THE CASE OF POLITICALLY TARGETED ANTIWAR ACTIVIST ALISON BODINE

ALISON BODINE DEFENSE COMMITTEE

UPDATE #21
THE CASE OF POLITICALLY TARGETED ANTIWAR ACTIVIST ALISON BODINE GOES INTERNATIONAL!
ALISON BODINE DEFENCE COMMITTEE DEMANDS:
LIFT THE BAN! STOP THE REMOVAL OF ALISON BODINE!

On October 31st, the Immigration & Refugee Board of Canada (IRB) ordered US antiwar activist Alison Bodine banned from Canada for 2 years and news of the unjust and politically motivated ban has already spread around the world. Alison Bodine was targeted as a political activist based on the antiwar materials in her car, harassed and arrested by the Canada Border Services Agency in September 2007. Currently Alison Bodine is Co-chair, executive committee member and spokesperson of Mobilization Against War and Occupation (MAWO) in Vancouver, BC. The October 31st decision orders her to leave Canada by November 17th and the Alison Bodine Defence Committee has vowed to fight it.

By the end of the day on October 31st, the story of the antiwar activist banned from entry for two years by Canada border officials had already been published by the Canadian Press news agency and the West Island Chronicle, a Montreal-based newspaper.

On Thursday November 1st, the story went worldwide and was run by the AP-Associated Press, a newswire serving 121 countries around the world and the MSNBC newswire, one of the largest online news providers in the US. The popular online news source Common Dreams also featured a story about Alison's case as did PR-inside (Pressemitteilung), a news service based in Vienna, Austria. The story was also printed locally by the 24hrs Newspaper in Vancouver, the Province Newspaper, the Globe & Mail. For full details on media coverage of the case, please go to http://alisonbodine.blogspot.com

The political harassment and targeting of Alison Bodine began with intimidation and harassment by CBSA agents when she was searched at the US-Canada border on September 10th and has continued over 7 weeks of legal delays and processes. The IRB decision and ban attempts to keep Alison from traveling to Canada to work with antiwar organizers here in Canada, much like when two CODEPink Women for Peace organizers who were denied entry to Canada two separate times in October 2007. The women were coming to Canada to participate in antiwar speaking events and meetings. The CBSA is partaking in the attempt by the governments of Canada and the US to keep antiwar organizers from both sides of the border from uniting and working together to make the US and Canada antiwar movements stronger.

The Alison Bodine Defence Committee (ABDC) is exploring and pursuing all possible legal avenues while continuing the political campaign against the attack on Alison and against attacks on all antiwar and social justice activists! In the next week, the ABDC is organizing a legal defence fundraiser, a public forum to discuss the developments and future work of the campaign. The ABDC is also launching another appeal for support letters against the removal and a petition campaign to demand "Lift the Ban! Stop the Removal of Alison Bodine!" Details on events and activities will be at http://alisonbodine.blogspot.com.

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Contact the Alison Bodine Defence Committee:
defendalisonbodine@hotmail.com
778 891 1470
778 882 5223
604 339 7103


Check the blog for all updates and upcoming actions!
http://alisonbodine.blogspot.com