Denver Anarchist Black Cross

A statement from Canadian comrades:

At roughly 2:15 AM on September 1st 2009, two anarchists were arrested in Downtown Guelph for alleged anti-police graffiti. That night, three people were putting up anti-development posters downtown. The context in which this occurred is following a three week occupation of the Hanlon Creek Business Park (HCBP) development. Since the occupation, a social event was held against the HCBP where a tobacco burning ceremony took place at the site with two comrades from Tyendinaga. Dozens of signs were redecorated / defaced for all kinds of developments across the city. Development equipment was stolen from the proposed HCBP site and the trenches were re-dug across the new roads being built at the site. While taking into account the history of resistance to progress in Guelph, this occupation has created turmoil in City Hall and has also sparked a long coming social struggle against development. The occupation ended on August 14th when the courts issued an injunction against the occupiers and a work stoppage, giving the Ministry of Natural Resources (MNR) the final say as to whether the construction will continue. Last Thursday August 27th, the MNR decided that construction will continue (Duh!). These anti-development posters are a part of this diverse and ongoing struggle not only against the HCBP but all capitalist development.
[I like diversity, especially when it is part of a movement]

When these people went out to poster, it was with a clear understanding of the possibility of surveillance and harassment. In the synopsis read in bail court on Tuesday, it was stated that the three people putting up posters were spotted multiple times over a couple hours before two of them were arrested. It was also stated in court that people who matched the same description as those putting up posters were also decorating the city with graffiti like “dead cops” and “ACAB” (which, according to the cop’s research, stands for “All Cops Are Bastards”). It was also apparent that most of the surveillance was done by taxi drivers. Those arrested were interrogated and both people remained silent and non-cooperating. The two comrades are each charged with three counts of “mischief under $5000” for the graffiti and one is also charged with obstruction.

The question of guilt or innocence about these charges only isolates the situation. There is nothing at all empowering about the language of courts. Whether these comrades indeed did graffiti is not concerning. They were expressing ideas and contributing to the struggle against development. What is guilty or innocent about that, anyway? The courts that reduce the actions of these people to a question of innocence or guilt are the same courts that approved the injunction and are handling the $150,000 lawsuit against five others. This repression began before the recent arrests and will continue after them, targeting any dissent towards the continuation of development and of business as usual.

These arrests are a clear display of the police and the city’s attempts to protect their precious development projects from the people who wish them done for. The momentum building in Guelph against all developments is a threat to the city’s economy. They’re scrambling and they’re pissed. The city is actively backing these developments, and the courts / police who protect them. It should be clear that the police and courts are responsible for the consequences of what they defend.

What are they protecting?

“Progress” is a word used by bureaucrats to create a false inevitability for the process of capitalist development. By disguising their choices and actions as something that just happens (that is simply inevitable), they can justify the consequences of their behavior. These bureaucrats enable the clearing of forests, the “revitalizing” condo redevelopment of downtown, the opening of aggregate operations and quarries, the daily pumping of 3.6 million liters of ground water, etc, without taking any responsibility for the destruction of wilderness habitats, for the rent increase and evictions, for the ruined lakes and farmland or for the damage to people’s drinking water supply. The city bureaucrats delegate private companies to do their dirty work (ie: architects, developers, private environmental assessment agencies, etc) and can avoid taking responsibility for the people and places they hurt.

Now these bureaucrats and developers, with their army of judges and cops, hope to squash out any resistance to their actions. By suing in small claims court and arresting people who act directly against development, they hope to scare others away from trying to stop the disasters. The legal system, political process, police force and economic structure will never put an end to development’s exploitation, or hold these undignified bureaucrats responsible. Who, but the rest of us, will take this struggle on and put an end to this miserable process?

We must show them that we are not afraid and that their repression only invites us to fight harder, so that they finally understand that their actions (including their repression) have consequences and it will not be tolerated.

For an end to the HCBP, development and the illusion of progress,

-Anarchists