What I saw at Occupy Charlottetown

Occupy Charlottetown gathered about 80 people near Province House this afternoon. The Facebook group announced "We will be having discussions and teaching sessions". It turned out to be less of a discussion and more of a rally focused around people taking turns with a megaphone. The organizers recognized this and a discussion type of group is tentatively scheduled for next Saturday.

The talking points were predictable, but the gathering helped to put a face and a story behind most of them. As I arrived, just behind schedule, a man was speaking about what it was like to live with AIDS on PEI. This was my introduction to the main theme of the afternoon, economic injustice. There were appeals to the vague ideas of corporate greed and poverty reduction/elimination and basic human rights. Some speakers were more focused on specifics like wasteful government spending (not unlike the Tea Party) on certainly Island and federal projects, and public housing. Still others got down to business about actions each person could take such as supporting local businesses and using cooperatives to take control of their own futures. And proportional representation made a cameo.

I was disappointed that NONE of my three focus points were raised. I was tempted to raise them myself. I was able to keep myself seated only by reminding myself that this was not my movement. My three neglected points are war, limited corporate liability and sound money. I appreciate that war doesn't fit nicely into the economic injustice framework, and that sound money is still mostly played in academic circles, but limited corporate liability should be front and centre at meetings like this one. I will raise the issue if I make it to the gathering next week.

Hearing Leo Cheverie speak about the desired ends of the movement, I realized that a movement doesn't have to be defined by ends. The anarchist movement is not defined by ends, but rather the delegitimization of forceful means. I am hopeful there might be some analog in the Occupy movement.