Perched on rooftops and in unmarked vans

Re: "Protesters say goodbye to Mike" and "Free booze, free eats and a buffet of young PCs," Oct. 30

To the Editor:

Once again, I am forced to use the only available outlet for student input because The Gazette editorial team has yet again posited an uncritical, banal, elitist, servile stance as simple "objectivity."

The media, including The Gazette, perpetuates myths about protesters being 'dirty hippies' and trumpets expressions like 'political animals,' likely with an emphasis on the 'animals.'

The media, including The Gazette, seems to distort facts, sensationalize issues and simplify debate to present violence and vandalism as unavoidable and inevitable.

I believe the police, in collaboration with those in power, followed organizers through the University Community Centre, tried to search organizers' homes, came out in full force to barricade a convention centre and perched on rooftops and in unmarked vans.

Yet hundreds of workers, parents, teachers, poor people, lawyers, high school students, college students, young people, seniors, professors and students of Western educated themselves at a People's Inquiry, enjoyed themselves at a benefit concert and expressed their legal, democratic right to protest and present alternatives in the streets.

And The Gazette calls this "nothing." I'm glad Aaron Wherry and the other editors enjoyed themselves with the Progressive Conservative party and their free alcohol.

By belittling and criminalizing those who present more humane and equitable options, The Gazette is certainly helping the Tory cause.

I also had a great weekend. I was part of a participatory, democratic, peaceful, educational demonstration of the power of human co-operation.

Kendra Coulter

Scholar's Electives IV