PIVOT Legal Society: If You Care About Harm Reduction, Why Don’t You Stop The Harm To Me?

PIVOT Legal Society's new summer interns...

Dear Peter Wrinch,

Today I read an article on your web page about Harm Reduction. It was curious to see it was written by Fathima Cader. It took me a few moments until I realized where I knew her name from. Then it dawned on me- this woman has done enormous harm to me…

Fathima was one of the people who put their name to a character assassination that was done towards me as a result of my participation in Occupy Vancouver. This letter has had a deep impact on my life- it has had an effect on my progressing in my career, and has been used against me in a number of situations.

To make things worse, the people who wrote it created a special website for it on the Internet– it’s the only document published there. They also registered a special domain name for it that was made to appear as if the letter was an official document at Occupy Vancouver- but it isn’t…

Why did they do this to me? Well, it is quite an interesting story- basically, it was because I was more insistent than others that Harsha Walia brought some clarity to her stance on Occupy Vancouver using violence against the people of Vancouver. Have a look at this video and you will understand why I was concerned:
http://youtu.be/VhvUG3ejplo
As with most any resident of Vancouver would be, I was quite in-shock after watching this video. I made several attempts to talk with Harsha about this in a civil manner, but she absolutely refused to engage. Then, after several visits from the Black Bloc, one where there was an assault on a police officer, I wrote about this issue– hoping that Harsha would come to her senses and denounce the use of violence at Occupy. Our movement was started as a non-violent one, and the majority of people who attended wanted it to be that way.

As the head of an influential legal organization- I’m certain that you also can see the senselessness of using violence…

Unfortunately, rather than face this issue- Harsha, and her associates decided it would be a better strategy to try and discredit my reputation. I was shocked & awed to be honest- never in my life had I had anyone make such accusations against me as they did. One of Harsha’s friends even went as far as to contact a family member of mine and tell her people thought I was dangerous and mentally ill.

Then, finally, they published this letter against me. A number of people who put their names to the letter had them removed once they learned that the accusations were fabricated. Here’s what one of them wrote when he realized it was wrong:

What I didn’t realize was that that Greg was willing to stick his neck out and risk his reputation to challenge anyone that supported the use of violence or law breaking as one of a “diversity of tactics”. Greg was the first and loudest voice in Vancouver calling for a commitment to non-violence.

Let me be clear. I still think Greg went to far in singling out this individual. But that is my opinion. Greg is different then me. I also use a pseudonym on FB for my poitical pursuits where as in others do not. I prefer to engage in online activity with a measure of anonymity while Greg and others do not. Although I personally asked Greg to stand down in his campaign he chose not to. Different strokes. What I didn’t see coming was the tactics and great lengths a GROUP of people representing OccupyVancouver would use to discredit, malign, harass, intimidate and ridicule Greg – some of it arguably criminal in nature.

To give you some context, even after I agreed to sign my name to that letter (a decision I regret) when I questioned the behavior of that group of people I was harassed, “blocked” on FB, telephoned and physically threatened and also shunned by this group of nasty people. In my opinion, the actions of this group of people constituted far worse examples of harassment and intimidation than any actions I am aware of Greg perpetrating.

Occupy Vancouver is in ashes due to the insular and cultish behavior of a few of the people on that list. Most people who’s names are attached to that list are decent, well intentioned people that may not have understood the big picture and what was going on beneath the service. Some people attacked Greg for alledgedly being sexist and racist from the beginning of his campaign (of questioning said individual’s connection to Black Bloc) even though not once did Greg frame the conversation in that context. This was the beginning of the diversity of tactics employed by what many in Vancouver refer to as the occucult. When I agreed to attach my name to the letter denouncing Greg it was because I was in spirit denoucing any form of harassment or calling out of people in the movement – something Greg is clearly not afraid to do. Regrettably, I signed that letter not realizing that the people who created that letter were willing to do far worse.

The letter is published on a website where the domain name is hidden- and I am unable to ascertain who the person behind the site is, and unable to get this information without a court order. Unfortunately, that is a procedure that is prohibitively expensive. Basically, I’m stuck, and cannot do anything to take it down.

On PIVOT’s website, it says that your “mandate is to use the law to address the root causes of poverty and social exclusion.” This letter posted against me puts me at-risk of both these issues. Knowing this, and seeing that one of the people involved in this letter works at PIVOT, I am writing to you in a request for help in getting the letter taken off of the Internet.

Fathima obviously knows who put the letter up in the first place- and, I believe that PIVOT has relationships with Harsha Walia, and other people who are involved. Between the both of you, I imagine it will not be such a difficult undertaking to get this done. Then, finally, I can move past this problem, and continue with my life.

I’m happy to answer any questions you have for me, and promise to give you full-disclosure. And, if after reading the letter they have written about me you have any questions about my character, I will happily provide you with personal references who will explain to you I am the opposite of how I was framed in the letter.

Thank you, in advance, for your assistance in this matter.

Sincerely,
-Greg Renouf

grenouf(at)genuinewitty.com

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