STORY publié le Février 12, 2010 by dawn
This movement is the only real alternative: Art Manuel
Torch actions in Vancouver exceed expectations
VAG demo//dawn paley
heart attack//orn
disrupted torch bearer on the drive//murray bush
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Anti-Olympics demonstrators pushed back hard against the Olympic spectacle today. As I write, hundreds of people are still in the streets. Thousands of people came out with the goal of reclaiming the streets; this afternoon, they succeeded by pulling a massive presence to the Vancouver Art Gallery during the afternoon rally.
This came after two successful torch disruptions this morning, forcing the torch to be rerouted in the Downtown Eastside and on Commercial Drive. Today is the last day of the torch relay, which has been protested dozens of times across Canada.
“Olympics go home,” and “No Olympics on Stolen Native Land,” are among the dozens of chants that echoed throughout today’s marches. Contingencies ranged from an anarchist black bloc to anti-war and student groups, equipped with their own security and medics. The marchers walked behind Indigenous drummers who kicked off the march with songs and drumming.
In an interview this morning after the torch was stopped in the Downtown Eastside, Art Manuel of the Indigenous Network for Economies and Trade said that many “activist-type Indigenous people” provincially and nationally have been attracted by the Anti-Olympics movements.
“Right now in Canada, a lot of people don’t understand that the government does fund all of our provincial and national tribal organizations, up to the hundreds of millions of dollars, and that basically co-opts them,” he said. But, he says, those organizations are managing over the poverty of Native people just like the government bureaucrats used to do.
“These young people, these activists, they know that these are dead end streets,” he said. “This movement here is providing the only real alternative to eliminate the kind of poverty, to protect the land, and I think that’s what’s going to grow out of this,” he said.
Manuel said that he thinks struggles against mining and extractive industries will intensify in unceded territories throughout British Columbia after the Games.
“The welfare on an Indian Reserve is about $165 a month, and there’s no way on God’s green earth that you can live off that, and so the hunting and fishing has been basically the food bank for Indian reserve communities, since we don’t have food banks like the do in the city, like Vancouver,” said Manuel.
Manuel explained that mining and extractive industries intensify problems on reseves, because they restrict peoples access to the land, water and animals.
Activists have pushed back against the attempts for Olympic sponsors to “greenwash” themselves, and a campaign directly targeting these corporate sponsors has been mounted. Sponsors of the 2010 Games include Petro Canada/Suncor, and the Royal Bank of Canada, which are behind the Alberta tar sands. Mining giant Teck – a supplier to the Olympics – also operates a massive copper mine on unceded Secwepemc lands.
Tomorrow, there is a call-out for a demo billed Corporate Heart Attack. From 8:30am, protestors will move throughout the city, starting from Thornton Park. They’re calling for a disruption of “business as unusual.” It has been rumoured that police will be carrying tear gas at this demo.
On Sunday, convergence attendees will stand in solidarity with the 19th annual women’s memorial march to honour missing and murdered women across the country. Monday brings an anti-war demo in the evening and the launch of a tent village to demand housing.
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Commentaires
holy fuck those helicopters
holy fuck those helicopters were a bitch
Soul tree
They're not going to give up their home. They're not going to make a deal. Pff for what? A light beer and blue jeans? There's nothing that we have that they want. They're never going to leave hometree.