We knew they were coming, as inevitable as the torch run itself, protests during the Olympic Games here in Vancouver. The blessing, and sometimes curse, of a free society is the right for people to gather, march, and protest to voice their objections and concerns about the state of things. It is our right. It is our duty. And people have died, and have died today, defending that right. However the right to object. The right to say “this is wrong and should change”, does not come with the right to hurt, maim, destroy, and vandalize as an expression of indignation.
Today in Vancouver one of the stories I awoke to were riots downtown. Protesters, who have a point to make, and thugs, who hide behind masks to incite and destroy, marched through town and were met, as expected, with a hefty police presence.
I aplaude those who peacefully march and ask us to consider how our government spends our tax dollars. I cast shame upon those who think dragging newspaper boxes (including the ironic choice of the Georgia Straight) into the streets and smashing windows helps the cause for justice and humanity in our world.
I have become decidedly more moderate as I’ve gotten older. I don’t decry the actions of government or business as every turn. Sometimes there are issues that just aren’t worth me raising my blood pressure over. I also carry within me generations of ancestors who have died in protest of things that were not right. Jan Hus was the first Protestant martyr, and the only one to be burned at the stake conscious. I stood on the spot where he died. Cognizant of the irony that when I was in college and grad school I was very active in the Church that executed him. My ancestors sunk their ships as part of the Great Stone Fleet during the American Civil War to help the Union. My ancestors were whalers and merchants, sending your ship to the bottom of the ocean wasn’t a trivial sacrifice.
I have no acts of protest that come close to what my forefathers did. I send a letter or email now and then. I write posts like these. I vote.
Perhaps, tempered in my more centrist few of the world, which is a long way from my Reagan-era “you make Attila the Hun look liberal” world view (as my father once told me) and my much more liberal views of my twenties and early thirties, I don’t see protest on the streets as the way I want to work for social change. It doesn’t mean I’m blind to it, I merely choose to do things differently.
So, to the protesters who stand firm and steadfast and in peace for their beliefs, I applaud you. To the protesters who cause harm and destruction, stay home and off our streets. We, the majority of Canadians and Vancouverites, see no place for you and your violence in our world. While I don’t agree with most of what the Olympic protesters are protesting about, I will agree they have a right to do it.
Now, let’s enjoy watching people do amazing athletic feats and cheer Canada to gold!