VPD on Day 1
Dear Chief Chu,
Your officers know me; I’m the one who has been fighting to ensure Occupy Vancouver live up to our anti-violent commitment. I’m the one who stood up on Oct 8th and yelled out: “Are the police not members of the 99%?” We’ve coexisted at OV for over a month now, and the relationship has been fruitful.
When a crazy guy threatened to ‘de-occupy’ OV (he threatened fire tonight) I came to Seargent Argent and asked for his assistance. Your force helped do a risk assessment for us, and made sure we are safe. Thank you!
I’m also the guy who was talking at a GA and said “Police violence only exists because the people allow it!” The moment when two of your undercover’s exposed themselves to me and nodded in solumn agreement. That moment changed my feelings on the VPD forever- you are all members of the 99%.
Then, it was one of you who told me that OV may have been hijacked, by “Highly organized people”, and they told me these people could be violent. I’m in a mess now because of it, and I need your help to get me out of it.
Can I ask you for a favor?
You need to come out of the closet now, and speak about this in public. We need some questions answered, or our movement will be damaged. You are part of this thing – like it or not – so, you have a responsibility to help too:
1. What political manipulation have you experienced during this election? If you respect us, you will not keep secrets about what happens in the background.
2. New York had some problems like ours, as may have Oakland. In NYC, there is a strong belief that the NYPD sent disadvantaged people towards Occupy Wall Street in a cynical ploy to hurt OWS. Can you please confirm nothing has been done like this by you, or any other influential force in this city?
3. Tell us the whole story about your suspicions. If there are idiots in ninja costumes, there can’t be too many. By exposing them together, we can all be winners.
I’ve worked hard the past few weeks to make OV peaceful. This has benefited you- so, can I please ask that you do this for me? If you can, I will love and cherish you as brothers forever…
Respectfully,
Greg Renouf
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I know I’m going to get haterade for this, but I wish there were more uniformed officers around Occupy Vancouver. I live on the DTES and am well used to drug dealing, but I’ve never been actively hassled like I was by a pot dealer at Occupy Vancouver the other day. If I could have found a cop, I could have had him arrested; I certainly couldn’t go to the OV security, as they emptied out of the tent and all lined up to buy.
I, too, have encountered undercover police at OV and have generally been impressed with their hands-off, observational approach; we all feared that undercover operatives would take over and try to direct things, but if they had, we would have a bunch of different problems, certainly not the self-appointed “ninjatards” of the Black Bloc.
so you are that asshole.
hey white guys with all the privilege in the world, shut the fuck up, stop talking to cops, and listen to the voices of the oppressed.
cops are violent. they are a violent institution. they uphold a violent system.
you want to continue working with them, dont be surpised when no one protects you from arrest or the beating that will come when the pigs decide to clear OV encampment.
then again, its likely you would run away and leave those without the same privilege to be attacked, abducted and imprisoned.
fuck you greg. you are the problem with the 99% (your head is stuck up the asses of the 1%)
Author
See that folks! The #BlackBloc do not represent the 99%- time to eradicate the sewer rats!
I’m intuiting from your comment that capitalization and grammar are the weapons of the 1% as well?
Denigrating people based on their race is unacceptable no matter what cross you think you’re bearing.
Canadian police have always opposed the left and always violently resisted positive social and economic change. This was true when they prevented women and minorities from voting, it was true when they served as the muscle that stole and colonized indigenous land, it was true when they crushed the Vancouver general strike in 1918 and the Gastown smoke-in of the 1960s, it was true when they pepper-sprayed protesters while protecting a genocidal dictator like Suharto in 1997, and it was true this year when they protected mass murderers like George Bush, Dick Cheney, and Bill Clinton. It was true in the Cold War when they drew up plans to round up and imprison, without charge, thousands of leftists across the country (Operation PROFUNC). It is true every day when they evict poor people from their homes, harass the homeless, imprison drug users, and violently impose capitalist relations upon the populace.
If you intend to change the gross economic inequalities of this society, the police are going to oppose you. Period. One would need to be both spectacularly naive, and ignorant of local history, to believe otherwise.
Author
To date, the only people who have hurt us are children wearing ninja costumes…
oh renouf, if you ever came to an party full of artists you’d probably think all of us are ninjas and black bloc. full black attire is not only for them. if i ever do see you coming, take this pre-emptive suggestion: you are NOT welcome. we don’t like paranoid entitled privileged people.
and by the way, if you were ever to get attacked by a real ninja, you’d never see them coming. that’s the point of a ninja…. never seen and never heard.
PS – stop kissing VPD and RCMP ass. desperation is not a good look.
I’ve been to artist parties. Some wear black, some are very colourful. So, no, I don’t think we should paint people who chose to wear black with the same brush so to speak. That said, art has a lot of power to make us think about social issues, is creative, transformative, and healing, brings people together…it should not be destructive…to turn people away from art, write them of as priveldged or entitled, is a form of elitism on it’s own, imo. I understand Greg’s desire to engage in cooperation rather than antagonism. It’s not necessarily desperation, just a recognition that we all breathe the same air now, no matter what has happened in the past, and we all need to work together while there’s still air to breathe. Naive? Maybe. But maybe just a more optimistic approach.
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