November 5th: OCAP Marches on Toronto's Financial District

STOP THE WAR ON THE POOR! MAKE THE RICH PAY!

OCAP MARCHES ON TORONTO'S FINANCIAL DISTRICT

November 5, was called as a Day of Action by the Canadian Federation of Students to press for a poverty free Ontario. OCAP contributed to the overall mobilization with a march into the heart of the financial district. We wanted to confront the very institutions that just got bailed out at our expense and, on whose behalf, governments at every level are preparing a massive round of social cutbacks and austerity measures. Indeed, the overarching theme of the action was to pose the question of who will pay for the crisis?

The crowd of some three hundred people included representation from some of the hardest hit communities in this City. No One is Illegal came to speak and act for those denied status by racist immigration laws. Contingents from Jane Finch Action on Poverty and OCAP Women of Etobicoke brought their voices and strength to the March. Representatives of the locked out Cadillac Fairview workers joined us and spoke of their struggle against the corporation that seeks to discard them after years of work. Homeless and poor people from the surrounding areas came and marched with us.

Our first stop on the way into enemy territory was the much hated Albany Club. This is a plush and exclusive clubhouse for the real criminals in society first opened by Sir John A. MacDonald. It fact, it is so criminal that it openly admits to links to the Conservative Party. That day, a very unwelcome group of OCAP members barged into the place, hung banners from the windows and addressed the crowd below.

As we moved to the very nerve centre of Canadian capitalism at King and Bay, a huge banner was hung down from the Bank of Montreal that read Capitalism if Broken. As this happened, security guards and cops locked down the various banks and financial institutions in the area but were unable to entirely prevent us from gaining access and taking our message into the banking halls at this infamous intersection.

The last leg of our march consisted of the few blocks that separate King and Bay from one of their main errand boys, James Flaherty, the Federal Finance Minister. Outside his office, final speeches were given and Flaherty and his Provincial counterpart were burnt in effigy.

We hope that the magnates of Bay Street hated our march because we certainly hate them. However, it had an even more important function than letting them know what we think. It was call to stand up and fight back. As this is written, the City of Toronto is moving to restrict access to the Special Diet for people on welfare. The TTC is responding to the crisis by imposing a fare hike that will clobber poor and working class people. These are only the first of devastating attacks that we can expect from employers and governments as they try to make us pay to save their system. We call for unions to reject concessions and for communities to mobilize against cuts.

Capitalism is broken but we didn't break it and will not accept the bill to try and fix it. Make the rich pay!

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