Anti-war activists in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada shut down a General Electric Capital office on the afternoon of Friday, March 28, 2003 without setting a foot in the door.

Saskatoon Activists Turn the Lights out on General Electric, Literally
by Charlie Clark

A local General Electric (GE) outlet in Saskatoon was told by their American headquarters to take down their signs and shut down for the afternoon in anticipation of a demonstration in front of their office on Friday.

Over 150 people came out on Friday March 28 to take part in the "Turn out the lights on General Electric" event to launch a Boycott Corporate America campaign. The event was organized by a newly formed group of Saskatoon activists known as DAFHAPS, or "Direct Action for Hope and Peace Saskatoon." The demonstration started with a funeral procession, complete with coffins, a violinist playing a dirge, and a spontaneous die-in in the middle of a busy downtown thoroughfare. The group ended up in the parking lot of the local GE Capital Financing office (with its signs conspicuously missing), where they held a two-hour anti-war street party, complete with food, dancing, live music, anti-war signs, a piñata, and speeches.

So why was GE trying to hide from the demonstrators? As Sarah Buhler, one of the participants, explained, "Most people associate General Electric with household appliances. What they may not know it that GE is one of the biggest players in the military industrial complex and is literally helping to power the attack on Iraq. Our goal is to encourage people to start putting sanctions on GE, and other companies that are profiting from this war."

GE is among the top ten military contractors in the US, with over $1.6 billion in military sales last year alone. It manufactures the engines for the military aircraft that are currently raining bombs down on Iraqi people. Furthermore, General Electric owns the National Broadcasting Corporations (NBC), one of the largest news networks in the United States. NBC's pro-war bias is tied to GE's massive profits from this war.

The organizers were amazed with the success of the action. According to one organizer, Rachel Engler-Stringer, "most of what people have been doing in Saskatoon has been rallies and peace vigils and marches, and there was a sense amongst those of us who initiated this action that the marches weren't having as much of an impact anymore, the marches were becoming predictable, and we wanted to do something that would be inspiring, to create something where people feel like they were making a difference, even if it was a small one."

Tyler Dudeck commented on how the event came together. "Eight of us started planning five days before the event, we were feeling really angsty and frustrated, like we needed to do something to express ourselves and have agency in opposing the war. At first we weren't sure how to do it, then we constructed the idea for this street party."

The event was planned in five short days. Dozens of people pitched in, making posters, leaflets, food, papier-mâché light bulbs, and anti-GE street art made from old GE appliances. According to Dudeck "this event seemed to reverberate with many people, it allowed people to come together and feel that they weren't alone in their anger about the war."

Because it was a step outside of the norm in Saskatoon, the event also immediately captured the attention of the local media. The Saskatoon Star Phoenix ran an article about the boycott prior to the event, and one activist did an interview on a popular local "breakfast radio" show. In terms of creating an economic disruption for General Electric, the event was a success before it even began. According to one frustrated manager, business at the GE office was interrupted for three days leading up to the protest due to wary customers and telephone calls from concerned citizens. This culminated in the fact that GE actually took down all of their business signs on the day of the event, hiding themselves from public scrutiny.

Engler-Stringer described her reactions to seeing that the signs were down when the group arrived at the GE office. "I thought, wow, they are afraid, and they know that what they are doing is wrong." The event was successful in Saskatoon on two important fronts, it had a tangible impact on raising awareness about the connection between Corporate America and the war on Iraq, but it also served as an inspiring and catalyzing moment for the peace movement in Saskatoon.