G8/20 PSAs

[Hoser McRhizzy]

June 27th, 2010: Officers and citizens engage in a spirited game of Red Rover!




..........................................

I kinda wish I'd seen any weed in the last year, because I'm just juvenile enough to get a kick out of lighting up on my balcony with that many coppers below.

 
Are things getting back to 'normal' for you now The Fence is down?

We need to pair good art with this and have Nurse R release it as a book. With tear out pages.

Thanks, Telarus.

It's been weird.  (And head meets pillow in 5... 4... 3... 2... zzzzz...)

[the last yatto]

who needs a fence when you have a bicycle...

[Captain Utopia]

Re: 10/10, would raid again


Dear Public,

As our weekend together winds to a close, we’d like to extend a warm thank-you to all the spirited citizens who took part in Toronto’s G20 celebrations this weekend.  Thousands of you were cheeky enough to take part in our Street Theatre Improv and Paintball games (you were great targets!).  And we’re excited to report that OVER 900 of you effervescent kooks were onsite at the film studio to volunteer for a lively Prisoner-themed RPG. Congratulations: you’ve just participated in the largest mass arrest in Canadian History! 

But the real thanks goes, as I think you would agree, to our friends in black.  So many shop fronts destroyed…  Those police cars in flames…  It almost brings tears to our eyes to write this, our gratitude is so great…

For weeks to come, Canadian news media will brim and burst!  Veins in the foreheads of otherwise stolid talking heads will throb!  And the words Thug, Hooligan, Mob and Criminal will once again burst righteously from lips long accustomed to naught but telecaster prompts!  They will turn to us, saying “Your job is so difficult,” “Why let them protest at all?” and (admittedly, our favourite) “I guess the inconvenience and expense was worth it in the end.”  But really, it was a joint effort and we couldn’t have done it without you. 

As we know you had just as much fun as we did this weekend, we’ll be sticking round for a good long while.  See you tomorrow!

- the mgt

Addendum:  To the many journalists and photographers we knocked about and caged-up – You are hereby ordered to cease using the pejorative “Torontonamo Bay” to describe your stay at the luxurious “Detention Centre”-themed film studio. 
Addendum 2: Provocateurs Numbers 20-32 are hereby ordered to report back to police lines immediately for debriefing and hot cocoa.  We’re unsure of your current locations and your parents are worried.


It's OVER 900!!!
What was that about a film studio?
Video of dangerous ‘black bloc’ protester and his gang

 

Nothing says "reasonable use of force under difficult circumstances" than morons breaking shit with even more morons cheering them on.  Blog and youtube the real abuses of power all you want kids, you've just lost the battle of public opinion - even if the simplest narrative doesn't always win, it sure as hell gets a massive head-start.  I shudder to think how this will be convoluted and strung into the hipster legends.

Are things getting back to 'normal' for you now The Fence is down?

I no longer have to show two forms of ID to get into my building.  That is nice.

They haven't gotten around to removing The Fence from my vantage point yet.. though it was abandoned by yesterday morning.

[Captain Utopia]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vl_yUR8MNMM

[Cramulus]

Nothing says "reasonable use of force under difficult circumstances" than morons breaking shit with even more morons cheering them on.  Blog and youtube the real abuses of power all you want kids, you've just lost the battle of public opinion - even if the simplest narrative doesn't always win, it sure as hell gets a massive head-start.  I shudder to think how this will be convoluted and strung into the hipster legends.

Did the protesters lose public opinion? It seems to me like the more media coverage they get, the more people recognize that protesting the G8/20 is worth flipping a car over for.

Whatever one's message is, there really is no more convenient vector to grab the attention of the world's most powerful capitalists all at once. And nothing carries the branding of an actual revolution like riots and violence in the streets.

[Captain Utopia]

This is a small sample of polls here for what it is worth:

Do you think Toronto's G20 summit was effective for the world leaders who met?
   Yes   (26 %)
   No   (61 %)

Do you think police effectively handled Saturday’s protests?
   Yes   (51 %)
   No   (43 %)

Do you think police have been given too much power during the G8/G20?
   Yes   (46 %)
   No   (50 %)

So no, I don't think the media narrative is going to suddenly swing in favour of the protesters.  It's currently seen as a waste of time and as something for which the police were needed.

There will be a documentary in a few months which will show police brutality and overreach.  But by then everyone will have already made up their minds on the issue, so it won't really matter, but many Starbucks lattes will be eagerly sipped while discussing it.

Whatever one's message is, there really is no more convenient vector to grab the attention of the world's most powerful capitalists all at once. And nothing carries the branding of an actual revolution like riots and violence in the streets.

The "worlds most powerful capitalists" didn't blink.  They expected this shit to happen, and didn't give a fuck anyway.

They know that people like to vent their safety valves once in a while, and hey - that's a good thing - stops them from doing anything really dangerous.  The tax-payer is left with the bill in any case.

[Jenne]

While I like the fact that people protest during international summits and the like, and I feel bad the riot police always seem to overreact and overstep their bounds, I think the whole thing is a bit cliched.  Sure, when you're there, you feel the moment, you feel the excitement, it's like watching a prize fight, and the adrenalin pumps out at a frenetic pace.

But the armchair realist in me knows that this is going to continue happening, just so, sometimes with more blood, sometimes with less, sometimes with broken windows, and cars afire, sometimes with broken bones.  The job of the protestor is to move forward, no matter the "shock and awe" of the brutality of the police.  The job of the riot police is to intimidate and then put down, with considerable force "if necessary."

I have to say, and I feel like a broken record, I felt the most elation at a group of protestors watching the Iranians last year.  Can't believe that whole thing started about a year ago.  ETA:  not elation at watching the protestors get beat and killed and arrested, mind you, just that they were doing it AT ALL.

[Cramulus]

This is a small sample of polls here for what it is worth:

Do you think Toronto's G20 summit was effective for the world leaders who met?
   Yes   (26 %)
   No   (61 %)

Do you think police effectively handled Saturday’s protests?
   Yes   (51 %)
   No   (43 %)

Do you think police have been given too much power during the G8/G20?
   Yes   (46 %)
   No   (50 %)

So no, I don't think the media narrative is going to suddenly swing in favour of the protesters.  It's currently seen as a waste of time and as something for which the police were needed.

1. "Disclaimer: This is not scientific and reflects the opinions of only those Internet users who have chosen to participate." The internet users in question are readers of http://www.cp24.com/, which seems to side with the police in their coverage. So I wouldn't necessarily take those numbers as a fair sampling of public opinion.

2. I'd love to see these poll results compared longitudinally. For all we know this year's protest had more support / better public opinion than previous years.

[Captain Utopia]

Another set here, using the same software it seems.

I haven't seen any coverage which doesn't seem to side with the police.  Anyway, I know all polls have problems, but I thought it was more useful than my personal anecdotal evidence, having talked with about a dozen locals since the weekend.

I'd love for what happened on Sunday to be turned into a national scandal.  I just don't think it will.

[Hoser McRhizzy]

I'd love for what happened on Sunday to be turned into a national scandal.  I just don't think it will.

I hope so, too.

But just for the record, it really started during the weekdays leading up to the protest, when police were raiding people’s homes and detaining people known to be part of the movement.

btw... “Hipster legends” and “lattes”?  You’re kidding, right?  

ETA:  not elation at watching the protestors get beat and killed and arrested, mind you, just that they were doing it AT ALL.

^this^ is the point, sometimes.

..................................
I think this may have gotten lost in the PSA parody pile of bile, but opinions of the mgt may not be those of the author.

I don’t think the “battle for public opinion” is lost at all.  Lost on CBC, the Sun, and all the other media that follow the script, sure, but they aren’t the public.  Not to the extent that they claim, and not by a long shot.  Still, even in mainstream reporting, “WTF” responses can’t be avoided.

What I’d love to see… is all the newly political people who are outraged right now looking back at what happened in Pittsburgh last year (or NY, DC, Quebec, Philadelphia and so on down the line), and seeing the exact same fucking script.  I’d love it if everyone had to own up to the fact that this kind of treatment is everyday stuff for homeless, migrant workers, sex workers and/or First Nations people in the city.  I’d shit bricks of awesome if every religiously law-abiding citizen learned from this that *anyone* can be criminalized.  That billions of dollars for them is directly related to 'austerity measures' for the rest of us.  I’ve got a wish list that I refuse to give up <cue rickroll> and it keeps getting longer the more I learn.

But I’d settle for a citizen’s inquest at this point.  Like I said, it's been a long week.

Kai’s started a non-parody thread in aneristic.  Moving there for srs talk.  This thread seems done, for now.

Thanks to anyone who gave feedback, and I'm glad some others enjoyed it.  Writing this was a good outlet this weekend.  Just hope it wasn't to masturbatory an exercise.

[Fujikoma]

I enjoyed reading it. Thanks!