[OccupyComms] Fwd: [Occupy London] Huff Po Piece Out tomorrow - I Was Wrong...

[Mark Barrett]

--------- Forwarded message ----------

Solidarity from the states to all those at Finsbury...

*Finsbury Square Wasn't a Failure of Occupy, It's the Failure of Austerity*

The Occupy London camp at Finsbury Square is being evicted.  I’m
desperately looking for a livestream of it from a porch in Philly, chain
smoking cigarettes, and keeping updated through the twitter feed of Jules
Mattsson.   It feels all wrong.  I was one of a small group who planned and
carried out the taking of Finsbury.  In the first couple weeks of the
occupation of St Paul’s when the energy was still raw and powerful.  Long
before the long, cold winter turned idealist revolutionaries into hardened
souls.

Later I was one of those arguing to end the occupation of Finsbury.  It had
be overrun with the vulnerable, those without a home, people struggling
with alcoholism and abuse.  It was no longer a “political” action.  I was
wrong though.  Finsbury was a logical result of the Con Dem coalitions
dismantling of Britain.  It couldn’t have been more political.

We were incapable of helping the vulnerable people effectively, but
Finsbury was all that many of them had.  The mess that became of Finsbury
wasn’t a failure of Occupy, but of the state; of Cameron and Clegg’s
ideological austerity.   When these people came, they were not turned away.
They were welcomed in from a city and state that tried to hide them in
ally’s, desperate to show the world a shiny façade for the Jubilee and the
Olympics.


The state is attempting to prop up the façade by criminalizing dissent:
outlawing protest and banning activists.  Tents are banned.  ASBOs,
originally designed to prevent criminal mischief, are now handed out to
activists to keep them from the City and the games.  Those applying for
benefits are now asked if they plan to protest in the future.  “Pre-crime,”
a phrase taken directly from the writings of Orwell, is now a justification
by the state to arrest activists organizing against the cuts.  And the sick
irony is, at the opening ceremony of this summer’s Olympics, the state will
celebrate the direct action taken against it by the Suffragettes all those
years ago.


But laws can’t save the state.  The cuts to the housing allowance will put
nearly 600 families in the streets in Croydon alone.  The government’s
“workfare” program forces those on jobseekers allowance (a measly £60 a
week) to work for free for corporations like Tesco.  It doesn’t take an
economics degree to realize job growth will be non-existent when the
minimum wage is “free.”  Community centres and libraries are being
demolished.  Pensions people have paid into their entire lives are being
gutted.  Even the police are facing massive cuts and the theft of their
pension.  It’s always a bad idea to screw over those you’re counting on to
silence the people.  It wasn’t too long ago the police were counted on to
save Britain from the riots.  What happens when they join in?


Today, no doubt, the Daily Mail, Evening Standard, and other right wing
rags will gleefully print their prepared smear pieces on the mess of
Finsbury Square.  They may even proudly proclaim the death of Occupy.  And
maybe they’re right.  But Finsbury Square wasn’t the result of a failure of
Occupy.  Finsbury Square was a result of the failure of the Cameron’s
Britain.


And whether or not they spring up in the name of Occupy, as long as the
ConDems continue to destroy the welfare state built on the sacrifices of a
world war, while handing over the treasury to the banks that caused the
crisis, there will be many more Finsbury Squares in London and across the
UK.



   --

Friendly reminder: please keep these mailing list discussions to a minimum
as they reach a lot of people. Instead you can email working groups and
individuals directly, or use the Occupy London forum at occupylondon .
info<http://e.groupspaces.com/click/27muc-1w0c9-2l5qaaqht9?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.occupylondon.info%2F>

You receive this email as a member of the Occupy London
Groupspace<http://e.groupspaces.com/click/27muc-1w0c9-2l5qaaqht9?u=http%3A%2F%2Fgroupspaces.com%2FOccupyLondon%2F%3Futm_medium%3Demail%26utm_source%3Dgroup-listmail%26utm_term%3Dgroup-listmail-64715>.
Manage your group
membership<http://e.groupspaces.com/click/27muc-1w0c9-2l5qaaqht9?u=http%3A%2F%2Fgroupspaces.com%2Fmy%2Faccount%2F%3Futm_medium%3Demail%26utm_source%3Dgroup-listmail%26utm_term%3Dgroup-listmail-64715>or
unsubscribe<http://e.groupspaces.com/click/27muc-1w0c9-2l5qaaqht9?u=http%3A%2F%2Fgroupspaces.com%2FOccupyLondon%2Funsubscribe%2F%3Futm_medium%3Demail%26utm_source%3Dgroup-listmail%26utm_term%3Dgroup-listmail-64715>
.



-- 
Apathy is Dead !
http://www.flickr.com/photos/solarider/5254770064/#/photos/solarider/5254770064/lightbox/
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <https://www.email-lists.org/pipermail/occupycomms/attachments/20120614/60c27993/attachment.html>