Now that I've attended my first public demonstration in Canada, I thought you all might like a report on it.
Our day started out with the Peace-Labor Breakfast at the United Steelworkers. The Steelworkers Union is a friend to the peace movement, and especially to the War Resisters Support Campaign.
There were a few speakers, and some war resisters news was announced. (More on that to follow.) Peggy Nash, MP for Parkdale-High Park, and a strong supporter the Support Campaign, came to stand in solidarity and wish us well - even though one of her sons was getting married later in the day. Many US resisters happen to live in Nash's riding, and she stands firmly beside them. Thank you, NDP!
Among other things, Nash spoke about the lunacy of Canada refusing entry to US peace activists Ann Wright and Medea Benjamin, validating and echoing the crackdown of liberties in the US. She emphasized there is more than one way to lose our liberties: it can happen in one fell swoop, in an invasion, and it can happen in a slow creep.
At breakfast, I saw a man sitting by himself, and, not inclined to sit with a large, talkative group, I sat across from him and introduced myself. His name sounded familiar... Was he a war resister? No, he said, he moved from the US to Canada and wanted to get involved. What a coincidence, so did we....
Turns out his name is Tom Kertes, and he was on the same Vancouver radio program I was on in August. Talk about small world! I haven't been attending meetings because of baseball, and in my absence, he joined the Campaign. He does wonderful work; I recommend his website.
From the Steelworkers building, we marched up to the US consulate, and there joined other peace and justice groups. I staffed the Support Campaign's table for a while, my first hands-on work for the group, and it felt great. Super great. I was in my element.
From the consulate, we marched and chanted through the streets of downtown Toronto to the Moss Park Amoury. Marching felt great, too. More than a rally, a march builds those feelings of strength and unity that makes you feel part of something larger than yourself.
In recent years, marching has been difficult in New York City; we were denied permits, herded into pens, hassled, abused, illegally detained. I will grant that the massive crowds that have gathered in New York and Washington are a greater challenge than the crowds that demonstrate in Canada, but the harassment was never justified. In Toronto on Saturday, it felt great to just march, safely and freely.
I have no idea how many people attended. A news report said 300, so shall we say 1,000? I noticed there were also demos in nearby Kitchener and London. In the US, that would not be the case; a local demo in proximity to a large city would be channeled there.
When the march reached Moss Park, we said goodbye to some of the group and made our way home. As we were leaving, we met a very young war resister who has been in Canada for only two weeks. Still, they are coming.
No comments:
Post a Comment