The 4th Reason – James W. Jesso

There have been a lot of people angry at Occupy Calgary and the camp associated with it. This is interesting when you realize we’re part of a global movement attempting to stand up for the downtrodden economic casualties—that most of us will become if we don’t wake up soon—and with the help of more people it would be much more effective. Yet still some people are outright against it.

I addressed a few reasons why this may be happening in my article Why They Don’t Occupy and got some of the angry backlash I as expecting. One of the comments from a user named anon provided a great example of the same under-informed opinions I’ve been hearing since Oct 15

Projection, Apathy, Personal Gain. Interesting ideas, but you forgot number 4. Those of us who think occupiers are a bunch of people with overinflated self esteems who saw the Wall Street occupation and said “Me too! Me too!”. In other words, those of us who think you are a movement made up of idiots.

You will probably mark me as a “personal gain” kind of person, and in a way you’re right. If I thought I could do better under your system, I would swap in a heartbeat. I would jump in with both feet. Instead though, all I see is a group of children sitting around banging drums chanting “Gimme, Gimme, Gimme. We want free electricity. We want free heaters. We want a free place to stay”

Maybe your system is better. Maybe it’s the right one. But the groups ability to broadcast any message other than “we’re a bunch of freeloaders” sucks. Face reality, you’re losing in the marketing department.

Well anon you’ve brought up some good points and you’re right, there is a fourth reason. You’ve made a great case for it. Sorry to those of you that prefer brevity but this reason is called Indoctrinated values on behave of the overtly potentate simplification of the mainstream media

Though most of the anger coming from the uninformed public has been expressed with clearly ignorant rhetoric, some of it has a standing reason. People are angry at what they hear about Occupy Calgary. Unfortunately what they are hearing what is seen on the television, read in the newspapers, or heard through friends.  Most of which is based on the media’s ability to take a very small segment of factual information, load it with bias and sell it with sensationalism.

Presenting Occupy Calgary campers as homeless, ignorant, smelly, freeloading hippy-idiots that are stealing from the city and shitting in the park. This same media presents Occupy Calgary as only complaining and having no value by using well-planned and delivered video clips to support their acrimonious claims.

We can see a great example of this in anon’s reply when he says, “If I thought I could do better under your system, I would swap in a heartbeat. I would jump in with both feet.” Occupy Calgary has never claimed to have an alternative system, they are encouraging people to come together in open discussion of the system we have in an effort to find solutions; to admit and address the problems instead of pretending the government will.

Though the media’s claims may present information that is fundamentally inaccurate and untrue, it is still what is being distributed en mass as “news”.  The majority of news-watching people develop their opinion accordingly and I can understand why.

Occupy makes very big claims and addresses very complex problems. In the United States, people don’t need to understand these complexities because they understand they are suffering the social-economic violence being perpetrated against them. It is a different story in Canada because it hasn’t hit us yet, though it is coming.

To recognize the problems, Canadians—Calgarians specifically, as we have it the easiest in Canada—have to look beyond their comforts into the complexity of governmental corruption. So most people choose to look away. It confuses and probably scares them to address the fallacy of a system they have based most of their identity on and it is easier to continue to believe in “happy and polite Canada”.

Though I doubt it, this current fallacy may have once been true. But currently the reality is that we really are the retarded cousin of the United States because we smile and take it when our dad beats us too but ridicule the States for not doing something about it. (Pardon my honest opinion).

So with the emotional and psychological load of accepting the need to address this complicated issue, we search out something easier to settle on. For the deeply apathetic it’s mindless entertainment or superficial social culture. For those who still have an urge to feel informed it’s the news, where they are delivered heavily simplified and sensationalized selective information. You can just eat it up like a bag of potato chips, tasty, quick but just like the potato chips it only pretends nutritional value. “Baked, not fried!”

So ok, the masses are simple because they are overworked and under-nourished in many ways, so why don’t they just simplify honest news? A good question, the long answer has a library of books to explain. The short answer is this: the system of power we currently perpetuate relies on the majority of people to be under-informed bricks, working to hold up the base of a pyramid scheme.

Currently at the top of this pyramid are massive conglomerates like Rogers Communication (telecommunications, media), TELUS (telecommunications, media) and Power Corporation of Canada (media, finance, resource).

Why would the media honestly represent a movement which stands up against a system of corporate corruption of government when it is the same people who own the main-stream media companies that have the most to lose? So anon is right when he says Occupy Calgary is losing in the marketing department, however it’s tough to win when they won’t even let you on the field.

I encourage people who are angry at Occupy Calgary to consider whether or not you have actually talked to anyone at the Occupy Calgary camp or asked yourself why 2,600 towns and cities worldwide and at least 20 in Canada chose to Occupy.

Read more by James W. Jesso

Questions – Mandi Schrader

I’d like to take a moment to clarify some misconceptions once and for all. If you are an Occupy hater I’m going to respectfully ask you to read this all the way through before commenting. If you don’t, and I can tell, your comments will be zapped.

In the past few weeks I have been accused of hating the following: work, money, capitalism, people who have more money than me, technology, (odd since I am not using smoke signals to communicate this message) industry and Canada.

I have been accused of laziness, working too hard for a pointless cause, wrecking a public park, being a hypocrite for refusing to sleep in said park, stupidity and hyperintellectualism.

Screw all of that.

Due to the diversity of people participating in this cause and their various concerns, it is very difficult to speak for the entire collective. To me it is fairly clear what we are aiming for and why.

No matter who you are I’m betting that at least once you’ve complained about the government. It is clear to many of us that our leaders by and large do not care about the average citizen. They cater to corporations whose interests are in profits at the cost of humans.

That is definitely a sweeping statement. There are many members of various levels of government who do care and there are corporations who deal ethically.

However, we are largely unprotected from the ones who don’t care. They prey upon our psychology to encourage us to wastefully consume products which are low in quality and very possibly made by people who are being exploited and severely underpaid. Who here is not aware that “made in China” usually means “made in a sweatshop?”

How much credit card debt are you going to rack up this holiday season on items you will discard by the end? Tinsel, cards, paper, bows, stupid stocking stuffers, presents that no one wanted but were purchased out of a sense of “I’ve got to get them something.”

How many perfectly good items wind up in landfills because you need the latest version?

Ask yourself why.

We are constantly inundated with conflicting messages, some designed to raise fear, some to put it to rest. Our media rarely educates and informs. It entertains and sensationalizes. Are you really aware of what is going on out there? Do you really think that because it wasn’t fed to you in sound bite-sized pieces that it isn’t true or didn’t happen?

Wake up. Canada DID bail out our banks. YOUR pension could be getting skimmed by unscrupulous investment bankers and your government will do nothing to prove or prosecute this. We pay high costs for food because it has to travel a LONG way to get to us, despite the fertility of our land. The food industry runs on oil. It doesn’t have to. We could grow our own. We in Alberta pay some of the highest prices for energy despite being the top producing province of those same resources.

Why is this so and why don’t you care? Why, furthermore, are you getting angry at people like me for caring?

Could we possibly engage in a citywide, province wide, nationwide, worldwide conversation on ways to make it better? Seriously, what is your problem with that? Are you afraid it will disrupt the status quo, rock the boat, force YOU to look at the way you have been living, the way you directly support environmental destruction and all the horrors of unchecked greed mentioned above?

Are you afraid you could lose all you have worked hard to gain, the respect of your friends and neighbors, your own self esteem?

Well guess what. We all have a lot to lose. Some of us have already gone out on that limb and we are doing it for you as much as us. No one is looking for a handout. We are looking for an echo, an awakening, hope.

And it’s true that this movement may seem pointless in Canada because here we are still comfortable. But at what cost does that comfort continue? Is it really worth remaining comfortable driving a hummer when first nations’ water sources are being poisoned by toxins dumped by the oil trade? Did you know that cancer rates are escalating in the rurals of northern Alberta? Did you know we breathe poison, eat poison and then think and speak poison?

Is television, empty plastic pop culture and processed food so rotting our minds and bodies that we can sit in our easy chairs and ignore all of this?

The short answer is: yes.

The longer answer is: I hope not.

The complete answer is: It’s up to all of us. Look at the world you are helping create. Own your part in its creation. Do what you can to limit your participation in the crime that is causing the destruction of our planet, our people, our minds.

Can you love your neighbor, all 7 billion of them? Can you treat others as you want to be treated, all 7 billion of them? Can you treat yourself better by demanding quality over convenience, kindness over cruelty, life over sleepwalking through life?

I think we’d all better try. Don’t you? That is how real change happens. Everyone trying in their own small way.

That is what I am in this for. Not a handout. Not a moment in the spotlight. Awareness. Conscious living. Love and compassion for all beings.

We can change the world. I believe this utterly. If you don’t believe it, keep reading this blog. Keep coming back with hate and shortsightedness. Keep criticizing the people who, despite being the least qualified to do it, are already trying. Even that helps if it keeps the conversation going.

Haters, we need you as much as anybody. Keep doing your part. We will keep doing ours. Maybe one day we will do it all together.

How to create Social Change: A long boring lecture – Trysch Anderson

I have been following the Occupy Calgary movement for awhile now and I do believe in this. Fundamental change is important on a political, environmental and social level.

While watching the movement develop I have come across another group called Common Ground Calgary. I love this group, they are very funny people with some well thought out ideas. With the approaching holiday season the group has collectively decided to help out around the community in any way they can. I support this, the holidays being stressful at best. Any support people can muster up at this time is a great show of community spirit. I decided to jump on board.

I was reading the forum today and someone posted an interesting article, I couldn’t help but write this after reading it. The question was asked if we were just band aiding the situation due to the holidays and ignoring the deeper rooted problems of the world. I am going to have to say no, this is not what we are doing at all. It may seem that way, however small change helps bring about larger change if we remember that instant gratification is a cookie or a glass of good wine and nothing more.

Helping people is part of the social change we need to make. A sense of community and a culture of reaching out a helping hand is a paradigm that is needed. Can you name four of your neighbors? If someone goes to break into your house tomorrow, will your neighbors know or care that it’s happening?

When I lived in a small town, if I sneezed at least four of my neighbors would say bless you. Living downtown I found the most remarkable building to live in. It was a small building however it was a community of people helping people. I could (and still can even though I have moved) name every single person who lived around me. I knew about their families, we ate together, it was a very healthy happy environment. No one went hungry, we had indoor and outdoor gardens. Someone always cooked and people brought what they could afford.

Part of making things better for everyone is helping. Protecting each other, being kind and considerate are the first steps to real change. This one small space still thrives, with everyone doing their part and contributing no matter how that manifested itself. By both small and large changes we will create a helping and kind society that strives for everyone to be equal and cared for and loved. That seems ok to me. Together we are strong. If a mob mentality can create destruction like it did during Vancouver’s playoffs last year, then a positive group mentality will bring about the change we are looking for.

We need is to find common ground to bind the community as well as the world together. This will bring about the sort of environment we want to leave for our children. As a mother of two, I don’t want my kids living in a world where pepper spraying and arresting innocent people is acceptable, nor where marijuana smokers are getting more jail time than child rapists. So bring about small change in your community and encourage other to as well.

I will be offering children a musical workshops in my home by donation once a week starting December 6th. These will be for people who need a couple of hours to just go shopping or wash their hair or whatever. Also come spring I will be helping to get people seeds so they can grow their own food no matter where they live. I grow a mean indoor apartment garden (it has to be able to defend itself against the squirrels. Sorry they scare me.)

I am unsure what else I will think of in the future but currently these are my contributions. This is what I can offer them to help change the world, one person at a time. Every journey begins with a single small step towards the destination. I hope you all find your niche as well. Good luck and may we all find some Common Ground in Calgary.

Occupy Xmas – Mandi Schrader

We are entering the season of tinsel, ad nauseum canned carols and maxed out credit cards.

I’m not a Christmas lover. From the tacky red-and-green motifs, the bags and bags of paper purchased only to be torn up and wasted, the packed shopping centers and ugly sweaters it is not my favorite holiday for many reasons. Years of playing angels in my old church pageants didn’t help either. Angel I am not.

Don’t get me wrong, I love the spirit of warmth and light, peace on earth and family love. I love the spirit of generosity and hope. I love the cookies my mom sends every year. I love candy canes.

I hate the mall mobs, the stress, the pressure to spend spend spend and the measurement of love by the cost of a gift. And seriously can someone please write some new songs?

I challenge everyone out there, Occupiers and Occupy haters alike to rethink Christmas this year. I challenge you to make it about helping others; giving of yourself, not your wallet.

If you must spend money on gifts, go to locally owned small businesses. Support the people in your community, not the big box stores. Teach the kids that Christmas is about love, not video games. Go caroling door to door. Meet your neighbors or get to know them better. Leave your credit cards at home.

I have always been inspired by Dolly Parton’s stories of growing up in the back woods with 11 brothers and sisters. The family only ever had money for one gift. They hid it somewhere in the house and on Christmas morning all the kids searched for it. The one who found it, kept it. She spoke of those days with warmth and joy. No one ever demanded the latest trendy item, they had what they had.

I’m not suggesting we make everyone compete for one present. I AM suggesting that we reconsider the values that send us all into debt over the holidays. In whatever way we can, let’s stand up for peace, joy, good will towards ALL.

We of Occupy have joined together with people who once called us squatters, people who understand that whatever our methods we are doing this to make a better world. You can be part of it. Join us at Common Ground Calgary.

This isn’t just about Christmas, Yule, Hannuka or Kwanza. It is a fire we hope to light in the hearts of everyone and keep it glowing throughout the year. Together we can change the world. With kindness, courage and love we will succeed.

Why I Occupy – Donna Clarke

Everybody who disagrees with the Occupy movement seems to think that if you work hard you can be successful in this city, country or world! (This, I realise, is a bit of a presumption.) SO WHY AREN’T I RICH AND SUCCESSFUL? I went to university and got a degree and a large debt. I paid off that debt in full. I have worked for over 20 years. I work hard. I work a full time job during the day and two evenings a week. I don’t have any benefits with either job. I need $5000 in dental work. I pay my taxes. I do not have a luxurious lifestyle. I take public transit or ride my bicycle. I seldom drink and don’t do drugs. I have volunteered at a few inner city community centers. I don’t have a TV or own property. I help out my friends when I can and have been too generous at times. I am $12,000 in debt and don’t have any savings. If i broke my leg tomorrow I would be unable to pay my bills. i want to live in a just society where people care about each other, where I am safe and secure. THIS IS WHY I SUPPORT THE OCCUPY CALGARY MOVEMENT.

Why I Occupy – Jase Alex aka TheCrimsonMavrick

For a long time a demographic has been moving up through society causing massive social, political, and economic changes. Everywhere we look we can see their influence. Their decisions have brought us all the prosperity and disparity today. But today, standing in that shadow, I can tell you that they forgot one thing. They forgot to leave a way up. The way forward for the majority is eclipsed and we fear for our future.

I am a born and raised Calgarian. I ask myself, why is it so tough to get ahead? I debate with friends and co-workers as to what is wrong and how to fix it. We laugh at ideas and quote expert “opinions” about why this or that idea is doomed to fail. Then something strange happened. The entire free world took to the street and started having that same conversation.

At first the only thing clear about the message was the urgency and dedication in which it was being presented. After further investigation of the strange phenomena occupying the world. I found that somehow they were having the same conversations. But instead they focused on what needs to be done to move forward outside of the status quo.

A grass roots movement, leaderless, collaborated, and committed to the identification of the problems; analysis and integration of the solutions. Working to serve the people with their best answers to move forward as a society. The birth of a social consciousness self aware and aware of its responsibility to humanity.

Being new, societies first reaction, naturally, was to kill it. First it was ridiculed, then violently opposed. To us it is already self evident. This conversation needs to happen the way it is happening and where it is happening. We have knowledge, but imagination is more important than knowledge. So join the conversation as we figure out what is needed to brighten the future ahead.

An old hippie’s prayer – Ron Ayotte

 “In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist.”

           President Dwight D. Eisenhower  

Farewell Address   1961

My father was not an educated man. His limited understanding of politics and economics did not keep him out of the army though, and he did his bit in WW II until Eisenhower, who was a Five Star General then, said it was time to come home.  Dad didn’t talk about the war much, and he had even less to say about growing up in the depression.  One day when he’d had a few beers, he just blurted out  “we used to wonder sometimes, how there were years of no money for children’s mittens, and all of a sudden there was a blank cheque for a war”.  He looked at me as if he thought I’d have an answer for that.  I guess I shrugged, and after a while he looked away.

That question never went away though, and his generation gave us Employment Insurance, the Canada Health Act and Canada Pension. They were the first generation in most Canadian families to send anyone to university, and the last who could claim the government was afraid of them, instead of the other way around.

We should be so blessed as to be worthy of their memory.

Not All The Media is At Fault – Stephen Hall

I am a member of the media, and like so many other citizens of this world, I too would fall into that 99% that feel a certain amount of disdain toward the system that has brought us to where we are today. I am also fortunate that I am not constrained by the corporate machine that drives the bulk of the media reporting that appears on mainstream outlets today. That means I am free to make my own conclusions without having a predetermined agenda.

I actually spend time at Olympic Plaza and have been welcomed with open arms by the members of Occupy Calgary because I spend time engaging in meaningful discussions and listen to their concerns. They know, like most rational people, that I may not agree with everything they say, as I am sure they do not agree with all of my thoughts. That is human nature, and that is how we show respect to one another.

When we use the term 99%, I feel that that is also representational of the percentage of participants that are articulate, educated and deeply concerned about the state of the world today. Unfortunately every group has that 1% and it is that small percentage that the mainstream media like to focus on. It saddens me to think that my brothers and sisters in the media are forced to stoop to those tactics because their bosses have made them do so. I don’t blame the street reporters for this because I know a number of them personally and they are really good people. I ask that you give them the respect you give to me, but hold distain for their organizations.

As a human being, and not just as a reporter, I pledge to be honest and truthful in all my efforts at information gathering. I will approach every situation with open arms and an open mind. I will respect your wishes if you do not want to appear on camera, and will always give you the opportunity to correct any information that you may feel is faulty.

In closing I can’t officially indicate if I support your cause or not, but those of you that have had the opportunity to interact with me fully understand my human position. God gave me a heart, and my parents taught me how to use it.

Stephen Hall

Encore News

reporting@encorenews.com

We Are Not All Bums – Stephen Hall

Spending time at the Occupy Calgary occupation is not only eye opening, but also I feel it is a great privilege to meet and talk with the participants. A story of one individual comes to mind.

 On November 5th I spent most of the day wandering around the encampment meeting and having wonderful discussions with people from all sorts of backgrounds. A very soft-spoken individual named Richard approached me to enquire if I was with the media and what I was doing. We spoke for almost an hour and during that time he opened up and told me a little about his life. 

 He is homeless, not by choice but by circumstance. He is also a veteran of the Canadian military. He spent over 20 years with the Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry defending our rights and helping others around the world. He does not brag or is boastful about this, but he is truly proud of what he has done. During our conversation he went back into his tent to retrieve his coffee mug that has the logo of the Princess Pat’s on it and while doing so I was apparent that he was a proud veteran as his normally expressionless face began to light up with an enormous outpouring of pride. 

He spoke about his childhood and how both his parents had died tragically in an accident when he was about 5 years old.  He told me about growing up in foster care and that at age 19 he made the decision to join the military. There was little discussion about his actual military career, a trait that is typical of most real veterans, but it was apparent to me that this is a man of action, not just words. 

 He lost most of his possessions while staying at the Calgary Drop in Centre and when he confronted the thief, he was forced to leave. He told me about having to live in a park and how when he learned about the Olympic Plaza group, he pushed his cart for many miles to get here because he did not have the money for a C-Train ticket. We spoke about going to that dark place in your mind where sometimes the wrong decisions are made. We shared a few tears and a long warm embrace on that cold afternoon. 

 Richard made it very clear that when he arrived at Olympic Plaza he was greeted openly and with loving arms. He was accepted as a fellow human being, not as someone who was homeless or down on his luck. He stated that “without these people, I don’t know where I would be, maybe living under a bridge”.  

 He has had jobs in the past, but when the work ran out, he was back on the street. Since he has no address to give to potential employers, getting work is difficult, if not impossible. 

 What really saddens me is that the majority of people in Calgary, and the media would not see past the fact that Richard is homeless. They would not see a proud veteran who served his country for over 20 years, nor would they see the gentle, articulate man that I did. Is this a unique story for Calgary? Unfortunately it is all to commonplace these days. People displaced not by bad decisions, but by circumstances. 

 Remember the Richards in the world the next time you pass by Olympic Plaza, and if you can do nothing else, say a silent prayer for their wellbeing. 

Stephen Hall 

Encore News 

reporting@encorenews.com 

Day 28, You Guessed It, Still Occupied! – Brandy McNeill

Day 28, and I am really stoked about the way this Movement has been going.

Yes it is true, the media slant still portrays a ragged bunch of homeless ruffians.  Drug addicts, and rabble rousers, homeless hippies.  The number one comment you hear is ‘Get a Job!’  It makes us laugh because it is getting screamed at men who stand in suits, representing the business class. I bet even maybe the ones hiring those who hassle us.  It is sent to Women, who at one time were paid to Advocate for you.  Mothers.  Fathers.  Sons.  Daughters.  Business Owners.  Land Owners. Employees, students and Activists!  Warriors of a new class, in a new war, the true war of the 21 century.

A war about Truth.  Universal truths, enlightment, or some would go so far as to say Universal Light.

And Rights.  Not just human rights, but the very Right to Life.  Universal Life.

A fight about our laws and legal systems and how they are interpreted.  Not just human laws.  Universal Law.

Justice for Occupied Territory.

A fight for for people over money, environment over profit.  A fight about values.  A fight about compassion, love.  Universal Love.

A fight for Freedom, freedom that extends to every man, woman and child on this planet. True democracy, one voice=1vote. Universal Liberty.

But this is a new kind of war that we fight.

This is a war for Truth and Justice against not each other, but with the systems we have created.  The corporations, and big banking industries. Is our fight with our chosen elected officials?  Or is it with Ourselves for standing idly by and allowing this tangled web of a fragile and collapsing system.

Is it our fight within ourselves as we begin to own up to the ways we have contributed to building up to this system?

Yesterday I stood in rememberance for our fallen warriors.  Our war vets, and rcmp, our firefighters, and local commissioners.  I stood and honored many brave men who thought, by sacrificing their lives for us, they were protecting the very freedoms we fight for here today.

Imagine the stain upon their honor to be tied into this bloodwar for oil.

Let us imagine for one moment the humiliation our Rcmp must feel in relation to the current streak of police brutality and sexual harrassement.  Let us imagine the slap in the face to our honorable veterans as their pensions are cut.

Let us take a moment today to honor not only these fallen brethren, but all of our brethren.  William Wallace, Louis Riel.  Both great warriors who fought for Human Rights and true democracy.  How much of our First Nation lost blood for those freedoms. It isn’t much any of these people were asking for.

Putting your people before your greed and your blood wars. Oil for money.  Neither system doing anything for society aside from ripping it open and revealing the gaping scars.  Placing the Environment, before profit.

Proving first and foremost that we can sustain our own communities before we give back to our provinces, states and territories.  Fixing this great Nation Canada.  Home of the True North.  Strong, United, and Free!

And then reaching out globally to stand in solidarity WorldWide!  When here, in the hearts and minds of our own Country, we can settle on saving ourselves from a wave of economic collapses the even now has begun overseas.

Then we can ask ourselves this one question, more important then any other.

What can we, here in Canada, do for those who have nothing to eat?  For those who do not have the internet, nor even a computer?  Who cannot watch tv, because for them there is no power, no heaters, nor airconditioning, no telephone or outside communication?  How do we reach them? That, before all others.

Which brings us full circle, back to the begining.

And we from Kelowna, don’t demand anything.  We don’t demand it because we don’t buy into it.  Not any longer.

We will begin to provide tangible results right here in our own communities.  Right here in Kelowna.  We will take the City up on it’s challenge. (reference, Mayor Sharon Sheppard, candidate debate, occupykelowna.org home page). We will design a new logo.  One that does not involve, any corporations, or banking interest.

We have plenty of talented artists from the 99% right here in Kelowna.

We will raise our banner, and flag, across this great nation.  In true respect and true honor of each other.

They may have taken away our right to protest, but it has only made us stronger.  More United.  More Organized.

Too busy getting real stuff done in our communities.

Send us your homeless, broken and poor.  They can man our picket line.  Send us your children that have fallen through the cracks of a government Ministry that does more detriment then good.  We, as a community can do the job even better.

While those broken and beaten by the Corporate Fascism that has unvieled its ugly head beneath the lies this society has had to offer, are out their manning our lines at least we know that you can see them.  The collateral damage of greed.  Why don’t you stop in and eat with them at the local mission?  See what happens when you take all hope from a man.  When you take away his basic human right for shelter, be it just a blanket and some cardboard is all he can afford.  But no, instead, you shut your eyes jeer your insults and preach we go back to your system.  Slave to the grind.

We know that we can see them, and one by one, fellow occupiers will begin to give them hope, careers, a future, a home.  One by One.  Every day men, such as you and me.  Taking it one day at a time, one step at a time. Companies, who not only support, but want to be an active part of their community, providing jobs to the jobless.  A strike that shows the employees have the courage, to step away from their corporations, and trust in each other to hire here, locally, in the Okanagan.

I invite you, Kelowna, to watch as Mental Health Workers, grow to support this movement, and move into our encampments all across Canada, offering outreach, to the broken, and drug addicted.  Volunteer their effort.  People before greed.

I invite you to take a look at the strike actions, of our teachers, as they stand up for our children, and our students, as they fight for our careers.  I would like you to see them, as they band together just as we at Occupy do, to decide what they can do, to make a better future happen.

Why are we leaderless?

Because no one person can speak for any other.  True democracy. 1 voice=1 vote. Equal representation across every province and territory of this great nation.

And why do we occupy?  What is this push for one distinct co-hesive message?

I will tell you why.

We occupy because we know now the truth behind this war.

It isn’t about you, and him and her.  There is no mythical 1%.  No 99.

This war, exists inside of us.

It is a war against ourselves.

A war to go against every last ounce of corporate banker brainwashing you have ever been delivered.

A war. Kelowna, to look within.

To your own hearts.

Do you choose people? Or money.

Sustainable environments?  Or profit.  Greed.

No one can answer for you.  This question.

Only you can answer it for yourself.

Why do you Occupy.

Why, would you want to make fundamental differences for the betterment of your community?

This war, this PEACEFUL war, is one where we learn to look within, and shift our own values.  Come up with our own Solutions.

And then set about actively doing them.

You don’t need Occupy, you don’t need any organization.

You just need to believe, once again, in yourself.

Why, Kelowna?

Why would you Occupy?