State Repression

Rail Blockade Disrupts CP Rail’s Olympic Spirit Train

Deadline — Sun, 12 Oct 2008 19:12:01 -0400

BREAKING NEWS For Immediate Release
October 12, 2008

Rail Blockade Disrupts CP Rail’s Olympic Spirit Train
“Six Nations and solidarity activists resist Olympic theft of Indigenous
land, ecological destruction, and attacks on the poor”

Toronto, Ontario – Moments ago, a group of activists occupied Canadian
Pacific (CP) Railway’s train tracks by locking themselves down to the
tracks and hanging banners off of the rail overpass on highway 27 near
Elder Mills. The protest was organized in solidarity with the Olympics
Resistance Network (ORN) and their call to disrupt CP’s “Spirit Train”
that is traveling across Canada. Directions to the blockade site can be
found at the bottom of this release.

“We are here today to show the world what the Olympics really stands
for; capitalist greed and colonialist theft of Indigenous lands” said
Winnie Small. They continued, “In stark contrast to Canada’s cherished
reputation as a human rights advocate, our First Nations live in abject
poverty; casualties of Canada’s apartheid policy refusal to respect
Indigenous rights to their own land.”

12 Reasons to take to the streets of Montreal-Nord this Saturday

kerspleb — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 17:35:48 -0400

Start: Oct 10 2008 - 5:30pm

End: Oct 12 2008 - 5:30pm

Timezone: Etc/GMT-4

The following excellent text is from the No One Is Illegal Montreal blog:

This coming Saturday at 2pm at Parc Pilon in Montreal-Nord, a diverse cross-section of Montreal groups and individuals are coming together to denounce police brutality as part of a child-friendly demonstration. This is a crucial protest for all those who oppose poverty, racism and police brutality, as well as support autonomous, grassroots organizing for real justice and dignity.

It comes just two months after the killing of Fredy Villaneuva in Montreal-Nord, one year after the tasering death of Quilem Registre in St-Michel, and more than two years after the unexplained shooting death of Anas Bennis in Côte-des-neiges. It comes in a context where 43 people have been killed by the bullets or electric shocks of the Montreal police in just 21 years.

There are three main demands for this Saturday’s demonstration: 1) a public and independent inquiry into the death of Fredy Villaneuva; 2) an end to racial profiling and to police abuses and impunity; 3) the recognition of the principle that as long as there is economic inequality there will be social insecurity.

read more

DERAIL THE SPIRIT OF THE OLYMPIC SPIRIT TRAIN

Deadline — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 15:09:50 -0400

DERAIL THE SPIRIT OF THE OLYMPIC SPIRIT TRAIN
ALL OUT ON OCTOBER 13 - THANKSGIVING MONDAY

MEET AT 12NOON !SHARP!
CORNER OF FRONT AND BAY/YORK (south-west corner)
FREE TRANSPORTATION
EMAIL NOONEISILLEGAL@RISEUP.NET FOR SEAT CONFIRMATION
OR AT COOKSVILLE STATION AT 1PM

On October 13, 2008, the CPR (Canadian Pacific Railway)'s 'SpiritTrain' will be arriving at Cooksville GO Transit Station in Mississauga, here to continue its goal of spreading pre-Olympic "spirit".

The Vancouver Winter Olympics 2010 are appropriating indigenous land, marginalizing the urban poor and exploiting migrant workers.

The 2010 Olympics spirit that this train carries is a spirit of racism and corporate greed. This spirit has met with opposition in each of its stops across the country.

This spirit of oppression needs to be met with our spirit of resistance.

When it stops in Mississauga, come out with pots, pans, whistles, flags and placards. As most of Canada gives thanks for the ongoing genocide of indigenous peoples on Turtle Island, we urge all allies to mobilize their communities to disrupt the Spirit Train in solidarity with the call for Indigenous sovereignty.

To confirm a spot or to share your solidarity, please email
nooneisillegal@riseup.net before Sunday, 12 October.

NO OLYMPICS ON STOLEN NATIVE LAND!

For further information, see: http://no2010.com/node/18

Rejection of New Sentences in Atenco Case

Gary — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 16:34:11 -0400

Carolina S. Romero 27 Aug 2008 18:36 GMT (translated by Carolina S. Romero), Indymedia.

“We demand security against kidnapping, too!”

Yesterday, outside the Molino de Flores prison, about 70 members of the Peoples’ Front in Defense of the Land (FPDT) of San Salvador Atenco and members of The Other Campaign shouted out their rejection of the brutal new sentences in the Atenco case while the Zapatista Lawyers went inside to file an appeal. Demonstrators called to the state police (ASES) guarding the gate: “How can you look your own children in the face? They’re poor, like us. What if they turn out to be rebels? Are you going to murder, rape, and torture them, too?”
And... voilá! Leaving the prison, the lawyer Juan de Dios Hernández reported that Judge Alberto Cervantes, who determined the new sentences, has been replaced. On charges of kidnapping? Conspiracy? Corruption? Ineptitude? None of the above. He was never anything but a vile prosecutor disguised as a judge who had his little deal worked out with the statewide mafia headed by Governor Enrique Peña Nieto. He did the dirty work he was charged with, endorsing and prolonging the kidnapping of Ignacio del Valle and all the other compañeros that took place in Atenco and Texcoco on May 3 and 4, 2006 and has continued ever since then.

The RCMP Spied on Early Feminist Organizing

Gary — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 10:54:12 -0400

Rita MacNeil, who went on to become a popular singer, was named in an RCMP document on a 1972 feminist gathering, Feminist singer of 'women's lib songs,' among dozens under scrutiny in early '70s

Jim Bronskill, The Canadian Press, August 5, 2008

OTTAWA–RCMP spies infiltrated the women's movement in the early 1970s, monitoring marches and rallies to keep an eye on feminists including Rita MacNeil, who would become a much-admired Maritime songstress.

An undercover source reporting on a March 1972 gathering of women's liberation groups in Winnipeg compiled biographical sketches of several delegates, noting MacNeil was in attendance from the Toronto Women's Caucus.

"She's the one who composes and sings women's lib songs," says the RCMP memo, portions of which remain secret.

MacNeil, who lent her musical talents to the feminist cause before turning to music full-time, was among dozens of women from across the country who came under Mountie scrutiny, new research reveals.

The entertainer was not immediately available for comment, nor was her manager.

Historians Steve Hewitt, a Canadian lecturer at the University of Birmingham in England, and Christabelle Sethna, of the University of Ottawa, sifted through hundreds of pages of declassified files detailing the RCMP Security Service's interest in women's groups that began flowering in the late 1960s.

OPP Almost Used Force To End Native Protest

Gary — Sun, 20 Jul 2008 09:03:06 -0400

11th Hour Decision: Court of Appeal Throws Out Publication Ban Again

(Friday, July 18th, 2008) After a decision by a Napanee judge, rendered at 10:30 am this morning, lifting a publication ban on Tyendinaga Mohawk Shawn Brant's preliminary hearing, Crown attorneys attempted to have the effect of the decision stayed, but failed.

At midday, only Crown prosecutors (no defence lawyers) appeared before a judge of the Court of Appeal, and convinced the judge to issue a stay. The media was ordered to "immediately cease reporting on evidence heard at the preliminary inquiry and remove all related reports from websites".

Then, at shortly after 5pm, lawyers for the CBC and Mr. Brant appeared before the same Appeals judge, along with Crown counsel. After substantial submissions, the judge lifted her earlier stay and dismissed the stay application altogether, ordering the publication ban lifted once more.

The Zapatistas Are Not Alone!

Gary — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 19:50:06 -0400

END THE WAR AGAINST THE ZAPATISTA COMMUNITIES

We, the organizations, collectives, movements, networks, communities, peoples, families and individuals who are adherents or sympathizers of the Sixth Declaration of the Lacandón Jungle, women, men, children and elders of the entire country declare:

1. For almost a year, the harrasment, provocations, repression, militarization and aggressions against the indigenous zapatista communities have been worsening. The military incursion of this past June 4th is only the most visible sign of a strategy that seeks to attack the social base of the Zapatista Army of National Liberation (EZLN) and the heart of indigenous autonomy: the land and territory. We condemn and reject these actions and demand that they stop immediately.

2. This new offensive is articulated once again by paramilitary groups and by the State Government of Chiapas, as well as by the Federal Government. It is a political-military strategy that seeks to back zapatismo into a corner. Complicit in this strategy is the silence of the mass media and everyone who remains silent before the repression through which our zapatista sisters and brothers are living. We will not be silent. We demand an immediate halt to this offensive against the zapatista project, which represents an alternative for the peoples of the world.

URGENT! COPS SURROUND 6 NATIONS PEOPLE FOR TRYING TO SHUT DOWN ILLEGAL DEVELOPMENT ON HAUDENOSAUNEE LAND

Gary — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 20:10:04 -0400

ILLEGAL DEVELOPMENT OF “KINGSPAN" ON HAUDENOSAUNEE TERRITORY

MNN. July 14, 2008. 10:40 a.m. This morning the Brantford City police arrested a Six Nations Indigenous person at the construction site at Fenn Ridge in Brantford. At the same time Ontario Provincial Police are gathering on Highway 403, making way for cement trucks to enter the illegal construction site. More cruisers are arriving on the scene. They have laid spike belts on the road to keep Indigenous people on the outside. Ambulances and paddy wagons are arriving. There are men, women and children inside the site gates. All the workers have left.

This land is part of the Haudenosaunee Territory which was never surrendered by the Indigenous owners. This Indigenous land is being illegally used as collateral to raise money from the public on the Irish and other stock exchanges and constitutes fraud.

Kingspan manufactures insulation and is building a $4 billion plant on Haudenosaunee territory without consultation with or permission from the land owners.

Gene Murtagh, CEO, Kingspan Group
PLC, Dublin Road, Kingscourt Co.,
Cavan, Ireland; +353 (0) 42 969 8000;
admn@kingspan.ie

The Six Nations people had agreed to let the company remove all their equipment on this day. Instead the

Zapatistas: a Call to Action

Gary — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 21:50:30 -0400

This article was originally in published in Spanish - La Jornada 30th June 2008 by the well-respected Oaxacan activist and founder of the University of the Earth, Gustavo Esteva; he was one of the EZLN's advisors in their negotiations with the Mexican government.

We need to recognise and acknowledge the grave seriousness of the current situation, which cannot be overstated. Neither should we hide the fact that evil triumphs when people shrug their shoulders at it and return quietly to their daily activities. Now is the time to act. Only with concerted and effective mobilisation can we prevent the disaster that now threatens us.

In November 2007, 'Peace with Democracy', a group of independent thinkers who cannot be accused of partisan or dogmatic exaggeration, and who stand out for the calmness and solidity of their judgements, stated "Mexico is in a state of emergency". They presented many facts and reasons to substantiate their warning.

Call for Solidarity with Counter-G8 Protesters in Japan

Gary — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 11:26:03 -0400

July, 07 2008, By No! G8 Legal Team -- NG8LT

* Arrestees are still in jail and face years in prison
* Local organizers may face arrests
* Arrestees and organizers friends and families are facing harassment and possible house raids by police

Activists and organizers are asking local groups and individuals to call, e-mail, visit and protest at Japanese embassies over the unjust arrests, detentions, deportations, and repression occurring around counter-G8 mobilization in Japan.

Japanese police continue to escalate repression against protesters of the Group of 8 Summit. This is part of a growing trend of the suppression of human rights in Japan. Yesterday's demonstration of approximately five thousand was lined with, and sometimes boxed in by, several thousand police in full riot gear. At least four people - including a Reuters reporter - were arrested. In one arrest, the police shattered the window of a sound truck and dragged out the driver. Hours after the demonstration ended the legal team had already received numerous reports of police misconduct.