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...

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!)....

The news this morning (especially that around the brutal eviction of Dale Farm) had me start the day feeling fed up and more than a litle hopeless.  What I see at Occupy LSX, and hear from the Occupy Movement in general, restored the hope that things can be different. Today I got to spend a good few hours at the camp.  Every day I note this, but... every day, it seems, in between my visits, there is growth and there is progress.  Talks, workshops and working groups continue - having attended a working group myself for the first time since Saturday, and also signing up to the Indy Media team, I find still a great level of incusion, real listening, and a welcoming of various ideas and opinions. General Assembly - rumours that the Cathedral have asked Occupy LSX to leave were officially quashed.  It seems The Times and the Evening Standard have got their facts wrong (great journalism as usual, then!) - a good inidcation, perhaps, that the initial positive reportin...