Occupy London protesters in Liverpool Street underground station (Photo: HeardInLondon/Demotix/Corbis)
Last week electors in Europe signalled their dissatisfaction with the politics of austerity, and the elites who are trying to implement them. Barring a miracle of an economic recovery, politics for the near future will revolve around that austerity --- or thrift as the British government are now trying to call it.
This week the success or failure of Occupy, and their affiliated groups, to draw attention to growing income inequality will help determine their relevance to these coming political struggles over the world's economic future. Can they deliver on their promise of a Global Spring?
St Paul's Cathedral has been accused of "betraying" Occupy London activists after giving the City of London police permission to remove protesters from its steps and end the four-and-a-half month camp.
The cathedral's decision, coupled with a previous high court decision obtained by the City of London, meant police successfully removed the entire Occupy London Stock Exchange camp from the square outside St Paul's.
Police said 20 people had been arrested by 4.30am in the "largely peaceful" operation.
2030 GMT: An anti-regime demonstration in the Midan district of the Syrian capital Damascus tonight:
1910 GMT: Burhan Ghalioun, the head of the opposition Syrian National Council, has addressed the Syrian people in a televised address tonight. A summary, provided on Twitter:
This crisis has unified efforts of all Syrians....Syria will no longer be like a farm owned by a single family....A new constitution will give rights to minorities, especially Kurds....Power will be in the hands of people, they decide who rule them.
Every drop of blood is one more step on the way to freedom....Those who use violence against their own people are traitors who will fall and lose.
The Syrian National Council is your way to make your voices heard around the world. We are honored by your support....We will not negotiate or compromise.
Regime attempts to buy time will not help them....We have asked the Arab League and UN to protect civilians in Syria....We salute the Free Syrian Army who defended their brothers and their peaceful protests....Syrians will not forget the sacrifices of those who defended the uprising.
We tell people who are undecided, this revolution is yours....Syrians will not forget those who supported their revolutions....The regime of tyranny has fallen, but they are still trying to cling to power.
New Syria is being built today....The future Syria will be coming soon, free, democratic, and without slavery....Long live free Syria.
On Friday, St. Paul's Cathedral re-opened after a week's closure, blamed on health and safety issues related to the OccupyLSX (Occupy London Stock Exchange) tent village outside the iconic London tourist spot. While it was a significant seven days for Occupy London, with a second camp established at Finsbury Square and the printing of their own newspaper The Occupied Times, but the week was dominated by the public relations battle that has erupted around the proper role of the Church of England in social justice movements.
Let's not sugarcoat the outcome. This has been a disastrous week for not only the Dean and Chapter of St. Paul's Cathedral but for the Church of England as a whole, as an institution that claims to have any relevance in the modern world. There are two main charges against the Church, but both revolve around that eternal question "What Would Jesus Do?"
UPDATE 1956 GMT: Occupy London has released a letter to the people who run St. Paul's Cathedral, addressing the concerns that the church has been closed and attempting to get clarification on "health and safety concerns" that the church may have about the protest encampment. Read the entire letter here.
UPDATE 1948 GMT: Our EA Correspondent gives his analysis of how established the Findscury protest is:
"FS is looking established. Nearly 50 tents, 2 marquees, and a gazebo. And St. Pauls is now following a daily routine schedule."
He also describes the strange kind of democracy that the two camps have established:
Separate assemblies, at the usual times, meet in both camps.
But there is constant feedback between the two groups. When one Assembly votes on an issue, the other then votes on it as well... until a consensus is reached by the two groups.
Sounds complicated and time consuming, but who would have thought they could get the participatory General Assembly idea working without significant dissension as they have.
An EA correspondent is in the Occupy London march today. His messages are reprinted here without any editing:
1450 GMT: Tents now going up here. Occupystpauls it is. For now. Can't see the cops having it.
1324 GMT: Assange [Julian Assange of WikiLeaks] just showed up. Massive massive cheers.
1319 GMT: First instance of people's microphone.
Police shut access to 3 of 4 entrances to St Paul's churchyard. People gathering both sides of two of those police lines. Especially the side where access is blocked to the main crowd in St Paul's churchyard
Still a standoff and quiet, but crowd numbers are growing slowly.
Saturday, May 12, 2012 at 10:15
