More on the Disability Question

I just wanted to say that the remarks I have made about the Tracy Latimer I have made as a supporter, not as an opponent. The party has a proud history defending the oppressed. I only ask that you extend this program to the disabled. The role of the vanguard party, I believe is to defend ALL oppressed people not SOME oppressed peoples or MOST oppressed peoples.
Comradely,
M.G.
More Information on the Autism Question (part of the Disability Question):
http://www.autistics.org/library/aspergerson_censorship00.html Censorship & Banning of Autistic Canadians jypsy (janet norman-bain) and Michelle Dawson by Aspergers Society of Ontario
http://www.thiswayoflife.org/blog/?p=165 Success is Allowed, Unless You're Autistics
http://www.quicktopic.com/24/H/fgjQyy3iXCf No Autistics Allowed, by Michelle Dawson
http://www.autistics.org/library/dawson.html In Support of Michelle Dawson and Her Work
http://www.neurodiversity.com/mothers_for_dignity.html Petition to Defend the Dignity of Autistic Citizens
http://www.vran.org/news-art/news/news_files/ltr-pp-can-gov.htm No Thankyou, Pierre Pettigrew by Michelle Dawson
http://www.neurodiversity.com/dawson.html Writings of Michelle Dawson on Discrimination Against Autistic Persons, the Social and Human Rights Implications of the Catastrophic View of Autism, and Applied Behavioral Analysis as an Early Intervention Technique
http://neurodiversity.com/weblog/article/66/ Unchelated Autistics "Just Lost"???
http://www.sentex.net/~nexus23/naa_aba.html The Misbehaviour of Behaviourist by Michelle Dawson
http://www.sentex.net/~nexus23/naa_js.html NO AUTISTICS ALLOWED: Autism Society Canada Speaks For Itself by Michelle Dawson
http://www.sentex.net/~nexus23/naa_one.html NO AUTISTICS ALLOWED ONE YEAR LATER: Autism Society Canada Builds a Ghetto by Michelle Dawson
http://isnt.autistics.org/ Institute for the Neurologically Typical
Fascistic Anti-Autistic Bigotry:
Disturbing Poll Concerning the Killing of Tracy Latimer:

Wednesday, April 16, 2008

Another Point on the Tracy Latimer Case

I just wanted to say that the remarks I have made about the Tracy Latimer I have made as a supporter, not as an opponent. The party has a proud history defending the oppressed. I only ask that you extend this program to the disabled. The role of the vanguard party, I believe is to defend ALL oppressed people not SOME oppressed peoples or MOST oppressed peoples.
Comradely,
M.G.
More Information on the Autism Question (part of the Disability Question):
http://www.autistics.org/library/aspergerson_censorship00.html Censorship & Banning of Autistic Canadians jypsy (janet norman-bain) and Michelle Dawson by Aspergers Society of Ontario
http://www.thiswayoflife.org/blog/?p=165 Success is Allowed, Unless You're Autistics
http://www.quicktopic.com/24/H/fgjQyy3iXCf No Autistics Allowed, by Michelle Dawson
http://www.autistics.org/library/dawson.html In Support of Michelle Dawson and Her Work
http://www.neurodiversity.com/mothers_for_dignity.html Petition to Defend the Dignity of Autistic Citizens
http://www.vran.org/news-art/news/news_files/ltr-pp-can-gov.htm No Thankyou, Pierre Pettigrew by Michelle Dawson
http://www.neurodiversity.com/dawson.html Writings of Michelle Dawson on Discrimination Against Autistic Persons, the Social and Human Rights Implications of the Catastrophic View of Autism, and Applied Behavioral Analysis as an Early Intervention Technique
http://neurodiversity.com/weblog/article/66/ Unchelated Autistics "Just Lost"???
http://www.sentex.net/~nexus23/naa_aba.html The Misbehaviour of Behaviourist by Michelle Dawson
http://www.sentex.net/~nexus23/naa_js.html NO AUTISTICS ALLOWED: Autism Society Canada Speaks For Itself by Michelle Dawson
http://www.sentex.net/~nexus23/naa_one.html NO AUTISTICS ALLOWED ONE YEAR LATER: Autism Society Canada Builds a Ghetto by Michelle Dawson
http://isnt.autistics.org/ Institute for the Neurologically Typical
Fascistic Anti-Autistic Bigotry:
Disturbing Poll Concerning the Killing of Tracy Latimer:

Another Point on the Lynching of Tracy Latimer

I do have to admit that a portion of the people who oppose "mercy killings" are Conservative Catholics and Conservative Evangelicals. The People who oppose "mercy killings" are people from religious organizations and disability rights groups. The people who support "mercy killings" include a section of the right-to-die movement. I went on facebook and, like I said, alot of the people who were members of the Free Robert Latimer groups were white guys with shaved head and mostly from the Prairies. Historically, people with white skins and shaved heads are members of outright fascist organizations like the Aryan Brotherhood, Neo-Nazi groups and Skinheads. Also, from what I understand, the majority of the fascists in Canada are in the Prairies. Another person, I facebook, who supported freeing Latimer was quoted saying on his page that "Religion is for the week who compromise the Bible for their beliefs" he also described himself as "very conservative".

Going back historically, the people who have advocated for "mercy killing" have been Eugenicists, largely in the United States, and the National "Socialist" Party (i.e. the Nazi Party) in Germany. Hitler called for the widespread "mercy killings" of the disabled, describing their lives as "lives not worth living". Hitler later expanded "mercy killings" to Jews, Gypsies, Blacks, Homosexuals, Communists, Social Democrats, Jehovah's Witnesses etc. "Mercy killing", historically, has been code-word for genocide against the oppressed and even outright fascist terror (see http://www.eugenicsarchive.org/eugenics/ and http://www.historyplace.com/worldwar2/holocaust/h-euthanasia.htm).

The fact that SOME of the people who denounce the killing of Tracy Latimer are against abortion and euthanasia should not sway you from solidarizing with the downtrodden and the oppressed (in this case the disabled, like Tracy). A vanguard party must not take stances based on who supports what or what is "more left-wing" or "more radical" but what advances the interests of the Proletariat. You state it rather eloquently yourself:

"But Marxists’ opposition..........is conditioned not by the character of others who may oppose it, but by what advances the class interests of the proletariat."
- Canada: I.S. Upholds Anti-Woman Religious Courts: Sharia "Socialists"
Spartacist Canada No. 147
Winter 2005/2006

I think what is happening at this point it that the Christian Right is cynically manipulating the genuine grievences of the disabled community to promote opposition to euthanasia and abortion. I think it is crucial for the party and the workers' movement to intervene. To show that that their is a hard-line to be drawn between support for euthanasia and abortion on one end and "mercy killing" (i.e. the murder of the disabled and other oppressed peoples) on the other end. The supporters of Latimer, by masking their movement as support for "the right to die" along with the betrayal of many right-to-diers are forcing the disabled into the hands of the Christian Right. If you unable to solidarized with the disabled, they will only continue to be forced into the hands of the Christian Right. Just like how the betrayal of the Kremlin and Warsaw Stalinist forced the historically class-conscious Polish Proletariat into the hands of Solidarnosc or how the betrayal of the Stalinists, Centrists, Syndicalists and Reformist forced the peasants and Moroccan separatists into the hands of the fascistic Francisco Franco during the Spanish Civil War.

I am not aware of you supporting Robert Latimer and hopefully you aren't. You cannot however, in my opinion, stand on the fence post. You must show solidarity for the disabled! Like you would for any oppressed be who are under attack, whether by the state, by outright fascists like the Ku Klux Klan or Fascistic Yahoos like Robert Latimer:

To face reality squarely; not to seek the line of least resistance; to call things by their right names; to speak the truth to the masses, no matter how bitter it may be; not to fear obstacles; to be true in little things as in big ones; to base one’s program on the logic of the class struggle; to be bold when the hour for action arrives – these are the rules of the Fourth International. It has shown that it could swim against the stream. The approaching historical wave will raise it on its crest.
- The Transitional Program (1938)
Against Opportunism and Unprincipled Revisionism
by Leon Trotsky

.....the [Communist’s] ideal should not be the trade union secretary, but the tribune of the people, who is able to react to every manifestation of tyranny and oppression, no matter where it appears, no matter what stratum or class of the people it affects; who is able to generalise all these manifestations and produce a single picture of police violence and capitalist exploitation; who is able to take advantage of every event, however small, in order to set forth before all his socialist convictions and his democratic demands, in order to clarify for all and everyone the world-historic significance of the struggle for the emancipation of the proletariat.
What is to be Done?: Burning Questions of our Movement
Chapter 3: Trade-Union Politics and Social Democratic Politics
by Vladimir Lenin

More Tracy Latimer Articles:
Vancouver Sun - Archive: Punishment and the Relevance of a Past

http://www.thestar.com/comment/columnists/article/309347 Smiling girl loved music: The Tracy we never knew

http://www.ccdonline.ca/publications/latimer-watch/0500b.htm Council of Canadians with Disabilities - Publications - Latimer Watch - Common Homicide: Killing of People with Cerebral Palsy

http://www.ccdonline.ca/publications/latimer-watch/1197h.htm Council of Canadians with Disabilities - Publications - Latimer Watch - Responding to Dying with Dignity

http://www.ccdonline.ca/publications/latimer-watch/1196.htm Council of Canadians with Disabilities - Publications - Latimer Watch - CCD Watching Supreme Court for Decision in Latimer Case

http://canadianpress.google.com/article/ALeqM5hRbtFwU7lv2Cr1K5FOl-c2UZdnvw Latimer puts faith in court of public opinion after killing disabled child

http://canadianpress.google.com/article/ALeqM5j87a3gtWzsT6vnOdx-o7s_1eo6DQ Legal options few for Latimer, despite his vow to continue fight

http://www.canada.com/ottawacitizen/news/story.html?id=90463bcd-cfe7-4bbe-98ce-14c153b6ea2b&k=12258 Latimer in Ottawa

http://www.thestar.com/News/Canada/article/346933 Latimer, in Ottawa, ‘asked over for supper’

http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20071205/Latimer_071206 Observers divided over Latimer parole decision

http://dawn.thot.net/Tracy_Latimer.html DisAbled Women's Network (Ontario) - Tracy Latimer

More info on the killing of Tracy Latimer:

(This post is dedicated to Pat, a Chewing the Fat reader with multiple disabilities, a reader that fears that an existance lived on 'disabled death row'. I hear you Pat ... and this one's for you.)

So are they lazy?

Just incompetent?

Or do they like the idea of dead disabled kids?

You gotta ask yourself what's up with the media and it's love affair with Robert Latimer. Ever since the child murderer got a parole the news has been full of inaccurate and misleading reports about Bob's case. Let's take a couple of examples:

Radio Commenter: Robert Latimer, who has always maintained that he is not guilty of murder, that he was distressed about the pain his significantly disabled daughter experienced ...

Television Reporter: Robert Latimer, who has steadfastly maintained that he ...

Good God, does anyone do any research? Does anyone ask a question or two about the facts of the case? Has Robert managed to snow everyone? In the movies reporters are always about the 'facts of the case' about 'exposing injustice' ... well I guess that's just Hollywood cause it sure ain't the Canadian media. The main fact (for any reporters reading, a 'fact' is a 'truth' an 'actuality' ... um let's put it simpler ... a 'fact' is what's 'real' not simply what you've been told ... um ...you see ... people sometimes lie.) the main fact is ...

He lies.

That's right.

Fact:

He LIES.

On the day of her murder, Robert told his wife, Laura, that Tracy had died in her bed. That same day he called the police to report that his little girl had passed away in her sleep. OK, if you are counting that's two lies right there. Then after the initial call to the police they called him back and again he told them that Tracy has died while asleep in her bed. That's three.

The police arrive and our Bob is having a smoke on the porch while the rest of the family is grieving in Tracy's room. He tells the police officer, again (forgive me I know this is repetative), that Tracy died in her sleep while under his care. (four) A very bright police officer noticed that something was wrong with the story because it was obvious, when he looked at Tracy, that she had died earlier than Bobby was claiming.

Now he tells another lie (five) that he put her to bed and she was feeling a little bit of discomfort at that time. (Where is the outrageous, unmanageable, life of pain that she was supposed to be experiencing?) Well she couldn't have been experiencing discomfort because he had murdered her by this time.

Then Bob, Bobby, the Bobster, insists on a cremation, a request that startles his wife. But the police tell him that there has to be an autopsy. Days and days later after the evidence had mounted up against him a cop asks him if he killed her to put her out of her misery, he changes his story and says that it was 'compassion' that led him to kill his daughter. Oh my, I've lost count.

So not only did Robert Latimer not maintain from the get go that he was ending Tracy's misery, he lied, and lied, and lied again. The story changed when he had no where else to go, after a toxicology report, after a search warrent and an ensuing search of the farm, then suddenly, poof, a murderous father becomes a compassionate daddy. Three days, that's three days, after the toxicology report was conclusive that Tracy had died of carbon monoxide poisoning. Three (3) (III) days after the report and a full ten (10) (X) days after her death.

And the media buys it.

Without question.

Well, we the disabled do not. We know the lie. We live in disabled bodies and we know the lie. We hear the sentiment, "I'd rather be dead than be disabled ..." We know what it means. We know prejudice. We know discrimination. And we sure as hell know murder.

Robert Latimer was convicted of murder.

He tried fibbing to the police and they didn't buy it.

He tried confusing the court and they didn't buy it.

So he aimed at the Canadian public, played to their prejudice and got a willing audience.

So here we are, facing a Latimer that wants to campaign for the right to murder the disabled. Well, we know that he lies and we have the truth.

We can't rely on the media to do it. So we'll have to do it ourselves. Call him what he is.

Latimer ... you are nothing but a liar.

A murderous liar.

And we the disabled and our supporters, will call you on it each and every time you speak. That, little Bobby, is a promise.

A fact.

Written by well known disability activist David Hingsburger.

This article was originally on Vavid Hingsburger's Blog Chewing the Fat I was copied by Lisa Anne Gozzard on Facebooks


There are several groups on facebook that support Robert Latimer getting out of prison. This site is for people who support the notion that everyone has the right to live including persons with disabilities.
The case against Robert Latimer is this:

Robert Latimer was charged and convicted of second-degree murder under Canada 's Criminal Code. However during Robert Latimer's confession to the police he stated two facts.

1 He made the decision to kill Tracy 12 days before the murder. By definition under the Criminal Code this would be first-degree murder because it was premeditated.

2 He lied to the police for two days after the murder. He told the officers that Tracy died in her sleep. If he was so convinced that he had a moral obligation to do this why would he lie? Why would he not come forward and state the reasons for his decision?

During the trial the prosecution introduced evidence that Mrs. Latimer kept a journal of Tracy 's life. The journal was key evidence because very little was written about Tracy 's pain. Robert Latimer and his supporters would argue that he murdered Tracy to put her out of her pain. If you were keeping a journal would you not highlight the concerns of your daughter's pain within those pages?

When Doctors provided an option for the Latimer's to attempt to alleviate Tracy 's pain by amputating her leg, the Latimer's made the decision not to proceed. I will not argue the point it was their decision as her parents. But the operation could have made her life a little easier. Mrs. Latimer stated in court that she was opposed to the operation because it would not cure Tracy . She was also quoted as stating that Tracy was dead the day she was born. Both quotations are from a website that I will forward to you if you wish.

Finally, when Robert Latimer has had the opportunity to receive parole he is unable to express any remorse or sympathy towards his victim. People blame the parole board for not freeing Robert Latimer. All that Mr. Latimer has to do is express regret for his actions.

I received a very positive letter from the federal government regarding the Robert Latimer case. It appears that the government will not interfere with the parole board's decision. However, Mr. Latimer is still appealing the parole board's decision. We will see over the next few weeks what comes of this.
by Scott Allardyce

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=8235055798

Support for Robert Latimer would damage the Case for Euthanasia

Another point I should make is that support of Robert Latimer (I am not sure if you have stance either way) would damage the case for Voluntary Euthanasia. What the Christian Right and the Free Robert Latimer Movement have in common is neither makes a distinction between Voluntary Euthanasia and Murder. The "Right to Life" Movement denounces voluntary euthanasia as "murder". The supporters of Robert Latimer support "mercy killings" (i.e. the killing of the disabled and other oppressed people) as "euthanasia. The Christian Right could seize on this and point to the killing of Tracy Latimer killing as "proof" that "euthanasia is murder".

Ways in which mentally disabled, mentally challenged and mentally ill people are oppressed

Ways in which mentally disabled, mentally challenged and mentally ill people are oppressed:

1) Disproportionately homeless.
2) Terrorized by cops in ghettos
3) Have been subjected to barbaric practices like eugenics and "mercy killings".
4) Get killed their disabilities just like racial minorities get killed for their race, gays get killed for being gay.
5) Attempts by scientists in Bourgeois societies to "cure" them.
6) Slashing and privitizing of healthcare denies many of them treatment.
7) Slashing of welfare which benefits many of the disabled.
8) Slashing of vocational services which benefit the disabled.
9) Were victims of the Holocaust.
10) Denied jobs for their disabilities.

The late biologist and essayist Stephen Jay Gould, in "Of Wasps and WASPs," gives two related reasons. First, Kinsey's work was based on the principle that variation itself is the fundamental reality of nature. The key principle here, as Gould puts it, is that "species...have no immutable essence" [emphasis added]. That is, there is no "norm," no abstract baseline for what is the "right" or "ideal" form of a species. Thus to understand a given population, variations within it must be studied, and the larger the sample the better. Obviously this relates directly to Kinsey's sex research.

The second important aspect of seeing variation as the raw material of evolution is in its social impact. Like many great ideas and innovations, evolutionary principles arose in conflict with older ways of thinking. Evolution directly counterposes itself both to the rigid, authoritarian, unchanging precepts of religion and to what is ultimately merely religion's secular guise, the philosophy of "idealism." Living things—wasps, flowers, people—do not have an "immutable essence," or "ideal form" around which variations cluster. In real life, each one is individual, and that individuality itself is one of their most valuable aspects. Kinsey's ability to extend this approach to human beings, and to their sexual behavior, enabled him to extract, with great sensitivity and patience, amazingly frank sexual histories from people of all social classes and backgrounds.

There are broader social implications, as Gould notes: "Antiessentialist thinking forces us to view the world differently.... We lose criteria for judgment by comparison to some ideal: short people, retarded people, people of other beliefs, colors, and religions are people of full status." To put it another way, to hate and fear change and variation is a hallmark of reaction and religious superstition.

http://www.icl-fi.org/english/wv/archives/oldsite/2005/Kinsey-839.html In Defense of Sex and Science - Kinsey - A Review by Helen Cantor Workers Vanguard No. 839, 7 January 2005

Mercy Killing and Bourgeois Democratic Rights

"Mercy Killings" I believe are also an attack on basic bourgeois democratic rights. To be able to kill someone for their disability without their consent would violate "Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness" (especially life). "Mercy killings" are based on the concept that certain people are not worthy of life which violates the natural rights of the French Revolution of "Liberty, Equality and Fraternity" (especially equality).

As Thomas Jefferson stated in the Declaration of Independence: "We hold these truths as evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by the creator with certain inalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness." (Mind you, we will have to pardon him men and the creator for the sake of the statement).

Another Point on the Lynching of Tracy Latimer

Another point I would like to make on Tracy Latimer's death. If people are to argue that Robert Latimer is better off dead for killing because Tracy Latimer is "better off dead" because of her disability, couldn't one logically argue that black in the US should be lynched because they are segregated at the bottom of society (making them "better of dead") or that cops should be allowed to kill homeless people because homeless people are starving (which makes them "better of dead")?
I was checking a group on Robert Latimer on Facebook and apparently alot of the members are white people with shaved heads and mainly from the Prairie Provinces. White people with shave heads is historically associated with Fascism (think Skinheads, Nazis etc.).

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=5575696199

More stuff concerning the disabled:

http://www.eugenicsarchive.org/eugenics/ Eugenics Archive

http://www.euthanasia.com/ Euthanasia.com

http://www.euthanasia.com/historyeuthanasia.html History of Euthanasia - Euthanasia.com

http://www.historyplace.com/ The History Place (this is "private, independent, Internet-only
publication based in the Boston area that is not affiliated with any political group or
organization.....The site was founded and is owned and published by Philip Gavin, who has
earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from Northeastern University and a Master of Science degree
from Boston University")

http://www.historyplace.com/worldwar2/holocaust/h-euthanasia.htm History Place - World
War 2 -Holocaust- Nazi Euthanasia (this is "private, independent, Internet-only publication
based in the Boston area that is not affiliated with any political group or organization.....The
site was founded and is owned and published by Philip Gavin, who has earned a Bachelor of Arts
degree from Northeastern University and a Master of Science degree from Boston University")

http://www.errantyears.com/1997/nov97/000683.html Hitler orders "mercy killings"; Catholic
bishop opposes him.


Pro-Euthanasia:

http://www.compassionandchoices.org/ Compassion and Choices

http://www.atheistfoundation.org.au/ve.htm Voluntary Euthanasia

http://www.dignityindying.org.uk/ Dying in Dignity

http://www.narcissistic-abuse.com/euthanasia.html Supports Voluntary Euthanasia but
opposes "mercy killings".


Talks about Euthanasia (appear nuetral, I stand to be corrected though):

http://www.publicagenda.org/issues/frontdoor.cfm?issue_type=right2die Public Agenda -
Right to Die

http://www.publicagenda.org/ Public Agenda

http://www.euthanasiaprocon.org/ Euthanasia ProCon.org


"Mercy Killing" of the disabled in History:

http://www.historyplace.com/worldwar2/holocaust/h-euthanasia.htm History Place -
World War 2 -Holocaust- Nazi "Euthanasia"

http://www.errantyears.com/1997/nov97/000683.html Hitler orders "mercy killings"; Catholic
bishop opposes him.

On Rober Latimer:

http://www.macleans.ca/canada/national/article.jsp?content=20071219_68881_68881 Justice
means having to say your sorry - National - MacLean's

http://www.normemma.com/latimer_chronology.htm#Chronology Latimer Chronology

Another point I think that a person with a disability has just as much right not to be killed as a
non-disabled.

Pro-Robert Latimer:

http://www.robertlatimer.net/ Robert Latimer's supporter(s). This site I believe is lacking in credibilty. The site hase no about us section. Also when they cite people only a few of them leave contact info (email address, mailing address, phone number etc.). Several people they cite seem to be fabricated, for example they have a page on their site supposedly by a person by the name of Daphne Naegele who is supposedly the editor of Transition a publication for a group called British Columbia Coalition of People with Disabilities (BCCPD). However according to the BCCPD, the founding editor of their publication Transition is Richard A. Watson.

http://network.nationalpost.com/np/blogs/fullcomment/archive/2008/02/27/michael-coren-on-robert-latimer-and-how-canada-just-became-scarier-for-the-disabled.aspx Michael Coren: On Robert Latimer and how Canada just became scarier for the disabled

http://www.thestar.com/GTA/Crime/article/299589 Guilty verdict in woman’s starvation death

http://enablelink.ca/include/article.php?aid=1024&cid=&pid=&subid=%20 A Salute to Fathers:
Maybe Not Heroes, but Doing All Right!

http://www.thestar.com/printArticle/283313 Latimer only concerned about himself

http://www.communitylivingontario.ca/Daily_News/2007/December/December06a.html
Memory and Life of Tracy Latimer Must Be Honoured Following Parole Board Decision -
Community Living Ontario

http://www.ragged-edge-mag.com/drn/latimer0402.html Sympathy for Robert Latimer linked to
increase in child murders - Ragged Edge Magazine

http://www.inclusiondaily.com/news/crime/latimer.htm Inclusion Daily - News - Crime - Latimer

http://www.cbc.ca/news/background/latimer/ CBC News - Background - Latimer

http://www.chninternational.com/tracybod.htm Is Tracy better off Dead? This, I believe, site
lacks credibility but the Robert Latimer supporters I really think are a godsend to them.

http://www.ccdonline.ca/publications/latimer-watch/1197h.htm Responding to Dying with
Dignity - Latimer Watch - Council of Canadians with Disabilities

http://www.ccdonline.ca/publications/latimer-watch Latimer Watch - Council of Canadian with
Disabilities

I my opinion I think that an individual has the choice to VOLUNTARY Euthanasia. I think that if
a person is terminally ill THEY have the right to request Euthanasia. I think taking Terry Shiavo off life support was acceptable. I don't think the "mercy killing" of a disabled person is at all
justified. Tracy Latimer was not brain dead or terminally ill nor did she ever request to die. She
was also living outside her mother's uterus which, I think, makes this different from abortion.