99%

Inspired originally by the tenacity and fortitude of the good people of Libya and Cairo (the original "Occupants" if you will). This is an incredible movement that has reached across the Globe. A movement not easily stifled by the sometimes violent actions of a Police State, the inattention of the government and the subsequent fabrications of the media.

On the evening of October 15th 2011 I went to St. James park for the "Occupy Toronto" protest to take part in something bigger than myself. I went to take part in this global wide movement and stand up with the 99%.

But as I got off at King subway station on that fateful eve, even I questioned the validity of Toronto's part in all this. Earlier that day I had listened to a protester speak on the news about being at Occupy Bay Street (Occupy Toronto) to fight for "animal rights" and this had, in all honestly, put me off. I wondered for the first time since following the Occupy movement if this was just a bunch of people getting together to make a lot of noise and yell at the government about their different issues instead of a group united, fighting for one strong and very basic cause, injustice.

Yes, most of us have been watching as many of the media warp this story into a story outlining the Occupy Movement as a disorganized group of people consumed in a state of "an overwhelming sense of entitlement" with no real direction or concrete and specific cause to fight for. It's been almost too easy to believe this to be true when we hear story after story of protestors fighting for such vastly different issues. That night, as I walked towards the park, I struggled to see how Toronto could pull it together enough to succeed in being taken seriously in this highly criticized worldwide movement. I realized very quickly though that the movement was in fact much stronger and unified than I could have imagined. Even with smoke screens being put up by the media, once I entered the gathered group at St. James Park I was immediately pulled into something bigger than I could have imagined, something bigger than myself.

Together the occupants of St James Park stood united against the unjust treatment of the middle and lower class. Together they stood as a voice calling out the corporations, banks, and the government who have taken advantage of people too afraid to rock the boat. People not willing to rock the boat (till now) because their very survival and the livelihood of their families depend on them shutting up and taking it. Too long have these large corporations used our vulnerability against us. Gaining their leverage on our dependence of them.

Yes, it’s true; protestors aren’t all carrying the same sign. But the bottom line is that this movement, however many different ways there is to say it or fight for it, is an attempt to bridge the gap between the rich and the poor and to bring an equilibrium to our society. A movement across the Globe engaged in stopping this masked capitalism and instead beginning a new era of actual democracy.



Like that scene from "A Bugs Life", the ants have finally realized that in numbers there is strength.


Time to stand together and stop feeding the Grasshoppers.