We are sleeping, eating, working and devoting our time and energy together because we know that, as with all democratic processes, it is going to take time and patience to tend to our needs. Occupy Toronto offers then a transparent, physical, and resolutely public space for those angered with our socioeconomic status quo – skyrocketing inequality; unemployment; animosity between government and First Nations; the hegemony of economic language and decision making processes; the partitioning of people into ‘taxpayers’ and the deserving poor; the decline of career opportunities, to name a few grievances – to speak their minds before a public assembly who will match their enthusiasm.

But even this process is a statement; we must consider what has brought so many of us here to St. James Park. Occupy Toronto is a living community whose existence should make clear that our prevailing economic order has excluded so many for the benefit of an increasingly minute few. After a dismal voter turnout during provincial elections, Occupy Toronto reminds us that grassroots democracy is thriving, and that alternative democratic solutions are needed to confront the myriad crises of our day.

Thanks, Paul Castrodale