Whatever mayhem descends on Calgary, it won't compare to the terror witnessed on the occupied Palestinian West Bank, says one prominent, globe-trotting activist.
Starhawk, whose life of dissent dates back to Vietnam War protest, says one of her last stops was at Balata Refugee Camp outside Nablus in May.
"I saw an (Israeli) soldier actually use a man as a human shield," says Starhawk, 51, a Jewish-born denizen of San Francisco.
"I saw the soldiers trash one family's home and after the women put everything back in place, they trashed it again the next day and urinated on their belongings ... it gave me a whole new idea of terror."
Starhawk says the experience as a non-violent interventionist helping Palestinians seek medical aid casts a different light on the U.S.-led war against terror, which will be a prime topic during G-8 summit discussions at Kananaskis.
It's imperative, she says, that protesters zero in on the hypocrisy of that war whose targets are highly selective and motives murky.
"George W. Bush and (U.S. Attorney General) John Ashcroft are promising a war without end, everywhere," she says, adding socio-economic policies are the only way to win the struggle.
"The only way to counter terrorism is actually creating a global society and economy where people have hope," she says.
Nurturing community-based industry where the workers have an immediate stake is one approach, says Starhawk.
At first, the grey-haired protest veteran insists the notion of a core of violent anarchists turning peaceful protest into mayhem is mere myth.
But then she adds: "Some of those people are angry and sometimes that anger isn't expressed lightly."
"The people throwing stones at windows (in Seattle) weren't directing them at any living human beings whereas there were police on horseback attacking everyone."
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