#occupy London....

[ddraig]

I look forward to seeing how they cope with the freezing weather over the next few months!!

hilarious as usual!

do you consider yourself part of the 1% then?

 

[8ball]

I look forward to seeing how they cope with the freezing weather over the next few months!!

The way they seem to be going at the moment it wouldn't surprise me if they've figured out various eco-friendly heating technologies by the spring...

 

[butchersapron]

Btw, in 2001 1500 workers were laid off by the Spanish version of BT. They set up a makeshift camp in Madrid city centre for 8 months. this is what put the idea in the Spanish heads - it was then taken up by the 2003 anti-war protests. It didn't come out of thin air this year but from real class struggle. A film was made about the occupation at the Camp of Hope in madrid - El efecto Iguazú. It can be watched on youtube from here onwards but without subs.

 

[Treacle Toes]

Didn't see that (as couldn't really bear to spend that much time there, was a fairly alienating experience once again i'm afraid) - but he was shown way too much tolerance from the get go so not surprised as what you said - everyone was just glancing at their shoes and pretending he wasn't there while he rattled out his shit (equating homosexuality with pedophilia& bestiality for example), didn't seem to be any kind of personal or collective responsibility to confront him

So...did you actually talk to anyone else or attend any talks/workshops/meetings/lectures whilst you were there?

 

[Corax]

I look forward to seeing how they cope with the freezing weather over the next few months!!

If only people had invented ways of surviving out of doors at low temperatures.

 

[dylans]

So the occupiers are considering an offer by St Pauls to allow them to stay if they reduce the number of tents. Doesn't this defeat the whole point of the occupation? I mean if they reduce (or even promise to keep the number the same) then the whole point of building a protest movement is defeated. What is the point of an occupation protest if it can't grow? Surely the point isn't for a couple of hundred tents to stay for the sake of it but for the occupation to grow into a mass movement. I seriously hope they don't accept this offer.

 

[Louis MacNeice]

I look forward to seeing how they cope with the freezing weather over the next few months!!

Rather better than you do at engaging in any meaningful discussion, is my bet.

Louis MacNeice

 

[gunneradt]

Ther

hilarious as usual!

do you consider yourself part of the 1% then?

There is no 1%. This is some spurious figure plucked out of thin air.

Im just someone who gets on with life without whinging about my lot or feeling aggrieved because others have more than me

 

[claphamboy]

There is no 1%. This is some spurious figure plucked out of thin air.

Of course it is, dear.

This is a cross-thread quote from the Occupy Wall Street thread....

Income inequality in America
The 99 percent
The Economist. Oct 26th 2011

Of all the many banners being waved around the world by disgruntled protesters from Chile to Australia the one that reads, "We Are the 99%" is the catchiest. It is purposefully vague, but it is also underpinned by some solid economics.

 

[Louis MacNeice]

Ther

There is no 1%. This is some spurious figure plucked out of thin air.

Im just someone who gets on with life without whinging about my lot or feeling aggrieved because others have more than me

Thanks for so ably proving my earlier point.

Louis MacNeice

 

[Belushi]

Ther

There is no 1%. This is some spurious figure plucked out of thin air.

Im just someone who gets on with life without whinging about my lot or feeling aggrieved because others have more than me

You know your place eh? Get angry when others don't know theirs?

 

[Kaka Tim]

The rich man in his castle,
The poor man at his gate.
God made them high and lowly
And ordered their estate.

etc.

 

[Louis MacNeice]

Alternatively...

'Tis the gift to be simple, 'tis the gift to be free
'Tis the gift to come down where we ought to be,
And when we find ourselves in the place just right,
Twill be in the valley of love and delight.
When true simplicity is gain'd,To bow and to bend we shan't be asham'd,
To turn, turn will be our delight,
Till by turning, turning we come 'round right.

Louis MacNeice

 

[love detective]

I think you and the IWCA generally think that you have it all nutted out

And this is in marked contrast to any other political group/individual on the left or indeed anywhere on the political spectrum is it!

What's the point in having, and more importantly attempting to convince others of, a particular political outlook if you don't have confidence in it? Show me anyone on the left who is active in politics who would say that they are not convinced by their own politics and i'll spend a week in a tent at St Pauls!

Everyone makes mistakes but i'd say one thing that differentiates the IWCA from others on the left is the effort to feed back lessons learned from those mistakes into future thinking & activity. THis is in stark contrast to the ever decreasing circles of failed left projects from the socialist alliance onwards.

And this is pretty much the story of the IWCA - an attempt to not just ideologically but practically redress the mistakes of the left approach over the last couple of decades. And despite the clear failure of this approach to grow beyond the initial pilot schemes, it did show that a determined, sustained, practical and progressive orientation to working class issues within the community is met with a level of acceptance & fresh new support that the conservative left never gets. And more importantly this approach is starting to be emulated by other groups in their approach (for example the new community strategy of solidarity federation is heavily influenced by the IWCA approach)

and just feel frustrated that others don't swamp you with applications to join and offers of help.

I blame a few things for this reluctance, from the historical associations with Red Action, to the intransigent attitude of some of your more vocal and long standing members, to the simple fail/fall at first post name IE IWCA. For me it's more the latter PLUS the articles on the IWCA website that seem to belong in academia.

well firstly the IWCA nationally for some time hasn't even tried to get people to join (one reason for this I would say is because the success of the IWCA approach is far more important that the success of the IWCA as an organisation)

As for your reasons for people's reluctance - you're basing this on an idea of the targeted group (if there was a target group) being the existing left itself,so while the reasons you give may apply if that was the case (as they are mainly stuff that only existing lefties would be bothered about), it's not.

 

[love detective]

So...did you actually talk to anyone else or attend any talks/workshops/meetings/lectures whilst you were there?

talked to a few people - didn't fancy any of the talks/workshops/meetings/lectures - are they compulsory?

 

[ddraig]

Ther

There is no 1%. This is some spurious figure plucked out of thin air.

Im just someone who gets on with life without whinging about my lot or feeling aggrieved because others have more than me

such a good citizen! bless
gets on with life! so nothing has changed for you or your mum/gran/family? nothing has changed for any (god forbid) offspring you have spawned? you don't moan about petrol prices or other taxes? everything is A OK and the bankers work hard for their money is it?
tickety boo bullshit

 

[love detective]

Im just someone who gets on with life without whinging about my lot or feeling aggrieved because others have more than me

"The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man"

 

[love detective]

and obviously unreasonable women, don't forget unreasonable women

 

[krink]

think 5Live are doing something about occupy this morning if anyone wants to ring 'em.

 

[Spanky Longhorn]

and obviously unreasonable women, don't forget unreasonable women

never met one

 

[TopCat]

And this is in marked contrast to any other political group/individual on the left or indeed anywhere on the political spectrum is it!

What's the point in having, and more importantly attempting to convince others of, a particular political outlook if you don't have confidence in it? Show me anyone on the left who is active in politics who would say that they are not convinced by their own politics and i'll spend a week in a tent at St Pauls!

Everyone makes mistakes but i'd say one thing that differentiates the IWCA from others on the left is the effort to feed back lessons learned from those mistakes into future thinking & activity. THis is in stark contrast to the ever decreasing circles of failed left projects from the socialist alliance onwards.

And this is pretty much the story of the IWCA - an attempt to not just ideologically but practically redress the mistakes of the left approach over the last couple of decades. And despite the clear failure of this approach to grow beyond the initial pilot schemes, it did show that a determined, sustained, practical and progressive orientation to working class issues within the community is met with a level of acceptance & fresh new support that the conservative left never gets. And more importantly this approach is starting to be emulated by other groups in their approach (for example the new community strategy of solidarity federation is heavily influenced by the IWCA approach)

well firstly the IWCA nationally for some time hasn't even tried to get people to join (one reason for this I would say is because the success of the IWCA approach is far more important that the success of the IWCA as an organisation)

As for your reasons for people's reluctance - you're basing this on an idea of the targeted group (if there was a target group) being the existing left itself,so while the reasons you give may apply if that was the case (as they are mainly stuff that only existing lefties would be bothered about), it's not.

You make some very good points.

 

[Orang Utan]

Im just someone who gets on with life without whinging about my lot or feeling aggrieved because others have more than me

no, you're someone who whinges about the way other people live their lives. even sadder.

 

[treelover]

some idiot has just put this on the Olsx FB page

sorry, it hasn't worked, image of jewish star of david, with 'Swindlers List' blazoned across something about Rothschild and bankers and US Financial figures like Timothy Geitner on the points...

The image was posted by 'Huned Lokhandwala'

 

[treelover]

'March to Parliament

Speakers:
Caroline Lucas MP
John Pilger​

Seumas Milne – Guardian​

Kate Hudson – Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND)​

Josie Long – UK Uncut & award-winning comedian​

Aaron Kiely, NUS Black Students’ Campaign
Stef Newton, NUS LGBT Campaign & National Campaign Against Fees & Cuts​

Weymam Bennett, Unite Against Fascism'​

oh dear, haven't they learn't anything in the last month? it could be a STW roster...

 

[Brainaddict]

I think the speakers were put together by other people weren't they? The march from st paul's is in support. Not necessarily of the speakers....

 

[shaman75]

After just over two weeks, our tented city standing in the protective shadow of St Paul’s Cathedral is a becoming a real community. But we are still part of London and we share some of the problems of that great city.

London is the 5th wealthiest city in the world and one of the world’s major financial centres – yet, despite this apparent prosperity and technological progress, there are still Londoners without homes, structure and support. What happens in London every day is merely a reflection of the increasing global disparity between rich and poor and unfair distribution of wealth.

At the same time, the austerity measures imposed in the UK where tax revenues have been used to fund bonuses have led to a further decline in the quality of our society. Essential services are being cut or privatised and those with real and complex needs are being left out in the cold. Now more than ever, those who are homeless or have mental and physical health problems or addiction issues need support from the communities they live in. We are all of us the 99 per cent.

OccupyLSX is trying be a welcoming space. We hope that people will take the time to talk to each other, help each other out and overcome their differences to create a better society.
This means that our camp is becoming a beacon for those who feel that they do not have a stake in society, for vulnerable and marginalised people. They and we are all part of the 99 per cent.

It is often said that you can judge a society by how it treats its most vulnerable members; Occupy London aims to create a better society, but we need your help.

We will not abandon or ignore the most vulnerable members of our society. We are aware that many vulnerable people are coming to the camp (including people with mental health issues, alcohol and drug problems) and we believe that we have to address these problems head on rather than the ad hoc fashion we have to date. If this camp is to aim to be part of creating a better and more just society we need to tackle these issues pro-actively.

What we intend to do:

• We will found a Welfare Centre within the bounds of our camp at St Paul’s, staffed and supported by volunteers with specialist expertise
• We will provide access to and signpost mental health advice services, alcohol and drug addition services, rehousing services and more

What we need:

• We appeal to all those with relevant skills and experience in social work, counselling, drug and alcohol services, welfare, housing and mental health issues to donate whatever time they can
• Also, if you have more time available and would like to help out on a daily/nightly basis, please contact us to offer this crucially required support
• We encourage those who are affected by the issues we are discussing to use this as an opportunity to share your own experiences, express your ideas and organise together for a better future. We will be hosting events, discussions and debates looking at the important issues through our Outreach and Tent City University

How can you get involved?

• Phone – 0845 299 6175
• Email: general@occupylsx.org
• Leave a message for Welfare in our Information Tent at OccupyLSX

http://occupylsx.org/?p=760

 

[smokedout]

have people been turning up asking to be signposted to drug and alcohol addition (sic) and mental health advice services?

 

[treelover]

in London, you are joking aren't you?

 

[smokedout]

i didnt say have people been turning up. read my question

 

[Treacle Toes]

Articles from the Occupy movement worldwide.

http://www.elindignado.eu/