G20 Arrests: "Sue the Bastards!" -- Sinn Fein Veteran.
July 22, 2010
Update August 6- Class Action Launched
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/toronto/police-a-g-named-in-45-million-g20-suit/article1664385/
There is a them and us: 'them' who want to cage and 'us' who want to stay free.
" The condition upon which God hath given liberty to man is eternal vigilance; which condition if he break, servitude is at once the consequence of his crime and the punishment of his guilt." John Philpot Curran
by "Irish Dan"
There was an overwhelming response to my article, "G20 Arrests: A "Dry Run." The Article has been re-posted on dozens of other sites, Left, Center, Right Wing, Liberal, Christian etc, It has also appeared in many languages and Google had over 2500 links. It certainly hit a nerve!
What was achieved? So far not much! If there is a coherent response, there will be a pull back. If not, it is a green light for yet another turn of the screw! The fight back starts here! They are now watching your reaction! What will you do?
Evil prospers when good men do nothing! --John Philpot Curran
1 ) Getting a message out to the world is the great strength of the net : the fragmented isolated responses are one of the weakness in getting a response back. We are not alone; we are just too scattered and uncoordinated! This must end. When you comment on your own sites please copy and send back no more than one hundred words, including brief headline, to www.henrymakow.com. Also give a live link back to your host site and full comment. [hmakow@gmail.com]
2 ) The overwhelming interest in the first article came from across the board. Can we, with this response, transcend race, creed, culture, gender and politics, this one time to shout "stop, enough, no more"?
All that mattered to those caged Canadians interned together, was their arbitrary imprisonment and attitude of the cage guards mocking their human rights. Do the rest of us have to wait until we too are in a crowded cage to see each other as human beings first and above all else. There is a them and us: 'them' who want to cage and 'us' who want to stay free.
They are organized to imprison us; what are we doing to ensure our freedom? [Ref. to "Arrested and Abused at G-20 Summit")
4 ) I have have visited WW2 Death Camps, stood in the gas chambers and and looked out through barbed wire. It was never to happen again! It did and is still happening. It always starts with arbitrary arrest, unlawful detention and a gross denial of Human rights just like those handcuffed caged Canadians. Why were grown men deprived of water and toilet paper? Why were handcuffed women put in a situation where they had to clean each others private parts after toilet? Why if not to humiliate, dehumanize and intimidate? To make the captives feel powerless and at their mercy How much more are those guards prepared to do on orders? Want to wait until you too are in a cage to find out?
5) Why is this situation accepted in Canada, a civilized country of laws, liberties and free people? So far it is! Nothing has yet been done to prevent it from happening again in Canada or elsewhere. Stop it in Toronto and we stop it in Texas, in Dublin, in England, in Europe and throughout the Civilized world. Do nothing and that experience is waiting down the road for all of us! Do you think that the special police have not already shared their humiliation videos around other NATO Country special police forces by now?
6 ) These are some of the observations of an Irish Lawyer, a long time civil rights activist, street protester and University law lecturer: "Those people in Toronto were falsely imprisoned - they were not even legally arrested. They were held in cages, like animals, in cruel hand restraints, without water, food, sanitation, medication, heating or outside communication for up to 24 hours. Needless to say, they were not charged with any offense; obviously, as they were not even legally arrested. Many of the people falsely imprisoned were not even involved in the demonstrations. And many of those carrying out the false imprisonment, and denial of basic human rights, were clearly doing so reluctantly and under orders."
7) Elsewhere, the Lawyer has this to say: "Those who oppose State terrorism are well aware of the personal consequences in doing so. Now, totally innocent (dare I say politically apathetic) people are being targeted for State thuggery. This smacks of dictatorship. Democratic, civil and political rights must be defended. They were hard come by, but can be lost much more easily. One way to defend them is to hold accountable those who have violated them. The screw with the cruel grin on his face, as he watched dozens of people begging him for water and food, will be a very different man when he is standing in front of a superior court judge, attempting to defend himself and his actions. (It will be interesting to see if the Nuremberg defense ["I was only carrying out orders"] is paraded and accepted.)"
8) The Lawyer's observations regarding what can be done: " Not only individuals but the State of Canada itself must be sued. Those thugs were acting in the name of Canada - a British commonwealth country, with a legal system based on the common law of England. A strong decision from the Canadian courts (assuming the judiciary are still working independently of the other organs of Canadian State government) will send an equally strong message to other common law countries and their governments."
9) Tommy Taylor's observation -- " I can also say, I've never felt this angry, violated or betrayed" -- also articulates the feelings of the mass of ordinary decent people around the World. The mass response must also come from ordinary decent people who believe in the norms of democracy, human rights and civilized law. The answer must be sought within the rules of law. To quote the lawyer: "Structures within political democracies were set up to act as checks and balances, to prevent the abuse of power. Let's put this to use and turn the force of the Canadian courts on the abusers of Canadian citizens' rights."
10) We are all now part of the net global village. Let us immediately get accountability for this gross violation of human rights with a mass legal action against the Canadian State.
First, will all who were detained, arrested, caged and abused who want to be part of this, please join the legal fight so all can come together and organize.
Second, will all Canadian people who were at the demonstration, or who want to be involved in this defense of human rights and state accountability come forward group to assist their caged and other abused citizens to hold their police and other forces accountable in law for their actions.
Third, would all people of goodwill world wide outside of Canada who agree with these proposals also express their support for this proposed course of action.
If support for this action exists, then an organizer can be chosen along with an organizing committee. To Establishments, resistance is the most feared word in the English language. To the rest of us it is simply called democracy!
"Assassinate me you may; intimidate me you cannot." John Philpot Curran
--
Related: Individuals Entitled to Compensation if Charter Rights Violated
Law suits starting
http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2010/07/24/g20-rubber-bullets.html
Irish Dan said (July 24, 2010):
Taken from CBC news page..... " But so far, pursuit of a G20 class-action lawsuit has been stymied by a lack of a lead plaintiff, one person required to represent the larger group. Read more: http://www.cbc.ca/canada/toronto/story/2010/07/23/supreme-court-pie-ruling-reaction-g20.html#ixzz0udbiCUQs
WRONG TACTICS : carefully consider strategy here folks please! One 'leader' representing one thousand........ case struck down on a technicality, ........all other nine hundred and ninety nine also fall......... No more than batches of ten,.......... all one hundred batches co-ordinated and acting in unison........ One batch go down, next in cover that technicality,.......... they go down ?,........ third batch learns,....... corrects and in again etc.!
Remember Gandhi making salt on the Indian seashore ! Send in one group, if they fail then another, and another, etc. The Court has to protect its 'dignity' , i.e. keep ordinary people believe in it ! Three, four or five 'knock downs' and the public will start to question the system, the Courts most definitely do not want that! If all 100 groups are co-operating, when a group wins, ......... all........ other........ remaining........ groups......... also....... win! Next, it is only a matter of dividing the 95 group awards or whatever by 100 and sharing out the awards equally to all groups and individuals. All are then awarded and winners, no one looses. Go for it!