Great post here from someone who attended and was arrested at Occupy Melbourne yesterday. A large contingent of police going in with riot gear against ... 100 supporters. Who were peacefully protesting but still were treated with violence. And yet the Victoria Police claim they did not use undue force. I beg to differ.
Meanwhile the Lord Mayor bleats about $15,000 worth of damage, but I don't know what he's talking about. Must be the damage to the commerce of the shops which now line the City Square.
Well, I do feel sorry for those shop owners who may be losing out. But this is a city square, after all. A public place. Public places are for the public. Commercial interests are only one element of a citizenry. A wonky, cumbersome element that reminds me of cancer - it does not know when to stop, where to stop, how to stop, ever to stop.
Well, stop.
Meanwhile, across the seas in the US, Erin posted a link to The 99 Percent Declaration, a document which sends thrills, chills, hope and fear all kareening through my veins all at the one time.
Newer
Older
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
We are fortunate here to have a very liberal Mayor, who has essentially said Occupy can stay indefinitely because he is behind the cause. He says he will evaluate one day at a time, and see how it goes.
ReplyDeleteYes, that 99% thing was amazing. Not perfect by far, but a helluva a start.
Where I live people are generally apathetic about everything. Another reason to move to Portland - or Melbourne!
ReplyDeleteI've just seen that something has been happening in Oakland regarding the Occupy protesters there. Is that anywhere near you?
ReplyDeleteWe're really apathetic here too. It's one of the reasons why I feel glad that the Occupy protests are happening here at all ... even though it's even vaguer and looser here in its definition, which is attracting lots of criticism. Though I guess there's always gonna be criticism when you do stuff like that, eh :)
Sure, move to Melbourne!!!!! :)
Wow, that seems rather incongruous to me after the heavyhanded pompous behaviour of our own mayor.
ReplyDeleteWell, things have changed a bit. Our mayor is overseas right now, and in the meantime we have porta-potties overflowing in the streets, assault, nudity in the camp, and I'm thinking "When did this change from a political protest into a free-for-all? So I'm guessing they won't be staying much longer. The police logged dozens of calls each day recently.
ReplyDeleteThat's a bummerr. This is the sort of thing that I've been worried about, that people will start doing stuff that will have them targeted and then everything gets sidetracked. I'm SO scared about that.
ReplyDeleteApparently it got really ugly in Oakland, and now all the cities' protesters are marching tonight in "solidarity". While it sounds like maybe some of the protesters deserved to be tear-gassed, the bigger picture is the city is trying to evict the protesters, and they are pissed about it. There may be laws against public camping, but there are laws protecting protesters, too. And yes, some (all?) of the camps are getting out of hand (and I'm 100% behind them) because they aren't safe anymore...unsanitary and in some cases physically violent. These camps have attracted a lot of people who don't know why they are there and don't care, they are just taking advantage.
ReplyDeleteOn the other hand, I hope these people are able and willing to keep fighting for it, because we damned well need it. We need a revolution.