I’m skeptical about them, but I’m behind Occupy Wall Street.
The movement is full of idealistic people who don’t understand how the world works. However, they need to win.
Back in the 1960s, the hippies fought hard, but gave up after Martin Luther King and Robert Kennedy were killed. Soldiers shot at college students, with at least four dead in Ohio. Now, the Sixties are repeating themselves. Halifax mayor Peter Kelly evicted the protestors at Occupy Nova Scotia. People recorded the police beating the protestors down. At Occupy Oakland, people were injured by the authorities, with at least one sent to hospital.
They can’t give up now. They need to keep up the fight. If they give up, the world will only get worse. This is a fight for the world.
I’m part of this generation and I feel this rage. However, my only strength is in words. I can’t fight, I can only write or report. Since I have words, I have some advice for the movement that might actually scare the crap out of the rich.
Filter out the bad apples. Seriously, I’ve been hearing about rapes going on in the bigger gatherings, along with other violence, particularly against women. Reveal them and kick them out.
Don’t resort to woo. My local variant, Occupy P.E.I, was planning meditation groups. One of the members used to be a friend until I became a reporter and he became more entrenched in his belief in New Age magic. Stick with the facts.
Stop buying. Steve Jobs was not one of you, so don’t buy any product pretending to be anti-capitalist. Stop going into Starbucks or big clothing stores. Spread boycotts and learn about any human rights violations by companies. I know how lazy this generation is and how much they depend on connection. Hell, I need a connection just to get these words out. We’re all hypocrites, but we have to fight against our urge to slip back into the addiction of consumerism.
Keep fighting no matter what. Don’t make the same mistakes the Baby Boomers made. Since they lost, they became the white-collar conservatives of today.
They gave up. You have another choice. Keep that Occupy flag high.
Thanks in Advance.
Thanks In Advance is a weekly opinion column by Nathaniel Flynn, a second-year journalism student at Holland College. He’s influenced by reporters like Edward R. Murrow and Hunter S. Thompson.
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