The world faces unprecedented turmoil, and the English curriculum calls for me to help create "informed citizens." Recently, many "occupy" camps in Canada have been dismantled, the authorities calling them a health hazard and citizens "losing patience," happy to see the dirty kids gone, often saying that they should "get a job!" (note that our official unemployment rate is 7.3% and higher for youth).
Earlier, the media was largely sympathetic. Vancouver mayor, Gregor Robertson, first said protesters could "stay as long as they like." Given that the movement is largely a reaction to the concentration of wealth in a few (the 1%; to be a member in B.C. requires earning more than 250 000 dollars annually), it is interesting to note how the message has changed (note the "framing" that George Lakoff warns about) from sympathy to scorn.
Since the movement started in New York City (Occupy Wall Street or OWS as it is commonly called), and the failure of banks in the U.S. and the bail out that followed took place in New York, we'll take a look at recent events in the United States. As Canadians, most of us know that our affairs are intertwined with those of Americans, and that is why I ask you to look there for insight.
The biggest story about OWS this week starts at a protest at the University of California (Davis) campus. Students were protecting a few tents of an occupy on the campus and also protesting baton attacks on students and faculty (including the former poet laureate of the United States) that had occurred the previous day. Go through each link, in turn, to inform yourself of the nature of these events.
Pepper Spraying of Students (8 minutes; watch to the end to see the whole picture)
The Moral Power of an Image (comment from Atlantic Monthly, a respected U.S. magazine, helps you to understand what you have seen)
The Chancellor of University of California (Davis) walking to her car after a news conference and being silently shamed by the students. *Note that she had said, earlier, that she felt threatened by the crowd.
Assistant Professor of English, Nathan Brown's call for the Chancellor's Resignation. Pay attention to the written description of police actions that begin with the second "What Happened Next?"
Lastly, take a moment to view the website, "We are the 99 Percent," where you can see the stories of people hurt by the current economic conditions in the United States.
ASSIGNMENT: Write a reaction to what you have seen and read here at the blog and post it here as a comment. Write in paragraphs and keep your comments to no more than 250 words at most. Bring your writing to class, word processed and double spaced next Wednesday.
If you want to argue "it can't happen here," please do inform yourself about the largest mass arrests in Canadian history during the summer 2010 G20 meetings in Toronto (over 1118 arrested; 800 released without charges). Police there, as in California, hid their badge numbers from the public.
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11 comments:
Occupy Wall Street
After going through the Blog, reading (We are the 99 Percent) stories and watching the video about the UCD students being pepper sprayed by the police , I felt really sad and ashamed for not being aware of what is going on around me.
As a Canadian citizen, I would 100% support the OWS movement and I would like to take the opportunity and call upon my government for a change. A change on our medical care, education system, employment, and transportation; I believe the system is not fair for us, middle-class people. For example, about a year ago, I had a severe pain in my right shoulder and I was in need of an MRI. I didn’t have the money to go to a private place to get it done, so I had to wait nine months until I was able to get one. Another reason to support the idea that our government is not fair to some of us is the high cost of tuition. For example, to get into a decent college or university you either have to be really smart, or have a big bank account. “O yeah!” There is one more way to get an education, and that way is to “bury yourself , neck-deep in debt” by getting something called lone from a big financial corporation. Farther more, there is not enough job opportunities for our youths because the retirement money is not enough to pay our old folks’ expenses; therefore, they need to keep working.
At the end, I would like to thank every individual that has participated in this unique movement for a better future .270 words
“Shame on you!” the students cried out, again and again, as the police officers looked (and this is my interpretation) stricken and guilty for their actions moments before.
Although it may be that some individual officers felt sorry, the truth of the matter is more complex. Apparently there is an official continuum of response to protesters; remember that passively resisting or failing to move when asked constitutes “violence” towards the authorities. Spraying a person in the face with pepper spray is a level 5 response; level 6 is shooting with live ammunition!
I am thus shocked that the students I saw were found to be just one small step away from a lethal response. Both Canada and the U.S. guarantee our right to peaceful assembly and protest, but I am afraid that institutional responses to protest often give lie to this “right” since, and I am one of them, I would not willingly risk violent treatment by the authorities to make my point. I am, therefore, effectively silenced.
But why such a violent response to peaceful protestors? This remains, to me, the essential question. The chancellor of the university directed the police to act and has faced calls for her resignation as a result. There will be committees and studies conducted, but as any Canadian can tell you (think the RCMP tasering at YVR) nothing much will come of it.
And the “We are the 99%” web site? I agree with my daughter’s one word response: “Terrifying.”
—247 words
“Occupy everywhere” movement is meant to raise awareness about current problems, e.g. unequal distribution of capital, resources, etc. Whether or not it actually does anything to solve these problems is another question. I’ve been to “Occupy Vancouver” event and was surprised by how well it was organized. It didn’t look like a spontaneous act (and the fact that it was systematically happening in many cities, proves it. The crowd cannot organize itself like that). It looked more like a well-planned political action with certain interests. Another concern is funding. If protesters are mainly financially challenged people, then who really funds the movement? One of the goals of the movement, besides others, is to get rid of borders, thus creating free and happy world. Well, I’m pretty sure, that corporations, the movement is fighting against, would like to see that, too. As well as creating one central bank and putting a chip into everybody’s rear end.
Regarding the police brutality that happened in University of California it only became an issue because it got caught on camera. First of all, Police didn’t have much choice. Huge part of their job is following orders, that’s exactly what they were doing. When they retreated in the end of the video, quite possible was another order, in order not to escalate the situation. Students were told to leave, they decided to stay, got sprayed, end of story. I’m not protecting the Police, I just think that this passive resistance approach leads to nothing, especially against somebody who has all the power.
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By opening the links, some questions raised in my mind. Why do the two members of public have a conflict? Were the police doing their duties, and how legitimate were the students expectations? I went through the definition of police in Wikipedia, and found out during the history of forming a group named “police”, they have had different roles from controlling the slaves, protecting the businesses Interest against burglary to their current duties: enforcement the law and protecting the public interest.
After watching the video of the protesters, I found out the students protested against the tuition fee increases. They were beaten by the police and some of them were hospitalized. Showing the support and sympathy, another protest organized that the police were ordered to move them from the place. My question is: why the chancellor called police on the site? Did the students do illegitimate action against the law or public interest? And why the police followed her order? Why did her order overweigh the students’ interests? The gathering was peaceful and was not against any laws. So, which law did the police want to enforce?
In another link, the chancellor marches among the students like an army colonel accusing the student of being unsafe to the university. This is so funny, because the only group who had made the unsafe situation was the Police. And I agree with the professor that the chancellor is accountable for police violation against the most respectful members of the society, and has to step down and be charged for her illegitimate action.
To sum up, I think the students belong to the” 99 percent “. They were exhausted of inequality in their society and demanded for the justice. They assembled in the university and may gather again any where and any time to cry for reforms in social and economy conditions. No forces can deter them from their uprising even the police, who are being paid by the “99 percent”. “The word is out there and nobody can take it back”.
I was totally disappointed after watching the video showing that how shameless the government of America be by such a violent response to the protesters. I feel indeed sorry for the UCD students, and also the US government with these kinds of treatments against people. I’m obviously against these sorts of violence, and especially how confidently that fellow policeman was pepper spraying on the student’s faces. I understand that the police officers had only been doing their duty but their harsh action with the students can never be acceptable, therefore I disagree with Alexei who said, “The police officer made their jobs correctly and without any extra cruelty”. We’re all aware of it that USA is a democratic country and at the same time we have the freedom of speech and expression, but the way they had taken an action against the protesters of the university was very aggressive and shameless. In my opinion, this enforcement was extremely done over limit by using pepper spray, beating, and dragging some of them. There are other ways they could have done to prevent their actions but not using pepper spray, it was probably the worst decision they made. Why would even the government let them take these types of actions against such a simple protest?As we found out the fact that we are the 99% so basically the government should be following people demands and make them satisfy, since whatever happen to the country, the people will be the victims who will suffer.(252)
When I watched the video “Pepper Spraying of Students”, my first impression was that that was a programme’s rehearsal. But I was shocked that the police violently treated the students when I found “the rehearsal” was true, although police claimed that “they shoot protesters with non-lethal weapons, not with their lethal firearms.” In a democratic country, everyone has the right to freedom of expression, and one of the main purposes of the law is to provide a peaceful way to settle disputes. I once participated in the Tiananmen Movement while I was a university student. I know that any non-peaceful way to settle disputes will prompt people’s strong protest. Actually, the crowd cried out “shame on you” to the police. And the chancellor of the university who ordered police onto the campuses to clear student protesters, has been required to immediately resign.
I agree with “We are the ninety-nine percentage.” A disproportionate distribution of wealth robs most citizens of access to common resources. The Occupy movement expresses this point of view. Actually, not only do the United States and Canada have this problem of the concentration of wealth, but also other countries, like China, have the same problem. As to China, it seems that many people think that most Chinese people are very rich because they buy big houses and drive expensive cars. However, most Chinese people are “the ninety-nine percentage”. The disproportionate distribution of wealth is a global issue. Therefore, as to occupy movement, how to get support and sympathy from the general public, this needs people to think. (260 words)
The UCD students’ actions are an epitome of our society. The scene even enables us to engage a visual interpretation. I personally read the pepper- spraying youtube clip first without sound. Despite having no sound , I still could tell the sordid conduct of the police. The batons, pepper-spray, gas guns, and helmets, were at the hands of the so- called “ People’s nanny” (We were told how we shall address a policeman); on the other side were the bare-handed students. What an irony! The overwhelming, completely unarmed side wins!
In order to know the appeal of the mass movement, I turned on the sound, though not clear and interference noise occurred. The demands to the cops could be heard, “ Shame on you”, “ It is our campus” , “You can go”, after they resorted to force. Compared to the scenario I saw on Youtube, I am not gloating over the result. Actually, the police back home in Taiwan, were milder, doing nothing but preventing bursts of clashes in the demonstration. I have sympathy with both sides, the students and the police. They all have their concerns: the tuition increasing and the social cost regarding “ safety issues”.
The truth at last dawns on me that the chancellor called for the police to step in, which in turn, caused the assistant professor to call for Linda Katehi’s resignation.
“We are the 99%” ,and so our basic requisition is to lead a decent life with dignity in appreciating moral deeds.
(250 words)
After reading and watching the terrible video of University of California Davis’s students brutally beaten and pepper sprayed by the police forces during the peaceful movement, I feel horrible. I couldn’t believe that American police could behave such a stupid action toward the students. It’s very shameful and crime against humanity. The officer should be suspended or fired from his duty.
This video reminded me the peaceful demonstration in the early 2000 in Pakistan. I didn’t really remember what the protest was about, but the peaceful demonstration end up with a nightmare. The police officer pushed back one the protester for some security reasons, he slipped and break his wrist. That was beginning of violence between protesters and police, tear gases were fired and protesters are beaten by batons so many people were injured including children and sent to hospital. Furthermore, I agree with assistant professor Nathan and his colleagues Mrs.Katehi whose responsibility for this action should be resigned and prosecuted. It has a very bad image on the students and University of California (Davis).
I used to think that United State is very rich (economy) country and there are lots of job opportunities, but I was wrong. After reading some stories of “we are the 99 percent”, I was amazed that most of the US citizens are facing financial problem and losing their job which is very sad. Indeed, US government should solve their own problem first rather than interfering in other countries like Afghanistan and Iraq spending millions of dollar on their military forces.
-256 words
The Movement in UC Davis and Our Society
The video of UC Davis recalls me risings of countless university students in Korea when I was young. I trembled because I still remember smell of pepper power on streets, and image of bleeding students pulled by army people about same ages with the students arrested. The peaceful movement by UC students and faculties was impressive; that was more than enough to make the powerful people including Chancellor Katehi afraid. I thought the cruel police are like the people in power, and students are like normal people just like me. I hope the people (both in Berkeley and Davis) achieve right treatment in tuition, and in work. Now, I understand more about “Occupy Vancouver,” and pleased to see similar activities here. Also, I found some answers for my several year-old questions “Why is this world getting worse to live so fast?” “Undue Influence” by the one percent monopolizes the world. People, like ants, the source of their immense wealth are suffering now, and the people in power seem not to mind them. Now I know environmental problems such as global warming isn’t a different matter with this issue. I know people in power are behind wars all over the world, and Wall Streets; as a result, they’re failed, and out-of-date. Most of all, life stories in the article “WE ARE THE 99 PERCENT” are touching because it could be my story or anyone’s. To people enjoying extreme wealth squeezing people tears, I have to say “Shame on you!” (248 Words)
BOGDAN NICOLAE RAPCEA #56882
I condemn the excessive and useless force used by the police against the innocent students of UCD,and I condemn the Chancellor lack of communication regarding the request of the students.
I have always believed that trying to solve a matter by force it will make it worse,and so happened at UCD. Why was it necessary such aggression against the students? How long do we need to learn that there are so many different good ways to solve a problem than using the violence?
It is even more upsetting when we see that all what happened was in United States. A country where people believe they have the right to speak freely, the right of being free to express themselves without fear.
I saw the police using the spray pepper on those young people –without any reason, and I wonder if any of the aggressors – the police men, thought for a second that among those students could be even their children. I saw also the police backing up in front of the brave protesters, ashamed of what they done listening to crowd requests “ Please do not return,” or “ we give you a moment of peace.”
Indeed, “Shame on you!” Mr. Officer, “shame on you!” Mrs. Chancellor, “shame on you!” to those who failed to represent us and our needs,and “shame on you!” who have the power of decision and because of that dare to believe you can control our lives, the lives of the 99%.
"Occupy Wall Street"
After watching the 8 minute video and, reading all of the stories on "We are the 99 percent", I thought that the government could have done more, so people would not be longing for the equality, that they truly deserve.
I also felt that the police officer was unfair to the UC Davis students. It was said on the letter that students are "peaceful protestor", when police brutality was engaged. I was not sure what is the reason behind the police pepper spraying the UC Davis students, but I was sure that, what the police did was wrong!
I used to think that those people in the "OWS", was lazy people, cause all they need is to get a job and everything will be fixed. I now have a better understanding, that most of them are well educated, and like the UC Davis student, protesting for what they believe (e.g. lowering tuitions, getting benefits, and to be treated equally).
Most of the people are victims of high tuition, with a minimum paying job, or no job at all, which resulted for them to be buried in their debts. I don't know if occupying wall street, or anywhere in the world is getting the governments attention, or not.
One good thing about it is opening other peoples mind, such as myself to think twice before judging the "OWS". Therefore, the governments should listen more to the public, because all they are longing for is equality between each and everyone.
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