Eastside Revolt
26th February 2011, 05:12
Police brutality is not just a matter of rogue individuals. It is systemic, and inherent to the institution itself. Consider a brief snapshot of the past year in Toronto: On May 5th 2010 Junior Manon, an 18-year-old youth of the Jane Finch community was brutally beaten to death by seven police officers, none of whom received even the slightest reprimand from their buddies in the Special Investigations Unit (SIU). For the last two weeks of June, Toronto was transformed into a virtual police state in order to ensure the undisturbed comfort of the criminal and unaccountable G20 heads of state; in a proud display of unbridled authoritarianism, protesters were arrested, illegally detained, beaten, and sexually abused en masse. On September 29th 2010, while executing a search warrant police murdered in cold blood an unarmed Eric Osawe. We have not forgotten these events, and we realize that it is no coincidence that both of the men murdered by police in 2010 were people of colour. Racist, sexist, homophobic, ableist and undoubtedly classist, police terrorize our communities.
We have had enough.
These instances are not exceptions to the rule, but the necessarily violent norm of policing. The excuse of ‘a few bad apples’ is a myth; the tree is rotten- the institution of policing is itself the problem. Police systematically use, and grossly abuse the power at their disposal to criminalize, and otherwise brutalize queer and trans peoples, communities living in poverty, activists, indigenous and racialized communities, those without status, people living with disabilities, drug users, and those living with mental health issues. Under the ruse of ‘to serve and protect’ the police operate as a tool of social control - they are armed thugs that patrol our neighbourhoods and streets to enforce an oppressive social order based upon exclusion, violence and mass exploitation. The interests they serve are those of the powerful; the protection they offer is the protection of an unjust status quo.
Fuck that. Fuck the police. Fuck the role they undertake within our society, and fuck the social order they violently uphold. The police do not protect us. On the contrary, we must organize our communities to protect ourselves from the police. We are heartbroken at the misery they cause poor people and their families, and furious when we bear witness to their sickening impunity. We will not sit by, and allow this to go on unchallenged. We do not accept the state’s, and by extension the police’s claim to a monopoly on the ‘legitimate’ use of violence. We WILL fight back.
On the evening of March 15th, the International Day Against Police Brutality, we will descend onto the streets of Toronto to militantly illustrate our refusal to accept police violence, and our complete rejection of the police as an institution of social control. We will join other cities across the world, including Montreal, in a broad organizing effort against police brutality.
2010 was the year of the riot, and 2011 is set to be the year of the insurrection. Stayed tuned for more details as March 15th approaches, and join us in the streets.
We have had enough.
These instances are not exceptions to the rule, but the necessarily violent norm of policing. The excuse of ‘a few bad apples’ is a myth; the tree is rotten- the institution of policing is itself the problem. Police systematically use, and grossly abuse the power at their disposal to criminalize, and otherwise brutalize queer and trans peoples, communities living in poverty, activists, indigenous and racialized communities, those without status, people living with disabilities, drug users, and those living with mental health issues. Under the ruse of ‘to serve and protect’ the police operate as a tool of social control - they are armed thugs that patrol our neighbourhoods and streets to enforce an oppressive social order based upon exclusion, violence and mass exploitation. The interests they serve are those of the powerful; the protection they offer is the protection of an unjust status quo.
Fuck that. Fuck the police. Fuck the role they undertake within our society, and fuck the social order they violently uphold. The police do not protect us. On the contrary, we must organize our communities to protect ourselves from the police. We are heartbroken at the misery they cause poor people and their families, and furious when we bear witness to their sickening impunity. We will not sit by, and allow this to go on unchallenged. We do not accept the state’s, and by extension the police’s claim to a monopoly on the ‘legitimate’ use of violence. We WILL fight back.
On the evening of March 15th, the International Day Against Police Brutality, we will descend onto the streets of Toronto to militantly illustrate our refusal to accept police violence, and our complete rejection of the police as an institution of social control. We will join other cities across the world, including Montreal, in a broad organizing effort against police brutality.
2010 was the year of the riot, and 2011 is set to be the year of the insurrection. Stayed tuned for more details as March 15th approaches, and join us in the streets.