NEWS RELEASE about Direct ActionEnvironmentIndigenousMigrationPolice/PrisonsSolidarity posted on July 3, 2010 by dawn
No One Is Illegal Solidarity with the anti-G20 Resistance
From June 22 to June 27, No One is Illegal dared to dream of a world
without fences. As we marched with thousands, we dared to confront the
walls erected daily to separate the rich from the poor, the powerful from
the powerless. We reclaimed power, we shook the fence, and we broke
through the police lines. We challenged the G20's system of global
apartheid as it manifested on the streets of Toronto.
We now stand alongside all of those currently caught in the walls of
the(in)justice system for daring to envision a world without fences,
borders and cages. The people harassed, detained, arrested and charged
over this past weekend were migrants, indigenous peoples, people of
colour, queer and trans people, feminists, disabled people, anarchists,
anti-poverty activists, rank and file labour activists, anti-capitalists,
ecological justice activists, and community organizers. They are our
allies and our friends; they are the fabric of our communities.
In particular, we stand in solidarity with those who have faced and are
currently facing the worst excesses of the repressive police state,
including several members of No One is Illegal Toronto, Montreal and
Vancouver. Many of these organizers were targeted not only for their
involvement in opposing the G20, but for their ongoing work struggling for
communities that are rooted in love, justice and self-determination. They
are dedicated, courageous and passionate organizers who continue to be an
inspiration within our communities. The state's attempt to criminalize
these individuals is a targeted attempt to silence our movements.
But we will not be silenced. We raged on the streets this week in Toronto.
We will rage in the courts and in the prisons. We will continue to rage as
we work daily in our local communities. And we will tear the fences down.
The G8 and G20 leaders and their corporate villains erect borders,
manufacture weaponry, pillage the earth with industrial projects and
profit from war. They push people from their homes and force people to
migrate across borders and into situations of precarity. Daily, we stand
in solidarity with those who are deemed “illegal” by the colonial state
and are forced to live under the threat of detention and deportation. And
daily, we organize against the racism and xenophobia that defines the
history of colonization and displacement in Canada.
The type of repression seen during the weekend is not only a testament of
Canada being a police state, but a glimpse into the daily reality of
indigenous and racialized communities. When the police state
indiscriminately turns its batons against ‘innocent’ bystanders, members
of the media, and a diverse range of protesters, we see responses of
widespread public shock and anger. Yet we refuse to exceptionalize this
moment, the largest mass-arrest in Canadian history, at the expense of
normalizing the daily violence of police and prisons and the criminal
(in)justice system for Indigenous communities, people of colour, low
income neighborhoods, street-involved youth, and trans people.
We further reject all differentiation between so-called ‘peaceful’ and
‘violent’ protesters, while the violence that compels us to resist, assert
our dignity and struggle for justice – enabled by policies and deals such
as those brokered by the G8 and G20 – is callously ignored. Instead, our
outrage is directed at the policing apparatuses that are a central part of
the militarization of Canada, the criminalization of our communities, and
the brutality that defines the prison-industrial complex and the global
realities of detention and imprisonment.
Those brutalized, harassed, and violated in the fallout of the Toronto G20
protests now join the three community organizers arrested last week in
Ottawa in facing the consequences of a system more interested in
protecting property than people. We must be steadfast in our support for
those who are being targeted, by mobilizing around the upcoming trials and
court battles. We will not allow the courts, the police, or the media to
divide our solidarity. We demand the immediate release of ALL our friends
and allies who are still being held in detention. We call on everyone to
join us in taking back our city from the hands of the security state that
has turned it into an armed fortress.
No One is Illegal stands with all of those who were on the streets
resisting the G20 and the Toronto police state. They cannot jail our
hearts. No borders, no fences! No one is illegal, Canada is illegal!
* June 22 Statement "No One Is Illegal at the G8/G20 Mobilizations in
Toronto": http://toronto.mediacoop.ca/newsrelease/3703
* Video of No One Is Illegal and Defenders of the Land at "No Fences, No
Borders" press conference at the G20 fence in Toronto:
http://bchannelnews.tv/?p=5690
* If you would like to contribute to the legal defense fund in Toronto,
please transfer funds to:
OPIRG York
transit number 00646
institution number 842
account number 3542240
You can also continue to donate via the PayPal link at
http://g20.torontomobilize.org/
The site for the Vancouver local of The Media Co-op has been archived and will no longer be updated. Please visit the main Media Co-op website to learn more about the organization.
Comments
Self Aggrandizing ftw!
Let's employ a 'diversity of tactics', exploit the right to peaceful assembly and then commiserate with those innocents whom we helped get arrested through our cowardly tactics.
SOLIDARITY!
excuse me?
Now you're blaming NOII for police incompetance? Ummmm....
Well Done, NOII!
The No One Is Illegal network, through both its organizing and principled positions such as the above, shows why it is among the most effective grassroots activist groups in the country (and why many of its key organizers have been targeted by the state).
I have had the privilege of working with such fine folk and admire their courage, determination and tenacity. I sincerely hope that they can weather this latest wave of repression and come out stronger than ever.
Well done!