Once upon a time, Ontario was run by the Orangemen. The verbal history of my people celebrates such stories of applied Calvinism as ‘you could not get beer in Ontario on Saturday’, 'the cops used to beat up wife beaters', and ‘you could leave your door unlocked'. Later layers of activists called them The Patriarchy, but, they were Orangemen.  

Somewhere along the way, between 1950 and now, freedom from oppression and civil rights happened. Not only did women get the vote, they also got to access to abortion clinics, gender neutral mental health care, and societal acceptance of mixed race breeding. Certainly not on the menu in 1950. People of colour not only were allowed to immigrate to this province, they were given access to the same institutions of control as those people that controlled things. Poly-gendered village peoples found the acceptance in public that they had only found in prison, or aboard fishing boats, or in Fenian schools for orphan boys.

At one time, I wondered when the Orangemen were overthrown in bloody rebellion by an uprising of women, people of colour, and poly-gendered cross-persons. Was that in 1952? When did the Revolutionary Guard storm the Post Office on Front Street? Was that in 1961? How many machine guns did the Insurgents field in the battle of Brampton? Was that not in 1957? Actually, there was no bloody struggle, I discovered. There was no shooting. No fighting. Somewhere along the way, the Orangemen just handed over the cherished freedoms of freedom to their own women, slaves, and deviants. But the slaves did not fight with weapons of war for their freedom, as the Orangemen did at one time. Or for that matter, the Norman barons at Runnymede, or the plebians did in the Social War. This handing over of freedom was different: it was handed over as a them as a gift. The battle for the right of psychiatric patients to live as homeless people was not the same as, say, the Battle of Kursk, or the Battle of Britain, or the Battle of Bannockburn.

I think of this as I watch the Orange Day parade. It is the most important aspect of Ontario history today. Why those brutal earth rapists, meanies, and homophobes who ran things handed control over to those who did not. Nowadays, would the oppressed rise up to defend their freedoms? Would they? We know they are quick to write letters to the Toronto Star, to agitate for more money from the working man, but would they march to the green, grassy slopes of the River Boyne? Of course, we know the United Nations would save us ... but what if George Bush gets the Atomic Bomb? Will the slaves rise up from their monthly incomes, food banks, safe injection centers, and susidized (if bed bug infested) housing and shout No Surrender? Will the feminists rise up from their tenure track jobs in non-engineering, non-science, and non-mathematics academia, from their obesity awareness counselling positions at the food bank, from their administrative support positions supporting the autonomy of women by assisting in the abortion of women under the age of birth? What about our ever growing families of deviants, whose permutations and combinations resemble that of bacteria? Will they abandon their campaign for Pride Month, for subsidized sado-masochist teacher-parent awareness, or their lawfare urging the public to accept public sex on public transit?

Yes, I am wrong. I know that there will be howls from womyn, angry poems from people of colour, and performance acting by poly-gendered individuals that there are errors of fact in my opinion. It only takes one error to prove that I am wrong about everything. Somewhere in Orange Ontario, there is a small town with a library that does not have a wheel chair ramp. You can find somewhere in Orange Ontario a woman who could not check into a conveniently located battered womens shelter during the peak 3 am to 6 am rush. And that battered woman suffered from a dirty look as she pushed her mixed race baby down the street, to and fro from inadequately funded public transit, to and fro from her daycare, her social work studies, her food bank, and her encounter therapy. Out there, there is an outraged bi-sexual, forced to act as a red tory by day, and only allowed to express their inner Marilyn Monroe by nightclub at night, with only one day a year can they parade in drag in sunlight, and Walmart, the homophobic bastards, has limited access to size fourteen stilleto pumps, and a shortage of reasonably priced dressmakers who can stuff size 44 fat guts into a leopard corset. Ontario is a racist shithole; pretty well everybody who is white and heteronormative is worse than Hitler. At least Hitler was a vegetarian who made tasers illegal and had people who smoked in non-smoking areas shot with registered fire arms.

Yes, I am wrong. The gift of freedom, given to the slaves, has not been to their liking. I think about that too when I watch the parade. But I do not talk about it in public, only to people I trust in my lodge, or, on occasion, I make a speech about it at Grand Lodge. The gap between rich and poor has never been wider, and is widening ever faster, so says the Main Stream Media more often. Looking backwards to Orange Ontario, the gap would then be ever narrowing. But then again, I use Aristotle, not emotions, to drive my reasoning abilities. Foolish moi.

It is good that the Fenians have not returned. Fenians are bad. But who the heck knows who the Fenians are? So few people know history, which is good, I guess. History would be taught by our activist driven educators if teaching history in history class was important. History is, after all, all about dead white men. Alot of it has to do with bloody rebellions against oppressors, very little to do with sitting slaves being handed freedom along with their daily ration, a clean spoon, two packets of salt and pepper, one mustard or relish, and a napkin. And with history silenced, I guess that the bad Fenians are gone too. All that remains are stingy working people who balk at hefting over more gold out of their crock to people who either neither work, nor work because their work is handing over to those that do not work. Yup.

The Orange Day parade is part of Ontario history. Do not drag your oppressed ass out to watch, and do not rise from the bed the taxpayers bought you before noon to wonder what motivates people who have actually lifted a fist to beat down oppression. Nah, that sounds like work. Work is bad, like adding paper to the photocopier. Call technical support, somebody else will solve your problems. And it better be fast, or you will complain at the next meeting. Instead, pout and ask for another handout, and more photocopy paper, and more hiring. There are plenty more social spending diapers waiting to be unloaded. You are safe in your sucking on the teat. There are no Fenians, because, nobody talks about them. Things we do not talk about do not exist, right, er, left?

I am going to have a great Orange Day. I am going to watch the bands and listen to the songs that my fathers sang. I am going to enjoy the freedoms that were bought with my fathers' blood at the Boyne. As for the slaves, I hope they find that the Fenians that they have chosen to rule over them was a wise decision. And the Orangemen? Lets hope that they have learnt their lesson and will let the slaves enjoy their chains, shackles, whips, and coffles. I rather liked Orange Ontario. You never had to lock your door.  

I, Fenris Badwulf, wrote this.

xpd Mitchieville, DustMyBroom, Stormy Days of March

Comments (4)

dinosaur said:

	... Well in Manitoba we named our latest holiday after someone we venerate for killing an Orangeman for insubordination. Plus Toronto the hood is way nicer than Toronto the good.
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Jul 12, 2008 20:33:36 | url
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Fenris Badwulf said:

... dinosaur: this I know. That Riel guy was none too popular in Orange Ontario. He did lead a rebellion to defend the rights of his people. One cannot really gripe and complain about people or leaders of people that take up arms to defend their land and the product of their toil. It is, in fact, refreshing to know that the Metis have a spine and would rise up to defend their lands and property again. The precedent has been set. The Metis have earned 'street cred' amongst the tribes of the Patriarchy, much as the Japanese did when they sank the Russian fleet at Tsushima. Others can natter amongst themselves about how people then compared to the standards of now. Riel would be a better progressive hero if he was an atheist homosexual with a taste for cross dressing. Unfortunately, he was a heteronormative catholic, which will be used against him and his people when the wind from the left shifts left or lefter. Your assertion that Toronto the now is better than Orange Toronto is the politically correct view. It is the opinion that one is expected to have when speaking in public to people you do not trust. I understand. And, we can look forward to alot more Toronto the now, and alot less of Orange Toronto, at least until such time as the declining main stream media gets taken over by new owners with a different political viewpoint. Who knows who they will be? Who knows what they will tell the fifteen percent of the people who obey the papers without question. Membership in secret societies in Ontario is booming. The main stream media does not seem to know that they exist. Things they do not write about, do not exist, so I must be wrong. These non-existant secret societies are not yet at the Jacobin Club level, er, I think. Who knows? They are non-existant secret societies, after all.

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Jul 13, 2008 14:08:04 | url
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nick tattersfield said:

	... It seems pretty obvious to me that any orange society is doomed right out of the gate. Why? Nothing rhymes with Orange. this dooms any attempt at crafting a catchy, media friendly meme. Far better to play up unusual items of attire like the bowler hats or that whacking great drum they thump on ( lambeg) That might get the bongo crowd onside through shock and awe.
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Jul 13, 2008 17:25:29
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Fenris Badwulf said:

... When people are threatened, or more accurately, perceive that they are threatened, or perceive that their standard of living will decline in a quantifiable way, they become 'radicalized'. A second factor, that being that we exist in a cultural climate where free expression of opinion does not occur, accelerates the 'radicalization' event, makes it more profound, and contributes towards creation and expansion of secret societies. Those radicalized tend to gravitate towards secret assembly where they can find sympathy, empathy, and solutions to their problems. How many people do you know, who are not people you know well enough to trust, whose opinions about politics and religion you know? Unlike the Orange-y days of the 50's and 60's, when people called a spade a spade, we exist in a time when going to church, placing an election sign, or using words that other people use, can lead to sanctions on your career or property damage. White folks can lose their job for using the N-word; N-people suffer no such sanctions. In Toronto, erecting a Conservative election sign can get your tires slashed and your house tagged. Showing disapproval to a gangbanger who is pissing on a subway seat can get you knifed; and the gangbanger gets a college scholarship. This is nothing recent. It has been going on for the wonderful years of political correctness. And, up to now, people, being Vimy Ridge Canadians, just shrugged and shuffled along. Now, peoples financial well being is threatened. Services are declining in quality and access. Taxes are increasing. Rising fuel costs are eating the food budget. The old fashioned means of defusing this anxiety is no longer available. You can get labeled a racist (with all that that implies for your job and having your windows smashed) if you say you have anxiety about our unordered and bad government. People hide behind aliases on the internet, for good reason. To be active, it must be done in secrecy, and more effectively in groups. It is the rare person, such as Kate or Kathy or Ezra, who takes on the Bolsheviks openly. Look at the crap they are taking; few are willing to share in this struggle openly. Many are supportive, but secretly, or covertly. Teaching your society to gather in secret, to work in covert associations, is not a healthy thing. Ten years from now, these secret associations will still be operating; those who caused their formation (namely the baby boomers) will be retired and dealing with health care staff who neither change their diapers nor wash their hands before serving them their John Lennon jello. Currently, the right is not holding the high ground. The only thing that will allow the Bolsheviks to continue in their control of academia, the judiciary, administration, and the media, is for their fairy cake theories to actually come true. If the oceans rise 30 meters then, yes, they can keep the HRC. If snow stops falling in Winnipeg in the winter, then, yes, Pierre Elliot Trudeau will be the founder of a dynasty. Otherwise, the pendulum will swing (as it always does) and a rightist populist movement will assume control, much as the leftist populists took control back then. However, the rightists will have an underlying reinforcement of these secret associations. This does not bode well for the Bolsheviks of tommorrow, much as a conservative election sign means a rock through your window today.

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Jul 13, 2008 20:04:28 | url
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