what’s next? the future of the occupy vancouver movement

Occupy camp at Vancouver Art Gallery ends, but the movement continues to gain momentum >>4

how to get involved

General Assembly

Wednesday’s at 7pm

Satuday’s at 1pm

@ W2 Media Cafe

Spokes Council

Tuesday’s at 7pm

Sunday’s at 1pm

@ W2 Media Cafe

Join a Committee

Find meeting times

and descriptions @

occupyvancouver.com

occupied

MONDAY, JANUARY 16, 2012 | OCCUPYVANCOUVER.COM

Don’t worry — we haven’t gone far. If 2011 was the “year of revolutions”, 2012 will be the

year of our thoughtful and creative evolution. We’re behind the scenes now, organizing, planning, and building the story that will carry all of us forward.

Every social movement needs an initial burst of emotion and indignation to get it going. We had that this past fall. To keep going, we need ideas, we need a story, and we need relationships. This part takes a bit of time.

At Occupy Vancouver, since being evicted on November 21, we have been resting up and assessing what we have accomplished — really, the beginning we have made. We’ve been talking, reading, writing, filming, and planning for the future. We have re-structured our governance model by reducing general assemblies to a more manage-able schedule of twice a week and adding a “spokescouncil” which will free up more time for discussion of big ideas at the GAs. We are working hard within our committees and on our relationships with each other and with other organizations. We are gearing up for the work ahead — the work of social transformation that a time of economic, ecological, and political crisis demands.

What lies ahead for Occupy Vancou-ver? There will undoubtedly be — most likely by the spring, when the whole world moves into its phase of renewal — a return to the public sphere in a very noticeable way. The claim for an “agora” — an open space of public debate at the heart of our cities and our lives — is why this movement has been called an “occupation.” Really, it is a reclaiming of our social agency, long ceded to the wealthy and influential. We can all see where the world is headed now. We see that those in positions of power and influence are unable and unwilling to change the course of

WHERE HAVE ALL THE OCCUPIERS GONE?

BY STEVE COLLIS

exploitation and self-destruction. Now, we the 99% must take matters into our own hands and fashion a world we can all share and prosper in — an economi-cally and environmentally sustainable world shaped by love and mutual aid.

But we need your help. Come lend a hand. Come change the world with us. We can only do it one committed person at a time. We can only do it by putting our collective shoulders to the wheel. But we can do it — that’s what we’ve learned so far. Another world is possible, and it’s lying right ahead of us in 2012.

Occupy Vancouver re-groups in preparation for a new year and a new beginning

|| THE OCCUPIED VANCOUVER SUN ||

PHOTO BY IAN MACKENZIE

PHOTO BY I. VALLEY

Two Media Committee members (work-ing on the project, “Occupy Victory Media Tour”) have been livestream-ing from #OWS (that’s right, in NYC) all week, covering the re-taking (and re-eviction) of Zuccotti Park as well as #OWS GAs and committee meet-ings. The Communications team scored a victory in late December when our response to (and rebuttal of) the City of Vancouver’s cost assessment for the occupation was picked up in newspa-pers (and on-line) all across the country, with The Huffington Post calling our response “brilliant” and a model for the Occupy Movement as a whole.

Now that OV has approved the creation of a Spokes Council which will handle much of the day-to-day business that was previously handled by the General Assembly, there will be a need to rede-fine the role of the GA. The General Assembly Committee (GAC), in taking this on, will address the following ques-tions:1. What is the function of the General

Assembly?2. What processes should be modified

and/or developed in order to sup-port the newly defined function of the GA?

3. How should the structure of the GA be modified to support the newly defined function of the GA?

The GAC will submit a proposal (or proposals) to the GA suggesting modi-fications as a result of answers to the above questions.

To date, the Inter-City Committee has created the map of the 50+ Canadian Occupy cities, several contact databases for all of Canada, set up a Google group for updates and discussion of how to facilitate communication between cities, given updates to the OV assembly of news from Occupies across Canada, and participated in conference calls. We are struggling with setting up a national website, but confident in setting up an email-based B.C. newsletter with basic Occupy updates from each city. Current-ly looking for people to parse updates coming from south of the border. As well, we are planning a trip to Kamloops to offer workshops to Occupiers there.

The Info Booth committee is now bereft of our booth, but we still provide factual, friendly, neutral information about the Occupation. We monitor the chatter on Livestream, Facebook, Google Groups, Twitter and Atrium in order to keep the events calendar pruned and accurate. But we don’t do a very good job of it, so we encourage you to contact us with any events or meetings we should know about, or to volunteer to help us do a better job.

We also answer questions. Got one? Email us: info.occupyvan-couver@gmail.com

media/communicaionsinfo booth inter-city

general assembly

Occupy Vancouver at Work

MONDAY, JANUARY 16, 2012 | OCCUPYVANCOUVER.COM|| UPDATES2

Committees and working groups continue to collaborate for change

|| THE OCCUPIED VANCOUVER SUN ||

“Break out groups” allow for small group discussion during large assemblies

PHOTO BY JONATHAN DY

The People’s Library of Vancouver is doing some exciting work this winter. In addition to setting up a small branch at The Dharma Lab, and drop-off bins at Spartacus Books, Little Sisters and The People’s Co-op, we’ve also taken a small collection on tour, from Seattle to Los Angeles and even Las Vegas! Spring promises to be even more exciting as we build a mobile bookshelf system that will make us more mobile and resilient than ever. We’re always looking for volunteers, so please feel free to drop into our weekly meeting every Sunday at 11:30am at the Central Library Food Court. Look for us at ovpeopleslibrary.wordpress.com and contact us at ovpeopleslibrary@gmail.com.

Occupy Education is creating an open space for members of the community to discuss issues surrounding education as well as to plan direct meetings. At the first meeting, we saw representation from five schools: SFU, UBC, Cap-ilano College, Emily Carr and Douglas College, of which members have been meeting on a weekly basis. Occupy Education is looking into having regular meetings to discuss and coordinate direct action both on a local level as well as in solidarity with future national and international days of action. For more information go to OccupyEducation on Facebook.

After its first meeting in December, the Strategic Planning Working Group is in the process of formulating a statement of purpose. Essentially, its mandate will be to consult as widely as possible, via public listening campaigns and meet-ings with existing activist and social movement organizations, with an aim to develop short, medium, and long-term campaign themes and strategies around which to focus Occupy Vancouver’s activities.

Contact information for committees & working groups can be found at occupyvancouver.com

occupy education strategic planningpeople’s library

OCCUPYVANCOUVER.COM | MONDAY, JANUARY 16, 2012 3OPINIONS ||

|| THE OCCUPIED VANCOUVER SUN ||

The Occupy Vancouver movement –and the Occupy movement in general –has gotten a lot of smack

from its critics (those of strong opinion and those not) but it has also gotten much praise from some of the most unlikely places. Many who are involved already with Occupy Vancouver have spent the past two weeks defending, explaining, and asserting the movement to individu-als who often are not directly opposed to the movement, but rather cannot find themselves in it. In an attempt to unearth the human stories and experiences within the movement and draw vital connections between it and those unsure of it, we have gone to the source: the 99% itself –on site and on the streets. Within their brief words there lay passion, conviction, uncer-tainty, fear, and hope: all of the makings of a real, inclusive revolution.

“I haven’t really heard much about it, all I know is it has to do with…money…working, jobs, stuff like that. Absolutely, it’s also affected me, like, with schooling and stuff, jobs. It’s hard to live here by yourself, you know? There’s a lot of issues [but] if we’re here to just talk about our issues and nothing really is getting resolved, then it’s kind of pointless ‘cause we’re doing that everyday, you know? We should definitely get more people with authority involved [with the movement] so [that] we have more power to actually take ac-tion. Everyone has things going on, and all we need is to just help each other, really, to get together and help.”

—SONYA, Age 20, Server

“I see here people are creating a lov-ing space, [but] people from different cultures have trouble getting here with us because the way that we speak is the way that we’ve seen the people speak in the Western hemisphere -which is from the head. This is a discussion for schol-ars. But we’re here to be here as human beings. It would be good to create a way that we communicate together in a loving way and respecting the natural balances

WHAT DOES OCCUPY MEAN TO YOU?

BY ANJA NOVKOVIC

of masculine and feminine forces. If in the first place people come here to fight against something, [that] intention will eventually create wars. If we want to see a change in the world, we have to change ourselves first.”

—YANN, 28, Light Worker

“I think that anytime we take time to reflect on how we live, how our society is structured, what we do with our wealth and what we at the same time do with the need that exists within our society, I think it’s a worthwhile thing. Exactly how to go about that, I’m not sure. Some of my pastoral colleagues have expressed interest in circulating among the occupy people and expressing affirmation and support. I guess that’s about the closest I’ve come to it myself. I’ve read various journalists [who] have expressed frustration over exactly what the occupy movement is after; I haven’t read closely enough or followed it closely enough myself to form my own judge-ments on it.”

—CLIFF, Lutheran Pastor

What the 99% really thinks about this controversial global movement

vancouver events

MONDAY, JANUARY 16, 2012 | OCCUPYVANCOUVER.COM|| LEGAL4

|| THE OCCUPIED VANCOUVER SUN ||

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On Nov. 18, Justice Anne Mack-enzie ordered the 37-day-old encampment off the Vancou-

ver Art Gallery grounds by Nov. 21 and gave the city the power to remove occupiers’ property. During the hearing leading up to that decision, the city’s lawyer argued that the occupiers had broken city bylaws and should therefore be forced to leave. Any arguments about the whether the bylaw infringes the right to protest were outside the scope of the hearing, the city argued, and should be left for a separate trial.

Occupy Vancouver’s lawyers argued that the constitutional question ought to be considered and that there is conflict-ing evidence in the affidavit materials of those involved with OV and those submitted by the city. The first-hand ac-counts from Occupy participants chal-lenge the city’s claim that OV had not attempted to comply with fire orders; that the protesters did not seek a protest permit; and that the occupation was blocking other groups from using the grounds. Evidence included e-mail con-versations showing they had attempted to comply with the city from the begin-ning, but realized current permitting excludes events such as this and that the city did not supply any alternatives, and communication with groups such as the Grey Cup, the Santa Claus Parade

Last day at the Vancouver Art Gallery

and others in an attempt to find ways of sharing the space.

In the end, Justice Mackenzie took no more than five minutes to make her decision. She stressed that constitutional arguments had no part in her decision as these would have to be heard in a trial. According to her order, all structures had to be removed by Nov. 21 including the stage and information tents. When Monday arrived the occupiers moved to the grounds of the Provincial Court and the province sought an immediate ex-parte injunction, eliminating the need for a hearing, which was granted by the court.

This brings us up to date, so what’s the next step? Quite simply, Occupy Van-couver, the ball is in our court. The city and the province both have their injunc-tions. It is not in their interest to have a trial. It is in the interest of Occupy.

We now have to put our legal house in order. This means gathering affidavits, witnesses, statements, and evidence. Then, challenge the constitutionality of the city’s bylaws in court. Currently, lawyers Kathryn Campbell and Mike McCubbin have agreed to work on this for free. Sadly, free help combined with the speed of the courts, means this pro-cess will move slowly. What can you do to help this process move forward? Tell your story in writing and tell it in chron-ological order, focus on your activities with OV and how the shutting down of the camp impacted those activities. These may be used as affidavits in court. Start telling your tale, be factual and precise and send it to legal-committe@googlegroups.com.

A trial may just be our chance to get our story out to the 99%.

PHOTO BY I. VALLEY

CORRUPTION IN DEMOCRACYWhen: Sat, Jan 21@ 15:30 - 16:30Where: Vancouver Public Library (atrium area)What: Discussion topics - election finance, conflict of interest & more

ECO ARTS SALONWhen: Wed, Jan 25 @ 19:00 – 21:00Where: Roundhouse Community CentreWhat: Environmental artists present their work and hold discussions

DISMANTLING EMPIREWhen: Thu, Jan 26 @ 18:30 – 22:00Where: W2 Media CafeWhat: Skype Q & A with Derrick Jen-sen, author of Endgame, Deep Green Resistance, & Lives Less Valuable

THE INJUNCTION OF OCCUPY VANCOUVER: MOVING FORWARD

BY KALEEN MCNAMARA &

MATHEW KAGIS