End of This Line… or, from Pirates to Nomads

Occupy LSX was always a raggedy, unstable vessel but she had a fantastic crew and was sailing through beautiful waters. Over time, one by one, crew members lowered themselves into little dinghies and onto rafts and paddled away to enticing islands and shorelines. Some rested there, others built new villages or reinvigorated tired communities, all the while spreading the Occupy message about creating a better world. Meanwhile, some of us remained on board OLSX, to read the maps and mop the decks and to fly the Occupy London flag.

Time passed. Much good work was done as we sailed through increasingly choppy seas. Many rafts were built and launched by passionate and inspirational voyagers. Unfortunately this meant that there were fewer and fewer active members of crew on board the flagship. Those residing on board but contributing little began to raid the stores and vomit on the decks. Stowaways clambered from the holds and ran riot over the rigging. Amidst mutiny the ship was boarded by pirates who pissed on the navigation charts.

Remaining true-crew members made several valiant efforts to get back on course but these failed. On a few occasions it was suggested that the Occupy flag be lowered, rolled up and paddled away to the island of Finsbury, allowing the pirates to raise their own skull and crossbones. A flurry of excitement amongst like-minded souls came to little and all movements towards the flagpole were repelled.

OLSX has been a pirate ship in disguise for the last couple of weeks. Those guarding the ship’s bounty – the jewels, the scrolls, the finest rum – have been sitting atop the treasure chest clinging to each other while beating off attacks from drunks and thieves. Repeatedly the attackers have turned on each other, leaving the guardians to develop their gallows’ humour. Meanwhile, one or two passengers discuss philosophy on the upper deck, absurdly oblivious to the uproar below.

It’s been fun but it can’t go on.

***

After today’s rejection of the OLSX court appeals, I’d like to see Occupy London make a strategic choice to remove itself from St Paul’s, with dignity. The OLSX camp has served the purpose of getting the Occupy message out and it is time to move on to mobile and fluid variations of Occupy, with Finsbury Square eco-village as our low-key base for now.

St Paul’s has been our womb. Being born is scary, we’ll be vulnerable… but I have every faith that we’ll survive and grow strong. We need to learn to walk before May Day, when we’ll be setting off on a two-month stroll around the boroughs of London, connecting with neighbourhoods and sharing experiences with other members of the disenfranchised 99%… who will perhaps be inspired to rise up and Occupy in the future.

It may be that we leave behind at St Paul’s a political statement – people with nowhere to go and no purpose, camping out and hungry in the shadow of our grandest church next to one of the centres of world finance. Perhaps the City, the Church, charities and religious groups would like to take over from Occupy in providing for those people. We could leave behind a small crew of volunteers to act as interim welfare workers and to explain that this is no longer a political protest but a refugee camp.

Nomads often settle in one spot for a season to make use of what resources are there at that time. We’ve had our winter at St Paul’s. We made use of the media, of public curiosity and support, of the fact that members of the church were on our side. Nomads don’t drain resources to the point where they’ll never regrow. The season is done, it’s time to pack up and roam over new pastures, in readiness for the abundance of Spring. March is just days away. Green shoots are sprouting.

Occupy 2.0 is happening already. Occupy 2.0 is targeting multinational corporations, taking General Assemblies on tour, teaching Citizenship classes, making music at Occupation Records, providing quality alternative media with The Occupied Times, empowering children through Rockupy, connecting with communities on the Boroughs’ Walk… Occupy will continue to challenge the privatisation of public space, the restriction of the right to protest, shady lobbying, the undemocratic nature of the City of London and injustices wherever we find them. We have tricks up our sleeves and will leave no stone unturned. Come and join us!

Occupy Sheffield

STOP PRESS!! Occupy Sheffield has decided to strategically withdraw from the Cathedral encampment this weekend. It is felt that the camp has done its job to raise Occupy issues in Sheffield; energy will now be directed towards new Occupy projects. The Citadel of Hope remains.

This is my report from the National Occupy Gathering in Sheffield (written for The Occupied Times):

Friday night, the Sheffield encampment, in the cathedral grounds. A pink-haired deacon facilitates the pre-conference General Assembly. For those from well-organised but somewhat lacking-in-home-comforts Occupy LSX, it feels like entering Granny’s house. Tassled rugs, sofas, sideboards and chairs with all four legs intact. Outside, a stack of seasoned logs beside a brazier and a tiny field kitchen. Halfway through the GA plates of steaming stew are passed through the heavily blanketed doorway.

Miraculous food, materialised and devoured, is followed by comic entertainment from Madame Zucchini and her performing vegetables. We provide the shark music, Jaws is recast as Capitalism, Chief Brody is a potato (or possibly a turnip). Capitalism is overthrown after a brief tussle between the vegetables. Light relief over, we return to talk of evictions, agendas, the Christian response to Occupy, our visions of and fears for the future.

Saturday, it’s over to the Citadel of Hope. A crumbling facade in the city centre. Bear, previously of LSX Tranquillity crew, now the Citadel’s caretaker, is sweeping the front doorstep and welcomes us in. A dark entrance hall lit with low-energy LED lights leads into a cavernous room with exposed brickwork and a mildly musty air. In one corner techies huddle around computers. Wires snake across the broken floors. A smartphone taped to a decaying pillar acts as a wifi hub, a projector screen displays the day’s agenda, in an ante-room walls are being built around a toilet. The kettle’s on in the kitchen.

Mugs of tea in hand we mount concrete stairs, step unexpectedly out of the gloom into a bright and airy amphitheatre with wooden floors, enormous windows and an imposing stage with lush velvet curtains. Half chapel and half theatre, shabbily grandiose, this is the perfect venue for a national gathering of Occupiers.

Strategy, sustainability, non-violence, local issues, global solidarity, online platforms, community, networks, outreach… these are the words that repeatedly echo around the hall. Downstairs, talks on co-operatives and chaos theory compete for our attention.

In the afternoon we rally outside Sheffield Town Hall then proceed to the Occupy camp for a ‘tea, cake and kindness’ outreach event. Consideration of tax injustice and the bonkers banking system weaves between plans for an Occupy ‘caravan’ and an eco-village. In the evening we repair to the most excellent Dove and Rainbow pub for a gig night featuring Occupy favourites Get Cape, Wear Cape, Fly.

Sunday morning sees yawning Occupiers convening over coffee and laptops while cocooned still in their sleeping bags on the semi-industrial ground floor of the Citadel. The agenda is bursting with subjects we want to discuss but just chatting, getting to know one another, swapping contact details and sharing experiences is where we’re at. The business of the day is shuffled, re-prioritised. We’d need a week to fit it all in. A week-long summer gathering is suggested. We look forwards to spending time together in fields, in sunshine, without the fifteen layers of clothing necessary to camp out through a British winter. Earthian entertains us with a workshop on tent-monster creation. Gradually we realise the potential to be had once the Occupy camps are all linked up online and through personal contacts. Our skill set is immense. The Occupy hive mind knows so much already, from plumbing to law, land registry to permaculture, economic theory to outside catering, computer programming, survival techniques, therapeutic techniques and how to open a squat. All that and we’re learning faster than a high-speed train.

The Citadel of Hope used to be a Salvation Army building. Elderly visitors to the conference remember its heyday and are overcome with emotion, so pleased are they to see the space back in use after years of neglect. The Sheffield Occupiers are in touch with the building’s owners regarding the possibility of a negotiated stay. On Sunday evening The Invisible Circus treats us to a highly professional cabaret show in the round. We leave feeling, as one tired but exhilarated London Occupier declared, “…that we’d do anything for these other Occupiers, now we know they too feel this intoxicating hope.”

 

 

OccStock & the Snow

A creative collective of Occupy supporters chose February 4^th to bring their diverse talents to St Paul’s Churchyard. The event was billed as ‘OccStock’, a thankyou to the hardy Occupiers as well as a chance to showcase local artists and bring diverse communities together. Co-ordinator Gee knew it would be cold but didn’t expect to be rewarded for his gift of entertainment with the most magical stage-set imaginable – a cathedral and an encampment blanketed in snow.

Punks with snow-frosted pink mohawks like candy cupcakes danced beside joyous lawyers and a bewildered Kosovan intent on explaining that “It snows one metre in my country, goes to minus twenty degrees, this is nothing!”

It wasn’t nothing to the rest of us. We danced on a snow-covered artificial lawn laid over the Churchyard cobbles. Snowballs were thrown. Snowmen and snow-women – and snowAnonymous characters – were built and given masks. Previously careworn activists gambolled about like chunky children, dressed in thirteen layers of thermals.

Musicians and poets mingled with Occupiers and curious city folk between sets. Lexi James Jr, Andy Secret, Robbing Eden , Smoky Love and Anna Savage gave it their all beneath a dressed-up gazebo, glad to share the bone-chill and exuberance of the crowd. The Common headlined with rhythms that made grooving imperative. For a finale Savannah Stone performed a heart-felt poem, confessing after whoops and applause that she’d been “…so scared to do this”. The whoops and applause amplified as Savannah stepped off the makeshift stage into the arms of proud friends.

Music over, hot chocolate was served and tents were shaken to prevent them buckling beneath the weight of the snow. Emergency space-blankets were handed out and the Occupy LSX Tent City University – newly lined and carpeted to provide a bedouin-style ‘winterised’ space – took on its night-time character as a dormitory for those with nowhere else to go.

St Paul’s Churchyard lived this night. Public space was reclaimed – by Occupy, by artists, by the snow which blurs boundaries between highway and pavement, city land and churchyard. As those behind OccStock say “We can start to change society for the better by reclaiming our time, space and freedom bit by bit and step by step.” As we shovelled snow at midnight, the smiles spoke to that.

http://occstock.org

A winter week… in the Life of LSX Occupier Hazel Hedge

It takes a while to get dressed when being dressed means wearing a pair of tights and thermal leggings under trousers with a vest, thermal under-shirt, long sleeved t-shirt, jumper, cardigan, hooded jacket and sheepskin waistcoat, plus 3 pairs of socks, leg-warmers, scarf, hat and gloves. And that’s just for the daytime.

Occupy is training in ‘radical patience’. I’m not sure who coined that term but it’s a good one. Patience with the challenging behaviour of a minority of camp inhabitants, with the fickle media and the grinding justice system. Patience with direct democracy and consensus decision-making. Patience with the process and the laborious getting dressed.

Good things happen – Arctic ice floes, Occupied Justice trials, vibrant General Assemblies. Occupy National Gathering in Sheffield was inspiring. But it feels like a waiting game now. Waiting to see if the court will hear our appeal. Waiting to see whether we’re to be evicted… this week, next week, one week, two week…

There’s an odd, unsettled energy in the camp. Some people seem to be in fight-or-flight mode, adrenaline buzzing around around their bodies, nowhere productive to put it. Others are determined to make every day count; to prepare, to protect, to strengthen relationships, to celebrate our achievements.

It’s a funny old time. When the journalists ask how I feel, I say – “excited”.

I am excited. We’re about to be born from the womb of St Paul.

An Occupy Poem

This was written by Toni Spencer.

Reading it made my spine tingle and the hairs on my arms stand up. So I asked her if I could share it here.

Occupy is an Invitation

It’s 3.43 in the morning and I can’t sleep…

I am woken by a Mic check

[Mic check]

“This is just the beginning.

Occupy is a process.”

Mic check

[Mic check]

“Slow it down,

the issues of our times are urgent.

Slow it down,

Your attention is needed.

Occupy is an invitation

To wake up

Join us

Occupy is an invocation

To wake up

We the people

Are the ones we’ve been waiting for

We have lost our faith in the leadership of government and big business

We have found our faith in each other

We have found our humanity in the beauty

and the clumsiness that is Occupy

We are finding our way.

Occupy is a process.

We the people

Are so many more than you see here today.

And we the people

Are a voice for all peoples and beings who have no voice

Occupy is process

Occupy is community

Occupy is an invitation

To wake up

Occupy is an invitation

To wake up

To be the change we want to see in this world

To be the courage that asks questions

To be the patience that takes time to find answers

The be the hearts not prepared to wait any longer

for the madness to end.

Occupy is an invitation

for love

made visible

For humanity

To wake up

To wake up

Join us.”

Toni Spencer

Workers’ Co-operatives: escape from the rat-race

Workers’ co-operatives are an anomaly. They exist within the current system while embodying its antithesis. Maybe that’s why governments have ignored them. Despite a history dating back to the Industrial Revolution and the existence of over 2000 UK-based workers’ co-operatives, there is no legal definition of a co-op in Britain. Recognition may be about to increase dramatically, as 2012 is the United Nations International Year of Co-operatives.

The UN is pouring resources into promoting the co-operative model as an alternative means of doing business, while raising awareness of how invaluable co-operatives are in reducing poverty, generating employment, enhancing social integration and increasing sustainability.

We’re led to believe that competition is necessary in the market-place; that business is all about cut and thrust and cutting costs; that bosses boss and workers work and the former are worth far more than the latter. Co-operatives challenge those assumptions, being comprised of voluntary members who jointly and equally control and contribute to the co-op for their own benefit and that of their community. Guided by values of self-help, self-responsibility, democracy, equality, equity, solidarity, honesty, openness, social responsibility and caring for others, co-operatives emphasise the ‘people and planet before profit’ message at the heart of the Occupy movement.

Workers’ co-ops are based on the idea that a workplace should be controlled by those who actually put the work in and that everyone involved should benefit equally. Only workers may be members of the co-op and all members have an equal say in running the business. Many co-operatives use consensus decision making and workers often take turns to do unpopular tasks. While individual skills, experience and preferences are taken into account, attempts are made to provide training and skill-shares so that everyone has a chance to participate in all areas of the work.

A classic image: Protesters carrying banners demanding jobs. Perhaps some left school or college only to find themselves stumbling uncertainly into a no-hope future. Others face redundancy. Some are long-term unemployed, in benefit traps, increasingly unemployable. Jobs are the obvious answer but they’re not always what they’re cracked up to be. Ask those whose work pays the mortgage but drains the soul. Exploitative McJobs aren’t what those marchers really want but “A living wage and meaningful, creative employment that I can be proud of” doesn’t fit neatly onto a placard.

Workers’ co-operatives are an alternative to oppression in the workplace. They are not an alternative to hard work and often require a degree of commitment and responsibility far higher than that demanded in more conventional employment. The pay-back comes in making ones own decisions, co-operating with like-minded people, being in a work environment that is not all about the money. In a workers’ co-op, the well-being of workers, communities and the environment is more important than chasing profit. That’s radical in today’s society.

“Where most companies put profit, we put ethics – right at the heart of what we do. We refuse to compromise for an easy life or a cheap deal.” So says Weirdigans Cafe Co-operative. [1] What does this mean in practice? It means buying organic ingredients, local fresh produce and fair-trade dried goods. It means using a solar-powered, energy-efficient sound system and LED lighting. It means working long hours for minimum wage then sitting around a campfire with a bunch of workmates who’re all equal, who care about each other and wouldn’t dream of playing competitive workplace politics. Caring for customers is high on the list of priorities, as is supporting campaigns against GM foodstuffs and spreading the Occupy message. Lining one’s own pockets doesn’t get a mention.

Footprint Workers’ Co-operative: “As we have no bosses we run [our printing business] as we want, doing interesting jobs for interesting people. We want to be straightforward, friendly, responsible and responsive… We do it as ethically as we can, printing on proper recycled paper, powered by a genuine green electricity tariff and using the least environmentally damaging processes we can find. We also give a percentage of the money we make to worthy projects.” [2]

The socially useful and educational aspects of co-ops come first for many in the movement. Profit-seeking is rare. Sales translate into fair wages and are used to improve both workers’ conditions and service provision for customers. Successful co-operatives often put money back into their communities, donate to charities or support other co-operatives through networks such as Radical Routes.

The Occupy movement – with its emphasis on equality, transparency, democracy and sustainability – is so in tune with the more radical co-ops that it’s difficult to tell their statements apart.

“Our world is shaped by the forces of greed, capitalism and materialism, where maximum production and optimum profits are vigorously pursued, making life a misery for many and putting us and the environment at risk. The system is ultimately controlled by the rich and powerful, the capitalists and bureaucrats, through the use of many mechanisms such as ownership of the economy (making people slaves to a job) and control of the media (creating a passive culture).”

That is Radical Routes, a network of co-ops seeking to change the status quo. [3]

“With its relentless pursuit of profit at all cost, the present corporate system fits the definition of a psychopath, driving the rapid destruction of our society and the natural environment. This is done only to benefit a small minority and not the needs of the 99 per cent. The way corporations and governments are intertwined fundamentally undermines democracy. Corporations are rarely transparent or accountable to the people… The current system is unsustainable. It is undemocratic and unjust. We need alternatives…”

That is Occupy London.

Perhaps co-operatives are one of the alternatives Occupy is seeking. Occupy and the co-operative movement could co-operate to the benefit of both of their communities and to benefit the 99 per cent currently caught in the lonely rat race of oppression and meaningless or non-existent work. Key messages coming from the UN reflect this.

“Co-operative enterprises empower people… improve livelihoods and strengthen the economy… enable sustainable development… balance social and economic demands… promote democratic principles… [provide] a pathway out of poverty… [provide] a sustainable business model for youth…”

The UN slogan for 2012: “Cooperative enterprises build a better world.” [4]

[1] www.weirdigans.co.uk    [2] www.footprinters.co.uk    [3] www.radicalroutes.org.uk    [4] www.social.un.org/coopsyear

Another week… in the Life of LSX Occupier Hazel Hedge

Week number??? Recalculate, recalculate… oh dear I’ve lost track.

Being kept busy.

Writing for the Occupied Times and collaborating on press releases for the Occupy London website.

Tweeting and retweeting fascinating, funny and frightening facts. Also working to improve financial responsibility and internal communications of Occupy London. Check the Forum for more on these subjects.

Helping to clean up after violent storms and vile tent-slashers. Working with the Shelter Working Group to find tents and bedding for new recruits to Occupy LSX.

Attempting to improve the output of our solar-power system at St Paul’s.

Managed to squeeze in a friend’s wedding in the wilds of Cumbria. Discovered that absence from camp combined with no internet access for 36 hours engenders Occupiers’ Anxiety Syndrome.

There’s been a complete overhaul of the Bank of Ideas; Occupied Justice is planning its trials of the 1%; the Finsbury site is plotting its vegetable plots; and at St Paul’s we’re all packing in as much education, entertainment and outreach work as possible while awaiting Judgement Day and considering which affinity group to join should there be an eviction.

Some Occupiers will undoubtedly adopt a stubborn stance – “We will not be moved! (until you drag us out forcibly)”. Others counsel a dignified voluntary downsizing at St Paul’s on the basis that we’ve done what we came to do with the LSX camp and now need to free up our energy for outreach and other work. I’m inclined to this viewpoint, so long as we retain an ‘Embassy’ at St Paul’s from which to interact with press, public, church and city and providing we continue to hold General Assemblies on the cathedral steps – more so when attending them is not a battle against wind-chill factors that not even tights, leggings, trousers, three pairs of socks and seven layers on the top half can withstand.

 

 

A Tale of Two Courts

On trial in The Royal Courts of Justice, Fleet Street – the OccupyLSX camp

Through airport-style security into a hallway of imposing arches and mosaic floors, past a glass case containing relics of Guy Fawkes’ trial, push open heavy doors and enter the gallery above Court 25, where Occupiers are crammed onto narrow wooden benches.

“All rise!” Judge Lindblom enters the court and the day’s story-telling begins.

As with all the best stories, there are moments of humour and tears too. Pomp is kept to a minimum – no big white wigs but a few “M’Luds”. The judge appears genuinely interested in the peculiarities of the case. He advises the untutored litigants, adjusts the schedule to allow every witness a voice and accepts mountains of paperwork, promising to read every scrap of it.

In cross-examination, Tammy is put on the spot about the cleaning of St Paul’s camp before Judge Lindblom’s visit. “That’s normal,” she says. “If I was expecting an important visitor to my flat, I’d tidy up before they arrived.” A down-to-earth answer that pleases his Honour as much as it does the rabble in the gallery. Equally believable is Tanya’s assertion that if she wanted to enter a church to worship, nothing would stop her – certainly not a few tents. Reminding the court that Jesus was a protester and St Paul a tent-maker, she shoots down the notion that the right to worship has been compromised and is backed by Reverend Green, who says that Occupy brings more blessings than curses.

Economist John Christianson claims that the public debate stimulated by Occupy is absolutely necessary and must be given space to continue. Historical use of the area around St Paul’s for ‘folk moots’ is discussed. Veteran Matthew Horne sheds light on what most have never come close to experiencing – the horrors of warfare – and surprises many by drawing parallels between the devastation of Iraqi citizens’ lives by war and the devastation of British citizens’ lives by debt, poverty, unemployment and home repossessions.

George Barda, litigant-in-person, is overcome by emotion on more than one occasion as he struggles to articulate the enormity of the dangers we face – climate change, resource scarcity, mass poverty – and to impress on Mr Justice Lindblom the urgent importance of the Occupy message. Tears are visible on more than one Occupiers’ cheek, as our hands wave in agreement.

According to the City of London, the Occupy encampment has increased crime figures, reduced visitor numbers and caused an untenable narrowing of the highway… but their statistics fail to stick. Our second litigant-in-person, Dan Ashman, has been out with a tape measure and reports that the narrowest bottleneck on the ‘highway’ in question is not even within the camp. The court hears that police assessments continually rate the risk of serious disturbance at the camp as ‘low’.

The CoL Corporation appears somewhat confused about what they object to – is it the protesters, or the vulnerable and sometimes challenging people who’ve found community in the encampment, or the physical tents? It is tents they are seeking to remove; our QC raises a chuckle when he asks whether it is the tents that are getting drunk, making a noise and committing the crimes that the City complains of.

Dan argues that conventional forms of protest have failed, which is why Occupy tactics are vital. Pressing social need and the desperate importance of the Occupy work are the main thrusts of our defence. Surely these weigh heavier in the scales of justice than petty health and safety qualms and the minor inconvenience of pedestrians?

Fat files of supporting documents are presented to the judge. He has homework to do over the holidays. OccupyLSX is granted a Christmas reprieve and now awaits an early January judgment day.

On trial in the Old Street Magistrates Court of Occupied Justice – the 1%

Knock on a heavy wooden door, speak the password, get eye-balled through a spy-hole, hear the drawing back of bolts, step into another imposing hallway. Tigger, my tour guide, gestures to a grand, sweeping staircase. “You want to go up to the courtroom or down to the cells?”

I choose the cells. It’s cold and damp in the basement. Plaster crumbles, unidentifiable stains hint at previous occupants. The cells are equipped with rock-hard sleeping ledges, seatless toilets and metal doors with sliding grills. In the corridor outside each cell is a blackboard with a name scrawled in chalk.

“JP Morgan”. “Tony Blair”. “Goldman Sachs”. “George Bush”. These and other members of the 1% – those responsible for war crimes, ecocide and economic chaos – will soon be under the spotlight at Occupied Justice.

“We’ll be putting them on trial,” Tigger explains. “The accused will be invited along but if they don’t show, we’ll try them in absentia.”

Rumour has it that legal professionals are keen to be involved. A thorough investigation of City of London corruption is promised. The financial services industry will be brought to account in this, the Court of the 99%.

The wood-paneled courtroom is grand. A maze of ante-rooms, including one with parquet floor and French windows opening onto a balcony, provide plenty of scope for the expansion of Occupy London. Squatters’ rights have been claimed. A peace flag flies from the rooftop. The back yard is big enough to park the Occupy Veterans’ Tank of Ideas.

Despite imminent threat of eviction, there’s a strong sense of fun as well as outrage here, in evidence at the Occupied Justice New Year Cabaret. A theatrical performance sees protesters and party-goers thrown into the cells by a wicked ‘Establishment’ Judge, before reappearing on the grandiose staircase to juggle, dance and recite political poetry to a rapt crowd of visitors. Perhaps the only cabaret where the hecklers call “Process!” and “Mic Check!”. The grand finale – aerial acrobatics on ribbons strung from a stained-glass dome above the Hall – leaves everyone awestruck.

Tigger’s finale is to lead me up spiraling wrought-iron staircases into the night sky. Wobbly- legged on the highest pinnacle of the roof, five storeys above neon-lit pavements, I marvel at the view of Canary Wharf all flash and brash, then turn around to see east London bathed in the lilac-pink of a winter dawn. It does feel like a new beginning.

 

Occupy 2012

Looming evictions combine with a desire to stay fresh, engage more people and keep on kicking the system. There’s a vertiginous sense of standing on the brink of something massive, of making history… and a parallel fear that Occupy could stumble and disappear down a crack leaving only a cyber-echo and a few thousand flyers to remember us by. The one percent would surely like us to shut up and go home now but in assembly after assembly strident voices reject that idea. New Year resolve is strong. “We’re here to stay.”

For some Occupiers it’s all about the tents. Symbolic tents, tents for practical reasons, strategic tents, even tents as costume for comedic effect. Tents allow a sustained presence and protest that has proved so much more effective than one-day marches and demonstrations. Tents make Occupy special and there’s no way all the tents will be packed up… and yet many envisage Occupy 2012 looking a little different.

Occupy is ingenious, Occupy is branching out in multiple directions. There are so many things wrong with the current system; so many methods of protesting and raising awareness; so many different priorities; a myriad potential solutions. Evolution, revolution, direct action, dialogue. There’s no need to choose one route, one tactic, one answer. Occupy is strong in its diversity. Occupy can and will mount attacks on all fronts. Peacefully.

There will be more occupations, of buildings and land. Outreach to schools and community groups will expand. Watch Occupy work with Transition communities, permaculturists and co-operatives to set up practical, grass-roots alternatives to current unsustainable systems. Finsbury Square may become the first Occupy eco-village. There will be solidarity actions alongside Unions, low-paid workers and students. Tent City Universities will go On Tour. There may be excursions into mainstream politics. Church liaisons are likely. Temple, mosque and synagogue liaisons too and perhaps a strengthening of links with the quietly radical Quakers. Look out for General Assemblies springing up in town squares and on village greens across the land.

Occupy London’s Criminal Investigation Unit will be delving into the dirty secrets of the corrupt and greedy elite. There are plans afoot for an Occupy festival and an Occupiers’ Handbook. A diploma in Occupied Economics was launched by Tent City University in the last days of 2011. Button badges and pop-up debates will tickle the fancies of city-workers and tourists. Flash mobs, street theatre and Occupy Circus will provide generous sprinklings of irreverent frolicsome fun and to balance that there’ll be more tough learning and hardship. Dedication and a commitment to the long-haul will be required for building the kinds of communities we dream of. Everyone – including the top dogs at the Cathedral but perhaps excluding the City of London Corporation – is keen for Occupy to keep a presence at St Paul’s, where we can keep the London Stock Exchange in our sights and maintain a steady pressure on the City.

The Occupy Movement is not going away. On the contrary, it’s a hydra sprouting new heads daily. Preparing for crisis, planning for Utopia.

Come, join us!

Sheffield will be hosting the UK National Occupy Gathering January 21-23.

Week 9… in the Life of LSX Occupier Hazel Hedge

Occupy has its ups and downs. Living cheek-by-jowl on the city cobbles in winter, with a bunch of disparate rebels, isn’t easy. I mentioned this to a wise old man who said  “Well, you didn’t expect revolution to be a walk in the park did you?”.

The City of London Corporation is attempting to evict us for obstruction of the highway. I sat in court for a couple of days and found the witness statements on our side humbling, moving and inspiring. There were chuckles, tears and standing ovations from the public gallery. The Judge appeared genuinely interested in the peculiarities and importance of the case and gave us a stay of execution until at least January 11th. He will be weighing the evidence over the holidays.

On the one hand: An immature ragtag movement is claiming that democracy, the economy and the earth itself are in peril; therefore there is a pressing social need for us to continue stimulating debate, raising awareness and campaigning for change… and that in order to do those things effectively we must remain in our strategic and symbolic location between St Paul’s and the London Stock Exchange, right in the heart of the corrupt CoL.

On the other hand: The City of London paints a picture of a gang of rowdy wastrels frightening innocent city workers and school children, clogging up the pavement with banners and buskers, peeing in corners and making the place look untidy.

The City has some valid points. It’s true that the camp has attracted homeless and mentally ill people; consequentially there is a certain amount of challenging – sometimes downright disruptive – behaviour. However, OccupyLSX didn’t create these people and behaviours out of thin air. One of the camp defendants pointed out in court that the City of London has been a major contributor to the exact social problems that have now landed on its doorstep – and that this could be considered poetic justice.

The Judge asked whether poetic justice is a good thing or a bad thing. Our defendant said “It is instructive,” and we all waved our hands in the air.

Whether the camp’s evicted from St Paul’s or not we’re a strong community now and we’ll stick together to fight for what we believe in.

An end-of-year Occupy round up looks something like this:

There are 950 occupations worldwide, approximately 25 in the UK. A national Occupy conference is held in a different city every month. Live-stream links occupations across the world. Occupy has more online platforms than anyone can keep abreast of (in London alone we’ve half a dozen websites, a forum, a handful of twitter accounts, facebook pages, wikis, livestream, youtube, mumble and tumblr). The Occupied Times is eight issues young and going strong, the Occupiers’ Toolkit has been widely disseminated and an Occupiers’ Handbook is being created. Time magazine’s Person of the Year was The Protester and in column inches Occupy is definitely a winner. Links are being forged with Transition communities. Occupy Edinburgh has the blessing of the city council. Quakers support us. We’re in dialogue with the faithful from churches, mosques, synagogues and temples. Teenagers are putting Occupy messages on youtube and ordinary people are discussing the big issues on buses and in laundrettes. School parties are taking educational tours of Occupy encampments and museums are archiving the OT for posterity. Bishops, American preachers, financiers, famous musicians and a billion journalists want to talk with us.

We must be doing some things right… but where to from here?

Occupy 2012 may look a little different.

See my next post…