By Sofia Mikhaylova
November 16, 2011
A cluster of tents grouped together with signs and labels surrounding them define the appearance of Occupy Toronto. Singing, smoking, and talking to reporters; stragglers, volunteers, and self-proclaimed protesters gather and walk around the encampment.
All except one.
“I’m not a protester. I’m a member of a movement,” activist Ian Smart says. “This is not a protest against something. If you want to call it [a protest], it’s for a voice.”
By Sofia Mikhaylova
November 16, 2011
A cluster of tents grouped together with signs and labels surrounding them define the appearance of Occupy Toronto. Singing, smoking, and talking to reporters; stragglers, volunteers, and self-proclaimed protesters gather and walk around the encampment.
All except one.
“I’m not a protester. I’m a member of a movement,” activist Ian Smart says. “This is not a protest against something. If you want to call it [a protest], it’s for a voice.”
Smart is 62 years old, and has been living in the tent city at St. James Park for two weeks.
40-year-old Shane D’Costa, on the other hand, has visited the movement five or six times, but hasn’t slept there yet.
“I really admire people who are there, who are staying there,” he says. “They’re proving a point.”
The Occupy movement is an effort put together by people who feel that they are not being represented, and that believe the division of wealth between classes is unfair. The Toronto branch of the movement began on Oct 15, when the first general assembly was held. On Tuesday, city officials and by-law officers came by the camp to place eviction notices on the tents. The camp was to be dismantled by Wednesday at 12:01 a.m.
The general reaction to the eviction notices being put up was fear, says Smart, because the movement is still growing, and people were afraid of the officers.
“But immediately, our legal team came into play,” says Smart, and got the movement an injunction so they wouldn’t be forced to move until a hearing in court. The hearing will be held on Friday.
D’Costa thinks the occupiers will be allowed to stay.
“By-laws don’t trump charter rights,” he says.
Now that things are getting tenser and more exciting at the camp, the protesters have created a colour scheme that they will use to determine who is willing to get arrested for the movement. Those who identify as green are not willing to be arrested, and are encouraged to leave if and when the police arrive. Those who are orange are not willing to be arrested, but will be put in that position. Finally, reds are fully willing to be arrested for the movement.
Smart is a red.
“I’ve been arrested before. I’m 62 years old; doesn’t matter. Arrests don’t scare me. I’m comfortable enough in my life that a police record won’t affect me.”
But Smart remains positive, mentioning and praising the sense of community that has spread and developed among the occupiers at the camp.
“[Occupy] is the only movement where you can see libertarians and communists walking arm in arm. Well, maybe there’s an anarchist in the middle to translate.” Smart says.
“I know more people living in tents in this park than I know in my building.”
This piece was written by first-year Ryerson student Sofia Mikhaylova for a reporting class.