[L-I] Anti-G8 activists censored at 2002 MuchMusic Video Awards

Comrades and friends, I'm on my way to Calgary...I'm sending this via 
the web from the middle of BC. I'll be back in July, there is work to 
do in Alberta. Yoshie is kindly taking the reins again, and my thanks 
to her for all her great work.

Be good!
Macdonald
Anti-G8 activists censored at 2002 MuchMusic Video Awards

June 16, 2002
For Immediate Release

Toronto -- Anti-Group of Eight (G8) activists were given the choice of
hiding their anti-G8 signs or being forcibly removed by security tonight
at the 2002 MuchMusic Video Awards. An activist known to friends 
as "Dubya" was yelled at by security personnel after his "Youth Against 
the G8" sign was seen in the background of several shots during the 
live recording on Queen Street, in downtown Toronto.  After being 
threatened with physical removal, the small group of anti-G8 activists 
decided to leave voluntarily.

The live broadcast and street party shut down Queen Street West from
University Avenue to Spadina -- more than an entire city block. The
activists were standing on the sidewalk holding up a "Youth Against the
G8" sign and it could be seen in the background as the show went live 
to air for the "Red Carpet Arrivals." As thousands gathered and lined 
the streets to watch celebrity guests enter the MuchHeadquarters 
studio, activists also leafleted the crowd with information on the G8 
and upcoming protests in Canada.

"Even in public spaces our anti-G8 message is contentious and 
deliberately censored by the mainstream media," one activist 
said. "Freedom of expression was not part of MuchMusic's program 
tonight, even though they claim to produce 'alternative' and 'relevant' 
content for young Canadians. Young people across Canada are 
participating in large numbers in these demonstrations. They were 
recording on public property and had no right to quash our dissent."

Another activist commented,"Isn't it ironic that we were censored right
next to Speaker's Corner--the place where freedom of expression is 
supposedly celebrated by MuchMusic? They're afraid our message will get 
out to the estimated 60,000,000 that have access to this live broadcast 
in North America."  Speaker's Corner, at the corner of John and Queen 
Streets, records and airs political and personal messages that are 
broadcast weekly by MuchMusic.

Activists from across Canada and internationally will be demonstrating
against the destructive policies of the Group of Eight elite nations as
they meet for their summit in Kananaskis, Alberta from June 26 to 27, 
2002. For more information on the protests in Alberta and in 
communities across Canada, go to http://www.g8.activism.ca/ and 
http://www.mob4glob.ca/

- 30 -

For more information, please call Dubya at:  (416) 960-5190

To voice your concerns about the censoring of activists at the 2002
MuchMusic Video Awards, email MuchMusic at muchmail@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
<muchmail@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>

Notable quote:
"MuchMusic has always been about breaking down the walls that separate 
the
viewer from the station."
- MuchMusic website (http://www.muchmusic.com/community/)


-- 
Macdonald Stainsby,
External Relations Co-ordinator,
Douglas College Students Union.
**
In the contradiction lies the hope. --Bertholt Brecht.
***
"`Order rules in Berlin.' You stupid lackeys! Your 
`order' is built on sand. Tomorrow the revolution will rear 
ahead once more and announce to your horror amid the brass 
of trumpets: `I was, I am, I always will be!'" 

-Rosa Luxemburg, 1918.



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