Thursday, September 02, 2010

How to fight against and beyond ''diversity of tactics''...


Interview with Denis Rancour who offers a critique of progressive activism as a form of collaboration.

"Then I also came to understand that progressives are basically part of the problem. In other words, that the mainstream activists that show up and that are intent on nonviolent or pacifist tactics only, are actually part of the problem. And this relates to my reading of Ward Churchill who wrote the essay entitled "Pacifism as Pathology" to explain the main problem that we have in north amerikkkan mainstream activism. So when you come to understand the progressives as being individuals who are avoiding risk, who are avoiding effective methods and who are mainly after guilt alleviation and who are basically trying to feel good about themselves by doing a kind of weekend activism to express their opinion, when you come to understand that progressives believe a false model of how societal change occurs. They believe that their opinion is going to matter to power. They actually have that as a fundamental belief of how they are acting in society. So when you come to understand progressives, what they believe, what they're about and why they insist on nonviolence and you come to understand that nonviolence actually protects the state and now I'm referring to a book by Peter Gelderloos. I believe it's entitled "How Nonviolence Protects the State" which was written, largely inspired by Ward Churchill's work, when you come to understand what progressives are about...then I came to the conclusion that we should not try to collaborate with progressives, that they're collaborators with the enemy. And I think we have to see the hierarchical system, as anarchists we have to see the hierarchical system as the enemy, as the root cause of all our problems because the hierarchy takes away our individual...influence, our agency, the possibility for our contributions to community and to the public and political life of our communities and larger organizations. So, when you come to understand, as anarchists do, that hierarchy is the problem and you come to understand that progressives support this hierarchy and only want to make it better, you understand that what progressives do in fact strengthens the very system that is the root cause of all of these social injustices both locally in our communities and around the world as capitalist expansion around the world through corporatism and so on. So, it just became clear to me that this diversity of tactics as a way of collaborating with collaborators is a bad idea. And in fact what we should be doing instead is putting the pressure on these progressives who are collaborators so that they at least have a chance to understand that they're on the wrong side of the battle in terms of justice and in terms of the root causes of these problems. So, I think that as activists who come to understand this, if we're serious about wanting to create more justice and wanting to flatten this hierarchical pyramid, then we need to confront these pacifists and progressives and we need to actually try to have an influence on them by making them aware of our position making them aware by exposing them for the collaborators they are and forget about putting energy into this so called diversity of tactics when it involves trying to convince them that we're okay and that we're on the same side. I believe that fundamentally we're not on the same side. I believe that there's a division between direct action anarchists who understand that you actually have to physically resist with your body, with your voice. You have to put yourself at risk...that confrontation is necessary. There are those who understand that and who are willing to do it. And then there are those who are all about believing, supporting, sustaining and improving the hierarchical system which can only create these injustices. So, once you understand that, you have to come to the conclusion that this whole idea of diversity of tactics is a waste of energy and it's a bad idea and it's counterproductive."
hmmm...I wish I'd encountered this way back when I was tangling with all kinds of progressive lefty queers, academics, feminists, feminists of color, caribbean folk (straight or queer), mamas, and every other last blasted liberal I've encountered who has tried to convince me to tone my politic down, tone my words down, tone my body down, tone my sexuality down, tone my critiques down, tone myself down. I've mostly talked or written about it in terms of class and middle-class gentrification of movements for change. You know what I mean when I say gentrification, right? It's as if once the middle-class move in, everything needs to be brought down a notch. There's unnecessary stress placed on being nice, being proper, being popular, having lots of friends on facebook, being comfortable, being well-respected, not upsetting anyone, not being too over the top. People remind you to not alienate potential allies by coming across sounding too radical or angry. Whether online or real time it's been pretty damned intense and I definitely understood the people who tried to shoe horn me into line as collaborators who I could not trust or work with let alone debate with. Waste of time. Boy could I have used these words years ago. Better late than never, I guess.

As per usual, I can't sleep...

there's too much happening to do anything but sleep when i muthafuckin' die. :)

Wednesday, September 01, 2010

Rabid and paranoid thugs jailed him and left him there to be beaten...

G20 crossbow detainee languishes in jail

Two months after he was pulled over in his car, surrounded by two dozen police officers and arrested for having a crossbow near the G20 zone in downtown Toronto, a 53-year-old man with mental-health issues is still in jail.

Gary McCullough was one the first people taken into custody by G20 security personnel, and though they quickly acknowledged he had nothing to do with the summit of world leaders, he is one of the last still in detention.

The Crown says the Haliburton County, Ont., man intended to use the crossbow for a dangerous purpose and poses a threat to the public, for which he should be held without bail until his trial in the fall.

McCullough's advocates, however, say his is a tragic case of a man with a history of mental illness being in the wrong place with the wrong implements at the wrong time.

'He's ingenious'

McCullough lives on a hilly acreage behind the summer homes of cottage country, at a secluded property he bought about 20 years ago. A professional engineer, he built himself a two-storey cabin and installed a generator for power and cisterns to catch rainwater.

"He was living like a hermit all on his own, but he's never lacked for anything, anything that he's needed," his father, Kem McCullough, said in a recent interview. "He's ingenious in the things he comes up with."

Over the years, though, he ran into problems with neighbours. A spat about property lines and tree-felling turned nasty. And it was exacerbated by his mental condition.

Gary McCullough resists the label, but his father describes him as having paranoid schizophrenia: "He's suspicious of everybody else and he just doesn't want to be bothered by anybody."

The cottage-country neighbours called in the police, and McCullough was taken away, spending several years in the mental health centre in Whitby, Ont., and several more in supervised homes. When he finally could return to his cabin in the woods, it had burned down, or been burned down. "That didn't make him feel very happy about his neighbours," Kem McCullough said.

Then in June, he had another run-in with a neighbour. In the confrontation, the driver's-side window on McCullough's car was smashed. He decided to visit Toronto, where it could be fixed faster than in Haliburton and where he could visit family. It proved a fateful decision.

Worldwide headlines

On the Monday before the G20, McCullough lunched with his parents at their suburban Scarborough condo. Three days later, on Thursday, June 24, his curiosity did him in. He wondered what Toronto looked like under the strain of the elaborate G20 conference security, and he decided to drive downtown.

But amid traffic snarls and road closures, McCullough made a wrong turn, ending up on a side street two blocks from the G20 perimeter barrier. A police officer on bicycle noticed his silver Hyundai Elantra with its large metal roof box and pulled it over. Two dozen other constables — there was a protest around the corner by striking hotel workers — converged. They found that McCullough had fuel canisters, a chainsaw, a sledgehammer, a hatchet, arrows and the crossbow.

"He wasn't forthcoming initially with his information" and exhibited "some disorientation," Toronto police Const. Hugh Smith said at the time. "It's lawful to have them in your possession … but with close proximity to the summit, we are going to relate it, you know, to the G20 and the safety. So there was more than enough to arrest."

The incident touched off a media tumult. "Man with astonishing array of weapons including crossbow and chainsaw is arrested near G20 summit in Toronto," blared the next day's Daily Mail newspaper in Britain.

By that night, having ascertained no threat to the world leaders, authorities were toning down the alarm. "There's no evidence to indicate or suggest that it's G20-related," Toronto Const. Tony Vella said.

However, McCullough was charged with violating Section 88 of the Criminal Code, possession of a weapon for a dangerous purpose.

'No evidence of any intention': lawyer

"Weapons dangerous," as it's known, is a tricky offence. The definition of "weapon" is open-ended and can be anything "used, designed or intended" to injure or threaten someone. On the other hand, the Crown must prove that the accused possessed the weapon for "a purpose dangerous to the public peace or for the purpose of committing an offence."

That's where the case against McCullough falls apart, his lawyer maintains.

"There is no evidence of any intention to do anything wrong," James Carlisle said. "It seems that all they are saying is, if a person had a crossbow in downtown Toronto near the time of the G20, then you can infer that they had an intention."

At McCullough's bail hearing, which took place before Carlisle began representing him, the justice of the peace stated, "I see no sense that he had to bring all the items for the sole purpose of being in Toronto and running an errand." In denying bail, the justice added: "The inference is he carried all these items for a purpose dangerous to the public."

The Crown acknowledges it has no direct proof of a dangerous purpose and will rely on circumstantial evidence. "In most cases, we're not lucky enough to have the accused actually spell out what they're trying to do," Philip Enright, the senior prosecutor on McCullough's file, said in an interview. "In most cases, it is a matter of inference."

According to McCullough's lawyer and father, though, his purpose in having an array of mostly construction implements has been grossly misunderstood. Because of his distrust of his neighbours, McCullough keeps his "prized possessions" in his car when he leaves home, his father said.

As for the crossbow, the country dweller has it to fend off the occasional bear or other wild animal, and it was securely locked in a carrying case, father and lawyer affirmed — not loaded and in the open as one media outlet reported.

None of that mattered in bail court. The Crown sought McCullough's detention largely on the allegation that, without a form of third-party supervision known as a surety, he would pose a danger to the community. And McCullough's parents, who are in their 80s, felt they couldn't commit to housing and supervising him because of his disorder.

"It all has to do with whether he stays on his medications or not," his father said. "This guy's a perfect gentleman, he goes to church, he makes friends when he's on his medications. When he's off his medications, he just becomes a loner all by himself and goes his own way."

Tough time in jail

So McCullough has been in Maplehurst Correctional Complex in Milton, west of Toronto, for the last two months.

By all accounts, it has been a devastating time for him. Jail culture has unwritten rules — who can use the phone when, what to do when you come back from a court hearing (shower), how to talk to the guards (don't) — that McCullough's mental condition hinders his ability to appreciate.

"The way he put it once was that he was very much out of his element," recalled Alex Hundert, who spent two weeks in the same jail range as McCullough before making bail on charges that he conspired with other protest leaders to foment vandalism during the G20.

One altercation with another inmate turned violent, and while neither Hundert nor defence lawyer Carlisle would divulge details, McCullough's father said his son suffered several broken ribs. He was moved into segregated custody, where, barring a successful appeal of his bail, he will remain until his Oct. 6 trial in Toronto.

Meanwhile, his psychological and emotional states have been deteriorating.

"He's totally frustrated that he's been in there this long and totally innocent, as far as he's concerned, and nobody's doing anything about it," Kem McCullough said.

Hundert put it this way: "His ability to take care of himself in jail was decreasing as time wore on. He can't understand how or why they're able to do this to him."

Underlying McCullough's continuing detention, Hundert and Carlisle and Kem McCullough all contend, is a grave systemic discrimination, whereby people with a history of mental illness are too often seen as dangerous and, among other consequences, denied release, at least on the same terms as anybody else.

"I don't see any basis for a determination that he is a danger to the public," Carlisle said. "I really believe that it's a prejudice against the mentally ill."

Enright, the prosecutor, is cautious about whether McCullough's mental health played a role in the decision to deny bail: "I cannot say whether it was determinative," he said. "Do we treat mentally disordered offenders differently than those who aren't? Well, you look at all the circumstances — it's unfair to try to pigeonhole Crown decisions. Yes, I guess."

Tuesday, August 31, 2010

Word from the Community Solidarity Network post G20...

Community Update by the Community Solidarity Network Post G20 – Arrests, Intimidation and Ongoing Resistance

This report has been a long time coming. Many people that spent the last year as the Toronto Community Mobilization Network, putting together the infrastructure for the Convergence have been arrested, beaten, and intimidated. Many of our most beloved and central organizers are under house arrest conditions while many others in the city have leaped forward to join the resistance.

A new organizing space, the Community Solidarity Network, has just been formed. We see ourselves as the central networking, trust-building and organizing hub for the post-G20 defence happening in different spheres across Toronto. Though our primary mandate is to ensure that all charges against everyone who opposed the G20 be dropped, we will be hosting open meetings shortly for everyone who is organizing various initiatives in the city.

We have established a legal defence fund that is independent, held in trust by a lawyer and overseen by seven highly respected trustees. All money raised at this time is being directed to this G20 Legal Defence Fund that will soon be accepting applications from anyone that requires money for defence. Money will be distributed based on ‘need’ and 'risk' as established by the G20 Legal Defence Fund’s trustees. At this time, we have only raised a fraction of funds required and encourage people facing charges to apply for Legal Aid and if possible to organize fundraisers and approach family members to donate to the fund. We ask the same for all allies as a tremendously large amount of money is presently required. However, the G20 Legal Defence Fund cannot promise that it will be able to cover everyone's full legal expenses.

If you are a defendant, please make sure that you have signed up on to our announcements list through http://g20.torontomobilize.org to receive timely updates and ways to apply to the Fund. Also, visit http://movementdefence.org/ to get options on other post-G20 legal defence.

If you are organizing support events or fundraisers, please see http://g20.torontomobilize.org/getinvolved. Details of transferring money can be found at http://g20.torontomobilize.org/support.

To hear about G20 related events around the world visit, http://g20.torontomobilize.org/event. To join our announcements list, write to community.mobilize@resist.ca

============================================

Since June 27, 2010, there have been five major demonstrations against police impunity and repression that have brought out approximately 8,000 people to the streets of Toronto. These protest were organized by ourselves as many other organizations in the city. The demands were an end to police violence, a public inquiry and freedom for our friends.

We now know that in between June 21-27, 2010, at least 1,100 people were held for long periods, either on the streets or in a makeshift jail that was built specifically for the purposes of housing people speaking out against the G8/G20 policies. Many thousands more were detained and questioned but we have no reliable way to ascertain exact numbers at this time. Of the 1,100 people actually held, we believe that at least 306 had charges laid against them.

Of these 306, it is our understanding that presently, at least four are still in prison, their bails either denied or they are awaiting bail hearings. Arrests continue to occur with the most recent that we know of taking place in Hamilton on the night of August 26th. Those in jail are Indigenous people, Indigenous solidarity activists, environmental justice activists and low-income people unable to put up large sums of money as bail.

304 people appeared in court on August 23, 2010. 104 of these people had their charges withdrawn or stayed or considered completed by the (in)justice system. Many people were coerced coerced in to paying sums of $50-$100 and were ‘diverted’ or were asked to turn in ‘guilty’ pleas. Approximately 33 did so in the end. This was an obvious ploy to allow the police to save face and not explain why the ridiculous charges, long detentions and mental trauma had to take place in the first instance. Many people were told to take the ‘deal’ or face further repression. Despite this coercion, dozens of people refused to take the 'deal' insisting that they would take their charges to trial to assert their ability to organize in the face of repression.

232 people (at least) continue to face ongoing prosecution and criminalization and will be returning to the courts in the months and years to follow.

Of these 232 people, plus the arrest on August 26th, it is our current understanding that at least 110 face conspiracy and counseling charges. Conspiracy charges do not require authorities to prove that any so-called illegal activity even took place, only shared intent or encouragement of so-called illegal activity. The test for evidence is sufficiently lowered for conspiracy charges and is thus an easy way for the police and the courts to criminalize dissent and silence outspoken critics. This is one of the most worrisome tactics of the G20 ‘security’ attack and the establishment of the Integerated Security Unit and must be loudly and publicly opposed. Of the people facing conspiracy and/or counseling charges, two are presently in prison, while the courts and the prosecution are attempting to put two back in jail.

18 or so that face the gravest conspiracy charges have been released on extremely difficult bail conditions. Many are under house arrest, unable to use laptops, cell phones, internet, associate with loved ones or friends or join or organize public demonstrations.

We now know that many of the committees organizing logistical support as well as many meetings where public demonstrations were being planned in Toronto and across cities in Ontario and Quebec were infiltrated. Many dozens of organizers and activists were followed, questioned, harassed and intimidated. People were approached at their homes and workplaces, on dark street corners and on transit – all intended to create a sense of insecurity and tension in the lead up to a people’s convergence against the G20 policies.

The police have continued to use the media to drum up fear. For the last five months, we have seen the images and statements released by the Police, by Minister Stockwell Day and others to ostracize people that struggle for justice and to scare people from taking to the streets. While over 40,000 people refused to be intimidated by this propaganda and acted together – the police, even in recent weeks, continue to hold press conferences to criminalize people while mainstream TV and newspapers gleefully cover images of burning police cars. Ridiculous claims of what happened in Toronto continue to be written and re-written that could not be further from the truth.

The truth is simple. The G8 and G20 process is one of exclusion and exploitation. It is a place for the rich of the world to gather to create the policies that suppress people of color,Iindigenous people, women, queer communities, disabled communities and the environment. The G8 and G20 meetings resulted in a declaration of war against the people of the world. Termed ‘austerity measures’ the governments of the world and their corporate puppet masters have vowed to cut people’s access to healthcare, education, good jobs, decent living conditions, justice or dignity, instead choosing to bail out banks and large industries. This process impacts people across the globe, it attacks people on their streets and in their homes everyday. This process is opposed by all of us. The week of June 21-27, 2010 was not a series of protests; it was a series of declaration of the kinds of worlds we wish to live – worlds with justice, dignity, self-determination and mutual aid.

As the months pass, we are fighting to support our friends, our comrades and our allies in the pursuit of their freedom. We know that many of them are organizers and activists, some without full immigration status, and that it is our responsibility as a movement to ensure that police and state repression does not trample upon those that will act for real change.

Actions in solidarity have taken place across Turtle Island and across the globe. In particular, it has been heartening to see many organizations and coalitions that were absent in the mobilizations prior, stepping up to show solidarity. Many educationals and fundraisers have taken place to create awareness and money to support the legal fight that must ensue. We look forward to continued solidarity and salute the work of allies and friends that continue to fight for justice in their communities and for those abused by state violence in Toronto during the G20.

Please feel free to label me conspiracy theorist paranoiac...

Hundreds of dolphins make themselves at home in waters of southwest B.C.
now, that migration inland to waters most likely fed from mountain run-off or from deep under the earth started in May.

January, February, April, May...

What happened the month before all these dolphins just up and moved away from the sea?

The Deepwater Horizon oil spill (also referred to as the BP oil spill, the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, the BP oil disaster or the Macondo blowout)[7][8][9] is an oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. It is the largest marine oil spill in the history of the petroleum industry.[10][11] The spill stemmed from a sea-floor oil gusher that resulted from the April 20, 2010

But marine biologists are stumped.

O.kay.

This is not one possible future of Ontario public schools...

This is the reality of our here and now. There is a massive disparity between schools in poor or working class neighbourhoods and schools in wealthier neighbourhoods in Ontario. That's a fact. I think that the whole idea of schools individually fundraising should be outlawed and that instead, there should a common pot where all monies go in order to be redistributed as needed with priority given to schools in working class and poor neighbourhoods.

Fundraising could lead to ‘have’ and ‘have-not’ schools, group warns

A parent-led group says schools in Ontario raised over half a billion dollars through fundraising, fees, corporate donations and other charges over the past academic year, but not all institutions are raking in the cash.

In a report released today, People for Education says the level of fundraising in the 2009-2010 year varied from school to school — ranging from nothing to $200,000 — and it fears this could lead to a system of “have” and “have-not” schools.

The report says parents continue to raise funds for traditional items, such as graduation ceremonies and student awards, but over half of student councils also report raising funds for basics such as computers, classroom supplies and text books.

Money is also raised for things like building renovations, and fees are also reported to be rising for activities like field trips and sports.

The group says as school-generated funds become entrenched in school budgets, it will become more difficult for schools to go without this private funding.

It says the provincial government needs to outline what things should be available to all students in every school, at no extra charge.

“Ninety-five per cent of Ontario's students attend publicly funded schools,” says Annie Kidder, executive director of People for Education.

“We need a vision for education in Ontario that goes beyond test score targets and instead describes a strong system, fully-funded and able to provide every student with the education he or she needs to be successful in the 21st century.”

Monday, August 30, 2010

I like this song...


I think that people are right about the public conversion rate from moderate left to radical left post G20


I already defined as radical left but now I'm realizing there are depths of hatred for the blue uniformed donut eaters and ideas for what less disengaged forms of resistance look like that I have not yet begun to explore. Yup. I am a convert. Radical left to anarchist full black bloc direct action sympathizer. The pigs really do good work. I really do need to find something more constructive to do than cuss them and call them assholes when they come to my house to call. Funny when I turned my daughter towards them and pointed them out for the evil they are, they quickly turned out the lights they had been shining on my house and drove away. Bail compliance indeed. If they're looking for any kind of compliance whatsoever, they're fucking sadly mistaken.