G20?

[SaggyBalls]

I wonder if I'm the only one that smells a load of bullshit from so far away so far ahead of schedule.

TORONTO - Hard-core protesters who plan to wreak havoc at the G20 summit will sneak into Canada from the U.S. through remote border crossings, police say.

They are calling it “The Great Wall of Huntsville.â€

Canada Unveils Arsenal

[nibbler]

Fences are up and inconveniencing hundreds of thousands of people in Toronto a full 3 weeks before the summit.

[Hal Johnson]

Not to mention the fake lake.

[nibbler]

If CSIS comes knocking...

A community advisory from the People's Commission Network

People's Commission Network

http://www.peoplescommission.org/en/csis/whattodo-csis.php

May 2010

Since the fall of 2009 there have been ongoing visits by members of the Canadian Security and Intelligence Service (CSIS) to various local social justice organizers and activists. These visits are in addition to CSIS’ ongoing harassment of targeted communities. This community advisory is in response to those visits.

Visits by CSIS and the RCMP to activists are nothing new; they have taken place before around specific events or projects. In general, these visits can have different purposes: they are not only about information-gathering but can also be attempts to create or exploit divisions between activists, plant misinformation, intimidate, develop psychological profiles, and recruit informers.

If CSIS comes knocking, we strongly encourage total and complete non-cooperation. A CSIS visit to your home or workplace will be a surprise, but we encourage you to be ready to not cooperate with them in any way, which means not speaking with them or listening to them.

If you are in a precarious position -- due to your immigration status, pending criminal charges, probation, parole, or any other reason – we strongly encourage you to NEVER EVER talk to CSIS alone. Instead, tell them to contact a trusted lawyer that you have chosen, and then refuse to say anything else. You can contact the People's Commission Network for references to lawyers who can act diligently against CSIS intimidation tactics.

If you are comfortable doing so, ask for the names, telephone numbers and cards of the CSIS agents who want to talk to you. Insist they provide their names, and don't say, or listen to, anything else. You are under no legal obligation, ever, to confirm your identity with CSIS.

Sometimes CSIS agents might begin speaking to you and only later identify themselves. In that case, if you are taken by surprise, we encourage you to refuse to continue speaking with CSIS. You can always default back to being silent. In dealing with security services, silence is the golden rule.

In all cases, you are encouraged to tell CSIS to leave your home or workplace or cease following you. Tell CSIS clearly to leave, in whatever fashion you feel is appropriate. You can insist they leave, to the point of closing doors in their face.

Remember, although CSIS can act in very ugly ways, it has no arrest or policing powers.

We encourage you to get in touch with the People's Commission Network to report any CSIS visits or related incidents. These visits can be de-stabilizing and stressful. That’s why it is important to not remain isolated in this situation; and the People’s Commission Network wants to offer concrete support to overcome the feeling of isolation these visits can create. Your correspondence with the People's Commission Network will be considered confidential. Consider any unannounced CSIS visit to be harassment against you. If possible, we encourage you to write down your experience so that you have the facts clearly noted. The People’s Commission Network can support you in documenting this harassment with the aid of a lawyer.

CSIS' job is to gather information for the state and to disrupt movements of social justice. Their broad mandate includes monitoring any activities they deem to threaten the current political and economic order. Their intimidation focuses on indigenous peoples, immigrants, racialized communities, radical political organizations, labour unions, as well as the allies of these groups. CSIS' actions, which show clear evidence of gross incompetence, racism, as well as complicity in torture, are all the more reason why they deserve no cooperation whatsoever by anyone involved in movements for social justice.

Total non-cooperation with CSIS and other security agencies by the entire social justice community - broadly and inclusively defined - is our best way of maintaining unity and solidarity, as well as keeping our focus on our important day-to-day organizing and activism.

To recap: Do not talk to CSIS or share any information with them, no matter how harmless you think it is. Do not listen to CSIS agents. Do consider reporting the visit to the People's Commission Network.

Please share this community advisory within your networks, and with members of your organizations and groups, so we can encourage collective non-cooperation with CSIS.

We encourage community groups to ENDORSE this advisory, as a way of building collective solidarity against CSIS harassment. An endorsement means your group agrees with the following statement: “We support and endorse the People Commission Network’s Community Advisory concerning the Canadian Security and Intelligence Service (CSIS).â€

We encourage everyone to share this advisory widely, in your networks and within your community. You can download a pamphlet version of this advisory, in pdf format, at http://www.peoplescommission.org/files/csis/PamphletEn.pdf.

[hamilton]

Not to mention the fake lake.

I read about that this morning. Insane.

[nibbler]

[nibbler]

notice how the people in the 'drill' all have hands raised...

[Kanada Kev]

Some pics of one of the fences. Traffic was noticeably getting more fucked up already after work today;

http://www.blogto.com/city/2010/06/torontos_g20_fence_in_photos/

[phishtaper]

Not to mention the fake lake.

I read about that this morning. Insane.

are show-stopping malls or movie theaters or government offices and conference rooms any more insane? isn't part of this show about the show itself? what's a couple of million on a pretty stage set? personally' date=' i dont have a big problem with it. to throw a party you have to drop a bit of coin on streamers and ballons.

i kinda have the impression that nobody ever really wants to host these summits. no good ever seems to come locally and they just give host cities an international black eye. it's a no win deal. but this was our turn, so be it. seems that harper [i']et al. are taking it all a bit too hardcore, tho'. those fences look really uncool. im just gonna stay away.

[Kanada Kev]

no good ever seems to come locally and they just give host cities an international black eye. it's a no win deal. but this was our turn, so be it.

Exactly, and they continue to "sell" it like it is going to benefit tourism, etc.

Huntsville will benefit with the infrastructure improvements. Therefore one can consider some of the money spent there as an "investment". This isn't the case for Toronto from what I see.

[Kanada Kev]

Ya know? Fuck the G-8 and G-20 ... i'm sticking to something that's wayyyyyy better;

G-13

[phishtaper]

no good ever seems to come locally and they just give host cities an international black eye. it's a no win deal. but this was our turn' date=' so be it.[/quote']

Exactly, and they continue to "sell" it like it is going to benefit tourism, etc.

Huntsville will benefit with the infrastructure improvements. Therefore one can consider some of the money spent there as an "investment". This isn't the case for Toronto from what I see.

they will help local economies and infrastructures, for sure. they will also cause private home and business insurance rates to increase after claims for broken windows that the feds have stated they will not cover. not to mention shut down the cities. mirvish said their theaters will be closed and the AGO will close as well. WTF?!

Welcome to Toronto. Please enjoy your visit and take advantage of the half of the city that remains open while you are here.

[nibbler]

Canadas government blatantly disregarded the law in run-up to the 2010 G8/G20 summits

Canada's federal government blatantly disregarded Ontario's provincial law requiring private security firms and their guards to be licensed, in the run-up to the 2010 G8/G20 summits. As the Toronto Star reported on June 8, 2010: 'The security firm awarded a government contract to provide private guards for the G8 and G20 summits is not licensed

link to Globe and Mail for original

[nibbler]

[AD]

Canadas government blatantly disregarded the law in run-up to the 2010 G8/G20 summits

link to Globe and Mail for original

I can tell from the headline that that's not a Globe and Mail article.

The original is at fauxcapitalist.com actually.

Article also quotes The Star quoting a spokesperson for the Minister who says that they're trying to get the licences done quickly so everything is done by the time of the summit. Sticky oversight that's for sure.

[nibbler]

I can tell from the headline that that's not a Globe and Mail article.

Indeed. Though for the record, nobody said it was. :relax:

[AD]

well, you certainly represented that as a Globe and Mail article / headline. but whatever.

[phishtaper]

well, you certainly represented that as a Globe and Mail article / headline. but whatever.

i would agree with AD here, but the headline and the link to the article are actually on one of the many globe websites/blogs/feed/twitters/etc devoted to the summits.

[Kanada Kev]

Well, by the sounds of it, downtown Fort Toronto is making sure that nobody is free to move around anywhere.

ALL TTC service (subways, buses, streetcars) are NO longer operating south of Bloor and between Spadina and Broadway!

If I was to go in on the GO Train i'd be forced out at Mimico Station ... what?

They might as well shut down EVERYTHING. What bullshit. I smell a big class action lawsuit by local businesses being fucked over wildly by this.

Not to mention the lovely little law they squeezed through the other night to allow police even more powers (that they are abusing outside of the 5m rule).

As much as I wanted to stay away, i'm wanting to go in now. I really wanted to listen to Herbie Hancock tonight. Now i'll have to drive and find alternate means to penetrate the downtown core to get to the Jazz stage at City Hall.

Boooo G20. What a waste.

Have these meetings on military bases, in the middle of the ocean on an aircraft carrier, or on some island that no protesters can get to.

And the Jays are losing their HOME series being played in Philly

Edited June 26, 2010 by Guest

[Kanada Kev]

Cop cars on fire at King and Bay

Eaton Centre (Toronto's #1 tourist attraction) now shut down.

[ollie]

Cop cars on fire at King and Bay

That can't be good for the environment.

[Kanada Kev]

[Dr_Evil_Mouse]

However you cut it, that's all pretty shameful. What a bunch of narcissitic fuckwads. Who cares whether cops could be as bad. The point was to have proven otherwise.

[SaggyBalls]

The point of protesting violently was to prove that the cops would be as bad as the violent protesters, or to protest peacefully and show how peaceful the police would be illustrate the respect (or lack thereof) the police have for G20 protests?

I always thought that the point of protesting was a direct message, not an arrogant passive-aggressive 'who's better than who' display.

Neither are truly effective.

It's going to take the moderate masses using civil disobedience as a tool to express their frustrations and lack of confidence (in the powers that be and their decisions) for things to truly change.

[Kanada Kev]

And this is what happens in the "Peaceful Protest" designated area of Queen's Park (far far away from the "5m close to the fence" law that they sneaked in:

Toronto Police Attack Peaceful Protesters and Journalists at G20 Protests from brandon jourdan on Vimeo.

There needs to be more coverage of the "peaceful protesters" and the highlighting of incidents like these.

Edited June 27, 2010 by Guest