A hulking man with his hair in a bun and face partially shielded by a flower-print scarf marches down a dark alley in determined strides.As Antonin Smith approaches the city-owned St. Patrick Market building a few feet from Queen St. W., just east of John St., he stops abruptly and snaps his head from side to side.
Time to move.
With covert gestures, Smith ushers his confederates through an unlocked door and down the stairs at 238 Queen St. W., to an abandoned basement he hopes will represent the next phase of a stifled movement.
Occupy Toronto is moving indoors.
And it’s illegal.
“This whole basement is barricaded,” said 34-year-old Smith.
“We’re squatting this space.”
He bolts the door behind him. There are thick silver locks installed to keep police away until Smith and his crew of about 25 — the “Squat Squad” — can come up with a plan.
Since being evicted from St. James Park last Wednesday, those involved in the Toronto movement have been looking for a place to go, to continue the rally against the so-called one per cent and an overarching battle against inequality.
Some are holding the communal general assembly meetings at Nathan Phillips Square, while others appear to be converging on public spaces organized via Twitter.
But the trend worldwide has shifted inside.
In London this month, protesters moved into abandoned UBS bank offices. In Vancouver, Detroit and L.A., they are mulling similar moves to get away from the elements.
Smith, who was in charge of the food team at St. James Park, wants to take over the Queen St. building to carry out the movement’s aims, including feeding the “hungry people of Toronto.”
“Our goal is to become the legitimate (tenant), and then fix the place up,” he said. “We were doing 1,000 meals out of a park. Imagine what we could do out of this location.”
Smith believes they just may have a chance.
He references a legal battle over the upkeep of the unused basement, which was once leased to a non-profit food organization at a cost of $1 in rent per year.
He wants the sublease transferred over to Occupy for a discount — 99 cents.
“The city should at least give us 36 months in this place,” he said.
“We think we’ve earned and we deserve a place to operate, to feed Toronto, and to carry out our political aims.”
In the sprawling space of about 4,500 square feet, Smith shares his vision for a permanent Occupy home — kitchenette here, meeting rooms there, a place at the back for bunk beds.
They have already begun to make themselves at home.
A few air mattresses cover dirty, carpeted floors at the front and back end of the space, where Smith and a few others have been staying since last Friday — although he says he is not homeless and does not want to live there long-term. There’s a hot plate and a food storage space set up, with leftover cans of beans and tuna from the Occupy camp, as well as two bathrooms and taps.
Smells of mould fill some of the rooms, where water seepage and old wood have begun to affect the air and the occasional hole has been blasted through the bright yellow walls.
In the middle of the basement is a large communal room, which even has wheelchair access — a possible meeting space for the cooperative general assemblies of communal decision-making that have come to define the Occupy movement. “This is a pretty great area,” said Smith.
Smith said he plans on squatting with about two dozen others for two weeks while he hopes the legal matters of the sublease are resolved, to allow for Occupy to take over. He wants to eventually serve meals at nearby St. George the Martyr Anglican Church.
“When we’re the legitimate (tenant), we will leave,” he said.
And if that doesn’t happen? “Then we’re not leaving. When we run out of food it becomes a food strike. Then we’ll go on a hunger strike. If the city wants to leave us here to die, then so be it.”
Smith said the group was barricading the doors with wood Sunday night to protect themselves.
Ultimately, he believes the public is on their side.
“We know that Toronto supports us.”
Origin
Source: Toronto Star
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