Toban Black

Here is a small set of photos from a recent critical mass bike rally here in London -

Mike also took this video as he arrived at the end of the ride.

Jim also has sent more photos.

I would have taken at least a couple more photos if I didn’t have camera battery problems.

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This ride was linked with a climate justice day of action — which you can read about at the end of this Ecojustice Declaration.
(Here are ways those links were made locally.)

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Since the G20 Summit in Toronto, activists here in London, Ontario (Canada) have organized a series of protests against the Summit policing regime. Below I’ll offer some photos, video links, and written background about our protests.  First, here are some points about other campaigning and organizing here in London (Ont.) -

Local activists released a statement about Summit policing and detention conditions in Toronto, and the local climate justice group that I’m part of has sent out a connected statement about oil and civil liberties.  Through those statements we have pointed out links between London and the Toronto Summit, and we have shown how the G20 police regime is bound up with much wider neoliberalism, fossil fuel systems, and other large-scale problems.

More than anything, activists here have been demanding civil liberties that were attacked at the Summit.

Civil liberties petition signatures have been collected, and a flyer about civil liberties has been distributed here.  We have brought copies with us as we have used a projector to display video footage of G20 police brutality on walls for crowds at public events. Here is a post about the first of those projection protests, at a Canada Day fireworks show.

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I was one of the co-writers behind this action report -
“London, Ontario actions against Fossil Fools”

Most of the photos are from me. (The ones that I posted are here and here)

There were a various actions against the tar sands that day. People out in London, England even joined the action.  Here in Canada, RBC (the Royal Bank of Canada) was the main Fossil Fool target. That bank is the leading financier behind the tar sands.

Compared with other local campaigning against RBC tar sands financing here, there was a lot more tension at the protest at the first RBC bank building we went to on the Fossil Fools day of action. Just leafletting inside an RBC building has been enough to get us into a confrontation (of sorts) with police though. Security staff and police officers always are at hand to defend corporations like RBC by preventing people from voicing concerns on company property.

That said, I still don’t appreciate conflicts (or potential conflicts) with police and security staff. That sort of excitement doesn’t work for me, and I’m generally not hostile towards police officers and security workers.  There are a lot of problems police/security systems — given how they are bound up with a much wider status quo — but I don’t find targetting police and security workers to be a productive way of confronting those problems.  We’ve got to find ways to change and replace the mainstream systems that employ those people. If there are no dirty banks (for instance), then the police and security forces can’t defend them.

March 3rd was a day of action against tar sands financing from RBC (the Royal Bank of Canada).

Here are various photos, video, and writing about the actions that day — in several Canadian cities.

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In Toronto

4 of us went out to Toronto to join the protesting there.  We brought a banner and signs.  Here are remarks about other contributions that our London delegation made that day.

My photos from that protesting are posted here.

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In London, Ontario

Here are a series of photos from our local protest on March 1st; there also are remarks and videos links about/from that protesting.

I co-wrote this action report -
“Canadian action against Olympics sponsors and greenwashing”

Half of the photos are from me.

(That image was cropped out of a photo taken by Jody B.)

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The COP15 talks in Copenhagen have been called “Brokenhagen” and “Failenhagen.” One write-up in The Guardian is titled “Low targets, goals dropped: Copenhagen ends in failure.”

Here is some selected material about the betrayals and the sell-outs in Copenhagen -

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Around the end of the talks

Civil society organization statements -
“US undermines climate talks with bullying tactics and backroom deals”
“Civil Society Denounces U.S. Plan for Fast-Tracking Warming, Worsening Humanitarian Crisis, and Fueling Ecological Collapse”

A statement from La Via Campesina -
“Traders failed in Copenhagen. The future lies in people’s hands”
(Although I support some of the groups and organizations who protested out there, I wouldn’t call the street demonstrations “power in Copenhagen.”)

A video -
“Bill McKibben reacts to climate deal announcement at flash rally”
“350.org founder and author, Bill McKibben offers his perspective of the end of the Copenhagen climate talks amidst a rousing rally to shame world leaders for not stepping up to the plate with a real deal.”

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[In this post I am following up the previous one, which also was about health and mobility issues]

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A patch that was made by Rachel, a local artist

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A Streetfilms video -
“Stop the pollution, pick a solution” (from July)

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“No Impact Man” makes some points that should be more obvious -

“If you walk instead of drive, you use more calories.

Walking and cycling is healthier for people than driving. Walking and cycling is also healthier for the planet than driving. Use cars less and you get to reduce global warming and be less fat. What an amazingly wonderful synergy.”

(Obviously he is referring to the Earth’s biosphere when he uses the word “planet.” The thing is, that “planet” language implies that people don’t live in the biosphere — which just isn’t the case.)

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A sign that I used to display on my bike during critical mass rallies

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A lone cyclist — surrounded by automobiles
in London, Ontario, Canada

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As I noted in a previous post, our streets are battlegrounds. The automobile drivers definitely have the upper-hand in these battles -

A post on the Baltimore Spokes site -
“Half of traffic fatalities are not in cars (in June)

Elana Schor on the Streetsblog New York City site -
“WHO report highlights global health risk of traffic” (in June)

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A car advertisement on the back of a local bus

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Andy Rowell on the Oil Change blog -
“Electric Vehicles May Increase CO2”
(I think it’s too much of a stretch to say that electric vehicles are “all the rage”; but some people definitely are looking toward them as ’solutions.’)

Brad Aaron on the Streetsblog New York City site -
“Do Your Part: Buy an Audi, Drive Fast” (in October)
(Evidently the author is using the word “transit” to refer to mass transit — such as buses.)

Fred Pearce in The Guardian -
“BMW’s ActiveHybrid X6 Accelerates Nonsense About High-performance, Low-emission Cars” (in September)

Brad Aaron on the Streetsblog New York City site -
“Ad Nauseam: Toyota’s (Passive-Aggressive) Ransom Note to America” (in October)

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Here are some related posts on this blog -
http://tobanblack.net/blog/?tag=automobiles

Last week, Nick Griffin — the head of the racist and fascist ‘British National’ Party — was given some air time on BBC’s “Question Period.” There were protests, and a lot of controversy.
Here is some selected coverage and commentary -

“Lenin” on the Lenin’s Tomb blog -
“Springboard for Griffin”

An article on the BBC web site -
“BNP support in poll sparks anger”
(Anti-BNP bias actually isn’t a problem that anyone should complain about.)

Brian Wheeler on the BBC web site -
“What did voters make of Griffin?”
(I’m not exactly recommending that article. I’m just pointing it out because I think it captures how the BBC airtime has tended to feed into the BNP.)

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