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In link that I posted yesterday, Jessica Yee correctly accuses Occupy Wall St. of failing to recognise the fact that Wall St., New York City, the surrounding environs and in fact the whole of the United States (and Canada, for that matter) are already occupied…have been occupied for five-hundred years. This occupation has been normalised among the settlers (not unlike in any other occupied territory - India, Palestine, etc…), obscuring the fact that throughout its history it has used genocide to make legible the land that it stole. The physical massacre and subsequent cultural genocide of the first peoples of this continent continues to this day through systemic oppression, and if the Occupy Together movement actually wants to do anything meaningful, it needs to recognise this fact.
I shared this link with the Occupy Toronto facebook group, and mentioned that the movement needs to consider this fact and work to be thoughtful and critical in their approach to this “occupy” tag. The response I received was:
Mary, thank you so much for your comments. While a lot of us realize the hypocrisy and implications of the tag “occupy”. The fact of the matter is that people are rallying under that idea, that banner of action. While I think a great deal of people need to be informed of the issues of our First Nations, the only way we can actually get them on our side is by bringing them out, informing them before hand, and educating them during the occupation. Thank you so much, we look forward to your support and friendship. -Phaedrus
II was a little confused by the bolded parts…who is it that we need to bring on side? People who would be scared off by any mention of colonisation? First Nations people? Sounds like lip-service to me either way, based on some of the other things that I have seen on this facebook page…not limited to privilege-denying sexism and a refusal to acknowledge it. Hooray. Join up and call them out on their shit.
