Toronto, ON: Graffiti Greets Google “Smart City” Store

The following communique was originally anonymously submitted to North Shore Counter-Info.

Last night some anarchists visited the Sidewalk Toronto office on Parliament Street. Their cheerful paint job needed some touching up to remind everyone that for all their land acknowledgements and “consultations,” Sidewalk is a sinister force in our city [tag reads “Fuck Off Sidewalk”].

There are plenty of reasons to oppose Sidewalk. Indigenous elders have criticized their tokenistic consultation of First Nations (hey, why not just remediate the stolen land and give it back, anyways?) Their aggressive proposals for data collection, private police forces and cashless stores are all pretty dystopic. and we can bet that their “affordable” housing stock will be nowhere near attainable for those who need it.

Respect to the efforts of groups like Block Sidewalk for their push back against this plan. It isn’t a done deal so let’s keep fighting! we chose this tactic to reflect our hostility toward google and all forms of exclusivity and surveillance, and hope it inspires future action!