OccupyVictoria - Critical Times

As I sit here and right this I’m frustrated and anxious. Frustrated that people still don’t understand the occupy movement. Anxious because tonight Victoria City Council will move to vote on whether OccupyVictoria can remain at Centennial Square.

The fact that many don’t understand is partly due to the media’s negative attention to the movement and partly because of incorrect stereotypes of protestors.  The media wants people to believe that the movement has no message.  They also want the public to believe we’re disorganized and contradictory.  While a certain amount of disorganization may be present it is mostly due to the fact that few people are doing a vast amount of work in order to make this more than just another protest in Victoria.

There are MANY different people from different walks of life joining together because they are tired with the way our economic and political system continues to fail them.  The contradictions come from the various reasons why people have banned together.  Some are fighting for social injustices, some for more transparent government and others for economical reform.  Amazingly enough, it all ends up boiling down to the fact that 1% of has 50% of the wealth.

What’s truly unfortunate is that far too many people are still ignoring the issue, wishing it would go away.  These are the same people who are stereotyping the people the protestors as a bunch of hippies or homeless people.  What they fail to realize, partly from ignorance and never actually seeing the protestors, is that many of the occupiers have jobs that they go to during the day and camp at night.  Yes some of them may actually be homeless but that doesn’t mean that they don’t understand the issues of a failing system.  Last time I checked homeless people still counted as human beings and therefore are part of the 99% the movement is trying to support.

No matter what happens tonight at the city council meeting it can never change the passion that has been ignited in many people and can never strip away the reality that the first time in my life people are avidly talking politics without a provincial or federal election looming overhead.  And for a generation said to be increasingly apathetic to politics I think THAT is a significant win for OccupyVictoria.