It is difficult sometimes to be far away from a place you have called home for so long, and even more difficult when you see that place through the eyes of the world media. This week was difficult because of the post hockey game riot that erupted.
We had been following the Stanley Cup play off series for a few weeks now. And Clive who has not spent much time involved with watching sports on TV, as he tends to do live physical exercise instead of vicariously through the multi million dollar players.
So I was surprised when he woke me from my sleep to announce that the final hockey game was on TV. It was 7AM here, and we had the game being broadcast. My mother is a big Vancouver Canuck fan and our Skype calls of late have always included some discussion about the hockey game, or the game has been on the television behind her as she has Skyped with me. So I was sort of surprised that in the 30 degree, 98% humidity of here, I could watch the greatest game on ice. It should be known that the Stanley Cup is named after one of Canada's Governor generals and it is the pinnacle of the hockey year. Vancouver, has a had a team for 40 years and this would be the second time in that history they had made it to the final series games. In 1994 they got to the finals and lost, which then fed to a riot on the streets. At the time I was out of town and Clive was at home 2 blocks away from the action with tear gas wafting through the apartment. Somehow these events tend to attract a collection of people looking for something to stir up some commotion about. It is to riot because you lost, or in the celebrations of victory, to riot to celebrate the win. In any event, it seems major sporting events are attracting this activity. In Montreal alone, in the year of my birth was the largest riots over a hockey game in history and they have had many more since. So in my mind, the final game is bound to spell trouble one way or the other. Little did I know that this time they would riot in Vancouver again, and make history as having the largest post sport game riot in Canadian history, challenging Montreal's status in the 1955 riots, ironically again over a hockey game.
So, my comments are based on my emails with friends there, the media coverage I get here and the internet monitoring of news sites and social networks. And I do not endorse this activity in the least. But I do think I can offer some remote and non-involved critiques. And my observations are as follows:
1. I am not a genius, but I would have expected there would be a riot.
Prior to the game, the decision was to close the liquor stores early. My experience is that whenever a liquor store was going to be closed, people tended to hoard in advance. Or they went to a bar or they went to an off-sales outlet. And liquor or not, idiots are idiots. Sometimes drunks are actually happy. Sometimes they are not. I have also been in many riots in my years of working in prisons, and in many of them liquor was never a factor. And where it was, probably less than 1% of those involved were pumped up on homemade alcohol ( a whole other topic on how they get alcohol in prisons) Post game I see surveys asking what could have been different and not surprisingly people are trending to ban liquor. So from my perspective, this would have a negligible effect. There was a riot the last time the playoff games were in the city. My question is what was different this time that made it unpredictable?
2. Ordinary people got involved.
The basic anatomy of a riot is that there are usually a few instigators or leaders, and in the frenzy of the events, sane people do insane things, sometimes it is for sheer survival. In fairness to the police, trying to decide who is a problem and who is not, will be discovered well after the events. In prisons we always reviewed the video footage and you could normally see the instigators and leaders, and they were never in the forefront of the action.
3. These were not hockey fans.
Well with all due respect that is crap. The majority of them were fans. They did go to the game or they participated in the large outdoor staging areas, BECAUSE of the hockey game. To try and simply wipe that from memory is a classic political positioning and attempting to rewrite history. There was a discussion here not long ago that if a foreigner has an accident with a Thai driver, it is the foreigners fault, because if they had not come to Thailand, then there would not have been an accident. So I put to you that had they not had a hockey game, there would not have been a riot. So in the survey of what could have been done different, they should have included an area that said "don't have a hockey game". I also believe that with all of the continued endorsement tacitly and overtly, of the violence in the game, it sets a mind set that makes it acceptable and it appeals to a like mindset.I see that the hockey team has made great pains to distance themselves from anything to do with the riot. Sorry guys, there is a correlation here in my simple mind.
4. There was looting, cars burning and people hurt.
That tends to go hand in hand with a riot. Why all the indignation is beyond my fathoming. I am still wondering why I saw no footage of the riot squads making their way up the streets with a convoy of firetrucks, with high powered hoses and ambulances and tow trucks behind them, with a second line of riot control officers behind the convoy. Sort of a clear and sweep approach. I cannot condone any of the violence nor the innocent bystanders that were attacked and injured. In the initial reports I saw, getting out of there was not a viable option for many people.
5. The police did not do enough and were unprepared
No matter how it worked out the police would get tarred with responsibility. Had they used rubber bullets, helicopters and live ammunition, it would have probably ended pretty quick. In the prison, a few live rounds, even one, is usually enough for the simple uninvolved people to make the decision to get the hell out of there. But then again, whenever we did that we made sure there was somewhere for them to be able to get out. But if they had done so, they would have been accused of being heavy handed and over-reacting. It also clears out the non-involved (and usually the leaders who were the chicken shits in the first place) to run for cover. Leaving the people standing a much easier group to identify and to manage. In my many years of experience in crisis management planning and management, no matter how much you plan, anticipate and strategical plan and execute, for something, you are dealing with human beings and there is always the unpredictable, which for some reason in hindsight is obvious. For those people responsible for managing this, I have a large degree of respect. It is not an easy job at all. Lots of armchair analysis will no doubt take place with people who have not a clue about how to manage such an event in the first place, and sadly they will get airplay.
6. Look Mom, I got a new purse, the pic is on Facebook!.
What has really amazed me is what I am referring to as Ratbook, also known as Facebook. The social medium has become a great vehicle for people to boast about their accomplishments, sometimes twittering and facebooking on the fly, what they have done and maybe even adding a few photos to prove it. I go back to a prior point. Idiots. These same people who also looted stores, did not seem to think for a minute that they were being photographed by other people and the media, as well as any in-store CCTV's. And the Chief went to the media to complain that the people posing and taking photo's were as guilty as the people doing the looting. In the same press conference he pleaded with those same people to share their photos with the police so they could prosecute. It mus surely be a reporting mistake. And I have had a morbid fascination with the facebook pages set up to identify people, or to shame them with openly homophobic terms and insults. Apparently rioting and looting is not strong enough, now we have to associate sexual activity to them too. It seems that it is okay to say someone Sucks Dick, as a facebook page. I somehow think it is intended to be an insult. So now friends of friends are posting and commenting, vilifying and condemning people on the basis of a photo and sharing this persons likeness and those comments around the world. And others are finding out that their former friends are no longer friends, but part of the pack chasing them.
Why?
In the end from this part of the world, I can only look and wonder why people who are so fortunate, who have so much, have to do this. I can only conclude it is boredom. Not having to worry about eating today, being tossed in jail because your views differ from the government, because you and 45% of the people around you have no job or income. Or a roof over your head or drinking water. Neil MacDonald wrote a great piece a few days ago. I will paraphrase him..people around the world riot because of not having enough food, because of unemployment, because of oppression and torture. In Vancouver they riot for entertainment. The social media is showing a more ugly picture that is probably too hard to have to face. The majority of the people doing this are from well to do, middle class respectable families. The anarchists and hoodlum label is catchy, and plays well to a mindset that perhaps does not want to look at the real issues. But I think it is actually more representative of a larger issue. Maybe the real issue is that the people involved have too much. The sad part is that they probably don't see it that way. Not appreciative to be able to have a cup of coffee, it has to be a $5.00 special blend. Instead of having to try and get to school, let alone be able to go to school, with a plastic shopping bag to carry the one pencil and scribbler you have, it has to be a designer bag. It is simply sad.
I do volunteer work here in the evenings and this week, as normal, I was asked where are you from. Canada is usually not sufficient an answer, so inevitably I say Vancouver. Mostly because people tend to know where that is and not Mission. They all knew about the "riot about a hockey game" and I fielded questions about how safe it was to go there. people who have prepaid trips there wanting to know if they should change them. We receive a large number of television here from France, Italy, Russia, China, UK, USA and then the Thai press. They all had coverage of the events. It will take a lot more than street cleaning and new glass to repair what has been damaged, it goes beyond the visible.
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