*shrugs* Its what Princess Di did to a large extent as well. When she could use them, then she manipulated them into helping her causes, otherwise she shunned them
We Don't Want The 'Royals'!
Fri, 2020-01-24 15:54
#52
Fri, 2020-01-24 17:24
#53
We Can't tax them. They have not applied for citizenship to my knowledge. Not even permanent residency. They are just rich people that plan to live in Canada part-time.
They should pay their own security.
that should be fixed.
Agreed. They should.
Sat, 2020-01-25 19:30
#54
Famous people do benefit by being famous and do want publicity but that shouldn't make them hunted. Even when Meghan Markle was on suits she kept a relatively low profile. She didn't get gossiped about. She didn't attend all the hippist parties. She did nothing to attract the kind of attention the Kardashians chase.
Anyone famous should be ready to be recognized and photographed if they pop by the grocery store. They should not have to expect people hiding in the bushes when they go for a walk. They should not be followed around by cars or be constantly watched at their homes just in case they put the garbage out.
Sun, 2020-01-26 04:48
#55
posting this because, at some point, someone will post it in this thread:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nlcIKh6sBtc&list=PLfhekZn7a-5LkjiIqp27iO...
Sun, 2020-01-26 13:58
#56
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle Are 'Living On Stolen Land', Say Indigenous Canadian Tribe
https://twitter.com/RussDiabo/status/1221454047569465351
"Chief of the Tseycum tribe Tanya Jimmy has urged the couple to acknowledge the land's history and claims her ancestors are buried beneath it..."
Quite a place these royal wasteproducts have as a result of the avails of colonialism, broken promises and genocide. No Tseycum will ever live in such a palace on their own stolen land. Unless they were to seize and expropriate this one...
Sun, 2020-01-26 18:57
#57
How about trying to engage those two to campaign FOR acknowledgment of the land theft?
The legacy of colonialism is real-but what actual good would come of simply barring Harry and Meghan from living in Canada?
What, exactly, would that change?
There is a real possibility of getting Harry and Meghan to use their visibility to support the Indigenous land cause, when simply driving them away doesn't really look like it would do anything to help with that.
Sun, 2020-01-26 19:25
#58
Sure sure that's what Jagmeet and the NDP said too when they were hustling Indigenous votes and look what they got. Ask the Wetsuweten or the Secwepemc how that worked out. Do you have any idea how many brit trash, royals, aristocrats, Gov Gens and other shady notables over the past couple of centuries have promised to take things up with the big chief in Ottawa or the great white mother in London on the land issue? I'm sure the Tseycum do. Let them decide what to do with these latest trespassers. Good thing the royal couple has many millions they can well afford to spend on the security they might need too.
Sun, 2020-01-26 19:23
#59
How about trying to engage those two to campaign FOR acknowledgment of the land theft?
The legacy of colonialism is real-but what actual good would come of simply barring Harry and Meghan from living in Canada?
What, exactly, would that change?
There is a real possibility of getting Harry and Meghan to use their visibility to support the Indigenous land cause, when simply driving them away doesn't really look like it would do anything to help with that.
this makes more sense to me -- even if it is not a certainty that they could be so persuaded. It is not as if what is going on in this country is not already a disaster.
In other news Prince Charles is drawing attention to the contributions of the Iranian people and wanting to visit Iran... Not sure how he would be recieved but his message of peace is likely to be welcome in many places.
Sun, 2020-01-26 21:09
#60
Sure sure that's what Jagmeet and the NDP said too when they were hustling Indigenous votes and look what they got. Ask the Wetsuweten or the Secwepemc how that worked out. Do you have any idea how many brit trash, royals, aristocrats, Gov Gens and other shady notables over the past couple of centuries have promised to take things up with the big chief in Ottawa or the great white mother in London on the land issue? I'm sure the Tseycum do. Let them decide what to do with these latest trespassers. Good thing the royal couple has many millions they can well afford to spend on the security they might need too.
I'm all for them making their decisions on this...my comments were more directed towards your personal fixation on making these two unwelcome.
Wed, 2020-01-29 20:46
#61
Royal Rumble: Native Band Claims Harry's BC Mansion on 'Stolen Land'
"Some of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's new Vancouver Island neighbours aren't quite ready to roll out the welcome wagon. The Tseycum Nation claims the pair's $18- million mansion is built on land stolen by British colonists almost two centuries ago. 'We get no money from the land now, nothing...It's just not right houses like that are built there,' Chief Tanya Jimmy told the Sunday Mirror...Now she wants Harry and Meghan to cough up a land acknowledgement and recognize the ancestors buried on it..."
"Shall we allow a few red vagrants to prevent forever industrious settlers from settling on unoccupied lands? Not at all. Locate reservations for them on which to earn their own living and if they trespass on white settlers, punish them severely. A few such lessons should soon enable them to form a correct estimation of their own inferiority and settle the 'Indian Title' too..." (Victoria Colonist editorial, by Amor de Cosmos, 1861)
As we see with RCMP preparations currently underway to 'punish' Wetsuweten resistance to CGL or teach 'a few lessons' to the Secwepemc resistance to TMX, and 'settle the Indian Title too', despite the 'reconciliation' rhetoric, not much has changed.
Sun, 2020-02-02 12:48
#62
Harry, Meghan Seek A Home Outside Canada
https://www.newser.com/story/286386/harry-markle-seek-a-home-outside-can...
"Prince Harry and Meghan Markle seem to like the land of syrup and hockey, but then there's LA. A source tells E!news that the quasi-royal couple is seeking LaLa land digs and 'hoping' to spend at least part of the summer there while still residing in Canada. Not a huge surprise, considering US Weekly's report a few days ago that Markle - a retired actor, officially - is seeking representation. 'Meghan would like to be able to do meetings t the house and also be able to host friends and entertain,' says the source at E! These are two things that are important to her..."
Far better parties in LA than North Saanich perhaps.
Sun, 2020-02-02 17:04
#63
Harry, Meghan Seek A Home Outside Canada
https://www.newser.com/story/286386/harry-markle-seek-a-home-outside-can...
"Prince Harry and Meghan Markle seem to like the land of syrup and hockey, but then there's LA. A source tells E!news that the quasi-royal couple is seeking LaLa land digs and 'hoping' to spend at least part of the summer there while still residing in Canada. Not a huge surprise, considering US Weekly's report a few days ago that Markle - a retired actor, officially - is seeking representation. 'Meghan would like to be able to do meetings t the house and also be able to host friends and entertain,' says the source at E! These are two things that are important to her..."
Far better parties in LA than North Saanich perhaps.
Mind you, they'd still be on stolen land in LA-land stolen first from the Indigenous by the Spaniards, then from the Mestizo and Indigenous Mexican people by the Anglos.
If you were to take your position on this to its logical extreme, you'd end up having to bar Meghan and Harry from the entire Western Hemisphere. And Australia. And New Zealand.
And, arguably, from Britain-since much of it was stolen from the original indigenous population by the Picts and Celts, and then from the Picts and Celts by the Normans, and then from the Normans by the Angles and the Saxons.
If you're going to argue that this couple has no right to live anywhere that isn't stolen land, they pretty much can't on the vast majority of the surface of the Earth.
Tue, 2021-03-09 02:36
#64
'Explosive Meghan Interview Reveals Racism and Royal Neglect'
https://twitter.com/timand2037/status/1369025374898724864
"I'm guessing Oprah did NOT ask Harry how many brown-skinned people he killed in Afghanistan? Apparently that is not racism."
Tue, 2021-03-09 08:48
#65
Emilie Nicolas thinks this interview will "burst the royal bubble". Though as she points out, the Saxe-Cobourg-Gotha crime family is "an institution that is partly responsible for the invention of modern racism". What fascinates me, as it apparently does NDPP, is that it's this that catches people's attention as racism. When Philip asks an aboriginal Australian if he's "still throwing spears", that's just normal – we don't expect the 'royals' to have anything but contempt for the peasants they rule. But when Markle, who married into the family and therefore at least theoretically achieved class parity/the status of 'one of the good ones', is treated with racist contempt, then we might have to start to consider that these people who think they have the right to rule over half the planet because of their bloodline are, in fact, racists.
Tue, 2021-03-09 16:17
#66
Emilie Nicolas thinks this interview will "burst the royal bubble". Though as she points out, the Saxe-Cobourg-Gotha crime family is "an institution that is partly responsible for the invention of modern racism". What fascinates me, as it apparently does NDPP, is that it's this that catches people's attention as racism. When Philip asks an aboriginal Australian if he's "still throwing spears", that's just normal – we don't expect the 'royals' to have anything but contempt for the peasants they rule. But when Markle, who married into the family and therefore at least theoretically achieved class parity/the status of 'one of the good ones', is treated with racist contempt, then we might have to start to consider that these people who think they have the right to rule over half the planet because of their bloodline are, in fact, racists.
I think for many people, like me, it was a matter of sarcastically saying; "the British Monarchy is racist, who knew?"
Tue, 2021-03-09 16:57
#67
She's wrong. The Queen and Prince Phillip were cleared. Harry refused to name anyone which will be enough to clear Will and Kate. Will and Kate will be releasing more photos of themselves and their children. It's just yet another royal scandal. It's a bad wound but not worse than Diana. The tabloids will help them. They are no more than figureheads and celebrities for most people in commonwealth countries.
Tue, 2021-03-09 16:59
#68
Ex-Australian Leader Urges Changing Royal Ties
https://toronto.citynews.ca/2021/09/the-latest-ex-australian-leader-urge...
"...After the end of the queen's reign; that is the time for us to say: OK, we've passed that watershed. Do we really want to have whoever happens to be the head of state - the king or queen of the UK, automatically our head of state?' [Malcolm] Turnbull added..."
Good question for Canada too.
Tue, 2021-03-09 17:06
#69
Ex-Australian Leader Urges Changing Royal Ties
https://toronto.citynews.ca/2021/09/the-latest-ex-australian-leader-urge...
"...After the end of the queen's reign; that is the time for us to say: OK, we've passed that watershed. Do we really want to have whoever happens to be the head of state - the king or queen of the UK, automatically our head of state?' [Malcolm] Turnbull added..."
Good question for Canada too.
Canada is a one party state. That one party is the Crown. If we remove the Crown then it is time to overhaul the whole constitution since it would no longer theoretically make any sense. Besides isn't it time to get rid of the overt racism in naming indigenous people as wards of the state?
Tue, 2021-03-09 17:48
#70
Fuck All Royals...
https://twitter.com/caitoz/status/1369106988949401600
"Fuck all royals. Take back everything they've stolen, give them minimum wage jobs and regard them with nothing but disdain forevermore. Royals are just oligarchs who rub your face in it..."
Tue, 2021-03-09 23:46
#71
"In Canada, the Queen is the Head of State; therefore, in order to become citizens, all applicants for citizenship who are 14 years of age or older must swear or affirm to be faithful and bear true allegiance to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth the Second, Queen of Canada, Her Heirs and Successors."
https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/corporate/publ...
Why do we continue to force immigrants to swear an oath to a foreign ruler of a archaic system of extreme caste structure and racist privilege that ruled an empire through wars of conquest, drug dealing (resulting in England seizing Hong Kong), famine (in Ireland, not only in the 1840s-1850s but throughout its history, and in India, where millions also starved to death in World War II because feeding them was not considered important enough for the war effort (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bengal_famine_of_1943), racist laws that, for example, allowed "no dogs, no Irish" signs well into the 1940s (which my mother encountered when living there) and then shifted to "no dogs, no Blacks" as immigration from predominantly non-white countries greatly increased after WWII, and the invention of concentration camps in South Africa that Hitler copied for the Nazi death camps? Many countries had to fight wars of independence or engage in massive non-violent civil disobedience in order to free themselves from the England and its Crown.
Canadians can't change what happens in the UK but it can end its acceptance of this law of Canadian citizenship and what certainly deeply bothers many who have achieved the right to Canadian citizenship. In addition, many French Canadians want nothing to do with the English royal family because of its role in conquering French Canada.
Wed, 2021-03-10 02:19
#72
Well we definitely don't want Piers Morgan and happily he got the boot today - good riddance.
Trump would probably hire him though.
What an absolute dick!!!
Wed, 2021-03-10 02:49
#73
The present Queenie is not so bad, but just wait until Lady Di's husband becomes King. Then the shit is really going to hit the fan! Here in Canada, PET'S prime minister son doesn't want to touch the Constitution with a ten foot pole.
Wed, 2021-03-10 02:50
#74
I think Canada's stuck being a constitutional monarchy since getting rid of the monarchy would be a constitutional quagmire. I think the current monarchy is actually better than having the Governor General be our head of state as that position is chosen by a partisan prime minister.
Wed, 2021-03-10 06:16
#75
Wed, 2021-03-10 08:14
#76
I think Canada's stuck being a constitutional monarchy since getting rid of the monarchy would be a constitutional quagmire.
Having an unamendable constitution has never been a sustainable solution – for Quebec, for indigenous peoples and racialized groups, or for fans of democracy. At some point it's going to have to be fixed.
Wed, 2021-03-10 08:20
#77
I think Jerry makes a good point. Maybe it is too difficult to reopen the constitution but does the constitution require an oath to the Queen rather than to Canada? Can we not drastically reduce the office and duties of the Governor General? GG duties are already just a formality. Are we legally bound to offer security when royals visit?
Wed, 2021-03-10 11:45
#78
One of the main reasons I voted No in '92 to the proposed changes was because they would have entrenched an even more unwieldy amendment formula.
I think it makes no difference whether the Head of State is a British twit or a Canadian partisan twit. What kind of crisis would we be in now if our abusive asshole at Rideau Hall had been the actual Head of State and not the stand in for the Queen?
Wed, 2021-03-10 11:47
#79
Pondering I suspect that any head of state or monarch of a foreign country is provided a security detail while in Canada and they dont pay the bill.
Thu, 2021-03-11 18:23
#80
I think Canada's stuck being a constitutional monarchy since getting rid of the monarchy would be a constitutional quagmire. I think the current monarchy is actually better than having the Governor General be our head of state as that position is chosen by a partisan prime minister.
The royal family has had an extremely troubled history including many of its current members. King Edward VIII, who resigned to marry an American divorcee (no problem there), and other members of the royal family were known Nazi sympathizers that some were afraid would take over if the Nazis defeated Britain in World War II (see below). Edward VIII's brother, George VI, and his niece, Queen Elizabeth, hid this information from the public for fifty years until others documented this. Prince Andrew is an alleged pedophile who had affairs with underage teenagers with Jeffrey Epstein. Imagine the problems that would exist if Andrew were the heir to the throne! Once again the royal family's approach was to keep this as private as possible, the same approach they are taking with the accusations of racism by Meghan in releasing the shortest possible statement on the issue that says that they want to deal with this in privacy. This is the ongoing problem of the royal family: rather than deal problems, their solution is to hide them for as long as possible, which means the issues whether Nazi sympathies, imperial conquest, pedophilia or racism, are never dealt with by them.
Whatever failings a Canadian head of state would present, we could at least change them, as was just done in the case of the Queen's representative, the Governor General, in the case of scandal. No matter how serious the scandal, the royal family goes on being the royal family until this system is abolished.
This is another reason to change the oath to become a Canadian citizen to one from being to a person, and even more so a foreign person, with all the fralitities and in some cases a person who has engaged in criminal activity, to the nation of Canada. When combined with the fact that many Canadians of many ethnic and racial backgrounds have found it difficult to take an oath to a head of state that was involved in widespread crimes against humanity in their homeland as described in post #71, it is not surprising that this is an extremely difficult promise for them to make.
King Edward VIII was forced to abdicate in 1936, and soon took the title of the Duke of Windsor. He has always been known for his pro-Nazi sympathies. However, the extent of his betrayal could never be fully verified due to the secrecy of the Royal Archives.
The Royal Archives have always ensured that letters from German relatives of the royal family in the run up to World War II remain closed. Naturally, such censorship has led to endless conspiracy theories.
But over the past eight years I have accumulated damning evidence by sifting through 30 archives all over the world that are open. Intelligence reports and German, Spanish and Russian documents show members of the British royal family were indeed far closer to Nazi Germany than has previously been recognised. ...
The Royal Archives have always ensured that letters from German relatives of the royal family in the run up to World War II remain closed. Naturally, such censorship has led to endless conspiracy theories.
But over the past eight years I have accumulated damning evidence by sifting through 30 archives all over the world that are open. Intelligence reports and German, Spanish and Russian documents show members of the British royal family were indeed far closer to Nazi Germany than has previously been recognised. I present this in full in my new book Go-Betweens for Hitler .
One key to this Anglo-German network is Charles Edward Duke of Coburg (1884-1954). In a Channel 4 programme on him in 2007, I called Coburg “a Nazi who got away with it”, but I had no idea about the magnitude of his crimes at the time.
Coburg was part of a wider group of go-betweens – private individuals who were used for secret negotiations by Hitler. Coburg was a grandchild of Queen Victoria destined for a privileged and unspectacular life. ...
The Soviet intelligence services were convinced of the Duke of Windsor’s treachery when war broke out. It is probable that they had an informer on his staff. In 1940 they reported that he was conducting negotiations with Hitler to form a new English government and conclude a peace with Germany contingent on a military alliance against the USSR.
Even more evidence of Windsor’s treachery was hidden in Spanish archives. Like his relative Coburg, the Duke of Windsor was anti-Semitic. In June 1940 Don Javier Bermejillo, a Spanish diplomat and old friend of Windsor – he had known him since the 1920s – reported a conversation he had had with the Duke to his superiors.
Bermejillo reported that the Duke of Windsor blamed “the Jews, the Reds and the Foreign Office for the war”. Windsor added that he would like to put Anthony Eden and other British politicians “up against a wall”. ...
Windsor stressed if one bombed England effectively this could bring peace. Bermejillo concluded that the Duke of Windsor seemed very much to hope that this would occur.
https://www.open.edu/openlearn/history-the-arts/history/world-history/fo...
Wed, 2021-03-10 17:43
#81
Canadians can stop swearing allegiance to the queen
https://rabble.ca/news/2021/03/canadians-can-stop-swearing-allegiance-queen
"If you're getting sick of the British (also the Canadian) monarchy, welcome to the club..."
Wed, 2021-03-10 19:05
#82
'The Royal Family is a dysfunctional organization that does the most damage to those inside it.'
https://twitter.com/Louis_Allday/status/1368946673116979210
"This man makes it clear on an almost daily basis that he doesn't care about the global south. The royal family's wealth is stolen from centuries of slavery and colonialism and it should be repaid. As for the idea the real victims are the royal family themselves...embarrassing."
"Among other things, the supremely 'good' royal family member described killing Afghans from a helicopter as a 'joy' and compared it to playing PlayStation...I don't even want to tweet about it, but the way these things just get completely wiped from public memory is infuriating. He gleefully and unrepentently served in an occupying army that has been killing Afghans for 2 hundred years. He is not 'anti-racist' in any meaningful way."
'Will Prince Harry take on the part of governor-general? Canadians are hopeful, poll says' - National Post, Jan 9, 2020
Tue, 2021-03-16 11:27
#83
Over Half Canadians Believe Monarchy is Obsolete: Poll
https://wwws.nationalobserver.com/2021/03/16/over-half-canadians-monarch...
"A new poll suggests just over half of Canadians believe the British monarchy is a relic that Canada should abandon. Fifty-three percent of respondents to an online survey by Leger and The Association for Canadian Studies say the British monarchy no longer has a place in 21st century Canada..."
Tue, 2021-03-16 12:17
#84
It seems to me if we created a head of state we would be the ones deciding on the limitations of the position so we could ensure that they could not interfere in the democratic workings of the government.
Opening up the constitution is a can of worms but the provinces could be pressured to address this situation exclusively.
We could also dramatically downscale the position. I doubt the Constitution defines how much they are paid, how much staff they have, or how many events they attend. In other words limit them to whatever the Constitution demands.
Tue, 2021-03-16 13:41
#85
We could also dramatically downscale the position. I doubt the Constitution defines how much they are paid, how much staff they have, or how many events they attend. In other words limit them to whatever the Constitution demands.
So what do you think the function would be? This constitutional change to the head of state is an interesting idea. What formula would you propose to the provinces for chosing them since I doubt if any of the provinces will want to leave it up to the PM in a revamped constitution. Then there is the matter of how long a term would be appropriate for the position.
I think that if all provinces and territories had a veto we might have a long period of trying to come to a consensus. However if Quebec doesn't get a veto then the change train will never leave the station. The great Canadian constitutional bind!! The energy to move from a state of inertia to one where change is possible is more than our political system can generate.
Tue, 2021-03-16 21:50
#86
[quote=kropotkin]
The energy to move from a state of inertia to one where change is possible is more than our political system can generate.
[quote=NDPP]
Quintessentially Canadian. Entropy reigns supreme.
Wed, 2021-03-17 01:24
#87
We could also dramatically downscale the position. I doubt the Constitution defines how much they are paid, how much staff they have, or how many events they attend. In other words limit them to whatever the Constitution demands.
So what do you think the function would be? This constitutional change to the head of state is an interesting idea. What formula would you propose to the provinces for chosing them since I doubt if any of the provinces will want to leave it up to the PM in a revamped constitution. Then there is the matter of how long a term would be appropriate for the position.
I think that if all provinces and territories had a veto we might have a long period of trying to come to a consensus. However if Quebec doesn't get a veto then the change train will never leave the station. The great Canadian constitutional bind!! The energy to move from a state of inertia to one where change is possible is more than our political system can generate.
We could downplay her role as much as possible without violating the constitution, especially with regards to the oath of citizenship, since for many immigrants from former English colonies (Scotland and Ireland were also colonies) an oath to the Queen smacks of the colonialist mentality that reigned during the empire and still exists today.
What we could do, however, is stop flogging the monarchy in an ostentatious and public way.
Just because the Queen is our official head of state, we are not required to put her image on our money, or hang her portrait prominently in significant public places, or invoke her name in symbolic national exercises. We could just leave the monarchy on the side and unmentioned, for the most part, rendering it as unobtrusive, even invisible, as possible.
One place to start, as a caller to CBC Radio's Cross Country Checkup suggested this past Sunday, would be with our oath of citizenship.
https://rabble.ca/news/2021/03/canadians-can-stop-swearing-allegiance-queen
Fri, 2021-04-09 10:41
#88
The royal consort Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, dies peacefully in his sleep, aged 99.