The Occupation Movement
Occupy London and the courts
Socialist Worker 24 January 2012
Occupy London activists are currently involved in two ongoing legal processes. One is focussed on the main St Paul’s occupation and a second concerns the Bank of Ideas—a disused UBS bank behind Liverpool Street station. The Bank of Ideas protesters went into occupation on the morning of 18 November. That evening, the owners of the building (Sun Street, a subsidiary of UBS) obtained a possession order requiring the occupiers to leave. http://www.socialistworker.co.uk/art.php?id=27339 ...more
The Occupy movement and class politics in the US
ISJ January 2012 - Megan Trudell
The Occupy movement that began in New York in September 2011 and has spread with remarkable speed across the country represents a massive shift in the politics of the United States.1 A year ago the seemingly inexorable rise of the Tea Party saw the startling resurgence of the right only two years after Obama’s election and the apparently decisive defeat of the Republicans. ...more
Birth of a new movement
Socialist Review November 2011 - Mark L Thomas
The day of global solidarity with the Occupy Wall Street protests in New York on 15 October marked the emergence of a new movement with a rejection of capitalism at its heart. Protests were held in over 950 cities across 80 countries and five continents with over a million people taking part. ...more
City threatens Occupy London camp
Socialist Worker November 2011 - Patrick Ward
Activists at the Occupy London protest outside St Paul’s Cathedral are facing the continued threat of forcible eviction. The City of London announced a "pause" in their legal action to evict the protest as Socialist Worker went to press. But it is unclear how long it will be until further action is taken. The move to evict followed a special meeting of the City of London's Planning and Transportation Committee (PTC) held on Friday of last week. ...more
“No one represents us”: the 15 May movement in the Spanish state
ISJ – October 2011 - Andy Durgan and Joel Sans
On 15 May 2011 thousands of people, mainly young, demonstrated all over the Spanish state under the slogans “For real democracy now” and “We are not commodities in the hands of politicians and bankers”. The demonstrations explicitly rejected the participation of political parties or trade unions. A month later, on 19 June, over 1 million marched in around 50 different cities and towns, mobilised by what now was known as the “15 May Movement” (15-M) or the indignados. In the four weeks after the 15 May protest tens of thousands had been involved in camps and mass assemblies. The supposed passivity and lack of commitment of youth disappeared overnight. Above all the emergence of the 15-M shows how quickly the situation can radicalise in the context of deepening crisis. To understand how such an explosion has been possible it is necessary to look both at the effects of the crisis and the peculiarities of the Spanish left and trade union movement. ...more
