[mobglob-discuss] FW: Naomi Klein and David McNally on OCAP trial

[Graeme Bacque]

-----Original Message-----
From: TDRC [mailto:tdrc at tdrc.net]
Sent: Thursday, May 01, 2003 4:33 PM
To: TDRC desk
Subject: Fw: Naomi Klein and David McNally on OCAP trial


Dear sisters and brothers,

Please read the appeal below that Naomi Klein and I have issued. Please
forward it widely. And please help -- it is urgently needed. (The appeal
is also attached as a Word file).

In solidarity -- David McNally

A May Day Appeal for OCAP

 
May 1, 2003
Dear friends,

Just a few weeks ago, Jim Coyle of the Toronto Star wrote of OCAP
activist John Clarke, "he has tenacity in spades." It would be a fitting
description of the organization as a whole. Since it's formation over 10
years ago, OCAP has been the voice of the voiceless, the defiant and
unflagging tribune of those who resist the economic violence of poverty
and homelessness.
To be sure, OCAP has always been a controversial group. Its loud and
angry style of activism is not always welcomed in some quarters. But
most of us in progressive movements have appreciated how much we need
OCAP. We've known that in this era of rampaging neoliberalism there are
few groups more determined to keep alive the spirit of opposition and
the hope for a better world. And we've recognized that OCAP's day to day
case work - on tenant and housing issues, and in defence of immigrants
and refugees - makes a tangible difference to hundreds of people with
nowhere else to turn. Then, last summer, OCAP re-energized the
progressive community with its timely and imaginative Pope Squat.
But as much as we need OCAP, right now OCAP needs you. At the moment,
three of its activists (John Clarke, Gaetan Heroux and Stefan Pilipa)
are in an Ontario court facing serious charges arising from the June 15,
2000 anti-poverty demonstration at Queen's Park. The attack on OCAP
threatens fundamental civil rights and it threatens the valuable work
OCAP does. The Ontario Tories and the police desperately hope this trial
will shut OCAP down. We need to insure this does not happen.
The costs of fighting court cases are always onerous, but this is
especially so for a grassroots organization that operates on a
shoestring budget.
So, we are asking you to help. We are asking you to help us insure that
the Harris-Eves Tories do not succeed in putting this province's most
determined anti-poverty group out of business.
If you agree we need OCAP around for many years to come, and that this
attack on civil rights cannot go unopposed, please make a financial
contribution today. Ask your organization - union, community group,
labour council, student body - to donate funds. Organize a garage sale
or a benefit. But, at all costs, please help us to keep OCAP active and
kicking. We need them - now more than ever.
Financial contributions can be sent to OCAP, 517 College St., Suite
234, Toronto M5G 4A2. Phone: 416-925-6939.

Yours in solidarity,

Naomi Klein
Author, No Logo and Fences and Windows

David McNally
Political scientist and Author, Another World is Possible:
Globalization and Anti-Capitalism
 ******************************************
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visit our website at www.tdrc.net

Toronto Disaster Relief Committee (TDRC)
6 Trinity Square, Toronto, ON M5G 1B1
Phone: 416-599-8372 Fax: 416-599-5445
EMAIL: tdrc at tdrc.net WEBSITE: www.tdrc.net


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