kettle-aware, and wearing le carré rouge
yesterday night, may 24, was peaceful again after the mass arrests on wednesday. i went downtown to the emilie gamelin square, where the main march starts every night. there was a bit of tension in the air, and a lot of policemen around. i think everybody present, keeping wednesday night in mind, must have been anxious about the square space being surrounded by police..yes, i learned a new term this week : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kettling, thank you montréal...
but during the night i did feel that the choices of itineraire were meant to taunt the policemen. we went up berri (and the size of the crowd does grow every night. this time there were groups banging casseroles who joined by coming down all the way from their neighbourhoods) - then a few blocks past sherbrooke metro....they reversed!! picture a crowd of a few thousand people telegraphing this spontaneous decision, and it rippling through the motley groups. of course traffic on berri was all screwed, and the police cars (lots of them! and vans!) backed off nicely. the crowd then moved past carré st. louis into the very picturesque prince arthur-laval strip of restaurants/terrasses, which in my opinion is such a good spot to be kettled in.
my particular status/situation right now is less than ideal for taking part in illegal demonstrations - but on the other hand, questioning what is legal and illegal etc. has now become my problem. how can i stay apart? i can`t. one more reason to pray for lack of violence each night
yesterday i wore my carré rouge in public for the first time. i mean on an ordinary daily run, as opposed to in a protest, with thousands of other people displaying it all around. it does feel different. i tend to either feel self-conscious about it (and look around to see if anybody else has it on; it suddenly became very clear that people who openly support the cause are a minority. eye-opening.) or, after a while, forget i`m wearing it. then a lovely old lady comes to me in the street (while m. and i were looking at a dresser in front of our friperie) and cries: `je suis avec vous, ma belle fille! ne lâchez pas, on va gagner!` and it takes me half a minute to get what she`s talking about.
so i went to my former workplace to collect my last cheque, knowing i would be questioned about my `dangerous affiliations`. no kidding: my ex boss, two of my ex co-workers and the owner of the souvenir shop in the building were all interested in knowing ~ what i was doing wearing that. as if it wasn't self-evident, i mean. and, i'm not good at arguing with people who hold views opposite from mine; i need more practice; i need to prepare in advance, which is awkward when i think of it, but probably worth it. however, i'm ok at being stubborn and contradicting people, so that probably helped a bit.
here's a somewhat related tidbit, h/t to my roomie:
http://www.sunnewsnetwork.ca/sunnews/politics/archives/2012/05/20120525-132119.html?fb_comment_id=fbc_10150890863667319_22138186_10150891138002319#f11c81
but during the night i did feel that the choices of itineraire were meant to taunt the policemen. we went up berri (and the size of the crowd does grow every night. this time there were groups banging casseroles who joined by coming down all the way from their neighbourhoods) - then a few blocks past sherbrooke metro....they reversed!! picture a crowd of a few thousand people telegraphing this spontaneous decision, and it rippling through the motley groups. of course traffic on berri was all screwed, and the police cars (lots of them! and vans!) backed off nicely. the crowd then moved past carré st. louis into the very picturesque prince arthur-laval strip of restaurants/terrasses, which in my opinion is such a good spot to be kettled in.
my particular status/situation right now is less than ideal for taking part in illegal demonstrations - but on the other hand, questioning what is legal and illegal etc. has now become my problem. how can i stay apart? i can`t. one more reason to pray for lack of violence each night
yesterday i wore my carré rouge in public for the first time. i mean on an ordinary daily run, as opposed to in a protest, with thousands of other people displaying it all around. it does feel different. i tend to either feel self-conscious about it (and look around to see if anybody else has it on; it suddenly became very clear that people who openly support the cause are a minority. eye-opening.) or, after a while, forget i`m wearing it. then a lovely old lady comes to me in the street (while m. and i were looking at a dresser in front of our friperie) and cries: `je suis avec vous, ma belle fille! ne lâchez pas, on va gagner!` and it takes me half a minute to get what she`s talking about.
so i went to my former workplace to collect my last cheque, knowing i would be questioned about my `dangerous affiliations`. no kidding: my ex boss, two of my ex co-workers and the owner of the souvenir shop in the building were all interested in knowing ~ what i was doing wearing that. as if it wasn't self-evident, i mean. and, i'm not good at arguing with people who hold views opposite from mine; i need more practice; i need to prepare in advance, which is awkward when i think of it, but probably worth it. however, i'm ok at being stubborn and contradicting people, so that probably helped a bit.
here's a somewhat related tidbit, h/t to my roomie:
http://www.sunnewsnetwork.ca/sunnews/politics/archives/2012/05/20120525-132119.html?fb_comment_id=fbc_10150890863667319_22138186_10150891138002319#f11c81
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