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Today:
Rally. March. Block Party. Tent City.
Allan Gardens, 2:30
Brother Coles's response to Marcus Gee column in the Globe:
Great, thanks Catchfire, you beat me to the punch. Whoops, that sounded violent...
How I was detained by G8 security: CP journalist
Harper's Aggressive Plans
I hope the young man in this video runs for public office. He clearly has a better understanding of the Charter than any of the police officers who attempted to violate his rights, or than our idiot Premier. (h/t skdadl at pogge)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HZgjX5vHt2o
G20 Saturday Evening
CBC live coverage of G8/G20 "protest control" where 2 Police cars are on fire, Police line moving forward pushing the crowd beyond the designated protest/gathering area near the U of T....
I just have to say that it is good to see something happening, although it is a bit counterproductive to burn police cars. And it gives the CBC [Mansbridge] a chance to call them all "hooligans", despite the fact that the vast majority of the protestors are not hooligans.
I have been watching this live coverage for about an hour now. It is really too bad that CBC cannot find a few minutes to give the protestors a voice.
And when the TV news does give the protestors a chance to talk about what they are protesting, it is so rarely one of the leaders who is more capable of delivering a message clearly on live TV than the average person supporting the protest [but who often gets the camera time].
A rock was thrown. Oh wow, how exciting... it would be if the rock thrower was shown to be an Agent Provocateur [AP]. Mansbridge did not mention that possibility of course, despite the proven AP actions from a couple years ago [in Toronto?].
Anyhow, it is good to see that people are protesting the agenda of the G20. Those issues will be discussed later on in this forum I hope.
Yes, funny how the "free speech zone" in Queens Park, which was suppose to have a "pipe" into the G20 summit for the leaders to hear the voices of the protesters, was never set up.
Then the police charge into the peaceful protesters at Queens Park for no apparent reason, so they couldn't even use the now useless free zone zone they were suppose to be able to us.
Then the police spokesperson comes on and claims that it was the violence of the protesters that was the cause of the police actions?
The police and the G20 organizers should be put up on charges of trying to incite a riot.
Harper, take your G20 and shove it up your fucking ass you worthless piece of shit.
Oh, and Noah_Scape ... I've been watching the CBC coverage for several hours, and I haven't heard a single word from a single protester either.
I'm not a CBC news junkie, but every report I've heard so far has made a pretty clear distinction between what they call "about 50" "anarchists" or "black bloc", and thousands of real demonstrators.
If Mansbridge called everyone "hooligans", then he must be condemned - but first, I'd like a quote in context, or a link.
As for the burners and looters, they are far worse than hooligans. They are indeed agents of the state, probably underpaid, and possibly even deluded into believing they are doing something good. In the good old days - and even today, in our workers' demonstrations and on picket lines - we look after our own agents provocateur before they can do any damage. It's a shame that the movement is not at the level where we could deal with these assholes before they can serve the state's agenda.
We've gotten to over 100 arrested. Police Chief Bill Blair now confirms 103 arrests.
Although it's illegal, you struggle see quite how this guy's decision to bare all merits the police response.
Ben Powless and many, many other peaceful protesters are being arrested at Novotel.
Steve Paikin. Steve Paiken has been "escorted" from the area. I've heard a report that all journalists are being cleared out. A CTV producer was arrested earlier, as were two National Post photographers.
The sound of helicopters overhead is constant.
"i saw police brutality tonight. it was unnecessary. they asked me to leave the site or they would arrest me. i told them i was dong my job." — http://twitter.com/spaikin
Most people are behind the protesters that I've heard from, which is different than usual. Say's a lot about this G-20 gongshow and the bullcrap going on behind their fence.
Steve Paikin's latest tweets [assembled]:
From The Torontoist: We've learned that the reporter that the reporter arrested at the Novotel Hotel earlier tonight, who Steve Paikin claims he saw "assaulted," is Jesse Rosenfeld. Rosenfeld is a Guardian freelancer, on assignment with the U.K. paper; on Friday, he filed "Rejecting G20's consensus of the few" for the paper. — http://torontoist.com/2010/06/live_g20_saturday.php
Those police officers should be charged with theft. They stole that young man's goggles, on camera, with no colour of right whatsoever. The whole episode is a disgusting example of how Orwellian this country has become.
Indigenous Activists Protest G8/G20 Meetings in Toronto
http://www.democracynow.org/2010/6/25/indigenous_activists_protest_g8_g2...
"The G20 are not respecting indigenous rights across the world. They're bending over backwards, so that way, corporate colonialism can control indigenous lands and indigenous peoples, who are directly affected by the decisions made at the G20.
So, being in solidarity with Palestinians and liberation armies from South America, we've felt the need to come out here today and represent the warriors' voice, when the liberal organizations are coming out to pacify the movement.." MC - Ojibwe Nation
I watched the CBC yesterday, and what struck me about the 'vandals' scene is how staged it looked.
Two police cars, empty and with open windows, parked out front, apart from everything else, serving no obvious purpose. Masked person saunters up to one, in plain sight of camera, nobody trying to stop him, no sense of urgency or subterfuge... Another one lets camera have a good gawk at his pick-hammer*, then calmly and delibaretely smashes plate glass... Almost as if they didn't expect to be stopped.
Mass of robocops in full regalia over here; mass of bicycle cops in shorts and yellow macs, no protective gear, over there, just standing around. Huh?
*(whatever it's called; i sure wasn't going to say tool)
Ha! I just snagged this off another thread
Groggo:
Thought so.
It always strikes me as ironic that if the crowd had been cheering BLUE JAYS or ARGOS or LEAFS, they could have destroyed as many cop cars as they liked.
Authority, it seems, does not like to be questioned.
You mean, like, all's we had to do was paint our faces soccer-team colours?
This weekend, we have large security, but not smart security.
Police Chief Blair alienated peaceful protest organizations and individuals by forcing them to stay far away from the fence, and having the presence of riot officers in full gear. He and other police officials did not work with peaceful protesters, but rather against them. The police and community/labour organziations could have worked together to allow for protests to be held within earshot of the world leaders while keeping those leaders safe. The protesters should have been allowed close to a fence without the presence of riot squad officers. Had Blair worked with community organzations, he would have got a lot more cooperation to stop the Black Bloc from vandalizing our downtown core.
Essentially Chief Blair treated all protesters as criminals rather than as citizens. Personally, I am a member of Fair Vote Canada. I see myself as a citizen advocating for better voting rights and power for all citizens. I did not go downtown because I did not want to be treated like a criminal with the presence of riot squad officers and ID checks on people who got too close to a fence.
We are not criminals; we are citizens. The next time there is a major event in Toronto or in another major city in Canada, the police and government officials must treat people like citizens rather than as criminals; they will get more cooperation from Canadians.
Here's the story of the veterinarians who were awakened at 4 am by cops pointing guns at them.
http://www.cbc.ca/canada/toronto/story/2010/06/26/police-booth-raid426.html
After half an hour in police custody, they apologized and released him. They were looking for other people in the house.
Excellent post above, Skinny Dipper - I fully agree. It is the police, working in tandem with the provocateurs, who keep the thousands away from the fences and where they can see and hear and be seen and heard. That's in part what happened in Québec City in 2001.
Hopefully this ugly experience will help eliminate the "diversity of tactics" bullshit and make way for a truly democratic process - where organizations meet and discuss and agree on tactics, rather than ceding the ground to the most adolescent and/or the police agents.
Despite the hundreds -- perhaps thousands -- of documented examples of states/intelligence agencies/police forces/corporations using agent provocateurs the subject is completely taboo. More so than Zionism, more so than human experimentation and torture and war. Even 911 truth gets occassional news treatment. Not so provocateurs. The subject brings into question the legitimacy of domestic authorities in relation to dissidents who pose a real threat to the establishment. It cannot be broached.
Anarchists have been framed for this bullshit as far back as the black hand in spain and the Haymarket incident in America. There are always a handful of useful idiots who go along with it. The 'propaganda of the deed' period is the most notorious example.
Today, it is Islamists who are targeted with the greatest frequency, suckered into bogus terrorist plots by intelligence operatives. Cue media storm, war pretense. It doesn't help that many intellectuals on the left insist on ignoring the threat, ommitting evidence that the latest "Al-Qaeda" attack is a frame-job or false flag, terrified of being labeled a 'conspiracy theorist'.
You'd think that the issue would get more attention when it involves our own protest groups. We have no problem writing books on COINTELPRO but when it comes to the fake anarchist black bloc or provocateurs in the radical environmental movement we write treatises on the difference between property damage and violence instead of exposing the agents in our midst. If the black bloc had any sort of useful purpose it is long past; this was apparent in Genoa, when fake anarchists were running around trashing mom and pop stores. Thus is the philosophy of anarchism dragged through the mud at every major protest event.
But the danger is far worse than denigrating anarchism. When members of the public see these images on TV they become rightfully frightened of attending protests themselves. It's the perfect dirty trick: bring in a few clowns dressed in black, break something, crack heads. Villify the one philosophy capable of putting an end to the madness, paint dissidents as hooligans, dissuade the public from stepping up.
Some of you may be familiar with Operation Gladio. It involved not only provocateurs but entirely manufactured terrorist groups ostensibly representing the left/anarchists/communists but actually comprised of fascists on the payroll of NATO and CIA. They commited terrorist outrages, encouraging a crackdown by the state and ushering in a series of right-wing governments throughout Europe. There's actually a term for such groups in military circles: "Pseudo gangs". You can read all about it in the revolution of military affairs. It wasn't limited to Europe, either. The Symbionese Liberation Army (Patty Hearst) was clearly a fake terrorist entity. Anywhere you find a group that poses a threat to the establshment you'll find a corresponding pseudo group designed to villify the real activists in the eyes of the public.
'Al-Qaeda in iraq'? Gimme a break.
This is a far, far more serious and pervasive threat than many of us have acknowledged. Naturally we would prefer to focus our intention on visible insitutional factors, but I don't see how we can win this thing without devoting significantly more attention to what is derisevly labeled 'conspiracy theory'. The same applies to 911 and the 'war on terror'.
Abolutely. The 'Black Bloc' should be loudly condemned BY ANARCHISTS as well as other sincere dissidents to the point where impressionable youth will not consider joining the group/pseudo gang. There is no point in enaging in a debate about the difference between property damage and violence. The issue here is one of effectiveness. If one wants to break the law in non-violent fashion -- and I certainly have no problem with those who do so -- there are far more creative ways of causing a ruckus than hurling molotov cocktails or throwing a brick at Starbucks.
I noticed that both CTV and CBC are claiming that the Black Bloc is not a group, rather it is a tactic used by protesters generally. The assumption of this framing is that violence is accepted by the movement, and that everyone is guilty who was protesting.
Yeah,tactics. Maybe a police tactic...
Why I thought it was the finest sucker punch we have seen in ages, the protesters played into their hands beautifully, the billion dollar security is justified and we are one step further to a full time police state. I am certain those who set this up are very pleased with the way things have turned out. I am not, the left needs to get smart fast and understand that there is no winning the game the way they set it up, we have to figure out how to mock them not fight them.