Synopsis
Freya, Linda, Sébastien and Viviane learn to turn limp as they are being dragged across the sidewalk. They prepare to resist teargas, pepper spray and taunts from the riot squad. Together with hundreds of other activists, they risk personal safety to test their own beliefs. Their goal: to cripple a top level conference of bankers and world trade officials planning to implement the MAI (Multilateral Agreement on Investment). Their means: civil disobedience. A dramatic and provoking behind-the-scenes look into the growing ranks of citizens who put people before profits and take their commitment to the front lines.
A word from Tënk
This documentary film is important to view in the contemporary context as it locates protest and direct action at the centre of our collective understanding as to the context for the downfall of the M.A.I. (Multilateral Agreement on Investment). Although not in popular headlines today, the campaign against the M.A.I. and corresponding Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) agreement, target these policies of market "liberalization" as policies that were rooted in a sustaining of colonial extrationist economics that work to commodify human labour and the environment.
As a global framework for investment the details surrounding the M.A.I. agreement was never made public, while the direct involvement of corporations in shaping the multilateral investment treaty was made clear by the open door access for corporate and financial "officials" to meet with M.A.I. negotiators in the lead up to the Montreal Conference on Globalized Economies in May 1998 where the M.A.I. was the focus.
Key to the mobilization and protest, which was successful in challenging the colonial legitimacy of the M.A.I. was the deployment of popular direction action tactics. Hundreds of people participated in the direct blockade and protest of the summit in 1998 that was taking place at the Sheraton hotel on Sherbrooke street. This documentary works to document and speak to the popular power of direct action in raising public discussion and challenging frameworks of colonial hegemony.
Stefan Christoff
Activist, Musician, and Independent Journalist
