A painting of me

Occupy Wallstreet Streetphotography

   17 October 2011, early afternoon

Strange.rs has two sets of photos online documenting the Occupy Wallstreet movement in the cities of Los Angeles and Vancouver.

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Comments

  1. I counted about 10 protesters across my work at noon today.

    Am I the 1%? Am I the capitalist? If you look at my income level right now, I suppose I represent the “greed” that is the subject of this protest.

    This morning as I was walking towards the exchange tower where I work, I thought about what the protester would ask of me if we were to have a dialogue. What am I supposed to do differently? Sometimes I get anxious about my future, only to realize I am perceived to be the reason why 99% of the world are anxious about their future.

    At 27 I live alone and own nothing but a 7 year old car that my sister graciously gifted to me even though she probably could use the money from selling it off more than I do. I live in a one-bedroom apartment that even at my lawyer-salary cannot afford to buy. I have enough savings to allow me to live independently for half a year if I ever lose my job, but that savings would be gone if I ever try to invest in any longer term equities.

    I manage to become a lawyer by going to the most expensive law school in Canada without a line of credit and without any scholarships by doing the following: living at home, working every summer at the highest paying job I could land, working through the year with two part time research positions, living at home and commuting, applying for every bursary I could qualify for, getting the osap. At 26, I paid off my student debt.

    As I look out the window this afternoon at the few protesters I asked myself how else I could have lived differently to avoid being a burden to the world. How do I help bridge income disparity? What can I do differently? Or am I by virtue of trying to build a career as a municipal lawyer the reason for the protest in the first place?

    by tiff on October 17 2011, 4:40 pm   #

  2. I think the protests are primarily about income inequality, and the skewed distribution of wealth, which is worse in the US than it is in Canada. Although, apparently Canada’s Gini coefficient isn’t that great either. Also, unemployment and underemployment for people under 30 is probably a lot higher in the US than it is in Canada.

    According to this the after-tax income for the 99th percentile is $169k in Canada.

    I’m definitely not part of any 1%.

    I don’t think becoming a lawyer is really part of the problem.

    by mk on October 17 2011, 8:54 pm   #

  3. There’s a cartoon called Secret Millionaires Club, and it has Jay-Z.

    by mk on October 19 2011, 9:06 am   #

  4. If you work hard, and become successful, it does not necessarily mean you are successful because you worked hard, just as if you are tall with long hair it doesn’t mean you would be a midget if you were bald. — “Lemony Snicket”:http://occupywriters.com/by-lemony-snicket

    No doubt there are a bunch of burnouts protesting ‘the man’ at these protests, but it’s foolish to think hard work alone can get anyone anywhere they want to be. (It’s also strange this comes up a lot in reaction to these protests. There was this picture being passed around online recently.)

    I think all of that is tangential to the main anger the occupy wall street people feel. Income disparity in the US rivals that of most Banana Republics. And as Mezan pointed out, unemployment is around 10% in US, and based on how they count things in reality its probably higher than that.

    by ramanan on October 19 2011, 11:10 am   #

  5. “According to this the after-tax income for the 99th percentile is $169k in Canada.”

    Phew. not the 1%. not the cause of all evil.

    by tiff on October 19 2011, 2:59 pm   #

  6. I guess I’m still trying to understand the Occupy Toronto message.

    And I kind of agree with the column here

    http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/politics/article/1071888#article

    And then there’s this piece…http://www.thestar.com/news/article/1071787—fiorito-dear-occupy-toronto-give-credit-where-credit-is-due

    by tiff on October 19 2011, 3:13 pm   #

  7. Another set of photos, this time from London.

    by ramanan on October 21 2011, 1:35 pm   #

  8. This is probably the set people were waiting for: Occupy Wallstreet.

    by ramanan on October 25 2011, 12:23 pm   #

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