Radical activism creates a war zone â Canadian Forces provide surveillance along a perimeter fence at the Deerhurst Resort during the Muskoka G8 Summit last June.
Radical activism has gone too far. Protestors who picket aggressively and use shock tactics to rally people to their cause have, in fact, cheapened their cause.
Whatever happened to the peaceful resistance Gandhi practiced? Radical activism has failed to accomplish anything other than protesters running amok. It is almost as if these protests are used as an excuse for shenanigans.
The G20 summit held in Toronto this past summer played host to both rowdy and peaceful picketers. However, the violence and aggression of some of the activists forced police to use tear gas in the city for the first time. Four blazing police vehicles later – almost a thousand citizens were placed under arrest. Not to mention that bank and storefronts were vandalized, the Eaton Centre put on lockdown and all forms of public transit came to a standstill.
Using the Black Bloc tactic – in which radicals don black ski masks, hoodies and bandanas to hide their identities, the radicals wreaked havoc upon the city. The extremist activists end up denigrating their beliefs and belittling the efforts of those who chose to peacefully protest.
Even the police officers, whose purpose was to maintain the peace, ended up joining in on the violence and aggression. In 2009, the G20 summit in the U.K. saw the death of newspaper vendor Ian Tomlinson attributed to police actions. The atmosphere at these protests just buzzes with hostility so that even those who have sworn to protect are inclined to return the aggression.
The violence of the protests themselves scored more time in the spotlight than that of the actual cause.
Shocking audiences is a childish tactic, employed by those who cannot see the bigger picture. ‘The man' cannot and will not respond to these acts of violence and aggression. Just as politicians claim they will never give in to a terrorists’ demands – so will they refuse to yield to the demands of anarchists.
The violence even spread right to our own backyard. The Royal Bank in the Glebe was firebombed to protest the G20 summit.
The extremists ruin it for the rest of those who are willing to express their views in a non- aggressive manner.
Also in Ottawa, these shock tactics are failing to generate constructive dialogue, but instead radicals are testing just how much they can get away with. At Carleton University, the pro-life group, Lifeline, was arrested for a demonstration it called Genocide Awareness Project (GAP). The GAP display featured sickening and gory images comparing abortion to genocides, like the Holocaust. The group was then arrested and forced to remove their shocking display from the university quad – and for good reason. Personal judgments on the issue aside, the fact remains that many pro-life groups resort to shocking imagery when protesting, as with the Ottawa Morgentaler Clinic debacle.
While universities normally pride themselves on being bastions of free speech and a marketplace of ideas, these bloody images lessen the chances for any progressive debate and dialogue on the issue.
On Bank Street, pro-life groups picket outside the abortion clinic. Their shocking displays feature a baby carriage bungee-corded to a post, along a pathway that is frequented by schoolchildren. They also refer to the location in front of the clinic as “ground zero.” This confrontational group harasses and berates women who enter the building.
Of course, one of our inherent rights as Canadians is the freedom of expression and the right to protest. This basic freedom, however, is being abused and manipulated. Mob mentality rules when large protests are organized. The frenzies which ensue, as seen with the G20 summit, create Neanderthal-esque behavior, which seems to belong to a scene from a zombie apocalypse film.
That is not to say that hippies wallowing in mud and putting flower wreaths around the necks of policemen in riot gear should be the only means of protesting. There must be a happy medium that not only rallies people to the cause, but does so in a manner which does not resemble wild animals running amok.
Protesting is not about forcing a change, it is about exercising our right to petition for that change. Real change does not come about by smashing windows and burning cars, but rather it is done through the free diplomatic exchange of ideas.
When we rage against the machine, all we end up with is pandemonium.