Last night, Adelaide East restaurant Starfish hosted a local residents' meeting with the intent of reclaiming St. James Park from Occupy Toronto protesters. But while media and protesters were shut out of the discussion, arguments between attendees and occupiers spilled out onto the sidewalk.
St. James area residents gathered at Starfish restaurant on Adelaide East yesterday evening to discuss those pesky Occupy Toronto protesters, whom the city is planning to evacuate sometime next week.
Outside the restaurant, a large group of media and protesters attempted to muscle their way inside. Starfish wasn’t having it, although at least one protester was spotted slipping in. Barred from entering the restaurant, the reporters, protesters and various not-in-my-backyard types continued a series of impromptu scrums on the sidewalk. Some people argued in front of the cameras, with protesters making the well-worn “shit’s fucked” argument. The anti-protesters generally countered with “shit can’t be that fucked because this is Canada.”
On the crowded sidewalk, a man with a moustache argued with a protester wearing a hardhat.
Moustache Man: I don’t really care. Get out. Go home.
Hard Hat: Why don’t you go home?
MM: This is where I live.
HH: You live on the street?
MM: No.
HH: On the sidewalk? You’re on the sidewalk.
MM: Yeah, “here” as in “this riding.” This is where I live. This is my riding.
HH: Oh guess what. It’s my riding too.
MM: Yeah?
HH: Yeah.
Heady stuff, for sure, but not everyone stuck around. Earlier, with the group packed in front of the Starfish entrance, one protester said, tentatively, “You guys are not being reasonable and are kind of not helping.” One later yelled out, “Let’s all leave now because the media’s going to use this against us.” (This is probably true.)
The whole evening wasn’t petty arguments, thankfully. A few minutes before 6 p.m., a local resident named Kate Armstrong (pictured below) stood in front of a wall of reporters and delivered the strongest statement made in favour of the Occupiers to date.
Here’s part of it:
“Canada is not an island. It does not have its own ecosystem, its own planet, its own gravity. We will go down as hard as everyone else. In the words of a friend: I am ashamed to be human. Ashamed of what we continue to do this planet. And I wish I could live elsewhere until the rest of my species evolves, but I can’t. So I have to sit back and watch as the only planet I can live on for millions of miles is systematically destroyed by selfishness and irresponsibility. I occupy. I. Occupy. For my children, my grandchildren—because I will unlikely see a change in my lifetime.”
Meanwhile, back at the Hardhat/Moustache Man tête-à-tête, Hardhat man began reading stats from a smartphone.
HH: “There are currently over 630 recognized First Nations governments or bands spread across Canada [long pause] roughly half of which are in the provinces of Ontario and British Columbia…”
MM (interrupting): What don’t you understand, from what I told you?
HH: The total population is nearly 700,000—you asked me to Google it. I’m Googling it for you.
MM: No. I told you to Google it if you wanted information. I did not say “Read it to me.”
HH: Well, I’m telling you, they are the First Nations people.
MM: That’s not correct. Want me to edit it right now?
HH: Yeah, please. Show me how you edit it, right now.
MM: You don’t know how to edit Wikipedia?
The two then made some friendly jokes about how a Samsung phone is not a real smartphone, and how much Steve Jobs hated Android or something. Others chimed in with comments about the right to assemble, the electoral system, and the media. There was also this:
MM: I invited all three levels of government to this meeting. None have responded.
HH: Who did you invite?
MM: Our three representatives.
HH: Which are?
MM: You don’t know who your representatives are?
HH: I do know.
MM: Glen, Bob and Pam.
HH: And who showed up?
MM: None of them even responded to my emails.
Last week at St. James Park, when I watched one occupier push a man into a bush and punch him repeatedly, another occupier told me about how the group must regulate what news stories trickle out of the park—a story about an ugly fight, or an overdose, or someone dumping soup on someone doesn’t help the movement. In this way, the people in the park aren’t unlike an average corporation, government or school board.
Many of the people I’ve met at Occupy Toronto have been intelligent and articulate; most retreated to the park last night instead of bickering on the sidewalk. And much of the nasty stuff could be chalked up to people being crammed into close quarters. It’s just too bad that some of the louder occupiers—and people like Moustache Man—seem to relish the kind of argument where you to attempt to make your opponent look stupid rather than trying to prove that you’re right.
