Given all the conflicting coverage and the controversy and buzz around last weekend’s G20 events in Toronto, I feel compelled to put forward my perspective on the issue…and in particular, with whether protests are an effective means of advocating for ‘change’.
on spadina, moments before they charged a small crowd of people who were more curious onlookers than protestors
Tens of thousands took to the streets in Toronto in protest of the G8/G20 talks. But ask the average Canadian who got their news from the TV what they were protesting and they may very well have a hard time answering that.
On the ground, dozens of issues were being represented in Toronto’s streets that week. First nations rights, gender and sexuality, the war in Afghanistan, capitalism and free trade, mining, tar sands, climate justice…the list goes on. Regardless of the specific issue, there was a prevailing disappointment (to say the least) with the way our world is being run: by a small group of elite, hand-picked leaders from the twenty most powerful nations in the world. Trade agreements, deficits, job markets and banks were on the table for discussion behind that Security Wall while climate change and social justice – broadly speaking – were not. Basically, the name of the G20 game was business as usual, which means more people staying powerless and poor, while a select few flourish at their misfortune. This is what people were protesting.
In an ideal scenario, these protests could have effectively shut down the talks like they did in 2000 in Seattle. But oh, boy did governments learn their lesson from that. With riot cops ready to launch their $1.1 billion war-toys (read: sound cannons, tear gas, rubber/real bullets, water cannons) into action, the suits in the Convention Centre were be able to turn a blind eye to their dissenters outside the “Security Fence”.
There is no doubt something to be said for protests: it creates a visible show of support (or condemnation) for an issue that in theory, could be widely publicized through media attention. However, as we saw last weekend, the control you have over your public message can stop as soon as you take to the streets. Whether it be media bias, some distracting (and detracting) turns of events like some smashed windows and car fires, or police with a public message of their own, protests at the scale of the G20 have the potential to do more damage to an activist movement than good. $1.1 Billion later, the white men in suits did their business as usual and protestors walked (and limped) away with their calls for environmental justice, anti-militarism, and human rights (to name a few) drowned by the sound of batons thumping shields.
So what’s the point of protesting if it’s not going to change anything? Or if it’s actually going to tarnish your reputation rather than enhance it?
Protesting as a tactic for social change still has some merit though: it is an opportunity to form and energize movements and to invite all walks of life to engage in an issue. What I walked away with last weekend (besides a deep sadness for the lack of human rights bestowed in what I thought was a free country), was inspiration to use the opportunity of the Feel Good Food Tour to discover how people and communities are creating social change – whether it be by through public protest, community mobilization, or small personal actions. Food, undoubtedly, will be an ideal lens through which to look at social change models. After all, an army marches on its stomach.
Here are photos I took at the Montreal rally on Canada Day, calling for an Inqiury into the police actions (I didn’t take my camera to the protests in Toronto ’cause everything was ‘fair game’ to be confiscated.
Note:
If you haven’t looked into the alternative media / citizen media perspectives on the G20 protests, I urge you to do so. Car fires and smashed windows were a tiny fraction of the story and more often used as political leverage to justify the $1.1billion security price tag. The hundreds of human rights abuses towards peaceful protestors has been underreported in the mainstream media. From arrest without warranted cause, to emotional abuse in the detention centre, please take some time to inform yourself of alternative perspectives. And if you were as appalled as I was by this, please take some action by contacting your local councilor, your MPP and the Premier to demand a public inquiry into the human rights violations by the police at the G20. Below are some links to start you on your media journey:
Amnesty International’s Campaign (I never thought there would be a day when Canada became the subject of one of their campaigns!) Sign their petition.
Facebook Group: Canadians Demanding a Public Inquiry into Toronto G20 (with many links to accounts of injustice)
Democracy Now (interview with Naomi Klein: “The Real Crime Scene Was Inside the G20 Summit”)
The Canadian Civil Liberties Association Petition
Globe and Mail article: “Weapons Siezed in G20 arrests not what they seem”
VIDEO: Riot at my doorstep
VIDEO: Police Open Fire on Peaceful Protestors
VIDEO: Real News Journalist attacked at Toronto G20
I like to think that actually contacting your councillor, MPP, MP are always good first steps. While email or postal mail are good, there’s nothing quite as satisfying as seeing the terror-struck look in your elected person’s eyes when you tell them you expect THEM to DO SOMETHING. And ALWAYS follow up with a second communication if the first is ignored. My preferred closing line is “When might I expect the courtesy of a response?”