[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]
[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
-
This is the OPIRG-events@ox.org list. Announcement only please.
To unsubscribe, send email to opirg-events-request@ox.org, and put
"unsubscribe" in the body.
Archive at: http://www.sandelman.ottawa.on.ca/lists/html/opirg-events/