Media and Life

There is nothing quite so revealing of the superficiality of much of our media than watching a report about something you either witnessed or know about through some other means.

Before I get to the demonstrations in Montréal, let me start with that gut reaction I get every time the mainstream media reports on developments in HIV treatment. I swear it's like they are reading from the press release of the pharmaceutical company: everything is a new miracle, well-tolerated and might just be the breakthrough we have all been waiting for. Even when it's something that has been around and even on the market for several years. Bad reporting.

Now, we have been having nightly demonstrations in Montréal for over a month regarding the government's plan to raise tuition fees and against the restrictive law the government brought in in a failed attempt to limit protests (all they did was popularize and expand them). The media inside and outside Québec are painting a story of a city in chaos, dangerous for the unaware. Let me tell you this is anything but that.

Most of the demonstrations have been many-hours-long processions through a number of neighbourhoods, starting and ending at a public square downtown. There has been some breaking of windows, yes, and that can never be condoned or thought acceptable (project yourself on the receiving end of it), but that has been rare, and certainly not every time. There's little media coverage of the hours and hours of thousands of people walking around the city peacefully, only some looped footage of that time someone broke a window. I would laugh out loud at the reports of ongoing "violent" demonstrations in my city if I didn't find myself so enraged by the distortion.

Concrete example? On Sunday, 20 May, I saw a report on the local news that included film of a police truck on fire. Now, I have become a Twitterphile and follow the progress of the demonstrations nightly, including the tweet from Saturday night where people asked the police what had happened to the truck and the police, who have been very actively communicating on social media, assured their audience that the truck had had an electrical problem, that no one had set it alight. The local news drew their own conclusion and showed the footage twice, with the newsreader telling us that protesters had set it alight.

I went to the Facebook page of the news outlet. I posted screen caps of the English and French exchanges from Twitter where the police had tweeted about the electrical problem and denied the arson speculation. It took the news outlet FIVE DAYS to correct themselves. No apology or prominent retraction, just removing the clip from their web site. No independent confirmation of the facts is necessary, just look at the video and apply your own bias to it.

The special aspect of the coverage of these protests has been the live streaming reporting by community media. I value them for the images, but no so much for the commentary. The images will show you the hours of peaceful marching and, from time to time, some scary looking police action. But mostly long hours of walking with impressive numbers of people all over the city. They fill the space with commentary that is quite often over the top, but also with interviews with participants who are more or less able to explain why they are there (some very eloquent, some not).

I would challenge anyone who derides the participants for not being able to uniformly enunciate the bases of the protests to produce for me a random sample of voters who supported the governing party: we'll see how many are able to explain the party's platform from the last election. But I digress.

I live about four or five blocks from that public square where the demonstrations start and finish each night. Most of the sounds that reach my house are police sirens and police helicopters, not demonstrators. I do hear them more now that everyone seems to be carrying a pot and a spoon to clank together, but they really have to be within a block or two before you can hear that. And outside of those times that the police decide to corral or charge the demonstrators,

I have seen nothing scary in the giant crowds, just a lot of inventive slogans and people seemingly enjoying themselves as they march on the streets to demand the respect of their rights. You might want to take public transit, especially the metro which remains unaffected by crowds blocking streets temporarily. Don't avoid Montréal because of this. Rather, come and appreciate the spectacle of people saying "no" to their government. I find it inspiring.

Panda-monium!

I'm a total fan. One of the more interesting characters to pop up in the ongoing student protests (now increasingly free speech protests — good move giving the movement a shot in the arm, government!) has been Anarchopanda.

This is a philosophy professor who decided that he needed to get out to support the students, but also to make some points about police violence and respecting each other. He has mastered the movements of a mascot (I wonder if the costume forces that?), ambling along in front of a line of riot police, a friendly panda you would look very bad hitting or pepper-spraying. He has even managed to get away with giving a few hugs to the police officers on the line, to the amusement of — well — some of them.



He was interviewed earlier this week on the CBC Radio show The Current. The podcast can be heard here, Anarchopanda starts at about the 13 minute mark. One of the things he shares is about his vulnerability in this role. Inside the suit, breathing is difficult, running more than a very short distance next to impossible and his field of vision about the equivalent of a dime. Vulnerable, he stresses, like the students are also vulnerable before the power of the state, incarnate in the police lines.

Clever, too. After the adoption of the city by-law banning masks at demonstrations, Anarchopanda submitted and removed his mask:

In my previous post I showed two photos of Anarchopanda at the huge demonstration on 22 May. I have to say that everyone wanted to get close to Anarchopanda, and maybe get one of those hugs. Who could blame them?

Anarchopanda might be my personal favourite, but he is also not alone. Earlier this week, the Bananarchist was arrested in a Québec City protest, apparently when he did a "split" in front of the police. We have had a banana in Montréal as well, along with Superman, Batman and a funny and mischievous comedy troupe called the RabbitCrew which dashes through the demonstrations in some creepy-looking white masks, but with bunny ears.

This is all just one aspect of an incredibly dynamic and creative movement that isn't going away anytime soon.

22 May 2012

Wow.

There's really nothing quite like participating in a huge demonstration with like-minded people hoping to make a statement about what our society should be. The CSN labour federation estimates the crowd at 250,000 on its website this evening. My feet are sore, my forehead sunburned (it was supposed to rain!), but I feel like we made a point that ought to be heard. Time will tell if it was.

Instead of going on and on, particularly in my tired state and with some other things to do this evening, I will let my own photographic skills do the talking.

First the sweeping panoramic videos. From point A, corner of Jeanne-Mance and Ste-Catherine:



And from point B, near the corner of Jeanne-Mance and de Maisonneuve (note that this is just a block away, but it took us an hour to get there after the crowd first started moving):



And now some of my favourite signs and scenes (with translations or explanations below them).

"When the Mafia rules in Parliament, Democracy expresses itself in the streets." There are many allegations of corruption surrounding the current government, particularly with respect to the construction industry and organized crime. Paradoxically, today was also the first day of hearings for the Charbonneau Commission investigating the construction industry, a commission resisted for years by the Charest government before it was finally established.

"To Charest. So now will you listen to us, Charest?" Back to the allegations of corruption, often portrayed as cash in brown envelopes…

On the roof of the entrance to the Place des Arts Métro station, three police officers taking photos of the crowd.

The police protecting the Loto-Québec building. Not because of Loto-Québec, I understand, but because the university rectors' association has its offices in the same building. Now that's a curious association: gambling with money and the university rectors. No further comment.

Constable 728. Star of a YouTube video in which she viciously pepper-sprays some protesters who are doing nothing more than chanting (to free the police horses, no less). See the video here.

And, omnipresent for the last 100 days, burning up my tax dollars and keeping everyone awake late at night, the helicopter of the Sureté du Québec:

Bill 78 breaking the scales of justice. This law is being heavily criticized by many, including the Québec Bar, for placing limits on the right to protest: any gathering of 50 people or more wishing to protest must file an itinerary with the police 8 hours prior to the event. The police may change the itinerary if they deem it to be a problem for public safety. The organizer of a demonstration becomes liable for the acts of all the people who participate in it, with fines on the individual, representative and organizational levels.

"Bill 78 = Law toxic for democracy. There are circumstances when wearing a mask is necessary." In parallel with Bill 78 (provincial law suspending the school terms at affected schools and imposing limits on protesting), the City of Montréal approved a by-law outlawing the wearing of masks at demonstrations. Hard to say whether this by-law will stand up to judicial scrutiny either.

Lots of redecorating the Québec flag. The addition of the red square (not always in the middle) is about supporting the student demands. The blacking out of the four fleurs-de-lys signifies mourning for our democracy after the adoption of Bill 78.

"The worst is when the worst starts getting worse." Mafalda is a popular children's cartoon character. Her words speak for themselves.

"Plan dead." The "Plan Nord" is the current government's plan to develop the north of Québec, with massive infrastructure spending to make the region's mineral wealth more accessible. Many aboriginal groups are also expressing their opposition to this further intrusion onto their traditional territories without their agreement.

"Journal of Shit." Lots of criticism of the media and how they have been reporting the student strike and the demonstrations. The Journal de Montréal, with whom I had my own battle in the past, is not usually the best of media to begin with, and after their endless strike that turned out badly for the unionized journalists, things are often worse than before. Oddly enough, though, the JdeM outshone and out-objectived its more Liberal-party-identified cousin La Presse in the last few days.

"On the Liberal Titanic, they save themselves with the silverware and leave the children on the boat." Expressing the point of view that an excessive burden is being placed on youth relative to certain other sectors of our society. The flag that you see on the left is the flag of the Patriotes, who fought the Lower Canada Rebellion for responsible government in the 1830s. While the rest of Canada celebrates Victoria day on the May long weekend, Québec celebrates the Journée nationale des Patriotes. Historical depiction of the Patriote on the flag is optional.

"If youth are not always right, the society that hits them is always wrong." A quote from François Mitterand in 1968.

"Have you finished?" My own interpretation of this is that Charest is asking if the students are done embarrassing him. Not sure if I'm right, but it's certainly a good use of the iconic red square/box.

"Where is Charest?" You need to understand for this that in French Waldo (as in Where's Waldo) is Charlie (as in Où est Charlie).

"Classified ads. Man, honest, transparent, open-minded, trustworthy and empathic, likes to listen and discuss, looking for docile, naïve and easy to manipulate Québec population to establish a soft dictatorship and share tender moments of control and domination. Favourite sport: jerking off. Favourite meal: peppered student in its own juice. Profession: animal trainer, illusionist, puppeteer, clown." Something tells me we're not hiring.

The crowd stretching out before us. It looked like it went clear to my street, way off in the distance, but I think many had already turned up Berri on their way to Parc Lafontaine.

We thought we were back near the end of the demonstration, having paused to get a beverage after climbing the hill. One look back as we walked down the hill on René-Lévesque showed us otherwise.

The "surprise" trajectory of the demonstration caught many a motorist in mid-movement (it almost looked like someone shouted "freeze" and they did). Some were (understandably) frustrated (it takes a long time for 250,000 people to walk by), others were a little more philosophical or better-humoured about it. Just to note that there were plenty of rather expensive cars and no reports of damage to any of them…just a lot of enthusiastic youth encouraging them to honk and then cheering wildly when they did (but moving on if they didn't).

Demonstrator personality of the year: Anarchopanda! As we walked up Jeanne-Mance, nearing Sherbrooke, we spied him in the distance:

And then I was close enough to get a good shot (my little camera zooms well), but too shy to go for the hug I really wanted!

I think I will have to write a whole other piece just about Anrachopanda, or maybe also about some of the other regular characters. Watch for that!

SNAP!

You have to love mockery in the face of the disregard of civil liberties.

The Government of Québec, seemingly unable to peacefully settle a dispute it tried to ignore for weeks, has passed legislation to suspend the educational session at CEGEPS [colleges] and Universities touched by the student strike. I don't really care that the government doesn't like to call this action a strike…I like to call a curved metal implement for the excavation of soil a "spade."

Their law goes much further than this, placing severe restrictions on the right to protest. It has been criticized by the Québec Bar (a well-known group of radicals) and a lot of other people in our society. But never mind, because its passage was assured by the two parties who just voted earlier this week against removing a mayor accused of corruption from office during the course of his trial, despite a unanimous resolution of the municipal council to that effect.

What to do in the face of a trampling of rights? Mockery can be fun….

Here is a letter from the Gatineau Chamber of Commerce to the Gatineau Police Service (excuse my quick and dirty translation):

"Please take note, under article 16 of Law 78, that the Chamber of Commerce of Gatineau will hold a "gathering of more than 10 people" [the French word attroupement also translates as crowd or mob] on Tuesday, 29 May 2012 between 5 pm and 7 pm.

"The participants will leave from the parking lot at the Gatineau airport a little before 5 pm and will walk approximately 300 meters west along Arthur-Fecteau Street to the Wings of Time Hangar at 1699 on this street.

"In this place, the participants will discuss and exchange and then listen to some brief speeches. Afterwards, they will celebrate the nomination of the team of the month, the Ottawa Region Dairy.

"Between 6:15 pm and 7:15 pm, the walkers will again take Arthur-Fecteau Street east to the parking lot at the Gatineau airport, where they will disperse.

"We estimate the number of expected participants at 200.

"Please be kind enough to inform us of the number of plainclothes agents you expect to infiltrate the event to help us plan the number of hors d'oeuvres to order."

SNAP! The crazed radicals of the Chamber of Commerce have now also turned against you, and made you look like buffoons in the process.

Time to reconsider your approach?

A Spoon in the Street

We all know the old pun about a fork in the road, well-represented by the photo above. We all also recall seeing things that are out of place and wondering just how they got there. Well, the other day I got to see the beginning of the story that probably later resulted in someone else wondering just how that spoon ended up in the street.

Thursday this week started out a little strange. Rushing off to work, I noticed that there was an unusual number of people standing at my bus stop waiting for transportation. I dutifully got in line, as Montrealers are wont to do (read about that here) and waited as a full bus or two went by slowly in the heavier than usual traffic. This was all about someone setting off some smoke bombs in the Métro, throwing the morning rush hour into chaos, but that is not the chaos I want to share with you today.

No, today's chaos is all about someone who was maniacally riding his bicycle on the sidewalk, then manoeuvering it onto the street to get around the big bus line. The descent off the curb was a hard one, and I was a little startled and more than a little annoyed by the craziness of the driving on the part of the cyclist. What followed might have been a little poetic justice: the hard descent to the street dislodged his backpack from its perch on the back of the bicycle and as it flopped over the side, it opened up and spilled the many components of his lunch across the right lane.

I wasn't sure how to feel: a little smug about the justice, a little bad about the lost lunch, a little fascinated by how healthy the lunch was… He hastily gather back up what he could, but abandoned a number of elements, including a couple pieces of fruit, some damaged containers that probably contained a little yogurt and/or applesauce…and a spoon. I watched in fascination as successive cars either barely avoided or squarely ran over the spoon, flattening it a bit, flipping it around on the street. Very entertaining, but I was also keeping an eye on it because I half expected it to shoot out from under a car tire and catch one of us transit users in the face or on the shin or something. A bus with just enough room for us arrived and I was off, abandoning the spoon to its fate.

The next day, arriving at the same bus stop, I looked around for the spoon or for other remnants of the cyclist's horror. No spoon to be seen, just a lonely apple looking a little the worse for wear up against the curb.

I had to chuckle thinking that sometime on Thursday, someone walking by spotted a spoon in the street and puzzled about how such a strange thing came to be so out of place. And if you were that person and you happen to be reading this, you now know the back story.