Back at the park there is a panel discussion where several outspoken critics of the government are debating the decision to curtail the march and trying to strategize the next move. As you arrive the leader of the Social Democrats is addressing the growing crowd. They are righteously indignant and take the moral high ground.
“This government has overstepped their ruling mandate. They rule by consent of the people not by force, and they have an obligation to respect our democratic right to peaceful assembly. They have really slipped up this time and we are going to make them pay for it. Tomorrow in the media and later when parliament resumes, they are going to have to explain to the people who elected them why they don’t respect their right to protest. Their days in office are numbered!”
Also on the panel is a veteran of the national press gallery, a seasoned political correspondent who has spent more time reporting on parliament than most members of the legislature have spent in office.
“The chief of police is going to respond by saying that certain violent, criminal elements in the march made it necessary to take action to preserve the public order.”
The panelists are savvy, some would even say cynical activists who know that the way in which a story is spun does not necessarily reflect the truth of the matter. Both the sensationalist media and opportunistic politicians are guilty of this.
“As we speak there are upstanding citizens who are being arrested for no reason other than they happened to be participating in a protest, which is their right in a democracy. If the police actions are to be justified by stopping people from committing property damage, then why is there still a small riot happening right now? Why haven’t the police stopped it? There are peaceful demonstrators being detained at random without due cause, and yet there are still people out there breaking windows! This is outrageous!”
Sometimes it’s possible to create a narrative through which the interpretation of the facts lends credence to a particular political agenda.
“We’re going to have to issue a statement condemning any acts of vandalism at the march. It was probably orchestrated by provocateurs trying to undermine the legitimate concerns of law abiding citizens. Those concerns are the very foundation of the Social Democrat Party’s policies. We denounce this governments attempts to bypass democracy, and vow to bring a voice to parliament that reflects the peoples will!”
“There ought to be call for people to take to the streets again for further protests against the suppression of our civil liberties. They can’t just turn the police against us every time we demonstrate. We have a right to disagree with the government. Let’s ask for people to gather at the police station tomorrow. It’ll be a big media event after what happened today. We can make our own press releases there to counterbalance the official statement from the police. It’s going to take a lot of people to organize this on such short notice but I think there are enough people here who realize the importance of making this happen.”
What will you do?