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Occupy <Your Town>

BTMO

Overlord of the Underthings
BTMO
Joined
May 1, 2009
Messages
2,521
I was in central Wellington last night, and discovered we have a local chapter of the "Occupy" movement camped in a park near the waterfront. The park is just behind the Wellington City Library.

It is all very low-key and apparently has the blessing of the local council. Basically, it looks like a campout for a group of rent-a-crowd types, who I noted were all sleeping in very commercial looking tents... There were probably about 15 tents there, with the usual collection of bongo-drum playing people who don't wear shoes. Some were camping out with the kids, and it all looked... well, pointless to be completely honest, though a pleasant way to spend some time if you have nothing better to do.

A friend of mine was in Melbourne on the weekend, and she described a MUCH more exciting event, with police batton charges, horses, arrests and all of the rest.

Which got me to thinking - what is happening in your town?
 
Nothing here in Helsinki region. I haven´t checked all the parks though. Romanian gipsy beggars camping in parks is a bigger problem, the coldest part of winter usually drives them back to Romania for a while. It is this free movement of goods and people in European Union, which Romania somehow from the backdoor and with very loose criteria qualified to join. Now there is lots of traffic from Romania, mainly self-organized groups of gipsy beggars, white beggars, and hit-and-run-back-to-Romania criminal gangs. Oh the blessing of open borders.

Strayed from the topic. Sorry.
 
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JJM 777 said:
Strayed from the topic. Sorry.
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Hey - if the topic is lame, and you've got something better to talk about, go for it!

:)

BTW - it is pouring with rain and blowing a gail here today. It's not good camping weather for hippies...
 
Here in Christchurch, New Zealand, there's about 20 tents in Hagley Park.

I saw the march up Riccarton Rd a fortnight ago - which looked more like 99 people than it did 99%. A mix of signs, ranging from "STOP WAR" to "I LIKE KITTENS" (no joke!)

Oh, and guitars. Got to have guitars.
 
I must be getting old. When I heard them saying they were going to occupy places for some period of time my first thought was "Don't they have jobs?"
 
Glasgow's George Square has some tents occupying the grassy spaces, churning them into mud and mostly being ignored if what I saw the other day is anything to go by.
 
In Toronto there is some serious new age hippie action going on.

The effusive pride bubbles up everywhere. John Fox (Little Bear), who’s been here leading sage smudges got one of the best responses of the day when he told occupiers, “I have a message from the spirits we have communicated with that you are on the right track. Each day we will continue despite what’s said out there because we have been given the blessing to continue the work we started last Saturday."

Toronto Sun
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FFS :covereyes
 
I passed the "Occupy Melbourne" campsite every day for a week. Last Friday when they were evicted they took control of a busy intersection (Swanston St x Collins St) and protested (read: some guys banged on bongo drums whilst the rest repeatedly sang "occupy, occupy" slightly out of line with the beat) there. I had to walk literally right through a large group of them and I saw a lot of signs about corporate greed. I also inhaled a lot of second-hand cigarette smoke, which told me that most of them had no clue why they were there or what they were "protesting" about.


They did however manage to cause $15,000 worth of damage to our city and provide children as young as 13 with alcohol and cannabis during their "occupation". Great way to further your cause (whatever the hell that is), morons.
 
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LOL. My dad makes more noise making dinner.

I want to move to Canberra. Peace and quiet, that's the life!
 
enjoytheview said:
I passed the "Occupy Melbourne" campsite every day for a week. Last Friday when they were evicted they took control of a busy intersection (Swanston St x Collins St) and protested (read: some guys banged on bongo drums whilst the rest repeatedly sang "occupy, occupy" slightly out of line with the beat) there. I had to walk literally right through a large group of them and I saw a lot of signs about corporate greed. I also inhaled a lot of second-hand cigarette smoke, which told me that most of them had no clue why they were there or what they were "protesting" about.


They did however manage to cause $15,000 worth of damage to our city and provide children as young as 13 with alcohol and cannabis during their "occupation". Great way to further your cause (whatever the hell that is), morons.
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One of our offices is just opposite the City Square, and I happened to be there that day. It was like the sheep dog trials. The police arrived in numbers and grouped close together on one side. The occupiers all moved towards the police to chant - as another group erected portable fences around the other side of the square to keep people away. A garbage truck arrived to get rid of the crap, and trucks to collect the tents. The "sheep" were totally confused as the police kept their formation. Pretty impressive.
 
BTMO said:
Which got me to thinking - what is happening in your town?
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Dunno... while the occupiers were braving Edmonton's October nighttime weather, I was staying in a 300-dollar-a-night room in Western Canadas ritziest hotel attending a science teachers conference and having my bills paid in exchange for shilling for the nuclear industry.

Someone picked the wrong side and it sure as hell weren't me. :D
 
Apparantly we have some "occupiers" up in Auckland too - much like in Wellington; small gathering, council-sanctioned, camping out in Aotea Square. They even reduced their occupation area for the RWC final so that the council could set up a new FanZone, which I thought was hysterical.

I have a sneaking suspicion the NZ "occupation" protesters are just feeling left out.

I must admit I'm not entirely sure what this whole "occupy" movement is actually about. Other than some sort of camping club, that is.
 
I'm actually quite shocked by the level of incompetence, greed and group-think in the financial world.

Am I going to protest? No.

A. I have a job and thus no time for that sort of thing.
B. I met one of the protesters last weekend he wanted to abolish money and thought the Illuminati were behind it all.

He seems quite typical for the protesters.
This is going nowhere.
 
In London, protesters are annoyed about the Daily Telegraph claiming they used thermal imaging to determine that only about 1 in 10 of their tents is occupied overnight.

"We are the 9.9%" perhaps.
 
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