celebration and inspiration - saturday 22nd - occupy lsx (part 2)

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 from all around London.  They came to share information, inspiration and solidarity, the latter being strongly reciprocated by the crowd of campers and visitors alike.

While the talks went on, Tent City University hosted a 'tour of Corporate Greed' - little did any not involved in the planning of this realise what it would lead to... A few words on the beautiful occupation of Finsbury Square to follow in another blog.

For now though, some pictures from the Public Assembly.

ps - my favourite random moment from the day was, after a bit of displeasure from the crowd at the poet dennis, just dennis being hurried as he went over time, the saxophonist stepping up and doing an impromptu jazz version of 'somewhere over the rainbow' to sooth everyone's ruffled feathers. it worked, i think.

you can check out the rest of the photos from last weekend on my flickr account, just here.