We just learned from a City press release that the City is cancelling the HCBP for this year, due to losing a “critical month” of summer work. In other words, the main goal of the occupation – stopping the HCBP for this year – has been achieved! The larger goal of stopping the HCBP as a whole, has yet to be accomplished. But we have a hell of a lot more time and energy to work towards that.
Check out this article from the Mercury:
Also see the City’s press release, which is basically the same: City delays culvert construction until spring
Mayor Karen Farbridge also says that, “A handful of protesters have held our City hostage and ignored democratic processes.” If the Mayor had visited the site even once during the occupation, she would know that literally hundreds of people of all ages participated in the occupation, with thousands more in support.
The Mayor herself should ask how many times people must be ignored through their ‘democratic process,’ until they realize that sometimes the most effective way to create change is to take action.
Thank you so much to everyone for every single way you have helped. Let’s keep it going, and stay tuned for updates.
Good news!
Alright! Many congratulations to everyone who was part of this, your work is so admirable. Keep up the great work. This is just the first step!! Peace and love from BC.
Absurdist theatre:
Encourage your children to wear salamander costumes on Halloween. A ‘Barney’ costume would work perfectly and considering his unpopularity these days they must be a dime a dozen.
I find it interesting that they emphasize “a small group of protestors” – an obvious lie when they leave out all of your supporters.
But they also take up a lot of space describing what will need to be done with the water, as if doing all this unnatural fooling around with water levels will not affect the wildlife or ecosystem.
These folks need to educate themselves in natural sciences and ecology because they sound stupid.
By the way – this is good news! Hope more wrenches are thrown in to their plans before next summer! Awesome work by everyone involved!
rock on! now if only we could get that $621K diverted to something that would be sustainable, both economically and environmentally.
bless!
Guelph, Ontario: Two Anarchists Arrested in Struggle against Development
A Statement of Solidarity
At roughly 2:15 AM on September 1st 2009, two anarchists were arrested in Downtown Guelph for alleged anti-police graffiti. That night, three people were putting up anti-development posters downtown. The context in which this occurred is following a three week occupation of the Hanlon Creek Business Park (HCBP) development. Since the occupation, a social event was held against the HCBP where a tobacco burning ceremony took place at the site with two comrades from Tyendinaga. Dozens of signs were redecorated / defaced for all kinds of developments across the city. Development equipment was stolen from the proposed HCBP site and the trenches were re-dug across the new roads being built at the site. While taking into account the history of resistance to progress in Guelph, this occupation has created turmoil in City Hall and has also sparked a long coming social struggle against development. The occupation ended on August 14th when the courts issued an injunction against the occupiers and a work stoppage, giving the Ministry of Natural Resources (MNR) the final say as to whether the construction will continue. Last Thursday August 27th, the MNR decided that construction will continue (Duh!). These anti-development posters are a part of this diverse and ongoing struggle not only against the HCBP but all capitalist development.
When these people went out to poster, it was with a clear understanding of the possibility of surveillance and harassment. In the synopsis read in bail court on Tuesday, it was stated that the three people putting up posters were spotted multiple times over a couple hours before two of them were arrested. It was also stated in court that people who matched the same description as those putting up posters were also decorating the city with graffiti like “dead cops” and “ACAB” (which, according to the cop’s research, stands for “All Cops Are Bastards”). It was also apparent that most of the surveillance was done by taxi drivers. Those arrested were interrogated and both people remained silent and non-cooperating. The two comrades are each charged with three counts of “mischief under $5000” for the graffiti and one is also charged with obstruction.
The question of guilt or innocence about these charges only isolates the situation. There is nothing at all empowering about the language of courts. Whether these comrades indeed did graffiti is not concerning. They were expressing ideas and contributing to the struggle against development. What is guilty or innocent about that, anyway? The courts that reduce the actions of these people to a question of innocence or guilt are the same courts that approved the injunction and are handling the $150,000 lawsuit against five others. This repression began before the recent arrests and will continue after them, targeting any dissent towards the continuation of development and of business as usual.
These arrests are a clear display of the police and the city’s attempts to protect their precious development projects from the people who wish them done for. The momentum building in Guelph against all developments is a threat to the city’s economy. They’re scrambling and they’re pissed. The city is actively backing these developments, and the courts / police who protect them. It should be clear that the police and courts are responsible for the consequences of what they defend.
What are they protecting?
“Progress” is a word used by bureaucrats to create a false inevitability for the process of capitalist development. By disguising their choices and actions as something that just happens (that is simply inevitable), they can justify the consequences of their behavior. These bureaucrats enable the clearing of forests, the “revitalizing” condo redevelopment of downtown, the opening of aggregate operations and quarries, the daily pumping of 3.6 million liters of ground water, etc, without taking any responsibility for the destruction of wilderness habitats, for the rent increase and evictions, for the ruined lakes and farmland or for the damage to people’s drinking water supply. The city bureaucrats delegate private companies to do their dirty work (ie: architects, developers, private environmental assessment agencies, etc) and can avoid taking responsibility for the people and places they hurt.
Now these bureaucrats and developers, with their army of judges and cops, hope to squash out any resistance to their actions. By suing in small claims court and arresting people who act directly against development, they hope to scare others away from trying to stop the disasters. The legal system, political process, police force and economic structure will never put an end to development’s exploitation, or hold these undignified bureaucrats responsible. Who, but the rest of us, will take this struggle on and put an end to this miserable process?
We must show them that we are not afraid and that their repression only invites us to fight harder, so that they finally understand that their actions (including their repression) have consequences and it will not be tolerated.
For an end to the HCBP, development and the illusion of progress,
-Anarchists
My fave part of the city news release: “The original work plan would have seen all in-stream work completed before August 31. That plan was thwarted when protesters halted work on the project in July.” Don;t you just love the word Thwart!! I sure do.
they should stop building , every resident would say the same ! we dont need a business park in that location