To the Editor,
I was unhappy to hear how the Occupy camp on Wall Street and in other cities in the U.S. were forcefully evicted by riot police.
I believe the Occupy movement has valid moralistic grounds to be allowed to continue in Nanaimo without eviction and riot police.
I most admire the Occupy movement’s courage and conviction to stay the course despite the risk of ridicule, inclement weather, hunger and consequences of civil disobedience.
The greed of CEOs, outsourcing, foreign real-estate investment, excessive internal real-estate investment, and gross pay inequality in general are obviously creating the conditions that make the rich richer, the middle class more in debt, and the poor more poor.
I consider these people camped out in tents our voice of discontent of the status quo.
I personally believe it is paramount that we become more agriculturally and economically much more self-sufficient even within our own municipality and we must overcome the vested forces that keep us from that goal by cutting the vines that feed.
The Occupy movement represents a broad spectrum of points of view and from that, we should not disregard the movement as radical or naive, but we should take this opportunity to capitalize on this momentum and bring out the issues that matter to us the most.
I like to see their tents downtown because it represents freedom, community, individuality, and a resolve to stay the course for what one believes in.
Canada needs a stronger criminal justice system in regards to violent crime. These activists are peaceful and purposeful and I would consider it a violent crime in a small way to forcefully remove them. I will stand by them.
Holden Southward
Nanaimo
