The Descent from the Summit
Resources
Props:
Protest signs, six half-filled wine bottles. Podium
Sound effects:
Transition 2nd to 3rd scene - soundscape of different sounds from Summit protests: helicopter; teargas canisters being fired; CBC newscasts; sounds from demonstrations; etc.
Costume:
Police officer (with helmet) / jail guard (cap)
Timeline:
Actors:
Makeup -Lynda Hayes
Scene I
A chic upscale condo in St-Jean-Baptiste. Adriana is visiting her brother Paul and the two of them are discussing the upcoming Summit of the Americas. Paul is seated and Adriana is standing.
Paul: It's not such a big deal and it'll be good for us in the long run.
Adriana: Look, free trade means that jobs will go wherever employers want them to go. And where do you think they'll go? To places where wages are lower, where workers can't organize into unions, and where environmental standards are nonexistent. Free trade means the freedom to level salaries and working conditions down to the same low level.
Paul: Not necessarily.
Adriana: How's that?
Paul: Listen, this is your big brother the computer programmer speaking. Most third world countries don't even have computer programmers, so how can they undercut me? My job will be safe. I'll even be better off because my employer will have a bigger market and the stuff I buy at the store will be cheaper.
Adriana: You can't have it both ways. You can't earn a first-world salary while buying from people who earn third-world wages.
Paul: Sure I can. That's why it's so interesting.
Adriana: And what about your uncle who works at the factory? What can he do for $12 an hour that can't be done by someone in Guatemala for $3 an hour? What's going to happen to him?
Paul: Well, he can get retrained as a computer programmer.
Adriana: Yeah, right. Look, the organizing meeting for our protest is tonight. Are you sure you don't want to come? Or are you going to watch the demonstration on TV?
Paul: Oh, I might drop by to see the demonstration and snap a few pictures. Just to show I was there. But then again, I might see the extreme wrestling match on TV. Depends on which is more fun to watch.
Adriana: Oh Paul, don't you even care? There are real issues at stake here. Issues that will affect you and the next generation.
Paul: Nope, couldn't care less. And your stupid protest isn't going to change anything anyway. Everything's been decided. Nobody who matters is against it. All three parties at the National Assembly voted in favour. And you guys don't even have a clear vision of what you want. At least the other side knows the kind of world they want.
(Paul gets up and reaches for a parcel on the table)
Look, I have to drop this off at the post office before it closes. I'll be back in twenty minutes, so I won't hold up your meeting. If anybody drops by, tell them to wait.
Adriana: Yeah, I'll mind the store.
Paul leaves. Adriana walks to podium at centre stage. Curtains close behind her (for scene change).
Adriana: Maybe he's got a point. What kind of world do I want? Lights dim, Adriana remains standing on the podium.
Scene II
Curtains remain closed. Action takes place below, in the hall itself. Adriana exits the stage through the door on stage left and mounts a podium facing the audience in front of centre stage. Meanwhile, through the door at the rear of the hall, a dozen protesters enter the hall, carrying protest signs and chanting "So, so, so, solidarité !" Some of them distribute pamphlets to members of the audience. Some protesters, already "planted" in the audience from the very beginning, will start chanting as well. The audience is made to feel as if they are part of the organizing meeting.
Adriana (addressing the protesters) Order! Order! We have to get this meeting started. Is everybody here?
James: Do ya expect the people not here to speak up?
Adriana: Very funny. I expect you guys to know each other. You're always chanting about solidarity, so now's your chance to show it.
Valérie: Half the people are here. The others are at the People's Summit. They were afraid of a bad scene.
Adriana: Bad scene?
Valérie: As in a bad place to be. Where you wouldn't want to have a Sunday picnic.
James: Bad as in getting tear-gassed ...
Neil: Or being hit by a water cannon ...
Valérie: (Cutting them off ) Bad as in having twits like you around. (Turning to Adriana) So what's on the agenda?
Adriana: We need to take stock of everything we've got, like leaflets, protest signs, banners ...
Valérie: The leaflets are ready. The printers came by this morning.
Adriana: Did they stick in that part we worked on last night?
Neil: Yeah, it's in there alright. Let's see (reads from one of the leaflets): "Free trade works only when all countries play by the same rules. If the rules are not the same or are not equally enforced, money will go wherever it is least accountable. This can literally mean getting away with murder. The money will prop up regimes where child labour is permitted, where the environment is polluted without restriction, where you can get killed for organizing to improve working conditions ..."
Adriana: O.K., O.K. Good stuff. And what are those over there? (pointing to a dozen half-filled wine bottles).
Neil: I dunno. Maybe somebody's planning a cocktail afterwards.
James (laughing): Take a closer look. It's for a cocktail alright but it ain't wine that's in those bottles.
Adriana takes a closer look, uncorks and sniffs one of the bottles.
Adriana: Smells like gasoline.
James: Bingo! It's actually gas mixed with styrofoam ...
Valérie: To make it burn longer, like napalm ...
Peter: All you gotta do is stick a wick onto it, light it, and throw (makes a motion)
Neil: And pow!! With enough of these we'll have a real pork roast!
Adriana: Stop! These are Molotov cocktails!
James: Adriana catches on real fast.
Adriana: Whoa! Just hold on a minute here! This is a peaceful demonstration. We agreed from the very beginning that it would be peaceful. No violence. No weapons. No fighting. (slowly, with emphasis) Just a peaceful demonstration.
Neil: It will be peaceful. We'll just be taking a piece here and a piece there ...
Peter: The distinction between peace and violence is a lot of sophistry anyway. They're the ones who are inflicting violence. Only they've conned everyone into thinking what they're doing is O.K. Well, it's not O.K.
Adriana: But we agreed, I thought we agreed ...
Neil and Peter make a gesture and some of the others start chanting "So, so, so, solidarité, so, so, so solidarité"
Valérie: Quiet!! (chanting stops).
Adriana: You had no business bringing those weapons here. Don't you guys remember the discussion we had? We agreed that this would be a peaceful demonstration. We said ...
Chanting begins anew and grows louder and more insistent. Adriana can't make herself heard. Lights go off in the hall. Soundscape begins. Two police officers enter from the rear and form a "wall" facing the protesters. Meanwhile, James leaves the scene and the other protesters get prepared and then attack the wall in a circle formation. After 90 seconds, the two police officers start arresting and hauling off the protesters. All actors must be out of the hall by the end of the soundscape (sound of helicopter).
Scene III
A prison cell at Orsainville. Curtains are opened part way. Within this gap, and just behind the curtains, is a bench on which two people are seated close together. Below them on the floor are two other people, also squeezed together. The stage itself is in darkness and a dim spotlight illuminates the four inmates.
James: Not exactly the Holiday Inn here.
Adriana: Oh please. You've only got yourself to blame.
James: Me?! I wasn't even at the demonstration. The cops just nabbed me off the street. There's lots of people here under preventive detention.
Adriana: Well, the others didn't make things easier for us. Look, I have to pee now. Can you guys look the other way?
Neil: We can look the other way, but I'm not sure the folks in the next cell will ...
Guard (offstage): Lights out fifteen minutes!
Adriana: Sometimes I wish I had never gotten myself into this whole mess. I could be comfortable at home. And I could have a safe well-paying job just like the one my brother has ...
James: Adriana, nobody's safe. Least of all the people like your brother. They're the ones who've gotten themselves into a mess.
Guard comes to the cell and unlocks the door.
Guard: Congratulations, you're free to go now. Your parents put up the bail.
Valérie: Well, your wish has come true. You can forget all about us now.
James: Poor little rich kid (snickers).
Valérie: Don't forget to write!
Adriana leaves the cell, looks back for a moment, waves goodbye, and then walks onto centre stage. Curtains close behind her.
Adriana: How did I get mixed up in all of this?
Lights dim, Adriana walks behind the curtain.
Scene IV
Paul's condo. Everything is in disorder.
Adriana (knocks and looks in through stage left door): Paul? Are you home?
Paul comes on stage. He's unshaven and looks depressed.
Adriana: I'm sorry. It's been over a month and you haven't returned any of my calls. I thought something happened to you during the demonstrations. I'll leave if you want.
Paul: No, stick around. The demonstrations had nothing to do with it.
Adriana: What happened?
Paul: Ah, nothing you'd care to know about.
Adriana: Sure I would.
Paul: No, I don't think so.
Adriana: Look, if you can't tell your own sister, who can you tell?
Paul: Maybe I don't want to tell anybody.
Adriana: Come on, out with it.
Paul (after a pause): I lost my job.
Adriana: Huh!? You lost your job? But I thought your position was safe.
Paul: The company's now contracting their work out to Bangalore.
Adriana: Bangalore? Where's that?
Paul: It's in India. It's become a major centre for software development and the programmers there work for a third of what I was making.
Paul and Adriana stare silently at each other. Curtains close.