The Canadian police are a confusing bunch. With Toronto locked down for the G20 summit, several have been cycling around the deserted streets on mountain bikes, the very picture of community policing. Yet side by side with this benign image is a militarised presence that many Canadians feel has been deliberately cultivated in order to undermine their right to protest.
The security operation on the streets of Toronto has provided Canadians with the greatest single talking point of the G20. Many locals are furious at the billion Canadian dollars it cost to police a summit they never wanted in the first place. As the Ontario Coalition Against Poverty pointed out, that money could have paid for five years of the provincial food supplement programme that was just scrapped in austerity cuts.
The high level of militarisation has also been a major talking point: Canadians are not accustomed to seeing such weaponry at civil demonstrations. One small protest against poverty and homelessness in Toronto itself was quickly surrounded by vast numbers of police in full riot gear, including mounted police. More chilling still was the visible presence of heavily armed officers touting teargas rifles and other firearms; police confirmed firing plastic bullets and pepper-spray capsules at demonstrators last Saturday night.
Many Canadians have become suspicious of police tactics since the Quebec force admitted it disguised three officers as rock-wielding anarchists to provoke violence at a protest in Montebello two years ago. The three were exposed when found to be wearing official-issue boots identical to those of the uniformed officers “arresting” them.
There are fears that such skulduggery played a part in Toronto last weekend, where three police cars were burnt. Why did police drive the cars into the middle of protesters and then abandon them? Why was there no attempt to put out the flames until the media had recorded the scene for broadcast around the world?
The fact that so much attention has been directed at policing is largely due to the lack of anything newsworthy coming out of the summit itself.
As an invitation-only club whose membership was literally drawn up on the back of an envelope, the G20 never laid claim to legitimacy. Now it is in danger of losing any credibility as a forum for global economic governance. Its failure to address any of the structural problems that caused the financial and economic crises of the past three years has certainly not gone unnoticed, let alone its complete refusal to deal with climate change.
Unbelievably, the G20 is scheduled to hold its next summit in just a few months. If the Canadian experience has shown anything, it is that such meetings are not worth the candle. There are more than enough forums for national leaders to discuss the key issues of our time, and almost every one has a greater claim to openness and inclusivity than the G20. Now is the time to end the charade. —