A crowd of protesters held signs, chanting, “No more one per cent, no more shit,” outside of city hall Saturday.
The protests were part of the Global Day of Action on Oct. 15 that stemmed from the Occupy Wall Street movement. About 65 people attended the city hall march, while the crowd peaked at 100 later in the day.
For more photos from Saturday, go to our photo gallery here.
Occupy Wall Street is a protest movement in New York City. The message? The protesters are the 99 per cent of Americans who suffer from the one per cent of Americans who are rich.
Occupy Wall Street protesters gather in the nation’s finance capital to voice their opinions on the relations between the American government’s spending and Wall Street corporations.
This movement has sparked Occupy movements throughout the world, including the Occupy Fredericton movement which organized the protest on Saturday.
Lily Crompton is one of the main organizers of the Occupy Fredericton movement. Although Fredericton is not home to a financial district, she says the Occupy Wall Street message is relevant here.
“In the [financial] crisis in the United States, people lost their homes and jobs. They’re living in very poor situations and when the elephant rolls over we’re not very far behind here,” said Crompton.
“Canada is certainly a much better place to live than the United States as far as the government goes but we are still not being treated very well by our government and that’s their duty.”
Crompton argues that Canadian politicians and large corporations such as the Irvings are part of Canada’s one per cent. She wants to see better wealth distribution throughout Canada.
“Our politicians are overpaid. Canadian Senate is an appointed position for life. They only have to sit there for a minimum of three days and they get a minimum salary of $73,000 a year. It’s insane. We don’t have enough beds in our hospitals,” she said.
Crompton thinks the money spent on politicians’ salaries and corporate bailouts should be spent on middle to lower-class citizens.
“I’m a single parent and a student at UNB and finding day care funding – it’s like pulling teeth,” she said. “You’d almost rather that they physically torture you than the intellectual and emotional torture that they put you through to get any help.”
Crompton says this is why the Occupy movement is relevant in Fredericton. She says this protest is important for people who want to change how taxpayer money is spent.
“It’s their duty to represent our interests. They work for us and not the other way around. They are supposed to be doing things for us with our money to help us have better lives,” she said. “They are representatives of the wishes of the Canadian public. The public needs to stand up and lead our politicians in the directions they need to go.”
At the protest on Saturday, the Occupy Fredericton protesters teamed up to spread their message to the public. As people walked by, protesters would yell, “People who skateboard are 99 per centers,” if they were skateboarding, or “People who buy Growlers are 99 per centers,” if they were walking by with the Picaroons beer jug. Amanda Jardine was one of these people. She says the Occupy movement is relevant in Fredericton because people suffer from poverty in New Brunswick.
“In Fredericton in particular, it’s important because there are 100,000 people who live below the poverty line. My generation in particular is overeducated and underemployed,” she said.
“I have two degrees and I can’t seem to find a job right now.”
Jardine also says it’s relevant here because Canadians should exercise their rights when they see something wrong with government.
“If ever there needs to be a cause to bring people together it should be human rights, liberties, freedom of assembly, freedom of expression. We’re just here today sharing our voice.”
Mista Monteith was also picketing on Saturday. She says the movement is relevant in Fredericton because of the economic crisis.
“The same issues that our fellow 99 per centers in America are fighting affect us here too,” she said.
“As far as distribution of wealth and our economy goes, it isn’t the best right now. There’s tons of people who have no work.”
Trevor Muxworthy agrees with Monteith and says the movement has been successful so far.
“Everyone is gathering in solidarity to let the one per cent know we are not okay with this.
“People are driving by honking and supporting us and it’s good to know we’re raising awareness to these facts.”
Click to enlarge a photo below.
