[antiwar-van] Call to Action for the G8 Summit

[Macdonald Stainsby]

Call to Action for the G8 Summit.
Macdonald Stainsby,
External Relations,
Douglas College Students Union
(private opinion)

    The upcoming meetings in Kananaskis, Alberta Canada -- meetings of the
leaders of the G8 countries on June 26 and 27-- will prove to be something akin
to a watershed moment in our young and advancing movement. Since the July 20,
2001 actions against the G8 meeting in Genoa, Italy that culminated in the
murder of our fellow activist Carlo Guliani, the preparations by both local and
international activist forces have been underway. The main organisers were and
are stationed in Alberta: Calgary and Edmonton (with co-ordinating being done in
and around Red Deer quite often). It should, of course, come as no major
surprise that upon discussions with the activists in these cities I discovered
that there was a steep drop off of participation immediately following the
attacks of September 11 on the World Trade Centre and the Pentagon.

What has followed in the terms of activism in general -- never even mind the
"anti-globalisation" movement -- has been an unprecedented attack on civil
liberties here in nice, peacekeeping Canada. Security Bills -- to ostensibly
"fight terror"-- have been put through the legislature and now allow the
government the latitude to label almost any dissenting actions as a form of
terrorism. This, in concert with the new tack being used by the rulers of the
world in how they deal with the "anti-globalisation" movement paint a radically
different picture about how the upcoming demonstrations are to possibly pan out.
Our global rulers have adopted a new approach to how they wish to stifle the
rising awareness and opposition to their plunderous rule. While before the
attacks of 9-11 the attempt was to mock, ridicule and occasionally insult the
motives of our new activist consciousness, today the unwritten rule is to omit
our very existence. The choice to simply not report on our activities more than
necessary has been so consistent it would be a tremendous leap-of-faith for us
to believe that it wasn't a conscious decision. A decision such as this does not
come from rank and file journalists; to achieve this form of consensus it must
come from higher up editorial orders, something that can be obtained only now
that the daily independent national press has shrunk from hundreds of outlets to
four in the last thirty years. This must be noted for us to be clear as to what
is happening.

 Unconvinced? I only make one reference for you -- March 16, 2002 saw a meeting
of the EU in Barcelona, Spain that saw the opposition of five hundred thousand
protesters. Let me use blunt numerals here: 500 000 people converged on the
Spanish city and consciously linked their demonstration to the larger, first
world resistance movement. It was not an action against the Spanish government
but was pronouncedly "anti-globalisation" (and even anti-imperialist war). This
was the single greatest victory our young movement has seen so far. Despite the
Italian Carabinieri murder of Carlo, despite the scare tactics of the war on
terror -- and despite the about face of the "popular" media in regards to our
concerns for the environmental and social issues put at risk by the acronyms of
death -- we had our largest convergence yet. It is a cause for great joy, pride
and ever more optimism about our current situation, and our growing
understanding of "connecting the dots" between war, globalisation and
imperialism itself as a construct rather than a policy. However, the main lesson
we can draw over here on the Pacific coast is simple: THE MEDIA MADE ALMOST NO
MENTION OF THIS GREAT DAY. Surely this action was a major media story, but we
heard not a peep more than what trickled through. Myself, I didn't know about
this until an email was sent my way regarding the issue.

 So what are we left with? Well, it is almost a year on from when we saw a white
man in the First World get shot through the head for opposing the G8 in Genoa.
It is now almost nine months since the world situation entered a period of deep
right wing reaction where war has become "fashionable" and movies that come out
of Hollywood regularly celebrate militarism and whitewash the true nature of
imperialist wars in the still-colonised in all but name Third World. The silver
lining in many parts of the First World is simply that these brutal realities
have made great lessons that books could not. A lack of innocence now permeates
our activities. In other words, the gift from the ugliness of reality is an
understanding of just how ugly imperialism actually is. We now know a lot
better, as a result of the tragedies in New York, Washington and Pennsylvania,
how the rest of the world suffers. We are still here -- and in greater numbers
in many cases-- despite the attacks on our rights, our movement in general and
our right to speak our minds. We didn't run and hide because the governments
imposing corporate take-overs allowed their police forces to kill one of our
own. We remained despite the fact we were called "anti-American", people who
thought the American people "deserved it", people who want a throw back to the
days of Stalin, people who are "terrorists" and "terrorist lovers", etc. We
heard the names and have remained convinced of the justice of our cause. Now
here's the real catch. As we begin not to look for the carnival atmosphere any
longer, but instead are trying to build a long term movement which can gain
steam through community organising, building sustainable roots among the masses
of the people -- we have begun to learn that activism does not take place only
at these meetings of misleaders but on a day to day basis, in our
neighbourhoods, our cafes and even our !gasp! shopping centres. The problem we
face right now, in contradiction, is the immediate threat being posed to our
movements via the wholly undemocratic (nay, anti-democratic) moves of the
Canadian government at the upcoming G8 summit next month. We need to pay very
close attention to how this is being played out, because it is now my contention
that we need to organise -- more than ever before-- to get our people involved
directly through further "summit hopping", despite the overall weakness and
increasing isolationism of such as a tactic. It is often noted, and quite
rightly, that the movement is talking about eliminating poverty and squalor both
at home and abroad. This is in direct contradiction to the evolution of going
from one city to the next, not being a direct part of society and being
fortunate enough to be able to afford such ventures, be it in time or money
spent. I am writing to make a call in precisely the opposite direction to our
evolving strategy (however loose that is).

 Kananaskis will not be seeing the Solidarity Village originally conceived as a
site for protesters to converge near the conference. The province of Alberta and
the Federal Government have harassed, intimidated and outright bribed the owners
and keepers of the lands near the conference site that would have been able to
accommodate a campground for protest. Thus, that village has begun attempting to
put together the conceived protest site inside the City of Calgary itself. The
City of Calgary is trying its best to make it impossible for any action in the
city to place as well: There is no public right to demonstrate in the City of
Calgary. The parks have been denied, even to the Alberta Federation of Labour --
hardly the face of militant, violent activists -- as "political use of the
parks". The terror bills I previously mentioned have given the state of Canada
the self-appointed right to arrest anyone on charges of terrorism -- loosely
defined though such a label is-- without charge, without a lawyer and without a
phone call. It is more than obvious that these new abilities will be warmed up
and used for the first time in Alberta. This coincides with the military
presence -- over 5000 troops, nearly three times the total deployment in
Afghanistan since the start of the campaign in that beleaguered nation-- who
have been given the right to shoot to kill. It is highly unlikely (beyond
highly, in point of fact) that this will be used in the Calgary area (it is
designed for the mountain fortress of the so-called K Country), but the gauntlet
to our collective rights has been dropped. In the myriad of attacks by the
different levels of government to all the activist organisers throughout
Alberta, a state of psychological terror has been employed against the
population as much as it has the activists. The media of Calgary is constantly
issuing thinly veiled threats to the public, most notably the small businesses--
the mom and pop operations that often vacillate their support between government
and protester in such situations. Statements about how there will be no Federal
bailout (ala Quebec City over a year ago) for damages done "as a result of
riots", but that you'd better go and get insurance. Activists who are trying to
have small planning sessions are being chased out of cafeterias. I can say that
I've never walked into a city more than a month before a planned action and
found people acting nervous and suspicious when you ask questions about the
radical organising community. Our great strengths have been to operate openly,
honestly and non-hierarchically -- and that approach has most certainly been the
main one used for over the last year in Alberta, without question-- but people
are feeling the warm hand and boot of the capitalist state interfering with
their work at every single level possible. Without proper co-ordination and
communications being used in the Calgary area after the labour rally of the
23rd, there could be massive chaos. Another problem facing the situation is the
amount of "diversity of tactics" spouters -- the people in our movement who use
the phrase as a talisman to toss rocks and engage the police (now, the military)
regardless of the majority of the demonstrators wishes or even the safety of all
concerned. This demonstration is NOT QUEBEC CITY. There is not the safety, the
ability to declare "red, yellow and green zones", nor is there going to be even
a clearly defined space for protest of any sort-- much less for the adventurous
of spirit but short of intellect.

 With all of the above reasons, I hesitate but spit out the uncomfortable:
activists who can do so, the job that needs to be done is to A) get more people
available to the major demonstrations the "family day"  on the 23rd, but more
importantly the events afterwards on the start of the summit itself. What needs
to be done among the capable and experienced activists is serious co-ordination,
boundary setting and over-all communications, otherwise what will take place
could be a massive police action, attack a disorganised crowd and sparking
"resistance" among the crowd itself, which can (and usually does) lead to
scraps, fights and chaos within the ranks of the very demonstrators themselves.
Considering, as it was explained to me by a Calgarian organiser herself,
"thousands of people are coming, and the city can't stop it", it is also of
great import that people who can travel- even as a simple attendee at the events
as they unfold -- come out to protect our rights to simple protest, for as the
saying goes, your rights are only as valuable and as effective as your ability
to use them. Such actions from all levels of governance against simply the right
to assemble politically are only countered by people assembling politically.

    This demonstration will hopefully end the chapter in our movement where we
think revolutionary tourism can win the day. We need to rethink and re-orient
radically, with losing our initiative or our pro-activity. However, what needs
to be done now is to help our committed activist brothers and sisters from
Alberta avert a massive morale crushing defeat in the oil province. The federal
government wants to crush our rights to continue to denounce and present
alternatives to the corporate globalisation agenda. We need to answer their
challenge first, before forsaking the game (as it is currently played) entirely.
Come to Calgary, stand up for your rights while we have them.

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Macdonald Stainsby
http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/rad-green
http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/leninist-international
--
In the contradiction lies the hope.
                                     --Bertholt Brecht