Just saw this story at CBC.ca. It’s a little scary, I must say. Three Quebec police officers disguised themselves as demonstrators at the recent protest in Montebello, Quebec, where the North American leaders summit is being held. Police say that they were not trying to instigate violence, merely to identify potentially violent demonstrators. They seem to have been found out.
Here’s a YouTube video showing what happened when the demonstrators discovered police in their midst. Note how the police seem to be the most violent people there. It’s kind of an ugly scene though, but it may have been much worse.
Can I just say how important it is for people to carry cameras at protests? I came to this story pretty late. That video has over 500 comments on it and over 142,000 views when I finally watched it. This video probably helped the Quebec police admit that they did this, as it’s not just the protesters’ word against the police’s. I’m amazed at how this came through.
Richard Handler’s “Ideas Guy” column on CBC.ca this week touches on a very visible issue: the fading of community organizations in American (and I would add Canadian) society. I have lived a good portion of my life in the suburbs, where very few people know their neighbours’ names, often barely even what they look like. There is very little sense of community, with neighbours often only joining together to protest poor city management when the sewer backs up, or some similar issue. I find this very unfortunate.
I recently attended a Kiwanis club meeting and I was struck by the way that all these very old men managed to get together every week to discuss and donate to charities, listen to presentations from guest speakers to inform themselves on important issues of the day, participate in meaningful debates, and generally enjoy themselves and being with their friends. Oh, and they all knew everybody’s name, even mine by the end. I think these meetings and this club gave participants a sense of belonging and a concrete way to contribute to their society. All in all, it was quaint, but very sweet.
I wish there was more of that around. People are just too busy these days to meet each other, I guess.
