** This open letter appeared in the Telegram on November 24, 2011 under the title "Making the right decision on the Occupy Movement." If anyone can find the link to it, please leave in comments. **
Dear Mayor O’Keefe,
We write today to express our thanks and congratulations to you and your council on the mature and wise way in which you are handling the Occupy Newfoundland and Labrador camp down at Harbourside Park. We have watched the Occupy movement grow from the first Occupy Wall Street camp in Zuccotti Park in New York in September to hundreds of camps all over the world. They are all different but all express a sense of outrage at the growing inequality in the world, a condemnation at the injustices all around us and a desire to stand in solidarity with the massive majority suffering from a clearly ‘broken’ world system. Of course their goals are ‘unclear’; how could they not be faced with such runaway chaos with complex roots and no clear solutions? But their passion to stand up and say ‘enough’ is clear enough, and their desire to find peaceful and cooperative ways to run their camps is deeply impressive.
