Sometimes democracy can be messy. In the past month, this truth has never been clearer. The Occupy Wall Street protests and their subsequent national and international spin-offs have brought this into the public sphere.
Speaking out against the malpractice of an institution, public or private, is the fundamental right of people of all free nations, but there are certain laws by which you must abide while doing so.
Legal demonstrations require permits allowing protesters to peacefully demonstrate during certain hours at a time and place that has been agreed upon by the protest leaders and city officials.
The problem with the Occupy protests is that they are leaderless, and admittedly so. While this lack of formal organization may be in congruence with the Occupy protesters’ anti-establishment message, it is ultimately creating chaos and diluting the effectiveness of the demonstrations.
The protests in Oakland are a good local example of the movement’s ineffectiveness. In Oakland this past week, Occupy protesters set up camp in front of Oakland’s City Hall.
Firstly, Oakland protesters did not obtain permission from the city to demonstrate, result- ing in an ultimatum by the city of Oakland that all protesters disperse by Friday Oct. 21 at 10 p.m. Protesters proceeded to ignore the city’s vacate order, staying camped out through the night and effectively breaking the law.
Secondly, because of the lack of leadership, the protesters are in lack of proper living facilities such as garbage, personal hygiene, food and bodily waste facilities, creating a mess in Oakland’s City Hall plaza. They are using local businesses solely for their bathroom facilities or else urinating in public, which is illegal by the way, and they are creating fire hazards with their encampments.
Thirdly, the leaderless quality of the protests translates into a message that lacks unity. The thousands of protesters have seemingly hundreds of complaints about a hundred different things and not a single solution among them.
There are many photos of the Occupy protests circulating throughout the online news outlets, some of which show protesters with their children also holding up protest signs.
It is irresponsible for parents to have their children take part in these demonstrations. Not only are the protests an environment that could be potentially dangerous for children, but children may not care about bringing down Wall Street. What do children care about corrupt finance institutions? They’d rather be at home playing Super Mario Bros. or watching The Disney Channel.
At The Skyline View, we support the Occupy movement and believe that it is moving towards something positive. If it’s not executed effectively, it will be invalidated. We encourage you to use your right to free speech and to organize peacefully and legally. So if you are planning to protest, do it the right way.
Know what you are protesting against. It’s important to have a clear message when participating in protests and perhaps even try and formulate potential solutions to the problem.
Be considerate of your environment and people around you. This means cleaning up after yourself and not trashing the washrooms of local restaurateurs who are just trying to go about their day.
Get a sitter for your kids. There is no place for children in a protest environment.
And lastly, be sure to keep any protests peaceful, non-violent, and within the confines of the law lest you be mistaken for an anarchist or worse yet, a dirty hippie.