The ThunderBlogs

Local band Legally Blind played Friday at a fundraiser for the legal defense of Vancouver activists arrested at this summer’s protests of the G-20 Summit in Toronto.

The lead singer resembled a young Johnny Rotten as he dedicated Pink Floyd’s We Don’t Need No Education to Premier Gordon Campbell. Next the band played original tune No G-20 on Stolen Land, formerly No Olympics on Stolen Land.

A banner over the stage at the Royal Canadian Legion on Commercial Drive read “Business as usual kills! Stop the tar sands,” and to the left of the stage hung of portrait of Queen Elizabeth II.

To the right, a slide show of photos from the G-20 protests were projected onto the wall. One depicted a person dressed in black throwing a rock through a Tim Hortons store front. Another showed a young man with dreadlocks embracing a young woman in front of Toronto’s Old City Hall.

The crowd mostly gathered near the bar at the back of the room, sipping beer. A few young women stood closer to the stage, moving their feet to the tempo of the music.

Outside, the thumping bass and drums were just vibrations coming through the walls, and friends gathered for conversation.

Lliam Brander said he spent most of the G-20 protests “trying not to look like an activist.” He went to Toronto in show of solidarity with activists who came west for protests against the Olympics earlier this year.

Brander was arrested while walking with a friend a block away from a planned anti-prison demonstration, he said. After being put under arrest, police searched his bag and found a few articles of black clothing. He was told that he was being charged for “disguise with intent.” His charge was later changed to “conspiracy to commit an indictable offense,” and was eventually dropped, Brander said.

Brander paid $300 out of pocket as a result of his arrest. $200 went to legal fees, while $100 went to a judge-mandated contribution to a charitable donation, Brander said. Friday’s event will help with those fees.

But the event was not just about raising money. Dawn Paley, a journalist who covered the protests in Toronto with the Vancouver Media Co-op, said, “A lot of people were really traumatized [at the G-20 protests]. It’s really good to have social space where we can talk about what happened and where we can celebrate the victories and where we can figure out where to go from here.”