- Protesters at the Occupy Vancouver Rally on Oct. 15th 2011
David Swanson
Vancouver joins the Occupy Wall Street movement to fight political and economic inequality
On Saturday October 15th, close to 5,000 Vancouverites gathered at the Vancouver Art Gallery (VAG) to join the New York City occupy Wall Street protest and communicate their own distaste with the local inequality issues. Over 1,500 cities in 80 countries across the world held general assemblies and mass marches in urban city spaces to express their dissatisfaction with the current state of global politics and economic disparity.
The focus of the occupy Wall Street movement and the October 15th Global Day of Action is to protest an unjust, oppressive and broken social system that prioritizes corporate interests above public welfare. This global demonstration was organized to object faulty governance in developed nations that has allowed society’s wealthiest 1% to gain control of the world’s financial resources and possess a frightening amount of political influence.
On July 13th, a Vancouver based organization called Adbusters initiated a campaign encouraging Americans to take a page out of Egypt’s political playbook and organize a sit-in, or occupation, in the New York financial district on Wall Street starting September 17th. Adbusters believed the occupation of Tahrir Square in Cairo was the crucial in realizing Egyptian political reform and, ultimately, ending former dictator Honsi Mubarak’s 30 year rule.
The Wall Street protest is now in its fifth week and, while it is gaining support, mainstream media continues to depict the movement as disorganized. Of course this comes as no surprise as large, cooperative, grass-roots events are difficult to manage; there have very few financial resources and true democratic consensus is time consuming and difficult to reach.
During the first few hours on Saturday morning, it was clear the Occupy Vancouver procedural communications was slightly chaotic. It took several hours to reach a consensus on hand signals, assembly topics and voting protocol. “At the begging there may have been too much talk about procedure. It was a little slow to start,” said an activist who wished to remain anonymous.
However, by the early afternoon the event gained momentum. Several general assembly meetings and group marches were organized, both of which saw high participation. The largest march during the rally consisted of nearly 2,000 people guided by police escorts. Protesters avidly sported thought-provoking, ironic signage while dancing in a mobile drum line that was heard chanting “we are the 99 percent,” from several city blocks away.
It is also being reported that the Occupy Wall Street movement and its satellite supporters do not have a singular, unified demand and, therefore, cannot expect any tangible change. During Egypt’s early 2011 internal conflict, protesters occupying Tahrir Square had a distinct demand; remove Mubarak from power. At the rally, there was a wide range of issues on display. The most prevalent topics included starvation, environmental degradation, war, debt, bank bailouts, rent prices, corporate greed and government indifference.
Antony Ellis, an elderly European immigrant said “I am poor. I have a healthy problem. The government does not care about me. The medical service is very bad. When I am sick, they do not let me stay in the hospital. The government treats me like I am worth nothing. It hurts me.”
At first glance, it might appear that there isn’t a cohesive voice resonating from this movement. However, on closer inspection it is clear these issues stem from deep seeded systemic ineptitude anchored in power retention and self-interested decision making. Each issue is a symptom of irresponsible state management. The public is having difficulty recognizing this because Western society has a very individualistic value system which ultimately trains people to see situations in isolation or as mutually exclusive.
Joshua Blakeney, a Master student at the University of Lethbridge and speaker at the Occupy Vancouver rally believes the media continues to report the movement as disorganized and fractured because they are trying to discredit it. However, he was quick to point out that it is important people engage opportunities like this even when they are not completely structured. “ I do think that we need to have some kind of overarching agenda otherwise those in power can dismiss us, but I think today is about developing causes that people can gravitate towards.”
So what can we hope to accomplish from these urban occupations? It is not clear if a definitive demand will be reached but even if one does not materialize, I think these general assemblies will have an extensive social benefit. They provide a forum for the public to table important issues that do not receive adequate attention in mainstream culture and act as a visible representation of the socially marginalized. General assemblies are mass workshops that help people reformat the way they think and give people the necessary skills to thoughtfully analyze their political environment. They empower people through conversation and facilitate an important discourse in a compromised public sphere, injecting it with strength and direction.
When asked to comment on some of the frustrations protestors were expressing during the these assemblies, Vancouver Police Department (VPD) Media Spokesperson Constable Jana McGuinness said “There are many different voices here, many different causes being expressed today and that is the society we live in. It is democratic and that is great.”
