[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]
[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
-
This is the OPIRG-events@ox.org list. Participatory activist events only.
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/