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Photos:

  STORY: People from the Toronto Disaster Relief Committee and the ranks of the homeless met in bitter cold outside the coroner’s building this morning to continue actions for shelter and housing programs.

   During the holiday week at least two homeless deaths occurred in a three day period. These deaths could have been prevented as the TDRC and other groups have lobbied the Mayor's office for years with recommendations for more shelter beds, warming centres, health measures and harm reduction shelters.

    Tuberculosis is spreading at the crowded shelters as the city fails to heed health warnings. Though space is available at the empty Princess Margaret Hospital and the Armory the city is again playing a game of rationing shelter, acting on a questionable emergency basis and rules that leave people on the streets in freezing temperatures or in disease-ridden shelters.

   After a talk on the deaths at the Coroner’s building, angry protesters marched across downtown to the Princess Margaret Hospital to demand that it be opened for shelter space … and later found that it wasn’t completely empty as a gang of police officers emerged through the doors. Horseback police and a number of cruisers were also present to hinder the protest.

   We have a city that doesn’t want to pay for more shelter space yet has plenty of cash for unessential policing and heating an empty building … which seems to be part of a general trend toward a misguided form of security. Billions are being spent to prevent terrorism in a federal security budget, though there haven’t been any terrorist attacks in Canada … and likely won’t be.

   Believers in security should perhaps consider that genuine security arises from a person first having a home. Homelessness is really a form of economic terrorism where those that fall through the cracks of the rat race are left to the mercy of the streets, to be victimized by harsh conditions and ignorant social forces that thrive on using or bashing the poor.

   Housing really has to be part of social policy and programs. People are homeless and dying now when the economy is fairly strong, and the lack of affordable housing grows each year in so-called prosperous times.

   For many people insecurity is growing, and elected officials need to change their outlook. Working people lack stable housing solutions and the unemployed quickly hit the streets. The roots of our fears and suffering aren’t foreign terrorists. Stupid or stupefied city, provincial and national governments are the source.

Contact the TDRC
http://www.tao.ca/~tdrc
steve@v-r.net
cathy.crowe@sympatico.ca
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Protesters March to Reclaim Civil Liberties as the War Rages On – Dec.15.2001
Photos:

  Toronto residents gathered at City Hall Saturday to oppose the loss of civil liberties contained in government anti terrorist measures. A freak snowstorm and the nearness of Christmas reduced the numbers at this event. That loss got compensated by the diversity of the crowd. It included Arab and Muslim protesters, Jewish youth, anarchists, peace groups, queers, opponents of the bombing of Palestine and so on.

    There were a number of speakers that attacked government anti terrorist bills like C36, and the incredible cruelty of the war in Afghanistan … a war in which 3,500 civilians have been directly killed, and the rights of prisoners of war abandoned … rights that took more than 200 years to win.

   The protest ended with people illegally taking over University Avenue and chanting as they marched to liberal party headquarters.

   Though there haven't been any terrorists attacking in Canada our government has the public surrendering to fear and granting them dictatorial powers to spy on, arrest and imprison people. Immigrants and people with brown skin now find themselves suspects and not citizens. They are isolated from free society.

   Protest may fail to reverse the legislation in the short term, but it serves another purpose as organizing continues that includes all social groups in one protest body. So if equality can't be found in the law or in society in Canada, we can find it in protest.

   Many people think anti terrorist legislation was unneeded but got passed to please the US. With the questionable election of George Bush we are seeing a US Administration that is indistinguishable from its Intelligence Community. Since Sept 11th and maybe before, the US has in my opinion been run from the George Bush Center for Intelligence, which is the HQ of the Central Intelligence Agency in Virginia. The powers in control are President Bush, CIA Director George J. Tenet and representatives from the State Department, Energy Department, Treasury, the Military and FBI. Together they form the official US Intelligence Community.

   Note that the Energy Department and Treasury have a key voice. With players like that in control, can it be any surprise that civil liberties are being removed or that US foreign policy is one of  oil/economic war wherever it can be made. Corporate bigwigs are also involved, forming an advisory body to the CIA.

   Their Achilles' heel is the truth, but not much of that is getting out. Today the fear mongering continues with reports that bin Laden was prepared to bomb London and that an al Qaeda biological, nuclear, and chemical site has been found.

    What we really should fear is unstable US allies like Pakistan that do have nuclear weapons … and there should be nervousness over the fact that all evidence in the terrorist attacks and war on terror has been suspect to a degree. Much has been hidden regarding the World Trade Center attack. Recent evidence like the bin Laden confession video also seems odd. A former director of Pakistan's Intelligence says it was probably a bin Laden look-alike in the tape. Convicting people via corporate television media while offering them no opportunity of defense is another new twist we are expected to accept. Osama is probably guilty, but that is no reason for portraying him as a larger than life threat when he has no real military capability he can use to challenge the West.

   The plans to bomb London, found in Tora Bora, are for some reason written in clear English and were found in a cave by a journalist after US Special Forces were there. A suspected al Qaeda nuclear site has now appeared right beside US Camp Rhino in Afghanistan.

    Facts on the war are also hard to get or verify. What seems certain now is that the largest bombing attack in history has hit Tora Bora. At the end of Ramadan the Afghan soldiers weren't fighting so the US dropped continual blasts to make sure bin Laden forces could neither surrender nor escape.

   Now the report is that they have escaped and are traveling through dense mountain forest into Pakistan. To halt that the US is blast burning the entire forested region with incendiary bombs that are illegal under the Geneva Accords.

   They think Osama bin Laden may be there, yet the magnitude of the attack does not measure up with a plan to win a small war or to capture him. Clearly they are desperate to kill this Frankenstein monster they created, and to the point that they will bomb and burn anything to try and get him. If all they really want is to shut him up they must be hiding something.

   Perhaps to win the war for civil liberties at home we have to get out the truth that this isn't an ordinary war. The supposed enemy is not even attacking. What we are getting is the endless flogging of a dead boogie man as corporatized government and media seek support through inducing fear.

   Automobiles crush and kill people daily, yet there isn't a war on them. Cigarettes and pollution probably kill even more. Terrorists aren't killing anyone here so it's time to stop the panic and the rush to a police state. Governments don't deserve respect if they are legislating out of fear, and they deserve contempt if they are using this scare to build their own power and further a corporate global agenda.

Notes by Gary Morton
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Protest Begins Against Canada's Severe Anti Terrorist Legislation – Sat.Dec.8.2001
Photos of Demonstration:

   It's Christmastime and the federal government has not been generous. Like Scrooges living in fear of terrorism they have repossessed our civil liberties through a number of anti terrorist bills. Today the Bloor West for Peace group kicked off protest opposition to Bill C36 with a picket at liberal MP Tony Ianno's office in the Italian neighbourhood of Toronto.

   Not so many years ago Toronto police broke up all street gatherings of Italian men in that area of Toronto. Nearly every ethnic community and group has experienced harassment from police, using the powers they already have. Now anti terrorist bills like C36 give police incredible new powers to spy on and jail us all … and though the government says this is for security many people feel that the security of Big Brother is another form of terror. People suddenly jailed under anti-terrorist legislation will be as hard to find as Osama bin Laden, and the record of arrests under current law has been terrible. Nearly all of the hundreds arrested across North America are completely innocent.

    Opposition continues tomorrow with a Science for Peace forum and teach-in at the Medical Sciences Building of the University of Toronto from 1:00 to 4:30 p.m. Rocco Galati will address civil liberties and the anti-terrorism Bill C36.

   On Thursday December 13, 7pm an evening of speakers, song & solidarity on the erosion of Human Rights in the name of Anti-Terrorism takes place at OISE, 252 Bloor West.

   A rally and march addressing the Attack on Civil Liberties happens next Saturday Dec 15, noon in Toronto's Nathan Phillips Square.

   Activists have also occupied Justice Minister Anne Mclellan's office in Edmonton beginning at 8pm on Friday, December 7 and will be there throughout the weekend or longer.  They have a list of demands regarding "anti-terrorist" legislation (bills c-36, c-35, c-42).
1) nation-wide public education campaigns.
2) a binding national referendum.
3) dissolving CSIS in favour of a kick-ass Mariachi band.
Contact phone number inside the office - (780) 982-5829

For Bloor West For Peace Info contact: Michelle bw4peace@yahoo.ca
Bill C36 page at http://CitizensontheWeb.com
http://www.interlog.com/~cjazz/c36.htm
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Abdul the Dangerous – Nov.11.2001
   The Toronto Muslim community held a demo today against the war. This rally of mostly families from mosques drew an army of cops. There were rafts of motorcycle cops, red unmarked vans, paddy wagons, all sorts of uniforms and undercover men and the media was nearly all police media.
   Camera guys at the front of the rally were cops with 10-thousand-dollar zoom attachments. While I took photos of the banners with my 99-dollar digital camera, one cop gave a cameraman instructions. "That's Abdul there putting on the blue jacket. Make sure you get solid footage of him."
   Abdul appeared to be one of the organizers of the rally. I took his photo but deleted it. Now I wonder if he knows he's under constant police surveillance.
   So much for the claim that political organizers won't be harassed under anti terrorism legislation. They are already under heavy surveillance and the bill hasn't even gone through yet.
   Here are a couple photos of the rally
http://photosc.msspro.com/pic/afghan1.jpg
http://photosc.msspro.com/pic/afghan2.jpg
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Human Need Not Corporate Greed
(Toronto Nov 9th Protest Against the World Trade Organization)

Photos
A couple photos of the march
http://photosc.msspro.com/pic/wtoto1.jpg
http://photosc.msspro.com/pic/wtoto2.jpg
WTO Kicking the World Around
http://photosc.msspro.com/pic/wtoto3.jpg
A couple of the radical cheerleaders
http://photosc.msspro.com/pic/wtoto4.jpg

   The World Trade Organization (WTO) picked Doha, Qatar as this year's meeting site to avoid public participation, scrutiny and protest … but they didn't avoid protest as that happened against the WTO/IMF/World Bank world wide.
   In Toronto protesters from labour, social justice groups and the general public met at City Hall and marched to Citibank for a rally. The rally included a choir, speakers, radical cheerleaders and a ball game. A ball with a map of the world on it was kicked over the Mobilization for Global Justice banner and around by protesters in business suits, representing the way the WTO kicks the people of the world around with policies of corporate greed.
   Corporate greed was also denounced at City Hall where the mayor and his backers are trying to sneak through a plan to privatize the city's water supply. Plans to privatize other city services are also in the works in smoky back rooms.
   As the WTO seeks a new round, it is attempting to include many items that are not trade and that would kill local democracy and the sovereignty of nation states. Public services for example, would be handed over to the private sector, making it impossible for citizens to guarantee themselves basic necessities like clean water. In the absence of genuine economic growth, the private sector has been cannibalizing public services to grow. Though it is called privatization, examples like the recent privatization of an Ontario nuclear reactor show that the public is left to pay off all debt and losses, while large corporations operate the services and skim off any profits.

Next up is the International Monetary Fund/World Bank/G20 protest in Ottawa Nov 16th to 19th 2001
The Mobilization for Global Justice has opened with Four key demands.
1. Open all World Bank and IMF meetings to the media and the public.
2. Cancel all impoverished country debt to the World Bank and IMF, using the institutions' own resources.
3. End all World Bank and IMF policies that hinder people's access to food, clean water, shelter, health care, education, and right to organize. (Such "structural adjustment" policies include user fees, privatization, and economic austerity programs.)
4. Stop all World Bank support for socially and environmentally destructive projects such as oil, gas, and mining activities, and all support for projects such as dams that include forced relocation of people.

This report by Gary Morton
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The Other Side of Policing- Oct.28.2001
(Toronto Alternative to the International Police Convention)
By Gary Morton

Photos:
http://www.interlog.com/~cjazz/polc1.jpg
http://www.interlog.com/~cjazz/polc2.jpg
http://www.interlog.com/~cjazz/polc3.jpg
http://www.interlog.com/~cjazz/polc4.jpg

   The Saturday march was exiting Grange Park when I arrived. Catching the tail end I noticed people frowning from cars as it crossed Queen St. Obviously most locals view policing critics and protesters as misfits, rebels without a cause, feminist crazies or friends of criminals.

   That view is incorrect. The groups behind the weekend actions had a detailed agenda that is impossible to cover in a short article. It adds up to a mini convention of public groups on policing, running counter to the Police Chiefs' meeting.

   A Friday night public forum featured a few speakers. Most memorable was Pierre George's complete story of the shooting of his brother Dudley by police. Not only did police raid the park and shoot Dudley, they also worked to delay his medical treatment. Pierre recounts driving many kilometers on a flat tire, trying to get to the hospital, only to be grabbed and charged by police before he got Dudley into emergency. Dudley had been alive on the drive to the hospital, but delays due to police may have led to his death.

   Events continued Saturday morning at Grange Park and the march headed out for the Police Convention. Though we never got anywhere near Front Street. A wall of police met us at King Street so we turned and gathered in the park behind the CBC building. At that location a line of police stood behind a ribbon, and beyond them were more riot cops and teams of horseback officers. Plainclothes officers looked on as the rally began.

   The show of police force was in place for the 11,000 chiefs, sheriffs and other police personnel at Skydome and the Metro Convention Centre. Also receiving protection were Smith and Wesson, Glock, and Humane Restraint, which had complete weapons shows for the police.

   I had to delay this article due to a fever virus that came on suddenly. In memory the rally took place under a chilly sky of early winter with protesters often taking amazed glances at the police army on the other side of the ribbon. The vision of police still seems like another hallucination of the fever … the windy towers and parks of that segment of downtown holding nothing but roaming columns of police and horses, like social cleansing had finally been completed and no one was left.

   We were on the free side and there were some fine speeches at the rally. Don Weitz and the Dope Poets Society did poetry. We heard from police critics and those close to victims of police shootings. A flyer had photos of ten shooting victims, and speakers mentioned how hard it is to fight police on shootings. One example is the Committee for Justice for Otto Vass. They have only 200 dollars while the police association is spending money in wads of hundreds of thousands of dollars to aid the officers that beat Otto to death.

   Anna Willats' speech on policing issues should be made to the Chiefs. It won't be because people seen as critics aren't wanted. The authorities want to define the limits of the debate, keeping certain ideas out of the discussion.

   The debate police want to entertain is of mechanisms for delivering a law and order agenda on behalf of the state and corporate interests. Usually it is between community policing (police on foot and cycles) and the standard cops making calls in fast cruisers. High tech is also a facet with police now wanting to militarize with helicopters, super surveillance and weapons.

   If a message got across to me it is that most police critics favour a different kind of policing. Cops in fast cruisers often don't arrive when women beaten in their homes make 911 calls … and when they do they still tend to treat women as the property of men. Community policing is seen by many as harassment. Police on foot go out from mini stations and ticket and jail everyone they see as undesirable … meaning they tend to go after the poor, youth and people of color.

   Activists see policing as something that should rise out of a general social justice agenda or a world that works for all. Give us affordable housing, childcare, commitment to addressing racism and homophobia … the list goes on … and there'll be very little crime. Nowadays we must also say give us peace and not war.

   Anna Willats had a list of the police workshops, and read them out. Social justice was not on the police agenda. It was more a law and order agenda. - criminalization as opposed to liberation. No workshops on violence against women, racism and so on. But stuff like Fighting Terrorism at the Olympics, Every Police Chief has Role in the Fight Against Terror, Street of Madness, policing the mentally ill, etc.

   In response the coalition followed up the rally with its own workshops at the University of Toronto, addressing the issues the police want to ignore.

   The new focus on terrorism is also a concern, with many people opposing Bill C-36, which grants the police incredible powers. Things like breaking into your house without telling you or placing you in arbitrary detention. Though the RCMP chief says the new laws won't be used against protesters and activists, most people think they will. There has already been a movement in the media to label Canadian groups as terrorists. A number of media outlets have called the Ontario Coalition Against Poverty/Ontario Common Front terrorists and a special meeting was held between the mayor and police officials to find ways of breaking up the group. You can be sure that they didn't suggest eliminating poverty as a way of getting rid of OCAP.

    In the National Post the Canadian Columbian Association, which held a recent peace mission to Columbia, has been labeled a terrorist group. Most unlucky are Animal Activists as a Toronto Star columnist has given all animal defenders a blanket label of terrorist, regardless of the group.

   I wish visions of a police state were the fever and not the reality. But the police powers are in place and the tendency is going to be to expand their use. Especially when the media is pushing new panic buttons every day.

For poetry from the protest see
http://www.justusleaguerecords.com

The Rally, Forum and Workshops included the following groups:
Anti-Racism Media Education Group / Black Action Defence Committee / Canadian Coalition Against the Death Penalty / Coalition for a Public Inquiry Into Ipperwash / Committee for Justice for Otto Vass / Committee to Stop Targeted Policing / CUPE (Canadian Union of Public Employees) local 1281 / CUPE local 3903 / Digital Praxis / Free  Mumia Now Coalition / International Socialists / June 13 Committee / Maggies / Metro Network for Social Justice / New Socialist Group / Ontario Coalition Against Poverty / OPIRG-Toronto / People Against Coercive Treatment / Toronto Action for Social Change / Toronto Friends of MOVE / Toronto Mobilization for Global Justice / Toronto Rebuilding the Left / Toronto and York Region Labour Council

For info call 416-656-2232
e-mail oct27protest@hotmail.com
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Joe Clark Dogged by Animal Rights Protesters - Oct.23.2001
By Gary Morton
Photo
http://photosc.msspro.com/pic/jdogs.jpg

   Federal Tory leader Joe Clark got embarrassed by protesters and their dogs as he attended a fundraising dinner tonight in Toronto.
   Folks from the International Fund for Animal Welfare, Toronto Coalition For Bill C-15 and Freedom for Animals picketed at City Hall, across from the hotel and drew more media attention than Clark.
   Clark has been attacking Liberal Bill C-15, which would increase penalties for animal abuse. Some Tories have been listening to corporate farming and other interests that want exemptions put in the bill. Should that happen the bill would become a bill of cruelty rights, enshrining rights for researchers, pharmaceutical companies, factory farms and so forth to be as cruel as they wanted to animals.
   Though protesters did not confront Clark, I went across the street with a friend and entered the reception at the Grand Ballroom. We walked thru a thick crowd of mostly white males in expensive suits. These were nearly all famous Tories … and being a usual Tory opponent the scene had a nightmarish feeling for me. At one point Bill Davis and Hal Jackman were passing, Tony Clement and some Harris Tories were to the left, John Nunziata and friends to the right and so on.
   Finally Clark appeared, coming down the escalator. I stepped out in front of the cameras, gave him a flyer and asked him to support animal rights. He said he'd take a look at it then plunged into the waiting crowd.

contact Rebecca Aldworth at:
raldworth@ifaw.org
http://www.dontbecruel.ca
http://www.anticruelty.ca
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Terror vs. Terror and the Peace March in Toronto – Sat.Oct.20.2001
By Gary Morton

   War and bigotry are the first casualties of truth. Canada's police are worried about that and stationed a paddy wagon near the speakers' podium at Saturday's Queen's Park peace rally.

   Horseback and other officers ringed the park, and there's little doubt that this military presence was put in place to discourage people from attending and speaking out. It also worked to make the people of peace appear to be criminals.

    In spite of that a large crowd showed and Sid Ryan delivered a fiery speech about terrorism, his background in Ireland and peace. It seemed to shrink the paddy wagon behind him to the size of a toy. The demonstration also defied authority, becoming a long march to liberal headquarters and then down to the US Consulate.

Photos:
Avy Go Speaks at Liberal Headquarters
http://photosc.msspro.com/pic/oct20a.jpg
Three March Photos
http://photosc.msspro.com/pic/oct20b.jpg
http://photosc.msspro.com/pic/oct20c.jpg
http://photosc.msspro.com/pic/oct20d.jpg

   At a recent forum Paul Hellyer said, "You can't be at peace with people that hate you." Paul's insight on war seems to be the insight that our international leaders don't have. It is only the public that gets this message and takes it to the streets. Recently 150,000 people marched in Italy, 100,000 protested in Calcutta and 50,000 demonstrated in London and Berlin.

   This week the war on terrorism has taken on an unreal appearance, being a disaster movie, adventure movie and comedy movie all at the same time. The media is featuring reports of US secret or super commandos beginning their raids into Afghanistan to establish a foothold for a high casualty ground war. Most of these casualties are going to be innocent Afghani citizens that die of starvation and lack of medicine. 7.5 million civilians may die.

   The comedy is at the APEC Summit where leaders dressed in Chinese shirts are to issue a statement that will tell us what the war on terrorism is about. Let's hope it isn't going to be about world wide persecution of the Falun Gong or other harmless meditation societies the Chinese don't like … or a North American security perimeter that is really a new form of racist free trade agreement.

    Continuing the comedy is Senator John McCain. Appearing on David Letterman he said, "You know what Osama bin Laden's gonna be this Halloween? Dead."

   In Shanghai Prime Minister Jean Chretien has joined Bush in thinking that we have already won the war. He is calling for the United Nations to set up a new government in Afghanistan once the Taliban is crushed.

   In New York David Bowie, Elton John, Jagger and others held a mammoth concert for the Trade Center victims and rescue effort. They sang America and Heroes, and I think we were heroes before we decided to roar off to Afghanistan with bombs and troops. We look tarnished now. Jagger's an old man. He goes to one of those bars where you pay to have five young gals sit with you. Elton looks like an old lady and if David Bowie isn't outa sight he should be.

   Still it was a nice gesture by some old men.

   Lost in the media war speak, our leaders can't get past the idea that they have to make war on the "cowards" that want to blow themselves and others to pieces. In order to destroy these cowards we must become "heroes" that punish ourselves while bombing innocent refugees.

   Endless tears are be shed for those that have died in the USA, yet our hearts must remain cold as ice when considering those who suffer and die as we attempt to retaliate against the ENEMY.

   Here are some clever techniques the mass media has come up with for destroying these terrorists.

- Removing many of our freedoms, racial equality and the right to privacy in the West.
- Urging Vladimir Putin to enlist the Russian mafia to rub out Bin Laden.
- Using hit men to kill off terrorists and foreign leaders we don't like.
- Punishing and silencing those who raise questions about US foreign policy.
- Using coercive power in the Middle East.
- Using tactical nuclear weapons in Afghanistan.
- Having news anchors wear American flags on their lapels.
- Eliminating the right to protest.
- Pulling advertising revenue from any media that criticizes Bush or the War.
- Launching a full scale ground war in Afghanistan.
- Shutting down web sites.
- Attacking nearly every nation that might hold terrorists.
- Masking a racist North American Free Trade deal under the guise of a Security Perimeter.
- Scaring people to death, yet punishing severely those that put in false terrorism reports.

   And what are Afghani civilians saying?
   This is what a farmer said after the massacre in Khorum, a bombed Afghani village where people got buried alive and mutilated by bombs.
* Web video at http://www.channel4.com/news/home/20011014/4afg.ram

   "We don't have bread to eat, we don't have anything, and they pour bombs on our heads,'' said Fazel Ahmed, 37, a farmer from Farah. "What sins have we committed? Tell me, what did we do to deserve to have hell pouring down on us? All this for a couple of terrorists. Go and catch them in their caves instead of killing the poorest of the poor,'' he added, breaking into tears.

    And will this killing prevent terrorism?
    Probably not. Here is one reason why.

   Bio-terrorism: edited clip from a US source.
   "In my worst nightmares I can imagine a scenario where terrorists willingly infected with germs go traveling, spitting, coughing, hacking their way from airport to airport. One or two infected individuals could inoculate 200 or more people via the air system in a 3 or 4 hour flight and those 200 or more people would deplane at their stops and carry the germs into 200 different places. They could also do the same thing with hand held mechanical dispensers or they could simply dip their hands in some lethal lotion and walk around the plane touching things."

   Even if you take terrorists out of the equation there is still a bio-terror problem. Renowned physicist Stephen Hawking recently said that the human race will have to move people to space stations to survive. That is because eventually germs will escape from sloppy corporate or government labs and kill us all.

   Probably the key reason why war won't stop terrorism is that it is a social and political problem. In spite of people that want to prohibit talk of foreign policy, it is what we must discuss to end terrorism.

   Analogy of a Palestinian Suicide Bomber.

   In the West Bank the Israelis have settlements and the Palestinians have their areas. It is all connected by roads but only Israelis have the right to use the roads. Palestinians live in poverty, are constantly bombed and moved from their houses. The cycle of violence is growing to war again due to a policy of assassinating suspected enemies. There is a Palestinian suicide attack followed by an Israeli hit or bombing followed by a suicide attack in an endless circle of violence.

    The root of the problem is that the Palestinians live in a state of apartheid. Young Palestinian men feel they have nothing to live for other than continued poverty and oppression, so they sign on for death missions. It has become institutionalized in the fact that after you die your family will get some social benefits and care.

   There is oppression across the world and terrorists have risen or will rise from it. War conducted by the West will only magnify this problem, it will not end it.

   So another root of the problem is Western attitude and foreign policy. For decades we've believed in some rights, civil liberties and economic well being for people here, while denying it to people in the poorer nations. It's a total denial of equality, and a belief that it's okay for others to suffer, starve and die so long as our corporations and consumer interests prosper.

   Now things have changed and the world is shared space. We will not prosper unless we eliminate our attitudes and policies of oppression. We can either change or we will die through terrorism and war.

   War is not a system of justice in our high tech nuclear/germ/genetically modified world. It will bring final justice for us all. International mechanisms are needed to deal with terrorists … combined with patience and an understanding that the innocent masses shouldn't be punished for the actions of a few.
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Media Democracy (Died) Day– Oct.20.2001
By Gary Morton

   A gang of Toronto alternative media people protested at outlets of media conglomerates Friday, and later held a panel discussion, film night and social at Bar Code.

   A bigger crowd attended the social. Protest locations were at the Toronto Sun, CTV, Rogers and the CRTC.  Jan Pachul and friends of Star Ray Community TV protested at the federal regulatory body (CRTC). The regulator has been trying to shut Star Ray down for some time, labeling Pachul a pirate and doing other things to humiliate him.
 * Details at http://www.srtv.on.ca/

   I protested with people from Catch da Flava - http://www.catchdaflava.com/ at the Toronto Sun. The Sun is the little fascist paper that grew to become under the control of media giant Quebecor. Slick security guards in suits were out front when we got there and they watched us closely. Police were also present.

   The Sun location on King West is best described as dull and dead end … more so in salty autumn light. A terrible spot for a protest. The Catch da Flava people clowned around with cameras and a microphone. Standing by the entrance with a racist/fascist media sign I heard reports come over the guard's radio. The Sun had someone stationed in an upper window saying things like," One of them is on the corner with a video camera so watch him."

    The Sun box outside had an Anthrax/Terrorism headline and a big photo of a guy in a bio suit holding a dish of pills. Helen Choi chalked a message on the sidewalk with an arrow to it, and that caused a security guard to come out later carrying a bucket of water to wash it off.

   Large scale layoffs are taking place. They've hit the Sun, the Star and CTV at a time when they are making a killing on war profits. Workers out for a smoke mentioned a union trying to get in at the Sun.

   Interesting is the fact that the Sun and the Catch da Flava people are located in that same area. The Sun is big corporate media while da Flava folks are young people from the rough Regent Park area, putting out a community paper and web site.

    The local Sun's latest editorial is one calling for politicians and police to crack down on protest action by a group called OCAP or the Ontario Common Front. Other corporate papers and TV are about the same in their view on protesters. Even the liberal Star ran a couple columns last week to associate animal activists with terrorists. My observation is that the Sun likes OCAP. They gave them all kinds of news coverage and now a Sunday editorial. But what did media democracy people get for protesting peacefully at the Sun? The answer is no coverage at all. We should have kicked out a few windows.

   In January I attended a radical writing day put on by the New Socialists. I'm not schooled and technically shouldn't be able to write anything. I remember staring open mouthed as Naomi Klein told us not to give up on the corporate media. Things have sure changed since then.

   At the panel discussion Jan Pachul said Freedom of the Press belongs to those who own a press. In Canada five media giants own the press. Though the air waves belong to the public, our government apportions them out to the giants as a sort of license to print money. Obviously there will be no freedom of the press or media democracy until that changes.

   As far as democracy goes, big media outfits aren't any example of that. The very structure of newspapers with the dictatorial publishers and editors is in opposition to democracy.

   Panel discussions included Barrie Zwicker, Barry Duncan, Judy MacDonald, Tara Atluri, Adonis Huggins and Paul Boin. It was either Zwicker or Duncan that congratulated us for being the adversarial culture … which I didn't particularly like. I saw it as a way of relegating us to the fringe.

   Talking heads and media giants that repeat the same pro state ideas have become a fringe that holds power. Perhaps the heart and soul of media exists in alternatives now that the head of the body has been lobotomized.

    Being fringe of the fringe, I've never cared much for panel discussions, talks or presentations. Though I attend forums and so forth I've never agreed with that structure. It's not democratic, but reinforces our societal model of celebrities and the chosen ones lording over the little people.

    So I ended up leaving and going to free space outside a theatre where some people from the free university of Toronto gather in a circle on Friday nights to discuss bridging the gap between the sexes. In a circle everyone is equal. Some nutty ideas were exchanged. One guy took off his shirt and said the gap between the sexes might be bridged if we all did the same.

    You can guess whether we did it or not

   … and that's what democracy looks like to me.

* Media Democracy Day: http://www.mediademocracyday.org
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Autumn Fur Protests- Oct.20.2001
By Gary Morton

Fur Photos:
- I'm Not a Coat
- Fur is Murder
- Stop the Bloody Fur Trade

   Autumn colors are spinning in the gusts, inspiring Freedom for Animals and friends as they continue with a series of protests against the Halloween ghouls of the fur industry. The second demo happened today at the Bay and a small group showed to leaflet, picket, do handouts, chalk the sidewalk and talk to the public via the horn. There is some variety here as a few people regularly show and get complemented by others sprinkling in from the animal rights movement. Some people couldn't make it today due to animal emergencies, others from Hamilton did show. Downtown Toronto, believe it or not, is without humane society animal services … due to corrupt assholes on city council and the humane society board of directors. Council should immediately fund the animal rescues that are working outside of the humane society.

   The Bay's historical background is as a trapping company. 3.5 million fur-bearing animals are killed each year by trappers in the US. Another 2.7 million animals are raised on cruel factory fur farms.

   This is a case where corporations and consumer society are saying that an end product justifies any means of creating it – no matter how cruel. Trapping wasn't bad enough for them so they had to go a step further with factory fur torture farms where animals are deprived and killed by gassing, suffocation or electrocution thru the anus. If we can't shut them down altogether, we can at least continue to get the message out and stigmatize the use of fur. More people educated on the issue means more people seeing that fur coat as something wretched … and you don't want to look wretched do you?

Contact: Candice, email lucy518@hotmail.com
see http://www.furisdead.com/
Protests continue EVERY OTHER SATURDAY at the southwest corner of the Bay's Queen & Yonge store from noon-1:30 p.m. (Sat., November 3, Sat., November 17, Sat., December 1)
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Toronto Anti-War Rally Targets Racist Media–Sat.Oct.13.2001
By Gary Morton

Photos of demo:

   Sallmah Valiani of the coalition noted that the Canadian Broadcasting Corp has agreed to President Bush's demand to screen messages from Osama Bin Laden and the Middle East. She says the CBC should probably screen the messages of Bush and some of the leaders. In agreement with her is the Belgian foreign minister, as he was in the news today attacking the war-mongering speeches of British Prime Minister Tony Blair.

    Surprises came when a thug showed up to pick a fight with anti war folks, and later when uniformed and horseback police blocked the march, leading to a standoff that went on for several minutes. A second thug showed briefly when the march got to the CBC. He loudly denounced the speakers as Terrorists. Police, present in large numbers, simply watch such occurrences, apparently hoping violence will break out.

   There is some question as to whether the first troublemaker was genuine. While taking photos I heard two CTV reporters talking about creating a news story. Shortly after that a loud and profane thug arrived, circling to the back of the demo to scare some Islamic people also arriving. Cameras rushed in to do a feature on him.

   The media has turned the coverage of the War on Terrorism into a new form of racist terror that several speakers denounced … and if the media doesn't directly send in racist thugs, they do a good job of creating them through their biased and paranoid coverage.

   Anthrax is the current scare and as Sallmah noted in her talk, it is big corporations that are really behind the germ scare. She didn't mention it but outfits like Monsanto and Novartis that aid the war machine have also sponsored out of control genetic engineering in university, hospital and private labs. Jeremy Rifkin has a post out on the net describing how anyone with ten thousand dollars can build their own bio-terror lab. Groups like GeneAction – see www.geneaction.org – have protested dangerous genetic engineering for a long time and the government has paid little attention. Now politicians are exploiting fear to pass legislation (some of it racist) that removes civil liberties.

   Private companies are also exploiting fear. Today I got a post called Protect yourself against CRIME and TERRORISM!  By buying things like Hidden Cameras, Pepper Spray, Blowguns, Crossbows, Handcuffs, Throwing Stars, Stun Guns and Tasers.

   So has the War on Terrorism succeeded?

   We know George Bush fears new TERRORIST Attacks. His fears and news reports on them happened to occur when a bill to give police expanded powers was before the senate.

    Of course there are legitimate reasons to fear new attacks. Bush's war coalition has succeeded in killing the Taliban leaders' ten-year-old son and grandfather. Following those deaths a little bird informed Bush that there may be retaliation. Sort of like a mafia thing where we kill their children and they strike back.

   Overall the bombing of Afghanistan is killing and crippling innocent civilians by the hundreds. Today a residential area was hit in Kabul. There are riots in Pakistan and across the Middle East people are rising up with thoughts of  revolution and vengeance against the USA. Our brilliant foreign policy of war has created an entire army of new enemies that could resort to terror.

   Instead of winning Afghanistan, we might lose Pakistan (a nuclear power) to rioting and unrest. Even Tony Blair admits that support for the war is waning in the Islamic and Arab nations and elsewhere.

    So to put it bluntly, the war on terrorism is a total failure. We've created more terror, destabilized the Middle East, murdered innocent people, stirred up hatred and racism and removed civil liberties.

   It's time to talk about peaceful solutions while there is some peace left.

Next demo Sat Oct.20 I pm North Side of Queen's Park
info: CAWR_Toronto@yahoo.ca
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Demonstration at the US Consulate in Toronto as Cruise Missiles hit Kabul – Oct.7.2001
Report by Gary Morton

   The USA and Britain attacked Afghanistan with cruise missiles today, and Prime Minister Chretien appeared on TV to tell Canadians to keep living normal lives. Those words were ignored as a crowd gathered to protest at the US Consulate shortly after the bombing began. This time protesters face media, police and governments that do not want to tolerate dissent or allow the freedom that used to belong to the West.

   Though the missile attacks on Afghanistan are billed as surgical strikes against terrorist bases, the attacks are massive and against cities like Kabul.

   Osama Bin Laden appeared via tape on TV in the Middle East before the bombs flew. He confirmed that the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center were to punish the USA for its foreign policy. Osama noted that people in the West ignore mass killing in other parts of the world … like the 500,000 children that died due to sanctions against Iraq, and the bombing of Lebanon and so forth. Calling on his people to rise up he promised that there will be no peace in the West until there is peace in Palestine.

   After Osama Bin Laden's taped message some media pundits were openly worried about news coming out by satellite TV in the Middle East. It can't be slanted or censored much by Western media. This could mean that viewers in the West will be presented with the truth, which is something our governments and media don't want.

   Canada is to play a support role in a growing invasion that is certain to fail in the long run. And the television news said there is no dissent in Canadian parliament.

   If not there should be because this is not a battle on the flat sands of Iraq. George Bush has gone to the mountain, and it may well erupt and fall on all of us. There will be no winners in this one.

Photos of demo:
http://photosc.msspro.com/pic/oct701.jpg
http://photosc.msspro.com/pic/oct702.jpg
http://photosc.msspro.com/pic/oct703.jpg

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Genetically Modified Food Issue a Step Up on the Political Agenda – Oct.8.2001

By Gary Morton

  The Council of Canadians held a national day of action in support of the mandatory labeling of GM foods on Saturday. Organizers Brent Patterson and Kim Phillips plus members and supporters passed out leaflets outside Loblaws' superstore at Bathurst/St. Clair Toronto.

   Public support for GM  food labeling is strong and some politicians are now catching onto that. Federal NDP environment critic Joe Comartin is out in support of the campaign for labeling and liberal leadership candidate Allan Rock is now a strong supporter. Liberal MP Charles Caccia has a private member's bill before Parliament to amend the Food and Drug Act to require mandatory labeling of foods that contain genetically altered materials.

   In Europe you must label if there is anything genetically modified in the food. Rules come into effect in January in Japan and in December in Australia and New Zealand.

   Canada has been on the wrong track, using tax dollars in support of Genetic Engineering. Ottawa spent $2.8 million last spring on a door-to-door brochure extolling the virtues of GM foods. Industry Canada is a member of BioteCanada, bestowing corporate welfare on huge companies like Monsanto. An American company, Monsanto just sucked a million dollars from the government to aid in the development of GE wheat that Canadian farmers and industry do not want.

   Monsanto, Novartis and other large genetic engineering firms are also coming under scrutiny in the wake of the Sept.11th terrorist attack in the United States. They have made the technology for dangerous techniques that can alter plant and animal species too readily available.

Photo from past demonstration
http://photosc.msspro.com/pic/c287b.jpg
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The Humanitarian Crisis Unfolds - Notes and Links on AFGHANISTAN… Oct.4.2001
War on Terror becomes Terror
Notes By Gary Morton

   The Ontario Council for International Cooperation and the Afghan Women's Organization held a special public forum on Afghanistan this evening. It addressed the unfolding humanitarian crisis involving starvation, persecution of women and terrorism in one of the poorest countries in the world.

   Speakers included human rights activist Sally Armstrong, Tommi Laulajainen of Doctors Without Borders and Dr. Amir Hassanpour of the University of Toronto.

   They noted that mountainous Afghanistan is composed of four tribes that have been at war for centuries. Modern wars have blasted the nation 250 years into the past. All infrastructure and organizations of society have been leveled.

   Not so long ago Afghanistan was progressing and the monarchy began working on rights for women through schooling and education. There was a decade of democracy that deteriorated when universities and educational institutions grew into organs of the left and right. The left staged a Soviet backed coup that did not have public support. A long war for liberation followed with the US backing the freedom fighters. President Jimmy Carter financed the exporting of an extreme Saudi form of Islam into Pakistan where religious schools were created that produced hundreds of thousands of holy warriors. They beat the Soviets and went on to become the oppressive Taliban regime controlling Afghanistan, and the backbone of a world wide network of fanatical terrorists.

   Before September 11th only women's groups opposed the Taliban and their campaign of persecution against women. World leaders and the United Nations would not listen.

   Currently Osama Bin Laden and the Taliban are not supported by the Afghan population, which is composed mostly of civilians that have been reduced to refugee status. These citizens are in great danger as the war continues between the Taliban and the Northern Alliance. The threat of war from West worsens the situation.

   The population inside Afghanistan desperately needs aid, but relief workers can't get in due to the political climate that has developed after the Sept.11.2001 terrorist attack on the World Trade Center. The bulk of the terrorists identified are of Saudi or other backgrounds and not Afghanis, but in spite of that Afghanistan has been targeted. This is mainly due to the presence of Osama Bin Laden and the Taliban.

   Any war from the West will lead to a humanitarian catastrophe. The people of Afghanistan need a common vision and a plan for peace and society. War from the West will not create that.

   Our Western media seems to want war and its reaction to the terrorism and the crisis in Afghanistan is now under scrutiny. During the first ten days following the bombing, media launched a War of the Worlds type propaganda campaign. Though it is possible to criticize the Taliban and US foreign policy, the media bought into the idea that anyone speaking a line different from that of George Bush is with the enemy. Rather than seek peace and solutions to terrorism, our media seeks to terrorize us and support every new mechanism recommended for the removal of our civil liberties and right to association and free speech in the West.

* Here is the Afghan Women's Organization's Recommended Steps to solve the crisis in Afghanistan
- That the United States and its allies take every precaution to protect the lives of innocent Afghan civilians, who have already suffered under past regimes, and most recently under the Taliban.
- That the United States and its allies use their advanced technology to bring to justice only to those directly responsible for the attacks.
- That the Canadian government maintain its humanitarian policies by continuing to provide asylum to refugees resettled to Canada, particularly as crises in countries such as Afghanistan worsen.
- That Pakistan and Iran open their doors to Afghan refugees, who are kept hostage by the Taliban, so they find a safe haven in those countries.
- That the alliance between Western and Islamic countries against terrorism be strengthened to ensure that the implementation of the human rights of the women and children of Afghanistan is a top priority in any intervention in relation to Afghanistan.

For information contact Adeena Niazi at the Afghan Women's Organization aniazi@afghanwomen.org.
See http://www.yorku.ca/iwrp/afghan/
Also Read
Special Message from the Feminist Majority on the Taliban, Osama Bin Laden, and Afghan Women
http://www.yorku.ca/iwrp/afghan/news-fem.htm
-----------------------

The New Canadian Peace Movement Grows – Sept.29.2001
Toronto report by Gary Morton

   Though it got called on short notice today's Walk for Peace & Global Solidarity became the largest demonstration of the year. People from numerous social justice and anti-racism groups chose to show.
   Sunshine and warmth filled the day. At the beginning I tried to find a spot where I could photograph the full length of the march as it circled to head off for the US Consulate. That wasn't possible as it was too big. While trying to get that photo I discovered that the event could have been even bigger. People passing through the park complained that they hadn't seen any announcement of it in the media.

Digital Photos:
http://photosc.msspro.com/pic/sept2901.jpg
http://photosc.msspro.com/pic/sept2902.jpg
http://photosc.msspro.com/pic/sept2903.jpg

   Part of a pan-Canadian Day of Action Against War And Racism that included rallies in Vancouver, Halifax and Montreal, the demo didn't get much media coverage. With their War on Terrorism banners, the mainstream press has left the concept of peace out of the equation and out of the news. It might even be said that a reason for marches is that so many people are sick of the lies, bullshit and propaganda filling the daily news.

   This new peace movement represents an educated culture existing in parallel with the culture of brainwashed warmongers that the pollsters tap. Authorities are treating this movement as illegitimate and began by attempting to provoke a confrontation. The rally was to go down Yonge Street, where it would have been visible to a larger crowd. Police prohibited that and openly threatened to jail the organizers and make mass arrests if demonstrators did not follow a route chosen by them. We had the numbers to disobey police, but organizers were left with little choice other than to avoid an ugly scene that would grant a propaganda opportunity to Toronto's mainstream War Media.

   Terrorism is linked to suffering caused by the policies of globalization and arms manufacturing, and though the Mobilization for Global Justice and students made up a large portion of the crowd, none of the other groups thought that peace was a simple matter of avoiding a war in Afghanistan. There are definite links to the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank. Hostility and Terror are not products solely produced by a variety of Islamic extremists. The West is breeding suffering, unrest and terrorism through the implementation of foreign policy designed to allow the rape of the planet by
global corporations. And this means that any War on Terrorism has to begin at home.

    At Queen's Park Hajera Rostam said that Afghani-Canadians are being targeted, and her talk reflected the concerns of most of the people. One picket sign said Taliban do not equal Afghanistan. Which is true as most Afghanis don't support the oppressive Taliban. They are impoverished victims caught between the Taliban and the angry West.

    This war is not against visible nations, but against terrorism. At the American Consulate, Tariq Ali attacked the use of that concept.  "You do not fight terror with terror," Ali said. "…The rule of the West is to punish the crimes of our enemies but reward the crimes of our friends." Tariq is also concerned about the way these events are being used to attack our civil liberties and to introduce more restrictions for people of the "wrong colour".

   The march ended at the City Hall Peace Garden. It proved that we have a large culture of peace in Toronto … and that the challenge is to get the message to the rest of society. The larger media conglomerates are a formidable foe working to magnify the terror so it can be used by corporate and government forces to remove civil liberties and grow the same oppressive global agenda that created oppression and terrorism in the first place.

Protest Info:
Toronto Mobilization for Global Justice
http://www.mob4glob.ca
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Peace on a Cloudy Afternoon - Sept.22.2001
By Gary Morton
     Three events that point to a lack of peace took place in Toronto today. One was titled A Call for Non-Violence! The others were Car Free Day and an anti-Fur Demonstration at the Bay.

A Call for Non Violence
   I feel as powerless as you do when it comes to changing the world. In spite of that I went down to Queen's Park to see what was up on the peace front.
   Lauren Carter and Roberto Verdecchia organized this demo for the Humanist Movement Centre of Cultures … and people gathered wearing clothing with a white touch to symbolize a commitment to non violence. Signs in the crowd conveyed various peace messages.
Photo: Child with sign – Imagine a Universal Human Nature
http://photosc.msspro.com/pic/cloudy1.jpg

   Mike Kelly had a table up with a peace petition that will be received by 13 members of parliament when it is done. The web site with the online petition is at
www.crosscanadapeaceproject.ca

   The march went to the local HQ of the governing Liberal Party at Yonge and St. Mary. We gathered in a circle and Lauren Carter spoke against US President George Bush's recent rallying cry. Bush says that we are either with his coalition or with the terrorists. Lauren feels the real message should be that we are either Against Violence or for Violence.
Photo: Lauren Carter addresses crowd at Liberal HQ
http://photosc.msspro.com/pic/cloudy2.jpg

   Carolyn Basset of the Canadian Peace Alliance was up next and she criticized President Bush for his use of manipulative language. She especially dislikes his talk of sustained violence and good and evil. Carolyn wants our leaders to talk in terms of justice … and take that to mean genuine justice and not the current government messages of vigilante justice that will allow NATO leaders to blow people up without evidence or public consultation.

   After Carolyn, Shabir Ally arrived and became the light of the cloudy day. Taking the horn he informed us that it is nonsensical to go to war today and that people who go to war over religion are idiots. We should really be working for human welfare.
    Shabir follows Islam in a progressive way and sees terrorists and warmongers as practicing a regressive form of the religion. They are 1400 years behind the times.
    He notes three religious wrongs.
- It is wrong to commit suicide.
- It is wrong to attack civilians.
- It is wrong to provoke war.
Photo: Shabir Ally addresses crowd
http://photosc.msspro.com/pic/cloudy3.jpg

   Shabir did make his point and after he spoke I looked up into the cloudy afternoon and saw our government as the slow moving gloom. Prime Minister Jean Chretien, Defence Minister Art Eggleton, the Liberals and other parties think we have the capacity to fight a war … and that it's okay to massacre innocent civilians and call it an attack on terrorism.
   In this war our enemies are mostly dictators and our new allies mostly dictators, too. I really have to wonder if it is us against them or us becoming them? What has happened to our former status as a peacekeeping nation? Nearly all of our military personnel signed up on the basis that we are for peace.
   A relief agency notes that 35,365 children died of starvation in poor countries on September 11, 2001. There were no special TV programs, newspaper articles, messages from the president, solidarity acts, minutes of silence or declarations of war.
   In the West we care only when well-to-do people die … and if war begins we'll have a lot more caring to do because many more of us will be dead.
   While terrorism continues to grow and live.
   Peace is a necessity like food. Without it kindness starves and we all slowly die … and when we're dead there will be no special TV programs for anyone.

info, contact: Lauren Carter 416.203.3573
or Roberto Verdecchia 416.535.2094

War with Animals
   We’re tossing coins these days over who to go to war with … and perhaps we tossed a coin the day we decided to go to war with animals.
   Today Anti-Fur protesters began a series of Fall protests against The Hudson Bay Company. Suzanne, Susan, Dave, Tom, Candice and Candace and others petitioned and held signs with various graphics and anti-Fur messages.
Photo - Stop the Bloody Fur Trade
http://photosc.msspro.com/pic/cloudy4.jpg

   I suppose another message would be that if we could be at peace with animals we might be at peace with ourselves. The use of animal fur is not necessary in an age of cheap fake fur, yet in spite of that we still have cruel trapping going on and factory fur farming that is grotesquely inhumane.
   If we bombed fur bearing animals we'd likely kill far fewer of them and their lives would be better than on a factory farm. Our war on animals is meaner than our wars on civilians.
   I guess we aren't that peace loving when it comes to nature.

Contact "Freedom for Animals" <free_animals@hotmail.com>
Next demo at the southwest corner of the Bay's Queen & Yonge store from noon-1:30 p.m. Sat., October 20
Coalition to Abolish the Fur Trade
http://www.banfur.com/farming/general%20facts.html
http://www.furisdead.com/

Car Free Kick-Off
   Premature death is often related and if we aren't stopping at MacDonalds to kill ourselves with corporate sponsorship, factory-farmed meat and mad cow disease, then we're off racing in cars to accidentally run over helpless animals and other people.
   Cars maim and kill a couple hundred thousand people a year and we haven't declared war on them yet. In Toronto they are choking us and freezing up the streets.
   To oppose the damage St. George from Bloor to College became a car-free zone today. This was a kickoff to a larger event next year. It included road games, street performances, a fashion show, grass-covered pavement and so forth.
   My camera ran out of battery power so my photos of the event came out as black squares … and I think it is relevant as black squares are probably all you see after being run down or choked by smog.
   Ask any cyclist. With cars we have declared war on ourselves … people drive around Toronto like road warriors forcing cyclists and pedestrians aside … but not many people care and most are simply willing to accept the collateral damage of this undeclared war.
   Most of the wreckage is in the form of bodies, and that isn't peace.

Info:http://www.carfreeday.ca

Ending
    So it's a cloudy day in early autumn. We don't have to worry because we'll rationalize our junk lifestyle and violence again tomorrow. We'll fill up on air waves thick with media meanness and do the same rotten things again.
   The leaves will change to brown and like them our souls will go crisp and dead. Ready to burn in the fires of a war we started by mistake.
   Of course we'll hope to be lucky and see it all on TV. The collateral damage will be other poor saps and the refugees that die will be bad guys.
   News is that you don't have to care when you don't have to care.
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Threats of Violence Disrupt Toronto Vigil for Mourning – Sept.16.2001
By Gary Morton

Photos:
- Child with Flowers at US Consulate in Toronto
- Banner - We Mourn for all Victims of War and Terrorism

   A vigil for mourning at the US Consulate went a bit sour at the outset when police forced mourners across the road. Officers seized Laurel Smith of Toronto Action for Social Change and dragged her over to a traffic island on University Avenue.
   There have been people mourning at the consulate all weekend, placing flowers, candles and teddy bears on the grass and steps. Today some of them had little tolerance for people arriving with peace banners. They tried to pick fights and generally expressed their support for war not peace. These folks were of the patriotic sort that have been brainwashed by the mainstream media. One man was dressed in an American Flag.
   People like Laurel came to mourn all victims of terrorism and most believe that working for peace, economic justice and education can reduce terrorism.
   Bombing can create more victims of terror, and the child in the photo listed above was probably another victim … as it did not help her to see that adults wanted to fight rather than to mourn.
-----------
Democracy Shut Down at US Consulate Sept. 16
From:   TASC <tasc@pop.web.ca>
It was supposed to be a day of mourning and a call for reconciliation and peace, but Toronto police would have none of it this afternoon in front of the United States consulate. A variety of Quakers, Unitarians, Anglicans, and members of groups such as Homes Not Bombs and the International Socialists came to mourn as well, and to call for nonviolence, peace, and social justice.
        RCMP had informed the group they could stand in the first lane of University Avenue, but while demonstrators awaited the 1 o'clock officialstart time, the police told a group of some 10-12 people holding incendiary signs such as "War is not the Way: Nonviolence Now" and "There is no way to peace, peace is the way" that they had to move across the street. While most cops gave no reason, some stated that our presence was "not a good mix" with those laying flowers at the consulate in remembrance of the victims of the Tuesday terror attacks in the U.S.
        Police, frustrated that citizens were exercising their democratic rights to stand silently on the sidewalk and plead for peace while their
government whips up the fervour for war, violently ripped the Homes not Bombs banner out of the hands of two individuals and took it across the street. Then, Laurel Smith, a member of Homes not Bombs who was holding a sign reading "Nonviolence Now," was bumped from behind by one police officer, so she sat down. When told to move, Laurel asked for one valid reason, which was not forthcoming. She was then roughly manhandled and dragged across the four lanes of traffic and thrown onto the concrete island dividing University Avenue. She is now nursing a large bruise on her right arm.
        After everyone gathered on the island and set up banners and began leafletting, police again moved to clear the area, stating we should stand way across the street near the University Ave. courthouse. Again, a small group refused to move, as there was clearly no legal or safety reason to do so. We wondered whether we would be moved if we instead had held signs calling for the bombing of Afghanis.
        Again, officers refused to provide a legitimate reason, and pushed people around. Smith, again holding her sign, had it violently ripped from her hands, at which point she again sat down.
        Ironically, the police appeared to be acting, in their usual heavy handed fashion, against the wishes of many who had simply shown up at the consulate to express condolences, many of whom supported our plea for no escalation of the violence, no retaliatory strikes.
        It is clear that the war atmosphere being whipped up by so-called political "leaders" is being reflected in a local level on the streets of our cities, as we saw in today's police actions and as we continue to see in the escalating racist attacks being carried out against Muslims, Hindus, anyone in this country who seems "suspect," just weeks after Canada proclaimed before the world that it was not a racist nation.
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Eight Arrested at Clear the Air Demonstration– Aug.20.2001
report by Gary Morton

* Three reports – reports on jail conditions from Tooker Gomberg and TASC are below this one.

   Eight people were arrested at today's anti-smog demonstration at Ontario Power Generation in Toronto. They will appear for bail at 9 am at College Park, Room 501 on Tuesday August 21. Arrestees held are Greg Bonser, Mary Hutchinson, Angela Bischoff, Shane Sarsfield, Kirsten Romaine, Sue Breeze and Matthew Behrens. They are charged with mischief and Angela Bischoff got taken into custody for singing an anti smog song through a horn.

Digital Photos:
Banner
http://photosc.msspro.com/pic/air1.jpg
Demo's Air Filter Fashion Show
http://photosc.msspro.com/pic/air2.jpg
http://photosc.msspro.com/pic/air3.jpg
http://photosc.msspro.com/pic/air4.jpg
http://photosc.msspro.com/pic/air5.jpg
Kiddie Venusians
http://photosc.msspro.com/pic/air6.jpg
from the Lorax
http://photosc.msspro.com/pic/air7.jpg
Arrests
http://photosc.msspro.com/pic/air8.jpg
http://photosc.msspro.com/pic/air9.jpg
http://photosc.msspro.com/pic/air10.jpg

The Issue:
   Smog is the issue that sends ordinary people out to risk arrest these days. Air pollution costs Ontario 10 billion dollars a year in health care costs and kills 2,000 Ontarians each year. OPG's Nanticoke station is Canada's largest source of air pollution and though we the public are the shareholders, the corporate chieftains and Harris supporters on its board plan to increase coal fired pollution rather than reduce it.
   Deadly metals pumped into the air by Nanticoke harm children and it will get worse with more coal power. Conversion to natural gas would solve the problem, but since OPG is producing this dirty power mostly for fast sale to the USA, they intend to continue sacrificing citizens on the fires of profit.
   This is also a poverty issue as the poor are least able to escape to air conditioned environments and cottages where the air is a little better.

The Demonstration:
   Ontarians for the Public Good (the REAL OPG), an initiative of Hamilton Action for Social Change and Toronto Action for Social Change sponsored the demonstration and people from across Southern Ontario attended. It was organized as a Festival of Earth-friendly Energy Alternatives and was to include Venusians, an Air Filter Fashion Show and die-ins representing the lethal effects of smog.
   Problems arose when police showed early in the morning with uniforms and undercover men at the church housing people from out of town. Police followed the march to OPG and took an interest in three large red sawhorse/barricades carried to serve as a backdrop for the fashion show and to protect protesters from traffic during a die-in on the road. It might be said that the red sawhorses caused the police to see red and become determined that we wouldn't get them out onto University Ave.
   The demo went quite well with a couple hundred people showing. Jara West did the announcements and things continued smoothly through the fashion show, songs and a presentation by the Lorax. It was only when the die-in was about to happen that things turned sour. There had been little planning as to how we would take the road and police approached us, saying we would be arrested if we tried to take the sawhorses into traffic.
   Police moved in hard when we headed off the sidewalk and a period of chaos and arrests followed. Greg Bonser moved out with the front end of his barricade and was jumped by police. He is charged with mischief though his only intent was to protect protesters doing a die in on the road. Mathew Behrens also got grabbed as he went out onto the road. I had one of the sawhorse barricades myself and was nearly at the road when I turned and noticed that the person assisting me on the other end had been pushed away and an undercover cop had taken his place. I believe his name is Steve Irwin. He maliciously ripped the legs off one side of the sawhorse as I pulled hard to get it away. I did get free and got it out on the road, minus legs on one side. Another barricade got out intact and because police rushed in to whisk away the barricades, they missed arresting us.
   Our group of peaceful protesters was no match for police, and they showed strange preferences as to who they arrested on the road. Dave from GeneACTION carried a barricade and was dragged off the road twice. Yet he says police for some reason did not want to arrest him. This worked the other way around for Angela Bischoff as she was grabbed for singing on the road and taken away in a paddy wagon.
   Even though there were arrests, the Venusian thing went ahead on the sidewalk, and later we marched down to 52 Division for a support rally. We expected those arrested to be released by mid afternoon, then found that the police want to be nasty and are holding people for bail.
   Call them the pro smog police. But it isn't over yet. Some of those arrested knew they would be arrested and plan to pursue the issue in the courts, doing things like subpoenaing officials from the board at OPG to testify.

Contacts:
Ontarians for the Public Good (416) 651-5800
tasc@web.ca
Hamilton: (905) 627-2696
Guelph: (519) 836-2409
Windsor: (519) 258-1555
Kitchener-Waterloo: (519) 886-2759
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Come Support the Clear the Air Eight, Including Ange!  - Aug.20
Clear the Air Protest results in Eight Arrests including Angela Bischoff
************************************************
by Tooker Gomberg
Gomberg and Greenspiration <tooker@web.ca>
   The police are being heavy-handed and keeping the seven peaceful protestors they arrested at this morning's Clear the Air protest in custody until tomorrow morning.
   Come show your support when they appear in court:Tues. Aug. 21, 9 a.m. College Park (Yonge and College) Courtroom 501
   We were hundreds of people fed up with Ontario's poisonous air. We paraded to the headquarters of Canada's #1 toxic polluter and environment destroyer, OPG (Ontario Power Generation), at the corner of College St. and University Ave. There we rallied, sang songs, and watched a performance of the Lorax.
   We distributed leaflets that began with: "Imagine a burn on your skin. If it's mild, the burning area will turn red. More severe and it'll swell and even start oozing. Every time you breathe in smoggy air, that's what you're doing to the tissue in your lungs" (from the Hamilton Spectator).
   There was a Gas Mask Fashion Show, showing how one could be stylish and lung-smart at the same time.
   The plan was to take over the street, and have a die-in to mark the fact that 1900 people die annually from air pollution in Ontario, with OPG and cars being the main sources of the toxic air. We wanted to put pressure on OPG and our governments, to move quickly in the transition towards energy efficiency, renewable energy like wind and solar power, and investing in good urban design, bicycle transportation, and good public transit.
   The police never let us take over the street. Their sacred duty seems to be to keep the car traffic moving, and people who tried to go on the road were arrested. Seven people were arrested and charged with mischief. Angela Bischoff was singing songs into a megaphone when she was arrested.
   Come down to the courthouse if you can and show support for our right to breathe clean air, and to protest. Also come show support for those being held arbitrarily overnight.
tooker@web.ca
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* here's another report on today's Clear the Air Protest:
Toronto Action for Social Change
Making the world a better place for all isn't without its risks.

    At this time 7 people are being held at 52 Division, arrested for their role in a peaceful protest outside the Ontario Power Generation offices at College and University.
    This protest was an effort to draw attention to the role of Ontario Power Generation as a major source of pollution.  In a summer with high smog levels, it was a timely protest.
     Street theatre, including a gas mask fashion show and a reading of an adaptation of The Lorax, made this event more of a festival than a traditional