Occupy Justice

Good afternoon my many friends. I must first humbly apologize for my lack of posting. I have come to the sudden realization that I have overstepped the limits of my abilities. As a result, something was of course, forced to suffer. My sincerest apologies for this. However, in response to this recognition, I would like to explain.

For the past two days I have spent my mornings back in class. My education is my top priority above all else; I have journeyed much too far and overcame far too many obstacles to arrive where I am today and will not permit myself to return to the darkness from whence I came. Outside of that, there is also the matter of all those friends and family who sacrificed so much to help raise me up when I had fallen so far. I owe it to myself; I owe it to them.

So that covers my mornings (and every morning from Monday to Friday). The afternoons have been slightly different; both were spent doing volunteer work or catching up with the local Occupy movement here in Halifax in order to help improve my community, raise awareness but most of all, help to create effective and beneficial change for EVERYBODY. Before I continue on to the part of my blog I'm really looking forward to sharing, I just wanted to share the volunteer work I've been doing. I have been, once again, volunteering at CKDU and I have also begun volunteering for Clean Across Nova Scotia by helping promote their campaign. On a side note, there will be a Team Occupy registered for this event in Halifax this coming June; I will be leading it. I've also been assisting a not-for-profit internet service provider, Chebucto Community Net (the oldest provider in Nova Scotia!). So all in all, it has been very hectic. I have also found a place to put in part of my work term for school by helping on one of the mayoral candidates campaigns in the upcoming Municipal election. All and all, quite time consuming but soulfully fulfilling.

Time to get to the point I've been dodging around. I am free. No more court; no more lawyers; no more delays; no more fear; no more stress; just freedom (and some justice of course). Today I went to court, again, to see if or when they would be setting a court date as a result of the Occupy Nova Scotia eviction last November. Well, it sure was not what I expected. I walked into the courtroom, sat down and the prosecutor stood up (almost on cue) and announced that all the charges, for all concerned, were being withdrawn. Victory! Vindication! Justice! Freedom! All fall short of expressing the true emotion of the moment but it is the best I can do.

What does this mean? Well it depends on your perspective. The crown has only, this afternoon, said that it did not proceed due to lack of evidence. Is this an admission of wrong-doing? In my book yes. Not necessarily in the sense that I am in a position to decide/determine the right or wrong of the eviction (obviously I'd be biased just a little) but what I can speak to is the wrong-doing in the process. Over 40 police officers and $100k tax dollars spent on our eviction: 14 arrests and the loss of equipment. All those police officers and they don't have enough evidence? Why? They had cameras, they outnumbered us. This is what they are trained to do and yet they failed the most basic of policing duties: gather evidence. Not even enough for a conviction. So no, maybe it is not an admission of wrong-doing over the eviction but it is definitely something; something more.

It is a sign of what is happening all around you. In society, in your country, in your state or province, in your city, in your town, in your village and in your communities. It has found it's way into our institutions and polluted our education. What is it? Apathy and corruption. They had no business arresting us; they knew it but they didn't care. The by-law clearly states that it is up to the person committing the infraction to remove their own property (8.2 is what they claimed to enforce; please note very carefully the wording of section 18, punishment and you will see for yourself). They don't care; they live by the dollar because that is what they have been brain-washed to believe. The police are people and as people they would have objected to what was being done to us as all other witnesses present were. However, they gave up being people the minute they put on that uniform and stopped thinking for themselves. They gave up their humanity. They have a choice, a very, very difficult choice that is just full of consequence and ramifications but it is still a choice. 

You don't need to stop being a human being just because you put on a uniform (of any sorts).

I harbor no ill will; I carry no resentment (well, maybe a little towards Peter Kelly and Constable Sean Auld); I do not go about my life in bitterness. What is done is done and cannot be undone. What is for certain is that today, we won a small victory. A small victory for all people. The type of apathetic brutality that occurred to myself and my community happens on a daily basis in communities around the globe (corruption, abuse and apathy) yet go unreported and unnoticed. I was fortunate to have been associated with such strong-willed and determined people who, without, I probably would have been quietly locked away. 

Thank you. Everybody.