Gates Yardley is an orator...

Gates Yardley is an orator...   I just shook his hand today :)  

I must share all of his words and almost printed this whole thing in bold because he feels so strongly.   

I had to get this off my chest: Today it is inescapable that one realize we live in a global environment. Every facet of social consequence operates on a global scale. Global politics, global economics, global trade, global communication, and the list goes on. The happenings of one nation directly link to the happenings of the next and of others around the world. If there is a flood in thailand, countries all over the world find themselves short of hard drives for computers. After the Nuclear crisis in Japan we find ourselves short of other commodities like ipad and car parts. It becomes apparent that finances are globally interlinked when we look at the scale of currency and debt crises across europe and the rest of the world that have followed the american meltdown. On CBC Radio the other day I heard a report about gold mines in South Africa. In parts of South Africa there are very very large gold mines owned by multinational corporations. The South African people work in these mines under terrible conditions, and can barely survive. This is the only option for survival for these people. Those who work in the mines are considered lucky, the rest die in poverty. There are 750,000 cases of tuberculosis reported each year in this region. In South Africa, tuberculosis is a deadly disease. The people contract it from inhaling tiny particles of silicate in the mines, which they are not protected from. Forget HIV/AIDS, forget hunger, forget the other thousand reasons that African People die from by the thousands, millions year after year, decade after decade. This one number alone is staggering. This is all happening at a time when gold is in highest demand, it's selling for more than it ever has before, a time where western currencies are being sold off in return for gold and other real assets. People are buying gold to protect their wealth which is threatened by the currencies of many nations losing value at something more than historical norms. I argue that tremendous wealth of people in the west is directly and inextricably linked to tremendous poverty of people in other places, I contend that expendable wealth invested in gold is directly linked to this giant health and humanitarian crisis in South Africa. Just like our demonstration at Olympic plaza here in Calgary is one of thousands worldwide, this issue is but a a single thread in a complex interlinked, and interdependent tapestry of thousands of humanitarian and environmental issues facing our civilization today. In thousands of cities worldwide demonstrations are being made, civil unrest is growing because people recognize the magnitude of these injustices and inequalities among human beings, among members of our human family. People are recognizing that super wealth and super poverty, like everything else now operate on a global scale, and that these two things are dependent on and perpetuate eachother. Today in the world there are 1 Billion people that don't have enough to eat. And as of 2008 there were 10 Million people classified as US dollar millionaires. Even in the united states, poverty joblessness and homelessness are reaching critical levels. And in a world of finite resources, I argue that it is plainly unjust that some people can have so much while so many others suffer, I personally believe that it's unjust, unfair, and unethical for someone to have any more than he needs while another goes hungry, goes cold, or goes sick. I feel like if I don't work for these people and if I don't buy from these people, I am left without job prospects, I am left without a house, or a car, or gas. I find it cruel that my participation in these injustices is assumed and required so that I can find success in the world today. In thousands of cities worldwide demonstrations are being made, civil unrest is growing because people recognize the magnitude of these injustices and inequalities among human beings, among members of our human family. People are recognizing that super wealth and super poverty, like everything else now operate on a global scale, and that these two things are dependent on and perpetuate eachother.

When I was a kid my mother always told me that I can never blame circumstances for the way I feel, and that I can never be filled with depression or hatred or darkness and say 'the world made me this way.' She taught me to take ownership of my feelings and my life. Well for a long time I have felt a deep, crippling darkness in my heart in recent weeks it has gotten deeper and deeper, I started to feel I was drowning, it kept growing in intensity. And I hung on to my mothers wisdom and I searched, and I grasped for answers within myself, within my life. I was so lost knowing that with my BIG heart, and with my GREAT mind, and with all my wonderful intentions, and all my tireless will to help others, and my efforts to improve the world in what small way I can I was still plagued by this darkness. I realized today that the darkness in my heart is the very darkness of the world, it is the recognition of the suffering of others all over the world, and on a massive scale. With all of our advancements and achievements in knowledge, science, and technology it is uncanny that human beings still suffer the way they do. When I realized this I was in the car, and I wept. I wept for the world, and I wept uncontrollably. I stopped the car and drafted this message for the world. The world did make me feel this way, but my mother was still right, because beyond that, together as a people we created this world, we all participate, and we need to take ownership now. We need to set things right.

I demand immediate, mandatory, global, systematic, redistribution of resources that I KNOW is possible to such a degree that every man, woman, and child, brothers and sisters of mine on this planet are ensured real and enduring access to the BASIC necessities of a good life, PROPER food, PROPER shelter, PROPER health care, PROPER education and PROPER access to culture and fine arts. I may not have camped at Olympic plaza, but I believe in those protesters, and in all the others around the world. I stand up for them, and I stand with them, and I will not be satisfied until these conditions are required by international law, just as they have been required by the universal laws of humanity and ethics and decency for all time. I submit that it is criminal to have more than you need while others suffer for want and lack.

We Support Occupy Calgary,  later man, jan