Robert Latimer: Fiddling and Fudging While Nazis make his Case

It has been over a year since it was revealed that their are outright fascists (Neo-Nazis) rallying around Robert Latimer. I think a question on some people's minds is what is Robert Latimer's response. Well, apparently Latimer hasn't raised one finger against them. He has never stated categorically that these groups don't represent him. A fellow disability rights activists said it quite well:

"Michael, you're right that Robert Latimer is probably not a neo-Nazi. But Latimer sat back and allowed White Supremacists, neo-Nazis and other far-Right extremists to plead his case for him. I know that, were I in prison for reasons that I felt were unjust, I would sit in prison UNTIL I DIED rather than let the forces of darkness, death and evil speak for me. The fact that Latimer never disavowed his far-Right supporters is a fairly damning indictment of his political leanings."

Robert Latimer's attidude toward the fascists is a complete contrast to his attitude towards disability rights activists and others who oppose him. He describes disabiltiy rights activists as "abusive". He said before his first trial that "anyone who supports the charges against me is a torture-monger". He describes all those who criticize him as "slanderers". Yet he can't eek out a single word of criticism of the fascists who support him.

There is a site called robertlatimer.net which claims that it can get a person in touch with Robert Latimer himself. Yet this site manages to avoid making a singles criticism of the fascists who support Robert Latimer. Apparently the person running this site is an individual named Ivan Bjornholt. This individual along with several others are running a facebook group called Free Robert Latimer! An individual at one point a person posted that their are neo-nazis supporting Latimer. Rather than denounce the fascists who support Latimer and state categorically that these groups don't represent Latimer the people running the site censor and slander this individual. And I checked a while later on robertlatimer.net and still not a word disavowing the fascists who support Latimer. Really, what gives?
Trotskyist Greetings,
M.G.

Are there Armed Vigilantes Attached to the Free Robert Latimer Movement

One point I would like is whether their are armed vigilantes attached to the Free Robert Latimer Movement. First of all I would like to point out that I think that this whole movement to free Robert Latimer is more of an hysterical mob than a disciplined, centrally coordinated organization. In terms of organizational structure their are movements such as Greenpeace and Earthfirst (although neither of these are fascistic). You'll have people spiking trees in these groups. These people are not ordered to do this by people higher up then them per say. But what exists of a leadership does not oppose it and the people doing have the tacit approval of those in charge.

With the Free Robert Latimer (which IS fascistic) the workings are quite similar. Robert Latimer commits an act of violence against a disabled person (disabled people being oppressed people). His actions and the mass ablest Pro-Robert Latimer hysteria whipped up by the bourgeois (capitalist) press has created and environment where killing disabled people is seen as acceptable. Because of this there are more disabled people are being killed by their caretakers. This environment has also encouraged more than a few fascists to crawl out of their whole. And Latimer and his supporters sit back while this happens. In affect Robert Latimer has become a catalyst or lightning rod for ablest terror. In fact "mercy killing" has historically been the watchword for ablest terror. The pretext that the Nazis and the Eugenics movement had for killing the disabled was that they were "mercy killing" them. That it was "euthanasia" (in really euthanasia requires consent) and "ending their suffering".

Comradely,
A Dedicated Trotksyist,
M.G.

Tracy Latimer not Robert Latimer is Oppressed

There are those who claim that Tracy Latimer and Robert Latimer are "both oppressed and that they "suffered together". I intend to expose this cynical, arrogant as well and ablest and bigoted sophistry.

If you look at it, Tracy Latimer was severely disabled. People in psychiatric wards didn't get the vote until 1988. People with disabitities and mental illnesses were sterilized in the days of eugenics. People with disabilities and mental illnesses were the first people to fall victim to the holocaust. They are disproportionaly ghettoized, homeless and unemployed. They are often victims of police terror as well as fascist and fascistic terror. Cuts and privatizations of welfare, healthcare and vocational services hurt them disproportionally. Tracy Latimer was also female and a youth (both of whom are oppressed).

Robert Latimer on the other hand is white, male and has a great deal of property. White men with property were the first people to have the vote (back when voting was a privilege of a tiny elite). Robert Latimer is straight, not transgendered, not of a religous minority, not disabled, not a youth, not a senior citizen, not a Jew, not of a Muslim. So really, I think it is quite proposterous to call him "oppressed". Apparently according to a census from the 1990s by he government of Canada the average farmer in Canada has one million dollars worth of assets, according to the Financial Post more recently the average farmer has around 11.8 billion dollars worth of assets. In the 1980s Robert Latimer had around 1,820 acres of land. Today he has 2,850 acres of land.

In term of the remark that Robert Latimer and Tracy Latimer "suffer together" these to is absurd. The first disabled people killed in the holocaust had the consent of their parents. Their are parents of Autistic and disabled children who consent to having their children said to the Judge Rotenburg "Educational Centre" where disabled children are electrically shocked for everything from nail bitting to nose picking to nagging. Or how about Islamic fundamentalist parents and their daughters who don't want to don the veil. Do they "suffer together"? How about homophobic fundamentalist Christian parents and their homosexual, bisexual and transexual children. Do they "suffer together"? As the ICL points out (althought they have cadre supporting Robert Latimer), the majority of child abuse takes place within the nuclear family. The murder of children by their parents is child abuse at its worst. Also, disabled children are disproportionally victims of child abuse.

Comradely,
A Dedicated Trotskyist,
Michael Gregory

Christian Right are no Friends of the Disabled and Oppressed

It has appeared that many reactionary Christian groups have come out in support of Robert Latimer. Groups such as the Catholic Church and the Evangelical Fellowship of Canada. One not familiar with these groups and their history may regard these people as allies of the disabled community. But don't be fooled.

Have any of these right-wing Christian groups called for the shutting down of the Judge Rotenburg "Educational Center" in Massachusetts where people with disabilities are electrically shocked? No! Have they spoken out against "curing" the "disabled"? No! Have they spoken out against cop terror in the ghettos where the majority of people are disabled or mentally ill? No! How about when people in psychiatric wards in Canada got the vote in 1988, what was the stance of the Conservative party in Canada? It opposed giving these people suffrage! And this is before the religious yahoos left to create the Reform Party! Has the Christian right fought to defend universal health care or fought for a National Pharmacare program? No! How about defending public vocational services for the disabled and mentally ill? Not a thing! How about defending housing for the disabled and mentally ill? Nada! How about calling for the nationalizing all special needs schools which don't seek to "cure" the disabled? Absolutely nothing! There have been rumblings about reintroducing eugenics in "special circumstances". What's the the response of the Christian Right? Silence! How about forcing the "mentally ill" to go through electro-shock therapy? The Christian Right is nowhere to be found! What if a "mentally ill" or "disabled" women is raped? The Christian Right would oppose her right to abort the fetus! Oh, and the Christian right supports legalizing corporal punishment (spanking, flogging). Corporal punishment is regarded by pediatricians as being by definition child abuse. And guess which children get more than there fair share of child abuse? The "disabled" and "mentally ill"!

I think it is quite clear that the Christian right sneers at the oppression of the disabled. So why have the involved themselves in the lynching of Tracy Latimer? To cynically manipulate the genuine grievances of the disabled to pursue their twisted own right to life agenda!

As I stated before. I think that Revolutionary must mobilize the Proletariat (both disabled and non-disabled) to smash the fascistic Free Robert Latimer Movement. However, it is equally important for revolutionaries to express their uncompromising opposition to the Christian Right. If the working class is mobilized to smash the free Robert Latimer movement the Proletariat and its vanguard would then have the moral authority to push for a split between the radical youth, Plebeian masses and the Proletarians with disabilities and the venal Christian right and the more reactionary elements among the disabled community.

Comradely,
M.G.

Another Bunch of Fascists Sympathetics to Robert Latimer

http://www.stormfront.org/forum/showthread.php?t=364274&page=3

http://www3.stormfront.org/forum/showthread.php?t=453850

http://www.stormfront.org/forum/archive/index.php/t-33485/t-444322.html

Weaknesses of those Struggling against Ableist Bigotry

Dear Spartacist/Workers' Vanguard/PDC

There have been a number of weaknesses in the struggle of disability rights activists in the struggle for disability rights. This is not to say that for a minute that what Robert Latimer and others who performed similar actions aren't committing act of terror of that I was unfounded in using the term lynching in describing what Robert Latimer did to his daughter.

There are However, several weak points in the disability rights groups I have come across. First of all, illusions in the capitalist state. The state cannot be relied on to defend the disabled. Just like the state can't be relied on to defend blacks, Asians natives, gays or women from either state terror, terror committed by fascists, by fascistic red-neck or non-fascist bigots.

Second, many, not all, disability rights activists and groups oppose Euthanasia. Personally, I think voluntary euthanasia (suicide and assisted suicide) should be decriminalized. I think, however, that it is equally crucial to oppose "mercy killings" (euthanasia without consent). Involuntary euthanasia has been used, historically, to kill off the disabled and other oppressed people. This was the case with Eugenecists, the Third Reich and today with caretakers who murder the disabled in their care.

Third, Christian groups such as the Catholic Church and the Evangelical Fellowship of Canada have tried to seize on this to whip up hysteria over euthanasia. Both the Christian Right and the bigots supporting Robert Latimer (which includes outright fascists) consider the lynching of Tracy Latimer to be "Euthanasia". Latimer supporters defend the murder of Tracy Latimer as "euthanasia" and the Christian right opposed Euthanasia as "murder". I think it is highly crucial for revolutionaries who oppose the lynching of Tracy Latimer to express there opposition to the Christian Right. Most disability rights groups I don't think do this enough.

Finally, I think it is crucial to mobilize opposition to the lynching of Tracy Latimer and other disabled people on a class-basis which most disability rights groups don't. Victories for the oppressed haven't been won in the courtrooms or in parliament but on the streets and on the picket lines.

Comradely,

M.G.

http://www.ccdonline.ca/issues/euthanasia/reflectionsmedia.htm Council of Canadians with Disabilities: Issues: Latimer - Reflection

RobertLatimer.net is not a Credible Source

Dear Spartacist/Workers' Vanguard/PDC,

If you are to come across Robert Latimer and his ilk they are likely to refer to site called www.robertlatimer.net. This site, I don't think is credible for the following reasons. First of all, there is no About Us section meaning that one has no idea who is providing the information.

Second, for a lot of the people they site they have no contact information for those people. This makes it impossible to confirm whether or not these people are saying the things that robertlatimer.net alleges they are saying or whether robertlatimer.net is merely making it up.

Third, for things like court transcripts are on the website. There are no links to the original sources such as the Canadian Department of Justice, the Government of Canada etc.

Fourth, for a lot of their "doctors testimony" they do very little in terms of siting respected medical sites.

Another point, I think there a number of factual inaccuracies on this website site. They seem to be describing Cerebral Palsy as "increasingly degenerative". According to more reputable sources such as the Saskatchewan Cerebral Palsy Association (http://members.shaw.ca/saskcpa/Who_What_How_.htm earlier), the Cerebral Palsy Association of BC (http://www.bccerebralpalsy.com/faq.htm#q1) and the Ontario Federation of Cerebral Palsy (http://www.ofcp.on.ca/aboutcp.html##A) Cerebral Palsy is not degenerative, doesn't get worse, isn't life threatening and isn't a disease. The claim that Cerebral Palsy is "degenerative" seems to have been regurgitated by other groups, including groups like the facebook group 'Support Robert Latimer's Release from Prison'.

Finally, they site an individual name Daphne Naegele at one point who they seem, I think, to be claiming is the editor of Transition which is a publication of the British Columbia Coalition of People with Disabilities (BCCPD). However, I recently spoke to the BCCPD and they said that Daphne Naegele was never the editor of their publication Transition. The founder Editor of Transition magazine, apparently, is an individual named Richard A. Watson. In fact the BCCPD is supports the incarceration of Robert Latimer.

Comradely,

M.G.

http://members.shaw.ca/saskcpa/Who_What_How_.htm Saskatchewan Cerebral Palsy Association

http://www.bccerebralpalsy.com/faq.htm#q1 Cerebral Palsy Association of British Columbia

http://www.ofcp.on.ca/aboutcp.html##A Ontario Federation of Cerebral Palsy