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Occupied by Police?

posted by stimulator

Several women were the victims of a chemical attack in NYC during an Occupy Wall Street march

Earlier today a comrade alerted me that the Occupy Vancouver organizers have contacted the Vancouver Police to "to make sure we can work together =)"

As an activist who has faced police repression, these news deeply disturbed me. I thought that it was obvious to local organizers, that the powers that be don't want this movement to go off. Specially after the police violence we have witnessed at the birthplace of this "Occupy" movement in New York City. Not to mention the history of brutal violence by "Vancouver's finest" against the poor and political activists. I am in Japan right now, where activists face similar repression for organizing rallies where they demand the end of nuclear power.

In short and without getting too deep in the historical context of the role of the police within social movements, the job of the police is not to protect the people but to protect those who aim to rule the people. They protect the same people that the "Occupy Together" movement is trying to depose. By inviting the police to your demonstration you are inviting the enemy.

I threw my support to the Occupy Vancouver early on as a show of solidarity, and because I believe that we are witnessing a revolutionary moment and the birth of a global movement. I also thought that the all decisions were made during the general aseembly. But I cannot in good conscience exhort my comrades and others to attend the Art Gallery occupation when the police are a de facto part of the demonstration.

There is still time to salvage this, and I hope that during the general assembly the decision to work with the police is reversed.

In the spirit of total resistance

the stimulator

Why I support Occupy Vancouver

posted by stimulator

When I tell my activists friends about the Occupy Vancouver action on October 15th their initial response is: "who's organizing it?" My response is, "Who cares?"

Unless you have been living under a rock, you have heard about Occupy Wall Street. In case you haven't here it is in a nut shell. Adbusters (yeah I know) put the call out this summer to set up a tent village in Wall Street on September 17th with not much of an explanation. The hacker group Anonymous started pushing the meme, but it did not get much traction. Reports vary on the number of people who showed up, but the NYPD blocked the would be occupiers, so they opted to occupy a near by park.

In the style of the Spanish occupations of this summer, the campers started holding general assemblies in what seemed like a leaderless encampment. This went on for about a week, but the mainstream media pretty much ignored the action. Then the cops pepper sprayed four women during a march, the mainstream media went apeshit and the rest as they said is herstory.

Since the media frenzy took hold, high profile lefties like Cornell West have attached themselves to the action. The New York subway drivers union and the Wobblies have endorsed it. But most importantly dozens of similar occupations have been called around the world, including one right here in Vancouver.

So why all the skepticism by the left in this city? I think it's because like the Canuck riots, the left can't claim it, they didn't start it, and they don't know who's putting it on. When questioned on twitter, the person who holds the OccupyVancouver account said "I'm just a guy that couldn't afford to go to NYC. I made a twitter page. But we ALL made this movement."

Like the New York occupation, the Vancouver one was based on a meme, an idea, and picked up by the person who had the gumption and...

Who's laughing now? How an "in-joke" aided police in catching Michael Corbett

posted by stimulator

Michael Corbett was suspected of being an agent provocateur by activists

Look at the at the second picture down and think about this question for a second. Could that man be a cop? He is well built, clean cut and his eyes could be saying "Don't do anything illegal, I am watching you." In case you didn't know, the man on that photo is legendary punk rocker Henry Rollins.

The clean cut athletic looking man above him is also not a cop. He is 29 year old Michael Corbett of Toronto. On June 26th he was caught on video, smashing the light bars and windows of a cop car that was earlier smashed by militants who were protesting the G20 meetings in Corbett's city.

Four days later the website acreativerevolution.ca posted this blog entry which included screen grabs from the video and the phone number for Toronto Crime Stoppers:

"A question asked by a FB friend today. She has posted these pics, gleaned from the youtube video of a police car getting trashed in Toronto last Saturday.
I think it is an excellent idea to find out!

The following 5 pictures were captured off the youtube video embedded below. If you do know who this man is, operators are standing by....Toronto Crime Stoppers - 416-222-TIPS
But share with others too.....Just in case the info gets lost eh? Tell all your friends. What is his name?

And also, if other bloggers feel similarly curious, please repost. :) Wouldn't it be interesting if a media outlet asked these questions? (hint hint)"

And re-post they did. The first instance of a "twit" I found was by Toronto Star Columnist Antonia Zerbisias. In her June 30th 'twit' she asks "So who is this man?" with a link to the website and includes two twitter accounts, one of Toronto Mayor David Miller and the other of Toronto Police Deputy Chief Peter Sloly. By my count over 50 people re-twitted Zerbisias post and according to bit.ly it was clicked on 896 times...