Opinions

“I think that everyone involved in or studying Occupy or Town Square or 15M and the Arab uprisings should consider that this is a ‘Values’ based movement, not an ideologically driven one. We should throw away our group banners, our more superficial reasons for being involved, and take on the core value of simply actively, non-violently expressing our wish for a better world.”

Among countries that have moved from the periphery to the core, China has acquired a place of pride in a world that is no longer steered by the industrialized states of yesteryear. President Hu Jintao surfaced from the G20 summit in Cannes, as sagacious leader of a country whose ascent to the status of a new superpower was speeded up after the financial crisis in 2008.

Yet, a different kind of protest. ‘Compassion is Revolutionary’. Flash mob Meditation and Multifaith Service at St Paul’s stairs. Active Nonviolence, humour, global democratic links and leaderless consensus seeking Assemblies. Three priests resign from high posts at St Paul’s over divided views. The City of London Corporation begins eviction moves, it may take months.

It sounds like utopia. But it is a “concrete utopia”, very much in the spirit of Ernst Bloch’s philosophy and also with Nichiren Buddhism.
Whereas the former visualises elimination of all forms of oppression and exploitation, the latter envisions transformation of the human spirit – which would enable culture of peace to prevail over culture of violence.

The winds of change are blowing across the globe. What triggers such change, and when it will strike, is something that no one can predict.

Last Jan. 18, a courageous young woman in Egypt took a dangerous step. Asmaa Mahfouz was 25 years old, part of the April 6 Youth Movement, with thousands of young people engaging online in debate on the future of their country.

In 1967, a year before his assessination, Martin Luther King gave a speech called “Beyond Vietnam” in which he proclaimed: “I knew that I could never again raise my voice against the violence of the oppressed in the ghettos without having first spoken clearly to the greatest purveyor of violence in the world today, my own government.”

I was honored to be invited to speak at Occupy Wall Street on Thursday night. Since amplification is (disgracefully) banned, and everything I said had to be repeated by hundreds of people so others could hear (a.k.a. “the human microphone”), what I actually said at Liberty Plaza had to be very short. With that in mind, here is the longer, uncut version of the speech.

What follows is a statement agreed by the Occupy the London Stock Exchange General Assembly based on the discussions carried out by small groups. “At today’s assembly of over 500 people on the steps of St Paul’s, #occupylsx collectively agreed the initial statement below. Please note, like all forms of direct democracy, the statement will always be a work in progress”.

The day started with the heartening news from Japan that Tokyo had just joined the ‘global day of mobilization’ adding its strength and uniqueness to over 1000 cities in 85 countries, working to mediate a fundamental change in the world economic and democratic systems. Around 4 PM, we walked toward Sol with a group of friendsto participate in a Radio show on the “Movement 15M”.

FRIENDS:

“Our call for change unites us.
We want a new society that gives people priority over economic and political interests.
We want to demonstrate that society has not gone to sleep, and that we will keep fighting for what we deserve by peaceful means.
We want all this, and we want it now.” (Sol, May 2011).