-Caveat Lector-
---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Sun, 28 Apr 2002 06:36:08 -0700 (PDT)
From: Labour Welfare Party <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Cc: [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED],
[EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED],
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: [BCPOLITICS] Fascism begins in BC: Campbell Suspends Constitution
The Campbell-led government has defrauded the people of BC of their
CONSTITUTIONAL democratic rights by coming to power in 2001 under
an Election Act violation (Section 256).
Fascism came in through abuse of the democratic system in Germany of the
1930's. Then for two years the useless eaters, the mentally and physically
handicapped were euthanized, until the good people of Germany put a stop
to it. Unfortunately they couldn't see what went on behind walled camps.
Assure us, Mr. Hansen, that this is NOT what you are about. Tell Mr.
Palmer on VOBC this week that you would not put 55,000 people of BC
Coalition of People with Disabilities out on the street for refusing to
comply with your regulations.
THEN we will retract the Subject Line above. Otherwise IT STANDS.
It is very obvious to all that CAMPBELL HAS SUSPENDED THE CONSTITUTION.
He has said, "I AM THE CONSTITUTION".
That is why all 146 provincial court judges signed a letter of
nonconfidence against him asserting that he has DENIED ACCESS TO JUSTICE.
He has violated the democratic rights of the Constitution. He has violated
the right to access to justice as the judges said. He has violated
aboriginal rights in the Constitution.
Now assure us that he hasn't violated the "right to life" clause as well.
Kale
---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Sun, 28 Apr 2002 06:03:08 -0700
From: Labour Welfare Party <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Reply-To: "CANADA-L Political,Social,Cultural,Economic Issues in Canada"
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Reports and photos at http://victoria.indymedia.org/
-------------------------------
Jeff Bray MPP Office Occupation
APOV KIMBERLY ROGERS WOMYN?S BRIGADE:
!OFFICE OCCUPATION !
THURS. APRIL 25
We are an ALL-WOMYN ANTI-POVERTY BRIGADE occupying Jeff Bray?s office
in downtown Victoria near the corner of Fort and Cook. We are writing from
inside his office. Around 1 pm we easily came in and secured his
office, including both doors. At this point the front of this office is
covered with our occupation statement, anti-poverty posters and paper.
Outside there are many cops and this office as well as the surrounding
area of Fort street is blocked off with police tape. Apparently one person
outside the office has been arrested for obstruction.
Yesterday this province?s welfare cuts forced us to put our bodies on
the line and in defense of all people?s lives who will be affected. We are
acting out in defense of the silent majority who we urge to take strong
action as well! We are here and we are strong. We call for strong
solidarity outside and for people to come down.
Twelve activists occupied the office of MLA Jeff Bray today to protest
the Liberal governments cuts to social services - and were met with the
riot squad.
At 1pm today, twelve women occupied the office of Liberal MLA Jeff Bray
in Victoria. They did this as a protest to the cuts to welfare and health
care that are threatening BC's poor. There are conflicting stories
about whether they went in peacefully or whether they pushed one of the
staff members when he refused to leave. In any case, the police blocked
off Fort street (a major downtown street) and brought in an ambulance,
claiming that there was an emergency. When one of the women asked what the
emergency was, they arrested her for obstruction. She was also the
woman who had been delegated to be a negotiator, spokeswoman and police
liaison. The police later said that they were unable to negotiate with the
group.
Soon a crowd of about thirty people gathered outside the office to see
what was happening. The police response was beyond ridiculous. They
brought in three police vans, two or three police motorcycles, several
bike cops, the SWAT team and cops in riot gear. A long standoff ensued
in which we all waited to see how the police would act. the 'stand off'
took about four hours.
Around 5:30, the police cleared the parking lot at the back door, then
positioned their vehicles in a way that blocked off the view to the
door, which they then battered down the door, and entered the office. The
women were sitting inside with arms locked, and pulled up the blinds as
soon as the police entered. The cops did not attempt to negotiate - they
simply grabbed the women, and cuffed them in plastic cuffs. One of the
women reportedly gave them the finger, and a policeman responded by
swinging his baton at her. It is unclear whether she was hit.
Outside, a group of about 75 people had gathered and were chanting in
solidarity. When all the women were loaded into the vans, the police
had to drive out of the parkade. Protesters blocked them, chanting 'let
the
women go!' Some sat down in front of the vans. One policeman gave a
warning over the loudspeaker, and about thirty seconds later, walked
towards the seated protesters, ripped off the bandanas that were
protecting their faces, and pepper sprayed them in the eyes. I saw them
arrest three of the people they had sprayed (all homeless youth) and
drag them away. Aftr this, the vans managed, very slowly, to drive out of
the parkade as protesters continued to run in front of the van, angered by
the use of pepper spray. At least one man got covered in pepper spray,
another was reportedly jumped by the police and dragged away.
The office afterwards was a mess, although there is a definite question
as to whether it was the protesters or the police who trashed the MLA's
office, since after the women were gone, the police pulled the blinds
down again, then pulled them up again later for the corporate media to see
the mess inside the office.
The remaining protesters walked to the police station. Last I heard,
they are locked out of the station, with repeated promises from the
officers inside that someone will talk to them, and let them know the
status of those who were arrested, but no one had come out. At one point,
the officer handling the phone told the protesters that they 'might as
well go home'.
Vancouver Occupation -
Today, Friday April 26th, the Anti-Poverty Committee of Vancouver,
along with rank-and-file members of the BCGEU (B.C. Government Employees
Union), occupied and shut down a welfare office in East Vancouver to
demand an end to the cuts to welfare and other social services. Two people
spoke out against the brutality of the police in evicting the all-woman
Anti-Poverty Brigade who were occupying MLA Jeff Bray's office the day
before, also in oppossition to the welfare cuts. Speakers assured all
present that there would be no backing down in the face of a repressive
government and a repressive police state, that in fact this is only the
beginning of a long and escalating struggle for basic human needs. The
group chanted "Class War" as they left the building.
---------------
VICTORIA ANTI-POVERTY COALITION - KIMBERLY ROGERS WOMYNS BRIGADE
OCCUPATION STATEMENT
The Victoria Anti-Poverty Coalition Kimberly Rogers Womyn's Brigade
occupied the office of Liberal MLA Jeff Bray in defense of all people
whose lives are threatened by the economic violence perpetrated by the
government of this province.
People all around the world die daily from poverty which has been
created and enforced by neo-Liberal market capitalism. Now here in BC we
have Bills 26 & 27 which will directly lead to the deaths of many people
living in poverty. Cuts to welfare in Ontario led to the death of Kimberly
Rogers in August of 2001. She was sentenced to house arrest during a
heatwave for the crime of collecting welfare while she attended
university. She was eight months pregnant at the time of her death. We
here in BC refuse to passively sit by and let the provincial government
sadistically cut thousands of people off welfare.
Simultaneously laying off thousands of workers and then forcing the
unemployed to look for jobs that do not exist will sentence people to
hunger, homelessness and ill health for the crime of not finding a job.
This is irrational, illogical and immoral and is a slow genocide of
people living in poverty.
This economic violence will impact on all parts of society. It will
destroy communities, families, it will put children's lives at risk, it
will force women, men and youth into the sex trade, it will increase
violence and suicide. It will also depress all wages in the province as
thousands of desperate people underbid each other and workfare workers
replace unionized workers.
Both increased mechanization and globalization has lead to the
reduction of available jobs. Increasingly, many new jobs are in industries
which are harmful to people's health (fast food, cigarettes, alcohol for
example) or to the planets health. In order to end all harmful work, or
useless 'make work', and also to ensure that all human beings have the
access to the things they need to live (clean water, nutritious food,
shelter, health and dental care), APOV calls for the immediate emergency
implementation of a Guaranteed Livable Income. Without this we are
sentencing people to death for the crime of being unemployed in a
systemthat needs surplus labour in order to function.
APOV calls on all those affected by provincial government cuts to
resist them through economic disruption. The ruling elite will not listen
to moral arguments as they only understand one thing: their bottom line.
They care more about loss of profit than they do about the loss of
people's
lives. APOV believes that all people deserve to live a happy life with
dignity, and we feel it is all of our duty to ensure that business does
not go on as usual while people are being left to die on the street.
ORGANIZE, FIGHT BACK!
APOV 388-9181, Box 8441 Victoria BC, V8W 3S1APOV
KIMBERLY ROGERS WOMYN?S BRIGADE AFTER THE OCCUPATION
Contrary to police statements, we assaulted no one, hurt no one, harmed
no one, damaged no equipment, nor did we "trash" Jeff Bray's office at
all. When we walked inside at 1pm to secure the office, we merely
emphatically repeated, "This is an occupation, you have 30 seconds to get
your belongings and leave." As this was going on, the secretary, Diane
Clement, attacked one of our members by clawing her on the arm, which left
a bruise. This woman was not the least bit afraid of us, as after she
left the office, she actually came back and stood in the doorway. Her
first
statement after she left was that a ?big man? assaulted her. There were
no men inside. We told her tha it was a nice day out and she should go for
a walk. Jeff Bray was not in the office but Mike Demers (his lackey) was,
and took his sweet time leaving, obviously trying to bide some time for
the police to arive.
There was 10 womyn in the office and contrary to media statements, only
three womyn are under 25. The rest are older, with the oldest being
fifty. We are mothers, disabled, unemployed or underpaid, students, and
are ALL living below the poverty line.
We brought our own food and did not touch the fridge full of alcohol(!)
in Jeff Bray's office kitchen. The police made the mess when they knocked
over boxes of recycling that were stacked on furniture that was
blocking the back door. It seemed pretty obvious that afterwards they
must've scattered papers on the floor and broken glass in the bathroom as
we kept the office fairly neat.
Inside, the police were trying to "negotiate" with us by calling us on
our cellphone and saying if we gave our names they would let us walk away
unarrested. But we were in no way going to give in to them and believe
their lies, nor did we want to leave. We felt solid inside, especially
grateful that so many supporters were on the outside incase any shit
went down. We felt confident in our convictions and felt it was very
timely to be doing an occupation and upping the ante in "BC".
We collectively decided to boycott the corporate radio stations (other
than sending them our statement) and would only do interviews with CBC
Radio or Indy Media. Around 1:30pm someone outside of the occupation
posted on Victoria Indy Media and we followed up by posting an inside
statement. A few hours later we could not access the Victoria or
Vancouver Indy Media sites (surprise, surprise). From inside we also had
fun faxing something to our ?so-called? mayor Alan Lowe, and also emailed
our statement to all the MLA?s of British Columbia.
When we heard the police working on the back door to take it off (5:30
pm), we went to the front office, and stood in front of the window with
the blinds up for everyone outside to witness the riot cops coming in
and arresting us. Our arms were linked as we wanted to leave the office as
a group and not allow them to easily take us away one by one. There was
about 20-30 people out front to witness what was happening but most of
our supporters were in the back at this time where dozens of riot police
and police vehicles and were.
The police stormed in to this front office, kicking through the door,
yelling and dressed in full riot gear with rubber bullet guns pointed
at our faces, shields and gas masks. They would not let us leave the
office as a group even though we were yelling "We will leave if we can
leave together" and they frantically attacked us pushing, pulling, and
grabbing our arms and aggressively pulling our hair to try to get us out
one by one.
The first person they grabbed was viciously thrown face down onto the
carpet even though she is old enough to be their mother, has gray hair
and has a disability, which we yelled at the police when they dragged her
away. However, that did not stop them from inflicting bruises on her
face, arms and hands as she later showed to the media. There was another
younger woman who was arrested at the same time as this older woman. She
was also thrown on the ground forcefully and put inside a paddy wagon.
After they took these two away, they were acting less like a group of
rabid attack dogs. We were defiant in our responses as we yelled at
them to realise how insane they were acting. Many of these riot cops
seemed to be in training because they were either hesitant or overly-eager
at attackoing us, were being told step-by-step what to do when we were
being arrested, and even one cop moved back and couldn't stop laughing in
the corner.
One of them took off his mask and we began to tell them how pathetic it
was for them to be so armoured-up just to deal with a group of unarmed
women. We then negotiated to go out of the room two by two, which we
finally did. We then had our wrists bound tightly with plastic straps
(some later had big red welts on their wrists) and were taken out the
back door to the paddy wagon. There was noisy, spirited crowd of about 100
people (many union members from the Hospital Employees Union and the
BCGEU) who were chanting and yelling in solidarity for them to let us
go.
Four people (including two young gutsy women from the street community)
bravely sat down in front of the paddy wagon to block its exit. They
were grabbed and sprayed directly in the face with pepper spray and were
arrested as well and placed in the paddy wagons. One of the women with
a mohawk was sprayed in her face and on the shaved part of her head. We
were also very worried about one member of our group who has asthma, as
the
pepper spray had wafted into the paddy wagon.
The paddy wagon finally got through the crowd, after many more people
were pepper sprayed. Even the Raging Grannies were shoved by riot police.
>From the steamed-up paddy wagon windows we could see others being thrown
to the ground and arrested as the paddy wagon drove out. We were then
taken to the police station to be processed. We had to sign conditions not
to go to any MLA's office or to the grounds of the legislature but we have
gone to the Victoria court this morning to try to get a judge to change
this condition as it is against our constitutional right to demonstrate.
One final note: we were all disgusted with the unnecessary opulence of
Jeff Bray's office. There were TVs in both Jeff Bray's and his CA's
office. Jeff's office had big upholstered leather chairs and huge
mahogany (or some kind of reddish wood) desk and matching wall units. His
office was so tidy one would wonder if he ever did any thing in it!
There was every kind of office gadget including an electric stapler
(too much work to use a hand stapler?) and a fancy photocopier/fax
machine.
Even all the coffee mugs were trimmed with gold. There was only one
plant in the office. It was in a lovely wrought iron plant holder, dead as
a doornail, with its leaves shriveled up, brown and crispy. We thought of
it as a symbol of how much the liberals care about living things. These
people can't even look after a plant, never mind their constituents.
WHY DID WE DO THIS?
We felt we had no choice. People are going to die from Bill 26 and 27
and the cuts to health care. Some families lost up to $300 from their
checks, $70 direct cuts to welfare, $100 taken if they were getting child
support payments, now they can keep none of it; $200 taken from the
earnings exemption, now every penny earned will be deducted dollar for
dollar. Mothers were already going without eating for the last week in the
month on the previous rates so their kids could eat. These cuts mean
children will be going without food for significant periods as well. Kids
will also be left alone in unsafe conditions as their mothers will be
forced out of the house to scramble to get money to feed them (many will
be forced into the sex trade).
People will be cut off FOR LIFE if they ever in the past have been
caught for welfare fraud (many people have been forced to sign repayment
agreements -- for "fraud"-- under duress as they were threatened with
being cut off ). People with disabilities will be "reassessed" and many
will be cut off or forced to look for jobs that don't exist. The cuts
to health will also cause peoples deaths. Many people will give up and
commit suicide.
THE SADISTIC IRRATIONALITY OF "GET A JOB."
There are 8700 people who are "employable" welfare recipients in
Victoria. They will be cut off in two years or sooner if they don't find a
job. This is before many of the government lay-offs. This will impact on
everyone as thousands of starving desperate people will do desperate
things to survive. Count on increased crime, theft, violence. It will
drive down all wages as people underbid each other as they get
increasingly hungry. This is very good for employers and they know that
our economic system cannot work without surplus labour to keep wages low
and workers compliant.
All the "get a job" rhetoric is happening at a time when there are
constant headlines about thousands of job lay offs. There are job lay
offs because there are far more goods and services than there are dollars
to buy them. There can't be more jobs without more consumption. Any
consumption beyond the basics of food shelter and medical care is
determined by our freedom of choice. If people choose not to smoke
cigarettes then large numbers of jobs would be lost in the cigarette
industry (even though quitting smoking is exactly what health advocates
are telling us to do). Consumption that is good for the economy, is bad
for our health and the planet's health.
Arguing for more consumption for more economic growth for more jobs is
totally irrational and defies the physical limits of our planet's
natural resources and our bodies physical limit to consume beyond what is
healthy.
If the government really wants to prevent property damage and people
from being hurt the riot squad would be out every night surrounding bars
and night clubs. It is well known that 40% of all traffic accidents are
caused by alcohol consumption. Alcohol is also implicated in rapes, crime,
domestic violence and assault. Yet having more people drinking is very
good for the economy.
It is clear the government has no interest in protecting anybody but
the neo-liberal bottom line which is the business communities desperate
need for profit above life.
WE URGE EVERYONE TO STAND IN SOLIDARITY, ORGANIZE, AND FIGHT BACK
AGAINST THIS ILLEGAL PROVINCE AND THE CAPITALIST SYSTEM!
---------------------
Clash ends occupation of Victoria MLA's office
Malcolm Curtis and Jeff Bell
Victoria Times Colonist
Friday, April 26, 2002
Victoria police subdue a protester after breaking up a demonstration
inside MLA Jeff Bray's office on Fort Street Thursday. (Debra Brash,
Times Colonist)
A Victoria police officer pepper-sprays one of three young women who
were blocking a police van behind MLA Jeff Bray's constituency office on
Fort Street Thursday. (John McKay, Times Colonist)
Victoria police fired pepper spray at demonstrators Thursday evening
after officers clad in riot gear broke down the door of Victoria-Beacon
Hill MLA Jeff Bray's office to arrest 12 masked women who had occupied it.
A protest erupted in the parking lot behind Bray's office at 1084 Fort
St. about 6 p.m. as 100 sympathizers of the women taunted 25 police
officers, some armed with shields and rubber bullet and beanbag shot guns,
in a tense standoff.
Police pepper-sprayed and detained three young women who sat down in
front of the police van containing the arrested women, who had been
protesting provincial government policies such as this week's cut in
welfare payments.
Officers used more pepper spray to disperse the crowd and arrested a
man who appeared to be obstructing one of police vehicles as it was
proceeding along Cook Street to the police station.
Protesters, including various union members, chanted slogans such as
Stop Campbell's War on the Poor and Free These Political Prisoners.
Brenda Jordison, a middle-aged woman, said she was disgusted by the
police response. "Police clubbed me in the side just because I wouldn't
move -- I got pepper spray in the eye," she charged.
Several members of the news media were also hit by the stinging spray.
"We had a situation we believe was escalating and we had to clear a
pathway for our vehicles," said Sgt. Brian Fox, defending the action of
the police department's crowd management unit.
"It may well have been the first time" city police have resorted to
using pepper spray on a group of demonstrators, although it is routinely
used on individuals, Fox said.
"Traditionally what we see in Victoria are very peaceful protests and
we're very tolerant of that," Fox said. In this case there was "some
indication of violence" in the occupation of Bray's office, which began
shortly before 1 p.m., he said.
Fox showed reporters around the trashed ground floor office, where a
filing cabinet had been moved, paper was strewn on the floor and glass
smashed in the washroom.
Mike Demers, Bray's constituency assistant, said the protest began when
a woman entered the office under the pretense of seeking information.
Within minutes, she was followed by a group of people.
After that, Demers said, he and co-worker Dianne Clement were pushed
out the door.
"I think both of us were surprised at how aggressive they were," he
said. "They left us with the distinct impression that if we put up any
resistance, it would intensify."
Clement said she was grabbed around the shoulders, then by the arm and
shoved toward the door.
"I think probably I was more angry than afraid," said Clement. "I'm not
accustomed to being rough-housed by anybody. It was a bit of a shock to
have someone forcibly remove me from my desk."
The protest group, calling itself the Victoria Anti-Poverty
Coalition/Kimberly Rogers Womyn's Brigade, hung signs in the windows
and barricaded the door with a filing cabinet, boards, chains and other
materials that had been brought along.
One young woman who was handing out leaflets outlining the group's
concerns was arrested shortly after police arrived when she refused to
leave the area in front of the occupied office.
The leaflets said the action was taken "in defense of all people whose
lives are threatened by the economic violence perpetrated by the
government of this province."
Bray said he was prepared to press charges over what he called a
violent occupation of his office.
"It's absolutely unacceptable for my staff to actually be physically
assaulted in the community office," he said at the legislature, before
police made arrests. "My staff work for me, they do not work for
government or for any political party."
Police Insp. Bill Belmont said a total of 16 women and one man were
arrested and later released. Mischief charges are expected against the
12 women, who have promised to appear in provincial court at a later date,
he said. Assault charges are also being contemplated, Belmont said.
Belmont defended the tactics used by police, saying they were necessary
because the incident involved property damage and assault. Officers had
tried without success to negotiate with the women by cellphone before
deciding to break into the office, he said. No names were released but
most of the women were believed to be in the early 20s.
The mother of one of the women who occupied Bray's office said the
protests would continue.
"All I can tell you is these are brave, idealistic women," said Esther
Muirhead, outside Bray's office.
"My daughter is 21, she's a musician," said Muirhead. "She doesn't have
to do this -- she has better things to do ... but they wanted to say 'no,
what the government is doing is not OK, we have to make a difference.'"
The women's group is named after Kimberly Rogers, a pregnant Ontario
woman whose death has been linked to a crackdown on welfare in that
province.
Muirhead said several of the women occupying the office were UVic
students angry about the provincial government.
Deirdre Kelly, a social justice worker with the local Catholic diocese
who came to support the women, said she is concerned with the impact
government policies are having on the poor. "I think the concern is the
Campbell cuts really are going to affect the most vulnerable in
society."
© Copyright 2002 Victoria Times Colonist
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