Over the last few weeks, strikers have all been part of some crazy events on or around the picket lines, some of us were involved, some of us were witnesses. All of these events unnecessary. If people stopped thinking of the strike as a battle, and more as a message board to get their message across, we wouldn’t see so many fights or incidents. There is nothing wrong with telling the people what the strike is about without raising voices or fists…

I was so surprised to see the tons of videos online about Toronto Strike conflicts all around the city for the last 5 weeks… I don’t know why I never even thought of searching for them before yesterday, but I was flabbergasted by the amount of them and even more so by their content. I don’t want to promote them by posting copies here, I’m disgusted by the way people act on them, but still, they might be worth a viewing for those who think that Toronto isn’t really affected by the strike. It’s a whole can of crazy, be prepared.

What I do see daily from my circle of strike though is the continuous need for citizens to drop by to insult us. I understand we are easy targets, we are wearing strike signs, we are walking in a circle in front of a city building, we are supporting a group that is working on our behalf so that benefits they won for us in the past won’t be taken away, etc.

Still, let me give you a few pointers if you think that coming to Dundas and Victoria to scream insults at us is a good idea and want to continue living. I’m not saying that any of us would take any measure to injure people, far from our minds, but some people act so carelessly that I’m surprise we haven’t had the need for emergency services already.

ALMOST ACCIDENT #1
One guy driving a pick-up truck southbound on Victoria St. stopped just before the intersection and rolled down his window to scream “GO BACK TO WORK FUCKERS” and then pressed on the gas as a mean of quick getaway only to slam on the breaks and screech his tires realizing the light had turned red, almost slamming into a car that was driving through on Dundas.

ALMOST ACCIDENT #2
One woman on a bicycle riding illegally on the sidewalk zoomed past us and started yelling gibberish and stopping one inch short of ramming herself into a wall. See, she was riding fairly fast and was quickly turning her head in the direction she was going and then to the direction of the strikers every other word, not really paying attention to the fact there was a building with bricks and cement ready to stop her stride… All we heard was a rapid succession of words that couldn’t really form a sentence as we couldn’t hear the words yelled when her head was turned to the direction opposite us… it sort of went like “You (blank) money (blanK) stupid (blank) work (screeeeeeeeeech) SHIIIIIIIIT!!!” She came to an abrupt stop, then sheepishly looking down, turned the corner and dissapeared.

ALMOST ACCIDENT #3
One man was so excited at our sight that he completely stopped in the middle of the intersection. Standing there immobile and looking at us, he started yelling that we were just being lazy and wanted time off during the Summer. Meanwhile a car was waiting to turn and seemed hesitant as the driver couldn’t tell if the man would continue on his way or retreat back from where he came from. At the exact same time, both of them decided to move… heading in the same direction. With one opinionated man jumping backwards and avoiding a car wheel on his foot… Apparently it was enough of a scare for him to just turned around and continue on his way…

ALMOST ACCIDENT #4, #5, #6, #7, #8, #9
Every morning, around 9:30am, approximately 100 exchange students from Brazil (or so their backpacks say) swarm the corner on their way to a Ryerson class or meeting. You’d think that at least one of them would notice the street light at the corner, but oh no… every morning they all arrive following each other and cross Victoria St stopping any traffic that would be coming their way. Cars can be honking their horns as loud as they can, they continue on walking across. Hopefully they’ll get to the “crossing the street lesson” soon.

ALMOST ACCIDENT #10
This one has nothing to do with the strike, it would (and will continue to) happen on any regular day in downtown Toronto. This homeless came by, drunk out of his mind, holding a half full-bottle of what seemed like pure alcohol and was trying to light up a cigarette butt probably freshly picked up from the sidewalk… I kept expecting him to go up in flame at any time as the handling of the bottle and the striking of the matches made the booze pop out of the bottle and was soaking the front of his shirt. He finally managed and blew smoke in our direction. Man On Fire = 0, Smoking = 1. This time…

Everyone has the right to their opinion of course, I’m not saying people shouldn’t feel angry at strikers they see in the city, and I’m not suggesting they should sympathize with them either, but if the need to scream at someone arise at anytime, please do it in a safely manner. Or if you walk directly to the strikers and ask a question instead of throwing insults, you might see a different side to all of this mess.

Also, drink pure alcohol and smoke responsibly.

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