There were lots and lots of people out in Toronto. All kinds of people -- babies in strollers, toddlers on adults' shoulders, high-school and university students, middle-aged and up to quite antique. And while anyone would have to admit that the ethnic diversity did not reflect the average subway car in rush-hour, I'd say that all members of the human family were represented.
The NDP and Greens were there with banners, as were a number of unions. The NDP had printed signs that said on one side 'Democracy Works' and on the other 'Stand Up to Harper'. They were NDP orange and had the logo at the bottom of one side. I noticed that some people holding up the signs had torn a small rectangle out of the bottom and realized that they objected to the NDP logo and had removed it but were still waving the signs around.
I have no problem with political parties supporting our cause and helping by paying for signs. I carried one.
But the handmade signs were really fabulous and the best one -- actually I saw two instances of it -- was impromptu as well as handmade.
This being Toronto of course there were mounted police and when you have mounted police, you have, of course, horseshit to step around on the march. Marchers were pretty good about alerting followers when such was the case.
At one point, though, not only were people diverting around something, they were laughing their asses off and taking pictures. I didn't bring a camera and wanted to share this, so I put out a request on the Toronto Rally Facebook page and got an immediate reply from photographer Mathew Rossi, who then kindly gave me permission to post it here.
The original Canadians Against Proroguing Parliament group is still growing. It hit 214,000 members this morning.
And people want to continue the energy and organizing. There's now a What's Next (that's not the correct name) group. Building on the success of yesterday, it's booming in numbers too.
3 comments:
Toronto protest was great and I am in the west and I know Harper is going to be worried about the eastern protest especially the one on toronto because of votes. I know our votes out west don't matter so people out east vote him out..The picture is hilarious i can't stop laughing
Hi,
This is the first report I have read on this action.
I am in Vancouver alpenglowpro.wordpress.com
Its good to know that not all Canadians display apathy. Sometimes I wonder whether I'm an anomoly
good to have some re-affirmation.
I try to facilitate a bit of a burning ember of rage as H Rollins so aptly calls it see vid on blog
Thanks for the report there are a lot of things this current government is reponsible for that is not positive .... like the tar sands but a lot of it is off the average Joe's radar.
best g
Best photographic political statement ever!
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