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Over the past few weeks, the Occupy Wall Street movement has spread to nearly 2,000 cities globally, and around two weeks ago, London saw its own Occupy group set up camp in Victoria Park. After reading many news stories about how disruptive Occupy London was to our city, I decided to go down to the park and check it out for myself.

What I saw when I got there was a lot of tents set up in the northwest corner of the park, and a dozen or so people standing around talking.

As I began looking around, the very friendly Eric Shepperd approached me and asked me if I had any questions. As we chatted, he offered me a tour of their camp, and I couldn't resist the temptation to peek inside a few of the tents. There was a food tent, a place to do dishes, a media tent, a fully stocked library tent, a safe space tent for women, an information tent and, as a result of generous donations, they had a generator and a port-a-potty. They had created their very own tent city.

Shepperd and I talked for nearly an hour about why he felt this movement was so important, their group dynamic and what their future plans are as a community. During that time, I saw a couple of people playing with a football, a woman doing the dishes, another sorting recycling and everyone sharing a large pot of chili.

Isn't that how humans used to live? In communities where decisions are made together, people truly rely on one another and nobody has more money, possessions or power than anyone else.

I really couldn't understand why so many people, our mayor included, have such a problem with Occupy London. I've heard people raise the point that the occupiers are breaking a city bylaw and should be forced to leave Victoria Park. With all the harmful and hateful crime currently taking place in this city, I really don't think our mayor and our police should be focusing their energy on a group of peaceful protestors.

Other people say that the Occupy movement in general has no focus and will therefore be unable to progress. Perhaps people would be more empathetic towards the occupiers if they could pinpoint one issue. I think people fear change; they don't want anyone to rock the boat because they are afraid of what might happen. People fear the unknown, and to many of us, the idea of leaving your warm home and cable TV to camp out in a downtown park with a bunch of strangers is crazy. But what if, just maybe, this movement creates incredibly positive changes to our city, province, country or world?

Perhaps people don't understand the reasoning behind the occupation, maybe people disagree with the occupiers' motives or maybe people completely agree but think the occupation approach is wrong. Regardless, this should be seen as an opportunity for all of us to open our minds and discuss the problems occurring in our society, because nobody can deny that we're struggling.

If we, as individuals and as a society, can't take something positive from this movement, well, that's pretty sad. These people aren't harming anybody and the majority of the park is still useable by the public. I'm sure you'll find that, if you can set aside your fears and assumptions and go talk to the occupiers, you will leave with a new level of understanding and might even find yourself supporting the movement.

Editorial opinions or comments expressed in this online edition of Interrobang newspaper reflect the views of the writer and are not those of the Interrobang or the Fanshawe Student Union. The Interrobang is published weekly by the Fanshawe Student Union at 1001 Fanshawe College Blvd., P.O. Box 7005, London, Ontario, N5Y 5R6 and distributed through the Fanshawe College community. Letters to the editor are welcome. All letters are subject to editing and should be emailed. All letters must be accompanied by contact information. Letters can also be submitted online by clicking here.