The pockets of others: eco rant
I’ve written before (May 3, 7, & 8, eg.) about Betty Krawczyk, the Women in the Woods, and their attempts to engage the law in such a fashion as to have criminal contempt charges brought against Krawczyk. Her goal is to challenge the government’s forestry policies in the BC courts. Krawczyk and Jen Bradley, grandmothers both, were arrested while blockading a logging road in the Walbran Forest here on Vancouver Island. They were arrested in early May, it was very briefly reported, and then they promptly disappeared from the media. They were charged, but not with criminal contempt. They were released. Nothing was reported. Yesterday I heard a very brief CBC Radio report that Krawczyk was arrested again. She had returned to the Walbran to take up her blockade once more. I believe Jen Bradley was also re-arrested.
But just try to find out anything at all about these events in the local newspapers or via the web. Victoria Indymedia was posting stories about the blockade, but even that source has practically dried up, to the point where a frustrated reader, “Clueless,” posted a comment asking where he/ she could get more information. Another reader and activist, “David,” had filmed the most recent confrontation and arrest, and wrote that local media simply weren’t interested in his footage or in the story. In mid-April, when the Walbran blockade was still being planned, I wrote to our local newspaper to suggest that the event deserved some coverage. I was informed (via email) that the blockade might be “a very important matter to [Betty Krawczyk], but less important in the day-to-day work of a newsroom.” This might as well be called censorship. Many people on Vancouver Island and in British Columbia care deeply about the issues that Betty Krawczyk raises. As it stands now, you have to visit the Women in the Woods website to gather more information. Check in also on BC Pathways. Beyond that, it’s just a non-issue: away from our bodies, away from our minds, and into the pockets of others.
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