HCAP protest against NS Power -- with speach and pics : IMC Maritimes

Thursday's noontime demonstration, organized by the Halifax Coalition Against Poverty (HCAP), drew attention to the crimes of Nova Scotia's privatized energy system. In the middle of downtown Halifax, about 75 protesters chanted and condemned Nova Scotia Power and their exploitation of Nova Scotia's poor.

The speakers included Jill Ratcliffe, an HCAP organizer, who outlined Nova Scotia Power's role in Atlantica, as well as Megan Leslie from Dalhousie Legal Aid, who joked that "I'll be in charge of legal defense, so don't get arrested during my speach." Leslie explained how Nova Scotia drastically needs an affordable energy program. The demonstration was peaceful, and generally considered to be sucessful.

The following is a transcript of the Jill Ratcliffe's speach:

Hi, I’m Jill, I’m a member of the Halifax Coalition Against Poverty.

It’s amazing to see so many proud people here today.

I want to thank you all for coming out. I want to especially thank everyone who made today’s action possible.

Today, friends, our purpose is clear. The Halifax Coalition Against Poverty has organized this rally to directly confront Nova Scotia Power and their parent company, Emera for their exorbitant power rates and for their role in the proposed free trade region, Atlantica.
They are a ruthless corporation which pursues profit over the wellbeing of Nova Scotians.

We are fighting here today because NSP holds a monopoly over power generation in the province. They supply 95 per cent of the electricity consumed in Nova Scotia thus controlling an essential services used by all people in the province.

In 1992, Nova Scotia Power was privatized by conservative Premier Donald Cameron in what was then the largest private equity transaction in Canadian history.

Since that time Nova Scotia Power has raised their residential power rates by over 30 percent. This corporation is ruthless in their pursuit of profit; thousands of Nova Scotians are detrimentally affected each year by the impacts of Nova Scotia Power’s motives.

We are fighting today because we understand the daily realities of struggling to pay our exorbitant heating costs. We know that it is often a choice between buying food and paying our power bills.

We are fighting today because we know that we must stand up to this corporate greed because our government will not. We recognize that the government in this province serves only the interests of the rich. This is proven again and again as the utility review board allows Nova Scotia Power to hike rates with the full knowledge that people in Nova Scotia struggle and fail to heat their homes in the winter.

We are also fighting today against Atlantica. Emera’s interest in Atlantica is in creating an unrestricted trade zone. The corporation wants government deregulation over issues such as power rates and environmental regulations and trade. To export natural gas and power to a larger market and to drive up the cost to maximize their profits. We know that further deregulation will having only negative effects on low-income Nova Scotians.

Our demands are basic for this government and to this corporation.

We Demand that Nova Scotia Power be returned to public ownership.

And that there be No More Power Rate Increases!

Friends, we all know that a 30 percent raise in our power rates is not an empty figure- it means not having heat, lights or being able to cook our food properly.

Fighting here is personal we are all fighting for a basic right. We fight against the erosion of public resources and the rise of corporate control.

If our government is willing to sell our well being for the short sighted fantasy of status on the world market than we will match their appalling actions. As long as they remain oblivious to our realities blinded by profit, we will match them with the power of our voices with our collective energy.

We bring our anger to the doorstep of the Cogswell towers, to the head office of Nova Scotia Power, because we know poor people cannot afford to remain passive at the mercy of corporate greed. HCAP believes there is dignity in resistance to poverty and that when we fight back, we can win.

In my opinion HCAP is nothing but a domestic terrorist organization that should be dealt with by authorities as such.

In my opinion, Nova Scotia Power (Emera) is nothing but a domestic terrorist organization, and should be dealt with by the People as such.

Its not NS POWER causing violence is it. The violence is being caused only by your ARA, Black Bloc commie numbnuts. You people don't even know what you're protesting for, you just like to cause shit because you have no lives. After seeing these pictures and news slips on TV, it made me think about getting into the police force so someday I can help the authorities smash this communist resistance like they did. Three cheers for the police!! Hip hip horray! Great job guys, don't let the commies have the streets. anticom

Marduk gazed up at the enormous face. Forty years it had taken him to learn what kind of smile was hidden beneath the dark moustache. O cruel, needless misunderstanding! O stubborn, self-willed exile from the loving breast! Two gin-scented tears trickled down the sides of his nose. But it was all right, everything was all right, the struggle was finished. He had won the victory over himself. Marduk loved Big Brother.

War, it will be seen, is now a purely internal affair. In the past, the ruling groups of all countries did fight against one another, and the victor always plundered the vanquished. In our own day they are not fighting against one another at all. The war is waged by each ruling group against its own subjects, and the object of the war is not to make or prevent conquests of territory, but to keep the structure of society intact.
In accordance with the principles of double-think it does not matter if the war is not real. For when it is, victory is not possible. The war is not meant to be won, but it is meant to be continuous.