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Occupied Times of London – the independent newspaper of Occupy London launches

The Occupied Times of London, the independent newspaper of the Occupy London has launched its first edition. At the launch, held on the steps of St Paul’s, the first copy was handed over to the Museum of London who will frame and hold a copy in their collection.

Consisting of twelve A4 pages of comment, news and features alongside photos, cartoons and event listings, written largely by the camp’s occupants, there is an initial run of 2000 copies of its first newspaper. These are being distributed to protesters at the occupation, city workers and members of the public. The paper was founded by Steven Maclean, editor-in-chief, and has been created in just a week at the occupation in London.

Mircea Barbu, one of the editors of the paper, said; ”We hope that the Occupied Times of London reflects and records the movement, bringing together the wide range of voices of supporters as well as challenging the issues behind why we are all here. It’s the great thing about this occupation. You can come here and get involved immediately. You can even help us with the next issue which we’ve just started working on!”

After the launch, members of the team who created the paper answered questions about their motivations, the content of the first issue and what they hope to achieve through its production. There was also a debate looking at the statement “Are we anti-capitalists?”, which has been used to describe the occupation without necessarily understanding the complexities and the range of opinions that which make up the camp.

Notes
[1] Facebook page for Occupy Half Term (https://www.facebook.com/pages/Occupy-Half-Term/186367828104233); New facebook event (https://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=163789830381442; Twitter hashtags: #occupyhalfterm
[2] Facebook page for OccupyLSX https://www.facebook.com/occupylondon. Overall Occupy London twitter Occupy London hastag is #occupylondon. OccupyLSX Twitter is https://twitter.com/#!/OccupyLSX ; hashtag #occupylsx. Twitter for the new Finsbury Square site is https://twitter.com/#!/OccupyFS; hastag #occupyfs.
[3] Nearest tubes for the Occupy London Stock Exchange (OccupyLSX) site are St. Pauls, Mansion House and Canon Street; buses 4, 11, 15, 23, 25, 26, 100, 242; do check Transport For London website for delays and closures at http://journeyplanner.tfl.gov.uk/user/XSLT_TRIP_REQUEST2?language=en. Occupy London’s new site at Finsbury Square (OccupyFS) is near Moorgate; buses 141, 153, 205, 21, 214, 43
[4] On Sunday 16th October at an assembly of over 500 people on the steps of St Paul’s Cathedral, Occupy London collectively agreed the initial statement below. Please note, like all forms of direct democracy, the statement will always be a work in progress.
1 The current system is unsustainable. It is undemocratic and unjust. We need alternatives; this is where we work towards them.
2 We are of all ethnicities, backgrounds, genders, generations, sexualities dis/abilities and faiths. We stand together with occupations all over the world.
3 We refuse to pay for the banks’ crisis.
4 We do not accept the cuts as either necessary or inevitable. We demand an end to global tax injustice and our democracy representing corporations instead of the people.
5 We want regulators to be genuinely independent of the industries they regulate.
6 We support the strike on the 30th November and the student action on the 9thNovember, and actions to defend our health services, welfare, education and employment, and to stop wars and arms dealing.
7 We want structural change towards authentic global equality. The world’s resources must go towards caring for people and the planet, not the military, corporate profits or the rich.
8 We stand in solidarity with the global oppressed and we call for an end to the actions of our government and others in causing this oppression.
9 This is what democracy looks like. Come and join us!

[6] Bringing together a diverse range of people, Occupy London’s Stock Exchange and now Finsbury Square (OccupyFS) are part of more than 20 actions and occupations happening in towns and cities across the UK and over 950 actions worldwide coming together under the banner of “United For Global Change” calling for true democracy. OccupyLSX is supported by groups including UK Uncut, the London-based Assembly of the Spanish 15M movement and others. It has already received phenomenal interest, from the public and media in the UK and around the world, with the OccupyLSX facebook group now having almost 25,000 members.
[7] For more info on UK occupations please see: http://www.occupybritain.co.uk/protest-details/

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