G20, Moderates and Mobile Technology: A Recipe for Democracy

Currently, the downtown Toronto march for civil liberties continues. But my feet are sore and I’d rather type.

I was interviewed for a current events show on a New Zealand radio station last night to discuss the G20 protests. I could easily answer all questions, save one.

I could explain what the demonstrations were about (the environment, international labour rights, fighting homelessness, disagreement with the $1B-plus price tag, the perceived lack of institutional legitimacy, the list continues). I could talk fairly about the actions of extremist protesters as well as the over-reaction of extremist police. I could also easily discuss how strange and scary it felt to be in a city you thought you knew, but no longer did.

Then the host asked me the following question. “Do you expect the same thing to happen at the next G20 summit in Seoul? Do you think there will be similar protests and police backlash?”

At first I thought he was joking or being rhetorical, but he wasn’t. Like every single G8 and G20 before, of course there will be protests. There are always are. And that’s when it occurred to me. This is the first G20 with its own hashtag. This is the first G20 with a steady stream of Flickr uploads, with constant YouTube videos of the scene, and with, most importantly, reporters tweeting out from the trenches. This is the first G20 where user-generated content of happenings outside was faster and clearer than the six o’clock news’ stale press conference soundbytes.

And so, finally, the mainstream is becoming aware of what the activist community has known for years: police brutality at these summits runs rampant and unchecked. Skeptical? Take a look at these articles, from outlets of every political stripe from the Georgia Straight to the Toronto Sun. And as a brilliant former editor of mine pointed out, if the Toronto Sun is siding with the protestors, then you know that the cops are in deep shit.

Terrifying police raid wakens couple at 4 a.m. (Toronto Star)

Amnesty calls for G20 security review (Globe)
Brutal spectacle failed a city and its people (Toronto Star)
Steve Paikin’s tweets offer eye-witness accounts of Toronto police brutality (Straight)
This time, the cops were out of line (Toronto Sun)
G20-related mass arrests unique in Canadian history (Globe)

And so here we are. The police have over the span of three days, arrested more civilians than they did during the October Crisis. Rather than wax on about the wrong of it all, I’m just going to leave you with a few questions.

Smaller questions:

-       Why, while David Miller’s people are taking to the street, is he defending the cops?

-       Were 4 burned police cars and a busted up Starbucks really that shocking? Moreover, was it even preventable when holding the G20 in the middle of our country’s biggest urban centre? Didn’t a car get turned over and burned at a Queens University homecoming two years ago? Didn’t a riot break out after the Canucks lost Game 7?

-       Why can France, a land known both for its propensity to protest and its propensity to spend money that it doesn’t have, put on a summit for one-tenth the cost?

Bigger questions:

-       Who is compensating those unfairly imprisoned in poor conditions? And how will that compensation be determined?

-       In terms of large, makeshift police forces amassed for the G20 – what was the chain of command? Who made the calls? And what daft toddler taught the definitions of “appropriate force” training seminar?

-       Who was actually organizing the G20? Who was on the main steering committee? What were the systems of approval and oversight? And who or what body is ultimately responsible?

If even a couple of these questions are answered in the coming days, progress will have been made.