In remembrance and solidarity with Troy Davis, killed by the state in Georgia, US, 21/09/2011, it is critical in Canada to highlight the fact that the current Conservative Prime Minister of Canada, Stephen Harper, has expressed public support for state executions.
During the 2011 election campaign Harper stated in a CBC interview that “there are times where capital punishment is appropriate,” a deeply violent statement that points to clear support for the morally rotten practice of government executions.
Troy Davis moved millions of people around the world to protest and publicly reject the death penalty in the US. Artists mobilized to communicate the struggle against the execution of Davis, hand painted picket signs and graphic design work all playing a key role in articulating the global outrage against the state killing.
Troy Davis was executed last night despite widespread outrage and multiple facts that cast serious doubt that Davis was responsible for the 1989 killing of an off-duty police officer in Savannah, Georgia. Amnesty International writes that the Davis case was based “entirely of witness testimony which contained inconsistencies even at the time of the trial. Since then, all but two of the state’s non-police witnesses from the trial have recanted or contradicted their testimony.”
The Davis execution also takes place at a time when the racial dynamic of US executions points to clear “racial disparities in the charging, sentencing, and imposition of the death penalty,” read additional info via Amnesty International. Additionally the American Civil Liberties Union states that “The color of a defendant and victim’s skin plays a crucial and unacceptable role in deciding who receives the death penalty in America. People of color have accounted for a disproportionate 43 % of total executions since 1976 and 55 % of those currently awaiting execution. A moratorium of the death penalty is necessary to address the blatant prejudice in our application of the death penalty.”
In Canada let us take note of Harper’s pro-execution comments at this time of remembrance for Troy Davis, statements that serve as a warning sign for the deeply violent politics that Conservative politicians are crafting today in Canada.
From billions of dollars in funding for military institutions and fighter jets, to economic austerity measures that put the burden on the poor majority, to legislation that will move to put more people in jail at a time when Canada’s crime-rate is at an all time low, we are faced with a government in Ottawa that is moving in violent ways to violate basic human rights and undermine the basic dignity of people.
As we remember Troy Davis let us find inspiration in the fighting spirit that was put forward by Davis until the very end in extreme circumstances.
Also let us recognize the fact that we are faced with a Conservative nightmare in Canada, symbolized by a Prime Minister in Ottawa who supports capital punishment. As artists let us participate and join the vitally important struggle for social justice in a Conservative majority Canada.
