arch/ive/ief (2000 - 2005)

Not since the War Measures Act, thirty years ago, has there been a
greater display of the armed might of the state in Canada than there
will be in Quebec City during the Summit of the Americas on April 20-22.
And not since the War Measures Act, when the army occupied the city of
Montreal after two public officials were kidnapped by the FLQ (Quebec
Liberation Front) thirty years ago, has there been a greater need for
people of conscience to speak out against the repression of dissent.

If there is violence in Quebec City, it will almost certainly come from
the police not the demonstrators. For the last few weeks, hints of evil
intent by "a small number of violent groups," has been used by the RCMP
and Quebec’s Public Security Minister Serge Menard who announced just
yesterday yet another 1,000 police to add to the extraordinary army of
5,000 already in place for the meeting of leaders of the Americas.

Not a single group organizing for Quebec City is planning violence of
any kind. Most of the groups in a somewhat naïve attempt to avoid police
repression have written in their basis of unity that they renounce all
violence. There are two organizations that refuse to renounce violence
in advance because they think that in some struggles violence is
sometimes necessary, for example the Zapatistas in Mexico.

Neither of these groups is planning violence in Quebec City. As they see
it Quebec City is different from Seattle. Breaking windows at Starbucks,
as a symbol of transnational corporate domination can be justified, in
their view. Breaking windows in a small café in Quebec City cannot. As
far as I can see, humour and imagination rather than violence will be
the weapon of choice of demonstrators in Quebec City.

The anarchist groups that security forces are most worried about have
been distributing flyers door to door in Quebec City encouraging
residents to "adopt a demonstrator." You can check off whether you want
an anarchist, a feminist, a trade unionist, a student or whatever with
cute little graphics beside each check off. They are calling their
activities a "Carnival Against Capitalism." Sounds threatening doesn’t
it?

In the 1960’s the police used to talk about "outside agitators" causing
problems in otherwise peaceful demonstrators so that they could justify
riding in on horses clubbing young people whose only crime was opposing
the war in Viet Nam. The strategy of creating the evil few to repress
the many is a very old one. Don’t buy it. You can find out what is being
planned yourself. Start with the independent media site at http://www.cmaq.net.

The biggest challenge to the wide variety of groups organizing to
protest the FTAA will be to remain united in face of state attempts to
divide them. The movement got diverted after Seattle in a divisive
debate about tactics.
The tactic used by anti-globalization protesters is non-violent civil
disobedience. In the best tradition of Gandhi, demonstrators put their
bodies on the line. In the direct action training taking place in
numerous cities across Ontario and Quebec, students are learning how to
remain calm and peaceful in face of police provocation. The police on
the other hand, learn how to intimate and frighten demonstrators so that
only those willing to be dragged to jail will remain to face down the
Darth Vadar-like terror of the riot squad.

In Windsor last summer in what seems now like a dress rehearsal for
Quebec the massive police presence led to completely unprovoked
brutality against peaceful demonstrators. Police used pepper spray
indiscriminately on protesters who were doing nothing more sinister than
hanging a banner on a fence. Residents of Windsor became furious when
they realized that their city was turned into an armed camp to protect
them from 2,000 peaceful, youthful demonstrators who were in general
better behaved than the police.

Like in Windsor, there is a 10 foot high fence with a concrete base
virtually surrounding the old city to keep demonstrators far away from
where 34 leaders of the Americas are meeting. And like in Windsor, major
attempts are being made to stop activists from coming in to Canada from
the United States.
The police build-up and rumours of violence are also an attempt to
frighten away people who might find common cause with the protesters but
are not willing to take a risk to protest. The claims of the Canadian
government that the Summit of the Americas will focus on strengthening
democracy ring pretty hollow in face of the fact that no-one is
permitted to even see the documents that the leaders will be discussing.

Most anti-globalization activists assume that the FTAA (Free Trade Area
of the Americas) will have all the odious elements of NAFTA, including
the infamous Chapter 11, which allows corporations to sue governments if
laws or regulations interfere with profit.

In a recent report journalist Murray Dobbin finds that more than half of
the corporate law suits so far involve challenges to health or
environmental measures and that almost half are challenges to municipal
or state government regulation.

No one really knows what’s in the FTAA agreement because the documents
are secret. On April 2, protesters in Ottawa will use direct action to
attempt to liberate the documents from the Department of Foreign Affairs
and International Trade. The training for that action will be held in
the Parliament Buildings in full view of television cameras.

There may be the odd person in Quebec who gets frustrated enough to
throw a rock at the police or threw a window but that is not the reason
for the massive police build-up. The biggest challenge to the
anti-globalization movement in Quebec will be not to get diverted by
these age old police tactics of divide and rule and keep their eyes on
the prize, the growing opposition to undemocratic trade deals that seek
to codify corporate rule over democratically elected governments.