Jail Break

photos thanks to Pete Rockwell

I was released from custody a couple of days ago. It is hard to climb stairs while handcuffed and wearing shackles, I learned. But even such movements can be converted into a dance, if a strange and marginally painful one.

I am the prison and the prisoner, the handcuff and the one being handcuffed. You can take the woman out of the tree, but you can't take the tree out of the woman. Still---jail is no place for a criminal, let alone one who has not yet been found guilty of any crime. It was a beautiful, beautiful thing to see so many people in the courtroom looking out for me----so many angel-gods whose presence in the courtroom showed that love is stronger than anything else. Friendship is a force no judge, however corrupt, and no prison, however cruel, can ever defy.

I have signed conditions, agreeing not to "attend at or near Centennial Square," agreeing not to set up a tent after 7a.m. or before 7 p.m., agreeing to "keep the peace and be of good behaviour." The police have all of my tents and all of my sleeping bags, so I should be able to meet those conditions easily---to be a "good girl" according to the City of Victoria's definition of "good" until the case goes to Trial, most likely on New Year's Eve--they will likely join my case to David and Tavis' case, and argue the whole thing in one swoop. I will be in Courtroom 101 tomorrow morning to enter a plea. Not guilty, for what it's worth.

The Times Colonist has done a good job of representing the whole case badly, thus influencing the general public to think badly of "those camping activists"---in yesterday's paper I look like a disturbing cross between Osama Bin Laden and mother Mary. And the acting chief of police's photo is there beside me, displaying a taser gun pointed in my direction. As if to say--"look out, you 'opponent of anti-camping bylaw.'" I have gotten a couple of threats in the last couple of days, and more than a couple teary-eyed thank-yous. I feel well-protected, and also am aware of the extent to which I have annoyed certain "powers that be." My intention is not to annoy the City (or anyone else), but to point out certain truths which, when ignored, lead to a whole lot of un-necessary suffering. And I by no means have "the answer," let alone "The truth"---so I hope that when I err, as I feel the City is in this case, that there will be someone there to point out my ignorance to me--and that Life will grant me the humility necessary to be able to listen to that someone and to correct my error in short order.

The heads of two of the City's chief charitable organizations--the Cool Aid Society and the Salvation Army--have now come out in the open about their hostility to the efforts of the "homeless campers." Well, fine. Cool Aid and the Salvation Army are in the (apparently quite
lucrative) business of providing charitable aid to people they deem to be largely helpless. We "homeless campers" (aka people who sometimes live in parks in tents) are in the business of friendship----friends helping friends to get through the night--and the day---with the honour and dignity that a community founded on love provides but that corporate charity does not. Selah.

There is a time to strive and a time to surrender. So for now I surrender. But I do not give up. As ever, one step at a time. My vision went fuzzy and I nearly lost consciousness at the pool last night--I suffered, apparently, a bit of a seizure. Lack of sleep and lack of sufficiently nourishing food over an extended period. I feel stronger today. It can seem like my spirit has reached a limit, and then there's always an unexpected new reserve. And it is good to remember that under-appreciated of the Ten Commandments--"thous shalt keep the Sabbath." Rest. So the City may be depriving its homeless Judeo-Christian citizens of their religious freedom---the freedom to rest. Good thing the City doesn't rule us. Good thing we keep our own council and are not bound by the council of City Council. Here I must remember the words of that great Saint of the twentieth century, Henry Miller---"I answer to God, not to the chief executive, whoever he may be."

Let there be light.

peace (and a good healthy dose of Holy Madness),

Kristen Woodruff..

Prorogation of Parliament has precedents

from my friend Rita ....

Steven Harper has shut down parliament because he does not agree with it.
Some say this is unprecedented.

In fact, Harper is following parliamentary tradition.
Consider the following precedents:

1629 King Charles I in England
1799 Napoleon in France
1913: Victoriano Huerta in Mexico
1933: Adolf Hitler in Germany
1936 Fransisco Franco in Spain
1939: Benito Mussolini in Italy
1973: Augusto Pinochet in Chile
2008: Steven Harper in Canada

If I were a City Councillor ....

Today I rode by Ellice Park, the much contested patch of green space that the City Mayor and Councillors (the old boss, hopefully not quite the same as the new boss) have designated for a homeless shelter. They want to move the downtown street crowd from Wharf St. It's nicer for the tourists. I guess they'll break ground in the spring. Meanwhile, they've put up a 'Keep Out' sign, and fenced off the area.

If I were one of the newly elected bunch, I'd try to figure out a way to encourage the old, re-elected ones to park their egos and consider, just for a moment how utterly evil and/or stupid it is to have an empty lot, surrounded by a fence, with one sign announcing a re-zoning and another sign asking people stay out, while they harass and arrest and intimidate a handful of homeless people who are just asking for a little cooperation for a tent city. It's December, rainy and cold, there's an empty space, the city's got an 'out' (you can have the space for a tent city until we break ground in the spring), and think of all the money they can direct away from the constant arrests, not to mention the public relations challenge if people ever realize what's really going on.

If I were a City Councillor I'd write an email, and send it to all the churches, all the poverty advocates, all the social workers, all the homeless people with email access, everyone I can think of who might be interested. I'd ask who is willing to help set up a 24/7 security desk to monitor the activities in the camp. I'd write up a set of reasonable rules we might all agree upon, I'd offer space for us to meet (soon!) to discuss it, and we'd turn Ellice Park into a temporary camp with porta potties and bus tickets for transport to the soup kitchens. Maybe it'd be successful, maybe it'd offer people a place to pitch their tents (without having to move them every day), cover them with tarps, create community, get their shit together while they're waiting for the 'housing first' mantra to manifest itself. Maybe it'd be a huge disaster, in which case the naysayers could call their corporate media chums and have it all exposed and laugh their evil laughs and pat themselves on the back and go back to doing nothing at all.

One of my homeless friends told me that last night the Starvation Army was so full they ran out of mats. He had to sleep on the floor. Nice 'shelter bed' that!

If you believe tent cities are not a solution to the housing crisis , consider that it might save a life TONIGHT. It's friggin' cold out. What's the point of this particular fence around this particular green space??!!???!!

I suggest we all write to the city about this:

"Dean Fortin" , "Sonya Chandler " , "Chris Coleman" , "Bea Holland" , "Helen Hughes" , "Philippe Lucas" , "John Luton" , "Pamela Madoff" , "Charlayne Thornton-Joe" , "Geoff Young"

here's an email received from someone with similar ideas:

I'm sending this email to ask people if Monday would be a good day to have our first formal 'temporary emergency shelter (tent city)' planning meeting, and what times are good for people and if anyone has any ideas for where we can meet. I assume we will have 12 or more people attending.

I have sent an email to Sol Kinnis, who provides excellent workshops on collective process, in hopes that she can help us develop a process whereby we can create our plan in a timely and efficient matter. Many of us have expressed that we are interested in this idea out of frustration with the timelines provided by the city and the province and the feds for dealing with this project, and we recognize an extreme urgency in the need to provide this service.

We are facing many obstacles, however, and need to be as thorough and thoughtful in our process as possible. A primer in collective organizing is something we can all use. Hopefully this workshop will happen soon after our first meeting.

I wanted to put forward some ideas I had about what we will be addressing during this process, and this can help serve us to create an agenda for our first meeting.

The text I've created below could serve as a guideline (once we've looked at it together and made the required changes) for the plan we are hoping to put together.

Please look it over and let me know if there is anything you would add to or change about it.
I'm thinking that each of these categories will evolve into working groups, (some of us will serve on different working groups) as many require active research and communication with the public and the government.

I hope also that we can allow for various levels of involvement in this process, so as to make it as open and inclusive as possible.

Please forward this message to anyone you know who wants to take part in this process.

Chris - kalanubuffalo@yahoo.com

Questions to Consider:

Rationale

Why do we need this kind of service?
In what ways are other services lacking that this project can address?


Who Will Use This Service?

What restrictions, if any will we have?
Would it make the project more acceptable to focus on certain groups, ie, disabled, elderly, families?


Municipal/Legal Regulations and Relations
What are the regulations prohibiting this project
What are the municipalities willing to do to relax these regulations/What do they require from us? Community Relations

What are the concerns of the public towards this project?
What kinds of actions can we take to engage/dialogue with the public?

Land

Where will this happen?
Private or public land?
One or more camps?

Camp Regulations

What is allowed/not allowed in the camps?

Food

What kind of food will we provide?
How will we acquire it?

Safety/Security

What kind of training would volunteers require?
How will we keep people and their belongings safe?

Supports

What kinds of supports will we need to offer?
What do we have the capacity to provide?
How do we build our capacity to provide more?

Funding/Supplies

What will this cost us?
What do we need?
Where will we get the funding/supplies we need?

Volunteers

What is our volunteer capacity to implement this project?
What kind of commitment is required of those involved?
What kinds of structures will we have for dividing tasks?

Similar/Previous Projects

What can we learn from existing/past/attempted projects of this kind?

Administration

How will this project be governed?
Will we form a non-profit, or seek assistance from another non-profit?
How will we make decisions that affect the project?

Timeline

When do we hope to have this plan finished?
When do we hope to start providing service?

Remembering Montreal, 1989

While some will be rallying to prop up a government that cuts funding for women-centred activities, others will be commemorating fourteen who were murdered in 1989 on Canada's Day of Remembrance, December 6th.

the changing of the guards

i was gonna go to the grand ceremony at city hall this afternoon, the changing of the guard, the swearing in of the new mayor and council, but i just couldn't stomach it.

the changing of the guard hasn't impressed me since that time when i was six years old, and in london for the first time with my mum, on our way north to meet my grandma and grandpa who lived until they died in the small council (government sponsored) housing block. in london mum and i visited madame tussards, and i was allowed to buy one toy from harrod's, and then it was mum's turn and she insisted that we witness the changing of the guards at windsor palace. her enthusiasm was contagious, and i watched wide-eyed for this miraculous metamorphosis. in my six year old imagination i envisioned these fuzzy hatted, solemn faced men would actually transform .... into what, i didn't know. when the event was over, i was confused. i hadn't noticed any change. i tugged at mom's skirt and asked her to explain. (okay, i don't actually remember that i tugged at her skirt specifically, but it seems likely and it conjures up a cute little image). mom chuckled, (i'm guessing she did), and explained that it was a shift change, not an actual transmogrification.

i'm not sure i ever got over it. even now, today, i was all the way downtown but after i had a conversation about how evil the multi-million dollar starvation army are (apparently they refused to open their accounting books to bill gates and he declined support for them), and after i learned that both the sally ann and our place are no longer allowing for volunteers at their establishments, something about being listed as businesses rather than charities, then i had another innane conversation about whether we ought to have a tent city or not (let's just freakin' try it and see whether or not it works rather than all this ridiculous speculation while women get raped outside) my stomach started to turn, literally, so i decided instead to spend way too much on comfort foods (all vegan, of course) and lucky for my sanity i ran into kym, at the food store, who is also feeling the strangeness of these times. we talked about the dominant culture as a wounded dying bear, lashing out in freakish ways as it draws its last breath, the worst is yet to come with jamie graham about to take over the police department. we talked about the importance of looking after yourself first - not at the expense of others, or in a selfish way, but in an i'll put the oxygen mask on myself first so i can help the others kind of way.

i felt a bit better, but nonetheless i went home and stuffed my face and watched today's amazing race rerun.

when i checked my email, i discovered that newly elected lynn hunter is not interested in receiving my anti-poverty posts. got the vote, thank you very much, now fuck off. nothing ever changes.

the entire day has been wierd. whoever it is that arrives at 3:45 every single friggin' morning, to pick someone up from the building across the way (i know because last week i peaked out my window to see what the heck was going on), really needs to get that power steering fixed. for about two weeks now i've been awoken, nearly every single morning, just before 4 am, while some goofball pulls a u-turn in front of my bedroom window in a car that's desperately in need of repair. this morning it sounded like he was doing donuts, the horrid high pitched ssssqqqqqqquuuuuuuuuueeeeeee (i'm guessing it's a power steering problem) of his near dead vehicle actually incorporated itself into my dream. strangely, the dream ended with me waving a white flag and i couldn't get the sound out of my head after they'd left. it's akin to torture, this sleep deprivation, and i surrender! i actually wrote a note and tromped across the street at 5 am and posted a note on the building, asking puhleeease can something be done to change this ?!!!!?!! i don't know what else to do. if i wasn't a single middle-aged woman who's learned to be afraid of things like dark streets in the middle of the night, i might set my alarm and confront the dude, or take his license number and report it as noise pollution ... though i'm sure the police would prefer to lock me up rather than help me out.

i spent an hour in the wee hours watching frasier reruns and practicing some yoga and finally the screeching sound was gone from my brain and i went back to sleep.

then, this morning, i returned a phone call from the street newz message service. some guy named greg. i figured it was greg hartnell, phoning to talk about the tent city mess, but it definitely was not. this greg wanted to tell me what a disgusting piece of trash he thinks the street newz to be, we don't live in a dictatorship you know, how'd you like to live under communism .... blah blah blah. i managed to shut him up long enough to explain that the street newz is comprised of writings from people of various socio-economic standings, and he's most welcome to submit his opinion. after some more blah blah blah about how he pulled himself up by his bootstraps and those whiners should do the same, as if we're all given equal opportunities, i told him i don't have time for this and hung the phone up. it's a good thing i don't currently have any significant funders, they might request a more diplomatic approach. but i was being abused, and i just don't need that shit.

so i passed on the changing of the guard thing at city hall today. as i learned many years ago, there really is no such thing. we live in a patriarchy, a hierarchy, where decisions are made by a select elite few, who attempt to impose them on the rest of us whether we like it or not, or use expensive manipulative media to attempt to assimilate us all into their way of thinking. there will be no real change in my lifetime, though i remain optimistic about alternate universes, and i hope i can get to the end of this life without too much more suffering. ssssqqqqqqquuuuuuuuuueeeeeee ..........

Merry Christmas - from Kristen Woodruff

Greetings;

I am exhausted but happier than I have ever been. The police took just about everything we had---tents, sleeping bags, food, winter jackets, blankets. Leaving me and most of the other campers with only the clothes on our backs. All this after we had quite willingly agreed with Ken Kelly, head of the Downtown Victoria Business association, to leave Centennial square by noon today (Friday, November 28th) so that he could host a Christmas tree lighting ceremony for the public.

The City insisted that this wasn't good enough--and sent in a host of bylaw enforcement officers and police men to make sure we were out of there by 9a.m. On the authority of the city's "bylaw enforcement policy" restricting tents to the hours between 7 p.m. and 7 a.m., the bylaw officers issued several $100 tickets for "constructing a temporary structure without a permit." They then arrested David Arthur Johnston and Tavis Dodds, on the charge of "continuing to disobey a bylaw." They didn't seem to want to arrest me or anyone else who, like Johnston and Dodds, maintained that the officers had no authority to enforce the 7 p.m. to 7 a.m. policy. They did give me a $100 ticket for the lit candle I had in front of me during the whole proceedings.

Just when we thought it was over, we heard a scuffle a few hundred feet way, under an awning where one of us stood watch over tents, tarps, sleeping bags, food, and other effects we had packed up earlier--before the police even arrived. The police were loading all the goods into a truck, and wouldn't let us have anything back. Scott, who had been watching the pile when the police came over, reported having told them, when asked "are these yours"--"no, I don't believe anything belongs to anyone, but I am taking care of these things. And they are more mine than yours." Mine or yours or theirs, our stuff was, yet again, carted off to the abyss of the Police Department. Never to be seen again, most likely. People without a fixed address rarely get anything back from the police.

So we were back to nothing again. No big deal, really. For some reason we were all deliriously happy, maybe because we knew that the police and the City can't take away anything real---they can steal our stuff, imprison our friends, neglect the rule of law. No big deal. They can't take THAT away. Someone from the media asked me if I was worried about my friends in jail. I answered---"Well, when your friends are in the hands of people who show little respect for the law, it's natural to worry. But what are they going to do? What's the worst? Torture my friends and make me watch, then kill them, then torture me, then kill me? Well, fine. Because even then you can't take anything away." Pain comes and goes. Love is forever. Life outlives the prisons and the grave. Or as a young man who was released from police cells early this morning and came by the camp for a rest said--"When you are free in here--" he gestured at his heart--"then you can be free, even in there[in jail]."

The City of Victoria does not seem to be honoring the law in this case, to say the least--and this instance is just a sign of a broad pattern of lawlessness on the part of the City of Victoria. And the victims of the City's lawlessness are most often those least able to defend themselves. Our City government is not benevolent, even though there are some well-meaning individuals who work with the city in various capacities, and well-meaning citizens who would like to believe the City acts in the best interests of the people. And the police are on the whole a gang of publicly-sanctioned bullies who intimidate the most vulnerable of our citizens into compliance. That said, there are a few individual police officers who sincerely strive to protect the people, and I feel sorry for those commendable officers that they have to carry out the city's illegal policies.

So, on the authority of a most likely illegal bylaw, the city held two people in jail today. Happens every day to many homeless individuals, only it doesn't usually make the evening news. Every day this week people came into the camp in Centennial square sharing stories of how the police stole all their stuff, beat them up, drove them out of city limits, or a combination of the three. I had no idea it was as bad as it is.

Well--this afternoon Dodds and Johnston were released from custody, and given a speedy trial---unlike many people with No Fixed Address, they have a strong support net work, the back-up of two ninja-goddess lawyers who work for free (Irene and Cathy) and much public visibility. The Justice System still works badly for them, but it works better for them than it does for most people living on the street.

Johnston and Dodds will appear in court on Friday, December 5th for a trial which will begin the process of determining in the court whether the city has any legal authority in enforcing a ban on tenting between 7 a.m. and 7 p.m., in light of madam Justice Ross's recent Supreme Court ruling. This is really good news.

I was going to set up camp in Centennial square again tonight. I changed my mind. When I returned to Centennial square with David Johnston and Tavis Dodds around 5 p.m., our friends who had been waiting there while I was at the Courthouse were gone and so was their stuff. The square was full of people celebrating the opening of the Christmas shopping season, courtesy of the Downtown Victoria Business Association. Christmas Carols played on loudspeakers. The space under the tree that had served as our home for four days was empty. No room in the inn and even the manger is off limits."It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas."

We eventually ran into Jonathan LeDrew, who told us the bylaw officers had been by again, and had threatened to issue more tickets and make more arrests if Jonathan and two others didn't leave the little patch of pavement where they and their few remaining belongings were huddled--quite out of the way of the official celebrations.

The four of us--LeDrew, Johnston, Dodds, and myself---hadn't been there five minutes when a kind woman came by with a bag full of sandwiches for us--she had seen us on the news and was inspired to help. Hot on her trail was a security guard working fro the City, who threatened to call bylaw enforcement if we didn't all move along. Apparently, it is illegal to give gifts on public property in the City of Victoria. Merry Christmas, hey? But a little later another security guard came by, shook my hand, and gave me a tiny music box. Yes, Merry Christmas.

With one security guard's warning and another's sweet gift, we moved along, each, eventually, in their own direction. The community that had been building a home together was, yet again, divided by the City and its laws. What the City and its laws don't know is that no amount of apparent division can ever divide us. We are a community bonded by love and by life and, no, you can't take that away, even if you do everything in your power to drive us apart. "We aren't protesters," Jonathan said, "We are lovers." "We aren't here to promote anything," G. said, "We promote living. Living. Period." "They want to stamp out everything living," Scott said, "but you can't stamp out anything living--just because you have a gun doesn't mean you get to tell life what to do." Life, it seems, just keeps doing its beautiful life-thing, quite oblivious to this silly world of guns and money.

Well, speaking of guns, I hadn't taken twenty steps before I ran into constable Jamie Pierce, one of the policemen who was most keen to see us removed from Centennial square. I had just seen him at the Courthouse, where he told me "well, you had your little time,"--waving his hands in the air and wiggling his fingers--"and now it's over." Then he added--- "And you should tell your friends in Centennial square that we are going there next to see them." Greeting me, as promised, in Centennial square, he said "So what are you doing here, Kristen?" I said, "I'm celebrating the Christmas season with my neighbours, just like you, Jamie."

Pierce and I parted company and I saw him going over to where a very tired Jonathan LeDrew sat on a rolled up blanket with a guitar given to him earlier in the day by a man who also had no fixed address, but wanted to give his guitar "to the future Tent City." I caught up to Pierce in time to see him asking Jonathan to move along if he didn't want his stuff seized again.

I left Centennial square shortly thereafter, but not before running into a man who gave me his tent and blanket. He and his girlfriend were sleeping in a doorway, he said, and so they wouldn't need their tent for awhile.

So I'm not staying in Centennial square tonight. There is a time to strive and a time to surrender, a time to push and a time to yield. I'm tired and tonight I won't be sleeping in the public eye. The city and the police department can rest easy, even if no one else can.

We will see what tomorrow brings.

Words can't say "thank you" well enough to all the human angels who supported us in various ways in centennial square this week. For all the gifts, in all their forms, and to all of you---thank you. Your collective presence stuns me with its beauty. This is what a community built on love looks like. I had no idea. It feels like we are on the verge of a miracle. That we got this far is miracle enough for one night. Thank you.

in peace and with much joy,

Kristen Woodruff.

An Arresting Christmas Spirit ....

photos and story from Pete Rockwell:

According to Kristen Woodruff, the protest campers at Centennial Square had reached an amicable understanding with the Downtown Business Association to move thier camp out of the way in plenty of time for the DBA'S planned lighting of the Christmas tree [Friday night].

[Friday morning,] Jonathan LeDrew, along with a couple of supporters had started moving thier tents and belongings down to the covered area a couple of hundred feet away. In spite of this, eight to ten police and bylaw officers moved in and arrested David Johnston and Tavis Dodds. They then went back and removed the remaining tent.

All of the campers possesions were loaded on to a city truck and driven away [aka stolen].


update from Janine:

i spoke with kristen friday morning - she confirmed that david and tavis had made it known that they would remove their tents by 11 am, but the cops arrived at 9 am anyways and arrested them. the cops stole everything, again, so the tenters are tentless and without sleeping bags, again. the campers intend to return to the site, they'd really appreciate donations of tenting equipment. large cardboard boxes, especially those with wax coating are also useful for shelter purposes.

in case you hadn't heard, the last time david and tavis and kristen and jonathan were arrested for attempting to protect themselves from the elements by way of a tent city, the judge dismissed the charges. welcome to the police state, where men in uniform exert authority they don't actually have. isn't patriarchy fun! bring on the witch burnings and stonings!



in other news, the mayor's alleged coalition to end homelessness has been in operation for a year. apparently their successes consist of creating a strategic report document, employing three people, and establishing an office down the street from our place. they have no provincial or federal representation on their board and one of their token street representatives is currently homeless - the coalition seems incapable of providing even him with a roof overhead.

on thursday past i spoke with a woman from olympia's fully functional tent city (the audio is available here). in olympia there are now eight churches involved in sharing the responsibility for the camp. what are victoria's good christians doing? are they aware that david and tavis are also christians? but most of city hall and the police hate them, though some in the justice system appreciate them. if only a couple of good christian folk would get up off their pews, take the train to olympia and/or portland and convince themselves it's possible (amtrak goes daily, it's about $50 from vancouver), and then get city hall on board like they've done in other cities. it's not that difficult. or is it okay to watch these good people be continually harassed and arrested for their attempts to establish a safe community for all the homeless people 'the system' continues to create?

and lastly .... who's robbing the banks when all the bully cops are busy busting the homeless?


more of Pete's photos are online here.