Who is Responsible for the G20 Debacle?

The government, the police, the media, the Black Bloc, and the protest organizers all deserve some share of the blame for the violence that drowned out the debate on the streets of Toronto.

It was raining heavily in Toronto on Sunday evening, hopefully enough to scrub the city streets clean of so much anger, violence, and injustice. Looking back on one long, ugly summit weekend, I almost feel dirty. There were so many ways in which rotten things happened and bad outcomes were achieved, I know I won’t be able to list them all here, but there are a few that stand out.

First, of course, is the decision to bring the G20 to Toronto. Prime Minister Harper knows that he doesn’t have a single Conservative MP from the city, and that he’s not likely to get one soon. So why not drop this bomb here? It’s not like there would be any political damage. When the Prime Minister of Canada treats the country’s largest city – its economic and cultural capital – like toilet paper because he can, yes, that’s a problem.

Anyone who cares about civil rights should also be concerned about this: the Ontario cabinet secretly passed a regulation quietly designating the security barrier as “public works,” thus giving the police expanded powers to search and arrest people near it on specious grounds. That the regulation was created in such an underhanded way speaks volumes about its fundamental integrity. In a democracy, governments work for the people, and that precludes pulling dirty tricks on them.

This event also showed up the media for what they didn’t cover – about 25,000 people marching peacefully through the heart of downtown, advocating for serious causes. Too bad for them, the old adage, “If it bleeds it leads” was in full force. Thousands of engaged citizens, working their butts off to bring smart ideas to the public discourse were no match for a picture of a cop car on fire. The idea that protest equals vandalism was reinforced once again for millions of Canadians watching from home.

As for the police – where to start? Prior to the summit the police went on a mad scientist shopping spree, using public money to buy various weapons to be used on the public. They detained and assaulted numerous journalists, and arrested and abused hundreds of peaceful demonstrators – most without due process. At least one protestor was trampled by a horse. All kinds of innocuous objects were deemed to be weapons and confiscated. And it’s hard not to notice that while pointlessly violating citizens’ civil rights, they utterly failed to contain the Black Bloc hooligans. Already conspiracy theories are rife, suggesting agent provocateurs, or that the police deliberately let the Black Bloc run riot in order to “justify” the outrageous security cost. One is left with the impression the police are either crooked, incompetent, or cowardly.

But for all my complaints about the authorities, I am also deeply dissatisfied with the progressives who organized the demonstrations. Who could doubt that the majority of Canadians will watch news footage of burning cop cars and smashed windows and feel that perhaps Harper was right all along? Make no mistake, this summit will be a boost for Harper in the end. Those images will energize his childish law-and-order agenda, and could even help propel him into a majority government.

It pains me to admit protest organizers bear responsibility for this. By refusing to condemn destructive tactics, they created space for the so-called Black Bloc to operate. As progressives, we can’t afford to make such elementary mistakes. We’ll never get anywhere in the merciless era of Harper if we don’t smarten up.

Personally I have absolutely no problem with identifying and turning over to the police the fools who call themselves the Black Bloc. They are vandals, and they have hurt my city. But more importantly they have hurt the very concept of civic activism. That is an odious poison, extremely dangerous to the body politic. And I’d like to note that they aren’t even legitimate anarchists. Anarchism is about taking on complete responsibility, because the state isn’t there to do it for you. It means being an adult who works cooperatively with others to build society. These guys do the exact opposite. They are as much progressives’ enemy as corrupt financiers, big oil, and military juntas.

To counter the violent and simplistic messages of the Conservatives we need to build a political movement that stresses unity and coherence; which rallies around basic democratic values. A parade of 200 different causes will successfully raise awareness about none of them. Instead, we should be winning the propaganda war by appearing as a smart, moral, and credible alternative.

This past weekend I saw many good people making principled stands. We should emulate them. And we have to be clear-eyed about what it takes to win. Being incoherent, and allowing a pack of hooligans to tar us with the same label? No thanks. It may be personally cathartic to go out and protest, but the primary reason to do it is to influence public opinion. If that is not your aim then you are engaged in a personal act, not a public one. You can do that at home.

Finally, I am very excited that mobile video technology is rewriting what we know about political engagement. Everyone, regardless of whether or not they were involved in the protests, photographed and recorded the weekend’s events, creating a public record without equal. The potential for this to reinforce civil rights and to lay bare the lies of the state is enormous. We will see the fruits of this when, over the next few weeks, charges against activists will be thrown out of court as spurious, and when a public inquiry is held into the debacle that was Toronto’s G20 protest.