Why a Political Defence is the Only Way to Fight my Political Charges

Julian Ichim stands outside court before his preliminary inquiry. (photo by Sterling Stutz)

by Julian Ichim

Since I was charged last year for refusing to take down my blog post regarding the piece of shit infiltrator who goes by the name Khalid Mohamed I have decided to do several things with my defense that have irritated some of my close friends. I have chosen to fight these charges on a political basis as opposed to play within the framework of a system designed from the outset to criminalize political people and normalize and justify their repression. Many liberal organizations that work with me on a variety of issues were surprised that I refused to take character references to talk about how much good work I do in the community on the basis that unless they support an end to political persecution of activists they are useless to me.

The reality of the situation is that these charges that I am facing are due to the fact that I chose to write a blog based on my personal experience of being targeted for surveillance and infiltration based on the fact that my ideology is deemed “criminal” by the state because I am a proud Marxist Leninist. Everything that followed afterwards stems from this fact. To play into their game and deal with this as a criminal matter only goes to justify the narrative put forward by the crown, the OPP, CSIS, RCMP and various other police and intelligence services that make up the SIU, a police body who monitored, criminalized, and tried to contain any who chose to dissent against the 2010 Olympics taking place on stolen native land and those who chose to oppose the agenda of the G20 taking place in Toronto.

To fight this on their level means that I must accept the idea that to be political makes one a criminal, and public political people get seen as persons of interests or suspects, something I can’t accept.

To me the issue of refusing to take down my blog was a political decision based on the fact that others were intimidate by the state to shut up and not discuss what happened with the covert ops launched by the state to target, imprison and silence dissent vis a vis the g20. The reason that the state wanted to silence this has nothing to do with the safety of their operatives who testified in open court, but rather so that the people living in this territory would be unaware of the extent in which dirty tricks against political people are the norm, creating the space in which they can continue these attacks.

Every decision on dealing with this case therefore must achieve two things:

1. To expose the extent to which the state will go to criminalize political organizers;

2. Fight for our right to hold whatever political views we chose to hold; and

3. Force the state to admit the political nature of these charges, as well as the fact that those now in jail stemming from G20 related charges as well as others who are incarcerated because of their politics are not hoodlums and thugs but rather political prisoners and should be treated accordingly.

These two goals can’t be achieved in the framework set up by the system and a legal defense that negates the political nature of these charges and serves the interests of the state who has yet to admit that they hold any political prisoners.

While I am expected to play my role in their kangaroo court, holding my head in shame and being fearful and repentant, I instead chose to do the only thing that is politically and logically sound, fight these charges politically, and hold high my bright red banner of Marxism Leninism refusing to be ashamed of my ideology or politics.

When confronted by a state that attempts to criminalize and demonize people due to their politics the only solution is not to water down your politics in an attempt to appease a system whose goals is to uphold power and privilege but rather to take it head on and make the issue the criminalization of politics. I refuse to be ashamed of my ideology and I will win or lose based on that. Tomorrow in court I will show that in the face of state attack the only way forward is to resist, and I will do this as a Marxist Leninist.

(article from Julian's blog, edited by BASICS Community News Service)