{ texts for nothing }

I finally managed to get my photos from the February 13th anti-Olympic protest off my cell phone. They aren’t very good pictures, but this one is pretty interesting: These police officers are not displaying names or badge numbers. There’s only one reason why they would do that: to avoid being held accountable for their actions. If you’re a cop, you don’t need to hide your badge number unless you want to be able to use excessive force without facing the consequences. And this was a deliberate strategy: it’s not like these guys just happened to all show up without their badge numbers that day. The officers in this photograph know that as long as they don’t get caught on camera, they can beat up protesters and get away with it; their superiors have made it implicitly clear that they will cover for them.

What we have here is a recipe for tacitly sanctioned police brutality.

As a BCCLA member and a friend and ally of the anti-Olympic protesters, I was extremely disappointed to hear about David Eby’s comments to the media regarding Saturday’s protest:

David Eby, executive director of the B.C. Civil Liberties Association, said he was “sickened” by images of Black Bloc members smashing windows and tossing newspaper boxes into the streets.

Eby, who’s been outspoken against what he considers police intimidation of Olympic dissidents, said protesters were prepared for civil disobedience, such as sit-down demonstration to block an intersection.

Eby said there was a hint that the protest would turn violent when his group was asked by a faction of the protesters not to send legal observers to the march, saying they were worried they’d been infiltrated by police and could have their video documentation used as evidence in court.

This is completely unacceptable for exactly the reasons outlined by Lawrence A. Hildes, a member of the U.S. National Lawyers Guild whom I saw at two separate anti-Olympic protests in the past few days:

I don’t expect Eby or the BCCLA to condone the black bloc’s actions. But as Lawrence Hildes says, it’s not the job of either Eby or the BCCLA to decide which protesters are “good” and which are “bad” — it’s their job to ensure that the civil liberties of all protesters, peaceful or not, are protected. Talk of being “sickened” by a few broken windows protects no one’s rights; on the contrary, it lends legitimacy to the authorities’ ongoing efforts to repress dissent by sowing division among the dissenters. It also raises questions about the ability of the BCCLA to provide adequate and unbiased legal counsel to protesters who face charges over acts of civil disobedience.

This problem is compounded by Eby’s decision to reveal that some protesters asked BCCLA legal observers not to attend Saturday’s protest. Not only could that information be extremely damaging for those who are facing charges related to the protest, but clearly those who sent the email had placed a certain amount of trust in the BCCLA in matters like that. It’s no secret that there was at least some communication between anti-Olympic activists and the BCCLA in the months leading up to the Games, and it was the BCCLA’s phone number that was circulated to protesters so they’d know who to call for legal representation in case of arrest. (It speaks volumes that the Olympic Resistance Network, which did not even organize Saturday’s protest, has begun distributing a different number instead.) I have no idea whether Eby’s statement was a violation of attorney-client privilege or of BC’s Canons of Legal Ethics, but I do know that it was a shameful and profoundly disrespectful breach of trust.

I have a great deal of respect for the work that the BCCLA and David Eby personally have done over the years, Olympic-related and otherwise, and I hate to see their reputations tarnished. Nor do I want to undermine the Olympic-related work that the BCCLA still has ahead of it — like holding the RCMP accountable for the fact that many riot cops did not display their badge numbers on Saturday. But so far at least thirteen people in this province have faced charges over their opposition to the Olympics, in a climate of intense official and popular hostility to their views. They — and all of us who confront the threat of repression when we choose to dissent — deserve better.

Posted here not because I necessarily agree with the message or the tactics it defends, but because most folks who read this blog won’t see it otherwise:

In defense of the black bloc: A communique from Olympic resisters

February 14th, 2010 – Vancouver, Coast Salish Territories

On February 12th and 13th, 2010, thousands of courageous individuals came together to resist the 2010 Olympic police state and to attack the corporations plundering the land and deepening poverty. We write this communique as participants in and organizers of the black bloc presence at these demonstrations, known as “Take Back Our City” and “2010 Heart Attack.”

On February 12th, the Vancouver Police Department pacified us with a force of mounted police. The next day during 2010 Heart Attack, they deployed riot police armed with M4 carbine assault rifles. They claim this was necessary in order to stop the march from “jeopardizing public safety” – yet the only threats to public safety were in their own hands. Participants in the demonstration only undertook strategic attacks against corporations sponsoring the Olympics and did not harm or attack bystanders.

The media are now busy denouncing the political violence of property destruction, such as the smashing of a Hudson’s Bay Company window, as though it were the only act of violence happening in this city. They forget that economic violence goes on daily in Vancouver. People are suffering and dying from preventable causes because welfare doesn’t give enough to afford rent, food or medicine, and because authorities routinely ignore the medical emergencies of poor or houseless individuals. This economic violence has gotten worse as we lose housing and social services because of the Olympic Games. In response to this assault, thousands took to the streets, hundreds joining what is known as a black bloc.

The black bloc is not a formal organization; it has no leadership, membership, or headquarters. Instead, the black bloc is a tactic: it is something people *do* in order to accomplish a specific purpose. By wearing black clothing and masking our faces, the black bloc allows for greater protection to those who choose active self-defense. The majority of people involved in the black bloc do not participate in property destruction. However, in masking up they express their solidarity with those who choose to take autonomous direct action against the corporations, authorities and politicians who wage war on our communities.

Participation in the black bloc is an act of courage. With only the shirts on our backs and the masks on our faces, we took to the streets against Canada’s largest ever “peacetime” police force. Protected only by black fabric and the support of our comrades, we stood in front of antiriot cops armed with assault rifles, pistols and batons. We proved that $1 billion of “security” couldn’t prevent us from clogging the heart of downtown Vancouver and crashing a party of 100 000 people — and getting away with it.

You won’t ever know who was in the black bloc this weekend, but you do know us. We are the people who organize community potlucks, who dance during street festivals, who make art, defend the land, build co-ops, bicycles and community gardens. When we put on our black clothing, we are not a threat to you, but to the elites.

Whoever you are, one day you will join us. As long as government and corporations attack our communities, we’re going defend – and that means attack.

Signed,

Two organizers and participants in the anarchist presence of the “Take back our city” demonstration and “2010 Heart Attack” street march, February 2010, Coast Salish Territories

Warning: the following video contains swearing, vandalism, riot cops, and activists articulately explaining why they oppose the Games. (I didn’t make the video — it’s from the Vancouver Media Co-op, which is producing and aggregating lots of good coverage of the anti-Olympic protests.)

BC Liberal MLA Harry Bloy thinks anti-Olympic protesters are terrorists:

For this group to take away so much from the Games, to have an opinion not shared by many where they have to gather from across Canada to try and disrupt these Games, to stop a young child or young adult with disabilities from carrying the flame—something he had been looking at doing for months since he was chosen, and he couldn’t carry it in his hometown—I think is disgusting and shameful.

They do not understand, these terrorists, the potential goodwill and economic benefits that come from these Games, because they have a limited intellect and do not understand how the world truly operates.

So if the protesters manage to successfully disrupt the Games, does that mean the terrorists win?

Evidently some poor kid’s desire to be exploited by the Olympic machine is more important to Harry Bloy than police harassment of our most vulnerable neighbors; the failure of politicians to live up to their promises to address Vancouver’s housing and homelessness crisis; flagrant violations of fundamental rights; the creation of a $900 million security apparatus that seems to spend most of its time intimidating critics of the Games and their friends; the prospect of massive public debt and the diversion of desperately needed funding from other areas to cover the $6 billion cost of the Olympics; the horrendous effects the Games have had on other host cities; and all the other issues that are motivating anti-Olympic activism in BC. Indeed, according to Harry Bloy, only someone with a “limited intellect” would be more concerned about these issues than about an absurd and pointless spectacle dedicated to elite athletics, nationalism, and corporate sponsorship. Personally, I think the protesters “understand how the world truly operates” far better than Harry Bloy.

It’s not that I expect anything better from politicians, least of all a BC Liberal. I just don’t like it when my friends are insulted by idiots.