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Sounds and fury >> A look at a few of the many different groups that will be protesting the G8 Summit next week by PATRICK LEJTENYI It’s time. As the leaders of the G8 countries gather next week in Kananaskis and protesters gather in Calgary and Ottawa, Canada warily awaits what kind of fireworks will go off at this summit. Although the main protest events will take place in Ottawa, Montrealers who are stranded here can still do their part in taking to the streets. Whether it’s to protest deportations, border restrictions, global capitalism or the New Economic Partnership for African Development (NEPAD), there are lots of people doing it and lots of ways to get involved. Below is a quick look at who some of these protesters are, what they’re pissed off about, and what they plan on doing next June 26 and 27. For more information about these groups and next week’s activities, visit www.takethecapital.net.
Who they are: A group of 15 to 25 people who are taking their wheeled message of anti-capitalism and energy conservation to Ottawa from Montreal, the Bikesheviks are hoping to cause gridlock hell for the capital’s motorists next week. What’s
their beef: Car culture. “We want to make clear the links between
war in the Middle “There is of course a need to help Africa develop,” he says, “but the multinational corporations are only going to open Africa up and take out their oil and gas. It’s only going to help a layer of Africans but not all the African people. It’ll benefit oil corporations and the auto industry.” What they’re
going to do about it: Achieve “critical mass.” Note the
double entendre: it’s “critical” because it’s
critical of the G8 and global capitalism; and it’s a “mass”
of people taking to the streets (Bernans hopes). He’s anticipating
that protest organizers have been mobilizing between 100 to 200 cyclists
in Ottawa to wreak traffic havoc. “We’re taking over downtown
Montreal and Ottawa for as many hours as we like,” Bernans says.
A “critical mass,” themed “Bikes beat guns,”
will take place on Sunday, June 23, at 5:30 p.m. at Phillips Square.
The Bikesheviks leave for the capital the next morning at 9 from Complexe
Guy-Favreau. People who are interested can contact Bernans at 495-2988.
Who they are: Perhaps the best-known anti-capitalist group in town, the Anti-Capitalist Convergence have been extremely busy prepping for next week’s events. “CLAC has been super-involved since the first consultations in February,” says spokesperson Barbara Legault. “We’ve done lots of popular education, lots of conferences, we’ve visited schools, universities, CÉGEPs and we’ve put together three anti-G8 caravans that toured Quebec, Ontario and the northern U.S. We’ve met people who want to denounce the G8 but don’t have specific ideas about what the G8 is. We want to let them know why it’s so dégolas and murderous.” What’s their beef: They have two big ones: the first is housing. “There is a link between the housing crisis and G8 policies,” Legault says, citing a rabid mania among politicians to privatize, cut taxes and slash social policies. They will also be denouncing the Pueblo Panama plan, which would build a massive highway from Mexico to Colombia to facilitate the transportation of goods from Panamanian ports to the Central American interior. She says hundreds of thousands of natives will be displaced. Their second
gripe is the “militarization of frontiers.” She says that
especially since September 11, immigrants and refugees have been having
a much harder time with authorities. More on this below.
Who they are: The South Asian Women’s Community Centre is a 20-year-old community organization that works with immigrants, refugees, asylum-seekers and their families. SAWCC provides them with basic services, legal aid, counselling, and employment, language and integration training. What’s their beef: They’re focusing on the plight of their clients, past, present and future. “After September 11 there have been increasing restrictions on the rights and movements of immigrants,” says Sarwat Viqar, a member of the SAWCC executive council. “The anti-terrorism bill specifically targets immigrants and refugees, and we want to express solidarity with them.” She is also adamantly opposing the pending deportation of up to 1,000 Algerians, whom she says were rounded up after September 11. What they’re going to do about it: There will be a large march, entitled “No One Is Illegal,” on the 27th at Majors Hill Park, across from the American Embassy, “In opposition to war, racism, imperialism and genocide, in solidarity with self-determination struggles and indigenous sovereignty, in defence of immigrant and native rights,” according to the Take the Capital Web site. Viqar expects a few thousand people to take part. By sending Algerians back to their home country, she says Canada is doing the exact opposite of what it says it will do. “The central focus of the march is to show the hypocrisy and contradiction of this legislation. Canada is sending back [to a country it warns its citizen-travellers to avoid] people who are seeking asylum from there in the first place.”
Who they are: A large coalition of unions and activists, involving around 30 different groups, is setting up a collection of educational workshops, speeches, conferences, movies and a concert around the theme of global capitalism, which they’re against. What’s their beef: Global capitalism and the lack of democratic input from ordinary folks. “We want to denounce the reunions of heads of states that are removed from the people, and to show our disagreement with their style of negotiating economic deals,” says Louis-Serge Houle, a spokesperson for the Confédération des syndicats nationiaux (CSN), one of the festival organizers. They are also protesting the commodification of public goods and services, like water, electricity and garbage collection. What they’re going to do about it: The Festival will have about 30 kiosks distributing educational material, from unions to community groups to environmental groups, on the 26th, at Lafontaine Park, starting at 4 p.m. “There is a myth that all the people who fight against globalization are into confrontation,” says Houle. “We want to have this large public gathering so people can understand the issues surrounding globalization and make links with what is happening and how it affects their lives.” : |
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and the War on Terror and how they are linked to oil, the car economy
and car culture,” says Bikeshevik David Bernans. NEPAD is part
of the problem, Bernans says, because it will only make the world more
car-friendly.