Occupy London

[glasnost]

p.twimg.com/AbGk1-FCQAAjoi7.png

Well, why not MNers?

What have your kids got to lose? In NY there are alot of families with children protesting and occupying that doesn't get mentioned in the mainstream press.

'My take is that this long overdue grassroots movement vigorously protesting Wall Street greed, destruction and utter lack of accountability contains the seeds for powerful influence. Only time will tell... One very bright factor: the fledgling movement has Democratic friends in very high places, including the White House and Congress. See Endorsements, Support for Occupy Wall Street Movement.'

The author says that the protest has 'Democratic friends in very high places, including the White House and Congress' which may explain why it is happening now and is so "long overdue", just in time for 2012 elections.

In fact, thinking more about this, it does begin to look like clever electioneering by the left in an attempt to win over the public.

The public, particularly right wing and Tea Party voters, are mainly against thw bank bailouts and the corporate fat cats. Obama bailed the banks out, said he had to do it, but hated it. Now the left is stealing the Tea Party's clothes by being anti the bank bailouts, in an attempt to undermine |Republican and Tea Party support in the 2012 elections.

www.dailyfinance.com/2010/01/27/obama-bailing-out-the-banks-was-necessary-but-i-hated-it/

But who knows, it may backfire on the Big Government supporters and lead to real change.

I appreciate the arguments against the NHS reform bill
However I doubt occupying the bridge will make any difference to it passing the lords or not

Teh Democrats should heed teh words of that famous Scot, Robert Burns.

'The best-laid schemes o' mice an' Democrats. Gang aft agley.'

I really hate people belittling other people efforts.

Disagreement is fair enough, but sneery derision adds nothing

Links arms with glasnost,riven, prolesworth, ttosca, chibi et al, sings 'Internationale' while blocking virtual cyberbridge

sorry, honeymomster, couldn't see you behind that massive TUC banner, - join in here next to me

Don't know why the * didn't work on riven

Links in, looking earnestt

What's the alternative to protests though, EldonAve? They're not perfect - but they send a message - which hopefully will be picked up by politicians - who may change their policies to reflect public opinion - we can then cast our democratic votes - hey presto, the protest has achieved something.

In theory, that's how it works anyway.

the alternative is contacting your MP before the relevant votes to try to get them to vote your way

You can do both.

it's a protest, I applaud non-apathy (if that's a word)

People did take out loans, and they did use credit cards. That's because they needed credit to pay for the basic cost of living; to pay for their insane house prices, the most expensive public transport system in europe, the rocketing petrol prices, the souring gas and electric bills.

Rubbish. Some might have. Many blew it on luxury holidays, cars they can't really afford and designer clothes. I know several people who have done that. Some are trying to pay their debts off, a couple went bankrupt and some still have their heads in the sand. You only have to have watched programs like Spendaholics and bank of mum & dad to realise there are many out there who really should not have been given a credit card.

If you want to have an impact, why are you doing it on a sunday?

I have been following Occupy Wall Street on Twitter but without proper news coverage it is hard to understand fully what is going on.

The riots were disgusting, strikes will only harm ordinary people already struggling - why no one thought to take the protest to the financial districts before I don't know.

fwiw I've never been in debt other than the usual mortgage etc. However when my ex-dh left he managed to dump nearly £20k worth of debt and unpaid bills on me - so not everyone has been neglectful and throwing the money around but the ones who pay are rarely the ones who had fun. Plus I do blame people who gleefully jumped on the housing bandwagon - forgetting it was meant to be about somewhere to live. They made massive profits and stuffed up the entire system for a generation.

so much of this rang true for me.

'This column is about the cuts the government has failed to make. It?s about the profligate, pointless spending which has not been slashed, and the money Osborne could have raised but instead has decided to fritter away. For the sake of argument it accepts his estimate of the amount that will need to be saved. But it will show that over half of it could be found with much less pain.'

www.monbiot.com/2011/10/03/more-cuts-please/

Is Andy Burnham going to the bridge on Sunday?

I've only skimmed the Burnham article weeonion but I seem to remember that the aircraft carrier contract couldn't be cancelled - it was signed by the last government and would have cost more to cancel than they would to build. They're also keeping a lot of people employed.

The Times had a good article about Occupy Wall Street yesterday, broadly supportive but behind a paywall unfortunately.

whomovedmychocolate Fri 07-Oct-11 19:32:59
"Regurgitation gives me wind. Forgive me if I don't join you, I'm going to IKEA. I understand if you read some deep meaning into that but actually I need blankets."

I KNOW what you;re up to :

I
KNOW
EVERY
ANARCHIST
= IKEA

blankets = smothering the masses.

swc is really quite embittered at having sold out to the Man, isn't she? "twats", indeed. THAT's an unsult but where are the rigthwingers decrying it as such when they're so QUICK to label anything insulting that casts doubt on their twisted logic?

Honeymomster's spot on.

Just to reiterate. The bridge thing tomorrow is organised by UKUNCUT. The occupation is not and begins 15 Oct and will be ongoing. Does noone read the links?

The most important thing now is for these Occupation movements not to be co-opted and neutered by the corporate interests they are explicitly against. That's what happened to the Tea Party movement and it all started with FAUX (that'll be FOX) TV "sympathetically" lending an ear to their gripes and then hijacking the movement along with the Repuglican Party.

So IF the Times had a broadly sympathetic article re. the Wall St Occupation that raises hairs on the back of my neck, frankly.

Why block the Stock Exchange at the weekend? That won't disrupt anything. In fact this whole movement won't do anything.

CAN YOU READ PROPERLY? The Occupation will be ongoing, hopefully. Not limited to the Saturday. Yes? Got it?

occupylondon.org.uk/

You are a sneery, snidey type who has only negativity to contribute. Why don't you suggest a constructive alternative? Scuttle off now. Just think if I called Aloiseg a "twat" now as I'm severely tempted to? Imagine the hullabaloo whereas smallwhitecat used that epithet earlier on to not a whimper of protest from the rightwingers.

It can't be ongoing, most people will have jobs to go to so the "occupation" will end up being occupied by rent a mob. Therefore losing any empathy/sympathy for the cause.

niceguy your point about designer clothes etc in no way negates what the lefties are saying - that cheap credit fuelled the consumer boom. Money flows uphill, as ever.

alouiseg or they'll be depicted as 'rent-a-mob' and discredited, not quite he same thing.