[IPSM] Report Back: PGA Bloc Ottawa Targets Profiteers Behind the Security and Prosperity Partnership

[mattm-b at resist.ca]

Please circulate.


NO SECURITY WITHOUT JUSTICE!
NO PROSPERITY WITHOUT DIGNITY!
SHUT DOWN THE SPP!

PGA Bloc Ottawa Targets Profiteers Behind the Security and Prosperity
Partnership

(Ottawa) -- In preparation for actions and events confronting the
Security and Prosperity Partnership (SPP) Summit in Montebello, Quebec
next week, groups across Turtle Island are participating in a national
week of action to target the SPP and it's corporate backers, the North
American Competitiveness Council (NACC).

Participating in this week of actions and events, the PGA Bloc Ottawa
held a picket and action on Saturday August 11th which began at
Confederation Square War Memorial at 12:30pm.  Various groups of
police and undercovers, all looking “for our leaders” were present to
start off the day.    We were not there to talk with police, rather to
send advance notice to Bush, Calderon, and Harper that the Security
and Prosperity Partnership must be scrapped.

PGA Bloc Ottawa and friends, totaling around 75 people, took action by
marching to Ottawa’s “power address”, 700 Sussex Drive, at Sussex and
Rideau.  This is the Ottawa home of Tom D’Aquino who is the head of
the Canadian Council of Chief Executives (CCCE).  The CCCE is the
administrative arm of the NACC in Canada and responsible for proposing
the SPP in its early form, the Security and Prosperity Initiative.
We handed out flyers, had speeches and talked with the public about
the SPP and upcoming events.

We then paid a visit to the Fairmont Chateau Laurier, Ottawa’s
ritziest hotel.  Fairmont is directly profiting from the SPP meeting,
as they also own Chateau Montebello, where the leaders summit will
take place. We arrived at the Chateau to discover the Ottawa Police
Service had the entire building under lockdown, with no guests allowed
in or out.  In fact, Police were asking everyone in the hotel for ID
and a reason for being in the building.

At the Chateau Laurier,  protesters used chalk to leave messages
against the SPP and Fairmont on sidewalks and walls.  This action
incited the police into a rage and they attacked chalking
demonstrators, trying to arrest them and trying to steal all the
chalk!  What madness!  Over Chalk!  The crowd refused to be cowed by
police aggression, and did not let the police have even one of its
members.  The police attempted to arrest many, but the energetic crowd
outnumbered them.  After speeches from members of PGA Bloc Ottawa and
Rassemblement Outaouais Contre la Guerre (ROCG), the crowd marched to
a nearby park for dispersal, still followed by police.

After dispersal as people were going home, two activists were
arrested.  Calls went out and the demonstrators moved to the Ottawa
Police Station to claim their comrades.  At 2am, with 25 demonstrators
still at the station, the prisoners were released.  Overall, there
were over 50 supporters at the jail over the 12 hour period to inquire
for the protestors and to indicate to the Ottawa Police that their
tactics of intimidation and ridiculousness would not succeed.

The release of the two individuals was dependant on them agreeing to a
number of outrageous conditions.  The individuals are not able to
associate with one another, and are banned from large portions of
downtown Ottawa.  The most serious condition, however, prohibits the
individuals from “attending or participating in any North American
Leaders Summit (NALS) or Security and Prosperity Partnership (SPP)
demonstrations.”

The PGA Bloc Ottawa demands all charges and conditions against the two
arrested individuals be dropped immediately.   The arrests were
clearly aimed at disrupting local resistance to the SPP, and the
conditions are a blatant violation of the Charter.

These arrests will do nothing to slow or stop the mobilizing against
the SPP in Ottawa.  Indeed, the PGA Bloc Ottawa continued the weekend
of events by participating in a debate with a wide range of activists
called “Full Spectrum Resistance” on Saturday evening.  On Sunday PGA
Bloc Ottawa members facilitated the local Anarchist Discussion Group’s
meeting focusing on the SPP.  Members of PGA Bloc Ottawa also attended
the Montreal Organizing Consulta for Montebello action planning.

The PGA Bloc Ottawa remains committed to disrupting the SPP Summit in
Montebello.  We invite all anti-capitalist, anti-imperialists, and
anti-authoritarians to join us in directly confronting the meeting of
murderers and thieves that will gather behind the gates of Chateau
Montebello on August 20th – 21st.

In Solidarity,
PGA Bloc Ottawa