"What's the go with all of these unemployed, seemingly unhygienic, relatively no hoper looking protesters hanging around the streets of Melbourne these days Bec? ", I hear you ask. Well reader, let me break it down for you in a fun, inspiring and sometimes rhyming way so that the Occupy Melbourne Protest can make a little more sense to those of you, like the majority of the general public who are becoming a bit fed up with the grotty hippies.Lets start at the beginning, the Occupy Melbourne protest is an extension of the Occupy Wall Street movement. This movement is an ongoing protest against corporate greed and our capitalised society. The original protest began on September 17, 2011 and by mid October 70 major cities in America and according to wikipedia (my go to for reliability) over 900 cities world wide became involved in this phenomenal demonstration. Their unofficial mission statement on their website says, “This occupation is a proclamation of solidarity with the millions of people occupying cities around the world right now. They and we seek economic, political and social change that will lead to a more just and equitable society. We are the 99%”. Meaning that the majority of the wealth and power in the world right now is held by 1% of the population. Unfortunately, oh so true.
Basically, our pals, who are actually moving house (patches of government land) tomorrow to the Treasury Gardens in Melbourne, bless, are protesting for (among other things) the working middle class people of Melbourne, Australia nay the entire world! Last time I checked, I fit very nicely in this category.I'm about as middle class as they get, working my bum off day in and day out without seeming to be really getting anywhere is the money stakes. The more I read their website, the more I understand their points of view and the more I realise, these guys aren't just smelly hippies messing up our city streets. They are clever campers using democracy and free speech to the best of their abilities in a non violent protest that is getting quadruple the attention than your average Qantas baggage strike or free the refugee's march.
The media have focused on the hangers on, the unemployed uni students who are experimenting with their new left wing fascinations as a part of the university experience. I estimate that most of the bi weekly rallies I see parading down Swanston Street there are at least a handful of people that have a penchant for chanting and are not quite sure exactly what it is they are marching for.The organisers of Occupy Melbourne though, they seem to know their shit. Is it possible that the one sided news stories filling our mainstream media could be due to the owners and corporate management teams associated with such media outlets which just happen to be in the 1% where all that lovely money is stashed away in overseas checking accounts and in special safes in their custom made 7000 meter yachts? Possibly. My personal opinion, which means it should be gospel, is that there are giant pot holes in our society when it comes to the distribution of wealth. The rich do get richer, and the poor are getting poorer (how cliche). A criticism I do have of these kids is that they're kind of protesting about a heap of things and its kind of a bit confusing. Yes? However the foundation of all of their arguments is economic inequality which I completely agree with and am all for. I will not be camping out but I have to say I'm all about what these guys are doing. I would also like to make it known that I am not a communist, I still do believe in capitalism and am not in the slightest bit sure how one would go about fixing said holes in our society, though I'll look into it.
For more information check out http://occupymelbourne.org/, or just open any newspaper, to any page, on any day of the week and I'm sure you'll find something there too.
