G20 wall of sound; Harper to fight bank tax in Europe

You’ve all surely heard a lot about the sound cannons they will be using at the G20 (and beyond), so I’ll just add a couple of tidbits here:

The truck-mounted model of sound cannon can emit an ear-splitting 143 decibels, far above the pain threshold of 110 to 120dB.

The Council of Canadians put out this press release on the sound weapons, and they are planning on handing out earplugs during the G20. Good idea.

Here is what the Council had to say about the ear-piercing devices: “Saying a sound cannon is a tool for communications is like saying waterboarding isn’t torture, just a tool for encouraging dialogue,” Mark Calzavara, a Council of Canadians organizer, said in a statement. “This is meant to intimidate people and make them too scared to protest. They have spent over a billion dollars on security for this event now and it is clearly violating our charter rights.”

Here’s how they used them in Pittsburgh (it’s loud, prepare your ears if you listen!).

Also, getting back to this site’s focus on the issues the G20 itself is talking about, Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper will be continuing his globetrotting next Wednesday with a trip to convince the UK and French leaders that the bank tax, which proponents say would help curb risky speculation at the heart of the economic crisis, is a bad idea. On Monday, I will be putting up a primer on the bank tax history and a critique of the Canadian government’s position. Hopefully that will be enough time for Harper to read it and still have time to cancel his trip without penalty.