Active dialogue with Adélie a student activist from the Occupy Vancouver Movement.
The International Communist Youth Organization
1) Tell our readers a
little about yourself first.. how old you are, what do you do, when and
how did you get involved in the political activism?
1) My name is Adélie
Houle-Lachance, I am a student at Capilano University and an editor for the
Capilano Courier, the student newspaper at the university. I am 21 years old,
and I got involved in political activism when I was in high school through the
Peace Committee. We would organize small gatherings every weekend to promote
world peace and compassion towards citizens of the globe, and we would also
attend marches and rallys for peace keeping, social justice and environmental
issues. I later went on to work with Greenpeace Canada in Vancouver, and when I
entered Capilano University I was active in the Social Justice committee for
two years.
Q: How and when did you get involved in the
Occupy Van? What is your role?
A: I got involved with the Occupy movement in
Vancouver on the day that it started, October 15 2011. I marched with everyone,
listened to the speakers, danced to the music, and assessed for myself an idea
of what the movement was all about. When I saw that there were definitely here
to stay, I decided to be present with the movement and with the individuals who
were organizing it. I started by helping out here and there, and really saw how
the movement burgeoned from the ground up. I finally found my place with Food
Not Bombs, the radical organization that organizes the food tent at the camp.
They are a great movement, with some anarchist roots, who have for mandate to
distribute vegetarian and vegan food to communities, They are conscious activists
and their way of carrying out change is through food. There is so much food in
the world, resources are not what we are lacking – rather we suffer from a
misdistribution of those resources. So FNB collects food in many ways (not
always through purchasing) and redistributes it to anyone in need. FNB will
often be found at gatherings or movements such as Occupy Vancouver, where they
have set up a food tent and the volunteers are constantly feeding occupiers and
passer-bys all day long. I volunteer with FNB by serving food, cleaning,
organizing the pantry, making food, and just by giving my energy and presence.
We get 80% of our food through donations from the community, and we buy items
with donation money, and we also salvage some food in good healthy condition
from dumpsters around the city.
Q: What is you assessments of
the movement so far? What has it achieved?
A: Since it started on Wall Street (NYC) in
September, the Occupy movement has expanded and reached out all over the world.
There is an occupation in almost every major city around the globe. Lately,
especially in Vancouver, the occupy movement has gotten a lot of media
criticisms saying that it isn't truly accomplishing anything. However, it is
important to keep in ind that Occupy is a decentralized movement, meaning
that there is no leader with a specific agenda. The internal structure of the
movement is built on a consensus decision-making model, and people who attend
the General Assembly vote on policies and proposals that the different
committees prepare. This is a long process, and often requires a lot of energy
and debate. This means that sometimes, things move slowly and it seems as
though no progress is being made. The reality though, is that although there
may not be any specific and direct actions being taken to implement immediate
change, the actions that are being taken will have repercussions in the future
and will create change on a long-term level. From what I have experienced so
far, Occupy is a space that allows for people to express themselves, connect
with others who are like-minded, create community and support each other. This
is so important, because our society here is so segregating and self-expression
is not especially encouraged. It can be hard sometimes for people to make sense
of what their thoughts are for their world, but when they are surrounded by
other people who have similar ideas, it can be very empowering. Because Occupy
is in so many places, each movement varies from city to city. Each city is
going to have different issues that need to be addressed, different minds
taking on leadership roles, and a different environment to live in. All these
things mean that each Occupy is slightly different, which is a great thing
because it means they are personalized, specific to what needs to be changed,
and gives people a sense of belonging and ownership. In Vancouver for example,
Occupy has been very present in showing its colours throughout the preparations
for the municipal elections coming up in mid-November.
Q: How do see the
future of it? Where should it go? What is it lacking?
A: Occupy is not going
to last forever, but the ideas and inspirations that come out of it will have
repercussions for times to come. It is important for those who are involved in
setting up the structures and those who put a lot of heart into growing the
movement to not be attached to it. Change means that we cannot hold on to what
has been already created, we must be progressive, accepting of new situations
and adaptive. If Occupy would be to remain as what it is now, nothing would
come out of it. Those who are involved need to find a way to take these ideas,
these plans, these proposals they are coming up with, out of the movement and
onto the game field. Especially for those of live in the tent city, it's easy
to get comfortable and forget about the bigger picture. This is
counter-productive. The movement needs to evolve, and eventually grow out of
Occupy to become something bigger and truly change-provoking, whatever form
that may take.
Q: What is your vision
for the world? What kind of world do you want?
A: This is a hard
question, because in a lot of ways I feel that my visions for the world are
very idealistic, and I have a hard time finding a balance between ideals and
what is actually feasible and practically applicable. In an ideal world,
globalization would stop, governments from other countries would stop
interfering in the affairs of other countries, capitalism would end, free trade
would end, we would move away from oil consumption to sustainable and renewable
energy sources, centralized governments would no longer stand, and instead we
would live in small local villages, take care of one another as a community and
live simply... Some call it anarchism, some call it counter evolution or
de-growth... Whatever the name, I feel that many of the problems we face today
would not exist if we focused on local community and lived in consequence of
each other, redeveloped our connection to nature and stopped seeing ourselves
as having power of the natural forces of this world. Technology and capitalism
makes us believe that we can live separately from our environment, and that we
are above/ have control over it... This is such an illusion. We are one, not
only with nature but also with each other. There is no us and them, we each
share the same consciousness and are mirrors of one another. My ideal world is
one of true equality, self-expression, unity, respect, peace, spiritual
evolution, and unconditional love.
Q: How do you
picture yourself? What are you going to do for that?
A: It all comes down
to daily individual actions, big or small, being conscious, mindful of our
decisions and the power they have, and also of our thoughts... Our thoughts are
what shape our reality, we must take back control of our minds and realize how
powerful we really are. As individuals, we can accomplish just about anything.
As a community, we are even stronger. We must focus on community development,
and empower each other to be conscious active actors in every moment, not only
when an occupation takes over a part of our city.
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