Tenant Action Group Facing Police Repression in Belleville

March 29, 2006 - Autonomy & Solidarity Newswire

March 28th, 2006

After five years of organizing poor people in Belleville (Ontario) various TAG members are being rounded up by the police for their alleged participation in the recent trashing of Liberal MPP Ernie Parsons office. This act was carried out only after attempting to talk to Parsons regarding the desperate plight of single moms and people with (disabilities) in our community who have been condemned to a life of discarded foodbank items and contempt by local politicians, the CAS, police and welfare workers.

When the special diet cuts start on April 1st families will be torn apart.

TAG signed up over 900 people onto the "special diet" benefit - effectively winning over 2.7 million dollars locally - putting this money right into the pockets of poor people. The McGuinty government has increased welfare and disability rates an insulting 2%! Just to get us back to pre-Harris cuts we were demanding 40%!

TAG members can be proud that we took the initiative and didn't wait for more broken promises from Ernie and his Liberal hacks; we organized eight "Hunger Clinics" - these "Hunger Clinics" were organized by poor people themselves in housing projects across the city and the only way that money got into people's pockets was because of our militant stance and tenacity.

Our message is loud and clear - if governments will not listen to the plight of the most vulnerable, then we as a people must rise up...but only after attempting to reason and talk...when reasoning and talk fails then we must stand together with dignity.

No one in TAG is saying that you have to throw rocks and engage in violence to get our message across. No one in TAG wants to go to jail - the people who participated in the attack were frustrated and enraged at the contempt shown to us by Parsons and his staff.

This is a time for solidarity. We have recieved countless e-mails of support from comrades across the province and the country. The single moms in our group have been offered money and childcare to tide them over.

If you don't like what we did then tell us what else to do? Our children are hungry. We've done petitions, peaceful delegations, street kitchens...participated in "studies" and still countless action plans gather dust. TAG has always been upfront about our militancy and this isn't the first time we have faced and endured jail time.

You can rest assured that other Ontario Common Front allies will not abandon you and that we will continue to disrupt Ontario Rental Housing Tribunals, take our fight into the streets of Rosedale and engage in tactics of direct action unless the McGuinty government provides help to those starving.

Don't let them divide us with their slanted media. Don't let them force you to go cap in hand for crumbs to feed your kids. Stand together and...

Fight to win!

TAG Collective