Friday, November 04, 2011

Provocateurs In Occupy Vancouver

Today I heard there is a disturbing element embedded within Occupy Vancouver. And what is this disturbing element? Well, I heard there is one gentleman in particular who is camping at the Art Gallery with the other occupiers, but who has a different slant on the ways and means of occupying the space.
This particular gentleman last evening distributed a violent comic book to the other Occupiers and supporters, depicting the police as being violently brutal to people (popping out their eyeballs, etc.) and tucked within this violent comic book was a lengthy set of demands to be met by the authorities. The first demand distributed by this gentleman (and was read out by CBC radio this morning Nov.4) was free access to heroin. These demands, I understand, were not approved by the group for distribution to the public; in fact, I understand most of the group didn’t know this was happening. I believe the aim of the gentlemen who distributed the violent comic books was to promote fear; fear of the police and fear in general among the Occupiers ,and his list of demands were apparently meant to convey to the press that the main objective of the group was concerning free distributation of heroin. The guy, in my opinion, is acting like an agent, a provocateur. Is he a provocateur? I’m not saying he is, because I don’t know, but I am saying that by his actions he is acting like one.
There is usually at least one, maybe two, provocateurs in every group trying to confront the unequal distribution of wealth and resources. I’ve been in logging blockades where provocateurs were present and they frequently try to push people to violence by presenting the situation as being horrifically dangerous when it isn’t, or conversely, will simply try to demoralize people by promoting the idea that the demonstration is futile, and people should just go home. A provocateur can be hired by anybody, the RCMP, the police, logging and mining companies, CSIS, your local big bank, your politicians, even the mafia or other criminal gangs.
The gentleman who distributed the violent material and unauthorized list of demands should be confronted by the group and made to explain his attraction to violence and why he felt he had the right to distribute to the public, which included the press, this violent material and list of unapproved demands. I hope Occupy Vancouver holds fast against this gentleman whose actions seek to derail the wonderful work the Occupy Vancouver is doing for all of us. These Occupy groups are growing oasis’ of sanity in an increasingly insane world. Let’s come together to protect them.

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