Why I Won't Occupy

Mood: Unfocused
Music: Lights by Ellie Goulding, You Silly Git by Dan Mangan, Lady in White by Royal Wood, Chicago by Sufjan Stevens, King of Carrot Flowers Part 1 by Neutral Milk Hotel

EDIT: Since posting this McGill announced that they have food and water but the power has been cut. Does not change my opinion. Someone has taken ill and they have offered medical help but it has been refused. Now several people are coughing. I'm curious as to whether they are linked because IMHO you shouldn't refuse the medical attention if it puts the other protesters at risk.

It has been an incredibly long time since I last blogged. I am only doing it right now because I have a test to do, a midterm next week and a paper that I should be writing (or at least doing research for).

I am officially going to come out and say it: I'm sick of people Occupying things.
I had a little sympathy when it was cities and I understood the cause (though without a specific list of goals I don't know what good it would do).
I was annoyed when they occupied a building on campus last semester to demand the resignation of the Principal and an end to tuition hikes, mostly because I thought the anger was directed in the wrong place and with all the misinformation that was flying about there were too many under-informed people using it as a way to inconvenience others without understanding the big picture.
But this week QPIRG decided to occupy the James Administration building on campus and I'm just so fed up with it.

For those of you who don't attend McGill here's a little background - please keep in mind that this is only as much as I can piece together myself so it's a no more legitimate source of information than anything you hear about on campus.

There is a group at most universities here with a Public Interest Research Group (in our case, Quebec) and at McGill a part of our tuition (about $4) goes towards funding them. They spread the money across campus to various groups including the Sexual Assault Centre, projects to green Montreal and KANATA (whose goal is to raise issues facing First Nations peoples). On the other hand, there are multiple rumours that some of the projects they fund are extremely left-wing and a particular rumour based on the fact that someone speaking on behalf of QPIRG may or may not have expressed sympathy with hezbollah. For the past several years McGill has made the fee opt-outable so that students can decide not to give money to QPIRG if they so choose. It tends to get quite contentious as people actively go around campus pressuring students to deny QPIRG money while the students from QPIRG fight to keep it.

For two years now I have decided not to opt-out. I have no real opinion either way but I felt that with so many people choosing to opt-out I did not feel like denying the groups that I supported the funding (groups such as SACOMMS, I feel, deserve funding). Now back in the Fall semester there was a referendum because QPIRG and CKUT (the campus radio) wanted to remove the 'opt-out' option. The question posed to students was:

Do you support CKUT continuing as a recognized student activity supported by a fee of $4.00 per semester for full-time undergraduate students, which is not opt-outable on the Minerva online opt-out system but is directly refundable through CKUT, with the understanding that a majority “no” vote will result in the termination of all undergraduate funding to CKUT?

The McGill Office of the Deputy Provost is now claiming that the questions posed to the students were unfair as a student should have been allowed to support the continuation of the program without also supporting the mandatory fee, however the way it was worded suggested that otherwise the program would cease to be altogether. A recent e-mail sent to students states that the groups were informed that this was unacceptable wording prior to the referendum being held but that they chose to ignore it. Whether or not you believe this is up to you.

The motion passed and the administration is now refusing to uphold the decision because they apparently told the groups to change the wording and consider the outcome of the vote less than legitimate. Somewhat understandably the groups are annoyed and it has lead to a relapse in "6th Floor Occupiers."

I came across them the other day on campus and figured it would be done at the end of the day but instead the occupiers stayed. The next morning while I was in class two representatives from QPIRG and the McGill chapter came to speak to us about what was happening. They explained that they were holding "a surprise party" for the Provost (it included a cake) and that the students were being unfairly treated. The administration was denying them bathrooms so the students have been using buckets. They are not allowed food and water - a clear violation of human rights! And THEY CAN'T HAVE INTERNET!

Now this annoyed me for any number of reasons (and none of them, despite what my roommate thinks, is caused by their being vegan... or at least not much). First, the idea of the 'surprise party' is not cute - it's immature. If you actually want to hold a meaningful discussion with admin then present it that way - don't bring the provost balloons and a cake demanding his resignation. Furthermore, the internet? This is a school which kindly allows its students access to its free wi-fi. All the kids in there have their cell phones, turning of the McGill Wi-Fi is not a violation of their human rights. But finally there is the issue of food and beverages.

These students are not being held against their will. They made the decision to enter a SCHOOL BUILDING where people work every day and now they refuse to leave. The school will let them leave any time they want so long as they don't come back in. They are not being denied food and water - they are making the decision not to go and get it. The bathrooms? I'm stunned they're not being harassed about indecent exposure. People have to work in that building and you're pissing in buckets in their hallways. That is not the adequate way to go to the negotiation table.

If we had a fight and you came to my apartment uninvited and I didn't let you eat or drink or use my washroom you would probably eventually leave. If I turned off my internet you wouldn't have an basis to complain. No one would tell me that was cruel and unusual punishment. If you sat on my floor and started using buckets as toilets rather than leaving people would tell you that you were being immature and handling the situation badly.

I'm ready to get yelled at by the entire internet and I don't really care. This is my school, a place that I'm proud to attend, and I'm tired of seeing extreme methods of protest being used as an outlet to complain. Protests have a valid place in society but this is not civil rights, this isn't suffrage, this isn't the Vietnam War. Your sit-in is reminiscent of issues of the upmost importance to the progress of human rights and the idea that you would use it to host a 'surprise party' is shameful.