Occupy Melbourne. #OCCUPY

21 Oct 2011 1 Comment

by zenxi6 in Uncategorized

September 17 2011.  Wind back.

This is the date that Occupy Wall Street began.

If you’ve been hiding in a shell, let me up date you.

The American economy has been in turmoil for the past few years.  There are various reasons for this, but the main reason seems to be that over-speculation by powerful multi-national corporations on the economy has led to an economy that is no longer based in reality, but rather based on what could be described as guesswork.  Educated guess work, perhaps.  But primarily, guesswork.

For large corporations, losing a few million here or there doesn’t seem to be a problem.  Their boards and CEOs will be a little upset at the percentage figures that drop on the stock market and try and figure out how to fix it.  But, for those within businesses and the real world, the effects will trickle down and have had vast reaching consequences.

Government in the Western World often runs quite like a business too.  Its aims are to make sure that people are employed and looked after to whatever standards the people decide.  But, the democratic process is hijacked by big business, which always looks after its profit interests first and foremost.  By blackmailing governments with threats of removing jobs from a region, state or country, business can get what it wishes.  By paying elected officials for their campaigns, they can ask for things in return – like policy support.

Contracts for public infrastructure development are also manipulated in much the same way.

This is problematic.

The European economy is undergoing similar problems, coupled with some other mismanagement problems it seems.

The core of the issue, to my understanding is this:

Our economy has no basis in reality.

It is based in speculative territory, the same sort of territory that a gambler traverses every time they sit in front of a pokie machine.
Except, the gambler here is the corporate economic powers, and the pokie machine’s limits are not set, no matter how hard economists try to work them out.

The gambler is not you or I.  Nor is it likely the business you work for, or the boss you answer to.  It is not the media or government.  The gamblers here operate in far-removed circles.

We are disconnected.  Economy is IMPORTANT – It is what allows us to fairly trade that which we do and create.  When it becomes hijacked, your work and our planet is being hijacked.

There is plenty of information spreading across the internet about what the Occupy movement is all about, but integral to the movement is a putting aside of apathy and knee-jerk cynicism, and asking questions, learning things, listening to people with an inquisitive mind.  Key to Occupy is the very idea of Democracy – People talking to people, with some key egalitarian principles at the core.

Today, Friday the 21st of October I worked from 6am – midday. I work in media monitoring, and quickly began seeing stories of the Occupy Melbourne protesters having eviction notices served to them. I followed the OCCUPY MELBOURNE profile on Twitter and many re-tweets by friends (side note – the information and social networking giants of today may become the next enemy if not watched stringently).  And, I headed to the protests as quickly as I could.

My friend and house mate Candice took picture on her phone of the protest as we saw it:

On the evening of Thursday the 20th, the City of Melbourne headed by Lord Mayor Robert Doyle issued an eviction notice to the Occupy Melbourne camp.

At 7am on the 21st the protesters were told they must be out by 9am, or police would remove them.
Victoria Police fenced the site off and surrounded it with hundreds of police, slowly moving in an forcefully removing people.

I wrote an email to Lord Mayor Robert Doyle, condemning the path City of Melbourne thought most appropriate.

“Dear Lord Mayor Robert Doyle,

I have been following the Occupy movement across the world for over a month now.  Although it can seem confusing and disorganised at times, I assure you that it has a very solid core value it is addressing, and assure you also that the organisation within each city is sound and well delivered.

Occupy Melbourne had been holding daily general meetings at 6pm, where anyone could speak about any issue, and anyone could rebut it.  You should be familiar with this sort of process, as it is the governmental process we have become accustomed to.

I understand that the City Square is a public space, and I understand your argument that while there are some people occupying it, the space may be ostracised from other users who may wish to use it.  I understand that council regulations and permits are issued to attempt to create a sense of fairness amongst all the people, no matter their belief and community affiliations.

What you and the City of Melbourne council did in avoiding direct two-way communication with the Occupy Melbourne protesters,  and instead issuing a strategic and bureaucratic eviction notice, was very poor and does nothing to address the core issue.

You claim that the protester’s message was heard and they need to vacate, but I challenge you on that.  I don’t believe you have addressed the core concerns, nor made any attempt to.
The actions that the world has seen today were disgraceful.  The amount of police there, and the ensuing reaction due to the heavy police presence (and riot police presence) was disgraceful, for both sides.  The thing is – It should never have happened.

Lord Mayor Doyle, why don’t you address one of the general meetings of Occupy Melbourne?  It’ll be back by the end of the weekend, guaranteed.  Make yourself open to Melburnians, say your piece, make them understand why public space needs to be looked after properly and available for everyone.  Listen to their concerns.  It seems you have quite the portfolio with a lot of admirable sounding positions under your belt.  With such a background, I presume you have the ability to relate to people and see bigger issues.

Today was a poor, poor, poor response and Melbourne City Council should be ashamed that it handled this situation so badly.

I hope to hear from you soon, and I hope my words are helpful.

-Nick “

In the email I carbon copied the Federal MP for Melbourne Adam Bandt, the leader of the Australian Sex Party Fiona Patten, my local ALP Member Kelvin Thomson and Victorian State Premier Ted Baillieu.

I recorded audio from today and placed it on Soundcloud.

And I also placed it on ABC POOL.

I am running out of time to type.  You will find information about Occupy and Occupy Melbourne on all major news websites.  Herald Sun and The Age have been running constant coverage, and TV news teams were spottable all day at the event.  Be careful with their sweeping rhetoric though.

You can silence an individual, ridicule a person, kill a man, imprison a woman. You can censor us and herd us with your weapons.

But an idea… an idea you can not kill.

And the idea is growing, Earth.

SOME SCIENCE ON THE BACKING OF THIS -> New Scientist

Together we are one.

Divide and conquer is a strategy of the archaic, do not give in.

IN LAK’ECH ALA K’IN