[OccupyComms] [Occupy London] Re: [democracy now] Occupy Local Communities

[paul.feldman at talktalk.net]

To give this great initiative some more content/energy it would be great if not crucial to have material available by the spring that sets out a range of views about a) our critique of the present political state system b) alternatives for real democracy, including people's assemblies  c) ideas on how we might reach our goals. The Real Democracy Working Group is working on a) at the moment and is meeting again on Monday at 6.30pm at Ye Olde London pub, Ludgate Hill just down from St Paul's.




-----Original Message-----
From: Mark Barrett <marknbarrett at googlemail.com>
To: occupycomms at email-lists.org; occupysheffield at email-lists.org
CC: no body <diggers360 at yahoo.co.uk>; campaignforrealdemocracy at lists.aktivix.org; democracyvillage at googlegroups.com; RealDemocracyNow at groupspaces.com
Sent: Fri, 20 Jan 2012 22:41
Subject: Re: [Occupy London] Re: [democracy now] Occupy Local Communities


What a good thread! :)
 
Please scroll down to read about ideas  / inspiration for decentralised movement building ..
 

Imagine if there were democracy camps outside all the Town Halls across London / UK by spring and summer. What a great way to build and enhance local, regional and country-wide networks and truly connect with the 99.
 
Here's an article btw, consstructively critiquing Occupy http://www.freedompress.org.uk/news/2012/01/16/99-of-what/   
 
Would be great to properly bring in the call for Real Democracy Now! if we do really go local with everything, as we must imo if we are to get to the nub of things. 
 
Up the R'evolution!


Mark
 
////////////
 
Sounds good.  I have been working with a small group in Stroud, Gloucestershire who are doing their first Occupation on 18 Feb at 1.00 pm  
 
They have a Facebook page Occupy Stroud. Please have a look at it and join them and chat.
 
I will be in Stroud on that day - I live only 20 mins drive away.  Anyone else from Occupy London up for coming and supporting them?  They already have a few people who are familiar with consensus model from Seeds for Change.  The last planning meeting we ran on the Occupy model with the hand signals etc…
 
Local occupations are of interest to me, and to see what local groups do and how they decide to run their occupations.  They keep asking me how to do it, and I say do it the way that makes sense for you.  Three of this group have come up to Occupy lsx at various times, to see how we did it.
 
Ben

On 20 January 2012 22:18, Elizabeth Beech <liz.beech at virgin.net> wrote:

Yes, certainly advanced publicity, to me a week seems a bit long but , anyway, all to de discussed and developed.



Liz


On 20 Jan 2012, at 22:01, no body wrote:





Thank you for this Liz. Will print out and bring to meeting.  I think this is a good basis for a starting point. 
In my opinion, any Occupy Local Communities group needs to spend sufficient time in a community to make an impact with local people as well as give time to publicise assemblies (maybe at least a week or longer).  An initial pilot occupation in a local community would provide many valuable lessons I think. 

S

--- On Fri, 20/1/12, Elizabeth Beech <liz.beech at virgin.net> wrote:


From: Elizabeth Beech <liz.beech at virgin.net>
Subject: Re: [Occupy London] Re: [democracy now] Occupy Local Communities
To: marknbarrett at googlemail.com
Cc: diggers360 at yahoo.co.uk, campaignforrealdemocracy at lists.aktivix.org, democracyvillage at googlegroups.com, "occupylondon" <occupylondon at groupspaces.com>, RealDemocracyNow at groupspaces.com
Date: Friday, 20 January, 2012, 21:41


Just wanted to add some points about what has already been discussed : 


*  the aim of Occupy Local Communities is to encourage those communities to find their voice, after years of increasing, and understandable, apathy towards the current political system


*  each local Occupation needs enough people from Occupy London to help this encouragement. One group thought not less than 5.


*  we would arrive with 'props' , at least one pop-up tent, the Initial statement, window stickers, flyers, badges declaring 'Occupy London'


*  if it became necessary we would liaise with police or other concerned 'officials'


*  we would also carefully find out what the local community present was most concerned about - health? education, including tuition fees, care of old people, housing etc.


*  we would have the 'Toolkit' to hand and explain how a general/peoples' assembly works, including hand signals etc. We would use human mic as the amplification


*  we would then set an agenda, with the community.  Agenda set we would act as facilitator, co-facilitator and minute taker


*   an assembly would then take place


*  we would try and establish how people had experienced this, offer to come back but also encourage people to continue to work together 



This is an incomplete summary, but perhaps a starting point ?


Liz



 
On 20 January 2012 20:53, no body <diggers360 at yahoo.co.uk> wrote:



Hi Liz, 

Yes, it seems that many groups are having the same discussion along these lines and I agree with your suggestion about forming a new group for this initiative.  I think Wednesday would be an opportune moment to discuss this.  Will post minutes from the meeting online. 

thanks

S.

--- On Fri, 20/1/12, Elizabeth Beech <liz.beech at virgin.net> wrote:


From: Elizabeth Beech <liz.beech at virgin.net>
Subject: Re: [democracy now] Occupy Local Communities
To: "occupylondon" <occupylondon at groupspaces.com>
Cc: "realdemocracynow" <RealDemocracyNow at groupspaces.com>
Date: Friday, 20 January, 2012, 19:43



There has been a lot of conversation about this throughout the working groups. I think this might be an instance where it would be good to form a separate group otherwise outreach, next steps, real democracy etc, could find ourselves in the invidious position of two different groups turning up in the same location! Don't know at the moment if I can attend the meeting on Wednesday 25 but I would be grateful to be kept in the loop - I've put forward some ideas in other groups. 


Liz 


On 20 Jan 2012, at 19:14, no body wrote:




Greetings all, 

This is to notify you of a meeting scheduled for next Wednesday 25th from 4 - 5 p.m in Tent City University, entitled: 'Occupy Local Communities'. The purpose of the meeting is to continue the discussion about actions that Occupy London can take in the near future to join with local communities in the movement towards an equal, just and free society for all.
Ideas for actions that have been discussed in meetings and GA's include: FLASH MOB OCCUPATIONS that would arrive in London neighbourhoods for set durations, and an 'OCCUPY LOCAL COMMUNITIES' LONDON WALK which could visit local communities in all 33 boroughs of London. Clearly there is a lot of scope for ideas. 

See you on Wednesday, 

Simon 

Some info about London.

In July 2010 Greater London had an official population of 7,825,200, making it the most populous municipality in the European Union, and accounting for 12.5% of the UK population.

From London's Poverty Profile: 


The poorest 50% have less than 5% of financial or property wealth. The richest 10% have 40% of income wealth, 45% of property wealth and 65% of financial wealth.




Housing costs are a critical factor in explaining why London has the highest poverty rates of all England's regions. Taking account of housing costs, the poverty rate in London is 28%, compared to 22% in the rest of England, and the gap has grown in the last decade.

220,000 households live in overcrowded accommodation, 60,000 more than a decade ago with most of this increase in the private rented sector.
Housing benefit changes mean that many parts of Inner London, particularly the Inner West, may become unaffordable for low-income families renting privately. Outer London boroughs, where housing is cheaper, often have lower levels of public services per head: 8 of the 10 primary care trusts with the fewest GPs per population are in Outer London and 35% of Outer London primary schools are full or overcrowded, compared to 19% in Inner London.


<neighbourhood.JPG><Occupy Community. .doc>







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