It's been well over a year since the G20 summit in Toronto, and the accompanying protests and riot.
At this point, these things are as predictable as the weather in November (hint: it's going to rain some more).
First, world leaders gather to discuss big, important issues, which somehow never seem to ward off economic meltdowns, topple dictators, or do anything at all about global warming.
Eager to gain the eyes and ears of the world media, protesters will gather, representing many and varied points of view. Among other things, they're probably worried about the economy, tyranny, and global warming. They'll plan marches and speeches and maybe some sit-ins.
Finally, a small fraction of those protesters will plan to smash some stuff to make their points, which may or may not be quite the same points as the ones being made by the peaceful protesters. But they will get 95 per cent of the TV coverage.
The response to these mini-riots is interesting. We now know that the Ontario Provincial Police placed two undercover agents in the anarchist/radical protest movement before the summit began. They were there when some of the protesters planned which stores they might target for direct action. So the police had a lot of info on what might happen.
Apparently they did nothing with that knowledge. They didn't station anyone in front of the targeted stores. They didn't warn the property owners, as far as we know.
Toronto police have declined to comment on what, exactly, they were planning to do with the information.
They have managed to lay charges against a handful of people - six of whom pleaded guilty to counselling others to damage property. Two of those six also pleaded guilty to counselling others to obstruct police officers.
That seems like very little reward for months of work. The two officers spent a lot of time working with activists, helping them out, getting into their good graces.
One officer even moved in as a roommate with other activists. The other used the tried and true tactics of winning friends: A) He gave people rides in his van, and B) he bought them beer.
According to the Globe and Mail, the male undercover officer even drove an activist's dying mother to her cancer treatment.
This was clearly a major operation. Yet one activist has since said it could have been a lot cheaper: they published their list of targets online just before the summit.
In fact, let me take a moment to make a quick list of targets in advance of any future summits:
? Banks
? Starbucks
? McDonalds
? Any clothing company that has ever used child sweatshop labour
? Any cosmetics company that has used animaltested products
? Police cars There. Now the next time, if you're worried about property damage and hooliganism and all that, maybe you could try and watch the major, obvious targets a little more closely?
Of course, all this talk of riots and undercover officers obscures a few things.
Agree or disagree with the various shades of tactics on display, they're right that these summits accomplish very little.
They seem to be excuses for photo ops and, in the case of the G20, pork-barrel spending in Muskoka.
In addition, the central problems of the protesters are given very little time in the spotlight.
In fact, if it wasn't for the protests, it wouldn't be worth holding these summit meetings at all.
Matthew Claxton is a reporter with the Langley Advance.
