Protesters, Delegates, Independent Media Converge on Quebec City

Unlike their American counterparts, Canadian television and newspapers have been providing frontpage, relatively thoughtful, coverage of the upcoming summits and protests in Quebec City. According to a national poll conducted earlier this month, a vast majority of Canadians, on the order of 85%, believe any trade agreement should include provisions for labor and environmental standards. Like American media, however, Canadian corporate media is virtually silent on the FTAA agreement itself - failing to mention that FTAA won't actually include any substantial labor, environmental, or human rights standards, and is in fact still completely secret. CBC and local newspapers prefer to inform Canadians of their compatriots' opinions on the issues, rather than discussing the issues themselves. (Newspaper editorials tend to be a bit more substantial - ridiculing protesters outright and singing the praises of Corporate America, or Corporate Canada as they may call it here.) According to the polls, Canadians are evenly divided on whether or not the Summit of the Americas will advance the cause of Democracy in the western hemisphere.

I was able to take in a fair amount of Canadian television, and read several newspapers, thanks to a lengthy interrogation at customs that caused me to miss my flight from Toronto to Quebec City. The immigration official told me that he had to make sure I would not be "videotaping the demonstrations" or participating in "other illegal activities." I assured him that I was in Canada to videotape labor unions and conferences at the People's Summit. I'm sure I will switch off my camera at the merest hint of any "demonstration" or other "illegal activity." ;)

After flying from Toronto to Montreal, I was finally able to catch a flight to Quebec City late this morning, several hours behind schedule. Summit of the Americas hospitality kindly told me how to get downtown at half the usual cab fare - by transferring to bus at a suburban shopping mall. (The taxi driver was not so keen on the idea, insisting on charging me nearly full fare.)

In Quebec City, police in berets and fatigues loiter on the streets; barricades and fences criss-cross the barren, still-wintry landscape. But the Center for Media Alternatives of Quebec (CMAQ, the local independent media center) is humming with activity. Freshly assembled audio and video studios are being put through their paces; jury-rigged computer networks are coming on line. We will be meeting with the Convergence des luttes Anti-Capitalistes (CLAC) and the Comité d'accueil du Sommet des Amériques (CASA) soon, to hopefully get a general idea of what is in the works for later this week.