Occupy The Smoke Bluffs Day

[BK]

I'm not sure if anyones out there these days but here's a friendly reminder that tomorrow (Saturday) is Occupy Wall Street Day down at the Vancouver Art Gallery. It would be nice to see the whole downtown core plugged up! Nothing stands a chance of changing unless we show up.

Sunday can be Occupy The Smoke Bluffs Day, after it dries out some more

[thebigchin]

Isn't "Occupy the Smoke Bluffs Day" when the VOCers show up?

[jipstyle]

Sorry .. I have to get in to the office and work.

I may be part of the "99%" but I'm not going to b%$ch aimlessly about the fact that I can only afford a nice life.

[c-plus]

Sorry .. I have to get in to the office and work.

I may be part of the "99%" but I'm not going to b%$ch aimlessly about the fact that I can only afford a nice life.

oh come now, that's a bit flippant don't you think? but then again, i dunno if all of this resonates as well up here in the great white north as compared to the US where the majority of the big bailouts occurred. I mean, if I was a yankee, I'd be pissed. Let's say I was some driver at UPS or something and got laid off after the economy tanked. I'd be pretty resentful that I got laid off (and am watching my kids go back to school in handmedowns from my dumbass brother-in-law) through no fault of my own, while some rich-a$$ wall street executive who helped cause this whole mess gets to keep his job, his huge paycheck, etc, etc. because... um, yeah, why exactly? Oh, and your tax dollars get to pay for it.

PS, as a side note, much of the money that went into the healthier US banks got paid back just fine, with interest. But that money that bankrolled the takever of Bear Stears by JP Morgan, the money to AIG or the money that went into the car manufacturers, well FO-GET-ABOUT-IT! it's all gone...

[jipstyle]

Of course it is flippant ... I can't support nor offer respect to any movement that criticises without offering any sort of alternative. Yes, there are problems with the way that our society is structured .. but to pout and say "this sucks" without offering an alternative is childish.

As for the US .. well .. I'm Canadian. I'm interested in dealing with our problems .. not theirs.

[BK]

ha ha! You may recall that The disease that started south of the border did a pretty good job of infecting the whole globe. As for the supposed immunity in Canada, our Banking deregulation was fortunately just a little behind the times so we only got caught with our pants unzipped but still above our knees.

Anyway, as Kieth Boag aptly put it the other night, "They may be inarticulate and unfocused, but they at least picked the right target!"

[slopr]

[jipstyle]

As for the supposed immunity in Canada, our Banking deregulation was fortunately just a little behind the times so we only got caught with our pants unzipped but still above our knees.

Oh, I don't think we're immune. I suspect that a lot of people will be losing their homes in the next 5 to 10 years as interest rates return to normal.

Our banking system is quite different from the Americans, though, and we are far from unregulated.

We'll have problems ... but not the same as theirs. We will definitely be affected by their recession but "protesting" isn't going to do anything about that.

Anyway, as Kieth Boag aptly put it the other night, "They may be inarticulate and unfocused, but they at least picked the right target!"

Again, this exactly the problem that I have with this "movement" ... it accomplishes nothing other make the protesters feel better about themselves and congestion in the city.

Also, I find the comparisons to the "Arab Spring" completely asinine and insulting to the courage that was required of the Egyptians and others who threw off the repression of their horrible regimes. To even consider our problems in the same league as theirs is ridiculous.

#firstworldproblems

[harihari]

We can all afford nice lives because we white people

a) killed 90% of the Natives in north america with diseases, and marginalised the rest, then
b) stole their land, and after that,
c) began extracting from that land the resources-- timber, oil, NG, water, coal, metals, agricultural products etc-- which the rest of the world wants and pays us well for, while
d) having been fortunate enough to inherit a bureaucratic colonial machine that served us-- the white overlords, and many of the immigrants who learned to ape them-- well, as we adapted it to self-governance, and were able to ensure stability for people and economy, while
e) the net available energy per-capita has increased in North America since the late 1800s, a "rising tide lifting all boats" situation that has allowed the previously marginalised-- women, minorities etc-- access to enough capital to unmake the worst of old patriarchal laws and to ensure some participation in the world of the overlords.

So, yeah. I can afford a nice life that includes climbing.

[slopr]

the smoke bluffs were definitely occupied today.

Those who choose to do their peaceful protesting there only
have one demand: More weather like this.

[jipstyle]

Those who choose to do their peaceful protesting there only
have one demand: More weather like this.

Now this is a movement that I can support!

[Anders Ourom]

We - Hamish Fraser, Jim Brennan, my brother, and I - occupied the Little Smoke Bluffs on Saturday, per BK's request. No sign of BK. The bluffs were occupied.

When I went by the Occupy Vancouver event in front of the Art Gallery, at 9 AM, there were bunches of cops standing around drinking coffee, but that was about it.