Wasi has something to share

The excitement of Dr Nawal's visit set off a day of celebration and wider sharing of inspiration, as Occupy LSX celebrated their first full week at St Paul's.  The actions of the Dean of St Paul's (closing the Cathedral with no apparent good reason) did not detract from the Public Assembly, and perhaps swelled its numbers - i spoke to a few tourists who were sympathetic to the aims of the camp, thought the closure of the cathedral was, at best, unnecessary (and also foolish), and who were happy to be entertained and welcomed on its steps instead. The camp's open day started with spoken word poets and musicians who managed to mix political engagement with lyrical skills that pulled in an evergrowing crowd.  Stone steps and pavement aren't exactly the ideal bleachers, but no-one seemed to notice or care, as were appraised of the new political abc, and reminded that Jesus was a revolutionary. The floor was then opened to activists, and representatives from groups fr...

A week ago, St Paul's Occupy LSX camp was visited by the brilliant author and life-long activist, Dr Nawal Al Saawadi, one of the outstanding voices and faces of the Egyptian revolution.  She came to share her own experiences, and words of encouragement.  She urged the campers not to be moved, to stay for as long as they needed to, and to believe the struggle would not be in vain.  Visiting the camp on her 80th birthday, she refuted that this was a movement of the youth - it is, she stated, 'everyone's revolution'.   As she moved about the camp, she was followed like a sage dispensing wisdom to adoring followers.  Which , I guess, is almost exactly the case.  What was also lovely was how she was also inspired by the existence of the camp, and the Occupy movement around the world - she motioned to the camp: "To me, this feels like Tahrir Square...being here is like living a dream" Rather than try to reproduce her simple but totally rousing words of ...

the past week seems to have zoomed by faster than the speed of neutrinos on uppers!  i wish this analogy could be applied to me also, but unfortunately, I seemed to have compensated by sinking into a go-slow, overloaded with: - work-work (i leave my current job in a week, and there suddenly seem to be way too many loose-ends that need securing),  -home-work (visitors from liverpool; a naming ceremony; packing to go to nigeria, and more importantly, getting my mum off yesterday morning...we arrived at the airport at 5.40am...i dozed my way through work),  and life-work (um, well, i say 'work' - tweeting, readingarticles, being in touch with friends and going to see John Osborne's brilliant 'John Peel's Shed' have hardly been taxing - they just take time). my eager blogging of the week before has fallen by the way side this week, but maybe in part because there's been so much going on, it's been a bit much fitting in the part where i sit down and rel...

Today: - the catherdal issued this statement which basically can be summed up by the following excerpt from the Dean's open letter to OccupyLSX: " With a heavy heart I have to tell you that St Paul’s Cathedral has to be closed today until further notice, because of the legal requirements placed upon us by fire, health and safety issues." - a statement was issued by OccupyLSX in return, basically stating that the camp feels it has met the requirements placed by the London Fire Brigade, and Health & Safety officials. The conclusion of an emergency meeting held this afternoon was a consensus that the camp will stay in place for now, and continue to pursue a positive dialogue with the church, in terms of finding out what exactly are the issues to health & safety, given the above all-clear. I took a BBC reporter to task for  In other news, tomorrow there will be celebrations of the camp's first week anniversary; there will be a public assembly at 1pm; and th...

Few words today, as I am falling down tired.  Realised that my enthusiasm and need to get to the camp every day, and determination to blog every night is meaning even less sleep than I usually get.  Still, probably more sleep (and definitely more comfortable) than those sleeping out on the cobbles, with just a a few pieces of canvas and zotefoam (new word, learnt tonight - thanks AG) as a pretence at shelter. Tonight at camp, the projector showed pictures of occupy groups around the world.  I was open-mouth stunned at the sea of people in so many of the places shown.  The solidarity of this movement is such an important element - feeling, seeing, knowing it is not just us, we are not alone in this struggle, in these feelings of discontentment.  This is truly a global movement, and I hope it is true that it is 'too big to fail'. Over by the sukkah, a Jewish service was held for the festival of succot (please, please correct me if I have this detail wrong!)....