[anarchist23]

OCCUPY DEMOCRACY
Parliament Square, 17th to 26th October
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#OccupyDemocracy has successfully maintained a constant presence on Parliament Square despite police attempts to disrupt our peaceful protest. This Friday there is a busy day of workshops with great speakers on the theme of war and peace. Join us on Parliament Square to learn and participate, and to give invaluable support to our campaign for a democracy that serves the public interest instead of corporations, banks and a tiny wealthy elite.

Important note: Some #OccupyDemocracy participants have chosen to put themselves in a position where they have been arrested in order to make a political point. This is by no means necessary to join us. Simply attending our assemblies or workshops is unlikely to create a sudden risk to your safety or liberty.

Schedule for Friday

See @occupylondon for latest live streams


Recent posts :

#OccupyDemocracy: Churchill plinth occupied almost 24 hours; mass demo 6pm Thursday, Arrested Green Jenny Jones plus Caroline Lucas MP to speak today
Schedule for Sunday, 26th of October
Schedule for Saturday, 25th of October
Schedule for Friday, 24th of October
Schedule for Thursday, 23rd of October
Schedule for Wednesday, 22nd of October

WHAT OCCUPY DEMOCRACY IS ABOUT

DEMAND REAL DEMOCRACY. OCCUPY PARLIAMENT SQUARE.

Our time is now.

In Hong Kong, hundreds of people are fighting courageously for the right to a real vote. They know that a system where candidates are decided by the state is no democracy.

In Scotland, 45% of people rejected Westminster rule. They know that a system that takes the power to make local decisions out of their hands is no democracy.

We know that democracy is not just about having a vote every four, now five years. It is about having the power to make your voice heard. We know that a government that answers to profit before people is no democracy.

In the UK today, record numbers of people are homeless, record numbers rely on food banks to feed their families, and record numbers face fuel poverty as energy prices rise eight times faster than wages.

At the same time, inequality is back on the rise, making us one of the most unequal countries in the developed world. The amount we ask businesses to contribute to our social services in tax is set to be the lowest of any of the G20 countries. Tax evasion and avoidance costs the UK £95bn a year, enough to fund the NHS in England.

Nobody voted to be made homeless, hungry or unemployed. It is clear whose voices are being heard.

We need to start a movement for real democracy. The voices of the majority have been ignored for too long. We need to give ourselves the tools to hold our politicians to account, and to end the corporate lobbying power that drowns our voices out.

To do it, we need a movement that cannot be ignored. That is why we are occupying Parliament Square from the 17th – 26th of October, to begin a fight for a real democracy (see the original call to action). There, in the shadow of Nelson Mandela’s statue, we will transform the Square into a civic space where we can re-envision what our society could be like, with talks, workshops, community assemblies, music and theatre.

There is one thing that every successful social justice movement has had to overcome: the prevalence of the belief that the status quo is how it has to be. That there is no alternative. All of us can feel weakened and ground down by that belief, but all of us must have the courage to overcome it. To imagine a different future for ourselves. To show each other that there is an alternative. Because the current system relies entirely on our believing that there isn’t.

The austerity measures imposed on us for the sake of economic growth, our continued reliance on dirty coal and oil, our hospitals closing, our transit systems worsening while fares rise, our children attending under-funded schools with exhausted underpaid teachers – we only accept these things because we let ourselves believe there is no other way of doing things.

But please, join us for the Occupation. Try imagining there is another way. Do it with people you love, people you trust, with experts and activists and people to be inspired by. If you’re reading this, you’re invited. Your friends, family, colleagues are invited. Now is the time to produce our vision of a sane, workable, inspiring alternative, together. Come to learn, discuss and participate. Dare to believe that there is an alternative.

We are the ones we’ve been waiting for.

Rise, like lions after slumber
In unvanquishable number!
Shake your chains to earth like dew
Which in sleep had fallen on you:
Ye are many—they are few!




GET INVOLVED

The planning of the camp and keeping it alive depends on the help of our volunteers. We welcome anybody to join, and can find something useful to do for any skill set. To find out the details for our next meeting, or to suggest a way in which you can give a hand, get in touch via email: occupydemocracy@riseup.net. Alternatively, you can join in the work once the camp has started.

The occupation will be an alcohol-free, safe space and any major decisions will be achieved through consensus.

We have produced a flyer and a poster that can be freely distributed. The most recent updates and information can be most easily found through our social-media presence.

Join our Facebook event and share the content

Follow us on Twitter


PROGRAMME

We are putting together a 9 day programme of speakers, workshops and assemblies. Each day has a different theme. Programme subject to change. Check for updates.

Friday 24th of October: War & Peace

Saturday 25th of October: Solutions

Sunday 26th of October: Means of change

The schedule for past days:

Friday 17th of October: Opening event

Saturday 18th of October: A Revolution in Democracy

Sunday 19th of October: Money, Tax & Finance

Monday 20th of October: Public services

Tuesday 21st of October: Public services 2

Wednesday 22nd of October: Life, Environment & Equality

Thursday 23rd of October: Justice, Equality and the Media

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This is a photo my son took this morning.....

[anarchist23]

Another photo that my son took.

[anarchist23]

The Occupation of Parliament Square is now officially over.




A list of demands will be handed into the Houses of Parliament tomorrow at about 4.30pm For more info visit www.occupydemocracy.org.uk.

STARTING MONDAY NIGHT : THE NEW PUTNEY DEBATES!

http://thenewputneydebates.com/programme/
The occupation of parliament square is now over.

Website: http://thenewputneydebates.com/
Twitter: @occupylondon, @PutneyDebates14 #putneydebates

From 27 Oct: Occupy London presents The New Putney Debates

Starting Monday 27 October, straight after the #OccupyDemocracy protest on Parliament Square, Occupy London kicks off The New Putney Debates - providing a platform to overturn discredited narratives of the political mainstream and examine democratic pathways to social, economic and ecological justice. [1]

In the spirit of debate and dialogue, Occupy London has deliberately invited speakers from differing viewpoints including Mark Goyder (City think-tank Tomorrow’s Company), Professor David Graeber (LSE, Occupy Wall Street, author of '5000 years of Debt'), Izabella Kaminska (Financial Times), Owen Jones (Campaigner, journalist & author of 'The Establishment & how they get away with it') and Dr Ann Pettifor (PRIME economics, co-leader Jubilee 2000 writing off $100B debt).

Giving voice to the many, divisive topics of our times Occupy London will be celebrating the 366th year anniversary of the Putney Debates by holding a series of events inspired by the Levellers and Diggers demands for social justice, civil rights and access to the land [2]. The programme of events is scheduled between 27th October and 16th November 2014.

Entry for all events is free, with crowd funding and voluntary collections to cover costs. [3] Fully accessible, events take place around London starting in the new 1,000 seat auditorium at the Quaker headquarters on Euston Road with the final event taking place in St Mary’s Church, Putney, where the Debates started on 28 October 1647. The event benefits from wide practical support, including from Friend’s House at Euston, Trades Unions, charities and colleges.

Summary of Events:

7-9pm Monday 27 October - Inaugural event - Crash, Cuts. Crisis – Causes, Consequences, Solutions
Inaugural debate in the new 1,000 seat auditorium at the Quaker headquarters with Owen Jones (Campaigner, journalist & author of 'The Establishment & how they get away with it'), Emeritus Professor Victoria Chick (UCL economist), Izabella Kaminska (Financial Times - Alphaville), Fred Harrison (Land activist, author, filmmaker), Carlo Nero (Activist & Filmaker, showing 'The Killing Fields'), Peter Smith (Conservationist) plus Julie Timbrell (Occupy London) facilitating.
Venue - The Light, Friends House, 173 Euston Road NW1 2BJ.

7-9pm Tuesday 28 October - Concentrated Power and Consequences – a workshop
Interactive workshop exploring the inevitable, damaging and destructive consequences of concentrated power with Clive Menzies (Director at Fund Building Limited & Founder of 'Critical Thinking Group' at the Free University) and Ray Sheath (new Constitution Campaigner).
Venue - London School of Economics SU, Saw Swee Hock Student Centre (floor - 2 (basement)), 1 Sheffield Street WC2A 2AP.

7pm - Thursday 30th October Basic Income; The Core Economy & Democratising Money
Focusing on the Basic Income initiative and democratising money with Barbara Jacobsen (European Citizens' Initiative for an Unconditional Basic Income), Duncan McCann (New Economics Foundation), Ben Baumberg (inequalities researcher Kent University).
Venue - Institute of education (SU) , Room S16, Level 3 of the main IOE building on Bedford Way 20 Bedford Way, London WC1H 0AL.

7-9.30pm - Friday 31 October - Disabled women’s right to Occupy! - Feminism, disability & activism
Questions on feminist perspectives on issues of sexuality, disability, and social justice – disability and sexuality, queer crip politics, race, violence against women, the right for disabled women to occupy a safer space on their inter-sectional issues. With Eleanor Lisney (Sisters of Frida) & others.
Venue - Ground Floor, Friends House, 173 Euston Road NW1 2BJ.

Saturday 1 November - Trade Treaties, Tax Dodging, Corporate Capture & Regulatory Arbitrage
Orchestrated world-wide tax avoidance, including the re-writing of laws by parties funded and captured by the super-rich is a fundamental subversion and betrayal of democracy and the ability of the state to protect the 99%, not farm them by the 0.1%.
2.30pm - John Christensen (Tax Justice Network).
4.30pm - Trade Treaties - find out how international trade treaties are enabling corporations to undermine democracy.
with Linda Kaucher EU international trade researcher & StopTTIP, Glyn Moody (Tech Journalist) and Sam Lowe (Friends of the Earth).
Venue - Bloomsbury Suite, Ground Floor, Friends House, 173 Euston Road NW1 2BJ.

2.30pm - Sunday 2 November - Capitalism is Part of the Answer!
Debate with facilitator Amrita Bhohi (co-ordinator City Forum), proposer Mark Goyder (founder director of City think-tank Tomorrow’s Company), Dr Dave Dewhurst (Secretary Cybernetics Society + Occupy London), opposing Professor David Graeber (LSE, Occupy Wall Street, author of '5000 years of Debt'), Dr Ann Pettifor (PRIME economics, co-leader Jubilee 2000 writing off $100B debt)
Venue - St Ethelburga’s Reconciliation Centre (with City Forum), 78 Bishopsgate, EC2N 4AG

7pm - Tuesday 4 November - Unsettling Debt: What does debt resistance mean in the UK?
Debt Resistance UK is inviting you to an evening of discussion to hear more, share your stories on debt and explore possibilities for collective action. With Fanny Malinen & Vica Rodgers (Occupy London/Debt Resist UK), Joel Benjamin & Ranjan Kumaran (Move Your Money/Debt Resist UK), Jonathan Stevenson (Jubilee Debt Campaign) and John Hatto.
Venue - SOAS, room B102 Brunei Building, Russell Square WC1H OXG.

7pm - Thursday 6 November - Charter of the Forest
A celebration of the anniversary of The Charter of the Forest, which was first issued on 6 November 1217 as a complementary charter to the Magna Carta. This gave commoning rights to common people in England's forest, heaths and chases. The evening will start with a talk by Ben Cowell, Our Democratic Heritage , on The Charter of the Forests, the Magna Carta, and the New Commons, followed by Re-wilding: a performance workshop by The FLOCK collective and end with For the love of trees: a short dramatic monologue by Natasha Langridge.
Venue:The White Building, Unit 7, Queens Yard, White Post Lane, London, E9 5EN.

12 noon - 5pm Saturday 8 November - Extreme Energy and Sustainable Alternatives based upon the recent report by Corporatewatch entitled To The Ends of The Earth: A Guide to Unconventional Fossil Fuels - organised by Energy, Equity & Environment working group.
Chris Kitchen, Director of Corporatewatch, will do a presentation on their recent report. Pete Deane from Biofuelwatch will present a film entitled Biomass Emergency and will talk about the scourge of biomass energy generation and biofuels. Suzanne Dhaliwal from the London Mining Network will present a talk on tar sands extraction and issues around fuel and ore mining. Philip Davidson will present his film Autumn Diary, about the Balcombe community resistance to Cuadrilla’s local fracking operation last year. Tisha Brown from Frack Off will talk about resistance to fracking in the U.K. Ruth London from Fuel Poverty Action will talk about the Energy Bill of Rights and lead into a discussion about alternatives to the current catastrophic energy program.
Venue - Check website for details.

Sunday 16 November - Finale event - Re-making Democracy
Starts from 1pm - 4pm
Ultimate participative event exploring how can we re-constitute a society to create a real democracy for social, economic & environmental justice. With speakers setting the scene from the Scottish Radical Independence Campaign, Iceland's pots & pans revolution, Spanish Podemos party for democracy , and Kurdish self government, followed by a participative discussion using Open Space Technology. Held in the same venue as the original debates in 1647 when soldiers and officers of Oliver Cromwell's New Model Army, including civilian representatives of the Levellers, held discussions on the constitution and future of England.
Venue - St Mary’s Church, High St, Putney, SW15 1SN
Notes
[1] http://thenewputneydebates.com/
[2] Historical Putney Debates - http://www.putneydebates.com/
[3] http://www.sponsume.com/project/putney-debates-2014

[Decky]

What in gods name do you think you achieved?

[anarchist23]

What in gods name do you think you achieved?

This demo was about giving publicity to alternative political views. We have the mainstream politics but there is more to politics than that. We need to examine different perspectives on many political issues.
We need to politicise the teenagers and this there is no better way than a demo,this is so important. The future lies in our youth. My son is 14, popped in to have a look, have a chat to a couple of protesters, take photos. So you asked what was achieved? Well I can tell you that my son learnt a few things that day and he wasn't the only one.