‘Occupy’ movement comes to K-W

Despite the cold, rainy weather approximately 20 people gathered at Kitchener City Hall this morning to take part in the global movement that is “occupying” financial districts. Their message: the economic system needs to change.

Roger Albrecht, a member of the Nonviolence Festival in Kitchener-Waterloo which organized the Oct. 15 event, said, “In looking at the current economic model, we see the disparity, we see the suffering that comes from it and we can look at the past and see in many ways it’s gotten worse from it, not better.”

In discussing the many “Occupy” movements that are taking place, spurring from the original “Occupy Wall Street” that occurred in New York City in September. Occupy demonstrations have since spread to other major cities in the U.S. and today at cities across Canada and the world.

While critics of the movement note that activists fail to have a clear message, Albrecht believed that there is a common ground and that is with the state of the economy and rising poverty.

“There will be different ideas on how to change it, but even with the current system there are different ideas from different people, different leaders, different advisers,” he said.

Noting the recession and particularly the collapse of banks as the epitome of how the economic system is defunct, he continued, “It’s pretty overt when [millions of] dollars is given through countries — by people through their tax dollars — to banks to bail them out.”

“There’s a great deal of illogic there.”

Albrecht said he hoped that governments would start listening to the crowds today and addressing the issues raised. However if they continue being unresponsive, the change activists hope to see will have to come from themselves. “There’s no stopping people united,” he said.

For the full story and photos on K-W’s protest, and more on Occupy Toronto, visit thecord.ca this Wednesday.