Members of IOPS (London chapter), Anti-capitalist Initiative, Peoples Assemblies Network, Occupy London activists and The Friern Barnet Library occupation are calling for an assembly to discuss social movement strategy in 2013. The assembly shall take place from 7 – 9pm at SOAS on 22 January 2013. We hope you will join us!
London trades billions in currency everyday, and while the amount of these ‘receipts for elites’ have only increased during the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression, it is the most vulnerable who are made to pay for it.
2012 saw environmental degradation continue at an alarming pace, global inequality increase, the university tuition fee hike come into force, deepening austerity measures, threats to destroy basic labour protections, the rise of fascism and racism in Europe and continued high unemployment – felt, in the UK, most acutely by young people, and particularly youth from minority ethnic backgrounds.
Government officials, politicians, and capitalists consistently prioritize profits, growth and accumulation of wealth and power over the legitimate needs of people, and the creation of a sustainable economy.
1) How can we – as a diverse movement – act together on crucial issues like austerity and environmental destruction, whilst accommodating healthy difference?
2) How can we support each other in practical ways consistent with a positive vision of the world we want?
3) What are your hopes and aspirations for 2013 and what actions do you think would be effective locally, on the continent and globally?
4) What next?
To begin to answer these questions and related questions we shall be holding an assembly on Tuesday 22 January 2013 from 7pm to 9pm at the SOAS Campus in Vernon Square (Room 121, First floor).
Please consider risponding to the questions above in the comments or here
If you are responding on-line (and we hope you do!), please keep your piece as accessible as possible and avoid unnecessary jargon or obscure references. We hope that the discussion on 22 January will benefit from comments made on-line and lead to a deeper consideration of the questions and possible answers.
We hope everyone will participate in the open discussion at the assembly, regardless of whether you have made a comment in response to the above blog.
We look forward to seeing you on Tuesday 22 January at 7pm.
Here is the Facebook event page , please invite your friends to come too!
Assemblies for Social Movement 
I’d like to attend either on site or on-line, what are the options? Do I need to signup or can I just drop by? Please let me know!
No signup necessary, just drop by!
This sounds like a very good idea. I can’t be there (I assume in the UK?) as I live abroad, but I have written a free book on direct democracy (DD), something I strongly believe is the way forward. The book can be read here: http://www.99998271.com/
The book details a method of grassroots direct democracy which, while far from perfect, at the very least eliminates corrupt politicians and big money lobbyists at a single stroke, and also gives the people the power of veto over national policy. As an example, the UK would never have gone to war in Iraq under DD, or allowed the student fee hikes.
However, it requires mass mobilization, something we probably need the support of high-profile progressive entities to achieve.
Hope this comment contributes positively to your assembly. Good luck!
Thanks for reading my comment!
Simon Wood
PS. I also write a blog on human rights and DD at http://99998271.blogspot.jp/
Reblogged this on Social Network Unionism.
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HI! here T. I would love to attend but I live in Spain. Hoping you take my participation into account, here it goes:
1) How can we – as a diverse movement – act together on crucial issues like austerity and environmental destruction, whilst accommodating healthy difference?
R: By focusing on the processes instead of the demands (demands separate us processes unite us, even with other similar movements and “think alike” groups)
2) How can we support each other in practical ways consistent with a positive vision of the world we want?
R: We have to create a new culture based on this, Transitions Towns has the key for this.
3) What are your hopes and aspirations for 2013 and what actions do you think would be effective locally, on the continent and globally?
R: We can not change people’s world views, only by showing them with our ***example*** we will succeed. Main goal for me 2013 people attending to our occupy assemblies stop buying meals from Mc Donalds and Stabuck’s cafe. Each one has to be the change. And learn to love ourselves also, otherwise there will be no real change.
4) What next?
R: John Croft’s strategy to change the world in 9 months with 7 simple steps: http://youtu.be/ueiREyhi-9Q
1) How can we – as a diverse movement – act together on crucial issues like austerity and environmental destruction, whilst accommodating healthy difference?
Money is power and we have got to stop thinking that anything else matters in this battle that we are facing….in this age. The environment is being ruined because of the power of money.
I feel what we need to do is easy to say but quite complicated to achieve because it is not easy to find the relevant information that confirms what we need to know to justify the sacrifice inherent in doing it.
1)We need to take our money out of the commercial banks and put it into ethical banks and building societies. We need to encourage our parents and relatives to do the same.
Problem :
What are these banks?
Where are these banks?
Are these banks truly separate from the banking system that works in unison with each other? When I travel will i be able to access my money as easily through them, if not … how much more complicated will it be?
How much more complicated will anything be to do with money if we all get out of the big banking system. Is that even possible?
2)We need to be very determined and discerning in what we buy and where we buy it from. Again how to know what to buy and where from is the biggest hurdle to actually doing it. The convenience of the big supermarkets should be rejected. It is very hard because they are cheaper. Tax havened companies and goods taken from occupied lands need to be rejected by us as consumers.
I say the following as a meat eater : I think it is really important that we stop eating meat too. I am trying but it is really tough. The meat industry is the most horrific of all industries and these animals are living beings which we share our environment with. It is the breeding of them in most cases (chickens, fish, pigs, cows) that is the most abhorrent more so than there killing which I am not totally opposed to because it is after all very natural for us to eat meat.
3) Land Reform. Land ownership needs to be revised, re regulated and trusteeships be in place.
As for 2013 ….
I would want the creation of money by commercial banks for commercial reasons to be made illegal.
I would want any further bail outs to be accompanied by demands for debt jubilees and trade union demands being met somehow in commercial industry funded by banks.
I would want some sort of land reform to begin. I believe that property law is intensely disruptive to any society that strives to be egalitarian.
Polly Tikkle
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Movimento anti capitalismo, excencial nessa era
Não devemos ter mais colônias no planeta
Não podemos ter nações com sangue para enriquecer
Ter ensino com verdades da história, lutas!
Atitudes diárias evitar compras em grandes grupos, contribuir com outras marcas, traçar mecânismos conjuntos de apoio … e divisão partilhas com demais membros em comuna. A não aplicação de favorecimentos é crivo emocional/racional
REtroceder antes da indústria é repensar de que maneiras podemos escrever o futuro!
Meios naturais de obtenção de produção e distribuição de riquezas; a balança comercial deve previr equilíbrio mundial
We have 2 alternitives, the first is continue to struggle and protest about single issues, this means we will ever be disparate and forever struggling against single issues. Or we can unite together and struggle against the root cause of all single issues; the monetary system.
Há algo de familiar aqui, concorda comigo?!…
http://www.aloysiobiondi.com.br/spip.php?article459
Tonight I should like to propose a strategy of agitation for a new kind of political and social union, to be set up in response to the new policies rationalising social security payments in the form of Universal Credit and the linked Benefits Cap*. An independent, nimble and localist and participatory minded national union open to all people in receipt of welfare payments (ie whether working or not) and to protect them from cuts to their benefits but also to develop a new model of public employment to allow us to move from the welfare state of the 20th century to a democratic and productive state model for the 21st century. *Universal Credit is due to be rolled out nationwide from Oct2013 but (a) four London Boroughs Enfield Haringey Bromley and Croydon will test the Cap and (b) a number of other areas will test the system in other ways from April 2013. General info on UC rool-out is here http://www.dwp.gov.uk/policy/welfare-reform/universal-credit/ and about the Cap is here http://www.dwp.gov.uk/local-authority-staff/benefit-cap/
I every time spent my half an hour to read this weblog’s articles every day along with a cup of coffee.