Occupy Toronto:The End of the Beginning

(click pics to enlarge)

By the time I got to the Occupy Toronto campsite this afternoon it was mostly gone. 

The library, where some guy in a Clockwork Orange bowler hat had barricaded himself, was being dismantled.

Some of the neighbours were taking back "their" park.

So be careful where you step from now on eh?

But the good news is it ended peacefully. 

And I have to admit the police were great. They arrived after 5:30 this morning so they wouldn't have to arrest anyone for just being in the park. They left their riot suits and their batons at home. 

They treated the occupiers gently, arrested only those who wanted to be arrested, used the great lost Canadian art of negotiation rather than brute force.

And surprise, surprise, it worked.

And the other good news? Now the tents are down we can move on to bigger and better things. Because the Occupy movement is about more than occupying a park. 

Watching it turn into a refuge for the homeless, the desperate, and the mentally ill. Like this poor guy beating a plastic pail today...

And then looking on helplessly as the corrupt system uses him and its other victims against us.

It's about creating a mighty global political movement, that can stop the greedsters in their tracks. Stop them from torching the planet.

And of course, in this country, that means working to thwart the agenda of Harper Cons, and eventually driving them from power.

But I won't easily forget the tent people of Occupy Toronto. A lot of good things happened in that park. It was a lot of FUN. 

And in that regard, I have to admit, some inspired me more than others...

So I'm definitely going to keep beating MY drum eh?

Whether Stephen Harper likes it or not...



Until the Great Darkness is gone.

Thank you Occupy Toronto, and all the other tent people of Canada.

Your camps may be down. But it's just the end of the beginning.

And the best is still to come...