OWS Canada

[Alison]

Occupy Vancouver
Vancouver Sun estimates "upwards of 4,000 people".
Photos from Jymn @ Let Freedom Rain and West End Bob.


Occupy Ottawa
Dr. Dawg estimates 1,000 people; has photos


Occupy Winnipeg
Paul S. Graham shot some footage.


CBC estimates 3,000 in GTO, 300 in Halifax, 400 in Calgary.

[Holly Stick]

Occupy the Earth thread:


http://breadnroses.ca/community/index.php/topic,7461.msg204068.html#msg204068

[Holly Stick]

Occupy Economics; a good article that says economics and business are not the same thing:

http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/story/2011/10/17/f-pittis-occupy-economics.html


ETA: photos and discussion of Occupy Edmonton (up to 1000):

http://www.albertadiary.ca/2011/10/occupy-edmonton-up-to-1000-protest.html

[Holly Stick]

About some critics of the Occupy movement. I enjoyed his take on the media:

...The media have largely been critical for other reasons. They do not really understand what is happening. They haven’t gotten a press release that clearly spells out for them who is in charge and what changes are being sought. This is not the way they are used to operating. Large parts of the media are frequently dismissive of anything they can’t understand or explain in simple terms...

 

http://justinbeach.ca/?p=703

[Herr Magoo]

If the media did their homework -- which I'm sure we all agree they should -- then I don't think it's unreasonable for them to want to know what the "One Demand" is. 
 
If some group scheduled a news conference "to announce our New Thing" and then proceeded to assemble, silently, and NOT announce any new things, I think the media would be similarly curious, yes?

[Holly Stick]

Sigh. It's a grassroots movement, not an astroturf one with a bunch of carefully prepared press releases, etc. Why the hell should they have one demand? Why should they dumb themselves down for the benefit of every unimaginative narrowminded lazy hack who is not interested in anything more than an easy soundbite?

[Herr Magoo]

Why the hell should they have one demand?

That was the initial plan, as I understand it.  Do you remember the poster:  "What is our one demand?"
 
I think it was modelled after the Egyptian occupation of Tahrir square, and the demand for regime change.  I thought it was an excellent idea.

[Holly Stick]

Whose original plan? You could count up all the one demands here if you like:

...Ending capital punishment is our one demand.

On September 21st, 2011, the richest 400 Americans owned more wealth than half of the country's population.

Ending wealth inequality is our one demand.

On September 21st, 2011, four of our members were arrested on baseless charges.

Ending police intimidation is our one demand...

etc., etc.

http://occupywallst.org/article/a-message-from-occupied-wall-street-day-five/

[Herr Magoo]

 
Whoever came up with the idea in the first place, I imagine:

 

You could count up all the one demands here if you like

I started to, but it was immediately more than one.  I'm glad to see support for one demand in those comments, though, and coming from people with more cred than I've got.  I think it was a good idea, and different from the usual cacaphony of demands.
 
 

[Antonia]

That was Adbusters, the anti-corporate Canadian magazine that issued the call in July.

http://www.thestar.com/worldwide/northamerica/usa/article/1055454--is-the-arab-spring-coming-to-america

[Holly Stick]

Ah, so Kalle Lasn came up with the one demand idea? He was underly ambitious. 

[Alison]

Herr Magoo :
The Onion ...[/size]Nation Waiting For Protesters to Clearly Articulate Demands Before Ignoring Them

As the Occupy Wall Street protest expands and grows into a nationwide movement, Americans are eagerly awaiting a list of demands from the group so they can then systematically disregard them and continue going about their business, polls showed this week.

"The protesters need to unify around a shared agenda with precise policy goals so I can begin paying no attention to them whatsoever," said Tulsa, OK poll respondent Kaye Petrachonis, echoing the thoughts of millions across the country. "If they don’t have a clear power structure organized around specific demands first, then I'll never be able to completely tune them out due to a political conflict of interest or an inability to comprehend complex, detailed economic concepts. These people really need to get their act together."

[Alison]

You know what I'm remembering?
Ten solid days of Canadian media editorials back in June dissing Brigette DePape for calling for :

"a Canadian version of the Arab Spring, an Arab Spring for Canada"

[Debra]

Lemony Snicket weighs in


http://occupywriters.com/by-lemony-snicket


also found on Twitter No Banker Left Behind
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LxaY_mxYflg

[pogge]

"They don't really seem to know why they are protesting!"