UPDATE!
200 hundred people gathered in Vancouver's notorious Pigeon Park in the DTES on Sunday April 19th in support of the DTES community. The event was a People's Community Court designed to protest against the City of Vancouver & its wide spread Social Cleansing campaign. The neighbourhood took justice into it's own hands and showcased the crimes & hypocrosy of the City. DTES residents spoke out about their experiences with witness testimony surrounding state sanctioned abuse and harassment including police violence, the Safe Streets Act, Project Civil City, and illegal evictions.
Since the Olympic Bid of 2003 the City of Vancouver has waged a violent war on the
community of the DTES. As homelessness has risen of 373% the City boasts 'revitalization'
and it's 'Civil City' campaigns as progressive, while such activities in fact terrorize and
displace those most marginalized in our neighbourhoods. Once evicted from their homes
residents are further brutalized with ticketing for sitting or lying on the street & asking for spare
change among other by-law 'offenses'. The City of Vancouver has literally criminalized the
poverty it has created.
Charge:
The People of occupied Coast Salish Territory, accuse The City of Vancouver of
committing the act of Social Cleansing. Further we also believe the City is an active
participant in the continuation of genocide of Indigenous Peoples.
Evidence:
*Project Civil City was designed by the City to sweep poor people out of sight in time for the
Olympics by ciminalizing the survival methods of the homeless, such as asking for spare
change and using tents for shelter
*The VPD's year end performance report is public proof of the state sanctioned abuse and
harassment of the poor as by-law tickets have doubled in the past year, closely matching the
increasing number of homeless on our streets
*The GVRD homeless count informs us that homelessness has increased by 373% due to the
Olympic bid and is hitting our most marginalised communities; 84% of these homeless are in
need of health services; not surprisingly, due to constant systemic oppression, 32% of all
homeless people's in metro Vancouver are Native in comparison with 2% of the total
population.
*Past Olympic host cities are a reminder and an example of how the IOC in conjunction with
host cities have violently swept poverty under the rug to make way for tourism and Olympic
development; over 2 million people have been displaced due to the Olympics since 1988
*Most importantly the witness statements given by community members will show the real and
devastating impacts of the City's actions.
Verdict:
The DTES Power of Women group acted as the patient jury in this trial for real justice. This is their statement:
We the people of Vancouver find all these governments and Olympics
Industry guilty of crimes against humanity. Poor people are part of our
society and any crimes against them are a crime against humanity.
We find the province and City guilty of the violence against poor people
by creating and continuing police that keep people poor and homeless. In a
so-called first world country, there are approximately 11,000 homeless
across BC, with 3000 homeless in the Vancouver area. 30% of those who are
homeless are indigenous people. On over 40,000 separate occasions,
homeless individuals were refused access to shelters in a nine month
period. Over 17,000 of these turn away incidents involved women and
families. Low-income housing in the DTES is of such bad quality that many
prefer to sleep on the streets.
We find the police guilty of murder. The police have tasered, shot, and
killed homeless people just in this past year. The police are also guilty
of violent assaults against poor people through aggressive ticketing,
illegal search and seizures, kicking and manhandling poor people, illegal
street checks and illegal detentions.
We find VANOC guilty of making a profit off our backs. The Olympics are a
circus for the rich while the poor pay. $6 billion for the Olympics while
people are dying on the street is unacceptable! It is outrageous that the
Olympics tours from city to city leaving behind destruction - more than
two million people all over the world have been displaced due to the Games
in the last 20 years. We the people of the Downtown Eastside say No to the
Olympics!
In order to truly serve the people we demand that all these culprits
commit to the following:
- Safe, supported, and long-term affordable housing immediately.
- We want women who are survivors of violence and abuse to be on the
highest priority list for housing.
- We want an immediate end to condo development in the Downtown Eastside.
- We want Rent freezes and lower rents that we can afford
- Not a single person should be forcibly removed, evicted, or displaced
from their homes in the Downtown Eastside and other urban, rural, and
indigenous communities due to the Olympics.
- We want the Mayor Robertson to cancel Mayor Sam Sullivan's $1 million
Project Civil City
- We want Social Assistance rates be increased by 40% immediately and for
it to be easier to access welfare and disability for those in need.
- We want women to have access to universal subsidized childcare and an
end to child apprehensions due to women and child poverty.
- We want to establish a living wage of at least $16/hour.
These criminals must pay for the crimes. Justice for the People!
THE PEOPLE UNITED WILL NEVER BE DEFEATED
This event is organized and supported by a collaboration of DTES community residents and
community organizers, including: VANDU (Vancouver Area Network of Drug Users), Power of
Women, The Anti-Poverty Committee, the Olympic Resistance Network, SFPIRG, 2010
Watch, The Workless Party & Vancouver Socialist Forum.
UPDATE: Anti-Olympic Political Trial
In the spring of 2008 a local activist and then DTES community member took part in a protest against the city's Project Civil City. In taking a stand against the city and attempting to draw attention to Vancouver's wide spread social cleansing campaign she was charged with assault of the former mayor Sam Sullivan. This Thursday April 23rd she is claiming self defense in her actions as a result of the systemic violence that was showcased at the April 19th People's Court. All of the information above will become court record in this political trial against the 2010 Olympics and the gentrification of Vancouver. Folks are encouraged to come out to support and will be given the opportunity to testify regarding their own experiences of systemic violence & oppression.
WHEN: Thursday April 23rd @ 9:30am
WHERE: 222 Main St.
WHO: Look for 'Megan Craig' on the courtroom list.
Contact: 2010.homes.now@gmail.com or 604-347-4267
http://thepeoplevsthecityofvancouver.blogspot.com/
http://www.no2010.com/
2010.homes.now@gmail.com
Synopsis:
Since the Olympic Bid of 2003 the City of Vancouver has waged a violent war on the community of the DTES. While it boasts 'revitalization' and it's 'Civil City' campaigns as progressive, such activities in fact terrorize and displace those most marginalized in our city. Community members have been literally forced onto the streets as homelessness has more than tripled in the neighbourhood. Once evicted from their homes residents are further brutalized with ticketing for sitting or lying on the street & asking for spare change among other by-law 'offenses'. The City of Vancouver has literally criminalized the poverty it has created. The Community is fighting back!
Evidence:
*Past Olympic Host Cities:
“The desire to show off a city & make it an attractive tourist destination is often accompanied by a process of sanitation- clean-ups of public areas facilitated by criminalization of homelessness & increases in police powers… to make it more attractive for the local, national and international elites.”
*The Safe Streets Act:
BC passed the Safe Streets Act in 2004 to prohibit panhandling “in an aggressive manner,” such as obstructing the path of a person, using abusive language, or following behind, alongside or ahead of a person being solicited for spare change. The act included persons in motor vehicles being solicited, such as by ‘squeegee cleaners’ who wait at traffic lights to ‘clean’ driver’s windows. Police are authorized to arrest persons violating the act without warrant.
Although a provincial act, the legislation is directed primarily at downtown areas of cities, and in particular Vancouver. A coalition of business groups (downtown hotels, banks and corporations), including the Vancouver Downtown Business Improvement Association and the Vancouver Board of Trade, were the main promoters of the Safe Street Act (SSA). The act has been severely criticized by civil liberties and anti-poverty groups.
*Project Civil City:
In 2006, Vancouver City Hall launched ‘Project Civil City’, a broad-ranging initiative focusing on homelessness, panhandling, policing and public disorder. According to former Mayor Sam Sullivan, it seeks to reduce by 50 % homelessness, aggressive panhandling, open drug use, and excessive drinking & fighting in the downtown area (all by 2010). Along with a proposal to hire more by-law officers & prosecutors, there are also actions to increase CCTV video surveillance of streets and the city’s anti-graffiti campaign.
To accomplish these tasks, the city allocated some $1 million from the 2007 Olympic Legacy Fund budget to expand policing and by-law enforcement, and $300,000 to directly fund Project Civil City. The corporate media has assisted the government in this process by running sensationalist stories on street crime, aggressive panhandlers, and drunken partiers in the downtown area.
Although Sullivan claims Civil City has nothing to do with the Olympics, previous statements have contradicted this:
“There is no question that we must act swiftly & decisively to solve the public disorder problems that affect our city. I believe we have a tremendous opportunity to use the upcoming 2010 Olympic & Paralympic Games as a catalyst to do just that.”
*GVRD Homeless Count:
Greater Vancouver's homeless crisis continues to grow at a "stunning" and "shocking" rate, with a 373-per-cent increase in street homelessness since 2002.
The number of homeless in Metro Vancouver is now approaching 3,000 -- there were at least 2,660 homeless people in Metro Vancouver on the official day of the count on March 11 2008
The report's key findings include:
- Street homelessness increased by 373 per cent since 2002.
- The number of people who were homeless for a year or more rose by 62 per cent from 2005. Almost 50 per cent of homeless people found during the count had been homeless for a year or more.
- Native people, despite representing just two per cent of the population, comprise 32 per cent of the homeless, up from 30 per cent in 2005. Close to 45 per cent of homeless women and 41 per cent of unaccompanied homeless youth were native.
- The vast majority (84 per cent) of homeless people had health problems such as addiction (61 per cent), mental illness (33 per cent) and physical disability (31 per cent).
- The so-called working poor are being forced into emergency shelters.
*Street Sweeps:
Aggressive street sweeps have been raging through the DTES from increased and aggressive ticketing for things like panhandling or jaywalking to "illegal" vending.
-VPD year-end performance report: officers issued 467 tickets for violations of the Safe Streets Act in 2008, compared to 202 tickets in 2007; 133 tickets for violations of the Trespass Act, up from 95 in 2007. Tickets for city-bylaw infractions, including tickets for vending, panhandling, and loitering, shot up to 439 tickets in 2008 compared to 247 tickets in 2007.
Results:
These brutal acts are clear evidence that the City of Vancouver has and will continue to commit the crime of Social Cleansing against the DTES Community. The City-sanctioned police harassment of poor people is something that has been increased steadily in conjunction with increased gentrification. As the colonial legal system promotes this injustice the community has no choice but take justice into it's own hands and try the perpetrators for their REAL crimes!
We are hoping as many people as possible will come out to testify against the city, and/or endorse this attempt to smash the “broken windows” theory, and tell the City and its goons to back off.
Come out to support!
Contact: 2010.homes.now@gmail.com for more info!
