Occupy Democracy
Why Occupy Democracy?
- our democracy has been captured by corporations, banks and the wealthy,
- our political system works in the interests of the 1% and not the 99%,
- nobody voted for NHS privatisation, fracking, TTIP, the tripling of tuition fees, etc,
- our parliament is a corrupted and unrepresentative institution
- ordinary people deserve a fair say in the decisions that affect them,
- our votes, hard won by previous generations, have little value today,
- there is an alternative!
We demand:
- reform of party funding so that members of parliament act in the interests of those who elect them rather than the 1% who bankroll them,
- major democratic reform of the media to break the stranglehold of vested interests,
- a fundamental overhaul of lobbying and the way powerful economic interests inhabit the corridors of power within government,
- the introduction of proportional representation so that everyone’s vote counts,
- that MPs should not have conflicts of interests from either paid employment or corporate shareholdings,
- a citizen-led constitutional convention for real democracy.
Our history:
In October 2014 we occupied Parliament Square peacefully for nine days to mark the start of our campaign to
rid our democracy of corporate interests and start a movement capable of building a real democracy that works for people and planet. The establishment responded with a strategy designed to have a chilling effect – over-policing and media silence. We remained peaceful and resolute in our determination to make our point, and to demand our right to protest and assemble. Our numbers grew and we kept on with our solutions-focused programme of debates, talks and entertainment. We returned to Parliament Square once a month, and then held a nine-day occupation during the general election in May 2015. Thank you to everybody who helped make this happen!
rid our democracy of corporate interests and start a movement capable of building a real democracy that works for people and planet. The establishment responded with a strategy designed to have a chilling effect – over-policing and media silence. We remained peaceful and resolute in our determination to make our point, and to demand our right to protest and assemble. Our numbers grew and we kept on with our solutions-focused programme of debates, talks and entertainment. We returned to Parliament Square once a month, and then held a nine-day occupation during the general election in May 2015. Thank you to everybody who helped make this happen!
Legal update:
Occupy Democracy and Liberty are taking the Mayor of London to the High Court in a Judicial Review of his decision to fence off Parliament Square and deny Occupy Democracy access from October to December 2014. A question by Jenny Jones to the Mayor revealed that nearly £2 million had been spent suppressing peaceful pro-democracy protests from October 2014 to February 2015 alone. A Freedom of information request confirmed that police numbers peaked at 500 per day. Despite interfering with our right to protest by making dozens of arrests, the authorities have yet to successfully prosecute a single Occupy Democracy protester with every case that the Crown Prosecution Service has brought to court so far resulting in the defendants being acquitted or having their charges dropped.
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