Harry Brown Meets Network

By Diana Stevan October 16, 2011 Life, Uncategorized, Writing 1 Comment

Some writers seem clairvoyant. Gary Young the screenwriter of the film, Harry Brown, certainly seems to be one of them. He showed inequities in one country’s social system before they exploded. In the film, youth in low-cost housing projects beat up the locals and tackled the police without concern for repercussions. In the special features section of the film, the actor Michael Caine warned that London had its fair share of disenfranchised youth, capable of acting out criminally and it was only a matter of time. He was right, as we saw in this summer’s London riots. All they needed was the excuse of a black man killed by the police. The man had a record, and it’s unclear whether the police overstepped their boundaries, but those who rioted chose to break the law.

2011 has become the Year of Demonstrations–Harry Brown meets Network. So far, we’ve had—the Vancouver riots after the Canucks lost the Stanley Cup, the riots in London, the Arab Spring in Egypt, Tunisia, and Libya among others, and now the Occupation on Wall Street.What do they have in common—all these people taking to the streets?

The ones in Vancouver were fueled by alcohol. Poor losers when the Vancouver Canucks lost the Stanley Cup? Or hooligans looking for a fight? The city decided it was the latter. Shops were destroyed, cop cars burned, people’s livelihood threatened.

Then, we had Arab Spring. Arabs in autocratic states said loudly through their peaceful demonstrations that they’d had enough. Peaceful turned ugly. Many were injured, many died, all in their valiant attempt to throw out a corrupt and vicious dictator.

And now, there’s the occupation on Wall Street. Peaceful still. Men and women, all ages, fed up with the system that has left so many unemployed, so many tossed out in the street, and so many with dashed hopes for themselves and their families. They’re saying, what the newscaster in Paddy Chayefsky\’s film Network said, “I’m as mad as hell, and I’m not going to take it anymore” They want that 1 %, whose combined wealth is equal to the other 99% of Americans to pay their fair share of taxes. They want the men who brought America to its knees to be held accountable. To stop lining their pockets at the expense of the ones who can least afford it.

As Canadians, we can’t afford to be complacent either. There’s a huge discrepancy between rich and poor here as well.

As a former social worker, when I look at the riots in Vancouver and London, I have to think that there’s something wrong when people choose crime rather than a legitimate way to express their anger. What are their values? Where have their parents gone wrong? Where has society gone wrong?

As for Arab Spring and the Wall Street Occupation, I see youth with a conscience. They know that what’s happening in their countries is wrong. They’re speaking up and writing what they care about on their signs. But of those listening or reading, how many have the power to sway the pendulum, to make the necessary changes? Let’s hope that those who care are also those who can do something about it.