Panic on the streets of London - "Here Come the Museum Workers" Edition

Job cuts - the real reason the dinosaurs died out
London, Wednesday 30th November

While here on Saturday barely two thousand people answered the call by The Dublin Council of Trade Unions to join an anti-austerity cuts march, across the water (and north of the border) UK public sector unions have drawn over two million people on to the streets in the biggest strike in thirty years. Two million people marching on a Wednesday, and an actual national strike, things we here in an Ireland where the Public Sector is vilified by a national media owned by a handful of tax-exiles living in the Caribbean can only dream of.

My sister works in the Public Sector in the UK and she was out on strike and on the streets of London today, and kindly snapped a few photographs and sent them through to me. They show a march of around 30,000 teachers, nurses, doctors, civil servants, librarians and museum workers being corralled by riot police, dog units and mobile steel fences.

Seriously? You need a riot squad to protect the Government from a bunch of folks in tweed jackets with elbow pads, smoking pipes and listening to smooth jazz?

Nice.

It is also interesting to see the language of the global #Occupy Movement spreading through to the mainstream, with many references in evidence to the power of the 99% and the corruption of the 1%. You can read more about the day's events at The Guardian's liveblog here.

UK Public Sector strike - March in London
London, Wednesday 30th November

UK Public Sector strike - March in London
London, Wednesday 30th November

All Power to the 99%
London, Wednesday 30th November

Yay - its a pop-up Separation Barrier, courtesy of the Metropolitan Police.
London, Wednesday 30th November

They're only there to protect the Police from the librarians and museum workers, you know.
London, Wednesday 30th November

On the way back home she found herself passing the offices of Xstrata, a mining company home to the UK's highest paid FTSE100 CEO, Mick Davies, who was paid £18,426,105 last year for his sterling efforts. As she passed by #OccupyLondon were in the middle of a Direct Action, with about sixty of them having gained access to the building and then unfurling a banner from the roof before being bundled away by the police. You can find out more about #OccupyLSX's Direct Action here.

#OccupyLSX unfurl a banner at Xstrata
London, Wednesday 30th November

Police remove the #OccupyLSX banner from Xstrata under the watchful eye of helicopters
London, Wednesday 30th November

With one sister marching through the streets of London and another working with #OccupyWaterford, my family makes me very proud indeed. Not bad for three kids raised in a Blueshirt household.

Masked and Anonymous Redux

Hiding in plain sight
#OccupyDameStreet, Dublin, Sunday 20th November

About a month ago I wrote a short post about Alan Moore's reaction to the appropriation by the Anonymous group of his iconic V for Vendetta mask, quoting an interview with him from 2008.

Well interestingly enough The Guardian caught up with him earlier in the week and given the ubiquity of the mask everywhere from Zuccotti Park and #OccupyWallStreet to Julian Assange's fleeting appearance at #OccupyLSX, they sat down and had a good chat with him about what it all means to him now, starting with whether he ever imagined David Lloyd's iconic image would have found such widespread real-life use:

"I suppose when I was writing V for Vendetta I would in my secret heart of hearts have thought: wouldn't it be great if these ideas actually made an impact? So when you start to see that idle fantasy intrude on the regular world… It's peculiar. It feels like a character I created 30 years ago has somehow escaped the realm of fiction."

"That smile is so haunting," says Moore. "I tried to use the cryptic nature of it to dramatic effect. We could show a picture of the character just standing there, silently, with an expression that could have been pleasant, breezy or more sinister." As well as the mask, Occupy protesters have taken up as a marrying slogan "We are the 99%"; a reference, originally, to American dissatisfaction with the richest 1% of the US population having such vast control over the country. "And when you've got a sea of V masks, I suppose it makes the protesters appear to be almost a single organism – this "99%" we hear so much about. That in itself is formidable. I can see why the protesters have taken to it."

...But with the mask's growing popularity, Moore has come to see its appeal as about something more than identity-shielding. "It turns protests into performances. The mask is very operatic; it creates a sense of romance and drama. I mean, protesting, protest marches, they can be very demanding, very gruelling. They can be quite dismal. They're things that have to be done, but that doesn't necessarily mean that they're tremendously enjoyable – whereas actually, they should be."

At one point in V for Vendetta, V lectures Evey about the importance of melodrama in a resistance effort. Says Moore: "I think it's appropriate that this generation of protesters have made their rebellion into something the public at large can engage with more readily than with half-hearted chants, with that traditional, downtrodden sort of British protest. These people look like they're having a good time. And that sends out a tremendous message."

And on the subject of Time Warner/DC making money from each mask sold (my original objection to the appropriation of the mask by protest groups), the article goes on to say:

It is an irony noted with relish by critics of the protests – one also glumly acknowledged by many of the protesters – that the purchase of so many Vendetta masks has become a lucrative little side-earner for Time Warner, the media company that owns the rights to Moore's creation. Efforts have been made to avoid feeding the conglomerate more cash, the Anonymous group reportedly starting to import masks direct from factories in China to circumvent corporate pockets; last year, demonstrators at a "Free Julian Assange" event in Madrid wore cardboard replicas, apparently self-made. But more than 100,000 of the £4-£7 masks sell every year, according to the manufacturers, with a cut always going to Time Warner. Does that irk Moore?

"I find it comical, watching Time Warner try to walk this precarious tightrope." Through contacts in the comics industry, he explains, he has heard that boosted sales of the masks have become a troubling issue for the company. "It's a bit embarrassing to be a corporation that seems to be profiting from an anti-corporate protest. It's not really anything that they want to be associated with. And yet they really don't like turning down money – it goes against all of their instincts." Moore chuckles. "I find it more funny than irksome."

But before you start to picture Moore racing down to #OccupyLSX all beards-a-blazing, he sounds a note of caution about his own direct involvement in any protest:

"I have no particular connection or claim to what [the protesters] are doing, nor am I suggesting that these people are fans of mine, or of V for Vendetta." Ultimately, use of the mask may be down to the simple fact that "it's cool-looking. I'm not trying to make a proprietorial statement."

...The extent of Moore's own activism has been "a good moan in the local pub"; he does not see himself donning a mask ("Be a bit weird, wouldn't it?"). But his sympathies are with the protesters, and there is a clear sense of pride for him that so many people – if not "the 99%" then a great, unignorable bloc – have caused such a stir. "It would be probably be better if the authorities accepted this is a new situation, that this is history happening. History is a thing that happens in waves. Generally it is best to go with these waves, not try to make them turn back – the Canute option. I'm hoping that the world's leaders will realise this."

Ah well, so. Now we know.

You can read the full article here.

#OccupyDameStreet - An evening's Spectacle on Dame Street

After a short but sweet General Assembly last night, Occupied Dame Street was visited by A Spectacle of Defiance and Hope in advance of their event on December 3rd at 1:30pm at the City Hall. The Spectacle is part protest group, part theatre troupe, part Carnival, part band, and is an external apolitical group that seek to raise awareness of community and national issues through music, song, drama and dance.

Throughout its short existence #OccupyDameStreet has drawn inspiration from the folks at Spectacle, and the information stand at the Camp has hosted one of their Books of Grievances and Hopes for a good few weeks now, taking in submissions from members of the public. The Books are based on the Lists of Grievances drawn up at the beginning of the French Revolution:

"There were three Estates in France or three broad sections of society. The first two Estates were made up of the Clergy and the Nobility. The third Estate was made up of everyone else: the emerging middle class, the working class and the peasants. In 1789 King Louis XVI called a meeting of all three Estates collectively known as the Estates-General. Prior to the meeting all three Estates were asked to compile their Lists of Grievances or Cahiers de Doleances. This was intended as a cynical exercise, nothing more than a tokenistic consultation with no real substance. However, the lists of grievances grew and grew, coming in from all over the country and from a very broad spectrum of people. They became a powerful articulation of issues that people felt needed to be fixed or sorted out, such as the unfair tax system and the high prices that ordinary people had to pay for basic food items such as bread. The Lists of Grievances played a major role in the revolution of 1789 and the subsequent transformation of French society and the establishment of the National Assembly or People's Parliament. We are using the same basic idea to hear what your grievances are. However, we have added one slight twist to this idea. We also want to hear your hopes and aspirations for change in this country"

- from The Spectacle of Defiance and Hope website

Last week at a General Assembly #OccupyDameStreet agreed to work with the folks at Spectacle and support their upcoming event at City Hall, and as part of this joint activity The Spectacle came down to Dame Street last night and hosted a musical performance to give a flavour of what everyone can expect on Saturday.

The video above captures last night's music and a few interviews on site, and mixes this in with footage of previous Spectacle events. I love these sort of events, to my mind they are much more engaging, open and welcoming for a wider swathe of the public than traditional marches, a carnival atmosphere suitable for protesters of all ages and a note of positivity when many activist actions only highlight the negatives.

More information on The Spectacle of Defiance and Hope can be found on their website here.

Children Have the Right to Music

Way back when in the deep dark mists of time that we like to call The Past, a seminal moment happened in the life of Unkie Dave. I spent my adolescence living in my grandparents' home, a large, rambling multi-generational space also occupied at times by a number of uncles and aunts. Sometime between the ages of thirteen and fourteen I stumbled across the record collection of an uncle who had recently moved out of the house, amassed mainly between the early seventies and early eighties, with treasures a world away from the chart sounds of RTE Radio 2, Sunshine 101 and Radio Nova that were the full extent of my musical universe at that stage. A full collection of Doors' albums were mixed in with vinyl from Lou Reed, Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, Free and early Cure efforts and to say that this discovery had a liberating effect on the adolescent Unkie Dave is a bit of an understatement. While my musical tastes have diverged significantly since then I can still recite the lyrics of almost everything Jim Morrison penned (would that the French grammar I attempted to memorise at the same time have had such staying power).

In 1986 I was thirteen. The Doors and Strange Days were already nineteen years old, even LA Woman was fifteen, as was Led Zeppelin IV and Paranoid was a year older. Even more recent fair from The Cure seemed ancient at the time, Three Imaginary Boys came out when I was six, Faith when I was eight, and Pornography when I was nine, though unlike the other bands in the purloined album collection The Cure were still alive and touring, with arguably the best of their music still to come.

All of this was brought to mind when I learned that my thirteen-year old cousin would be coming over from the UK for Christmas. It shocked me to learn that he was thirteen, although I see my cousins probably once a year in my mind they are all still some indeterminate age between two and nine and easily amused by shiny bits of plastic or jangled keys, and not at all running around slamming doors with haircuts and skateboards and moody outrage expressed at the world in general with a sullen gloominess. I started to think about my own teenage years and remembered that thirteen was the year I really discovered music, which made me smile. I then realised that Dubnobasswithmyheadman was released four years before he was born, which made me feel old, and then sad.

Underworld's sophomore release Second Toughest in the Infants came out two years before he was born, Orbital's eponymous debut seven years before, Autechre's Incunabula five years, The Future Sound of London's Lifeforms four years, Daft Punk's Homework a year before, and the list goes on. The contents of my iPod are all ancient history as far as he is concerned, or would be if he had ever heard of any of them.

It was then that a dastardly plan started to form in the recesses of my mind. While he has been exposed to music since the day he was born (his parents both working in the music industry), almost all of what he has been exposed to would be Rock or Indie, with Bjork and Gorillaz being the closest he has probably come to electronica. With that in mind I thought that the one thing every teenage boy wants (well, the other thing every teenage boy wants) is a chance to rebel against their parents, and given that he will probably get enough exposure to hippity-hop from his classmates (as teenage boys seem drawn to swearing and misogyny like flies to honey) it seemed to me that a healthy dose of electronica might do him the world of good, and thus I have decided to put together a usb drive's worth of classic electronica/dance albums as a crimbo present, and here is where you, my loyal readers, come in.

I'm going to try and put together a couple of gigs worth of music and I thought I would crowd-source some suggestions. I'm looking for advice on electronica and maybe dance albums from the nineties and possibly early noughties that will a) be accessible to a thirteen-year old and b) will have the same effect on him that The Doors et all had on me in transforming my idea of what music was and was capable of being. While there are an awful lot of albums in either category, the crossover between the two is not as large as you might think. I also don't want to just give him everything by a particular artist, after all half the joy of music for a teenager (and a 38-year old) is discovering more music by a favorite artist yourself (much easier in the age of the internet, I realise), so my preference is to include only one album by any single artist. I also want to try and have a good mix of Loud-and-Angry-I-Hate-You-All and Lying-in-the-Dark-Because-Nobody-Understands-Me tunes.

So here is where I reach out to you all for suggestions, my thoughts so far are listed below but I know there are many, many others I should be thinking about, and some on this list (particularly the ambient stuff) that might be missing the mark. Please add your thoughts and suggestions to the comments thread!

Underworld - Dubnobasswithmyheadman or Second Toughest in the Infants
Daft Punk - Homework
Orbital - The Middle of Nowhere (Orbital 2 is stronger, but I think this is more accessible)
Chemical Brothers - Dig your own hole
Roni Size & Reprazent - New Forms
Fat Boy Slim - You've Come a Long Way, Baby (remember, this is for a thirteen-year old, which is just abut the right level of sophistication for this album)
Air - Moon Safari
Leftfield - Leftism
Unkle - Psyence Fiction
The Future Sound of London - Lifeforms
The Orb - Auntie Aubrey's Excursions Beyond the Call of Duty
Kruder & Dorfmeister - K&D Sessions
Portishead - Dummy
Aphex Twin - Richard D. James Album and Windowlicker
Autechre - Incunabula
B12 - Time Tourist - Not as well known as the rest, but a personal favourite of mine
Boards of Canada - Music has the Right to Children
Plaid - Double Figure

And the rest, as they say, is up to you.

#OccupyDameStreet - #OccupyIsland!

Charlie and the Technicolour Dream Socks
#OccupyDameStreet, Dublin, Saturday 26th November

On Saturday #OccupyDameStreet turned the big five-oh, fifty days since the first tents were erected at the gates of the Central Bank, fifty days since that first group of people stood up and demanded that their voices be heard, fifty days since they first tried to show that another world is possible, fifty days since Dame Street first echoed to the chants of “We-are-the-99-percent!”, fifty days of cold and rain, of joy and hope, fifty days of possibilities and promise, fifty days of defiance.

Charlie Bird visited the Camp on Saturday, broadcasting his afternoon show live from the street. Nestled away in the warmth of his mobile studio he quizzed Brian Lucey, Constantine Gurdgive and Michael Taft on the fate of the Euro, the fate of Europe itself and Ireland’s bleak future both near term and longer, while in the Camp he asked if protests even matter any more? He said that two and three decades ago hundreds of thousands took to the streets to protest over austerity measures and unemployment and yet as he spoke the Dublin Council of Trade Unions could barely muster a few thousand outside the GPO. Where was the fighting spirit of yesterday, he asked, did the people of Ireland even care anymore?

And its not just the mainstream Irish media asking these questions, throughout our economic crisis we have suffered the additional humiliations of being mocked and patronised by those abroad, from the Greeks carrying signs in their protests declaring that “We are not the Irish”, that they wouldn’t stand quietly by and let their futures be destroyed by the financial institutions and the politicians who do their bidding, through to Der Speigel’s condescending pat on the head, praising Enda Kenny’s austerity program and declaring that in contrast to the Greeks, the Irish people “aren't throwing firebombs. Their suffering is of the quiet sort, as they cut back and submit to the inevitable.”

While the streets themselves may not be filled with people, there are most definitely groups and individuals around the country who are not content to quietly suffer and “submit to the inevitable”, and as the rest of day five-oh on Occupied Dame Street progressed Charlie Bird, the Greeks and Der Speigel were all given notice that the first fifty days were only the beginning, as Dame Street hosted the first all-island gathering of #Occupy movements.

As the Dublin Council of Trade Unions march drew to a close on O’Connell Street and folks who had chosen to participate in the march returned to Dame Street, the Camp swelled with protestors from #Occupy groups around the country and from the North, with #OccupyCork, #OccupyGalway, #OccupyWaterford, #OccupyLimerick and #OccupyBelfast arriving in for a cup of tea, a joint General Assembly filled with fire and song, and an evening of planning and strategising.

The Exchange kindly hosted the groups for a marathon three hour conversation, where lines of communication were established, solidarity affirmed and concrete proposals for direct actions and other activities were floated, all of which will be brought back to the General Assemblies of each #Occupy group for further discussion and approval. The consensus that emerged was for each #Occupy Movement to continue to exist as a wholly separate and autonomous entity, but for stronger communication and coordination to take place between all groups, for learnings and best practices to be shared, and for material support to be offered should any single group face external threats.

The groups will meet again in three weeks in Cork, and while it may not have been on the same scale of the Mansion House in 1919, or Carpenter’s Hall in Philadelphia in 1774, the sense that this was the start of something very big indeed was overwhelming.

One of the most common words of encouragement that #OccupyDameStreet hears from passers-by on the street is thanks for just existing, that there are many, many people out there who wish they could be at the camp day-in and day-out, but that the harsh realities of a life where simply getting by is a constant struggle preclude them from making it down for anything more than the briefest of minutes, or the shortest of posts online, if at all. For effective change to happen it doesn’t always needs thousands on the streets, all it needs is a group of dedicated and determined people who know they have the support of thousands at their backs.

With a coordinated #Occupy Movement acting across the entire island of Ireland and the support of many thousands more unable to take to the streets themselves, real and meaningful change can become a reality and a group of wet and wind-battered tents can be a more effective catalyst than any Greek firebomb!

Onward to the next fifty days!

#OccupyCork own the mic at the General Assembly
#OccupyDameStreet, Dublin, Saturday 26th November

#OccupyCork really own the mic at the General Assembly
#OccupyDameStreet, Dublin, Saturday 26th November

#OccupyIsland! #Occupy groups from North and South meet at the Exchange
#OccupyDameStreet, Dublin, Saturday 26th November

#OccupyIsland! #Occupy groups from North and South meet at the Exchange
#OccupyDameStreet, Dublin, Saturday 26th November

#OccupyDameStreet - The Protest Movement in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction

Richard McAleavey shares an aside with Helena Sheehan
#OccupyDameStreet, Dublin, Wednesday 23rd November

Wednesday saw the turn of Richard McAleavey, member of the Irish Twitterati and occasional commentator on this blog, to take the hot-seat in #OccupyUniversity (technically a very, very cold seat on this particular afternoon) and deliver a workshop on the subject of 'Writing in the Age of Networked Occupation'. While the original concept for this workshop may have been to look at some concrete examples of blogs and websites produced by or focusing on global and local #Occupy Movements and other contemporary protests, McAleavey instead explored the idea of online writing and how it could support such Movements (and I think it was a stronger workshop for doing so).

While I cannot do his workshop any justice (as I was too busy listening to write down adequate notes, and what notes I did write down look like the illegible breakdancing of a hyperactive ink-soaked spider drunk on Buckfast, it really was very cold indeed), interestingly enough he began with a quote from Walter Benjamin that I'm pretty partial to myself:

For centuries the situation in literature was such that a small number of writers faced many thousands of times that number of readers. Then, towards the end of the last century, there came a change. As the press grew in volume, making ever-increasing numbers of new political, religious, scientific, professional and local organs available to its readership, larger and larger sections of that readership (gradually at first) turned unto writers. It began with the daily newspapers opening their 'correspondence columns' to such people, and it has now reached a point where few Europeans involved in the labour process could fail, basically, to find some opportunity or other to publish an experience at work, a complaint, a piece of reporting or something similar. The distinction between writer and readership is thus in the process of losing its fundamental character.

- From The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction, Walter Benjamin

While writing in 1936, the passage's obvious relevance to any analysis of blogging makes it a firm favourite of mine (along with the essay in general).

Topics explored in the talk included the diference between writing in a purely factual style acting as impartial observer and that of the language of rousing battle cries or the manifesto, and the challenges of both when faced with a neutral audience and the need for the author to understand who they are writing for and why (a challenge that I feel I have yet to overcome). The value of social networks for a protest movement was debated in some depth, with the contrast highlighted between the ability to broadcast information to unprecedented degrees and the way in which online behaviour encourages a level of passivity (think of the Iranian uprising and the way Twitter users turned their avatars green in support, but didn't engage any further in the world beyond their computer) that can be counterproductive to movements trying to rally actual support on the ground. The battle for the online narrative between the forces of revolution and counter-revolution was also touched on, and it would seem that the take-home is that the counter-revolution of the 1% have got their shots in first. Out of these discussions came a few concrete proposals for ways in which #OccupyDameStreet could more effectively reach out to the wider public beyond their core activist base, a good result from a great workshop.

On the whole I was rather proud of myself during this talk, launching into only the briefest of vitriolic diatribes when the theme of The Power of Social Networks(TM) was raised, and managing to stay almost entirely on-topic. As you may know I have a healthy disdain for Social Networks, Facebook especially and Twitter only slightly less so. The enforced brevity of online conversations constrained by character limitations or other formatting restrictions imposed by these media and the fact they they exist not to facilitate human interaction but to allow a third-party to benefit materially from those interactions means that at best they should serve as a marketing tool, at worst I believe that they are the High Fructose Corn Syrup of human communication, empty calories that lead to hyperactivity and obesity of the mind.

In a culture ruled by the tyranny of the instant where speed is valued over reflection, the immediacy of the Social Network encourages rapid responses to tweets and on walls that are forgotten as soon as they are posted, washed away by the next deluge of digital ephemera to hit your inbox. The soundbite society has infected us all, our attention spans incapable of processing anything more than 140 characters at a time, where even clicking through to a referenced original is a task too arduous for most. We feel more aware than at any time before in human history, our feeds and streams bombard us every sixty seconds with constant updates from every corner of the globe, but the knowledge gained is that of a thousand headlines and never the story that lies beneath, for the act of skimming those thousand headlines leaves no time to read more than a single story below. In this, the Information Age, we truly know the price of everything and the value of nothing, for information is a commodity and Social Networks are the brokers, as soon as it is received we trade it away immediately, we Like it, Share it, +1 it away to our pseudo-friends and our mind is empty again, ready to absorb (for a moment only) the next nugget of news that lands in our lap, an eternal recycle cycle available twenty-four-seven, three-sixty-five, web two-point-oh.

The irony of ending up for the last seven weeks in a Movement that was born with a hashtag in its mouth is not lost on me, but before I get carried away by the hobby horse driving my wagon-train of rantiness, it is worth returning once again to Benjamin:

The mass is a matrix from which currently all customary responses to works of art are springing newborn. Quantity has now become quality: the very much greater masses of participants have produced a changed kind of participation... The tasks that at times of great historical upheaval the human perceptual apparatus is asked to perform are simply not solvable by visual means alone - that is to say, through contemplation. They are gradually mastered, on the instructions of tactile reception, by man's getting used to them. Getting used to things is something even the distracted can do. More: the ability to master certain tasks in a state of distraction is what proves that solving them has become a person's habit... The audience is an examiner, but a distracted one.

- From The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction, Walter Benjamin

The worry of the desensitizing effect of information overload, of a call to arms losing its impact when experienced a thousand times, was as great a concern seventy-five years ago as it is today. The lesson from Benjamin would appear to be that while the impact of social networks on the understanding of any one individual might be minimal, the positive effects on the masses might be more substantial, that while the individual may only absorb a modicum of new information through their daily digital bombardment, the collective effect is a tangible positive as large numbers of individuals gaining even small amounts of information that they would not otherwise have can only be a good thing for society as a whole.

The challenge lies, as McAleavey pointed out yesterday, in figuring out how to transform the informed citizen into an active one.

A thousand Likes still doesn't mean a single person will man the barricades.

Update (29/11/11)
The original text of Richard McAleavey's workshop is now available online at his blog here.

A more painful pun you will not find today

Colonial Eggacy by Léan at String Revolution

Speaking of Léan and her terrible puns over at String Revolution, I feel it would be wrong of me not to highlight her latest non-string related venture, the above graphical condemnation of The White Man's Bird(Hen), entitled "Colonial Eggacy", now available at her Zazzle shop in both a range of tasty beverage containers and 100% fine jersey cotton T-Shirts.

While of late this blog has been on a very charged anti-capitalist drive, I feel no shame in shilling my friends' artistic endeavors because a) they are actually very good, and the world needs more things of beauty in it (especially if they also contain atrocious puns), and b) it makes me feel better about not seeing them in the Really Real World for a while and hides the fact that I am actually a very bad friend indeed.

You can read more about Léan's plan for global domination through the poorer cousin of Wit here, but really you should just go straight to her online shop and buy something.

I did (she had me at "perfidious albumen").

Things that make you go Boom

Things that make you go Boom.
Knitted Molotov Cocktail by An Snag Breac

In case you all didn't know apparently this is Wovember, it's a bit like Movember but for knitting and with less elaborate facial hair. While I am altogether more adept at cultivating facial hair than I am at knitting, nonetheless an unexpectedly large number of my friends are practitioners of the woolen arts. The fabulous Felix has written a rather comprehensive post over on The Domestic Soundscape that will tell you everything you need to know about Wovember and then some, and Léan over on String Revolution manages to thread a good few puns into her needlework posts, but this month the Unkie Dave prize for contributions to the Woolen Arts goes to (as it does most months) An Snag Breac for her knitted Molotov Cocktail.

Ms Snag Breac, as I'm sure you all remember, is the creator of my fantastic extermi-knitted Dalek and the nearly life-sized woolen Pancreas that functions much better than my real one. Her comercial kits range from felt solar systems and sheep, to patterns for knitted CCTV Cameras and cartoon bombs. Her designs always bring a smile to my face and almost make me want to put away my electronic noise makers and take up crafting as a hobby.

Almost.

You can find out more about her latest revolutionary design here, where the pattern is also available to buy for the princely sum of €3.50.

Does hurling a knitted Molotov Cocktail still count as a peaceful protest?

#OccupyDameStreet - #OccupyFourCourts

So despite all the hubbub and hullaballoo yesterday, dawn broke over Dame Street this morning with the Camp still firmly entrenched and showing no signs of going anywhere, or even being asked to go anywhere.

A strange twenty-four hours to say the least, as I came home late last night I was too mentally and physically enturnipped (as in, 'to have been turned into a turnip', my new word for the day) to try and cobble together a post, but now after a refreshing few hours sleep and the benefit of as much hindsight as I can marshal before my highly suggestible and easily distracted brain flits off to another topic, I wanted to take a few moments and try and write down my understanding of what happened and what it all means.

Some of these events I was witness to, others I have spoken to the primary person involved, but in no way is this an "official" report of what happened, as with all things on this blog these are merely my own thoughts, understandings and poor spellings. It also is worth saying that I have no legal background or understanding of the finer points of law beyond suffering through an episode or two of Boston Legal on a very long flight, so undoubtedly my theorising contains errors that you should all feel happy to point out and correct.

On Thursday of last week a new kitchen was constructed in the #OccupyDameStreet Camp outside the gates of The Central Bank. Intended to serve as a protection against the winter elements and offer a place to make a cup of tea, serve up donated food and store equipement out of the rain its presence signalled a resolve to brave the worst of the oncoming weather and a sign of the long-term intentions of the Camp. Representatives of the Central Bank visited the Camp during construction and seemed unhappy about this new addition to the Camp. In the past representatives of The Central Bank have expressed concerns over fire safety in the Camp, but when Dublin Fire Brigade inspected the Camp they seemed satisfied with the level of fire safety equipment (extinguishers, fire blankets, signage etc) and no action was taken by them, but this was before this latest addition.

On Sunday night the Camp was informed by "a source close to the gardai" that legal proceedings would be brought against #OccupyDameStreet in the High Court the following morning. This was not an official warning from the gardai or notice of any proceedings, for at no stage to date have there been any formal or written communications between the Central Bank and the Camp, the County Council and the Camp, or the gardai and the Camp. Any communication between the parties has been informal with folks simply dropping into the Camp for a chat. All very civilized really.

Shortly after this #OccupyDameStreet was contacted by a media outlet who had similar information, and were looking for comment. With information now coming from two sources the threat of legal action seemed very credible, and legal advice was sought. A call went out online for support in the event of either legal action or actual eviction, and a plan was made to meet outside the Four Courts the following morning.

Article 40.6.1.ii. of the Constitution guarantees "The right of the citizens to assemble peacefully and without arms", though "subject to public order and morality". However it also states that 'Provision may be made by law to prevent or control meetings which are determined in accordance with law to be a breach of the peace or to be a danger or nuisance to the general public". Free Assembly as envisioned by Dev in 1937 probably did not include the right to erect tents on a major city thoroughfare, and as the folks in Rossport found out the Government has a rake of legislation designed to prevent members of the Travelling Community from creating temporary halting sites that can handily double as a way of suppressing protest camps. Isn't it always nice when racist laws can be used against a wider swathe of the community?

One of the most likely forms of legal action against #OccupyDameStreet would be an injunction against the group ordering them to remove their tents and other structures and vacate the Central Bank Plaza, but not necessarily banning individuals from congregating in the area (good news for all the Emo kids for when all this is over, Capitalism has crumbled, and they can get back to hanging around there and generally looking sullen and hard done-by). But if such an injunction would be taken, who would it be taken by?

The plaza in front of The Central Bank is legally an odd place. Supposedly it is private property, but the City Council cleans the area in front of the Central Bank gates and empties a number of public bins standing on the plaza. This means that there must be some form of agrement between The Central Bank (or the building landlord, more about that later) and Dublin City Council. When word forced reached the Camp of possibly legal action, it was believed that it was The Central Bank instigating it in response to the kitchen being constructed, the camel's back-breaking metaphorical straw. However as people gathered outside the Four Courts yesterday morning word reached them via another "source" that it may in fact have been Dublin City Council who were starting proceedings, which didn't make sense at all given the "its nothing to do with us" position the Council seemed to have adopted thus far.

Now you might ask yourself how all of this could remain unknown to #OccupyDameStreet, that surely if legal acton was being initiated against them they would know what sort of action and by whom? Well surprisingly an interim injunction can be granted 'ex parte', that those on whom it is being served are not actually party to the proceedings, the first they know about it is when the gardai arrive and show them a nice piece of paper and say "right now lads, that's right out", and ask them to please disperse. This is further complicated by the fact that #OccupyDameStreet is a leaderless resistance movement, and no leaders means no names of any individuals to put on any injunction - while I'm sure The Central Bank would be happy to write down "those smelly leftie hippies" in the space beside the "name of the party to be injuncted' section of the form, legally that's probably not acceptable. Thus The Central Bank (or whomever) would most likely seek an injunction against anyone camping or erecting temporary structures in the plaza, and because of this #OccupyDameStreet would be highly unlikely to be informed ahead of time.

Thus as folks gathered outside The Four Courts yesterday they knew neither who was taking any action against them nor how that action was being taken. The agenda for the day's proceedings in each of the courts is listed publicly in what is called the docket, and none of the dockets for Monday mentioned anything about Dame Street or the camp. However there is also a process by which a judge can be approached in between or after other cases they are hearing and be asked to hear an emergency application for a temporary injunction (I'm not sure what the correct term for this process is, I'm afraid). While the number of courts in which this could happen was limited, #OccupyDameStreet's volunteer legal advisor suggested that the only way to find out if this was happening was to actually have observers in the public gallery of each court where this could happen. With a sizable number of people at the Four Courts and significantly fewer back at the Camp I decided my time would be best spent back at the Camp, after two rounds of jury service and a memorable encounter with the Supreme Court back in 1996 I have had my fill of courtroom drama (and by 'drama' I mean hour after hour of such mind-numbing boredom that it makes actuaries seem like drug-addled rock stars in comparison).

On the way back I had a good chat with a few media contacts, and they were all rather puzzled by the morning's activity. Following the previous evening's reports they had contacted their own sources within the gardai, The Central Bank and Dublin City Council, and while none would speak on the record they all indicated that they knew nothing about any legal action. What's more when I returned to the Camp I was approached by a member of the public not associated with the Camp who had contacted a Dublin City Councilor about the issue, and they then checked with the City Council's legal department and were assured that the Council was not initiating any proceedings against the Camp. All the while The Central Bank continued to publicly tell the media that they had "no comment" to make.

As the day wore on reports came back from the observers in the various courts that no action was appearing. My media contacts checked in with me occasionally and continued to say that they too had heard nothing, though towards the end of the day one interesting piece of information arose. One contact asked me if we knew who owned The Central Bank building and the plaza. I had been under the impression that The Central Bank owned its own building, but when doing their research this media contact had spoken to the City Council, The Central Bank and the gardai, all of whom denied any knowledge of legal proceedings, but this contact was then advised to try and talk to the building's landlord as a possible source of legal action. Unfortunately there is no public record of building ownership in Ireland (yes, let that one sink in for a minute or two), there is a voluntary Registry of Deeds (under an act dating from 1707) but this only records "the existence of Deeds relating to transactions with property", not who the current owners are, and is not a legal requirement. Finding out who actually owns a commercial property is almost impossible.

As the day's 'action' in The Four Courts drew to a close, no legal proceedings against #OccupyDameStreet or the Camp had been initiated, and the observers returned back to the Camp worn out by a day of adrenaline mixed with catatonic stupors, and we all gathered together to try and figure out exactly what had happened and what we all had learned. To my mind there are three possible explanations for the day's events:

1) False alarm. This was all a miscommunication and after the recent events in Zuccotti Park in New York everyone was understandably on edge and expected the worst.

2) This was a test. Someone or some group were testing how #OccupyDameStreet would react when faced with the threat of eviction, and through judicious use of leaks and off-the-record comments to the media and other outlets sent #OcuppyDameStreet into full defence mode and now have a good idea of how they will react, all without having to lift a single finger in court.

3) On Sunday night actual legal action was being planned by someone (The Central Bank, their landlord etc) for the following morning, but was cancelled following widespread media coverage and critical public reaction.

The reality of the situation is that we just don't know which of these, if any, is the truth. Information was given to the Camp on Sunday night by both a credible source and the media, and yet on Monday absolutely nothing happened and no-one contacted by the media would own up to instigating any such action. This is all we really know, anything else is speculation.

However even if this turns out to be nothing more than everyone chasing their own tails, a good few positives have come out of it. #OccupyDameStreet now have engaged legal council (both solicitors and barristers) who will work pro bono on any future court action and advise the Movement on legal issues going forward. Up until now the Camp relied on the efforts of legal volunteers with experience in protest actions, but were not themselves solicitors. As the relationship between The Central Bank and the Camp has been one of good neighbours, there had not been the impetus to engage with legal professionals to act on the Movement's behalf. While this good neighbourly relationship will hopefully continue, #OccupyDameStreet is now better prepared should things sour. In addition those involved with #OccupyDameStreet now have a better understanding of how the legal system works, what measures may be used against the Movement, and what to do when and if such proceedings are instigated, both in terms of rallying support and preparing for the legal action itself. Finally the level of public support for the Camp was overwhelming, and it gives me hope that if the spectre of eviction ever becomes a reality, it won't just be a handful of us standing on Occupied Dame Street peacefully facing down the threat.

Until then however life in the camp goes on, there is a full calendar of #OccupyUniversity talks, General Assemblies and other events at Dame Street this week, and of course people are always welcome to drop by the Camp at any time for a cup of tea and a chat. A bit of normality would be good for everyone after the excitement of the last twenty-four hours, or at least a good bit of what passes for normality on Occupied Dame Street!

Again I want to stress that this is my own personal account and analysis of the events of the previous twenty-four hours, and is not sanctioned in any way by #OccupyDameStreet. For their own official statement on the subject please see their website here.

#OccupyDameStreet - Not a creature was stirring

I see your threatened injunction and raise you a second tent village
#OccupyDameStreet, Dublin, Sunday 20th November

With all thoughts focused on tomorrow's possible injunction the Camp was understandably quiet tonight, with most choosing to get an early night in preparation for a morning trip to the Four Courts. As if in defiance of the spectre of eviction that loomed over Dame Street, the Camp itself looked magnificent tonight, snaking around the side of the Central Bank with a new extension just constructed today.

A light mist hung in the air and the city seemed strangely deserted, even for a Sunday night. With most of the Residents gone to bed and the drunken fauna for once thankfully absent from the streets, the Camp rested in a glow of haunted melancholy, a Marie Celeste of pallets and tarp sailing through a last night of peace before the real struggle begins tomorrow.

A moment of still beauty that belied the nervous tension lying just beneath the surface, I doubt that many will sleep well tonight.

Nighttime on Occupied Dame Street
#OccupyDameStreet, Dublin, Sunday 20th November

Nighttime on Occupied Dame Street
#OccupyDameStreet, Dublin, Sunday 20th November

Nighttime on Occupied Dame Street
#OccupyDameStreet, Dublin, Sunday 20th November

Nighttime on Occupied Dame Street
#OccupyDameStreet, Dublin, Sunday 20th November

Nighttime on Occupied Dame Street
#OccupyDameStreet, Dublin, Sunday 20th November

Nighttime on Occupied Dame Street
#OccupyDameStreet, Dublin, Sunday 20th November

#OccupyDameStreet - If you can't stand the heat...

What big and yellow and sits on Dame Street?
#OccupyDameStreet, Dublin, Sunday 20th November

Dropped by Dame Street this afternoon for a quick chat and was very impressed with the transformation brought about by the addition of the wooden kitchen.

On Thursday a slightly more hardy structure was constructed to house the kitchen that should stand up a bit better to the wind, rain and possible snow, with a timber frame and plywood walls it certainly makes a bold statement about the long-term intentions of the Camp. #OccupyCork have had a similar structure for ages now, and it was one of the things that really impressed me when I visited two weeks ago, though their's is open on one side and is more of a focal point, a place for people to sit around, chat and interact, whereas ours has been designed as more of a protection from the elements.

A Kitchen!
#OccupyDameStreet, Dublin, Sunday 20th November

The construction of the kitchen caused some concern within the Central Bank and a representative or two dropped down to the Camp on Thursday, but to date no action has been taken. I think their response has moved from "ah, now lads..." to "ah, here now..." and we're veering close to "now that's right out" territory as Dara O'Briain would say, but so far things still seem reasonably relaxed.

Given the sheer amount of physical labour the construction entailed, not to mention the flurry of activity it has spawned in the Camp in general (it seems to have instigated a massive tidy up that was well needed), I am left feeling certain that even were I to go on a crash diet and achieve Posh Spice-like levels of thinfullness I would still not be pulling my weight. I try not to berate myself too much as I have been under the weather for the last few days, but there's a guy in there fixing fences who had laser surgery on his eyes yesterday.

These folks are seriously hard core.

A Kitchen with a view!
#OccupyDameStreet, Dublin, Sunday 20th November

Update - 20:00, Sunday 20th November

Looks like I spoke too soon, and The Central Bank has moved straight into "now, that's right out!" mode. According to an update from the Camp just posted on Facebook, the Bank is going to court tomorrow to try and have the Camp moved on:

Occupy Dame Street has today learned from media organisations and An Garda Síochána that the Central Bank of Ireland plans to seek a Court Order tomorrow morning in an attempt to stop the legal, legitimate and law abiding protest taking place. We have at all times sought to engage the banks in constructive dialogue about our concerns about the plight of the Irish people and society and remain ready to do so. It is our understanding that Order 56A , S.I. No. 502 of 2010, Rules of the Superior Courts (Mediation and Conciliation) 2010, came into effect on 16th November 2010 whereby a High Court judge may now adjourn legal proceedings to allow the parties engage in an alternative dispute resolution (ADR) process. We believe that this means mediation is not only approved by the High Court, but consistent with the EU Mandate on Mediation, it is the preferable and binding means of resolving disputes prior to legal proceedings being taken, with the Courts having the ability to impose a costs sanction for those who fail or refuse without good reason to participate in an ADR process. Therefore, Occupy Dame Street reached out to dozens of mediators and will propose Micheal O'Hurley of Munster Mediation Services (www.munstermediationservices) to work with Occupy Dame Street, the Central Bank of Ireland and, if appropriate, An Garda Síochána to resolve this matter forthwith.

Looks like tomorrow will be a very interesting day indeed.

Links
Photos of the new kitchen and much, much more from the last forty-three days of #OccupyDameStreet are now online on my Flickr stream here.

#OccupyDameStreet - Check my collar, collar, hey, hey.

Fintan O'Toole speaks at Dame Street
#OccupyDameStreet, Dublin, Friday 18th November

Those of you who have been reading this blog for some time now will no doubt be aware of my fondness for train travel. I am not some anorak-coated, warm-beer drinking trainspotter scribbling down engine numbers in a tattered old marmalade-stained notebook, but I do rather enjoy a good journey by train. There is something almost spiritual about a few hours of enforced restfulness, a chance to read undisturbed by the outside world or slip on a set of headphones and simply stare out at the passing landcape rushing past and disappearing in a puff of parallax. A train journey is a world away from the angst and stress induced by even the thought of an encounter with RyanAir, and as much a possible I try to avoid flying for both emotional and ecological reasons.

Even within Ireland I will usually choose train over car and this was how I found myself two weeks ago on the 13:00 train from Dublin Hueston to Cork, trapped in a confined space with an indeterminate number of excitable teenage girls all on their way home from an in-store meeting with Jedward, and not even my noise-canceling headphones could save me.

Teenage girls are a phenomena that I admittedly know little about, having nothing to do with them as a grown-up, and painfully little to do with them as a teenage boy (though not for want of trying, the Catholic Church and its segregated dominance of the Irish secondary education system has a lot to answer for). A mystery then and an annoyance now, I am sure that they are quite inoffensive on their own or in small clusters, but when gathered together in hysterical packs huddled around a cheap mobile phone blaring out pop inanities over impoverished speakers made in a factory where uttering the word 'Bass' could lead to a fine, flogging or both, they are the adult equivalent of the mosquito alarm used to rid public spaces of their very presence. The eternal battle between youth and wisdom continues to rage in the 21st century and once again the sonic arts are bent to the will of both combatants, and as ever no side can claim a decisive victory.

I tried to explain this to the Very Understanding Girlfriend, but she just rolled her eyes skyward and put her headphones back on. I think deep inside she knows I'm right, but her own previous incarnation as a teenage girl no doubt clouds her judgement.

Thankfully the carriage emptied long before we reached Cork and I was able to enjoy the rest of the journey in a semblance of peace and tranquility, mood dampened only by the inability to get the words "I'll check my collar, collar, hey, hey" out of my head, no matter how much Squarepusher I listened to.

The point of this all being to say that while I neither claim to understand nor to appreciate the intricacies of the verbal and nonverbal communications of teenage girls, I was left with the impression that for them meeting Jedward was something of a big deal.

With this image firmly in mind I now feel you are adequately prepared to understand what it was last night for me to be able to host Fintan O'Toole on Occupied Dame Street. He spoke as part of the ongoing #OccupyUniversity program, and through a stroke of good fortune I was able to introduce him and facilitate the Q&A afterwards. His books Ship of Fools and Enough is Enough made a hugh impact on me when I read them last year, stoking my wrath and ire and motivating me to get up off my backside and get out there and campaign for radical change, to move from being a passive observer and occasional commentator to a far more active and militant role. Though I do not agree with everything he proposes (and in some areas do not think he goes far enough) his books are one of the reasons I have been on Occupied Dame Street for the last 43 days.

Though it pains me so much to admit it, to say last night was my giddy-as-a-teenage-girl-meeting-Jedward moment would not be entirely untrue.

What UpStart did next

The folks at UpStart have announced the details of their next art project, and they need your help to make it happen.

They are planning to build a Pop-Up Park somewhere in Dublin City Centre. The Park will exist for 3-4 months, be built by teenagers both local and from Unionist areas in the North and provide an outdoor urban space for theatre, art, performances and more.

They are organising this through the Better Together campaign, a clearing house for donations to voluntary sector projects, who are currently running an initiative that will see €10,000 donated to the participating project that receives the most individual online donations between now and 5pm, November 25th. UpStart are looking for as many people as possible to make a small donation here, even €1- €5, this is all about the number of donations made, not the total value of those donations!

You can find out more information about this new UpStart project here, where they give the following outline:

The general ambition in this project is to put colour and creativity into an urban space that is vacant of anything… other than its potential of course.

· It would involve us planting an orchard (a little like this but a little softer on the seating- http://www.unionstreetorchard.org.uk/) and just in case you’re worried – the trees will be given a happy new home at the completion of the project!

· Grassy knolls to lie back and eat your packed lunch on (these are funny things- think sun loungers that are covered in grass, without the wet bums, they have a drainage system to take water away whilst the grass keeps green!)

· A theatre space for day & night performances (this would be an exciting space designed by professionals who have experience in large scale wooden constructions (a bit like at Burning Man and Electric Picnic). They will work with young teenagers from Dublin city centre and from disadvantaged loyalist areas of Northern Ireland in building something inspirational out of a material that is such an integral part of sectarian bonfires of July 14th - the humble wooden pallet.

· Not to mention art of all sorts and the odd workshop & lecture thrown in for good measure. Block T (Vodafone Cultural Attraction of the Year 2011) has already voiced it’s support.

- UpStart Project #2 - Be a part of it!, from the UpStart blog

UpStart art, occupying an urban space, wooden pallets and Burning Man - it's like they've taken the last two hundred posts from my blog and run them through a blender for a minute or two, and served up the results with an umbrella and a slice of fruit on the side.

Huzzah!

Remember - make your donation through the Better Together campaign here!

(A quick reminder of their first art project can be found on my Flickr set here)

#OccupyDameStreet - Unkie Dave's Guide for the Perplexed

Back where it all began - The first General Assembly on Occupied Dame Street
#OccupyDameStreet, Dublin, Saturday 8th October

As we sit here on day forty-one of #Occupied Dame Street, and forty days and forty nights have passed since I first stood outside the Central Bank and someone passed me a rope, saying "here, hold this", thus sealing my fate for the next five plus weeks, I thought it would be an opportune moment to pause and reflect on all that has happened, the ups and downs, the highs and the lows, and most of all the atrocious weather. And then I realised that perhaps I do far too much of this navel-gazing on a daily basis, trapped in the minutiae as one commentator suggested, and with this in mind I thought it might be more useful to expand our gaze outwards to the macro level, to reflect on the bigger picture of what #OccupyDameStreet is, how it came to be, and how folks can get involved and help shape it for the next forty days and forty nights.

What follows is something in between the micro and the macro, my own guide to #OccupyDameStreet that addresses some of the questions that I get asked asked by friends, family and strangers passing by on the street, not to mention the odd journalist. It is purely my own observations, is not endorsed by #OccupyDameStreet or anyone else connected with the Movement, and is something that I have come to call #OccupyDameStreet - Unkie Dave's Guide for the Perplexed.

What is #OccupyDameStreet?

#OccupyDameStreet is a physical camp of tents, yurts and pallets that sprung up at the gates of the Central Bank on Dame Street in Dublin on October 8th, 2011. #OccupyDameStreet is a Movement of people who are calling for radical change at a local, national and international level. #OccupyDameStreet is the Idea that society can be self-organised along fair and equitable lines. #OccupyDameStreet is a state of mind, a belief that things can be better, and the certainty that we the people are the ones who will make it so.

#OccupyDameStreet is all these things and more, and is definitely a work in progress.

#OccupyDameStreet is a people’s movement, which stands in solidarity with and is inspired by over 1,400 sister occupations in the evolving global movement initiated by the people of Iceland, Greece, Spain and the Arab Spring. We use tactics of non-violence akin to scenes of peaceful resistance in Tahrir Square and Wall Street. This is a diverse people’s initiative, unaffiliated with any political parties. We are the 99%. We stand together against political and economic corruption. We stand for equality and social justice. This is a “leaderless resistance movement” with people of many nationalities, backgrounds, genders and political persuasions

- #OccupyDameStreet October 11th Statement

Yes, but what does all this actually mean?

#OccupyDameStreet is basically a surprisingly disparate group of folks that have coalesced around the belief that the people themselves are the only ones who can make things better in Ireland, and have seized upon the idea of a physical camp set up at the side of one of Dublin’s busiest thoroughfares to serve as a catalyst for conversations, actions and radical transformations, to show that another world is possible and that anyone has the power to make this happen.

On any given night up to thirty people are camping out, with the number rising to over a hundred on some weekends. Over the course of the day these are joined by another twenty to thirty regulars who have been there since day one and spend a good portion of every day on-site. Evening General Assemblies often see a hundred participants and weekends see the numbers grow to anything up to two thousand.

These folks are all from a very diverse set of backgrounds, life experiences and philosophies, all brought together by a desire to do something positive and try to bring about actual and radical change.

For two personal stories of why individuals became involved, you can read Dr Tom Boland's piece in The Evening Herald or my own article on TheJournal.ie.

What does #OccupyDameStreet want?

Bound together by themes of social justice and equality, #OccupyDameStreet has made four key demands:

1) That the IMF stay out of the affairs of Ireland
2) That the burden of the private bank debt be lifted from the public sphere
3) That Ireland’s natural gas and oil reserves be returned to sovereign control
4) That a system of real, participatory Democracy be introduced in Ireland

These demands were made within the first days of the #Occupation and have been the basis for all further actions:

We reject the complete control of the European Central bank (ECB) in dictating our economic policy. Our demand is that the International Monetary Fund (IMF) stay out of our affairs. We do not want their influence or control. Our demand is that the private bank debt that has been socialised and burdened upon the population of the country who had nothing to do with it be lifted. We will not pay and let our children and their children pay for the crisis that private banks and bondholders have caused. It is their problem, not ours. Our demand is that the oil and gas reserves off our coast that were criminally handed away to private corporations be returned to sovereign control. Our demand is for real, participatory democracy - where the people’s interests come first, where the people decide what happens.

- #OccupyDameStreet October 11th Statement

But what does #OccupyDameStreet actually do?

The activities of #OccupyDameStreet revolve around The Protest and The Process. While the physical presence of the Camp itself is an ongoing protest over the political and wealth inequalities in Ireland, and the Movement has organised a series of Saturday marches from The Garden of Remembrance to Dame Street (the largest of which saw over 2,000 participants), many of those involved talk more about this being a Process, and not a Protest, that it is about initiating conversations amongst the people on what is wrong with our country, and more importantly how to fix it, and to serve as a catalyst and focal point for these conversations.

While Direct Actions on the streets of Dublin (from pop-up Soup Kitchens to flash-mobs) are an integral element, so too are the public General Assemblies where ideas are discussed, solutions offered and decisions taken and the open-air classes of #OccupyUniversity where academics, writers and others offer an alternative education to the conservative doctrines of the Academy, all of these bound together by a host of musicians, poets and comedians who hold concerts under the eves of the Central Bank.

After forty days #OccupyDameStreet is moving towards a new stage in its development, the conversations it has been calling for have been happening, and the outcomes of these conversations are now being brought back to a wider audience, and acted upon.

We say to the people of Ireland, if you have ever looked for an opportunity to engage in realistic change, this is a platform... We do not claim to have a complete list of solutions. We believe, however, that the process is just beginning. The more participation we can build the more power our decisions will carry.

- #OccupyDameStreet October 11th Statement

How did it all start?

On October 8th a small group of people gathered outside the gates of the Central Bank on Dame Street in Dublin’s City Centre. Calls for an #Occupation had appeared online, on Facebook and on Twitter, inspired by the Democracia Real Ya! movement in Spain and the #OccupyWallStreet movement in New York, that saw thousands of ordinary citizens take to the streets and protest over social injustices and political and wealth inequalities in their countries. No one person or group of people have stepped forward to claim responsibility for the original call to meet up at the Central Bank, though the group Real Democracy Now Ireland, in solidarity with events in Madrid, had called for a march to take place in Dublin on October 15th, and were supporting the meeting on Dame Street on the 8th as part of their publicity for the march. The first public meeting, or General Assembly, of #OccupyDameStreet took place just after 2pm on October 8th, and the first tents were erected shortly afterwards.

Why Dame Street?

Unlike previous movements where the political establishment was the target of the protest, many groups in the wider #Occupy Movement have targeted financial institutions as a symbol of the wealth inequality in their country, and the true power behind a weakened democracy. In New York the focus has been Wall Street, the financial heart of America, in London a camp was established outside the London Stock Exchange, and in Dublin the Central Bank of Ireland was chosen for both its role in enabling our economic crash and for being the home of the IMF representative sent to oversee our national budgetary process the same weekend that the #Occupation started. There are also very few other places in the City Centre that contain enough open space to be able to host a camp the size of #OccupyDameStreet.

Non-violence and peaceful resistance is at the core of #OccupyDameStreet. Although situated at the gates of the Central Bank there is a strict non-interference policy with Bank employees and visitors, and all entrances to the Bank remain unblocked at all times, as does the public footpath around the Camp. The plaza in front of the Central Bank where the Camp is located is private property belonging to the Central Bank, but to date there has been no request from the Central Bank made either directly to #OccupyDameStreet or via An Garda Síochána (The Irish police force) for the Camp to disperse or disband. To date there has also been no interference from, or confrontation with, either Bank representatives or the gardai. While #OccupyDameStreet is committed to peaceful resistance thankfully it has to date never been placed in a position where it must resist an oppressing force.

Who are the 99%?

We all are (unless you are Rupert Murdoch). The global #Occupy Movement has seized upon the terms “The 1%” and “The 99%” to refer to the vast gap in political and economic power in our societies, where a small minority of the population control a vastly disproportionate amount of both wealth and power, and the way in which this gap between the haves and the have-nots has increased at an alarming rate over the last decade or two. The “1%” refers to both the economic elite that control a disproportionate amount of this wealth and the political establishment that traditionally has made decisions that benefit the economic elite at the expense of the majority of the citizenry. The term “The 99%” is thus used to be as inclusive as possible to people from all backgrounds. We are all the 99%.

According to a report released by the European Anti-Poverty Network Ireland on the 24th February, 2011, quoting data from a 2007 Bank of Ireland report: “the top 1% of the Irish population held 20% of the wealth, the top 2% controlled 30% and the top 5% disposed of 40% of private assets. Excluding the value of housing, the concentration of wealth mounts up to 1% controlling 34% of all wealth.” (source pdf - here).

In 2009 the progressive ThinkTank TASC launched the Hierarchy of Earnings, Attributes and Privilege (H.E.A.P.) Report that examined income inequality in Ireland. It noted that during the 'Celtic Tiger' boom years between 2001 and 2007 "poverty levels (before Social Welfare) in Ireland increased from 35.6 per cent to 41 per cent." The full report and accompanying poster can be found on TASC's website here.

Thus in 2007 we had a situation where 1% of the population controlled 34% of the wealth, and 41% of the population lived in poverty.

If you are reading this, you are the 99%.

Who is behind #OccupyDameStreet?

#OccupyDameStreet, while clearly a political movement, is not affiliated with any Political Party, group or individual. While members of any such group are welcome at Dame Street, they are asked to come as individuals and leave their party affiliations at the door. While the global #Occupy Movement itself is the clear inheritor of the Anti-Capitalist/Alter-Globalisation protests of the last decade and there are progressives, socialists, marxists, left-greens, anarchists and the like involved, there are many more who do not espouse any specific political belief or creed, and remaining outside of the traditional party political system is one of the core beliefs of #OccupyDameStreet.

Who are the leaders of #OccupyDameStreet?

#OccupyDameStreet is a leaderless resistance movement, and this really does mean “leaderless”. The movement takes decisions together collectively via a process called consensus decision making at public meetings called General Assemblies. Everyone is welcome to speak and put forward proposals at the Assemblies, and if the Assembly reaches consensus (a process of reaching agreement that does not involve voting) that proposal become official #OccupyDameStreet policy. The minutes of these Assemblies and statements approved by General Assembly appear on the official website at www.occupydamestreet.org/category/minutes.

More information on the consensus process can be found at www.occupydamestreet.org/consensus.

I heard someone on Dame Street say that giant lizard-people control the moon, how can #OccupyDameStreet believe that?

Just as there are no leaders of #OccupyDameStreet, there are also no official spokespeople. “No-one is a spokesperson and everyone is a spokesperson” is a phrase you will hear often, that no single person can claim to speak on behalf of the Movement and yet everyone involved is encouraged to speak out about their own experiences. As the Movement attracts a broad range of people, there are an equally broad range of opinions and ideas that get raised, but unless you see something appear on www.occupydamestreet.org, it has not been approved by General Assembly and thus is not official #OccupyDameStreet policy.

If somebody says something that you disagree with, speak out, whether it comes from an official source or not. This is your Movement.

How do I get involved?

#OccupyDameStreet is your Movement. There are many ways to get involved and you don’t even need to bring a tent.

Come to the Camp - Just drop in and have a chat. There is usually an information stand there from early morning until 9pm most nights (barring horrific weather), and even if there is no stand there are always people about who happy to have chat, share their experiences, and hear what ideas you have for how to make Ireland a better place for us all. For an idea of what is going on at the Camp on any given day, take a look at the Camp calendar at www.occupydamestreet.org/calendar.

Come to a General Assembly - These are the public meetings of #OccupyDameStreet where discussions are held and all decisions are made. They happen twice a day, five days a week, at 1pm Mon-Fri, 6pm Mon, Tue, Wed, Fri and 7pm on Thursdays, and on Saturdays if there is a March or other event, normally at the conclusion of the March. The afternoon Assemblies are general discussions, the evening Assemblies are the main decision making ones. This is a great way to see participatory democracy in action (warts and all) and be a part of shaping the direction #OccupyDameStreet goes. If you have an issue or idea you want to raise, just come along, there is always room at the end of an Assembly to raise new items, though if it requires a lengthy conversation then it might get added to the agenda of the following Assembly.

Come to an #OccupyUniversity workshop - #OccupyUniversity is a series of workshops hosted by academics, writers and others with a particular background, expertise, knowledge or interest in an area of relevance to the Movement. Normally an outdoor event, a workshop usually involves a 30+ minute talk on a given subject by the host followed by a facilitated discussion. Upcoming events can be found at www.occupydamestreet.org/occupy-university and #OccupyUniversity have their own blog at occupyuniversitydublin.tumblr.com/, and you can contact them through their blog if you are interested in hosting a workshop yourself.

Help out at the Camp - There is always work to be done, even if you can’t camp, simply coming down for a few hours will make a huge difference. Many of the activities that keep #OccupyDameStreet afloat are organised by autonomous Workgroups. These groups have been tasked by General Assembly to look after specific areas of Camp and Movement life, and include Security (standing watch over the Camp, one of the most essential jobs and almost always undersubscribed), Food (helping to source, cook and serve meals for the residents), Construction (helping to maintain the physical presence of the camp), Facilitation (helping to run the General Assemblies and facilitating the discussions that take place therein) and many others. Some do not even require your presence in the Camp, the Media group for example coordinates the writing of press releases, the design, printing and distribution of leaflets and the maintenance of the online properties (website, twitter etc), most of which could be done from the comfort of your own home. Members of each workgroup normally identify themselves at every General Assembly, so come along and speak to them afterwards, let them know what your skill set is and what you think you could do, or simply ask where you would be most needed. If you can’t make it down to the Camp send an email to occupydamestreet at gmail dot com and introduce yourself, say what you’d be interested in doing, and they’ll get back to you asap.

Donate stuff - If you want to make a donation of food, blankets, sleeping bags or other more esoteric items these are always very much appreciated, you can find a current wishlist of the things the camp needs at www.occupydamestreet.org/wish-list and emergency requests are often put out on Twitter and Facebook. If you bring items down to the Camp just introduce yourself to anyone on site and they will gladly take in your donation.

Organise an activity - If you have a great idea for something #OccupyDameStreet could do, a Direct Action, a workshop, an outreach program etc and want to run it yourself, get in touch with the Camp or email folks at occupydamestreet at gmail dot com. This is your Movement, you don't have to wait for someone at the Camp to suggest an action or activity, drop by and bring your fresh ideas and a new perspective!

Become a Resident - come along and bring a tent, or if you don’t have one ask if there is a spare tent for a night or two. While #OccupyDameStreet is so much more than a collection of tents on Dame Street, those tents and the people that fill them are the core around which everything else rotates. If you want to camp remember that conditions on Dame Street are difficult, and there is a strict no drink, no drugs policy, this is not a Festival! The Camp's Safer Space Policy can be found at www.occupydamestreet.org/safer-space-policy, and shorter guidelines can be found at www.occupydamestreet.org/camp-guidelines-3, please read both carefully before you decide to camp and make sure you understand what types of behaviour will not be aceptable. When you arrive at the Camp introduce yourself to anyone and they will show you where to set up your tent, and help set it up if you need a hand. Once your tent is set up then find out how you can help out in the Camp, this is a great way to meet other residents and there is always work that needs to be done.

Set up your own #Occupation! - there are #Occupy groups in Belfast, Cork, Galway, Letterkenny and Waterford, and there is always room for many, many more. #Occupy your town, your village, your college, your school, your local bank or your local park. Talk to us, or #OccupyCork, or #OccupyGalway etc and get some advice, or just go out and do your own thing - there are no wrong ways to do this!

Support us online - Of course even if you are unable to do any of these things you can always join in the conversation online and make sure your voice is heard. You can keep up to date with all things Dame Street online at the following places:

On the website at www.occupydamestreet.org
On the offical forum at forum.occupydamestreet.org
On Facebook at www.facebook.com/OccupyDameStreet
On Twitter at twitter.com/#occupydamestr
Events are broadcast live on the web at www.livestream.com/occupydamestreet
Or email #OccupyDameStreet with suggestions, comments or concerns at occupydamestreet at gmail dot com

When will it end?

#OccupyDameStreet is an ongoing Movement and has no plans to bring the #Occupation to a close. While it has issued a clear list of demands, it is not simply a case of "Meet these demands and we will go away". The Camp and the Movement are a continuous catalyst, not simply a means to a fixed end.

Are there drumming circles?

On occasion, sadly yes.

Why the hashtag?

Blame Twitter. Blame the Americans. Blame the kids with their crazy haircuts and their loud music and their inability to use an apostrophe correctly in a sentence. Blame Apple for hiding the hashtag on their keyboards and making me use cut-and-paste for three months before I figured out the Alt 3 shortcut. Blame the hipsters, they probably used hashtags before they were cool. Blame Canada. Blame everybody but yourself, and if you are David McWilliams spend the next three years telling everyone you blamed them all along and then stay strangely silent when the dust settles and it turns out you were the one who advised the government to issue the bank guarantee. I've been blaming David McWilliams for years. Blame life. Blame a job. Blame a career. Blame a family. Wait, that's not right, that's been done before, besides I chose not to blame life. I chose something else. And the reasons? There are no reasons. Who needs reasons when you've got hashtags?