27 October 2011

Occupy London Report

Posted to nettime-l by Patrice Riemens with a link to a source latter killed:

http://occupyupdate.hubpages.com/hub/OccupyLondon

This version from:

https://ianbone.wordpress.com/2011/10/24/occupy-london-i-was-wrong/

Responsible CItizen writes:

October 24, 2011 at 3:52 pm

OccupyLondon’s extension squat is now well established right in front of the Bloomberg HQ in Finsbury Square. School of Oriental & African Studies union have moved their big Mongolian yurt, a splendid affair robed in very thick white felt, from the London University to the shadow of Deutsche Bank. Finsbury Gardens, which in the bonus season plays host to hordes of fat cats & vomiting commodity traders, are ideally placed to catch the autumn sun most of the day; and the attention of the passing traffic, which is forced to stop at a set of conveniently placed City Road traffic lights. Bus drivers hooting support as they drive by. Well-wishers of all sorts dropping off donations of food, tents etc. Every time it happens big cheer goes up.

Team of volunteers yesterday (Sunday) went 60 miles to collect a set of donated portaloos. Yesterday morning requests for interviews at Finsbury Sq alone come in at 2 or 3 an hour, from likes of LBC phone-ins, Press TV (Iran), BBC Online etc. A very clued-up young Palestinian, who’s doing a course at Exeter, had done 4 or 5 no-nonsense question & answer sessions by lunch time.

Young women seem to play a major role—unusually for most such political situations—at Finsbury. Very focused & efficient, they facilitate the two general assemblies each day, for example, more so than the men. And run around recruiting campers to deal with the meeja.

One Met Superintendent, stood watching from a distance the start of yesterday’s morning meeting. He was a tad audibly contemptuous, I noticed, of two legal observers some yards away across the lawn ‘Which are they?’ I asked, not having hitherto spotted that there were any legal observers.

‘The one’s in the yellow tabards . . . Autonomous collective?’ he said. ’Now there’s a contradiction n terms. Like socialist worker’

I pointed pointed out that the meeting of hand-flutterers wasn’t in fact called an autonomous collective but a general assembly. Seeking to establish some common ground, I reminded his colleague, a Scot, that the Church of Scotland has a General Assembly. Which prompted his superior—somewhat to my astonishment—to start quoting Winstanley at me. ‘”The earth a common treasury for all . . .” General assembly was a term used by the New Model Army . . .’

He was familiar, it turned out, both with the Pelican edition of Winstanley & its suitably titled, in the Finsbury circumstances, companion volume by Christopher Hill: ‘The World Turned Upside Down.’

‘ . . . Very interesting man, Winstanley.’

Stroll on. And mind how you go.