You just couldn’t take it seriously.

There are protests you read about in the history books. This one couldn’t make it into the comic books.

There is a sign at city hall saying the video of the protest will be livestreamed to the G7 summit site in Kananaskis.

The only objective the video of this protest would achieve this day is to show anyone watching it what theatre of absurd looks like.

Almost a quarter century ago, when world leaders gathered in Kananaskis, the protest had all kinds of community groups, high-profile activists, unions, even elected politicians joining forces.

This protest, with the G7 in Alberta, is smaller, a lot smaller.

A lot of the community groups of the past are largely absent. Ditto the activists. Ditto the unions and the politicians.

What you have is a smattering of people for a smattering of causes but no sense of a common cause, to make the lives of working people better.

A few Maoists when the Maoists in China aren’t even Maoist anymore.

A few Trotskyists when almost no one knows what you’re talking when you say you’re a Trotskyist.

These folks will likely one day retire their red flags and grow up to be stockbrokers or lawyers specializing in mergers and acquisitions.

They remind me of young wannabe punk rockers who drive to their gigs in Dad’s Range Rover.

There are a few Unitarians and Catholic social justice types standing up for the Third World. A few want to protect parks or water or don’t like fossil fuels. A few.

There is barely a whimper of hatred for American president Donald Trump.

None of the so-called urban progressives take time out to make an appearance.

Perhaps they are too busy on Reddit whining about how bad the mean conservatives are while not lifting a finger to oppose them where it counts, in the trenches of real-world politics where it takes hard work and much more than a big mouth to make a difference.

A wise man at the protest, Tim X is his handle and he is far from being a conservative, says these do-nothings are what is called bourgeois cool, the comfy types who feel a little unease about things, but don’t lift a finger to do a thing about it.

Tim X wisely heads out of Dodge before the fun and games begin. This is no place for someone who believes politics is serious business and is far more than play-acting and posturing.

We are left with the protest.

The assembled leave the designated demonstration zone at Calgary city hall and hit the streets. They are taking away the streets from The Man.

How daring! How provocative!

Drivers sit in their cars. All the construction and now this!

As Sunday afternoon wears on, one collection of protesters takes up more and more of the oxygen, those who want Israel wiped off the face of the Earth.

Genocide is the word of the day but terrorist is not.

Terrorists are freedom fighters, martyrs.

Covering your face and trying to appear dangerous is a popular look.

It is almost surreal, individuals marching in the streets of Calgary and not one is willing to renounce Hamas.

You pose the question and individuals look at you like you’ve lost your mind. We should be as righteous as Hamas, they say.

This is told to you mostly by white kids, no doubt hailing from the suburbs of Calgary and Edmonton.

Yes, this is a day where a chant is shouted often and at great volume, comparing the Calgary police to the Ku Klux Klan and the Israeli military.

They are all fascists and racists, man.

Chant it often enough, right in the faces of the cops, and hope the police will make a move and you get the Victim of the Week award.

Then they head down Stephen Avenue. The intensity of the protest rises with the smell of pot in the air, though there is surely no connection.

More than a few sitting out on the patios are not amused.

“I just want to drink my beer,” says one, speaking for many.

The protest heads back to city hall.

“Do you still want to march?” shouts one protest organizer, upon arrival.

It is like asking: Do you want to go for another ride on the roller coaster?

The group, ever smaller, march back down Stephen Avenue, encounter a group with Jesus flags and one Israeli flag.

Cops keep the two groups apart. There is no argy-bargy.

What’s left of the protest heads back to city hall for a last hurrah.

An old man sits on an old scooter as the protest passes

“I’m homeless. I’m crippled. I’m Canadian. What about me?” he asks.

No real answer. They’re busy talking revolution.

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