DRAFT PRESENTATION FOR COURT, IN MY DEFENCE
In reply to the accusation of defamation, I will address 3 questions:
- Why would I have information about Ashu Solo on my blog?
- Why has Ashu gone to the extremes of trying to force my blog-hosting service to take down the blog. Failing that, he tried to force the domain name registrar to de-register it, which would effectively do the same thing.
- The 3rd and final question is one I’ve been asked from the beginning. Why not just take down the pages that have information about Ashu Solo? It can’t be worth all that Ashu has put myself, numerous people in the Green Party of Canada, and others through. Nor is it worth the $24,000 (as at Oct 24, 2016) in legal bills to maintain my right to publish the information, so long as it is not defamatory.
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QUESTION #1, WHY IS THERE INFORMATION ABOUT ASHU SOLO ON MY BLOG?
There are two things you need to know in order to answer the question: what is the blog about? and how do the actions of Ashu Solo fit into that?
a. So, the first question – – what is the blog about? I will explain it in about 6 points.
The blog deals with serious issues that affect the health of our communities, including the Canadian ideal of “Peace, Order and Good Governance”.
It is a repository for information that is generated and shared by an activist email network. The network has been in existence for more than 15 years. I run it. Nobody gets paid. I created the blog so that new participants could find information from previous years. So the blog is mine; I cover the costs. There is no advertising revenue.
The theme of the blog is “Battles to Protect the Commons”. “The Commons” is those things we share “in common”. They are the things we are all dependent upon, that affect our well-being and that no one (unless you count the Government) is responsible for – – water, air, food, a knowledge base, peace, order and good governance, healthy relationships and so on.
To the extent that we have poisons (we are normalized to the word “pollutants”; they are poisons) in The Commons, we have disease. The integrity of the water, or the soil, or governance or the knowledge base or values or relationships has been “corrupted”, which is nother word used when things have been poisoned – – they have been corrupted.
To the extent that we do not defend peace, order and good governance, we cycle downwards into violence of one form or another. That is easy to see. It is generally true of The Commons – – but different words are used to describe the deterioration, depending on which part of The Commons we are talking about.
To the extent that we do not individually and collectively defend The Commons we are choosing to relegate the future of our communities to degraded life, to a dark age ahead.
b. Onto the next question: how did Ashu come to be on a blog, the theme of which is “Battles to Protect the Commons”?
A young woman who I didn’t know, sent a complaint to me that Ashu was using Green Party social media inappropriately.
I was an appropriate person for her to approach for resolution of the problem.
I was a “go to” person for the Green Party in Sask. I have known the federal leader, Elizabeth May, since the time she was an activist before she transitioned into politics. I have great respect for her, her integrity, her amazing mind, and her relentlessly hard work. I took on the leadership of the Provincial Green Party for a year-and-a-half that included the 2007 Election. Activists are community-minded people, not out to serve their own interests. And they are knowledgeable about issues. Aided by my network we were able to recruit solid candidates, almost doubling the number of candidates running provincially.
I helped recruit Green candidates for the 2008 and 2011 Federal Elections. And did other volunteer work for the Green Party. One example is sufficient. It took 6 or 7 years, but through persistence, and in the last years working with a lawyer in Toronto, was able to get the Saskatchewan Election Laws changed such that Candidate Deposits are refundable if the candidate files their Election Expense Return. For small parties, and especially if they run a full slate of candidates, it amounts to a few thousand dollars every election that were being forfeited. A constitutional challenge in Ontario by a lawyer who is a Green Party member, the one who assisted us, determined that the practice was unconstitutional. The Government of Saskatchewan was deaf to the need to change the Saskatchewan Elections Act because by court ruling their practice was illegal, until the lawyer became involved.
I had dealt with complaints related to the Green Party before. The young woman (26 years old) and Ashu (42 years old) were both members of the Green Party. This complaint was serious and reflected badly on the Green Party. Looking into matters a little deeper, there was credible evidence that the young woman had a significantly larger problem to deal with than the Green Party had. It looked as though Ashu had been cyber-bullying her for about a year, and he had recently broadened the scope through Green Party platforms.
I felt that the complaint needed to be dealt with by people who did not know Ashu or the young woman; it should be dealt with by the Ethics Committee of the Green Party in Ottawa – – independent, 3rd party evaluation, fair. Without the potential for manufactured allegations that the dispute settlement was rigged against Ashu. The young woman was by this time, very afraid of Ashu and what he might do to her.
She had every right to be afraid of him, judging by these later words of his to Daeran Gall who eventually laid a complaint with the Saskatoon Police after terrible harassment of him by Ashu.
in Reference to someone named “(the young woman) ” when I (Daeran) suggested that he sounded like someone in a lover’s quarrel: (Ashu’s email in reply)
you may fantasize about flowers and rainbows, but real men fantasize about violence
i fantasize about violenc
violence
ain’t nothing wrong with that
that’s what a military officer does
you pathetic civilian coward the only way i fantasize about banging her (the young woman) is in the face with punches & kicks
she’s lucky i’m a law abiding citizen
I told the young woman how the Ethics Committee would handle the case, should she decide to bring a complaint forward. It was a difficult decision for her; in the end she decided to proceed. Ashu had driven her off facebook where she liked to connect with her friends. She was worried about him following her, for fear he’d find out where she lived.
As stated by Green Party representative at-the-time, and lawyer by training, Patricia Farnese: x x x x get the quote xxxx
My punishment, or Ashu’s revenge when he determined my role in dealing with the complaint submitted to me, was to launch an assault on me. That was in early December, 2013. He has been ingenious in finding ways to continue to this day.
I deal with a fairly large volume of e-communications for an old lady. Given the volume and number of people he drew into his line of fire, and the nature of the communications (none of which I responded to) I could envision a time in the future when I might need them to defend myself against untrue allegations. I was worried they would get lost on my computer. I routinely place material I do not want to lose, on the blog where it is easy to index and find. You can make the postings public or private.
By this time I was living in BC and travelled to Saskatchewan with my daughter to spend Christmas with family. I spent long hours on the first days of my holiday posting Ashu’s communications on the blog, not available to anyone, with a password required to access them. The information has been very helpful; Ashu made complaints to the Police against me. I have been interviewed by the Saskatoon Police, by the RCMP in Duncan BC, and by the RCMP in Parksville BC at his behest. They all found no basis for his charges; I had more than enough documentation, all dated, to establish, for example, the sequence in which events happened. I could prove there was no cause-and-effect relationship as he claimed, simply by supplying proof of the dates on which things happened.
The way that more and more information about Ashu got posted on the blog is this:
I would describe him as being on full throttle in December. I did not understand what was driving him until a little later. I will describe the size of the net he cast over the Green Party, eventually using some of the same cyber-bullying techniques he used on “the young lady” whose complaint I had received. Ashu is effective at taunting people, as you saw in the example of Daeran. Sometimes you have to talk yourself into keeping your mouth shut and not responding. As a technique for dealing with the frustration, I determined that every time he taak an action, I would add more information about him to category X1A (Ashu/cyber-violence) on the blog. The volume of material reflects the volume of his aggression. Although I eventually stopped; there’s plenty more that should be posted if the goal was to create a complete record.
That is the HOW it came to be, but not the WHY of it. What, if anything, does it have to do with “Battles to Protect the Commons”?
I will use the same words I used in explanation to the lawyers for LFC and myself. It had been proposed that we work together to reach a “global settlement” with Ashu. The cost of defending against the lawsuits was, as I had been warned, extremely high. These people were considerate in proposing we should settle because the costs are all mine, because, and I believe Ashu is fully aware that this is how it works: when a server agrees to host your blog, you enter into a contractual agreement whereby if the server has legal costs arising from the content of your blog, you agree to pay the server’s costs.
After launching this lawsuit against me for defamation on —- on March 9, 2016 my lawyer received a “Formal Offer to Settle” from Ashu for $39,000.00 plus ( xxxxxx get the terms re removal of blogged material). XXXXXX
The lawsuit against LFC was launched on (date) they received an offer to settle on (date) for $5000 XXXX did it include taking down the blog?
In addition to the legal bills I had already paid, I would have the costs of settlement. I will return to how Ashu’s counsel took material that was basically authored by Ashu and submitted it to my lawyer as acceptable legal argument. I expect the global settlement would be that I take down the blogged pages; in exchange Ashu will reduce his financial demands AND there will be a gag order on me. In 2014 a Green Party member had offered to mediate the situation with Ashu. Ashu wrote down his position; I received it.
AS EXPLAINED TO THE LAWYERS:
I do truly regret the impact of Ashu’s actions on LFC. I can alleviate that by agreeing to attempt “global settlement”. … HOWEVER!
- However, in my opinion it would be a short-term fix, and it would be a larger betrayal.
The betrayal can be understood in the framework of “The Tragedy of the Commons”. No one of us individually is responsible, and therefore no one is responsible. (The internet – – the air waves – – are part of “The Commons”.)
A short read may be helpful: Battles to protect the Commons.
EXCERPT: . . . battle-fronts to protect The Commons in an era of unprecedented assault on them. Our success or failure affects the ability of future generations to care for themselves.
When there are incursions onto the Commons, people have to come together to defend it. If not, the Commons is lost and the whole community suffers – – a lot.
OTHER people work hard, all the time, in defence of the Commons. Without them, one tiny example, the quality of the water coming out of your tap would be less than it is. Many more people would side-step the issue through the purchase of bottled water, if they can afford it.
There have been monumental efforts by people in Canada and the U.S. to stop things like tiered (preferential) access to the Internet that large corporate interests seek.
In the context of this court case:
Some of you have daughters, sisters, nieces, or are young women yourselves. The case against me exists because I forwarded a complaint – – this older man was using the internet against a young woman, in ways you would not tolerate.
Click on: 2016-07-29 ‘What law am I breaking?’ How a Facebook troll came undone
This recent story is of young women who had the courage to fight against such cyber-bullies, and win. It’s a win for everyone who has a presence on the internet. AND for everyone who has a daughter, sister or niece.
One woman, Brierley Newton, stood in defence of the Commons. She is not asking us for our gratitude. But she should expect that we will at least stand in solidarity when the ball lands in our court.
Standing down from Ashu Solo would be a betrayal by me. We need to ADD to the success of these young women, not subtract from it.
You might think of the case of Amanda Todd (a teen who committed suicide as a consequence of on-line predation). This is not as extreme, but it is related.
To what extremes will/would Ashu go? So far, he knows that the Police and the Justice system will not touch him.
If I capitulate, not only would his belief be reinforced, but he will potentially make money (a “global settlement”) doing what he does. He would flaunt a win, which would empower him AND others. The above article, How a Troll came Undone, describes the extent of the problem.
We leave a more violent world behind us, if we do not accept our responsibility.
The tragedy and comedy of human existence: we are often unwitting participants in our own demise!
Samuel, excerpt from my email (yesterday) to Andrew (LFC):
I cannot see my way clear to (settling with Ashu). At an appropriate time I will do some fund-raising (a very not-comfortable undertaking!).
I have made overtures to the Sask Law Reform Commission and to the Office of the Deputy Minister of Justice (Sask). Both expressed (sincere, I believe) interest in documentation I will provide to them regarding the practice of using the threat of legal action to intimidate people. When done in the corporate sphere it is called a SLAPP suit.
Ontario has legislation to address the practice. I believe the legislation in a number of jurisdictions has been effective in putting an end to the SLAPP suits. – – But now, individuals like Ashu have learned how to use the same practice.
I might be able to on-line fund the push to get the legislation done in Sask and some other provinces. My work is volunteer, but maybe I could use the proceeds to re-stock the larder.
On Mon, Jun 23, 2014 at 10:21 AM, Sandra Finley <sabest1@sasktel.net> wrote:
It is not a peace agreement between me and Ashu.
I do not need any kind of agreement with him. I simply do not engage with people who are disrespectful, who lie, who attempt to intimidate and coerce other people.
The point seems to have been missed: what I do, I do not do on my own behalf. I have the wherewithal to neutralize the effects of Ashu Solo in my life. SOME OTHER PEOPLE DO NOT.
REQUIRED: an undertaking by Ashu to conduct himself appropriately vis-a-vis other people.
Perhaps this will make clear the PRINCIPLE at play here:
In democracy, there is no fear in speaking or publishing truthful and respectful thoughts.
I, nor anyone else, should be intimidated by how Ashu might react. He robs me of the freedom accorded citizens in a democracy if I succumb out of fear of what he might do.
It is the responsibility of citizens in a democracy to understand and to defend the principles of democracy in action. Many people before us have fought hard and died, to establish the principles.
I am reminded of the (secular Muslim – – like Ashu – – and author) Salman Rushdie’s nine years under Islamist fatwa (a call to murder Rushdie by the Ayatollah, because of a novel he wrote). Rushdie (and a very small, international group of authors, journalists and book publishers) refused to have their freedom taken by religious and political leaders.
Atheism (Ashu) is one among many religious beliefs (religion is no more than man’s interpretation of the life energy). In Ashu’s case, as in the case of the particular Ayotollahs, the religious belief is not a justification for behaviour that is outside the law, or that attempts to limit the freedom of others.
The actions of Rushdie and his supporters arose out of one small principle, that of defending freedom of the individual. The freedom to say, write and publish, even that which might be critical of the religion and its leaders. (Of course, there are responsibilities and limits to the freedom.) The threat to Rushdie’s life (and family) from Islamist zealots was real, and only because the Islamists did not like legitimate criticism.
It seems so obvious and fundamental that the principle must be defended if we wish to preserve it. In the practical world it is often easier and more comfortable to try and ignore those who would bully others into submission.
The difficulties with Ashu began over his bullying and intimidation of a young woman who disagreed with some of his statements. He used Green Party social media in his attacks. When I forwarded the complaint about him, he turned and directed his tactics against me. It is the Rushdie story carried out, but in miniature. Ashu will likely appreciate the irony.
Sandra