Occupy Glasgow
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Protest Glasgow |
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Occupy Glasgow is an ongoing peaceful protest Originally being based in George square Occupy Glasgow General Assembly voted profusely to move to a new site in Kelvingrove Park. It's been set up with the safety and welfare of campers at its heart and a planned programme of workshops & events. However there has been issues with the camp being based in George square, forcing an eviction notice. :[1]
Statements of Intent
The occupation currently taking place in George Square, Glasgow collectively agreed the initial statement below, based on the statement agreed by 500 people on the steps of St Pauls at OccupyLSX. :[2]
1 The current system is unsustainable. It is undemocratic and unjust. We need alternatives; this is where we work towards them.
2 We are of all ethnic backgrounds, genders, generations, sexualities, dis/abilities and faiths. We stand together with occupations all over the world.
3 We refuse to pay for the banks' crisis.
4 We do not accept the cuts as either necessary or inevitable. We demand an end to global tax injustice and our democracy representing corporations instead of the people.
5 We want regulators to be genuinely independent of the industries they regulate.
6 We support the strike on 30 November and the student action on 9 November, and actions to defend our health services, welfare, education and employment, and to stop wars and arms dealing.
7 We want structural change towards authentic global equality. The world's resources must go towards caring for people and the planet, not the military, corporate profits or the rich.
8 We stand in solidarity with the global oppressed and we call for an end to the actions of our government and others in causing this oppression.
9 This is what democracy looks like. Come and join us!
Key Facts
Bank bail-outs:
The Bank of England estimates that the total costs of bailing out the financial system is £1.3tr, or more than 10 times the entire NHS budget.The UK bank bailout accounts for about 1/3 of the global banking bailout.
3 years on the British government continues to subsidise 'too big to fail banks' banks:
£46 billion: the combined subsidy the 'Big Five' UK banks enjoyed in 2010;
£10 billion: of British taxpayer's money was paid in indirect subsidy to Barclays
Lloyds, RBS, HSBC and Nationwide also enjoyed subsidies of £15bn, £13bn, £7bn and £1bn respectively.
The 'too-big-to-fail' subsidy for the UK's largest four banks is 62% higher than the equivalent subsidy in Germany, despite the fact that the German economy is significantly larger.
[New Economics Foundation, Quid Pro Quo, September 2011]
Austerity cuts:
£83 billion: the amount of public sector cuts planned by the government by 2014-15. Effectively cutting the incomes of ordinary people by
6.2% for typical families with two young people on modest earnings (£37,000 combined income)
4.2% for more well off families with children at university (£78,000 combined income)
10.4% the average working lone parent with two children
16.2% pensioner couples
The cuts are hitting the poorest hardest according to the Institute for Fiscal Studies.
[TUC, Where the Money Goes, October 2010:]
Unemployment:
The economy has lost 2 million jobs since the beginning of the recession.
2.57 million people out of work (or 8.1% of working-age population)
21.3% of 16-25 year olds out of work. That is almost 1 million young people, the demographic group that has lost out most from the fall in demand for labour.
250,000 jobs have been cut in the public sector in the last year.
Research published by TUC on Monday found that those previously working in the lowest paid jobs make up nearly half of all new unemployed claimants since 2008.
Inequality:
The top ten percent now have 100 times the wealth of the bottom ten percent.
The top ten percent earn 4.1 times the incomes of the bottom ten percent, with the top 1 percent more than 10 times. The same figure was 3.1 in 1961.
The average CEO earns 250 times the average cleaner.
Levels of social mobility are the lowest among all developed economies.
Controversy
Woman raped in Occupy Glasgow camp in George Square
A woman was raped in a tent at Glasgow's George Square, on the 26th of October 2011,which is the site of an anti-capitalist protest camp. The 28-year-old is understood to have been attacked in the tent in the early hours of Wednesday morning, approximately 12.45am. Police have said they are looking for two suspects they believe are known to the victim. Following this, the protestors have moved from George Square and taken a new place in Kelvingrove Park. They have moved just in time for the preparations for Remembrence day and the Christmas lights taking place.
Glasgow Council orders anti-capitalist camp to disband
It said the camp was illegal under park management rules and ordered the group to leave "with immediate effect". Glasgow City Council has issued a "letter of expulsion" to activists who set up tents there on 15 October. It said the camp was illegal under park management rules and ordered the group to leave "with immediate effect". The council said the timing of the letter being issued was not connected to the rape.