It's been almost a year since the Occupy Wall Street movement was born, and in this very gloomy article Gerald Caplan wonders where it went.
It flashed through our lives like a comet in the sky, illuminating the most insidious development of our time. Then just as suddenly it flamed out and died. Or at least disappeared. Having made headlines around the world, having made the phenomenon of unprecedented inequality a major issue, having popularized the concept of the 1 per cent versus the 99 per cent – after all these triumphs, the Occupy Movement is playing no perceptible role in any of the big events that now affect our lives.
It was wet and miserable in Montreal today. But that didn't stop thousands of people from attending a rally to support the Quebec students.
Thousands of people clad in raincoats and carrying umbrellas gathered in Montreal's Jeanne-Mance park Saturday afternoon for what was billed as a family-friendly protest in support of Quebec's students and in opposition of Bill 78.
And not only were there more kids than usual, but there were also more older people.
It's just after 8pm in Montreal, and the reporter from CUTV is talking to a young mother who is taking her two kids to the 28th nightly demonstration in a row.
Even though she knows she could be arrested, for defying the Charest government's totalitarian Bill 78, like so many were the night before.
About 300 people were arrested and 20 were injured during overnight protests in Montreal in defiance of Quebec's contentious Bill 78, which cracks down on student-stoked demonstrations sparked by the province's proposed tuition hikes.
It's reached a point where I almost can't bear to read or watch any MSM coverage of the Quebec student strike.
Because all I usually see is a bunch of kooky old right-wing pundits flapping their gums, or hissing like kettles. Like the grotesque Con dwarf Rex Murphy.
Who should have been locked in a padded cell, or a broom closet, for writing such fascist tripe.
So I thought I should straighten him and the others out by pointing out some other facts:
I see that Kalle Lasn, one of the Canadian instigators of the Occupy Wall Street movement, laments the way things turned out in Canada.
While protesters from Halifax to Vancouver emulated their global counterparts by pitching tents in public spaces and brainstorming ways to challenge the status quo, Lasn said the efforts he witnessed lacked some of the passion that characterized rallies in the United States.
I don't question Lasn's good intentions, but it all sounds a bit hollow. Firstly, since he only visited the campsite in Vancouver his views of the Canadian movement are obviously extremely limited. Secondly, since he came up with the idea of occupying campsites, and providing free food and shelter, in cities full of homeless people, street kids, drug abusers, and the mentally ill, like Vancouver, he should take some blame for what happened.
I'm going to miss the Occupy Toronto campsite, this colourful little progressive utopia in the heart of a cold grey city. For by tomorrow night it will almost surely be destroyed.
I'm going to miss the endless discussions about how to change the world and make it a better place. I'm going to miss the amazing collection of gentle idealists and activists who kept it running, so long and so peacefully.
It's going to be a cold night at the Occupy Toronto campsite, as the clock on the church that has refused the occupiers sanctuary, counts down the hours before they are evicted.
Because you don't have to ask yourself what would Jesus do eh? Or be a weatherman, to know that a cold wind is blowing.
Not only is the hanging judge in fine fettle, the right-wing rabble is in a frigging frenzy, some neighbours are outraged their dogs don't have enough room in the park to shit, and some old lefties are comparing the Occupy movement to Jonestown.
All over North America the assault on the Occupy campsites continues. From New York City, to Regina, to Vancouver.
And in Toronto the Con tool Tasha Kheiriddin, can barely contain herself.
The Occupy movement has had two months to develop a coherent message, engage broad public sympathy, or begin its transition to a political movement. It has done none of the above, remaining instead an incoherent voice grating on the nerves of the very 99% it claims to represent. It targets big business, but hurts small business; it claims a right to public spaces, but sees fit to trash them; it claims to want to influence politics, but has not morphed into the “Tea Party of the left” many expected it to become. Sorry, Occupiers, but the mayors are right. It is time to pack up the tents.
Too stupid to realize that by demolishing the camps the corporate porkers are only doing us a favour.
I see that London, Ontario, has become the first Canadian city to evict its Occupy protesters.
And that others are gearing up to do the same thing.
As news spread of what happened in London, Toronto's mayor said it was time Occupy protesters in his city left their encampment in a downtown park.
And although I'm disappointed, I'm not surprised. Canada is an aging, conservative country, where an authoritarian regime is making a mockery out of our Parliamentary democracy. And most people couldn't give a damn.
Nor am I surprised that our Con media has been attacking the peaceful Occupy movement like a pack of rabid hyenas, to stroke their corporate masters.
But what does surprise and shock me is the way some Progressive Bloggers have been attacking the protesters. Calling them degenerates.
Uh oh. I see that Eurozone leaders don't like George Papandreou's idea for a shit kebab referendum.
The leaders of Germany and France told Greece on Wednesday it would not receive another cent in European aid until it decides whether it wants to stay in the euro zone.
And that he has been spanked by the Iron Frau Angela Merkel.
