Anti-Harassment Statement by Members of Occupy Vancouver

December 19, 2011

The undersigned members of Occupy Vancouver would like to condemn and express our
outrage at the actions of an individual who has been representing himself as an
official voice of our movement, all the while committing persistent acts of bullying
and harassment. Bullying and harassment are forms of active violence that should not
be tolerated within our movement. As stated in our basis of unity: “We are also
committed to safeguarding our collective well-being – including safety from
interpersonal violence.”
Greg Renouf has repeatedly been asked by a wide range of individuals (including
respected community activists, lawyers, and journalists) to stop his abusive
campaign of harassment against Harsha Walia, a long-time organizer and activist. Yet
Renouf presents his personal attacks and persistent harassment of her as
“questioning”, and our attempts to explain to him that his behaviour is abusive and
bordering on stalking have been ignored. Renouf continues to make unreasonable
public demands of her (and only her), writes dozens of daily slanderous and
inaccurate posts about her, has attempted to “report” her and others to the
Vancouver Police Department and RCMP, viciously attacks anyone who tries to hold him
accountable, and is creating an unnecessary climate of division and fear-mongering.
This is not actually an issue of tactics or strategies, which many of us have
discussed and debated, and it should be noted that many supporters of diversity of
tactics have affirmed and respected tactical non-violence in the Occupy movement.
What concerns us is a one-sided campaign of intimidation, aggression, and obsessive
fixation with one person (who is not even heavily involved in Occupy) by a man that
many other members of Occupy Vancouver also feel threatened by, as his threats
are spreading to other individuals. We feel that this is unacceptable and we are
forced to speak out against Renouf’s actions. This type of behaviour must stop.
Occupy Vancouver should no longer tolerate abusive behaviour from individuals who
are the ones actually committing real harm and violence in our movement.
Until this harassment stops, the undersigned members of Occupy Vancouver will not
participate in any Occupy Vancouver meetings or gatherings where Greg Renouf is
present. Since Renouf characterizes anyone who speaks out about his behaviours as
part of “Harsha’s gang of supporters”, it should be known that most of us are not
formally affiliated with any of the groups that Harsha is part of and many of us are
actually new to activism through Occupy Vancouver.
Bob Ages
Maryann Abbs
Robin Anderson
Virginia B-H
Carla Bergman
Joy Bartlett
Lisa Barrett
Riaz Behra
Cameron Bode
Sarah Beuhler
Clayton Bromley
Fathima Cader
Kat Code
Stephen Collis
Wayde Compton
Charles Cox
Nathan Crompton
Gareth Davies
Anna Dayley
Levi Elijah
Emma Ellison
Faroe
Britta Fluevog
Caelie Frampton
Grant Fraser
romham padraig gallacher
Lauren Gill
Peter Gill
Kate Gram
Kelsey Grimm
Dayla Hart
Peter Haywood
Robyn Heaslip
Michael H. Hejazi
Courtney Harrop
Sema Ibbetson
Erin Innes
Jordan Jack
Gregor Jahn
Reg Johanson
Dana Kagis
Mathew Kagis
Edward Lacarte
Ian MacDonald
Gerrard MacKinnon
Lindsay McGregor
Alex Mah
Tracey Mann
Anthony Mayfield
Ruth Meta
Eli Mills
Sabrina Anne Modder
Isaac K. Oommen
Jay Peachy
Maria Persdotter
Richard Porteous
Jasmine Rezaee
Isaac Rosenberg
Eddie Rothschild
Daniyah Shamsi
Chris Shaw
Stephanie Smith
Naava Smolash
Tammie Tupechka
Aaron Vidaver
Chris Waddell
Catherine Welsh
David Wilde
Sasha Wiley
Danielle Lee Williams
Tash Wolf
Maxim Winther
Mya Wolf
Usman X
Sandra Yee
Sabina Zahn
Stopthepave.org
Community Solidarity Working Group*
Consensual Housing Working Group*
* CSWG and CHWG are eleven members of Occupy Vancouver who commit to coming to a
General Assembly in person to discuss and consense on a proposal if needed, but do
not feel safe sharing personal information in this atmosphere of harassment.
If you are part of OV and wish to join us please send your name to:
ov.anti.harassment@gmail.com