As the occupiers are locked in an appeal against eviction, I pose a question to you all – has Occupy London been successful? It may seem an odd question but I ask nonetheless. A sit down protest on the steps of St Paul’s Cathedral has for months captured the imagination, with the resignation of Dr Giles Fraser, who resigned rather than see the occupiers evicted by force, showing how the conscience of a nation was somewhat awakened. Arguments about whether Jesus would join the protestors and inevitable comparisons with the overturning of the tables in the temple only added to the attention. However not all have embraced them, some have described them as ‘hippies’ with ‘no tangible list of demands, no agreed strategy’ and seek to dismiss them.
The question still remains, have they been successful in their goal to address and highlight the issue of global inequality and injustice? I may be brave in saying this but I think they have. With talk from our politicians in the past year about the morals (or lack of them) involved in capitalism, last week all of the major party leaders gave speeches on the theme of a more ‘ethical capitalism.’ Deputy PM Nick Clegg called for a ‘John Lewis economy’ in which individuals were given a ‘real stake’ in their companies they worked for. Ed Miliband remarked at how ‘it’s not just me talking about irresponsible capitalism. I welcome the fact that other leaders are coming onto the ground that I set out in my Labour party conference speech about the need to tackle predatory capitalism.’ And finally, prime minister David Cameron has said the UK must ‘build a better economy’ that is ‘fair and worthwhile’, criticising an ‘out-of-control’ bonus culture in the City. A cooperatives bill will be introduced to help employees take a greater stake in their companies, he said. So where some have seen lack of strategy, could the protest ITSELF and the attention it has caused be the strategy?
I wouldn’t say this is all just a result of the protest. Our party has long had cooperative roots, with Robert Owen and attempts in the 19th century to craft an alternative ‘cooperative’ philosophy. However, surely it has reawakened in the public’s, and now the politicians’, minds this critique of free market capitalism, thus yet again, where some see lack of strategy, the attention around this protest could be the strategy. We as a party need to clearly gain back initiative on what is and should be our home territory, by actively promoting the idea of cooperatives amongst the wider population, encouraging the creation of new cooperatives as another means of growth. John Lewis, an employee owned retail powerhouse is one such example of this idea being a success and thus an alternative system for us to advocate.
So after a year of revolutions, has Occupy London achieved its goals. Yes, it has reawakened a thought revolution.
—————————————————————————————
Anthony Parker tweets @anthillel
—————————————————————————————
and most of us start out not realising quite how contingent EVERYTHING is,(that’s less painful than using the ‘compromise’ word . But we simply have to keep trying to make everything better.Thing about the Tories I feel is that they still seem to act as if we have something go to BACK to instead of moving forward.Conserve not
create ,may look tidier an’all that but its full of fear and will have to exclude so many that is obvious, to keep it tidy and make their strict system work. Once we get past this population bulge ,all those the Coalition is working so hard to keep onside ,then the uber moneymuckers can carry on just the same . Once all those houses that increased in value so much get sold and help all those offspring with their student loan repayments not withstanding old age care-costs, I suppose the Tories imagine the middleearthers will be a pretty happy bunch- and well ,sod the rest.
Olympic theme – Caliban/the Workers – Prospero/Capitalism (who says…”now all my charms are overthrown “! )