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Toronto G-20 Protests, Police Car On Fire, And More
Toroto's G-20 meeting is shaping up as the most impotent yet most confrontational of all recent summits so far. As Bloomberg reports, "Group of 20 leaders will agree to targets to tackle deficits in their final statement without prescribing when nations should begin to move to balance their books, according to officials with knowledge of the document." Due to the escalating schism between US and Europe, or Geithner and Merkel (incidentally, for definitive proof Merkel is spot on, Argentina just joined the pro-Keynesian chorus saying Europe's focus on cutting deficits is "absolutely wrong" - and if anyone knows anything about top notch economic policy, it is surely Argentina), it is likely that neither will push their own agenda on others, and with the yuan's recent symbolic depegging, everyone will be able to go home pretending victory was achieved. Yet despite the complete lack of consensus, somehow the leaders have decided to cut deficits in half by 2013, even though this target is beyond ridiculous, coming at a time when the entire world is spending with a profligacy that would make a drunk sailor blush (even one that has access to Bernanke's printer). "The draft of the statement includes targets championed by Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper to have countries halve deficits by 2013 and start to stabilize their debt-to-output ratios by 2016, the officials said. There is a consensus to maintain stimulus now with the focus on deficits in the “medium- term,” Harper said in a June 21 interview." In other words, nothing will change, and eventually, when the entire world has over 5 times its entire GDP encumbered in real cash debt (as opposed to the $1.2 quadrillion in pseudo-metaphysical debt), and interest payments alone account for well over 30% or more of economic production, the G-20 might, just might, consider debt cutting approaches. In the meantime, initial protests which had been largely peaceful, quickly turned violent as over 30 arrests have been made in Toronto so far, coupled with burning police cars, the use of gas masks, and direct police-protest engagements.
Below is a video from RT showing some of the festivities
And another:
And some more:
Courtesy of Reuters, some pictures that capture the antiglobalization mood. If you look closely, you will find the Americans in the crowd, closely following the riots on their iPads.
Those who wish to follow's Reuters live-coverage of the G-20 summit can do so here.
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The bottom line: No More National Debt. All our money is created out of debt. But nations don't have to borrow money from banks. Sovereign nations can create their own money -- debt free -- just as Abraham Lincoln did to win the Civil War. This is the secret that’s been hidden from us for over 100 years.
Hell, just do all of the above.
If it worked when Abraham Lincoln invaded America,
it might work for Berry SoreToe.
Spending 1 BILLION dollars for a 2 day summit, is beyond ridiculous during prosperous times, nevermind in current times. Clearly the Canadian politicians see no irony in hosting a summit to discuss how to prevent another financial crisis while spending 1 billion F*ing dollars. As a Canadian, this pisses me off!
I have 2 words for these politicos: VIDEO CONFERENCING!
Stop wasting my tax dollars! This was the last straw for me, I will get off my ass to vote next time, against Harper.
Spening a Billion dollars and achieving NOTHING is the Ziofascist way.
G8/G20 just showing the world exactly what unabated and unproductive stimulus spending is like. Spending money which achieves nothing in the long run.
I was thinking the exact same thing. Obviously the world leaders don't have phones or video conferencing equipment to do this crap from their own bunkers.
Isn't it great?
Burn and destroy someone else's property to make sure they understand they YOU need to be paid for not working.
I'd shoot the bastards if the property was mine.
Well said, Augustus....obviously the unwashed socialist masses have discovered that the Empire's bread has run out.
The best and most effective protest is to save in gold, evade taxes, work in the underground economy, avoid banks, pay cash and become more self-reliant. Starve the beasts...
Stop it - you're hurting BumpSkools head
You’d “shoot the bastards” if the property were yours?
May I ask on whom you would take first aim--those who smashed a Starbucks, or the Money conspirators who stole the property of the richest nation on earth, driving her into a new depression with 22% true unemployment by offshoring for personal gain her jobs and technologies and industries and plunging the value of her medium of exchange to new depths of crippling debts for the people—commandeering her Congress, her liberty and her children's hopes for the future?
Congressman Louis T. McFadden was a defender of the people's property versus the Money Power. On May 23, 1933, he, brought formal charges against the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve Bank system, The Comptroller of the Currency and the Secretary of United States Treasury for numerous criminal acts, including but not limited to, CONSPIRACY, FRAUD, UNLAWFUL CONVERSION, AND TREASON. His charges still hold. Here are excerpts from his remarks in Congress in 1934:
"Some people think that the Federal Reserve Banks are United States Government institutions. They are private monopolies which prey upon the people of these United States for the benefit of themselves and their foreign customers; foreign and domestic speculators and swindlers; and rich and predatory money lender. In that dark crew of financial pirates there are those who would cut a man's throat to get a dollar out of his pocket; there are those who send money into states to buy votes to control our legislatures; there are those who maintain International propaganda for the purpose of deceiving us into granting of new concessions which will permit them to cover up their past misdeeds and set again in motion their gigantic train of crime.
"These twelve private credit monopolies were deceitfully and disloyally foisted upon this Country by the bankers who came here from Europe and repaid us our hospitality by undermining our American institutions. Those bankers took money out of this Country to finance Japan in a war against Russia. They created a reign of terror in Russia with our money in order to help that war along. They instigated the separate peace between Germany and Russia, and thus drove a wedge between the allies in World War. They financed Trotsky's passage from New York to Russia so that he might assist in the destruction of the Russian Empire. They fomented and instigated the Russian Revolution, and placed a large fund of American dollars at Trotsky's disposal in one of their branch banks in Sweden so that through him Russian homes might be thoroughly broken up and Russian children flung far and wide from their natural protectors. They have since begun breaking up of American homes and the dispersal of American children.
"Mr. Chairman, there should be no partisanship in matters concerning banking and currency affairs in this Country…”
http://fullcomment.nationalpost.com/2010/06/25/don-martin-1-billion-in-security-buys-a-post-apocalyptic-toronto/
just look at the pic
These rioters -not protestors- in a just world, would share the same cells with the Globalists forging their New World Order.
The Globalists hide behind their barracdes, the rioters hide behind their masks. They both hide their deficient characters behind highblown rehtoric and slogans, they both are puny and unworthy of our great land....
"To face the garment of rebellion
With some fine colour that may please the eye
Of fickle changelings and poor discontents,
Which gape and rub the elbow at the news
Of hurlyburly innovation:
And never yet did insurrection want
Such water-colours to impaint his cause;
Nor moody beggars, starving for a time
Of pellmell havoc and confusion".
That was almost like poetry except for the lack of poeticness.
Are you sure that wasn't the LA Lakers celebration?
Let it burn...
Best comment so far!
Sometimes... you have to wrinkle it up, throw it away, and start over. Regardless of whether it had some good points or not.
I think we've come to that point in our current civilization.
White rappers in Canada are an object of some ridicule:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PzWr71SpFv0
They only burn police cars in Canada when the Stanley Cup is in contention, nothing new here. I assume it has something to do with Les Canadiens not winning the cup this year, The police car incendiaries are probably from Montreal with no small gripes about Quebec politics. I just wonder what they'll have officer Cam Woolley say in his traffic report to soccer moms aboot this all.
The Canadian flag with a marijuana leaf is de rigeur, btw.
Another motivation could be the recent surprise trade of Jaroslav Halak to the ... St Louis Blues - aaargh
http://sports.sympatico.ca/nhl/trade_of_goaltender_jaroslav_halak_has_habs_fans_signing_the_blues/845100ce
Since Cheney may actually croak this time (and even if he doesn't... and even he IS already dead and has been cloned) ...
Can we please have a show of hands here. Who will miss him from the global political fabric:
I'll start off:
NOT ME
now everyone chime in
I like my police cars medium rare with a side of saute'd central banker.
Seriously, I wonder what the goal is, other than to break up the ennui of daily existence. So they burn down a Starbucks and then tomorrow what?
I wonder how many of these anti-capitalism, anti-globalization types arranged their protest via cellphones and the internet, or who traveled to Toronto by air? I wonder how many waited in line once for an iPhone or an iPad, made by dollar-a-day workers at Foxconn in China? I wonder if the goal is to have a world similar to places where the globalization train never stopped, like Somalia, North Korea, or Burma?
Maybe I'm missing something, but the protests seem rather unfocused, and because of that are likely to achieve squat. The 1950's-60's Civil Rights protests had a focus and a goal, and thus achieved a certain degree of success. Even the anti-war protests of the Vietnam days had a message and helped alter public opinion. Setting a few police cars ablaze and smashing shop windows is probably not going to garner much support for a cause. And if the goal is just "anarchy for anarchy's sake", then I wonder if the masked folks would mind if I torched their flat, stomped on their cellphone, or took a baseball bat to one of their heads?
Well said. Destruction is a lot easier than creation, and requires a lot less critical thinking.
True in every sphere. Just look at the difference in the "success" of Shock and Awe vs. Nation Building in Iraq.
m a n n ee d s a p l a n.
to make it work.
Well done to the rioters.
Let's hope the next G8/G20 meeting is held in Pakistan.... I'd like to see that for the fireworks.
If these rioters had any brains they would let the conference end - let them take down the fences and send the riot troops home - THEN come in and put the torch to the real important stuff like government offices and banks. Not some frigging Starbucks the big wheels will never visit.
If they punished a city afterward like that the G20 would soon be meeting out in the woods.
The G20 met and pretended to govern. The protestors met and pretended to revolt. I have no respect for either of them.
Beautiful protests.
We're in need for more of that kind...
When they crack down on the Rio slums ahead of '16 you can lead the way
at ZH we mostly post Economic items, so for the G20 riot we talk about it's cost to Canada.
I am amused no one has brought up the only growth industry in most lands today:
law enforcement..from cops on the street to war on drugs and every other human activity the multitude of judges and lawyers and Prisons with guards and services..
Do they contribute to GDP ?is there a data point in GDP for millions in jails?
This employment area cannot easily be automated..so a prison planet may be the only way to grow jobs as machines take over other functions.
probably not, but any way seems we should be encouraging lawlessness at every level to boost the economy!!
If you break a law you should be eligible for tax breaks maybe even small business loans for start up criminals..think of the number of people one criminal can provide jobs for..
We need more laws so every one of us is a criminal..own a home that the mayor's buddy wants for a new mall..don't sell your property is confiscated and you should go to jail after a long trial and such (gotta pay the judges and lawyers and cops and bailiffs and on and on)
ah shit.
I have encountered a great deal of howling about the 'Police State" on this site. The prevailing attitude seems to be one of great dislike for it.
Whats not to like? the masses are criminal by birth ...I am investing in the latest in crowd control and pre paid legal services
post anti gov statements ..break some law
Drive a big gas guzzler ..break some law
exist..break some law
got prisons?
More pics: http://thestar.blogs.com/photoblog/2010/06/peaceful-beginings-violent-ending-as-g20-protests-grip-toronto.html
Here's the series from the Torontoist:
http://torontoist.com/2010/06/live_g20_sunday.php#1233PM-27
Nice to see Mr.Kick-Ass has his priorities straight
"When U.S. President Barack Obama stepped off his helicopter in Huntsville on Friday, the first thing he said was, “You’ve got a lot of golf courses here, don’t you?” Industry Minister Tony Clement told the National Post in an exclusive interview."
The man doesn't care and no longer cares if people see he no longer [if he ever did] care. What a jerk.
I thought you were joking...
http://news.nationalpost.com/2010/06/25/g8-obama-interested-in-huntsvill...
Wow. Just Wow.
Now VP Bite-me is now openly insulting constituents. I'm a registered independent, but I have no doubt had some repub openly insulted a constitutent to his way, ABS, NBS, CBS, and all the liberal media would be replaying this over and over again.
Biden calls a Milwaukee custard shop owner a smartass just for asking to have his taxes cut!
Read more: http://newsbusters.org/blogs/noel-sheppard/2010/06/27/open-thread-biden-calls-shop-owner-wanting-lower-taxes-smartass#ixzz0s42jWXUF
O' Canadaaaaaaaaaa.... OH SHIT!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WwlNPhn64TA&playnext_from=TL&videos=atgO04DZNsI&feature=grec_index
The cops and the vandals need each other. It's all part of the security theater.
Now the cops can say... "See? We needed the $1 billion. If the super-fences hadn't been there, those kids would've gang-raped Sarkozy."
Then, it justifies an escalation the next time.
In any kind of real fight, of course, the black-flag types would be exterminated in about 10 seconds. They're allowed to blow up stuff because it's in the interests of the state to allow it. It keeps the asshole of the bourgeoisie up-tight.
The Frankfurter Allgemeine -FAZ.net- had an early morning headline about the G-20 meeting, most appropriately reading:
EVERYTHING POSTPONED (Alles vertagt)....
Nothing could have said it better.
More fun watching GER beat England in the World Cup today.
A resident of Toronto interviewed on National Public Radio (NPR) this morning offered his shock at the burning police cars and arrests of more than 400 protesters. It’s just not like Toronto, he said, we’re a very peaceful town. To see this, he said, it looks more like, well, Afghanistan.
Yes, it’s peaceful in Boston today, Milwaukee, Toronto and all across North America, and the world’s leaders have nothing to fear from the protesters--being protected by armies of police. And, of course, it’s not Afghanistan where the Western armies are prosecuting a war; and for the innocent villagers there, the long years of foreign troops, bombs, helicopters and destroyed lives seem never ending.
Yes, Mr. Toronto Citizen, you have a peaceful town; just keep paying your taxes, keep your doors open to the ruling oligarchy and keep the war machine away from your shores.
Having followed yesterday's events on television and Twitter with some interest as this is the city I live in here are my observations and responses to some comments above:
http://rawstory.com/rs/2010/0627/police-arrest-peaceful-protesters-g20/
They did end catching the Sortie du Quebec "pretending" to be rioters. Apperently it was the boots that gave them away.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gAfzUOx53Rg
They did end catching the Sortie du Quebec "pretending" to be rioters. Apperently it was the boots that gave them away.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gAfzUOx53Rg
They did end catching the Sortie du Quebec "pretending" to be rioters. Apperently it was the boots that gave them away.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gAfzUOx53Rg
Haha. These poor guys are just getting their ass kicked!!!!!
It's almost as funny of some of the people on the boards here.
The G-20 leaders must give us some happy talk about reducing debt. Dick Cheney was right to a certain extent. We here on ZH rave about deficits but we often forget that debt accounts are just scorecards defining winners and losers in the game. The real question is how did we become so unbalanced in the world economy? If this is a fair game? Overproduction, overconsumption and not enough productive jobs for the masses are the real culprits.
The world economy has become a gigantic out of control monopoly game that needs to be reset PEACEFULLY. Small scale G-20 protests and terrorism won't stop the elites, it's just a cost of doing business ($1 billion spent on security at this one meeting). A huge war is not a option in this age of nuclear proliferation.
The G-20 and other global elites will have to give back some of their winnings at some point. Debt repudiation, 100% tax rates on billioniares and forcing corporations to end and redistribute their wealth back to shareholders after a certain period maybe 30 years will be the only options in the near future.
You know what's really fucked up. Yahoo is reporting 500 people have been arrested there so far. Now either that's 50 or 5000. You just can't tell. They lie both about how much hassle they are getting and about how severely they are cracking down. You just can't get the truth from them any more.
Last number released by police officials is 562 arrested
Global Voices at G20: Violence steals the day's message
http://www.thestar.com/news/globalvoices/article/829262--global-voices-at-g20-violence-steals-the-day-s-message
From TwitPic: This is not the queen and spadina I know
http://twitpic.com/20kbgx
Great photo
Update at Sunday 7pm: ** THE POLICE HAVE DEPLOYED THE ORANGE NET IN TORONTO **
200+ peaceful protesters and innocent bystanders are being orange-netted at Queen & Spadina. Journalists are being arrested but quickly released because the Gestapo knew better than to bully the mainstream media.
The Canadian constitution have been flushed down the toilet today in name of G20 security.
And one last post on this (for now). Very short video - probably shot on a phone. I would prefer to see a longer one to see what happened on both sides but ...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Heb9BXjYcII
(I think this may go viral - at least for Canadians)