Fwd: JazzDemoc: Megacity Public Access Denied
Bonnie Briggs (s248_1132@hotmail.com)
Mon, 05 Jan 1998 14:00:07 PST
>Hi All.....
>A lot of us were barred it seems permanently from city-hall
>at an eye opening event friday afternoon.
> Paul
>
>
>Megacity Public Access Denied - Jan 2nd 1998
>Report on the Inaugural meeting of MegaCity Council
>By Gary Morton for Harrisville on the Web
>http://home.echo-on.net/~command/action.htm
>
>The temperature rose to a balmy five degrees above as compared to
>about minus one million two days earlier. I stood out front of City
>Hall wearing a No Fingerscanning sign and a mask, talking to people
>as they entered. At one p.m. I went inside and found that I couldn't
>attend the Inaugural meeting in the council chambers, because it had
>been changed to invitation only. Harrisville on the Web takes only
>citizen reports, so if citizens can't get in there is no report. From
>the beginning in the protests against Megacity, citizens argued
>access to council would be denied in a Megacity and that is now the
>case -- unless you happen to be on the in with Mayor Mel or work for
>the Toronto Star.
>
>There were rumours that some councillors might refuse to take office,
>and some people from CREDO - Committee to Restore Democracy were
>there at City Hall trying to pressure council to do just that. People
>from the Democracy Model group, Citizens for Local Democracy, the
>Municipal Coalition and the Ontario Coalition Against Poverty were
>also present. Exactly what happened in council, I can't say - later I
>heard copies of the Lastman speech were available, but they were gone
>before I could get one.
>
>A public reception took place at 2:30 p.m., and I was able to attend
>that. Councillors and people like Hillary Weston hobnobbed with the
>mostly well-dressed public as they fed on plates of food and hot
>cider and coffee. The feeling I got at first was of being in a city
>that'd been lobotomized. A place where it's okay to talk with Mel
>about the weather, but it isn't okay to mention those tough issues
>like poverty.
>
>After noticing that the wealthiest people seemed to eat the most
>food, I went back outside to picket. And at that point I realized the
>police had been following me all along as they exited just behind me
>and watched me for a bit. More cops then arrived and just after that
>some people from the Ontario Coalition Against Poverty and the
>Rooster Squat took over the stage inside and started speaking on the
>need for affordable housing in Toronto. They were surrounded and
>escorted out by the police, and the security chief then emerged to
>inform them that the group is permanently banned from City Hall. It
>was clear by the timing of the police that they had followed the
>group to City Hall.
>
>I remember taxi drivers and taxpayers causing havoc last year at City
>Hall, and can't see where there is anything particularly wrong with
>people trying to speak out on social issues at a public building.
>Democracy is supposed to begin with people speaking out on their
>needs. The council meeting should have been open - so what if
>protesters would ask the Great and Mighty Elected Ones to actually do
>something in the area of poverty.
>
>Now it appears that the doors have been closed, the people have been
>locked out and the connected have gained entrance. Megacity is the
>Megacity we all thought it would be -- and I guess all those folks at
>the Sun and the Star must be happy that you have to go to them for
>the news and can't get it from a citizen.
>
>Poverty is to be dealt with by killing the messenger and then
>counting on the Star to report on a few hundred homeless people in
>the prairies while ignoring the one hundred thousand people drifting
>through shelters in Toronto.
>
>On the fingerscanning issue I found that most people don't even know
>what it is and don't like the idea when they hear about it. And many
>of these unknowing and lobotomized people are friends of councillors
>as they were invited to City Hall. When asked why I oppose it I like
>to say - Democracy is government for and by the people, and you can't
>have democracy without trust in the people. Scanning and similar
>methods lead to government by a police state and not by the people.
>As one lady said to me -- It is them, at the top, who have shown they
>can't be trusted.
>
>I remember a seeing sinister man in plain clothes instructing the
>security chief and pointing to the OCAP protesters --- I think the
>orders to keep people out came from the top and it is now clear that
>people who protest are to be treated as criminals and made criminals
>through charges should they try to act in the future.
>
>Megacity Public Access Denied.
>
>Happy New Year
>-------------------------------------------
>
>
>
>
>prodgers@arcos.com
>
>
Bonnie Briggs
Hi gang,
Welcome to Mega-City Toronto. The city with no democracy. The home of
the inaccessible Government. Harris's paradise.
Bonnie
http://www.geocities.com/CapitolHill/Lobby/4149
s248_1132@hotmail.com
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