'Occupy Toronto' - inspiring, but there are still serious issues of concern

 

Bay Street 'Occupied'

Thousands congregated in the heart of Toronto's financial district on October 15 as the movement (with obvious inspiration from the recent and ongoing  people's uprisings in Arab and North African countries) that started on New York City's infamous Wall Street a month earlier moved north and swept around the globe.

Following the initial rally at Bay and King Streets, an estimated 3 to 5 thousand people marched east to the park surrounding St. James Cathedral, where an ongoing encampment patterned after the NYC protests was established. Similar events have been taking place across Canada, the United States and around the world in a massive global 'Day of Action' that had been called for October 15.

Encampment at St. James Cathedral park

Participants in Saturday's march in Toronto included Palestinian solidarity organizations, unions and groups like the Ontario Coalition Against Poverty and the Toronto Stop The Cuts Network that are organizing to combat the destructive  'austerity measures' being imposed at the local and provincial levels.

The cops have been remarkably laid back thus far and were present in considerably smaller numbers than one might of expected for an event of this scale. How they will behave in the future obviously remains to be seen...

The numbers and general energy have been inspiring thus far. But there are still (in my opinion at least) some issues that remain of serious concern that need to be addressed.

~ A small group of First Nations men attempting to address the crowd on Bay St. using a megaphone apparently had their efforts thwarted by event organizers, their eloquent words about the hundreds of  women from First Nations communities who have been murdered or gone missing in this country in recent years being insensitively cut off. This profound display of disrespect was unacceptable and it is essential this be taken up and responded to in a serious way.

~ On the same note, the 'Occupation' rhetoric itself has proved problematic as we already dwell on lands that have been 'occupied' (Read: stolen) by European settlers for more than five hundred years, with the Nations whose land it is having been ruthlessly driven forth, assimilated and subjected to cultural genocide as well as being literally murdered.  Some positive dialogue on these concerns appears to be underway in some of the U.S. cities like New York and Boston where 'occupation' actions are taking place. In light of Saturday's events Toronto clearly still has quite a ways to go.

~ The 'human mic' system being used to communicate at the general assemblies: While the concept of trying to create a 'level playing field' for participants in this way is laudable, certain unavoidable physical factors including the acoustics/background noise one finds in a large city and the amount of background chatter (there were still over 1,500 people in the park when Saturday afternoon's assembly took place) made it virtually impossible to hear. Things improved when the 'human mic' was augmented by a facilitator picking up a megaphone, which made things easier to hear. (Should have happened from the start because unlike in NYC we aren't as restricted in our use of sound equipment at Toronto protests). Fortunately minutes were also  taken and are available online.

~ The evening march: Patterned on the NYC protests, ongoing regular marches through the city are anticipated from the 'occupation zone'. The first happened about seven PM on Saturday when about 300 people made a peaceful but boisterous foray onto Yonge St, stopping briefly at Yonge/Dundas Square before threading their way back to the park. Chief among areas of serious concern was the uncritical support for the cops that was being encouraged from marchers (and yes, I will admit the Toronto cops have shown remarkable restraint thus far, but that does not in any way change what they represent, or the inherently violent, repressive nature of policing). 

(An aside: My own approach here was to try speaking to individual participants about a series of shocking attacks by Toronto police in recent weeks that have left two people (a mentally disabled man in his forties and a fifty-two year old grandmother) dead and two other men gravely injured. This kind of violence by the police is routine toward racialized communities and poor people in general, with many of the deaths/serious injuries at the hands of the cops also resulting from botched 'mental health'-related interventions).

As well, in the course of the march the crowds broke into several enthusiastic renditions of Canada's national anthem (See my initial comments in this post to understand why this one seriously got under my skin). To put it in no uncertain terms, this shit's gotta stop.

For now I'm chalking most of these issues up to the relative political inexperience of the people involved in organizing along with an analysis that is still in its infancy. This is where us more experienced activists can make an important contribution by sharing of what we ourselves have learned as we took our own baby steps into the world of political/community organizing, with all that entails.

Please don't get me wrong with what I've said here. What started in New York just last month is now sweeping around the globe and is a tremendous inspiration and cause for hope. Many of the issues I've attempted to point out here in my own clumsy fashion have undoubtedly been encountered by other social movements while in their infancy, and attempts to respond to them  remain ongoing. Addressing these sooner rather than later (preferably in a non-judgmental manner) will increase the likelihood of sustainability and help to create a global juggernaut of human resistance that is truly representative and respectful of everyone.