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Within the past week, Canada witnessed an explosion of activism. While things have hardly been quiet for the past year or so, they’re now starting to snowball. Protests are now almost a daily occurrence in many parts of the country, and momentum on many issues is only continuing to grow.
Idle No More
Wednesday, indigenous protesters once again got the country’s attention with a national Day of Action held by Idle No More and others. Numerous roads and rail lines were shut down as a part of the growing protest movement. Actions took place at the Ambassador Bridge (Windsor-Detroit), Sault St. Marie border crossing, Westmoreland Bridge (Fredricton) Trans-Canada highway (Banff), Queen Elizabeth II highway (Calgary), Highway 400 (Barrie), Highway 117 (Quebec), rail blockades by Kingston, Portage la Prarie (by AIM!) and Gitwangak (BC), and rallies downtown in Toronto, Ottawa, Iqaluit and many others.
These actions mark a shift away from less disruptive spectacles like flash mobs and round dances which have characterized most of the Idle No More actions over the past month. They’ve evoked controversy both within and outside the movement. Finance Minister Flahrety, echoed by many editorials, has expressed concerns about possible threats to Canada’s economy. Meanwhile, Sylvia McAdam, one of the founding members of Idle No More, questions the use blockades for portraying “a message of aggressiveness”, which contradicts the movement’s peaceful character. Others, have responded that these actions have been, in fact, completely peaceful and that militancy has often played an incredibly important role in such social movements.
Enbridge
A busy week of demonstrations took place in Vancouver against Enbridge’s proposed Northern Gateway pipeline. The largest event was a night march with thousands, which even featured a small (~20 people) black bloc, which got a lot of attention despite not smashing or disrupting anything. In contrast, six young demonstrators, clad in colourful tee-shirts from a moderate environmental group, were arrested yesterday after briefly managing to sneak inside and disrupt meetings, yet received surprisingly little criticism for “militance”.
Closer to Home
Locally, around 70 people gathered Wednesday morning in Cayuga to support Theresa Toad Jaimeson, facing a court date relating to one of Gary McHale’s last forays onto the Reclamation Site in Caledonia, where a former development has been occupied since 2006.
In Hamilton itself the same morning, a crowd of around 30 community members held a picket outside Sir John A MacDonald Secondary in support of teachers in their labour dispute with the province. Briefly delaying traffic outside the parking lot, they handed out fliers explaining that “we’re here because teachers can’t be”.
Last night a large crowd descended on City Hall to voice their opposition to a Casino downtown (also, a small handfull of “yes” demonstrators). After rallying in the snow (complete with racehorces!) and hearing speeches, the crowd headed inside for the meeting, where a number of representatives spoke to council. This latest hair-brained “revitalization” scheme has drawn an incredible amount of fire from the downtown community, particularly James North, fearing the social effects of gambling addictions, because of the dismissive attitude toward downtown from proponents and out of fear for the fate of Flamborough Downs and it’s horses (currently OLG’s only permitted slots in the area).
The New Canada
Our country, it seems, has lost some of our innocence. After the G20, after Occupy, and especially after the Quebec Student Strike, we’re no longer quite as shocked by protests. As turnouts grow and issues multiply, so does the number of people involved. Protesting becomes less alien, and more accessible to a wider number of people, who now have a lot less trouble imagine themselves marching with a sign. Protest is once again becoming part of our culture and political process, and it’s about damn time.
In recent years, the decisions made by the Canadian government have become increasingly distant and disturbing. Harper alone has targeted First Peoples, workers, the environment, refugees, prisoners, pilots, railroaders, postal workers, the internet, NGOs, scientists and most recently, Mali. Our international reputation is in shambles. He may even have stolen the election, but nobody seems to want to talk about that. Just like there’s very little mention that Ontario has now been operating without a parliament for three months. Quebec’s government, it now turns out, was corrupt to its core, and even here, Mayors just keep coming up on “conflict of interest” charges. Then there’s the austerity schemes, the development plans and the total disregard for treaty commitments and democracy.
If these problems – the colonialism, the corruption, the grandiose but toxic boondoggle projects – show one thing, it’s that we’ve all been idle for far too long. Without the watchful (and occasionally wrathful) eye of the public, power will inevitably corrupt, and it has. This system cannot function, though, without the daily cooperation of tens of millions of people, something which is no longer guaranteed. The legendary patience and politeness of this land’s inhabitants have worn thin, but not our determination.
This is what democracy looks like.
In the fight against the proposed network of pipelines set to extend from Alberta’s Tar Sands, yesterday, the 19th, was chosen as a day of action against the Keystone XL pipeline by blockaders in Texas, occupying its path and disrupting construction for almost two months now (a Texas record, to be sure). It didn’t disappoint. Solidarity actions took place across the nation and beyond, and blockaders in Texas faced an ugly showdowns with police.
Actions in Texas began yesterday morning when blockaders established a second “tree blockade” along the proposed Keystone XL route, taking up positions by the Angelina river. In Nacogdoches, at least forty people stormed a construction site, chaining themselves to equipment with many more blocking access by forming human chains. Police soon arrived at both locations and ordered demonstrators to leave, then stepped in to make arrests when they didn’t. Pepper spray, cherry pickers and pain compliance holds were used to pry activists apart and away from equipment. Protesters remained nonviolent throughout. At least 11 arrests were made, including four ‘locked down’ to machinery and three tree climbers.
Solidarity actions with the blockaders and others against the Tar Sands and associated pipelines took place across the continent and today even reached London, England. Sunday in Washington, around three thousand protesters converged on the White House to send a message to newly reelected President Obama regarding the Keystone XL pipeline, soon set to be reconsidered at the federal level. Yesterday at least 20 towns and cities held actions. Protesters in Houston, Texas held a teach-in outside the Valero oil refinery, which already processes (Venezuelan) bitumen. The Canadian embassy in Washington was stormed with a banner hung by Chesapeake Earth First, and our Consulate in San Francisco also saw a crowd of protesters. Other actions, ranging from rallies to banner drops and protests outside banks and gas stations took place in Bridgeport, Eugene, Seattle, Bloomington, Portland, Salt Lake City, St. Louis, Austin, Burlington (Vermont), Swathmore, Fairfax, Santa Clarita, Minneapolis, Palm Beach (with arrests) and others. In Canada, solidarity rallies took place at the Unis’tot’en blockade in British Columbia and Waterloo Ontario, and an anti-pipeline banner was hung in Coburg, Ontario.
Here in Ontario, where resistance is focused on Enbridge’s Line 9 pipeline, activists from around the province met Saturday in Toronto to plan coordinated opposition. Judging from the number of forwards I’m now receiving, it seems safe to say that Hamilton is now far from alone in this fight. Tomorrow, our own council reconvenes on the issue with both sides sending delegations.
While many of these actions were small, the fact that so many places were able to take part shows how widespread and coordinated opposition to the Tar Sands and these pipelines is becoming. People are now protesting Canada across the English-speaking world. Americans are storming our embassies, and Texan landowners are beginning to embrace tactics of West-coast forest defence. These actions, in turn, are only a some of the 40 cities which have seen climate-change protests in the past week or so alone. This is no longer just an issue for northern Albertans – this gigaproject has consequences literally which span the continent. Stopping it will require a grassroots network just as broad, something that’s now starting to come together.
Solidarity to the blockaders and prisoners in Texas, Unis’tot’en, and everywhere else people are organizing and demonstrating against this ghastly gigaproject. Every community put at risk by these pipelines is another opportunity to shut them down – all we need to do is work together.
