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 Editorials | Opinions | September 2007 
Time For a Little Post-Montebello Truth
 BYLINE
When CEP president Dave Coles attended a peaceful protest at the SPP, he found that three police officers had disguised themselves and infiltrated the demonstration. Here are his reflections on the incident.
Activists and progressive thinkers have been trying for years to get the message out about the threat to jobs and resources and the social and environmental costs when corporate-driven governments negotiate secret deals. But the reaction we received has not always been what we wanted.
The mainstream media have tended to view us as white noise or action photos for filler on the nightly news when journalists can't get enough business people together for a quorum. The public, with the exception of communities devastated by plant closures, think we're being alarmist. After all, why would the government lie?
Canadians generally don't want to believe that their politicians in government just have a different agenda than the one they talk about with platitudes and homilies.
They don't want to believe, for example, that Canadian, U.S. and Mexican leaders at the so-called Security and Prosperity Partnership summit at Montebello were discussing, without democratic input from affected groups, how Canada's massive tar sands production could be exploited to serve U.S. interests. Or how the needs of workers and communities in each country would be sacrificed to bolster the profits of energy corporations.
But let me tell you what happened when a young man named Paul Manly videotaped three policemen acting like swaggering thugs and trying to incite a riot among protestors at the summit. He posted it on YouTube for the benefit of more than 200,000 viewers at last count.
People were shocked. Then they were angry. Then they began to ask questions.
They wondered why the government was so intent on discrediting the protestors. What are they trying to draw attention away from? Even journalists, who often give us short shrift, asked tougher questions. Instead of just taking the pre-packaged news release and canned comments, they wanted to know why the government felt the need for this underhanded subterfuge.
The odd editorial or columnist who tried to defend the government's actions was swamped with letters to the editor from outraged citizens.
So the gimmick is up. It's time for a little truth. And a little optimism.
I for one am hopeful that this fallout from the incident at Montebello could be the beginning of a wind of change. For once, Canadians got a breath or fresh air and truth and it is up to us to continue to fight for that truth and not let governments or bureaucrats - or secret policemen with rocks - keep it hidden.
Dave Coles is president of CEP. |
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