Thursday, Jul. 15, 2010 - 9:21 a.m.
Letter to Rose 3
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a city is for everybody:
space is strictly allocated
and ownership is carefully defined,, certain activities are forbidden
or
regulated with a stopwatch precision. traffic is controlled with timed coloured lights..
the walls and lamp posts bristle
with a million written warnings of
" thou shalt not. "
The city is made for commerce,
and has been for thousands of years.. its the marketplace -
- no surprise when
the marketplace
defends itself
You have an army of peace officers entrusted with protecting
a special meeting
in the city core
and a large camp of
inhabitants & tourists
who's stated purpose of assembly
is disrupt that meeting--
and they are not complying
with the thousand courtesies
that the compressed life
of a city demands,,
and then they surge--
" en mass''
breaking and burning..
it was not peaceful,
it was a mob
demanding their will prevail.
all i can say is
what did anyone expect
except the tuna net
close behind them
and cops sort them out later
let the little ones go.
If that was anywhere else
but Toronto,
heads would have been cracked,
shots fired and maybe people die.
My stake in all this?
I used to live in Toronto
but moved because
of this anarchist element
I saw first hand in the arts.
It was impure.
The day Toronto
was enduring that riot-
i was running a peace festival
here where I live
..there were many Toronto people
attending lingering in Niagara
who had fled the city
in advance of the riots,
sensing something rotton
was about to errupt
- and it did.
I mock the solidarity
yuppy army
for swarming up to
the police line
with big chips
on their shoulders,
not checking their team
as they smashed,
destroyed and burnt..
and then they all
got pushed back .
They went there
looking for a fight,
and they got it
but they lost the match.
the vandals
and their supporters
cry out for a recount.
well that's what enquiries
are all about..
soothing sore losers
Go right ahead
and investigate ,..
it will take several years
and millions of dollars
to complete ,
and nobody will be satisfied -
- then what ?
