Occupy Nanaimo

So here it is folks. If you were to click on the large Revolution fist it will Lead you to our Newspaper, ‘Truth’ After weeks and weeks of anticipation here is the final Copy. Click on the picture below to Read further.

Local artists Karen Birch and Dyane Brown are taking part in the annual Nanaimo Art Walk December 3rd and 4th, 11 am to 5pm. They are working on projects honouring Occupy Nanaimo which will be part of their studio exhibition. They are planning an ” Occupy The Studio” focus from 11-12 each day where they will be actively painting. Everyone is encouraged to come to 87 Nicol Street, the Arbutus Books and Art Studio and check things out!

Posted by Sarah Schmidt on Wednesday evening:

Occupy Nanaimo is asking that people come to the plaza whenever they have some spare time tomorrow (Thursday Dec 1), starting well before the 9:00am deadline and whenever you can throughout the day. The City is expected to start ticketing and removing all unoccupied tents any time after 9. Please show the campers that they are not alone – I imagine that this is a scary time for them – they have been on the front line for a long time now representing us. It is time for us to show us they are not alone. There were 500 people in the plaza the first day – we need you now. We are asking that you come to show support and bear witness.

Occupy Nanaimo is holding a public forum on Wednesday Nov. 30th. This is an opportunity for anyone to speak their minds about issues related to the Occupy Movement and the challenges we face locally, regionally and globally. The public forum/People’s Corner is scheduled for 6pm to 7pm at The Vault Cafe in downtown Nanaimo, right beside the Diners Rendezvous. This event will be followed by a special General Assembly at 7pm, which will be focused on our on-going negotiations with the City of Nanaimo. Please attend, support our local businesses and lend your voice to the consensus process.

Before we delve into the news from the council meeting last night I would like to give congratulations and thanks to all the people that spoke at the Council meeting last night.

Last night after the 4 people that spoke at the in-camera meeting (Matt O’Donnel, Jesse, Rhys, and June) the mayor released a statement saying that we of Occupy Nanaimo have until Thursday morning at 9 am to peacefully leave Diana Krall Plaza or they will begin the legal procedures to seek an injunction. We stood our ground and during the question period a good number of Occupiers asked some very vital questions, the mayor and council deflected all of them. Not to say that the council was against us, there were among them some that spoke quite positively on our behalf. We stood our ground and held strong to not leaving unless another suitable location is offered. Now is the time that we need your support. We don’t know when it is coming, what day or what time it will be, but an eviction is beginning to look imminent.

If you are a supporter of the Occupy, have some time on your hands, come down to the Occupy. It’s time to start showing them that our numbers are not small. It may be cold and wet, but is this not a fight worth getting a little cold over. Any support that can be given is great.

In Diana Krall Plaza we stand in Solidarity with a movement that has gone global. We have been asked to leave in 48 hours, to pack up our tents and go. To that I say that Now is the Winter of Our Discontent and we are not leaving. Come to Diana Krall Plaza and stand with us, lend your voice to a forum for change, bring a tent and stay with us if you can, if not then spend as much or as little time down there as you please.

Tonight a delegation of four Occupy Nanaimo representatives will be speaking to the Nanaimo City Council. People are gathering at the Vault cafe at 6pm and will walk over to the meeting, which begins at 7pm, in the Shaw auditorium at the Conference Centre. Only the designated representatives will be given the opportunity to speak but if you are able to attend the meeting and show your support, please do! The Occupy Nanaimo delegation has been given 10 minutes at the beginning of the meeting to make their presentation. A representative from the our local chapter of the Green Party will be speaking in support of Occupy Nanaimo at the end of the meeting.

If you are unable to attend you can watch the live video feed of the meeting online.

Now is the time to inundate mayor and council with messages of support for Occupy Nanaimo. Send emails and make phone calls!

We are getting mixed messages from mayor and council as to whether they’ll be voting on us at Monday’s council meeting. The mayor went on the radio today, saying they would be deciding on Monday whether to shut us down by force. On the other hand, the agenda only shows a Green Party speaker in support of Occupy (thanks Green Party!) – no topic for a vote. Either way, if we can show that Occupy Nanaimo has a lot of support from the community, we may be able to keep the city from moving to evict us with force. Put the word out to everyone you know! Let’s jam up their inboxes and voicemails with support for ON!
Here’s the contact info:

John Ruttan
City Hall:             250-755-4400
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William Leslie (Bill) Bestwick
Phone:             250-753-7065
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William James Holdom
Phone:             250-729-8983
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Diana Johnstone
Phone:             250-754-9996
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Jim Kipp
Phone:             250-753-5212
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Fred Pattje
Phone:             250-758-7575
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Loyd John Sherry
Phone:             250-729-7323
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Mervin Wayne (Merv) Unger
Phone:             250-756-0399
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Ted Greves
Phone:             250-729-0714
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