That was more or less in the daytime, so of course I missed it.
“Capitalism, economies, corporations, markets, currencies — these are not forces of nature, we invented them,” Suzuki told the crowd of at least 2,000. “And if they don’t work, we can and we must change them.”
Suzuki — a member of the Order of Canada voted the fifth “greatest Canadian” in a 2004 poll — said that corporations have become larger and more powerful than most governments in the world, and consequently are no longer bound to laws and standards around the environment, human rights or labour laws.
Roughly 350 demonstrators fromOccupy Vancouver marched against what they say are ‘corrupt’ and ‘greedy’ Canadian financial institutions, culminating in a boisterous take-over of a Toronto Dominion (TD) branch, with dancers on teller counters and a half-hour sit-in ending with no arrests. Nearly a dozen clients closed their accounts at four banks in protest.
Actually, according to two people who were there (one of them Occupy Security), that’s wrong. Six people were in fact taken into custody by the police, but then everyone started chanting, more protesters showed up from the main Occupy site, and after some dialogue the police let everyone go. One protester told me he made eye contact with a police officer and “it was a very powerful moment. Very calm. Very beautiful.” It couldn’t have been much of a march, as the TD is right across the street.
More Heart Dude is at the center of the action as usual
“This is like the coolest thing I’ve ever done, period,” says a guy walking by. The time is almost 2am. The bad Dylan impersonator has quieted down, thank George Harrison – he had a voice like sandpaper and wet balloons – leaving the mellower folkies to strum and sing quietly. At one point a group of well-dressed twentysomethings stood on the sidewalk outside the Hotel Georgia and heckled the protest, shouting “Get a job!” until someone in charge came out of the hotel and spoke to them. Sternly. They fluttered frustratedly at each other and eventually booked it, after they noticed me taking their picture.
It would be significantly easier for people to sleep if the enthusiastic doorman at the hotel would wave for cabs instead of whistling for them. It had to be said.
As the temperature drops, the smoking (of various substances, including cigars, ICK) increases. After one in the morning I seem like nearly the only nonsmoker around. The fellow at the media tent says he’s not supposed to give the keys to the internet to just anyone, but for whatever reason I appear authoritative enough or disenfranchised enough (probably the latter, in my MEC polarfleece, puffy vest, and Eyore sweatshirt) that he trusts me with the magical Password of Power, and I can get uploaded. Don’t think I’ll get my own videos uploaded tonight; I don’t want to push my luck.
UPDATE: now I’m at Blenz, soaking up the heat and the decaf Americano and watching the “WOOO WOOOO” brigade of weekend drunks stumbling down Burrard in their four-inch heels, trailed by anxious-looking boyfriends. When you weigh 98 lbs it only takes two Jaegerbombs to get you wasted. Pikers.
There was something more psychedelic on tap at Occupy Vancouver:
With a bra swinging from a tree branch, acoustic Dylan being covered over by the stage, clouds of pot smoke drifting over the tents, and a geodesic dome under construction, some of the older protesters could be forgiven for thinking they were having flashbacks.
After all the kerfuffle about the cost of policing the protest, I see not a single police officer, and there’s a firetruck nearby but I see no firefighters either. Too bad: as I keep saying on Twitter, I love a man in uniform. Maybe somebody warned them I was on my way.
While still in South Van, I’d told Stephen Hui, the Georgia Straight reporter onsite, that the Blenz at Burrard and Robson is 24 hours, and apparently he put that knowledge to good use before attempting (apparently unsuccessfully) to get some sleep.
As I was packing up one fellow walked over to ask me who was “in charge.” I was rather disappointed at that; if nothing else, this movement should mainstream the idea of authority residing in the collective rather than in an individual, so I sent him off to the media tent, where they’re used to these kinds of questions.
The Fringe Element sequence of photos, with the bra, is from the North-West corner, and those photos were taken Wednesday night. All the rest are from tonight.
Yes, they screened V for Vendetta at Occupy Vancouver tonight, threatening to rupture the delicate space/irony continuum.
V for Awesome, that's what.
Particularly in this shot:
Watching the Watchers
in which the audience watches the video of the audience watching the video of the announcer showing the video of V. But who watches the watchers of the watchers? The cops, that’s who.
Twitter was abuzz with the news that the Chief is claiming the costs of policing (no arrests yet, not one) are threatening to put the VPD in the red. Conveniently NOT mentioned was this:
but don’t write off Twitter entirely, even if the troll/disinfo quotient is suffocating lately. It also contains things like this hilarious little item:
And now, your nightly Slideshow. Only sixteen pix here, rather than the say 130 from last time.
Vodpod videos no longer available.
Second night of rain, and the crowd is bigger than it was earlier in the week, though of course not as big as the weekend. Even more tents: I think I saw a VPD estimate of 150, although I think that’s really high. There are certainly twice as many as Sunday, so a hundred or so scattered around the grounds, even creeping towards Robson along the East side of the Art Gallery. My friend and I were hoping to find the tent mobilizing mouse had donated, but it looked to be occupied, so she went home and I went to Blends to get some work done, and now it’s 6:22 am and I’m still working on posts, but at least I got my actual real paid done! That’s important for smacking down all the “get a job you filthy hippie!!1!!” trolls, and there are, did I mention, a LOT of them about.
I tried liveblogging the General Assembly (PDF link to the Occupy Guide from NYC!), to show you how your direct democracy sausage gets made, but it was ever so slightly disastrous. For one thing, not to be sexist, but there are a lot of women who seem to want to speak but contrive to avoid being heard. When not even the willing Human Mic participants can hear what you’re saying, either speak up or give up.
Here’s an unedited transcript. And yeah, it’s pretty ugly. Oh, at some point someone from one of the committees said that if anyone were taking notes, they’d like it if they were run by the committee. Well, I guess they must be very disappointed in me, that’s all I can say.
Oh, and I can’t spell Tsleil-Waututh when I’m trying to type quickly.
Tom Morello's back at OccupyVancouver Wednesday Oct 19
Here’s the livestream of Tom Morello‘s show at the Vogue which as I write this hasn’t started yet. He was going to perform a few songs at Occupy Vancouver, but then it started to pour and instead he said, “I’ll do something better: I’ll invite ALL OF YOU to my show at the Vogue tonight,” and so he did! Everyone lined up, got their name down on a list, and away they went to the Vogue. Livestream below.
Tom Morello wil Occupy Vancouver
Vodpod videos no longer available.
Not sure if the livestream will work, but what the hell, winging it is the name of the game.
Well, the livestream works, but it’s still live streaming, so until Occupy gets the concert video up, here’s a compilation: Morello’s first song at the concert and footage from both the concert and Occupy Vancouver.
Tom Morello, radically awesome musician and activist formerly of Rage Against the Machine, now solo as the Nightwatchman, addressed the crowd at Occupy Vancouver tonight. Here’s 57 seconds of him addressing the crowd, right up until my battery ran out. I’ll add the rest of the pix and videos as the night goes on. You can’t hear a word HE says, but you can hear the Human Mic, which is an amusing way to get the information. If you think “well, it’s not his real voice” reflect on the fact that an electronic microphone isn’t his real voice either, it just resembles it more.
When we arrived, someone had set up a green cord on the plaza and everyone was standing behind it, leaving about 30 feet empty in front of the stage where a couple of people were dancing to the drum circle that was going when I arrived. Strangely, no matter how many people arrived, people stayed behind it without anyone asking them to. An interesting example of default obedience to perceived rules, without ascertaining whether the rules even existed, never mind who put them in place.
Took the lazy way out and did a slideshow, so here it is:
Vodpod videos no longer available.
and here’s my favorite picture from tonight.
My favorite pic from OccupyVancouver Wednesday Oct 19
As you can see, I started my Occupy Vancouver photoset at Tiffany last night. What more proof can you require that the 1% have offshored all the decent jobs? That window display is absolutely covered in dust! Ou sont les cleaning persons d’antan?
Moving on to Louis Vuitton. Does anyone besides me remember when they had a window display made of dozens of silver CCTV cameras focused on one pair of $1100 shoes? No? Just me then? FINE! In any case, the 1% are, as you can see here, safely confined behind bars as if in a zoo, and if Alberni is not a zoo, what IS? I ask yez. Especially on a Saturday night.
I got a lot of photos of signs, and although it took me a minute, I did like “Walk like an Egyptian” on the flag, which was over by the potted palm. There’s also a sign crediting Tunisia as the birthplace of modern democracy.
The little “I’m here for you. Are you here for me?” sign at the bottom-right of the “We are not kidding around. Stay a night and talk to us” sign at the top of the steps is the one that was kicked over earlier that afternoon by the chubby, dark security guard, who should have been on the other side of the fence in fact.
There is a guide to hand signals used in the General Assembly propped up against one of the Lions, although for the nearsighted a little more proximity would be helpful. God only knows what’s written on the whiteboard against the other Lion, as I myself am nearsighted and couldn’t make it out, even with the zoom, because I can’t fly.
YET.
I did like the guillotine labeled “Bargaining Tool,” but then as we’ve established, I’m a big old anarchistic meanie who thinks fear can be an effective weapon.
“My Other Occupation Sucks” is pretty good as well. A nice takeoff of the “My Other Car Is A…” bumper stickers. I saw a Porsche once with “My other car is a Datsun” on it.
Actual Bohemians not welcome at Bohemian Grove
Obscene Wealth and Greed are Not Canadian Values
Yeah, whatever. Tell it to Conrad Black.
There are now TWO red Homelessness tents on the premises. The number of tents is growing daily/nightly, and I expect tomorrow to be the biggest day yet, thanks to Tom Morello of Rage Against the Machine, authors of my favorite theme song. It’s hilarious to me that the YouTube has now become popular enough to have ads on it.
I had an enjoyable conversation with some firemen. I didn’t recognize the jackets, and firemen weren’t around the first couple of nights, so being me I toddled up and asked what group they were with, where they were from. They told me and asked where I was from. I said “The Internet,” and it was FUCKING GLORIOUS because I swear to god one guy’s eyes opened wide in alarm. Then I told them I was a blogger, they asked me where I lived, which was really none of their business, but I’m not very closety so I said Chinatown and we shared a chuckle over the fact that when the alarm goes off at my place all the Chinese people wait till I get there and then sort of shove me at the firemen, like “she’s white, let HER talk to them.” They were quite cool and probably around to make sure there were no open flames in the tented area. Later, I heard some of them go for coffee and they were discussing the income disparity and arguing whether or not it was bigger in BC than in the US.
Well ladies and gentlemen, as you can see from scrolling down it looks like Flickr is censoring all my OccupyVancouver images so that you have to actually sign in to Flickr to see them. I’ve emailed them twice and just get the generic “you can change permissions under Bulk Editing or on each photo” and in fact I CAN’T. Here’s an image they deleted from my blog:
UPDATE: well, someone was censoring my photos, but it turned out to be me. So much for my urge to tinker with the Flickr Uploader. NEVER AGAIN! All fixed now, moving on…
Occupy Vancouver. I'm not lion, this got censored on Flickr
Pretty obscene, eh?
So from now on I’ll be uploading them directly to WordPress.com. I only went to Flickr in the first place because I thought they were better than Photobucket, which censored this image:
Never Forget. Coalition of the Willing, to Power
Sorry to go all Godwin’s Law on you, Flickr, but you deserve it.
I’m uploading the pix here, so it’s going to take a little more time than before, but bear with me. I’m even uploading two videos to YouTube, and by the way, if you’ve got a video capable camera and a YouTube account, there are such a diversity of opinions at Occupy Vancouver that they would very much welcome your presence to document them all. There’s someone there today videoing and interviewing people to upload, and he could use some company.
Here’s the first video, which gives you a good idea how the Human Mic works. Effective, elegant, and absolutely free!
Like I said on YouTube, this is how your political sausage is made at Occupy Vancouver; slowly, inclusively, democratically. I’m impressed. And here’s the second one:
The guy at the end is worth waiting for.
Will update this post when all the images are uploaded. Check back in an hour or so. It’s worth it: I took the GOOD camera today! And should I ever get a 24 hour stretch of internet AND power access, I’ll even do that post on Love Is The Killer App that I’ve been meaning to put on raincoastermedia.com for two weeks!
This slideshow requires JavaScript.
Here’s your slideshow, finally. It’ll probably be tomorrow before both videos are uploaded, alas.
While the crowd was considerably thinner than Saturday, I’d estimate that tents are up 20%. There are over fifty tents there now, not including the service tents like Food Not Bombs, the Medic tent, etc. And the Kid Zone is well-populated. The General Assembly is in full effect, although not using amplification; I’d heard they couldn’t afford to keep it indefinitely, and some people told me they preferred the Human Mic because it was the ultimate triumph of humanity over impersonal, expensive tech.
The chubby, swarthy, middle-aged security guard who was on duty at the top of the stairs (not the tall, lean, young one who is very cool) made it his business to walk over and kick over signs placed on the stairs, and to tell me “that’s far enough” when I got within two steps of the top, even though the public is legally allowed to occupy the area right up to the fence at the top of the stairs. And yes, he is in these pictures. Click to enlarge.
Operation Don’t Be An Asshat or I’ll post your picture on a blog with four million hits in effect.
The emergent imagery, of a fist clutching a red rose, is pretty powerful, although there are also many images of an open, upraised hand, the open hand of peace as I’ve heard it called. And yes, there are t-shirts. Apparently someone was just giving them away to the stalwarts who are chairing groups and working day after day, but I heard something about you can bring your old shirt down and they’ll put the symbols on it? I couldn’t find The T-Shirt Guy, but you are perfectly at liberty to adopt any of my images and print them out on that iron-on transfer paper you can get at Staples or wherever.
In the daytime the lions had lost the hearts in their eyes (probably under the influence of Asshat, see above) but by sunset the hearts had been re-installed. While it’s a lovely image, ferocious, powerful predators looking at the world through love, isn’t putting something on their eyes what you do with corpses? I don’t know: my family’s so cheap that someone always pocketed the pennies before the wake was over.
One fellow, in true Turning Swords Into Ploughshares style, had a suede arrow quiver for his tripod, which was appropriate. After all the complaints yesterday about the litter smokers made, today was almost smoke-free, and the ones I did see smoking were conscientious about non-asshattery and containing their litter. There was also a volunteer sweeping the steps pretty regularly. And there was an anti-tobacco campaigner on the premises; it IS ironic to be enslaved to Big Tobacco, but you can bet your last bippy, whatever that is, that if I were so addicted I’d be pretty resentful to the people who market that shizz.
The fellow in the More Heart sign is hand-carved of awesome. If you run into him, talk to him, because he has Deep Thoughts and Shit, and more heart than is legally allowed under the Statues of British Columbia. We all need the courage to have More Heart lately; engaged emotion is the last frontier.
Then I got a lot of shots of manifestii, schedules, calls to order, and Lists Of Shit We Need Donated. If you can’t click to enlarge them, maybe I’ll embed them all after a page jump.
Planking at 4:20. OF COURSE.
The meditation circle is apparently a very powerful experience. The original security dude, the tall, lean, non-asshatty one, almost had tears in his eyes as he described it to me. It’s a better world already when security forces partake of meditation circles and have evanescent experiences therein. Maybe I’ll go and report back myself because…
Occupy Vancouver has a second wind now. Yes, the Celebrity Effect is in full effect: Tom Morello of Rage Against the Machine (and could there be a more timely band name?) is going to attend and perform on Wednesday; no time specified yet. He’s been at Occupy LA for some time, apparently, and you can follow his Occupation travels on Twitter. Previously, of course, billionaire Russell Simmons has led meditations at Occupy Wall Street and volunteered to pay for the cleanup via Twitter, to much skepticism. Why’d he use Twitter, people ask…why not just email the mayor directly?
Because Russell Simmons understands the power of social media. You want to back people into a corner, you do it in public so they can’t weasel out.
Accessibility is a big part of Occupy Vancouver, but there’s an ongoing problem with people chaining their bikes to the ramps, which makes them impassable for the wheelchairs for which they were built. Again: don’t be the asshat. Don’t be That Guy.
Gotta love “Please treat this Porta-Potty as if it were your own” signs. So Canadian. And of course it’s Vancouver, so there’s coffee. Free coffee. I’d like to know how they hooked THAT up!
You know, should I for a moment hesitate to photograph people without their permission I just have to look at the Japanese girl to my left at Starbucks, who has been videoing nonstop since arriving at this cafe an hour ago. There IS no “Off-Camera” anymore.
My Dad is so proud of you
My Dad was born #887 Hornby in 1912. He is so proud of you all.
Ran into the Protest March through the Financial District at Howe and Pender. I was minding my own business, walking a friend to her next appointment, and then we saw flashing police lights and I said, “Let’s walk over this way” to nobody’s great surprise. Just caught the tail end of it, but it was substantial. At least a couple of hundred people, lots of signs.
At the VAG there was only one person I saw in an Anonymous mask, but s/he was making the most of it, getting the attention of passing cars. On Twitter there’s been some pushback about the masks and the concept of Lulz in general; people claim that the presence of jokers diminishes the entire movement, but this is getting it absolutely mathematically perfectly bass-ackwards: artists and jokesters are the way radical ideas first begin to integrate themselves into a society. If we got these hard truths from a straight man, we’d get our backs up. Shakespeare knew this when he wrote The Fool into King Lear.
Took a break and hit Cafe Artigiano, then back I went at about 6:00, just as the sunset light started. It gets cold at night; blankets, even those $2 space blankets from Canadian Tire, would be welcome.
Oh, I did see one of those Red Tents from the always-awesome Pivot Legal Society that were part of the Olympic protests. Good to see them still in use: sad to see they were necessary in the first place, and now more than ever.
I got a couple of shots of the beautiful Catherine and her partner David, modeling their signs, “Live in Harmony with Nature by Eliminating Price” and “Science vs Chaos.” Of course you know I’m all Team Chaos, but they were nice people anyway, from the Technocracy movement, and we had a great discussion about how the new paradigm hippies are skipping most of the 20th century and combining the best of the 17th with the best of the 21st, going off-grid with communications capabilities from the Digital Revolution.
It’s not every day you have those kinds of conversations, if you’re not an undergraduate.
Kyriarchy is a neologism coined by Elisabeth Schüssler Fiorenza to describe interconnected, interacting, and multiplicative systems of domination and submission, within which a person oppressed in one context might be privileged in another.[1] It is an intersectional elaboration of the concept of patriarchy[1] — it extends the analysis of oppression beyond traditional feminism to dynamics such as sexism, racism, economic injustice, and other forms of internalized and institutionalized oppression[2].
raincoaster 