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Bikes counter spin

I know The Matrix has become a kind of clichéd metaphor for progressives and radicals. Those of us who took the red pill (by reading, say, Naomi Klein) some time ago woke up to the evils of neo-liberal capitalism and how it’s supported by the police and much of the media.[rssbreak]

I have never felt more like I lived in The Matrix then I did last Saturday. That’s when I spent about eight hours on the street in the company of peaceful protesters whose reaction to riot police pointing gas cannons at them was to dance, drum and shout, “This is a peaceful protest!”

But the media told me that what really happened was that the protest “turned violent.” Of course, the media didn’t make up the car-burning and smashing of windows, which must have been music to Stephen Harper’s ears.

Burning cars is a sexy yet comforting story. It keeps newspaper readers inside the figurative Matrix where the G20 is just doing what’s best for all of us. Many watching the news were able to view the security as legitimate since the only opposition to it came from “thugs.”

Not surprisingly, many protesters were upset with the media for their depiction of Saturday’s protest. But then on Sunday it wasn’t the Black Bloc but the bike bloc to the rescue!

At 1 pm, we rode en masse to take back the streets from police and the protest from violence. As hundreds gathered with their bikes on the corner of Bloor and Spadina, activist Pascal Murphy asked those “who want to engage in violence to form their own protest.” This received a resounding cheer of approval.

Things started out a little rocky, however, with police initially blocking off Bloor, threatening to stop the critical mass dead in its tracks. But after a few minutes of chanting “Let us through!” they complied. Bike cops rode behind and alongside protesters.

While I’m ashamed about what a few people did on Saturday, I felt only pride the next day. As the gaggle of riders converged on the detention centre on Eastern to show solidarity with those inside, activist Ruth Madoc Jones summed up the mood pretty well. It was, she said, “such a sweet feeling!”

Not surprisingly, this didn’t make the front pages of the papers. And sadly, that shows how truly awesome it was: an entirely violence-free, virtually-impenetrable-to-negative-media-spin protest.

The bike bloc was the much-needed glitch in The Matrix, hopefully causing some observers to give out a Keanuesque “whoa” as they stopped to think: what are these peaceful protesters really about?

news@nowtoronto.com

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