occupy may_0

The Occupy movement may seem quiet on the surface, but never fear, brave ones!

Occupy is just hibernating, just as in winter a seed is not visible to the naked eye, this does not mean it is not growing inside the fertile earth.

This is where Occupy stands right now. Occupy Newfoundland is going strong. There was another small re-occupation in Toronto in January 2012. Occupy Vancouver has been busy plugging into solidarity events including the West Coast Occupy the Ports action.

While Occupy camps in cities across Canada may have closed for the winter, there are still great events, teach-ins and solidarity demonstrations going on where we are learning to share and support one another. Just as with winter, we are using this North-time to our advantage to prepare for spring and rebirth to Occupy.

I know all of you have come to rely on rabble.ca for Occupy Canada news, events and an in-depth analysis of the movement not provided by the mainstream media.

If I may be so bold here, from what I have seen on the ground from the Occupy movement, because we are so diverse, Occupy needs a resource like rabble.ca as a way for veteran activists and newbloods alike to plug into the movement’s current re-visioning as it prepares for the spring.

Just as rabble.ca was by your side during the G8/G20 demonstrations, so too was rabble.ca during the beginnings of the Occupy movement both in the U.S. and in Canada. And we want to continue to be there telling Occupy stories and providing news for the rest of us.

At its 2011 height, there were 36 Occupy cities across Canada and it was part of a larger global movement. According to Occupy Together, by conservative estimates there were over 22,348 people participating in over 2,262 Occupy cities in 82 countries. Inspired by the Arab and African spring and other global movements, the Occupy movement is a hybrid of diversity and commonality.

This is why the movement is so beautiful — if you can see the beauty in anything natural and organic as a portrait of harmony and not unity. I think it would be pretty idiotic to yell at a wild meadow for not growing all the same flowers in exactly the same way, but this is where the Occupy movement really is at right now — it’s in a period of growth and strength.

I would personally love to continue to report, blog and live-tweet Occupy events as an Occupy Town Crier come spring.

Occupy Canada activists have already pledged to Occupy Parliament on May 5, 2012. Activists across Canada are also preparing for an Occupy spring in their respective cities.

In order for rabble to walk by your side, we need your help.

rabble.ca has a 10-year reputation of providing accurate and diverse coverage of current events and social justice issues locally and globally. We had over 350,000 unique visitors to our site during some of our busiest months in 2011. But with an annual budget of just $200,000, and an average of 14 regular staff working on the site every week — never mind the countless volunteers — we need to grow to do more, and we need the support of our readers to make that happen.

And that, my friends, my fellow occupiers, is why I am asking you to let us occupy a part of your heart. I’m humbly asking you to help rabble continue the steady, balanced and necessary coverage of this awesome movement. The Occupy movement truly is Fred Penner’s Cat that came back.

rabble.ca staff and reporters have been on the ground even before Occupy launched in Canada on October 15, 2011. We’ve listened to your stories and slept in the tent next to yours.

Please help us continue to cover Occupy events this coming spring.

Please click here for more information about how you can donate to rabble.ca.

Sincerely,
Krystalline Kraus (Occupy Toronto’s Town Crier)

Krystalline Kraus

krystalline kraus is an intrepid explorer and reporter from Toronto, Canada. A veteran activist and journalist for rabble.ca, she needs no aviator goggles, gas mask or red cape but proceeds fearlessly...