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Occupy Port woman remains inspired, excited

by Jane Wilson--The woman behind the Occupy Port Clements protest remains inspired and excited with the movement, despite arrests and evictions elsewhere.Lorette Smillie brought the Occupy movement to Port in mid-October by protesting in front the village office and Bayview Market. "I think they're still not slowing down, all eyes are on (the occupiers), and never have so many people protested all over the world at the same time," she said Friday. Mrs. Smillie remains "inspired and excited" by the movement, and she sees the positive even in the attempts to shut down protest camps across the continent.The use of the internet and cameras now means that, "they can't hide (the violence) anymore, people can see what's going on and they don't like it," she said.She's confident that change is possible saying, "I say if you brought a person from three hundred years ago till now, they would be astonished at what they would see in our time. And if you took someone from now and sent them three hundred years ahead they would be astonished at what they saw."Mrs. Smillie encourages everyone to "get out your magnifying glass and really look at what's going on. We're all in this together."Of her own three hour Occupy Port protest, she said people were overwhelmingly kind and positive. The only negative comment she received at all was from a passing truck, and the comment "Up with the rich, down with the poor" is not one with which she felt she needed to be botheredMrs. Smillie would consider another protest, but having picked Bayview Market as the centre of town, she has to wonder, "what would Bev (Lore, owner of Bayview) think if I camped in front of the store?"