Dear editor:Nov. 5 at around 5 p.m., two locals witnessed three people in a truck taking 鈥渘o coal mine鈥� signs down from along the Island Highway.I have been told that during the ensuing altercation they managed to get the truck's make and licence plate number and reported it to the RCMP.My first reaction was anger at these people, whoever they are. Then I started to wonder whether they might possibly represent the "silent' majority" of my community?I wondered whether or not I could accept an in-favour decision by the majority of Fanny Bay/Ships Point residents to build the Raven underground coal mine? Then I realized there is no democratic mechanism in place to find the answer. Under the current system, locally affected communities have no political power in these decisions. We have no say and no legal right to find out what the majority actually want by voting on the issue. You are a NIMBY if you oppose it, basically selfish for caring about the long-term health of your community. The communities most affected by Raven coal mine should have the right to vote on whether a massive coal mine will be built next door to them. One cannot know whether the community is truly for or against something without a vote. I have no faith in the current process. So what to have faith in and how to proceed? Initiate true democratic action, because I know we can do better than we're doing. There doesn't seem to be a 'unifying purpose' in the Comox Valley, and increasingly Courtenay/Comox politics remind me of the U.S. 鈥� completely polarized.I will never see a time when people all share the same ideology, religion, values, but true democracy, where citizens are equal, responsible for their actions, care about their communities and have a duty to participate in them and support one another, I can find no lasting argument against.The Occupy movement stems from this very fact, there is no real democracy, it is a sham. We can do better; we have to do it ourselves. If there are benefits to having this mine in Fanny Bay beyond the few jobs that may be available to local people then I want to hear what they are from the people who live in my community. With a vote I would know, one way or the other whether the residents of Fanny Bay and Ships Point support this mine, and so would the provincial government.As it is, our system works to silence the voices of its citizens in favour of making them merely consumers, which further works to alienate us from our civic responsibilities.I want to know what this community wants instead of just hearing the vocal minorities (on both sides). I think I know how it would turn out, but in case I'm wrong I am willing to suffer the consequences of my decision to live in Fanny Bay. Marie Gaudreau,Fanny Bay
