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Protest
passion and fashion
Toronto
Star
Summit-hopping in protest of American economic domination had eclipsed the rave scene as the brand new cool counter-culture. Armies of television crews and journalists bent on capturing the carnival atmosphere and violent drama came out in full force, helping to turn demonstrations into awesome spectacles. And unlike the clandestine all-night underground dance parties that preceded them (promoted typically by flyers and Internet mailing lists), with mass protests, the party location was no secret. It was a six o'clock news item. "I was very tempted to go to Quebec City - not so much for the politics as for the Woodstock. Everyone was going," says Jesse Hirsh, a 26-year-old who joined protesters in Seattle during the 1999 meetings of the World Trade Organization. Hirsh describes himself as a "second-generation radical" and is excited about the popularity the anti-globalization movement is now enjoying. "Ever since Seattle, there has been a whole younger set - let's call them 17 to 23 - who are being politicized and that's wonderful. I just hope that it doesn't fizzle out," Hirsh says. "If politics becomes cool, that means we have a democracy because a democracy is where there's active participation." In order for a counter-culture to whet mainstream appetites, an edgy ideology is invariably in order as well as a bold, often cartoonish fashion statement. Wild hairdos, piercings and Doc Martens did wonders for punk, and hoodies and baggy pants sent hip-hop heads running to the malls to buy a brand new wardrobe. Besides bandanas and hockey sticks, global activists sport clothes with the Naomi Klein-inspired "no-logo" look. "I don't wear clothes that have a label on the outside because I don't want to be an advertisement," says Jessie, a 24-year-old University of Waterloo student who considers himself relatively new to the "movement." "So all my shirts are blank, or they say an environmental message, or are from a camp." Where ravers, united by an appreciation of techno music, are often marginalized by an association with the use of the drug ecstasy, global activists are similarly marginalized by an association with violence. "The remarkable thing about Quebec City was how peaceful it was," says MuchMusic V.J. George Stroumboulopoulos, who covered the summit for the New Music. "With the exception of the force that was the response, it was a remarkably peaceful event. "The anti-globalization movement is like any cause. For some, it's passion, and for others, it's fashion. The latter stick around until what happened in Genoa (where a protestor died) and then they get scared off." Fred McMahon, director of the Economic Freedom of the World Project at the Fraser Institute disagrees. "A lot of people go for the party, which is a substitute for raves, and others show up as the anti-globalization version of football hooligans." As well, McMahon contends that few involved in the movement have actually looked at, or examined the issues. Michelle Cho, a McMaster University student, was turned on to global activism through her school's OPIRG (Ontario Public Interest Research Group) chapter. She decided to go to the Quebec City protest at the last minute when a couple of seats became available on a bus and her friend invited her to attend. Cho says she will not attend another big demonstration again. "There was almost an unhealthy voyeurism (at the Quebec City demonstration). A lot of people seemed to be just standing around and observing," she says. "It was like watching a high school fight, where you know something bad is going to happen but you stick around anyway, " adds Cho, who also felt alienated as an Asian in a movement that she describes as still largely white and middle-class. "I've met a lot of people who can afford to be activists because they have a trust fund, and people who can only be at a protest if they have all of the right clothes and they're listening to punk music," she says. The media alone can't be held responsible for spawning this new subculture of summit-hoppers. Educators also play a role in mobilizing the young toward public protest. Along with Janice Stein, Ron Deibert, a political science professor at the University of Toronto, teaches a course called Networks, Nations and Global Politics, an introduction to the basic issues surrounding contemporary global politics. In the four years that the course has been offered, enrolment has grown from 200 to 800 students. "When you walk into the class, there's music playing and images running on these screens," explains Deibert. "It has the same feeling of just before a concert, without the smell of dope." He says the aim of his course is to energize students so that if they come into his class with plans to be commerce or law students, they will emerge as participants in global politics. This past summer, along with filmmaker Mike Downie, Deibert turned six of his students into an activist troupe, challenged to bring about change. The result: a six-part documentary series that will air on TVO in October follows the students as they protest at the G8 summit in Genoa. "I'm the next McLuhan and Mike's the Mark Twain of the digital video age," Deibert enthuses. "The university can't contain me. I'm exploding." He admits that it's hip right now for young people to be activists. But he sees their increasing involvement in global issues as more of a continuation of a trend than a passing fad, like raves. "Over the last 20 years or so," he says, "and increasing in momentum, you have actors, citizen activists and non-governmental organizations developing linkages with each other across borders and becoming actively involved in decision-making at a global level." Robert Scott, an economist with the Economic Policy Institute in Washington, D.C., concurs. "I think students are interested in having a greater role, and participating in public life and public organizations related to social issues and social change. I've seen that for the last five or 10 years." As for Hirsh, he hopes that young people's participation in global political activism will at least have the same staying power as raves. "Raves have had their peak," he says, "but there are still huge warehouse parties every weekend in Toronto. They're not as cool, underground or independent as the original raves, but they're still a mobilization of people." But since the Sept. 11, the cancellation of the annual meetings of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, originally scheduled to be held in Washington at the end of the month, have limited the protest movement to its traditional anti-war stance, which was evident at Concordia University's recent anti-war, anti-insanity protest at the U.S. consulate in Montreal. And given the current climate, it remains to be seen what the mood will be like at the Ontario Coalition Against Poverty's Economic Disruption March planned for Oct. 16, which will attempt to shut down Toronto's financial district. Will
cool-seekers stick around for the ride as the issues continue to blur?
Perhaps the overwhelming support for the war against terrorism will deter
many protesters - especially the partiers - from enthusiastically condemning
the role America has played as the world's super power.
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