So a lot of pseudo-anarchists are ruining any attempts at "peaceful protest" and the riot police are out and the city is chaotic, all because a bunch of rich dudes just finished a lovely gourmet dinner at the Royal York and are now conducting a silly 4-hour discussion that might as well be a talk show segment. What pisses me off is the so-called "anarchists" writing shit like "class war" and "capitalism sucks" on various public areas. It just seems like such an arbitrary time to start giving a shit about issues that have been around forever, and such a pointless way to "protest." Since when do you care about capitalism? And why are you only caring now? And if you're stupid enough to think bashing in a few starbucks windows is in any way a sufficient response to capitalism...you suck. The fucking leaders in their plushy chairs don't give a shit about protesters, peaceful or no. They have kilometers of space and concrete and police body and plastic between them and "the people." It's all just theater anyways. We all know that presidents and government leaders aren't the ones who make the real decisions. They are symbols. And now we are fighting symbols with symbols. Typical post-modern pseudo-drama.
Police cars on fire and kilometer-long polic riot lines are a rare site in Toronto, though. Cool pictures here.
ps. I get it, I do - yeah, capitalism sucks, yes I am well-versed in counter-cultural and Marxist theory. I still don't agree with either side.
A pretty boring watch. Also jarring was how everyone was just standing around in the footage vs. some of the over-layed hyperbole of the reporters voices commenting on the action.
ReplyDeleteI'm on board wIth you about this.
ReplyDelete"What makes a leftist a leftist is not this or that theory but his ability to integrate any theory into the kitsch called the Grand March."
ReplyDelete- Kundera
While I couldn't bring myself to act out such tiresome cliches, I nevertheless can't help but love the scruffy hooligans walking across cbc shots with 'fuck the G20' shirts on their way to lighting the literal/figurative policecar on fire. Their lack of reflection is positively endearing! Like toddlers with pirate-suits, they look as innocent destroyers of worlds. They are, as a swarm, a vast machine whose sole purpose is to reconcile all their various edifices into the Grand March.
Effectual? Ineffectual? Its not the point. Rather the point is that they're there, putting the requisite ying image to the G20's obligatory yang. Like, I'll admit that it could have gone more peacefully, but could you imagine if Toronto had appeared lackadasical in their ceremonial rebuke of the New World Order? It's like throwing on some Nat King Cole and decorating the tree for christmas: When the G20 comes to town, you gather up your holiday radicalism and smash up a fucking starbucks. Didn't you hear, man? The G20 killed radio Raheem!
"I can't help thinking about the editor in Prague who organized the petition for the amnesty of political prisoners. He knew perfectly well that his petition would not help the prisoners. His true goal was not to free the prisoners; it was to show that people without fear still exist. That, too, was playacting. But he had no other possibility. His choice was not between playacting and action. His choice was between playacting and no action at all. There are situations in which people are condemned to playact. Their struggle with mute power (the mute power across the river, a police transmogrified into mute microphones in the wall) is the struggle of a theatre company that has attacked an army."
Dock Currie - epic comment. Thank you.
ReplyDeleteAll - I appreciate your feedback, and I agree!