Sydney

The plane lifted off from the CHC runway in rainy, cold weather, in the darkest hour before sunrise.  Three and a half hours later we broke through the scattered cloud cover over Sydney on the northern approach, the sun reflecting brightly off the sea in a way that starkly silhouetted the iconic harbour bridge and opera house in  beautiful ways.

And as the plane hit the tarmac again, I felt a familiar excitement rise through me once more—the excitement of Newness, and the promise of a better life that glisten like the sea of the harbour around me.

I’m about to head out to find a bar or restaurant job, which I hope will sustain me for the meantime while I figure out exactly where I’ll be kicking off my massage practice. I have to call a bunch of mining companies in WA to see if they are interested in taking on a contract masseur, and then I’ll be saving up a grand or two to start me off, whether I stay here in Sydney to open a one-man practise, or head across to the outback. There’s also the possibility that I’ll hate Sydney, and shift again, to Melbourne; I know already that I really dig that place.

Sydney, though, I must say, looks good. There are THINGS here, and people whom I know. In fact, I realised a few days ago that I know more people here in Sydney than I do in Christchurch, or even Melbourne. It’s been a delightful surprise to find out that so many of my old friends are kickin’ around in Sydney.

I just finished re-touching my résumé for the umpteenth time this year, and shall now take a walk down to Newtown and then up to Darlinghurst on the hunt for what will be my NINTH job this year.

By the gods… it better be the last. Ha ha!

Occupy Christchurch: Moving Forward

[An open letter addressed to Occupy Christchurch]

Tena koutou, kia ora koutou, na reira mauri ora tatou katoa.

We’ve been at this for a while now.

I know I haven’t been present very much in the last couple of weeks, but please believe that I am constantly reading, thinking, reading more, feeling things out, reading and thinking again. This movement grips me; I feel like I am a part of it, because I am one of those people who has been waiting, plaintively, for it to happen, for many many years. Now that it is happening, I feel as if I have been preparing for it for my whole life, and I can barely believe that the time has come for us to initiate the change we all know is necessary.

WHERE WE ARE NOW
We began with a Statement of Purpose for Occupy New Zealand. We’ve organised marches, rallies, picnics and free markets.

We’ve spoken to loads of reporters and even the NZ Police. We’ve engaged with countless passers-by on a plethora of issues.

Anyway, yes. We’ve been doing this for almost a month. The media and some members of the public still don’t know what the hell we’re on about, and to an extent, I think it’s not unfair to say that some of us are still a little… uncertain of the details. We all know that the system is broken, because of the blatant fact that there is poverty where there shouldn’t be, and there are rich people hogging all the wealth while these others starve and remain mired in ignorance and poverty.

What I mean is, I don’t think many of us understand the framework of mechanics that has caused this situation to come about. How many of us can sum it up in twenty words or less…?

So, the question begs: What’s next? Are we going to narrow down some discussion topics with which we can engage our community in more well-defined, coherent ways?

SYNTHESIS
Perhaps it’s time to begin better synthesising what we’ve been saying, by identifying and focusing on the main themes of our discussions so far.

Occupy the Discussion

I had a brilliant conversation with a retired entrepreneur named Bill down at the Christchurch Occupation earlier today.

Max Chubaba (an Indian-born Kiwi), Popx (an English-born Kiwi) and Rob joined us in moving to pin down exactly what it is that the Occupy movement is seeking to achieve, in real terms. When I explained that we were already doing it by engaging each other in this very conversation, he continued by challenging the motivations and philosophies that we have; and, in response, he stimulated us to articulate them in lucid and compelling ways.

One of the things I really appreciated about the exchange was that Bill began by questioning us extensively, not by piling in with his own views and opinions. He was genuinely interested in why we were occupying the space and engaging people in discussion.

Ain't no good reason for poverty in this world.

He asked me what were the issues we were rallying against. I opened with child poverty (one in five children in New Zealand lives in relative poverty). As we explored the reasons for poverty, Bill and I had a solid exchange on “Choice” as a concept; that is, why it appears that we, who are ostensibly self-determining and autonomous human beings who make decisions for ourselves, end up poor, or abusive, or stuck in the state beneficiary system, when instead we can ‘choose’ to do better?

His position was that we are all able to raise ourselves out of poverty, if we simply choose to do the work necessary.

My position in response eventually came down to the observation that even if we do have that choice, we may not be aware of it on a conscious level. If we are raised in an environment that makes us feel worthless, or unsupported, or that simply brain-washes us into taking a place within the societal system and not trying any further, then we are severely handicapped, and that choice has little meaning.

Who Is the Occupy Movement?

The occupy movement is a global network of local people.

What we share in common is the realisation that contemporary economics and politics benefit far too few people. They actually allow, continue and proliferate suffering, and we all agree that that is immoral, and unreasonable.

There are global issues, there are regional issues, and there are local issues. It is down to each Occupy movement – each Occupation – to decide what those issues are, and how we shall choose to engage with them.

What that means is that *We Are In Control Of Our Own Destiny*

We hold the responsibility for deciding for ourselves what democracy looks like, for us, in our immediate context.

We decide on what terms we will engage with existing economic and political structures.

http://media.citytv.topscms.com

At the same time, we are a small part of a massive, increasingly intricate, and strengthening global network with a horizontal nature. This is inherently collaborative, and the scope for knowledge and experience sharing is almost unlimited. That’s a lot of solidarity and strength upon which to draw, and it makes us powerful. The very nature of participatory democracy that we have formed over the last few weeks in our own cities and squares throughout the world in our General Assemblies, and our various nascent workgroups, is being reflected in hundreds of other cities, by hundreds of thousands of friends and allies, throughout the entire Occupy Network.
We do, truly, Occupy Together.

What we need to realise, on a deep and personal level, is that we are on to something new and important, here.

I want you to consider this for a moment. I want you to realise this fact—the fact that What You Are Doing Is Important.

Occupy Life

What is the Occupy Movement? What do they want?

Lots of people don’t get it. That’s understandable, because it’s decentralised and there is no identifiable and charismatic figurehead articulating the movement’s demands. And, really, that’s because it’s democratic: “of the people.” And the simple fact that there is no central figure to take down, as was the case with Julian Assange and WikiLeaks, means that it’s much more difficult for opposing interests to attack the movement.

The movement is based on principles of participation and self-expression. That’s why we see so many varied flavours of protest: corruption; human rights; poverty; education; healthcare, and so on. And that means that there is room for many thousands of people to get involved, in their own ways. It’s one of the reasons that the movement has become so big.

How do we synthesise all of that? Is it an anti-capitalist, quasi-communist movement?

No.

Capitalism is fine, as an idea.
Communism is fine, as an idea.

In practice, what scrambles it all up, and what this movement rallies against, is egoistic, greedy self-interest—the manipulation of political and economic systems, be they capitalist, communist, or whatever, and the ancillary structures that are meant to support them.

It is the immoral, unsympathetic self-interested attitude, so overtly expressed by intrusive and growth-driven corporate entities and weak governments, that ruins it for everyone.

In a word: “Corruption.” What is it that is corrupted? The system that pretends to offer growth, wealth and prosperity for us.

We have enough to feed, house and employ everyone in the world, right now.

That means that what is happening is THEFT.

Auckland, NZ

We are not against capitalism, and we are not in favour of communism. We are against greed, and selfishness, and corruption. We are in favour of justice, fairness and positive evolution.

You want to know what we want? You want to know what our demands are?

We demand nothing less than A BETTER WORLD, where EVERYONE is fed, housed and fairly employed, and a contributing member of a just and equal society.

We demand our right to such a world… because it ALREADY EXISTS. There is abundance everywhere… and it is being hoarded and squandered by a greedy minority of government-sanctioned thieves.

We make this demand peacefully. We shall not fight you with guns, nor swords, nor fists.

We shall fight you with words, and ideas, and reason. Our weapons are our Hearts; our Minds are our shields, and we shall wield them with mighty compassion and unwavering confidence.

We are Soldiers of Justice, and we shall march, and march, and march–not until we win, but until you finally see these truths, and you join us.

Join us.

occupychristchurch.org
occupynz.org
occupywallstreet.org
occupytogether.org

Word.

Keeping Occupied

As I type, there is a GA (General Assembly) taking place at the Occupy Christchurch event now being held in Hagley Park, here in Christchurch, New Zealand. We have a GA every few hours to bring the people here back together in between small discussion workshops, games of cricket, slack-lining and fire spinning. We even had some musicians bring a small generator and a stage, and they’ve been playing music for us pretty much non-stop. It’s a really fun, positive atmosphere.

We’re a rag-tag bunch right now, about forty people as at 9:30pm on Saturday night while a Rugby World Cup semi-final match between France and Wales distracts the rest of the country. Even so, we take heart in knowing that on the first night in Wall Street on September 17, there were only twelve people there.

We really have no idea where this will go, or for how long. Our protest is intimately linked to those now progressively going forwards in over 200 other cities across the planet today, besides those already established in New York and other places.

And that, I think, is reflective of the whole movement… we really don’t know where this will all go. There seems to be a feeling in the air that this is it: This is the moment. If we cannot effect real, meaningful change to our politico-commercial matrix with this, then just what, pray tell, do we have to do?

Today while the microphone was open, I stepped up to say what was in my heart. I said, “we have enough. It’s not about ‘overpopulation’—Don’t be fooled. Overpopulation is a myth. We have enough in the world, right now, to feed, clothe, educate and house every single man, woman and child on the planet. Not one person left out. And yet there are people starving, poor, and dying every day. And it makes no sense. That’s why we’re here. We want Justice; We want Decency. The current state of things is simply not fair. It’s not about population; it’s about distribution of resources.”

This is, without a doubt, the most important movement to take place in our generation. Hundreds of thousands, possibly millions of people are being moved to join us, in cities across the planet.

What will you tell your kids when they ask you where you were during the Occupations? Will you make your children proud? Will you create a world that will make your children proud?

Why is this movement important?

It’s important because it strikes deep into the heart of our natural desire for Fairness and Decency.

What are we so pissed-off about?

We’re pissed off that rich people can buy legislation for self-interested gains. We’re pissed off that money is more important than people. We’re pissed off that even today, when we have enough for everyone, there are still people who are hungry, people who are thirsty, who are homeless and uneducated. IT DOESN’T MAKE ANY SENSE.

We’re pissed off that people can be so greedy that they will watch people die while they line their pockets with worthless shit like huge houses and flash cars.

Those people do not represent us; and yet they make decisions, every day, on our behalf. They may not control our lives, but they do control how we live our lives. They shape our environment.

We have had enough. This is it. Now is the time. From where I view things, this is our last chance to make things right. With the entire world being moved to join this movement, I only see it as make, or break.

fff

I wonder where all this will go.