That great philosopher and hulking hockey-ist Todd Bertuzzi might have been holding forth on Occupy Vancouver when he unleashed his deep, oft-repeated analysis of life and shinny: "It is what it is."
All those tents, irritating as they are to many, can't be wished away.
Nor, at least until Thursday, could they be conjured into some great menace, affront to civilization or threat to public order that cried out for police to wade in, bash heads and remove them.
Now, as Bob Dylan croaked in one of his best songs, things have changed. Somewhat.
Vancouver Fire Chief John McKearney has ordered a reduction in the number of tents, no more extensive tarping, and an end to on-site fuel tanks. These are eminently reasonable safety recommendations, which the protesters would be wise to follow.
Even if the occupiers comply, however, some tents will remain; a difficult, complex situation, which does not submit readily to simplistic solutions or grandstand rhetoric. Cities across North America are grappling with similar occupations and few, if any, have found a measured approach that both removes the tents and avoids a policing debacle that makes matters worse.
So far, protesters, with a few unfortunate exceptions, have behaved themselves, not inconvenienced anyone in a major way, kept the site relatively clean, allowed space for the public to walk through, and complied with all requests to make adjustments to ease problems identified by authorities.
Yet the tents can't remain there forever. Past occupations have not fared well. Most become increasingly unpleasant places to be, their cause forgotten.
Thursday's near-fatal drug overdose is a worrisome sign. While not forgetting the heroic response of an Occupy Vancouver first-aid guy who saved the victim's life, if people are shooting up on site, that is a matter that could tip the scales toward intervention.
A smaller occupation would be more manageable and less a strain on protesters and authorities, alike. Mic check!
But a boost for Anton
Of course, one of the biggest problems is that the occupation comes smack dab (love that phrase) in the middle of a civic election. That both ties the hand of Mayor Gregor Robertson, who needs a messy police confrontation like he needs a windblown kilt, and gives challenger Suzanne Anton a gift from Adbusters heaven.
No wonder Ms. Anton had that huge smile on her face as she welcomed reporters to her scrum at city council this week. Like the mayor, Ms. Anton doesn't really have a plan to get the tenters out of town, other than to give them a week to vamoose, once she's sworn in as mayor. If they don't leave? Ms. Anton is silent.
But there's no doubt the protest has revived her flagging bid for the mayoralty. It wasn't all that long ago when Ms. Anton's campaign seemed little more than trying to whip up outrage over backyard chickens and front yard wheat fields.
Luck trumps cluck every time.
Pushing a union button
I almost spilled my morning Bovril. Okay, I did spill it, such was my shock at seeing something positive about unions (remember them?) in a local morning newspaper. But there, in a Pete McMartin column, was a consensus from four UBC economists (none a Marxist, Groucho, Zeppo, or otherwise) that one way to narrow the country's widening income gap is to encourage union organizing. Good unions mean better wages, for union and non-union workers alike, the economists contended, and that's a plus for the economy.
Piling on, meanwhile, was no less than our very own Liberal government, as B.C.'s minimum wage went up 75 cents to $9.50 an hour. Although that's still the second-lowest provincial rate in the country, the increase was accompanied by much wailing and gnashing of teeth from the usual business suspects.
Labour Minister Margaret MacDiarmid as much as told them to take a hike. "When workers have more money in their pockets, they are in a better position to support themselves and their families, and that's good for the economy," the good Dr. MacDiarmid reminded her critics.
So much talk of unions and wages was enough to awaken some long-dormant solidarity in this aging, onetime labour reporter from the days of typewriters, lava lamps and In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida.
Inspired, I headed out to buy a few union buttons from legendary Button Lady Melva Forsberg, who had set up shop at the national convention of Canada's largest union, CUPE, meeting here in total media secrecy.
Alas, the buttons were well-meaning but bland, no match for Woody Guthrie's old union slogan: "Take it easy, but take it." However, I did like a large button of shaggy Karl Marx, saying, via voice balloon: "I told you this would happen."