Re: ‘Occupy’ is just another squat, B.C. Views, Nov. 9, 2011.
I am a senior, but I have taken part in many peaceful demonstrations and acts of civil disobedience during my lifetime. It is our right as citizens to peacefully protest when we find that our governments have taken a wrong turn.
The Occupy movement is worldwide. It doesn’t just reflect inequities in Victoria or B.C. or even Canada.
Governments are too influenced by corporations and are not representing the interests of their constituents, many of whom are falling behind and losing their savings and even their homes.
Citizens are also speaking out against corporate decisions that negatively affect drinking water, oceans, forests and ultimately the health of our nation.
Many of us protested the North America Free Trade Agreement in the 1980s, which resulted in companies and jobs leaving our country. Thirty years later we are still dealing with the loss of jobs and this is part of the reason people are on the streets today.
I don’t know what world Tom Fletcher is living in, but he looks fairly comfortable, and I am pretty sure he has a good job, a warm bed to sleep in and lots of food to eat. Not so for many of us, as he can see by looking around our city. And his “facts” (like that the protests are funded by government unions) need to be footnoted, as I have not heard those “facts” before and doubt their validity.
I wouldn’t mind if he was just a letter writer, but to have his column as a weekly mainstay of your otherwise quite readable paper is an affront to our intelligence.
Kathryn Ogg
Victoria