Post 231--Bolan's Gangsters (1)

Gangsters are still on my mind from the last post. No surprise, for they are often on my mind, especially when I read the newspapers. My favourite daily, The Vancouver Sun, has a columnist who covers the gangster front—Kim Bolan. Though I do not always agree with her and at one time in an email she called me something close to “idiot”—or so I felt about it, but I appreciate her writings and fail to read her column only if I have a bad day and don’t read the paper at all.

In this crazy world of litigation at the slightest instigation at all, I want to make sure no one accuses me of claiming Bolan own or controls gangs. These gangs are not Bolan's. Titles are meant to draw people's attention and I hope this one does.

Kim is not the only author to write on gangs and not all her articles are in the Vancouver Sun.  So, some of the articles linked here are by reporters instead of Kim the columnist, like Nick Eagland and Matt Robinson; some are in other papers like The Province. All that sort of information is clearly marked below.

But before I go further, I am reminded of the introductory paragraph at the heading of this blog.  There I explain that the title of this blog, “My World—My Neighbour,” is a summary of Jesus’ teaching that everyone in this world is my neighbour, whom I have to love, care for and about. How can I square this with the rather rough attitude I am displaying towards gangsters and their culture of violence and money?  Perhaps you’ve already wondered about that. Perhaps you even accuse me of contradictions or, worse, of hypocrisy. I am bringing this up at this point to let you know I am aware of this issue. I plan to address it before long. In the meantime, feel free to write me about it and help me think it through. 

Returning to Kim, sometimes her column is the only one I read. My wife, Fran or Frances (she prefers the short version; I, the longer), often cuts out articles for me if she knows I’m interested and I don’t have the time.  Bolan’s articles never escape Fran’s scissors. So, they are piling up in a box along with others.  But today is their day. I’m going to treat you to some of Bolan’s brain waves by means of links to some of her articles. Note well:  some, not all. And note also that, unless indicated otherwise, the dates behind the titles are of the Vancouver Sun.

As you read, check on the commonalities of these stories. What do they have in common?  What marks their culture?  And what of their pleas in court?  What are they asking?

This is only the beginning. I won’t bore you with too many data all at once, but I do intend to bring you more of this stuff. This is serious and only regularly reading these items, story after story, will it sink into your brain, heart and emotions. Allow it do that to you over time, and I think you will find your indignation and anger growing as you go till finally you may demand radical changes in the way these hoodlums are treated by the justice system. At the end you may well come to ask who are the most responsible for creating this violence and chaos—the gangsters themselves or the nation’s justice system. So, you will be thrown a lot of ugly stories as well as pleas for mercy and questions. You’ve got work coming up! 

Kim Bolan, “Police monitor rise of more puppet clubs.”  Hells Angels allegedly pulling the strings of certain less-established bike gangs. July 23, 2018 (p. A3). https://www.google.ca/searchq=Kim+Bolan+police+monitor+rise+of+more+puppet+clubs&rlz=1C1AVNG_enCA658CA662&oq=Kim+Bolan++police+monitor+rise+of+more+puppet+clubs&aqs=chrome..69i57.25721j0j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8

Here you learn a lot about gang culture, including a hierarchy of clubs with Hells Angels at the very top. The ones lower down take the brunt of dangerous jobs. The motor cycling tours may seem like fun, but they are putting themselves AND their families at risk. There are serious consequences.  Police are monitoring them all carefully, making sure everyone is safe.  Why the police should be guarding these dumb wits against themselves is a big puzzle to me. Why should I pay taxes to protect those fools?    

Kim Bolan, “Real Scoop: Police concerned about rise of the HA puppets.”July 22, 2018. https://vancouversun.com/news/staff-blogs/real-scoop-police-concerned-about-rise-of-the-ha-puppets

An introduction to various gangs on the BC coast. 

Nick Eagland, “Deported gangster arrested in India for alleged drug production.” June 19, 2018. https://www.google.ca/searchq=Kim+bolan+deported+gangster+arrested+in+india+for+alleged&rlz=1C1AVNG_enCA658CA662&oq=Kim+bolan+deported+gangster+arrested+in+india+for+alleged&aqs=chrome..69i57.50560j0j4&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8

Nick Eagland, “”’Wake Up Surrey’ pleads for help in tackling gang violence.” June 14, 2018 (p. A8).https://vancouversun.com/news/local-news/surrey-residents-rise-against-violence-in-wake-of-shooting-deaths-of-two-teens?video_autoplay=true

Kim Bolan, “Firefighters’ biker club founder poses with Hells Angels.” Public safety minister calls the alleged association more than a bit disturbing. June 5, 2018 (p. A3). https://www.google.ca/searchq=kim+bolan+firefighters%27+biker+club+founder+posese+with+hells+angels&rlz=1C1AVNG_enCA658CA662&oq=kim+bolan+firefighters%27+biker+club+founder+posese+with+hells+angels&aqs=chrome..69i57.43481j0j9&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8

The concern here is the penetration of gangsters into government agencies.

Kim Bolan, “Feds appeal immigration order freeing gunman.  Ministry objects to board decision to release gangster pending deportation.” April 26, 2018.  https://www.google.ca/searchq=kim+bolan+feds+appear+immigration+order+freeing+gunman&rlz=1C1AVNG_enCA658CA662&oq=kim+bolan+feds+appear+immigration+order+freeing+gunman&aqs=chrome..69i57.19521j0j9&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8

Kim Bolan, “Hells Angels civil forfeiture trial begins in BC Supreme Court.” April 24, 2018 (p. A5).  https://www.google.ca/searchq=kim+bolan+hells+angels+civil+forfeiture+trial+begins&rlz=1C1AVNG_enCA658CA662&oq=kim+bolan+hells+angels+civil+forfeiture+trial+begins&aqs=chrome..69i57.81737j0j9&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8

Kim Bolan,  “Guilty pleas expected in Bacon murder. Three men charged in 2011 gang shooting in front of Kelowna hotel reach plea bargain on lesser charges.” The Province,  April 22, 2018 (p. 4). https://www.google.ca/searchq=kim+bolan+guilty+please+expected+in+Bacon+case&rlz=1C1AVNG_enCA658CA662&oq=kim+bolan+guilty+please+expected+in+Bacon+case&aqs=chrome..69i57.24648j0j9&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8

Kim Bolan, “UN gang associate released over border agency’s objections.” The Province, April 22, 2018 (p. 4).  https://www.google.ca/searchq=kim+bolan+UN+gang+associate+released+over+border&rlz=1C1AVNG_enCA658CA662&oq=kim+bolan+UN+gang+associate+released+over+border&aqs=chrome..69i57.25889j0j9&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8

Kim Bolan, “Guilty pleas on lesser charges expected in Bacon murder case.” April 21, 2018 (p. A4). https://www.google.ca/searchq=Kim+Bolan%2C+%E2%80%9CGuilty+pleas+on+lesser+charges+expected+in+Bacon+murder+case&rlz=1C1AVNG_enCA658CA662&oq=Kim+Bolan%2C+%E2%80%9CGuilty+pleas+on+lesser+charges+expected+in+Bacon+murder+case&aqs=chrome..69i57.83520j0j9&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8

Kim Bolan,  “Gang Associate to be released as he awaits deportation to Iraq.”  April 21, 2018 (p. A6).  https://www.google.ca/searchq=kim+bolan+gang+associate+to+be+released+as+he+awaits&rlz=1C1AVNG_enCA658CA662&oq=kim+bolan++gang+associate+to+be+released+as+he+awaits&aqs=chrome..69i57.27927j0j4&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8

Post 56—Introducing the Metro Vancouver Alliance (MVA)

Douglas Todd of the Vancouver Sun (VS) recently introduced the above Alliance to his readers. Though the Alliance’s address is only about four blocks from my residence, I had not heard of it before. It is my guess very few people had heard of it, but now that Todd has widely publicized the organization, it is my hope that many people will support it and actually join it via whatever organization they belong to. Actually, the Alliance is abundantly celebrated on the internet with many websites devoted to it. Go check it out for yourself, but be sure you include “Vancouver BC” in your search, for it is an international organization with more than 60 similar ones in various countries. 

We humans have a sad history of surrounding ourselves with fences to separate us from other humans. We do this in a myriad ways. We are born within some of these fences as, for example, tribal or national borders that clearly mark us as different from the people on the other side of the border, but often as better than them as well.  We may be born within religious borders that separate us from other religions or even from other denominations within the same religion as, for example, Protestants vs Catholics. Or, even within Protestants such as Reformed against Anabaptists. Or between organizations based on faith and secular ones, though that distinction, popular as it is and representing the common sense of our day, is a secular myth based on secular delusion.  

Now there is nothing wrong with borders per se. I doubt that we can live without them. They represent diversity within the human community; they enable diversity and they protect diversity. Vishal Mangalwadi, an Indian Christian philosopher, argues rather convincingly that national and tribal borders, for example, are willed by God.  In an age of intolerance in my birth country, The Netherlands, Abraham Kuyper argued for a radical political and social pluralism in which each party or grouping has a legitimate place around the table, including your most vociferous opponent, enemy even. I fully endorse that kind of pluralism that makes room for both borders and diversity within and across borders.

Right, there is nothing wrong with borders per se, as long as the people within one set of borders can tolerate, respect and cooperate within another set of borders. And that is precisely the aim of MVA. It is not to erase the borders so much as to encourage the folk on one side of the border to cooperate and improve the society within which the various groups co-exist as neighbours. The MVA includes a fairly wide range of religions, social groupings and labour unions who, after carefully listening to each other, have selected four issues to work on in its catchment area: transit, housing, living wage and social isolation. As a citizen of Metro Van, I can assure you these are indeed hot buttons in our community that seriously need to be addressed. They are not the only ones. If given the chance, I might have selected one or two additional ones, but, heh, just for an extremely diversified group like this to have agreed on four is itself a huge achievement.

I am deeply interested in all four issues, but today will concentrate briefly on the living wage issue. Deborah Littman, introduced by Todd as the “lead organizer” and a Jew, explains that among the “faith communities” interest in this issue “goes back to Catholic social teaching on the value of labour.” (I think she means within Christian faith communities.)  According to Todd,  the group has convinced the Vancouver City Council to “commit to a minimum wage of $20.68 for all its workers and contractors.”  According to Tara Carman in the next issue of VS (June 30, 2015), Mayor Robertson intends to offer a proposal to this effect this very week. MVA plans to be there with a “living wage rally” outside City Hall. Good for them.

Though in principle I fully support such a move, I do hope that those who have to make the final decision will have all the facts at their command and not simply act out of “leftist” idealism. Carman reports that Vancouver’s Fraser Institute has discovered that such a move “reduces employment for low-wage workers by 12-17 per cent.” It may be one thing for governments to pay such wages, but when it is imposed on business, problems arise. “Employers respond by cutting back on jobs, hours, and on-the-job training.” 

Justin Trudeau, the current leader of Canada’s Liberal Party, has just been quoted to insist that environmental issues like oil pipelines should be decided not on basis of idealism so much as on factual evidence (VS, July 2, 2015). I would hope that the final decision on living wage will similarly be based on factual evidence—and I do sincerely hope also that such evidence will indeed support a positive decision, for too many workers and their families make do with wages that simply do not meet their daily needs.  It appears that New Westminster, a member of Metro Vancouver, has already moved in that direction without the negative consequences having showed up so far. That is hopeful.  

Continuing the mixing idea of the last posts, this one has turned out to be yet another example of mixing religions with both the self-described secular community and with "worldly" affairs. Actually, such mixing happens all the time and should happen, for neither religion nor the world thrive when separated from each other.

Thank you, MVA.  I encourage my root church, the Christian Reformed Church, to join the movement as has the other denomination of which I am an “adherent,” the Baptist Church, already. 

This post is based especially on these articles in VS: (1) Todd, “Metro Vancouver Alliance builds bridges and makes things happen,” 29-07-2015; (2) Carman, “$20.68/hr: City looks at paying all staff and contractors a living wage,” 30-07-2015. With thanks to both.