BY JEFF SHANTZ
TORONTO — The Ontario provincial government has suffered a serious setback in its attempts to criminalise resistance to its neoliberal policies.
After four gruelling months, the court case against three anti-poverty organisers of the Ontario Coalition Against Poverty (OCAP) ended on May 11 in a mistrial when the jury notified the judge they could not continue.
The three OCAP organisers faced the possibility of lengthy jail terms over arcane charges, including "participating in a riot", "inciting a riot" and "counselling to commit an indictable offence", stemming from a police attack on protesters three years earlier. The draconian and antiquated charges, which had not been laid against anyone in more than 60 years, were part of a political show trial designed to break one of the most militant anti-capitalist organisations in Canada.
On June 15, 2000, 1500 people marched on the Ontario legislature to protest against the provincial government's attacks on the poor. The protest was organised by OCAP. The marchers were attacked by hundreds of riot police, who struck the crowd with batons, trampled people with horses, attacked first aid areas and medics, and chased people, beating and arresting people as they went, for more than an hour.
The Ontario authorities have set out to break the resistance movement which grew out of the "J15" protest, sending 34 people to trial on hundreds of charges. Notably, the courts went after the most vulnerable people the hardest. People who were homeless, with records and people with addictions received the most severe treatment.
From the outset, the police and the crown attorney (the government prosecutor) used the charges as political weapons. They secured very harsh bail conditions against OCAP members and supporters. OCAP organisers were targeted. Bail conditions included not being allowed to attend OCAP meetings, speak to other OCAP members, leave Toronto or enter Queen's Park or Allan Gardens (the starting point of the J15 march); most had to report to a bail office every month.
All of that was before anyone had even been convicted of anything! The conditions were clearly designed to try to criminalise OCAP, limit its ability to communicate with its members and to isolate OCAP from its extensive network of allies, which include trade unions and community groups.
Thankfully, this did not have its intended effect. Several unions formed or expanded "flying squads" to mobilise in support of OCAP direct actions. New members stepped forward to take the place of those who were prevented from attending meetings, allowing OCAP to continue its campaigns.
The crown, backed by the Toronto police and Ontario government, directed millions of dollars into attacking a poorly funded organisation of low-income, unemployed and homeless people — and lost.
Significantly, jurors were split over the question of whether the June 15 action could even be considered a riot, the very basis for the crown's charges. The state was unable to convince 12 Ontarions that people under attack by the police do not have a right to fight back.
Had the OCAP organisers been convicted, the organisation would have been severely weakened and the level of fightback to neoliberalism in Ontario would have suffered a major blow. That is certainly what the politicians and cops were hoping for. However, their efforts to silence resistance in Ontario has so far failed.
On June 18, the OCAP three will be back in court again. At that time, the crown attorney will reveal whether or not there will be a new trial. OCAP is campaigning for all charges to be dropped.
[Visit the OCAP web site at <http://www.ocap.ca/> for news of the latest developments.]
From Green Left Weekly, May 28, 2003.
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