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[OPIRG-EVENTS] JOIN THE PEOPLES TOUR




Please forward widely!

Peoples Tour 2003

Friday, March 14, 7-9pm
Routhier Community Centre
172 Guiges Street, Ottawa

The SPOT is coming to your city.

In March of 2003, the Spot youth drop-in centre in Kitchener has
organized a 
‘people’s tour’.  Up to 10 people from the Spot will visit cities in
Southern 
Ontario and also Montreal.  We would like to tell you about the Spot and
how 
we 
are mobilizing street youth against the system that keeps them on the
streets.

The Peoples Tour will bring youth, directly from the streets of
Kitchener, to 
your city.  We will tell you how we are fighting police misconduct,
doing 
court 
and jail support, building a movement against Kitchener City Hall,
creating 
links with the Latin American community, fighting racism, sexism and 
homophobia, and providing food, shelter and class conscious
revolutionary 
politics to a struggling street community.  We would also like to here
what 
people in your city are doing to fight for social justice.

The Struggle in Downtown Kitchener

Downtown Kitchener has long been a gathering point for youth, especially 
homeless youth, in the Waterloo Region. The proliferation of youth in
the 
downtown has been a source of tension for some business owners and for
police 
and security guards, particularly at the bus terminal and in the large
open 
spaces such as Kitchener City Hall.

Urban Revolution

Urban Revolution is our response to Kitchener City Halls downtown 
revitalization plan ‘Urban Evolution’.  The City has bought up many of
the 
properties in the downtown and has evicted the tenants including small 
businesses and low-income tenants.  They plan to turn many of these
buildings 
into housing for middle and upper class residents.

Policing in the downtown has intensified as the City tries to create a 
shopping mall atmosphere.  Youth and other ‘undesirables’ are regularly 
questioned and harassed by police for no reason, and ticketed or busted
for 
minor offenses such as j-walking, probation and bail breaches, or simple
drug 
possession.

The downtown is so over-policed that it is impossible to avoid seeing
the 
police for more than a few minutes.  The City has also removed benches
so that 
there are few places to sit in the downtown, and they use bumpy steel
bars to 
stop people from sitting in other places.

What is the Spot?

In June 1998, youth united themselves as the K-W Youth Collective to
advocate 
for the creation of a youth run, youth drop in centre. For more than 4
years, 
this group created youth-centred events and continued to plan and fund
raise 
for a youth space.  On May 1st, 2001, we opened The Spot, a 1,500 square
foot 
space in the downtown core.  The Spot is a safe space for youth, a place
where 
youth can get away from the harassment they face in the downtown.

Join us in the struggle!

For more information contact youth_space@hotmail.com or call The Spot
any day 
after 3:30pm at (519) 578-1425.

Windsor - March 10
London - March 11
Guelph - March 12
Toronto - March 13
Ottawa - March 14
Montreal - March 15

-- 
Anti-capitalist Community Action / Action Communautaire Anti-capitaliste
(ACA)
http://www.a-c-a.net
info@a-c-a.net
(613) 237-0730
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