Occupy this! Democracy under Attack

It must dawn upon us...Occupy this...

The global  'Occupy Everything' movement has generated a lot of attention over the last few  months.  
In North America the occupation of parks, streets, and other public areas by campers and  demonstrators of all descriptions was  intended to bring the insatiable  greed  of Corporate North America and the questionable economic policies of less than stellar financial institutions and  government to the attention of you, the reader.

The coloured tents, signs, unshaven occupants, endless speeches, chanting and impromptu arrests  became  both  fascinating and annoying to some, an unattractive blight on an otherwise 'pristine' urban landscape to some observers, --but a logical demonstration, a virile seed,  and a powerful inspiration to others. The movement grew exponentially. Why would it not?
  Brought to the attention of big government, not coincidentally under fire by the same protestors,  the lackadaisical occupiers, in-the-park campers,  "obstructing the public spaces of  holiday shufflers and shoppers  alike" also raised the ire of 'one or more'  'directly-affected' slightly miffed local governments and stuffy officials across Canada. 
Authorities disapproved of  colourful tent cities, odoriferous portable toilets, the occasional campfire, burning tents, and the  'unauthorized'  occupation of so-called 'public spaces' by 'demonstrating rabble'.  
The Occupy Toronto encampment was disassembled, and  as of this date, police are moving in to remove the Occupy Montreal site. The Occupy Edmonton site was also "encouraged to disappear" overnight by "authorities".  At 4:00am yet.  How convenient to keep their actions out of the scrutiny of the public.


At Incoming Bytes we can easily observe that local 'authority' figures, bureaucrats,   and officials "occupying the halls of power"  once more  purport to  know what is best for all of society. 

   It should be no surprise that  the people demonstrating, encamping, and speaking up may also NOT know what is best for our society;  Babies and Grade II students do not know what is best for our society, seniors do not necessarily know what is best for our society and neither do campers and demonstrators necessarily  --clearly so--but what they DO  know is what is unjust, what is hypocrisy,  and what has been damaging society.


  --And just what might the 'real best for society " actually be?  Guess.
The freedom to freely demonstrate. The freedom to free association with others that also believe in alternatives.   The freedom to speak up and identify bureaucratic abuse without fear. The freedom to speak out without fear when abuse of authority is recorded.  The freedom to speak out when governments waste tax dollars endlessly, without thought, while failing to feed children, seniors, and the homeless.  The freedom to speak out when war is declared  at the cost of trillions of dollars --not by the people, but by a few hawkish international policy-makers, self-aggrandizing   politicians and military leaders  cheered on by the petroleum and  armaments industry in the name of profit.   
That's not ALL.
The freedom to speak out against obscene corporate profits garnered without morals on the backs of the working poor. The freedom to speak out when corporations outsource jobs to China,  slash North American jobs, and simultaneously pay  CEO's bonuses of  tens of millions of dollars each year for such stellar performance . The power to speak out against the pervasive ROT that is endlessly observed in government.  Fake lakes. Billion-dollar political-pork-barreling.   Glorious half-million-dollar CF18 Fly-byes  to stroke the ego of  militarists and politicians  to make themselves feel good about spending billions on WAR. 
The power to speak out when financial institutions gut the financial sector, threaten bankruptcy  to political allies, who bail them out with hard-earned tax-payer dollars.  


All freedom-loving people should be giving notice.  
Occupy this concept: 
  Right is right. 
 
The practice of ethics, fairness, and justice  in governance, bureaucracy and industry is not only required, it is demanded by any democracy, it is demanded by the people of Canada. 
Canada  IS a democracy, or was.
Is democracy now under attack by our own governments?

Our government  purports to "wish democracy" upon places like LIBYA. We spent BILLIONS of taxpayer dollars interfering in the political process in that country, "supposedly" to depose a dictator.  Free the people and all that.
Was it hypocrisy, a bid for control over oil, or just more playing "puppet"  while filling huge and profitable contracts for the defense industry? 
 ALL people interested in justice, fairness, reason, and freedom globally should OCCUPY THIS concept: in a democracy, people have a RIGHT to demonstrate and speak up....or have our "authorities" conveniently forgotten that?


 Is the  official action now being taken to disassemble and quell the "uprisings of peasants" in Canadian cities merely  an indication of how close government is bedded with big business, or is  the apparent disapproval of freedom of expression throughout North America  a harbinger of fascism and dictatorships being established?  

We have to wonder.
The recent highly-publicized  American image of a uniformed officer CASUALLY strolling down a row of seated, quiet demonstrators, heavily pepper-spraying them ---is  a clear message of a TOTAL lack of  respect for civilians, inexcusable arrogance and a brutal abuse of power. The authorities responsible for this response to civil demonstration should be ashamed of themselves.
Why should concerned citizens not be allowed to voice an opinion, and demonstrate? 
At Incoming Bytes, the question of the day must be:
"How long does the existing political-corporate system in North America think it will be occupying the halls of power with the increasing abuse of authority?" The reader is encouraged to think independently. 
We suspect:  "Not long".   Ho hum....




that's my story and I'm sticking to it.