- Linda McQuaig's column noting the price being paid in cash and in freedom by ordinary Canadians for the Cons' elite summits may not be as strong as Naomi Klein's. But her analogy to hockey riots is an important one in a couple of ways not discussed by McQuaig.
On the one hand, it highlights the fact that politics have something close to zero impact on the type of vandalism that takes place under both circumstances. In effect, the recipe for destruction is a large crowd plus intense emotion - and it doesn't matter whether the source of the latter has any political basis or not.
That leads to the other important point to be drawn from the analogy, in the form of the response from defenders of the police state.
Nobody would dare to proclaim guilt by association among, say, all Montreal Canadiens fans for creating the circumstances in which hooliganism emerges in a sports riot. But plenty of reactionary commentators are quick to throw blame at citizens who protest peacefully - or people who associate with peaceful protesters through unions or community organizations - or even individuals who happen on the scene of a protest by going about their daily lives - where that suits the purposes of the state in trying to discredit the idea of public protest.
As a result, the group lumped together as unlawful by the Cons is a combination of politically-active Canadians and Torontonians as a whole. And there's every reason for that group to stand together in setting the record straight and standing up for citizens' rights and freedoms.
- Meanwhile, Jeffrey Simpson is the latest to slam the Cons' dumb on crime policies. And with the combination of the high-priced G8/G20 summit and hugely expensive crime posturing making news at the same time, now might be the perfect moment for an opposition message asking "can Canada afford more of Stephen Harper?"
- And on that point, James Laxer would be one of many to answer "no", based on Harper's damage to the wider economy.
- Finally, some sad news on the local front, as Regina's leading independent bookstore is closing down at the end of July.
Update: While I won't claim to be assembling a comprehensive set of links on the G20 protests, Alice is right to note that Steve Paikin's column is very much worth a read as well.
(Edit: fixed wording.)
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