That's what Alex Hundert does at AW@L and Southern Ontario Anarchist Resistance, with his tireless support for the blockade at Grassy Narrows among other indigenous struggles.
That's what Syed Hussan does as an organizer with No One Is Illegal-Toronto -- he fights for the rights of immigrants and refugees. But now, in part because of his G20 political activities, he has been unable to get his work visa renewed and faces deportation himself.
Some of the most effective organizers in the country are being taken out of the game when they are needed most, precisely when the stakes are highest. But here is what the Tories and the cops can't seem to get: their attacks only make us more determined. Our movements are more resilient than they know.
And when we refuse to forget what happened here during the G20, when we demand accountability for the real criminals and the freedom of our friends, we are fighting not just for the past but for the future.
We are saying -- with clarity and conviction -- that we will not accept this treatment again.
We have the right to defend our hard won social services and meager refugee protections from morally bankrupt politicians.
We have the duty to protect our boreal forests and our pristine waters from dirty oil development.
And as we perform these duties, we know that there will be costs, there always are. But we refuse to be vilified as criminals and we refuse to relinquish our rights as Canadians.
That is what is at stake in the struggle for G20 justice and we cannot afford to lose.
One final thought before we move on to the fun part of the evening: what moved me most during the G20 actions is the way people embodied the kind of world they want in the way they conducted themselves.
When police stormed, demonstrators locked arms and often repelled arrest. When someone was snatched, they often were freed by their friends or passersby.
When people were loaded onto vans and taken to overcrowded jails, strangers looked after each other, advocated for each other.
And outside the jails there were solidarity protests where thousands showed up, despite the fact that some of them had just gotten out of jail themselves and were terrified of being re-arrested. Yet they showed up, brave and loud, week after week.
Tonight is simply a continuation of that spirit.
It is about acknowledging the extraordinarily high stakes of this political moment, and treating every member of our movements as if they are precious. Because they are.
It is about saying that we will not let media generated suspicion make us afraid and disdainful of each other. That even when we disagree, we will do so with respect, and will refuse to be divided into categories of good and bad activists.
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