Donald Benham sent this letter out to Winnipeg activists after visiting the Occupy Winnipeg site in front of the Manitoba legislature.

I want to let as many people as possible know about the opportunity to interact with the Occupy Winnipeg demonstrators. 

The folks who are now bedding down in Memorial Park across Broadway from the Manitoba legislature have two consensus-building meetings, known as general assemblies, every day at 10 a.m. and 7 p.m. Anyone who wishes to can attend and listen in. Towards the end of the meeting, they also open it up to visitors to ask questions and interact. They are also open to one-on-one or small group discussions at other times.

I took my Politics and the Mass Media students from the University of Winnipeg for the 7 p.m. general assembly last night. I found it a fascinating learning experience.

The meeting was conducted by direct democracy, aimed at achieving consensus. Support for an idea is indicated by waving both hands, palms down, above the shoulder, as a way to applaud the speaker without interrupting. Lack of support is indicated by the same motion at waist level. Borrowing from Aboriginal traditions, they keep order by passing an icon from speaker to speaker, in this case a maraca.

The meeting dealt almost exclusively with logistics, most urgently a porta-pottie. The Legislature and All Saints’ Church have been welcoming but they’d like something they can call their own. Other issues included building a windbreak, erecting a larger communal tent that could be heated, sources of heat, and getting the message out through flyers and social media.

When they turned the meeting over to us, we asked them to tell us why they were there.

All of us are familiar with the “message tracks” adopted by politicians and other spokespersons and how impossible it is to shake them off that track once they’re on it.

The message track for these folks is that there is no message track! And every one of them has got it absolutely down-pat!

They all express a desire for systemic change. But when it comes to specifics, they all reply in almost exactly the same words: “I wouldn’t presume to speak for the group, because we all have a variety of issues and concerns. I can tell you that my concerns include….”

The issues they named varied widely.

Hunger and poverty

A number of people identified hunger and poverty in a country as wealthy as Canada as their number one issue. One person spoke eloquently in favour of a guaranteed annual income.

Aboriginal land rights

This was mentioned as an important issue by a number of people. The group plans to have an Aboriginal elder speak to them today or tomorrow.

The banking system

Many people said they don’t trust the banking system. It is too intertwined with corporate power. Both banks and corporations operate in their own interests, not in the interests of working people or society as a whole, they say.

Also mentioned

Women’s rights, GLBT(TQ) rights, environmental sustainability and others.

Interestingly, no one tried to take over or dominate the meeting, or turn it to their own purposes. One of the participants self-identified as a Green Party candidate in the last election, but didn’t try to co-opt the meeting in any way.

They don’t need food right now. At the moment, they’re getting so much food, they’re giving some of it back to inner city churches.

More than 40 years ago, Memorial Park was also “occupied” by young people with a desire for unspecified systemic change. At that time, All Saints’ welcomed those young people and people from the community with a multimedia presentation: “A Street Called Straight.”

The first thing that everyone saw as they entered was this quote from Bob Dylan: “Something is happening here, but you don’t know what it is, do you Mr. Jones?”

That’s how I felt last night.

If you have the time, you may find it worthwhile to engage in a respectful and reflective dialogue with the people who are currently occupying Memorial Park.

Donald Benham is director of public education at Winnipeg Harvest, the distribution and training centre for Manitoba food banks, and teaches part time at the University of Winnipeg.