by Penney Kome-Straight Goods • Wednesday June 26, 2002 at 10:30 AM


June 24, 2002

For Calgarians who have been wondering or wavering, such open displays of alternative information give them permission to act on their feelings

All roads lead to Calgary this week, it seems. This bustling, self-important city, with the second-or third greatest concentration of corporate headquarters in Canada, sits bemused: stunned by the grandeur of the VIPS who will bypass it on the way to Kananaskis, and threatened by the pierced and hairy hordes depicted in security warnings.

Scarlet Stampede banners already flutter on lampposts along the boulevards. But the normal late June pre-Stampede parties are absent. Instead, Calgarians squint up into the sunny skies to watch police and military helicopters whomp-whomping low overhead.

In Kananaskis country, F18 jets scream over tanks and armoured personnel carriers, keeping ordinary Canadians out. At the University of Calgary, a huge “Welcome to the G6 Billion People’s Summit” banner arches over the walkway to the Summit registration desk. Eleven hundred participants pre-registered, selling out the event before it opened.

On the agenda are big names guaranteed to lure the locals, paired with unfamiliar Civil Society leaders from Africa and the Indian subcontinent. Saturday morning featured corporate maverick David Korten, speaking on “The Suicide Economy”. Capitalism is not the only form of market economy, said Korten. “Indeed, it is a pathology to which market economies are prone, a cancer if you will.” Provocative stuff, but all available online.  http://www.yesmagazine.com

After Korten came Virgina Setshedi, from the Soweto Logistics Committee. Who? A slender young woman in a red teeshirt and jeans, she started by teaching the crowd how to sing a South African protest song called, “It’s Enough!” Her great big voice soared above the crowd, rousing people’s spirits and grabbing attention. Then she settled down to a harrowing account of how privatized water and power in Soweto means that people die from dehydration and heat stroke.

Scary stuff, but whom does it threaten? Well, the schools are scared, thanks to presentations by the police and Department of Foreign Affairs representatives. One elementary school near the University has hired a security guard to watch the front entrance while G6B is in session. And a special letter from the principal asked parents to, “Remind students to avoid standing and watching or participating in gatherings of any kind.”

Indeed, between scare tactics and the sheer hassle of security measures, Calgarians are avoiding the city core. Traffic reports for Monday morning’s rush hour commented that traffic was unusually light. Churches have backed out of commitments to house protesters, even though Bishop Fred Henry asked all Catholic churches to shelter visitors.

But all the precautions are starting to backfire. Calgarians are maverick enough to wonder why they are being told to stay away. Conservatives lined the sidewalk to watch people having fun in the Family March; they eavesdropped on speakers at the rally; they drop by the information tables at the G6B Summit and look around for anyone with horns and a tail before they cautiously strike up conversations; and they even sneak in to hear some of the sessions.

For Calgarians who have been wondering or wavering, such open displays of alternative information give them permission to act on their feelings. Stephen Lewis’ talk was, “the last, final thing that convinced me I had to be here today,” said a woman in the Family March with her own homemade sign. Even rockribbed conservatives can be overheard on the streets, asking each other questions such as, “I suppose it would be nice to raise welfare rates, but wouldn’t people adopt social assistance as a lifestyle?”

“G8 leaders picked Alberta,” said a speaker at the G6B open mike session on Sunday night, “because they thought that protest would be impossible in this most conservative of all provinces. Well, today’s march proves them wrong!” As Calgary enjoys (or endures) its brief fling as the global crossroads, globalizers and Global Justice organizers both know that anything can happen, and probably will.

Meanwhile, back at GB6, a panel titled: “They Give Aid with One Hand and Arms with the Other,” describes the G8 countries as the biggest weapons dealers in the world. Audience members ask how Civil Society groups can ever hope to force the most powerful nations in the world to change their ways. In fact, the panel has presented very successful Civil Society campaigns, such as gun control (Wendy Cukier), landmines clean-up, Amnesty International’s ever expanding human rights initiatives, and Mozambique’s gun collection.

On the information tables outside, other organizations celebrate their successes: RESULTS has made microloans to 19.2 million households globally since 1997. Jubilee USA reports that debt relief in Tanzania has meant that 1.5 million children are back in school this year. A million lives changed here, a million there ­ it adds up.


Related addresses:

URL 1:  http://www.yesmagazine.com
URL 2:  http://www.g6bpeoplessummit.org/