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Canada
June 18 ReportsOttawa, OntarioPEOPLE'S GLOBAL ACTION OTTAWA INVITES PRESS TO MORAL AUDIT OF CORPORATE GREED
On June 18, People's Global Action will conduct a moral audit of 20 corporations who profit from suffering and exploitation. The Ottawa action is part of a global action against capitalism in more than 40 countries. This moral audit will ask the big questions that government chooses to ignore or discredit: Should the future of the planet be left in the hands of corporations?
People's Global Action denies the G-8 the right to create "the architecture of the global economy". The G-8 governments agree on terms favorable only totheir political power and the economic power of the multinational corporations these governments protect. People's Global Action Ottawa is part of a network Formed on February 1998 to oppose economic restructuring and trade by the World Trade Organization and the Group of Eight. The June 18 demonstration coincides with the G-8 summit in Koln, Germany. As a member of the G-8, Canada's blind promotion of globalization ignores the devastation and poverty trade liberalization has forced on the vulnerable citizens of the world. The action will start in Confederation Park at 2 pm and follow the below schedule. All times are estimates only.
2 pm Gather at Confederation Park. Along the route and at each site, there will be speakers and street theater and musicians to educate passersby and rally the spirits of People's Global Action. People's Global Action Ottawa is a coalition of the following organizations: Canadian Federation of Students, Canadian Union of Postal Workers, Canadian Union of Public Employees, Carleton Social Action Group, Coalition to Stop the War Against Yugoslavia, the Industrial Workers of the World, OPIRG-Carleton, Ottawa and District Labor Council, Raging Grannies, Sierra Club of Canada, tao-Ottawa. Other People's Global Actions are taking place in more than 122 cities, in 40 nations on June 18 including: Bayelsa State, Nigeria; Dakar, Senegal; Durban, South Africa; Harare, Zimbabwe; Dhaka, Bangladesh; 25 states in India; North Sumatera, Indonesia; Tel Aviv, Israel; Malaysia; Kathmandu, Nepal; Gujrat City, Pakistan; Seoul, South Korea; Thailand; Vienna, Austria; Minsk, Belarus; Barcelona, Reus y Castell=F3n, Catalonia; Prague Czech Republic; Bristol, Brighton, Cambridge, Hull, Lancaster, Leeds, Liverpool, London, Manchester, Newcastle, Norfolk, Nottingham, Oxford, Reading, Sheffield, Stoke on Trent, Sunderland, Winchester, York, England ; Tampere, Finland; Dijon, Nantes, France; Berlin, Frankfurt, K=F6ln, Germany; Bologna, Milano, Roma, Torino, Italy; Malta; Amsterdam, Utrecht, Netherlands; Poland; Portugal; Romania; Aberdeen, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Scotland; Asturias, Granada, Huelva, Lleida, Valencia, Madrid, Spain; Stockholm, Sweden; Lausanne, Switzerland; Cardiff, Wales; Calgary, Ottawa ,Regina, Toronto, Vancouver, Canada; Mexico City, Mexico; Albuquerque, Austin, Boston, Chicago, Denver, Eugene, Hattiesburg, Lawrence, Lincoln, Los Angeles, Minneapolis, New England, NewYork City, Oakland, Portland, Reno, San Diego, San Francisco, United States; Adelaide, Melbourne, Perth, Sydney, Australia; Buenos Aires, Argentina; Paulo y Sorocaba, Brazil; Medel lin, Colombia; Montevideo, Uruguay. For more information People's Global Action visit http://www.agp.org/agp/en/index.html
People's Global Action Ottawa Press Contact:
TorontoRTS Toronto has just concluded peacefully, with over 2 thousand cyclists, dancers, pedestrians and protesters participating, presided over by a giant goddess. Police presence was extremely heavy with riot police, horsies, bullet-proof vest wearing Emergency Task Force cops and bike fuzz, but despite the burning effigies in the streets (a television/VCR, Mercedes symbol, and a giant asshole) there were no arrests.Viva sans temps mort!
Reclaim the Streets Torontocops:10-12 horses 24-36 bikes 24 squad cars enforcing perimeter and traffic control 12 motorcycles either command or control 6 executive officers (chief and staff) 6 marked police vans 6 marked paddy wagons 12 unmarked police cars 24 undercover cops 12 informants 1 helicopter i conducted a sociological study on the cops on duty. i attempted to interview as many as posssible, using the same set of questions. normal cops (not the cop bosses) replied with same words and expressions: q: what's going on? q: what are they doing? q: protesting what? q: is it safe to go watch? i'm not kidding here. this is really what happened. i was with my dog, i looked like a normal kid from the 'hood, they all gave me the same routine, the same set of words. they were exactly as i typed above. i would take this as the internal cop gossip. the people i asked were guys doing the perimeter, and they were dead bored and either non-chalant or mildly grumpy. the officers (leading the event) however returned the rhetoric of the organizers. they knew everything the organizers knew. they knew it would end in christie pitts, they knew brunswick would be occupied. it was as much a demo for them as anyone else. a show of force and intelligence to show the media and the government that they are definitely in control. i also interviewed many of the media workers (journalists and cameramen) who were working the event, and they were receiving advance intelligence directly from the police, who had their own public relations officer, also wearing a bullet proof vest. the police of course were playing down their own presence (which was substantial) while playing up the threat posed by the j18 march along bloor st. one of the lead, if not the lead operational cop was named bobby. he's at least a sergant, and is with the motorcycle unit. he was also the tactical leader in charge at the may 16 event. he knew everything and i'd say close to everyone involved in this event. i watched him report to superiors (chief of police) as well as give orders to different units. he made sure to watch the crowd and watch his officers. he and another tactical leader who was on foot, leading the march itself, were well informed about the nature and course of the j18 event. for the entire event the police maintained a one block surrounding perimeter, with multiple and diverse units in the front and rear, along with mobiles (bikes and motorcycles) immediately around the march, penning people into the double if not single bloor st lane. on the side streets extra paddy wagons, horses, squard cars, and police vans with officers waiting for misperceived chaos. as far as the police were concerned this was another protest that was part of the war. another conflict that needed to be contained. as far as the partiers were concerned, this was a fun walk down the street, the police were their friends, their escorts, and they were just celebrating solsctice and life on earth. the small amount of interviews i conducted with participants of the march,resulted in a simlar consistent message for their presence. at least 80% of those interviewed (around 20 maybe) said they were there for the cute people. no shit. the organizers wanted a rave, the police wanted a class war. in the end, both sides gave the official line that it was a bit of both and neither. this begs the question, what do spectacles really accomplish besides intense and overflowing amounts of emotional, intellectual, and physical stimulation. VancouverWith not even 2 weeks and basically a few people organizing we were pleased with our rainy day turn out of under a hundred peolple. We successfully quarantined the Vancouver Stock Exchange, MaCmillan Bloedell, and Global with great media turn out. We were pleased that we were able to show solidarity with the rest of the world. On to the big push for Seattle N29, No2WTO. We still need people organizing caravans from around North America! Get on now so that we don't have lots of cities organizing weeks before. Get in contact with any one you know in other cities about it ContactsCalgary, AlbertaMeet at City Hall Plaza, downtown - noon Calgary June 18th Coalition: Montreal, Quebec Contact: Montreal/Quebec J18 groups Ottawa, Ontario
Contact: Ottawa J18 network Contact: Canadian Union of Postal Workers (contact: David Bleakney) Regina, Saskatoon Contact: Regina J18 network (The University of Regina Students' Union and The Canadian Union of Public Employees) Toronto Toronto, Mississauga Territory, Turtle Island (occupied Canadian settler state) Planned events: Gather at 4pm at Bloor & Parliament in the north end of St. Jamestown, the most densely populated and ethnically diverse city block in North America. The Critical Mass of cyclists will join puppeteers, radical cheerleaders, faerie pranksters, stiltwalkers, performance troupes, DJs, percussionists and pyrotechnicians who will move past the Sherbourne-Dundas neighbourhood (home to a record number of people made homeless by neoliberalism) and the Church-Wellesley lesbian & gay neighbourhood to celebrate a recent ruling favouring greater recognition of same sex couples and the upcoming Gay Pride Day. The route then proceeds west to the intersection of Bay & Bloor where we will form a giant anti-corporate bowling lane to protest violations of human rights and labour by corporations such as Nike, Club Monaco, Chapters, The GAP, McDonalds, and the various big Canadian banks. Continuing westward, we will again stop at the Spadina/Bloor intersection where we will be joined by members of the First Nations community participating in the Buffalo Jump Native Sovereignty festival. Proceeding through the Brunswick & Bloor intersection where at last year's Reclaim the Streets five people were arrested by the police, we enter Christie Pits, site of the 1930's anti-nazi uprising, to wind down in the park with a picnic and musical perfomers. Contact: Reclaim the Streets Toronto Vancouver, British Columbia J18 network: Planned events: Carnival. Events in the downtown core - exact locations to be announced. Watch for posters, stickers, and graffitti. Contact: Vancouver Anti-WTO Coalition E-mail: pga-van@tao.ca for discussion (a list serve dedicated to June 18 and WTO Seattle) or markb@tao.ca for specifics |