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﻿<title﻿>﻿New Socialist Magazine, Rights and Freedoms - Don't Believe the Hype - Article﻿</title>﻿

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﻿<b﻿>﻿Rights and Freedoms - Don't Believe the Hype

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by Irina Ceric ﻿<br﻿>﻿

﻿<i﻿>﻿New Socialist Magazine, April - May 2002﻿</i>﻿<br﻿>﻿<br﻿>﻿<br﻿>﻿

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As people arrested during the Summit of the Americas in Québec City and the June 15th Queens Park demonstration of 2000 continue to trickle through the courts, it's becoming increasingly obvious that the criminal justice system is cracking down harder on demonstrators, organizers and activists. Perhaps for the first time, largely white urban activists are being treated to kinds of repression historically reserved for people of colour, Aboriginal people and trade unionists. 

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In Ontario and Quebec, police have increased the use of preventative and mass arrests while judges have taken to imposing restrictive bail conditions limiting communication and political activity at the behest of politically motivated prosecutors. Even before the post-September 11th regime of reduced civil liberties, racial and ethnic profiling and increased surveillance, visible and active social movements were beginning to confront growing police powers and an almost complete lack of civilian accountability.

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I've provided legal support for activists for several years, offering legal workshops and direct support after arrest or other harassment. While the politics of legal support could easily merit its own article, one aspect of this work deserves special mention: activists often express surprise and dismay at the limits of their 'rights and freedoms' under the Charter. On one level, given the legal system's habit of keeping knowledge to itself, these hopeful expectations are reasonable. Maintained as an elite pursuit akin to astrophysics, activists cannot access information about the law or, more specifically, the limits of constitutional rights.

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But a deeper problem exists. Often, a liberal analysis of law pervades activist communities, miring discussions in dangerous assumptions about what police 'can' and 'cannot' do. Rather than recognizing that effective actions that disrupt business as usual will never be tolerated, even if they're "non-violent" and ostensibly protected by guarantees of freedom of expression and association, activists often fall back on arguments that ignore the inherently conservative and regressive nature of law and policing under capitalism. By, for instance, entertaining well-meaning attempts to rein in police behavior by calling on them to 'respect' the Rule of Law and the Charter,1 activists overlook that law is a tool designed to keep the powerful in power by systematically denying rights and access to power and wealth to the poor, people of colour and those who dare dissent.

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Police behavior can only be understood in the context of a wider political struggle. Police policy and action must therefore be viewed through the lens of power: when the rich and powerful are threatened, police act to restore 'law and order.' Events in Ontario and Quebec lead to one inescapable conclusion: when symbolic protest ends, real repression begins. 

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This doesn't mean we shouldn't counter police violence or that it's not worth confronting the criminal justice system, but rather that we must advance an analysis of law enforcement consistent with our critique of capitalism and the state. Some Marxists have pointed out the need to critique the "Rule of Law"- that liberal idea that law is 'neutral' or above and apart from political and/or economic institutions.2 More immediately, activists must recognize that our success as anti-capitalists depends on having an analysis of police and the law that can serve as a solid foundation for strategy and logistics discussions.

﻿<br﻿>﻿<br﻿>﻿

We can integrate a radical critique of law into effective and strategic organizing and learn to anticipate and neutralize the repressive character of the criminal justice system. By making room for law in our discussions of theory and practice, we can move toward organizing models that make us less vulnerable: rotating visible organizers and spokespeople to reduce the likelihood of targeted arrests and planning actions that don't rely on the expectation that police only interfere with 'illegal' activity. Perhaps most important, we can learn to provide our own medical and legal support, thus minimizing the effects of law enforcement in the short-term and augmenting our experience in creating counter institutions. With a focus on self-defense and revolutionary capacity building, we can confront power with our eyes open to all its permutations.

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﻿<font﻿ ﻿size="1"﻿>﻿Irina Ceric is a member of the Ontario common front legal committee.﻿</font>﻿</font>﻿<br﻿>﻿<br﻿>﻿


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