Friday Film Pick: Into the Fire

Looking back at Toronto’s G20

By Ezra Winton
Art Threat
May 13, 2011

Toronto turned into an open prison inside a police state at last summer’s G20 summit and protests. It was a despicable and depressing show of fascistic force in a country that consistently falsely maintains its democratic goodwill at home and abroad. I myself saw many peaceful demonstrators, including elderly people, beaten. The four buses we took from Montreal that were full of activists returned mostly empty – Toronto police and undercover state agents having very undemocratically locked most of our group up without just cause. As we were leaving the city undercover police photographed us from rooftops and the park next to our parked buses.

At the time we were not surprised to see the state and corporate media portray the protests as chaotic and violent – burning police cars became the synecdoche for a city overrun by hooligans and “anarchists.” CBC slowly changed its tune, apparently after thousands of complaints poured in about the misrepresentation of the tens of thousands of peaceful demonstrators marching on the streets of Canada’s largest city. But it wasn’t until someone sent me the link to the film above—Into the Fire by Dan Dicks of Press for Truth—that I’ve seen a decent dissection and analysis of the whole event and related politics around it. Take two hours and sit back and enjoy some critical media that sheds light on one of this country’s darkest days.

Full film below.