Sadly the G20 seems to serve no purpose except to attract trouble, and
give our civil masters an excuse to spend borrowed taxpayer money.
Nothing of substance has ever come out of one of these conferences that
couldn't have been achieved through normal diplomatic channels. Hell
most civilized countries and quite a few that barely qualify have
expensive diplomatic corps that could easily accomplish as little as a
G20 conference as part of their regular operations.
On 11/26/2011 10:01 PM, [email protected] wrote:
You're right Steve, it is very complicated.
Toronto's G20 last year was a debacle for many reasons: imported rent-a-cops,
along with the use of known local hot-head cops in situations that needed cool
heads and measured response. That, combined with professional provocateurs,
radicals and terrorists from around the world and you've got a problem brewing.
Add ineffectual leadership, use of an archaic and likely unconstitutional WW II
era anti-assembly law with suspension of civil liberties and you've got a huge
problem. Then make it all worse by subsequent stonewalling and cover-ups by
cops and politicos alike and you've got G 20.
The occupy movement stayed local because every city had its own. Local cops were mostly
pretty good during G20, but still stinging from criticism and embarrassed by the actions
of a few, they really showed admirable restraint during recent "evictions".
I'm saddened when I see the violence that took place in the US, but I don't
think it's a Canada/US dichotomy. Yes, we look better wrt Occupy, but we can't
hold our heads too high this soon after G 20.
cheers,
frank
--- Original Message ---
From: steve harley<[email protected]>
Sent: November 26, 2011 11/26/11
To: "Pentax-Discuss Mail List"<[email protected]>
Subject: Re: GESO - Occupy Toronto: The Final Days
on 2011-11-25 17:13 William Robb wrote
It is telling that the Canadian protests seem to have been put to bed without
the overarching police brutality that has been so common south of the border.
It seems that to a great extent, our cops still know the difference between
right and wrong (and that perhaps they learned something from the way they
behaved at the G20).
i think it's a little more complicated than that; yes, there are some
provocateurs in the US occupations; hard to avoid when there is no real
hierarchy ... but the police (federally supplied and trained on anti-terrorism
tactics they have been itching to use) seem to have been touched by an
escalative effect from how the authorities are coordinating their repression,
compounded perhaps by the fear and lack of savvy of many of the local
politicians who ultimately decide how to react to each occupation; here in
Denver, both the moderate mayor and moderate governor have directed the
crackdown, and both are terribly afraid of the center drifting right in next
election
in any case the physical "occupation" part of OWS is only tactical, and the
attention must be transformed now if they are to extend the awareness the
public is gaining about the underlying issues; it also remains to be seen how
well corpse money can "fix" it
i was struck by this article, even if some of the conclusions are hard to
swallow:
<http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2011/nov/25/shocking-truth-about-crackdown-occupy>
--
Don't lose heart! They might want to cut it out, and they'll want to avoid a
lengthily search.
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