G20 PROTEST – WHO, WHY & HOW.

I usually use one of these two graphics when I am in a protest rally. Either this picture enlarged, of my grandbaby on a stick or Giles old cranky granny with the saying: ‘Grannies Against Stupidity in Government.’

As a dedicated member of a group hoping to leave a better world for our grandchildren, I read all the expectations for protest with concern. I have only the experience of gentle, peaceable protest after first writing letters to the editor about the issues we have with the way the world is being run now. (war, grandchildren being recruited for soldiers, poverty, right wing agendas, political power struggles, human rights, women’s health, governments not listening and many others).

Generally I chose the one or two particularly on my mind, write songs about them, distribute and sing these publically. After all that groundwork is laid and no replies are received from those in authority, then, reluctantly, I get together with other older women, dressed in older women sterotypical outfits but bright, compelling and somewhat amusing. I usually have a purple-and-orange bicycle horn stitched to my hat in case someone is blocking my route.

Then as a group (we call them, ‘gaggles,’) I venture out into the mass of protesters ONLY if I think my presence will be effective and all else has failed to produce results. Last time in a gathering of twenty thousand mostly women on Parliament Hill here in Canada, I took a folding chair. Separated almost immediately from the rest, I would walk a little ways, then sit, gather folks around me and teach them the song I’d written for why we were here. Then I’d attempt to encourage whoever asked questions, host a discussion about the issues, then pick up and move on.

Yes, there are always young hotheads about but often by afternoon they’ve wound down and are interested in listening again. I’m there as a pacifier, a leavener, against throwing rocks, putting stickers on cars and bank windows, striking police officers and misbehaving, while still trying to make a point with my presence, that people of all sorts are against government highhandedness, refusal to listen, ignoring the neds of the voiceless and lampooning ridiculous expenditures.

If I had the physical ability along with the necessary funds, I might appear at more of these, again, Only If It Is ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY. The last local March For Peace here in my small town ended with activists who knew better, setting barrels of combustibles alight and rolling them at the police, blocking a bridge carrying major traffic.

I wrote and apologized to the authorities, once I was extricated from that volatile and unneccessary situation. None of these were actions of people who wished peace. Many of the persons on the march did not even seem interested in a peaceful demonstration.

More and more we see agent provacateurs (did I spell that right), coming down in our midst, unfamiliar and inciting the young around us to do damage for which they then can be legitimately arrested. We used to joke about looking at their footwear but now such government personnel are dressed to fit in and only can be identified by their ignorance about the issues and their provacative stances.
Basically Protests are teaching opportunities for the assembled crowd. How to have an orderly peaceable demonstation. How to get your point across to media. Does everybody know what you’re here for, what you want, what you’re against?

I have a particular problem with someone in Protest Authority attempting to use the rest of us as cannon fodder, as sheep, as foot soldiers. Everyone who attends needs to be up on the issues, know the best way to present them, should make their own signage. Homemade is so much more effective than mass produced or professionally designed. Then you should truly believe in your heart that what you are saying is true, is important, that the world needs to hear it, that it cannot be done in ANY other way. And you should have tried ALL those ways before you ever step foot onto a protest.

Which means your whole life is about what you believe and the protest is an outworking of who you are.