A narrative of my experince at the Bush unwelcoming
The Halifax protest against the visit of war criminal Bush, for me, can't be disconnected from my experience the day before with the solidarity rally in Fredericton, my hometown. During the small but energetic gathering in Fredericton – with participation from about 25 people of all ages – I collected some tokens of solidarity to deliver to the crowd in Halifax that I was going to meet the next day. Connecting the two crowds together was my un-hidden agenda. Amongst the gift items I collected was a package of poetry leaflets from long-time Fredericton peace/anti-war activist Robert Young, who is also a veteran of the Second World War. I also collected letters and other tokens to be delivered. I promised there would be a huge impact from the delivery of such gifts to the crowd in Halifax, which was based on past experience. I witnessed a powerful reaction from such an exchange last summer during the gathering to confront the WTO meeting in Montreal. A metal name-plate taken (and delivered by activists) from the WTO headquarters in Geneva and raised up during a spokescouncil meeting (forum for participatory democracy-like spokes around a wheel) in the midst of the days of action against the WTO. It was promised that the plate would be delivered to the next WTO meeting in Mexico. The roar of approval and celebration was almost simultaneous with the announcement. Anyways, back to the present.
It was only a few hours after the lunch-time gathering in Fredericton that I was in a car with five other people from Fredericton on our way to the big gathering in Halifax. We arrived late at night, around 1 am, and the hard-working folks at the Halifax Coalition Against Poverty office, which was the convergence space, were still awake and prepared to help direct newly arrived travelers to places they could stay for the night.
The group I was with gathered the next morning at a street corner, where a group of youth were waiting, somewhere near Dalhousie University (I think I'm getting that right). In any case, we were met after by a good-sized group of university students. I think many, or all, of the first group were high school students who took an unofficial educational leave of absence for a day in order to partake in the enriching environment of anti-war street politics.
We all made our way to Grand Parade Square, the place where everyone would gather for the initial send-off/sound-off of the unwelcoming of Bush. At that point, the crowd really started to swell (to a few thousand), to the sound of music and anti-war speeches. I, along with the others I came with, made my way towards the Block the Empire contingent, who have amongst their basis of unity: « We stand in solidarity with all of those who struggle globally for justice and dignity, and recognize the responsibility and necessity to confront imperialist exploitation and violence at its source. »
The march began at about 10:30 or so, to the sound of lots of drumming and chanting. We all made our way towards Cornwallis Park, where there was a brief stopover, but it didn't take long before some people started making their way towards Pier 21, along the waterfront, where Bush was delivering his warmongering message of the need for more Canadian participation in the « War on Terror » as well as the Ballistic Missile Offense system. It was recognized in advance by many of the organizers that Pier 21 was a set-up for trouble, or even a trap. There was a « protest pen » set up near to the site of the warmongering, which, as I heard, was a fenced-in area where « legal protest » would be allowed while heavily armed officers stood ready nearby. I was not with the group of people who made their way down there. I describe the fended-in area (which I never actually saw) as a « protester zoo ». Thankfully, everyone came back from zoo without any bites, probably after only a half hour or so – likely after realizing that any real anti-war message would seriously weak or stifled there, symbolically as well as physically. Most of the crowd was still at Cornwallis Park, while members of the Halifax Peace Coalition – and the speakers they endorsed – were denouncing the Occupation on Iraq, Ballistic Missile Offense, and related issues. Food Not Bombs was also there with a fantastic array of free and tasty food for the participants. It seemed like a lot of people were losing interest while the speakers were sounding off; the energy in general was waning.
It did not take long before members of Block the Empire and supporters made a call for a spokescouncil to discuss what more we could do as a group. In my view, this is what saved the demonstration from ending anti-climatically and quite prematurely. It did not take long before there was a decision to re-take the streets and make an energetic public presence downtown. Over the next half hour to 45 minutes or so, members of Block the Empire, supporters and anyone else who was just interested in supporting further collection of energy re-gathered on the streets in a mass of people. It took a little while before the string of people re-formed into a ball, but by the time it did, the energy of the crowd hit a new level.
At around the point where the crowd became stuck together again, I delivered my vocal contribution to the crowd about the connection between the massive series of actions during the winter of 2003, to the anti-war actions taking place presently all over the world, to the ones that will take place in the future. The climax of my statement was the delivery of the gifts from the Fredericton rally. The reaction to this act of solidarity was a fantastic rise in the energy of the crowd. I was never worried that the promise I made to the Fredericton crowd would not be fulfilled. I think it was the act that spoke for itself.
Shortly after, we started moving again and agreed to stop at this one particular large intersection, with the intention to celebrate. It didn't take long before this turned into a vibrant street party with incredible drumming and dancing that lasted for probably over a half hour.
There was one incident of tension that arose after the street party had been underway for a while; actually, it was the incident that preceded us re-starting the march. Someone took out an American flag – which today, to most of the world, is a symbol of empire and domination – and a lighter. He was going to burn the flag as an act of creative expression of his dissent against the American regime and the violence that has been enacted by its power brokers over the years that the empire has built its strength. I think the man is originally from Palestine (or Iraq?), but I'm not sure. There were some, including myself, who offered our voices in solidarity with him and stood with him. One person in this group of supporters offered intelligent words to the crowd to explain the context of the intended act: It was an expression based on the man's own experiences and understanding of what the American flag represents, which was likely brutality beyond what most in the crowd had ever seen or had any indirect experience with. One person physically tried to stop the burning of the non-living – perhaps not so obviously though – flag because of fear of how the incident would be perceived by others (through the media) or perhaps because he saw it as an attack on all American people in a way. The flag was not burned. Obviously, there is a need to talk further about a free and safe space to express dissent without being inhibited though internal crowd control. Interestingly, speaking of crowd control, a police officer commented that we « should keep things peaceful » and « don't do anything violent » in reference to the flag burning representing, somehow, an act of violence. Maybe I should have asked the police officer exactly how a flag becomes living or sacred in any way. As a positive conclusion to the whole incident though, I did see the two who were most seriously disputing the yes-and-no of flag burning actually shake hands as we started marching off
We marched to another intersection, restarted the street party, again with a lot of celebration. There was also more speaking – an open-mike – of statements against war and occupation and other manifestations they are associated with. We then moved to our final destination of the day. We were, again, in Grand Parade Square.
As we continued with the drumming and dancing, some vans of police officers emptied out and officers started to gather at both entry-exit points. They were clearly trying to show their presence at this point. One of the gates was completely blocked off, with a group of about a dozen or more officers bunched up to fully bock the path. It seems like this was an attempt at blatant provocation. Were we « violently » celebrating? A few Block the Empire folks spoke with the officers to find out what this nonsense was all about. We were informed that the police had a zero tolerance position on any further marching. We dispersed shortly after, in small groups, seeing no reason to satisfy the police by doing exactly what many of them were probably expecting: taking their bait.
There was a brief de-briefing, open to any participants who were interested, at the Halifax Coalition Against Poverty office. We did a just a quick go-around because many were very tired. The overall reaction was that the day was a big success. During the day on the streets, we expressed our defiance to the Bush visit and all it represents and opened up spaces for political discussion and celebration of resistance against war and occupation. There was hope that we generated enough energy to grow the movement so that we can more continually and strategically challenge the empire-building project of the US regime (described quite explicitly in the Project for a New American Century document, which is easy to find references to on the web), and the global military-industrial complex more generally. The enormous military/police presence at the site of Bush's speech made it practically foolish for us to have tried to cancel the meeting with the few thousands of people we had and the short preparation time there was. We didn't fall into any traps. There was consensus that we were successful in doing what we could with the opportunity that presented itself: a gathering of thousands of concerned people.
One important fact that came out of the de-briefing was that homeless people were rounded up by the police the night before (night of November 30th), which is more of the usual « hide the homeless from the dignitaries and the media they'll bring ». This is akin to the street sweeps that were done before the Athens Olympics this past summer. This incident will not be ignored.
That's my story. I look forward to hearing other accounts.
By the way, many thanks to Block the Empire and Halifax Coalition Against Poverty