84 year old Dorli Rainey after being pepper sprayed by police at Seattle protest.

This primal cry for democracy sprang from young people who could no longer ignore the angst in their gut — the premonition that their future does not compute, that their entire lives will be lived in the apocalyptic shadow of climate-change tipping points, species die-offs, a deadening commercialised culture, a political system perverted by money, precarious employment, a struggle to pay off crippling student loans, and no chance of ever owning a home or living in comfort like their parents. Glimpsing this black hole of ecological, political, financial and spiritual crisis, the youth and the millions who joined them instinctively knew that unless they stood up and fought nonviolently for a different kind of future, they would have no future at all.

Full Article in the Washington Post

Last night Occupy Bristol opened it’s second camp with eight tents. The new camp is opposite the KPMG building @ 100 Temple St near Temple Meads

It’s a great strategic location for us, located  near to lots of financial services companies including:  Royal Bank of Scotland/Natwest,  HSBC, KPMG, Deloitte, Bank of Ireland ,  Osborne Clarke, Canada Life & QBE amongst others

There is also a massive daily migration of people past the camp, and these two things taken together offer lots of opportunities for interesting conversations.

lets hope this one grows as big the last one!

Occupation is an idea, a tactic.  It cannot be evicted.

Occupy Bristol is calling on Bristol City Council to support National Move Your Money Day on 2nd Dec by committing to move their* money.

Bristol City Council currently bank with RBS/Natwest, the UK leader in fossil fuel investments. We are calling on them to put their* money where their mouth is, in relation to their claims to be a sustainable city.

In the years 2006-2008, RBS/Natwest provided approximately $15.93 billion of financing to companies involved in extracting or burning coal.

If the Council commit to moving their* money it could move millions of pounds out of fossil fuels, the military and other unethical activities. This could move capital into projects investing in renewable energy and other socially useful activities.

In the United States the Move your money campaign has already had massive success and has moved several billion dollars from unethical, to ethical investors.

We are confident that Bristol City Council will make the ethical, sustainable choice to move their* money, given that they “are facing up to the imminent threats from an over reliance on carbon fuels” (Barbara Janke 28/10/11) 

Although we recognise that its not within the council’s power to change most of the issues that Occupy Bristol is raising, we believe this would be a good gesture to show that we do in fact have “much in common” and that the Council take our concerns seriously.

These actions are not sufficient to bring about the kind of change we need to see in the world. This is simply the first step of a long journey.

To support our nationwide ‘move your money’ campaign visit: www.moveyourmoney.org.uk

*Their money in this context is actually *our money, Bristol City Council are just looking after it for us. In our view they are not looking after it very well.

A group of (mostly!) anonymous protesters from the Occupy Bristol Camp today took action at Barclays, Natwest and Lloyds banks.

At 3pm the group, wearing Guy Fawks masks gathered outside the three banks on the Clifton triangle. They handed out leaflets about the banks involvement’s in the arms trade, and their involvement in military occupations of various countries around the world.

Each participant wore a letter each on their chests spelling out INVEST ETHICALLY. The aim of our occupation (outside the banks) was a peaceful statement drawing attention to the sorry state of the worlds monetary system. Specifically we aimed to raise awareness of how the banks promote war, greed and oppression, and keep the poor nations in a strangle hold of debt.

The message is simple: Re-invest your money, and take the power back! The American #moveyourmoney project has already been massively successful. It’s been reported that $4.5 billion moved from Banks to Credit unions in the last 5 weeks. Now it’s our turn to follow suit.

The bottom line is : Without our money, the bankers wont get their bonus’s. The greed driven, oil powered, war machine will fail. A new financial system; one based on ethical, environmental, and societal benefits, will begin to emerge.

Come and visit us on college green and help figure out how to implement the change. Please also spread the word about the Move Your Money day on December 2nd  http://www.moveyourmoney.org.uk/

On Fri 2nd December, Occupy Bristol is calling a national day of action and asking the people of the UK to move their money out of high street banks into their local credit union.

A credit union is owned and controlled by its members and if you put your money in a credit union its used to lend money to people just like you, not to make profits for shareholders or pay fat bonuses.

This video was made for the US Move Your Money project, but explains the idea quite well.

You can find your local credit union here: http://findyourcreditunion.co.uk/

We will also be calling on all Occupations across the country to support National Move Your Money Day.

Please show your support via the Facebook Event:

Twitter hashtags: #moveyourmoney #dec2

Website: http://www.moveyourmoney.org.uk

Click here for .PDF version of News digest 08-11-11