Expand your horizons, Mr. Fox?

To the Editor:

As a member of the Council of Canadians and as an activist who has participated in recent years in several large demonstrations protesting the evils of corporate globalization, I'd like to clarify a few of the issues Brent Fox rasises in his recent column, “Put unions and protesters to work” (Kings County Register, Sept. 6, 2007).

First, Mr. Fox refers repeatedly to protesters as "rent-a-crowd" and wonders who pays them. I can assure him that those who gather to express opposition at events such as the anti-FTAA gathering in Quebec City in 2001 or more recently the anti-Atlantica event in Halifax are not paid to do so by anybody. Rather, they’re citizens who are better informed than Mr. Fox apparently is about the true nature of events such as the recent SPP summit in Montebello, and about the implications of such a secretive top-level meeting for all of us and for the future of our beloved country.

We decide by our own volition to make a visable stand against the forces working for the dominance of Big Business interests over those of civil society.

Despite the undeniable danger should things, as Mr. Fox suggests, "get volatile", and despite the personal expenses of getting there and finding accommodation and food once we’re there, we do this to capture the attention of our fellow citizens and to raise public awareness about the unsavoury deals our governments attempt to slip past us with no opportunity for open public debate about the consequences.

Like wolves in sheep’s clothing, the big business CEOs and executive levels of governments pretend to be discussing innocuous topics such as "balancing security and border accessibility". They hope with these reassurances that we needn't worry our pretty little heads about what they’re up to; they will be left free to decide among themselves, with no open public discussion even in Parliament, how to render Canada impotent by sacrificing our standards of product safety, labour and environmental protection on the

altar of business expediency.

Our resources such as fresh water would become continental, rather than Canadian, and our military and immigration policies would be merged with those of our big paranoid trading partner to the south.

As for the frequently-mentioned idea that protesters would be better advised to get a job and work hard for 'the system', Mr. Fox should note that most of the activist participants at such demonstrations of political resistance are either students or, as in my own case, retired pensioners.

Everyone of working age is so busy working their heads off to cover their living expenses (and/or to aquire all the consumer goods they are constantly told by advertisers they need and should have) that they have no time even to consider the issues, let alone to spend a precious weekend protesting against unfair and rapacious policies.

And yes, police do have to be prepared to manage large crowds during demonstrations. This should not entitle them, however, to disguise themselves and possibly to instigate actions which would give their colleagues in riot gear an excuse for spraying tear-gas around and arresting people.

I would suggest that Mr. Fox might like to expand his understanding of the issues by checking out the Council of Canadians website www.canadians.org.

Michaele Kustudic

Wolfville