by Shelley Cooper-Stephenson on Friday, October 15, 2010 at 1:49am
URGENT INFORMATION BULLETIN
Alex Hundert “released” on bail; Thrown in solitary confinement and coerced into accepting outrageous bail conditions
Please forward widely.
Thursday October 15, Toronto, Mississauga New Credit - 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.
For the press release from last week, please read http://g20.torontomobilize.org/node/549 and for further background information on Alex’s arrest and the numerous attempts by the police and Crown to throw him back in jail, read this press release: http://g20.torontomobilize.org/node/504
For ongoing G20 defence and fundraising visit: http://g20.torontomobilize.org/
Friday, October 15, 2010
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
Canadians: Welcome to your chance to take back your government
We invite you to join us as we make the transition from simply protesting the shutdown of Canadian Parliament, to informing and engaging citizens in taking active roles in their own democracy. That work continues!
Please join us at a townhall meeting to hear Marco Fonseca (Professor, Department of International Studies, Glendon College) speak about grassroots movements in civil society.
We will be discussing what citizens can do when their country's democratic processes are under attack, and some of the specific issues involved in our own Parliamentary shutdown. There will be a petition for signing, which will request legislative change to prevent future prorogations of the special kind we saw in December 2009.
Event: "Holding the Line on Our Democracy"
Who: Citizens Engaging Democracy (Newmarket-Aurora area)
Date: February 25, 2010
Time: 7:00pm
Suggested voluntary donation: $10 (pay if/what you can)
Place: Binion Hall, Trinity Anglican Church, 79 Victoria Street
Aurora, ON L4G 1R3
Speaker: Prof. Marco Fonseca
Background Info on "Holding the Line on Our Democracy":
January 23, 2010 at 1:00pm, we stood up for democracy in Canada.
And somebody needed to!
In Newmarket-Aurora, our ralliers stood on the same ground where the 1837 Rebellion began. At the same time, all across Canada and the world, about 29,000 Canadians sent a message that Stephen Harper's prorogation of Parliament was something we did care about, very deeply. It was a non-partisan, grassroots event that included politicans and people of all ages and political stripe, or no political stripe at all. It was a strong, positive, community-building moment. Most of the 200-250 people gathered in Newmarket Town Square had never been to a political rally before.
Now, although Chris White's original Canadians Against Proroguing Parliament group on Facebook (now 225,000 members) is still a gathering place to share information, we have moved into our local communities to continue the work he helped us start. We hope to use the name "Citizens Engaging Democracy" to show that we are moving beyond the prorogation issue toward informing citizens about the political situation here in Canada and engaging people in taking an active role in their democracy. This work will continue past March 3, 2010, the date when Parliament is scheduled to re-open.
In Newmarket-Aurora and area, many people are still not even aware that our Parliament is shut down; important discussions and investigations were interrupted; legislation was scrapped in mid-debate. Various unconvincing excuses have been offered to us about why: for the Olympic Games! To recalibrate on the economy! To increase stability! We were told it was a routine measure. We now know it was not. Far from it.
The prorogation in 2009 is just the biggest ugliest kind of symptom; it has suddenly crystallized our awareness that our democratic process has been ill for some time. At a time when our military is fighting for democracy overseas, in countries where people risk their lives for the opportunity to cast a vote, Canadian voter turnout is appallingly low and voters are increasingly apathetic. Canada's reputation as a country that cares about peace, healthy environment, and human rights has been damaged badly. Our journalists cannot easily access information about our government's workings, and often they are forbidden to ask questions at press conferences. Our Opposition parties -- who are also elected to represent us -- are prevented from doing their job of debating policy and legislation. The government has refused a request BY PARLIAMENT to submit certain evidence to a Special Committee investigating the Afghan detainee torture issue. There is a tangle of issues that, once examined, show a general trend toward decreased transparency, decreased accountability, propagandizing and perhaps even misuse of power by the Stephen Harper government.
Harper certainly is not the only Canadian politician in history to abuse power. However, he has consolidated an unprecedented amount of control over his ministers and MPs, and crossed many lines we do not want to see crossed. We, the citizens of Canada, can insist on taking back our government. These elected representatives should work for us. Parliament is our House.
Informing yourself about these issues is as important as your next vote.
Apathy is very tempting when information is misleading or confusing and people are busy just trying to survive.
Don't take anybody's word for any of this -- do your own investigation. Use a variety of sources.
Become a Citizen Engaging Democracy. Attend "Holding the Line on Our Democracy Event" on February 25, 2010.
Don't wait till later to find out THIS was when we should have drawn the line.
Event page on Facebook (please join!): http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=293774042361&index=1
Our Facebook group: http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?ref=profile&id=1280807687#!/group.php?gid=257710977525&ref=mf
Chris White's group that started it all (great info and discussions!), Canadians Against Proroguing Parliament http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=293774042361&index=1#!/group.php?gid=260348091419&ref=mf
Please join us at a townhall meeting to hear Marco Fonseca (Professor, Department of International Studies, Glendon College) speak about grassroots movements in civil society.
We will be discussing what citizens can do when their country's democratic processes are under attack, and some of the specific issues involved in our own Parliamentary shutdown. There will be a petition for signing, which will request legislative change to prevent future prorogations of the special kind we saw in December 2009.
Event: "Holding the Line on Our Democracy"
Who: Citizens Engaging Democracy (Newmarket-Aurora area)
Date: February 25, 2010
Time: 7:00pm
Suggested voluntary donation: $10 (pay if/what you can)
Place: Binion Hall, Trinity Anglican Church, 79 Victoria Street
Aurora, ON L4G 1R3
Speaker: Prof. Marco Fonseca
Background Info on "Holding the Line on Our Democracy":
January 23, 2010 at 1:00pm, we stood up for democracy in Canada.
And somebody needed to!
In Newmarket-Aurora, our ralliers stood on the same ground where the 1837 Rebellion began. At the same time, all across Canada and the world, about 29,000 Canadians sent a message that Stephen Harper's prorogation of Parliament was something we did care about, very deeply. It was a non-partisan, grassroots event that included politicans and people of all ages and political stripe, or no political stripe at all. It was a strong, positive, community-building moment. Most of the 200-250 people gathered in Newmarket Town Square had never been to a political rally before.
Now, although Chris White's original Canadians Against Proroguing Parliament group on Facebook (now 225,000 members) is still a gathering place to share information, we have moved into our local communities to continue the work he helped us start. We hope to use the name "Citizens Engaging Democracy" to show that we are moving beyond the prorogation issue toward informing citizens about the political situation here in Canada and engaging people in taking an active role in their democracy. This work will continue past March 3, 2010, the date when Parliament is scheduled to re-open.
In Newmarket-Aurora and area, many people are still not even aware that our Parliament is shut down; important discussions and investigations were interrupted; legislation was scrapped in mid-debate. Various unconvincing excuses have been offered to us about why: for the Olympic Games! To recalibrate on the economy! To increase stability! We were told it was a routine measure. We now know it was not. Far from it.
The prorogation in 2009 is just the biggest ugliest kind of symptom; it has suddenly crystallized our awareness that our democratic process has been ill for some time. At a time when our military is fighting for democracy overseas, in countries where people risk their lives for the opportunity to cast a vote, Canadian voter turnout is appallingly low and voters are increasingly apathetic. Canada's reputation as a country that cares about peace, healthy environment, and human rights has been damaged badly. Our journalists cannot easily access information about our government's workings, and often they are forbidden to ask questions at press conferences. Our Opposition parties -- who are also elected to represent us -- are prevented from doing their job of debating policy and legislation. The government has refused a request BY PARLIAMENT to submit certain evidence to a Special Committee investigating the Afghan detainee torture issue. There is a tangle of issues that, once examined, show a general trend toward decreased transparency, decreased accountability, propagandizing and perhaps even misuse of power by the Stephen Harper government.
Harper certainly is not the only Canadian politician in history to abuse power. However, he has consolidated an unprecedented amount of control over his ministers and MPs, and crossed many lines we do not want to see crossed. We, the citizens of Canada, can insist on taking back our government. These elected representatives should work for us. Parliament is our House.
Informing yourself about these issues is as important as your next vote.
Apathy is very tempting when information is misleading or confusing and people are busy just trying to survive.
Don't take anybody's word for any of this -- do your own investigation. Use a variety of sources.
Become a Citizen Engaging Democracy. Attend "Holding the Line on Our Democracy Event" on February 25, 2010.
Don't wait till later to find out THIS was when we should have drawn the line.
Event page on Facebook (please join!): http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=293774042361&index=1
Our Facebook group: http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?ref=profile&id=1280807687#!/group.php?gid=257710977525&ref=mf
Chris White's group that started it all (great info and discussions!), Canadians Against Proroguing Parliament http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=293774042361&index=1#!/group.php?gid=260348091419&ref=mf
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