Can the diminished movement reclaim the public attitude after losing the limelight?
Osama Butt
Contributor
We’re coming upon the fourth month of the Occupy Toronto movement, and it is safe to say that the honeymoon phase is over.
Public and media attention (including that of Excalibur) has fizzled from its peak when hundreds of demonstrators staged rallies all over downtown Toronto. Mentioning the Occupy movement now is like “planking;” it feels grossly outdated.
So why this sudden change of heart for a movement that prides itself on representing the 99 per cent? Is it because they were squatting in public parks? I personally wasn’t even aware of St. James Park before this October, and I am pretty sure I am not the only one. Besides, the authorities took care of that encampment (and by extension, the constitutional rights of the protesters) rather swiftly, through pesky park bylaws.
The lack of leadership, direction, and commitment is more routinely accredited with the public’s disillusionment with the protesters.
There was almost too wide an array of complaints: the collapsing environment, labour standards, housing policy, government corruption, World Bank lending practices, unemployment, increasing wealth disparity, and so on; no single person could have aptly represented all those disenfranchised groups and all their complaints.
In addition, what the protesters wanted to accomplish wasn’t as simple as a change in leadership or policy, but a change in discourse. A world were social inequality and corporate greed aren’t accepted norms.
Being on the unfavourable side of things, the protesters left peacefully after their eviction notice was given, and with their departure went their message. It allowed the Occupy movement to slowly disappear in Toronto.
The same way our current neoliberal state of privatization, deregulation, deunionization, corporate tax breaks, and the dismantling of social programs didn’t just happen overnight, similarly you can’t expect to make demands and then just dissipate.
Revolutions don’t just occur and have all their demands met right away; there is struggle and defamation—just ask the Egyptians still fighting for their right to fair leadership. While Arab struggle against despotic leaders may seem much more palpable, as they risk their lives daily fighting for what we take for granted, they are not entirely different than the marginalized occupiers fighting for their needs to be heard. Sure, the Occupiers are not as dire, but they fought with comparable passion.
Ultimately, whether the movement finds its steam again is up to them, but I wouldn’t bet on it.
