‘Concert organiser Adam Fiztmaurice said the show had taken a fortnight to set up, but was just one cultural response to economic injustice.
“Yesterday I was meeting with clergy, and today it is with rock stars. The Occupy movement has so many cultures and this is just a snap shot of what we are doing,” he said.
MAYBE ADAM FITZMAURICE SHOULD HAVE A READ OF ANIMAL FARM – LAST CHAPTER MATE
Ian Bone 
That ‘invited audience’ as described in the journos words, were in fact mostly occupiers, ie not liggers from somewhere else just truning up to party for free, but people who’ve been doing hard work, political work (you don’t have to fully endorse the politics to undersatnd what this means) to make and keep these occupations happening. Up the workers!
The milk and apples are for the hard political workers only, many of them actually dislike milk and apples however they consume them for the benefit of us all.
I can’t believe you are actually for real? A man like you should be working with us, to make this movement work, there is/was respect for you Mister Bone but your mean minded, petty rubbish just makes it harder and harder to have respect. Do you have any idea what would have happened if we had let the city know about this gig? The invited audience was those who have been sleeping in tents for six weeks. That’s it. No Tamara’s and Tarquin’s.
If it had been advertised it might have led to thousands turning up and then who knows what kind of fun could be had in the city.
Diddums, has Senor Bone rained on your wank-fest for the ‘1%’ of elite occupiers? Will this affect somebodie’s media career prospects? Those who put in the ‘hard work, political work ‘, the ones who are ‘mean minded’ enough to exclude those who have more right to protest than a lot of middle class cunts who want to suck up to celebrities…?
@jamieoccupy Yes, I do realise what would have happened if you had let the city know about the gig. Ten thousand people turning up to an anti capitalist roof top rally in support of you. Shove that up your a*se Mr. Cameron & Mr. Hogan-Howe. A missed opportunity at propaganda tactics for the occupiers who are about to be evicted, Jamie. Tarquin may not have been there but you’re picking up his habits.
We missed it at the time, but we came across this statement the other day from Massive Attack about the riots. Spot on.
”In context with the complicit support of the government, the banks looted the nation’s wealth while destroying countless small businesses and brought the whole economy to its knees in a covert, clean manner, rather like organised crime.
Our reaction was to march and wave banners and then bail them out. These kids would have to riot and steal every night for a year to run up a bill equivalent to the value of non-paid tax big business has ”˜avoided’ out of the economy this year alone.
They may not articulate their grievances like the politicians that condemn them but this is absolutely political. As for the ”˜mindless violence’”¦ is there anything more mindless than the British taxpayer quietly paying back the debts of others while contributing bullets to conflicts that we have absolutely no understanding of?
It’s mad, sad and scary when we have to take to the streets to defend our homes and businesses from angry thieving kids, but where are the police and what justice is ever done when the mob is dressed in pin stripe.”
What odds on Bono feeling that his self-styled status of number 1 voice of oppressed is in danger?
Him and geldolf are probably plotting to do a secret acoustic gig on the steps of St Pauls.
Secret involving half the worlds media and the Pope on backing vocals.
Major rock stars like Thom Yorke et al, by there very success, whatever their views, are part of the capitalist system; it’s so difficult not to be. Yorke, & to an extent other Radiohead members, is philanthropic, gives away/trades music, is vegan, campaigns for fair trade & green issues; he is reportedly sympathetic to anarchism. All to the good, but Radiohead is a medium sized corporation, which cannot not exploit people.
This is a reply to Incubus’s very telling link (http://www.occupiedlondon.org/blog/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/Lost-in-the-Fog.-Dead-Ends-and-Potentials-of-the-Occupy-Movement-LCSC.pdf) he posted in ‘City of London’s Cops Go All Iain Sinclair’, but it seems appropriate to post it here as it’s all related. I wrote this last night before I read the article about the benefit gig for the clique…
Says a lot about what I’ve felt of Occupy – that it’s an essentially middle class movement where the middle classes feel threatened by the ruling/political/capitalist class (for squeezing them into becoming more ‘working class’ and losing their middle class privileges), but want to maintain their distance and class differences for fear of being associated with, or becoming like, the working class.
With the way Occupy is going, you can expect a London march next summer whose route will be defined by its waypoints of Costa Coffee and Starbucks cafes. It will end at up at an outdoor event on Hampstead Heath with the usual bijou market of falafel kiosks, keffiyeh stalls, and bangle hawkers etc, a bouncy castle for the kids and a headline performance by Michael McIntyre. Tickets will be £25 in advance, or £40 on the day, which will be discounted by £10 if you use a Virgin Money credit card. They’ll call it ‘Middles Class Pride’. It’ll be sponsored by Marks and Spencer.
‘Tax the rich not the poor, one solution, Class war’
Some interesting stuff coming out of the Occupy movement in the US http://money.cnn.com/2011/12/05/real_estate/occupy_wall_street/
Quoting Rooftop Jaxx
” people who’ve been doing hard work, political work (you don’t have to fully endorse the politics to undersatnd what this means) to make and keep these occupations happening. Up the workers!”
That sounds just like what Cameron would say to justify cabinet privileges. How many of the potato peelers and litter pickers were at the event? I know at least one ligger who got in. – a case of pure cronyism….
Meanwhile in the real world…
Blackfriars, 5.30pm tonight; mainstream TV coverage from 6pm:
https://www.facebook.com/events/103130423139528/
Report on this morning in Hartlepool & elsewhere:
http://neanarchists.com/heer7dec.html
And this from one of the rank & file ‘leadership’:
“Ballot what ballot? Walk-outs: Protests: & Demos: Can’t wait – won’t wait. Sparks are doing it for themselves!
Anti Trade union laws brought in by Thatcher under the Tories and left unchanged by Labour under Blair and Brown, never fought by the TUC and Union leaders.
It meant that workers were criminalised for doing what was right, that is fighting for pay, pensions and jobs.
So what can be done eh?…… Rank and file action, that’s what.
Today [7th Dec] the biggest most widespread unofficial action in decades is seeing 1000’s of Balfour Beatty electricians [and others from the rogue 7 companies] taking part in walk-outs, protests, demos, and occupations, across England, Scotland and Wales. From Cardiff to London, from Glasgow to Liverpool to Hartlepool, and more besides.
No to BESNA: No to ACAS: No to cuts in pay and conditions:
Defend the JIB and then improve it:
And I say:
Let’s have elections for all union officials where the members decide who represents them and we can hold them to account!
Let’s end the appointed jobs for life!!
Let’s have a Unite General Secretary on an average wage not a six figure salary!!!
Let’s get the Union back where it belongs, with the grass roots, rank and file members!!!
Victory to the sparks!!!!
In solidarity”
This is the sort of thing we were debating on this morning’s march. It’s going to become more & more of an issue next year as more & more workers get into struggle and come up against the same problems. Can we reform existing trade unions; can we strengthen the power of the branches to act freely and independently, or do we need syndicalist unions? Have to say I ain’t seen anything from the Wobs or SolFed in the North-East in terms of any organised presence or intervention in this dispute. And then there’s the question of the TUs role in selling jobs and reducing pay & working conditions over the past few decades. A generally spineless role with a direct negative inpact on that section of the class that doesn’t have a job, or who’s leaving school & looking for one.
One final point. Apparently, some police sergeant at the end said that there were some ‘antagonistic’ members of the march. Like all of us actually. The taking of the roundabout was ‘led’ by a couple of shouts from some guy I’d never noticed before & it’s the same at every action; somebody does something or says something that gets us all going. Remember Hydra’s head Mr. Plod and remember what happens if you chop the fucker off.
Radiohead? They met up and formed at the plush Abingdon school for boys in Oxfordshire http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abingdon_School .. “occupy” are fucking welcome to them.
“Prominent Conservative politician, member of parliament for Horsham, former Chairman of the Conservative Party and current Paymaster General Francis Maude attended the school in the 1960s.”
Hold on……..so cos someone has a posh background means they’re not welcome at ‘working class’ stuff? What’s that all about? Payback for the way they treat people like cunts? Yeah, let’s play their game eh? Hmmmmm………….
I thought we already had a response to economic injustice. We robbed the shops of what we were told we needed.
Merry Xmas, in case I don’t get the time to post yer again between now & then.
Hope the kids get all nice pressy’s this year as proceeds of the riots. It will go part of the way to getting rid of fucking charity poverty chasing scum.
Cheers.
Well there you go. That’s how the Ian Bone crew turned out … I had so much respect for the class war movement (even shouted ‘no more croutons in my soup’ on the way up to Hampstead with Nick Turner and the original stop the city movement in the 80s) (have watched you, mr bone, with admiration, for years… and watched you turn up at Occupy a few times but you have never actually taken part) (has your ego got in the way? as if, unless we all respect you, then you feel out of your comfort zone?)
These posts show:
Ignorance of that facts that Occupy London has been out there every wednesday supporting the sparks at seven am since we took the site. dropping a banner on week two, making a major action WITH the sparks on Nov 30th at liverpool street station (just ask the union men what they think of us?)
Ignorance of the fact that there are all classes, all races, all ages, all genders involved at every level of what we are doing (and we are doing it globally)
Ignorance of the fact that our SIMILARITIES are far greater than our DIFFERENCES.
If anything I ever learned about class war is still true, you lot should be getting down there in the cold and helping us, instead of making ill informed snidey comments.
Yet were the sparks invited to the movement’s exclusive event or are they just working class props to provide some street cred to Occupy?? I’m not attacking the Occupy Movement. There is much to commend it upon but its Achilles’ heel is its depiction of elitism & exclusivity within your ranks. Inviting aristocrats who own 1300 acres to lecture upon resolution to the inequality of distribution of resources is not advisable when the only solution is the repossession of the land the aristocrats & the rest of the 1% own. Conflict of interest. Neither is the Occupied Times’ refusal to print an article upon the homeless, written by a man who has experience of it, because it didn’t reflect the bourgeois consensus, perceived as progressive or inclusive. Aristocratic activists want to trifle with the system. Working class activists want to destroy it. You’re either with us or against us.
Jane, can you do me a favour and tell me more about the Occupied Times refusal to print that article. I work with homeless people and with homelessness organisations/activists and would really like to hear more/maybe read the piece? You can email me if you like on anarchycomputercorp@riseup.net Cheers.
I’ve been down there, participated in the assemblies and working groups, I’ve donated cash and material things…But since the whole shebang lacks any class content, is dominated by an entirely middle class clique who ensure they stay out of the limelight in the assemblies (but come to the fore for the media), and having seen an assembly be manipulated by one of the ‘you-can’t-criticise-me-I’m-a-woman’ power-trippers, I see no reason to be involved, and I see no reason not to criticise the occupation. Class struggle anarchists and proles are naturally averse to such horseshit, especially when they meet people who are more concerned about Canadian tar-sands than the slums not one mile from St.Paul’s. I’ve made suggestions to extend the movement into the working class areas next to the City, to link to other struggles, all of which has fallen on deaf ears, as if the people fear losing their precious activist bubble…Working with the sparks is great, but it seems to me, everything else is just self-serving, smug, empty crap.
(FYI, most of the people here aren’t in CW, since it no longer exists)
The Canadian tar sands affects us all-I would have thought anyone who really knows and cares what the fuckers are doing to the environment and the first nation people over there (and it is really bad) would also give a shit about the slums of London. I know i do but I wasn’t impressed with day one of occupy london when some people got shouted down, quite agressively, when some people challenged the copscum who were assaulting a guy in a wheelchair. Self defence and aiding the less fortunate is not violence but some of those “peaceful protesters” think it is. And we could have taken that square-the original plan-if there weren’t so many fucking photographers in the way!
All you need is love, dud dud dudda da,
all you need is love, dud dud dudda da
all we have is cunts , cunts
all we have is cunts
Fuck massive attack.
Horace is a nice bloke though…..really nice as it goes….yeah alright he’s a pal. 😉
I have just read through the last chapter of animal farm and found something of a moral argument that the author of this post here may have been trying to point out to the rest of us. On the surface it does appear an insult to the occupation to refer to them as animals but I believe this excert from that last chapter may make it clear that a moral argument is being made. Its a bit long but I believe it provides the context of what Mr Bones was attempting to communicate.
“For once Benjamin consented to break his rule, and he read out to her what was written on the wall. There was nothing there now except a single Commandment. It ran:
ALL ANIMALS ARE EQUAL
BUT SOME ANIMALS ARE MORE EQUAL THAN OTHERS
After that it did not seem strange when next day the pigs who were supervising the work of the farm all carried whips in their trotters. It did not seem strange to learn that the pigs had bought themselves a wireless set, were arranging to install a telephone, and had taken out subscriptions to John Bull, TitBits, and the Daily Mirror. It did not seem strange when Napoleon was seen strolling in the farmhouse garden with a pipe in his mouth-no, not even when the pigs took Mr. Jones’s clothes out of the wardrobes and put them on, Napoleon himself appearing in a black coat, ratcatcher breeches, and leather leggings, while his favourite sow appeared in the watered silk dress which Mrs. Jones had been used to wear on Sundays.
A week later, in the afternoon, a number of dogcarts drove up to the farm. A deputation of neighbouring farmers had been invited to make a tour of inspection. They were shown all over the farm, and expressed great admiration for everything they saw, especially the windmill. The animals were weeding the turnip field. They worked diligently hardly raising their faces from the ground, and not knowing whether to be more frightened of the pigs or of the human visitors.
That evening loud laughter and bursts of singing came from the farmhouse. And suddenly, at the sound of the mingled voices, the animals were stricken with curiosity. What could be happening in there, now that for the first time animals and human beings were meeting on terms of equality? With one accord they began to creep as quietly as possible into the farmhouse garden.
At the gate they paused, half frightened to go on but Clover led the way in. They tiptoed up to the house, and such animals as were tall enough peered in at the dining-room window. There, round the long table, sat half a dozen farmers and half a dozen of the more eminent pigs, Napoleon himself occupying the seat of honour at the head of the table. The pigs appeared completely at ease in their chairs The company had been enjoying a game of cards but had broken off for the moment, evidently in order to drink a toast. A large jug was circulating, and the mugs were being refilled with beer. No one noticed the wondering faces of the animals that gazed in at the window.
Mr. Pilkington, of Foxwood, had stood up, his mug in his hand. In a moment, he said, he would ask the present company to drink a toast. But before doing so, there were a few words that he felt it incumbent upon him to say.
It was a source of great satisfaction to him, he said-and, he was sure, to all others present-to feel that a long period of mistrust and misunderstanding had now come to an end. There had been a time-not that he, or any of the present company, had shared such sentiments-but there had been a time when the respected proprietors of Animal Farm had been regarded, he would not say with hostility, but perhaps with a certain measure of misgiving, by their human neighbours. Unfortunate incidents had occurred, mistaken ideas had been current. It had been felt that the existence of a farm owned and operated by pigs was somehow abnormal and was liable to have an unsettling effect in the neighbourhood. Too many farmers had assumed, without due enquiry, that on such a farm a spirit of licence and indiscipline would prevail. They had been nervous about the effects upon their own animals, or even upon their human employees. But all such doubts were now dispelled. Today he and his friends had visited Animal Farm and inspected every inch of it with their own eyes, and what did they find? Not only the most up-to-date methods, but a discipline and an orderliness which should be an example to all farmers everywhere. He believed that he was right in saying that the lower animals on Animal Farm did more work and received less food than any animals in the county. Indeed, he and his fellow-visitors today had observed many features which they intended to introduce on their own farms immediately.
He would end his remarks, he said, by emphasising once again the friendly feelings that subsisted, and ought to subsist, between Animal Farm and its neighbours. Between pigs and human beings there was not, and there need not be, any clash of interests whatever. Their struggles and their difficulties were one. Was not the labour problem the same everywhere? Here it became apparent that Mr. Pilkington was about to spring some carefully prepared witticism on the company, but for a moment he was too overcome by amusement to be able to utter it. After much choking, during which his various chins turned purple, he managed to get it out: “If you have your lower animals to contend with,” he said, “we have our lower classes!” This bon mot set the table in a roar; and Mr. Pilkington once again congratulated the pigs on the low rations, the long working hours, and the general absence of pampering which he had observed on Animal Farm.
And now, he said finally, he would ask the company to rise to their feet and make certain that their glasses were full. “Gentlemen,” concluded Mr. Pilkington, “gentlemen, I give you a toast: To the prosperity of Animal Farm!”
There was enthusiastic cheering and stamping of feet. Napoleon was so gratified that he left his place and came round the table to clink his mug against Mr. Pilkington’s before emptying it. When the cheering had died down, Napoleon, who had remained on his feet, intimated that he too had a few words to say.
Like all of Napoleon’s speeches, it was short and to the point. He too, he said, was happy that the period of misunderstanding was at an end. For a long time there had been rumours-circulated, he had reason to think, by some malignant enemy-that there was something subversive and even revolutionary in the outlook of himself and his colleagues. They had been credited with attempting to stir up rebellion among the animals on neighbouring farms. Nothing could be further from the truth! Their sole wish, now and in the past, was to live at peace and in normal business relations with their neighbours. This farm which he had the honour to control, he added, was a co-operative enterprise. The title-deeds, which were in his own possession, were owned by the pigs jointly.
He did not believe, he said, that any of the old suspicions still lingered, but certain changes had been made recently in the routine of the farm which should have the effect of promoting confidence stiff further. Hitherto the animals on the farm had had a rather foolish custom of addressing one another as “Comrade.” This was to be suppressed. There had also been a very strange custom, whose origin was unknown, of marching every Sunday morning past a boar’s skull which was nailed to a post in the garden. This, too, would be suppressed, and the skull had already been buried. His visitors might have observed, too, the green flag which flew from the masthead. If so, they would perhaps have noted that the white hoof and horn with which it had previously been marked had now been removed. It would be a plain green flag from now onwards.
He had only one criticism, he said, to make of Mr. Pilkington’s excellent and neighbourly speech. Mr. Pilkington had referred throughout to “Animal Farm.” He could not of course know-for he, Napoleon, was only now for the first time announcing it-that the name “Animal Farm” had been abolished. Henceforward the farm was to be known as “The Manor Farm”-which, he believed, was its correct and original name.
“Gentlemen,” concluded Napoleon, “I will give you the same toast as before, but in a different form. Fill your glasses to the brim. Gentlemen, here is my toast: To the prosperity of The Manor Farm! ”
There was the same hearty cheering as before, and the mugs were emptied to the dregs. But as the animals outside gazed at the scene, it seemed to them that some strange thing was happening. What was it that had altered in the faces of the pigs? Clover’s old dim eyes flitted from one face to another. Some of them had five chins, some had four, some had three. But what was it that seemed to be melting and changing? Then, the applause having come to an end, the company took up their cards and continued the game that had been interrupted, and the animals crept silently away.
But they had not gone twenty yards when they stopped short. An uproar of voices was coming from the farmhouse. They rushed back and looked through the window again. Yes, a violent quarrel was in progress. There were shoutings, bangings on the table, sharp suspicious glances, furious denials. The source of the trouble appeared to be that Napoleon and Mr. Pilkington had each played an ace of spades simultaneously.
Twelve voices were shouting in anger, and they were all alike. No question, now, what had happened to the faces of the pigs. The creatures outside looked from pig to man, and from man to pig, and from pig to man again; but already it was impossible to say which was which”
Animal farm is not the best example to use. Magna Carta would have a better understanding since anyone understanding the Magna Carta knows that a group of wealthy barons who saw themselves above the common people tricked the 99% into thinking this legal document was there to give them rights when in fact the most important parts only apply to the group who see themselves as higher then the rest. This is why Clause 61 – Right to Lawful Rebellion only applies to a certain number of Barons who are also known as the People. In reality the People have not many rights under Magna Carta unless they were a Baron.
At present I do not know the facts around the gig at Bank of Ideas so I can only speculate. Therefore this concludes my comment until I understand the facts around this matter.
You should put “Spoiler Alert” in you’re heading-you never know, someone might not have read Animal Farm.
And this “On the surface it does appear an insult to the occupation to refer to them as animals” It would be more of an insult to refer to the occupiers as humans-seeing what our pathetic species has done to our world , eachother and the other species.
I’ve been slogging it out on the streets of Thurrock and London for more years than I care to remember in the cause of working class community politics and not once have I thought ‘wouldn’t a surprise, secret gig from an activista type rock band be great!: I do what I do because I’m fighting for my class and I don’t expect or want any favours in return. What difference has the appearance of Radiohead and Massive Attack made to people in my neck of the woods rotting on the dole, slaving away unpaid on the Work Programme, working on precarious short term contracts with shit pay and conditions, waiting years and years on the housing list to get a shitty run down council falt at the end of it? The answer is simple – it has made fuck all difference. The gig might have made a few middle class activista types feel good but for the poor sods down here in Thurrock trying to survive the day to day grind in a system that’s pitted against them, it hasn’t even registered. If they do find out about it, I suspect their reaction will be less than charitable. Mind you, they’d probably be mightily relieved to have escaped Radiohead’s miserable middle class angsty dirges!
jamieoccupy said
“you lot should be getting down there in the cold and helping us”
Does this mean ‘working with us’ or ‘working for us’ ?
It isn’t very clear.
Good on Radiohead and Massive Attack. Theyve drawn a line now between them and Beyonce and Genesis and all the other squares, Right on. Theyre cool. Got a slight edge to them, Grrrrr theyre givin it to the man.
I seem to remember everyone loved it at the squatted old firestation on The Old Kent Road (where the original SQUASH worked out of) when The Clash played nearly 30 years back.
D’ya know anyone else who hung out with The Clash?
What load of liberal shit.
Hector Sants, chief executive of the Financial Services Authority (FSA) met with 10 members of the Occupy London, where they had a “fruitful and constructive” discussion on “a number of important issues”. The meeting took place in a Bedouin tent at St Ethelburga’s Center for Reconciliation, as part of the Church of England’s London Connection initiative on ethics and finance. After the meeting, Mr Sants said:
“The FSA is very firmly of the view, I’m very firmly of the view, that it’s very important we listen to everybody who wants to contribute to the debate about changing the financial system.
“They undoubtedly believe the financial system needs to change further – it has already changed a lot but it should change further.
“We had a very interesting discussion, a number of very interesting points were raised. I learned a lot, I listened and I got a very fruitful and constructive dialogue, which as far as I can judge I think all parties felt.”
“We were talking about the role the FSA plays in overseeing the financial system in the UK, how we are already going about trying to achieve significant change, and I was listening carefully to those areas where they would like to see further change.”
Beat me to it! If proof of pudding were ever needed-
http://www.londonlovesbusiness.com/fsa-boss-hails-fruitful-meeting-with-occupy-london/1219.article
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/occupy-protesters-talk-reform-with-banking-boss-6273722.html
CASE CLOSED!
Pingback: How to alienate and upset comrades! « Jason E Cooper
Makhno met with Lenin. Doesn’t mean he was a traitor.
Although it is completely right to criticise any wannabe control freaks- and there are plenty of those starting to emerge, it doesn’t mean that there is much purpose in just writing off the whole of occupy. As someone said at the Bank of Ideas last Saturday- occupy is a platform (not in a platformist sense)- no one is occupy- and as much as some might wish it just because you have been involved in an occupation doesn’t mean you own it.
“Pigs” are starting to emerge- our role should be to point out clearly what is happening. It is quite possible that even the pigs aren’t fully aware of this- and hence the outrage when the power they have started to assume is questioned.
It has been an interesting two months. I still think that an approach of writing off does a dis-service to everyone. There were plenty of decent people at the Bank of Ideas last Saturday, from if not more varied a background as any other radical event. I can’t see any purpose in allowing a few wannabe’s drive us out of the playground- or the farm.
that’s right plebs , you keep on fighting amongst yourselves and i’ll keep on screwing you all. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XXTMejFUqO4
hey jamieoccupy,ian bone,penny rimbaud,colin jerwood,dick lucas,alan moore etc did more to fight the capitalist system than anyone.occupy to me are a bunch of middle class tossers who aint occuping shit,why dont they actualy do something? you mention stop the city then in same breath talk about occupy,leave it out
‘Organisers added that the concert was recorded and would be put on an album and soon be available on a “pay what you want” basis from the Occupation Records label.
Money would be distributed to the UK Occupy movement and to encampments around the world.’
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2011/dec/07/gig-radiohead-massive-attack-occupy-london-free-album?newsfeed=true
Like I said, somebody’s media career..
I fucking LOVE IT!-
‘Massive Attack recently launched a Soundcloud page – Occupy Radio – with mixes and tracks from artists inspired by the global Occupy movement. Massive Attack’s Robert Del Naja ‘D said: “We did some mixes in support of the Occupy London movement. We don’t see it as left versus right or anarchy versus order.’
and-
occupiedgirl on December 7, 2011 at 3:36 pm said:
There has been a lot of talk since last night and continuing today about the secrecy of the event last night. Full-time occupiers, living at St. Paul’s or Finsbury Square for weeks, some in multiple working groups, were not aware of the event last night. This seems undemocratic and unfair. It should be inclusive. There is even talk that there is an internal secret 1% that is governing OccupyLondon. Some people think the secrecy tactic was divisive and will cause resentment, if it hasn’t already. An explanation in the least is necessary, if not a public apology. Most realize the logistics that might have required secrecy, but for those that have worked hard on site for 6 weeks sleeping in London’s cold streets, they wonder why even they weren’t included. Can this please be brought up at the evening GA tonight?
and-
.
Malcolm Blackman on December 7, 2011 at 3:45 pm said:
As an occupier on the FRONT LINE at St Paul’s from day one I have to say how utterly disappointed I and my fellow occupiers are that we were neither told about this event nor invited. You say these groups turned out to say thank you to the occupiers but yet they played at the Bank of Ego’s to a minority WHO DON’T EVEN STAY AT St PAUL’s. This snub to the REAL occupy protesters has done NOTHING except de moralise us. It would have been so much better if you had recognized OUR dedication to the movement and what we are trying to highlight and achieve for it is WE who bear the cold & wet EVERY day and night. It was a shameful display of ELITISM by the Occupy London hierarchy . pfft
http://occupylsx.org/?p=2170
Don’t like to say it, but ‘we told you so’…
Ten occupiers meet the FSA and beg for a few reforms in a bedouin tent. Not in my name you middle class toerags. Gadaffi used to hold meetings in a tent as well…. look what happened to him.
One more thing…. did anyone else notice that the video footage of this special elite invites only shindig came from that voice of the establishment, The Telegraph?
Oh, and Massive Attack please fuck off, you’re about as relevant to todays music scene as Jive Bunny is.
Just spoke with one person over the phone who told me that he was at Bank of Ideas on the day Massive Attack was playing. He didn’t know who they were as he attempted to enter the basement of Bank of Ideas on that day only to be stopped from entering the area by “Security” who told him he could not enter because some “important people” were down there.
A question –
If you are using the name of the Occupation Movement including access to the St Paul’s donations and funding via Finsbury Square do you not have a responsibility to represent the 99% especially all those who have contributed towards the movement in one way or another?
I have met many wonderful people at the Bank of Ideas and the other London Occupation sites. It’s just the small percentage that appears to be trying to take control that is causing this friction with their hunger for power. Power that belongs with the People not with a small group claiming to represent the People. Just think how the Magna Carta would look like today if it was actually by the People instead of that small power hungry group with only their own interest’s in mind. Do we want to allow these power hungry people to do this with the Occupation Movement or should we stand together and resist them. The movement may die if we simply give up and allow those individuals to control it. It is up to all of us to keep strong and carry on. We should not be making arguments regarding the type of music, who was playing the music or accusing each other of being against the Movement for wishing to point out something which is rather critical.
If we hope the movement to grow then we all must be bold enough to stand up and point out when something is wrong. Yes, the media may use it against us but if we keep our mouths shut and a keyboards silent then how else can we resolve any issues. I’ll look forward to bringing this to the General Assembly when I get back to London. The thought of being stuck hundreds of miles away at this moment makes me feel un-comfortable. I don’t want to sit back and see this movement die off. If anyone knows about Democracy Village then I am sure you will understand where I am coming from. This shall be my last comment here as I will save any further comments for the General Assembly.
Everyone take care and Keep Strong.
I like Massive Attack. I like Radiohead. I even like Christmas.
I quite like Occupy as well, although it’s not personally my thing, i don’t think it’s a bad thing.
However, I did laugh A LOT, and also cringe, at The Daily Show’s report from ‘Uptown’ of Zuccotti Park – i can’t seem to watch it in UK, and can’t find it elsewhere. Here’s the original link, dunno if anyone can work their magic and find a way we can watch it- WELL worth the effort, i promise you.
http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/wed-november-16-2011/occupy-wall-street-divided
The VIP area was great.
Billy Bragg and Midge Ure were there but Polly Toynbee couldnt make it
Surely thats the V V I P area?
The ‘Occupy’ management are to decide whether to ‘downsize’ their variable capital-
‘But a spokesman confirmed that, should the demonstrators ask, St Paul’s would consider providing a similar witness statement, backing up their cause, a request the group was “considering”.
A spokesman for Occupy London said: “Things have been scaled back already over the past few weeks. It is probably going to look different in the run-up to Christmas. There is a feeling that St Paul’s is a headquarters and we are anticipating there will be some presence there but we are having discussions about stripping down the residential side.” ‘
Note the language being used here- ‘scaled back ‘, ‘headquarters’, ‘stripping down’, ‘the residential side’; Total Management speak. Disgusting.
source:
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/occupy-protesters-lose-their-halo-as-church-lashes-out-6274536.html
None of this matters. Radiohead Schmadiohead .. bitching back-biting finger-pointing control-freaks subterfuge etc etc .. Bank of Ideas is a squat Occupy LSX is a hijacked sit-in .. at the end of the day NONE OF THIS MATTERS..
Occupy is NOT a collective. We should not try to protect its integrity because it is not an entity. Occupy cannot be attacked or defamed or ridiculed because it is not a movement.
Occupy is YOU. Occupy is YOUR AWAKENING. When each and every person has been furnished with this awakening it is UP TO THEM and NO ONE ELSE to use this knowledge to motivate and organise yourself (even if it means just taking one step at a time each day to DO WITHOUT the ‘MATERIAL WANTS’ that batter your senses everyday through all the media channels you subject yourself to, and concentrate, reminding yourself of your NEEDS.
Take a step each day to lessen your dependence because it is YOUR DEPENDENCE that these CONTROLLING SYSTEMS DEPEND ON.
You want to change this system? There is no negotiation. Do not be fooled or cajoled by those that push this flawed ideology. Governments are accountants, puppets. Negotiating with puppets is the status-quo when the puppeteers are allowed to persist.
If you can start to change YOUR world, then, with forbearance of will to pursue the conviction that must be ours we can start to change OUR world.