It has been over a year since The Occupied Times first invited Boycott Workfare to spread the word with an article in print. At the time, few people knew what workfare was, or why it mattered. Since then the campaign against workfare has come a very long way. It continues to […]
At the Sussex occupation, a copy of The Problem with Work by Kathi Weeks lies on the floor. Some of the occupiers remark that they have not done any of their class work for the past six weeks, since they started occupying Bramber House. They don’t seem worried about it. Instead […]
Politicians like nothing better than to do much about nothing. Thus, forceful opinions from Tory and Labour seem to intersect as indecipherable inflections of a consensual agreement. These two flailing political monarchs slip around on melting ice while grappling clumsily for some secure footing, agreeing on nothing, except an allegiance to […]
I didn’t know much about Aaron Swartz before news of his death started making waves on the internet in January. At most, there was half-realised recognition of a guy who I’d heard had been involved in the grassroots campaign to challenge the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA). But in the […]
In 1994 the rallying cry for land and freedom that sparked the Zapatista rebellion echoed across the globe and landed on the front page of the The New York Times, which hailed it as the “first postmodern Latin American revolution”. Nineteen years down the line the corporate media seems to […]
As I brought supplies to Hermana’s car from Occupy Sandy’s Free Store on Staten Island, she seemed abashed to ask for anything more. “What else can we get you?” I asked. “Do you need cleaning supplies? Food? Batteries? Take anything you need.” She smiled and mumbled amiably. I was immediately struck […]
The first signs of a UK movement focusing on debt emerged during a session organised by the OT at the Up the Anti conference on 1 December 2012. Titled ’Are “debt strikes” the future of anticapitalist resistance?’, the session utilised a more participatory format than others during the day. Following an introduction […]
Emma Avilés is from 15-M’s PACD (Citizen’s Debt Audit Platform) working group – Barcelona, 7th October 2012 Occupied Times: When did you start this campaign? Emma Avilés: The international debt audit campaign began in the summer of 2011 at a summer university course with Eric Toussaint, an expert in world […]
Catering For Change To begin with, the kitchen at St Paul’s served up surprisingly good food, but as the occupation rumbled on, various ingredients were omitted in an attempt to cater for everybody. First went the meat so that vegetarians were not excluded, then the use of spices was curtailed […]
Bankers’ bonuses, MPs’ expenses and police-media corruption grab headlines, but these are only the most visible of the injustices that the existing political and economic system is built upon. Every day is filled with smaller injustices. These can be economic: pay cuts, unpaid overtime, benefits cuts or rent hikes; or […]