Standing Against Racism and Fascism: Vancouver City Hall, August 19, 2017

By Jeff Shantz

Two racist, white supremacist groups, the Worldwide Coalition Against Islam and the Cultural Action Party planned and called for a rally on August 19 at Vancouver City Hall. In the week following the Charlottesville antifascist resistance to white supremacists and the neo-Nazi killing of antifa activist Heather Heyer, the rally posed an important challenge to anti-racist and antifascist organizing in Vancouver.

If making sure the racist rally did not hppen can be considered a victory, then the counter mobilization achieved one. An unscientific consensus of estimates would put the crowd of counter-demonstrators around 4000 all told.

What was most striking was, first, that only a couple of overt racists showed up and/or stayed. The racists clearly were not ready for a fight. Secondly, two open racists, independently of and separated from each other, stayed for most of the event, four hours or so, surrounded by anti-racists with whom they argued the whole time. Police stood guard around the two, in each of their locations guarding them  

No open fighting broke out. At least one open racist was chased off and two others were escorted out by police. I saw one racist escorted out by police, after arguing with anti-racists for over an hour. None of the protesters openly challenged the racist Vancouver Police Department and its own particular authoritarian violence.

I witnessed three separate engagements between a crowd of anti-racists and an outspoken racist. The racists who remained seemed to resort to arguments for closing borders and tightening immigration restrictions as ways of couching their racist positions.

Five people were reported arrested for breach of peace, but no word of which side they were on. Two racists were escorted away. One was a Vancouver neo-Nazi, who gave a Hitler salute before being led off site by police. 

There were many, perhaps too many speeches. Speakers addressed the white supremacist and settler colonial history of Vancouver and Canada. There might have been a march or something that brought the show of anti-racism out into the public a bit more. Many people seemed to drift off out of boredom, heat, lack of food or water, or a sense that nothing further was developing.

The event was a celebratory gathering for anti-racists and anti-fascists and there were many conversations among strangers. There were open displays of pro-socialist, pro-communist, and pro-anarchist symbolism (all targets of fascist violence historically, of course).

While the racists and fascists, including the boisterous Soldiers of Odin, chose not to come out in the open on this day, we should have no illusions about the ongoing presence, organizing, and mobilization of white supremacists in British Columbia and Canada. Soldiers of Odin are still active and recruiting, especially in the Fraser Valley. They will still come out to confront anti-racists and antifa in contexts where they see the balance of forces in their favor (as at a previous Vancouver anti-racist rally that was attacked by Soldiers of Odin).

Prison Justice Day - August 10, 2017

Today we attended the Prison Justice Day event.

After a hot summer day we gathered at Trout Lake (John Hendry Park) near the little lake where the Prison Justice Day event was held. Speakers included prison abolitionists, activists--old and new--, Coast Salish supporters, previously incarcerated, and academics.  A phalanx of banners were set up to form an impromptu amphitheatre that provided a powerful backdrop. In particular, it was sobering to see the very long list of names of those who have died in Canadian prisons.

The present state of Canadian prisons should be abolished.

For a retrospective montage of prison justice events see:

http://journal.radicalcriminology.org/index.php/rc/article/view/68/html

By Jeff Shantz and Mike Ma

Report Back on SFU Forum: “For the Many, Not the Few: Politics After the Corbyn Breakthrough”

Friday June 23rd, 2017, 7-9pm, Room 7000, SFU Harbour Centre, Sponsored by SFU's Institute for the Humanities

June 23, 2017. Simon Fraser University

Jeff Shantz: I attended this forum on social democratic politics and the implications of Jeremy Corbyn’s unexpected success on the recent British elections. Speakers included Ingo Schmidt, Beverly Ho, and Derrick O’Keefe.

Ingo Schmidt noted the return of the electoral Left. He asked though, is it the re-emergence of a strong, viable Left that can defend gains over time? Rather than the emergence of a viable Left now these are times of a populist moment. The marked arrogance of power and wealth has discredited even neoliberalism. Populism appeals to anti-establishment sentiment. Anti-establishment is understood, however, as only political establishment, not the economic establishment.  

There are a few things to keep in mind about the Corbyn breakthrough for those seeking to replicate it in Canada . First, Corbyn did not win. Second, his success reflected anger with the Tory government as much as an affirmation of Corbynite Labour. Third, substantial movements against austerity and war have been active for decades in Britain, and in Labour. This is not the case in Canada.

What would social democracy of the Left need today according to Schmidt? First, it would need to rekindle a socialist vision. Second, it would need to develop a power bloc that brings together the working poor, the precariat, and welfare recipients. Third, it requires a proletarian internationalism.

Beverly Ho, Chinatown Concern Group, argued that people are sick of big money in politics. There is a need for a response to the rise of white supremacy and fascism. There is a need for people power from the ground up. This is built through door knocking, talking to people directly, leafletting, and one on one meetings. There is a need to remember work on the ground and behind the scenes. Neoliberalism has lowered expectations and told people their goals are not realistic.

Derrick O’Keefe asked how we might situate Corbyn in Labour? Labour is worse than the NDP. In power, Labour enforced austerity and waged war in Iraq. Labour is better than the NDP. Labour still has an active socialist caucus that defied their own leadership and organized openly within the party. The NDP erased its references to socialism in its own preamble.

In the 2015 election dozens of potential candidates for the NDP had been denied the right to seek nomination because of political views, such as support for Palestine. The NDP needs to be more democratic to attract younger people. Younger people cannot be excluded on the basis of social media posts.

The movements in Canada do not exist on a meaningful level to push electoral parties Left. For the NDP, trying to occupy the center with Trudeau would be fatal. Corbyn disproves the Blairite claim that going Left is certain destruction for an electoral party.

The forum raised many questions. In the end it needs to be remembered that populist Left parties like Syriza implement policies worse than they are asked to. When in power they concede to capital. How is that avoided?  

By Jeff Shantz

Evening with John McKnight

As a Social Justice Centre representative, I attended a evening with John McKnight, who is well known as a mentor of Barack Obama, at that Newton Public Libary today. Lots of passionate activists and service providers were in attendance, and also Surrey Councillor Vera LeFranc --who supports harm reduction! And also our old colleague, Steve Dooley, who is now the executive director of the Surrey SFU campus. There were even two kids who love participating in the Surrey community gardens and who excitedly told us about how "when you plant something you get to see it grow!"  --Mike Ma

$10 a day daycare event - May 6, 2017

I attended this event last week. Affordable daycare is really something that this country should have introduced and implemented years ago. I have a distinct memory being an undergrad student and walking through the library stacks researching the Canadian Task-Force on Childcare Report from 1985! And it basically said the same thing people are saying today: We need affordable childcare and it needs to be a national program. It is sad that it takes the death of a toddler in an unlicensed facility for the issue to become news again. It is a national crime. Check out their website:

http://www.10aday.ca

Tamara, one of the parents, gave a great speech. See below.  --Mike Ma

In Solidarity with Palestinian Prisoners: The Battle of Empty Stomachs

I attended this event today in solidarity with the Palestinian struggle for freedom and recognition. It was an interesting event. Nice to see a fairly large crowd slowly build up in  front of the Vancouver Art Gallery on a sunny afternoon --lots of shoppers and tourists walking by. It was a bit bizarre and disturbing to see the pro-Israeli and Zionist supporters setting up directly across from the solidarity event. I forget how disruptive heckling from Israel supporters can be. And some of their supporters really were filled with malice and testosterone as  they verbally challenged the solidarity supporters of Palestine. --Mike Ma

Harm Reduction and Detox are linked and intertwined

On May 11th, Mike Ma, SJC member, and Ann Livingston, VANDU co-founder, were invited to speak the the Richmond Community Services Committee. It was a interesting meeting. They spoke about how harm reduction guides people towards detox, and that you can only get to treatment if you pass through detox first. It is both a continuum and a chicken&egg issue. As a complete wrap-around solution you must have all three working in concert together. They reminded the audience that Provincial Minister of Health, Terry Lake, and Federanl Minister of Health Jane Philpott get this, and that they are (indirectly) telling communities to go forth and do what is necessary to help people deal with their unresolved pain, trauma, and addictions. They are not standing in the way of Opioid Replacement Theraphy (ORT), Heroin Assisted Therapy (HAT), or Safe Injection Facilities (SIF).

Harm Reduction

Harm Reduction

Local youth on the impacts a thermal coal port on the Fraser would have on their health & neighbourhoods and the climate.

We support the work that activists are doing to oppose and stop the thermal coal port on the Fraser. Check out the video below, and check out Greg Simmons' project to support this work!

Environmental and Ecological Justice

Environmental and Ecological Justice

Alliance Against Displacement

Lisa Freeman: On May 1, 2017, several members of the Social Justice Centre participated in a press conference with Alliance Against Displacement (a grassroots organization that organizes with communities facing displacement in B.C) and residents of 'The Strip' (135A St) in Surrey. A few people who live in tents on The Strip discussed the daily challenges they face: bylaw officers taking their belongings, constantly trying to stay dry in this rainy climate, and harassment from specific police officers (who some residents refer to as 'The Terminator'). I met several residents of The Strip, and chatted with a young woman who told me that she never imagined that at 21-years old she would be homeless and searching for extra layers of cardboard to keep her tent dry and warm. It has been clear for awhile now that the living conditions (including constant police surveillance) on 135 A St need to change. In supporting the residents and in raising some of the key issues at play here, Michael Ma and I (Social Justice Centre at Kwantlen Polytechnic University) discussed how changes to the current situation of harm reduction, safe injection sites, and affordable housing could support the people living on the Strip. Not a bad way to spend May Day...despite the dismal living conditions and cold rain. --Lisa

Mike Ma: We attended the Press Conference organized by Alliance Against Displacement on 135a, Surrey today. It was pouring rain but we pressed on. It is sad to see all the resources that have gone into the public safety trailer-building, and so little going towards alleviating the misery of living in tents on the sidewalk. Surrey could be doing so much more, and yet it is not. Why perpetuate this misery? 

Alexandra Sayers stands by her tent and talks about living on 135A Street, also known as the Surrey Strip. The 21-year-old, who has an addiction, has been living on the Strip for about a year. JENNIFER SALTMAN/PNG / PNG

Surrey drug users frustrated - Vancouver Sun Story

Here is the press release from AAD:

News conference about health funding and policing poverty in Surrey: Monday May 1st, 11am at the Surrey Strip on 135A

For Immediate Release
Monday May 1, 2017

“They’re making it a crime to be poor”: News conference to expose misappropriation of overdose funding on the police occupation of the Surrey Strip

SURREY, UNCEDED COAST SALISH TERRITORY: On Monday May 1st, anti-displacement activists will hold a news conference about the misappropriation of Provincial health money to fund a total police occupation of the two-block-long tent city.

What:                    News conference about policing poverty
When:                   Monday May 1st, 11am
Where:                 135A Street, at 106th Ave

In December, the BC Health Authority announced plans to open an overdose prevention site on the Surrey Strip, and eventually a supervised injection site. Instead of nurses and health workers, an RCMP and Bylaw officer “Surrey Outreach Team” is carrying out a campaign of harassment and intimidation against homeless people. Instead of a supervised injection site or social housing, there is a new permanent police station built on City land. And this policing is worsening the effects of the homelessness crisis on the health and wellbeing of homeless people.

Come hear homeless Surrey Strip residents say, “we’re sick of them just bossing us around.” Residents will speak out against arbitrary police harassment, surveillance, and Surrey bylaw’s daily “takedown” policy that forces homeless people to disassemble their tents every morning. Researchers will speak about the misappropriation of Provincial health funds to the police occupation of the Strip. And activists will speak about the implications of this policing-focused “health outreach” model for the housing and poverty crisis overall.

The redirection of Provincial health resources into policing is taking place during the 2017 BC election, yet none of the parties have made ending poverty and homelessness a focus of their campaigns. This event is part of Alliance Against Displacement’s anti-election week of action to end homelessness that began Friday with the 10 Year Tent City in the Downtown Eastside of Vancouver.

For information, contact: Alliance Against Displacement 

https://www.facebook.com/AgainstDisplacement/

http://www.stopdisplacement.ca/

Housing

Housing