A-Infos (en) Canada, Vancouver, Action Blocks PNWER Summit Boat Tour!*

No Smooth Sailing for PNWER Elites: Marina Entrance Blocked by Activists A group 
of activists blocked access to the Westin Bayshore marina on Wednesday July 23 
to protest the Pacific NorthWest Economic Region (PNWER) summit. In doing so, 
they prevented PNWER delegates from boarding a 190-person luxury boat tour of 
the Vancouver harbour. Approximately 10 people stood with a banner reading 
People Not Profit! and prevented access to the luxury yacht though the public 
boardwalk. ---- Police arrived - surprisingly a bit late although the Westin 
Bayshore already had a relatively strong police and security presence - and 
threatened arrests, however given the tight timeframe that the PNWER delegates 
were on, the luxury boat tour was cancelled and the PNWER delegates were forced 
to retreat after about 20 minutes!

The delegates who were forced to wait during that time on the boardwalk
grew increasingly aggressive, with several assaults including shoving,
punching, pullling, and grabbing of those blockading the door. One person
even lunged a knife through the banner- supposedly to cut through the
banner- but aimed into and through the banner towards those behind it.
When being challenged about perpetuating systemic violence on poor,
marginalized, and oppressed peoples, some delegates were unabashed with
three of them joking about how "yes, indeed we quite enjoy having the
power to screw people over".

Given the visible presence of a majority of racialized activists, many
delegates commented and questioned "Where are you from? Were you born
here? You're not Canadian. Go back home" etc, overtly revealing the deep
racism and ignorance of the PNWER delegates and also of the ways in which
people of colour are readily cast as threatening Outsiders especially
during moments of defiance and resistance.

Most of the passerby's, however, were quite supportive of the action.
Although PNWER delegates were trying to dissuade those passing by from
listening to or getting information about the action by making classist
jokes about "professional protestors without jobs", an overwhelming number
of those walking by stayed to talk to and hear about opposition to PNWER,
especially given the veil of secrecy surrounding PNWER decision making in
light of the significant policy impacts it has from the 2010 Olympics to
oil and gas mining. When PNWER delegates attempted to lie to police about
assaults on them, two witnesses immediately corrected this information by
telling police that it was in fact the PNWER delegates who were
dangerously threatening the blockaders.

Although not a major victory, the action was definetely a small and
significant victory in creating inconvenience, distress, and powerlessness
for those government and corporate elite who have kept their doors closed
to us. It is time we close some doors on them.

This action was second in a series of actions targeting the PNWER Summit:
on Sunday July 20th a boisterous rally of 40-60 people gathered at the
Westin Bayshore Hotel to protest and effectively disrupt the opening
reception of the PNWER Summit. Despite heavy police and security presence
around the front perimeter of the hotel, the march moved around
the hotel's east side. Although seperated by the hotel metal fence and
dozens of police officers, the cozy corporate outdoor dinner reception was
completely disrupted with chanting and the banging of pots and pans.
Within one hour, the entire outdoor poolside reception was vacated and
pizza deliveries were seen arriving by the end of the rally!

The past four days have seen incredibly effective resistance in not only
raising public awareness about PNWER but also inconvenciening and
disrupting the PNWER agenda. The PNWER summit is an example of a classic
pattern, allowing corporate and political elites to talk about border
security, oil and gas mining, natural resource extraction, and the 2010
Olympics in an incredibly secretive manner with absolutely no public input
especially from those who will be most affected by these policies.

Agreements like PNWER have real and profound impacts on our society:
furthering an agenda of corporate free trade, border militarization,
privatization of indigenous land and resources, ecological destruction,
repression in the name of national security, impoverishment, and
sanctioning occupations.

In the face of such devastating violence, it becomes impossible to remain
silent or polite. These few days of action were simply one manifestation
of a larger ongoing movement and we continue to be inspired by actions
locally and globally that raise awareness about, reject, protest,
creatively resist and disrupt this system of colonial and capitalist pillage.

* Text of the Leaflet "Why We Oppose the PNWER Summit" is below and also at:
http://noii-van.resist.ca/?p=822

* The march on Sunday was organized and supported by No One Is Illegal, La
Surda Latin American Collective, Council of Canadians BC/Yukon Office,
Anti Poverty Committee, Olympics Resistance Network, Komagatamaru Heritage
Foundation, Canadian Arab Federation, Siraat Collective, Latin America
Connexions Collective, Building Bridges Human Rights Project- Vancouver,
Stopwar.ca, International Iranian Federation of Refugees, Siraat
Collective, Cafe Rebelde Coordinating Committee, Bolivia Solidarity
Committee, Vancouver Socialist Forum, Vancouver and District Labour
Council (VDLC), CUPE Local 1004, Grassroots Women.

* Mainstream Media Coverage of both actions:

1) Canadian Press:
http://canadianpress.google.com/article/ALeqM5jdOCaGR9cfsAF27_Py7qB9TCTY1A

2) Vancouver Sun:
http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/westcoastnews/story.html?id=5fce2c96-cc45-4b90-8a2f-3fc9b5c413fe

3) CKNW:
http://www.cknw.com/Channels/Reg/NewsLocal/Story.aspx?ID=1018123

------------------

Text of the Leaflet:

Why We Oppose the Pacific Northwest Economic Region Summit
Posted by admin on Jul 24th, 2008

Members of the Pacific NorthWest Economic Region (PNWER) are meeting at their 
annual summit in Vancouver. This cross-border trade and security organization 
brings together large corporations with North West states, provinces, 
territories in U.S. and Canada. PNWER describes itself as “a statutory 
public/private partnership..” In the words of Minister Stockwell Day, “[PNWER] 
has had a profound impact on policymaking.” According to PNWER, it serves as a 
“cross-border forum for unfiltered dialogue that capitalizes upon the synergies 
between business leaders and elected officials.”

Despite the importance of PNWER, few people even now about this organization as 
it has quietly escaped significant public scrutiny. Increasingly agreements such 
as PNWER, Security and Prosperity Partnership (SPP), and Trade, Investment and 
Labour Mobility Agreement (TILMA) are being discussed and negotiated in a veil 
of secrecy despite having real and profound impacts on our society: furthering 
an agenda of corporate free trade, border militarization, privatization of 
indigenous land and resources, ecological destruction, repression in the name of 
national security, impoverishment, and cooperation in war.

Not everyone is left out of these cozy meetings- corporate participation in 
PNWER is strong. High level sponsors include BP, Teck Cominco, Conoco Philips, 
Terasen Gas, Merk Frosst, ExxonMobil, Plutonic Power, the Business Council of 
BC, and Trans Canada Pipelines. In fact, the ongoing governance of PNWER is 
overseen by a “Private Sector Board” of major corporations.

PNWER, Security and Prosperity Partnership, Alberta Tar Sands, and Olympics: 
What is the connection?

In the next few years, BC will be at centre of a commercial and resource boom, 
with unprecedented expansion in: the tourist, real estate, and recreational 
sector leading to the 2010 Olympics; pilot projects for border surveillance and 
US-Canadian military training cooperation under the SPP; mineral and gas mining 
in the interior and North; resource extraction and privatization including water 
and forestry products; and infrastructure development for resource 
transportation including BC-Alberta tarsands pipelines.

PNWER is closely linked with the Security and Prosperity Partnership – the NAFTA 
plus Homeland Security model- being pushed by the government and corporate 
leaders of Canada, Mexico and USA.

The SPP combines the destructive neo-liberal policies of the North American Free 
Trade Agreement (NAFTA) of resource extraction, corporate tax breaks, 
privatization measures, and weakening of labour standards with the fear and 
paranoia of post 9-11 “Homeland Security” policies that has resulted in 
immigrant raids, border militarization, foreign troop occupations, and 
repression of civil liberties.

In brief, the SPP calls for maximization of North American economic 
competitiveness in the face of growing exports from India and China; expedited 
means of resource (oil, natural gas, water, forest products) extraction; secure 
borders against “organized crime, international terrorism, and illegal 
migration”; standardized regulatory regimes for health, food safety, and the 
environment;  integrated energy supply through a comprehensive resource and 
energy security pact (primarily about ensuring that the US receives guaranteed 
flows of oil particularly from the Alberta tar sands in; and coordination 
amongst defence forces.

The 2008 PNWER Summit agenda focuses on three critical issues:

• The 2010 Winter Olympics which is already having devastating impacts: 
expansion of sport tourism on indigenous lands; corporate subsidies from 
tax-payer money; unbridled real estate speculation; homelessness and 
gentrification of poor neighbourhoods; increasing privatization of public 
services; union-busting through imposed contracts; exploitative conditions for 
workers especially temporary migrant labour; the fortification of a security 
apparatus estimated at $175 million; and destruction of mountains, old growth 
forests, streams, hunting and fishing grounds, and delicate ecosystems.

• Planning for fundamental energy issues like the tar sands, private 
electricity, ocean energy, and biofuels. The Alberta tar sands (“oil sands”) are 
already the largest contributor to Canada’s increase in greenhouse gas emissions 
and environmental organizations are calling for a moratorium on growth of the 
mines. Yet PNWER and the SPP aim to increase tar sands production by five-fold 
to 3 million barrels a day by 2015. Companies exploiting the tar sands are 
calling for the expansion of the temporary foreign worker program to secure 
exploitable labour that will ensure higher profits, while surrounding indigenous 
communities have documented incredibly high cancer rates and irreversible damage 
to the land.

• Under the heading of “homeland security,” PNWER will review cross-border 
information sharing, border security, and cross-border trade. PNWER aims to ease 
travel for business, while making the border more difficult for most people, 
particularly increasing border harassment against migrants and refugees. Despite 
the rhetoric of making ‘us more safe’, the expansion of security initiatives and 
infrastructure comes with little security for our society; instead creating 
greater insecurity for immigrants, refugees, and people of colour, while reaping 
great profits for the private sector.
Within this context PNWER will reinforce the idea of “Fortress North America”, 
whereby the rich and privileged live in gated, gentrified, and militarized 
communities with easy movement for capital between borders. For the rest, there 
are border fences, reserves, ghettos, low-wage work, surveillance, and empty 
rhetoric about democracy and human rights.

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* NOII-van is an antiauthoritarian anticapitalist initiative
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