I didn't find an anarchist but I did talk to a Raging Granny. Susan Stratton initially reacts in less than raging fashion upon hearing of the mayor's warnings of anarchists and agitation, of a menacing mayhem ready to be unleashed on an unsuspecting city.
"It makes me laugh," says Susan, sounding exhausted after a day at the zoo with her niece.
"I'm a 60-year-old university professor. I think it's dumb."
When I tell this specialist in utopian literature about the fact she doesn't fit the scary stereotype of the G-8 protester, she laughs again.
"Yes, you're on to me. We just want to make the world a better place for children," she says.
The Raging Grannies began on the West Coast in the '80s, older activist women who dressed the granny part, with the hats, the shawls, the aprons and the boas, turning another stereotype to political purpose.
Four years ago, the Grannies started up in this city. Two years ago, you couldn't miss the Raging Grannies, with their songs and their satire, out on the opening march of activists at the peaceful World Petroleum Congress.
The Grannies, along with a group of self-styled radical cheerleaders, had the crowd in stitches.
"I think the reality is we were having a good time and getting our message across. It was a festival atmosphere, a time when things were turned inside out, when the powerless got to be on centre stage and have their say," says Susan.
Yes, the Raging Grannies can be seen at many events.
The last time was with Mothers Against Drunk Driving when the Grannies were actually on the same side as the cops. Susan says in four years she's never seen this violent anarchist Armageddon the authorities currently conjure up.
"I think anarchy is just a political stance that some people turn into a bad thing, the way some people turn feminism into a bad thing, they take a label and make it ugly," says Susan, the professor/aunt/zoo visitor/Raging Granny.
"I've gone to meetings with representatives of groups around the G-8. If you listen to any political gathering, like Parliament, with all the shouting at each other, and compare them to these groups with their consensus and their wish for peace, you will see these groups are the good guys. A bunch of idealists willing to put effort into making good things happen.
"I think the most dangerous forces are the combination of international corporate power and the governments who support them. The idea of powerful leaders meeting in secret is a symbol of the way we don't want the world to go."
As for the mayor's strong stance some see as sabre-rattling?
"He's asking for trouble," says Susan, who wishes Bronco would've tried to work harder with the activists.
Well, something happened yesterday. Neither an olive nor a branch. More a twig. But, after much hoop-jumping and hand-wringing, the activists finally did get the mayor's green light for a pre-summit march from Eau Claire to Olympic Plaza on Sunday, June 23 at 1 p.m. Gord Christie, the march organizer and a perennial presence at protests and picket lines throughout this city, hopes for a turnout of at least 4,000 of the faithful.
"Calgary is becoming a diverse city and this gives us a chance to peacefully express a diversity of views," says Gord.
But what about those awful anarchists, Gord?
"Anarchism isn't my bag," he says. "I don't know any anarchists. They didn't come to any organizing committee meetings."
Imagine that. Anarchists who don't sit on organizing committees.
Susan and the Raging Grannies will be at the Sunday march. She does not worry about the prospect of arrest.
"I think it is a possibility but I'm not afraid," she says.
"If I was afraid I would stay home. But no self-respected Raging Granny would do that."
FAIR USE NOTICE: This page contains copyrighted material the use of which has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. NoNonsense English offers this material non-commercially for research and educational purposes. I believe this constitutes a fair use of any such copyrighted material as provided for in 17 U.S.C § 107. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond fair use, you must obtain permission from the copyright owner, i.e. the media service or newspaper which first published the article online and which is indicated at the top of the article unless otherwise specified.