Nov 14

Hijacked! Occupy Vancouver 1.0 no longer belongs to the 99%…

  • November 14, 2011


One month ago today I was sitting at the same place writing Activists & Buggy Whips, a paper that came out of the frustration of how the many people organizing Occupy Vancouver had refused to use the word ‘denounce’ in reference to violence. I was confounded at the time, had no idea why this simple idea was such a struggle to get consensus on. Had I only known then what I know now…

This all began when someone posted a provocative video on the OV Facebook page on October 10th.  The video was of Harsha Walia, who was viciously defending the concept of ‘Diversity of Tactics’- an ambiguous mix of violent & non-violent methods of protest. D0T could include anything from holding a flash-mob dancing on the sidewalk, to smashing the windows of a bank. As a person who is 110% anti-violence (it never solves anything), I felt the imperative to get clarity on this issue.

So, as I mentioned in the linked  paper, I went through days of abuse and attacks as a result. It was ugly, people were telling me that I was a typical ‘white male’ and I should ‘check my privlege’ and shut-up. This went on for days- curiously, this is the same method of attack that Harsha used against the man she was debating against- and the audience actually clapped in her support!

Yes, you heard that correctly- she was defending violence, and used a man’s race & gender as a tool to squash his political opinion. A lot of you are probably realizing that this is not only wrong, but it is actually a crime to do so! Unbelievable she would take this tactic- but that’s the problem, DoT gives one carte blanche to do whatever it takes to get acceptance for one’s point-of-view. Rather unaceptable if you ask me…

The harassment continued until three days later- and my gender/race were used against me ad-nauseam.  This continued until I pointed-out it was illegal to use gender & race to discriminate against someone’s political opinion. Suddenly, the attacks ended. And, Harsha wrote a nice paper that softened her position. But, her paper was still somewhat ambiguous, saying:

” These gatherings have been explicitly nonviolent from the start and in hundreds of cities across the continent. Obviously this is the right tactic for this moment.”

By this point I was exhausted- the attacks had become so harsh, and so pointed towards me, that at one point they had sent me to tears. Having grown-up in a feminist-led household, I’m quite a sensitive guy, and it seriously hurt to be called a racist and sexist- it simply just isn’t who I am. So, I mistakenly accepted the ambiguity and decided to move on.

From there, I began to  introduce the idea that OV needed a code-of-conduct. Initially I recommended what we referred to as the Eight Rules– a precursor to what later became OWS8 in New York. This turned into another argument- this time, confirming the truth behind Godwin’s Law. The final argument was that had the Jews had not acted 100% non-violent, they would have perhaps not faced the Holocaust. This really was pushing things a bit too far…

Sunday, November 6th, was a tumultuous day for OV. The troubles began early in the afternoon when a number of people appeared wearing all-black, balaclavas, and some carrying large black flags (see the picture above). Curiously, it was this day that I first saw Harsha since the planning meeting…

Later that evening I watched the General Assembly over the Livestream- this was shortly after the incident with the #SacredProvocation.  It was bizarre- first, it was more efficient than any GA I’ve seen. They slammed-through a large number of amendments, including one to pay $300 per week for wood for the fire! And, I believe, they voted to give $50 p/day to the new First Nations people who joined us.  It was obvious to most that the movement had been hijacked!

The next day, I got into a conversation with one of the police officers who has been assigned to OV. I had got to know him due to an issue where an outsider was making threats to ‘de-occupy’ OV, and was identified trying to recruit others through Twitter. We spoke about the threat, and how it had seemed to disappear- then, the conversation turned to what happened that evening. He said that the VPD were aware that a “highly organised and potentially violent” group had hijacked OV. He said the police are watching them very carefully. I’d already suspected this, but the cop said this independently without my mentioning the problem.

I now have no doubt our concerns about being hijacked are true- but, the details of who and why are still foggy to most of us. But, it is not a big secret- the fact that the GA voted to pay for the #SacredProvocation says it all. The only thing worse than to start a fire would be to attack the police. And, the people in black costumes began doing that on that Sunday also- before they were asked to stop…

So, once I had confirmation from the police (from an officer who has told me straight-out he is a member of the 99%) , I took the next step and asked Harsha to confirm or deny if she had a connection to the ninjas.

I was told that she is a “good person” who works hard for the DTES, and doesn’t deserve to be questioned like this. But, all I asked was to confirm the ambiguity of her last statement- not a lot to ask really, considering she appeared on the same day as the people in costumes. Not much to ask because of her video, and not much to ask considering she was talking with a couple of them. But, was I ever wrong…

People who were friendly towards me told me to stop- that it was not allowable for me to ask her confirmation she is still against violence “at this moment”. I was publicly called insane, someone contacted a family member and repeated that message. It became obvious who was for and who was against my questions.

This issue was discussed on the Facebook page for about a day and a half. Then, just when it looked like she had no choice but to give an answer- zap, the thread had disappeared. Someone erased it.

Now, we are one month into the occupation, and we still don’t have a code-of-conduct, and the ethos behind our movement has been thrown to the side by a small group who seem hell-bent on ending the movement. There are a couple, faint, lights of hope- but, it looks likely that Occupy Vancouver 1.0 is just about over. We’ll see what happens in court tomorrow…

Permanent link to this article: http://www.genuinewitty.com/2011/11/14/occupy-1-0-is-hijacked/

Nov 14

Curtis Brick Fountain: So it never happens again… (or, does it?)

  • November 14, 2011

One of the First Nations participants of Occupy Vancouver came to me a couple weeks ago and asked a favor. He told me about the water fountain that was installed in Grandview park in memory of Curtis Brick- a First Nations man who died of dehydration on July 29th 2009.

It was the hottest day that summer, Mr. Brick was first noticed laying in the park at 9am and appeared to be sleeping. Then at 4pm, someone noticed he was “in obvious physical distress”. Emergency services were called, and were not friendly when they arrived, they yelled to wake him up, and forced an oxygen mask on his face causing him to bleed. Nearby where many people enjoying a day at the park, and nobody else bothered to check on him all day.

Vancouver was disgraced. I remember reading about this from Montreal- a truly horrible chapter in our city’s history.

On September 17, 2011, Mayor Gregor dedicated a water fountain in Mr Brick’s memory. I’ve been told his speech mentioned that the fountain was placed there “So this never happens again”. Sounds good, right?

Well, I went to the fountain a few days ago and was appauled to see that the fountain is not working! How can this be! According to the city, the fountain has been turned-off for the winter. Something just doesn’t seem right about this…

Then, a day later, I was walking down Robson Street and saw a unique kind of water fountain. The top had a fountain for people, and the bottom had a fountain for dogs. And, you’d never believe it- but, both of these fountains are working!

I’m not sure what the message is here- but, I must say, it seems a bit crazy that a fountain for dogs works while a fountain meant to stop homeless people from dehydrating doesn’t. I’m sure there is a technical excuse- that said, it seems rather disrespectful…

Permanent link to this article: http://www.genuinewitty.com/2011/11/14/curtis-brick-fountain-so-it-never-happens-again-or-does-it/

Nov 13

How the City of Vancouver Failed Occupy Vancouver

  • November 13, 2011

It was November 4th, the day after the first overdose at Occupy Vancouver– someone who luckily lived due to the heroic efforts of our volunteer medic, Mathew. The fire department had come to do an inspection on the camp- shake things up for us a bit, guessing the city was losing patience with OV…

When the fire department asked us to take down the tarps that lie over multiple tents, I had to make an objection. I told them that by doing this, addicts with drug problems would be forced to take drugs inside their tent-increasing the risk of someone dying. They paid little attention to what I said- most likely because they were being yelled at by many of the people who lived in the tents.

Strike 1!

I got home, and in my frustration, I decided to write a Tweet to @MayorGregor. The message said:

After a short while I decided I should call the mayor’s office. So I called and left a message.  After a couple of hours I still didn’t get a call back. I was a bit angry by that time- how could he not call me back, or at least send someone to call me! I said to the person taking the message that there is a life/death issue and it was urgent! Perhaps he was too busy campaigning…

Strike 2!

So, I posted another tweet asking if anyone could suggest an organization that could help. One person recommended Union Gospel Mission, but another said a better choice would be Insite, a supervised injection site in East Vancouver.

So, I called Insite.  On my first call the person I spoke with took my phone number, said they didn’t have a pen and were memorizing it. I called back after an hour- they had lost my number, took it down and said someone would call me back soon. A couple hours later I was contacted by a nurse, I explained that we needed someone to ‘outreach’ to people at OV with drug addictions. The nurse agreed to come to the Art Gallery on Saturday morning. Then, at around 8:30pm, I got another call from a supervisor- he didn’t know something was already setup with the nurse, I thanked him for calling and thanked Insite for committing to send someone to do outreach.

The next day I was at home, working on a paper I was writing when I saw a Tweet from @ScanBC  it said that emergency crews were on scene with a unresponsive overdose at the Art Gallery. My heart sunk, and my stomach began to hurt- how could this happen! I did everything I could to stop it!

Strike 3!

Once there was time for things to settle down, I called the medical tent to find out what happened. I was told that someone did come from Insite, but they came after the fatality, and only dropped-off medicines- they neglected to do any outreach. I was raging mad at this, felt they could have saved a life had they come earlier. Today, I am still disappointed, but learned that the victim had been deceased for about 12 hours before she was discovered- so, the tragedy still will have happened.

I’m incredibly disappointed with the VFD, Mayor Gregor’s office, and Insite. Despite being warned, all neglected to take responsibility and respond properly to my requests & warnings. I won’t speculate too much, but it seems like OV was just too politically ‘hot’ for them to handle.  Sad…

Permanent link to this article: http://www.genuinewitty.com/2011/11/13/how-the-city-of-vancouver-failed-occupy-vancouver/

Nov 13

#SacredProvocation: The Story Behind the ‘Sacred Fire’

  • November 13, 2011

Preparation of the #SacredProvocation...

It was Sunday afternoon, shortly after the Black Bloc showed up, with a large group of new First Nations…

At about 2pm, I saw two FN men with a large oil barrel-they were smashing holes in the bottom of it, I had no idea why so I asked. They looked very nervous and didn’t respond.  I forgot about it the next hour, until I saw them setting it up in front of the stage.

I was shocked & appalled- a fire was the greatest agitation that could have been done at that moment. It was obvious to me that someone was trying to hurt our movement. Curiously, there were VFD there, they asked that a fire not be lit. But, when the FN guys continued to work on the fire, theVFD began to give suggestions on how to make it safer. It was a bizarre scene.

There was a group of FN’s not involved in making the fire who got very angry at the two who were.  They basically said it was sacrilegious to start a fire in the name of a provocation. This continued for about 20 minutes before they gave up. This was my first clue that there was something wrong going on.

Soon after, someone from the tent council came to me (and others), asked if we would be willing to learn how to keep a human chain around the (unlit) fire barrel. I looked at them and chuckled, then asked if they understood the consequences of starting the fire. They turned around and walked away. Now I was certain this was a provocation…

There was a short practice session where people formed a human chain, after everyone was certain they knew what they were doing, they stopped. Then the fire was lit- and the whole camp went into a frenzy. Many people left at that moment, I stayed around for a short while longer and watched people’s reaction- then I left.

That evening, I watched the General Assembly through the live stream. It was a curious GA, a large group of new people were in the audience, and there was someone new acting as a moderator. She started to bang through a group of proposals- many of which were not in in the interest of OV’s longevity. The most controversial proposal was that OV should pay for the wood for the ‘Sacred Fire’. This was introduced as a ‘friendly amendment’ meaning that it could be voted on that day, as opposed to the normal process of waiting until the next day. There was no time left for discussion, and a, mostly new,  audience voted yes to pay $300 a week for the fire.

Later that night the real fun started. The fire was continuously stoked and refilled until the point where the VFD felt it was necessary to take action and out it out. The human chain was formed when the VFD and VPD showed-up to stop the fire. Members of the Tent Council who weren’t part of the chain began to charge at the police & firemen. The firemen began to shoot a fire extinguisher at the barrel, some of the people in the chain got hit with the fire repellent. And, some of the people in the chain got pushed against the scalding hot barrel- a number of people had their legs burned.

As the Tent council members were charging the VFD/VPD, they began to act like animals- biting, kicking, and someone stole a clip of ammunition from a police officer. Basically, the event became a gong show- senseless violence to protect the #SacredProvocation. The show ended when the fire was out, the VPF & VFD then left.

One of the more unusual parts of this incident is how Tent Council members complained afterwards that  the VFD used a ‘special’ fire extinguisher that has mace inside of it. This is completely ridiculous- if the authorities wanted to gas them, it is seriously doubtful they would have gone to such lengths to hide it. But, the Tent people’s minds have been somehow programmed to believe the city wants to physically hurt them. Crazy.

So, there you have it- the story of the #SacredProvocation. It is obvious to me that this was a planned provocation- most likely to scare sensible people away from the camp. It worked too, because many people left when it started, and the GA appeared to be hijacked. The demographics of OV changed dramatically since then- the people who showed-up on Sunday are now running the camp. I asked the police if they saw this on Monday, and they confirmed that a ‘highly organized’ group of people took over OV, and the VPD are concerned that they may be planning to instigate more violence.

When all is said and done, I’m sure this will be looked at as the beginning of the end for OV 1.0. Whatever OV 2.0 will be- it will begin with a solid coded of conduct that will not be allowed to be changed. Until then, what a long strange trip it will be…

Permanent link to this article: http://www.genuinewitty.com/2011/11/13/sacredprovocation-the-story-behind-the-sacred-fire/

Nov 13

Occupy Vancouver and its Drug Problem…

  • November 13, 2011

It was the 15th of October, the first day of Occupy Vancouver. I was walking onto the grounds and immediately began to smell marijuana smoke wafting across the stage. It was a couple of hours before anything was planned, so I didn’t really pay too much attention to it.  But, as the day continued, it became obvious that this would become a problem.

A couple days later, I spent my day greeting newcomers- sharing with them why I came to OV, and what other people in the movement were motivated by. I found a couple of card-carrying conservatives- talking to them, it was obvious they were at OV for bedlam. There are a lot of visitors who come for this reason- particularly during the first week.

I started to explain to them I am there because “I cannot afford to take care of my parents when their pension disappears.” That got their attention! Then, I explained to them the story about Iceland, and how they were able to default their national debt and still survive. That got their attention! Then, moments later, someone lit a joint, and the couple hightailed it out of there…

Then there was the day of the day of the first overdose. I remember seeing it mentioned on @ScanBC’s Twitter stream a few minutes after it was discovered. My heart sank, this didn’t sound very good. Luckily, one of our heroic medic volunteers saved this person’s life. But, it was obviously time to stand up and say something.

So, I get onto the Facebook page and suggest we take some action. I started a poll asking if we should allow users of hard drugs to stay on the OV grounds- or, should we give them the option to send them off to a recovery program or leave.  The majority of people online agreed at the time that it was not acceptable for them to stay. But, there was a vocal minority who disagreed very strongly. The conversation went on for two days, without resolution, then was (without warning) erased on Saturday at the time of the next overdose.

I also found news of this incident through ScanBC on Twitter- knew it happened before many people in the camp did. And, this time was tragic- she had passed away in our tent. Until today, we didn’t know the cause of her death- but it was released this afternoon that she died from a mix of heroin and cocaine. They found a crack pipe in here pocket- what a senseless waste of a human life…

So, here we are- two confirmed overdoses, and one fatality- yet there is still a reluctance to take action at the camp. The vast majority of Occupy locations have a strict no-drugs policy, but Vancouver still hasn’t got that far. We are just too damn politically correct to make a move like this- rather unfortunate, isn’t it?

If there is to be an Occupy Vancouver 2.0,  it is my hope/understanding that it will begin having a code of conduct. Had we only taken this suggestion a while ago, perhaps things would be better today…

Permanent link to this article: http://www.genuinewitty.com/2011/11/13/occupy-vancouver-and-its-drug-problem/

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