Another day of SPP talks and protests, another mindboggling quote from CCCE president Thomas D’Aquino. In reference to the protesters’ displeasure at the fact that elected representatives and the public aren’t being consulted on the SPP, he said:
I do not say to myself, ‘If I don’t get an hour with the prime minister in the next six months, I’m going to go out and protest and reject the system outright. I don’t do that because civilized human beings — those who believe in democracy — don’t do that.
One might argue that civilized human beings who believe in democracy don’t sign away national sovereignty in closed-door meetings. At the teach-in last Sunday, Michael Byers, one of the panelists, gave a shout-out to the cops who were no doubt in the audience, mentioning that unlike the leaders in Montebello, our meetings are open, and we have nothing to hide. I found it interesting that representatives of all major Canadian parties except the Conservatives attended the teach-in. Even the relatively right-wing Liberals, who held power when the SPP talks began, seem to feel a bit queasy at the direction that the discussion is taking.
In a functional democracy, protest is not simply a right. It’s a duty. This wouldn’t occur to someone like D’Aquino, who gets an hour with the Prime Minister whenever he wants, as well as more input into decision-making than politicians get. But his comments highlight something that I kept pondering as I marched beside anarchists, communists, social democrats, liberals, trade unionists, members of various targeted and racialized communities, and whack-job conspiracy theorists. Despite the earnestness of the demonstrators, despite the fact that many of us are stridently anti-capitalist and “reject the system outright”; the collective demands themselves are not radical. They aren’t even really reformist. They’re the sorts of things that we’re taught in high school civics class to be intrinsic to democracy and civil society: Stop meeting in secret. Debate policy in Parliament; that’s what it’s for. Consult the public.
That these demands, in the current political climate, are considered controversial at all is a damning indictment of how far we’ve drifted in the direction of oligarchy. The revolution we need looks more like the one of 1789 than of 1917.
Speaking of civility, check out this video from yesterday’s protest (hat-tip to Ariel):
Dave Coles, president of the Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Union, manages to stop a protester from throwing rocks in the family-friendly “green zone.” It seems that the “protester” is actually a cop or provocateur: Unlike when demonstrators normally get arrested, the cops don’t beat him, and while he scuffles with the other protesters who try to hold him back, he doesn’t struggle with the police at all. The other anarchists don’t seem to know him and don’t try to protect him or object to his arrest. He’s led quietly behind police lines. No word yet on who he is or whether he’s one of the handful of arrests (I’m guessing not).
Conclusion: Cop, sent to stir things up, discredit the demonstrators, and justify a police crackdown. It doesn’t seem to have worked, though. Remind me who the civilized ones are, again?
I wonder how many times that happens in protests: cops come in dressed like they’re protestors, and then cause trouble. It’s weird, because I’ve been at protests where everyone’s been perfectly peaceful, and then all of a sudden there’s a riot, or mini-riot. And, of course, it’s reported that we were causing trouble.
I really think someone needs to send Messrs. Harper and D’Aquino back to Grade 10 Civics class. We really do teach Canadian students that active engagement in the democratic process is both a right and a responsibility of citizens in a functional democracy. Or, at least, that’s part of what’s in the textbooks.
Heh. The CCCE: Taking the demos out of democracy.
Yup, after seeing that video I’m convinced they’re cops too. Like the CEP prez said “chickenshits”.
To settle all questions.
http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2007/08/24/ot-montebello-sq-070824.html?ref=rss
Man, did Doris Day even see the video in question:
“Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day continued to dismiss calls for a public inquiry on Friday, saying the RCMP has a formal complaints process.
“The thing that was interesting in this particular incident, three people in question were spotted by protesters because were not engaging in violence,” Day said.
“They were being encouraged to throw rocks and they were not throwing rocks, it was the protesters who were throwing the rocks. That’s the irony of this.”
Hey I know Byers…how was the talk?
Byers was great. I had to duck out of the panel before the end to catch the bus back to Toronto, but I caught all of his speech. He seriously knows his stuff and he’s far funnier than I’d expected.
Yeah I like him. Ever since the day of the 2004 US Elections: we all gathered to watch the results roll in on the big-screen, and as the evening went on, Byers became increasingly direct about his opinions on who should win.
At the sorrowful end of the evening, he gave us this heartfelt speech about awareness-raising, and recommended that if we were ever in a Republican area of the USA, we walk into a bar and start up a conversation with someone to educate them. This suggestion was met with some laughter but you gotta appreciate the sincerity.