People in Kitchener take to the streets to protest Bill C 51

Today people in Kitchener met in Montgomery Park to talk about Bill C 51 and take action. The first person who spoke discussed the history of the bill and examples of similar bills and how they were used by the state to criminalize dissent. Direct contrast was made between this bill and the UK anti terror act. Examples were given of how parts of that bill which are the same as Bill C 51 were used to criminalize everyone from Marian Price to Dee Fennel. The second speaker talked about how surveillance has increased since her political involvement and her association with well known activists, as well as the need for unity to stop this bill which will be used to criminalize those who are taking a stand in defense of the environment and our right to clean water and food. Several other speakers talked about how this bill will be used to consolidate power for those in party especially as a result of the constitutional crisis, the creation of the cartel model of political parties sans riding associations and bases of support, and the general lack of concern that professional politicians show towards the will of the people.

After speakers people took to the streets marching from Montgomery Park where the hiway enters the city to Victoria Park which is past the downtown of the city. This long march took place on the road despite police fuckery and a few idiots who tried to hit people with cars.

An intersection was the taken and protesters held it down to the dismay of the state forces who were helpless to stop this.

The march ended in Victoria Park where a BBQ was held and announcements were made for how people can get involved.

This event was quite successful as it both created community and resistance. With the vote in the senate taking place tomorrow actions like this are important so as to show that despite the states attempts to criminalize the just desires to determine there own destiny, people will resist.

Perjury Charge Moved to June 18th Support Greg Thornton

The Pre Enquette to hear evidence to lay perjury charges against Const.Dietrich was moved to June 18th due to the fact that there was a need for an out of town crown who was not available. The reason for the out of town crown was because for a local crown to press charges against an officer of the Waterloo Region would be a conflict of interest.

This is very interesting given the fact that a conflict of interest was not declared during Greg Thornton’s Lawsuit, nor was a conflict of interest declared when the judge declared that the police officers testimony was declared fit by a judge in the region despite the fact that it contradicted video evidence.

Tommorrow Greg Thornton is going to court to launch his appeal one wonders will conflict of interest be taken as a srious arguement tommorrow or was it just a stalling tactic to delay justice?

Tommorrow Support Greg Thornton Charge officer with Perjury

Thursday May 28th at 11pm Courtroom 101

On May 28th a Pre-Enquete will be held to hear the evidence that Greg Thornton will be presenting in the case where he will be charging an officer for perjury due to the fact that evidence presented by the officer at Greg Thorntons lawsuit on the stand goes against video evidence and the facts as they are.The lawsuit of Greg Thornton stems from an incident where Thornton was assaulted b7 police. If successful this court date will lead to the laying of charges of Perjury against the officer in question. People are asked to come out and support.

Liberal Cowards flee from just demands of protestors

Today members of the Spot Collective joined others across the province to demand that the provincial Liberals deal with the poverty that they have created. This campaign know as raise the rates has the following demands.

• Suspend the ODSP medical reviews that are now underway until a properly functioning computer system is in place and the backlog of people waiting to be moved from OW to ODSP has been cleared. Make the reviews simpler and less intrusive and ensure all who face them have been properly notified and provided with the medical and advocacy services they nee to complete the process.

• Stop the elimination of the $100 a month work related benefit for people on ODSP

• Scrap the SAMS computer system as a failure that continues to impose misery and hardship on people on social assistance and creates intolerable conditions for ODSP and OW workers.

• Fully restore the Special Diet and Community Start Up (CSUMB) so that people in poverty can have the chance of eating a healthy diet and remaining housed

• Increase the minimum wage to $15 an hour and respect the right of all to living wages.

• Restore social assistance rates to the real level that existed prior to the 1995 cut, which amounts to a 55% increase in current rates for both OW and ODSP recipients.

When we went to the Kitchener office instead of meeting or talking with us they closed the office for the day which was fine with us, we redecorated the office with our flyers and such and then decided to go to the cambridge office to deal deal with this issue. The cowards at the cambridge office hid but we kept on ringing the bell getting friends to call and make our presence known. The Police was called to remove us but we did not leave. Instead we demanded to speak to someone. When the coward came out we told him why we were there and that we were not leaving. He said it was the buildings policy to remove protestors being more of a coward and not taking responsibility for asking the police to remove us. It was clear to the police that we were principled and arrest did not scare us. After staying there for quite some time it became clear that the police were not to comfortable arresting us and instead tried to reason with us. The day ended with us serving free food and handing out flyers at City hall.

It is clear that petitioning the Liberals or begging for enough to live on is not working. Our strategy is not to beg for crumbs off the table but rather deepen the contradictions until a solution that benefits the people is reached. We will intensify our campaign of economic disruption like we did when Milloy was minister of misery (aka social serves) and if we cannot get what we need to live we will make it so that they and there Beurocracy cant function. This is not an ideal threat but rather something that has been done before and will be done again. Through economic disruption we will fight through economic disruption we will win. Stopping the ability of two Liberal offices from functioning in one day is just the start,

From Belfast to Palestine Resisting Occupation, Report on Sundays event

On Sunday the group Sunday Poetry At Ellingtons had a variety of speakers and poets take a stand against colonialism imperialism and political prisoners of the empire. Speakers came from a variety of groups including Hugo Chavez Peoples Defense Front, Toronto Forum on Cuba, Anti Colonial Working Group and others. The event started with a hereditary Mohawk Chief talking about colonialism on this territory the destruction brought on by capitalism the need to fight for self determination as well as the importance of nation to nation relations between the Haudenosaunee people at Six Nations and the Venezuelans.

Anna De Carlo From the MLPC discussed the new state terror laws, there implications and the need for us to create organization so that no one is declared illegal or criminalized by state on the basis of there right to hold politics and participate in the polity.

A speaker from Toronto Forum on Cuba also spoke of the attacks on the Cuban people by the Anglo Imperialist state, Cubas international solidarity in the face of imperialist war and aggression and the need for all political prisoners to be free particularly Peltier, Mumia and others in the belly of the beast.

A member of Hugo Chavez Peoples Defense Front went into the history of the colonialist project in Latin America and the resistance.

The 32CSM Vice Chair Joe Dillon raised the issue of the occupation in the Six Counties in the historical context of all nations right to determine their own destiny and the violation of international law committed by the British through the continued occupation. He further talked about the policy of normalization being implemented by the British and their lackeys and the right of all people to resist this occupation. He talked about the violence that prisoners receive as part and parcel of the violence that all Irish people receive by the very nature of the occupation and pointed out that it was the British that introduced the gun in Irish politics and until that contradiction is resolved there will not be peace because occupation by its very nature is violence.

Poetry Music and culture was also used in this celebration for resistance and the event was well received.

On Seamus Dalys day in court lets phone jam the british consulate and demand his freedom

Tuesday May 19th
(416)593 1290
all day

Seamus Daly, an Irish Republican is currently being held in a maximum security prison and denied bail for a crime that he did not commit. His incarceration is evidence that today in Ireland despite the talk of peace and such nothing has changed. Due to the nature of his trial and the media around this it is quite clear that A. they do not have the evidence to convict him and B. he will not get a fair trial. This is a clear example of human rights violations and all should oppose this.

Francie Mackey 32CSM Chair Address to Venezuelan Consulate and Public meeting in Kitchener

Distinguished Guests, Ladies and Gentlemen, Comrades,
It is an honour to speak with you this evening and to express our solidarity with you in your endeavours in opposing proposed legislation which is designed to impact on your civil liberties and freedom.

To the imperialist, concepts such as law and justice are nothing more than instruments to secure their grip on power. The basic ethos of imperialism is that those who are governed are inferior to those who govern and as such the idea of equality throughout society becomes an objective to resist at all costs.

This inherent belief of superiority within imperialism has manifested itself throughout history and invariably has culminated in wars wherein the people of no property are sent to their slaughter and the same imperialist aggressors divide up the spoils.

This cycle of imperial conflict has been the dominant political trait for centuries. The last one hundred years has the ignoble claim of being the most violent century ever. Mechanised slaughter on an unprecedented scale has resulted in the deaths of multi millions and the displacement and impoverishment of multi millions more.

Imperialism has thrived on conflict both in terms of the arms industry and the appropriation of natural resources. Indigenous peoples have been reduced to nothing more than pawns in the power games of imperial political and financial entities.

As we look back on the killing fields of Iraq we can invoke the wisdom of Plato when he said ‘only the dead have seen the end of war’.
Imperialists rule by fear; the fear of violence, the fear of coercion, the fear of poverty and the fear of fear itself.
Those who resist this, in whatever guise, are invariably labelled ‘terrorists’. Where no ‘enemy’ exists imperialism needs to invent one.

Weapons of Mass Destruction in Iraq will surely go down in history as the most obscene invention of all leading to the annihilation of tens of thousands of Iraqi citizens and the devastation of that ancient country.

This need to invent spurious threats has also been the mainstay of the relationship between imperialism and the law. All societies need law but laws and the administration of justice are first and foremost concerned will the well being of citizens.

The well being of citizens is best served by the cultivation of freedom of conscience and freedom of speech. These in themselves are the greatest safeguards against threats to them because through the exercising of these rights evolves a system of governance predicated on these rights.

Imperialism has also manifested itself in economic terms which are no less controlling than military dictatorships. Forcing people into debt is a potent form of control. Indebtedness is the new enslavement. It not only enslaves individuals but individual countries also.

False campaigns like those seeking to cancel third world debt are merely a device to redefine that debt as opposed to addressing the basic underlying cause of economic exploitation of less developed nations.

The current European banking crisis has brought this economic imperialism into sharp focus. Those that caused the crisis, both in political and financial spheres, are the same forces who are at the forefront of forcing austerity on ordinary citizens to offset monetary losses to a tiny elite.

Media control is also a prime concern for imperialism. Throughout the world immensely influential news agencies are under the control of financial moguls whose sole purpose is to deliver a narrative to justify laws and actions implemented to preserve imperial privilege.

These agencies were also the propaganda mouthpieces for imperialist governments who sought wars and also to undermine legitimate governments who stood in the way of their international agendas.

From Iraq to Venezuela, from the Middle East to Afghanistan the mark of imperialism is a bloodstain on their national fabric.

And as citizens react to this oppression, as they exercise their rights to freedom of conscience and freedom of speech they are labelled as threats to the established order.

And in the name of national security and the protection of democracy laws and censorship are introduced to control and misrepresent these expressions of opposition.

The history of imperialism in Ireland is a microcosm of the history of imperialism throughout the world. Ireland was subjugated by the British Empire for centuries. Imperialist laws were practiced in Ireland as a test bed for similar laws in other subjugated countries.

Even within the last fifty years laws in the Six occupied Counties of Ireland received the notorious praise from the apartheid regime in South Africa.

Sectarian discrimination was no less repugnant than racial discrimination but both had the same objective of oppressing opposition to oppressive regimes.

So called democratic countries can exercise oppression and denial of basic rights as any dictatorship. And the common theme in such oppression is that rights are best protected by limiting the exercising of them.

To all citizens throughout the world the message from Ireland is this; your greatest weapon is the exercising of freedom of speech and freedom of conscience. This will have consequences but the consequences for not doing so are far more grave.

As we leave this discussion tonight may I extend solidarity with you in your quest to protect your rights and we thank you for your support to the Irish people in their challenge to the violation of Irish National Sovereignty.

Our long struggle for freedom has experienced the unjust laws aimed at criminalising our people, the special non jury courts, arrests and harassment by British policing in Ireland. More recent legislation allows arrest based on what we say in opposition to the colonial power here and so the criminalisation policy continues.

We believe by working towards unity of purpose globally we can uphold our rights to freedom of speech, freedom to express civil liberties and freedom to National self determination.

Solidarity is key.

Many thanks again for having me participate in your discussions.

Public Meeting in Defense of Venezuela and Self Determination a Success

On May 13th ACWG welcomed the Venezuelan Consulate Marth Pardo De Marquez to Kitchener to participate in a public meeting in defense of Venezuela and against imperialism. The event started with Francis Makey of the 32CSM addressing the meeting and discussing the nature of imperialism and the contradictions between imperialism and human rights. He continued to point out the nature of the so called anti terrorist legislation in Ireland and how it is a tool to use to crush the just aspirations of the Irish people to determine their own destiny. The next speaker was a comrade from the local committee to bring justice for the disappeared students in Mexico. The event continued with Anna De Carlo from the MLPC giving a picture of the nature of the attack on Venezuela and a call for principled relations between all nations. Francis Makey then answered questions about how special legislation is being used by the crown forces to stifle free expression and implement human rights abuses, which is Ironic given that they are actually committing the slanders that they level at Venezuela. The event ended with a comrade from the Indigenous Peoples Liberation Party talking about their struggles and gave brave salutes to the struggle of the Venezuelan people as well as condemned the attacks on Venezuela. The event ended with special thanks from the Venezuelan Consulate and good wishes to all struggling for a better world,

Letter to my mother on mothers day

Dear Mom
Its strange even though i know you are gone I still feel that you are with me sometimes and old arguments we use to have keep sneaking in my life. Today I was at a revolutionary poetry reading at all I could think of was you. It started when I was reading a poem by Bobby Sands, the one that we use to talk about all the time and discuss and debate and later when I was giving my speech in the back of my head I could hear you cynicism around leftist politics that poor people fight and die for ideas, ideas that are betrayed and tossed aside like the people who have fought and died for them and I remember the quote you use to tell me all the time when i would get really excited about a revolutionary idea and would rant and rave and follow you around the house explaining in the smallest detail my thoughts plans and how they should be implement, the quote you told me you were told along time ago when you would rant such ideas with similar passion, the quote in english goes something like this if im not wrong “Your ideas are good and plans are even better but trying to do anything political in a landscape full of fuckers is impossible”. You always hated opportunism not because of any ideological reason but rather because it was phony and you really had no time for people that did not believe what they talked about.

Anyways at the poetry reading I started to think about our age old argument can art exist simply as art or is art simply a reflection of class reality. I remember being so drawn to the idea that art cant exist under capitalism due to the fact that it becomes a commodity that is bought and sold and as such art is produced for the market that I took the extreme stubborn that social realism is the only true art form and you were so stubborn that you would yell that as long as a poet exists in some decrepit basement with only a pen and a paper and there ideas art would still exist, and I would respond that whatever that poet was writing was still a result of the material conditions and that the poetry was either serving the class struggle on the side of the oppressed or serving the bourgeois to which you would reply why is my library full of books on vampires and such and how is that advancing the class struggle to which i would shut up only to come back ten minutes later saying that vampires and such was an example of the capitalist class and those that chased them were examples of the proletariat to which you would respond that I am so obsessed that i could find someway to bring the issue of class struggle into a conversation about something as mundane as making salad to which I would respond whose land was the vegetables grown on and did the salad maker own the means of production to which you would end up laughing or argue more depending on how you were feeling.

It may make you happy to know that I spent most of the day with an artist that really reminded me of you and talking to her reminded me of hearing stories from you both as an artist and as someone who was politically conscious and lived through alot. The free flow of discussion we had reminded me of how we use to talk and I missed you so much. Dont worry my ideas on art and culture are not as dogmatic as they use to be and you are right as the son of two poets I would eventually find my way back to art writing and poetry, unfortunately its too late for you to see what I write but I am sure you would be proud as it is honest and I can look at what I write and say that yes this does reflect me. We took the subway me and this woman and I started saying some of the things that I was thinking about the international situation and she changed the subject, to which after we got off the subway I made a comment along the lines of Im so glad we are comfortble to talk about any political issues we want in the the land of the free, laced with sarcasm to which we both laughed.

This is the issue I want to talk to you about mom, the sacrifices you made raising a son who is a an open communist. I remember when I was about thirteen or so I told you I was a communist and you told me to keep my mouth shut and asked if I wanted us to be deported. I remember CSIS visiting us as kids because they were convinced that you were a communist spy and the story you told me about that family that wanted to firebomb us but they didnt because we they found out you had children and I remember that Dima Dragan who was murdered by either communists or anti communists wife use to babysit for us. In this enviroment you did not attack me or denounce me or marginalize what I said but rather you supported me visited me in jail worried about me and always told everyone dont say anything bad about Julian he is my beloved son. I remember when one person at Church was gossiping and saying ohhhh Julian is a bolshevik  and should be beaten you said and who is going to do it you? You are too scared of your own shadow, at least Julian has guts to stand up for what he believes in. How many struggles you endured as my mother I cant even believe to imagine yet despite all I put you through you were always at myside even if you did not agree with what I said or did and you did this at the expense of your reputation and saftey because I was your beloved son.

 

On this day I want to appreciate you for all you did and suffered for my sake and let you know that I still love you and know you are here watching over me because you are my beloved mother.

Information Laid in process to charge officer with Perjury Pre-Enquete May 28th

Today Greg Thornton presented evidence to lay a charge of perjury against a Waterloo Regional officer who lied on the stand in the matter of his brutal assault. The hearing was closed and despite the court agreeing to allow him one friend to be there for emotional support his F&CS worker who agreed to support was not available and his friend on the outside was denied entry. Despite this the date went well and his next date is May 28th. This date known as a Pre Enquete is where Thornton will be making his arguments as to why this charge must be laid. People are asked to come show support and help Thornton get the justice he deserves.