OccupyToronto_20111115_098sm
Practising how to get arrested without resisting and hence avoid provoking police violence, Occupy Toronto © Linda Dawn Hammond / IndyFoto.com 2011, protest camp, Canada, November 15, 2011.
Day of visit by renowned folk singer Gordon Lightfoot, whose 17 year old daughter Meredith is among the protesters. He spoke at length with the media in support of the cause. Later, he greeted my sister, who lives nearby in a group home, and shook her hand. After I saw him, I couldn't get the song, 'In the Early morning Rain' out of my mind. My late father had bought me my first album - by Gordon Lightfoot- when I was a bit younger than his Meredith, and that song was on it. It was a day of fathers and daughters, and memories...
I hear too often people saying that the protesters have made their point and now "should get a job', as if that's an easy thing to achieve. Not to mention that when you can find them, most jobs these days are underpaid, part-time positions with no future, benefits or stability. Many of those protesting are either undereducated or overqualified- and all in the same sinking boat, with the exception of crippling debts attached to the latter group. At the camp is a mix of politically motivated people who have chosen to be there, and others who evidently have no where else to go, but have found at the Occupy Camp a renewed sense of purpose, camaraderie and security- food and a safe place to sleep. They stand to lose the most when this is finally over.
People were asked to come by at 11pm that night to show solidarity as the protest had received an eviction notice and the police were expected to break up the camp. Fortunately there was an injunction and the eviction is now expected to take place at a later date- possibly on Saturday.
Most people at the camp reacted positively to the journalists taking photographs. An exception was Lightfoot's daughter, whom it appears didn't want to be identified as such, and another woman from Quebec, who was initially angry that I had been invited by a protester to photograph inside one of the tents, until she understood that I am a freelance photographer and don't work for any particular mainstream newspaper. Though at times I wish I did, as perhaps then I wouldn't be in this dismal, insecure financial situation, something which appears to be a shared concern with many of the protesters.
I just can't win. As i was leaving, I was berated once again for the act of taking photos of Occupy Toronto, but this time by a man waiting at the streetcar stop. He saw my Stop Ford button and my camera. On his way home from "working 7 days a week", he complained to me about his taxes, crowed about the ' warm, 5 bedroom house in High Park" awaiting him which his "hard-earned money had provided" (as he cast a dismissive eye towards the tent city behind him), showed me the callous hands of "a real worker" . He didn't believe that the police would consider using tear gas and tried to suggest it hadn't happened in Quebec City during the Summit protests, which I can verify as I was there. 5,000 canisters- I told him to look it up. His idiotic response was to ask if I work for Pravda (the Russian Communist party run newspaper, defunct since 1991 and now a tabloid)... hmmm... I wasn't actually aware that there was still a Cold War going on in 2011 Canada, but then again, neither is Toronto's Mayor Ford and company, who have been known to refer to some of "his" constituents as left wing, cycling Pinkos... (the people who didn't vote for him) , all of which explains the sprinkling of anti-Ford messages at the Occupy Toronto site. Here I was thinking only the suburbs had voted Ford in- but he has at least 1 supporter in High Park, who surprisingly takes public transit.
OccupyToronto_20111115_098sm
Practising how to get arrested without resisting and hence avoid provoking police violence, Occupy Toronto © Linda Dawn Hammond / IndyFoto.com 2011, protest camp, Canada, November 15, 2011.
Day of visit by renowned folk singer Gordon Lightfoot, whose 17 year old daughter Meredith is among the protesters. He spoke at length with the media in support of the cause. Later, he greeted my sister, who lives nearby in a group home, and shook her hand. After I saw him, I couldn't get the song, 'In the Early morning Rain' out of my mind. My late father had bought me my first album - by Gordon Lightfoot- when I was a bit younger than his Meredith, and that song was on it. It was a day of fathers and daughters, and memories...
I hear too often people saying that the protesters have made their point and now "should get a job', as if that's an easy thing to achieve. Not to mention that when you can find them, most jobs these days are underpaid, part-time positions with no future, benefits or stability. Many of those protesting are either undereducated or overqualified- and all in the same sinking boat, with the exception of crippling debts attached to the latter group. At the camp is a mix of politically motivated people who have chosen to be there, and others who evidently have no where else to go, but have found at the Occupy Camp a renewed sense of purpose, camaraderie and security- food and a safe place to sleep. They stand to lose the most when this is finally over.
People were asked to come by at 11pm that night to show solidarity as the protest had received an eviction notice and the police were expected to break up the camp. Fortunately there was an injunction and the eviction is now expected to take place at a later date- possibly on Saturday.
Most people at the camp reacted positively to the journalists taking photographs. An exception was Lightfoot's daughter, whom it appears didn't want to be identified as such, and another woman from Quebec, who was initially angry that I had been invited by a protester to photograph inside one of the tents, until she understood that I am a freelance photographer and don't work for any particular mainstream newspaper. Though at times I wish I did, as perhaps then I wouldn't be in this dismal, insecure financial situation, something which appears to be a shared concern with many of the protesters.
I just can't win. As i was leaving, I was berated once again for the act of taking photos of Occupy Toronto, but this time by a man waiting at the streetcar stop. He saw my Stop Ford button and my camera. On his way home from "working 7 days a week", he complained to me about his taxes, crowed about the ' warm, 5 bedroom house in High Park" awaiting him which his "hard-earned money had provided" (as he cast a dismissive eye towards the tent city behind him), showed me the callous hands of "a real worker" . He didn't believe that the police would consider using tear gas and tried to suggest it hadn't happened in Quebec City during the Summit protests, which I can verify as I was there. 5,000 canisters- I told him to look it up. His idiotic response was to ask if I work for Pravda (the Russian Communist party run newspaper, defunct since 1991 and now a tabloid)... hmmm... I wasn't actually aware that there was still a Cold War going on in 2011 Canada, but then again, neither is Toronto's Mayor Ford and company, who have been known to refer to some of "his" constituents as left wing, cycling Pinkos... (the people who didn't vote for him) , all of which explains the sprinkling of anti-Ford messages at the Occupy Toronto site. Here I was thinking only the suburbs had voted Ford in- but he has at least 1 supporter in High Park, who surprisingly takes public transit.