Dear Friends,

We are Occupy Leeds. We are here in solidarity with the 2300, and growing, occupations in cities towns and villages around the world, to bring the conversation about global change closer to home. We are here to help the views of local people – your views! – be heard as part of this global movement. We are here to create a forum for public discussion. We believe that the current political system is undemocratic, unjust and fundamentally flawed. We believe that an economy based on endless growth and exploitation of natural resources is unsustainable.

We believe it is time for significant, radical change. It’s time for normal people to stand up and demand a fair and sustainable system that does not place all the power and money in the hands of a corrupt and self serving “top 1%”.

We don’t know what that change looks like yet. The problems we face have been building over the past century and it will take time and the meeting of a great many minds before we know what the solution to these major problems will be.

But we believe that by coming together, to discuss the issues that really matter, we can start to realize what a better world will look like. The answers are within all of us.

We no longer wish to be enslaved by debt. We want our working lives to be ethical and worthwhile, and not to feel like our efforts are exploited for the profits of obscenely rich corporations. We want to change this culture that has made the majority of us individualistic and lonely. We want to create a world where endless consumption no longer defines humanity, where education does not come at an unrealistic price.

We believe in freedom of information, an end to mindless wars in pursuit of oil, and a return to appreciation of the beauty and magic of life here on Earth.

We want corporate greed and power play to be replaced by a nurturing of human kindness, and a respect for who people are rather that what they earn.

We are the 99%. We are not a special group. We have no party political affiliations. We are every day people from different backgrounds with similar concerns and values.

We are you. What unites us is our willingness to be the change we want to see. Let’s start talking about what a better world might look like.

It’s time to stop suffering in silence and unite.

Come and join us!

Love, peace and solidarity,

Occupy Leeds

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*** currently suspended (check events page) General Assembly (GA)

Join us and be part of the change you want to see. This is where we gather to discuss proposals/issues/ideas with the aim of reaching consensus. Some GAs may be themed (ie education, unemployment, banking). ALL welcome.

Every Monday evening at 6.30pm, Millennium Square. Even if it rains (but we’ll be under the roof of the Civic Hall).