They don’t come with a lot of money. They aren’t a name brand. They don’t wear fancy clothing. They aren’t trying to sell you something. They are the 99%.
The Occupy movement began on July 13 when Adbusters, a Vancouver based not-for-profit organization which seeks social and cultural change, posted a call to action on their blog and named it #OCCUPYWALLSTREET.Since then, the movement, which officially began on September 17, has been growing and spreading across the Western world.
Coming from diverse backgrounds and each with their own experiences, occupiers everywhere have unique ideas about the specifics that need to change.Together their goals are of social change and true equality in Western democracies.
Like many protests and revolutions, much of the activity has been organized through social media and the internet in general.Websites established to promote Occupy movements in specific cities include news feeds, video feeds, links to Twitter and Facebook, explanations, blogs and in some cases, such Occupy Ottawa, the minutes from daily General Assembly meetings.
One feature of the Occupy protests is the use of “the people’s mic.”What is said by speakers is repeated by people in the crowd so that the message spreads like a ripple across very large crowds.The Occupy movement, if nothing else, has established fairly effective methods of communicating to large numbers of people without support from mainstream media.
Occupiers in the US protest against capitalism, especially deregulation of Wall St. and big banks. In Canada, capitalism is certainly mentioned and protested but there is also focus on the word “Democracy” and the concept that it represents.There seems to be a feeling that Canada’s government is not practiced in the true spirit of democracy.
One protester boasted a sign reading “Democracy is every day, not every 4 years.”
In my personal experience, I see the root problem in Canada as disengaged citizens. Democracy is a system in which the people control the government.That means that the people must read or watch the news, follow the tweets of political powers or bloggers, engage, discuss, strive to understand and above all, voice their concerns when what they see dissatisfies them.Contact information for local MPP’s is public.There are many public sessions on Parliament Hill.
Democracy in Canada has not ended, the doors are not closed.We just haven’t been watching, and as our backs were turned, politics has fallen out of line with the actual vision that Canadians have for Canada.
Perhaps the reason that our Government isn’t who we think they should be is a result of the record low voter turn out in both the recent National election and provincial elections.
The apathy suggested by these low voter turnouts is the first change necessary in Canada.It is said that this protest is about waking up the 1 percent to the existence and needs of the 99%. In reality the 1% are wide awake and have been able to take advantage of the sleeping majority.
It is the 99% who are being awakened in this country. We have been dormant for far to long.A democracy cannot function without its populace.It is time we take back our power, our government and our country.
The movement is not without its critics and challenges. One primary issue is that Wall Street is already occupied land. Aboriginal communities are subject to occupation by Western nation states and face systemic discrimination from many of us in the “99%”. The naming of this movement is inappropriate in that it erases this context. If this movement is to be successful, it will have to be attentive to demands that we decolonize, rather than merely occupy, together.
