Saturday, 26 November 2011

Occupy and the 99% Movement

I have nothing but good wishes for the Occupy and 99% movement - I know its not perfect, but it is heartening to think that there are other people out there who would like to live in a fairer world. If the number of ways it is attacked are anything to go by, it may even be threatening the status quo!
It is a spontaneous expression of disperate people saying "enough is enough"..so it is accused of having no formulated ideas or policies....
It is supported by some organsations like UK Uncut so it is accused of being fuelled by organised trouble-makers...
It has many eccentrics amongst its ranks so it is dismissed as a loony fringe....
It has some people who work or study so it is criticised for being part-time...
It was forced away from the banking district and into the square in front of St Paul's so it is criticised for interupting the business of the cathedral...
The truth is that it represents the 99% of us that do not own all the wealth, we work, we study, we have different political beliefs, we are sane, we are loony...we are the people. We want fairness. We want less disparity between the rich and poor. We want politicians to do their jobs and come up with the policies to achieve this.

Anyone else got deja vu?

As a teenager in the 1980's, I pulled on my Doc Marten's, soaped up the spikes in my hair and protested. The Tories were in power, Labour was weak and various fascist organisations were looking to capitalise on the despair and frustrations of the time to gain new recruits to the philosophy that all woes are someone else's fault, (some "foreigner's" no doubt!)
Today, deja vu hits me like a bucket of water in the face and its not altogether unpleasant. The younger me has re-awakened. After two decades of disillusionment and frustration, I have hope again. Maybe this time, in opposing what we know we do not want, we will get that much closer again to what we do want. For all of us it will be a little different, but the general themes of fairness, equality, freedom and decency are common enough ground to build on.
First step for me is attending the Unite Against Fascism march in London on November 6th....now where did I put those Doc Marten's?