I am now an Occupier! (Well for 1 night only)

I joined the Occupy LSX New Years celebrations. The Demotix site has some great pictures of the DJ set outside St Pauls. This lasted until about 11:15 pm with only occasional bouts of drizzle to dampen spirits. A large contingent of the camp then walked 'en masse' down to the river to see the fireworks. As we went I played a few 'Occupy' songs on my megaphone and there was much singing and 'Mic checks' for the rest of London that seemed to be heading for the river with us.

The songs played were:




This one predates the Occupy movement but it is so appropriate still!




And lastly



2012 seen in with the crowds we then made our way back to St Pauls where there was still a large crowd and then onto Occupy Finsbury Square where I had pitched my tent. The music and high spirits carried on to about 4am.

Its the first time I have camped out in a big city. The traffic along the main road never stopped. What was more surprising was the snatches of birdsong throughout the night too. I did not get much sleep but the warm welcome from complete strangers was unforgettable. The all night party even brought people in off the street interested to find out what Occupy is about. I still had battery power in my laptop enough to watch the starting of events unfolding over in New York. How can security people be so stupid as to stop American citizens from carrying the American flag? In the morning I awoke, got myself to the Liverpool Street Starbucks for breakfast and even more important, a Laptop charge and found out the true extent of the overnight struggles in New York. Many arrests - the timeline captured for posterity.


It was nice to be back at home, to have a hot shower and 10 hours solid sleep. You may say I am a wimp for only occupying for a single night, but it has increased my admiration for the people willing to give up basic comforts week after week to bring the point home that there is something very, very wrong with the way the world is and it needs urgent change. Things are in such a mess we no longer have the luxury of the slow path to change.