G20: We Were Duped

Photo by James D. Schwartz / The Urban Country

The G20 was a historic weekend where Toronto citizens were duped and our rights were stripped in the name of “terrorism”. Our city and our country failed us on so many different levels, and I can honestly say I’m not proud to be a Canadian right now.

One of the fundamental principles of a democracy is the right to free speech and the right to protest (freedom of peaceful assembly). It is a human right as recognized by several international human rights declarations and constitutions around the world.

In Canada, our fundamental right to peaceful assembly is granted to us via the Charter of Rights and Freedoms as a fundamental freedom. This fundamental right cannot be taken away (or so I thought).

Everyone has the following fundamental freedoms:

(a) freedom of conscience and religion;

(b) freedom of thought, belief, opinion and expression, including freedom of the press and other media of communication;

(c) freedom of peaceful assembly; and

(d) freedom of association.

Similarly in the United States, the first amendment of the United States Constitution reads:

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

Based on this fundamental human right, there is absolutely no excuse for the conduct of the police forces in Toronto this past weekend.

I observed and participated in peaceful protests throughout the weekend, and was shocked and saddened by the tactics employed by the police and the blatant disregard for our rights.

While a few dozen black-clad anarchists using black bloc tactics vandalized the city, 19,000 fully armed police officers sat back and did nothing to stop it from happening.

We were duped. Here are some clues about how we were duped:

Clue #1 – Police cars burned to the ground before fire trucks dispatched

Police cars were conveniently “ditched” at important and symbolic intersections, and the cars burned for 15 minutes before fire trucks were event dispatched.

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G20 Saturday In Photos

All Photos by James D. Schwartz / The Urban Country 

The G20 leaders are in town this weekend, and the protests are abundant. Although there were various causes that I sympathize with, I chose not to participate in the protest this weekend.

Instead I jumped on my bike with a friend and set about Saturday morning to document the historic events that unfolded in downtown Toronto.

The following collection of photos I took throughout the day reveal chronologically how the day turned from peaceful protests to tension, to anarchy.

06/26/2010 12:33:

 

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Pedaling Po-Po

All photos by James D. Schwartz / The Urban Country

When it comes to cycling, Toronto is not at the world stage. So with the eyes of the world on Toronto this week for the G20 summit of world leaders, Toronto will not be showcasing its cycling culture.

But despite this, Toronto is doing something with bicycles that it can be proud of thanks to the po-po, the 5-0, the fuzz – or by their formal name – the Toronto Police Service.

The Toronto Police have a substantial number of bicycles in their fleet – 247 bicycles to be exact (2008). Compared to the 1371 cars in the fleet, 247 is not such a bad number. That’s 18% - a number that Toronto could only dream of for the bicycle mode share.

With the 5,000+ police officers working this week at the G20 site, these police bicycles can be spotted everywhere.

I captured a few shots of these 10 officers riding side-by-side along Fort York Boulevard while walking the dog this evening:

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A Beautiful Morning in Toronto

All photos by James D. Schwartz / The Urban Country

It seems like ages since I posted a “Winter Cycling in Toronto” article featuring me riding my bike on a blistering cold January day. Summer is here now and there are swarms of people riding bikes for transportation now in Toronto.

Despite our poor infrastructure, Toronto is developing a bike culture which doesn’t require pretentious clothing or gear. Sure, we do have the odd “cycling advocate” who will scold you if you aren’t wearing a helmet, but these advocate imposters are few and far between.

Toronto has no choice but to develop a bicycle culture if it ever wants to get proper infrastructure. Implementing infrastructure is extremely political, so it’s important to have a solid contingent of bike riders to help fight for better infrastructure.

It’s unfortunate, because it will always be difficult to attract new cyclists without good infrastructure, but until we get our own Mayor Bloomberg or a Janette Sadik-Khan, we will no choice.

While walking the dog the other morning, I took some photos of everyday people using their bike to get to work, to the store, to school, to their friends house or wherever they were headed.

These photos also highlight one of our nicer bike paths in the city - the Martin Goodman trail – which runs along Lake Ontario. This portion of the path provides a safe route for west-end cyclists to get downtown.

This section of the path also runs alongside a major arterial road – Lakeshore Boulevard - so it’s quite gratifying that motorists sitting in traffic have to watch the bicycles zoom past.

On a beautiful summer day, would you rather be stuck inside an automobile, or would you rather be outside enjoying the beautiful weather on a bike? (Convertible owners need not respond to this rhetorical question).

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Wear a Helmet And Get a Cycling Utopia

[Photo] This photo of a “frivolous and reckless” Santa Monica cyclist courtesy of Bike by the Sea

Shawn Micallef recently wrote an article on the Spacing.ca Toronto blog where he argues that anyone who wants better bicycle infrastructure in Toronto should wear a helmet if they expect to be taken seriously.

Micallef claims that anyone who doesn’t wear a helmet appears to be “frivolous and reckless” and he feels that people don’t have the right to argue for safer infrastructure while “not practicing helmet wearing”.

I would gladly wear a helmet if it resulted in a utopian bike network modeled after the Netherlands or Copenhagen. But it doesn’t work like that Shawn. Focusing on the helmet issue ignores the real issues and only serves to divide non-helmeted and helmeted riders.

Shawn shot back at me on twitter by saying “A huge amount of cyclists are already alienated by anti-helmet rhetoric. There is no community to divide”.

That couldn’t be further from the truth. I don’t know anyone who chastises helmeted riders the way Shawn has chastised non-helmeted folks. I CHOOSE not to wear a helmet, and I take no issue with people who CHOOSE to wear a helmet. My “agenda” is to get more people on bikes, and that includes both helmeted and non-helmeted riders alike.

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Why Do Cyclists Blow Stop Signs?

All photos by James D. Schwartz

I came across this unique stop sign while walking the dog at the Exhibition grounds here in Toronto. It is a regular stop sign outfitted with a secondary stop sign that reads “CYCLISTS MUST STOP”.

The implicit message that I gather from this stop sign is that regular stop signs don’t apply to cyclists. But because this sign explicitly states that cyclists must stop, cyclists must of course obey it.

Yes you scofflaw “cyclists” MUST come to a complete stop, put your foot down, look both ways, then proceed when it’s safe.

I can’t think of a more useless appropriation of government tax dollars than to put a stop sign specifically for cyclists at this junction.

Why is it that cyclists don’t bother stopping at this stop sign? Simple. The same reason cars don’t bother stopping at this intersection either.

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I Am Responsible for the Gulf Oil Spill…

Photo courtesy of IBRRC on Flickr

I am responsible for the Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill. I claim responsibility for the 11 deaths, 17 injuries from the explosion, and the millions of marine and wildlife that have been killed or displaced as a result.

Yes, I am responsible for releasing an estimated 1.9 million to 16 million litres of oil into the ocean every day since April 20th.

AND SO ARE YOU…

We brought this on ourselves – me and you. Our addiction to automobiles, cheap gas, plastic, cheap food and big houses has led to this disaster and will lead to future disasters if we don’t change our path.

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