Eva Botton, convicted to 10 months in jail…
This week saw the sentencing of one of the last people residing in Canada being tried for the violence during the Toronto G20 summit (they’re moving onto Americans now). Eva Botton was convicted on six counts of Damage over $5,000, and one last count for using a disguise. Botton was part of a Black Bloc, a violent and misguided tactic which more often than not results in a black eye for the activist community.
The sentencing began on Tuesday afternoon at 2:15. There was a group of Botton’s fellow anarchists who came ‘in support’ of her. At least, that’s how they presented themselves on the surface. Anarchists who’ve been accused of a crime can expect to get a lot of support from their peers- but, those who don’t play the game as they’re expected to may find themselves hanging out to dry.
The most prominent of the anarchists who came to the trial was G20 ringleader Mandy Hiscocks (who was framed as a heroic jailhouse activist by the Toronto Star’s Antonia Zerbisias). Also present was Byron Sonne, a trickster who tried to test the limits of the G20’s security apparatus by publicly purchasing a selection of chemicals that could be used to make explosives. Sonne was tried, and was acquitted in May, 2012- recent activity indicates he’s quite close with the anarchist community.
The prosecutor explained how Botton was involved with the Black Bloc herd throughout most of their path of destruction. Botton was identified being responsible for smashing windows at six downtown Toronto businesses, it was claimed that she was responsible for $145,000 worth of damage, but also stated that (considering all of the chaos, and complexity of calculating the impact) it’s difficult to come to an exact amount of damage Botton was responsible for.
Botton’s lawyer explained how she’s been involved working with and helping marginalized people, how she had no prior convictions in her life, and was unlikely to offend again in the future. Botton is originally from California, but she lives in BC now. She’s been working as a program coordinator for a sex worker’s drop-in centre in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside- originally, she was a criminology student from Kwantlen Polytechnic University (no, that’s not a typo).
Botton is a tall and rather large-framed woman who showed a noticeable gait when she walked through the halls of the courthouse- it’s no wonder she was caught, she’d be easy to pick out in a crowd (even in a disguise). She was restricted from talking with the other anarchists in the hallway. There were, however, a couple of smiles exchanged- but, equally, there was a feeling of tension.
At the end of Tuesday’s proceedings the judge offered Botton an opportunity to make a final statement about her crimes. It was, at first, a bit of a surprise that Botton declined this opportunity. But, digging deeper, it makes a lot of sense- if Botton were to speak in her defence, and denounced the violence, she’d be likely to lose the support her comrades have promised her. Being a long way from home, and having nobody to come and visit her in jail (her family are in BC) could make her time a lot harder to take.
The above screenshot makes it very clear that the anarchists came to the courthouse not only to support Eva, but equally to oppress her. A similar situation is happening in the case of Girr Rowley, an anarchist who was charged with breaking a window during the G20. During Rowley’s sentencing, he was asked to make a Statement of Fact where he confirmed the identity of one of his masked colleagues. This caused some anarchists to suggest they should reject supporting Rowley.
There were a few more anarchists who came on Thursday, some reporters, and members of the press. One of the more prominent new arrivals was Rob Chamberland, the anarchist president of the CUPE 2073. (Another prominent CUPE anarchist is Humberto DaSilva, who has been involved with the radicalization of striking Porter Airlines refuellers. CUPE has an anarchist problem.)
G20: This guy was smashing a Rogers store with his CUPE flagpole..
Listening to the judge read her decision, it was clear she felt genuine empathy for Eva Botton. She stated that (unlike Kelly Pflug-Back) Botton ultimately accepted responsibility for her crimes, and how she believes Botton is unlikely to reoffend. It almost seemed like the judge was trying to infer that she’d rather not had given Botton a custodial sentence- except for the fact that the law requires her to consider the issue of deterring future people from engaging in widespread street violence.
In the end Botton was sentenced to ten months in jail and a further two years on probation with no special requirements- she’ll just have to regularly report to her probation officer, give them her address if she moves, and to stay out of trouble (unlike many of her comrades, it seems Botton has a good chance of doing that).
Meanwhile the others, like Alex Hundert, are being released from jail- more hardened in their criminality, and even more ready to engage in what they perceive as class-war. More kids like Eva Botton will get pulled-into their harebrained schemes, more lives will be damaged. People who are out trying to encourage real (and effective) change will continue to get tarred with the brush of this petty criminality.
It’s time for a change- don’t you think?
Related articles
10 comments
Skip to comment form
Never thought about the-“solidarity”/keeping the accused in line-anarchist oppression agenda. Makes sense to me. They always have to be at odds with the state no matter what.
That blog post linked to talking about Girr Rowley is chilling. I encourage all to take the time to read it. It gives an insight into the twisted thought processes in the radical leftist community. Also interesting to read the criticism of Rowley’s lawyer Davin Charney. It is clear the author was careful when talking about Charney who has done a lot of pro-bono work representing these activists over the years. It is like something you would expect out of the PR department of a large corporation. The criticism was still there however and I imagine Charney would not be impressed.
It is sad that these people charged come from different worlds. Sonne seems like the tin foil hat type to me. Mandy Hiscocks has been radical for a long time. Kelly, though young, has as well. Then there are the gucci socialist types like Sterling Stutz who will be fine thanks to the high priced lawyer her well off father hired. She could be acting out of some white liberal guilt or just be a bored upper-middle class kid playing revolutionary. Then there are those, probably with self esteem issues, who get caught up and excited because they are a part of something only to have it come crashing down.
It has always been clear to me from the first time G20 protesters arrived in court that he “Support” they are shown in court is more intimidation than actual support. And I am sure that in their twisted mind they have rationalized that this intimidation is somehow noble.
Remember that in Canada, you are usually given parole after only 1/3rd of the your sentenced time for violent offenses and 1/6th for nonviolent offenses. I don’t know if which they consider property offenses to be.
So for a 10 month sentence or about 300 days, she is very likely to be released after 100 or possibly even 50 days.
Author
That’s a very good point, it will be interesting to see how long it is until she is let free…
Yes, but typically you have to admit you were wrong to do what you did, apologize for what you did and try to convince them you will try not to do it again. That is why Mandy and Kelly are still chillin at the Milton Hilton. They do not want to lose their street cred by do any of the things that will get you paroled.
Author
It was refreshing to see that Botton was mindful of how misguided she was. It’s also interesting to note which of the anarchists did their full terms- people to keep an eye on…
You can be sure the anarchist cult leaders will be keeping an eye on anyone who gets out early.
Author
It seems that the anarchists and the Church of Scientology have all sorts of things in-common with each other.
FYI, she’s still in custody and it’s been over six months now… Provincial government approved parole. Federal government blocked parole. They REALLY don’t like people who question the G20.
Author
Wow, that’s really sad to hear…