When I was little and I didn't want to do something... I'd sit, cross my legs, fold my arms firmly and simply stop until things changed 
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This moment... give or take a minute... exactly 6 years ago is when I physically became an 'activist'. With hindsight ...this may not have been my wisest choice lol! But for all the pain, change and sacrifice... has been the gain, change and reward beyond imagining. The days serve a clearer purpose and the company of others who find themselves headed in this direction is (for the most part) - exceptional... a few anomalies make it terribly draining and difficult but even those serve as fascinating studies on how we interact, what rubs us wrong and the fact that there are some things individually we cannot even begin to tackle. I've also learned though that for all the things I can't do... there is a someone who can and does... that's the beauty of the most brilliant discovery of all - the actual purpose of diversity.
We live much that is 'homogenised' from identical high streets, to working patterns, standardised processes, predictable house design, crafted pathways without a risk of wandering off into unknowns... activism is the opposite of all that. I won't say it's a good life because it's one of facing ugly truths and threats but I believe it an essential choice because all that homogenisation came at a cost and made a mess that's impacting the very stuff of our survival - air quality, water safety and fertile soil.
A couple of days before Occupy London on 15 Oct 2011 outside London Stock Exchange (that ended up through police kettling, on the steps of St. Paul's Cathedral)... I wrote about why I was doing it. The blog follows and having just re-read it for the first time for reasons of nostalgia - it's a relief to see that it still reflects my thoughts despite all that has happened since.
As for FRACKING? Well that turned out to be the easiest way to explain 'Occupy' - although I didn't realise it till later. It is symptomatic of the power of industry over government, the willingness to use force against democratic opposition, the inhibition of our human rights, the manipulation of laws for purpose other than justice, the bias of media, the purchasing away of the integrity of our academic institutions and the reckless disregard for individual humans when measured against the demands of the powerful.
What started at the feet of the police blocking our entry from the Stock Exchange... goes on and all that I do, I still consider to be 'Occupy'
..........................
Blog entry FROM 2011:
But what do you hope to achieve?
On October 15th 2011 I will Occupy the London Stock Exchange
"But what do you hope to achieve?"
...I hope to achieve the breaking of a spell.
Those in power (who are abusing it) have only got away with it for so long because they didn’t hear us complain loud enough.
Those in power (who abuse it), imagine that we are so busy scrambling to make a life with the poor quality tools they provide – that we won’t have time to notice just how bloody fabulous life could be – if ‘we the people’ weren’t held in place by the 1% that has the power (and abuses it).
...I hope to achieve power by standing with others.
‘We the people’ are, in all areas of our lives, labelled and then divided by these labels. We are black, white, male, female, gay, straight, graduate, student, christian, muslim, public sector, private sector, yob, youth, unemployed, immigrant, foreigner, expatriate and all the rest.
These labels are used to divide us by the media representation of those labelled and by those in power who make laws based on highlighting the wrong in any one labelled group at any time. There are no good groups or bad groups, no right labels or wrong labels – just an ease of division.
BUT before my label I am first and foremost one of the people who inhabit this earth. I see this in every other human before I see their label and start working out what divides us. I hope we can hold ourselves to this one label so that our sameness unites us and we cannot be divided and conquered (again and again)
...I hope to achieve change.
I want the system of government to change; not just the party and the people. It is the way government abuses the power we give them with our votes and taxes that needs to change. The way politics and business are so entwined needs to change. The priorities of government need to change so they reflect the role as representative of the people and FOR the people - not banks, business, other governments etc. don’t know what this change looks like – but I know it shouldn't be so ugly.
I don’t have answers - I just have questions.
I don’t have solutions – but I have a starting point along with others from the 99% who are stifled by the abuse of power by the 1%.
And I have hope - because I am with those who:
#OccupyWallStreet #OccupyOregon #OccupyBoston#OccupyToronto #OccupyLeeds #OccupyCanada#OccupyAtlanta #OccupyTheHood#OccupyPittsburgh #OccupyPhoenix#OccupyDameStreet #OccupyDublin#OccupySydney #OccupyManchester#OccupyLondon #OccupyLSX #OccupyTucson@occupytaipeitw @occupystaugust @OccupyUP @OccupyWSaParis @occupyseaside #occupywallstreet #takethesquare #otw and so many more too numerous to list.
#OccupyTogether
--------------------------
This moment... give or take a minute... exactly 6 years ago is when I physically became an 'activist'. With hindsight ...this may not have been my wisest choice lol! But for all the pain, change and sacrifice... has been the gain, change and reward beyond imagining. The days serve a clearer purpose and the company of others who find themselves headed in this direction is (for the most part) - exceptional... a few anomalies make it terribly draining and difficult but even those serve as fascinating studies on how we interact, what rubs us wrong and the fact that there are some things individually we cannot even begin to tackle. I've also learned though that for all the things I can't do... there is a someone who can and does... that's the beauty of the most brilliant discovery of all - the actual purpose of diversity.
We live much that is 'homogenised' from identical high streets, to working patterns, standardised processes, predictable house design, crafted pathways without a risk of wandering off into unknowns... activism is the opposite of all that. I won't say it's a good life because it's one of facing ugly truths and threats but I believe it an essential choice because all that homogenisation came at a cost and made a mess that's impacting the very stuff of our survival - air quality, water safety and fertile soil.
A couple of days before Occupy London on 15 Oct 2011 outside London Stock Exchange (that ended up through police kettling, on the steps of St. Paul's Cathedral)... I wrote about why I was doing it. The blog follows and having just re-read it for the first time for reasons of nostalgia - it's a relief to see that it still reflects my thoughts despite all that has happened since.
As for FRACKING? Well that turned out to be the easiest way to explain 'Occupy' - although I didn't realise it till later. It is symptomatic of the power of industry over government, the willingness to use force against democratic opposition, the inhibition of our human rights, the manipulation of laws for purpose other than justice, the bias of media, the purchasing away of the integrity of our academic institutions and the reckless disregard for individual humans when measured against the demands of the powerful.
What started at the feet of the police blocking our entry from the Stock Exchange... goes on and all that I do, I still consider to be 'Occupy'
..........................
Blog entry FROM 2011:
But what do you hope to achieve?
On October 15th 2011 I will Occupy the London Stock Exchange
"But what do you hope to achieve?"
...I hope to achieve the breaking of a spell.
Those in power (who are abusing it) have only got away with it for so long because they didn’t hear us complain loud enough.
Those in power (who abuse it), imagine that we are so busy scrambling to make a life with the poor quality tools they provide – that we won’t have time to notice just how bloody fabulous life could be – if ‘we the people’ weren’t held in place by the 1% that has the power (and abuses it).
...I hope to achieve power by standing with others.
‘We the people’ are, in all areas of our lives, labelled and then divided by these labels. We are black, white, male, female, gay, straight, graduate, student, christian, muslim, public sector, private sector, yob, youth, unemployed, immigrant, foreigner, expatriate and all the rest.
These labels are used to divide us by the media representation of those labelled and by those in power who make laws based on highlighting the wrong in any one labelled group at any time. There are no good groups or bad groups, no right labels or wrong labels – just an ease of division.
BUT before my label I am first and foremost one of the people who inhabit this earth. I see this in every other human before I see their label and start working out what divides us. I hope we can hold ourselves to this one label so that our sameness unites us and we cannot be divided and conquered (again and again)
...I hope to achieve change.
I want the system of government to change; not just the party and the people. It is the way government abuses the power we give them with our votes and taxes that needs to change. The way politics and business are so entwined needs to change. The priorities of government need to change so they reflect the role as representative of the people and FOR the people - not banks, business, other governments etc. don’t know what this change looks like – but I know it shouldn't be so ugly.
I don’t have answers - I just have questions.
I don’t have solutions – but I have a starting point along with others from the 99% who are stifled by the abuse of power by the 1%.
And I have hope - because I am with those who:
#OccupyWallStreet #OccupyOregon #OccupyBoston#OccupyToronto #OccupyLeeds #OccupyCanada#OccupyAtlanta #OccupyTheHood#OccupyPittsburgh #OccupyPhoenix#OccupyDameStreet #OccupyDublin#OccupySydney #OccupyManchester#OccupyLondon #OccupyLSX #OccupyTucson@occupytaipeitw @occupystaugust @OccupyUP @OccupyWSaParis @occupyseaside #occupywallstreet #takethesquare #otw and so many more too numerous to list.
#OccupyTogether
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