"looking for eric" and "h2oil": a feel-good comedy and its opposite

Movie Season (the opposite of Baseball Season) is in full swing. We've been seeing a lot of good movies, as well as plowing through our The Larry Sanders Show box, but for now I want to mention only two titles.

For a feel-good, intelligent comedy, I highly recommend Ken Loach's "Looking for Eric". And if your heart knows the joy and pain of a deep love of a sport or a team, you will appreciate this even more. No spoilers here. Just see it. (Although it's an English film, you might want to watch it with English subtitles. It helped us enjoy the movie considerably.)

And for exactly the opposite... "H2Oil" is a documentary about the abomination that is the Canadian tar sands. Writer-director Shannon Walsh brings you to a First Nations community who are slowly being wiped out by the tar sands, and their efforts to fight the governments of Alberta and Canada, and oil industry giants.

We meet the community's doctor, who spoke out about what he saw and was charged with professional misconduct. He is actually a hero with the full support of the community.

We see the connection between the oil industry and the government of Alberta - and now, of course, the government of Canada.

We see the inextricable connection between this dirtiest, most destructive resource-extraction practice on the planet and the ongoing and future crisis of fresh water.

It's an excellent film - short, clear, compelling, heartbreaking. Especially if you are unfamiliar with the tar sands, please see it.

I have only one issue with this movie. One of the people interviewed is Andrew Nikiforuk, who wrote the book Tar Sands: Dirty Oil and the Future of a Continent. He is clearly an expert on the subject; I respect his part in the film and I look forward to reading his book. The bit I'm highlighting may have been a function of editing - what the filmmakers wanted to say - or may be a difference in our worldviews.

Towards the end of the movie, Nikiforuk ties the horrors of the tar sands to the developed world's appetite for oil. In this view, our unsustainable consumerist culture drives tar-sands production.

I do not dispute that consumer culture and the lust for material things is unsustainable. I acknowledge that, as individuals, we have a role to play in reducing our society's dependency on oil. But our individual lifestyles are not what drives environmental nightmares like the Alberta tar sands. Similarly, our individual lifestyles did not cause the BP gulf disaster.

What drives it is profit.

What drives it is capitalism.

Under a capitalist system, the earth's resources - which rightly belong to all of us and should be shared according to our needs - are controlled for profit by a few, at the expense of the many.

A small segment of society reaps vast riches from the tar sands, while the most vulnerable - in this case the First Nations people who live downstream, and the land and animals they depend on - die horrible deaths. The rest of us will suffer later, as the glacial ice fields are quickly depleted so the shareholders of Suncor and BP and Exxon Mobile can buy a new Porsche.

You and I can shop less, use public transit when it's available, reuse and recycle. And we should. But no matter how green our lifestyle, none of it will make a significant difference as long as the resources of our earth are controlled by private companies for speculation and profit.

Pointing fingers at people forced to drive to work because their town built sprawling roads instead of investing in public transit is another form of victim-blaming. What's driving the tar sands - and what's killing the planet - is capitalism.

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trying to save wolves, close the tar sands, and not lose hope

Of all the email alerts I get about various important causes, I find the updates from NRDC's Save Biogems the most alarming and depressing. Taken together, the subject lines read like chapters in a book entitled "How Humans Are Killing the Planet". Or, more accurately, "How Capitalism is Killing the Planet, since, globally, most humans are the victims, not the culprits, of these crimes.

Sitting in my inbox from NRDC from the last few weeks: mountaintop removal, the continuing war on wolves, tar sands, polar bears, oil and gas exploitation of the Rocky Mountains, energy exploitation in Patagonia. Of course the emails all contain action alerts, easy clicks to contact representatives, speak out and donate. But with energy and financial interests controlling the governments of the world's major nations, it's difficult to feel hopeful.

Haliburton Forest Wolf Centre, Ontario, 2009

I haven't posted any updates about the terrible situation regarding wolves in a while. After an excellent ruling in August which restored federal protection for the gray wolf, wolves in the US are once again threatened by "delisting" - removal from the endangered species list. This time it's something called the "Northern Rocky Mountain Gray Wolf Recovery and Sustainability Act of 2010," known as the Baucus-Tester bill, sponsored senators from Idaho and Montana. If passed, the bill would sidestep that positive ruling, strip wolves of federal protection and throw wolf "management" back to the states. That will almost certainly translate into mass wolf kills in Idaho, Montana and Wyoming.

The Baucus-Tester bill is being heavily lobbied; many senators who appear to care about the environment are expected to vote for it. If you're in the US or have friends who are, you can help by contacting your senators or circulating this link: go here. If you can't participate in the campaign, but you love wolves as I do - or if you simply care about wildlife - click through for info and some great photos.

Readers on both sides of the Canada-US border can raise their voices against the tar sands expansion that threatens millions of migratory birds.

All four major flyways in North America -- the aerial migration routes traveled by billions of birds each year -- converge in one spot in Canada's boreal forest, the Peace-Athabasca Delta in northeastern Alberta. More than 1 million birds, including tundra swans, snow geese and countless ducks, stop to rest and gather strength in these undisturbed wetlands each autumn. For many waterfowl, this area is their only nesting ground.

U.S. demand for tar sands oil is causing Canada to ramp up tar sands oil extraction in the boreal forest just south of the Peace-Athabasca Delta, including sites upstream on the Athabasca River. Water extracted for tar sands mining could reduce flow into the delta, killing fish -- a food source for birds -- and disturbing habitat. Wastewater discharge could also contaminate the river, creating a toxic food web and leading to reproductive problems in wildlife. In 2008, 1,600 ducks died after landing in a tar sands waste pond.

Tar sands oil development also contributes to global warming, which is reducing ecologically important flooding in the delta. A number of developments are threatening the Peace-Athabasca Delta, including the Bennett Dam on the Peace River. Tar sands oil extraction exemplifies how our addiction to oil is causing loss of critical bird habitat in the delta and throughout Alberta’s boreal forests and wetlands.

The U.S. State Department is on the brink of approving a new trans-boundary pipeline that would bring tar sands oil from Canada to the U.S. Gulf Coast, leading to additional mining and drilling for tar sands oil in the boreal forest. NRDC and our BioGems Defenders are fighting to stop the expansion of tar sands oil extraction and to protect bird habitat in the boreal forest. We are calling on the State Department to say No to new tar sands pipelines in the United States and encouraging a switch to cleaner forms of energy production that would reduce global warming and protect North America's last great forests.

In the US, click here to contact representatives about the tar sands pipeline from Canada to the Gulf Coast.

Gros Morne National Park, Newfoundland, 2008

In Canada, one of the best groups fighting tar sands expansion is the Indigenous Environmental Network. I've heard Clayton Thomas-Muller, who chairs the IEN's Canadian Indigenous Tar Sands Campaign, speak a few times. The group makes clear the connections among human rights, the rights of indigenous peoples, labour conditions and the health of the planet. More information on the campaign here.

The Council of Canadians is another group leading the fight against tar sands expansion; their tar sands section is here.

* * * *

It's hard for me to feel hopeful about these issues. The interests we're up against are so huge and so powerful. I need to remember a story I heard Thomas-Muller tell earlier this year. I'm sure some of you have heard this before, but it was new to me.*

The blue whale is the largest animal on earth. It's so large that it can take 10 minutes to turn 180 degrees. A school of sardines - a great mass of tiny creatures - can be nearly as big as a blue whale. But an entire school of sardines can completely change directions in a matter of seconds. First a few sardines swim in the opposite directions, then a few more... and if only 15% of the sardines turn around and swim the other way, the entire school will follow.

Thomas-Muller said:

You don't have to convince everyone. You don't have to turn around a whale by yourself. No one should have to carry that burden. But if each of us reaches a few others, we can be that 15%, enough to change the direction of the world.

Long ago, I used to love these words made popular by Martin Luther King, Jr., originally written by Theodore Parker: "The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends towards justice." I still love the sound of that sentence, but now I recognize it as magical thinking. I don't believe in a moral universe. And I don't believe that justice is in any way inevitable or preordained.

But I struggle to have hope, and to believe that change is possible. I remind myself that whether we are pessimists or optimists - whether we are filled with hope or filled with despair, or see-sawing between the two - none of us knows the future. The future is still unwritten. And I know one thing. To paraphrase Gandhi on the sidebar of this blog: if we take no action, there will be no change.





* The blog The Committed Sardine takes its name from this parable.

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drew taylor harden: "do i need a passport or a ouija board?"

On this post about my new Canadian passport, a friend left a link about the Iroquois lacrosse team that was refused entry to the UK because they carry passports from their Iroquois nation, not Canada.

A few days earlier, I blogged about Oka.

And everyone here knows about my troubles at the US border.

This excellent Op-Ed in the Globe and Mail pulls it all together.

Do I need a passport or a Ouija board?

I have a theory, though I can't prove it, based on several recent visits to the United States. Specifically, it's based on going through American customs as you get ready to board a plane for that country. And I wonder if the Iroquois lacrosse team that was stranded at the airport in New York this week is thinking the same thing.

On their way to England to play at the Lacrosse World Championships – a game the Iroquois invented, by the way – the 23 members of the team were prevented from boarding the plane because they insisted (as always) on using a passport by the Iroquois Confederacy. English officials were afraid the team would not be allowed back into America afterward, now that the airports have much stricter immigration rules. After some swift negotiations with the State Department and in particular Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, an agreement for this particular event was worked out. Still, it was not enough. They missed their plane, and their chance to play. Getting in and out of America can be such a pain.

Ever since the tragic events of Sept. 11, 2001, crossing that imaginary border between our two countries has become increasingly difficult. Contrary to popular jurisprudence, at the border you are now assumed to be guilty until you can prove yourself innocent. Everybody now needs an official passport to go south. Even the Canadian Indian status card – I never left Canada or home without it – is no longer accepted to cross the 49th parallel, one customs agent informed me. Native people on their own continent must whip out their Canadian passports to prove who they are, in order to travel to Turtle Island.

I never knew Canadian native terrorists were such a threat down there, Tyendinaga's Shawn Brant notwithstanding. His claim to fame, if you remember, was blocking the 401 several years back, thus making a thousand or so white people late for work. Hardly an Osama bin Brant. . . .

Read it here.

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twenty years since oka: a talk by ellen gabriel

Yesterday marked 20 years since the start of the incident known in most of Canada as the "Oka Crisis". Before coming to this country, I had never heard of Oka. At the the Marxism conference in late May, I attended a talk called "20 years since Oka: the fight for indigenous sovereignty," given by Ellen Gabriel.

Clicking around various stories online yesterday, I saw so many ugly, racist comments about Oka - praising the heroic Canadian soldiers for not simply exterminating the Mohawk resistance, trashing Mohawks as terrorists and cowards, and using the date as an excuse to malign all Native peoples. I'm going to use this occasion to write about what I heard from a woman who was behind the barricades herself. My notes and my memory can't convey the passion and eloquence of Gabriel's talk, but perhaps I can honour her with this small gesture.

Ellen Gabriel is the President of the Quebec Native Women's Association and holds many other titles and distinctions within her Mohawk nation and within the larger Native community. She used the words "Oka crisis," reluctantly, and in quotes. To Gabriel, this was not a one-time crisis, but one episode in the context of hundreds of years of resistance, generations of struggle - for sovereignty and autonomy, against racism and oppression - a struggle that continues today.

For Gabriel, the Indian Act made aboriginal people wards of the state - legal children - and that parent-child construct still exists. The Canadian government and private corporations licensed by the government take resources from Native land, then dole out some of those profits to Native communities as they see fit. Gabriel doesn't want deals for better royalties. She wants Native nations to be treated as the sovereign nations they are, and to see her people control their ancestral lands.

To the young Native activists in the room, she said, "Do not bomb or do violence in our name. Peace is our way." She said the "myth of the warrior" is often misunderstood: true warriors do not promote violence. A warrior understands her true nature, and works for the good of her people.

* * * *

Gabriel said the Mohawk community is usually divided about development on their lands. Many people, often residential schools survivors, live with an internalized oppression, thinking "at least we're getting this, it's better than nothing". Oka, she said, was one of the few times that the community showed real unity.

A private developer wanted to cut down a forest that had been part of the Kanesatake community for centuries. The forest, which developers wanted for a golf course, included pineland and a burial ground with standing tombstones. The Mohawks previously had filed a land claim for the area, but the government rejected the claim.

Ottawa set a deadline for comment on the development that was impossible to meet. The golf course went ahead, and now the developers wanted more land for condos. The Mohawk community said, Enough. They erected a barricade and held the developer off their land.

On July 11, 1990, a SWAT team moved in. There was a standoff for three hours, then Sûreté du Québec (the Quebec provincial police) threw tear gas and concussion grenades, and opened fire.

* * * *

Gabriel said that the barricade, which remained up for for 78 days, was not on a highway, as often represented in the media. It was on a dirt access road. The highway wasn't blocked until the police blocked it themselves. The Kanestake resistance community staffed the barricades around the clock, sometimes with 20 people, sometimes with two people, depending on who was available.

Resistance grew, joined by solidarity actions across Canada and the US. As the Kanestake Mohawks refused to dismantle their barricade, the SQ erected a highway blockade to restrict access to Oka and Kanesatake. Other Mohawks blockaded the Mercier Bridge, which connects the Island of Montreal to the South Shore suburbs, where the bridge passed through Mohawk territory.

Gabriel said that the Mercier Bridge blockade, so condemned by local residents, undoubtedly saved lives by blocking a second attack by the SQ and RCMP. Behind the barricades, the people of Kanestake were denied food and medical care. They set up a health centre, and a system for food to be delivered in secret. The SQ would block food deliveries long enough for the meat to spoil and become inedible. They would block of basic supplies, medical care and diapers.

When it was clear the SQ had lost control of the situation, the RCMP was brought in. But they, too, could not contain the resistance. Gabriel spoke with kindness for the individual troops: "They were only kids themselves." Her focus was solely the government that sent them there.

At the height of the standoff, the Mercier Bridge and three highway routes were all blocked. There were huge traffic jams. Local Quebecers burned and hung effigies representing Mohawks. This racism was echoed in - and stoked by - local media, especially on the radio. An MP said the Native people of Quebec should be deported to Labrador. Some Châteauguay residents started building an unauthorized four-lane highway around the Kahnawake reserve. (The Quebec government later finished the highway.)

When an SQ officer was killed, and everyone assumed a Mohawk did it. Gabriel says this has never been established. To the people who were inconvenienced by the bridge blockade, every Mohawk was a terrorist. Mohawks who were arrested were beaten and tortured.

Gabriel said that during the standoff, "We thought we were alone." Only later did they learn that there were solidarity rallies all over Canada, from other Native communities and from Canadians who stood beside them. But, she said, "I never felt so safe as I did with my community during that time. There was peace behind the barricades."

* * * *

On August 12, Kanestake leadership wanted to sign an agreement, because they were starving. But the negotiations were only focused on breaking the blockades. International human rights groups later agreed that Canada and Quebec did not negotiate in good faith, and that the Mohawks' basic human rights had been denied.

Eventually some Mohawk men wanted to open the Mercier bridge, and talks broke down. The Kanestake Mohawks learned this through the media. By the time they knew, the army was already there. "The ink wasn't even dry," said Gabriel, when the SQ broke the agreement, storming the area and brutalizing anyone in their path.

It is often said that the Mohawks had an army tank, and military-grade weaponry. Gabriel said this tank was never found. It couldn't have been found, since it never existed. She herself never carried a weapon, and she is grateful for that, "because carrying a weapon changes you."

The siege ended on September 26, after 78 days. The resistance was evacuated with ruthless brutality. Women were cut with bayonets. People were thrown to the ground, beaten and kicked. The Kanestake later tried appealing Quebec's human rights commission, but were told the commission had no jurisdiction over Native claims. How convenient. We can take your land - that's in our jurisdiction - but if you try to speak up about how we treat you, that is not.

* * * *

One year later, the Kanestake commemorated the resistance with a march through Oka. Gabriel said many incidents have occurred since that are seen as retaliation and punishment for the Oka resistance: punitive arrests, arson. But for the Mohawk nation, this story didn't begin with Oka. It began almost 300 years ago, when French Catholic priests stole the land.

"We are not a 'minority' to be seen as a problem," Gabriel said. "We are a sovereign nation, and our identity is linked to the land. That is why the government has tried so hard to break us, so that they can fully exploit our land." Right now, she said, the Mohawk people are joined with the Quebec Farmers' Association in a battle against mining interests. "Our water is already contaminated," she said. "We don't want royalties. We want them off our land."

* * * *

Within the context of the struggles of aboriginal people, Mohawk women have another level of struggle. The Indian Act, Gabriel said, was designed to undermine the primacy of native women. Mohawk women own the title to their land, and this concept runs contrary to the band system set up by the Canadian government. She also said that Mohawks tend to be less assimilated and more radical than some other nations.

Gabriel spoke very forcefully about the travesty of Canada not signing the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, a shame this country shares with the United States, Australia and New Zealand. The Declaration includes reconciliation with modern governments. The Mohawks, Gabriel said, are willing to do that, "but we need a government that respect the rule of law."

* * * *

"We Natives," she said, "know a lot about Canadian history, but Canadians know very little about us."

She listed a few books and movies about Native struggles that she recommends, which I asked her to list later.

There are a series of documentaries about by Alanis Obomsawin the most famous being "Kanehsatake: 270 Years of Resistance". Other films Gabriel mentioned were "Rocks at Whiskey Trench," "Smoke Signals," "Muffins for Granny," about residential school survivors, "Stolen Continents" and "Indian Givers".

* * * *

In an MSNBC story about the 20th anniversary of Oka, Gabriel is quoted.

Even at the height of the crisis, he said, Ottawa refused to budge while he struggled to find common ground between the Mohawk leaders and the government. Ottawa dragged its heels, and continues to do so today, [former Quebec native affairs minister John] Ciaccia said.

It's an opinion echoed by Ellen Gabriel. In 1990, the then 31-year-old firebrand acted as chief Mohawk negotiator, working alongside Ciaccia to bring an end to the stalemate.

Now president of a native women's association, she says Oka's only legacy is a greater awareness of native issues across Canada. "If anything it was a waking up," she said, adding that people realized "in a simplified, clichéd way, there are still ongoing Indian wars."

The initial transfer of the Oka land took place in 1717, when France gave it over to a missionary group. "It's a 290-year-old fight," said Gabriel. "So history's not changing. It's business as usual as far as the government is concerned."

I'll close with one last thing that Ellen Gabriel said. She believes that the solidarity demonstrations and the public pressure on behalf of the Mohawk Nation was tremendously important. "Without your solidarity, the outcome would have been much worse. Without the eyes of Canada and other Native nations watching, I might not be here to talk with you today."

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thousands take to the streets demanding g20 public inquiry

Thousands of people marched in Toronto today, denouncing the shameful government and policing decisions that led to mass arrests and inhumane treatment of peaceful protesters, while allowing destruction to continue unchecked.

The Canadian Civil Liberties Association, Amnesty International Canada, the Ontario Federation of Labour and CUPE Ontario were present and joined the call for a public inquiry.

There were also marches planned in Halifax, Montreal and Windsor, although I haven't seen reports from those yet.

This story in the Globe and Mail is surprisingly good, as most of their coverage has been.

For one-stop shopping for G20 video, photos and first-hand reports, go to Rabble's G8/G20 News.

Canadians Demanding a Public Inquiry into Toronto G20 on Facebook.

The Toronto Call, an ad hoc group that is circulating a petition calling for a public inquiry, recently sent this email (slightly edited). To sign on to The Toronto Call, email thetorontocall@gmail.com.

+ + + + +

Dear signatories,

The Toronto Call was written collectively by a few Toronto-based G20 protesters, most of us connected to campuses and all of us having substantial links across various social movements. As police state tactics were rolled out relentlessly around the summit in Toronto, we quickly pooled our resources to make an urgent response to the police brutality and state violence we witnessed and experienced.

The Call has clearly resonated. Over 1000 people signed on in the first two days. We are still compiling the remaining 400-ish signatures, but we felt it important to make an initial response. The list here includes roughly 1100 signatories (a notable symmetry with the 1090 officially detained over the G20 weekend). [Read it here.] We aim to post/send out the full list by next week.

For now, we think a few points are worth noting:

* Perhaps most importantly, the list has become an ad hoc public site for connecting with and documenting those who were detained, assaulted, arrested, beaten, jailed and forcibly restrained by the G20 police. In addition to almost 1100 detentions, many were also beaten and unofficially captured/stopped/held. As we write, at least 16 activists are in jail with exorbitant bail fees for unsubstantiated charges: link.

Others have been released, but with severe bail conditions and are fighting the unjust charges: link.

* Many journalists, particularly independent media reporters/publishers and members of collectives, have signed on. We are grateful for those who took great risks to document and advance a critical public discussion despite the brutal police treatment received in the process. Similarly, the list has attracted medical and legal support workers who carried out vital services during the G20, often at great risk. See Alan Sears’ G20 Protests: Fighting Back Against the Police State.

* A wide range of sectors are reflected in these signatures including labour/trade unionists; anti-poverty activists; cultural workers (artists, musicians, playwrights, poets, filmmakers, authors); health care workers and physicians; legal workers and lawyers; educators/teachers/faculty; students at all levels, particularly those targeted as young activists; social movement organizations and community activists; concerned residents, outraged citizens and more. We want to acknowledge the importance of solidarity rallies as well from Vancouver to Winnipeg to Montreal to Fredericton to Peterborough (and undoubtedly more).

The Call includes signatures from several cities, towns, rural areas, First Nations and unceded indigenous territory, and a wide range of communities across the country. We want to acknowledge, in particular, the strong response from Vancouver and from Montreal/Quebec where activists were targeted particularly harshly by police.

We also thank supporters and friends around the world including: several U.S. cities, India, Istanbul, Mexico, several cities in England, Japan, Chile, Scotland and Ireland, Italy, Johannesburg, several EU countries, Greece, Bangladesh, the Czech Republic and Columbia.

Finally, we want to draw your attention to some important actions and statements that emerged alongside The Toronto Call and which many may wish to sign onto, support or read:

Donate: Call for donations to support G20 legal defense.

Attend rallies:

Two National Days of Action: July 10 and July 17.

Sign Petitions:

Canadian Educators Condemn the G20 Attack on Civic Education

Amnesty International call for an Independent Review of G20 Security Measures

Read and share:

Vancouver Statement of Support for Toronto G8/G20 Arrestees

+ + + + +

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"drilling, spilling and killing": why we protest, part two

This is the second part of my report on the "Shout Out for Global Justice" event that I attended on Friday, June 25. Part One is here.

* * * *

Next Amy Goodman took the stage. Her first three words were: "Drilling, spilling and killing." These so-called world leaders gathered here for the G20, she said, are not discussing how to fix the world's problems, but how to augment them.

Goodman related a few stories from Democracy Now!'s travels in the US Gulf of Mexico states right after the BP disaster. The fishermen whose lives have been devastated by the explosion, temporarily hired on cleanup crews, were afraid to talk to NPR because they had all been forced to sign hush contracts - forbidding them to speak in exchange for work.

This is why, she said, we need a media covering oil disasters that is not brought to us by energy companies.

Goodman read about the latest Canadian soldier to die in Afghanistan. (Two more were announced today.) This brings the number of Canadian forces killed in Afghanistan to 150. Thousands of American soldiers have been killed in that war-for-oil. And the only thing sadder, Goodman said, than knowing those numbers, is not knowing the numbers of Afghans who have been killed.

She mentioned Brock McIntosh, a US Afghanistan veteran who is speaking out against the war there, and the brave veterans, many in uniform - which puts them at great risk for military arrest, court-martial and punishment - who lead peace marches during the 2008 US political conventions. But the public never saw them on mainstream media.

This is why we need a media covering war that is not brought to us by weapons manufacturers.

A media covering the US health care crisis and the piecemeal privatization of Canadian public health care that is not brought to us by insurance companies.

"Two hundred tea-partiers hold a protest," Goodman said, "and their numbers are dwarfed by the number of mainstream media reporters covering the show. 15,000 people participate in the People's Climate Conference in Cochambamba, Bolivia, and 200,000 people crowd the 2010 US Social Forum in Detroit, and no corporate media covers it."

This is why we need a media not brought to us by the same companies who profit from war and globalization and privatization.

Goodman told the story of the arrest and police abuse of herself and her colleagues at the 2008 Republican National Convention in St. Paul, Minnesota. When she showed her media credentials, a secret service agent ripped them from her neck and confiscated them. One of her colleagues was dragged by her legs, face-down on the street. They were charged with felony offenses. Many in the audience didn't know about this, and they were gasping.

Right now, here in Canada, Goodman said, we are seeing the criminalization of dissent. A billion dollars spent on security means there is a truth they need to contain. She smiled and asked, "A billion dollars to contain all of you?"

* * * *

Leo Gerard spoke next. Gerard is the president of the United Steelworkers, and vice-president of the AFL-CIO. I imagine that for many in the audience, Gerard was the least interesting speaker, but his presence at the event was crucial. It is only through organized labour that workers can succeed in challenging corporate power. Even when workers unite, the battles are dire and desperate. But alone, it is hopeless. And when I say "organized labour," that doesn't have to mean a traditional union, although that may work. Vandana Shiva's farmer's networks are organized labour, too.

Gerard grew up in Sudbury, Ontario, a mining community with deep union roots. The town has been devastated by the mining giant Vale Inco. The mine workers of Sudbury have been on strike a full year. But still, facing so much pressure and loss, they stood strong and overwhelming rejected Vale's latest insulting offer. They have help and support from union leadership and rank-and-file all over Canada and the US, and they set an example for all of us. Gerard acknowledged the Sudbury strikers from the stage and all the union activists in the audience cheered them.

When Vale Inco came to Sudbury, it promised to be part of the community. Instead, it created a social disorder that, no matter what the settlement, will reverberate in the community for generations. And the Canadian government didn't just let this happen, Gerard said. The government made it happen.

He said that right now in Canada, 475,000 people are currently collecting Employment Insurance, but at least that many more have given up looking for work and are ineligible for the narrowly-defined benefits.

He reminded us that all over the US, people lost their homes and their life savings, taxpayers were forced to bailout the financial institutions from the mess they themselves created, and the heads of those companies helped themselves to hundreds of millions of dollars in bonuses.

Economic sustainability, Gerard said, means regulation. It means a tax on global financial transactions. It means an end to the idea that we can have either good jobs or a clean environment - for ourselves, our children and our grandchildren, we will have both or we will have neither.

* * * *

After more incredible rhythm music from the Raging Asian Women, John Hilary spoke. Hilary is director of UK-based War on Want. War on Want is an anti-poverty organization that understands that poverty is political. It works in partnership with people in developing countries, campaigning for human rights, and against the root causes of global poverty: inequality and injustice. It works with farmers, factory workers and people living on the margins of society, building networks and communities - not for charity, but for lasting change.

Hilary told us that Canada's image in EU countries has taken a drastic downturn, as former PM Paul Martin travels around lecturing on deficit reduction. How should countries reduce their fiscal deficits? By visiting pain on the poorest sectors of society, through drastic cuts to the social welfare systems.

It took decades to build these public systems so that seniors could live in dignity, children could be cared for while parents worked, and taxes could be used to help people meet their basic needs. And with one stroke of a corporate-government pen, these vital systems are destroyed. To Europeans who care about social justice, "Canada" now means the most regressive and socially unfair economic model.

We're seeing, Hilary said, a kind of macho game among governments to see who can cut the most services. With an emergency budget, the UK saw 25% of its public services cut, 500,000 public-sector jobs eliminated, and the VAT, the most regressive tax that hits working people the hardest, raised yet again.

And it's even worse for countries dependent on the IMF. Latvia saw a full 40% of its public spending cut in order to receive IMF funding. (If you've read Naomi Klein's Shock Doctrine, you know how that works.)

The G8/G20, Hilary said, has declared war on working people and marginalized communities. The bankers get a free ride and we pay for the crisis they caused.

Now, he warned, the Canada/EU free-trade agreement that is being negotiated behind our backs is privatizing sectors of our society that we don't even realize can be traded away: water, health care, indigenous resources.

The G8/G20 is reviving all the failed institutions that caused such poverty and destruction in the 1990s: the IMF, the WTO, the World Bank. The re-emergence of these failed institutions goes to the heart of the illegitimacy of the G8/G20.

Hilary reminded us that the so-called leaders will emerge from their conference saying they will help this country or that need with a few million here and there. "They will dole out little bits of charity and aid. Don't get taken in!"

* * * *

Next came the other speaker, with Vandana Shiva, I was most excited to see, Pablo Solon, the Bolivian ambassador to the UN. In an amusing sidenote, emcee R. H. Thomson mistakenly introduced Solon as the "Bolivian ambassador to the US". Solon reminded us that Bolivia has no ambassador to the US, because they kicked the US embassy out of their country!

Solon was a water warrior; now he is a water warrior ambassador. If you saw the movie "The Corporation," you know something about the stunning victory of the people of Cochabamba, Bolivia over the Bechtel corporation, reversing the unilateral privatization of Bolivia's water supply. I have not yet seen the documentary Blue Gold: World Water Wars but I'm told it's a must.

Solon's present battle - the battle he urges us all to join, the battle the Council of Canadians leads in Canada and Maude Barlow leads in the UN - is to have water declared a human right. We must bring a UN declaration of Water As A Human Right to a vote, and, Solon said, "We must expose those countries who vote against it, as sometimes we must expose vampires."

After the people of Cochabamba kicked Bechtel out of their country, Bechtel sued Bolivia for $30 to $100 million to recover what they said were their losses. After a ten-year court battle in which the people would not surrender, Bechtel was paid damages of one dollar. And they left.

Then the people of Bolivia went on to re-nationalize all the industries that had been privatized: gas, oil, banking. "We re-nationalized our government," Solon said, which brought great cheers. Bolivians created public jobs, raised salaries, restored and increased social benefits. "We can do this," he said, "because we now control the economic power of the country, not the corporations." Before, 82% of the profits of the energy sector went into private hands, and 18% went into the public coffers. Now 18% goes to private hands and 82% is reinvested in the public sector. And do you know what? The companies still see a profit. There is no deficit. There is a surplus.

This is why we must listen to people like Pablo Solon and Vandana Shiva. They bring us living proof that another world is possible.

Solon spoke of the urgency of climate change and establishing "Mother Earth rights," as the people's climate conference in Cochabamba established. "We must recognize," he said, "that there are some things that cannot be commodified."

* * * *

As I said, I had to leave during Naomi Klein's talk and I didn't see Maude Barlow. I heard Barlow was a bit overwhelming and depressing, giving a litany of statistics and not a lot of hope. But I wasn't there. Barlow and everyone from the Council of Canadians deserve heaps of credit for organizing and promoting this incredible evening.

The part of Klein's talk that I did hear outlined how the G20 - which seems to have appeared out of nowhere - was created by Paul Martin, Bill Clinton and Larry Summers in 1999. Three powerful men choosing a few regional players who were friendly to North American interests to help the world's most powerful nations create the conditions that caused the global economic crisis. Summits like the G8 and the G20 are attempts to sideline and marginalize an already-weak United Nations, so these rich, powerful countries can't be outvoted by the world's poor.

Klein also mentioned how weird it is seeing Stephen Harper lecture the world on how to manage their countries, when she's not sure why Harper is allowed to run this country.

Of course we all laugh and applaud, but really. Why?

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"we need g6,000,000,000": why we protest, part one

Sunday morning, the day after.

The day after massive peaceful protests against the G8/G20, after small non-peaceful protests and vandalism, after police-provoked and police-allowed violence.

The day after police violence against peaceful demonstrators - after rubber bullets, pepper spray, baton beatings, bicycles smashing against bodies, pre-dawn raids with guns drawn.

The day after 25,000 people march in the rain in Toronto, carrying signs about women's human rights, the for-profit destruction of the planet, the rights of seniors to live in dignity, the demise of democracy, the rights of indigenous peoples.

The day after, I'm going to change the subject, turn back the clock, just a little.

These are some of my notes from the stellar event called "Shout Out for Global Justice," held at Massey Hall on Friday night. (Held there because the University of Toronto closed down completely and cancelled everything on campus - with three weeks' notice and without paying many of their employees. Union grievances abound.)

Unfortunately, because of transit schedules, I wasn't able to stay for the entire event, so my notes drop off a cliff - I heard only half of Naomi Klein and none of Maude Barlow. But I hope the notes I have will paint a picture of why we must protest the G8/G20, and what is being done to our world in the name of capitalism.

If you don't already know these speakers and the issues they speak and write about, I encourage you to follow links and buy their books and learn, learn, learn.

* * * *

The event was emceed by Canadian actor R. H. Thomson and streamed live via Rabble across Canada, to the US Social Forum in Detroit, and to several different countries. It was kicked off by the Raging Asian Women taiko drummers, who also played after intermission. They were amazing! I was quite smitten.

Thomson said while the G20 so-called leaders are talking about financial deficits, the real leaders are here in Massey Hall, talking about more dire deficits: environmental deficits, social justice deficits, deficits of native rights, water as a human right, media, peace.

The first speaker was Clayton Thomas-Muller of the
Indigenous Environmental Network, organizer of their tar sands campaign for the past 20 years. (I also heard Thomas-Muller speak at the Marxism conference.)

He spoke about Canada's shameful record on native rights - how native lands are exploited for resources while the people on those lands benefit the least - how the great resource wealth of native land is stolen in exchange for environmental degradation, health crises, and a paltry token royalty.

At the same time, leaders of the environmental movement do not necessarily include aboriginal people in their plans and those plans often do not reflect the realities of aboriginal people, people of colour, low-income people and people in other marginalized communities that are disproportionately affected by environmental destruction.

Because of this, the IEN calls for climate justice - the link between the rights of indigenous peoples and the environment.

Thomas-Muller reminded us that his community has a 60,000-year track record of providing green jobs for the community. It will be native people, he said, joining with the labour movement, who will bring down the tar sands. (Also at the Marxism conference, Thomas-Muller gave a separate talk about the tar sands. I wish I had been able to attend, but there's a lot of great info on their website.)

Thomas-Muller was passionate and stirring, calling on us to reject the authority of the G8/G20, and look to the authority of the people, ourselves.

He said: I am here to tell you: you are not sheep. You are wolves.

* * * *

Next Vandana Shiva took the stage. I hope you know Dr. Shiva's work. She is a scientist, philosopher, writer, environmental activist, and global food and farming activist. She is the founder of Navdanya, a network of organic producers that trains farmers in seed sovereignty, food sovereignty and sustainable agriculture, and helps set up and promote fair trade organic networks in India. I can't really do Navdanya justice in this description. You should go to their website and learn for yourself.

Shiva is a warm, funny, engaging person, and her presence onstage filled me with joy and hope. She said, "You know, I'm actually starting to feel sorry for the G20. Not only are they so boring, they don't even know what they want to do anymore! Not only are we more than them, we are so much more fun!"

When Shiva read about the civil liberties' crackdowns and the noise cannons, she thought, they are really afraid we will be heard. She said in India women use their own sound cannons: they bring out their pots and pans and rolling pins and take to the streets. "And let me tell you, that noise we make has a way of scaring the patriarchs!"

Shiva said that her country, India, is being used to enlarge the nuclear agenda. 200,000 tonnes of uranium, mined on indigenous lands in North America, is being forced on India, as the nuclear industry there balloons to a $15-billion enterprise. The corporations who profit from this have worked out a deal to cap their own liabilities at a ridiculously low level - so, as Shiva said, they can create another Bhopaul and have the legal right to walk away from it. This courtesy of US corporate economist under a Democrat administration, Lawrence Summers.

US international "development" money is now all about biotechnology and profits for Monsanto. It's no coincidence, Shiva said, that the provinces most associated with this "development" have the highest rates of farmer suicides. It's the same pattern being forced on the entire world: the socialization of risks and costs, the privatization of profits. Now even liabilities are socialized, as taxpayers are forced to bail out the corporations from the effects of their own disastrous policies.

And Shiva brings the story full circle: none of this can happen without militarization. Global military budgets are sucking the life out of our needy world. The money must be redirected to reversing climate change, local food production, clean water, global health.

She noted something I had never thought of before: why is it that only these financial and economic meetings bring out the heavy police presence and civil liberties crackdowns? The United Nations represents almost 200 nations, "not just this pathetic 20," but we don't see the thousands of police for the UN.

The police presence at the G20 is both a symptom and a symbol of the militarization of the entire economic structure, where the land of the world's poorest people is being grabbed and exploited by the world's most powerful corporations.

Shiva asked, who is the G8 or the G20 that they presume to speak for us? The United Nations, G198, is much better, but even that is only a start. We need G6-billion. G6,000,000,000. The whole world.

She said, We are here to tell them, there is a world order beyond corporate power.

Part 2: Amy Goodman, Leo Gerard, John Hilary, Pablo Solon.

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