BASICS Bulletin - 4 May 2009
BASICS Free Community Newsletter condemns the disgraceful conduct of
the Toronto Police Service in its treatment of of the Tamil community
and peaceful demonstrators attempting to join the Tamil rally at the
US consulate on May 2, 2009.
For the last two months the Tamil community has shown exemplary unity
and organization in demanding an end to the genocide of the Tamil
people being carried out by the Sri Lankan government, including the
use of military attacks on civilian targets and the use of chemical
weapons and concentration camps in an attempt to break their movement
for national liberation. The Tamil community has persevered despite
the silence of the Canadian government and corporate media and
undemocratic repression by the Toronto police. In the words of one
demonstrator, "We will not be treated like animals!"
On May 2, thousands of people, both Canadian-born and migrant workers,
marched to call for an end to the racist attacks of the Canadian
government against immigrant communities. After the No One Is Illegal
march ended at City Hall, a large group of marchers continued on to
join the rally organized by the Tamil community at the US consulate.
The police showed no respect for the peoples right to peaceful
assembly and freedom of speech as guaranteed by the Charter of Rights
and Freedoms. Even though there was no violence or even threat of
violence from the side of the demonstrators, police verbally and
physically assaulted the people, calling them "terrorists" and other
insults. The marchers were penned in between metal barricades and
rows of armed riot police, creating a tight bottleneck on one end of
the sidewalk while mounted police on horses assaulted marchers from
the other end. Tamils and non-Tamils alike were brutalized and
crushed together, including women and children. Police even assaulted
a young couple who were only passers-by and were complying with police
instructions to leave the area. The officer grabbed the woman with
both hands and threw her down on the pavement and threatened to arrest
her partner when he attempted to passively intervene.
Two marchers, including a correspondent for BASICS Free Community
Newsletter and a member of the Coalition Against Israeli Apartheid,
were arrested for "disturbing the peace," even though their only crime
was speaking out in defense of the Tamil people and calling for
international solidarity. Footage now posted on YouTube clearly shows
that the CAIA member was arrested simply because he dared to make the
links between the genocide of Tamils in Sri Lanka to the occupation
and apartheid policies imposed on the Palestinian people by Israel and
correctly identifying the Canadian state as being complicit in both of
these international war crimes. Footage also clearly shows that there
was no basis for the arrest and mistreatment of the correspondent from
BASICS at the hands of the Toronto police.
The police have been attempting to break the growing unity between
Tamils and non-Tamils, by spreading rumours to each side that the
others are "trouble-makers." Anyone who views the footage of police
conduct at the demonstration will know the truth: that it is the
police who are the real "trouble-makers!"
As our arrested comrade from BASICS said, "The excessive response
against me – both at the time of my arrest and during the booking
procedure at the police station, was intended to humiliate and
intimidate me and thereby discourage my participation in the Tamil
protests. Needless to say, I will be back at the Tamil protest making
“trouble” as long as the Tamil community will be there."
We will not be intimidated! Our unity will not be broken! BASICS
Free Community Newsletter demands an impartial investigation into the
treatment of demonstrators by the Toronto police, disciplining of any
officers who violated peoples rights, as well as a public apology from
Chief of Police Bill Blair for the disgraceful and cowardly conduct of
his officers. Further, we demand that the Canadian government use any
and all means available to pressure the Sri Lankan government to stop
the genocide of the Tamil people! For more information, contact
basics.canada@gmail.com or visit our website at
basicsnewsletter.blogspot.com.
Showing posts with label police. Show all posts
Showing posts with label police. Show all posts
Tuesday, May 05, 2009
Thursday, April 16, 2009
‘They Don’t Belong’: The Solution is Not Cops
by Rayon
Basics Issue #13 (Apr/May 2009)
A few weeks ago, our high school, Weston Collegiate Institute, had a few people from the NO COPS campaign (Newly Organized Coalition Opposing Police in Schools) pay a visit to us at lunch time. They set up a table across the street and had stacks of free BASICS newspapers to give out. While BASICS organizers are well known for distributing the papers in Toronto communities, the members of NO COPS who were there that day, strapped with their BASICS issues, had another purpose.
What these guys had was a petition to the remove the “Special Resources Officer” - the uniformed armed police officers in high schools – from the 30 or so TDSB secondary schools across Toronto.
For the majority of the students at Weston, this petition is allowing us to voice our concerns about having a cop in our school. There was a lack of community consultation in bringing this cop here in the first place. The Toronto Police Services initiated and funds this program and the Toronto District School Board approved it at an executive level. The feelings among most of the students at Weston C.I. is that they do not want a cop in their school and they feel threatened by the presence of an armed police officer in the school for numerous reasons. The students cannot identify with an individual who wears a massive bullet proof vest and carries a loaded gun and taser, which is quite intimidating particularly for people coming from T.O.’s “priority neighbourhoods” – let’s be honest, ghettoes – who witness and experience police activity in a whole different light than youth from more affluent areas.
On a day-to-day basis, the police harass, bully, and brutalize people from our communities and get away without being held to account for their actions. How can we accept having police in our schools to “build relations” with us if they are getting away with daily brutality and sometimes murder in our communities? (Anyone remember Alwy Al-Nadhir or Byron Debassige?) We have already experienced police (SRO) harrassment at Weston C.I. There was a conflict with two young women and the SRO used unnecessary and excessive force on the two young women. This incident was captured on video.
The effect of having police in schools is going to push more and more marginalized students out of school altogether, furthering the divide between youth from financially-stable homes and communities and youth from working-class homes and communities. We cannot let this happen. We will not let this happen.
We want cops out of our schools!
If you are interested in becoming an organizer with the NO COPS campaign , please contact us at nocops09@gmail.com.
Basics Issue #13 (Apr/May 2009)
A few weeks ago, our high school, Weston Collegiate Institute, had a few people from the NO COPS campaign (Newly Organized Coalition Opposing Police in Schools) pay a visit to us at lunch time. They set up a table across the street and had stacks of free BASICS newspapers to give out. While BASICS organizers are well known for distributing the papers in Toronto communities, the members of NO COPS who were there that day, strapped with their BASICS issues, had another purpose.
What these guys had was a petition to the remove the “Special Resources Officer” - the uniformed armed police officers in high schools – from the 30 or so TDSB secondary schools across Toronto.
For the majority of the students at Weston, this petition is allowing us to voice our concerns about having a cop in our school. There was a lack of community consultation in bringing this cop here in the first place. The Toronto Police Services initiated and funds this program and the Toronto District School Board approved it at an executive level. The feelings among most of the students at Weston C.I. is that they do not want a cop in their school and they feel threatened by the presence of an armed police officer in the school for numerous reasons. The students cannot identify with an individual who wears a massive bullet proof vest and carries a loaded gun and taser, which is quite intimidating particularly for people coming from T.O.’s “priority neighbourhoods” – let’s be honest, ghettoes – who witness and experience police activity in a whole different light than youth from more affluent areas.
On a day-to-day basis, the police harass, bully, and brutalize people from our communities and get away without being held to account for their actions. How can we accept having police in our schools to “build relations” with us if they are getting away with daily brutality and sometimes murder in our communities? (Anyone remember Alwy Al-Nadhir or Byron Debassige?) We have already experienced police (SRO) harrassment at Weston C.I. There was a conflict with two young women and the SRO used unnecessary and excessive force on the two young women. This incident was captured on video.
The effect of having police in schools is going to push more and more marginalized students out of school altogether, furthering the divide between youth from financially-stable homes and communities and youth from working-class homes and communities. We cannot let this happen. We will not let this happen.
We want cops out of our schools!
If you are interested in becoming an organizer with the NO COPS campaign , please contact us at nocops09@gmail.com.
Numerous Studies Show Cops in Schools Make Matters Worse
by James Campbell
Basics Issue #13 (Apr/May 2009)
The first School Resource Officer (SRO) programs began, unsurprisingly, in the United States. The goal of the first programs, started in Flint, Michigan during the 1950s, was to “improve relations between police and young people”. Despite the long history of these programs and their growing expansion to school districts all over the U.S. and Canada, a report by the International Center for Crime Prevention (ICCP) suggests that these programs have no long-term measurable benefit to student engagement or school safety.
If these programs have no measurable benefit, then why would Toronto Police Services (TPS) and the Toronto District School Board (TDSB) be spending invaluable financial and institutional capital on an SRO Program at a time when our schools and our students are in crisis?
The answer, according to the ICCP report, is the move made by most police forces in the 1990s towards “community policing”. In the wake of the release of the Falconer Report, in response to the shooting of Jordan Manners at C.W. Jeffries Collegiate Institute, Toronto's own champion of “community policing” Police Chief Bill Blair made his own pitch to the TDSB to install armed police officers in schools.
In keeping with the history of SRO programs, and despite the dire warnings of the Falconer report, about the urgent need to make schools safer places for students, teachers, and staff, the goal of Blair's program is not to make schools safer but to “improve relations between police and young people”.
Despite being explicitly part of the TPS's 'community policing' mandate, there was absolutely no community consultation before the pilot program was implemented in September 2008. The decision to create the program was made in a series of back-room meetings with members of the Safe and Caring Schools department of the TDSB and members of the TPS.
Not only was the program created without consultation, it explicitly ignores two major community consultations done at the cost of millions of precious taxpayer dollars. Both the Falconer Report on School Safety and the Curling-McMurtry report on the Roots of Youth Violence spent months talking with and listening to students, parents, teachers, and school support workers. Out of these direct and extensive consultations, both reports painted a picture of a system in critical need of repair, and outlined extensive and specific recommendations to both engage marginalized youth and make our schools safer. Not once did either report recommend putting armed and uniformed officers in schools. In fact, the Curling-McMurtry report explicitly points to the racial profiling of racialized youth by Toronto police as a major contributing factor to the increased climate of fear for many youth:
“Many youth also told us that they felt uncomfortable walking through policed areas within their neighbourhoods for fear of being harassed. One senior civic official highlighted this for us when he explained that in one community the youth favoured the use of surveillance cameras in public areas because they created zones where the police did not harass the youth”
While the TDSB is still struggling to come up with funds to hire the highly-trained youth and social workers recommended by the Falconer and Curling-McMurty Reports, the TPS has stepped in with funding to replace social workers with the very police officers many youth fear.
Despite explicit assurances that the SRO program is not about school safety, the TDSB continues to justify the program on the grounds that it's making schools safer. This February, the TDSB released its preliminary report on the 5-month-old SRO program. In glowing articles in both The Globe and Mail and The Toronto Star, school administrators as well as TDSB and TPS officials told seemingly charming stories about police officers staying late to coach teams and participating in school-wide events by dancing in tutus. Based on these stories and other “anecdotal” reports, journalists and administrators happily concluded that the program was so far a great success in making schools safer.
Not only did these stories ignore the numerous reports by students, teachers, and staff of police harassment and an increasing climate of fear and repression, but they also ignored the TDSB report's own data.
While TDSB data shows a reduction in suspensions and police charges in schools with SROs, there is nothing to support the claim that these reductions are the direct result of the SRO's presence. Indeed, these drops are consistent with a similar drop in suspensions and police charges in schools without SROs, which have been credited to the changes made to the Safe Schools Act explicitly intended to reduce suspensions and the intervention of police.
There is only one significant difference when it comes to data comparing schools with and schools without SROs: while the report indicates a 24% drop in violent incidents board-wide, it shows a 15% increase in violent incidents in schools with SROs. (Officials blamed this increase in violence in SRO schools on two major incidents in two different schools, and then conveniently chose to exclude these two incidents from the data set because it “skewed” the results.)
With no contemporary or historical data to suggest SRO programs have any measurable benefit for students, and with much historical and contemporary data that suggests that increased police presence alienates and marginalizes many youth, both the TDSB and the TPS continue to struggle to come up with a rationale for the program. At a time when there is almost universal consensus on what our schools and students need, our police force and school board are spending precious time, energy and resources on a program whose stated goal is not to benefit students in need, but to benefit the police force itself.
Basics Issue #13 (Apr/May 2009)
The first School Resource Officer (SRO) programs began, unsurprisingly, in the United States. The goal of the first programs, started in Flint, Michigan during the 1950s, was to “improve relations between police and young people”. Despite the long history of these programs and their growing expansion to school districts all over the U.S. and Canada, a report by the International Center for Crime Prevention (ICCP) suggests that these programs have no long-term measurable benefit to student engagement or school safety.
If these programs have no measurable benefit, then why would Toronto Police Services (TPS) and the Toronto District School Board (TDSB) be spending invaluable financial and institutional capital on an SRO Program at a time when our schools and our students are in crisis?
The answer, according to the ICCP report, is the move made by most police forces in the 1990s towards “community policing”. In the wake of the release of the Falconer Report, in response to the shooting of Jordan Manners at C.W. Jeffries Collegiate Institute, Toronto's own champion of “community policing” Police Chief Bill Blair made his own pitch to the TDSB to install armed police officers in schools.
In keeping with the history of SRO programs, and despite the dire warnings of the Falconer report, about the urgent need to make schools safer places for students, teachers, and staff, the goal of Blair's program is not to make schools safer but to “improve relations between police and young people”.
Despite being explicitly part of the TPS's 'community policing' mandate, there was absolutely no community consultation before the pilot program was implemented in September 2008. The decision to create the program was made in a series of back-room meetings with members of the Safe and Caring Schools department of the TDSB and members of the TPS.
Not only was the program created without consultation, it explicitly ignores two major community consultations done at the cost of millions of precious taxpayer dollars. Both the Falconer Report on School Safety and the Curling-McMurtry report on the Roots of Youth Violence spent months talking with and listening to students, parents, teachers, and school support workers. Out of these direct and extensive consultations, both reports painted a picture of a system in critical need of repair, and outlined extensive and specific recommendations to both engage marginalized youth and make our schools safer. Not once did either report recommend putting armed and uniformed officers in schools. In fact, the Curling-McMurtry report explicitly points to the racial profiling of racialized youth by Toronto police as a major contributing factor to the increased climate of fear for many youth:
“Many youth also told us that they felt uncomfortable walking through policed areas within their neighbourhoods for fear of being harassed. One senior civic official highlighted this for us when he explained that in one community the youth favoured the use of surveillance cameras in public areas because they created zones where the police did not harass the youth”
While the TDSB is still struggling to come up with funds to hire the highly-trained youth and social workers recommended by the Falconer and Curling-McMurty Reports, the TPS has stepped in with funding to replace social workers with the very police officers many youth fear.
Despite explicit assurances that the SRO program is not about school safety, the TDSB continues to justify the program on the grounds that it's making schools safer. This February, the TDSB released its preliminary report on the 5-month-old SRO program. In glowing articles in both The Globe and Mail and The Toronto Star, school administrators as well as TDSB and TPS officials told seemingly charming stories about police officers staying late to coach teams and participating in school-wide events by dancing in tutus. Based on these stories and other “anecdotal” reports, journalists and administrators happily concluded that the program was so far a great success in making schools safer.
Not only did these stories ignore the numerous reports by students, teachers, and staff of police harassment and an increasing climate of fear and repression, but they also ignored the TDSB report's own data.
While TDSB data shows a reduction in suspensions and police charges in schools with SROs, there is nothing to support the claim that these reductions are the direct result of the SRO's presence. Indeed, these drops are consistent with a similar drop in suspensions and police charges in schools without SROs, which have been credited to the changes made to the Safe Schools Act explicitly intended to reduce suspensions and the intervention of police.
There is only one significant difference when it comes to data comparing schools with and schools without SROs: while the report indicates a 24% drop in violent incidents board-wide, it shows a 15% increase in violent incidents in schools with SROs. (Officials blamed this increase in violence in SRO schools on two major incidents in two different schools, and then conveniently chose to exclude these two incidents from the data set because it “skewed” the results.)
With no contemporary or historical data to suggest SRO programs have any measurable benefit for students, and with much historical and contemporary data that suggests that increased police presence alienates and marginalizes many youth, both the TDSB and the TPS continue to struggle to come up with a rationale for the program. At a time when there is almost universal consensus on what our schools and students need, our police force and school board are spending precious time, energy and resources on a program whose stated goal is not to benefit students in need, but to benefit the police force itself.
Wednesday, January 28, 2009
Montreal City Steps Up Repression
Basics Free Community Newsletter
28 January 2009
Wearing a face covering is legal. Attending a public demonstration is also legal. However, if Montreal city council gets it's way doing these two perfectly legal things at the same time would have you under arrest. A new bylaw currently being debated would specifically ban the wearing of face coverings while attending a public demonstration, even if no laws are being broken by any protesters.
The bylaw is designed to target the city's left wing forces. In an interview with CBC Radio Paul Chapelo, head of communications for Montreal Police, specifically mentioned anti-police brutality demonstrations as being one of the motivations for the bylaw.
Montreal has had increasingly militant resistance to police violence, especially since the cops murdered Fred Villanueva, an unarmed 18 year old, last August. Montreal police are known to engage in widespread racial profiling and assaults on the homeless.
Protesters wear masks in order to protect themselves from repression by the state, as the police regularly monitor, harass, and arrest on false charges people they know to be activists. Others fear they may lose their jobs if their employer finds out they attended a demonstration. Masks are also used by performers engaged in creative street theater.
Even though the bylaw is a violation of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms and the constitution (the prevention of crime is not within the jurisdiction of a municipality), it is likely to pass as the mayor's party has a majority on the council. In another troubling move, Montreal city council also considering a bylaw that would make it an offense to "insult the police" by using terms like "pig" or "doughnut eater".
People from all over Canada should protest this offense against civil liberties. If the bylaw is passed and upheld in Montreal, we will see similar laws enacted across the country.
28 January 2009
Wearing a face covering is legal. Attending a public demonstration is also legal. However, if Montreal city council gets it's way doing these two perfectly legal things at the same time would have you under arrest. A new bylaw currently being debated would specifically ban the wearing of face coverings while attending a public demonstration, even if no laws are being broken by any protesters.
The bylaw is designed to target the city's left wing forces. In an interview with CBC Radio Paul Chapelo, head of communications for Montreal Police, specifically mentioned anti-police brutality demonstrations as being one of the motivations for the bylaw.
Montreal has had increasingly militant resistance to police violence, especially since the cops murdered Fred Villanueva, an unarmed 18 year old, last August. Montreal police are known to engage in widespread racial profiling and assaults on the homeless.
Protesters wear masks in order to protect themselves from repression by the state, as the police regularly monitor, harass, and arrest on false charges people they know to be activists. Others fear they may lose their jobs if their employer finds out they attended a demonstration. Masks are also used by performers engaged in creative street theater.
Even though the bylaw is a violation of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms and the constitution (the prevention of crime is not within the jurisdiction of a municipality), it is likely to pass as the mayor's party has a majority on the council. In another troubling move, Montreal city council also considering a bylaw that would make it an offense to "insult the police" by using terms like "pig" or "doughnut eater".
People from all over Canada should protest this offense against civil liberties. If the bylaw is passed and upheld in Montreal, we will see similar laws enacted across the country.
Friday, January 16, 2009
Three T.O. Youth Orgs. Launch, Uniting the People for Change
by Alok Premjee
Basics Issue #12 (Jan/Feb 2009)
On the evening of December 10th, 2008, the Toronto-based organizations Hood 2 Hood, Set-It-Off, and NO COPS (the Newly Organized Coalition Opposing Police in Schools) held a triple launch party for their organizations at the AnitAFRIKA! Dub Theatre, working in conjunction with Black Action Defense Committee (BADC), BASICS, and the Strictly Roots Project. The event consisted of music provided by two tenth grade DJ’s from Sir Sanford Fleming Collegiate, dinner, poetry, and dance performances by talented artists from around the Greater Toronto Area.
The purpose of the event was to bring together groups that focus on organizing working class communities, primarily racialized working class communities. The Hood-2-Hood group is organizing in a number of low-income areas in Toronto to bring an end to the horizontal (youth-on-youth) violence that divides our communities and to redirect the attention of the youth towards the real enemies of the community, such as TCHC and the big development corporations conspiring to destroy social housing, or incessant police terrorism.
The Set-It-Off group is a rapidly growing young women’s organization with over 50 members, which is serving as a space for young women’s social networking and fulfilling a self-help function by dealing with issues of teen pregnancy and misogyny; providing a positive space to learn about black history; and organizing cultural activities like dancing, singing, and skills-building like writing.
Set-It-Off is working out of Sir Sanford Fleming, Westview Centennial, & Vaughn Road Academy. One of the important social and political roles that the group has been serving has been to raise political awareness around the planned demolition of Lawrence Heights by the City of Toronto.
NO COPS is a coalition of parents, teachers, students, and other allies which formed as a response to the Toronto Police Service’s and Toronto District School Board’s decision to place armed police in almost 30 high-schools across Toronto. The stated goal of the organization is to mobilize communities opposed to the police occupation of schools with the goal of getting the cops out.
After dinner and a series of presentations from the organizations, the performers hit the stage. Performances were kicked off by the Hustle Boyz, who represented Vaughn & Oakwood and Jane & Tretheweys, followed by Vaughn & Oakwood’s own and T-Dots finest MC Quanche, who performed solo and did a rap duet with the Original Wasun. Following these performers the audience was blessed with some female talent, with reggae artist Rakaya, some beautiful vocal performances from Set-If-Off performers. D’bi Young, one of Toronto’s finest dub poets and the owner of the AnitAFRIKA! Dub Theatre, also mesmorized the audience with one of her poems. Next, the mic was passed onto D-Squad, representing Jane and Tretheweys, who performed a couple of banging tracks, just before the Phantom Dancers arrived straight out of Scarborough, who showcased some of the latest dancehall moves. That set the scene for a dance off and a dance jam that broke out to end off the hype night.
Much respect to the anitAFRIKA! Dub Theatre for providing their extraordinary venue for the grassroots community event.
Basics Issue #12 (Jan/Feb 2009)
On the evening of December 10th, 2008, the Toronto-based organizations Hood 2 Hood, Set-It-Off, and NO COPS (the Newly Organized Coalition Opposing Police in Schools) held a triple launch party for their organizations at the AnitAFRIKA! Dub Theatre, working in conjunction with Black Action Defense Committee (BADC), BASICS, and the Strictly Roots Project. The event consisted of music provided by two tenth grade DJ’s from Sir Sanford Fleming Collegiate, dinner, poetry, and dance performances by talented artists from around the Greater Toronto Area.
The purpose of the event was to bring together groups that focus on organizing working class communities, primarily racialized working class communities. The Hood-2-Hood group is organizing in a number of low-income areas in Toronto to bring an end to the horizontal (youth-on-youth) violence that divides our communities and to redirect the attention of the youth towards the real enemies of the community, such as TCHC and the big development corporations conspiring to destroy social housing, or incessant police terrorism.
The Set-It-Off group is a rapidly growing young women’s organization with over 50 members, which is serving as a space for young women’s social networking and fulfilling a self-help function by dealing with issues of teen pregnancy and misogyny; providing a positive space to learn about black history; and organizing cultural activities like dancing, singing, and skills-building like writing.
Set-It-Off is working out of Sir Sanford Fleming, Westview Centennial, & Vaughn Road Academy. One of the important social and political roles that the group has been serving has been to raise political awareness around the planned demolition of Lawrence Heights by the City of Toronto.
NO COPS is a coalition of parents, teachers, students, and other allies which formed as a response to the Toronto Police Service’s and Toronto District School Board’s decision to place armed police in almost 30 high-schools across Toronto. The stated goal of the organization is to mobilize communities opposed to the police occupation of schools with the goal of getting the cops out.
After dinner and a series of presentations from the organizations, the performers hit the stage. Performances were kicked off by the Hustle Boyz, who represented Vaughn & Oakwood and Jane & Tretheweys, followed by Vaughn & Oakwood’s own and T-Dots finest MC Quanche, who performed solo and did a rap duet with the Original Wasun. Following these performers the audience was blessed with some female talent, with reggae artist Rakaya, some beautiful vocal performances from Set-If-Off performers. D’bi Young, one of Toronto’s finest dub poets and the owner of the AnitAFRIKA! Dub Theatre, also mesmorized the audience with one of her poems. Next, the mic was passed onto D-Squad, representing Jane and Tretheweys, who performed a couple of banging tracks, just before the Phantom Dancers arrived straight out of Scarborough, who showcased some of the latest dancehall moves. That set the scene for a dance off and a dance jam that broke out to end off the hype night.
Much respect to the anitAFRIKA! Dub Theatre for providing their extraordinary venue for the grassroots community event.
Oakland Transit Cops Execute Oscar Grant, Spark Uprising
by N. Zahra Basics Issue #12 (Jan/Feb 2009)
On New Year’s Eve, after responding to reports of a ‘fight’ on a Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) train, BART police detained the train, forcibly removing several young men from the train, most of them black, as bystanders watched. The men were lined up or seated along the platform and some were hand-cuffed. Oscar Grant, 22 year-old father of a four-year old, was not one of them. As he attempted to diffuse the situation, he was detained, placed face down on the platform, and then executed by one of the cops, Johannes Mehserle. Bystanders and even police were shocked. Several video-phones captured the incident, subsequently sharing the footage on the internet. Several organizations in the community called for a demonstration in response to this murder and some 600 protestors showed up to voice their outrage. The city’s mayor, Ron Dellums, cited for his civil rights credentials, did nothing to stop the police abuse of protestors who were justifiably outraged by police actions. Over a hundred protestors were arrested at the protests.
As one protestor declared, “I’ve got the mentality of my parents who were Black Panthers, I’m tired of talking….Let’s take a stand today, because tomorrow ain’t promised!’”
Sunday, January 11, 2009
Miller’s $1 Billion for T.O. Cops
by Michael Red
Basics Issue #12 (Jan/Feb 2009)
On December 19, 2008, David Miller pronounced: “The biggest priority is having police on the street in neighbourhoods…Everything else is second priority.” Toronto’s mayor made this statement to the mainstream media as he signed the new $1 Billion police budget. With more than a hint of irony, Miller also took the opportunity to warn public sector workers that they should not expect to achieve such a rich collective agreement during their own upcoming negotiations.
Could this be the same mayor who countless community groups and labour unions worked so hard to get elected in the first place? What happened to Miller’s supposed agenda of social justice and fairness for all those who live in our city? His record while in office demonstrates that the people’s agenda was in fact thrown out the window from the very beginning.
During his first mandate, Miller made homelessness illegal. Despite the fact that there continues to be a complete lack of affordable public housing and adequate shelter beds in Toronto, the mayor went ahead and gave police the power harass, intimidate and incarcerate our sisters and brothers who are forced to live on the streets. Simultaneously, Miller began his gentrification schemes. As many residents of Don Mount Court, Regent Park and Lawrence Heights know, “revitalization” is a thinly-disguised strategy to push the working class and racialized communities even further to the margins of society. Gentrification also makes private developers rich.
Now in his second mandate, the mayor has allowed armed police to roam our schools and has again inflated the police budget. As unemployment and homelessness increase, it appears that Miller and his supporters on city council are adamant about the need for the further militarization of our city and the continuing marginalization of the people.
It’s about high time that the labour movement in Toronto and other former Miller allies start supporting community-based struggles to fight back against the mayor’s neo-liberal agenda and encourage true grassroots activists and community leaders to replace these elitist politicians.
Basics Issue #12 (Jan/Feb 2009)
On December 19, 2008, David Miller pronounced: “The biggest priority is having police on the street in neighbourhoods…Everything else is second priority.” Toronto’s mayor made this statement to the mainstream media as he signed the new $1 Billion police budget. With more than a hint of irony, Miller also took the opportunity to warn public sector workers that they should not expect to achieve such a rich collective agreement during their own upcoming negotiations.
Could this be the same mayor who countless community groups and labour unions worked so hard to get elected in the first place? What happened to Miller’s supposed agenda of social justice and fairness for all those who live in our city? His record while in office demonstrates that the people’s agenda was in fact thrown out the window from the very beginning.
During his first mandate, Miller made homelessness illegal. Despite the fact that there continues to be a complete lack of affordable public housing and adequate shelter beds in Toronto, the mayor went ahead and gave police the power harass, intimidate and incarcerate our sisters and brothers who are forced to live on the streets. Simultaneously, Miller began his gentrification schemes. As many residents of Don Mount Court, Regent Park and Lawrence Heights know, “revitalization” is a thinly-disguised strategy to push the working class and racialized communities even further to the margins of society. Gentrification also makes private developers rich.
Now in his second mandate, the mayor has allowed armed police to roam our schools and has again inflated the police budget. As unemployment and homelessness increase, it appears that Miller and his supporters on city council are adamant about the need for the further militarization of our city and the continuing marginalization of the people.
It’s about high time that the labour movement in Toronto and other former Miller allies start supporting community-based struggles to fight back against the mayor’s neo-liberal agenda and encourage true grassroots activists and community leaders to replace these elitist politicians.
Jane and Finch Residents Unite Against Police Brutality
by Mike B.
Basics #12 (Jan / Feb 2008)
On Dec. 10, 2008 a collective of Jane & Finch residents and community workers organized a Rally and March against Police Brutality; organizers said that this was in response to escalating levels of police brutality in the months leading up to the rally. The rally began at the corner of Jane & Finch and was followed by a march to 31 division to deliver a formal letter endorsed by community members and organizations appealing to 31 division and Superintendent Christopher White to do something about the violence and mistreatment of members of the community at the hands of the Toronto police. The letter called on the police to work within the law, demanded respectful policing and an immediate end of the harassment and profiling of community members.
Residents said that the relationship between police and the community in Jane & Finch has been a problem for many years. According to lawyers from the Community and Legal Aid Services Program (CLASP), based out of York University, police misconduct has been an ongoing issue in the Jane & Finch community for at least 25 years, and it has come up again most recently related to some violent incidents with youth.
Some of the regular police behavior in Jane & Finch includes people being randomly stopped for questioning, intimidating behavior, and the general targeting of youth in general, and young black men in particular. According to one resident in the Connections complex who is a mother and a community organizer, “Almost every youth in the community you talk to has had some unprovoked run-in with police.” Organizers cited some examples of recent incidents including a youth being dragged on the ground while in handcuffs and a woman being inappropriately searched by male officers. Police have also been accused of using overly militaristic tactics when conducting arrests, raids and sweeps. Residents cited one case where during a raid the mother of a suspect was punched in the face by police, and a second case where innocent community members were burned in the face by police smoke bombs.
Another concern addressed at the rally was the Toronto Anti-Violence Intervention Strategy (TAVIS) program, which was implemented this past summer in the community, and was promoted amongst the people as a community policing strategy. One resident argued that this program is simply a way for the cops to get more resources and more cops on the street, and saw little change in their methods of dealing with the people in the area. In their Press release organizers argued that TAVIS contributed to creating a “siege mentality” in the community. This program has only meant more police on the block and in the area.
This kind of treatment from the police has been seen in working peoples, African Canadian and newcomer communities all over the city for years, it is only through people mobilizing to take responsibility for their communities and hold the police accountable will any change be possible.
Basics #12 (Jan / Feb 2008)
On Dec. 10, 2008 a collective of Jane & Finch residents and community workers organized a Rally and March against Police Brutality; organizers said that this was in response to escalating levels of police brutality in the months leading up to the rally. The rally began at the corner of Jane & Finch and was followed by a march to 31 division to deliver a formal letter endorsed by community members and organizations appealing to 31 division and Superintendent Christopher White to do something about the violence and mistreatment of members of the community at the hands of the Toronto police. The letter called on the police to work within the law, demanded respectful policing and an immediate end of the harassment and profiling of community members.Residents said that the relationship between police and the community in Jane & Finch has been a problem for many years. According to lawyers from the Community and Legal Aid Services Program (CLASP), based out of York University, police misconduct has been an ongoing issue in the Jane & Finch community for at least 25 years, and it has come up again most recently related to some violent incidents with youth.
Some of the regular police behavior in Jane & Finch includes people being randomly stopped for questioning, intimidating behavior, and the general targeting of youth in general, and young black men in particular. According to one resident in the Connections complex who is a mother and a community organizer, “Almost every youth in the community you talk to has had some unprovoked run-in with police.” Organizers cited some examples of recent incidents including a youth being dragged on the ground while in handcuffs and a woman being inappropriately searched by male officers. Police have also been accused of using overly militaristic tactics when conducting arrests, raids and sweeps. Residents cited one case where during a raid the mother of a suspect was punched in the face by police, and a second case where innocent community members were burned in the face by police smoke bombs.
Another concern addressed at the rally was the Toronto Anti-Violence Intervention Strategy (TAVIS) program, which was implemented this past summer in the community, and was promoted amongst the people as a community policing strategy. One resident argued that this program is simply a way for the cops to get more resources and more cops on the street, and saw little change in their methods of dealing with the people in the area. In their Press release organizers argued that TAVIS contributed to creating a “siege mentality” in the community. This program has only meant more police on the block and in the area.
This kind of treatment from the police has been seen in working peoples, African Canadian and newcomer communities all over the city for years, it is only through people mobilizing to take responsibility for their communities and hold the police accountable will any change be possible.
Monday, December 01, 2008
Hood-2-Hood, Set-It-Off, NO COPS Launch Rally and Party
Hood 2 Hood/Set it off/NO COPSLaunch Party and Rally
Wednesday, December 10th, 2008
4:30pm-9:30 pm
Do you want to talk about what’s goin’ on in your hood?
Do you wonder why there are armed cops in schools?
Do you ask yourself why there isn’t a space for girls to talk about
the issues facing them?
Then come to the Hood-2-Hood / Set-It-Off / NO COPS Launch Party
AnitAfrika Dub Theatre
62 Fraser Avenue (King & Dufferin)
Two blocks east of Dufferin St., South of Liberty St. on Fraser Ave.
FREE FOR HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS
$5 Donation encouraged for others
Perfomances by: D-Squad, Queen Tyssential, Thesis, The Voyce, and Rakaya
MC: Wasun, hip hop artist, organizer with Hood 2 Hood
Speakers from community organizations
For transportation assistance to venue, call 647-818-1355
Sponsored by: BASICS Community Newsletter and Strictly Roots
Wednesday, November 05, 2008
Pelham Park Teams Champs at J4A Tourney Against Police Brutality
by Elijah Whitaker
Basics #11 (November 2008)
‘Pelham Park Young Set’: The Youth Division's championship team of the Justice for Alwy Basketball tournament. From left to right: Rushown, J.R., Gordel, Daniel, and Marvin.
‘5 Point’: The Adult Division's championship team of the Justice for Alwy Basketball tournament. From left to right: Richard Campbell, (non-player), P-Nise, East-Ca$h, & Bravo.
On September 13, 2008 the Justice for Alwy Campaign held its first ever Annual 3-on-3-Basketball Tournament. ‘The 1st Annual Justice for Alwy 3-on-3-Basketball Tournament’ was borne out of community concerns over police brutality – namely after Alwy al-Nadhir, an unarmed Toronto youth, was shot and killed by Toronto Police last Halloween. Out of this tragedy, Alwy’s family, friends, and other local community organizers saw the need to get organized to put an end to the siege on our communities. Together, they created the Justice for Alwy Campaign Against Police Brutality.
The Tournament was held at Carlton Park, located in the south west side of the city near Symington and Dupont. Teams registered from all over the city, including teams from Pelham Park, Jane and Finch, Markham, Scarborough, Regent Park and many more areas throughout the city. With players, spectators, volunteers and organizers, the event drew over 100 people. And despite the pouring rain and a slippery court, the tournament saw high-level competition and intense games, accompanied with music and a BBQ to top it off.
As for the tournament itself, teams from Pelham Park dominated both the adult and youth divisions. In the youth division, Pelham Park Young Set went undefeated throughout the entire tournament. With stellar performances from Gordel, Rushown, Daniel, J.R, and Marvin, they were able to tear through the competition eventually beating neighbourhood counterparts Clinton, Pedro, and Squid of Triple Threat in the finals.
In the adult division, another team representing Pelham Park went undefeated. 5-Point, which consisted of Richard Campbell, East Ka$h, P Nise and Bravo proved to be too much for the adult division, beating another local team Trend-Setters (Chevy X, Marbles, Prince, Kevin Campbell, Kris Neptune ) in the finals.
Congratulations to both teams!
Basketball aside, the political purposes of the event itself - uniting to express our opposition to police brutality - was not lost. Being at the event, it was clear from the discussions many of the youth were having that there are serious tensions between many youth and Toronto police. The frustration was palpable – many expressed discontent over the overall policy of community policing, many exchanged experiences about the daily harassment, false arrests, brutal beatings and verbal confrontations many have with the police.
Community concerns over police brutality and racial profiling are, of course, not new to the city. The Black Action Defence Committee has been organizing around the issue of police brutality for a number of years, and with the recent police killings of Freddy Villanueva, Alwy al-Nadhir, Byron Debassiege and the 2004 murder of Jeoffrey Reodica, the already frayed relationship between youth and the police might be worsening.
In the end, organizers thought the event was a great success and are excited about next year’s tourney.
‘Trendsetters’: The Adult Division's 2nd place team. Marbles, Prince, Chevy X, and Kevin Campbell, and Kris Neptune.
‘Triple Threat’: The Youth Division's 2nd place team. From left to right: Pedro, Clinton, and Squid.
Basics #11 (November 2008)
‘Pelham Park Young Set’: The Youth Division's championship team of the Justice for Alwy Basketball tournament. From left to right: Rushown, J.R., Gordel, Daniel, and Marvin.
‘5 Point’: The Adult Division's championship team of the Justice for Alwy Basketball tournament. From left to right: Richard Campbell, (non-player), P-Nise, East-Ca$h, & Bravo.On September 13, 2008 the Justice for Alwy Campaign held its first ever Annual 3-on-3-Basketball Tournament. ‘The 1st Annual Justice for Alwy 3-on-3-Basketball Tournament’ was borne out of community concerns over police brutality – namely after Alwy al-Nadhir, an unarmed Toronto youth, was shot and killed by Toronto Police last Halloween. Out of this tragedy, Alwy’s family, friends, and other local community organizers saw the need to get organized to put an end to the siege on our communities. Together, they created the Justice for Alwy Campaign Against Police Brutality.
The Tournament was held at Carlton Park, located in the south west side of the city near Symington and Dupont. Teams registered from all over the city, including teams from Pelham Park, Jane and Finch, Markham, Scarborough, Regent Park and many more areas throughout the city. With players, spectators, volunteers and organizers, the event drew over 100 people. And despite the pouring rain and a slippery court, the tournament saw high-level competition and intense games, accompanied with music and a BBQ to top it off.
As for the tournament itself, teams from Pelham Park dominated both the adult and youth divisions. In the youth division, Pelham Park Young Set went undefeated throughout the entire tournament. With stellar performances from Gordel, Rushown, Daniel, J.R, and Marvin, they were able to tear through the competition eventually beating neighbourhood counterparts Clinton, Pedro, and Squid of Triple Threat in the finals.
In the adult division, another team representing Pelham Park went undefeated. 5-Point, which consisted of Richard Campbell, East Ka$h, P Nise and Bravo proved to be too much for the adult division, beating another local team Trend-Setters (Chevy X, Marbles, Prince, Kevin Campbell, Kris Neptune ) in the finals.
Congratulations to both teams!
Basketball aside, the political purposes of the event itself - uniting to express our opposition to police brutality - was not lost. Being at the event, it was clear from the discussions many of the youth were having that there are serious tensions between many youth and Toronto police. The frustration was palpable – many expressed discontent over the overall policy of community policing, many exchanged experiences about the daily harassment, false arrests, brutal beatings and verbal confrontations many have with the police.
Community concerns over police brutality and racial profiling are, of course, not new to the city. The Black Action Defence Committee has been organizing around the issue of police brutality for a number of years, and with the recent police killings of Freddy Villanueva, Alwy al-Nadhir, Byron Debassiege and the 2004 murder of Jeoffrey Reodica, the already frayed relationship between youth and the police might be worsening.
In the end, organizers thought the event was a great success and are excited about next year’s tourney.
‘Trendsetters’: The Adult Division's 2nd place team. Marbles, Prince, Chevy X, and Kevin Campbell, and Kris Neptune.
‘Triple Threat’: The Youth Division's 2nd place team. From left to right: Pedro, Clinton, and Squid.
“Terrorist” or Scapegoat? Youth Set Up, Convicted of Terrorism Charges
by Kabir Joshi-Vijayan Basics #11 (November 2008)
We can all breathe a sigh of relief. Canada just convicted its first “terrorist” in September, and there will likely be more to come. The twenty-year-old man (who was seventeen at the time of his arrest and cannot be named) never endangered anyone’s life, never damaged any property, never made or used explosives, never used a weapon, did not produce any terrorist plans and did not even know about any specific terror plot. However, he did get caught red-handed shoplifting. He was also a Muslim convert.
So how was the youth convicted on charges of terrorism? It was done by altering the whole criminal justice system through new legislation (Canada’s Anti-Terrorism Act), which was zealously passed after 9/11 and renewed shortly after the dramatic arrest of the convicted youth and 17 other Muslim boys and men in June of 2006 (the widely sensationalized and discussed ‘Toronto 18’). The Act created an entirely new category of criminal (“the terrorist”) whose crimes are motivated for religious or political reasons, and so requires investigation into the intention of the suspect, who he associates with and what he believes in. Such a directive is inherently prejudicial in application and promotes racist profiling. In addition, the new law also broadly defines what a “terrorist group” is, so less evidence is needed of any offence by the group and proof as flimsy as planning or even discussion of certain actions becomes the basis for conviction. This is particularly troubling because of the role played by two paid government informants in the ‘Toronto 18’ group, including the purchasing and storing of the alleged bomb making material, and possibly entrapping and encouraging the 18 arrested. These two rats were collectively paid over 4 million dollars for their “public service”!
Prosecutors were able to get a successful conviction simply because the judge believed a terrorist conspiracy existed and the youth happened to attend two camps with the alleged “conspirators”. It is sort of like guilt by association, except that the “conspirators” themselves have not been convicted of any crime.
The conviction of the youth is just another example of Canada legislating and legalizing state terror against Arab and Muslim communities, whether it’s security certificates that allow for indefinite detention of non-citizens, facilitated torture of citizens in foreign prisons, hyper surveillance of Muslim and Arab communities, hundreds of illegal detentions of Muslims and Arabs on a daily basis, or Canada’s murderous contributions in war in Afghanistan. This terror conviction, and the mass arrest of the ‘Toronto 18’ over two years ago, have and will continue to serve as justification for these various attacks on Muslim people, at home and abroad.
Ten of the eighteen arrested in 2006 remain in jail awaiting trial, and three of those men continue to be brutally held in solitary confinement since that time! The lawyers of the convicted youth plan to appeal the terror ruling in December. Regardless of the outcome, the current conviction has served to amplify fear in Muslim, Arab and other vulnerable communities – who fear the real terror that will be unleashed by Canadian security agencies invigorated by their first successful terrorist conviction.
Ontario Ombudsman Slams Special Investigations Unit (SIU)
by N. Zahra
Basics #11 (November 2008)
On September, 30th, 2008 the Ombudsman of Ontario, André Marin, released a special report that slammed the Special Investigations Unit (SIU) for its “culture of complacency” and a lack of rigour in ensuring police follow the rules. The SIU, a so-called “civilian agency”, was formed in 1990 by the Ontario provincial government after the long struggle of community-based mass campaigns against the long history of police shootings and murders throughout the 1970s and 1980s.
Since the SIU’s inception, there have been several reports calling for its reform because so far it has been ineffective in carrying out its mandate of police accountability. In his detailed report, Marin summarizes these reports and claims that although more resources were thrown into the SIU and its regulatory requirements were more clearly defined, the SIU still fails to carry out its mandate because of the influence of “powerful police interests.’”
Marin, the Director of the SIU from September 1996 to June 1998, has more than a passing familiarity with the difficulties the SIU has in fulfilling its mandate. Marin identifies “aggressive resistance from the police community” as one of the primary factors inhibiting change. He notes that amongst families of victims, lawyers and community members, the SIU lacks any credibility because of its shameless links with the police community. He points to the continuing police links of former police officials within the SIU as well as the fact that the SIU is steeped in police culture to the point that it tolerates the blatant display of police insignia and affiliation.
Another major problem Marin identifies is the SIU’s complacency when dealing with police officials’ failure to comply with SIU investigations. The SIU treats police witnesses different than civilians. Delays in police providing notice of incidents, disclosing their investigation notes and submitting interviews are all endemic. The SIU does not keep a record of incidences of police failure to comply and Marin says that the SIU takes a “conciliatory” approach when dealing with what they treat as isolated incidents of police failures to comply. Interviews with police are rarely held within the regulatory time frame, sometimes taking place months after the incidents. The SIU will not interview police when they are off duty and it makes every attempt to cover up police non-cooperation so that it does not come into the public eye.
Perhaps even more alarming, Marin points out a fact that critics are all too aware of, which is that much of the SIU investigation remains hidden from the public eye. Director’s reports are not accessible to the public.
Despite Marin’s identification of the shortfalls of the previous recommendations made for SIU reform in previous reviews, his very own recommendations are quite vague and do not go any further than calling for legislative reform in regards to the agency. His recommendations include the following: the SIU using any means available to diversify its workforce; that the director’s reports are made completely public; and that the province should amend legislation to make it an offense for police forces not to co-operate with the SIU.
Although Marin’s report is an important document that summarizes the many problems with the SIU, it does not go far enough. In order for police to be held truly accountable for their murders of innocent civilians – such as Otto Vass, Jeffrey Reodica, Alwy Al-Nadhir, and Byron Debassige, in the last five years – mere legislative changes and reforms will not cut it. The people need to hold police accountable for their actions by mobilizing to create a truly civilian-run force that is independent of police interests and pro-cop government interferences. Let’s organize for justice now!
Basics #11 (November 2008)
On September, 30th, 2008 the Ombudsman of Ontario, André Marin, released a special report that slammed the Special Investigations Unit (SIU) for its “culture of complacency” and a lack of rigour in ensuring police follow the rules. The SIU, a so-called “civilian agency”, was formed in 1990 by the Ontario provincial government after the long struggle of community-based mass campaigns against the long history of police shootings and murders throughout the 1970s and 1980s.
Since the SIU’s inception, there have been several reports calling for its reform because so far it has been ineffective in carrying out its mandate of police accountability. In his detailed report, Marin summarizes these reports and claims that although more resources were thrown into the SIU and its regulatory requirements were more clearly defined, the SIU still fails to carry out its mandate because of the influence of “powerful police interests.’”
Marin, the Director of the SIU from September 1996 to June 1998, has more than a passing familiarity with the difficulties the SIU has in fulfilling its mandate. Marin identifies “aggressive resistance from the police community” as one of the primary factors inhibiting change. He notes that amongst families of victims, lawyers and community members, the SIU lacks any credibility because of its shameless links with the police community. He points to the continuing police links of former police officials within the SIU as well as the fact that the SIU is steeped in police culture to the point that it tolerates the blatant display of police insignia and affiliation.
Another major problem Marin identifies is the SIU’s complacency when dealing with police officials’ failure to comply with SIU investigations. The SIU treats police witnesses different than civilians. Delays in police providing notice of incidents, disclosing their investigation notes and submitting interviews are all endemic. The SIU does not keep a record of incidences of police failure to comply and Marin says that the SIU takes a “conciliatory” approach when dealing with what they treat as isolated incidents of police failures to comply. Interviews with police are rarely held within the regulatory time frame, sometimes taking place months after the incidents. The SIU will not interview police when they are off duty and it makes every attempt to cover up police non-cooperation so that it does not come into the public eye.
Perhaps even more alarming, Marin points out a fact that critics are all too aware of, which is that much of the SIU investigation remains hidden from the public eye. Director’s reports are not accessible to the public.
Despite Marin’s identification of the shortfalls of the previous recommendations made for SIU reform in previous reviews, his very own recommendations are quite vague and do not go any further than calling for legislative reform in regards to the agency. His recommendations include the following: the SIU using any means available to diversify its workforce; that the director’s reports are made completely public; and that the province should amend legislation to make it an offense for police forces not to co-operate with the SIU.
Although Marin’s report is an important document that summarizes the many problems with the SIU, it does not go far enough. In order for police to be held truly accountable for their murders of innocent civilians – such as Otto Vass, Jeffrey Reodica, Alwy Al-Nadhir, and Byron Debassige, in the last five years – mere legislative changes and reforms will not cut it. The people need to hold police accountable for their actions by mobilizing to create a truly civilian-run force that is independent of police interests and pro-cop government interferences. Let’s organize for justice now!
No Love for ‘One Love’ from Mammoliti
Thug Councillor Mammoliti Justifies 20-Cop Beat Down of Businessman Edward Allen of Steeles / 400
by Bryan Doherty
Basics #11 (November 2008)
Someone is standing up against Toronto’s most racist city councillor Giorgio Mammoliti and is making headlines for it. North York club owner Edward Allen has been one of many targets of Mammoliti’s ongoing campaign to push people he doesn’t like out of his ward. The councillor is known for accusing particular families and businesses of breaking the law and egging on police to harass them. This time, his efforts at low-intensity forced migration resulted in twenty cops beating up a Black business owner who is now preparing to sue the police and the city for damages.
Edward Allen, Jamaican-born father of eight, runs One Love bar and restaurant at Steeles and Highway 400. Although the establishment recently lost both its restaurant and liquor licenses, Allen kept it open as a hang out for friends. In the early hours of October 29, police came knocking at his door, asking why he “hadn’t got out of town yet”. The cops say Allen kicked up a fuss by locking himself in a room and breaking bottles. But they deny any fault on their part for dragging him out to the parking lot and proceeding to beat him up.
Mammoliti told the Toronto Sun last week that he welcomed the opportunity to present the evidence against Allen’s infractions. Without extending an ounce of sympathy for the man’s injuries, Mammoliti defended what he sees as his successful representation of a diverse constituency.
What was Mammoliti’s response to the accusation of racist targettng? Get this:
“I’ve been just as tough with visible minorities who aren’t black.”
by Bryan Doherty
Basics #11 (November 2008)
Someone is standing up against Toronto’s most racist city councillor Giorgio Mammoliti and is making headlines for it. North York club owner Edward Allen has been one of many targets of Mammoliti’s ongoing campaign to push people he doesn’t like out of his ward. The councillor is known for accusing particular families and businesses of breaking the law and egging on police to harass them. This time, his efforts at low-intensity forced migration resulted in twenty cops beating up a Black business owner who is now preparing to sue the police and the city for damages.
Edward Allen, Jamaican-born father of eight, runs One Love bar and restaurant at Steeles and Highway 400. Although the establishment recently lost both its restaurant and liquor licenses, Allen kept it open as a hang out for friends. In the early hours of October 29, police came knocking at his door, asking why he “hadn’t got out of town yet”. The cops say Allen kicked up a fuss by locking himself in a room and breaking bottles. But they deny any fault on their part for dragging him out to the parking lot and proceeding to beat him up.
Mammoliti told the Toronto Sun last week that he welcomed the opportunity to present the evidence against Allen’s infractions. Without extending an ounce of sympathy for the man’s injuries, Mammoliti defended what he sees as his successful representation of a diverse constituency.
What was Mammoliti’s response to the accusation of racist targettng? Get this:
“I’ve been just as tough with visible minorities who aren’t black.”
West End Students Vote Cops Out
The Student School (an alternative school located in Western Tech) unanimously votes cops out of its school.
by Louisa Worrell
Basics #11 (November 2008)
On September 10th, 2008 at a school council meeting of the Toronto alternative high school, The Student School, students and teachers voted to have their school’s name taken off of the list of Toronto schools in which a police officer will be stationed during the 2008-09 school year.
The school’s administrator, John Morton, delivered the decision to Western Technical School’s principal (which is also The Student Schools principal), explaining that the vote was unanimous and that a large number of students felt that they did not want a police officer in their hallways for various reasons. The principal informed John Morton 24 hours later that their name had been taken off the list and therefore no police would be present in their hallways or classrooms. It may seem incredible that the unity of these students was enough to remove the police officer from their school, but it’s true.
The vote was initiated by a student who was surprised to read in the Toronto Star that their school would have a police officer. This student raised the issue with people at his school and decided to bring it forth at the school-wide student-run, mandatory student council meeting that is held every two weeks, in which the issue was debated and voted on.
A motion was put forth to have the school’s name taken off the list, it was seconded and then a 40 minute discussion ensued. This was the school’s first council meeting of the year, and was attended by over 85% of the student body and all the teachers. During the discussion many students, even students who don’t normally speak at council meetings, spoke about the reasons why they didn’t want police in their school. This topic was obviously very important to the students.
Stacey George, a student at the school said, “Well, for me, we didn’t have a say in what was going on. I was like, ‘How could they just put our school on the list?’ Nobody came, not even the principal, to tell us what was happening.”
John Morton informed Basics that the feedback came from many different students and touched on many different concerns, including people who had negative experiences with police before, the feeling of being intimidated by police presence and the presence of guns in the school.
When informed that the point of having these officers in the school was to build student-police relationships, George responded by saying her impression of police is that “They are always trying to find something wrong. They aren’t trying to find out why I am the way I am, they are just trying to make me wrong for the way I am.”
Students from around Toronto should take note of this example of high school students mobilizing for action and winning. If a small group of 175 students could drive a cop out of their school, then the tens of thousands of high school students across Toronto can very well do the same if they organize.
by Louisa Worrell
Basics #11 (November 2008)
On September 10th, 2008 at a school council meeting of the Toronto alternative high school, The Student School, students and teachers voted to have their school’s name taken off of the list of Toronto schools in which a police officer will be stationed during the 2008-09 school year.
The school’s administrator, John Morton, delivered the decision to Western Technical School’s principal (which is also The Student Schools principal), explaining that the vote was unanimous and that a large number of students felt that they did not want a police officer in their hallways for various reasons. The principal informed John Morton 24 hours later that their name had been taken off the list and therefore no police would be present in their hallways or classrooms. It may seem incredible that the unity of these students was enough to remove the police officer from their school, but it’s true.
The vote was initiated by a student who was surprised to read in the Toronto Star that their school would have a police officer. This student raised the issue with people at his school and decided to bring it forth at the school-wide student-run, mandatory student council meeting that is held every two weeks, in which the issue was debated and voted on.
A motion was put forth to have the school’s name taken off the list, it was seconded and then a 40 minute discussion ensued. This was the school’s first council meeting of the year, and was attended by over 85% of the student body and all the teachers. During the discussion many students, even students who don’t normally speak at council meetings, spoke about the reasons why they didn’t want police in their school. This topic was obviously very important to the students.
Stacey George, a student at the school said, “Well, for me, we didn’t have a say in what was going on. I was like, ‘How could they just put our school on the list?’ Nobody came, not even the principal, to tell us what was happening.”
John Morton informed Basics that the feedback came from many different students and touched on many different concerns, including people who had negative experiences with police before, the feeling of being intimidated by police presence and the presence of guns in the school.
When informed that the point of having these officers in the school was to build student-police relationships, George responded by saying her impression of police is that “They are always trying to find something wrong. They aren’t trying to find out why I am the way I am, they are just trying to make me wrong for the way I am.”
Students from around Toronto should take note of this example of high school students mobilizing for action and winning. If a small group of 175 students could drive a cop out of their school, then the tens of thousands of high school students across Toronto can very well do the same if they organize.
Tuesday, August 26, 2008
Ramona Africa of MOVE: A Survivor of U.S. State Terrorism
Interview by Steve da Silva
Basics Issue #10 (Aug/Sep 2008)
On the 30th anniversary of Philadelphia police’s terroristic siege on the MOVE organization on August 8, 1978, Basics linked up with MOVE member Ramona Africa . Ramona Africa is the only living adult survivor of the Philadelphia police’s second major attack on MOVE’s home in 1985, where 11 people died, five of whom were children. The following is a transcript from our interview with her.
Basics: Ramona Africa, can you tell us about MOVE and its history?
Ramona Africa: The MOVE organization is a revolutionary organization founded by a man called John Africa. John Africa brought people together from all different religious, political,
socio-economic backgrounds and made us a family, cementing the bond of our family with one common belief and that belief is life. Whether it’s the air, water, the earth that feeds us, human life, animal life, plant life - all life - is important and is our priority. Toward demonstrating our belief, our first public demonstrations were at the zoo, at the circus, at unsafe boarding homes for the elderly, at the reservoir and water treatment plant, at meetings held by DuPont chemicals, corporations like that who poisoned the environment…
Basics: How long ago was that?
Ramona Africa: This was in the early 1970s. Because we demonstrated and put out such clear information about the wisdom of John Africa, the government started hearing what we were saying and seeing our example. They wanted to stop us from waking people up and setting an example for people. They initially tried to co-opt us by offering us by offering us funding and offices. But we made it clear that we didn’t want anything from them and we didn’t need anything from them. So when they couldn’t use that soft soap with us they came with the iron fist of brutality. When we would set up a peaceful demonstration at some institution of this system, they would come and tell us that we couldn’t demonstrate. We confronted them about it and said “Why, what are you talking about? Isn’t this America where people have freedom of speech, freedom of assembly, freedom to protest? Does the constitution say, except MOVE?” Of course, they didn’t want to hear that, so that’s when the beatings began. Our brothers would be beaten bloody into broken limbs and consciousness; pregnant MOVE women would be beaten, stomped, kicked into miscarriage. MOVE took a strong position after this continuously happened. We said “We are a peaceful people, we are uncompromisingly opposed to violence. But we’re not confused and we’re not stupid. We understand clearly, based on the teachings of John Africa, the difference between violence and self-defense. We don’t believe in violence, but we do believe in self-defense. That is the law – the law of life. There is not a species on the face of this earth that does not instinctively defend itself when attacked. You’re not violent if you defend yourself, but you are violent if you are attacked and you refuse to defend yourself because then you’re encouraging violence, perpetuating violence. Because then you are masochistic, self-destructive, suicidal, and MOVE is none of those things. So when we made our position clear, the government really got its back up, because they didn’t want us influencing people with that kind of understanding and information. At that point, they just determined that they had to get rid of us, anyway they had to, even if it meant killing us. And that’s what the first major police attack on MOVE on August 8, 1978 was really all about.
Basics: What happened on August 8, 1978?
Ramona Africa: On that day, they used the excuse of our home having housing code violations to try to evict us out of our homes. This government has never cared about poor black people living in homes that have housing code violations. I mean, when did they start caring about that? That was the excuse they used to send hundreds of officers out to our homes to kill, not to arrest. In their fervour to kill off MOVE, they ended up shooting one of their own to death. Of course, there’s no question that they were going to blame MOVE for this. They failed to kill MOVE members so the next best thing was to put MOVE in prison for as long as possible. This is why they charged my family, the nine MOVE members, with murder and put them in prison for 30-100 years.
Basics: So the MOVE9 political prisoners, as we have come to know them, date back to that August 8, 1978, 30 years ago. Was that the last attack on MOVE?
Ramona Africa: Yes. In 1980, our home in Richmond, Virginia was attacked by police. Our sisters were arrested, they took our kids, put them in foster homes, and we had to fight to get them back. All of that in conspiracy with the Philadelphia government influencing the Richmond, Virginia government, because there was never any problems in Richmond, Virginia.
Then, on May 13, 1981, in Rochester, New York, the Federal government, the FBI, the Department of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms (ATF) attacked our family and arrested our family in Rochester. John Africa, being one of the people who was arrested, went on trial in Federal court in Philadelphia, were they brought him back to. In an unprecedented and historical act that the history books will never tell people about, John Africa – a money-poor black man with long naughty hair, wearing a sweat-shirt, boots, jeans – went into Federal court, representing himself, not presenting any evidence, not cross-examining any witnesses, not putting on any witnesses, not making an opening statement, and sleeping with his head down on the table through much of the trial, only speaking briefly to make a half-hour closing statement, was acquitted of every single charge that the Feds could put on him. That is historical, unprecedented by any black man in the federal courts or any white man in the federal courts.
Finally, when John Africa came home and we stepped up our campaign to free the MOVE9, there was a second attack in 1985 when police came out to our home again, hiding behind a lie that neighbours were complaining about us. They used this as an excuse to come out to attack us, determined to do what they failed to do in 1978. They came out in 1985 with the makings of a bomb supplied by the Federal government, a helicopter supplied by the Pennsylvania government, and using Philadelphia city cops to attack us. They dropped a bomb on our bomb igniting a fire. Now the fire department was at the scene from the very beginning putting water into our home trying to flush us out. But when the bomb ignited a fire they refused to put the fire out.
When we who were in the basement realized that our home was on fire, we made several attempts to get our children, our animals, and ourselves out of that blazing inferno. And ever attempt was met with a barrage of police gun fire, deliberately aimed at us to try to prevent us from escaping. As a result, men, women, and babies – five babies and six adults – and numerous animals, were all burned alive and shot to death. The bodies were found to have many bullets in them.
I am the only adult survivor, along with one little boy who survived. People ask me how did we survive, how did I survive, and I have no answer other than that it must have been some miracle and that I still have some work to do.
Basics: The repression against MOVE is quite evident. From the perspective of those who have power in this society, what does MOVE represent to them? Does it represent a threat to their power?
Ramona Africa: Absolutely those in power see MOVE as a threat, and we are. We don’t believe in this system. We’re not impressed with it, we’re not intimidated by it, and we don’t want anything that it has. They can’t bribe us with anything or threaten to take anything away from us. They have nothing that we can’t do without – and that gives us all the leverage in the world. What they do with other organizations is try to intimidate them, if not try to seduce them with things, positions, money, or whatever. But they can’t do that with us. We don’t believe in this system at all, and we can substantiate why we don’t believe in it.
Look at this country. When at when this continent was invaded: the air was pure, the water was clean, the earth was fertile and productive. There were no hospitals or prisons. But since this so-called civilization was introduced to North America, look at the mess that it’s made. And we’re supposed to believe in this? No, we won’t. We can substantiate our positions, but they can’t substantiate their’s. They cannot trick or fool us. We’re not imprisoned by their concepts, like legality. They can tell us what’s legal and illegal all day – we don’t care, that doesn’t mean anything to us. Tell us what’s right, and we’ll deal with that. A lot of things were legal, but they were wrong. Slavery was legal, apartheid was legal, slaughtering the Natives of this country was legal, the Holocaust was legal. None of these things were right. Resisting all of those things – slavery, apartheid, the Holocaust – were illegal, seen as crimes. But it wasn’t wrong. So we’re not going to be imprisoned by the concepts invented by our enemy. And because they can’t trick us or fool us, that makes us a threat to them.
MOVE people, we keep on fighting: they keep coming at us, and we keep coming right back because we don’t see any alternative option. It’s not an option to just throw our hands up and give in. We have children to think about it, who will have children, who will have more children, and we’re raising our children to be revolutionaries with that fire that John Africa put in us. We will never give in to this system. They don’t have enough cops, guns, jails, prison guards, sheriffs, courts to make MOVE people give in to this rotten system.
Basics: Close to home, Toronto, where Basics is based out of, there is a land reclamation struggle being led by Six Nations right now, especially the Mohawk Warriors. One of the principles that they live by is to preserve the earth and life for the seven generations to come. Would you have any principles to offer up to other peoples struggling for justice and freedom?
Ramona Africa: The foundation of our belief is life – you have to put life first, on a very personal level. For example, MOVE people have things, but we don’t beat or chastise our children for breaking or losing something. Life is our priority, and the feelings of our children who are alive are more important to us than some dead thing that has no feelings. This is how people must begin to think and live: putting priority on life, all of life. Until people do that, we aren’t going nowhere. Those people who are oppressing us, life means nothing to them. It’s the root of criminality, for instance. Young teenagers may kill another for a pair of sneakers or a jacket. They may take a life for something that’s not a life, that has no feelings at all. But they do that because life means nothing to them, and that’s the example that they’re getting from this system.
For instance, when that situation happened in Littleton, Colorado at Colombine highschool where some of the students were shooting up all those other students, Clinton was on the news telling people that we need to teach our children how to resolve conflict by means other than violence, while at the same time Clinton was bombing kids in Kosovo. What message are children getting when they see cops shooting at people 41 times and hitting them 19 times?
The bottom line for MOVE is to make life a priority.
Basics: Well, with love and revolutionary thanks for this interview, are there any final thoughts you may want to add?
Ramona Africa: On a move to my MOVE family, to Mumia Abu-Jamal, long live Leonard Peltier, the Puerto Rican independistas, the Zapatistas, long live all freedom fighters: The Earth Liberation Front, the Animal Liberation Front, long live all those who love life enough to fight for life and freedom. Long live the spirit of resistance, long live revolution! Long live John Africa, and down with this rotten-ass system! ON A MOVE!
Basics: ON A MOVE! Basics Community Newsletter, Philadelphia.
Basics Issue #10 (Aug/Sep 2008)
On the 30th anniversary of Philadelphia police’s terroristic siege on the MOVE organization on August 8, 1978, Basics linked up with MOVE member Ramona Africa . Ramona Africa is the only living adult survivor of the Philadelphia police’s second major attack on MOVE’s home in 1985, where 11 people died, five of whom were children. The following is a transcript from our interview with her.
Basics: Ramona Africa, can you tell us about MOVE and its history?
Ramona Africa: The MOVE organization is a revolutionary organization founded by a man called John Africa. John Africa brought people together from all different religious, political,
socio-economic backgrounds and made us a family, cementing the bond of our family with one common belief and that belief is life. Whether it’s the air, water, the earth that feeds us, human life, animal life, plant life - all life - is important and is our priority. Toward demonstrating our belief, our first public demonstrations were at the zoo, at the circus, at unsafe boarding homes for the elderly, at the reservoir and water treatment plant, at meetings held by DuPont chemicals, corporations like that who poisoned the environment…Basics: How long ago was that?
Ramona Africa: This was in the early 1970s. Because we demonstrated and put out such clear information about the wisdom of John Africa, the government started hearing what we were saying and seeing our example. They wanted to stop us from waking people up and setting an example for people. They initially tried to co-opt us by offering us by offering us funding and offices. But we made it clear that we didn’t want anything from them and we didn’t need anything from them. So when they couldn’t use that soft soap with us they came with the iron fist of brutality. When we would set up a peaceful demonstration at some institution of this system, they would come and tell us that we couldn’t demonstrate. We confronted them about it and said “Why, what are you talking about? Isn’t this America where people have freedom of speech, freedom of assembly, freedom to protest? Does the constitution say, except MOVE?” Of course, they didn’t want to hear that, so that’s when the beatings began. Our brothers would be beaten bloody into broken limbs and consciousness; pregnant MOVE women would be beaten, stomped, kicked into miscarriage. MOVE took a strong position after this continuously happened. We said “We are a peaceful people, we are uncompromisingly opposed to violence. But we’re not confused and we’re not stupid. We understand clearly, based on the teachings of John Africa, the difference between violence and self-defense. We don’t believe in violence, but we do believe in self-defense. That is the law – the law of life. There is not a species on the face of this earth that does not instinctively defend itself when attacked. You’re not violent if you defend yourself, but you are violent if you are attacked and you refuse to defend yourself because then you’re encouraging violence, perpetuating violence. Because then you are masochistic, self-destructive, suicidal, and MOVE is none of those things. So when we made our position clear, the government really got its back up, because they didn’t want us influencing people with that kind of understanding and information. At that point, they just determined that they had to get rid of us, anyway they had to, even if it meant killing us. And that’s what the first major police attack on MOVE on August 8, 1978 was really all about.
Basics: What happened on August 8, 1978?
Ramona Africa: On that day, they used the excuse of our home having housing code violations to try to evict us out of our homes. This government has never cared about poor black people living in homes that have housing code violations. I mean, when did they start caring about that? That was the excuse they used to send hundreds of officers out to our homes to kill, not to arrest. In their fervour to kill off MOVE, they ended up shooting one of their own to death. Of course, there’s no question that they were going to blame MOVE for this. They failed to kill MOVE members so the next best thing was to put MOVE in prison for as long as possible. This is why they charged my family, the nine MOVE members, with murder and put them in prison for 30-100 years.
Basics: So the MOVE9 political prisoners, as we have come to know them, date back to that August 8, 1978, 30 years ago. Was that the last attack on MOVE?
Ramona Africa: Yes. In 1980, our home in Richmond, Virginia was attacked by police. Our sisters were arrested, they took our kids, put them in foster homes, and we had to fight to get them back. All of that in conspiracy with the Philadelphia government influencing the Richmond, Virginia government, because there was never any problems in Richmond, Virginia.
Then, on May 13, 1981, in Rochester, New York, the Federal government, the FBI, the Department of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms (ATF) attacked our family and arrested our family in Rochester. John Africa, being one of the people who was arrested, went on trial in Federal court in Philadelphia, were they brought him back to. In an unprecedented and historical act that the history books will never tell people about, John Africa – a money-poor black man with long naughty hair, wearing a sweat-shirt, boots, jeans – went into Federal court, representing himself, not presenting any evidence, not cross-examining any witnesses, not putting on any witnesses, not making an opening statement, and sleeping with his head down on the table through much of the trial, only speaking briefly to make a half-hour closing statement, was acquitted of every single charge that the Feds could put on him. That is historical, unprecedented by any black man in the federal courts or any white man in the federal courts.
Finally, when John Africa came home and we stepped up our campaign to free the MOVE9, there was a second attack in 1985 when police came out to our home again, hiding behind a lie that neighbours were complaining about us. They used this as an excuse to come out to attack us, determined to do what they failed to do in 1978. They came out in 1985 with the makings of a bomb supplied by the Federal government, a helicopter supplied by the Pennsylvania government, and using Philadelphia city cops to attack us. They dropped a bomb on our bomb igniting a fire. Now the fire department was at the scene from the very beginning putting water into our home trying to flush us out. But when the bomb ignited a fire they refused to put the fire out.
When we who were in the basement realized that our home was on fire, we made several attempts to get our children, our animals, and ourselves out of that blazing inferno. And ever attempt was met with a barrage of police gun fire, deliberately aimed at us to try to prevent us from escaping. As a result, men, women, and babies – five babies and six adults – and numerous animals, were all burned alive and shot to death. The bodies were found to have many bullets in them.
I am the only adult survivor, along with one little boy who survived. People ask me how did we survive, how did I survive, and I have no answer other than that it must have been some miracle and that I still have some work to do.
Basics: The repression against MOVE is quite evident. From the perspective of those who have power in this society, what does MOVE represent to them? Does it represent a threat to their power?
Ramona Africa: Absolutely those in power see MOVE as a threat, and we are. We don’t believe in this system. We’re not impressed with it, we’re not intimidated by it, and we don’t want anything that it has. They can’t bribe us with anything or threaten to take anything away from us. They have nothing that we can’t do without – and that gives us all the leverage in the world. What they do with other organizations is try to intimidate them, if not try to seduce them with things, positions, money, or whatever. But they can’t do that with us. We don’t believe in this system at all, and we can substantiate why we don’t believe in it.
Look at this country. When at when this continent was invaded: the air was pure, the water was clean, the earth was fertile and productive. There were no hospitals or prisons. But since this so-called civilization was introduced to North America, look at the mess that it’s made. And we’re supposed to believe in this? No, we won’t. We can substantiate our positions, but they can’t substantiate their’s. They cannot trick or fool us. We’re not imprisoned by their concepts, like legality. They can tell us what’s legal and illegal all day – we don’t care, that doesn’t mean anything to us. Tell us what’s right, and we’ll deal with that. A lot of things were legal, but they were wrong. Slavery was legal, apartheid was legal, slaughtering the Natives of this country was legal, the Holocaust was legal. None of these things were right. Resisting all of those things – slavery, apartheid, the Holocaust – were illegal, seen as crimes. But it wasn’t wrong. So we’re not going to be imprisoned by the concepts invented by our enemy. And because they can’t trick us or fool us, that makes us a threat to them.
MOVE people, we keep on fighting: they keep coming at us, and we keep coming right back because we don’t see any alternative option. It’s not an option to just throw our hands up and give in. We have children to think about it, who will have children, who will have more children, and we’re raising our children to be revolutionaries with that fire that John Africa put in us. We will never give in to this system. They don’t have enough cops, guns, jails, prison guards, sheriffs, courts to make MOVE people give in to this rotten system.
Basics: Close to home, Toronto, where Basics is based out of, there is a land reclamation struggle being led by Six Nations right now, especially the Mohawk Warriors. One of the principles that they live by is to preserve the earth and life for the seven generations to come. Would you have any principles to offer up to other peoples struggling for justice and freedom?
Ramona Africa: The foundation of our belief is life – you have to put life first, on a very personal level. For example, MOVE people have things, but we don’t beat or chastise our children for breaking or losing something. Life is our priority, and the feelings of our children who are alive are more important to us than some dead thing that has no feelings. This is how people must begin to think and live: putting priority on life, all of life. Until people do that, we aren’t going nowhere. Those people who are oppressing us, life means nothing to them. It’s the root of criminality, for instance. Young teenagers may kill another for a pair of sneakers or a jacket. They may take a life for something that’s not a life, that has no feelings at all. But they do that because life means nothing to them, and that’s the example that they’re getting from this system.
For instance, when that situation happened in Littleton, Colorado at Colombine highschool where some of the students were shooting up all those other students, Clinton was on the news telling people that we need to teach our children how to resolve conflict by means other than violence, while at the same time Clinton was bombing kids in Kosovo. What message are children getting when they see cops shooting at people 41 times and hitting them 19 times?
The bottom line for MOVE is to make life a priority.
Basics: Well, with love and revolutionary thanks for this interview, are there any final thoughts you may want to add?
Ramona Africa: On a move to my MOVE family, to Mumia Abu-Jamal, long live Leonard Peltier, the Puerto Rican independistas, the Zapatistas, long live all freedom fighters: The Earth Liberation Front, the Animal Liberation Front, long live all those who love life enough to fight for life and freedom. Long live the spirit of resistance, long live revolution! Long live John Africa, and down with this rotten-ass system! ON A MOVE!
Basics: ON A MOVE! Basics Community Newsletter, Philadelphia.
Fred Hampton, We Remember You! Long Live the Spirit of the Panther
by Calvin Parrish Jr.
Basics Issue #10 (Aug/Sep 2008)
August 30, 2008, marks what would have been the 60th birthday of the well-known Deputy Chairman of the Illinois chapter of the Black Panther Party for Self-Defense, Fred Hampton – had he not been murdered while he slept at the age of 21 years-old, by Chicago police almost 40 years ago.
Fred Hampton was born in Chicago in 1948. Early in his life, Hampton would become a well respected and beloved progressive community organizer who struggled against class and race oppression.
A brilliant student, Hampton graduated from high school with honors before taking pre-law at Triton College. After joining the Black Panther Party for Self-Defense in 1966, Hampton became a remarkable community organizer in Chicago. He was influential in starting free breakfast programs for children and a free medical clinic for people in his community that could ill-afford to pay for pricey medical bills. Everyday at 6:00am he would run and assist in political education classes for his community. Also, he used education as a way of converting Chicago street gangs into socially conscious and active members of the community.
At 4:45am, December 4th, 1969, Fred Hampton was murdered, as he lay in his bed, by a FBI-sponsored police raid. Between 82 and 99 shots were fired from machine guns, carbines and .357 magnums into his room – both Fred Hampton and his comrade Mark Clark were killed. He was 21 years old.
As mentioned, August 30 would have been Fred Hampton’s 60th birthday. Let us remember Fred Hampton and all our brothers and sisters, past and present, who have fallen during the struggle.
As Fred Hampton once said, “You can kill a revolutionary, but you can’t kill the revolution.” The above graphic was originally designed by Black Panther artist Emory Douglas.
Basics Issue #10 (Aug/Sep 2008)
August 30, 2008, marks what would have been the 60th birthday of the well-known Deputy Chairman of the Illinois chapter of the Black Panther Party for Self-Defense, Fred Hampton – had he not been murdered while he slept at the age of 21 years-old, by Chicago police almost 40 years ago.
Fred Hampton was born in Chicago in 1948. Early in his life, Hampton would become a well respected and beloved progressive community organizer who struggled against class and race oppression.
A brilliant student, Hampton graduated from high school with honors before taking pre-law at Triton College. After joining the Black Panther Party for Self-Defense in 1966, Hampton became a remarkable community organizer in Chicago. He was influential in starting free breakfast programs for children and a free medical clinic for people in his community that could ill-afford to pay for pricey medical bills. Everyday at 6:00am he would run and assist in political education classes for his community. Also, he used education as a way of converting Chicago street gangs into socially conscious and active members of the community.
At 4:45am, December 4th, 1969, Fred Hampton was murdered, as he lay in his bed, by a FBI-sponsored police raid. Between 82 and 99 shots were fired from machine guns, carbines and .357 magnums into his room – both Fred Hampton and his comrade Mark Clark were killed. He was 21 years old.
As mentioned, August 30 would have been Fred Hampton’s 60th birthday. Let us remember Fred Hampton and all our brothers and sisters, past and present, who have fallen during the struggle.
As Fred Hampton once said, “You can kill a revolutionary, but you can’t kill the revolution.” The above graphic was originally designed by Black Panther artist Emory Douglas.
“What Makes a Hero”
Filipino Community Gathers to Commemorate the Life of Police-Slain Jeffrey Reodica
by Steve da Silva
Basics Issue#10 (Aug/Sep 2008)
It’s been over four years since undercover Toronto cops murdered Jeffrey Reodica in May 2004; but time has yet to heal the wounds inflicted by his tragic and unjust departure.
On June 28, 2008, family, friends, and allies gathered at the Wellesley Community Centre from across the GTA to commemorate Jeffrey’s life. The event was organized by Migrante Ontario Youth, with support from the groups Philippine Advocacy Through Arts and Culture (PATAC) and the Community Alliance for Social Justice (CASJ).
The free event included musical and cultural performances by talented Filipino youth, which included spoken word artists Len Cervantes and Myk Miranda, rapper R. Scribe, and vocalist Belinda Corpuz.
The emotional high of the event was struck with the stirring words of Jeffrey’s father Willie Reodica, who recounted the painful last days of Jeffrey’s life. Reodica reminded the mostly-Filipino audience that “We Filipinos are still the targets of police violence because we do not have enough organization amongst us”.
A lawyer who worked with the Justice for Jeffrey campaign during the Coroner’s Inquest, Mike Leitold, recounted for those gathered how it had been the mobilization and demands of the community that led to an expedited Coroner’s Inquest. More importantly, Leitold pointed out that because justice was ultimately not attained for Jeffrey “we need to continue relying on mass organizing if we’re going to get justice”
The event was concluded with vocalist Belinda Corpuz’s singing of “What Makes a Hero”, a song written by Jose Maria Sison, a hero among Filipinos who helped found the present-day national liberation movement in the Philippines.
The empassioned father of Jeffrey, Willie Reodica, tells crowd of his experience of losing his son to police terror (Photo by Alex Felipe).
by Steve da Silva
Basics Issue#10 (Aug/Sep 2008)
It’s been over four years since undercover Toronto cops murdered Jeffrey Reodica in May 2004; but time has yet to heal the wounds inflicted by his tragic and unjust departure.
On June 28, 2008, family, friends, and allies gathered at the Wellesley Community Centre from across the GTA to commemorate Jeffrey’s life. The event was organized by Migrante Ontario Youth, with support from the groups Philippine Advocacy Through Arts and Culture (PATAC) and the Community Alliance for Social Justice (CASJ).
The free event included musical and cultural performances by talented Filipino youth, which included spoken word artists Len Cervantes and Myk Miranda, rapper R. Scribe, and vocalist Belinda Corpuz.
The emotional high of the event was struck with the stirring words of Jeffrey’s father Willie Reodica, who recounted the painful last days of Jeffrey’s life. Reodica reminded the mostly-Filipino audience that “We Filipinos are still the targets of police violence because we do not have enough organization amongst us”.
A lawyer who worked with the Justice for Jeffrey campaign during the Coroner’s Inquest, Mike Leitold, recounted for those gathered how it had been the mobilization and demands of the community that led to an expedited Coroner’s Inquest. More importantly, Leitold pointed out that because justice was ultimately not attained for Jeffrey “we need to continue relying on mass organizing if we’re going to get justice”The event was concluded with vocalist Belinda Corpuz’s singing of “What Makes a Hero”, a song written by Jose Maria Sison, a hero among Filipinos who helped found the present-day national liberation movement in the Philippines.
The empassioned father of Jeffrey, Willie Reodica, tells crowd of his experience of losing his son to police terror (Photo by Alex Felipe).
Vaughan / Oakwood: Profile of a ‘Mixed Income’ Neighbourhood
by Louisa Worrell
Basics Issue#10 (Aug/Sep 2008)
On Sunday, June 1, 2008 at approximately 11:30 pm more than 50 Toronto cops raided the studio/home of hip-hop artist Kama Kazie, allegedly for drugs.
A couple days later the bar/club across the street Town Talk was raided for the same reason.
Neither of the raids were fruitful, no arrests were made and no drugs were found at either site.
A couple days later on June 3, there was a “community” meeting organized by a group known as 5-Points Community Action, regarding a shooting that had happened May 24 on Belvedere, just off of Vaughn and Oakwood.
Although Vaughn and Oakwood’s ethnic make up is predominately Jamaican and Chinese, and is considered a mixed-income neighbourhood, the attendees of the community meeting did not reflect this reality. The meeting was attended by pre-dominantly middle-class white residents who expressed concern about “community safety”. And this is the reality of mixed income neighbourhoods: put wealthy homeowners who are concerned about their property value alongside deeply exploited workers and the unemployed, and what you get is a conflict. It should be clear who the police are going to side with in this equation.
To be sure, the June 3 meeting was attended by the police, with much discussion about the local business Town Talk at 616 Vaughn Rd. People at the meeting expressed concern that criminal activities such as drug dealing were going on at the bar. Only one of the community members who spoke had actually been to Town Talk, but there was a clear sentiment that the bar made people at the meeting uneasy. One attendee, Samantha Goldsilver, was quoted in the Toronto Star saying: “It’s just a bunch of hoodlums hanging out late at night,” she said of one of the bars. “If you drive by at one in the morning there’s people out on the street drinking and people who live on the street feel very intimidated. They feel like they’re walking a gauntlet to come home.”
It’s too bad that some of the hundreds of Jamaican-Canadian patrons of the restaurant weren’t invited to the meeting – they might have had a different opinion.
Tragically, on July 21, 2007, 21 year-old Kimel Foster was gunned down outside of Town Talk and since then Toronto police have heavily patrolled the bar’s vicinity. But a higher policing of the youth cannot be a solution to a problem that is social and economic, such as alienating curricula in Toronto schools and a lack of decent employment opportunities for young workers.
Furthermore, the police routinely set up RIDE programs right down the street from the bar on busy nights, further harassing community residents and patrons of the bar.
5-Points Community Action is currently rallying their members around stopping Town Talk from serving alcohol on its patio, despite the fact the Town Talk already has a license to do so.
It’s clear that the current organizing of middle-class homeowners in the community is suiting the agenda of the police, given that both are working together to marginalize and intimidate the non-white working-class residents of the community. It’s time for Vaughan and Oakwood’s working-class residents to organize as well. We must demand an end to police harassment and intimidation in our own neighbourhoods!
Basics Issue#10 (Aug/Sep 2008)
On Sunday, June 1, 2008 at approximately 11:30 pm more than 50 Toronto cops raided the studio/home of hip-hop artist Kama Kazie, allegedly for drugs.
A couple days later the bar/club across the street Town Talk was raided for the same reason.
Neither of the raids were fruitful, no arrests were made and no drugs were found at either site.
A couple days later on June 3, there was a “community” meeting organized by a group known as 5-Points Community Action, regarding a shooting that had happened May 24 on Belvedere, just off of Vaughn and Oakwood.
Although Vaughn and Oakwood’s ethnic make up is predominately Jamaican and Chinese, and is considered a mixed-income neighbourhood, the attendees of the community meeting did not reflect this reality. The meeting was attended by pre-dominantly middle-class white residents who expressed concern about “community safety”. And this is the reality of mixed income neighbourhoods: put wealthy homeowners who are concerned about their property value alongside deeply exploited workers and the unemployed, and what you get is a conflict. It should be clear who the police are going to side with in this equation.
To be sure, the June 3 meeting was attended by the police, with much discussion about the local business Town Talk at 616 Vaughn Rd. People at the meeting expressed concern that criminal activities such as drug dealing were going on at the bar. Only one of the community members who spoke had actually been to Town Talk, but there was a clear sentiment that the bar made people at the meeting uneasy. One attendee, Samantha Goldsilver, was quoted in the Toronto Star saying: “It’s just a bunch of hoodlums hanging out late at night,” she said of one of the bars. “If you drive by at one in the morning there’s people out on the street drinking and people who live on the street feel very intimidated. They feel like they’re walking a gauntlet to come home.”
It’s too bad that some of the hundreds of Jamaican-Canadian patrons of the restaurant weren’t invited to the meeting – they might have had a different opinion.
Tragically, on July 21, 2007, 21 year-old Kimel Foster was gunned down outside of Town Talk and since then Toronto police have heavily patrolled the bar’s vicinity. But a higher policing of the youth cannot be a solution to a problem that is social and economic, such as alienating curricula in Toronto schools and a lack of decent employment opportunities for young workers.
Furthermore, the police routinely set up RIDE programs right down the street from the bar on busy nights, further harassing community residents and patrons of the bar.
5-Points Community Action is currently rallying their members around stopping Town Talk from serving alcohol on its patio, despite the fact the Town Talk already has a license to do so.
It’s clear that the current organizing of middle-class homeowners in the community is suiting the agenda of the police, given that both are working together to marginalize and intimidate the non-white working-class residents of the community. It’s time for Vaughan and Oakwood’s working-class residents to organize as well. We must demand an end to police harassment and intimidation in our own neighbourhoods!
Armed Cops Moving into Toronto Schools in Sep ‘08
by Kabir Joshi-VijayanBasics Issue#10 (Aug/Sep 2008)
High School students have another thing to look forward this September - police with guns patrolling their hallways. On June 23rd, the chair of the Toronto District School Board (TDSB), John Campbell, announced that at least 22 public and 8 Catholic schools will each get a police officer this fall - for security and to supposedly ‘build relationships’ with students. Campbell first said the cops would be walking around in jeans and golf shirts “meeting… and talking to kids”, but he was corrected the next day by Toronto Police Chief Bill Blair, who made it clear that the officers would have both their uniforms and their weapons in the schools.
While we’re told that the police are supposed to help with security in schools, a School Safety report released in January (in response to the Jordan Manners killing at CW Jeffreys last year) did not make any recommendations to put police in schools. This Safety Report was written by a three-person advisory panel, after surveys of students and teachers at two west-end schools, and made many recommendations on how to improve school security - none of which included police being sent into high schools. However, the report did talk about the devastating effects of the social service cuts to Ontario in the 1990s, as well as the destructive use of the Safe Schools Act. Surveys showed that Black youth feel that racial discrimination by teachers is a major problem - and that they experience racism from the police outside of school. So the decision to put armed cops in Toronto High Schools made by the School Board ignored advice both from a community panel they appointed, and the feelings of their own students.
You only need to look at the US, which has put armed police in the schools of many of its major cities, to see what this policy will mean for students. In New York, youth are regularly brutalized and arrested for swearing, being late for class, having cell phones or not having hall passes. A number of times, teachers and even principles have been arrested for trying to protect their students. On a regular basis across the United States, youth have to be sent to hospital for injuries received from police while in school.
Will Toronto cops be very different? The announcement from the School Board was made a week after Toronto police were cleared by the S.I.U. in the murders of 17-year-old high school student Alwy Al-Nadhir and 28-year-old Byron Debassige, both of whom were unarmed when murdered by police. And according to the School Board, police will be put primarily in “schools who have the highest suspension rate and highest crime rate”. We know this means schools with the highest number of poor, black, brown and native kids. These are youth who are already threatened, brutalized and arrested by police on a daily basis in this city. There’s no reason to believe that the way police treat youth every day on the streets will be any different in the halls of a high school.
TDSB should focus on implementing community services and after-school programs for youth, and dealing with its own systematic racism and discrimination, instead of making schools a more intimidating and oppressive place for youth.
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