The ongoing Occupy Wall Street protest in New York City, which first began as a call to action in a recent issue of Vancouver-based Adbusters magazine, is heading home.
A group calling itself Occupy Â鶹´«Ã½Ó³»has announced it will set up camp outside the Â鶹´«Ã½Ó³»Art Gallery beginning Oct. 15 to support demonstrators in New York City, who have been occupying Zuccotti Park in the citys financial district since Sept. 17 in protest against what they decry as corporate greed and corruption. Approximately 700 protesters were arrested last Saturday after marching on the Brooklyn Bridge.
The best way for people to support the Occupy Wall Street movement is to hold satellite protests of their own to express solidarity, Adbusters senior editor Micah White told the Courier last week before plans for a Â鶹´«Ã½Ó³»protest were announced but after similar ones had begun springing up in other North American cities. They may not be in cities where the big decisions are being made but it is all part of the same movement and will help the possibility of an uprising against a global economy that has basically become a Ponzi scheme run by and for Big Finance.
Organizers of Occupy Â鶹´«Ã½Ó³»are holding their first open meeting Saturday, Oct. 8 in the W2 Media Cafe on Hastings Street to make preparations. Basically we dont have a set message at this point apart from humanity should come before profit, which I think is the underlying message throughout all these different movements, said spokesperson Min Reyes. Every city has specific things that they have to talk about. We dont have a message of our own yet and wont have one until the general meeting.
Nearly 2,000 people claimed on Facebook that they will be attending the Saturday protest.
Reyes said she hopes to remain until the Nov. 3 beginning of the G20 summit meeting in Cannes, France. I believe other people will also be camping out until that date in solidarity with the French movement, said Reyes, a New Westminster resident and recent drop-out from BCITs journalism program.
Reyes said she hopes the protest wont be seen as an opportunity for black bloc activists and their ilk to engage in violent behaviour seen during the Stanley Cup final and the Olympics. I am hoping we will be as peaceful as everybody is wishing well be. There are concerns some of the people will be instigating riot-like behaviour, but during our general assembly we will talk about strategies to identify those who might be slightly different in their tactics. I think just being prepared for such encounters is the best measure we can do rather than just try to avoid people like that.
Const. Jana McGuinness, a spokesperson for the Â鶹´«Ã½Ó³»Police Department, said police were not making any special preparations for the protest. We police several hundred demonstrations year-round and public safety remains our priority, said McGuinness. Well monitor anything that develops.
A spokesperson for the Â鶹´«Ã½Ó³»Art Gallery itself declined to comment.
Twitter: @flematic
