11 Days of Occupation

This beautiful protest at Occupy Leeds began on 11.11.11. Today (or at least on the day this was written) we are 11 days old. 

I think it’s worth pausing for a moment, amid this magical chaos, to reflect on what we’ve all created so far. 

It’s been a whirlwind. A statement. A unique social experiment. A moment in history that will leave all its occupants changed. We’ve seen humanity laid bare in City Square this week. We’ve seen hope rekindled. 

We’ve seen a glimpse of what can be achieved when people start coming together to make a change. Let’s remind ourselves what’s been created: 

• We’ve established a thriving camp at city square, and watched it grow from a handful of tents to around 15, complete with our ‘hub’ tent and info desk
• We’ve had different groups of around 12 each night, sleeping on site, getting to know each other, sharing ideas, inspiring and looking out for one another
• Through our daily general assemblies, we’ve started the debate about what meaningful change looks like to Leeds
• At these meetings, and the informal discussions happening round the clock at our info tent, we’ve engaged hundreds of people to take part in this debate
• We’ve evolved a statement that summarises what our movement is about 
• We’ve created a true community from a group of people who might never meet in ‘normal’ life – all working together for a greater good 
• We’ve started to work together to educate ourselves – and already have a loose programme of workshops and speakers lined up for the coming weeks (more are always welcome!) 
• We’ve enjoyed tremendous support from other local organisations, keen to remind us that this protest is important
• And let’s not forget our now legendary ‘Pallet Stage’ playing host to new era of protest song! 

So far, so good! Not bad for 11 days. The media have been relatively kind to us so far – good articles in The Mirror and The Guardian spreading a positive message for the Occupy movement. Billy Bragg raised our spirits last Friday. And our camp has become an inspirational place to spend time. Above all, we’re connecting with each other – as human beings looking to create a better kind of society. 

But the past 11 days have also been challenging in so many ways. And I suspect there are more challenges yet to come. Every day this movement grows, becomes more complex, reveals more potential.

But we’ve also faced criticism and had a taste of how hard it is to shed preconditioned behaviours, those prickly shells we wear to protect us out there in the ‘real’ world.

So I think it’s also worth mentioning the things that aren’t so great about our camp so far, in the hope that we can work together to make them better. 

At first, the nature of our small and somewhat fragile camp caused its own problems. Coming together as a group of random strangers, under adverse conditions, not realising quite what a mammoth event we were undertaking, and all trying to balance our support for this protest with our regular lives has been no mean feat… and we should be celebrating our achievements! 

But there’s no doubting we need to get better at communicating, especially when we’re tired from debating with angry drunken accountants in the early hours! We need to get better at trusting each other, at putting aside our differences, at not letting our egos come into play when the going gets tough, at not falling into traditional hierarchies and at embracing the spirit of the Occupy Movement. 

And we need to get more organised! Especially now we are growing in numbers. Time at camp has been so demanding for us all during these first 11 days, we’ve been so busy keeping the wheels on that there hasn’t been much time for effective administration, meaningful working group meetings, practical handovers, clear agendas or even much structured debate. We’ve been accumulating work, ideas, suggestions, volunteers and energy and as yet we haven’t been able to put them all to good use. Camp access to the internet has been sporadic and our group’s access to sleep has been intermittent! 

So there are a few things we need to do, and we need as much help as possible. 

1. Working Groups (we need to get them actually working!)

So far, we have working groups to look at:

• Info/welcome
• Process 
• Site maintenance
• Media / outreach
• Education / events
• Kitchen / Supplies
• Public Action
• Welfare
• Trade Union Liaison
• Site Art / Banners
• Police / Council Liaison 

Feel free to suggest others. If you’ve already signed up to a working group, you should receive an email or text today, introducing you to your other group members. (if you don’t get it, let us know!). Please be proactive as a group, meet and progress your ideas regularly and report back to the wider group at General Assemblies.

If you haven’t signed up but would like to, either send an email to info@occupyleeds.co.uk, or leave your details in the blue folder at camp and we’ll forward your details to the rest of the group.

2. Daily Meetings and General Assemblies
Because we’re not all at camp every day, we’ve realised there’s some inconsistency between general assemblies. Plus, with often only a handful of people on site, it’s difficult to facilitate them at such frequency. 

So, while we all feel it’s important to continue to meet in City Square at 2.00pm and 6.00pm every day, we won’t be treating these meetings as general assemblies for the time being. Instead, our daily 2.00pm meeting will be focused on camp issues, for those regularly on site. And our daily 6.00pm meeting will be focused on discussing the political and economic issues. 

General Assemblies will take place each week at 6.00pm on Wednesdays, and at 2.00pm on Saturdays, at which we’ll deliver progress reports from all the working groups and aim to reach group consensus relating to the direction and progress of the occupation. This Sunday, however, we plan to hold an extra General Assembly at 2.00pm to discuss the urgent next steps for Occupy Leeds. Please can as many people as possible make an effort to attend. It would also be great if people can send suggestions for the agenda in advance, either online or by writing them in the book at camp. 

It’s important that all the working groups are represented at these General Assemblies particularly, and that as many people as possible who want to be involved in the wider decision making also make an effort to attend. These two weekly meetings will be minuted and the notes made available online by the following day for those who cannot attend. 

We hope that this more flexible approach to General Assemblies leaves us with more time and energy to put into educating ourselves through workshops, discussing solutions and taking some meaningful action through our working groups. 

3. General Info / Urgent Updates
The info / welcome working group have a list of everyone who’s volunteered so far. When a quick decision needs to be made about the occupation, or an urgent problem arises, a text message will be sent to everyone on this list for a consensus decision. Make sure you’re on this list to be kept completely in the loop. Just send a text to 07970 500633