Occupy London, Economics Working Group, Monday 20th

Janos, Steve P., Jamie, Julia, Helen

January. Friends Meeting House

MINUTES

Two new people showed up having never been to an EWG or Occupy meeting before. We made a

bit of time at the start of the agenda to welcome them and give them space to talk about what had

brought them to the meeting. This led to a short, general discussion of some of the economic and

political issues that encouraged them to attend. They were given a general overview of how the

EWG works (including difference between Monday and Friday), and an update on where the EWG

and Occupy London more broadly find themselves now in early 2014.

Agenda was agreed. No updates regarding social media or livestreaming.

Main update was on point (d) US/EU Trade Agreement (TTIP). After a compelling presentation

from Tom on Friday, there is clearly a lot of energy in the EWG to focus on this as an issue. We will

develop this discussion further during the coming Friday meeting as part of the wider discussion.

Jamie reported back about Sunday’s strategy meeting as other EWG members had not attended.

Minutes to follow from Andria.

During individual reviews, Janos and Steve spoke about having gone to Speaker’s Corner on the

weekend, and the discussions they had regarding the universal basic income. Janos said that some

people totally agree, others think it sounds impossible even if it also sounds nice. We reflected that

interactions like this are useful to understand what kind of currency an issue may have for the wider

public. It may be worth thinking of other ways to do this aswell.

While all agenda points were touched on, we ended up making a lot of time throughout for

somewhat freeform discussion of the issues touched on through the meeting, which Helen and Julia

were keen to talk about in a bit of detail.