Tragedy on the Commons

BLOG POST posted on November 6, 2011 by Occupy Vancouver

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Yesterday, a tragedy occurred. A young woman lost her life. We do not yet know the cause of her death (she was found unresponsive in her tent, late in the afternoon), and speculation without facts is a very damaging thing.

At a brief press conference, last night VPD spokesperson Jana McGuinness said as much: we don’t know the facts yet, and we should not speculate. Mayor Gregor Robertson then spoke, and indeed speculated—or at least drew conclusions based upon speculation: Occupy Vancouver has “deteriorated” and “there are real questions now as to safety on this site,” he claimed. He then called for the immediate removal of the occupation.

Robertson’s willingness to jump to conclusions, where the VPD spokesperson would not, highlights the difference between a politician and civil servant. For the politician, this tragedy can be used to achieve political ends: the removal of the encampment, and thus the satisfaction of a vocal part of his constituency (revealed in recent polls—also a factor in the Mayor’s willingness to move towards confrontation, no doubt).

If conditions are “deteriorating” and becoming “unsafe,” then so they are for ALL of Vancouver. The occupation is simply a microcosm—a lens that is bringing a number of issues into sharper focus. Some of these issues involve extreme poverty, homelessness, mental illness, and drug addiction. These issues are not exclusive to the Occupy Vancouver camp. If they are cause to shut the camp down, then they are cause to shut ALL of Vancouver down. They are indeed cause for worry—they are indeed signs of deterioration—but that deterioration is endemic to this moment in Vancouver, this moment in global capitalism, when so many are being thrown under the wheels of profit, development, and growth. These issues ARE the issues Occupy Vancouver is trying to bring to wider attention. The economic system is failing us; living conditions for too many are “deteriorating”; the political system is non-responsive.

Robertson’s “response” to yesterday’s tragedy is an easy out: blame the systemic problems on a small encampment that is coming increasingly under media and political attack. Are some people becoming frustrated with Occupy Vancouver? Yes. And it’s no wonder: we’re trying something here that hasn’t really been tried before. It’s characterized by dispersed, non-hierarchical decision-making and open participation. Views expressed will sometimes be contradictory, and sometimes it won’t be clear who is speaking on behalf of what constituency. It will take time, and it will take up (public) space. This is certainly not business as usual.

The city and media have become antagonistic. They are using this tragedy as ammunition against the occupation, and against the issues the occupation is trying to address. And the response at Occupy Vancouver? Grieving. Love. Solidarity. Heavy hearts, but continuing determination. In the name of this young woman, we cannot stop now.

—Steve Collis