Downtown Eastside Neighbourhood Council
DNC MONTHLY GENERAL MEETING
SATURDAY JULY 7
2:30PM FOOD
3-4:30PM MEETING
DODSON HALL
(25 E Hastings)
The focus of this meeting will be a civil disobedience workshop organized by the DTES Not for Developers coalition. The rest of the meeting will include presentations on the new federal law packages and their meanings for our community and reports and discussions on our committee work.
The Downtown Eastside low-income community is pushing back against a lot of pressure from condo developers, real estate investors, city council and planners, boutique entrepreneurs, police, and the Provincial and Federal governments. DNC members are in the middle of many of the campaigns to defend the community. The street market keeps our public spaces open to low-income people, our hotel tenant campaigns hold the landlords accountable, the shelter committee works for our most basic and minimal needs, the DTES Not for Developers coalition fights the condo invasion, the police committee and copwatch protect us against police harassment and brutality, and our community planning campaigns hold the planners and city council’s feet to the fire.
Through all this work it’s clear that our strengths are in the organization and cooperative efforts of our community. We will begin this meeting with a discussion of why to consider non-violent civil disobedience, what it is, and how we can do it safely and together as a community.
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DTES Neighbourhood Council
dtescouncil@gmail.com
I witnessed a textbook example of non-violent civil disobedience at the June 22nd Casseroles march, after 4 protesters were arrested earlier on in the day for “traffic violations”. Urging fellow dissenters to listen to police instructions concerning the protocol, which they described as “safety precautions”, I marched from the V.A.G. to the jail entrance on Cordova Street with only about 20 occupiers, holding a banner to “Stop the War on Education”. In traditional Occupy style , we were advised that we had the choice to leave or stay.
Then, a lone occupier sat in the middle of the street with legs crossed, in front of the jailhouse door. One officer was whispering in his ear, no doubt warning him that he was blocking traffic, but also that he could be arrested for obstructing the police. Since two demonstrators were filming with their cell phones, three cops with bicycles tried to block our view from the opposite sidewalk. Since our comrade did not heed police warnings, at least five of these officers lifted him up, and led him to the jailhouse door, swiftly shutting it after him.
Anyone employing civil disobedience accepts the risk that they will be arrested. I left, advising one of the march leaders that they should give the order to disperse if it seemed that all of them would be arrested. After typing a report for V.C.W , it was determined that no more arrests were made. Sacrificing your liberty is the ultimate cost of non-violent civil disobedience, and everyone should be psychologically prepared for that outcome, or just stay away.