I am still a firm believer that change needs to be made; that the financial inequality in our system should no longer be tolerated and steps need to be made to fix this issue. However I no longer can support the efforts of some of the occupiers in Victoria who are engaged in a battle with the City of Victoria.
One of the first things that impressed me with the People's Association of Victoria was what appeared to be an effort to minimize the costs of the protest on the taxpayers. But by fighting for their right of freedom to associate in the face of a by-law preventing tents to be erected during the day they have created not only a burden on the taxpayers but also a burden on an already overloaded court system as they force the City of Victoria to obtain a court injunction to have them removed.
The issue is that in Victoria there is a no camping by-law that restricts the tents from remaining erect during the day. The obvious solution would be to simply take the tents down during the day and only have them up when it's lawful to do so. The argument against doing just that is that the public may become unaware that the protest is continuing? Hmm, how about take the energy currently being used to fight the battle to remain in Centennial Square and move closer to demands or possibly?
It truly baffles me that many of the occupiers fighting to remain at Centennial Square fail to see that just as the City of Victoria has to balance their interests with the interests of the general public, they too have a responsibility to balance their rights with the rights of the general public - whom they claim to be acting on behalf of.
Specifically I'm referring to a conversation I was privy to after the City Council meeting where an amended motion passed in support of OccupyVictoria. While some people would accept this as the City's way of saying we will continue to work with you to create change. However some felt this was little more than political cache.
Personally I would be upset as a taxpayer if the motion passed unamended and my tax dollars went to fund a protest through supplying water and electricity to protestors. Keep in mind that I personally support the specific protest involved. Protestors should be funding their own efforts which when push came to shove they actually figured out how to generate their own electricity rather than steal it from the CRD.
All things considered, there are some highly intelligent and creative individuals who are working to educate others and hope to figure out how to change our failing system. I believe these select few of OccupyVictoria will succeed if they don't burn out. Unfortunately the good that has been done - the building of community and feeding hundreds of people through food donations - has been grossly overlooked. This is partly because the media seems to feed on the negative and OccupyVictoria's inability to get the positive messages out.
It is interesting to me that the instigators of this whole movement, Adbusters, are now suggesting a declaration of victory and retreat into warmth over the winter. Check out their Tactical Briefing #18.
While I may have walked away from OccupyVictoria I have not walked away from being more involved in the political system around me. I intend to continue my quest of learning what decisions are being made for me and voicing my concern publicly to those who have the power to make a difference. I'm even seriously contemplating the possibility of throwing my hat into the political ring so that my voice might represent the dissatisfied public.
