Terra-ise

Terra at Occupy LSX

"Hip hop isn't dead, it's just moved to the UK" was a comment I read recently on YouTube about a music video by Logic. The song, "For My People" is a great example of the movement going largely unnoticed by the majority of the nation. It is a hard hitting fusion of expressions on the way the world is currently.

Another evolutionary music artist in this scene is Terra 'Graveman' Slim, someone I have had the pleasure of knowing for sometime and someone who makes music that comes straight from the heart. Never afraid to say things how he sees them Terra has made an album called "Evil is the root of all money". Please take some earth time to check out his YouTube site and support an artist making music from the heart and not the usual manufactured pop by government consent.

Evictus

The unbiased coverage of BBC media never fails to amaze me. After 4 months the City of London Corporation have finally managed to get their wish and evict the occupiers from the steps of St Paul's Cathedral, only for them to move around the corner to Finsbury Park. The BBC would lead you to believe that every man, woman and their dog was pleased to see the back of them. Admittedly in recent weeks due to my travels I have not been there, but my experiences before hand were not one of people wishing them away. There were always as many people interested in learning at the Tent University, where people made speeches in their free time, or people giving food to the mess area.

But not according to our tax paid Beeb.

They must have looked for every human possible on the Tuesday morning that would give them the sound bites they required; from "yes that looks much better" to "about time, it's a disgrace, an absolute disgrace what they have been allowed to do". The last one must have been a bankers mistress.

I find it a disgrace that I have to sit and listen to people talk about 'What Katie Did Next'.

Having done some talking to people that were there it appears that when the police arrived the people asked for notice as none had been served. The police refused and then all of a sudden came back with a 15minute warning. Of course this led to the rally cry for people to support the Occupy camp.
It was relatively peaceful and as usual the occupy camp conducted themselves with integrity, but whilst this was happening the police were conducting a covert operation to evict the school of ideas.

The school of ideas had no eviction notice served on them.

Whilst the people from the school of ideas helped the St Paul's protesters the police waded in and evicted those left and binned their personal items. Then the area was bull dozed. I have been told of stories how passports and other personal items were lost during this siege.

Does anyone remember when the police raided the banks and dragged the bankers down the stairs to a kangaroo court for fraud?

Silence Must Be Heard

It is hard sometimes to stay focused, when confronted by so many issues it is easy to get swallowed up and lose your thread and so it was for me recently at the Occupy London Stock Exchange. Tensions rose following an armed police raid on a Kurdish tent after an accusation that the group were carrying guns,  this turned out to be false but the damage to their reputation and presence there had already been done. The Kurdish tent pitched up at the footsteps of St Paul's Cathedral provides an uneasy sight for the UK Government as they, Turkey, the U.S. and the European Union have labelled the Kurdish Workers Party (PKK) a terrorist group and the very prospect of everyday Londoners, tourists and protesters engaging in meaningful conversation in to the untold story of Kurds in Turkey proved too much.

At one of the general assemblies, where members of the Occupy Working groups stand and disseminate the latest news, a man stood and spoke out about the incident looking to encourage people to engage with the Kurds.  I decided to take this opportunity and introduced myself to the gentleman at the end of his address.  He told me a bit about himself (his name was Mark) and then invited me into the tent where I met four others in a picture of tranquility amongst the hustle and bustle of the busy London road just yards from them. Shy at first they each introduced themselves to me before going on to explain their history.

As with all things you have to look to the history books to fully understand a current situation or predicament, such as Tibet, Ireland and of course Palestine.

Kurdistan it seems was to be a country of its own right to self rule, along with Armenia, after the break up of the Ottoman Empire following the signing of the Treaty of Sevres. Unfortunately however it was never ratified. This meant after the area fell to the forces of Kemal Ataturk and the reconquest complete, it led to the Treaty of Lausanne and the modern borders of Turkey, leaving the Kurds with no self ruled region. Rebellion ensued between 1925 and 1965 and later from 1983 the Kurdish Workers Party was labelled a terrorist organisation due to the activities of the activist arm the PKK. The 1980's and 1990's saw much blood shed and this is where the information from this group became particularly upsetting.

I was told how their families are not allowed to give their family name to their children, how the practice of their language is restricted and how their people were slaughtered by the army. Towns razed to the ground by flame throwers, mutilation, rape and torture.
In short, ethnic cleansing.
Mark was encouraged to tell me about his own personal experiences of the Kurdish struggle and the town of Lice (pronounced Leejay) when working as a photographer and journalist in the area in 1993, he came across a scene of true horror. On October 22nd and 23rd 1993 the Turkish army went to Lice and burned it to the ground whilst shooting those people running for cover. Lice was home to 35,000 humans.

Mark has his own Twitter and blog page with information and images which I shall attach at the end for you to see and make your own mind up and I urge you to.

Eventually they went on to discuss with me their experiences at the hands of our police, it came to light that some of the police in question were in fact Turkish speaking. As I sat and listened to them all it became more apparent to me as to why there had been this alarmist raid by the police. The debacle surrounding the St Paul's Cathedral has been a media circus, particularly around the 'will they, won't they' eviction nonsense, Remembrance Sunday was fast approaching and so the sight of this political statement turning up on their corporate doorstep was a huge problem.  The best way to discredit this peaceful move was to pray on the peoples fear of terror. Hitler once said "Make the lie big, make it simple. Keep repeating it and eventually they will believe it."  All I can say is ask more questions, if you are in the area speak to the Kurdish people. Listen to what they have to say and make up your own mind. 

http://www.economist.com/node/1581362
http://hevallo.blogspot.com/2011/09/how-dare-turkey-talk-about-justice.html

'Occupy' Movement Moves From Strength to Strength

To occupy, according to the UK Government, is to flatten a countries infrastructure with a vast quantity of cluster bombs (funded in development by banking corporations such as Lloyds TSB and Barclays) and rebuild the cities using Government contracts thus proving war is good for business. On the footsteps of St Paul's Cathedral however it has become a meaning of peace, education and hope for change.  Now in it's third week the Occupy London Stock Exchange movement has grown from strength to strength and each day seems to bring more innovative ideas than the day before.

It all goes back in the box

At 1400 on November the 5th there will be a rally held with guest speakers such as Weyman Bennet, a crusader against the rising fascism in this country (whom I have had the pleasure of meeting) and the enigmatic John Pilger, a crusader for truth in these dark times in our society.  Speakers of this magnitude go to show the depth of feeling against the feelings of un-justice we all see each day but few seem to accept.  The 'Occupy' movement globally has spread like wild fire and although the mainstream media would like you to think it is an aimless movement with no 'end game' what it does provide is the chance for people to spread awareness amongst themselves, and the thousands of visitors that come down everyday, of a whole range of issues domestically and internationally.  The human interaction is something of true beauty.

One couple I spoke to from Tunisia had family involved in the uprising almost a year ago that kicked off the Arab Spring.  They explained to me how many protestors were shot, how people were shot and killed after Ben Ali had been removed and the issues that were still prominent in their country today.  Of course, our media have moved on from such news items as there were wars to be fought in Libya and whether Wayne Rooney would be banned from the Euro's next year. The couple had only been at the Occupy LSX for the day but had seen enough to make return visits and support the movement.

Another group I spoke to where the Kurdish people and supporters, whom I am sure you will have read about in the various media outlets under the banner of 'terrorism'.  They were raided by armed police for the suspicion of having guns in their tent which turned out to be false, but by then the damage had been done.  The sight of armed police surrounding people in the midst of a peaceful demonstration has limited this particular groups ability to impact people that would have otherwise have benefited from hearing their story of oppression in Turkey. The news repeaters then proceeded to label them members of PKK, a so called terrorist group according to Turkey, the US and the European Union.

I for one was not about to be put off and went to find out more, but that is another story.

The Zeitgeist presence 

As I moved around the camp I spoke to all sorts of people, specialists in tech and media (responsible for the global connections with the other occupy cities) people who have left jobs and actively seeking part time jobs in the area because they believe so deeply in the movement.  It became apparent that this movement is here to stay.  As one person put it to me "this movement is about building infrastructure for the time when the financial system fails".  This is fundamentally changing the human nature versus the human nurture debate.  Time and again people tell me that it is human nature to be greedy or to not want to help others but I believe this to not be the case and to some extent know this to not be the case.  The Occupy LSX is proof of this as people donate their time and labour across all manner of expertise from law to simple administrational duties.

You are your labour.

There are some humans of course running around throwing out comments such as "of course they are unemployed, how else can you protest unless you are on the rock and roll" If said individual actually stopped for 5 minutes to ask the question, rather than believe the Daily Mail, he would have known that not everyone here is unemployed.  There are city workers staying here, public sector workers staying here and as I keep mentioning, EACH of them is contributing in their own way for free.  There are 36 working groups here covering every aspect of society from sanitation to waste disposal and health care, all being run more efficiently than your local borough council that employ fortnightly waste collections!
There is no litter, street cleaners here are not being cut back.

The new Finsbury Square occupy

Even I received personal insults telling me I should be ashamed, when asked ashamed of what the lady replied "it's just a free kip in the city".  Too right, why would anyone pay £200-500 or more a night for a hotel when you can pitch a tent and receive a free education in life lessons?  Some newspapers are concerned the Occupy movement will still be here during the Queen's Jubilee and the Olympics.... I say embrace the idea and invite the world to Occupy London during the Olympics.



http://occupylondon.org.uk/
http://www.occupytogether.org/
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/uk-banks-fund-deadly-clusterbomb-industry-2338168.html
http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/n.php?n=british-police-raid-pkk-tent-in-london-2011-10-28
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2054408/Occupy-London-St-Pauls-Cathedral-chancellor-quits-violence-fears.html

The Sit-in Continues

The Occupy movement having gone global is now 1 week old in London on the outskirts of the financial district at St Paul's Cathedral and is moving from strength to strength, even as I type the evolution (as I like to call it) has spread to another part of the city, Finsbury Square.

After the initial disorder of the first day there is now an orderly chaos amongst the protestors who have come together in a show of solidarity of the human spirit that is encouraging in these times where mainstream media strives to divide us. The entire court yard has become a city, within a city, within a city. A first I am sure, if you discount the farce in Israel. Anyone that has seen The Matrix will agree the tent city has a feel of Zion about it.

Generators chug on throughout the day and night powering the information centre, medical centre and catering arena with volunteers coming to the aide of others to provide whatever assistance is required for the men, women and children of all ages present here. There is even a mini cinema centre supplied where a series of informational DVDs are played to educate people on alternative energy solutions, education and of course the Zeitgeist documentaries made by Peter Joseph. One tent had gone one step further and is supplying it's power through solar panels. A nice touch. Other entertainment includes your usual selection of bongos, plastic buckets and acoustic guitars. A new addition for protests however was the site of a piano at the footsteps of the cathedral where renditions of David Bowie played on late into the twilight hours.

All this once again serves to answer the debate on human nature vs human nurture as people donate their time, effort and labour for free, towards a common goal for all.

My return to the courtyard was met with a frosty reception from the local security firm employed by the finical district (City of London Police) who found a particular piece of art work offensive due to the nature of the language on it and the fact that children were present on camp. I should have asked if they thought the children would be more, or less, affected by the site of my poster or the site of Colnel Gaddafi being dragged and beaten to a bloody pulp before being shown dead at 0800 in the morning on the BBC whilst they eat their cornflakes, getting ready for a day at school but I digress. The sheer amount of art on display in the court yard is impressive, thought and effort has gone into it and I believe Banksy would be proud of some of the stuff on display himself.

The media blackout being spun by local media is interesting, or media spin should I say. Throughout the week I have kept an eye on certain media outlets and of the 21 or so people interviewed (out of the thousands that have been here during this time) they managed to select the unemployed student, student or made redundant humans that are protesting their point. The reality of the matter is that there are all types of people here. Parents and grandparents with children that are protesting for their children's future, public sector workers from all areas, business people that are on the sharp end of the banking corporations stick. The moral of the story I guess is to not believe everything that the Rupert Murdoch or Government controlled news outlets tell you. Ask more questions and research your news from a wider range of sources, make use of the Internet before it is too late.