By now almost everyone knows about the ongoing Occupy Wall Street gathering, which incidentally originated with our own Vancouver Adbusters magazine. On October 15, the occupy movement went global and the largest participation in Canada was Vancouver with approximately 4,000 people.
There was a strong Bowen Island presence and, apart from the issues that were addressed, it felt very much like a huge autumnal celebration of life.
The sun shone, everyone was smiling and well behaved, including the large police presence. It was well organized with a play area for children, a meditation for peace and social change corner, first aid, porta-potties and free donated food. It took an hour or so to work out how to organize the speakers, who were eventually given five minutes each and went on into the evening.
During the day, I sat at two different meditation groups, talked to many people, went on a march and listened to music.
One of the highlights was sitting on the curb in the sun while watching small children play with hula hoops in the middle of Georgia Street. We really don't know where this is going but as Naomi Klein said while speaking at the event, "The sky is the limit." There will be many groups springing from this and ample opportunity to be part of the change.
Kami Kanetsuka
