[sthompson]

<strong>Written By:</strong> sthompson
<strong>Date:</strong> 2003-11-08 09:42:49
<a href="/article/94249996-please-help-ftaa-detainees">Article Link</a>

An amusing aside is that he might have weighed 115 lbs. at the time and my brother thought that it should be noted that he couldn't obstruct a breeze. <p> Nevertheless we were forced to go to trial. The legal collective engaged the services of excellent legal counsel and my son was very ably represented by Pascal Lescarbeau from Montreal in the two trials held in Quebec City. The first trial ended with the judge agreeing to recuse himself (he was clearly biased in favour of contradictory police evidence including their not even knowing the day that my son had been arrested and by whom!). The second trial last Tuesday, two months before my son's twentieth birthday, resulted in his acquittal and comments from the judge that he was a "very credible witness." That was his first time testifying in court! Hopefully he will prepare his own article about his experiences. <p> To date, the legal fees and transportation/accommodation costs for all of the accused (not just my son) have amounted to about 150,000 dollars of which approximately 120,000 dollars has been raised through appeals. <p> Last weekend I was told that one young woman was going to instruct counsel to plead guilty on her behalf because she could not afford the transportation costs to Quebec City to defend herself. <p> Therefore my first request is that you ask any organization to which you belong -- union, church, activist group, political party, etc.-- be asked to consider sending a contribution to the legal defense fund. Information about the legal collective can be found at their web site: <p> <a href="http://libertas.taktic.org/">http://libertas.taktic.org/</a> <p> Following is a quote from one of their recent newsletters. <p> after losing our domain to internet scamster scumbags, we have set up a new domain on a local server in montreal. The new web site for the collective is at: please update any links that are still directing people to quebeclegal.org, as that page now sells hormones or something <p> There is a list of the accused by first name only but my son's name does not appear because he was a Young Offender at the time. <p> Two weeks ago Maude Barlow offered to ask the Council of Canadians to send another contribution. They have already contributed and for that they should be both acknowledged and thanked. If you can encourage them or your own local chapter to send another contribution, that would be greatly appreciated. <p> I do not know which unions or churches sent contributions or how much they sent but their past contribution was gratefully received by the legal collective. If they could see fit to make another contribution or perhaps their first one, that would help meet all the remaining expenses. The final cases are being resolved, I believe, but the expenses are exceeding the funding. <p> My final request is that if you are a public figure, politician or part of the media, that you look at the cases in Quebec City. How much did prosecuting the protesters cost the tax payer? How many cases that went to trial resulted in convictions? How many accepted guilty pleas because they couldn't afford to defend themselves? What has been the impact on the accused? Is the determination of the government to proceed with these cases an effort to stifle dissent in Canada (Chretien chokes protesters and uses pepper spray on his steak. What will Paul Martin do about protesters? Give them a new flag?)? Why would the Quebec government join the federal Liberals in stifling dissent by using the courts to hassle protesters? How many federal tax dollars went into these prosecutions? Provincial? Was there an agreement of any kind between feds and the Quebec government to pay these costs or did Quebec bear the entire cost by itself? How many young offenders were charged? Adults? Should there be a public inquiry into police actions in Quebec City? I am sure that some of you will generate your own questions. Remembrance day is approaching. Did our soldiers die only to have our country sold out to the multinationals? To stifle dissent with tear gas? To arrest kids for taking pictures? <p> In closing, I again would like to say thank you to all of those who have helped in the past and please accept my appreciation for whatever else you are able to do now. <p> Herb Wiseman

[Dave Ruston]

Unfortunately, our brave soldiers fought against Hitler`s fascism, only to see the new corporate fascism take hold, as corporate fascist criminals like Reagan, Bush sr, Bush jr, Mulroney, Chretien, Harris, Campbell, Clinton, Eves, Campbell, Klein, and countless others, sell out and line their pockets to do the corporate bidding. many people have suffered and died from right wing corporate fascist policies, all in the name of profits!!! The people I mentioned above are war criminals in an undeclared war!

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Dave Ruston

[Roy_Whyte]

I will have this posted over at the CDM as well as this is one issue that should not be overlooked.

The government is using the courts - mainly the cost of defending ones self to deny Canadians the right to free speech. We should not ever allow this to become some sort of precedent. For if they figure it out and see that it worked once, it will become the norm.

This is hardly the first episode of lopsided and misuse of justice to deny Canadians the right to speak out. In BC, grandmothers are seen as \'eco-terrorists\' and are put away for six months. Radwinski pinches thousands of dollars of taxpayers\' money and gets an insignificant punishment - protest against corporate trade deals and you become enemy number one.

Dare I say something is very amiss with that premise?

Civil society is reaching a crisis point in the industrialized world. Either we put up a fight now or we will be fighting forever behind an armoured wall erected to keep out any dissenting voices against the corporate will.

They know the power of the all-mighty dollar will keep you both out of government and from protesting their actions in the streets. We cannot and should not allow this to continue.

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If there was ever a time for Canadians to become pushy - now is the time - for time is running out on this nation called Canada.