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[FWD] OCAP - June 15 March on Queen's Park




Forwarded message:
Date: Thu, 27 Jan 2000 15:27:36 -0500
To: (Recipient list suppressed)
Subject: [FWD] OCAP - June 15 March on Queen's Park

ONTARIO COALITION AGAINST POVERTY
249 Sherbourne St.
Toronto, Ontario M5A 2R9
Phone: (416) 925-6939 Fax: (416) 925-9681
E-mail: <ocap@tao.ca> or <johnclarke@sprint.ca>

January 27, 2000

JUNE 15 MARCH ON QUEEN'S PARK
HARRIS CAN BE STOPPED!

A message to all who think the Tories can be beaten if we start fighting to 
win:

Sisters and Brothers,

         This letter is intended for people and organizations that have had 
enough of retreating in the face of the attacks by the Harris Government. 
Enough homeless people have died on the street, poor households can't put 
food on the table, enough services and public sector jobs have been 
destroyed and enough damage has been done to vital health care and 
education systems. It's time to realize that these attacks will continue 
and accelerate until enough of us stop limiting ourselves to lame 'protest' 
and start fighting like we mean to win.

         On Thursday, June 15, OCAP will be marching on the Ontario 
Legislature. We will be raising demands against the crisis of homelessness 
and poverty that the Tories have brought to Ontario. We will call for the 
restoration of all welfare cuts, the reversal of measures that dump tenants 
on the streets and an end to 'safe streets' legislation that unleashes 
police crackdowns on the homeless. As important as these demands are, 
however, there will be an even more vital message that we seek to deliver 
with our March and that is, quite simply, that Harris can be stopped! We 
say to all those who are being hurt by this Government that the attacks 
continue only so long as opposition stays at the level of registering a 
token protest. If we're ready to take the route of massively disrupting the 
Harris Regime and its monied backers, we can make their agenda impossible 
to implement and if necessary, the province impossible to govern.

         Our March on June 15 will be a call to action on just this basis. 
To set the stamp on things and provide the kind of example that must be set 
if huge numbers of people are to be inspired to resist, we will not make 
speeches on the lawns of Queen's Park. Instead, we will demand the right of 
this Government's victims to enter the Legislature and address it while it 
is in session - an unprecedented response to unprecedented attacks!

         We appeal to all who support the aims and demands of our March to 
join us on the 15th _and_ to work with us to build the action on the 
necessary scale. We ask you to consider taking one or more of the following 
measures:-

* Go to your local/community organizations and seek endorsement for the 
March. (OCAP can send a speaker to a meeting if requested).

* Work to bring out a contingent from the organization you are involved in 
on June 15th.

* Raise cash donations to support the organizing of this action. (Costs 
will include a huge meal at the assembly point in Allan Gardens).

* Let us know if you would be interested in attending a special 'allies' 
meeting that we will convene shortly for non OCAP peoplewanting to help 
build the March.

         OCAP will follow the June 15 March with a series of actions over 
the Summer to challenge the Tory measures that are taking poverty to the 
level of social disaster. However, we have no illusions that our 
organization can single handedly turn back the Tory attacks. We are just as 
sure, however, that the collective power to do just this exists in the 
communities and workplaces of Ontario. We want, on June 15th, to begin to 
use that power and show a way forward for the struggle against the Tories. 
Such a full-blown struggle won't be polite or get 'good press' but it would 
prevent a mountain of misery and set an example for the world to see. If 
you want to see such a struggle built in Ontario, we need to hear from you 
without delay.

In solidarity,

John Clarke, Organizer
Ontario Coalition Against Poverty 

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