[R-G] Joining in Solidarity, Differing in Ideology

[Anthony Fenton]

Joining in Solidarity, Differing in Ideology
Submitted by Gary on August 20, 2007 - 7:27am. A&S News Wire | Anti- 
Capitalist | Ottawa
 From ottawa.indymedia.org
http://auto_sol.tao.ca/node/view/2740

Chants of “George Bush, Terrorist!” and “Support our troops, bring  
them home,” boomed through the megaphones of protest marshals while  
many signs depicted the Canadian Maple Leaf being dominated by the US  
flag. However, many delegations at the march focused on a need for  
international solidarity and challenged the role of Canadian  
nationalism in war and economic exploitation.

Condemning the war in Afghanistan and denouncing the Security  
Prosperity Partnership as anti-democratic, over 3,000 people  
demonstrated in Ottawa at a march called by the Council of Canadians  
and a coalition of anti-war groups yesterday.

Resisting the proposed partnership that will increase capital flow  
across boarders while further constricting peoples ability to  
migrate, was the march’s central theme. However, the message was  
eclipsed by signs and slogans focused on opposition to George Bush  
and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Chants of “George Bush, Terrorist!” and “Support our troops, bring  
them home,” boomed through the megaphones of protest marshals while  
many signs depicted the Canadian Maple Leaf being dominated by the US  
flag. However, many delegations at the march focused on a need for  
international solidarity and challenged the role of Canadian  
nationalism in war and economic exploitation.

“SPP is anti-poor, PGA is at their door,” chanted protesters from the  
Peoples Global Action contingent, contending partnerships that  
violate human rights will be met with a grassroots resistance that  
transcends boarders.

“I don’t believe that if some sections of the Canadian ruling class  
are given power and our foreign policy and domestic policy distances  
itself from the United States, that we’re going to see a great  
change,” said Kabir Joshi-Vijayan, a grade-eight community activist  
and organizer with Haiti Action Toronto.

“We have to understand that the SPP benefits the ruling classes of  
Mexico, the US and Canada, and it’s the working people of Canada,  
Mexico and the US who are loosing. For us to say this is an  
infringement on the Canadian sovereignty and side with sections of  
the Canadian ruling class is really wrong. They are the enemies, and  
we should be siding with the working people of the US and Mexico,” he  
added.

At the Council of Canadians teach-in at The University Ottawa that  
followed the march, Joshi-Vijayan demanded the panel of Canadian  
Parliamentary opposition parties and the Greens justify their  
statements that the SPP violates Canadian sovereignty in the Arctic.  
He argued it’s indigenous peoples Arctic sovereignty that is further  
violated by the partnership.

Although saying that Joshi-Vijayan’s position was accurate, Ann  
Wright, former US Army colonel and diplomat turned anti-war activist,  
contends that using patriotism is more effective to pressure and  
convince governments to abandon the SPP.

“I would urge all Canadian and all Mexican citizens to put pressure  
on their governments to not just take everything that George Bush  
says, and go along with it,” said Wright. “George is looking out for  
the corporate financial interests of groups in the United States,  
he’s definitely not looking out for the common person in the United  
States, and for sure not the Canadian and Mexican citizens.”

Wright was supposed to be at yesterday’s demonstration and part of  
the teach-in panel, but was detained at the Canadian boarder for  
three hours because of past arrests tied to non-violent protests in  
the US against the Iraq war. She has been forced to sign conditions  
stating she will not leave the Ottawa area, or go to today’s  
demonstrations against the SPP in Montebello. She said her detention  
was a example of the emerging SPP process’s clampdown on people’s  
boarder mobility.

Despite the ongoing debate between nationalist and internationalist  
opposition to the SPP, demonstrators expressed the need for  
international solidarity against the partnership.

“We need to raise our voices, no matter what your nationality is. If  
you’re against the imperialistic government in the United Sates, you  
need to unite no matter what your nationality,” said Johnann Juarez  
from No One is Illegal, Toronto, and the Mexican Communist party.
-----------------------------------------------
Camping for social change

“We’re here to enjoy the process of the encampment and experiment  
with direct democracy and collective decision making,”

Heading north on the highway 323 out of Montebello, the atmosphere  
changes. The security fence around the Chateau Montebello fades away  
in the rearview mirror and the patrols of Sureté du Québec officers  
thin out. We’re heading to Notre-Dame-de-Paix where a group of  
protestors have set up camp at the back of a farmer’s field. On one  
side of the local asparagus farmer has mowed a giant peace sign into  
a field. The story going around is that when it appeared, the RCMP  
showed up on his doorstep to investigate.

Calling themselves the Encampement Autogéré—the Autonomous Camp—about  
50 people have established their tent city. As more protesters  
arrive, they’re expecting their camp to grow.

“We’re here to enjoy the process of the encampment and experiment  
with direct democracy and collective decision making,” explains  
Pierre Olivier Parent. He’s giving us a tour of the camp, which  
begins with a banner-making session, preparing for Monday’s  
demonstrations against the Security and Prosperity Partnership.

In its fifth year, the camp isn’t just about the protest. Perhaps  
best described as a retreat for activists, the idea for the camp  
originated in 2001 at the first World Social Forum in Porto Alegré,  
Brazil, and the concept took root in Quebec in 2003 at Saint- 
Malachie. Every morning begins with a general assembly where tasks,  
like cooking, are divided up and leadership is on a rotational basis.

Most of the participants are from Québec, but a few have come from  
Ontario and as far away as California. When we reached the heart of  
the camp—the kitchen—under a canopy of tarps Santiago from Sherbrooke  
is serving up potatoes from an industrial sized pot.

“It’s a good time to meet different people with different  
aspirations. It’s not always easy with direct democracy, but it’s a  
good challenge,” he says, adding this is his third year of  
involvement with the camp. “It’s good at the end of the summer to  
recharge your batteries, discuss… and this year even more so. It’s  
concrete, it’s political.”

Parent says it’s no accident that they’re set up near Montebello this  
year. “We’re really glad to have some way to anchor it to a more  
political event,” he says. After the dishes are done, and without the  
distractions of the city, there is time for workshops and discussion.

Liam Bradette from Toronto found out about the camp when he was  
looking for somewhere to stay during the protests. “You have to get  
out an do something to try to express you either happiness with the  
situation or unhappiness with what’s going on. I haven’t been happy  
with what’s been happening since both Bush and Harper have come to  
power.”

Colin Perrault has been involved with the camp since the beginning  
and he’s also concerned about the policies coming out of the SPP  
meetings, particularly militarization of the continent. And as the  
Autonomous Camp is spending three weeks focusing on direct democracy,  
he says the SPP runs counter to their group’s beliefs.

“The thing that is the most wrong about the PSP is the council of  
competitiveness is laying out all these policies that they transmit  
directly to the presidents and prime ministers and their main  
cabinets. And what you get is these policies that are not voted in  
parliament. It’s like a big sheet is being put over North America.”

The camp continues until August 21. For more info check out their web  
site, uncampement.net.