24 Mai
2015
24 Mai
'15
20:27
Bonjour camarades,
Je vous partage une demande de financement populaire solidaire de mon amie
et camarade Katie Nelson, qui fait face à de nombreuses poursuites
judiciaires dans le cadre de son militantisme, et qui poursuit également la
ville de Montréal pour profilage politique.
http://www.gofundme.com/s2tm49s
Veuillez également lire son témoignage ici:
Hi! My name is Katie Nelson, and I need help fundraising money for legal
fees!
In the spring of 2012, hundreds of thousands of students put their degrees
on the line and went on strike against cuts to education and increases in
tuition fees. Many stayed on strike for over six months and are still
feeling the academic consequences.
Parallel to this, the Quebec state unleashed violent political repression
through its police force, going so far as to adopt anti-protest laws.
During this, I with several others, took on roles calling out police on
their brutality and misconduct while attempting to maintain my involvement
in the strike movement, and for this I have been targeted by police. The
harassment got to the point that I have a civil lawsuit against the city of
Montreal and a number of individual officers under the counsel of renowned
constitutionalist and civil liberties lawyer Julius Grey, seeking to
establish a legal precedent on Politcal Profiling.
In the meantime, the police's targeting of me amounted to over $10,000
dollars worth of tickets issued to me under various municipal and
provincial legislation, many of which's constitutionality is under
examination in the courts. In the meantime, 2-3 years later, I am now in
court over 22 times (22 court dates!!) in the next 3 months trying to fight
back these tickets one by one.
I have a great team of friends backing me up and a passionate and dedicated
articling student and lawyer working pro bono to represent me and hopefully
knock these tickets off one by one before the civil suit is heard.
However, even their pro bono representation has costs, because such is the
state of the “justice system” in the 21st century. There are motions to be
filed, documentation to be printed, experts to be consulted, and more, all
of which is being paid out of pocket by myself and my legal team. These
fees are becoming quite heavy, as I at the same time pay for my schooling.
As we see the beginnings of the Printemps 2015 anti-austerity movement, the
police repression in response has been even more intense and violent than
that at the beginning of the 2012 strike. The police have been swift with
both baton and ticket-pad and they must not be empowered.
Help us send a clear message that their repression will not work! If the
police are able to be validated in their repression by getting guilty
verdicts against me because of lack of resources, it will only empower them
to continue on their path. If we can hit them over and over again with not
guilty verdicts, if we can get judges to grant sanctions against them for
their violent behaviour, and if we can take a stand that our rights will
not be quashed due to a simple lack of financial resources, it will help
the whole movement against repression.
So please donate what you can to my legal defense cause. All funds raised
will be used for all fees associated to my legal proceedings. Any extra
funds in the end will be turned over to Independent Solidarity Action Fund,
a commission dedicted to defending activists suffering legal repression.
Student suing police to establish legal precedent
<http://www.torontosun.com/2013/08/24/student-suing-montreal-police-to-establish-legal-precedent>
Student Suing Montreal Police for Harassment
<http://montreal.ctvnews.ca/student-suing-montreal-police-for-harassment-1.1423345>
Katie Nelson and the Tools for Change
<http://www.forgetthebox.net/katie-nelson-interview/>