The truth about ‘Occupy Cork’

I am sure by now that you have all seen the mini-festival-like protest that goes by the name of ‘Occupy Cork’, on the junction of South Mall and Grand Parade.

Occupy Cork is a protest movement of about 1,500 people. There are swarms of them across the globe;  dissatisfied angry people like bees, disgusted at the way the world is being run and taking action into their own hands. ‘Occupy Wall Street’ is the most famous of these movements and the name tying all of them into one is ‘Occupy Together’.

But what exactly are they vocalising about? Waving signs such as ‘We are 99%’ and ‘True Democracy Now’ are all good and well, but what are they actually saying?

Armed with a coat and purposeful stride, I went down to the tent-ridden site at the weekend to find out more about ‘Occupy Cork’. Instead of an angry mob, I found  a friendly and welcoming atmosphere; a place to get inspired about positive change, a place for sharing ideas, brainstorming about solutions for our world, or more locally, Ireland. The angry bees had transformed into beautiful butterflies, all brightly coloured and a symbol of freedom.

Intriged, I hurried home to research. I searched on Facebook  and found a long, LONG list of pages and conversations about ‘Occupy Cork’. And most were obvious misconceptions.

One such misconception I found was that they “sit around doing nothing”; that their movement was an excuse for a social gathering. Although to a passer-by this may appears to be so, it is definately not the case. The group has assemblies twice a day at 1pm and 6pm (all are welcome). Subgroups within the protest organise events such as speakers and authors which are invited to give speeches, live music and protest marches across the city. The rest of the time is spent socialising, but this socialising is one that enables people to talk about ideas, brainstorm about possible solutions to the corruption in our governments and discuss matters further afield. It may be a peaceful protest, but you couldn’t call it passive.

Another misconception on Facebook was that these protestors have no idea what they were protesting against.That their cause was weak, and that they were protesting against many different injustices which did not tie up and therefore the whole movement was ineffective.

Well, I beg to differ. I found from talking to the people in ‘Occupy Cork’, that the cause was actually very simple- the government is screwing with us and our money, we don’t like it, and so we have decided to do something about it. The fact that this group of people have a lot of things to protest against is because the government here and all over the world is screwing up A LOT OF THINGS. The movement is about taking matters into our own hands instead of just complaining about the government, not doing anything about it, and instead, complying with their demands.

Last misconception I am going to mention, is that the protest in Cork is against anyone earning above the average income.  Wrong again. The protest is against the elite rich, i.e. billionaires. It is against the government prioritising saving banks over the people. It is against the neglect of our society in order for banks to be bailed out. These people are not asking for doles to equal the earnings of skilled employees. No, in fact many of the protestors in the marches were students, or post-graduates with the same skills, simply unwilling to pay for a recession which they didn’t cause.

Whether ‘Occupy Together’ or any of the sub-movements will make any change across the world, well, nobody knows. But it is the very fact of standing up to what is unjust that is the most admirable thing, regarless of the outcome. I wish ‘Occupy Cork’ good luck, good weather and perseverance. Finally people have decided enough is enough.

Enough said.

But what do you think? Do you agree with the movement?