Article from Vancouver Media Coop By Indyvan
The Pidgin protesters have ordered social housing, but instead got a taste of intimidation with a side of harassment and even a warrant for “crossing the line”. This is exactly the type of action laid down by the authorities last year during the casserole marches in solidarity with the students in Quebec. More specifically,last june the police targeted and arrested the people they assumed to be the organizers and the more militant protesters. The form of repression chosen by the VPD included a bunch of arrests at a couple marches, including a particularly awesome march where the Cambie Street Bridge was blockaded. The arrests came with a stay away order from the downtown core, which is where the protests were happening. This was meant to diminish numbers, and it did.
The next step of their intimidation was an excessive amount of police for the next march, which was relatively small. This intimidation and harassment eventually led to casseroles dwindling out. Although the protests are long over, two protesters are still stuck in the expensive and irrelevant legal apparatus even though their actions would fall into the “lawful” protest the police say they support.
Repression is a common tactic when struggles are gaining momentum. It serves to intimidate those who do not want to become burdened by legalese mumbo-jumbo and potential criminal records. Arrests and cop presence also deter more people from joining the struggle, which hugely hinders the potentiality of civil unrest. The cops pull out all the stops to make the arrests as intimidating as possible, though nearly all arrests made in this way never lead to convictions.
It is important to remember the cops will lie and use your words against you. Do not talk to them and if you do receive one of their warnings, you don’t have to give them any personal information. You can also burn it, eat it, or use it as a coaster. We simply do not have to acknowledge their authority. It is important that they are not successful at their intimidation tactics. When they try to divide us, we must have solidarity with our comrades and fellow friends and picketers.
If our struggle lacks solidarity, the fascist Vancouver Police Department will easily crush any form of dissent by dividing and conquering us and we will never see social change. However, if those experiencing repression see that there is solidarity behind them it will encourage them and lessen the affects of the police intimidation, which can be scary. Our unity can make their attempts irrelevant.
Police protect the rich. This is shown by how closely the police are working with Brendan “$5 Pickle” Grossutti. They clearly have a relationship, as evidenced by their pleasant dialogue and obvious alliance. A mysterious incident occurred a few days ago when the cops, strangely absent from the picket, didn’t see a protester being sprayed with bear spray which was allegedly unleashed by a dealer who works down the block. If Grossutti had been sprayed, you can guarantee the picketers would find themselves in quite a pickle. Ignorantly, $5 Pickle Grossutti thinks it would be more worthwhile for the picketers to go after the drug dealers. As much as I would love to trash his failed analysis of the DTES I think I could just sum it up as him being a class enemy and a capitalist.
The VPD were unfortunately successful at dismantling the casseroles momentum in Vancouver. Lets not let this happen again! This is not the time to get disenchanted with the struggle. The fact that the state is starting to crack down means we’re getting somewhere. The police are only as powerful as we let them be.
“People are largely constructed by capitalism. Their opinions are largely constructed by capitalist media, which will always denounce anything not in the economic interests of the owners, managers and clients of the capitalist media.
Actions against the interest of capitalists will therefore never gain popularity until the flow of capital is disrupted and capitalist normality is disrupted.”
Submedia: Abolish The Police
http://ia601701.us.archive.org/28/items/ABOLISHPOLICESTREAM/ABOLISH_POLI…
Stay Calm: some tips of keeping safe in times of state repression
http://www.bayofrage.com/featured-articles/stay-calm-some-tips-for-keepi…
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