CANADIAN ANARCHIST MOVEMENT VICTORIA:
POLICE RAID CAMAS INFOSHOP IN VICTORIA:
On Friday November 5 police entered the
Camas Books and Infoshop on
Quadra Street in Victoria BC and removed computer equipment and other documents for which they had obtained a warrant. The statement of the bookstore follows as originally published in the
Vancouver Media Co-op.
Now I can't say that I am much of a fan of petty vandalism as a "political" tactic. It accomplishes nothing, and feeds nothing but delusions of importance amongst both the perpetrators and their supporters. It was interesting, however, to note how quickly almost all of the "poverty industry" organizations in Victoria fell in line to not only distance themselves from the action (understandable) but more significantly to praise the Mayor for being a good friend of the homeless. I wonder if being recipients of government money has anything to do with such loyalty ? The one notable exception was 'Committee to End Homelessness' who actually voiced criticism of the City's policies.
Another significant thing to note is the speed and diligence of the police response in this case. Something about having their boss pissed off I guess, and having to appear to be diligently hunting down the vandals. I would have serious doubts that any incriminating evidence could be found on the computers at Camas Books. At best it is a data gathering operation for names, addresses, phone numbers, etc. of people unconnected to the vandalism. More busy work for Victoria's equivalent of a Red Squad. I wonder if the Mayor is going to fall for it ?
But before we go on to the communique from Camas consider one more thing. I don't know all that much about Victoria, but I do know that in the city where I live the police would be highly unlikely to even show up for a broken window and some graffiti. Let alone go through the motions of pretending to search for the vandals. Once more something about actually personally pissing off the boss. Some are indeed served and protected better than others.
In any case here is the communique from Camas.
CBCBCBCBCBCB
Police Raid Camas Educational Bookstore
by Camas Educational Bookstore
NOVEMBER 8, 2010 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Police Raid
Camas Educational Bookstore
Victoria, BC on November 5, 2010: the Victoria Police Department entered
Camas Books, 2590
Quadra Street with a warrant to search and seize computer equipment and documents. Four volunteers were detained while officers searched the premise, seizing 2 computers, a
Camas Educational Society annual report, and Shaw and
Telus account bills.
The
Camas Educational Society is a not-for-profit registered society that functions collectively to operate the volunteer run
Camas Books and Info.
Camas Books first opened its doors in September 2007, with the intention of providing a voice for social justice perspectives, and helping to foster a spirit of solidarity with other such struggles taking place globally. The
Camas Collective has a mandate to keep the store and space as accessible and inclusive as possible in order to provide free access to
internet and print information that follows our mission statement, akin to a library.
The C
amas collective has received no information from police about any incident that the search and seizure may be pertaining to, or what lead police to the book store.
For more information on
Camas Books or the
Camas Educational Society go to
www.camas.ca Media Contacts: Meaghan MacDonald Email: Meaghan.j.macdonald(at)gmail.com Phone: 250-896-7588
