As Occupy Toronto entered it's third week, the spirits of the occupants in the two hundred or so tents in Toronto's St. James park continue to be high. The unrelenting rain and the unseasonably cold weather have not put a damper on the enthusiasm of the camped out activists. Specific tents house a library, an information centre, a food station, a media relations centre and a logistics unit. On a cool crisp Sunday morning, many activists are already up. Some are singing on the gazebo that has become a stage; others line up for coffee and toast; yet others are busy with a very public meeting, discussing strategies for the next few days. A young man in his early twenties tells me that he was an engineering student, obssessed only about his grades until he encountered philosophy and began to think about social equity.
A Ryerson University psychology major, also in her twenties, recounts the process that led to her taking an active interest in social issues beyond the class-room. Many tell me that the numbers who have joined the residents of "a city in a park" has grown over the past week. While the long term effects of this movement are as yet unclear, it is heartening to see a wide swathe of people from all walks of life convert, in the words of C. Wright Mills (who else?), "personal troubles" into "public issues".
No comments:
Post a Comment