By Becca Lemire
Photo By Alex Heath
I’m no political analyst, politician or protestor. But I’m a citizen of Toronto and I’ve been glued to my TV and computer since Friday, unable to turn away and hearing several eyewitness accounts from friends at the front lines, including one who was arrested and spent 18 hours in a cage. I watched TV to get the mainstream media’s take and also constantly checked Twitter, Facebook and online news sites. I know in some people’s opinion I’m part of the problem because I stayed home, but in this democratic society, it was my choice to stay away. Is it wrong to want to be safe? I feel so fortunate about living in Canada and how lucky we are. Do I think the G20 should have been held here? No freaking way, but that’s just what happened and I didn’t want to get in the way of the police or the protestors. I knew in advance about “Torontonamo”, the new secret laws, and mostly I know that there are a lot of evil, sick people in this world who love opportunities like this to smash things, anger the police and be on TV.

I have a low opinion of anyone who vandalized downtown Toronto right now, partly because what apparently took an hour has been on replay for the entire weekend. Burning cop cars and smashing windows have dominated the news visuals, not marching bands or children or activists who were peacefully protesting. I had to dig around online to find those, and they’re beautiful and deserve the spotlight so much more but hardly got any coverage. Overall the consensus seems to be downtown Toronto was the WORST place the G20 could be held, and now it’s obvious the price we’re all paying. I’ve heard it should be held on a navy base, up north, where the G8 was held, a big ship in the middle of the ocean, rural Newfoundland, the Toronto Island, even the Exhibition grounds were options which Harper denied. Such a big decision to make without even asking the people it will directly affect. And now the government is saying they won’t help compensate store owners with damage. It’s like they threw a big party in our house without asking, wrecked everything, and won’t help clean up after, or even send us a check months after we’ve had to do it ourselves. If the people of Toronto had voted, the G20 would not have been here.

I’m loving David Miller through all this, though. At least he’s defending the people who’ve lost several days’ pay due to stores being shut down, store owners losing tons of sales over the weekend plus property damage, and most people not feeling safe enough to go anywhere near downtown; I went to a friend’s birthday party on Saturday and she was distraught over no one being able to get there because of the subway being shut down. The G20 ruined her party. The G20 pretty much ruined everyone’s party.

People recording and posting videos and photos almost immediately after they happen have taken over the net; social media is making journalists out of us all, for the better. We may not have taken over the streets this weekend, but we sure have taken over documenting the goings-on. On the other hand, we spent $1B in security so people can pose in front of a row of riot police like they’re at Niagara Falls to proudly post on Facebook: “Look what Harper’s money paid for, my new profile pic!” And is booty shaking being respectful? This would’ve pissed me off: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1fhGneV6rQg . Somewhere in between CTV and YouTube the truth emerges and after a weekend of watching (didn’t know what else to do really) I feel like I have found a somewhat balanced opinion of what happened and if, you haven’t already, I encourage you to surf around.

There are lots of people in the world who drool at the thought of sneaking in behind the fence and blowing the leaders up, and if I have to be kept out as well as them, that’s fine. I also don’t think the law of bag searches at the protests were that offensive; they were trying to protect everyone’s safety. If I’m at a protest and the guy next to me has an axe in his bag, I will gladly let them search my bag so that they can search his next and take away his weapon. At large concerts and nightclubs we seem to be OK with it, so why not here? They can search my bag for alcohol but not for guns? They’re searching your bag because some people bring weapons to protests… get over it. Don’t you want them to find the weapons and take them away?!? Before the G20 I was on the police’s side mostly, it’s a big, important conference with all the big leaders and of course we shouldn’t be allowed near the fence because of the crazies out there. I was going to stay home and let cops do their job. But, as the weekend passed, I find myself siding with those out peacefully marching, but still wouldn’t go anywhere near it out of fear of being arrested for just being there. Am I still in Canada?

G20-ness seemed to spread far outside of the security zone, with protests and arrests happening as far west as Parkdale (Queen and Noble) and tweets about people being searched and detained in the Annex and the College Streetcar. How can you not turn on the Police when they’re arresting passers-by and tourists at Queen and Spadina on a Sunday evening? How disorganized were they that they couldn’t realize that most of the people they detained had nothing to do with G20 protests? I want every scumbag who vandalized arrested and fined so they can pay back store owners, but reading Now Mag tweet about teenagers who were out for a stroll, now being detained in the freezing rain and calling their moms while waiting to be arrested makes me sick. Why did this happen here, to the city of Toronto?

In conclusion, watch this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vl_yUR8MNMM. The G20 affect.