Criminal defamation is one thing but when those who support blogger Charles LeBlanc have to claim anonymity, there's a problem

I first heard about Charles LeBlanc's plight this morning. He's been charged with defamation, was raided by the Fredericton police and had his PC taken. Going to his blog (it is almost impossible to navigate - Charles suffers from ADHD), I can only rely on third-party accounts of what happened.

This post is not about the defamation. It's about the fear shown not just by LeBlanc's supporters but the reticence of the 'man on the street' to comment openly about this case. Something is rotten in the state of Fredericton.

LeBlanc's politics and ideology aside, of which I'm still trying to comprehend, what bothers me the most is that those who are supporting LeBlanc almost all are begging anonymity. That's the scary part. What's so frightening to these people about the Frederiction police force that they are afraid to reveal their names? Their actions are not indicative of a society that is functioning in a true democracy.

Let me be clear, I don't support defaming anyone. But it's the manner of his arrest and the secretive, if not intimidated, reaction of his supporters both old and new, that is as much the story here as LeBlanc's initial actions that brought about this charge.

Details are almost impossible to come by. The guy seems to be a conservationist yet features a page of (non-judgemental) photos of anti-abortionists on his blog. He also seems to be without any specific political affiliation. He's loud and a bit of an shit disturber some of the time. But this time, in the face of all he has done to expose the brutality of the Frederiction police force, he deserves to be heard by all.

One thing for sure, despite LeBlanc's loud and in-your-face persona, he is hard to pin down. He's all over the place. Charles LeBlanc gives enigmatic a new name. The one thing that unites his actions is he resists authority and what he sees as abuse of authority. More to come. 

UPDATE: I love this video where LeBlanc good-naturedly jousts with Anglo Society 'bigots'. It's pretty funny in the nicest way. Then a cop comes up and one the Society's members says to the officer, "I thought you'd put him in jail one day". Despite the friendly and joking tone, the undercurrent is there. Prescient, too.