Last week I dropped by Occupy Vancouver encampment at the Vancouver Art Gallery. I wanted to chat with someone there about why they were there and what they hoped to accomplish.
I wanted to go because I was annoyed. Inexplicably annoyed. I say “inexplicably” annoyed because I agree that too much power and wealth is concentrated in the hands of too few people in the world, and because generally yes, we do need a better way of making decisions, keeping those in power accountable and dammit the system of democracy we have just seems to leave so many people out.
A friend had gone there and his report was “What’s the big deal, it’s just a bunch of tents in a small area of a big city, why is everyone so threatened,” and I said “Well, because there are other groups of people who have booked that space and are prevented from using it because a bunch of young people want to camp out and have a party in the park.”
Then I realized I was talking out my ass because I hadn’t found out for myself what it was all about. So I vowed last Tuesday at lunch to go and see/hear for myself.
Walking through the site, I was struck by how neat and clean it seemed, for a campsite. There was no smell of marijuana in the air (which is unusual for the Art Gallery any time of year) and there were people with safety vests saying “medic” walking around. There were people on a stage saying their piece, announcing the next general meeting, etc. There was a children’s area, and information tent, a food tent and a clean-up tent with what looked like a very clean, foodsafe dishwashing area.
As it turned out I was pressed for time because I had a meeting right after lunch and I didn’t get away until late. So I deposited my trail mix with someone at the kitchen who thanked me politely.
I got the impression not of a party, but as a space where people had come together earnestly to make change happen.
“This used to be me,” I thought. I wasn’t totally converted to their cause, but I had a new respect for the (mostly young) people there.
Full disclosure: in my university days I was a social activitst. I helped organize demonstrations of tens of thousands of people. I even got arrested for acts of civil disobedience. Twice. Each time I carefully weighed the pros and cons, arranged legal representation and for my children to be taken care of, and accepted the consequences. When I was arrested I went willingly and nobody yelled, resisted, mouthed off or otherwise exacerbated the situation. We didn’t even passively resist, because did you know this? — You can be charged with obstruction of justice by refusing to actively participate in your own arrest and imprisonment. I chose not to do that, 20-odd years ago. I spent several hours in holding cells each time, and was conditionally discharged each time.
So when I say what I’m about to say I know what-of I speak. I have some street cred, you might say.
I watched yesterday afternoon the Occupy Vancouver LiveStream feed from the provincial courthouse, where some OV protestors decided to relocate after they were kicked off the Art Gallery grounds by a court order.
As far as I can tell, they went to the court house grounds because it is provincial lands, and a new injunction will have to be sought in order to evict them from there rather than city-owned land.
This means that the encampment has become the raison-d’etre of the movement, not the ideals it claims to represent. The courthouse is simply a convenience, because it’s province-owned property rather than city-owned property. The protestors are simply putting off the inevitable.
Plus – they’re blocking access to the courts. The only recourse ordinary people have to civil wrongs done to them. I don’t think these people have any idea what they’re doing. An independent judiciary is a cornerstone of democracy. It is still a well-respected and independent body. This Occupy movement was able to represent itself in this court this past week and state its case eloquently and passionately. I know – I heard one of their representatives speak on CBC radio last Monday. She was articulate and persuasive.
And she lost. The court said their Charter rights to free speech would not be violated by an injunction for them not to camp on the city’s public property.
The Occupy movement (or what’s left of them) is choosing to flaunt that court by moving to another jurisdiction – the province.
Isn’t this exactly the legal weaseling the Occupy movement hates when it comes out of the “One Per Cent?
I was monitoring Twitter at about 2:30 pm when a got a link to a LiveStream site of the courthouse “occupation.” I logged on to ask the protestors: “Why the courthouse?” I never got an answer. I saw a protestor take a swing at an official – a firefighter or something, who did swing back. I saw the protestor get arrested by the city police. I saw a mob taunt and try to provoke the police who were making the arrest. I was amazed at how the police kept their cool and did not arrest anyone else and did not drag the protestor to the van, rather they tried to carry him. I was shocked at the mob that surrounded the police and the arrested man, saying “let him go, let him go.” I imagine the police were probably incredibly nervous. I would have been shitting myself actually, had I really been there.
That was on the verge of being a mob, not a non-violent demonstration.
That’s not the way civil disobedience was done when I did it.
This is not Iran’s Tahrir Square. This is not even Wall Street.
Occupy Vancouver, you lost a potential supporter today. And I think I can safely say from a great many other Vancouverites: “Get off my lawn.”
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PS this is my personal blog, not a civic service. I reserve the right to not publish any comments I don’t like. Go somewhere else to carry on the debate, I may join you there.
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About those 100 posts:
So – 37 down, 63 to go. Or something like that.
I resumed my blogging yesterday when someone asked me for my delicious Greek Lentil Soup recipe. It was easy to do, so I posted it, thinking “Oh yeah, I have this 100 blog posts in 100 days thing I promised to get back to after I moved to Vancouver.”
With 60+ posts to go, I’m posting anything and everything that comes to mind. After the 100 posts, I’m evaluating where I really want to take my writing, and will re-focus accordingly. For now, I’m just getting it done. I’m “shipping,” as Merlin Mann would say. So – read in that spirit and keep in mind – YMMV (Your Mileage May Vary.)
