Rewriting History

More than a week has passed since the Olympic torch left Victoria on it’s journey across the country. Reports of the torch’s progress continue to appear daily in the local media, as I assume it will for months. With that in mind, I don’t consider it unreasonable to devote a bit more space in the public discourse to the actions of the protestors, and I don’t mean the marbles.

In response to Jody Patterson’s column in which she a mentions ‘a ridiculous debate over whether protesters or undercover police threw marbles under the police horses’ hooves’, I would point out that organizers were misquoted as saying the police may have thrown the marbles. This mistake was remedied by the Times Colonist editors, who removed the article and issued a correction.

Yet sadly I opened Friday’s paper to see Jody Patterson reviving this debate, and insisting that this would be how history remembered the protests. Patterson, like many of us, must realize that history is often written by those in the media, whose work goes on to become archival, oft-quoted and established as public record far into the future.

Those of us who were a witness to this extraordinary expression of free speech will remember it much differently. Seeing as I have only met one person who actually saw marbles that day, I’m pretty sure that if what exists in the media archives now is what will comprise the history of this day, then history has been cheated of being able to provide a true glimpse into an important event.

Early coverage of the day mentioned that protestors were attempting to convey a message about homelessness, lack of housing and wasteful government spending. Concerns about RBC’s involvement in the tar sands and Coca-Cola’s involvement in South American union busting also got a line or two in some outlets. While some people witnessing the march were upset by the disruption of the torch relay, many along the route, including small children, were well aware of the reasons why protestors had taken to the streets.

There was once a time when a rally as large as this, focused on something as huge as the Olympics, would have been a jumble of different causes coming together and creating confusion for the media. The 1999 WTO protests in Seattle are a good example of this, where the media spent a fair amount of time detailing how difficult it was to ascertain the motivations of the protestors, what with all the various campaigns represented.

Those who turned out for the Five Ring Circus event on the 30th represented no less of a diversity of interests, but for the most part displayed a unity of purpose, and expressed a very coherent message. The impacts of Olympic related development on everything from wild salmon to urban aboriginals was highlighted, but the message was clear: The government of the day is neglecting it’s responsibility to the people and to the natural environment. Poor people are being displaced, pristine wilderness is being destroyed, and these things are becoming less abstract as people we know and love suffer in front of our eyes.
We can no longer just sit back and watch it happen.
Opposition to the Olympics has never been about wanting to ’stop’ the games, but more about highlighting to ourselves, here at home, that our priorities are way off; that no matter how much tourism or trade we might generate from the Olympics, we should never seek to profit from destroying precious wilderness, displacing communities or diverting funding from much needed social services. Whether that message got through or not last week, we at least, for a brief moment, knew that we were not alone in our frustration, and each of us took away valuable lessons and connections that will make us stronger.
The history we will hold in our hearts will be much different than what you might read in the corporate media.
These kinds of events are the foundation of social change, and are much bigger than can ever be expressed in a newspaper or on television. Long after we have forgotten about the marbles, we will remember what we achieved that day, because it will be manifest in the change we are creating.