10 things Occupy Bath has Achieved

Ahead of tonight's re-occupation of Bath, here's a list of 10 things that Occupy Bath has achieved in the last year.

1. Highlighted issues of financial inequality and provided a platform where people can discuss and work together to find solutions.

2. Launched a Move Your Money campaign, and performed street theatre outside banks in order to promote it https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6WR5gWbo1tI

3. Founded the Bath People's Assembly https://www.facebook.com/bathpeoplesassembly?ref=ts&fref=ts, which is still going today and as well as providing an open democratic forum for the people of Bath, the BPA has also put on several talks and the highly successful Visions for Change event back in April (at which Occupy Bath were present) http://standingstonesblog.blogspot.co.uk/2012/04/visions-for-change-inspiration-for.html.

4. Provided hot food in Bath city centre in the middle of winter for anyone who wanted/needed it http://www.nowbath.co.uk/local-news/occupy-bath-return-for-meal-41979/

5. Occupy Bath was part of the Stop the Drones group that successfully stopped a drones conference from going ahead in the Assembly Rooms https://network23.org/bathstopthedrones/

6. Supported and spoke at the union strike last November http://www.thisisbath.co.uk/Occupy-Bath-camp-staying-protesters-join-union/story-13919822-detail/story.html

7. Attended the National Occupy Conference and highlighted local issues affecting Bath on the steps of St Paul's Cathedral to a crowd of hundreds http://standingstonesblog.blogspot.co.uk/2011/11/occupy-uk-and-ireland-conference.html

8. Since packing up camp last time, many of Bath Occupiers (some of which had never been involved in campaigns or protests before) have gone on to join other activist and campaign groups and strengthened their numbers

9. Joined other groups in campaigning against workfare earlier this year http://standingstonesblog.blogspot.co.uk/2012/07/anti-workfare-demonstration-outside-wh.html

10. Never given up. At the end of last year's camp, Occupy Bath said "This is just the beginning", and they have stayed true to their words. Camp or no camp, Occupy Bath have been actively campaigning, discussing and debating the issues, maintaining a strong social media presence, putting forward solutions, communicating with other occupations and other groups and trying to do all they can to make our country, and our city a more equal, fairer and democratic place. This weekend marks the beginning of a new phase, and will hopefully bring the issues raised last time to the forefront once more. Occupy Bath do not intend to outstay their welcome and intend to be respectful to the land they Occupy.

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Occupy Bath Move Your Money Street Theatre: The Movie

The video from the Move Your Money event last weekend:

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Occupy Bath - Move Your Money Street Theatre

That's right - Occupy Bath is still alive and well, and had a lot of fun today with some street theatre in Bath City Centre.

Three money bags danced around outside the "Big 5" high street banks and also in our spiritual home of Queen Square. We all took turns wearing the bags (which were see-through) and danced around to a selction of folk, indie and rock music, handing out flyers on the Move Your Money campaign and the B&NES Council Move Your Money petition. We generated a lot of interest and were only told to move on once, by Lloyds. We made sure that the bank staff had flyers about our campaign before moving onto Santander, just a few shops up. RBS had closed by the time we got there, so we had plenty of time to dance around outside there and spoke to a lot of members of the public.

A video camera was present throughout the day - the video is here: http://standingstonesblog.blogspot.co.uk/2012/04/occupy-bath-move-your-money-street.html

We certainly attracted a lot of attention and hopefully made people think about who they bank with. The "big 5" - RBS (which owns Nat West), Lloyds, HSBC, Barclays and Santander speculate on food prices, avoid tax through tax havens, invest in oil, nuclear and other polluting industries (including tar sands extraction in Canada and Madagascar which has destroyed rare habitats and poisoned drinking water), pay themselves huge bonuses for failure, and of course some - in particular RBS - were a key player in causing the credit crunch. The alternatives? Local Credit Unions and ethical banks and building societies, such as the Co-operative, Triodos and Nationwide. More info on the Move Your Money campaign is here: http://www.moveyourmoney.org.uk/

You can sign the petition to get B&NES Council to Move Their (Our!!!) Money from Nat West to an ethical bank here: http://democracy.bathnes.gov.uk/mgEPetitionDisplay.aspx?id=5

Occupy Bath will next be appearing at the Visions for Change event on 28th April at the Friends' Meeting House, York Street, organised by the Bath People's Assembly. More info on the events tab here: http://www.bathpeoplesassembly.org/

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Occupy Bath - Forthcoming Action

That's right - back in December when we packed up our lovely little camp in Queen Square, we said, and I quote, "This is only the beginning." Always true to our word, we have a few things lined up.

This Saturday we will be bringing some light-hearted costumed street theatre outside the non-ethical banks in Bath - we're talking about the ones that messed up our economy and are involved in the arms trade and fossil fuels. The full press release is below:

"As grass re-grows on Queen Square, Bath, left immaculate when the Occupy Bath encampment voluntarily vacated on December 10th, the movement is springing back into public view in central Bath.

On Saturday 31st March, at noon, veterans of Occupy Bath will begin a bank-crawl, visiting the pavements outside Bath’s Big Banks with street theatre urging customers and passers-by to “Move Your Money!”

Living money bags will bounce to jolly money music while Occupy Veterans distribute fliers with a serious message. These remind readers that the financial crisis since 2008 is the result of out-of-control banking, and that three years later, practically nothing has been done to change the system.

Lin Patterson said, “These banks speculate on food prices, avoid tax through tax havens, invest in arms, oil, nuclear and polluting industries while paying themselves absurd bonuses. Yet we are not helpless--we can vote with our feet and move to real alternatives now, such as the Bristol Credit Union which covers Bath and offers a current account, savings and loans, among others like the Cooperative Bank or Bath Building Society. Today is about taking the first step in exploring how you can move your money. See the ‘Move Your Money’ website for starters. ”

The Occupy Bath Veterans also support the B&NES Council - Move Your Money Petition , an e-Petition which anyone who lives, works or studies in the area can sign on the B&NES website, calling for the council to move its money from NatWest, which is owned by the Royal Bank of Scotland, to a more ethical bank, better representing the needs of the public, as other councils have done.

The Street Theatre begins in front of NatWest Bank on High Street at noon, before moving on to other Milsom Street banks."

But that's not all. Since we packed up camp, various Bath Occupiers have been very busy. Back in January we had a reunion in Queen Square, covered here. Occupiers have also been partaking in organised debates and talks on the Occupy Movement, and one of us recently attended the Occupy South West conference in Newton Abbott last weekend - see here for the statement on this conference. Many of us have continued attending the Bath People's Assembly meetings (which since its inception has been open to all people of Bath to discuss the matters they want to, and is not specifically for Occupiers and Occupy supporters) and Occupy Bath has endorsed the petition calling for the council to move their money from Nat West to an ethical bank like the Co-op or Triodos. 


Occupy Bath have confirmed that they will join the growing number of forward thinking organisations and campaigns at the Visions for Change event in Bath on Saturday 28th April, organised by the Bath People's Assembly. More on this in a future post, and more details can be found on the events tab on the Bath People's Assembly website.


Standing Stone has also written an article on the Occupy Movement for the U-Know Section of the website of the forward-thinking musician, antiquarian and author Julian Cope - read it here:

THE OCCUPY MOVEMENT: Personal Reflections, Origins, Actions and Future Intentions

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6 Ways the Occupy Movement is Continuing in 2012

With most of the camps now gone, Occupy in the UK is still very much alive and well and continuing in various different forms. Here I present six of the more successful and promising Occupy Phase 2 activities that have arisen over the last few months. I'm sure there's probably a lot more, so if you have anything you'd like to add, feel free to comment below.

1. Move Your Money
It's a simple message: Don't like the big High Street banks that gambled with our money and lend to companies involved in arms manufacturing and environmental devastation? Then don't give them any!

There are a lot of other banks and financial institutions out there who are pretty good. These include many Credit Unions and also ethical banks and building societies such as The Co-operative/Brittania, Nationwide and Triodos in the UK. For more information on the UK Move Your Money Campaign visit http://www.moveyourmoney.org.uk and for the US campaign visit http://moveyourmoneyproject.org.

Many individual Occupiers I know have already moved their money, or plan to in the near future. Also, street and social media campaigns to spread the word are being undertaken by various Occupations and individuals. Some Occupations are also attempting to persuade councils and businesses to move their money by creating dialogue with them or through petitions - see here for the petition to get Bath and North East Somerset Council to move from NatWest to an ethical bank, and also my previous blog entry Do the Right Thing - Move Your Money!

2. People's Assemblies
As well as the protest element of Occupy, there was also a strong element of working as democratically as possible. Consensus decision-making, a form of direct democracy, was used in the General Assemblies of many Occupations throughout the world, although there were those who didn't get on so well with it and much has been written by critics on the flaws of this system. But even so, I'm of the opinion that it is a good place to start, and there's nothing that says it can't be modified. What many people agree on is that this current form of representative democracy has led to corruption and hasn't always represented the people - so we need alternatives. See here for more information on consensus decision-making, and also my previous blog entry Moving Beyond this Representative Democracy

People's Assemblies don't necessarily need a camp or people opposed to the excesses of capitalism to function - they can, and by their definition, should be open to everyone. They can be successfully set up in a local area to discuss local, national and global issues, and to formulate ideas and proposals. From this, action could be taken, which may include petitions, events, dialogue with authorities etc. with the backing of a group of people who want to see changes. It's also conceivable that a representative from a People's Assembly could be elected to a council seat - or even as a Member of Parliament. If we're going to remain as a representative democracy, lets at least get people who will act on behalf of their constituents' wishes.

See the Bath People's Assembly website for an example of a successful People's Assembly, with minutes and more information (an improved website is currently in the works), and also the worldwide People's Assemblies Network website. A World to Win has an excellent article on the need for People's Assemblies here.

3. Pop-up Occupations
Easy one this - Occupy somewhere for a day, or a few hours. There's many variations of this being trialled or talked about, including temporary encampments, occupying banks, setting up a stall in town or putting up a marquee for the purposes of a gathering. Be as creative as you can - perhaps even include art, music, street theatre or costumes.

Pop-up Occupations can be used to highlight a single issue, such as a company not paying their taxes. Leaflets could be handed out or someone could give a talk on a particular subject. There could even be temporary small-scale versions of the Tent City University that was formerly the centrepiece of Occupy LSX.

So far, Occupy has largely impacted on the big cities and towns - try bringing the movement to smaller towns and villages, or places like out-of-town shopping centres and supermarkets. It's also a good idea to check who owns the land you are occupying, as these days many shopping centres and some streets are owned by a private corporation, who may send the security guards out.

Occupy Bath recently re-occupied Queen Square for a day to cook a meal - free for anyone to partake in - and to re-group - see my blog entry Occupy Bath and Bristol - January 2012.

4. Talks and Presentations
The Occupy Movement was among the biggest news stories of 2011 and early 2012, and it's still a hot topic in the news. Lots of places want to know more. Last week there was a talk on the Occupy Movement at Bath University, and just yesterday there was a debate amongst post-graduate students at Bath University, for which two of Occupy Bath attended. Occupy London had the idea of going to give talks in schools and universities - see this news article.

There are also other avenues to explore, such as debating societies, academic institutes, political parties, university societies, campaign groups, speakers' corners, religious groups and other clubs and societies.

5. Working with Other Groups, Movements and Campaigns
Occupy is a mix-bag of people from different backgrounds, and many people involved have links to other campaigns. Occupy has already forged links with other campaigns and organisations with similar views, such as UK Uncut, Move Your Money and The Quakers. Some camps have also collaborated with other groups on certain issues, often on a local level. Realistically speaking, Occupy won't change the world on its own, but by working together with everyone else that is trying to change the world, there might be a chance. Looking to the future, we would have a better chance through networking and collaborating with other groups and individuals on areas that we see eye-to-eye on.

Many organisations came down to Occupy Bath to offer their support, from local businesses to campaign organisations to political parties. I'm sure this is same for many other occupations. Those still involved in Occupy, or who want to be involved, could go and speak to them and hopefully find common ground and ways forward.

In a previous blog entry, The Ongoing War Against the Corrupt Financial Elite, I explored the concept that many protests and campaigns throughout the years and in the modern age are all fighting different battles of the same war.

6. Occupy the Vote
In America, the Occupy the Vote campaign is attempting to rid the nation of the two-party system and is supporting Independent candidates - which outnumber those running under the banner of Republican or Democrat - and attempting to eliminate the "wasted vote" mentality, which has hindered Independents and many of the smaller political parties for decades. In the UK, MPs don't actually have to keep any of their election pledges, and sometimes this is down to the three-line whip - an instruction given to MPs of a particular party by those higher up in the party, which if they do not follow, expulsion is on the cards.

Getting an Independent majority is not just a pipe-dream. On a local level, a group called Independents for Frome were able to get a majority on Frome Town Council, thus taking the control out of the hands of the big political parties and allowing the new Councillors, in their own words, to make the town "cleaner and greener" and to create "openness and involvement in decision making". Their story is an inspiring one, and I urge anyone with an interest in alternative politics to read it: http://iffrome.org.uk/past.

Further Reading:

What Has Occupy Been Up To? 6 Great Actions You Can't Miss This Spring: http://www.alternet.org/story/154411/what_has_occupy_been_up_to_6_great_actions_you_can%27t_miss_this_spring

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This is a semi-sequel to a blog entry I wrote way back in November entitled 10 Ways to Support the Occupy Movement if You're Not Camping, from which I have had a lot of positive feedback, and to this day remains by far my highest-viewed effort. I hope that this can be as useful to other Occupations as that one was.

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The Ongoing War Against the Corrupt Financial Elite

Occupy LSX, outside St Paul's cathedral, has been evicted. With most of the camps gone, it might appear to some that the Occupy Movement has lost. Nonsense. Occupy is an idea, and the people involved haven't gone away. We're all still talking, and Phase 2 is taking off quite nicely. That's not to say that the loss of the St Paul's isn't a tragedy - as a friend of mine put it "why do things always have to end with a fence and bastards in hi-vis?".

Occupy LSX

Back in the mid-90s, occupying physical spaces was an almost as widespread form of direct action as in the last 6 months. Back then, the target was the government road schemes. Some occupations of the land made the national headlines - in particular the protests at Solsbury Hill, Twyford, the A30 and, of course, the Newbury Bypass. Their dedication to holding onto those physical spaces was much more than those trying to hold onto Occupy camps, for good reason - the woodlands and other important habitats were under threat. The pavement outside St Paul's and the land at Queen Square and College Green are not under threat, and not home to rare wildlife. It didn't matter so much where the camps were. The Newbury Bypass protest, and many of the other road protests, failed to achieve their primary objectives - protect the natural habitats faced with imminent destruction. But although those battles were lost, the protests scored some big wins in the long-term. The road protests caught the attention of the media in a big way, and turned a large proportion of the public onto the issues. By the end of the Newbury Bypass protest, scores of camps were set up along the route and many thousands of people had participated in some way in opposing the bypass. It's one of the biggest regrets I have, that I wasn't one of them. It was one of the most important battles fought in my lifetime. I visited Snelsmore Common (the site of several of the encampments) recently and was horrified by what I saw. The legacy of the road protests is that hundreds of proposed road schemes never happened, and that environment and wildlife laws are now enforced much more strictly at the planning and development stages. Another scheme like the Newbury Bypass would have a lot more difficulty getting off the ground today with the current planning laws and demonstrated the importance and effectiveness of direct action. As Swampy put it when evicted from his tunnel at Fairmile:

"I think it's the only way to get a voice these days. I mean if I had written a letter to my MP, would I have achieved all this? Would you lot be here now? I think not!"

The victories scored by those brave people who put their lives at risk deserve never to be forgotten, and their achievements need to be upheld and protected. The coalition government are now branding our wildlife laws as "red tape", are trying to make developments easier to get through planning and attempted to sell off our forests. They are eroding our right to occupy, with the squatting laws and enforced evictions. We need to stop them at all costs.

It's easy to overlook a one-day protest, but long-term high-profile protests get the media interested and, despite some media sources painting negative pictures, a chance to get the word out to the public. Occupy has started an international conversation. When we had the camps in Bristol and Bath, we were constantly on the TV, radio and newspapers. We were given the opportunity to get our message across to the general public and the people in charge, and they were listening, even if only to dismiss us. The camps were in central locations. We had so many people walk past, shouting at us to have a bath and, then go to the pub, start talking about why we were doing it and come back with questions. Already the politicians are speaking about "fairer capitalism". I'm not convinced they completely mean it, but there have been some positive outcomes - the government are now cracking down on tax avoidance by the banks, and the Move Your Money campaign has seen many people move to more responsible ethical banks and credit unions. People are now more aware than ever, thanks to the months of Occupiers using whatever means they can - from social media to newspapers, TV, leaflets, talks and tent city universities - to get the messages across.

But even though we're onto the next phase and few are still camping, I don't think it's the end of direct action. If things get worse, the protest side of things will heat up again. The UNITE union leader is calling for protests during the Olympics, and the 15th of May is a significant date for Occupiers (the Spanish Indignados - the pre-cursor to Occupy - started on this date last year). Both of these are opportunities to expand on showing the fat cats, the government and the rest of the world that we're not happy.

I see the Occupy Movement as the latest manifestation of an ongoing war against the corrupt wealthy elite of this world who are hell-bent on wrecking societies and the environment for the sake of profit. Newbury was part of this fight - some of the dialogue from the protestors in videos from the evictions could just have easily come from an Occupier - as were the war march, the G20 protests, the CND movement and countless other protests and movements. From my perspective, the way forward involves "joined-up thinking". We need to connect poverty, environmental degradation, wars, loss of public services, political oppression and human rights violations with corrupt corporations, bankers and governments. There are many organisations and individuals out there fighting different battles of the same war. We need to come together as one, and attack them on all fronts.

In other news, the Move Your Money campaign is gathering momentum - more info here: http://www.moveyourmoney.org.uk/. March is Move Your Money month - if you don't want the big banks to hold the power and want to support better alternatives, now is the time to do so. If you haven't signed it yet, the petition to get Bath and North East Somerset Council to move from NatWest to an ethical bank like the Co-operative is here.

Further Reading:

Occupy LSX eviction:
Guardian article - http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2012/feb/28/police-evict-st-pauls-occupy-protesters

Surprisingly neutral Sun article - http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/4159319/Occupy-London-evicted-from-St-Pauls.html

Where next for Occupy?:
Guardian opinion piece on the next step - http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/feb/29/occupy-london-represent

Road Protest Movement
Lots of resources on the Newbury Bypass here - http://www.ukrivers.net/newburybypass/factfile.html

Videos of the Newbury camps and some of the evictions here (not always comfortable viewing, but highlight how insanely vicious police and bailiffs can be when they want to) - http://www.kinokast.net/index.php/protest-videos/transport/the-newbury-bypass/raw-hi8-tapes/

Swampy's speech after leaving the tunnel at Fairmile (A30 road protest) - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hvSwc9ryKAY&feature=related

For an account of Newbury by one of the protestors, see Merrick (1996) "Battle for the Trees"

Also worth checking out the songs "Battle for the Trees" by Julian Cope and "Snelsmore Wood" by New Model Army.

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Do the right thing - Move Your Money!

It pains me to say it, but I've been inspired by our PM, David Cameron. He talks a lot about "doing the right thing", whether it's on the NHS, RBS, Libya, Afghanistan, hard-working families or the EU veto. It's his favourite phrase. I don't necessarily think he has done "the right thing" on these issues. What is "the right thing" anyway? Is it letting the government and the banks walk all over you while they pay each other a fortune in bonuses on top of their extortionate salaries, and not making a fuss about it? Is it staring at a TV screen watching endless reality TV and soap operas while neglecting the bigger (and even smaller) issues going on in the world? Is it shouting at someone for attempting to make a positive difference - even if you think they are doomed to fail and possibly going about it the wrong way? Maybe, if your name is David Cameron, George Osborne or Boris Johnson.

In my view, "doing the right thing" is not a simple matter, and sometimes personal sacrifices have to be made. I've only got so much time, and the day is never long enough to fit in everything I want or need to do, or spend time with the people I want to spend time with. Sometimes by doing "the right thing" I end up neglecting other "right things". Sometimes by trying too hard to do "the right thing", I've ended up doing the wrong thing. 

"Doing the right thing" is subjective - certainly Mr Cameron and myself do not see eye-to-eye on his proposed NHS reforms and the economic and environmental policies of the coalition government. To me, "doing the right thing" involves standing up for yourself and your fellow humans and other animals. It involves finding the path of least harm - or most benefit - to all concerned. I occupied Bristol, Bath and London because I did not think our government was "doing the right thing". I still don't. 

RBS, Barclays, NatWest and all of those other high street banks that the public have grown to hate due to their risky investments, investments in unethical businesses and huge bonuses have, by my definition, not done "the right thing". They have created inequality, funded arms dealers and companies involved in environmental devastation - and then the people responsible have rewarded themselves for doing well. Definitely, definitely, definitely not "doing the right thing". But banks such as the Co-operative/Britannia and Triodos and many credit unions have done "the right thing" (or at least not nearly as many "wrong things"). They invest in ethical businesses and put money towards environmental initiatives and community projects. They share profits with their customers. They don't fund wars. So this blogger salutes those banks that have done "the right thing" - and is going to reward them moving their money to one of them. At least, what little money I have. It all counts.

Meanwhile, The Bath People's Assembly, with the support of Occupy Bath, have got on board with the national Move Your Money campaign and organised a petition to try and persuade Bath and North East Somerset Council to Move their Money from NatWest (owned by RBS) to an ethical bank. The petition can be found here - do "the right thing" and sign it! Or, if you're not from Bath, set up your own campaign.


The petition: http://democracy.bathnes.gov.uk/mgEPetitionDisplay.aspx?ID=5&RPID=4813932&HPID=4813932

Previous post on Occupy Bath: Occupy Bath and Bristol - January 2012
Next Post on Occupy Bath: Moving Beyond this Representative Democracy

Further Reading

More info on the Move Your Money campaign can be found here: http://moveyourmoney.org.uk/

Indymedia article on the B&NES Council Move Your Money campaign: http://bristol.indymedia.org/article/707610

Now Bath article on the B&NES Council Move Your Money campaign: http://www.nowbath.co.uk/local-news/call-for-council-to-bank-ethically-42630/

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