Occupied Vancouver

The undersigned members of Occupy Vancouver would like to condemn and express our outrage at the actions of an individual who has been representing himself as an official voice of our movement, all the while committing persistent acts of bullying and harassment. Bullying and harassment are forms of active violence that should not be tolerated within our movement. As stated in our basis of unity: “We are also committed to safeguarding our collective well-being – including safety from interpersonal violence.”

Greg Renouf has repeatedly been asked by a wide range of individuals (including respected community activists, lawyers, and journalists) to stop his abusive campaign of harassment against Harsha Walia, a long-time organizer and activist. Yet Renouf presents his personal attacks and persistent harassment of her as “questioning”, and our attempts to explain to him that his behaviour is abusive and bordering on stalking have been ignored. Renouf continues to make unreasonable public demands of her (and only her), writes dozens of daily slanderous and inaccurate posts about her, has attempted to “report” her and others to the Vancouver Police Department and RCMP, viciously attacks anyone who tries to hold him accountable, and is creating an unnecessary climate of division and fear-mongering.

This is not actually an issue of tactics or strategies, which many of us have discussed and debated, and it should be noted that many supporters of diversity of tactics have affirmed and respected tactical non-violence in the Occupy movement. What concerns us is a one-sided campaign of intimidation, aggression, and obsessive fixation with one person (who is not even heavily involved in Occupy) by a man that many other members of Occupy Vancouver also feel threatened by, as his threats are spreading to other individuals. We feel that this is unacceptable and we are forced to speak out against Renouf’s actions. This type of behaviour must stop. Occupy Vancouver should no longer tolerate abusive behaviour from individuals who are the ones actually committing real harm and violence in our movement.

Until this harassment stops, the undersigned members of Occupy Vancouver will not participate in any Occupy Vancouver meetings or gatherings where Greg Renouf is present. Since Renouf characterizes anyone who speaks out about his behaviours as part of “Harsha’s gang of supporters”, it should be known that most of us are not formally affiliated with any of the groups that Harsha is part of and many of us are actually new to activism through Occupy Vancouver.

Bob Ages
Maryann Abbs
Robin Anderson
Virginia B-H
Carla Bergman
Lisa Barrett
Riaz Behra
Cameron Bode
Sarah Beuhler
Joe Bowser
Rory Breasail
Clayton Bromley
Fathima Cader
Kat Code
Stephen Collis
Charles Cox
Nathan Crompton
Gareth Davies
Anna Dayley
Didi Dufresne
Nassim Elbardouh
Levi Elijah
Emma Ellison
Faroe
Britta Fluevog
Caelie Frampton
Grant Fraser
Rachel G.
romham padraig gallacher
Lauren Gill
Peter Gill
Rob Gordon
Fancy Graham
Kate Gram
Kelsey Grimm
TL Habbs
Dayla Hart
Courtney Harrop
Peter Haywood
Robyn Heaslip
Michael H. Hejazi
Terri Hobbs
Sema Ibbetson
Erin Innes
Jordan Jack
Gregor Jahn
Reg Johanson
Dana Kagis
Mathew Kagis
Ian Ki’laas Caplette
Charlotte Kates
Danielle LaFrance
Andrew Longhurst
Andrea MacDonald
Ian MacDonald
Lindsay McGregor
Gerrard MacKinnon
Blake MacLeod
Alex Mah
Tracey Mann
Anthony Mayfield
Eli Mills
Sabrina Anne Modder
Patrick Morrison
Robert (Bobbo) Olson
Isaac K. Oommen
Christina Panis
Earle Peach
Jay Peachy
Maria Persdotter
Richard Porteous
Lindsay Porter
Jasmine Rezaee
Isaac Rosenberg
Eddie Rothschild
Sandra S.
Daniyah Shamsi
Chris Shaw
Stephanie Smith
Naava Smolash
Aaron Spires
Macdonald Stainsby
Rianne Svelnis
Tammie Tupechka
Aaron Vidaver
Chris Waddell
Catherine Welsh
David Wilde
Eve Wilensky
Sasha Wiley
Danielle Lee Williams
Mark Wilson
Maxim Winther
Mya Wolf
Miranda Wolfe
Tash Wolfe
Rita Wong
Usman X
Sandra Yee
Sabina Zahn
Stopthepave.org
Community Solidarity Working Group*
Consensual Housing Working Group*

* CSWG and CHWG are eleven members of Occupy Vancouver who commit to coming to a General Assembly in person to discuss and consense on a proposal if needed, but do not feel safe sharing personal information in this atmosphere of harassment.

If you are part of OV and wish to join us please send your name to: ov.anti.harassment@gmail.com