Democracy Village, Parliament Square
DEMOCRACY VILLAGE DECLARATION AND INVITATION
We are a group of concerned citizens who have gathered on Parliament Square to let the world know that we are deeply troubled by the way our taxes and resources are wasted on illegal and inhuman wars.
There are many issues being campaigned for among us, as our beliefs are diverse. But we strive to use this public land as an open forum where any issue can be discussed. All ideas for building sustainable futures on our beautiful planet are welcomed.
We are non-violent but we actively resist any attempt to suppress our rights of assembly and free speech. We will remain here until all troops have returned from foreign soil.
We believe that big changes begin with local action, and local action begins in your own front garden. That's why we have created this democratic, self-sufficient village directly in the front garden of the MPs who continue to ignore our ongoing environmental, social and economic concerns.
You are hereby invited to come to the Democracy Village and get involved.
THIS IS WHAT DEMOCRACY LOOKS LIKE!
Photo by Neil Jackson
Photo courtesy of Felix Allen and Justin Davenport
18.05.10
Email: democracyvillage@gmail.com
Click here for photos from Democracy Village, Parliament Square.
Click here for Amelia Wells’ magazine article (hope you don’t mind Amelia?)
Peoples' Assembly
1.00 pm start
Every Saturday from July 24 2010
Victoria Tower Gardens
(right next to Houses of Parliament)
London SW1P 3
Bring picnic food to share
Obituary: In memory of Boris Johnson and his partners in crime
Previous Posts
Photos courtesy Richard Wolff
Photo courtesy of Steve
During the early hours of Tuesday July 20th, under cover of darkness, Boris Johnson’s hired goons perpetrate a serious organised crime.
During the early hours of Tuesday July 20th, under cover of darkness, Boris Johnson’s hired goons perpetrated a serious organised crime. Symbolising all that’s wrong with the politics of our age, they cut down at the root a small flourishing tree.
Having violently uprooted the Democracy Village oak sapling, evicted our community and trampled on our rights and our homes, the Mayor secured the unsightly outcome he intended. A seven-foot high metal fence now prevents anyone from assembling on Parliament Square. Londoners can’t see what’s happening inside: everything’s now hidden behind a green plastic wall.
Boris is reportedly celebrating with champagne. Let him enjoy the opportunity while it lasts! Yes, brute force can sometimes work. But in this particular case, for how long? As the memory of Democracy Village inspires ever-increasing opposition to the war – and as we promise to return in greater numbers than before – when exactly will the Mayor dare dismantle his fence?
On the very night of our eviction, news was arriving from a distant corner of the globe. Within just 24 hours, four more British soldiers had been killed in separate incidents in Afghanistan. Even as our voices were being stifled, a group of soldiers driving past in a military vehicle signaled ‘thumbs up’ to a large group of us still protesting beside the road. Hoots of support from passing motorists suggest how ordinary people are coming over to our side. Between 70 and 77 per cent now oppose Britain’s military presence in Afghanistan. As the situation on the ground unravels, casualties mount and NATO’s puppet government disintegrates in Kabul, such support and resistance to state propaganda can only grow.
Democracy Village has now gone underground. We’ve declared ourselves on strike. The village no longer exists as a physical entity, a collection of tents on a patch of grass. But our community, our energy and our ideas live on. We invite you to join. Soldiers, you need a proper trade union! Police, you too have the right to strike! A strike means taxpayers withhold their taxes, workers withdraw their labour, soldiers refuse to obey orders – and police organise a mass sickie on pre-arranged days. Or how about a Lysistrata-style sex strike by women to stop the war?
The prospect now is of a military fiasco combined with a renewed financial and economic crisis. Let’s recall what happened in 1989, when the Soviet military were defeated in the mountains of Afghanistan. Across Europe we can expect more than a wave of general strikes and other industrial action. As we fight back against the cuts, events could trigger the biggest wave of ‘velvet revolutions’ – acts of resistance and collective sovereignty staged by ordinary citizens – the world has ever seen.
No taxes, no services, no work or collusion of any kind! Since its roots have been torn off, we’re not optimistic that our damaged oak tree can physically survive. May it live in other ways. To make sure it does, we’ll cut off at the root all nutrients of support to any government, local or national, which attempts to continue with immoral wars.
The Mayor of London and his partners in crime have just written their own obituary.
* * * *
Here’s what Simon Moore had to say immediately after being forcibly evicted from Parliament Square Gardens on July 20, around 5 am:-
We see the government resorting to the age old use of force as its primary means of effecting change on the planet, and as we all know it’s one of the worst means available to try to bring about change. … What we must do is go beyond force to develop new ways of effecting change. One of the ways you can do this is by immediately withdrawing your support from anything you consider to be immoral. So if you look at your income tax and see that it’s being put to immoral use, you can withdraw that tax until you feel happy that your government is behaving itself. Only once we’re all taking individual responsibility for the actions of this government can we create a better government that reflects just and peaceful behaviour.
I became involved when I realised that this government was behaving in a way that was indefensible, waging aggressive wars. I realised that it was the moral duty of every citizen to become a counter-friction to any of its activities. With no violence or hatred and with total compassion for everyone, we must withdraw our support and become a peaceful counter-friction.
We will have to continue to break unjust laws, to show the injustice of laws relating to freedom of assembly and freedom of speech. I think that will lead us back into Westminster. We’ll be coming back. This weekend, this Saturday (Jul 24, 1 pm) we will be in Victoria Tower Gardens. We will be holding a People’s Assembly and calling for withdrawal of all troops from Afghanistan. And we’ll continue to discuss the kind of government we would like to see.’