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Title: Anarchy in Toronto Author: Allan Antliff Date: 1999 Language: en Topics: art, Canada, Fifth Estate, Fifth Estate #352, Lorenzo Komboa Ervin, organization Notes: From Fifth Estate #352, Winter 1999
TORONTO — Accompanied by much fanfare and a bit of controversy, this
Canadian city was the setting August 17–23 for its second international
anarchist/anti-authoritarian gathering in a decade. The organizers
titled the event, “Active Resistance,” (AR) after the 1996 Chicago
anarchist actions of the same name at the Democratic National
Convention. (See Fall 1996 FE)
Approximately 700 people registered for a week of workshops, forums and
demonstrations, but numerous other unregistered people swelled actions
like a “Hands Off Street Youth” demonstration to nearly twice that
number. An impromptu rally of 250 people in front of the US consulate
followed Clinton’s terrorist bombings in Sudan and Afghanistan and an
all night camp-out, in solidarity with the Ontario Coalition Against
Poverty, was held at a reactionary business establishment.
The 1980s saw similar gatherings in Chicago, Minneapolis, Toronto and
San Fransisco, and like those, this gathering was important for the
person-to-person links that were established. Some denigrate this as
mere socializing, but it is an important part of alliance-building. [1]
Evening events included a rowdy night of films and talks on subjects
such as “Indigenous Struggle in Chiapas,” “Native Struggles and
Spirituality,” and “Political Prisoners/Prisoners of War.” An Agit-Prop
crew convened each night to put out a daily zine called In the Streets.
This excellent initiative kept everyone abreast of changes in scheduling
and provided a forum for people’s concerns and ideas.
Artist Stefan Pilpa did a fantastic “Active Resistance ’98” poster, and
everyone was indebted to Jesse Hirsh and Tao communications for
providing AR with its e-mail network.
A host of daily workshops were held, and four “Core” meetings ran each
afternoon — “Building Revolutionary Movements,” “Alternative Economics,”
“Community Organizing,” and “Art and Revolution.” Art and Revolution is
where I hung my hat. Thirty people built giant puppets, painted banners,
and planned theatre for the demonstration that was to cap the week.
Early on, several street people came to a meeting and told us about the
police brutality plaguing the homeless. After a short discussion, we
decided to shape the Art and Revolution component around their stories.
Art and Revolution was born at the 1996 anarchist gathering in Chicago
where a group of artists and performers from San Fransisco invited
people to join a week-long street theatre workshop which created masks,
music, puppets and theatre for a march on the Democratic Party
convention site. Art gave that demonstration unprecedented coherence and
energy, and afterwards the San Fransisco group formed the Art and
Revolution Convergence Collective, “dedicated to infusing radical social
movements with art, theatre, and creativity.” [2]
They took their show, and their hallmark giant puppets, on the road to
numerous protests during the next two years, and out of this grew a
loose-knit federation. At the Toronto workshop, we enjoyed the benefit
of experienced Art and Revolution folks from San Fransisco, Olympia, and
Boston. [3]
Art and Revolution’s impact on the demonstration was dramatic. After an
opening theatre piece spelling out the reasons for our protest, the
police were confronted with an 1000-plus crowd marching down the streets
behind a giant puppet whose out-stretched arm unveiled a banner
declaring, “Hands off Street Youth!” Radical cheerleaders waved
police-line pompoms and chanted, demonstrators parodying cops on
horseback strutted around on stilts, banners and flags were raised, and
a masked theatre contingent weaved through procession while a drum crew
pounded out rhythms. Babies waved from street cars and bystanders were
drawn in by the joyful and boisterous atmosphere.
Art and Revolution not only reached out to spectators who might have
perceived our march as a threat, it united us around a celebration of
our freedom, rather than a confrontation with our oppressors.
Demonstrations often end up focusing on the inevitable phalanx of
heavily-armed riot police poised to attack, whose ugly presence
dominates the proceedings. The effect of the cops can be either chilling
or fill people with hate and anger. Either way, the police police the
minds of demonstrators and spectators alike with their ritualized
surveillance-and-attack behaviour. The media end up reporting the event
from the cops’ perspective, marginalizing both the marchers and whatever
issue they attempt to bring to public attention.
This time around we set the agenda, creating a free space for protest
that was not only serious, but also fun and inclusive, rather than
exclusionary and threatening. Parents with children, people in
wheelchairs, and older folk could join our march in safety, but that
didn’t stop the “illegalities.” You could sense the cops’ confusion as
we squatted the streets, stopped traffic for chants and fired-up
anti-cop/anti-poverty speeches at major intersections, and occupied the
front of a downtown precinct station where we presented a second
demonstrative theatre protest against police attacks on street people.
Sidelined in overheated riot gear, the cops’ authority wheezed out like
stale air from a pricked balloon.
Although elation often characterized the week, the gathering was not
without problems.
Anarchist organizer, Lorenzo Ervin, a former Black Panther party member,
whose trip north was sponsored by the AR organizers, complained during
one session that the gathering was a social event for “white
middle-class punks.” Applying the classification “middle-class” to AR
radicals, the vast majority of whom survive (as I do) on annual incomes
under $8,000, strikes me as a misnomer, to put it politely.
Though the majority of participants were of European origin, that did
not exclude people who weren’t, as the special effort to include Ervin
evidences. The people at AR were interested in an expanding anarchist
movement. No less than ten workshops were convened either by people not
of European descent or to specifically further solidarity with and
understanding of people of color. [4] In short, AR was neither “white,”
“middle-class,” nor “punk” (whatever that string of categories means).
The only other problem were organizational. AR happened thanks to a lot
of hard work by a large group of committed radicals, and they deserve
praise for their efforts. It seems, however, that AR’s organizing
committee over-shot the mark with projected expenses by a considerable
margin.
Left-over funds were distributed by the committee to the next anarchist
gathering’s organizers, financing a post-AR zine, and the rest split
among local Toronto activist groups. That’s fine and fair, but when I
plunked down the $35 registration fee, I assumed it was going towards
feeding those from out of town and expenses for the actual event, not
post-gathering donations. [5]
A second glitch involved day-to-day procedures. A daily plenary session
was supposed to convene where concerns could be hashed out, but they
never happened. This was a major oversight, as at least one important
issue was not properly dealt with in a democratic fashion until the end
of the gathering. Everyone, myself included, let the organizers down.
Failure to hold the daily plenary should have been addressed the first
day it didn’t occur rather than left until the last moment and after
some misunderstandings had built up.
That said, Active Resistance was a great success. Everyone hoped the
event would reinvigorate the regional anarchist scene and I’m glad to
say it has. In Toronto, a new Earth First! group has been formed, and
Anarchist Free School launched, Who’s Emma bookstore is sponsoring a
Radical Film night, and other projects are pending. Similar activities
are springing up elsewhere, as well. Enthusiasm for another gathering is
high but a city and date haven’t been established as of this writing.
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[1] For instance, I will be doing a speaking tour in Quebec this fall
thanks to connections forged at AR.
[2] This overview is taken from an Art and Revolution Convergence
Collective pamphlet, The Incomplete, True, Authentic, and Wonderful
History of May Day, issued on the occasion of San Fransisco’s “Reclaim
May Day” demonstration of May 2, 1998.
[3] The Art and Revolution Convergence Collective can be contacted at
fire@iyc.org
[4] Among them were “Native Solidarity;” “Cultural Genocide: First
Nations Considerations for All Movements;” “Stopping the War on Refugees
and Immigrants in Canada;” “Chiapas Solidarity Caucus;” “Human Rights
Observing in Mexico;” “International Solidarity and Division of
Indigenous People;” and “Black Liberation Radio.” Canada’s
French/English conflict was also informally discussed, though the
significance of this particular divide escapes Ervin, as it does many
radicals from the US.
[5] Hopefully, the post-AR magazine will feature a breakdown of how the
funds were divided up.