Moving Beyond this Representative Democracy

We live in a supposedly representative democracy, where we elect officials to govern us. There's no denying that this system reflects the wishes of the people more than the totalitarian regimes in other parts of the world, some of which are not elected, others of which rig the elections. But do our elected officals truly represent us?

In Bath and North East Somerset, our elected official is Don Foster, who famously campaigned against a rise in tuition fees and then voted in favour of them. Let me tell you about the time he came to the Occupy Bath camp on one evening back in November. That night he was invited to attend a meeting about the NHS reforms, hosted by Dr Wendy Savage. Around 200 people attended. Instead he arrived at Queen Square just after dusk, and just after a talk entitled "War and Capitalism". The person giving the talk immediately recognised him and gave him a big lecture on his voting record. Looking nervous, he then said loudly - and I quote - "I have no objections to this camp." He then made promptly for the exit, commenting on the way that he had a sports event to go to. Later, when interviewed by Breeze Bath, he commented "I think it is wrong that - as a country - we support banks, not only if they get it wrong in terms of lending mortgages but many other issues. The other thing we are trying to do as a government is to try and do more to support the least well off in society." Well said Don, now some actions would be nice.

Don Foster, Bath and North East Somerset MP (Lib Dem), giving the Occupy Bath camp his approval

The following morning, scores of people turned up at the camp - Dr Wendy Savage had expressed her support for the Occupy Movement and had recommended that people come to the camp to support us and find out more. When we told them about our visitor, they were appalled. Don had the time to visit Occupy Bath on a whim, but didn't show up to a meeting he was invited to weeks ago. Of course, he knew he'd be ripped to pieces, and probably thought he would have an easier time at the camp. I'm proud that we gave him hell too.

I don't recall Don talking about NHS reforms before the election. Like all other politicians, he was elected based on a manifesto and pre-election pledges. As far as I am concerned, in a representative democracy the elected official's job is to uphold these things. Unexpected things will almost certainly arise during their term, and in which case the democratic thing to do would be to consult the people - perhaps even hold a referendum. If there really is a good case for doing what they want to do, then surely the public would vote in favour of it.

On the subject of referendums, a simple yes/no is not always the best choice. Since 1973 there have only been 11 referendums in the UK, and most have been regional referendums on devolution. The most recent referendum - on the Alternative Vote - was a shambles. Not only was the Conservative smear campaign out of hand, but even the Liberal Democrats didn't really want it. Why were we not given the option to vote for other voting systems, such as some form of Proportional Representation?

Was the war against Iraq in Labour's manifesto? No. I was among the many thousands marching in the street back in 2003, and felt disgusted when Tony Blair didn't acknowledge us. If there had been a referendum, I am in no doubt that we wouldn't have gone to war. I also don't recall being given a vote on bailing out the banks - hands up who would have voted "NO!".

Now, in 2012, we are facing a potential war with Iran, privatisation of the NHS and the police force, and cuts left right and centre. Neither the Conservatives nor the Liberal Democrats won the election, so they have even less right than the previous Labour administration to go to war in our name without consulting us first. Rather than giving us referendums on the big issues that none of us voted for, they are even reducing our right to oppose them via our remaining options - the petitions service and protests.

There are many untrustworthy politicians, but even among the more honest ones there is another barrier to a true representative democracy - the three-line whip. When a party insists that all of it's MPs vote a certain way on an issue, they issue a three-line whip - which means that anyone who rebels against the party line is expected to resign from their position. So here's a scenario - what if an MP gives their constituents a vote on an issue, promising to vote whichever way the people decide. The party then issues a three-line whip requesting that they vote the other way. Through being democratic, the MP could potentially lose their job. Is this why we don't have referendums at the level of a constituency in this country?

This is 2012. We now have the technology to crowdsource and to use wiki platforms to create a new constitution (and a written one - this country doesn't even have one!) - this worked for Iceland. Let's bring in a new era using the tools we have available to us, tools we didn't have until recently, a new era where democracy is truly a government of the people and not run by elected officials who can go against the will of the people whenever they feel like it. Occupy, the Indignados, the Quaker Movement and many other groups around the world have advocated more direct forms of democracy. Let's move this forward this year, and make the old ways irrelevant.

Previous post on Occupy Bath: Do the right thing - Move Your Money!
Next Post on Occupy Bath: Occupy the UK. That's at Least What The Shittro Thinks (Guest Blog)


Further Reading
Don Foster visits Occupy Bath - http://bath.thebreeze.com/news/baths-news/bath-mp-supports-occupy-bath-113/

House of Lords report "Referendums in the United Kingdom" - http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/ld200910/ldselect/ldconst/99/99.pdf

Guardian article on the Iceland constitution - http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/jun/09/iceland-crowdsourcing-constitution-facebook


A major reference for the kind of democracy used in Occupy camps and by other groups worldwide - http://www.seedsforchange.org.uk/free/consensus

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The Occupy Movement - Occupy Bristol: The beginning

In solidarity with the Occupy movement that went global on 15th October 2011, Occupy Bristol met and set up camp on College Green, overlooked by Bristol Cathedral and the council offices. The scheduled meeting time was 12pm. Numbers grew steadily throughout the afternoon, and the first general assembly took place.

I arrived in the late afternoon, curious to see how things were going. Within 10 minutes I had been offered room in a tent and a sleeping bag for the night. The atmosphere was incredible and throughout the evening more people came and put up tents. A small disagreement broke out over whether or not a fire would be appropriate, with some arguing that they were cold and others arguing that a fire may give the authorities a reason to evict the occupation. But this minor event did not cause the occupation to fall apart - a valuable lesson was learned on why consensus decision making was a crucial part of keeping the parcipitants in the occupation together.

The first few tents at Occupy Bristol

The fire was eventually lit in a wire basket, and the fire brigade came. They confirmed that the fire was not a health and safety risk, and many of those initially opposed to it (including myself) breathed a sigh of relief. The fire was soon transferred to a metal wheelbarrow and the basket was turned over and used as a grill to cook food on. A friend phoned me from Occupy the London Stock Exchange with news of kettling and the Julian Assange speech. Later, several people returned from London with further news about the occupation there.

Reggae music played at a moderate volume until the early hours of the morning. Many people out on the town that night came over to dance and to talk about what the occupation was there for. Several police officers stood on the outskirts of the encampment and occasionally chatted to the occupiers. One officer that I spoke to seemed sympathetic to the views expressed by people at the camp, as police jobs are among those threatened by government cuts. At approximately 1am, someone attempted to call a general assembly. Few people were interested, and most people I spoke to were of the opinion that that night was a time of celebration, and that the real work would begin the next day.

I spoke to a wide range of people that night, and almost everyone gave a different reason for being there. I met teachers, nurses, IT technicians, veterans soldiers, students, homeless people, shop workers, gardeners, pensioners, people on incapacity benefit, freelance journalists, film makers, cooks, parents, environmentalists, owners of small businesses and people from many other backgrounds.

Due to a combination of music, talking and the cold weather, many people did not sleep well on the first night. But few were willing to give up just yet. Like all happenings, a few teething problems are to be expected, and many of them were ironed out in the coming days and weeks. After a litter pick, a meeting was called the next morning under the Occupy Bristol banner.

Morning general assembly on the second day of Occupy Bristol

A number of items were discussed, in particular statements to the press and a wish list of items for the camp. The BBC came along during the meeting, and someone was elected to give a short interview. Throughout the morning, people made signs. Members of the general public came to the camp to see what was happening and to talk with occupiers. A Spanish couple, aware of the Indignado movement back home, came and played songs on a guitar. Some people did not venture further than the signs, highlighting their importance in explaining why the camp was there. Aside from a single man shouting "you should all have your benefits cut", the general public were largely supportive, with people coming over to tell us what a good thing we were doing and asking how they could help. Donations of food and equipment started to come in. Around mid-day, a general assembly was called. There was much to discuss, namely the role of the police, the reasons for being there, engaging with the public and the future of the camp.

News came in from London that Giles Fraser, Canon Chancellor of St Paul's Cathedral, had asked the police to move on, and said that he was happy for the protestors to stay on his land. Word circulated around the Bristol camp that the Dean of Bristol Cathedral was happy for the camp to stay for the time being (although he later stated that he did not actually give his permission).

Many people put a lot of effort into founding the camp that weekend, from making food, putting up tents and banners, engaging with the public, providing music and other entertainment and playing an active part in discussions. I walked away that afternoon in the sun with a smile on my face, wishing I could stay, but also with a reaffirmed sense of responsibility towards my job and my personal life. I promised I'd be back.

Further reading:

Occupy Bristol Facebook Page: http://www.facebook.com/occupybristol

Occupy Bristol Website: http://www.occupybristoluk.org


Some videos from the first weekend of Occupy Bristol can be found here: http://www.youtube.com/user/supersonixstudio1


News articles:
Bristol: http://www.blottr.com/bristol/breaking-news/occupy-bristol-takes-over-college-green

London: http://www.ekklesia.co.uk/node/15566

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The Occupy Movement - Occupy the World

With the Spanish Indignado movement and Occupy Wall Street in full swing and gathering widespread support from across the globe, it was inevitable that the protests would spread to other parts of the world. In September 2011 the date was set - on the 15th October, marking the 5 month anniversary of the start of the Indignado movement, similar protests would occur simultaneously in the major, and some not so major, financial centres across the world.

Social media websites, particularly sites such as Facebook and Twitter, were the major tools used in organising the global Occupy movement. Small groups often met prior to the occupations to decide on locations, which were then publicly announced via Facebook groups, or used the groups to collectively decide on locations. By the end of the 15th, approximately 950 protests did occur, with the majority of them setting up camp, intending to stay.

Occupations involving over 100,000 took place in Madrid, Barcelona, Rome and Valencia. People also turned out in their thousands in London, Lisbon, Brussels, Frankfurt, Santiago, Athens, Vancouver, Paris, Amsterdam, Tel Aviv and many more major cities.

In the UK, London grabbed the headlines. Thousands of protestors marched on the London Stock Exchange, but were forced to move towards St Paul's Cathedral by police using controversial "kettlling" tactics. Julian Assange, the founder of the website Wikileaks (which publishes leaked documents from governments and corporations), was among them, wearing a Guy Fawkes mask (from the movie "V for Vendetta", and also worn by the hacktivist group Anonymous, who have shown support for Wikileaks). Police removed his mask and shortly afterwards he gave a speech to the crowd.

Overwhelmed by the reports that demonstrations and occupations had erupted worldwide, on that day, my small role as a physical presence in this movement began.


Further Reading:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/global/2011/oct/15/occupy-movement-occupy-wall-street

http://www.fifthinternational.org/content/15-october-occupy-wall-street-goes-global

Julian Assange speech: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oc7-JrTOGvg

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The Occupy Movement - Occupy Wall Street

Occupy Wall Street took the template of the Spanish Indignados, gave it a new name, gained widespread media attention and influenced and inspired thousands of similar protests throughout the world. Indeed, Occupiers and the media alike are still often under the impression that Occupy Wall Street was the original.

In July 2011,  Kalle Lasn, co-founder of  the Adbusters Media Foundation, based in Vancouver, Canada called for a march through the streets of Lower Manhattan, culminating in an occupation outside the New York Stock Exchange - a similar move to protests in Tunisia and Egypt. In his own words "When we started this, it was just a hash-tag. We knew something big was going to happen in the US. But when it spread across the world, it was a big surprise".

The internet hacktivist group Anonymous took this idea and ran with with it, calling for its members to join in with this movement, releasing a video and statement on their website "On the 17th of September, we want to see 20,000 people to flood into lower Manhattan, set up beds, kitchens, peaceful barricades and occupy Wall Street for a few months". The actual figure was approximately 5000, with about 300 people staying over in Zuccotti Park on the first night, but this was only the start.

Zucotti Park was a wise move. As it is privately-owned land, the Occupiers could not be moved. The landowners eventually attempted to get them to move so that they could clean the park, but thousands of union members descending on the park and the litter-picking was undertaken by the Occupiers themselves. Occupy Wall Street wasn't going anywhere.

Next: The Occupy Movement - Occupy the World
Also: Occupy Wall Street - 6 Month Anniversary

Further reading:


http://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/2011-10-26/news/30324122_1_tv-station-anna-hazare-jamming

http://articles.cnn.com/2011-09-16/tech/tech_social-media_twitter-occupy-wall-street_1_social-media-protest-campaign-financial-district?_s=PM:TECH

http://newyork.ibtimes.com/articles/215511/20110917/occupy-wall-street-new-york-saturday-protest.htm


http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2011/sep/19/occupy-wall-street-financial-system?CMP=twt_gu

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The Occupy Movement - The background

I've been following the Occupy Movement since it began, and the misrepresentation of it in the mainstream press and the focus on the negative aspects of the movement has appalled me - so this blog, for the time being, aims to provide an independent perspective and my direct observations from being involved in it.

It is a movement that is still young, continually evolving and still finding its feet - but movements as big as this (at the time of writing there are over 2000 Occupy protest camps in over 80 countries) are seldom, and the importance of it cannot be understated. The movement is not confined to the camps - there are many who are actively involved in spreading the word on the internet also. Last weekend, Occupy Bath was set up in Queen's Square. It is not outside a bank or a local government building, but surrounded by hotels, a science institute and museums, things that are not necessarily the causes of the problems. Someone asked me "Why, of all places, did you choose Queen's Square?". Through these blogs I hope to present a decent case for this location and explain why this camp is here. I'll start from the very beginning.

Our governments and our financial system have failed us. For the last few years, every new day has brought with it fresh news reports proclaiming cuts to public services, recession, mass unemployment, rising living costs, increased university tuition fees, wars and environmental degradation. The democracy our governments and their media claim we live in isn't working. Somehow it is possible for people to run the country with less than 50% of public support, and even then they do not always keep their promises. There's good reason to be a little disillusioned with the world right now.

And then, 2011 happened. In the Middle East and North Africa, whole nations went to war on their corrupt leaders and ousted them. Riots broke out in London and other areas of the UK. The Greek economic crisis peaked, affecting the rest of the Eurozone and other economies around the world. But amongst all of this dark news are glimmers of hope.

Although perhaps the most commented on protest in the world right now and, in terms of impact quite possibly the most significant, Occupy Wall Street was not the first of its kind. It started in Spain.

In May 2011, Puerta del Sol Square in Madrid filled with tens of thousands of people disillusioned with their country's financial situation and their government. But this demonstration was different to the usual angry mob, this was a demonstration with much optimism. People set up camp and began to debate about the root causes of the problems and come up with solutions, using consensus decision making rather than a parliamentary system to come to decisions. The movement spread across Spain to other towns and cities. The roots for the Occupy Movement began here, with the Indignado Movement, which is still continuing to this date and still continues to inspire. 

Further reading:
http://www.newstatesman.com/blogs/the-staggers/2011/10/occupy-movement-madrid


http://www.theepochtimes.com/n2/world/spanish-indignados-a-force-in-global-movement-63233.html

http://awaytohome.blogspot.com/2011/06/acampada-de-puerta-del-sol.html 


Next: The Occupy Movement - Occupy Wall Street

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