<div class="gmail_quote">--------- Forwarded message ----------<br><br>Solidarity from the states to all those at Finsbury...<br><br><b>Finsbury Square Wasn't a Failure of Occupy, It's the Failure of Austerity</b><br>
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<p class="MsoNormal">The Occupy London camp at Finsbury Square is being evicted.<span> </span>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.<span> </span>It feels all wrong.<span> </span>I was one of a small group who planned and carried out the taking of Finsbury.<span> </span>In the first couple weeks of the occupation of St Paul’s when the energy was still raw and powerful.<span> </span>Long before the long, cold winter turned idealist revolutionaries into hardened souls.<br>
<br>Later I was one of those arguing to end the occupation of Finsbury.<span> </span>It had be overrun with the vulnerable, those without a home, people struggling with alcoholism and abuse.<span> </span>It was no longer a “political” action.<span> </span>I was wrong though. <span> </span>Finsbury was a logical result of the Con Dem coalitions dismantling of Britain.<span> </span>It couldn’t have been more political. <span> </span><br>
<br>We were incapable of helping the vulnerable people effectively, but Finsbury was all that many of them had.<span> </span>The mess that became of Finsbury wasn’t a failure of Occupy, but of the state; of Cameron and Clegg’s ideological austerity.<span> </span>When these people came, they were not turned away.<span> </span>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.</p>
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<p class="MsoNormal">The state is attempting to prop up the façade by criminalizing dissent: outlawing protest and banning activists.<span> </span>Tents are banned.<span> </span>ASBOs, originally designed to prevent criminal mischief, are now handed out to activists to keep them from the City and the games.<span> </span>Those applying for benefits are now asked if they plan to protest in the future.<span> </span>“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.<span> </span>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.</p>
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<p class="MsoNormal">But laws can’t save the state.<span> </span>The cuts to the housing allowance will put nearly 600 families in the streets in Croydon alone.<span> </span>The government’s “workfare” program forces those on jobseekers allowance (a measly £60 a week) to work for free for corporations like Tesco.<span> </span>It doesn’t take an economics degree to realize job growth will be non-existent when the minimum wage is “free.”<span> </span>Community centres and libraries are being demolished.<span> </span>Pensions people have paid into their entire lives are being gutted.<span> </span>Even the police are facing massive cuts and the theft of their pension.<span> </span>It’s always a bad idea to screw over those you’re counting on to silence the people.<span> </span>It wasn’t too long ago the police were counted on to save Britain from the riots.<span> </span>What happens when they join in?</p>
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<p class="MsoNormal">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.<span> </span>They may even proudly proclaim the death of Occupy.<span> </span>And maybe they’re right.<span> </span>But Finsbury Square wasn’t the result of a failure of Occupy.<span> </span>Finsbury Square was a result of the failure of the Cameron’s Britain.</p>
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<p class="MsoNormal">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.<span> </span></p>
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<p style="TEXT-ALIGN:center;MARGIN:0px 0px 5px;FONT-FAMILY:verdana,arial,sans-serif;FONT-SIZE:8pt"><span style="COLOR:rgb(153,153,153);FONT-SIZE:0.8em">-- <br><br>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 </span><a style="COLOR:#00f" href="http://e.groupspaces.com/click/27muc-1w0c9-2l5qaaqht9?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.occupylondon.info%2F" target="_blank"><span style="COLOR:rgb(153,153,153);FONT-SIZE:0.8em">occupylondon<span style="WHITE-SPACE:nowrap;FONT-SIZE:2px"> </span>.<span style="WHITE-SPACE:nowrap;FONT-SIZE:2px"> </span>info</span></a><span style="COLOR:rgb(153,153,153);FONT-SIZE:0.8em"><br>
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