In what seemed almost an affront, the sun came out on this Valentine's Day in the Unceded Coastal Salish Territory, after several rainy days of Olympic protests. February 14 was an intentional time out from the "No Olympics on Stolen Native Land" convergence, in order to stand in solidarity with the nineteenth annual Missing Women's Memorial March. Gray skies almost seemed more fitting for all the sorrow on the streets today. And as if on cue at the march's start, as some 5,000 people created an opening for, first, indigenous drummers and then the many families of those 500 or so mostly indigenous women murdered across Canada over the past few decades (many of them here in East Vancouver), a big cloud settled directly overhead. As if the skies, too, were about to spill tears.

Yet again, I was struck--as an anarchist from the United States--by how different this was from what I would likely experience at home if there were a similar event: most anarchists wouldn't have attended during the "excitement" of a mobilization. Here, though, the anarchist (and other) organizers against the Olympics had agreed not to do anything on this Sunday, pausing a day before starting up again tomorrow with a tent city action. More than that, the anarchist organizers and nearly every anarchist who had participated in either the Olympic torch relay disruption three days ago, the Take Back Our City march and its black bloc two days ago, and especially the autonomous, more militant Heart Attack direct action of yesterday joined this commemoration, and mostly not in black. All respected the boundaries and mood of this memorial. Many of the anarchists, too, were crying. It was hard not to.

This isn't to romanticize "Canadian" anarchists; indeed, a couple of my anarchist friends here chided me for being too kind to the Heart Attack action's black bloc in my blog post yesterday. Certainly, it shouldn't be anything out of the ordinary that we, as anarchists, would want to join in such a procession for a couple hours, and would want to listen to the stories of families who've lost a sister or dozens of friends to a murder (murders that in Canada, disproportionately target indigenous women), then share a meal at a local hall. Yet from a U.S. perspective, where anarchists all too frequently seem to eschew anything that isn't explicitly radical or, in particular, action-packed--especially when it falls within something like this Olympics convergence--it felt extraordinary today.

It also felt extraordinarily sad--sad that we, anarchists, don't do this more often, but sad to witness all the sorrow on the streets.

A Canadian friend remarked that this was the largest such gathering for this yearly memorial that they'd seen, precisely because so many folks were also in town to contest the Olympics and had decided to join the march. It was also the largest and perhaps most diverse gathering of people over the past few days. As I watched person after person walk by at the opening to the procession, for perhaps a half hour, to the solemn beat of drums and an indigenous chant, knowing that each person had lost a woman they loved, it struck me that this mass gathering--of anarchists, peace and justice activists, ecologists, No One Is Illegal, indigenous, and/or community organizers, homeless people, women's activists, and so forth, and just many many people from this neighborhood and city--was both so powerful and so powerless. On one side of Vancouver, mostly rich people sitting in expensive seats to watch speed skating; on this side of Vancouver, thousands of people who desire a humane and egalitarian world, a world where everyone is safe and cared for. Where we care for each other.

Yet that isn't the world we inhabit. As much as we fight and resist, as much as some days it feels like we are eeking out wins, reclaiming our lives, today it felt less possible and yet all more necessary.

On some days in the United States, when anarchists turn up their noses at joining people who aren't anarchists, but who are suffering and struggling and equally eager for freedom, it feels embarassing to be an anarchist. Today, after three days of anarchists acting in ways that, while still imperfect, reminded me of the potential of an anarchism that truly embodies solidarity, strategic thinking, and mutual aid, it felt good to be part of that tradition. It felt wonderful to be among anarchists willing to walk with others, share in their pain and attempt to overcome pain--and cry with others.

Tonight, reflecting on it all, it now feels more possible than ever that we might win, if this is the way we move forward--not as a separate bloc of people in black (even though that works well on occasion) but as people who, as the indigenous women leading today's procession noted, understand each and every one of us as sharing in one humanity. A humanity not only crying out for justice, dignity, and freedom but doing it in increasingly sensitive ways (and on this Valentine's Day, in rather loving ways too).

Tomorrow we leave this occupied territory to head back to our own, and hopefully a more thought-out analysis of anarchists during this Olympic convergence will follow in the coming week. In the meantime, feel free to share all the "Beneath the Snow" images, videos, and words with others.

From yesterday's anarchist presence in the "family friendly" Take Back Our City march directed against the Olympic opening ceremonies to this morning's anarchist-organized Heart Attack directed at blocking road access to the first day of Olympic games, the anarchists and especially black bloc contingent have been a strong force of resistance here in the Unceded Coast Salish Territory. That's often true at such convergences. What's especially striking here, though, is how disciplined and strategically--even politically--effective they've been, and how much respect they've earned through their organizing efforts leading up to this point as well as their actions on the streets.

Much of this is likely due to the fact that anarchists have been a big part of organizing efforts toward this convergence for years now, and have been doing lots of public outreach, popular education, and even press conferences, not to mention direct actions. They've also created a space, through a "diversity of tactics" strategy that reaches outward while retaining its anticapitalist stance, for genuine ties of friendship and solidarity beyond anarchists, to others who share concerns for a just world. Many of the anarchist organizers here on the ground in Vancouver and nearby cities have long been working in collaboration with nonanarchists on everything from tent cities to No One Is Illegal--on issues that impact people's daily survival needs. Many also "came of anarchist age" through the anticapitalist movement of movements, and are utilizing lessons from that to build and perhaps expand on past successes as well as go beyond past mistakes. And they are acting and organizing in concert with others, premised on daily issues that impact people's lives and their communities--communities of which many anarchists here are also a part (poor, people of color and indigenous, queer and women, among others). Finally, they seem to have been willing to work out a balance within the various political events here, where during yesterday's Take Back Our City march the anarchists followed the lead of others, so to speak, and today, some of those nonanarchist folks joined the anarchists for their more militant Heart Attack direct action, as part of this anticolonial and anticapitalist convergence.

These are some impressions, at least, from an outsider perspective. But as an "U.S." anarchist, it's been striking to witness what appears to be cooperation and solidarity of a genuine character between anarchists, justice types, nonprofit types, and others, in a way that's ensuring that all the components form a far more powerful whole, and probably far beyond this particular convergence. At the same time, interestingly, the message here overall remains radical.

What's also striking, however, considering that many in today's anarchist action were from out of town, is how seemingly coordinated and in sync the black bloc was during Heart Attack. How tight and disciplined it was in a way that allowed for a smarter, clearer, stronger street presence.

Of course, it didn't feel like that at first, when at the "8:30 a.m. sharp" meet-up time in a fairly empty park near the Olympic village there were more indie/anarchist media, legal, and medic affinity groups than black bloc ones. It's great to see so many anarchists taking up such roles, but it also felt rather sad, initially, that we weren't simply there as part of the action, rather than its mutual aid contingent. Slowly but surely, anarchist affinity groups trickled in, most masking up into black bloc, and one group in white chemical suits with pink wigs, soon to be joined by an anarchist marching band. But it wasn't only anarchists; people from the previous day's march--from two PETA people to folks from a host of issue-based concerns such as climate change, anti-road expansion, the anti-Tar Sands development, and so on--joined the bloc, whose numbers seemed to go from around 100 to several hundred or more as the Heart Attack crew immediately took to the street. Or rather, instantly took the streets.

Again, the police presence seemed absurdly light today, as it has at other convergence events. The same bicycle cops who'd been at every demonstrations followed, or more to the point, were serving as traffic cops to this supposed street takeover. It all felt rather contained, until the bloc turned toward the downtown, and once past the poor section of the city, black bloc folks started methodically bringing newspaper boxes, dumpsters, plastic road barriers, cafe chairs, and other things into the street, creating obstacle after obstacle. As the Heart Attack bloc reached the now-crowded downtown, specific stores were targeted for a few broken windows--such as the Hudson Bay Company.

And then there were riot cops, clubs to thighs and shoving (police first), arrests and unarrests, and police increasingly blocking off access to the Heart Attack destination: the road to Whistler, where athletes, tourists, sports fans, and others would need to go to ride to the first of the Olympic games. There's lots of good stills and video of these actions, the melees created by the police, and the kettle the police used to finally put a damper on Heart Attack (but after some three hours). The story of "which street," "whose street," and so forth seems less interesting than some further observations on how this black bloc in particular functioned: overall, really well. And, overall, it offers some lessons of sorts for black blocs and, it could be added, the social war insurrectionist tendency in the United States. (Given how exhausted this anarchist "reporter" is, these are some tentative and sleepy observations, hopefully to be followed up by more thoughtful analysis at a later date.)

1. Good organization from the start. For example, the Heart Attack organizers handed out a flyer at the original meet-up point, detailing three plans toward the objective of blocking traffic to the Olympic games, people's rights and legal info, dispersal instructions, safety tips, and a section on "in the (unsurprising) event of police violence." They also gave out a tiny slip of paper with a time and location for reconvening later in the day (plan 4, which they called off due to police targeting specific individuals).

One of the organizers also explained how the bloc would be guided through the streets: with two black flags, one at the back and one at the front. When needed, the bloc would turn and yell "backward," and the whole thing would reverse direction. There was also a white flag, to indicate a relatively safe zone.

2. Practice makes perfect. "To be sure you all understand the principle," the organizers then had everyone practice this guiding method in the park, before the bloc set off, with the caveat, "you can do whatever the fuck you want; we're not your mother." And yes indeed, everyone practiced, and instantly got it perfect--rather a funny but sweet sight, with cops watching from the sidelines.

3. Discipline and just being good to each other. Once in the streets, people were good about keeping the bloc together--for example, often stopping with a "slow down" shout to the front until everyone was in a solid group, and always keeping calm and not running randomly. They were good about focusing on the mission: to put obstacles in the streets so as to slow or stop traffic, and thus hopefully the Olympic spectacle. And equally good at focusing on not needlessly antagonizing the police--a distraction to this mission--but doing so when needed--such as when trying to unarrest people. When the first window broke and the riot cops started shoving folks, a few shoved back, then stopped to yell "You started it," followed by "no justice, no peace, fuck the police," but then the bloc moved on.

People within the bloc also didn't "police" each other. For example, a giant black-and-green flag with a circle A flew right next to a raised umbrella boosting Canadian flags and also the white "safety zone" flag. There was a "diversity of tactics" within this direct action bloc that allowed, say, for some anarchists to play music while others tried to fill the streets with barricades or smash strategically targeted windows--and everyone good-naturedly enjoyed both.

4. Good messaging and public education. This bloc showed that anarchists can be "insurrectionary" and yet still demand something--that is, put out a clear message(s) about why people are opposing the Olympics, in this case, and why they are choosing direct action tactics. The two most recurrent chants, as at the torch disruptions and Take Back the City march over the past two days, were: "No Olympics on Stolen Native Lands" and "Homes Not Games." One of the main big black banners leading the march read "Anti-Poverty Committee," and surprisingly, no one felt the need to circle the A in "anti-" (suggesting enough confident in anarchist politics and actions that branding was almost redundant). Sure, there were the usual rousing anarchist chants related to smashing capitalism and the state, but given the move within U.S. insurrectionary anarchism to see the color black, or inaccessible French theory (much as French theory can be great), as the message, it was refreshing to experience "old-fashioned" anarchist messaging that was both revolutionary and on point to the specific convergence. Again, this even included the choice of windows to smash: those related to stealing indigenous lands or underwriting the Olympics.

It seemed to work, at least in many cases, to "educate" bystanders. Sure, the fanaticism of Canadian nationalism tied to sports was often hard to crack, and there were plenty of instances of people yelling the ever-idiotic "get a job" slogan, for example, at the bloc. But there was also lots of instances of support, such as a car honking its horn in time with the marching band's latest offering, or the mainstream-looking mom leaning over to her young daughter, just when the Hudson Bay department store window shattered, to say something along the lines of: "They are doing that to show that the Olympics are doing some bad things like..." Another guy who randomly stumbled on the bloc asked, "This is a riot, right? When people randomly throw things into the street and violently break windows?" He ended up getting the strategic use of objects to in fact fulfill the goal of this action, and how those particular broken windows related to the Olympics, and then happily stuck around.

It's always hard to judge the impact, particularly in the immediate moment, of such blocs. As one anarchist from Vancouver commented, it's upsetting when you're "standing up for people's rights who don't know that you're standing up for their rights and they are against you [when] little do they know, a few years down the road, they're going to be in our shoes themselves."

Yet perhaps that's why it was good to witness a more strategic, message-oriented anarchist direct action like today's. When combined with anarchist participation in and solidarity with less militant events over the course of a convergence such as this, and especially solid anarchist organizing in the long lead up to shape this whole convergence, there seems to be a better fighting chance of anarchism actually contributing to social transformation--even if anarchists are simply offering a message in a bottle for those few years down the road when capitalism gets so bad it's impossible to ignore, much less support.

As another black bloc participant explained, to paraphrase: "I used to be all about putting my anger into battling it out on the streets with police for the sake of battling with police. But we need to channel that anger into love for each other, and that means being smarter about how we do things, to both change everyone into better, loving people, which is revolutionary in itself, and change society."

The fact that anarchists within Heart Attack appeared to see the point of changing the hearts (and minds) of people who aren't anarchists to also want to struggle for a world from below, even as they attempted to "block the arteries of capitalism," well, that's the best sort of (almost) valentine's day gift that any anarchist could wish for. At least this anarchist.

Enjoy our other pre-valentine's day gifts to you: great still and video footage of Heart Attack, from the temporarily (re)occupied streets and lands of Vancouver.

Video 1:

Video 2:

Photos:

Indigenous environmentalist, over megaphone during march: "We stand in solidarity with the Olympic Resistance Network. Our social movement is going to end capitalism!"

Black and indigenous blocs, marching side by side: "1, 2, 3, 4, this is fucking class war!"

* * *

From 3 to 6 p.m., a raucous rally and then march of several thousand people--three packed full city blocks' worth--took to the downtown streets of Vancouver to counter the 2010 Olympics opening ceremony. Antiauthoritarians had put out a call for "an anarchist presence at the 'family friendly' march." The response was a 150-strong black bloc tightly surrounded by its banners reading "Sabotage the System of Social Control" (with a circle A amid an upside-down cityscape) and "Resist Police Control; Fight for Freedom." Other anarchists choose to add humor and art with some anarchist burlesque, a giant salmon puppet, the Peoples' Island Autonomous Team of hockey players ("we're challenging the Olympic Committee and we're going to win"), and another team of anarchists in their cardboard bobsled, among others, along with Food Not Bombs. They joined a wide range of other "No Olympics on Stolen Native Lands" marchers, representing a whole range of issues on their signs from climate change and anti-road expansion to ending seal hunts to antipoverty and antiwar activism.

The mood here in Vancouver is a strange one. On the one hand, there is a frightening outpouring of Canadian nationalism, from the sixteen-story or so high Canadian flag on a building right across from the start of this march's route to people on the street dressed to the hilt in the red-and-white colors and maple leaf symbol of Canada's flag. Many people are reveling in this moment as a way to assert Canadian pride of country. On the other hand, so many locals are being inconvenienced, not to mention impacted by a host of adjustments and shutdowns to public and social services, that there's plenty of disgruntlement--and thus a fair amount of sympathy for these protests.

Then there's the police. There are some 17,000 cops of various types here, and yet on the street, they are barely visible. And when they are, they are few in number, completely underdressed or underequipped (at least from what we can see) for confrontation, and attempting to keep a relatively friendly low-profile. It's clear they have been given orders to not create a public relations nightmare for this Olympic showcasing of Canada. So even when the marchers reached the building where the opening ceremonies were about to start, the police directly in front of the march were wearing, for instance, cloth caps--facing off almost nose-to-nose with black bloc anarchists and a forceful indigenous bloc; an anarchist or two even managed to grab these caps right off their heads. Of course, a couple blocks away, riot police were at the ready. But the police basically let people march almost to the doorstep of the opening ceremonies. Even when the tension mounted--and the 'family friendly' organizers gave the surprising go-ahead for it to now become a militant bloc, for those who wanted to stay (and many, many people did)--a single line of police on horses, and the underdressed cops in front of them, were the extent of it.

I hope to write more about the black bloc later--in this march and, now, after Saturday's "Heart Attack"--but for this report, a few comments:

1. It was actually a bloc, held tightly together in a square by banners to protect the bloc, with loud and clear chants featuring messages that were both anarchist(ic) and tied into the issues of this Olympics, particularly around indigenous concerns.

2. In turn, the indigenous bloc marched right next to the black bloc, and both were at the head of this march. The indigenous bloc's red sovereignty flags and anarchist black flags were held high in the air, also side by side. Some of the indigenous folks masked up, in colorful red scarves or fatique material. The chants of each group seemed to float back and forth, creating further solidarity.

3. The black bloc had literature, documenting the series of direct actions (dozens upon dozens) that had built up to this moment since 2007. It was titled "Revolt is life, resignation is death."

4. The black bloc patiently stopped to listen to speeches along the route, patiently abided by the march organizer's wishes, and didn't (at least in general) diss the liberals in this event. The organizers, for their part, explicitly mentioned that they were in solidarity with the radicals, and as mentioned above, created what seemed like unexpected space for the march to end with a green light for militancy. That militant space included many folks besides anarchists.

There is a quick report; hopefully later, a bit more thoughtful analysis can be added about the differences between the black bloc here and how it often plays out in the United States. While no one ever breached the police line, nor disrupted the opening ceremonies, the solidarity shown between black bloc and other anarchists, and the many radical and not-so-radical folks within this march, seemed to have forged tighten social and political bonds that may, with luck, outlive this Olympics--the start to potentially taking back cities.

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"They've Arrested the Torch"

The Olympic clock by the Vancouver Art Museum has been counting down the days until the opening ceremony: today. So the pressure was on this morning to ensure that the final leg of the Olympic torch relay met with a strong show of resistance.

Of course, the weather has already been cooperating with these "No Olympics" efforts. One protester's T-shirt this morning said "Pray for rain," but the woman laughed, "I'm not praying anymore!" Instead, she was mingling with several hundred people in a neighborhood park, about to set off to disrupt the flame. And besides, yesterday's chilly rain has so far given way to today's warmer gray skies, even as the Olympic Committee is desperately trying to transport snow from 100 miles away by truck so the winter games can go on. The greenest Olympics has had to counter the impact of climate change by resorting to long-distance transport in order to cover the bare mountains around Vancouver with the white stuff.

The absurdities of what goes in to this "party for the rich" versus "priorities for people," as many activists have declared, seem to grow by the hour. One Canadian health care worker doing indie media work at this morning's stop the torch interventions explained that she has to work this weekend and will miss out on the rest of the protests. She remarked how ridiculous it was, because she was going to have to sit around at her job and do nothing. Her hospital and many other health care facilities have canceled some one-third or more of surgeries, and have drastically limited health care over the next two weeks. The doctors are sitting around too, she said, on the assumption that they might be needed to deal with a terrorist attack during the Olympics. Other emergency workers are also on hold, not doing their regular work but waiting in the wings; many aren't being paid, but are instead being forced to volunteer if terrorism strikes.

Another woman, an exuberant member of a youth-run collective educational/social space, said that her center--the Purple Thistle--is one of the few open this week and next for programming and hanging out. We're mostly privately funded, she noted, and added that almost all the many government-funded community and social centers around Vancouver were commandeered by the Olympics. Programs for youth, women, indigenous peoples, and others have thus been canceled in favor of turning over these public centers to various countries for their Olympic athletes and friends to socialize instead.

A Vancouver anarchist with a "fags not flags" patch on her back observed that it feels extra hard watching all the changes to her own city. One of those changes, she said, was that most midwives in Vancouver are not accepting any clients during the Olympics. The midwives can't be sure of making it to a birth, given the situation with the roads. The special traffic lanes are reserved for Olympic and emergency vehicles, neither of which apply to midwives. This same anarchist also mentioned that numerous safe spaces around Vancouver have been closed or have had their usage curtailed. For example, a place called The Space for at-risk queer and trans youth was renamed Pride House and is being utilized to showcase gays during the Olympics. The local queer and trans youth no longer feel welcome, and have nowhere else to go this month.

It's much the same story in relation to other social services, such as homeless shelters and needed material aid to the poorest of the poor here in Vancouver and the surrounding areas. The streets of East downtown Vancouver are crowded with homeless people. For some, the Olympics is yet another inconvenience, or sadly, simply another event that offers a few free handouts--such as a homeless guy pushing his shopping cart of personal goods, now adorned with little red Coca-Cola flags boasting the five Olympic rings and the slogan "Open Happiness." For others, though, it appears to be cause for extra anger. Another homeless man sat on the sidewalk, with a chalked slogan in front of him: "2010 Olympics Can Kiss My Brown Ass."

This morning, that anger and frustration, but also a spirit of this really being "our neighborhoods" and "our lands," transformed the path of the Olympic torch relay into both protest and party. A dialogue, a dance, and disruptions. And most crucially, social power against, as one demonstrator said, the "social capital" that Canada is trying to gain by hosting these games.

In the little park in the Commercial Drive Neighborhood, an upbeat blend of people started gathering around 9 a.m., prepared to intercept the torch that was about to pass through what is, for many, their own streets. This area, too, has had to cede resources and spaces to the Olympic mania, and people were here to reclaim what was theirs. One of the organizers asked people to look down at the ground: "This is unceded Salish territory." Then she happily yelled out that the first torch disruption, in downtown, had succeeded, which only increased the desire of this neighborhood to do the same.

Of course, not everyone was from this neighborhood, but the tone and tenor was all about a sense of place. Some anarchist-looking folks unfurled a big black-cloth banner, and its colorful block letters read: "Communities Not Olympics." When a man who'd come to see the torch started shaking his fist in the air and yelling "Go home!" at the growing crowd now blocking a main intersection on the torch's route, several demonstrators instantly responded with "We are home!" One of the organizers, a hippie-type activist, told the several hundred folks gathered together that some people--the black bloc--have chosen to wear masks today, because of their interest in autonomy, but that other people shouldn't fear them; people should stick together "because we're all love our communities."

And they did. A good-size contingent of black bloc anarchists and peace activists, climate justice folks and indigenous radicals, people on bikes and in wheelchairs, queer activists and kids in strollers, a marching band and teenagers released from school because of the Olympics, an assortment of neighborhood activists and non-black bloc anarchists, and many others kept up a rowdy and militant presence in the streets. The torch was diverted, and diverted again, and diverted yet again, each time by the diverse contingent holding intersections together. At the first intersection, for example, people ran string and barbed wire between light posts, across the entire street, fortified by rocks on the ground, while the chants ranged from "homes not games" to "no justice, no peace, fuck the police."

This direct action seemed remarkable on several fronts. For one, the police presence here in Vancouver is light, relative to such protests; it's clear that the police are in a bind, having to balance trying to maintain the Olympic festivities without creating a spectacle with all the tourists, athletes, and media in town. This, in turns, seems to be emboldening people who "normally" might feel less emboldened at such actions. Everyone blocked and held the intersections, everyone took the streets and kept them, not just the anarchists.

More remarkable, though, is that people on the streets seem to be acting from a "diversity of tactics" that opens up room for the militant and nonmilitant, the young and old, whites and nonwhites, anarchists and nonanarchists. For example, the demonstrators didn't seem to bat an eye when some of them chose to yell confrontationally ("you won't see the fucking torch today!") at bystanders, angry at not getting to see the torch, and others chose to engage in quieter dialogues about the Olympics' impact. Black bloc anarchists, to cite another example, took direction from the more peace and justice types with the megaphone, moving in sync with each other from intersection to intersection. And despite various liberal slogans, the space for the diversity of peoples and ideas on the streets seemed to push the overall message to a radical one, largely focused on people reclaiming the commons of their neighborhoods, cities, and lands.

There was a joy to this militancy today, because it was effective, and because of the lived solidarity that made it effective. And when militancy is effective, people seem ready to do more of it. There was a joy because people in this neighborhood knew that other folks had earlier done similar things to disrupt the torch downtown. So it felt especially nice that the victory of interrupting the torch's run again and again this morning ended on a serendipitously joyful note.

Just as everyone was about to leave, planning to regroup at 3 p.m. for the big "Take Back Our City" march to the Olympic opening ceremonies, a lone Canadian Olympic athlete appeared on the street, showing off her extinquished torch. The many hundreds of folks decked out in nationalistic display of Canadian pride and attire rushed around her to get a chance to see the torch, albeit sans flame, since it would be their own glance--thanks to the success of the Commercial Drive Neighborhood's efforts. The demonstrators, mostly the black bloc, rushed over too, and suddenly she and the police realized that her torch show-and-tell needed to end. Anarchists and others "escorted" her to a side street, yelling "Shame." I was struck how, if this had been in the United States, anarchists likely would have tried to attack her more vehemently, as if she were evil itself. Instead, people tried to illuminate her complicity to her, but also seemed to see her as person, capable of thinking through and changing her position. She might not be able to--at least not during this Olympics. Yet the demonstrators' behavior seemed to me more a reflection of how those in this resistance movement see each other: as multidimensional people, fighting in their own ways on different fronts--from nonprofits to social justice to militant and revolutionary, but all truly in this fight for a better world together. And all truly feeling their social strength together during this start to street resistance to the Olympics, on this stolen land called Vancouver.

As the police whisked the torch runner into a waiting police car, which zipped away, one person happily shouted out: "They've arrested the torch!" And a bunch of anarchists broke into a chorus of "na na na na, na na na na, hey hey, bye bye."

Or maybe: bye for now; we'll see you later this afternoon, with even more joy and militancy, with even more determination to take back our city.

Footage:

Photos:

Sometimes the odds against anarchists and like-minded radicals winning seem particularly daunting.

Earlier tonight, we went to document what was supposed to be a "guaranteed" disruption by student activists of the Olympic torch as it made its way through the University of British Columbia campus toward downtown Vancouver. About 100 people chanting slogans like "Home Not Games" and "Get the Torch Off Our Campus" marched around in the chilly rain, finally stopping to block an intersection on the torch's route. A handful of way-too-friendly Canadian police asked people to step back to the intersection's edges, and the students--a coalition of Christian, social justice, and environmental activists, and as one student said, "perhaps some sectarian folks"--complied way-too-readily. A police van with a ticker-tape-like moving message came toward the intersection, announcing the flame's approach and then reminding all the protesters to "have a really great day." We leaned forward with our camera, absently pushing past one of the relatively few police who were barely holding people in check, as the flame came toward the chanting crowd and then turned the corner. So few cops, and all trying to be so low key to keep a "family face" on the Olympic festivities here, and relatively so many more students and onlookers. It would have been so easy to disrupt the runner. Yet the Olympic torch passed without incident--a sadly deflating moment, given that the flame has been challenged, detoured, and/or stopped across Canada these past few months.

One student at this protest mentioned that activism on campus was difficult; people were ignorant, and the frats and sports-minded students were glad for the Olympics. The many thousands of students down the road from us, wrapped in Canadian flags and listening to the national anthem, some mocking the protesters, testified to how hard it must be. At the same time, the university had agreed to build a facility for the Olympics that, in turn, has resulted in a fee increase for students, particularly international students and students of color. The student who explained this to me also mentioned that the university's governing body was made up of the same type of people who benefited by the property development that comes in the wake of the Olympics. In earnest, this student insisted that as the economic crisis grows, people will start to respond.

But not tonight. Not in Vancouver.

Sometimes, though, the odds are wrong.

The numbers here in Vancouver contesting the winter games may not be huge so far--or even all that big over the next few days of street protests, marches, and actions. Nevertheless, the last two years of solid, smart work to demand "No Olympics on Stolen Native Land" has created a "tapestry of resistance," to quote a Cree organizer speaking at last night's convergence space, which itself spoke volumes in the multicultural, multigenerational, and wide-ranging political mix of people in the charming, yet dimly lit hall. "New relations are being forged, lines broken down between social movements," he added. That's one clear victory here: anarchists (and of many ages, types, and dress) and indigenous peoples (from many tribes, and also of many ages) are working hand in hand here, expressing solidarity for each other's work and "diversity of tactics," sharing meals, songs, and organizing toward a common purpose.

That's the second victory: a day before the Olympics open, as indigenous radical Gord Hill proclaimed, they have already won what they set out to do--build resistance and alliances that will still be here after the Olympics, and after the seventeen thousand police are gone. The Olympic Committee had to stop organizing public events, for instance; the government had to back down on the notion of protest pens. As Gord said, they are on the defensive, as the world watches.

But they've achieved another victory, before the Olympic torch even lights the opening ceremonies tomorrow. As another longtime indigenous organizer, Arthur Manuel observed, what goes on during the big stage of the Olympics games has opened a door for indigenous peoples and others to speak at the local level about what's really going on. The Canadian government decided to buy off four tribes, to "showcase" native peoples during the Olympics, but as Arthur said, that meant that now the international media are talking to all the many other indigenous people who aren't bought off, so they can bring their story to the global level.

And speak out they are, in articulate press conferences where, again, direct action folks and anarchists alongside masked-up indigenous activists and First Nations people all point to the fact, first, that they are speaking from stolen and occupied lands. But lands, as one indigenous woman said--first in her native tongue and then in English--that belong to one race, the human race, which is charged with protecting not destroying the land. Another indigenous activist who works with a women's center in Vancouver's poor East Vancouver, talked about how the Olympic organizing efforts had helped to give her back her voice. "I'm glad I have my voice, and I'm not going to lose it again. It's time to bring power back to the people." Those voices are talking about all the Olympics are doing to exacerbate homelessness, gentrification, and displacement; further deepen racism and poverty; contribute to environmental destruction; hurt women and native peoples in particular; and on and on. Without having to use the word "capitalism," from anarchist to indigenist organizer, it's clear that they've spotlighted the damage caused by the developmental logic of the Olympics--whether here, in China, or soon in Brazil.

They've also spoken out in street art and posters, panels and workshops, musical events and educational efforts, media interviews, zines and videos, and so many direct actions. Even as the city of Vancouver seems increasingly decked out in a show of Canadian nationalism, even as hipster artists try to use this moment to transform a poor section of the city into their next playground (one new space had three floors of projected flames leaping out windows even as real homeless people slept right outside on the doorstep), even as the rich stream into town for the tickets ranging from $150 to $2,500 for events, the bonds between activists who are all struggling in their own ways to alleviate the social misery caused by colonialism and now capitalism are palpable, and seem posed to well outlive this moment. They've managed to create the greatest amount of unease abut these games in Canada ever, especially in the face of declining social safety nets, where expenditures on such an event seem particularly heartless. They've forced the police, government, and others to be on the defensive.

The torch wasn't stopped this evening. But it's been beautiful, despite how relatively calm it's been in the streets so far, to listen to the voices speaking out, from their own experiences of suffering, their own experiences of organizing collectively, and equally from their shared sense of humanity. As one of the student activists yelled through his megaphone today, "Does anyone want else want to speak? This is democracy, after all."

Resistance here, it seems to me this evening, has forged new relations, by the simple act of diverse radicals, activists, and agitators having spent the past couple years listening to each other's voices, and organizing from the substance of what they've heard each other saying, demanding, desiring.

Footage:

Photos:

For more info on the history of the resistance thus far, visit no2010.com.

Update: The corporate media likes our writing!

Update #2: Some of our footage got featured on Democracy Now!