BUFFALO, NY – To paraphrase what Steve Horwitz (whose interview will be published soon) told us last week, “oppression creates resistance”. When Canadian border patrol agents aggressed Jason and Pete, they unwittingly provoked a network of committed activists and journalists to sound the alarm and disseminate information about their wrongdoing. Below is an incomplete compilation of the numerous blogs and sites that have helped in diffusing this story.

Xaq Fixx talked with Pete and Jason on the phone, and quickly posted information at Fr33 Agents, getting the news on the radar of many activists.

The Washington City Paper remarked that they were writing about Motor Home Diaries on Freedom Friday for the second time in several months, and how devastatingly ironic it was that MHD was denied access to Canada as a consequence of that prior injustice that they previously reported on:

Need another example of the universality of angry cops asserting their authority for no good reason? Last night, libertarian activist J.D. Talley and Pete Eyre were turned away at the Canadian border after being detained for over four hours. The two are touring the U.S. and Canada as part of the Motor Home Diaries; basically, happy hours, talks, and meet-ups with other libertarians. Pretty harmless, right?

They went on to say:

The Canadian border patrol cited an incident in Jones County, Mississippi as the reason for denying Eyre and Talley entrance. We wrote about the same incident many Freedom Fridays back. To refresh your memory: Talley, Eyre, and an additional friend–all of them white–were pulled over by a Mississippi law enforcement officer. When the Motor Home Diaries crew asked why they had been pulled over and then refused to identify themselves until the officer answered them, the officer placed all three men under arrest, charged them with violating bogus public safety laws, and impounded their vehicle. They were held overnight and lost a lot of money in incarceration fees to the Jones County Sheriff’s Office.

Macleans.CA documented the incident and commented as well:

Honestly, two wrongs don’t make a right, and it seems ridiculous to allow a couple of border guards to prevent what appear to be entirely harmless, if perhaps a little bit loopy libertarians from crossing the border —  just as ridiculous as the Galloway ban, in fact. Here’s hoping that the minister will do the right thing, and put an end to this silliness once and for all.

Mike Gogulski wrote an entry at NoState.com:

What is a border?…

I got to thinking about this because the Motorhome Diaries crew (agorist comrades Jason Talley and Pete Eyre) just got stopped and searched and denied passage across one of these “border” things. From the reports, it sounds like the “border” in question was one dividing two political entities which call themselves “United States of America” and “Canada”.

I offer a few alternative definitions for your consideration:

bor-der (bôr’dər) n.: 1. An imaginary line near which organized criminals in and out of uniform may stop, search, kidnap, cage, shoot, rob or otherwise harm peaceful people without consequence.

J. D. Tuccille, author of the blog Disloyal Opposition shared his thoughts:

The libertarian journalists of The Motorhome Diaries were detained at the Canadian border and denied entry into the Great White North. Apparently, the abuse they sustained at the hands of authorities in Jones County, Mississippi was cited as a reason to bar them from the country. That, and the “heinous propaganda” they were carrying.

Psychopolitik 2.0 shared their disapproval of the treatment MHD received:

Actually, they decided that letting a couple libertarians in would be an intolerable risk to the security of their country.  Instead, the authorities confiscated & destroyed their video of the trip, spewed some crap about looking for pornography (WTF, since when was porn illegal in Canada?) & “heinous propaganda”, looted their vehicle, held their computers as evidence, and sent them back the other way as if they’d bounced off a force field.

Le Minarchiste Quebececois transmitted the story in French.

Brad Taylor, Blog Of Bile,  Freedoms Phoenix, Reflections From A Rotting Nation, and The Agitator also relayed the information, contributing to its circulation.

Thank you to every one who helped with spreading this information. This collaboration indicates the strength of our network as individuals and that when we work together and we accomplish a lot. Let’s continue the fight to stop government violence from standing between us and those we love, despite some imaginary, yet militarized, line on a map.