I hear that Canada spent 1 Billion dollars on security for the G20 Summit in Toronto. What a bunch of maroons. They built a wall.
In Toronto this week, contract workers are putting final touches on the three-metre high and six-kilometre long $5.5 million dollar concrete and metal security fence encompassing the Metro Toronto Convention Centre. Total security bill for the G20 in Toronto and G8 in Huntsville is expected to reach over $1 billion, the most expensive in history. Within and around this armed camp are 20,000 law enforcement officials, 1,000 private security guards, closed circuit TV cameras, military-style checkpoints along with sound and water cannons.
But people will challenge that wall, because they have nothing better to do than be general malcontents and anarchists. I have a suggestion. That is to continue building walls that are cheap, build concentric defenses and up the ante.
Here's what my mind is thinking. There ought to be a point at which, for various methods of protest, the protester gets a very clear reminder of the physical and legal lines they are crossing. Security for affairs such as the G20 and other such bitch magnets should make such things as clear as possible. Take the following tour with me.
What can your generic protester expect when approaching a line of riot cops? Some teargas? Some rubber bullets? A water cannon? Handcuffs? And if they are to be reminded of their rights and hauled off for due process, matters favor the overwhelming numbers. In other words, in sufficient quantities, an amateur protester can outmaneuver traditional security of the sort - well, that amateur protesters generally overcome. But what if the level of confrontation were escalated through the physical acts of the protesters? What if perimeters were set such that in breaching them, the protester could have little doubt in their mind of the consequences? How could such a gauntlet be created?
Well, I think a wall makes a lot of sense, as do choke points. But I also like the idea of free spaces with concentric defenses. Imagine a defense zone beyond a low wall (say five feet high) with a fat red stripe painted on the ground. Let us imagine then, that outside of the wall, your protest can remain peaceful. But by scaling the wall and coming into the first defense zone, you are now subject to arrest. Then if you pass beyond the red stripe, you are now subject to greater force. As individuals pass over the red stripe, they are targeted by paintball snipers and fired upon. Without having come in contact with any officers, you now have three physical reminders of how close you are to putting yourself in harm's way. Now there is a second wall. It is a mere three feet high, but it has barbed wire. And in the second defense zone is a fat black stripe. Inside the black stripe are the carcasses of dead animals. You can smell them. If you cross the barbed wire you will be hit again with a different color painball. You will be bloodied by then, and beyond the black stripe is the lethal zone.
A level of security can be set such that it requires planning of a military nature to breach. The rules of engagement can be simplified, and a clear public case can be established by creating the concentric zones. The point is not that I could perfect security, but that there is a level of conflict that the protesters own physical presence dictates and that these are fixed positions not subject to the interpretations of orders given at the spur of the moment.
I also like the idea of a moat filled with psychotropics, or a line of mist with nitrous oxide. You pollute yourself by taking the bait - like the exploding ink bombs put in money bags by robbed bankers. But I'm sick that way.
--
It's altogether foolish, in my view, to have the G20 Summits anywhere but castles or military installations. As soon as it is made clear that the first car will burn, the venue must be made beyond general accessibility. So even preferable to everything I've mentioned would be to have such an affair at Camp David, or its equivalent. To put it in the middle of a crowded large city is crazy, and the bold hubris of suggesting that the G20 or any such organization with mortal enemies is a special entity that shouldn't 'hide' is foolishness. That's like saying military barracks shouldn't be guarded, or cops shouldn't have secure headquarters.
Build a castle on an island in a lake.
Recent Comments