Protests and the City

From coats to coast, nation to nation, city to city, a revolution is happening.

Students being maced at an Occupy sit-in
at the University of California, Nov. 2011

In Toronto, the sit-ins are faced with eviction, in New York they are split by force, in California they are dismantled with tear-gas; what can we expect to happen next?

It would seem that the problem isn't only New York's Wall Street, or Toronto's Bay Street, but systemic and underlying a vast number of economic centres world-wide.

Protest and outspoken-ness definitely has a role to be played in a democracy; I just wonder how much longer the peacefulness will last since the "powers that be" are clearly getting antsy.

Should a dialogue begin, or should we start breaking out the pepper spray? The answer to this should be clear so long as you listened when your Kindergarten teacher explained the classroom rules.

It's alarming to find out that it is actually the law enforcement professionals that are starting to get violent. We should know they are the drones of the higher power and what drives their actions is something lacking in humanity.

Historically, cities have been places where economic motivations underlay any reason for coming together. Since the industrial revolution, urban dwellers have often been oppressed; the majority being factory workers and the like.

Knowing what wealth exists in cities and the growing disparity now between rich and poor, one would imagine that we could develop strategies to help spread the wealth and help our fellow city-zens thrive.



Occupy Toronto in St. James Park, Nov. 2011



At the very least, if we are not able to help each other, we certainly should not be hurting each other. We can use the pepper for the food we are advantaged enough to have, and do what we can to peacefully make change together.

Can you really say that in a major economic centre, there aren't enough resources to initiate some discussion and put in place mechanisms for improvement?

Something cities tend to do is attract the biggest and brightest minds in a multitude of disciplines because they can offer the best resources, jobs, and opportunities for those individuals to thrive. If the best and brightest minds can't manage to alleviate at least some disparities, then that certainly is a dissappointment on a city scale.