The Moment: the protesting class gathers at St. James Park for Occupy Toronto

On October 15, 300 or so Torontonians pitched their tents in St. James Park and began their protest against corporate greed, income disparity and a whole bunch of other stuff they’re not happy about. Ostensibly, they were camping in solidarity with the Occupy Wall Street brigade—along with the various other city franchises in the prolific new Occupy chain—but instead of the socioeconomic diversity of the Wall Street iteration, Toronto’s occupation was largely a gathering of the protesting class: semi-employed neo-hippies, G20 rabble-rousers, outraged college kids. The motley collection of signs strewn about the park—“We Are the 99%,” “Stop the Hydro Plant,” “9/11 Inside Job”—testified to a potentially fatal inability among the protesters to agree on one target for their ire, and at times, cameras and microphones seemed to outnumber activists. And then, the weather turned ugly, the news grew tired and the protest dwindled to a core group of diehards still camping at St. James, the faint whiff of hash in the air, waiting for the world to change.

(Image: Eamon Mac Mahon)