G20 - My Rant

[Guest s******ecan****]

I feel the "so called" protest groups have have done precious little over the years to distance themselves from the anarchists. In fact to them the anarchists are useful idiots because they are the ones that briing the TV cameras. Who the hell would bother to give all the anti-globilization groups the time of day if it were not for the optics of "chaos in the streets".

 

Good God Mansbridge and CBC covered that riot as if were south central LA after the OJ verdict. If not for the violence CBC would have gone straight from World Cup coverage to Little Mosque on the Prarie or full coverage of the World Lawn Bowling Championship.

 

I think some hard time for those mentioned by rickoshadows might be in order. At least make them clean up the damn mess and work off the damages.

[daddio 2704]

re: the comments of Rickoshadow, Pistol Pete and Scott the Canuck - no need for me to add to anything that I said before.

[FineWineDiva 7343]

M y daughter came with the best one

Why didn't they just use"skype"

Have they never heard of that ?

[Carrie Moon 68826]

anyone see this in person? here's a vid for those like me who didn't.

 

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KiLt40d_AbU

[Ragnaglar 440]

I am pretty sure that smeghead is a professional agitator.

 

I am fairly conservative when it comes to this kind of stuff, I believe in the rights of peaceful protesters, however like others have stated. the peaceful protesters use the anarchists to get headlines as in general no one actually cares about their convoluted message.

 

But the sad parts is even after the G20 is over no one will even remember what the message was.

 

Cops will be accused of overstepping their bounds

 

Protesters will get away with hundreds of thousands of dollars in damages to property.

 

regular citizens will have been inconvenienced and possibly harassed.

 

while everyone is critical of the G20, this is just the price of doing business.

[FineWineDiva 7343]

Gee , I could "strip search"you if you like ..:smileysmontrefesse:

The whole thing was a gong show....It was the PM that decided Toronto and then made everyone else dance.....not a good decision.

I was waiting on the tarmac at Pearson for 2 hours last night while the VIPs got priority for their planes to leave....not happy either but at least I didn't get strip searched....grrr

[kendaklutz 100]

I agree. Next time hold the damm summit up in Baffin Island & everyone can eat Cariboo ( or something lol). The money they save can be put into city infrastructure. I have just spent a month in Niagara Falls & visited Toronto for a baseball game. It's a great fun town, party central. Cities are for citizens.

Hugs & Kisses

John

Ottawa:boobies::cooter::bowdown:

[Guest f***2f***]

Gee , I could "strip search"you if you like ..:smileysmontrefesse:

 

Very touched by your spirit of public service. Warning I do have a loaded weapon in my pants lol!!!:sm185:

[omehgosh 736]

I agree with Rickoshadow, Pistol Pete and Scott the Canuck.

 

I have no idea what any of those people were protesting about - all I saw was a bunch of terrorists (who says we don't have terrorists here in Canada?!?)

 

Don't blame the government, officials, police or anyone other than the "protestors" for that crap.

 

I agree that having meetings like that right downtown is silly, however we should ask ourselves why it's silly. I don't imagine there was much risk of any of the meeting's participants setting fire to police cars, smashing windows and throwing feces (throwing feces? really? I thought we were at a least a couple hundred thousand years beyond that)... so why the need for the security?

 

Honestly, I'm not a huge fan of the way the world economy works either... but I don't see how destroying some innocent, hard-working shop-owner's property is going to effect the value of Chinese currency or an international bank tax...

 

Why is anyone worried about how these people were treated while in custody? If anarchists want anarchy so badly why not let them have it? They don't want their personal rights and freedoms protected, they don't even want rights, they disagree with justice and law... or maybe my understanding of "anarchy" is wrong?

[Leber 1328]

Well said omehgosh.

[Carrie Moon 68826]

well if you look into it.. there were a lot of innocent peaceful protesters put into custody.. not just violent ones. Let's not lump them all together.

 

http://www.prisonplanet.com/peaceful-protesters-attacked-arrested-while-cop-car-arsonists-left-alone.html

 

http://www.facebook.com/?ref=home#!/note.php?note_id=397205503638&id=511491565

[Leber 1328]

This is because the organizer did a poor job in maintaining a peaceful protest to achieve their goals. Only the criminals break the law and damage properties.

[Reddog01 30280]

Yes it was difficult and expensive to host the summit in Canada?s largest city, but why not....Maybe easy for me to say because I don?t live there, but why should the threat of violence and terrorist attack relegate meetings to the top of a mountain or in the middle of a park. I think it showed the world we had the intestinal fortitude (especially ?Torontonians?), to meet the threat strait on and pull of a major political event that, lets face it, is important to ?Global Society.? It is unfortunate that some law biding citizens were inconvenienced and we have to give extra powers to the police, but look at it as a sacrifice for the common good. Those that caused the damage should pay financially and with time behind bars. If they are visitors from outside the country they should be deported and banned from re-entry. The G20 is expected to play an increasingly essential role in the world economy and other major issues which need to be coordinated. As a middle power, and a buffer to the US our closest allie, Canada plays an important role. We are a rich nation, well regarded and respected around the world, we cannot nor can we afford to be isolationists.

I was outside of the country for the final day of the G20 and comments I heard from a wide range of foreigners were all positive, reflecting on the leadership and role that Canada provided to the visiting delegates. Thank you Toronto for hosting this event.

[Ilovegirls 588]

Took me a while to post on this, have been away. Sorry you had to experience this Emily. I believe they tend not to think of the ?little people:? when planning events like this. Years ago I worked right beside a G7 meeting. It did not come close to what goes on now. It seems to get worse every year.

 

I agree with those that said it should not be in downtown Toronto, or in any downtown. Have it out somewhere remote where it is easier to secure, less disruptive and less chance of ?collateral? damage.

 

What I found interesting was the role of the media. Some pictures showed many more media than protesters. I have witnessed protest events and observed that things got worse when the cameras came out. It?s like the Los Angeles freeway cop chases where the driver gets his 5 minutes of fame before going to jail. The legitimate protesters lose out as the media focuses on the few goofballs doing the damage and their message gets lost. In some cases the media stops being an independent observer and becomes part of the event.

 

Just my two cents.