Home » Opinion » Victoria Park unoccupied
Victoria Park unoccupied
November 10, 2011
By
Alex Carmona
Anyone walking by Victoria Park early Wednesday morning probably noticed something had changed. For the first time since late October, passersby had a clear view across the whole park, which was once again covered only by grass.
Around 1 a.m. on Wednesday the London Police Service either “swooped into” or “entered” Victoria Park and “tore down” or “removed” the Occupy London shantytown depending on your publication of choice. Honestly, it’s about damn time.
Let me be clear. The Occupy movements in the United States and Canada are horses of very different colours, with the American variant being the far more legitimate of the two. While the Occupy movements in general are disjointed, with few clear goals, at least most occupiers in the U.S. would agree they want greater regulation of financial institutions. With this being something we already enjoy up here in the North, I continuously struggled to understand the primary goal of Occupy London, and why it was so important it deserved a pass for breaking the law. I guess my question has been answered—it wasn’t.
Occupy London’s aimlessness was ultimately it’s downfall. In fact, the only issue the group found to truly rally around was the subject of its own removal. If the protest had been a focused one, based on concrete Canadian issues, I think the city would most likely have taken a different route. It’s one thing to evict a disorganized cluster of radicals whose activities could reasonably be described as an exercise in redundancy. It’s entirely another to do the very same thing to a cohesive protest dedicated to a clear goal.
After all, even if the city wanted to acquiesce to their Occupier’s demands, how could they have? Yes, this is something that can be extended to all the Occupy protests worldwide, and if this were the sole support for the city’s actions yesterday morning, the continued existence of the other Canadian Occupy movements would be puzzling, to say the least. But there’s another reason London was the first city in the country to oust their own occupation.
Of all the major Canadian cities currently under occupation, London is the least suited for it. No major financial institutions who contributed to the economic crisis are based here. Neither federal, nor provincial parliament lay claim to our city’s streets. The occupiers clearly didn’t have commitments preventing them from spending their days and nights in Victoria Park, so why was the trek to a more prominent city like Toronto or Ottawa so unappealing?
The only entity based in London that would necessitate protesting in London is the university. But then again, rumour has it that Occupy Western is on its way, so stay tuned.
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Alex is a News Editor for Volume 105 of The Gazette. He is currently in his third year at Western, pursuing a Specialization in Classical Studies. Twitter: @AlexAtGazette
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