“We are the 99 percent. We are getting kicked out of our homes. We are forced to choose between groceries and rent. We are denied quality medical care. We are suffering from environmental pollution. We are working long hours for little pay and no rights, if we’re working at all. We are getting nothing while the other 1 percent is getting everything. We are the 99 percent. “
From Occupy Edinburgh
There’s a growing bunch of hardy souls camping out in St Andrew’s Square in solidarity with those on Wall Street, in Glasgow, Dublin, London, Athens, Madrid, Santiago and 900 other places all over the world, where people who have had enough of the outrages of the 1% against the 99% of people and the planet are finally saying ‘enough is enough’.
It’s great if you are willing and able to join those camping out, but it’s equally good just to have people popping by to say hello.
And there are lots of other ways to get involved and help out: bring your talents: come and play an instrument, bring along artwork, sing with your choir (or give us a solo!), do some stand up, or share your latest play with us…bring your skills and knowledge – workshops in everything from economics to compost making, unicycle riding to social history…. we will find a way to fit your offering into our programme of events…come and help keep the site tidy, make tea and coffee, hand out leaflets, welcome new people and just do whatever needs doing at the time…photocopy as many copies as you can of the leaflet attached and bring them along to hand out…
We could also really do with:
A white-board and pens
Blankets
Food
A really big tea pot.
Fold up chairs
Attached is a leaflet we’re using – adapted from a leaflet titled ‘United for Global Democracy’ which was written by Ana Suarez and Shimri Zameret and is being used widely:
Across the world we demand global democracy: global governance by the people, for the people. Inspired by our sisters and brothers in Tunisia, Egypt, Libya, Syria, Bahrain, New York, Palestine-Israel, Spain and Greece, we too call for a regime change: a global regime change to replace the G8 with the whole of humanity. A regime change that starts with our communities and our countries rejecting corporations’ control
There are over 900 occupations happening from Occupy Wall Street, New York, to Puerta del Sol Square, Madrid, from the steps of St Pauls, City of London, to Santiago in Chile: different climates, but the same vision!
Undemocratic international institutions are our global Mubarak, our global Gaddafi. These include: the IMF, the WTO, global markets, the G8/G20, the European Central Bank and the UN security council. Like Mubarak and Assad, these institutions must not be allowed to run people’s lives without their consent. We are all born equal. Our global institutions must change to reflect this, or be replaced.
Today, more than ever before, global forces shape people’s lives. Our jobs, health, housing, education and pensions are controlled by the 1%, by the global corporations, banks, financiers, and the politicians they buy.
Corporations push the international trade in arms, drugs and resources, wage war for profit, destroy lives, communities and our planet. We are losing control over our lives. This must stop. This will stop.
We 99% have it in our power to reshape the way we live, to work in our communities to rebuild our food, energy and support systems. We have it in our power to reclaim politics from the corporations, the 1% that control it. We just need to decide, to dare to dream, to act to stop the nightmare.
Politics in the service of people and planet; not run by corporations for profit. This is local, national and global democracy. That is what we demand – something only we can make.
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