The protests against the excesses of Wall Street may be spreading across the States but it seems the idea was a homegrown effort. Yep, the idea for the mass capitalist revolt was hatched right here in Canada, by one of our own, and its instigators hope it will spread north of the border.
Kalle Lasn, co-editor of the influential, Vancouver-based, anti-consumer publication Adbusters, first called for a people’s occupation of Wall Street with a handful of colleagues, even though he's somewhat astounded at how the idea caught on.
“Of course, we had some hopes and dreams, but we had no idea it would turn into a movement in the United States, then into Canada, and become global,” said Mr. Lasn.
Over the weekend more than 700 demonstrators on the Brooklyn Bridge were arrested, and now American unions are joining forces. The next big protest is scheduled Thursday in Washington, and strategists are trying to spark similar action in Canadian cities.
Lasn and his posse sent out the message that the time was ripe for revolt and his message quickly captivated Adbusters’ 90,000-strong network.
“I was scared the loony left would take over again, and the whole thing would fizzle into nothing. But real, substantial people are turning up, people with a bit of backbone,” said Mr. Lasn, who believes the movement has been slower to gain support here because economic conditions are much worse in the States, where protests are springing up from Florida to Boston to Los Angeles.
“They are losing their jobs, their houses. Nearly 40 per cent of young people between 19 and 25 can’t find work. There is a lot of anger out there.”
Activists in Toronto and Vancouver are planning protests starting Oct. 15. “This was all cooked up right here at Adbusters. It’s a Canadian adventure,” he said.
Do such protests help to spark change or simply fuel anarchists and opportunists as in the recent London riots and Toronto's G8 Summit?
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