WHOSE STREETS? edited by Tom Malleson and David Wachsmuth (Between the Lines), 230 pages, $24.95 paper. Whose Streets? launches with music by Shadow Hearts and others at CineCyle tonight (Thursday, December 8). See listing. Rating: NNN
It’s crazy odd that Whose Streets?: The Toronto G20 And The Challenges Of Summit Protest landed on my desk on the week of Occupy T.O.’s gentle eviction from St. James Park.
Why the same police force that went feral in June 2010 turned velveteen with Occupy is worth a meditation on the strength of the civilian response to the G20 disaster, as well as one on the kinds of strategies that extend, rather than constrict, the space for dissent.
The book also arrived just as a bombshell plea deal went public that saw 11 of those accused in a G20 “conspiracy” case freed and the remaining six convicted of counselling to commit mischief. All of which makes Whose Streets?, a series of essays edited by Tom Malleson and David Wachsmuth, timely though not always instructive.
Warning: this collection is for movement people if you’re curious about the Toronto Community Mobilization Network’s particular G20 dilemmas, it’s a must-read. And there’s startle power in some of the personal testimonies: TTC employee Elroy Yau, in uniform and on his way to work, detained for 30 hours Sarah Pruyn reflecting on officers ripping off her dad’s prosthetic leg detainee Swathi Sekhar with her cop dreams and more.
But the book retreads material already known to G20 aficionados, and too much of the writing depends on code words. The real juice, unfortunately, is in the bitter contest over black bloc tactics. I don’t know whether to congratulate the editors for letting the debate rip or denounce them for wasting ink on activists who don’t get that rage is a primitive, pre-political emotion.
Some of the arguments for vandalism – like Tammy Kovich’s suggestion that trashing is therapeutic – made me choke on my tea.
On the other hand, Clarice Kuhling points to the inefficiency of smash-ups in attracting recruits, and Archana Rampure charges the black bloc with betrayal for using the family-friendly June 26 action as a cover for their plate-glass-shattering spree.
By the time I got to David McNally’s piece at the end, things felt less past-tense sad and more future hopeful. Checking out the global uprisings for bread and freedom and against austerity, he urges progressives to chart “forms of activism and organization that resonate with large numbers of people.” A fine start to any dialogue on tactics.
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