The Insecurity of Security

It's a beautiful day today, warm enough to open up the windows to let some of the stench of sick people out. I'm feeling quite a bit better. Even made it upstairs to check on the daffodils. They'll be blooming soon.  I haven't left my apartment since Sunday afternoon, so I've seen a lot of TV and surfed a lot of internet. No shortage of Olympic coverage, it's unavoidable. Security is the media obsession of late.

In one of my earlier blogs, a commenter noted that part of the dread that Vancouver is feeling is fear. I agree, like everything else with these Olympics, much of the chatter is polarized; from the security is a joke to this bit of hyperbole, in an otherwise interesting opinion piece, by Douglas Haddow's  in The Guardian , "Vancouver looks more like post-war Berlin than an Olympic wonderland." I haven't seen any tanks but maybe he's more in the know. It is true though, there is lots of security. Canada's elite commando squad JTF2 is lurking around somewhere and the military claims that they have the ability to be in the air around the clock but other than the increased helicopter traffic and all the security fencing around the venues (nicely wrapped in VANOC colours) it isn't overwhelming.

 I don't think it's Al Qaeda that has folks on edge however, it's a fear of a clash between protesters and the police. I'm no stranger to protesting. I pounded the pavement in many anti-nuke rallies, wasted my time protesting the Iraq war and, in the early eighties, briefly belonged to an anti-unemployment group that was a communist front. I was twenty and idealistic and that's what most of the current protesters are but today there is a much more ominous faction among them. It's definitely a different time. The Vancouver Sun actually ran a comprehensive article (I know, I know) in Saturday's paper about security and activists.

The area where I live is home to many of the city's anarchists and violent radical fringe.  They claim to be okay using violence to further their causes, whether it's the anti-capitalist revolution or something surprisingly minor. For example, last year, there were chilling posters stapled up around the hood that encouraged the use of violence to force a family, accused of the crime of gentrification, to move away. The mother was guilty of lobbying to get an overused local park upgraded. The poster included a picture of the couple and their young child and indicated that all of them were fair game.

My friend had an internet date with an SFU student who thought it was good first date etiquette to reveal that his life will be a success if he kills a cop. He didn't get a second date but I'm pretty sure he'll be amongst the Olympic protesters waiting for his thrill of a lifetime.

Like everywhere else in Canada, we're  a pretty peaceful bunch, but there are some stupid cops and there are some protesters more than willing to take things too far. I hope it doesn't happen. It's expensive, financially and socially and ... sigh.