street roots
13
July 8, 2011
Reading
the
Riot Act
How the Vancouver
B.C. Stanley Cup riots
were as much about
class warfare as hockey
BY MICHAEL BARNHOLDEN
c o n t r ib u t in g c o l u m n is t ,
have to admit I was taken by surprise.
When asked if there would be a riot after
Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Finals, I said,
“No, conditions just aren’t right, there’s not
enough anger out there.” The anger Iwas
referring to would be the anger directed at
the police and the government. In short, the
authorities. I was wrong. It seems there was
no Shortage of anger. But then, I also
thought the Canucks would win the Clip.
For me the question that remains is what
is the source of the anger? I don’t buy the
theory that losing a game results in such
rage. The bad apple theory doesn’t hold
water nor does mob mentality. Too many
bad apples, not enough mob. So where does
the rage come from? Here’s my theory.
British Columbia has just come through
the most vicious 10-year cycle of class
warfare waged by the B.C. Liberal
government under Gordon Campbell. The
-electionof a new leader in the person of ~
Christy Clark promises more of the same in
-a new “fattiily friendly” style. What is the
.evidence? Here are the lowlights: ‘
■ 100,000 children living in poverty
■ $7,800 for one scalped ticket to game 7
Stanley Cup Final
■ $7,320.5=; annual income for single
“employable” welfare recipient
■ $197,25 plus “handling charges” = face
value of 1 playoff ticket for round four
■ $235 = monthly support rate for single
I
“employable” welfare recipient
■ $10,000,000 = Canucks’ goaltender
Roberto Luongo’s annual salary
■ $1,000,000 = average house price in
Vancouver
■ $375 = shelter component for single
“employable” welfare recipient
■ $18.17 an hour = estimated living wage
in Vancouver
■ $8.75 == minimum wagean B.C.
■ 100 percent increase in B.C. college
tuition fees from 2000 to 2004
■ One in 28.6 million odds of winning the
B.C. Lottery Lotto Max jackpot
■ $0 - what British Columbia Premier
Christy Clark paid for her two Game 7
tickets
Between 1989 and 2008, the richest 10
percent of British Columbia’s families with
children saw an average gain in their annual
income of $84,713 or an astonishing
increase of about 52 percent. Meanwhile the
bottom 40 percent saw their average annual
income drop by more than 4 per cent, or an
average loss of $6,909.
There’s a word for all this: revanchism-
revenge against the poor. The rich fuck up
and the poor pay, that is the primary lesson
to be J ^ r ned jn thg post-capitalist era.
When I say poor, I mean working class. And
when I say working class, I mean anybody
who does not profit from the labor of others.
Twenty thousand inside the arena,
100,000 outside and a few “looters”
chanting, “Fuck the HST” as they
redistributed wealth while others attacked
private property, smashing windows and
burning cars. Was it organized? No. Was it
focused? Not really. Will the “authorities” do
everything in their power to misread the
rage? Of course—in our one party system
(they’re all capitalist) there is no room in
the public discourse to even question the
inequalities that are endemic to capitalism.
In the words of Margaret Thatcher: “There
is no alternative”.
The rich will get richer, the poor will get
poorer, just remember the words on the
bumper sticker: “If you don’t riot you can’t
complain.” Nobody’s listening anyway.
Michael Bamholden, author o f “Reading the
Riot Act: A B rief History o f Rioting in
Vancouver” (Anvil Press 2005), is associate
director o f Humanities 101 at the University
o f British Columbia, member o f the board o f
the Kootenay School o f Writing, and
managing editor o f the literary magazine
West Coast LINE.
Office C a t Rooty sends a thank you to a ll
' the vendors who take care o f me! I t ’s great
to see you every morning and get a little
play time in before the work day begins.
Thank you, vendors!