As the thermometer plummets and the days darken, I don't envy the protesters of the Occupy movement camping in their makeshift tents, eating their watery porridge. The thought of all of that communal living makes me want to crawl into my bed with my warmest duvet with a DO NOT DISTURB sign posted on the doorknob. I am not a fan of tams tams and free hugs. I own mutual funds, I hate car pooling and occasionally I throw cardboard in the regular trash. In other words, I am a stakeholder and beneficiary of our capitalist system.
And yet. I am fascinated by the Occupy movement and a supporter of the protesters. Occupy Wall Street and its transborder cousins grew as a result of economic turmoil that is wreaking havoc on all classes, races, ages. Although I readily admit that I participate in the system, I firmly believe in reforming it. The economic crisis and disenfranchisement of a generation may be the key arousing us out of our apathy and empowering us to demand a redistribution of wealth and power. We don't have to revolutionize society, we have to create a more fair and caring one. There are simple changes that can be implemented in order to become more inclusive, more just, and more sustainable. The Occupy movement can be an intrument of these changes.
And so, I am enjoying the uncomfortable confrontations between the Occupiers and City Hall, between the voices of change and the condescending pundits of the mainstream media , between the leaders of a new mentality and the gardians of the ideological status quo. I agree to occupy this experimental space where people everywhere are joining together to map out a new territory of possibility. Just let me bring my duvet.
