G20 Protests Get Ugly
Gosh, whoever would have thought that would happen?! The CBC wouldn’t let me post this comment… not surprised.
Violence I don’t agree with, but it could be that some of these protesters are angry about the order of the world and are lashing out the only way they can – at civil authority. Here are some of the reasons why they might be angry:
- I’ll bet that ‘working dinner’ last night at the summit had fantastic food. Good wine too. What $100, $150 per seat? That’s well more than most Canadians spend a week on food. And free drinks for 10,000 journalists. The tab on that would feed the homeless in Toronto for a month.
- What did they decide yesterday? 1) Iran and North Korea are being bad. 2) Deficit spending is not a good idea. 2 billion and that’s all you can come up with? Not terribly productive.
- Greedy American banks messed up the world economy and now millions are underemployed, including me.
- Austerity. For whom exactly? The rich never seem affected by these plans.
- Auto sector bailouts, financial sector bailouts. These dudes make so much money, yet still need public bailouts? Where’s my bailout?
- A former MP was caught driving drunk with cocaine in his pocket and they dropped the charges. If that was you or me, we’d be behind bars right now.
- Even though the Gulf is wrecked, U.S. court overturns decision to ban new offshore drilling because… I guess money trumps the environment.
- Much of a major city brought to a standstill, not just because of protests, but because of thousands of cops marching around asking to see people’s papers. Oh and a big fence.
- They spend $2 million on a pavilion to simulate Muskoka when they just could have gone there. WTF.
- $56 billion deficit, prorogued governments, draconian copyright laws, and general bullshitting and fucking around. People haven’t forgotten these things, Steve.
- Billions wasted in a war in a foreign land, only to find the Americans are prospecting it for gold.
Maybe people are angry because governments are letting us all down. And here’s the thing, I like to think of myself as a smart guy, but I cannot for the life of me think of a way to fix the current order of the world, short of violence. Historically, rebellion has been the only effective way to stand up to governments who no longer represent the people’s interests.
