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Occupy Gardens? a Case Study of the People’S Peas Garden in Toronto, Canada

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Occupy Gardens? a Case Study of the People’S Peas Garden in Toronto, Canada OCCUPY GARDENS? A CASE STUDY OF THE PEOPLE’S PEAS GARDEN IN TORONTO, CANADA by ALIA KARIM Submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Environmental Studies at Dalhousie University Halifax, Nova Scotia November 2014 © Copyright by Alia Karim, 2014 TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF FIGURES ............................................................................................................................. iv ABSTRACT .......................................................................................................................................... v LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS USED ................................................................................................. vi ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS .............................................................................................................. vii CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................. 1 1.1 ‘Plotting’ against powers: Urban gardening as a response to socioeconomic crises .......................... 1 1.2 Purpose of research ............................................................................................................................. 4 1.3 Research question ............................................................................................................................... 6 1.4 Research objectives ............................................................................................................................ 6 1.5 Research methods ............................................................................................................................... 6 1.6 Thesis structure ................................................................................................................................... 7 CHAPTER TWO: OCCUPY .............................................................................................................. 9 2.1 The global Occupy movement ............................................................................................................ 9 2.2 Occupy Gardens ................................................................................................................................ 15 2.3 Conclusion ........................................................................................................................................ 17 CHAPTER THREE: THE ROOTS OF THE PEOPLE'S PEAS GARDEN ................................ 18 3.1 The roots of the People’s Peas Garden ............................................................................................. 18 3.2 Name and identity ............................................................................................................................. 22 3.3 Food justice ....................................................................................................................................... 24 3.4 Income inequality ............................................................................................................................. 26 3.5 Corporate control of food ................................................................................................................. 27 3.6 Commodity fetishism ........................................................................................................................ 29 3.7 Struggle for self-provisioning ........................................................................................................... 30 3.8 Critiques of the Toronto Community Gardens Program .................................................................. 31 3.9 Location, location, location .............................................................................................................. 32 3.10 Conclusion ...................................................................................................................................... 36 CHAPTER FOUR: RECLAIMING THE COMMONS ................................................................. 37 4.1 The People’s Peas Garden as a symbolic commons ......................................................................... 37 4.2 Criticism of private property ............................................................................................................ 37 ii 4.3 Community provisioning .................................................................................................................. 40 4.4 Group structure and power struggles ................................................................................................ 41 4.5 Privilege, group struggle and learning opportunities ........................................................................ 43 4.6 Conclusion ........................................................................................................................................ 45 CHAPTER FIVE: THE PEOPLE'S PEAS GARDEN EVICTION .............................................. 47 5.1 Eviction ............................................................................................................................................. 47 5.2 Tensions over the occupation of park space ..................................................................................... 49 5.3 Eviction rally and Councilor Wong-Tam’s proposal ........................................................................ 52 5.4 Replanting the PPG ........................................................................................................................... 53 5.5 The Toronto Seed Library ................................................................................................................ 56 5.6 Conclusion ........................................................................................................................................ 58 CHAPTER SIX: CONCLUSION ...................................................................................................... 60 6.1 The legacy of the PPG ...................................................................................................................... 60 6.2 Political goals .................................................................................................................................... 60 6.3 Subsequent initiatives ....................................................................................................................... 63 6.4 Popular support ................................................................................................................................. 64 6.6 Conclusion ........................................................................................................................................ 69 6.7 Closing thoughts ............................................................................................................................... 70 REFERENCES ................................................................................................................................... 72 APPENDIX A: CONSENT FORM ................................................................................................... 84 APPENDIX B: INTERVIEW QUESTIONS FOR PARTICIPANTS OF THE PEOPLE'S PEAS GARDEN ............................................................................................................................................. 87 APPENDIX C: INTERVIEW QUESTIONS FOR FOOD ACTIVISTS ....................................... 89 APPENDIX D: INTERVIEW QUESTIONS FOR MUNICIPAL OFFICIALS .......................... 90 iii LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1. The Charging Bull and ballerina symbolism of Occupy Wall Street (Adbusters, 2011) .......................................................................................................................... 10 Figure 2. Police pepper-spraying seated Occupiers at the Occupy UC Davis encampment. (Buckland, 2012) ....................................................................................................... 13 Figure 3. An Occupy kitchen at OWS in Zuccotti Park. (Gordinier, 2011) ..................... 15 Figure 4. ‘Occupy our food supply!’ poster found online. (Kauffman, 2012) ................. 16 Figure 5. Advertisement by Occupy Gardens Toronto to announce the planting action. (OccupyGardensTO, 2012) ....................................................................................... 19 Figure 6. Planting the People's Peas Garden on May 1, 2012. (Kearey-Moreland, 2012b) ........................................................................................................................ 20 Figure 7. The People’s Peas Garden in July 2012. (Hamilton, 2012) .............................. 22 Figure 8. Poster created by Occupy Gardens Toronto. (OccupyGardensTO, 2014) ........ 23 Figure 9. Poster created by Occupy Gardens Toronto. (OccupyGardensTO, 2014) ........ 23 Figure 10. Aerial image of Queen’s Park and highlighted area showing the location of the People’s Peas Garden. (Queen’s Park, 2006) ............................................................ 33 Figure 11. Signage at the PPG in 2012. (Kearey-Moreland, 2012c) ................................ 34 Figure 12. Photo of eviction taken by PPG members. (Kearey-Moreland, 2012a) .......... 47 Figure 13. ‘Before’ and ‘after’ photos posted on Occupy Gardens Toronto's social media after the PPG eviction. (Occupy Gardens Toronto, 2012a) ....................................... 48 Figure 14. Children participating in the re-planting of the PPG on May
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