Anarchy Alive

The following from Israeli anti-occupation activists:

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Dear Friends and supporters,

We are confident that you have already heard of Friday’s two grave attacks at the Anatot settlement. Most media reports have been partial and biased; we wanted to give you a full update on the chain of events and keep you informed of our plans.

Last Friday afternoon, a group of activists visited Yassin al-Rifa’i and his family in the village of Anata village, whose lands have been taken over by the settlement of Anatot (also called Almon). The settlers of Anatot have abused the family for years; in repeated attacks, they uproot trees, block water sources, steal agricultural equipment, and harrass and attack the farmers attempting to reach their lands. On Friday afternoon, it was a Palestinian flag that Yassin put up over a tent on his land that gave the settlers of Anatot an excuse for their pogrom. Dozens of settlers, armed with sticks and rocks, brutally attacked Yassin and his family, as well as the activists that accompanied him. The police were present during the pogrom, but stood on the sidelines and did nothing. Three people were hospitalized with serious injuries, three activists were detained for interrogation. Not a single one of the attackers was arrested.

That same evening, forty activists returned to the scene of the pogrom, in order to protest. When we reached the gate of the settlement, we were forbidden enterance, and we remained in front of the locked gate to protest the settlers’ violence and the lack of police resposibility. The settlers of Anatot quickly amassed at the gate: some had participated in the afternoon’s pogrom, some were soldiers and police officers in civilian dress, youths and grown men seething with hatred and hungry for violence. A number of police officers in uniform that were present did nothing to restrain the raging crowd. The settlers demanded that the gates be opened, and under the aegis of the police officers, they charged us, with fists, rocks, and clubs. One of the attackers tried a number of times to stab activists with a knife. When we tried to get away from the place, the attackers chased us, chanting “Death to leftists!” They were accompanied by a group of uniformed police officers. About 10 demonstrators were injured, three of whom were evacuated for medical treatment. Six cars were seriously damaged, and some were totally destroyed. One car door was etched with Starof David. Despite the attack, which was captured by both stills and video cameras, the police did not arrest a single rioter.

It’s not easy to process the meaning of these events. The magnitude of the hatred that the settlers of Anatot – ostensibly non-ideological and non-extremist settlers – showed, and the forgiving and accommodating behavior of the media, are a troubling testimony to the indifference that characterizes Israeli society after years of occupation and repression. We don’t pretend to know how to continue from here. But we feel that the events in Anatot last Friday are – and must be – a watershed moment. We turn to you in hope that we can continue to count on your support and participation in the near future.

Call to action!

Six years ago, the settlers of Anatot decided to move the fence on the southern part of the settlement and to annex private lands owned by residents of the village of Anata. Today their access to their own lands is blocked, thanks to this illegal fence. In Anatot, like in the rest of the settlements, there is no justice and no accountability, and the settlers can do as they please. The violence that took place on Friday is the clear product of the settlement project, the same project advanced and supported by every single government in the past four decades. Its consequences are occupation and repression, theft and land expropriation, the marking dissidents as traitors.

This policy is maintained by the courts, the police that are in collusion with the settlers, the media that doesn’t do its job, and an Israeli society that keeps its mouth shut.

We will not remain silent.

In the next few days we will announce our plan of action for Anatot.

In the meantime, help us out.

Share this video of Friday’s pogrom in Anatot so that as many people as possible can see with their own eyes the true face of the occupation.

Share the following links and stay tuned for more reports and information as they come in.

Incidents in Anatot, September 30, 2011: updates, videos, and call to action!

Where Solidarity Ends | Sara Benninga

The Ugly Face of Occupation | Yael Kenan

Policeman identified among settlers who attacked activists

23 Israelis and Palestinians injured in settler attack outside Jerusalem

A preliminary report with two clips and photos was published on Mondoweiss yesterday. A new (third) and longer clip from the attack was posted on Youtube today.

Images: 1, 2, 3, 4

A new report – translated testimonies

Israeli Activists report about the attempted lynching of Palestinian farmers and Israeli activists by Anatot settlers, with Israeli police collaboration – 30/9/11

Background, as reported by activists:

For four years Yasin Abu Saleh el-Rifai and his wife Iman are fighting an almost doomed battle to save their land. The plot has belonged to his family, the el-Rifai family, for generations and it is his land, by inheritance. His grandfather’s tomb is situated there too. The impressive structure of the tomb still stands, but the settlers have desecrated it, removing the bones from the tomb and destroyed the any remains in order to eliminate the evidence. Unfortunately for him, and for many other residents of Anata, some of them members of his family, an Israeli settlement by the name of Anatot (aka Almon) was built on their land in 1982. This settlement has grown over the years and today its fenced-off area includes hundreds of acres of private, taboo-registered Palestinian land, which the Palestinian owners cannot access.

A few words about this settlement: the settlers of Anatot are some of the worst people. It is a secular, extreme right-wing settlement of police officers and army officers, some of them retired. So the law is with them…and far away from the public eye they do what they want, a constant rampage. Sicilian Mafia in Israel of 2011. Netanyahu’s personal driver is also a resident of Anatot.

El-Rifai’s story is somewhat different from the story of the other Palestinian landowners. He and his wife, an Israeli citizen, formerly Jewish with a “blue” ID are allowed to enter the settlement and they are not denied access to the land. This is not the case for the other landowners, who are not Israeli citizens, and are therefore required to conduct impossible coordination procedures in order to reach their land and cultivate it.

Their ‘blue’ ID cards have not spared el-Rifai and his wife a great deal of agony. In recent years Anatot’s settlers have been doing all they can to try to expel them from their land. The land that appears to be barren in the clip was once full of olive trees. Settlers ran over el-Rifai’s wife with a mini-tractor, the two were beaten on several occasions, requiring hospitalization. Yasin was also stabbed. Their share of misery has also included the uprooting of all fruit trees on the plot, destruction of agricultural equipment, contamination of the water well by throwing carcasses and garbage into it, burning the cave which is located within the confines of the plot, constant uprooting of any newly-planted trees, threats against the two as well as physical assaults on them. Countless complaints have been submitted to the police, but nothing has been done to stop the abuse. El-Rifai and his wife have not given up, and against all odds they are trying to hold on to their land. Yasin, desperate to find some support, contact activists through the Internet a few months ago.

Activist Tal’s account:

On Friday, a group of Israeli activists from various groups came down to sit with Yasin on his land, drink coffee, eat something, plant a few symbolic trees, and raise a Palestinian flag on his plot. We were certainly not looking for trouble. We were a small group, women and elderly people among us.

As we were sitting there, eating and laughing, Yasin received a call on his mobile phone, and the settlement’s security officer threatened him that “people want to come up and beat you to a pulp, if that’s what you want, keep the flag there”. The phone call was recorded. You can listen to it here.

Afterwards, seven police and military vehicles appeared on the main road. They stood there for half an hour. Then a few civilian (privately-owned) cars drove up to them, and there seemed to be an exchange going on. All of a sudden, all the military vehicles disappeared, except for one police car, and within minutes tens of private cars gathered on the road. Around 50 people came out of these cars, led by an army officer and a border police, who were not trying too hard to stop them…The rest is history. They came up to us, cursed us, beat us with stoned and clubs and iron rods, plundered. Yasin was thrown to the ground, his head cracked open with an audible bang (he’s not a young man, and he suffers from a heart condition and diabetes). He lay motionless on the ground for a few minutes, his wife holding his head and trying to stop the bleeding. We formed a protective ring around him, so that the bloodthirsty settlers don’t reach him. At that time I thought he was dead. I yelled “get an ambulance”, but no one paid attention. Miri (an activist) saw another activist, Edo, being beaten right next to a police officer, the settlers taking his camera. The officer was speaking on his phone. She approached him and said: “They stole Edo’s camera and now they are hitting him!”. The officer’s nonchalant response was “you’re interrupting my conversation”. I stood there trying to prevent the attackers from reaching Yasin. A police officer came and took me away saying he’s doing it to protect me. None of the officers protected Yasin. None of the attackers were pushed back or detained. Three of us were arrested on false charges and released later that evening because there was no case against them. The settlers chased us with their cars, causing damage to our cars, all the way up to West Jerusalem. Police officers who drove along, escorting us, did not think something had to be done about that. An entire spectrum of Anatot settlers, children, youths, women, the young and the elderly participated in the attempted lynching. No one would have cared if we had been killed there. Only the police who would have had to account for this.

Activist Guy’s account:

Three months ago, we, Taayush activists, received an appeal from the couple. They were almost desperate and they asked for our help. We came down there, another activist and I, and we met a lovely couple, whose sole request was not to be driven off their land and not to suffer physical abuse and damage to property.

Due to various constraints, it was difficult for us to help at the time, but we did try to enlist various activists and groups. In recent weeks, activists have come down a few times and planted new trees, but each time, after a short while el-Rifai found them uprooted.

Today, Friday 30.9.11, a few of us decided to come and visit the couple. We numbered around 15 people. we brought work tools with us, such as hoes. Needless to say, we were welcomed with open arms and much love.

A short time after our arrival, we saw the settlement’s security vehicle stop on the main road. It seemed that the security officer didn’t like our presence there and called the police. A Border police team arrived, but they didn’t intervene or interfere. Gradually, more and more settlers gathered on the main road, approximately 200 Meters in front of the hill where we were working. By noon, more than 20 settler cars could be spotted there. Then we saw two of them going up towards us, and I immediately called the police and alerted them to the danger. Below us, on the main road, we were able to see a few police cars, but they didn’t prevent the two settlers from approaching us. When they came near us, they cursed and threatened us. Other settlers began to go up the hill towards us, dozens of them…

I called the police again, I warned them that bloodshed was imminent, I begged them to send the policemen who were present uphill, towards us, but to no avail. The settlers came up to us, and attacked us. This was simply an attempted lynching. I was punched a few times, knocked down to the ground, and when managed to lift myself up, I saw a border police officer. I ran to him and begged him to protect me, to save me, I practically hung onto him. But they just kept hitting, not heeding his calls to step back. They broke one of the cameras which I was holding, snatching it and throwing it to the ground and trampling over it. More punches and I am screaming and seeing the end. Again, I find myself on the ground, again lifting myself up and starting to flee, my glasses are gone and I don’t know where I’m running, and I do see the settlers approaching me, and screaming at me. I ran towards the road and saw a police officer. Weeping and distraught, I asked him to save me.

He took me to the car and somehow I along with another activist managed to escape and exit the settlement.

But what about the rest?

They continued to be beaten, and the attempted lynching went on. Three of us are still at the hospital, one with a head injury, and I came out of all this, miraculously, with just one arm broken and lots of bruises

Courtesy of Variant magazine from Glasgow.

Darcus Howe, a West Indian Writer and Broadcaster with a voice about the riots.

An open letter to those who condemn looting (Part one)

Anarchists respond to the London riots – Solidarity Federation

Britain and its Rabble

A message to a country on fire

Moral Economy of the Crowd

A CALL FOR MORE UNDERSTANDING AND LESS MORALISING

Nothing ‘mindless‘ about rioters

There is a context to London’s riots that can’t be ignored

via Mute – A quick round-up of media which doesn’t fall into the backlash category

Criminality and Rewards – Max von Sudo

Declaration from students in Rome

…You don’t need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows: occupation of universities everywhere in Europe, blockage of the cities, manif sauvage, rage. This is the answer of a generation to whom they want to cut the future with debts for studying, cuts of welfare state and increasing of tuition fees.

The determination of thousand of students in London, the rage of who assault the Italian Senate house against the austerity and the education cuts, has opened the present time: this is because the future is something to gain that start when you decide collectively to take risk and to struggle.

The extraordinary struggles that we are living have the capacity to show a present with an intensity that exceed the linearity of the time, that refuse our precarity condition: it is an assault to the future!

We don’t want to get into debt, we don’t want to pay more fees to study in London as well as in Paris, Wien, Rome, Athens, Madrid, Dublin, Lisbon. This European movement is about refusing austerity policies, refusing to get into debt for these miserable politicians. Que se vayan todos!

What is happening nowadays in Rome first spread out in Athens and Paris, then in Dublin and London: it is the irruption of a movement who speaks a common language, the same young generation in revolt, who inhabits different cities but shares the same determination to struggle, «floating like a butterfly and stinging like a bee».

We have to meet each other and invent a new political grammar against the weakness of the Nation-state and their strategy to face the crisis: their receipt is just austerity, cuts and debt. In Italy we have occupied not only universities, but also blocked motorways and the mobility of the country in order to circulate struggles outside the national borders and coming in Europe and beyond. The circulation of struggles is living within the Book Block and the wild demonstration in London, Paris and Rome.

This autumn we are living a real European student movement, that is various and radical, really heterogeneous. Its common reclaim comes from a protest that is born in the middle of the crisis, and that represents the most courageous answer. It is a struggle composed by different struggles, heterogeneous temporalities that reclaim more scholarships for student and a public university for everyone.

Within the book block a new generation recognized and found itself in the protest. Today in lots of cities the Italian student movement is showing something more than just solidarity: this is because your struggle is our struggle and all around Europe students are against the increasing of fees, the privatisation of the university and the education cuts. You are not alone in UK: an European event, a new generation do not want to stop. We have the force whom want to change the world and we have the intelligence to do it. It is just the beginning!

We propose to students, researchers, precarious workers and PhD students to build up together an European meeting at the beginning of the 2011, to continue the struggle, to transform this wind in a tempest!

Uniriot Roma, Anomalia Sapienza

>> more info: www.uniriot.org

Abdallah Abu Rahmah, a coordinator of the Bil’in Popular Committee Against the Wall and the Settlements, was arrested on 10 December 2009. Although committed to nonviolence, he was falsely accused and convicted of inciting violence, based on testimonies extracted under pressure from two children. This is his message on International Human Rights day.

A year ago tonight, on International Human Rights Day, our apartment in Ramallah was broken into by the Israeli military in the middle of the night and I was torn away from my wife Majida, my daughters Luma and Layan, and my son Laith, who at the time was only nine months old.

As the coordinator of the Bil’in Popular Committee against the Wall and Settlements I was convicted of “organizing illegal demonstrations” and “incitement.” The “illegal demonstrations” refer to the nonviolent resistance campaign that my village has been waging for the last six years against Israel’s Apartheid Wall that is being built on our land.

I find it strange that the military judges could call our demonstrations illegal and charge me for participating in and organizing them after the world’s highest legal body, the International Court of Justice in The Hague, has ruled that Israel’s wall within the occupied territories is illegal and must be dismantled. Even the Israeli supreme court ruled that the Wall’s route in Bil’in is illegal.

I have been accused of inciting violence: this charge is also puzzling. If the check points, closures, ongoing land theft, wall and settlements, night raids into our homes and violent oppression of our protests does not incite violence, what does?

Despite the occupations constant and intense incitement to violence in Bil’in, we have chosen another way. We have chosen to protest nonviolently together with Israeli and International supporters. We have chosen to carry a message of hope and real partnership between Palestinians and Israelis in the face of oppression and injustice. It is this message that the Occupation is attempting to crush through its various institutions including the military courts. An official from the Israeli Military Prosecution shamelessly told my Attorney, Gaby Lasky, that the objective of the military in my prosecution is to “put an end” to these demonstrations.

The crime of incitement that I have been convicted of is defined under Israeli military decree 101 regarding the prohibition of hostile action of propaganda and incitement as “The attempt, verbally or otherwise, to influence public opinion in the Area in a way that may disturb the public peace or public order” and carries a 10 year maximal sentence. This definition is so broad and vague that it can be applied to almost any action or statement. Actually, these words could be considered incitement if they were spoken in the occupied territories.

On the 11th of October of this year I was sentenced to 12 months in prison, plus 6 months suspended sentence for 3 years, and a fine. My family and I, especially my daughters, were counting the days to my release. The military prosecution waited until just a few days before the end of my sentence before appealing against my release, arguing that I should be imprisoned longer. I have completed my sentence but remain in prison. Though international law considers myself and other activists as human rights defenders, the occupation authorities consider us criminals whose freedom and other rights must be denied. In the year that I have spent in prison, the demonstrations in Bil’in, Naalin, Al Maasara, and Beit Omar have continued. Nabi Saleh and other villages have taken up the popular struggle. Within this year, the International campaign calling for Boycott Divestment and Sanctions of Israel until it complies with International law has grown considerably, as have legal actions against Israeli war crimes. I hope that soon Israel will no longer be able to ignore the clear condemnation of its policies coming from around the world.

In the year that I have spent in prison, my son Laith has taken his first steps and said his first words, and Luma and Layan have been growing from children to beautiful young girls. I have not been able to be with them, to walk holding their hands, to take them to school as they and I are used to. Laith does not know me now. And my wife Majida has had to care for our family alone.

In 2010 children in Bil’in and throughout the West bank are still being awakened in the middle of the night to find guns pointed at their heads. In the year that I have spent in prison, the military has carried out dozens of night raids in Bil’in with the purpose of removing those involved in the popular struggle against the occupation.

Imagine if heavily armed men forced their way into your home in the middle of the night. If your children were forced to watch as their father or brother was blindfolded, handcuffed, and taken away. Or if you as a parent were forced to watch this being done to your child.

This week the door of our cell was opened and a sixteen year boy was pushed inside. My friend Adeeb Abu Rahmeh was shocked to recognize his son, Mohammed, whom Adeeb had not seen since he himself was arrested during a nonviolent demonstration 16 months ago.

Mohammad smiled when he saw his Father, but his face was red and swollen and it was clear that he was in pain. He told us that he had been taken from his home two nights previously. He spent the first night blindfolded and shackled, being moved from one place to another. The next day after a terrifying, disoriented, and sleepless night he was taken to an interrogation room, his blindfold was removed and an interrogator showed him pictures of people from the village. When questioned about the first picture he told the interrogator that he did not recognize the person. The interrogator slapped him hard across the face. This continued with every question that Mohammad was asked: when he did not give the answer that the interrogator wanted, he was slapped, punched and threatened. Mohammad’s treatment is not unusual.

Young boys from our village have been taken from their homes violently and report being denied sleep, food, and water and being kept in Isolation and threatened and often beaten during interrogation.

What was unusual about Mohammad is that he did not satisfy his interrogator and with competent representation was released within a few days. Usually children, just because they are children, will say whatever the interrogator wants them to say to make such treatment stop. Adeeb, myself, and thousands of other prisoners are being held in prison based on testimonies forced or coerced out of these children. No child should ever receive such treatment.

When the children who had testified against me retracted what they said in interrogation and told the military judge that their testimonies where given under duress, the judge declared them hostile witnesses.

Adeeb Abu Rahmah and I are the first to be convicted with incitement and participation in illegal demonstrations since the first Intifada but, unfortunately, it does not seem that we will be the last.

I often wonder what Israeli leaders think they will achieve if they succeed in their goal of suppressing the Palestinian popular struggle? Is it possible that they believe that our people can sit quietly and watch as our land is taken from us? Do they think that we can face our children and tell them that, like us, they will never experience freedom? Or do they actually prefer violence and killing to our form of nonviolent struggle because it camouflages their ongoing theft and gives them an excuse to continue using us as guinea pigs for their weapons?

My eldest daughter Luma was nine years old when I was arrested. She is now ten. After my arrest she began going to the Friday demonstrations in our village. She always carries a picture of me in her arms. The adults try to look after her but I still worry for my little girl. I wish that she could enjoy her childhood like other children, that she could be studying and playing with her friends. But through the walls and barbed wire that separates us I hear my daughter’s message to me, saying: “Baba, they cannot stop us. If they take you away, we will take your place and continue to struggle for justice.” This is the message that I want to bring you today. From beyond the walls, the barbed wire, and the prison bars that separate Palestinians and Israelis

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PLEASE FORWARD THIS UPDATE WIDELY

WEBSITE: http://palsolidarity.org
YOUTUBE: http://youtube.com/user/ISMPalestine
TWITTER: http://twitter.com/ismpalestine
FACEBOOK:

http://www.facebook.com/pages/International-Solidarity-Movement/56674479144

On Saturday 16th October, Climate campaigners gave the Oil Industry a Crude Awakening, taking direct action against the industry for its role in exacerbating climate change, as well as its devastating impact on local communities and environments around the world. Three blocs starting from three different places, one mass action – “When injustice becomes law, resistance becomes duty.”

Part of the Global Week for Action on Climate Justice.

This in from G20 activists in Canada

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Thursday October 15, Toronto, Mississauga New Credit (Canada) – Less than 24 hours after refusing to sign outrageous bail conditions which included not expressing political views in public and non-associations intended to further isolate him, Alex Hundert was forced to consent to his release.

On the night of Wednesday October 14th, Alex was told by the security manager at the Toronto East Detention Centre that he had to sign the bail conditions or face solitary confinement in “the hole”, without access to phone calls or writing paper. He was put in solitary confinement after an initial confrontation with correction staff where he resisted initial attempts to make him sign. He was denied the right to call his lawyer, and told that if he didn’t sign now, they would
revoke the bail offer and he would be held in solitary confinement until his eventual release from prison.

Coerced into signing these conditions, Alex was thrown out of Toronto East and left to find his own way home to his sureties’ house. The prison authorities forced him into a position where he could potentially be accused of further breaching his bail. Alex is now back on house arrest with an enforced curfew, with non-associations with co-accused and members of SOAR, AWOL, NOII and other community organizers. He also has the additionally imposed restrictions of no
direct or indirect posting to the internet, no assisting, planning, or attending any public meeting or march, and no expressing of views on a political issue.

Over the past week, Alex has experienced a particularly malicious targeting. Last week, the criminal injustice system made the ludicrous finding that Alex had breached his previous ‘no-demonstration’ bail condition by speaking on a panel because he was supposedly engaging in the same kind of “behaviour that he exhibited in meetings leading up to the G20.” Then, he was forced to take a stand to go back to jail by refusing to sign fundamentally unjust and repressive bail conditions.

And now, his right to refuse to accept such a blatant violation of his freedom to express political views and his freedom to associate has been further attacked through coercive and punitive attempts to force his own release.

In a previously published media statement, Alex has stated “They are targeting me because I am part of communities that are effectively organizing across movements. Whether it is the criminalization of anarchists and community organizers like me, or the daily demonization of Indigenous peoples, poor people and migrant communities, we have to show them that our resolve and our solidarity can be stronger than their intimidation and repression.”

Alex’s family, friends and allies are outraged and upset by the harassment and coercion Alex faced after refusing to set a dangerous precedent for our broader movements by choosing not to consent to egregious bail conditions. Outrage has been building across the country as the implications of politically-motivated G20 conspiracy charges become clear. The Crown, the prison, the police and the corporate and colonial interests they represent are clearly afraid of what we think and say, not only what we do.

Rallies in Kitchener-Waterloo, Edmonton, Vancouver, and Toronto on Tuesday echoed with chants of “this is what a demonstration looks like”. We continue to strengthen our resolve, and will fight these trumped-up charges until the end. One hundred conspiracy charges were dropped today against Montreal organizers arrested at gunpoint during a morning raid at the University of Toronto on June 27th. We cannot be silenced or intimidated, our resistance will only increase as we keep organizing for liberation for all people, especially those who daily bear the brunt of police, state, and corporate oppression.

Please stay posted for further updates.

For more information contact Jonah Hundert at jonah.hundert@gmail.com.

Breaking news links from Toronto

Daily Spoke nr 11

Call for international suport

Police attacks jail solidarity

cops shooting rubber bullets at peaceful protesters

A strong statement from journalists about police harassment (of journalists and demonstrators)

Free Market at G20

phony script

Tace to the bottom

May This G20 be the last

Follow news at http://2010.mediacoop.ca/
and http://www.g20breakdown.com/

http://twitter.com/mediacoop

from http://movementdefence.org/G20appeal

The MDC’s Summit Legal Support Project is appealing to the movements it
supports to mobilize a show of political strength and solidarity for the
nearly 500 people arrested in the last four days. The Toronto Police and
the ISU appear to have lost control of their ‘prisoner processing center’,
denying arrestees meaningful and timely access to counsel while beating
and arresting those peacefully protesting their detention outside.

Despite assurances to the contrary, only a handful of people have been
released, including those held for many hours without charge. Arrestees
are given incorrect information about the bail process they will be
subjected to, and friends and family members gather hours early at the
courthouse, located far from the city center and inaccessible via transit.
Our lawyers call in and are told that there is no one available to make
decisions or wait for hours at the detention centre, only to be denied
access to their clients. Almost 500 people are in custody and we know from
experience that the vast majority of those charges will disappear and yet
the cell doors remain shut.

We need to step it up and build a political response. We need many more
voices – especially prominent ones – to say that the abuse and
incompetence at 629 Eastern Avenue must stop. We must demand that all
levels of government take control of the police forces under their
command. We need to ensure that courts and crown attorneys act to enforce
constitutional rights rather than collude in their violation.

Free the Toronto 500!

The Movement Defence Committee

*please forward widely**

JUNE 2010 G8/G20 CONVERGENCE
http://g20.torontomobilize.org

Join our announcements list
email community.mobilize@resist.ca

and the facebook group
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=236150947036

Twitter: http://twitter.com/g20mobilize

ANNOUNCEMENTS and EVENTS

ANNOUNCEMENTS

1. Things are getting exciting!
2. Art all the time at the People’s Summit
3. You coming to Toronto in an Affinity Group?
4. Important news from the Legal Team
5. Please donate to the Convergence Centre
6. Dancing interlude! Listen to the new G8 remix

EVENTS

7. Workshop on Independent Media and Alternative Media
8. Convergence Centre Opening Part-ay!
9. Halladay Yes! G20 No!
10. Direct Action Training
11. Know Your Rights Training

*** 12. People’s Summit Final Plenary: the G20 and G8 – All of Your
Questions Answered!***

13. Week of Action!

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EXCITEMENT!
Just a shout out to all the folks in Toronto and beyond who have been working so hard to make this convergence an exciting one. We have our convergence centre up and running (1266 Queen Street West, at Noble) and people are slowing filtering into town and the buzz is in the town! We all look forward to building stronger relationships and showcasing the strength and creativity in our communities!

Just a reminder for folks that we still need housing for out of town activists. If you can adopt an activist, please go the below links to fill out a form.

• If you need housing, please go here:
http://g20.torontomobilize.org/visitorhousing

• If you can provide housing, please go here:
http://g20.torontomobilize.org/housingform

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ART ALL THE TIME AT PEOPLE’S SUMMIT

Art is a vital form of expression we have against the G20. The arts committee has been hard at work making banners and posters. If you want to get involved, you’ll have a chance to help out at the People’s Summit.

We’ll be meeting for the whole weekend at the Community Commons in the HUB Cafeteria to make beautiful art! And learn now!

Here is the breakdown of what is happening (but times are not set):

Saturday June 19:
Morning: hands on screen printing shirts and button making
Afternoon: Silk Screening

Sunday June 20
Morning: Placards
Afternoon: Puppets, Environmental Justice banner making and making hot pink capes and arm bands

If you can donate to the art committee, please bring the following supplies:

— paint brushes
— pink fabric
— green fabric
— staples for staple gun
— paint
— drop cloth
— screen printing inks, squeegees
— stencil/placard material
— markers, chalk, cutters

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CALL FOR AFFINITY GROUPS

Many of the actions during the G8/G20 are being organized around or welcome an affinity group structure. We encourage people to form affinity groups with trusted friends, lovers, comrades, etc.

An affinity group is a small group of people, about 3-10 or so, who are interested in similar tactics and have similar levels of comfort. They can be thought of as the basic building block of the larger, decentralized group that we will form during many of the actions. In a demonstration, affinity groups are able to communicate and make decisions quickly and autonomously, and can act with greater efficiency and safety.

We’ve got a month and a half to get ready for this! Let’s gather in the secret, quiet places, and discuss with our trusted buddies what would excite and inspire us. Then, once we share a vision, let us scheme how to create it. Here are some things to think about when preparing as an affinity group:

-Comfort level – what sort of things are you willing or not willing to do?

-Legal preparations – How will you deal with arrests?

-Getting used to working as a group – In the coming weeks, make some time to go adventuring together.

-Have a plan – What sort of roles will your affinity group take on during the events? What are you good at? How will you apply those skills?

-Material preparations – What will you need to bring to do what you need to do? Don’t forget water!

Once you have an affinity group, SOAR wants you to get involved with the planning of autonomous actions, particularly for Sunday, June 27th. In the coming weeks, SOAR will be organizing spokes councils, where representatives from affinity groups can come help plan the details of actions, and to plug in by committing to taking on certain roles as a group. If you are interested in attending such a meeting, drop a line to torontospokes @ ecologyfund.net. And of course, the internet is not a safe place to discuss any specifics of these actions.

All SOAR events celebrate a diversity of tactics, meaning that we support all the many different ways that people choose to resist our common enemies. We will not condemn or attempt to prevent or control actions being taken by others, and will vigorously resist state repression against anyone. That said, respect for diversity of tactics also means not smashing things while part of a child-friendly march.

The Toronto Community Mobilization Network statement on Respect and Solidarity can be found at:
http://g20.torontomobilize.org/SolidarityRespect

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IMPORTANT INFORMATION FROM THE LEGAL TEAM!

The Legal Team has issued an important communiqué to help activists stay safe while in Toronto. To read the full statement, please go to
http://g20.torontomobilize.org/node/256

Important Legal numbers:
Up to June 18th if you are arrested or approached by police: 416 833 6137 June 18th and afterwards:
If you are arrested or see someone arrested: 416 273 6761
If you want to know about someone who was arrested: 416-273-6781
If you are deaf or hard of hearing: 416 531 0060

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CONVERGENCE CENTRE NEEDS DONATIONS

If you can donate any items to make the Convergence Centre as useful as possible, please drop them off at 1266 Queen Street West. We need shelves, toilet paper, tables, chairs, cleaning supplies and more.

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Amazing new G8 dance song by Maynooth DJ B#!

“Dance Dance Dance – The CLAC vs Lykkie Li

(we recommend you dance while listening)

http://soundcloud.com/b-shrp/dance-dance-dance-the-clac-vs-lykkie-li-buraka-som-sistema-rmx-g20-rmx

EVENTS

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Workshop: Independent Media and International Solidarity
A workshop with Stefan Christoff
Thursday June 17
6:30
Room 2212
OISE, 252 Bloor Street West
A workshop for independent and alternative journalists!
To read the full description, go here:
http://g20.torontomobilize.org/node/267

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Convergence Space Party!!!
COME KICK OFF THE JUNE 2010 RESISTANCE
8pm – 11pm
1266 QUEEN STREET WEST
(just west off Noble)

We’re going to warm up the convergence space! Let’s make the space ours!
We’ve got DJ’s food and a whole lot of fire in our hearts! Think of this
as a housewarming for the movement’s house! Let’s spend time together socializing and dancing before we take to the streets!
When: Thursday, June 17, 2010 8pm
What: MOVEMENT’s HOUSEWARMING PARTY
Where: OUR NEW CONVERGENCE SPACE! 1266 Queen Street West (just off of noble)

Things to consider bringing:
- friends, family and loved ones
- a “gift” for the convergence space (shelves, zine’s, office supplies, anything you have, that we might need, that you don’t need)
- a monetary donation to keep us going!

This is a sober space free of drugs and alcohol.
This space is accessible, however the washrooms are not.

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HALLIDAY YES! G20 NO!
Friday June 18
5:30 – 7:30
Front Street and Blue Jays Way (meet on the bridge south of Front)

Do you still love baseball? Do you still hate the G20?

Then join us Friday June 18th, at 5:45pm as we go into ‘extra innings’ to flyer the Rogers Center again!

On June 6th sports fans, upset with the cancellation of the Jays games on the weekend of June 25th talked to thousands of Jays fans about the G20. Now we want to do it again.

We know you’d love to go to the ball game, hear the sounds, see the sights, grab a few hot dogs and watch The Blue Jays host the return of Roy Halladay (currently basking in the glow of a ‘perfect game’).

But the G20 doesn’t want you to. They don’t want anyone in Toronto to have that pleasure. They’d prefer to give bank bailouts, stop taxes on the wealthy, cut women’s access to abortion, spend $1 billion on fences, close day-cares AND, just to add insult to injury, prevent Halladay from coming back to the pitch.

So we know you’re angry. We know you’re upset. And we think a lot of baseball fans are too. As protesters, we rarely get a chance to talk to the folks at the ball game about the issues. This time, we’ve got a good reason to head down and talk about these issues.

But we need your help. If you’re a baseball fan, or you hate the G20 and all they stand for (or both!) then meet us:

Friday, June 18th at 5:45pm
Main Entrance to the Rogers Center (on the bridge!)
1 Blue Jays Way

We bring: Flyers and a dislike of the G20
You bring: A love of baseball

Sincerely,

Sports fans against the G20

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DIRECT ACTION TRAININGS
At the People’s Summit

Saturday June 19 1pm SCC Room G (Ryerson University)
Sunday June 20 10am VIC 202 (Ryerson University)

Facilitators: Andrea Hatala and Terry Douglas

These sessions are intended to prepare and empower folks who are expecting to participate in some or all of the events planned for June 21 – 27, 2010. Topics covered may include preparing for a demo/action, common police tactics, basic legal briefing, working in affinity groups, etc. The sessions will consist of interactive discussions, role-play, and possibly other approaches.

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KNOW YOUR RIGHTS WORKSHOPS
At the People’s Summit peoplessummit2010.ca

Saturday June 19 3pm SCC room G (Ryerson University)
Sunday June 20 10am VIC 104 (Ryerson University)

Members of the Summit Legal Support Project will prepare people for participation in the protests during the summits of the G8 and G20 in Huntsville and Toronto later in June. People will be informed of what their legal rights are, what preparations have been made for legal support during the demonstrations and what happens if one is arrested at a protest.

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The G8/G20 Week of Action – All of Your Questions Answered!
At the People’s Summit peoplessummit2010.ca

Sunday June 20 3pm Lib 72 – Auditorium (Ryerson University)

The G20 is convening in a week in their closed meetings!!

Come out and find out what is planned for the week ahead from a panel of organizers. Also find out from medics how to protect yourself and from the legal team on yourl egal right to organize and demonstrate.

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For more events, please go to g20.torontomobilize.org/schedule

J21, 1pm, Harper’s Attacks on Reproductive Rights at home and abroad, 25
Cecil Street, OCAC

J21, 2pm, Allan Gardens, March: “All Out In Defense of the Rights of All”

J22, Various Times/Locations, creative civic transformations and street
theatre for Gender Justice

J22, Creative Queer Resistance to the G20, 4:30pm Yonge and Queen, Tuesday

J23, 11am, Alexandra Park (Dundas and Bathurst St.) March: “Toxic Tour of
Toronto”

J23, 7pm, Ryerson Student Campus Centre (SCC115), 55 Gould St: People’s
Assembly on Climate Justice: Moving Forward from Cochabamba (Poster)
(Facebook)

J24, 11am, Queen’s Park, March: “Canada Can’t Hide Genocide: Indigenous
Day of Action”

J24, 5pm, Toronto Underground Cinema 186 Spadina Ave, “Six Miles Deep”
Documentary

J24, 8pm, 25 Cecil Street Steelworkers Hall, Forum: “Confront the Invasion!”

25-27 June 2010: DAYS OF ACTION

J25, 2:30pm, Allan Gardens (Carlton Street between Jarvis and Sherbourne
Street) Free the Streets! March. Block Party. Tent City: “Justice for Our
Communities”

J25, 6:00pm, Forum, Massey Hall: “Shout Out For Global Justice”

J26, 1:00pm, March, Queen’s Park: “People’s First. We Deserve Better”

J26, 1:00pm, March, Queen’s Park: “Get Off the Fence”

J26, Time/Location TBA, Radical Street Party: “Saturday Night Fever.”

J27, Time/Location TBA, Autonomous Direct Actions: “Getting Down to Business”

J27, 1pm, Location TBA, Bike Block action

J27, 2pm, St James Park (on King St. between Jarvis and Church), March:
“Funeral March”

J27, 3:33 PM, Anywhere, Make Believe Tea Party, (Flyer) (Handout)

J27, 5pm, Bruce Mackey Park (Dundas and Wardell), March:
Fire.Works.For.Prisons

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