Occupy London

[Lunatic Concept]

Dosent seem to be a thread about this yet so here I go.
OCCUPATION START: Saturday, Oct 15th - Assemble outside of St Paul's Cathedral @ 12:00 NOON
(Although the event page says 16:30 we cannot change it)

OccupyLSX Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/occupylondon
Twitter: @OccupyLSX (www.twitter.com/OccupyLSX (http://www.twitter.com/OccupyLSX))
hashtags #OccupyLSX #OccupyLondon
Chat - http://occupylondon.org.uk/?page_id=55
Website - www.occupylondon.org.uk (http://www.occupylondon.org.uk/)
Email: [email protected]

#OccupyLSX
On October 15th we will be Occupying the London Stock Exchange. At the same time thousands continue to occupy Wall Street and hundreds of cities from Paris and Madrid to Buenos Aires and Caracas are staging actions and occupations together for a global day of action.

By reclaiming space in the face of the economic systems that have caused terrible injustices across the world, we can open up and engage our communities into public discussions. These assemblies will allow people to voice their ideas for how we can work towards a better future and help us create concrete demands to be met. A future free from austerity within a context of growing inequality, unemployment, tax injustice and a political elite who ignores its citizens. So it’s time for citizens to represent themselves. To work together to resist the government’s plans and to do this in solidarity with the hundreds of thousands of others around the world on the same day.

The problems we face in the UK echoes across the world. We are linked by the same root causes, so we cannot solve these problems in isolation. October 15th will be a global day of action calling for global change.

'O-15: Unite for Global Change' has been called by the ‘indignants’ movement in Spain, where thousands camped out in the squares for weeks, building massive popular pressure on the government. It inspired the current Wall Street occupation in New York, providing a space for the majority to resist the wishes of the greedy minority.

Join us at the London Stock Exchange to reclaim space and take part in workshops on topics ranging from Debt and The Spanish Indignants Movement to Fuel Poverty and Climate Justice. Contribute in the Open Assemblies and chant songs of solidarity with Samba bands. Exact times and locations to be announced soon.

If you would like to run a workshop, or have any questions, please contact us at:
[email protected]

Lets make the UK part of an international movement!

http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=255151111189948

[Reed]

Live stream:
http://www.livestream.com/occupylsx

[Lunatic Concept]

Just got back (call of nature and all that) pretty good turnout i'd say.

[Lunatic Concept]

Well heres some photos of the day I took if anyones interested

Was more 'occupy the area in front of saint pauls cathedral' but hey

[Lunatic Concept]

Some more

[Queercommie Girl]

I went to the "Occupy London" event today. There are some people who will stay overnight there, including a Maoist friend of mine. But I came back home. Here are some photos I took:

http://a7.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc7/s320x320/316026_275873302443420_100000622583066_972177_1318 260911_n.jpg

People starting to gather in front of the St Paul's Cathedral at noon

http://a8.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/s320x320/317802_275873332443417_100000622583066_972178_3437 50589_n.jpg

A SWP/ISO member at the event

http://a2.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc7/s320x320/294437_275873362443414_100000622583066_972179_2132 060539_n.jpg

Association of Musical Marxists

http://a3.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/s320x320/299567_275873422443408_100000622583066_972180_1754 107481_n.jpg

End Corporate Rule!

http://a5.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/s320x320/301100_275873469110070_100000622583066_972181_1507 016641_n.jpg

Peter Tatchell and his placards

http://a4.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/s320x320/319651_275873565776727_100000622583066_972184_1195 555362_n.jpg

Socialists from Chile

http://a6.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/s320x320/312685_275873605776723_100000622583066_972185_1682 810465_n.jpg

A socialist from Jamaica

http://a8.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/s320x320/317830_275873652443385_100000622583066_972186_9822 09775_n.jpg

A protester holding up a banner of the Earth

http://a2.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc7/s320x320/300507_275873679110049_100000622583066_972187_4947 16489_n.jpg

http://a1.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/s320x320/299149_275873715776712_100000622583066_972188_6952 91295_n.jpg

Police presence at the demonstration

http://a6.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc7/s320x320/314753_275873852443365_100000622583066_972191_1699 93129_n.jpg

Julian Assange speaking

http://a8.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/s320x320/314656_275873892443361_100000622583066_972192_1556 243383_n.jpg

A closer shot of Julian Assange

http://a3.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/s320x320/315711_275873959110021_100000622583066_972194_1987 53876_n.jpg

We are the 99%

http://a7.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/s320x320/312553_275874032443347_100000622583066_972196_1539 66993_n.jpg

A member of the Maoist PMLI (Partito Marxista-Leninista Italiano) from Italy

http://a1.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/s320x320/312541_275874065776677_100000622583066_972197_2501 31112_n.jpg

Protesters packed in front of the St Paul's Cathedral in the afternoon

http://a2.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc7/s320x320/303153_275874109110006_100000622583066_972198_7868 48359_n.jpg

A teddy bear showing solidarity to the protesters :)

[scarletghoul]

A great start, it was. It's only gonna grow bigger as time goes on.
As others on RL have noted, there is a ridiculous amount of naivety regarding the police. when we were on the steps of st pauls the police said we should go, because they need to protect the cathedral lol, and people actually started making speeches saying how we should all leave the steps and confine ourselves to the small tent area because we were not trying to occupy st pauls anyway. wtf. we held our ground ultimately though. My facepalm resistance drive was pushed to the limit early sunday morning when an anon announced his master plan to offer cakes etc to the police, and that we all move off the steps anyway. arghghghhh
Hopefully i will go back some time soon

[scarletghoul]

also woo http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2011/oct/16/occupy-london-protest-st-pauls

Police told to move along as anti-bank protesters camp out at St Paul's

Occupy London protesters set for long haul outside cathedral as global action against financial institutions gains momentum







http://static.guim.co.uk/static/b3424c82d7044634aeaf5e3490fb55fe52946f4c/common/images/icon_reddit.gif (http://www.reddit.com/submit?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.guardian.co.uk%2Fuk%2F 2011%2Foct%2F16%2Foccupy-london-protest-st-pauls&title=) reddit this (http://www.reddit.com/submit?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.guardian.co.uk%2Fuk%2F 2011%2Foct%2F16%2Foccupy-london-protest-st-pauls&title=)





Caroline Davies (http://www.guardian.co.uk/profile/carolinedavies)
guardian.co.uk (http://www.guardian.co.uk/), Sunday 16 October 2011 19.50 BST <li class="history"> Article history (http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2011/oct/16/occupy-london-protest-st-pauls#history-link-box) http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/About/General/2011/10/16/1318789987173/Occupy-London-camp-in-fro-007.jpg Occupy London camp in front of St Paul’s Cathedral in the city of London. Photograph: Ben Stansall/AFP

In their stand against mammon, protesters occupying St Paul's churchyard to vent anger at reckless bankers found heartwarming support emanating from the house of God.
Far from requesting that the 300-strong crowd be removed from the cathedral steps on Sunday , the Rev Dr Giles Fraser, canon chancellor of St Paul's (http://www.stpauls.co.uk/), requested that the police themselves move on as the Occupy London (http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/occupy-london) Stock Exchange protest (http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/protest) entered its second day.
A line of officers had taken up position at the top of the steps to "protect" the building. "Which was very good of them," explained the canon. But then he had asked them if they would leave, "because I didn't feel that it needed that sort of protection".
And so those attending Sunday mass found themselves picking a path through the makeshift camp of around 100 tents erected at the foot of the cathedral's steps after Saturday's global day of action inspired by the US's Occupy Wall Street (http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/occupy-wall-street) movement.
With the sermon of the day appropriately including a gospel reading about "God and money", the regular congregation was joined by some of the protesters. The canon had warned them the cathedral bells were "really loud", so it was an early start to their first full day of occupation.
An attempt on Saturday to set up camp outside the London Stock Exchange (http://www.londonstockexchange.com/home/homepage.htm) in nearby privately-owned Paternoster Square had been thwarted by police. But all the indications on Sunday were that a hard core of dedicated protesters were digging in for the long haul at St Paul's.
A field kitchen was being erected, offering basics donated by wellwishers. A first aid point was set up in front of a poster renaming the area as Tahrir Square. A media area, powered by a generator, was aiming to stream activities from the camp live on to the internet. A line of seven portable toilets had also been installed. "Pick up your litter" was one of the continual announcements over the camp's megaphone.
A spokesman said the purpose of the occupation was "to challenge the bankers and the financial institutions which recklessly gambled with the economy. This and 20 other occupations all around the UK have been directly inspired by what's happening all across America and especially in Wall Street."
Roy Alexander, 39, from Surrey, said: "We're planning to stay here indefinitely, we'll stay here and make a stand. I think we'll have more people join."
The protest indeed appeared to have struck a chord with many who were new to demonstrating. "I'm 40. Never been on a protest before. But I found myself here," said one man, who asked not to be named, from Sheffield. "I'm pretty middle of the road politically, so I wasn't sure about all the Socialist Workers placards at first. But this issue has attracted people from all walks of life. I'm a diehard atheist – there's a woman over there with a 'Jesus is Calling' placard. It's all of us."
Another on his first protest was Ollie Taylor, 23, from Aldershot. "I feel really, really strongly about this issue. I really think it is going to snowball." He, like many others, was having to leave the protest to return to his job, working in a photographic studio. But many pledged to return.
Police appeared relaxed, keeping a visible but low-key presence, and chatting and mingling with protesters. It was a different situation on Saturday, when an estimated 3,000-4,000 protesters converged on the cathedral. Supporters claimed a disproportionate amount of force was used and people were "kettled, grabbed and thrown off the steps forcefully".
The Metropolitan police said some "containment" had been in place to prevent a breach of the peace. Eight people were arrested, of whom six were charged with offences including affray and cannabis possession.
How long the camp will be allowed to stay remains to be seen. Asked about the impact it would have on businesses in the area, one shop supervisor said: "I can't imagine the shops in Paternoster Square are too happy about it – they haven't been able to open since yesterday."
As for the cathedral's blessing, the canon stressed that while he had not given specific backing to the occupation of St Paul's churchyard, he supported the democratic right to protest peacefully. "It's cold, isn't it going to be cold tonight?" he said. "We'll see how it goes. We're taking one day at a time and it's really good it's all worked out well for us today."

[Le Socialiste]

I take it everything started relatively well? Any estimate as to how many attended (or are still there)? Was there, in your opinion (if you went) a sizable revolutionary leftist presence? Do you guys still see the potential for incorporating elements of the class struggle and/or awareness, or was this already present? Forgive me, I don't know that much about the state of the left in the U.K.

[scarletghoul]

I take it everything started relatively well? Any estimate as to how many attended (or are still there)? Was there, in your opinion (if you went) a sizable revolutionary leftist presence? Do you guys still see the potential for incorporating elements of the class struggle and/or awareness, or was this already present? Forgive me, I don't know that much about the state of the left in the U.K.
There were about like 4000 people around st pauls, and a few hundred stayed the night. A lot of the people there were class conscious and revolutionary, though there were also a lot of liberals and apolitical people. in terms of revolutionary organisations there wasnt much of a presence. obviously the swp tried to use it to sell their newspapers, and there was a lot of anonymous, but no communists. still in general the consciousness is much higher than what it seems to be in wall street; for example the word capitalism appears on signs more than the word 'corporations', which is good. chants included '1 2 3 4 i declare a class war, 5 6 7 8 smash the system smash the state' (not everyone joined in but still)..

So yeah there is already a lot of class consciousness there, and it will surely grow. Only problem is the same one the UK left has been facing for years now- no organisation is fit to lead the working class.

[bricolage]

Unlike most occupations this one seems to have brought out a list of wanky demands;


At today’s assembly of over 500 people on the steps of St Paul’s, #occupylsx collectively agreed the initial statement below. Please note, like all forms of direct democracy, the statement will always be a work in progress.
1 The current system is unsustainable. It is undemocratic and unjust. We need alternatives; this is where we work towards them.
2 We are of all ethnicities, backgrounds, genders, generations, sexualities dis/abilities and faiths. We stand together with occupations all over the world.
3 We refuse to pay for the banks’ crisis.
4 We do not accept the cuts as either necessary or inevitable. We demand an end to global tax injustice and our democracy representing corporations instead of the people.
5 We want regulators to be genuinely independent of the industries they regulate.
6 We support the strike on the 30th November and the student action on the 9th November, and actions to defend our health services, welfare, education and employment, and to stop wars and arms dealing.
7 We want structural change towards authentic global equality. The world’s resources must go towards caring for people and the planet, not the military, corporate profits or the rich.
8 We stand in solidarity with the global oppressed and we call for an end to the actions of our government and others in causing this oppression.
9 This is what democracy looks like. Come and join us!I saw a video interviewing some people there and the first person on was this guy who I know has been part of 'occupy trafalgar square' for months (him and his two mates probably are the whole of it) and wanted everyone to do the same self-indulgent occupation on the night before the June 30th strike then stay there the next day... ignoring the fact that if you're on strike you are going to be on a picket line so the only people there would be his band of professional activists. The next guy interviewed had three small businesses...

Anyway I know I'm being negative and I fully accept that these things can change dramatically. I also am not moaning because 'THERE ARENT ENOUGH COMMUNISTS!!!', actually considering the state of 'the left' here it'd be better if they stayed away... on the other hand you're kidding youself if you think this is the fabled 'ordinary people'. I'm going to try and go along some time after work this week and see whats what but it seems that unlike most other places this isn't just a disparate mix of angry people but fully controlled by an activist clique. Sure maybe I'm wrong but I can't see anyone else making 'This is what democracy looks like' part of an initial statement.

[blackandyellow]

Can i get this straight, they are occupying outside St Pauls, but the church actually supports the protests and have said to the police to leave them alone? So its a occupation with permision?

[jmlima]

There are a series of articles about this today:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/oct/17/occupy-movement-global-protest?INTCMP=SRCH

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/gallery/2011/oct/17/occupy-london-protest-in-pictures

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/oct/17/city-protest-occupied-mainstream

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-2050223/Occupy-London-Stock-Exchange-Its-protesting.html?ito=feeds-newsxml

[El Louton]

There are a series of articles about this today:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/oct/17/occupy-movement-global-protest?INTCMP=SRCH

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/gallery/2011/oct/17/occupy-london-protest-in-pictures

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/oct/17/city-protest-occupied-mainstream

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-2050223/Occupy-London-Stock-Exchange-Its-protesting.html?ito=feeds-newsxml

The Daily Mail post is unbelievably right wing and pro capitalist! I had to get a comment in there!

[Le Socialiste]

There were about like 4000 people around st pauls, and a few hundred stayed the night. A lot of the people there were class conscious and revolutionary, though there were also a lot of liberals and apolitical people. in terms of revolutionary organisations there wasnt much of a presence. obviously the swp tried to use it to sell their newspapers, and there was a lot of anonymous, but no communists. still in general the consciousness is much higher than what it seems to be in wall street; for example the word capitalism appears on signs more than the word 'corporations', which is good. chants included '1 2 3 4 i declare a class war, 5 6 7 8 smash the system smash the state' (not everyone joined in but still)..

So yeah there is already a lot of class consciousness there, and it will surely grow. Only problem is the same one the UK left has been facing for years now- no organisation is fit to lead the working class.

Well, I guess that's encouraging. I'll be checking in if there's more updates.

[RebelDog]

From the Daily Mail:
Tesco time: Protesters wake up this morning surrounded by evidence they have visited Britain's biggest supermarket chain

Shock! Horror! I didn't know protesters ate things.

[Queercommie Girl]

I went to the Occupy London site again today and took some more photographs. The occupation is continuing. Here are some of the photos with captions:

http://a1.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/s320x320/297460_277599428937474_100000622583066_978569_1200 365246_n.jpg

A distant view of St Paul's Cathedral

http://a5.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/s320x320/297980_277598275604256_100000622583066_978543_5030 76817_n.jpg

Big "Capitalism is Crisis" banner at the site

http://a8.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc7/s320x320/313668_277598312270919_100000622583066_978544_4269 6548_n.jpg

http://a2.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/s320x320/294682_277598345604249_100000622583066_978545_1557 47618_n.jpg

http://a4.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/s320x320/308493_277598405604243_100000622583066_978546_1236 029226_n.jpg

Various tents at the site

http://a6.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc7/s320x320/316656_277598442270906_100000622583066_978547_2516 19180_n.jpg

http://a5.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc7/s320x320/300128_277598805604203_100000622583066_978557_9133 37426_n.jpg

Tots with a Cause - Hands off my Piggy Bank!

[the last donut of the night]

Unlike most occupations this one seems to have brought out a list of wanky demands;
I saw a video interviewing some people there and the first person on was this guy who I know has been part of 'occupy trafalgar square' for months (him and his two mates probably are the whole of it) and wanted everyone to do the same self-indulgent occupation on the night before the June 30th strike then stay there the next day... ignoring the fact that if you're on strike you are going to be on a picket line so the only people there would be his band of professional activists. The next guy interviewed had three small businesses...

Anyway I know I'm being negative and I fully accept that these things can change dramatically. I also am not moaning because 'THERE ARENT ENOUGH COMMUNISTS!!!', actually considering the state of 'the left' here it'd be better if they stayed away... on the other hand you're kidding youself if you think this is the fabled 'ordinary people'. I'm going to try and go along some time after work this week and see whats what but it seems that unlike most other places this isn't just a disparate mix of angry people but fully controlled by an activist clique. Sure maybe I'm wrong but I can't see anyone else making 'This is what democracy looks like' part of an initial statement.

wanky means good, i assume

[Queercommie Girl]

More photos:

http://a7.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/s320x320/309673_277598668937550_100000622583066_978554_2554 45065_n.jpg

10-points demand at Occupy LSX (London Stock Exchange)

http://a1.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/s320x320/308750_277598758937541_100000622583066_978555_1529 973456_n.jpg

Anti-capitalism 2011 Conference advert

http://a4.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/s320x320/318526_277598925604191_100000622583066_978559_8702 4876_n.jpg

http://a5.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc7/s320x320/301555_277598995604184_100000622583066_978560_2132 482323_n.jpg

http://a7.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc7/s320x320/297856_277599395604144_100000622583066_978568_3768 30127_n.jpg

Various political posters on a wall (see the CWI Socialism 2011 event advert at the bottom-right corner of the last photo)

http://a1.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/s320x320/312108_277599095604174_100000622583066_978562_1107 521819_n.jpg

A protester being interviewed by a TV crew

http://a3.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc7/s320x320/317826_277599038937513_100000622583066_978561_7823 07559_n.jpg

http://a2.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc7/s320x320/320600_277599315604152_100000622583066_978566_7513 40925_n.jpg

A LGBT flag on a pole by one of the tents

http://a7.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc7/s320x320/301905_277599208937496_100000622583066_978563_1223 001875_n.jpg

Real Global Democracy Now!

http://a4.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/s320x320/312845_277599292270821_100000622583066_978565_3553 79413_n.jpg

"Dear General Public" - an info sheet for the public stuck on one of the tents

http://a8.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/s320x320/305365_277599348937482_100000622583066_978567_1166 216390_n.jpg

Some socialists having a lunch-time meeting - see the poster behind them on one of the tents, which reads: "Capitalism is a kind of slavery with fake golden chains"

[bricolage]

wanky means good, i assume
'This is what democracy looks like' isn't a very good 'demand'.
In any case the list is very schizophrenic, seeming to just lump in left buzzwords without anything meaningful behind it. Anyway I think I'm going to check it out tomorrow so maybe I'll change my mind.

Oh also if anyone cares the 'capitalism is crisis' banner is from climate camp, which gives an indicator of the main people behind the occupation.

[Reed]

The Daily Mail post is unbelievably right wing and pro capitalist! I had to get a comment in there!

The Daily 'Fail' is the newspaper who ran the headline 'Hurrah for the Blackshirts' in support of Mosley's British Union of Fascists back in the day.
Little has changed.

[Queercommie Girl]

'This is what democracy looks like' isn't a very good 'demand'.
In any case the list is very schizophrenic, seeming to just lump in left buzzwords without anything meaningful behind it. Anyway I think I'm going to check it out tomorrow so maybe I'll change my mind.

Oh also if anyone cares the 'capitalism is crisis' banner is from climate camp, which gives an indicator of the main people behind the occupation.

The movement at the moment is "broadly left" rather than led by any single tendency, therefore it is unlikely for there to be any very specific demands at this stage.

In theory environmentalism and revolutionary Marxism aren't necessarily incompatible at all, it depends on the concrete programme that is being put forward. The climate camp AFAIK is also "broadly left" with relatively general demands.

[bricolage]

Struggling against ecological destruction is wholly compatible with class struggle however I don't think you really understand the nature of climate camp. It was (has now disbanded into local bits) the epitome of the professional activist, isolated from everyday life. The non-hierarchical consensus stuff, as pretty much anyone involved in it will tell you, was merely a cover for a clique of activist organisers who could afford the time and money to go to the organisational events that occurred sporadically, a group nearly all based in London or Brighton (courtesy of her majesty marina pepper). I'm not even going to talk about the politics of climate camp (to the extent it had any and which are of course very dodgy in a number of areas) but the composition of it, the structural ways in which it worked and the complete reliance on alienated activist voluntarism. It's this which seems completely replicated in the occupy london movement.

Regarding 'broadly left', I think this is slightly misleading, what I am trying to get across is that it is not broadly anything expect broadly activist. Now maybe I'm wrong and the makeup of the people there is nothing like what I am suggesting but this is what I've got from videos I've seen and putting 'this is what democracy looks like' is a direct reference to the late 90s alter-globalisation circuit many people are still stuck in. I'm just waiting for someone to whip out the PGA hallmarks...

But like I said I haven't been there and obviously there is still room for intervention if people can steer the whole thing away from occupation for the sake of occupation and into occupation as a means of economic blockade or better yet occupations of workplaces, schools, universities, dole offices, temp agencies... places where social relations actually play out, not city centres where the ever-repeating spectacle is played out. It's all well and good to make statements about public sector strikes but how are you going to have any organic connection to it sitting in a tent nowhere near any picket lines?

[scarletghoul]

criticising a movement like this is like criticising a headless chicken for running in the wrong direction; the real point is to get down with the chicken and guide it.

[bricolage]

criticising a movement like this is like criticising a headless chicken for running in the wrong direction
I refer to August West's excellent post on whether this is a movement (and other things);

A couple points:

1) Occupy isn't a movement. It's a phenomenon - a progressive phenomenon, yes, but a phenomenon none-the-less. There is no direction, no platform, no purpose, there is only objection. Objection is great, much better than complacency, but let's not kid ourselves here.

What's happened is that the 'middle-class' portion of the working class has found an outlet for their frustration, and they are using it. This obviously is enticing to many who are more political and aware of the situation, and so these people join in and attempt to create a movement. But it isn't a movement, and it certainly isn't an anti-capitalist movement. It's anti-corporate. No one is critiquing, nor do they want to, the mechanisms of capitalism and the day to day exploitation. They are pissed at the result of capitalism: rich getting rich while poor get poorer.

2) The youth from oppressed communities won't be in the Occupy scene because the scene isn't their scene. It's primarily waged by white middle-class people and political conscious white people. It's a white phenomenon because white people make up the majority of those in the middle-class and they feel screwed by the white establishment.
The youth from oppressed communities don't get upset over two women getting maced because they are getting maced day in and day out. This 'police reaction' to Occupy is reality for oppressed communities.

3) You cannot turn this into a revolutionary movement because it isn't an organic movement (see point one). What you can do is attempt to guide the critique from corporations to capitalism. This will help radicalize those who are already pissed off as it will give them a perspective on their anger and frustration beyond 'they are greedy, and we are poor.' But you cannot "wage that proud and unapologetic defense of the revolutionary" (whatever the fuck that means).

4) The occupy phenomenon will develop according to the composition and consciousness of those participating. Some events will be more radical, others much more tame and reformist. There is no reason to assume that this will become a unified front against capitalism because it does not represent class interest. This is not class war, despite all the signs. It could become class war, but right now it is 'class war' in the sense of middle-class vs. upper-class. Not real class war in the sense of working vs. capitalist.

Give it time and for fucks sake do not try and 'defend the revolutionary.' Just go out and tell people how you feel - one person to another.

- August

the real point is to get down with the chicken and guide it.
Maybe, but you can never get the chicken its head back.

[Queercommie Girl]

Struggling against ecological destruction is wholly compatible with class struggle


Actually I would say that it is also possible to be a Marxist without explicitly believing in environmentalism. It's not a necessary pre-requisite, only that it's certainly not incompatible with Marxism.



however I don't think you really understand the nature of climate camp. It was (has now disbanded into local bits) the epitome of the professional activist, isolated from everyday life.
But among the Marxist organisations and civil rights organisations I've worked with, there are also many "professional activists" among their ranks. The London office of the CWI for instance has got a large number of full-timers, who have no other jobs except doing revolutionary and socialist work. Obviously just being a "professional activist" is certainly not a problem in itself, the question is what kind of strategic and tactical approach one has and what kind of concrete programme is being implemented. A professional activist certainly doesn't have to be isolated from everyday life at all, and it is only when a professional activist is isolated from general society that there would be problems. There is nothing wrong at all with being a "professional activist" per se.



Regarding 'broadly left', I think this is slightly misleading, what I am trying to get across is that it is not broadly anything expect broadly activist. Now maybe I'm wrong and the makeup of the people there is nothing like what I am suggesting but this is what I've got from videos I've seen and putting 'this is what democracy looks like' is a direct reference to the late 90s alter-globalisation circuit many people are still stuck in. I'm just waiting for someone to whip out the PGA hallmarks...
I think you are reading too much into it. It is not possible for anything to simply be "activist" in the purely abstract sense. Any kind of activism would necessarily have its own set of demands and stances, etc, no matter how vague they may be. In the concrete objective sense it is clear that the Occupy movements are left-wing in nature, of this I think there is virtually no doubt, only that at the moment at least, it isn't very radical. I don't think there is sufficient evidence to suggest that the entire Occupy movement across the globe is just something that is being tightly controlled by a tiny "alienated activist clique", to use your words.

Also, I wouldn't call the demands at Occupy London "schizophrenic". "Shallow" perhaps, "generic" certainly, and "anti-corporate" rather than "anti-capitalist" for sure. But in what serious sense is it "schizophrenic"? Applying this word makes no sense. It's common for "broadly left-wing" movements of all kinds to utilise "leftist buzz words" all the time. They would never use anything different. Where is the "schizophrenia"?



But like I said I haven't been there and obviously there is still room for intervention if people can steer the whole thing away from occupation for the sake of occupation and into occupation as a means of economic blockade or better yet occupations of workplaces, schools, universities, dole offices, temp agencies... places where social relations actually play out, not city centres where the ever-repeating spectacle is played out. It's all well and good to make statements about public sector strikes but how are you going to have any organic connection to it sitting in a tent nowhere near any picket lines?
I don't disagree, but frankly I'd much rather have this than the previous London riots which directly alienated many sections of the employed working class communities due to its undirectional destructive nature. That would have been even more difficult to influence than this one.

[flobdob]

A few updates and reports from London, Glasgow and Newcastle - there's more going on across the country than in just London! :D

London (http://revolutionarycommunist.org/index.php/britain/2343-occupy-lsx-resistance-sets-up-camp-in-the-heart-of-british-imperialism)

Newcastle (http://revolutionarycommunist.org/index.php/reports/north-east-reports/2345-report-from-occupy-newcastle-)

Glasgow (http://revolutionarycommunist.org/index.php/scotland/2344-occupy-glasgow-eye-witness-report)

[bricolage]

@Iseul/Queercommie Girl

Most of what I am saying about activism I am paraphrasing from Give Up Activism (http://www.eco-action.org/dod/no9/activism.htm) so I'll just be honest and post a link here. For example;


By 'an activist mentality' what I mean is that people think of themselves primarily as activists and as belonging to some wider community of activists. The activist identifies with what they do and thinks of it as their role in life, like a job or career. In the same way some people will identify with their job as a doctor or a teacher, and instead of it being something they just happen to be doing, it becomes an essential part of their self-image.
The activist is a specialist or an expert in social change. To think of yourself as being an activist means to think of yourself as being somehow privileged or more advanced than others in your appreciation of the need for social change, in the knowledge of how to achieve it and as leading or being in the forefront of the practical struggle to create this change.


I don't think there is sufficient evidence to suggest that the entire Occupy movement across the globe is just something that is being tightly controlled by a tiny "alienated activist clique", to use your words.I was just referring to the Lonon occupation here and after visiting I would tend to agree.

There seems a complete obsession with process and all things internal (in my opinion a culmination of a trend inwards that accompanied the decline of organised class struggle following the defeat of the long 1970s), a series of discussions based on how best to hold and manage the space (when I was there epitomised by a long and heated 'debate' on alcohol) yet not concept of what it is there for. The way I see it this is a negative aspect of the 'meme' (a form of action that is rapidly replicated around the world facilitated by the new technologies) in that it becomes seen as something that *must* be done, especially by the 'activist clique' that don't want to be left out. So everyone wants their own Tahrir square but that came after years of building wildcat strikes, everyone wants their own Syntagma assembly but that came after numerous general strikes... and was then rapidly eclispsed by the re-emergence of the general strike, a definite hint at where social forces lie. You can't just then pluck this out of anywhere, place it anywhere else and then think there is going to be this global insurrection on the continued re-appropriation of public space. If there were ideas of using occupation as a mean of economic blockade, a means of occupying socially and economically significant points at which social relations reproduce or a way of strengthening organically emerging class struggles then we might be getting somewhere towards the mass assembly. But to start at the end means something that should be all-encompassing becomes rapidly exclusionary and, yes, controlled by an 'alienated activist clique'.

Oh and as a final point to compare this to the riots is like apples to oranges. The riots were an organic outpouring of dissent causing a massive rupture in social normalcy, they were not planned, not controlled and nothing to do with 'the left'. This on the contrary was highly planned, ideologically motivated and, in my opinion, highly forced. It's just not the same.

Anyway I hear St Pauls has had to close but the occupation is looking to stay. I dunno maybe eventually things like this will cause structural changes in the way it functions and I'd like to be as enthusiastic as everyone else but I just can't, sorry.

[SHORAS]

Unlike most occupations this one seems to have brought out a list of wanky demands;


Maybe cos it's full of wankers?

[bricolage]

Maybe cos it's full of wankers?
Always a possibility.
I'd be interested to know how the statement/demands came about, whether they were agreed on by all people there or pre-prepared in advance, I'm guessing bits of the latter were made to look like the former.

[bricolage]

Everytime I go to see the London occupation it becomes more and more surreal. For starters the resemblance to Glastonbury is becoming uncanny, made even stranger by the mass of onlookers, photographers and tourists on the edge. I think it was Devrim who wrote on here that whatever your political beliefs you are bound to find someone in London who agrees with you, I think that’s right and I also think they’ve all come to St Pauls. Unreconstructed Stalinists mix with environmental hippies while a man dressed as a leprechaun dances on the steps of the cathedral next to a sign declaring Jesus will come and wipe out all governments and politicians. It still appears to be a majority white and (although this is just a guess) middle class affair, yet this is not the complete demographic picture. There also seems to be a sizable Spanish component. I wrote that I thought this to have been led by a clique of radical-activists and maybe this who started it but it is not quite clear that noone has any clue how to take a lead of the phenomenon. Every criticism that has been made of the #occupy movement still stands yet I’m beginning to wonder if the whole thing is so absurd it might just do something meaningful.

[SHORAS]

Unreconstructed Stalinists mix with environmental hippies while a man dressed as a leprechaun dances on the steps of the cathedral next to a sign declaring Jesus will come and wipe out all governments and politicians.

Something everyone should experience before they die!