On 15 May it will be one year since the start of the indignados movement, and the fight against bailouts, corruption, repeating economic crises, and financial crimes continues. People are still occupying and protesting to bring about a better world.
This 15 May we will target an institution that has directly contributed to the strengthening of the 1 per cent. We will target an institution that has bought our democracy. One that stands in the way of structural change. The British Bankers’ Association is that target. The BBA symbolises a wider problem in our society: money and private corporations have more influence over our politicians than we do.
The BBA is the lobbying group for finance, the “voice of banking and financial services”. It represents over 200 financial institutions and lobbies your Parliament, buys your politicians, and helps bend national policy in its favour. It tries to make sure things will stay the same.
The BBA, the banks it represents (
http://www.bba.org.uk/about-us/member-list), and the government they stole from us should be considered as targets that day. They are all responsible for this drought of democracy.
As part of Occupy May, 15M will be a day of direct action. We call on all autonomous groups, coalitions, progressive organisations, students, unions, workers, and pensioners to join us on this day. We encourage people to form their own affinity groups, plan their own actions, and converge upon the BBA to help end the prioritisation of profit over people to an end.
Be creative! Form your own guerilla theatre group, come in fancy dress, and turn the BBA into something beautiful. Bring glitter, stickers, banners, posters, balloons, and noise makers of all kinds! Guerilla garden – bring seeds and garden in any space available! Foreclose on the BBA! Be ridiculous! Dress as a radical clown and put on a show! Deny them any peace and quiet! Bring drums, instruments, pots, pans, sound systems of all sorts – make your presence known!
No more business as usual. You don’t ask for democracy. You make it!
We will first meet in Central London – specific location to be announced – and then go to the BBA.
12 May: Global Spring – Meet the 1%
Our city has lost its pride. It’s been stolen. Our politicians, regulators and those who were meant to be looking after things sold us out. Who is benefiting?
‘We are all in this together’ never rang so hollow. There is no ‘together’ and they are not part of ‘we’. They want us to pay for their crisis … and we think we should. So let’s pay them a visit, one by one.
On 12 May people around the world will rise up again responding to the global call for action that marks the birth of the indignados movement.
It’s time to meet the 1 per cent. And guess what? They are right here in London!
Let’s visit those who gambled with our pensions and savings, created financial nonsense to make money out of thin air, paid hundreds of thousands to wine and dine with our ‘elected’ representatives, were bailed out, evaded billions in taxes and secured 40% of the world’s wealth for themselves.
They are doing everything they can to keep the status quo. But it’s time for an economy that puts people’s well-being and the environment we live in before corporate profits. And they are in our way.
On Saturday 12 May, we’ll deliver our very own personal messages to them. Be creative: come dressed as your least favorite banker, tax evader, corporate tycoon, politician, vampire squid, and company CEO. Bring stickers, monopoly money, caution tape, placards, faux awards, pots, pans, bullhorns, conches, tents, stereos, war horns or any other “random acts of kindness” you like.
More details to be announced. Location, timings and a map will be made available before 12 May.
*** How to get involved ***
- Any ideas or contributions, get in touch us so we can plan the day with you! Want to put on some guerilla theatre or an supporting action? Go for it! Want to make a huge puppet? Just get in touch so we can help.- Facebook event page
http://www.facebook.com/events/327612820626082
Occupy London announces an Open Day on Tuesday 10 April as gets ready for Occupy May. Occupy London Stock Exchange was just the beginning. Calls you to help make May the beginning of a summer the one per cent will not forget.
Occupy London is set to strike back this May as people around the world take to the streets to mark one year since the indignados reclaimed their squares in Spain and Greece, and six months since the Occupy movement went global.
The next wave is about to begin. Put May Day, 12 May and 15 May in your diary.
It’s been four years since the financial crisis hit. Governments have failed catastrophically to implement the economic change needed to prevent it happening again. They have failed to protect their citizens’ interests against those of corporations and the financial markets. Ordinary people – families, small businesses and communities – are being forced to pay for a crisis they didn’t cause. May marks an international call to act locally and globally against this injustice and to fight for a sustainable economy that puts people and the environment we live in before corporate profits.
In the UK, the millionaires’ budget confirmed that the coalition seeks to reward those at the top of society, at the expense of our health service, education and pensions. We are already seeing the fallout of extreme austerity in other European countries where the economic activity has come to a standstill and the living standards of ordinary people have reached punishing lows.
The world’s eyes are on London this year with the Jubilee, the Olympics … but we all know that the pageantry and the spectacle can’t hide what’s really happening in the UK as politicians collude with the financial elite.
Occupy London is building for its second wave. You, your group, organisation or community are called to get involved – let’s bring together concerned individuals and seasoned campaigners from across and beyond the political spectrum.
Open Day for Occupy London
The first of a number of creative events and actions leading up to May will be an Open Day event starting at 6pm Tuesday 10 April at Friends Meeting House(173-177 Euston Road NW1 2BJ). Between 6pm and 7.30pm, come and meet people involved in Occupy London’s working groups to find out how you can get involved, what they have been up to and what they are planning. At 7.30pm, get ready for some creative planning for events in May! Stay in the loop via the Facebook event for Occupy May!.
Occupy London Stock Exchange was just the beginning. Join us as we regroup to make May the beginning of a summer the one per cent will not forget.
Posted 2 days ago on April 28, 2012, 2:34 a.m. EST by OccupyWallSt
The Free University is a collective educational experiment that will be held on May 1, 2012, from 10am-3pm. In solidarity with the general strike, the Free University offers a public space for the 99% to disengage from an unequal system and imagine a model for alternative education. Those gathered in Madison Square Park, and those meeting in other spaces in solidarity, will create a university that is open to all, without debt or tuition for students, without pre-requisites, age limits or any other disqualifying requirements. Learning can only happen through interaction, exchange, and dialogue. To create a living future together, all must be included and welcome.
The Free University is an open invitation to educators around New York City to participate in May Day 2012. During the day, lectures, workshops, skill-shares, and discussions will be held — all open to the public. If you are in solidarity with the general strike but cannot cancel your class, bring it here! We also invite all educators interested in volunteering special sessions and classes for the day. We will have designated spaces for the quieter and more intimate classes.
No single day, park, or effort can contain our vision; instead, we propose and will struggle to make all our universities places of free education, inquiry, and access to knowledge for all. We demand that our society put forward the necessary resources to provide such an education for all.
Free U is a project made in partnership with educators and students from Brooklyn College/CUNY Grad Center/Eugene Lang College/New School for Social Research/Hunter College/ /Pratt Institute/New York University/Queensborough Community College/ Rutgers/Columbia University/Princeton.
Follow on Twitter: @FreeUnivNYC
Posted 2 days ago on April 27, 2012, 3:24 p.m. EST by OccupyWallSt |
