PRESS RELEASES

The banks and big corporations have emerged from the economic crisis as winners. They continue to amass record profits! But, for the majority of the population, things are going differently. The crisis not only funnelled hundreds of billions of dollars of public money into "saving" the financial system, it served as a pretext for big businesses to carry out massive lay-offs and for governments world-wide to cut social services such as education and health.

Capitalism only serves a handful of individuals. There have been endless corruption scandals and thefts of public funds. There have been tax cuts for the rich ... followed by cut-backs imposed on us. The greed of the rich is matched only by the enormous bonuses they lavish on themselves. It's ridiculous!

Immigrants, the unemployed, people on social assistance, single mothers and the elderly are cruelly affected by the crisis of capitalism. But the so-called "middle" class is now also directly affected and the situation is only going to get worse: higher costs of living, lower salaries, reduced social protections, privatization, health care user-fees and more.

We all contribute to the production of wealth. There is no valid reason for not sharing it fairly. There is absolutely no reason why this wealth should be stolen by a handful of billionaires, whether they be business leaders, war-lords, oil kings or dictators! Let's follow the example of the angry people of Tunisia, Egypt and Greece. Here, just like there, against capitalism, against all forms of oppression, for a better life, we have every reason to rise up!

Let's rise up in the streets of Montreal on May 1st, International Workers' Day. Bring your flags and your scarves. Let's hit the streets!

An invitation from CLAC-Montréal, www.clac2010.net / blocampmontreal@gmail.com

Defendant to ask that all bail conditions are rescinded, including ban on demonstrations

When: Tuesday, November 30, 10am
Where: Ontario Superior Court at 361 University Avenue
between Dundas & Queen Street
(for exact courtroom location, look for “Singh, Jaggi” on the court roll)

If you oppose the restrictive bail conditions imposed on all G20 “conspiracy” defendants – ban on demonstrations, house arrest, non-association, ban on passports and cellphones, and more -- we ask that you attend court in large numbers this TUESDAY.

Montreal, November 11, 2010 – FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

The Crown’s Crackdown Can’t Stand Up to the Facts

Montreal, October 14th, 2010 -- The Anti-Capitalist Convergence (CLAC) is overjoyed at the Crown’s decision to drop its charges against the almost one hundred demonstrators who were arrested this past June during the people’s protests against the G20 Summit in Toronto.

Remember that several dozen people from Montreal who had taken advantage of transportation and lodging organized by the CLAC, found themselves arrested, detained and facing conspiracy charges following a brutal police raid on the University of Toronto gymnasium on June 27th. Lacking any evidence to back up its case, today the Crown Prosecutor announced that the conspiracy charges would be dropped against these people who were arrested at the gymnasium.

The CLAC is also pleased to announce that charges have been dropped against three of its members, who were “preventatively” arrested on the morning of June 26 and detained for over 72 hours on the basis of these makeshift charges.

This latest about-face by the Crown constitutes an implicit admission of defeat; it shows how flimsy the charges are and how scandalously the police behaved during the security operations around the Summit. It is now clear that the mass arrests at the gymnasium, like the vast majority of the arrests during the Summit, were arbitrary and uncalled for, and were intended to terrorize the demonstrators and to discourage them from exercising their right to protest in the future.

In that vein, the CLAC would like to remind people that the Crown is persisting in its prosecution of twenty organizers that it is wrongly accusing of being the “ringleaders” behind the events of June 26th. There are two CLAC members amongst these scapegoats; they are facing three charges of conspiracy and are currently subject to draconian bail conditions including house arrest.

Alex Hundert of Toronto is one of the twenty people facing conspiracy charges. He was arrested for a second time at his sureties’ home on September 17th for having, according to the Crown Prosecutor, breached his bail condition of “not organizing or attending any public demonstrations.” Earlier that day, Hundert had taken part in a panel discussion at Ryerson University about resistance to the G20. During a second bail hearing that took place on October 6th and 7th, an Ontario Justice of the Peace ruled that by displaying “the same kind of behaviour as he did in meetings prior to the G20,” Hundert had indeed breached one of his bail conditions. It seems that speaking at a university talk in Canada is now to be considered a “public demonstration.” This is a total aberration, a direct attack on the most basic form of freedom of expression: someone is being held in prison for having simply expressed his ideas in public! Recently, at Alex’s last bail hearing, the crown tried to impose harsher conditions, attempting to stop him from expressing his political opinions in public, or in the media. He refused these conditions and remains behind bars until he can appeal them. Besides Alex Hundert, four other people remain behind bars on charges stemming from the G20.

More than three months after the events in question, the police continue to carry out targeted arrests and to issue warrants, and all this is of course being done at the taxpayers’ expense. It is obvious that this judicial and police crackdown, like the strict bail conditions imposed on the accused, are on a completely different scale than the actual crimes observed. Given this pathetic and merciless witchhunt, we can only conclude that the State’s real goal is to criminalize and freeze dissent.

But we refuse to be silenced! In solidarity with the popular mobilizations against the next G20 Summit in Seoul this coming November 11 and 12, the CLAC is organizing an anti-capitalist family-friendly demonstration at Cabot Square, on November 12th at 5pm.

******

Here is a live report of the gymnasium arrest from CBC : http://bit.ly/9z7uD2

Alex Hundert Locked Up for Taking Part in a Discussion Panel and Anarchism on Trial in the Case of Juan Pablo Lepore

Montreal, September 20, 2010 – Juan Pablo Lepore was arrested in Montreal on September 2nd, and is has been charged with mischief in connection with the G20 summit. Given that the Crown refused his release at his first court appearance, Juan was back in court on September 17th, attempting once again to secure his release while awaiting trial.

[PLEASE FORWARD WIDELY]

Hello,

This message is to ask you to contribute financially to the liberation of Juan Pablo Lepore, the last person to have been arrested following the G20 events. Since he has been arrested, he's been detained and we obtained a short extension to raise some money to bail him out. We have currently about $3000 and we need $5000, so WE NEED YOUR HELP.

Juan Pablo is an Argentinian documentary film-maker and independent journalist visiting Canada for several months.