Rubato (a musical term) is a creator’s gift to the artist. When the composer uses “rubato”, the musical score calls for the artist to improvise. Said to be “robber’s time” because the artist steals time from the creator’s underlying theme to impose his own order briefly, one that may be entirely at odds with the rest. It is the musical complement to Carnival…where, for a brief time, breaking the rules is celebrated not punished.
Since no Colonial official had even contacted any Tsilhqot’in official before July 20, 1864, let alone begun treaty negotiations, it is impossible for any Colonial law to have become extended before then to Tsilhqot’in territory. What, then, led British Columbia to martyr these Tsilhqot’in officials before a crowd estimated at 250 in one of the largest and most dramatic mass hangings in Canadian history?
Tonight, Tom Swanky appeared on Gorilla Radio. Host Chris Cook interviewed Tom about his book, “The True Story of Canada’s ‘War’ of Extermination on the Pacific.” If you live in the Victoria area, Tom will be appearing at the Anarchist Book Fair on Saturday September 8th.
On Aug. 18, 1862, taking advantage of the Cowichan having fled “in the wildest state of alarm” as smallpox swept through the fertile land coveted by settlers, Governor James Douglas invaded Cowichan territory with gunboats, men at arms, surveyors and 100 settlers. Douglas had been trying since 1852 to subjugate the Cowichan so that he could give their land to speculators who would, in turn, flip it to settlers wishing to farm
This is the annual B.C. Day holiday weekend. However, before Canadians can celebrate B.C. Day with a good conscience, we have work to do. 150 years ago this year, perhaps 100,000 B.C. natives all died within a few months. Among some indigenous Peoples, such as the Haida, Tsilhqot’in, St’at’imc and others, the death toll was as high as 80 percent or more of their whole number. By way of comparison, the death toll at Hiroshima and Nagasaki is commonly estimated at less than 40 percent of those cities.
August 2 is the 150th anniversary of Victoria’s incorporation. In the weeks before, all natives had been expelled from Victoria and their houses burned. The colonial regime of James Douglas had decided natives would be allowed to remain in the European settlement only if a settler certified that they had employment.